#Be better and actually have a reason to exist again

[just-1other-nerd]

These are my picks and below the cut I'll explain why though I doubt that anyone will read this ridiculously long essay.

I'm making this a tag game but everyone is free to join.

Small disclaimer: I'm acespec, because of that romantic love and sexual attraction feel a bit fictional to me anyways (kind of like how I believe in magic but it's far removed from my reality and daily life, still wouldn't mind it being there at all), so I'm very good at separating this kind of fiction from reality. I still adore romance in stories and I definitely have standards of what I would want a relationship to actually look like in real life if I should ever end up in one.

Enemies to lovers (mostly in fantasy though) is my jam. It's that specific category of hate to love which is one of my favourite tropes in general, bully "romances" and such appalling stuff is not included in my definition of this trope. For me it is the whole "we are on different sides of the war" thing or the "we have genuine reasons to hate each other but through reluctantly spending time together we overcome this" thing, tension and banter are just great and if an author actually understands what makes this trope great that means that the characters will undergo some kind of development and I adore a good character arc. Do not get me wrong, I love friends to lovers (especially in contemporary) amd the fluff it can give me but it seldomly gives me the kind of kick that enemies to lovers has got to it.

Yearning and angst are my thing, 10/10 and you know what has got that if well done? Fake dating and forbidden love! But I ended up choosing forbidden love because the reasons to end up in a fake relationship are oftentimes less believable than the ones for a forbidden love. Because when has faking a relationship actually seemed like it could solve any problems instead of creating more in the long run? Meanwhile the love existing in the first place is the problem itself.

Found family is a no brainer. It can be basically anything, teens, adults, kids, animal compantions, a combination of those and it slaps everytime. Single parent is okay, I like the representation but I can't really relate. But consider a found family that consists of an adult and their adopted child... brilliant! I think I improved the single parent trope by 1000%.

Sunshine x grumpy is a fucking good dynamic if well written and not just there to check off a trope box. Second chance is once again something that I can't really relate to but I really liked the angst and yearning in the few instances in which I've seen it done well.

I never really got the whole famous people appeal. There's actors and musicians and so on which I find hot but actually dating them would be a nightmare considering their work hours, the paparazzi, the long distance stuff, the stress and so on. For lots of people this choice would be about what archetype they find hotter for me that would be the musician but I'm annoyed by the self insert vibes. I hate "omg this famous person fancies me of all people that must make me special but I am not special at all actually". But then I discovered the bandmate and teammate dynamics and the (sports) rivals dynamics. It completely removes the power dynamics of normal person x famous and rich person because these people are on the same level, the also very clearly understand the whole career and public eye aspect of a romance like this better because both of them are in the business. And that is great, it creates understanding, yearning and angst if the relationship could meddle with the career. And even if it doesn't there's still ambition and a connection through a shared interest. A lot of this vatiation of these tropes is also queer so I'm even more into it. In the end I chose sports romance over rockstar romance because even though I'm not into sports in reality but really into music I am very obsessed with certain sports anime and the shipping game is top tier.

Small town romance is a very American Hallmark movie thing to me. It's literally just a setting. Granted one with less anonymity, less places to go and more conservative views but still just a setting. I think it seldomly actually adds to a romance plot and oftentimes gets living in a more rural area wrong (trust me I'm from a European village with less than 1000 people living here). Also the (female) main character giving up a successful career for a not so special guy just feels wrong and is done way too often and very boring. A secret baby at least brings some drama into the story and I think that's entertaining.

There's something horrible patriarchal about a forced marriage it would be a nightmare in real life but in fiction it is my guilty pleasure since it often includes some form of hate to love and forced proximity. The latter also a guilty pleasure in fiction because by God do I like my personal space and would hate someone intruding. But in stories it causes the same kind of thing I love about hate to love: the characters are annoyed by one another but over time the begin to grow close emotionally and there's a character arc about understanding involved. (Side note hate to love and forced proximity can also be platonic.) The trope can also just be funny, like being shoved into a closet but they land on top of each other in a mess of limbs. I picked forced proximity as the one I prefer because it is more harmless than a forced relationship.

Summer and winter are just settings and while they contribute a lot to the vibe and to the possibilities of what the characters can get up to I think they are less important than the actual plot which is why my liking of a story won't be that influenced by the season. If I had to pick a season for a contemporary romance it would be spring (even though I like a built up that is longer than 3 months but alas), otherwise I don't have real preferences because once again it depends on the plot. But I picked summer since its vibes are closer to spring vibes than winter's.

I like good boys and I like edgy boys who are actually decent people. Bad boys on the other hand are often a cardboard cut-out of a person who has no hobbies except for brooding, being mysterious, being obsessive and abusive. So I didn't have to think hard about this one.

Slow burn forever! Draw out the tension, the longing, the yearning, the angst and I am happy but then let it all dissolve in a satisfying act of love or a heartbreaking one. One of my favourite tropes and I think one aspect of this is that if it takes a while for the characters to get together that means they know each other fairly well by then which I think is an important part of a functional relationship. Love triangles can be done well like when you actually do not know who will end up with whom or if you don't know who you, the viewer/reader, would choose or would want the main character to end up with because both options are good and likable or if one person gets two partners (one polyamorous person, two monogamous people who are okay with this arrangement) or if everyone ends up with everyone (throuple yay). But I have seen far too many instances in which it was not only clear to me from early on who the desired person would choose in the end but the author also failed to make me like the involved characters or when they failed to give me a good reason for why the protagonist chose who they chose or if the character picked the choice I wouldn't have gone with and thos things took away all the tension and likability. I swear 80% of this trope is "who is the not so special girl going to choose the insanely physically attractive and rich blond brother with a flirty personality who is the life of the party or the insanely physically attractive and rich brother with dark hair and a fable for brooding and antisocial behaviour?" and it's always the latter and he is the worse option out of the two already bad ones.

Billionaires shouldn't exist and burn in hell. The whole concept of their existence is unethical, I do not under any circumstances want to even have contact with someone like that let alone date them. There's also this power dynamic that comes with a person being much more wealthy than their partner which I just don't like. An office romance can also be problematic because it can annoy coworkers, change team dynamics, you never get a break from your partner, there might be some HR problems involved, you might fight over work topics, you start to associate your partner with desk work, there might be some envy when it comes to career, there might be uncomfortable power dynamics and trying to hide the dating thing from others to avoid all of this won't end up working otherwise there wouldn't be a plot or a conflict. But it's still better than fucking billionaires. Just get me away from a capitalist hellscape as a setting in general, like who saw cubicles and thought "this is cute"? I do not need to spend more time at work than I have to in order to survive so why would I want my fiction to take place right there?

I go to dystopia for the plot and the social commentary and while I appreciate a good romantic subplot a lot, I don't want this to distract me all too much from the thing I was looking for. Historical settings on the other hand are just very detailed (if the reasearch was done right anyways) and interesting to me. It's got its own social rules and political nuances. Of course patriarchal power dynamics have been even worse in the past but I love it when the couple navigates those in a way that still results in them having a healthy relationship. I also just love Jane Austen.

First love is nice but not necessarily better than second or third love and so on. My choice is revenge because I am a petty bitch with lots of grudges and I feel so much catharsis when someone gets what they deserve. I also love it when a character takes their revenge too far and has to deal with that moral dilemma, that is an interesting struggle if you ask me.

I think I have already established why I don't like office or work romances. And rivalries are often just a subsection of hate to love, and I've gone into why I like that too. A bonus of rivals to lovers is also the (often) harmless obsessiveness of the characters with each other. It doesn't matter if it's an academic context or a sports context or a career context, it is just fun

If you've actually made it to here, congrats I guess. Please tell me your thoughts.

@jediwizard @ilov3b00kss0much @ineffablebookgirl

EVERYONE ON TUMBLR NEEDS TO DO THIS

[httpvomitello]

Hormonal Warfare .｡*･ﾟﾟ

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Summary: Tony Stark is a genius, but even he can’t always read the room—especially when his wife is this close to either murdering him or devouring an entire chocolate factory. And when he asks the wrong question at the worst possible time, he learns the hard way that some battles are better left unfought.

tony stark x f!reader

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The penthouse was quiet—too quiet. The kind of quiet that usually meant something was either about to explode or someone was contemplating explosions.

Tony, blissfully unaware, strolled into the kitchen, humming to himself as he fiddled with a holographic schematic floating above his wrist. He barely registered the sight of you curled up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket burrito, glaring at your phone like it had personally betrayed you.

"Hey, honey," he called absently, rummaging through the fridge. "Have you seen my—"

"If it’s not chocolate, Advil, or a heating pad, I don’t know where it is," you interrupted, voice flat.

Tony paused, finally looking at you. "Uh. You okay?"

You didn’t even glance up. "Peachy."

He frowned. "You sure? You seem kinda…" He gestured vaguely. "Murdery."

"Wow. Astute observation, Sherlock."

Tony blinked. "Okay, yikes." He shut the fridge and leaned against the counter, studying you. "What’s going on? Did someone die? Do I need to call a lawyer?"

You exhaled sharply through your nose. "No, Tony. No one died. Yet."

"That… is not reassuring."

You finally lifted your head, fixing him with a look that could melt vibranium. "If you don’t want a sarcastic answer, don’t ask a stupid question."

Tony’s mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. "Okay, first of all—ouch. Second of all, what did I do?"

You groaned, dragging a hand down your face. "Nothing. Literally nothing. That’s the problem."

Tony stared. "I… don’t follow."

"Of course you don’t," you muttered, pulling the blanket tighter around yourself.

Tony hesitated, then—against his better judgment—pushed further. "Alright, seriously, what’s wrong? Did I forget something? Anniversary? Birthday? Did I leave the coffee machine on again?"

You let out a slow, measured breath. "Tony."

"Yeah?"

"I am currently in the middle of an internal war where my uterus is attempting to stage a coup." Your voice was eerily calm. "So unless your next words are ‘I brought you a hot water bottle and a cheesecake,’ I suggest you retreat."

Tony’s eyes widened. "Oh. Ohhh." Realization dawned. "That explains the… everything."

You raised an eyebrow. "Glad we’re on the same page."

Tony decided now was the perfect time to joke. "So, uh… does this mean I should sleep in the lab tonight? For safety reasons?"

You smiled. It was not a nice smile. "If you value your spleen, yes."

Tony swallowed. "Noted."

Rhodes found Tony hunched over a workbench, nursing a coffee like it was the only thing keeping him alive.

"You look like hell," Rhodes said, amused.

Tony groaned. "I think my wife might actually kill me."

"What’d you do this time?"

"Existed. Breathing. Apparently, that’s a capital offense right now."

Rhodes winced in sympathy. "Ah. That time of the month?"

Tony shot him a glare. "Do not say that in front of her unless you want to lose a limb."

Rhodes held up his hands. "Message received." He paused. "So�� you hiding out here all night?"

Tony sighed. "Until I can secure a peace offering involving chocolate, painkillers, and possibly a written apology from the universe itself? Yes."

Rhodes chuckled. "Good luck, man."

Tony groaned again, dropping his head onto the table. "I’m gonna need it."

[jazeswhbhaven]

Demon Butler Buffet, Enjoy your stay | April Fools' Event 2025 | React/Recap Spoilers Part 2

Screenshots only this time for this post! If you want to go over the summary check it out here:

🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🖤🤍

The old man is done with these games lmaooo

Idk but my hunch that Asmo is quite keen on Belphie is starting to look correct because of how buddy buddy he's been with him this entire time

Ofc he did, because even the merch has the kings on it. I bet he sets the prices for WHB indirectly too if we're being honest /hj💀

You tell 'em Lizzy! Man I would get so annoyed at coworkers like this who had no other reason to be late other than they felt like it when I was dealing with a crowd or people or waiting to clock out and go home for the day...

They knew what was up the minute Lizzy showed concern for Jihoon getting his shit rocked by Satan (nah srsly don't touch him without permission unless you're MC)

Okay, I'll be ready. And I'll do it again, trust.

He said something sensible, and he's being cute. Look at hims.

MAMM'S NIP IS OUT.

🎵lemme suck your titties bby...ooooooo whoaaaaaaaa🎵

No frfr, he was lookin' thicccccc (all of 'em were) I also like seeing his hair this way because it gives me a better visual of what his ponytail looks like, also have y'all noticed his horn shape changes?

Ah, I was wondering where his wings were. Seems they fit under the fabric easily in the suit but with how they usually look I can tell why they would bother him...the bone is still pokin' out 😭

Sorry for the jumpscare with Beel's pale arm, but him thinking the talismans worn off and everyone was dying is so him. Asmo was like "nah they're just fainting that's normal" is also funny

Oh boy, at least they did o k a y. I would be satisfied by their butler roles 😭 but Levi in that maid outfit? the fave poster boy foreallssss

I hate that he's correct, because I actually cannot buy a realistic experience with me hanging out with the Kings for an entire day just doing random stuff and being flirty.... p a i n (yes cosplayers exist but they are real people 😭😔 it's not the same to me)

Well...yeah Asmo we know why you'd find that exciting...

Oh, well this looks like it could be Beel's true form? The color of the eye and the VIVIVI floating around??? But either way....lol they got some crazy things on their camera

Nice save, Luci <3 we would be lost without you

idk he just looks really good in this fit and tail included

Luci meant that shit, which is why Asmo just kinda nervously laughed. Even he...knows better than to play with a former angel.

Ah so that's what his side effect was...unable to count money 🥴🥴

Nuh uh, what you doin' Jihoon? 🤨🤨🤨

All I'm thinking about is taking a trip to Paris with Luci and Levi while they're in those outfits...especially after being recused from some whack dude

He was crying because the Kings were giving Lizzy things to sell and we're just suppose to "ignore that" lmaooooo

Happy Lizzy is happy <3 she can pay off a lot of things now! (Wish I were there working with them then cause shit I need some things...)

Girls trip!!! *beep beeepppppp* ( •̀ ω •́ )✧o(*^＠^*)o

literally them rn with their photos of their kings in the outfits lmao I found it hilarious that Beleth wasn't really phased and it makes me wonder if Belphie does shit like this all the time because he's an Otaku so cosplaying is literally something to expect (and because he probably has to help him change into it)

Also what I found funny is that the nobles also were talked about on Earth's social media as the "hot cosplay group" and I'm just like awh they were popular too. Which I mean they would be popular anywhere. All the while Bael is cussing out Beel in hopes to drag him back to Abyssos but I guess that ain't gonna happen

Not when we have.....the butt contest underway.....👀👀👀👀

Which concludes my react! See y'all for the second part of the event...I can tell this shit is gonna be unserious because the kings...are unserious.

[nori-thestranger-in]

Let's Talk about -that- Episode

If this episode had been paced better (and by that I mean built up over the course of the season), and Yuya's motives made a little more clear, I might have called it a perfect conflict for Kai to face.

Let's talk about it.

Yuya shows up while Kai and team BBA are training to take on these mysterious scientists and team Psykick. He interrupts their sparring and tries once again to convince Kai to train him. He explains he's been working hard, has joined a Beyblade training program, and he's willing to do whatever he has to so that he can be even a fraction as strong as Kai.

What didn't click with me in Yuya's first episode (and what Rei had to spell out for us because the writers knew it wasn't clear enough) is that Yuya is showing Kai signs of being power hungry - just like Kai was/is.

Now as I stated, this could have been written MUCH more clearly as it still mostly just comes across as this kid wanting to be better at the sport so he can challenge his hero. I need to go back and skim through all the episodes to take some notes later, so maybe I'll spot some detail that hints at Yuya craving strength that I missed.

So let's give in to this explanation and read this interaction (and their previous one) how it's supposed to read.

Kai is refusing to take Yuya under his wing because he sees that Yuya wants to be good at this sport for all the wrong reasons. Kai sees his younger self reflected in Yuya and it likely both disgusts and/or scares him.

But Yuya is not Kai, and Kai makes a critical mistake here.

Instead of taking on Yuya as a student and training him to have the compassion that Kai has learned from his friends, he has outright refused - which is taken as a painful rejection by Yuya.

So now, not only does Yuya want the power to rival Kai, but he wants to prove himself, and because of the rejection he feels he's willing to sink to whatever lows he has to in order to do that.

He gets this opportunity when he is invited to join team Psykick and wield the digital sacred bird spirit. He undergoes the required training and returns to Kai, issuing a challenge.

This has got to hit Kai extra hard because not only is this a kid who he sees himself in, but now that kid is being used by an organization for their own personal gain. It's Borg all over again.

Kai refuses to fight, but Dunga interrupts the exchange and he and Yuya clash instead. Yuya releases the Digital Bird and it becomes too much for him to handle, ultimately resulting in his literal fucking death.

Yuya (presumably) dies in Kai's arms, his hero, the boy he simply wanted to acknowledge his existence.

Kai could have prevented this, but he let that cold exterior of his win and turned this child away.

I mentioned in the post where I discussed episode 5 that Kai's interaction with Yuya was a sign of Kai's growth and I still stand by that, but how he treats Yuya in this episode is proof that Kai's growth is still very much in its early stages. Just because he was "better" at the end of season 01 doesn't mean he's resolved his turmoil. This kid has a lot of baggage, and that baggage is going to continue to effect people negatively around him until he's ready to unpack it all.

There's a lot of arguments and complaints online of how all of Kai's progress gets reset in the third season, and while I'm not there yet I have a feeling it's not actually a stretch to think that he would relapse after suffering continued traumatic events such as Yuya's death and the loss of Suzaku again towards the end of this season. Power is always going to tempt Kai, especially in times when he feels like his world is falling apart and he's not in control.

Power is Kai's drug and he's a recovering addict. As distressing as it might be to consider, an addict will forever live their life in recovery. It's a disease that will always linger and sometimes it's a disease that will consume even after a long period of dormancy.

---

Edit: I skimmed through the episode where Kai has to face the trauma of what happened to Yuya and honestly, even in the Japanese version it's pretty unclear if this kid died, or if he landed in a mental hospital. Either way I don't think it matters. Either he's dead, or he's lost himself completely. Both fates are horrific to think about - death might honestly be the kinder of the two.

---

Please feel free to join me in my re-watch of the original Beyblade Series and keep an eye out for the publication of my fanfic Berserker Syndrome!

[marshemillow]

I'm actually adding a couple more;

Bullying people who like Harry Potter does nothing to actually help trans people, in fact it does less than nothing because it feeds the terfs' persecution complex and makes autistic trans people feel bad for a special interest they have no control over.

Once again: BOOK BURNING IS ALWAYS BAD. What does it say about these people that they never call for the elimination of books that are actually dangerous (like the Turner Diaries. you know. the book that INSPIRED HITLER!!!) instead they want to burn like...a fictional story about kids doing magic. You guys know there are lots of other authors today that are still alive and still doing terrible shit who have written a bunch of other books you may have liked, right? Do you know the politics of every author whose work you've been a fan of??

Hating terfs doesn't count as pro-trans activism. I have actually noticed a pattern of people hating nazis and writing entire essays about how much they hate nazis and why nazis are bad, only to then turn around and spew the most disgusting antisemitic shit ever because apparently hating nazis means you can't have nazi opinions. Hating nazis should ALWAYS be secondary to supporting jewish people, just as it's more important to support women and queer people more than it is to hate misogynists and queerphobes.

BOOK!!! BURNING!!! IS!!! ALWAYS!!! BAD!!! REPEAT IT UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND IT!!! Even the worst of the worst needs to be preserved, because we can't forget the terrible injustices committed against people throughout all of history, and we can't forget the warning signs. Nothing should ever be lost to time, because that would be like pretending it never existed.

Circumcision is genital mutilation.

Cosmetic genital "surgery" performed on intersex babies is genital mutilation.

Intersex people belong in the queer community and they should have their voices heard just like every other queer person.

Bodily autonomy means people should be allowed to do things they know can hurt them, like drugs or BDSM. It's called the dignity of risk.

If you can understand why women can be victims of the patriarchy while still perpetuating it and benefiting from conforming to it, then you can understand the same about men. How well would YOU be able to handle being told as a young child that if you cry, you lose your personhood? Or being completely useless in your own house because nobody ever taught you how to do household chores?

Being more oppressed doesn't make you morally superior. Please stop trying to play oppression olympics, you can't get a gold metal in being oppressed. It's literally just infighting, and infighting only helps our oppressors.

Guilt trips on posts will never make people reblog it more. Any variation of, "you'd better reblog this or you're a bad person" FUCK YOU. You're the reason why moral ocd on this fucking webbed site is so bad.

Some of my own certified rent-lowering gunshots because I'm tired;

"Normal" does NOT mean "good." "Weird" does NOT mean "bad."

Things that are legal can be immoral and things that are illegal can be moral.

That being said, it's not normal or legal to harass and cyberstalk real people because they drew art of cartoon characters you don't like.

Discomfort is not harm.

"Fiction that makes me uncomfortable shouldn't have a right to exist." is a fascist opinion, even if you don't have the power to enforce that standard.

Book burning is always bad.

We need to be allowed to talk about abuse realistically, even if that includes "romanticizing" the abuser because kindness is often a core component of real abusive actions.

There's no such thing as a kink that makes someone evil by default.

Thoughtcrime isn't real.

"Women are inherently inferior to men." will never be a feminist statement no matter how much you dress it up to make it sound more like benevolent sexism.

Stop trying to reinvent the gender binary.

Stop trying to reinvent the gender binary.

Transandrophobia is real and often just as bad as transmisogyny.

Psychopaths and Narcissists can be good people, you guys are just ableist.

Innate empathy is NOT the end-all be-all of being a good person. People with high empathy can do bad things. People with low or no empathy can do good things.

Autism Levels are NOT just functioning labels with extra steps.

"Pedophilia" is a sexual attraction to prepubescent children. NOT young adults. NOT older teenagers. Every other definition is wrong.

DNIs don't work.

"Degenerate" is a nazi word. Stop using it.

Doing actual good actions for other real people will always be more helpful than performatively having Correct Opinions.

Shipping discourse is stupid and pointless. All ships are good because IT'S NOT REAL. Stop trying to drag everyone into this, it literally does not matter!!!!!

Everyone should have their basic needs met. Yes, that means EVERYONE.

[dcdreamblog]

Going to ramble a bit before my latest question.

My scrapbooks aren't a reliable primary source of information. Their contents seem to shift every time there's a furshlugginer Crisis event, and there's a missing volume but every time I try to think what's in it exactly, it slips my mind. Plus of course they only contain the newspaper and magazine articles I or someone who knows about my hobby happen across, and some of those newspapers, like the Metropolis Whisper, are known to give false information.

Still, it's a fun hobby. The first clipping I started with was one my slightly older cousin pointed out to me about the Justice League fighting Doctor Destiny in 1966 (yes, I know). The mask Wonder Woman had to wear during that case was shown and fascinated me. Mom suggested making a scrapbook for the news items I was interested in, and it quickly became all superheroes and mystery men.

Once it turned out I was serious about this, I also inherited loose clippings on the general topic that my parents and grandparents had randomly saved. And now we're getting closer to my question.

I've got six items from the 1930s about a New York City mystery man, or urban legend, named the Shadow. Two are straightforward news reports of gangsters going to prison, with a mention that "the Shadow" was somehow involved. One is an official announcement from the NYC police commissioner of the time that no such person as the Shadow existed. Then there's a snippet from a gossip columnist where Orson Welles, the radio celebrity, allegedly claimed to have actually met the Shadow and helped him on a case. Finally, two letters to the editor, one claiming that the Shadow was made up by reporters as a hoax to sell newspapers, and another positing that the reason the Shadow had never been photographed is that he had the power to turn invisible (which was also why no one could catch him.)

From what little I could find in a cursory search, the existence of the Shadow appears to be controversial.

So, what's the current scholarly consensus? Was the Shadow a for real person, an urban legend, and either way, what's actually known about him?

Establishing the existence of a superhero or mystery man can be tricky in some cases and utterly trivial in others, making the hard ones even harder by comparison. For instance, it's pretty easy to establish that Superman exists. He acts publically on a daily basis, the world over, his face, his costume and his abilities are globally known and he interacts with the public and the media enough that establishing a profile on him is background radiation. It's just KNOWN. Establishing that a mystery man existed back in the late 30s and 40s is also usually easy. Green Lantern is attested in dozens of newspaper articles, photographs, newsreels and of course the man is still alive and directly connected to many other well known superhero organizations. Then there's the tricky ones. Superheroes who show up once and then never again, strange costumes and images that don't quite fit with any other report, things that mix closer to legend than fact. This is one of those.

(A sketch of the most well attested version of what 'The Shadow' may have looked like) Reports of the Shadow's existence stretch back as far as 1931, the better part of a decade before The Crimson Avenger and the Sandman would bring the era of the mystery man into the full public consciousness. There have always been theories, some more fringe than others, that they were NOT in fact the first Mystery Men of their era but in fact simply the two that went public and maintain their identities long enough to be well attested in the historical record. That's never become a mainstream position simply because all versions of it either fail to meet the definition: The Crimson Avenger and the Sandman are the first BECAUSE they directly lead into their generation being birthed as a social force. Even if other came before them they only arguably count as part of the same wave because they obviously didn't reach the war years. OR like in this case, because their existence is impossible to prove. I don't believe the Shadow exists because the more you try to dig into him the more his existence becomes something worse than unprovable, it becomes unfalsifiable. He can turn invisible, he's a master of disguise, everyone who has ever seen his face is dead, he can mind control people through hypnosis so even standing in the center of a well lit room he won't be noticed, he has dirt on literally every possible person in or out of power that's so airtight no one would dare leak his existence, etc, etc, etc. The more questions are raised about lack of evidence, the wider the circle becomes to justify how nothing about him has ever been pinned down. None of the other heroes who were active in the very early 'gangland' days like the Sandman, The Crimson Avenger or The Atom ever confirmed working with or against him, he was never a member of any team or organization, no photograph was ever taken of the man beyond a shadow of a doubt. Eventually it comes down to the fact that a theory that can't be DISproven can't be trusted.

[askblueandviolet]

I need to see the spider demons please 😭🙏

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[deepspacenova]

Additional Horrors™ from Caleb's myth that made me stare off into space in a catatonic state of despair:

MC being Caleb's reason for existence both literally and figuratively. First is the fact that he was literally created, "birthed," for her, to give her life. But then Caleb also takes ownership of this and redefines it. He turns his need for MC from functional/clinical into something instinctual and familial.

MC's only forms of socialization since she was a child were her experimenters, combat interactions, and X-02 (all scenarios where she serves a purpose or use)

The one-way window being a sick form of social experimentation/punishment in the years after MC and Caleb got brought back from their escape attempt.

It's solely there as a gauge for the experimenters to see if MC recognizes Caleb while he's in his solitary confinement - so they can fix/punish her if she ever does notice or feel anything for him.

If MC gave Caleb his name, then Caleb gave MC her purpose. From giving her the Silverglow fruit seed to telling her about the place at the end of Deepspace, he was nudging her toward something new, something better, where she could be happy.

Caleb and MC having different levels of energy available to them, meaning that every time Caleb was tasked with repairing MC when she came back from battle when they were children, he was left entirely depleted of energy.

And yet he still relished each time he could do so because it was the only time that he could be in her presence: "I always wanted to be in the same world as you."

I wouldn't be surprised if this, along with the one-way window, were both parts of the social experiments because of the mental implications they could study: imagine the guilt and internal turmoil of wanting the person you love to get hurt because repairing her means you get a chance to be with her again?

The mental strength Caleb had to not only develop a sense of self and identity because of MC (appointing himself as her protector, not just her repairer) but to go beyond that and literally break free of what he was programmed to do to rebel against their creators.

The fact that he used this to redefine their origins, to literally discover the meaning of humanity?

Caleb is defying the experimenters' perception of him and MC as non-humans -- calling himself Caleb, calling himself her friend, teaching her about the concept of "family and "home," about physical rituals and comforts like the pinky promise.

To take that further, Caleb and MC also call into question the very meaning of humanity with their story and become symbols of its downfall. Because we've reached a world where lab-created machines programmed to kill display more love, kindness, passion, and humanity, than the actual humans who hide their monstrosity behind their creations to justify the atrocities they're causing.

Caleb starts to plan his death from the moment he takes on the Descructio energy. This is why he leaves to fight the enemies and tells her to hide. This is why he's forlorn when she finds him and unplugs him, "seeking me out... that's dangerous".

He knows that as Philos gets closer to its own destruction, he will gain more and more Destructio power, and that imbalance could make anything happen to him or her.

MC's two choices for defining who Caleb was to her (someone who protected her // someone she couldn't live without) were both rooted in dependance and need - either and both are tragic choices because they are a reflection of the only two feelings that she knows innately.

When Caleb says "My soul will always resonate with yours because..." and then literally silences his love confession for her because he knows the further he ties her emotions to him, the closer she is to disappearing - to decoherence.

And (true to who Caleb has always been) he'd rather keep his love to himself, he'd rather never admit it to her, than to see her be harmed because of it.

The phrase "Our bodies, minds, and spirits are from the same source" hits so hard because not only does he mean the fact that they are the only ones each other has ever known, this is also tragically literal because they are the only two of their kind, down to their source code. And they are all each other has in the universe.

The silver seed Caleb gave MC is the only thing she takes with her as she leaps to her death.

Things about Caleb's myth that fucked me up so badly I had to take a 2.5-hr nap to escape the horrors, but the horrors followed me into my dreams:

SPOILERS FOR CALEB'S MYTH - DECOHERENCE

The prologue of the myth begins 10 years prior to the actual myth, and basing off of Caleb's current age in the main story, this would mean he is only 15-years-old at the start of his myth, which would also mean MC is roughly 12 or 13-years-old.

These are children who have been modified to be war weapons.

Their consciousness can be controlled by others. They have no free will. Again, these are children being controlled and modified by adults in power, used as weapons to kill.

God knows how long they've been kept in captivity to be experimented on, modified, and used by others to kill and destroy.

There are no mentions of their families and no known memories of life outside of the lab. We don't know if they were orphaned, abducted, sold/given away, or even born in the lab itself.

The very image of a young MC, roughly 12 or 13, being sent off to war, where she is programmed to kill. When she is injured, she is sent back to the lab to be "fixed" and have her memories wiped clean.

Repeatedly. For years.

She's aware of everything that is happening to her, but she's resigned to her fate.

She is so desensitized to everything that she no longer (if ever) has feelings of her own (until Caleb changes all of that).

Even something most people would take for granted is so foreign to MC, like the feeling of temperature changes. The lab maintains a consistent cool temperature, so when she feels the summer heat for the first time, she notices immediately. Not just the heat but event he feeling of grass brushing against her calves. These are all foreign feelings to her.

And Caleb knows this. He knows these are new sensations she is experiencing for the first time in her life, and he wants to show her more. He wants to take her wherever she would like to go.

The only places MC has ever been to outside of the lab were to battlefields. Battlefields. A fucking child only knowing battlefields. Sent to kill and destroy because she is under the control of researchers and the fucking government.

The fact that both of them never knew their actual names (assuming they've even had one to begin with), having only heard their codenames being used within the lab.

MC gave Caleb his name, and after her memories were wiped after their first attempt to escape, his name was one of the few things she could retain in her memories.

His name alone anchored her as she is continuously being used as a weapon. The repetitiveness of her "life" leaves her as nothing more than an empty shell of a person.

Caleb and MC never knowing freedom.

Their fist escape as children was very brief before they were recaptured.

To discourage this, they were modified again to be each other's kill switch, activating only whenever they become emotionally closer to one another.

They've literally never known peace for longer than a few minutes, if it could even be counted as such.

They were always within distance of one another in the lab, separated by a wall. A wall with a one-way mirror.

MC was always able to see Caleb, hear him speak, but never knowing that the heartfelt words he had spoken were to her.

And Caleb never knowing that she was watching him all of those years and hearing him speak.

Caleb always knowing that he loves her, enough so that he wants to be the one to bear her pain so she doesn't have to.

As stated earlier in the myth during the prologue, the memories wiped clean are only the ones the scientists know of.

They don't know about MC's memories hearing Caleb speaking to her through the wall.

So she has remembered everything he has said in the 10+ years of captivity, and later repeated them back to him verbatim.

The fact that Caleb grew up in such a dark, cruel place was capable of more empathy than others.

His empathy and love for MC is so strong that he actually feels her suffering even though he couldn't see her.

This whole theme of humanity throughout the myth. Caleb and MC are modified weapons, who presumably shouldn't have feelings and empathy and yet they've displayed so much to one another. Helen and her grandson who have lived in a wartorn town have also shown empathy to two strangers even in the final moments when their city was about to be destroyed again.

However, the scientists who worked at the lab, the rulers who craved control and power...all of these people are the true monsters.

Honestly one of the most powerful lines in the myth imho:

Absolutely so fucked up that I felt relief in the end that even though they both end up dying, they chose to die together, because that way neither will have to be without the other person.

Their true freedom comes from their deaths.

They can only be together. In Death.

They didn't choose to be weapons. To kill and destroy.

They had their whole childhood stolen from them.

The only choices they've ever made was wanting their freedom and being with the one they love, wanting the one they love safe and protected.

And they were punished for it. Punished for wanting basic living rights that all sentient creatures deserve to have.

MC has been resigned, broken down to be compliant since childhood. But one of her few thoughts she had on her own is so powerful, you can feel her anger. And we cheered.

Their true happiness comes from the last few minutes together. Their journey to find their own paradise ends in this moment.

And the myth ends. Just like that. With a bang. (Sorry)

I will be suffering with all of this knowledge for the next 3-5 business months bye

[moe-broey]

I'm gonna bully Lif again

I'll admit, some of these answers don't cover all the bases, but. What are we thinking, here. What is The Truth behind The Twink Death? 🤨🎤

I will also be accepting write-in responses as usual 🫡

[hannahmationstudios]

This looks like fun. :) I'd love to talk about Ared, my original character from my Horizon longfic, Fallen Skies (artwork by GalooGameLady).

What is their name?

Ared. In his tribe (Erie, original tribe living in American Appalachia), the naming conventions for men and women give women two-syllable names (Maelune, Missi, Fauna, etc.), and men one-syllable names (Ford, Boon, Clint, etc.). The Erie are a matriarchal tribe with a massive cultural lean on women being superior to men, especially in the sense of being better leaders. Because of this, Maelune, leader of the Erie, gave her special Chosen Son a two-syllable feminine-convention name, because she wanted everyone to know he was more special and important than every other male in the tribe.

What is their gender?

Male - an identical genetic Lightkeeper clone of Zero Dawn Alpha, Travis Tate.

How old are they?

Exactly the same age as Aloy, activated on exactly the same day due to a logic bomb Tate coded into the Lightkeeper Project should it ever be activated for any reason despite Elisabet's determination to shut it down (in Fallen Skies, both are currently 21). Ared's zygote was a Lightkeeper backup stored in a separate location that Tate set up as a failsafe should the world ever need his expertise again.

What Tribe/clan are they from?

Ared is from the Erie tribe, an established, embittered offshoot of the Nora. The Erie are separated into two "coteries" - the Forest Coterie, the tribe Ared is from, and the Water Coterie, a pacifist subgroup of Erie who have split from their bloodthirsty brethren to pursue a life of nautical peace. The Water Coterie live in the skeleton of Walt Disney World, which was raised above sea level by the Walt Disney Company when Florida eventually became overwhelmed by water due to global warming. Their culture is matriarchal and highly deifies the story of Cinderella, though they don't actually know its true narrative (they have created one for themselves involving a wounded warrior queen). They revere their version of the story the point that when their leader, Zaphira, lost her leg to a fight with an Inkwrapper (original kraken machine), she replaced it with a prosthetic leg made of sea glass.

Zaphira, leader of the Water Coterie (art by HannahmationStudios)

The Water Coterie's culture relies heavily on the water, and they have developed several methods of living in and alongside it. One of their main exports is natural pearls, and their divers are their most revered class, gaining fish tattoos as a mark of pride with every successful pearl dive. Additionally, Zaphira was originally the one to find Ared's activation pod when it was released from the underwater Cradle where it was being held as a backup. She offered the sea-child to the leader of the Forest Coterie, Maelune, as a peace offering, but Maelune took the child and refused the peace. The Forest Coterie continues to actively hunt the Water Coterie whenever they gain access to them, and block their ability to trade with other tribes.

Maelune, leader of the Forest Coterie (art by HannahmationStudios)

The Forest Coterie (Ared's tribe) exist with an enormous chip on their shoulder towards the Nora, from which they originated, and have adopted a culture which celebrates existing in exactly the opposite way of the oppression they felt they faced under the rule of the Nora. The Erie culture focuses heavily on both violence and free love/procreation, and looks unfavourably on "bonding" (their equivalent of marriage), as it limits an Erie's ability to copulate with anyone but their chosen bondmate. They have even developed a method of punishment to force newly bonded couples to "prove" the merit of their bond--by forcing them to be chained together for two weeks with a set of gold-plated shackles, meant as a mark of shame (cruelly called the "bonds of matrimony"). The only way to break a bond once it has been established is to call for a parting, which is a fight to the death in the Maw between the previously bonded couple (taking literally the phrase, "'til death do us part"). Procreation to bolster ranks for war is encouraged by the Erie, and failure to do so is punished heavily. Maelune in particular has eighteen children, though she used to have twenty-six. In the past, before the Derangement, the Erie were known to actively attack other tribes to capture their members, to gain new members for their own tribe by force. These "new Erie" are then given a choice to either become warriors or procreators for the Erie, and should they refuse both, they are sent to the Maw - an interactive gladiatorial arena which is the Forest Coterie's main source of training and entertainment.

Ford, Erie son of a Banuk "new Erie" (art by HannahmationStudios)

The Forest Coterie specifically train their warriors to hunt and kill other humans, rather than machines. They never developed any formal machine hunting training or methods, but have become deadly with stealth and traps meant to target other tribes. The Erie are murderers and scavengers who tattoo themselves with flowers to celebrate their confirmed human kills - when they defeat a human opponent, they cut off the corpse's right hand to bring home to prove their victory, and gain another bloom. The Erie, despite their primitiveness in most areas and their extreme isolation since the start of the Derangement, have developed impressive skills with both improvised weaponry made from machine parts, as well as reading and writing skills unparalleled by many but the most advanced tribes. These developments are relatively new for their culture and have only come about because of Ared and the knowledge he gained from being left files by Tate, in the hope that he would grow up learned enough to be able to fix whatever broke that necessitated his activation in the first place. The Erie have also developed drugs to assist in their machinations - a drug called venom which acts as a strong hallucinogen to lower decision-making inhibition and increase impulsiveness, making the taker unpredictable, while also making its taker feel no pain, and a drug called Salamander which acts as an aphrodisiac. Ared in particular has been regularly dosed with venom to keep him as deadly and impulsive as he has been all his life, and to keep him from getting "in his head" too much, as Maelune puts it. However, Ared's behaviour is not hinged entirely on his venom use, but also on a deep and long-standing history of conditional love and manipulation by Maelune. Ared has admitted to killing his own siblings because his mother implied she wanted him to.

Do they have a backstory? If so, share as much as you want!

During the Zero Dawn creation phase, the Lightkeeper Project was greenlit, and then later shut down by Elisabet Sobeck. Travis Tate disagreed with her decision, thinking Lightkeeper might be a necessary failsafe, but did not argue her decision at the time. Instead, he arranged for a secret set of Lightkeeper backups to be stored in a separate facility, and coded in a two-pronged logic bomb that would activate his Lightkeeper zygote at that backup facility should one of two reasons become immediate: either when any copy of Elisabet's Lightkeeper zygote was activated at anytime, anywhere, OR, should HADES for some reason fail and send out its swansong signal to activate the zygote/logic bomb. As it turned out, the first requirement was fulfilled first, and so his zygote was activated via a protocol Tate named Project Persephone, in the hopes that his clone and Elisabet's clone could once again join forces to save the world from whatever had happened that necessitated her activation. Tate included a Focus with the zygote that included all relevant information for the child to grow up and know his purpose. He also included a kernel of the HADES function, along with instructions for where to find the other pieces of the function to reboot HADES, should anything have happened to it in the interim that required his clone's intervention to fix. Unfortunately, as HADES had been corrupted by being unshackled by NEMESIS before being destroyed, its swansong signal carried that corruption with it to Ared's Focus, where it took root, and gradually began to take over his brain and twist Tate's original messages and intent into something more akin to its own motivations. Via Project Persephone, Tate prompted Ared to go out into the world and seek Elisabet's clone so they could work together to fix whatever broke in Zero Dawn that necessitated their activation. Unfortunately, only Ared was privy to this prompt, and not Aloy, meaning she had no idea he existed. He, on the other hand, had been fed a narrative all his life by Tate that he and Aloy were meant to be together - and twisted by NEMESIS, this turned from a would-be happy reunion into something far more obsessive and sinister. Ared himself was raised by Maelune of the Forest Coterie, who was only too happy to use his status as a Chosen Child to bolster her own power and importance within the tribe. She ensured he was revered and beloved by whatever means necessary, and manipulated him to be loyal to her, and only her, so that his plans for fixing the broken world would forefront the Erie at the same time. Maelune resented the idea of an interloper (Ared's "intended") and actively tried to prevent him from leaving to find Aloy, but found she had no power to stop him, as his "purpose" (finding the HADES pieces) existed outside the scope of Erie territory. However, as far as Maelune is aware, Ared is unwaveringly loyal to his mother and his tribe (due in no small part to emotional trauma and manipulation inflicted on him from a young age). Ared has been actively pursuing Aloy ever since HADES' destruction, but only recently managed to cross paths with her. But now that he has her in his sights, he's become her most unshakeable pursuit predator.

Do you have any art of them? If not, do you have a general description of what they look like?

Do I have art?

Art by HannahmationStudios (me)

Art by QuestionArtBox

Art by Han-Ban-Bam

Art by DizzyPunch on Ko-Fi

Art by Boobaloof

Art by JukeBoxIndie

Art by ManCatRex

Art by QookyQuiche

Art by qwiqwiaqwi

Art by ClaraBellumsArt

Art by RedreArt

Art by Kashlat2

Art by HauntedDollCo

Art by Nerd-Artist

Calling all Horizon Fans!

Are you fascinated by the world of horizon just like I am? Do you have original characters you've created to further explore this incredible world? Do you want someone to ramble to about these characters?

Then I'm inviting you to the Great Horizon OC Exhibition! Just reblog this post and share a couple things about your original characters in the horizon world (or go as in depth as you want, it's all for fun!!)

What is their name?

What is their gender?

How old are they?

What Tribe/clan are they from?

Do they have a backstory? If so, share as much as you want!

Do you have any art of them? If not, do you have a general description of what they look like?

I can't wait to hear about everyone's ideas and Ocs!! Have fun!

[mikesbasementbeets]

I am firmly a gay mike believer, but one time I saw someone say that if we take the decorations in mike’s room as gay mike proof, then they can use the Conan the barbarian poster as bi mike proof since it has a man and a woman on it? And I was like hmm okay. But idk maybe they had a point

i think it's a fair point to bring up, but in my opinion using the presence of a small woman on a poster prominently featuring a beefy shirtless man to "prove" that mike is attracted to both men and women is a little bit weak and sort of ignores the broader context. it reminds me of the argument that this kind of juxtaposition

actually indicates mike is bi, rather than what i see as a much more nuanced and logical interpretation: the change in his demeanor, facial expressions, and words indicate that what they're implying with these shots isn't equal levels of interest in men/women/girls/boys, but rather a marked difference, shown by the contrast between the shots. he is interested and enthusiastic around men (even using "not normal" as a selling point), while uncomfortable, out of place, and arguing "bullshit media propaganda" when framed with women.

other people have talked about the actual content of Conan the Barbarian, and i have no real context on that, i haven't seen the show or anything, but my understanding is that its portrayal of women is notably misogynistic and one dimensional, and that's when they're even portrayed at all. so this poster being on mike's wall, to me, seems like a presentation of women as an afterthought, or a set piece propping up the actual focal point: the man. and this resonates with mike's s4 arc for me: he's trying desperately to maintain his relationship with el, and in effect his ability to be in a relationship with a woman at all, but, lost in the efforts of his own internal struggles, he fails to see her as a full person instead of just his "superhero girlfriend." instead, throughout the season it becomes overwhelmingly clear that, when he's not hiding behind his "straight" relationship, his true focus and priority lies with will.

it's also important to note that while i think mike has at this point taken at least the first step toward acknowledging his sexuality, he's still deeply repressed. "there's a girl on the poster too!" sounds a lot like "he literally has a girlfriend! they made out all the time." he's still trying to be normal, trying to pretend that he likes girls just fine, and if he can point to the half naked woman in the corner of the poster and say "see, i'm not GAY, there's a girl right there," then that probably feels a little like a safety net too. you can't accuse a guy with a girlfriend of being gay.

as an aside, i'm also gonna point out the posters on nancy's wall:

one of blondie, one of tom cruise (on either side of her bed and shot behind her in a very interesting way in this scene in particular). if you're using the barely visible presence of a woman on one of mike's two posters of buff men as proof that mike likes both men and women, then i hope you're also 100% convinced that nancy is canonically bisexual.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[casbastian]

Real, gonna add a couple of my own thoughts bc.. i can

I wish they had more time for side characters, some of them at least deserved background cameos at the end if nothing else

And the main ship… i will forever believe Maddie and Caspian should’ve been sibling coded i stg

Honestly if i couldve seen maddie, justine and caspian as a friend group i think it wouldve healed my soul bc justine hates caspian for some unclear reason (maybe he was an ass to her on that call before she called maybe, would make sense given the context) it wouldve been funny as hell having them both be frenemies but besties with maddie. This is turning into a rant about how much i want this but idc, theyre all “loser” only children with no friends outside each other PLEASE it wouldve been the cutest case of found family ever

Speaking of family i wouldve died, DIED to see cary and caspian make up and cary get a chance to finally be a good dad to caspian, him just dipping from the plot WOUNDED MEA (at least he got a proper send off, sorry justine

The amount of side characters who just blipped out of existence in season 2 will never not hurt me

Jesus im being negative as well.. uhh.. positive things is i really liked how they animated maddies hair, i liked mists :3 faces, caspian as a character just >>> i love a man i can kin and simp for at the same time.

I rlly liked Chandas demon form. Tbh i wish more characters got redesigns/ alternate forms. Mainly the UIs, chanda being the only one to really self actualize his appearance feels like wasted potential to me.

Tbh theres just a lot of characters i wish we could’ve seen more of and get in their head better

Maddies grandma existing in ep one and then never existing again 😔

Reminds me like.. the maddie being bullied thing felt so important at the start but then it’s entirely resolved in one episode. Not saying i enjoyed seeing her getting bullied cuz i definitely didnt but it felt.. idk like what was the point if it was gonna be wrapped up so soon? Not that i can think of a better way to have handled it lol

Speaking of bullying what was nicoles deal 😭 i NEED to know why she’s beefing with caspian so hard because she fucking HATES him. I guess he’s just the classic autistic “quiet kid” and hes getting all the stigma that comes with that

Another thing is you could argue that a LOT of characters in this show especially in the main cast are autistic. Also a lot of characters are kind of assholes lol… so a ton of autistic assholes. We love that tbh (not David tho, autistic maybe but he was patient even with casp post time skip and 💀 bro i mean given the situation he probably couldnt afford to get angry about it considering the task at hand, but I certainly wouldve had something to say) in all seriousness tho i do love how autistic coded a lot of characters seem it makes me happy.

The animation is.. inconsistent in quality at times

Every once in a while (this isnt a great example but its what i have saved) theyll have the characters move their heads a bit or smth to be more fluid ig but there isnt enough frames or smth so it looks choppy. Other times it looks amazing but i can think of at least two times, both in s2, one with pope and one with casp where that happens (pope talking with renee at that bar and caspian talking to maddie on the plane while he’s comparing mist to a tumor)

I have more takes i just worry im being mostly negative at this point and while i could come up with more positive things to say as well, its getting late, or early depending on how you look at it 💀

Gn/gm all my lovelies and if you haven’t seen pantheon.. go watch it rn i stg we’re gonna fight if you don’t 👊 💥 /lh

Assorted Pantheon thoughts

Just recently finished watching the show and wanted to put my thoughts down somewhere, full spoilers under the cut

Going to be forever salty with how poorly this series was treated by AMC, between being stuck on their shitty streaming service and being written off for tax purposes

Overall I think the first season is a bit stronger than the second, the emotional hook of Maddie's relation with her dad was amazing and I don't think the second season was able to get something quite as compelling

that said I do think it was the right call to kill off David at the end of the first season

In general I feel the first two episodes are an incredible start

One of the best complements I can give to the first two episodes is that they were able to get my mom who never watches animated stuff like this onboard with the show

Chanda's uploading scene was disturbing in the best way possible

I really liked Chanda's role in the first season even when he turns in an antagonist you can understand his logic and motivations

Unfortunately he felt underutilized in season 2

Wonder if Chanda and the others could have fought Holstrom alongside Caspian, they could still have the same fate but it would make them feel like they have more of a contribution instead of something that needs to be gotten out of the way before the main event

The direction of the show was consistently amazing, a few moments that stood out to me was Chanda looping the virtual office, Laurie's message getting cut off transitioning to the credits of episode 7, Caspian exploring Yair's removed memories, and Maddie with all the simulated realities in dyson sphere

In general I feel like they did I good job making the digital world feel different from the real world with the editing, the more actiony fight scenes for the uploaded characters, and the more crazy digital character designs both before and after the 20 year time skip

In particular I like how the fight at the end of season one looked with Chanda and David modifying their appearances, exemplified that the feeling of difference between the worlds really well

Caspian's fake abusive family was really interesting to watch play out over the first half of season 1 and the reveal of him being a clone felt shocking yet makes perfect sense

really liked the unstated horror that Hanna/Rachel was probably going to be killed to push Caspian

I need merch of rice cooker MIST yesterday

Seriously look at her

Middle of season two felt maybe a little formulaic, with them trying to find a UI that would be the right one to cure over several episodes

That said I feel the ideas they explored with the various UI's where really interesting so I don't think its that big of an issue

From what I understand the show was always meant to be two seasons and the cancellation did not effect that, but I really wish the last two episodes could have been a whole season, there is so much interesting stuff going on there

Though I am impressed how much they managed to fit in those two episodes, in particular I liked seeing what Maddie was doing over the 20 years

Really wish we could have gotten a scene of Maddie deciding to upload if nothing else

definitely plan to rewatch the show at some point to see what I catch on a second go around

it might sound like I am being a bit more negative on season two, but I still really enjoyed it, and it got me thinking a lot, especially the last two episodes

Overall I would give it a 9/10

Seriously fuck AMC

[sskk-manifesto]

ಥ‿ಥ

[milfbrainrot]

weird to me that I don't have a particular blorbo or otp or anything for arcane, similar to yellowjackets, while still loving both shows so much. It's wild bc you'd think shows w so many female characters and femslash ships/potential I would have Something to make my entire identity but instead I just get decision paralysis and go insane abt it all in equal measure

[johnhelliwell]

Oh i am so mad at Roger. They settled with Rick at least but are still going with Roger.