#I just finished episode 41 and I was thinking about this the entire time

[midsummersmorn]

Thinking about how Vex managed to give the skull to Allura without anyone noticing

[curlyhairedbooklover]

How many times do Will and Hannibal say each other's names?

I have had this data sitting around finished for over a year (and started collecting it three years ago) and have finally decided to just share it! I’m splitting it up into three posts, this one is about how many times Will and Hannibal say each other’s names, the next adds in Jack and Alana, and the third is a bit of a departure as it’s about the gender split of the murder victims in the show!! 

Very quickly I’ll go over the format! I was particularly interested in what form of name people used so it’s split into first name, title, and full name (slightly varying depending on the needs of each table) as well as whether the character is speaking directly to the person whose name they are saying or if it’s to someone else!

Adding a disclaimer that I did this for fun so I haven’t double checked it meaning there may be some mistakes, but I tried my best! 😌

Getting into the data itself: first of all, Will says Hannibal’s name 109 times throughout the entire series, 29 of them are while talking to Hannibal himself and 80 are while talking to others. Will only uses Hannibal’s first name 48 times with none of them occurring in s1 and only 6 being while talking TO Hannibal himself… (Though the s2 one is in conversation with both Jack and Hannibal being more directed towards the former but Hannibal is present so it counts babeyy!!) He likes calling him just “Dr.” doing so 5 times but the majority of the time he uses “Dr. Lecter” when speaking to Hannibal making up the remaining 17 times! When talking about Hannibal he uses his name the most in s2 at 42 times but only 14 of those are his first name. He prefers to use a more impersonal form in s2 as opposed to s3 where he uses Hannibal’s name 34 times in conversation but a whole 28 of them are his first name!! He really said I’m on intimate terms with Hannibal now 😌. (Especially if we remember this is the season where he addressed Hannibal by his first name 5 times too….) 

Hannibal on the other hand uses Will’s name almost double the amount of times that Will uses his! Hannibal’s total comes to 204! Most of them are in s1&2 at 88 and 75 respectively, before dropping down to 41 times in s3 (2 times less than Will that season!) He also uses Will’s first name Significantly More at 184 times, in fact he only full names him 20 times! The only two times he uses Will’s full name while talking to him are in 1.11 when Will has a seizure in his living room and he’s doing the “It is [time], I am in [place] and my name is Will Graham” routine. Interestingly he uses Will’s full name 9 times while talking to others in s2 but they are exclusively in s2a, once Will got out of prison he went all in on ‘Will is my best friend’. Although I want to note that in 2.1 he uses Will’s first name while talking to others 10 times during the episode…… There are only three episodes in the entire show where he doesn’t use Will’s name and they are all in s3 (3.3, 3.4, and 3.7) he really tried to have his Hot Girl Summer and forget about his ex though luckily (for him and us) it did not last. And in 3.9 he uses Will’s name 15 times that episode and all of them were his first name, he’s down bad!! He simply can’t help it!! Across s3b he uses Will's name 32 times which is 78% of all the uses in s3, turns out going to prison for a man just makes you talk about him More!

This table also includes a side table of every time they talk to or about each other! Not much to note there except that they talk the most in s1&2 resting at 39 and 43 respectively before dropping to only 25 conversations in s3 but they are separated for 5 episodes so I think we can forgive them for that 🤷‍♀️ although they do have a few flashback or hallucination conversations (on that topic the two conversations in 2.4 are hallucinations from Will and the single conversation in 3.8 is technically the letter Hannibal sent Will but I felt like they deserved to be counted!!) When talking about each other Hannibal initially does so more, having 24 conversations in s1 as opposed to Will's 7 about him. Whereas they are more evenly matched in s2 with Will at 33 and Hannibal at 27. In s3 Will completely overtakes Hannibal talking about him 36 times to Hannibal's 13! It’s interesting that despite Will talking so little about Hannibal in s1 he ends up the ultimate winner at a total count of 76 conversations to Hannibal’s 64! But it's safe to say that with those totals they are both completely obsessed with the other 😌

To f i n a l l y let my English degree in for a minute it’s very telling that Will uses Hannibal’s first name sparingly, indicating that it took time for him to build intimacy and trust with him. If we look at the occasions in which he deploys it when talking to Hannibal he uses it as a weapon to induce Hannibal into doing things BY referencing their intimacy this way and letting it bleed into his words. This convinces Hannibal that he needs to go to prison so Will could always find him and later to go along with Will's plan to break him out. Hannibal on the other hand readily uses Will’s first name from the beginning and in fact does so More at this point than later on. This shows how he was fostering dependence and creating trust that he could then use to break Will and watching him break would in turn feed his curiosities about Will. There is also a notable jump in 3.8 in his use of Will's name since the beginning of the season, it marks the first time they have seen each other in 3 years. Now Hannibal is trying to re-ingratiate himself to Will while simultaneously throwing barbs at him to try to inflict some of the pain he felt in their separation and to test if Will felt the same anguish (which we know he of course did however much he denies it..)

I hope that this data has been interesting and most importantly has illuminated how insane they are about each other!! I would love to hear any other thoughts people have in the tags or comments!

(part 1) (part 2) (part 3)

Shoutout to @will-gayham for going insane about this with me for the past two years and being as enthusiastic about ✨data✨ as I am, love you! 🫶

[burningvelvet]

I finished Moby Dick. So, to continue my former post(s) documenting my thoughts, here we are (spoilers ahead):

captain ahab: i am once again asking hast thou seen the white whale

Narrator, for the 5 millionth time describing captain ahab: "MONOMANIACAL. MONOMANIAC. MONOMANIA."

I was thinking "the homosexual themes everyone talks about are really exaggerated apparently…" and then I got to the chapter about sperm squeezing

Stubb meeting with the French in chap 91 had the exact vibe of a filler episode on a comedy sitcom

there are a lot of moments that reminded me of The Office ngl like i could just imagine stubb in the little interview chair just talking. so much meme material. he's seriously just doing his own thing. the little random characters like the blacksmith and carpenter just talking shit and side-eyeing ahab in the background lmaoooo

Saint George didn't kill a dragon, it was a whale #THETRUTHREVEALED #WHALETRUTHERS

It would have been hilarious if the British people told Ahab that they already killed Moby Dick already before he could get to it. I was so hoping that would happen. Bonus points if it was the Rachel after he'd turned them away.

Ahab discusses the topic of madness a lot. It's almost like he's… mad...

I vote Ahab for the most Byronic hero to ever Byronic… Heathcliff and Rochester have nothing on him… The origin of the Byronic hero, Byron's titular character from the narrative poem Childe Harold, is literally mentioned by name in the novel and had to be a blatant inspiration - it could not be more obvious! (I have yet to encounter the famed Byronic heroes of Russian literature, most notably Eugene Onegin, a work where Byron is also blatantly name-dropped).

Everyone thinking Queequeg was dying and having a coffin made to his measurements and filled with grave goods at his direction and then him literally climbing into the coffin to test it out and then waiting silently to die…. then all of a sudden getting better and saying he chose to recover bc he remembered he had something on his to-do list….. iconic

Ishmael referring to Queequeg as "my Queequeg…" omg. Queerqueg

Queequeg drawing figures like the ones on his tattoos omg… au story where Queequeg is an artist/tattoo artist when???

I was literally saying "AWWWWW" out loud when Ahab and Pip were having their little moments

The irony of Ahab abandoning the Rachel then it coming back for Ishmael… the coffin lifeboat… etc… good stuff…

okay ahab is my man but yeah he was an asshole to the captain of rachel.

also feel bad for tashtego. he wanted that gold doubloon so bad and ahab was like SIKE, MOTHERFUCKER! umm tashtego did not get cut out of a whale by queequeg to deal with ur shit ahab!

Once again wanting a Black Sails/Moby Dick AU… I found this essay about the similarities between Flint/Ahab https://ijms.nmdl.org/article/view/22389/14361

They only have like 2-3 little moments together but like… Starbuck/Ahab kind of outdoing Ishmael/Queequeg there for a moment… chaps 132/134… oh my godddddddddddddd whyyyyyyy

Captain Ahab's moments in chapters 36/37 AAAAAHHHHH you will see me being normal about this

I noted some of my favorite Ahab moments/chapters and they are 36/37/41/70/99/108/109/113/115/116/119/125/129/132/134/135. Like I may seriously just re-read those chapters (no offense to Melville's whale facts, Stubb's jokes, & Pip's insanity)

the end is kind of similar to the great gatsby in the sense that you finally realize the entire novel was actually written for him to cope with his grief-related trauma & then suddenly it all makes sense. the lingering, the sentimentality regarding seemingly insignificant details or people, the meandering/digressing/procrastinating getting to the end, etc.

there are actually several moments -- i don't know if he actually referred to ahab or the others in past-tense specifically, but there were several moments where i felt like i kind of thought he was giving away the end before he did (it wasn't a shock to me bc i read about the end prior, but still)

[alteon77]

Updated Masterlist of Writing and Art

About the writer/artist: I like to write and paint. My current obsession is Sandman, but I enjoy most fantasy fandoms as well as anime (I think I’m on season seven billion of One Piece right now 🤣). I'm also weird as they come (and awkward, too), so just please ignore my oddball (coughTERRIBLEcough) sense of humor.

On a more personal note, I have PTSD and suffer from severe manic depressive episodes. Writing and art are my most familiar coping mechanisms, and I need them like I need oxygen. Seriously, there were times in my life that knowing I had to finish a story or a piece of art was the only thing stopping me from ending up dead. So, I don't take part in fandom drama. Having my peace and protecting my mental health are very big deals to me, and I won't risk those for anything if I can help it.

As for my writing, it ranges from short one-shots to ridiculously long novel series. I use third person POV (on longer series) as well as second person (on shorter things). I also try to always exclude physical descriptions when writing main character OCs and assign them nicknames to avoid using Y/N. I love to read Y/N fics, but writing them makes me feel like I'm at work. And who actually wants to ever feel like they're at work when they're engaging in a hobby? Definitely not me.

Lastly, there's usually more stuff on my AO3 page than I have listed here, because I forget to post it pretty often. Oops. I'll get around to moving it all over one day. Probably. Maybe.

Feel free to leave an ask if you want or just drop by my DMs. <3

Artwork links are at the bottom of this list, so if you're here for those, that's where they are.

Sandman 'Verse

All the Precious and Fragile Things (so easily do they break)

After banishing his lover from the Dreaming for her betrayal, Morpheus learns that she is pregnant with his child.

And that she’s been captured by a revenge-seeking Alexander Burgess.

What the both of them are unaware of is that this will set in motion a cascade of unfavorable events, causing a chain reaction that threatens the whole of existence itself.

PART I: All of This Past

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

PART II: These Tender, Loving Mercies

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

PART III: When It All Falls Down

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

PART IV: The Dark of War

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Epilogue

Sometimes He's Sweet

Morpheus hates the holidays.

As excited as she seems to experience the mortal holiday, he's… less so. Much less so. With the entire collective unconscious contained within him, this time of year can be wholly overwhelming, a miasma of too much red and green, too much worry, too much loneliness, too much excitement, too many similarly themed dreams, too many similarly themed nightmares, and far far too many holiday songs. It all bleeds out from the collective unconscious into his own mind, sticks there like weeping sap to a tree until he feels half-mad with the unrelenting presence of it, with his inability to get free from its cloying trespass upon his very being.

This is just a little sweet fluff for the holiday season. It takes place between chapters 19 and 20 of "All the Precious and Fragile Things". No spoilers here if you've read that far!

The Dog Debacle (or how best to sneak a dragon into the dreaming)

Morpheus' daughter gets a new dog.

Well..... kind of.

That Familiar Feeling of Family (or how Hob Gadling ended up as an uncle to his stranger's oftentimes feral children)

It's a pretty universally known thing that families are just strange. As Hob is quickly figuring out, however, this little fact is magnified by AT LEAST a billion when the family in question is Endless.

(A lighthearted story in which Hob Gadling finds out his stranger has married, makes friends with a homicidal maniac/ruler, and manages to become an exemplary uncle to a pack of magically mischievous children. Really, now all he has to do is convince everyone to stop calling his and Dream's weekly meetups "playdates", and then his life would be practically perfect.)

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

The Maker, the Muse, and the Sundered Song

In his temple, what remains of Orpheus waits in trepidation. Something is changing. Something that he knows might alter the very fabric of the world as he understands it.

Finally freed from captivity, Calliope struggles to make any meaningful changes to the laws that saw her bound and taken in the first place. When the strange woman appears on Mount Parnassus and offers help, Calliope knows she would be a fool not to accept it. Even if she thinks that she's being lied to.

Meanwhile in the peace of the Dreaming, Morpheus grapples with guilt over his son's fate. As he basks in the love of his new children, he can't help but to regret his own failings where Orpheus is concerned.

And as for May, she's really just got a job to do. And her own traumatic issues to deal with. And if it's all hella awkward because she's having to work alongside her husband's ex-wife, she'll see it done anyway. There's even the small possibility that she might eventually admit to Calliope the truth about her identity. That is if she can ever actually work up the courage to say it aloud.

Chapter 1

Nothing in This Closet but Boots and a Boy

Morpheus is wildly protective of his daughter.

That's probably bad for the boy in said daughter's closet.

AU's and Other Stuff in the Sandman 'Verse

Of Exes, Hellhounds, and Waffle Fries

Morpheus shows up to rescue the woman he probably loves (though he won't admit it) from hellhounds and ends up getting roped into helping with her family. This is one of those extras that doesn't fit into the main story, but it's fun, so I'm posting it.

The Bizarre Breeding Habits of Anthropomorphic Personifications

It's a tale as old as time.

Two idiots fall in love. Two idiots fall out of love.

Neither one of them is expecting a baby to come along and derail their unhappily ever after.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Original Fanart

I like to play around with different styles and to try new things with my artwork. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. I'm still learning, and I am so far from being a professional that it's laughable. But I only post things that I think look decent or that I think others might enjoy.

The Lover's Argument (Morpheus x oc)

Oneiros (Morpheus in Grecian garb)

Because I could not stop for Death, she kindly stopped for me... (Regency era Dream and Death)

[hrts4wonu]

“이상한 왕국” : spoilers

translation: the strange kingdom

you grew up in a small village, in a kingdom ruled by an evil queen who's time will soon end which was being celebrated by your peers. but, little did they know, another kingdom has arrived not to celebrate along with you all, and instead end the innocent lives of the people who live in this kingdom. the large, thick concrete walls that circled the kingdom crashed to the floor and fires were spreading everywhere. nobody else had escaped in time, you think. for days, you ran and ran and ran. far away from the kingdom that you thought was safe forever. 'what was i thinking? there's no forever, just like what my mom said.' you say to yourself as you crash to your knees, tired and barely having enough energy to run anymore. your eyesight was getting blurry the more you ran, and you brushed it off like it was nothing. you finally found the energy to run again after resting. your stomach was grumbling and you were in pain; nobody else survived except you and you were just running away from all of it. just as you were about to stand up, you fall to the ground losing your consciousness. and before you knew it, a kind-hearted prince approaches your figure and yells something out loud to the people near him that you just couldn't find the energy to pay attention to. 'fate' you thought before completely closing your eyes and fading into the dark abyss. when you woke up the next day, you were in some sort of bed. you gathered everything inside of you to stand up and walk— which, you couldn't quite do because of your exhausted legs and the wounds on them. the same prince from yesterday approached you worryingly and places you back on the bed, “what happened? are you okay?” he utters in such a panicked yet loving voice. you shook your head no in response. “another kingdom.. attacked ours.” you add to your nod, looking away with a frown. and from then on, you and the prince had become great friends; you now lived in the so called ‘isanghan wang-gug’ or in english, ‘the strange kingdom’

tags. seventeen, royal au, ex ruler reader / yn, ot13, colonized village, kingdoms, fantasy, fairytale

warnings. violence (not quite), smut, slowburn, harem, seventeen x reader, arguments, swearing, sparring, unprotected sex (don't do this), overstimulation, tying up / bdsm, forced marriage, etc. (tell me if i missed anything!)

a/n: hey, starlings. kim here<3 this royal au is not inspired by anyone (i'm serious btw). this idea originated from the time where i used to play minecraft and i just all of a sudden went like 'oh my god, what if i make castles for seventeen? like an entire kingdom?' and i did. i wasn't able to technically finish it due to the fact that my minecraft wouldn't open anymore and yeeahh.. anyways, i made my own lore for it but instead of sending it to my friends i wanted to post it here on tumblr instead ^_^

-👑-

RELEASE DATE : January 1, 2024 - January 13, 2024 (between those dates)

UPDATES : every 2 weeks / 1 month

MASTERLIST ;

MEMBERS & INFORMATION:

#1:

#2:

SEASON 1: The Journey Begins

ep 1:

ep 2:

ep 3:

ep 4:

ep 5:

ep 6:

ep 7:

ep 8:

ep 9:

ep 10:

SEASON 2: Eye Of The Evil

ep 11:

ep 12:

ep 13:

ep 14:

ep 15:

ep 16:

ep 17:

ep 18:

ep 19:

ep 20:

SEASON 3: Equality's Dead

ep 21:

ep 22:

ep 23:

ep 24:

ep 25:

SEASON 4: The Hurricane

ep 26:

ep 27:

ep 28:

ep 29:

ep 30:

ep 31:

ep 32:

ep 33:

SEASON 5: Roses, Wine, & Assassin 8

ep 34:

ep 35:

SEASON 6: Hidden Secrets

ep 36:

ep 37:

ep 38:

ep 39:

ep 40:

ep 41:

ep 42:

ep 43:

ep 44:

ep 45:

SEASON 7: One Last Glimpse

ep 46:

ep 47:

ep 48:

ep 49:

ep 50:

a/n 2 : i might do more but for now, i will try continuing this and finishing all 7 seasons in 2024. i'm currently going to start with the first episodes now and might make the release date earlier than what i want it to be or maybe push it back to a later date.

[sshbpodcast]

Tales from the Holodeck: ENT Fanfic: Caitlin’s Story

Celebration! We’ve luckily finished Star Trek: Enterprise here on A Star to Steer Her By, and good riddance. There’s only one thing left to do in our typical style: show the writers how it’s really done by writing up our own fanfic stories and teleplays with carefully selected characters from the series. Will they end up better than most episodes of Enterprise? Low bar, folks.

Let’s start things off with Caitlin’s installment in our “Tales from the Holodeck” fanfic series, featuring some homewrecker lasses and the ship pairing we’ve been asking for since season one of the show! Follow along below and/or listen to the cold reads on this week’s podcast episode (this one starts at 1:41). Ready, Set, Flirt!

[images © Paramount/CBS]

“Bachelor Number Fun”

By Caitlin

Random Main Character Pick(s): Reed, Trip Character Draft Picks: Feezal, Tarah

Malcolm had wanted to get his life together ever since he had met his future self and found he was still utterly alone.

So when Trip had suggested putting together some game shows (like they had in the 20th century), Malcolm leapt at the chance to be a contestant on The Dating Game.

He sat in a chair, dressed in his finest, while behind a screen sat three potential dates. His role was to ask questions to determine who would be his ideal match.

Mayweather was hosting (both because of his charming good looks, and because he frankly got left out of a lot of the ship’s shenanigans), and he introduced the show to the audience - made up of the entire crew.

“Bachelor number one,” said Malcolm (thank goodness they had done away with most gendered language in the 23rd century!). “What would your ideal first date be?”

“I think an intimate evening together, a coffee date at a quiet, dark cafe, followed by a romantic concert… Anything that gives us a chance to learn about each other and appreciate each other in beauty,” came the response.

“Very nice,” Malcolm said appreciatively. “I love that answer… Bachelor number two, same question.”

“Ideally, we’d begin by destroying our enemies, and would then celebrate by roasting meat on an open flame, and feed each other with our bare hands.”

“Certainly an… intriguing first date,” said Malcolm, suddenly very afraid of Bachelor number two. “Bachelor number three, same question.”

“Well,” drawled the third voice. “I’d like to cook my date my favorite meal, fried catfish, mashed potatoes and collard greens. Then, we’d watch a classic film and cuddle up together. Maybe something scary, so I could hold you if you were afraid.”

Malcolm smiled in spite of himself. The voice was charming and friendly, and he knew he could trust that person with his life.

After a few more questions, Malcolm was somewhat embarrassed to ask, “uh, Bachelor number one - we’ve been seeing each other for some time, and things have gotten hot and heavy. What would your ideal first time - uh, making whoopee - be like?”

“Well, the first time we make love, I'd want it to be somewhere quiet and private, so that when we reach our climaxes, We can be free with the pleasure we feel,” purred Bachelor number One. “Oh, and I'd want to make sure there was plenty of seating - my five husbands will want to watch. Maybe even if join, if you're comfortable with that.”

“I’m… not sure about that, but I appreciate your candor,” stammered Malcolm, now completely terrified of Bachelor number One. “Bachelor Number two - same question.”

“After we’ve defeated our enemies, still covered in their cooling blood,” growled Bachelor Number Two. “We throw ourselves onto the floor of an ice cave and ravish each other.”

He was definitely afraid of Bachelor Number Two. “Uh… Bachelor Number Three, same question, please.”

“Well… I don’t know that there’s a one size fits all answer here,” said Bachelor Number Three. “I think when the moment is right, you just know. And then you go where the spirit takes ya.”

“Well, that’s just about all the time we have,” said Mayweather. “Malcolm, who do you choose for your very special date for a private dinner prepared by Chef?”

He didn’t even need a second to consider. “Everyone seems lovely,” he said, diplomatic, “but I have to go with… Bachelor Number Three.”

“Congratulations, Bachelor Number Three!” crowed Mayweather. “Before we bring him out, let’s see who you didn’t choose!”

Bachelor Number One, it turns out, was none other than Feezal, one of Phlox’s many wives (and certainly his most comely, by his own reckoning); Bachelor Number Two was Tarah, an Andorian the Enterprise crew had once encountered when they were teamed up with Shran.

“And now,” said Mayweather, hardly able to suppress a smile, “let’s meet your date!”

And of course, Bachelor Number Three was… Trip. Malcolm felt giddy. It should have always been Trip. He stood, and the two men embraced. 

Maybe now, Malcolm though, the future would be brighter. Maybe now, 20 years from now, he wouldn’t be alone.

-Fin-

—

For more Enterprise fanfic, check out Chris, Ames, and Jake’s stories from this year’s “Tales from the Holodeck”! Be sure to keep listening to new episodes every Thursday on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and we’ll pick you up at eight for your hot date!

[bvannn]

Weekly Update November 29, 2024

I’ve had awful insomnia and not a lot of motivation to draw, but I think I figured out why the second one is true: I recently moved into a new apartment, and it has terrible ventilation, and my hands are freezing cold all the time! It’s going to get worse as winter approaches, since I live in the Midwest, but I ordered a space heater today to hopefully remedy this for now, plus I’m trying to get a better job so I can move somewhere nicer, but I guess a degree in the field and a couple years of experience in the field aren’t good enough nowadays. I think it’s because no one wants new employees once they realize they need to pay them, so they put out listings that never get filled. It’s fine I’m doing what I can about it. I’m trying to work around my problems.

Drawing has been very limited due to cold hands, insomnia leaving me with a lack of energy, and some illness flareups. They’ve been extra bad this week for whatever reason, probably stress. I did a couple more epithet erased TTRPG drawings at the beginning of the week, got some maps done and decorated. I figured out the digital tabletop I want to use insofar as map making, I’ll have a friend walk me through fog of war and other features at some point. I wrote out a doc with the villains’ backstory, and I’m getting really attached, which is great. I’ll post tokens for some of them once I have them. Theoretically I could run the first ‘episode’ as soon as the last tokens for that are finished, but I think I’m going to put it off until I have stuff for the next couple episodes done.

I’ve fiddled around with music stuff this week but tried to stick with what I’ve already started. I posted Raccoon Rock, I’ve done a similar animation loop for the Blow Off Steam re-edit to make a lyric video out of, and I have sketches for a few other cover arts, including one for a batch. I have plans for that batch, finally, but I’m still going to release the songs first, just for the sake of having something to release. I found a couple vocaloid producer mutuals on Bluesky so that should help with motivation.

FF has the first round of tuning done, I did learn about a new program called tunelab which can help with pitchbends and pronunciation, although I’m not sure it’s entirely legal? If it is I’m totally using it though it looks really nice. I also finagled with my vocal mixing strategies again to get a hold on how to do growls, and I found a much easier method than what I was doing. I’ve been finaggling with OBS again and maybe if my hands are still cold next week and I run out of stuff to do that involves drawing I’ll make a tutorial.

I did a bit more of another animation project that’s been on the back burner, that’s also at a bottleneck since I need to draw more assets. Comic has also been going pretty slow due to art bottleneck but I did get page 12 finished and page 13 is sketched, we’re 41% done. I think right now the main concern is going to be waiting for that space heater, I’ll try to catch up on sleep and maybe watch cartoons or something to fix my mood. I do have another craft project I could do but I’m not going to start another craft project until a couple more art things are off my plate.

It is Black Friday so I’m tempted to spend money on something for my mood, but right now I’m just raiding all the music plugin giveaways. Maybe I’ll write some smaller songs to throw on the pile of unreleased music. Or maybe not, who knows.

[duhragonball]

Super Dragon Ball Heroes 41-43

Ma’am, you must be new.  That’s all they ever do around here.

We’ve finally reached the home stretch, which is the Supreme Kai of Time arc that begins in Episode 41.  As far as I can tell, the arc continues through Episode 49, and still isn’t finished.  I think episode 50 will go live in a few months, but it still hasn’t been scheduled, so my plan is to just cover up to 49 and maybe write an update later in the year.

Also, since I’ve only got one arc left, I’m going to treat myself and do this three episodes at a time, so we can go over this at a more leisurely pace. 

We open with Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time, meeting with her predecessor, Aeos.  I’m confused about how this works, since you would think Aeos would have died before Chronoa was appointed to take her place, but I guess we’ll learn more about this as we go. Anyway, Aeos disapproves of the way Chronoa has allowed so many alternate timelines to propogate, so she’s come out of retirement to confiscate the Scroll of Eternity. Chronoa vows to resist this, but Aeos has backup in the form of those guys in hooded uniforms, like Brown Goku from the last arc.

Soon after this, Goku is invited to a special competition called the Super Space-Time Tournament.  Goku’s in like Flynn.

Goku arrives to find the usual suspects: Jiren, Hit, Piccolo, Gohan, Vegeta, and... Yamcha?  He says the tournament promoter knows what’s up, and I agree.  Good luck, Yamcha.

I had heard SDBH was doing a tournament, but didn’t understand how they could hope to do a tournament arc justice in this kind of format. Well, this one’s pretty quick.  It’s 12 teams of 7, so that’s 84 fighters competing all at once, similar to the Tournament of Power, but the time limit for the first round is only 24 minutes.  To advance, your team can either defeat every other team on the board, or you can capture one of three fairies that are fluttering around the battlefield.

So only three teams can advance, and the other 63 fighters will be eliminated, so I don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about those guys.  Suffice to say, there’s a Ginyu Force team, an all-Androids team, and so on. 

There’s some decent matchups here, like Broly vs. Jiren, Goku vs. Xeno Goku, Trunks vs. Tapion, and Janemba vs. Kid Buu, but none of these get much time to shine, so it sort of doesn’t matter.

Oh, right, Hit vs. Hirudegarn.  That’s pretty cool.

Also, Turles vs. Super Saiyan 3 Raditz?  Neat.

It all looks really cool, except it gets cut short when Yamcha captures a fairy by luck, and his entire team gets teleported back to where they started from. 

There’s a Time Patroller team, and they also caught a fairy, so that’s two teams who advance.  The third is a team with Hearts, Cumber, Cooler, and Frieza, among others. 

What about the others?  Well their timelines were erased once they washed out of the tournament.  One of Aeos’ guys explains that rule, and Trunks angrily attacks, demanding to retrieve the Scroll of Eternity for Chronoa.  They fight for a while, until...

Aeos steps in and freezes time to halt their brawl.  They were in the middle of shooting energy balls at each other, so she opens up portals to make them disappear.  Aeos explains her position on how there’s too many timelines, and she intends to use the tournament to solve that problem.

So on to the second round.  The surviving 21 fighters are divvied up and sent to four different battlegrounds.  There, they must attempt to capture a fairy from one of Aeos’ hechmen, and deliver it to her in the center of the four areas.  I think that’s the idea, anyway.  Since there’s three teams and four fairies, I guess that means one team must score at least two fairies, which would make them the winner. 

At the Namekian battleground, Aeos’ man disrobes to reveal he’s another Piccolo.  Gohan and our Piccolo are the representatives for “our” team.

Curiously, three of their teammates are on this other battleground: Yamcha, Vegeta, and Hit.   Their opponent is Vidro, who seems to be of the same species as Lagss from Hearts’ gang about 25 episodes back.

On the third battleground, Trunks continues his fight with the guy from before, and it soon becomes clear that he’s...

Future Gohan, from a timeline where he survived the Androids, but Trunks and Bulma did not.  Somehow, Aeos recruited him and empowered him with the Dark Dragon Balls, and he’s resolved to never be weak or defeated again. 

They do battle, and Trunks is dismayed to find that Gohan is very different from the man who taught him all those years ago. 

So that leaves Goku and Jiren in the fourth battleground to face...

Well, whoever this guy is.  You figure it out.  I can’t be bothered.

[commander-quack-to-the-bridge]

I posted 184 times in 2022

That's 184 more posts than 2021!

46 posts created (25%)

138 posts reblogged (75%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@crystal-mouse

@reffitt-blog1

@your-name-is-jim

@frogayyyy

@sleepingisgoodforthesoul

I tagged 148 of my posts in 2022

Only 20% of my posts had no tags

#star trek - 102 posts

#spock - 97 posts

#jim kirk - 57 posts

#starfeed - 51 posts

#star trek aos - 41 posts

#star trek tos - 32 posts

#bones mccoy - 32 posts

#leonard mccoy - 25 posts

#aos spock - 24 posts

#the original series - 23 posts

Longest Tag: 119 characters

#i know i've watched a couple episodes of tos now and i am actually wondering what the hell that was even supposed to be

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Another iconic Beyond moment.

The fact that they are talking about Bones without having to name him. They just know each other well enough. They know him.

The fact that Spock is like, fuck it I spent the last several hours (days???) with him. His presence isn't so bad. I can handle it a bit longer. I already thought we were going to die together once. I can do it again.

Kirk being like, here we go again. Another southern gentlemanly rant about how he's a doctor not something else. These two idiots better know how much I love them because I am so fucking tired.

Bones screaming inside and trying to be marginally calm on the surface. You know he is cussing Spock and Jim up one side and down the other. You know it. We almost got to see it.

238 notes - Posted November 4, 2022

#4

omfggggggg

not the way Kirk says, "Spock, it seems only fair to warn you that I have absolutely no intention of obeying Admiral Diegaro's order to abandon an entire planet of innocent beings to horrible deaths. Since this makes me unequivocally guilty of insubordination, I'll understand if you need to relieve me of command and put me in the brig."

And Spock responding with an arched eyebrow, "And who will put me in the brig with you?"

Excerpted from More Beautiful Than Death by David Mack

256 notes - Posted October 7, 2022

#3

silly little headcanon time

since we get to see Spock basically quote Sherlock Holmes, it is now my belief that he's read the books.

Sherlock was Spock's first crush. He found his logic and demeanor interesting and flattering, appreciated the way he never had time for people that weren't willing to listen to him and/or some sort of asset to him. Appreciated that Sherlock plays violin, especially when he needs time to just sit and ponder some big mystery. Found his chemical dependency illogical but could over look it because he was amazing to read about. There wasn't anything Sherlock couldn't achieve with his logic and higher level of thinking. And then Spock grew a bit older and realized that wasn't a crush at all, it was more along the lines of representation. He related to Sherlock, he wasn't crushing on the man. With that knowledge he decided to spend his spare time rereading his mother's old books.

Only on his reread the only character he could seem to pay attention to was Dr. John Watson. The way he acted without thinking, how angry he would get with Sherlock for being so apathetic towards everyone and everything that wasn't the case he was actively involved with. The way Watson seemed to balance out the parts of Sherlock that were disliked by the vast majority of characters in the story. The head strong soldier who was willing to risk it all to help someone in need. He found his infatuation with John Watson fascinating. Eventually he finishes his reread of the old stories and gets caught up in growing up.

He recalls Sherlock Holmes from time to time, typically in passing, often when he looks at a fellow Starfleet officer and says, "Once you eliminate the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

And then he meets the hard headed, fiery, strong willed cadet who already - in his first two weeks in the academy - made a reputation for himself being quick to act, James Tiberius Kirk.

289 notes - Posted October 12, 2022

#2

When the events of Star Trek 2009 take place Chekov is 17.

He is seventeen when he witnesses the death of almost six billion people.

Seventeen when he saves Sulu and Kirk from slamming to their deaths but minutes later loses Amanda as the surface of Vulcan gives way & he is unable to lock onto her signal. He's a child, the death of someone else's mother is on his hands.

Chekov watched as a few elders and Spock appeared in the transporter, saw the look of devastation on his face as Spock realized his mother was now gone. They returned to the bridge and watched as a planet died, knowing there was nothing to be done about it.

Chekov's calculations were correct and it must have been the worst feeling in the universe. He had to hope - even if it was just in the back of his head - that he was wrong. He had most likely never wished for anything more in his young life.

All of this... only to then be present when Kirk forced Spock into showing that he was emotionally compromised. Hearing Kirk goad Spock with, "It must not even compute for you. You never loved her!" only to see someone he most likely admires lose his mind. No one on the bridge, except his father, could have imagined Spock in such a state.

You can't convince me that Chekov didn't internalize that. He had to have been feeling poorly as it was - to run through the halls shouting, "I can do that I can do that!" and save two men only to lose someone a few moments later in a similar situation. I know I'm repeating myself here but I remember being 17 and internalizing all kinds of things.

The one break Chekov probably had was taken from him when Spock snapped. To see Spock react logically must have been a level of comfort, even if on some level Chekov knew it was probably a lie.

And then to be the one that came up with the plan to hide the entirety of the Enterprise??? To go through all of that and still be mentally present is a kind of strength that is unimaginable for me.

I like to think that after the events of that day McCoy is making his rounds, checking in on everyone. When he gets to Chekov the kid smiles and says, "Everything is fine with me, sir."

McCoy gives him a look before responding, "Ever eager, huh? You didn't even let me ask my question."

"What question is that?"

"How are you?"

Three simple words. And Chekov's illusion he built for himself shatters.

Seeing Vulcan destroyed was bad enough. But he hasn't been able to sleep without seeing Amanda disappear from the screen, seeing Spock hit Kirk over and over with displaced rage, hearing Spock's voice shake as he says, "Doctor, I am no longer fit for duty. I here by relinquish my command based on the fact that I have been emotionally compromised. Please note the time and date in the ship's log.", or waking up scared that Spock will blame him, because why wouldn't he?

303 notes - Posted September 30, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Can we just... Look at this.

The look Spock gives him 🙃 he knows in that moment he can't leave Jim, despite what logic might say is best for New Vulcan.

457 notes - Posted October 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[some-zer0]

It took me half a year and two relistens but I finally finished timestamping this! I've also added some annotations cause this took up a decent chunk of my life and I think I deserve to give my little comments as a treat (and also cause I found some fun stuff in the transcripts while looking for these). Outtakes aren't in the transcripts, so all of those were a special little hell for me to find.

Episode names with a * next to them mean that they're from that episode's outtakes.

Start-00:22 (RQG 81 - Breakfast with Dessert)

This soundclip lowkey drove me insane. I knew that it was from the group's journey across Newton's office, but Hamid's "I don't recognize this, which opera's it from?" is miswritten in the transcript so cntrl-f couldn't find it and everyone's singing is literally written out as "do do do do do" so cntrl-f was useless for that too. I ended up just listening to those couple of episodes on 2x speed until I found this clip...

00:22-00:26 (RQG 214 - Guivres)

00:26-00:39 (RQG 41 - Chariots and Catacombs)

00:39-00:43 (RQG 34 - Le Gai Paris!)

00:43-00:57 (RQG 106 - Special Delivery)

00:57-01:03 (RQG 211 - The Writer's Tale)

01:03-01:05 (RQG 136 - Trouble at the Top*)

They're talking about fanart someone did of Grizzop where they 1) made him sexy (of course) and 2) gave him Ben's hair (why). I'm not sure if this is the exact fanart they were referencing here, but it is indeed cursed

01:05-01:12 (RQG 35 - The Exposition Box)

01:12-01:18 (RQG 38 - Brutor Is...)

01:18-01:20 (RQG 110 - Cracking Up)

01:20-01:27 (RQG Into the Wilds pt. 2)

They're talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger

01:27-01:44 (RQG 41 - Chariots and Catacombs)

01:44-01:46 (RQG 74 - Upstairs Downstairs)

01:46-01:48 (RQG 137 - Lightning Round*)

Ben uses his Elias voice for crimes

01:48-02:11 (RQG 153 - The Chatter Box)

02:11-02:16 (RQG 93 - The Curse!!!)

Ben's "A what?" sounded so much like his Zolf voice that I kept going through the Paris arc trying to find this clip, only to realize during a relisten that it was an entirely different arc that didn't even have Zolf in it. Also, the number of exclamation marks in the title is different between the episode listing on Spotify and the transcript header

02:16-02:21 (RQG 34 - Le Gai Paris!)

02:21-02:23 (RQG 136 - Trouble at the Top)

02:23-02:45 (RQG 48 - Ctrl Alt Destroy!*)

02:45-03:00 (RQG 110 - Cracking Up)

In between this clip and the previous pump hole one, Alex mentions that Ben's been saying "pump hole" a lot outside of recording. Why we'll never know. Also, here's the full pump hole bit from that episode

03:00-03:15 (RQG 211- The Writer's Tale)

03:15-03:19 (RQG 74 - Upstairs Downstairs)

03:19-03:27 (RQG 100 - Disappearing Act)

03:27-03:33 (RQG 214 - Guivres)

I forgot how funny the finale was

03:33-03:42 (RQG 93 - The Curse!!!)

03:42-03:45 (RQG Post-Campaign Q&A pt. 1)

This is about Grizzop

03:45-04:08 (RQG Into the Wilds pt. 3)

04:08-04:14 (RQG 41 - Chariots and Catacombs)

04:14-04:17 (RQG 93 - The Curse!!!)

04:17-04:26 (RQG 110 - Cracking Up)

This is another clip that took me absolutely forever to find. I literally ctrl-f'd "erotic" and "sexy" for every single episode and still couldn't find this until a relisten. Also, it's from a section where they're discussing what new stuff they got from leveling up, and is immediately preceded by Ben telling Bryn, "Oh, sorry - shh, shut up, it's still Ben Time!"

04:26-04:34 (RQG 106 - Special Delivery)

04:34-04:41 (RQG 46 - Theseus' Ship)

After listening to the show so many times I honestly forgot how ridiculous Mr. Ceiling's name was at first

04:41-04:44 (RQG 61 - Skyships and Harlequins)

Fun fact: Bryn's "No!" is so high-pitched that it's misattributed to Lydia in the transcripts

04:44-05:15 (RQG 110 - Cracking Up)

05:15-05:20 (RQG 212 - Final Rest)

05:20-05:41 (RQG 40 - Wheels Within Wheels)

05:41-05:54 (RQG 91 - Can't We All Just Get Along*)

05:54-06:00 (RQG 217 - Last Stand)

06:00-06:17 (RQG 123 - Plane and Simple)

06:17-06:24 (Metacast 7: Longplay)

Helen's cut-off line at the end there is, "Let's not go there because remember that time he shaved it off and we were all like, 'UGHAHUHAHUUU!'"

06:24-06:29 (RQG 28 - Not So Hard Time)

06:29-06:34 (RQG 93 - The Curse!!!)

06:34-06:38 (RQG 48 - Ctrl Alt Destroy!*)

06:38-06:50 (RQG 106 - Special Delivery)

06:50-06:57 (RQG 212 - Final Rest)

06:57-07:07 (RQG 36 - Contracts and Calculators)

07:07-07:13 (RQG 139 - Blobs, Spikes, Spiders, & Booms)

This was the last clip I found. The surprisingly high number of encounters with oozes and goos and the fact that Bryn's line doesn't really have any words that are easy for me to ctrl-f efficiently meant I just had to catch this on a relisten. Also, this is, of course, about Zolf's nudity

07:13-07:41 (RQG 141 - All the Way Down)

Here's the full clip for this (really, it just includes Bryn saying, "I bless the rains down in Africa," in his best Elias impersonation)

07:41-07:47 (RQG 110 - Cracking Up)

07:47-07:57 (RQG 209 - Shades of Red)

07:57-08:03 (RQG 218 - Erasing the Line)

08:03-08:14 (RQG 217 - Last Stand)

Helen calling Ben and Alex by their full names when she's upset with them is one of my favorite bits

08:14-End (RQG 110 - Cracking Up*)

a serious podcast.

[aspiring-holistic-otaku]

Season 2 Ramble#1 - New Year New Worlds

This month's episode is about the isekai genre, isekai literally being a Japanese word that basically translates to "different world". Very self descriptive as what generally happens in these stories is someone gets sent to/from some other world.

Gotta be upfront right off the bat here and say that before this month I was never really a big fan of the genre, for a couple reasons I'll get into later. So heading into January I thought I'd be forcing myself through reads but I was pleasantly surprised at the number of things I liked and how much I found myself liking them.

Lastly before getting into it, for the most part I read stuff on manga4life.com, especially stuff that's not in any official app

top 5 Isekai read this month:

#5 Overlord (Original light novel by Kugane Maruyama with Fugin Miyama doing the Story & Art for the manga) [read 41/71 chapters | ongoing]

The story here is that a popular virtual reality game is closing down and the main character decides to stay logged in until the very last second, but after the scheduled time has passed, the mc finds he hasn't been and can't log out.

NPCS really coming to life is always cool, and in overlord after the mc did some investigating he realized he's not actually in the game, he's in a whole new world. It's got pretty neat characters and nice strong character designs.

It's been sort of predictable.. unless… something ever turns out poorly for the main character or something…. but I'm gonna add a grain of salt here and restate that I'm not up to date + buildup is something I can appreciate.. and tbh despite how OFTEN games are used as the gateway to some "other world, it will probably never get old for me,, but execution is key.. and so far overlord is just about average..

#4 latna saga: survival of a sword king (Gyeong-Bae Im did the Original Light novel Story while Sun-Gyu Gwon does the Story & Art in the manhwa/webtoon) [read 81/153 chapters | hiatus]

The MC just finished mandatory military service but hasn't been able to find the drive to do anything and so becomes a shut in. This ramble is all Isekai so as you can guess, he's inexplicably transported to another world and made to kill monsters and level up like a game, with the promise of a safe trip home if he completes his quests. He's even given a guide that tells him what level things are, identifies items and gives him a tutorial, but the catch is his guide has a glitch that trapped him in the tutorial for somewhere around 20 years..

Pros, he got strong as shit. Cons he's stuck at level 5 but nothing gives him enough experience to level up anymore.

A bit of a spoiler but the first thing I'd like to say is how much I loved the plot point that coming from another world was not welcomed by the residents. Not at all a fan of xenophobia but that sort of preset aggro situation tends to and did make for fun high paced kicks, with some nice hijinks sprinkled in.

Also the title and first few chapters led me to believe this would be a darker read but comedy was definitely it's strong point... 20+ years of solitude fighting demon dogs everyday definitely did unquestionable damage to this young man's mental health.

It admittedly has a certain pull, maybe because I really fuck with swords, and I'm definitely going to catch up outside this episode, but it didn't feel like reading it brought much surprises. just comfortable victories. But I'm still going to say to go support it by reading it's official release on the tapas app if you can.

#3 loner life in another world (again this started out as a light novel originally done by Goji Shoji, meanwhile the manga story & art is done by Bibi) [read 118/164 chapters | ongoing]

I think by now you can assume that the main character in this story gets transported to another world, they do put some effort into distincting themselves though as the MC's entire class actually gets isekai'd

and they were pretty meta with the mc actually not wanting to go to another world and get caught up in some grand quest, he was sort of alright just chilling and tbh I get it man.. I get it..

The art is pretty solid but again it's predictable and I know I've been saying that for everything but in this one they fr have the class split into jocks, nerds, girlbosses and etc. just like highschool musical… the characters and story was kinda cute… but just slightly more overbearing the more it went on… just like highschool musical...

I should also note that I really fucked with the mc's whole thing of just being a loner that likes to chill and not some loner edgelord that realizes we live in a society every few chapters.. that was definitely a factor in it's position on this list.

#2 murim login (Zero big on story, Cheol-byeok Jang on art)[I got 138/138 chapters | the story is ongoing]

In this fictional world, monsters come to earth and special awakened humans called hunters fight them. Our Mc is a low ranking hunter who happens upon a virtual reality game capsule that sends him to the martial heroes' world.

Off the bat i have to say it's hella predictable story progression wise, like he pretty much just gets quests and does them but it's just so funny, I think mainly because of how poorly the mc is hiding that he's not from there but idk I was having some pretty good laughs.

Also I have a huge bias towards martial arts which I think they illustrated pretty well so that's basically all I'm gonna say on that.

#1 omniscient reader (back to light novel source material here with Sing-Shong doing the original, then UMI doing the manhwa story and sleepy c on art)

This was my favourite for a few reasons, but my favourite reason was that, what i thought would make for a very predictable, fresh out the factory isekai, turned into a very engaging read.

The story is that creatures, monsters, catastrophes and etc are coming to earth, forcing humanity into survival scenarios and streaming it to audiences of beings called constellations for their entertainment. The thing is that as events start to play out, the MC realizes that what's happening follows the events of his favourite light novel, three ways to survive the apocalypse.

As I said it was surprisingly engaging for something that seems to have the solution embedded in the literal title, but even though the mc had a definitively clear advantage, things definitely did not play out smoothly.

Great art. That cannot be understated. Coloured and everything so big shout out to sleepy c the artist fr.

Pretty well written, solid and varied cast. Lots of moving parts with fun unique interactions and the pacing has been REALLY great so far. Really appreciated the nice post apocalyptic realism where shit is genuinely fucked and it's not like the mc and his crew move like they own the moral high horse or something.

There's some nice tongue in cheek meta and the story generally has the feeling that it takes itself seriously but not too seriously where it feels like characters only exist for a specific set of events.

Also there's a bunch of mythology references via the constellations and though I think mythological crossovers make for pretty easy points, omniscient reader's execution made me look forward to and enjoy almost every single one.

With this one I also definitely fucked with the main character as their whole thing was being an avid reader 😅

Really really good, maybe not really really really good but really really good especially for an isekai. Not that I think anyone should really care about anyone else's scores but I gave it an 8/10. Definitely the read that pulled me into it the most

top 5 Isekai before this month:

(again I'd like to note I wasn't a big fan of the genre before this month and never really purposely consumed any before so a few of these are half joke half technicalities)

#5 death note by Tsugumi Ooba on story and Takeshi Obata on art, the combination also known as Oh! Great (the manga has 108 chapters, the anime 37 episodes)

This series has been talked to death (lol), I've mentioned it and its spin offs a few times already in more than one episode last year, so I don't even want to get into it but the alleged purpose of this podcast is to get more people into more manga so to be short.

Dude gets a book that kills people if you write their name in it and tries to create a better world by killing criminals… It does NOT. all go according to plan.

You may be wondering where the Isekai comes in.. well there are shinigami aka death gods aka grim reapers involved who come to and fro from the shinigami realm

budum tss… technicality...

#4 no game no life (anime, 12 episodes)

Bored with life and considering the real world to be just a "crappy game," sibling shut-ins have withdrawn into their own fantasy world of video games. However, one day they find themselves summoned to another world by a boy who calls himself "God' and their abilities are put to the ultimate test.

watched this way way back and just remember really loving the games, action, animation and all that, the siblings have a… kind of a weird dynamic but man, especially those last few episodes.. and a good chunk of the show is forever engrained in my mind I'd say..

..still hopeful we get a S2 one day :')

Just gonna note here that this list is kinda more about how these things are as Isekai, I definitely think death note is better than no game no life 😅

#3 The Animatrix (9 piece short film anthology, no more than 15mins each)

Actually mentioned this before in season 1 ramble 8, A is for anime the solo reprise, and it was number 5 in terms of anime movies I watched that year, I'll say pretty much the same I said in that episode in that it's a very cool anthology adaptation with a lot of great new perspectives on the matrix, especially because it was an anthology and the different directors and their respective directions were allowed to come out

#2 Zatch Bell by Makoto Raiku (324 chapters in the manga, 150 episodes in the anime)

Ultra classic, Ultra culture and a series that I find too many folks have only know through hearsay.

To keep it simple, in the demon world, when it's time to pick a king, their ingenious process is to send the demon children to the human world for a no holds barred battle royale.

Put plainly, excellent cast, excellent story, excellent action, it's an excellent manga that I highly recommend.

Also for those who don't know there's a zatch bell 2!! that started last year with 9 chapters out.

#1 animal land by Makoto Raiku (same guy):

I ramble a bit but basically I thought zatch was his peak but I was sorely mistaken.

..

and that's it for top 5 Isekai consumed before this month,

also that's pretty much it for the episode, thanks again for listening in, hope you can get at least one good read out of this and maybe even something to share with a friend. until next time, try to enjoy the wonders of the world you're in right now. ✨

(then I do a small part 2 talking about some gripes I have with Isekai and some stuff that are probably maybe isekai or at least a little funny to think of that way like 2004 live action film fat albert starring kenan thompson... but you gotta listen in fer that 😗)

[sky-of-dusk]

The Dark Power : Those who lost and the one who won

The Dark Power wasn't supposed to infect Kyouya.

First, Kyouya has all this arc with the Wolf Canyon that differentiate him from Hikaru and Tsubasa. And the Dark Power doesn't overwhelm him as he does with Hikaru, Tsubasa and Ryuuga.

And those aren't the only differences. Let's take a look at two other points showing the difference in Hikaru's, Tsubasa's and Kyouya's reaction, and consequently on Dark Power's influence on them.

Psychological influence

The Dark Power, and Ryuuga, uses a psychological ascendancy to win. Their power impress, or even scare their opponents. If it's not enough, however, Ryuuga doesn't hesitate to use words to make their opponents doubt about themselves.

Hikaru loses even before the duel's beginning.

"Why did I- Why did I think I could ever win for a moment… against a guy like that?"

-Hikaru, episode 41

Thought Tsubasa resists longer than Hikaru, using the strategy he planned to battle Ryuuga, he loses before the battle's end.

Ryuuga: What's wrong? If you think you can dodge it, give it a try. If you think you can stop it then go ahead and stop it. Why don't you?

Tsubasa: Don't quit Eagle.

Ryuuga: I congratulate you for being able to make me use some of my real strenght. As a reward, I'll take extra special care and stealing that power from you. (...) It's finished. You were reckless and foolish to even consider challenging me in a battle at all.

Ryuuga: So say hello to the pit of despair!

-episode 45

Tsubasa lets Ryuuga's words (and power) touch him without replying. At the end of their duel, he's entirely passive.

On the other hand, we have Kyouya. He is evenly matched with Ryuuga, driving him to give up the Dark Power for their duel and even snatching some kind of compliment from Ryuuga:

"You are no match for me. (…) However, I can't remember anyone taking so many of my direct hits without completely collapsing. I give you credit for that."

Kyouya fights Ryuuga as if he was any other blader (an interesting blader, not a horrible monster he has to defeat to protect the world). He returns every blow and taunt, without being impressed, and even less scared, by Ryuuga. When L-Drago's Dark Power intervenes, Kyouya isn't afraid…

Ryuuga: Ah what?

While Ryuuga is shocked by the Dark Power's apparition. This is the first time he shows such an expression.

Kyouya is destabilized, somewhat worried for Ryuuga, but he isn't afraid.

Kyouya: Ryuuga? What's wrong? (…) Yeah. Just when I thought it was getting good. Now the circus' act is becoming a bit much, huh? Hey Ryuuga?

He tries reaching out to Ryuuga but the Dark Power entirely overwhelms him. It soliloquizes about its need and Kyouya's answer is just:

"Okay, that's really nice. Go ahead, and try. But I'll never let you steal from me my blader's spirit. (then, thinking) Ginga, take a good look. This is my blader's spirit."

Kyouya stays in fighting mode until the end of their battle. The last sentence he says is adressed to Leone, "Shatter him! Let's use everything that we've got left!"

If Kyouya loses the duel, he isn't the one who loses against the Dark Power. Ryuuga is. The Dark Power controls him as a puppet at the end of the battle.

A symbolic detail

Hikaru and Tsubasa fall. Kyouya doesn't. He's standing despite his defeat, which is shown from different angles. He never hits the ground.

[primrose-path-of-dalliance]

psa: trent ikithon is not as competent and powerful as he makes himself seem.

(cw: discussion of abuse)

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i'm not sure how to get into this in a way that's natural, so i hope you don't mind if i go for the straightforward route.

trent ikithon is an abuser. that means his tactics all center around—and rely upon—making vulnerable people believe that he has far more power than he actually does. and when it comes to our pov, the m9's pov, ikithon is trying his damnedest to accomplish the same.

now, i don't know everything that's in matt mercer's head when he has played or characterized trent ikithon. i'm sure there's some depth to his motivations and intelligence, and i don't doubt that ikithon ideologically believes in strengthening the empire. but this is not relevant to the abuse tactics i want to discuss.

because the reality is this: abusers do what they do because they enjoy victimizing and controlling the vulnerable.

that's why you get abusers like archivist zeenoth who are attracted to positions of authority. those positions facilitate structural imbalances of power between them and their potential victims. trent ikithon, too, is doing the same thing—as an archmage of the cerberus assembly, he is exploiting the authority of his position to gain victims for abusing. he is not doing what he does because he's a brilliant mastermind focused on a goal. if he was, he wouldn't abuse his students.

think about it in terms of effectiveness. no matter what people like ikithon try to assert, his volstrucker are not in any way stronger or more capable from his 'tutelage'. caduceus clay roasted the man in his own dining room for this lie. what the volstrucker are are an organization of ruthless, skilled spies built from deeply abused and damaged people. they aren't healthy; they aren't stable. caleb widogast spent eleven years in a sanatorium because he was one of many recruits who broke under the abuse (see EGtW), and then five years as a solitary, paranoia-ridden mess in a filthy coat. he spent months trying not to self-sabotage his growing friendships and had a panic attack as soon as he left ophelia mardun's mansion in shadycreek (e27, 2:55:21). he has ptsd from using fire magic to burn people to death—considering his statement on executing traitors to the empire as a trainee (e18, 2:48:12), it was probably an everyday part of the job.

even the minority of volstrucker that do get through the training stage aren’t functioning well. only a few episodes ago, we watched astrid finish a conversation with caleb and then duck into an alleyway so she could curl up and have a five-minute breakdown before putting the composed mask back on (e126, 1:50:47). abuse makes being alive harder; good luck being a sustainable espionage program at that point.

so that's one lie. how about another?

at the dinner in ikithon's tower, ikithon implied that he has guided every step of caleb's path to recovery and ever-growing power. that caleb's plans to murder ikithon are exactly what he wants; that he even arranged his escape from the vergessen sanatorium (e110, 2:52:58).

i think enough people have recognized that ikithon's first claim is utter bullshit, considering that caleb and the m9 had just arrived from a random island on which they hosted a cult gathering festooned with phalluses. but the implication that he arranged for caleb's escape from the sanatorium was just that: an implication. he never says outright that he did so. he only couched what he knew in gaslighting platitudes and handed over the holy symbol of the cleric that healed him. you won't sense a lie that hasn't been spoken. he let caleb and the m9 make their assumptions, and the assumption worked in his favor.

let's consider the actual circumstances of caleb's escape (e18, beginning 2:51:54). a fellow inmate of the sanatorium who was a cleric suddenly grabbed him and healed him of his madness before returning to her own ravings. caleb then pretended he was still insane for two weeks before killing a guard, stealing the amulet that kept him hidden, and fleeing. how would any of these events work in trent ikithon's favor? the number of absurd assumptions here are off the charts.

first, you would have to believe that a cleric could permanently heal a man who'd been insane and probably experimented on for eleven years.

second, you would have to assume that this man would still be competent enough to pass general scrutiny and break out.

third, you would have to believe that he'd totally survive on his own without any resources whatsoever,

after eleven years of being institutionalized,

while first beginning deep in the pearlbow wilderness—

all without raising the suspicion of this apparently still hypercompetent ex-patient that his escape was too easy.

and fourth, you would have to believe that this man would actually accomplish something in your interests instead of, say, dying or remaining a vagrant beggar forever.

if this was all on purpose, then trent ikithon is really an idiot.

another truth: caleb was not special. both liam and caleb have said so (talks for e88, beginning 28:00; & e110, 29:06), with the examples of other volstrucker supporting this. all of them are talented mages and good at spycraft! they have to be to graduate in the first place! ikithon's assertions that caleb was extra special (e110, 2:52:11)? also a lie—specifically, a great tactic for convincing a victim of abuse not to think about it further. of course they're being hurt again. of course they're being targeted again. not to mention how abusers selectively compliment in order to confuse the people they’re hurting (relevant here: e88, 3:28:25). caleb having an unhealthy amount of hubris and thus open to being diagnosed with protagonist disease doesn’t help.

ikithon would have easily deduced the details of what happened and obtained the holy symbol after an investigation of the break-out. not too hard to piece things together if you simply ask about unusual events prior to the escape and learn that he'd had an altercation with another patient two weeks ago—and oh yes, that patient used to be a blasphemous cleric.

caleb widogast basically reappeared next door healthier, much more powerful, and more capable than ever. ikithon doesn’t have control over caleb’s entire past and future—but he wants him to believe he does. it’s a gaslighting attempt to make caleb question his own accomplishments and attribute them to ikithon so that ikithon can regain some control over his ex-student.

another truth: trent ikithon is already on thin fucking ice. no one in the cerberus assembly likes each other, of course, but a consistent point was made again and again that everyone deeply dislikes ikithon. he's stayed because he made himself useful, but he could and would get taken care of should he be a detriment instead (see e88, 3:19:27; & e97, 3:19:32).

any sort of thorough investigation into the volstrucker and the vergessen sanatorium would reveal exactly how fragile all of his agents are and how frequently he fails in conditioning his recruits. ikithon gets the pick of the crop when it comes to nationalistic, talented students that enter the soltryce academy. to find out that he drives a significant number of them insane? well, that's a pure waste of unrealized potential. and for what—a program of spies who are paranoid enough and opportunistic enough to turn on each other if prodded the right way?

and now... trent ikithon, as part of the traitorous beacon research, has been under heavy investigation from two fronts: the augen trust and the cobalt soul (e125, 2:31:10). and he has been getting very nervous recently (e125, 2:41:42).

the final truth i want to point out: trent ikithon is just as control-obsessed as any other abuser. we got the most obvious example of this yet from e128—his pursuit of the m9 to nicodranas and tidepeak tower. think about the circumstances again.

he was apparently so curious and so annoyed by caleb rebuffing all of his attempts at ‘conversation’ that he made his excuses before teleporting directly to nicodranas,

through a circle implied to be arranged diplomatically between the empire and the clovis concord,

with a plan to break into the lavish chateau, one of the most high-profile locations of the city, to potentially kidnap or kill everyone,

including the famous and beloved ruby of the sea.

he then chased the m9 and their families to the equally high-profile tidepeak tower on the open quay, all of which is owned by yussa errenis, an archmage himself who’s learned far more about local politics than he ever wanted to know,

intimidated his “man”servant,

and broke in.

and they did all of this possibly with some very confused members of the zhelezo following right behind them.

other people have gone through the potential political consequences of this more thoroughly than me, so suffice to say that trent ikithon has gotten himself into some deep shit. you can’t negotiate or magic yourself out of being witnessed by hundreds of people breaking into the tower of an archmage who is infamous among the locals for being a bitchy recluse.

if he was smart, and clever, and a brilliant mastermind, he wouldn’t have done any of that. what he could have done: continue to handle caleb from an ominous distance through spells like sending. allege to the cerberus assembly and king dwendal that the break-in was an underhanded cobalt soul mission because of beauregard’s association with the m9. or just straight-up say that the m9 broke into his facilities because they have a vendetta against him and have them at least investigated the next time the empire can hold onto them for a second.

but he didn’t do any of those much more clever possibilities. he acted impulsively and rashly and may well be on the way to a lot of trouble now. all because ikithon just could not handle caleb being saucy.

with all this in mind, i want to go back to one last detail: astrid and eadwulf. because these two would suffer terrible consequences if they ran away—allegedly.

because i want to ask... what exactly could ikithon do to them?

they’ve already killed their own parents. so far, we’ve had no sign either that they have anyone else important to them in his reach besides each other. they have nothing tying themselves to him besides years of abuse and the crimes they’ve committed as volstrucker. they might want some power of their own, sure, perhaps they want to kill him while they’re still close. but we certainly know that eadwulf and astrid are not invested in the volstruckers as it stands. they doubt ikithon. and they already have their own amulets.

so what else could make them so terrified by the idea of leaving with the m9 except the way that trent ikithon has abused them and convinced them that he’s powerful enough and capable enough to catch up to them?

don’t be fooled. he hosted the most embarrassing excuse for a dining-with-the-enemy scene (seriously, i hope someone reading this cringed the entire time as well from all the long pauses and terrible topic transitions) and then teleported away to flee caduceus clay’s scalding tea. no retort, no blackmail. he acted recklessly in nicodranas and appropriately pushed two of his own volstrucker to betray him, losing his one opportunity to capture the m9′s family there. and now ikithon is between a rock and a hard place in terms of political standing, with a spy network he has openly encouraged to turn against him.

there is no terror waiting in the wings anymore, no more strings he can pull. just an abuser playing up his own grandeur. at this point, the only thing he hasn’t reached his limit in yet is his high-level spell slots.

[lunarriviera]

PRU I FINISHED IT TONIGHT (so i was finally able to read your post which is blisteringly accurate and also funny af). THE SHEER NUMBER OF TIMES I JUST STOPPED BREATHING DURING THE LAST HALF DOZEN EPISODES. HOW DESTROYED I AM.

first of all 1) zhang yimou we're fighting, even though you threw your whole snatch into producing this drama and it shows, i haven't seen this kind of attention to period detail maybe ever. i feel like i just spent 30 hours in 1997 dongbei. then also next 2) i desperately need fic where zhang bei and gu yiran cuddle for a entire week. no one gets out of the [slightly] larger bed except to pee or retrieve more chicken ribs. and/or they leave fake harbin and go on vacation with uncle and his granddaughter. finally 3) fuck me that was ABSOLUTELY HARROWING. why did i think this drama was like under the skin??? it was NOTHING LIKE under the skin, at no point during under the skin do you actually believe the entire team is about to be BLOWN THE FUCK UP. i will be more articulate about all this later but it's after 1 am so for now i will remark only that zhang yu absolutely CRUSHED it, one of the best television performances i've ever witnessed. how is he 41??? why isn't he james bond already???

[period-typical MALE CHINESE POLICE OFFICERS, BEING MALE]

in conclusion i want them to get married and always live in the dreary black-painted apartment and have babies and name at least one after [redacted]. and through the power of transformative works i can have this. eventually. even though it's too late for yuletide this year. (PS that goddamn toothbrush mug i swear to god i nearly cried)

(PPS still bewildered by meth hotel towels. like, how. just...HOW)

(PPPS zheng bei's little purse? his purse is in every scene?? his purse where he keeps HIS GUN, I LOVE THAT PURSE)

I really doubt anybody on Tumblr is watching but The First Shot or 雪迷宫 is making me LOSE MY MIND. I’m on episode like 10 and just yelled WHAT IN THE LANYU IS HAPPENING HERE IN 1997 DONGBEI. The first and second male leads are the dude from Addicted and the guy who plays all the mean cold CEOs and also was in Imperial Coroner. They live together and somewhere in the next four eps someone is getting kidnapped by drug dealers and tortured and handsome rough northern drug cop from Addicted is going to princess carry his six foot tall delicate southern nerd wife. This show is produced by Zhang Yimou and is ruining my life.

[liesoverthec]

I don't know if you've paid any attention to this but do you know the official ages of the main characters? You've always paid attention to little details so i feel like you'd be the right person to ask this to.

Hi anon! ❤️ I’m SO SO sorry this took so long!

I appreciate you thinking of me for this - I have in fact paid attention to this 😂 I know about the general age of some characters, and I know within a year of others (depending on when their birthday is they may have aged up already!)

Bobby - 54. He says in the pilot that he’s 50 years old, and so you figure he’s at least 54 by now, if not 55 if his birthday was between January (when the pilot aired) and now!

Athena - mid 50s. In Athena Begins, I feel like it’s safe to assume she’s around 22 or 23, since she’s in law school but not close to finishing (and I really don’t think she took a gap year), and that was 1989, so she was *probably* born around 1966-67. Which would put her around 54-55 right now, which fits with how old Bobby is!

Hen - 41. She says in Future Tense that she joined med school at 40 (if she’s not rounding for dramatics). Since she got into med school last year in the s3 finale, I’d say 41 now. If she did just say 40 bc it was easy, I’d still say she’s between 39-42 now, bc she’d have to be close in age to 40 to round so automatically like that imo. But at this point I’m going with a simple 41.

Chim - Late 30s to early, early 40s. Chim is one of the two I really don’t have a good idea on. Chimney Begins is set in 2005, and he’s at least 21, since we see him drinking beer in that episode. So he was born sometime before 1984, which would make him 36 right now if he was exactly 21 then, but I think he’s a little older than that, since he’s been working in the bar for a while before the fire. I can’t remember any other details that would give him a more specific age, so if someone does and can provide them I would love to add them! Personally I’d say 39-40, bc I think he’s a little older than Maddie but not by much. I can say however that he has a March birthday! EDIT - thanks to the wonderful @shannon-diaz who remembered that we see Chim’s birthday on his license in 2x10 (you can see the pic provided in the notes!) HOWEVER! I want to make a disclaimer (which I would like to emphasize is not me trying to argue against the lovely Ann at all, she’s absolutely right about this, I just wanna say this) - they have already been changing Chim’s birthday since then, since the license says 10/20/1977 and they’ve since moved his birthday to March. So it’s absolutely possible that they’ve decided to change his age as well. BUT! At the point this was shown, they’d already committed to Madney becoming a thing, so it’s likely they thought about how old Maddie and Chim were in relation to one another. What I don’t know is if they thought about Maddie’s age before then, or if they put it off until they had to during the Daniel arc. All of this is to say - right now, as of end of s4, the best info we have says Chim is 44. But I could also absolutely see the writers pulling a switcharoo on the poor props crew and changing his age, since they’ve already discarded the birth date. So I say, go forth and know that Chim is 44! But also please don’t get mad at me if that information changes in the future 😂

Buck - 29. During the entire Buck Begins arc, they say multiple times that the family has been hiding a secret from him for 29 years, etc etc. In the Valentine’s Day ep in s1, Abby says Buck is 26. And in Kids Today (the opener to s3) Maddie specifically mentions he’s 28. So I’m most sure about Buck, out of everyone, esp since Oliver himself is 29. I think he’s the character where they’re sticking closest to the actor’s actual age.

Maddie - around 37. We know Maddie was 9 when Daniel died (Chim says she made the promise to not talk about Daniel when she was 9). Since Daniel died a little over a year after Buck was born, that puts Maddie around 8 at the time Buck was born, making her 37 to Buck’s 29 as of right now. Also, in ep 4 of s4, her mom mentions her being a “high risk pregnancy” since she’s over 35, but specifically does not say she’s over 40. So 37 or 38 for her. (Side note - Maddie is older than Daniel by between 1.5 to 2 years, since she says Daniel died when he was 7.) like I said, I’m most positive about Buck’s age but Maddie’s is a close second.

Eddie - early 30s? I also have no idea about him. My personal best guess would be 33, since that’s how old Ryan Guzman is now, and they’ve never in my recollection said anything to indicate a different age for him! (Same thing here as goes for Chim - if anyone can remember something let me know!) Note - I’ve been thinking on this a while and I actually feel pretty good about 31-33. We know Chris was born in 2011, so he’s turning 10 sometime soon, and that would make Eddie somewhere between 21-23 when he was born, which I feel fits with a timeline of him taking time to work with his dad after high school, and then joining the army, doing basic, and getting deployed all in time to get leave for Christopher’s birth.

And there’s all 7 mains! I’m going to link this in a bullet point in the next character details post, so if anyone wants to add information for Chim or Eddie (preferably with an episode number and/or scene so that I can verify it), I’ll edit this post and give you credit, so that way when I link this post, people will be able to see it all in one place, and the edits w credit will be in the tag for everyone to see!

Also all of these ages are as of right now, end of s4. If you want to write future fic or fic for a past season you’ll want to add or subtract years accordingly!

Thanks for the question, anon - putting together the “age puzzle” is like my favorite kind of challenge!

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

[shiningsagittarius]

Why The Shilo Scene Is The Most Emotionally Evocative Scene In TMBS (In My Humble Opinion) And Why It Resonated With Me So Damn Much

While watching episode 5 of TMBS (The Art of Conveyance and Round-Trippery), the scene involving Constance solving the riddle given to the group by Mr. Benedict (25:37-27:41) became my favorite scene in the book-to-screen adaptation, and continued to resonate with me after the first season was over. It took me a while to piece together exactly why this scene moved me more than any other, but I think I finally have a few thoughts put together, which I will now attempt to sort through here.

Expectations For The Show

I think the first and most vital thought I have regarding this scene involves how my overall expectations and hopes for this adaptation have shifted. If you had asked me a few years ago what my perfect book-to-screen adaptation would look like (for any book), I would have said “a beat-for-beat adaptation with no changes to the source material” bar none. As the years have passed, however, I became interested in following how a book-to-screen adaptation is made. From this, I have actually come to appreciate some of the changes made to tighten the script, portray the worldbuilding, and develop the characters in a new and exciting way which stem from creating a television or movie script. (Some. Not all. But that’s another essay for another day.) If my interest no longer lies in seeing a 100% faithful adaptation, then, what exactly am I expecting to experience when watching The Mysterious Benedict Society? I asked myself this question, and the answer ended up being “I want this show to make me feel nostalgic.” As much as I wanted the show to make me feel nostalgic towards the book in general, I also wanted this show to bring me back to when I was reading the books for the first time. How did I experience the world? What did I think and feel? Evidently, seeing Constance solving the puzzle made me think about that time in my life and the endless imagination I had:

I used to play in my yard with my sister and kids from my neighborhood for HOURS. I happen to live in a rather woodsy suburb near a lake, so the environment Constance is in immediately started ringing bells in my mind

A lot of my pretend play was based on espionage and adventure and puzzle solving, which is partially why I adored these books so much in the first place

Seeing Constance alone, alongside the song celebrating an imaginary friend, brought back the bittersweet feeling of playing by myself sometimes, but learning how to enjoy it and even becoming a fan of occasional solitude

As I said in my review of the episode, these are life or death stakes for Constance, but this scene ironically brought me back to the happier, more carefree moments of my childhood. Of course, this scene is poignant beyond the personal connections I found. It is also a turning point for the audience’s perception of Constance.

Constance’s Character Development

Before this scene, I don’t believe there were any moments where Constance is entirely alone (at least, none that the audience gets to see). Throughout the show, Constance struggles with being taken seriously by her friends. She knows she is strong and more than capable of aiding the mission, but time and time again, she is passed over entirely or given menial tasks as her contributions to the team. Of course, she doesn’t help her case by insulting her friends or acting obstinate. It’s quite… contrary- she wants to prove herself to the society and help stop the Emergency, but she also puts a wall between herself and the rest of the team. This is why having her first scene alone be her reaction to the copper waves is so emotionally powerful. There she is, completely dwarfed by the statue, all alone. She looks up in awe, murmurs “It’s beautiful”, and wipes away a tear. In my opinion, there’s two ways to interpret this reaction:

She truly thought the statue was ugly earlier, and needed some time to appreciate it, artist-to-artist

Or,

She was putting up a front earlier to avoid being perceived as “weak” by Kate

There’s certainly enough evidence for either conclusion, but I tend to lean towards the latter myself. This scene takes place about halfway through the first season, so it would make sense for a shift in how the audience perceives Constance’s characterization to occur at the midway point. We see her open up to her friends more in the last episode, but this moment sets the precedent for those bits of emotional honesty to occur. In fact, this scene also sets a nice precent for her solo mission in the next episode, where she once again proves herself to the society. However, this scene has something that her solo mission does not.

Shilo (by Neil Diamond)

The lyrics to this song are placed perfectly with each part of the scene, and I wouldn’t expect anything less. Let’s break it down a little bit:

Dreaming each dream on your own / When children play / Seems like you end up alone

Once again, this is the first scene where the audience has had a chance to see what Constance is like on her own. It highlights her sense of isolation from the rest of the team, and implies that this might not be as voluntary as she lets on. She even has to finish solving this puzzle alone, as the other society members seem to never truly consider her capabilities when deciding how to approach a problem (except Reynie on occasion)

So you turn to the only friend you can find / There in your mind

This lyric further displays Constance’s solitary nature, but also gives some subtle foreshadowing of her psychic powers

Got to go and I know that you’ll understand / I understand

She has come this close to solving the puzzle, and now effectively “understands” it. (I mean, just look at her face when the song says “I understand”) However, the song doesn’t stop here, as she continues to try and figure out how to activate the panel. So, she doesn’t understand as much as she thinks she does.

Overall, it’s a perfect song to drive this scene forward (and it’s very catchy, too).

TLDR;

This scene is emotionally impactful to me personally because I was able to make connections between this scene and my childhood. It is also emotionally impactful to a wider audience, as this is the first peek into Constance’s psyche. The music and environmental storytelling used to craft this moment is masterful. It fulfilled my desire for the show to make me feel nostalgic. Also, it’s a turning point for the show to start revealing more of Constance’s emotional vulnerability. (And it makes me tear up each time I watch it, so there.)