#;; mostly because I can write lore again without fucking up

[arolesbianism]

Every now and then I remember that oni in fact will eventually have more lore added and I get so excited and scared for a moment and then I remember that it could take months until we see any of that and I proceed to forget abt it again and the cycle repeats

[cherry-colored-petals]

" Duplicate "

A personal piece of mine, to commemorate the pen pal or yokai event hosted by Ansy, more specifically this piece :)

(it's also very short oops I'm just losing a bit of writing muse and wanted to make this when I still have motivation so have this wwww)

Synopsis: What really happened that day? Navina couldn't tell, but perhaps the irony that they chose such a specific name led to a grim end of another.

CW: Murder (mentioned). That's it :)

Irodori festival was in full swing when the informant came to Inazuma, their eye sparkling at the sight. Although they wished they weren't working during this time of the festival, they decided to bite their tongue and kept that to themselves, scurrying off to get to delivering as usual.

Lifting up the letter in their hands, they red the address, mumbling the name under their breath. There was no receiver, sure, but they were used to it. Might be just some scam letter or a threat, I don't know, they thought to themselves, when-

"Hey, look! It's one of the stands miss Miko opened up for this year's Irodori festival!"

"Huh? Where? Let me see!"

…?

That made their head turn for a moment, brow raised at the thought.

Wait… Stands? What did Yae set up this time? Probably nothing good, knowing that conniving fox, they mused. But the curiosity ate them alive, so they went over to see what it was about. It's only to satiate my curiosity, they thought to themselves. It's not like I'm going to be there for long. Just see what it is, and it'll be fine.

After a few minutes of waiting in line and asking around, they were now left to themselves to write a letter to their pen pal. Thoma was kind enough to answer the informant's questions of the event, and although he didn't knew why they'd be interested in joining, Yae seem to know what it was and gave them a knowing look in response.

When she handed them the paper and the essentials, she had literally teased them, saying, "You'd better be careful on who ends up replying to your letter, deer. Who knows what you might attract?"

… God do they genuinely wish that Yae had kept her mouth shut on that one.

And so here they were, sitting onto one of the gates of the temples and without anyone spotting them in Ritou. They didn't care if the Nobushi would see them and try to get to them, considering they seem to be rather…

Nevermind. They knew why they'd run at the sight of them.

Glancing at the paper, they let out a sigh and began to write on it, humming an old tune as they did so. They didn't want to reveal who they are or where they're located, so they wanted this… Pen pal to locate a specific messenger.

Was it cruel to do such a thing? Maybe. But they didn't care. If anything, whoever unlucky fool knew who they are and tries to target them afterward would most likely meet an untimely end. Quite literally.

As they finished writing, they tucked their 'message' in the envelope, tucking in a petal of one of the lotuses they found in Sumeru to make a point before sealing it. When it was over, they placed the letter they wrote in their bag, getting off of the gate to stretch their legs.

"Mm…"

Now, I just need to send that letter, and-

As they took a step forward, they felt a chill go through their body.

And then… That voice spoke to them.

[ WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ]

… Fuck.

The letter that was sent was signed and penned, 'Vermiculis Creatio'- a penname that's sole meaning when- combined together- reads, 'Creation of Worms'. However, when it was translated separatedly, it reads 'Vermillion Creation'.

Such a shame that the same day the letter was sent, tragedy fell into the lands of knowledge… In Port Omos, no less.

Folks all around whispered of the tragedy, with one being in common.

[ Marie Astoria, one of the well known messengers of Fontaine and graduate of Sumeru, has been murdered. ]

As Navina came to the festival once more, they were with someone else as their pseudo-companion. Although he came from a different world entirely like they did, they both traveled in pairs ever since that afterparty.

Watching the wandering ex-harbinger leave, Navina caught sight of the eye of the parasol: the eye of Marie, and the soul of her 'eye'.

And for a mere second, the eye can only show fear, as the entity smiled.

But that smile looked far less humane than anyone may think, especially with the words they whispered in the wind.

"So long. You are useless to me now."

[lynxtheserval]

Can i request Self-awake! Yandere! Illumina x player! reader? reader main sword

deadass kinda hard to write with limited information so I'm so sorry if it's bad or ooc!

Also! This wasn't the best writing I've done so I'm so sorry for that, but schools been hella crazy ngl

Might do a part 2 if y'all want , but it might take a while to make haha

Self-Aware!Yan!Illumina x player!reader

(TW: not as hard on the yandere aspects, but still a tw for stalking (kinda), kidnapping (also kinda), and curse words)

It was a normal day for you, at first at least. You got up, went to your classes in college, went back to your dorm, and played a Roblox game for a little while. You played Slap Battles for a good moment or two until you got bored of slapping children off a cliff with your overpowered paid glove. You then got back onto your favorites page, and saw a game you haven't played in like… a week.

Phighting.

It seems it got some sort of update, because the game icon changed to… some sorta deity looking thing. You didn't know much about the lore, you were mostly just playing the game for the gameplay. You had no idea what or who the icon was showing, but you went into the game without a second thought.

It loaded up like normal, same old music, same old map, same old characters… seems like nothing much has changed.

So you picked your main, Sword, and got into the game. You went to where Zuka was, pressing all the buttons you needed to get into the game.

It loaded.

And loaded.

And loaded.

Why the hell was it taking so long?

You started getting a little frustrated, and made an audible sigh of annoyance. You tried to close the game, but.. you couldn't? You went to the task manager, and tried closing Roblox from there, but Roblox didn't even show up! In fact.. nothing did. Your computer was messed up. You tried to turn off the computer as a whole, but surprise surprise, it didn't turn off.

“What the fuck..?” You murmured.

Then your computer froze completely. You tried clicking every button, tried turning it off AGAIN, and anything you could think of, until the computer suddenly unfroze.

You looked back up at the screen, and you saw you were.. still in Phighting, somehow. You were still in Crossroads, But every other player was gone, and all the NPCs were too, you were alone.

“What the hell..?” You decided to look around the map, or the middle part of Crossroads at least.

Then you saw something in the chat. A name in purple-ish white text. A name reading: Illumina.

“Hello, I've been waiting for your arrival, Y/n.”

It.. it knew your name. Not your username, but your ACTUAL FUCKING NAME. Your own computer doesn't even know your own name! You use your username for everything!

You managed to type in the chat:

“Hello? How do you know my name?”

“I know a lot about you, my dear. Now why don't you come meet me face to face, hm?”

Your computer froze again. Then, out of nowhere, your body started hurting, your ears started ringing, your eyes got blurry, your head started aching, it felt like you were dying. You soon passed out.

You woke up startled. You quickly sat up, but your head didn't seem to be feeling too great. Once your vision calmed down and you were able to see again, you looked around at where you were. You seemed to be in some brightly lit white room with no door and no windows. You got up from the oddly comfortable bed you woke up in and stood up. And with a thud, you fell onto the floor, your legs giving up on you.

“You won't be able to walk for a few hours, Y/N. So stop trying.”

You heard a voice, intimidating and masculine in nature. You looked up towards the voice.

A man, or what looks to be a man, was looking down at you. A bright figure, with one wing, dressed in mostly flowy clothes. He was wearing mostly white, but had a hint of purple in his outfit as well. Not to mention, one purple horn protruding from the left side of his head, with two other small horns coming out of the main one.

You moved to try to get up again but before you could, the man picked you up, and placed you back on the bed. You both made eye contact, his eyes… they were completely white, and bright, they seemed like they would blind you if you looked in them too long. He took notice of this, and smiled slightly.

“Good morning, love. Are you feeling okay? Humans.. I do not know if they handle world transportation well.”

“I.. who.. who are you..?” You managed to ask, it was hard for you to talk, it seemed.

“I am Illumina, and you are Y/N, such a lovely name.”

He placed a pale hand on your cheek, and laughed a little when you tried to pull away. You were confused, and scared, but you felt so.. weak, that you didn't have enough energy to push back too hard.

“Y/N, do not worry. I’ll take good care of you.”

“Wh..what do you mean..? Wh..where am I..?”

“You're home.”

[anime-grimmy-art]

It’s this time of the year again, folks. Time to wrap up the art Ive made in the last 12 months in another Year in Review! I’ve noticed that this is my fifth Year in Review in a row, so I’ll be making an extra post looking back on the progress in those last 5 years!

I've got a lot to say about this year, but purely art wise, I've gone all when it comes to comics, damn! I've kinda found a format that is messy, and therefore more time efficient, yet still looks good. I even made 2 animatics and lotsa shorts/reels! All that on top of opening coms twice, and, oh yeah, MAKING A WHOLE ASS 4MIN ANIMATION ON MY OWN.

How is my hand still alive.

2023 has been….interesting, to say the least. The first half year I was working on my thesis project, aka making an animated short all on my own (in the art department), which makes it honestly surprising how much I managed to churn out between animating. Trigun rly did have me in a choke hold.

Summer was a bit more spotty, esp. with me not being able to draw anything during August as I was writing my thesis (and doing commissions). And towards the end of the year, Kingdom Hearts tried to save me, but alas, Genshin Impact has finally sunk its teeth into me and dragged me to the bottom of the rabbit hole. It all started with me watching a story summary and lore videos while I was sick after my thesis and I was too intrigued to not dig deeper and well, first I fell in love with Kaeya and then the ships started dropping in left and right.

I’m not gonna lie, the last few months have been weird. I finished my masters in October, and have been on job hunt since, sadly without success so far. I’m existing in this weird limbo of still not grasping I’m not a student anymore after 18 years in education, not really being able to accept I’m an adult, yet desperately trying to find something so I can make a routine, cos rn Im too scared to build a rhythm as I know I’ll have a so much harder time readjusting again. It’s left me in a weird emotional state, where most of the time I feel fine, but when it counts, there’s just, nothing. No joy at getting my diploma, no anticipation to finally go to a convention again, neither any sadness hearing my grandfather died. It frustrates me that it extends to my art as well, there’s excitement over ideas and concepts, but no motivation to pick up the pencil, which makes me either not finish art at all or making so many shortcuts and just ending up with sth not satisfactory to me since it’s not the idea I sought after.

Tho, not everything is doom and gloom. I DID finish a whole ass short animation and got my masters degree, that IS sth to be proud of. Also, while Im struggling at drawing, I’ve also kinda started integrating my shortcuts into my style and some stuff I’ve thrown together actually turns out real good nowadays. Also, and this might be a bit of a weird one, I’m so fucking happy to know I can still enjoy gay ships. I’ve been a bit uncertain over the last few years because when I was around 16-18, I had a real big yaoi phase, which mostly came from the fact so much stuff came out that tickled my brain in the right way (Free, Haikyuu, etc.). But over the years, my enthusiasm died down, and I even started to resent some ships because it’s all some fandoms produced. I often found myself liking a hetero ship more than the popular gay ship, which really made me not wanna stick around because I did not care for most fanart and you can only go through a tag with art you don’t care about so long before you lose interest. I think in retrospect that it rly had nothing to do with the ships being gay ships but rather cos the fans just shoved it in your face when you didn’t care (and shipping culture nowadays also can get real scary). But I’m so happy to see I can still get obsessed with a ship and it’s all thanks to Haikaveh/Kavetham. It really just needed the right flavour for me to dig in again. And oh my god, I FINALLY like a ship with a SHIT TON of art and fanfictions, no more scrounging the crumbs from the bottom of the barrel. 

Anyways, enough lamenting. Here’s to hoping I can bite my tongue and get shit started properly in 2024, and that my brainrots may make me obsessed enough to churn out an obscene amount of fanart again.

[sharp-silver4795]

Liu X EJ headcanons 🙏 :)) I love your writing and lore

EJ x Liu HCs

Hehehe gladly!! There are gonna be some story elements to this as well, so bear with me.

The first part is story (TW) and the second part is HCs!

Thanks so much for the compliment! I’ll say it again: I will never get used to people seeing my stuff and liking it 💖

How they met (Story Elements)

This part can be triggering

After Eashar became EJ and Selcra disappeared (died), he wandered around looking for someone to know and someone who he could take care of and would take care of him.

While walking in a wooded area of (some city in Florida- idk) he finds Liu against a tree, very sad in the aftermath of some very traumatic events.

Liu is prepared to be humiliated and defiled further, but is shocked to see what he thought was a man take off his hoodie and offer it to him.

WHOLESOME TIME

From that point, EJ would follow Liu to his house so he could find his window.

EJ visited him every night.

Sometimes he would find Liu crying. So he would cuddle him and lick away his tears.

Other times, Liu would try and communicate with him.

At the time EJ wasn’t too confident in speaking due to his demonic strange voice. So, he would just write shit down.

One time Liu told him that his English wasn’t great either. EJ never told him that if he learns one human language (doesn’t matter which) he can learn all of them cuz ✨demon magic✨

When Liu died, EJ begged death (Fox) to take him to Hydra so that he can see him again. He’d lost too many friends and loved ones to let Liu go.

Life (death?)

So, I’m gonna do this after the fall of the OR, so they’re in Hydra again.

Liu always wakes up lying on top of Jack. Whenever he tries to get up- EJ will stop him and hold him there until he doesn’t have another choice but to let Liu go. (Like needing the bathroom, food, water, etc)

Jack isn’t allowed to cook for obvious reasons. Their mornings are spent apart so Liu doesn’t puke at seeing his husband eat a human heart.

Liu has to force this man in a shower and to brush his teeth before being allowed to kiss him.

They have to buy toothbrushes in bulk cuz EJ rips em up- his are single use.

Their bed is fucking huge cuz they both giants

Night time cuddles is a god death-given right

Because EJ wants to make sure Liu is safe at all times, he HAS to be touching him skin-on-skin.

Just because of that ⬆️ Liu sleeps shirtless

They have an ass ton of blankets bc Liu is naturally very cold he’s dead and ain’t got hot acid tar running through him

Their bedroom door is always locked because of Liu’s issues from trauma and the fact that EJ sleeps naked even though his junk is inside his body smh

EJ

He can’t keep his hands off of Liu, mostly his sides and back. Because that’s the way he holds Liu while they’re cuddling.

Anytime Liu is sick or in pain, he’ll put his hand on his chest with a little bit of pressure since the weight is grounding for him and he likes the reminder of how strong his husband really is.

Liu has a bite mark on his left shoulder from EJ. If it starts to fade, he’ll throw Liu on his lap and bite into him all over again. Liu usually grabs something to do if he notices it in morning cuz he’s gonna be there for a while.

Liu is the only one who can pet him.

Liu likes to hear and feel him purr, so he doesn’t mind being vulnerable enough to just purr at random. Being in the same room, putting his hands on Liu’s back, intimate activities, being pet, anything- he will always purr without holding back. EJ usually felt it was embarrassing. But around Liu- nahh!!

He will sometimes grab Liu to the couch or bedroom just to lay, nuzzle, headbutt, or knead on him.

Liu

He can’t sit on the couch. It’s like EJ knows when he sits down because he will just throw himself on there and lay his head on Liu’s lap. Buddy needs pets.

He likes flustering, gently frustrating, or making EJ giddy cuz his ears move a lot and he thinks it’s silly.

Sometimes pretends to be sick so EJ will take care of him and so he doesn’t have to go to work. EJ knows he’s lying but indulges him anyway

If he wakes up from a nap, and there isn’t a 6’9” demon laying on him, he will cry.

If he feels insecure he will grab EJ’s hands and just put em wherever it is that he’s worried about. His hubby usually gets the hint.

The fucking king of pets and scritches

Cuddle time is all the time- if he has a chance he is hugging EJ like he’s gonna fade away

Is secretly horny as hell and has to take some deep breaths every morning, basically

Likes to act like an idiot so EJ throws him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Melts when EJ calls him “his lil potato”

Teases EJ by calling him an oversized cat

Omfg I love them so much-

[sadistic-kiss]

it's lore anon again! 🙆🏻‍♀️ Long time since I barged in the chef's kitchen ehehe

I've been wondering about the initial gentle treatment from Raven's first alpha encounter (Toji and Sukuna) after escaping. I recall you wrote the bards to be Megs (Toji's son, duh) and Yuji (as Sukuna's brother) and they were the first to comment that Raven's like, a different person (mostly Yuji from what I remember). I kinda wonder if one of em ever mentioned Raven was lil off to their dad/bro.

Also now that I think about it, how awkward would that be, being bosses around by a complete bitch the whole time and going "damn I hope pa doesn't bang that one". Like you're work involves you knowing your relative is gonna lay one of your clients 💀 love your writing!!

How can you barge into my kitchen when the door was already open for you 😏

So I’ll give you some background to the situation but it will be explained in more details later.

The ball that is following Raven used to watch all of the omegas for a couple of months. The alphas couldn’t decide together in which omega they wanted so they agreed to just go with dove as a last ditch effort. They didn’t really see an omega they truly wanted. That’s where the game comes in. When we play as dove we are trying to get the alphas to love us but dove in a sense is just a blank slate.

Raven was much too bitchy for their liking, only Sukuna liked her but in a way to be challenged if that makes sense. So she had like the lowest votes.

So the ball ended up following dove around until one interaction occurs between reader and Dove- within this one interaction they were able to see something was suspicious because we didn’t follow ravens mean mo. So they got curious of us and had the ball follow us and watched us do completely DIFFERENT things than they had first witnessed. Of course we as the reader/character don’t know the ball even existed but when we figure it out we are like that kind of makes sense because how would you lose and gain love points in the game when your alphas weren’t even around for it?

Needless to say within the span of us being there they watched and found us truly fascinating. Especially since we knew certain things we most certainly should not have known. Nanami was the only one against us because he felt like we were too good to be true and very suspicious of us since our attitude changed out of the blue. So he was for sure expecting us to give it out all when they arrived that is until… WE FUCKING RAN AWAY!

So then they are like wtf????!

So they watch us more. Becoming increasingly more interested in us and falling in love with our choices without us even realizing it. We were kind to people, we were strong, and we were independent and gave zero fucks, but we were also cute and shy about certain things.

And that’s how we got to where we are now ~

We just continue to blow their minds lol.

So…hmmm did I answer your question lol XD

Oh yes Megumi and Yuuji kind of do their own thing, they aren’t as close to Toji and Sukuna like you think. So it wasn’t that weird for them lol. Toji is still kind of a deadbeat in this and Sukuna isn’t the nicest to his brother but he considers it tough love 😂. But Megumi’s and Yuuji just play and enjoy music while traveling together like the cute couple they are ✨

If there’s something I didn’t answer please ask me haha I try my best to answer without spoiling too much 👌

[crushedsweets]

hi! just wanted to say i love how in detail your lore is. it’s very well explained and i can understand it very easily so i appreciate that lot! i was wondering if you could talk abt jeff and clockys relationship? i’m curious about how you write them together and i’ve always liked their dynamic!

HIII YOURE SO KIND THANK YOU SO MUCH im glad u can understand it easily cuz ik i do a lot of run on sentences.... OK I WILL TALK NOW

ok. ok. jeff and clocky came around the story around the same time the rest of the creeps did. right after clocky was released from the operator, she was running on rage and exhaustion.

jeff is still teetering between the operator and slenderman because he doesnt want to commit to the full process(?), since it's really painful and can take months. and he doesnt care to. but occasionally he'll take a few of the proxy's pills so he can maintain some control over himself, mostly by force tho.

they kinda both got thrown into the same barn by slenderman. clocky cant afford an apartment, jeff . . cant work. when masky or hoody force jeff to take a slender sickness pill every now and again, he like half dies for a couple days in the barn. natalie understands the pain esp cuz it happened to her most recently. so she kinda(very loosely) takes care of him , aka brings him water and weed . he's kinda grateful but he's just... such an arrogant asshole theyre ALWAYS arguing. she won't hesitate to kick him while he's down

but, of course, they have to coexist somehow. so they'll hang out, get high together, talk shit. he gets morbidly interested in what she remembers of her own kills, and she finds it.. oddly relieving to finally get it off her chest. she uses jeff like a confessional. she's told toby, but its really awkward. jeff is interested. he'll ask questions, get excited, all the weird shit. part of her hates it but again, who else will be so accepting of something like that ?

being around him runs the risk of triggering operator-related episodes, though, so they've gotten into trouble together.

toby doesnt like jeff and gets super aggravated at him and natalie being friends. but natalie thinks its really fucking annoying when tobys like 'u shouldnt hang around him' and tells him to shut up.

ofc nina eventually comes into the picture and jeff starts staying with her more often, leaving nat to the barn.

sometimes nat feels lonely and wishes he stuck around, but she just goes to stay with toby (when slender allows it). most of the time she's grateful he's away and can stop pissing her off all the damn time LOL

jeff is seriously just. ok ill admit i make him very one dimensional, but he literally doesnt care. sure he likes hanging out with her but like... he doesn't really do much in return for her, doesn't clean up the barn, doesn't get her anything, etc. he'll float between the barn and nina's apartment without much thought or consideration. but he'd kill someone for nat, if that means anything

generally theyre not close, but yk. theyre sometimes sorta parttime roommates every now and again.

[juni-ravenhall]

we played the quest now and mostly its just like. all these recent quests are at the quality as if a child wrote them but that feels like an insult to child authors. imagine if any other game at this price point (!) put out main story updates at this quality and this playtime per month(s).....

more specific commentary under here

the dark riders still dont feel like actual villains or threats to me at all, due to the rushed and stupid way they were introduced after their design updates, combined with how bad the writing is. i feel like im just chewing on a tasteless gum when i play this. but thats an insult to gum. its very nothing. its neither dramatic nor funny nor meaningful in any way.

the writing and timing is so bad that nothing holds any real dramatic weight. i didnt feel anything about maya getting zapped - i assume shes fine tho??? - obviously yes its harmful to choose to hurt the lesbians rather than literally anyone else and its worth criticising bc ppl need to stop making oppressed characters suffer more than the not-oppressed, but also just the whole thing is handled so badly that i can barely even care bc its so fucking stupid that nothing holds any weight. at this point anything any of the charas says and does just feels completely empty.

like you could just have mr sands collapse to the ground from a heart attack in the middle of the dialogue and sabine say "lol loser" and it wouldnt even feel especially out of place in the current quality of writing and storytelling.

it was fun to see darko and sands again just because we have more relation to darko as a villain than any of the dark riders. the same way i am way more interested in ms drake or mr anwir (rip i guess) than i am in the dark riders bc they were sooo badly included in the story and then suddenly now theyre everywhere and talk all the time as if we know them and as if theyve been a consistent villain. i am way more interested in any other npc than in the dark riders, i have more emotional connection to ed field than i have to katja. bc they were not written into the story properly. this is a continuous frustration i have reading any main story updates.

anyway the erissa race was just.... fine. this is supposed to be a kind of mini boss moment in other games. however, due to my horse not being fed (a system that sse designed) i rode quite slow which in itself takes away drama, but also, the race just felt really.... nothing, again. its not bad... its just nothing. the floating objects in the forest were cool, and the yarn stuff is cute (tho i dont feel anything about this design bc again she and her design is just thrown at me with no buildup - like - a character having a theme that you build up a connection to, is not happening here), but it doesnt feel like an important race or like a mini boss, its just.... ok i went here and now i went there. why tho. how did this matter.

it wasnt a difficult enough race in any way that it felt like challenging gameplay (mini boss fight) and ive said before, yes sure there are 8yo players who never played a game before and need it to be relatively easy - but this can be achieved in other ways than forcing *all* players to play a really dumb easy race, and its also not consistent throughout the game - sometimes a race is randomly kinda hard, other times its something you could do blindfolded, but without any consistent relation to where when and why the race takes place.

normally in games, battles/races/whatever would get more and more challenging as the story goes on, as levels go up, as new mechanics get introduced, as player skill and experience grows.

but yeah i just really hate the story quests at this point. theyre empty. theyre badly written. they are forgettable and dont hold the dramatic weight theyre supposed to. they feel random and disconnected from the rest of the game we played until a couple years ago. the characters and stuff are just handled so badly. the story and lore is confusing and hard to understand. its a mess.

all of this would be fine if sso was a game you play for free. it would be fine if it was a game that cost 10 dollars. it would be fine if it had microtransactions that were like, 1-3 dollars here and there, not 30 dollars here and there to afford two items or one horse or whatever.

i wouldnt judge it so harshly for this bad quality in the story quests (the writing, the storytelling and lore, the characters, the gameplay, the animations, the models and designs, the feeling of making progress as a player....) if the game was overall as cheap as its quests are.

[fortunatelychaoticphantom]

I wasn't going to write my thoughts on Eclipse, mostly because I never really liked it anyway and the rereading didn't help, but I'm having such a fucking ride reading the forth book, so I might as well do this. Obviously, I've already finished the book, so it's not as fresh in my mind and it's all a bit jumbled and a lot overlaps... but whatever.

1. God, I hate Eclipse. I'm sorry, I just hate this book. It is by far the worst in the series.

2. It's the love triangle. It's a hundred percent the love triangle. To be perfectly honest, I genuinely don't believe there is a love triangle, but Meyer really wants us to. We spend an entire book in Bella's head, seeing and feeling how much she does not love Jake romantically, but the entire book is about Jake trying to prove she does, and then out of fucking nowhere she does!! This is the hill I will die on. I simply don't understand this, this realization in the end that she is in love with both of them. It just wasn't anywhere in the book until that point, and it's so frustrating to read! There's also the fact that we know without a doubt that whether she loves Jake romantically or not simply doesn't matter, because she loves Edward more. And we know this since book two, so why??? Why spend 600 pages to talk about this?? Please, convince me otherwise! I want to enjoy this, I just can't!!

3. I am beyond frustrated with Jake's behavior in this book. None of this fits his character, not even his more resentful self after the shift, and it sucks because I absolutely adore him. But here he's pushy and mean and hypocritical and just awful, and I just hate it.

4. The second book literally ends with Jake saying he and Bella can't be friends because of her relationship with vampires. He refuses to talk to her, ignores her calls, and then, out of nowhere, suddenly wants to be friends and blames her for the disconnect. And she apologized!?!?! Like fucking what??? What the hell was that?? We just dropped the entire actual conflict of the book within a few chapters and never talk about it again, and somehow Bella is at fault here???? Fuck no.

5. The fucking scene. The fucking kiss scene. I remembered it was bad, but my god, it was so. Much. Worse. Everything about it screams assault, and Bella literally calls it that. Reading it was bad enough, but Jake's and Charlie's reactions were so much worse. It just grossed me out so much. I hate it. Jake is kind and funny and so god damn good, and this is just a destruction of his character.

6. Look. Look. I am not against love triangles. I am not against angst. I am not even against fucked up manipulative behavior. But there's a place and a time for everything. Jake threatening to kill himself/let himself die in battle so that Bella would kiss him is a deliciously fucked up scene that could work wonders in a different story. But absolutely, unconditionally and irrevocably not here. It's just seriously fucked up here, and not in a good way.

7. Victoria who? This plot might have been awesome if it wasn't so far in the background you could barely notice it's there.

8. I am really sad I hate this book, because you can say what you want about Meyer, but girly can fucking write a world. The southern wars? The wolf lore and abilities? Immaculate. This book would have been great with a hundred pages less and no love triangle. The conflict should have been about Bella and Jake's friendship and the whole becoming-a-vampire thing and nothing else.

[outivv]

I have to say I know people praise wuwa and kuro but there are so many issues players disregard especially if they find out you play hoyo games.

I have a special interest in voice acting and I write a lot so I can safely say wuwa has many issues in those departments. But whenever I do say that it doesn't seem to matter since I'm a hoyo gamer.

The English dubbing still lacks emotion a lot of times and whatever team is supposed to edit the recordings does a terrible job sometimes by leaving awkward pauses and a flub(line that's reread without pauses when the va is aware of a mistake) read. The writing in act seven was so terrible i still haven't finished because I heard the same lore dump in about twenty minutes from three people.

Character design up until recently was severely lacking uniqueness. The games size is very inaccessible as well.

But nobody will listen to these very obvious things because god forbid I play hoyo games and watch others then dare to have an opinion I fucking guess. I don't even hate wuwa it's a beautiful game and has lots of charm but the playerbase can be so insufferable.

Ohhh I agree, a lot of like wuwa fans really like get on your ass if you play hoyo games- it’s really unfortunate. Wuwa def has some issues though, I do acknowledge that- mostly the thing is how they address the issues in contrast to how hyv addresses them.

The one thing that hoyo does alright is voice acting, it’s usually pretty good- unless it’s pronunciation, they SUCK at that omfg. Kuro I know is changing up some voice acting, and re-recording lines- I believe the CN voice acting is much better then the EN, but then again I’ve only paid close attention to scar in both languages, so ehhhhhhh don’t take my complete word for it.

I will say I DO NOT like the writing in wuwa. Like it’s bad. It feels very “omg rover!! Rover!! Rover!!” Like damn… okay calm down please… 👁️👁️. I hope they up their writing skills, yk get a bit more original and all that because right now it’s genuinely SO bad and I do not like it.

I feel their character design is ehhhh it’s okayyyy- it could do well with different colors particularly in my opinion, but otherwise the like… overall is ehhh it’s okay. They just need more, y’know? Like I like mortefi a lot, and scar has a unique design, but they clearly specialize in bright ass reds, and then monochrome colors which CANNOT and WILL NOT carry them to the end of the game.

Wuwa has lotsssss of potential, and I love the idea behind it, but like… right now it is a bit boring which is so unfortunate. I really hope other fans listen to your criticisms cause they are very accurate to how the game feels, and the issues with the game 😓

[unknownkona]

absolutely tweaking rn, so rant incoming about the horror fandom, specifically tcm lol. mostly writing this because of a post i've seen today and some recent events

content warning for triggering topics and the discussion of antis and proshippers

both antis and proshippers are two sides of the same coin, and both are driving me up the walls. antis don't know how to defend their cause and proshippers are gross. my god, when i hear the argument of "you're fine with murder but draw the line at x?" holy shit dude. and usually x are those taboo, problematic topics but the ones i'll be focusing more on are incest and necrophilia.

breaking down that argument, last time i checked, no one actually thinks murder is okay. where's the horror in horror if violence is portrayed as a good thing. it's more tolerated than incest or whatever, why? because murder can have a reason— necrophilia, sexual assault, incest, etc, cannot. do any of those reasons make it okay? absolutely not, but there's the possibility of an explanation. in the case of texas chainsaw massacre, they're doing it to survive. maybe not johnny (which is someone i'll come back to later), but they're planning to eat their victims. they could've turned to a less drastic option, yeah, but hey it's fiction. whatever's necessary for an interesting plot.

speaking of fiction, the argument of "it's fiction not reality" also sucks in its own right. fiction usually has elements we take from reality, most things we make are based off of reality somehow. again, we have the antis that harass people that enjoy villains being villains and we have proshippers that actively romanticize incest, pedophilia and shit. gotta tap the sign that says "people that enjoy villains and evil characters do not condone their actions" for antis and the sign that says "whatever you support in fiction is a reflection of who you are as a person, a person based in reality" for proshippers. besides, do any proshippers have siblings? i really hope they don't as someone who has a brother lol

and it's not that you shouldn't write anything with problematic topics, it's all about the delivery and intent. write toxic relationships, but don't act like it's a healthy couple. the post i've seen that prompted me to write this bullshit down mostly had the coffin of andy and leyley context to it and well— it's clearly written to be fucked up. does it make it good writing? depends, to me it comes off as incest written solely for the edgy shock value as of now but who knows. want a good example of problematic topics written well? go look at lolita by vladimir nabokov or something

anyway back to johnny, i've seen him being called a rapist, a necrophile, even being shipped with sissy. leave the bastard alone LMFAO. i can't deny that johnny being a rapist doesn't seem like a farfetched assumption, but at the same time, what the hell happened to boundaries? i don't care if people are into it, it's a problem when it's tossed around like canon lore and shoved into people's faces instead of treated as a private nsfw headcanon. surprise, people can enjoy horror without having their boundaries ignored just because they like horror.

getting a little petty here, but the whole necrophile drama really grinds my gears because a) it doesn't really make sense to johnny's character and b) it started because someone got the definition of necrophilia wrong. johnny's a narcissistic asshole that kills for fun— there is no power in sexually assaulting a corpse. the fun's over when a victim is no longer able to cower in fear and give any pain response. being turned on by killing people isn't necrophilia, hope this helps. even searched up on the classifications of necrophilia (insane how there's classification for that) for how they described johnny being a necrophile, and none of them fit

anyway that's basically everything, we'll see if i get pissed off enough again to rant about new dumb arguments

[rawliverandgoronspice]

This is not me defending Nintendo's shoddy writing when it comes to heavy parts of the Gerudo lore. But I do wonder if some of their really bad missteps are because of their lack of knowledge of Western racial politics. A lot of Japan is still heavily xenophobic, and racial diversity is almost zero, so they might just not actually think about the implications because they just... don't know they exist. It's not an excuse, because Nintendo IS a global company, and there should be some extra research done, since stuff like that is just really fucking iffy. I'm just trying to figure out where that stuff comes from tbh, and why it's still around, instead of being weeded out. So maybe that's a reason, in which case... maybe get some writers who can write depth into their characters.

Hey, thanks for the ask!

So... I feel many things about this, and I completely see where you're coming from, and I think you have hit the nail on the head about why Nintendo do not feel like handling this issue is necessary, or that it doesn't concern them altogether... but I have to be honest, I feel like we give Japan way too much slack on these issues in general, and it's a very common problem (thinking of the controversy on FF16 for just another recent example, or the way queerness is handled in a lot of anime and games). Regardless of, just, the artistic integrity to incorporate the rest of the world as existing alongside you which isn't... mandatory of course, but I believe is important for the sake of honesty: there are japanese people of color, there exists a queer japanese community, and a lot of immigrants living in Japan have to deal with rejection and being considered a second-rate citizen all of the time. Not to mention anything about the new generations of people who were victims of their occupation not so long ago, a subject which is still regularly repressed and ignored by their government (and by the world at large, the US had interests in quieting down some of the worst things they did due to Cold War stuff, and in the West we mostly focused on Germany and collaboration --which makes sense, it's what we knew, but anyway it's complicated and not the topic). This is not a case of mere innocence, it is a case of politically construed ignorance; which is very different, and should not be regarded as equivalent.

But even beyond their own internal socio-political issues, which I am not qualify to speak about beyond what I know from second-hand stories I heard and what I have personally researched, The Legend of Zelda is an IP that is tailored for the West (TM). It is incredibly more popular here than it ever was in Japan. It is a product designed for export. Trying to anticipate what the western market enjoys and fitting right in is part of their responsibilities as a brand if they want to succeed. So, either they did not consider this aspect, which was absolutely something they should be criticized for, as subjects of diversity are hot and trending right now (even without getting into their moral implication) and they did what I consider to be the bare, cynical minimum in this department; or they had an inkling, and considered their choices wouldn't be a dealbreaker. Which... they clearly were not.

Again, I am sorry to be a little cynical here, but while I certainly don't think Nintendo was being consciously malicious here, like making choices to actively play into harmful stereotypes and strict gender roles as some form of active ploy in some sort of culture war, Nintendo is run by conservative japanese men with capitalist interests and a responsibility towards their own government as a major player for japanese soft power. The company will *never* question its own biases, especially if the West just eats up whatever they do and build a human wall of excuses to justify their absence of accountability. This, beyond the game itself which is good and fine and also kind of soulless the more I think about it (in my opinion), is what depresses me and what makes it hard for me to move on: to give them a free pass on these subjects is a choice everyone is collectively making, because it is the Nostalgia and the Childhood and we are desperate for wonder and joy --and it ultimately makes us somewhat toothless as consumers.

And I want to add I am absolutely not immune to this, and it doesn't mean I'm condemning the practice of fandom or the possibility, or even the necessity, of holding several simultaneous truths about a piece of media at the same time and navigating them depending on what is being discussed; but Nintendo is obsessed with controlling its image as a company, curating things as acceptable or unnacceptable as they see fit, approving or disapproving of their consumers' behavior and punishing them accordingly (as well as the rest of the industry *side-eyes the thirty patents on basic gameplay actions*), and it's to say nothing of how employees may be treated beyond the perfectly curated Pikachu yellow walls. This corporate image of being non-controversial is enforced. It doesn't mean I don't admire them for a lot of things, their genuine commitment to game design innovation, their virtuosity when it comes to level design in particular, the way they foster pools of raw talent, their devotion to open up the market to new demographics of gamers, or for the risk they took with the Switch and the wonderful venues it opened for indie devs. I love their games, profoundly, and I owe the company a lot of my joy.

But again, I think it's important to consider several realities simultaneously; and this joy, this goodness, this beauty, while absolutely wonderful and worth preserving, always runs the risk of getting in the way of our discernment in what is getting sidelined.

[delta-orionis]

Tuesday Again No Problem 2/13/24

My friend @girlfriendsofthegalaxy has a weekly post series summing up things she listened to/watched/made/etc that week, and I'd like to give it a try myself. I tried to do something similar with my Synthwave Sunday posts, but those ended up being unsustainable for me in the long run. I think something in the middle of the week might be a bit easier for me to maintain, but I'm not going to hold myself to a strict standard or anything.

Without further ado:

listening

Mostly the Rain World soundtrack. It’s good to put on when I’m focusing on something else.

That said, I also listened to Tangerine Dream’s album Hyperborea in its entirely the other day, and I ended up liking it quite a bit. I might have to look into more of their stuff. It’s full of good retro synths.

reading

I finally started reading Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie earlier this week, after the poor book had been sitting on my bookshelf, unread, for nearly two years. Good friends of mine have been telling me I’d enjoy it that entire time, but I just never got around to starting it until now. I’m not very far into the book, but I like what I’ve read so far.

I made a post a few days ago about why I think I have trouble reading books these days. Because of the way my brain works, I have a really hard time keeping characters from a piece of media straight in my head if it’s not a visual medium. I already know this book is going to throw a lot of characters at me, so I’ve been doing my best to write down a list of characters and their basic attributes as I read. I’m hoping it will make this book easier for me to parse, because I really do want to give it an honest shot.

I’ve been mostly reading during my downtime at work, which is few and far between these days, so I expect this book will take a long time for me to finish. Time will tell, I suppose.

watching

Fallow week. Unless Rain World memes and Canopener Bridge videos count.

playing

Still playing Rain World. I’m very close to beating Artificer’s campaign, but at this point I’m kind of just milling around getting passage tokens and finding pearls for Five Pebbles to read. I’m not going to be a completionist about it, I mostly just want to see how many pearls I can find before I start to get bored.

(I’ve brought him seven so far.)

making

I’m continuing to work on my Five Pebbles amigurumi.

I still need to finish and attach his arms, and then make his cloak. But he should be finished soon! Then I’ll start working on Looks to the Moon.

He ended up being much bigger than any amigurumi I’ve made before, but I’m fine with that. It’s an interesting challenge.

I’m also going to count my recent post about my Rain World iterator headcanons in the “making” section too, because fuck it, media analysis is a hobby too.

Rain World in particular has been a pretty good chew toy for my brain recently. The lore is kind of vague and confusing, but there’s enough there for you to begin to piece together the bigger picture. I recall reading in a devlog, “Some mysteries in Rain World aren’t meant to be solved”, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t going to try! And try I will, even if it does make me feel like that one scene from It’s Always Sunny sometimes.

[minthe-lover]

I generally don't like to talk about fast passes till they actually come out... But I need to talk about chapter 229. It's the first fastpass chapter that honestly filled me with a sense of dread for when it's released.

It's all because of one fucking line, where Metis is implied to be polyamorous... And... It just fucking breaks my heart. Polyamory is barely fucking brought up ever in any media and I know that there's going to be lo fans that are going to take this as good representation of polyamorous people.

I know that people are going to see Metis relationship with Zeus and because of that connect assume that Zeus is supposed to be polyamorous and fall into those horribly harmful stereotypes. That cause someone cheats in a monogamous relationship must mean that they are polyamorous, which has been used time and time again to be something bigoted assholes can jump onto as a reason polyamorous people are naturally unfaithful and sex-addicts.

Like useally lore Olympus doesn't bother me, it's mostly just dumb fun... But like I'm honestly worried what people's take away of Metis in this chapter is gonna be. I've already received alot of shit from lo fans for talking about polyamory... I tend to just fucking ignore that shit but god.

Lore Olympus is such an agreessivly monogamous story, trying to throw polyamory into it with a one of line from a character that is 90% just expositions that were never going to see again... It just stings. The whole story is about how one type of love is accepted... It went as far as framing the mere idea of an open relationship between hades and minthe as toxic... And I can tell that alot of lo fans agree with that... It's a story that doesn't even allowed the two main interests be together without marriage being mentioned over and over again.

Rs built a world that values monogamous married relationship above all else... Then she tries desperate to lampshade it... She honestly had an amazing chance to write actually good polyamorous characters and relationships and failed..

My polyamory is an extremely important part of me but it's also the part of me that I know is the least accepted. Especially in "feminist" circles.... It's often that you see radfem talk about polyamory as simply a way for men to abuse women... And rs put it into a story that the only polygamous women was literally eaten and basically killed by her only known love interest.

I know this is rambling and probably doesn't make much sense I just... I needed to talk about it. It just frustrates me so fucking much.

[flyingspicerack]

Inside Job Pt2Ep3 Myc Analysis Pt2

FIRST PART HERE

IM GETTING RIGHT INTO IT!

OK SO!! ASSIMILATED MYC HUH?! First of all, the color palette change..... i like it in what it represents, its a good way to depic that he's different without having to keep that like, blue aura aura around him. HOWEVER, it makes me feel weird because THIS ISN'T MY MYC!!!

Also his voice...... not.... not for me. BUT I LOVE THE warbling echoey quality they gave him right when attuned. A lot of this is gonna be me PRAISING what the writers did, but me being pupsetti cause thats not my babygirl

AHHHH Brett's face here is so cute, hes so excited to be included in girls night!!!! Also! I feel like at this point the Hive isn't tapped into anyone but Myc so... does Myc genuinely watch Sex and the City? I think so.

MYC'S TOWNHOUSE! UOGHHHHHH OKAY SO FOR REALS!!! Does he have one? I GUESS SO? Is this what it looks like?? I DONT KNOW! Could the hive be making something up? Maybe?? But like, how would the hive know what to make up if they have been in the hollow earth for centuries, they have to tap into Myc. SO, is this REALLY what Myc's townhouse looks like? Or is this what he want's his friends to believe it is?? Because all of this is a hallucination so?? Like they cater to Brett and Gigi with the rock wall and bookshelf, so would he cater it to look like something he wants? THEN AGAIN! We saw Myc's little nook in his office in the beginning of the episode and that was classy as fuck with his little couch and the record player, so who's to say if this is mostly a REAL depiction of his brownstone. I will say though, it's fucking hot as hell and I think it IS at least the floorplan, like i think the floorplan is the same, whether or not its decorated like this? HHHHHHHHHH I dunno?? BUT I LOVE IT EITHER WAY BECAUSE I LOVE HIMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

MYC APRON MYC APRON MYC PINK APRON THE PINK APRON ITS AN APRON AND ITS PINK AND HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"... mainly because all of my orifices are interchangeable" .... what... what WHAT WHAT??? Baby ..... WHAT DO YOU MEAN????? YOU HAVE HOLES???? YOU HAVE... HFHSEOUGHG;HJSD;LEG OHHHHHHH LORDLY LORDY LORD THE WRITERS HAVE GIVEN ME SO MUCH MORE THAN I COULD EVER ASK FOR HUIGREHJOSGJ'SG

I genuinely think this mural is so.... SO beautiful, if I could have it as a poster or a tapestry i fucking would. I also wanna know what the writing system is like.... UGH ITS SO PRETTY

ANYWAY I THINK its so so funny that they totally retconned the whole thing about the mushrooms being aliens, like at first Myc would get so mad and say they weren't but then now they are?? lmao and the whole lore they made of early apes eating mushrooms and then evolving? FUCKING GREAT

I just like myc's house.... look at his fancy kitchen ... AND IS THAT A FIREPLACEEEEEEEEEEEE uoghhhh

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ANDRE MISSES THE OLD MYC, AND YES! HE DID ROAST OUT OF LOVE!!!! ANDRE KNOWS CAUSE HE KNOWS THAT HE LOVES ALL OF THEM!! AND NO ONE DENIES IT!!!! HE LOVES THEMMMMMMMM (yes sure next glenn says out of hate but listen-)

Also!! I reallu like these weird globby mushroom cave wall things, theyre soooo cool

"Who wants some fucking dirt to eat? I'm still being nice, I like dirt!" BABY GHUIDSRHNS;G HES STILL A LITTLE BITCHY?????? HUAOGHH Baby i will eat dirt for you, i will eat it and like it

OKAY HERE IS SOMTHING I HAVE CONFLICTING THOUGHTS ON!!! THE poetry night thing. I saw another post (here) about the gang actually being there and Myc not sensing them, and i like that take, but ALSO I like the idea of them genuinely not going because they don't like him and dont think his poetry would be good, and Reagan is just talking out her ass about it? Like, I can see both ways being real good, IDK!!!

And then the thing specifically ANDRE said.... the jacking off in the break room over the pic on a box of mushroom calzones.... baby, honey.... that is somehow both so pathetic and so hot i don't know what to do with myself other than save this information for later

This image.... HURTS THE ANISE he genuinely looks SO upset, sad, distraught, deflated, this is THE SINGLE MOST upsetting image of Myc IMO, because its HIM in there that's being tormented and the hive is trying to fight it, but Myc is just.... he's actually SO sensitive and he cant handle a roast WITHOUT HIS DEFENSE MECHANISM OF HIS PERSONALITY THAT THE HIVE TOOK AWAY FROM HIM!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

LOOK AT HIM!!!! HE IS SO!!!!!! UAGHFEFFS HES IN PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT ALSO!!! You can see with the blue glow that the hive is trying to regain control of the situation and he's glowing blue

Mmmmmm yeah, Myc was right to get really mad for this, Brett went too far, and I think thats why he said it, to break him... I just think it's so interesting they went with a roast to get Myc back because it seems like roasts are like .... a bygone era? Like i bet if youre watching this show in your mid-late 20s you can remember when roasts were like, on tv all the time, but now you dont really see the concept all that much?? Idk i think it's interesting I guess. Anyway comparing Myc to Jar Jar Binks is a hate crime and im gonna beat up brett for it <3

oh my GOD look how curled in and angy he is.... his little fists....

SIDEBAR!!! Eberyone SO HAPPY that he's back, like all of them so fucking.,... LIKE I SPECFICALLY want to talk about GLENN of all people. Like dont get me wrong, all of them are really pleased, but GLENN? Like.... look at how SOFT his face is?? Like he is so genuinely glad to have this fucker back,,,,,, hgusehkl;s and also andre.... oh dr lee dont make that face ur gonna have me actin up ohhhhhhgggh hes so satisfied

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HANDS ON HIS HIPS!! SO SASSY!!!!!!!!!!

Aaaaaaaaaan, boom goes the dynamite

HE DOESNT HATE THEM HE DOESNT HATE HIS TEAM HE LOVES HIS TEAM HE LOVES THEM SO MUCH THEY ARE HIS FOUND FAMILY THEY DONT BULLY HIM THEY ACCEPT HIM AS HE IS THEY LOVE HOW MUCH OF AN ASSHOLE HE IS, HES THEIR FRIEND, AND HE LOVES THEM AS MUCH AS HE SAYS HE DOESNT HE LOVES HIS TEAM THEY ARE HIS BEST FRIENDS AND AAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IM GONNA BE CRYING FOR THE NEXT 5000 YEARS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

LIKE LOOK ATT ALL OF THEIR FACES WHEN HE SAYS HE DOESNT HATE THEM!!!!!! LOOK AT GIGI!!!!!! LOOK AT ANDRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I AM CRYING REAL TEARS AND ITS BECAUSE I LOVE MX MYC CELLIUM

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS GET BACK AT YOUR HIVE!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE MOST INTERESTING!!!!! THEYRE ALL CHUMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO! ANOTHER THING TO NOTE!!!!! When Myc is getting ready to do this whole spore process thing, and use his big powers here, he very slightly switched back to his hive color palette.... but then a moment later we see him in his normal one, so im thinking he is like.... getting all of the hives influence just.... out of him for good? maybe i dunno but i like that

god god god god. okay HERE his voice is SO CALM so!! JUST SO!! He understands that Reagan isn't insulting him, he knows that she really cares..... he makes me MELT ANS THEH NUN THE HEHPFIE:SJFKNK ANDS THEN AND THEN AND THEN IN THE NEXT SCENE IT CONTINUES OKAY

THIS IS HIS HIVE THIS IS HIS HIVE RIGHT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HIS FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEURE HIS HIVE AND HE CARES BOUT THEM HE LOVES THEM SO MUCH FUREIHTGL; GHRDGR;LGHSDGBKJ;EDGHWSLK; LOOK AT GIGI LOOK HOW HAPPY SHE IS GHRODSGS;GN; AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I CANT WITH THIS AUGFHRS;DKGFL;FVS

MMMMMMM YES podcast myc ,,,, love this guy LOVE HIM LOVE HIM SM SMS SMSMMSMSMSMSMSMSMS AWOOOOOOOOOOGA I AM THE NUMBER 1 LISTENER OF FRESH DIRT UAGHHHHHH (i would also like to know if gigi and reagan drunk kiss pls)

AND YALL THOUGHT THIS WAS OVER!!!! SPECIAL BONUS ROUND WHERE I MAKE ONE (1) COMMENT ABOUT THE OTHER THING

pregnant myc.... aright i am gonna give my OWN motherfucking opinions abt this because im TOO SERIOUS about it....

Myc is a mushroom, hes not a man, while he may use he/him pronouns, hes a mushroom first and foremost who canonically uses Mx. instead of Mr. like all of this is canon. He ALSO when finding out he is preggers, he says he wants to be a mother, a MOTHER, he wants to experience the joys of motherhood.... NON BINARY LEGEND! FUCKING mushrooms have NO TIES to human gender, so TEACHINALLY this cant really be considered mpreg, and it ISNT in my eyes, fucking label it mpreg all u fucking want but I DONT FUCKING AGREE OR BUY IT, dont come at me for this ill bully you into the ground

Anyway, my name is Anise and I want to thank everyone for their time for reading my Myc Cellium analysis. This character means more to me than anyone on the internet or even Shion Takeuchi herself can fathom.... and as far as IM concerned, i love him more than ANYONE ever will, whats that post? If Myc has fans, im one of them, if he doesnt, that means im dead, or whatever. I DONT KNOW I JUST KNOW that I love him more than EVERYONE and that is a FACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway if you like inside job and like self insert shipping content folow me to see my silly little guy kiss this stupid mushroom and stream inside job on netflix <3

[variousqueerthings]

Dear God! That’s the attack prayer!

OKAY A good man goes to war... I think "let's kill hitler" is enough of a departure to do these separately

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 6/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored): 2/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 3/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 5/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 4/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 5/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 4/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 4/10

FULL RATING: 42/100 (if I can count….)

listen, this episode has this exchange:

Thin guy: Hello I’m the thin one. This is my husband, he’s the fat one Lorna: Don’t you have names? Fat guy: We’re the thin/fat gay married Anglican marines. Why would we need names as well?

and then one of them is killed immediately after this and the other isn't seen again I believe

so... my feelings about this episode can be encapsulated by that line, but certainly there is... more to pick out than just that

OBJECTIFICATION: shockingly that's not a big issue this episode. yes we're used to River Song being sexy in all of her outfits, and now we've added Jenny's very similar type of outfit, but Amy is mostly in sort of... linen-looking loose shirt and trousers, which, she'd better be she just gave birth. speaking of giving birth, still wearing those boots with heels

idk, this could be explained away as character, but it feels like it plays into a bit of Amy not being the important part of this episode so they're just saddling her with business as usual (so they took all her clothes away except her boots?) it just feels. a bit lazy

PLOT-POINT: speaking of being a plot point. Amy, in the episode about being kidnapped and having been secretly imprisoned while pregnant without knowing it and then waking up right as you were giving birth after months and months, and then being threatened with that baby being immediately taken from you (which does in fact happen)... is not the focal point

she's got an opening scene in which she speaks to her baby and is like "you're gonna get saved don't you worry, because your dad is a badass (I guesssssssssssss, we'll get back to Rory), and I too will be saved"

and then she stands around waiting to be saved, and there is One Bit where she's like "I was here all along and that was a bit fucked up" and the Doctor hugs her (with Rory's permission, because we love casual sexism) and is like, "the stuff on the Tardis was also real, I mean, your body was here and pregnant, but youknow, close enough" and that's about it for Amy's Stuff

I'd argue Rory meeting the baby is given more emotional weight/time, and that scene is good and important and he's crying and he and Amy are sweet, but where's her version of this moment?

we do have Amy losing the baby at the end and that's fucked up, and we get her demanding River to know what's going on, and then the episode ends before she reacts to that (maybe in the next one...)

but on the whole, she's just damseling and not even having much of an opinion on being a damsel, beyond going "yeah it'll be fine"

River comes in at the beginning and the end, at the beginning she's talking about the Doctor and at the end she's revealing who she is, and she's... happy. so that's an emotion. and she's finally getting to tell her parents that she's their daughter, and getting to tell the Doctor

so River gets more than Amy in this on the whole, and now she's no longer a mystery she can go on to be a character I imagine... wait and see...

COMPLEXITY: classic M*ffat. montages. characters youve never seen before who are very important now. characters you have seen before, but in episodes where it makes no sens for them to be here (Danny-boy? you're a WWII pilot, what?) (where did all those Silurians come from? Judoon? what a strange set of choices)

bunch of mythologies that were just made up on the spot, saying "well the Doctor is badass" instead of showing him doing much of anything, also that bit where he blew up a bunch of cybermen ships just cos? it looks cool I guess? why do things happen? to look cool

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh well what do we learn? we learn that Amy loves Rory and believes he's going to come and save her, so nothing new there

we learn that there's a bunch of mythologies about the Doctor being a "great Warrior" but also that the "doctor" comes from the Doctor's name, I suppose

we learn about the headless monks and the one-eyed lady, sort of. we learn they exist and are behind the abduction of Amy and later Melody

we learn that Amy and Rory had sex on the Tardis and so their kid is kind of Timelord????

and that River is that kid, but grown up

think that's about it

so lot of plot, some stupid lore, and a couple of character dynamic moments (Rory meeting the baby, River revealing she's Melody, although we don't see Amy and Rory reacting to that)

the Doctor has more of an emotional moment with Vastra, a character we've just met, than with Amy and Rory (Vastra also does more plot shit than Amy or Rory, see below)

COMPANIONS MATTER: Amy. Standing around.

Rory. The Last Centurion. Okay so I don't buy this. which is probably the problem. I really really enjoyed the Rory we were getting to know this season, who's defined by his caring nature, quite a sweet man with a strong sense of right and wrong that's based in his nursing, and then this episode they're like "but also he's Badass Action Man who says shit like "the twelfth cyber-legion monitors this entire quadrant"" and then right down to that tidbit about how he's got a sword but he'll allow the Doctor to hug Amy

and in all of that what does he actually do? not much of anything. in many ways he's standing around as much as Amy is, just in a Centurion outfit, because. Oh and he has a myth about him as well, I guess...

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: “that you pricked the side of a mighty beast and entirely failed to run” siiigh

"Demons run when a good man goes to war…" siiiiiiiiigh

Pandorica

A dark legend

"Doctor, we get that word from you you know" SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH

listen the thing is, again, this episode is actually inevitably really about the Doctor all along, it's a mythology about the Doctor, and Amy is - like in s5 - bait and trap and red herring

all the reveals about River and the journey of why this matters is because the Doctor will rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further, or whatever, and I'm like... I think Amy feels worse actually... I think this is about her. it's not though

In theory I like the big about Colonel Runaway, I think that's very Neat, and I like

Evil Woman: The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules The Doctor: Good men don’t need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many

but it's framed around all the rest of the Schlock

the one upside is that in all of those annoying montages, the point is that the Doctor knows all these people who do stuff because the Doctor comes to call. it begs the question of whether the Doctor in this incarnation has friends or just people who owe him, like a mafia boss, but at least the Doctor isn't going it alone, like in the beginning of the episode with the exploding Cybermen ships (just... to send a message.... gasp, he is a Mob Boss!)

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: it doesn't technically do anything with previous DW one way or another, but I do think it's dubious in terms of the ethos of previous Doctor Who... not the biggest Thing on this, but urgh, this episode is dumb. I hope the next will be better (I say about an episode I remember not liking)

“SEXINESS”: it's not actually overwhelming this episode, maybe because Amy isn't chatting with the Doctor, and River is barely there, although she does flirt with... Rory... a bit.... which is first when she doesn't see it's Rory, and then a joke about how two Doctors was "a whole other birthday" which is just a little weird when we know later on that Rory is her dad, but isn't about him at least

there's also River asking "if he's considered heels" which I cannot tell what the tone of that comment was meant to be about

Vastra and Jenny have a joke related to Vastra having a long tongue (get it, they're lesbians), and Vastra is the first woman equivalent to a Sherlock/Doctor type we've seen (that is, she's casually mean and withholding, because she's too busy being Brilliant to care about others' emotions -- I wonder if she's actually Sherlock Ho-)

INTERNAL WORLD: who are the headless monks? they're an order. who are the cleric marines? they're an order. what is demons run? it's a place. that's about what we know right?

POLITICS: it's not so much that the politics are bad as that the episode is a hot mess. there're these cleric monks (I believe a throughline from the ones we saw in s5 with the Angels), but their whole Thing isn't really explored so much as there, and there are the Headless Monks, again, cool but... just there... there could have been politics in that, but there isn't

which leaves us with the sexism (Amy's complete irrelevance in the episode about her abduction and semi-forced pregnancy), and the casual homophobic joke, which feels like it was meant to be a funny tongue-in-cheek meta point about representation, and at best it falls flat. at worst it's just homophobic (it is)

FULL RATING: 42/100 (if I can count….)

It just fails on the emotional level, that's what it is in the end. Nobody's actions are grounded in anything, they're just there to serve some seemingly cool set-pieces that ultimately prop up the Doctor as being cool

its highest ratings are "this was not the worst thing it did." I am not a fan of this episode

I didn't actually talk about how I feel about River being Amy's and Rory's kid..... that's a whole other post