#I’m sure opinions differ but seeing people talk about how you should definitely watch *this one* because it’s *good* has been very funny

[worstloki]

Love seeing people watch the latest MCU release and claiming that marvel is finally making better quality stuff again, that the writing of this one was surprisingly actually good, that they are happy characters are finally being characterised correctly in a way that is fun and have such genuine heartfelt relationships this time. This has happened for every single thing they’ve released since *checks calendar* 2019

[maodear]

Yapping about the contestants Guardian’s!

TW: Abuse,drugs,SA and etc.

So not many people talk about the Guardian’s in alien stage. I will be making opinions on each, but I will probably write more about the guardians when my art-book comes. Which would have all the lore I need.

Shine 🩷 (Mizi’s guardian

As we all should know, Shine is the most friendliest and definitely the most sweetest Gurdian. She loves humans and has curiosity to them. Mizi and Shien definitely had the most closest thing to a Mother and Daughter relationship out of everyone else.

Shine wanted nothing but good for Mizi, which is probably why she wanted her to be in Anakt Garden. Mizi had talent for singing and dancing. I am sure that if Shine knew that Mizi would have to suffer and go through pain. She would have not done it at all.

During round 5, Shine was watching. And you can tell how she felt looking at Mizi. She looks so sad :((

In all of Mizi’s birthday art or official art with Shine. She looked so happy in each one, always smiling or having fun. Shine loves Mizi like a normal person would love there pet. It seems messed up but Aliens see humans as Pets. But Shine still loves Mizi as her

Urak 🖕 ((Tills guardian

Urak is the Segyein of Till. And I will say he sucks the most. He treats Till horribly, in all ways. Mentally and physically. Urak has had other of his pets compete in Alien stage, but he says that Till is different from all of them because of his personality. He goes on saying that He only kept Till alive because of his Musical Talent he has. Urak believes that a Gurdian should learn right away what their pet’s strengths are to see if they are worthy.

In round 6 flashback Urak is forcing Till to sing “Oh my clematis” which Till refused to, which Urak throws a bottle at him, pinned him to a table. And when Till does break free, He attacked another segyein. Urak then once again assisted in restraining him. It’s said that Till was also SA in that flashback.

When Urak was asked about round 6 in an interview, Urak says that the only thing that matters is winning. It doesn’t matter how, if he wins it all worked. He also does expressed that it’s possible for Till to beat Luka, given how much Urak invested in him. (Which ages perfectly))

As much as I hate to admit. Even if Till is alive or not. I’m glad he lost because Urak has set another of his pets for Failure. And I hope he knows that, no matter how much he abuses, drugs or whatever shit he does. It won’t work because he will always set them in failure. Over and over again and it’s his fault.

Apparently Unsha and Urak have romance..??

Unsha🐁 ((Ivan’s guardian

Unsha is the Segyein of Ivan. Unsha isn’t physically abusive to Ivan but definitely is mentally. He has horrible has Urak since both Mentally and Physically hurt as much.

Unsha bought Ivan for his wife since it was her birthday. Ivan was choose because of his eyes which he found intriguing. Unsha also does mention that he had just begun to venture into the pet human entertainment business, so the timing was perfect for him. Which makes me believe that Ivan was Unsha’s first Pet.

If I’m correct In an interview, Ivan claims that Unsha is well known and him and Urak had nothing more then a business relationship. Saying they weren’t close in any way. Nothing more nothing less.

When asked for his thoughts on Ivan's impulsive actions during Round 6, Unsha replied saying he was disappointed that Ivan essentially forfeited the round, and he thought Ivan had a lot of potential even before Alien stage. He also admitted to being curious about what Ivan was thinking during around 6.

He closes the interview by saying he felt like he learned a lot being with Ivan, and it was worth the loss. He lastly that he doesn’t intend to participate in Alien stage again anytime soon.

Phan💀(Hyunas and Hyun-woo Gurdian

Phan is the Gurdian Segyein of Hyuna and Hyun-woo. Not much is shown or known of her since she was never brought up.

I did find that Heperu has an interesting to her similar to how Luka is obsessed with Hyuna.

((Not my picture! I don’t own the Art-book yet!)

Heperu🖕🖕🖕 (Lukas Gurdian

Heperu is the Gurdian Segyein of Luka. I might get blasted for this but I believe he’s the worst one yet. He claims that he had made Luka overcome fear, which makes me wonder what kind of things he had done to Luka. As we know Luka as went through a test with was monitoring his heart rate, and stoping his heart completely. Luka barley shows any kind of emotion. But he was crying in that art, Heperu disgust me.

Heperu ego is very high I can tell, because in a interview he claims that all of Lukas achievements and his talent is because of him. And he should thank him always for making him perfect. He always puts Luka very high, saying he will win no matter what.

In one of Lukas official art it shows Heperu shadow being in a position in which looks like kissing.?? And his hand was caressing him. Luka also looked quite young too which just gives me more creeps.

In the music Video all-in Luka kissed Hyuna, which I want to say. Was because of Heperu. Usually when someone was SA they see as a normal thing and do it to another person. That would explain why Luka kisses Hyuna.

Luka has been out through so much stuff because of Heperu and like everyone else has. Luka as very right to be the way he is. Because of Heperu and how cruel he is, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Till did become the same way.

Heperu also has a thing for Phan, having an attraction to Phan, just like Luka has an attraction to Hyuna??

Neigh🐛 (Sua’s Guardian

Not much is known from Neigh, but from what we know is that Niegh sees pets as nothing more than dolls. She dressed them all out usually the same. In a white dress like a doll.

In Neigh’s profile it’s shown that she has 0% interest in Sua. Probably because Sua is a copy of everyone else there. They are all the same as emotionless dolls. With no feelings or opinions.

——<3

Pretty sure that’s everyone? When my art-book arrives I will make any other post on the Guardians probably.

I may hate every Guardian except for Shine, but they hold a lot of meaning in the story which I appreciate.

Thanks for taking your time to read all of this <33

[coraniaid]

Reverse Unpopular Opinion: Amy Madison

[Reverse unpopular opinion meme.]

This is an interesting one because I think there’s a solid argument to be made that the character of “Amy Madison” does not, in fact, actually exist on the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

By which I mean … look, okay, yes, obviously, there is a character in an early Season 1 episode called Amy Madison, played by Elizabeth Anne Allen.  And there’s a character with the same name in a Season 2 episode, and [in an admittedly weird coincidence] she’s also played by Elizabeth Anne Allen.  And there’s one in Season 3, and a one in a few episodes of Season 6, and one in an episode of Season 7, and all of them are played by the same actor.

But … I mean, come on.  There’s no way these can all be the same character, right?  They don’t have the same basic back story or the same relationship to magic or to Willow; they certainly don’t have anything resembling a definite personality or set of motivations or a consistent character arc.  No, surely what’s going on here is that there are several different “Amy Madisons” in Sunnydale – just like there are several different characters called Anne or Nancy on the show – and in a bizarre in-joke the writers simply decided to cast the same woman to play all of them.

Now, ordinarily, simply being written inconsistently over a handful of episodes and not having anything resembling the same personality from week to week would be no obstacle to having a few die-hard fans.  But – as far as I can tell, anyway? – there’s no “fandom Amy” either.  She never really gets mentioned when people want to talk about how all the Scooby Gang had awful mothers [even though Amy actually did, explicitly and inarguably, have a very, very awful and openly abusive mother!].  There’s very little in the way of Amy/Willow shipping going on here or on AO3 [even though witchcraft is heavily coded as a metaphor for being a lesbian and Amy, one of the first witches we meet on the show, is repeatedly linked to Willow throughout the show’s run].  There are no adorable drawings of Amy as a rat staring out of her cage at Willow and Tara (or if there are, they aren’t getting as many notes as they should be getting).  

No, it looks like most people who are still watching and talking about the show twenty-five years later have about as much interest in poor Amy Madison as the writers did.  She’s a plot device.  A punchline.  A cipher.  A blank slate.  She’s whatever the plot requires her to be to further the stories of the actual characters on the show, and she’ll never ever be anything else.  Which is a little sad, if you think about it.  I think Amy – or, well, most of the different Amys: The Killer In Me’s smirking evil-for-evil’s-sake Amy I’m not so sure about – deserved better.

[As I write this the thought occurs to me, belatedly, that I might be one of Amy Madison’s biggest fans.  Pretty grim news for her if so.]

OK. Enough stalling.  Five positive things about Amy Madison [with, as ever, the usual caveat about the comics, which I’ve still not read anything about and still don’t exist].

Witch, Amy’s debut appearance, is a solid episode!  One of that season’s best, I think (though not, of course, one of its very best).  And I think the duo of Elizabeth Anne Allen's Amy Madison (and Robin Riker as her mom Catherine) is a big part of why that episode works: no, they haven’t got a huge amount to work with, but I think they both do a pretty good job switching between evil witch Catherine and innocent victim Amy.  Catherine’s bodyswap spell foreshadows (albeit unintentionally) the bodyswap artifact that the Mayor gifts Faith in This Year’s Girl / Who Are You? and I’ll always have a soft sport for it because of that.  And I really like that the episode ends with Amy alive and hanging out with Buffy in a way that suggests that they are going to stay friends, even if we don’t see any evidence on screen that that happened.

Sarcasm aside, I’m really glad the writers brought Amy back in the second season.  To me, part of the appeal of the high school years are the recurring minor characters – I talked about Principal Snyder before, but also Jonathan and Devon and Percy and Harmony and … yes, Amy too.  The show obviously doesn’t care about her very much, and you have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to fill in the missing pieces of her story and make her arc make sense (why is she starting to do magic in Season 2?  When does she start hanging out with Willow?), but … well, I do care and I have done those gymnastics.  At least Amy didn’t end up like Marcie Ross or Buffy’s old flame Owen or any of those poor kids who must remember eating Principal Flutie. 

I’ve been reading a few old interviews Elizabeth Anne Allen gave recently (here and here, for example) which I think have some pretty interesting insights into how the character of Amy developed.  Had you ever heard there were persistent rumors at one point that Amy was going to be one of the starting regulars on Angel?  It’s mind-boggling to think about a world where that happened.  Allen seems to have put a huge amount of thought into her character, too, at least for her first few appearances, which … uh, I guess makes me feel a bit shitty about those opening paragraphs. [Not enough to delete them though…]  Also in one of the linked interviews she says that she “hopes she won’t be a rat much longer” – and that’s an interview she gave before the Season 3 finale had even made it to air, which made me pretty sad to read.  Forget appearing on Angel, imagine if Amy had been de-ratted in Season 4.  Imagine if Superstar was about Amy instead of Jonathan.

There is a second or two in Season 6’s Smashed – no more than that – when Buffy and Amy are catching up again (“How have you been?”  “Rat.  You?”  “Dead.”  “Oh.”) and you can, if you’re quick, delude yourself into thinking that the show is going to do something interesting with the obvious parallel it’s just set up. Willow has now not only brought Buffy back into the regular human world [and left her struggling to live and find meaning as a college drop out with a dead mother and an absent father last seen on screen about five years ago], she’s also brought Amy back into the regular human world [and left her struggling to live and find meaning as a de facto high school drop out with a presumed-dead mother and a presumably-now-absent father last mentioned about five years ago].  Surely this must be deliberate?  Well, no: the show doesn’t do anything with this idea ever again, because Marti Noxon had very different [worse] ideas for Amy’s character this season, but if you pretend it might be about do something like that it’s a pretty exciting couple of seconds.

The fact that “Amy Madison” exists as a (technically!) canon character means that I can write (or daydream about writing) fanfiction in which Willow has a friend in high school who is also a practising witch. One with a vague but miserable home life, who is secretly in love with Willow but too afraid to admit it (and so she keeps professing to be interested in men who she can’t possibly ever expect to date, either because they’re unpleasantly vile toward women or openly gay or both). And I can do that while, just about, pretending that I have not created the most embarrasingly psychologically revealing OC you ever heard about in your life.  Thanks Amy!

[tornoleander]

How Nahdakan is written weirdly predatory (Sorta Essay)

TW: Discussion of sexual predators and their behavior this might get rough.

(If I’m missing any content warnings please let me know. Please check if you are ok to hear this before reading. Though knowing signs of predators can be helpful. Will warn you this might ruin his character for you)

You absolutely can Ignore this aspect of him and love him as a villain! Don’t be guilty, It’s fiction you’re allowed to do that! (Please don’t attack anyone who likes him)

However If you’re like me this may explain some of your repressed Skybound feelings.

Nadakhan always unsettled me, even back when I was 12 and watched it for the first time. I loved Skybound then, even though the wishes didn’t make sense and the misogyny pissed me off (still dose). But I’ve rewatched it quite a bit, and as an adult know exactly why It made me feel like that.

Nahdakan as he is in the show displays many signs of being a sexual predator. (Not just cause Nya). And in my opinion they should have written him differently.

It might sound like a surprising allegation at first but to many adults I know in the fandom, It’s not much of a hot take. But I wanted to compile the evidence in one place so I wouldn’t have to reexplain this.

What’s a Predator?

A sexual predator is a person who seeks out sexual contact with another person in a predatory or abusive manner. People who are sexual predators may or may not have committed sex crimes but all sexual predators have sought out inappropriate contact.

Those who exploit others in a sexual manner they see sex as a form of dominance and control.

Vile enough to make someone wish it all away.

Now I’m not saying Nadakhan definitely did something or he’s for sure a predator. But I am saying for some reason he displays common traits of these kinds of people.

Seeks Out Vulnerable Individuals:

Profiling suggests sexual predators often target vulnerable individuals who are more likely to be victimized or overcome due to their age, lack of knowledge, or emotional or mental capacity.

This is the very talked about part but Nya is 15-17 Jay and the ninja are vaguely 16-18. Nadakhan is like thousands of years old. Which makes the plot creepy. But other than the fact that he’s messing with teenagers he preys on their emotional vulnerability.

Think of the first scene with him and Jay. He watches from afar Nya was alone too but he saw how hurt Jay was and targeted him.

Same thing later, when he was distressed about being adopted.

Grooming Behavior:

A predator may seek to groom the person by establishing their trust to facilitate abuse, such as spending excessive time with them or singling them out, or giving gifts.

All of Nahdakan’s kindness is a trap, He talks about his wishes like he’s giving them something and helping them. He is with the ninja as soon as and as long as they’re alone.

Speaking about himself in terms of what he can gift others. Obviously leaving out the wishes consequences.

Evasion and Secrecy:

On the topic of singling them out, sexual predators will often hide their actions and keep it private to not revealing their activity.

Nadakhan waits till they are alone to prey on them. Or teleports the ninja away like he did with Kai.

After Nahdakan gives Jay his wishes he doesn’t tell anyone. His guilt and shame from accepting Nadakhan’s offer keeps their secret. (Just so you know if an old man pulls you aside and starts gifting you shit tell someone.)

And Nahdakan doesn’t talk to his crew about his plans for Nya at all, he keeps it to himself.

Manipulative and Controlling:

Sexual predators use their personalities to flatter, course, and control others around them and utilize deception. Predators may insult victim and use gaslighting tactics to make them believe that they are at fault.

This one is very straightforward manipulation is his thing. But here’s a few.

- Manipulates Jay into making his first and second wish

- Manipulates Kai and Zane into his blade

- Expresses very controlling behavior over Jay as his prisoner.

- And grossly controlling of Nya Literally with magic later on.

Sadism

As a quick note Nadakhan messes with Jay a lot and seems delighted by his suffering. From physically, trying to intimidate, jumping out to scare him, causing emotional harm to just straight up torture in scrap n tap. And he’s SO pleased by it.

Ignoring Physical Boundaries

Sexual Predators overstep boundaries, this may be seen as a harmless touch on the back, hand, or leg. But it can progress to unwelcome contact and unwanted sexual advances.

THIS is the most obvious and damning evidence I have. He Does NOT respect personal space. The Djinn’s so fucking touchy it makes me nauseous. Here’s some examples but his body language during all his scenes is like this.

“Too slow Junkyard boy”

On top of that he like explicitly doesn’t care about consent.

First, the ending of the episode, where he leans in to kiss Nya. Something she obviously would not agree to EWW what the fuck Ninjago then this.

“If you want come willingly , Nya-

So yeah, the way Nadakhan behaved and was written in the show is not OK.  Watch Skybound with what I said in mind and you’ll see what I mean.

Nadakhan doesn’t actually do anything I hear you.  but this kinda behavior is already too much.

I also wouldn’t be so sure he did nothing, unfortunately, I have some evidence here.  so I’m working on a sorta part two to this post with the captains quarters theory part.

[demonqueenart]

Thank you for answering, I really appreciate it <3 I remember when people were speaking up about these issues a few years ago and many people in the phandom either shut them down or ignored them, and while I’m sure there’s still a lot of that going on even now, I’m really glad that we’ve reached a far more open and understanding point where it’s okay to talk about this stuff now. You and blogs like yours are doing a really good job putting yourselves out there, and we really are striving for a more inclusive community, because we all deserve it!!

Per the subtitle thing, I did some more research and went back to their recent videos, and it seems that while the majority of them do have proper subtitles, I think DnP don’t tend to upload their videos with proper subtitles on them at first, and instead do the subs afterwards and then add them when they’re finished, because the most recent video still has auto-generated subs on it.

While I am thankful that they do put on proper subs, since far too many YouTubers (some even bigger than them) don’t even bother, I believe they should make sure that the subs are there when they upload their videos; since I usually wait a few days to watch new videos, I didn’t notice the time-gap between auto-generated and proper subtitles, so that was my mistake! I appreciate their captioning, but D/deaf people, HoH people and people with sensory processing issues shouldn’t have to wait for accessibility, so I do think they have the capacity to do better in that regards. I’m not an expert on how captioning works on YouTube, so I don’t know how long it takes for captions to be made, but overall I think there’s definitely room for improvement.

That’s my opinion, though, as someone who uses subtitles, but obviously someone else may see this completely differently!

Absolutely! People should be able to enjoy an upload right then! I imagine it’s disheartening that someone would have to wait for a subtitle to be in a video while others have already watched and geeked about the whole thing. That must have made people feel excluded from this community in some way. I hope they’ll hire professionals for subtitles in the future, or find other ways to make people able to enjoy an upload right then! (It’s still very nice of them to use subtitles in their video early on tho. I think it’s something that people can overlook so easily, I’m glad this is not what they do :) )

Also, if anyone wants to share their pov about this, I would love to hear them. The more pov, the better!

[ID/ a banner with light blue sparkly background; the disability pride flag slides in from the left and darker blue text pops in reading "Make some noise for Disability Pride Month!!" /end ID]

Banner by dapg-otmebytheballs

Auto-message: This ask’s purpose is to acknowledge dnp’s past/present exclusivity, not to cancel them! But to embrace mistakes that they’ve made so that 1. we won’t exclude people in need in this community, and 2. we can normalize bringing up exclusivity so that improvement can happen. Hopefully this will one day help dnp realize that this is a safe space for them to talk about their mistakes, so that this space can become safe for people of all kinds too <3

*If you don’t understand what is happening, scroll through my blog for context. And I’ll be taking time to answer my asks, so don’t think I’m ignoring youuu*

[jewishbarbies]

https://www.tumblr.com/jewishbarbies/753199765532131328/laughing-through-the-stupid-of-just-how-nuanced?source=share

I 100% agree, as someone who considers myself pro Palestine (as in Palestinians no longer dying as well as Israelis no longer being kidnapped and having whatever done to them by Hamas, I just want all of this death and madness to stop for everyone, both Arabs and Jewish people), I’m so disgusted by the antisemitism I’m seeing towards Jewish people and Israelis and I’m disgusted with myself for not seeing it sooner. I’m seeing people engage in casual antisemitism in the name of “not conflating Israel with Judaism” and saying the most ridiculous things. I’m seeing people bring up ancestry tests to check if Israelis are “actually Jewish” or “actually from the land”, accusing Jewish Israelis of being European colonialists because on 23andme or on AncestryDNA, their results may show something like “Polish Jew” or “Ukrainian Jew” for example. True story, I’m seeing people accuse Benjamin Netanyahu of being a white European man larping as ethnic Jewish man and while I hate to defend politicians, I learnt from speaking to the jewish people that I know that many Ashkenazi hebracised their names similarly to how the Irish did after their independence- English names were changed to Gaelic forms. So I’m assuming that that’s what happened with him.

You know how of TikTok many people like to put their flags in their usernames? I’m seeing people who put the Israeli flag in their username (to showcase nationality) get massive death and… other (you can guess the other) threats for simply being from where they are from. Even if the person hasn’t even mentioned Israel!

I’m seeing people deny that the holocaust was “that bad” to Jewish people. That it was a long time ago and that they (“they” being the Jewish community) should move on. I’m not sure if pretending that the holocaust was not as bad as actually was counts as holocaust denial, but in my opinion it’s definitely teetering on the edge of it.

I’m seeing people say that the only real Jews are the Palestinian Jews because the others (others being the Israeli Jews) are European colonialists with “no ties to the land”. Also picking and choosing who is a “real Jew” based off of some ancestry tests (going back to what I said previously). I’m seeing people talk about Jewish people who support Palestinians as “the good ones” (as a black person, I know very well how disgusting it is to be referred to as one of the “good ones”). And while I do not agree with many of the sentiments pushed by a lot of pro Israel crowd (mainly the Islamophobic stuff and anti Arab sentiment that I see, people saying that Arabs cause trouble wherever they go, etc), I will never be able to understand denying someone of their heritage or religion or antagonising them more than criminals based off of their opinions.

Recently there was some hostages returned to Israel and I think one of them was a girl or a woman named Noa, I think (I’m going off of the top of my head, correct me if I’m wrong) and while I’m glad that she was returned to her family (on her father’s birthday right?), my joy was quickly soured by the wishes of death and rape, etc upon her by a lot of pro Palestinian extremists. What happened to wishing safety and peace upon both Palestinian citizens and Israeli citizens? I thought that’s what we all wanted? If I remember correctly, she as well as the other hostages were held in the home of an Al Jazeera journalist, the amount of DENIAL that I saw on social media???? Denying that she and those other victims were put through horrible circumstances, that the 07/10/23 incident even happened, etc. Denying that Hamas is a terrorist organisation or that they even EXIST, etc. I don’t even know what to say.

I’m also seeing people refuse to read different news sources and only read biased news. They’ll say something like “don’t watch American or British or Jewish news channels/sites, only watch Al Jazeera because Al Jazeera is unbiased”… Al Jazeera… unbiased???? Sure, jan. I prefer to read multiple, just to see different perspectives, but to be so biased as to only read Al Jazeera… I don’t even know anymore.

I live in an area in which a Jewish restaurant owner was recently attacked for supporting his family in Israel. “Funding Israel” as they call it now. I don’t care about his beliefs, that’s not my business, but he literally has an Israeli FAMILY. OF COURSE HE IS SUPPORTING HIS FAMILY.

I just wonder, why are people so comfortable calling Israelis demons and evil and everything under the sun? They’d never say that about Russians, despite what’s happening in Ukraine. Or about the Turkish and the Azerbaijanis despite Armenia. Why are we so comfortable demonising a whole nationality?

People say that they’ve read history and they know the full context of this situation when all they’ve done is hear it from TikTok. If people actually knew history, they’d stop questioning why American politicians are so hellbent on having Israel on their side. They’d know that Israel is a coveted ally to have (geopolitical influence, etc) and that if “Genocide Joe” was to stop aiding Israel, Israel would seek aid from somewhere else… like Russia. Or China. Or any other enemy countries of the US.

If people actually knew history, they’d know that complacency is what got Donald Trump elected in 2016. If people actually knew history, they’d know that Bush vs Gore shows us why we shouldn’t vote 3rd party in presidential elections.

If people studied politics, they’d know that Trump has made known his plans to annex the West Bank, flatten Gaza, and arrest every single pro Palestinian protester if he gets elected, referring to the Israel/Palestine region as “unfinished business”.

If people studies politics, they’d know that a major reason for why majority of European countries are becoming more and more far right and installing Nazi governments (e.g. Germans voting for the AfD and the French voting for far right as well) is due to LACK OF VOTER TURNOUT FROM LEFTISTS WHO YAP AND YAP AND COMPLAIN ON SOCIAL MEDIA BUT NO SHOW AT THE POLLS. Ironically, these are the same Europeans telling Americans to not vote.

IF PEOPLE STUDIED AND/OR PAID ATTENTION TO POLITICS, THEY’D BE TERRIFIED OF PROJECT 2025 AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU, ME, US, AND DEMOCRACY AS A WHOLE. (Speaking of, please do spread awareness of P25, it’s very scary and I’d much rather have rights than live in a dictatorship, thank you).

I’m so sorry for rambling about this in your ask box. I know that you as a Jewish person are probably very sick of the rampant antisemitism and the dog whistles you obviously know more of and about that than I could ever possibly imagine as a non Jewish person or a goyim and I’m sorry for ranting about stuff you probably already know about. I’m 18 and most of the people that I know within my age group are choosing not to vote because of what’s happening. I suspect they weren’t going to vote anyway, but now they have an “excuse” for it. And that sickens me as well. That no one actually gives a fuck about Israel or Palestine. No one actually cares about those civilians. People are just using this whole thing as an excuse to be lazy, to not learn, and to spread more hate and tribalism.

I think maybe social media has desensitised people to the fact that this is REAL and not a GAME. When you’re wishing death and rape upon all Israelis, you’re wishing death upon REAL PEOPLE. When you call jewish people Nazis, do you guys ever stop and think about what you’ve just said? Calling JEWISH PEOPLE NAZIS!!! Why is it so normal to strip people of their humanity the second you disagree with their opinions? Sick. As much as I disagree with the Israeli government, I cannot imagine generalising a whole population based solely on their GOVERNMENT.

I have one Jewish friend that lives near me, his name is Eli. He’s Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish. We graduated together last year from high school. We live in a very white suburb and the antisemitism is rising by the day where we stay. I don’t even know what to say to him and his family right now, considering that this is his lived experience. Having to be afraid. Living in fear. How do you even attempt to comfort someone when they’re dealing with this? I can’t say that it will get better, because we both know it won’t. At least not any time soon. How many times are they going to tell us “Never again”’before “never again” actually sticks?

I’m just tired of this. I’m tired of the hatred. I’m tired of random Jewish people and random Arab people getting attacked. I’m tired of the Islamophobia and antisemitism. I’m tired of trying to push people to redirect their attention to the threat at hand which is Donald Trump. And if I’m tired of this, I cannot even fathom how tired the people affected are. Sorry for the long and annoying ask. Feel free to delete this, it’s a bunch of whining.

I don’t mind the rant/vent at all! the state of this world right now is just so disappointing it leaves you hollow. so much unnecessary hatred and death that could be avoided if people just made different choices. I’d say I’m embarrassed to be american but this is not anywhere near an american problem, it’s the entire world.

I just saw a tweet today about the hostage rescue saying the IDF (aka jews) are “demons” for allegedly going in disguised as an aid truck and then shooting people. like they went in disguised and just opened fire at random because they love to kill. so many people were shot as kidnappers. like, these people harbored kidnapping victims, tortured and enslaved them, and I would’ve preferred a life sentence but I’m not going to mourn their deaths.

now, idk how much of citizens helping hamas is from fear of ending up like the jews hamas brutalizes and how much is an actual desire to kill jews. there could very well be some of them who were hiding hostages to save their and their family’s lives. that being said, this has to stop, and we have to do better as a society when we respond to these events. because where we’re at right now and what we’re allowing ourselves to say/do is doing nothing but harming ALL of us.

these morons will say “never again means never again for anyone!” but it’s a phrase coined specifically by and for jews relating to the Holocaust and antisemitic violence. there is no “never again” if it’s still happening to jews. any goy using the phrase outside a context pertaining to jews is not to be trusted, and they’re a fucking idiot.

[dreamchasernina]

do you lile the comics or do you think the characters or are they OOC

Aang in the promise reminded me of zuko in season 1.

Hotheaded, even kinda nationalistic with no social awareness. How comes he completely forgets katara

Oooh I love that question.

First of all, starting with the Promise. Yeah, they are mostly out of character in that comic. Aang agreeing to kill Zuko after we spent the whole finale establishing he refuses to kill? Like, that’s baffling. Plus, Zuko acting like a child, going to his father for advice and marching his army to Yu Dao, instead of sitting down with Aang and talking it out? We spent 3 seasons watching Zuko grow into a mature young man and he just goes back to his old ways in the first comic? That wasn’t great. Although I did like the overall conflict of the series, the characters were not done right.

But, I wouldn’t call Aang a nationalist. You have to remember, Aang lost his entire culture and he’s the only one who’s left to preserve it and to pass it on. Seeing people blatantly disrespecting his culture and using it as a costume made him see things differently. He was just afraid that his way of life would be lost if he let the nations clash. Yes, his way of thinking was wrong but it was also justified in the context of the comic. Of course he came to a realization that he cannot gatekeep his culture and people from different nations should be able to live together. I think it was a good character growth for him. Which is a lot more than I can say for Zuko, at least.

Now, I’m not sure I understand what you mean by saying he forgot Katara? Are you referring to the first comic? Cause they were together the whole time and I feel like her opinion and counsel were what mattered the most to him. In terms of Kataang, I think they were written really well in the comics. They have cute little romantic moments and also moments where they realize they’re pretty much the ones responsible for the fate of the world and really sit down and think things through and reach a decision together. I love that.

I could say Aang kinda forgot about Katara in the Rift for a while there, but it’s kinda minor. Other than that, in every other comic, they’re always together and written well so I like Kataang in the comics a lot.

Overall, the comics are not for everyone but I do enjoy them, I think they’re cute additions for the universe if you don’t think too hard about them. They’re pretty entertaining, for the most part.

My favorite one is definitely Imbalance, it just balances the characters perfectly, everyone gets a moment to shine and the main conflict is actually really ineteresting and sets up the main conflict in Korra really well.

My ranking of the comics if you’re interested

1. Imbalance - like I said the main conflict is awesome and the characters feel like themselves, Toph is a freaking badass in this one.

2. The Rift - I love Toph in this, she really gets to shine and again, Aang’s inner conflict is what makes this comic for me. The way he wants to preserve his people’s memory and culture in middle of all the inevitable progress.

3. The Search - it’s cute. Just the Gaang on an adventure, that’s always fun.

4. The Promise - it has its problems but I like the conflict after the war, I think it’s very nuanced and interesting.

5. Smoke and Shadow - Kinda boring

6. North and south - it was a bit repetitive and the main conflict seemed a little bit silly in my opinion. Katara is also a little out of character.

[nobody-writes-here]

Flash Fiction: With Eyes to See (2/3)

Part Two! CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE 3k words total, queer religious body horror. CW: body horror especially eyes, evangelical religious fundamentalism, homophobia, as well as brief mentions of needles and possible trypophobia.

February 12

Dear Diary,

Mom found you today sitting out on my dresser and she read what I had said to you! She said she was glad I was listening to what my therapist lady said but that I needed to stop picking at and messing with my face in the mirror. Later, though, while I was getting a snack I heard her arguing with Dad in their room about if therapy was really good for me. Dad said he thinks that even though she’s a Christian and works with the Church that I shouldn’t need someone to tell me how to think, but Mom reminded him in a hushed voice about my teacher saying I didn’t have friends. I tried to walk very quietly back to my room so they wouldn’t think I was listening, even though it was their fault for having the door open. After I finish writing this, I will hide you in my dresser where I keep the scratchy sweaters and pants that I never wear. No one will find you there.

In secret,

Sammy.

February 13

Dear Diary,

Since tomorrow is Saturday, we did class Valentines today instead in homeroom, which I have with my science class. I gave Layla an extra piece of pink bubblegum because I want her to feel welcome in our class and because maybe some people didn’t have an extra Valentine for her to have since she came in late. I made sure to get a seat next to her after and while we were watching Bill Nye I told her I liked her hair. She grinned at me, and I could see one of her teeth was missing, and I grinned back. I think maybe we are going to be friends.

In the video, Bill Nye talked about how the Earth is made of big puzzle pieces that move around and sometimes make earthquakes, but the picture reminded me of the pictures of a skull with all the squiggly lines on it. If I hadn’t been looking at Layla, I might have had a better idea of what he was saying, but I do so badly want to be friends.

Sammy.

February 15

Dear Diary,

Brother Eric said today in the sermon that Jesus told those whose eyes caused them to be sinful to pluck them out, and those whose hands caused them to sin he told to cut them off. I asked Dad after church what that meant, and he said it meant you should move away from temptation and explained that sometimes you can look at someone or something you want and be led astray by temptation. I nodded, but I’m still not sure I understand it. I will have to think about it more. On the bright side, Layla’s family came to our church this week! She said they are going to different churches in our town to see if they find one they like the most, but I hope they decide to join ours. It would be nice to have a friend at church again.

Sincerely,

Sammy.

February 16

Dear Diary,

At school today Daniel asked if I was a lesbian. I told him I didn’t know what that meant and he said it’s when girls like girls the way girls are supposed to like boys. It definitely sounded like a bad thing and when I asked Mom about it she said it was a sin but not to worry about it because that’s for grown ups. I didn’t ask her how girls are supposed to like boys after that, even though I wanted to.

Confused,

Sammy.

February 17

Dear Diary,

Doctor Matthews Paula said today that my parents are worried about me. They think I am thinking about things that are not appropriate, and Paula Doctor Paula? asked about my journal I’d been keeping. She wanted to know what I’d been writing to you about, and I told her that I write about school and church and trying to make new friends. It’s true. She also asked if I pick at my face a lot, and I told her no. I know it is a lie, Diary, but I knew she would just tell me that it’s not good for me like mom does! She is not a real doctor, she told me herself that she only has a “BA” in psychology, whatever that means, so I do not think her opinion on my skin would be very useful.

I think maybe Mom is talking about me liking Layla and wanting to be friends. Do I like her like I am supposed to like boys? I still do not know what that means. I do think she is pretty, and I do not think I am supposed to think boys are pretty. But I also think I would like to hold her hand. I do think I am supposed to want to hold boys’ hands? I wish the bible was not so confusing.

Sammy.

Part three will be linked here when available

[mrcarmenile]

i just learned that the hazbin cast wasn’t replaced for legal reasons and that it was all a decision

i will admit i am slightly disappointed, but then again, it was a pilot episode and people were bound to get recast—i just didn’t expect it to be the whole cast, and while i am a bit sad about that, i’m honestly hopeful. the new cast so far seems great and i’m sure they’ll do an amazing job.

a lot of people are still saying that it was a popularity contest, and you COULD make that argument about any cast replacement besides angel dust’s replacement. blake roman is not a well-known name at all, and the reason why people know his name now is because of hazbin. google lists him as a musician, but as far as i know (i could be wrong! please correct me if so!) all of his stuff that is available to stream are past theater roles with like ten other people per song, and some of his og songs on soundcloud. that is not a well-known name, simply and plainly, so michael kovach clearly wasn’t replaced so that they could have a bigger name play angel dust. i assume it was to have someone with musical experience play angel dust. i love michael kovach and his work so so so much but at this point i can’t deny how good of an angel dust blake roman is, and i’m excited to hear how he’ll do on the full show even if i’ll miss michael. plus, blake roman sounds awfully similar to pilot angel dust, only with a slight difference. it sounds more natural in my opinion, and i really like it.

(i have seen a lot of people say that michael was replaced because of his association with ashley, but i could not find concrete evidence of this so i’m not going to believe that just yet.)

with husk’s replacement, i assume that keith david being such a big name was actually a factor in that, and his voice for husk is pretty different from mick’s—but hey, it’s keith david. i love keith david, and i’m going to give him a chance. i am sad that it sounds so different and i am sad that mick was replaced but i’m going to give keith a chance.

so far i’m most upset with ed bosco being replaced, but in the same way that michael has stated that he doesn’t think he could go on with the show without ed, i don’t think ed would either. i’m not saying he was offered the role and he turned it down, in fact i genuinely do not think that that is the case, but with angel dust being replaced i don’t see it very possible that alastor wouldn’t be as well so i’m going to stop being sad about it. once again, i’m going to give amir talai a chance, and so far he’s doing a good job—even if i don’t personally like it as much as bosco’s alastor.

i’m confused as to why vivziepop stated that she didn’t want any of the cast replaced and then replaced all of them—she implied that she was going to at least try to keep them so i’m disappointed in the false promises. but, the show must go on, and while i am disappointed, i am not upset and i have not lost hope. i will forever miss the original cast but i cannot wait to see how the new cast does.

i also want to talk about the trailer formatting for hazbin. i see a lot of people upset that it was formatted like “omg big name you should watch!!” but trailers are advertisements, and the point of advertisements is to get people to watch, and showing big names in a trailer is a way to get people to watch…? idk, a lot of people seem surprised and disappointed that a trailer did this when that’s kind of the point?

all in all, i don’t think that the cast got replaced solely because the new actors are more famous—i think the biggest factor is that the new cast are all very talented in the music world, and that’s why they’re famous. while i am upset that they replaced everyone, and i’m sure the fame is a factor, i can understand how exciting it would be for a tv series creator (who is definitely a theater kid) to have their entire cast for a musical cartoon be broadway actors. if you’re disappointed, that’s okay. if you’re upset, that’s okay. but i urge you to give the new actors a chance and try to remain positive—don’t we already have enough negativity in our world? especially surrounding hazbin hotel?

[symeraid-s]

2024 Retrospective: Movies and TV Shows

Movies

Arthur the King

It’s a dog movie based on a real story. It’s cute and was very entertaining to watch, but some of the dialogue was a little weird. The team has good synergy though and the dog does steal the show. As he should. Mark Wahlberg is pretty good in this movie and him talking about how much he wanted to adopt the dog from the handler is what got me interested in seeing it. If you want a good dog movie, this definitely is it.

Dune Part 2

I didn’t catch this movie in cinemas, but even so, I can tell that it’s a visual experience. The designs of the spacecrafts and everything else are still really cool and how they portray the different planets is incredibly striking. Austin Butler is amazing in this movie and personally, I’d say he deserves an Oscar nomination for it. I don’t think he’ll get one, but it would be cool. It should be nominated in all the technical categories though. And for the score, because holy shit! Objectively speaking, of everything I have watched, I think this is the best movie of the year.

The Zone of Interest

This movie released in Germany in January 2024, so for me it’s a movie from this year. Why did it release so late? I don’t know. It was a really good movie. It feels more like a documentary at parts, like it was filmed with a secret camera, glimpsing into the lives of the family, which is a really unique directing decision. It also leaves you on an ending that gets you thinking for a while. And also, no Jimmy Kimmel, we do not think this is a rom com, kindly fuck off.

The Wild Robot

Next to Dune, this was my most anticipated movie of the year and it really lived up to my expectations. The Animation is beautiful, and the story is touching. Sure, there were a few cheesy moments, but they feel earned and are scattered far between. The dry and dark humour was really unexpected, but very welcome to me. I’m also not ashamed to admit, that it made me cry multiple times throughout. The voice cast really is amazing. Lupita Nyong’o is really good as the robot and Pedro Pascal shines as Fink, but the biggest surprise for me was Kit Connor as Brightbill. He just seems to be capable of everything.

Deadpool & Wolverine

It’s just a fun conclusion to the trilogy and a nice send off to the Fox X-Verse, if that’s what it’s called. The tribute on the credits is really cool and a nice sentiment. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have great chemistry and do a great job in this movie. You can also really tell that this was a passion project for a lot of people. Like A Prayer is also an inspired song choice for the final fight and the conclusion. Also, I’m contractually obligated to mention that they definitely fucked in the Honda Odyssey.

Ultraman: Rising

Is this movie a good introduction to Ultraman? I’m not sure. But it definitely is a good movie. It’s fun, the fight scenes are exciting, and the animation looks striking. Sure, it might not have the most original story, but the way it tells it is really good, and the character growth of Kenji is really satisfying to watch. Kenji in general is just a really good character.

TV Shows

Arcane Season 2

The money really is on the screen, but the 250 million floating around is definitely too much. That may be both seasons including marketing costs, but not purely the Animation. The Animation is stunning and, in my opinion, better than the first season. But I don’t actually know if I prefer this season over season 1. It was an amazing finale, don’t get me wrong, but it does seem a little rushed. A lot of the side characters are very flat and don’t really get anything to do and I still don’t understand what the deal with the Black Rose was. That aside though, I really did like this as a finale and am looking forwards to the other shows.

The Umbrella Academy Season 4

I did enjoy this season up until episode 4. I liked Ben and Jennifers chemistry, the cult leader antagonists were fun and the fight scene in the town where they run over Santa Claus was cool. But then it all began to go downhill. Klaus’ subplot was really tasteless and unnecessary, and I might have thought it was fine, had it not come after he learnt to control his powers in Season 3 and ended with him helping himself. The constant fat jokes with Diego also are really stupid, especially when they later rip off his shirt to reveal that he still is ripped. Diego and Lilas relationship also feels really misrepresented, which leads into that stupid Five and Lila romance that nobody, including the actors liked. This finale was a whole fucking mess and the only reason I didn’t just drop it, was because I thought if it had a good enough ending the show could be redeemed a little. It doesn’t. Why does the fucking handler get to live happily ever after, but the main characters have to die? And also: what was the purpose of bringing Ben back, if you’re just going to kill him off again? It’s all just a big mess and it feels like the writers themselves gave up. So, I’m just going to consider Season 3 the finale.

Heartstopper Season 3

I think this might be the best season of the show so far. The way it handled its heavy subject matter was delicate and masterfully executed. Kit Connor and Joe Locke continue to be great actors. Tao still is my favourite character and the scene where he comforts Nick at the party is probably my favourite of the season. The only complaint I really have is that it ends in a weird place. Like, the finale needed 15 more minutes. Even so, I really enjoyed it.

Connection

I started this K-Drama because the premise sounded interesting and only then realised that it was starring Ji Sung, who might just be my favourite Korean actor. I loved him in the Devil Judge and Kill Me, Heal Me and he is just as good here. His ability to have great chemistry with everyone he comes across really needs to be studied. Back to the show though. It’s good. Some twists are predictable, but they are well executed so I’m willing to give it a pass. There is also a lot of attention to detail. One that I think is really cool is that the drug, the main character is forcefully addicted to, is stated to be an appetite-suppressant and we don’t actually see him each much from Episode 2 to the end of the show. I just thought that was a really cool detail. If you want a good crime drama, this really is the show for you.

Hazbin Hotel

I did enjoy watching this show, but I don’t think it was good. There were a lot of moments that felt weirdly stiff and there were too many songs, really. One per episode would have been more than enough, because most of them seem to be about nothing relating to the plot. Characters break out into song just because. The few songs I do like (Hell is Forever, Hell’s Greatest Dad and Stayed Gone), are really good, but some are borderline unlistenable (Out For Love). It does have a lot of great voice acting talent though and I do really like Alastor as a character. Whenever the show focuses on him, it becomes a lot better.

Helluva Boss Season 2

The animation for this show somehow is better than Hazbin Hotels and only one of these two is streaming on a major streaming service. Especially in the later episodes of the season, the animation was outstanding. For me, this season had some of the greatest highs and the lowest lows of the show so far. The finale pulled it all together though and also finally convinced me of Stolas and Blitzos relationship. The music this season was also outstanding. 2 Minutes Notice has become my anthem, and Just Look My Way is also gorgeous. Bryce Pinkham as Stolas is still really amazing and needs to do more voice acting. Alex Brightman as Fizzarolli is also really good.

[lunar-years]

i think i remember you mentioned how jamie’s love confession to keeley had nothing to do with how he felt about her romantically and i’d love to hear more of your thoughts on it. jamie’s so strange throughout the ep, and considering it’s right after the man city confrontation with his father, it’s probably not too far of a stretch to say he’s thinking about his own father’s death and having a bit of an existential crisis himself. i think jamiekeeley is cute btw and i’m all for ot3 roykeeleyjamie! just wanted to pick your brain about this. and apologies if you’ve never posted about this and i’m remembering the wrong user

Hi! I’m pretty sure this wasn’t me who said it (but never say never because I sure say a lot on here, lol). However you might have still seen it on my blog, because I think I responded to an ask recently with the same opinion!

Regardless, my personal view on it is that Jamie was definitely speaking romantically, BUT I’ve seen a bunch of people think otherwise and it’s fun to explore different viewpoints so I'm gonna talk about my opinions on the funeral episode anyway lmao :)

I think the funeral is soooo interesting because Jamie AND Roy AND Keeley are all acting kind of strangely. Even when we figure how why Roy is being so odd (Grandad Emotions), but there's still whatever is going on between Jamie and Keeley. Because like, yeah, Jamie definitely should’ve 1) realized his boss' father's funeral wasn’t the time nor place for love confessions and 2) probably not done it regardless because, yes, it is kind of out of pocket to tell your ex-girlfriend you’re still in love with her when she’s currently dating someone else (who just so happens to be your current football coach who just helped you during a very traumatic experience)…like ohhh Jamie. Messy!! But I love mess. So therefore I did love this. 🤷‍♀️ However…the topic is not necessarily as ~coming up out of nowhere~ as it first seems, I think. Importantly, Keeley is also acting weirdly!!

I was staring at this gifset recently and thinking many a Keeley thought, and to be honest I think feelings and big emotions were being stirred up again on BOTH sides at that event. It’s interesting (and I think rings true to other insights we've gotten into her character) that as soon as things get a little dicey with Roy, Keeley starts looking outside her relationship, either for people to confide in (as she does when she tells everyone but Roy about the problems she’s having with Roy in Headspace) or to reflect on what she no longer has but is suddenly wondering if she might miss and possibly still want (her contemplative looks at Jamie at the funeral, “you look nice Jamie” etc…. Maybe this is an unpopular take, but I think Keeley is also feeling some type of way that day, about Jamie in particular. And yeah I definitely think that has an impact on why Jamie chooses then to confess to her. He's sensing a different vibe between them suddenly and is reminded, I need to do this.

The other reasons in Jamie’s head imo are 1) Jamie is just generally very open about most of his feelings and I think he’s coming at it from, a 'you should tell the people you love that you love them!' place, right or wrong 2) as he later tells Roy, the funeral made him uncomfy!! and AS YOU SAY yeah i do think there's definitely an connection between that and his dad abusing him in front of the whole team, which has just happened very recently. PERHAPS he is already Not Doing Great, and watching his boss who he doesn't really know act Weird during the eulogy for her Dead Father has him extra off-kilter. 3) as we learn in s3... his dad disappeared after Wembley. No calls, no texts. Nothing. Now, we don't have categoric evidence that this is unusual, but to ME James Sr. doesn't seem like someone who typically leaves well enough alone. I can definitely see Jamie still being freaked out over this very big thing that happened that his dad has got to be incredibly angry about. Perhaps there is still a part of him very much waiting for the other shoe to drop! Which is to say, I do think you're right that there's an element of existential crisis going on here.

Also, while I do personally think Jamie's confession is romantic in nature, I do not think it is conditional in intent. Jamie isn't telling her with the expectation that she's going to dump Roy immediately and tell him that oh yeah, she loves him too. Like, Jamie isn't an idiot. I think he does at the heart of it just want to thank her and he's been meaning to thank her for a while because she means SO MUCH TO HIM that it all has to come spilling out as some point. And a part of that love is romantic, yes, but he also loves her in so many ways. I think Jamie is perfectly content to put it out there and let her set the terms of their future friendship/relationship. Most important to him is that she knows.

So anyway, sorry this got so long and that it isn't really what your original question was about (for anyone who thinks the confession wasn't about Jamie loving her romantically, please feel free to chime in/reblog and add your thoughts!) but in summation, I think: Roy being upset about other things (Grandad) causes him to stir a fight with Keeley -> The fight with Roy causes Keeley to re-evaluate some things and part of her focus undeniably lands on Jamie -> Jamie senses something has changed between him and Keeley and because of that, in addition to the lingering aftershocks of a recent very traumatic experience, confesses he's still in love with her at a funeral.

Which is to say, as I DO always say here at lunar-years, these three's stories have always been irrevocably intertwined since the beginning (regardless of the ot3 as a ship) and the funeral is another example of that. Also it is totally crazy that we never get an explicit follow-up to Man City until episode 11 of the NEXT SEASON and that is one of my biggest grievances on season 2.

[theangrypomeranian]

A Chillie Afternoon

OK, the carefully crafted plan that Millie had put together was working perfectly, Louise was CLEARLY confused as to why she was no longer following her around like before and it was OBVIOUSLY pissing her off that Millie was hanging out with her rival, Chloe.

…Chloe… she was an interesting turn of events if she does say so herself. They had been hanging out for the better of what was two weeks and so far Millie was… pleased? To know that they weren’t that different. Ever since the ginger haired girl had agreed to work together to piss off Louise they has been hanging out one on one more, to keep up appearances obviously.

Like today, for example, they were having a sleepover at Chloe’s house and they made sure that everyone in school knew (get the rumour mill going so that it reaches the right ears and all that jazz). It was really a simple thing, Millie didn’t think much of it. They would probably watch some stupid TV show that Chloe liked and call it a night, and she was fine with that, truly. I mean there is no need to drag on something that is only for convenience after all.

“It’ll be worth it to see Louise’s jealous face… yeah. Soon she’ll be all about our friendship, as it always should have been.” Millie mutters to herself, playing with her hair excitedly.

She is quickly drawn out of her thoughts when a certain girl opens the door in front of her. Chloe stands there, already in her pjs, they are pink and have stars all over them. ‘Uh… kinda cute- I MEAN COOL’ she quickly erases the thought from her brain, it was just her mind being stupid yet again.

“Oh hey, come on in. My dad has just finished putting all the snacks on the table so we can get right into it. As soon as you get dressed and all that.”

Millie nods and goes in, she makes her way into the other girl’s room, already having memorised it from the last visits they have had. Its and odd feeling, knowing where everything in the house is without having to stalk around and do it in a way so that other people don’t notice you. She can’t quite put her finger on the feeling that it brings her but Millie chalks it down as ‘I’m just not used to having my work be so easy and my brain is adapting’… yeah that made enough sense.

After some talking, she finally changes into her sleepwear. It was a limited edition Pixie Princess set that she was extremely fond of, she had worked her butt off during one of the promenades to earn it and by gods she was gonna wear it.

“Oh is that from the Pixie Princess Promenade? I used to love doing it, but I got enough wands to last me a life time so I don’t do it anymore.”

Millie turns her head at that, she was NOT expecting Miss Cool Girl to have known or even LIKE that kind of stuff… Louise certainly didn’t and made her opinions on it very clear. She simply nodded as they made their way to the living room.

“Oh yeah I love participating in it. Been going for years now actually, my goal is to have every single wand they have to offer, possibly have dupes of my favourite ones. It’s a lifestyle really.”

To her surprise Chloe laughs at that, nodding her head as if she somehow could understand her love for Pixie Princess Promenade and understand how important it was for her. Tch, as if.

They sat down on the couch, the really comfortable couch where Millie could definitely fall asleep in but she wouldn’t because she needed to keep her guard up, there was no way of knowing what Chloe could be really trying to do by inviting her over to her house, maybe she was just planning on humiliating her to the whole school after gaining her trust. Which she could respect but also there was no way she would give her the chance to even try.

________. .________

The sleepover was actually was going great, at least that’s what Millie thought, everything that was supposed to happen had happened (according to the many, many movies and books she has seen and read). So it came as somewhat of a surprise when Chloe offered to braid her hair out of seemingly nowhere.

“Uh, sure? Why do you want to do that though? My hair is not exactly easy to work with you know?”

“Oh yeah I know, it’s for uh… maintenance. Tomorrow you won’t have time to properly take care it and I can’t show up next to you if you look messy, it’ll ruin my whole image” Chloe shrugs “Besides it’ll be good for me to train on how to braid on other types of hair, might make me more popular, who knows.”

And that’s how she ends up with two very intricate braids on her head and yet another weird feeling in her chest. The latter one she promptly chooses to ignore for the sake of them going to bed, she just wanted the day to be over so that she could go home and start thinking straight again.

As the next morning approached Millie, as usual, was the first one to wake up and fully get ready for the day. As she got up to the bathroom mirror she took in her braids once more, carefully running her fingers though them… why did the memory of Chloe braiding her hair yesterday make her face feel warm? Why did she feel so relaxed having her head in someone else’s hands like that? UGH she was going crazy and it was all beginning to be too much, she just wanted to get to school so that she could at least focus on something else for a little.

She left the braids on her head, it did look good after all and maybe it would get Louise to notice her or something.

“Oh, you left them on! I’m glad you appreciate my work.” She laughs as she adjusts her school bag “Are you ready to go? We have to leave a bit early today ‘cause my mom needs to run some errands.”

And that’s how they leave the house, Chloe talking about some new trend she wants to try and how she found this new product that will leave her hair even shinier and better smelling. And Millie, clutching at her backpack straps because the weird, warm and nagging feeling on her chest and the red on her cheeks just won’t leave her alone it seems.

-------

THIS IS SO FREAKING CUTE!!! I LOVE IT!! 🤩😍

[revserrayyu]

2.1 Penacony thoughts [part2]

**Spoiler warning** Covering up until we switch to Acheron’s POV alongside Welt (not their first conversation but actually playing as her, hence the cover photo), so be kind to yourself and look away if you haven’t reached that point yet. Brace yourself once more; I’m going to ramble.

First things first, this whole shrinking down scene where we traverse through a model of Penacony was so odd. Poor Ratio had to be rolling his eyes so hard just watching a tiny Aventurine run around like that.

I feel like we didn’t learn much about Sunday last patch, but hearing him speak about how orderly and presentable we should be at all times really fits his personality. The pretty boy certainly knows how to look good and leads me like him even more..

But only for a moment as he then uses some Harmony trickery against Aventurine so he’s forced to answer his several questions truthfully, or at least that’s the feeling I got from watching this interrogation. Seeing this was quite interesting to me because there’s this anime call No Guns Life where a character by the name Tetsuro has an ability called “harmonie” which allows him to control other extends (robots basically) and they way the anime shows it looked very familiar with all the color.

Moving on, Sasuke Uchiha vibes are coming in strong with our gambler being a potential sole clan survivor, not to mention Aventurine admitting his love toward his family is something he values more than himself. Also, I don’t like this bird.. sitting there, keeping an eye on everything, even during Aventurine’s chat with Sparkle later on. I know the Family has a big Nightingale theme going on but still. Big Brother (or in this case the Family) always watching hm?

NOPE. Any small hope I had for Sunday being someone we could safely trust has flown straight out the window with this sinister smirk of his, no matter how handsomely good it makes him look here.

I love that no matter what is going on or who he’s talking to, Ratio always manages to mildly insult others without a care in the world.

So stuff about the Cornerstones gets revealed, how all Ten Stonehearts have one of their own and how very important said stones are to them, so what on earth was Aventurine doing with both his and Potaz Pazto Topaz’s? Also found it interesting how closely hers resembles Qlipoth’s body when she isn’t a Preservation unit like Aventurine is.

Sunday then gives Aventurine only 17 system hours to live and he has to spend it solving Robin’s case with little to no outside help or hints on where to begin. Talk about immense pressure. Let my man gamble in peace!

And if all that wasn’t enough to make me start feeling bad for our fancy man, we get a sad backstory featuring his sister and even learning how both their parents died! Because OF COURSE they’re setting me up to get upset about him for some reason later on in the story and now I’m so terrified because if I learned anything from anime it’s that these kinds of flashback are major red death flags.

The feeling of joy came back to me though upon seeing Topaz show up. Despite Aventurine being around and all the mentions of the IPC, I honestly wasn’t expecting her to visit Penacony at all, but I’m very pleased to see her again! She definitely grew on me after that one quest in Belobog and even though she doesn’t have access to most places on Penacony like her coworker currently does, it’s nice she’s willing to lend a helping hand to us.

It doesn’t settle well with me that none of the Bloodhounds know who Gallagher is. Ain’t he supposed to be top dog around here and in charge?

Oh red text, why must you haunt me so easily? Imagine how different all of Penacony would feel if we had the option to completely turn off subtitles. People would definitely have various opinions regarding Acheron if they knew of her ominous words or not.

I wanna chalk this up as a HI3 reference, but I can’t be sure as I’ve never played. If so, I love how they can toss in hints about Welt’s past like this.

And hers.. I imagine bits and pieces would line up with her past one way or another too.

A little while after that, we cut back to Black Swan and y’all, we FINALLY get some sort of Boothill interaction in the story! Only audio for now but I’ll take it!

Hearing about bullets, him getting annoyed about Acheron being a “galaxy ranger” and the Hunt path are wonderful ways to confirm who it is and I can’t wait to eventually see him in game.

Seems like he isn’t too thrilled with Acheron though and of course, he too knows of her Emenator status. There goes my brief hopes of them being in friendly terms and seeing them work together I suppose.

This item that Ratio gives Aventurine before he suddenly disappears (again) and how it features one of his voicelines.. hilarious. It’s like it was spoken specifically for Aventurine and no one else.

I may be a little stupid.. do we know who the other mute is? The one dead is clearly Robin, but surely the other can’t be Sunday right? He spoke perfectly fine. I’m thinking back to all the Penacony characters we’ve met and they all sound fine, aside from Sam but he’s robotic so naturally he would sound a bit different yea? Maybe we haven’t met this other mute yet, I dunno. The “again” part of Sparkle’s line makes me feel like we have met them at least once.

Sweetie, how the fuck did you manage to sneak such a dangerous device into Penacony?? Even Aventurine is concerned about how the Family doesn’t know of it.

Okay.. so the whole flashback with Aventurine being bought as a slave and used to gamble for his master is tough. I know many people speculated what the mark on his neck said, and majority did think “slave” was written, but man, the hint didin’t make this story any easier to hear. Being blessed with luck ain’t always a good thing hm? Hearing the guy say “all or nothing” and learning from Topaz about how that phrase is now Aventurine’s mantra.. oh boy.

Siobhan is gorgeous and if she was playable I’d definitely pull for her.

SERVAL MENTION HUZZAH! I’m aware they mentioned my girl during the livestream and how they’re both the rebellious ones in their respective families, but Siobhan actually wanting to meet her? Oohhh~

Okay but the fact we’re encountered so many deaths, during the many story and side quests, in a short amount of time shouldn’t be normal. The way he seems so indifferent about it too.. “so what?” like sir, people are dying.

Oh, we did indeed receive one as well. That was the invitation, wasn’t it? I thought the music box Acheron stole from Duke was something different and special for different reasons. Nevermind.

I seriously need to check back into the creepy dream we experienced last time after Sparkle knocked us out, where we encountered that memory zone meme and listen to all the shouting we heard of this Mikhail guy. I figured he had to be someone important, but the Watchmaker and betrayer of the Family? Oh dear.

I bet you anything it’s Misha. Working behind the scenes in the hotel this entire time would definitely be an effective strategy, and his technique outside battle literally stops time and that seems like the perfect kind of ability for someone named “Watchmaker.”

Gallagher wondering if this certain person is real or not is another reason I think it’s Misha because apparently no one notices his presence at all. During that one scene with us, Firefly, Acheron, Misha & Clockie last past, the girlies didn’t acknowledge Misha at all. Only us and Clockie spoke to the boy. In return, Clockie is only seen by us and Misha as well. So that’s just strange.

For a moment I wonder if Misha is actually like.. a ghost of sorts and we’re just going insane seeing visions of people and cartoon characters everywhere. But that’s all stuff I shall find out later. Hopefully. If the story decides to answer my many concerns.

(originally written on 3/28)

[f0point5]

idk who's translating what colapinto said, but he most definitely wasn't talking ab driving styles bc they never asked him ab that. the initial question was ab what f1 drivers he looked up to as a child. he mentioned drivers that made a mark in the sport like fangio, schumacher & senna & other argentinian drivers that made a mark in his country. he said there were some drivers whose documentaries he'd seen & that he related to them irt their personal stories. then, as an addition to the last question, they asked him ab current drivers he likes. notice how they weren't talking ab driving styles. he said he liked lando & george. they asked him ab gasly & he said "him not so much... verstappen is crazy, he's won 3 championships. ab him there's smth i also don't like. & it's like, he's a great driver-" one of the guys interrupted him to ask what he doesn't like. another one said "he's arrogant". then colapinto said "yeah..." like unsure. the guy who said that said, "you didn't say it, i did" & colapinto mumbled smth like "i can't/shouldn't say smth like this bc verstappen's fans will hate me". he clarifies that what he meant he didn't like is "i think that when everything is good & you win 3 years in a row it's very easy to be happy. but when things don't go well and things happen that you don't want, you look at verstappen and he loses it a little*. and to me he's the same as before. like when i saw him when i was a kid and things wouldn't go well. to me he's the same it's just that now everything is very easy".

*he said "se sale un poco de sí" which to me means "he loses it/himself a little" in regards to his temper/attitude when things aren't going his way

tldr; he said that he didn't like max's attitude when things weren't going his way. like, max is my favorite driver but... that's fair criticism given the mad max nickname & that max is/was also known for being very cutting (& aggressive even) at times when talking ab/to other drivers. asides from that, i literally cannot see max taking this comment seriously as a 3 times world champion. like imagine hamilton or alonso caring ab this. idk why it's getting sm attention

And I oop!!!!

I feel like I should probably watch the whole podcast but I’m not sure I can be bothered 😂

Tbh, when I originally saw the cut clip what I didn’t think was smart/professional is him basically saying he doesn’t vibe with people, when in theory he could be their colleague one day. It seemed a bit childish to be so ready to speak on people when you are hoping to be spending a lot of time with them professionally. And I stand by that, I feel like he should have just said who he liked and said “I don’t know them so I can’t say” about everyone else. Also, in the translation I saw, he said there was “something he didn’t like” about Max and then there was no more explanation to it, and I felt like it was a bit of a cop out to not say with his chest what the issue was. But he explained himself with his chest so I can take that back. I stick to my point that he should have just talked around the question though.

But.

It’s totally valid for him not to click with people’s vibes. Everyone has their own way with dealing with passion and pressure, and sometimes watching how other people deal with it gives you a bit of an ick. People are giving it attention because people really can’t handle differences of opinion anymore. The snowflake attitude is out of control.

I can’t see Max giving a single fuck. I’m a petty bitch, so I was Max I just wouldn’t go out of my way to help him. But I’m not Max thankfully lol. But seriously, Max is just there to do his job, I don’t think he cares what the temp at Williams thinks of his coping mechanisms. Why would he?

[cq-studios]

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Ephemer!

First Impression

Honestly, I’m not too sure. I think I was pretty indifferent to him at first, mostly because I hadn’t actually played the game/experienced the cutscenes. I watched Tennelle and Whitney’s recap of it so I was just hearing about what he did, not necessarily about him.

But I guess since he kept ditching people (Player, Skuld, Player again, but this time in Wreck it Ralph), I figured he was kind of a flake. I found that amusing more than anything tho.

Current Impression

He.

I’m a massive fan of all the NULs, but Ephemer is in the top spot very often (and Skuld is normally right there with him but she’s not who we’re talking about right now). I probably should have more to say but like I dunno

Favourite Moment

Ooh this one is tough.

I’m tempted to say when he comforts Skuld about, you know, how the is literally ending by saying “It’s not over til it’s over”, because it is simultaneously the most human and unhelpful thing to say, and it makes me laugh every time.

But there’s also the scene where he first meets Player, which I also think is fun.

Idea for a Story

I’ve had a little AU idea for awhile where, after Union X, Ephemer figures out that he’s never gonna see his friends again and uses the Unchained State to switch worldlines to one where the glitches hadn’t started yet.

He’d have memory loss with a subconscious feeling that something isn’t right, a la Sleeping Realm Theory. So like, he starts noticing that details of past events are different than what everyone else remembers, he’s much clingier than usual and doesn’t seem to know why, or he sees Player and breaks down out of a guilt he can’t remember ever having.

Skuld notices something is off pretty quickly, and Ephemer feels the same. So they, with the help of Brain (who they also roped into this), try to work out what’s going on. Eventually they’d figure it out, and Ephemer would go back to his original worldline.

I’m not entirely sure what would push him to go back. Maybe reading his Book of Prophecies and learning that Brain wouldn’t have a world to appear in if he didn’t. Or learning that he can move on (about Scala and his kids and stuff), once again with the help of the BoP. Or maybe the glitches start again, and the world ends again, and he realizes that there’s nothing he can do to change what he went through. He just has to accept it. Or you know, some combination of those.

I started writing this a bit ago but haven’t gotten very far. Don’t know if I’ll ever finish it but I’m still working on it on and off.

Unpopular Opinion

Uhh, I’m not entirely sure to be honest…

Like I don’t think I have one??? But I’m also not even quite sure what would be considered a popular opinion about him???

Favourite Relationship

Him and Skuld.

I love their friendship. I love that Kingdom Hearts lets a guy and a girl just be friends, and close one’s at that.

I feel like they have a very teasing friendship (definitely a believer of the prank wars dynamic for them), but like, if push comes to shove, they will stick together through the actual end of the world. I find so much comfort in that, even if in the end they get separated.

Favourite Headcannon

Dude’s a massive conspiracy theorist, and I like that for him. Especially because he ends up in a position of power and, due to the all but normal circumstances, I’m sure that suddenly the conspiracies that he would’ve believed were about him and his friends.

I live for this concept but have no clue how to apply it in a practical way.

[lostyesterday]

Kiradax, J7, and Janeway x Tuvok for the ask game :)

Thank you! <3 <3 <3

Kiradax:

What made you ship it?

I’m pretty sure I first started really shipping them when I watched The Circle/The Siege in season 2. Their interactions in those episodes are just so good and flirty and I love them.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

My number one favorite thing about them is how close they become to each other over the course of the show despite being such different people with such different perspectives on the world. I really think they both compliment each other so well and bring out positive things in each other.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don’t know how much this is an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think they’d get together early on in DS9. I think Jadzia would probably be interested in Kira really early on, but it wouldn’t even occur to Kira to be interested in Jadzia until they’ve known each other for several years. I like to imagine any eventual romantic relationship they have as being based on a firm foundation of friendship.

J7:

What made you ship it?

I can’t remember what exact moment made me ship them, but I definitely started shipping them sometime in season 4. Their season 4 dynamic is so interesting and multi-layered and much more overtly messed up and complicated than it is in later seasons which is something that appeals to me. (Not that I don’t like their dynamic in later seasons, I just find their season 4 dynamic particularly interesting.)

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

Probably how obsessed they are with each other. Basically from the time they meet they’re just so inordinately obsessed with how the other thinks of them and the status of their relationship. Janeway is obsessed with helping Seven become an individual and Seven is obsessed with what Janeway thinks of her. They’re thinking about each other 24/7.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I have trouble imagining them actually dating and especially not getting married. I don’t have any issue with people who like to imagine these things, but it just does not fit with how I personally understand their dynamic. Can I see them both having very strong romantic feelings toward each other? Absolutely. Can I see them potentially acting on those feelings eventually? Sure, but I think if anything did happen between them, it would be brief and volatile and complicated and they would probably try to pretend it didn’t happen afterward. The only way I can see any long-term relationship between them would be well after the canon timeline in Voyager.

Janeway x Tuvok:

What made you ship it?

I really enjoyed their dynamic from the very beginning of Voyager, but I think the episode where I started to like the idea of them as a ship was Dreadnought (I think?) in season 2. It’s the scene where Janeway agrees for Tuvok to stay with her on the ship when everyone else was evacuating. That scene was so good.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

The strength with which they care about and trust each other. And also just the way they look at each other with such meaning in their eyes. They have such a deep and profound friendship, and if there’s one thing about me, I love romantic relationships built on that kind of foundation.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I personally think Janeway and Tuvok have as compelling of a dynamic as Janeway and Chakotay. The fandom focuses so much on Janeway and Chakotay and I understand why, but Janeway and Tuvok have such an interesting dynamic too (whether or not you ship them romantically) and it doesn’t get talked about nearly as much as it should.