#I'm mostly joking but that last one actually sounds really appealing

[toyboy-molloy]

the ted lasso finale should go absolutely nuts. like ted and trent? banging. roy and jamie? banging. keeley and jack? banging. baz and the hammers guy? banging. colin and michael? still banging. flo and shandy? banging. nate and disco? banging. beard and the hippie coach driver? banging. rebecca and bex? took all rupert’s money, raising the baby and, you guessed it, banging

[dewedup]

I feel like no one sees my vision, so please do not feel bad if you don't either:

In my mind Phantom is actually not at all innocent and the others just assume he is because he's kinda quiet because he doesn't know them that well yet. But then one day he ends up in bed with Rain and Rain is thinking he's going to be naive and innocent, but once he tries to tease him Phantom is like; actually,

²¹⁾ “if you want to come, you’ll have to beg.”

And rain is like 👀 damn, guess I'm begging tonight...

I just think Rain and Dew would think "yeah we can fuck the newbie silly, have him wrapped around or fingers" but phantom would just fucking destroy them (beautifully and consensually).

I'm talking too much and not making much sense. I just really vibed with that sentence in the prompts...

I hope your day is going well and that if this prompt doesn't appeal to you you'll get some that do!! 💜

omg nonny how could i NOT write this??

i SEE the vision, i FEEL this vision, i hope this IS the vision!!!

²¹⁾ “if you want to come, you’ll have to beg.”

phantrain, top!phantom, bottom!rain, basically rain gets his world rocked

Rain and Phantom have been making out lazily in the water ghoul’s bed for hours. All hot puffs of air, lips tracing skin and soft breathy moans. 

Phantom’s a little bit of an enigma, floating from one ghoul to the next and leaving them all tight-lipped and refusing to share any details of their escapades. Even Dew, who he’d joked with about fucking Phantom silly and getting him cockdrunk on them, didn’t utter as much as a word about how he’d had the quint ghoul wrapped around his finger the other night. And Dew isn’t usually one to shy away from a good kiss and tell. 

If anything, it’s made Rain want this even more. To have the small ghoul pliable under his fingers, taking what he gives him and keening under his praise. It must really be an out of body experience if it’s left loud-mouthed Dew speechless. 

Rain let out a gasp as fingers brushed his hole, already stretched to take a few from earlier exploration. Phantom’s opening had received the same treatment, taking turns pushing each other open wide. Rain’s versatile, never opposed to a good dicking down, but mostly prefers being a top. Has imagined bending Phantom in on himself as Rain slams ruthlessly into him, needs it like he needs oxygen to breathe. 

Rain grasps his cock, moving slightly to hover in a position where he can drag it lazily around Phantom’s slick hole, moving in light circles and only applying the faintest hint of pressure. 

Faster than he can blink he’s being flipped over, pushed into the bed hard with Phantom wasting no time shoving his cock as far as he can into Rain, burying himself deeply. The sound that leaves Rain’s lips is partly surprised, coming out in a higher pitch than he’s ever heard himself make. His whole world view has shifted in the span of milliseconds and now he’s being filled up, pushed to his limits while Phantom’s dick brushes against the softest part of him. 

“If you want to come,” Phantom growls, licking a fat stripe up Rain’s neck, nipping slightly at the tender skin. “You’ll have to beg.”

Rain’s cock jumps at the command, pre splashing onto his stomach as he looks up in genuine surprise at the tiny ghoul above him. He doesn’t look so tiny now, crowding Rain with his hands slightly above his shoulders, face inches from his own, and his cock carving its own home inside Rain’s asshole. 

“S-shit,” Rain breathes, clenching down on the thing filling him up completely. This is… unexpected. Rain has built this fantasy up over the last few weeks, painstakingly creating layers of exactly how this would play out, never once considering this turn of events. It’s almost too much all at once, the sensation, the mental and physical somersault he’s just been victim to. 

But Rain’s versatile, can roll with the proverbial punches. So, he mentally shrugs while physically bearing down on the cock splitting him open. 

Looks like I’m begging tonight. 

-

It’s early the next morning when Rain enters the kitchen, slowly easing his way onto the chair, lower body on fire from the way Phantom absolutely ruined him last night. 

Dew’s up, sipping at his scalding hot coffee and eyeing Rain’s movements with a calculating look. He grabs Rain a mug of his own, making it the way the water ghoul prefers before taking a seat and sliding it across the table to him. Rain blushes as he offers his thanks, taking a sip of the beverage. 

“So… Phantom?” Dew ventures, a knowing smirk dancing across his face. If possible, Rain blushes even harder, eyes widening as he tries to look anywhere but at the fire ghoul taunting him from the other side of the table. The fucker knew this was how it’d go down and didn’t even give a ghoul a curtesy warning. 

Phantom enters the kitchen quietly, making his way to the refrigerator, letting a hand float out to drag across Rain’s shoulders as he props open then fridge door. Rain’s skin burns where the touch lingers like a ghost, truly wishing the ground would open up and swallow him back to the pit in this particular moment. 

As if it couldn’t get any worse, he sees Swiss making his way down the hallway, face splitting into a grin as he surveys the water ghoul.

“Phantom took you for a ride, yeah?” 

[gascon-en-exil]

Sorry if I sound rude Saying this but a woman wearing a short skirt and a cleavage isn't sexualized and acting as if thighs belly button and chest are sexual when they are just body part is the main problem of women not being able to dress how they want and to have t hide some body parts to not excite the male gaze. I agree that FEH is indeed using fanservice but saying that a woman wearing outfits exposing those body part is itself fanservice is wrong beyond limit, especially regarding the Edelgard design since it's very modest and anatomically wrong

Say it with me now:

Fictional characters are not people. They are tools.

What these units wear says nothing about what women should wear, but it does say quite a bit about FEH's artists and their target demographic. If you'd actually paid attention to that post, I was advocating for hornier male character art because that would allow FE's tastelessness to at least feel consistent.

Also, Zettai Ryouiki is the trope I was thinking of - sexualizing the gap of bare skin between a short skirt and stockings. I'm not going to pretend to understand why that's a thing - maybe it's sort of like the joke that Victorian Anglos got horny for exposed ankles? - but it apparently is, and winter Edelgard's got plenty of it.

I realize that part of Edelgard's sexual/romantic appeal is, ironically, that she's "modest" and unavailable to anyone but you the player(-as-Byleth), because straight men have that whole Madonna/whore complex thing going on where women or female characters who are perceived as too sexual or too experienced are somehow threatening or, worse, "used." There's also a TV Trope for that. Given my own experiences and the total absence of that sentiment in gay male culture, it's little wonder that some of my favorite modern FE female characters are Camilla and Manuela - because they've got obviously sexualized designs but are also written to be aware of their own appeal and how they make use of it.

However, you've really got to let go of that "My Girl Is Not a Slut" thing with Edelgard, because IS has no such reservations. Never mind the thigh gap winter alt, we've got

boob armor where previously there was none, for the alt players actually voted for,

a much softer and more human take on the Hegemon,

lying supine in a nightdress, and more exposed thigh courtesy of Cipher,

more exposed skin and basically a camel toe; I also know that Reddit threw a fit over this one in particular, because she's not muscular and/or scarred from the Agarthan experiments,

and an upskirt shot from Azure Gleam that lasts for two whole seconds, in the middle of a scenario where Edelgard is made to take orders from two older men and then reduced to a babbling child.

In the midst of any outrage over my pointing out more examples of IS treating Edelgard like a sex object, I'd like you to turn that feeling around and ask instead: Why does the camera never lovingly linger up a male character's clothes? Why are possessed male characters (ex. Conquest Takumi) never treated like helpless children? Why are there no Cipher cards of any male characters lounging around in nightwear giving the viewer bedroom eyes? When male characters become monsters (ex. Lyon with Fomortiis), why do their FEH versions look the same or even more monstrous?

Oh, wait. Is it because of this? I assume you also sent this.

Funny how when male characters are actually objectified in the same way, then and only then does it become stupid.

People get horny over Edelgard, and IS knows it. People also get horny over naked and mostly-naked men in ways that do not necessarily cater to straight male comfort, although fortunately for you I imagine IS doesn't seem to know or care about that. Take your wins where you can get them, and let the rest of us have our fun.

[ottiliere]

I like to periodically check in on ur blog because you do some of the best Dirk analysis out there and to come and find that since I last checked you posted both JTHM and psychonauts was so awesome, especially because me and one of my pals have been really into talking about both recently since I just bought the reissue of all 7 JTHM comics with extra content and he’s been playing psychonauts 2. I hope to see more of both on ur blog in the future (although please don’t feel pressured you’re content is always good anyways) !

ohh this is lovely to hear...have always felt like there's a through line between psychonauts 05 and jhonen's stuff. which does make sense given that they were made around the same relative time period! I'm assuming you're talking about the director's cut release of JTHM here...I believe this is the first physical copy of the comic i owned as well, it's really nice! have always been fond of how barebones the spine was, i'm sure some people don't like it but I kind of miss how charmless (using the word affectionately) a lot of the design was for books like this.

i wish i could say something nicer about psychonauts 2...I'm not a fan of haterism like that's just not what i care to put out into the world, especially on this blog. but i have to be completely honest with you and say i just did not enjoy this game. if it had been anything BUT a psychonauts sequel it would have been entirely inoffensive to me, but as a sequel it's just kind of incredible the extent to which the charm, style, humor, love, etc. of the first game was just, removed completely, with absolute surgical precision. very little traces of these things. it's fun to play and mostly nice to look at, a good game in all technical respects, but it's just not psychonauts 2005.

my friend dane davestriderdeathcult4568 has been my psychonauts buddy and was running through the first game again recently which is what made me get back into it... neither of us had really engaged with the sequel yet so i watched him play it and it was just; legitimately devastating. the state of the writing is so tragic i remember specifically there was a point at which we had to physically get up and and go stand around on the balcony outside for a while clutching our drinks and cigarettes in the wind looking up at the sky trying to recover emotionally. this sounds like a joke but it totally isn't this game made me so incredibly sad.

like initially i was a little worried my first impression was just nostalgia or something but talking around a little it really obviously...isn't. there's something really vital missing from psychonauts 2. a lot of really vital somethings actually. outside of the writing, even, like, glossing over how just objectively not good the story is....the character design is so egregrious held up to the designs of psychonauts 2005. it feels like they tried too hard to make everyone appealing and "cute"....but they all already were! there was so much lovability in the violent asymmetry and crooked strangeness of the original designs. raz is a great example of this here i think, in the second game he's too...puppy-cute, where in the first game he was cute like kind of an ugly little insect. that was special! and of course there's dear sasha....like look at this look AT this. i don't even know what to say :(

side note it must be said and i will admit that i was so was so upset about everything i was witnessing under dane’s hands that i went home and moped for days and days. and i couldn't even find sasha's p05 model uploaded anywhere and i became alighted with such a fervent spirit i learned specifically how to rip models and textures specifically to recover him (will upload soon of course). unrelated did you know his model is missing buttons when they’re specifically textured in his texture sheet....lost buttons of the world.

and of course i've got “wife” bias with sasha (a/n: he’s a clinically diagnosed homosexual) but I think this is applicable to pretty much every character we see. especially tertiary background characters got... I don't even know a word for this. the janky grotesqueness of the original style is just completely gone, you can see they tried to emulate some of that a little with the asymmetry but what remains is just barely a ghost of an idea of what made the 05's designs memorable. so much of pn2's design work is just absolutely forgettable like leaves no impression at all, and that wouldn't be such a crime if the first game wasn't so criminally without flaw. example:

I'm aware the sequel was in devhell for a while and a lot of this is probably the consequence of necessary streamlining. like i get it, of course I am sympathetic to this. but it doesn't make the final product any less tragic to me...if anything it's worse knowing that there could have been better designs somewhere in there along the line.

there's something to be said for the loss of atmosphere, too....like, the first game was so murky and oppressive; you really got the feeling of a humid, kinda dirty summer camp. all the angles and the spaces and the colors...it was compact in the best way, just absolutely as tightly woven as it needed to be. the low-quality background textures... lovely. the wide-openness of the second game is comparatively so personally uncompelling...it's beautiful and well-crafted but the world of psychonauts 2 lacks the misshappen crackedness of the 05 game. i'm not called to spend hours larping anywhere here...

there's so much more i could say on this, like i sincerely hope this doesn't come off as snotty or pretentious! it'd be one thing if this was just how i felt personally but dane myself and a few other friends have spent copious time idependently of one another poring over both the 05 game and the sequel and come to a lot of the same conclusions as to what's..."missing". the game isn't a complete trashfire and it has a whole handful or maybe even two of redeeming features, but that only makes it hurt more that it feels so devoid of life! loboto in particular is a highlight, like out of everyone i think he's the only character from the first game who truly benefitted from the transition to high resolution...which only goes so far because they shelved him so quickly. I think i actually cried watching him in the game he was so fucking wonderful, genuinely everything about him harkens the ambiance of the first game more than anything else present in the second. he is additionally one of my favorite characters of all time, so I’m... happy he got what he got, at least...

i'll probably end up talking about this again in a little more detail. i wish i could make peace with psychonauts 2 but manpower and research efforts seem to indicate that this is not possible. 2005 reigns undefeated, best game ever all time forever, accept no substitutes, you get the idea. regardless I hope your friend enjoys it still and does not allow this ersatz of love to corrupt their spirit and joie de vivre.

[eremiie]

hbd cornelius springer <3

❥ nsfw | 3.2k words | connie x fem!reader

❥ content - blowjob

❥ the birthday boy deserves some birthday head!!!

happy birthday connie springer, and happy belated birthday @arlerted ily both a whole lot <3... i started this at like 4am so pls bare with this

"you enjoying your birthday?"

connie turns around at the sound of your voice, soda can in hand while he closes the fridge door.

the way his face lights up when he connects your voice to your face makes you beam. his eyes get wide, eyebrows rise up, and a crooked smile graces his features as you walk forth, your hand trailing against the kitchen counter.

it makes you smile, the ways he's immediately stoked to see you. it's endearing if anything and your heart flutters at the excitement that twinkles in his eyes at your appearance.

"duh... yeah of course i like it."

"duh... yeah of course i like it."

"duh... yeah of course i like it."

his stupid smile shifts into a small smirk and he picks up his drink to take another sip. "what're you lookin' at?"

seriously? were you that obvious?

he leans back against the corner of the kitchen counter, twirling the soda can in his hand to shake his drink up while steadying himself with his elbows. you can tell the question was one he was genuinely waiting on an answer for— it was to just rile you up and one for him to shrug off with a 'just messin'.

you roll your eyes. there was no reason to give him an ego. "your ugly party hat." your tone is snarky, and a breathy laugh leaves connie's throat as he shakes his head at you. he beckons with two slender fingers.

"come 'ere."

your stomach turns at the gesture— no at the sentence and you curse the slight stubbornness that keeps you standing where you stood with your arms crossed. "what?"

connie holds your gaze easily, and instead of giving you an answer his hand reaches out to pull you towards him by your forearm.

you stumble forward until you were situated between his feet, a strong hand encasing your wrists and his breath fanning across your face from the proximity of you and connie.

his eyes look more hazel up close, green and yellow dancing like a fiery bright fire. you can feel the denim of his jeans rub against the fat flesh of your thighs from where you stand, and connie makes no effort to move back.

it's a clear invasion of your space but neither you or him seem to mind— and you hope connie didn't take the way your heart jumps in your chest and your suddenly uneven breathing as a sign that you did mind. no, it was the exact opposite of that if anything.

"are you enjoying the party?" his voice comes out a little too smooth for your liking. where was the slight cracks in his voice as he spoke or the lilts in his tone as he tried his best to be a flirt?

the way he looks at you doesn't help. his eyes are low lying, having trouble staying focused on only just yours. you notice them flit a little lower every now and then before popping back up to match your gaze.

you hoped you came off as unbothered— stable and unfazed by his sudden demeanor. if it wasn't obvious by now your slight attraction to connie was something that you couldn't seem to let go of ever since you had first met him.

you hated how goofy he was and how the lame jokes he'd crack would always make you laugh regardless of how stupid. you hated how  somehow he'd always coerce you to do the handy work when it came to class projects because he was too lazy to get up off his own ass and help you. you hated how even through all these little silly quirks of his if he really wanted to with a few slip ups here and there he could make the hairs on your arms stand and have you stop breathing just from a slick look and slick sentence.

you hated all these things because they all made you feel gushy inside no matter how dumb it was. they made your body warm and gave you this comforting feeling that you couldn't get from anyone else.

so when connie repeats another "hm?" catching you off guard for the second time, that warm feeling returns because this time the pads of his fingers drum against your shoulder, a little to close to the junction near your neck.

"as long as ymir and sash keep me entertained, then yeah. this little 'party' isn't that bad." your quick with your response this time once he sets you back on track and you calm a bit.

"so ymir 'n sash are the life of the party for ya?" he pouts, and you scrunch your nose up when he leans in a little more, a mock pitiful expression on his face. "damn, 'n i'm supposed to be the birthday boy... that's crazy."

you can tell he's a little under the influence. despite it being his birthday he was actual one out of a few to keep their drinking at a light tonight. you couldn't say the same for armin who was currently passed out and curled up at the safety of mikasa's side on the large sofa, or for reiner who was last crying to ymir before she managed to 'shut the fuck up jockey' him as you walked pass.

you liked it like this though, liked to know that the interactions between you and connie weren't entirely the alcohol talking.

but it wasn't like it was ever really anything but him talking when he got more than comfortable with you.

light touches up the soft skin of your thighs, moving you around by placing his hands on your waist (where you must say they fit like a puzzle), or attacking you in tickles when he decided to crash at you and sasha's place and you wouldn't pass up the remote.

those were all connie, but it was nice to know that the person in front of you was mostly connie as well.

"you are... you just haven't been keeping me company as you should have." you lift up a hand right in front of his face and pretend to inspect your nails before dropping four fingers down to your palm and turning your nails to you once again.

connie let's out a low laugh at the gesture before using his own palm to cup the top of your hand. you expect him to push it down and let go but he only holds it in his grip with that same dumb smile plastered on his face as he doesn't fail to keep eye contact with you.

"ha-ha, so funny. you act like we didn't dance together," you recall the memory of connie hoisting you up from the couch and spinning you around until your backside was pressed against him, asking you to 'dance'. if anything that encounter is probably what encouraged the tingle between your legs and pushed you to follow connie into the kitchen. "sit together for like a good ass while, and play cards together— cheating together i might add."

you giggle, "did eren not realize that practically half the deck was under my ass and in your pockets?" connie reciprocates your giggle in his cheery tone and he raises the soda can to his lips again to empty it out inside his mouth.

"nah, but for real, what more company do you need?"

in the back of your head you had a solid idea of the kind of company you needed from connie, but you weren't even sure if your mind was quick enough to formulate it into a sentence that sounded appealing to the ears, enticing even.

a dramatic sigh leaves your lips and your hands come up to connie's head, one index plucking at the thin string below his chin and the other one holding the loud party hat until you were pulling it off and fiddling with it in your hand.

connie's hand automatically comes to rub at the short grey strands with a small frown at the absence of his hat. he stands up straight so he's peering down at you and his arm swings over your shoulder as he begins walking the two of you towards the exit to the kitchen abandoning his empty can of soda. "what?"

you slow down your pace so that he slows down and pull his arm from around you just as quickly as he placed it there massaging his knuckles in the process.

the eagerness to stay alone with him and not go back out where the chatters of all your friends would become tenfold is what makes you more bold, is what makes you back connie up towards the kitchen island until your practically leaning on him with doe eyes, fluttering your lashes and saying, "just wanna be alone with you for a minute..." you hesitate for a moment before beginning to speak again, "i gotta present for you, but we gotta go upstairs."

it's like your words alone manage to somewhat crack the demeanor he had going on. how his mouth slightly parts and how his body tenses up slightly tells you. you're thankful for the small adrenaline rush a measly walk to the archway gave you.

"shit, what's upstairs?" you relish in how he feeds into your words instead of stuttering under pressure and his hand moves to the small of your back pulling you even closer.

it's noticeable that he likes to feel your skin on his, and his hands are warm against the skin of your hip, practically singeing it with just his touch. it sends a hot feeling throughout your body and you indulge in him some more, fully enveloping your hand with his free one and giving a nice smile.

"if you come with me then it'll be me and you," and he lets you pull him along like a dog on a leash, sticking as close to its owner as possible as he's so close behind you that you can feel him up against your back as you begin to nonchalantly walk past your group of friends conversing in the living room.

for you it's easy to ignore their remarks and looks of 'finally'. after all, you knew they were coming. but connie couldn't, shooting silly faces to his audience as he lets you pull him along.

"they're finally fucking."

"go, birthday boy!"

"gettin' some birthday pussy!"

"_______, bite his dick off for me!"

the only phrase to elicit some sort of reaction from you is the mumbly one from sasha from whatever was in her mouth as she encouraged you to injure connie.

all the phrases seem to get one out of connie, from him pretending to fuck you from behind causing you to pinch the tan skin of his wrist to him making kissy faces at jean, eren, and even to ymir who further encouraged you to take a chomp out of his little friend.

you lead him through his bedroom door, immediately locking it because you know he'll forget and then turning to face him again.

when you turn back around connie's still looming over you, his hands lankily at his sides and it's as if he doesn't know what to do with them.

it makes you titter, and you take a step towards him pulling at his wrists place his hands back on your hips. "so what's my present?"

your hands come up to come his face and his skin is soft under your touch. he's warm and his breathing is unsteady as you lean forward to press your lips onto his.

he quickly returns the kiss, more fervently than you if anything. connie immediately groans as if the feeling of your lips on his was something he was craving.

connie pushes you against the door, a small thud eliciting from the way your back hits it and he lets go of your hips to cup your face and bring you deeper into the kiss.

the way he presses up so close against you makes you part your lips slightly giving him enough time to slip his tongue into your mouth until it's slotted alongside yours.

his knee parts your legs and bump against your crotch making you moan and let go of his face, holding onto his shoulders instead.

you pull back to breathe for a brief moment— and connie's eyes are overcast with lust. he doesn't have that twinkle from earlier and his grip on your hips is tighter than it was a few seconds ago.

he breathes heavily and rests his forehead against yours then dropping his knee. "that wasn't all i get for my birthday, right?"

with another roll of your eyes you shake your head. "it'd be a little rude of me to leave you like this, yeah?"

you slide down the wall until your knees hit the carpet and sit back on your shins. your delicate hands slide down connie's chest until the tips of your fingers are brushing over the buckle of his belt.

"yeah," connie's eyes flutter shut and he places a hand on the door to once again steady himself. "'d be real fuckin' rude of you."

your hands make work of his belt, unclasping the loop, unzipping the zipper and unbuttoning his pants to begin shrugging down the denim.

you had barely even started doing anything yet connie's mouth was slightly parted in anticipation. it was amusing how even the slightest touch from you could elicit a reaction out of him.

you pride yourself in this, and you take your time letting your fingertips massage the length of connie's clothed cock beneath his boxers. his body stutters overtop of you for a quick second and you move your hands to the hem of his boxers to begin pulling them down.

he's pretty; a slightly flushed tip that complimented the tan color of his skin. he's clearly already hard and you swear when your hand wraps around him his dick twitches in your touch. "god," he mumbles.

his dick is heavy in your hand, and he's thick to the touch. with a few test pumps you prop yourself up on your knees once more and place a hand over his thigh. "c'mon," his tone is encouraging yet hurrying, needy.

you click your tongue at him before using it to kitten lip his tip, like you were just trying to get a taste. connie hisses above you and drops his hand down to the top of your head.

"c'mon, we can't take too long with everyone still down there."

you know he's only saying so because he wants to feel your mouth around him. he's only being needy because it's something he'd been craving over the course of a few months. you are something he had been craving and now that you were under him he wanted all of you, starting with what you were willing to give which happened to be your pretty throat.

nevertheless, he's the birthday boy and you want to help pleasure him, making him feel a euphoric feeling that you know he's longed for.

you stick your tongue out and slap his tip against the flat of your tongue, and connie lets out another short groan, his fingers scrunching your hair.

connie shudders from above you and you almost feel bad for teasing him. you let the warmth of your mouth consume him completely— well, as far as you can while your hand works at the remainder.

"yeah, yeah..." he hums and he opens his eyes  again to look down at you.

your mouth around him felt heavenly, and the image of you sucking him off was even better; cheeks hollowed out and hand pumping his length.

you were so pretty.

connie brings the hand in your hand down to your cheek to feel himself through the skin, his tip pressed up against the inside of your cheek as he slightly rolls his hips forward to fuck in your mouth gently.

you pull off of him, pushing spit to the front of your mouth and letting your saliva drip onto his cock.

"fuck, you can't do that," he whines and rubs his tip against your lips until you open up again for him and his hand returns to your hair. "stick your tongue out."

you obey. using the leverage he has on your locks, he pushes deeper into your mouth, bobbing your head as he thrusts forward. small moans leave connie's lips. he's infatuated with the way your tongue slides against his underside as you try your best to relax your throat to let him in.

he loves it, loves how your mouth is so wet and sloppy around him, how it feels so good to be inside you— and he wants to feel every part of you, not stopping at your mouth.

saliva drips from the corner of your mouth and you try to suppress the gags that try to come up. you whimper from underneath connie, and he pulls out to give you a minute to breath.

it's funny how he's breathing harder then you his chest heaving. "that fuckin' mouth,"

you give a slight smile at the compliment, pleased to know you were pleasing him.

"i need it s'more."

what kind of person would you be if you didn't give the birthday boy what he wanted?

so you give him more, using connie's thighs to keep yourself steady, relaxing yourself and breathing through your nose as you let connie fuck your mouth.

he becomes erratic, the grip he has on your hair is slightly painful but you know he's too caught up in his lust, too caught up in the haven that was your throat.

he's so lost in the pleasure that he doesn't warn you when he's about to cum and you only know by the way his cum spills down your throat making you cough and pull off of him.

what you could only assume was a "sorry" comes from him as he calms down, pulling up his boxers and jeans but forgetting to buckle his belt. his hand reached out for you to grab it.

you take it and he pulls you up until you're almost at his height again, that same dumb smile on his face. "did you like your present?" you hum after you clear your throat.

"duh..." his thumb comes up to wipe at the saliva around your mouth before pushing the digit between your lips. you waste no time entertaining him, sucking your spit up and popping off of his thumb. "you thinkin' you could gimme something else though?"

you snort, "what happened to we couldn't take too long cause everyone's downstairs?"

"i'm still hard, it's my birthday, i really don't give a fuck who's downstairs." his words contradict his earlier statement but you brush it off, pulling him by the string of his jacket and pressing another peck to his lips.

"get in the bed birthday boy."

[sarahreadstoomanycomics]

How is it that there are SO MANY human green lanterns?!!

Like were they just DYING one by one and then being like "ah nevermind! False alert!" And the ring was too fed up with what it had to endure with the last owner so it was just finding new ones instead of getting back to old ones?

Okay so if you want the honest real world reason there are so many Lanterns. It's because when comic creators create their own original characters they can get paid royalties for them when they appear in video games, movies, tv, etc. Why we constantly get new ones while old ones get ignored. Also DC actually pays decent royalties unlike Marvel. Yes I fired those shots, it's true you can look it up anywhere.

But for the in comic answer which is what I think you want and I am the type to answer something like this is earnest, especially since it sounds like you haven't really read Green Lantern stuff here we go this will be a long one.

First off it sounds like the Lantern you are mostly familiar with the origin of is Hal Jordan based off the way you asked this question. Since he's really the one with the person died and left me this ring backstory.

Jessica Cruz gets a ring after someone dies as well but it's an alternate universe Hal Jordan(Harold Jordan from Earth 3) and the ring she gets is not a traditional Green Lantern ring at first. Instead it feeds off the user's fear and since she's a mess of trauma and anxiety it latched onto her. It made her go crazy after first but eventually she was able to control it. She is eventually given an actual green lantern ring though.

I suppose Simon kind of since Hal and Sinestro's fused ring goes to him too after the two are presumed dead. Their defective ring ends up with him, and he's given it during a time the Guardians are trying to wipe out all free will in the universe. But I'm too tired to explain the entirety of the Third Army story-line right now. It's also been awhile since I read that story too. But the the Guardians did not give either him or Jessica their original rings is the point I wanted to bring up.

Now for the others, first off Alan Scott never has been nor ever will be associated with the Green Lantern Corps. His forged his own ring from a meteor, and of course this later gets to be revealed an experimental weapon from the Guardians but he has never worked for or with them.

You mentioning backup in the second ask which I'm only going to answer this part does actually apply since originally that's what both Guy and John were. Guy was the original backup lantern for Hal, but John was chosen when Guy was severely injured.

Kyle becomes Green Lantern after Hal becomes Parallax and destroys the Green Lantern corps. He wasn't chosen for any special reason just one of the surviving guardians went to Earth and was like "Oh a human you can have this" and gave him at the time the last remaining Green Lantern ring. Like not joking the guardian literally says on page "You'll do" to the first random guy he sees in an alley.

I don't actually know that much about Sojourner Mullein to be honest since like none of the Future State stuff really seems that appealing to me and I haven't really touched those characters. I do know she's not based on Earth though like her book is literally called Far Sector.

So basically no rings do not just keep hoping from user to user. a few of the members got their rings from deceased or thought to be deceased members. Most got them because of outside circumstances that required someone else to step up and take the role.

[helluva-critic]

I know I'm basically repeating what was said in the last post I reblogged, but this has been bugging me for a while and I wanted to put it into my own words. Warning, I'll probably be saying the same points over and over since I'm sleep deprived.

Honestly the amount of kids in the hazbin fandom does make me really uncomfortable. Like, of course every adult show are going to have fans who are minors, that's pretty much inevitable, but the fans that I've seen Hazbin have are...extremely young and are the majority of the fanbase, at least from what I've seen. And Vivzie is totally at fault for this because of the way she writes her shows.

I consider Hazbin/Helluva more of a show for young teenagers than adults, cause that's what the kind of writing in Hazbin appeals to. The jokes are mostly just sex,

characters (mostly children for some reason?) getting brutally murdered,

And characters using curse words for no reason other than just to be edgy and shocking.

And while these may be "mature" things that would never fly on a children's network, it doesn't necessarily mean this is for adults. As an adult, I feel like all of this stuff is extremely juvenile. These jokes don't make me think, don't make me go "...oh yeah, I get it!", it's just mindless profanities that makes me feel like I'm watching one of those old YouTube video game parodies that constantly just have the characters cussing and talking about sex. And, of course, preteens were the main audience of those parodies.

If Vizvie wants to appeal more to adults she needs to improve her writing and make her world feel less like an edgy children's cartoon and actually make something that's made for a grown adult. Cut down on the cartoony sound effects, the jokes that offer nothing except letting the viewers know these characters are horny as fuck, and the random forced cussing that remind me of when I was a kid who constantly swore just to shock people, and actually tell a mature, thought provoking story with clever jokes sprinkled in.

[natromanxoff]

Queen live at Royal Dublin Society Simmonscourt in Dublin, Ireland - November 22, 1979 (Part-1)

(x)

Tonight is the opening night of the "Crazy Tour," the tour when Queen decided to go back and play the smaller, more intimate venues (especially the London ones). The lighting rig had to be scaled down to accommodate most of the venues. There used to be five rows of red and green lights and four rows of white, but the red and green have been cut back to four as well. Along with the change in the band's attire (particularly Freddie's pants with knee-pads) and Roger's bass drum head sporting a picture of himself, all these factors make pictures from this tour easy to distinguish from those taken earlier in the year.

Queen's old front of house sound technician returned to the job after a long illness (the Jazz album is dedicated to him for this reason).

The show now begins with an intense drone leading into the thunder and lightning. Combined with their lighting rig (even the scaled down version), this would be a very effective opening of their show. It has been said that people were often left breathless before the band even played a note.

Being their first gig in the UK since releasing Live Killers, the band decide to shake things up a bit by opening the show with Let Me Entertain You, followed by the fast We Will Rock You. The setlist is otherwise mostly similar to the live album and previous tour, with a couple new songs added to the repertoire (Mustapha made its first appearance in Saarbrucken in the summer).

Tonight would see the first performances of Save Me and Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which had been recently recorded. The latter has been released as a single and would fare quite well on the charts, becoming their first American #1. Save Me would be released as a single early next year, peaking at #11 in the UK. On stage, Brian May plays the piano on the ballad. Through 1981, he'd play the first two verses on piano and switch to guitar at the second chorus. The instrumentation would change slightly in 1982 with the addition of an auxiliary keyboardist. In the meantime, these 1979 versions would have the band finishing the song at the end of the last chorus, omitting the piano outro.

As for Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Brian would start on acoustic guitar, switch to a black Telecaster for the guitar solo, and to his beloved Red Special for the finale of the song. Unlike the 1950s-flavoured studio version, it would become a heavy rock song by the final verse. By 1982, the end of the song would often be a relatively long jam. Freddie would play a 12-string Ovation Pacemaker acoustic guitar for the song through 1982, and would switch to a cream-coloured Telecaster from 1984 to 1986. Throughout the years, he would often joke about how he knew how to play only a few chords on the guitar.

On stage, the band end Crazy Little Thing Called Love with a coda similar to the one in You're My Best Friend.

This is Queen's first of four shows they would play in Ireland, and so they perform a one-off version of Danny Boy in the encore. As told by someone who attended the show, almost no one in the audience knew the words of the second verse, while Freddie had done his homework.

During Now I'm Here, a fan manages to make his way on stage for a brief moment, and Freddie sings, "Now He's Here." An audience recording of the song was reportedly broadcast on the radio not long after the show, but no known copy has survived.

At the end of the show, instead of playing their version of Britain's national anthem as always, in Ireland the band use the outro from the A Day At The Races album - the only location where they would make a political gesture like this.

Here is a review of this show from the Dublin Evening Press, submitted by Rob Schoorl.

Photos 1-3 were taken by Eddie Mallin.

Fan Stories

“I couldn't believe it! Summer 1979 and I was reading a review of a gig in one of Dublin's evening newspapers. At the end of the review, added almost as an afterthought, was news that the promoter, Pat Egan, was planning to bring Queen to Dublin! I read and re-read it but still could not believe it. Queen, at last, would make their debut in front of an Irish audience! The Crazy Tour would begin in Dublin. Fast forward to the autumn and myself and a number of friends from school eagerly queued up to buy tickets to see our heroes. After buying the tickets, it was a long countdown to the show which would take place on Thursday November 22nd 1979. I still clearly remember the date even after all the years. Eventually the day arrived. That night Queen were on Top of the Pops with Crazy Little Thing Called Love but I didn't mind missing it. We were going to the real thing! After a long day in school we made our way to the RDS in Dublin. After a wait outside the gates we were allowed in to the venue and found a standing place near the front of the stage. I recall it got ever more crowded at the front of the stage and before the show, the tour manager (was it Gerry Stickells?) had to go on stage and appeal to people near the stage to relax and step back. Eventually the lights dimmed, there was a tremendous roar from the crowd, the Pizza Oven exploded into light and there were our heroes only yards away from us. I recall at the time being so overwhelmed by the amazing lights and the fact that we could almost touch Freddie, dressed all in black leather and sunglasses, that I barely registered that Let Me Entertain You was the opener. After that, it was into We Will Rock You and, largely the same songs and running order as the Live Killers album which I knew very well (!!) at that time and had almost worn out playing over the previous months. There were however some exceptions. Of most interest to Queen fans now and the biggest shock to me then was that Danny Boy was played live - a great version, from what I recall which received a terrific ovation from the audience. Also, If You Can't Beat Them was played which surprised me as it wasn't included on Live Killers and I wasn't even aware at that time that it was ever played live. The Dublin show was the first time that Save Me and Crazy Little Thing were played live. I remember being astounded at the power and range of Freddie's voice - even better than Live Killers. At that stage he was developing as a singer and over the next few years became recognised as one of the best rock singers and best frontmen in the business. (Am I the only one who was slightly disappointed with the quality and range of his voice during the final Magic Tour especially when compared to earlier tours?). The gig was a terrific show, especially to a young person attending his first major rock gig, and many of the songs are still memorable to me. During Now I'm Here one idiot actually got up on stage and Freddie sang "Now *he's* here" before he was removed from the stage. One girl also managed to get up on stage and plant a kiss on Freddie during the show. The following night, a couple of songs recorded during the show by someone in the audience were played on the Radio Dublin pirate radio station. These included Now I'm Here. A bootleg of the gig definitely exists *somewhere* but, try as I might, I cannot track it down. I would be grateful if anyone reading this comes across it or has it in their collection, that they get in touch with me!” - John Brogan

“The first night of the Crazy tour - amazing show. Seen some people on the web note that they played Danny Boy that night but for some reason I can only remember Brian playing it as part of his solo and us singing our heads off. Freddie handing out a champagne glass to a friend of mine who still has it. Anyway it was nearly 30 years ago and I find it hard to remember what I did last week never mind that long ago. They ended the show with the outro from A Day At The Races which took me a while to figure out what it actually was. The lighting rig was totally amazing - the pizza oven was aptly named - it was scorching and the intensity of the light when it turned around behind the band to face the audience was something else made a couple of friends that night (in the horse show bar opposite the venue) that I am still in contact with and we are all still crazy after all these years.” - Gary aka hoops

“A couple of notes on the Queen show in Dublin, 1979. Fred was in red trousers, not black as John Brogan has mentioned above. Small point but there you go. And when it came time for the audience to sing along to Danny Boy, almost no one knew the words of the second verse - I remember one chap shouting out to Freddie that he was doing a grand job all by himself. I saw them sixteen times in all and that show, the first, has a very special place in my memory. On the subject of bootlegs from that show, a chap in Aungier Street in Dublin used to have just about every show ever played in Dublin by anyone worth taping. I got a really bad and incomplete (C60) copy of the Queen show from him just as a record of having been there - his voice could be heard just before the start of the show, discussing bootlegging. The tape is somewhere in a box in my house and should I come across it, I'll let you know.” - Paul

Part-2

[fidget-scribbles]

I sort of started writing a 7th year Dramione time loop fic. Like a big-ish one with an outline and planning and everything. It’s a neat way to approach things. 

Here’s a snippet. 1000 words, mostly dialogue, mostly under the cut. 

Potter finds him sitting against a tree at the edge of their wards and fixes him with an inscrutable stare. 

"What is it?"

"What's what, Potter?" 

Potter stares another moment then plops himself down against the same tree trunk, familiarly close. "You can call me Harry, you know."

Draco grunts noncommittally.

"The part you didn't say about the horcruxes. It doesn't help when you hold things back."

Draco blinks. "Excuse me?"

"Some of us pay attention to other people, y'know. You almost said something right at the end there, but you let Hermione cut you off. What else do you know?"

"Um. It's not something I know, exactly. It was a theory of Hermione's, before, and she didn't want to tell you because she wasn't sure what it meant. That's why I didn't say anything." 

Potter smiles. "So it's Hermione, eh?"

[SPOILERS BELOW]

"Granger. Whatever. It doesn't— Sometimes it's hard not to fall into old habits. We were friends for a good while, before." 

The word ‘friend’ sticks in his throat, just a little. Harry doesn't miss the shadow of hesitation. 

"Friends, yeah? Is that what you were?"

"Ugh. It doesn't matter. She asked me to use her given name before and she hasn't now and sometimes it's hard to keep it all straight. That's all."

"Pretty sure it's not, though. I see how you look at her sometimes. Most of the time. Really anytime she’s not looking right at you. Were you two…?"

"It's been six different lives, Potter. I've been a lot of things to different people." 

"But it's something else with Hermione. You care for her; you don't have to bother denying it."

Draco can't, so he shrugs.

"I care about her a lot too. And after Ron… Look, I don't want to pry, but you get that it sounds a little insane to me, right? You and her?"

"I know. I do. It is."

"Do I need to remind you I'm already keeping your big secret?"

Draco looks pained.

"Why haven't you told her about that, anyway? If you two were so close shouldn't she know that you were… whatever you were?" The question feels accusatory, but Potter's voice is even. 

"I did once, actually." Draco almost laughs, remembering. "It went… rather poorly. She advised me not to do it again."

"Ah."

The silence between them is remarkably companionable. 

"I do. Care. You’re not wrong about that." Draco sounds surprised at his own words.  

"It's not easy to forget. I know I have to. It's all new, every time. But we were— Last time... it wasn't that long ago, for me. Three months. I know that this Hermione, obviously she's not the same girl. I made that mistake before.” This time Draco does chuckle at the memory.

"Oof." Potter's eyes are wide with a sort of nonjudgmental understanding that probably has a lot to do with why people find him so appealing. It feels genuine, warm. It doesn't make Draco more embarrassed to be vomiting up his secrets.

“I’m entirely clear that we're nothing. But sometimes she's so much like my Hermione. She's standing right there and I'm not… For her, three months ago I was calling her mudblood between classes like it was a sodding joke."

Potter’s expression has become downright sympathetic. Draco is acutely aware he's making an arse of himself, but the words have a pressure of their own. It feels good to let them out and hard to care how maudlin he sounds, especially with Potter looking so terribly supportive. 

"I haven't used that word in years, you know. Realized a long time ago that was all bullshit. Hermione was, well, not all of it, but I had to admit it because of her. All the proof anyone should need, honestly; should have figured it out at school. But it doesn't matter. We're here now, and to her I'm…" 

Abruptly, mercifully, the torrent of words seems to run out of steam. 

"It's not like that now, so it doesn't matter," he finishes with a shrug.

Harry digests this confession. After a moment he claps a hand on Draco's shoulder and pats a few times. "That's rough, mate." 

He screws his face in what might be actual sympathy. "I don't have anything to compare to. Probably no one does. I broke it off with Gin because I thought being with me would put her in danger.  But now we're split and she's in danger all the time anyway and I live in the woods like a tramp. And listening to you, it sounds refreshingly simple." 

Harry takes another long breath. "But I still think you could stand to tell her."

Draco raises his best aristocratic 'are you utterly insane?' eyebrow.

"Not all of that, obviously. It's a bit much. But I think she would understand about your… what do we even call it? The way you've lived through all these different scenarios?"

Potter takes on a slightly lecturing tone. “Hermione has a lot to say about magic and quantum physics and time travel. I don't understand it, but I think she'd believe you. She had a time turner third year, you know? For schoolwork. Really. She's probably a few months older than we think, but whenever she explains it my eyes kind of glaze over."

Draco looks somewhat less skeptical. 

"And I think she might trust you a little more if you weren't hiding, well, basically everything about who you are and why you're not the same tosser she remembers. I think it'd help." 

"Oh. Um. Thanks?"

"So what's her theory about the horcruxes? Don't think you’ve distracted me with that deeply awkward personal confession."

[yamayuandadu]

This Ugaritic myth post is honestly one of the best posts I've read those last months, genuinely impressed by your knowledge and dedication '^^ At the risk of sounding basic, may I ask for the same character breakdown for Inanna and Ereshkigal ? These days they are mostly known for their Fate versions but I'm really curious about what their original versions were like.

Inanna: How I feel about this character: I joked a few times that in greek mytholgy i like obscure interpretations of b list figures but in mesopotamian i like the main characters and i feel like this is the prime example of it - in every myth Inanna appears in, the world revolves around her. And it’s refreshing even today to see a female character in a myth who largely acts the same way male heroes do. Weird people online tend to try to recast her as a mother goddess or some innocent “holy virgin” or both often but to me it seems like arguably embracing how she actually is in myths makes for a more empowering image. She’s, simply put, fun to read about. All the people I ship romantically with this character: please read Inanna’s descent to evaluate my expert opinion that Inanna and Ninshubur are in love. I sort of wrote a story about it from Ninshubur’s pov but then felt awkward about it and didn’t post it. I talked about it before but the cameraderie between them reminds me of Gilgamesh and Enkidu - but as far as I can tell while interpreting the latter pair as a couple is common in modern times, nobody even brings Ninshubur up. My non-romantic OTP for this character: since I see Inanna’s descent, Inanna and Enki and Enki and the World Order as the core Inanna myths myself, the answer #1 is Enki - he might not actually be her father but given the similar approach to life both show in myths it’s easy to see him as her mentor at least. My hipster pick is Nininsinna who seems to be well respected by Inanna in a few myths. My unpopular opinion about this character: I don’t really care about Dumuzi. The love poems are nice and all but Dumuzi has the personality and charm of a faceless dating sim self insert in most myths he appears in. One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish there were more wacky adventure myths involving her and Ninshubur. There are the two I linked but I feel like the formula could work over and over and over again. Ereshkigal How I feel about this character: she sure is an underworld goddess with little cultic relevance... I don’t think she’s boring though, and the Nergal myth highlighting that she’s lonely and bitter because of it gives her a very human dimension. All the people I ship romantically with this character: only Nergal since I think for a modern audience in general - and for me specifically - the appeal of that myth lies in part in the fact they don’t really seem compatible with anyone else but instantly clicked together when they met. My non-romantic OTP for this character: Geshtinanna is described as acting as an underworld scribe while she spends the promised 6 months there in place of her brother Dumuzi, so I imagine Ereshkigal views her as her friend. Gesthinanna probably isn’t aware of it. My unpopular opinion about this character: there used to be a trend in scholarship back in the day which tried to make her into a Persephone paralel by inventing myths that don’t exist, not a fan of it - and it turns her from a middle aged professional (she’s Inanna’s -older- sister!) into a lost young girl which is lame. One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: the two major myths she appear in form a coherent narrative but I wish there was something describing her whereabouts after marriage, and maybe interactions with other family members like Utu and Nanna.

[cherryeol04]

300 Follower Special!

As you can see, I have hit 300 followers! Now that you’re all here, you’re trapped and can never leave!!! Muwahahahaa😈

So as promised, I have a garbage fire of a fic I wrote for this. It’s like...legit garbage so I hope you all enjoy! 💖💖💖💖💖

A/n: Not beta read or edited

Warning: Sim deaths

Jisung was an avid YouTube watcher, mostly focusing on documentaries about animals and space. Simple videos that captured his attention long enough to let him unwind from whatever hectic day he had. So it wasn't unusual for him to just have YouTube running in the background while he worked or did other things. He liked the background noise it provided and with his knowledge (though somewhat limited) of English, he didn't need subtitles in Korean.

The YouTube algorithm was a bit of a mystery, however, and was constantly surprising him with videos that he had no interest in, nor did he understand how they wound up playing. But somehow learning about how a Cheetah chirps instead of roars somehow placed him down a rabbit hole, only to bring him out on the other side to Sim videos.

He wasn't exactly a stranger to The Sims, having seen Sims 3 commercials many times when he was a kid. Even some search results when he was exploring the gaming tags. They were pretty popular. But he never actually watched any of them before. Why would he want to watch someone play a simulation game of life when he lived a fucking crazy life already? It was like he was a Sims. At any given moment someone could burn down the house by making a salad - a sad but very plausible scenario.

So when he heard the introduction of the YouTuber, welcoming people back to their channel and what they were playing for the day, he quickly switched to the tab with all intent to stop the video and find something else. Yet, as his hand hovered over the back button, he took a quick glance at the title of the video and stopped.

I make Minho of Stray Kids Murder his Group Members

It was interesting. He certainly had never come across a gaming video that involved Stray Kids, and certainly not as violent as this title made it out to be. He was intrigued really, so he let the video continue to play.

"So today I decided we were going to have Minho of Stray kids murder all of his members." You grinned evilly as you pulled up your game. "As you guys know I recently downloaded some pretty cool Stray Kids sims off the gallery and placed them in my world to play within my Not so Berry challenge. But I thought it would be super fun if we put them all in one house together and just have one of the members kill the rest."

Jisung was a little confused about this idea. You were clearly a fan of them, so why would you want to hurt them like this? You didn't appear to be an anti, and you were bashing them for anything like most antis would. You just wanted to murder them? It was weird, and he couldn't really understand the appeal to this. Regardless, he continued to watch the video.

"So I had you all vote on Twitter between all the members, no context given and Minho won with a surprising amount of votes." You giggled, the sounds of your finger tapping on your mouse as you worked through create-a-sim echoing through the earbuds Jisung was wearing. There was a small jump cut and suddenly the game was starting, the virtual members wandering through the house and going about their lives. The house itself was a nice build and Jisung found himself wanting to play the game for some reason. There was just something about watching you maneuver the controls and explain your plan for their murders that intrigued him so much.

"Oh! We found Felix. Look at him. He said today he was going to be a good boy and go practice like Chan wanted him to. And Minho is like, nope, not today sweetheart." You laughed as you told Minho to electrocute Felix. "Oooh, sorry mate. Looks like you've been eliminated." You paused and looked directly into the camera. "It's been two years, but it still stings the heart. I'm sorry Felix, I love you!" You made a finger heart at the camera before looking back to the game, watching as the Grim Reaper appeared to take Felix's soul away.

"One down, seven to go."

Even though it was a video game, it was both morbid and funny. Somehow, Jisung found himself enjoying the video, even laughing along at the funny little puns you would make before killing off another sim.

"You know, I really wish there was a mod that would kill your sim if they stayed awake too long. The perfect way for Chan to go. I guess, for now, I'll just set him on fire." You shrugged, snickering as you once more had Minho kill another member - this time Chan. "Apparently being in 3racha was just a little too hot - a little too spicy for him." You shook your head, rubbing your temples lightly. "Sometimes I can't even take the terrible jokes I make. How do I have 100,000 subscribers?" You questioned, not really expecting an answer. You continued on with your game, going around and killing every last member until Minho stood in the middle of the vacant house, letting out the evilest laugh he could make.

"And that my friends, is why you should know all 3 of his cats' names, their coloring, their personalities and what they last had for dinner. Don't upset the evil cat dad." You rolled into your closing speech, thanking everyone for watching and to tune in next time before the video ended. A new video popped up for auto-play and Jisung was tempted to let it play, but glancing at the time, he realized he really couldn't afford another 20-minute video. He stopped it and made sure to subscribe to your channel before closing his laptop and putting it away in his bag as he got ready to leave for the studio.

He was honestly looking forward to having more free time so he could explore your channel and see if you had other videos of Stray Kids in the sims or in any other games. Your personality was very funny and it drew him in. Even if there wasn't any more Stray Kids videos, he would still probably binge-watch all your videos, you were just that interesting.

[carvour]

SAF and Solve It Squad pls! (I know it's more a play than a musical I'm sorry)

oooo!! (as a side note; i haven’t watched solve it squad in a while, so i might rb this ask when i do and give you my consensus there, because the last thing i want to do is make people upset with my very stale takes from my very crappy memory from 3 years ago, so the SISR part of this ask is coming soon, no worries)

SPIES ARE FOREVER; favourite character: depending on my mood, it’s either tatiana or curt. curt is a major comfort character for me, but tatiana is honestly just so intriguing and interesting that i love her for the same amount, but for different reasons. right now, i’m in a tatiana mood. honestly, rewriting that one shot sounds really appealing and i might go do that after answering this ask. least favourite character: the n*zis, but then again, i don’t consider n*zis human beings, so perhaps the informant, because he doesn’t sit right with me on how he was written in certain parts. favourite OBC cast member: since all of them were OBC, either mary kate wiles (because her singing is literally a gift from heaven) or curt mega. favourite current cast member (if applicable): honestly, i’ll take this as “if COVID didn’t happen and the SAF 54 below concert was still a thing” question, because if so i would’ve made a blood sacrifice to see britney coleman sing live. oh my god, oh my GOD. favourite song: the title number! or eyes on the prize II. i don’t know, man, i have weird taste when it comes to my favorite song in this song, because on exception of a few i loved ALL of them. torture tango is way up there, probably third, along with spy again.  least favourite song: eyes on the prize I seems. off. to me. i can’t explain it. also, while the n*zi songs are clever satire they’re musically kind of in the low middle of my ranking list. and the spy again reprise is alright, i guess, but also very low. favourite act (if applicable): act one! it’s got some of my favorite scenes and jokes of the musical, plus the story really just punches there. mostly, it’s where i can, yknow, NOT feel sad and be ignorant about how this musical ends. favourite ship: curtwen. because i’m a dumb butch, forgive me. tatibarb is inch resting and i have been looking respectfully on occasion. least favourite ship: anything, like, comphet? or meg*big, because that EXISTS and i pray to god everyday that it didn’t. guys it’s so bad, just- we’ve been cursed with a sin. me and my homies hate meg*big. if there is something i would change about the musical: *cracks knuckles* alright, here’s my opinions. get ready. the show is already so solid on it’s own. really, a lot of the issues i have with it are things i’ve personally just found irksome or off, and not a lot of the core aspects of the musical. for now here’s a bullet list; 1. barb wasn’t written very well. i get that her dialogue was supposed to be funny and such, but some jokes just didn’t hit right and more of her was played off for laughs, which made me a little disappointed. fanon barb is written well (for the most part, some people are just idiots), and if they ever DO have a sequel (or when they release the rights) my only request is for her to be written better. give some justice to the funky lil bi scientist. 2. they would have NOT gotten away with the n*zi satire if they had written the musical today. while it is very good satire, i remember them talking on the livestream about how if they released it today they wouldn’t have gotten away with it. perhaps it might be changed when they release the rights? i’m not sure, but that’s my take on the whole thing. other than that, it is actually good satire. 3. one step ahead could’ve been staged differently/less for comedy. i don’t know, i can’t take it seriously (even though i still love it) during the context of the song. not BETTER, just.. yknow, differently. this is more of a “not something i would fix” but “something i would like to see if it could happen” bullet point. 4. short answer to a hefty question; what do i think about one more shot? i like the song, i interpret it as a “last chance before we all die, let’s go out with a bang” drinking binge. irrational? yeah, but they all though they were going to die, so in their minds what did they have to lose? idk, i’m on the fence but the song slaps. 5. the ending dragged a little too long, maybe? idk, i’m trying to find small things without going into the bigger core aspects because those are still really, really good. 

ratings: 9.5/10 (i’m afraid to give it a 10/10, although i love this musical to bits and that would be my knee jerk reaction if someone random asked me on the street, i actually thought about it and landed with this.)

thank you for asking, robin! this was really fun

send me a musical and i’ll give it a nice vibe check !

[fly-pow-bye]

ThunderCats Roar - “Prank Call”

Co-Executive Producer: Victor Courtright

Supervising Producer: Nate Cash

Producer: Marly Halpern-Graser

Story by: Victor Courtright

Teleplay by: Marly Halpern-Graser

Directed by: Jeremy Polgar

I was expecting a lot less from this episode just from that title, that’s for sure.

This episode starts with Lion-O talking about how, as Lord of the ThunderCats, he will not give up on fighting the forces of darkness, as the camera is zoomed right into his face. Gee, I wonder if he's not fighting those aforementioned forces of darkness, but actually doing something really mundane.

Big surprise, that turns out to be the case, as Lion-O is repeatedly punching a TV trying to get it to work. He's not lying about the darkness, he's just fighting against the darkness of a non-working TV. There's more of a joke here than one might realize. This is a problem, because there might not be any TV stores on Third Earth!

Tygra, the down-to-Earth straight man of this reboot's version of ThunderCats, decides to bring out his secret weapon...a TV manual that says "How to Television." If the grammar error was intentional, it really wouldn't fit Tygra as the down-to-Earth and by-the-book voice of reason. Lion-O decides to take all of this to heart and read along with him...

...or, he can just hit it with the Sword of Omens, and let the Eye of Thundara do all the work. Hooray for simplicity! Cheetara may also have a point about there probably being TV stores on Third Earth, because it does get at least one channel that airs the Silverhawks. Kids, that's another show by the same people who did ThunderCats. Maybe if this reboot does really well, we'll get "SilverHawks Squawk."

Unfortunately, this fictional reboot appears to be truer to the original than this one, as it's too slow and boring to appeal to today's kids. At least, that's what everyone seemed to imply about the original ThunderCats. WilyKit and WilyKat aren't swayed by the majesty of Commander Stargazer, and they want to go outside and explore. Tygra tells them that they can't go out to the wilderness by themselves unless they have a chaperone, and he specifically chooses the guy that just hit a TV with a sword. Well, it worked, so I can't argue with that logic.

Lion-O immediately jumps at the opportunity with a audible and visible "heck yeah", but the ThunderKittens respond with an audible and visible "that stinks." Lion-O tries to make his case.

Lion-O: Just us cool kids hanging out, getting into trouble, fun stuff!

Wait, us "cool kids"? Are they or are they not going to go with the "Lion-O is still a kid in a grown man's body" plot point from the original? They never really confirm this either way, though Roar's version of Exodus implies he was an adult even when he was escaping from his exploding home planet. WilyKit and Kat say that if he's a chaperone, he's one of those grownups, with Kat calling him "basically the same as Tygra."

We get a zoom in of his brain at that comment, which is extremely small. This is funny because he's not particularly intelligent. Honestly, I'm surprised he even had a brain. Cheetara comes up, saying that it's also not that bright of an idea to let the "baby king" babysit them, and Lion-O responds that he's basically an adult, which still leaves the answer to the “was he calling himself a kid because he’s still a kid in a grown man’s body” question vague, and there's no manual for that.

Tygra then takes out a book called "How to Responsible". I get it, like how the last manual was called "How to TV". Again, if the grammar error was intentional, it really wouldn't fit Tygra as the down-to-Earth and by-the-book voice of reason.

But no, he's not going to read some stinky manuals; he wants to be cool and hip, not by someone who is literally by-the-book. Lion-O doesn't want to be just a chaperone, he wants to be the best chaperone ever and a general "cool guy". First, he's a cool kid, and now he's a cool guy. I guess that "baby king" comment got to him, if a little bit less than "you're basically Tygra."

Using his and Snarf's knowledge of the coolest things on Third Earth, he takes them out surfing on the waves of the Jade Lagoon, swinging across the Bottomless Gorge, and telling stories about how he convinced a caveman to give him a time capsule. Less than a minute into this outing, the ThunderKittens are already calling him cool...well, almost cool. He rubs his cheeks with enthusiasm at that.

WilyKat points to a big rock with a bunch of pointer fingers pointing to a sign that says "Danger! Evil!! (Bad Stuff Inside!!!)" When the exclamation points get more numerous with each warning, one knows its serious. Even Lion-O knows this, as we don't get the way-too-easy joke about him just ignoring the sign and saying, "well, it must be safe!"

Instead, he tells WilyKit and Kat that they should leave it alone. Snarf nods to this oath of safety, which is fitting for the original Snarf without the annoyance of Snarf's way of speaking. WilyKit is not impressed by this, and says "whatever you say, Tygra."

So Lion-O kicks through the walls into the evil "danger evil" location, and they find a giant crystal in the middle of it. Lion-O gives some pause to interacting with it, thinking that it must be the evil stuff that sign was warning about, but the ThunderKittens immediately go out and touch it. Lion-O tries to raise some concerns, but WilyKit suggests that he's becoming Tygra. They get a lot less subtle about this here; Lion-O outright says that there should be a manual for that crystal. He's just setting himself up for the inevitable "you're just being like Tygra" talk, and he shuts his trap.

In the opposite end of the "how much one shuts their trap" line, the crystal then lights on fire and reveals that it was calling Mumm-Ra. Those telephone sounds aren't just to sound cool; it turns out that this crystal is like a giant telephone, and it only has one number on its speed dial. Mumm-Ra answers what a "who dares to call the tomb of Mumm-Ra", and WilyKit and Kat know exactly what to do.

We get the titular prank call, with WilyKat declaring himself as the evil plumber. Lion-O, again, tries to get the kids to stop doing that, but they respond by reminding him that they did kick his bony butt. Wow, a hint at continuity? Say it ain't so! Well, okay, they're going to kick his bony butt in any other episode featuring him, so it could be a coincidence.

Snarf is even more the voice of reason even if he doesn't use it in this reboot, and Lion-O eventually tells him that he shouldn't be like Tygra. It's a good downwards progression for Lion-O in this episode. He starts out as kind of the voice of reason, and then he just decides to be the irresponsible caretaker that joins in on the mischief.

He does have a reason for that. After convincing Mumm-Ra to screw his cauldron to fix his plumbing problem, causing his lair to flood, they laugh it up. Sure, they angered an evil ever-living guy, but one of the kids called Lion-O the best chaperone ever, so it must be fine for him to do that!

While Lion-O has a brain that is easily breakable, Mumm-Ra's is a bit bigger, as he eventually realizes what's going on. This crystal has a few other abilities, including teleportation, as he's able to reach through the crystal and grab the ThunderKittens right into it. Turns out, this was a crystal he had that he forgot about, even with all the pointer fingers surrounding it, and he knows how to use it. Well, sort of; Mumm-Ra does seem to share Lion-O's hatred of using manuals, as even he doesn't know all the features of the crystal. He doesn't even know where he teleported the ThunderKittens to, only hoping that it took them somewhere nasty.

He does know one other feature of this crystal; it can store and give him evil energies, turning Mumm-Ra into his buff form again. He's not as big now, but at sunset, he'll be at full power. Lion-O would try to stop him, but he realizes that he can't fly, and he's way up there floating on that phone-teleporter-evil-storer crystal.

Mumm-Ra, using the crystal to fly away, goes right back to his pyramid, and Lion-O vows to go to the pyramid and fight him. But not before we get another close zoom-in on his face, getting a slightly off-model shot of him covering his mouth and saying "before Tygra finds out."

For the record, Cheetara guesses it, but Tygra and Panthro are kind of clueless. Hearing some commotion surrounding that evil pyramid outside, they go into the Thunder Tank and drive it, two of them assuming the baby king and the kids must not be there. Tygra may be the straight man in this episode and almost every other time, but even he is fallible.

Lion-O shows up at Mumm-Ra's lair first, and reveals that he found a way against the "but he's up so high" problem: use the robotic Snarf's ability to turn into a jetpack. Maybe he just assumed he had that feature, because he seems to do everything. One can even play video games on him, though they're too old-school for the ThunderKittens. Huh, I realize that's a continuing theme from the last episode, and thankfully for this episode, that's not something I'll say very often.

Unfortunately for Lion-O and fortunately for the TV-Y7-FV rating, he figured out that strategy too late, as the crystal has given Mumm-Ra enough power to be impervious to stabbing. The other ThunderCats show up, and they see that Lion-O just lost the kids.

Everyone knows where this is leading to, but Mumm-Ra has no time for "sorry I'm such a jerk" scenes. He immediately commands silence. Turns out, that crystal takes that as a command to petrify the others into not so flattering poses. One can see Tygra's now-sculpted behind, one cannot unsee it.

He then throws Lion-O and Snarf into the crystal. I would say that if he petrified Lion-O too, the episode couldn't continue, but it's more likely he wouldn't know how to activate that feature again since he didn't read that all important manual. Lion-O’s not the only person who needs to learn a lesson.

It turns out, the crystal teleported to this void, the same void that the ThunderKittens were sent to. They tell him that there's absolutely no way out of this void, which only contains carpet, and they begin to cry about it. It's really over-the-top, with them crying buckets of tears over this situation and blowing their nose with tissue paper. It's not played like a tear jerker scene, it seems more like a "huh, look at how much they're overreacting" joke.

They do throw in one plot-important aspect to that joke, giving it a point: Lion-O asks where did they get that tissue paper from. This scene isn't funny, so we can't use the Roger Rabbit excuse, but it turns out that paper came from somewhere. Let's see Mumm-Ra figure out exactly what it was, as he's gloating about how the ThunderCats are defeated without him even worrying about reading a manual.

Lion-O: You mean this manual?!

It turns out, manuals are good! That's the lesson of the day, kids: make sure to be educated, and Lion-O had to learn this by having every other option be unavailable to him. That's how lessons should be learned!

While he may have found out how to get out of the void thanks to that manual, the sun still sets, and Mumm-Ra's power is now at its maximum. He's big enough to use the ThunderCats base as a chair again. However, he does not c, because reading the manual gave Lion-O knowledge beyond knowledge, giving him the ability to just talk to the crystal to undo all of that evil stuff.

The joke, of course, is that this mystical crystal is more like one of those smart home devices. It's even activated by saying, "hey Crystal", and it talks to him like a Google Assistant or Alexa. See, even ThunderCats has to go with modern times!

We get our fight scene, and yes, one of the actions is a "mummy butt spanking" from Panthro. One can see Mumm-Ra's not-nearly-as-sculpted cheeks, and they cannot unsee it. Outside of that, it's a decent fight scene, with one particularly neat effect throughout it: as one of the evil actions the crystal did was give Mumm-Ra the power, he's constantly fluctuating between his skeletal form and his muscular form. The animation isn't as good as the last episode's, but I'd say the rest of this episode stacks up pretty well against that one. At the end, Lion-O shouts a one-liner to finish this whole scene, echoing the moral of the story:

Lion-O: You should have read the manual! (winks at camera)

Including that eye wink makes that line so cheesy, but I'll accept it. At least it's self-aware about it. He decides to destroy the crystal, which causes Mumm-Ra to revert back to his skeleton form as he falls into the cauldron. Wait, I thought the cauldron was broken! Never mind. In the end, the day is saved, and Lion-O has learned not to trust glowing crystals. That wasn't exactly the lesson, but Tygra accepts it anyway.

Also, there's a "The End" title card drawn in crayon? Cartoons seem quite satisfied with just ending abruptly now, including every other ThunderCats Roar episode I've seen. It's not like this was the end of a running joke, it's just there. Seems like a minor thing to talk about, but I just found it kind of odd.

How does it stack up?

This one feels very similar to Boggy Ben, but it feels a lot more connected. I had no real issues with this episode other than the over-reliance on wacky face gags, something the last episode lacked. It has good pacing, and there's even a moral somewhere in here that the kids could learn.

Again, I was wondering if I should give this one rating or another, but in this case, it's whether it's a 4 or a 5. So far, this is the best episode I've seen, including some episodes after this one, so I might as well give it 5 cats. Maybe there will be better episodes that will make me re-rate this one, and I hope that's the case, but as it stands...

Next, we meet Mr. Driller.

← The Legend of Boggy Ben 🐈 Driller →

[theangrypokemaniac]

There's a sneering attitude that the dub is inherently inferior solely for being a dub, and when I say 'dub' I mean the American one. No one attacks the South American interpretation, funnily enough, or the variety that exist globally.

Why not if foreign languages are so abhorrent?  Do you think it's kewl to hate America?

That's so original you know.

If the moan centres on the dub changing certain things, well that's a pointless stance, because it's impossible to do otherwise.

What's accepted in one country is not always permitted elsewhere, so either you make those alterations or it's never shown. I'd prefer seeing a slightly toned down version rather than have it never reach the West at all.

This is without considering the technical obstacles that a direct translation brings. The words do have to fit the mouth movements, and if they don't, truncation must follow.

America and Japan are different; the population of the former are not going to comprehend the references to the latter's history and culture, which necessitates some divergence from the original to give it mass appeal.

Anime is a branch of entertainment. It has to attract the public's good will to stay in business. If impenetrable, it'll fail, with all the resulting unemployment and finacial losses that brings.

Those in charge of dubbing understandably think they're on safer ground promoting familiarity rather than the strange, but that's not to say Pokémon was stripped of its identity. On the contrary, it was like nothing I'd ever encountered before.

I may have watched Western cartoons then, but the idea of doing so now is silly. I won't give time to any modern animation unless it's Japanese. Growing up on the dub has not produced an ephemeral fan less serious or 'true'.

The 4Kids dub had wit, humour, deep emotion, suggestive comments and flights of fancy. The voices fitted the characters well.

Unlike the current one, where everyone sounds on the verge of vomiting, but then they're clearly working with substandard material on a miserly budget. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear after all.

Dubs can be bad, but the very state of being a dub doesn't confer worthlessness automatically. Considering the work gone into them, attempting to gain your favour, it seems rude not to appreciate the time and energy spent in production.

Knowing a little about history, sub-only fanatics remind me of the kind of folk who opposed an English Bible, because it was too good for the oiks to read the word of God.

Of course it was alright for them, rich enough to be taught Latin, but not so much the ordinary man.

It amuses me how dozens dismiss the dub, but see no hypocrisy in using its evidence to further their ship or anti-ship arguments, so it can't be that revolting.

It's also bizarre that so many hold sacred the sub of a series currently in a frenzy to shed every aspect of its anime and Japanese origins, leaving a vague, rootless ghost, supposedly making it easier to slip down the gullet of the masses.

Pokémon I've seen referred to as a 'gateway drug', as in the anime that introduced a generation to the entire concept. This means the dub. You would not have got enough kids in the late Nineties to read a screen rather than watch it, and even today most would lose interest rapidly.

Where would you be without that dub? Unless you're Japanese, your first experience of Pokémon will have been a dub, and if not the American, the one where you live, which was only made because there was the funds available.

You may have then progressed to watching the sub, but only because that dub stirred love in your soul.

Where would the franchise be without that dub? You think Pokémon would've grown to be a world-wide obsession raking in billions by itself? No, it'd still be a solely Japanese phenomena, and most likely never lasted this long.

Its decades of supremacy rests on the quality of that dub. It sold games and merchandise to kids by the ton, giving an incentive to keep the series going. If you're not a fan from the first wave, then your favourite era would have never existed had it not been financially attractive carrying on.

The team who wrote the first film actually preferred the dub, moved to tears by its emotive use of music, therefore they aren't so precious as the fans.

Where would anime be without that dub? Pokémon brought it to the West. A handful slipped through previously, but made minor impression.

To those who would dismiss Pokémon entirely in favour of more 'worthy' output such as Studio Ghibli, I would say that Pokémon, first the games, then the programme they inspired, must have an integral quality to have caught on in Japan, which isn't exactly short on similar concepts.

To have gained popularity in a crowded market, and so fervently a dub became an option, can only have come about because it held a certain magic.

It was the dub that smashed a hole in the cultural barrier, setting free the tidal wave to engulf the world. In Pokémon's trail followed Digimon, Cardcaptors, Monster Rancher, Yu-Gi-Oh! et cetera.

Without Pokémon, I doubt they'd have been translated, and definitely never broadcast on mainstream television. That came about as channels desperately hunted down anything Japanese to serve as the next craze.

I really appreciated the effort made by 4Kids in converting every aspect of the series to suit American tastes, including changing text on signs, letters and books into English. I assumed this was standard practice until I watched others.

I could never be as involved in them as I was Pokémon because of that block. It was like being denied access to the deeper waters, fenced into the shallows, and implied a rushed dub, with little care shown but to chase the same crowd and money.

If personified, the dub 'n' sub wouldn't be one human being, but rather identical twins: the same to a casual observer, but easy to tell apart by the more attentive.

It's like the games: Red and Blue are versions of a single adventure, but not totally one. Take the dub and the sub the same way. They are parallel dimensions running on separate rails, and beyond reconciliation, and that's before we consider that, sub and dub alike, each generation has only a faint relation to its predecessor, working on its own whims.

Everyone has a favourite, or can like both, and there's nothing wrong in that, but so many are proud of the fact they hate the dub, as if it conveys a revered status of supremacy.

When Disney films are shown abroad, they too are translated, and I'm sure references and jokes are redesigned to make sense to the locals. It's no use selling yourself as a comedy then being surprised when the audience refuses to laugh, having no idea what you mean.

If people prefer that one, for being what introduced them to Disney as a whole, or as a fond memory of childhood, then so what?

I don't mind if their view of a character is minutely at odds with mine, having seen the original, because what they think is canon to their version, so can't be wrong.

I don't go round declaring every Disney dub to be pathetic by its nature, that viewers of them are of a lesser breed of fan for preferring their own tongue, even though more of the world's population understand English than they do Japanese.

If you enjoy one tailored to your country there's no crime in it, just as I like one at least comprehensible to mine. It's not even my culture, but I pick it up mostly.

The choice must be made on which to follow, and this blog runs on dub canon, as that has a claim on my heart. Just because I don't acknowledge what takes place in the sub doesn't mean I'm unaware of it, but it has no bearing on what I write.

The idea that the dub alters things willy-nilly without rhyme nor reason is also mistaken. Often it does it because the original does not make sense.

In the sub, I know Nanny and Pop-Pop are just a couple of old duffers taken at random and dropped in to a castle, supposedly as James's far away nannies.

Oh yeah, that's a cushy position. You doing a lot of child care from miles off?

Mind you, it used to describe 'em as 'caretakers' on Bulbapædia, as if Nan serves as housekeeper whilst Pop tends to the garden.

That's right. Ma and Pa finally got some work out of this pair of freeloaders.

They're not related, remember? No, no, absolutely not, no way. Of course their style reflects that. They just gave Pop a 'tache, thick eyebrows and a bigger nose, and Nan got a bun and lines in her hair, but there's certainly no connection. Oh no. Such a thing is ridiculous.

They're NOT family. No. Yet Hoenn James still panics they might learn he's joined Team Rocket, spending the whole episode trying to hide the truth.

Why? Who are servants to criticise the son of their employers? Why should their opinion be of any consequence to Hoenn James, especially when his parents, fiancée and butler are cognizant of reality?

Children of aristocrats are usually brought up by governesses, thus develop a stronger attachment to these figures rather than their parents, but that isn't the case here.

James lived with Ma and Pa, not the codgers minding the castle. He would have very little contact with distant employees compared to those who waited on him daily, so why seek out their approval?

Hoenn James apparently was permitted visits to Nan 'n' Pop, which is strange considering they're not relatives. Why them and not any other house-stters?

That's right, Ma and Pa sent their son to one of their properties without them, entrusting him to the care of two shrivelled pensioners of his size that he barely knew, and who could keel over at any minute. There are no other servants present. Apparently Nan and Pop clean an entire castle by themselves.

Oh, and they run a makeshift Pokémon sanctuary, but since it's not their home it has to be done with Ma and Pa's blessing, who also have to pay for it, but they're eevul aren't they?

The idea that somehow Nanny and Pop-Pop have not cottoned on to James's occupation by now is risible.

Servants gossip about their masters. I bet the entire household of his home know, and so in turn does the county. That Nan and Pop remain oblivious proves how isolated they are, for no one's thought to inform them.

When it came to dubbing it, they were made his grandparents, removing all the above nonsense. Of course he visits his nan and granddad, it's their gaff and their money funding the place, and it is likely his mother or father would keep James's job a secret, for fear the shock would finish 'em off.

It should do really. If they're not bothered by it that's a sign of where his rapscallion ways were inherited.

They aren't facially akin to Ma and Pa, but display the same additions, so if staff it's bloody lazy, as if nannies have to resemble your parents, but inventing a blood link excuses the slothful characterisation.

Every reference I've seen on Tumblr relating to the coffin-dodgers calls them Nanny and Pop-Pop. Apparently the dub decision is met with universal approval. It does have redeeming aspects then.

Now the sub writers, rather than ignore this development, took to it too. They aren't exactly bursting with ideas these days and are probably grateful for the lifelines offered.

Remembering James had parents, they forced a likeness between them and Nanny and Pop-Pop. How else do you explain the inexplicable ageing, even when Sinnoh Ma and Sinnoh Pa are younger than Ma and Pa?

I've also known for years that the sub has this woman as Jessie's foster mother, not Ma Jess, but that's stupid.

I can grasp the idea that Jessie and Ma might have endured extreme deprivation, considering that's what Team Rocket has brought to Jessie anyway, and that they may have lived at the bottom of Mew's mountain prior to Ma's death.

What I find difficult to take in is that social services (or as they're known where I live, the S.S.), however notoriously awful they are, would give a child to a mad bitch in a shack with no running water.

Come on, they have to at least pretend to be concerned for Jessie's welfare.

As Jessie is very young, bereavement can't have befallen her in the distant past, so how can she be happy this soon after becoming an orphan? How could the grieving period be a cherished memory?

If that woman's creaming off the money, why hasn't she fixed the place up by now? Where do the payments go, sniffing glue?

Then there's the depiction. If this is just some daft bint never to be mentioned again, why do they conceal her face? Who cares what she looks like when she's unimportant?

Here's another figure from Jessie's past. She isn't disguised, and why not when she too briefly appears and is then forgotten?

Who was she?

The only sort of characters they tended to hide were other members of Team Rocket:

During the early scenes featuring Giovanni, he was enveloped in shadow, adding both intrigue and a sense of menace.

Madame Boss also got this treatment, even though there was probably no intention to ever feature her in the anime. What's the use in keeping an appearance a mystery if it'll remain masked?

With that pattern, it implies this woman is in the same category, like Ma Jess.

When it came to animation, it definitely was intended to be a foster mother. Not her real one. No.

What did they do?

They gave her Jessie's skin tone and purple hair hanging down her back!

You know, like Ma Jess?

Any colour would've done. Any at all, and being anime I do mean any colour, but no. The choice was made to give her the looks of the exact person she's not meant to be!

Is it that surprising the dub simplified things?

I don't mind if you like the dub, sub, both, or any from around the world, but I'm tired of the smug condescension, as if we all agree the sub is the only one that counts, and that dub fans are grunting troglodytes, or not 'proper' aficionados.

None of us would be here were it not for the dub. Pokémon would not be here. I think it deserves some respect for how much of a difference it made, to my life and to yours.

[chaos-event-horizon]

Uh... sorry to give you a strange ask out of nowhere, especially when I don't exactly know what I want to say. You just happened to reblog something that relates to what I've been thinking about for some time

I just kind er... feel like shit most of the time about being a guy. Like... I don't know. I've really got nothing to offer the world, I'm pretty sure no one will ever love me (hell, literally the only compliment I've ever gotten on my appearance was an eye tech telling a coworker I had nice eyes, and I'm pretty sure she must have just meant structurally)

Have this good friend, she'll sometimes make fuck men type jokes, and I know with her they mostly are jokes, and she's even sent messages being like "you know I don't mean you with this?" and like I know she means it or... well... probably if she knew the like link stuff I don't advertise to people she'd realize I'm kind of a piece of shit but... she thinks that she doesn't think I'm trash

So like... sorry about randomly dumping this stuff on you. Something she sent last night, it was even more innocent than most, just a thing meant as a joke about how guys over 25 who don't eat pussy should just kill themselves. And like, she didn't realize it, but you think a loser like me has ever even managed a relationship? In my case it's good actual advice though if I can just... you know find the nerve. Don't worry, like, I'm stable. Just wish I wasn't cause it would be for the best if I stepped out of life

Anyway, I'm afraid I've made my friend out in a bad light (or that maybe she'll see this and feel bad). She's a good person, she means those jokes a lot less than a lot of people I've seen. So like, it's important to me you give her the benefit of the doubt on this stuff

But uh... anyway. Sorry about the not knowing how to shut the fuck up and keep things short

You're a good dude, I always enjoy seeing you around. I'm always hoping for the best for you cause you deserve it

You really just got hit with this shit cause well... I feel like you're someone who might get what I'm saying, and you made the mistake of reblogging that men's body positivity post when I've been thinking about this at least since last night

(If you'll forgive a little whining... really feel like those posts are meant to apply to every guy except me cause there's no damn way I visually have anything to offer this world)

Take care, and again I'm sorry about the gloomy essay. You're not obliged to respond, you just focus on taking care of yourself and having a good day

I'm sorry it took so long for me to address this, I rarely have the kind of energy it takes to answer messages that aren't like... Questions about my book? And also I honestly wasn't sure how to talk about this without making it become A Thing. I hope you can forgive me!

That being said...

You should NEVER be made to feel guilty or gross about inherent traits. Being a guy never is a sole contributing factor in whether or not you're a good or bad person, and it's undeniably shitty that people act like it is. You deserve life, and love, and happiness. Flat out. It doesn't matter what your gender is or if you have appealing "physical traits". You are a person, and people deserve things. You don't need to contribute anything with your looks. You don't need to be a saint. You don't need to have a pedigree of awesomeness. The only thing you need to be worthy, is to BE.

And I may be out of line here but I do not give a fuck: FUCK THAT FRIEND! She's constantly saying how awful a certain group is and bombarding you with that energy, and apparently knows how awkward it is cause she has the wherewithal to tell you "oh nooo I don't mean youuu"??? Bullshit. You deserve better. It doesn't matter if she things she's being malicious or if she apologizes over and over, because she clearly shows she knows how she sounds and continues doing it anyway, knowing you'll feel guilty and just sit and take it and feel bad about yourself. That's literally an abuse tactic. You tell me to give her the benefit of the doubt, and normally I would like to try to, but if she is able to recognize your discomfort enough to try to remedy it by reaching out to comfort the bruises, she knows she's the one leaving them. At the very least, she needs to stop complaining to you about this problem she has. Ideally she'd be going to therapy. If she says it often enough to illicit that kind of reaction from you, regardless of your relationship status, she needs to honestly just STFU. There's saying it every once in a while as a joke, and then there's hammering it in inappropriately to a person that really doesn't need to be forced into the interaction. She's very willfully doing things MEANT to be upsetting, dude.

You. Deserve. Better.

You deserve better than to feel like shit. You deserve better than to be MADE to feel like shit. You deserve light. And comfort. And hope. You deserve GOOD from this world.

I hope you have a good day.

[micronecro]

hey if you're not too busy I was wondering if u had any idea why khr is such a popular fandom??? it isn't that structurally sound and theres a lot of plot holes???? and the anime happened 10 years ago with no movement since????? i mean i adore the series but i only got into it because of the relatively large fandom and i'm sort of confused as to what attracts all these people to it. do you have any ideas what makes khr so popular and long-lasting in fandom?

There’s a few really specific answers at play, here.

First of all; Amano’s writing style is really, really absurd and unpredictable. If you think of really out-there shounen series, like, uhhhh, Helk? You read Helk, and it’s different, but once you get to the angel raids, you essentially know exactly what this writing style is doing. You go, “oh, yeah, I’ve seen this before”. Power of friendship rallying, everyone has to come to an understanding but the threat won’t stop escalating, everyone gets a het ship, tons of twists you don’t expect but also don’t have any sort of impact anyway, lackadaisy pacing as we head towards the climax that undermines what’s left of the shitty twists, etc etc etc

When Amano gets going, though, you aren’t going to go “oh, yeah, I’ve seen this storytelling style before”. You go “...................huh?” 

Probably the best example of this is like, every resolution of an arc she’s ever done ever? Mukuro's arc being this underwhelming take-turns battle arc culminating in Tsuna getting fucking superpowers and Mukuro stabbing out his own eye with his fingers to summon snakes and ALSO he possesses all of Tsuna’s friends and THEN mysterious cloaked bandage gentlemen appear to take everyone to prison.

EVERYTHING about the final fight is interesting. It’s like an exact inversion of One Piece. There’s no big power moment, no grand buildup, just predictable boring shounen crap and then “...........................huh?”. It never drags, never outstays its welcome, just pops in, gives you a kiss, and leaves your expectations thoroughly jostled. 

The Future arc is the extreme end of this principle, where everything is boring as SHIT and about as average shounen as you could get. It’s like Amano read D.Gray-man and went “I want to do this, but really bad”. And then halfway through she suddenly starts easing in her clusterfuck of cool shounen ideas, and you’re left with nothing but the need to go “fuck it, okay, I’m down”. 

 SECOND of all, Amano uses the same principle as Season 1&2 BBC Sherlock; explain nothing, expand on the most interesting possible aspect, look cool doing it. It’s all flash and glamour, and there’s CLEARLY some sort of structure behind these shallow facsimiles of charactes and worldbuilding, but you never get to see it. Amano just slapped you on the back and went “yeah, no, go nuts. Write whatever you want. Sky’s the limit.”  You can just fuck about and the possibility of you being objectively wrong is startlingly close to zero. This is the main contributor to the longevity; because it went on for so long, expressed so much, yet explored so little, it has absurd lasting power on a thoughtpiece engine.

LASTLY AND MOST IMPORTANT: The characters. Amano sets up a framework, loads tons and tons of quirks onto them, winds them up, and watches them go. Every single major character has a second layer to them, but they all start out as easy-to-understand cutouts that you can really get comfortable with before their secondary layer is actually explored. Like, Hibari? He comes off as a powerful, authoritative smirking bastard who values his school more than the safety of his peers when he first shows up, but by the time he’s part of the main cast he’s a selfish, short-tempered petulant teenager easily threatened by things he cannot crush, but constantly validated by his ability to crush things that serve a challenge. He likes tiny animals and hamburger steak. Amano never draws attention to this, he kind of just exists in that space. Gokudera’s obsession with cryptids never comes into play as an actual joke until he thinks he’s actually met one, and his dumb teenager secret code isn’t important until the Future arc.

The most important aspect of all that is these quirks and facets of their personalities make sense. Gokudera seems EXACTLY the type of person to write secret codes and be obsessed with cryptids and alt culture; he’s a tryhard who feels like he has to over-perform to belong anywhere. Yamamoto is the PERFECT weird, kinda murder-y assassin type; he does that absurd baseball shit, constantly exhibits extreme thinking, and he consistently fails to have an emotional reaction to things that get everyone else in the sweats. I think the only arresting emotions Yamamoto is willing to have are “oh, shit” and “cold, blinding rage”. 

This kind of character writing is HUGELY appealing to teens, and is just generally....really good overall anime character writing? I think it might be why no one ever gave a shit about Ryouhei until the future arc where he was competent and hot; Ryouhei had no real facets beyond “reliable, excitable”. The Future arc had him calm down until you could see all his more complex traits, like “socially aggressive” (this one especially was misunderstood to be “I LOVE MY SPORT” before the future arc), “paternal”, and “good at handling social conflicts”. Ryouhei is shaped like a friend. A friend who refuses to let you deny his friendship. We’re in this together. Get back here I said WE’RE IN THIS TO

And, of course, all the characters react to each other in different ways and put different levels of focus on different character traits; Gokudera focuses on Yamamoto’s lack of ability to grasp grave situations, while Reborn focuses on that weird murder shit. Haru focuses on Bianchi’s reliability and amiability towards emotionally sensitive people, while Yamamoto focuses on her hostility and threatening disposition (probably because she visibly doesn’t like him, but you get what I mean).

So basically...

Weird-ass non-standard plot progression that denies convention: The Hook

An inability to build on overstuffed world: Staying Power

Easy-to-comprehend characters that have multiple facets played against in a variety of ways: Maintained positive interest

You might notice Amano’s second series, elDLIVE, is significantly less good; this is mostly because it presents either an interesting character with a simple facet (Chuuta is afraid of being a burden and screwing up when people are depending on him, is a homemaker) or a boring character with an interesting facet and then refuses to establish quirks or engaging character details. Veronika was kinda neat at introduction; she plays fair and doesn’t value pride over being fair to others, but that literally never comes into play again or reflects in her later personality. Chuuta? Just kinda automatically learns how to not be a burden when he finds out (Spoiler) his friends aren’t dead, and it never really comes up again. He just has a regular old ambition now. All the characters are reacted to in roughly the same way, with no real bias beyond “unpleasant trait bothers me” and “pleasant trait engages me”. The aliens are pretty much the same; we get ZERO signs of a culture or political climate until Brick goes to the space council with the doctor. 

I still like elDLIVE, because it’s poorly-explored unpredictable popcorn storytelling where all the twists carry themselves well and the latest arc is actually pretty good, but KHR is better, even though there’s so much more to hate about it.