#I'm too much of a lore nerd not to reference him

[psychomusic]

oc time again! + her town & culture (heavily inspired by pre-roman italic populations)

she is suri sauthon. her story is linked to my swtor imperial agent, tar'x, but most of her life except for the one year away where she meets him, is spent in a town in the mountains of mirial.

despite mirial being cold and desert, and many cities developing underground, her town flourishes thanks to a force nexus, venerated in the form of an ancient, sacred, alive crystal. the ecosystem of that mountain depended on what "the horned crystal" was capable of giving them, but mirialans couldn't live off of that alone, so they developed trade and some rudimental technology, even if oftentimes it was bought thanks to the highly profitable trade of a plant used to make medicines that slowed down aging and had overall healing properties.

note: everything that's generated by this nexus has these healing properties BUT they have to be processed, except for those who bathed in the waters of the cavity under the crystal - the "real" nexus, but not the worshipped one. the waters were sacred but they were not thought to be miraculous, unlike the crystal, who instead was thought of as the keystone of the ecosystem: without it, everything would fall apart (and that is partially true: the cavity was the "real" nexus but thanks to the crystal, also strong in the force, the properties were spread all over the mountains). those who bathed in the cavity's waters - so, all of the town, who had a sort of baptism there - could eat the plant, make whatever food with it, and not only that plant, but everything generated by the nexus, that, again, had similar properties. this allowed people to live up to normal life-spans without advanced medicines or, much, really. to those who didn't live there, though, after the processing, had incredible effects, slowing down aging - for those who took it regularly - and making people able to live up to half a century more than the average]

originally, there were four tribes of nomads that lived thanks to horned farm animals that decided to settle down into one bigger town and other smaller settlements, to live off of transhumance. this division of the tribes stayed into the political and social organization: every person belonged to one tribe specifically, and had slightly different rituals and culture. for examples, each tribe had their own priests and healers, with different techniques and traditions. the town, tho, was guided by a group of people in the high priesthood, a position you could reach only by having earned the trust of all tribes. those high priests had many roles: they guided the people into sacred processions common to all the tribes, they managed the trading with outsiders, they did the maintenance of the temple of the summit (the one that functioned as casket to the crystal) and created a special liquid to offer the crystal that helps it grow.

this particular temple was important because 1. it was very visible, from every angle of the town, and it became an important identity symbol; 2. it stored the venerated horned crystal; 3. it had the altar where sacrifices were made for the crystals. that altar had a hole connected to the cavity, that allowed the liquids to reach the underground; 4. it had various symbols: statues representing each tribe + the high priesthood, and typical mirialan tattoos carved into the wood of the trees that served as columns for the temple, symbolizing 8 values that who dared to enter HAD to have; 5. it was on the way to an important lake (called "mother lake" because the lake the town was built around to depended on the waters of that other lake) where they traveled to in important processions; 6. it was said that a the wizard who unified the tribes made it with its magic, making the plant grow to hold the temple's roof. this wizard was, actually, a force user, obv.

BACK TO HER THOUGH: she's daughter of one of the high priests, who was in charge of managing the trades with outsiders, and lives in a house on the mountains with her mother and him. her parents are from different tribes (that's one of the things that earned him trust from the 4 tribes): when a child is born from two different tribes, they don't pick one to allign to, but they're usually linked automatically to the one with more relatives in it (in her case, the father's tribe: she had many uncles and aunts on his side while her mom only had one sister).

later, though, she got quite tied to her mother's tribe due to a mysterious illness that only her mother's tribe healer was able to cure. she spent 4 years (from 10 to 14 years old) living with the healer and learned her secrets. to better study, she wrote them down. when she returned home, she studied to become a priestess with her father. at 22 (the average age: you can't become priest before your 20s), she was supposed to take a test and become a priestess, but the healer of her mother's tribe died and the tribe asked her to take her place. she couldn't technically do that, but both tribes estimated both her and her parents and she was allowed to become both. she then decided to try to become a high priestess, and became one at 25 (a quite young age). being part of the council, she tried to convince the various tribe healers to unite their knowledges and write them down, and eventually made it. healers still remained tribe based but they now had an "upper, inter-tribe level" similar to high priesthood.

years later, the sacred horned crystal is stolen from the temple by some Hutt mercenaries looking for a profit. given the trust she has earned from all the tribes and the fact that her father is the high priest that deals with outsiders (and she's been hearing stories and advice about it since she was little), she is the one tasked with getting it back. without the growing crystal, the keystone to their ecosystem, the village would have lasted only a few years. in hrr quest, she meets imperial intelligence agent tar'x laran and, as they "solve the mystery" and fight to have it back, they get closer. they'll get married and have a daughter, Vegoia (who's the only one who actually will get to the plot of my story. this was all background)

[cherrylight]

hello everyone. do you want to see my tua self insert whose lore is so confusing and discombobulated because of time (i also have too many ideas for her lore wise so it's okay i guess). i'm being brave, because you are seeing her and i'm indecisive.

look at my darling. i love you. (i like the one on the left a lot i'm sorry)

picrew

[oikarma]

muse

pairing: lando norris x poet!reader

summary: you're notoriously picky about your muses. no wonder lando's all flattered when he manages to figure out that you've written a few poems about him.

a/n: please enjoy! as per usual any songs/poems i reference are not my work. thank you so much for the request, i didn't follow it entirely but i loved the idea of an artistic!reader

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

liked by mothercain and others

yourinstagram found a new muse

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user1 new collection WHEN

user2 that cat is so cute is it yours? ♥︎ liked by yourinstagram

yourinstagram yes! her name is stevie

user3 she's picking up the pen again!

mothercain well? show it to me

yourinstagram i'm in the editing process 🤕 art takes time mothercain or you're getting shy

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

liked by alexandrasaintmleux and others

yourinstagram oh...technology

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user1 y/n and f1 crossover??

user2 collab we didn't know we needed

user3 we see you alex

alexandrasaintmleux send me the pictures you took please 🩷 think i found my new favorite photographer

yourinstagram too kind. usually i'm more of a pen and paper girl alexandrasaintmleux well the artistry certainly carries over user4 i KNEW they'd like each other

user5 waist who

user6 love you SM

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

liked by f1 and others

yourinstagram teaser

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user1 OH MY GOD WHERE CAN I ORDER

user2 ur such an inspiration y/n

mothercain proud of you

yourinstagram thanks ml <3

user3 wtf is f1 admin doing here

f1 we love y/n's poetry, doesn't everyone? user4 is she doing a f1 special or sth

user5 the signature is sooo cute

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

liked by mclaren and others

lando i'm literate, i promise.

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user1 his jawline...

user2 on holiday?? don't you have a car to be driving

oscarpiastri as long as you believe it!

lando you're a horrible friend

user3 WAIT GUYS THAT'S Y/N'S BOOK

user4 who's y/n user3 @/user4 @/yourinstagram she's a poet and she recently came out with a new poetry collection user5 woah. hear me out: it's about lando?? user6 bfr no educated girl would go for that man

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

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liked by lando and others

mclaren Celebrated poet Y/N L/N in our garage today 🧡 Wanna write something about our cars, too?

tagged: yourinstagram

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user1 i would cry if i wrote a poem about a driver and he read it and his team read it and then they invited me and asked me to write about their cars

user2 mclaren really trying to cement their legacy

user3 oh she's STUNNING

yourinstagram was it fun tormenting me

mclaren do you not like our company ☹️ user4 @/mclaren she's only there for lando

user5 so we're basically accepting that her new collection is about a freaking racecar driver

user6 lando's fine but is he THAT fine user7 love does weird things to people user8 i mean he liked the post

lando guess i'm just more interesting

user9 y/n hasn't responded guess she's busy dying of mortification user10 oh he's going to be insufferable user11 the dad lore will go crazy "that poem you're reading in english class? yeah! it's about me!"

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

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f1gossipofficial Is that Y/N L/N with Lando Norris? We think it might be.

tagged: yourinstagram, lando

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user1 oh my god it's real

user2 are they car-shopping together??

user3 i'm so confused who is she

user4 YN NATION RISE SHE HAS A MAN. I REPEAT. SHE HAS A MAN!

user5 lowk can't believe the guy who bagged our girl y/n is an athlete user6 i thought she'd go for like a random college prof. or a nerd. idk. user7 remember when we thought she was dating daniel radcliffe 😭 and then it turned out she was coaching him for the kill your darlings promo LMAO let's not rush into this user8 @/user7 that was so embarrassing...we all got tricked but this time y/n's been writing about him user9 @/user8 are we SURE though

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

liked by mothercain and others

lando thought it was time to return the favor x

tagged: yourinstagram

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user1 don't be shy, lando. show us the picture

user2 they're so book couple coded?

user3 if i write enough fanfiction will my celeb crush notice me too

yourinstagram not bad, norris.

lando so now you're all nonchalant? didn't seem like it last night user4 HELLO? freaks. FREAKS, i tell you. user5 well y/n it might be time to write your man a pr manual

user6 well she's definitely an artist for the ages. he'll be immortalized in her work. and her? her legacy speaks for itself but i suppose she might treasure that photo just as much

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

a/n: have a great march!

[thankskenpenders]

Thoughts on Sonic 3!

On December 10th, 2018, I was on the last day of a trip to Milwaukee. The night before, I'd attended the wedding of one of my best friends, Jake, who I've known since high school. Even though half of us were sick the whole trip, it was a great time. Derek had asked the wedding DJ to play "One Week" as the first request of the night, and proceeded to lip sync the entire song on the dance floor. On that cold winter morning in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home, Derek and I groggily checked Twitter on our phones and saw the shocking news: Paramount had teased the design for Sonic from their upcoming live action film. Even in silhouette, the shape of his face and the realistic curvature of his limbs made him look like a grotesque little homunculus. This movie was going to suck.

Six years later, I've now seen the third entry in what's become a hugely successful Sonic film franchise. It features Keanu Reeves as the voice of Shadow the Hedgehog in a fairly faithful adaptation of his story from Sonic Adventure 2. At the time of writing, it currently sits at a whopping 86% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, vying for the title of the best-reviewed theatrically released video game movie of all time. Critics are saying nice things about the emotional journey of Shadow the Hedgehog. Never in a million years did I think I'd see this day.

I, too, have now seen this movie, and... yeah, it's pretty good.

I'm gonna get deep into spoilers here, so I'll just say up front that I liked the movie. It feels like just about the best possible execution of this version of Sonic. But that's also damning it with faint praise, depending on who you ask.

If you're a fan of the games who didn't like the second movie, you probably won't get much out of this one, either, unless you just really love Shadow so much that nothing else in the movie matters to you. It doesn't reinvent the wheel for this film series. It's still got a heaping helping of broad comedy, cheap pop culture references, bad one-liners, and characterization that diverges greatly from the source material. This is not high art, nor is it a direct adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. If you're the kind of person who hates this portrayal of Sonic and Eggman, or a lore nerd who'll hate that they let Shadow do Chaos Control without an Emerald, then just don't bother with this.

On the other hand, if you did enjoy the last movie, then you'll probably have a fun time here, too. Shadow is very cool. The action is the best it's ever been. There's a bit more focus on characters from the games, and less on human characters invented for the movies—with the exception of Agent Stone, who's in this a lot because everyone likes him. There's a lot of SA2 fanservice. They even play "Live and Learn." It's a fun time! Be sure to stick around through the end credits.

And now, to dig deeper, let's get into the spoilers! I'm gonna jump around a lot and talk about different aspects of the movie, spoiling everything along the way.

Shadow and his reams of lore

Here's the main thing you came for: Shadow is great in this! They really did him justice. Keanu Reeves is extremely solid in the role. He can be a bit flat as an actor sometimes, but I think he did well here. He can be tough and menacing, but he can also be earnest and emotionally vulnerable. Good casting call. Excited at the prospect of seeing more of him in the future.

Really, as a Sonic Lore Nerd I'm most interested in discussing the changes they made to Shadow's backstory. I'm sure there will be many fans upset with the changes, but for the sake of streamlining a complicated backstory that was subject to a bunch of retcons and multiple layers of amnesia and fitting it into a 110-minute movie, I think they generally made smart choices.

For one, Gerald didn't create Shadow using Black Arms DNA, because Gerald didn't create Shadow at all! Instead, Shadow arrived on Earth inside a meteor, and Gerald was merely the prominent GUN scientist who studied him after he was captured. (That meteor does have very strong Black Arms vibes, though, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of them exploring that stuff in the future.) This simplifies things a lot and allows Shadow to be a direct foil for Sonic, kind of a version of our hero who was treated as a lab rat and lost the only human he considered family instead of finding happiness like Sonic has. Then later Shadow hurts Tom and Sonic wants revenge, and it mirrors Shadow's feelings about Maria, and after they fight they can empathize with each other over this, Shadow sees the error of his ways and helps save the world, yada yada yada. You get it. People predicted 95% of this movie's plot from the trailers, but it's effective.

Likewise, all of the stuff about creating Shadow as the ultimate life form who's immune to all disease to cure Maria's illness is completely cut out. Shadow's still called the ultimate life form, but he's treated as more of an energy source than a genetic research project here, playing off of the stuff about Eggman wanting to harness Sonic's natural Chaos Energy in the movies. The original intent behind the ultimate life form project was always hard to explain in the games and doesn't even come up that much, so I don't blame them for cutting it.

Because Gerald isn't doing genetic experiments and creating artificial life, the Biolizard also doesn't exist. It does, however, appear in an old monster movie Shadow and Maria watch in a montage, with Shadow later commenting that he worries he's a monster like the one he saw in the movie. That's a clever way to include it, I think.

The ARK sort of exists. There was no space colony back in the '70s, all of the events of Shadow's flashbacks just took place at a secret GUN base on Earth. Fair enough for a version of the story ostensibly set in the real world. The big space laser in the third act of the film is obviously supposed to evoke the ARK, but it's referred to as simply the Eclipse Cannon. It's still not a full-blown space colony, just a weapon of mass destruction Gerald designed for GUN in exchange for his release (while also secretly planning to use it to blow up the planet in an act of revenge). I am, however, pleased to report that the Eclipse Cannon still has a giant Eggman face on it.

And as for Maria: I like her in this! She's obviously not going to get a ton of screentime, and she's always going to be a very straightforward character, but she's more playful and lively here. She teases Shadow for being grumpy and plays with him a lot. She feels less like this perfect embodiment of everything good and pure in the world and more like an actual kid. She's still not a complex character, but it works.

And the most important question: do they show a child getting shot and killed by the military? The answer is almost. In the flashback, GUN soldiers chase Maria, Shadow, and Gerald and ready their guns, but the young Commander Walters (who's in his 20s rather than being a kid) grabs them and tries to stop them from firing on a child. In the chaos, a soldier fires, missing Maria but hitting a generator that then blows up and kills Maria. So, y'know, close enough I suppose.

So, yes, many of the details change here, but they captured the gist of Shadow's story from SA2. The emotional core is there. I will say, though, I almost feel like Shadow isn't in this movie as much as I thought he'd be? I think he's used effectively in all of his scenes, and they make room for his backstory, and BOY does he get to kick ass in his fights, but for much of the middle part of the movie he's overshadowed by Ivo and Gerald. Though this might be a compromise to leave more screentime for...

Tails and Knuckles

I'm relieved to report that Tails and Knuckles both get a good amount of cool stuff to do in this! They don't feel like an afterthought.

I was worried that Tails in particular would completely fall by the wayside, since even his debut movie didn't entirely know what to do with him. But he's good here. He pretty much just feels like the Tails from the games at this point, especially since they dropped that fawning admiration he had for Sonic with that running gag of him going "Only Sonic the Hedgehog could do that!" He often chimes in as the one who wants Team Sonic to stick together when Sonic and Knuckles bicker. He particularly gets to shine in the Mission Impossible-inspired heist sequence at the GUN headquarters in London that serves as the climax of the second act, which feels like it was tailor made to let him shine as the tech guy of the team. He also gets several opportunities to swoop in and catch someone for a save in an action scene. He's good in this!

Knuckles is... fine. He's definitely fallen into the role of the comic relief dumb bruiser since joining the good guys, but he's at least a little better than he was in his own streaming show. The jokes lean more into him just being really brash about his strength and skill, rather than him being this archaic warrior who doesn't understand anything about the modern world. He also gets a few more serious bits in the back third of the movie where he gets to shine a little more, so overall it evens out to him being fine. They could've done way worse.

As for the relevance of the Knuckles show: Knuckles is now said to be the guardian of the Master Emerald, like in the games, though with no Angel Island this amounts to him hiding it somewhere for safekeeping. It's eventually revealed that he just gave it to Wade, who gets exactly one scene (sorry, Wade-heads) for a joke about him using the Master Emerald as a hockey puck. So, the miniseries explained why Knuckles has a connection with Wade. That's it! Also I think Knuckles might use the Flames of Disaster a bit in fights, but they never called the technique out by name, so I never really thought about it. So, yeah, the six-episode streaming miniseries about Wade bowling has zero meaningful relevance to the Shadow movie. Who could have seen this coming?

Miscellaneous humans

For that matter, the human supporting cast is MASSIVELY downplayed in this one. Tom and Maddie are there for two key sequences (the beginning of the movie and the GUN HQ heist), but otherwise they disappear for long stretches of the movie. They don't go to Japan in act I, nor do they go to space in act III, and there's no subplot for them during those periods, either. There's nothing like the wedding subplot in Sonic 2 where they'd constantly cut back to Hawaii for comic relief with the humans and only reveal why this was relevant to the plot near the end. (There's also no random dance battle in Siberia.) If a human character is here, it's because they have something to contribute to the plot right away. Most people will probably consider this an improvement, and I'd certainly say it makes for a much tighter script, though I have to remind everyone that I thought the wedding being a GUN sting operation was such a funny twist that I'm a defender of the Hawaii subplot.

On the subject of Tom, something funny I've noticed is that they've just completely downplayed the fact that Tom and Wade are cops. Tom being a cop never comes up once. Wade being a cop only gets referenced via the fact that he's practicing hockey on the roof of the police station in his one scene, but he's not in uniform or anything. They clearly got the memo that we don't want Sonic to hang out with cops.

Here's something else funny: Rachel and Randall got character posters, but they're actually not in the movie! Not technically, anyway. During the heist sequence at GUN HQ, Tom and Maddie use some gadgets Tails invented to holographically disguise themselves as those other characters. But the real Rachel and Randall never show up in the flesh. It's a very odd way to shoehorn the actors into the movie. (Jojo is also absent. They did not give her Amy's role of being the girl who reminds Shadow of Maria. Instead they just let Sonic have the big heart to heart with Shadow that makes him switch sides.)

You know who IS in this movie? Krysten Ritter. Not as the voice of Rouge, as the fandom once hoped, but as a director for GUN. She gets like three scenes and she feels completely checked out the whole time. Can't say I blame her! She's not really a character, just a plot necessity. Commander Walters dies in Japan but gives Sonic one of two keycards needed to activate the Eclipse Cannon, and then Ritter's character assumes Sonic stole it and labels him a bad guy. So that's why they have to break into GUN HQ in the second act instead of just talking things out with them. Still, I am at least relieved that Sonic doesn't work with GUN for most of the movie.

I gotta be honest: when Walters pulled a credit card-shaped object out of his pocket, I thought he was about to give Sonic another Olive Garden gift card as his final act before dying. Part of me wishes that happened.

The supporting human character in this who really gets to shine is Agent Stone, which I'm sure most fans will agree was the correct choice. There's a LOT of Agent Stone in this. He's good. I don't have much to say about him, but he's fun as usual.

But, of course, the ones who steal the show are Jim Carrey, and his costar Jim Carrey.

The Robotniks

I've gone back and forth on whether or not I can actually see movie Robotnik as Robotnik. I think with this third and final entry in the Jim Carrey Robotnik Trilogy, I've landed on... yeah, that's just Jim Carrey playing a Jim Carrey character. He's absolutely having fun with the role, and I enjoyed watching him, but I think a lot of that comes down to the fact that I'm a millennial who grew up watching Jim Carrey movies. If you didn't like him before, this movie will probably be nails on a chalkboard to you, because now there are two of him.

Ivo's arc here leans very heavily into the fact that he grew up as an orphan and never knew his family, a thing offhandedly mentioned in the first movie that's never been a thing for any other version of the character. Here, he learns that he has a living grandfather who's also a mad scientist, and it feels like a hole in his heart has been filled. It certainly makes sense for a place to take this version of the character, and it fits with the movie's themes of finding and losing family, but the cartoonish, childlike affection Ivo feels towards Gerald and all the scenes of them frolicking and dancing together have basically nothing to do with the characters from the games. He's a fun villain for this movie, but he's overwhelmingly used as comic relief this time rather than as a serious threat. He doesn't particularly feel like Sega's Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the arch nemesis of Sonic the Hedgehog who'd take over the world with an army of robots and a fleet of airships in the span of a day if Sonic wasn't around to stop him. He's a guy who lives in a big crab robot and has some drones. He has more in common with Carrey's depictions of the Grinch or the Riddler or Count Olaf than Dr. Eggman. Though he does, at least, finally get his outfit from the games by the end of the movie. So that's something. And also he's in a fat suit now. They only make jokes at the expense of his weight a little. Hooray...?

Gerald, meanwhile, is... largely the same character as movie Eggman, but older, so they can make jokes about him having saggy flesh and smelling funny and needing dentures. (Also, his voice kind of sounds like Homer Simpson sometimes?) To his credit, Carrey absolutely nails the handful of more serious scenes Gerald gets, whether it's Maria's death or his sinister turn when he reveals that he actually wants to destroy the Earth. But then it's right back to goofs about there being two of the same guy. Even the final battle features a lot of slapstick shenanigans with the two Robotniks fighting each other. I was able to enjoy the absurdity of it all, but if the humor doesn't land for you the dual Jim Carrey schtick is a hell of a lot of the movie. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more Gerald than Shadow in the movie, when you go and tally up their screentime. I was able to enjoy the sheer absurdity of it, but your mileage will vary.

I will, however, say that the split screen stuff they do with the two Carreys is EXTREMELY impressive, from a filmmaking perspective. They were absolutely flexing with their ability to pull the effect off. They don't rely on cheap tricks like cutting a lot, or having shot/reverse shot scenes where you're looking at the back of a body double's head. Instead they have a lot of long takes where the two Robotniks are talking to each other, you can see both of their faces, and they'll even hug and touch each other a lot, and the whole time the conversation maintains a natural pace like it really is two actors playing off of each other. It's really well done. It's an incredibly silly idea, but boy did they commit to it.

Sonic

I've hardly said anything about Sonic himself in all of this. It's his movie, isn't it! Well... I don't know, he's fine.

I feel like movie Sonic is a known quantity at this point, and either you like this take on the character or you don't. There was some speculation early on that this was supposed to be a younger Sonic who would grow into being the character we know from the games and comics, the one who's still got lots of quips but is also kind of aloof and cool, a free spirit who goes where the wind takes him, a figure the other characters look up to. And... no, that didn't happen. Once again he gets more serious as the stakes are raised, and he's totally badass when he goes Super, but the rest of the time he's still a little goober with tons of generic one-liners who learns schmaltzy lessons about the importance of family. He's still constantly going to undercut the tension of most scenes by cracking a pop culture reference that will make the average American parent go "haha I've heard of that." I don't think they're ever gonna change that. I think this just what the writers think Sonic is like.

And, again, for what it is, it's fine. He's a little annoying. You already know how you feel about movie Sonic. This third entry won't change that. But they do, at least, have him say "Talk about low budget flights, no food or movies... I'm outta here!" before jumping out of a helicopter. As my thoughts on the climax will show, I am not immune to fanservice.

The climax

God, the climax is SOOOOO fucking good. It's fantastic. Easily the best action these movies have ever done.

Rather than saving Super Shadow for the team-up with Sonic at the end, they have both of them go Super to fight each other first, and they just go full DBZ with it, fighting across the entire planet. It absolutely rules. I think this is the new coolest fight the two of them have had in anything ever. And then they have to stop the Eclipse Cannon together, and sure, there's no Biolizard. But Gerald DOES release a swarm of GUN Hunter robots, and the ensuing space battle turns into some Gundam shit. It's good! It's so good!!! The movie's flaws kind of melt away for me here when I'm watching Super Shadow take out an army of robots with Chaos Spears on the big screen. What a timeline we're living in.

And yes, they play "Live and Learn." They had to. They knew the assignment. They actually play a slight remix, but it's still got the original vocals, so it's perfectly recognizable. Actually, the tune of the song is used as a leitmotif for Shadow throughout the movie, first introduced via an acoustic guitar version played by Maria, and I really love that. I've been begging these movies to use more music from the games the whole time, and I'm glad they finally did so here. (They also use the traditional level clear jingle early in the film, and Eggman's theme from SA2 is very briefly used as a ringtone.)

... Anyway, uh, meanwhile Eggman, Tails, and Knuckles straight up just kill Gerald to save the world? They unceremoniously knock him into an energy field at the end of their slapstick fight aboard the Eclipse Cannon and he disintegrates like he hit a bugzapper. It's over in an instant. It's not graphic or anything, but it's, like... I didn't expect them to show it, or for it to be such a casual murder! Eggman has one quip about it and then immediately moves on.

Shortly after this, Eggman and Shadow sacrifice themselves to stop the Eclipse Cannon. Shadow's sacrifice doesn't stick, obviously (he's revealed to be alive by the end of the second stinger—pretend to be shocked), but Eggman's probably dead dead. I seriously doubt Jim Carrey's gonna come out of retirement for these movies again. His final moments before the big explosion are also SO dragged out and belabored. He has a dramatic final line like ten times in a row. It really just feels like the series saying goodbye to Carrey. And, again, it feels like a fitting enough end for this Eggman's arc, but it's an odd adaptation of the character from the games.

And so, that's what we're left with. This is far from Sonic Adventure 2: The Movie. It's not that, though there are many, many references made to that game in particular. It's a sequel to the film Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that has a similar tone and style, but Shadow and Gerald are in it, and Shadow gets some really cool fights, and there's a liiiiiittle more focus on stuff from the games than last time, and the script's a little tighter. If that sounds fun to you, you will have fun with this. I know I did. If it doesn't, you're probably better off waiting for them to inevitably do an animated reboot whenever this live action series runs out of steam.

It hasn't quite run out of steam yet, though...

The post-credits scenes, and the future

One of the big questions going into this was: what's next? How do they top a Shadow movie with heavy Sonic Adventure 2 overtones, in terms of hype for the fans? How do you fill Eggman's shoes after Carrey retires, for real this time? There are still more fan favorite rival characters to get through, but how many movies in a row can they introduce a furry foe for Sonic who inevitably turns good and helps him stop a larger threat by the end? And when the hell are we gonna see the girls?

Well, we now have our answer, and it's one I'm cautiously excited for: a whole army of Metal Sonics, and Amy!

Yes, Amy! Finally!! It's an absolute crime that we've gone three whole movies and a streaming miniseries without including the female lead of the series. I've complained about this ad nauseum (and also the fact that they cut Rouge from the story). But at least now they're finally doing something about it.

But now the question is, how will they characterize Amy? Sega's struggled with her for years, and there's a million different directions you can take her. Her one scene here has her smashing a bunch of Metal Sonics and wearing a cloak for the sake of a dramatic reveal, which gives her the vibes of a mysterious, badass action girl. This is, of course, completely different from how Sonic and Amy met in the games. What will her personality be like? She doesn't speak here, so who will they get to play her? Where did she come from? Will she even have a crush on Sonic? All of these have yet to be determined. So, like, I'm hyped to finally see Amy, a character who should've been in the movies from the start, but they could so easily end up playing it safe with an incredibly boring girlboss version of Amy who's no fun at all. We'll have to wait and see.

(My prediction: they're going to try to cast either Zendaya or Ariana as Amy.)

Metal Sonic, likewise, is very exciting, and he looks perfect. He looks just like the design from the games. But the question is: what will they do with this army of Metals? Will they be lead by one main Metal Sonic, perhaps Neo Metal Sonic, who gets to be a proper bad guy? Will they take some cues from Sonic CD, Heroes, and the OVA, or do something completely original? Where did they come from? Were they activated as a failsafe after Eggman died? Did they and Amy come from some sort of bad future, riffing on Sonic CD's time travel? Will they explore the fact that Metal wants to be the one and only Sonic? Or will they just be an army of disposable robot grunts for Sonic and friends to mow down like it's a Dynasty Warriors game, while some other villain takes center stage?

It could go so many different ways, and some prospects are more exciting than others. I mean, the Knuckles show had endless possibilities for what it could do with him, and none of the options on my bingo card were "Pachacamac's ghost tells him to help Wade win a bowling tournament." And while I'm a sicko who thinks it's funny that the Knuckles show is what it is, forgive me for keeping my hype about Amy and Metal Sonic in check here until we learn more.

Regardless of what they do, it'll still be hard to top the hype of Shadow, and it'll be hard to fill Jim Carrey's shoes for general audiences. So despite this clear statement of intent, I have no idea what the future of this film franchise holds. But regardless of what they do, I can say one thing for certain: the kids in my theater were hyped as hell for it. They popped off over Metal Sonic, and they were screaming their heads off with excitement over Amy. I heard a teenage girl on the opposite end of my row of seats say "finally!" over Amy's reveal, verbalizing my exact thoughts. She also said that this movie was "peak," though it diverged from the games, and she hoped they'd do a movie with Silver and Blaze someday.

The kids are gonna be okay.

[veelingsforyou]

oc INTRODUCTION!

cw: mentions of death n suicide, which could be somewhere in the lore bits. just read at your own risk..

introducing my two ocs! Ignacio and Aeon!

expect some limited (not really) lore abt them since I'm actually new to the fandom and.. I'm still at chapter 4 lol

ok heres the lore

Rondel "Aeon" Eastman

They chose their name 'Aeon' because they thought it sounded really cool.

- Aeon strongly believes that people can change, often brushing off their friends bad behavior as just a one-time mistake. "I know he bullies you but that's because he came from a broken home!"

- Aeon seems to be friendly towards anyone who treats them kindly, and cold towards that don't. They are thoughtful, kind and moralistic, though they can be hypocritical by judging others for the same things they secretly do themselves.

- They sometimes would act coy for their own benefit.

- Aeon prioritizes their own needs more than others, sometimes. They never intervene on someone being bullied, rather watch than do something about it.

- Aeon has a tactic they always fall back on when making new friends: they approach someone visibly vulnerable, offer comfort, and gain their trust. It's just something they find really easy to do when they want a specific person to like them.

- Do NOT expect Aeon to help you if you get your ass beat.

- Aeon used to have a few friends they considered close, but now they’re basically alone all because one prank went too far. During halloween they faked three deaths, and it was so “realistic” that the others cut them off completely. Still to this day Aeon thinks that they didn't do anything wrong.

- Losing their only friends made them hate halloween and didn't find pranking fun anymore. (no halloween costume for this exact reason

How they feel about their school: Not sure why their parents put them here, but they're adapting to it. Despite their dislike to most of the faculty including the Prefects and Mr. Burton specifically, they'll still follow the school rules.

———

Aeon is not part of a clique, and they had their fair share of opinions towards other clique's.

- Befriending few of the Preps and Jocks was hard, but Aeon keeps trying despite always being the butt of their jokes.

- ^ Aeon helped Tad Spencer multiple times with the gardening and personal problems, Gord and Pinky taking a liking on Aeon for some reason. They only befriended Dan and Kirby and that's all, tho Aeon doesn't remember how they became friends in the first place.

- Aeon doesn't know the Greasers that well and would rather stay out of their way.

- Aeon gets along pretty well with the Nerds.. but they don't really go out their way to be closer to them.

- Aeon hates the bullies and would rather see them die instead of giving them a chance. They don't give them their satisfaction by not reacting to their bullying, ignoring them like they were never there. Depending on the bully, they'd probably would try to flee before they try to do something worse to them.

- Townies? Aeon is afraid of them and can't really find a way to befriend them without crying.

———

- Gender’s never been a big deal to Aeon. Labels like “girl” or “boy” just never fit right, and having to stick to one felt like too much. Thing is, they don’t really care how people see them.. a girl, boy, whatever. If someone refers to them based on how they look, Aeon just goes on with it. They never give a straight answer when asked about their gender, either.

"What’s in your pants?" "Uh, my underwear." "What’s under that?" "I dunno."

Google asexual drake. That’s pretty much how Aeon sees themselves.

- Dorms wouldn't help you figure it out, Aeon lives with a friend. Rent free.

- Most people see them as a girl, few people see them as a boy.

- Aeon surely would like kisses and hugs, but they never would wanna be in a serious relationship as that's too much to handle. Yes, they really like Jimmy. Yes, they don't want to actually date him.

- unlabeled

- Learnt a lot of pick-up lines from romcoms they watched.

———

- Both of their parents are dead, their dad killed themselves and their mom got murdered by her new boyfriend the next day. On how Aeon reacted to this, they were pretty upset that they all died in the same week without giving Aeon time to grieve.

- Aeon raised themselves since their dad doesn't give the time and day to try talking with their own child, before taking his own life. Aeon is not close to both of their parents.

- Aeon became self-destructive and pessimistic about their future after their parents died. They feel so stuck and hopeless that they wouldn’t hesitate to do something dangerous and reckless.

- They have Stage 1 of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Due to Aeon being finaically dependent on their parents, it's nearly impossible for Aeon to pay the treatment all by themselves. How they survive is basically up to you because idk either lol

- For Prosopagnosia, they rely heavy on unique parts of a person and voice. For example, if Jimmy has a spiky hair which no one else has in the school— Aeon would recognize him easily. (but Aeon has to remember it first)

- Afraid that being open about their condition might make the bullying worse, Aeon does everything they can to hide it. They make sure no one ever finds out what’s really going on with them. It'll be harder to do so now that the school gives them a permit to skip classes like p.e class for how god knows long.

quotes:

- I can't wait to see my parents the year I'm out of here!

- Well, I saw a cat the other day. It was really cute!

- I wanna really bring my English scores up to A+.. would make going to college really easier.

- I've planted a really rare yet beautiful flower a while ago, you gotta have to see it!

- My favorite comic released a new volume way earlier than it's scheduled!

- I saw a movie that made me cry because of how good it is.

Ignacio Valdez

- Ignacio is outspoken and eerily calm most of the time, yet he's violent and disturbingly callous when it comes to bullying others. Around his friends, he'd act outgoing and even becomes defensive of them, showing an intense loyalty to the few who accept him for who he is.

- Can be emotionally unstable and aggressive under stress, mostly due to his temper issues. His act easily crumbles when someone shows him genuine comfort.

- Ignacio’s already got a reputation for bashing faces and sending people to the hospital. Rumors say that he's secretly a serial killer based off how he torments people and how he always smell like iron.

- Well. yes. it's true.

- He’s sensitive to criticism and doesn’t hesitate to retaliate by picking a fight. It gets worse if you’re alone with him—he won’t think twice about throwing you 12 feet underground. He's also the type to think his opinion is superior than others.. don't get him twitter I beg you

- He lives in a house in secluded part of the town where his parents left him in, you can think on how it looks like. There's a mattress in the living room and there's blood stains on the wooden floor.

- Ignacio would end a persons life if they disrespected him and tried to control his life. But he would also kill out of boredom to feel fullfillled. In another way, he'd kill to earn money too.

- He has a burnt scar on the side of his face during the time he was Greaser, a Prep threw the fire cracker back at his face.

- After leaving Greasers then joining the Bullies, he took the bandage off. He believes the scar makes him look tough and scary.

- He believes in aliens, zombies, conspiracy theories and "2012 is the end of the world." He only talks about them to Aeon.

How they feel about school: He fears to be expelled after getting onto a lot of detentions many times, so he tries his best to not fuck this up this time and HOPEFULLY he graduates.

———

- He became part of the Bullies easily since he was friends with Tom and Wade the time he was a Greaser.

- His depart from Greasers is because of his personal problems with Johnny. Everyone besides Johnny doesn't know why Ignacio left.

- Ignacio avoids them on sight, not wanting to talk worrying it'll be awkward. He does think about them time to time.

- Still can't believe that his relationship with Johnny was actually a situationship (my guy is not moving on)

- He still carries his Greaser mentality when hating the Preps. Has a resentment and grudge towards Chad Morris.

- Just like other bullies, he has strong dislike towards the Nerds. Hated Algernon the most.

- Ignacio doesn't have any opinion towards the Jocks, he has good terms with some of them but can't really stand both Ted and Damon. I like to think the Jocks can't be intimidated by him

- Ignacio tried to fight with the Townies and got his ass beat before landing a punch. So, yeah. the hate is mutual

———

- The reason he thought Johnny liked him back is because they made out one time. He also called Johnny his ex after finding out Johnny and Lola are dating.

- bicurious

- He is really CLINGY and affectionate..

- He really wants a girlfriend (or a boyfriend as a last option) so bad, he keeps thinking every compliment means they wanna woo him.

"I like your look!"

"Thanks. so you wanna go on a date?"

"...no."

He sometimes would harass women to go out with him, and backs off if she said no for the 5th time.

- His goal in life is to get married before his thirties and probably would want to continue his bloodline.

- His parents hated him because he was being "disrespectful" and disobedient, to the point they moved countries to get away from their own son. Honestly they didn't want to admit that their parenting skills sucks ass and made Ignacio worse than they already are.

- there would be more but i geniuenly don't know anything else to write

quotes:

- What's up, you whore?!

- Nice clothes.. wouldn't be so nice if I poured oil on it huh?

- Go cry to your daddy for more allowance, prep!

- Okay, okay! Fine! You win! I don't care anymore..!

- I've been thinking of picking up girls from other schools since every girl in this school is so deviant..

———

Ignacio and Aeon's relationship

to keep it short, Ignacio thinks they're best friends-- Aeon thinks they're in a hostage friendship. Aeon currently lives with him.

After Aeon comforted him over Ignacio struggling to overcome his feelings on his ex, he started to get attached. Like attached to where Ignacio would depend their mental health on Aeon, expecting them to 'fix' him because no one else could.

Aeon believes Ignacio can change. It's just a slow process, that's why they insist on staying with him until he becomes a 'better person'. Always defending him like they owed their life to him, and would rather die to let Ignacio be his own without them.

Ignacio seems really loyal to Aeon, he never gets angry at them and treats them like some kind of savior. His fucked up mental state has convinced him that Aeon is the only person who could ever truly understand him, and he clings to the idea of staying together until death.

Keep them separated if you can.

im posting out of rush and I haven't read all of it so tell me if ure confused abt smth

[penguin-stars]

gdcg 195 comment

...Or basically the whole week, because this set of chapters was insane

So Jaekwan:

His face lit up when he saw Soleum

Is still worried about Soleum not resting well

Reassured him when he saw that he was worried about agent Choi

ASKED IF BRAUN IS DOING WELL (I wouldn't know how that makes him feel, but right now, the person that cares the most about you in this world is Agent Bronze, Braun)

Can we sign a petition to get this man back to whatever kdrama he came out from, he's too pure for this world

And oh boy, the way I freaked out when I saw the text formatted the same way that it was in the Tamara ghost story, author scaring us with a bit of PTSD right there....hang in there, Soleum

Saw a comment that pointed out that Soleum has been referring to Braun as just a "stuffed doll"...good

When Braun started talking again, nothing much changed, but Soleum's reaction is sooo different

He said an ominous couple of lines ("A good friend is always listening!" and "Oh, I don't really mind that you left me in your pocket") and by that point Soleum would be freaking out, but he just...didn't care, he was more concerned about getting him to shut up hahaha

EUN HAJE, I'M HAPPY TOO SEE HER, BUT NOT IN A GHOST STORY

BAEK SAHEON, ALWAYS AT THE SCENE, WHAT'S WITH HIS LUCK

>Can I offer you BSH lore in these trying time?"

Now, about Agent Choi: The grape drink? The message that he ended up crossing out?

Hello? Call an ambulance, and it's for me

Among all the crazy that happened these last couple of chapters, I'm just processing that he was, in fact K.LEE

Soleum did not know that

After the bit where they fought and Soleum told him that he should give up trying anything because "He knows him."

Well, turns out he didn't. Slowly, more and more important things about named characters that he didn't know about are coming out.

Lee Jaheon being an alien

BSH family history (?)

Agent Choi being infiltrated at Daydream

Agent Choi is someone who should be dead by now, but thanks to Soleum he is not.

There was a line that went something like: "I started reading the manual not included in the exploration records with tips handwritten by Agent Choi himself"

And it's

Choi wrote down those tips after Soleum joined, FOR Soleum

Our Dark Exploration Records certified nerd now has an entry that's basically dedicated to him. Choi may not have been present in this chapter, but having his usual cheerful self in the notes is so bittersweet.

Something to note, has Soleum ever told anyone else about his wish being wanting to go home? As far as I remember, only Braun knew

That's not the first time Soleum has been particularly honest to Agent Choi

Back when Agent Choi was trying to convince him to join the rescue team, Soleum blurted out his true feelings about how scared he was

I can't even begin to imagine how Agent Choi must be feeling right now.

All in all, this was a nice chapter for a Friday, because if we were left hanging in ANY of the other chapters this week, I would have gone insane

[sappho-ilmarinen]

So... There's a hungarian X-Men parody comic series and it's as crazy as it sounds

There are currently five issues, two short tie-ins, one comic about the past and the first comic of the new five part line. Or so I'm aware. Alright, let's get into it because this shit is crazy.

-The title, X-Embörök means "X-Men" but in a very specific hungarian dialect, tied to the city of Szeged most famously. Which is where the story takes place.

-Everybody has hungarian names which range from weird to absolutly henious, in a good way, because it's a parody. It's meant to be like that. Most names are direct translations of the english ones, like how Nightcrawler is called Éjmászó.

-The civillian names are also funny as shit. We have Xavér Károly (Charles Xavier), Zsoldos Emil (Erik Lehnsherr, the name is not TOO similar but it FITS) and Szürke Janka (Jean Grey, szürke means grey. Also yeah, in hungarian the family name comes first.)

-One very glaring difference from the original comics is that everybody's poor as shit. It's Hungary, after all. Prof X runs a shitty mutant diner and stay in hotel (I guess) where the X-Men live. Magneto was an underpaid physics and chemistry teacher. Until he decides to take over the world again. (That's how the story begins.)

-They swear a lot, because, again, this is Hungary. Prof X routinly says stuff like "Well kids, this was shit."

-Both the good guys and bad guys have been retired since the fall of the socialist era, it's only now (2003 in the story) when they start working again.

-The good guys and bad guys are actually friends, because there are so few mutants that only they understand each other truly. Prof X and Magneto meet every sunday at the market and have sausages and talk about their ideas or play checkers.

-The idea of a mutant soceity is actually fairly developed, because it's said that most people don't notice them, but there are communities that are hostile, and it doesn't shy away from showing how a characters got lynched by angry mobs led by a priest for example.

-There's a slur to mutants, "mutkó" (it's kinda like mutie I think from canon) but it's also explored that mutants refer to themselves as such in a way of reclaiming it.

-It's also explored how mutants and humans can be jealous of each other, because humans want powers, but they don't recognise the downside of said powers and mutations, and that some mutants envy humans because they'd rather be "normal."

-There's a lot of lore detailed in each comic in the form of essays at the end and it's great, it really fleshes out the world. There's the first mutant group of the socialist era, great battles, having kids and not knowing about it, the usual.

Now, the characters:

-Dr. Prof. Xavér Károly (Charles Xavier): He is the prof all right. Has a strong Szegedi accent, wheelchair-bound, grumpy. Is a psychologist because he wanted a job where he doesn't have to work. Runs the shitty mutant diner. Honestly might be too tired for everything ever.

Egyszemű Óriás/Egyszi (Cyclops): It’s said he is a comic book nerd but there's not much going for him tbh. Lives with the Prof.

-Torkosborz (Wolverine): Raging alcoholic and massive loser. He cannot fight and he constantly sobers up because of his healing mutation. He hates that. Wears a cowboy hat for some reason? Lives with the Prof.

-Jégkocka (Iceman): Aaaand this is where I'm having problems. (What, you thought this hungarian comic series from 2013 was unproblematic?) So this guy is the youngest, and his main thing is that he thinks he's black. He’s not, he's a white dude. And he constantly goes on about how he is the "king of the ghetto" and shit. Everybody in the story finds him annoying and NOBODY humors him. He lives with the Prof, he’s the new guy.

-Szürke Janka (Jean Grey): She left the group and currently works at a hair saloon. The only X-Men with a working brain and both she and the Prof are wildly aware of that. She likes her civillian life and didn't really want to go back.

-Éjmászó (Nightcrawler): German accent, but hungarian name, so I assume he has austrian heritage. Currently homeless and cons people for money, so he doesn't have much of an issue of going back to the Prof.

-Zsoldos Emil/Mágnesvas (Magneto): Was in the original X-Men group, but slowly his and the Prof's ideas started diverging and he ended up being evil. He wanted to turn humans into mutants. But he retired, and works as a teacher, as written above. He has no money, burnt out as shit, so he just snaps one day and now he is evil again. He starts collecting his band of evil mutants.

-Titokzat (Mystique): Worked in the same hair saloon as Jean/Janka, but she decided to go back to being evil. Has a very skimpy evil dress but I think it's there because it's a trope and it's funny. Probably has the most braincells in the group. Does all the work, while Magneto is being lazy.

-Békaember (Toad): He has a sad backstory of being lynched a lot in his village. Now he has a wife (Margit) and they love each other very much. He works and stuff, but goes back because world domination is fun I guess.

-Gyújtogató (Pyro): The other character I don't like. They had to bust him out of a mental institute. He’s just weird and crazy, I don’t like it.

-Fűrészfog (Sabertooth): Was also in the og X-Men group, but he left. He is a vegetarian living in a forest, trying to make the animals eat corn. He initially doesn't want to go back but he does anyway.

Closing thoughts

Honestly this series is a wild ride. It's absurd, it's hungarian, it's weird. But there's obviously a lot of care put into it, and the creators obviously love it. One essay at the end of one explains that to create a parody you both have to know the source intimatly and love it dearly. I think these guys get it. Despite its flaws, I love this series because it knows what it is and doesn't try to be something it isn't. Give it a read if you can.

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 65 Feels Posting

Greetings, dear void. Once again the unexpected has happened and once again I am here to yap about it. Not as much as I could say because the struggle bus is merciless but there's more translation notes than usual I guess.

Rough TL of the editor's notes: Front Page: "斬欲"に負けた久々李!! ["zanyoku" ni maketa Kuguri!!] Kuguri loses to his desire to "slice"!! Technically desire should be in quotes too but it looks silly like that in English. Last Page: 自らと重ね合わせ導いた選択-!! [mizukara to kasane awase michibiita sentaku-!!] A choice that was guided by his own experience-!! God I struggled with this one. But I think I got it right in the end... maybe... don't count on it. I'm just proud I figured out that 導 (michibi, to guide/lead) was the kanji I was looking for in a blurry, pixelated mess.

Anyway, so... damn, what happened, exactly?

Names Extravaganza

We got more names! Since I'm already looking up kanji I may as well do the TLs here.

"Lily Hishaku" is 斗斗 (Toto) which is highly unusual for a name and I don't think it would pass muster in real life. 斗 (to) references the Big Dipper constellation or a sake dipper for the most part; otherwise it has some obscure uses and mostly exists as radical no. 68. I wonder who named her...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fun fact about the Hishaku while I'm here I guess since I haven't talked about it before. 毘灼 (Hishaku) is made up of the kanji for "help/assist" (毘, hi) and "miraculous" (灼, shaku). 灼 as a verb has lots of interesting meanings like to burn, to roast/grill, and to be jealous of. Oh and 毘 is part of the kanji that make up the name Bishamonten (毘沙門天), the Japanese version of Vaisravana- the guardian god of Buddhism and Birushana Butsu (毘盧遮那仏), the Vairocana-Buddha who symbolizes all of the observable and conscious world. It doesn't really exist outside that context except for 荼毘 (dabi, "cremation"). Hmm!

I've been basing some of my pet theories about the org around the kanji chosen to name it to some extent, so I figured I may as well note it down after forgetting to for so long.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shirakai Itsuo (白廻 逸夫), the master of the White Purity style, is definitely a man at least. 白廻 (shirakai) could be roughly translated as "white game" and 逸夫 (itsuo) could be idle/elusive husband lol. At the very least, shira (白) means "white" and o (夫) means "husband/man". So we know where the name of the school comes from and maybe got some insight into the guy who founded it. But we'll have to meet him to be sure. We got a name, so surely that will happen.

Sengoku Yojirou (戦国 与次郎), the random hotel manager guy, has a pretty manly name.

戦 (sen)- battle, war 国 (goku)- state

Trivia: 戦国 refers to the Sengoku period in Japanese history, a time of civil war and lots of social upheaval. Thanks, Wikipedia! 与 (yo)- bestow, participate in, award 次 (ji)- next, order 郎 (rou)- son

So the overall impression of his name is of a son that was born during a period of war... hm. This one's a toughie for me but I think it could be something along the lines of "the next son born in battle". Don't take me as 100% accurate on that though.

Yes his name contains the same kanji that the Masumi leader uses as his name/codename. It also has the same goku used in "Kokugoku Onsen (State Prison Hot Springs)" where Uruha was staying but that's certainly a coincidence. I don't expect to see this guy again but hey, a name. For a random guy. When we're still calling other characters things like "Bandana" and "Hatshaku" lol.

Blue-Balling Kuguri

My man does not understand that Chihiro is the protagonist of this series.

Poor Kuguri. He just wanted to fight and slice and he got left behind. He's definitely a shameless nerd though, lore dumping about the Iai White Purity style all over the place for us like that.

Combined with what we know from the previous chapter about how the Bearers were scouted and chosen, it makes sense that two people who could master such a difficult style were picked to wield Enchanted Blades. RIP Uruha and watch your back, Samura. Because even though he's never had a teacher, Chihiro has his dad's eyes and can mimic stuff he sees.

If he didn't use his sorcery to make the blades, then will we learn what Chihiro's is? Or maybe his sorcery was used to give the blades their unique properties...

So I know there are going to be lots of bad-faith takes about Chihiro having special genetics after this, but that's not the intent here. The phrasing around him "inheriting unique eyes" shouldn't be taken literally; Shiba's line about Chihiro having "Rokuhira's eyes" from chapter 54 didn't come back now to hint that he's got a special bloodline talent or anything. He just learned from the best of the best when it comes to noticing tiny details and adjusting for them on the fly, then applied it to fighting. Chihiro is still closer to Batman than Sasuke okay? At most he just has a knack for it like his dad does. Chihiro is smart and learned some useful skills that he can apply across disciplines. Once again, just like Enten, he's using part of his father's legacy to fight.

What style Chihiro learns could go any which way, but maybe he'll stick with White Purity since we got the name of the guy who founded it and thus will probably meet him at some point. What remains to be seen is who exactly that person is, how they will meet, and what Chihiro can learn in the ~3 days he'll have left after Iori makes her decision. Thankfully they have some breathing room since the Hishaku completely lost track of her.

I'll get you next time, Gadget!

Anyway, congratulations to Chihiro for adding another person who will be obsessed with him to his harem.

Chihiro and Iori's Choice

How convenient.

京屠殺戮ホテル I guess "Kyoto Bloodshed Hotel" in the official translation. How seriously are we supposed to take this? Not at all, I suppose. Especially with the manager's appearance and his manly war-themed name. Seems like the Masumi have made use of this hotel often with how he recognised them though.

And of course we get into some real heartbreak in this ridiculous place.

This guy needed PTSD counseling and lots of therapy.

Samura being guilty AF with the tear-track scars again. I do feel bad for him and I want to know what The Incident was...

There's an interesting nuance in Samura's line in the first bubble that was lost in translation. The Japanese is: あの子は戦争の穢れとは無縁の子だ [anokoha sensou no kegare to wa muen no koda], which was translated well into English. But the secondary meaning of 無縁 (muen) wasn't brought over- it means unrelated/unconnected, but it can also mean "unrelated to the teachings of Buddha/unable to be saved by Buddha". So basically, more religious guilt from Samura here. This dude is very sincere about his beliefs despite how much he struggles with them. He definitely feels inadequate as a Buddhist on top of all the other things he's got going on. Seriously, he's got way too much self-deprecation going on for the whole cast, let alone just one person.

Speaking of reminding us of how guilty everyone's feeling:

Thank goodness he has the Masumi with him.

Chihiro looks so damn exhausted as usual when he's making these vows to keep pushing himself to protect. God. If he's able to mimic an esoteric sword technique after seeing it once and getting a brief description of how it works, why can't he learn some self-care from the Masumi?! But we know the answer: he doesn't think he's allowed to rest because of all the blood on his hands.

Talking to Iori about Samura will at least have him sitting down I guess. Better than nothing. Because Ro is absolutely right in that once the seal's undone, Iori will be a target on both sides. Chihiro's making more work for himself because of his bleeding heart, of course...

Oof ouch my feelings.

Chihiro recognising he could have had a normal life but choosing the time with his dad over everything... he's so empathetic, I love him, I want only the best for him! I just hope he doesn't lose anyone or anything for making these compassionate decisions. Iori's very safe -sincerely doubt the author will kill a defenceless 16/17 year old girl- but the Masumi and Chihiro himself are in a hell of a lot more danger than they already were thanks to this. Can Chihiro really protect Iori from the Hishaku and the Kamunabi? Surely he recognises the potential threats from both sides even if he's letting his emotions take over here.

"I'll do the impossible in one day." - Shounen Protagonist Guy

Maybe! Chihiro wants to become Hakuri's samurai and Iori's protector by learning one of the most rare and difficult sword techniques out there in 24 hours. He can do it because he's That Guy, but damn. That's some resolve he's got.

I like where this is going with Iori, too- she's definitely not going to go back to safety after all her memories are restored. So it's very exciting to consider what will happen next. Also, there will be two people who the Kamunabi will want under their thumbs now- her and Hakuri (when he's healed). No way they will let such valuable people walk free of them... one the daughter that Samura cares for so much (great hostage!) and someone who can transport the blades to or away from them. Very cool stuff.

I'll be waiting a little more to see where the story takes us before drawing conclusive parallels between Iori and Chihiro. I'm also keeping an eye on what happens to Iori after this arc is done. She's gotten a lot of buildup and attention so she's probably going to stick around in some capacity. I just hope it's not as a love interest for the sake of having one... it sucks when a girl gets stuck with the burden of carrying the romantic subplot by themselves and can't do much else. But Hokazono's mostly been great so far so that's something I won't fuss about unless it happens.

Alright dear void, let's sit tight and wait to see what happens. See you next week and do a small gesture of kindness for yourself today.

[bernardellinewsagency]

Have any other Galladay shippers gone diving into HSR lore cause you're a little too obsessed with the game and ended up thinking about how you could create parallels between not only Sunday and Dominicus, but also Gallagher and Aelenev (and that you could make it gay)? Or is it just me who's spending too much time wishing we had more lore about the Harmonic Strings?

Putting my ramblings under the cut cause it's long and there's some spoilers in case anyone still hasn't finished the Penacony quests

Sunday and Dominicus, that's pretty obvious. It's the Wisher of the Harmonious Choir that he attempts to bring forth at the Charmony Festival, using his power as well as the Order to spread Ena's influence among all those slumbering within Penacony. When talking about Dominicus, "A Hymn of Charmonic Strings" says "Prayers you suckle from the millions gathered here, and the masses' heartstrings you play," which could very well allude to Sunday's plan of placing everyone into the most perfect dreams they could wish for, dreams they would never wish to wake from. And like, apparently the name Sunday is even derived from Dominicus or something, according to the etymology notes on the HSR wiki page.

But that same readable mentions Aelenev, the Commander of the Eternal Centurion, and first of all that's just a cool fucking name in general. Second of all, there's several points that can stand out when looking upon the full section of the hymn,

"O, Great One of Paradise, Caress this scripture that is stained by blood on the battlefield, and kiss my longsword of bone and soul, Life is howling, and the sharp blade of streaming colors hangs high. Aelenev, do you hear? The soldiers' bones are buried at the end of the world. Comrades' whisper united, and the gospel can be heard for miles long, Blissful rain pours out thus, and one person equals to thousands. Thought they be the invincible steeds and death, they too long for their home deep in their soul."

The main part that I choose to look at is "one person equals to thousands," as there's lots of ways that could be interpreted. There is, of course, the fact that the Family is basically a hivemind, and also how Aelenev was summoned on one occasion and his sword was "unsheathed from the scabbard of 4,630,000 Hounds" which I take to mean as sort of manifested from their collective minds and wills, so to speak. Similar to how Gallagher is a lie manifested from the traits of 52 loyal Family members, no? And longing for a home deep in their soul, soldiers' bones that have been buried, a scripture stained by blood, I personally think that those could easily be taken as references to Mikhail, the revolution that led to Penacony being formed in the first place, and how Gallagher misses those he used to know. Or maybe not references, but they certainly could hold a similar meaning. I don't know, I'm not a fucking literature major or anything, I study animals and nature. This is just me being a massive nerd on the internet.

Anyways, this is mostly just to wonder if anyone else has/is thinking of using these parallels to make really gay stuff. Sunday should get more weird and fucked up with his affection in fics, because I think it would be really fun to see. Have him call Gallagher "my Aelenev" or something, make him want to craft Gallagher into a wonderful embodiment of the Harmony the same way as he attempted to usurp Dominicus' power. Get weird with it!

Or hey go a step further and make yaoi about the Harmonic Strings themselves. I'd do it. I'd fucking do it. I'm insane about this game's lore sometimes.

Also: Robin could be a parallel for Constantina, the singer of the Panacoustic Theater. That just leaves Beatriz, the merrymaker of the Blissful Ball, who I suppose could be parallel to Sparkle? Not to say that all four of them need to be represented by members of the Penacony cast, I'm just coming up with random thoughts about it.

[arataki-neato]

Resident Vidyadhara lore nerd here, I'm typing this all out at 3 in the god damn morning so I might regret this but I wanted to give my take on something I feel like a lot of people might have misunderstood or misinterpreted:

Hatching rebirth is not a cosmetic thing, it's not simply amnesia, it's not a way for Vidyadhara to escape taking accountability for what they did in their past lives, and Dan Heng is not in denial for believing himself to be his own person, distinct from Dan Feng.

There's this document in the alchemy commission you find as part of a quest with a compendium of medicines, and one of those is a treatment that, when administered to young Vidyadhara, allows them to begin to recall their past lives. This is most likely how it's done for High Elders.

However, there's the added stipulation that administering this to someone else without their consent is a punishable offense.

The Vidyadhara have a way of negating the memory loss caused by hatching rebirth, but they don't want it. The process of hatching rebirth and the strict separation between past lives is not only culturally sacred to them, it's an important part of their life cycle. The fact that it's done to High Elders is pretty much a perversion, but it's apparently considered important for the survival of the species.

The reason why is that there's just simply an upper limit to how long someone can comfortably live a single life--Xianzhou natives become Mara struck after about 1000 years, and while there's no real knowledge of what causes it, the general consensus is that their memories accumulate and become too much for them. Hatching rebirth protects them from this, it's an opportunity to rest and renew, to heal from old scars and past traumas, and most importantly, a chance for a fresh start.

Believing themself to be a different person than they were in their past lives is not an attitude unique to Dan Heng, it's consistent with pretty much every Vidyadhara npc you can talk to.

(Chunfen, the reincarnation of a famous Vidyadhara opera singer named Ling Jie, uses Ling Jie's notes as a guide on how to live an exciting life, but still talks about her as if she were someone else who left them for her and not as if they were something she herself had written)

(Jinyu, the Vidyadhara woman whose rebirth cycle is so accelerated she basically becomes a new person every month, has had many short-lived yet passionate love affairs, but she never remembers them and never has any interest in trying to rekindle the relationship)

There's the Vidyadhara Cong, who by chance or fate has ended up falling in love with the same long-life Xianzhou woman in every one of his past reincarnations, which she found romantic at first, but she has grown old and tired and has had to try to let him down gently because she can't force herself to try to fall in love with him again.

There are Vidyadhara who are reluctant to let go of their memories and try to bring keepsakes with them, but the unfortunate fact of the matter is that most of the time, their future self does not attach the same emotional significance to it that they do, and it only ends up being a source of grief and a reminder of what they lost.

When Vidyadhara hatch out of their eggs, they are a child with no memories. Despite not being a true death, it is functionally no different than the death of the old self and the birth of a new one (and Dan Heng sees it this way, too, he even refers to it as his "birth")

And I think that Dan Heng is perfectly justified in not wanting anything to do with Dan Feng or anything related to his past life. All he knows is that ever since he was a child, he has been punished and abused and hunted and despised for something that, from his perspective, he didn't even do.

It's not like what happened with Scaramouche, which I feel like a lot of people are probably comparing it too--If Dan Heng suddenly and with perfect clarity got back all of Dan Feng's memories, it would not make him Dan Feng. They still wouldn't be his memories, and they wouldn't supersede his current life--He would still just be Dan Heng, but with someone else's memories on top. He really is his own person, and he deserves to have his own life to live.

[squeakyleftsneaker]

Watching My Hero Academia for the first time: S1, Ep. 3-5

Hello there again! I've returned to see some more adorable character design and cool fight scenes. And hopefully our small green protagonist become a hero. As ever I know a limited amount going in and have since blocked the tag from my feed, please don't spoil me! I'll compile a list of what I like and what I don't like as I go on, and I'll paragraph a bit later on if I see the need.

The Good Stuff

It is DELICIOUS to me that this show brings up the degree to which All Might has reshaped society. I can feel them setting that up to be ripped away at some point

One for All I LOVE the Three Musketeers! IS THERE ALL FOR ONE?? IS THAT THE EQUAL AND OPPOSITE QUIRK???

I love a Dumas reference what can I say

Yes All Might we love doing a public service as a workout. HELL YEAH! Clean up that beach!

Exploding limbs from the superpower is CRAZY I love it. And I love the English All Might sprinkles in.

His school is comically awful AND KATSUKI IS JUST IGNORING HIM WE LOVE INTROSPECTION? Maybe they'll actually manage to make this redemption thing work (they, and I cannot stress this enough, did make it hard as hell on themselves with the whole "jump off a roof and hope for a quirk in your next life" thing

All Might's old-school swimsuit got a genuine laugh out of me. Delightful montage.

AND HIM ON A SEGWAY IN A TRENCH I CAN ONLY PRESUME TO BE DESIGNER WHAT A KING. I love that our protagonist is an overworker. He's so real. And he got RIPPED. Congrats lil guy.

I did cackle out loud at him looking like a roided up bodybuilder.

"EAT THIS" IM CRYING

Katsuki's scarf. I know what you are. Lil homie gayass.

Hello this is My Hero Academia Of Adorable Character Design THIS FLOATY GIRL IS PRECIOUS. SO BABY. AWWW. DAUGHTER ADOPTED.

Love that no one is matching our sweet green boy's freak when it comes to the heroes. He's so lame. I love him.

I kinda want more lore with Katsuki and our greenie. It seems like the threats are like. Empty. But they don't have friend energy to be joking like that. It's intriguing. I am compelled!

Ok Mr. Class President you annoying man let's not call out our green boy for being a nerd. You too are a nerd. Bricks are being lobbed from a grass house.

NAPOLEON MENTION???? BRO THIS IS A FRANCOPHILE SUPERHERO SCI FI SCHOOL ANIME????? IM CACKLING THIS IS FOR M E

This must SUCK for the people who have like. Telepathy or mind control superpowers. But I feel like that'll be explored soon enough, it's too glaring an oversight to not.

HIS LIMBS ARE PULP???? OW

Awwwwwww the sweet lil floaty girl is adorable AND SHE SAVED HIM. Precious daughter. I will protect you at all costs.

Lmfao this class-president-ass guy is having a whole moral and "did I fail a class" crisis I like him already. NERD.

Cannot stress enough how spectacular the character design in this show is. AND the fight scenes are spectacularly done. LOVELY to watch. A real visual treat.

Izuku's mom is best mom.

AWWW FLOATY GIRL WANTED TO HELP HIM SHE'S A REAL LASAGNA G.

I do like that they gave rescue points it's the kind of sentimental nonsense I live for

HE'S SUCH A MAMA'S BOY I LOVE THAT. I LOVE A NOT-DEAD ANIME MOM.

Katsuki and the class-president-ass boy beefing already I LOVE THIS SHOW. BYE AND CLASS PRESIDENT ASS KID IS A PRIVATE SCHOOL KID. LMAOOO

I love their hobo-ass teacher. He's so real. This is me as a TA I am afraid. I too told people to skip orientation. Real as FUCK.

Much as they've made one hell of a hard job for themselves when it comes to his inevitable redemption arc, I love Katsuki's malicious lil homie gayass energy. It makes me laugh. Emo fuck. You shall look back and CRINGE.

Frog girlie you're SO CUTE oh my god the character design is SOOOOO SO CUTE.

Navel laser is the single dumbest quirk they've come up with I'm cackling.

FLOATY GIRL SENT A BASEBALL INTO ORBIT SHE'S ALSO GOING TO GIVE US RUSSELL'S TEAPOT LET'S FUCKING GO

See I love them remembering when he's supposed to be smart and shit. Him going for JUST a finger is highly practical for a kiddo with 0 control over his quirk. ALSO NO OTHER STUDENT RECOGNIZING THEIR TEACHER BUT HE DOES BC HE'S A FUCKING NERD AWWWWWWW. SWEETIE

Love Eraserhead he's already my kinda sicko. Wish maybe they'd told him "heyyyy so this kid really only used his quirk for the first time in that exam xoxo" to which I'm sure he would say "How illogical. Get him out." KING. Also the first person to tell him he can't be a hero IN SPITE of the quirk. Would LOVE for him to eventually be the one to tell him he can do it without it anyway. And I love that Izuku surprises him and he DOESN'T hold that against the kid, but is instead excited and pleased. That's the kinda teaching We Want To See.

The Stuff I've Got Questions About

I'll admit. I don't love that they're giving him a quirk rn. But I do see where they're going to go with it? Like the way I would've wanted to see it is to see Midoriya try it without the quirk first, fail, accept All Might's quirk later, and then give it up in the end. I think it'd work better than having him not fail at his attempt to be a hero without a quirk at first! He's only barely been told it's not possible before it's handed to him and I feel like we miss out on a lot of cool character potential.

It's such a missed opportunity to me to NOT have this cleaning up the beach arc be more of the show! I know it's a school anime and that's part of the goal, but I genuinely feel like it'd jive so well with the show's themes if this wasn't a montage but instead a big character building moment– heroism as small unappreciated acts, having other people take note of it, etc. These are BIG 10 months of growth, physically AND mentally and it's all without a quirk! That's awesome! I wish we saw more of this worked into the fabric of the show

WISH they let our lil guy be smarter in this. They've SHOWN us he's a quick thinker and analytical! You can have a character be that and STILL out of his depth and I feel like they're getting him to be out of his depth by having him DROP the analytical side of himself. Which, we KNOW is still active in a fight, because they established that from day one with the slime creature! They establish him to have those instincts but not the capacity to act on them, and then they don't really show those instincts for analysis again in this later fight. Which I think is a missed opportunity for characterization! Especially because they have it cut in again as he's falling. It's just a bit of an odd inconsistency.

This is just a personal note my piracy website won't let me skip the intro and though it is a banger I am also already sick of it PLEEK PIRACY WEBSITE LET ME SKIP IT

GOD it would've been so cool if this show had held off on giving him One for All. Let All Might find the other students coming up short and then see this kid with no quirk struggling to make it but with exactly what he wants. That show would've been SICK.

This is such a damn delightful start to the show. There's definitely stuff I would've done differently from like an overaching story perspective but so far. VERY cute characters, very cool animation, a LOT of creativity with what they're doing with the powers, and strong charaterization for everyone involved makes me pretty hopeful! It's all rather tropey but like. Who doesn't love a good trope. We love to see it. I certainly do. See you all next time, as ever please don't spoil me!

[wisemins]

heyy🕺

so I checked your f/o list and I saw not only do u ship w stan but also ford!?🧐 incredibly based😌 since I have gravity falls brainrot this is my obligatory ask about your s/i if you have one👀 if not use this as gush pass🎫

side note: do u prefer being called miya or starshine? because I saw someone refer to you as miya once and that's what I've been doing but you and some others refer to you as starshine so uh I just wanted to check🧍🏽

second side note: are you okay with sharing stanley? I understand if not, I only have 1 tag for him so far (💗: stan💸) if you want to block it. okay done for real🏃🏽‍♀️

@i-put-the-s4p-in-s4pphic

YYAYAYAAAA I've been waiting forever to be able to answer this but I've been so busy with work!!! OH BOYYY IM SO EXCITED TO ANSWERR

Gravity Falls is like one of my all time 'tisms, like I have seen it an unholy amount of times, I've never kept track of just how many times. I used to just have it on 24/7 as background noise around my house. I know this show like the back of my hand and I simply adore it!!! okay so-- I've also been shipping in it since I first got into it, but eventually I wasn't shipping in it anymore and just enjoyed it for what it was-- until I rewatched it in my adulthood.

Now, I used to only ship with Ford, but...well, my crusty old man taste had developed to fruition already in 2021 so Stanley was instantly looking FOOOOOINEEE as hell alongside Stanford. So then it was-- I was shipping with both of them. Separately, though. Definitely needed different canons for it to work, since Ford and I have a much different relationship than Stan and I, but I'm honestly still working on my lore with Ford now that things have changed and that I'm much older. There's just more potential with him in terms of intergalactic/dimensional stuff!

So in terms of Stan and me, we're mostly just very domestic and comfortable outside of the crazy canon lore! I started off working at the mystery shack, helping Stan with his crazy ideas for new creatures and attractions, I also helped out a lot with sales and tours! But eventually we both just clicked and I discovered that I in fact LOVEDDDD that old man. And as it turns out he felt the same too!! He was more hesitant, for obvious reasons. A considerable age gap, the fact that he's a lot more insecure than he lets on, people in general think he's disgusting and conniving and a scammer, but I like his style! I never judged him like that, I get where he's coming from, and we've both been through a lot in our lives so we tend to relate A LOT despite the generational difference. But we're mostly just a very doting couple who makes the dream happen, we hustle and we take care of the twins! And also try to keep them out of trouble, to the best of our abilities. Stan and I are only dating, but if I were to ever have the pleasure of marrying him-- well I'd be honored to be any sort of caretaker figure to them!

Now, me and Ford? Our relationship depends on *when* we met. Currently I have two timeline ideas, but for now I'll focus on one where he's also a crusty old man. We relate a lot as well, just on a different level! We're both giga nerds, love to write and draw, are nervous wrecks but simultaneously too oblivious for our own good. We do have our own version of a domestic life, one that just includes more weird happenings and nerd stuff! Lots of D&D&moreD, talking and theorizing, and a lot of dorky longing looks and late nights of working on stuff together. I'd like to think in this version of myself in Gravity Falls, I'd be more akin to the weirdness and was far more aware of it than I would be if I was with Stan, seeing as Stanley would most likely try to shield me from it than make me aware.

Also you can call me either or honestly!! Miya is my real name so it's more personable (I would be honored if you felt comfortable enough to call me as such!), and Starshine is just a cute nickname that my mans Wonka calls me along with some other mutuals! or if you want another *another* nickname, you can also go with Marnie!

Also I am super duper cool with sharing Stan!!! for so many years...i have felt alone in my Stan loving because he was the "gross" twin that only very few people actually liked 😭😭 So the solidarity and the sharing of joy in this crusty old man is ALWAYS welcome!!!

tysm for the ask once again Frankie!!!! MY BELOVED MUTUALLL <333

[slxwtxwn]

INTRODUCTION POST!!

I created this account to have a place where I can post and share whatever I want without caring about who sees what and that's what I'll keep doing, sharing whatever crosses my mind so don't expect much from here

but I also really love this place so I might change my view on what to do lol

time for the introduction!

~ Leonardo🇮🇹

~ 18 y/o⭐

[This means I'm a legal adult in Italy. (I can drink, vote, drive...)]

[I don't care who interacts with my content - since Idek if I'll post nsfw or not - as long as you know what you're doing (IF I'll post nsfw, it will be flagged appropriately)]

~ he/they🏳️‍⚧️

~I usually say I'm gay (mlm) as I'm mostly attracted to men but there is that 1% of women that's just DAMN or idk I think that if I happen to like you and you're not a man it's not a deal breaker for me🏳️‍🌈

~actor and artist🎭🎨

{random facts that no one cares for:

my favorite color is purple

LEFT WING! 🇵🇸✊🏻 (fascists dni)

I'm in my last year of highschool

I speak 🇮🇹 (native) 🇬🇧 (Cambridge C1) 🇫🇷 (DALF C1) + my dialect if that counts

unfortunately I'm pre-T (f u mom)

I love cooking 🍳

I actually post from tree branches (Barone Rampante reference)

oh yes I love Italian literature

I play DND

I II II L

Fandoms!

I don't really consider myself as an active part of any fandom but yeah

(no particular order, you might find the same thing twice in different categories sorry)

FNaF 🐻🐰🐥🦊

PJO 🌊+ HOO⚡ + MCGA 🗡️ + TOA ☀️ + TSATS 🖤💛 (also big greek mythology nerd)

HP 🐺🐶🦌🐀 🧑🏻‍🎤 (hate JKR)

Gravity Falls ⚠️

Duck Tales 🦆 (and Disney in general)

Scott Pilgrim (comics, movie and series) 🎸🛼

Haikyuu! 🏐

Sk8 ♾️

Wonder Egg Priority 🥚

Death Note📓🍎

(other anime/manga series might be less relevant)

Mouthwashing 🚀

Brawl Stars ⭐🌵 (even some eSports teams)

Squid Game🦑

Sherlock (BBC series and og books)🔍

TØP lore (not an active theorist) 🥁🎸

Osora, Maho shonen and a LOT of mlm webtoons💜

MCU and SPIDERMAN (heavy on spiderman, I AM SPIDERMAN) 🕸️

Heathers ❤️💛💚💙🖤

Hamilton ⭐🗽

Ride the Cyclone 🎢

other musicals

Danganronpa (3 main games)

Music taste🎶

Twenty Øne Pilots |-/

Dominic Fike ☀️

David Bowie 🧑🏻‍🎤

TV girl 🩷💙

Gorillaz 🦍

Arctic Monkeys 🐒❄️

Tyler, the Creator 🌻

Mitski🦪

MSI (music, not artist)

Sir Mix-a-lot

ICP 🪓🤡

italian indie music (colapesce, lucio corsi, calcutta...)

troye sivan🔥

charli xcx🍏

playlist for more

Movies/series/books that are particularly important for me🎬📚

Dead Poets Society 🎭📜

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower 🚗♾️

Donnie Darko (also director's cut) 🐰💀

I Saw The Tv Glow📺✨

Scott Pilgrim vs the world + Scott Pilgrim takes off 🎸

Squid Game🦑

Euphoria 💊

BBC Sherlock 🔍

Stranger Things 📼

Poirot movies directed by Branagh 🔍

ALL THE SPIDERMAN MOVIES🕸️🕷️

+mcu

EEAAO 🥯

big fan of horror movies in general 🤡🔪

currently reading The Secret History (and with currently I mean after my graduation)

big fan of Italian literature (Dante in particular but also Foscolo, Leopardi, Svevo...)

also English and French literature (Plath, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Dickinson, Camus, Shakespeare, Ionesco, Beckett...)

Characters I'd give my life for 💕

Michael Afton (literal roman empire)

Jason Grace (literal ROMAN empire)

Leo Valdez (me fr)

Hearthstone from MCGA

everyone else from the riordanverse holds a place in my heart too I love them all so much

Remus Lupin (my og fictional crush but I also really relate to him)

Todd Ingram (especially SPTO bisexual version)

Chester (yes, from brawl stars. sorry I love him too much he's so silly)

Sugawara (my babyyyy) (also relate to him)

lowk everyone from haikyuu is my baby but sugawara>>

Reki Kyan (me fr)

I'm literally Spiderman

I'm literally Wallace Wells

Larry and Lawrie from bs sorry they're too lovely

Squeak my bby my main

the whole cinema trio from Brawl means so much to me

Daisuke (MW) (he's my baby but also lowk like me)

Curly (MW) (feral abt him ngl)

Huey, Luey and Duey (I'm Huey)

oh I'm so Dipper Pines (and lowk also mabel)

Ships that are REALLY important to me

VALGRACE!!!!!!!

percabeth

fangster

clancybearer

todd x wallace

thangyu

solangelo

johnlock

mischa x noel

anderperry

byler

bokuaka

that's lowkey it I'm not that interested in shipping anymore

I think that was it thank you so much <3

[stardew-obsessed-ora]

I've been avoiding posting just so that Ulrich's ref could be my 100th POST. RAHHH. WOOO IT'S DONE!!

For anyone whose new to seeing this man, his name is Ulrich Althaus (Ulrich Mephisto Althaus if we're referring to him in other canons). He's a Technical Lead for Joja Corporations, and despite being introverted, he can come off as rather judgmental to people who don't know him well enough to understand how he speaks. He's around 18 years old when he first arrives in the Republic itself, finding himself staying around Downtown Zuzu for a while. He's somewhere in his late 20s/early 30s when he stations himself in the valley itself and tries to gather the resources to set up a Joja Brand tech store. In his mind, he truly, deeply believes that Joja can help benefit the valley. He ends up having rose-tinted glasses over the company for the longest time, and gradually has those viewpoints shattered the longer he stays within the valley. Of course, I plan on building his lore up gradually and through slow answers here and there, so I'm really trying not to spew out too much :3 also he's ungodly picky i mean he hates more than the average farmer LMFAO. bro has most of the universal hates too

More general description stuff/expansion stuff (fair warning its long):

 Ulrich's personality is a fascinating one. He feels as though he has a reputation to uphold, and will often shut down most, if not all critique coming toward him unless they are genuine. He often-times does not stand for attacks on his own character. Usually though, he’s the one giving critique to others, but it mostly comes off as insults rather than from a genuine place of concern due to how blunt he is. The way he phrases things tends to be derogatory in nature due to his lack of filter. He tends to get annoyed when people act offended, and genuinely doesn’t understand why they took his concern the way they did.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of feeling he has to constantly uphold a reputation, he is quite the perfectionist. It's difficult for him to accept his own mistakes without shutting down and having to distance himself from the situation awhile. To put it simply, he feels like he’s failed those around him through his errors. While he gives others the opportunity to correct their margin of error, he would never give himself that leeway. 

Due to Ulrich’s lack of social understanding, he tends to struggle at fraternizing with others and oftentimes misses obvious jokes or sarcasm within sentences. He is particularly bad at this when matched with tone through text, and will often find himself over-explaining something that didn’t need to be explained to begin with just to be met with “blah blah blah its a joke”. Though his lack of tonal understanding is better in person, he can still be found occasionally left confused and bewildered at interactions.  

Speaking of social scenarios with Ulrich, he is relatively introverted, and prefers brief interactions with strangers in person as to not burn himself out. He prefers interactions with little to no people around, and in general much prefers spaces with little to no activity. This is one of many reasons which his line of work involves remote involvement and virtual meetings on his end. While this issue does not present itself in online chatrooms, he still finds himself burnt out of interaction occasionally if he’s had to speak to those hes unfamiliarized with for too long. 

To those he’s come to know, however, he can be a rather clingy, overprotective individual who wishes for nothing more than to be there for the ones he’s come to love. His clingy nature comes from a place of fear, as he doesn’t want to go through losing someone else he’s come to grow close to. Though, he can be a bit overbearing at points. 

Other Likes:  

 - He highly enjoys programming, creating things from scratch through the languages he knows,  and being able to experience anything which was decently coded. He’s actually a total nerd for video games and especially for computer viruses. He loves being able to dissect things like that. 

He enjoys heavy metal music and EDM. His playlist can be a jumpscare for those entirely oblivious to his music tastes.

He enjoys hiking and exploring alone in his free-time. Its relaxing for him to be able to get out and exercise in any way he can. 

He’s a total dork for mythology and the study of all things surrounding mythological creatures. 

He gets overly hyper during the festival of the moonlight jellies 

He’d never actually admit it, but he really likes dancing, the art behind dancing, and is a decent dancer himself. 

Other Dislikes: 

He has a phobia of needles

He’s outright terrified of Krampus. His father told him ONE tale for bedtime and it forever sealed his fate. 

He dislikes overly loud and obnoxious individuals, finding them quick to drain him. 

He dislikes summer, finding himself overheating easily in the harsh sun

Despite being a Joja employee, he somewhat holds disdain for the way a majority of the branches are run. 

Geese. I don’t need to explain this one, I’m sure it’s justifiable.

Strengths:

One of Ulrich’s greatest strengths is how agile he is. Being relatively skilled on his feet, he is able to run away from most confrontations. Of course, he’d find that shameful, so instead he uses this agility of his to get to and from places at concerning speeds. He might have knee issues, but that doesn't mean he's not fast as fuck.

He's a total computer nerd. Got a tech problem? He’s probably your guy to help out. 

He’s a surprisingly good chef

He was also taught a decent amount of fishing by his father, making him decent at it. 

He’s very outspoken about how he feels regarding any given situation

Weaknesses:

He’s ass at farming. Do not make this man do farmwork, you’ll regret it deeply. Please PLEASE don’t make this man do farm work.

He has the depth perception of a literal toddler. If he’s running somewhere, there’s a 50% chance he’ll slam into a pole on the way there.

As stated in his bio, he has difficulty in social situations. This can make bonding with others difficult, and causes him his fair share of conflict. Especially when he mistakes a joke as a snide remark and starts to comment about how it shouldn’t have been said and it spirals out of control.

He’s stubborn to a fault. He has a very stern set of morals which are hard to bend. Not only that, but his strict internal code causes him to react oddly to anything which bends it even slightly, causing even MORE conflict on his part. 

He’s very outspoken about how he feels regarding any given situation

close up on some things that might be hard to read + the chibis that im absurdly attached to (i might post them standalone)

[alltimefail-sims]

LORE TIDBIT TIME WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Did you know Vlad was apart of the settler colony who mysterious disappeared? This is obviously a nod to the Roanoke colony which I think is sooo cool. What do you think happened to Vlad's colony? I like to think Vlad was turned or became a vampire and whipped them out.

HELL YEAH LORE TIDBIT ABOUT VLADDY DADDY!!! 😏

I'm going to treat this as a "deep dive" into Vlad and Forgotten Hollow, so I'll be adding it to my Deep Dive Series tag. Unsurprising to literally everyone, but this is gonna be a long one.

So… let’s get into it! ↓

Going into this I will admit that I actually did know this about Vlad!! I've been wanting to talk about it for forever but have never gotten around to it haha. 🤭 I'm a bit of a history nerd and I love a good spooky story/conspiracy, so naturally the Roanoke Colony was one of my obsessions when I was around 11 or 12 years old.

I think it's an interesting tie in from the sims team, I'd even say it's a bit meta because I feel like the game normally sticks to making references toward itself and its own canon characters/events while generally staying away from anything that would be too direct of a reference to "our world." Personally though I wish they broke the fourth wall more! I like easter eggs or hidden details that make it easier to imagine the characters existing not in their isolated, imaginary worlds, but in ours instead.

It's interesting to think about why the sims team might have made this connection - was it just a cheeky, unserious little wink to a well-known unsolved mystery, or was it done for the purposes of creating implications and expanded lore regarding Vlad and Forgotten Hollow (a case of them showing us instead of telling us). There are so many theories archaeologists and historians alike have had about the lost colony of Roanoke over the years: some believe the Roanoke colonists could have all died by disease or famine, some believe they could have been victims of a deadly storm, some believe they were attacked by neighboring tribes or by Spanish soldiers. Nowadays there are scholars who will argue that no tragedy befell the settlers at all and that they simply relocated (that would be why they left "Croatoan" behind - there was a nearby location referred to as Croatoan Island, now modern-day Hatters Island).

With that in mind, along with Vlad's own refusal to recall the details of this event, it's safe to assume that the sims team isn't referring to the happier Roanoke theories...the 25 colonists of Forgotten Hollow likely faced an unfortunate end.

Your theory of Vlad being turned and thus wiping out the colony (I'm guessing due to new-turn bloodlust) is sooooo compelling, the implications of that scenario are delicious and I personally never thought of it from that angle! My theory is only a little different: I agree that Vlad was turned on the day that the colonists "disappeared" (whatever that implies), but I have always played Vlad's story not as if he was turned and then killed everyone after, but rather that the thing that turned him successfully killed the other colonists but accidentally turned Vlad. It's a really long story that I play around with for fun in my brain but the short-ish version is: Vlad awoke outside - cold, alert, sweaty, dirty and covered in his own blood - but somehow alive, which he was thankful for. His new immortal condition is still unbeknownst to him at this point, but he felt an ache like never before, so deep in his bones it was excruciatingly painful, but his senses were heightened tenfold. He didn't remember much, just that the colony had been under attack the night before. His relief to be alive rapidly melted into abject horror as he found everyone else (friends, neighbors, family, children) dead. He realized soon enough what had happened to him and stayed in Forgotten Hollow where he would be memorialized as its "founder." He spent his days hellbent on retaliation and retribution, but was also steadfast in continuing the work that was began there before the attack. Eventually he does get to face off with the vampire who attacked him and his people, killing it and rising to power in the vampire world. He keeps the events close to his chest because they were traumatizing and cause him sadness, and he's worked diligently to remove himself from his humanity/human memories and from emotions in general (thus how he has become the person we see today). I always thought if he killed the colonists himself the other vampires in his circle - at least his closest confidantes - would know (as he's got quite the massive ego), but they don't seem to have knowledge of this event and they never mention it. I've thought that it could be possible that sharing the memories of this event would make Vlad feel weak, and he's not one to boast in his weakness. He'd much rather rewrite history in a way that is beneficial to his image; dragging up emotions about dead people would not bring them back to life, and by burying this history of a massacre in Forgotten Hollow he is also creating some mystery around himself and making it easier to play the role of a great-great-great-great grandson (or whatever he's pretending to be, relationship-wise) to the original founder.

But that's just how I play with Vlad! 🤷 I could be way off-base lmao!

Regardless of what happened, we know Vlad is the sole survivor of this event and he is scarred by it, impacted so deeply that he only ever vaguely alludes to it with no clear explanation. Whether he killed the colonists himself or just witnessed their death, the sims team will probably never give us concrete answers (and frankly, that's probably for the best considering their track record). But the clever connection of the LOST colony and FORGOTTEN Hollow are clear as day and I just think that is freaking cool! The occult lore in TS4, especially regarding Vlad and Forgotten Hollow, make interesting framework for storytellers and lore-lovers alike! Vlad is one of those characters who has sooooo many interpretations, and I eat up each and every one!

Okay, I think that's all I've got for now! Sorry about my word vomit! Somewhat related: here's an article I recently read on Roanoke that talks about the archaeological finds which have changed some of the discussions surrounding whether the colonists survived or not! I found it pretty interesting and you might as well!

[4lph4kidz]

3, 4, 17, 18, 26 and 36 for the writer ask game. :3

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

i play ridiculous music when i can't concentrate and need stimulation. running in the 90s. mad rat monday. spamton CD. this kasane teto song which i have seen (accurately imo) described as penis music.

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

i can't really... think of any? there are words i like but i wouldn't say i hoot and holler if i see a chance to use them, or see them crop up in someone else's work. themes and ideas, yeah! specific words... idk.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

i've been doing a lot of probably entirely unnecessary research for my latest WIP which is... hm! how about i dm you about that one.

on the subject of research, i'm under no illusions, catabolic seed is sheer scifi nonsense (affectionate). i've purposefully held off from getting too in the weeds with it because i know i would stress too much about complex worldbuilding and scientific accuracy, so a lot of stuff that isn't directly relevant to the plot is broad strokes stuff. as per the main inspiration, wolf 359, i'm leaning more on the workplace comedy at the start (because, haha, i have a job, he just like me fr) but i may develop the sci fi elements more once its time to fully bring them into the story. what i do have is: detailed bios and job descriptions for each character, a rough layout of the spaceship Hemera, notes on robotics and spacefaring technology, rival factions within the worldspace, some alien biology stuff... i'm a pretty big science nerd, and i enjoy good hard sci fi! but we're not doing that here, we're putting guys in situations. this is about genre. verisimilitude. you're getting good old fashioned technobabble.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

alright, how about this part from ch1 of catabolic seed! i made some pretty big last minute changes to the beginning of the fic because the pacing wasn't working, and i ended up pulling in a scene from much later in the story to serve as a dirkjake meet cute.

i like set up. establishing tone, creating atmosphere... the way you introduce a character, even one known already to the audience, is something i think is important and i enjoy playing with that a lot. originally jane was present and dirk was going to be pulling a bunch of wires out of the wall, which jane described as 'disemboweling her spaceship' but at some point i decided him popping out of the vent and scaring the shit out of jake seemed like a more fun idea so i ran with it. this establishses dirk as a potential threat, which leads to the stupid kabedon moment later, which leads to the jokes about the disney cruise liner and the engineering section flooding... i didn't have time to think it through all the way but as far as choices made on the fly go i think i made it work!

dirk being in the vents was also pulling from wolf 359, specifically referencing the character captain minkowski who i felt was kind of comprable to dirk in terms of her neuroses - it wasn't till i got someone else's eyes on it that they pointed out that i'd introduced dirk exactly like a fucking xenomorph, which was perfect, so i scrambled to insert a textual reference to the alien movies and doing some hasty worldbuilding while i was at it.

in general i think exploring the relationship from jake's point of view is super interesting. in an au where they don't already know each other, dirk is an interesting figure for jake to 'figure out' - aloof, mysterious, other - classic love interest stuff. which is perhaps less interesting than their deal in canon, but hey, i'm having fun running with it.

26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?

hm, i don't know. i hyperfixated on the alpha kids pretty hard so i think i already have quite well-formed interpretations of their personalities and perspectives, it's not hard to dredge those up when i need them. i won't pretend my writing is for sure an accurate reflection of canon characterisation or anything but i'll go read passages from canon when writing and refining dialogue especially. and hmm. i do end up going to dark places sometimes, and nearly every fic ends up quite a bit darker than i mean it to... i'm totally fine. don't worry about it.

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice…what do you Know?

be bisexual, eat hot chip and lie

aside from my aforementioned interests in genre fiction, or biology, i can see what i'm grappling with as a person reflected quite clearly in what i end up exploring in my work. i have the past experiences of being a queer teenager who had no idea what was going on, grappling with mental illness and feeling incredibly alone. or i can draw on my experiences as an adult, finding myself as a person, going out into the world, and all the struggles therein.