#I mean I'd love any fan art of any parts of that fight. But that might be my favorite specific image.

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 24 thoughts:

. . . fucking . . . fuck. Just . . . fuck. Fucking fucky fucking FUCK, THAT WAS SO BADASS!!!!!

ALL OF IT HOLY SHIT I DON'T CARE, JUST PICK ANY MOMENT!! EVERYTHING EVERYONE DID WAS BADASS!

LIKE. FUCK. COLIN GOT TO LOOK BADASS.

He even got "yelling in caps" badass. Just for the one scene when he picked up Chevy. He did one fucking thing right, which was help someone up and then let THEM be cool.

And speaking of . . . HOLY FUCKING SHIT CHEVY! YOU DIDN'T GET KILLED BY TIME TRAVEL CHAD!

WHICH MEANS I DON'T HATE YOU ANYMORE!

WHICH MEANS I CAN SHOUT ABOUT HOW BADASS THAT WAS!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fuck waiting for my interlude section to talk about this. That final scene with Behemoth was one of the most visually badass things I have ever read in my life! Fuck. I get fucking chills just thinking about it.

I can see that entire last fight in my head very clearly, almost like remembering an anime scene. Perfectly written.

And Regent! Look at you go, that's character growth!

I mean sure, you died. But growth!

Besides, you dying legit made Imp cooler. She was already great but "I'm going to fucking kill his dad for him" is even better! And Wanton's apparently got jokes so we still have a funny guy.

Basically if someone had to die I'm happy it was you. Sorry not sorry.

ALSO FOIL WHAT THE FUCK YOUR POWER COULD ALWAYS DO THAT AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN SITTING THERE SHOOTING THINGS?

I . . . I just . . . girl! How?? You could literally have turned a piece of rebar into a sword that Alexandria could have cut Leviathan in half with! And that's just what I thought of in the first few seconds after seeing this! Spend some time actually thinking about what you can do lady!

But luckily my daughter is here to do the thinking, and be FUCKING AMAZING AT IT!!!

LIKE HOLY SHIT TAYLOR, YOU CUT OFF BEHEMOTH'S LEG!

AND THAT PLAN HOLY SHIT! YOU MADE A PLAN THAT SET RACHEL UP TO BE THE BADASS HERO WHO CUTS OFF BEHEMOTH'S LEG, AND SETUP REALLY POWERFUL HEROES AS HER SUPPORT!

Fuck half of Eidolon's fucking job was "Catch my girlfriend and fly her back to me."

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOLFSPIDER WOLFSPIDER WOLFSPIDER!!!!!!

And the snuggling at the end, as they were leaving!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my god and the lightning rod! That was insane!

Golem just has really cool powers. Glad Theo is doing ok.

And Alexandria's power preserves the body so Pretender can just puppet her. That's wild. Kinda annoying, my daughter just killed her!

And and and Taylor talked with Contessa!

AND CONTESSA SHARED HER POWER!!!

I was pretty close, didn't have it that specific, but basically was expecting something similar. Fuuuuck it's so cool!

Also the underground cities and the secret capes were wild. Kinda unfortunate that you guys set things up for Behemoth to be able to collapse the entire city, gave him lots of existing tunnels and such to work with.

My daughter could have done a little less bonding with Phir Sē. Ideally. Would have made me feel a little better.

But holy shit a time portal bomb made of looped light?? GOD DAMN. That sure hit like a truck. Just not a big enough truck.

Also Grace and Cuff are dating. I don't make the rules I just enforce them.

And the rules are "make it gay"

God and the whole "thinkers stuck on a roof" bit. Christ that was planned badly. They almost died because nobody had some rope. Embarrassing.

I'm glad Tattletale is doing ok. She got her girlfriend to steal a dudes phone for her, which was pretty funny. And I loved how she still got to do her big reveal to Chevy, she needs that.

HOLY SHIT AND TAYLOR TELLING RACHEL HOW TO TAKE CARE OF IMP?? SHE UNDERSTANDS HER GIRLFRIEND. GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAAAAAAYYY!

And fuckin Tecton just trying so hard to do the same thing with Rachel first and just failing so completely. And then trying again. And again. Bless his big himbo heart he's trying.

Fuck there's so much, I'm sure I'm missing a dozen other things. Every chapter had 20 moments I could mention.

Seriously though, sucks for New Delhi. "There’s nothing left to protect here" is a heck of a line and it is not what anyone wants to hear.

Chevy interlude (the rest of it) thoughts:

Holy shit Chevy's shadows! I wish he had described more of them, I wanted to know everyone's image! Just so much data there.

Fun to see the early Wards. Fun to see that Colin was always like that.

Hero's death was absolutely a targeted hit, he started asking too many questions, pushing back on things.

Chevy's whole power is just really fascinating. Really interesting to think about.

RIP Mouse Protector

Also the fact that her shadow was her laughing makes me think she might have lost the ability to be sad when she triggered, which is unfortunate if true. I mean Bonesaw got you either way so I guess it doesn't matter now.

Loved getting a wonderful list of Endbringer attacks. Sure it still wasn't all of them, but up through Simmy showing up is still pretty great.

Extremely curious about Mr. Keene, keeping an eye out for more info on him.

Tattletale just needed this poor man to read her texts and let her do her fucking THING! It's all she wants.

Anyway ya turns out powers (except Scion of course) can't touch the actual core of the Endbringers and I'm like 95% sure I have a good idea as to why it works like that, but still got a little bit of that uncertainty.

Endbringers are directly related to Eidolon in some way, I am pretty sure of that. Created by him. Previous bodies. Sentient poop for all I know! They're connected though.

HOLY SHIT WHEN HE SEES TAYLOR'S SHADOW DURING THE FINAL FIGHT!!!!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! SHE LOOKED SO BADASS!!!!

Aftermath interlude thoughts:

Pretender and Satyr are so gay. That one's easy I don't even gotta try.

Everyone just starting to freak out about how things are gonna escalate instead of just celebrating the win is really unfortunate.

I mean, they aren't wrong. Another Endbringer is gonna come. But it would be nice if they could live in happy ignorance for a few days.

I'm guessing it'll either be two Endbringers that always attack at the same time or one Endbringer that uses teleportation to swap to a different city after a certain period of time. In either case basically fucking up the organized response ability.

Already mentioned this, but Rachel and Taylor fell asleep on each other!!!! GGGGAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!

If Dragon comes back wrong I'm putting all of the blame on Colin.

Fucking Danny just fucked that phone call up so bad. This man can not get it fucking right. FUCK.

GLENN YOU FUCKING FUCK I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR REASONS ARE YOU DON'T PUT SOMEONES PRIVATE VIDEO THEY TOOK FOR THERAPY ON THE INTERNET!!

AND YOU NEVER EVEN FUCKING SAID "SORRY"!!!!! YOU EXPLAINED YOUR ACTIONS AND WHY YOU HAD TO DO IT EVEN THOUGH IT WOULD HURT HER AND YOU COULDN'T ASK HER CAUSE SHE WOULD HAVE SAID NO BUT YOU NEVER EVEN SAID SORRY!!!

Like for real. Taylor says "You could have asked" and you respond with "You would have said no." Fuck at least just say sorry!

[go-learn-esperanto]

Considering the recent situation relating to Shelby's abuse story I will take some actions that sadden me but are, unfortunately, necessary for my peace of mind.

I will shut down my @socket-duo blog. If you want to reblog something from there for archival purposes please do so until tomorrow.

Same for @sootings-fuck-you. Even though I don't think there's much to get from there as it was a joke blog.

I will discuss how to proceed with the Crimeboys Ao3 Feed (@ao3feed-crimeboys) with the other mod.

I might not have the time to take a lot of things related to Wilbur from my pinned for some time, so be aware that's not because I'm taking his side on this. I will also probably not remove all posts related to Wilbur from my blog as there are most likely thousands of them.

I may also not remove posts related to Wilbur from the cursed and iconic masterposts however, as those posts were intended to be an archive of the fandom. I'm still considering what to do about this. They'll stay for now.

I will change my blog theme when I have the time. I will keep talking about Hermitcraft as I've done in the past few months however I may start posting about something that isn't MCYT too. If any you likes to talk about Honkai Star Rail you are encouraged to ramble about it on my asks ^^

To end, the MCYT fandom, even the late Dream SMP fandom, here on Tumblr was amazing. You were the biggest community I was a part of and so many of you I love and have been friends with. I don't regret joining it all as I got to see such cool art, stories, theories and more from everyone. You all are amazing, and having been a fan of someone who turned out to be shitty doesn't mean you're shitty.

Support Shelby if you can as all of this must be taking quite a lot from her. This has such a big impact and she's a queer woman revealing something personal about herself when her (very plausible alleged) abuser has so many fans. And while I'd like to believe most of us that were his fans can think for ourselves and recognise when we should say "fuck you" to someone who we enjoyed I know that's almost certainly not the case for everyone.

... I also please ask you all to stop fighting eachother. This is all quite recent and there's probably people who aren't really aware of the whole situation or aware of it at all. Please have some patience before starting call out posts. If someone is being stupid just block them.

[kvalenagle]

Okay, I've been summoned to Tumblr by cute Satra and Lei fan art, so I should probably introduce myself and my books. Hello! I'm Vale, and I write creature fantasy as K. Vale Nagle. If you like interesting gryphons, you're in the right place: aquatic diving petrel/fishing cat gryphons, poisonous hooded pitohui/tiger gryphons, pretty gyrfalcon/snow leopard gryphons, intimidating Haast's eagle/saber-toothed tiger gryphons, soggy sandgrouse/sand cat gryphons, and a lot more. My series are epic fantasy using mostly real (though sometimes extinct) animals, free of humans but full of queer characters, intrigue, large battles, and ecological apocalypses. My cover art is by Jeff Brown, with interior graphite pieces by Brenda Lyons and gryphon chapter headers by Kittrel (whose chibi hearts you may have seen). I also have a short story collection (best read anytime after Starling, book three) with a beak-cute lesbian gryphon love story with terror birds, a Gryphon vs. Nature blizzard apocalypse tale, a Christmas-y story, and something pretty close to zombies. I've also written a full novel set in the world of Dire by John Bailey called Coldbright which can be found in the Tales of Feathers & Flames anthology. If you like GryphIns but you want something with more mystery, almost horror, as told through the eyes of a snarky little opinicus and his dire gryphon ex-boyfriend, it's a great read this time of year. I love and appreciate all the fan mail, fan fiction, fan letters, and people reaching out about this series. I'm a little slow replying, as I started writing the series right after getting diagnosed with a catastrophic autoimmune system. The treatments are pretty intense, and it's easiest for me to spend my time and energy writing. I used to have a few pen names across several genres, but for the most part, all of my energy goes into finishing up GryphIns. I'm married to dragon author Glenn Birmingham, so if you've seen us posting pictures of our cats and thought it's strange they share a name, they're the same cats. And that's about it. Just a queer author writing gryphony books when I'm not walking my cat. A few common answers to questions: Q: There are sometimes typos in social media, why is that? A: Catastrophic APS means I've had a stroke (and associated memory loss), so when a copy editor isn't coming up behind me, there'll be doubled words and typos from time-to-time. I used to worry about them, since they don't look good if you're an author! But I'd rather reply to fan letters and kind posts. I think if you've read my author notes at the back of my books, you know to expect a few doubled words here and there. Q: When you say a queer author, what do you mean? A: Since people ask about own voices and I have a lot of lgbtqia+ characters in my books, I'm pan, demi, trans, and genderfluid. I'm lucky enough to have a lot of queer friends and first readers who make sure I don't mess up any characters. Q: When's the next GryphIns novel coming out? A: Some years, I spend a lot of my time fighting health insurance battles, and it slows me down. Pridelord (#8) is currently in line edits. It's twice as long as Eyrie and three times as long as Coldbright, so it's a pretty big book! It shouldn't be too much longer. You'll know it's just about time because you'll hear James Scott Spaid talk about narrating the audiobook. Q: How many books will there be in GryphIns? A: I'm famous for underestimating how many books it takes to finish a series. My other pen names all wrote short stories and standalone novels, so my proposal for GryphIns originally had five books. Jeff Brown is wrapping up the cover for Saberbeak (#9) and Nighthaunt (#10). If I end up needing one more book to finish, though, don't be too surprised.

[maxwell-grant]

Do you have any thoughts on Rose from Street Fighter?

(Art by Jo Chen)

Lots of them, because despite everything I'm gonna complain about she is a very personally dear character to me, and not just because she is why I got into JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and therefore irreversibly altered my life as a result. Rose is an excellently designed foil to M.Bison, a character who allowed the series to poke and unveil the mystery of his origins and greatly expand the worldbuilding boundaries as a character who opened the doors for new supernatural vistas. M.Bison broke the rules and defied convention with his non-traditional abilities, and Rose helped fix up new ones by establishing the balance through which the forces and powers of the series work. M.Bison stomped into battle in ostentatious dictator garb, and Rose glided gracefully in a fashionable bouclé dress, neither of which were remotely traditional or indicative of their true fighting prowess, establishing them as a class of their own in more ways than one. The dictator bent on domination versus the teacher striving to liberate, Bison is all take, and Rose is all give.

In battle, Bison is an oppressive force, his moveset revolving around his barrage of hateful kicks and stomps and fiery claws and sadistic techniques that maximize cruelty above all else, where as Rose is ever careful, ever gentle, using her powers to misdirect and counter and disarm you into quickly ending the fight. Rose was the character who introduced a projectile reflector into the series, a solution to fireballs that radically altered their dominance in fights against her, via a move that forces you to reconsider tactics and punishes you for your aggression towards her. She was a mysterious middle-aged woman (and even if she doesn't show it much, that fact alone makes her a unicorn in fighting games) who fought with zero aggression, all elegance and sophistication, and every now and then a bit of playfulness poking through with a smirk or a wink or a finger wag or a sudden card-between-breasts trick, little icebreaker moments like those that go a long way.

And as the entryway to mysticism in the series, she adds to the existing characters because her win quotes against them are all about highlighting singular thematic depths or secrets to them that she alone is privy to. Everything Rose says to other characters generally articulates their struggles dramatically, or highlights a unique and defining depth to them, or sets up things that lend retroactive weight to their future plotlines. Rose helps make all the other characters cooler, because she lends significance and weight to them via proxy. She is the voice of fate and sometimes the voice of fate wants to tell you that you've been searching for the wrong things, or wants you to pay attention to the guiding stars and looming shadows that hang above you, or it wants to warn Ken that he probably should try to get his shit in order before the next game, or that Dan can carry on being an idiot and oddly do just fine.

There is a lot that self-evidently works about Rose, which is why it's weird that everytime I remember that she's considered fairly popular I actually get kinda shocked? She doesn't come up often in conversation, she's rather gloomy and lore-heavy and even kind of a downer character a lot of the time, not exactly the kind SF fans tend to flock to. I honestly thought I'd never see her again after Menat took the internet by storm, the fuck you mean she got voted above Zangief, Ibuki and Bison? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, it's just I tend to lump her in with my beloved niche Alpha freaks like Adon and Birdie and Sodom, whom I love but never expect to be a priority in a line-up.

I think part of that is because Rose might be the character who is hurt the most by the patchwork lore of the series and by the general lack of larger narratives that she is called for. As a matter of fact, I have been thinking of her lately, since SF6 just came out with what seems like FINALLY a proper set-in-stone confirmation that she always was her own person and not Bison's good side/other half of his soul, as was previously mentioned (and not just in Capcom USA mistranslations). I've been scouring plot guides and bios and translations since forever and could not begin telling you the origin/what was really going on with this identity mix-up and, frankly I like it better the way it is now without her being a weird Bison soul clone, even if it still leaves questions about her storyline hanging open. Which is a reocurring thing with her that I think hurts her as a character (not even gonna get into what the fuck was that SFV "she exists in a time loop/return to zero" thing and the implication she'd have to time travel to fix stuff or something, Rose you put that Mortal Kombat reboot bullshit back where it came from or so help me-)

Rose is weird and mysterious by design, that's a huge part of her appeal, but Rose also kinda demands a greater degree of coherence and narrative focus that the series doesn't really give her and probably won't unless she makes it into 6 (and I'm not expecting her to). She is very comparable to Nash in the sense that they were both designed around a prequel context with a clear story and a tragic ending in place from the get-go, since Bison clearly outlasted their missions to stop him and neither of them were around circa SF2, but then Bison came back for IV and both of them came back to pick up their missions, but with nowhere near the narrative importance to actually see them through, which kinda damned the two to have nothing to do. But where as Nash got a sacrifice, Rose has kind of spent the last two games she's been in running in place, and Menat aside it seems like they can't do anything more with her other than just have her wait for Bison to come back and threaten the world so she can ominously react and prophesize some other guy must take care of it instead.

Regarding the JoJo thing, Alpha 2 was my entry into SF and the one I played the most growing up, and when I dug around for info about the characters I learned about Rose being modeled after a character from a manga series. That was when I was a kid and before I could really read English proper and before the JoJo anime came out, so from what I could gather at the time via pages about the Capcom game and the Street Fighter connections, I thought it was a series about weird tarot mystics duking it out, and that this character Rose was based on was the protagonist, and for most of my childhood that's what I thought JJBA was about, some weird mystery thing waiting to be uncovered with this really cool mystery protagonist like none I had ever seen before, this weird fashionable older witch lady that wasn't like any protagonist I had heard of before was very intriguing to me.

And I guess this is more of a personal gripe but honestly, I never got over my dissappointment with Lisa Lisa. Less so that she wasn’t the protagonist (although that was there at first), but moreso that she turned out to not be a particularly cool or effective character despite her build-up. That's part of why I get annoyed at Rose being boiled down to just being Lisa Lisa first and foremost everytime she's mentioned, because people didn't do that until the Battle Tendency anime, and I didn't think Lisa Lisa was that great to begin with. And yeah I'm not happy that "cool powerful mystery lady who always gets put on the backburner so she can do commentary and chumps out at the climax so a male character can rescue her" is also something Rose shares with Lisa Lisa, and therefore I kinda got to be dissappointed twice. I guess it's the same cause with both of them, that they are so powerful that they kinda have to give way to the protagonist so as to not deflate the stakes. Rose is an excellently designed foil to Bison, but being set to fail from the get-go, she was never going to be any kind of meaningful threat to Bison, which unfortunately deflates her mystique.

Although when I stop to look at it now, with hindsight and SF6 reviving so much of my hopes for the series, there is a lot to appreciate in the fact that Rose's story has consistently leaned towards the subversion of her own self-assured doom. That from her debut she's been dead set on sacrificing herself to stop Bison, that there was never any other way and it had to be her and she had to face it alone and she had to make amends for Bison's corruption of their sacred power and stop him from destroying the world, and much of her dialogue in the Alpha series reflects this miserable burden she's tasked with and that other characters like Guy or Dhalsim tell her she might be taking a too fatalistic approach on, but clearly she can't stop her walk towards her inevitable demise.

"In every world, only the righteous survive."

"I have no intention of boasting about my victory. I'm no fighter..."

"Strength is not something to show off, but something to hide inside."

"I too… Maybe I shouldn't stay too long in this world…"

"God is helpless, and can't stop the flow of time."

Dhalsim (SFA3): "Even if it is for your mission, why do you close your heart...?"

And then it simply wasn't the case. She can see with perfect precision into the hearts and fates of every single character she interacts with, but has a major blindspot regarding her own. Three times she lunged herself to stop Bison and three times she failed at both stopping him and at dying while facing him, and in two of those occasions her proximity to him only enabled him to survive and turn the situation in his favor. Being the person who stops Bison simply wasn't where fate was going to lead her, and instead her purpose was one she had to find in taking a backseat and guiding others, joining the likes of Dhalsim and Oro as powerful but gentle mentoring forces in the background, and it's a beat I find more meaningful with her given her whole initial drive was to kill the man she once thought of as a master.

She's not just mentoring others to pass along her devoted fighting style or to pick up her slack and save the world, she's keeping alive the counterweight to the evil Bison unleashed on the world, she's replacing her former teacher so as to be his total opposite in every way, carrying on the torch that Bison sought to extinguish by murdering their master and fellow students, and she's imparting it to those under her care so they may reach beyond her limits in doing so. Rewatching her and Guy's IV endings gets me feeling something about Guy desperately calling her back to life when she's always been so ready to throw it away, imparting on her how much the world needs her. Not because she is going to stop the great evil, but because the world needs something more than great evil. There needs to be more than just evil dictating the rules.

Whatever happens in this upcoming Shadaloo vs Neo Shadaloo conflict they've been setting up it's going to feel awfully incomplete without Rose or Menat in it, given that Ed fights for the same things Rose did, stands as living proof of how even Psycho Power doesn't have to be a force for evil, and now Bison is back to challenge this bright new future they fought so hard for. In truth, while I'd prefer for Rose to come back, I wouldn't be bothered at all if it was Menat, I like her too (maybe let's go deep enough in the JoJo reference and have Menat fight with Rose's spirit accompanying her, fuck it let's make Rose a Stand why not). And more importantly, I like and need the series to continue being serious about putting forth the new generation. There is something important in a story about coming to terms with not being the main character, and that there is no value in action and sacrifice for the sake of it, but instead value to be found in staying alive to do good in the here and now with what you can. Death and mastery over fate are Bison's obsession's, not hers.

Gouken (SFIV): "Do not cower before your visions. Believe in your own power!"

T.Hawk (SSFIV): "Do not think your powers are your own. The spirits allow you to see things."

Guy (SSFIV): "Do not underestimate your importance to the world, Rose!"

Oro (SFV): "Look too far ahead and you may miss your very first step."

[blackjack-15]

Hi I just got through reading all of your liveblogging posts about The Bear! It was a delight to read all of your real-time predictions that ended up coming true, you really had this show’s number from the jump lol. Do you have any predictions for next season? Most fans think Carm and Syd are headed for an explosive confrontation, but are any other storylines, scenes, character beats, etc. that you think we might see?

This is super nice of you, anon! thank you so much for following my chaotic ramblings XD and hey it's a lot easier to know what might happen in the show when they've got such competent writers/directors! tho they surprised me a fair number of times (i don't think i'll be over the interplay/intercuts of claire, carmy, and syd at the end of 2X07/start of 2X08 any time soon), which keeps things fun

as far as predictions for next season...i think it's hard to say without having the first five minutes of S3 in front of me (they do such a good job setting up the tone and conflicts of the season in the first little bit of S1 and S2!), but i've got

a couple things i'm pretty sure about:

-more REM songs (only thing i'm 100% positive on)

-more kitchen/cooking time for our mains, especially carmy. last season's renovations + cliche john hughes nonsense kept him mostly out of the kitchen from ep 3 on, and i'm 99% sure he'll be back with a knife in hand come S3

-nat giving birth to a girl (i'd love it but am not solid on predicting she'd be named some derivative of 'mary' (or a name meaning 'victory', such as nicole), given the berzatto family prayer).

i know the temptation for her to have a boy named after michael is strong b/c it's TV, but this series (rightly, in my mind) tends away from Lionizing the Dead simply b/c they're dead, and after spending S2 breaking down mikey (and showing mikey and nat's relationship, which like ever berzatto relationship wasn't super healthy), i'm hopeful and trusting the writers to avoid this. it wouldn't make me hate the show or anything, but it would honestly disappoint me unless done in a way (i honestly can't think of what way) that would make it okay. plus pete kinda screams girldad to me, and seeing carmy and richie with a little niece would be incredibly precious

-sydcarmy dustup of some kind, but i doubt it'll be as explosive as we've seen in the past, mostly b/c syd was stressed but exhilarated by success at friends & family and b/c i think carmy's (lack of) mental health will be brought up in relation to it

-solidifying of a secondary staff at the bear to let our regulars breathe a bit and have the bear feel like a real, functioning kitchen, not a mom and pop greasy spoon -- this started at the end of s2 but it needs to continue

-cicero setting the tone of the first few months of The Bear (and probably his commentary on carmy's relationships) -- we're not out of the realm of Complete and Utter Failure yet, lads, and the money is gonna come due -- whether by the guise of Friendly Uncle Jimmy visiting with Nat, or the mask of Cicero the Loan Shark coming out in full force

-art storyline with carmy figuring out what will replace the awful painting (i'm going to guess it'll be something of his design, but it'll at least be something he feels represents him, given the comments last season)

-major theme of carmy figuring out what he wants vs what others want for him. him analyzing his relationship with claire by himself -- or, my preference, talking it out with Tina, who he seems to be able to open up to pretty well -- is part of this

things that have to happen but i have no idea how/to what resolution:

-carmy and richie addressing the "donna" fight/comment. it's gonna be multi-ep (neither one is great at complimenting the other to their face and tend to do it behind the other's back, but richie is especially bad at it), and it's gonna hurt.

-pete spilling the beans to Someone (not nat but not sure who) about donna being at f&f

-resident claire's poor little hurt feelings from trespassing into the kitchen and eavesdropping on then leaving carmy in the middle of a really, really bad attack (yes i'm phrasing it that way because it's true <3)

-something about tiff's upcoming wedding (marcus getting contracted/recommended to make dessert for it would be painful but oh so crunchy)

-carmy meets syd's dad. he's proud of her and her success and you know he's gonna want to meet her business partner

nebulous predictions:

-ebra's storyline with him carving out a niche at the sandwich window getting screentime

-tina coming more into her own and maybe getting a designated storyline (about what? no idea)

-more gary nonsense. man lives the wildest life and we see almost none of it

-carmy working through what cooking means to him and what it means in relation to the bear/the berzattos/sydney

-nat's water breaks/she goes into labor at the bear. not sure the baby will actually be born there (i'd guess probably not on the whole), but the process will Begin there

-syd distraction/love interest storyline. not even her dating particularly, just her attention being Split and having the shoe be on the other foot for carmy as they navigate what being business partners means outside the kitchen

-fak time. he's a little uncertain, a little wandering in the restaurant, and he was a major...antagonistic force, let's say? in S2. his place in the world of the bear needs clarification and harmony, and his identity needs solidity and sureness

things that aren't impossible/improbable but would be a Little Treat for Me specifically:

-chef jess being invited to the bear by richie (let the man have people outside the bear and his kid/ex! garrett may come too i'll allow it)

-the return of louie my beloved (helping out at the sandwich window? he makes a good foil to Young Carmy, so i would like to see him more -- carmy in Full Mentorship would be a thing to see, and it would be a being-better-than-mikey-was-to-him thing as well. it's narratively crunchy and provides lots of room for growth, but can be done in ways that don't involve louie, so that's why it's here)

-syd's best meal + comment about being a regular at The Beef coming back. do i think they eventually will? yes. am i aware that my desire for them is prolly stronger than it narratively should be be predicted? also yes. could this easily be combined with carmy meeting syd's dad? yes and i will break the sound barrier

-carmy drawing a dish syd comes up with. a hand-drawn menu for the bear would be Incredible, and syd's face looking at a sistine-chapel-style drawing of a dish she came up with? tremendous, chef

thing that i want to be brought up more than Anything but don't predict it'll be touched (at least directly):

-carmy yelling for syd during his attack in the walk-in (i'm sorry you can't have the man yelling "MARCUS GET ME SYD. GET ME SYD" and expect me not to want it on a billboard

that got long, sorry anon, but there we go -- 4am rambling off-the-cuff about S3...only months to go, hopefully....

[kingbryancroidragon]

Darkness Rising Part 3 Commentary

It has been a while, but let us carry on.

I remember Jeff Kline saying that he imagined Jack and Miko getting married in the future with Jack becoming a well-known motorcycle racer and Miko a distinct and successful artist and in hindsight with his admiring of Arcee in her alt mode and Jack saying "Bring it" to Arcee going for more of a joyride in this episode, I can definitely see that. Oh, yeah, and Miko would so be wanting to use the ground bridge to visit various art galleries around this time.

Meanwhile, you have Miko... I don't know? Playing rollercoaster? I don't know what to call this.

I find it weird that Bumblebee isn't playing as the yellow car.

And Ratchet does battle with what must be like if a human was fighting with a Japanese spider crab. I don't know, does that size comparison work?

A bit brief to have the mouth plate on, isn't it, Optimus?

I'm pretty sure killing Optimus yourself would be a good way to get on Megatron's bad side considering that's what he wants to do.

Well, Ratchet has a point. Unless the Ice Age Wars happened in this continuity, there wouldn't be any on earth, but as we all know, that is not the case.

Well, someone finally put Bulkhead in charge.

Band practice apparently.

Head canon: Miko's actually a closet country music fan.

Well, Megatron has to be what? Six million years old, sixty in human years? I'd say there is a good reason his memory is so long.

Who needs Big Brother when you have Soundwave listening?

I'm not sure how to feel about Laserbeak's design here, but on the other hand he hasn't had the most consistent design in the franchise's long history.

You have to give Fowler credit for trying to take down Laserbeak.

I have to wonder if Fowler was micro-chipped voluntarily of if he was knocked unconscious/drugged and then micro-chipped.

Honestly, getting snarky/snippy/sassy with the giant killer robot is probably not the best idea.

I mean, it makes sense leaving Jack in charge since he's the oldest, but does this mean Arcee is older than Bulkhead or is she just more responsible in general?

At least Miko has the sense to know she made a mistake.

In charge of the base, Raf. No wild parties.

The prod, that's not good.

I love Jack's shrug to Raf's question. It's like he isn't sure if his bones are vibrating.

Seems like the less fresh the corpse the slower the zombie.

[cultho]

rant about lotk that i suddenly remembered

totally valid if you enjoy the series or the points im abt to mention, these just b my opinions

worldbuilding / aesthetics i distinctly as a just started middle schooler being disappointed by the designs 'modernized' world i'd so come to love. ie, the western/european industrial revolution influences. sure, historically, due to colonization imperialism etc from western powers that's how a lot of it happened (to my understanding); but for me there was no 'europe' equivalent in the atla world,,,, so like where would those visual influences b coming from??? tbh it's less even 'oh it doesnt make sense in-world' but more just wanting to imagine what modernized asian aesthetics would look like sans western influence. i'd also hate to equate 'modernization' with 'westernization'. Perhaps sth like an AsianFuturism. for me it felt like a shame that the creators couldn't imagine more tech advanced asian cultures without the influence of the western world. This was also the desire of a younger me, pre-Asian American media boom (think starting somewhere around crazy rich asians, EEAAO, Michelle Yeoh, etc), back when i almost literally never seen ppl who looked like me portrayed meaningfully not even gonna lie i thought the giant statue of aang was cringe LMAO,,, i was like bro this isn't manhattan like hello????? like to me if aang were to be memorialized in world that's not how it would look.

2. explaining too much/avatar wan's arc again, completely valid if you enjoyed this part. i just personally didn't care for it.

i felt like it was explaining sth that didn't need to be explained, and then explained in an overly literal way that didn't add to the overall work. for me spirits/spiritualism/the avatar were a deeply ingrained given part of the world. the avatar especially was just a built-in self-regulation mechanism (essentially a guaranteed diplomat who has had to live/experience cultures of the 4 dominant nations)

then the way the first avatar was explained felt overly literal; the world of spirits/spiritualism became just a gigantamax pokemon fight - oh, who's the bigger spirit??? will they have the muscles to beat the other meanie spirit????? rather than spirits being portrayed as sth just beyond mortal understanding, ineffable & transdimensional, fickle beings in their own right. Even the spirits who appear frightening or uncomfortable weren't portrayed as necessarily 'bad,' they were just spirits, and with that came with their own moral codes that human perceptions didn't strictly apply to. and like also the raava/vaatu dichotomy was stupid. it reverts to (tired) white = good and black = bad tropes. and also yin/yang DOES NOT mean good/bad LIKE PLEASE. in general i feel like a lot of the tlok plot points came from a (unecessary imo) need to explain everything, make sure everything was black&white (ha), either good or bad, rather than the complex morality a lot of OG atla writing portrayed and further implied. Reminds me of famous concept artist Lorraine O'Grady's essay 'Olympia's Maid' (ctrl F "both: and" to jump to the sections im referencing), critiquing Western 'either:or'ism that struggles to accept the multiplicity of "both:and"ism having watched atla, my questions weren't 'oh how did the avatar come to be?' i was more curious to see different corners of the world, different expressions of the cultures of the four nations (we've seen the swamp benders, the sun warriors, what else was out there? SHOUTOUT THIS RAD ART). i also rlly vibed with a lot of fan writings, such as what may have happened to any underground air nomad diaspora. i wish they focused on using bending/atla world mechanics as vehicles to allegorize concepts & human experiences rather than wasting spending all their time explaining those mechanics to death.

and yes im aware the show is made by western creators for western audiences (and the four element system is western, by contrast for example chinese theology (?) concerns 5 elements - wood, metal, earth, water, fire) and yes OG atla definitely had a lot of flaws, but for me these were the points where i stopped enjoying tlok ykwim

[orionsangel86]

who cares about fandom. it's shows. shows aren't important american

This ask is really confusing to me. Are you calling me American as an insult? If so thats super funny to me since I most certainly am not American!

I know this is just someone being a dick for the sake of being a dick, but I will take this ask sincerely because I have the freedom of choice to do so. Who does care about fandom? Lots of people actually.

You know what is a huge and important fandom to lots of people worldwide? Football. Maybe you don't see it the same way because it's not about some dumb TV show, but its still a fandom. They even have different factions for different teams, and it gets weirdly nationalistic during global competition events. So who cares about fandom? Well, for football fans, I'd say about 5 billion people.

But limiting it to those unimportant shows anon has chosen to sneer at, well, in recent years comic cons around the world have reported a total of 1.8million+ attendees each year. And that is just a fraction of the fans who can afford to attend these conventions (plus these are only the big conventions not including the likes of Creation cons). Regardless of how much you sneer at it, fandom is huge and a huge part of many peoples lives. Fandom has brought people community, support, connection, and a mountain of creativity at its heart.

On a personal note, some of my best friends were met through Supernatural Fandom. We still talk regularly to this day and I try to meet up with them as often as possible even though we are all dotted all over Europe and America. Without Supernatural, a so called unimportant show, I wouldn't have those real life connections which mean so much to me and have made my life better.

Ask any actor from one of those unimportant shows, and they will tell you how they have met with fans who literally found reason to keep living through the shows that they loved, that the struggles and journeys of the characters they are passionate about literally saved their lives. Tell those people that fandom isn't important, that their shows are meaningless eh? Tell that to someone who was thinking of ending their own life but chose to keep living because they saw how important that was to their fave characters.

The Supernatural actors put out an actual crisis hotline to support fans struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. They started campaigns like Always Keep Fighting and You Are Not Alone because they saw how much their fandom relied on them and the fandom they were apart of, because the show was their only escape from a harsh reality. Misha Collins was able to get his Random Acts charity off the ground through the support of fandom, and to this date Random Acts has succeeded in supporting communities worldwide, including providing disaster relief in Haiti and building a school in Nicaragua.

So much for an unimportant show, when its very existance has spurned a crisis network and a charity that continue to support and save lives globally.

And thats JUST Supernatural. There is so much work done by fandoms everywhere, for all different shows. Fandom is Community. And when communities get together they create wonderful things, they support each other, and sometimes, they save lives.

Who are you to say community is unimportant? Who are you anon? a user of Tumblr.com, the fandom website, to make such a bold and wrong claim? Television is storytelling, and storytelling is one of the oldest art forms. It makes us human, connects us with our past and speaks to our hearts and souls. We share our love and joy and passion through storytelling. It is where we find escape from the humdrum of our daily lives, it is where true magic lies. There is nothing unimportant about that.

[sergeifyodorov]

As a Scheherazade super fan, I'd LOVE some DVD commentary, not sure if this is 500 words sorry but I love this bit:

The memories surge up into Auston’s mouth like vomit now, Mitch Mitch Mitch Mitch Mitch. A teammate, but not a friend. No mini-sticks in Patty Marleau’s basement, no Matt Martin ruffling Mitch’s hair, no Bogo fumbling in the kitchen with them as they stumbled through an Internet recipe. 

Their first or second year, Babcock cornering Mitch at one end of the locker room and muttering to him in a low voice, the Babs voice that means it’s this or a bagger worse than any you’ve ever had, and Mitch not even bothering to protest, just hanging his head low and ducking like he had a tail to put between his legs. The list, teammates that hustled hard and then ones that put in the work and then the lazy no-good sons of bitches and then Mitch dead last, and not one person in the room even daring to talk back to the coach about it. 

John Tavares, coming to Toronto for Mitch. Because he wanted a true superstar winger, and Mitch was producing seventy-odd points a season as a perennial thirdliner. Johnny, proud and composed, getting laid out against Montreal, blood on the ice and jerking limbs. Mitch flinging the puck over the glass, fighting tears in the box. Johnny, who failed his physical before training camp cause of the concussion and never played again. There’s time left on his contract, sitting forever in LTIR now. He’s still the captain. He won’t be back.

Auston chokes, putting his hands on the floor, trying to ground himself.

“I’m sorry,” Barilko says, and Auston jumps. He didn’t realize he was still here.

“Of the hockey gods,” Barilko says, sounding a little sad, “I have never been known for kindness.”

Auston lets out the rest of a ragged breath, then takes one more.

“But then again,” says Barilko, “have any of them?

“Good luck, thirty-four; you will need it.” There’s a sudden silence in the room; the newfound quiet after background noise disappears. He’s gone, then.

Auston allows himself one more memory on the floor: the apartment fire. He wasn’t there for this, but Mitch’s house burned down while he was at the draft. Auston was there six months ago when his own apartment building burned down -- a cold snap raced through Toronto and much of continental North America, and someone in his building had a space heater that caught something. He remembers coming back to the burning condo, the air hazy with smoke and the fumes of his breath, the fire the brightest light for miles.

So where is he now?

He opens his eyes. The floor is hardwood, but not his own; probably maple from the colour, brushed to prevent scrapes for longer. The memory of this universe is still coming back to him; this place isn’t so instantaneously recognizable. He stands up. It’s a bedroom, even if it’s not his. There’s no dresser, just a few folded sweatpants and suits next to a case, and no art, at least nothing that wouldn’t be amiss in a mid-level hotel. The feel of it creeps in before the context: he’s stayed here for a while, but he doesn’t think of it as home.

He also doesn’t have a bathroom connected to the bedroom, which is fine, but he kind of does need to pee right now so he heads for the door.

There’s a dog on the other side. The flow of memory has slowed to a trickle, and some part of it has caught up enough with him to supply that Felix (God and Jesus -- he missed having Felix, he doesn’t know what other-universes him was thinking) is sleeping downstairs, you’re ever-grateful that you were out on a walk with him when the fire started and also that this dog is not Felix.

It’s Zeus. Mitch’s boy.

Zeus taps his toes a few times on the hardwood floor in front of Auston, whistling out his nose and giving his tail a hesitant shake.

“Hi,” Auston says, and the last piece of this world clicks into his brain, like it was kept from him for a dramatic reveal. He’s staying at Mitch’s house, has been since pretty much the New Year -- a week after the fire. It’s June now, Cup Final season. Toronto still hovers ‘round sixty Fahrenheit, even if the days last well into the night. He’s not usually here this late into the year, doesn’t realize how sticky the first few hot days can get.

“You’re right,” he mutters, to Barilko in general, but, since he’s not here, to no one in particular. “It does hurt.”

Zeus snorts at him, comes up to poke at his hand for pets. Auston gets a wet nose in his palm and sighs, because there’s something Zeus clearly wants from him that he doesn’t have.

“What’s up, bud?” he asks, and Zeus takes a few steps back, snorting again like he wants Auston to follow him.

Okay, sure.

SCHEHERAZADE mon ami my debut showcase still the best thing ive ever written imho etc etc. anyway. yes i can dissect EVERY word if need be

The memories surge up into Auston’s mouth like vomit now, Mitch Mitch Mitch Mitch Mitch. A teammate, but not a friend. No mini-sticks in Patty Marleau’s basement, no Matt Martin ruffling Mitch’s hair, no Bogo fumbling in the kitchen with them as they stumbled through an Internet recipe.

The idea for this fic as a whole came about in a discussion with some friends of mine on a discord server; we were talking about the ultimate tragedy of this draft class and how no matter how it goes, it would be terrible, dramatic, miserable, et cetera. One of us pointed out how even if the picks were in the same order it could be worse: if Connor had been injury-prone instead of unlucky his first season, if the other, veteran Leafs hadn't so willingly embraced and defended Mitch. I don't entirely agree with Kyle Dubas' modus operandi of summoning exclusively sentimental old men as Leafs depth for those first few years, but without them maybe it would have been worse.

Notes for the specific examples: Marleau's kids LOVE 16 and 34, and what is it hockey kids do besides mini-sticks? Also, Zach Bogosian is apparently an accomplished cook.

Their first or second year, Babcock cornering Mitch at one end of the locker room and muttering to him in a low voice, the Babs voice that means it’s this or a bagger worse than any you’ve ever had, and Mitch not even bothering to protest, just hanging his head low and ducking like he had a tail to put between his legs. The list, teammates that hustled hard and then ones that put in the work and then the lazy no-good sons of bitches and then Mitch dead last, and not one person in the room even daring to talk back to the coach about it. 

The infamous list incident. In real life, those that were shown the list were actually really mad at Babcock, but in this universe, again, playing off the concept that things could be a lot worse just where they are, no one defends him. God Babcock just makes my fucking skin crawl.

John Tavares, coming to Toronto for Mitch. Because he wanted a true superstar winger, and Mitch was producing seventy-odd points a season as a perennial thirdliner. Johnny, proud and composed, getting laid out against Montreal, blood on the ice and jerking limbs. Mitch flinging the puck over the glass, fighting tears in the box. Johnny, who failed his physical before training camp cause of the concussion and never played again. There’s time left on his contract, sitting forever in LTIR now. He’s still the captain. He won’t be back.

I'm not sure how known this particular part of Leafs lore is, but Mitch's whole Mitch thing was actually a huge part of the dramatic Tavares signing. Part of the reason he came home was for Mitchy -- not the only reason, but part of it.

I've talked about it a few times, but one of the first times I decided to actively sit down and watch hockey was the Montreal series, game one, where JT caught an edge and hit Corey Perry's knee. Injuries are never fun to watch, and that was horrifying in real time -- it certainly looked like he'd never play again. Actually, it looked a lot closer to him dying than ever playing again.

Like Strange Trails trying to elicit emotions like disgust, visceral sensation, etc, Scheherazade is more of... a kind of meditative depression. I wanted to twist the knife at every opportunity that I could, and the JT injury is a pretty clear candidate for "could have been a LOT worse," so I took the chance to make it a lot worse.

Auston chokes, putting his hands on the floor, trying to ground himself.

“I’m sorry,” Barilko says, and Auston jumps. He didn’t realize he was still here.

“Of the hockey gods,” Barilko says, sounding a little sad, “I have never been known for kindness.”

Right. Bill Barilko. I've been utterly fascinated by him and the story of his disappearance ever since listening to the song -- you know the one -- and have kind of always thought of him as a representation of The Curse ever since. In a way, he's kind of like the Vladdy Konstantinov of his time: spirited, a team's lifeblood, wins the Cup and never plays again. In the years since his disappearance (they won the Cup twice after he died, but only twice in seventy years) nothing really good has happened to the Leafs. Or, at least, nothing that made the Curse go away.

Auston lets out the rest of a ragged breath, then takes one more.

“But then again,” says Barilko, “have any of them?

“Good luck, thirty-four; you will need it.” There’s a sudden silence in the room; the newfound quiet after background noise disappears. He’s gone, then.

Isn't all of hockey a tragedy, though? To go out on a high note is rare, and more common are the ones who flame out or never go back to the ways they once were.

The luck thing is largely a marker of my personal philosophy towards the playoffs: there's skill, there's learning what it's like to win, but it's also knowing that you have to roll the dice -- one bad bounce can end your season, one good bounce can write you into the history books forever. In a seven-game series in the NBA, the "better" team -- the one with the higher standings placement after an eighty-game season -- wins about 80% of the time. To have the same kind of predictability in hockey, you'd need more than fifty games.

Also, for the line about silence: I always thought of that sensation as like... imagine you're running a fan or some kind of white noise generator in the background, and you run it so long you don't really notice it's going, and then you turn it off and are suddenly wildly aware of the lack of noise.

Auston allows himself one more memory on the floor: the apartment fire. He wasn’t there for this, but Mitch’s house burned down while he was at the draft. Auston was there six months ago when his own apartment building burned down -- a cold snap raced through Toronto and much of continental North America, and someone in his building had a space heater that caught something. He remembers coming back to the burning condo, the air hazy with smoke and the fumes of his breath, the fire the brightest light for miles.

I also tried to play with a lot of repetition, recurring instances of things -- why Auston always seems to be losing his airpods, for example. Mitch Marner's house actually did burn down when he was at the draft, and I needed a way to get Mitch and Auston together so they'd FINALLY start solving problems instead of crying on balconies.

So where is he now?

He opens his eyes. The floor is hardwood, but not his own; probably maple from the colour, brushed to prevent scrapes for longer. The memory of this universe is still coming back to him; this place isn’t so instantaneously recognizable. He stands up. It’s a bedroom, even if it’s not his. There’s no dresser, just a few folded sweatpants and suits next to a case, and no art, at least nothing that wouldn’t be amiss in a mid-level hotel. The feel of it creeps in before the context: he’s stayed here for a while, but he doesn’t think of it as home.

He also doesn’t have a bathroom connected to the bedroom, which is fine, but he kind of does need to pee right now so he heads for the door.

A couple of notes here: Auston strikes me as someone who's very aesthetically driven, very interested in making things look pretty and understanding art and design -- why he notices the colour of the floor and that the wood has been brushed.

Another note is that the feeling of Mitch's whole house was inspired by my ...stepmother's? suburban house. (She and my father are married, but they only started seeing each other after I was already almost an adult, so she never actually did anything close to parenting. Father's wife, I suppose. I do like her, though, so that kind of feels insulting? Anyway). It's a very nice home, comfortable and large and well-lived-in, but it just doesn't feel quite like somewhere I personally could live whenever I visit.

“Hi,” Auston says, and the last piece of this world clicks into his brain, like it was kept from him for a dramatic reveal. He’s staying at Mitch’s house, has been since pretty much the New Year -- a week after the fire. It’s June now, Cup Final season. Toronto still hovers ‘round sixty Fahrenheit, even if the days last well into the night. He’s not usually here this late into the year, doesn’t realize how sticky the first few hot days can get.

"like it was kept from him for a dramatic reveal," lol. It was kept from you for a dramatic reveal, I'm just being a little-tongue-in-cheek.

I use Celsius, but Auston's American so he would definitely use Fahrenheit -- I tried to keep track of Canadianisms and Americanisms throughout the fic. For example, if you go back and reread Eichel's section, the narration uses American spelling, meanwhile everything else I spell shtuff the Canadian way. Except "defence" versus "defense." Can never decide about that one.

Also, as a sadly-former Toronto resident, summer gets HUMID and STICKY and it is the WORST. It's not as wet in the spring and fall as somewhere like Vancouver would be -- prefers to storm instead of constant fog -- but in the summer it is so wet it's like breathing in soup.

“You’re right,” he mutters, to Barilko in general, but, since he’s not here, to no one in particular. “It does hurt.”

After several lifetimes of hunting down Mitch, I can only imagine how awful being right next to a very close but fake version of him would be. Yeowch!

[0809sysblings]

Hi!

For the general questions! - 1, 7, and 8

For the trial questions! - 3, 4, and 5 for both trials

For the prisoner questions - 1, 2, and 4 for Mikoto, John, and Amane

hi!!!! sorry, this took forever to answer because my brain likes to fight itself over the most trivial things lol. also this got kinda long so a read more!

General questions

1) Which Milgram character is your favourite, and why?

how could you make me pick between my two beautiful children :(??

well if i had to pick between Amane and Mikoto+... i think Amane probably makes me lose it /pos more frequently ♡

as for why? well.

7) Which prisoner do you think you would get on with the most if you met them in person, and why?

hmmm..... this is a difficult question to answer because I feel like there really isn't one singular answer for me. the kind of people I get along with and the kinds of behavior I like or dislike changes and ping pongs around too much.

that being said, I'll try to pick at least someone I think I'd get along with at some point in some capacity.

I think I could possibly get along with Fuuta. mostly due to the fact that we could have interests in common, so it'd be easier to talk. if we like some of the same video games we could talk about those. and I'd maybe be able to contribute to conversations about soccer since I used to play for awhile.

8) Which prisoner do you think you would get on with the least if you met in person, and why?

same idea as above; there's not really a single answer for this, but I'll try to pick someone.

I think Muu maybe. I love her as a character, and I don't really feel any negative feelings toward her, but I just Know that I would struggle trying to get along with her. I can admittedly be very self-absorbed and egotistical, so that would not mix well with her tendency to make things about her.

Trial questions

3) Which [T1 and T2] song do you enjoy the most, and why?

for T1, MeMe !! i'm a big fan of how the genre(?) sorta switches up and back and forth throughout the song. and also just.. the struggle portrayed in the song is #relatable. i like to listen to it when i get into those moods.

for T2, The Purge March !!!!!!! forever and ever. song of all time. it's just so. AAOAOAOOUGUGUG.... it just hits so hard. it's so real. just like MeMe, it too is very #relatable, and i will listen to it on loop while in that mood.

4) Which [T1 and T2] cover do you enjoy the most, and why?

not to give both Ws to Fuuta but... i think both of his covers have to be my favs. his voice is just That good. god i love his voice so much... and also the redone instrumentals i like a lot too.

for T2, a very close second would be Yuno's Vampire cover <3

5) Which [T1 and T2] MV do you enjoy the most, and why?

for T1, I think it'd have to be Magic. I just really like how innocent and "perfect" it tries to look. it's a perfect way to show how much Amane downplayed the abuse, and I also think the way in which it was portrayed as a show was very good meaning and narrative wise.

for T2, another 'W' for Amane because The Purge March MV is my favorite there. I just really really love it a lot. the animation is great and I very much appreciate the fact that a lot of it is based in reality and is not buried six feet under a thousand metaphors. like, don't get me wrong, I love metaphors and when art uses them. but I'm glad they decided to put the visual and narrative metaphors aside for the big parts in Amane's MV because she really needed all the help she could get with securing an innocent verdict...

Prisoner questions

1) What do you think of [Mikoto, John, and Amane], and why?

oh god, I don't know if I can put most of it into words 😭.

well, I like all 3 of them a lot! i simply think too many things about them. i apologize for not being able to properly answer this 😔..

2) What are your headcanons about [Mikoto, John, and Amane]?

hmm i'm not one to hold many headcanons about characters, and if i do theyre usually not super serious or big. an exception here for Amane tho <3. my biggest headcanon for her is that she's a (poly-fragmented) DID system. i mean just look at her.

one i can think of for Mikoto thats just small but sweet is that he learned a lot of ~girly~ skills for his little sister. being a single mom after the divorce, i doubt Mikoto's mom was able to have a lot of time to do that stuff for her. and i feel like Mikoto would be the kind of person to try to supplement that himself. so maybe he learned how to do her hair and helped her with makeup and stuff like that...

i'm not sure if i can think of anything for John.. 😔

4) What do you wish more people understood about [Mikoto, John, and Amane]?

hm........ many a thing...... i'm not 100% sure what a lot of ppl say and think about these characters bc i dont really interact or see much outside of my handful of mewtuals. so take these with a grain of salt.

for John... i know i saw a bit of this around when Neoplasm and Double first released, so maybe it's gotten mostly cleared up since then idk! but... i guess i wish more people understood that just because John is self aware of being an alter and is aware of their DID... doesn't mean he actually knows whats going on and what he's talking about MFDLFLDS. i mean this mostly in regards to the comment he made in Neoplasm about how if Mikoto is forgiven, he can "disappear and take everything with him". i would like to trust that Yamanaka is aware that that's not really how it works. John is just as much of an unreliable narrator as Mikoto. and i also like that he's this way. i think it's realistic and makes sense. of course he wouldn't want to have people know he's pretty fucking clueless about what's going on. because then he couldn't get people to believe him and listen to him when he's trying to get people to vote Mikoto innocent.

idk a lot of ppl have this idea that it's the host in DID systems that are completely clueless, but all the other alters understand it and know what's happening and know who they are and who everyone is. and that if an alter who is not the host doesn't know something, or is god forbid mistaken about something, then something ~fishy~ is going on.

tl;dr John may know more than Mikoto about some things, but that does not mean his information is complete or even accurate.

for Mikoto... i guess it's kind of a pet peeve of mine when ppl talk and jokingly(?) complain about the other characters not telling Mikoto about his DID and continuing to leave him in the dark. i know it's all probably just lighthearted and that im just being pretentious, but its just.. not that simple.

also for Mikoto.. his negative feelings towards John and how he thinks about him. i guess i feel like ppl can be kinda quick to look down on Mikoto for it? or act as if it's just a problem born from lack of communication and misunderstanding, or even an unwillingness on Mikoto's part to communicate and understand. when like... just like the other thing i just mentioned, i don't think it's really that simple? idk i think there's alot of factors at play. a lot of which are pretty inherent to DID and trauma and are not things that can easily be overcome on your own.

i may make this into a separate post actually... who knows if i'll actually do it tho lol

now for Amane... dear lord (haha). just. everything. i feel like if i open this can of worms i'm going to break tumblr and crash my browser. so forgive me once again for not having an actual answer <3

tysm for the ask!!!! sorry for the uh. wall of text <////3

[ruinsoftime]

Escaflowne Voice Meme

Okay, I guess it's my turn. This is a Written Meme instead of voice btw. The original questionnaire is here: Escaflowne Voice Meme.

01. Introduce yourself! When did you first watch Escaflowne? What brought you into the fold?

I already shared part of my experience in this post, so I'm gonna expand on that.

I was young and naive and in Junior High. There was an open tv channel that broadcasted anime shows all evening. One of them was Escaflowne, and I liked it, I mean, it's medieval! With robots! And swords! And the robots wear capes! But I wasn't a fan.

I saw the movie until I was in college and I loved it.

Years later, I always attempted to watch the series, because I thought I never watched it complete (and I never passed from the first episode in those tries). In 2021 I finally watched the entire series again… I didn't remember a thing hahaha and I discovered that I had actually seen it completely before because the only things I recalled were the "Aoi Hitomi" song and that Dilandau was a woman (and I spent the entire time looking for the womanly clues on Dilandau, with no success).

But you know, I really really loved the movie but I forgot how much I did it, it took some effort on my part to remember… hell, I even had magazine clippings in my room (still there) and used to draw Van and Hitomi, but all that is still lost in my mind and from the world (I rescued a drawing, not the great thing).

So here I am.

I already had a tumblr account but I guess due to inactivity I couldn't use the tags, so I better started anew.

02. Who is your favorite character and why? Was it love at first sight? Has any of their qualities or quirks swayed you on characters in other series?

Van. The guy grew on me after my second watch, it's easy to sympathise with him.

03. Which side are you on? What do you think happens Post-Hitomi when she leaves? Who do you think will be the next opposing power?

This is fanfic area, but I think Basram would get everyone in trouble if not kept in check. Zaibach could resurface years later, too. Or, you know, Hitomi returns and starts a fight :P

04. Least favorite plot point? Was there something you think should have changed? What do you think would have made it better.

I found Millerna and Dryden's love story boring (because there's none?). Van's wings are too corny (lol) What's up with Varie? I'd have liked to see more about the war. Escaflowne's customer service was ridiculous hahaha I had to pause when Folken performed the "let's make Hitomi and Allen a couple" mission.

Movie: I wanted to know more about... everything.

05. OTP? What kind of art and fiction would you like to see? What are some head canons you have for them? What is you NoTP?

Every question is like 10 questions lol This one is pretty obvious: Hitomi x Van of course. If you drop Folken in there I won't mind (not sure if Van or Hitomi would agree though). I like to read so I find fanfics very entertaining and comfy. I like art too so fanarts are welcome. Alright my headcanon is… Hitomi comes back to Gaea, finds her place in there, marries Van of course, and the whole planet is in peace.

NoTP: Van and Dilandau. Van/Hitomi x OC (unless you convince me).

06. What would you like to see in a figurative remake/sequel? Would you include more minor characters? Would you want a whole new story that could be a stand alone?

I've lived long enough to see failed sequels shit on a perfect story so I'd go for standalone story or a backstory, like Goau's life, Varie's story, Moleman's, Leon's adventures, and so on.

07. Movie, Series, Game, or Manga preference? What are things you did/didnt like of each?

I love the movie, I love everything about it except for it to be so short, unable to expand on the new universe they built.

The series is great, we'll always wonder what would Escaflowne be if only they got all the episodes they needed and didn't have to pack everything in 26 episodes. A monumental work.

Everything else is meh to me. I've read both mangas and watched the extra scenes of the videogame. I haven't read the LNs for obvious reasons.

08. Do your favorite impression! Bonus points if you can do a conversation with a scene cut in!

floats in the middle of the room inside a levistone, taking a nap

09. What do you think about the idea of a re-dub? What are your feelings about the current cast selection for Van (and others if more are introduced)?

I haven't seen the english dub but I've seen the latino one. I wouldn't mind a re-dub, even if I feel that nowadays actors lack heart. Van's VA, Jesús Becerro, died some years ago so I'd prefer to watch it like it is for nostalgia's sake.

As for the japanese cast… it's perfect, period.

I love Maaya Sakamoto's voice (Hitomi), a shame I don't like her music. Tomokazu Seki (Van) surprised me, he's also Kougami's VA in Psycho-Pass (I love his voice in PP) and I didn't notice until certain line he said reminded me of some other character (Gilgamesh).

10. Recite your top five characters by name.

Van. Hitomi. Folken. 5 is a lot.

Secondary: Gadess, Ruhm, Moleman, Balgus, Yukari.

Fin

[daniels-rwby-blog]

The S.S Bee has Sailed

The bees are free and the show is essentially now part over, 2 of the title characters are completed in "friendship" BY is indeed; or at least blake is, bi. All that's left is ruby; the story of motherhood and doing the right thing even when the odds are against you, and Weiss who's learnt her lesson so many times over it's hard to count. But we're done now, the bees have kissed the ship is a relationship and the GF jokes can start, its phase 2 of the SS bumblebee and I really hope it gets mentioned in the show (the ex-ship name). Kinda wonder if Monty had planned this (seems like he did not gonna lie) but there was time for black sun to have it, but ultimately CRWBY kicked in their teeth. Here's my message to Blacksun or anyone who’s not happy about BB. This is RWBY, a show that while at its core is a fight anime about 4 girls, in a wacky world of monsters and God’s, finding themselves and their friends in the midst of it all, it always had a second message… Be yourself. Wiess tries to become her own person rather than the rich heiress. Ruby tries to be a huntress and later a leader and later still whatever this is. Blake and faunus are an analog for minorities and fitting in. Yang is the “just being physically strong doesn't mean you're good mentally”. This show is about change, finding your place and I don't think that having a Gay ship means any less. In fact it seems fitting. And regardless of all the other gay media you may point to and tell me that RWBY shouldn't have to conform to it, i'd like to point out this show is a decade old (ish)! This ship was there from day 1, and now it's over, its cannon and that's it.

For my fellow Bee’s, it's done, we can have our few weeks (heck the whole rest of the volume) but we have won. The signs were always there, it is now our job to become the defenders, we must gather our memes, our evidence, our mighty clips; and we must, it is our destiny to use them to back up CRWBY, to defend, not our opinions in hate-filled fury, but the Show we love with dignity and respect, we need to tone it down once our victory lap is done and keep a level head as we show the world all the hints and love-filled moments that led up to, what i hope is one of many Bee Kisses.

we did it yall, we made it, so let's defend the show we love and show everyone; lovingly and calmly, why the bees make sense.

Also all the fan art OMG it's so cuuuuuteeeeeeeeeee!

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

I’ve appreciated your interest in and insight into whatever Taylor Swift and Matty Healy are doing, as well as your anon who made the connection to what The 1975 have been up to with videos. A majority of what I see online about them and about celebrity culture in general is so reactive and incurious that I really really value the rare exceptions who take the time to be thoughtful. Just, thanks. I probably would have left tumblr by now if it weren’t for you and a very few others. Happy to have broken my addiction to twitter and don’t miss it at all. Have a great week, Ralph.

Thanks anon - that's a really lovely thing to hear.

I do think the fact that it's so easy to reach an absurd number of people with our incurious reactions means that working to process as much we can before pushing our ideas out into the world is really advisable (particularly if we're operating in an environment where you're working together to make things normal).

But reacting is definitely part of being human. I have had a very strong 'THIS IS NOT POLITICS' response to the fandom discourse. And the question of meaningful political action - particularly the importance of building collective action solidarity rather than individualist responses - is incredibly important me. The idea that yelling at or about people on the internet helps build a better world infuriates me. But that wasn't that was all that was going on (I probably would always have felt it, but it might not always have been in caps).

I realised today, during a work conversation, what some of the personal stakes were for me and why this week of all weeks I have had little tolerance for the idea that this fan response was political. (The very short version is that last week, someone who I'd organised with 25 years ago had died under horrific circumstances that were directly connected to everything that we'd been trying to prevent. To know that someone you worked with to try and make things better, has died as a direct result of everything you were trying to fight - really underscores how little effect you've had compared to what needs to be done. And that means that I have felt the weight of what meaningful political action is and my capacity for generosity for things that are presented as political, but aren't actually about creating meaningful change is greatly depleted).

And I wouldn't have shared any of this without your anon - but I figure one thing I can do is walk through that process - and say it's not that we need to squelch our reactionary selves. It doesn't work and anyway our reactions often come from really important places. But that it's important not to centre our reactionary tendancies and treat our reactions as the truth.

**********

I am interested in what's going on, as well as the way people are talking about. What I'm thinking about most at the moment - is the relationship between what's happening right now and Midnights. When the break-up between her and Joe was announced - I did wonder if they'd been broken up for ages. Because Midnights did seem to describe their break up. But now it's also describing what's happening now - and that's far more interesting. To me it suggests she made art that pin pointed both how she felt about her life and the life that she wanted - in ways that she didn't fully understand.

It blows my mind how much the song Bejewelled seems to fit the night Taylor played at The 1975 Concert in January. If the song was first released in six months time I would totally believe that it was about that night. But of course it's not. Instead writing the song was part of Taylor processing her feelings and we've no idea if the enactment was conscious or unconscious, but it's fascinating either way.

As someone who is often frustrated at fandom discourse that is basically 'I can figure out what was going on in people's lives from their songs. I find the messiness of this (and what it suggests of the futility of certainty) fascinating.

[harlivycentral]

Just wanted to say thanks for breaking down the comics that lead to Ivy’s series. I read some of it before but I knew I was missing something so your post is super helpful. Also I’ve been loving the Kate/Maggie posts as well I’ve been meaning to read more batwoman. 🙏

Thank you so much for sending this ask, I'm glad you've been enjoying it! It was really kind of a pet project for me, since I was in the same boat as you for a long time & wanted to archive for myself the complete backstory. I think seeing how they built up Harley's interest in being a hero for multiple years was really interesting, plus I loved a lot of Ivy's storylines!! So it makes me happy to hear people are appreciating it :)

In 2019, I was a very casual Harley Quinn fan--much more into other comics & hadn't read most of her stuff. I was living in Seattle and going weekly to this awesome comic shop that's since closed (RIP 😢), so I picked up & read all of the limited-run Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy. After that, though, I didn't really keep up with their main storyline. I prefer to read things physically, and I'd buy certain single issues I was interested in (I bought single issues of Joker War and Catwoman: Fear State that I read online had more Harlivy content specifically), but I was always slightly confused/wanted to know the full scope of it. When they finally gave Ivy her own ongoing series, that's when I was like, okay, I'm fully diving in!

(Just a side note, midtowncomics.com is awesome for buying cheap back issues physically. Although I have temporarily subscribed to DC Universe just to catch up on the full backstory & decide which comics I want to own physically. I also hoped excerpting stuff from them would help other people decide which arcs they wanted to read in full for themselves! I can definitely give my recommendations if anyone is interested.)

And I definitely had to do some digging on like old reddit posts and random comic reviews etc. to figure out which comics had their complete storyline over the past few years, so I was like, okay now that I've put this all together, let me put it one place for posterity. There's definitely parts of their storyline I think are way better written than others (though I've tried not to editorialize too much except for Heroes in Crisis lol). I was on vacation last week & had a dental emergency this week (which turned out to be fine as of yesterday woohoo!), but I'd love to make some more text posts with my thoughts on stuff (separate from just archiving it). And I would definitely love to hear from my followers any of their thoughts on specific Harlivy storylines/comics/writers/etc.!

Glad you've been enjoying the Kate/Maggie posts too! I have such mixed feelings about that Batwoman run. It is truly like, sigh, the amount of canonical gay women that DC makes former army or current cops is truly abysmal. And it also definitely has more running themes of violence against women than I expected/wanted (obviously outside of villains physically fighting Kate, I mean, as that's to be expected). But the art is TRULY gorgeous, the storytelling is engaging, and it does represent a lesbian relationship and center a lesbian superhero in a way I haven't really ever seen anywhere else. I love DC Bombshell's version of Kate SO much (the art is also gorgeous for that & her backstory is WAY more appealing to me personally), but sadly they were more focused on including a breadth of characters in that comic than diving deeply into any one character's storyline, including Kate (after like the first six issues). Anyway, I won't go too in depth on my Batwoman thoughts here lol.

But yeah, I was in the Batwoman tag and it was mostly Batfam memes. Which, understandable to some extent, since her last solo comic ended a few years ago, so that stuff is probably just buried. But I was like, well, since I'm reading this anyway, I would like more of the art & relationships from her actual solo comic to be in the tags, at least on my blog for my own reference.

Anyway, sorry, feel like stuff has been running mostly on a queue for the last two-ish weeks, and now I'm back and energized & your ask happened to spark this rambling. Lol thank you for dropping in to my inbox, hope you have a good one!

[batboyblog]

Wha your an inspiration! Also sorry I meant to say what things will you see in your lifetime enter the public domain bsbsbhsbs should have said that! Anyways I'm happy to see the final stuff from the 1920s finally be layer to rest and enter the public domain by 2025! Also should more people be hyped and anticipated for the Steamboat Willie (1928) or The Opry House (1929) in your opinion/thoughts?

Anyways, what your top 15 most anticipated and hyped things whether it be cartoon/film, book or something else that will enter the public domain? Wah so sorry for so many questions dvbdbdd qwq

Things I'd like to see in my life time? well I did bring up a New Hope because I could live to see that enter the public Domain, I'd be in my 80s so it could happen. I'd love to see the end of the 95 year copyright, which would be the same year as Star Wars, in general I'd love for the law to change to something more reasonable because right now.... when the 95 year copyright term runs out we could be looking at works under copyright for well over 100 years, for example George Lucas is still alive if he died tomorrow by my math Empire would be under copyright till 2099, since he's a healthy (as far as I know) man in his late 70s he could live another 10 or 15 years (maybe even 20+) expending the term deep into the next century.

On Mickey Mouse, thats a tricky question. The Issue is the difference between Trademark and Copyright. Copyright is ownership of the whole idea in all contexts, while trademark is limited to images and words (or phrases) used for marketing. SO for example you could do a "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" style movie and have Mickey (and/or Minnie) show up. However Disney still holds/will hold the Trademark because those can be renewed endlessly, so you wouldn't be allowed to use his name in the title, or say his name in the trailers or any marketing. My question and I don't know is how much of the image do they own? could you use him in Steamboat Willie form? I would guess no, I think you'd be barred from using his image in marketing but I'd also guess you'd have a legal fight with Disney trying to use trademark as copyright.

in any case I think... there's a big big Disney community and I'd guess the first effect would be fan art and unofficial merchandise blowing up big time.

top 15? hmmm well I'll stick to stuff coming out in the near-ish future, I'm very unlikely under current laws to live to see Harry Potter become public, but that'd be a trip to see.

The Hobbit (1937): thankfully Elves and dwarfs were not made up by Tolkien so fantasy can basically steal his ideas freely but it's very clear we've all been playing in JRR's sandbox since at least The Lord of The Rings of not the Hobbit so releasing this out into the wild will be amazing also hobbits which he did make up (and also Ents, and the Uruk-hai) to finally be allowed to appear in all the fantasy literature that has elves and dwarfs.

The Wizard of Oz: Of course the original book by L. Frank Baum has been public for years and years and nothing stops any one from trying to make another one, and some have. See "The Wiz" and also "Wicked" but the 1939 movie remains a triumph and a huge piece of cultural history, I'm unsure what could be done with it, but you know

Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Captain America: I mean this should shock no one that this is something I want to see. But I think... Superman and Batman in particular are SUCH a universal part of our culture, you can stop randos on the street who have NEVER read a comic and say "what is Batman's name?" or Superman and they can answer, they can tell you Superman's powers. I think in terms of universally known and recognizable pieces of pop culture... I mean nothing else under copyright today is as big of a pop icon as they are they are as part of the basement of our popular imagination as Dracula, or Santa.

I'm sure a lot of other stuff but I think I've gone on long enough

[switch]

I know you’ve probably already talked about this, but what exactly do you love about Vlad and Moriarty? Feel free to write as much or as little as you please, I’ll read it all anyway.

ehehe i kinda have before but i can try to elaborate a bit better this time…

it really is everything, lol. as much as fictional characters reasonably can be, they've been a relatively important part of my life for ~5 years now, and i'd never maintained interest in any characters this consistently or this much before. i think the both of them hit pretty much a perfect balance for me in terms of content and characterization, and not to mention they inspired my art to improve a lot (thank you raita) (thank you maeda hirotaka)

vlad was basically my exact specific type (tall, older guy, long hair, goth-adjacent, facial hair <- important, etc) when i was 17, so when i saw some fanart of him back when apoc was still just a LN he instantly became my new favorite fate character. and then i actually ended up finding his writing and lore super compelling (even if underutilized sigh) on top of that. i love what a unique adaptation of vlad/dracula he is, his whole character concept is something that could really only come from and represents fate to me in a lot of ways, while still being recognizable.

if it was just apoc i might have moved on after a while but fgo was what made my brain really latch onto him. his my room dialogue, his sewing hobby, his valentine return gift, his voicelines, holy shit. he was the perfect combination of smug and scary and mean and cool and cute and tsundere and a little sad and weird and hey this guy is wearing a skirt. i loved him so much i just ended up loving everything about his design and character because it’s vlad and that’s why my list of his charm points are a mile long

same with moriarty kinda just being my type at first and seeing fanart of him, although i wasn't initially all that interested in moriarty? for some reason? like i appreciated that he was the only other dilf in the game besides shakespeare but i wasn't following JP then and it didn't really click for several months until uh

my prophetic curse kicked in once again.

but anyway, similarly to vlad, i really think moriarty is one of the best adaptations of his character out there and another one of the best adaptations in fate in terms of mixing originality and faithfulness. i love just how much is going on with his character writing a lot of the time without feeling contrived. he's funny, he's evil (i like villain...), he's cool, he's weird, he's hot, it's insane how much takaya hashi's voice acting adds to him. i associate moriarty with a high point in FGO in general, with how impressive his NP animation was at the time and overall great shinjuku was (once i actually read the translation), and the anticipation of just dying for him to come to NA and then dying for his gray collar event to come to NA after that.

i'm so eternally grateful they gave him to RAITA, man. he's such a well-thought out design, and i still can't believe we didn't end up with "generically sexless older anime man" or "aged down twink" (wait wait wait WAIT WAIT) or "a girl," and that they were actually willing to take what they felt was a risk with his design. RAITA knew exactly what he was doing lol.

i gotta be honest it was extremely nice being a fan of an actually decently popular (and well-loved by his artist) character for once. i felt like i was having goddamn heart attack when they announced moriarty's CBC event, i was so excited and surprised. his stuff kept me entertained when vlad content would go MIA for like a year at a time.

oh and yeah, wanting to pull off as many difficult fights with vlad and moriarty as i could and make them stronger units (especially since they were both almost infamously bad units back then, and i wanted to show what they could do in spite of that) was what triggered me getting into esports, and oh boy do i love esports.