#I think this is cuz at the start of the show the clones weren’t really the memorable or important to begin with

[sadiecoocoo]

Yknow, im realizing that I’ve forgotten a lot of the clones’ names… YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!

[captainsway]

feel free to ignore if you just do NOT wanna bother, but i wanted to ask: are there like, ANY civil discussions/debates happening between pro-jedi and jedi-critical blogs on tumblr?

I ask this cuz my personal feelings kinda fall dead-center on the issue (currently slightly crit-leaning, but I've waffled multiple times), and I enjoy seeing how differing perspectives can shed light on how various issues in canon are interpreted.

Recently I unblocked someone (cuz I didn't remember what I'd blocked them for), liked a good chunk of their posts for offering some decent points... aaaaand then noticed they were being way too combative for what seemed like normal debate. Yep, I'd forgotten englishlady changed her username and had to reblock her.

So I wanted to see if there's any pro-jedi blogs (personal preference: ones that don't ship master/padawan ships) regularly interacting with jedi-crit blogs (ones that aren't... like that) in a more constructive fashion. But tbh I understand if that's like asking for the death star to blow up on its own. XD

Tbh a lot of people I know who are pro jedi aren't actively involved with debates with jedi critical people since the jedi critical people..... tend to just make shit up? Or just say shit that comes from a video game and all that isn't lucas canon. I know agoddamn has made a lot of good points and writerbuddha has brought a lot of Buddhism takes to the jedi (which are canon bc lucas was Buddhist at the time and took a lot of inspo from Buddhist monks). I think @short-wooloo and @starwarsaddiction and @hannagoldworthy will reblog some debates stuff but overall it's really fucking tiring seeing people drink the palps juice or force their Christian bullshit on the jedi when they're like. 5% Christian lmao meanwhile the other 95% are Buddhism, Taoism, Jewish, Muslim, etc. But Christians don't care and only focus on their western, and often white, viewpoints while talking over Asian people

I think the whole 'pro jedi' vs 'jedi critical' takes are pointless bc the 'jedi critical' stance is a fundamental misunderstanding of the actual movies. The jedi were never meant to be perfect but lucas wanted to show that helping people doesn't always mean you can be perfect. The jedi were supposed to be *good* and I think a lot of modern grimdark media has warped people's mentalities that 'there can never be good' or 'the good has something secretly bad'. I saw that a lot with politics and the whole 'don't vote for biden even if that means Trump wins' takes. Nobody voting for biden *liked* him but if it was a way to make life 10% better for 10% of the population who were suffering then its something that *needed* to be done. And I think a lot of 'jedi critical' people don't understand that the jedi were trying their best to BE GOOD even if their decisions weren't absolutely perfect. Because the plot was against them and they *had* to choose the lesser of two evils. Would they stand aside and refuse to fight for the republic because of their moral stance on the clones? That would mean the clones would STILL die and much MUCH more civilians would too. And let's not forget *palpatine was the chancellor* and already promoted propaganda against the jedi. Their downfall would've come much faster than if they acted like in canon. We know the jedi had moral issues with leading the clones but it's better they had the moral issues and treated the clones like people rather than some admiral like tarkin who saw them as fodder.

Overall I think a lot of 'jedi critical' people are disillusioned kids who watched tcw and took it as the sole truth. Like the whole point was 'the jedi at war' and they tried to make it palatable for kids with really shitty writing that differed between writers lmao. And modern society and politics has made people really wary of things that are supposed to be good. Which is unfortunate tbh. But star wars was always about having hope that good things can prevail?? The grimdark mentality is counter intuitive to the actual message of star wars - that even in the darkest of times there is still a light that can shine the way. And when people refuse that and take sith ideology (which was 100% based on nazi Germany and American imperialism) and start preaching that the jedi are bad its like. What hope do *they* have that there's any good in the world...?

[more-than-a-gentleman]

Take me with you...

This is a side of their relationship that I really love. Oda likes to show their genuine consideration for each other either when one is unconcious or not present. But this here tells me that they surely will go wherever if one is in danger.

After Little Garden, Nami got extremely sick and they didn’t know either the cause or how deadly/ serious it is exactly. All they knew is that her life is in danger and that they needed a doctor asap.

In Zou, Sanji got taken away to a forced arranged marriage and they didn’t know if he will ever come back or if they will ever see him again. Even though his poster says “Only Alive”, Nami, Chopper and Brook treated the situation as if Sanji’s life is in danger unlike Luffy or Zoro.

Is there a better way to start off these arcs?

Nami’s sickness is the reason Drum Kingdom arc happened, they were supposed to head to Alabasta as fast as possible, because it is not in their hands to choose. We start off with Sanji crying in worrying about Nami’s health.

Sanji’s blackmailing is the reason WCI happened, they were supposed to head to Zou as soon as possible, because Kaido was targetting them and they had no choice. We start off with Nami’s tears in worrying about Sanji’s whereabouts and the shadiness that happened.

Before reaching Drum Kingdom while Nami is sick, first we see Zoro failing miserably in keeping track of the ship’s direction (surprise surprise), but after that comes Sanji and takes that spot in which they succeed in locating the island. Sanji did a good job watching the sea.

Before reaching WCI while Sanji is captured, first we see Luffy failing miserably trying to cook for his crew. He wasted a ton of fresh food and came up with inedible food, but after that comes Nami to take that job and following Sanji’s recipe and instructions was able to cook an amazing meal for the crew. Nami did a wonderful job cooking.

The Captain took it upon himself to find a doctor for Nami since his ship does not have one. He heard that the witch doctor lives in the castle up the unbelievably high mountain in the extreme weather conditions. The plan was that he will carry her all the way up himself.

A member of his crew is being forced to leave his ship (against his will). Yet again, the Captain took it upon himself to go there alone to talk to Sanji and crash that wedding if he has to. He is ready to fight anybody be it a Yonko, an extremely strong opponent, for his nakama.

Out of all the other members, 3 in total (Vivi included), only one was highly concerned to the point he couldn’t leave it to the Captain alone. He couldn’t wait to hear the news if she got better or not. He couldn’t wait like Ussop and Vivi for them to come back. “Alright, I’ll be coming along too!” he said....

Out of all the other members, 6 in total, only one was worried enough to go with the Captain to learn more about his ties and past (Zoro was concerned about the crew’s safety because they are being targeted by 2 yonko(s), he wasn’t worried too much about Sanji cuz he knows he can handle himself). She couldn’t stand to wait around when they should be on the move. She was the first to announce her decision, “I am going with you of course!! I feel responsible.” she said...

It was thanks to Sanji that Luffy took the situation seriously, or should I say “more seriously” than before. Luffy didnt know how dire the situation is, he didnt know if she drops once “she is dead”, if he fights “she dies”. Sanji was there to make sure that doesnt happen. Nami would have died in Luffy’s hands if it weren’t for Sanji.

It was thanks to Nami that Luffy started to think more. It was thanks to her that they arrived in time. Luffy didnt know the importance of the time, she knew it was “dire”, that they can be “too late”. But the question is too late for what? As we said, at this point his poster says “Only Alive”. We didnt even know about Big Mom’s plan at that point in time. All we know about and Nami knows about is that there is a Wedding... (am I making stuff up? The manga is out there you can read it yourself.) It is safe to say Sanji would have left the crew and gotten married (and died) if it weren’t for Nami dragging Luffy around.

When she woke up, she was concerned about the two who risked their lives to bring her here.

He was stunned and nervous to see the two who are currently risking their lives for him at that moment (he didnt know about any other members...he only saw both of them)

It is after they risked their lives without knowing how truly life-threatening the situation is for that person, that it is revealed that their lives were indeed at risk...

Just the mere thought of losing / parting the other was enough of a reason for them to face hardship and hell.

Just a bonus that doesnt really mean anything, unless it does but we dont know it (jk):

These arcs are also the only arcs where we see Luffy “carrying” Sanji AND Nami alone. I put it in quotes because clearly in WCI these where clones but Oda’s choice is quite sophisticated to say the least.

I also found a couple more, but I want to avoid anything that may sound like reaching. PLUS, I believe this is more than enough to prove a point.

[starlightrows]

Head Over Heels

Part II—

← Previous - Next →

Pairing: Wrecker x reader

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: swearing, slut shaming, allusion to sex (don’t worry ya’ll the smut is coming in part 3, releasing Friday!)

Summary: Wrecker is over the moon about your recent confession. Crosshair is annoyed, but takes it too far

AN: Decided to move the timeline for this series up so that I can start working on my longer Wrecker series! Also sorry if anyone simps for Crosshair

Wrecker had a hard time focusing on the mission the next week or so, more so than usual. All he wanted to do was fly back to the base and be with you. He tried his best to keep his mouth shut and act normal. But he couldn’t stop himself on the final journey back to base.

“She said she loves me,” he’d said “I wanna take her somewhere fun and exciting to celebrate,”

Hunter thought it was sweet, a little annoying that Wrecker wouldn’t shut up, but sweet that he was happy. It’s hard being the only four outcast clones in an army of millions. Plenty of the Regs felt ostracized and unwanted by civilians, but they weren’t even wanted by their own kin. Wrecker deserved this, he deserved to be happy.

Tech thought their whole arrangement was ridiculously unprofessional. If he really thought about it he might’ve come to the conclusion that he was jealous of his brother. He lets himself believe he’s indifferent about the whole thing, and let’s his vod drone on and on about what planets he thinks would be most exciting to visit with you.

Crosshair is jealous. He can’t stand how easy it was for Wrecker to be himself and not drive people away. He couldn’t stand listening to Wrecker talk about you, or your civilian friends, or the things you cared about. The more he listened, and the more he thought about it the angrier he got.

They were coming into the atmosphere of the planet the base was stationed on. Wrecker was so excited, he was having trouble sitting still. Finally the Havoc Marauder landed in the docking bay, and the doors slid open. The squad disembarked and began unloading their cargo, Wrecker still talking endlessly. Finally Crosshair couldn’t take it another second.

“Wrecker your brain is too smooth to get it, but none of us give a fucking shit about your little bunk bunny,” He snapped

Everyone stopped moving, they all turned to stare at Crosshair. Wrecker’s face fell, he couldn’t believe he’d had just said that. A small gasping sound came from the main hangar door, where you had just come around the corner to greet them. You turned on your heel and left.

Wrecker dropped the crate he was holding and took two massive strides towards Crosshair. Without even thinking about it, he shoved him full force into the wall. The sound of his high powered, ultra precision rifle scope cracking on the impact.

“I love her. Someone finally likes me for who I am. Why can’t you just be fucking happy for me?” Wrecker yells. Crosshair looked up at him, guilt already beginning to creep in. If he was gonna say anything in his defense, Wrecker doesn’t stick around to hear it, he turns and runs out the hangar door after you.

Hunter glares at Crosshair. “Regardless of her involvement with Wrecker. She is still one of the commanding officers of this base. She is the only officer we’ve ever had that hasn’t put in to transfer us to a different base,” he grits out “and you just called her a whore”

Crosshair goaned, already feeling sore from hitting the wall. And now feeling guilty for offending not only you, but Wrecker as well. He fucked up, and he knew it.

Wrecker didn’t see which way you went, but this base wasn’t all that big, and you only had a handful of hiding spots he thought you would go to. He crossed the docking bay, and went to the busted up old transport ship that you’d been working on. It hadn’t flown since the early days of the war, and it was a passion project or yours to fix it up. And that’s exactly where he found you, sitting on the floor of the cockpit fiddling with the busted coms system.

“Hey Tiny,” he said softly, coming to sit down next to you.

“Hi” you answered, intentionally not looking at him

“I know you heard what Cross said,” he tried to start out gently

“Yeah, I did,” your hands stilled, you realized tears were brimming in your eyes and you needed to focus on not letting them spill over.

“He didn’t mean that,” Wrecker said, reaching out for one of your hands. You pulled your hand away, setting it in your lap.

“Yes he did” you your voice sounds choked, trying to stifle the sob building in your throat

“He’s just jealous because no one likes him” Wrecker joked, trying to lighten you up a bit

“Maybe he’s right Wreck” the first tear slides down your cheek

He’s shocked to hear you say something like that, “What? Why would you say that?”

“I mean I wasn’t always a member of command… I’ve been assigned to different bases and squadrons in the past. And it’s not like I haven’t....ya know messed around with a couple other troopers before I met you,” you drop your head into your hands, feeling guilty and ashamed. You tried desperately to wipe the tears off your face, and not look so helpless.

“Yeah but you already told me about all that though. It doesn’t matter, cuz you’re with me now. And you’re not messing around with anyone else right?” He asked, scooching to face you instead of being next to you.

You whipped your head up, “No! Of course not”

“Good, then it doesn’t matter what Crosshair or anyone else thinks” he smiled at you, “You and me Tiny, that’s what matters,”

You sniffled a bit and smiled at him, “How did I get so lucky?” You whispered now reaching out for his hand. He chuckled a bit, and dropped his gaze to look down at your delicate fingers gently brushing his palm.

“I missed you,” he whispered “Think maybe I talked about you too much, think I drove the boys insane,”

You laughed, and reached up to put your arms around his neck. Wrecker pulled you into his lap, letting his arms drape around your waist. His hands settled on the small of your back, he leaned in to kiss your cheek.

“I missed you too big guy, I hate it when your missions go longer than expected,” you melted into him, despite the hard plastoid armor.

“I was thinking tomorrow we could go explore more of the forest at the far end of the air field, you guys have some time off before your next mission,” you offered, you’d been thinking about it the whole time he was gone.

He tightened his hold on you just a bit, “Sounds good,” he whispered “But first, I want to show you how much I missed you,”

Tag List: @escapedthesarlacc @ladyjenny19 @comphersjost @ortizshinkaroff

[gffa]

Hello there! I was recently in a discussion with someone who thinks the Jedi were kinda bad and I was saying I mean I don’t think so, but ok. They tried to convince me with Barriss and how what she said was correct and I’m kind of confused because I kinda feel she’s right but she also isn’t. Uh, could you help explain it, cuz I’m a little lost?

Hi!  Barriss is something of a complicated topic, because I don’t think her story should be divorced from that it’s a really bad look to write the character with a whole lot of Muslim parallels as a bomber and thus it’s hard to take the story seriously on a meta level, because I’m too busy going, “Guys, what the fuck, that’s real bad over there.” and whether she has a point or not often gets overshadowed by that. And it’s hard to set that aside (and I’m unsure if one should even try) where I think the intention of Barriss’ story is meant to make us think about the Jedi’s role in the Republic and in the GAR, but I’m not sure it’s meant to provide concrete answers. What Barriss says:  “I have come to realize what many in the Republic have come to realize… that the Jedi are responsible for this war! That we've so lost our way that we've become villains in this conflict! That we are the ones who should be put on trial! All of us! And my attack on the temple was an attack on what the Jedi have become: An army fighting for the dark side, fallen from the light that we once held so dear. This Republic is failing! It’s only a matter of time.” There are elements of truth here, the Republic is failing, that the people have lost faith in the Jedi and they are now seen as villains, that the war was a tool used by the dark side to gain control over the galaxy. The problem is that she also has fallen herself, that she’s willing to murder innocent people in that bombing, willing to let other people take the fall for her, and that cannot come without being part of the dark side.  And the dark side lies.  The dark side is not an accurate narrator. The problem with Barriss’ words is that we’re not given any better options for the Jedi and it blames a group of people for their own lack of feasible choices.  Is their involvement in the war part of what leads to their own destruction?  Yes, of course it is.  Does that make it suddenly their own fault that Palpatine literally drafted them into the war (according to supplementary books + GL word of god commentary)?  Does it make the point of how, if they hadn’t joined the war, it would be people like Tarkin running the show, and that Tarkin’s introduction into the show was literally meant to show that? Barriss’ accusations have grains of truth in them, but they ignore that there’s never been any offer of an alternate path for them that has ever held any water, especially given what we see of how the Senate treats people who say “no” to them--they get blacklisted and are unable to help anyone anymore and things get worse.  It happens with Padme in the supplementary novels after her actions in TPM, it happens to Mandalore in TCW’s main storyline, etc.  The Jedi are in a position where, if they say no, there’s a very likely chance that they’ll be put in an even shittier position and there won’t be anyone to lead the war in a more gentle direction, if possible. That’s the problem that Barriss is leaving out--does the Jedi’s involvement in the war lead to bad things?  Yes!  But their non-involvement would have been worse.  And to say that they were responsible for this war, when Sheev Palpatine is RIGHT THERE or when Obi-Wan himself points out, “If the people of the galaxy stood up for what was right, this war would have been over long ago.”, is tunnel-visioned at best.  The Jedi didn’t start the war, nor are they the ones keeping it going, that’s all Palpatine right there.  The Jedi stepping away doesn’t mean Palpatine or Dooku will stop fighting, that the clones will suddenly stop fighting, that the droid army will suddenly stop fighting. Barriss’ words treat the Jedi as if they have obvious better options, they treat the Jedi as if they’re the only player in this game, when they’re not.  Did the Jedi make mistakes?  Of course, as well as there’s an impossible to answer question of, “When would have been the right time for them to walk away from everything?”  And what does that even look like?  Do they go rogue vigilantes in a galaxy that already fears them/doesn’t understand them?  Do they just sit on their asses on the sidelines?  Is there any galaxy in which Palpatine would have let several thousand one-man-walking-army nuclear weapons just sit by and not specifically target them?  Knowing that they would have the power to stop him, if he didn’t back them into a corner and tie their hands?  He’s not going to just leave them alone.  They don’t have the numbers to fight the war themselves, that was made clear over and over and over, so, they can’t become a third faction (in the Republic GAR vs Separatists), they can’t sit it out, do they join the Separatists?  Do they just fuck off into the depths of the Unknown Region?  Like, what’s the play here?  Especially when the Separatists are out there poisoning entire planets, enslaving entire peoples, murdering and torturing their way across the galaxy, and the Jedi are just supposed to go, “Well, fighting in this war was making us feel sad and have to deal with darkness, so you guys are on your own now.”? You can say, “The Jedi made mistakes, being part of the war.” and that’s not wrong, but the problem with judging the Jedi for it is that it often ignores that there were other players on the board with far more political power, that they were not given as much power as we want to think they were, and there weren’t really better options for them personally that wouldn’t have fucked over a lot of people who needed help.  Like, should the Jedi have stayed out of the fight when Ryloth’s people were being used as human shields?  Should they have stayed out of the fight when the people of Kiros were taken to be slaves?  Should they have stayed out of the fight when Mon Calamari was being occupied and its people enslaved as well?  That’s the question that never seems to get answered in Barriss’ accusations. And if you have to bomb a bunch of innocent people, without apparently having ever actually stood up and talked to anyone about this first, maybe you’re lost in the dark side and not seeing things all that clearly. (Which is still setting aside that using Barriss for this story was fucking awful.) The Jedi aren’t perfect, I think it’s fair to question their role in the war and the path they took, but ultimately I have yet to find any workable solutions that wouldn’t have left people to get fucked over by the war, that’s where I’ve landed on the subject and I think what the actual worldbuilding of the movies + TV shows actually evidences.  As Yoda says, when asked if he’s sure about their actions and whether they’re on the right path: “Hmm, the right path, no. The only path, yes.” That’s it, that’s the summation for the Jedi’s involvement in the war for me.  The right path, no.  The only path, yes.

[cl-babydew]

How I felt about the Ducktales ending:

Okay first off, Ik I’m late! But oh well! XD

Anyway!!

I loved the finale, sorta! I loved the full circle moments, the callbacks! All the characters! Etc!

But what I didn’t love, was Webby being a clone!

And related to Scrooge, one of my friends explains it well, so you can go to Soph’s blog for that!

But like, this has nothing to do with shipping for me! Like, I didn’t think of that, not until someone brought it up!

The main thing that bothers me is that Webby was never real to begin with?!

Like, APRIL?! Yes you can have your opinion, but don’t bash on mine when I say that was a terrible move! Like, the fact she isn’t real is the main reason I’m upset!

Like, technically speaking, we never had a Webby to begin with if you really think about it!

Why couldn’t they have just kept Daisy’s nieces, as her actual neices, with nothing to do with Webby!

Not to mention a few things in the final weren’t fixed! Like Webby being upset with Lena, and not really getting a moment between Beakley and Webby.

I’m not mad, I’m just a bit disappointed I guess. Don’t get my wrong, I loved the finale, but the Webby parts of it made me sad for her, AND FOR HUEY!

Like, poor Huey guys! He really got played! Webby took over. I wanted a Webby season if there were to be a s4! Not like this! If no s4, don’t try to make the finale of Huey season, about Webby. Just don’t. It really wasn’t needed.

Anyway! Ik people will send me hate anons/ask becuz that’s how terrible this fandom is, so guess what, I’ll just delete those dang ask cuz I really don’t care about how much you hate me, cuz guess what, I bet you I hate me more then you hate me! So don’t wate your dang breaths on me, go somewhere else! Block me for all I care! I’m fed up with how this fandom is, and if you aren’t, ha...

Also! About the Debbigail thing, I honestly don’t know what to do! 😅

Like, I made so much content on them, not to mention I also have a fic in the middle of being written! XD Soooo...

Part of me wants to be like my Voltron self, and ignore canon, at least that Webby twist. But gosh will you guys think I’m terrible for that. I wouldn’t ignore that ending if it wasn’t so...bad?

But the fact that it was done poorly, like s8, I might ignore it. Like in my fics l’ll warn people like, “In my fics, the Webby twist isn’t real”, ya know?

It’s my fanfics after all! You don’t have to read them! Tho tbh, it’s not like I’ve been writing much lately either!

I might just move on officially to writing for MHA! XD I’ll see!

Anywayyyy...

Overall, I am gonna miss this show! It was my first fandom that I was involved in, and I first started writing fics becuz of it! And edits!

Gosh...I gotta question, would it be weird to change my Icon soon? XD It’s like that icon is me! Ive been having it for years!

Im not good with change, so I might change it in a month! XD

Anyway! Goodbye Ducktales, thank you for the laughs and cry’s and so much more you gave us! We’ll miss you and your lovable characters!

I’m definitely gonna watch the Darkwing reboot!

Gonna miss this...

[iaintyourbro]

Shipping Makes Me Question My Sanity

I learned about the FFVII waifu wars after playing the remake. I played the OG many moons ago, replayed it a few years ago, but really got interested in the character dynamics after playing FFVIIR. 

I foolishly looked up “Is the remake pushing Cloud and Tifa more?” I found the shipping wars... That I never knew existed. 

You see, I played the OG and it was pretty clear to me that the story went a certain way. In fact, I didn’t even associate FFVII to romance. 

FFVII was a story about a villain who was pissed off that a grunt killed him, so he finds a way to come back from the dead through clones that his father made to fuck with said grunt and get revenge on all the humans that wronged his Mother. 

(This is my explanation in as few words as possible, because we all know explaining FFVII would take multiple posts). 

So why did I look up my question about Cloud and Tifa? Well, I was shocked at how they presented them. I didn’t remember this from the OG. Like I said, I didn’t associate FFVII to romance like I did with VIII, IX, and X. Those were clear. FFVII didn’t have this as a main theme. FFVIIR created extreme sexual tension between Cloud and Tifa. 

I remember when you finally found out Cloud wasn’t a SOLDIER, that he actually DID kill Sephiroth 5 years ago, and that he did come to save Tifa - he fulfilled his promise. The part when the main theme plays and he takes his helmet off... chills. Even now, I love that part. Still, I associated this with us finally getting answers to some of the weird shit that happens earlier in the game. And I was way too young and dense to understand the Under the Highwind scene. 

Needless to say, I wanted to see if others had the same impression. It seems they did, and those posts were then overpowered by the other side. “Yeah, I used to ship Cloti, but the remake made me see that it’s clearly Aerith.” What? What did I miss? 

So I questioned my sanity a bit. I played every quest - I did both Tifa and Aerith’s discovery quests. Until the point we get back to Tifa in Wall Market, I still was kind of iffy on how they were presenting Aerith and Cloud. They removed a lot of stuff from the OG that was a bit more direct from Cloud’s end. They also removed a lot of the jealousy scenes between Tifa and Aerith. Seems they gave all the jealousy to Cloud in other scenes. 

Cloud clearly is soft with Tifa. He remembers The Promise, he calls her beautiful, you have no choice but to give her the flower. No matter what choices you make with Aerith. He still gives her the flower. He gets jealous whenever he even thinks a guy is talking about her in a romantic/sexual way.

Then I see things like “Cloud was so emotionless and mean until Chapter 8″. HOW? And this goes beyond Tifa. Cloud had a ton of character growth during the first 3 chapters, and it continued on until Chapter 8. This was not something where he suddenly turned nice to Aerith. He had a ton of people help him out before.

Take Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. Cloud was a dick to them. I mean, he really was. I was sad for Wedge, cuz I think he’s so nice, and Cloud was just mean to him. By the end of Chapter 4, he’s much nicer to them. He’s left out of their celebration, and I think maybe this was a reference to him as a child. He thought he was better than the other kids (except Tifa). He treated everybody like shit (except Tifa) in the first three chapters and Barret told him to gtfo. 

Jessie made sure to let him know she wanted him there. Now, I’m not a fan of how thirsty Jessie is. I mean they REALLY slam it on you how bad she wants to get with Cloud. Cloud then says what I was thinking “Are you seriously that desperate?!” Yes, she is, and it’s obnoxious, but I think it’s a hilarious addition to the story. However, I think it was a light bulb moment that he would be included if he was a bit nicer to people.

Cloud and Barret start getting along more as time goes on as well. This is all before Chapter 8. So I actually have commented on these posts... “Did you play the first 7 chapters? Did you play the rest of the game?” There’s so many points during FFVIIR where Cloud clearly has character development outside of what Tifa and Aerith do. 

They ignore this. That’s my issue. The ignore everything else in the story. They ignore reality, so that makes people like me question themselves.

It reminds me of a personal situation with my job. We had a really bad leader. Like, cruel, mean. And he got away with it for a long time. You can say, “just leave”, but I think anybody with a family knows that’s not as easy as it sounds. Not when you rely on your job for not only income, but benefits, retirement, and stability. Not when changing buildings causes months of legit mental breakdowns (imagine changing companies completely?). So, it wasn’t really an option.

The worst part during all of that was knowing and seeing the reality of what was going on and having people flat out try to tell me that what I was seeing wasn’t true. I had conversations with other co-workers who started to question their sanity. Is it us? Are we the problem? Are we wrong? What are we missing? And that’s tough, especially when it goes on for so long.

In the real life example, there was a resolution earlier this year, where finally the guy was fired. And a lot of people were fighting him. More than you’d think. But they were scared, so they had to be careful. This is real life, not a game, so the stakes were much higher. The truth all comes out after this type of thing, and it was actually worse than we thought. There was a lot we missed, and a lot we just weren’t aware of. We weren’t crazy - there was just a group of his followers trying to brainwash us in to thinking he was great. 

The shipping wars give me the same feelings I had during that. I question my sanity and don’t get what I’m missing. This is beyond how you interpret the LTD. This is legit ignoring parts of the story as it’s presented. SE put these Cloti moments throughout the Remake to make a point. They have Aerith say things to make a point. They even have Aerith stop making moves on Cloud after Tifa comes back and she sees the obvious “thing” between them.

There are tons of analysis on multiple scenes and how Cloud reacts. Facial expressions tell a lot, so does voice acting. There are reasons they put these scenes in. There are reasons they are part of the main story and not part of side quests. There are reasons that the devs responded the way they did in interviews. 

The Ultimania clearly talks about Cloud’s feelings. The OG talks about them. 

So why do I still feel upset when I see these? Well, for one, the posters that say “I was a Cloti until..” in most cases are probably shipping the other side, but this is a great way to make people question themselves. It may make new fans not enjoy the story as much.

Then you have Twitter. And it’s a shame, because there’s some great fanart on Twitter. But, you can’t search for “tifa” without seeing some really bad posts. And it’s the same accounts over and over. There isn’t a large amount. 

The entire goal of these posters is to fight people who don’t agree with them. They also start posting similar complaints about a week after the Cloti side makes them.

The most recent being that Cloti fans are going after Nojima and it’s not going to change anything. What? I saw a similar post about the C////erith side about a week or two ago. Why are Cloti’s going after Nojima? So I went through some of his posts. I found one where he posted about FF7R. The only Cloti posts I saw were thanking him. The C///erith ones were over the top trying to say how it was all C///erith and there was no Cloti in the remake. One even said that “millions of fans want Aerith to survive.” No, I’d say the majority of fans want the original plot points to stay. 

Nojima himself liked a fanart of himself... where they called him the Cloti king.

So where are the Cloti’s going after Nojima? I only saw praise... 

The next new one is that C///eriths aren’t racist and Cloti’s are. I’ve seen this argument in reverse as well. It seems they scope out some things and repost them in the opposite argument. 

I just don’t understand the extreme nature. You can ship who you want, but you can’t erase parts of the story to make it work. Why even bother playing the game? The romance aspect is SO SMALL in the OG. 

In the remake its a bit heavier, but it’s different times. Sex sells. Let’s add some spice to the game, and they did. I felt no sexual tension between Cloud and Aerith. Jessie tried HARD. The only mutual tension felt was between Cloud and Tifa. That deep, dear lord please do something to release this tension, feeling. Cloud and Aerith had cute little moments similar to a Disney movie or a kids movie. Tifa and Cloud had the moments you see in more mature things. 

Some of these moments are optional - the resolution scene you can technically avoid every time you play if you choose to. The Clotiscrew tunnel roll is a bit harder unless you KNOW you can avoid it and/or are terrible at the game. You literally have to try hard to mess up to not get that scene. 

The Clotiscrew tunnel scene is also hilarious to watch people react to. Cuz you do feel like you need to take a quick walk to cool off from that heat. Even my husband who doesn’t give a shit was like “wow, yeah, okay, that’s... intense.” 

It didn’t have to be, it could have been a roll and release, but he holds her and says “You okay?” in that soft af voice THAT HE ONLY USES ON HER. Her response is equally sexy. Then they get up and stare. Once again, not necessary.

All the “unnecessary” touching that goes on is fun to point out. People are still finding moments, I think. During battles, in the background during other scenes. They’re making this a point. They make it a point to show shots of those two during other scenes in the game. They aren’t being subtle anymore. 

So I don’t understand how you can erase all of that. 

The other side has a small group that is completely shitting on Tifa to do it. I don’t see that as much on the Cloti side towards Aerith. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, I bet it does, but it’s not as easy to find. Almost EVERY shipping fight has something about Tifa’s boobs, Tifa not telling Cloud about his past, something. They make stuff up in some cases.

All of this is a way to recruit people to their side. To “convert” them. I feel bad for the streamers who like Tifa and you see a group come in to try and “correct” that thought. Why do they care so much? 

Maximillian Dood doesn’t seem affected by those opinions - he’s a great supporter of Tifa as a character. He was very happy with the way they handled the remake, and that says a lot. He also has some great reactions to parts of the game. He also is a more experienced streamer, it seems.

My thoughts are... the Remake has blown expectations on how it was supposed to go. Probably a lot of fans assumed they’d make a point to build up Aerith as the love interest... but they didn’t. Tifa is in almost every chapter (2 is the exception). She is referenced multiple times in Wall Market - especially if you actually listen to the lyrics for Midgar Blues. Why place that song in during that part? 

So we go to the attack mode of survival here. They’re going to change as many opinions as possible. They’re going to make people question themselves. Make people feel bad. 

The reality is, there’s a clear cut story - they’re making it that way. There’s multiple hints that there isn’t going to be a love triangle. There’s multiple hints that Zack is going to be a thing in the Remake. They’ve definitely put it on more heavy that Aerith still loves Zack. 

I can only hope that things are made clear. That this can stop. I still say people should ship who they want. Hell, I ship Vincent and Lucrecia (this was my only romantic love in the OG back then...). However, canon is that Hojo and Lucrecia married and had a child. I wanted Vincent to secretly be the father so bad, but he’s not. That doesn’t ruin the game for me, at all. 

It would ruin the game for me, in a sense, if they completely pull a 180 in Part 2 and try to “remove” all of the stuff from Part 1 from a character dynamics perspective. It would feel wrong for Aerith to tell Cloud not to fall in love with her, tell him that everything isn’t real if he does, and also have her back off completely after Tifa is back, and then all of a sudden throw herself at him. It would erase all the friendship scenes between Tifa and Aerith.

And how could you just “turn off” Cloud’s attentive nature to Tifa? It wouldn’t make sense. It would ruin it for me because that is legit trying to erase parts of the story.

I don’t think that will happen. But I still get anxious when I see shit on the internet.

[padawanlost]

What was your take on Dave Filoni's speech on the Duel of Fates & Qui-Got Jinn?

I’m surprised people were shocked by that. I mean, he didn’t say anything new. 

His take is the same take that has been explored since TPM came out. I don’t know if people shocked by it are new fans who weren’t around when the movies came out or didn’t have access to the interviews/EU or of if they are in deep denial about the characters portrayed on screen.

“What’s at stake is really how Anakin’s going to turn out, because Qui-Gon is different than the rest of the Jedi.”

FACT since 1999. We know Qui-Gon was a ‘rebel’ since TPM came out. He’s even known as a ‘maverick jedi’ for that very reason, with multiple novels and comics exploring that side of him. Hell, he was Dooku’s apprentice, a guy known for being one of the Council’s biggest critics even when he was still a Jedi Master.

“Obi-wan:  Do not defy the council, Master, not again. Qui-Gon: I shall do what I must, Obi-Wan. Obi-wan:  If you would just follow the code, you would be on the council.” The Phantom Menace, 1999.

You get that in the movie, and Qui-Gon is fighting because he knows that he’s the father that Anakin needs, because Qui-Gon hasn’t given up on the fact that Jedi are supposed to care and love and that that’s not a bad thing. 

FACT since 1999. 

He was angry that the Jedi Master would dismiss him so abruptly in favor of the boy, but he realized, too, the depth of Qui-Gon’s passion when he believed in something. Training this boy to be a Jedi was a cause Qui-Gon championed as he had championed no other in Obi-Wan’s memory. He did not do so to slight his protégé. He did so because he believed in the boy’s destiny. Obi-Wan understood. Who could say? Perhaps this time Qui-Gon was right. Perhaps Anakin Skywalker’s training was a cause worth fighting for. [Terry Brooks. The Phantom Menace – published in 2000]

That Filoni himself reinforces in 2013 during an interview about TCW’s season 5: “I’ve always felt that one of Anakin’s downfalls, like it’s never that Anakin was innately going to be evil, but the people around him, the Jedi, in their lack of compassion, in being so selfless that they almost forgot to care.” Dave Filoni

The rest of the Jedi are so detached and they’ve become so political that they’ve really lost their way and Yoda starts to see that in the second film. But, Qui-Gon is ahead of them all and that’s why he’s not part of the council, so he’s fighting for Anakin. 

FACT since 1999. 

“With Episode I, I didn’t want to tell a limited story. I had to go into the politics and the bigger issues of the Republic and that sort of thing. I had to go into bigger issues.” George Lucas

In The Phantom Menace one of the Jedi Council already knows the balance of The Force is starting to slip, and will slip further. It is obvious to this person that The Sith are going to destroy this balance. On the other hand a prediction which is referred to states someone will replace the balance in the future. At the right time a balance may again be created, but presently it is being eroded by dark forces. All of this shall be explained in Episode 2, so I can’t say any more!- CUT interview 09/07/99?

“The first film starts with the last age of the Republic; which is it’s getting tired, old, it’s getting corrupt. There’s the rise of the Sith, who are now becoming a force, and in the backdrop of this you have Anakin Skywalker: a young boy who’s destined to be a very significant player in bringing balance back to the Force and the Republic. George Lucas - from the American ANH VHS tape in the making of Episode II in the 2000 release.

[The Jedi] sort of persuade people into doing the right thing but their job really isn’t to go around fighting people yet there are now used as generals and they are fighting a war and they are doing something they really weren’t meant to do.They are being corrupted by this war, by being forced to be generals instead of peacemakers. – George Lucas for E! Behind the Scenes - Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith

That’s one of the few times in history when the bad guys were very clearly delineated for us. There really was a fight for survival going on between pretty clearly good guys and bad guys. The story being told in Star Wars is a classic one. Every few hundred years, the story is retold because we have a tendency to do the same things over and over again. Power corrupts, and when you’re in charge, you start doing things that you think are right, but they’re actually not. . – George Lucas

That’s why it’s the duel of the fates, it’s the fate of this child and depending on how this fight goes, Anakin, his life is going to be dramatically different. 

If good and evil are mixed things become blurred - there is nothing between good and evil, everything is grey. In each of us we have balanced these emotions, and in the Star Wars saga the most important point is balance, balance between everything. It is dangerous to lose this. – George Lucas

"So, Qui-Gon loses, of course, so the father figure, he knew what it meant to take this kid away from his mother when he had an attachment and he’s left with Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan trains Anakin at first out of a promise he made to Qui-Gon, not because he cares about him. Obi-Wan trains Anakin at first out of a promise he makes to Qui-Gon, not because he cares about him.

FACT since 1999. We literally see this in the movie.

He stopped his pacing and stared momentarily at nothing, thinking of Qui-Gon Jinn, his Master, his teacher, his friend. He had failed Qui-Gon in life. But he would carry on his work now, honoring him in death by fulfilling his promise to train the boy, no matter what. [Terry Brooks. The Phantom Menace]

When they find Anakin on Tatooine, he says, “I feel like we’ve found another useless lifeform.” He’s comparing Anakin to Jar Jar. And he’s saying, “This is a waste of time. Why are we doing this? Why do you see importance in these creature like Jar Jar Binks and this 10 year old boy? This is useless.”

FACT since 1999.

So he’s a brother to Anakin, eventually, but he’s not a father figure.  

“He is like my brother. I cannot do it.” Obi-wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith.

This, then, is Obi-Wan and Anakin: They are closer than friends. Closer than brothers. Though Obi-Wan is sixteen standard years Anakin’s elder, they have become men together. Neither can imagine life without the other. The war has forged their two lives into one.  [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

[With Ahsoka] I wanted to develop a character who would help Anakin settle down. He's a wild child after [Attack of the Clones]. He and Obi Wan don't get along. So we wanted to look at how Anakin and Ahsoka become friends, partners, a team. When you become a parent or you become a teacher you have to become more respnsible. I wanted to force Anakin into that role of responsibility, into that juxtaposition. I have a couple of daughters so I have experience with that situation. I said instead of a guy let's make her a girl. Teenage girls are just as hard to deal with as teenage boys are. - George Lucas

That’s a failing for Anakin, he doesn’t have the family that he needs. He loses his mother in the next film. He fails on this promise that he made to his mother that 'I will come back and save you.' So he’s left completely vulnerable and Star Wars is ultimately about family.

FACT since 2002.

“Love people. That’s basically all Star Wars is.” — George Lucas

So, that moment in that movie, which a lot of people diminish as a cool lightsaber fight, but it’s everything that the entire three films in the prequels hangs on, is that one particular fight and Maul serves his purpose and at that point died before George brought him back.But he died, showing you how the Emperor is completely self-serving. He doesn’t care, he’s using people and now he’s gonna use this child.

FACT since 1999.

Each Sith has an apprentice, but the problem was, each Sith Lord got to be powerful. And the Sith Lords would try to kill each other because they all wanted to be the most powerful. So in the end they killed each other off, and there wasn’t anything left. So the idea is that when you have a Sith Lord, and he has an apprentice, the apprentice is always trying to recruit somebody to join him — because he’s not strong enough, usually — so that he can kill his master. That’s why I call it a Rule of Two — there’s only two Sith Lords. There can’t be any more because they kill each other. They’re not smart enough to realize that if they do that, they’re going to wipe themselves out. Which is exactly what they did.” George Lucas

Everything that Filoni said has been part of the lore and movies for 20 years now, so I really don’t get why people are so shocked by it. Also, context people! People have been using Disney canon to ‘prove’ Filoni wrong but these movies and the clone wars were written with long before Disney came into play. Filoni, like so many of us, grew up with Star Wars belonging to George and that colors how he look at the franchise and the characters. And don’t get me started on the ‘the EU doesn’t matter’ argument because it absolutely does. 

“And then George Lucas tells me one day, ‘We’re gonna put the Mandalorians in the Clone Wars.'  And I go 'Oh boy. That’s interesting. Cuz, lemme show you this.'  And I move this big pile of material over and I said 'This is everything. This is everything that the Mandalorians are right now.’ And so George and I do what we always do when we come across something that I know exists well in the EU, we go over it all.“ Now, all the history of Mandalore you prior to The Clone Wars it does exists. It absolutely exists.” — Dave Filoni

There’s actual behind the scenes footage of Filoni and George Lucas working on The Clone Wars and checking the EU to keep everything as cohesive as possible. The guy literately had thousands of conversations with George Lucas – the guy who actually created Star Wars – about these characters but somehow people are now trashing him because he said they should’ve know already?

Look, anyone who knows me know I’m not a Filoni stan but I believe in respecting people’s work and giving credit where credit is due even when I don’t agree with them 100%. If they don’t like his take, fine, that’s their right but please tone down the outrage fest because it’s entirely unjustified (and, to be completely honest, a little desperate for validation). He’s an actual person, not a fictional character there for you to hate or stan.

There’s a lot I don’t agree with it in this life but I don’t go around attacking real people and their jobs. But maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised, considering the people going after Filoni are the same people who have not problem whatsoever with star wars authors receiving death and rape threats.

[lab-partners]

Okay, okay, so a lot of people seemed upset about poly! Entrapta, but look at it this way. Setting aside the robot relationship part (cuz come on, no one liked that), image Entrapta in a poly relationship with Hordak and Wrong Hordak. The level of fuckery Hordak would have to put up with; the adorable headcannon potential. It would be sweet and HILARIOUS.

Yeah, okay, you know? I really don't like that.

I'd actually prefer Entrapta having a thing with some robots to her being poly with Hordak and Wrong Hordak. Not saying I like the idea of her doing things with her robots because... ehhh it just feels wrong, but still.

First off, I definitely never got any romantic or sexual messages from their interaction. It feels a lot more like he's her child, or little brother (not in a clone way) rather than a romantic interest.

That said, even if that weren't the case, I really dislike the idea of Entrapta dating Hordak, a defective clone who clearly has self-image issues, and a completely perfect clone. I mean, how would Hordak feel about that? It makes me think he'd constantly get the message that he isn't good enough, that his imperfections are actually a problem because Entrapta still wants to be with what is essentially a better version of himself.

Honestly, I personally think he'd feel this way about anyone if Entrapta were to be poly and dated someone else, but especially another clone. It just rubs me the wrong way on so many levels.

She can be poly, of course! I don't have issues with that in itself at all. But I really, really don't like the idea of her actually practicing that, because it just wouldn't work with Hordak, in my opinion. He'd get jealous and start doubting himself, and he deserves better.

But this is just what I think. Everyone can have their opinions and their ships; this includes Noelle. The show is over and nothing is canon anymore. I just wish she'd at least try not to give her Catradora stans more reason to attack us, because she definitely is aware of all the harrassment going on and makes no effort to correct it, but oh well. I guess the world has bigger problems right now than who Entrapta ends up dating.

(I do like the idea of Hordak having to put up with Entrapta and Wrong Hordak's frienship though. They don't need to be dating for that to be hilarious!)

[joy1579]

the RFA reacting to MC listening to creepy pasta

I’ll admit its been a while since i listened to any new creepypasta so these are pretty old ones but i figured since they arent mine and i dont really name them in most cases i should like them  jumin - russian sleep experiment yoosung - rapid blink (a my little pony grim dark fanfiction) saeyoung - the man who ate newborns zen -  mr. widemouth  and  dear abbey jaehee - to be honest i cant remember this ones title it was really good and i cant find it anymore so if anyone knows it send it my way cuz i only heard it once at a live reading at sanjapan I’d love to hear it again though

Jumin 

·        You were listening while knitting in his home office

·        He was working at his desk and paying no attention to the voice playing from your phone

·        Absently he comments that the piano background music was pleasant

·        You smile because of course that’s the part he notices.

·        As the story goes on you two sit in amicable silence listening to the story

·        Then a sickening crunch rings through the air and you see Jumin grimace out of the corner of your eye

·        “darling? Was that your story?”

·        “huh? Oh yes it was.”

·        “that sounded sickening” and indeed he was a little pale though you may have missed it if you didn’t know him so well

·        You tried to stifle your laugh “yeah I think it was supposed to be the character’s arm being crushed.”

·        “what?”

·        “you weren’t listening to the story were you?”

·        “I listened to the music”

·        “here you should listen to this next one it’s my favorite.” You said moving to sit in his lap as you began the next video

·        “its about this scientific experiment, where they locked people up and didn’t let them sleep. Eventually they end up going crazy. They mutilate and cannibalize themselves, super creepy.” You explained excitedly

·        He looked at you concerned for a moment before speaking

·        “is this what you were discussing with my new assistant yesterday before we went to lunch”

·        “yes! Actually she’s even more into it than I am she gave me some good suggestions.”

  Yoosung

·        “Puppy? I’m gonna run to the convenience store real quick okay?”

·        He leaned back in his computer chair to look at you upside down as you stood behind him

·        “okay MC! oh if they have honey”

·        “I know yoosungie I’ll grab you some if they have them!” you said leaning over him to kiss his nose “love you. I’ll be back soon.”

·        You grabbed your purse and headed out the door

·        A few minutes after you had left Yoosung noticed you had left you phone

·        Picking it up he noticed the quiet words that came from the headphones

·        Curious he put on the headphones and began to listen

·        It was a fanfiction. He recognized the characters from a show you watched every Saturday.

·        A cute reboot of a cartoon from your childhood hi figured the story would follow the same plotlines of friendship and togetherness

·        But as he listened it took a darker turn

·        The main character was trapped, stuck with no resources aside from the occasional clone of herself that spawned into whatever hellscape she was trapped in

·        Yoosung was horrified listening to the story describe how the broken and desperate character would slaughter her clone to build necessities in a hopeless search for escape.

·        By the time you got back he was in tears hugging your plush version of the character

·        You rushed to comfort him and saw what he had listened to

·        “oh puppy I’m so sorry I didn’t think you’d listen to my grimdark fiction!

·        “why do YOU listen to it?!? I thought you liked that show because it was cute!”

·        “I do! It’s so cute. But I like the horror stories to. The contrast is, it’s fun.” You explained gently combing your fingers through his hair

·        “it actually makes me think of you puppy” you say absently as you feel him starting to calm down

·        “what?!?!?!” he cried shooting up from your arms in an instant

·        “well your so cute and I love that your cute, but you can also be tough like when you went to the hacker’s headquarters for me. Your cute and manly, like that show is cute and can be scary. Your everything I love.” You explained

 Saeyoung 

-        He knew you liked creepy pasta he had seen your YouTube history

-        What he didn’t know was that you had it downloaded on your phone to listen to as you fell asleep

-        So when the silence of Rikas apartment is broken by the squeal of car breaks and shattering glass he was justifiably terrified

-        He was busting through the bedroom door to check on you

-        But all he saw was you halfway off the bed mid lunge for your phone

-        he watched you finish your tumble to the floor fumbling with your phone to stop the story that was playing

-        You looked embarrassed and a little sleep addled

-        “Sorry I thought I took that one out of my playlist”

-        He stood stock still for a moment

-        “I didn’t mean to scare you sorry! It should have been deleted its way to loud I think I did something wrong when I downloaded it.”

-        “what? MC was that your phone?” he asked confused

-        “yeah its um it’s the, the story where the guy tries to kidnap the new born but gets in a car crash, hence you know the um screech crash clang. Sorry”

-        His back hit the wall and he slid to the floor wearily

-        “MC you’re going to be the death of me”

-        “um I, I got it off my playlist this time.” You offer “I think.” You add under your breath

-        He held out his hand to you and you sheepishly placed you phone in his hands quickly he tapped away before handing your phone back to you

-        “thanks” you say softly crawling to sit beside him on the floor

-        “so living with a bomb, and being hunted by a hacker isn’t spooky enough for you? You’ve gotta listen to scary stories too?” he asked tiredly

-        “well the bomb and the hacker, they aren’t scary if you’re here. I mean even if the worst happens I think it would be okay cuz I got to meet you”

-        He groaned and let his head fall to his knees

-        “you really are going to kill me aren’t you” he said as you saw his ears turn pink

 Zen

-        Zen thought You were adorable literally just the cutest thing possible

-        That’s why he was shocked when one of his cast member who was a big horror fan mentioned a scary internet story and you immediately jumped into the conversation

-        “mr. creepypasta? Or creepypasta jr. ?” you asked

-        “Oh mr. creepypasta! I didn’t think you’d listen to creepypasta which ones your favorite?” the cast member asked

-        “nothing beats “MR.Widemouth” for me gotta love a monster that tries to make you do his dirty work for him”

-        “oh definitely but I like “dear Abby” myself that one is chilling

-        You spent the rest of the shoot chatting with him quietly at the far side of the studio so you two didn’t disturb the shooting

-        Zen had to admit it was getting to him

-        You were HIS girlfriend why didn’t he know about this interest of yours.

-        And why were you so happily chatting with another guy about it

-        He confronts you on the way home

-        “I knew you weren’t into it Zenny it’s not a big deal”

-        “you talked to him all day MC. you know I’d listen to you right? Even if it’s not my thing why didn’t you tell me?”

-        “here how about we do a spa night tonight and I’ll show you my favorite so you don’t feel left out next time”

-        He chuckled and kissed your temple

-        “well I can’t turn down my princess can I”

-        So that night you ran a bath for the both of you

-        You leaned against his chest and each did a facemask as you queued up the playlist on your phone

-        You could feel him tense at every sound effect and could hear him grimace at the stories more gruesome details

-        You chuckled a bit before saying “zenny you don’t have to listen to them you know”

-        “just, why are they all so dark?”

-        “because that’s the point their supposed to be spooky”

-        He tried he really did. He listened until you two where drying off after the relaxing soak

-        He sighed dejectedly “you were right jagi it really isn’t my thing” he said as he toweled your hair dry

-        “but you tried and that means so much to me babe” you said leaning up to steal a kiss from him

 Jaehee

-        She knew about them but she wasn’t a fan of horror

-        So she had never paid any attention to those videos as she browsed the internet

-        And she certainly didn’t expect to walk into the café one morning before opening to you pulling a cake out of the oven and listening to a deep voice graphically describing a head wound

-        “MC what on earth are you listening to?”

-        “it’s a creepypasta!” you chirped brightly

-        “those scary stories from youtube” she questioned further as she made her way around the counter

-        “yeah in this one this guys tries to cure his depression but cutting out a chunk of his own brain”

-        “that’s awfull” she exclaimed

-        “well yeah. It doesn’t end to well for him either”

-        “of course not!” She said shaking her head as she tied her apron on to help you prepare to open the café.

-        The day went on fairly normally but as you closed she turned to you

-        “that story, it’s not true.”

-        You looked at her a little confused before nodding “of course not”

-        “no one could survive that” she muttered to herself

-        “no one” you agreed growing more puzzled by the second

-        “how could people even come up with something so awful” she asked you setting a broom to the side

-        “I don’t know? Jaehee are you okay?” you ask looking her in the eyes

-        “I, yes MC I’m fine. The details in that story simply shook me up I suppose”

-        You were careful from then on about listening to your stories only with headphones

-        Jaehee wasn’t weak by any stretch of the imagination, but if something made her uncomfortable than you weren’t going to push it.

-        You loved her after all

[thefudge]

‘aight i saw this movie finally (the pirated version, cuz i dont shill anymore) and

it was okay. chaotic and uncoordinated and clearly unplanned - i mean it reeks of “throw everything at the screen because we’re out of time” - but i enjoyed parts of it and i can see a good movie buried under all of this lost potential. in order to make TROS good, however, you’d have to rewrite the whole trilogy. you’d also have to rethink this world. i think the folks in charge committed a “prequels” error in thinking that the universe of star wars matters more than its characters. so you got all these kooky planets and alien species, and you’ve got side-quests and a dozen new characters/creatures, added without forethought or real stakes, just to show us how big the star wars playground is. whereas, going to a new location should be about the characters first, and the location second. lucas did the same in the prequels: crammed every frame with a million things because he had a thirst for his own universe, but at least he was passionate. disney is just calculated. 

i do think this movie’s better than the prequels lol, it’s just that it could have been proper good if they didn’t try to appease the fans so much and play it safe. i’ve written about kylo/ben’s death in other posts and what i think about his character. as for rey “palpatine”, ehhh. in the context of the movie i give them points for trying their best to sell it, but it would have been far FAR more powerful if she really was nobody. if you wanted a compromise, she could’ve been palpatine’s experiment or a clone, and that would’ve made her “nobody”, while also his creation. but i would’ve preferred it if she really had nothing to do with all of this BS. because a) it’s obvious they didn’t plan rey palpatine from the start, and b) if they did, it was very poor storytelling. the palpatine reveal should’ve happened in the second movie so that rey could actually react to it, so that the conflict about her dark lineage could be explored in depth. TLJ!rey seemed at peace with finding out she’s nobody, like that was her closure. to retcon that in the 3rd movie just because some folks didn’t like TLJ is cowardly. if they really wanted to do rey palpatine, they should’ve committed to it. idk which reviewer mentioned smth about how rey’s past ultimately was more important for these people than rey herself. they invested so much in this “secret” that they kind of forgot about her as a person. i wish these movies weren’t just her running around, mouth agape, chasing this illusory secret. TFA!rey, before she got dragged into this legacy shit, was far more interesting. rey skywalker is also just...really weak. i get what they were going for thematically, but again, the stronger message would’ve been: “i’m rey. just rey”. earlier she gave the same answer to that little girl in “burning man” village, but feeling sort of ashamed about it. now at the end she should’ve said it proudly. “i’m rey, just rey, and that’s enough.” but what do i know. old lady sigh

i liked some of the action sequences and the indie “a new hope” vibe of the resistance. i didn’t like the side-trips and all the macguffins, kerri russel’s character was...really unnecessary, i’m sorry, janna was fine, at least she made more sense in the story. and rose was shafted because of racist assholes on the internet. OLD LADY SIGH.

i liked the reylo interactions and their saber fights (when she stabbed him with his own saber? noiiiiice), but i think it would’ve been cooler if they’d kissed during one of those fights, actually. the kiss at the end was nice...but as always with these two, it felt very kindergarten to me. i’ve complained elsewhere that they keep making them act like uwu shy space babies. i would’ve liked a hate/love kiss mid-battle and for them to pull back sort of shocked but unrepentant. a lot of their fights had that kind of UST and i think that’s where they should’ve capitalized on it. but i guess that’s too sexy for disney. OLD LADY SIGH. i would’ve preferred a more sober moment at the end, like touching foreheads as he dies or smth, because lol it was inadvertently funny how quickly he died after they kissed, the tonal dissonance was aaall over the place. 

OH and finn/poe’s dynamic in this movie was weirdly belligerent and i didnt get it. maybe because these two didn’t get to spend enough time together in TFA or TLJ to set this up, but having them act like #married rebel veterans who’ve been together for years and resent each other was...weird. they jumped into this snippy, almost aggressive banter waaay too fast. i know folks think they should’ve let them be gay, and while i would not be opposed since they have a lot of chemistry....i...actually....maybe....ship finn with rey more.

yes folks, this movie actually made me ship finnrey more. 

i think it’s the fact that they finally addressed force-sensitive finn, although they did it in a pretty lame fashion. but at least they did (there were many missed opportunities where finn could’ve acted on his force-sensitivity. that scene where rey and kylo both wrestle-levitate that ship in the sky...and finn just watches from the sidelines...instead of trying to control it too...OLD LADY SIGH). anyway, rey and finn’s connection within the force was subtle and i liked it. i liked the unspoken yearning between them that felt a bit more mature here than in previous films. the final 2019 twist is that i’m tentatively back on finnrey (2015 me also liked them but i quickly lost interest when finn was infantilized and then put into a coma...). 

i DIDN’T like that finn/rose was totally forgotten (not a pair i ship but rose nearly died for him...wtf). and i also don’t think the finn/rey/poe trio works...as a trio. there was this painful scene towards the beginning of the movie where poe and rey started levelling playful insults at each other and it was awwwwfuuuuul. it felt like recycled marvel humor. and it got worse when it was the three of them bantering. they could have been a really fun trio if they had actually spent more time together in previous movies. here it felt really forced, sorry. 

oh yeah, the chewie medallion scene...less painful than i thought it would be. chewie mourning leia, though? oooouch, i felt that. probably only really heartfelt moment in this movie (i’ve written elsewhere how i think the ben/han moment was robbed of its weight, though i can see why people love it). 

in terms of comedy, though, hux’s death has to be number one.

anyway! glad this is over and done with. maybe now they’ll start telling star wars stories that don’t always involve the “empire” and the rebels or the fkin skywalkers. here’s to hoping. 

and whew, thank god for fanfics

[maxinajar]

Right fuckers, here we go. Imma go through all the points on that list of plot points VLD forgot about and say my thoughts on/ explain what I know of each of them:

Why Haggar was interested in Shiro - ya, they never really did explain that did they? I think it was meant to be that he was a strong warrior and the galra like that? But it wasn’t really explained and that was kinda a letdown

Shiro’s Illness - yes, what was it. Vld explain!

Cloning - I- just why? Why was cloning a plot point if you were only gonna use it once? Please? Explain?

Kosmo - Honestly, I luv this dog a lot, but seriously you can’t just have him appear. Explain him at least a little. We don't want a whole backstory, just one or two lines explaining him.

Keith’s turning Galra once and only once - I think this one's importance was mostly due to the fandom being way too focused on what the show obviously felt was insignificant. Though I do wish it was brought up at least once more.

How different species are biologically compatible - Honestly, I don't think this one is important. Lots of shows don't bother to explain this and it doesn't detract from anything, its just y’all being petty.

How Keith could sense blue - Yeah, please explain. Cuz that's kinda important. You could have just had like Lance or something sense blue. But you chose Keith, why?

Haggar’s appearing and disappearing maternal instincts - this one was just kinda annoying. If you are going to give a character a certain trait, at least make it consistent or give us a concrete reason for why it's inconsistent.

Why aren’t planets round?  - Were there any not round planets? Can someone send me pics? Cuz if there were, VLD that's just plain wrong.

The second colony - You don't just get to make something super important to the plot and then never explain it at all. That's just really fucking lazy writing. Especially since you only brought it up in season 6, so you can't say that you forgot about it.

What Matt saw in Sam Holts cell - So, this is another one that I think was just the fandom focusing too much on minor details. I personally think it was him reacting to the empty cell. But if there was something in there, Vld tell us what it was.

“Another [human]” mentioned in the opening minutes - Um, forgive me but I do not remember this. Then again it has been a while since I watched the beginning of Voltron, so please someone like send me screenshots or something.

Lance’s Sword - Yes, I wanted to see more of his sword. And the other bayards upgrades. Very few of them got upgrades and when they did they used them maybe only once or twice.

What are the blue lions preferred paladin traits - Yeah, I was kinda upset that they never told us. I was even trying to find any similar personality traits between all the blue paladins, but there really weren’t any I could find in regards to Allura. This is something they could have talked about again in the Lion Switch ep.

Voltron Coalitions distrust of working alongside the galra - is this one referring to the little bits of distrust we get that was never really explored and kinda felt like they pushed it to the side although it should have been a big issue. Cuz yeah, that was stupid.

How Alfor even knew about the Sincline Comet - It landed on Zarkon’s planet. Literally, right on his planet. Of course Alfor would know about it. He was best buds with Zarkon. All of the old paladins were friends before Voltron existed.

The implied sentience of the MFE ships - I never noticed that so I can't really comment.

Keith’s entire thing on quintessence sensing - Again, fandoms fault for focusing on small details that weren’t meant to add up to anything.

“Allura my only child” Alfor why you gotta specify only child like that - Because he only had one child.

Keith's dad's name - yeah, I kinda wanted to know that too. Probably they didn't say anything cuz the fandom had already gotten attached to other names. Or they just didn't think of him as important.

All of the clone subplot - Yep, never explained or returned to. Lazy writers not having a story actually planned out.

Shiro's Bayard form - Stupid Stupid Stupid Let Us See Him Use a Fucking Bayard you Cowards!

Altean Alchemy and its plot holes - Please explain everything to do with altean alchemy. How Honerva could topple the entire galra empire by herself but all of Altea couldn't defend themselves despite Honerva being an altean alchemist, something I would assume there are more of on Altea.

What is Voltron - Yeah, what happened to the Universes Strongest weapon? It literally got its ass beat in almost every battle.

Lotor - Please, you did this boy dirty the least you could do is give us more backstory.

Lance’s insecurities/ homesickness - while not a pronounced as they are in fanon, it was still clear that lance had insecurities surrounding him being a paladin and he wanted to go home. All that was starting to just disappear around the halfway point of Season 7 and completely got thrown out the window in season 8. What the fuck VLD, you need character consistency.

Found Family plot - missed opportunity you threw out for a half-assed love story that demeaned to characters and pretty much guaranteed you for failure, are you happy that you did what pretty much every other show in existence does?

Shiro - His character was pretty much not expanded on at all throughout the entire show. The most character development he got since the first two seasons was the first episode of season 7, nothing else. He is so boring but he could have been so much more.

The Holt family - please don't focus so much on this family when you push your main characters to the side and refuse to give them legitimate character development.

Sendak's obsession with Shiro - don’t change it, just give us some reason why.

What happened to Narti - Yeah, she was possessed by Haggar through her connection to the cat, and then Lotor killed her in order to guarantee the safety of the rest of his crew and his mission.

That's all I’m gonna do for now cuz I'm salty.

Link to the post I got this stuff from, there is more but I just couldn't continue it right now. I will continue this post later tho.

https://galtean-gf.tumblr.com/post/181565556929/grand-list-of-plot-points-dropped-or-not-explored

[whattheklance]

The rest of my season 6 thoughts

OHMYGOSH

what a season

WHAT a season

the next chunk of writing, right below here, was from when i was on the episodes I was talking about before I finished them all

KEITH IS TALLER THAN LANCE after two years

ALSO that means Keith is 21 now, even if no time has passed for everyone else.

man. i think the only reason Lance was "oh look keith's back" was mostly his bitterness over lotor and allura. it's like that bitterness revived his original behavior around Keith from the beginning. even if keith is acting different.

I wouldn't have even thought or noticed Keith was bigger or had grown if fucking LANCE hadn't pointed it out. of course lance is the first and only one to notice. not even in person but via a screen

i also forgot about the cliffhanger already that keith and krolia had found an altean. that d&d episode kinda wiped it from my brain.

and lotor had me fooled too.

though before i started watching i had read someone's post who pointed out how much lotor always told the truth but would lie through omission. not sharing any details that would paint him in a negative light.

is the tenderness he's expressed with allura also part of the lie?? cuz that seemed so genuine.

OHHHHH MYGOSH OHMYGOSH

one of my theories was RIGHT. that the shiro who returned to earth was ALSO a clone!!!

when keith first walked into that room with pods, my FIRST thought was "are all of those Shiros????"

AND OHMYGOSH they were.

when i saw the title of this episode was "the black paladins" my first thought was "does this mean not only keith and shiro, but MULTIPLE shiros will be in this episode???" AND YES. ugh yes.

i don't care that i was right. cuz this was like one of HALF A DOZEN theories i came up with.

i think original shiro NEVER returned to earth

which possibly means that haggar let the blades release A shiro because 1) it wasn't the real one and 2)she might have always intended him to be a paladin.

but i am REALLY attached to the clone shiro we got to know and love and I PRAY that we get to see him again.

and i jumped to a conclusion too quick up there. though a theory of mine was STILL RIGHT, a slight variation on what i just said. I know I have an old post where I theorized that Shiro disappeared because he BECAME ONE WITH THE BLACK LION

AND OHMYGOSH THATS WHAT HAPPENED

it's funny. there was a huge theory going around that something like that could happen to lance and the blue lion, even though there weren't really any solid grounds to think that would happen. But that's what happened to Shiro.

After Keith talked to Shiro and truly bonded with the Black Lion thanks to him. I thought we'd have to say goodbye to Shiro it REALLY felt like he wouldn't be coming back. Like we'd lost him already back in season 2.

and then them having to sacrifice the castle of lions, their home away from home. was even more loss on top of that.

so when we got Allura putting Shiro's spirit from the Black Lion into the clone's body. My heart was swelling. I was so relieved. And I like that it turned his hair all the way white. kinda like when Gandalf the Grey "came back from the dead" as Gandalf the White.

There were SO MANY wonderful beats in this season. Lots of signs of REALLY great storytelling

But I can't help but feel like someone took the great story the team wanted to tell and condensed it way too much. You can still see the elements of what they planned, but lots of important parts felt too rushed

We already know that netflix or dreamworks mandate forced them to bring shiro back a whole season sooner than the creators wanted to. I can't help but wonder what other mandates happened that limited their plans.

The WHOLE Shiro story was a thrilling concept and had some good beats in it. But it also happened a little too fast. Like, Lance's interactions with Shiro in season 5, I felt like that should have led somewhere instead of being dismissed. Even if they wanted the betrayal to seemingly come out of nowhere and surprise the team the way it did, they could've had Lance travel a little ways towards the truth, but have something happen that causes him to dismiss it. It also would’ve amplified his grief upon the betrayal happening, like he could’ve prevented it.

hell even clone shiro. Gonna call him Kuro from now on. He suspected something was wrong. That’s why I thought we were going to get SOME kind of investigation/test, even if it was limited to one episode ANYTHING. i would’ve taken ANYTHING of that nature.

I really wanted Kuro to have some sort of agency beyond his programming. For him to possibly get redeemed or something. I mean, he resisted. He wanted to resist before Haggar forced control. But in the end he was just a device for conflict, and a deus ex machina to resurrect real Shiro. kinda bummed we didn’t get any other clone shiros beyond the sleeping ones in the pods. I liked the idea of a shiro army, good or evil. But maybe they were just empty husks to be used by haggar when one breaks.

It'd be awesome if this wasn't the end of their story, and Shiro in the new body actually had Kuro's voice in his head or something, kinda like 80's Rogue in the x-men with Ms.Marvel's voice in her head. But sadly, it kinda of feels like this is the end of the Shiro Clone Saga.

More on the whole rushing good plot points. The whole reveal of Lotor's true nature with Keith returning. It felt very abrupt, and it didn't help having the D&D episode separating the cliffhanger of Keith and Krolia finding an Altean and the reveal.

Still, even though it all happened faster than I wished, all the beats with the Keith vs Shiro, and Keith discovering real Shiro and unlocking the Black Lion, and even his two year time gap, experience with the Blade and with his mother, crafted him into a confidant fighter who could finally take the lead in voltron, vastly opposite of his pre-blade self. I feel like this character arc, even though it was still too brief init of itself, makes up for some of the lost development from when Shiro should've been gone longer. We wanted to see the new team develop more than we got to. So it was really satisfying seeing them come together now, and feeling like we really saw Keith transform since he last piloted the Black Lion. Even though we had a long keith shortage with seasons 4 and 5, they still managed to have key episodes that developed his arc that led him to who he became in the finale.

though i'm relieved we got original shiro back, i feel like his being brought back was rushed too. Like, I get how that type of scene feels right for a season finale, especially with the fight and losing the castle of lions, but I wish there was more time and development between Keith's discovery of him and his actual return at the end.

KEITH GOT THE GALRA mark from his straining to hold onto his life and Kuro's. I almost was expecting him to fully transform into a galra form of his own. Maybe that's in his future, cuz I think everyone wants to see something like that. I hope the gang comments on his mark in the next episode (did anybody get Star Trek (2009) reboot vibes in that scene?? i feel like there was a scene with Kirk and Sulu that was very similar action-wise with the whole collapsing planet-to-space structure)

Man, so this season Lance had to deal with his Allura feelings and losing her to Lotor. Then Allura had to deal with having her heart broken from falling for Lotor then learning how she was used. Ever since Lance faced his feelings he hasn't been the flirt towards Allura anymore. I hope it stays that way. I love Lance and I love Allura, but I really hope the writers don't take us a romantic route. Like if they did start to do something like that, I'd keep my fingers crossed that its purpose would be to show one or both of them that they aren't right for each other. Like, try to get together only to hilariously fail and decide against it. like Rachel and Joey in friends.

They didn't do anything with Allura presumably learning Lance's feelings from the mice. i’m surprised. i was a little worried when that happened. again, i feel like that not becoming anything could also be a sign of omitted story points.

THEY'RE FUCKING GOING HOME

and i can't help but think how we have seen neither hide nor hair of Sendak's coalition since the episode they fought and ran. They're fully functioning. a huge danger. And I remember reading a meta post after last season talking about how sendak understands better than anyone that to beat voltron is to threaten innocents lives, and to ultimately defeat voltron he'd threaten their home planet. A planet incapable of defending itself against galra tech. He even re-demonstrated those tactics AGAIN this season with the galra shield base. As if to remind us he does that...for next season. where the gang goes home only to find sendak's taken earth or something. or at least has a blockade to threaten it.

this season seriously delivered. Razor's Edge, I stand by as being the best episode of the series thus far. But man The Black Paladins episode was on par with Keith's Blade of Marmora reveal episode in season 2, which I put in the top 5.

Good season, despite the fact that possible executive mandates possibly limiting the writing all around felt VERY visible. Even if it's never confirmed for the things I felt were rushed. I feel like I can see that it’s there. I feel like I can see the story they want to tell, and then everywhere I feel was rushed was like an artificial constraint that forced them to cut something out of the story they want to tell.

Cuz it feels like, from the sheer quality of beats within the characters' arcs, anyone, who could craft what we've already seen, would understand the appropriate amount of story needed to properly depict it, and do it justice, but it's like someone who doesn't have the same understanding has told them to make it shorter, cuz reasons. And that’s how we got the end result

PS. i wonder if Kuro’s sheer blandness as Shiro playing D&D was a reflection of his programming. He couldn’t be inventive or imaginative, and his sole purpose was to be a paladin, to infiltrate, so that’s what he chose every time, constantly the same character. Cuz I feel like real Shiro wouldn’t play the same way. Of course it was funnier having that kind of character, but I really think that might’ve been for that purpose.

[cyb-by-lang]

OSF AU - All the Little Children (7/?)

Part 7: Wherein we have a small time lapse, another terrible parent appears, and a pack of preteens consider preventative measures.

Content Warnings: Jerks threatening children, violence, aftereffects of child abuse.

Fū ran.

It wasn’t the way she liked to travel. It wasn’t even her third favorite way of getting around, not really, but she’d figured out fast that flying where normal people could see her was a bad idea. It was an even worse idea in Gray Terminal, where every fifth person was either one of Naruto’s informants or desperate enough to take a shot at her.

And one of Naruto’s clones had sent out the call.

“The others are in trouble!”

Fū didn’t get any more details than that. She knew Naruto had been spending more time with the ASL group—brothers, now—and trying to train them up for the next appearance of the evil old grandpa, and Gaara had too. Heck, she’d been planning on hunting down a bear and presenting it for dinner once everyone got back from stealing things.

Only something was wrong, and her boys needed backup.

A series of Naruto’s clones led her deeper and deeper into the dump, ducking past passive piles of trash that were probably older than she was. Every thirty meters, a puff of smoke or a pointing finger would let her know where she had to go. With Chōmei bouncing in the sling on her back, a knife in each hand, and a burning anger in her gut, Fū was ready for a fight.

A Naruto clone appeared out of nowhere, looking like a beggar. But no beggar had his birthmarks, stretching across each cheek. “Hang on, Fū.”

“What’s going on?” she hissed, even as she let him pull her through a more complicated route among the trash heaps.

“There’s like a million city guards there, not to mention a pirate crew,” Naruto’s clone whispered back, “and enough of ‘em have guns that we’re waiting on Gaara.”

Fū frowned. Naruto’s clones weren’t bulletproof. At times like this, a little detail like that was a lot more important than it should’ve been. Still, as she felt the slight roll of the dirt underneath them, she knew it couldn’t be that long before Gaara acted. He’d gotten a lot better at making “trained” fighters cry since they’d started really training together, because he didn’t want to ever end up being beaten up by Garp again.

Heck, that was why Fū had knives now.

“The original me is with them over there,” the clone went on. “So we’re gonna do this hard and fast, and on cue.”

Fū gave this some thought, then peeked out at the crowd surrounding their friends. With Ace and Luffy on the ground, and Sabo held in the air by one of the scruffy-looking pirate guys, Naruto didn’t have enough leeway just yet. Not with a gun pointed at his head.

“All right,” Fū said quietly, “but can I call dibs on the big guy with the busted teeth?”

“Bluejam?” The clone crouched under a piece of what looked like canvas. “We don’t care. Just don’t touch the big top hat guy. That’s Sabo’s dad, and we need to give him a piece of our minds.”

Fū nodded, stalking around the base of the trash heap. Wait, if she could get a good vantage point… Frowning in determination, she turned and started to slowly climb up the side of the heap like it was some kind of fortified hill. There was definitely enough junk here and there to count as enemy traps, but she still clambered right up to the top.

Naruto’s clone popped below her, but everything else was so loud that no one else would’ve noticed.

And though Fū hated it, she stayed still while Sabo’s jerk of a dad said all kinds of terrible things about Ace, Luffy, and Naruto. She tried her best to keep her eyes on the back of his head as he talked, even when one of the pirates hit Ace hard enough to splat blood almost a meter away. Even when Bluejam threatened to kill everyone.

“Sand Drizzle,” said Gaara’s voice, as his favorite jutsu material ripped its way out of the ground and grabbed everyone’s legs to keep them from moving.

While the sand flowed and the adults in the area wasted time asking questions or yelling, Gaara stepped forward from behind another mountain of trash with his hands making the Bird seal. The sand near a few people’s legs exploded in a shower of blood and bits, and Naruto, Ace, and Luffy could finally get to their feet as their captors were a lot more busy screaming.

“Nice timing, Gaara,” Naruto said amid the noise, before reaching up and idly swiping a spot of blood from his cheek. When he saw the mess, he flinched. “Shit, was that really necessary?”

“If people try to kill my friends, they die,” Gaara responded in a low voice. “It’s an easy choice.”

Fū stood up on top of the heap, barely holding back from recreating Chōmei’s wings. With one quick leap, she landed just next to Sabo’s shoulder as sand snaked up to encase all of the Bluejam Pirates and the city guards. He’d grown a little bit in the last few months, but only just barely reached her shoulder if she ignored his hat. But his shoulders were unbowed.

“Sabo, make them cease this at once!” Sabo’s father shouted, looking down at his son like he’d never seen him before.

“Gaara,” Sabo said, while Fū rested her hand on his shoulder. “Do you want to let them go?”

Gaara blinked slowly, his green eyes focusing in their direction. “Do I look like a merciful person?”

“No,” Sabo admitted, “but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to be.”

Ace, after concussing the pirates who’d been holding him and Luffy hostage, strode up to where Fū, Sabo, and Gaara were thinking. Naruto and Luffy followed in his wake, but Ace spoke first, “Sabo, you were gonna sacrifice yourself, weren’t you? When he threatened us just a second ago?”

“…If—If I could make sure you were all safe and free, I’d give up everything,” Sabo replied, looking up at what he could see of his father’s face. The man was almost entirely buried in Gaara’s sand by now, with his ears blocked and only his eyes and nose still showing. “I-I’d even go back to…him.”

“But you don’t have to!” Luffy latched onto Sabo’s waist, resting his chin against Sabo’s stomach. “Right?”

“No. Not ‘cuz of him, and not this guy either.” Naruto scowled. Naruto said in a low voice, glancing over at the captive pirate. “Bluejam’s the toughest pirate around here. So… Fū?”

Fū clenched her fists, walked right up to the big, smug jerk who’d been threatening to make Naruto and Ace and Luffy disappear, and kicked him square in the chin even through Gaara’s sand. Her second kick was a roundhouse that made Bluejam’s head whip around to the side, spitting more teeth he couldn’t really afford to lose.

It didn’t make her feel any better.

But she’d called the first attack. And no one hurt her friends.

“Don’t think he’s gonna be a problem anymore,” Ace said, scowling. He hefted his pipe. “But I can make sure they don’t follow us just as well as Gaara can.”

“Thorough of you,” said a totally new voice, which made all of them freeze. “But not necessary.”

All of them looked up slowly, to where a strange woman sat on an overturned mattress. She was dressed in a jacket and loose pants that didn’t look like they’d come from anywhere near Gray Terminal, with a sword hilt poking over each shoulder Her hair was jet-black and shoulder-length, unruly enough to almost cover the diagonal scar running across her face. Her expression was ice-cold, eyes glowing amber in the midday light, and the spiky-shelled creature on her lap had a glare that matched it. And three separate tails.

“Isobu!” squeaked three separate Tailed Beast voices.

“Kei-sensei?” Fū heard Naruto say, but as though from a long way off.

Fū trembled.

Gekkō Keisuke. The Tidal Blade. Butcher and war machine, and a living nightmare Shibuki had always told her to run from rather than fight. And she was already well within striking distance.

[saltghosts]

It’s been a ride, clone club

No matter what kind of bonkers shit orphan black might do in it's finale, I would not be the same person without it. I think Season 1 and 2 are the last time I felt so much enthusiasm and excitement and amusement about anything and it's all thanks to the fandom, which make up a majority of the people I follow (I can tell because of the mass cloneclub follow sprees back in the day and everyone keeps  migrating to fandoms for shows I don't watch lmao) I've never been apart of such a energetic and silly fandom, and at the beginning it was like a force to be reckoned with. A meme force, specifically. I have an entire blog dedicated to all of the memes from this fandom and I'm sure if I looked back on a lot of them I would be bewildered and a little confused. But who cares, it was so damn FUN. Pure, unadulterated fun. Everybody was happy and supportive and having a good time, and most everyone was some form of LGBT+

 I was already questioning when I started watching orphan black,cuz I was fresh out of my x files phase and dana scully was a real challenge to my seemingly heterosexual ass. But orphan black and clone club made it so much easier to come to terms with my sexuality because I felt safe being surrounded by so many people who weren’t straight. I always doubted myself because I believed that to be gay you had to kind of know instinctively and it needed to be obvious, and I felt like an impostor for thinking I could possibly be anything but straight. But then, Delphine went through a journey where she didn't realize she was bi until she met cosima, and she realized it was just something she never considered for herself. She fell for a girl and that was that, it didn't have to be complicated at all, and MAN, was that helpful to me! Cophine was probably the first femslash ship that I got heavily invested in, and despite its faults it will always hold something special for me in ways that I can't even describe, it just has a magical energy about it. It also has some extremely talented fic writers and fan artists and the Never Home Girl by @thecirclesquare will still be the greatest fic i’ve ever read to this day and I hope it succeeds in getting published. Bless you guys

I have complicated feelings about how John and Graeme have run this show and the story, as has been made very clear by my various salt posts. I don’t know how i’ll be feeling this time tomorrow when we finally see how this ends once and for all. I will likely be disappointed, but honestly, that’s the best case scenario imo. I would rather be disappointed than furious lol. No matter how jaded i’ve become, I truly do think this show is pretty fantastic, all things considered. It’s really well made and directed, and it has such a specific style that always fills me with a sense of satisfaction, even when the writing is all over the damn place. Overall, the appeal of the show is all of the wonderful, dynamic characters that propel this journey forward, and that’s always been what I cared about the most. The cast is phenomenal and Tatiana will always blow me out of the water no matter what happens. A lot of mistakes were made, and J and G did break the trust and close relationship with the fandom when they played with BYG, and that will always be sad to me, because the fan/creator relationship was truly special, and it really shattered the positive fandom that we had been before. But for better or worse, this is a show that brought a lot of us together. We might have met under other gay fandoms, but the way this one came together was something else entirely. Every day was a party, everything was light and joyful, and that’s a fandom environment I never had experienced before. To all of the wonderful mutuals I’ve met through this show, thank you. You’ve especially made this experience a good one.

 And goodbye Orphan Black, I love you and really really hope you don’t fuck this up lmao

-signed Hannah, (aka. cosimascully, littlesestras, spookysestra, hellphine, and now sad-ghosts)

[attract-mode-collective]

The One Man War Against The Bydo, As Depicted By Just A Single Animator, Is Complete

Remember the work in progress R-Type fan flick from Otaking77077 (aka Paul Johnson) that I highlighted a little over a year ago? Well, as you can see above, it’s finished! And other than the rather questionable usage of a filter laid on top to accentuate the time from which the source material hails from… the game’s from the 80s; fans of the game knows this already, and for those who aren’t, it probably doesn’t matter the least bit…, it’s good stuff.

Johnson’s next project is Street Fighter related, which is neat and all, though I was kinda hoping he’d stick to shmups. Since he covered the 80s, why not a shooter from the 90s? Cuz a Thunder Force anime would be pretty rad and all.

Speaking of Street Fighter, the current focus of the Video Game Art Archive is Street Fighter The Movie: The Video Game. So get this; the Japanese instruction manual has illustrations of all the characters doing their specials, and they modeled after the actors!

Remember: here’s how Blanka appeared in the movie…

And here’s something to do with the live action Mortal Kombat flick; pondwitch sez: “me and my neighbor scorpion at the easter barbecue”

Buranovskiye Babushki, according to Wikipedia, is “a Russian ethno-pop band containing eight elderly women” (you’ve probably never heard of them before, unless you follow the Eurovision Song Contest, hence why they’re no strangers to me). Anyhow, TNT4, which appears to be the Russian equivalent of Comedy Central, recently enlisted the grannies to do a cover of the Mortal Kombat theme…

Can’t believe I’ve gone this long without mentioning the big news from last week! Well, big news in my book at least; the creator of PaRappa the Rapper and Vib Ribbon is teaming up with the creator of Gitaroo Man and Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents. It has the name of Project Rap Rabbit for now, and otherwise, not much else is known…

[UPDATE 5/16/17] Actually a new, crucial bit of intel has been revealed; Project Rap Rabbit is something you can Kickstart.

Speaking of PaRappa, here’s a snapshot I’ve been meaning to pass along for some time now, tho instead of waiting for the next installment of the Super Attractive Club newsletter, here’s the cute little stamp that accompanied the box full of 20th anniversary goods that miki800 ordered a few months ago…

Now might be as good a time as any to mention that the RodneyFun.com storefront is no longer open for business. How come? Well, Rodney Greenblat (the other person responsible for PaRappa, for those who needed an explanation) is about open a brand new shop!

The Rodney Shop will open this Saturday in the Catskills here in NY. Yup, it’s an actual store, not a website. Though hopefully an online version will open shortly thereafter, and hopefully I’ll be able to make the trip and be one of the first customers to enter the doors…

Everyone knows about the Nazca eagles in Xevious, though @isami_ichifuji points out that the game contains at least one other real world landmark…

Some time ago, I mentioned a series of discs for the Sega Saturn that weren’t games but were instead filled with CGI portraits, plus a tune or two, each based upon a Virtua Fighter. Well, some time before that, lvrllnd wrote about something a series of tapes for your VCR, which again was designed to cash in on “VF Fever”…

As before, there was one for every single character; each features various tricks and tricks and I want each and every one. If you look on eBay, you can find them for about $27 each! Along with plenty of other Virtua Fighter VHS tapes. Though I’m actually more interested in just the one on Virtua Racing…

Sticking with Sega for a little bit, courtesy of kazucrash is the unused cover art for the North American release of Gunstar Heroes. Call me crazy, but I kind of really like it?

Via Video Games Densetsu are some old photos that Koichi Namiki, who was part of the Sega Sound Team Band, recently shared. My fave is this one, back when Macs were considered part of the band...

Also via videogamesdensetsu is the most interesting tidbit from Hideki Sato (one of Sega’s main hardware designers) at something called the Game Business Archive: “Ryuichi Sakamoto was paid ¥10.000.000 to create the boot up sound of the Dreamcast.”

The dude from Yellow Magical Orchestra got paid close to 90k for the DC start up sound! I wonder how he feels about the fact that his handiwork is always accompanied by the sound of that loud ass disc drive mechanism, along with the beep of a VMU that needs its battery replaced? Eh, got his close to 90 grand, I’m betting he doesn’t really care.

Something else that recently took place was Retro Express, described simply as “an event for retro PC”. Other than some Toho port for the Famicom, the only other notable observation from shoutime is how he or she “was done in about 20 minutes”…

Behold the Family Cube R. It’s basically a Famicom and the Famicom Disk System in a very nice looking red translucent housing, which I originally spotted over at sixteen-bit. the creator “gorigo” explains what’s inside, but due to that pesky language barrier, I’m not 100% sure what is being said. I believe it’s a combination of authentic hardware and clone hardware. Especially since: “If it is a genuine Famicom board, it will not fit”…

Perhaps the most interesting component is the “homebrew L type connector” that allows Famicom carts to be playable without having to protrude on top…

It’s also super neat how it’s the same exact size and dimension as a GameCube with Game Boy Player attached…

The Family Cube R is also the closest thing we’ll get to a Famicube IRL…

Here’s a completely different kind of mash-up, one involving Splatoon and Space Channel 5, by kitsune23star…

And here’s another, from the CDTcrew, featuring Die Hard the movie and Die Hard the video game (or at least that’s what Dynamite Deka is called outside of Japan)…

Though back to the subject of hardware, miki800.com shows us that a Ford dealership in the UK of all things decided to take the iconic look of assorted consoles and apply their stylings towards cars. The end result is pretty… interesting. Their take on an Atari 2600 as a car is perhaps a good starter…

The car based upon the Mega Drive/Genesis is perhaps the nicest, though is mostly looks like what the Transformers turned into, before they crash-landed on Earth (am talking about the G1 cartoon btw)…

Though this van based upon the NES looks looks like a clone console by Hyperkin, aka I think it looks awful…

As for the Switch mobile… remember when the G1 Transformer lost their ability to transform and had to drive around in big goofy cars?

miki800.com also shares with us how various sports titles for the Famicom and Super Famicom illustrated the Player 1 vs CPU mode. I dig how in Super Famista 3, the two are pals, but by Super Famista 5, they’re bitter rivals…

I’m already iPhone 5S buddies with Eric, and coming this June, I might be Darius arcade cab cradle for my iPhone buddies with JC…

And once again, I wish I still had my iPhone 3GS, so I could take advantage of yet another batch of recently discovered assortment 3GS covers from National Console Support…

Please enjoy this video from a dude in Japan who’s all about showcasing their wide and weird assortment of junk food. In this case, he’s checking out the just released Dragon Quest chicken nuggets. The vid itself is nothing wildly exciting, just nice and calm and relaxing; I watch his YouTube channel to relax and help fall asleep at the end of a long hard day…

Unfortunately, someone didn’t get the memo about the lids being perfect for making yet another kind of snack, as @xoxo_lalafell shows us all…

Meanwhile, @TakeponFX recently tweeted about Koppa’s, that deli in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with the Atari 2600 for customers to play that I wrote about almost a year ago. There are two things worth noting here: first is the following image that was shared, which shows a slightly different configuration, sans the massive multi-game selector. Considering when it was originally taken, which according to Flickr is 2010, I’d have to assume it’s a prior set-up…

The same older config was present in The Jeffrey Dahmer Files, which I also mentioned in that aforementioned post, and which is also from 2012. So the selector hasn’t been around before then, I’d wager. Anyhow, the second thing of note is that I had no idea you could purchase shirts from Koppa’s, including…

Behold the evolution of Bald Bull (via brotherbrain)…

Very few fanbases are as multilayered as Nintendo’s. For most folk, who consider themselves to be fairly dedicated fans of the house that Mario built… they barely scratch the surface. And to determine how deep your love for Nintendo goes exactly, here’s a handy chart (via radicalhelmet)…

This week’s recommended reading is courtesy of Kotaku, which details an arcade that holds tournaments centered on the rather obscure Neo Geo fighter Galaxy Fight. Though there’s one key difference, one that sets it apart from all the other tourneys out there (aside from the unique choice in game): every round lasts only a single second…

“You’d think such a thing wouldn’t work, and yet it seems to have distilled the intense mind games associated with the fighting game genre to their purest form, crafting a unique experience for players and spectators alike. Strategy that typically plays out over a minute and a half is crammed into just a few brief moments. Should you wait for your opponent to make the first move and react accordingly, or bet everything on a risky uppercut that can be punished if it misses? With such a small amount of time for gameplay, the weakest attack can secure a round, opening avenues for outlandish tactics that infrequently pop up during normal competition.”

And last but not least, a photo from arcade-crusade, of a dude standing next to a pinball machine that’s also wearing a shirt with some sound advice…

Don’t forget: Attract Mode is now on Medium! There you can subscribe to keep up to date, as well as enjoy some “best of” content you might have missed the first time around, plus be spared of the technical issues that’s starting to overtake Tumblr.