#I love this series I think it's stories are incredible but damn are they genuinely emotionally difficult sometimes

[cassmouse]

I'm rewatching Reservation Dogs at the moment because I'm watching it with my mum (also this is a continued plea to my mutuals to watch it because three years on since season one and it's still my favourite show ever made)

But we're approaching season three and I've realised I'm gonna have to rewatch the season three Deer Lady episode and I genuinely don't know if I'm mentally ready to experience that again even after almost a year

[kteezy997]

Heyyyy love!

I know you’ve probably been busy but could we get a new Christmas Timmy fic or series whatever you want!

Of course only if you can and want.

Thanks love!

A Love Story for Christmas-Part One//t.c.

Thank you for the request, anon! You’re so sweet! @thebetawolfgirl and I went a little (or a lot) hallmark on this one.

You had to admit that it was quite relaxing to return to your small hometown for the holidays, especially since you had been living in the city for so many years. You couldn't believe how familiar this place felt. It was also bittersweet, this being your first holiday season since your mother passed away.

Sadly, you had grown apart from your mother before she had gotten sick. But you remembered that one of her favorite places to go in town was the local bookstore. One thing you knew best about your mom was she was an avid reader. It was always a safe bet to buy her a book for any gifting occasion.

You were desperate to feel closer to her, so your plan for the day was to visit the bookstore. You hadn't been since you were a kid. You never even got to purchase a book from there. But hey, you moved away when you were only ten years old. It was hard to remember life before the big move.

It seemed they had kept the name Reader's Realm but updated the sign. The storefront looked really sweet and quaint. The instant you stepped through the threshold and heard the tiny ding of the doorbell; it was like stepping back in time. Nothing about the place had changed. It was just as clean and cozy as you remembered. And it was decorated for the Christmas holiday, so the touches of red and green and the glow of the Christmas tree in the front window really added in the right amount of nostalgia that you were seeking.

The bookstore itself seemed much smaller, though. It's funny how some places seem so big and vast when you're a kid. You used to think that there were millions and millions of books in the place, but really it was only a few hundred, a thousand, at most.

The bookstore was nearly empty of people, so you were able to slowly stroll through the aisles. After a couple of minutes, you heard a set of wheels rolling on the floor and the squeaking of a metal cart being pushed around.

The man driving the cart was tall, and he had pale, porcelain skin and dark, short hair that drooped with rich curls on top of his head. He was really cute, like a heartthrob on one of the teen magazines you used to thumb through.

You weren’t expecting to see someone so attractive. You blushed, trying not to stare, trying to browse the books on the shelves, but he was awfully distracting.

The clinking of the wheels stopped, and the young man saw you, "Oh, hello. I didn't realize anyone was in here; I didn't even hear the bell."

You looked over at him, he had a friendly grin. You noticed a light mustache and a dusting of a goatee on his chin. "Hi, yes I just popped in. You work here?" Damn it, y/n, ask a more stupid question, would you?

"Ugh, yeah, I'm actually the owner." he said, parking the cart to the side to allow you space to pass. "I'm Timothee, but you can call me Timmy."

"Oh, the owner? That's pretty cool." You were genuinely impressed, he seemed to be about your age, so to own a business was quite a feat.

"Yeah, I guess so." he said, grabbing some books to place on the shelves. "It was my grandfather's business, but he passed away a couple years ago and the bookstore was left to me."

"Aw, I'm sorry for your loss. My mother just recently passed, so I know how you must feel." you said, no longer browsing as you found yourself just watching him work.

Timmy was crouched down, shuffling some books around on a bottom shelf, "Oh man, I'm so sorry to hear that. I bet this holiday season is hard for you." He looked up at you, his eyes looking like a puppy.

It was then that you saw how broad his shoulders were. He wasn't a large man or buff by any means, but he was lean and sexy. And he had the most incredible bone structure, like he was hand carved, just for you. You weren't thinking about your mother at all.

"Yeah," you cleared your throat, "it's my first Christmas without her. I don't really know what to do. That's kinda why I came here. This was one of her favorite places to be."

"Oh? So, your mom was from here?"

"Yes, technically I am too. But we moved to the city when I was ten. I haven't been back since. My mom loved to buy books and read them here. She used to say, 'There's no place like Reader's Realm.'"

Timmy had a little grin at that, "Well, I hope this place can bring you some comfort while you're here. I don't want to bother you, so I'll leave you to it, but if I can help you with anything, please let me know." he smiled kindly, taking his cart of books away to another aisle.

"Okay, great thank you." You returned a smile. You tried not to blush as you continued shopping the books. As you picked up one to read the synopsis on the back here and there, you could not get Timmy off your mind. You came into the bookstore in hopes of feeling your mother's presence, but this beautiful stranger was now at the forefront.

Then, a wild thought came to you: was he sent by your mom, perhaps? For the rest of your shopping trip, you could not shake the feeling. You noticed that he wasn't wearing a wedding band. Maybe he was single? You tried to not burst with giddiness. Should you engage with Timmy more? Maybe even ask him to go out for coffee? At least try and get his phone number, right?

You carried your handful of books for purchase up to the front counter, where Timmy was standing at the computer, reading something on the monitor screen. He perked up and looked at you with bright eyes as he heard your footsteps coming toward him.

"Find everything you needed?" he asked as you gently sat your books on the counter.

"Yes, thank you." you smiled.

"Good," he grabbed your books, scanning them one by one, "I'm sure you found your books easily, but I truly meant: was the store everything you remembered, I mean, was your mom with you today?"

Your heart melted, it was like he knew exactly what to say and he cared, sincerely. "Oh, yes, I definitely felt her in this place."

"That's awesome. I'm really glad that you could feel such a comfort in my place." He started to bag up your books. "I wish it was moments like this that paid the bills, because then I'd be able to stay in business passed the holidays."

You frowned, you really weren't expecting to hear this. There's no way that your sweet little hometown bookstore could be going out of business!

to be continued...

if you would like to ever be added to my taglist, just message me!

i hope you are all enjoying this holiday season, and i will try to not make you wait too long for the second part of this(:

@gatoenlaciudad @thebetawolfgirl @musicandbooksaremyhappyplace @softhecreator @tchalamss @lixzey @bitchyunknownuser @ducktapebar @aoi-targaryen @yukideadinside @elloise0 @thatoneweirdgirl17 @mel-vaz @sammy-halpert @iwishchalamet @that-one-fangirl69 @jindongdongie @briefkittenearthquake @imnotoverlyobsessive

[nickssidewitch]

👾🕹️ List of Games the Triplets Should Play if They Stream Again 🕹️👾

Can y’all share this everywhere if you like my list because I’m sick of Fortnite-only streams and I damn well do not want to constantly see Roblox…

Obviously no hate to Fortnite because yass kings grind 😤💪🏾‼️. But like… let’s switch it up a lil’ bit, boys. Get sexy idk.

Horror🔪

💉 Outlast: Horror. Thee scariest game on this list!!! Great story, but even if you’re not interested in the story, the gameplay is interesting and nostalgic. May be a bit jumpscare-y at times. Not too much gore, but enough to make the spine tingle.

🧸 Five Nights at Freddy’s: Horror. Honestly, I highly doubt they’d actually play this because it’s probably the second scariest game on this list and they don’t seem like they could handle it. But, a one-off stream of this game would be nice idk. If they do, I’d suggest the first and second ones because they are good, Otherwise, the third one is ass, and the fourth one is way too scary. The other installments are forgettable (no shade 🥱).

🌙 Little Nightmares: (Mild) Horror. One of my personal favorite games. Right amount of scares, but definitely nothing like Outlast or FNAF. The main character is literally the cutest little thing!

🌺 Poppy Playtime: Horror. Similar to FNAF in the sense that you’re in a world where childhood characters come to life wnd become murderous villains, but the story is incredibly unique and eye-catching. There are a few Gaming YouTuber surprises in there as well.

🩸 Fears to Fathom series: Horror. This series is an indie gaming community favorite! Real-life people sent in submissions of their actual true experiences, and the developer made each story into actual games! I love the simple retro feel of the design, and the stories are very intriguing especially since they are all true stories.

🧟‍♂️ The Walking Dead: Horror, Story, Action, Adventure, Apocalyptic. The hype for this game never dies (imo)! Matt would absolutely fall in love with this story and its characters!! I feel like it would definitely cement his love for TWD as a whole. And if he ever played the Michonne DLC?? omg. Someone get this man to play TWD! Chris and Nick would love it too I feel.

Story 📖

📸 Life Is Strange: Story. A story-based decision game series. You play as young adults who have special powers that develop through difficult life experiences. Each game delves into different aspects of sexuality, love, mental health, and other real-life experiences. I’d like if they played only the first one, but the other games are also pretty cool if they like the first story.

🌄 Until Dawn: Horror, Story. A story-based decision game set u like a classic “cabin in the woods” thriller… with a twist. There’s a new remake as well, so that adds a bonus point to the overall enjoyment and the hype of the experience.

🤖 Detroit Become Human: Story, Sci-Fi. I know the hype for this game is gone, but I need it! The world is set in the future where robots and androids roam the Earth amongst humans. It’s such a great story with great graphics. And every single one of the choices matter. I feel like they’d genuinely enjoy it if they immersed in it.

😷 The Last of Us: Horror, Sci-fi, Story. It’s the game that inspired the TV show. I personally think the game is better than the show, but I digress. Great story, the best characters with such various traits.

🐈 Stray: Adventure, Sci-fi, Puzzle. (This is more for Matt than anyone else lowkey highkey). You play as a stray cat, but it’s more than just a cat simulator— it’s a journey set in the future. Everyone, but especially Matt, would love this. Very great graphics. Pretty calm, but can definitely get the heart racing at times. Will pull at the heartstrings.

Miscellaneous 👾

🍄 Mario Kart / Mario Party: Multiplayer, Party. This is a given 🤷🏾‍♀️

☠️ Dead By Daylight: Multiplayer, Horror. When Nick’s computer is finally fixed, they can all play together and probably even get some friends (or play online).

💎 The Sims: Simulation. Honestly, this can be like a game they play ironically. 🤷🏾‍♀️ I just wanna see them argue about how to customize their characters.

🌚 Among Us: Multiplayer. They’ve played it before both online and with fans, but I’d love if they played some rounds that were more organized with real-life friends and maybe even their mods/subscribers on Twitch!

🔫 Call of Duty (any of them): Shooter, Action. Literally just wanna see how good they are since they were flexing in that one stream they did a while back. 😒 Like where’s the proof?

🤺 Mortal Kombat: Fighting, Action. Any of the recent additions. I don’t need Story Mode if they don’t care to know the lore! I just wanna see them beat tf outta each other 🤫 ! Nick playing as Mileena would be a gag! 🤷🏾‍♀️

🦸🏻‍♂️ Injustice 2: Fighting, DC Universe. It’s similar to Mortal Kombat, but just set in the DC universe with characters like Batman, Harley Quinn, etc. I think made by the same developers as MK? Wanna see them beat each other up.

🎰 Liar’s Bar: Multiplayer, Gambling (not actually, but—). You play as up to four characters. You get cards in your hands. It’s up to you whether you play truthfully, or lie and place whatever cards you want all without getting caught. And if you get caught, now you gotta survive a round of russian roulette. It’s actually so fun for a few rounds if you have a good party.

Please share this across platforms! I’d love that! I really wanna see them at least try some things from this list. It’d make my little gamer heart so happy 😭 And I’m sure the other fans who like videogames as well would agree.

And I’m sure the boys would definitely appreciate the ideas since they seem open to them. 🥰🤍

[momtaku]

Thoughts on the Attack on Titan Musical

tl:dr; It's been two weeks but I am still not over it.

When I posted the photo of myself holding the playbill of the Attack on Titan musical the most common reaction was "WHAT???", so I guess some background might be good to start with.

Yes, the Attack on Musical is a thing. It was first performed in Japan in January 2023 with shows in Osaka and Tokyo. When it was announced that a second run of the musical would include New York City, I pounced on tickets.

See, it's real! This is my video of the closing number. We were allowed to record this.

The New York run was at the New York City Center which seats about 2200 people. There were a total of 4 shows the weekend of Oct 12. I attended the Saturday matinee. The style of this production is known 2.5D, and is incredibly popular in Japan. I did some checking and this is the first time a 2.5D anime adaptation has appeared outside of Asia. Did Attack on Titan work as a musical?

Surprisingly yes, although I think anyone who wandered in off the streets would've been thoroughly confused. The themes that attracted most of us to the series translate wonderfully to the stage, and despite knowing the story well, they managed to make it feel fresh. Carla's death, for instance. When she realized she was trapped and facing certain death, her song to Eren and Mikasa was a children's lullaby about survival. That portion of the manga always hit me hard, but the desperation, horror and love set to a lullaby? Damn it musical, you made me cry.

The original scene of Hange leading a Titan Biology class might be my favorite of the entire show. The actor who played Hange was the perfect amount of unhinged and delightful as they dance across the table while the 104th answered a pop quiz. (And yes to "they" since the playbill specifically mentions that the actor in the role was known for her portrayal of nonbinary characters.) It was genuinely hilarious.

The musical covers the first 11 chapters of the manga, stopping in the "Struggle for Trost" arc, where the plan for Eren to plug the hole in the wall was conceived but not yet executed. I remember reading that portion of the manga years ago and feeling that same sense of optimism. So the musical ends on a high. Humans finally have a way to win against the titans, It felt like a strange place to end, knowing what ultimately happens in the story, so I wondered if the intention is for a part 2 musical adaptation.

(btw, the staging of "can you plug the hole" had Eren and Levi kneeling closely on the floor together with a manly shoulder clasp looking earnestly at each other. It had me looking at my very ereri friend with raised eyebrows. It was for sure her favorite moment.) What was the performance like?

The short run 2.5D musicals don't have the polish or production budget of a true broadway musical, but it was still wildly entertaining. Since the director is known for breakdance and hiphop, there was plenty of that. The dance numbers were fun. The songs were catchy.

Rather than try to describe it, here's a TikTok review that shows off the 3dmg, the titans, and that two minute head spin that no one could shut up about.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by mixed feelings (@mixed.feelings)

Also, the cast could not have been for perfect. I mean LOOK AT THEM!

From this tweet

Who was in attendance?

As I mentioned before, this was a first in many ways so it attracted people from all over the world. While I was opening my blind box items, I met a group older women from Japan who'd travelled to New York from Tokyo and had purchased tickets to every single NY performance. Their English wasn't great, and my Japanese is nonexistent, but what surprised me the most wasn't their dedication to the show, but that they seemed genuinely surprised to see me. I don't know if that was because I too am an older fan like them, or if they weren't expecting equally passionate westerners at the show but I tend to think it was both. I suspect the Japanese fandom has no idea how big this series is outside of Japan, or that it attracts such a diverse audience.

My podcast partner Luna was sitting next to two women who'd flown in from California. They knew nothing about Attack on Titan but were fans of the actor who played Eren. Since it was his first time performing outside of Japan, they came solely to see him.

On my flight home was a 22 year old wearing an Attack on Titan musical t-shirt. We started talking and I learned it was his first time in New York, his first time seeing a broadway musical, and his first time traveling alone. He just loves the series that much.

In general the audience was much younger than what you'd normally see at a broadway show and 100% more excited. Plenty of people were in cosplay or else wearing Attack on Titan clothing. The atmosphere was insane.

My merch haul

The mug and t-shirt sold out before the second show so I was glad I was there early to snag them. The playbill is selling on Mercari for almost $50. Sadly my poster didn't survive the trip home. It cracked in about 50 places.

Did you do anything else in NYC

Aside from hanging out with so many of my favorite people, the Kodansha Popup House was going on. It was incredibly cool.

We met up with James from the Titan Teatime podcast. I think the plan is do a joint podcast in a few weeks to get everyone's thoughts . I'll post more about that if it actually happens.

Final Thoughts

Rumor has it that the show's successful New York run could mean it will branch out further. If it goes to London, nothing will stop me from being there. It was that much fun, and I can't wait to share the experience with my European friends.

[purple-nightfall-writes]

real talk though i'm legitimately so excited for each and every one of the teamups this season. banger after banger after banger. genuinely, no sarcasm, i really do love how many of them are reprises of some sort. it feels like we're getting a lot of the best teamups from different previous seasons all mixed together in one series and it's gonna be SO hype to watch it all play out.

the gaslight gatekeep girlboss impulse team is gonna be SO fun to watch! even just in the first episode there's already been double life callbacks that are just so excellent from a character angst perspective. scott and cleo ribbing pearl about winning double life and pearl just playing into the absolute perfect level of "awkwardly laughing along" for her character. c!pearl teaming up with the people who betrayed and abandoned her in the darkest game for her, trying to act like everything's okay and this is fine she'll be fine it's all gonna go fine. oh this is gonna be SO juicy. also impulse is there and i love that for him. c!impulse is the perfect counterbalance, a stranger to their fraught history, just awkwardly glossing over the tense atmosphere and hoping it all goes fine. this is gonna be so good i'm HERE for it

return of renchanting is just absolutely incredible them just immediately falling into lockstep as a duo they're perfect no notes can't wait to see how devastating of a story those two make for us this time

team bet already has such a fun dynamic with ethubs scrapping like an actual married couple on the verge of divorce and tango just egging them on, i was laughing so damn hard during their interactions they just have such excellent chemistry and i CANNOT wait to see where this goes. also iirc tango hasn't teamed with bdubs since last life i'm sure it will go excellently hehe >:) no lingering fear of betrayal there nope

sub-one club is hysterically funny i'm so happy to see grian and mumbo teaming they have FANTASTIC creator chemistry and skizz has such a good dynamic with both of them. whatever the hell they have going on with mumbo's paranoia arc is SO hilarious i was crying laughing during that bit. also just grian teaming with Those Two is gonna be hilarious in terms of like. the wildly contrasting levels of situational awareness

god the bam team i love them so much scar and jimmy are such a fun duo together and i love lizzie so much. they have such underdog energy and everyone is talking about how they won't survive long but i think we're forgetting that scar is actually like. really good at the game. i do think jimmy has gotten a lot better too i think they're gonna do a lot better than people expect. lizzie is a wet cat though and i love that for her

gemjoel is a terrifying teamup they're going to absolutely scare the hell out of everyone when they start making enemies. just so excited to see how their dynamic develops too as the season progresses.

bigb is a surrealist force of chaos and i love that for him

basically i'm pumped as hell for this season it's all gonna be so amazing and i just can't wait

[scoringeffects]

i would LOVE recs please and thank you 🫶🏽

OKAY ! so. these to me are like 2997 required reading:

cover to cover and unbound by lighthousetowers (M, 24k) this is like The connorleon fic to me getting together whole figuring out who they are as players and people and to the oilers and to the nhl as a whole and how they built their legacy and write their story and how they’ll fit in to other legacies and stories it is spectacularly written the themes are so consistent and connor and leon’s voices and actions are so freaking realistic like even if you dgaf abt them u should read this and then gaf about them

he’s no jacob from the bible (but damn he made me pray) by softnoirr (M, 8.5k) easily the most devastating and crushing fic ive maybe ever read, definitely at least in the connorleon tag, postcareer and intimately exploring the effects of career ending head injuries and how to love one another when one of u barely remembers half the hours of the day. one of the tags is ‘connor mcdavid isnt a robot but probably wishes he was’ and i think that succinctly summarises the fic. one of those ones u read once and think about forever

a brief, unauthorised guide to tending an exit wound by stridents (no rating, 10k) getting back together fic of my personal dreams quite frankly. just a very very good concept delivered in an excellent manner with perfect execution every action they take feels incredibly in character. something something sometimes it isnt about how u get there but thr fact that you did get there in the end

take me back to the places i feel loved in by fishfoods (T, two works 1.6k total) THE. married connorleon series by my ride or die @bboes about loving and being loved so so freaking soft and fluffy and so quintessentially connorleon in that they love eachother above and beyond quite possibly everything else

bones in the foundation by cuprun (M, 8.6k) directly taken from the tags: this is NOT about wanting to escape the oilers, this is about how you can feel trapped somewhere even if its somewhere you don’t want to leave. sososo good gives u exactly what you come for really conveys connor and leon’s whole ‘best players in the world don’t want to win anywhere else but everything else is making it damn hard’ thing

be the one to set me free by notthequiettype (E, 31k) getting togetehr and learning about eachother and eachother’s bodies cannot recommend it enough also one of THE connorleon fics to me the way connor is written genuinely hits like a freaking line every single time and the way he interacts w leon and others is soooooo. oughhhhh

not strictly connorleon but something about us by lemonfractals (E, 19k) is connor/leon/dylan holloway but also the way connor and leon are in this like that is Them through and through truly truly such an incredible fic and made me a dholloway frontliner

goes without sayibg really but the rest of the fics by these authors are also an always recommend so i heartily suggest u check them out too!!!

[littlemisstfc]

Transformers One: Is It Good Or Nah?

Hello, hola、こんにちは。So…it’s been 84 years since I’ve last written on this side of the Hundred Acre Woods. For that, I do deeply apologize for my absence aksksksjsjsj. Anyways…so the Transformers franchise, in terms of the movies, has a very shaky history.

We all know the Transformers movies; it’s pretty known by now that the movies are just a rollercoaster of quality. For every Bumblebee, there will always be a Revenge of The Fallen. When it comes to me specifically, I have a very complicated relationship with this aspect of the franchise for a better part of my life. The original G1 movie is okay. The first movie is alright, ROTF is Satan’s spawn, DOTM is good, AOE is a chaotic mess that I both hate and love, and the less said about TLK, the better. Then, a miracle happened in the form of Bumblebee (2018) and it sets the path of redemption for these movies. It continues with Rise of The Beasts and while it’s an 8/10 movie for me, it’s still a great movie that continues the momentum. Now, it brings us to today.

I wanna bring this up before talking about Transformers One because you will not believe me when I say that this movie is EVEN BETTER THAN LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE FILM SERIES. YES, IT OUTDID EVEN THE GREATEST TRANSFORMERS MOVIES BY A FREAKING LANDSLIDE. JUST…how did we even get a movie like this? The fact that it exists is truly the most mind boggling, yet pleasant surprise so far in the series to date. Words cannot describe the experience I have gone through at this moment. Just…what did we do to get something this incredible and this damn good. Amazing is an understatement; Transformers One is easily the best Transformers movie to date.

The way it gives us genuinely some of the best moments in Transformers history is an indicator of the majesty they wanted to make. Sure, no movie is truly perfect. However, for this one, the amount of things to discuss and think about is something that rivals even the most complex media such as Earthspark and Animated. So what am I doing here standing around for? Let's talk about a movie about two bros chilling in an Energon mine, five feet apart cause they’re not gay! :D

For this review…I’m going to give this movie’s pacing the respect it deserves (due to how crucial it is to the story) by highlighting the most important details I want to talk about in order. After we get the nitpicks and other good stuff out of the way, I’m so excited to unleash all the inner brainworks in my head at the moment. So let’s goooooo.

3, 2, 1, Pingu.

(Also, I will be going into spoilers, so Sparknotes version: it’s a rare 10/10. ✨)

The Good, The Bad, and The Badassitron

Let’s go get the nitpicks out of the way. I say nitpicks because they thankfully don’t drag down the movie for me. First things first: I wish that the main trio of Decepticons (Doritoscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave’s boobs) play a much bigger role here. I felt like how we got from Starscream in charge to now all of sudden loyal to Megatron after having the crap beaten out of him is where the movie could benefit from a few minutes more to the runtime. To me, their loyalty to Megatron by the end is something that needs to be earned. However, like I said, it didn’t bring the movie down for me because they’re not the focus here, The focus is on Megatron’s relationship with Optimus. We’ll get there when we get there. Bee’s fine for what he is, but I feel like he can be cut out of the movie and replaced with someone else. The story would be as it is, like he really doesn’t have much of a reason to be here. However, like I said, he’s fine for what he is. The only other nitpick I have is that it’s weird that the Quintessons have little to no direct involvement in the main conflict, since it’s their rule that led to this mess in the first place. However, since we’re getting two more movies, I’m curious to see how this is gonna play out in the future. Anyways, that’s all I have to say about the issues I have with the movie, so let’s get to the good stuff…EVERYTHING ELSE.

Oh my god, the music score? Easily among my favorite scores in Transformers media to date. The way it not only incorporates music from shows such as Transformers Prime so beautifully, but it gives the world so much life and majesty that is straight out of a Biblical epic. The ending song at the credits reminds me so much of On My Soul, just what an utter bop. Of course, I also need to mention the biggest highlight of this movie…the animation. Oh my god, this movie is utterly gorgeous. Not only are the settings so vibrant and brimming with life and personality, but I absolutely adore the facial expressions on the characters. I’m glad that it’s emotive enough to not fall into the Uncanny Valley, and the characters felt so real. I especially love Orion’s facial expressions, because of how well they convey his growing heartbreak and loss of innocence over the course of the story that we’ll discuss later here. Overall, the music and animation are good enough reasons why you need to see this movie on the big screen. Just…MMMMMMM. Delicious food.

The characters are also really likable and enduring. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna like Badassitron going in, but honestly, he’s a Bumblebee done well. He has plenty of funny moments and jokes, and I like how they don’t have him make quips during the more serious moments here and there. He is the comic relief done right. I’m pleasantly surprised by how they handle Elita’s character. At first, based on the promos, she seems to be the Ultra Serious Girlboss who girlbosses her way into the Elita One we all know and love. However, as it turns out, it’s revealed that she’s a neurotic, yet well meaning dork and I love that for her akskssk. I especially love how her relationship with Orion develops over time as they went to find the One Piece. She went from being irritated with his tendency to cause mischief at work and ignoring protocols to warming up to him because of his resilience and optimism (no pun intended) of their people being freed. Honestly, it’s so refreshing to see a flawed, yet likable Elita here and she’s perhaps one of my favorite iterations so far. Moving on, and oh man…where do we even begin with our good buddy Sentinel Prime. Not only is he one of the evil ass motherfuckers in the franchise so far, but he is a fantastic main villain. Just seeing this despicable bastard manipulate his way into power makes you love to hate him, he’s also pretty funny, and the way he poses a threat to our heroes provides enough interesting groundwork for the conflict between two of our main amigos. Also, shoutout to Jon Hamm. He did an excellent job at portraying Sentinel as this smug, arrogant little bitch. Just, amazing. And speaking of portrayals, the entire voice cast did an amazing job here. You can tell how much they clearly respect the characters they’re portraying while also breathing new life into them. This is what animation studios need to do; hire actors that suit the characters well DAMMIT. Other positives I have is the amount of neat cameos of our favorite blorbos in the background, the comedic timing is excellent thanks to the voice actors’ deliveries and banter with each other, and in spite of the darker tone the more it progresses, it also has a very cozy, fun feel to it due to one of the movie’s main central themes. And speaking of themes…this is where we will end the section here.

Now…I am saving the best for last. What I mean by that is that there are two characters that manage to be my favorite aspect of the movie overall. So…let’s go talk about them.

A Tale of Two Friends:

I’m struggling to use the right words to describe how I feel about Orion and Megatron. To me…they’re the true standouts in the movie for me. Their relationship is portrayed with so much care and gravity that they both felt like real people. Not only are they both likable and charming, but seeing their relationship break apart over the course of the movie is hauntingly beautiful and tragic. Trust me, it’s not the shipper speaking here. It’s so refreshing to see them together in the big screen for the first time since The Last Knight, but it’s also so interesting seeing them in a different light than what other Transformers media did. I’m starting in the order of the movie because the movie’s pacing is perfect. Every scene connects to each other perfectly and it makes room for the wild ride we’re in for.

First, let’s start with Orion.

We start the movie off with Orion breaking into the Iaconian Hall of Records and search for anything on the status of the One Piece. Then, he gets caught by some guards and a chase ensues. Right away, we get a good idea of his mischievous, yet curious personality and his determination to discover more about the surface world. He won’t take no for an answer and while it does lead to him getting in trouble often, it’s genuinely admirable to see him have the initiative to make the best of his situation in life. Then, right before he gets caught, Megatron comes in with a cart that serves as a distraction for Orion to slip away and they both head to work.

Right off the bat, we see that Megatron is the more relaxed, more cautious out of the two. He tries his best to stay out of trouble and to keep his good ol unhinged buddy alive due to his wacky shenanigans. At the same time, he also has the same kind of energy he shares with Orion in that they both keep their heads up in spite of their circumstances. Adding to the layers is Orion bringing him the Fallen sticker, which is how we get a good idea of how much they care for each other. True, they have their own frustrations with each other. Megatron is frustrated by Orion’s tendency to get in trouble, along with not recognizing his discomfort with some of the things he drags him into such as the Iacon 5000, and Orion is frustrated by Megatron keeping his head down to avoid trouble. However, they always have each other’s back and they are each other’s equals.

We also see that they’re both kindhearted people who will stand up for the little guy through risking their lives to save Jazz from the collapsing Energon mine, even though it resulted in Elita being demoted. From the start, their desire to make their world a better place is set in stone there. This is furthered strengthened by Orion standing up for Elita by flipping off Darkwing and both him and Megatron needing some milk afterwards. Also, quick side note: Orion’s sass and dynamics with the other characters is so damn refreshing. I love how he literally has no chill in speaking what’s on his mind, and I especially adore how he interacts with Elita. Pure malewife material aksksksz.

Back on track, he then drags Megatron into the Iacon 5000 so that they can prove themselves to be just as worthy as the upper class racers in the game. As they fly through the race track with mere jet packs, their fellow miners cheer for them and they were pretty close to finishing in first place had it not been for the combo of an injury Megatron got and the first place winner coming in. I’m not gonna reveal who won the race, but let me say that who won it is a pleasant surprise. Anyways, this earned the attention of Sentinel Prime and he went down to their recovery ward to personally congratulate them on their boldness in participating. He even offers them a nice ol place in his crib, which they might've accepted if Darkwing didn’t throw them down into Undertale due to his jealousy and anger. Throughout this scene, we see Orion and Megatron being validated by the Prime they’ve admired for so long for breaking out of the status quo and it lays the foundation for later on. Eventually, they met Bee, found the map to the One Piece, and ventured into the surface world while accidentally dragging Elita along for the ride. Pretty landscapes and peril later, they end up in the cave where the bodies of de Primes are at. They wake up Alpha Trion and he reveals the bitter truth:

Uh oh, it turns out Sentinel Prime is a LIAR and that he betrayed the Primes in order to be in charge of the Cybertronian population. Here…we see the innocent viewpoints of Orion and Megatron shattered permanently from here on out. While Orion reacts with anger as he should, Megatron is utterly furious with this horrific revelation. The Prime he has admired for so long, the Prime who just gave him an opportunity to move upwards just minutes ago…turns out to be a cowardly, spineless fraud that took away their autonomy to having basically a crucial organ in their bodies and to make choices for themselves. It isn’t helped by Sentinel giving up the Energon (that they risked their lives in mining for) to the very evil overlords that are responsible for their people being this way for so many generations.

What happens back in the cave is one of three excellent scenes that is borderline uncomfortable due to how realistic it is. We see Megatron essentially having a mental breakdown from finding out his life is a lie and Sentinel is a big stinker. When Orion tries to calm him down, he finally vents to him about his frustrations with Orion’s tendency to cause trouble over the years and calls him out for not thinking before acting on his impulses. It also helps that we see his patience starting to be worn thin earlier in the recovery ward and when Darkwing threw them both in the Undertale. Then, he finishes his breakdown with one simple, yet effective confession: he doesn’t want to just take Sentinel down…he wants to kill him. To say that hearing Megatron say this left me and the theater in shock is a massive understatement. It genuinely caught me off guard, but in a good way. We finally saw Megatron at his breaking point: his entire life, including being worked to death, has been for nothing. It’s a great scene because it’s an argument where you understand both perspectives here. You understand Orion’s bewilderment at Megatron’s unhinged behavior and wanting him to take a deep breath so he can clear his head while you also understand Megatron finally having enough of being a doormat for too long and Orion putting his own wants before others. Neither side is right and wrong, and I appreciate how Orion’s and Megatron’s emotions are valid here. From this point on, all hell breaks loose.

After they gain their T-cogs and the recording to cancel Sentinel on Twitter by Alpha Trion, the main amigos enjoy the euphoria of transforming for the first time. However…we see Megatron enjoying the euphoria of having the T-cog too much. After fighting off one of Sentinel’s soldiers, he forcibly takes the callout post and vows to make Sentinel pay for his crimes. When Orion tries to protest, Megatron coldly tells him to step aside or else there’ll be a problem between them. Orion’s expression here is why I love his facial expressions the most as mentioned earlier. You can see all the thoughts he’s having right now, especially the shock of seeing his best friend giving into his darker thoughts expressed back at the cave. Now, the coin is flipped. Orion is the sensible, level headed one of the two while Megatron is the impulsive, stubborn one that he always scolds Orion for being so in earlier scenes.

As they make their way back home, they ended up captured by some Decepticons and are being interrogated by Starscream and his band of mean girls. When Megatron walks away from the interrogation nonchalantly, Starscream tries to assert himself as the leader. However, it ended up breaking into a fight that quickly went HOLY FUCKING SHIT, HE NEEDS SOME MILK when Megatron overpowers him. We see a horrified Orion in the crowd and they can only look at each other. Their friendship will never be the same after that…especially now that Megatron finally got a taste of power that’s been denied to him all his life. I know that this is probably gonna be a point of contention for some people with how Megatron’s turn to the Dark Side is portrayed here, so let me provide this perspective:

How long did Megatron have these thoughts?

Given presumably how many times he had to bust Orion out of trouble, and having to keep quiet just to stay alive, you have to wonder how long he kept quiet about his frustrations and hidden rage at the circumstances of his life. From that angle, giving into his intrusive thoughts is inevitable. He just needed the push to act on them. Essentially…the poor guy needed therapy, and sadly, there are no therapists on Cybertron. 😔

Eventually, Megs and Badassitron got captured along with Starscream and several other Decepticons by Airachnid. It’s now up to Orion and Elita to team up with the remaining Decepticons left and YOU GOTTA HELP US. Here, we see Orion finally realize how badly he screwed up for not understanding how his actions affected the people he cares about over the years. It got through his head that he didn’t appreciate Megatron’s patience and willingness to protect him from the consequences. While he means well, he doesn’t realize how selfish he’s also being with the things he does in his overactive ways. Upon realizing this, he takes responsibility for the amigos being in this mess…a mess that happened because of him. That was his mistake. He is now left with no choice but to go forward and make things right by his friend and the people they love. Then…we get another one incredible scene and that is Elita’s pep talk to him.

While it starts off a bit comedic due to how this is clearly Elita’s first time with cheering someone up and Orion pointing it out, it then leads to her expressing how she always admire his optimism towards a better future for their kind and his refusal to back down in the face of struggle. It’s the embodiment of the movie’s most important message: having hope even when the odds are against you. That fact that we have such a strong theme in a turbulent era we’re in at the moment is why this scene works so well. Change starts with one person, and then becomes bigger and stronger when they continue to fight against injustice and inspire others to do the same. Thus, Elita’s pep talk gave Orion the drive to get back up and keep moving forward by teaming up with the Decepticons, go back to Iacon, and free their buddies. The theme is furthered strengthened by Orion rallying the other miners into helping him, as he now has the power to make things better for his people.

Quick side note, but Elita is an interesting foil to Megatron’s in terms of how they react to Orion’s unhinged sassy king energy. While she’s also annoyed by his tendency to get in trouble a lot, she has also admire his ability to remain optimistic even with their shitty conditions. Once he takes responsibility for his decisions, she softens up towards him and she remains his dearest friend by the end. In contrast, by the time he has apologized for his mistakes, it’s too late for Megatron. It’s clear that these two are what shaped Orion into Optimus, for better and for worst.

Meanwhile, Megatron gets tortured by Sentinel after repeatedly defying him. Then, he gets the Decepticon symbol carved painfully into his chest by the blue son of a bitch. That essentially became the straw that broke the camel’s back and it ultimately drove Megatron into a point of no return. After the other main amigos rescued the other amigos and a ROBOT FIGHT occurs, Megatron now has the opportunity to finally show Sentinel that his day of reckoning has come. Now, he must die. However, after putting the callout post on Twitter, Orion realizes what his bestie is about to do and tries to stop him. However, Megatron quickly overpowers him and prepares the final blow to Sentinel. Then…what happened next left me and the entire theater in stunned silence for a good few minutes up until one point. At first, I thought to myself:

“Ain’t no way he’s gonna do this. There’s no way they’re bold enough to have Megatron do this.”

But then…it happened. The shot from the fusion cannon meant for Sentinel ended up hitting Orion instead, sending him flying near the entrance to the planet’s core and hanging on for dear life. The moment he cries out to Megatron for help…I bursted into tears right there. His innocent perspective has been destroyed permanently, and he’s now a broken shell of his formerly spunky self. To add more salt to the wound, Megatron reaches for him…only for him to declare that he’s done saving him from trouble after one too many times. Then, he sent him falling into the core. Megatron has crossed the line, and with eyes now red with hate and pain, he finally killed Sentinel in front of a now devoted group of followers who will obey his every word. He has now become the person he has sworn to destroy…

As that’s going on, Orion’s broken, lifeless body is gently brought down inside of the core and it’s revealed that he is the one who is destined to receive the One Piece…aka, the Matrix of Leadership. Thus, he is now reborn as the Optimus Prime we all know and love. The use of a theme from the G1 movie is the cherry on top of an utterly haunting, yet powerful scene that needs to be seen on the big screen.

After he has risen and put an end to Megatron’s madness, he decides that the best option for them both is banishing Megatron and his followers from Iacon. The fact that he chose this option instead of simply killing his former best friend really speaks a lot about not only his character, but also how much their relationship has essentially been ruined by how different they are in terms of wanting change. Alas, Megatron goes off into the sunset with his followers and Optimus is left there…mourning the death of their once great bond. When it showed a memory of how they met afterwards, it made me sobbed uncontrollably. At this point, you’re left with one question:

Will they ever go back to where they were at before?

Thus, we end on a bittersweet ending…an ending of two former friends who were torn apart by the sins of the fathers and the aftermath of said sins. All there’s left to do is wait and hope that everything will be okay soon.

Overall…Orion and Megatron are what makes the movie for me. Their chemistry, their character development, and the phenomenal performances of Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry are what makes them the most layered, most complex iterations of the characters respectively.

Conclusion: IT’S SO GOOD, YOU GUYS.

Words cannot describe how Transformers One is a phenomenal love letter to the franchise I hold very dear to my heart since I was a kid. Overall, this is a fantastic movie that you will love.

It has phenomenal characters, gorgeous animation, an amazing score, and a powerful story of how you have the power to change the world and make it better. For the very first time since Cyberverse, I award the very rare 10/10 to this film.

Please check it out. I applaud everyone involved in this project for making it a beautiful work of art for the fans. It is indeed more than meets the eye.

[edenhasfeelings]

The Death of Media Literacy, Religion, Misogyny, and Cognitive Dissonance

Spoilers for Dune Part 1 and 2 and the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I'll admit, I have not read the Dune books yet, but I am a huge fan of the Dune movies. Not only did Denis Villeneuve just make two incredible, epic movies with a lot of nuance, gorgeous visuals, and an incredible score by Hans Zimmer, but the story itself is really compelling for a lot of reasons. My mother had tried to get me into Dune when I was younger, but at the time it wasn't my thing. I really liked Part 1, but Part 2 was something else entirely. I was gripping my seat the whole time, genuinely enthralled by everything happening. But I came out of the theatre with one definite conclusion: Paul Atredies is not a hero. I shared my thoughts in the car, and while my boyfriend agreed with me and my father had no opinion, my mother adamantly refused. She read the first book in college, and loved the 1984 version of the film (watching that, in my opinion, was like slow cooking your eyeballs over a campfire, but it was cool for the time period I guess). She was insistent he was the hero, and then tried to say that they changed the story to make him seem more like a villain, but he wasn't in the first book.

No hate to my mom, it's been a long while since she read the first book, and me and her are going to actually read the whole series soon. From my understanding and the research I've done, Frank Herbert wrote Dune as a cautionary tale against white saviorism and a commentary about America stealing oil from Middle Eastern countries and their subsequent colonization. I've also heard it was meant to be a standalone originally, but because people were portraying Paul Atredies to be the hero so much, he then wrote Dune Messiah to further drive home the point he was originally trying to make. But even without the knowledge of the books, it was apparent to me that he was not meant to be a hero in the movies. Of course, it isn't spelled out for you, and Timothée Chalamet does have some really epic, badass moments. But one of the biggest clue that you can have to what's going on is Chani, and how she reacts. She loves Paul, and she supports him, but she doesn't support him becoming a religious figure that leads her people because she feels as though that level of fervent religion is dangerous and not right; she says that a born and raised Fremen should be the one to free their people. You also see a huge shift from how Paul acts in the first movie and the first part of the second movie to how he acts after he drinks the Water of Life. In the first movie and first part of the second, he refuses to fulfill any prophecy, and tells them that he is not the one they are looking for. He is only wanting one thing: to avenge his father and his house. He even gets into an argument with his mother, Jessica, and he tells her that the Bene Gesserit were the ones to perpetuate this prophecy for their own gain. He knows it isn't real, and that it isn't divine, and that he was raised by Jessica to fit the qualifications for this prophecy for her own gain and the gain of her order. He knows what will happen if he takes up the mantle of Lisan al-Gaib: holy war spreading across the galaxy in his name. But when he feels like he has no other choice but to drink the Water to rally the Fremen to fight the Harkonnens, things instantly change. He becomes arrogant and demanding and self-confident, completely uncaring of how Chani feels and becoming solely focused on becoming Emperor. The line "lead them to paradise" felt really, really gross upon delivery, partly due to Hans Zimmer's masterful score. It feels damning.

While looking like a white savior story at very simplistic face value, Dune: Part Two is in fact a critique of it, even without the addition of Dune Messiah. The other big thing that the movie critiques is religion, especially blind faith at the cost of your critical thinking skills, religious fanaticism and idolization, and how religion is taken advantage of by people in power or people who want to be in power. Now I've seen a lot of tone deaf critiques of Dune, and a lot of ignorant comments made, usually in regards to the racial and political elements of the story. I have also seen a lot of people who get it and were able to help me expand my reasoning for the feeling of wrongness I got from people thinking Paul is a hero. But nothing compares to the TikTok I saw today. Someone blended the audio of Timothée Chalamet's Wonka character introducing himself, with the scene after Paul drinks the Water and goes to rally the Fremen to fight for his cause. The first image in the slideshow was an image of Wonka with the caption "Being raised in a religious household and calling yourself 'a Christian'." The second slide shows Paul in the midst of his religious fanaticism in the movie, with the caption "After being born again and having your entire worldview change." Absolutely no hate to this creator if you know who I'm talking about, but this video quite honestly had me gagged, for lack of a better term. I was absolutely shocked at not just the usual lack of media literacy that revolves around this movie and so many others, but the fact that they were so far gone from the point of the movie and Paul's character entirely that they thought it was a good idea to post that online in reference to their own faith. Paul Atredies took advantage of a prophecy that he knew was engineered to control the Fremen to do exactly what the Harkonnens wanted to do, just in a different font. His intentions might have been good to start, but ultimately, because of Jessica and the Bene Gesserit (specifically the Reverend Mother, as she talks to him in his visions and pushes him forward), who he realizes he is being manipulated by, he ends up where he is: a religious idol who (Spoiler for Dune Messiah) leads 61 billion souls "to paradise" and causes irreparable damage to the galaxy.

As someone who was raised Christian, I can tell you without a doubt that religion in general, but especially Christianity, can heavily damage your critical thinking skills and media literacy. When you look at everything from the lens of, "Ok but how does this piece of media validate my feelings and beliefs regardless of intention, subtext, or true meaning?" you end up falling into some really dangerous territory. Paul is not meant to be venerated in any way, shape, or form. He's a badass character and Timothée Chalamet did an excellent job portraying him, but you should not be comparing yourself to him, especially in the context of your religious journey. That is incredibly dangerous as you then shut your eyes to the true message of the story: white saviorism is bad, colonialism is bad, exploiting entire peoples for resources of any kind is bad, and spreading and using religion to control people is bad. Of course if you phrased bluntly any of these things to religious people they would (probably) agree that those are bad things. But when you put it into the context of film/literature/music/etc, and then you have no one spelling things out for you like you're used to people doing for you in your religion, and you've already tossed your critical thinking skills out the window in order to avoid doubting your faith, you end up supporting and turning a blind eye to the bad things that you would otherwise disagree with if it was made simple for you. Even if you have no ill intention, even though it was just a silly TikTok, the ease in which people delude themselves by refusing to look any deeper into media causes such mass amounts of complacency and allows history to repeat itself. It is repeating itself right now. When we learn about the Holocaust in school, everyone would say that if they were Germans living in Germany, they would have opposed the genocide of the Jewish, Romani, and queer people during WWII. But here we are, watching the genocide of the Palestinian people live on our phones, and yet people are still sitting in denial and complacency, and often using the Bible and religion as an excuse for why its' ok.

Steering away from the topic of religion, another clear example of media illiteracy recently was The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I both read the book and saw the movie (full book review posted on my book review blog @385bookreviews). While in the book you get Coriolanus' raw thoughts and it is made more obvious that he is not a good person even without the influence of Dr. Gaul, the movie still does a really good job of showing his decline into the person we see in The Hunger Games trilogy. And yet somehow, even with the context of the first three Hunger Games books (and the four movies), somehow people were still painting Coriolanus as the misunderstood good guy of the story. The latent misogyny that came out of so many people, especially women and girls who claim to be feminists, by saying Lucy Gray was manipulative and everything was her fault, was honestly appalling to watch. There is always room for personal interpretation of media, however that is widely different from purposefully ignoring canon information and editing the text to adhere to your own cognitive dissonance. This can once again come back to religion, as I believe people of every organized religion also practice this habit of picking and choosing whatever they want from their holy texts and then conveniently excusing the rest of it. Media illiteracy is shown in another way with the Hunger Games series fans as well. A lot of people can go to the movies or read the books and root for the rebelling protagonist and recognize perfectly the plot of the story: government bad, so good people rebel and fight for their freedom, and those are our heroes. And yet these same people will then turn around and ignore genocide because "the oppressed people attacked first, they should have stayed peaceful".

While not all media reflects real life, or is meant to be taken as seriously, The Hunger Games and Dune are definitely not two of those series. By ignoring the context and subtext and purely engaging with things as fiction, and then ignoring the real life applications and implications of the work, we are being purposefully and consensually blinded and allowing ourselves to become mindless cogs in a capitalist machine. We all need to learn to think for ourselves, now more than ever, and that starts with our media consumption.

[lizzyscribbles]

Okay, kinda shocked by the positivity on the last post. 😅 So I guess here we go again??

Today’s MHA thought: Katsuki Bakugo (or Bakugo Katsuki, whichever tickles your fancy) and why I think he’s an incredible character despite hating him in the beginning.

Some context: I was a teenager when the anime came out, so the only thing I knew of him was what we were given there. So like, seasons 1-4 my hatred for him was STRONG. It let up a little at the end of 3 with his and Izuku’s fight, and again with the class a/class b fight in 5, but it wasn’t until I put the series down for a few years then came back this as an adult in April and binged the entire series before 7 started airing that I really started to love him as a character.

Now, there’s a few reasons for this, but a lot of it boils down to this: He has NO REASON to be an asshole.

As far as we know, he has good parents, had a mostly-healthy home life, and doesn’t start being actively traumatized till he joins UA. He’s just genuinely a bad person at the start, like he literally tells Izuku to go take a swan dive off a roof AND HE HAS NO EXCUSES. (Side note, not saying being traumatized gives you the excuse to say these things. NO ONE has an excuse to say this no matter what they’ve been through). He had no past trauma to explain that response, no real good reasoning behind it other than he’s just being mean. We learn later it’s because Izuku made him feel inferior and he didn’t know why, which makes perfect sense and we see the evidence of this long before it’s said, but that doesn’t make it any better.

But that’s the beauty of it, for once this asshole-ery wasn’t born of trauma it just kind of…happened. He’s almost like All for One and Endeavor in that neither really had a good reason to be mean, they just got so wrapped up in themselves that they lost sight of everything else. However, that’s why I love Bakugo’s arc because it’s so satisfying to see him slowly come to that realization himself and change even though he really doesn’t have to. (It also begs the question why Endeavor and Bakugo and really any of the villains are seen in such different lights despite having similar stories, which is a theory for another day that I have brewing).

His change wasn’t necessitated by abusive past that held him back like Todoroki or even having to figure out how to manage a new quirk like Izuku, because say what you will he is SMART and he is TALENTED and he was doing great on his own. He could’ve climbed his way to the top without having a good personality, I mean just look at Endeavor. But he saw Izuku, his classmates, his FRIENDS and realized that wasn’t what he wanted.

And it all culminates in the end of season six when the class goes to retrieve him, instead of rushing to Izuku to yell his apology, he sends Iida after him because Iida is built for speed (these two/three episodes are my favorite part in the entire damn series and I’ll probably make a whole post about them eventually). But then, after that, he genuinely apologizes. He recognizes what he did was wrong, and what gets me about the dub of this episode is the way they chose to phrase the line:

“Saying this out loud doesn’t change a thing”.

He KNOWS that apologizing doesn’t make it okay, and he accepts that Izuku may never forgive him, but he does it anyway, and that’s how you know he really meant it. We see his convictions through the whole series, that boy doesn’t say anything he doesn’t mean. But it doesn’t stop there, he goes on to prove it with his actions, starting by calling Izuku by his real name, and his first name at that.

And in all of that, we still don’t lose his personality. He’s still loud, brash, mean, a bit of an asshole, and determined to be the best, but instead of looking down on Izuku, he sees him as an equal...an actual friend, someone to race against so they can both be better. It’s no longer all about him, he’s learned to see the world through a different lens, one we see him create during the entire series. He has truly changed in a way that feels natural and authentic to him as a character, and that’s something you don’t see every day.

And, we can see in the end, he continues to think about others, striving not for the top, but for Izuku’s happiness, and I think that’s beautiful.

I have so much more I could say about this, but I’m gonna stop here because this post is long as hell already, but if anyone is curious about anything don’t be afraid to ask, I’m an open book!😄

[ape-apocalypse]

Road To The Kingdom - My Planet Of The Apes Retrospective

With the hype for Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes on the rise, I decided to do a bit of a deep dive into the trilogy of reboot movies starring the incredible Andy Serkis and the various tie-in titles.

Why ramble on about a series that most people seem to overlook? Well, I think back to an interaction I had here on Tumblr in 2017, just one week before War For The Planet Of The Apes came out. While scrolling through the POTA tags, I found a post that wondered if anyone was actually excited for the new film or if the studio hadn't gotten the message and was making it for an audience that didn't exist. I responded that I was genuinely excited for the new film, that I loved the motion capture apes and the action scenes and the surprisingly engaging story, and would be seeing it opening weekend. The other person seemed surprised by my honest answer and apologized for their snarkiness (a truly shocking turn of events in the history of the Internet!).

I explained that I'd gone into these films thinking of them like Jurassic World series; I wasn't there for a great story and deep writing, I just wanted to see dinosaurs destroy things. So when I went into the POTA films, just expecting to see fun action movies with monkey chaos and apocalyptic results, I was surprised that I was swept up in the characters and their stories. I loved seeing the life of Caesar from tiny carefree baby to resilient revolutionary to fearsome leader, and the lives of all the humans and apes around him. The other poster said they hadn't actually seen the movies, just expected them to be shallow cash-grabs on reboot nostalgia, but they might have to reconsider giving them a shot after my enthusiastic response.

So if I can sway the minds of anyone who has written off these films, more movie tickets sold might mean more films and other media told in this ape apocalypse world!

And even if you already know and love the films, I also want to give some love to tie-in materials. Books, comics, YouTube shorts, video games; POTA has a surprisingly large catalog of bonus material for a series not considered mainstream like Marvel or Lord Of The Rings or Star Trek. I don't see them get many mentions in the fandom so hope a little spotlight on them can help them shine. They have delicious tidbits of world-building and character backstory, filling in gaps between the movies. I already have my fingers crossed there will be some tie-in material covering some of the huge time jump between War and Kingdom. With three hundred years passing between them, there is so much to learn about the ever growing and changing ape societies. I'm eager for any scrap of info they'll share!

But really, even if nothing I write changes anyone's mind about this franchise, it's still fun to gush about one of my favorite fictional universes.

My brief history with POTA was that I didn't know much about the original films before going into the new Andy Serkis trilogy. I'd heard enough about the original film to know the main beats of the first movie (quotes like 'damn dirty ape', the reveal of the planet being Earth with the Statue of Liberty). I saw the Tim Burton film which didn't leave any kind of impression other than the incredibly realistic costumes/make-up, so much so that I was apprehensive of the CG apes. Since getting into the new films, I've started watching the originals and may cover those just for fun.

So whether you're a long-time die hard fan or a fresh face to Caesar's legacy, I hope you'll enjoy my thoughts on the Planet of the Apes franchise!

Links to all my posts as they are released:

- Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes Film

- Prelude and Contagion Comics

- Motherboard YouTube Shorts

- Firestorm Tie-In Novel

- Fall Of Man Comics

- Dawn Tie-In Comic

- Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes Film

- Revelations Tie-In Novel

- Last Frontier Video Game

- Crisis Video Game

- When Worlds Collide Comics

- War For The Planet Of The Apes Film

- War Tie-In Comic

- Caesar's Story Novel

[youryanderedaddy]

as another victim of a yandere, (mf stalked me and my relatives, then bullied me after i broke up with him), i just want to say, your work never really came off to me as romanticizing yanderes. actually, i see it as a pretty damn realistic portrayal of them, as well as how you write the s/o's or y/ns. you never really wrote the stories with a "it's so cute and sweet omg" way for me. Like you showed pretty realistic responses to abuse and extremely toxic relationships, and i commend you for that. I personally read yandere stories as a way of feeling things about my experiences, like i read yan stories to process it and for thrill as well. i never really read them because i find it cute, so your stories are def my cup of tea. PS: I'm fucking obsessed with "The First Shot Is A Warning", it's legit the only yan story series i've been able to read over and over and not get bored. I love stories where the darling hates the yandere 'till the very end.

I'm really sorry that you had to go through this, I hope you're safe now. In my personal life I've had very close people stuck in abusive relationships that unfortunately led to stalking and assault. It's incredibly painful, frustrating and just exhausting - and when it's your friend or family, you feel helpless. You want to help them, but you just don't know how. In my personal experience, the police often disregards stalking cases until something fatal happens, which is insane, and I really wish it was taken more seriously. It's one of the cruelest things someone can do to you, it's selfish and just egotistical. No one deserves this treatment and I genuinely hope the fucker got his due.

I think I choose to write about "yanderes" because I like horror. I absolutely don't think that any of the situations I write about would be appealing in real life (like, I'm literally ace 😭). To me this is one of the most horrifying situations to be stuck in. Very similar to survival horror, it gives me a reason to explore paranoia, helplessness, resistance, the adaptivity of the human brain to stress and limitation, etc. In that sense, I am glad you enjoy my stories - but please take care of your mental health and make sure you're not reliving bad memories through them!

Aaand thank you <33 I had a lot of fun writing The Last Shot Is A Warning because it's one of my few stories with a bit of worldbuilding and just a slight touch of politics. Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Sending good vibes 💕

[writing-whump]

breathing in a bag: oh god oh god oh god, its here NO ONE PANIC.

I think Seline and Zaya are about to hit a wall of feelings thanks to him being a Silly Rabbit and not telling her "hey baby, i'm like. dying." soooo can I request some sweet sugary seline/isaiah before we're hit with the steamroller?

Date

Very sugary.

Seline was sure today was somehow special for Isaiah. She just couldn't figure out why.

He knocked on her door at 10 am in the morning, asking how many daydream sessions she finished and if she was in the mood for breakfast - in bed. That he knew that she woke up early these days only to fall asleep multiple times to daydream new story scenes or poems amazed her.

Then he brought the English Breakfast restaurant-style breakfast that made her feel equally cherished and underdressed for the occasion.

Usually, they always planned trips and days they wanted to spend together. Today, he was all, "I got a surprise. Trust me?" His excitement was contagious.

And she had to say it was quite the plan. They went to the Albertina gallery, which had two new exhibitions, one with hyper-realistic photographs and one with a political comic-style artist. She loved going to museums and galleries with Isaiah. He was literally the only person in the world who not only tolerated her long gawking and reading of every info, but also discussed the pieces with her. They stayed at each drawing for at least 15 minutes. Matthew would have blacked down after the first two.

Isaiah was not just patience manifested, he seemed to enjoy himself. Whenever he got really nerdy, talking about the psychological effect of using only three base colours or about the historical background of the photographs or about the atmosphere of certain series of photographs resonating with certain kinds of people and brain signals...

Oh god. It was the most exciting thing. She loved watching him. She loved listening to him. She loved that they both had stuff to say, but it didn't feel like a competition. She loved she didn't have to fight to get to say something, that he listed to her. She loved she was genuinely and truly interested in what he would say next. Because she wanted to know his opinions and get fascinated by all the new things he knew.

Isaiah was the only one who could impress her with the stuff he knew. Most people couldn't, aside her professors.

Seline found falling in love incredibly hard. Connecting with people in general, really. In primary school, she was popular for knowing all Disney movies by memory and for thinking up new plays for the kids to play. But since high school, she liked teachers more than any of her classmates.

And how the hell was she supposed to choose friends? Her peers kept falling in love every second day or talking about said crushes and she couldn't phantom what they liked. What was so interesting about that? The boys were little immature screaming bags to her.

Friends that weren't boring we eternally difficult to find. She didn't connect with anyone over anything. Social media weren't her thing, reading wasn't a thing for them. Really, people that shared any of her interests or love for writing were mostly online.

When she did have friends, mostly her girls from primary school and the few sciency friends from university field trips —people she actually didn't find a drag to listen to— they said Seline had too high expectations for a guy. Like, if he was as nerdy as her, he would surely be a head smaller and she better make peace with him not being a looker. Settle down, girl.

She tried dating people, but damn, was it difficult to catch feelings. Why couldn't she feel a thing? The looks weren't that important and if they were there, she figured cringing whenever the guy opened his mouth wasn't a good sign. And when he managed to get through her rigorous list of questions and plans, because how else was she supposed to test their value and interests compatibility? - the emotion was missing entirely.

Universe, could you please, please, give me a person I could admire and feel something for? Anyone like that out there?

And then she met Isaiah.

They had lunch at a small but incredibly good family sushi restaurant. For the cake, he took her to her favorite confectioanry, though, on the balcony with an awesome view, and let her order about four different desserts, when she couldn't decide. Christ, even the place was expensive.

But Isaiah had a twinkle in his eye and a constant smile. It was very rare for him to be in a good mood so openly, like watching her was the most fascinating showpiece.

She couldn't protest anything he said with that expression.

Caught in the moment of watching him, all dressed up in a dashing suit, black hair with that gentle waves to it, green eyes set only on her, she reached over. Her hand went on top of his under the chin, then gently up to stroke his cheek.

"What mask are you wearing today?"

Isaiah kissed her knuckles, too happy to even mind the PDA. "The one I wear with you. I like it the most."

Seline couldn't help the blush, ducking her head. He was more social than her, always alert, always perceptive and adjusting to the situation. Charming gentleman, yes, kind, absolutely. But he could be funny and relaxed, or serious and scary, or authoritative and confident. Every person and group, every situation, brought out a different side of him.

It confused her at the start. Now, she found it fascinating.

Once again, she was tempted to ask what today was. Why was it special? Was there an anniversary she didn't know about? It wasn't a year since they moved in together, that would be in two months. The month they have been together for a year...that would be four months. What was this? They haven't even been a pack a year ago.

The cakes were excellent, but the sweetness and intensity of the different flavours overwhelmed her quickly. She slid her plate with half of the Strawberry Mouse Cake towards Isaiah to go to the Coffee Meringue Cake. They also still had the Apple Strudel and her favorite Mango slice tart. It felt like her birthday.

Isaiah was chuckling indulgently, finishing the cakes for her. Never a better chance to try so many. And the hot chocolates they made there were to die for. When she couldn't decide between that and the Caramel Machiatto, Isaiah ordered both.

"You are spoiling me today."

Isaiah gave her a blinding smile of satisfaction.

They went by foor afterwards, through the two nicest parks and Hofburg all the way to the Danube river. It was like Isaiah had it calculated, cause the sun was just setting and they were at the perfect side of the river to see it without being blinded.

He took her hand, fingers intertwined gently, as they passed bikes and families returning from bathing, reaching a nice molo halfway across the river.

Isaiah guided her to sit down before joining her, suit and all on the wooden molo. She watched him curiously, getting a bit nervous at how heavy the moment felt.

"The sunset is beautiful," she burst out quickly.

Isaiah raised one eyebrow at the remark, smiling. He leaned close enough to kiss her, but only brushed a lock of blond hair behind her ear. "Not as much as you."

Seline bit her lip, looking at him from under her lashes.

"I know beauty isn't that high on your priority list. And I know that's not something you want to be admired for. Not for anything you were given, not for magic or for your looks."

She ducked her head. His fingers lingered in her hair.

"I know you don't go about perceiving the world through physical sensations. You relate through your mind. You want intellectual stimulation to feel connection and interests." His hand still in his hair followed the line of her head to her neck. He cupped her cheek.

"Which doesn't mean you don't have feelings. They are so intense that you prefer to save them for later. Process them in private. That's why you don't need that much stimulation, working through the little details. Understanding yourself inside out. Body comes last and you don't put emphasis on it. If you focus on it, you get bashful."

She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks under his touch. His voice was silky smooth.

"Not that it's anything to feel ashamed of. But you feel comfortable with contact only after connection has been made. I have been trying to go slowly."

Which was true. He always let her set the pace. Make the first move.

"I don't want to scare you. And I don't want you to feel like you have to say it back." That was the first time he looked down, suddenly a little insecure, before lifting his gaze to hers again.

Her breath caught in her chest, pulse picking up.

"I love how your mind works. Constantly hungry for knowldge. Your thinking is so abstract and so creative and you are never bored, always working on some kind of thought project. Always halfway somewhere else," he said, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"But I love everything about it. Your mind, your order rituals to keep yourself tethered to the real world, the way you read spoilers ahead to enjoy the same thing from different lenses, your broad view of things, your ability to look at things objectively but also understanding the emotion behind it..."

Seline was amazed how scarily accurate all of this was. She couldn't move under his touch, eyes getting wider.

"I love everything...about you." He looked to the side then. His fingers against her face were shaking. "Just thought you should know."

Seline shook her head, voice all stunned. "That's your new trick? You go all impressive psychology on me and analyse me, cause you know that will make you irresistible?"

Isaiah looked up, startled. "I wasn't-"

"You are ridiculous." Seline grabbed him by the collar and smashed their lips together. Her heartbeat was somewhere in her ears. It felt like she wouldn't be able to breathe if she didn't kiss him immediately.

"You know how hot I find it when you talk all smart. I had a feast of you today," she said against his nose, her hand reaching behind his neck to hold him more securely.

She said hot on purpose, cause that was a word she didn't use often. It was too vague and felt too...indecent. Some part of her was always scared of it, of being some kind of primitive animal only focused on the body.

But with Isaiah the body turned to a medium, the carrier of his soul. It was special because it held him inside, the lips that spoke to her, the spirit looking at her from his eyes. It meant something completely different, to feel this closeness. Touch became a way to express it, not threaten it.

Was she not saying it enough? How much she admired him, how much she enjoyed him? Being this smart and relaxed and doting?

"I'm a girl of words. I love words. And I love when you talk. You are never boring. I'm always learning something," she said, leaning forward to hide her face against his neck. "You have so many faces. So many masks. I want to know all of them."

Her lips brushed against the skin on the side of his throat. Isaiah shivered underneath her.

"I never felt this way...about anyone," she admitted quietly.

Isaiah took her face in his hands, making her look up at him again. "It scares me. It isn't fair to everyone else, how much I can love just you."

Why did that make her so incredibly happy.

Isaiah wrapped her in an embrace and just held her, letting their bodies take comfort from the touch while they both worked through the impact of those words.

Seline ended up leaning against his shoulder, his arm around her back as the sun set in front of them.

It was the perfect moment.

Isaiah's body jostled underneath her suddenly. His free hand moved towards his middle for a second before dropping.

Seline frowned, turning to look at him. She didn't have a good angle on his face, but her access to his throat was ideal. She could feel it bobbing as he swallowed.

She pushed her hand up into his hair gently. "Okay?"

Isaiah shook his head in denial. "Sorry. Just-urrrp-ate too much."

"Oh. All the cakes."

Isaiah suppressed another burp. "I'm sorry. Don't-don't mind it, please." His neck and cheeks went all red.

Seline chuckled, weirdly pleased. "I mean, it's kinda my fault. Kept pushing them to you." She leaned more into him, her whole side pressed into his.

Her hand went down around his back again while she sneaked her free one to his belly, tentatively pulling at his button up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to ruin-"

"Shhhhh." She kissed his neck and then his jaw. "It's okay, baby. You couldn't ruin this in any way. This was perfect." Another kiss under his ear. "And it's cute, just so you know."

"You say the silliest things."

"I never say anything I don't mean," she corrected smugly. "You taking your walls down just for a bit. Around me. What's not to like?"

Isaiah huffed. "You can't-"

Her hand sneaked up to his belly, cutting him off. She let her palm rest on top of it, feeling the bloat under her fingers. Having him this close, his breathing a little ragged from the discomfort and emberssment made her insides dance.

"I love this. I love you. I love everything about you." Seline nuzzled her face against his cheek, feeling incredibly intimate. The contact, his sudden shyness. The little crack in that armor he still didn't quite take down. Or was that only her feeling?

"You don't have to say it so many times," he said, scratching at the top of his head self-consciously, turning his head to blow up the air from another breathy burp.

Seline giggled, drunk on the feeling. Feeling. She was feeling so much. She let herself feel it all in that moment, everyting she felt for him. It was a flood of mind-melting, honey-coloured happiness. "I can't say it enough."

[dailydemonspotlight]

sorry, have you done Neko Shogun? always wondered if that one was just, made up

Neko Shogun - Day 38 (Request)

Race: Enigma

Alignment: Light-Neutral

May 14, 2024

Once upon a time, there was only one cat mascot of the SMT series. The time before Persona 5- the time of Neko Shogun. One of the most popular (and infamous) demons in the series is this warrior cat, whose appearances started all the way back in 1995 in the first Devil Summoner. Since then, this cat has been a recurring demon throughout several games in the series, specifically being spotlighted in the Persona games. Where it came about from, though, is not from folklore, nor did it originate from legendary stories as its lore in the series would leave you to believe. No, Neko Shogun is none of those things. It is a pun.

Now, this will need a bit of context- during the Jiajing dynasty, there was a general who was incredibly popular, to the point of being seen as a god- a man named Mao Bowen, read sometimes as Mao Shangshu. During a war wherein China conquered Vietnam, he was hailed as a hero and held on a pedestal that almost seemed to make him like a god amongst men. Unfortunately, I can't find many sources on this, as I can't speak Chinese? Frustratingly, the SMT wiki commonly doesn't cite its sources, and the wild goose chase this sent me on has only led to many poorly google translated articles regarding this man, so I might have my story mixed up here.

What makes this even worse is that those articles paint a completely different story, but I'm getting ahead of myself. According to the SMT wiki, due to Mao's name being pronounced very similarly to the chinese word for cat, when the chinese people decided to build a temple in his honor, the temple was misnamed into one reading "Temple of General Cat." Now then, what was that about different stories? When you input the word that the wiki uses as the name of the temple, 貓將軍, it grants you a result of a wikipedia page, one that is completely different. According to the page, albeit roughly translated from chinese, the word 貓將軍 actually means "General Cat," and was used to refer to a folkloric figure in Taiwan.

According to this article, General Cat was a mischief-causing monster responsible for ruining many a day of the villagers in Yilan Town, a Taiwanese city during the Chinese/Vietnamese conflict. After people began to become fed up with the little pest, it came down with an ultimatum that they accepted- they would make a temple for it. So this is where the name of 'Temple of General Cat' comes from, right? I think so? The story surrounding this ferocious feline is hard to grasp for someone like me who can't read a lick of simplified Chinese, but as far as I can tell, this seems to be the actual origin of Neko Shogun- a mix of a pun and a taiwanese monster. Where did the factoid on the SMT wiki come from, then, though? I have no idea! Again, frustratingly, it doesn't cite ANY sources most of the time, so it might just genuinely be made the hell up!

My frustration aside, though, the Neko Shogun, interestingly, isn't entirely made up by the Megaten series- I would highly recommend looking further into it and correcting me if you speak Chinese, as my knowledge of this story is heavily barred by my monolingualism. Overall, I don't really know how to feel about this demon, and my opinion has been somewhat soured by my experience with researching it, but damn do I love its design. Neko Shogun, predictably, shows as a shogun, the red fan a typically used weapon by Samurai at the time. It's a cat samurai! And I love it for that.

All in all, while the lore is confusing, I really do enjoy Neko Shogun as a whole. His design is cute, and that's all you really need at the end of the day! 8/10. Please cite your sources, SMT wiki.

[tbhimnoteasyonmyself]

15 Day BL Challenge - DAY 5

I watched THK Ep.3 yesterday and I'm very much still processing that (I was very uncomfortable at the end, dunno what to do about that rn)... BUT WE SHALL CARRY ON!!

Biggest Flop

If you know me well, you know what's coming and you're being very disappointed about it. (ESPECIALLY if you're Naga, I'm really sorry if you're reading this, Naga, bb, you know I love you and respect your opinions very much, you have my full support). If you don't know me, you're about to:

Hello, my name is Dante, I'm 22 years old and I hate:

The Eclipse & Dead Friend Forever

Listen... The Eclipse is such a fav amongst my Tumblr dash, people always told me "nah, bc, the EMOTIONAL SCENES!!! they served, they serve!!" So, naturally, I was super fucking pumped to get to watch this series, like, I wanted to know! Plus the premise seemed genuinely interesting so I was curious as well but then... Oh, god... The boredom I was made to endure...

The plot is ??? all over the damn place:

Dead uncle;

Ghosts, for some fucking reason, but not really;

First has to cry in every series he's in, it's mandatory;

It has to be a high school bc reasons ig;

Home of phobia;

Gays outing gays bc that surely makes sense;

Unexplained random unearned forgiveness;

Feminine gays getting ridiculed for no reason whatsoever;

Old man yaoi plot twist ??.

Then, there's the terrible sound quality, literally everything ECHOS for some reason and there's no ambient sound, all spaces are acoustic voids; Neo and Louis had 0 chemistry...

In the end, what do I like about it? Khaotung's face, ig, he looked very pretty. Everything else is a no by my standards.

And DFF... I feel like most people didn't watch it. And it begs the question if it even is a BL, all things considered. But I have to express my frustration with it somewhere and ain't no better place than here.

The premise was everything. And before the flashbacks started coming, it was so much fun! My discord GC was only created BECAUSE of DFF, bc we wanted ppl to analyse and comment on the eps with!!

So to see that nothing that was that ending... With so many loose ends and unsatisfactory conclusions... Where nothing made sense and nothing was fulfilling... It was super disappointing.

If there's one good thing about it, Ig, it's the fact, at least, we didn't suffer alone, we did it together sdkjskdskdj.

(DIS)HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Until We Meet Again & Last Twilight

The only reason why UWMA is not there with The Eclipse and DFF is simply bc right when I started I knew the premise hadn't spoken to me and, more importantly, I had been warned by @squishyteri (I'm tagging her bc, unlike Naga, this post will not break her heart) that I would grow to hate it. And, lo and behold, she was absolutely right!

Still, the 1st episodes were fine bc the double suicide makes an impact on you and I thought, "well, maybe I'm actually gonna beat the odds here", but then... It became just a bunch of clichés and dragging the story around for no reason and P'DEAAANNNNN and I had to take a few days after watching it to go out and touch some grass and realise life is better than the boring things I watch sometimes in order to recover from the torture.

Now Last Twilight... I was watching it with one IRL friend of mine and we were so, so incredibly pumped!! The show was everything, the characters, the plot, the everything... It was so, so good.

When the scene at the top of the mountain happened I CRIED, OKAY??? That was so beautiful, that was glorious, that was FUCKING CINEMA.

And then everything else happened. Good lord, why did they continue that series beyond that point? WHY DID THEY BRING THAT CURE PLOTLINE TO SUCH A BEAUTIFUL STORY????

I wanted to punch my screen and I'm not even joking. One of the biggest disappointments of my life.

NEVERTHELESS, the points in which this series succeeded were very much great and, for that, I cannot consider myself as disappointed as with the others. I still think there's a lot of quality in there. And I still cherish it very much.

[fuck-you-upmusicbracket]

No One Is Alone (Into the Woods)

Hard to see the light now/Just don't let it go/Things will come out right now/We can make it so/Someone is on your side/No one is alone

People make mistakes/Holding to their own/Thinking they're alone/Honor their mistakes/Fight for their mistakes/Everybody makes/One another's terrible mistakes

"The idea that life is incredibly confusing, that it's hard to figure out who you can trust, to decide what's important to you and how to make those things real, but you don't have to do it by yourself. You're going to lose people, and sometimes you might even lose yourself, and sometimes your actions will have unintended consequences, but even in the midst of all that, no one is so hopeless that it's impossible for them to ever make a true human connection. Everything feels terrible and insurmountable, and it feels like nobody cares, but somebody does-somebody always will. No matter what happens, you have support. Somebody will be rooting for you and will be there to help you figure everything out and to love you. Genuinely every single time I try to sing this song I start crying, hell, I'm crying right now as I'm typing this."

"I listen to this song when I feel hopeless and alienated. And it has made me cry more than once."

The Mind Electric (ミラクルミュージカル Miracle Musical)

See how the serfs work the ground (See how they fall)/And they give it all they've got/And they give it all they've got/And you give it all you've got 'til your down/See how the brain plays around/And you fall inside a hole you couldn't see/And you fall inside a hole inside a-/Someone help me

Understand what’s going on inside my mind/Doctor, I can’t tell if I’m not me

Nuns commence incanting as the lightning strikes mine temples thus/Electrifying mine chambers wholly, scorching out thine sovereignty so/Spiralling down thy majesty, I beg of thee have mercy on me/I was just a boy, you see! I plead of thee, have sympathy for me!

"The lyrics just hit hard with all of the imagery and shit, being used alongside the song glitching and a 3 minute long sequence (an un-glitched version of the song) that plays backwards in full before the song begins, conjure up a very interesting view/idea/image of losing your sanity. Plus, the song has a really interesting history in terms of its creation."

"first listen: "damn its weird that this has itself backwards haha" second listen: ⚡️⚡️🧠SEE HOW THE BRAIN PLAYS AROUND🌩😈AND YOU FALL INSIDE A HOLE YOU COULDNT SEE☁️⚡️AND YOU FALL INSIDE A HOLE INSIDE A🤴🗣SOMEONE HELP ME⛈️🪐UNDERSTAND WHATS GOING ON INSIDE MY MIND🗣⚡️DOCTOR I CANT TELL IF IM NOT ME!!!🌩🌩☄️ anyway, there are actually 2 versions of this song !! since the first half of the song is the second half backwards, but one of the halves has a series of artistic glitches and repeats and skips! the "distorted version", which is what youll find on spotify, has the glitchy half played forwards, and the "nondistorted version", which is what the official channel posted on youtube, is reversed so the unglitched half plays forwards! its a remaster of a previous song Joe Hawley worked on as a member of Tally Hall called "Inside the Mind of Simon", and it has TONS of little easter eggs and details scattered throughout. distorted speech from old movies, clips from old songs, theres this part where chanting voices sing "axon, dendrite" and "help me" over and over which (imo) you really only hear if you know to look for them, theres an intricate synth arpeggio throughout the entire climax of the song that im in love with— its the source of the synth tune in the next song on the album, Labyrinth (the funny "i am the mouse" song)! i have yet to find a blorbo i cant picture to it but considering that my main oc's theme is madness, its her perfect chance to star. in conclusion, your honor, I love the mind electric."

"it's a story of a man getting sentenced to an asylum for a murder he didn't commit, and there he is subjected to electroshock therapy. the synth alone fucked me up the first time I heard it. not to mention the awesome lyrics and various styles throughout the song. oh also the first 3ish minutes of the song are in reverse. so there's that."

"Somehow I feel like it's the story of my life. Also, the first half of the song is the second half of the song played in reverse."

The Mind Electric submitted by @lesleyn +@omegasmileyface +@that-bi-fan + others

[lycorid]

Sometimes venturing onto the For You side of Twitter sparks joy.

Based take. Shoujo and Josei are fucking top notch, both in characters and art style (how can you not think they’re beautiful?)

“Ruined the JJK and MHA fandoms” is WILD. I avoid fandoms for the most part (except perusing tumblr for the occasional fucking thesis women write about character motivations i love you women <3) because they usually suck. Seriously, I kept up with OPM for a bit because it was entertaining but holy shit the subreddit (very much full of men) is literally just… sexy woman. More sexy woman. Memes about artist constantly drawing sexy woman. Memes. Occasional power scaling arguments. Low quality page colorings of the exact same page. There is NOTHING. How the hell can women ruin the fandom when the fandom IS the women?!

It’s the women creating in depth analyses on characters; it’s the women writing fanfiction, creating doujinshis; it’s the women creating fandom centered accounts; it’s the women buying every new merch piece that comes out AND giving free advertising by posting about it online. And then men will go on and rag on women for doing all these things. It’s infuriating.

Longevity of a series is also something these idiots ignore. Seriously, look at Katekyo Hitman Reborn. The manga ended in 2012 and the creator is working on a different series. Katekyo Hitman Reborn still gets regular merch releases. This is a series that ended over a decade ago and still has an incredibly dedicated fanbase of, I wonder who, that regularly spends enough money to keep it consistent. You cannot look me in the eyes and tell me that series is supported mainly by men. I do not care how hard Amano Akira tried to alienate her female fans with her treatment of the female characters you know exactly whos spending the money based on who is constantly getting merch (minus the titular character, because of course he has to be there.)

Honestly I don’t give a damn that fandom can often be absolute insanity; you get a group of people together and it’s always going to be a shitshow, that isn’t unique to fandom, people just like to pretend it is because as always, there’s an undercurrent of misogyny because people know women carry that shit but they only want to acknowledge it when they can use it to criticize them.

I love that she came for the JJK fandom as well. I’ve been following the series because honestly it is really fucking funny because it is the epitome of shounen tropes. The author literally baked them into the world. Explaining your abilities to the opponent makes them stronger. So this entire series you get giant pages of just white with text explaining every little fucking thing like theres a narrator standing over your shoulder making sure you can’t possibly miss anything on the first read. Fuck dude, I don’t mind exorbitant amounts of text in my manga, but you cannot be serious in pretending that is good writing. There’s a deus ex machina that every character can pull out of their ass called a binding vow. Black flash also falls into this category.

Hell, the latest arc has literally just been flashback after flashback playing during the battle of the characters forming a bunch of plans in preparation for the fight we currently are following. This is genuinely one of my most hated tropes. The characters just get off screen power ups that then get handwaved as “well we showed you the flashback right?” there is NO anticipation, any excitement you feel for the battle is purely manufactured rather than genuine. It’s not “I can’t wait to see how the growth I followed of these characters affects the battle” it’s “wow, what cool ability will they pull out of their ass next?” I hate it I loathe it and it’s even worse with emotional moments. Why couldn’t you write this into the story in the first place? Why are you giving it to me in a shitty flashback?

Maybe I didn’t explain it well enough because I launched into a rant. The reason I hated it so much is because it forced the reader to be an observer rather than an active participant in the manga. Everything is spoonfed to you. You don’t need to reread the chapters over and over to put together the pieces on how, where, and why each action took place, the author does that for you. You don’t see everything from a new perspective when you read it a second time, catching lots of things you may have missed because you’re not allowed to miss anything the author deems important.

I enjoy this manga. There is good things about it. But it is nowhere near the god manga (“kamige” would be the term if it was a visual novel; I don’t know a manga equivalent) men like to pretend it is. It genuinely seems like they think everything being explained every page is good writing.

Based and succinct.

Anyway, you shouldn’t restrict yourself from experiencing specific genres because they’re for “the lessers” because that’s actually fucking cringe and maybe you should touch a Josei manga, or even a Shoujo manga. Maybe it’ll open your eyes and you’ll realize, hey, women’s media is actually- oh who the fuck am I kidding just pull the trigger.