#He's gonna be destroyed by The Plot™

[yourangle-yuordevil]

Crowley, the Snake of Ithaca when he was just… Bildad from Ithaca 🐐 He stole one (1) goat from all his different neighbors so that they'd think it would have been eaten by wolves (if only one is missing is not such a big deal, right?), and it worked! He ended up having one of the biggest herds of goats for free. Athena was like… damn bitch, that was smart. Blessed 👌✨

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Just some unimportant ponderings for your mv x ev crossover. You mentioned them possibly going after Astel as a false lead and I got caught in a spiral on how tf they get there without the ranni quest. So if we want a fun detour we can say they are looking for mentions of a fallen meteor. Arthur, who has dabbled in Carian magic, makes a logical leap that a place of astrology and knowledge would be a good start. No academy key so that's not an immediate option, but the Carian study hall may have information. Perhaps they do get info there, maybe not. Their proximity to Ainsel river and the fact that it sits down there and is accessed only through the Ranni quest really can be stretched to there being some sort of lead to find in either there or the manor. They head to Ainsel river pursued by runebear. Ants. Void creature throwing rocks. Stumble their way accidentally to lake of rot overlook. Arthur falls down as a plot device. Back in the rot... again. Fight some fucking rot cultists. Fall down in the coffin. "Arthur! There is a huge fucking Void monster! Arthur! It's about to sh-!

PURSUED BY RUNEBEAR WHKJWHWJH also the amount of falling into things arthur does. incredibly correct. falls the whole way down from the overlook and gets another rot bath™ and somehow survives. trips into an open coffin and it turns out to be the lands between's only public transit vehicle. that's arthur for you. or maybe he was just so fucking exhausted from fighting/running from the dragonkin AND the tree spirit AND the cultists that he was just like john, listen, i'm gonna fucking, i'm just gonna take a nap. in the coffin. it looks so comfy. yes i know i can't see it you described it as comfy. well you said it could physically hold me which is basically the same thing. fucking. shut up, i need this. and then they fall off a cliff Again this time in a coffin. or, possibly more believably, the pests in the area knock them out and put them in the coffin for some ritual purpose known only to them. or to say 'get out of our cloister you weren't even invited.' OR they have to hide in the coffin from the pests. idk why i'm so hung up on getting him into the coffin but i guess we have a lot of options now

ok wait more Plot Thoughts about this. the astel in ainsel is already so like, Barely overtly relevant to the ranni questline as it is, that i almost feel like it would make More sense if they were pursuing astel on purpose rather than just running into it completely accidentally while helping a living doll take over her step-mom's civilization. i think caria almost definitely has a connection to the eternal cities, so maybe while they're in the study hall they find references to the ill-starred monster from the void that totally wrecked one of them. and obviously they're like oh shit, a monster that came in on a meteor and destroyed a city?? this has GOTTA be what kayne wanted us to kill. it's a slam dunk!! and then it's. still. the wrong. fucking. meteor monster.

[stevetonyweekly]

SteveTony Weekly - November 19

Hey, y’all! Here’s what I read this week. I’m exhausted, and excited--my best friend is coming to see me!!!--so I don’t have anything to add this week. I won’t be able to do next week’s list because I’ll be traveling, so I’m gonna put up some of my favorites or maybe a trope list? Anyone got a trope y’all want me to do a list for? 

Any--comment and kudos for your authors, friends! 

~*~ 

pass through life at my side by silkspectred

Tony’s birthday feels like a new beginning in so many ways. Steve is back from his worst nightmare, Tony is back from his coma. They’re rebuilding the team.

It feels good to be back.

they move on tracks of never-ending light by silkspectred

In an alternative future created by a time-traveling Peter Parker, Tony Stark has been dead for a year. Steve can’t let him go.

this will destroy you by silkspectred

The screen flashes in front of his eyes. It takes him entire seconds to realize that it’s an incoming call.

shelter from the storm by silkspectred 

Tony adopts a baby. Guess who's Majorly Fucked Up™ about it.

Slut Era by BladeoftheNebula

Tony never meant to become the campus bicycle but since that was apparently what was expected of him he figured it was easier just to lean into it.

He just never expected Steve Rogers would ever want to take a ride.

submerge me in your will by captainstars 

“Hey,” Tony says. Steve’s heart thunders in his chest, his hands twitch by his side and he folds them under his chest to keep them from doing something stupid. They just look at each other for a moment. Tony registers the signs of age around Steve’s eyes, the glimpses of silver in the pale blonde of Steve’s hair. Steve takes in the pinked scar curving around Tony’s eye and jaw, and his prosthetic arm.

Steve feels like he’s a second away from breaking apart after months of clinging onto the pieces of himself. “Hey,” he replies, instead of all the other things he wants to say.

Marks On Your Skin by Becci_chan

Steve still wondered what Natasha was trying to achieve by making him confess his feelings for Tony. She was right, of course she was. It didn’t mean Steve wanted to admit it in front of her. Or in a place where Tony could come in any time. He had almost heard him say he wasn’t in love with him. Steve wasn’t sure which would have been worse.

Not One of Blood by RurouniHime

It’s just another Sunday, until it isn’t, and Tony’s own life becomes the very last thing he’s concerned about.

A Wish Your Heart Makes by Carsonian

The absolute last thing Steve's expecting is Tony Stark, and so it's fairly in character for the man to be standing on the other side of the door.

"Hi." Tony looks impatient, greeting barely out before he's walking past Steve and into the apartment. 

The First Time I Went Dancing Sober by schemingreader 

Steve Rogers is a great physical therapist who works with sick kids. Tony Stark is a damaged biotech engineering genius who really wants to be one of the good guys.

Inevitable by Naxa1818

After Tony lost a bet to Steve he has to go through a week of basic training. If only he hadn't just had a revelation about the super soldier. It was going to be a long week.

On the Road We Find the Journey Home by navaan 

In the Aftermath of Secret Empire, Steve goes on his Road Trip to find out who Captain America can be after Hyda!Cap put fear into the hearts' of the people who used to cheer for him. His thoughts trail back to Tony.

Side Effects by elimymoons

"So what I'd like to propose," Tony continued on, "is for you to let me help you out a little, yeah? We'll work off some of this energy, some of this adrenaline, and you don't have to worry about hurting yourself anymore, okay?"

Steve's in a bit of trouble. Tony wants to help him out. Sexily.

Out of Order by archwrites (Arch) 

Look, Steve wants to like Tony, but the man is impossible. Frankly, Steve's kind of a mess, too. Hatesex, pining, some angst, a little fluff, friendship, more sex, and even a little plot (a very little). But not in that order.

[savior-of-humanity]

(I'm curious to hear about your TTRPG characters 👀)

YESSSSS... HAHAHAH.... YESSSSSSSS

I'm gonna be putting this under a read-more because this might get long (and there's also pictures) but anyways!! (also pinging @hymns-across-the-stars and @cursedfortune since they also expressed interest for me yapping about my emotional punching bags)

SILAS W. RODRIGUES & CAILEAN EVANGELION UNIT-07

I've been fucking DYING to play an Adeptus Evangelion campaign ever since I found out it existed, and I'm still really happy that I found a game at all because the subreddit for AdEVA is dead (though you can find a link to an active-ish AdEVA discord server in there if you dig deep enough). ANYWAYS!!!

Silas isn't really a sopping wet poor little meow meow like some of my other muses (i.e Shinji) but he is definitely just as fucked up. Basic TL;DR of his backstory is that he lived w/ his extended family in Brazil as a baby, with his older brother Cailean largely being the one to raise him, while his parents were off doing shit related to the Katsuragi Expedition that would eventually lead to Second Impact. Given that Second Impact is a global apocalypse, obviously his country gets fucked over and a lot of his immediate family either dies or gets lost among the chaos of that and the immediately ensuing Impact Wars.

Fast forward about a decade, and his older brother goes off to work for NERV after managing to get some good higher education. All's well since Cailean's largely giving what he makes back to his family to help support them, until he suddenly and unexpectedly dies in some kind of accident. The reality is that Cailean actually signed up for a Contact Experiment w/ an EVA in exchange for a large bump in pay, which resulted in his soul becoming assimilated into the EVA. Silas, obviously, doesn't know this, and is incredibly distraught as he and Cailean had a very close sibling relationship.

Eventually Silas gets approached by NERV with the offer to become an EVA Pilot in exchange for training, housing, and payment - and seeing how lucrative the money is, Silas accepts.

For the actual campaign in particular, the basic plot premise is pretty simple; What if Shinji never got in the EVA when Zeruel attacked the Geofront?

A simple question like this, apparently, has some pretty significant answers. To put it simply; with no Unit-01 to stop it, Zeruel managed to reach Terminal Dogma, (presumably) fuse with Lilith, and basically become a god-like being through which it would initiate Third Impact. I'm not sure what the full effects of Third Impact upon the world are yet, but I'm assuming it resulted in a lot of global damage, on top of Zeruel now starting to spawn its own Angels (Zerulim) to target and destroy humanity.

A bunch of canon characters are dead as well; Asuka is presumed KIA (there's some stuff in the plot that implies she could be alive but We Don't Know Yet™), Rei II is dead (though another (adult) clone of her now acts as the Commander of what remains of NERV, now known as WILLE), as well as Mari, Toji, and a lot of other characters such as Gendo and Misato. Shinji's fate is unknown but he was offered as a playable character so I'm guessing he's alive, just not (currently) relevant to the plot.

Anyways. Silas.

He has some pretty complicated feelings about his fellow pilots, because he's personally watched two of them die in incredibly horrific and traumatizing ways. He's afraid of forming friendships and similar meaningful relationships with other people, because he's afraid of going through that feeling of loss; something that's heavily impacted him ever since Cailean "died". And yet paradoxically he won't hesitate to put himself in harm's way so that they don't have to suffer as much. I'm really hoping to flesh him out as a character as the campaign progresses since I've been thinking of implementing him and Cailean/his EVA as muses (though there's like. only one other person I know of on Tumblr that actually has Evangelion muses he could interact with 😭)

KHARIAS (also cw for mentions of child death)

So, Kharias is basically just my fursona that I adapted for a homebrew Lancer campaign hosted by a friend of mine. I don't remember the full details of the story because it's been a while since the campaign's on a hiatus atm but basically, she's a Wildkin (furry race) who had a very rough childhood.

She was raised by her father Perristona, who I believe was a former general of the Wildkin army. Perristona is Not A Good Person. Like. Not even in the emotionally complicated way that makes you even sorta sympathetic but in the way that makes you go "what the fuck, is this guy insane?" And for good reason!!

Because when Kharias and her brother were about 6 years old, he made them fight each other to the death. With axes. It was as horrific, violent, and traumatizing as you can imagine.

And then years later he made a clone army of her dead brother for the sake of basically helping some very misguided people cause a global apocalypse that may or may not involve firing the in-universe equivalent of a Halo ring.

Fun stuff! Basically she's a big shark lady who kicks ass and pilots a fucking badass magical mech. I might bring her around again for another campaign my friend is planning on doing, though I have some other more appealing character ideas since, to be honest, a lot of her backstory in the Lancer campaign was actually cooked up by the GM, so I'm not really sure how to apply her without just going through the same backstory stuff.

[inastarlesssky]

Okay so here's my actual thoughts about The Crimes of Grindelwald. That last bit was like me processing really quickly what I thought but this is a more...in-depth thing. Not promising a play by play analysis of the plot and everything but what I thought of the story in general and more specifically about the dynamics of Newt + Leta, Newt + Tina, and the Credence plotline.

Okay so last night, I finished Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and I didn't think it was such a bad movie. Not the best, for sure, but I have seen worse. I was just struck by how much was going on. . .there was the overall Grindelwald's evil agenda and him being a creepy af villain. Kudos to Johnny Depp for pulling off the creepiness. And the costume designers/makeup people. All of that (his appearance, and the man's acting job) contributed to very much "This guy is Bad™ and he won't hesitate for a second to do what needs to be done". Though I am still wondering what the hell happened to his eye to make him look weird like that. Was he born that way? (I haven't read the books but I might one day.)

I liked the escape scene; the rain, and the Thestrals were pretty neat but I might have appreciated some explanation or reference (was it referred to in the previous movie, Abernathy's abilities?) Or was it Grindelwald making it possible to switch places with him in the coach? I mean cinematically, it was kind of neat, but I was really confused. Same with the part, later, when Abernathy shifted from looking like a woman to himself to get inside the Ministry. I'm just used to seeing wizards use wands, given that we see that in HP. Granted, okay, some of them just don't, like Graves/Grindelwald in the first movie when he just did with magic with a swish and flick of his hand...but still.

Then there was the whole bit about Dumbledore enlisting Newt's help to find Credence. Not gonna lie, though I liked Dumbledore a bit in the HP movies, I didn't like the idea that he was foisting off on Newt this job. Newt asks him at one point, "Why can't you do it?" and we later find that he can't fight Grindelwald because of a blood pact. Understandable, but Idk I just feel like Dumbledore just doesn't want to get involved. For whatever reasons that may be (perhaps I'll discover this in the third movie...) Which brings me to the point at the very end of the movie, when Newt brings him the phial containing their blood pact thing. When he asks Dumbledore if he'll destroy it or try to, the latter says, "Maybe, maybe" in a way that seemed very much to me like a "I'll tell you maybe but it's a Slytherin way of saying 'no'." I'm not trying to bash Dumbledore here, trust me, this is just what I think of him from these actions.

This little sideplot of Credence and Nagini...it didn't really grab me. Maybe he really is like this, but Credence just seems very mopy and I'm not sure how to put it....he doesn't really make me feel any particular way about him. Like it's different with Grindelwald and Newt.

Grindelwald:

Okay I see him, he looks like trouble,

Lie after lie spills off his tongue,

He's vicious and all of the above = he's bad and I don't like him.

Newt:

He's a little spacey but he knows what he has to do.

He says he doesn't want to take sides, but his heart is in the right place, and he will devote himself to the good.

He's quirky, he looks quirky and there's just this awkwardness about him that makes him endearing = you develop a soft spot for this guy.

But Credence? I pitied him in the first movie for how he suffered, but I just don't think I understood his character enough in this movie to feel anything more.

Okay, now about Leta and Theseus. I was downright confused about the relationship with Theseus and Newt tbh. In one moment he's hugging him and offering him assistance and then at the Ministry, he looks like he legit wants to kill Newt, and I think Newt even makes a remark about that. But then, at the very end, they hug because well, they've both lost Leta.

As for Leta....I wasn't sure what to think about her and Newt As I said before, there's that flashback to Hogwarts where we see her upset because of the other girls' bullying, and she runs off and finds Newt with a raven chick. Then Newt finds her and takes her to see a Bowtruckle (was that Pickett by the way, or just one of the Bowtruckles that he'd found in that tree there?), and it's sweet because we see just so how tender he is. And he's looking at her with a kind expression, but I didn't get the impression that either of them had anything romantic, really. I think I was just really confused.

The Newt and Tina part of all this....So personal note here--I sort of just initially started shipping them because they looked like they could be a thing. In the first movie, he was sort of just thrown into an adventure with her and they had to figure everything out. The last scene of FB had me thinking, will they, won't they? Then, in CoG, when Queenie tells Newt that Tina thought he was engaged to Leta and thus started dating Achilles, the camera goes to him and I saw him maybe a little devastated, disappointed, at the news. He pretty much visibly deflated, and then we see him looking for how to find her, to explain the truth. Why would he be so desperate to do that if he didn't actually care how she felt about that?

I also picked up on that part when they're in the safehouse, and they're taking care of Yusuf. Whenever Tina calls him 'Mr. Scamander', he just has this look on his face...like he feels the distance she's putting between them. Then there's also the scene in the French Ministry. Newt was basically scrambling to explain to her that it was a mistake, that in his words, he wasn't truly happy or engaged, despite what she thought. I felt like it was pointed, when he said that to her. She asks him "Are you here to win [Leta] back?" and he answers with "I'm here to--" to what? To win Tina back? Maybe.

Newt: Please don't be happy. No, I--sorry, I don't--obviously I want you to be, and I hear that you are now. Which is wonderful. What I'm trying to say is, I want you to be happy, but I don't want you to be happy that I'm happy because I'm not. Happy. Or engaged. Tina: ...

Was this him trying to tell her something? I'm not sure. We don't see much more of them talking like this later in the movie because of everything else that happens. I'm kind of a little bummed about Queenie, though...I mean she was never my favorite character, but I liked her. Except when she crossed over to Grindelwald's side, I was like "No! You're better than this." Jacob was, understandably, upset. As for Leta's fate, that was unfortunate. When she said I love you, that was for Theseus, her fiancee, no? That's what I thought at least.

And in the end, Credence is supposedly Aurelius Dumbledore, surprise. A LOT of stuff happened in this movie that I think could have been either two movies or not stuffing so much into one. Like it had promising points, but it was just too much. At least too much to take in at 11 at night before going to sleep, imo. It wasn't too bad though. I'm looking forward to the 3rd movie!

[crows-talking-place]

I made a Chip Mixtape

It follows Chip's development over the JRWI riptide plot starting with his backstory, going up until ep #70 (no spoilers past there!)

(CWs for heavy Chip Trauma™, as it covers everything including Hole in the Sea, all the Price stuff etc. Stay safe friends!)

This mix is gonna be on a C90 (90 min) tape! The split between side A and side B is after song 11 :)

Plot/song explainations under the cut! You should read them :D (but only if u want to)

(listen along for best effect >:] )

Side A

Here's a Health to the Company - I've always loved this song as a representation of the Black Rose crew. Despite the fact it's about a positive experience, it's so steeped in nostalgic grief, which describes Chip's longing for his childhood pretty aptly.

Ship in a Bottle - I used this to represent the moment of the Hole in the Sea because I think it is a good representation of, not what actually happened, but what happened in 10 year old Chip's memory. The emphasis in the lyrics on isolation and responsibility is particularly notable, because I feel that being unable to help his crew, he'd feel responsible for that. The lyrics about lack of control also make this song, in my opinion, work.

Edge of the World - This song is supposed to represent the progression Chip's mind as he drifts on the sea and washes up. The reason I chose it was because of how well the song depicts the slow loss of a person's innocence: the slow decline and way the music slowly builds up and strips itself back really adds to the overall effect.

The Guide to Success - The SECOND I heard this song I thought of Reuben Price and Chip. The fact it's a lighthearted song really adds to it, it does such a good jobs at depicting the way Price wraps his fucked-up ideals and plans in smiles and deception, the way he slowly changes from "genuine" advice to manipulation. It just feels like a perfect fit.

Everyone - This song is about the memory of Chip's past he gives up in Noctis, and what he was forced to do. I think this song speaks for itself, so I won't try to overexplain.

Sleep Awake - This one is the aftermath of the previous memory. He can't do these things anymore, he feels he is losing himself. He's realising that something needs to change, though he doesn't know what yet. If he hadn't worked out before Price was manipulating before, he knows now.

Burning Pile - This is where Chip finally realises exactly what he needs to do. He needs to leave. This isn't a good place for him. He needs to make a way out, else he'll never find one.

Fire - Other than being a literal representation of Price's place being destroyed, it is showing the moment in which Chip's mess of feelings finally bubble to the service, his "exile" moment. He's out of control, but in a way that scares him far more than any before, because in this moment, he is seeing Price in himself. He feels he has to do this, because otherwise he'll stay trapped, but he regrets it even as it's happening.

Mostly - This song shows the aftermath of his escape, the moment the adrenaline leaves his system and he's finally alone with his thoughts. He realises, although he's finally free, he has no idea what to do now. It's been so long since he's been truly alone, and this is the moment where everything finally hits him, and he's free to let every emotion wash over him.

Prologue - This spans the time between his escape and Riptide episode 1: It shows his slow recovery, the development of his many coping mechanisms (particularly his lying) and his slow path towards moving on, at least from Price.

Run The World!!! - Chip's found himself a crew. He's making his mark on the world on his own terms, and he's found some other misfits to do it with. He's still hurt, but he's healing, slowly but surely.

Side B

I'm not a good person - This shows Chip's mindset towards himself throughout the whole Loffinlot arc. He is CONSTANTLY throught this arc making selfish decisions, decisions that he KNOWS are selfish. His instincts are not used to factoring in other people, because he's been alone for a LONG time now, and he knows he probably shouldn't be doing these things but he does them anyway. Chip really doesn't think highly of himself at ALL, he hasn't for a while, if he ever did, and now he's suddenly besties with somebody declaring themselves a beacon of all things holy and good (aka everything Chip thinks he's not). His self-worth at this point is kinda fucked, at this point it's like he doesn't think he's worth enough to make choices that aren't self-destructive.

Liar - This one is representative of the casino arc. Chip's constant lying, he knows it's wrong, but he can't help himself, because it's so easy, so much easier than telling the truth. It's not until he finds himself thinking he's going to die that he tells Gillion what he's done, but in that moment I think Chip is confessing about more than lying about bugs, although I don't think he realises.

My Ugly - This is representing the battle in the ice arena or more specifically, Chip's mental state through all of it. His refusal to stop fighting until he is literally unable to stand because he thinks Gillion needs this is uhhh fucked up, and even then the only reason the fight stips is Jay intervenes. Chip thinks of so little of himself, and it all comes to a head here. In this case, "my ugly" is his trauma, and how it's affected him. He knows he's a bit fucked up. he wishes he wasn't.

We'll Never Have Sex - This is the desire island arc, but more specifically, it's about the kiss. Whether or not it was romantic or platonic, I think it probably meant a lot to Chip, keeping in mind directly before it he was having a breakdown about the fact that nobody would ever love him. The fact that this was a gesture with no malicious intent, no lies, no manipulation. It was probably the first show of any kind of genuine affection Chip had recieved since he was 10 years old. Platonic or otherwise, I think this was an important moment for him. This song (I hope) portrays that.

Rule #28 - Sand - This is meant to be about the feelings Chip has finding Lizzie again. They've both changed, but he is so glad to find confirmation he's not the only one. He still misses the Black Rose, and he desparately mourns them, but he is finally willing to accept the past, as there's now the possibility, in his mind, of it being his future. It's a flawed mindset, as he is still trying to live in what once was, but it's a step forward.

Blunders - This song is mostly a filler, covering the arcs between Joaldo and Allport, with a particular focus on the vibe of the adventures in Edison Kingdom. This segment is predominantly just Chip finally accepting that his crew are actually staying with him, that this isn't a fleeting moment of stability.

DEBT COLLECTORS - This is the moment everything starts to fall apart, when Price's assassin tries to kill Earl. Chip was halfway though healing and Price sends all that crashing to the ground. Chip sees it as karma.

Your Sister Was Right - That self-worth Chip had been slowly rebuilding was suddenly destroyed. He feels he needs to isolate himself again, for the good of those around him. he refuses their help because he doesn't want them to get hurt because of him. He doesn't think he's worth it.

Sleep With a Baseball Bat - And then he gets scratched by a kitty who makes him think all of his worst fears are coming true!! Yay!! Chip's paranoia has returned worse than ever, he can't sleep because he needs to continually remind himself that everyone is still here and they're okay, that his fragile equilibrium has not been shattered.

Rule #21 - Momento Mori - This covers the start of the Noctis arc (before he sleeps) where Chip has truly lost connection with the world around him. He's running off fumes, guilt and paranoia.

Dancing - This bit is the aftermath of Chip's decision with Grimm. He chose to save everyone instead of curing his curse. He's still not doing great, but he's now fighting it on his own terms, which counts for something.

It's Alright - Chip gets to Liquidis, and his curse is lifted. His friends have seen the darkest depths of his mind, his greatest fears, and they're still here. His friends fought his demons for him. He's still here. It's going to be okay.

Born For This - Finally, Chip's on the path to healing. He's ready to stop living in the past. He's ready to fuck shit up, help those in need, and be the best goddamn pirate the world has ever seen.

____________________________

Ok if you actually read this far thank you!! this took like,,,,, 2 hours to write out? So I really appreciate it!! if you enjoyed, pls comment or rb (only if u wanna tho!!)

anyway pretzel supremacy :D now to listen to the new episode lol (i wrote this instead)

[fullbrave]

if i was going to make a direct sequel to bravely default 2 (and don't think i won't. move over team asano) here's how i would do it

friends and family alike will be shocked to learn that i'd borrow heavily from bravely second. not just in terms of style and gameplay qualities that i want to bring back, but also in the sense that i'd make a party comprised of two new guys and two returning guys. if you would guess that the two guys i'm choosing to return to the party are elvis and adelle, then you know me well, but you would be half wrong this time. i'm picking SETH and adelle. my reasons for this are twofold:

firstly, i just think that gloria and elvis have the most potential to be interesting as non-playable characters the way agnès and ringabel were. the newly crowned queen of a fallen kingdom? the laid-back scholar whose kindness transcends age-old conflicts? hell yeah, tell me more!

(in trying to boil post-bd2 elvis down to his bare essentials there i almost made myself CRY but seriously!! i can see him serving in some official capacity as ambassador to mag mell but at the same time being so unserious about it. have i ever told you guys i love him)

(by the way, in this game i would bring back the whole rebuilding-a-destroyed-thing minigame. we're rebuilding musa. it's right there. seth can be the guy in the party who's in charge of the rebuilding effort because you KNOW he would offer to do absolutely anything he can for gloria)

(bravely) secondly, and more importantly, seth and adelle both have personal character stuff the first game left unresolved that really bothers me. seth is obviously the more notable case of the two but i also wanted the game to dive deeper with adelle sooooo bad.

if one of the new guys was the Main Character™ then seth would have to be written differently to fit a supporting role (like tiz was!) and i think this could work wonders for him. a sequel would be a perfect opportunity to make him less of a vague plot device, more of a person.

and then with adelle, of course you can get into figuring out what the FUCK happened to edna to make her end up like that — something happens to make this relevant again in a way that adelle can no longer ignore, which i imagine has been her coping strategy up until now.

you know, i almost held back from saying more about adelle because i was like "this is too self-indulgent..." bitch, in my self-indulgent bravely default post? on my self-indulgent bravely default account? please. i'm going to say more: for reasons i actually won't expand on here because i feel like it's digressing i think adelle becomes the next fairy queen post-game, but i also don't think it's a smooth transition. i don't think she sees herself as a leader, and she's still carrying a lot of guilt over everything edna did, so she'd be pretty resistant to this idea. but i do think people would WANT her to lead. so i guess she's just going to have to go do some soul-searching and figure out what she wants to do! perhaps on some kind of journey, or adventure, accompanied by three other guys... (not unlike edea's bsel character arc, now that i think of it!)

this goes without saying, because i'm me, but i'd also want to flesh out the fairy lore a whole lot more. i need to know so much more information about bd2 fairies right now. yesterday. two years ago, even. who's with me? so that's another great reason to keep adelle in the party. maybe one of the new guys can also be a fairy. that'd be fun. just throwing out random ideas now.

edit: oh i knew i was gonna forget something. this didn't occur to me until i was posting my broken-ass twitter thread, but of course the original protags would all have new designs in this game, and adelle's could proudly include elements from her fairy form, because she doesn't have to hide anymore... this is important to me.

regarding crystals, seth and adelle keep their blessings, but the water and earth crystals choose new guys for whatever reason. if elvis and gloria are missing from parts of the story for reasons similar to agnès and ringabel that could be interesting, and would explain this — that doesn't necessarily have to be the case though. as we saw with sloan and aileen, the crystals can just kinda choose a new guy whenever, and i can also very much see gloria and elvis being retired from the hero of light business on purpose. i think i prefer that idea, in fact; it's a choice that makes sense for both of them in a way that it wouldn't for the other two, in my opinion.

a new party means a new fun little acronym, though! AGES had its day, now it's time for something new. on twitter i joked that the new acronym should be SWAG because i couldn't think of anything serious, but then i realized: if it's going to be a key part of the story that you're rebuilding gloria's kingdom, obviously it should be MUSA instead. so brb i will now be making up some bravely ocs whose names start with M and U.

"but darcy, seth can't be a supporting character because the player gets to name him in the first one!" way ahead of you. another thing i'm doing is retconning that moment at the end of bd2 when it would have been perfect for seth to reveal what his real name is because that was SUCH A WASTE! i totally don't think about this every day of my life or anything, but i just think that making a big deal out of the fact that the party's initials spell out an important word despite the fact that the player has the power to mess this up for literally no reason is the height of nonsense, so this is not how i would do things. personally ❤️

so you can name my new protagonist guy but whatever name you choose has to fit the MUSA acronym. just kidding, you can't name them. sorry women

(incidentally, if i couldn't bring seth and adelle back, and i was in charge of making a brand new party, i would make their initials spell REVO. nothing but respect for my president.)

when i thought about the way bravely second brought back most of the asterisks from the first game, i wasn't sure at first of how best to pull that off in this game, but then it hit me. elvis has them. every time you want to get one of the jobs from the first game you have to go fight elvis. square enix you can USE these ideas just GIVE ME CREDIT.

but that doesn’t mean all the asterisk holders who are still alive aren't around! they are! in fact i think it’d be funny if they were all part of the sidequests for their respective asterisks but every sidequest still ends with you fighting elvis for some reason. i won't bring any dead asterisk holders back because as fun as it was, that too was the height of nonsense. “couldn’t you just use the stone portal things from bd2 to allow the player to fight asterisk holders, dead or alive?” sure but i like my idea better.

(in fact it kind of gives me plot ideas. maybe elvis has been entrusted with the asterisks but it comes to light that someone is making NEW ONES and the party is charged with finding out who it is and what their deal is. could be a fun way to explain why there's new jobs!)

anyway, i ensure that revo comes back to write the music by offering him a trillion dollars, which i have. seth's new special theme is called "the seafarer's skills tame the storm... 2!" and adelle's is called "please stop praying for the wandering flame she's risen too high she broke out of the hospital". the game itself will be known as bravely default². thank you, and GOOD NIGHT

[moth-from-the-void]

The Owl House Finale: my thoughts

! spoilers, obviously !

I thought it was alright.

Which is pretty sad considering how freaking good the show was.

Now it's difficult to make a list of things I liked and things I didn't like and you will see why.

But for tradition's sake:

things I liked

the overall idea of it with Belos taking over the titan's corpse and all that, pretty dang awesome

not making the Collector an actual villain and instead showing how they're really just a child lashing out because he doesn't know how to deal with these complex emotions

the amount of lore we got on the Collector and titan magic

the ending/post-credit scene, seeing everyone happy and healing without it being a super cliché "and suddenly everything's okay" thing was cool, the character designs were on fucking point and I especially liked the scene with Hunter and Willow at Flapjack's gravestone

Raine being an absolute BAMF, I love them and they fucking rule

Hunter and Darius reuniting, short but sweet

on that note: Darius and Alador in the credits?? hello, sassy middle-aged dads having a thing™??? love to see it

Raine and Eda reuniting, just these two, man

King's genderqueer/genderfucked/whatever parent? marvellous

Luz and Amity getting their happy ending without some random, annoying pseudo break-up plot point or something thrown in there

now, things I didn't like

The pacing was fucking atrocious and really dims all the other aspects I liked, just scene after scene after scene.

In a big character-driven finale like this it's vital to give the emotional impact time to develop, to let it breathe, let the audience sit with a hard-hitting scene like when Luz 'dies' going up against Belos.

And this obviously isn't Dana's or any of the team's fault, it's clearly because of the mouse and the way it disrespects and seems to straight up despise its own creators.

Especially for a show like this where we get the most amount of openly shown queer affection in the final minutes of the final episode of a show that was cut short for "not fitting the brand". Of course Owl House is revolutionary in its portrayal of queerness in a Disney show but the shadow of the mouse looms large and can be felt even here which is just, it's tragic, man, seriously.

The pacing is also what causes my other big problem with the finale: the hollow victory.

Well of course Luz has defeated Belos at the end, has liberated the BI, healing can take place, rebuilding can start.

But it feels hollow. Of course Luz epically destroys Coloniser McGoo and seeing Raine, Eda and King stomp on him was funny. But I feel there was a distinct lack of catharsis here.

Now this might be because from the beginning of this show I've been firmly in camp villain-enjoyer and was really excited about how they were gonna develop Belos as a villain but I didn't like the lack of "depth" regarding him we got in the finale.

Now I'm not talking about the Philip Wittebane sob story or the power of love, friendship and redemption or anything, puritan fascist man can rot in fucking hell forever, but it feels like Luz didn't actually defeat him.

Belos went from representing a larger system of beliefs about the world (human supremacy, colonisation, religious dogma, the absolutely batshit ideas underlying the concept of killing and then resurrecting your own brother "for his own good", etc.) to just like big kaiju slime wreaking havoc and spitting magic fire.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good epic fight against just a huge gross monster that wants to destroy the world (which yes, Belos ultimately is) but not when that happens at the cost of your villain's complexity.

Because now Luz has destroyed this huge evil slime thing, but that could've been any other villain or monster, it lacks that narrative oomph of defeating Belos as a character who represents bigotry, intense selfishness, abuse and ultimately a worldview in which some people are destined for annihilation due to their perceived inferiority.

This is because, at least in my opinion, Belos' strength as a villainous character isn't his magic or anything like that, it is his prowess in manipulation and the way he can make other characters believe that his depraved views are correct. I much rather would've liked that Luz and him had had a verbal standoff before actually fighting, him preying on her fears of being just like him and having those resolved together with his defeat instead of being seemingly resolved in that Collector dream sequence at the beginning.

Because it now seems like Luz' emotional arc is divorced from her fight against the main villain of this whole show which to me feels very unsatisfactory. A villain or obstacle is what drives the narrative, it's what provokes the protagonist(s) into action and especially Luz and Belos had this well-written dynamic with both being humans but extremely different from each other, yet Luz feeling terrible because she helped Philip discover the light glyph. That was cool, that was interesting and removing that element feels kind of boring to me.

It makes it feel like Belos and the system he represents were never really defeated, like Philip Wittebane is dead as he should be but the concept of "Belos" lives on, which could've been interesting if properly developed, but then again there wasn't enough time to do that.

Ultimately I feel it's on a surface level a pretty decent finale for a series like this, it hit all the right beats and tied this amazing show up as best as it could.

On the other hand I personally feel that it was hindered from being a finale this awesome show truly deserves by the mouse. Imagine how good it could've been if it had the time to develop the plot at a slower pace, if the show could've taken its time to develop the lore and the emotional beats of the story instead of giving last-minute exposition dumps and trying to fit all its eggs in one basket over the course of a measly 45 minutes.

It was good, but it could've been great, and that's just tragic.

I'm looking forward to any future projects by Dana Terrace because her and the team are truly brilliant artists and I hope their next projects will work out without all this corporate meddling.

Finally I want to say that obviously this was all just my opinion, I'm not pretending to speak the ultimate gospel truth and if you loved the finale that's cool, if you hated it that's also cool, you can have whatever opinion you like. This wasn't some sort of essay to convince anyone of my position, it was just me rambling about a show I like and maybe over time my opinions will change, this show is by no means a hill I'm willing to die on.

Don't take this post all too seriously and have a great day :)

[heartfragment]

Okay sorry for the long asks I'm gonna send! I wanna give you my thoughts on the routes after playing and getting the good endings of all four of them (I haven't touched the bad ends yet because I'm not ready to destroy my soul 😔) and I figured it'd be easier to have one ask per route for simplicity. Also I will be as spoiler free as possible with my thoughts for the sake of anyone who hasn't played yet. These may not be the best written reviews though, my thoughts kinda go all over lol. So first off, Kay my beloved darling!

He was the one who caught my attention first and I gotta say while I adore everyone so far he's still my favorite! Man that Act 1 plot twist about who Kay really is? I'm still mind blown over it like I never ever EVER expected that to be the case! So when that was thrown at me I was basically like "?????? wtf??? WTF????" Honestly Kay's route was sooo heartbreaking in many respects, from Kay's struggles to Xani dealing with the consequences. And my gosh as someone who is the biggest baby alive when it comes to horror and anything related to it, the unsettling moments were *chef's kiss* I saw another anon bring this up and I wanna agree that Kay's VA? Outstanding, simply incredible. Every emotion, every line that came from Kay was believable and hit me in all the right ways. My fave moments being a certain breakdown in a shack and basically everything from the Branch 2 ending. And I really enjoyed how you wrote the mental health issues in this route, especially the issue regarding dependency. Kay himself was so enjoyable as a character as well, both pre and post that part of Act 1. I loved his teasing moments and kindness, I loved his more solemn moments, I loved the moments when he was struggling because of you know what. This route also had me asking a lot of questions which works that it's paired with Clive's route that contains some answers. For Kay my favorite end was the Branch 2 ending, I think it was the best way to wrap up everything that happened.

Hi anon!! This is ... one of the most sweet and most lovely asks I've ever gotten. Thank you so, so much for taking the time to write all of this. I'm sorry it took me so long to actually reply. I was away on vacation and while I saw these soon after they were sent, I didn't want to reply until I had access to a computer so that I could compile all the asks into one post.

I hope you know that this message literally lit up my entire day when I first saw it and it continues to do so as I reply to it now <3 Things like this help to encourage me to keep going even when things get tough. I'm glad you got so much enjoyment out of books one & two! If you haven't already, please consider leaving a review on the game as well. It isn't necessary of course, but it helps a LOT to have detailed comments like this... or even simple ones like "it was good"!

Wishing you a super lovely day!

Here's a compilation of this anon's other asks:

Next up, Clive you little weirdo (affectionate)!

Starting Clive's route was already breaking me because, as I said, Kay's my fave so there I was making sure not to bond with him too much so that I could get Clive's route. That coupled with The Plot Twist™ of Act 1 and basically I was already grieving with the start of this route. I say all this but truly I was already fond of Clive. He's just so incredibly, adorably, painfully earnest in all he does. It's hard not to love him even when he acting so obviously suspicious. And that sincerity in his interactions with Xani over the course of the route does help to lessen the sting of certain reveals. This route did answer some questions I had about Kay's route but it also raised so many more??? Like seriously as this route went on I was half ready to do a conspiracy board to try and piece things together. I enjoyed how this route dealt with identity and how you choose to see both yourself and others. And it was sooooo much fun interacting with Clive over the course of this route and seeing his funny and adorable reactions to Xani mixed in with how achingly sweet he was at times. And it all made the drama of the latter part of the route all the more better! Once again, shout out for the VA work because Clive's VA did a great job selling how awkward and sweet this guy truly is. Great first impression with the hiding behind the tree scene and the adorableness of the scene at the end of Branch 1. So while for Kay I preferred his Branch 2 ending (I did say that it was the Branch 2 ending I loved more for him right? The one with the party? bleh my memory is bad sometimes but yeah that's my fave of the two for Kay) in Clive's case my preferred ending for him in the Branch 1 ending. Mainly for the heart melting sweetness and partially because I couldn't bear having poor Xani deal with a certain consequence of Branch 2's ending.

Now we got my precious baby Shannon!

This book wasn't big in terms of spooks but it dealt with other kinds of fears that still chilled me to the bone. I adored how this route handled paranoia and how much do you truly understand/try to understand the people in your life. I was already attached to Shannon in the common route so finally getting to play her route was great (plus I'm a sucker for childhood friend romances)! Shannon's bubbly energy and A+ friendship was so adorable (everyone deserves to have an incredible friend like Shannon) and precious but my truly favorite scenes were the ones where she tried to open up more about what she was going through. I felt her frustration and loneliness whenever Xani wouldn't let her in (completely understandable why Xani would but I also totally felt why it hurt Shannon so much). Shannon's VA completely sold me on her adorable bubbly self and also completely sold me during the scenes where she let out emotions other than "I'm happy bubbly Shannon". A certain yelling scene after a certain other character's role in everything was revealed comes to mind most. Can I just say that gigantic WTF moment (the "memory" one for the sake of being as spoiler free as possible) nearly fried my brain? Like I was right there with Xani wondering what the hell was going on here and how that happened. Didn't get a conspiracy board but I did actually start taking a shit ton of notes in a spare notebook I have trying to piece together everything going on and all the questions I have! Also screw Dustin, all my homies hate Dustin >:( But it was fun to meet Charlie and Choi (will we see more of them later on? they were so fun it'd be a shame if we didn't). For Shannon it was actually a really close call between Branch 1 and Branch 2 for my favorite ending because each branch had something I loved so much in terms of romance, friendship and pure drama. But the Branch 2 ending just managed to win between the two because I liked that drama more and also that dance scene was too precious for words! Also the after credits scene of Branch 2 killed me with cuteness!

And last but note least, my actual mom Lana!

When I looked at the walkthrough for Lana's route and saw there seemed to be fewer choices than for the other routes I was worried that would mean her route would just be shorter. But nope, you put my fears to rest when I saw what you did with Act 3! I'm really glad you made that choice for Act 3, because it answered so many questions about the precious acts in her route but also gave a great insight into Lana's mindset! May be sounding like a broken record here but Lana's VA also did a wonderful job here, giving Lana such a caring and soothing voice. Like that finale scene between her and Xani was beautiful and made me melt into a puddle from how much love I could feel in Lana's words! I enjoyed this route's take on trust and the past, how much of it do we hold onto and how much do we need to let go of in order to move forward and heal. This route also revealed a couple somethings that I had been guessing early on and was so excited to have confirmed (namely the identity of a certain someone Lana knows and what said someone's name is). The dream sequences in this route were sooo cool and trippy and makes me want more and more because I need answers! I need all the answers!!! I adored seeing Xani and Lana interact with each other, seeing them reignite that closeness from their past while Xani also has to battle between sincere love for Lana and the mess of emotions coming from all the shit that happens over the route. Lana only has the one good end though I loved how you had variations in there via having the other three be potential love interests and also a certain other variation. It really was fun to try them all out (especially since I super curious how you were gonna pull of one particular variation considering said character's unique position at this point in the game)! Also can I say Lana was incredible in both how hard she tries and truly is a wonderful guardian for Xani and also in how she deals with the grief and despair of past tragedies and also the nonsense of general adult life. Personally I'm closer to Lana's age than the rest of the cast's ages so I ended up really connecting with many of her struggles since they mirror so many of my own.

Last one, I promise!!!

Anyways yeah those are my scrambled thoughts after playing the routes. I'm over here basically vibrating intensely because I cannot wait for Book 3 and the final book to be released. I'm getting closer and closer to upgrading my notebook to a full blown conspiracy board 😂 But seriously, I have so many questions and all the hints and teases you put throughout these routes has my brain going into overdrive trying to figure it all out. Because I noticed certain things and was glad the game was like "yeah isn't this off?" but there was other stuff pointed out to me that I didn't even realize (the dates…THE DATES). Also Xani is such a wonderful MC, my love and light. Both female Xani and male Xani have such adorable designs and their VAs did great when it came to bringing them to life in both sweet moments and in the harsher moments (also loved seeing the different reactions the other characters would have based on Xani's gender it was so cool you added those variations in dialogue). Anyways you have done such a good job on the writing on this game and please pass along my admiration and love to the artists who made the incredible images, the composers and singers and all the music folks who made some absolutely amazing tracks that were perfect for the scenes, and also to all the fantastic VAs who brought these characters to life! Love the game and am eagerly awaiting the next part!!!

[korvidian]

So I watched Hocus Pocus 2...

(This contains spoilers if you care)

Hocus Pocus 2 is... a very confusing movie in terms of what it's going for. It was way too meta/self referential I think, like I really hate the whole looking into the camera and winking at the audience thing so many sequels do. Like it's all 'ohh sisterhood is the most important thing <3' but also like. They have killed so so many people and done fucked up things over several centuries now? But also we got New Witches who are Good™ now (boring!! I know it's disney but Boo!!!!)

Plot's straightforward enough, but I feel like they really needed the new coven to be likeable ultra good girl witches, so they cut out like all the Satan-granted-magic-powers parts and like. The ending where the Sanderson sisters all disappear into glitter dust after Winnie chooses her sisters over her magic really should have had them all going back into the firy abyss of Hell at least, which they did kind of emerge from at the start

I think Becca and her friends should get to use this skin-bound hell grimoire to do fucked up witch stuff like how do you just go back to American public high school on Monday morning when you could like. Turn conservatives into rats or something?

Also at one point I thought Billy Butcherson was gonna make out with the magic store guy. Thought Disney was gonna pull the 'here's our first™ BISEXUAL™ character™' card with Billy Butcherson or have him be like 'I could hear Salem Pride parades from my grave and realised I could now be an out and proud queer man despite being dead' for like. The few minutes he was on screen before being killed off

Also the magic store guy is like, really the weirdest character here he's fascinating tbh I want to study him like a bug. He straight up tricked a bunch of teen girls for some reason into bringing back witches who he stanned enough to make a candle from the flesh of a hanged man and dedicated his life to for no reason other than he saw them flying around and then dying in a cemetery when he was like 8?

He ran a magic shop out of their old house and held onto their fucked up skin book for 30 years (and made a bunch of copies to sell). Also apparently he knew the legend about the black flame candle needing to be lit by a virgin but didn't hold off on fucking someone so he could light the thing himself? Also couldn't just get pretty much any child he scared in his store to light it as a haha funny scary joke? He thought the Sanderson sisters were misunderstood somehow between all their child eating and boy-to-cat transformation and the whole swearing to destroy Salem etc stuff. This guy is so fucked up I wanted more of him tbh

The witch mother at the start who just... doesn't appear again in the movie, but is the bad CGI red winged blackbird flying around apparently? She looked cool but we learned nothing about her or her time with the Sanderson sisters also thought she was supposed to have died since that seemed very strongly to be the reaction in the first movie? But maybe she faked her death to get away from Winnie idk

Almost feels like they want to make a tv series out of this but I doubt it

The musical numbers and costumes were good and fun at the very least, and I'm glad the original actresses got to ham it up again, they really did do a good job

[cocomuffy]

i found the book i wrote when i was in 6th grade. i think it was trying to be fantasy (?)

warning, this is some bottom of the barrel writing. but luckily you don't have to read the actual text. maybe if this gets enough notes i'll do the "Second" book that I wrote that continues the story. but I don't know.

here's the plot:

a girl named stephanie (i can't find her last name but i have a feeling it was bailey) is going to lady school™ and reminiscing on when this old lady used to tell her fairy tales

and then there's a boulder that absolutely WRECKS her building so she gets the old lady (who's still alive?) and the kids in the back ( i guess some of the ladies were already mothers?) and takes them to a safe location while her town gets absolutely destroyed.

she runs into this chick named Annalise (i swear i was bi before i knew it these two were definitely lesbians for each other but i have stephanie a boyfriend) and then the girl is like "your aura.... come with me"

and so the story goes that there are three branches, life/plants, ocean, and ice. why? i don't know. why aren't ice and ocean the same thing? i don't know. why isn't there fire or rock? i don't know. why is the first one only plants? no idea.

but apparently some bad guys are at it again or whatever so Annalise and Stephanie run into the forest and stephanie rips off half of her dress because she wears jeans under it because she doesn't like dresses. i never use the phrase "not like other girls" though so i'm proud of myself.

so then they set out for "Tehen", which means "happy" in the elf language that is never named or brought up again other than our third character's name: Kinnteir (Kin-tear) (I don't know if it's tear as in tear in clothing or tear of an eye, only 6th grade me does).

But they all bond for a while and there's this red dust that paralyzes Annalise but apparently the old lady and children from the beginning survive and stephanie goes to them for help because the old woman is like my ultimate plot saver in this book. This lasts two paragraphs.

they find the ice branch, which I distinctly remember used to be two characters but then I got tired of trying to juggle them so I rewrote them to just be one character so i bet that Elle's gonna be a delight.

Then they get attacked by giants(?) and like they get wiped? Stephanie passes out. Typical.

Wolves attack that night for GOD KNOWS WHY.

They meet a monster I don't remember the name of that makes them fall asleep, we get some poorly written angst and then Stephanie starts getting premonition visions (which is what Annalise was so concerned about).

She sees them fighting a big shadowy bad guy and watching someone kill Kinnteir

Elle then goes all spooky and evil. i mean look at how tense this scene is:

" I see a cloaked person fighting with him, he didn’t look like anything I’d seen. I join him. 'What are you?' 'One of you' she says as she pulls out the ice staff and freezes my feet in place on the dirt. 'Elle?' 'Correct.' My heart breaks."

Chills.

Then Anna goes hunting, I guess we're supposed to find more tension with Kinnteir and Steph but nothing really happens? Steph has another vision and they go try and help the already injured Anna.

Just found the name of the sleepy monster. "ShiinSlump". I kid you not. Shiinslump. Who names these things. Me, apparently.

But some true love's kiss stuff happens and then they're all fine again

Stephanie has a vision that Anna becomes one of the cloak monsters. Spooky. The premonition, action, and crying all takes up about one and a half paragraphs.

Wow you can tell I have ADHD.

Then Kinnteir just drops this TRUTH BOMB:

"Hey, I was doing research, it turns out the fourth one is a mystic powerful person that comes around every 5,000 years."

So yeah, Stephanie has mystic ancient powers. Guess she isn't like other girls after all.

After Kinntier and Stephanie meet the newly evil Anna, they go to a hospital and get Stephanie treated I guess

Then I randomly introduced the fact that Anna can produce sedatives that spray out of her flowers like the Joker but okay go off.

The book ends with the vision from the beginning happening, and then ELLE DIES

JUST STRAIGHT UP... DEAD. STRANGLED BY ANNALISE

wow.

so that was fun, right?

if you got down here i think that your determination far exceeds anything i've ever felt. good job.

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 17- Part 11

To that end, we lead with Breeze this time (who now just has a Pecha Berry), and give Kirin a Telluric Seed so she has a Baneful Bunker to protect her while she sets up the Field.

Let’s do Twister again, hopefully it’ll flinch this time-

It did not, but we’re switching to Kirin anyways so it’s fine!

Now she can get up Psychic Terrain for free, and then start- aaaaand he swapped in Skuntank again.

Um…alright, no big deal, just bring in Crater for a second to take care of the Skuntank.

I FORGOT ABOUT PURSUIT- 

No, no, it’s okay- we have a Revive and a Cotton Candy, we can revive her, it’s fine right now.

He’s probably gonna switch to Crobat again, so to get ready to hit it hard with Lava Plume, I’ll use Focus Energy.

Well, no switching out yet, shockingly…

It’s using…Pursuit? What, is that its only Dark-type move?

Well, the Oran Berry’s gonna proc, and from there we just destroy the Skuntank with Earth Power!

Nidorina, huh? Well, this isn’t dangerous- we’ll bring in Glare to cause problems and stall for time while healing Kirin and Crater.

We paralyze it as usual-

Then spend some time healing, then boom! We bring Kirin back in!

I’ll take my Paralysis luck where I can get it by this point- let’s just set up the Psychic Terrain again.

And it turns out Nidorina knows Bite- but that’s okay, Kirin can live those.

Heal her with a Super Potion real fast, then unleash a Psybeam!

And here comes the Crobat again- no matter, Kirin’s already out and set up, Psybeam should take care of things!

Wait, what?? Why did Nasty Plot raise its Sp. Attack so high all of a sudden!? It’s supposed to go up by only two stages, not three! Don’t tell me Psychic Terrain does something special with Nasty Plot in this game! I DIDN’T KNOW!

Well, Psybeam didn’t KO, it’s too dangerous to leave Kirin out like this- we need to run interference on this Crobat again. Glare’s up once again!

If I can just paralyze it again, that should-

Or not! Okay- Crater!

She can use Amnesia to boost her Sp. Defense, and that should help her live even more of these attacks after-

Or not! And I already know Riptide can’t outspeed either, his defenses aren’t as good as Crater’s, so- SHOOT! You know what I should have done? I should have given Riptide the second Telluric Seed! That would solve this problem real fast and give him a safe KO!

Okay- so what have we learned? 

Don’t let Crobat exist on Psychic Terrain

Riptide should have a Telluric Seed because he’s likely to also go out on Corrosive Field

Don’t try to do anything with Kirin until the Skuntank is no longer a threat

Don’t let Crobat exist on Psychic Terrain

I will take these lessons with me as we reset this fight for the second time.

This time, I’m not even gonna bother getting rid of the Mist right away- Glare can handle this Skrelp on her own. And that comes down to the age-old combo- Glare™ and Screech to start off…

Then Crunch it until it’s gone! No amount of Venom Drench is gonna save it!

Previous

Next

[rameecat]

Okay okay in gonna jump onto the CollectorLuz thing ONLY because of a few things.

1. The Collector and Belos are setting out to destroy ALL magic, meaning if The Collector was going to need a vessel to survive in, itd have to be a being that doesn't have magic. And what better magicless vessel to inhabit than a young teen human?

2. When Lilith and Luz went back in time to talk to Philip, Philip said he still needed more sacrifices. What if Belos is going to use Luz as a sacrifice (maybe that's how The Collector would possess her body) to keep up that Statment. He obviously took the Stay Mad™ bit seriously, so why wouldn't he keep his word about using Luz as a sacrifice on the Day of Unity in order to give The Collector a vessel to survive in when magic is gone from the world?

3. Yeah, Hunter could be the sacrifice, but I'm pretty sure he's too smart to fall for anything that would lead to his capture. Luz isn't. I'm 96% sure Luz would be much easier to use as a vessel.

So yeah that's why I think Luz will be possessed by The Collector. Plus it'd be an interesting plot twist I think

[scrawnytreedemon]

For the two characters thingy, I just have to know what you tgink Vaatis and Kadajs dynamic would be.

Personally, I definitely foresee shenanigans of the highest (possibly deadliest) degree. They're like two feral cats.

OH GOODNESS, that's certainly an interesting pairing, isn't it?? They're both very similar, personality-wise, though their situations differ - That, and the differences in both motive, and temperement.

Vaati has a very superior, self-serving attitude; he basically went, 'fuck it, why do I have to listen to anyone if they're not gonna do anything for me?' and proceeded to get hella drunk off of power, but in a way where he appears to be entirely in control. Very aloof, and playful, too.

Kadaj, on the other hand, was purpose-built for the will of others. He's a literal empath, in the sense that all it takes is for him to touch someone to read all of their emotions, and even some memories. He's Espionage Ultimate™, except for the fact that he's extremely volatile. He'll try to play up an aura of authority, at points(see: his interactions with Rufus and the Turks), but it's very clear that it's put-on. Also, unlike Vaati, he's required to not only logistically but even emotionally rely on other people, like his brothers.

The thread between both of them is that they're both vulnerable teens struggling with that lack of power, that sense of being pushed around, regardless to which extent. They've both been consigned to the shadows of much greater men, who, in theory, should be providing a level of guidance and self-actualisation to these boys - Sephiroth, having created Kadaj for his own ends, clearly does not care; however it's shocking how much Ezlo is willing to brush aside and push down Vaati's personhood, his outbursts: treat it like it isn't his problem, not really.

I think if I were to come up with a plot for them, it'd go like this:

Kadaj and Vaati end up coming together for aid; Kadaj wants his Mother, but for whatever reason struggles to find the necessary means(whether that be the traditional cells, magic, or something else), and Vaati, sensing an opportunity, deigns to play along; at least, until he gets what he needs.

I think the relationship would waver between uneasy alliance, low-key rivalry with all the added posturing... and some genuine vulnerability and a chance for them to just be kids - Even if that usually means destroying some town-square or other with monsters they summoned together. I think there'd be something to Kadaj that unsettles Vaati; this sort of broken mirror, if he'd attached himself, became vulnerable in his strive for purpose; greatness; maybe it'd hit him how close he could've come to being not unlike the monsters in the bands he parades around so thoughtlessly.

I mean, in a sense, isn't that what Kadaj is? A monster; a thrall; even if a human-looking one.

Of course, he'll push it as far to the back of his mind as quickly as he can,

But still.

I do wonder how Kadaj would feel, truly relying on someone other than his own family. Like, yes, there was that almost-alliance-sorta between him and Rufus, but it was wrought with suspicion the whole way through; this would be... something else.

With someone like him.

I do wonder how his brothers would react. I do think there'd be a palpable sense of uneasy, especially coming form Yazoo, but I don't think either of them would step up to challenge Kadaj's authority unless shit really hit the fan.

I feel that, either way, at the end of the day, Vaati would get what he wants, and ultimately betray Kadaj. He lives for himself; why let him get some of that pie? Especially if that means summoning a potentially far greater threat - Yes, yes, better to work alone.

Somewhere far off, Ganondorf is probably shaking his head.

~~~

Thank you for asking!

So interesting how these two at once mirror and break from each other; the way they both each try to play at adultification. What self-actualisation means: codependency vs. a sort of lofty solitude.

Also this would make a glorious fangame. Who knows, maybe someday I'll pick this up; if ever.

[aq2003]

ranking every recent spidey movie because i am biased and contain opinions

spider-man (2002). this movie is pretty funny and dafoe (best part of the movie) kills it as green goblin. however it also aged badly with the special effects and Not Great Writing of the female characters™. tobey is great but i think he shines more in the later movies (which i will get to). it does a great job of setting up the characters and universe but it's also the most basic of the raimi trilogy imo. because while this is pretty cohesive narrative-wise it's still less enjoyable to me than the others (doesn't mean it's bad, just that it gets better from here). 6.5/10

spider-man 2 (2004). i think this is objectively the best live action spidey movie (even if i personally like 3 better). doc ock is my fav live action spidey villain and the fight scenes in this movie are just. iconic. the train scene obviously deserves every bit of the hype it gets. also this movie leans hard into my favorite spidey trope which is "peter struggles to balance his superhero life and civilian life" and i really love the plot point about peter's powers not working bc of the stress coming out of it. and the raindrops keep falling on my head montage is cinema tm. loses points for the very bad depiction of mj but this is rly the only problem i have with it. 8/10

spider-man 3 (2007). this movie has the biggest "over the top soap opera comic" vibes and god do i LOVE it. the plot is all over the place and it's clearly struggling to juggle the three villains but also i had so much fun watching it so it does not matter. this movie has my two fav scenes in the Entire raimi trilogy which are a) emo peter doing his stupid little walk and b) emo peter doing his stupid little dance. emo peter my beloved. you'll forever be in my heart and i'll never get tired of the memes about you. anyway it makes me a little sad that spidey movies from here on will be afraid to be this cheesy and stupid. 8.5/10

the amazing spider-man (2012). andrew is a great spidey you all were just mean. i like how the movie leans into him having to get used to his powers and the bit at the end where peter brings home the eggs to may was super heartwarming. there are writing decisions i have issues with most notably peter getting his start as spidey by hunting down any long haired blonde guy and how this plot point gets dropped without getting resolved (so the "responsibility" element is kinda missing from the origin to me). BUT skaterman peter is extremely lovable so i'll forgive him. also the lizard is such a hilarious villain. 7/10

the amazing spider-man 2 (2014). ok so i tried really hard to like this movie but. well. lmao. i will say that peter's suit/the overall visual effects look great and i think andrew's performance is the best part of the movie. and that part where electro's theme (?) plays in time when he destroys things is neat. everything else is just. a mess. enough criticism has been thrown at this movie so im not gonna delve into it but i do want to say that i really wish the tasm movies were written better bc there's so much potential in the characters/universe but the writing brings it down for me. 5/10

spider-man: homecoming (2017). i still love this movie i know it makes me a fake spidey enjoyer but still. it's adorable. it's part of what got me rly into marvel and it has a special place in my heart. hoco is not trying to be an origin story it's like this comedy hs movie w spidey elements and also works kinda as a sequel to an unseen origin and i like that (bc we have already seen the origin 2 other times). extra points for being the funniest depiction of high school and having my fav soundtrack out of the rest of the live action movies. However there are still definite sins committed adaptation wise that carry over to the rest of the mcu trilogy and they sting very hard rewatching this movie now. 7.5/10

spider-man: into the spider-verse (2018). cinematic masterpiece and the best superhero movie of all time i am sure that everyone with a brain can agree with me on this. every frame of this movie is so beautiful and it captures the comic book vibe so well. it's a love letter to spider-man as a character and you can tell how much passion was put into it. there are about 5 scenes in this movie that still make me tear up even though ive rewatched it so many times. miles my son . [peter b voice] i LOVE YOU i am SO PROUD OF YOU. beautiful soundtrack and animation, amazing action, top notch voice acting, it truly has Everything. i think the only spidey movies that will have a chance of being as good as this movie are its sequels. 1000/10

spider-man: far from home (2019). i hate this movie and every connection it makes with tony stark. this is because i love tony stark so much hes my favorite guy ever and this movie feels like slander towards him. way back on my sideblog i ranted about how besides the fact that peter isnt a legacy hero it fails at cementing him as a legacy in the first place, But Also this all gets immediately retracted in no way home so whats the entire point anyways. mj and peter are cute but are they worth it for the tony slander. no. i cant have normal opinions about this movie i'm sorry. 3/10.

spider-man: no way home (2021). i know. i know. everyone likes this movie. there's generally a lot to like, from the villains to the action to the previous spideys to the dynamic between the main trio. however i wish that this trilogy had not gone in this direction at all. there are lots of writing choices i super disagree with, the biggest one being may dying because a) the mcu cant stopping killing its important female characters and b) it retcons the previous implication that ben existed and had a hand in peter's origin. also i don't like the ending lmao. to me it feels like every individual mcu spidey movie shoots itself in the foot and makes it increasingly harder to build upon story-wise. 5/10

[letterstothemidnightsociety]

And so we leave the warm and friendly bosom of the Ghostfacers and descend into the final three episodes of Supernatural season 3. And guys, it’s gonna be a lot of goodbyes.

Welp. We can't say they didn't warn us.

Goodbye Bela. Goodbye Katie Cassidy as Ruby. Goodbye Dean for like, a hot minute. But on the other hand, say hello to that Oh-right!-Sam-has-demon-powers story line!

I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll say it again - one of my fav lines in season 2 is in the finale. Right before he’s destroyed, Ol’ Yellow Eyes leans in to Dean and grumble whispers, “How certain are you that what you brought back, is 100%, pure, Sam?” And just like that, the whole Winchester dynamic that Dean (and we) thought was solid gets reeeeealllly shaky. By the time YED says this line, we’ve all watched sweet, cuddly Sammy cold-blooded murder a guy with a knife, so there’s definitely evidence that something is up. But that...never...quite pans out in season 3. Sam is still Sam. He’s soft and sincere and he’s got those big, open, puppy-dog eyes and he’s always willing to listen to both sides. Season 3 Sam doesn’t make a whole lot of adjustments. It’s possible that by pal-ing him up with Ruby, the writers were trying to say, ooo! He’s different now cuz he’s friends with demons! But that’s still V. On Brand Sam. Of course he’d be willing to listen. He fell in love (I guess?) with a werewolf. He made friends with a coven of Vampires. Given the right circumstances, Sam actually will ask questions first and shoot later.

See? Look at that Listening Face!

Now it’s not anyone’s fault entirely that this plot line never panned out. The Writer’s Strike really did a number on the season, and plotlines that could have been further developed had to get dropped due to the shortened episode count. I’ve been talking about the Writer’s Strike for like, well, the last 4 entries here, but if you’re old enough to remember the strike, you know it was a friggin’ big deal. It did a number on a lot of shows, changed the landscape of scripted and unscripted programming and probably changed the entire course of the rest of the SPN series as a whole. And honestly, with fewer episodes to develop some of the more complicated mythology stuff, it makes sense to simplify and switch gears to focus on Dean’s thing. That’s the important storyline. That’s the one that’s gotta pay off by the end of the season. But I still like to think about what could have been if we’d gotten the Slow Turning of Sam Winchester. It’s no secret Dean is my personal (problematic) fav and I think Ackles’ performance is a big part of why so many people love Dean/This Show. Not that Sam/Padalecki isn’t perfectly solid as a character/performer, but this season especially it occurs to me that there’s not a whole lot for Sam to work with. He’s still acting as the audience stand-in. He’s not someone we’re meant to humanize and analyze the way we do with Dean. He’s a blank slate we’re meant to embody. We’re him, riding in the front seat of the Impala, reading maps and putting clues together and singing along with Dean to the radio. How wild would it have been if we’d seen him slowly devolve into something less than human? And I’m not talking just the snarky brand of Evil(™) we see with a lot of the demon characters on this show. I mean something cold and remorseless and almost robotic - he’s not good, he’s not evil, he’s just focused on one thing at a time, and he’ll do whatever it takes to succeed, and that demon blood means he’s got the powers to do it. This season, that version of Sam is focused on saving Dean’s soul, but what about next season? Where could that Sam have gone?

Anyhoodle, that’s a storyline I’ve been thinkin’ about a lot cuz of Reasons. We’ll see how the whole Demon Powers thing plays out in later seasons, but my memory is that...it doesn’t? Stay tuned.

In the meantime, we’ve got “Long Distance Call”, an episode full of the kind of Dean-Centric Emotional Trauma that I fell in love with this show for. Is it just me or does this episode feel like a recap? Like, if you’re just tuning in now, you’re gonna get a lot of background on our brothers’ and their family dynamics, plus a renewed interest in Dean’s soul drama oh and also a regular-type-case to wrap it all up in. It’s like the show is reminding it’s audience what the show is about like we haven't been following along for 58 episodes already. Maybe it’s just because last episode was a completely different format and they wanted to reassure viewers that the show wasn’t actually changing anything about itself in any significant way. Maybe it’s just because we’re at the end of a season, and moreover, a season that had a surprise hiatus half way through filming so no really, maybe they did need to refresh viewers on a lot of backstory. Isn’t it weird streaming shows that were meant to be watched week to week?

The big fallout from “Long Distance Call” is that Dean realizes that he can’t expect some surprise miracle answer to all his problems to drop right into his lap. He’s gonna have to save his life/soul his own damn self.

I have two things to say to this - 1) uhhh, dude? You’re a Winchester. When has that ever happened EVER in your life? EVER? And 2) Uhhhh DUDE? YOU HAVE A BROTHER AND A SURROGATE FATHER NAMED BOBBY SINGER, SINCE WHEN DO YOU HAVE TO DO ANYTHING ALONE? In unsurprising news, I find this revelation infuriating.

Ok moving on to “Time is On My Side” and like...I could talk about how wild it is that the villain (played by veteran Hollywood Villain Billy Drago) is not magic at all but in fact, just very good at Weird Science. I could also talk for like, three days about Rufus Turner and his Johnny Walker Blue (played by veteran Hollywood Man About Town, Steven Williams). Instead, though, let’s talk about Bela.

Hello? 2008? Stop doing this to your female characters.

Bela, I will miss you SO much. Because this episode makes it VERY clear that Bella is gone for good. And also that the writers did NOT ship Dean and Bela, no sir, no we did not introduce this character to be a love interest, what are you even talking about? Dean is ruthless with her. He gives more credit to (and feels more remorse over) the demon that Sam kills way back in “Sin City” than he gives to Bela. To be fair, Dean is basically a caged animal staring down the barrel at this point in the season, so you could argue his behavior has more to do with desperation than real anger. But considering the long hiatus and the reworked back half of the season, it’s hard not to connect Dean’s attitude with the writers’ reaction to fan backlash over both Bela and Ruby. It’s almost like they’re telling all the Bela-haters out there “don’t worry, we heard you loud and clear, and yes, Bela’s going away and she’s going away for good.” To make up for it, they show us, the audience, a tragic and understandable backstory for why Bela’s on Team Demon but Dean never finds out any of that. I mean, cool motive, still murder, but they were definitely trying hard to end any Dean/Bela vibes still floating around in the canon. I guess when you’re coming back from a writer’s strike and your show is still on shaky ground, ratings-wise, you make a point to give your fans what they want. But also, fans are idiots sometimes and way back in 2008 we didn’t know anything.

2008, please also stop doing this to your female characters too.

And Dean’s got a similar attitude towards Ruby next episode. Ok, so he’s never been a Ruby Fan, but “Malleus Maleficarum” implied he’d at least come to some kind of mutual understanding with her. I’d even call it a real connection. Now he’s calling her “the Ms. Universe of lying skanks,” and hoo boy. On the one hand that comes off as unnecessarily harsh. On the other hand, that is a terrible burn, like, wow, I guess they can’t all be winners buddy, but sheesh. Is your heart even in that one?

Rolling right along into the finale finale and we finally meet Lilith! Lilith who is both a supreme evil power and also a small child and that’s just the sort of packaging I’d except from the SPN writers at this point you sick bastards!

Yeah, this feels real on brand for some reason.

I’m gonna take a moment to point out that the end of season 3 gives us this trio of women who could be...interesting? I’m probably stretching it a bit if I try to make an argument for a Fates/Triple Goddess/Maiden-Mother-Crone setup. (I mean, who’s who in this scenario?It’s a real reach.) I’ll give this to SPN - they introduced three morally complicated women this season and if nothing else, they were fun to watch. Do they count as recurring characters if the 2 out of 3 that live to season 4 get recast?

To round out this season, the Winchesters lose again. That’s 3 for 3 for anyone who’s keeping track.

That's rough, buddy.

The thing is? Dean...brings this one on himself. Seasons 1 and 2 Winchester have their hearts (and souls) invested in plans that fall apart at the end. They tried their hardest, but they just weren’t good/strong/smart/powerful/etc enough. This season, it feels less like a lack of ability and more like an overabundance of decisionmaking. Season 2 Dean makes the decision to trade his soul for Sam. Early season 3 Dean makes the decision to Not Care and wallow in self destruction. End of season 3 Dean makes the decision to stand on the moral high ground and not make any more deals that could end up with him worse off than he was before. That last one is not a judgement call, it’s just pointing out that there was a way out he could have taken and he chose not to. Dean is, and probably always will be, his own worst enemy.

Yeah, this is on you pal.

In the Year of Our Streaming Service of Choice, 2021, it is interesting revisiting this shortened season. I don’t remember it feeling rushed the first time I watched it, but I’m also pretty sure I watched the entire season in like, a week(...end?) so pacing had no meaning. Now that the average season of “television” is way shorter than it was back in 2008, the rushing on this season is pretty obvious. I think as a whole, it does still work, but we’ve got way better examples of shows with even shorter seasons that roll out smoother and more concise. Where SPN shines is in that balance between one-offs and season-arc episodes. Short seasons go hand in hand with tighter storytelling and less wandering/one-off eps. With a shorter season, SPN could have succeeded by adjusting Fun:Drama episode balance according to their usual ratio. Unfortunately for them, they started writing season 3 unaware that their episode order was about to get cut by roughly 25%.

Onwards to Season 4!