#I'd argue that he at least knows someone out there is out to kill Kid though

[kawarikisaki]

What if Hakuba has figured out why Kaito choses to be Kid and that’s why he’s more obviously supportive of him even if he wish he’d stop being a thief.

I think he probably has figured out part of it, but realistically, he's probably missing a lot of the details.

Like, he definitely knows Kaito isn’t doing it for the thrill as he probably suspected early on. All the evidence he needs to Know that Kaito’s motive is something personal is the fact that he has enemies that are actively gunning for him (whether we want to take the specials as canon or not), and the fact that Kid's heists are scheduled in such a way that they normally align with the full moon (we haven’t gotten to see Hakuba witnessing how he checks gems like Conan has, but its not too much of a stretch for him to have noticed the moon's involvement.)

It's even fairly safe to assume that he’s noticed that Kid's disappearance 8 years ago just so happens to coincide with when Kaito’s father died in a tragic stage accident. Which would definitely tell him why Kaito is Kid.

But that doesn’t really tell him what purpose Kid has.

So Hakuba is still left with Questions.

'His dad died, it was reported as an accident, but what if it was a murder?' 'Is Kaito after revenge?' 'What does the moon have to do with anything?' 'Kaito wouldn't kill someone, right?' 'Why is he primarily targeting gemstones?' 'Why does he return what he steals' 'it'd be more efficient to not send advance notices, is there a reason he needs to draw attention? Or is it just for style points?'

And maybe he has a few of those answers... but he doesn't have all of them, and Kaito won't confirm anything.

So if we take the Kaitou Kid specials as potential canon (cause they do change things, but there’s so little canon Hakuba that I'll take some dubious canon as a supplement) then Hakuba knows about Spider and has been specifically investigating him, so its not much of a stretch to think he could also be aware of Snake and have some degree of knowledge about the organization they work for. And if that's the case, maybe he's heard snippets about Pandora, maybe he's able to make some assumptions about the how and why of Toichi's death...

Maybe he wants to pull a 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' with Kaito, perhaps even try to get Kaito some kind of pardon for helping with the investigation. He may not have the power to grant that personally, but perhaps he could pull some strings or get his dad to pull some strings.

But even if we assume he has that much information on the situation, he still doesn't know for sure what Kaito intends to do.

He's almost certain that Kaito doesn't intend to kill anyone. But he can't be 100% sure, because Kaito won't talk to him about Kid, and even if he did Kaito has a skillset that's optimized for lying. Even so, Hakuba believes Kaito wouldn't do that, he believes that Kaito is simply trying bring his father's killers to justice.

And he wants to help.

He's trying to help. Doing all he can to offer short of outright saying it.

But he can't really do much unless Kaito lets him in.

[howi99]

Ashen Knight 9

Kid Cinder: *looking at their new identities* Pfft, Jaune? That's the name they gave you?

Rk Jaune: *shaking his head* It was my real name, Cinder. The only thing they changed was the family name.

Cinder: *laughing* But Jaune?! Really!? Ahahahahah! It's just a color! What, did your mom lack names that were related to your hair color?

Jaune: Yes, actually.

Cinder: ... Wait really?

Jaune: Seven sisters and a bunch of cousins that are all blond really weeded out the number of names they could use. Heck, if i remember correctly, i had... Have? *Shake his head* One of them was called dandelion and another crucifer, which is basically another name for mustard.

Cinder: ... That last one did sound badass though.

Jaune: ... I do have to agree on that one. *Taking another look at the false papers* The last name isn't bad at least.

Cinder: Amaryllis? Why? It sounds like we are from Argus.

Jaune: It's a good cover. A father and daughter leave Argus to search for a better life in Atlas-

Cinder: *deadpan* The grimmland would have been preferable to this god forsaken place.

Jaune: *roll his eyes* I know Atlas is the second worst place in Remnant after Mistral, but trust me when i say that i'd prefer to stay another hundred years in the ever after instead of getting my foot in the grimmlands for more than a week.

Cinder: *pouting* But i still want to go!

Jaune: ... *Kneeling down to her size, smiling at the little girl* Cinder, i know that you want to leave this place as soon as possible. *Chuckle* Trust me, i miss Vale as much as you hate Atlas... But you saw how Winter reacted when she talked about her dad. *Shaking his head* I can't just leave her alone, nor her or her siblings.

Cinder: *Sigh* I know that, but why can't i just use my semblance on him? It would be finished in a matter of seconds!

Jaune: *serious* And you'd have killed.

Cinder: *trying to justify herself* B-but he's a bad guy! Like in your stor-

Jaune: *Cutting her, his voice authoritative* Cinder!

Cinder: *surprised by Jaune reaction* W-whu-

Jaune: *sigh, calming his voice* Cinder... Killing is not a solution to a problem. It's a consequence. *Closing his eyes, taking a deep breath* Grimms don't have feelings. They don't have aspirations or dreams... But peoples? People have dreams. *Open his eyes, seeing Cinder's eyes reflecting his own* When you look at me, what do you see?

Cinder: *unsure* M-my savior? A knight?

Jaune: *shaking his head* Cinder, when i look at you, i see how good you can be. I see your future, i see all your potential... But do you know what i see when I have to kill someone? When they lay before me?

Cinder: *shake her head*

Jaune: *sigh* I see nothing... When they die, they cannot change anymore, Cinder. Death is the end, not A end, THE end. Killing someone is robbing them of their future, of everything they could have done. You cannot repent in death... *Look at his broken sword* Nor can you dream of better days...

Cinder: *looking down, ashamed of even thinking about killing Jacques* I'm sorry... I thought i could be useful... I just-

Jaune: *taking her in his arms, hugging her* You don't need to be useful, Cinder. You need to be you, to be happy!

Cinder: *slowly hugging the knight back, silently crying* B-but then... What good am i?

Jaune: *Tightening his hug a little bit* You aren't a tool, Cinder. You are a kid... Be kind, be happy... And that will be plenty enough.

[impactrueno]

hello dear! I was wondering and i apologize if you’ve already been asked but I was curious…ik that that toonjuice cares about Lydia like a niece/daughter, and the musical cares about her too, how would both react at how keetenjuice treated movie Lydia in the first film when she was a kid?…like say they never knew he was a p#do, how would they react? (And I’m sorry if this sounds bad or weird I’m just curious if they’re protective and shit or?…😭😭)

ok sorry first off i gotta reiterate: movie beetlejuice is not....a pedo....he was just using lydia as a green card thing just like musical beetlejuice.........he says it himself

this misconception comes from people repeating it a lot, especially after they spread the knowledge about the first versions of the movie script (which they changed for good reason,) but when you watch the actual movie and pay attention to what he says and how the wedding goes, it's a lot more clear that his sole intent was to cross over as soon as the wedding was finalized and get the hell out. especially now that we can compare that scene to the sequel where he actually IS into lydia now as an adult (which is creepy as hell on its own but it's very much not pedophilia let's not water down the terms here) and THIS wedding is like a WHOLE thing, he relishes it, he's not frantically hurrying it up, he takes his sweet time trying to woo lydia and enjoys it. his attitude could not be more different this time around

ok now that that's out of the way

if you're asking about my comics specifically, i've been writing them like they're already caught up with what went down with their respective lydias. each of them knows that movie bj tried to marry his lydia twice and has been stalking her for 30 years (he himself mentions it and musical bj uses that against him to insult him,) that musical bj DID marry his lydia but she immediately killed him (cartoon bj called her the "little black widow" and movie bj mocks him for getting tricked into it, as if he himself didn't also get tricked into marriage and murdered by his first wife lol) and that cartoon bj is best friends with his lydia and hangs out with her all the time (babysitting her, as movie bj put it.) the rest, they've been finding out through their conversations.

cartoon bj as we already know is jealously protective of his lydia, but musical bj ehhh not that much. hell, i'd argue he needs to be protected from her, lol.

i think he just knows she can take care of herself, she IS tougher than she looks and he can personally vouch for that. he did step in to save her from his mother, but i think that might've just been because he literally owed her his (incredibly brief) life and he wasn't gonna let someone take that from her. that has more to do with how he himself feels about life and death than how he feels about his lydia, i think. i'm not saying he doesn't care about her because he clearly does. but it's not like the dynamic cartoon bj and lyds have.

cartoon bj's protectiveness of lydia stems solely from how much he cares about her. he's not noble, he's not a hero, he's not a good guy, he doesn't protect her because it's the right thing to do, but because that's HIS best friend and no one better touch a hair on her head or take her away from him. a little selfish but oddly sweet in his own beetlejuicey way. lydia thinks so, at least.

i went off on a tangent here but i think establishing how they feel will help ppl understand where i'm coming from with this argument.

your question is how they would react to learning how movie bj treated his lydia when she was 15:

i talked a bit about how cartoon bj wouldn't stand up to the other two because he knows he has no room to talk, and i think he would only take action if either of them tried to do anything to his lydia (which they won't, obviously, but HE doesn't know that and doesn't trust them) but he also can't help but have a fondness for the other two lydias even if he doesn't really know them. he probably thinks hey if they're lydia, they're probably great. cartoon lydia has similar feelings about the other two juices; she thinks they can't possibly be that bad. but she's not stupid, she's also a bit wary. i think she just wants to get to know them and understand them, maybe sees them as misunderstood, just like how she sees her own beej.

now musical bj.........lol he would be the KING OF HYPOCRITES if he gave movie bj any shit about what he did, because he did exactly the same and was WAY more aggressive about it. he's extremely volatile and that makes him the most dangerous of the three in my opinion. he and lydia became friends, she left him alone for a bit to find out if she could see her dead mom again, his mommy issues and abandonment issues made him take that extremely personally ("you wanna treat me like a demon? then i'll be a demon") and he immediately decided he was gonna backstab her and force her to marry him so he could become alive and not be alone anymore. he tricked her the exact same way jeremy tricked astrid and almost got barbara killed just to extort lydia into agreeing to the marriage and possibly to also get back at her for leaving him, at the maitlands for helping her and everyone else for getting in his way. full on rampage. then when he falls for her bait and switch, he goes "ok well my plan failed so now i'm gonna kill ALL OF YOU"

if anything i think movie bj would be the one questioning musical bj about this stuff, especially now that he seems to have genuine feelings for lydia and helped her save astrid and get rid of rory (the rory thing was a freebie too, but i guess he needed him out of the picture if he planned to marry lydia anyway.) how he dealt with rory and jeremy shows that he actually has some integrity, and from how he talks about dolores we know that "even he has his limits." he follows through with every single deal he's made and he's never lied to lydia once. you can't say the same thing for the other two juices (cartoon bj constantly disappointing his lydia with his lies and lack of integrity, and musical bj for lying to, tricking and backstabbing his lydia)

i think movie bj would come up to musical bj, drape an arm over his shoulder to pull him closer "hey c'mere. lawrence. may i call you lawrence? just wanted to know what the hell is yer damage. lydia can teach ya some breathing exercises to, yknow, control yer emotions so you can stop making a fool of yerself know what i mean?" pat him firmly and stare him down with a scary sleazy smile. musical bj does need therapy. like. asap lol

it's interesting because it's not how you would expect things to go. but when you look closely and compare each of them....it's what makes the most sense.

at least that's what i think, this is all my opinion of course

[zoroara]

Thinking about Squalo, thinking about how one of his greatest achievements, a two day straight fight of skill against another master, is only ever said as a quick thing, not even mentioned by him, not brought up again. How his next greatest ones, the 100 fights are only glossed over, only mentioned in the smallest bits. We never get to see much of these fights. We only see the match that was thrown really. He fought against vindice members lasting as well as Xanxus did in the fight despite his exhaustion, though it's only a short before and after we get to see this.

I think about the fact that whenever he does get the spotlight when he does go against someone strong, in a pivotal battle. He loses.

Vs Yamamoto, loses his first sword fight in who knows how long, then eaten by a shark.

Vs Zakuro, loses even more of the arm he had lost his hand on and is caught in an explosion.

Vs Jaegar, doesn't even manage to last more than a page before he's punched through the chest.

I think about the fact that even when it isn't as bad as nearly killing him, it's still a loss.

Vs the kids in the first time, does seem like a win, but then you remember he was fooled and returned with fake rings.

Vs shimon, he and the rest of the Varia are stopped in a single move by Adelheid.

Vs Enma he failed to command his squad to seize victory when he could have by taking a boss watch.

Vs Hibari and Fon, the moment Fon comes out he's soon out, much sooner than Xanxus or Mammon.

I think about the fact that whenever Xanxus needed him, Squalo was unable to do anything. That he had to watch it happen. Or at least hear it.

In the coup, he had to listen while half conscious as Xanxus fought the ninth, and eventually, as he got frozen.

In the sky battle, he had to watch again from a wheelchair while the same thing as 8 years ago, when they had just gotten Xanxus back, happened again.

In the final fight against the wreaths and ghost, he wasn't able to do anything but be held up by Dino.

But in the fight against Jaegar, he had to watch Xanxus' arm get cut off, but there, he finally had his chance to do something before it got worse. Only to buy mere seconds before it did.

Then I think, about the fact, that despite it all. His determination and pride still shine brightly. He never gave up despite all of this, and he continues forward unshaken. Even though he keeps failing, even though his roster of fights doesn't seem impressive by the lens we're given, he knows what he's worth, what he's capable of. Even in these pivotal fights being failures, it's just something to make up for later. He's filled with spite and vengeance but he never thinks poorly of himself. He doesn't need reassurance after the fight. He is focused and simply picks back up where he was once he can.

I think, this is admirable. The unshakable confidence he has in himself. I'd say it's a curiosity that his flame output isn't higher, but at the same time it isn't. His ring can only handle so much in it after all, and despite that, he still did negate Zakuro's flame output to protect the kids long enough to escape. Zakuro's Millefiore ring that was limitless much like the Vongola.

It's a shame that we never got an important fight with him where he won since his introduction. But honestly, even with this, where some see futility(and admittedly I do too at time) It's impressive that he continued to fight and argue that he was still going to stand as close to the top as he could be. No matter what the world threw at him.

[happyk44]

actually annabeth joining luke's army as a double agent for chb but percy doesn't know this so he just thinks alright and grabs grover and hooks it over there bc annabeth does what she wants and he knows there's no convincing her otherwise bc she's a stubborn ass and also ares fucking sucks so as far as percy's concerned the gods can suck it based on that alone

grover is just ??? bc he does NOT want to be over here and percy's just like "look, we can't convince annabeth to not be part of monster army, so the only option is to be part of it ourselves" and annabeth walks in on them trying to join (or rather percy trying to join for both of them and grover looking on the verge of tears) and she's just ??? bc what the fuck percy why are you two here

whole time percy is going on a rant about ares and how he sucks and how he's pretty sure the god has abused clarisse ("maybe we should get clarisse to sign up with us") because no one believes that he wants to join luke's army and they just thinkk he wants to spy on them so he's trying to show that he thinks gods (well at least one god) is a total ass and can get obliterated and percy will be happy to do that bc he did it once before, he can totally do it again! and if they get clarisse she can deliver the final blow as an FU

someone asks why grover's there and percy is like "um. he's my best friend? he has to come with me? what, you think I'm gonna fucking fight my best friend? are you stupid?"

meanwhile grover is having the worst panic attack of his life. like why is this how he discovers percy has no morals. couldn't it be something smaller like putting french fries in a strawberry milkshake?

and annabeth is resisting the urge to start screaming and now she's gotta vouch for percy and her vouch for percy is basically "if it came to saving me and grover or a bus full of people about to plunge into the atlantic, percy would save us, no hesitation" and everyone's like "jesus christ, the hell is wrong with this kid" because like maybe they're on the side of a cannibalistic titan but they're not fucking evil

ofc once they're let into the group, annabeth drags them both to the side and wrings percy a new one for fucking up her double agent plans and they're both whisper-arguing bc it's not his fault he didn't know she didn't really shack up with the enemy, but like fuck off percy, you didn't have to follow me here! why the hell would you choose to come here, were you going to try and kidnap me and bring me back to camp by force??

and percy is just like "yes that is 100% what i was going to do, i was definitely not joining with the intent to be by your side and blow up olympus because i'd rather destroy the world than fight my friend" and grover turns to annabeth and is just "he's fucking lying" "yeah i know"

anyway grover is released as a double agent for the monster army (but actually for CHB) bc the idea is that he can help them get more demigods to their side as a searcher being sent out to grab kids and he's mentally banging his head bc NOW he has to figure out how to get unclaimed demigods safely to camp without making it look like he took them there on purpose and if it looks like he defected back to CHB, they'll probably kill annabeth and maim or imprison percy and good gods, percy i hate you so much rn

percy? idk. it's past summer so he just goes home and luke is like "bro you can't just fucking leave" "um no offense luke but if you try to stop me from going home to my mom who i love more than life itself i will legit eat you" and then he goes home

come december, grover is calling percy up like "hey i found these fucking powerful ass kids, plz help me get them to camp without making it look like i got them there on purpose" and so they gotta loop annabeth in who's just mentally banging her head and cursing percy out over this whole thing as she strategizes a way to get the army there but have them fuck up so badly it would look super suspicious if grover just shoved them over

so first she yells at percy then she makes grover call thalia up so she can help him and it'll be okay 'cause she's in the same area as him so it won't look suspicious, it'll just seem like camp sent her in with him, like they do sometimes when there's dangerous monsters that a satyr might not be able to handle by themselves.

and then she makes percy go with them as support for grover's "nefarious" deeds since thalia's there. and it's a whole fucking thing, and mentally she's just like "oh thank fuck" when artemis and the hunters show up.

they retreat back to wherever the monster army was at this time (not the boat, but like idk. atlas' post? were they all chilling there or was it just luke and some ppl being assholes and everyone else was still on the boat, i can't remember) and curse their loss of two powerful and clueless demigods, only for percy to call annabeth up a couple hours later like "hey, remember those kids from a couple hours ago with the manticore and the hunters and everything"

"percy it was two hours ago, ofc i remember it, my memory isn't as shit as yours" "right right, you're elephant" "oh my- why are you calling me!!" "oh yeah. uh. well. they're kinda in my house" "what??" "yeah they're sitting right across from me. my mom's giving them some hot chocolate."

"how the hell?"

"i have no clue. they also have no clue. they just, uh, didn't feel safe at camp, bc grover was being weird about trying to save them. which, um, yeah, makes sense. and they don't like thalia because her spear scares them 'cause they don't like lightning. and also the girl said the hunters keep trying to convince her to join them which is freaking her out, so they didn't want to stay at camp. and then suddenly they were in my house."

"..."

"what do i do?"

this time annabeth bangs her head physically on the closest wall. and somewhere in the fine forests of new york, grover is banging his head on the nearest tree, both of them unified in their feelings of "for fucks sake percy i hate you so much rn"

[tamaruaart]

The Vengeance AU

Hi y'all- okay so damn, I have been holding this one off for QUITE a while- I've had this idea in my head for a bit but I never made full AU out of it, but before that I guess I should give a "heads up" of sorts?

I already have a post about Zhao's family tree. And there you can see she had two siblings, Mao-Yin and Syaoran (who were actually twins)

Something I try to make clear is that Zhao (As well as Quanshuǐ and Yue) is not only an OC for Lego Monkie Kid, but also for the original Journey to the West book. Though her role is fairly minor. And in her JTTW book version a lot, and I mean a lot of things are different than in LMK.

Like for example in JTTW her orange hair was actually a punishment, while in LMK it's her natural hair color. Or how in JTTW Quanshuǐ was one of Zhao's temple maidens while she was still living with her family. And also in JTTW Mao-Yin and Pangfua (Zhao, Mao-Yin and Syaoran's mother) committed a suicide in a river while in LMK they just kinda disappeared.

(However all of the JTTW lore about Zhao and her family is canon in LMK in this AU)

I'm trying to write LMK!Zhao as if she was an actual LMK character. I'm changing things I think the actual writers would have changed to fit the tone of the show.

One thing to mention in the JTTW version is that Zhao's brother Syaoran was actually killed via homicide by a few soldiers, and there's a lot to say about that but I'm not going to get into it (this is changed in LMK where he's still alive). Anyways, in JTTW he had a child with one of Zhao's late flower maidens who's name was Měi Lán.

The child's name was Yuǎn'ān (far & safe/far from danger). Basically at the end of jttw yadayadayada zhao wukong argue wukong kill zhao yadayadayada yuǎn sad and angy. And that's basically his JTTW lore /j

He's honestly such a minor character I don't think he would appear in LMK at all. He probably wouldn't even be a canon LMK character at that-

But then I was having a brain rot and thought "What if I made an AU where Yuǎn'ān is a canon LMK character and he was a villain trying to kill MK as revenge so that Wukong can feel the pain of having to lose someone so close to him. Because he knows he can't harm Wukong as Wukong is immortal... but MK isn't" ?

And now we're here! So, enough chitter chatter time for Yuǎn'ān!

(He takes after his father. A LOT. Also if you point out how wonky the feet look I'm throwing you into the dumpster)

General Premise:

In the vengeance AU Yuǎn'ān is one of the main villains. In short, word got around about a certain "Monkie Kid" and a certain "White Tiger" heard about it. He could never forgive Sun Wukong for what he did, but even then he can't do anything to Wukong because he's immortal. Unfortunately, or well, fortunately in Yuǎn's case... The Monkie Kid isn't immortal. Forever grieving the petty loss of his aunt, he sets out to "get rid" of MK, and maybe then Wukong will finally know what it feels like to lose someone oh so dear... Or maybe, just maybe.. he already knows?

Personally:

Yuǎn'ān is... Not exactly an optimist to say the least. He's extremely devoted, salty (this whole ass AU is just him holding a grudge) and a biiiittttttttt passive aggressive. You could say he's a sort of He-Wolf. Also he's a literal copy and paste of his father smh (ironic 'cause he never even met him-).

Not to mention stubborn, oh my god this man listens to no one-

However, deep down he doesn't have the guts to kill someone, like he could definitely injure you (he's got the hunting spirit after all) but not... To exactly murder a person.

Yet, only destiny will determine if he'll end up listening to his gut, or to his head...

Anyways, this is cringe but idc TRIVIA TIME MOTHERFUCKER >:D

Q&As:

How old is he?

Ageless. But mentally I'd say around his early twenties (Maybe 23-24)

Are Quan and Yue also going to be in the AU?

Quanshuǐ doesn't appear in the AU. Yue exists but we don't really see him.

Does Yuǎn have orbs for hands?

No I was just being lazy when I drew him :(

Did his earrings belong to Zhao?

Yeah :)

What are his pronouns and sexuality?

He's demisexual and pan, pronouns are he/him

Any funfacts about his appearance?

He gets his eyes and freckles from Zhao. And his hair is from his father

I don't see his freckl-

LOOK CLOSELY AT HIS FACE AND SHOULDERS.

Are any canon key events and characters changed/removed in the AU? And when does Yuǎn'ān appear?

No. No events nor canon characters are removed. Yuǎn gets foreshadowed sometime during the end of season 2. Then he gets fully revealed in season mid-season 3 and starts his whole "IM GOING TO FUCKING KILL Y-" thing.

Will he be redeemed?

We'll see. (probably-)

Does he have any OC x Canon parings?

For now, no. And honestly I'm not planning on any because I don't exactly see him as the romantic type. I'm open if any of my tumblr friends/moots would be interested in Oc x Oc crackships with him tho, heheh! 👀

Can he also heal like Zhao can?

Eh, I'm still debating but probably not

Will you be posting a lot about this AU?

Probably not a lot. But I'm sure you'll get some content of it from time to time.

Why is he so salty??

That's just the way he was born man 😔

Anyways, yeah! That's basically it, thank you for reading! If you have any questions about this mf feel free to ask :D

Ba-byeeeeeee

[panlight]

What do you think Edward's reaction is to meeting someone having a psychotic episode? Also, do you think vampires can suffer from psychosis?

I'm torn between being like, "oh of course he would try to help" and also kind of thinking that the Cullens keep to themselves and probably aren't as interested in the humans around them (except for Carlisle at work) as we might like to think they are. I love seeing all the headcanons about how Jasper cheers people up at school or the kids work together to get a student out of a dangerous domestic situation, but that's not . . . that's not anything we actually see in the text, and their attitude toward humans in general is pretty dismissive.

If Edward is paying attention enough to notice someone is experiencing some kind of psychotic break, I think his first reaction would be discomfort, followed perhaps by fascination. Someone having a psychotic episode generally has some kind of break with reality, seeing, hearing etc things that aren't real, believing things that aren't real. It doesn't have to be from underlying mental illness; it could also be from physical illness or injury, a traumatic event, or related to substance use. For a mind-reader, experiencing the mind of someone going through that would probably be interesting and unsettling, and Edward has been through medical school twice (although how recently is unclear--it's possible it's been A While and his understanding of mental illness is outdated) which adds another layer of perspective.

(You could argue Bella hearing/seeing Edward in New Moon was psychosis--visual and/or auditory hallucinations are a symptom.)

I'd like to think after that initial reaction he'd try to do something to help; at the very least make sure the person is as physically safe as possible, and then maybe quietly/anonymously reach out to family, if possible, or the appropriate social services. (Do not call the cops, Edward!) Or at the very least call Carlisle and let him deal with it. But I don't think Edward would take the person on as a long-term project or anything. He doesn't care about humans on that level.

And sure, I'd imagine vampires could suffer from psychosis themselves. I think the feeling of going without blood for a long time could trigger an episode--we know Carlisle wasn't in a good mental place when he starved himself and snapped and killed deer for the first time, for example. I don't know if we'd call that psychosis, but. There's also the extremes that vampires tend to go to when they lose their mate; I could see that veering into that sort of territory, too. And then you have people like Zafrina who really can make you see things that aren't real, so I think it fits within the mythos if you want it to.

[that-was-anticlimactic]

can we just talk about how kenji has one of the Most tragic abilities in bungou stray dogs??? like. the more i think about it, the more heartbreaking it is.

he's fourteen years old and has an ability people would die/kill for. in s3, chuuya called kenji the ada's "trump card", so it's safe to assume the rest of the port mafia thinks the same way. he is immune to literal bullets, to being whacked in the head by hard metal or pretty much anything, he can easily lift cars above his head as if they were nothing,,,

but only if he's hungry.

if you ignore that last bit, kenji has one of the best powers in the show. and like he still does, but my God. he's fourteen years old. he doesn't think his ability is all that impressive. he doesn't see the issues.

since he has a job, he probably doesn't Really eat lunch, and if he does, it's snacks. but also his job is a part of the armed detective agency. therefore, things happen all the time. who knows how long cases will run, who knows when someone will try to destroy yokohama or the agency or whatever. there's been many times when it's been clear that they've had to work into the night. then we have to ask: does kenji eat dinner? no. probably not. and if he does, he probably just eats a piece of fruit or something small. that way, he doesn't lose his ability. he is the agency's trump card, after all. and he knows how important his power is. i mean, that's one of the reasons he joined ranpo and the others when they went against fukuzawa's orders in s3. it's not explicitly stated, but i'd argue that it's implied. anyways. does kenji eat breakfast? well, i don't think so. why? he sleeps when he eats. why sleep so soon after he just woke up? he has to go to work, anyways. so he can't fall asleep.

so, we've basically established that kenji probably has an extremely unhealthy eating schedule due to his ability. but also,,, what about his sleeping schedule? what kind of relationship does he have with sleep? so, let's say he eats a full meal three times a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. let's say how long he sleeps depends on how much he ate... so let's say that a small snack is no sleep since it's barely anything, just maybe makes him a little physically weaker. and a normal meal is at least an hour. that's at least three hours of sporadic sleep during the day - one of them shortly after he wakes up. but you know what makes that even sadder? what if kenji doesn't sleep at night because of his ability. or, sleep consistently or well? we can assume the agency actually really wants kenji to eat, even if he falls asleep, so on days when he can't get away with not really eating, he sleeps during the day for an unspecified amount of time. his sleep schedule would get so thrown off. also, he was raised on a farm, so we can assume he wakes up really early anyways. maybe early enough to say that there isn't any reason to sleep because he would wake up soon normally anyways.

and... what if kenji can't sleep without eating? what if kenji has to eat to sleep? maybe it wasn't that way when he was younger, but the older he got, the more his body grew to rely on his ability's exception. like... that's just... really sad. this kid is fourteen.

and think about it. the agency is best friends because they are. they'd probably like to go out to lunch or dinner together. i bet half the time at least, kenji wouldn't eat. why? because he'd fall asleep. wouldn't want to ruin the fun. because then they'd have to watch their volume around him or try to wake him up (and i hc that it's really hard to wake him up for like... the first ten minutes after a meal at least - it gets easier the longer he's been asleep or the less he eats). and what if they can't wake him up? then someone would have to carry him back and that's so kind of them but, well, they didn't have to and now kenji feels like a liability or a burden. like he ruined all the fun.

and he works with the armed detective agency. they've got a lot of enemies. he is the trump card. the physically strongest on the team. also the most naive and, objectively, the kindest. oh and one of the two youngest. can you imagine how vulnerable he is when he sleeps? i would imagine the agency wouldn't want him to eat by himself in public for, you know, safety reasons. and that even includes the cafe downstairs. who knows what could happen if kenji fell asleep on his own? and that's probably why he went to eat with atsushi in s1 ep11: he was with atsushi so he could eat out. one of those rare chances. and if an enemy did get to him while he was asleep, he'd be pretty easy to keep out of it: just keep forcing him to eat. shove food in his mouth, force him to swallow. and there you are: you have the armed detective agency's trump card. and kenji knows this.

and the sad thing is? kenji probably doesn't even realize he's having problems. he probably thinks this is normal. something he just has to deal with - and i don't say that in a negative or self-loathing kind of way. a genuine "it's always been like this; i know nothing else" kind of way. he wants to help people: that's why he came to the agency. he couldn't handle not being able to help everyone back home. he needs to be useful, to help. he grew up on a farm: he values hard work a lot - that much is obvious. he feels like he can't help if he eats consistently. he's probably (albeit subconsciously, unknowingly) scared of what would happen if he did eat and sleep consistently. that means he's not useful, right? that means someone will get hurt because of him. he'd rather starve than someone else get hurt. he was given this ability, he has to use it to help people.

tldr: kenji's ability is so interesting and underutilized in the the manga/anime and in the fandom and is so overlooked in angst potential. his ability most likely has ruined his eating and sleeping schedule to the point where he doesn't know anything different and genuinely thinks it's healthy because it's what he's always done, it's what he was blessed with, right? kenji deserves more love in canon and by the fandom <3

[canonizzyhours]

I wrote this long meta post this morning when I was supposed to be working in response to someone saying that they relate to Izzy because he's an outsider, but I deleted it because I realized that I don't care about Izzy, and there's no point in arguing with someone who will be like well that's just your opinion man. Out of all the crew, I care about Izzy the least. I missed Buttons more than I'll miss Izzy in S3. So I'm going to stop reading Izzy posts.

(Although I still maintain that if you see Izzy as the outsider character in Season One you're missing the whole point of his character in that season. Being disliked by your peers is not the same thing as being an outsider!)

But I have one final vent: I'm completely baffled by the canyon. Completely. After I finished the first season, my friend warned me that there were people in fandom who LOVED Izzy, and I was like lol wut. And even after reading all the canyon's meta and all their frankly unhinged tweets, I still don't get it.

Jar Izzy? Okay, I totally get that. Everyone loves a bad boy with issues. I'd be shocked if he didn't have some fans.

But canyon Izzy isn't even Izzy. I've seen them say over and over that Izzy is mentally ill, which is never presented in canon (yet they ignore Ed's very textual breakdown??? why don't they relate to Ed's mental illness???). They say he protects and cares about the crew - citation, please. Show me the scene where he protected anyone. They say that he was completely motivated by the thought that Stede and/or Ed was going to get them killed - aside from Izzy freaking out over the Spanish in 1x04, there's no evidence of that, either. Every character trait they like about canyon Izzy (secretly soft inside, a genius, a natural leader, creative, funny, really really ridiculously good looking, probably nice to kids) literally belongs to the character of Ed!

Then I see posts saying that they relate to Izzy because they're mean and no one likes them... yikes. Or I see them say that they relate to Izzy because they've loved someone who hasn't loved them back, but then why do they vilify the character their fave loves? They've been queer baited because Steddyhands was totally written into canon. Izzy was the only real disabled character. Izzy was the only real gay character. Izzy was the only one with a queer storyline - I guess Stede's entire storyline in Season One never happened?

And you know what, I could probably ignore all that. I could stop checking Tumblr. Hell, some of the Ed takes annoy me because they go too far in the opposite direction and call Izzy an evil mastermind; there are a lot of annoying posts on this site. But it bleeds into my first love: Modern AU Fanfic. Any time I click on a fic that pairs Izzy with anyone else it's more likely than not to portray Ed as violently insane or emotionally manipulative. It bums me out because I'm going to have to start filtering out more and more fic, and I'm going to miss out on some real gems just because it's also tagged Izzy Hands. But I don't know how much longer I can read fics where it turns out that Ed beats and tortures Izzy and only Izzy because they have a special connection, and Izzy gets with Lucius or Frenchie and Ed can't handle it because he can't deal with Izzy loving anyone but him, and Ed picks at Izzy and says terrible underhanded things about him, and everyone is secretly on Izzy's side. WHY ARE THERE EVEN SIDES???

Anyway, I blame Sherlock and discord.

#198.

[triphimi]

So a lot of people really dislike Dittophobia for messing with their theories. So let me tell you all the things that Dittophobia actually confirmed for my theories.

1. Fnaf SL happened after fnaf 1. The book pretty much confirmed my timeline of games order which I'm happy about since there was really not a lot of evidence for either side and I'm glad we finally have an answer for that.

2. Experiment theory. Self explanatory. Even though it was pretty known a lot of people still belived we play as CC in a coma (and I wad really surprised by how many since I haven't seen that theory being popular since the logbook came out)

3. Nightmare animatronics weren't real or at least not in their in game forms. Among experiment theory believers there were still arguments whenever nightmare animatronics were actually real. My theory was that yes but no. In short there was something either plushies or mannequins (which actually turned out to be correct!) That were moved around and the whole illusion was made with factor of darkness. Well that is true however I never really considered the whole nightmare gas thing so I'd say I was like 80% correct on that one.

4. William was already a killer before CC died. I've even had a post about how I think MCI happened in 1983 bc there's already rumors about haunted robots while CC is still alive. And people are mad about that one because it supposedly "ruins his motivation" which for them was death of his son but I always found that theory unbelievably stupid. William's motivation isn't really covered in games. Sure he wanted to experiment on fear and agony. But the most motivation on why he would do this is in book trilogy where after killing Charlie he's scared of what awaits him in the afterlife so he tries to find the key to immortality. And it doesn't have to be the exact same reason in games since the trilogy is different continuity from games. However I could see that be the case but it's just speculations.

5. Since Fredbear plush is just William talking through it finally is a nail in the coffin for "William was actually a good father and wanted to protect his family" theory. I've also had and entire post about why I don't think he was a good father before Dittophobia came out just based on games so no trilogy evidence there. I honestly don't know why would someone think that William wasn't all that bad and why would he be somehow redeemable.

6. There were maaaaaany victims. Yeah William is a psychopath and a serial killer. People are still to this day arguing whenever toy animatronics are haunted and some say he only killed 6 children. So it makes so much sense to me that there were many victims beside them and even more beside toy animatronics kids bc William was monster who would do anything for his own gain. "He always comes back" but not just from the dead but to commit another murder.

So yeah these were the things that I've already belived before Dittophobia came out and said book just confirmed them. Did it confirm literally every and each one of my theories? No, like 70% of them. But am I gonna claim other 30% that were disproved are a retcon because I'm never wrong? No lmao and I don't get why people are like that since all the things I listed above are conclusions to which I came to some years ago (most recent being probably Midnight Motorist one). So it was possible to form these theories without Dittophobia and yes I'm happy we finally have fnaf 4 explained and I still would be even if it disproved all of my theories as long as we have a consistent story.

[joehawke]

Posting a stranger things request oneshot I never finished

Based off this prompt someone sent me: Steve refusing to let Max offer herself to Vecna. I've always felt it was strange that Steve didn't argue Max's plan at all. It seemed so out of character considering that he's been caring for her for years. I'd understand if they couldn't find any other viable plan, but I'd like to think Steve at least wouldn't have let it happen without some sort of fight.

It’s eerily quiet as everyone takes in what Nancy had just said, the idea of this proximity closing in on them and their home sends a sense of fear through the room, and Steve can almost feel it festering and bubbling like some scar that had almost healed, before getting the skin torn off again, back at where it started. He doesn’t dare look at anyones face, and yet there’s this part of him screaming at himself that he needs to be here, be present in this moment not only for himself, but for the kids in the room who may act tough, but he knows deep down are just as scared as he is, if not more. He needs to be present for Nancy, who’s entire demeanor is plagued by the unthinkable. He needs to be there for Eddie and Robin, both of which have showed him parts of himself he never would’ve been able to uncover without them. He needs to be there cause what would he be if he wasn’t? He’s not sure how long they sit like that, ‘doesn’t want to know the length of time that’s passed, leading them closer and closer to the end.

“Four chimes” a voice speaks up from the other side of the room, and Steve can make it out as Max’s. He and everyone else look up towards her, curious and maybe even a hint of worry at what she means and how she knows. “Vecna’s clock… it always chimes four times…four times exactly” she continues, looking back up from the floor to meet everyone’s worried and confused glances.

“I heard them too” Nancy whispers, as if speaking the idea of this monster out loud would destroy everything they’re trying to keep locked up. Steve and everyone else quickly turn to look at Nancy, a scared and exhausted look plastering her normal determined manner.

“He’s been telling us his plan this whole time” Max speaks up, and the idea that this thing that has been terrorizing them and everyone around them has been secretly letting them in on what’s to come each step of the way and they had no idea, angers Steve to an extent he wouldn’t care to admit.

“Four kills… four gates…“ Lucas says, almost disbelieving, and Steve can quite literally see the gears turning, before “The end of the world.” And before Steve even gets a chance to speak up, to let it even settle in, Dustin is speaking up, adding more to the solemnity that sucks the air out of the room.

“If that’s true… he’s only one kill away”

And in that moment, when the words finally fall from Dustin’s mouth out into the bitter air, Steve can’t do anything but bow his head in exhaustion. They’re kids for fucks sake. Kids. In what world should a group of kids, one as low of the age as 11, have to be living in this kind of reality? But is it even a reality? At this point, Steve wouldn’t be surprised if this was some figment of imagination his fucked up brain is conjuring up, and he’s going to wake up any minute now. But he doesn’t. And the clock in the corner still ticks, still indicating that time isn’t stopping for them, that they’re one step closer every minute, whether they want to admit it or not. He can hear Eddie murmuring a string of curse words under his breath from beside him, and he can’t tell if he wants to punch him and tell him to shut up, or if he wants to give him a hug. There’s no in between. Before Steve can do either, he’s prodding Max on to call the others again.

“Try ‘em again, try ‘em again!” And he watches as Max dials the phone, and he watches as they don’t pick up, and he watches as hope slips off faces, and all he can do is watch.

“Maybe you punched it in wrong, try it again” Steve says anxiously, a hint of agitation creeping in at the ends of his words.

“I didn’t punch it in wrong” Max counters, and Steve runs his hands through his hair, wishing he could just rip it out in some weird twisted way. Maybe it would ground him.

“Well I don’t know” Steve snaps back, and he doesn’t mean to, he really doesn’t, but with the weight of what he now knows sitting in the back of his throat like bile, just waiting to emerge and burn everything in its path out, well he thinks it’s okay to be mad. He mumbles a ‘sorry’ under his breath, because despite the anger he feels, Max doesn’t deserve the end of it.

“Same shit” Max says, hanging up the phone rather aggressively, and he thinks maybe she can give him pass for snapping at her now.

“How is that possible?” Lucas asks, distress seeping through his tone, though Steve can tell he’s trying to suppress it.

“I told you, Joyce has that telemarketer Job. She’s always on the phone. Mike won’t stop whining about it” Dustin says, crossing his arms as he tries his best to stand tall, and Steve can tell it’s facade, but he doesn’t say anything about it. He understands.

“Okay yeah, but this phones been busy for what? Three days now? That’s not Joyce. No way. Somethings wrong” Max pipes up, and Steve wishes he could say she was wrong, but he knows she’s not.

“She’s right” Nancy says, turning around and walking to the window. “It can’t be just a coincidence. It can’t be. Whatever is happening in Lenora, it’s connected to all of this. I’m sure of it” She says, pausing as she carefully examines her words precisely. “But Vecna can’t hurt them… not if he’s dead.” And Steve already hates where this is going, already has a bad idea, already knows this is an accident waiting to happen.

“We have to go back there. Back to the upside down” she finishes, and Steve almost lets the bile sitting in his throat lurch forward from it’s sitting position.

“Woah woah woah no no no. Let’s think this through” Steve says, standing up quickly to come stand by Nancy and maybe, just maybe knock some sense into her.

“What is there to think through!” Nancy demands, turning to face Steve as she gestures outwards with her hands.

“We barely made it out of there in once piece!” Steve counters, trying to sink his teeth that are his words into her skin.

“Yeah because we weren’t prepared! But this time we will be! We’ll get weapons and protection. We’ll go through the gate, we’ll find his lair, and we’ll kill him.”

“Or he’ll kill us” Steve rebuttals, and god, Steve knew Nancy was determined, knew she stood up for what she believed in, it’s the Nancy he grew to love, but this is just absurd. It’s a death sentence. One he won’t be helping her partake in. “The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to! He’s not scared of us.”

“And for good reason! We learned something new about Vecna/Henry/one! He’s a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child murdering version of her with really bad skin, b - but my point is, he’s super powerful. He could turn us inside out with the snap of his fingers. It’s not a fair fight!” Robin exclaims, trying to catch her breath as her words follow.

“So why fight fair? You’re right, he’s exactly like eleven. But that gives us an upper hand. We know elevens strengths — and weaknesses. I bet you when he’s back in that attic, his physical body is defenseless!” Dustin declared, a smile fore taking his demeanor at the idea.

“That all sounds good in theory, but there is no pattern to Vecna’s killings. At least not one I can decipher anyway. We don’t know when he’s going to attack next. We don’t even know who we’re going to attack” Robin points out.

“Yeah we do” Max speaks up from where she stood, refusing to look up. “I can still feel him. I’m still marked. Cursed” And no. No no no. Steve can already see where this is going and no. “I ditch Kate bush” No. No. “I draw his focus back to me” and No. It’s quiet and Steve is so close to saying his string of No’s out loud, but Lucas beats him to it.

“Max… you can’t. He’ll kill you” Lucas says, his tone laced with nothing but pure venom and a demanding he needs Max to understand.

“I survived before” Max says, and Steve wants to say ‘barely’ but he bites his tongue. “I can survive again. I just - I need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can - chop his head off or stab in the heart. Blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up. I honest really don’t care how you put this asshole in his grave just -… whatever it is” and no. No. This is crazy. She’s crazy. Steve can’t just sit here and listen to this. Yet - he can’t bring himself to speak up. His mouth feels like sand paper. “Whatever you do… just - try not to miss” she finishes, and it sounds so nonchalant and Steve just doesn’t get it. He turns to look at the faces surrounding him, wanting to make sure he wasn’t the only one who found this plan absurd, but he’s met with eyes staring right back at him. He’s tired of being the goddamn babysitter, of putting his kids in danger. This shouldn’t be his call, why are they making it his call.

“You’re all gonna just agree with this?” Steve finally asks, looking around the room.

“What else is there to do?” Max asks, and god, how is it that this 15 year old girl is braver than he ever was. Ever is.

“We can figure something else out. You’re not sentencing yourself to death just because some burned monster had some mommy and daddy issues growing up. No.” Steve urges, and he can feel himself getting angrier with every implication of his friends, his family, constantly sacrificing themselves.

“But Steve -“ Max says. And -

“No. That’s final. It’s not up for discussion Max.”

“You’re not Billy, Steve. You’re not my parents. As much as you want to pretend you have control over me. Over all of us” Max says, gesturing between her, Dustin, Erica, and Lucas, “you don’t.” And Steve tries to put a lid on it, tries to keep it under wrap, but how is he supposed to do that when one of his kids is planning her death bed. So despite his best efforts to bite his tongue, he lets go, because who’s he kidding, Steve was never good at biting his tongue anyways.

“I do! I do though Max! Billy is gone. I’m sorry. But he’s gone. And your moms fucked off to god knows where. You need someone!” Steve snaps back, and he watches as Max’s brows furrow in what he hopes is understanding, not anger. But he knows that’s not the case, knows the former is far from, especially when she fights back.

“Exactly. I have no one to come home to, so why would it matter?” Max asks, her tone calm and venomous, and Steve can see Lucas wince from his peripheral.

“You have us max! We’re here! And I’m sorry, I’m so sorry you think you have no one, but you should know better than anyone, dna doesn’t make a family. Look around you!” Steve badgered, gesturing towards the others in the room. And when did things like that come out of Steve Harrington’s mouth?

But, When Steve thinks about it, there’s not one person in this room who’s had it easy at home. What does ‘easy’ even mean to them anymore? Why Max thinks she’s alone in this, he doesn’t know. He wishes more than anything he could convince her that wasn’t the case. He can feel all eyes on him, but the only pair that matter right now are focused on a stray thread on her jeans. He bows his head and takes a breath. Fuck.

“Look, Max, I - I don’t know what to say. You have to understand I’m not trying to control you” Steve says, pausing, before looking around at the others “I’m not trying to control any of you. It’s just-“ I need to be the father mine never was. Because what would I be without it? “- I can’t watch you sentence yourself to death. Any of you.” Because what would I be without you? But Steve doesn’t dare say that out loud. It’s quiet, and Steve can feel his heart wearing down like a thread ready to snap, as if any second now it would burst right out of his chest. It feels as if they can see right through his act. Steve knew a damn well painted facade when he saw one, and he certainly knew how to draw up a masterpiece. 

Part 2? Or just imagine Steve finally giving in with the prospects of hope clasped around his fingers and a promise and the scene goes on as it does

[twst-drabbles]

Ok so im this is kinda intense, lots of cursing.

No cus I hate the way Belphegor literally got off so easily with his actions. Now personally I wouldn’t let the shit he did slide. Granted we don’t have much power because Devildom is a whole ‘nother dimension but you know who has power over Devildom and responsible for the Exchange Student shit? Diavolo. And fuck it if it means I get eternal hell for it but I’ll tell him that clearly this whole exchange is a joke: you forced me to go here without my permission, without my knowledge, without ANY of my shit that will make me comfortable enough to think about this whole ordeal and accept. His so-called attempt at uniting the three species failed, people he trusted us with are pieces of dogshit, and not to mention some of the brothers clearly are not going to change their views so what made him possibly think that this was going to work? His idea was a dream of his and he should’ve kept it that way. I’m not going to stop arguing until I get to go home. Diavolo clearly has to change something if the first attempt failed.

The hilarious part about this is that I can trust Diavolo to not want to kill me if I said all of this to his face.

Everyone else will certainly try to do so, but not Diavolo, isn't that sad? Doesn't make him any less frustrating to deal with, but at least I can rant and rave at him about his mistakes and selfish nature and inherent biases without him losing his temper in an attempt to shut me up like certain other someones I know. Wouldn't it have been some nice angst to look at Diavolo, after all this death shit that happened and the sweeping under the rug and go "You never viewed me as an equal."

But yeah, from the start I 100% expected Diavolo to not view humans, angels, or even demons as equal from the start. I can't say he's arrogant, but he plays around in the same manner that a kid does with toys. As in, he doesn't realize the damage he's doing cause the people around him refuse to tell him shit. And even when he does witness the damage, he's much rather protect himself by trying to see the good and hope that justifies the bad.

Realistically, I'd probably end up using him to be quite honest, Diavolo. His loneliness makes him an easy target. It's clear he wants a friend that doesn't care for his status or be fearful of him, which opens up a position to slot oneself in and become that friend. Because of this want, there are many things you can potentially get away with because he wants his friend to disregard his status.

And you all know I'm a sucker for characters that set themselves up to be hurt. But yeah, I do like Diavolo, shockingly enough. Most of my anger isn't directed at the character Belphegor himself so much as the writers and the decisions they've made to make him a love interest. It feels like everyone's empathy towards the MC was reduced in order to forgive Belphegor. Made everyone feel vastly out of character just to cater to him specifically. To baby the baby, so to say. The emphasis placed on protecting the MC that's been shown numerous times? Out the window, we gotta celebrate that Belphegor's back. Nothing else matters but that. It's just...why? Why is Belphegor the exception to that rule? The writers piss me off. The favoritism.

[mistergalaxywide]

Rewatching the Mandalorian with my fiancée, who is not a Star Wars fan but indulges me occasionally, has revealed to me a few nuggets of information in the order they come to mind:

1. The Mandalorian is made entirely for Star Wars fans. It assumes the viewer has seen all the movies and has at least a cursory knowledge of the shows. Most plainly this is seen in Din's flashbacks: a fan will immediately know Din is a child of the Clone Wars; however, a newcomer won't know what's happening other than some scary droids are shooting people, then some Mandalorians show up and save Din. As well, the impact of Grogu's existence is lost on newcomers: we fans know that Yoda's species has been, since the inception of Star Wars, notoriously mysterious. To others, they merely see a young nonhuman who's cute and apparently ages slowly. Especially here, the show could, and I would argue should, have done a better job of underscoring how important Grogu is without relying on prior knowledge.

2. The Mandalorian is boring. Look, I love it as much as the next fan, but one cannot deny that its pacing is nothing less than a slog. The dialogue is minimal, which suits some characters, the action is admittedly decent (I did notice one of the niktos jumped too early when Din was using the turret), but the drama and dynamism is incredibly weak. I want to blame Filoni for this, since I know Favreau can direct good drama, and because the first episode was directed by Filoni. Man needs to get out of his kid show mindset.

3. The Mandalorian plays it safe. Nothing happens that evokes real peril and drama. The closest it came was when Kuiil and IG-11 died, but their deaths were honestly foreseeable. A gutsier move would have been to kill off someone like Cara Dune, Greef Karga, or the Armorer. In the end, we know Din will win the day, Grogu will be ok, and our favorite characters will live. This is not necessarily a bad thing: comfort shows, stories where the heroes win, have their place among media. Not everything needs to be Berserk.

4. The Mandalorian is 100% fanservice. I don't feel the need to expand on this more. If one denies it, one hasn't seen season 2. What is aggravating, however, is the same fans who complain about fanservice in, say, the Sequels, will gobble up the Mandalorian without a second thought. Between the two, I'd argue the Sequels handled fanservice much more maturely than the Mandalorian has.

5. Speaking of season 2, that face scan thing is still incredibly lazy and makes absolutely zero sense. And it's not even like they wrote themselves into a corner. There are a myriad of ways Din and Bill Burr (I don't remember his character's name and let's face it, he's just Bill Burr) could have accessed the Imperial files. Why they chose that, I haven't the foggiest. Unless it comes back later, I chalk this up to the writers being lazy that day.

6. Luke could have been Ahsoka. Understand, I love that Scene as much as anyone. I cried, I was filled with joy. However, it was clearly service for the fans who whinged about Luke in the Sequels ("LOOK LOOK! HE'S STILL A BADASS!!"). Ahsoka showing up then, and possibly not earlier in the season, would have both not had has many cameos, and would have made more sense (or they could have resurrected Plo Koon, those concepts are boss).

Can't think of more. Trying to be excited for season 3. Honestly, at this point, I just want another trilogy of movies. I miss seeing Star Wars in the theater.

Peace.

[mdhwrites]

What are your thoughts on Odalia and Alador? I was very disappointed by them.

When i first saw them, i thought they would be a fun villain couple who loved eachother and that they would represent the different types of parental abuse. Odalia being the more controlling, active abuser, and Alador being the more passive abuser.

When Reaching out came out, i was excited, because i thought it would be about Amity seeking approval from Alador because 'well he isnt as bad, so maybe i can gain his approval!' but then the message would be 'no, passive abuse is just as harmful and should not be glossed over and minimised.'

instead it turned Alador into a 'distant but caring dad', and then later, it emphasised this by making Odalia this insane idiot who didnt care about the genocide, stupidly thinking she would be exempt.

I agree! Just in general I agree! I'll first talk about Alador because honestly what was done with him was... Boring and pointless? At best, it's to give Amity resolution on at least one of her parents (which is questionable because I'd argue Reaching Out makes her goal... Murky. I don't know what she wants from her father honestly because her coven beliefs and her little speech at the end make it clear she doesn't give a single shit about his opinion or Odalia's so... *shrug* ) and maybe to give an answer against the Abomatons but neither of those ever paid off. At all. Ever. So instead you have someone who is just an extremely inconsistent character because it feels like the first three times we see him are three different versions of him and that is including Understanding Willow where he didn't give the impression to be a space cadet or not on board with what Odalia pushed. The fact that he's pushed to be incompetent also makes his writing like a lot of the guys in the show because he's hard to take seriously, Edric is similar, and he's just... there. Oh, I guess there's also the fact that he's clearly making robots instead of just golems, even to the point of mech suits, and I hate that because what the fuck is TOH's technology level? But also who cares when the writers clearly didn't? Speaking of: Odalia. Odalia is actually the worse of the two despite getting less screen time and I don't just mean because she's a worse person. Don't get me wrong: She is. She feels like some bad, animated 90s movie villain where money and personal gain is how they'll justify doing literally ANYTHING. But also Odalia is still bad at it since she thinks executing a child is a great way to sell HOME DEFENSE PRODUCTS. Because the death of their kids is definitely what you want on your customer's minds! Before I get into her real problem though: I also hate that she knows Belos' whole plan. Hunter doesn't know it. Darius, Eberwolf and Raine, all coven heads, had to sneak and steal the plans to get the information. Why the fuck, besides making her somehow even MORE evil, did Belos ever tell this bitch who probably never even asked what he was doing with the abomatons? Just... It's bad and dumb writing. But kind of like all of Odalia's writing: It still matters. Odalia is written like a one off villain while being AMITY BLIGHT'S MOM. And that is her real problem: How evil she is throws all of her children into question. The twins seem worried about their mom's retribution so why do they skip class? Why do they invite trouble that Amity, at the peak of her being busy with school, was able to notice? How do they get away with it? I made interesting and fun answers to that while the show doesn't even care about the question. And Amity is even worse. Her arc is thrown into question. How was she able to befriend Luz so easily when we know Odalia wouldn't approve of her? How was she able to throw away her old social group? How could she have been confident enough to bring Willow back as a friend? Why wasn't there ANY more worry about her mom when she knows her mom. She probably could have guessed her mom would try to kill Luz, or even Willow, if they became her friends and probably should have gotten livid at her abandoning her 'better' friends. Back when it was just Understanding Willow, one could make a case that maybe Odalia eased up on it since then. That's what I did in my story, The Power of Love. That the pressure Amity felt was at least as much in her own head as it was externally pushed on her. Things that would have been WAY more interesting than what we got. Because what we got with the Blight family as a whole is a bunch of characters who don't make sense, flip their characters on a dime and are just trash as a whole unit. And that's from the family that was BURSTING with potential at the end of S1. And I will actually go "Hey, if you want a better Blight family, check this out," because I'm still incredibly proud of how I wrote them in my monstrous first story for TOH.

[ihatetaxes99]

Returning to my thoughts on the Twisted Metal series, I feel another way in which 3 in particular derailed the franchise would be in regards to their portrayal of Calypso. Because I feel that every game since aside from Black has taken the wrong lessons about his character.

For a brief bit of backstory for those who aren't in the loop of the series, William "Calypso" Sparks was a former demolition driver who died in a car accident around the mid 1980s. After impressing Satan, he managed to come back to life with the ability to grant "wishes" to whoever he wants, with no limit on cost, size or even reality, and as such, he initiated the Twisted Metal tournament, where combatants battle it out for the chance of one wish from Calypso. All of this backstory comes specifically from Twisted Metal 2, but aside from 4, every game that released after 2 either runs with this backstory or at the very least doesn't contradict it, so I'm going to take this as canon.

Now, what's the problem with 3 and a fair few games after it? Well, I feel that they ignore one vital thing. Calypso is not an asshole.

Well, okay, he is. He's a massive dick, actually. He will take any opportunity within the rules to screw over the winners. However, the key point is "within the rules." There are ways his power works that even he cannot control. He can perceive someone's wish however he wants, but he cannot give them something completely wrong from what they asked. For example, Hammerhead's ending in 2, one of my favourite joke endings in the series. The two stoner kids driving Hammerhead demand that Calypso gives them the ability to fly. He does so and they immediately leap off the building they're on, plummeting straight to their deaths. And from the rooftop, Calypso watches on, remarking that at least the plane tickets he bought for them are refundable.

That's a good indication of how Calypso works. He will try to screw you over, but if there's no way for him to do so within the rules then he won't just cheat. As demonstrated in Axel's ending in 2, as well as a surprising amount of Black's endings, he is fully capable of giving the winner exactly what they want, no strings attached. You've just got to be careful in how you phrase your wish.

3 sort of completely trashes that. Calypso just becomes a complete douchebag who doesn't follow his own rules whatsoever. Most of 3's endings are joke endings, and I would argue the only one that even somewhat works is in Minion's ending, where he wishes to return to Hell, so Calypso teleports him to Hell. Hell, Michigan, that is. I genuinely find that ending pretty funny and it lines up with the previous way in which he operates.

The other endings, however?

...

Hammerhead's driver wishes to be able to watch television in peace, so Calypso straps her to a Clockwork Orange chair and forces her to watch TV for the rest of her life.

Axel wants to become one with his machinery again (which contradicts his entire storyline in 2, by the way), so Calypso turns him into a clock.

Flower Power wants for plants and humans to coexist, so Calypso has her eaten by a flytrap.

Are you starting to see the problem, here? 3 was the start of Calypso violating his own rules in order to screw people over, which was never a part of his character. Calypso is a vicious, evil, sadistic monster, but he has guidelines and he used to follow them closely. In the pursuit of making a bunch of wacky joke endings, the developers of 3 forgot about this important part of him.

To finish off, I'd like to return to TM2 to give an example of how much character development Calypso can have, and how all later games (aside from maybe Head On) ignored that.

Grasshopper's ending. Those of you who have played it know where I'm going with this.

To make a long story short, Grasshopper is driven by Krista Sparks, the daughter of Calypso who supposedly died in the same car accident that killed him the first time. However, the Krista driving Grasshopper in 2 is not Krista. She's a cyborg built by the LAPD with Krista's memories implanted (yeah, I never said 2 didn't get bloody ridiculous at points as well), her goal being to get close to Calypso, kill him and end Twisted Metal for good. In her ending, as she emerges from the vehicle, Calypso demonstrates legitimate shock at seeing her, before he realises she's a cyborg. Tearfully, she informs him that there's a bomb inside her and that she was sent to kill him. She pleads for him to hold her, claimimg "I know I'm just a machine, but I'm scared it will hurt."

And what does Calypso do? This insane, maniacal ringmaster who has the power to do whatever he wants? Does he run? Does he teleport himself or Krista away quickly before it goes off?

No. Calypso moves closer to his daughter and hugs her, as the bomb goes off, killing them both.

Now, Twisted Metal canon is a bastard to unravel, but what is certain is that Grasshopper's ending is definitely not canon, since Calypso is still alive in Head On, which is 2's direct sequel. But it demonstrates a lot about his character. He's evil, but he has a heart. The Calypso of Twisted Metal 2 was a man of his word, a man who would die to comfort his child. There's some speculation that Krista's pleas for her father to hold her could be considerer as her wish, and as such, it all comes back to how he would follow the rules, no matter what.

In all fairness, some of Head On's endings would actually elaborate on this. Most notably Needles Kane's ending in that game, where Calypso clearly does not want to grant that wish, but has to do it anyway. But for the most part, 3 kind of butchered that part of his character and since then, most interpretations have just characterised Calypso as a massive asshole and little else.

[trackernivrig]

I have a vivid memory of one time my brother got grounded and that punishment goes to this day. This was at least 15 years ago.

Me and my brother were playing Halo 2 on the Original XBOX. My dad had modded it so that it would save games onto the hard disk so you wouldn't need to switch disks (with the added bonus of having way more games that my dad borrowed from his friends).

My brother was getting extremely angry and throwing a fit because I kept killing him. My dominance was a combination of being older and screen cheating. Screen cheating as an 8 year old is where "Tracker" in my username comes from by the way. Similarly my brother got "Shadow Assassin" since he'd always get the backstabs. That was later changed to Midnight since "Assassin" has 2 "ass"es in it and wouldn't get past profanity filters lol.

Eventually my dad came in and took him to the other room. I decided I'd play the Halo 1 campaign for the 1000th time. By "campaign" I mean the first mission because I was too stupid to be able to find the Marines on the second mission. Even still, I LOVED that first mission in the pillar of autumn, so I'd play that by myself multiple times in a row.

While I am booting it up, I hear from the other room my dad yell, "I told you to stop arguing, now you will never play on the Xbox again!" Or something similar. A harsh punishment, but he was tired of the bickering every time we played Halo. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "Yeah right. He's said that before, the punishment will last about a month and then we can play again."

Well as Halo 1 boots up, I accidentally hit "up" on my joystick before hitting A. This had the unintended effect of loading up the "extras" or "demos" menu that is on the bottom instead of the "Singleplayer" option.

My brother and I would frequently go into this menu to play the demo to "Fusion Frenzy" which was a lot of fun despite us not knowing how the game worked at all.

Well as this demo page loads up I get ready to go back to the main menu instead of continuing to Fusion Frenzy and... Nothing. Just a black screen. Load times back then were longer, sure, but not this long. This was like 2 minutes. Just to load the demo screen.

This was weird. I call my dad over to look at it. He's tired though so he says he'll look at it later and I turn it off.

A few days later my dad says he'd taken a look at it and there was nothing he could do. The whole thing was busted. He gave us 2 options:

1. Keep the Xbox, but reset it from scratch and not have any games or saves on it. This means we'd lose access to 99% of our games too because we didn't have many discs

2. Just throw it out.

For some reason both me and my brother were in agreement to just trash the thing. I regret this decision to this day. But as a side-effect of this decision my brother never did play on the Xbox again, making this probably the longest standing "grounding" that anyone has ever had.

Another long period of time we were grounded was when my brother made jokes about killing someone while on the bus and a kid took it the wrong way. Parents were called and both me and my brother were unable to play CoD for years.

Honestly that was probably a good decision lol. That happened right as BO2 was coming out and from what I hear that was the height of "Xbox messages." We were on PS3 (playing local MW2 with our dad) and didn't play online yet but a year or so after we probably would have, and we're probably more well adjusted due to not being a part of that.