#I fucking love kingdom hearts guys holy shit

[melomelod111]

So… any kingdom hearts enjoyers in the crowd tonight? /lh

[kathlare]

behind the scenes

Lando Norris x Amelie Dayman

Summary: During a Quadrant promotional shoot, the team’s routine day is shaken up when Amelie makes an unexpected entrance, leaving everyone starstruck. Her natural charisma effortlessly blends into Lando's world, and their chemistry draws attention, sparking playful chaos among the crew.

Wordcount: 3.1 k

Warnings: just fluff

request over here!

January 12th, 2024 - London, United Kingdom

Lando adjusted his Quadrant hoodie as the cameras began rolling. The bright lights of the studio set bounced off the polished floor, giving everything a clean, modern look. Will was already in his element, cracking jokes as the crew set up their equipment. Becky and Zac were off to the side, discussing ideas for the promo, while Max stood next to Lando, fiddling with his phone.

Today’s shoot was an exciting one—Quadrant was introducing their new athlete lineup, and the energy in the room was infectious. Lando loved these moments, surrounded by friends and creative chaos. Still, there was a small part of him distracted, knowing Amelie might drop by. She was in London too, wrapping up a meeting for an upcoming project, and they’d talked about catching up later. What he didn’t expect was for her to walk into the studio mid-shoot.

The first half of filming went smoothly, with Will leading the intros and the crew getting plenty of footage of everyone joking around. As the team reset for a new segment, the door to the set swung open.

The door to the set swung open, and Amelie stepped in, wearing a casual yet effortlessly chic outfit—a black cropped sweater paired with high-waisted jeans and white sneakers. Her hair was loosely styled, framing her face with a natural elegance that immediately drew every eye in the room.

Lando froze for a split second, his heart skipping a beat. He hadn’t expected her to show up so early, and the reaction from the room was instant.

—Holy shit. Is that Amelie Dayman?—Will blurted out, eyes wide as saucers.

—No way. No fucking way,—Becky gasped, practically dropping her coffee.

Zac’s mouth hung open, and one of the crew members literally fumbled with a piece of equipment, causing it to clatter loudly to the ground.

—Guys, chill,—Lando hissed under his breath, glancing at Max, who was already grinning knowingly.

—Mate, you chill. That's Amelie bloody Dayman,—Will shot back in a stage whisper, gesturing wildly in her direction.

Amelie, completely oblivious to the mini-meltdown she’d just triggered, flashed a bright smile and waved. —Hi! Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to see how things were going.—

—You’re not interrupting,—Max said smoothly, stepping forward to give her a quick hug. —Good to see you again, Ames.—

—Good to see you too, Max,—she replied warmly before her eyes found Lando. The soft smile that spread across her face made his stomach flip.

Lando crossed the room in a few strides, his embarrassment melting away as he saw her. —Hey, you,—he greeted, pulling her into a hug. —Didn’t think you’d make it so soon.—

—I finished early,—she murmured, leaning into him briefly before stepping back. —Thought I’d surprise you.—

—Well, you definitely succeeded,—he said, throwing a pointed look at his friends, who were still staring as if they’d seen a ghost.

Will finally snapped out of it, though his voice remained incredulous. —So, uh, you two know each other?—

Amelie raised an eyebrow, glancing between them and Lando. —Of course. We’ve been friends for years. Didn’t Lando tell you?—

Lando rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks flushing slightly. —Yeah, uh, friends. Totally. Just... friends.—

Max coughed pointedly, earning a sharp glare from Lando.

Becky, clearly not buying it, folded her arms. —Right. And does “just friends” always look this cozy?—

Amelie tilted her head, confused for a moment, before realizing how close she and Lando were standing. She laughed, a melodic sound that only seemed to make everyone in the room more captivated. —Okay, maybe we’re a little more than friends.—

Will’s jaw dropped. —A little? Mate, are you kidding me?—

—Alright, alright! Yes, we’re dating,—Lando admitted, throwing his hands up. —Happy now?—

The room erupted into chaos.

—This is amazing.— —You lucky bastard!— —Oh my God, I knew it!—

Amelie’s eyes widened as she looked around, a mix of amusement and mild panic. —Wow, okay. You all are very... enthusiastic.—

—Sorry,—Becky said, not looking sorry at all. —It’s just, like, you’re you, and he’s him. This is massive.—

Amelie glanced up at Lando, her expression softening. —I don’t know about massive, but he’s pretty great.—

Lando rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t hide the smile tugging at his lips. —Alright, enough. Can we focus on the video now?—

—Not a chance,—Will declared. —This is the biggest Quadrant scoop of the year.—

—Seconded,—Zac added, pulling out his phone. —This is going straight to the group chat.—

Lando groaned, dropping his head into his hands. Amelie just laughed, patting his arm. —You’ll survive, Lan.—

Max leaned over to Lando, smirking. —Told you it’d come out eventually.—

—Shut up, Max,—Lando muttered, though his tone was more resigned than annoyed.

As the crew gradually settled down, Amelie found a seat off to the side, watching with a bemused smile as filming resumed. Lando kept stealing glances at her between takes, his heart feeling lighter than it had all day.

Every so often, their eyes would meet, and Amelie would flash him a small, private smile that made him forget anyone else was in the room.

When the shoot finally wrapped, Becky sidled up to Amelie. —So... any tips for dealing with this one?—

Amelie grinned. —Patience. Lots of patience.—

—Oi!—Lando protested, but he was grinning too.

As the crew began packing up, Will clapped Lando on the shoulder. —Mate, you better hold onto her. She’s way out of your league.—

—Tell me something I don’t know,—Lando replied, his gaze drifting back to Amelie, who was now chatting animatedly with Max.

The chaos of the day finally started to simmer as the crew packed up the set. The Quadrant promo had turned into a different kind of highlight reel, with Amelie’s surprise visit stealing the show. Lando was still reeling from the revelation. While it wasn’t how he’d planned for their relationship to be revealed to his friends, he couldn’t deny the small thrill of everyone knowing.

He watched from the side as Amelie chatted with Max, her laughter carrying easily through the room. She looked perfectly at ease, despite the initial fan-like reactions from everyone else. If anything, she seemed to enjoy the attention, her natural charm disarming even the most awestruck members of the crew.

Will sidled up next to Lando, sipping a coffee that he definitely hadn’t had during filming. —You’re a sly bastard, you know that? How’d you even pull that off?—

Lando sighed, knowing there was no getting out of this conversation. —It’s not like I planned it. It just... happened.—

Will raised an eyebrow. —“It just happened”? Mate, you’re dating Amelie Dayman. That doesn’t just happen.—

Lando rubbed the back of his neck, trying to suppress a grin. —We’ve known each other for years, alright? It’s not some wild celebrity thing.—

—Still, though.— Will shook his head in disbelief. —You’ve got some serious game, mate. Respect.—

—Alright, enough of that,—Lando muttered, though his cheeks flushed. —Can you all just not make a big deal about it?—

Will smirked. —Oh, it’s already a big deal. But don’t worry, your secret’s safe with us... for now.—

Lando shot him a warning look. —I mean it, Will.—

—Yeah, yeah.— Will waved him off before strolling away, no doubt to find Becky and gossip further.

As the last of the equipment was packed and people started trickling out, Lando made his way over to Amelie. She was now leaning against a table, scrolling through her phone, her expression relaxed. The sight of her, so effortlessly part of his world, made his chest ache in the best way.

—Hey, you,—he said softly, slipping an arm around her waist.

Amelie looked up, her smile lighting up her face. —Hey, yourself. Done being the star of the show?—

—Hardly. You stole that title the second you walked in.—

She laughed, resting a hand on his chest. —I didn’t mean to cause such a scene.—

—You didn’t. They just... weren’t ready for you.— Lando’s fingers traced absent patterns on her waist. —Honestly, I wasn’t either.—

Amelie tilted her head, her smile turning teasing. —Should I have texted first? Given you time to prepare?—

—Maybe.— He leaned down, their foreheads almost touching. —But then I wouldn’t have gotten to see their faces when you walked in. Totally worth it.—

She hummed, her fingers playing with the strings of his hoodie. —So... does this mean your friends approve?—

—They’re obsessed with you. Not that I’m surprised.—

Amelie’s eyes softened. —Well, for the record, I think your friends are great. A little loud, but great.—

Lando chuckled, his thumb brushing against her cheek. —You handled them like a pro.—

—Years of red carpets and press tours. This was easy,— she teased, leaning into his touch.

Lando couldn’t help but laugh at her response. He’d always admired her poise, how effortlessly she navigated situations like this. —Well, I’m glad you came. It’s... nice having you here. Makes this whole thing feel a lot more real.—

She smiled at him, her eyes soft. —It’s real, Lando. Just, you know, not how we expected it to be.—

He leaned down, brushing his lips against her forehead briefly before pulling back, his hand still resting on her waist. —Yeah. But I’m kind of glad it’s happening this way. Feels... natural, I guess.—

Amelie looked up at him, her fingers tracing the edge of his hoodie again. —Yeah, it does. You’ve got your friends, I’ve got mine, and now we get to be a part of each other’s worlds in a way we never really got to before.—

Lando’s heart skipped. That was the thing with Amelie—they’d always been there for each other, even in the years when they didn’t quite work. But now? It felt different. It felt... right.

—So, I’ll see you at mine tonight?— he asked, a little hopeful. He hadn’t planned to get serious with her so soon, but the way she looked at him made him feel like they were already past the point of casual.

—Of course, Lan,—she replied, her voice a mix of amusement and warmth. —I wouldn’t miss it for the world.—

Max, who had been watching from a distance, cleared his throat dramatically, crossing his arms. —Alright, lovebirds, enough with the PDA. You’ve had your moment. Can we wrap this up so I can go home?—

Lando shot him an exasperated look. —Oh, shut up, Max. It’s not like you haven’t seen us act like this a hundred times already.—

Max held his hands up in mock surrender, still grinning. —Alright, alright. Just, like, keep it down, yeah? Some of us still have a bit of dignity left.—

Lando couldn’t help but chuckle, his arm still around Amelie as he pulled her a little closer. The warmth of her presence was enough to make him forget all the chaos that had just unfolded. The crew was starting to wrap up, packing up equipment and heading out, but for a moment, everything felt still.

Amelie looked up at Lando with that familiar mischievous gleam in her eye. —So, how about we ditch all this and go grab something to eat? I’m starving.—

Lando raised an eyebrow. —You’re really trying to get me out of here, huh?—

—You bet I am,—she said with a playful smile, tugging on his arm. —Come on, let’s go. I’ve been on my best behavior all day, now I deserve some downtime.—

Max snorted from behind them. —Right, because you’re always so “well-behaved,”—he said, sarcasm thick in his voice.

Amelie shot him a wink over her shoulder. —Hey, Max, you don’t know the half of it.—

Lando squeezed her waist affectionately, making sure to keep his voice light. —Come on, before he starts talking about us again.—

Max raised both hands, his grin unrelenting. —Alright, alright. Go on. Just don’t forget that I’m the one who knows all your dirty secrets, Lando.—

Lando rolled his eyes, but there was no hiding the smile on his face. —Thanks for the reminder, mate.—

As they made their way out of the studio, Lando kept his arm around Amelie’s shoulders, feeling a sense of peace he hadn’t expected. This was real. They were real. And for the first time in a while, he was looking forward to what came next.

The evening stretched ahead of them, full of quiet moments and inside jokes, and Lando found himself feeling more content than he had in months. They weren’t ready to go public yet, after all, there was still a bit of navigating to do, but being together, in their little bubble, felt like the most natural thing in the world.

—You know, I can’t believe you didn’t tell anyone sooner,— Amelie said softly, her voice steady and thoughtful.

Lando paused, glancing down at her. —I wasn’t sure if we were ready for that kind of attention yet. It’s... easier this way. But, yeah. I guess I should’ve told them. I just wanted it to be... normal, you know?—

Amelie smiled up at him, her fingers still interlaced with his. —I get it. I think I just needed a little more time to figure out how to do this with you.—

Lando nodded, his thumb gently tracing her hand. —We’ll figure it out together, alright?—

She leaned her head on his shoulder, looking up at him with a soft smile. —Yeah. Together.—

Max’s voice came from behind them, loud and exaggerated as always. —Are you two seriously going to stand there, or are we going to grab some food? I’m fucking starving!—

They both turned, sharing an amused glance before laughing.

—Coming, Max,—Lando called out, pulling Amelie toward the car with a smile. —Let’s go before he starts ordering for us.—

As they climbed into the car, the comfortable silence settled in, punctuated only by Max’s animated chatter in the backseat. For Lando and Amelie, it was just another step in their journey—a journey that had started years ago and, now, was something neither of them could have ever predicted.

But in that moment, it didn’t matter. They were together. And that was enough.

[nikethestatue]

Rant incoming.

Maybe I am a bit of a psycho (okay, not a bit) but for the love of God and all that is holy--Sarah, give us the Shadowsinger that you keep hinting at.

I need at least ONE of these men to go dark. Go fucking black.

We keep hearing about the violence, the terror, the sheer presence of them that would make a grown man piss his pants---but we never see it?

The one and ONLY time where I feel it happened (and marginally too) was when Rowan skinned (not gonna say who) alive.

But it's kind of like--if SJM insists on making all these men ruthless warriors, torturers, the most powerful Fae in the kingdom or the world or whatever--then SHOW IT. Show us the men we are supposed to crave and fear.

We had Hunt, the Umbra Mortis, who barely ever 'mortis-nized' anyone ever. He was just a himbo who wanted to eat pizza and watch sunball.

Cassian, the Commander General, had one good run during the war and then became a human dildo.

Azriel cut the Attor a lil bit.

Give me the scary. The unhinged. I don't need cinnamon rolls. I want one of these dudes to rip out someone's heart and then fuck his ladylove on top of the corpse.

I am also so so so tired of the 'girl Power woooo!' thing that SJM keeps writing--where the women always take care of business and need no help, no protection, no revenge, no assistance from the men whatsoever. Why even bother making these men these illustrious warriors, when we know that Nesta can kill a Death God in 10 minutes, and Bryce can kill an Asteri in about 8 minutes.

I am beginning to wonder what is the point of men in SJMs' stories at all?

We had the 'Most Powerful High Lord In History' running around dropping to his knees, looking for a good OBGYN for all of ACOSF. We had the Commander General taking lots and lots of time from his clearly not very busy schedule to train some girlies and have repetitive sex. Lucien, not much of a warrior to begin with, just hangs out at his country manor. Azriel seems to be working at least, but mostly he is just being angsty.

Like there's been a shipwar raging for 3.5 years over these guys, and honestly, for what? Azriel is a spy, a torturer and 'a freak'. If it all ends up being for nothing, and he is just going to be some pining useless follower, carrying Elain's purse, whose 'freakiness' consists of light spanking and a nipple bite, then honestly, GAs or whoever, can have him.

I feel like 90% of all ACOTAR readers came to the series through Rhys. Because Rhys was so shifty. So cold. So unremorseful. Rhys was...INTERESTING.

What happened? Where are the interesting male characters? We know that SJm is not GRR Martin or anything, but come on.

Let's even take Lucien--and I don't give a shit about Lucien--but make Lucien...interesting? If he is so wily and crafty, why can't Lucien at least TRY to trick Elain into liking him, going out with him on a date? ANYTHING. Try to gaslight her, lie to her, trick her--do anything that makes me want to read about you. Eluciens keep whining about 'mean Elain' but like, why are they satisfied with this limp noodle of a painfully boring character? Why no demands of fucking everyone over and going after what he wants? 'Oh, he is so respectful'! Who cares? Why do you want to read that in a fantasy book about supposedly violent and brilliant fairies?

I am reading all kinds of things outside of ACOTAR, and I reflect and I think, OMG, SJMs males are boring AF!!!! Why do they even inspire a glimmer of desire or interest? They literally do nothing memorable or interesting.

Honestly, if the next book is the same, and she murders Azriel's character, it will be a big fat goodbye from me.

I am holding on to hope that she'll write him and even Lucien somehow, somewhat compellingly.

[terramythos]

MY TOP 25 BEST POKEMON

by popular demand, in descending order.

25. Galvantula

she is so fluffy. they somehow made an electric spider one of the most cuddly pokemon designs of all time. WOULD get a plushie of her if i am being fully honest.

24. Scyther

he's just some guy who is also a cool looking bug who also has swords coming out of his fucking arms. a rare example of a gen 1 pokemon design that is 'extremely based' and not 'extremely boring'.

23. Roserade

Roselia in gen 3 was such a meh pokemon, so giving it this unexpectedly cool Tuxedo Mask evolution in gen 4 was awesome. I will be fully honest that my favorite version of Roserade is the shiny because it gets black and purple roses. cool as fuck

22. Scream Tail

'what if we made Jigglypuff so so so so so so scary and it wants to maim and eat you now'. say no more

21. Calyrex (Shadow Rider i guess)

as someone who skipped pokemon sword/shield entirely, this design is actually some of the coolest shit i've seen. weird looking deer knight riding on the back of a ghost horse? actually stupidly cool they were really cooking with this one.

20. Grovyle

Every PMD fan on the fucking planet knows why I put this rando middle evo Grass starter on my favorite pokemon list. And they also know that i am objectively correct for doing so. no further explanation is needed

19. Decidueye

listen this is a fucking Ghost Owl Archer, what a fucking idea, it's cool as shit and we love Decidueye in this household. the best grass starter in the game and it isn't even close. despite me putting one immediately before it on this list. no notes.

18. Gastrodon

i love you gastrodon i love you sea slugs i love you having 2 different non-shiny designs/color schemes, i love you weird squishy suctiony cry/sound effects. gastrodon is maybe my best friend possibly ever

17. Ampharos

listen even if lighthouses were not a special interest of mine i would still love the weird electric lighthouse sheep. look at this guy. truly one of THE pokemon designs ever.

16. Chandelure

love this fucking thing it looks like a kingdom hearts boss. also ghost/fire is objectively one of the coolest type combos ever (foreshadowing is a literary device in which--)

15. Hisuian Zoroark

this is a prime example of how the regional variants in modern pokemon can completely improve on the original. the original zoroark is a pretty generic edgy dog. this is a new and much more interesting take in general, it makes its once gimmicky Illusion ability much more sinister and tied to its backstory/lore. also such a great color scheme, i love the weird almost fungal looking growths on it?

14. Furret

furret my friend furret. he is a tube and also my friend.

13. Noivern

this is a vampire bat dragon, potentially the coolest thing to ever exist ever. you agree. also i like the color scheme, purple/green/red aren't usually things i would put together but it works very well here

12. Iron Valiant

there is a tumblr post that calls this thing "so nonbinary it kills you" (or something like that) and holy shit are they right. what a cool mix of gardevoir and gallade's designs. plus making it a robot knight. cool as fuck, definitely the best paradox pokemon. and again, it isn't even close lmao

11. Mawile

i remember being a little disturbed and/or weirded out by this thing when i played gen 3. over the years it has grown on me so much. what a weird fucking design. i too want a giant mouth horn growing out of my head. bonus points to mawile for also getting a sick mega evolution that i am pretty sure broke the metagame for a while. lol, lmao even.

10. Clodsire

holy fucking shit it's clodsire. fuck yes. FUCK YES FUCK YES FUCK YES what an incredible re-imagining of quagsire i love it so much

9. Froslass

imagine you're Glalie, the world's most generic and boring ice type of all time, evolved from Snorunt and already forgotten the moment you're introduced in gen 3. then gen 4 comes along and gives female Snorunts one of the coolest pokemon of all time as an evolution. truly THE most insane evolutionary glow up in the history of the franchise. anyway i love this thing, i love that she murders hikers and displays their corpses for people that's so cool i love you froslass congratulations on your transition

8. Hawlucha

LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD LUCHADOR BIRD

7. Espeon

definitely my favorite eeveelution, i love its simple design, the gem really ties it together. this is really one of those pokemon that feels like it'll be on your team for life. i will not elaborate on this

6. Bewear

i fucking LOVE this thing it makes me so fucking uncomfortable to look at. it has the best lore of any pokemon ever: it hugs people to death. god what a cool pokemon if it shattered my spine i would probably just say 'ok'

5. Floette

THIS IS MY WHITE WHALE, DUDE. I WILL NEVER BE OVER THE SUPER POWERED X/Y MAIN STORY VERSION OF THIS THING BEING CODED INTO THE GAME AS AN EVENT POKEMON AND THEN GAMEFREAK NEVER RELEASED IT. despite my bitterness i love floette whenever i see it. one of the quiet joys of scarlet/violet was seeing this tiny thing chilling out in the wild. to me its face is like The representation of happiness. i have no idea why i love it so much but i'm just happy whenever i see it

4. Suicune

when i was little i was obsessed with this thing. i remember playing pokemon silver and being captivated by it. then i was THRILLED that of all pokemon they could pick they made it the mascot for crystal. when i went on road trips as a kid i would imagine this thing running alongside the car and had all sorts of mental AMVs with it. now that i am an adult and have had time to reflect on suicune, however, i have come to realize something: suicune is actually the coolest fucking thing ever and i was so fucking right all along about this

3. Hisuian Typhlosion

i loved typhlosion as a kid, and most of my attachment to the original one is probably nostalgia related. however, like hisuian zoroark, this is one of those designs that just genuinely improves on the original in every way. i have NO idea why they chose to glam up typhlosion so much in legends arceus but i am so glad they did. adding Ghost typing is such a strange concept on paper but they executed it SO well. i love its dopey little look. what a gem of a design to find so recently in pokemon's lifespan.

2. Alolan Raichu

the original Raichu has always lived in Pikachu's shadow-- it has a cool enough design, but no one is ever going to pay attention to it when it's prevo is literally the world famous series mascot. so i am THRILLED with what a great design Alolan Raichu has. it's so fucking cute, it looks unique while still being obviously tied to the original. i love that it looks like a pancake. i love adding Psychic type to it -- like with Hisuian Typhlosion, an odd idea in concept that works perfectly. i love that it surfs on its adorable, giant tail. GOD i love alolan raichu it is such a good pokemon

Flygon

i love flygon, it's a sand dragonfly that evolves from the world's most adorable antlion. this is an instant pick for my team in every game it's in. i love its dragonfly eyes doubling as sand goggles. flygon is so cool you can make the argument for Dragon/Ground/Bug triple typing, but Gamefreak are fucking cowards and will never do that. it is because they are afraid of what flygon would do with this power. YAY FLYGON

[journalsouppe]

Professor Layton and the Spectre’s Call!! I actually discovered ordering the game from the UK with shipping was actually cheaper than ordering the American version of the game, there were no major differences that I could tell as they still had the original English voice actors.

I enjoyed this game!! Not my top favorite installment but I still had a great time and loved the new characters. The puzzles were well designed and had nice scaled difficulty and the mini games were really neat too. The Eternal Diva references were so blatant lmfao but I’m excited for Miracle Mask! I was also super exhausted when writing the summary so sorry there’s so many errors and I use the word fun a million times ToT

The Descole and Tea sticker are from JordyDrawsMerch! All other stickers are from Daiso. Writing typed below!

Rating: 8.3

Played: Sp 2024

Port: DS on 3DS

Favorite? Y

Replayable? Y

Recommend? Y

Series: Professor Layton

Comments

Emmy and BABY LUKE!!

OH THANK GOD IT’S CHRISTOPHER ROBIN MILLER

Ngl im so excited to watch the anime, I love the animation sm

Oh Layton is not taking Claire’s death well at all

I love how animated the background now is!!

Beautiful music as always

Does Clark have the same VA as Dmitri lol

THE WORLD WILL END? Damn Luke

The specter looks like one of those little kingdom hearts guys

Luke’s been a LaytonMobile hater since day one lmao

Luke is especially funny in this game

Layton taking Luke to the black market is so wild

THE PUPPET PLAY IS ADORABLE

I’m going to fight aunt taffy

Ooo we get to play as Emmy

Holy shit Emmy

GIRL FROG

Emmy asking if Layton always pokes lamps he sees is making me think he physically touches everything the player taps

The convo with the meowing man???

CHELMEY AND BARTON

Based anti-cop npc

THE DYNAMITE WORKS LMAO

Is Hershel gonna get a cask of amantillado’d T^T

The canals are so pretty i like the design of misthallery

Oh i do not like the police chief

I LOVE YOU EMMYYY

Grosky is very funny

Omg the cliff death police cover up reminds me of killer frequency which i just watched a playthrough of

FUCK JAKES

Where’s phoenix when you need him

JAIL BREAK JAIL BREAK!!!

I love descole’s voice

YAAA LADDER VS STEP LADDER

NESSIE???

The story book stories and animations are so CUTE!!

I wonder if Naiya was added to the game to hit at the Eternal Diva

This kinda reminds me of a pokemon movie but I don’t remember which one it was

^^ it was pokemon heroes when latias and latios were caught ^^;

AN OCARINA!!!

Creepy fucking factory music ToT

Oh dear. I seem to have stepped on a hexagonal spanner

Descole always serving massive cunt

Woah the golden garden is beautiful

Ohh so that’s why Luke was fork life certified in plvspw

ZAMN T^T

THE WAY THE SPRITES WALK KILLS ME LOL

I really like these little episodes from others POVS! ^_^

Summary

This was such a fun origin story for Luke and Layton. Very much a classic Layton game with world ending machinery and gorgeous environment design. I really liked both Emmy and Descole, there’s a more serious undertone than with Don Paolo as the main villain (even though I do love Don Paolo). Emmy is amazing!! I was afraid she would be sidelined like Flora was but I’m glad to she stands her ground and does what she wants to do. I alos like how we got to go on our own adventure as her to London, she’s a character that doesn’t need to rely on Hershel to solve everything. Meeting Luke was great, loved his blank stare. It was fun seeing his origins and how Clark and Hershel knew each other. I’m curious how the prequels will play into the New World of Steam, especially now that Luke’s family have stories and sprites (unlike in the original trilogy). Loved the ACAB story, v nice to play while I’m still so mad at what’s happening to university students currently. Descole was so fun, I am obsessed with his outfit and personality. Unfortunately I was spoiled on who he is but I’m very excited to learn more. I think similar to Ace Attorney, the fourth installment is that last game in the classic 2D style, which is sad but PLvsPW makes me very hopeful about 3D Layton. The overall story was fun, I really liked the sub plot about the Ravens - that was really fun (i was so tired writing this omfg). I wish we got a little more backstory on the rich guy who died, I feel like there’s more to the story. OO I loved the little episodes, especially the one about Chelmey. They added a lot of fun context and gave more life to the NPCs. Such a fun and classic Layton game, I can’t wait to play Miracle Mask! (And read the light novels). This wasn’t my favorite Layton game but I still really loved it and had a great time and loved the puzzles — that’s all I want from PL!

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: The Bad Guys

So this is yet another Dreamworks movie I've heard nothing but good things about but just never got around to watching for some reason or another. And now that I have watched it, all I can say is what the fuck how did I sleep on this absolute gem of a film for so long???? Its so good, ya'll, SO damn good! So let's get into all of the many reasons why!

The Bad Guys are a group of infamous criminals, made up of the cunning Snake, master of disguise Shark, loose-canon Piranha, hacker Tarantula, and the leader of the pack, Wolf. After getting caught attempting to pull of a daring heist, the Bad Guys pretend to work on going good to pull off an even greater heist... until Wolf begins to wonder if being good might not be so bad after all.

So let me just say, the plot here is brilliant. Like seriously, there were some twists and turns here (especially toward the end) that had me YELLING over how genuis they were. It's extremely tightly crafted, sharply written, and pulled together by an incredibly charming cast that you just love to watch. It's a thrilling ride from start to end and I was excited to see where it would go next with every new scene.

The characters, like I said, are really great! Wolf is a really well-developed lead who goes through a pretty compelling arc, same with Snake (seriously, the fakeout with him toward the end had me in awe, what a total pro) and a good deal of the drama in the film lies between those two. The other Bad Guys are a bit less in focus, but they're still really fun and all play off each other really well too. Also, Diane, the governor??? Holy shit ya'll? She's AMAZING. Not gonna spoil the twist involving her but let me just say she is so damn COOL like oh my god.

This movie does attempt a twist villain but like... idk Marmalade isn't really that much of a twist villain? From the moment he showed up I said to myself "oh, he's the villain isn't he?" and I was proven right, but like... the reveal of how he set the Bag Guys up from the very start was so clever that I couldn't even be upset about it. This tiny motherfucker played them up until the very end where he finally got his comeuppance. Good villain. Not the best, but still, pretty good.

The humor here is pretty fun, with some jokes that genuinely had me laughing out loud. Of course, it couldn't quite help itself with a few fart jokes here and there, which... ermmm aren't quite my up of tea. Still, it balances that humor out well with some pretty compelling drama and a lot of heart that really helps to engage you in the story they're telling here.

Also the animation??? Oh my GOD the way this movie looks is INSANE. Like, just the character designs alone are so fresh and interesting compared to what Dreamworks has done in the past. There's this overall stylization to this movie that's very sharp and unique, and it just makes it a feast for the eyes. The way the characters move too, very fast and snappy, as if they're 2-d characters instead of 3-d. Lots of exagerrated motions and facial expressions, it's all very silly, yes, but it works so well with the tone this movie is trying to pull off.

So yeah, I hella loved this one. I'm so mad at myself for not watching this when it first came out, because its such a joy ride from start to finish. So stylish, so witty, so engaging, and so fun! I had a great time with The Bad Guys, and if you haven't seen it yet, you should, because chances are, you will too.

Rating: 9/10

Verdict: IS THAT FUCKING KINGDOM HEARTS????

Previous Review (The Boss Baby: Family Business)

Next Review (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish)

[humunanunga]

10 fandoms 10 characters!

Tagged by @clannfearrunt hiiiiiiiiiiii 👀

1. Tsukasa from .hack//SIGN. I didn't even notice until my late 20s that I'd been making characters inspired by them all this time. But listen. This lost child could fit so much mental illness but they made it out okay and I'm so happy for them. They got friends, a girlfriend and a whole new dad who all got them out of not one but two abusive situations. They were also my first queer rep in fiction. Lesbian? Transmasc, nb/gq? Transfem, even? Doesn't matter which take you run with, there is no cishet explanation for Tsukasa no matter how you look at them.

2. ...I was gonna say Sans Undertale, but you know what? W.D. Gaster, because I love the thrill of the hunt (the speculation about the mysteries surrounding him). Spooky man. Talks in wingdings, the mad lad. Gotta be my favorite sleep paralysis demon. I love cosplaying him. I can't wait to find out if or when we'll learn more about him through Deltarune.

3. Lancer, speaking of Deltarune! What a good boy, he's just a lilguy, his laugh is dopamine. I want to squeeze him like a marshmallow. I love him like I love my cat who begs to be held like a baby. Lancer is baby, no really, he's got so much growing ahead of him to get as tall as his deadbeat dad. (I know what you're thinking. Why didn't I say the other guy from Deltarune? Because we've already talked at length before about everything that makes him such a compelling character. Let the baby boy baby take the spotlight this time.)

4. Calliope from Homestuck. I don't have much to say that couldn't be said just from looking at that cherub. So gender. So very gender.

5. Tanaka Gundham, from Danganronpa. Definitely one of the most characters ever. I fucking love that guy.

6. Mutou Yugi from YuGiOh. I'm just really proud of him. I also love that his thematic dragon is Gandora. Holy shit.

7. Nephrite (centipeedle) from Steven Universe. She skrunkly.

8. Garry from Ib. We know they're going through it, but they were a good chaperone to Ib regardless and we like to see that.

9. Sigh............. Xion. She's the reason Kingdom Hearts was the first video game to make me cry.

10. Number ten, number ten... how about finishing with a problematic fave... Ebel Alfie from Purgatory 2. Reluctant protagonist just wanted to go home and be an angsty emo highschooler, instead gets a demon girlfriend and dragged along to start a revolution. Hilarious.

I'll tag @mini-binni, @child-of-crows, @cryptidbisexual, @fangenstein, @marismolotov, @photochoco, @probablyaposer, @talkingsoup, @ufohh and @wolfgirlakita

[savventeen]

boo seungkwa marriage of convenience

oooooohhhh interesting!!! this isn't an au i think about a lot so i think it'll be hard for me to narrow down what i'd most likely write haha

....i actually sat here for a solid 10 minutes thinking about what i would write for this KSDJFLKSJ (putting it under a readmore bc i ended up writing down 3 different ideas lol)

because a part of me wants to do something along the lines of a classic regency au, marrying for political reasons and learning how to navigate their relationship while essentially being total strangers that were shoved into being business partners who are also married now i guess. they have their individual kingdoms to think about so there would be a lot of emotional angst&hurt/comfort around the concept of "are you showing me the real you right now, or is this the you that you think I need to see in order to keep this marriage together" kind of thing (would have a happy ending where they do actually get to know each other and blah blah blah happily ever after)

and another part of me wants to do something Angsty like having reader agree to marry Seungkwan bc he needs a visa and you guys have been friends for forever, so of course you'd do this for him, except you forget to mention the fact that you've been in love with him for years now and the wedding and honeymoon is a whole new level of torture for you bc you know he doesn't actually love you like that, he really does see you as his best friend and nothing more (and for the ANGSTY angst, you also get to watch as seungkwan falls in love with someone else) ((maybe this would end there, maybe this would actually end up being polyfic with a happy ending who knows??? certainly not me))

and then there's also a part of me that wants fucking Nonsense. like, the group is in Vegas for their annual get-together (since they've spread all over by this point) and Shenanigans ensue and for some reason or another (maybe to win a bet?? to try and win some kind of scavenger hunt??? idk) reader and Seungkwan decide the best way to solve their problems would be to just. Get Married. so they do, and they rub their winnings in everyone's faces ('did you guys literally get married just so you could win a game' 'sorry, i don't talk to losers' *reader and sk high five*) and afterwards they just... stay married. at first just because they think it's funny and then because getting a divorce would be too much effort and also the tax benefits??? hell yeah they're staying married. and then after that it would turn into a f2l where they both actually fall in love and then want to get married For Real ("YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN" "that was to win a game, this is to win seungkwan's HEART" "babe..." "i literally can't stand you two holy shit") and they end up just doing a little ceremony in someone's backyard, you know. for convenience :)

[send me a person and a trope/au and i'll tell you what kind of plot i'd write for them]

[cheesieblr]

Finally getting around to playing Kingdom Hearts

I beat KH1 Final Mix from the All-in-One collection on the PS4 pretty recently. I must say, what took me so long to finally play this game?? The combat is really fun and engaging! The skills and spells aren't too hard to master either.

The story is, from what I hear, just getting started. I've almost beaten Chain of Memories (the original GBA version) as well, and yeah, the story is getting a lot more interesting with these black-robed people. Tetsuya Nomura going crazy with the spiky hair as usual (with love); the guy is truly a madman with a paintbrush.

The superbosses can eat my ass holy shit they're so fast and annoying as fuck are annoying to beat; literally had to get to level 100, but they were fun nonetheless. Minor spoiler I suppose, but it's definitely something that's widely known: Imagine beating Final Fantasy VII and it being like your first FF game. You kick Sephiroth's feathery butt after getting yours handed to you for days trying to build up strength and strategy. A few years pass and you pick up Kingdom Hearts because "Ooo! Square AND Disney!" You make your way through the game and the entire Coliseum only to find THIS BITCH with a THREATENING ASS introduction is BACK and he's gonna ROCK YOUR WORLD.

Anywho, I couldn't imagine being that person. Must've been traumatizing

Fun game though! I'm excited to not play Days 15*7+74 until after Kingdom Hearts 2. Chain of Memories is being terribly grinding atm. Apparently there is a maximum health.

[taikk0]

I COMPLETELY FORGOT MY LITTLE PARK EXISTED NOW I'M REWRITING THE ENTIRE FIRST EPISODE OF MLP FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC BUT WITH CUSS WORDS AND SOUTH PARK-ESQUE HUMOR PURELY BECAUSE THE OBSESSION IS EATING ME ALIVE (any batshit crazy/insanely funny jokes you recommend for me to insert, since you are the og My Little Park fan? :))) )

OH I MIGHT HAVE A FEW...

Randy (Celestia) gaslights the audience, lying about why his wife (Sharon takes the role of Luna) got banished to the moon in the intro, turns out the reason she got sent to the moon was all his fault, and not because she's actually evil, and he's just an asshole of a princess and a really shit ruler. No one has any idea how Equestria is still standing

THIS JOKE during the scene where Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and Minuette invite Twilight to Moondancer's party and she declines. I have no idea who the other three are in the AU but this is just so in character for Stan imo

the creator of the AU mentioned that Stan, Randy, and Sharon have never met in person before, and Randy and Stan have only communicated through letters. I think it would be really funny to have an emotional moment where Sharon and Randy are revealed to be his parents "you saved me... I'm so proud of you, my son..." and everyone gasps but disingenuously, like a "WWHAAT!! NO WAY!! 😱😱" like they were played by bad actors since it's been so obvious since the very beginning, where the audience knows that the rulers of Equestria are Randy and Sharon and end up making the connection early on, but the characters don't. And I find it so funny if their reaction was genuine for the characters but not in the delivery to make a jab at the "twist" everyone saw coming. "you've grown so much since I last saw you I almost didn't recognize you! I love you so much... I-I'm sorry" "no no, it's okay Mom! you tried to murder me because you felt alone and unloved, isolated... [MY LITTLE PONY THEME STARTS TO PLAY IN THE BACKGROUND] Without friendship and without the love in your heart, you turned into something monstrous. The envy and hatred you must have felt for the princess was too much! because she was always a better leader, and let everyone in Equestria do what they wanted! so you decided to use your gift for selfishness and misdeeds that-" "wait what?! what are you talking about?! I wasn't banished to the moon because I was jealous of Celestia!" "you... weren't..?" "I was banished to the moon because SHE thought I was a nagging bitch for wanting her to be a better ruler!! she kept forgetting to lower the sun. and when she wasn't, she said she needed some extra time for her pot farm to get more sunlight! like for christ's sake Randy these people haven't gotten any sleep for almost a month now and all you do is sit on your ass in the throne room doing fuck all while everyone in the kingdom went hysterical!! and-" "Randy?? wait. if you're my mom, then does that mean that the princess...?" "That's right my faithful student!" Randy descends from the heavens like a dove with an evangelical light beaming behind him "I... am your father." and shit happens I guess idk I'm not a writer this is probably so very very terrible but hope I got the point across, but after this, I want stans whole takeaway to be: "holy shit princess, you're my dad?!" to "oh. this is the princess...? AND my dad?"

Craig introducing the Tucker family but most of them are just stripes. going from photos of stripe #1 to #11 sliding to each photo that all look exactly the same, but skipping #4. later introducing #4 along with Thomas, Laura, and Tricia. this makes absolutely no sense, I just found it funny to have a ridiculous replacement for the Apple family scene because there's no way we can naturally replace it. "Why are there so many stripes?" "That's his extended side of the family."

Something about flutter-butters and these birds

Just Cartman in this au. he is so uncharacteristically nice and fun and loveable that I think every scene he's in he needs to be so sickeningly sweet and all of South Park loves him that he makes the audience uncomfortable by being the complete opposite of who he actually is. like rabbi cartman but cranked up to the max.

"The true meaning of friendship isn't to face your hardships alone, it's to drag other people down with you <3" and everyone celebrates like there's absolutely nothing wrong with that friendship lesson Kyle steps out from the crowd "Y'now, I learned something today too, and it's that-" and the camera pans to Randy, Sharon, and Stan having their own conversation that moves the story along. You can still hear Kyle in the background, and you can still hear him talking and doing hand gestures out of focus. No one is paying attention to Kyle.

Something about Craig being the element of honesty but sounding like he's lying all the time but it's literally just how he talks and it never changes

Not really a joke idea, but the thought of Cartman singing the laughter song, especially with his voice and weird accent is so funny to me that I really wish someone could make an ai cover of it..................

BALD KENNY?????? I'M REWATCHING THE EPISODES RIGHT NOW AND THE THOUGHT OF KENNY JUST SPENDING HALF THE EPISODE BALD IS SO FUNNY PLEASE LET HIM BE BALD

Something I really want to see in this rewrite personally (and My Little Park content in general) is the way you can parody MLP when it's mixed in with a show like South Park, and how ridiculous it is to see South Park mixed in with a show like MLP. Make it a self-aware Steven Universe but it's the version of Steven Universe that the Steven Universe haters think it is. And make the Disney Junior version of Family Guy.

anddddddd that's it for me LOL not really much of a writer. good luck on the rewrite though, hope you have fun!! ^^ To be honest, I'm not really that funny either, and the thought of writing my own south park jokes, especially with the jokes that are IN South Park?? YEAH NO SORRY I AM STAYING SO FAR AWAY 💀 That's what I like about My Little Park, I get to enjoy South Park without enjoying South Park. I have such a love-hate relationship with SP it's RIDICULOUS. I like South Park but only version of it I made up in my head <3

[impossiblewynaud]

Convincing the TLOZ public to read my fic with scenes[aka incorrect quotes)

Tevya: My god king gave me a sentient prosthetic to keep me in check in case I don't wanna kill the hero

Link: lol nice. Hylia gave me generations of unfixable trauma. And a guy that hates me for some reason.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zelda: *pokes leg* does it...eat?

Tevya: *strikes pose* oh it eats~

The Gloom Spawn prosthetic: *eats her pencil*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tevya, before death: wow the world is so great I love my cousin and sister, I can't wait to be king and help my sister govern our kingdom!!!

Tevya, after death: Fuck Zant, where's my sister, MY FUCKIN LEG??? Holy shit what's a bear the princess is a DRAGON?! I miss my beating heart

[tsuki-sennin]

You may have noticed that this watchthrough of King-Ohger has been dead for... months. There's a multitude of reasons for this. Mainly that I keep forgetting or I've been too focused on other things or some game came out, or... I fell off big time.

That is why starting today, I will be rectifying that extensively!

A three-part adventure! Spiders Jeremy allegedly betrays his closest friends! Rita meets their predecessor! We meet Jeramie's hot spider mom! All this and more on Spoilers I guess!

So uh... Spoilers, I guess...

-Oh yeah, I left on this cliffhanger, huh?

-Nooooooo

-"How dare you..."

-Everyone is dead.

-Everybody is comatose in the intro, Jesus fuck

-Gerojim.....

-Evil bug ladies have a tendency to be distressingly hot, so Hilbil frightens me

-"Well, now~! It was you, hmmm?" Jeramie says, barely holding his rage.

-Ohhhhhhhh, straight up holding him back.

-OH GOD I FORGOT ABOUT THIS HELL DIMENSION

-Goddamn Jesters.

-Jingoist Ignition.

-The Lady Leech strikes.

-...I wonder if she's meant to evoke a succubus?

-Jesus this is messed up

-Misapplied patriotism.

-Sooooo, Jeramie... whaddya doin' up there?

-He loves that planet.

-"Wanna help me out~?"

-The clock strikes high noon in the kingdom of Shugoddam. In the dungeon, Gira steps forth to Captain Douga's cell, placing a lantern just in front of the bars.

-Ohhhh...

-"We NEED you!"

-"...oops? Oh well, you can handle it. I know you can :)"

-Their qualifications left on their chairs.

-"Ohsama Sentai Kingohger..."

-"Hiiiiiiiiiiii~!"

-JERAMIE?????

-"I am Jeramie Idmonaarok Ne Brasieri, last of my great line, son of a hero and a gentle-hearted woman, King of the Bognaarok, and the greatest of the Ohsama Sentai! And you can all suck it!"

-What the hell is your game here, Jeramie?

-"Okay, no you just gotta execute me, feed the bugs I shoved into Rita's basement, and make sure that all the humans are happy and we're set :)"

-W-wha...?

-OKAY?????

-Wha????

-Jeramie... You're really going back to square one just for this? There were better ways than this, surely.

-Oh

-Oh I see now.

-A long due big hand for Jeramie Brasieri.

-For Spiders Jeremy.

-Ohhhhh, that's great to hear again.

-"So uh... what's the matter here?"

-HOLY SHIT GIRA HULJ

-Get her ass!

-Insert WOOOO

-That leech has way too much movement.

-Ohger Finiiiiish~!

-Well damn. Got away, did she?

-Seems Dagdaddy took poorly to his in-flight entertainment.

-"I've already waited 2000 years. What's like... two more, really?"

-G

-Grodie

-Oh my god, they have their own Spiders Jeremy.

-Episode 30, okay

-Jeramie refers to himself in the third person.

-Jewelry~!

-Karras...

-That's spelled close enough to "karass", which in Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle is a Bokononist term referring to a group of people who share a significant connection or higher purpose. This is opposed to "granfalloon", which refers to people who think they're connection is special but really means about as much as two people both being Hoosiers.

-Fairly appropriate, given this is a chief justice.

-Oh come now Rita, you can spare a second for tea, right~?

-"That is my schtick, but to be honest I'm way more worried about you."

-Jeramie...

-Ohhhhhh, the Sanagim!

-You guys are super adorable, I'm glad you guys are... seemingly kinda okay, given the circumstances.

-Freezing!

-Down the lake they go.

-Daaaaaang, you sip so closely.

-She liiiiiikes yoooooou~!

-Awwww, Himeno...

-"Bite my head off, why don't you..."

-Ohhhhhh, language?????

-Taselles mirullia da'pago!

-Hiiiii, boss.

-There's that eye of theirs again.

-Chief Justice???

-"Spill it, Rita."

-Freezing a kid's eye for power...

-Jesus Christ, Karras-

-That must be our Grodie then, eh?

-"A hospital..."

-OHHHHHH

-Okay, it's a little hard for me to tell past the make-up and glasses, but that's Kousei Amano! That's Sakuya Tachibana!

-His murder fetish has become.

-They're all dead!

-Grodie Leucodium.

-"Who dat?"

-KAMEJIM?????

-"Oh~! You forgot, didn't you~? Oh well, don't worry, I took care of it long ago~!"

-"Oh no, no, no~! It's genocide we're doing today, you see~!"

-I see... an enemy with no control.

-Himeno and Rita.

-Oh

-Cool, he's immortal too.

-Stop talking about your death boner, please.

-KAMI NO IKARI DAAAAA

-"Stupid life-livers..."

-Use of extremely lethal force.

-Taselles mirullia da'pago.

-Moffun...

-Himeno....

-"We will kill his ass. Together."

-OH????

-Oh hi there

-"Mom?????"

-Oh sure you do.

-Hello, Mrs. Nephila.

-Oh hi, Dogdad.

-"Instant genocide, it's gonna be Off Da Chain~!"

-Jeramie's fucking hammock

-Kaguragi's beyond impressed.

-Holy shit, Nephila just

-Wiped him the fuck out

-I think I'm in love

-United by one purpose

-Warm....

-"Count me out of this one, please."

-Poor Jeramie.

-I suspect the severity of the situation calls for Yanma's... direct approach.

-Play a sick game.

-"Rita! Ref time."

-You're a lucky gal, getting cuffed by Rita like that.

-Kaguragi?????

-Bro????

-Ventra!!!!

-"We're going to beg like little bitches because the absolute last thing we should be having right now is pride!"

-Fotsuka Fortune.....

-That's bribery Rita!

-Into the cage they go.

-"Ugh screw this, who cares, let's do it."

-Just when they were starting to have fun...

-VENTRAAAAAA!

-"That's not happening, man."

-"Screw this, we're doing this ourselves!"

-Digdug

-Giant Spider Milf.

-...this is truly dangerous territory we've entered.

-"Sorry you lost, by the way. <3"

-"Laugh, boy!"

-KERPRANKED

-"...Huh?"

-CHICANERY

-Oh...

-No Giant Spider MILF then?

-Dugded Dujarden, you have been played.

-"Nobody lied to you. Nobody told you."

-The salt in that water bear.

-Ms. Nephila...

-Farewell, ma'am...

-OH FUCK THEY GRABBED KAGURAGI

-EVERYBODY'S GONE

-The worst place imaginable.

-Tokyo.

-Yeah the Kyoryuger crossover~! That'll come later today though. And it will be later today, because today's Kyoryuger's 10th anniversary!

[motheatenscarf]

I beat the base-game story for FF14! Yaaay! \o/

I have... SO many thoughts, I just kinda powered through the last bit after the Scions got got, most of my thoughts are relatively positive, but also I have some very mean, very stupid opinions about some of the writing choices happening here.

I'll probably make a few posts in greater detail later, but for now my strongest opinions can be summed up as follows;

Holy fuck, I hate Minfilia, the literal child was a better leader than her. She's weak and indecisive and written as a terrible leader without the narrative addressing that fact at all. So it's not just irresponsible misogynistic writing, it's just lazy and laughably incompetent writing.

I wound up liking the villain quartet more than I thought I would, namely the big dude you have to kill first. His devotion to his men and belief in the empire due to his ability to rise to his station really stood out. That was probably the most nuanced this game has been so far, I was impressed, I genuinely felt bad I had to kill him. He was written from a perspective of empathy with the full breadth of emotion, like a real human being.

I had not come to expect that from this game!

Namely because all of our villains until this point were cartoons who wanted to blow up the moon and all of our heroes were made of unflappable cardboard. That's not to say they don't have their charms, I love a good "Mua ha ha!" as much as the next person, but y'know, largely forgettable. The worst example of this comes from Cid and Thancred. Like. Hey, Cid, these are your childhood friends we're slaughtering. You really gonna no thoughts, head empty your way through this?

Yeah?

Okay... cool...

god forbid someone have an interesting reaction.

The WORST example of that, however, is Thancred. I really thought we'd get something out of Thancred being possessed by Lahabrea. Like, even if he didn't make a choice or a deal to get possessed and had no agency in that, he would at least have a reaction to knowing he'd gotten his people killed or tortured. That's going to at the very least cause reflection in a character and an interesting change in his perspective if not outright trauma he's going to have to work through, and that's a good emotional hook to have someone your character needs to look out for. Real vulnerability, maybe, if we're lucky.

Haha,

NOPE!

Like. I've played Kingdom Hearts. I'm getting big Organization XIII vibes from the Ascians, and I'm looking at Thancred like, oh, okay, you're just... older Riku. Sure. I can work with that, that's a good source of angst, at least someone's feeling SOMETHING in the narrative at that point.

But fucking lol, no, he's just like "Thanks for saving me, I've been a real inconvenience, I should take some time off to recover so nobody has to help me again."

ANd like...

Buddy, that is the reaction you have when you're hangry and you get kinda snippy before somebody hands you a candybar and tells you to calm down. You're REALLY not gonna talk about this?! I have a whole subsequent sidequest to help Minfilia find her MOMMY so she can grow the moral fortitude to refuse bribes, but Thancred spends months being possessed by THE bad guy and gets the Scions nearly wiped out and he's FINE and we're MOVING ON!

REALLY?!

I know I JUST compared it to Kingdom Hearts, but it's not even that! Kingdom Hearts, for being TERRIBLE, at least understood that the way to get people invested in a narrative was to give them characters who CARE about things and react accordingly! Oh my god, Kingdom Hearts was more competent than this! OH MY GOD, it's so bad, I'm so ANGRY! It was starting to show promise, how did it turn around and do itself this dirty, who was responsible for this?!

GOD.

That said, the things I like are, like, everything else about this game so far. My god was I frustrated the entire time I was sitting through some of this shit storywise, but the gameplay was very fun. The game is otherwise the single most functional, deep, and FUN mmo I've ever played gamewise. I'm ASSURED the story gets better, and like, frankly, it wouldn't take much effort for that to be true, but if they can also make the story GOOD, I will be pleasantly surprised because right now we're in "so incompetent I burst out laughing" territory.

And then after all that they called it the 7th Astral Era like, job's done, go home team, ignore the multiple other looming threats! We're admitting Lahabrea isn't dead even in-text among the Scions and there's still countless Primals being summoned and I'm pretty sure somebody needs to talk about these giant talking crystals, but NOPE, 7th Astral Era here we go!

I give it ten months.

Anyway, I'm gonna go read up on how to kill the Moogle King so I can progress this narrative, but I'm in like, humorously SHOCKED disbelief at how bad this was. Like, the FUNNY kind of angry, not legit angry, the "Oh, here's a new rant I could go on about for ten minutes EASY" kind of angry, it was so bad.

[doyouknowwhoyouare13]

Nyx reads Crooked Kingdom! (part 1)

We all know how this goes now, NO PRESSURE TO READ!!!!

Started: 2/5

Finished:

SPOILERS BELOW!!!

Chapter 1, Retvenko

New character

please don't be like Joost

oh the clash

pink, red, and orange?

disgusting

WAIT

I DON'T THINK HE IS NEW

HOLD ON

HOLY SHIT HE ISN'T A NEW CHARACTER

HE'S ANYA'S DAD? MAYBE NOT DAD BUT SHE WAS STAYING WITH HIM

AHHHH

wait is he old or like the crows age

that's so fair Retvenko

I need a nickname for you

hmmm

Retty

no that's just rude

hmmmmm

Maybe I shouldn't

what if you end up like Joost

giving you a nickname is like attaching myself to you

I don't think that's a good idea

I like the way he talks

HE'S FUNNY

just like me

How do people drink coffee/tea without sugar? 😦

there ain't no way

HE WAS RIGHT THERE WAS SOMETHING

me no like this

DON'T BE LIKE JOOST ISTG

chapter 2

WYLAN

OMG I ALWAYS COMPLAINED ABOUT HIM NOT GETTING A CHAPTER

WOOHOO!!!

oh he's...sad

omg it really didn't fade away??

that's smart of the owners though

BECAUSE KAZ IS HILARIOUS AND LIKES TO SEE JESPY BOY SUFFER

MATT 💀

I love Nina sm

ew

what.

AHHH WESPER!!

Van Eck fucking sucks

KAZ THAT'S AWFUL

uh oh

Chapter 3

MATTYYYYY

oh how I have missed you you burlish squid

I'm sorry Kaz pretending he cares is absolutely fucking hilarious

you were so Matty boy

AHHH I LOVE THEM

JESPER AND KAZ ARE SO FUNNY

MATT 💀

omg Matt is dead?!?!?! 😦

joking it's just Muzzen anyways

HIS FATHER???

Chapter 4

INEJ MY WIFE

ah shit I forgot she was kidnapped

I would actually die I hate the dark

I like this guy

NO

THEY ARE COMING

STOPPPP

SO SMART

OH NO

NO WAY

lawd that was scary

oh my god Inej 😭

breaking my heart wtf

[inavagrant-a]

@ @ @

@ghostlyanon

Ohohoho's to your hhehehe's awraxa.

@scarletooyoroi es next.

I actually know Jace from a distance from a while back ago! Back when I barely entered the Kingdom Hearts fandom, I knew of his Sora blog and I was a Roxas blog but I don't think we ever rp'd. It wasn't until my Cloud blog that I began to rp with him via his Sora blog! Jace is so fucking cool dude like, he's so damn chill and always has the coolest thread ideas, goes into it 100% and that just gets me hyped up. I honestly had no idea this was Jace until we followed each other and I was lIKE HEY HEY I REMEMBER YOU from a distance, could have just been me, I tend to remember lots of people I interact with here. I also figured out that he was also in the Naruto fandom once! I had no idea I never really ran into him there but that was cool cause I too dipped my feet there a bit. It's just amazing how you just run into people here honestly. Jace has always been a chill dude, always and like I said every time he rps he just does something that gets me so hyped up for it, I love reading his interactions and how he thinks about his characters. If you're not following him then you're really missing out honestly, give this guy some love, he's really cool and chill.

@reginrokkr es another.

If you aren't following Lyria you are doing yourself a disservice. Like holy shit this blog is so good, godly even, not just the rp content itself but the insight and thoughts on the game and on Dain himself, they are delicious meals every time. Lyria puts a lot of thought into their portrayal, using inspirations from that which inspires the game material itself to establish ground, I too find myself learning a lot of cool information through the posts they make in which they share their thoughts. Honestly, rp wise they too are goals, having threads that are like 50+ notes and still continuing that I read in silence to myself in the background and I'm just like hello?? Amazing, showstopping. Though I do my best to keep up with the game and keep tabs on the lore of it even I miss some things and get confused by other things and sometimes Lyria's breakdown posts about them and it helps me understand and see what I missed or what point went completely over my head. I've only gotten the chance to speak to them here and there but they've always been pleasant conversations. I've gotten the chance to rp with them too and I've had a blast interacting with them. Please do yourself a huge favor and follow them!

@dochttore ohohoho

Freaking Eddie, the Edster. Eddie is really quiet but they are very pleasant to chat with. They've always been considerate and I'm glad and count my blessings that they're someone I had gotten the chance to know. They are also a very amazing artist and I'm happy that every now and then I get to see their works in progress. Like I said before they are very quiet so most of the time I feel like I'm being too loud and annoying them by sending them messages on disc awraxa, but they're always really reassuring. I love the plots that we come up with and how open they are to exploring things because they also have some crazy ass ideas that very well match my own awraxa. So that makes me feel less crazy not gonna lie awraxa. Anyway, as a rper they are also great, their rp style is very easy to understand and to follow. I just love, like I can't express this enough, I love how Eddie's writing is always moving the scene forward, like there is always something left open on purpose for you to respond to. I can't say how frustrating it is sometimes when the scene just stays stagnant and it's something I really admire about the way they rp because it's something I want to get better at as well and I want to do all the time not just every now and then. I'm really thankful for their consideration for me and for sparing me some time off their busy life.

[storm-driver]

pray for ya boi, he’s gon try and finish ch 9 by sunday