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ladykailitha · 9 months ago

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Well Met By Moonlight Part 13

Hey, guys do you all remember that period of time when I was working on this story but refused to show you snippets of it on WIP Wednesdays? Yeah, this is that chapter. (I'm pretty sure, anyway. Because this shit was super spoilery.)

We finally get what happened to Steve and why he didn't grow up as Pack. This chapter does get a little dark in its themes so be careful when you read and if you need specifics, DM me and I'll fill you in.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

****

Eddie and Wayne landed in front of their trailer with a deft touch. Eddie still wasn’t over the joy of being able to fucking fly. Like sure when he was younger, Wayne would take him for flights occasionally, but nothing beat banking on a breeze as the wind lifted him higher and higher.

“Your boy’s got a mouth on him,” Wayne said gruffly as he walked up the stairs to their trailer.

Eddie chuckled. “Always had. Even in school.”

Wayne huffed out a laugh. “True enough.”

As soon as they were safe inside, Eddie asked, “Hey, do you remember that couple who took Stevie in when his parents died?”

Wayne frowned. “You mean the Franklins?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

Eddie snapped his fingers. “Yeah, them. Why was Steve placed with them? And not, I don’t know, the pack?”

“Ah.”

Wayne went to the kitchen and pulled out a six pack of beers. “That’s a bit of story. Drink up, you’ll need it for this.”

Eddie opened up a can of beer and settled in for story time.

Wayne downed an entire beer and wiped his mouth off with his sleeve.

“Hopper had gotten bad,” Wayne began. “Like real bad.”

“You’ve mentioned that before. That was around the time I came to live with you, right?”

Wayne nodded. “It wasn’t just drinking. It was drugs, too. And not just weed, either. I’m talking the heavy stuff.”

Eddie nodded. He had sold said heavy stuff to Hopper just before he cleaned up with El coming into his life. When Wayne asked him why, Eddie told him that he had no idea what he was doing with it and honestly didn’t care.

Knowing what Eddie did now, he regretted it, but he was so close to being able to afford his Warlock that that was all he cared about at the time.

“Steve’s dad Clint Harrington was getting ready to challenge Hopper for the position of alpha,” Wayne continued. “He knew that he might kill Hopper, but at that point it probably would have been a mercy.”

Eddie nodded solemnly. Maybe if Clint Harrington had lived, lived to be the alpha, the town wouldn’t be experiencing the troubles it was now.

“So what happened?” he asked gravely.

“Allison’s father died out in New York,” Wayne said. “The timing of it was so suspect, Ed. Like, you know I hate conspiracies with every fiber of my being, because there rarely is one. But this smelled rank from the get go.”

“You think whoever had the Harringtons killed,” Eddie said, “you think also popped off Granpappy, too, don’t you?”

Wayne glared at him, but conceded the point. “Whatever happened to the Harringtons was bad, boy. Like their bodies were savaged–”

He stopped and his eyes went wide. “It was exactly like this morning. I couldn’t tell the scent then, just like I couldn’t now.”

Eddie nodded. “As near as I could tell, there wasn’t a scent to be had. Whatever it was who killed the Harringtons and attacked Patrick, didn’t leave behind a scent.”

“There are very few things in this world that leave a scent so minuscule I could barely detect it,” Wayne said.

Eddie nodded. “So what happened with Steve after they died?” He was interested in the other thing, but he was really worried about his boyfriend.

“The old mayor, Larry Kline and I,” Wayne said amused, “made the decision that the pack wasn’t safe for Steve. But despite what Steve thinks the Franklins weren’t human.”

Eddie frowned. “They weren’t?”

“They were Were too,” he said with wary tilt of his head. “Were-bat. We figured that with them being at least Weres would be able to teach him how to shift and how to shift back comfortably.”

“So what went wrong?” Eddie asked, moving closer to Wayne on the sofa. “Because holy hell, pops, if Steve had been human CPS would have been called and fast.”

Wayne drank more of his beer and then rubbed one eye with the other hand. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t. There were no indications that Steve was anything other than a kid who’s parents died and was adjusting to it. Yeah, he wasn’t exactly happy, but we didn’t expect him to be, you know?”

“So what changed?”

Wayne drank the last of his beer and set it on the coffee table. “They were away on a trip and I don’t know if they forgot, didn’t care, or planned it... but Steve wolfed out for the first in his entire life when he was eighteen.”

“What?!”

Weres were supposed to shift for the first time when they hit puberty. Early teens for most of them. But to not shift until you were eighteen was just begging for the Were to go insane.

“Fucking hell, Uncle Wayne,” Eddie groaned. “Whoever this is is playing a long ass game. Jesus Christ. They were hoping he would go crazy, ending the Harrington line for good. So what happened?”

Wayne licked his lips. “Steve ran to me. He was frightened. Terrified out of his mind. Old Mack nearly shot the poor bastard as he came tearing through the trailer park.”

“Jesus H. Christ...” Eddie whispered.

Wayne chuckled. “It wouldn’ve done shit, it was just a regular bullet, it wouldn’ve even slowed him down.”

Eddie breathed a sigh of relief. “So what stayed Mack’s hand then?”

“You’ve seen your boy in wolf form,” Wayne said, “can you imagine how beautiful he looked then? The cream of his under belly blending with the warm brown of his back and face as he tore down the gravel pavement?”

Eddie could imagine it in fact. Steve was gorgeous as a human, but as a werewolf? He was exquisite. It came from his mixed breeding of being born from another born werewolf and his turned wife. Born werewolves tended to be more timber wolf in their appearance. Almost dire wolf-esque. Big, with course fur and fierce. Bitten werewolves tended toward the smaller red wolves. Quick, slender, and cunning as hell.

Steve was a mix of these two breeds and it made him the most beautiful thing on four legs Eddie have ever scene.

“To fire at something so majestic would have been a travesty,” Wayne was saying when Eddie came back from his revery. “So Mack just stood there, rifle in hand as Steve made straight for my door.”

Eddie frowned. “Where was I? I don’t remember this.”

“You and your friends had gone to Indy for some concert or another,” Wayne said. “I don’t rightly recall.”

Eddie’s frown got deeper, he’d only gone to one concert with his friends in Indy because one of the ‘85 Hellfire Club members had gotten tickets for graduation and had taken all of them.

“Is that why you weren’t home when I got back into Hawkins?” he asked. “You were dealing with Steve?”

Wayne nodded and popped open another bottle of beer. He held one up to Eddie, but he shook his head. Eddie held up his still mostly full can. Wayne licked his lips.

“You’ll want to drink more of that,” he muttered.

Eddie did as he was told and it took the edge off of his anxiety but settled sour in his stomach.

“After I got Steve sedated,” Wayne said, “and yes it was fucked up I even had to in the first place, I went a paid the Franklins a visit.”

“That sounds ominous,” Eddie said flatly.

Wayne grinned. “They tried to tell me that they were frightened of Steve. That as a wolf he was much bigger than they were as bats. That all it would take was one snap of his giant jaw and they would be but a morsel to the boy.”

Eddie blinked at his uncle in confusion. “What now? His first change would have been a literal puppy. He wouldn’t have even been able toddle after them, let alone get within biting distance.”

Wayne huffed. “Right in one, boy. And if they had been teaching him from his first change on, he wouldn’t have thought of them as prey at all. Not even on moon nights.”

Eddie rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“And then they tried to attack me,” Wayne continued.

“They did what?” Eddie squawked.

“They probably would have succeeded, too,” he said, “but apparently Steve is a hard wolf to keep down and followed me like a lost puppy. When he saw Dick Franklin raise a fucking yew stake to stab me in the back, Steve leapt on him.”

“Where the fuck did they get a yew stake?”

Wayne just shook his head. “The hell if I know, kid. But in comes this wolf and just snatches the damn thing out of Dick’s hand. He runs off with it Ella Franklin hot on his heels in bat form. Bats are fast and she catches up quickly. The problem is that in or out of bat form she knows she no match for Steve, so she tries to blind him by going for his eyes.”

Eddie’s hand covered his mouth as he listened to him go on about this horrible night.

“But despite what a lot of people think,” Wayne continued, “your boy ain’t dumb. He keeps his head down and makes right for the Creel House. He tosses the thrall on duty the stake and suddenly a werebat is face to face with Tammy Thompson, now holding a yew stake as Steve just continues running past the Coven.”

Eddie blinked. “I didn’t realize that Tammy’s family were thralls.”

“Just like the Perkins, Buckleys, and Hagans are hereditary keepers,” Wayne said with a nod, “the Thompsons, Carmichaels, and Bensons have always been hereditary thralls.”

Eddie was starting to think that he really should have paid closer attention to the hierarchies in school, they were a lot more important than he knew.

“Anywho,” Wayne said with a shake of his head. “Ella flies back to their house to find me beating the hell out of Dick. She manages to distract me long enough for Dick to get on his feet, but now it’s two against one and they’re still strong in their human forms, but wicked fast. I was able to take out Dick, the coward that he was, but Ella was proving to be too fast. She was going to get away.”

Eddie drank the rest of his beer and popped open another one. He leaned forward so that he was on the edge of the sofa, and his knee began to shake.

Wayne put his hand his knee to settle it, but Eddie stared at him wild eyed.

“I don’t have to finish if this bothering, Ed,” he said warmly. “I can give you the Cliffnotes.”

Eddie shook his head. “What happened next?”

“Just as she took flight, the thing they had always feared happened,” he said softly. “Steve’s jaws came down on her with a sickening crunch. Dick started spewing all sorts of curse words and things I didn’t understand. Something about how werewolves were a plague among the Weres and that they had to be exterminated and how if Steve hadn’t had my protection they would have drowned the bastard in the bathtub.”

“What. The. Fuck?” Eddie asked, can crumpling in his fist as it tightened on it.

“It didn’t mean anything until the events going on now,” Wayne said with a heavy sigh. He crumpled his can one handed and stared at the twisted mass. “But I think whoever it is who is trying to tear this community apart is getting desperate. They’re starting to make mistakes. And I think one day soon, this is all going to blow up in our faces.”

Eddie gulped, but nodded.

****

Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20

Tag List:

@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

@spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @gregre369 @a-little-unsteddie

@chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @danili666

@goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

@justforthedead89 @vecnuthy @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690

@anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon

@cinnamon-mushroomabomination @dragonmama76 @scheodingers-muppet @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt

@useless-nb-bisexual @angels-of-hades @mugloversonly @y4r3luv @greeniebean911

@birbsauce @acingthecounts @cryptid-system @counting-dollars-counting-stars @kultiras

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #werewolf steve harrington #vampire eddie munson #supernatural creatures

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the-real-couchrat · 4 months ago

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So I’ve been thinking more about the Geminus AU, Henry’s No Good Very Bad Terrible Horrible Day AU (HNGVBTHD AU) , and the Atlantica AU. Specifically their mindscapes and nightmares.

Geminus AU

I’m imagining Ford’s mindscape to be like a vast starscape, with floating structures like observatories, library shelves (that are definitely full of books that would make a human’s eyes melt out of their skull if they ever tried to read them) debris of failed experiments, ect. His nightmares (now called the Parliament) would be owls, and they would perch on the structures and fly between them very majestically. They have a tendency to resemble moths. (the nightmares were very inspired by @jacobsnicket’s Pollux design and commentary)

Henry’s No Good Very Bad Terrible Horrible Day AU

For Henry’s, I’m convinced that his mindscape would be a never-ending forest, made up of every kind of forest biome to have ever existed. The Menagerie (let me know if you have other name ideas for their group) would be massive in numbers, appearing as the animals that would inhabit the forests his mindscape imitates. There’s no order to what animals the dreams and nightmares take the form of, a dream could be a bear cub, and a nightmare could be a shrew. (Their numbers are so huge because of Henry’s whole “protector”thing in tau canon, with the woodsman and all. It might even get to the point where when a new nightmare or dream forms they go straight to him like instinct.) Alternatively it could just be a forest that you’d see in Oregon, with the nightmares as deer and cute little fawns for dreams. They would be called the Herd.

Atlantica AU

Pacifica’s mindscape would be a kelp forest, with her nightmares manifesting as spooky sea creatures, like sharks, Eels, Anglerfish, Giant squid, Lionfish, Stingrays, Moray eels, Goblin sharks, Vampire squids, stingrays, manta rays, and Jellyfish. (At first I chose a kelp forest because of how spooky and unsettling they are. but then I looked up pictures of kelp forests to refresh my memory, and it turns out that they’re quite pretty, and all my memories of them were from the Finding Dory movie.) The dreams would be cute fish or a baby version of the nightmare forms.

Titles

While making this post, I did a bit of research on what different groups of animals are called, so here’s a list I made for myself and anyone else who can’t remember all this stuff.

(Equivalence AU, Mabel’s pigs hogs ) “The Drove”

(Avarice AU, Stan’s dogs) “The Pack”

(Geminus AU, Ford’s owls) “The Parliament”

(Atlantica AU, Pacifica’s various sea creatures) “The Shoal”

(Henry’s No Good Very Bad Terrible Horrible Day AU, Henry’s animals) “The Menagerie”

(Henry’s No Good Very Bad Terrible Horrible Day AU, Henry’s deer) “The Herd”

@transcendence-au I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

(Also what is Henry’s demon alias? Is it still the woodsman? I thought like he was only called that because he lived in the woods. And what does he look like as a demon? I know he has antlers, and probably has hands dangling from them, but I feel like his full “Woodsman form” from TAU canon would be his super-saiyan form.)

Edit:

MABEL WOULD TOTALLY HAVE FLYING PIGS!!

THE NIGHTMARES WOYLD HAVE BAT WINGS AND THE DREAMS WOULD HAVE BIRD WINGS

Edit #2

I just remembered that Henry’s TAU alias is Sarva, so it’s probably that.

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itrustmydiscoverweekly · 2 months ago

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This week I listened to Chromakopia

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(5 out of 5 stars)

I liked this album a LOT and I know that I am not the first one to say this even in the slightest. I would not be shocked if this ends up being one of the highest critically rated albums this year.

For once I am actually listening to a popular album when it came out and that's cool! I had a great time with this album and I could not recommend it more if you haven't heard it yet.

Opinion time! (as always, not opinion order, just album order)

"Darling, I (feat. Teezo Touchdown)" is probably just one of the best songs I have heard in a really long time. It blends a beautiful melody and I like the lyricism a lot. It is such a beautifully human song and he acknowledges that with "I'm only human, if it ain't work...". I love the little bits of where he feels love compared to actual relationships, talking, about wealth and music. I think the line about how music fulfills you is just so beautiful and I love it. I love the layers of vocals, I think it it very characteristic of Tyler's music and it's amazing every time. I love this song so much.

"Hey Jane" I would pick this song off of this album for the best storytelling. I love love love that this song has the first section from Tyler's point of view and then it switches to "Jane's" point of view. I think it is a very cleverly written song. I don't think that the beat or anything is particularly of note but it's a great song and I'm a fan.

"Sticky (feat. GloRilla, Sexyy Red & Lil Wayne)" first off, the whistling is constantly stuck in my head. The human voice is an amazing instrument because everyone knows it and you can get things like that stuck in listener's heads very easily. This is very much the sillier side of Tyler's music and I appreciated it a lot that it is halfway through the album. I always like it when there are lots of people on a song. I love music being collaborative. I love that this song has drum and bugle on it, I love real instruments!!!

Honorable mentions!! 🥳🥳🥳

"Rah Tah Tah" This song is very goofy and very catchy and very hype and just all around a great vibe right off the bat for this album. I LOVE how it goes straight into "Noid" I always love it when albums do that.

"Take Your Mask Off" (feat. Daniel Caesar & Latoiya Williams)" This song just has a genuinely great message and I love it. It's super catchy and all around a great vibe.

#album of the week #music #albums #new music #tyler the creator #chromakopia #hip hop/rap

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vidavalor · 1 year ago

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I’m just in the middle of reading your coffee interpretation with the Metatron and it’s so good! You are so brilliant and eloquent! But now I need to know (demanding, right? Shut up Leo, she’s doing this in her free time!) what you think of Aziraphale mouthing words to Crowley just after his talk with Metatron?

It starts at 41:12 mins and it very much looks like he’s saying “we need help”. Someone also mentioned he might be gesturing a time out with his hands, and we already know that 15 minutes went missing when looking at the clock after Crowley left (so they probably did stop time at some point there)

What do you think? Have you noticed this tidbit before? (I sure didn’t) Have a great day and thanks again for doing this!

Hi @procrastiel How's it going, love? You're making me blush. Ask away-- it's a fun stress reliever to respond lol. It's a cookie night over here so help yourself.

Not that long but throwing it under a cut for politeness.

I don't hear "help" and I listened a bunch. I heard before and still hear and lip-read Aziraphale saying "you and I" in tandem with the time-out hand gesture, which I do see and agree with. He just came back from this massively iffy conversation with The Metatron, the bookshop is burned as a place to talk... there are other things to discuss and problems to deal with first before they talk about how the night's changed things for their relationship. At minimum, the gesture and the "you and I" mean "we need to take a time out on talking about us right now as there are other things happening" and it *is* that but it's also, imo, possibly Aziraphale trying to ask Crowley to freeze time.

It's "you and I-- time out", meaning that he wants Crowley to stop time so that they can talk and plan something, as they did with Adam in S1. Crowley doesn't pick up on it. He doesn't pick up on, imo, quite a few things in the scene that he absolutely would have normally so there's something off there. You know I think he came back not exactly totally present from Heaven so...

When Aziraphale left The Metatron ("go and tell your friend the good news"), the moment he's facing away from The Metatron and all the way as the camera's on him and he's walking to the bookshop, he looks distraught. Nervous. Uncertain. He's definitely not super fucking jazzed about going to Heaven and he feels trapped but he still thinks maybe he and Crowley can find a way out of it and at least he's going now from The Metatron to talk to Crowley, right? He smiles a little at entering the bookshop, seeing Crowley across the room, and kindly/politely at Maggie & Nina as they leave. When Maggie says that she's sure that they have a lot to say, Aziraphale's expression changes and the kindly/politely smile becomes a real one -- a loving, excited one-- as he's looking to where Crowley is across the bookshop.

That's because Aziraphale realizes from what Maggie said that if she and Nina were just here talking with Crowley while Aziraphale was gone and then left with that "I'm sure you two have a lot to say" comment the moment he got back, that Crowley might have just told the humans they're closest to that he was going to ask Aziraphale to marry him.

This whole thing would have been literally bats an hour ago lol and honestly still is because the threats to them aren't over (nor are they really to Gabriel & Beezlebub, I'd wager, not that anyone realizes that in this moment but lol) but none of that matters for a moment here to Aziraphale because Crowley is going to ask him to marry him.

Crowley literally cannot wait a minute before doing so and that's everything on Aziraphale's face prior to "hold that thought" and the "you and I"/time out moment. Prior to that, we just get Aziraphale smiling at Crowley with total adoration as Crowley takes his glasses off and says he's got something to say and rambles his way into trying to get closer to saying it. Throughout all of it, Aziraphale is doing his downward hands thing that says like "take a beat, not right now" but he's not upset at what he's hearing. It's the complete opposite. He actually stops the "take a beat" hands for a moment because he's too busy just smiling at Crowley and looking at him lovingly when he can't stop rambling his way towards a proposal. He's the embodiment of fondness and love for a moment there because he knows what Crowley is trying to do and because just the sheer fucking meltiness that is that literally the second Crowley thinks they might be able to-- the very first time they're speaking alone after that-- he's trying to propose. They're borderline immortal beings who have been alive for bazillions of years but if not for the, uh, rest of S2 lol, they would have been married by sundown that day and Aziraphale was all for it but also he couldn't have Crowley say this right now because, ya know, The Metatron and all that. (Ugh the fucking Metatron lol.)

So we get the "you and I" and the subtle time out hand gesture and it's his turn to ramble and this is nervous Aziraphale rather than excited Aziraphale, imo, but that's when it takes a turn for the disaster we all know too well lol and I'd also wager that what Crowley winds up saying is not exactly what he was originally going to. In a panic, Crowley does what he always does when Aziraphale gets in his Heaven feelings and begs him to run away with him, which solves nothing and tipped it all from bad to worse. I think Aziraphale also was especially angry with it because he knows that Crowley pivoted to it, knowing he'd already been rejected a bit here, and it wasn't the marriage proposal that Aziraphale thought was coming and that Crowley had actually been intending on saying prior to the whole bit about what The Metatron said.

In the long term, as brutal as this scene is, it's actually better that it went this way because if you think it's already heartbreaking now, imagine if Aziraphale hadn't gotten Crowley to stop proposing and had let him and then told him about what The Metatron said. Imagine if he'd let Crowley get beyond the ramble and the first few sentences of what he was going to say (which were probably similar to what he ended up saying before pivoting it from proposing marriage to proposing running away together) and let him ask him to marry him... at least now Crowley's never really fully said it and so they have the option of a different run of it in the future.

re: the clock... I wouldn't put a lot of stock on the big clock by Aziraphale's desk in the bookshop. Go watch the scenes in the bookshop during 1941 in The Blitz, Part 2. The clock never actually moves and no one froze time during that part of the story. I'm fairly sure it's meant to be more of an old clock that Aziraphale has for decoration more than function. If it had two different times on it in the 2.06 bookshop scene, it was probably a continuity error-- someone jostling the clock or something between takes and not remembering exactly what time it was set to or mistakenly thinking they did remember it correctly and then it just being overlooked. I think Neil Gaiman did say the clock is a production error? Don't quote me on that but it was him or Douglas McKinnon or someone... possibly. I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere. That said...

...there is something fucked up about the time on the night of the ball but I'm not sure it's frozen time. It might be. There absolutely is something there related to time because the show has a million scenes establishing the start time of the ball at 6:30pm and then it doesn't go on for that long before the demons are attacking it and Crowley winds up in Heaven but then just after when he comes back, Nina's coffee shop should have opened a half-hour ago and it's bright and sunny and breakfast time? Where did the night go? I have the feeling it's more that we're missing time than that time was frozen because some of it feels really jumpy.

The scenes where Crowley goes from leaving Muriel's desk with them and Saraquel to suddenly being in the elevator with them but now plus Michael and Uriel felt intentionally abrupt. Michael and Uriel's sudden presence in the elevator make us aware of the fact that we're missing how they got involved here, which reminds us that we're missing some time between these two scenes, which causes us to question on some level why we are and why they were shown to us in this way... and then when they arrive back at the bookshop and it's daylight, it's like, oh, uh we're missing a *lot* of time... so there's definitely something wonky about time here.

Adding to this is the choice to show us Aziraphale's conversation with The Metatron as, essentially, mini-flashbacks set a hot minute previously that are intercut into a scene in the present. It was an unusual choice for the show that usually does flashbacks as full scenes or minisodes but it could be argued it's done to set up a mirror to it in S3 where we're flashing back in time to a matter of hours prior to scenes we just saw near the end of S2. (So, we're seeing scenes from the night we're missing.) This actually would potentially maybe be kind of like S1's whole "x hours/minutes until the end of the world" recurring thing backwards, which would be kind of neat. It might imply that we see more than just Aziraphale and The Metatron's conversation but we find out more of what happened the prior night with Crowley as well, which then adds new layers into what's going on at the very end of S2. Whatever's going on, there is definitely something weird about time, I'm just not sure that clock is the most trustworthy indicator of what it is.

#ineffable husbands #good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #aziracrow #crowley #aziraphale

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thdorkmagnet · 2 months ago

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Scaredy Shells (Turtle Tots: Before the Rise)

@flufftober 2024 Day 12- “This is spooky.” - “Really?”

Fandom: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Chapter Summary: The boys go trick or treating for the first time.

A/N: Skipped a few days ahead to bring you all a themed chapter!!

Happy Halloween!! :)

Disclaimer: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belongs to Andy Suriano, Ant Ward, and Nickelodeon. All rights belong to them.

Mikey skipped along behind his brothers and April, swinging his pumpkin bucket beside him with each joyful step. Halloween was awesome! Mikey decided. Easily the best holiday. Oh, except for Christmas. And also Easter! And Valentine’s Day! And-

Point was, Mikey loved Halloween! Especially when this year dad said they could finally go trick or treating! They'd begged for it every year of course but dad had always said it was dangerous- even though they'd pointed out a million times everyone would be in costumes. But this year, they had April and she had a magical way of talking their dad into things they couldn’t (just one more reason she was the coolest!).

And trick or treating was everything Mikey had imagined and more! He got to dress up in a costume and get candy and see all the fun decorations everywhere!

He’d spent a long time figuring out exactly what costume to wear, since it was his first one so it had to be perfect. And after a lot of consideration he'd decided on dressing up as an orange kitty cat, complete with painted on whiskers and a tail that Donnie had rigged to gently swing back and forth. He was super proud of his new look, parading all over the neighborhood looking just like his favorite stuffed animal Klunk.

It had taken a few attempts for him to get used to the whole ‘taking candy from strangers’ thing but now he was easily the best trick or treater ever! Especially when, early in the night an old woman had started cooing over how cute he looked in his costume and slipped him an extra piece of candy. That had blown Mikey’s little mind more than square pizza! But it wasn’t a fluke, because it happened again a few houses later, Mikey receiving an extra handful of candy along with a sharp pinch on his cheek.

That’s when it had clicked in his head that this was something he could milk and quickly started hamming up his already natural cuteness. He batted his eyes up at the humans, overemphasized the lisp from his missing front tooth, and sometimes even put on a little show as he meowed and pretended to lick his paws like a real cat. And the humans fell for it hook line and sinker! Mikey’s bucket was soon overflowing with candy, while the rest of the fam were barely scraping halfway.

Which Leo was not happy about at all. “It’s not fair, why do you keep getting more candy than us?” the slider whined for probably the fifth time that night, stomping his foot and trying to look annoyed. Which ended up just looking silly thanks to the bright blue unicorn costume he was wearing. Colorful rainbow manes and bubbly blue horns were just impossible to take seriously, Mikey decided.

“Guess I’m just better at trick or treating than you,” Mikey bragged, shooting his big brother a teasing grin.

“Are not!” Leo snapped.

“Then why do I have more candy than everybody else?”

“Uhhh because you keep playing the baby card on all the humans!” Leo assessed with a roll of his eyes. “Which is totally cheating by the way.”

“Me? Cheat?” Mikey said, feigning innocence, blinking impossibly big eyes up at him. “Wha dwo you mean big bwover?”

“You’re doing it right now!” Leo shouted, flabbergasted.

“Dwoing wha?” Mikey asked, totally doing it.

Leo groaned before looking to his eldest sibling for backup. “Raph tell Mikey to stop cheating!”

Raph looked back at them with a puzzled look. Mikey knew he hadn’t been paying attention since he’d been huddled with Donnie for the last few minutes exchanging candy. Since Raph couldn’t have peanut butter and there were a bunch of flavors Donnie wouldn’t eat it only made sense they would be the ones swapping treats with each other. Which was good because Mikey wasn’t giving up his horde for the world!

“What’s Mikey doing?” Raph asked, hand still buried deep in his bucket. He was dressed up as a pink bear with an adorable heart stitched into its belly, which Mikey had approved of instantly. Because if there was one thing Mikey would relate Raph to, it was a big cuddly teddy bear. He’d even said that he and Mikey were matching since they’d both dressed up as their favorite plushies which had made Mikey giggle.

“I believe Nardo is once again complaining about our youngest brother’s skill in acquiring more candy than him,” Donnie answered dry, carefully examining a piece of chocolate like it might be poisonous or something. It was so weird to see someone dressed as the Lou Jitsu acting so emotionless about everything but, well, Donnie had called double dibs after Leo so that’s the way it was. Not even Leo was gonna disgrace the sacred rule of dib calling!

Raph frowned in annoyance, rolling his eyes so hard Mikey was surprised they didn’t stick. “Cool it, Leo. Just let Mikey do his thing,” Raph said absentmindedly, going back to digging through his bucket.

Leo huffed, frustrated, pouty lip firmly in place.

Normally Mikey would leave it at that but well, gloating felt really good right now so… “Yeah Leo. Just let me do my thing,” Mikey repeated with more than a little sass.

Leo opened his mouth to retort but right then April blurted, “Next stop! Get your trick or treating faces on, boys!” and he had no choice but to let it go. Still looking none too happy about it, though.

April had the most experience trick or treating so she stayed in the lead, guiding Mikey and his brothers through her sure-fired Halloween routine, one she had perfected over several years. She knew exactly which neighborhoods to hit up, which houses were candy gold-mines and which were stingy jerks. She navigated each area with expertise that could only come from a professional trick or treater. If Mikey wasn’t already the best at it, he’d probably think he had so much to learn from her.

She had dressed up as a witch this year, complete with a big pointy hat and broomstick which she kept using to point at stuff whenever she felt the need to explain something to the brothers. Mikey had offered to be her cat (even though he was pretty sure witches didn’t have orange cats) and she’d giggled and said she’d love that, which made Mikey beam sunshine.

They all got their candy from the next house (Mikey with a few pieces extra, hehe) and then continued on their way, April leading them across the street and into a more secluded neighborhood. Only she suddenly paused with a jolt, turning to all of them with a strained smile and suddenly declaring, “Okay so crazy thought but we’ve done plenty of trick or treating for one year, right? So how’s about we wrap up for the night and head back to the Lair to watch some Halloween specials or something, huh?”

Instantly everyone was protesting, Mikey included. Sure he barely had any room left in his bucket but he was still having way too much fun to stop now! It only happened once a year, he wanted to experience everything!

“Okay, okay,” April finally conceded, once the boy’s voices started overlapping each other. She still seemed hesitant for some reason but she finally continued to walk, muttering, “Just… don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

It didn’t take long before Mikey and his brothers learned what April had meant by that because they soon came upon the most terrifying sight Mikey had ever seen in his few short years of life. It was a house, old and decayed and practically falling apart, ghosts and ghouls and all manners of spooks hung from windowsills and scaffolding. The late hours of the night seemed to bathe the whole building in menacing shadows that left a chill down Mikey’s spine. There were gravestones scattered all over the front yard- with spooky sounding names written on each one- a literal cemetery standing between them and candy.

But the worst of it all was the creepy looking man sitting on the front steps, wearing a black cloak and a bloodstained mask, the bowl of treats perched in his lap as if he was standing guard over it.

Mikey gulped and ducked behind Raph to hide, while the others stared up at the creepy mansion in varying levels of wide-eyed fright.

“April, what the heck is this?!” the snapper squeaked.

“That would be the Dooley house,” April replied, her voice low and dripping in menace and dramatic tension. It instantly put Mikey on edge. “The rest of the year it's a nice normal house in a nice normal neighborhood. But on Halloween night, the curse comes to life! Gravestones rising from the ground, showing all who have perished in its halls!” Mikey chirped once in distress, ducking his head into his shell and wishing it was soundproof, he didn't want to hear anymore.

“At least that's my theory,” April continued neutrally and Mikey breathed a sigh of relief. Oh good, no more scary story, they could just keep walking and forget all about-

“Soooo, what's with the guy in the mask?” Leo asked, trying to sound normal but it shook a little. What, no?! They were supposed to be leaving!

“Oh yeah, he's also part of the curse,” April explained, sounding way too calm about the whole thing. “He shows up on Halloween and sits right there, waiting to grab any trick or treaters who try and take his candy.”

“And why are the Dooley's allowing him to sit on their porch and frighten young children all night?” Donnie asked skeptically.

“Would you wanna tell the guy covered in blood to leave?” April retorted.

“...Touche.”

“W-What happens if he catches you?” Raph asks in a small voice, the only one here who sounded as scared as Mikey felt.

“Dunno. Probably something bad though.”

Mikey whimpered and fought back the urge to tuck the rest of his limbs inside. Instead he reached blindly for Raph's hands, seeking comfort from his big, cuddly protector. He felt Raph grab on tight and squeeze, which did make him feel a little bit better. Enough that he cautiously peeked his head out of his shell and glanced up.

Yep. Still towering, still terrifying.

He took a step closer to Raph.

The twins and April were still talking, none of them in any hurry to get far, far away from the apparently cursed and very dangerous building. In fact, it almost sounded like they wanted to actually go over there. Which was just crazy!

And even crazier, Raphie wasn't telling them no!

They saw the scary thing already- fulfilled the whole Halloween spirit deal- they were all good and scared, now was the part where they were supposed to leave!

“I don't like it here,” Mikey blurted, hoping his power as youngest brother might win them over. “This is spooky.”

All eyes immediately turned to him and he didn't bother to hide his discomfort, shifting anxiously from foot to foot.

“Really?” Leo was the first to respond, eyebrows raising and- wait, why did he look so smug? “Sooo does that mean you're not going over there to get your candy.”

Mikey shrugged, face hot despite the chill in the air. It wasn’t working, starting to cross the line into embarrassing.

“That's okay, bud you don't have to,” Raph reassured, patting him once on the head.

“Yeah,” Leo agreed. Only to add, “It just means you aren't the better trick or treater after all and a scaredy shell.” he shrugged, looking quite proud of himself. “But y’know, no biggie.”

“Leo!” Raph and April both snapped at the same time Mikey yelled, offended, “I'm not a scaredy shell!”

“What?! I said it wasn't a big deal.” Leo’s innocent grin did nothing to dissuade the two oldest, if anything it only made them glare harder.

“I'm not a scaredy shell,” Mikey repeated, puffing out his cheeks like a chipmunk. An adorable kitten-turtle chipmunk. “I-I could get the candy if I wanted to.”

“Oh yeah, prove it,” Leo said, tone landing somewhere between joking and challenging, leaving Mikey firmly in the middle of the two. He decided he didn't like either one.

Mikey looked back at the house, towering and menacing. He looked at the gravestones. At the stranger sitting on the steps, waiting. At the bowl of candy. He let out a breath through his nose before saying, “Fine”-

-and took off running.

“Mikey!” four voices yelled behind him but he didn't focus on them.

He didn't focus on the gravestones lining the path either or the fear pounding loud in his eardrums or the horrifying man he was running straight for, because all of those things would lead to him chickening out.

So he just kept running.

He was at the steps much faster than it felt, time getting weird and wonky thanks to the panic coursing through Mikey’s veins. The next few seconds happened almost in slow motion as Mikey reached a hand into the bowl, grabbing the first piece of candy he could, only for Leo to then grab him, wrapping both arms around his waist. Raph appeared next, grabbing both of them, and that was when the stranger turned.

He moved towards them in an awkward, jerky manner, eyes blinking red and a haunting laugh bellowing from deep in his throat. Mikey shrieked, as did his two brothers, terror freezing him in place as he looked deep into the stranger’s horrible glowing eyes, nearly going limp with fear.

He felt Raph start to scoop him up off the ground- snapping him out of his trance- and in the split second Mikey had to react he grabbed the entire bowl of candy. Then he and Leo were both whisked over Raph’s shoulders as the snapper turned tail and ran.

From his position Mikey watched as the stranger waved a clawed hand around the exact place Mikey had just been, still laughing maniacally as he did. Mikey gulped and buried his head in the soft fur of his brother’s costume so he wouldn’t have to see anymore.

There was yelling and screaming and general panicking from his brothers and pseudo-sister as they fled the scene, Mikey not daring to look up until Raph finally came to a stop a few blocks away from the house. April and Donnie caught up with them a moment later, panting and gasping for air, so his big brother must have left them in a trail of dust in his haste to get away.

They all took a moment to just catch their breath, Mikey and Leo still held in Raph’s gentle grip, the box turtle feeling his heart pounding against his ribcage painfully.

But then someone laughed. A giggle. From Leo of all people.

Mikey and the others all looked at him like he had six heads, but Leo just kept laughing. “We did it! We survived!” he suddenly shouted, grinning bright.

And then Raph snorted and started laughing too. And then April started in with her own giggles. And then Donnie. And surprisingly even Mikey started to chuckle a little. It really couldn't be helped since Leo’s laughter was more contagious than the rat flu.

Surprisingly though, Mikey started to feel relief from all the sudden laughter and it steadily grew in volume, all the worry and stress just melting off of him in waves. Soon everyone was laughing hysterically, wiping tears from their eyes and clutching sore stomachs.

“That was terrifying!” Mikey shouted, between gasps for air.

“I don't think I've ever been more scared of anything in my life!” Raph added, smiling big and dumb.

“Then why are we laughing?” Donnie asked cluelessly, trying to reign in the giggle fit.

“That's the magic of Halloween, dude!” April exclaimed wistfully. “Sometimes it's fun to get scared!”

Mikey wasn't sure about that- he would probably get a few nightmares from this- but April was almost never wrong so he figured he'd take her word for it.

“Did you manage to score any candy, Mike?” Raph asked and Mikey nodded.

“Actually I managed to grab…” Mikey proudly held the bowl high over his head like a trophy. “All of them!”

There were whoops and screams and congratulations from the others, even Leo surprisingly cheering for his little brother. The slider stood up in Raph’s arms, one foot perched on his shoulder and a hand raised in a dramatic hero pose, which only looked hilarious since he was still dressed as a unicorn.

“Oh yeah! Take that you ugly, mask-wearing jerk!” Leo declared triumphantly, causing the others to start laughing again.

“Sooo does this mean I’m the better trick or treater, after all,” Mikey asked cheekily.

That seemed to remind Leo of the earlier incident, eyes flashing with regret while the rest of him stayed frozen and unresponsive. He flopped back down in Raph’s arms, trying to hide his flush of embarrassment as he picked at a loose string from his big bro’s costume. “Um, yeah, maybe.”

“Maybe?” Raph pressed, shaking Leo once in his arms to try and encourage more out of him.

Leo frowned, but finally relented. “Alright, fine. Yes. You might be a little better than me at this one thing.”

Mikey beamed, pride swelling big and golden in his chest. That’s all he’d wanted to hear.

The group decided to head back to the Lair after that, eager to enjoy their spoils of a successful night of trick or treating. April excitedly put on her favorite spooky movie, which Mikey was hesitant about until he saw the animation which April called “claymation”. It was really cool and unique and Mikey spent most of the movie just watching the way the characters and things moved, wondering if he could ever replicate it.

But then he felt a tap on the shoulder and reluctantly shifted eyes away from the screen and onto his blue brother. Leo was blushing, his cheeks nearly the same shade as his stripes, holding out a piece of Mikey’s favorite candy, not from their pile of sweets from the earlier heist but from his very own bucket.

Mikey grinned and eagerly accepted the gift, before doing the same for Leo, offering a chocolate bar the both of them loved. Leo looked touched, taking the king-sized bar with a lopsided smile.

Mikey scooted closer so he was leaning against his big brother’s side, finally peeling off the wrapper and devouring the whole bar in two bites. Leo wrapped an arm around him, absentmindedly eating his own snack and watching the movie.

Mikey cuddled closer, resting his cheek against his brother’s shell, and grabbed another candy from the pile, settling in for a long night of spooky movies with his family.

Yep, Halloween really was the best.

#flufftober2024 #day 12 #my writing #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #save rottmnt #unpause rottmnt #rottmnt fanfiction #turtle tots #michelangelo hamato #happy halloween #spooky season

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noras-dc-shenanigans · 2 years ago

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Parents | Discovery

‘Okay. Don’t panic, Danny, no need to panic, your parents just saw you transform into Phantom and now think you’re possessing yourself and are chasing you with a giant cannon that will rip out your ghost half which would kill you for real. It’s fine. Everything’s fine, don’t panic—‘

A massive explosion ahead of him cut him off, and Danny, definitely panicking, veered to the side and phased through a building to get more distance. On the street he’d left behind, the GAV screeched as it, probably, goes up on two wheels from the hard turn his dad made to try to follow Phantom.

A little time bought, Danny dived down, just under the street, and headed in the direction he thought his abandoned observatory was in. While underground travel was great for escaping, it was awful for navigation. Once he’d gone far enough he couldn’t feel the ecto from the giant cannon anymore, Danny cautiously popped his head above ground.

And groaned, because he’s way out on the edges of town, and nowhere near his hideout.

‘I have got to get a compass or something. At least then I could keep in a straight line!’

Sighing, Danny went both invisible and intangible, just to be safe, and started heading back into the city proper. He’d only been flying— slowly, cautiously, looking out for any traps— about five minutes when he heard voices.

Normally, Danny would ignore it, it’s not his business what people are doing, but the voices were coming from an abandoned building and it was like 2:00 in the morning (he thought) and well… at this point anything shady is probably ghost related, so he might as well—

And yup, there it was, the gasp of cold air. Joy.

With a heartfelt, totally unnecessary sigh, Danny veered off to the building and popped his head through a wall, still invisible. It’s took him a moment to adjust from street-lights to nothing, but then he could see what’s going on.

Only… he had no idea what’s going on.

There’s a group of people that certainly looked like they should be ghosts, but other than the faint ecto signature off one larger one…

They seemed to be human. Weird humans, but human.

The largest was dressed in all black, with a cape and a pointy cowl and his lower face being the only visible skin. The maybe-ghost was the next largest, with a red helmet and brown leather jacket over black combat clothes, and some sort of chest armor with a red bat on it.

Then there’s a slightly shorter, more slenderly built one in a skintight black suit with a blue bat and striped down his arms to his fingers. He’s got nothing but a black domino mask on, showcasing his black hair.

The next two also had dominos and black hair, though the middle one was pale and in a red armor-vest thing and tight black pants, and the shortest had darker skin and more green.

All of them were standing around Big Black, who was holding up some sort of device that was giving off noises. Judging by the arguing going on, the noises weren’t good ones. As Danny watched, another person in all purple walked out of a side room, this one appearing female with blond hair under a purple hood, a matching mask over her nose and mouth. She joined the group and said something just out of Danny’s super-hearing range, and they all responded by turning their attention back to the noisy devise.

Danny was still contemplating how to approach the situation when some instinct in him caused him to go back intangible, having involuntary dropped it earlier to concentrate on invisibility. Half a second later, a slim figure in all black, including a helmet, dropped through him. They hit the floor with a roll, and by the time Danny had shot up into the rafters all the others had taken battle stances. Big Black had some sort of shurikan thingy, Red Helmet guns, Blue Stripe two batons, Red Vest and Purple had staffs, and Green Cape a thin sword. Small Black popped out of the roll and into a fighting stance Danny had seen his mom take, so he assumed it was karate.

Somehow, most of them were staring straight at him, despite his invisibility still being up. Just to test, Danny flew sideways a few yards, and yup, they could see him somehow. He’s betting there’s some sort of tech in those masks of theirs.

For another few moments, they’re at a standmate. Then there was an explosion somewhere outside, and Danny startled enough to become visible again. There’s another big BANG! and then some screams, followed by—

“Oh come on!”

Completely fed up, Danny took off in the direction of the familiar shouting, totally forgetting about the Weird People he left behind.

Less than two minutes later, Phantom showed up in the downtown area and sucker punched Skulker in the metal face, taking the hunter ghost by surprise. He corrected himself mid-fall and shot off a bunch of lasers to distract Phantom, before beginning his very, very, very worn-out speech.

“Ghost Child! I have come to finally claim your pelt! With my new upgrades, you won’t escape me again!”

Phantom, unimpressed, rolled his eyes and shot several ecto-blasts at the annoying rogue as he retorted,

“Uh-huh, right. Remind me again, is this the fifth or sixth time this month you’ve said that? I’m thinkin sixth.”

Dodge. Spin. Shoot, shoot, dodge, shoot. Taunt Skulker into doing something stupid with his new jet pack, ice it over, suck him into the thermos before he can recover.

‘Just another day of ghost hunting.’ He thought wryly, clipping the thermos to his belt and taking off before someone can show up to shoot at him. Danny automatically headed for his house, keeping low and invisible, before stopping dead in an empty alley a few blocks away.

‘Oh. Right.’

Memories of his parents just— was it really just an hour ago? Ready to tear him apart to get to their son flooded his mind, and despite not needing to he sucked in a breath, battling the tears that popped into his eyes.

‘I can’t go home.’

The thought hit abruptly, and brutally. Suddenly, Danny found himself in the corner of the alley, behind a bunch of broken pallets. Tears streamed down his face, choked-down sobs barely escaped his mouth, and he curled in on himself, core aching in the way he imagined his heart would, if he changed back.

‘But you can’t do that anymore either, remember? Not after whatever they hit you with. It’s gone. Your human half is gone. You can’t switch back, can’t be separated again, not like that time with their weird invention. This is permanent.’

Grief, pure and thick, shuddered through Danny as he sat there, for minutes or hours or days. He didn’t care, couldn’t, not after losing so much. His humanity, his parents, his home.

All of it, gone, in just a few minutes.

By the time the Halfa’s emotion had run their course, the sky had just barely begun to lighten, and the niggling feeling that he’d forgotten something rushed back threefold when several silhouettes appeared on all sides.

‘Oh, right. The Weird Humans.’

Some part of Danny thought he should be getting up, running, fighting, something. But the larger part, the kid under the hero, the teenager who just wanted his parents, couldn’t work up the strength.

He watched, as if through a tv screen, as Big Black cautiously approached. As the others all moved in, blocked both ends of the alley and the rooftop. He stared blankly, face still hot and wet from his tears, as Big Black knelt in front of him and started talking. Danny couldn’t get his brain booted back up enough to understand, and after a few minutes BB seemed to give up.

Instead, he got closer, and closer, and then Danny was being carried away. The man was holding him gently to his chest, grip firm but not restraining. After a few moments, Danny let his head gently thunk to the man’s chest armor, and closed his eyes.

He was just— just too tired to take anything else. Two to three ghost fights a day, barely attending classes, grades dropping lower and lower as the school year drags on… passing out on top of his homework, rushing out at all time of the night, being shot at by his parents and Red Huntress and rogue ghosts.

Losing his friends, Tucker to his parent’s new job in another state, Sam to her parent’s fancy boarding school in Europe. His sister, to a college half a country away.

His parents, to their prejudice and rage.

It was all just— just too much.

Danny just wanted a break.

“It’s all right, lad. You’re safe with us.”

The voice is gruff, but gentle, and he’d been wrapped in something warm and tucked comfortingly against a chest and it’s just been so long since he felt safe he just…

He just gave in.

————

Alright, my contribution to DPxDCFamilyWeek! Just finished on time!

#DPxDCFamilyWeek #Danny phantom #dc #batman #batfam #it’s sadder then I meant it to be…#oops

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mouthsfullofsharpteeth · 1 year ago

Note

I noticed in a tag you said you had vampire Alex thoughts.

Could we hear them?

yes. yes you can. answering this days after you sent it, but thats because i had too many thoughts to properly pin down, and i wanted to be able to actually list some headcanons :>

so i have two different sort of thoughts for this, one being in a post canon setting that i've been roleplaying and am probably going to try and convert into a fanfiction format which i would post, so i can say more about that one later. but in this post i'm gonna talk about my other concept, which takes place during college in a pre-canon/alternate universe setting.

cw for animal death, violence, general vampire and canon typical stuff

alex getting turned was essentially him being a failed midnight snack. he's leaving a party that involved some of his cast and crew, he might be a little drunk and so he makes for easy prey. as alex is passing an especially dark part of the road, he get's pounced on by some hungry vamp, immediately starts freaking out, because even though alex likes horror this is still a bit much for him with no warning. he should have been dead meat, but the vampire gets attacked by something (or someone) else, giving alex the perfect chance to flee. i'm using twilight logic here too for the turning, so when his attacker becomes the attacked, some vampire blood falls into his open neck wound, and thats what kickstarts his turning.

after that, alex is holing up in his room for a few days, sick and exhausted and hurting and so so hungry, but unable to keep any food down, his body practically repelling it. at some point, he gets this urge to go into the woods, and i have this image in my head of him going completely radio silent to everyone, just off in the forest for WEEKS. no on hears from him at all, which is so unlike alex, because even though he can be bitchy sometimes, he is fiercely loyal to his friends and would never just up and disappear like this. in reality though, alex doesn't even feel like alex anymore. he's a new vampire, doesn't even know fully what's happening to him, and is inadvertently starving himself to death. he's delirious, 90% out of his mind. all the humanity gone from his eyes, just over dilated pupils and blood red irises, upper and lower canines that are too big for his mouth now, at least an inch long that poke out when he closes his lips. alex doesn't know how to hunt, doesn't know how to correctly feed, just knows he's desperate and hysterical with hunger, racing through the woods at night like an animal, holing up in the hollows of trees during the day, when he really does seem to become an animal. after all, the sun feels like fire now, sets his skin ablaze, smoke and all, and if he's human sized, he's too big to hide. so figuring out that he could shape shift into a bat was sort of accidental, but now it's what he used to protect himself from the daylight.

he catches squirrels and rabbits and mice and drains them dead, unable to stop himself from feeding in time for the small animals to survive. it tastes like trash, like the worst fast food he's ever had, and it might hold him over for a few hours, but after that, he's just as insatiable.

eventually, he would regain enough sense briefly to find one of his friends and drop to his knees begging for help, and thus begins his friends routinely allowing him to snack on them, occasionally letting him have a full meal. that stops being a thing when he finally tries tim's blood, because something about it is so different from brian and jay's human blood. something indescribably more... wild about it. aka, tim is a werewolf, and werewolf blood is even more delicious than plain human blood, and tim's wolf self was what saved alex from that vampire when he got turned, and then they fall in love later <3

i really like this au, and would be super up for talking more about it if anyone wants to hehe

#vampire alex kralie #marble hornets #alex kralie #headcanons #my writing #asks

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heartbeatbookclub · 6 months ago

Note

what are your thoughts on trans natsuki? do you actively headcanon it or is it more of a “yeah i can get behind this” thing?

I personally don't have any super strong opinion one way or the other. I like both cis and trans Natsuki like I like both exclusive lesbian and bisexual Natsuki. Reality can be whatever you want, that's the benefit of fiction.

This is, incidentally, why I avoided bringing up the topic of gender the one time I discussed my view on all of the girls' sexuality (and, of course, because I don't think it's particularly relevant.) I am a cis man with cis experiences (inb4 i come back to this several years later with a new gender), so I don't feel super confident or insistent on assigning any particular gender headcanons to them. I just play with the concept like I'm playing with dolls; the heavy thinking I leave to people more versed in the field than I.

I think the idea of Natsuki being trans is a very interesting concept, though, especially when you pair it with the many, many avenues of angst (and, of course, the remedies for that angst) surrounding her. When I think of the trans experience, I think of all of the logistical realities surrounding transition (one of the oldest hyperfixations i have is medicine & human anatomy/physiology so it's hard to ignore lol), and I think of the nature of identity. Natsuki has a hard time being honest with herself, and with others. She struggles to create a view for herself which doesn't revolve around all of the insecurities she has, and has a sharp outer shell as a defense mechanism to keep people from getting too close. I could see why trans people in particular might identify with that kind of struggle.

And of course I think of her support network, helping her every step of the way. I think regardless of who's what, the Literature Club would absolutely be a trans-friendly space. Monika would probably stop a club meeting dead to kick a transphobe out of the club. Sayori, despite not necessarily getting the idea off the bat, would absolutely do her best to respect your identity, whatever it is. Yuri would be very intrigued by the idea and find the different ways people express their gender identity to be liberating for her, because social expectation weighs heavy on the mind of an autistic teenage girl. Natsuki would kill transphobes with hammers. (Do you think this would be enough for Mr. [BIG SHOT] Tumblr CEO to ban me?)

Alright, maybe that was a little corny there at the end, but I feel like for as unfortunate as the beginnings of the idea of trans Natsuki are (I remember when the game first came out, and I mostly used Twitter and Reddit as opposed to here. Dark times...), the fandom has really taken charge on terms of making some really nice things out of it. That feels sort of...odd coming out of my mouth, given my gender identity, but it's my honest opinion.

I've made comments before about trans MC, and I really do think that is a neat idea to more thoroughly flesh out a character for them that isn't just a thick-headed redditor. I actually do have a good few thoughts for a direction to take that idea, but...the Coil calls I'm afraid.

I might post misc thoughts on it at some point though.

#asks #musings #i'm avoiding main tags because i dont consider my thoughts on the subject particularly constructive #dont ever let me discourage you. you can do whatever you want forever.

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quartzroolz · 2 years ago

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Fuck it Rider run through rankings

welp, this is it. My magnum opus. Back in 2023, I decided it was a great idea to watch through every Heisei kamen rider season and keep this post as a little tribute to my journey. well, that fell apart, because I eventually decided that "oh, 25+ years of karate bugman isn't enough, let shoot for the full 50+". so this is it. my opinions on every season of kamen rider, ever, without exceptions, updated as I finish seasons. Original Description: OK so, I have decided to go through kamen rider from start of heisei to end of heisei, in order. Kuuga to Zi-O. And I already Regret it but here goes a long form attempt at consolidating my feelings on this stupid fucking franchise. Currently Watching: Showa: 1971 (part 2: Nigo) Heisei: Decade Reiwa: Gavv

KAMEN RIDER (1971) EPISODE 1-13

Here it is. the one that started it all. so In part for digestibility (the original kamen rider series is 98 episodes long) and in part because of factors I will doubtless get into, I have made the decision to tackle 1971 as multiple parts. the main reason, aside from aforementioned digestibility, is that 1971 changes a lot over those nearly 100 episodes.

as it stands, episodes 1-13 are the bits of kamen rider which everyone who has watched the original series agree are great. this is because, put simply, its what the show was meant to be. those 13 episodes are the purest version of Shotaro Ishinomoris' vision for the character and the world.

And... yeah its really good. Like its shocking how good the series is off the bat, for something 50 years old at this point. The action is fun and mostly well filmed, and the sometimes herky-jerky techniques employed to sell the super-heroics really work. Its also really violent. like its still a "kids show", I don't think I would be worried about younger people watching it even now, but like... people die pretty frequently and in a few cases quite gruesomely. The extent of how horrific it can be is undercut by the interesting and creative ways by how its chosen to be depicted but like... there are man-eating scorpions in this show that disintegrate people and its legitimately pretty horrific, especially when put into the mindset and context of 1971 in japan.

thematically its on point too. so much of these episodes go to hongo dealing with the loss of humanity in his transformation into a cyborg. its genuinely effective and evocative. the tragedy of hurting a child when he goes to comfort them cannot be overstated.

maybe the one factor I think is potentially lacking is costume design on the Kaijin, but I also acknowledge that we have been spoiled by modern techniques in that regard. for the time, most of them are pretty good and evocative with this designs. only really weak links are in the last couple episodes, especially Tokageron who is so clearly a case of "we need another episode to fill time, heres a half finished costume".

and... yeah, as to why they needed that extra episode and why I am only doing the first 13 episodes here and splitting 1971 into multiple parts. during these first 13 episodes, Hiroshi Fujioka, the actor playing Takeshi Hongo, was doing his own stunts, both in and out of the kamen rider suit. however, during filming for... probably episode 11 but I dont know if there is any conformation on that, a bad motorcycle accident took fujioka out of commission for an extended amount of time. episodes 11, 12 and 13 where completed using a combination of reused footage, and Takeshi Hongo doesnt even appear in person until the closing shots in 12 and 13. behind the scenes, this was taken as an oppertunity to heavily rework the show as well, as Kamen rider had been receiving complaints from parents on the content, which lead to changes in the next batch of episodes, 14-51, and overall the rest of the franchise moving forward.

overall... I mean its got to be a 9/10 on this doesn't it? its the purest, most unrefined version of an IP I love. its the bit that gets remade every time they decide to remake Ichigo. its the bit that The First and Shin draw on the most directly, and its probably the most foundational part of so much of the Henshin hero genre. and most importantly, ITS STILL GOOD. it is still worth watching, still worth checking out.

KAMEN RIDER (1971) EPISODE 14-52

it took me a while to complete this batch of episodes because, while 1971 is still good and Takeshi Sasaki as Hayato Ichimonji is a great replacement for Hiroshi Fujioka as Takeshi Hongo... but its also where kamen rider starts to drag a little. Like this show has 98 episodes and no over-arching stories. some more modern seasons, with only 50 episodes and more long-term storytelling suffer from dragging and being slow, and 1971 is double that.

like to be clear: its still really solid. this second batch of episodes goes lighter and funnier, introducing a larger supporting cast which includes a set of stupid idiot bimbo girls who hang around with Hayato and I love them so much, as well as Taki who is functionally 1971s secondary protagonist/rider, hanging around and helping out in more episodes than either of the actual leads combined. we get introduced to the Tachibana racing club as a location which serves as the origin for Home-bases in the franchise, which is fun. also, the monsters are pretty decent. theres less that specifically stick out in this batch, but as shockers plans grow ever more cartoony in-line with the new tone, the monsters get more interesting. in this batch we also get 2 main commander-type figures, being colonel Zol who I liked a lot and Dr. Shinigami who I do not as much. Like Shinigami has the Menace and gravitas but hes an old man with weird ill-defined powers who spends half of his time in a wheelchair.

finally, towards the end we get a few episodes with Hayato and Takeshi hanging out and fighting together and its always a lot of fun. the two have an undeniable chemistry and I love them a lot.

overall I think the second part of the series is fun but it lacks the weight of the early show and suffers for it. still highly recomend, but I would say its lesser overall than what came before.

KUUGA (2000)

kuuga is the best season of Kamen Rider I have seen. Its not my favourite, but its basically as close to "Objectivly perfect" as this dumb bugman franchise gets.

the characters are likable, the plot is well structured, Godai and Ichijou are gay as hell and I love it, The Mystery works really well, the action is well choriagraphed and outright brutal on occasion (y'all who have seen this show know exactly the occasion I am talking about), and it is paced really well.

if I have to compalin about anything, and I probably do, yeah forms are spaced out a bit weird and if your watching in the modern age the gurongi are subtitled which might hurt your experience somewhat (It didnt for me but I can see an argument).

9/10, amazing show.

AGITO (2001)

I would like to give a solemn Apology to the Agito stans: I don't like this show, and I honestly do not get why some people do. Yes, the suits are really cool with all of the mechanical stuff they can do, like Agitos horns or Gills mouth, etc. but as for the actual Plot itself... its painfully slow, the mystery aspect is boring and poorly executed, and the show meanders around for the majority of its run.

Shoichi regains his memories briefly midway through the show, just to basically imediatly lose them again, delaying any actual story progression even further. Ryo Spends 4 episodes (a month IRL time) dead in a river, and once again it really goes no-where.

Now I do like G3. I think its hilarious that the G3 Armour is literally in the wrong show. I like Hikawa (even if hes just Diet coke Ichijo from Kuuga) and I think that actually tying back the story of Agito to Kuuga is cool and something I wish rider would do more.

I also think the show picks up significantly once another Agito is introduced and the plot gets going. problem is at that point the majority of the season is already gone and potentially interesting character arcs and stories are speedran. whats there is good, I just wish it started earlier and lasted long.

3/10. sorry agito stans. glad you like this one, it aint for me.

Ryuki (2002)

Ryuki is the season of all time. its... kind of similar to agito, which is strange because I actually ended up liking this one. I think this works because its the first time Rider did a season where everyone, sans main Character Shinji Kide/Ryuki, is a massive prick, and that works because your going to see all of these characters die on screen so that helps soften the blow.

which is not to say that Ryuki suffers from unlikable characters, even the most detestable characters (exceptions of Gai and Ouja not withstanding) have moments which help humanise them.

pacing wise, yes, it kinda has the agito problem where the main plot happens all in one go right at the start and right at the end and the middle is mostly kinda filler, and I do think that if ryukis time had been used better we could have seen all 13 riders in the actual tv show, rather than relegating Femme, Ryuga and Verde to the Alternate ending movie, but its not a huge deal really.

also, the Mirror monsters almost certainly gave some japanese kids nightmares and I count that as a good thing. Mirror monsters, while their designs can be kinda so-so, are a wonderfully scary concept. Consider how often there are Mirrored or reflective surfaces in your day to day life. the extreme paranoia the concept conjures is wonderful

Final score, 7/10. Ryuki could do a lot better in some places (and was, in seasons like geats and also Dragon Knight or so I hear? IDK not watched dragon knight yet) but for what it is it is more than solid.

Faiz (555) (2003)

Faiz is one of the less talked about entries within the western sphere of the fandom... which is Fair. I think Faiz is an OK season but I did find myself tiring with it. the suits are rad but none of the characters ever really stuck, Powerups are often barely utilised which raises the question of why have them in the first place and like... Yeah IDK it just never really Gel for me.

the ending kind of comes out of no-where as well, plus I think (Spoilers) MURDERING A CHILD FOR SHOCK VALUE at the end is bad writing and was not very fun. Kiba becoming a major villain also felt forced as his fall from grace and redemption happen very quickly just do not feel congruent with his character up to that point.

I think my biggest Faiz Takeaway is the surprise that this is japans favourite season? this kind-of-just-ok entry into a franchise which has far better and more re-watchable entries? this?

(also this is not the fault of faiz but DO NOT FIND YOURSELF READING ORPHENOCHS AS A TRANS ALAGORY, WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE. I acknowledge that this is a me thing, it was almost certainly not what the writters where going for... but Damn Sweaty that aged.)

so its like a... 5/10? that feels right. am I maybe lowballing the ranking for the sake of a "haha kamen rider 555 is a 5 out of 10" joke? maybe but honestly I just did not feel this one.

Blade (2004)

Frankly all I can say is that blade sure is another Early Heisei series. I don't want that to come off as bad or negative, its not meant that way, but once you have watched from agito to here back to back you start to notice how repetitive things feel in terms of pacing and story.

not to say that anything about blade is actually that bad, however, I did end up quite liking this series even if the hostility between its main characters got really grating at times. like seriously guys, can we go 5 episodes without someone being labelled a traitor or evil?

also on negatives, Kenzaki is kind of a wet cloth of a protagonist. Hes not bad, I do like him, but Hes far from the most interesting MC the series has produced. luckily this is made up for with the supporting cast, all of whom are great characters. Tachibana and Hajime especially are compelling secondary Main characters and I did really want to see them happy.

on the subject of happy, the one thing that always has to come up in blade discussion is the ending, which while I pretty imediatly picked up on other ways the characters could have resolved it the second they found out about the whole "the joker cant be the last undead standing" thing (Mutsuki just mcfucking use remote on shima before you defeat the catagory King of diamonds, then you wouldnt have had to go through any of this shit) I do feel that, with how the series plays out, its ultimately the best ending the characters could have hopped for. its not perfect, but it means that everyone gets to live, and despite what I know about the post series novels, I do firmly beleive that, yes, one day Kenzaki would figure out a way to defy their fate.

oh and one other thing. I dont like Chalices design. or, rather, I guess, I do like it but it feels weird to find out that chalice is visually just the catagory ace of hearts undead despite looking nothing like any other Undead in the show. it kinda reaks of contrivance and I dont like it, but honestly its fine all things considered.

7/10. Good show, enjoyable, but god I want early heisei to stop repeating itself.

Hibiki (2005)

Oh Hibiki, I was so torn on how to talk about this fuckass seasons. Because, like... heres the thing. This should be easy. This should have been a 10/10. This season should have been the second coming of kuuga, and for 30 episodes it was... and then it happens.

Hibiki is infamous for its production history, with the entire creative team being fired and replaced around episode 30, with the new team being sent in by toei to make the show "more kamen rider". And thats the problem.

Hibikis first half is brilliant because it breaks so many series rules. Its different, its fresh, its so cool. The tone is so different from anything that came before. Being a rider in this season isn't a great thing, its a job. More than any other season Hibiki is a coming of age story, one where we watch the shows real main character, Tag-along kid Asumu, grow into an adult. The characters are charming and grounded. The world of Hibiki is steaped in a level of fantastical realism which sets it apart from anything else. Fights take place in the Forests and natural areas rather than cities and quarries. Its all just perfectly different enough to be unique

And its great. Its so good. Its near perfect. And then the writers change. and the show gets bad. its gets so bad that for me it tainted the first half of the show. gone is any of the creativity or freshness of the series. Now Hibiki feels like any other rider season. And thats what killed it for me. My response to Hibiki as a whole is driven purely by an emotional response to its last 18 episodes, but its a rough 18, and frankly and 18 I have no desire to ever experience again.

To give the second half its due, the Movie is pretty decent and the final episode actually kinda sticks the series's thematic landing despite the majority of the second half fumbling most aspects. I can believe that it ends how it was always going to, even if characters like Kiriya would not and should not have been there.

If you only watch episodes 1-30 (and the movie fuck it) then Hibiki is an easy 9.5/10. Top Tier season. But that's not Hibiki. Hibiki is the full 48+movie run. and that full run is, to me, and I am sorry to say this, a 1/10. Maybe 1.25 due to sticking the landing on the ending.

Writing about Hibiki makes me sad. I hate this season because I loved this season, and I just hope what comes after can get me past this massive blemish.

Kabuto (2006)

god finding a gif for this one was hard, given I am reliant on the tumblr gifs feature and most people seem to have been simping for the hell twins which like... fair tbh.

Kabuto is a very good season, working pretty heavily on a pure "cool" factor because like... yeah the kabuto riders are kinda inherently cool. cast off, as an idea and an in universe mechanic are amazing and the clock up idea is brilliant. this show, from 2006, made on the budget of, well, a kamen rider season, achieves some stunning speedster action sequences that surpass some higher budget productions (I am looking at the CW flash here, to be clear).

kabutos story is a little slapdash, its kinda all just happens at the end and there's not a huge build up but it also really doesn't matter. the cast is excellent and that carries the show. again, operative word here is "cool" and thats really all that matters.

all of that about it being "cool" said though... I think it suffers in hindsight. I am gonna ignore the potentially problematic aspects of the depiction of the Worms and the Native, "aliens as allegory" being a well documented minefield and to be fair Kabuto never really goes there. no I think the real hindsight problem is Geats. Because frankly for as good as Kabuto is, and it is good, Geats is "Kabuto, But better, and cooler". Its not really fair to look at it that way but like... that is how it feels. then again when it takes 18 years to do better than this I guess that is acheivement.

8/10. Souji Tendo is a Mary Sue (complimentary) and gods Favourite child. and he deserves it.

Den-O (2007)

you know the most frustrating part of watching a highly popular and loved season of TV? when it really is that good.

Den-O is revolutionary. Its lighter, its funnier, its more actively episodic, it more or less sets the tone and style which would later be picked up by W. its defiantly a prototype for that style, and theres still some of the more infuriating aspects of early heisei present here, but overall den-O is the first time I saw aspects of what I like In later kamen rider manifest in early heisei.

and Thats great, because it gives Den-O an identity, unlike Blade or Faiz, because even if I liked those seasons they where so samey. Den-O is fresh, its new, and its all carried by an extended cast of fun side characters.

the taros (and also Seig and Deneb) are great. They are all very simple, almost archetypical characters, but they all bring something fun to the group dynamic. obviously Momotaros is the standout, probably having the most defined Characterisation out of the bunch, but all of them are very enjoyable characters to watch and follow.

RYOTARO IS A GIRLFALIURE. HES GREAT. we need more cringe fail rider protagonists to balance out the borderline Mary sues like Tendo and Ace. but hes also a compelling MC and fun to watch.

the story does bog itself down a little right at the end and I do kinda wonder what was going on with some parts. its not that they are not explained but the ending is maybe a little quick to wrap up. still, theres a decade and a half of postseries to clear that up, which I am eagerly awaiting to watch.

8/10. Ore Sanjou indeed

Kiva (2008)

Kiva, Kiva, Kiva. How I wish you where better. This is probably the show with the most interesting premise I have seen so far. The Main story is set across a 22 year time gap, with one half being set in the past of 1986 and the rest being set in the (then) present of 2009. Thats a really cool idea, and it bolstered by the Castlevania/Gothic horror aesthetic of everything. The Kiva suit is really cool (albeit notoriously heavy, resulting in the need to the final form to debut early), the Fangire as monsters are a really nice concept design wise, Being styled after Stained Glass windows which is such a rad concept. the only problem is that the actual main character SUCKS!

Ok Lemme just step back a bit. Wataru, the Main character of the 2009 section, the Person who is the titular "Kamen Rider Kiva", is fine. pretty likable actually. No the problem is his dad, the main character of 1986, Otoya. Otoya is a creep, Hes a Womaniser, Hes a Perv, He Gaslights 1986's secondary Protagonist Yuri into being in love with him Taming of the shrew style then dumps her for a WOMAN WHO IS ALREADY MARRIED (albeit to a different abusive asshole) and who is also A FANGIRE! I think Otoya might be the most despicable Character Kamen rider has dug up, which would be one thing, but the biggest Issue is that he is a creep and most of the plot is love triangles.

and these repetitive, boring and occasionally creepy (Jirou tries to Assault Yuri at one point, which is ick and also kinda feels out of character, more on that later) Love Triangles never really stop, and drag on, and frankly it was the most tedious watch ever.

no I do like somethings in this show. the Arms Monsters are all fun characters and I really liked Jirou as a character, I thought he was fun for the most part and kinda cool. issue is that, once Otoya gets in range, everyone in this show has a % chance to be corrupted into as much of a creep as he is. Jirou was always Kinda weird about yuri from his intro, but the moment Otoya starts his beef with Jirou the man just falls off and becomes as bad as his opponent.

In general I think the Present cast is stronger than the past one, mostly because no Otoya (apart from that one time)... but also once again, Kiva only knows tedious love triangles so the Wataru V Taiga over Mio arc is long and drawn out and dull. again, this series has one level, and its love triangles, and they all kinda suck.

Despite ALL I have said above, I will say the final arcs are a lot of fun... mostly because of how stupid they get. Time travel is re-introduced, because that will certainly help us clear up our plot, and Wataru goes back in time to Commit self-abortion by making sure his parents never bone, which is frankly a hilarious setup and it leads to some really fun interactions and briefly even makes Otoya borderline likeable, which is then immediatly followed by the final arc where Wataru Gets dripped out of his Goard and there are some really fun action sequences.

if it wasnt as necessary for the story as it is, I would recomend kiva with all of the 1986 sections edited out... but that is a terrible idea as in a lot of way the 1986 story is more of the main story than the 2009 story. with that in mind... its got to be a 4/10, right? I wanted to like it, Kiva has a sick as fuck design... but its not good. its really not good. Fuck Otoya Kurenai. All my Homies Hate Otoya Kurenai

G (2009)

ok wtf do I even say about G? that its shockingly good for a 15 minute special designed to celebrate TV Asahi's 50th anniversary? that its so ridiculous that I burst out multiple times? that I think the idea of the driver is legitimately cool and I kinda wish this was a full series for that alone? That I kinda Love G's Design unironically? that the villain is gonzo nuts and its great?

IDK there isn't really anything to analyze here. Its a short special that has only ever aired like once because of complicated legal stuff with the actors agency. its fun, its fast, if you like kamen rider already theres no real reason not to check it out for the bit, I mean... its good?

like 7/10 but also, again, 15 minute short. that 7 does not mean nearly the same thing it does for a proper series. I know Fuck all about SMAP btw, sorry if you where expecting more.

W (DOUBLE) (2009)

I have like 3 go to series which I use to introduce new people to Rider, and the one I think I personally am Happy re-watching the most is W. Yes, its very episodic. Yes, because of this the background plot ends up getting resolved in 2 episodes ultimately. Yes, Akiko can be really annoying sometimes. Yes. I know its not perfect. I do not care.

W is pure fun. It is one of the funniest seasons the show has to offer, and also one of the most heartfelt. The show can go from sidesplitting comedy to actual serious moments in a heartbeat and it manages this without once experiencing tonal whiplash. the entire cast is likeable, the story is light and not super high stakes but fun, the individual clients that the cast encounter are great, the Music SLAPS (nobody's perfect is an under-rated rider banger IMO, love that song), and the suits are immaculate (even if most of the riders are just W retools).

speaking of other riders, the side content here is A+ too, with the WXDecade movies W portion being a really solid explanation of the backstory and giving us time with the best kamen rider who unfortunately doesn't have more screen time, and Gaia memories of fate is also just a good time, with a good set of villains and some really cool action.

also Phillip and shotaro are just funny. I love Wikipedia and crap sherlock holmes, they are great.

8.5/10. cant give better because it is not perfect but I love it.

OOO (2010)

OOO is a mess. Like, the plot changed 5 times behind the scenes kind of mess. like I hear that during the seasons development and even airing who the final boss was going to be was constantly shifting between Ankh, Date, Maki and the eventually Cut-save-for-one-canonically-questionable-movie Giru. This, like many things, I blame on Decade... because its all Decades fault. However, despite all that... yeah OOO is kinda good innit?

OOO still stands as the, objectively, best execution of the Mix-and-match Rider gimmick. OOO does not have super forms in the traditional sense, everything is just a variation on the base form, and the closest to super forms that you do get, the combos, are not very reliable long term. also, what forms the character has access to change constantly through the series based on what Medal Eiji has, meaning that you never get OOO at their full power. hell the series ends with Eiji with almost no medals, making them (debatably) the weakest they are in the whole series. its a very interesting dynamic and its something I wish would be done more often in rider. (Geats does get close and I applaude that.)

Also... you know, its just well written. I love all of the characters, Ankh is an amazing foil to Eiji, Goto and Date make fun Secondary Riders, Mr Kogami is Amazing and I love that they keep bringing the character back in unrelated media, best part of super hero senkei fight me.

yeah. OOOs good. I wish I could be more analytical with this particular season but I cant. my brain does not allow it. 8/10. great season.

Fourze (2011)

how the fuck do I talk about Fourze? Its a great season, don't get me wrong, but I think its the most uncomplicatedly "good season" I have ever seen. like its just good. its not good in and interesting way, its not good in a way that is worth talking about in any depth, its just Good.

and theres my problem, because I dont like that, I really want to have thoughts on these seasons because otherwise... what am I doing here, wasting my time writing about funny Bugmen on the hellsite. but really, fourze is just good. its got good characters, its got a good story, its got good vibes, its just good in a very uncomplicated way.

my biggest criticism, which isnt even really that much of a criticism, is because the show has to get through 40 astroswitches, a good number either never re-occur during the show or are just kinda weird and pointless in their function outside of their specific focus period. But even then thats so minor because the 40 astroswitches are never really that much of a focus and also, once again, the weird and whacky ones are just fun.

9/10. I wish I could say more, but its fourze

Amazons (season 1) (2016)

it has occurred to me after finishing Geats I should probably include the oddities in this post/run-through because even if they are not "Main seasons" they are certainly worthy of discussion (and also I do intend to include showa here at some point, even if I am not watching it yet. who knows, by the time you are reading it maybe the showa shows are included). they give us a glimpse at ideas and characters which cant be explored normally in rider, and grant potentially interesting re-interpretations of age old characters.

with all that said... I don't really care for Amazons. season 1 specifically, I have not yet finished season 2 and it was removed from amazon prime so there goes one of the few ways to legally enjoy this franchise.

on its own its fine, like I dont think this is a particuarly bad attempt at "kamen rider but adult, violent and edgy" but I do feel that ultimatly thats all that Amazons really has. its unbearable dower and dark and features so few really likeable characters. I get why its so violent, the violence was the defining feature of original Amazon and so of course with an adult re-imagining you lean into that, but it still feels really tryhard, and more than anything, just miserable.

I might come back to this particular entry at some point because Honestly I think season 1 warrants a re-watch from me and maybe I will get it more or care more for what its doing. but all that said, 7/10. its fine. if you want Violent rider this is violent rider. I just dont feel like its that much more than that.

Zero-One (2019)

Zero One was my first season, and its a pretty well loved season by the wider community. its one of my 3 go-to "if you want to get into Kamen Rider, Start here" seasons, and its the one I point too most often when that question comes up because its the most recent, and therefore has the best VFX of any of my go-tos.

so when I say that I fucking hate this season, that might come as a surprise. if I hate it, why do I recomend it?

well its simple really. Zero-One has major, Ground up Writing and stakes issues which makes it, at best, a very frustrating watch.

Death is meaningless. most of the characters who die are AIs who are revived in the very next episode with no cost, and remembering everything that happened to them prior to their death. only 1 character death, in the whole show, Sticks, and thats Wazu (I will be using Izu, Azu and Wazu because Is, As and Was would get confusing), and that episode set is ultimatly kinda unimportant and Wazu's death is forgotten, never to be bought up again.

the ending is a mess, mostly due to covid causing constant changes to the series plans, but those final few episodes are rough and I wish that the series had ended with the Ark as the main Badguy, rather than having Aruto Heelturn and then making Horobi the final boss.

also, and I try not to bring up post-series in this because its broadly unimportant, but zero-ones post season content is utter dogshit. the movie is ok, although reviving Izu not only retroactivly makes the series ending dumber but also effectively means new Izu was murdered and her body was jacked by old izu (WHICH THIS IS NEVER EXPANDED UPON, IT JUST HAPPENS), but what the hell was zero-one Others? yeah, sure, just kill off all of the interesting characters who could have had really interesting post-series stories, Lets character assassinate everyone in this show, and then lets also kill off the secondary rider in the cruellest way possible because fuck you I guess. No I am not over Fuwa, I will never be over Fuwa, but even more so I am not over Ikazuchi and Naki. those two where Criminally underused in the show, but now we will never get a chance to get more time with them. Thanks toei.

with all that having been said... IDK, Zero one is fine. its far from the worst season I have seen, and I do still recomend it as a starting point for the franchise as a whole because its a good "onboarding" point if you will. its about as basic as a rider season can get.

Despite everything I have said: 5/10

Saber (2020)

Saber is also really bad, but kind of in the same way that Fourze is really good. Its bad but I don't really have much to say about it. by all accounts, it would have worked much better as a Sentai season rather than rider given the heavy team focus and a core Red-Yellow-Blue Main trio.

Saber is largely forgettable. its plot meanders around, its characters exist, and its individual story arcs tend to just happen. its not a very interesting series, and I think that really its problem. if it was as bad as it is but in an interesting way, i would probably prefer it because at least I would get that it was trying something, but really the Series is just kind of bland.

However, its not completely pointless. The henshin jingles and standby loops are A+ tier, Special shout-outs going to Slash. Desast, while he does nothing most of the season and his existence is confusing, is a fun character and I am glad he is back in recent media (although I... haven't watched any of it yet, maybe it sucks). and, of course, the Crossover Movie with Zenkaiger is Excellent. you do not have to watch saber, but you owe it to yourself to watch that film. its a wonderful, heartfelt love letter to both franchises and I love it.

but in all... saber kinda bad. I think the biggest example of why is found in Durandal, who is introduced as this big problem... but then the moment Touma figures out his gimmick hes now nothing. while this is the biggest example, its kinda an inherent repeating problem for the whole show.

2/10. not 1 because it has some good aspects... but ultimatly I would rather be angry at a season than bored with it.

Revice (2021)

So its... kinda a catchphrase of mine to say "Revice is fine, y'all are just mean" but also like... I do Get why some people dont like it. the second half can feel strange as compared to the first, Vice is a very Abrasive character to have around for every episode, and a lot of its best aspects are in side content.

but like... man I like revice. I like its themes of Freedom VS saftey, I like how it handles the aspect that being a rider pretty universally sucks for all of its characters. I like how Morally ambiguous the majority of the cast are. I like how no-one is treated as irredeemable, even if some of them are.

and mostly I like Ikki and Vice. this season lives or dies for you based on if you like the two characters at the center of it. all of the awesome suits and interesting villains mean nothing if your main characters are not likeable. and I think these two work. they bounce off of each other well and I really like the sort of broadly unstated fact that vice is all of the parts of Ikki which Ikki rejects. Ikki is humble and selfless to a fault, mostly quite and reserved, while vice is loud and narcissistic and energetic. I think their dynamic works really well.

it also plays into a theme of the season which I really enjoy, the Idea that the characters inner demons are the parts of themselves that they reject and that they ultimately have to come to terms with those parts of themselves. by the end of the series, Ikki is a bit more like vice, and is much more comfortable with the "Vice" parts of himself (even if he doesnt know why because of tragedy and heartbreak). In comparison, the other igurashis have done the same. Sakura is much more comfortable with the parts of herself she considered weak, while not letting that over ride her kung-fu Girlboss attitude. Daiji has come to terms with his Middle-child angst and insecurities. and Genta has come to terms with the mistakes of his youth and is looking to grow past them.

revice is not perfect, its storytelling can be a mess sometimes, its barely a crossover/anniversary season, the last 4 episodes feel more like Vcines than actual episodes of the show... but Damn it Revice meant something to me. this was the first season I watched as it was airing, but even regardless it stands out to me on how well handled this was. I have yet to really dive in on post series and god I hope they dont fuck it up like they did with zero one... but For me, Revice is special.

8/10. Revice is Fine. Y'all are just mean

Geats (2022)

Kamen Rider Geats is... something else. I am writing this literal seconds after finishing the final episode, because I have known what I want to say about this season for a long time but after seeing its ending just... wow.

Put simply: Geats is the first time (as far as I have seen) since Kuuga that the show has reached this level of pure, technical "greatness". Not since Kuuga has the writing been this good, the suits this good, the fights this good. and remember, I consider Kuuga to be the best season this show has done. Geats is that good.

its rich, its deep, its beautifully shot and choreographed, Its characters are layered and interesting. Geats is a tour-de-force in terms of this franchise. I thought revice was going to be a hard act to follow but geats blew it out of the water.

I do want to stress that while I consider Geats to be up there in terms of quality, I don't necessarily enjoy it as much as other seasons. Reminder that Enjoyment and "objective" quality are frequently two different things, but I would be lying if I said that I did not also still love this season.

also Geats says eat the rich. I will not elaborate further but if you have seen the show you know what I mean.

9/10. only losing a point because the disaster arc kind of never went anywhere

Shin Kamen Rider (2023)

fuck it this counts. As of Writing this part, I have not actually seen the original 1971 Kamen Rider series. I wholly intend to some day, I just haven't gotten around to it. so please bare in mind that some stuff I have to say about this movie may just be accurate to what that show is like.

now I am going to leave the Pacing of the film alone as far as criticism goes. even though Shin deviates heavily from the source material, it is still trying to adapt the broad strokes and tone of a 90-odd episode TV show from the 70s into under 3 hours. Plus, this is nothing new for the Shin Japan Heros films, Shin Ultraman also suffered from this.

what I will criticize is the fight scenes. Hot take but like... Geats was better. a TV show with a fraction of the budget and half the development time has better fight scenes than the big budget movie. so much of the action, especially in the first half, is weirdly edited and lacks cohesion. this does pick up towards the end, and, yes, I cheered in delight when Takeshi and Ichimonji went sicko mode on the shocker riders. like audible yell of "YEAH!" chear, but again those first few fights are weird and not great to watch.

beyond that honestly pretty major criticism, the film is very good. its kind of melodramatic and dower a lot of the time but given its specifically aiming for the tone of those 14 episodes of 1971, from what I know that's fine, that's how those episodes went. Plus, I am not going to say it isnt effective. I cried, I cheered, a good time was had by all.

This is not my favourite piece of Kamen rider media. honestly I dont know If I will revisit it for a long time. it lacks a lot of what I enjoy in this franchise. that said, this is a phenomenal work. I respect if for what it attempts, and enjoy it regardless of my aversion to the style. 9/10. Kamen rider in its purest, most raw, most uncut form.

Gotchard (2023)

Geats was always going to be a tough act to follow, so when I say that Gotchard is kinda mid in comparison to its predecessors know that I still think its good. Gotchard is, for better and for worse, a lighter season. Its not taking itself too seriously, its here for a good time and it knows that. its perfectly average as a rider season and that's fine.

If there is one thing which Gotchard does excel at, its suit designs. I love Evocative Kaijin and the Malgam are damn evocative. the additional arms, the look of being made out of strips of metal. this of course continues to the main antagonists, the Abyssal kings. this is not to diminish the riders designs, Gotchards use of chrome is striking and Valvarad and Majade are both very solid designs in their own right. I think the only real costume miss is the final big bads design with his fucking HUGE tits, like holy shit Glion calm down

oh yeah, and Majade. the first Girl secondary rider. I wish she did more tbf, Rinne is very important to the story and yet also feels sidelined alot, but she is a historically important character and a big step on the way to a Girl MC for the series.

Aside from that... yeah Gotchard sure is a kamen rider season. big up for its distinction of only introducing secondary riders at roughly the mid-point, it has been a long time since there wasn't 2 riders basically from day one. Also uh... the ending is kinda underwhelming and they very much fridge all of the abyssal sisters with the half-hearted promise of "oh we will revive them in the post series its fine" which is super dumb. Did lachesis really go through all that just to die as part of Spanners character arc? Big cringe.

Gotchard gets a 6 out of 10. pure average, but average is fine and I think that if you want a fun season of kamen rider you cant go wrong with Gotchard.

Gavv Section Coming once Gavv is done and not a second sooner.

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idv-news-boi · 2 years ago

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(( *bats eyes prettily* lau x Reader ?? lau x Reader please pleas e please pleas epleaseeee ))

// I cringe at myself for this. I’ll give you a more detailed version of dating HCs instead/ih

-> Dating Headcanons

You're either incredible... Or probably a fool./ih

You caught a boyfriend who provides you a lot of media... But not too much since he keeps the very personal things very secretive for safety precautions.

This silly man is cheesy, flirty, smart, and respectful- would give you all the time in the world as long as he has a balance schedule,,,-

But there's the bad stuff too,,,- I'll start with he cons of dating headcanons of him because I want the sweet stuff last :)

If you're a human or some lifeform that can age and die, expect this man to outlive you.

Since he is a flower immortal and now he'll have to see you get older and older If the relationship somehow lasts longer. Meanwhile there's him staying the same.

If the relationship lasts longer, he's just kind of uncertain to let go at that point,,, <///3

Laurence is not the type to get jealous... So don't try too hard. He'll only get slightly sad if he finds out you're playing with his trust, though. 😔

As his s/o, is recommended to learn how to differ between flower-like language and flirting— he looks so affectionate around you, but also with his friends.... 😅

The privileges you get from dating is that he'll be way more closer to you around and super affectionate and lovely when seeing you,,. Even have 80% of his trust in this stage of relationship.

You honestly don’t have to take care of him. Despite that he may act like a golden retriever- he honestly can handle very well himself than an average person, as someone who lives in a big apartment alone yet still having it clean as he works a lot of hours.

The process of courting comes pretty slow,,, like it starts with being friends with him, allowing him to flirt with you for a few months, spend more time with him to the point you both look like you’re besties that click so well- and boom! Laurence might confess,,, If there are no restraints.

If you start the confession, Laurence would think it’s a silly trick you’re pulling,,,, especially if it’s on April or somewhere in Spring, those months are too common and probably unpredictable for his liking/ih

It’ll take few days after your confession for him to be sure you’re being sincere, like,,, love takes time for him too!!! And he’s more gentle with it surprisingly,,, ;u;

He may be half old-fashioned and half modern,,, so expect moments where he does the old-fashioned style of dating like the gentleman while still knowing what Fortnite is-/ih

If you have pets, he’ll cherish your child a lot in order to have their approval… he knows that sometimes, animal companions are protective with their guardians,,, <33

Multilingual boyfriend just sometimes trolling you by flirting with you in different languages at rare random moments, not just English-/ih

Nicknames "babe", "love", and "bae" are so unique and only used by Laurence to his s/o. That's another privilege/ih

Big listener besides being a good talker surprisingly - don't be afraid to vent! Because he wants to know how you feel and making sure you're okay. ówò

He respects your boundaries a lot as your boyfriend, so he would often ask if he can do certain activities with you in terms of showing affection or hobbies to try for consent.

Either having short or long hair, Laurence likes to brush his fingers through your hair strands,,, even likes brushing it for you or play around with it which usually ends up into some little braiding if the length makes that possible.

He spoils you with some food, either homemade or bought from some restaurant that you like.

The blondie also does bring you home things that are to your liking or a product that reminds him of you,,,

If his job is such a dear to allow it at times/ih, the Reporter would ask you if you want to travel to a different country with him whenever he’s on a business trip. Providing you a free ticket to learn a bit about foreign culture jdjdjdjjdj-

To be honest, dating him means you’re acknowledged by people from Dyanthus- there would be some point where you visit the world to look around what the nation brings in store with your boyfriend- he may not seem to allow you to live with him because things in there are tough as resident. While a guest pretty much has the freedom to have fun when visiting!

His coworkers would describe you as “Law’s boo” or “Incognito’s lover” either by respect or teasing the unbothered reporter.

The reporter obviously goes at a slower pace in the relationship as the more you learn about him, it might be his first time having an official one despite going to so many dates-

{BIT SUGGESTIVE} If you’re in the phase where you guys are comfortable to kiss a lot, well… He’s a big sucker for deep cuddles and kisses after work,,, especially him starting the passionate make out sessions-

#idv oc #identity v oc #identity v #idv oc ask blog #idv ocs #idv askblog #idv #📰// headcanons #📰// ♥️

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delugyu · 4 days ago

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finally got around to reading this!! SOOO GOOD… LEMME RAMBLE

first of all, this is seriously some of the most amazing world building i’ve seen in a fanfic. that is my #1 compliment about this fic, everything about the world is so thought out and magical. ++ so much attention to detail and backstory. i admire it a lot cause it’s really hard to do! i can’t imagine the amount of thought you put into this!! really super phenomenally well done.

i love fantasy AUs so much and this one tickled my brain just right… right off the bat there’s whimsy and lore laced in each paragraph. picturing each scene comes easily with how well you describe the settings and characters.

immediately upon taehyun’s introduction i could see that he was a complex character. a faerie with human ears, a faerie against geasa (note: had to look up what the plural of ‘geas’ was for that 😭), yet seemingly uninterested and cold towards the new human member of the team… then we learn his backstory, and that added depth to his character explains a lot about him.

the relationship building between taehyun and mc is soooo delish… his kind actions are masked with icy words, a constant since chapter one of him keeping her safe despite his coldness. also can i just say, im so obsessed with how “cold” embodies him so well: he’s from the north, so he’s both cold by nature and by choice. and what a stark contrast he is to yeonjun……. yeonjun…..,, omg do not get me started on yeonjun.

his character is probably my favorite in terms of how they’re written! this isn’t me saying i’m team yeonjun (im team #BOTH #AtTheSameTime #WaitWhoSaidThat) but he’s just sooooo… swoon-worthy 😵‍💫 from the moment he was introduced, i was smiling and kicking my feet. the amount of times i had to shut off my phone and take a breather at his lines. what a charmer.

i love that there’s something suspicious about him from the beginning, but not to the point where it’s off-putting to the mc (or to the reader). great foreshadowing!! and so easy to forget the suspicions too when he’s being so romantic and sweet. it’s a great way to show that the mc is easily swayed by romance, and that she tends to follow her heart.

where taehyun is all ice and snow, yeonjun is warmth and sunlight. it’s so easy for him to build a relationship with the mc, sunlight fosters growth. just another detail that i loved

lemme give my flowers to the beautiful gorgeous capable strong lovely mc while i’m at it… i love that she has such self-understanding. she knew she wanted more from her life than being a servant, so she became a spy. then she found love, and she knew she wanted more than being a spy. she takes herself seriously and values her own interests, which i love to see in a female character hehe 🤍

the slowwww burnnnn between taehyun and mc HELP MEEE!!! taehyun runs from love and conceals his emotions because all he’s ever known was betrayal and hurt… meanwhile mc similarly has led a life of misery, but in her case it makes her long for love and emotion. they’re so alike but so different, and each little moment where they find something to connect over… YESSSSS SIRRR!!!! A HUNDRED MORE OF THOSE!!!

i’m sooo interested that taehyun has the ability to lie… i wonder where that path is going to lead teehee. also when taehyun gets jealous my pants get wet. sorry.

super interested to see more of beomgyu too! he’s such a lovable character, i love those little moments he has with the mc. feels like there’s more in store for him and im excited to see it !!

anyway this is just so so so amazing and i’m really so excited to see what comes next. i was fr like squealing and blushing throughout all 5 chapters. (which i read in an embarrassingly short amount of time.) your writing skills are super inspiring…. i effing love you for this… accept my declaration of admiration…

sorry for this long ass review, i took a literature analysis course last semester and couldn’t shut up ever since.

i love this series so bad 😫🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

𝓘N WHICH 〃 a life lived as a human among the fae is one hard-earned. the folk are built of indescribable beauty, and of debauchery and mischief. for some, a life lived subservient to the folk is just fine; but to those who dream of something more, they would spend their lives clawing and biting to make it happen.

you, looking for a way to escape a life as a faerie’s human servant, put a new foot forward thinking that any life could be better than that. but, when your first assignment as a king’s spy is alongside a brooding, icy faerie man, you begin to wonder what your place in this foreign world really could be.

wc ➳ 93.3k﹙ and counting! ﹚

genre high fantasy/faerie, smut, angst ˒ ˒

pairings faerie!taehyun x reader, faerie!yeonjun x reader

warnings violence, death, death of animals, smut (specific tags will be listed before each chapter), childhood trauma & mentions of abuse, jealousy, controlling & yandere relationship dynamics, unprotected sex, original characters but they only last for small amounts of time & act as story catalysts, fem! reader

˒ ˒ want a look into the world? here’s the pinterest board !! ༘⋆

﹙ 🪕﹚ playlists ⑊ yeonjun ˒ taehyun ˒ series

: ̗̀﹙❆﹚𝓅arts . : ↘︎

one ˒ two ˒ three ˒ four ˒ five ˒ ...🪶

#fic recs #whyd this change my life a little #also when i saw u mooted me in the midst of my reading i jumped in the air and clicked my heels #so excited to see what’s next!

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nazmulbd00m-blog · 1 month ago

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#IFTTT #Hollywood News – FNNEWZ

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jcmarchi · 1 year ago

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How you can use AI to push boundaries in SaaS products

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/how-you-can-use-ai-to-push-boundaries-in-saas-products/

How you can use AI to push boundaries in SaaS products

My name is Juliette Denny, and I am the CEO at Growth Engineering. We create really engaging technology fueled by artificial intelligence.

Now, I know this subject can seem like traveling to an alien planet, but I’m giving you a step-by-step guide to reach lift-off!

Here’s the breakdown: 👇

Main talking points

What is AI

AI in more detail

Hollywood has warped our understanding

Business applications

Unprecedented growth

Better outcomes

What is AI?

There’s a number of different definitions of AI. But none of them define it better than this quote from Professor John McCartney.

In other words, AI represents our efforts to stimulate human intelligence through machines. AI is usually applied to automate tasks or processes to make them more efficient.

These are the more challenging tasks that humans would do, rather than easier tasks. An important thing to note right off the bat, is that AI isn’t a substitute for human activity; it augments human activity.

AI can take over tasks that would be more time-consuming for a person, like looking through legal documents to find precedents and commonality. On the other hand, things that’re easy for human beings, like walking, are very hard for AI to pull off.

Okay, so now that we’ve got the definitions out of the way, let’s dig into AI in a little more detail.

AI in more detail

Now, within the subject of AI, there are many subcategories, and we’re going to cover them in this section.

Weak/narrow AI

Typically, when people are talking about weak or narrow AI, it’s the type of artificial intelligence that’s limited to a really specific or narrow area. So, for example, we have Alpha Zero. That’s a computer system that’s basically excellent at chess. But if you were going to bet on this system in a game of Scrabble, you’d be out of luck.

General AI

This system seeks to establish a kind of intellectual agent that can learn any top tasks that humans can. In other words, it’s on par with a human ability. This has been used when assessing loan criteria, for example, whether something is low or high risk.

Super AI

As you may have guessed by the title, super AI would be something that has superseded human intelligence. The potential of these kinds of technologies is unprecedented (and potentially scary!) It’ll probably be a long time before we arrive at this point.

Machine learning

This is a subfield of the wider AI. It allows the software to learn through an algorithm so that it can complete tasks more efficiently.

Deep learning

This is a type of machine learning that uses artificial neural networks. It progressively learns from the data that’s being pushed through the neural network. This is a textbook example of AI augmenting human actions.

Hollywood has warped our understanding

Sadly (or maybe luckily!) we’re not anywhere close to Terminator 2 or Ex Machina.

Better examples

Modern-day examples of AI include things like:

Recommendation engines

Virtual assistants

Chatbox

Intelligent Search

Email filtering

Driverless cars

All of these are powered by AI. Now, we’ve highlighted some modern examples of AI, let’s look at some companies that have invested heavily in AI.

Domino’s

So, I don’t know about you, but I love pizza, but do you know what I didn’t love? Ordering pizza on my cell phone for deliveries. Often you’d be waiting there, not knowing what time it was going to arrive, wondering if they’d forgotten about it even!

What Domino’s pizzas did is they used artificial intelligence to develop a model which allowed them to predict when your pizza was going to get to you. They went from an accuracy of 75% to an accuracy of 95%. This also worked out well for Domino’s because it meant they weren’t getting as many calls.

Deutsche Bank

This company really utilizes AI in a different way. They used it to identify attractive loan clients to speed up their loan approvals. This happens as the customer is actually filling in the form, and it’s really speedy and efficient. Just think about how much manpower and how much expense banks must rack up from having to employ people to carry out those checks!

The knock-on effect has been that more people have signed up to use this process. Now, more loans are getting approved, and more business is being done.

IBM Watson

IBM Watson has a number of applications in terms of customer service. They have a smart assistant, which uses conversational AI to help resolve over 7,000 customer inquiries a day. The reason why this works is that most of the customer inquiries are the same customer inquiries, it doesn’t require human intervention, so we’re driving down the cost of delivering the service.

Real breakthroughs

Having said that, there are also really powerful examples of AI. It has the potential to engineer unthinkable technology, as well as technological and scientific breakthroughs. Because machines are able to analyze data so much quicker than mortal brains.

A good recent example would be…

Deep Mind

Deep Mind’s AI program was able to solve a problem that scientists have been trying to crack for almost 50 years. Now, I’m no protein scientist, but what a protein does largely depends on its own unique 3D structure. Understanding how different proteins can fold can really help us develop new medical treatments.

It represents a real, significant advance in human understanding. Because scientists were unable to understand how the math worked, It was estimated that it would never be known.

But of course, Alphafold came to the rescue! It’s a software from DeepMind that’s able to analyze the available data. It then develops really strong predictions of the underlying physical structure of the protein within a matter of days.

Unprecedented growth in AI

A lot of large organizations are investing in AI. If you’re a small or medium-sized business, never think that you are locked out of AI, because the reality is, there has been a huge amount of investment made by the big technology companies. And now this technology is widespread. It’s very accessible to smaller companies.

Don’t believe me? Here are some key stats on the growth of AI:

97.2% of organizations are now investing in AI (NewVantage Partners)

AI tech investment will reach $232 billion by 2025 (KPMG)

AI will contribute $15.7 trillion to the world economy by 2030 (PwC)

Why should AI be so interesting to you? Well, first…

It automates time-consuming tasks

Let’s say in customer success, for example, they’re answering the same questions over and over again. By utilizing bots, you can speed up the time that you can respond to customers.

When you usa a customer support helpline, you’ll typically encounter a bot filtering out the common questions before they put you in touch with a human being.

AI increases team efficiency

Your team is freed up from answering the same question over and over again. They can work on more challenging questions, and they can really formulate creative ways to innovate, do their jobs, and deliver value for the customer.

Is AI going to replace humans?

This is really the million-dollar question, right? But the reality is, it’s really not true at all. Robots are not going to replace humans, they’re going to make human jobs more humane.

Robots will be doing the four Ds in jobs. These are:

Jobs that are more difficult

Jobs that are more demeaning

Jobs that are more demanding

Jobs that are more dangerous

Humans get to be the superheroes

They can get creative and really focus on solving complex problems, those wonderful things robots will never be able to do. What we really should be doing is trying to advance AI and machine learning to take over stuff that we really don’t want to be doing ourselves.

What we do at Growth Engineering

The first thing is, we are not a big company. We’re working on a shoestring budget to produce something which is really meaningful. Humans are naturally curious, but sometimes when it comes to doing online learning, we stop being curious.

Our main goal is to determine how we can get AI to facilitate learning being easier. Here are some of the ways that we think can achieve that:

AI can automate tedious admin tasks

When you join a Learning Technology Department, you don’t join because you want to work a learning management system or create e-learning, you join because you love training people. So, one of the things that we really wanted to do is enable L&D professionals to focus on what they love doing, which is developing people.

How can we utilize AI for account provisioning, user provisioning, etc?

AI can create personalized learning pathways

Think about your Netflix recommendations – which are AI automated– how would you feel if it kept pushing the same content at you based on an algorithm? E-learning is the same. By freeing up people, we can allow them to curate pure curiosity and deliver the stuff our learners really want.

How can we refine learning?

One of the things that’s really important in learning and development is showing that you can do something as well as know it. We want to make learners more than a passive recipient of a piece of content.

AI can help in getting people to practice the skills before they actually put it into practice.

We want to make it easy for admins to understand the process of learning.

We want them to understand that:

You need to see the information.

You need to be reminded of it through testing and assessments.

You actually need to do it.

If we can pull together processes, AI can actually facilitate this for the admin, and we’re going to get better outcomes.

Better outcomes

Example 1: recommendation engines

There are many big technology companies that have recommendation engines you can plug into really easily. All you need to do is Google AI and you will find a whole variety of different services that they offer. One of the things that they offer is recommendations engines.

What does that mean for us? Well, we need APIs that bring together our user-provisioning information with our content information in order to deliver good recommendations for our learners

Now, one of the challenges in this is that the model can only be trained once the user information is there. You need to have a cold start, but once you get going, one of the great things about recommendation engines is they focus very much on what colleagues in your industry are doing rather than the actual content itself.

Example 2: User & content provisioning

This is admittedly pretty boring, but it’s a massive part of onboarding.With our customers from big companies like L’Oréal and BT, the users and content they provision can come from five or six different enterprise platforms.

Not only that, the content can come from five or six different content providers, including their own content providers. We can end up with different elements of metadata in the information that we get. For users, we can get a lot of patchy information.

Often it’s a real nightmare for some of our clients to be able to put the data in the structure. We need to onboard them and get the right recommendations in terms of content. What we’ve been able to do with AI is use auto-tagging.

This allows us to match between the content and the provisioning data in order to get the model started. It’s not quite a cold start. We’re able to get between 56 to 70%, depending on how much information is coming over from the content metadata.

Example 3: Intelligent search

We need a deep intelligence search on our own platforms, as well as on the learning content itself. We need to do intelligent search on everything in the ecosphere of our customers, not just the information on our platform, Intelligent Search is a great way of doing that.

Using API’s, you can easily push out to other platforms, get that information, and then bring it back to your users in whatever the user interfaces.

Example 4: Content Creation

Content creation is a massive headache! Most organizations have a huge amount of information that they need to get out to their people. Some of our biggest clients are in retail, and there are products coming all the time. You can have a situation where you’ve got to spend 180 hours creating a single hour of e-learning. Yeah, no-one has time for that, right?

AI can very easily upload PowerPoint presentations, upload work docs, upload PDFs, and then put it into a series of templates. Again, this frees up educators to do more actual educating. We’re in a situation where we’re able to coach people one-on-one in a more personalized manner.

Example 5: AI coaches and mentors

Okay, so let’s say we know what the correct curriculum is, if we push that into the AI engine, we create the content really quickly. Once students start asking questions, the AI can query it out, and find subject matter that answers these questions.

You’re going to have some tutors there initially, but it could be a very personalized level of learning.

Ideas are cheap…delivery is expensive

This may be true, but let’s also remember that there is no delivery without ideas. You’ve got to start somewhere, right? We can’t just all throw up our hands and say, “it’s all too big! It’s all too complicated. It’s all too expensive.”

AI is absolutely not a mysterious planet that can only be visited by spacemen, or, in real world terms, the top five technology companies. It really should be the new bread and butter of any SaaS company.

At Growth Engineering, we’re a very, very small company, but we’ve made AI and ML absolutely central to how we operate.

Everything that our department does is driving towards this idea of utilizing AI and ML where possible, in order to deliver more, for less. That mindset change is a really important part of moving towards AI.

The problem is always data

Don’t think that your first thing you’re going to be doing is building neural networks. The thing is, you don’t have to. There are just so many free and open-source elements to try. Instead, the constraint is always data. If the problem is that you’ve got lots of replicable data, then you will very easily be able to find an AI or ML solution.

Find the thing that can be automated

Find the process within your organization that can be automated. Find out which of those processes you’ve got the most data for. If you don’t have a large amount of data, then reach out to open source sites for code that’s been written, and try and play around with it, if you can’t find it for free.

There are lots of SaaS providers that have all the components you really need in order to plug your data for.

Find a pilot project

Finally, if you have exhausted the above, look at paying for a pilot project for a consultancy. This can be internal or it can be external. To be honest with you, I don’t think you need to be putting in huge amounts of resources for actually building the model.

Key takeaways

AI helps us to automate time-consuming tasks: Just imagine the much innovative, creative work your team can do when they’re freed by AI!

It has helped other industries to cut out costs and drive more value: It might seem like a big investment, but it’s more than worth it. Believe me.

Intelligence is what makes us human: AI is just an extension of that.

AI is not going to take over our lives. If anything, it’s going to make our lives infinitely better.

Have fun!

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