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inamindfarfaraway · 3 months

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Duke Thomas: Another story I’ve heard about myself, this one happened while I was in We Are Robin. Remember that? All the cool kids would take to the streets in masks, fighting crime, saving lives, being like “Hell yeah, we're all Robin!”. And there was this guy I knew who had a twelve-year-old son. His name is Batman and his son’s name is Robin. Robin had been fighting crime for two years longer than me, but he’s three years younger and spent most of his childhood in a murder cult, so it pretty much evens out as to who is behind who in life. And Robin was an asshole. So is Batman, but that's less noteworthy because he's always been like that. But Robin used to be nice. My friends and I, we admire him. We love the idea of him. We love what he represents. It's just an unfortunate fact that this child, when you meet him in person, is gratuitously mean. He'd be like "Desist, you impostors! I am the only real Robin! You are disgraces to all you hold dear!" and cut us with his steel sword.

And one day he decided to leave town for most of a year, which you should never do if you're an asshole. And at this time, Batman had amnesia; he had died for a minute fighting the Joker and got his brain repaired by magic and forgot who he was, forgot that he was Batman; so he was leading a happy, normal life for a bit. And everyone in We Are Robin noticed that Batman and Robin were gone, and we all got up individually and thought, ‘Okay, let's get into the Batcave and destroy the place.’ We wanted to do this not because it was easy, but because it was hard. Breaking into the Batcave is one of those things that's so awesome that you're basically obligated to do it if you can, and being both teenagers and the kind of people to become a street gang of volunteer vigilantes, we thought we had a shot. And we did! Oracle let us right in because she too knows that Batman and Robin are assholes and thought it would be hilarious. And she was right. She's very clever like that. She did a wonderful job, turned off the alarms, opened the gates, edited the security footage, kept the Bats away from the cave all night. I should mention that she was an adult, so our actions were her responsibility.

I walked into this party. More kids than I even knew the movement had were there and everyone was drinking like it was the end of the world. People were drinking like it was the civil war and a doctor was coming to saw our legs off. It was totally unsupervised. We were like dogs without horses, we were running wild. I walked down, I walked through to the display area. They had a giant penny from an adventure. One dude took a running start and threw his body into the giant penny and knocked it over. Another kid sat on the Batcomputer keyboard and took a shit on it. So the party was going great.

I'm standing in the Batcave, and I'm holding a red cup; you’ve seen movies. And I'm standing there and I'm holding a red cup and I'm starting to black out, and I guess someone said, like, “Something, something, Superman”. And in a brilliant moment of word association, I yelled, “FUCK METROPOLIS! FUCK METROPOLIS!" And everyone else joined in. A hundred drunk children dressed in unofficial Robin gear yelling, “FUCK METROPOLIS!”. With the confidence of people who’ve seen death and aren't afraid of it anymore; you know that, like, ‘It doesn’t matter if I survive, what matters is that it needs to be done!’ confidence. The reason someone had said, “Something, something, Superman” was because Superman was there. He had heard us with his super hearing. So the Man of Steel himself flew into the cave and got to the main area and looked out over a sea of drunk toddlers yelling, “FUCK METROPOLIS!” in his face. But he was almost impressed. He was like “Wow”.

Then he leaned into his Justice League communicator and asked, “Oracle, what the heck?”

And my friend Dax - who invented his own grappling hook guns, this man is a genius - he grabbed a smoke bomb, threw it on the ground and yelled, “Scatter!” And everyone ran in different directions. We all ran in different directions. It was like that scene in Ratatouille when the humans come in the kitchen and all the rats go in different ways. We all ran in different directions. I ran across a bridge and I jumped over the Batmobile and I slid down a banister and now I'm running along the underground river and there was this big pitch-black passage in the rock and I thought, ‘I've never gone somewhere that dark before’. And then I woke up at home.

The next day, I went on patrol, because that's what we did back then. And I'm walking into an alleyway and who do I see but Nightwing? And he says to me, “Are you aware that the Batcave was infiltrated last night?”

And I said, “No.” You know, like a liar.

"Oracle, Red Robin and I are investigating it, but we could use We Are Robin’s help.” And he didn’t approve of us at all. He would never have acknowledged us as heroes, let alone ask us for help, unless he felt utterly desperate. “This wasn’t just a thief or a spy. It was a villain with a personal vendetta sending a message of malice and disrespect. They bypassed the security flawlessly, but caused obvious damage inside. They knocked over the giant penny. They took a shit on the Batcomputer. But the worst thing” he says, “the worst thing is that they stole a photo of Robin II.” Robin II, the one after Nightwing and before Red Robin, was murdered by the Joker when he was fifteen. This is Nightwing’s dead little brother. So he’s trying to stay calm in front of me, but he’s freaking out about it.

And I had a thought that Batman, for comparison, was having around the same time about a lifetime of courage and altruism: did... did I do that?

I figured, no. I wouldn't have done that. But I was never sure.

Until a year later. Relax. I'm playing video games with this guy named Jason, who also used to be a Robin. A year later, we don't call ourselves Robin anymore. We're playing video games for a couple hours, and then Jason says to me, “Hey, come here. I want to show you something”, and he takes me into his bedroom and then he takes me into a side room off of his bedroom - never a good thing to have. He shows me a tiny room that is covered wall-to-wall in stolen photos of the second Robin from different Batcave break-ins over the years. Mementos of a murdered child superhero taken from his family.

And I said, “Why? Why do you do this?”

And Jason said, “Because it's the one thing they can't replace.”

That's the end of that story, but how fucked up is that, right? That's crazy. So I don't drink anymore.

#he’s telling this to a civilian audience as bruce wayne’s foster son #not the signal #hence the careful wording of identities #what did babs do to get superman to cover for the kids?#how did she buy his silence?#we’ll never know #but it took long enough that she wasn't able to clean up the aftermath before alfred found it #she did swap out the shit dna results for a supervillain's though. she and we are robin faked a whole evil plot #and then when bruce and damian got back all the others quietly agreed to never speak of it again #who wants to tell batman that you let a rogue drop one where he's typing?#duke thomas #we are robin #damian wayne #jason todd #red hood #dc robin #batman #batman and robin #robin

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the-archetype-of-civilization · 1 year

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More little things I noticed in my third rewatch of ATSV.

-SPOILERS AHEAD-

There was a moment that confused me where Spot was robbing the guy of the ATM and he was setting down some cans for (seemingly) no reason. He was actually placing the ATM on top of the cans so he can roll it out.

I can't confirm if this is what was actually there, but when Uncle Aaron was telling Miles they "gotta roll," there was an acrylic stand of Spider-Man there that looked like Miles Morales Spider-Man (color and all).

When Miles was swinging through 42 NYC, there was an advertisement for "Vulture" something, I'm assuming a company. Messed up.

When Miguel first introduces himself by ramming into Vulture, Gwen gets to the spot and does this really slick landing animation where she kinda just gracefully brushes against the bannister briefly before landing on the ground.

42 Rio being given more hours at the hospital shows just how bad 42 New York has gotten without a Spider-Man. Terrifying.

I think I may have pointed this out on a previous post, but 1610 Uncle Aaron had a lucky black cat while 42 Uncle Aaron had a lucky white cat instead. I also like the parallels of Peter being tied up against a punching bag by Miles in ITSV while Miles is tied up by Uncle Aaron in ATSV.

I find it hilarious that Miles STILL doesn't know about ComicCon and didn't bother to look it up since ITSV when 42 Rio brings up "ComicsCon."

When Hobie is blocking off Miles from walking through to Miguel and Miles bumps into him, there's a tiny skull that appears when they make contact. It might just be a punk thing, but I wonder if it's an omen for the bad thing that's ahead of Miles.

Lego Spider-Man's vocalized "boop boop"s killed me.

I love the reveal when Miles realizes he's in the wrong universe, the camera pulls into his face and twists slightly. Obvious but nonetheless cool film styling of "his world is spinning" aside, I love that it feels like a 40's/50's kind of thing. Like this is something that you would see in The Twilight Zone, it nails the old comic book-y vibes too.

42 Miles' facial posture has his head up high and his chin slightly jutting out and up, like he's this "in-charge," cold, dignified superior while our Miles has his chin straight, sometimes pointed down and his head straight, showing he's trying to appeal to his humanity and trying to be humble and unassuming. It's awesome details like this that I love.

Hearing Spot say that he couldn't get a job because of what happened to him at that deli really hurts, honestly. Even if, in a way, he himself is partially to blame, it sucks that he has to resort to this. And the way he says it, almost in a "well, I can't do anything else so this is the only thing I can do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" kind of way is really saddening, like he's trying to take it in stride and as a matter of fact. As awful as Spot becomes, I still feel bad for him.

Miles has a "#BLM" pin on his backpack. I'm sure people saw it already and it's probably a given, but in a world where media is trying to appeal to as wide of an audience as possible, it's nice to see the studio make a clear stance with a character that absolutely fits the bill.

That title drop for Earth 42 when Uncle Aaron tries to dab up Miles going into slow-mo with the music subdued was dope as fuck.

Miles throwing his arms up when asking when his dad dies ("When does it happen?!") is so on-point and well animated, it feels like something every New Yorker would do (I would personally know, since I am one).

When Gwen asks Jess if she ever made mistakes, Jess' reply, saying "yeah, but I got over it," is pretty toxic. It feeds into Gwen's need to avoid her problems rather than address them and face them, and I think that's why she probably chooses to avoid discussing things about Miles to him directly.

That look of disgust on Miles' face when he's being surrounded by Spider-People ("What is this? Some kind of intervention or something?") was so real.

The long silence between Miles choosing to go into the portal to follow Gwen is so good, I love when the movie speaks for itself rather than the dialogue. You can see the hesitation in Miles' eyes and face and then his determination as he jumps headfirst into the portal. A great character scene and fitting transition into the next act.

The album cover for the soundtrack is so good and comes from the scene where Miles goes into the portal. It feels like a mix of something from a Golden Age comic book cover, Miles' hand opened out towards the camera like he's being thrust into another world. And the colors of the portal and transition to Mumbattan are gorgeous. Fills the 40's/50's vibes I was talking about earlier, too.

Jeff's toast is really well done and I like how heartfelt and real it feels. Makes his anger, unfortunately, justified on Miles, even if Miles was trying to do the right thing for him and Rio in the end.

"I was just cool the whole time" is such a boss line, I love Hobie.

Miguel casually (almost lazily) swinging around rescuing civilians at the Guggenheim whilst talking to Gwen about a serious conversation is unironically cool. And it fits to his character, he's probably done it so many times that it becomes child's play in the end.

"I ain't got Scooby-Doo, mate."

How does Hobie know that Miles should use his palms for those powers? Curious.

"But now...I'm not afraid of anything." I love Miles so much, he's grown and become so strong not just for himself but for others. He's the best Spidey. Full stop.

I love the reversal of reflections for Gwen. At the beginning of the movie, she's in her casual wear but with the reflections always showing her in her Spider outfit. At the end, she comes home in her Spider outfit but with herself in her casual wear in the reflection instead. She started off alone in the world as Spider-Woman and ended feeling like Gwen. Her arc was completed and she's facing herself, the real Gwen Stacy and not Spider-Woman.

I felt bad that the deli clerk got bonked by the bat :( But, at least he's all right.

Miles saying "Don't do that" to the kid licking the subway window is real. That shit is nasty, the windows are the least clean parts of NYC's subway.

I love that both Gwen and Miles use comically deep voices around their respective dads. It's cute.

When the police officer was saying "I think we found our sign" when Gwen webbed them up, George's silent head turn with unamusement was awesome.

I will not have anymore George Stacy slander. Yeah, he made a bad call in seemingly arresting his daughter, but he QUIT his job for her. He loves her that much that he quit being, not just a police officer, but a CAPTAIN, for HER sake.

Speaking of which, when George had his gun pointed at her before she unmasked, he had his gun down the whole time after she unmasked, even while he was re-relaying her her rights. And when she tries to approach him, his gun flinches up a bit but stops.

"Can you go easy on the penguin?"

This is actually a follow-up post, since I said before that I might make another. This movie is too much for me and I love taking it apart.

Edit: I'm sorry for the constant updates and changes/revisions, but I can't stop thinking about this movie.

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the-skull-breaker · 4 months

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MCL New Gen ep 4 spoliers !

alright alright ! the new episode is out for VIPs, and just like the previous one I got to play Roy's route early, I'll play Thomas' once the ep releases for everyone !

without further ado, click on "keep reading" to see my full opinion !

so first we got to go to the Cosy Bear for potentially meet Castiel serving, but sadly we've arrived late and didn't get to actually meet him, we did get to see Lynn however, tho I understand how Castiel's fans must be disappointed, like I would have loved o see how mister rockstar deals with serving customers, it could be really funny !

then Lynn and Thomas have a small discussion and Thomas just casually told her he was in love with her in he past (I will not go into details about him because, again, I'll make another post about his route later) which led to the topic of romantic relationships. now there was a quick scene with Brune before going to the cafe about her relationship with Roy and the bet the night before, and honestly I was kinda worried about it with the way she approached us but it turns out she's not mad about the kiss, so that was a relief.

to go back at the cafe discussion we got to know each characters' relationship statues and, surely, we got to Roy and Brune's, and while I did expect them to not have an actual serious relationship, I was surprised by how honest they were about their true feelings, and I was ESPECIALLY surprised by the fact that THEY DID NOT EVEN KISS. so anyway they ended up breaking up in a calm and mature way, which I did no expect but honestly ? as uncomfortable as the whole thing was I'm glad it turned that way instead of being messy, however it seemed like both Thomas and Devon were pretty disappointed with the lack of drama which is hilarious.

now we get to Candy's relationship with her ex and we've got the choice to got into details or not, I've chosen the first option which raised my LOM with Roy and as much as I should have expected this I did NOT expect how nice our coworkers were, especially Roy and Devon ! first Roy saying that he hopes karma will get to our ex is the sweetest thing, I'm even more in love with him ! then Devon who says they will not make business with our ex-workplace which is so awesome from him, couldn't ask for a better boss than him !

then we see Jason and the topic of why he's our enemy is brought up and honestly ? I hate him even more... basically his company is just to spite the fact he was disqualified to the contest because... he cheated... and took the opportunity of working with the city hall so he could copy Devon's project... good job, dickhead, you've played yourself ! now I want even more to mess with his plans and drive him to ruin ! *insert maniacal laugh*. now about his past relationships is none of my business, he can have many conquests I don't care, I'm definitely not into him anyway. (anyway sorry for those who do like him, nothing against you, I just don' like him at all)

and FINALLY we get to the illus scene which in the case of Roy happens in the bus and wow, I do wish I was in the place of Candy there ! the way he holds us close to him so we wouldn't fall while potentially not thinking much about it just because he might think it's just normal I just... aaaaaahhhh I love him ! then we discuss more about our expectations in a relationship and it's clear he would be such a good partner, I wish I had one like him...

and here you go, many people may think nothing much happened but remember that we're still in an introduction state, this episode was clearly about learning the LIs' view on relationship, and from what I see on the preview it seems like the next episode might make things more serious in terms of story, so hold on, be patient, it could still be great !

anyway, that's all for me, have a nice day !

#mcl #mcl new gen #mcl new gen ep4 #my candy love #my candy love new gen #mcl spoilers #mcl new gen spoiler #mcl roy #roy aquino

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laugtherhyena · 3 months

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Out of curiosity, Are you able to talk about all the characters in Danganronpa Another and what you do and don't like about them?

And out of curiosity, what is your opinion on the creator?

Be ready for a lot of rambling anon because you just opened the floodgates here.

Ok so first and foremost, I don't really feel much towards Linuj himself? That's sorta of a me thing where i tend to not care much about the creators of stuff i like so you'll never see me go like "wow i love this person they're fucking awesome" or "Goddamn that guy sucks" (unless said creator has done something genuinely awful, in that case obviously I'd dislike them) at most you see me go "that's wild" or complain about writing decisions and that's about it, none of that makes me inclined towards liking or disliking Linuj as a person. Tho as much as i rant about his games i gotta give credit where credit is due, the dude manages to make two whole games prey much all by himself and I respect that honestly.

Onto the opinions on the charcters, I'll just be doing the Dra folks because it's been years since i last went through Sdra2 and since I don't like that game nearly as much as a the first one i feel like whatever I've got to say about the characters would be really shallow in comparison to the first game's cast and that's like,, not fair? In my head?So yeah, sorry Sdra2 fans, maybe some other time.

Kiyoka Maki

Kiyoka is a character i genuinely love a lot because she feels like the most perfect execution of a first victim character in a Danganronpa type game, so much so that i am genuinely appalled that Linuj just randomly decided to pick her as the first victim like, what?? She fits that role so perfect that it genuinely feels as if she was created with the idea of being the first victim in mind rather than creating the character and only assigning the role later, from her personality, to character traits and even down to her design, everything works so well together that it's insane for me to think that he created the pinnacle of first victim characters pretty much accidentally.

Regardless, the way she was written and inserted into the story never fails to amaze me but i already went into more details about that here so go check that out cuz now i wanna take this time to talk about her as a standalone character instead of just her role in the story.

Because really, Kiyoka is such a funny character! She's just this silly girl that wants to chill out and hang out with her besties but she could also shoot you square in the face from several feet away. That immense discrepancy between her talent and personality is something i always found absolutely hilarious, tho if there's one thing i dislike about her is that i wish Linuj would have explained how she got into spining in the first place? Since it's such an out there talent that Kiyoka herself doesn't even like that I can't help but wonder how that happened. Not in a "the character NEEDED this" way, I'm just genuinely curious and I'd love to know how she got herself into that pickle.

Her interaction with everyone else in the cast are delight too, i love thinking about her and the sunshine trio going around and getting into stupid shenanigans and i think Linuj did a fantastic job writtring her and Ryutaro's relationship, it's a very realistic portrayal of sibling relationship which makes me really sad whenever i think back to ch6.5 and how Ryutaro will never be able to apologize to his sister. Fun fact! The ending segment of that chapter where we see him at Kiyoka's grave was the first time I've ever cried over anything that happened in these games.

Mitsuhiro Higa

Higa is in this weird spot where I don't dislike him but I don't like like him either, it's this limbo area where I'm way too indifferent to actively dislike him so he just exists there and I don't think about him like ever and that's pretty much it.

Seriously, it's hard for me to even think about way to say in terms of likes and dislikes when it comes to him because i just. Don't think about Higa-

One thing that sorta bothers me about him is how Linuj tried to make him a bit "heroic" in that one flashbacks sequence we see in Ch6 that shows how the class was captured. It's just comes out of nowhere and it's so jarring considering not even his FTEs try to paint Higa in a nicer light. It's also really weird to me how Kizuna, the other awful person in a similar vein as Higa, didn't got any of that treatment which is just,, off.

Kizuna Tomori

And speak of the devil! Kizuna Tomori my beloved, they could never make me hate you❤️

I actually got this question about Kizuna specifically a while ago, so go read that post so that I won have to repeat myself here.

Ayame Hatano

Do you guys know Dungeon meshi? Have you ever seen people talk about how they've improved their eating habits or are generally eating and cooking more often because of how much they like Senshi, whose main character traits revolve around proper nutrition and cooking? That's literally me but exercising frequently out of how much i love Ayame.

Honestly? I feel a little embarrassed getting to talk about my liking for her like this because this is a character that's only around for like 1/3 of the game at most? If you count flashbacks scenes and extra materials like the FTEs and the IF chapter. At the end of the day Ayame is by no means an incredibly complex character so I'm not here to ramble about how she's actually really a deep and intricately constructed character and you guys just don't see it because ultimately, she isn't.

The older i get the more i realize that this is the sort of character i tend to gravitate towards in any media i consume. Very rarely do i ever become this attached to characters who are super intricate and complex, let alone main characters, i feel like even simpler characters like Ayame who has pretty normal life in comparison to others from the cast and not a lot of crazy stuff going on in her backstory have things going for that the casual fan may not notice but are absolutely worth looking into.

And it's crazy because i like quite literally everything about Ayame from her character to her design, in fact, it was her design that initially brought my attention to her because Ayame's hair is one of my favorite hairstyles to see in any character design ever (specifically the little spiky parts on the side that stick up a little) so that immediately made me like this character a bit before i even knew anything about the game other than the death order and that it came before Sdra2. And for real, i think Ayame's design is really good, simple yet solid much like the character herself honestly.

While Ayame was always amongst one of my favorites characters from Dra, I was much more into Sdra2 back when i first got into the series so for a good while my liking for her wasn't as imense as it is nowadays, but it was definitely more than i liked any other character in the first game though i could never quite place my finger on why i liked her so damn much. It was only when i got back into the another series years later that i was hit with a wave of emotions as i remembered how much i adored this character and looking into her again with a better understanding of things made me finally piece together what made me love her so dearly. Spoiler alert, it went much beyond my dumb teenage self pointing at the phone screen and going like “she's just like me fr‼️” to the point that nowadays i really don't relate to Ayame as much as i used to back then, i guess a good term to describe her would be a comfort character of mine but that doesn't feel that right to me either? I think this level of attachment to a fictional character goes beyond that like she has a special place in my heart and I think by now I've rewatched Ch2 more than any other person in this fandom-

I think what i love the most about this character is the inherent contrast within her, one so prominent that it goes as far as blending into her sprites and expressions, she appears as a serious and maybe even a little intimidating person upon first impressions with Yuki and while those are indeed parts of her Ayame is also a caring girl with a huge heart she's just a little awkward.

She struggles quite often when it comes to communicating and socializing with her peers but i cannot stress enough just how much Ayame cares for her classmates even though she's not the best at showing that, and don't mean just Akane (though she's by far the person she was the closest to). In the Ch2 post trial we learn that Ayame had actually been affected pretty heavily by the first motive video the cast was given yet she kept it to herself which when taking into account how she wishes for the rest of the class to get along as she's leaving for her execution reads to me as Ayame genuinely caring for the others as well to the point she wanted them to see her as strong so that they could also remain strong amidst the despair, and if that isn't enough to show her care then just look at the fact that this girl went as far as reopening an old wound on her leg, one that brought her so much pain and despair in the past, as a means of apology to all of them in case she managed to win the class trial (+ i personally believe this was also a self inflicted punishment for killing Kizuna since Ayame is well aware that she could have tried to save her instead of leaving her to bleed out with a knife on her neck, but that's more on the interpretation side than in-game implications.)

And this is where the nuance of this character comes in because while Ayame is a good person at heart, and a courageous and determined one at that, she's not beyond being cruel and getting her hands dirty in order to protect those she loves, but amidst this desire there's also a heap of selfishness in her acts that Ayame herself admits in the post trial as being the reason why she didn't just admit she was the killer from the start. She killed to spare Akane's life from an unavoidable execution but at the same time she wasn't free from the urge to take that as a chance to leave hope's peak academy herself and that's just,, ough man i love when characters can be brutal yet kind, selfless and selfish at the same time and i think this conflicting aspect of hers is what truly makes this character special.

So much so that i feel like if you just look at chapter 2’s case purely from a “clean” perspective where Ayame wanted to save Akane and there's not much more to that then you're missing out on the most interesting aspect of both the trial and her character and if that's as deep as most viewers tend to interpret her actions then it's no wonder why she's commonly deemed not very memorable and tends to be reduced to her relationship with Akane.

Yes, what she did was noble and it truly showed just how much she cared for Akane when she was willing to give up her own life and dreams for the future if it meant sparing her from a terrible fate, but you can't just gloss over the fact that at the same time Ayame had the selfish desire to use that as an opportunity to escape, and most importantly in my opinion we shouldn't ignore the fact that this sacrifice came in the form or brutally murdering someone she had the opportunity to try saving. It's just as cruel as it is noble yet simultaneously intertwined with Ayame's own selfish desires and wow! This character makes me unwell❤️

So yeah, in conclusion i like Ayame a whole lot and i wish more people would acknowledge the fact that she's kinda of a little freak too.

Kakeru Yamaguchi

So Kakeru is a weird one, in concept i like him quite a bit! I love the gentle giant archetype and i think the idea of him switching into a more assertive and loud personality in trials is really cool, but much like Kakeru as a whole, that is pretty underutilized and results in a character that could have been so much better than what we actually got in game.

I get the feeling that Linuj didn't really know what to do with Kakeru, he had a handfuls of ideas but there was no proper execution for them and he so he was sorta just,, there for the ride. I think what bothers me the most is how dumb he is in the trials, sure, DR trials aren't at all similar to the real life ones he would have been used to going to due to his talent, but that doesn't excuse the fact that Kakeru is surprisingly dumb in both the trials he's in when he should at least be able to argue and bring more to the table than just be another one of the characters that goes "i don't get it" or says something blantantly wrong for Maeda to refute. + If he smarter than that then maybe he could have been one of the characters to oppose Tsurugi more directly, since he is a lawyer and Kinjo has his "all criminals are scum" mentality. It would have fit well in with the characters and storyline but because Kakeru is such a nothing burger that role ended up being passed to Kinji since he's one of the few smart characters in Dra.

Still, none of that makes me dislike him it's just a little disappointing and ultimately makes him one of the people I don't think about very often but he's still a pretty sweet dude who i think it's pretty silly and funny in his interaction with the others from the cast so yeah, he's neat :]

Kanata Inori

You know, Kanata wasn't a character i originally thought much about but the more i looked into her the more i started loving this character, simultaneously, i felt disapointed of how underutilized she was in the story, but I'll get into that later.

Kanata is just such a sweetheart and you can really feel how much she cares for everyone during her interactions with the cast during the storyline, she's also quite useful in the trials she was in seeing as she was able to perform autopsies and give Yuki information that he probably wouldn't have known otherwise which more often than not ends up being pretty decisive in figuring out who the culprit is. I also really enjoy her backstory and how Ando's kindness in working to save her life despite the borderline nonexistent chances of her making out alive inspired her in such a way that Kanata decided to pursue a medical career so she could bravely save people just like he saved her! They're one of the sweetest family relationships in this series in my opinion so much so i get so sad whenever i rewatch ch6.5 and get to the part where Ando talks about Kanata and how she's an amazing kid :(

Much like Kakeru, the one thing i dislike about this character is that she was ultimately underutilized in the story, but whereas Kakeru's came from the fact that his character is an unorganized mess of ideas, Kanata had things going for her, they just weren't shown through most of the time she was on screen for whatever reason. Seriously, why was she reduced to the emotional character who cries all the time? I get that she's very nice and cares a lot for her classmates but c'mon, she worked at a hospital she should be able to deal with the situation at least a little better instead of bawling her eyes out whenever something bad happened.

Kanata hit a yakuza member on the head in the middle of a gang fight so that she could treat him properly once, she can be fierce and assertive when the situation calls for it, so why did she never do that in the main story?? This is absolutely baffling to me because it genuinely does such a disservice to the character and can end up driving people away from learning more about, like if i wasn't writing for an AU where she was a major character during the time she was alive I don't think i would have looked deeper into this character and learned how incredible she is because the main story made me think of her as just "the emotional one who cries all the time".

I also feel like it was a missed opportunity to not have her being the one who died trying to save the other ch3 victim. Like c'mon, her backstory shows us how she can often put other's safety before her own, that would have fit so well.

Kinji Uehara

Just like Kakeru, he's also a character I don't think much about but that comes from personal preference rather than feeling as if he was underutilized in story. Kinji just isn't the kind of character i tend to pay much mind to and that's ok! I do think he's a pretty interesting character, with his deal with the orphanage and also being the traitor in the game, i also enjoy how he always made his opinions clear to everyone like when he left the group because he didn't agree with Tsurugi's way of going about things and how he stood up against him and called him out in his hypocrisy in the Ch3 post trial.

If there's one thing I don't like about Kinji's is how linuj structured his murder plan, his method are SO violent for a character who had a noble motive and wasn't just some kind of crazy serial killer. Kakeru's make sense, since he was trying to stop him as fast as he could but i just don't understand why he still went on to kill Kanata when he had already killed someone (which was all he needed to do according to his deal with Monokuma), we're never told that Kanata saw it was him who attacked her, so why did ge insist on killing her anyway? Just because he had the plan set already? A plan that was also uncharacteristically brutal for a guy like Kinji. Seriously, when i first spoiled myself of all deaths in this game i got to Ch3 and thought "oh so he's the token crazy serial killer character" and while i was happy that he wasn't that, it's jarring that he got so violent out of nowhere + his breakdown in trial also feels pretty out of character in my eyes.

Haruhiko Kobashikawa

See, Haru is a cool guy, him Satsuki and Teruya (for a good part of the game) are essentially DRA's comedic relief characters and I've always had a big soft spot for those in DR games, when my faves inevitably die really early it's there character's inclusion that keep me watching the rest of the game!.. And then they die and struggle to get myself to watch the final chapters because most of the remaining characters are people I don't care nearly as much for- (thank god Ch5 has Mikako and Teruya survived the whole game)

But the thing is, when it comes to Haru himself I don't actually have much to say about him? He reminds me a lot of Kiyoka in the sense that he's a pretty normal guy for his age with a really out there talent that he's crazy good at. I think where Haruhiko really shines is not in his actions during Ch4 (tho that was amazing too, i can totally see why this is so many people's favorite chapter/case in Dra), but in his interactions with the other character because pretty much every single one of them are just so endearing to watch, regardless he's just being a dumbass or getting into trouble, in fact! I quite enjoy how he's a little hot headed (not sure if that's the right term)? The dude stands his ground and is not afraid of getting into fights if something's bothering him a lot, tho his own shortcomings and paranoia can often get the best out of him and he'll be sorta of an asshole and makes him feel so real to me, like he's just some dumb teen bound to make mistakes in a dangerous situation like the killing game and i really like that.

If i had to think of one thing i dislike about him I'd say is how he was characterized in the Ch6 flashback segment, like, by that point him and Satsuki are a couple right? So why was he trying to hit on the random Kisaragi fundation worker? That's not necessary out of character for him, but it's really weird that he's doing that despite havinya girlfriend of her own (smh Haru, i expected better from you).

Satsuki Iranami

Satsuki isn't a character i talk about a lot but i like her a lot! Not only is she a genuinly funny character who i love seeing her interactions with pretty much anyone in the cast, but i find her relationship with her family and the way she goes about it really interesting. I think anyone who've seen Satsuki's FTEs can tell that her family is insanely abusive, creating an environment of making their kids compete and compare themselves to one another on who's the best clown and treating Satsuki like absolutely garbage since she's considered the worst of them. Hell, I'm pretty sure they only sent her to hope's peak so they could get rid of her since she was of age to attend which is just,, damn. This is a fucking awful place to grow up in.

Yet Satsuki herself isn't a sad person nor do we ever see her get really depressed and upset when talking about her family, at most she looks a little sad and, unfortunately, agrees with them that she's the worst of the clows while sticking to not crying or sulking about it, instead she goes on to keep being silly and joking around which has always striked me more as a coping mechanism instead of "Satsuki it's too stupid to realize how terrible her family situation is" because as goofy as she is i do get the feeling that she knows her situation is absolutely awful but doesn't know a great way to cope with it other than what she's already doing.

And this seeing this strange coping mechanism explains so much about the way she acts in the killing game, she keeps joking around even during trials or when faces with murder motives because she just wants to remain happy and tries to see if maybe doing so will lift up the spirits of her classmates as well. Not saying that this is by any means a healthy coping mechanism, like, no, Satsuki girl it's okay to cry and be upset over terrible things, be it her family situation or the killing game, but this is nevertheless the most fascinating aspect of this character to me.

And once you take that into accound, it makes perfect sense why she was choosen to be sorta the "hope beacon" of the cast in Ch4 because really, that's just what Satsuki's Been doing the whole game. Tho i do wish this aspect was given more of a spotlight even in Ch4 itself because on first watch (without going through her FTEs) it felt a little jarring to me how Satsuki "randomly" became really important, but i consider that more of a nippick in comparison to other things I've complained about here.

Yamato Kisaragi

Oh right, this guy! He exists in the same indifference limbo as Higa but only because I don't think about him that often (so much so i forget he exists sometimes) because whenever i do think about him he gets violently pushed onto the active dislike section. Which is really funny to me considering Yamato is the perfect and super cool genius guy of the first another game, and that's a big point on my lack of care for him. The game insists in telling us how awesome Yamato is, how all of his classmates like him and how much of a hero he was for try to save them both in the Ch6 flashback and in the IF chapter, and i think that's exactly what made me feel such insane annoyance/repulse towards this character to the point that I'll see him and just groan and roll my eyes.

He's a character the story actively wants us to like but he's just so bland and generic that this push just annoys me and i feel nothing towards him as a person, the fact that we barely see him be himself in the game doesn't help either since he died almost as soon as he's introduced and all we have are flashbacks, the other character's opinions/memories of the guy and his Ai version. And even when we do see Kisaragi be himself in the IF chapter, his role there is like,, textbook generic anime nice guy protag and i just feel?? Insane???

His bland ass is like a piece of wet cardboard to me that i see people point at and act like it's the coolest thing ever and i just look down at it in my hands and think, i don't get it. I don't see it.

And don't even get me started on how Linuj fucking side lined Mikako's role and character in favor of giving this guy the spotlight by having him come in as if he's the goddamn saving grace of the killing game and solve all the mysteries that were set and build up BY ANOTHER CHARACTER, because nooooooooooo we can't have Mikako do that, it has to be Kisaragi because he's THE. GUY. EVER. ISN'T HE JUST SO FUCKING AMAZING EVERYONE????????

This makes me. Genuinely so mad and since I'd rather not pop a vein while raging as i write this go look at this post if you wanted to see me ramble a little more on this part.

Wow, after this it's tricky for me to even think of a positive to say, uhm.. I guess his relationship with Mikako is nice? I do like how it genuinely seems like they care a lot for one another tho sometimes this care can come off the wrong way and lead to arguments between the two, like how Yamato was avoiding and being rude to Mikako during that flashback sequence i keep mentioning over and over even tho she could tell there was something wrong with him and just wanted to help. They're sweet and tragic when thinking about how they met their ends but I can't feel much on that regard seeing how many,, feelings. I have towards Yamato.

Mikako Kurokawa

You know i feel like we as a fandom don't talk enough about the horror that Mikako goes through during the killing game. She never lost her memories, she remembers these people being friends and having strong bonds with other another and she's just forced to sit there and watch as they forget everything and murder each other without knowing of what she knows, and if Mikako does as much as try to say a few words regarding what she knows her head already starts splitting into two and she'll have headaches so bad they'll make her pass out and puke blood. And that's without counting the fact that she's left completely in the dark about her brother's whereabouts through most of the game and when she does reunite with him is in the worst way possible because Yamato’s mental state is even worse than hers and he dies not long after with her being blamed for his murder. She had the worst time ever in that game and i feel like it really isn't an understatement to say she suffered through the whole thing.

And that's where Mikako's spirit really shines because despite all the pain she went through, both physical and mental, she always held onto hope and wanted to help her friends even if her options were incredibly limited. She cared for each and every single one of them to the point she even wanted to try and save Yuki and Akane even though she knew they were the masterminds because she thought that with their memories erased they could embrace hope as well and come out of that as better people, and in her very last moments she still wished to help the remaining characters and kept talking even though she knew it would kill her. That's such an insane level of courage and determination from her part that it never fails to impress me.

She's such an insane character I can't help but feel like we were robbed when she died, especially when it happened before she could unravel all the mysteries Mikako had help build up through the entirety of the game and instead we get her amazing and so cool brother doing that and getting all the spotlight instead of Mikako herself.. How nice.

But i think what bothers me the most about her death is that it was so?? Unnecessary?? Like, what did it do for her character arc? It feels like she died more because Linuj wanted her to die than because it felt fitting for the character’s journey to end where it did, and you can't tell me it wouldn't have been awesome to see her in Sdra2 and how she'd react learning that her shitty mother was one of the reason why that second killing game happened in the first place.

I explained my thoughts on Mikako's death in a nicer manner in this other post so please go check that out because I will never not be upset over her death in this game, especially when her execution ends in a way that she would have survived if she wasn't already dead by the time started.. that just felt like an unnecessary fuck you from Linuj’s part-

Akane Taira

Another character I've rambled about in the past and so don't feel like reiterating it all here (this post is getting REALLY long), so yeah, check it out but tldr, I think Akane is a really cool character and i think writing her so frequently in -2+2 has made me not only get a better understanding of her character but also like her a lot more too!

Yuki Maeda

As y'all know, Dra Yuki>>>>>>>>Sdra2 Yuki always and forever in my heart ❤️

Seriously, for someone who tends to really not give a fuck about the protagonists in DR games it genuinely surprised me how much i grew to enjoy Dra Yuki after i went through the game's full translation and realized “Woah! He isn't the same universal punching back as the Sdra2 one!” Because prior to that i was under the impression that both Yuki acted and were treated the exact same by the game's storyline and as you can probably tell I don't like Sdra2 Yuki all that much.

Dra Yuki differs because not only does the game not try to force the horrors upon him constantly but he feels very human in his actions, he's just some guy not the embodiment of good or a hope hype man so he's bound to get a little sick of this shit sometimes and make mistakes. We see this during Ch4 in his argument with Akane and also in Ch2 where he decides to break the groups trust by reading the secret note anyway which later comes back to bite him when the cast finds out, and this really stood out to me and made him instantly more interesting than other protags in my eyes, although I'm pretty sure this nuance of his character was done as a way to foreshadow his reveal as Utsuro/The mastermind.

Either ways, it ended up creating one of my favorite protags of any DR type game + i do really like the twist of the protagonists being the mastermind at the end of the day, it was something super unique by the time Dra first came out and it's still something i haven't seen be done in any other fangan (tho to be fair I don't look much into those anymore nowadays-)

It's hard for me to pick something i dislike about him since he's overall just a neat guy in my eyes but if i had to pull something I'd say he constantly taking Tsurugi's side feels kinda annoying at times? Sometimes it feels like he just glosses over some of the nasty stuff Kinjo says, like when he questioned why the group for kicking out Kinjo in Ch3 as if he hadn't just told Akane to kill herself right after she saw her best friend be grinded into minced meat. Like okay buddy i get that you see good in Kinjo and you wanna help him, but he really deserves to get a good slap in the face sometimes and the others are rightfully mad at him.

Utsuro

Not much to say here honestly, i feel like i like the idea of Utsuro and what he brings to the table in terms of world building, how his presence and powers affect the others around him and even the story itself. The idea of someone with insane luck powers he can't control that made his life miserable since he could achive literally anything with no effort and everyone he met only wanted to exploit said powers which led to him falling into the despair ideology since by that point it was the one thing that made him feel something it's just so,, wow man, thats some crazy angst and such an unique way to explore the borderline magical luck that exist in the DR franchise.

I love thinking about him in that vein but as a character?.. Erh, i really don't care nor think much about Utsuro at all. Which in a way, i suppose isn't all that different from how the world saw him in universe? How ironic.

Teruya Otori

By far my favorite out of the survious though I'm not sure how to explain why i like Teruya so much? I feel like part of it comes from the soft spot for comedic relief characters i talked about earlier and the rest from the way he was written in the story.

It's crazy because i feel like Teruya's writing in itself really highlights the changes in the way Linuj viewed and went about characters by the time he started working on Sdra2, i feel like if Teruya was a character that originated from that game he would be portrayed as a bad person who you shouldn't sympathize for even though he has his reasonings for acting the way he does sometimes, sorta like how Linuj tends to punish Hibiki even tho she was the bigger victim at the end of the way.

Just like Haruhiko he feels very real to me and his character arc through Dra has gotta be one of my favorites. Teruya is not a bad person, he's a good kid at heart but the severity of the situation they're in and the stuff that gets forced upon him gets to him a lot which leads to Teruya lashing out at his friends and doing some pretty bad things here and there, yet he's never portrayed as an awful person that shouldn't be forgiven or shit and he does change for the better at the end of the day. He went through a lot and came out bigger and stronger on the other side and is a shame this kind of character arc isn't properly used in Sdra2 since Linuj's mentality became so black and white out of nowhere.

I love this little guy, I'm so glad he survived the killing game though unfortunately the same can't be said for the second one but honestly? Teruya's entire role in that story was such a mess, and sometimes even a detriment to his character in my opinion, that nowadays I can't even feel that sad over his death anymore. While there are a handful of things that bother me a lot about it, like the amnesia plot just because Linuj seems to hate actually building up to things in that game and his entire role in ch4 (seriously. What was that. Why.), i think what i dislike the most is the fact that he ended up being permadead while Rei escaped the killing game fine.

I know Linuj actually gave a good explanation to why it happened (unlike Mikako's barely explained sudden brain explosion), but still, it feels like such a mean thing to do to someone who's been through so much and still tried his hardest while being in a dangerous and unpredictable situation. My guy was done dirty in that game.

Rei Mekaru and Tsurugi Kinjo

Grouping these two together because i feel like my opinions on both of them are not only pretty much the same but they also stem from the same place, so yeah-

Don't get me wrong, these two are very interesting characters and I'd argue they're one of the more complex ones in the cast as well, not only because they make it through both games but also because of their own personal backgrounds and how that shaky upbringing affected the kind of person they became as they grew older. With Tsurugi living under his father's black and white ideologies of criminals being deserving of death no matter what and falling deeper and deeper into that the more friends he loses during his life and Rei being abandoned (albeit unintentionally?) by her parents at an young age which led to her working hard to get where she's at now which not only made her quite used to being on her own but also loathe those who "take the easy" way and want all awnsers handed to them on a silver platter, which explains why she's so rude to the rest of the cast since she wants them to figure out stuff on their own too.

There's a lot to look into these characters and it makes sense why so many people like them a lot, I'm however not the biggest fan of this type of character (tho i feel like that lies more in their personality than anything else?) so i never looked much into them before i started writing DRA -2+2 and decided to look into everyone in the cast to get a better grip on their characters. And man, writing these two really did give me a newfound appreciation and love for them! They're such fun characters to write and have interacting with the rest of the cast. Tho i wouldn't by any means say i have a proper understanding of them, i feel like that's a bit out of my league still.

If there's one thing I'm not a big fan if is that i wish we would have seen more of those two in Sdra2 instead of them just having a major role in Ch6, AKA; the messiest chapter in this entire series. Like, would it have hurt that badly to not have the Void theather segments and instead cut to small scenes at the Kisaragi foundation showing what the characters are doing and how they're reacting and planing to go about interfering with Mikado's killing game? I feel like that would have been so much more interesting than watching Emma bother Hajime with bad puns while Nikei and Iroha continue being the same assholes they've always been + it would have made Tsurugi's backwards development less of a shock to see whenever Ch6 actually rolls around.

Anyways, to wrap up this massive post here's what i hope will be the definitive Carol Dra cast tierlist

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dangermousie · 5 months

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Wallflower live action ep 1

Wallflower (also known as Perfect Girl Evolution) is one of my all-time favorite mangas. The story takes the simple Cinderella/Pygmalion fantasy and turns it on its head. Four pretty boys who rent a house get told by their eccentric landlady that if they can transform her niece Sunako into a lady, they get to live rent-free. Always broke, the boys enthusiastically agree. Enter Sunako - spotty, unkempt, horror-loving, people-avoiding Goth. Good luck, boys!

Wallflower features perhaps one of the most awesome heroines to ever exist. Sunako is beyond TOUGH. And I mean tough. You mess with her (or with anyone she likes - one of the boys, her girlfriend Noi etc), an army will not save you from her wrath.

The boys (blunt, food-obsessed Kyohei, the "caring feminist" Takenaga, the playboy Ranmaru, and the sweet Yuki) do not know what is about to hit them. Wallflower is NOT about them reforming Sunako - the boys give up fairly quickly (they just try to pretend they are continuing so as to continue to get the deal from the landlady) and just accept Sunako for who she is - a violent weirdo who can cook. Sunako makes no excuses for being who she is - she has no interest in transforming herself into a barbie, she makes no bones about loving her horror movies or living with skeletons, her lack of interest in her hot neighbors 'that way', or in any pretensions about being ladylike.

Wallflower is really a celebration of being different and being happy in that difference. All the characters are somewhat odd - Yuki is delicate and shy, Takenaga is some sort of benevolent Moriarti, Ranmaru is a shameless, older-women-loving slut, and Kyohei...Oh, Kyohei. He is probably the only character who is almost as weird as Sunako is.

Nor do all the boys fall in love with Sunako magically or anything like that. Yuki has a long-standing girlfriend, Takenaga and Ranmaru acquire OTPs (Takenaga's girlfriend Noi is one of my favorite characters ever. God, I love her!) Kyohei and Sunako are the OTP but it's not because he sees her inner princess or anything silly like that - they are both blunt, violent, not too bright people imprisoned by their looks who like to do the same things for fun (one of my favorite things in Wallflower is the parallel it draws between the 'creature of darkness' Sunako and the ultimate pretty boy Kyohei - nobody sees them as a person, not really, because of the facade being so all-engulfing. Sunako freaks out the passerby and Kyohei can't keep down a job because the staff and customers start fights over him - underneath all the OTT hilariousness, Wallflower has a lovely point about inner persons).

Kyohei, Sunako's eventual boyfriend, is first introduced when he is (a) getting groped by his boss, (b) has screaming ladies disrupting the restaurant wanting to have him be their waiter; (c) loses it spectacularly, smashing the ladies' table, punching out the boss, and quitting. This has clearly happened to him umpteen times before.

The other three guys are Oda Takenaga, smart and cold-blooded:

Yuki, the sweet one:

Ranmaru, the older ladies' loving slut.

Together, they are Wallflower's very own F4, only much better adjusted. Let's call them W4, like the tax form.

Their rental is a gothic looking castle which will suit Sunako but why their landlady owns one is manga logic.

The Landlady is living her best life and the story is sprung in motion when she requests W4 turn her niece Sunako into a lady and that way rent is free. Watching Kyohei go from disgruntled by the idea to ecstatic at the mention of free rent is priceless.

Our first look at Sunako and she is just as gloriously odd as she should be. She also is utterly displeased to be sharing her living quarters with "creatures of the light." I adore her!!! She wants to avoid light, wear her hood, watch her horror movies, and roll in her creepy memorabilia.

W4 entrap Sunako by strewing a trail of horror items.

But the makeover fails because Sunako is supernaturally strong and frees herself, causes an electric storm and escapes back into her lair. Good luck, boys, you will need it!

Meanwhile, the boys aren't the only ones trying to make cash. Here is Sunako's friend taking pics of Kyohei to sell to fangirls for money.

Said friend gets in trouble (she's been giving all her money to a host. Because of course) and Kyohei is also forced being a host or else Sunako's friend gets it. Manga logic is present.

But here is where we get to meet the REAL unhinged Sunako, who is not keen on either her friend or her roommates being taken advantage of and comes to the rescue herself.

Before you get carried away, being around too many good-looking people causes her to freak out ahahaah.

It's OK, her backup aka the rest of the boys are here, in drag.

Eventually, everything goes to hell and Kyohei and Sunako end up being caught and tied up. (Now that I think about it, the manga had a serious people being tied up fetish :P)

Too bad for the bad guys, Sunako is strong and violent and unties them both, and they go on to the violent rampage through the club, knocking hordes of opponents out in unison and Kyohei FALLS IN LOVE. (I will always be into the fact that he fell for the woman after seeing her headbutt people and crack their skulls ahahahah.)

Having destroyed a metric ton of goons and rescued whoever they needed to, Sunako and Kyohei gift exchange - she gets cookies, he gets a skull. And a start of a beautiful new friendrelationship is born!

Honestly, the first ep is just as fun as when I watched it ages ago. Nothing will ever be as good and as wildly out there as the manga but this is a good adaptation tbh.

#jdrama #wallflower #the wallflower #kame #kamenashi kazuya

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inventors-fair · 22 days

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First Pickable: Typal Winners ~

Our winners for this week are @helloijustreadyourpost, @reaperfromtheabyss and @tanknspank!

@helloijustreadyourpost — Score of a Lifetime

This one is absolutely sold for me. I assume that this is a Capenna-themed card? I mean, considering the scored, I'd say so, so as to avoid the batching that something like OTJ had. All the same, there are a LOT of Rogues there, and a lot of colors. Maybe this could've even been a Treasure, right? But regardless, having a little bit of every color get a little bit of roguishness is pretty much on the nose for what we're looking for mechanically. There was that one artifact from VOW that made a creature unblockable with a bonus for Vampires, but that wouldn't be as fought over. This card, though? I love the evasive theme that everyone would seek if there are indeed rogues, well, everywhere.

And the flavor text is pretty awesome too—which is what fully sells me on the card, because you're expressing a whole lot of possibilities here. The first is that a thief's life is short because of their field of work, but the other is that being "set for life" could just be a temporary measure, and that the rogue would squander it and impulsively go on to the next job—not for the money, but for the thrill. That's a way more esoteric read than I think is necessary, but dammit, it's speaking to me, so I'm going to roll with it. Nobody can stop me!

@reaperfromtheabyss — Sentry's Shortsword

My first thought was that this could be an excellent Kaldheim card, but then I remembered the Artificer example from the beginning of the week, and then yeah, okay, this could also be a more military-oriented card from Kaladesh. That was a really weird thought for me, especially because I remember Kaladesh's dwarves as being pilots and tinkerers, not as much soldiers. But my imagination is running ahead of me. In some ways...isn't that a good thing? Maybe I do like specificity and pounded-into-the-forge worldbuilding. With a set like this, there could be some story behind it to push it in either direction.

That's very cool. That's very cool indeed. As an equipment, this card's on the aggressive and defensive sides, and everyone who's ever played against Danitha in any form knows how much of a pain first strike and vigilance is. Perhaps I'm biased towards vigilance as a mechanic. It's equally possible that vigilance kicks ass and I'm correct and handsome and etc. Don't matter none when a dwarf is swinging at your face. I like the low-to-the-ground implication here, no pun intended, and how you linked the flavor of dwarves with the auto-equip. Like, to me that says something about how they're either readily weaponized or close to the forge? I like cards that make me prone to positive overthinking and this one gets the job done right.

@tanknspank — Sudden Swarming

As an annoying first critique, I will say that I wish the flavor text had been one sentence: "The two kings agreed to clash at dawn, but a neighboring queen arranged a temporary truce." That's about it. The image of these armies fleeing at the behest of a cloud of annoyed bugs is punny, hilarious, and a great use of an underused mechanical space, in my opinion. Does anyone love Fogs? Well, no, because they haven't made a good one in a kajillion years. Is this one of the best Fogs ever? I mean, I think so, but mostly because I'm a jerk.

And also, like, there could be one single Insect or Insect-themed card in this whole draft set, and it wouldn't have any payoff except for this one card, but this one card would be a single sideboard piece in most decks. Someone might want to start building Insects in standard and be disappointed, and/or add it to their Grist commander deck. That's what cards like this should be about, and this is both a hilarious use of the prompt and a great use of this kind of spot overall. Puns don't always get me in design, but this one sure does. A card that stands on its own merits is a card I can get behind.

Runners up 'n coming. @abelzumi

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventor's fair #winners #common typal contest

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marvel-starwarsfangirl · 5 months

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Ep. 13 "Into the Breach" Review

This was another fantastic episode that packs so much into its 25 minute runtime. Seriously, the finale better be like an hour. I feel like there's so much we have to address, yet so little time. My faith in you doesn't waver Jennifer; you've guided us through thick and thin. I will say that Rampart is surprisingly a really fun character to revisit and I enjoy watching him interact with the Batch. This man doesn't learn, but he's funny now so I give him kudos for entertainment purposes. I loved the dark atmosphere as the finale draws nearer and near. This is the end of the Bad Batch. We know it and they know it.

As usual, spoilers below:

MAMA ECHO RETURNS!!! After so long, he graces us with his appearance and he serves. I loved everything from his action sequences to his sass. Watching him sneak around the Imperial ship, rolling off of crates and working his magic was awesome to watch. That's why he's the Arc Trooper. And boy was he funny too. If it were possible, Rampart would've definitely be set on fire. Between being told he was being demoted to being denied the title of "sir," Rampart was demolished by Echo. It's just so good to see Echo again. I love him so much for his kind heart, quips, and awesome action sequences. The writers delivered!

Rampart, Rampart, Rampart... what will we do with you? He certainly hasn't changed and probably never will. But honestly, I kinda hope he doesn't. Sometimes, people are just aholes who do the right things for the wrong reasons. Rampart provides an interesting moral perspective. And he's still hot. Seeing him cleaned up in the uniform didn't help either. I'm a simple woman guys. He's also hilarious and I love it. Rampart's ego is so big that he unintentionally comes across as whiny and comical. Going forward, I seriously wonder what they'll do with him because he's going to Tantiss. Will he get dropped off? Sell the Batch out? Die in the battle that is to come? Next week will tell. I'm glad he was brought back though. He did his job as a villain well. Now, we get to see him in different situations and it's fun.

Omega, my sweet bean, hang in there. This episode does so well in establishing just how much she's grown over the past few seasons. Omega's always been resourceful and clever. Seeing her scheme to escape the Vault was exciting. You can also see the influence her brothers, particularly Hunter, have had on her. Omega's become more confident and mature. She's a leader in every sense of the word. The other kids look to her for guidance as she plans an escape. I also want to give the other kids a huge hug; I can't imagine what it must be like for them. It's one of the darkest things we've ever seen in Star Wars. Also, Emerie and Scalder rivalry definitely is gonna end with Emerie's true motivations being discovered. Scalder's not gonna let her allow Omega to slip away.

And seeing the boys strip their armor of all their color... that was legitimately heartbreaking to watch. I see it as a symbol of finality. There is no going back once they get to Tantiss. Hunter's "negative" just cements that. The last 5 minutes of the episode were so tense as the boys hitched a ride. As a my discord friend put it, "all roads lead to Tantiss."

There were a lot of smaller moments I enjoyed too. Wrecker was pretty funny this episode. Crosshair and Hunter voicing their trust in Echo was sweet. It furthers just how much the Batch truly trust and know each other. It's that implicit trust that makes me love their dynamic so much.

Anyways, that's all for now. We're truly in the endgame guys. After so long, we've finally made it to Tantiss. All that's left is to get Omega, the children, and escape which is so much easier said than done. I'm so scared yet excited for what's to come. See y'all next week!

#star wars #the bad batch #tbb crosshair #tbb hunter #tbb echo #tbb wrecker #tbb omega #tbb rampart #tbb season 3 #tbb spoilers

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emberj-theotherfoot · 13 days

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I wanted to post my predictions for what I think will happen in Bendy: The Cage, cuz I think it'd be funny if even one of these ended up being correct:

• "The Wedding Band Dream" that I had here:

• Sammy and Henry Teaming Up

• This is gonna sound weird, but Henry blood reveal? Does he bleed black ink or red ink? We know colored ink exists down there, so it's a matter of if it's a part of Henry or not.

• Henry getting more dialogue compared to Ink Machine (I just love his voice, theMeatly does such a good job)

• Interaction between Henry and Joey's memory. I'm genuinely curious how something like that would go down.

• It would be nice if Henry saw Boris again. We know he's lurking around, so... Maybe they cross paths at one point?

• This is another very specific one, but if Henry and Sammy team up and they run into Tom and Allison after Allison got the tommy gun from Alice, I kinda want Allison to say something like "If you spout any nonsense about the ink demon being our lord and savior, I will not hesitate to gun you down". I feel that Sammy's death was hilarious, yes, but holy SHIT it was out of place, and I think it needs an explanation.

• Henry getting introspective about how it feels being what he is. According to the Archives, Henry is described as "the ghost of a man who lost his purpose years ago" and is "left with the cold reality of being a recreation of the man he thought he was". God, I really want them to play more into that, that is such a genuinely interesting concept.

• This one's a pretty big one, and is one I'm pretty confident in happening? At the end of Dark Revival, Audrey mentions wanting to make the cycle better for everyone, and the best thing I can think of for Henry is him going through the cycle again with a recreation of Linda. That would be EVERYTHING. I just want this guy to be happy, he's been through so much.

Overall, I'm really happy to be back in the community, and whatever JDS comes up with for The Cage, I'm sure it'll be awesome!

#bendy the cage #bendy and the ink machine #bendy and the dark revival

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thorne-antics · 1 year

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THE DRAGON PRINCE SEASON 5 SPOILERS

So... my thoughts on season 5!!

Episode 1: Domina Profundis

- so I'm assuming Callum and Rayla talked after the events of Escape From Umber Tor because I expected them to be still a little awkward but they're not, it looks like they're friends again and that makes me so happy!!

- why does Rayla need to take off the nails on the painting in front of the secret passageway? Can't Stella just make a portal to the other side of it?

- okay I hate Karim but did the sunfire elf guard really have to take his ring? I think Janai would've let him keep it. And the guard was like "it belongs to Queen Janai now" and then proceeded to drop it on the ground. Wtf bro

- Opeli telling Callum why Rayla was arrested and Callum being like "okay, so what?" will never not be funny to me

- Callum really said "it's okay she just got too silly"

Episode 2: Old Wounds

- their little conversation about trust... they're healing their relationship YIPPEE

- domina profundis looks so fucking cool I wish we saw more of her

- I now expect to see Barius invent a new pastry every season from here on out.

- CALLUM DOING PUPPY DOG EYES AT RAYLA GAVE ME SO MUCH SEROTONIN

- watching Soren, Ezran and Corvus laughing about shit jokes did give me slight secondhand embarrassment but surprisingly it was kind of funny. Definitely an upgrade from the god-awful fart jokes in season 4

- THIS IS ONLY EPISODE 2 AND ALREADY THEY'RE GOING HAM WITH THE RAYLLUM CONTENT. THEY SPENT THE NIGHT AT A COZY INN TOGETHER. AND THE BANTER BETWEEN THEM AFTERWARDS IS SO CUTE. ugh yes s5ep2 "Old Wounds" my beloved (Actually I love the whole first 4 episodes but we'll get to that later)

- "I know dark magic created this place, but it's a bridge between our two worlds, and now here we are, crossing it together" I'm screaming.

- the banther chase was so cool! I love the battle duo dynamic Rayla and Callum have going on, and the way the banther was animated looked awesome. (Also I find it hilarious how when Rayla's arrow hit the Banther, it literally got right back up but it was like "actually, fuck this" and just dipped)

- Viren's dream sequence with baby Soren ripped my heart out

Episode 3: Nightmares And Revelations

- Ezran literally befriended the entire dragon population except Sol Regem, Rex Igneous, and the archdragon of stars (if there is one) (no moon archdragon I'm pretty sure? Because the last one was Luna Tenebris and she died) and I love that for him

- Callum's reaction to finding out Amaya and Janai are engaged was priceless. I was so excitedly waiting to see that and it was everything I'd hoped for.

- THIS WHOLE CONVERSATION

They really said "Wanna do something foolish?" "Do you even have to ask?"

Episode 4: The Great Bookery

- Kazi you nerd I love you

- Amaya being the best aunt!!

- UGH THE RAYLLUM MONTAGE

- MMM YES CALLUM AND KAZI THE BOOKWORM DUO

- "I would do anything for you" oh. my. god.

- THIS WAS SO FUNNY

- BANTHER FIGHT BANTHER FIGHT BANTHER FIGHT

"Rayla, I was wrong. I waited too long. I hope you know--" "I know." UHM, I DON'T? WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT? (I'm guessing this is them saying "I love you" without saying it but I NEED TO KNOW FOR CERTAIN)

- The only reason Amaya and Corvus survived is because they hid in the book drop and Amaya thought to do that because Kazi pointed it out earlier so basically Kazi saved their lives. Good job Kazi.

- question: how the fuck did a fall from that height NOT kill Corvus? I'm glad he's not dead but HOW?

Episode 5: Archmage Akiyu

- "Oh no... You're making me the deciding vote, aren't you" Imao 😭

- Terry is such a good boyfriend.

- everyone's faces when the giant birds swoop down at them

I AM CACKLING

- Callum fistbumping Rayla... I will cherish this forever.

- Rayla asking Callum to push her into the water because she doesn't have the courage to jump in herself, Callum holding her hand as they dive in together instead... oh I'm sick. He's so patient and sweet and gentle with her I'm gonna cry

- the sheer amount of rayllum hand touches we're getting this season is incredibly satisfying

- Tidebound Tina/Archmage Akiyu is so silly. I like her a normal amount

- IT'S KIM'DAEL!!

Episode 6: Bait And Switch

- let Soren have the best lavender essential oils in all of Scumport he deserves it

- when Ezran goes to see Finnegrin and Callum stays outside and he says "it's fine I'll just get to know my new friend here" and Elmer says they aren't friends, Callum lets out this little giggle and it's the cutest thing. FOR WHAT? LITERALLY FOR WHAT

- I'm conflicted about Claudia fighting the dragon. I mean, slay, but also... I'm scared 😃

- BABY GLOW TOADS!!

Episode 7: Sea Legs

- I need to know what Bait said when he grunted and Ezran said "that's not very nice, Bait"

- "baby mage" Nyx I'm gonna have to stop you right there because I will not tolerate this falsehood and this slander towards my boy Callum

- I love how when the baby glow toad fell overboard, Nyx was like "I'll get it" and Callum was like "no I'll get it" and then there's Soren, who hollers "SORENBALL!" and just yeets himself in.

- Callum carrying the episode with his sky magic ugh yes (partially Soren too, for saving the baby glow toad, and Villads bc of course he's a great captain and the squad couldn't do this without him, but Callum is slaying I'm so proud of him)

- Amaya finding out Kim'Dael took Janai may have broken my heart just a little

Episode 8: Finnegrin's Wake

- IT'S CALLUM IN THE INTRO INSTEAD OF VIREN OH FUCK

- please excuse my excessive use of "fuck"

- they hurt my boy ☹️

- "I'm not gonna help you murder the archdragon of the ocean" "Murder? When you put it like that you make me sound like a bloodthirsty fiend" YOU LITERALLY ARE 💀

- Rayla screaming at Finnegrin to let Callum go when she sees that Callum got beat up... the pre-s5 speculation fanfic writers are probably losing their shit rn

- THIS IS MY FAVORITE SCENE IN THE WHOLE FUCKING SHOW. OH MY GOD.

I have never seen anyone more angry at any point in the entirety of this show than Callum is in this scene. He's been angry before, but rarely, and when he does, he remains level-headed. But then Finnegrin starts torturing Rayla, and that's what sets him off. And seeing a character like him, who's always been so sweet and gentle and kind, going absolutely fucking feral because someone hurt his loved one, is so satisfying to me. He loves her so much, the worst thing to him is seeing her suffering. I'm going insane over this.

- HE FUCKING UNLOCKED THE OCEAN ARCANUM. I'M SO PROUD OF HIM

- remember when he told Rayla "I'd do anything for you"? Yeah... (I'm totally writing a fanfic about this)

- if you couldn't tell, I fucking love Callum (this is probably the hundredth time I've said this)

Episode 9: Infantis Sanguine

- Callum looks so pretty here. He always looks pretty but MY GOD

- I'm gonna cry. The way he looks at Rayla like "Hey it's okay I'm right here with you :)" has me in a chokehold

- Rayla getting scared about being underwater and swimming back up to the surface and Callum immediately going after her to see if she was okay... no one fucking touch me

- I had no problem with Claudia at the start of the underwater fight but then she threatened Ezran and I was like "sweetie I can't defend you anymore"

- bruh they couldn't talk underwater anyway so what the fuck was the point of threatening Ezran to make him talk?

- I know it's a fantasy cartoon and the logic doesn't matter but RAYLA SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SHOOT THOSE ARROWS SO PERFECTLY WHILE UNDERWATER.

- Aaravos has been in ONE EPISODE this season and nearly every speaking line he has is so sus

- I always hated Viren because him manipulating and gaslighting his kids reminded me of my dad who I haven't spoken to for 3 years now, and I've had to accept that he's never going to change, but I'm glad Viren has changed and I'm proud of him

- so... Viren dead? Viren not dead? Fuck if I know! Find out in 8 months!

okay, my final ranking of all the seasons so far: this one comes out on top, then below it is season 3, then season 2, and at the bottom, season 1 and 4 are tied. And I'm so excited for season 6. Thank you and goodnight.

#the dragon prince #tdp #the dragon prince season 5 #tdp season 5 #rayllum #tdp spoilers

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ihhfhonao3 · 4 months

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ace attorney fic request: Maya starts taking clown training from Moe and gets her own clown uniform with the red nose and everything

OH MY GOD IM SORRY THAT THIS TOOK FORTY YEARS TO FINISH. All my motivation just DISAPPEARED like the beginning of May so I hope this scratches at least a bit of a (VERY LATE) itch. Thanks for requesting, fic is under the cut!

Lawrence Curls- better known as Moe the clown- wasn’t typically the type of man to be surprised by too much. If he was forced to pinpoint a moment in his life where he became so desensitized to practically everything, the last straw would likely be being a firsthand witness to murder. Not to mention that the person who was murdered was his own late boss.

There were many other events in his life that started to slowly etch away at his ability to care about most things. Practically losing all ability to ever talk to his wife or daughter was pretty up there in terms of life events that started to wear down the camel’s back. It was quite ironic when he thought about it- women always say that they love humorous men when it comes to relationships. But that wasn’t something that Moe was thinking about in this current moment. No, instead he was thinking about what to do with Maya Fey.

The girl had barged into the circus tent early that morning, startling Moe and almost making him lose his balance on a big inflatable ball. On accident, this time. But once he was sure that he wasn’t going to topple over, Moe hopped off the ball and asked what Maya needed. He remembered her being the assistant to that lawyer who defended Max Galactica not too long ago- Wright was his name.

Nothing could prepare Moe for the shock that came with hearing that Maya wanted to become a circus clown.

“I think it’d be fun!” She said. “And you’re one of the best clowns around I know!”

Moe almost corrected her by saying that he was likely the only clown around she knew, but he kept quiet.

Maya continued to blabber on and on about how she admired Moe and his sense of humor, gushing about how classy and hilarious his jokes were. Moe thought she was simply being patronizing, but if that was the case, she sure as hell was convincing. Moe let Maya finish speaking before he talked himself.

“I just don’t really understand,” Moe said, eyeing Maya up and down. “WHY do you want to be a clown? Of all the careers there are, you choose… this?”

“Didn’t I make it clear? I admire you so much!” Maya said cheerily. “What you do is super awesome- I wanna be like you!”

“Yeah, well, I think you’re choosing the wrong role model here. This job made my wife leave me! HAHAHAHAHA!” Moe laughed.

Maya just stared at him.

“God, I miss her…” Moe mumbled. “I mean uh, this job doesn’t pay that well. Are you sure? I could teach you something way better, like business management!”

Maya made a face. “No thank you. I appreciate your offer, and congratulations on your promotion, but I’ve made up my mind.”

Moe sighed. “Whatever floats your boat, I suppose. Are you sure that this is what you wanna do? You’re completely and totally up for the task?”

Maya nodded vigorously. “Of course! I am but your pupil, sir.”

Maya made an exaggerated bow, and Moe laughed. He then told Maya to come back to the circus at the same time tomorrow, to begin her training.

So now Moe was here, sitting in his office, thinking about what he should do with this situation. He truly didn’t want to turn down such a sweet girl and crush all of her dreams, but she had such a bright future ahead of her doing what she was currently doing. Moe couldn’t exactly remember what it was specifically, but he was sure that whatever it was, it was miles better than being a circus clown. Looking back, Moe sometimes couldn’t even remember what it was that initially motivated him to become a part of the circus. He always thought himself to be quite funny, so surely the logical conclusion after that was to disappoint his family and become a clown.

Of course, they hadn’t been disappointed at the beginning, but that wasn’t the point.

The point was, this Fey girl had so much life to live- and part of Moe worried that she was actively throwing her life away by choosing this career path. But another thing tugged at him- if she truly was passionate about this, who was he to stop her from following her dreams? Moe could remember a time when he himself was like that. Zealous and passionate, full of piss and vinegar.

Moe laughed at the phrase inside his head. What a dumb saying. Maybe he’ll make a joke out of that one at the next performance that was to come.

Eventually, Moe found his answer, after several minutes of deep thought.

He was going to accept the request and teach Maya how to be an amazing clown.

He quickly got to work writing down tips and ideas for routines that she could perform, depending on what area of clownhood Maya wanted to focus on. What she had to learn in order to tell jokes was very different from what she had to learn in order to dance on an inflatable ball. Moe made sure to take note of this, as well as write down rough outlines of ideas for routines that Maya could perform. At around two in the morning, he decided to call it a night and go to bed.

Kicking himself for going to sleep so late, Moe dragged himself out of bed at the crack of dawn so he could practice a bit before Maya arrived. Sure enough, as Moe was reciting some jokes he had freshly come up with, the girl returned and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Ah! Maya!” Moe said as cheerfully as physically possible as he turned around. “Glad to see you again. You really are committed, huh?”

Maya nodded rigorously. “Totally! I’m dedicated to this clown thing! What’s my first lesson?”

“Well, have you thought about what kind of clown you want to be?” Moe asked.

Maya stared at him. “I didn’t know that there’s different types of clowns.”

Moe chuckled. “Oh yeah, there’s lots! …Well, actually, there’s only about four I could think of, and one of them is a scary clown, which we’re not doing. So you can choose between a joke clown, a stunt clown, or a prank clown.”

“What do each of them do?” Maya asked.

“Jokes clowns tell jokes like I do,” Moe said. “Stunt clowns do stuff like balancing on a big inflatable ball while juggling. And prank clowns suffer pain for the enjoyment of others. HAHAHAHA! I’m kidding. Well, not really. They do stuff like falling over on purpose and throwing pie in each other’s faces. Technically, I dabble between all three, but since you’re a beginner, let’s choose just one for now.”

Maya closed her eyes and thought. Within a few moments, she opened them back up again and said “Okay, I choose prank clown.”

“Excellent choice!” Moe said excitedly. “Now, let’s get to your training. Follow me to my office.”

Maya trailed after Moe as he headed to his office. Once he went inside, he opened a closet that had a bunch of clown gear. He pulled out a purple suit with yellow stripes on it and big plastic buttons that looked like pink flowers, then handed it to Maya.

“This will be your suit. Wear it well, it is a symbol of honor.” Moe almost burst out laughing at the absurdity of what he was saying, but he really wanted to sell Maya on this. He didn’t want to crush her dreams.

Just as Moe expected, Maya lit up and thanked him, then grabbed the suit and ran to the bathroom to immediately put it on. Moe waited for a couple minutes before Maya came back out, wearing the suit and a gigantic smile.

“Can I get funny shoes too?” Maya asked.

“Sure thing,” Moe replied, digging through his closet. “How does blue sound?”

“Perfect!” Maya said.

Moe handed the gigantic clown shoes to Maya. “Anything else you’d like?”

Maya tapped her chin, thinking. “OH! Could I have a big nose like yours?”

Moe stared at Maya. “This is my real nose.”

Maya went quiet. A moment passed before she said, “Oh… I am so sorry…”

“Ha! It’s totally fine,” Moe laughed. He was trying his hardest to not lose his patience, but he hated thinking about his nose. Far too many people thought it was fake for his liking.

Maya quietly took off her current shoes and replaced them with the big, broad blue clown shoes. She walked around the office a bit, trying out how they felt.

“They’re way too big, but that’s the point, isn’t it?” Maya said.

“It is indeed,” Moe said. “Now you seem to be all set. Follow me down to the main tent and we can begin your training.”

Maya did a silent cheer as she started to stumble her way back to the tent with Moe. Moe walked extra slowly so as to not leave Maya behind, but she got a hang of the shoes quicker than he expected. Maybe she is meant to have this job, Moe thought to himself. Hey, I’d be crazy if I were to judge!

By the time the two had returned to the main tent, there were some other performers with the circus who were already there practicing. Maya watched as three women made a human pyramid together in one corner of the tent. It was extremely intriguing to her.

Moe turned around to face Maya for a moment. “Stay here for a bit, will you?”

“I’ll be right here!” Maya beamed.

Moe strained a smile and then hurried to the front of the tent to meet Max Galactica at the entrance, who was just walking in. Maya couldn’t hear their conversation, but from the looks of it, Moe was telling him something important. After a couple of minutes, Moe returned to Maya.

“So, where do we start?” Maya asked eagerly.

“First off, I’m going to teach you what could be one of the most important things to know when being a prank clown,” Moe said. “And that is… the humorous fall.”

Maya seemed confused, so Moe stepped back to demonstrate. He walked a few paces before stepping on his own shoes on purpose, thus tripping and falling over. As he fell, Moe kicked his back foot slightly to propel him forwards and exaggerate the fall, and stuck his arms out to break it so he didn’t get too seriously hurt. Moe then stood up and took a bow as Maya clapped for him.

“What you’re gonna want to do is force yourself to fall,” Moe said. “After you do that, push off of the leg that still has a bit of traction. That emphasizes your fall and makes it funnier.”

“Okay, let me try!” Maya said.

Maya then followed suit in a similar fashion, tripping over her huge shoes and then falling over.

“Not bad, not bad,” Moe critiqued. “But you aren’t pushing forwards enough. Pushing off and forwards really gives the fall that oomph that audiences want. Practice again.”

Maya did as she was told, with her form only being slightly better this time.

“All right, practice your falls when you get the chance,” said Moe.

“I don’t get it…” Maya stated as she got up and dusted herself off. “Why do we want to break our fall? Wouldn't actually getting hurt be more funny?”

Moe snorted slightly. “You’re right, it would. But healthcare is too damn expensive in this country for us to be able to fall like you normally would. HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Maya looked a little bit disdained by that comment, so Moe coughed curtly and changed the subject.

“Ahem. Um, there’s different ways you can fall too, to switch things up so as to not be too repetitive in your routine,” Moe told Maya.

Moe then proceeded to show Maya how to fall to her side and how to fall backwards, as well as showcased the many different ways that one can slip on a banana peel. Moe explained the use of the banana peel and its significance to the clown act in a circus. Needless to say, Maya was truly enjoying her time learning how to perform in the circus. The magical glow in her eyes that was present when she was investigating the circus with Phoenix all that time ago had since returned, livening her attitude and keeping her cheery. Maybe Moe was disillusioned, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why Maya was so happy about this. He guessed that she was going to quit the whole ordeal sometime within the week.

Moe watched as Maya practiced her falls, mesmerized by her determination. Eventually, he snapped back to his senses.

“Um, I think that’s enough for now,” Moe said eventually. “Here, follow me. You can learn how to throw pies next.”

Maya beamed and wiped her hands on her pants, then followed Moe outside the tent. Directly outside of it stood three targets and a small stack of tin pie pans.

“Here is where I practice throwing pies,” Moe said. He picked up one of the tin pans, lifted it to his shoulder, and chucked it right at the target. It hit right in the center.

“That was awesome!” Maya cried. “How’d you do it?”

“Practice, of course,” said Moe. “And look-” Moe picked up one of the pie pans from the stack.

“We don’t have actual pies in them so we don’t waste resources, but we do have dirt packaged inside of them sealed with cling wrap and tape,” Moe said. He titled the pan to show Maya. Sure enough, there was a layer of cling wrap on the top of the pan, secured in place with duct-tape. Below the plastic wrap, inside the pan was a layer of dirt that filled the pan to about halfway. Moe handed the pan to Maya.

“Wow, it weighs almost like a real pie!” she said. “That’s super smart.”

Moe grinned. “Thanks, I came up with it myself. Now, throw that pan at the target, following my lead.”

Maya nodded and did as Moe did- raising the pan to her shoulder and chucking it as hard as she could. It landed near the left of the target.

“Almost,” Moe said encouragingly. “A little more to the right. Focus your eyes on the center of the target, at the bullseye.”

Maya retrieved her pan and tried again, getting closer to the center this time.

“Good!” Moe said. “Practice this and your falls for a little bit. Can I trust you to not burn down the establishment while I go work out some finances?”

“You can count on me, boss!” Maya said, straightening up and saluting at Moe, before proceeding to almost hit a nearby animal trainer in the head with a bad throw.

Moe grimaced. Part of him didn’t know how much he could count on Maya. She had ambition, but she was excitable at times. And new.

Moe headed inside the tent and eventually found Benjamin Woodman, who was aimlessly watching Max practice his magic tricks. Moe could’ve sworn he saw some scorn in his eyes.

“Ben,” Moe called. Ben looked up.

“Would you mind watching over the girl practicing pie-throws outside? She’s a newbie, I don’t really trust her to not knock someone unconscious,” Moe said.

Ben nodded and got up from his spot on the floor, exiting the tent without a word.

“Sometimes I wonder why I don’t fire these airheads,” Moe muttered to himself as he headed to his office.

~~~

Maya picked up another pie pan and lobbed it at the target. It was slightly above the bullseye.

“So close!” she said to herself. She went to grab the three pans that she had just thrown, retrieving them from the grass. She then stacked them on top of the other pans that sat on the ground beside her.

Truth be told, Maya was having the time of her life. She was learning so much in such a short period of time, and for the first time in what felt like forever, she was learning about something that she actually cared about and wanted to learn. This wasn’t at all like her spirit medium lessons back in Khura’in.

Maya threw another pie pan at one of the targets as a man in a white coat holding a ventriloquist dummy walked outside and started watching her.

“Oh, hello!” Maya said cheerily as she lobbed another pan. The man simply nodded at her.

Maybe he’s scared of my good arm! Maya thought confidently. She tossed another pan and then went to retrieve it.

The man watched her every move wordlessly, his expression unchanged and static.

“So, uh, what’s your name?” Maya asked, becoming increasingly nervous from being watched.

The man avoided eye contact, but in turn the puppet placed its wooden hand on its hip and spoke.

“The name is Trilo Quist,” the puppet said. “And this big oaf is Ben. Who’s asking?”

“M-Maya Fey…” Maya muttered. The man didn’t seem to move his mouth at all when the puppet spoke for him. Maya was impressed- the man must have lots of skill.

“Tell me Maya, why are you doing this… pan-throwing thingy? Don’t you have something better to do?” asked Trilo.

Gee, what a character! Maya thought to herself. “Eh, no, I was told to practice my pie throws. Mr. Moe said I should, actually.”

“Mr. Moe? Ha! A fool like that doesn’t need a respective title,” Trilo joked.

Maya looked at him as she threw another pie pan. For some reason, that statement made her angry. “I’ll have you know that Mr. Moe has been nothing but kind and respectful of my goals here, not to mention very supportive and eager to teach me what it means to be a clown.”

“Whatever floats your boat, I suppose,” Trilo shrugged. Ben still refused to make eye contact.

Maya threw another pie pan. “Why are you here anyways? I mean this in the nicest way possible, but if you’re just going to be here to insult my teacher, I’d rather you leave me be.”

“Your teacher, who is also my boss, I’ll have you know, instructed me to watch over you here,” Trilo said matter-of-factly. “He doesn’t trust you to not burn something down.”

“Har har,” Maya muttered. She wasn’t sure how much she liked this Trilo fellow. Surely the Ben guy was far nicer anyways.

“Why do you talk so much and Ben doesn’t?” Maya inquired as she retrieved her pie pans once more.

“That’s because Ben doesn’t have anything interesting to say,” Trilo said confidently.

Maya rolled her eyes as she stacked the pie pans once more and started to head back into the tent.

“Hey, where are you headed?” Trilo cried. “I’m not supposed to let you out of my sight!”

Probably because your regular job isn’t that important, Maya thought. “I’m just going inside so I can practice falling now.”

Maya could’ve sworn she heard snickering coming from the dummy, but she decided to ignore it. She found herself an empty section of the tent to practice in, wedged between some animal trainers and a magician. Maya cleared some of the sharp rocks and dirt from the ground and started to practice as Ben and Trilo watched her again.

As she practiced her falls, she wondered if Moe was going to come back. And she wondered how Phoenix was doing. And She wondered if Moe was proud of her. And she wondered if this was all a stupid idea.

“…Are ya sure you’re not getting hurt?” Trilo asked suddenly. “Because I’m pretty sure Moe will be a little more than ticked if he found that I was complacent in hurting a newbie. Even though you getting hurt should be your fault.”

“I promise, I’m okay,” Maya strained. Something about this Trilo guy made her irrationally irritated. Not to mention, if she remembered correctly, he was kind of a creep anyways. Maya wondered if it was the puppeteer or the puppet itself that was a creep. She settled on the idea of it being both of them.

“Alright, alright, I was just checking…” Trilo said. He sounded offended.

Maya was becoming increasingly irked by Trilo, but she tried her hardest not to let it bother her. She breathed deep in between her trips and falls, grounding herself before each time. After a little while, Maya was getting a tad bored.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t mind if I looked around the circus a bit, would you?” Maya asked Trilo more than Ben.

“I would mind, actually,” Trilo proclaimed. “You can’t walk around unattended.”

“So escort me,” Maya said, putting a hand on her hip.

Ben looked increasingly uncomfortable. After a long pause, Trilo eventually muttered “Fine.”

The pair that was more of a trio started to walk around the circus. Maya watched the magician Max Galactica, Phoenix’s old client, practice his magic tricks. She watched as he cut a box in half and fiddled with some pieces of cloth that were tied together into one long string. Maya didn’t really understand how any of that related to being a magician, but he seemed to know what he was doing.

Maya then went to look at the animal tamers. Ben and Trilo stayed around thirty feet away from the animals, much to Maya’s suspicion. She assumed it had something to do with the lion scandal that happened all that time ago. Maya watched as a tiger jumped through hoops and a woman rode on an elephant. Regina Berry, the lead animal trainer, was cheering the creatures on as they performed their tricks. Maya smiled. Regina looked like she was having so much fun.

Maya eventually lost track of time and realized that she had been on too long of a break when she found that Ben and Trilo were nowhere to be found and Moe was approaching her.

“Maya!” Moe called. “Maya, come out to the front of the tent please. I need to talk with you.”

Maya hesitated. She was a little nervous. Had she done something wrong? Did Trilo and Ben tell on her? Did they say that she hadn’t been practicing? Maya swallowed nervously and went to the entrance of the tent.

“Maya, I just wanted to thank you for your dedication,” Moe said. “Not too many people stick around this long, believe it or not. So I admire you for keeping with it.”

“Oh, uh, thanks!” Maya grinned. “I’m actually having a lot of fun.”

Moe reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. “Here. I wanted to give you this. As a reward- and since you did want to have one of your own.”

Maya opened the box and inside was a classic red rubber clown nose. She gasped and immediately popped it on her face, laughing at how it felt on her.

“How do I look?” Maya asked, spinning in a circle.

“Like an absolute fool,” Moe smiled. “So, I trust you’ll come back here at the same time tomorrow?”

“Yes sir!” Maya said, saluting Moe. “You can count on me!”

Moe laughed. “Get out of here. Go home, have some dinner, say hi to that Wright guy for me.”

“I will!” Maya said as she started to run home.

She had oh so conveniently forgotten about the clown shoes that were still on her feet, tripping over them when she had gotten no more than thirty feet from the circus tent.

#fanfiction #fanfic #fic request #fanfic request #ace attorney #ao3 #maya fey #lawrence curls #THIS HAD NO BETA SO IM SORRY IF ITS SHIT DHEDYGGEDHY

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