#which is still a really fucking good feature. of any video game. SEE WHAT I MEAN spinda and their café is just an incredibly good Thing

[front-facing-pokemon]

#spinda #AAAHHHH YES!!! our belovèd spinda. from their café!!! probably one of my favorite minor characters from pmd sky #whom i don't even think was in the original explorers games. i think spinda's café was exclusive to sky. if i'm remembering correct #ly. or maybe that was shaymin village. i know shaymin village was for sure but maybe it was just that and not both of them. either way #have a delicious drink and allow the flower of conversation to bloom! i could quote spinda all day. he had “hopes and dreams” before toby #ever did. THAT'S ALSO like i had no idea what spinda's pronouns were. i kept trying to figure it out because i talked about him quite a lot‚ #but no one in game ever talked about him. to mention his pronouns? turns out. there's ONE line of dialogue where the post office fucker in #shaymin village mentions him and calls him a he. i think that's the only time spinda is referred to in the third person with a pronoun #i believe it's when they're talking about like. how you can send gifts or whatever and pick up the characters' responses at spinda's café #which is still a really fucking good feature. of any video game. SEE WHAT I MEAN spinda and their café is just an incredibly good Thing #it's to the point where my home wifi network is named “Spinda's Café Wi-Fi” because i love it so much. so if you're ever runnin around #and you see a wifi network by that name… it might be me! you never know! or… it could be the real deal. the real spinda's café is somewhere #nearby…! ugh. i wish. i would go there immediately #not even to mention all the other shit about this pokémon that's really good. like that they never walk in straight lines or whatever #their little dance. it's just. huUGHKLJKAHJVDHJHDAJSVGD i love spinda. a nice pick-me-up after the underwhelmingness that was grumpig #shake it this way… shake it that way… and stir it all around… and it's done!

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

Thoughts on Jason Todd’s choice of weaponry?

:D an ask! Yay!

Oooh, lets see, I'll start with the crowbars because I appear to be like one of three people on the entire planet who actually likes them.

They're a tacky as fuck riff on the fact that Jason's death is central to his character. They overemphasize the manner in which he died, muddy the waters about what part of his death is important to him, and strangely cheapens the manner in which he died through the parody feel of it.

No one seems to really disagree with my analysis here, but I happen to enjoy that about them and think it's very on brand for Jason. What can I say? They're fun!

Best Quality - His Wiggles

This ultra-sharp curved blade used to be his signature character design feature, the way the white streak in his hair is now, and I'm really not sure why it didn't stick!

Best weapon he's ever had, bring it back please!!!!!

The All-Blades

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...

I have mixed feelings about the All-Blades. Like much of Lobdell's work: phenomenal idea, poor execution. Giving the guy who is most known for being morally grey a set of powers that is exclusively based on moral absolutes sucks shit, I gotta be honest, and the trick he pulled on the blood blade was cool but ultimately does nothing to solve those problems.

HOWEVER

I want to love them so fucking badly. A set of glowy soul blades is a dope sicknasty off the chain concept and I wish the well wasn't poisoned with the moral implications and the restrictions to use them only on the "Untitled", a set of enemies that only exist for Jason so far as I can tell. If someone seriously took Jason down a magic based path that removed the DnD alignment chart bullshit, I would be so game to see them come back! Hell I wouldn't even insist on a better cooler design for them!

...though uh, yeah those are the least interesting magic sword designs I've ever seen tbh

Normal Ass Swords

They're alright I guess. Like, there's nothing in it really, but it's not bad?

Guns - Real Bullets

Excellent, evocative yet simple, straightforwards and to the point. It makes hella sense thematically to boot, love this for him, please give him back his pistols and miniguns and shit

Guns - Rubber Bullets

Hate. HATE. hate ick disgusting bad NO.

I just fucking hate rubber bullets, like, as a concept. I refuse to accept "non-lethal" bullets as a valid use of gun, either in real life or in fiction. Guns are for putting many holes in things very fast!!!! If you're gonna use a gun, fucking well own up to that!!! Do not play this silly ass game of pretending that you can change out the material and do the same things as with lead bullets but with the video game status effect of "non-lethal" applied. YOU ARE GIVING PEOPLE SMALL CIRCULAR BRUISES. This is still harmful, yes, ooph ouchie, but it is not even slightly a good use of a gun, you are wasting holster space, and carry weight, and the physical materials used to make it all!!

JUST USE A FUCKING STICK! YOU DON'T RUN OUT OF STICK AMMO!

My belief in his capacity to take out enemies is shattered the instant those fuckers are on panel. Maybe this ain't entirely rational, or realistic to how fights go with rubber bullets IRL, but I hate them so much on principle that I will ignore any counterargument you might have that they'd work. I will die on this hill. Rubber bullets BAD. Please stop making him use this!!

Bombs

Love it, give him more bombs forever

ka-BOOM!!!!

His Brain

This is actually his best weapon - sorry wiggly knife, you're being shunted down to number 2 on a last minute technicality! I think Jason is at his best when he's outsmarting people and making long term fucked up schemes to ruin people's lives.

He's so good at it! It's so fun to watch him do it!

Genuinely a shame that this facet of him was mostly lost after Flashpoint, though to give credit where it is due, in Rebirth Jason did ruin the Penguin's life in an impressively elaborate way, which I did really enjoy. I want to see him be a tactical deliberate menace to one person in specific again idk, that's part of why I do kinda agree that he works better as an antagonist than a protagonist - which it should be noted does not mean I think he works better as a villain necessarily, his ethics aren't what matter here - he's just had his best moments as the schemer, and it's hard to have a protagonist schemer even when you make them ethically the good guy.

I hope you enjoyed my nattering on about Jason's weapons :D thank ye again for ask!

#jason todd #damian's tomfoolery

[two-dolla-bills]

Top 10 mechanisms songs that you can get away with playing at a retailers without too many side eyes

I got a job in retail and I felt inspired lol

Disclaimer: this is not a list of the best mechanisms songs/the ones I think deserve to go "mainstream", they're just the ones that would blend in the best

1. Sirens

This song is probably the mechanisms' least "centered" song. It doesn't mention any characters, it has no narration, and out of context it just sounds like A Song that you might hear on the radio. Sirens is to the mechanisms as you're the one that I want is to grease, you know?

2. Trial by song

THIS one. It's in the same category to me as Sirens; you can listen to it by itself and not suspect much. Unlike Sirens which can be completely separated and still make sense, this one is more like a whole new world from Aladdin. There are parts that make it obvious that it's from a larger whole, but if you just so happen to catch the "safe" parts you won't suspect much.

Points were deducted due to Mr. Soldier's unique vocals. (Unique as in not very common in mainstream music)

3. Empty trail

This is no offense to Dr. La Cognizzi, but sometimes when she sings it's hard to make out what she's saying, which works in her favor in these circumstances. It sounds country/rock, which help it blend in with some dad rock songs. If I remember correctly, the melody was actually taken from a Led Zeppelin song, so if you aren't paying attention to what's ACTUALLY being said you can get away with claiming it's a cover.

4. Ties that bind

Although this one does mention many plot points, many fans have stated that they had no idea what the fuck was being said until the have looked for the lyrics (myself included) this, combined with it's jazzy rythm, make it able to blend in with other songs, similarly to empty trail

5. Odin

The most "normal" song out of the entirety of The Bifrost Incident. This song made it to the top five because it has similarities with Roam by the B-52's, but had points deducted due to it clearly being about an awesome space train

6. Lost in the cosmos

This might just be personal opinion, but it sounds like a church song. You can pull off the effect of it being about earth Jesus and not space robot Jesus if you have particularly bad quality speakers and a busy store w/lots of noise. Again, the lyrics kinda give it away as to not being entirely main stream

7. Stranger

Look it's a banger, ok? Many of the lyrics could be taken as just being metaphors, but I feel like you have to squint to "see" it. Pay too much attention and shit gets a little weird. Also, points deducted because it's two men singing together and not a man and a woman, which throws a wrench into the works. At kohl's it might raise some eyebrows but in like hot topic it'll blend in a little better

8. Redeath

You would think a song about a sphoenix (space phoenix) would be lower on the list but you'd be wrong. It's a really pretty song with a good original melody, and it's something that can be drowned out by a particularly rowdy crowd. Like Stranger, it would blend in better at a hot topic than at kohl's, but only slightly.

9. Elysian Fields

The melody in Elysian Fields is taken directly from the song wayfaring stranger, which has been coverd by Jonny Cash, Ed Sheeran, Poor Man's Poison, and The Longest Johns, AS WELL HAS having been featured in the movie 1917 and in the video game The Last of Us II, which make it very recognizable. Because of this recognizability, people who know the original song may be caught off guard by hearing it in a Walmart with completely different lyrics. It was originally in 7th place, but the popularity of the original takes off many points

10. Once and future king

It's a banger, don't get me wrong, but it also very heavily and clearly mentions plot points from the album, which itself is heavily base on Aurtharian mythology; something very well known in the western world (also the names are not common at all and most haven't been in fashion in centuries). In a crowded, busy space with not very good quality speakers it could potentially blend in, but one or two names might sneak out. The only reason it's on the list is because of the instrumental outro, which sounds normal enough

#the mechanisms #hnoc #tbi #udad #two songs that didn't make it on the list were cinder's song and sleeping beauty #they're both good but too specific

[corporatefrog]

╰┈➤ Welcome Back to the Channel part 29; like and subscribe

✧.* featuring yn setting up for their newest youtube video when a few unexpected guests arrive : ̗̀➛ notes - this is the last chapter! thank you guys so much for joining me during the journey of this story. I haven't finished a fic in years so it feels so good to write that final line. I left it pretty open ended to be ready for extra chapters in the future!! I could say a bunch more about how thankful I am for people reading this story and how much it's help me work through the past month but i'll let the chapter do that :) tags - college au, superhero au, smau

series masterlist previous | next

Okay. Let’s do this. 

“Hey guys! We’ve got a really special video today!” I greeted with a beaming grin, micking a high five with the camera. So far so good. “We’re going to be doing an interview I’ve been waiting to make for a long time…” I paused for effect before moving to the side, revealing today’s special guest. 

“Say hello to Mysterion!” I exclaimed with applause. I’d add some cheering effects while editing but without it, it sounded a bit empty. 

Looking back at Kenny, a laugh burst from my mouth at the expression on his face. He’d twisted his mouth into some semblance of a smirk but with the mask he looked cool and suave and more like he’d just smelled a three day old diaper. 

“Dude, what is that face? You look fucking stupid.” I said between laughs. Kenny frowned, giving me a side eye. 

“I’ve got a reputation to uphold!” He whined, gesturing to the dark hooded costume, “You don’t get it because you just started using your persona-”

“KENNY! Just say my social security number too why don’t you-” The frame shook as I lunged forward to stop the recording before any more secrets were shared on camera.

It had been about a few months since I’d started working with Butters and the guys would not let me forget they had seniority in the hero/villain world. Every chance Clyde had, he reminded me that he was there when they fought Cthulhu. Of course, Kyle was close behind to say that Clyde had done absolutely nothing during that fight. But that was followed by Kyle reminding me that he was sent to hell and was there during the eldritch battle.

I’d been worried when they found out that they’d stop talking to me altogether. I wasn’t quite sure why. They’ve known about Butters being Professor Chaos since they were children and I see him and Kenny hang out more than he hangs out with Kyle and Stan sometimes. He even hangs out with Craig and his group on the weekends. 

The only thing that’s been hurt by my employment at Chaos LLC is my intel source. Wendy stopped giving me insider details about hero movements if they related to Professor Chaos so I haven’t been able to cover as much of his antics but she was still queuing me into other run-ins with minor villains and typical South Park oddities. 

Last week, fucking Slenderman showed up. Like a tall faceless dude in a suit and tie Slenderman. Just standing in the park. He did kidnap Butters which led to an interesting rescue mission. And the video coverage was insane. Marble Hornets could never. 

I didn’t want to trust it at first. I’d spent a month waiting for things to suddenly change. For everyone to turn on me for being a minor inconvenience at best but Craig still asked me to help him with his stats homework at Tweek Bros and Stan still invited me to whatever random board game shop he was visiting that week. The only thing that changed was sometimes we ran around the city in (if I’m being honest) ridiculous costumes and blew off some of the steam that comes with being a college student at Garrison University. 

The entire college almost shut down last month due to Dean Garrison being convicted of tax fraud and publicly attempting to assassinate the President in order to avoid charges. Without anyone to lead the college and the name now permanently connected to an elementary school teacher turned assassin, the only option seemed to be shutting the place down. That was a rough month. The university was literally on the verge of closure and I still had to write a 10 page research paper. What kind of bullshit is that?

Yeah but it was a paper about The Bachelor so was it really work?

Anything that involves citing in APA is work. 

The routine of my new normal set in pretty quickly. Well, as ‘normal’ as things can be when you’re friends with superheroes in South Park. I went to my classes, made videos for my channel, then I’d meet up with Butters and ruin a few people’s day a few times a week. It was scary how easily I fell into the routine. I’d wake up and say good morning to Stan as though he weren’t shooting tranquilizer darts from a nail gun at me a few hours earlier. Certainly not a sentence I ever thought I’d say. 

Looking back on the past two years, I see all the chances I had to end up somewhere else. If I’d gone to a different university and never set foot in South Park or if I’d chosen a different apartment and never ran into Clyde on my first day there I could have led a completely different life. Even in the moments which dragged on my mind, they all led me here. And the feeling of comfort that comes along with that thought makes every struggle worthwhile. 

There’s nowhere I’d rather be and here. Attending a university with an idiot dean, living in an apartment building with my closest friends, and now helping someone I care about get the revenge he’s due. Oh, and making youtube videos about all the stupid shit that happens along the way.

I restarted the recording, giving Kenny a warning glare before saying the intro again. This time, he kept a normal face which made it much easier to not think about how just a few months ago, I was freaking out at the idea of talking to THE Mysterion. 

Granted, now we’ve seen THE Mysterion vomiting in a toilet at 2 am after eating his taco bell too fast so the shimmer has faded. 

“So, Mysterion,” I started, glancing at my list of questions I’d prepared for the interview, “You’ve been the longest running hero in South Park history! How does it feel to be coming up on 10 years as South Park’s Guardian Angel?”

Kenny hummed as he mulled over the question, “It’s not an easy job-” A knock on the door cut off his answer. I looked over at Kenny with a confused expression. He mirrored my confusion but couldn’t offer an idea on who was interrupting our interview for the second time. 

I paused the video before heading over to the door, looking through the peephole. Toolshed’s signature belt gave him away instantly. He shifted from foot to foot as he waited, tapping his hands against his thighs. 

What the fuck?

I opened the door, leaning against the frame while I deadpanned at my neighbor. 

“What’re you doing?” I asked, looking at him from under my eyebrows. 

Stan flashed a sheepish smile, “Well, I heard that you were interviewing Ken-” He paused, glancing down the hall both ways before correcting himself, “Mysterion today and I was thinking I could join? I haven’t gotten an interview yet after all.” 

“You haven’t gotten an interview because all you’ve done the past three fights is stand in the back with a power drill looking lost.” I pulled up my phone and held it up for Stan to see the footage from the past three hero conflicts. While Kenny and Craig dove into the fray, Stan could be seen in the background, searching through his utility belt for the right tool for the battle. By the time he held up his weapon of choice, Craig would be throwing the final punch.

“Okay those videos are rigged. You got those from the Craig fan accounts.” Stan protested. 

“You’re really reaching now bud-” 

“Is there still time for the interview?” A voice shouted from down the hall. Kyle’s door flew open with him rushing out soon after. The kite strapped to his back caught on the door frame, sending him tripping and falling into the wall across the hall from his door. I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face while the sound of Kyle cursing and tripping over his own stupid fucking costume filled the hallway. 

“Dude what are you doing?” Stan asked, crossing his arms as though he were the one being put upon by the appearance of the Human Kite. Kyle righted himself, brushing imaginary dust off his costume. 

“You said you were going to try and get in on the interview and after my last one-” He gave me a pointed look as though I were the one who chose his stupid name in the first place, “turned into me being berated for an hour and a half.” 

“Yeah but you already had one. It’s my turn now.” Stan whined. 

“Actually, it’s my turn right now.” Kenny said, suddenly appearing behind me at the door. I jumped to the side, holding a hand over my chest to keep my heart from jumping out at the shock. 

“Jesus fuck man. I need to put a bell on you.” I muttered to myself before addressing the slowly growing group of complaining superheroes, “None of you guys get to decide whose turn it is to be on my channel. I set up this interview with Kenny a month ago and we’re finally getting to filming so if you want to have ‘your turn’ you need to fill out the form and join the queue like everyone else. I’ve got Craig and Tweek lined up for next month then Tolkien-”

“How the fuck does Tolkien get to go before me-”

“Because he filled out the fucking form Stan? I literally just told you.” 

“Okay, well I just think it would be more interesting to have Toolshed on before Tupperware.” Stan looped his thumbs through his utility belt, kicking a foot at the ground with a frown tugging at his lips. He looked up at me with pouting eyes, blinking rapidly as he tried to change my mind.

No way this 20 year old is pouting in the hallway right now. 

I blew a breath out of the corner of my mouth, averting my eyes from the pouting college student. I better not regret this. 

“Okay, fine.” I started. Stan’s posture immediately improved as he straightened up and began to walk towards the door. Kyle followed suit with a borderline giddy smile of his own. I held up a hand to stop them, “But this is a one time thing, okay? Don’t go telling the others you can just bug me into doing a video with them because I know Clyde can and will be the most annoying motherfucker to ever exist until I do an entire series about him.” 

Kyle and Stan nodded rapidly, heads moving in sync as they agreed to whatever would get them in the video. I was about to move aside and let them in when Kenny sucked in a breath. 

“We weren’t supposed to tell other people about this?” He asked. When I turned to stare at him, he plastered an awkwardly large grin on his face. 

“Who did you tell?” I asked, holding my breath out of fear for what he’d say next. Kenny paused, eyes moving across the ceiling as he thought over the question. That’s never a good sign. Then he began counting on his fingers, mouth moving in silent words as he continued to tick off different unknown names. 

Letting his hands fall with a shrug, he looked back at me with the still incredibly awkward smile, “Only like a few of the guys-” 

“MUAHAHAHA, THIS IS WHERE YOU FALL MYSTERION!” Butters came barreling in through my balcony doors, fists raised to the sky as he posed in the living room. The four of us turned to look at the villain. 

“False alarm, Butters. Apparently this was a lowkey thing.” Kenny said, pointing to me with his thumb as though I were the buzzkill in the situation. My jaw dropped as I turned to Kenny, appalled that he had the audacity to claim I was ruining our private interview I’d spent a month planning. 

Butters’ arms fell back to his sides, tinfoil of his gauntlets scraping slightly against his belt, “Awe geez, and here I was ready for a scuffle.” He said, scuffing the toe of his boot against the floor in a similar pout to Stan’s from moments before. 

Why am I friends with a bunch of toddlers? 

Before I could address Butters’ appearance, my apartment was flooded with the rest of my friends all clad in their hero costumes. Tolkien waddled behind Tweek and Craig, turning sideways to get through the door with Clyde following close behind. Soon my apartment was filled with arguing superheroes and one very boisterous villain, all trying to figure out how to fit themselves into the frame. 

I squeezed myself onto the couch between Kenny and Clyde, feeling like I should at least have the original planned video guest in the middle of the frame. Voices overlapped as Stan tried to shove Kyle over, pushing Tweek and Craig further to the side. The cacophony of sound bounced off the walls and made the air buzz with the rambunctious energy. 

Normally the noise would send me spiraling, overstimulated by the different sounds all pulling me in different directions, but the noise around me calmed the normally racing thoughts in my mind. I’d spent so long sitting in front of this camera, reading off new stories of the people who now shouted my name to grab my attention from opposite ends of the couch I’d gotten off Facebook Marketplace. The once deafening silence which filled the moments between takes was replaced by shouts to move over and accusations of stepping on their kite string. 

It was the best noise I’d ever heard. 

“I’m starting now! Everyone shut up and follow me lead!” I announced, stabilizing the camera before returning to my spot with a smile.

I smiled for the camera. I smiled at the thought of the views a video with all of South Park’s heroes would get. But I also smiled from the overwhelming happiness that came from being surrounded by my closest friends. 

“Hey guys!” I greeted, raising a hand to mimic a high five with the lens,

“Welcome back to the channel!”

taglist [reply to be added]: @sula0kin @lacuna-at-dawn @anglettecolours @cocolena@sukisprettyface @feverish-dove @sweetadonisbutbetter @hand-writxen@mishstuff@sophtophie @triphovia  @lacunaanonymoused @inkedintothepaper @toodeepintofandoms@mmmaackerel @sillybilly-123@n0tangeliccc@sophtophie@inkedintothepaper 

#its done- #please tell me you guys liked it AHHH im so scared to post this #i tried to make it sweet #corporatefrog #south park #south park x reader #welcome back to the channel #sp tfbw #tfbw

[hopeymchope]

I almost always seem to have the minority opinion on media. And I'm really sick of it now.

I've been on a Fire Emblem kick again lately. But unfortunately, as much as I love all of the Fire Emblem games on 3DS? That's approximately how much I hate Fire Emblem: Three Houses on Switch. ....which is, of course, the most popular/successful game in the series to date.

Okay, look: In Fire Emblem, I really like the strategy-combat stuff and the storylines + support conversations. THAT'S the tasty meat. Anything else? Is irritating busywork to me. So if I spend between 2/3-3/4 of a supposed Fire Emblem game doing the other shit? You've crafted a great recipe to make me feel like I'm MOSTLY doing stuff I hate, and thusly I shall hate your game. And that's the START of the issue with Three Houses. (I must resist getting into the protagonist being a mute cipher OR how multiple side activities require blind luck or a guide to succeed OR bitching about the weak battle map design... oh shit oh SHIT I'M OUTING MYSELF, RUN FOR IT MARTY!)

By comparison, this year's Fire Emblem Engage feels like a step back in the right direction! I'm playing it a lot right now, and I'm mostly having a good time! Still more busywork than I want in these games, but it's at least back on the side of "more good than bad." So of course, if I look this game up and read any fan reviews or watch any videos... they're all about how disapppointing and sucky it is in comparison.

God. Of COURSE they are.

I really don't know why the advances they made with Fire Emblem Echoes haven't carried into the newer games. 3D dungeons you can explore for items and enemy encounters in a Persona-like fashion? Genius! Make it the template going forward! ..... What's that? Not even most fans bothered to buy or play that game??? So no one fucking cares about that feature?

.........fucking hell. Of COURSE they don't.

See, this is how it always goes for me. If I fall in love with a movie, I'll later learn it's either hated or ignored by its own fandom or by the masses at large. If I get emotionally invested in some weird game and its characters? There's a high probability that almost no one played it. And those who did? They didn't like it as much as me. If I think a game is really annoying and full of boring shit? Great reviews, huge fandom, etc.

I could make an utterly wild fucking list of things I like/love that other people hate. And the same is true in reverse. Sometimes, even when I agree with the hate on something, I don't agree with ANY of the reasons for WHY other people hate it!

Before you ask: It doesn't matter whether I know the "majority opinion" in advance of seeing/experiencing something, or I have no clue wht people think of something until I look it up later. I've gone to many midnight premieres of movies that weren't yet screened for critics, and I typically always wind up on the wrong side of the majority. I've played obscure games just because the premise sounded good, fallen in love with them, gone looking for a fandom... and found out that everybody thinks said game is utter shit.

So I'm not just being contrarian; this shit comes NATURALLY.

However, I should make some caveats about this weirdness clear:

Sometimes I feel like I'm on the wrong side of JUST the outspoken part of the audience... but there's evidence to support that my own stance maybe ISN'T so weird. For example: My family and I have always loved 2009's Avatar. We never were dressing up like the goddamn Na'vi or anything so fanatical, but we've rewatched it many times over the years. We regularly quote it to each other around the house. And the massive success of that movie (and its recent sequel) seems to back up that this admiration/enjoyment isn't THAT crazy or esoteric, RIGHT? It's just that the Internet is extremely outspoken about Avatar supposedly being lame and totally unmemorable. Remember how people in 2022 kept being like "You can't remember even three character names from that movie! Nobody quotes it!" and shit like that? I was one of the people going "I will list you NINE characters and spew DOZENS of quotes at you."

My "minority opinion" thing only stretches so far. It's not like I thought The Room was the best movie I'd ever seen or angrily felt Tears of the Kingdom was the worst game I ever played. That would be beyond "minority" and more "MADNESS." There's a limit to this weirdness; it has to be within a certain degree of reason, you know? Some things just aren't POSSIBLE to totally flip the script on. Birdemic will always be embarrassingly terrible, and I refuse to believe anyone would legitimately feel otherwise. OK?

This isn't completely universal, either. There are always exceptions where I actually wind up on the right side of the majority. They're just... rarer than the other thing, honestly.

It gets exhausting to always feel like I'm on the defensive or at worst, utterly alone in how I think among the larger community. I don't want this anymore.

But I don't get a say, clearly. I'm just going to keep doing this. I'm going to go see a movie on opening weekend and think "Wow, what an awful piece of shit" only to find that DECADES LATER, people still cite it as one of the best movies in its genre. I'm going to adore a modern revival of a classic comic book, then I'll go online and find that it's widely considered an abomination before god. This is who I am. It's just REALLY tiring to be here.

#minority opinions #navel gazing #fire emblem #fire emblem engage #fire emblem: engage #memes #fire emblem memes #just bitching #sorry

[paytato435]

Chapter 11: The Phantom Limb

Content warning: alien gore and violence

Bitter Tea

April's announcement was too good to be true. Leonardo was ever the optimist, but the years sure had a way of trying to change that. April sat across from him at her seat in the war room, which, by this point, now also doubled as Leonardo’s bedroom, dining room, and whatever else he could fit in any given day room. If he wasn’t eating, sleeping, or meeting someone here, he was out. That was fine by him- Casey was too old to be forced to share a room with his old man anyway; he deserved to have his own space. As the leader of the resistance, Leonardo couldn’t afford that luxury. His business was everyone’s business. 

The slider had been stirring a hot cup of water idly, taking in the brief respite (and mourning for the eight hundredth time the loss of tea) when April had entered the room unannounced.

“You really found it?” he asked skeptically.

“I did,” she announced with unwavering certainty. She waved a hand over a panel on the conference table, and purple light constructed a map of the surrounding barrens outside their small bunker. She connected a red line from their base to a pin over a hundred miles southwest.

Leonardo narrowed his eyes. “At least it’s not in the ocean,” he grumbled. “Where’d you hear this?”

“You’re not going to like it…”

“Is it a defector?”

“Worse,” April sighed, sitting down in her chair. “The Bitch is still alive.”

“No.” Leonardo did not want to believe it. There was no way.

“It’s true. She reached out herself,” April shrugged, sliding another panel. The map morphed into a video player. “Trigger warning: tremendous bitch behavior,” April groaned, pressing the play button.

The picture on screen was grainy as all hell, but Leonardo had no trouble recognizing the old and withered face of Big Mama. Her red eyes still glowed with that familiar menace, but they were also sunken, weary, and her entire body grayed with age. In a nearly mummified claw, she held the long lost key to the prison dimension.

“Hello darlings,” she cooed in a wretched whisper. “I’ve never been one to be brief, but I’m sure you can understand my directness when I say this: you need to come to my location within two days, or the key is lost forever.”

“WHAT?” Leonardo interrupted, but April shushed him. She pointed back toward the screen.

The crusty crone continued on without them. “...need your assistance. I require a swift and comfortable evacuation from this location to your base. The key, of course, is your handsome reward!”

Even though he hadn’t eaten anything today, Leonardo felt like he might throw up.

“Of course, you could just come and pick it up and leave me to die,” she swooned. “That would be all too obvious. So instead, I’ve got a weensy wittle fail safe to ensure I’m not backstabbed again by you uncouth wretches.”

Of course she did. Everything was a game with Big Mama; even the end of the world.

“I have a team of spellweavers here that I’ve… ah… convinced to help me disintegrate your little trinket here-” she waved the key around. “-unfortunately, these spells have a cost.” She spun the camera around and showed three yokai who had been sat together in a mystic circle. Their eyes squeezed shut in concentration, they seemed extremely panicked.

“Poor babes didn’t read the fine print of our agreement,” Big Mama giggled. “The trigger for the spell is a kind of dead-man switch, you see. The spell they’ve cast is slowly draining their life force. If you don’t get here in time, and two days is being generous, honestly, not only will the key be destroyed, but they will die as well.”

Big Mama spun the camera back to face her old and horrendous features.

“So what’s it gonna be Baby Blue?” she sneered. “My life, or their funeral? This could be your chance to fix things! I eagerly await your arrival.”

Leonardo leaned over the table. Fuck…he really missed tea.

April waited for him to say something, but when he didn’t, she filled the space.

“It’s… it’s probably too late at this point for the key itself to be useful to us,” she offered. “We don’t even know how to use-”

“We’re going after it,” Leonardo interrupted. “We have to.”

“Leo, it’s not your fault…”

“Of course it’s my fault!” he nearly shouted. “How could it not be? This is a chance to make things right!” 

“Is it?” April asked quietly in a tone that was clearly meant to calm him down. “Or is it bait? She's clearly targeting you. She wants you to go out into the middle of nowhere as soon as possible. It's… it's likely a trap.”

“If it is, then why did you bring it up?” Leonardo challenged her. She must have known how he'd react, right?

April looked back at the video. The screen was frozen on Big Mama's venomous smile.

“I thought you deserved to know,” she answered simply. “And… I wanted to make sure.” She turned her head to face the slider.

“I know you're going to go after the key no matter what I say,” she sighed. “And you'd be stubborn and pissed if I never told you.”

“But…?”

“But if you leave us again to do your own thing the remaining members of the resistance will not take it well. You need to choose one over the other: are you their leader, or are you a hero?”

“What do you mean?”

April's face softened. “You can't lead people if you aren't here half the time, Leo. Since Raph died you've taken it upon yourself to do most of the heavy lifting around here; in the base and out in the field. It's inspiring, sure, but we need strategy right now, not just heart. You can't do everything, but I think you'd be a lot more useful to the team if you stayed here and used that big brain of yours to keep us safe, instead of throwing yourself into risky situations with meager rewards.”

“Meager? It's the fucking key! There's no way we can stop the Krang without it!”

“We've been trying to develop the technology for a new key-”

“For years! And it's led to nothing,” Leonardo pointed out. “That relic is over ten thousand years old and it's more advanced technology than even Donatello could even imagine. Mikey can't make heads or tails of the mystics surrounding it.”

“If we keep trying-”

“April, I really appreciate your perspective,” Leonardo sighed, slumping deep into his chair. He cradled his sad cup of water to his plastron, contemplating taking the bitter taste of acceptance. “And I get what you mean. I haven't been around here nearly enough. Hell, that's what Donatello's project was for right? To get us stronger fighters. I need to trust them.”

April nodded, but Leonardo could tell it was a restrained gesture. She knew he hated to talk about the new mutants unless it was absolutely necessary.

“I've failed you all,” he admitted. “I'm putting this whole team in danger.”

“Leo, that's not what I'm saying,” April told him quietly. “You can-”

“I'm putting you in charge.”

“What?”

“I can't do this, April. I can't sit here in this room and watch people die out on the field, and I sure as hell can't let the key slip through my fingers again.”

“So you quit?”

“Does it really sound like I'm quitting, Commander?” He took a sip from his cup. “I know how we got here, I know the mistakes I've made, and I'm owning up to it. I didn't ever deserve this position. Leading my brothers is much different from leading an entire army.”

April gave a sad smile. “I suppose that makes sense. But everyone here loves you Leo. What's Casey going to think? Your brothers?”

“I think they'd be thrilled, honestly,” Leonardo grumbled. “I can't remember the last time I sat down with Mikey and just… talked.” He looked off at nothing in particular across the room. “Of course, fuck whatever Donnie thinks, but I'm sure he'd be happier with you calling the shots. He never listened to me anyway.”

He could tell April wanted to protest, but she'd already done that a million times before. It never got them anywhere. She was right in calling him stubborn.

“Casey… when I get back, were going to be a proper family. It's been so hard the last few months, we don't talk much.”

“You've been too busy.”

“And him too! Can you believe it? He's nearly the same age Mikey was when all this shit started. This November he'll be fifteen. And he's already been out in the field for two years. I thought we had it bad! I used to tell others “can you imagine ending the world when you're only sixteen?” Now he's been shoveling the shit out of the bed I made since he was only twelve. It all adds up, exponentially.”

“And yet he still looks up to you,” April pointed out, smiling.

“He shouldn't,” the slider grumbled again. “I failed him. I've failed everyone in this miserable little camp. We eat rats and leaves and tell each other to be grateful to be alive.”

“This is your out,” April noticed, knitting her eyebrows together. 

Leonardo nodded. “This is the only way out. I'll go it alone if I have to.”

“I can put together a small team for you at the very least,” April offered. “And one of Donnie's runners. It'll get you there in just a few hours.”

“I don't need a team,” Leonardo shook his head. “Just get me Synth.”

“That guy, again? Tell me you're not…?”

“No no! Nothing like that!” Leonardo waved his arms. “That was one time… no. I just want him because he knows her as well as I do. He'd want nothing more than to make sure she stays dead this time.”

April gave him a disapproving look, but didn't push it further. “If you're going to go, you better leave now. The sun will be up in a few hours and you do not want the technodrome on your tail.”

Leonardo groaned but stood up reluctantly. It was going to be a long trip.

The Phantom Limb

It had been impossible to stay focused at the lair once everyone else had woken up. Leo had made fun of them of course, and Raph was also set to clean up the living room as the boys had just left the vacuum sitting all lonely and by itself, so Casey and Mikey had completely given up on exploring their ninpo. At least until they went out for a walk in the evening.

To be perfectly honest, Mikey didn’t know what had come over him; he’d never thought he could be so interested in something as seemingly boring as meditating. He was never one to sit still for very long, but after stretching his legs for a bit, he figured it was not far from the sudden impulse to turn a cartwheel. Casey had described it like a phantom limb, and Mikey was inclined to believe him. Now when he wasn’t exercising his ninpo, it was as if his spirit had been crammed into a car seat for six hours. He didn’t know if Casey felt the same way, but he seemed happy enough to entertain him.

So the boys found an awesome vantage point over the city and took the opportunity to sit outside and appreciate the warm summer breeze. They both sat across from each other, cross-legged on a rooftop. The nightlife of the city buzzed far below them, and Mikey had never felt so at peace. This was what he had been missing; it was as if the universe had woken up and spoken to him for the first time. Or perhaps it was the other way around, he wasn’t sure. In his mind’s eye, he could see the millions of people below him, a rainbow of sights and sounds, all rhythmically dancing in time with the heartbeat of the universe. And he was a part of that universe- and so was Casey, sitting across from him, also relaxed, his rose pink aura bubbling over him like seafoam lapping over sand.

Curious, Mikey tried to reach out and see how far he could 'see' like this. Could he reach the lair? It seemed his vision narrowed as he searched, but he still had some idea of what he was seeing…

The beeping from his chest immediately brought him back. He looked down and saw his emergency signal was going off. Someone was in trouble?

Casey jumped and immediately went to his phone.

"What's going on? Are you all alright?!"

Mikey faintly heard Leo's voice on the other end, he sounded just as confused as they were.

"Hold on, I'll put you on speaker, I'm with Mikey."

"It's Donnie!" April shouted through the speaker. "He’s in trouble!"

"He’s what?!" Leo asked April from the same line. It seemed she knew more than he did. There was a shuffle as April took the phone from Leo.

"Casey, Mikey, meet us at the University, now!" 

“Wait, what's going on?” Mikey asked, concerned.

“Donnie has been attacked!” April repeated, more urgently. “He’s at Eastlaird.”

“Fuck,” Casey mumbled, scrambling to he feet. “We'll be there soon!”

“Hurry!” She pleaded, and then hung up.

"Shit!" Casey bristled, shoving his phone back into his pocket and lowering his mask.

"Today would have been a good day to learn how to fly, huh?" Mikey mumbled, stretching his back.

"Aren't you worried? Let's go!" Casey called back, already running towards the school.

"Of course I'm worried!" Mikey pouted, sprinting to catch up. "It's just frustrating. I thought I was really getting somewhere for a minute there."

"You're doing great!" Casey panted. "But we can figure it out later!" 

Thankfully, they were only a few minutes away from the university.

Casey jumped and swung down to the front of the science building. Mikey vaulted after him.

"Leo, we're here! Do we go inside?" Casey asked through the com in his mask..

"We're a minute away,  just hold on."

It was an agonizing minute, mostly because Mikey could already feel that the building was empty. He did, however, see Raph, April, and Leo running up before Casey could.

"I think they're gone, we have to catch up to them!" Mikey stammered as Leo led them around the outside of the building.

"Gone? But we have his signal!" Raph frowned, confused.

"Let's just get there, fast," Leo brushed it off, looking down at one of Donnie's auxiliary tracking devices. "He's this way."

Everyone followed Leo until they reached the back of the building. There, April pointed out the second floor window Donnie had crashed through.

“Tim said he fell from here.”

But Mikey's sense was right. Donnie was gone.

Leo walked across the small lawn and pulled Donnie's emergency signal from the ground. It looked like it had been smashed into the dirt with quite a bit of force. He disabled it, and then threw it back on the ground angrily.

"What are we supposed to do now?" he shouted, pacing around the yard and looking back up at the window.

Casey picked up Donnie's tracker and scanned it with his phone.

"Based on when the signal went off, they can't have gotten far," he calculated.

"If we split up maybe we could-"

"No. Absolutely not," Leo interrupted. "Whatever's got him we can't face alone. We should stay together. This is dangerous."

"Do you think Donnie put a tracker in himself?" Mikey piped up.

"You mean like the one he put in Raph?" Leo narrowed his eyes.

"Leo, he definitely put one in all of us," Mikey rolled his eyes, thinking back to how they had found Raph after he had been abducted by the Krang. “He’s a terrible liar.”

"When did he do that?” Casey asked with concern.

"Relax Future Boy, it was before you got here,” Leo waved off his concern. “Although who's to say he hasn't put one on you since you wandered off that one time…"

Casey looked over his body as if he could somehow find the subdermal.

"Mikey's got a point though," Leo brought Donnie's tracking device up and flipped through some menus.

"Oof," Leo looked up at Casey. "You've been bugged too."

Mikey noticed Casey’s grimace as Leo pulled up Donnie's tracker.

"So, at least he's fair. I got him,” Leo confirmed. “They're headed northwest."

"Well let's not waste any more time then," Raph punched his hand. "Let's go get him!"

The five bounced out of the University. The chase was on.

-

“Synth is dead. They're all dead, Commander… I'm sorry,” Leonardo's voice broke through the static. “You were right; it was a trap. Big Mama was dead before we got here… she was infected.”

“Donnie's en route to your location, just hold out as long as you can.”

“What? No! Why would… this was my choice! I don't want backup!”

“I didn't send him!” April struggled. “He left on his own.”

“Is he insane? I'm surrounded! How-” the line cut for a few agonizing seconds. Casey and April hung onto every moment. On a nearby monitor, Casey could see his sensei's vitals being monitored. He was fine. Out of breath, a nervous wreck, but at the moment, fine.

“Fuck Donnie!” Leonardo's voice came back in. “When I see him I'm gonna-” he cut back out again. Casey wondered if he'd even meant that to come through.

“I have eyes on the target,” came Donatello's familiar deadpan. “I'm touching down in two minutes.”

“Already?” April whispered. How had he gotten there so fast?

“Landing site is not clear, Donnie,” Leonardo warned.

“It's fine, I'll make it work,” the soft shell huffed. There was the sound of both a nearby and distant explosion from both mics.

“What was that?” April asked urgently.

“Are you fucking insane!?” came Leonardo's voice from the closer explosion side. “What if that hit me?”

“It wouldn't,” came Donatello’s smug response. 

“Landing site is clear.”

-

R.O.N.I.N.

Casey didn’t want to think about it, but he couldn’t help himself. Donnie had, sometime between him arriving and now, placed a tracker inside him. How had he done that? When had he done that? Casey always locked the bedroom door. Casey didn’t sleep in their turtle piles or curl up with everyone on movie night. Had Leo let him in? Would either of them have noticed if he had picked the lock on their carriage door?

The worst part was that Casey had trusted him. He had specifically asked Donnie not to track him after he found out about Raph’s tracker. He’d probably done it after Casey had gotten lost, and while he could kind of understand the concern, it was still messed up. He had promised Casey not to.

That meant Donnie probably knew where Casey had been the last few days. Why hadn’t he brought it up? Surely Donnie was going to confront him at some point, right?

It was a nauseating feeling. He had thought he had covered his tracks, but it also felt like no matter what he did, things were beginning to unravel. He supposed it was only a matter of time. He squeezed the grip of his hockey stick in frustration. He wasn’t ready for that. He really wasn’t ready for that.

As Leo led them across town, Casey noticed that they were approaching a pinned location on his map. He pulled out his phone and checked where they were going, but there were only a handful of places he had pinned, and they weren’t anywhere he had gone to before.

This was a place he had dared not go.

“Leo! Stop!” Everyone immediately halted and turned their heads to him. “We have to slow down. I know where they are.”

“You do?” Casey nodded, and he handed Leo his phone. “I put a tracker on the Sister Krang before she was taken away. That’s exactly where we’re headed.”

“What? She’s here?” Leo looked in the direction they were headed. Just on the edge of town Casey and the others could make out a sparkling white dome in the distance. “I figured they'd ship her to Area 51 or something.”

“It’s a government facility,” Casey nodded. “I haven’t checked it out but…”

“This is really bad,” Raph spoke up. “They probably think he’s an alien or something stupid like that.”

“If we’re going to sneak in there, we’re going to have to be very smart about this,” April pointed out.

“Ugh, why did our smart brother have to get captured!” Mikey groaned, tilting his head to one side. Leo gave him a disapproving look.

“So they probably have a lot of security,” Leo turned to Casey. “Do you have anything that could help us get around that?”

Casey's face lit up. “I do, actually! Could I take the point?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Leo stepped aside and Casey jumped ahead, flipping his mask down and switching over to night vision.

“If you’re paranoid about an enemy you know nothing about, you’re going to give yourself the widest perimeter possible,” Casey explained, steering the group southwest. “Like, the perimeter could be miles wide, with several different layers of detection. We’re likely already being monitored in some capacity.”

“Are you kidding?” Leo asked, surprised.

“It’s fine,” Casey waved him off. “It should be a general surveillance at this distance. They don’t know we’re after them.” Casey pulled out his phone and opened one of future Donatello’s most beloved applications: R.O.N.I.N.

He was going to be honest, Casey didn’t know exactly how it worked, but it had saved his ass many times over, and his sensei’s many more. It was an anti-surveillance program that could detect other security systems within the vicinity and alert the user. It could loop video and replace audio of security footage, allowing the user to sneak into new places unseen and unheard. It could use AI to generate new footage based on existing data, creating especially difficult to notice alterations. It could even trick motion sensors.

This was also the same system that found a map of Mama’s Battle Nexus. With algorithms that wouldn’t be breachable for the next twenty odd years, Donatello’s R.O.N.I.N. application was the most advanced spyware on the planet. And it needed to be- it had saved his family’s lives more times than Casey could count.

R.O.N.I.N. searched for nearby systems, and aside from the local home security systems nearby, there was only one that matched the complexity Casey was looking for. The security was looser than he expected. There were traffic cameras connected to the facility’s system, but of course, they had traveled above those.

“We’re actually clear,” Casey sighed with relief. “R.O.N.I.N. says the facility’s system’s radius is only 3,000 yards, we’re safe until we’re less than a mile away.”

“R.O.N.I.N.?” Leo asked, tilting his head. “What’s that?”

“One of Donnie’s apps. It was named for you, actually,” Casey winked. “Ninja In, Ninja Out, Reversed.”

“Pft,” Leo sputtered. “That’s so dumb.”

“I should probably give you a copy of it at some point,” Casey noted. It was probably too valuable for them to not be using it on a regular basis anyway.

They moved in closer to the facility, and as it came into view, Casey was a little set back by how large it was. It was as large as a football stadium. It wasn’t exactly subtle either, with its bright white shining dome reflecting the city’s lights. It must be a pain to look at during the day.

“How are we supposed to find Donnie in there?” Raph asked as they approached the perimeter. “It’s huge…”

“He’s in there,” Mikey interrupted. “I can see him.”

“You what?” Leo and Raph asked at the same time.

“I can see Donnie’s ninpo. He’s actually relatively close to us.”

“Since when could you do that?” Raph asked, crossing his arms.

“Since today,” Mikey shrugged. “Casey’s been teaching me some things.”

Raph gave Casey a one-eyed, no nonsense look.

“Were you gonna share with the rest of the class?”

Casey picked his nose. “He wanted to know how to fly. Raph doesn’t fly in the future.”

“And what do I do in the future, huh?”

Casey looked away. “Push up daisies, mostly.”

“You little shit!”

“Guys cut it out!” Leo interrupted. “How are we going to get in there?”

“I can set R.O.N.I.N. up to disable their security, but we still have to take out anybody on the way in,” Casey offered, pulling up a map of the facility and sharing it with the guys. “We could sit and learn their rotations, but that’s probably not ideal if we want Donnie out as soon as possible.”

“We need to hurry,” Leo agreed.

“Right. Since Mikey and I have eyes on Donnie, you three-” Casey pointed to Leo, April, and Raph. “Need to make sure you’re with one of us at all times.”

“I’ll stay with you,” Leo directed. “Raph you stick with Mikey and April. I don’t really want us splitting up if we have to though.”

“No, especially if there are more big guys like Aderman,” April agreed. 

“Wait, this is a government facility,” Raph pointed out. “Was he ambushed by humans?”

“One human,” April clarified, making the group turn their heads to gawk at her.

“April, you didn’t explain what Donnie was doing out here,” Leo reminded her, narrowing his eyes with concern.

“We were looking for that herbicide I found over the summer,” she sighed, pressing her hand to her forehead. “It’s all my fault he got captured. I should have gone with him!”

Raph placed a hand on her shoulder, and she turned in to him for a hug. “It’s alright,” he assured her. “We’re gonna get him back.” She mumbled an agreement, and then broke away, taking a breath to steady herself.

“I had a friend let Donnie into the school, and from what he told me as he was running away, Aderman probably heard them sneaking around and took Donnie away. She’s also… not very fond of mutants.”

“Well she definitely won’t be fond of us by the time we’re done here,” Raph grumbled.

Leo looked back down at Casey’s map, and then at the facility.

“Looks like there’s a window up on the third floor I could use to see inside,” he pointed out.

“Whatever I see I can portal to, so I can drop us on the roof and we go in from there.”

Mikey glanced over to Leo and squinted at his back.

“Leo, how do you have two swords again?”

“What?” Leo straightened up immediately, as if he could hide the katanas on his back. “I've had these two for a while now.”

“Donnie broke your last one yesterday! I heard it snap!” Mikey accused.

Leo scratched the back of his head, his face turning redder by the minute. “Well… you see, we're on a really important mission now… Donnie's in trouble-”

“You are so dead when we get home!” Mikey jabbed his finger repeatedly into Leo's plastron. “Dead dead dead dead DEAD!”

“Mikey,” Casey interrupted. “Are there any security personnel by that window?” Casey asked.

Mikey sneered at Leo once more and then looked up through the trees and brush they were currently hidden behind.

“Yeah, there are a couple.”

“So we can take them out or distract them,” Casey concluded. “Taking them out in the short term is safer, but a well done distraction wouldn’t raise any alarms.”

“It’s faster to knock them out, and then there’s less of them on the way out,” Raph argued.

“Thanks for volunteering yourself, big guy,” Leo smiled, elbowing the snapper.

“Hey!”

-

It was surprisingly easy to catch the two unfortunate security guards standing outside the facility’s eastern wall. A quick bonk together of their similarly thick noggins caused them to drop like stones. Raph dragged the men into the bushes, giving Leo the opportunity to portal the team up onto the… uh… dome. Casey almost stepped out onto the surface to follow Mikey and Leo when April pulled him back quickly by the shoulder.

"Are you crazy? It’s too steep, we'll slip and fall!" she whispered. Casey did a double take at the smooth, round surface in front of them. Oh, yeah that probably wasn't a great idea. He watched Leo slide precariously over the lip of the building and out of sight. Mikey neared the edge as well, keeping a lookout. The only thing keeping them from sliding off the rounded surface was the added traction of their bare feet and hands. Casey leaned back. Yeah, falling off the building from this height could have been disastrous. And embarrassing.

A minute later Leo was back and cut them open a new portal, this time inside the facility itself.

"Remember team, stick together," Leo warned. "We get Donnie, we get out. No funny business."

The group nodded in unison. They silently stepped through the portal, and it closed shut behind them.

Casey found himself in what looked to be a personal office space. The floor was covered in commercial carpet squares, and the ceiling was filled by acoustical drop tiles. Leo had strategically positioned them behind a solid row of filing cabinets, but if they moved too much they could be seen through either the exterior or interior windows. The office door was also glass, but at least that gave Mikey a space to peek into the hallway outside from a low angle, and be therefore easier to overlook.

The box turtle took the lead, using his newfound third eye to look out for potential enemies and edge their way towards Donnie's signal. Once Mikey seemed lost by the layout of the labyrinth of cubicles they meandered through, but it was then that Casey would pull out his map and point him in the right direction.

Eventually they came to a stairwell that would lead them up and further into the dome, and now away from any exterior windows. Casey felt the unease of being trapped crawl over his skin, but then remembered that in this time, Leo had his portals. That was a relief and a half, and something the boy was still not used to.

Casey vaguely remembered exploring the crumbled remains of an enclosed stadium once upon a time when he was very small. Master Leonardo had considered it a place they could hide for a time, but in the end passed it over for an underground alternative instead. The facility they were moving in reminded him of that stadium. Tall, curved walls became the ceiling, with high white painted steel beams criss crossing over one another high above them. The floor was filled with polished concrete with a buffed reflection that caught the flood lights mounted on the exterior wall circling the entire facility. 

The interior wall of this hallway was similarly curved, following the shape of the exterior, but instead of steel, it was made of painted white brick. There were a series of doors spaced far out along and around this interior, and Mikey paused at the sight of them as he seemed to look beyond them.

He looked back at Casey, who was squatting just at the top of the stairs. 'Where go?' he signed, pointing to the row of doors.

Casey opened the map again and took the lead, moving them towards what seemed to be marked as the primary testing facility. He was nearly there when a hand grabbed him and pulled him back suddenly. A door swung open behind him, and Mikey threw himself, and directed the others into said room, before closing the door silently and leaving them in the darkness.

"Mikey what-" Casey heard Leo start to ask, but a small movement shut him up. Then they heard the footsteps coming. They passed right by them, and then faded away. Slowly and carefully, Mikey reopened the door and slipped back outside, letting the others behind him trickle out.

Who knew today was the perfect day to fuck around and find out what else he could do with his ninpo?

Casey took the point again and led them to the lab Donnie's tracker seemed to be pointing them towards. The door to the next room was locked, but that never stopped a professional scavenger like Casey Jones. Through years of experience, there wasn't a single lock he could not pick, and today would be no exception. It only took a moment for his bump key to find its place in the lock and jimmy it open with a swift and satisfying click.

In they slipped, one by one. The testing room they had entered was enormous, but it unfortunately lacked the purple soft shell they were looking for. Instead, the five of them came face to face with the tortured wails and horrific sight of what little remained of the pathetic Sister Krang.

They found themselves at the back of a viewing room, one of several that looked out into a large white room filled with half a dozen lab assistants and technicians, who were currently examining the writhing pink alien. The sight of the creature made Casey's knees buckle, but April was there to catch him and hold him in place.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He knew she was here. He had told all of them himself. But seeing her again after only so little time had passed… He stiffened, and found himself looking around for more of them, or for something to go wrong, even though he knew logically that likely would not happen. She was completely and utterly subdued by the facility employees, screaming in horrendous agony. Nothing was getting her out of here as they sawed bits of her off and placed those bits of her pink flesh into plastic bags to be carted off somewhere else. Wherever they cut, her skin grew right back. Another team seemed to be observing her and taking notes, talking back and forth to one another despite the horrific screaming. They did so as if everything here was perfectly ordinary. As if they were carving a Christmas ham. Casey wondered how anyone could find themselves clocking into work and deciding to do this today.

Thankfully, Mikey took the lead again and brought them through a side door to their right, which thankfully led them out of sight of the pathetic creature. The screams however, given their proximity, continued. Casey hoped that Donnie was alright, but his stomach dropped just thinking about what state he could be in when they caught up to him.

The others also seemed spurred on with urgency as they moved quicker now through room after awful room, down and around pointlessly meandering hallways that finally led them to the opposite side of the facility. Casey wasn't sure what Mikey had meant when he said he thought Donnie was "close."

Mikey stopped in front of another door and gestured to Casey and Leo. Donnie’s tracker showed them he was on the other side of this door. But what Mikey signed next caught Casey’s attention:

‘I see two Donnies.’

‘Two?’ Casey asked in confusion. ‘How?’ Mikey shrugged, but Leo confirmed there was only one showing up via his subdermal.

‘How many are inside?’ Casey asked instead. He didn’t have time to wonder how reliable Mikey’s new sight was. He hoped it was just a fluke.

‘Six.’ Okay, that wasn’t so bad. Casey checked the map for any other ways into the room. It looked like there was another observation room around the corner. If Leo got eyes on Donnie, they could pop in and out before Aderman even knew what hit her. Directing the group to the map and then around the corner, Mikey signed there was one person inside the observation room.

Mikey slipped inside and knocked out the single lab tech, but that was about when the team’s luck ran out, because at that moment, another person on the other side of the glass turned and directed a question to the now unconscious man, or rather where he had been standing. Mikey gave a cheeky smile back to the lab tech, before ducking under the interior window and turning to the others.

“Get him and go, Leo!” he whispered frantically, gesturing with his thumb over his head and into the lab. Casey could hear the confused chatter of the staff on the other side of the wall, and the door opening out into the hall they’d just come from. They had less than a minute before this got bad.

Leo peeked over the window and into the lab. Casey thought a ghost had passed over the slider as he grabbed onto the windowsill to ground himself.

"Don!"

-

You Aren't Supposed to Be Here

As soon as Leonardo boarded the small airship, everything went to shit.

Immediately as Donatello signaled they were taking off, Casey and April heard the massive crunch of steel as the ship was forced back down. Reports flashed on the Commander’s screen that Donatello’s ship was critically damaged. April pulled up a feed of the airship's external cameras. Tentacles wrapped tightly around the titanium body, and covered the lenses from several perspectives.

“Shit!” Donatello’s panicked voice came through the comms. In the background of that swear, Casey thought he heard howling from a short distance away.

A pause.

“What are we-” Master Leonardo was interrupted by a sound of shattered glass, and then horrific screaming.

“Don!” Leonardo screamed, and Casey glanced over to their vitals. Donatello’s heart rate skyrocketed. There was more swearing from Leonardo’s com, but he seemed otherwise physically unharmed.

And then… the comms shut off.

“Donnie!” April shrieked, trying to re-establish the connection, but it was clear he had deliberately cut them. What was happening?

Casey gripped the chair back he was leaning over in the war room. Commander O’Neil stood with one arm over his shoulders, squeezing him close and staring at the reports. The cameras on the ship’s exterior revealed the ship was now surrounded by at least thirty hounds, and Casey knew that there were probably even more on the way.

The brothers were grounded in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by enemies, with no way out.

“Leo, Donnie, come in! Guys…” April pleaded. Casey stared at the vitals monitor. He was still there.

“Sensei…”

This wasn’t happening. This could not be happening. There was nothing they could do. Leonardo knew they were waiting on him. He wasn’t just going to leave them, was he? Why had Donatello cut him off from them?

And then, while they could do nothing but sit and witness the end, one last message came through: “Leo’s en route, eta two seconds.”

“What?” April whispered. “That…”

Blue violet light erupted around the room. It shimmered in the same way Casey had seen Master Michelangelo’s ninpo do. Casey and April turned at the same time and, to their amazement, saw exactly what Donatello described. Through a ring of blue violet mystic energy, Leonardo stumbled backwards into the war room, somehow crossing over one hundred miles in just two seconds. On the other side, Casey could see the ship they had just tried to escape with. As the portal closed, he noticed that Donatello was nowhere in sight.

April was the first to react, moving swiftly to catch the slider before he ran into their table. Casey had to jump out of the way of them in the cramped space. Bewildered, and half wondering if this was some kind of mistake or trick, he looked the slider over with a confusing feeling of both horror and relief. Master Leonardo wasn’t supposed to be able to use his ninpo. How was this possible?

As April fussed over the older turtle, Casey glanced back at their monitors. The cameras were dead. Donatello was dead. Leonardo was not. Sliding away the map of the crash site, Casey pulled up a map of their own base. Three flashing blips indicated that Leonardo was well and truly in the room with them. Casey glanced back over to Leonardo, still staring at the space where he had just come from. He hadn’t said anything, even as April peppered him with questions. He just stood there, watching nothing, appearing to have no more will or function than that of a standing oak tree. He was simply lost, his eyes glazed over, lips and teeth set as if he had something else he wanted to say, but no one left to say it to.

After what felt like an eternity, the slider opened the grip of his prosthetic hand, and lowered it to show April what he had brought back with him. Purple satin slid through his fingers and into her trembling hands. When April looked back up into Leonardo’s eyes, Casey suddenly felt like an intruder. They stood in shock, devastated at the loss of someone Casey had thought he had no desire to see or hear from ever again. So he retreated, around the table and out the door.

He faintly heard Leonardo’s apology as he forced himself down the hall. He passed Michelangelo’s room and debated if he should say anything, but thought better of it. He didn’t want to make things worse. Instead, he arrived at and kicked in the door of his own room. The handle bounced off the adjacent wall and swung the panel back viciously, clipping his shoulder as he made his way inside. Swearing from the shock more than the pain, he clawed at the shitty door and slammed it back into place. In a minute he’d hear someone calling his name, to check on him and see if he was alright.

Fuck! No, no he was not alright. He turned and sat with his back against the door. He didn’t know how he was supposed to feel, but he certainly was not grateful. Even when Donatello died he still found a way to bring him immense pain. What a fucking dumbass.

-

"Leo move!" Casey shouted at him as the door to the observation room swung open and two militantly dressed security officers found them. Raph stood from his crouch and knocked them out, but now they could hear panicked shouting from the other room.

Leo finally drew his swords, cutting a portal open right underneath himself and Casey. The kid yelped in surprise as they dropped down right in front of an operating table.

“Hold on to him!” Leo said with gritted teeth, and it was then that Casey saw Donnie was strapped to said operating table. His breathing faltered at the sight of the exposed soft shell. He was completely undressed (well, more so than they usually were- no mask, no wrist tech, etc…), his jaw slack, and muscles relaxed. Casey hadn’t seen Donatello this vulnerable ever. Just knowing how uncomfortable Donnie would be in this state when he woke up made Casey avert his eyes awkwardly, but Casey did what Leo told him, reaching over Donnie’s plastron and grabbing tight of him as Leo cut another portal, this time right through the floor under the operating table and dropping them straight out of the facility and into the woods surrounding. But just as soon as they landed, Casey saw movement above him. Someone had followed them through the portal.

“Where do you ugly little fuckers think you’re going?”

Oh, Leo was going to take great offense to that.

---

Prev. Masterpost Next

Notes: Chapter 12 will be the last chapter released this year. 😎

#rottmnt #rottmnt fanfiction #future donatello #future leonardo #snapper and stinkpot #rottmnt casey jr #casey sas au #future april #bad future rottmnt

[dameronology]

dating steve harrington hcs

a/n: this was my second most popular request after the eddie ones lmao y'all have made your faves clear and i love it because they are also my mine

you & steve started dating in high school; maybe in like junior or senior year?? it's nothing serious, literally just two kids messing about, and eventually you break up before you graduate just because shit happens, as it goes, and honestly it's nothing that deeply scarring

then one day, maybe a year or so after you graduate, your mum sends you out on a friday evening to get something for movie night and you end up going to family video

lo-and-behold, steve harrington is sat behind the counter. you had always wondered what he was up to these days, but you sort of lost contact

his face lights up when he sees you - even more so when you look him up and down and say "we're both here on a friday night, so i guess things worked out for both of us, huh?"

steve can't help but smile; he'd always loved your humour and he was glad to see it hadn't changed in the last two years

when you ask for movie recommendations, he just happens to list every film that you & him used to watch together

when steve gives you that stupid goofy smile of his, you know it's not a coincidence

you end up renting a new hope, per steve's insistence and apparent new found love for the star wars franchise (thanks dustin!!)

before you leave, he asks if you want to hang out ("as friends - not weird high school exes, but i don't blame you if you haven't moved on yet")

so a few days later you meet him after work & you lull around the arcade for a bit exactly like you did when you were teenagers

steve is different now; he's..wiser, maybe. still goofy & dumb as ever, but everything he says is a little more insightful and his face lights up when he tells you about how he's the unintentional babysitter to nancy wheeler's little brother and all his friends

at the end of the night, he asks you if you want to go on an actual, proper date. and it's hard not to accept, because he still has all the features you loved so much about him as a giddy teenager, but the maturity he used to lack is there now, clear as day

you go into the whole thing with no idea what to expect, but after a few dates it's clear you've got a good thing going and within two or three months, you and your high school boyfriend are in some weird new, committed relationship

it was unexpected, which was nice

in a way it's like no time has passed at all - he still has all his old habits, like opening the car door for you, driving you home all the time & leaving you dumb notes around the house

he's so, so caring in his own little ways - he leaves the coffee machine on a timer for when you wake up, buys your favourite sweets every time he sees them in any store, and he's always bringing home videos from the store that he think you might like

steve's pretty basic with nicknames: it's normally baby, and sometimes sweetheart, but mostly commonly a shortened variation of your name, or even just your first initial

ngl he's a fucking nightmare at remembering actual anniversaries but somehow remembers the smaller things??

like making you breakfast & a packed lunch on the days you have big meetings, or learning the names of every single one of your extended family, or filling up your car in the morning so you can stay in bed an extra five minutes

or one time you mentioned in like january that there was this really pretty necklace in the window of a store downtown; it was sold out the next day sadly, but then around the summer he sees it again and buys it for you

he can be a little frustrating at time. steve grew up in a very well-off household so he's not the best with money. he'd much rather splash out on a cool new video game or a nice present for you than save for the future

and you can't really argue with that?? because how fucking cute is it but also rent is important too steve god

steve can also be difficult. he's stubborn as anything and once he has his mind made up, there's no changing it. that means you guys sometimes clash, but you always make up

he has two polaroids of you on his nightstand; one is you guys outside the arcade in your junior year and the other one is basically identical, except it was taken on your third anniversary (the second time you're dating lmao)

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington imagines #steve harrington x you #steve harrington headcanons #steve harringon reader insert #steve harrington #stranger things imagine #stranger things imagines #stranger things x reader #stranger things

[thetruejerrycan]

I'm pretty confident that this Game Awards announcement that Sega is hyping up is Virtua Fighter related. Everything surrounding Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is my only hint with some real basis. Straight from the horse's mouth, the game was meant to gauge interest in the VF property and the game met sales expectations plus got both Yakuza and Tekken-themed DLC to sweeten the pot. Usually when a game in a dormant franchise is being released to "gauge consumer interest", that's not a good sign. What typically ends up happening is that they hold the game for ransom, telling us that if we give them enough money we'll get to see more of it, with varying degrees of truth. This time, I think Sega meant it

"New era, new energy" is what really gets my imagination firing on all cylinders. That could mean anything, but not only have they been sending these letters to fighting game players in specific, let's just think about Virtua Fighter for a second. Love VF or hate it, it's hardly moved forward as a video game since its inception. While the gameplay has struck a balance between simplicity with only three buttons and complexity with just about everything else going on, VF fails to compare to its contemporaries otherwise. The modern issue is that VF5US came out in 2021 but not only does it not have a PC port, it doesn't have rollback either. The chronic problem with all of the Virtua Fighter games is that even though it was the first time we'd seen human game characters in full 3D, the characters to this day remain extremely one-dimensional, two if we're being generous. It really doesn't help that none of these characters' backstories are communicated in the games themselves. VF's arcade mode never even featured character endings. It's extremely difficult to find anything interesting beyond surface level about a majority of the characters outside of their one-liners and their fighting style. Virtua Fighter as a series has a lot of catching up to do and I think this could be Sega's chance to push it in a direction of modernity, which can exciting and scary for everyone involved, I'm sure

Now watch everything I've said here turn out to be wrong and we get Sonic the Fighters 2. I'd absolutely still be down, STF2 could end up going hard as fuck. Really, any of Sega's repertoire of fighters could make for a great comeback with the right minds behind it

#sega #game awards #speculation #virtua fighter #fighting games #sonic the fighters

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 21/04/2024

we are number one but with outdated memes over it

Season 1 Featured on: GilvaSunner's Highest Quality Video Game Rips: Volume 7: Part mm2wood Also on: Now That's What I Call Quality!, SiIvaGunner: Starter Kit & Essentials

Ripped by NBGMusic

When I wrote yesterday's post on Five Nights of Snop Dog, I made a bit of an error in my research. See, though "Five Nights of Snop Dog" was an actual request received, it was actually fellow ripper NBGMusic who got it on his SoundCloud, not Chaze the Chat as I'd claimed. Well, as fate would have it, NBGMusic just so happens to be responsible one of the most well-known rips on the SiIvaGunner channel - and not only is it also tied to Snop Dog himself, its also tied to the glorious age of Montage Parody videos. And with Season 8 having finished an MLG event of its own just yesterday, it's as if the stars all aligned - I can think of no better time to cover we are number one but with outdated memes over it.

Now, the aforementioned magnificent 4/20 event was far bigger than usual for the channel, casting the net to not just cover weed-smoking jokes, but to cover the age of internet shitposting where it was at its most notorious - Montage Parodies. The years from 2012 to 2016 were absolutely FILLED with these, in a way that feels almost lost on the current internet generation, as very few seem to actually remember it fondly. Because like, it was all a bit stupid, wasn't it? Rage comics and impact font memes are remembered nostalgically, YouTube Poops are cherished to this day and continue to see prevalence both in general and on SiIvaGunner - we wouldn't be getting rips like Mr. 2​.​718281828459045235360287471352662497757247093699959574966967627724076630353547594571382178525166427427466391932003059921817413596629043572900334295260595630738132328627943490763233829880753195251019011573834187930702154089149934884167509244761460668082264800168477411853742345442 or Crompton Racing if there weren't people still enthusiastic for them. Montage Parodies were comparatively really short lived, and even back in 2016 SiIvaGunner channel itself didn't really touch them. Sure, we got rips with Smoke Weed Everyday as the joke from time to time, like with Ganja Man 9: Hash Blunt Hash (Shorty's Stage), but I think most people already saw the signs that MLG videos weren't really sticking around. Or at least, that's what *I* thought back in the day - evidently, the whole thing had just a little bit more juice left in it.

Because at the tail end of the channel's life, in September 2016, we received we are number one but with outdated memes over it. Sure, it wasn't the first We Are Number One rip on the channel, but it might as well have been - it landed right as the meme was taking off, and garnered views by the thousands in absolutely record time. For a decent while, it even was THE most viewed rip on the channel - and, funny enough, a 2017 Mel (that's me!) left a comment on the video befuddled over just how popular this MLG video was. Because, like, it's right there in the title - it's we are number one but with outdated memes over it, I thought we were all in agreement that Smoke Weed Everyday and "This is a certified hood classic" and Skrillex and all of that stuff wasn't funny anymore?

So then...why is it still so fucking good?

There's been a bit of a running joke with in the SiIvaGunner Discord (which you should join, by the way!) over how I actually hate this rip, or at least don't have positive feelings toward it. And I'll be honest - I hadn't really listened to it in a long time, and I think for a long time I was still a little bit fed up with MLG videos in general. I don't think they have any shot of becoming relevant again in the same way that YTPMV or rage comics do, ironic-or-not, but it was also kind of presumptuous to ascribe that same kind of obnoxiousness to we are number one but with outdated memes over it. Because sure, it's using outdated memes - but NBGMusic isn't using them in halfmeasures or with the intent to make the audio unlistenable. It's all playing to We Are Number One's melody and progression, which in of itself is honestly kind of novel these days - ever since we got the song's stems released in late 2016, most rips on the channel featuring the jokes have been full on arrangements with its instruments a la Chillin’ Like A Villain or We Are Number 4 (Golden). I love those rips as well, they're all incredibly fun takes on the song - but it's an entirely different flavor from how we are number one but with outdated memes over it goes about doing things.

Even though the title isn't lying, its definitely underselling the rip, it almost makes it sounds like a fucking MrMrMANGOHEAD video (Remember him? Shrek-face Mike Wazowski?). There's a lot of noise to be sure, but its all coordinated in really fun ways! I love the repeating "WHAT" samples playing as Robbie begins his lecturings in trickery, changing to samples shouting "HEY" in the next verse, ironically going against the lyrics' point of "not making a sound". And that's just what happens to the vocals - the main hook of the rip, of course, is how the iconic saxophone hook that plays inbetween the vocals is here matched with pitch-shifted Smoke Weed Everyday's, almost exactly like the aforementioned Ganja Man 9: Hash Blunt Hash (Shorty's Stage) - but its paired with sprinklings of memes tied to MLG parodies, like the legendary "MOM GET THE CAMERA", or of course bits and pieces from Skrillex music. I fucking love that in particular, actually: how traces of Skrillex's dubstep sound are heard in the rip from the very start, yet at 0:56 we're finally given full payoff with the iconic "YO SKRILL DROP IT HARD", leading to a full beat drop that somehow feels perfectly in tune with what We Are Number One is doing alongside it.

You know me - my favorite thing in rips is when they escalate, and though we are number one but with outdated memes over it stays within the same set of jokes throughout, its dedication to covering the *entire* We Are Number One with all of these memes means that it finds new ways to go about it for each segment. I may have been a bit frustrated back then, but in hindsight its easy to see just why this rip got as popular as it did, beyond just playing to the ongoing trend - its a pretty damn high-effort production for being part of a shitposting trend basically defined by being purposefully low-effort and obnoxious. In that sense, I suppose we are number one but with outdated memes over it is like a final hurrah for the age of Montage Parodies - right as we were all letting go of it, as the wild ride of 2016 was making everyone (most importantly YouTube itself) realize that the internet needed to be made a less toxic, less obnoxious place...we got one last jab at all the fun that these videos had to offer. And in turn, it wound up passing the torch to We Are Number One shitposting, beginning a new trend of channels spoofing existing meme music with their own edits and ideas, a trend you'll still see up and about today.

The internet all feels a lot more complicated today in its many corners - Twitter, Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, Discord and its Tenor GIFs, all sort of forming their own ideas of what is and isn't in vogue for shitposting anymore, all at each others' throats. For as obnoxious as Montage Parodies often were in hindsight...there's something so oddly nostalgic about how widespread they were - how EVERYONE deep in the online trenches seemed to just be enamored by these absolutely ridiculous videos. we are number one but with outdated memes over it brought people together over their stupidness for one last time, and for just a little while longer after that, We Are Number One did the same. And with yesterday's MLG day, with looking back on this rip in tow...I can't help but miss it all at least a little bit.

#todays siivagunner #season 1 #siivagunner #siiva #NBGMusic #we are number one #stefan karl #lazytown #robbie rotten #lazy town #mlg #montage parodies #montage parody #smoke weed everyday #4/20/24 #4/20 #4/2024 #weed #Youtube

[okthatsgreat]

hiii okay i just started reading opddmh and i was wondering if you have any thoughts about komaru and toko's relationship and udg in relation to the virtual reality au you're writing? :3c they are so precious to me and if u dont have any thoughts on it thats fine!! just wondering <3 have a good day!!

OOOO DEFINITELY !!! nothing too complex or thought out but ive definitely got some thoughts on it >:)

first things first ultra despair girls is most certainly some kind of spinoff in this universe! so its not considered a main storyline/killing game however it is still on ongoing series! i imagine after 53 seasons the danganronpa timeline has been seriously fucked up and udg is absolutely one of the main reasons its so wonky, you can IMAGINE all of the conspiracy youtube videos trying to piece that shit together lmfaooooo. but yep udg is a running spinoff series starring toko, komaru, and the warriors of hope (who are teenagers in this au at this point!!). it also features a range of other villains and side characters that were introduced later on :] udg definitely isnt as popular nor is it as consistent in its production as the main danganronpa story is (while danganronpa has at least one season per year, udg has one maybe every three), but it still gets a whole lot of views !! which means toko and komaru are unfortunately in it for the long haul </3

they live seperate from each other however they're over at each others apartments so often that they basically live together LMFAO. they rely on each other SO so heavily. i personally think they have romantic feelings somewhere underneath their fear of losing each other to the mental trauma of danganronpa however there is NO WAY danganronpa would ever let them be a couple. the most theyre allowed to do is queerbait ghfdsjkghjkdf. if they confirm anything between the pair they are destroying an entire market of fans they can profit off of and also likely losing hella sponsorship money. its extremely difficult navigating a relationship like that, where they have become so heavily codependent on each other not only because their wellbeing relies on the other being healthy and well but also because they've grown so close it's impossible to imagine a future where the other isnt involved somehow. everything danganronpa has put them through, it has usually been TOGETHER, which means they've bonded through those experiences. is that healthy? absolutely the fuck it is not however there is no time or space to navigate that or to spend time away from each other (even if they wanted to, which they don't)!!

the pair stay relatively close with the warriors of hope-- or at least komaru does lmfaooo. like i said before the warriors of hope are teenagers at this point (honestly theyre probably mius age!! which sparks a lot of hypothetical interactions LMAO) so they dont really need babysitters or anything like that but because there are not very many people who could possibly understand what they've gone through they tend to stick together!! a few of them, at least. i imagine nagisa is a lot more distant and kotoko probably has other friends she talks to a whole ton :] people that arent constant walking reminders of her current and past traumas lol

komaru also doesnt talk to makoto as often anymore! they kind of keep in touch and definitely see each other at press conferences and all that, but the relationship has become somewhat strained. its a bit awkward knowing they arent actually related!! theyre still kind to each other and care about each other like actual siblings but its hard not to feel sad around the other unfortunately :(

and toko definitely doesnt talk to byakuya much anymore besides the occasional promotional material LMFAO. they dont despise each other but both have done a lot of growing and a lot of that included distancing themselves from each other

SORRY IF THAT WAS MORE THAN YOU ASKED FOR!!! THANK YOU <33

#THANKS FOR THE QUESTION I LOVE ANSWERING <3 #“nothing too complex or thought out” answers with an essay #ask lee #opddmh #kukizuchis

[blue-corvid]

Tumblr Live Hot(?) Takes

The thing that really kills me about Tumblr Live is honestly that it could have been fine -- useful even!

I already follow streamers on Tumblr! I follow artists, comedians, video game let's-players, tabletop gaming nerds, all of whom stream somewhere that isn't Tumblr! If I could watch them stream on Tumblr, I would absolutely do that!

But Tumblr. My beloved. You fucked it up so bad. You immediately made it as sketchy and annoying as possible, and now... by the point that “everybody hates it” is the thing most people know about it, i can’t imagine it would be easy to save.

So this is my open letter to Tumblr (I don't know who to direct it at -- @staff? I hope that's okay) -- here’s where I think you went wrong, and how you could fix it (if it is, in fact, fixable.)

Tumblr Live appeared silently with no warning.

When it first showed up, the only thing I heard about it was “what the fuck is this?” I Googled it and found basically nothing, and then when I looked it up in Tumblr’s support pages, it wasn’t super clear what Tumblr Live was or what it was for. Streaming platform was only my best guess.

Most of the article was about how you could make money off it. Tumblr, I can’t make money off of it if I don’t know what it is, how to use it, or how to explain it to anyone.

This isn't the case anymore, but it was a serious problem early on.

(Seemingly) no effort to make it look appealing or useful.

It looks and acts like an ad. It’s positioned like an ad at the top of the dashboard. Like an ad, it doesn’t have any connection to what I do or care about on Tumblr.

It looks to be a bunch of still shots from the live chats that it’s promoting and this is just such an unbelievably bad idea.

See, here's the thing: Tumblr has a running problem with porn bots, most of which can be quickly identified by their avatars, which are almost always (stolen) pictures of attractive women, often in revealing clothing.

Guess what every single image I can see on the Tumblr Live ad banner is? Did you guess pictures of attractive women, often in revealing clothing? See the problem? Regardless of my feelings on or desire to interact with cam girls (which are, for the record: I’m not interested personally but I wish you good vibes and good luck and respectful clients), my gut reaction upon seeing the Tumblr Live banner is, “That looks like a bunch of porn bots.”

When you add this to how hard it was to find information about Tumblr Live, how poorly its terms of service were explained, and the state of the internet right now (with every social media site gunning to get its teeth into its uses' throats to vampire as much sensitive personal data from them as possible), Tumblr Live looks dangerous.

When Tumblr users got annoyed with it, there was (seemingly) no effort to fix any of the problems.

Instead of explaining clearly what Live is and how it works and making it inherently less intrusive, Tumblr made excuses about how they had to try to make it profitable and doubled down on making it as annoying as possible with its stupid “snooze” feature.

Every time this stupid porn-bot-looking ad banner popped up on someone’s dash after a week of being lulled into a false sense of security, they hated it a little more.

Tumblr basically hand-crafted a sitewide campaign to yell about how bad this feature is once a week.

How could it have been better?

It’s all well and good to sit here and pass judgement, but was it not just doomed from the start? Could Tumblr really have done any better?

Yes. Absolutely yes.

Here’s how you fix Tumblr Live:

Get rid of the ad-banner-style preview placement.

Instead, mimic what people are doing for their Twitch streams already. Send out a notification on my dashboard when a blog I follow goes live. Respect the rules for normal Tumblr posts when it comes to visibility: let people blaze and reblog them and don’t push them out to people who wouldn’t normally see posts from that blog except according to users’ dashboard preferences.

For persistent notifications (since streams aren’t one-and-done like posts), put a list of blogs I follow that are currently live in the sidebar.

Because these features are no longer intrusive, you no longer need an option in the settings to toggle them off, and people who initially wrote off Live can explore it if it ever becomes valuable to them instead of making it disappear forever.

Get the stream previews off users' screens as soon as humanly possible.

Tumblr has a porn bot problem. Because people's (especially women's and especially cam girls') pictures get scraped for porn bot avatars, Tumblr users are gonna associate pictures of real live non-celebrity people (especially women) with internet scams. Forget this "keep it clean" shit -- whether it looks "clean" matters less than whether it looks like someone wants to steal my credit card information. (And on the other side of that, please understand that sex worker positivity doesn't help sex workers if a feature they use gets shut down because your average Tumblr user thinks it looks so sketchy that they won't touch it with a ten-foot pole.)

Replace the stream preview with the streamer's avatar and the stream title and/or a streamer-selected cover image.

Get help from actual streamers.

Go find Tumblr users who regularly make posts announcing Twitch streams and introduce them to Tumblr Live. For people who already use Tumblr, already stream stuff, and already use Tumblr to tell their audience that they're streaming, having a streaming platform attached to Tumblr could be a real convenience. If you have premium streaming features, find some popular streamers who use Tumblr and give them free access to those features for a while. Even better, maybe ask them for feedback on those features.

Most importantly, get people who stream a variety of different things. Even if Tumblr users don't hate Tumblr Live, if they're under the impression that it's only for one thing and that one thing is something they're not into, they're never gonna use it.

...That's it, that's all I've got. I know this post is a monster, but if anyone reads it: thanks. Good luck in to all in this new era of Tumblr.

#tumblr #tumblr live #an open letter to tumblr (with love) #I know people @ staff with a lot of angry rants so I hope it's clear that that is not what this is #idk if these takes are actually hot maybe they're extremely basic #maybe some of this stuff is even already fixed -- i turned off Live a while ago because i couldn't find anything to explore in it #so this is mostly a response to other Tumblr users (rightly) complaining

[hillbillyoracle]

Simple Celebrations for Holidays

Please pardon the autoimmune brain fog haze I'm writing from, but I wanted to pass along what I wish I could go back in time and tell myself about planning holidays. Especially for those holidays I skipped when I didn't have friends to celebrate it with because it's totally possible to have a fun meaningful holiday without anyone celebrating with you.

When I was younger, I think I felt like solo holidays didn't count and for the ones I didn't grow up with I always felt like I wasn't doing enough. But I realize now it's so much more about what is enough to you personally and lowering your enough bar to meet what you're reasonably able to do is where the magic happens.

I also think I thought that most of the holiday had to be based in tradition or spirituality - and I will say it's great when that's an option - but I realize now that even historically that only made up a portion of a given holiday to most lay folks, not the entire thing.

Why Celebrate Holidays

You definitely don't have to be any means. I spent many years barely celebrating most holidays and wasn't adversely impacted.

But I will say as I've gotten older and adult life itself isn't quite as exciting, novel, or interesting as it once was, holidays are really nice for differentiating the time. Especially when you do something a little different from year to year it really helps to mark out which era was which. If you're younger, that might sound silly to not be able to tell the years apart but they really do start to bleed together as you get older.

Historically, people still celebrated holidays even in terrible circumstances. It gave them something to do, a way back into the rhythm of their lives, a connection to the past, present, and future. In all the chaos we're living through right now, holidays offer us the same. A little way to take some control back and connect us even when we're apart.

Also, if you're anything like me, sometimes you need a reason to get up and treat yourself because it's not something you're great at otherwise.

Pick 1 or 2 things to Cook

Bonus points if these are variations you switch up each holiday. I've been fucking loving making bundt cakes for each occasion. Pick a seasonal ingredient to feature.

Low energy? Pick a convenience food or take out that contains the seasonal ingredient or seems appropriate in some way. Our go to Epiphany meal for many years has been take out from our favorite Indian place.

Pick 1 or 2 Spiritual Activities

My go to are tarot readings and feeding spirits. If the land is active, I try to feed the land spirits outside. If the land is dormant, I focus on house spirits and ancestors. For All Souls Day or the Octave of it, we've been going to a Catholic cemetery and saying a rosary for the souls in purgatory.

Prayers, votives and petitions, some types of spell work, casting astrological charts, local folk traditions for good luck and protection, and deity work are all things I've used at some point or another.

Pick 1 or 2 Fun Seasonal Activities

I think getting outside in some way is one of the most straight forward ways to celebrate this one. There's something about just going on a long walk and seeing what the land is doing that really sets the tone. Leaf collecting and pressing is a fun one to do in fall. Flower pressing is fun in spring. Taking pictures of what you see is a treat too.

Games are a good one for this. There's a lot of affordable and fun solo table top games so even if you're celebrating alone there are options. And of course, me being me, I like seasonal solo RPGs when I'm able to decide on one; they're especially fun for the winter holidays when it's harder to get outside. I like to get off of screens but some videos games are thematically appropriate or may even have holiday events - Animal Crossing is one.

Low energy? A book, show, or movie that reflects the season or holiday meaning is a great option. I've been collecting and doing puzzles with seasonal images on them. It doesn't take a lot of brain power for me to do them. Small ones are quick to do and relatively cheap to pick up.

Bonus: If you're able, donate or volunteer.

This could be to a relevant org or just an individual who needs it. Consider writing and sending a letter for a program like Letters Against Isolation or the World Needs More Love Letters.

Bonus: Decorations

I like to bring cuttings and things I've collected on my long walks inside when I can. Origami decorations are pretty accessible and fun to make. I've decorated with handwriting my favorite seasonal poems and putting them up. 7 day candles are fairly cheap to pick up (our Dollar Tree has them) and easy to decorate and serve as a focal point.

Other Tips

Especially if you're celebrating solo, take pictures. It can be tough for holidays to feel like proper occasions when there's not other people to celebrate with but creating memories and reflecting on them afterwards is one of the main joys when I've celebrated solo. Even if you don't share the pictures, having them to look back on really solidify the memories for me. I also like journaling throughout the day for the same reason.

Small splurges add up. Back when I lived in places that actually had bathtubs (I don't know what my family has against bath tubs but there basically are none in this house) - I made a point to take a nice long bath on holidays. Even If just did that, had a nice meal, pulled some cards, and watched themed movie, it really would feel like something special after the fact since I rarely do all of those things together.

Doing something better than doing nothing. Whatever you choose to do counts. Start small and build traditions up year to year.

Example: Lughnasadh

My current plan for Lughnasadh is:

Cook: Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

Cook: A dish involving corn, the only local grain-ish I can eat

Spiritual: Tarot Readings

Spiritual: Feed the land spirits (preferably at dusk)

Fun: Long walk

Fun: Board games - specifically some of the ones I have with dice

Fun: (low energy alt) rewatch Tangled and do a puzzle

Donate: Child's Play Charity

Decoration: Cuttings from herbs that have flowered, maybe corn husk dolls or the like.

Conclusion

This is obviously pretty simple on the whole, but you could easily scale up form here - and I have over the years. But this is what I had to start with in order to be able to add in new traditions that I both liked and were manageable.

Hope this gives some folks some ideas. You deserve a nice little holiday even if you're celebrating all alone.

#Note: my partner is a Buddhist Catholic #and I am a Buddhist Pagan #so we blend our celebrations #if mental health and circumstances allow #so that's why I mention Catholic holidays #witchblr #pagan #witch #wheel of the year #holidays

[bloodgulchblog]

As a recent convert, I think one of the things that gets me about the UNSC, for all that it contains many of our most beloved faces and characters, is absolutely the turbofascist monolithic antagonist of a hundred other works of fiction and yet here, somehow, remains the singular edifice standing between humanity and extinction when it came to the Covenant. It’s literally one of the worst things to happen to mankind except for \this particular incident/ and it’s maddening. Like I’m reading all this shit about Parangosky and Halsey today, and combing the wikis, and I’m just in awe- esp how that would like, ‘justify’ it’s existence in-universe ( even if it actually still wouldn’t have been enough! If the Prophets had waited like a week to kick things off it would have been over. )

Wild.

Welcome to, and my condolences for, Halo!

I think part of what's going on is: Halo borrows really openly from some source material, and two of the most obvious contributors to its DNA are Alien/Aliens and Starship Troopers. Halo: Combat evolved isn't just about shooting alien soldiers, it's also about the horror of encountering a new and scary parastic threat that's even more alien than the known enemy. (Someone with deeper pre-release Halo familiarity than me would have to confirm this, but I'm under the impression that the Flood was not mentioned anywhere before the game came out and it was a big surprise.)

Both of these sources feature pretty grim settings where you are not supposed (....at least in the film version of Starship Troopers, it's been a long time since I engaged with Starship Troopers in any form so I'm running on thinner memory ice here) to view the government/military as good and heroic.

One of the things that really cheered me up about Halo this year was finally reading Contact Harvest (which was released pretty much concurrently with Halo 3) and seeing in very clear terms how well Joseph Staten understood that this setting is incredibly fucked up. It's that way intentionally. Early Halo knows that the UNSC is the cudgel the Unified Earth Government is using to bludgeon the colony worlds into line and that this shit is not okay. We do get heroic UNSC characters all the time, but... I don't think that entirely derails the idea, because heroic and good individuals cannot overturn the badness of a whole power structure. (Also, Nylund absolutely loved brave and noble ship captains who are trying their best to do the right thing when faced with complicated and terrible choices, and really, who doesn't.)

I feel like the point where it starts to break down is as Halo went on to be not just a trilogy of games, but a huge ongoing media property where they (and by they I mean 343/Microsoft, because the rot really starts to set in by that point) had to keep figuring out reasons to make video games about this. And Halo's games have never been particularly good at calling out the fraught sociopolitical Stuff going on in the Halo universe, and thus the UNSC gets off looking way cleaner than it actually is unless you are big enough of a nerd to get into the expanded lore.

So, by trying to just continue what worked before and make UNSC Good Aliens Bad FPSes while the apocalyptic alien xenocide war is over, you end up with the weird situation where it feels like the big drivers of Halo canon don't want to rock the boat on the UNSC. That's how we get shit like the Spartan-IVs being presented as the "unproblematic" Spartan program even if the motives are the same and the ethics are still rancid.

Honestly, that's probably why they went with Cortana going off the chain in Halo 5. It raised the already-ugly issue of how badly AIs are treated in the UNSC, but it handily dodged having to deal with the much more mundane and close-to-reality issue of using military force for control over people.

#the unsc #halo meta #asks

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

From the gameplays I saw the devs were so busy making antisemitism simulator they forgot to make an interesting game. The fact that you can make a choices about most things there except allying with ranrok is stupid af but the ancient magic is an interesting plot and there isn't anything done with it. Oh you want to learn more about the mystic powers you have maybe develop a magic style unique to yourself NO go fuck yourself you can throw a stone and now go opress some goblins.

I’ve seen this sentiment circulating a lot as well. That the game is just objectively terrible at what it tries to be. How it pales in comparison to it’s contemporaries like Elden Ring. My favorite post is the one that points out how it has fewer available spells than Final Fantasy. As in, the original one. On the NES.

I don’t disagree. Cut corners are one of the worst things to see in a video game, and when HPHL directly informed the player that there would be no Quidditch and failed to offer a satisfactory excuse (or really, any excuse. “The Incident” doesn’t count if we never find out what it was.) I could feel my heart sinking. Another thing I don’t like? The illusion of choice, and this game suffers a great deal from that. I’ve got too many battle scars from Pokemon games. If you give me the option to say no to something, you had better actually listen to my saying no.

I feel as though a lot of time was spent on this game, based on the graphics, world, and characters alone…yet I also get the all-too-familiar sense that it was hurried. Could explain why the story only offers one year and doesn’t even cover O.W.Ls. Why Quidditch is omitted. I wonder if the developers could see Rowling blowing holes in the Harry Potter brand, and wanted to get this game onto shelves as quickly as possible. Still, taking some extra time to develop Ranrok and let us side with him, to actually feature multiple endings of consequence…would have made this game significantly better and potentially mended some of the problems with the Potterverse.

Because Hogwarts Legacy is not worthless. It is a good game. Among other things, it created Sirona Ryan, who is an absolute queen no matter which unfortunate words happen to be in her name. The game is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s far better than a lot of critics seem ready to face. I know why people trash the game, it’s the same reason that the books get trashed. Rowling has turned on us, so no one wants to admit that she created a beautiful world that people are still enjoying to this day. A lot of the issues people point out are, in all likelihood, unintentional microaggressions born of a nineties mindset. The problem is that Rowling is now making the choice to double down on them.

#Harry Potter: Hogwarts Legacy #Harry Potter #J.K. Rowling #TW: Antisemitism #Anti JKR #Sirona Ryan

[hardpacker]

KLONOA: Door to Phantomile

PS1, Namco, 1999

a couple minutes that i recorded of myself starting a new game of Klonoa, because some friends haven't seen it before. i have a longer video here, of clearing Vision 1-1 and 1-2.

sorry if i'm a little slow/clunky, i've never done this kind of thing so for the short segment above i first used some shitty freeware that unfortunately only recorded in like 5-min intervals, and for my second try i used different software that required more finessing but i used it to record up to the 2nd boss fight. maybe sometime i can do a proper run with a hot mic so you can really hear my dark nights of the soul with this children's game.

it gets even better than this!

i do have favourite games, but the truth is more that i have "games i've played" (and those are my favourites) and "games" (all other games. there's gotta be at least a hundred by now!) i'm not very good at them lol so i guess what happened is that if i'm going to sink hours and hours into something i end up enjoying it. but Klonoa is pretty breezy (haha.)

most of the games i played as a kid were distinctly of their time: strange, empty, experimental expanses full of 90s patterns and colours, with corners creatively cut. vast, sisyphean 3D platformers like Croc or Glover, all of the Myst games, virtual pets like Petz (dogz, catz) but also the Creatures series starting in 1996, and even more importantly, 1996's Fin-Fin-- produced by Osamu Tezuka's son, and while the company Fujitsu went under, Fin-Fin survives almost entirely due to a German fan site. fin-fin is genuinely perfect though, i mean look, look at this

fin-fin makes a bitch out of james cameron

meanwhile, Glover (1998)

Pokemon G/S/C were instantly and still are my favourite Pokemon installment for how much bigger and more mysterious they felt--and how much bigger they are literally! they're pretty huge games especially relative to the Pokemon games before and after. bigger still is how little is explained and how much room is left for a kid's imagination to build an experience from more simple pixels. it's a place to live in. coupled with the Pokemon 1999/2000 film featuring Lugia (my all-time fave) and my complete lack of access to any press about new Pokemon, the sense of mystery lasted quite a long time. the surprises, the entire soft but vibrant colour palette, the history and legends permeating the countryside, the simple but immersive integration of day/night and events throughout the week, and a soundtrack of top to bottom heaters... it felt personal, intimate.

compared to the newer series which i just find too stacked with convoluted elements. as of X/Y, they really began to feel like homework to me. i barely remember the plotlines after Black/White. i welcomed Heart Gold and Soul Silver, too, because it was incredible to see these beloved environments come into what was then HD focus. i replayed Crystal last summer (?) on my GBA and seamlessly remembered the way i imagined all those original environments and events. the limitations on these games make for infinite interpretation, and for me, contentment.

i don't tackle all my favourite media with the problem-solving/"what if" approach that i do with other properties... in fact it's pretty rare. games especially are a full sensory experience. Metal Gear Solid is another favourite series, special in that it's one of the few games i've repeatedly played just for the hell of it. Ace Attorney, which i was obsessed with as a young adult, i made almost 0 "content" for. i just didn't feel that impulse but still liked it all the same. versus something like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, which fucked my ass up; that was a world i wanted to not only explore, but explore by creating my own ideas bound to it. the fact that JJBA has continued for so long, incorporates many genres and tones, and has been adapted into multiple formats, means it's accessible to more people and i. (i need to save all that for its own post ha ha.)

Klonoa really is dreamy though, and that's essential to the story. it starts immediately following a luscious, ominous opening, and you're rushing off with little preamble. Klonoa himself is guileless and accepting of the logic presented, while his orb friend Huepow prompts him to question meanings and intentions. but why should he question it? why should you? it's his home, and just look at it! gorgeous.

the pan flute-heavy soundtrack rips. the characters speak in individual conlangs based on Japanese, sort of like the Sims. those little enemies i'm grabbing in the video are called Moos and there are different variants-- flying moos that look like parrots, moos that hop around on what looks like an inner tube with a spring, ghost moos, armoured moos (these run fast) and giant moos (which you can blow up to receive a handful of stones, or inflate to use them as a platform.)

this is from the beach volleyball game. the guy with the heart on his head is the king of all moos.

i rented Klonoa from my small town's video store so many times that finally my parents begged them to sell it to us, and that's what happened. it's such a charming game, the colours and music and whimsical winding 2.5D tracks are cleverly and lusciously laid out. it makes no sense that this is contemporary with big time uggos Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. i loved Spyro too, because he was a little dragon and i was pretty confidently a little dragon, too. pwho doesn't love a melted ice cream-y world and a million sparkly sound effects! the closest i come to ASMR is the soft crunch of crashing through baskets of gems.

i'm grateful kids might experience a new and improved Spyro. those remakes don't rekindle excitement in me as much, only because i think i pretty much got what i wanted out of them when i was younger. and omfg Crash is something else entirely. i don't know much about those games because i was bad at them, but i played Crash Team Racing repeatedly until i sold it (and Ape Escape, a game i remember feeling genuine rage toward) to an old woman at a flea market lol. i learned last month that i'd never played story mode, didn't register that it was there at all, and it's so weird to discover a whole other aspect to this game. weird too because, like Crash proper, it's frankly a bit too racist!

now. need to talk about Klonoa more.

at the time, critics thought the games were "too cute" and "too easy", but now it seems like a lot of reviewers have gone back and adjusted their response-- the sequel is considered one of the greatest PS2 games iirc? even from the time, there are equal reviews remarking on seeming randomness of the difficulty level and, especially, toward the end, ramps up sharply. this game has some hard shit in it! especially when it comes to timing and building up momentum. lots of heights-based challenges that make me flinch and kick reflexively.

these came to me at a time with barely any internet, so games were just random items that appeared in my house or were available at the video store, not things i knew how to find or should consider finding on my own. i didn't know there was a sequel until i thought to punch "klonoa" into a search in my Netscape browser, something i could've done at any point (during my allotted 20-30min computer time) like an early human inventing fire lol. it was one of the first things i ever bought online and it came to me during a part of summer while my parents were away, and this hushed sense of freedom coloured my experience.

there are 2 Klonoa GBA games and a silly beach volleyball offshoot game as well, featuring characters from Lunatea's Veil onward. i played one of the GBA ones as a kid, Empire of Dreams, but i don't think i finished it. at the time, shrinking Klonoa into a gameboy just wasn't what i wanted-- i liked how odd and big the PS games felt, the structures receding into a darkness i simultaneously filled in and was thrilled by in its own right. and i was gutted by the story and wanted to follow it on the platform i loved most. but Empire of Dreams and Dream Championship both look so natural and very pretty, and i think these play basically like a Mario. i should try it again.

There are technically 3 handheld Klonoa games-- Moonlight Museum was only for the WonderSwan, but it can now be played as a translated rom, available here! i'm pretty sure it's intended to take place before(?) Door to Phantomile.

Empire of Dreams takes place in an indeterminate time after(?) Door to Phantomile. Dream Championship takes place after the Playstation 2 sequel, Lunatea's Veil, the direct continuation of Door to Phantomile and utilises the same foundation/mechanics.

from replaying them recently, i found out Klonoa 1-2 are being remastered for the nintendo switch. i don't have a switch so i can't compare, and i hope they retain all the same qualities. i played the Wii version of Klonoa many times and i did like it, but there is something that gets lost in each rework. even the colours and light of the switch version feel... yes, more "realistic" in some ways, but they're not as cohesive or as saturated, not as lively, a little faded. the UI isn't as unique either. i hope my impressions are wrong though and that regardless, it's still just as fun (and sad, haha.)

i'll have to show a bit of Lunatea's Veil, at least just one of my favourite locations... La-Lakoosha. i can run through it in my sleep.

#klonoa #ps1 #psx

[topconfessions]

I know it’s crazy he’s never had an album, at least we are finally getting one but we still don’t know the release date which is so frustrating. I can’t tell if he’s just focusing on the moon trip and then will release it when it’s over. He’s doing a feature film thing along with the album apparently too so at some point we will be getting loads of content. Wow I had never heard of that or come across those videos but I guess that’s the standard for the entertainment industry, I shouldn’t be so shocked. What I don’t really get is why are they doing that in audition videos? Is it purely for pervy directors and producers? I pray top never had to do that sort of thing for his early acting roles but he was a famous idol by that time so maybe it would have been too risky for them to ask him to do that.

Btw is it true he’ll be playing an ex idol in squid game? That’s what I heard, it got me excited cause maybe we’ll see him rapping and singing in it! I feel the same way, if he dies after one episode I’ll be so exasperated but there’s still at least another year till it’s going to be released so we won’t know for a while sadly.

Most likely it is true. I think they should've given him a more serious role for the show and not an ex idol cause it'll just be him really tapping into himself and not so much acting, I want him in a role where he has something like one of the 3 leads. But I hope they do show some short skit where he is a rapper and aged out of the industry with a mountain of debt or his group didn't make the cut. Im hoping he makes it to the middle or the last 4. He's good friends with the lead so maybe he can get to last 4 if not 3.

Honey, the industry is tainted no matter what. It's not just for the sake of pervs, sex runs everything and its also an insurance on their end that they can leak at any point if the actor fucks up what they agreed to ad revenge. I'm 100% sure top never did that or had to.