#(i have said this about every character when their season 2 song came out)

[kyberblade]

Give It To Me In Basic (Din x Reader)

A/N: This is just something that the premise came to mind when I listened to a song and I couldn’t let it sit. I wrote it in practically one sitting and just saw where it went - it was basically an exercise to stretch my writing muscles after a while away, and it felt really good! It’s incredibly sappy and domestic and I hope you like it. 🥹 (Not a part of my other series, this is an entirely new Din x Reader to me. Hi. Hello.) I also wanted to try writing in “she/her” instead of “you”, but this is still definitely an entirely blank reader insert. No physical descriptions are used. No mention of Y/N.

I do not own Star Wars or it’s characters. Sadly. But I carry them in my heart. Does that count for something? My soul says yes.

Summary: Din finds softness after a life of rigidity, and he’s not willing to let it go. (*Chandler Bing voice* Could I have been more vague?)

Warnings: Fluff? Like tooth rotting amounts of fluff and domesticity. Din being a sap. Grogu being the cutest thing you ever did see, and Din is once again a warning in and of himself in this one. Swearing. Mentions of typical show violence. Mando’a. Swearing. Mentions of pregnancy at the end. Some spoilers if you squint? (But if you’re here, you know how this works.) (No but like really, it follows the plot of season 2 and TBoBF, so mentions of that briefly, if you don’t want that spoiled, don’t read.) Helmetless Din. What? Who said that? 👀😬 Again: No mention of Y/N. (In fact this is written as “she/her” instead of “you”, but is an entirely blank reader insert.)

Word count: 1,206 (I know. I am as shocked as you are at how brief this is.)

Thanks to @fordo-kixed-rex for reading over this and sending me a caps locked series of texts as a response. And to @what-the-heckin-heck and @littlemisspascal for telling me it’s not too fluffy/sappy/much.

Masterlist

Xxx

There was a softness Din had come to know, grown familiar with, and let it entangle with his life like a well kept plant on someone’s warm windowsill.

It had snuck up on him when he’d least expected it. Not in the middle of a battle, or on some backwater planet, but in the quiet moments in between.

It had a heart unlike anything he’d ever seen. Something vibrant and larger than life, that welcomed him and his son with open arms and without a second glance.

The heart was worn on the sleeve of a woman, who by every standard was normal, nothing brilliant or captivating, but to Din she was everything. He couldn’t look away whenever she was nearby, her beauty both inside and out something that pulled him in with a force he didn’t understand.

Her touch sent shockwaves across his skin, the first time she shook his hand making him shudder even through his gloves. As time went on and he found himself lost in a darkened hull of the Crest, the woman at his side as they tangled further up in one another, his breath caught in his chest as her slight hand reached up to cup his cheek.

It wasn’t the touch of a lover, the sensuality of the trace of her fingers that stole from him. It was the closeness. The nearness. Something in the touch felt like home.

And he never felt at home again unless those hands were cradling him in some way, even through his armor. He’d lean into the touch, though he couldn’t feel it through his beskar, he swore he could. This was home. This is what he was trying to come back to.

Her laugh made him laugh. A foreign and buzzing feeling climbing out of his chest. Just the thought of it made him chuckle, shaking his head and telling his contact it was nothing, he was just amazed the bounty was so stupid.

Maybe it was selfish, but he didn’t want to share her with anyone. He’d found a little slice of happiness in this godforsaken galaxy, why did he have to let anyone else know about it?

When he lay on the ground, wind knocked out of him after an enemy had gotten a lucky hit, it wasn’t the sky above he saw, it was her eyes. They sparkled mischievously at him anytime she plotted her next move, often to get him to just relax. 

For years he’d seen calculating gazes, sneers, narrowed eyes of distrust and hate. He saw none of these with her. Only peace.

How ironic, he thought, getting back to his feet before causing carnage. To get back to the softness, there must first be all this chaos.

He saw it each time he came home. The light dulled just slightly in her eyes. She loved him just as much, if not more than before, but she longed to tell him while looking into his own eyes. She knew the Creed. She understood. Doesn’t mean it hurt any less. For either of them.

It was a night on the Crest, he woke with a start at the silence. He didn’t hear the child’s snores. Realization sunk in as he remembered the kid was with the Jedi. He was used to the silence as he slept, then he became used to the kids soft sounds, but they’re gone now. But slowly he eased back asleep, his eyes falling slowly shut when he realized she was there, in his arms, breathing deep and sound asleep…. His new familiar. He softly smiled as she started to snore.

Now the child was back in his care, and he was off to Mandalore to restore his honor, become a Mandalorian in the eyes of the Creed once more. His new ship had no room for anyone other than himself and Grogu, so he made arrangements to leave her on Navarro with Karga. 

After a private goodbye, where he saw the disappointment she would never voice once again painting her features, he set the ship to ascend up into the atmosphere. Once he was just above the clouds, he made a last minute decision, hailing her on her comm as he made a loop to come back around under the cloud cover.

“Look up,” was all he would say. 

But as he made a final pass by, just under the clouds without his helmet, he could see her on the ground, her smile like a beacon for miles around. From this distance the only thing she could really see clearly was his smile, but that was everything.

Her breath stuttered over the comm. “Meh'shab? Me'dinuir…. Ranov'la. Me'dinuir…. Mesh’la.” (“The fuck? To share…. Secret. To give each other…. Beautiful.”)

Din laughed. “Wanna try that again?”

She huffed. “Sorry. Ori'meshla.” (“Very beautiful.”)

Din snorted out a laugh.

She sighed, her words coming out barely above a breath. “Stars, I hope our ad has your smile.” (“Child.”)

Din paused, about to pull up on the controls. “What?”

“Wayii! Did I say that out loud?” She looked up to see Din circling lower and lower. “Don’t you dare land, Din Djarin.” The N1 was getting lower still as she spoke. “I mean it. You have planets to save. People to meet and-” The exhaust of the starfighter sent her hair every which way, her face scrunching up against the gust. “What was I thinking you would do, I don’t know?” The last words were mumbled into Din’s chest plate, his arms pulling her into him as soon as he was back on the ground. (Exclamation of surprise)

“Are you….?” His voice was barely above a whisper, his modulator popping with the lack of sound behind it.

She nodded into his beskar. “Yaihadla.”

“As much as I love you speaking Mando’a, just give it to me in Basic. My brain isn’t working properly right now-”

She tilted her head back to look up into his visor, her voice soft. “I’m pregnant, Din.” Her eyes scanned over his helmet, searching for purchase. “You’re gonna be a dad, Djarin.” Grogu squealed from the cockpit of the N1, pulling her eyes over toward the tiny green ward, and a smile up her face. “Well, again. You’ll be a dad, again.”

Din froze for a moment before reaching up and ripping his helmet off, immediately pulling her into a searing kiss. Her muffled sounds of surprise melted away after just a moment, her arms coming up around his neck to pull him closer still, and causing his lips to pull up into a smile against her own. Finally breaking the kiss, he leaned his forehead against hers, both of them breathing heavily.

“Careful,” she teased, “that’s how we got into this situation in the first place.”

Din just shook his head in amusement at her, chuckling, and never removing his forehead from hers. Looking up through his lashes, he found her already doing the same to him. “Hi,” he muttered quietly.

“Hi,” she replied on a breath, making his smile pull higher still. “Osik,” she continued on a breath, going on when he cocked his head to the side, pulling back just slightly. “I really hope they get your smile.” (“Shit.”)

Xxx

Everything Tags: @lam-ila @oliviajdjarin @peonyophelia @itsavicf @jxvipike @momc95 @babygirlrex0504 @harriedandharassed @burningfieldof-clover @theclassicvinyldragon What’s This?

[canyousonicme]

Doctor Who: Big Finish, Alex Kingston Team for New River Song Stories

Alex Kingston will return as River Song for a new round of Big Finish's Doctor Who audio dramas set AFTER "Silence in the Library."

Now that Steven Moffat is back writing for Doctor Who, fans are speculating about whether River Song will be back. Alex Kingston certainly hasn't made it a secret that she would love to play the character again. But River Song never really went away. She's been headlining a River Song series in audio dramas from Big Finish for years since she had her final story on Doctor Who. Now she will star in The Death and Life of River Song, a brand-new series of full-cast audio dramas coming soon from Big Finish Productions. It's like a whole new season of River Song adventures – and the latest.

In case you didn't know, River Song is an archaeologist from the 52nd century, born and raised to be an assassin, destined to marry her intended target, and to have many of her own adventures too – Professor River Song's very messy timeline began (or maybe ended) when she first appeared in the 2008 Doctor Who TV episode Silence in the Library. Since then, Kingston has reprised the role in her own series of Doctor Who audio spinoffs, including The Diary of River Song, which ran from 2015 to 2023. Now, in August 2024, she will return in a brand-new series, The Death and Life of River Song.

The first box set in the series, Last Words, is written by Robert Valentine. It begins with River, after settling down to an afterlife in the Library's computer core, finding herself waking up in Earth's future, her consciousness having been temporarily transferred to a new body.

Alex Kingston said that River's stories at Big Finish have moved beyond her death in Doctor Who: "We have gone post-Library! We've done another episode in the past where I was within the database, which I loved, and I thought that's the only way you could go forward with River, given her situation. So, I was actually really surprised when this box set came my way and that we are now so far advanced in the history of Earth that she is able to be brought out as data and put into a cloned body. So very, very clever!"

Producer David Richardson added: "When every single day during the recording, your leading actress says "This script is brilliant," you know you're onto a good thing. Even better, at the end of the last day, Alex popped the script in her bag and announced that she loved Last Words so much she was taking it home to keep and treasure."

The Death and Life of River Song: Last Words is now available for pre-order exclusively here, either as a collector's edition four-CD box set for £29.99 or as a digital download for £22.99 per volume. Big Finish listeners can also pre-order a bundle with Last Words as well as Volumes 2 and 3 of The Death and Life of River Song, which are both due for release in 2025, for just £80 (collector's edition CDs + downloads) or £66 (downloads only). [X]

[tmf-confessions]

I don't understand the relevance of episode 5 to the rest of the series if im being honest ????? (and sorta episode 4 too)

Like,

Episode 1 - the introduction episode, sets up the plot for the rest of the season

Episode 2 - shows the effects of jakes prior actions, further expands on the clubs new dynamic with jake joining and meeting the characters, and jake doing something good for zander (wouldnt say he earned zanders trust, it's more so him convincing zander to try and give him a second chance and be open to having him in the club)

Episode 3 - learning millys backstory and jake earning millys trust by doing something good for her (getting her diary page back)

Episode 4 - depth to zander and lukes relationship, shows off lukes pining

now, a particular gripe I have with this episode is that it set up an action for jake to gain lukes trust (singing the love song luke wrote that he said he would sing) and then shows jake just. failing on it. he showed up late so hailey had to sing it instead. i feel like if the point was to show jake gaining lukes trust he shouldve actually came through on his promise. so its purpose of gaining lukes trust doesn't even make sense if he doesnt do the thing he said he would???

Episode 6 - music club bonding episode. some may call it filler, but I do think it's important to show an established dynamic they have since the show in this season was mainly about jake growing close to the music club. shows that a lot of the club have certain trust for jake and most of them can get along well. also the episode where jake specifically does an action that gains seans trust, which would be offering him the gaming laptop since sean couldnt find his. (but then again, he never really gave it to him since they found his laptop, so he never went through with the exchange technically. the thought that counts, i guess? but i feel like the stakes were removed.) would say this is the sean based episode, but it barely is and felt more slice of lifeish with only a few sean scenes, not even entirely sean focused really.

Episode 7 - giving more depth to sean and daisys friendship. (will eventually set up the conflict where jake thinks sean is dating daisy) shows jake opening up about his past.

Episode 8 - hailey depth episode, expands on her stage fright. expands the relationship between jake and hailey immensely. fight at the end of the episode sets up the big conflict ready to come.

Episode 9 - where it all comes crashing and burning. very important episode, shows the jomies (whether unintentional or intentional) manipulating and peer pressuring jake based off the things set up in earlier episodes. jake talks shit. club finds out. kicked out of club. one of the highest points in conflict.

Episode 10 - the aftermath. jake tries to figure out what the hell happened, who did it, and tries to set things right with the music club for the first time. does not work. daisy gives him the encouragement he needs to take a step further.

Episode 11 - grand finale. music club and jake make up, jake and his jomies break up. they sing. they win. congrats. ending conflict, and sneak peak sets up intrigue to season 2.

Now, all of these episodes serve their purpose to the main plot EXCEPT episode 5.

For starters, it's pretty much the only episode where jake doesn't play a major role in. I'm not saying every episode HAS to specifically be about jake, but he played a major role in every other episode, which makes it feel out of the blue when he doesn't play a role in episode 5.

It completely takes off the main plot there is and sorta steers in its own direction. Not to say I didn't enjoy the episode, but it's not very connected to the rest of the season besides episode 4.

Episode 4 in itself steers off the main plot a bit too, but it still features jake actively caring about a club member (luke) and trying to help out with their problems which is important to his development in the series.

i kinda think episode 5 would have been a bit better as a spinoff or an episode not tied to the main series. It's not a bad episode, maybe cliche and stacy as a plot device was kinda annoying, but it's not horrendous for teen highschool side romance. Just doesn't really belong in the middle of the plot I think.

Anyway. Rant over this was stupid but you get the point if you've read through this.

confession #680

[neospokenworld]

SPRING ANIME 2024 FINAL THOUGHTS (PART 2)

Part one here

SEIYUU RADIO NO URA OMOTE

You know, ever since seeing Oshi no Ko's 1st season I've wanted to watch another anime that more or less walked through the behind the scenes of the industry, so when I heard what was Seiyuu Radio about I definitely wanted to see it and now that the season ended it was quite good ngl.

it was pretty good to watch and even if it probably isn't faithful to the VA industry it also gave some insight to the behind the scenes of it, I absolutely loved how in this final episode the entire sequence of Yasumi rerecording her lines to the 'Phantom' show was done with no music nor sound effects, just pure raw Voice Acting altogether. One thing I would say tho is that if it wasn't because a lot of yuri pages I follow said that this is a yuri slowburn I wouldn't even believe it was the intention other than slight subtext lol, I get the feeling that this show would need like 2 more seasons to show something romantic between Yuhi and Yasumi and to be honest I wouldn't mind it at all, I absolutely loved their rivalry in here and how they have each other's back if either of them was in actual trouble (Like Yuhi with the casting couch rumors and Yasumi with her lack of confidence for her role in Phantom). Needless to say this was a good anime all in all and while I would probably put it at the bottom of a ranking with all of the ones I saw complete this season it's wouldn't be because it was bad by any means, but just because I liked the other ones more in the end (also I would love to see a 2nd season of it, even if the chances are almost 0 lol)

GIRLS BAND CRY

When I first started this anime, all I thought was that it was gonna be a fun little anime with great visuals and not much else, but now that it finished all I gotta say is that it was easily my favorite anime out of the Spring season.

Like seriously, it's crazy how with each episode it got better and better. All of the TogeToge girls were really likeable to see and their interactions with each other were just so good in general, the animation was 100% a standout for the series with such an amazing 3D, and the songs were like OH MY FUCKING GOD THEY ARE SUCH BANGERS!! Like at one point I just downloaded the album they have and each new song that it came just went straight into my playlist

Another great thing it had was the relationship Momoka and Nina had over the course of the show, I'm gonna be honest here I didn't expected the yuri elements to be brought up again after the confession, this isn't that type of story in the end and even then, you could see the two sides of their really close bond, from one side of bickering and arguing but in the end being there for each other, to the other side of deep admiration (and love) for the other and always having each other back. Even if there wasn't anything canon in the end they have such chemistry that it wouldn't be crazy that they would be already dating by the time the final episode arrived

And that mainly going on Nina and Momoka's side of the band, both Rupa and Tomo had already that deep bond between them and you could see how much they trust each other, and Subaru being the wild card that easily ties everything together in the amazing band that is Togenashi Togeari. Every character has something going for them that can make you love them and be their favorite without looking down any of the others. Nina's passion and decisiveness, Momoka's leadership and coolness, Tomo's take-no-shit attitude and brash honesty, Rupa being basically the mom/older sister of the group and having an overall more relaxed nature (thus making her an amazing hidden agent of chaos), and Subaru's chaotic and grounded nature that helped both enhance the comedy and bring the girls down whenever needed

I hope we get more content for the show in the future, whether it's in form of new music; merch; a movie; second season; manga; anything, 'cause this was just too fucking good to just end here. Goated anime and the best of the season imo

KAIJU No. 8

Honestly I'm still surprised that this series isn't talked more, like I know that it has a fandom talking about it that I still haven't interacted with, but outside of that I've seen very counted posts recommending it or just mentioning it which is a shame 'cause these last 5 episodes were absolutely amazing

Like at first I was like ''it's a good one, but not as good as most I'm seeing'' but after Number 9 came to attack the defense force for the first time it was like the show awakened and started delivering banger after banger episodes, and before that we already had cool characters to go for in Shinomiya, Kafka, Hoshina and Reno. The animation was real good (especially in both the Hoshino vs Kafka fight and the full awakening of Number 8) and the action was cool too, plus it has nice characters and a pretty interesting story to tie it all up, I'm like 90% sure this will have a second season in the future and I'll be waiting for it 'cause I wanna know more about the story (even if I'm gonna start reading the manga sooner or later lol).

This anime was a late bloomer like Kafka in the end lol

SASAYAKU YOU NI KOI WO UTAU

Well, technically this isn't the final episode, but since the final 2 have been postponed until further notice I'm gonna share my ''final'' thoughts here.

I HATE how badly was this anime treated, like it had everything to become easily one of the best Yuri anime of all time after the first 2 episodes but then everything came crashing down and the production of it was basically a Mappa 2.0, so much that episodes 9 and 10 were delayed for 2 weeks and the final episodes are gonna be aired at some point in the future, leaving it inconclusive for the season.

But I'm gonna see it here on a positive side, the first two episodes were just extremely beautiful and even if by episode 3 the animation was downgraded I'm here as an anime only for this series, so I could watch this for the story instead of for the adaptation and to be honest I love the story. I love the characters and the dynamic between them, the soundtrack was really good and the songs were great too, in my opinion this anime is a top 3 for the season, and I understand the hate it gets from the fans since, while I still haven't read the manga, I can imagine how bad it must feel that the adaptation was butchered so badly that even the author hated it.

This anime deserved so much better, I really liked it from beginning to end, to the point where I'm gonna start reading the manga because of how good the story was so at least the anime did it's purpose of guiding people into reading it's source material. if by some miracle there's a remake I'll 100% be here for it, I loved it as someone who didn't knew anything about it but the fans deserved a far better adaptation

And that's it!! I'm gonna leave here my ranking for each of the anime's I saw to completion, I'll probably make another rank for my favorite OP and ED tomorrow too but for now thanks for reading

1 Girls Band Cry

2 Jellyfish Can't Swim at Night

3 Whisper me a Love Song

4 Bartender

5 Kaiju No. 8

6 Train to the End of the World

7 Delicious in Dungeon

8 The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio

[lusthurts]

For the character asks: Mercedes and Finn

omg this is an exciting one!!

mercedes jones

how i feel about this character

underrated queen! she was so cool and had so much potential as a character but was constantly ignored by the show and only brought out to belt songs that nobody else could perform like her - in that regard, I think she was given even more of a disservice than Tina because at least Tina had, like, well developed friendships in season 4 + two very long term relationships that had an impact on the show. I mostly think Mercedes deserved better!

all the people i ship romantically with this character

honestly, I'm glad she didn't end up with any of her canon boyfriends - I think Mercedes is one of those characters who really benefitted from getting out of Lima and making it on her own, and I feel like she'll probably meet her soulmate in the music industry or something at some point

that being said, I did really enjoy Samcedes (in late season 2 and throughout season 3, not so much after that), and I LOVED her relationship with Shane because I think it really helped to build her confidence up at the beginning of season 3

my non-romantic otp for this character

once again, she was done a huge disservice because so many of her friendships had great episodes and then were completely ignored after that

her friendship with Rachel (particularly in the later seasons) is very special to me - I love the scene in season 5 when they talk about Finn and Sam and all that, and I love when they bond over how they both experienced a lot of bullying from people like Santana, so even if they're competitive with each other, they still understand where each other came from and have a deep respect because of that

I really wish they'd kept up her friendship with Quinn because that had so much potential at the end of season 1, then they just completely forgot that Quinn fully lived with Mercedes when she got kicked out of her house

my unpopular opinion about this character

I think she was completely valid to leave the New Directions in season 3, but I do not think the Troubletones deserved to win sectionals. I know this isn't really about Mercedes specifically, but I think it's pretty core to her character. I mean, obviously I don't know what the other two songs they presumably performed were and they were probably just as excellent as "Survivor/I Will Survive", but I think the New Directions Jackson medley was one of their best competition performances in the entire show with some of their best dancing and voice variety, and it was really entertaining for me personally.

one thing I wish had happened with this character in canon:

I wish we'd gotten to see more of her music career post high school. She had the most potential for stardom given what we did see in canon, but I kind of have no perception of like how big she ended up being, what kind of music she performed, what her every day life looks like etc., despite the fact that she was in New York with Rachel, Santana, and Kurt. At the end of the show, I wanted to see Mercedes be Beyoncé level successful, and I can head canon it, but I think it'd be fun to see what she would've been like as a full-fledged celebrity.

finn hudson

how i feel about this character

finn was one of my first favorite characters in glee - I can relate to his character a lot as someone who grew up with a single mom and was just trying to fit in which didn't always result in the best decisions

I also think he's just like a very realistic teenage boy - he makes a lot of mistakes, but he's trying his best, and I think the path he was on before his death was very fun and fitting for his character

all the people i ship romantically with this character

definitely Rachel :) this is maybe my most basic glee opinion, but I enjoyed their relationship a lot, and I do think they were genuinely very good for each other. I do think I would've been satisfied with their ending of always coming back to each other, even if they weren't always right for each other at every moment. I'm also just a sucker for high school sweethearts that actually feel capable of making it work in the long term. They're very James & Lily coded to me lol

ngl I enjoy Finn & Quinn for what it is - a midgame/high school sweethearts ship that was never meant to last, and I think the two of them could be great friends later in life

my non-romantic otp for this character

I think Finn's relationship with Kurt is one of the best in the show as far as development goes - they obviously experience a lot of highs and lows, but it's very demonstrative of their individual character arcs, and it's beautiful to watch them go from their weird behavior in season 1 to genuine siblings in the later seasons

I also really like Finn & Santana's friendship (if we ignore the accidental outing lol) - I think they had a lot of potential (is this an unpopular opinion? who's to say)

my unpopular opinion about this character

I genuinely think Finn had good intentions 99% of the time, and things just came out sounding wrong on occasion, as they often do for people who are generally socially unaware because they're living in, like conservative suburbia lol like yes the incident with Kurt in season 1 was quite bad, the accidental outing of Santana was bad, the incident with Sue's baby was bad, but I think he always showed remorse for this behavior and became a substantially better person as a result of it - he is a character who is very capable of growth, and I think that's displayed very obviously throughout the show (i.e., the transition from the way he treated Kurt in season 1 to how he treated Unique in season 4)

one thing I wish had happened with this character in canon:

hard to not immediately be like "I wish he'd been there for the whole show" even though I realize that wasn't physically possible

I think if I have to accept that he was always going to have the same last episode, my main want would be for him to get his happy ending earlier - like, if he doesn't get to teach at McKinley fine but I really would've liked to know he ended up happily teaching somewhere with a foot still in the music world somehow

oh and on a similar note, I really enjoyed his teaching arc in season 4, and I wish we'd gotten to see more interaction with all the newbies specifically - he was excellent with Marley & Ryder, and even Unique a little bit, would've been cool to see him development a good mentor relationship with like Kitty, Jake, etc.

[crybabyddl]

Just finished my rewatch of jatp. My perfrct track record of not crying during Unsaid Emily remains untouched. I will say though, I was very close to shedding a tear this time. However, I didn’t even cry during Stand Tall! I always cry during Stand Tall!

Anyways, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the headcanons and theories that us tumblr fantoms created and the little easter eggs we discovered while watching and rewatching the series. It makes me really appreciative of the fact that we had a sense of community during a time where a lot of us were alone, scared, and uninspired. Just like Julie, I felt a renewed sense of purpose and hope. I think that a lot of people felt the same after watching the show. Julie and the Phantoms is what inspired me to learn the piano, the ukulele, and it led me to getting a guitar. When I learned how to play the chords for the soundtrack, I was playing those songs nonstop. It really helped me brave through the unsure feelings that came along with the pandemic. It made me forget my fears about the future.

I don’t feel as hopeful about things as I did back then, but JATP will always be a land-marking point in my life. It represents newfound joy, reignited passion, and abundant vivacity. As someone who loves and is extremely passionate about music, this silly little netflix show really hit me in the most sensitive places. And while I remember having a bout of serious depression after finishing the series, (along with intense rage that while I was dealing with my depression at its lowest point, the cast of jatp was living what felt like my dream) the lessons I learned from the show were far more significant. It literally brought music back into my life, no joke.

The friends I made because of JATP will always have a special place in my heart. A lot of them don’t use tumblr anymore, and I don’t use it nearly as much as I used to, but I’m still so grateful to have been introduced to such kind, accepting, and funny people. The stories, theories, headcanons, fanfictions, moodboards, inside jokes, memes, and fanart we created will always be remembered and cherished. I’m still pro-cheesecake, I’m still highly allergic to sleeves, and every time I see an unnecessary or fake zipper, I think of my fellow tumblr fantoms.

I don’t think I’ll ever truly “get over” Julie and the Phantoms. It was the first thing that truly resonated with my spirit as a new adult. I was 19 and had dropped out of college, feeling completely lost and like I had nothing going for me. Going into lockdown because of the pandemic didn’t help with any of that, and I was aimlessly, endlessly scrolling on social media, hoping to find meaning and purpose. And one day, my friend posted a clip on snapchat of what she was watching on netflix. The guy was cute and it looked like him and the girl he was next to had a nice connection so I asked what show it was. That’s how I discovered JATP, almost 2 weeks after its release. I also just have an unhealthy attachment to the show and the characters so I refuse to let this media that speaks to my soul die.

All that being said, we really deserved another season. I think it would cure me entirely, if I’m being honest. Even if it was just a little Christmas special where they decorate a tree and do those mini stories like filler episodes of a cartoon series. Hell, I’d settle for an animated JATP episode. I just think we all deserve it after what we’ve been through not only as a fandom, but as human beings. I will never forgive netflix for it’s terrible job at promoting, because they only failed when it came to this show specifically. They managed to keep every other show, even ones far less deserving of acclaim and attention, afloat during and after the pandemic. The only reason JATP managed to get anywhere was solely the cast, creators, and fans. Paul Becker was on fucking overdrive, churning out BTS videos WEEKLY. Fanfiction writers were bursting at the seams with multi-chapter series and one shots about every possible scenario. We got things trending on twitter during the two most chronically online years. Fanart was being shared like crazy, and we had the instagram fantoms so confused by the memes that they retaliated and claimed they were superior.

Meanwhile, tumblr was in its shadowbanning era, and fantoms were in the TRENCHES trying to get their content to reach beyond mutuals and taglists. We received barely any appreciation, except for when we trended on twitter asking to renew jatp and on tumblr for jatp appreciation week. Let’s not forget when we thought Owen had a secret tumblr and we all started accusing each other of being him. I will never forget when we all rallied to get Madi to 1 million followers because we didn’t want her to become overshadowed by the boys and all the attention they were getting. We all watched their instagram lives and I will always love the tumblr fantoms who made gifs of the cutest moments from those. Everyone saw me shamelessly simp over Charlie with facial hair wearing a santa onesie. We created a whole Carrie redemption arc out of thin air, we created origin stories for Rose and the Petal Pushers, and we forced the creators of JATP to give us the official last names of Reggie, Alex, and Flynn (This adventure SPECIFICALLY!!!) We were ruthless in our efforts to uncover their last names. We used breadcrumbs to make theories and speculations, only to end up begging in every comment section and dm inbox we could to get Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer, and eventually—though much, much later—Flynn Taylor. We gave Willie more crop tops, we basically storyboarded a second season, complete with episode titles and songs! We uncovered the Sunset Curve EP using the grainiest photos in existence, we created a loose timeline surrounding everyone’s birthdays, deaths, and significant events. We orchestrated a fucking CONCERT TOUR for this band. Oh, and let’s not forget when Kenny and the boys went to Hawaii. That Hawaii trip was so eventful for the fantoms, you have no idea how serious I’m being unless you were there for it. That was something unlike anything else for so many reasons. There’s a lot more, but that’s the stuff that came to mind immediately.

[eggs-and-autism]

a detailed explanation of every anime ive ever watched bc i feel like it

first of all no hate to ppl who like the stuff i trashed on here, same goes for ppl disliking the things i glazed. technically my first anime was pokemon -but thats everyone's first so ill be brief. my fav series was pokemon black & white, xy and xyz were pretty good but nothing compared to b&w.

as a kid i also loved glitter force and lolirock! not much to say i jst love cartoons. ok real post time:

in 4th grade i was really into animation story time youtubers; especially wolfichu. i NEEDED to have her artstyle. so around that time she among others had mentioned in passing tokyo mew mew, so i found a dub of it on youtube.

tokyo mew mew was okay, i wasnt invested in it i juast watched it to be more like wolfichu. i barely got like 5-10 eps in before i forgot ab it and moved on; deciding i would simply not like anime and draw in an anime artsyle in harmony.

and so i didnt watch anime for the next 2 years. i think i told people i did to be cool(i was not cool) but alas, i was a poser. in 7th grade i was online way more and saw ppl talking about anime a lot, so i made a big list of all the ones people told me to watch and decided i would watch them in the summer of 2021

a bit before summer my bff recommended i watch a silent voice. i really liked it, not much to say, its p fuckin good! i really like Shoko's design.

okay summer time-- first on the watch list was the promised neverland; i got though it in a day and felt mildly positive towards it. it was interesting when i connected it to my favorite comic at the time (space boy) but i didnt wanna rewatch.

then there was mha. my bff really liked it at the time so i did have motivation to watch it- but i felt nothing twords the plot and characters. i watched the first 3 seasons but i rember none of it bc i was so distracted and bord the whole time. no hate to mha fans!! i really wanted to get into it; but i once again came to the conclusion i am not a person who likes anime.

i focused on watching other cartoons for a while but my bff got really into attack on titan; so i said over and over i would watch it but never actually did. technically this doesnt count but i know the whole plot form he sending well structured wikipedia esc infodumps about it. so im mentioning it, sue me i dare you.

i also watched the first season of saki k. it wasnt outstanding but it was funny enough.

a good bit into 2022 i saw people on tiktok talking about watamote, it seemed interesting enough, so i watched it. i liked it more then any anime id seen before(spare a silent voice and pokemon). it wasnt really an interest, i had no further thoughts about it, it was pretty funny and the ending song is a fucking banger witch is still on all my playlists!

durring 8th grade i was also forced by my friend-at-the-time to watch komi cant communicate. now, at first i was told to watch the sub(as the dub wasn't out yet). i dont watch subs. i cant watch them at all, i read slow and there is no enjoyment for me and i dont care about the voice acting i need it out loud. but as mentioned komi had no dub for a while so i sat though the first ep and then gave up. months later; dub was out and i watched it. it was fineeee. standered. it was what i expected; i didnt really like it but i didnt hate it. i was just a person who didnt like anime. no changing that.

until-

around the end of my 8th grade year or beginning of my freshman year i saw someone on tiktok talking about school live club! it sounded really interesting so i watched it- and oh my god. i loved it. to this day i love it. SPOILERS!!: the other girls playing into Yukis delusions for their own peace of mind was fascinating. every characters personal story-- the twist with Megumi-- the depiction of ptsd with Kurumi-- the ending--- i loved it.

so naturally, i assumed it was one of a kind and i simply was not a person who liked anime.

during my freshman year i watched madoka magica. i was recommended it by a friend and it statemented itself as the second anime i turly loved. after madoka i started looking for anime i like again

bloom into you hit me on a personal level, it was like a truck that hit my face saying "hey, this is a kinda relationship that is possible", witch as of me figuring out im aroace has been more relivent to me then ever. i have trouble loving people so the idea of somone wanting a relationship because ill never romantically love them is smth i hope for- but obvi might not happen i just like that its possible.

summer before 10th grade-- i was at my fist con and decided if i couldn't find anything to buy i would at least network. i met a really cool artist and chatted with her for a while. she had a keychain i thought was cute so i asked her what it was from. thus my introduction to bochi the rock! and god, it i really wanted to like bochi. i loved guitar and wanted to learn it; i loved her design; the premise want miserably boring; i wanted to like it! but there was no dub, and god i cannot watch subs, its pathetic but i had to drop it.

during the first semester of my junior year i was still working on the future is blue. i mention this because apon seeing an anime with almost the same premise as my comic, i had to watch it. a lull in the sea was an interesting premise for sure, but i never actually finished it. the seris main theme is fish people face xenophobia, but what stuck out to me most was a pattern i noticed with how people treated the heroin. (this is from memory so i might get stuff wrong) i had BEEF with that way Manaka was constantly infanatalized by her friends. the main character constantly treats her like an idiot who is hopless without him. when she comes home crying after being cat-called by some old pos she is told shes being dramatic. like, no wonder she got close with the fisher boy so quickly, HES NICE TO HER!! still id rewatch it in theory if i have time.

and then there was talentless nana. the game changer.

��� part 2

[now-that-i-saw-you]

2023 recap

I've lived a thousand lives this year. I also read around 40 books, watched 17 shows, 34 movies and listened to 40,214 minutes of music and I'm gonna narrow them all down to top 3 favorites of each category.

Music

1. Midnights

I'm a swiftie forever and ever so best believe whatever album Taylor released it's gonna be my favorite album ever, but Midnights is exceptionally good. It's no surprise that most songs on my top 5 most-played are from Midnights (and the only one that isn't is seven). This is my AOTY and I want to personally thank Taylor for writing You're On Your Own, Kid.

2. Stick Season

My sixth most-played song was Dial Drunk and I think it was just a couple of streams away from entering the top. The rest of the album is just as good and as poignant. It's so folklore-esque and I adore a good story that makes me forget about my problems.

3. Good Ridddance

Did you guys know Gracie Abrams is fucking excellent? I listened to Good Riddance and it was amazing and then I listened to her earlier work and they were also amazing. Good Riddance is for girls in their 20s who feel like they mess everything up (it's so evermore-coded).

Books

1. All For The Game

I read a lot of great books this year but this is probably the only one I've been properly obsessed with. Every single word in these books made me cry, it just made me feel so much; angry, sad, happy, but mainly hopeful.

2. She Who Became The Sun

This is objectively the best book I read this year. It's eloquent and complex and interesting and deals with subjects like gender and sexuality in such a fine, delicate way. I wanted to savour every moment with this book, read every word slowly so I could properly understand it. Ouyang is up there with Adam Parrish and Lyra Silvertongue in my Favorite Characters List.

3. Conversations With Friends

This book made me feel seen, while deeply hurting me. Turns out I kinda like the Miscommunication trope and I think it's mostly because I love it when characters feel like real people and nothing is more real than not saying what you should or saying the wrong thing.

TV Shows

1. Succession

I came to realize that what makes me love a show/book is mostly the characters. I love complicated characters that feel like real people. I love it when I can't decide whether I hate or love a character. Even my least favourite characters (Logan and Tom) were well-written and had a very satisfying storyline. I did not understand a single thing they said when talking about finance (at least I learned what a Bear Hug is...sorta) and that didn't stop me from enjoying the show and following the plot and to me that shows how entertaining it was.

2. Better Call Saul

Everyone should watch this show. This is one of the greatest corruption arcs I've ever seen on TV and Jimmy is an excellent protagonist, I love the way the writers build his character's arc and his relationship with people around him, mainly his brother but also Kim because their relationship was amazing. They were so cute and doomed by the narrative. Personally, I enjoyed every season and wasn't bored at any point. This show was done with so much love and you can feel it.

3. Totally Completely Fine

I love it when I stumble on a show because I have nothing else to watch and it turns out to be a favourite. Totally Completely Fine has everything: Humour and wit, discussing important, sensitive topics in a very appropriate manner, and an incredibly real sibling relationship. The show gives a voice and empathy to the eldest siblings, the youngest and the middle child and I'm never getting over "you took all the air."

Please watch it because I want a second season.

Films

1. The Whale

Idk if this a controversial opinion or not but I found this film very moving. To me it's a story about healing and forgiveness being a possibilty for everyone. I really felt and cared for the main character.

2. El Camino

The Breaking Bad writers are just very good at their job. I love Jesse and I love this additional story to the universe.

3. Loving Vincent

The entire film was made by oil painting. How can I not include this? It's a beautiful film telling the story of Vincent Van Gogh's death. I encourage everyone to watch it.

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

Episode 90 of Go Rush is the most painful Yugioh episode to me

This episode has put me in a state of grief and shock, similar to what I felt after my cat died, for days, to the point where I'm still recovering from the after effects as I write this. I'm gonna do my best to judge this episode fairly, and critique it for what it is, not what I may have personally wanted it to be. To be clear, I think this is a good episode. Maybe even a great one. I do have some genuine critiques (mainly with the dialogue so I admit it could partially be a language/culture barrier issue) but overall, it is a well put together episode and duelling wise especially, a fantastic arc finale to my favourite story arc of season 2. It just... came out Christmas Eve, a hard time of the year for me for personal reasons, and did something that was always going to destroy me personally. But, anyways, enough beating around the bush. I have a ton of thoughts on this episode that I really need to put in one place.

Spoilers below of course.

Like I said, the duelling action in this episode is amazing, one of my personal favourite duels in Bridge Era Yugioh. Honestly maybe someday when GR is fully released, I will declare it my favourite. I need more time with it to know for sure. Kuaidul is so at the top of his game with his perfected deck that Yudias had to steal Kuaidul's ultimate monster in order to fight back at all and even then, Kauidul was still able to defend himself and potentially make a comeback. He's a skilled duelist and a great villain and that's on full display this episode.

The only problem I have with this episode's first half is the opening theme playing over part of an episode once again. They did this at the end of Galaxy Cup and it felt ill-fitting there too but this episode felt even more forced as that song being played during a "triumphant victory" right before the turn this episode took was really distracting. The tonal whiplash honestly kind of disgusted me. The song is great, but you don't have to play it in the middle of the episode just because it's an arc finale, guys. If it doesn't fit, then it doesn't fit. Don't force it.

Other than that blunder though, the first half or so of this episode is high quality standard fun so had I not known better and seen the clips and screenshots before watching the entire thing subbed, I never would've expected the episode to go full on depressing. Yeah, Kuaidul was mentioned to be dying in the previous episode but Yugioh hardly ever permanently kills characters and every other Go Rush villain was allowed to live.

Surely, I don't need to lose sleep over this. Surely they won't kill him on Christmas Eve when he's only existed as a character for like four months and has so much more to give us. Surely Kuaidul will be okay-

.....oh

....Yeah, for me, I don't think there's a worse feeling than anxiously dreading something will happen but trying to insist it won't happen and you're just having anxiety only to have your anxiety proven right... This was the perfect storm of despair to completely destroy me and me personally since Kuaidul is a personal comfort character, saved the second season for me after it went to shit, and my favourite in Go Rush so understand that that is what my bias is when discussing this episode.

I've already made a whole post defending the scene where Kuaidul forcefully tries to fuse with Yudias. To sum it up, it was a life or death situation and Kuaidul was acting out of fear/self-preservation, Yudias was willing (though yes he did leave this unvoiced at first), and Kuaidul did let go of the fusion and accept his impending death because the fusion would, to some degree, hurt Yudias. I wish the reason and extent to how much it would hurt Yudias was more clearly explained. Maybe some line about how Kuaidul's decaying form (or the thing that gave his body form) will start to make Yudias decay as well would've helped because personally, I found the explanation the episde gave to be vague and confusing. Yugioh has confusing logic at times but I've never questioned the logic behind sacrifices like these. Antinomy and Ai's motivations and reasons for sacrificing themselves both made sense and I never questioned why they did what they did. Kuaidul meanwhile, I don't fully understand why he HAD to die. The fusion would've hurt Yudias, yes, but how drastically? Would it have eventually killed him or just hurt a lot? What would this "fusion" even have entailed? This episode vaguely implied Kuaidul was straight up trying to possess him but it never quite fully said that? For all we know, he would've ended up a harmless spirit vibing in Yudias's subconscious like Yubel or Astral were because fusions like this are just not explained in Go Rush's universe. Yeah, yeah, "show don't tell" but the visuals didn't give a concrete answer either, at least not to me. It felt weirdly vague and confusing.

Also, side note, I won't dwell on this too much because someone has already posted about it but this:

This is messed up in a way that I don't think Go Rush, which is aimed at a younger audience, is equipped to handle and should not be Yudias's reasoning. "If it will save you from death" was enough of a reason. That captures Yudias's astonishing compassion and selflessness perfectly and is far more subtle and emotionally resonant. I hate the implications of this line and it genuinely made me extremely uncomfortable when I saw it.

Anyways, the sacrifice. Despite all the under explaining, I obviously still felt the weight of Kuaidul's sacrifice and emotionally, I understand it even I find myself questioning the semantics more than I normally would with scenes like these. I do think if we knew the extent to how much Kuaidul was willing to hurt Yudias in his moment of impulsive fear, then him deciding not to go through with it would have added even more to his character. Still, I think the fact that he was willing to let go and accept his death makes him a better character. I think that was the only way that forced fusion scene could have been salvaged. Because, yes, if the episode had ended with Kuaidul forcing Yudias to fuse, sticking with it, and essentially getting away with it, this episode would be worse. I... would probably still like Kuaidul but I would definitely feel uncomfortable to some degree. However, I personally am able to fully forgive him because I understand that it was an act of impulse by a dying man that, after thinking about, he did decide on his own not to go through with. The scene played out perfectly for what they were going for. They went a direction I wasn't expecting but the direction made sense (despite being under-explained to me) and was emotionally effective.

Speaking of emotionally effective...

Okay, I won't lie. The first time I saw this scene (purely through screenshots), I was actually pissed. It immediately brought to mind Akiza being forced to forgive her abusive father and I felt like they were not just pulling that crap again but having it be the final note an immensely important comfort character of mine went out on.

....but I was already a crying mess when I saw this and now that I've regained somewhat of a clear mind and seen the full episode, my opinion has changed completely. The Creator is NOT on the same level of Akiza's father, not in the slightest. I still firmly view him and Kuaidul as a father/son relationship since the Creator... ya know, literally created him and Kuaidul craving his validation very much came across to me as a neglected child craving their parent's attention/approval. That's not explicitly spelled out by the show but keep in mind this is how I view it. From what we saw, Kuaidul had valid reasons to feel neglected, most notably episode 77 where the Creator left Kuaidul behind despite his cries. However, upon actually seeing the hug scene in motion, I realised that Kuaidul wasn't the one who initiated the hug. The Creator was:

And to me, that makes all the difference. He's offering a hug, a symbol of forgiveness and acceptance, which Kuaidul accepted instantly, with no pressure from anyone which was my main problem with Akiza's situation, because validation from the Creator was all he really wanted this whole time. That's actually quite cohesive and I'm glad Kuaidul's motivation wasn't forgotten or changed. Do I still think Kuaidul deserved more? Oh, absolutely. The Creator should've apologised verbally in some way. Maybe Kuaidul didn't need him to but I the viewer did dammit. At least if this is both their final appearances and isn't leading into something down the line (the Creator could just use him again, or it could be revealed to be a hallucination fuck-). Whatever, this hug was enough for Kuaidul and at the time of writing this, the scene is their final scene in the show and if this is truly where it ends for them, then I'm glad that despite dying, Kuaidul got exactly what he truly wanted all along.

I could nitpick it and the entire show's implications about the Creator into oblivion if I really wanted to but... I don't. My favourite character had a cohesive sympathetic narrative with a payoff, which is more than I've gotten from some other Yugioh series. For what it is, I like it and it resonated with me emotionally, which is the goal of fiction.

In fact, that's my take on the entire episode: it's not exactly what I would've expected or wanted but I like it overall for what it is. The reason I resent this episode so much is almost purely personal and not reflective of the episode's quality. I have issues with the episode, as I mentioned, but it's a good episode overall. The script just needed some tweaks.

It's a good thing Konami and Entame are taking a break after this episode. They deserve it, first and foremost, and I don't know if I'll be able to return to Go Rush even after their breaks end. I want to know what happens next but it'll be... hard after being hit with something this upsetting so suddenly during an already rough time of the year for me.

I want to return someday, but not if any part of me is still instinctively hopelessly crying out for Kuaidul's return only to be disappointed.

[once-vel]

i know absolutely nothing about blaseball but you have no idea how desperately i want to know everything about blaseball

[ID: An ask from @/celestinecerasus, reading: "all i know about blaseball is it's like evil 17776 (not about football) (not about satellites) (evil things happen)". /End ID]

(context, for anyone confused)

hehe... excellent... the short answer is it was an absurdist horror baseball simulator which ran near constantly during the onseason. i cannot summon a coherent explanation of it for the life of me so i'll put some assorted fun facts under the cut. i also tried to explain what my last post involving my ocs meant down at the bottom !

if you want an actual decent explanation of what it actually was, i recommend this post here. it is not mine! but it is good

umpires can go rogue and incinerate players, but only during solar eclipses

names are completely randomly generated based on a pool of names. so while there were characters with very normal names there were also characters named like... jaylen hotdogfingers. boyfriend monreal. freemium seraph. you get the point

there were an assortment of fun weather games could be played in, such as birds, peanuts, solar eclipse, feedback, salmon, sun 2, and three separate coffee weathers. this is not all of them i just cannot be bothered to pull up a list

said weathers had unique effects. my personal favorite is salmon weather which made everyone time travel

none of the players had a shred of canon lore so a lot of the fun was coming together as a community to make shit up for them. a whole lot of this has been recorded on the wiki if that interests you!

there WAS a story going on, separated into two eras, discipline and expansion. i cant tell you much about discipline because i wasnt there but expansion featured a god named The Boss buying the league and destroying it in pursuit of making it marketable. it ended with everyone killing her. as she was represented by a png of a coin, when we killed her, all of the ingame currency was completely removed from the website. after that the league was slowly destroyed by a black hole (games continued during this)

one time los angeles got split into infinite separate versions of los angeles. i am not sure how it worked because this concerned a team that was not mine. they called these the infinite los angeli

during. i think it was that same event? every player on the los angeles team got renamed to wyatt mason. there was a whole thing trying to get everyones names changed back. several players names were never fully corrected. this was named the wyatt masoning

then there was the time multiple teams across the leaves got their own little clones of wyatt mason. there wereee 14 i think? this was named the second wyatt masoning. i personally like the seventh mason a lot

there was one time a team got reduced to one(1) active batter and the game continued like normal. that one active batter was just. in several places at once. ze hit a triple at one point. all by hirself

necromancy was a thing. oh necromancy was very much so a thing. the first time we necromancied someone she came back with a debt to fill and killed many people

then you had the time someone necromancied themself with zero consequences. they got incinerated but they had a modification (attribute) that gave them a chance to change teams at the end of every season and fucking apparently dying didn't turn this off? so they just walked out of the hall of flame (the afterlife) and onto a random team. they proceeded to die again that season (i believe), and then they walked out of hall again

there was lore about the Before Times. in these Before Times, a guy was given a modification called firewalker that was essentially Super Debt. he left a team? whole team became unstable. he got many players killed. there's a song about this!

speaking of music! a lot of fans came together to write blaseball themed music. if music about this game interests you, check out the garages (the band)! they have a LOT of music. some songs i recommend are bones to ohio, fight gods, ur too slow, free space, mike townsend (knows what he's gotta do), and dead ringer. i also like your favorite one to break a lot. zakri song.

ok thats enough fun facts for now this is a c.ob blog not a blaseball blog. BUT i will now explain what my post from earlier means!!

kelzil is an alternate. getting alt'd in the actual sim essentially just means your stats get rerolled, but a very common interpretation of getting alt'd is outright getting swapped out for an alternate universe version of yourself. this is the interpretation i like! getting alt'd early specifically means they've had time to get used to it, so they're mostly just hanging out.

zakri's deal is like... i already explained the incineration thing in the post so i don't think i need to say more on that. flickering means he's more succeptible to the effect of feedback weather, which is two players on opposing teams getting swapped mid-game. this usually results in getting moved around from team to team a lot. he then gets shadowed, which pretty much just means he's taken out of active play. i don't have a solid interpretation of what the shadows Are so i don't have much to say on that.

THEN he gets elsewhere'd, which entails getting swept [vague gestures] elsewhere by flooding. this also takes you out of active play but this time it's for a random amount of time - a player might be gone for a day, a player might be gone for multiple seasons. zakri is gone for multiple seasons. i personally think of elsewhere as very foggy and very wet and very lonely, especially when you're there for a while. zakri will not be having a very good time !

now, for unnamed kiv. so the rising stars are a team that were introduced at the end of expansion. long story short, there was a big special game between two teams made specifically for the game - the good team (the rising stars) and the evil team (the vault legends). the vault legends were, specifically, the boss' team. we didn't really get to pick who got put on what team, players were drafted through a specific process. if you got too popular you got put on the legends and if you were popular but not too popular you got put on the stars, iirc. so because i imagine unnamed kiv to be a generally good player, they get forced onto the stars. after this is when the sun exploded and the league was destroyed by a black hole btw. so like. unnamed kiv is having a great time i'm sure

[disneyanddisneyships]

@gyubby99 okay I gave in...

Warnings: Alastir probably being out of character. Use of cuss wirds.. like... a lot of em. Me just character building my OC

Summary: Aponi sings a song to tell Valentino that she quits..

2 minute notice!

Aponi walked on stage, the lights out as she adjusted to sit where she needed to, her dress a dress that Valentino had picked out.

The music started and she took a breath.

I have wasted time, I have seen my use I have packaged and sold every part of me Suffered a lifetime of abuse

She sang as she stood up grabbing an empty bottle, throwing it onto the floor.

I have lost myself, I have worshipped at your feet And here I am standing on top of the world with some bitches to defeat

As she sang, the lights moved to where E stood, glaring.

I've played the game, I've won it all

As she sang, the lights on stage got brighter.

They've screamed my name, they bought the doll

Aponi noticed all the merchandise with her name on it and rolled her eyes.

I've seized the day, now I'vе got one thing left to say-ay-ay Fuck you!

As the beat dropped, the lights turned on and aponi smiled as she looked straight to where Valentino sat.

Herе's my two minutes notice, fuck you Time to quit and smell the roses Say goodbye, while I look you in the eye and say "Fuck you!"

She sang, holding up all four of her middle fingers.

Fuckity, fuckity, fuckity, fuckity you! Fuck you!

Valentino glared. "This better not be about me," he muttered.

"Oh, it is!" Alastor smiled as he watched his wife bash her boss.

I have taken shit (Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Been crushed under your heel (Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) I have suffered for profit and suckered for fame (Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Made a fortune you could steal (Ooh-ooh)

As aponi sang, shadows of her past made an appearance. Jason dragging her up by a chain and Valentino crushing her and hitting her.

I've had enough, I've hit the wall I'm tired of taking your calls It ends today, now there's just one last thing to say-ay-ay

As aponi sang, her phone rung. Valentino, attempting to get her to stop this madness.

Fuck you! I wish I'd said it sooner, fuck you Cut you off, just like a tumor Hope you die, kiss my ass goodbye, you cuck, fuck you!

She sang as her wings flew her into the audience.

Have you ever felt sick and tired of doing the same shit everyday with your anger brewin'? Eatin' shit for a boss that you're sick of obeyin'? If you ever felt the same, let me hear ya say it!

She rapped quickly before flying back onstage, stairs appearing for her to climb.

Did you really think I was gonna stay? Spending life bent over with your fist in my A

Alastors eyes widened at the lyrics and he snorted, holding in a laugh.

Slander me, say I'll never work in this town If I stick around, I'll be six more feet under the ground

As she sang, she fell into a hole in the ground.

When she came back out, her outfit changed to be more her.

Fuck you! (Woah-oh-oh!) Here's my two minutes notice, fuck you (Suck it, greedy bastard) (You're a fucking, ass clown) Time to quit and smell the roses

As she sang, she flew throughout the club, her smile wide.

Say goodbye, too late to apologize! So this is it, Valentino, you sad sack of shit, fuck you!

As she sang his name, Valentino stood up angrily, pushing down a waitress to get her out of the way.

(Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you) You bitch! Yeah!

As the song finished aponi walked up to the stage.

"I am so glad to have each and every one of you here for my last performance at this club.... because.. well.... I quit!!!" Aponi announced before dropping the Mike and walking away.

Only to be stopped by Valentino himself.

"You fucking, what?!" He asked darkly as he blocked her way off stage.

"You heard me. I quit! Angel wings~" she mocked, wlaking past the overlord.

A bluish grey smoke erupted from where Val stood as he grew almost 100 times his own size.

"YOU UNGREATFUL BITCH!" He yelled.

Aponi stood there with a hard glare into his eyes, holding her ground.

Red smoke blasted from behind her as Alastor in his full demon form appeared.

"Back Off, Valentino," Alastor ordered, his eyes glowing red.

"I'd be careful Alastor. Wouldn't want your little secrets to get out~" Val mocked with an evil smirk plastered on his face.

"I don't care anymore!" Alastor shouted.

"Al..?" Aponi asked quietly, nervous.

"Wouldn't want everyone here to know about-"

"The secret of my marriage to Aponi? Well, I don't care who knows it," Alastor replied, igniting a string of whispers throughout the club.

Val glared. "You'll regret that revelation, alastor," Valentino hissed before dissapearing in a cloud of smoke..

Alastor's full demon form melted away and Aponi ran up to hug him.

As they hugged, aponi got a small headache.

"Darling?" Alastor asked as they pulled apart, his eyes wide.

"What?" She asked before touching her forehead to feel Antennae. "What the-"

"What are those?" Alastor asked as he touched them.

Aponi flinched.

"They're really... sensitive," She stated

Alastor tilted his head. "How about we go back home and figure it out later after a good nap and some dinner?" He stated.

"That sounds wonderful," Aponi replied as they walked back to their limo.

.........

As aponi and alastor held onto one another, angel sat across from them, clearing his throat and drawing their attention.

"So.... who tops?" He asked with a smirk.

Alastor groaned and aponi smirked at him.

[starglaee]

Cobra Kai and Cold Hearted (my fanfic on Wattpad) characters and plotlines as folklore songs. Cold Hearted spoilers below. Feel free to add your own thoughts and opinions!

Tag list: @secretsandwritings-blog

-

the 1

Cobra Kai: Lawrusso. Easily. Every time I listen to this song I can’t help thinking of them: “ And if my wishes came true, it would’ve been you. In my defense, I have none for never leaving well enough alone. But it would’ve been fun if you would’ve been the one.”

Cold Hearted: Elion and how I feel from writing them: “I persist and resist the temptation to ask you if one thing had been different would everything be different today?”

-

cardigan

Cold Hearted: No matter what happens, Robby is there for Zion. They know each other, they trust each other, and confide in each other. This is especially true post season 3. There’s no other couple in the show or my book that really fits this song like them: “When you are young they assume you know nothing. But I knew you.”

-

the last great american dynasty

Cobra Kai: Tbh this song gives me Sensei Kim Da-Eun vibes. While I’m still waiting to see what they do in season 6 with her character, I think she fits the depiction of a badass woman coming to town and turning it upside down: “There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen. I had a marvelous time ruining everything.”

-

exile

CH: This is the title of my playlist for Elion (Eli and Zion). The angst fits them so perfectly. Also, the mentions of violence and clear jealousy illustrates these two in season 2 and 3 in a way no other song I’ve found can. Taylor’s writing makes me so happy, and Bon Iver’s voice makes it that much more heartbreaking: “I can see you standing, honey, like he’s just your understudy. Like you’d get your knuckles bloody for me.”

-

my tears ricochet

CK: This very much applies to Johnny and Kreese. Kreese made Cobra Kai a safe space for Johnny in his childhood only to abuse him and shut him out. Johnny grew but brought back Cobra Kai then Kreese tries to join again. Once he did, he stole it from Johnny. I have too many quotes for this one so here’s a few: “And if I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name wishing I stayed…” and “And I can go anywhere I want, anywhere I want, just not home.”

CH: Zion and Terry and Kreese are exemplified beautifully in this song, too. Like Johnny, they used her for their own gain while mentally abusing her in the process: “And you’re the hero flying around saving face.” and “‘Cause when I’d fight you used to tell me I was brave.

-

mirrorball

CK: Samantha LaRusso is a mirrorball. In season 1, she did anything to fit in and be popular like endure what Yasmine and Moon said to her and her former friends and classmates. In season 2, we get a glimpse of her changing herself to be with Robby and try to push Miguel and her feelings - both anger and love - away. In season 3, she’s masking her PTSD. In season 4, she does all she can to be the Bonsai Badass for her dad and the Miyagi legacy. In season 5, she finally breaks down for Miguel and says she can’t do karate anymore until she really knows who she is and overcomes all the mental obstacles still waiting for her. She also lets Daniel and Chozen in over the course of the show, letting the mirrorball crack more and more. (I love the exploration of her PTSD, if you can’t tell): “The masquerade revelers drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten.”

-

seven

CH: Tbh I think this only fits Jess and Zion since we don’t know a lot about anyone’s childhood except Anthony and Johnny, but they don’t have any friends that would fit this song. Jess knows from an early age that Zion’s mom is bad, though they can’t put their finger on it. It’s such a sweet and haunting song about childhood that only they can really express: “Your dad is always mad and that must be why. And I think you should come live with me and we can be pirates then you won’t have to cry.”

-

august

CK: This is an accurate song for SamRobby. The summer romance, the angst with the Miguel of it all, and the whispers of hiding it from Sam’s parents: “‘Cause you were never mine.”

CH: This song heavily inspired the prequel chapters with Zobby (Zion and Robby): “August slipped away into a moment in time.”

-

this is me trying

CK: Johnny’s relationship with Robby is beautifully detailed in this song. It’s about overcoming alcohol and peaking too soon. Johnny won 2 AVTs in high school before losing to LaRusso. After that, he let it and his trust issues overtake him and thus drive Robby out of his life. When he finally gets his act together, it’s for Miguel. But he keeps trying for Robby at the end of season 4 when he tells Robby they’ll save Kenny together (though I still wish Johnny would prioritize Robby over Miguel more and actually help him rather than depend on Robby helping him but that’s another rant): “At least I’m trying.”

CH: This is also about Zion in season 5 to everyone she loves while she does all she can to recover from the addiction: “Pouring my heart out to a stranger, but I didn’t pour the whiskey. I just wanted you to know that this is me trying.”

-

illicit affairs

CK: Samiguel, duh. It’s not as beautiful of a story as Taylor describes because it’s just them kissing at a party while actively having their respective partners: “It’s born from just one single glance, but it dies and it dies and it dies a million little times.”

-

invisible string

CK: This may be a weird take in a non-romantic way, but the invisible string is for Julie Pierce and Daniel. The string is actually Mr. Miyagi. But regardless I think this is a cute way to think about it, like karate has bonded them even if they don’t know it yet. (This is also my official prayer and plea and whatever that Hilary Swank will be in season 6. I guess we’ll see): “Isn’t it just so pretty to think that all along there was some invisible string tying you to me.”

-

mad woman

CK: aka Tory. The woman is always mad as hell (/lh). She’s always called crazy and manipulated by some old Cobra Kai war veteran. Just give her a break, man: “Every time you call me crazy I get more crazy.”

CH: Yeah, it’s the same with Zion tbh. But I also pose the idea of it being Zion’s pov on the Demetri rivalry. He calls her crazy, initially had Yasmine on his side, and she reacts the only way she knows: “What did you think I’d say to that? Does a scorpion sting when fighting back? They strike to kill, and you know I will.”

-

epiphany

CK: Is it weird to give this song to Silver? (I guess it also applies to Kreese.) He’s a war veteran with very obvious and untreated PTSD that he uses to mold an ideal version of the world for himself where Cobra Kai rules and he doesn’t have to answer for his heinous and violent actions. He also hid away from the karate world after the AVT in ‘85 with his money, business, and rich friends, which was where we found him at the beginning of season 4. He even repressed those memories until Kreese brought them out, thus also bringing out the monster: “Just one single glimpse of relief to make some sense of what you’ve seen.”

-

betty

CK: This song is a poor apology, kind of like what Miguel gave to Tory. It reminds me of that scene in season 3 when Miguel is at Tory’s work accidentally and they talk and she calls him out on just wanting Sam back (despite that being her initial suggestion for the relationship anyway (also another topic for another time)): “I thought of you all summer long.”

-

peace

CK: Daniel’s song for Amanda. She’s such a catch, amazing wife, fabulous mother, and whatever. But Daniel can’t stop the karate villains from his past from emerging or from engaging with them. He may never “give her peace,” but he tries to be upfront about it. In season 5 she really snapped when rival after rival showed up and how Terry manipulated and divided them, but after he got hurt and she talked to Jessica it seemed better. And at the end of season 5 she gets it. So I feel like this song was a conversation at some point offscreen, and it helped their marriage significantly: “I’d give you my sunshine, give you my best, but the rain is always gonna come if you’re standing with me.”

CH: Zion to Robby. Rumor after rumor, fight after fight, manipulation after manipulation, and breakup after breakup. He’s still there for her. Like Daniel, she’s desperate to get her partner to know that she does all she can for him despite the drama the real world brings in. She acknowledges her trauma, and Robby acknowledges his. Because of this it’s a bit healthier than the song depicts where Taylor’s lover is on a pedestal in comparison to her. Let’s just say Robby lets her bejeweled (iykyk): “All these people think love’s for show, but I would die for you in secret.”

-

hoax

CK: I kind of feel like this is Robby’s song for his mom. He loves her and is so protective of her, but she keeps choosing alcohol (and drugs?) and men over him. Even though she makes him sad, she’s the person he goes to after kicking Miguel. Even though she’s not the best mom, she’s all he has. He let her do whatever just to keep his mom around: “Don’t want to know other shade of blue but you. No other sadness in the world would do.”

-

the lakes

CK: This one is for Miguel. He suffered in silence during season 4, doing what Johnny asked and supporting him when he was the one who needed that. He wanted to run away to Mexico because he felt he didn’t belong in karate anymore (and because of his dad but for these purposes it’s just because of karate): “What should be over burrowed under my skin in heart-stopping waves of hurt.”

CH: This one is also for Zion, the girl who always fantasizes about running away and finding a better reality than the Valley, especially with Robby: “I don’t belong, and my beloved neither do you.”

-

Fun fact: my Zobby playlist is called My Beloved. I’ll share the songs if you’re interested. It’s a long list, though.

Let me know your thoughts on this if you have any! Please remember this is just my take on things.

It’s fun to do these, so feel free to request more things. I’m most familiar with Taylor’s music, but I’m open to listening to new music or doing non-Taylor related content.

[moistvonlipwig]

FOR THE MEME obvsly i need to know your angel opinions and also buffy if u have any

yay :D

BUFFY:

The first character I first fell in love with: Queen C <3 The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: I truly have no answer for this question. There are characters I didn't vibe with on Buffy who I loved on Angel (see below) but I don't think anyone who stayed on Buffy rose in my estimation to a particularly surprising or impressive degree. The character everyone else loves that I don’t: Oz, who is actually my least favorite Buffyverse character. He bores me and I think being boring is the worst offense a TV character can commit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The character I love that everyone else hates: You know ten years ago I could've said Dawn and it would've been a good answer. For all that Buffy fandom on Tumblr has mutated in some ways I dislike, I am at least glad to say that Dawn no longer works as an answer to this question. ...Unfortunately that means I don't have an answer for this question lol. I like Riley okay, I think he's funny, but I don't love him and I think his arc goes to a deeply weird place after S4. The character I used to love but don’t any longer: Giles. I first watched the show when I was 14 and I enjoyed Giles's snark. But as I've gotten older and become a whole adult I find myself liking him less and less. I have serious issues with how he treats Buffy and Xander and I admit to finding the whole Ripper backstory rather dull. I understand that he isn't actually supposed to be an ideal father figure, he's supposed to be flawed, etc., but his flaws are not ones I find terribly interesting and fandom's insistence on painting him as Buffy's awesome dad deeply grates on me.  The character I’d want to be like: I admire Anya's lack of shame, willingness to call out bullshit, and financial literacy. Otherwise, I wouldn't want to be like any of these people lol. The character I’d slap: And if I said Willow Rosenberg...? A pairing that I love: For all its many flaws and complications, and for all that I think some of its fans simply should not be allowed to speak on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I do still harbor a deep affection for Spuffy, particularly in the end of S5/beginning of S6 era. A pairing that I despise: It's gotta be Bangel sorry Bangel mutuals/followers 😔 but I am trying to be nicer about it #livingandlearning

ANGEL:

The first character I first fell in love with: Cordelia Chase of course. The song remains the same. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: ANGEL my mans I thought he was sooo boring on Buffy lol and now he is my second favorite Buffyverse character <33333 love that guy!!! (But also Darla because she truly did nothing for me in Buffy S1 but she is so amazing on Angel.) The character everyone else loves that I don’t: Okay, so, I do like Fred. There are times (like in late S2, early S3, and the Jasmine arc) when I see potential in her for a really great and interesting character, and I think Amy Acker is actually the strongest actor in the cast. But a lot of the time she is written to be, like, the generic awkward nerdy waif character you see in every Whedon property, and I don't find that archetype terribly appealing. I also think the insistence on constantly sticking her into love triangles served her character really poorly, especially since I was never particularly convinced that she and any of her suitors actually knew each other very well. The character I love that everyone else hates: Connor fans RISE!!! The character I used to love but don’t any longer: When I first watched the show I really liked Lindsey in Seasons 1 & 2. I loved his sendoff episode and thought he was a great character. ...Then he came back.  The character I’d want to be like: I'm going to steal your answer and say Anne Steele because I truly do think she is probably the most aspirational hero in the Buffyverse. The character I’d slap: Disclaimer that I do love Wesley BUT I would slap him in late S5 after Fred dies and he starts acting like he is the only person who knew her even though they went on like one date. In particular I would slap him for stabbing Gunn which. Fuck you, man. You would've signed the paper too. A pairing that I love: Cangel obviously. But also Weslah. A pairing that I despise: Fresley my nemesis!!! >:[

[kazoosandfannypacks]

"Wishing it Wasn't" by kazoosandfannypacks

Chapter 12/18: Try Something New, Darling Pairing: CaptainSwan Rating: Teen (for gun violence in later chapters) Word Count: (1K/19.5K) Summary: Season 2 Canon Divergence: When Neal tells Emma he has a fiancée, she claims to have a new boyfriend of her own, and blurts out the first fairytale name she can think of: Captain Hook. Killian agrees to this ruse, but when feelings grow between the two, will the con be more than they can handle? Chapter Summary: Killian warns Emma about Tamara's evil plan. Tags: season 2, canon divergence, gun violence in later chapters, angst with a happy ending, fake dating, mild character death, mildly anti neal Author's notes: none Taglist: @zahara @kmomof4 @jonesfandomfanatic @booksteaandtoomuchtv @jrob64 @tiganasummertree @anmylica @teamhook @undercaffinatednightmare @gingerchangeling @lonelyspectator @caught-in-the-filter @ultraluckycatnd @cs-rylie @pirateprincessofpizza @pawshapedheart  [if you'd like to be added to or removed from this list, hmu in my dms or askbox!]

Also on Ao3!

 Emma sat in the Sheriff's station alone while her dad was out getting lunch. She'd been staring at the notes app for half an hour, trying to draft a perfect way out.

 "Killian and I broke up this morning."

 That sounded like a pathetic cover story, especially after how lovey-dovey they'd been the past two days.

 "Killian's going out of town for the week."

 Yeah. Like she could convince him to leave that easily, with unfinished business here in town.

 "I'm going out of town for a week."

 Even more ridiculous. She had responsibilities here and no excuses outside of town for her sudden departure.

 "We've been lying to you this whole time. Killian and I aren't really together."

 A confession like that over text message? How much lower could she stoop?

 "We need to talk."

 Bad move. It'd only make Neal feel so much more anxious- not to mention her anxiety at having this conversation in person- and what if he just didn't show?

 She sighed and set down her phone, then crossed her arms on the table and threw her head on them. This scheme was spiraling out of control faster than she could stop it- and it needed to end now. Every step she took to ensure that she and Killian looked like a perfect couple only made her wish they were. She enjoyed taking refuge under his arm a little more each time. Her smiles at him were becoming more and more genuine. She thought of him with every song that came up on the car radio.

 That's why she had to abandon this ruse. She couldn't stand falling for someone again- especially someone who she was sure didn't have feelings for her in return- that would be a big mistake.

 And even if she was sure he liked her back, even if he told her so plainly, even if he confessed love for her in dramatic speeches- not that he ever would, of course, and Emma scolded herself for even considering it- she'd heard all those words before, and they meant nothing anymore. She didn't know if she ever could trust him, and was almost thankful she wouldn't have to, that her feelings really were unrequited.

 Emma expected the interrupting footsteps entering the station behind her to be her dad's- and she never would've expected them to be Killian's- so when she saw him, she was hit with a sudden shot of panic, and wondered how to breach the conversation of their inevitable fake breakup.

 "No one else is around." Emma reminded herself, turning away from him after she saw he entered. "He'll be cold and distant again. I'll need to match that."

 "Hey, Hook." She said, pretending to be very interested in the stack of papers on her desk. "Something I can do for you?"

 "Swan, there's something I need to tell you." Killian said, almost sounding sincere. "But I'm not sure if you'll believe me."

 "I just found out two months ago that my parents are Snow White and Prince Charming." Emma deadpanned. "I've gotten a lot better at believing things recently."

 "Good." He said. "It's about Tamara."

 That was one of the last people she wanted to talk about right now. Tamara was one of those  people. She could do no wrong. She had this air of pleasantries and perfection that Emma found unsettling. She drove Emma's superpower haywire.

 "What about her?"

 "She knows about the fairytales, about the magic at the heart of Storybrooke, and she's out to destroy it."

 As much as Emma would love to believe that her ex's new fianceé was an evil mastermind, she didn't buy it.

 "How do you know?"

 "She thought she could trust the legendary Captain Hook to help her." Killian said. "She thought I'd leave this whole town to die just to defeat the Crocodile."

 "Wouldn't you?" Emma asked.

 She noticed that he didn't respond. She turned around to see him looking at her, staring at her, face tinted with hues of betrayal, shaded with despair.

 "Is that how you see…" he clenched his fist ever so slightly and shook his head, eyes closed, whispering almost to himself, "That's not important now." He then addressed Emma, "The point is, you, your family, and this entire town are in grave danger. Tamara's working with that outsider, Greg, and they're planning…."

 Emma's instincts had been telling her to trust him, and so did her superpower, but she was sure they were wrong, that her gut feeling was colored by her emotions- until he mentioned Tamara and Greg were in league.

 "She!" Emma interrupted him, then began digging through papers in her desk.

 "She?" Killian asked.

 Emma looked for her case file on the Greg Mendell crash. "Greg kept getting these phone calls while he was unconscious- calls from someone saved in his contacts as 'She.'"

 Emma found where she'd written down "she's" number, then pulled out her phone and pulled up Tamara's contact profile.

 "That's why that looked familiar." Emma said. "They have the same phone number."

 "What does that mean?"

 Emma grabbed her keys and gun off the desk.

 "It means whether or not you're right, Tamara's definitely not who she says she is." Emma said. "Can you take me to her?"

 "Of course." Killian said.

 She started to leave, but she was stopped by a hook around her arm. She looked down at it, then back up at Hook, readying to defend herself if this was the inevitable betrayal.

 "Why are you so quick to trust me?" He asked. "Aren't you afraid this could be a trap?"

 "I used to think everything was a trap." Emma said, "I still do. But last time I didn't trust you I was wrong, back on the beanstalk." She looked up at him and noticed some kind of genuine understanding in his eyes, then added. "I'm gonna have to trust you this time."

 He removed his hook's grip around her arm. "Thank you, Swan."

 "Don't thank me yet." Emma said. She turned away from him to build up a wall against his penetrating gaze, then tacked on an emotional barrier as well. "I could still be wrong about you."

[trackernivrig]

A work (in any medium) that has extra meaning to you because of when or where you experienced it?

Took me way too long to respond to this sorry.

This is an amazing question, and there's a TON of shows that I can think of that are special because of when I watched them. Here's a list of a few.

Bleach. This was my first anime, and I watched it with both my father and my brother every day, staying up way past my bedtime watching it. The end of the Soul Society arc was amazing, and it was somewhere within the bount arc that both my father and brother grew bored of the series, and I continued on my own. This portion is still special to me though, because I remember watching a bunch of it on VLC until the subtitles were corrupted. This prompted me to look on youtube, and I found a few of those ancient part 1/3 with part 2 missing Spanish sub videos that had the English subs overlayed on the Spanish subs. It was horrible but I look back on it fondly. Eventually I found Crunchyroll, and watched on that until the end of the Aizen arc and started FMA:B instead.

Your Name. I remember that one of my friends that wasn't huge into anime recommended this to me, and I really wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, I didn't know anything about anime piracy sites, and only watched on Crunchyroll, and at the time Your Name wasn't on Crunchyroll. So I did a ton of googling and eventually found this really sketchy pirate site that hosted it. It had constant ads that would pop up new windows that I had to close (this was also before I had UBlock Origin), and the video would buffer every 3 or 4 minutes for at least a minute each time. Again, horrible to experience in the moment, but this had a pretty funny effect. Because I had to spend SO MUCH more time to actually watch it, I felt like every scene was like triple the amount of time that it actually took up, making me grow way more attached to the characters that I would be otherwise. I didn't even realize that this was due to the video buffering so much until years later when I was showing it to another friend and felt like it was going at a breakneck pace lol.

Fallen Skies. I don't remember anything about this show, but this was another one of the shows I used to watch with my dad and brother every night. This one we watched for longer though so even though I don't remember the show itself, I have fond memories of the time we spent watching it. This was also before my parents got divorced and we were forced to move, so it reminds me of what our old basement used to look like.

Re:Zero. This was another one of the anime I watched early into my "career" watching anime. I had been watching a lot of FMAB at the time, and still didn't really know much about anime (so I didn't even know what isekai was). I watched it by myself and I couldn't really place how I felt about it for a while. It seemed really good, but I didn't know anybody that had seen it (as opposed to everyone that I knew saying that stuff like FMAB and AoT and everything was the best of anime). I ended up rewatching it at least 4 or 5 times thinking it was good, but unsure if it was just me or not. Eventually Season 2 came out and I rewatched it with a friend and they finally made me feel like I wasn't crazy and said it was amazing lol. It wasn't until about halfway through the second season that I realized the first season was highly acclaimed. Season 2 also reminds me of when I would watch the show weekly with a ton of friends. We'd all get in a discord call and watch it together on Watch2Gether. It was a fun time, and while we still occasionally do it, we don't do it nearly on the scale we used to. Hunter x Hunter, No Game No Life, Made in Abyss, and Mob Psycho 100 are all other shows that I watched in this era and thus have fond memories of.

Steins;Gate. I distinctly remember watching the entirety of S;G (not 0, that was more drawn out). I had watched HalcyonMusic's "100 anime songs in 30 minutes" piano medley a TON of times, trying my best to follow along myself (largely unsuccessfully), and I wanted to watch some of the shows from it (video link: https://youtu.be/JPZ-QyVBOf8?si=cLMYPoJyUK05UT_v&t=1067). I had added anything that sounded good to my to watch list, and one of the songs I really liked was Gate of Steiner. It sat on my watch list for ages until eventually I decided to watch it. I read the description on whatever pirate site I was going to use to watch it, and saw that it was about some organization and a mad scientist. This led me to believe that Okabe's insane ramblings were actually all real for half of the first episode lol. I know a lot of people say that S;G has a slow start, but I was IMMEDIATELY invested, and ended up watching half the entire show until around 3AM. I had online morning classes (was in high school during COVID), so I went to bed right as one of the saddest parts had occurred. This led to me stewing in the depression in my bed for a while and I ended up crying to it. This was the first show I had cried to in probably over 5 years, and I don't think anything has made me cry since. After waking up I did my online class and the proceeded to finish the entire series, meaning I finished the entirety of Steins;Gate within 24 hours. After this I spammed my friends on discord and about a week later started watching it with one of them. After watching with him, I watched it with another friend. Then another. Then another. This happened so many times that in the end I think I had watched the show with 5 or 6 different people, and had seen the show 10-11 times (due to rewatches). It is still my all time favorite show, despite how much I love Fate.

Fate. I had to put this on there. It's my favorite overall series (while S;G is my favorite individual show). I had heard somebody in an ani-piano discord community I was in talk about it, and it seemed interesting so I asked what it was about. This led to me getting the whole "well the community is very divided on where to start" talk, which ironically made me even more interested. I started making my own list of the watch order and how everything worked together in order to figure out what everything was. The thing was, I did this pretty much by myself, so I got A TON of misinformation that I have no idea how I got. Apparently Grand Order was the 1st Holy Grail War, Apocrypha was the 3rd, and a ton of other super weird things. Eventually I watched UBW, enjoyed it, and watched Zero and REALLY enjoyed it. There were only 2 HF movies at the time so I didn't watch that until the third came out. I'm now really into Type Moon as a whole and intend to play through a bunch of their VNs. I just haven't had the time yet.

Switching gears a bit, I'm going to go into books for a second. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. My mom actually recommended I read this book, and I read it on her old Kindle. This was the only thing I had ever really read on a kindle, until recently when I bought my own and have started re-reading some of my old favorite series. I also look fondly on it because it was my mom's suggestion.

Talking about how my mom suggested the previous one, she also had me watch Game of Thrones with her. I feel bad because I am a very quiet watcher of things, so I showed pretty much no reaction to a lot of the really good twists despite them really surprising me. Even so, I enjoyed my time watching it with her. I also watched The Tudors with her and while I didn't enjoy it as much as GoT it was also really good.

There's probably TONS more that I could put if I were to think of it, but these are the first that came to mind. A vast majority of the reason I enjoy watching shows is due to being able to watch them with others, or the circumstances that led me to watch them. I could put shows like Code Geass down, for a very memorable argument following the final episode of R1, or the fact I knew about the series from Madder Sky, or that I watched a "meme' that literally had the entirety of the Zero Requiem before watching it only to completely forget what happens (ok that's a good one I should have put it down). Or I could put down something like Star Wars, which I have enjoyed with my brother since I was a kid. Another great contender is Erased, which was the first anime I got my sister to watch, and was the thing that finally allowed me to show here how good anime can be, and why I enjoy it so much. Doctor Who I have watched with my family quite a bit, restarted every time we finally wanted to try getting into the Capaldi era before inevitably giving up (insert Sisyphus meme here). Pretty much every show I watch has some sort of significance to it because I watch shows as a social experience. I pretty much only have 4 hobbies and that's TV, Video Games, Books, and Music. Because of that, the only way I really bond with people is getting them to watch, read, or play something with me. I'm hoping eventually my friend that is learning guitar gets to the point we can play stuff together to add music to that list of things to do with friends lol.

Thanks a lot for the question. Sorry again about how long it took me to respond to it. I have been super busy and I had way too much stuff to say to respond on mobile lol. I hope the fact that I ranted so long makes up for it.

[aniketsanimationblog]

Hey, it's me, Aniket Dhar!! And Welcome to my Blog - Aniket's Animation Blog!!

I have something to say, which I know, a lot of people don't even know about, but I think it's good to be said before it's too late!! And it's regarding Animation in a Global Scale!!

I reside from India, where Animation has not been great when it comes to original Intellectual Properties (IPs) but great at outsourcing Animation stuffs!! I love Animation ever since I was born and I used to watch a lots of Cartoons and stuff from late 90's and early 2000's!! There were lots of good stuffs we can get from TV, and back then, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and others were used to show good qualities of content, which are now showing bad stuffs of content!! That discussion would be on another day!!

But That's not the topic at all I'm gonna cover!! I am an ardent Animation fan ever since my childhood, watching every single animated content (I mean, Family-friendly animated content, not the adult animation ones) I can consume!! The most vivid memories are from my childhood and there was a show I loved ever since I watched it, and that was Oswald!! Remember, that blue octopus with his pet dog called Weenie, that used to shown on Nick Jr.?? Well, if you remembered, then we're no different!! I used to watch Oswald a lot on weekdays before going to school and on holidays!! That one was my first favorite show at that time!!

I loved the story, the characters and the Opening and Closing Song, which were soothing to our ears!! And Oswald's Catchphrase, "Oh my gosh!!" and referring Weenie as, "Weenie-girl" And Henry, that Penguin, saying, "Great Scott!!", and Daisy, that Sunflower, saying " Wowie-Kazowie", like yeah!! That was great at that time!! But the show was very limited and it was canceled by Nick Jr. themselves!! At that time, Oswald was underrated in the USA. The show never gone up above 26 episodes!! But it gave me so many memories back then!! There are other shows as well at that time, but Oswald was like a guide for me for how to be a Gentleman!! The show itself was a gem!!

Another Animated show, that I think it should be mentioned, and I think it would be incomplete to post is a preschool show, that I adored and loved so much as I loved and adored the same with Oswald, was a Nick Jr. Series, that should deserve to get mentioned, because it was also underrated as well like Oswald, and it should not get Canceled in the first place after 2 seasons run, because a lot of people backlashed the show, despite I loved that!! And that was, none other than, Peter Rabbit

Before Digital Video Streaming Platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video arrived, there was one show that came on TV and that show got me and I was hooked that I can't afford to miss any single episode of this series!! At that time, I was 14 years old watching Nick Jr. (It might sound funny, but the main thing started there)!! I started watching with curiosity, and it turned out to be the great show I can watch!! Peter Rabbit, which came out in 2012, based on the namesake book by Beatrix Potter, had so much thrills and fun and excitement, that I thought, it's my new favorite show after Oswald, I can watch!! The series revolved around Peter Rabbit, a young, mischievous and smart rabbit, who hops on to the adventures in his woods with his adventure-mates and friends, Benjamin Bunny and Lily Bobtail, for exploring something they think, they can achieve!! But they have to face some enemies, who wants to do bad things around them, like Mr. Tod, that fox who wants to eat them, Tommy Brock the Badger, Old Brown the Owl and most dangerous one, Mr. McGregor!! There were also Sammy Whiskers, that sneaky rat, who wants nothing but giving trouble to the main 3 protagonist rabbits!! But All-in-all, the best thing were when Peter uses his late good ol' dad's journal to solve things and whenever Peter and his friends are in trouble, he used to say his father's catchphrase, "A Good Rabbit Never Gives Up!!" And that catchphrase gives me a vocal tonic to not give up no matter what's the situation!! Just Wow!! But sadly, it would've end a great way, but it was canceled after a couple of seasons, making no bidding farewells whatsoever!!

Years Passed, and I was waiting for another show to be on that same enthusiasm and same greatness as I got in Oswald and Peter Rabbit!! But in 2020's decade, yup, the COVID-19 Pandemic happened!! The world was locked down!! Everyone were watching the content they used to watch in their childhood, whether it's on TV or on Streaming Platforms!! A new content before pandemic were consumed on the Streaming Platforms like Netflix and Prime Video as BINGE-WATCHING became the new norm!! There was Streaming war happened when Disney+ arrived during Pandemic, And all that!! But in 2021, something big happened!! The Beginning Year of Paramount+ in the USA!! And at same year, I have access to Paramount+ (US one), to watch Oswald, Peter Rabbit and other stuff as well!! But in October, a new show arrived and that show is now currently my Favorite show that I have to wait every week for new episode to drop in the afternoon!! And surprisingly, it's not a Preschool show, it's a Nickelodeon produced, Paramount+ original, that I think it is the equivalent to Nick's favorite show by the critics back in the 2000's, which was Avatar: The Last Airbender, of course!! But this isn't Avatar: The Last Airbender!! It is, none other than, from A famous and oldest Sci-fi franchise!! Yup, I'm talking about Star Trek: Prodigy

At first glance, I was never a Star Trek Fan in the first place!! And I wasn't a nerdy Sci-fi fan whatsoever!! But I saw some promos of it running on Nick US!! And it was a Paramount+ original!! I watched Star Wars: Visions Anime on Disney+ back then, it was good on its own!! But I headed onto Paramount+ and Star Trek: Prodigy was on the banner of the home screen!! That's why I thought it would be a hit or miss, but I thought it's worth a try!! And it turned out to be really good!! Yeah, agreed, at first, it was a bit of Star Wars-esque, and some animation resembling like Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which I used to watch in my Childhood, but stopped it early out of interest, anyhow!! The show is likely a sequel to the Star Trek series "Voyager", as per the fans of the esteemed franchise say, because it has Kate Mulgrew reprising her role as Kathryn Janeway, the Captain of USS Voyager and main character in "Star Trek: Voyager" Series!! Again I say, I hadn't watched any Star Trek series or movies until I discovered Prodigy in the first place, so I was new to this Sci-fi franchise!!

At first glance, the series premiere episode was good, per se, but others who are Star Trek fans in general, not all of them, but some of them saying and complaining that this is a cheap knock-off of Star Wars and it's an insult to Star Trek (I'll get to them later on), and people are giving negative reviews around it!! But I think, I would continue on, because the negative reviewers were about to quit the show without continuing any further!! After Episode no. 4, I was hooked, because it was serialized!! And when suddenly after Episode no. 6, some negative reviewers were coming back and continuing further!! And I think it was a game changer by the time episode 8 came out!! And for characters, I loved the main characters in Star Trek: Prodigy, which made a great sense to the show itself!! When most of the popular animated series lacked of character development and story arc, Star Trek: Prodigy gained them by using and executing at proper times!! Like Dal R'El, for example!! At first, fans were annoyed around Dal's character in first few episodes, but after Episode no. 6 or 7 onwards, the complaints were gone, and now he is acclaimed as suitable captain of USS Protostar!! Same for Gwyndala aka. Gwyn!! At first, I thought she would do something worst to Dal and his crew, but in episode 5, she changed her mind and she was wrong about Dal and his crew!! And same for Rok-Tahk, the brikar!! And everyone, including the main antagonist, Gwyn's Father, the Diviner!! Great Redemption Arc by the way at the end of season 1!! For USS Protostar's Hologram Janeway and Vice Admiral Janeway of USS Dauntless, voiced by Kate Mulgrew herself, is an icing on the cake!! Throughout Season 1 spanned from late 2021 to end of 2022, I had no problems around this series, making it the best animated series on the Post-COVID era and my another favorite show, except for one, that it's not even creating a big trendsetting buzz, which I think it should deserve that, among Animation Fans, which is a shame!! I'm not talking about those Animation Fans who watched previous Star Trek series or being a Star Trek Fan!! Animation fans should watch this series regardless of being A Star Trek fan or not!! Because, you've got great Animation, Visuals, great set of characters, New and reprising, great set of Voice Actors like Brett Gray (Dal R'El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf) etc. And Great Plot, Character Arc and Redemption Arc , with great designs, giving lessons and values of Starfleet and everything they boldly gone (No Pun intended)!! But Nickelodeon and Paramount+ should've promoted more of it!! I know, second season is coming later this year!! But they should not cancel way too early like what they did to Oswald and Peter Rabbit!! It feels like they're underrated for some reason or other!!

But Why Am I talking these to you?? Because, in the likes of Popularity of a series, we're missing out some gems, which should've been the trendsetting phenomenon in the first place!! All of these are just examples!!

All of them are my favorites and these shows are wonderful on their own!! But, the problem lies when Animation Fans neglect them for nothing!! No disrespect intended, but Star Trek: Prodigy should've been a buzz around animation fandom on a global scale, regardless of being a Star Trek fan or not!! Same would go for Oswald and Peter Rabbit for great classic storytelling!! It's the Animation Audience's fault for not creating a buzz around them!!

I want to ask a question to everyone who loves Animation, who lives in Animation:

Why don't you support such deserving Gem-like series?? If you give that much attention to Miraculous Ladybug, then why don't you give the same amount of attention or more to those Animated Series, which deserve to get Recognition and Love with some media Buzz??

So, that's it for this post!! Sorry for this long post, but I need to get it off of my chest!! I hope, Animation fandom should realize that with time being!!

Thank you so much for reaching to the end of this post!! Peace!!