#I love the characters and mons from the older generations a lot

[petalxdance]

Probably an unpopular opinion dictated by nostalgia: I found the older gen pokemon games more fun to play.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - We Are Surprised

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

May 2024 Wk 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

Wandee Godday (Sat YT) ep 2 of 12 - Oh it’s fucking great. It could all go horribly south, of course. But it’s awesome at the moment. Messy gay and one of them is already pining? Got to love it. Including the negotiation.

I’d love a good sex negotiation, it’s almost as good as linguistic negotiation. This show makes me happy. All that said, it’s moving awfully quickly for a 12 episode run. Not sure what’s gonna happen on the backend. 

My Stand-In (Thai Fri iQIYI) ep 3 of 12 eps - I’m still enjoying it but I’m ready for him to die again now. 

We Are (Weds iQIYI) ep 5-6 of 16 - Toey is going after the Namgoong Award for Best Wingman this year, I see. And in exchange, literally all the rest of the friends are going to be his wingmen. It’s adorable. I also like that Phuwin got to be the aggressor for the first kiss. I like that this is mostly just boys flirting, and not really any prescribed seme/uke stuff. In general, I think these last two episodes I improved the show in my regard a lot. But then middles are always GMMTV's strong point, it’s whether they can stick the landing that’s an issue.

Two Worlds (Thurs iQIYI) ep 9 of 10 - Apparently we have the Frodo walking into Mordor episode. Also the sides were cute. In Thailand (like Taiwan) all gangsters are gay, apparently. 

Only Boo! (Sun YouTube) ep 5 of 12 - It’s cute but very cringe and dorky. Silly singing. Terrible pickup lines. Still, that was a ridiculously charming confession.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Unknown (Taiwan Tues YouTube & Viki) ep 12fin - Oh so good. Very few shows that feature one-sided long-term pining of this kind can resolve the unevenness of that power dynamic into a more stable and equal footing with such class. We really got to see the object of the desire turn completely around and become equally besotted. An age gap, stepbrothers trope like this one is hard enough but at this length? Very well acted boys! Unknown managed to show the older brother softening in a believable way that’s pretty unusual in narratives of this type.

All in all?

Unknown is a wonderful BL with a pitch perfect portrayal of long term pining, age gap, and the stepbrothers trope. The acting and chemistry are ON POINT (especially from the leads) which made the resulting characters very believable. When it dwells in intimate family drama, it's stunning. It's slightly less successful when it leaves the home and goes gritty. It's few flaws are the result of curtailed length. It could have used more breathing room to deal with side plots, characters, and companion character development. The editing was occasionally choppy and packed with flashbacks that broke the emotional tension. Still, those are mere quibbles. This is an excellent show that I know I'm going to be recommending a lot. 9/10

Finally Taiwan hits another one out of the park.

About.

Damn.

Time.

Blue Boys (Korea Sat YouTube) 4 of ? - Oh it’s so good, and they are so tortured and it’s just charming and I can’t EVEN. I just love it. I love that Korea is giving us this right now. You’re an idiot if you’re not watching this show, it’s truly spectacular.

At 25:00 in Akasaka AKA 25 Ji Akasaka de (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 4 of 10 - Well well well Japan. I see how you kneed. I enjoyed this episode better than the first two, and I am way into our Bad Boy second lead. I can already feel myself succumbing  to the syndrome. Next week = the obligatory onsen ep! 

Living With Him AKA Kare no Iru Seikatsu (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - Omg most adorbs failed linguistic negotiation. 

Boys Be Brave AKA Roommates (Korea Thurs Viki) ep 5-6 of 8 - I love the side couple. It’s a shame we’re finally getting some truly great class conflict and it’s relegated to crumbs.

Love is like a Cat (Korea Mon Viki) eps 11-12fin - Well that was a waste of time. There was no connection (of any kind) between the leads. The language thing was hella weird and likely added to that. The past history of the Korean character was necessary to know from the start, its lack throughout, meant there was no depth to his character. They tried to tackle all the interesting stuff in the final 2 eps. AND they even killed the dog. I never thought I'd type this sentance, but Peach of Time is better.

I don’t know. 5/10 I guess

All in all:

A disappointing lackluster and barely cohesive BL about a jerk Thai actor (speaking Thai) who has to work for a Korean animal rescue cafe as a publicity stunt. It's difficult to believe the leads like each other, let alone fall in love. The acting is stiff, the characters lack motivation and cohesion, and there's not much to recommend this show beyond some pretty visuals. Also, they kill the dog. All in all, a disappointing and unsuccessful joint venture that mostly highlighted that between Thailand and Korea the style of BL, narrative approach, language cadence, and acting techniques all clash.

It's airing but...

Lady Boy Friends (Thai WeTV grey) 16 eps - reminds me a bit too much of Diary of Tootsies only high school. Not my thing. DNF unless it turns a corner and is truly amazing.

You Made My Day (Thai YT) ep 1 of 5 - mini series staring the I Will Knock You couple Tar & Bom, started but I couldn't find it. I also didn't try very hard.

A Balloon's Landing (Taiwan movie) trailer - A frustrated Hong Kong writer, Tian Yu, meets a Taipei street gangster, Xiang (Fandy Fan from HIStory2: Crossing the Line), and the two of them embark on a journey to find the Bay of Vanishing Whales. Along the way, they discover unexpected twists and turns and close bonds, which brings out the message that "there is always someone like you in this world who is waiting for you. This released to cinemas in Taiwan, no word on international release.

Memory in the Letter (Thai WeTV) - it's done, tell me if I should bother?

Fan's Only Corner

Someone asked in a comment (which tumblr promptly ate) about group sleepovers in BLs. It's happened a few times but the only one I can recall being noted and particularly lovely (and VERY college) was in Nitiman. There's also one in Lovesick.

Next Week Looks Like This:

5/16 Blossom Campus (Korea Thurs Gaga & iQIYI) ep 1 of 6 - Strongberry doing classic uni BL! Weeee!

5/19 OMG Vampire (Thai Sun ????) ep 1 of 10 - LeeFrank are back - not unlike the undead (as it were). But how do we feel about it? Unsure given their track record.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

May Releases

VBL (Taiwan) is releasing 4 'Special Episode' epilogues to their 4 2023 shows every Friday this month on Gagaoolala, Viki & Viu. Not sure on search terms or how to find these. (Or, frankly, if we need them.)

5/10 – You Are Mine

5/17 – VIP Only

5/24 – Stay By My Side

5/31 – Anti Reset

5/25 The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer - HoTae & DongHee are back but unfortunately not in a cinema near me. Side couple from Unintentional Love Story, same actors, same character names. I love them. I NEED TO SEE THIS.

5/28 My Biker 2 (Thai movie YT?) - trailer

5/31 The Time of Huannan (Taiwan movie) - May not be BL

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

LOVE a smile kiss. Love it. Two killer kisses from PondPhuwin. Elegantly done, boys. Thank you very much.

I love them a lot all of a sudden. (All We Are)

It's hard to give MaxTul a run on their crown as best bodies in BL, but boy these two are giving it their, erm, best. (Wandee Goodday)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will add you to the template. Easy peesy.

[self-loving-vampire]

I can't remember what the very first anime I watched was at all but I do know that during my childhood - before I even started going online to find stuff and relied on whatever was on Salvadoran TV - I saw at least a couple of episodes of the following.

Dragon Ball (original, Z, and GT).

I didn't like DBZ nearly as much as everyone else in Latin America seemed to. A lot of the fights felt not only slow but also kind of mechanically uninteresting.

Cardcaptor Sakura.

I surprise myself by feeling this nostalgic over such a cute and soft show. It's very different from what I normally like. I guess even I have a softer side sometimes (@thirteen-jades this is not an invitation to forcefem me).

Corrector Yui.

I have very few memories of this show. It was about an internet magical girl or something? I want to rewatch it sometime.

Ranma 1/2.

My parents explicitly forbid me from watching this, so of course I did it anyway when they were not around. They really didn't like the idea of a character who could transform like that. I only watched this one pretty early on before scheduling made it difficult to even find so I had only vague memories of it prior to a rewatch I started with my girlfriend.

Pokemon.

I got into Pokemon before anyone at my school knew what that was. I remember that much. I was more of a casual fan (could not play the games for the longest time since my parents thought games Encouraged Vice) and only watched the anime for a while before falling off eventually.

She was great, though:

Sailor Moon.

I have memory gaps about this one as well. Pretty sure I watched less than 10 episodes total, out of order. I think it was on a channel I didn't really know the schedule of, and at the very least I'm pretty sure it wasn't the same one that had most of the other shows on this list.

Digimon (all series up to and including Frontier).

I know they're not really comparable but I think I preferred the designs in Digimon over the ones in Pokemon. Also, I distinctly remember that this scene in particular poked at my ryona and defeat kink before I even knew what sex was:

Monster Rancher.

What the hell even happens in this show? I remember some of the monsters but absolutely nothing about the events of even a single episode. All my memories of it are just gone.

Yu Yu Hakusho.

Felt way more interesting and varied than DBZ to me, and I also found the characters to be more appealing in lots of ways. Still only remember it vaguely, though.

Rurouni Kenshin (oof).

In hindsight the fact that Soujiro was my favorite character makes me eventually becoming a Kohaku kin kind of predictable. Anyway, I think this was one of my favorites and also a good source of fuel for my growing ryona kink. Love shows where attractive men injure each other so viscerally (one of them even gets a chunk of his shoulder bitten off in a major fight).

Unfortunately, the creator completely sucks in such a way that also makes parts of the show feel hollow now.

Mon Colle Knights.

Only vague memories of this one too. It was decently cute, I guess?

Saint Seiya.

The Latin American dub of this is actually so much better than either the English dub or the European Spanish dub it almost feels unfair. Even the opening sounds about as good as the original, and I say this as someone who generally thinks Spanish is an ugly language with bad vibes. No wonder it seems way more popular in Latin America relative to the US.

Cyborg 009.

It was okay, I think? Not really into that older style of cyborg design. I can barely remember much else.

Yu-Gi-Oh! (only the original series at that time).

Like with Pokemon, I was into this before it became big in my area. I haven't forgotten nearly as much about it as I have with many of the other things on this list either. Especially where the first season is concerned I'd say I remember everything reasonably well (obviously not the turn-by-turn details of every duel or anything but yeah).

I notice that with a lot of the shows on here the main draw for me really was just seeing all the cool monsters, but I did come to enjoy the game and just the sincere insanity of the setting too. I also now associate this with master and Past Me.

Duel Masters.

Mimi was kind of cute. I liked her outfit. The show itself was... kind of weird, to be honest. It's one of those shows where the dub was basically a joke (more so in English, though).

Captain Tsubasa.

Those guys can get really intense about football. Can't remember much other than an episode where a guy is trying to overcome a fear of being hit by the ball or something? Pretty sure I only watched this one when I was stuck somewhere where I could not watch or do much else.

Plus some others I am also failing to remember. Genuinely kind of distressing how hazy my memories of these things are.

[galactic-pirates]

Liveblog of episode 7 of Ahsoka.

Is there really just one more? Yikes.

“No I protected the New Republic by ignoring you” and a lot of hidden smiles at that. Best way she knew how. You know it’s easy for them to criticise, “can’t have people still acting like it’s a rebellion” but Hera was a child in the Clone Wars, grew up fighting the Empire. I think it was Thrawn who said war was all she had ever known. But while I do actually sympathise with the position that there has to be chain of command, and people can’t just do whatever they feel like in the name of the Republic, there is something to be said for wisdom and experience. It wasn’t like Hera attacked anything, or created an enemy. I would have thought part of naming someone a General was acknowledging that they had the ability to use their head when necessary. Hera has earned the right to be given a little leeway. She knows what she’s about.

“I don’t know what frightens me more, the possibility of what might happen or your unwillingness to see it”. You know this Senator guy strikes me as someone who wants to protect his powerbase. He didn’t fight in the rebellion, but obviously wasn’t part of the Empire, so clearly he kept his head down - and that’s no way to gain power. Now he has that power, he is maybe terrified of another conflict because he doesn’t want to be in danger. He dismissed Hera’s account as a ‘childish fairytale’ when really he’s like a child, thinking if he closes his eyes what he can’t see isn’t there.

Yeah! C3PO and he’s there for Leia. I mean obviously because unless they recast… so sad. I love that she is still there in spirit though and I doubly love that Leia is basically using her status to give the middle finger to dicks like that Senator. I’m sure Carrie would approve. I love that Leia is lying for Hera, I just love it so much. First she was trying to cover and now she’s just like, whelp guess I better do it myself, and that is her whole character there.

Chopper growling at the insult to droids. Love it. Oooooh Leia is leader of the defence council. That makes sense. I love that for her. Shame she doesn’t have Mon Mothma’s job to be honest but I guess if it got out that Vader was his bio-dad that could be awkward, it’s lucky that she’s head of defence.

Oh my holo!Anakin! That’s like what Kanan had downloaded. Ezra watched those recordings. He clearly made this one for Ahsoka directly but I like that Anakin did make more for general use. He was a skilled fighter and that would have been helpful in the time of the clone wars, when masters were away from the temple and not there to train the younglings so much.

For Huyang who likes to be right, the worst thing probably is that he is hoping he’s wrong. I love that. “At least the whales are providing some cover” - it was probably hurting them! Poor whales :( And yeah finding an imperial minefield in another galaxy is a pretty good indicator they are in the right place. Thrawn noting that Anakin was her master suggests to me awareness of him having previously met him and/or that he became Vader as the novels stated.

The Emperor died - that’s what people say. Typical dry Sabine but also she kinda called that there, just because they say it doesn’t make it so. Zeb mention!!! Yay, I have missed him. I feel like Ezra really learned some patience while he’s been lost. I guess he got older but he’s just noting “complicated” and not pushing it. I mean especially after Kanan and in the finale he did lean into the whole ‘listening to the force’ thing and that did make him a bit more zen rather than angry how he had been. I guess I am concerned he’s not pushing as time is a factor. They kinda need to ‘hitch a ride’ somehow or they will be stuck there. I am worried that Sabine isn’t showing any sign of urgency. Usually she would be tapping or pacing or worrying at something somehow I feel.

I liked that Ezra was surprised that Sabine became Ahsoka’s apprentice, his spluttered question of “why?” and same, hard same. He said he guessed it made sense as Sabine learned a bit (calling back to the darksaber) but that was purely bladework not the force. It’s annoying how they are just circling round that. I’m not sure I like that they are using a master/padawan bond because Kanan and Ezra never really did that. Maybe Kanan didn’t know how to make one? Or maybe they just never called it that exactly, they could sense each other.

Impatience for victory will guarantee defeat - that is definitely a lesson Shin needs. I am not surprised they are parting ways Baylan never was interested in Thrawn or the Empire, and Shin clearly wanted the political power. I hope Sabine gives Ezra his lightsaber back, he could reflect those bolts. Why isn’t Sabine giving Ezra the lightsaber?? She has her blasters!! Oh I thought Ahsoka was jumping down to Sabine, not Baylan. Interesting.

I about threw my hands up in the air - finally! When Sabine tried to give Ezra the lightsaber but then he wouldn’t take it. WHAAAT?! He didn’t give it to her, not exactly. He left it behind because Thrawn said to come unarmed. I am facepalming. I mean sure Sabine has used it and modified it but a lightsaber is a lightsaber. Yeah they are harder to use when not attuned I think? But Kanan used Ezra’s just fine. And “the force is my ally” I mean yeah but you use the force + a lightsaber most of the time. I mean force push/force jump/force reflexes only get you so far. Maybe Ezra just wants to see what Sabine can do? Or maybe after all the years without a lightsaber he’s worried he’s rusty and she’ll be better than him anyway?

So what was the point of the fight with Baylan then? Ahsoka didn’t finish him. She just used Huyang’s bombs to run away as she couldn’t beat him. Why fight him at all? Why jump out at Baylan and not wait and jump out near Sabine? It doesn’t make sense.

“Well they are all back together. I hope I survive long enough to see the outcome” oh I love it. So funny. I do love that Sabine is mostly fighting like a Mando. I love that Thrawn is still a strategic master. I hate that Ezra refused the damn lightsaber. I mean he doesn’t need it I guess but ugh. I’m also worried that she seems to have dropped one of her blasters. I know, I know, it’s weird of me to be tracking her equipment but it’s things like that which bug me.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. “I’m getting a feeling, I think I might be going home after all” - why? Why did you have to say that? In story terms that’s like a neon flashing sign which says nope you are not going home. I’m not sure if they will kill him off or Ezra will sacrifice himself and stay behind. I’m sure it will be heroic but damn I wanted a happy ending. I wanted Ezra to reunite with Hera, and to meet Jacen, maybe even train Jacen. Sad :( I mean ok it’s not happened yet, I could be wrong, but it’s like when Huyang made them promise to stay together, I knew that meant they wouldn’t and that’s why it would all go bad /sigh.

Is there really just one more left? I am not ready for that. Also I ask again how they can possibly wrap everything up in time. It better be like double length or something.

[kitchfit]

Year in Review: Games Part 1

This is a series I've been wanting to do for a while. Whenever I finish a piece of media (books, games, movies, comics, maybe art and music in the future) I jot in down in a doc so I can look back on them at the end of the year. I wanted to write my thoughts on them as I finished them, but since you have to start somewhere, I'll be writing simple reviews in retrospect. This is just for fun, but I welcome any feedback.

Pokemon Scarlet

This game released with some controversy. It was an unfinished glitchy mess with graphics still not up to the standards of the Nintendo Switch six years into its lifespan, but tbh this game was fun as hell to complete. I loved most of all the new designs and managed for the first time in my Pokemon career to actually complete the Dex. I usually get worn down on that pretty quick.

The characters were also much more engaging than the previous generation, especially my best boy Arven. The environments were super fun to explore and I got a new favorite little guy (Slither Wings my beloved). Here's hoping the next game has an actual sane development cycle and we get this amount of creativity in a higher degree of quality with better paid developers.

Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

If you thought I only played games that came out this year, sorry to disappoint. I don't manage to pick up even half of the blockbusters that pop up annually, and go after older games way more often. That being said, I see why AA fans hold this game up so high. I played the first and second Phoenix Wright games last year (which I won't review since that was too long ago now) and this is a nice cap to the original Trilogy.

You get Phoenix's background as a dorky bisexual art student, Mia's first case as a defense attorney, and an honestly heartbreaking quest for revenge through Godot while never stooping to melodrama. (I love his theme it sounds like the Mother 3 Magypsies). Also unlike the first two games, there were zero "filler" cases. Each one was thoroughly engaging and moved the plot forward in a meaningful way. Though, I don't begrudge the earlier cases that fuck around a lot more.

Pokemon White 2

When the OG Black and White came out, I was in the "everything new is lame" stage of adolescence, so when the sequels came out I didn't even bother. Turns out I was the lame one for doing so! In hindsight, Pokemon seemed to reach something of a peak with Gen 5 in terms of graphics and gameplay, and would seek to experiment with new artstyles and gimmicks for the next (looks at watch) 11 years damn.

With the first Black and White, it focused on remodeling classic Pokemon designs and gameplay into something new and modern, and these games add back in most of those classic Mons. The plot is also very action-packed and engaging, and gives a satisfying epilogue for a lot of the characters from the first games. You get to see how the region has changed after 3 years and even get to explore some new parts of Unova, similar to how the Gen 2 games handled Kanto. I hope Gamefreak does something like this again in the future.

Kingdom Hearts: Re:Coded

Prepare for a deluge of this series, and not in any conceivable order. Kingdom Hearts took over my heart, mind, and body Xehanort style for the better half of the year. This title is known for a fun variety of gameplay and an absolute dogshit story. I wouldn't really agree. The game switches up its playstyle pretty frequently, including side-scrolling platforming, railshooting, and turn-based combat but for the most part its classic hack-and-slash 3D platforming that feels kind of grindy, but there's multiple unlockable difficulty sliders that you can use to switch it up if you get bored.

Storywise, there's not a lot for newcomers and if you want to play through all the games as one overarching narrative, I wouldn't blame you for skipping this one. However, if you're already a fan of Sora and Riku's relationship, this has quite a bit for someone to dig their teeth into. The world's are all recycled from KH1, making this one of the two games where you can actually explore Destiny Islands, but they all feel pretty downgraded. The endgame gave me a headache.

Kingdom Hearts

Our best boy's first big boot step into adventure. I watched all of the KH cutscenes for all of the games during a particularly dry season of lockdown, so this was my first foray into the original. The story genuinely holds up to a surprising degree, leaning into the Disney elements more than its Squaresoft side for probably the last time in the series. Its really good groundwork for Sora's introduction as a hero, I especially love the assertion towards the end that it is Sora's choice to help others that makes him worthy of the Keyblade and not destiny. Its a theme that would be both muddied and compounded upon later in the series in a pretty interesting way.

I was almost astonished at how in-depth all of the worlds are, especially Traverse Town. There are a lot more little Disney references and sidequests, like the 101 Dalmation quest, that help the worlds all feel a bit more lively. Also NPCs, which later in the series would become a rare gift. I fucked up on the combat. Did not learn how to do spell shortcuts until midway through KH2. Despite that, it was still fun to wack Heartless with my keyblades six different ways, and it makes me excited to replay it at some point.

Kingdom Hearts II

This is the big boy that every KH fan loves to absolute death. Chain of Memories had already started the series tradition of experimental storytelling, but the mainline sequel takes it to an fascinating and well-executed degree. For the first three hours you are forced into playing a new protagonist with zero context and near zero Disney shit. Vivi is there though and we love him for that. Later on we would see this prologue as the tragic conclusion of another entry in the series, but its initial presence here is jarring in a way you have to piece together throughout the rest of the main game. It would also introduce many of the more headache-inducing plot aspects that are fun to dissect but a pain to explain, such as Nobodies. I see them as ghosts, and no one can tell me otherwise. I wrote a whole absurdist retelling about it.

The worlds are more quantity than quality, I'll be real. About half of them are made up of 4 or 5 flat maps with nothing to do except grind Heartless encounters, (e.g. Mulan.) The other half are a bit meatier but could have benefited from more sidequests and such. You revisit quite a few from KH1 to see how they changed and that's always fun. There's a theme to each of the Disney worlds that add to the narrative, in this title mainly being romance and identity. The identity aspect leans toward the relationship between Sora and Roxas, two separate people who are also one person, while the romance theme hints towards the relationship with Sora and Kairi. Oddly enough, both themes also seem to work towards Sora's quest for Riku, who is in the midst of his own identity crisis while Sora desperately tries to find him. Huh. Interesting.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

This is my favorite Kingdom Hearts game. This was one of the few I was able to play as a teenager and even after all these years I still adore this game to death. It works without knowing anything else about Kingdom Hearts. You don't need to know about Ansems or Nobodies or Time Travel; none of that shit. This is the story of three friends that get torn apart by their own ignorance and one bitter old man on his quest to change the world. Its one story split among three perspectives, and each character you play through the game with you understand the grander narrative. You understand why Aqua's best friend snapped at her, why Terra's little brother is so ready to die. You also get to hear Leonard Nemoy yell "KEYBLADE" in the same cutscene three different times.

I love this game so so much dammit. The combat has a fun collection system where you earn action commands and combine them to make better attacks and healing moves. The worlds in the latter half of the game are also really creative and fun to explore, though you get a limited area to move around in for each character. If you have played previous KH entries, there's a lot of references to make you point at the screen and go "THAS AXEL THAS MY BOY HE'S A LIL GUY HERE." Anyway I'll shut up. Play this game.

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

Never ask me to explain the plot of this game. They added Inception to Kingdom Hearts and also Time Travel. And the story is mostly told through unlockable backstory cutscenes including the premise. Yes, the introduction to this game's story is an unlockable. Despite this, the story is pretty effective. This is Riku's second time in the spotlight since Reverse/Rebirth, though the game is once again split between him and Sora. It dissects Riku's character arc in a similar way to Re:Coded, except uhh this one isn't a computer simulation, he is a Dream. Completely different. It asserts his desire to continue as Sora's protector, and realizing this it is him who ultimately triumph's over Angst Teen Xehanort, saves Sora and passes the Key Test. He's no longer on his Way to the Dawn. He's in the light. It's sweet.

The worlds in this game are based around vertical movement. There's a new Parkour mechanic that lets you wall-step-flip around basically everywhere, and to compensate this the worlds are Huge. Since they're dreams, that also means they're pretty empty of anything to really do or explore. They are pretty at least. There's also a pokemon mechanic where you collect lil guys. I did not realize this mechanic also determines Riku and Sora's stats until the final boss, which caught me off guard. I see why this is a lot of people's fave KH game of all time, but its a little too busy for me.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

This is an odd one. I first played this game two years ago at college alongside Oracle of Seasons in my spare time. Eventually my phone-I MEAN MY AUTHENTIC GAME BOY COLOR- broke and I thought I lost my save data for both. Turns out I did not and finished through the last few dungeons. This game makes solid use of the time travel mechanic, which is a mix of Ocarina's time travel and Alttp's world jumping. It's fun to jump sporadically between 1000s of years and see the world in different eras. That rock? Used to be slightly over to the left. Would you look at that.

The dungeons had a larger focus on puzzles in comparison with Season's love for combat, which is probably why this is the more beloved twin. Some of the dungeons had me waddling back and forth for too long until I figured out what to do. You can link these games up to get bonus items like the Biggoron's Sword which is fun to complete. After beating both games, you get an extra final boss against Ganon and a scene hinting towards the beginning of Link's Awakening, which is a nice touch. And then Nintendo declared them two separate Links, for some reason. Beh.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

Oh hey. One of the most beloved games of all time. I have played through this games more times than I know. Probably around like. 6 times I used to boot this game up and play all the way up to the Forest Temple and then restart for some reason, I don't know how many times I actually got to the end.

Its a game that eases you into its idyllic fantasy world before dropping you headfirst into the apocalypse you inadvertently caused in your quest to destroy evil. Its never a melodramatic game though. Its about the loss of innocence. Maturity. Learning that the evil was always there, before the King of Thieves took over the world, before you were even born. It even came from the place you are trying to protect. But there was always goodness too, there was always light. There are always friends to be found in dark places. The style and presentation are peak. The dungeons are rich in aesthetics and well made puzzles. The time travel mechanic is honestly a bit undercooked. But this game is fantastic. Quintessential Zelda.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure

I straight-up forgot I played this. Its fun though. Its a relatively short game, but compared to its predecessor, its a huge improvement. The game plays out in stages like the first Four Swords game, but usually in explorable environments, like towns and forests rather than generic volcano and cave themes. You control all Four Links at once, moving them into different formations to move rocks or put fires out. Or you can do it with friends controlling each Link. I did not. :(

I was mainly interested in this games story from a lore perspective. It features the return of Vaati, the Wind Creep who Lova Da Ladies, but with the addition of the Rise of Ganondorf. You are sent to stop him from a wise owl, Ganon allies himself with Deku Scrubs, attacks the Gorons, and is eventually turned into a monster by his own lust for power. It seems more and more like a retelling of Ocarina in a different light. Eh. Maybe I'll write about my Zelda timeline theories in a different post. Not here though

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory

BACK TO KH BABY! This is a rhythm game, so I don't have too much to say. I've never really played any rhythm game before this, and I'm not sure if this one is on par with the more well-known rhythm titles out there, but I had a good time with it. Its great for people who like Kingdom Hearts music, lmao. You have a lot of unlockable character groups to play through the music with and level them up, but once I unlocked the Days trio I didn't really go for the others too much. Xion my beloved.

The story is hilariously shallow, almost insulted considering its Kairi's first solo outing, technically. She's on her quest to learn all the KH lore she missed out on, and eventually finds a repressed memory of a grown adult monologuing at a toddler for fifteen minutes. Also that her boyfriend is alive so that her boyfriend's boyfriend can go save him. Her boyfriend's boyfriend is also her boyfriend. Fight me.

Kingdom Hearts III

People were. So upset when this game came out. Acted like it was the biggest disappointment since the ill-fated economic crisis of '07. Sure, yea, that's a reference. Well this is the first time I've gone into it and I'm here to say this is probably among my favorite KH games of all time. Strong competitor with BBS. A lot of the criticisms of the story and gameplay weren't wrong per-say, but the issues with this game, such a goofy dialogue, bizarre pacing, and over complicated exposition dumps, are problems with the entire series that fans of the series, in my opinion, have come to see as endearing elements of Kingdom Hearts. Its funny to watch the big cloak guy point at Sora and say "Darkness Light Heart Darkness," and see Sora gasp in fear, while also realizing the importance of that dialogue to the story. It's a feature, not a bug.

The worlds in this game are its biggest asset. They are huge, heavily detailed, heavily explorable areas with tons to discover. Hell, the Pirates of the Caribbean world acts as a slightly smaller Wind Waker. The game adds in most of the mechanics from all the spin offs to give you a lot of toys to play with, such as parkour or sharpshooting, that are easy to forget but a treat to use when you actually remember them.

A central theme of each of the Disney worlds is happy endings. Hercules finally takes down Hades for good. Mike and Sully are able to visit Boo without risk to her safety. The dead Baymax from that one Disney movie gets a redemption arc. Frozen and Tangled play out exactly as their movie which is kind of boring. This correlates with the happy endings the rest of the supporting cast get to experience, including the initially tragedies of the BBS and Days trio in scenes that genuinely got tears out of me. But Sora doesn't get a happy ending. He sacrifices himself to strong-arm everyone else into their perfect circumstance. Literally breaks the rules of time and space to force the universe into saving his friends at the cost of his own life. And then Hell turns out to be Tokyo so its not all that bad. It makes you feel for the boy. This game also lets you play as Kairi in the DLC which makes me happy.

Alright ending this here. I've played way too many games this year this isn't even half. Also only including games I've finished, and games with definitive endings. I played Mario Kart 7 but that doesn't rlly end, ya know? Will try to write these weekly, even if no ones reading them. But if you do read them tell me what you think! Gonna switch over to books next week to even it out. I swear I don't just play games. This is the last Kingdom Hearts game on this list too I swear.

[cielospeaks]

wholesomeness meme

i get annoyed by how bad i think some series i enjoy are but i dont like those moments that are trash and dont think they deserve the attention so instead have my most good vibes ey moments from things i could think of rn lol

dont talk to me i cant this is the actual best: this is stuff im just. keyboard smashes, shuts down, etc etc.

the losh scene in ouas: this short had no right to be as awesome as it was. this scene was so well and fun-ly animated im losing it

nwh saving the villains: moments of movies that live rent free in my head i appreciate this so much.

losh updates in florida: let me in let me in!!!!!

screaming incoherently: i love this a lot. awesome af.

the other witw/losh cameos in ouas: beautiful. wonderful. keep on doin what youre doin

nwh in general: heavy wepons guy voice i love this movie

schubby festival (+ sendai live): loid events are few and far between but every time i have a reason to scream abt my favorite lab experiment composers i will be

its so wholesome im gonna mclose it: im not even spiteful this is the best

guifei wanting to play a trio w the boys: so far the only character to have voice lines w them and not act like a creep. looks pointedly. anyways a good person and i appreciate her. pls come home

caro making lotr memes: caro deserves better. its also cute the two lute buddies are next to each other lol

senpai in ouas: he had a small role but its adorable. honestly this would be higher? idk. maybe this is just ouas in general bc there were a lot of genuinely wholesome moments (there were some bad ones but eh im not here for that lol)

the ending of k h 3: let -clap emoji- these -clap emoji- kids -clap emoji- eat -clap emoji- ice cream -clap emoji-

i am physically upset we dont get more shit like this in the series: ok the rage starts to show. im a little spiteful or more than before but this is still good af

cyrano being sexy and charly being wholesome: this was by far one of the best white days, probably on par with the like. gang roleplay with izou. cyrano is by far the best design the game has had in years

poke mon s v having such a banger main plot: compared to the previous one which just wasnt for me s v just hit me hard. i am not immune to silly sandwich lizard bike or wholesome slow burn friendship story. the only reason i think its lower is bc there were some aspects of the dlc that really turned me off, and i feel like souered a really good, pretty much perfect original story. also given that principal clavell is my favorite character since sub mas that really says something : )

beli voice lines in the museum and q pot: these are only lower bc im more angry at why we cant get this sort of good content. caro's thing just fricking punched me in the gut with the memes, but bel is cute af in these and i like him just being a nuisance and weirdo : )

seithr king dom hearts ing that shit: this is why youre very high tier, i love that you stood up for what you believed in and went against the main characters and their flawed beliefs in order to save people you cared abt (aka. alternate timeline versions of yourself). thats the good shit thats what im here for!!

lunar new year events in i dv: gosh i love these. the older men characters are your friends, and theres more focus on a variety of characters that isnt all negative like in the main canon. more of this pls.

hans being freed for the ending of the short: idk. i feel like the people in this short had more heart than most of the people who worked specifically for his movie/that crowd, which is why the usual abuse scene was a haha funny star wars joke and he got free at the end. also folklore bros i want to believe -prayer hands-

this tickles me a little: honestly this series is already so good or hasnt let me down yet so im happy and very touched but not like. foaming at the mouth like some of the others.

t f 2 resurgance by voice actors: i appreciate this so much yall are so wholesome. wish i lived closer id love to play meme songs for you sometime

tw st having good writing and letting the boys be silly boys: i love how the guys share brain cells and are like the embodiment of that vine with the shirtless guys jumping about the speaker. thats why i love them and why i got into the series

gin is alive: good for him!!! im so glad he isnt dead!!!! this was really nice but i feel like ive not been following as long as the hardcore fans but im still so happy, i was worried abt him. good hes ok. pls thrive my boi.

aladar in ouas: my friend!!!! this tickled me so much. thank u ppl who made this for being actually cool.

cameos in the void plot: i thought this was really sweet! very lore much yes! so far im enjoying this story and am trying to be hopeful. idk the more recent plot stuff (like idk. 10ish years back to now?) hasnt hit as hard as the stuff when i was like 10 yrs old but ill be hopeful :)

[sambargestuff]

I don't hate Andor but I am conflicted about it. Specifically.... well, there's a lot and I don't want to write a dissertation here.

I just saw a gift of "I've been in this fight since I was six years old," and it got me thinking about the annoying, wholly unnecessary retcons in Andor again.

ETA: Actually, I will add a bit of a dissertation.

I think Andor has some beautiful moments, excellent actors, and good writing (in both character development and plot).

The speech by Luthen, for example ("I burn my life for a sunrise I'll never see") is brilliant both for the sentiment AND for Skarsgard's delivery. As a person that works in labour activism, I actually use that speech in training. Movements are full of people like Luthen (and Andor) and that's something that Star Wars never acknowledges but it's a truth that can inform movements; yes, Martin Luther King was a hero but he wasn't the Civil Rights Movement. There were countless activists that "burned their lives for a sunrise they'll never see" and we should understand their struggles. We should understand that even if we can't be MLK (or Luke Skywalker) that we can be an integral part of the movement.

If you're older than 12 and you want to remain a fan of SW, then you need the franchise to offer some adult content* and Andor (and Rogue One) does that. But....

They could've let some (or all) of Rogue One survive the movie and made a series of their activities through the next 3.5 yrs of rebellion (the length of time between Battle Yavin and Battle Endor). The writers would have been able to get across all the good things in Andor without destroying the seeds in R1. I love Diego Luna (I was a fan before R1) and I love Cassian but I also love Jyn, Bodhi, K2, Chirrut, and Baze. I would've watched the hell out of a show with them fighting the Empire and getting the plans for the 2nd Death Star. Imagine them fighting for a cause they believe in while struggling with the morality of some of their actions. Think of Cassian in the scene where he kills Tivik. Now imagine him being challenged by Jyn, influenced by Bodhi, needled by K2. Come on. Also, the characters would be aging with the actors so we wouldn't have to believe that 40 yr old Diego is 20 yr old Cassian. Just saying.

The retcon of Cassian's background was not only unnecessary; it completely changes his character arc in R1. If they really needed to make a prequel for Andor, what's wrong with a story of a rebel that's been in the fight since he was 6 yrs old?! Remember the image of Cassian when R1 came out was of Palestinian kids throwing rocks at Israeli tanks. That's a fucking awesome story. Instead we get a character that makes a lie out of the character of Cassian in R1. Also, there's no explanation for why no one can know he's from Kenari and they had to create a backstory about Fest or why the planet he was from was called Kenari and not just called Fest. It's a small thing but it also isn't a small thing, if you follow me.

Andor has a lot of good characters and story lines in it but it has some egregious missteps. Maarva is a character with good and bad in her but she's not developed enough for fans to see that, so most people hate her and see her as an abusive foster parent. Has Gilroy never heard of the 60s Scoop? Even if he hadn't, did he think drugging a child and abducting him was a morally neutral act? You know that fans hate Maarva because there's all this fan fiction that includes Cassian's hag of a foster mother who he inexplicably loves and cares for. Mosylu's Hold Me Like a Grudge does Maarva the best, I think, and gets her complexity but clearly people dislike the fuck out of her.

Bix is another misstep. She's essentially fridged for Andor and that's just weak and a disservice to the character. They created a woman with her own life and career, who apologetically sleeps with her boyfriend (SEX?! In SW?!) and tortured her until she was dependent on Andor to save her. I mean. Okay. I guess.

The good stuff - Mon Mothma, her family dynamic and struggles, Dedra and Karn as villains - could've been part of a series that is consistent with R1 canon. Even Luthen could've been part of it all without all the changes.

I can't shake the feeling that Andor is actually a slap in the face to Jyn Erso. Maybe it's the way they gave Cassian some of Jyn's actual back story or maybe it's because Jyn was the protagonist of R1 and she's probably not going to feature in Andor except as a fan service call back right at the end. The old feminist in me gets her hackles up whenever a female character is sidelined in favour of a male character. One of the joys of R1 is that Jyn and Cassian were equals. I would have loved a series that maintained that dynamic, romantic partners or not (but imagine the slow burn of that).

I could go on but I really need to walk my dog and go to the gym and work. I need to keep burning my life for a sunrise I'll never see.

*Or you end up being one of those people that doesn't understand the Vader and the Empire are the baddies, ffs. Boba Fett is not a hero of the franchise, ffs.

hmmMM I might actually hate andor. specifically I always hated that it retconned so much of what little backstory we had for cassian, and for literally no reason except a quick buck - they could have created a new character instead of making cassian a hypocrite in rogue one. but the real issue is how obnoxious andor fans have been. to hear some of them discuss it, you'd think tony gilroy had invented communism and was leading a revolution 🙄

also it's become impossible to find fic that doesn't use the andor backstory, because no one tags properly, and as a "I've been in this fight since I was six" enjoyer, that's very annoying.

[songcfmuses-a]

If ya’ll are gonna call Dae.mon a groomer in regards to Nyra

(He’s not, Nyra was of age Westerosi standards when he returned from 3 years of no contact, after their only on screen interactions being him giving her a gift, which imma have to go tell my dad giving unprompted gifts to me was grooming, him getting a favour from HER FRIEND, or her speaking to him as an equal taking a dragon egg back. In all scenarios she was of marriage able age in Westeros, Ep 3, Viserys even says Rhaenyra is a woman grown. that’s 16 in Westeros, she was 17/18 in Ep 4 if we’re being consistent, depending on whether she turned 15 in that six month time gap or not.)

are y’all not gonna hold the same energy when it comes to Lae.na, who says she was 15 when she claimed Vh.agar. Where was Vha.gar in Drift.mark in ep 5? She wasn’t there. Meaning... at that wedding... Lae.na was 15 or 14 years old, and married either that year or a year later. Younger than Nyra, and yet... y’all only give a shit about what didn’t happen to Nyra? What wasn’t being portrayed? 

The show is not consistent in their aging. Lae.na was 12 in ep 1, when she’s meant to be at least five years older than Nyra. Ali was Nyra’s age despite Ali being meant to be ten years older, and only about 9 years younger than Vise.rys. Lae.nor was 10, and suddenly Nyra’s same age at the end of the war? 

Why do y’all get on the high horse for Nyra, but disregard Lae,na? 

Why do y’all pretend Lae.na was just second fucking choice when Dae,mon had no obligation or reason to get married again if he didn’t want to? 

Stop treating Lae,na like she doesn’t deserve the same decency as Rhae,nyra.  

Dae.mon and Lae.na were not using each other. Lae.na was not to Dae.mon as My.saria was, and yes I’ve seen that. 

If Dae.mon wanted a sex worker, he would’ve had one. He wouldn’t have married Lae.na. It is incredibly gross to reduce Lae.na down to just being a companion and sex for Dae.mon for ten years and not really think about her as a character. She wouldn’t have stayed in Pen/tos, when she clearly wanted to return to Drift/mark, and could have without him - if she did not love him. Ten whole years she STAYED, when she could have left on Vh.agar at any moment with her children. 

I am so tired of the erasure of Lae.na, of her being tossed aside to hold up Nyra. Even by my own friends, who know how much I love Lae.na. And I’m not just talking romantically, but in general. Bad enough the show did it, I gotta deal with it in this fandom too? It’s not my fault Miguel and Sara and Ryan can’t write people loving multiple people in the same season. 

I am tired. I’m so tired of it. 

Lae.na is no one’s second choice. She is always my first choice, no matter what you lot try to say about her. She is important on her own. 

[winterlinksandotherlinks]

Ravio Marchand — local merchant, family man, and husband of the Hero of Legend! Also featuring an obligatory Sheerow

I love LiWiAU Ravio so much, y'all have no idea I’ll yell some more about it in the tags dw

Thoughts and bonus doodle under the cut, and a shout-out to @astrolabe-blade for lending an ear in the character development process ❤

Ravio is one of those characters that I first encountered in fan content, and I've never really been able to stray all that far from that. As a result, I really don't know how much remains of the original character, beyond the name, the occupation, and the general appearance. Still, I care a lot about him, and I hope you'll all also enjoy him

originally from Lorule — his mother was a herbalist, his father made wicker-baskets, and their garden was frequently visited by birds;

this was the garden Sheerow, a blue-and-white sparrow-like bird hatched in one autumn, and Ravio’s mother took great care in nurturing Sheerow through the winter — Ravio loved playing with Sheerow, and always claimed to be able to speak telepathically with him;

for reasons currently unknown, Ravio and Sheerow do, in fact, speak telepathically with each other;

when Ravio was six, his parents died, and he ended up on the streets — he made a friend who introduced him to Mamie, and older lady who Ravio views as a grandmotherly figure (Mamie’s also Mitchi’s biological great-grandma);

when Ravio started working for Hilda, he used his income to buy Mamie and red-and-purple woollen shawl that, later, was passed back to him (see the illustration above);

trans (ftm) — found appropriate resources to transition once he moved to Hyrule (has only had top surgery), but is on bad days still insecure about his waist, hips, and thighs;

enjoys being the care-taker in the household, but worries that it’ll make him appear less masculine in other people’s eyes;

knows more or less everything about Legend’s adventures, and helped Legend through the rocky period post-Koholint (I’ve fiddled around with the order of Legend’s adventures, but I’ll talk more about that in the post about Legend) — heard about Marin before he knew anything about Koholint, and was secretly furious with her for the state Legend was in (these days he’s accepted that some part of Legend always will love Marin, and come to enjoy hearing Legend’s anecdotes about Koholint);

works as a merchant at ‘Link’s Orchard and Ravio’s Magic Items’ (a small shop-expansion to Legend’s cottage), and crafts enchanted items for sale and renting — so far, he’s created a magic boiler for bath water, and he’s considering inventing a magic washer and a magic broom (essentially the equivalent of a washing machine and a vacuum cleaner);

travels for a few weeks every summer, together with Legend, to trade all over Hyrule and Lorule;

when I write Ravio, I tend to imagine a softer less-dramatic version of Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle, with some added flavour;

to distinguish between Hyrulean and Lorulean, I’ve decided to use French as a place-holder for Lorulean (French!Ravio was an idea that occurred when I saw @guardedchild​ ’s wonderful colouring of this RavioLink illustration);

Ravio calls Legend ‘mon lapin’ (trans.: ‘sweetheart’, ‘[my] bunny’) — beyond three months of French in high school, I’m not as familiar with the language as I’d like to, so this is purely what I’ve learned from Reverso and some deep-dives in dictionaries (if any French-speaking person thinks I got it wrong, please let me know);

Ravio and Legend’s interactions, under normal circumstances, are definitely that flavour of flirting that’s thinly veiled as almost-scathing banter;

Ravio firmly believes there’s a tea for any situation; 

his favourite dish is Mamie’s cassoulet (a savoury bean stew);

bought matching mugs for himself and Legend once (one’s pink, the other’s purple, and they both have bunnies painted on them);

half his clothes have apple blossom embroideries thanks to Legend (whenever Legend takes his shirts/tunics, it’s always a tossup between “Legend just sort of forgets to return them and wears them casually around the cottage” and “Legend returns them covered in embroideries” — either way, Ravio doesn’t mind);

Ravio knew very early on that he liked Legend, but kept it to himself because of Marin — at first just because he didn’t know who she was to Legend, and then because he assumed Legend was still grieving her;

Ravio and Legend got married the day they started dating (it’s a rollercoaster, and the entire 16,000-and-some words of Ch. 2 of Out of Time is about this);

Ravio marks all the items he sells with a watermark/trademark/y’know what I mean (I can’t remember the actual word for this in any of the languages I know rn, but see the doodle below);

knows Warriors from the War of Eras, and is essentially best friends with Linkle (she knows everything about Ravio, Legend, Mitchi, and Fable, and Ravio knows everything about Linkle, Warriors, and their Zelda) — Malon’s later included in this little group, and the three of them are inseparable; 

Ravio’s very proficient with his hammer (which he may or may not have placed some enchantments on) — Legend doesn’t know this yet, but he’ll find it very attractive when he does, and might have a minor existential crisis over it;

Ravio has copied the bracelet he gave Legend, so both of them can travel between Hyrule and Lorule

I probably have more thoughts about him (and his interactions with the others! especially Hyrule!), but this post is already long and detailed, so I’ll leave it here for now

Bonus doodle of Ravio's branding/trademark/thing (the line below the bunny hood is supposed to be some kind of writing, probably saying something along the lines of, “Made by Ravio Marchand, Hyrulean merchant and enchanter”):

[shihalyfie]

Comparing the original Best Partner character song series and the new one, and what that says about the 02 cast

So if you haven’t heard yet, a new series of 02 (it’s actually Kizuna) character songs dropped! Allegedly intended as a slightly delayed 20th anniversary project, the series is a callback to the original “Best Partner” character song album series that released during 02′s actual airing.

If you know anything about the original Best Partner series, it’s one that sets an insanely high bar, even for Digimon standards (and that’s saying something, given the deep associations this franchise has with music). The series of character songs before it, Adventure’s “Character Song + Mini Drama” series, has a…kind of questionable amount of relevance to each character; it’s not like they’re super amazingly out of character, but they don’t really tell you a lot about each character beyond some gloss details (this is probably best demonstrated in how Mimi’s song is blatantly just an AiM single disguised as a Mimi song). Best Partner, on the other hand, very intimately goes into each character’s head and their relationships with their respective partners, even putting in direct words what wasn’t stated explicitly in the series.

So does the new series live up to the high bar its predecessor sets? Answer: on top of some abnormal attention to detail on the covers, it is very obvious that the new series not only has a lot of the depth of the 02 characters in mind, but also is made in direct response to the original series itself. Moreover, putting the original Best Partner series and this one side by side reveals a lot about each of the 02 characters and what they got out of 02′s story, in a surprisingly neat summary.

Let’s go into how!

Since this is something that has a deep relationship with all of these characters in regards to the series, this particular meta would not have been possible without input from multiple people who know these characters better than I could ever hope to by myself. Thank you for all of your help.

A bit of historical context

The original Best Partner series consisted of a set of albums, one representing each pair of partners in 02. Notably, even though nowadays there’s a specific order of the Adventure/02 characters that’s used in modern media, not only does the original series not follow that ordering (as it hadn’t been set in stone at the time), it also leads with the original Adventure characters and not the 02 ones, which is pretty unusual for a series that’s ostensibly supposed to be for 02 (modern lineups will usually favor leading with whichever group the relevant product is branded with).

A lot of this probably makes more sense when you realize that the original Best Partner series was released during the first half of 02’s airing. The final album was released on August 23, 2000, four days before the fateful 02 episode 21 (yes, that means the third track on Ken and Wormmon’s album is actually a spoiler). So in other words, while the original Best Partner series accurately reflects the older Adventure group’s character development and what problems they were able to sufficiently overcome, the 02 group does not have anything about their character development from 02′s second half reflected in it at all.

That’s actually a really huge disparity, when you think about it, especially because a lot happened with the 02 group in that second half – that second half was where the emotional payoff and the results of everything that had been building up over that first half came together. So in comparison to the Adventure group, composed of people confidently talking about what they’ve decided for themselves from now on, you still have the 02 group drenched pretty deeply in insecurity. Watch 02 to the end and listen to those songs again, and you might even think “wait, this is supposed to represent these characters?” So, in essence, the new Best Partner series serves to address that gap, and what the 02 group gained and learned out of 02′s second half.

Best Partner (and its successor series for Tamers, Best Tamers) follows a uniform format: a solo song for the human partner, a solo song for the Digimon partner, and a duet between the two. (Given that, the original Best Partner series was really huge, at a whole 36 songs.) Recalling that, in the Adventure universe, a Digimon partner reflects the human’s inner self and psyche, it’s pretty extensive coverage: what the human has to say about themself, what place their Digimon partner is in relative to that, and what the nature of their relationship is due to that.

Let’s go into each pair of partners in detail!

Daisuke and V-mon

For those who love 02 and love Daisuke in particular, when you ask “what kind of character is Daisuke like?” or “what’s Daisuke’s best quality?”, you’re probably going to get answers like “forward-thinking” or “positive” or “good at uplifting others” – basically everything to do with how Daisuke is an encouraging presence who doesn’t give in easily and has a strong mentality of moving forward in the face of despair. Someone who appreciates and understands others’ best qualities, and loves them for everything they are. So when you look at his original Best Partner solo song, Goggle Boy…

But more than just saving the world I really don’t want to lose, you know

…Uh…

These goggles are my proof Given by a certain someone to me The precious thing he handed over It’s just like his Crest, you know Aren’t they cool?

…Well, that’s nowhere to be found.

This is the kind of song that might make you think “wait, this is supposed to be Daisuke’s representative song?!” (It’s possibly because of this that Daisuke’s song from The Bridge to Dreams, Tomorrow, generally tended to be far more favored among Daisuke fans, although it’s more relevant to 02 as a whole than it is to Daisuke in particular.) if you listen to Goggle Boy knowing about what Daisuke’s best qualities should be, this is almost a little frustrating, because this is the kind of thing he really shouldn’t be pigeonholed as – basically, begging for others’ approval and praise and focusing on idolizing others. Even his most insightful moments in this song come from his appreciation of something that came from someone else (Taichi), not from himself.

Well, the thing is, that was Daisuke’s character for most of the first half of 02. Of course, even in early episodes, there were many times where Daisuke’s potential for positivity and forward-thinkingness were starting to poke through, but most of the time he was rolling over trying to please others and chasing after his seniors. The real period of time he started to grow into his own about this was 02 episode 24 and its aftermath – when his time spent with his friends started to fill the void in his life and his need for validation, and the escalating situation, especially with Ken, led him to have a proper grasp of what was properly important and what needed to be done.

So when we get to his new solo, RUNNING MAN…

I’ll keep on running far ahead Let’s bring everyone along with me, today, too Really, always, thank you, Thank you so much Riding the wind, going past the sky Grasping your hands and flying I’m even starting to see beyond my dreams

Even in only one section, you can get an instant image of the Motomiya Daisuke we all know and love – someone who appreciates his friends’ role in his life, loves their company, and moves positively towards the future. Because, again, after the events of 02, and after being able to bond further with his friends and gaining his own strengths in leading everyone forward, he became able to more properly express his love for everything instead of constantly vying for others’ attention. Even the title reflects the change, from a “boy” who’s flashing the symbol of courage he got from someone else, to a “man” who’s positively running forward on his own merits.

(Interestingly, RUNNING MAN is composed by Ohta Michihiko, a legendary composer who’s made many of some of the most important songs in the franchise, and also composed many of the original Best Partner songs, including Goggle Boy. It’s interesting how RUNNING MAN is the one most like the original songs in atmosphere as a result – possibly representing how Daisuke is a simple-minded person who ostensibly doesn’t change drastically in disposition – yet has lyrical content that’s so starkly different.)

As a result, this is subtly reflected in the other two songs in each album as well – remember that V-mon is one of the partners who most “matches” his own partner in terms of disposition and mentality. So as Daisuke shifted his own priorities, V-mon did too; we go from Go Ahead! being about taking a stand and fighting, whereas Beyond the Future is about a similar forward-thinking mentality to Daisuke’s.

Likewise, the duets have different priorities as well; 2-TOP was composed of Daisuke and V-mon bickering for the most of it, and the most substantial point you could get about it was that despite their bickering, they made it work, whereas HEY-rasshai! has them almost entirely in sync (with one minor moment of deviance). It’s also interesting to see the topics covered in each; 2-TOP is about soccer, which ultimately is revealed to be a fairly incidental hobby for Daisuke, whereas HEY-rasshai! is about ramen making, which, while comical, also has a very strong tie to “Daisuke’s dream for the future, and his willingness to single-mindedly dedicate himself to something when it’s something he truly wants”. In other words, while Daisuke knew what he wanted since elementary school, it says a lot that he’s at a point where he and V-mon are now taking proactive steps to have that dream achieved, now that they’re able.

Ken and Wormmon

Like with his position in 02 itself, Ken’s is probably the easiest to see the contrast without trying too hard, but there’s still quite a lot to unpack!

When you think about it, in the modern era, it’s actually surprisingly hard to find stuff too relevant to Ken’s time as the Kaiser. The reason is, simply, that the series itself discourages this – Ken himself had an obvious aversion to dwelling too much on it, and the entire series itself has a strong theme of “moving on”. It’s not to say that the Kaiser doesn’t have a fanbase (I’m sorry if you’re reading this and find that I might be implying too hard that you don’t exist), but rather that there’s a franchise and fanart tendency to focus more on “Ken-chan” than “the Kaiser” these days, and old merch from the first half of the series will all too often get responses of “it’s really sad Ken-chan can’t be there…” Of course, 02 itself was also about accepting one’s mistakes, not pretending they never happened, so it’d be foolhardy to deny Ken’s dark history entirely, but it’s retroactively interesting to see such a prominent and persistent piece of merch like Ken and Wormmon’s original Best Partner album focus so largely on Ken’s time as the Kaiser when most of the franchise ended up trying to move on.

Starting with Ken’s solo songs, and his first one, ONLY ONE:

I’ve lived without showing my true feelings, wearing this mask

Well, this was easy to tell from the series itself, but the point driven home is that Ken didn’t want to expose his true self to others, putting on a front of “strength” and smashing his true feelings into the corner so that he could become more of the “perfect” person he thought he was supposed to be. There’s also another interesting line that one should pay attention to:

I polished the knife in my heart and put my belief in infinite power

Basically, putting up a defensive front to prevent anything from approaching his weaknesses.

Anyway, moving onto his new song, Never Ending:

If I want to be proud of tomorrow’s version of myself I wonder, what can I do? Never Give-up I’ll keep fighting, even doing someone else’s part No, I won’t be afraid anymore

First of all, the main theme of the song is about putting conscious thought into understanding how to stay true to himself – basically, understanding what it is he really wants to do and become, instead of putting on fronts and hiding it from others. Not only that, we see traces of what exactly he gained over the course of the second half of 02 – because so much of it involved constantly trying to blame himself for everything, this song is about what he came to learn in terms of proactively making it up and actively fighting forward. He’s working hard!

We also have this part:

The knife that’s pointed at someone, or at myself If it’s been let go of

Two things going on here: firstly, we have an explicit reference to the metaphorical “knife” Ken referred to putting up in ONLY ONE, talking about finally letting it go instead of bothering with this kind of front. He also points out that, in a sense, the knife was pointed at himself too, either in the sense of actually having hurt himself through this entire ideal, or in the sense that he constantly was trying to blame and punish himself for everything. None of that should be necessary anymore. Moreover, Never Ending contains a lot of references to “daily life” and the happiness that comes with the simplicity of just being alive – because that was indeed what Ken gained through his experiences, the ability to treasure living life in itself instead of aspiring to an impossible standard.

Another interesting thing about Never Ending is that it’s technically in a similar rock genre to ONLY ONE instead of being “soft”, like Ken’s personality is often thought to be. This was a surprise to a lot of people who commented on how surprisingly “cool” the song was, but this is actually completely in line with Ken arguably being one of the most openly assertive people in this group even after his reformation. Note that it’s very difficult to call this song purely angsty – it’s definitely positive and forward-thinking, and the chorus itself is partially in major key – but it has the vibe of someone who’s fully aware of everything that’s happened, is putting proper thought into it, and is pushing on despite everything. Remember, the intensity the Kaiser had originally came from somewhere; Ichijouji Ken is the same person, in the end.

In regards to Wormmon’s song, the contrast is also obvious: The Future You Dreamed of, the Future I Dreamed Of. is of course about Wormmon’s tormented feelings during the Kaiser’s abusive relationship with him, whereas can change it! is about its aftermath and how they made up (including copious references to the events of 02 episode 23). Even then, there’s a certain “forward-thinking” attitude that marks this song as being representative of being after 02’s events and not during – see the line “The mistake we made that day/is exactly the reason we’ll never let it happen again”, instead of the self-punishment and shame Stingmon expressed in 02 episode 26).

On top of that, the duet song Forever Adolescence also marks a subtle progression from the point they were at from True Strength – remembering that Best Partner 12 was released at a time when True Strength was actually a bit of a spoiler, while Ken and Wormmon obviously had made up by that point, the key line in it is still “everything truly begins from here”. So what, exactly, happened after that? According to Forever Adolescence, the decision made was to keep moving forward, and, moreover, to stay “the way they are”, especially with the nuance that it means it’s okay to not force oneself into the role of an adult and stay “young at heart”. This is really, really important in light of the events of Kizuna, the 02 group’s unusual role in it and its relevance to 02′s themes (more on this below), and how Spring 2003 referred to the pressure placed on Osamu as him being “forced to grow up too quickly” – in essence, Ken and Wormmon have firmly resolved to actively move away from that kind of pressure.

Miyako and Hawkmon

I’ve pointed out several times on this blog that the actual complex Miyako was going through in 02 was that she hated herself more than anyone else in the group would be willing to criticize her – and if you don’t believe me, it’s put in a pretty heavy-handed manner in her original song, Crash and Bingo!:

Fussing about it won’t get anything done But my selfishness and problems and panic keep coming out

…and even more viciously in her own and Hawkmon’s duet, Fly High:

I can’t do anything right, besides playing around with computers

or

Everyone would be still be fine if I weren’t there

If you thought it was subtle in the main series, it certainly isn’t here: Miyako considered herself good for absolutely nothing and unable to be accepted by others for being too useless – in these songs, despite Hawkmon’s attempts to uplift her, she criticizes her own messy tendencies and considers herself a burden. Best Partner is a positive series, so it still has the attitude of “we’ll try anyway”, but it’s clear that Miyako really didn’t have the highest opinion of herself at all. Hence, Fly High also shows off the worst of Hawkmon having to deal with the fallout – with Miyako flailing around in panic and considering herself good for nothing, he’s forced to carry her around.

But come Miyako’s new solo, From Spain with Love!, we see a huge contrast all over the place:

I, who have evolved into an adult make everyone do a double-take at me when I walk by!

Exhibit A: actual confidence in herself and ability to consider herself worth something;

If I can always, always be honest with myself Even if I don’t put together some program, even if I keep screwing up Ah, you understand me

Exhibit B: understanding that she’s worth something to others besides her utility abilities, and knowing that she has friends who’ll support her despite her flaws (which is very true);

When things are feeling hard, the first thing you should do is call me, okay? I’ll take the wings of love and purity, spread them, and get there as fast as I can Ah, I’ll open up any gate I need to

Exhibit C: indulging in her capacity for helping and supporting others;

Al mal tiempo, buena cara We laugh exactly when things are hard

Exhibit D: understanding the strength to get through hard times, instead of emotionally crumbling under the pressure.

Yep, that’s exactly what her character arc in 02 was about; 02 episode 31 was a huge turning point for her because, in the depths of her berating herself for her messiness and expecting Hikari to be secretly judging her the whole time, Hikari revealed that she was outright jealous of Miyako being able to speak her mind, and Miyako shortly after ended up showing her true capacity for reaching others who needed her help and supporting them, a role she ended up growing into for the rest of the series. Note that, other than the casual remark of confidence at the beginning, Miyako hasn’t necessarily become arrogant or anything – it’s just that, by focusing her energies into how much she loves everyone and turning her “nosiness” and “sticking herself into others’ business” tendencies into positive energy to help everyone, she gained more confidence in her ability to be loved and accepted by others.

This is reflected as well in her new duet with Hawkmon, where, instead of Hawkmon dragging her around everywhere, their differences and mismatched personalities are outright celebrated, and while Miyako still has awareness of her messy tendencies, she’s no longer letting it emotionally rip her apart and has confidence that Hawkmon can be by her side to help her through it. Perhaps reflecting that, Hawkmon himself goes from the over-the-top, dramatic, high-strung Knight of Love to the more calm and straightforward Gentle Tornado, perhaps because his own partner isn’t constantly bouncing off the walls recklessly nearly as much anymore.

Incidentally, it’s not like all of this is without nuance, either; even if Miyako’s become more of a confident person, she’s not all put-together. Considering that the entire song has her gushing about how she’d be willing to drop anything to go see her friends (which was pushed forward in Kizuna itself, what with her willingly taking the same request she’d refused to do earlier just because her friends were involved, and even inventing D-3 gate exploitation just to go see them), when you get to the end, and her gushing about her fun in Spain suddenly derails into reminiscing about the events of 02 episode 42, the implication is clear: for as much as she wants to be wholeheartedly enjoying this fun trip abroad for what it is, she can’t help but let her thoughts float back to memories and friends she cares about, and her bonus conversation with Hawkmon drives it in further that, ultimately, she dearly misses them too much.

Iori and Armadimon

Iori also went through some drastic changes in character over the course of 02, so when you look at My Conclusion, it’s basically Iori at his “worst” point of black-and-white morality:

Everyone, I will be speaking my conclusion Evil will not be tolerated Even evil in itself will be defeated by justice That will always be a certainty in the end

I mean, let’s even consider the fact that the song is called “My Conclusion” in the first place. Iori’s slamming this all down like this is the end-all of everything, and you can’t change his mind! He does briefly admit that there are certain things reason itself won’t change, but it’s more like he’s on the verge of having an out, because in the end, really…

Everyone, I will be speaking my conclusion Our enemies are beyond reason Again and again, to the very end They will certainly use cowardly means to come and attack us

Rationality. No feelings involved. Evil is evil, and justice is justice. No takebacks. Life exists by rules, and nothing else.

Message to the Future is possibly one of the most interesting songs in the original Best Partner collection, because it does actually provide hints about where Iori should be going in the future, and also has a lot of things that retroactively hit a lot harder from the meta perspective. The song fully fleshes out Iori’s feelings and concerns about how to grow up into a proper adult (which was hinted to be his real motivation as to why he was so strict with himself in 02), and that, most of all, what he wants is for his “feelings” to never change no matter what happens. Iori expresses concerns about how he might change as an adult to Armadimon, and Armadimon assures him that he’ll still be “Iori”, no matter what.

So, come the new character song collection, Iori’s new solo song is aptly titled “Things That Won’t Change” – because, in the end, despite everything that changed, his feelings did not. He says it himself: the important parts that he really wanted, the desire to do the right thing and to protect others, never changed a bit at all since “back then”. What did change, however, was his way of going about it.

Rather than what someone else has decided I’ve chosen my own future now

and again:

Rather than imitating someone else This is to shout out my own future

The emphasis on this being Iori’s own choice is important because Iori has finally decided not to live by strict rules imposed on him nor by imitating others (remember, part of the reason he kept doing what he did back in 02 was because he had such a strong belief “my father would have done this”). Others had been encouraging him to “make his own decisions” from the get-go – even Hida Chikara himself had told him that he was the one who needed to decide what to do in any moment in 02 episode 5 – and after dealing with a violation of his own morals in having to kill a Digimon in 02 episode 44, one episode later, in discussing with Takeru, Iori has to come to terms with the decision to continue fighting because “this is what I have decided myself”, because it’s not about whether he has an obligation to keep fighting for the sake of justice, but because he, himself, wants to protect others, and will do what it takes to do so. There’s no more of these strict rules of “because it must be this way” or the black-and-white morality that caused him to be so initially hostile towards Ken and Oikawa, but an understanding that these things need to be decided from the heart.

Moreover, unlike My Conclusion, Things That Won’t Change isn’t written like Iori’s turning in some school essay, but rather, more than half the song is in casual-form Japanese (which was associated with Iori when he became more emotional and wasn’t keeping himself in check anymore), and is more of a thoughtful reflection of his own feelings rather than trying to pass itself off as following rules because he must.

Thus, while the duet Choo Choo Tryin’ isn’t as heavy-handed as Message to the Future, Iori and Armadimon acknowledge that they need to be forward-thinking and keep going (generally tied to the message of 02 in itself), and Iori outright discusses the potential pitfalls of becoming too stiff. Furthermore, the song has copious rap portions, which seems rather unfitting for Iori on its face – until you realize that not only was Iori sometimes willing to indulge in more fun even back during 02 (just because he was strict with himself didn’t mean he was a complete killjoy), Iori’s also just a lot more flexible-minded in general, and has a penchant for wanting to do things right when he’s given a task. (His delivery of the rap in the song isn’t monotonous nor overly emotional, but has the nuance of someone who’s trying to recite all of it with caution.)

The part that’s particularly striking from the meta perspective is that Iori and Armadimon are no longer voiced by the same voice actress; Message to the Future was essentially Urawa Megumi talking to herself. So now, Iori has a new voice actor, and in many ways has become very different from Armadimon – but because Armadimon sounds a little like Iori, you could say he’s helping preserve the childish side of Iori that’s more important than ever to hold onto, especially since Iori himself worried about changing too much. And so, Iori’s still willing to indulge in a sort of “fun” song like this, and in the end, despite everything, you understand that they haven’t drifted apart at all in the slightest.

That’s not to say that Armadimon himself hasn’t changed either – in fact, he’s changed himself in response to how much Iori has. His original solo song had a lot of easygoingness to it, and some constant reminders for Iori to please, please chill – but his new one has a much stronger sense of resolve and forward-thinking attitude, reflecting that, while Iori himself technically had to learn to embrace more emotional uncertainty through the events of 02, it was also able to give him much stronger resolve that this was something he was doing because he was emotionally prepared for it, not out of some sense of moral obligation.

Takeru and Patamon

I’ve already covered Takeru’s original Best Partner song Focus and how it’s probably not about shipping as much as the fanbase tends to pin it as, but in any case, the operative part is here:

Before I knew it, I was watching over you Still standing at a skewed angle from behind The focus of your heart I wonder, is it on me, or… No, I can’t ask

Takeru couldn’t bring himself to ask sensitive questions or be straightforward about his emotions – which is basically what was Takeru’s lingering problem over Adventure and 02, that he kept swerving around or even lying about sensitive topics and holding everything inside, until one of his triggers was hit and everything exploded. Therefore, even when an important question about someone else comes up, he “can’t ask”. Moreover, for all Takeru is known as a lighthearted and kind person, Focus is a really turbulent song with a really harsh arrangement, and it’s a pretty accurate view of all the complicated and sometimes even negative emotions that Takeru was (badly) coping with over the course of 02.

This was the whole issue with Takeru and Iori’s Jogress arc in 02 episodes 34-36 – that Iori felt he couldn’t understand nor communicate well with Takeru, and had to eventually take matters into his own hands in order to properly understand his feelings. Takeru’s further interactions with Iori were significantly more straightforward for the rest of the series, and the experience also led to Takeru being able to more openly communicate with Ken as well, since the two had been on awkward speaking terms for most of the third quarter of the series.

So when we get to Step High Step…

You lament, you don’t have confidence in yourself I’m saying this to you as I’ve been watching you You’re amazing at all times

The song features Takeru being fairly straightforward about his feelings and opinions instead of just dodging it and going for an “everything’s okay” keeping-the-peace attitude, and not only that, he’s commenting on someone else, something that he probably would have refrained from in 02 for being intrusive. Of course, Takeru was always a nice person, but he wasn’t exactly straightforward about being nice back then – and yet here we are.

Since Focus is probably about his relationship with Patamon and how he kind of wasn’t exactly straightforward about his worries with him either (see 02 episode 34), it’s also interesting to compare Takeru and Patamon’s duet songs as well. Steppin’ out does portray a progression from Adventure in that they’ve accepted they can “do things over” again after things crash down (presumably referring to Angemon’s death and rebirth), but you’ll notice there isn’t much in the way of actual communciation between the two – something that’s not only present in Le Lien, but also portrays them as outright in-sync to the point of “telepathy”. We’re talking about a pair where the fanbase has historically had doubts about how similar they were back in 02 because of how “mismatched” they seemed!

Which, incidentally, they weren’t actually – you can see Patamon pretending he’s not about to cry in his original Best Partner song Don’t Stop Pata-Pata, much like how Takeru would cover up his own emotions, and gritting his teeth and resolving to fight harder. Meanwhile, while Ring of Smiles ostensibly continues to have Patamon be “sweet and cute”, it contains a lot of important nuances of “appreciating daily life with friends”, even if Patamon himself can’t quite find words for it – in other words, it’s actually some rather insightful and thoughtful sentiments from Patamon about the importance of being with and connecting with others, mirroring what Takeru himself learned in connecting with the others around him, especially Iori.

Hikari and Tailmon

Remember, Hikari has two lines (one in Adventure and one in 02) that basically summarize the main “issue” she was dealing with in both series: she was selfless to unhealthy levels, and would prioritize others’ welfare over herself to the point of self-destruction. So in her original solo Best Partner song, Gentle Rain, she puts it pretty explicitly:

I want to always be wearing nothing but smiles But I can’t be cheerful all of the time

or:

So that I can become a greater version of myself Please give me strength

All things considered, Gentle Rain is full of Hikari’s own insecurities, and her belief that she doesn’t have enough strength to do anything for herself. She makes references to being pulled to the Dark Ocean, mainly because – as she says – she doesn’t want to go there, but she doesn’t have enough strength or willpower to resist it. In fact, Best Partner 11 is full of a lot of angst; Gentle Rain is Hikari angsting about her own weakness and inability to do much for herself, Getting up is Tailmon angsting about her painful past and everything to do with it, and Shining Star is basically a plea for both of them to be able to do anything despite all the pain. It’s all pretty severely heavy content, despite the initial sparkly-looking sentiment of it all.

Considering the circumstances, it’s not really all that surprising. Hikari spent her time in Adventure and the first half of 02 very “emotionally isolated” from the others, to the point very few people could understand what she was thinking, and while she’d never hesitate to put herself out for other people, anything to do with herself, like getting pulled to the Dark Ocean, would result in resignation “it’s over” and “I can’t do anything about it”. Tailmon came from the background of being effectively raised by the abusive Vamdemon, so 02 was really only part of the earliest portion of her moving on with her life and being able to spend happier moments with Hikari. But, of course, the real turning point was 02 episode 31, when Miyako finally managed to break through to her and convince her to not accept the inevitability of things happening to herself, to accept help with the support of others, and to not take things happening to her as a sign she’s doomed.

So when we reach Hikari’s new solo song, Tomorrow’s Blue…

I want to chase after my dreams and hopes, it’s fine even if they’re incomplete I won’t lose, I won’t stop, I’ll do this to stay true to myself

The most striking thing about the song is that it features Hikari assertively talking about her own desires and feelings, when back in 02 she basically tried to kick them out of the picture for the sake of everyone else (and, really, even in Tailmon’s new solo song, Tender tale, she outright calls Hikari out for still prioritizing other people over herself). It’s not demeaning herself, it’s not resigning herself to anything, it may have a slight admission that she’s not super-confident about everything yet, but it’s still her looking forward and choosing to pursue what he wants. It’s a big deal!

And instead of the constant angst that permeated Best Partner 11, the new album is about Hikari and Tailmon talking about their feelings towards each other – something that neither of them really verbalized that well over either Adventure and 02 – and contextualizing their importance to each other over the course of their “story”. Hikari talks about Tailmon’s role of assertiveness in helping her break out of her shell, and Tailmon generally provides an extremely accurate description of Hikari in a nutshell – that she’s a bit mysterious, that she’s emotionally sensitive, that she’s cheerful and lifts others’ spirits. What’s more, Tailmon makes a reference to the same kind of “pain” and “losing things” she referred to in Getting up, but instead of angsting about it, she positively accepts it as something that may happen in the process of protecting others. (Oh, and it and the new duet A Tale of the Light also make reference to Hikari’s photography hobby in 02, contextualizing it as something Hikari did to chronicle their precious memories.)

So in summary, Hikari and Tailmon have both been able to accept 02′s philosophy of becoming forward-thinking, positive, and accepting the help of others in order to move forward. Not bad!

Conclusion and digression

Despite how these songs are almost polar opposite in portraying their before-and-after development of the 02 kids, nobody’s really argued that any of them are out of character! In the end, it’s a pretty succinct depiction of what these kids were dealing with and what they grew into by the end of the series. Seriously, I never, ever want to hear that these kids were underdeveloped nor that they didn’t go through any significant development over the course of 02 ever again. That’s just not true at all, and this simply happens to be one of the many illustrations of how.

Moreover, the songs themselves and the “conversations” that came with the new albums solidify firmly that the 02 group has extremely tight relations with their partners even at this time – with Daisuke actively consulting V-mon for help, Miyako, Takeru, and Hikari actively dragging their partners everywhere with them, Ken having Wormmon be his effective alarm clock, and Iori being so close with Armadimon that his Nagoya dialect is rubbing off on him. Daisuke, Miyako and Hikari have a huge point made that, regardless of the rather easygoing way they’re going at it, they’re very aware of what they want to do from this point out and are following it with gusto (and while it’s not stated in words, Iori carrying a huge textbook, presumably a law one, with note markers all over it drives the point home that this applies to him, too). It’s a really, really huge contrast to what was going on with the directionless Taichi, Yamato, and Sora effectively neglecting their own partners back in Kizuna – and further reinforces the reason the 02 group was in such an unusually favorable position during the movie.

[moonlayl]

From the Star Wars ask question #1, 6 and 22.

1. which era do you find most compelling?

I'm going to answer by the era that i find I'm most interested in learning or exploring. So I'm basically mostly ignoring actual material. My answer would be The Rebellion era and the New Republic era. Just the whole rebellion forming in the first place and how it went from a bunch of unorganized small factions that didn't accomplish much, to an actual threat that rose to the point of becoming a whole new government is really interesting in my opinion. Characters like Mon Mothma being forced to flee the senate because she was discovered. Ways/reasons many people defected. Worlds and the senate coming to realize eventually that the empire was bad despite their initial support of it. Admiral Ackbar being able to break free of Tarkin and become the head of the Rebel military. How characters like Wedge Antilles joined the Rebellion. The propaganda surrounding the Jedi and how their genocide was justified to billions. The very existence and belief of the Jedi being either forgotten or twisted. How The Inquisitorious were originally formed. How the Rebellion was originally formed. How Order 66 affected the clones. How the end of the Clone wars and the emergence of the Empire affected all worlds. How different life was compared to the republic, and how older folks who knew a life before the clone wars and before the separatist movement felt about the whole thing. How the rebellion went from one failure to the next until they actually succeeded. What happened right after Palpatine's death. How each admiral or moff was stopped. How species like the Noghri were manipulated. How species like the Wookies who were enslaved were freed after the fall of the empire. All that complicated but important stuff.

There's a reason I liked the Thrawn trilogy and I love the X wing books because they do explore things like this.

The problem with the bantam era, is that so far they reused the same exact things, but if they hadn't, If we'd gotten different Imperial Overlords actually doing complete different things and being a threat for different reasons, I would've really loved all those books. Instead they decided to stick to the same formula almost every time which is disappointing. And another thing that was also in this era was the reemergence of the jedi. The bantam era kind of did a criminal job at properly showing us how this happened, and how Luke came across more knowledge and found all those holocrons or books. If we'd gotten more books focusing on the new Jedi characters, the jedi order specifically, and Luke's missions or searchings for Jedi artifacts and maybe communing with force ghosts about the best way to do this, it really would've made the actual material for these eras that much better. From what I've heard, the NJO era does a (good?) job at showing us Jedi + politics or public opinion of Jedi and the issues regarding the government and jedi, but I would've preferred the earlier era showing us Luke at odds with the New republic. Showing us conflicts and Luke stressing over the fact that the Jedi weren't just for the New Republic but for all people. I don't know, a lot of things could've been done for this era to make it better, but that potential is what makes these two eras the most interesting and compelling for me.

6. which canon event do you most disagree with/dislike?

Disney canon? The sequels as a whole. There's a lot of stuff in disney canon (Like the Mandalorian for example) that i actually find interesting and that I like, but most of the things done in the sequels were things I hated. The worst part is that we really didn't get much to explain how things went from point A to point B. Rey in general was a character i didn't like much. The fact that she became a Skywalker, and her relation to palpatine and the fact that those movies were mostly a copy and paste of the original trilogy all made anything good Disney could've made seem like utter crap.

If I had to pinpoint it to one thing though, I'd say the jedi academy trilogy that Luke created, it's destruction, and Luke leaving, was what i hated most. The way Luke went about building that academy, the fact that the scene where Kylo Ren killed Han was apparently the first time Han had seen his son since he was 10 years old? The way it was destroyed and nothing of it remained? It just felt like an insult to the jedi and to Luke's character. I have issues with Legends, but at least Luke's Jedi academy and order stayed and became something! It meant something and it grew. Luke was the last jedi and the only jedi with a real connection to the older one because of his masters. rey literally doesn't have that. I can't even imagine how she'd go around rebuilding the jedi. Or how the world would even want it to happen considering two horrific failures in less than 60 years. Also, Luke's legacy was literally spit on and that trilogy just pisses me off.

22. if you could give any character advice, who would you give it to and what would you say?

This is the toughest question. I'm going to go with Luke.

"Maybe don't build your new jedi academy where a Sith's presence is, especially with students who are still new with dealing with the force and might be affected."

That seems reasonable.

[smilingperformer]

Discussing the good and bad of Pokémon Journeys: Part “Chloe”

Time to discuss about the character that is still keeping me on board with watching Pokémon (2019)/Journeys despite having, cough, some issues with it. Let's talk about Chloe, also known as Koharu.

TLDR; I like how Koharu is handled so far, even if I somewhat wish there was more of her, and I believe I know what the intention with her is, and that is to show that the journey to finding your dream goal can be an exciting one and with possible obstacles on the way towards it. More under the cut, Journeys abverted as JN.

So. Let's start with how I became to like her character the moment JN002 aired, but also how her debut in JN001 has become interesting part of how Koharu used to love Pokémon, but then grew out of it. Which to me, reminds of people who grew with playing Pokémon games, cards, etc, but then as they got older, they grew out of it.

Anyway, as we all probably remember, both Gou and Koharu attended the Okido Camp as kids, where BOTH of the eventually meet Mew. From the very beginning, we're let known that Koharu is a daughter of a promising Professor Sakuragi, who's acquainted with Okido.

And we're also let known that the two are friends from before the camp, and I assume their games at Sakuragi's Lab involved playing as Pokémon or other stuff. She most definitely loved Pokémon and her dad's work back then.

But then when we fastforward to the present day as Satoshi, Gou and Koharu are all 10 years old, we see that this attitude has changed in Koharu. She's no longer interested in Pokémon that much, and the only Pokémon she accepts near her is their family 'mon Wanpachi. For me, this was very interesting approach, even if the "not interested in Pokémon" was done before with May/Haruka back in Advanced Generation series.

Even with this interesting approach, she was a side/supporting cast instead of main cast, which honestly felt weird to me as she definitely had a story to tell. But as I've been watching other shows lately, I kinda came to realise her approach reminds me of mid-season additions to cast, even thou her appearances nowdays are just a BIT more frequent, when before her joining the Research Fellows, she appear very seldomly.

Anyway. In JN011 we finally learn that, she pretty much has issues with people's expectations and how everyone assumes her to be very much involved with Pokémon just because of her dad's work. Truly, this would end up affecting her affection towards Pokémon, thou it's possibly not the whole reason for losing interest. She even admits here she's not sure of what she truly wants to do yet.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of goal finding journeys, as they are very relatable to me as someone who took 20+ years to find out what I truly want to do for living, so Koharu wanting to find something instead of other people deciding it for her is very good lesson.

So what exactly is the approach with Koharu from this ep forward? Showing her see Pokémon in different, totally new lights, figuratively speaking. She's shown to take care of a Pidove who broke its wing in a runaway flight, helped her lil brother Sota's friend, Nami, attend to a small children's Contest, and went to a Fossil Exhibition with Satoshi and Gou to learn about fossils. And I feel like that, this fossil exhibition event is what truly rekindled Koharu's interest in Pokémon again. As we all remember, she truly enjoyed that trip, and she, for the first time, got to see Gou bond with a Pokémon, that was rampaging just moments ago. And this episode, accompanied with JN050, are why I am currently thinking Koharu's end goal will end up being related to fossils. It certainy would be an interesting approach for a female cast character, and I wouldn't mind her having a chat with some other character who's also involved in researching fossils... (cough Gary/Shigeru cough)

Anyway. All of this seemingly lead up to Koharu finally meeting her very apparent soul mate: Eevee. I know, that most people were somewhat (or even totally) annoyed by the fact that yet another pokegirl receives Eevee as their Pokémon, and that this is just boring. While I understand the sentiment, considering Koharu's character: Eevee is the only Pokémon that actually fits her. Koharu is out there still figuring out what she wants to be. What she wants to do. And Eevee is the most relatable Pokémon for that kind of character: Eevee can become eight, and I repeat, eight, different evolutions. That's pretty much the same as having different paths to choose from when deciding your goal. And this specific Eevee has also not yet decided what it wants to do. It refuses to evolve. While in-game one could say this is because of the g-max factor, I highly believe this is purely done for the purpose of making Koharu and Eevee relate on a very, very personal level. So instead of Eevee having the g-max factor disabling the evolution (because let's face it, it's only done so people won't accidentally evolve their Gigantamax Eevee), Eevee is kind of, constantly pressing the B button to prevent it.

Now: what has Eevee exactly given to Koharu's character? A lot actually. When before Koharu would try to deny interest in something or try to say she has something else to do instead of a trip, Eevee is there to push her forward to try things out.

Like in JN050, Koharu is trying to priotize her School instead of a Fossil trip to Galar, but thanks to Eevee, who wants to go, Koharu gets the needed push to go and try out new stuff. I very much adored this scene in this episode, due to encouraging the "try out new things" approach in life. From this point forward, we then see Koharu join in on other trips like the Diglett Farm (where she definitely shined in team leading and got to experience the farming and team leader approach) and the Glimwood Tangle trip, that Koharu herself prompted to her dad and the boys, instead of being asked to join. Which reminds me of something else btw.

While Gou is shown to be very knowledged with Pokémon, Koharu is shown to know more about other fields like how plants grows, and what kind of soil is good. This is from either school lessons or from her experience with taking care of the school flowers. She could possibly be considered a good student, and btw, I very much like the approach of not making her a school dropout once she started joining in on research trips, and instead takes homework to accomodate the fact that she's missing out on lessons. This isn't unusual in real life, so I'm glad JN is actually showcasing this approach with both Koharu and Gou. Thou with Gou, he's pretty much always absent, haha.

Now, her latest episode with Kikuna was an interesting one. While Koharu's main point in the episode was kind of to be the angel of love for Kikuna (which failed horribly, love you Kikuna <333 ), I'd say there was another reason for her being in that episode with Kikuna: it was to let her learn of the possibility of meeting possible pitfalls in one's dream goals. That lesson was in Kikuna's story about how she almost gave up in becoming a researcher due to a mess up with an important presentation for a conference, but found the strenght to try again. It's part of reaching your dream goal a lot of the time. Even Koharu's mom, Yoshino/Talia, gave her the story of how she originally wanted to be a mangaka, but gave up on the dream and instead approached something similar. These are all very important life lessons in how working toward one's goal can either fail, or come accoss obstacles. It depends on the person whether they'll end up switching the goal to something else, or strive to go forward to get past the obstacle. As someone who had exactly Koharu's mom's experience longside having to take a long while to find one, I appreciate that Koharu's journey has been about learning the good and bad experiences of working towards a dream goal.

Now: has this storyline been executed well? Imo, it has, but it ain't perfect, as there are some parts where I'd like to see some improvement on.

One of them is with how it's sometimes unclear as what kind of character she is counted as. Is the a main character alongside Gou and Satoshi now? Is the still supporting cast? Is she a lower tier main character that won't appear every episode still? The latest option would appear to be the case, but it's not often that simple to see.

There's also the case of Wanpachi seeming like it was teased to be eventually becoming Koharu's first partner, but instead it ended up being Eevee. I think for most, before JN049 aired, people assumed Wanpachi didn't belong to anyone exactly and thus was free reign. But, as JN049 confirmed, Wanpachi belonged to Sakuragi himself. Which is sorta funny, as Wanpachi clearly loves him the least, haha. So, what exactly do they intend with Wanpachi? I think, that in time it'll eventually switch owners to Koharu, as it clearly loves her the most, but the journey there is still on-going.

Now, here's something interest to think about: I think Koharu not being in every episode has actually been benefitial for her, as she never gives me the feeling that she's taking anyone's time for herself, and her involvements in stories fit quite well. My current favourites for her are definitely her team leading in Diglett episode, which is JN052, and the Galarian Ponyta episode (JN055) where she clearly showcased that she's able to handle herself in sticky situations. Which is quite a beautiful detail, at least to me.

Now to quiiickly note her dynamics quickly, let's talk a bit about how she is a big sister. Like, for real. She's got a baby brother in Sota/Parker, and the two do seem to have good relationship going on. However, I really want to see more of this! There's way too little of it going on right now, and it's mostly been typical siblinghood. I'm so glad there's still full on family aspects in JN, which is what I loved in Sun & Moon so so so much, but I want to see more. MORE! MORE-

I already talked about how I enjoy her dynamics with Gou and how their childhood friendship is showcased so well, and yet I still grave to see more. The two know each other well, and Gou always, ALWAYS respects Koharu, while Koharu ain't afraid to tell what's on her mind to Gou. Thou, she also knows that Gou would judge her if she were to ask about Pokémon bonding tips. Dyamn.

Now: I want more of Koharu and Satoshi. The two def seemed to have a bit of a "uugh who are you don't talk to me" approach, but it naturally faded as they went on their first trip to Nibi City's Fossil Exhibition. And they've been in good relations since I'd say.

Also to quickly note, I love how Koharu has been mentioned in couple scenes as being the character who's taught them first-aid or told about jealousy and how one should take Pokémon's feeling into consideration (even if this latter one should be obvious to Satoshi but, I digress, Satoshi was way too focused on Riolu and just assumed Pikachu would be fine since they've been buds since forever).

There's also so much more I still want to learn about: how exactly did she meet Gou and why she decided to be friends with him, does she have other friends besides him (because I would assume so but she's never shown with anyone else), give us an episode that's focused on Koharu & Sota, let her see Satoshi battle as well (afaik, she has NOT), let her meet Alola Squad + other past companions, and oooh there's so much I want her to do and I see so, so much potential in her character and I really really REALLY hope the writers don't screw her up.

Now is that all I wanted to talk about regarding Koharu... I guess so. As you might have figured out by now: I almost have no issues with how Koharu is written. She's enjoyable to watch and, suprisingly, I find the pace of her story-telling pleasant and not too fast nor way too slow. Could it do well with a bit faster pace? Possibly, but due to me seeing her as sort of a mid-season addition akin to how Precure or Digimon do them, I'm fine with this approach. Considering the current pace, I think she'll end up finding what she wants to end up working towards to by the end of this year, or early next year. And, despite how many might fear, I highly doubt it will be Contests. As it's pretty clear JN isn't out there to promote mainline games feature-to-feature, but instead cherry picks stuff it wants to do. I'm still quite certain, that she'll end up becoming a professor of her own fields, possibly of fossils (which, considering DP's Underground feature, could fit very well in promoting this feature of the remakes). Maybe even become a team leader of a fossil researching team, as she definitely showcases the skills for it, for knowing soil, fossil digging and again, team leading. And I totally didn't figure this out while writing this post. :'D (I totally did.)

So. I believe I'll end this post here, as this is already quite long by now and, honestly, there's not much left to talk about. It really feels good for me to talk so positively about a character in JN, as it's no secret that I ain't the biggest fan of the show. However, Koharu's approach speaks to me personally, very well, and I so, so look forward to seeing how her journey ends up going, and where it will lead her.

So who's up next on the list of discussions? I think you guys can guess it.

And it's gonna be a doozy one. Oh man oh man.

Thank you so much for reading if you came this far, have a fantastic evening/morning/whatever, and take good care of yourselves!

This was Smiling Performer aka Aleira, signing out! PEACE!

[legobiwan]

Alright people, I am finally caught up with the Mandalorian Season 2. My reaction thus far:

(spoilers ahoy)

So far, this season doesn’t seem to have a strong direction. It’s mostly Din getting sent from sidequest to sidequest featuring “this week’s special guest stars(s).” I realize that this is all supposed to be building up to something, but I hope the payoff is worth it. 

I love Cobb Vanth. This is probably because I love Timothy Olyphant. I dearly hope he returns and gets a bit more material to work with before the end of the season. Kind of annoying that we had to go back to Tatooine again, but Star Wars just can’t seem to kick its legacy characters (which is something I’ll get into later).

Speaking of Tatooine...while I loved the introduction of the idea of the moisture farmers and the Sandpeople working together, we never really...saw any of it happening? Show, don’t tell, as the old adage goes. While there wasn’t time for a treatment of Tatooine’s complicated social issues as was done in the Kenobi novel, the whole concept seemed pretty perfunctory as a way for Mando to blow up a krayt dragon.

(and I had to laugh, whatever “prize” organ the Sandperson found was 100% one of those bouncy balls you’d find in Ralph’s or Von’s or something at the beach sale bucket for $4.99. Along those lines, the effects - both practical and VFX - have not been anywhere near as high quality this season.)

Frog episode. Fun! It was one of my favorite episodes even though it accomplished very little in terms of pushing the narrative forward. Funny characterization of baby Yoda (I kept expecting him to go full-on Yoshi with those spiders), great introduction of the Frog species, and the spiders were pretty cool.

Bo-Katan episode. A PORT CITY! Something DIFFERENT! Finally!

Mando seems to suffer from power creep and relapse which is a persistent issue in Star Wars in general (see the Ahsoka episode for more discussion revolving around that). He blew up the krayt dragon almost single-handedly, fought off all those spiders, and yet was pretty taken down by the Mon Calamari pirate gang. 

I had no issue with Bo-Katan showing up, and I think her reference to Mando being in a religious cult is fascinating and I would like to know a lot more about that. (Also interesting in how it can also be an oblique reference to the Jedi who were considered, by some, to also be an esoteric religious cult.)

So because of this, does Mando seriously not know who Bo-Katan is? I’m guessing all that history was erased, even something as simple as the fact that Bo-Katan was the sister of a Mandalorian ruler.

And funny enough, I feel kind of bad for her. She wants that Darksaber, wants to rule Mandalore and it feels like she has been fighting the same fight with the same words since we were introduced to her in TCW. I don’t know if that was the intended effect (likely not), but she strikes me as a character almost stuck in her own narrative, unable to move on. Although I do appreciate that she still seems rather morally grey here, which is a nice change of pace from characters who masquerade as morally grey (read: Mando and clan) but who are really coded as the “good guys” (fighting - again - against the “bad guys”.)

(Which gets me into a whole other discussion in that I find that only the Prequels and TCW really delve into that uncertain area where the good guys - even the Jedi - are not 100% good. And that the Legends material really dug at the fracture while the new material - books, movies, shows - tends to shy away from moral complexity. It’s frustrating, as the ambiguity is what is so appealing about the whole damn thing.)

So if the Frog Couple’s children were the last of their kind, was Baby Yoda about to perpetuate a genocide because he was hungry? Because, that’s honestly pretty damn funny.

Oh, the New Republic isn’t learning from the Old Republic. Much like Russia, you never try to invade and control the Outer Rim. It just ends up in tears.

Okay, the macaron scene was pretty damn funny and wholly superfluous and petty use of the Force that I could see...wait for it...Obi-wan perpetuating in his youth. 

So. Clones. M-blood. Shadows of Jen Zanna Arbor and Plageius’s experiments. Plus Gideon looking on at his Death Trooper clones who look a bit like Vader. Is Gideon trying to create a Force-sensitive army that can be controlled via these suits in TIE Fighters that look A LOT like Thrawn’s defenders? Does Gideon know about the Chiss Navigators and is this how he got the idea? Because that would tie some things together. 

Alright. Ahsoka’s episode. Sigh...

Dave Filoni needs to let go. I love Ahsoka, she’s a fantastic character, but at this point, she sucks the oxygen out the room for any other storyline. I never liked the way she was brought back in Rebels, I thought her existence on that other plane after the battle of Malachor was a perfect ending for her. 

(I’m not going to get into the costuming too much. It didn’t work. Disney has enough money to do effects, I don’t why they couldn’t have touched this up just a hair while keeping with the “gritty realism” aesthetic of this show. The whole thing was rather jarring.)

And the thing is, she’s taken on Vader, has come back from the dead twice, has defeated Maul and then suddenly this weird Magistrate Lady is giving her issues? Like, I get getting older and not being as on top of your game but if Ben Kenobi of the desert could take down Maul in three slashes, you would thing Ahsoka wouldn’t be having these issues.

Along those lines, that fight sequence was painful to watch. I’m 1000% certain Filoni was referencing either some Western or Kurosawa flick which I am too film-illiterate to know offhand, but it just...didn’t work. Especially seeing as the VFX wasn’t strong enough to support the questionable choreography/blocking. 

I have no issue with Ahsoka coming to terms with the Jedi at an older age, that’s what happens. You have to drop at least some of your grudges. And I don’t even mind Mando and Grogu meeting up with a Jedi like this. But I wish it had been a different Jedi or maybe one we hadn’t even known before. 

And that’s the thing. Star Wars gets so bogged down in its legacy characters (see: the Sequels) that it gets in its own narrative way. (And ironically enough, most of these “legacy” characters are from the much-maligned Prequel-era). Look at the popularity of Rebels, of Fallen Order, of the Thrawn books (and ELI VANTO, ahem). There’s so much room to expand and play with new themes, new ideas rather than fall back on this “good rebels” vs. “evil empire” with the “very good Jedi” helping mystically along the way. Give me more religious cults, more conspiracy theories, more politics and taxation and trade routes. That’s what made the Prequels so great. I’m hoping this Moff Gideon storyline will go off in an interesting direction as will Mando’s culty background but we’ll see.

So...five episodes into the season I give it a 6/10 so far. We’ll see how it all goes. 

[bigskydreaming]

Could Jason and Chris Kent have become friends? I know nothing about Chris or the comics from Jason's Robin era. I heard that Chris is the erased eldest son of Superman? I'm intrigued, but that means even the children of the biggest superheroes ever can be erased?

Ugh, I love Chris Kent and miss him (the pre-Flashpoint version of his character) a ton. And y’know, there are a couple ways you could manuever him and Jason into a friendship, though I don’t think they ever met in continuity. I don’t know how well they would have gotten along if you just went with the versions of the characters that both existed at approximately the same time, but they do actually have a decent amount in common, like with some tweaks it could work. Ironically, character wise they probably would have gotten along really well when Jason was Robin, but continuity wise, Chris didn’t even debut until after UTRH, though he rapidly aged from a young kid to a young adult after just a couple of years.

But lemme back up a bit because Chris is, umm, complicated.

SO. Christopher Kent was born Lor-Zod, the son of General Zod and Ursa, while they were held captive in the Phantom Zone. They were abusive asshats to him, and he’s not a fan. But for some reason which had to do with blah blah blah invasion plot blah blah, Zod made a spaceship from inside the Phantom Zone that he sent Chris to Earth in, because due to being born while in the Zone, Chris was actually able to take physical form, unlike the Kryptonians trapped there as a prison.

When Chris crashed on Earth, he was taken by a government agency aimed at monitoring extraterrestial ‘threats’ and treated as such. Cue Clark finding out that there was another Kryptonian on Earth, he was a kid, and he was being treated as a prisoner and it was like, See Clark Run. See Clark Mad. See Clark Raze The Department of Extraterrestial Affairs From The Earth With His Searing Hot Eyebeams Of Rage and Also Destruction.

And then Clark took Chris home to the Kent farm, and eventually he and Lois ended up adopting Chris and raising him as their own. Lois was the one who gave him his Earth name of Chris, which he’s always been shown to vastly prefer over his birth name just like he can’t stand his birth parents, as they are abusive asshats. He used to call Lois “Mama Lois.” It was adorable.

There’s a lot of back and forth about calling him Clark and Lois’ adopted son versus foster son, depending on various wikis and even issues, but its the same kinda thing that happens with all the Batkids at various points, and like, I remember issues that actually called Ma and Pa Kent Clark’s foster parents, so just do what I do and groan and sigh and accept that DC habitually employs writers and editors who just flat out don’t understand how fostering and adoption works. And its not that there’s anything wrong or lesser about fostering, and its absolutely the better way to go for some, its just foster son and adopted son are not remotely interchangeable, they are two different things, and DC has GOT to stop playing take-backsies with adoption, like just don’t do that, don’t make that a thing.

Anyway, for awhile it was Clark, Lois and Chris and they were quite happy together. Chris existed well before Jon Kent and they were never raised as Kents at the same time, unfortunately, and he did have some cute scenes with Conner, though this was mostly when Conner was characterized as seeing Clark more as an older brother and never really raised by him. (Similar to YJ-verse, but I have a lot of issues with that in YJ-verse because of HOW that played out, that I don’t have in pre-Flashpoint comics, where it felt a little more natural for Clark and Conner to have a brotherly relationship, mostly due to the fact that I don’t recall Conner ever expressing a want for the relationship to be otherwise in the comics, and having a strong bond with Ma and Pa Kent himself. I could be wrong here though as I skipped a lot of Conner’s writing when Geoff Johns is behind the wheel because I just....really miss 90s Kon-El who was practically a totally different character BUT I DIGRESS).

 But then because comics gotta comics, eventually Zod escaped from the Phantom Zone to fuck all that up, and invaded Earth because he’s like I’m Zod and invading Earth is like, my entire personality, its the only move I’ve got in the deck, what do you want from me. And Luthor eventually cooperated with the heroes to stop the invasion by configuring some sort of cosmic vaccuum cleaner to suck all the Kryptonians with a connection to the Phantom Zone back into the Phantom Zone, but then this didn’t seal the Zone up again once all the invaders were back in and Chris realized its because even though he was just born there, he was technically connected to the Zone too and it wouldn’t close up again as long as he was outside it. So he sacrificed himself to save his father (Clark took quite a beating from Zod in this) and the world and dove into the Phantom Zone, which sealed up behind him.

BUT he was saved at the last second (and without anyone else knowing for awhile) by someone named Thara. She was the security chief of Kandor, and she took Chris to protect him from the revenge of the Phantom Zoners who would have blamed him for their re-imprisonment. And off-page, during the years between Chris getting sacrificing himself to seal the Phantom Zone before his reapparance, Chris had a comic-book style growth spurt uncannily like the one Jon Kent got when Bendis started writing him, resulting in an uncannily similar dynamic between Chris and Clark and Lois when they reunited as Bendis wrote Jon having with Clark and Lois when they reunited. Why do I emphasize this, is it because I think Bendis is overhyped and I’ll never stop complaining about how all his biggest story beats are blatantly just recycled story beats from less well-known writers and characters, no that can’t be it, must be something else.

Anyway, Chris eventually returns to Earth, now a teenager, and now going by Nightwing while Thara went by Flamebird. This was around the time Bruce was lost in time and Dick was Batman, and there was never like, any crossover. Which sucked because Dick would’ve been fine with it as Chris had more of a claim to the name than even him (it wasn’t like with the Nightwings in the Ric Grayson arc, who became Nightwing BECAUSE of Dick’s persona, but rather that Chris and Thara were basing their personas purely on their own Kryptonian myths and what they represented to the Kandorians who were now living on Earth at the time. Totally different situation). But really it was just missed opportunities, IMO, as I think Chris and Dick also would have gotten along really well and their paths just never really crossed.

Somewhere in there Chris got another random growth spurt and ended up in his early 20s, he and Thara ended up in a relationship which was not my fave cuz of all the aging shenanigans but whatevs, Chris kept having random aging growth spurts which had Lois really worried about him and she tried to get the hero version of Dr. Light (Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi) to help him thinking maybe it had something to do with light or radiation, but they never really got around to trying to fix it because Lois’ douchebag dad General Lane showed up and tried to capture Chris, and he and Thara fled. And then they ran into Supergirl, who at first tried to kill Thara because she hated her because Kandorian Backstory I honestly do not remember, but then Chris revealed himself and was like Kara, its me, we’re cousins, and then they had adventures with Kara for a time, then there was this whole thing where Thara and Chris were both briefly possessed by and then merged with the actual Kryptonian gods/entities of Nightwing and Flamebird and then the entities left them and were like okay, we’re all done with whatever that was, as you were.

Chris thwarted his evil birth parents again, blew up some stuff, there was more Phantom Zone shenanigans and then General Lane and Lex Luthor turned the sun red to try and kill all Kryptonians, Thara fixed it by sacrificing herself, Chris tried to join her but then the Nightwing entity hijacked him and was like nope, and then not long after, Chris sacrificed himself again to push Zod back into the Phantom Zone AGAIN (seriously, it was like they were on a loop at this point, ugh) and he ended up in the Zone himself, but for real this time....and for some reason that turned him back into the age he should’ve been if he’d been aging normally this whole time, and the last we saw of Chris, he was like ten years old and in the Phantom Zone and being helped by Mon-El, and then the New 52 happened and rebooted everything and wherever that was going no longer mattered.

And then New 52 Lor-Zod showed up at one point as like, Zod’s loyal little son-minion, and DC has never shown a hint of intending to pursue an actual Chris Kent storyline in the New 52, and I hate that lots and lots because its like lol, this character was an abuse survivor in his original incarnation and you guys were like, lol no big deal, we’ll just make Zod the exact same asshat he’s always been but now this version of his son is just like him and likes it, why would that be a problem. WHATEVER.

Basically, New 52 Chris Kent doesn’t exist, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Which is a fucking shame, because Chris and Jon Kent as brothers being raised together WITHOUT ANY WEIRD AGING SHENANIGANS with their cousin once removed, Kara, and their older sorta brother sorta uncle Conner could have been like. So great.

So anyway. There’s LOTS of directions you can take Chris, and he’s really a great character. If you’re aiming to make him friends with Jason specifically, my go-to there would be to just have the events that led Chris to Earth originally just....happen a lot earlier in the continuity of your story. So have Chris arrive on Earth and be adopted by Clark and Lois roughly around the same time Jason steals the tires off the Bat-mobile, and you’re pretty much in business.

(BUT if you do go this route, keep in mind that Jason died before the Death of Superman storyline, which is where Kon-El debuted, so even if Kon/Conner’s still older than Chris here, Chris would already be an established part of Clark and Lois’ family by the time Kon-El arrives on the scene, which would change dynamics there, not just between Chris and Kon/Conner, but potentially between Kon/Conner and Clark and Lois as well).

OR you can keep Chris’ arrival as happening roughly when it did in canon (2006 was the year he debuted), and just have him do a little aging up, like, as a treat, and so be his older self when Jason returns and starts interacting with the cape community again, with their first interactions being when they’re both young adults who for completely different reasons missed out on large chunks of childhood. There’s some potentially interesting angles to explore there too.

Just depends on which way you want to go with that.

(PS, I think aging up is an overused trope most of the time in comics anyway, but its not so much aging Chris rapidly to a teenager and then young adult that I had an issue with, so much as doing it largely to put him in a relationship with someone who first met him when they were already an adult and he was ten. Its the initial age gap being an established part of the overall dynamic with an eventual love interest thats the issue, not that an age gap existed before two characters ever met - if for all other intents and purposes - their dynamic treats them as if they both were effectively always around the same age).

[clandestine-j]

Gossip Girl Reboot, Ep. 2 Reaction / Review

This was posted on reddit first, crossing posting it here since I’ve chosen to review the ep’s and post on tumblr as well. So, this post is geared more towards reddit as a whole, this was posted a day after ep 2 aired.

i don't have a favorite character rating but #teamaki, yeah, the acting is awkward but it's getting better and it's not like it's the only bad acting in the show. i like the character either way.

now

people are so extra with zoya and obie and are looking at julien with the rose colored classes. yeah, obie shouldn't be dating zoya but let's not act like julien gave her all and everything to him. from the conversation with zoya in ep 1, his general feelings, audrey calls it out (maybe because she always feels that way)

She admits it at the end, she wouldn’t do the things he wanted when it came to his interest, he’d want to do random and fun things and she’d blow him off...how is this mart of someone fully invested in their other, no, she was invested what he did for her and how he made her feel. She misses him because in their other breaks he’d always come back. We saw a dying relationship and ppl can assume a lot about him but make 0 assumptions when it comes to her.

And then y’all expect Zoya to turn down the one person who’s actually nice, doesn’t ice her out and shares interest? What I want more than anything is for Zoya to find her own friends & her romantic interest, just one episode where her life isn’t an extension of Julien's. Idk wut, maybe she can go off on a find out gossip girl adventure. Idk something.

Then this talk about sisters and sister hood. Yeah, they’re blood related but what sisterhood is there? You say that’s is wrong for Zoya to do that to her sister but what about what her sister did to her? Even in this ep, she wants Obie so instead of idk driving Zoya away from him, she attacks her lil ‘sis’ over her long time boyfriend. She continues to let her friends talk bad about the girl. We can talk sister hood when she gives the mean team a good “learn me or leave me” when it comes to Zoya

At the of ep 1 Zoya says, she’s not playing the game. She’s grounded in fear of losing her scholarship, has already lost her dads trust. So she does that, she keeps her head down and doesn’t bother anyone but it’s the mean team to prompt Julien to after Zoya and she does. She’s minding her business at the even and Julien is the one to storm over and cause a scene. And it’s all about her, she’s scared of her dad finding out without any care that Zoya has lost and what she has left to lose. Of course she doesn’t care about Julien personal problems? When did Julien care really about hers? Then, she wants to sneak away and have fun and because she’s mad Zoya won’t run off and hide like a hood little girl, she once again collabs with GG, brings in the dads and fucks her sisters life up, AGAIN. Yeah, she changed her mind at the end but too little too late. Her come to jesus moment was great but the relationship she wanted/wants it very much damaged.

So yeah, Zoya dating the one person who has empathy for her is not as bad as the older sister who consistently let her be talked down, about and two, plotted with GG and didn’t even ask her if she was okay because, she didn’t mean it, it’ll blow over. Even in the very last apology when Zoya was about to leave, you could see that she had 0 faith in Julien, not only as a sister but as a person.

Which leads me to saying that Julien is probs the most interesting character of the show. She’s lovable and flawed and she is good but she as of right now, she’s mean at worst and horribly complicit at best because right now her career is a bit more important but her 14 year old sister doesn’t deserve the headache of navigating her with her. But I do love Julien because she has layers and I think by the end, she’ll be able to have her influencer career without compromising herself. That does lead us to the the chairmen and co-chair of the mean team.

Monet and Luna weren’t around as much but I do think...I do think...that if Julien goes nice, they’re gonna go super nasty. They have access to her life which mean access to that video if Julien didn’t out right delete it or they find out about it and snooping. They’re her friends but unlike her, they don’t have a much of a Conscious so far of right and wrong and they’ll strike anyone down. I think if we have wild cards, they’re it. If Julien really does go down a new path, learns more to fight for what matters and understand the real her is just as likable, the mean duo will not accept and will try and bring her down. They have their own meaning of friends with benefits.

My dude Obie, I can’t say much. I don’t think he’s as Malicious as y’all make him out to be but he is a bit callous and naïve...which could be worse tbh. I think he does want to do good but he only knows Performative good to counter-act his parents. I do want him to get with someone else but I do hope he learns what true activism means through Zoya and understand how much of a difference he could make if he really put his mind to it. I also want him to learn get out quick, because he wasn’t just looking for a reason to end things but one to stay and Julien didn’t give him that.

Audrey, I like the stuff with her mom. I like the little bit more depth we got, she slept with Max maybe but Aki made out with him, who am I to judge? I hope her mon can step up in the future but I don’t think it’ll be easy and hopefully they explore it more. Not just tease us. Her mom needs therapy but I think I'm a bit invested in her too.

Max, I love max but the dude is Pretentious ~ above earthly love ~ low key a shitty friend and talks in metaphors whenever he has the chance BUT he does it well. I don’t see him with Aki but I want it! I do see him going harder after Audrey but I think he was a bit shocked for all his flirting that he was into the kids with Aki. I think he lives to play with people. I don't know if he really likes Audrey but he does want to bang her, a lot, a lot a lot. I don't think he really wanted to sleep with Aki but he did like playing with him and he could pick up the fact that Aki might be feeling him. I don't think the interest was really, real until Aki kissed him at the pool, home boy was shocked and was like oooo maybe something is there but his focus is on the teacher. And I also think the not in a million years thing had his gears turning too. You tell him it can't or won't happen and now he wants to make it happen.

Aki, my baby, my voice of reason. What makes him great as a person, makes him not great for Audrey when it comes to emotional stuff. He means well and I get where he's coming from with wanting Audrey to understand her mom but she did need a partner. The thing she loves about him is the thing that makes it hard. I don't know how Aki was brought up but I feel like this plays into it, she's always comparing him to a therapist. I wonder if his parents a bit more emotionally cold or curt or just very analytical people. But, like he's been lovely since ep one, the only one of the group to sort of defend Zoya or Julien wanting to know her / keep her secret. (What secrets does he have?) And in ep 2, he really was like 'ya'll fucked in the head' to the mean team. I know some consider him boring because he doesn't speak up often but when he does speak up, he got something to say. I want the show to use him in a way to stir drama just by being friends, his character doesn't have to have a dramatic effect and he could get his own little subplot that's tied into the show but like, my can't become some douche. (If he does, only for a bit.) Now, I don't see Max being endgame for him AT ALL. If it's between the two, Max would go for Audrey for sure while leading my boi on in ways, he could even really start to like him but endgame no. I'd love to see a scene with Max does get jealous of Aki with another dude, in a romantic way or the dude could be hitting on him, I think Aki would be able to humble him just a bit because no one really seems to know what he's thinking. In the end, idk who he ends up with but I want him to find someone who will do my dude right and he should get some non-shitty friends who'll listen to his problems. (Still not over that Max)

The teachers while being shown more, don't have much of a presence. It's mainly Kate and the goofy one for extended scenes. KATE MY GOOD SIS. NO. Please, I want this to be the point where she loses GG somehow and someone takes over or maybe another GG pops up, can market better and isn't willing to have a faltering moments. I want it to spiral. Spiral hard. Also, sexy teach said not on my watch ezra! I stan him. Teachers are still fun for me, they make me want to never teach at a dumb rich private school.

Also, fuck the dads within reason. Esp, Julien's dad but only because we got to see Zoya's more and he is kinda in the right about most of the stuff but not the sister stuff. You can tell he's doing his best to instill morals in his daughter esp when he knows she can fall to outside influences.

Overall, I'm still enjoying it, I'm invested. I see room for growth for all of the characters (maybe not the teachers) and I want to see it play out. It does feel a little rushed but I think they're finding their footing and they have some big things to pull. But's not horrible and if they just play the drama bit longer and then conclude, it wouldn't feel that way. Maybe one more episode or half an episode could've been added to the Zoya-Obie-Julien story line to fully flush it out but I like the ending. Not sisters, not friends but cool with each and possibly re-build, at worst they just don't interact. I noticed some cool things with the promos but I need to confirm when I can find the one for 3.

Sorry if it went from all lower case to proper-ish, I had to switch to my phone and it auto-does it.

[higuchimon]

AUs/series/prompts

I've thought about doing this for a while and I finally settled down to do it.

I have a lot of AUs and series to write in. So, here is a reasonably definitive list of all the AUs & series I will write in for any tumblr prompts, currently sitting in my inbox or in the future. If you wish to see a fic set in a given AU/series, then ask and I will let you know if that can be done. This includes already requested prompts and new ones. Some can't be written into anything already in existence. Some I just won't do (if you've followed me for any length of time you can guess what I won't do). But here we go.

I smoothed this out some because the post just wasn't reading right on mobile.

Digimon

Breed AUs: 7 of the 12 Chosen Children are part or full Digimon and have Digimon attacks/powers. Five of them are sired by Viral Digimon and have darker personalities waiting to take command in certain situations. Often (but not every time) Ken is Kaiser not because of the Spore but because of his Viral blood/data.

YGO GX

Dead Weight: It's a zombie apocalypse. People die. Sometimes they get back up to eat the ones who aren't dead yet.

Reversal: In this world, Juudai is the incaration of the Darkness of Destruction. He's true evil and bent on world conquest - and doing a very good job of it. There is no Duel Academia. Prompts can be for before Juudai captures Johan or after.

Destructive Flames: A combination of my Reversal AU & Firestarter/Healer AU.

World of Fusion: Many years ago, Brron managed to fuse all twelve dimensions, creating a restructured reality. He also ended up raising Juudai, Johan, and Rune. Ryou is a vampire. There's a war between vampires and zombies.

Extra Spirits: The setting for Royal Hound (one-shot series), Unexpected Ally (Amon meets the spirit Squall), and others to come. Certain folk meet spirits that aren't their partners but their friends.

Hell's Ice: A world where Ryou is the one taken by Kagemaru and Amnael and develops a connection to snow, ice, and cold as he works to become one of the Seven Stars.

Paladin's Quest: Five years after the end of GX, Ryou finally passes away. But that's not the end. He awakens in a new world, and must learn who he now is - a Duel Spirit. But his past life won't let him go.

Bridges: In this AU, Juudai is the Light of Creation (and the Light of Destruction's host), while Johan is the Darkness of Justice. There are also demons that the Cyber duelists hunt.

YGO Zexal

On Dragon Wings: Mizael is a dragon, Vector is a demon (of sorts), the Arclights are cursed, and so much more.

These are series that revolve around a particular character/characters/ship of mine.

Ken x Daisuke/Kaiser x Daisuke

Fight To Remember: Kaiser and Daisuke both have amnesia and must work together to get their memories back.

Stirring Shadows: Ken's dreams become more than dreams and revive the past.

Scars of Victory: Kaiser won. He kept Daisuke as a prize and sealed off the Digital World from the human world for seven years. Now the older surviving Chosen come to avenge their friends but they're up against an experienced ruler and his most obedient slave, and they have very few friends to stand beside them.

Services Rendered: After Daisuke is poisoned, only the Kaiser can help him. And he demands Daisuke himself as the price for doing so.

No Good Choices: Daisuke eats something he shouldn't have and ends up as the Kaiser's captive. And that's just where things begin to go wrong.

Bonds and Bondage: Kaiser decides to just get to the point and Ring V-mon that fateful second day. And it has an unexpected effect on V-mon's partner.

Fragmented Memory: Kaiser wipes Daisuke's memory with Mushrooms of Forgetfulness and takes him as his consort.

Errors of Love: Daisuke trusts the Kaiser. He probably shouldn't. Rated R/M, non-con.

What He Wants: Aged up!AU. Kaiser takes Daisuke, in many ways. Rated R/M, non-con.

Sanguine Bindings: Aged up!AU crossed with vampire AU. Kaiser is the vampire and enslaves Daisuke on their first encounter. Rated R/M, non-con, brainwashing

Purpose of Existence: Aged up!AU & breeds. Kaiser learns something about Daisuke and takes him. But he's not the only one who wants Daisuke.

Take To The Skies: A wings!AU, specifically featuring Ken/Kaiser and Daisuke. Kaiser has captured Daisuke and keeps him as a plaything/pet.

Bitter Bargain: AU where the Kaiser has been fought for years and now that they're in their mid-to-late teens, he blackmails Daisuke for sex.

Walking The Edge: aged up!AU. The Chosen have fought the Kaiser for years, but are unaware of his true identity. Daisuke's been dating Ichijouji Ken for years. Then the Kaiser decides to end the charade.

Yubel x Juudai

The King's Champion: When Juudai's parents are killed in a late night burglary gone wrong, Yubel takes him to the monster worlds to keep him safe. He ends up growing up as Brron's adopted son. But taking Juudai away from Earth ends up causing severe consequences, especially when those who would have been his friends find their way to his world.

Fate's Heart: A set of fics involving soulmate markers/counters in diferent styles.

Past and Future: Yubel tells tales about their past life to Juudai.

Shun & Yuuri

Collars and Keeping: Most people in XYZ are carded in the invasion. A few, however, are claimed by some of the invaders. This includes Yuuri claiming Shun. M/R rating.

Strike Hard, Strike Fast: Yuuri, Dennis, and Sora are vampires. Shun and Ruri are vampire hunters. Yuuri doesn't like Ruri, so when the chance to gain some vengenace via her brother comes up, he takes it.

Confusing: Yuuri enjoys himself toying with Shun's memories.

Dragon & Falcon: Yuuri is a dragon. Shun is a shapeshifting falcon. Yuuri decides he wants to keep Shun, and finds out what a dragon's saliva can do to a shapeshifter. Potential for R/M rated works.

Crossovers

Replacement Vampire: Digimon Adventuer 02/GX: Camula x Ruthven; vampire!Ryou: Vamdemon appears in the world of GX post 02 and meets Camula. After an encounter with Darkness, they end up turning Ryou to take Camula's place in the Seven Stars.

Elemental Ties: Digimon Frontier/GX: Juudai and Kouichi are both Darkness, so have a connection. The same holds true for Kouji and Johan, Manjoume and Junpei, and others.

Scorpion Strike: YGO GX/YGO Zexal: Ryou x Mizael, Shou, amnesiac!Barian!Ryou

General AUs, any fandom

Soulmates: various forms of soulmate identification

Magical AUs: characters have magical powers of varying kinds and/or are magical creatures

Fae AUs: one or more charaacter(s) are fae/elven/etc

Demon/angel AUs: one or more character(s) are a demon/angel (or sometimes a different magical species. Often can cross with magical AUs and/or fae AUs)

Wings!AU: a certain amount/all characters have wings and are flight-capable

Healer/Firestarter AUs: a respectable portion of the population can either heal via magic and have a deep connection to plants; an equal portion can cause/create/control fires. One Healer and one Firestarter (sometimes more, depending) are bonded to one another in a relationship that's not always romantic but is lifelong.

Vampire!AUs: one or more characters is/are a vampire. How they deal with this varies according to the character and the story.

Soulmate-wings!AUs: In this AU, people develop wings either when they meet their soulmate or when they discover their truest passion in life.

Pet Clouds AU: Sparked by a tumblr post, in this world, various characters have pet clouds/thunderclouds/snowclouds that aren't quite sentient like humans but are independently alive like standard pets.

Combos: Any or all of these can be combined. I intend to write a breeds/Healer-Firestarter/soulmates AU one of these days, for example.