#Remember when the show introduced them and their ops were super secret?

[spockvarietyhour]

This week the Genii are standing in for the Goa'uld.

[rpg-elf-girl]

Shadows House

I have a lot of thoughts surrounding this particular show, both good & bad.

Allow me to give a quick summary for anyone who hasn't seen/read it!

Shadows House is about 'a faceless family of nobles who all live within this giant manor, the Shadows House.

When a Shadow comes of age they receive a 'Living Doll' to both serve as their face and to clean the soot they emit from their bodies.

The most important rule of the living dolls is "don't fret over trivial matters"

A task which is difficult for the ever curious doll Emiliko.

Watch this tale unfold as Emiliko & her mistress Kate navigate this ever mysterious Manor together.'

For a fan of slow burn thrillers, horror, slice of life, supernatural & mystery series' this has been an absolute blast!

It's not quite the combination of genres you'd expect from a show, but it works really well here!

In fact I was so into the anime that this is actually the first show where I broke down and read the manga!

Unfortunately there's no official English release, but at least there are some people translating the series!

As much as I'd like to go on about the manga, this post is meant to be more so about the anime so I'll (try to) leave it at that.

Though i feel obligated to warn anime onlys I'll likely refer the manga a lot in a spoiler section latter in this post I'll try to be vague but I can't guarantee anything. For anyone worried about that I'll lable it do you can read on until then.

Everything from the animation to the music was amazing & completely fit the mood of the story! I remember a couple scenes where I actually teared up because of this!

The Ending theme is an absolute banger! I've listened to that on repeat ever since I first heard it! And the Opening is also great! It's cool for it to be an instrumental, stuff like that is pretty rare! I also heard the song in the op as a motif in the music throughout the show! It really sets the right mood in each scene it's in! It's amazing for getting into each episode!

In terms of adaptation almost everything from the beginning to the end of the Debut arc was done amazingly well!

Even with the stuff they cut it still holds true to the spirit of its source.

The main important part that was cut is something that could easily be introduced latter if they decide to go for a second season, so I'm not too mad about that.

However! Everything after the debut is a bit of a different story.

There was a lot I liked about the last couple episodes but there were some parts that were immersion breaking for me.

I've been being vague up until this point l, but I'm planning on going into spoiler territory for both the anime and manga after this. So I'll make a quick spoiler free summary of my thoughts before moving onto that.

I really really loved this show but in my opinion the last 3 episodes were the weakest of them all. They went anime only for the ending. I don't mind that on it's own, but it was rushed and the writing was sloppy at times.

Now I'm not telling you to not watch the show! Most of It's really really good, and I can still see people enjoying the parts I'm talking about if they want to give the anime a try. Overall I've fallen in love with this series and I could never recommend it enough.

If what I'm saying is giving you bad vibes the manga is available and doesn't have the issues I've mentioned. You can look for a translation online, it didn't take me long to find one so don't worry too much about that.

Also! if you're an anime only who's finished the series and want to know where to pick up the Manga I'd recommend at least skiming through the beginning. I know it might not be what you're looking for but there were a bunch of small scenes that either got cut or were merged for adaptation purposes that I think are super cute & give more context to different aspects of the setting. However! Pay close attention during the "night watchers part" something important got cut .

~~~Now for spoilers!!!!~~~

I don't want to make it sound like I'm some manga purist who hates the very thought of the slightest change from the source. I'm anime only for a lot of different shows and I've always despised it when that type of manga reader reared it's ugly head.

While I'll admit some changes did bother me I won't make a fuss about the smaller stuff.

With that said!

I hinted earlier in this post that I didn't have a big problem with Robe-same being cut. That was because without them there it does make for a more complete story if they only get one season to work with.

If there is another season they can easily be introduced latter on. Like maybe Emiliko & Shaun can meet them when the Debutant class reunion is going on before they talk on the roof (or right after that) I actually think that would be the perfect time to introduce them (other than the time they were supposed to appear, but I digress)

Louise teaming up & being friendly with Kate can be explained with some dialogue changes at the first Debutant Class Reunion. Louise can say she was just trying to show off or that she just wanted to get back at Edward and that she isn't interested in helping Kate with her problems. Things can then go on as they did in the manga.

Kates being reckless & telling everything to John can be explained by her being extremely panicked when Emiliko went missing, as long as there are some lines of dialogue adressing this it's fine. Though I do wish she tried to keep some stuff a secret but couldn't because Shaun tries to interfer because he's still brainwashed, or something along those lines. It felt a bit weird after she just told Emiliko to keep that stuff between them. Still that could be explained by how panicked she was.

There are other things, but I don't want to drag the post on too long. Most of the issues can be fixed with little changes here & there.

I never had a problem with the idea of them going in an anime only direction. I just want to have a good time with the show.

Unfortunately I can't 100% vouche for the direction the show went in. There were elements that I can't excuse, even viewing it as it's own entity instead of an adaptation.

My main complaint with it is how they handled the brainwashing of Ricky & Lou. They didn't say a word when the Debutants were talking badly about Edward & even went along with a plan to go against him. It makes absolutely no sense!

Shaun freaked out when John only suggested that he didn't have to be loyal to the house. These guys were flat out rebelling against an adult! It felt like Ricky & Lou didn't have a purpose & were just there to be there.

The whole point of the coffee is to influence shadows against doing stuff like this. It makes the coffee seem pointless and the adults seem dumb for relying on it to control the kids.

I haven't even brought up the fact that both of their brainwashings were broken by something as simple as a few kind words. It straight up contradicts the rules established by both the Anime and Manga.

This becomes very apparent when you consider all the trouble John & Kate went through to free Shaun & Emiliko.

This was my biggest complaint, but I have some other issues as well.

The next big one is how they handled Edward.

1. Why on earth would he even consider kidnapping Emiliko when he had complete control of the childrens wing? Before this point he was depicted as being a lot more crafty than this. He could easily have Kate monitored or something.

2. Why didn't he use his powers to stop them like what he did to Maryrose & Rosemary when they fought back being taken to the adults wing? He's already shown off his power at this point, why not?

3. Why did he reveal his soot powers at all!? Especially while using his face in front of the kids! The whole unification thing is one of the biggest secrets of the house for good reason! There's no way he wouldn't get in huge trouble for exposing it to children!

Here are some other related questions.

Why didn't Kate, Emiliko, & John react to Edward using soot powers? They shouldn't know about unification yet so why didn't they act shocked, or say anything about it?

Is Edward being banished even an option in the Shadows House? Wouldn't the third floor lords just dispose of him rather than risk letting him leave?

How did John even get a veiled dolls outfit? Louise had to use her powers to get Kate one & she left a long time ago.

I can't think of much else at the moment, but I think you get my point.

Please don't take this as me saying that I hate the show because of these episodes. Even if I consider them the weakest of the series I still found a lot of parts to be very enjoyable!

Like I thought it was adorable When Edward was attempting to interrogate Emiliko & she kept being her sunshine self pretending to eat & falling asleep.

Barbara getting to tell off Edward for breaking the rules was great!

I loved seeing Shaun hatch the plan to get Kate into the adults wing to save Emiliko.

Seeing John (attempt to) sneak around the adults wing had me rolling!

The ending scene of Shaun, Ricky, & Lou singing gave me the chills.

(Though I wonder how they'd handle Shaun & Emiliko being brainwashed again since they already used the scenes where they're freed)

Kate & Emilico being propelled by John back to the children's wing was absolutely amazing! I found Shaun & Ricky running over to catch them to be super sweet! (Not to mention the way that scene was animated was absolutely gorgeous!)

Getting hints to what was supposed to come after the debut was nice, at least the groundwork is there in case this gets a season 2!

To (try to) wrap this all up while there were a lot of things I loved and disliked about this show I still had a really fun time watching it!

I kinda hope there's a season two just to see if they can tidy up the mess that the last few episodes created.

Regardless of whether that happens or not I came out of this with a series I absolutely adore.

Heck I could make a whole other post about the manga. (Hopefully one that's less ranty)

Anyway! I won't take any more of your time.

I hope you all have a wonderful day/night! And I hope to see you in my next post!

(Sorry if this one was a bit of a mess!)

[nightshadowhawk]

rating ninjago seasons with explanations because i was bored (spoilers obvs)

way of the ninja: 6/10 - i remember watching this ages and ages ago, to me they were just filler episodes to me as i’d watched all the way to rebooted at that point, not super interesting but it started everything so extra points for that

rise of the snakes: 5/10 - YES its old i know but the… the GD attack should have caused more chaos… destroyed more stuff… it only moved a couple cars in this season (which entirely changes in SoG with harumi’s flashbacks) which i thought was … weird, even when i was younger lol… but theres development of characters n all i think a lot of it is rad !

legacy of the green ninja: 6/10 - pretty good, i haven’t watched this in a while so i dont remember much but the end battle is Legendary so there’s extra points for that and also extra points for dareth being introduced hee hee

rebooted: 6/10 - the whole overlord and nindroids thing is … pretty cool ?? pixal and cyrus exist now so !!!! that adds points !!! when i was younger i remember watching zanes sacrifice a lot cuz i couldnt get over it, and now i can recite all the words off by heart … lol anyway i think this seasons ok 👍

tournament of elements: 8/10 - very good, i loved seeing the other elemental masters !!!! and chen is actually a very cool villain, especially when i was younger, i loved him then lol … the ending is kinda 😟 bc garmy technically dies but yea its a gud season C:

possession: 10/10 - this season is EVERYTHING???? the intro SLAPS, the whole aesthetic is incredible and not to mention theres a whole bunch of favourite characters content in this season so that adds extra points !!!! the story all flows smoothly and its just Mmmm so gud. i love it dearly, defo a comfort season i’ve watched it so many times

skybound: 7/10 - i can see why some people hate this season as the whole nadakhan marrying nya thing is VERY weird (even my cousin who was 6 at the time when we first watched it could tell that) … but theres extra points for 1. the whole misfortunes keep crew, i love them, and 2. the ninja replacements team, i also care them all so dearly … the lighting in this season is super good, and also the storyline threads together well, i just find it very Appealing how it goes back to how it started

hands of time: 4/10 - idk man its just … boring, i can’t really be interested enough to watch to the end of the season? extra points for acronix being pretty and the scruff moments tho lol…. also whats with more snake people …. cant be ninjago without snakes ig LMAO

day of the departed: 5/10 - i also just see this as a filler… i mean yes it tells how cole turned back from a ghost but otherwise it’s just kinda random but i still liked it

sons of garmadon: 7/10 - pretty good ! harumi is a very cool character tho i do think shes kinda selfish … like a lot of others probably lost family in the GD attack??? kind of confused … but the SoG group as a whole is VERY epic i love the designs for UV and mr E (killows design just throws me off tho… why Real Hands..)

hunted: 10/10 - SO damn good the storyline is EVERYTHING and i love how it switches POVs every so often to keep things on edge. its also pretty dark for a kids show and that makes it better, and the cinematics for this are all just AMAZING…. i care the dragon designs so much, mmmmmmmmmm beloveds :^)

march of the oni: 6/10 - wasted!!!!! potential!!!!! the oni were such a good show of fantastic character design and they were just….. taken out in like 5 seconds despite them literally being the embodiment of destruction? there was literally two seasons before this of the ninja dealing with one (1) embodiment of destruction and then when theres LOADS that make tentacle death clouds and are super OP they just … are defeated????? ok…… also what was the point in coles fall fr it just made me sad for no reason🙁

secrets of forbidden spinjitzu: 6/10 - the fire chapter was … cool ? i guess, wasn’t the most interesting, aspheera is hot tho lol😝(LITERALLY !!!!! Funny joke pls laugh.)also clutch being introduced adds points, love the stupid explorer man. the ice chapter is super dark, i loved seeing the never-realm and how everything worked there, and ?? evil zane ?!??!? sheeeeeesh that was a bold move that was super epic … i liked this part of the season :^0

prime empire: 10/10 - another comfort season YEAHHHHH !!!! the aesthetic !! so good !!! the characters r RAD like scott and okino and seven I LOVE THEM SO DEARLY ….. the soundtrack is RAD as well i listen to it plentifully …… the ending is happysad and i always go a bit cry when unagami and milton walk away together :’^)

master of the mountain: 8/10 - the whole slavery thing is … questionable but the skull sorcerer’s design is super awesome ! and the upply … i care them … :^)))) AND A COLE SEASON !!!! i loved the development for him !!! and the way that vania and cole stayed a friendship the whole time cuz it never implied they were gonna date or whatever which made me happy honestly … i rated it 8/10 as the extra points are from the upply

the island: shit/10 - what the fuck was that. the islanders were cool i liked their designs but seriously i hated the ending so bad like there was no reason for ronin to be the antagonist again … just let clutch steal the amulet and there you have it all set up for the next season whoooo

seabound: 9/10 - again i love the aesthetic, the glowy-ness of everything is so pretty in this, and the design for wojira is amazing … tho this season is super sad, im sure theres reasoning for the ending of it :)))))) the storyline is also very good in this ! it does actually make sense which sometimes doesnt happen ……...

[warriordreamer95]

RWBY Volume 7 Crew Commentary Notes!

All credit goes to Sweetfable over on Reddit! Sweet, if you’re on Tumblr and have already posted this or want to, let me know and I’ll take this down!

Chapter 1

Featuring Kerry Shawcross and  Miles Luna.

Miles says he was hoping people didn’t figure out Atlas was a floating city in the sky before they got there. Even in World of Remnant, they were very careful with how they worded things to avoid spoiling this fact.

A large portion of ep 1 was intended to be in V6

Originally it was going to end with Penny being revealed, dealing with the Grimm, and ending on “Salutations”

Almost everything up until the Penny moment was how it was going to be in V6. For production and story reasons they decided to end V6 with just seeing Atlas.

Mantle is a little more Blade Runner and utilitarian looking, while Atlas was made to look like it was created by Apple. Two different futuristic looks.

When making the four kingdoms, they compared it to parts of the real world. Atlas and Mantle were two different versions of America

The drunk guy (Drunk Mann) we see insulting Blake is based off of Joel Mann and the other is Dustin Matthew (Grape-kun).

We saw Pietro (his hand) for the first time in Volume 3. They didn’t want to make him too similar to Dr. Weller from gen:LOCK, and so they made him to be like a ‘big’ kid. It’s where Penny gets a lot of her attitude from.

Kerry wants to do a show with all the old RWBY characters

V8 was harder to write than V7

It was a challenge in this episode to make it clear that Atlas is a new place for some characters, but a familiar one for several others, but that the Atlas in V7 is a different one than what they remember.

They try to theme the grimm to the location. So Grimm from Atlas are those that are from the Ice Age.

Miles compare Grimm to Pokemon. Some will pop up in every region, while others are region specific.

They had a lot of discussion surrounding what they wanted Penny 2.0 to look like. They considered giving her a conflict of her being a clone or not having her memories, but ultimately with the amount of stuff that needed to happen this volume they felt that it wouldn’t have been able to be done well.

Chapter 2

Featuring Kerry, Conner (director), and Kiersi

Forest became a fan-favorite

This episode was tricky to write because it was getting close to being an exposition dump

They had to balance movement and how much the characters can emote (especially when characters lie this episode)

Ironwood’s office shifting to present his plan was a cool idea + it was another way to stay in the room without having things get boring

Really wanted team RWBY to feel like they were on the right path and had something to follow. Establishing the trust theme early on.

Qrow and Ironwood’s relationship is super interesting to Kerry, and he wishes they could have explored it more. Conner pushed for Qrow’s hand to be lower in the hug scene (lol)

Conner jokes that he also proposed Ironwood should propose to Oscar when kneeling

Ironwood giving the relic back was his biggest sign of trust

They comment about how positively Penny states ‘it’ll be just like Beacon again!’ when she got destroyed there in V3

Kerry calls Watts ‘Daddy Long Legs’

Chapter 3

Featuring Kerry and Miles

They were confused when they saw people on Reddit and Tumblr think that this volume would have a shopping montage

Team RWBY jumping out of a plane is a callback to landing strategies and to see how far they have come since V1

The crew thought everyone would love Jaune’s new haircut, and was shocked when everyone immediately hated it. Miles wanted to see Jaune grow up a bit, so he liked the change.

They wanted team RWBY to start acting like and learning from professional huntsman

Miles wanted Atlas to feel like the Beacon days at first, and first came up with the idea that some Atlas academy professors would teach them. But that evolved into mentors, which eventually became Atlas’s best of the best.

The Ace-Ops are not only fun characters, but also foils to some of our main characters to help move their stories along

The Ace-Ops having five members + a team name not based on a color was very intentional. It was to show that Ironwood doesn’t care about Oz’s rules and would rather have an efficient team.

Eddy came up with the name Ace-Ops. Each member is based off an Aesop fable.

The mine scene has us seeing the SDC logo everywhere. Adam, as a terrible of a person as he was, when he was younger, was arguing with someone at a SDC place and the other person grabbed a brand and gave him his scar. So seeing the logo all over the mine was very intentional to put that in the forefront of Blake’s mind, and Yang notices

The fight with the Centinel grimm was originally supposed to be a bit longer and there was going to be an alpha variant of the centinel (which they imply we will see in the future)

Some characters got more upgrades than others. Weiss is already perfect, so she didn’t need any changes. Miles was excited that they were able to give Ren heavy rounds to shoot with. Ren has his father’s dagger on his arm

Many things that seem like retcons are actually not, and instead is just Kerry and Miles learning how to tell a story while simultaneously telling a story. So things were not always explained well early on.

Qrow and Clover were an interesting couple of characters, Miles says. For a long time Qrow was the guy that worked best alone (compared to Shadow the Hedgehog) and wanted him to interact with people that aren't his nieces and their friends. Clover was made to be a total bro and like Captain America- who always makes luck puns. He constantly feels like he is in an action movie because things always go right for him, so he doesn’t need to look where he’s about the jump. Which ultimately leads to someone who relies too much on their semblance. He rides the line of confidence vs arrogance. Clover is kind of person that Qrow always wanted to be. At the beginning of their friendship, Qrow doesn’t really like Clover and finds him irritating. But eventually it evolved into friendship, and later tragedy.

They left RWBY out of the battle of the Ace Ops vs the Geist to showcase how they didn’t need RWBY to get things done. It was their moment to shine

Wanted to give a sense in these first few episodes that, maybe everything will work out okay

Spoiler alert: It won’t

Chapter 4

Featuring Paula (co-director), Dustin (co-director), Eddy Rivas, Kerry Shawcross

Wanted a chance for the characters to breathe a bit before bigger things went down

Kerry loves the lighting in the first scene. They referenced how lighting looks in the tundra

The first draft of the scene where Ironwood is giving orders originally happened in his office

From V5 they learned it’s great to be efficient with sets but they can fatigue the audience and the crew

Originally the celebration wasn’t going to be in Amity, and instead it was going to be in Atlas’s version of an auditorium.

The ship Jacques arrives in is the same one Winter arrives from in V3. It’s a Schnee company ship

Paula thought it was important that Blake hold Weiss’s hand and be the first to stand by her side when Jaques is yelling at Weiss since Blake knows what it is like to be in an abusive relationship. Ruby and Yang didn’t even really know a father would talk like that to his daughter.

They were excited to write Penny and Winter’s ‘mirror-destiny’, which they laid some of the foundation for this episode

Qrow talking to Ruby was barely on the outline for the episode, but it was on their wish list if they had time to get it in.

Dustin says ‘fatherly’ when describing the moment and Kerry is like, ‘you just opened up a whole can of worms’

Eddy loves the ‘Jim’ gag when referring to Jaune.

Watt’s entrance was a difficult shot to execute properly because of the door.

Chapter 5

Featuring Conner, Eddy, and Kerry

They originally weren’t sure about having a montage in this episode

The penguins we see for a moment were possibly going to be grimm penguins

Kerry wants RT to sell the cards Clover has, and Eddy thinks it’s funny he would have cards with him emblem on them.

They liked having the moment of Clover and Qrow in the middle of this episode to show that Qrow is now becoming a mentee of sorts.

Adding in the Robin encounter was a late addition to the outline. She wasn’t going to be introduced until Chapter 6 during her rally

But they wanted to put the two factions head to head earlier on.

It was also the first moment of Clover being a bit duplicitous.

The plot line of tying the supplies through Robin’s storyline was a late addition while writing

Weiss vs Winter with summoning is a callback to V3C4 with them training together

Weiss being able to sit on hard-light (a block) is something Kerry was unsure about at first

Originally Weiss and Winter going to see Fria was going to be Winter getting an alert from Ironwood and having to leave, and Weiss following her suspiciously. But it worked better as Winter revealing a secret while Weiss was still keeping one

Chapter 6

Featuring Paula, Kiersi, Miles, Eddy, and Kerry

Eddy is the one who came up with the idea for the middle part of the season while he had a really bad fever

Originally Tyrian was going to make it look like a bunch of Atlas soldiers fired on civilians in Mantle. Then Eddie thought it should frame RWBY, but ultimately they went with framing Penny.

Nobody has ever offered Penny a fist bump before, so she wanted to do it perfectly

An old draft had the team and Ironwood doing an investigation at this warehouse post-massacre

There was also no montage in C5, just them sitting around a table talking about what they did

Miles also mentions there was going to be a scene in C3 with Marrow trying to bond with Blake about being a Faunus, and also about him specifically being a Faunus in Atlas who is a part of Atlas’s military team. But that episode was so packed they wanted to move it to C6, but then that episode also became too packed. But they plan to get to it in future volumes

They wanted to show how much the Happy Huntresses care about each other and about Mantle

They also originally did not want to have anything political in this season. But the more iterations they did, they felt it was the best course of action to do that with the story.

They wanted to give the heroes a high personal moment with Renora kissing right before things went down

Penny was not used to fighting sneaky enemies, so that is how Tyrian got the upper hand

While they don’t usually check back up on extras, things turned out that we kept seeing Drunk Mann and Grape-kun throughout the season to represent the city of Mantle

Chapter 7

Featuring Conner, Kiersi, Miles, Eddy, and Kerry

Fiona’s semblance was originally going to be Torchwick’s semblance, and it was called Deep Pockets. But they never found a moment for him to use it. So they decided he could be a great example of how some people don’t unlock their semblances

Originally some of C7 was meant for C4 where they found out earlier that Tyrian was involved with things

Miles wrote the description we got of Tyrian’s past (Salem first contacting Tyrian), and it was one of his favorite things to write.

Qrow looking at Clover when he is willing to go with Ironwood’s plan was meant to show some distance growing between the two

We were going to get more of Ren explaining why he was feeling the way he was and agreeing with Ironwood, but ultimately they are pushing it to next volume

Originally Blake and Yang were going to directly reference Adam when they had their talk, but they later figured out how to reference him indirectly

The arm robot Pietro has in his office was originally going to have more of a character like the robotic arm Tony Stark has

They tried hard to get Maria more scenes, but there was often no room for it

Miles realizes he was dumb to suggest that Pietro cover Watt’s face with his thumb while looking at a picture since they already did that with Raven in V3

The lady in the photograph with black hair is not Cinder’s mom (which was apparently a fan theory)

Robin encountering the Bees was a late edition to the outline. But it gave every member of RWBY a moment

They wanted the vault in the Academy to feel similar to the one in Haven but not a direct copy

Miles believes that if Ironwood would allow himself to be more vulnerable more often things would’ve gone differently

The invitation to the Schnee manor was originally going to be to a news conference

Chapter 8

Featuring Dustin, Miles, and Kerry

They didn’t specify what the hood ornament on the car would be, so Dustin was happy when it came back as a velociraptor, which references a raptor Monty Oum would put in photos with RWBY characters

Fans have guessed what direction they are going with Whitley. He starts off as a jerk, but Miles implies that is going to change. It is also an easy way to remind the audience of how the elite act

At the table, Jacques’s chair is bigger than everyone else's

Miles wrote the gag of JNR sabotaging Whitley’s conversation with Weiss and expected it to take only a few seconds, but as more people worked on it the longer it got

The stack of food was taller than Dustin expected it to be, and they even had to scale it back because it was going to be even taller

Another power move of Jacques is to only give a few people wine, as well as not giving Penny any food

Willow was originally going to be in the intro

A joke was made about Salem being Jaune’s sister in the V6 intro before everyone knew who she was

None of the writers expected Penny and Winter to have such a bond this volume initially

Miles wanted to portray when Weiss is talking to Willow that she doesn’t really know how to act around an adult with such an adult issue. Since Weiss is quite young (Miles compared it to him having to help an adult with an adult issue when he was 13)

Chapter 9

Featuring Paula (director), Kiersi, Eddy, and Kerry

It was difficult to keep the shots interesting in the dining room

We see Grape-kun and Drunk Mann again this episode

In earlier chapters they made sure to have an orange glow to represent the heating in Mantle since they knew it would be turned off in chapter 8

They wanted to showcase that Ironwood was starting to have doubts, which would later be clearly seen in episode 11

The foot soldiers (AKs) that the Grimm are able to overwhelm in only a few seconds were meant to represent that Atlas wouldn’t provide them with much defense against Grimm because they don’t care enough

Every storyline was coming together in this episode, and it’s tricky to make a setup episode like this not seem like filler

Ruby and Oscar’s awkward interaction came from them both ‘riding the high’ of the moment where it seems like they each have great plans that will go well.

Oscar is starting to tap into some of Ozpin’s memories, as alluded to when he mentions how Atlas is held to a higher standard

Terry the grimm being hit by a fireball (part of a plane I believe) was a call back to Jurassic Park

They struggled a long time with where to put the Neo reveal

Chapter 10

Featuring Conner, Dustin, Kiersi, and Kerry

They felt that if they showed a lot in the first scene of the episode, they wouldn’t have to saturate the background with other fires and crowds.

The shot of Weiss’s knight being summoned and overshadowing Marrow is setting up their fight in C12

When seeing the shots of the enemies infiltrating the kingdom, they didn’t know if they wanted to show Neo and Cinder or Tyrian and Watts first. But they went with Neo and Cinder because it would show that they thought their cover was blown, when it would really be about the other two.

The place Neo and Cinder are staying at is an Atlas ‘high-life’ apartment

They always knew Elm would have a rocket launcher/bazooka, but never got the time needed to show it until now

They had to restructure Mantle a bit to allow the huge elephant to fit in the streets

The main characters working with the Ace Ops in this episode was to make it so things hurt so much more after events in the following one

All the background characters apparently have little backstories as they made sure they didn’t appear in two places at the same time

Ironwood jumps down a ridiculous number of feet to meet Watts. They had to cheat to not make that so obvious as well as say this is animation logic so people working on the shot would stop questioning how he could possibly make it.

Chapter 11

Featuring Kerry, Paula, and Miles

Originally a gravity biome in Amity was going to appear in V3C5. It was going to be Sun and Neptune vs Pyrrha and Nora. It was written, boarded, and ready to go but they realized there wasn’t time for it

This was a hard episode to write. A lot of stuff that needed to happen, and happen in a specific way

Watt’s gun was inspired a 20-shot revolver Kerry saw on Reddit

Ironwood losing another hand represents him losing another part of his humanity (possibly confirming he lost his one organic arm)

The first cut of this episode was 23 minutes and was deemed too long so they had to scale back, but they still felt they kept in everything that was needed to make the episode great

Initially the Tyrian vs Qrow, Robyn, and Clover fight was going to be a chase that turns into a fight that turns into another chase. And Qrow is the only one that could keep up with Tyrian since he can transform into a bird. Qrow would land in front of Tyrian and say ‘that’s enough’ and Tyrian would ask, ‘are you able to talk when you’re a bird or do you have to wait until you’re a person to throw your one-liners?’ (Tyrian asking the real questions here) Tyrian’s lack of self-preservation would be shown even more. He would have run down an alley packed with Grimm and would just trust that he could’ve made it through

The fight with Tyrian was initially going to be more of a Tyrian vs Qrow fight, but Miles loves that they made it a 3 v 1 so it could show off Tyrian’s exceptional skill

The fight was also a callback to the first Tyrian vs Qrow fight, where Ruby tried to be good back up for Qrow but was ineffective. But instead this time have Robyn and Clover be effective and more experienced teammates

Clover is defense, Qrow is offense, and Robyn is picking away at Tyrian with her long-ranged weapon

There was going to be more discussion of where Oscar was at the end of the episode, as well as a whole bit where the Ace Ops and the kids land and they get a hand-written note saying they’ve been compromised instead of getting it via scroll, but it turned out to be too much

The scene of Ironwood talking to RWBY and his turn to being against them was the most important scene in the episode, and something everything in the season had to build up to

Miles said it was about time the two sides met face to face with RWBY meeting Salem

They wanted to make Ironwood’s progression into villainy subtle and make sense

Salem made things personal for Ironwood, so he felt like he had to come up with a solution

They wanted more Cinder and Neo in the volume but had to cut back. But to compensate they had to be instrumental to the collapse of Ironwood (Miles first said collapse of Atlas so wonder if he slipped up)

Chapter 12

Featuring Dustin, Conner, Kiersi, Eddy, and Kerry

They wanted to have a false sense of resolution in the previous episode just to blow everything up here

Eddy handled the Ace Ops vs RWBY and Winter scenes while Kiersi handled the rest

Kerry learned from V5 that having everyone in one room for a fight doesn’t work well

Eddy is a big Weiss stan

Clover has no idea who he’s up against with Tyrian, and thinks of Qrow as the big threat, as well as Tyrian manipulating Qrow

Clover saw both Qrow and Tyrian on the wrong side of the law, so he felt like he had to fight both of them no matter what

They made sure team RWBY can’t just stomp on the Ace Ops, but still show their teamwork. Plus the lack of Clover being there didn’t allow for the team to have a ‘cheat code’

This is another episode they had to trim down in length

Cinder was always going to lay waste to the medical facility and attack Winter

They also wanted to do a Qrow vs Tyrian reprisal

Kerry said he loves Clover

It was crazy for Qrow to meet someone that was a genuinely good person

Chapter 13

Featuring Miles, Kerry, and Eddy

The Neo vs ORNJ fight could have been shorter

At one point they wanted to show Cinder using maiden magic to bring some dead AKs (Atlesian-Knight) back to life to fight Penny (was going to be some sort of puppet joke).

But Miles realized that Cinder could just blow up the room and bust through the walls

Ren is struggling with some heavy emotional stuff that is not resolved at all this volume, but it is hinted there will be a lot more for him next volume.

The writers knew a lot of people wouldn’t be happy with Ren’s attitude this volume. But he still cares about Nora, even if he doesn’t always communicate it well

Miles cried during the voice over session of Fria’s scenes for this episode

They had a lot of talks about how the maiden power would be transferred. They debated if Penny would have to kill Fria.

Originally one pod was going to be broken, with the one with Fria being in tact. But because Penny is a robot, she could ‘remote-interface in’ and get the powers. But that still felt like stealing, and they didn’t want to go that route.

Oscar has matured so much in his role (joking call him Farm Man)

Ironwood is still expecting Oz to show up. He still really wants that guidance

Ironwood arguing with Oscar was the finale scene they wrote this episode

Ironwood feels that he is backed into a corner and is doing the only sensible thing.

Winter was waiting to be the Winter Maiden her whole life, but in a split second she gives it all up

There was one line in Oz’s monologue they were struggling with for a whole day

They loved the idea of ending the volume on almost an identical shot from where they started

Neo’s look after Cinder takes the relic and doesn’t thank Neo for getting it is setting up some things for V8 (probably a betrayal)

Oz came back at that moment because he heard what Oscar said to Ironwood and that made him brave enough to return

Miles reveals that the Grimm whale is based on Monstro from Pinocchio

It is once again said that Volume 8 is the hardest one they had to write so far. Miles seems super excited about it

Volume 8 was made with some fan-input in mind (since it was still being written by the time V7 ended), but Volume 9 will be the first one written in a vacuum

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette Bonus Round: Obituary (1995)

Well… Guess what retard finally managed to play this WAD after realizing that he’s supposed to play all of the WAD files AND all of the DEH files at the same time?!

B1: Obituary (1995)

Main author(s): The Innocent Crew

Release date: May 14th, 1995 (archives)

Version(s) played: Fixed version of 1.1 version, created by Andy Olivera. Played with custom weapons.

Levels: 17(16 + 1)

Welcome folks to the first part of a special Doom WADs’ Roulette branch, where I will be reviewing WADs related to the main ones from the DoomWorld’s list but couldn’t fit into the main show due to their oddity. We will start however with the one that was supposed to be reviewed in the main shitshow, but, again due to my idiocy about forgetting the DEH files, couldn’t run properly. But I’ve finally played it properly… It was fun most of the time, so I consider it all worth it.

Disclamer: Most of the screenshots were made many months ago when I was looking for secrets.

Obituary looks very good. Sure, maybe it doesn’t really look that mind-blowing for me since I already played the best WADs of ’96, but shove a hoe into my ears, it looks pretty dope! I liked how there are some textures from the Möller brothers’ previous work, that is Slaughter Until Death (fun little fact: one of the levels is called the same), and The Evil Unleashed. Overall, the new, custom textures add some beauty to this WAD. Then again, what can say? I like me some custom textures in WADs if it’s done right.

The levels seem to be easy to understand. I can’t speak fully about them since it was my first proper playthrough, and it was a long time ago when I was making secrets run, so the levels were, most of the time, pretty confusing (Nuclear Research Base might be the biggest case in it). The first fourth of the main levels was when I had the worst time with Obituary due to the game-breaking bugs, but I’ll talk about it later. Also, some of the levels seem to be more co-op-focused. You might want to know that.

There is an optional weapon patch that I had played with as I mentioned above. Four of the vanilla weapons are changed.

Starting with the ones that are just cosmetic changes, you now carry two pistols instead of one. I’ve read somewhere that they fire faster than the vanilla Pistol but I didn’t notice any difference.

BFG is replaced with something called Sonic P300 Booster, which, instead of a big, green plasma ball, it fires an invisible sonic wave of destruction.

You are now kicking instead of punching. The kick seems to be slightly faster than the punch from what I’ve noticed.

The biggest change is with the Plasma Gun, being replaced with the Flamethrower. Its range is very short but the damage is at least around twice more powerful than the vanilla weapon. So basically it functions closely to the Flamethrower from All Hell is Breaking Loose.

…

I feel like it won’t be the last time that we will see a flamethrower.

Obituary tends to be hard in some places. Especially at the beginning when you have limited amount of ammo and weapons, but after like the first few levels, it gets easier. As I said, while it can be hard sometimes, it’s not some of the harder WADs I’ve finished.

There are three new enemies that will try (and fail) to make your life miserable.

The first one on the list is the Harder Imp, which is basically an Imp that fires the Hell Nobles’ green fireball. It replaces Hell knights. It still has the same amount of health as a regular Imp, but I believe it’s better to shoot him with the Super Shotgun instead of the regular one due to the damage it can deal.

The second monster is the Bazooka Man that replaces regular Imps. As the name suggests, he carries a rocket launcher. It might sound deadly to you, and it is, but thankfully his wind-up is big enough to know that he’s about to shoot you when you notice him. Sometimes he kills himself and/or other monsters nearby by accident with one of his rockets.

The last enemy is called the Hightech Guy, replacing the SS-men. A medieval armor-wearing fuck head with two pistols/machine guns that is semi-invisible when he’s not firing. Can be very annoying in the first level he’s introduced – Slaughter Until Death. After that, he’s much more manageable.

Now, remember when I said that the first fourth of Obituary was the worst part for me due to the bugs? Yeah, well, these bugs are really fucking annoying. In levels Entrance and The Church, there are bugs that will break the progress. In the former’s case, you won’t get the yellow key if you go through a walkway towards it (I think), and the gates to the room with two Mancubi and the exit switch won’t open (I don’t know if I forgot about one of the hidden switches or that one of these didn’t work properly but still). In the latter’s case, if the enemy behind one of the walls will open it, while you opened the wall first, it won’t open again, because the switch that opens the wall to the room with the switch to progress further only works once.

For these reasons, I felt soured during the beginning of playing Obituary. I thought that it will end with a massive disappointment. Luckily though, there weren’t any more bug encounters after the first fourth.

I don’t know if these bugs happened because of the fixed version I played, or because of the WAD itself, but still, prepare to noclip if it will happen.

To summarize my experience with Obituary, I’ll say this – As I said earlier, I had fun most of the time. This WAD is good, and it’s better than The Innocent Crew’s previous work (from what I can remember). I like how this WAD is more ambitious with its new monsters and weapons. So, to wrap it all up, I recommend Obituary, and I give it the overdue Platinum Revenant for the best WAD/MegaWAD with 10 to 20 maps of 1995.

Next up in my bonus line-up, some secret operations to do.

See you next time.

Bye!

[trombonesinspace]

Typhoid Mary: feminist femme fatale?

“Season 4 was going to be Typhoid Mary, Alice Eve [who played the role in Iron Fist], we were doing a kind of...I had a much different version of her than what Raven [Metzner] had done in Iron Fist. I was kind of rebooting what she was going to be like, and we were going to do a, you know, kind of a warped love story/murder mystery kind of femme fatale, but kind of a modern-day, feminist version of it, as opposed to kind of the older, sexist kind of femme fatale archetype.”

-Erik Oleson, in conversation with Steven DeKnight, SaveDaredevilCon 

As I said yesterday, I have some thoughts about this! If you want some opinions nobody asked for, about a storyline that may never come to pass, you’ve come to the right place! Let’s dive in.

A femme fatale is a character type with quite a history, that can take various forms. She is always an attractive woman who brings ruin to the man who gets involved with her. But sometimes she is deliberately manipulative, while sometimes she is more a victim of circumstances. She may be evil, or she may be sympathetic/tragic. But whatever her moral alignment, she has two defining traits: sexual allure, and some form of negative consequences for the hero as a result of his involvement with her.

A woman who schemes against the hero, and succeeds in harming him, but without using feminine wiles? Not a femme fatale. The Marvel TV universe has featured several examples on different shows: Madame Gao, Mariah Dillard, Alexandra. And, ironically, the version of Typhoid Mary who appeared in Iron Fist. (We’ll get there.)

A sexy woman who tries to manipulate/damage the hero, but fails? Also not a femme fatale. I wish I could give some examples, but sadly I can’t think of any, in dramas at least. Our current media culture loves a sexy manipulator, no writer ever seems to introduce one into a dramatic story without making her succeed in her schemes, to some extent at least.

Which is unfortunate, from my perspective, because I loathe sexy manipulators. It’s a character type I really dislike, whenever I encounter her. As soon as she shows up, I know the hero is going to fall for her bullshit like a chump, and I’m going to end up respecting him less as a result. I could try to unpack my feelings about this a bit more, but that would probably make a post all on its own, so for now I’ll leave it at that.

This doesn’t mean I hate all femmes fatales—it really depends on her motivation and her behavior. If she isn’t trying to harm the hero, and it happens due to circumstances, then I might like the character, but the story becomes a tragedy. Which is not necessarily bad. Just, you know. Tragic.

Anyway! Let’s talk about Typhoid Mary.

Mary Walker is a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities), and high-level combat skills. In the comics, she is also a mutant with mental powers. She appeared in the Daredevil comics starting in 1988.

In this original version, her personality fragmented due to childhood abuse, leading her to vow as an adult that no man would ever hurt her again. Her personalities are: Mary, who is timid and gentle; Typhoid, who is adventurous, lusty, and violent; and Bloody Mary, who is even more violent, sadistic, and hates all men.

Mary becomes romantically involved with Matt Murdock, who is cheating on his girlfriend, Karen Page, to be with her. At the same time, Typhoid is trying to ruin him, having been hired to do so by the Kingpin. Matt can’t tell they’re the same woman, because when she switches personalities all her bio signs change (voice, scent, heartbeat, etc) so much that he can’t recognize her. (Uh, sure.) She may also be using some of her mutant powers to confuse his senses. I haven’t read the comics, I’m relying here on what I could learn from the internet.

Eventually Typhoid drops him off a bridge, but then Mary finds him and gets him to a hospital, saving him. Karen is with him when he wakes up, but he breaks her heart by calling out for Mary.

This storyline...does not thrill me. As I said, I haven’t read it, but comics writing about mental illness is generally neither nuanced nor accurate, and comics writing about women circa 1988 is also not great, by today’s standards. And comics Matt’s disastrous love life is legendary—cheating on your girlfriend is bad, Matt! Don’t do it! 

I have, however, watched season 2 of Iron Fist, where we get a different version. This Mary Walker is a US army veteran, special ops, who was captured by the Sokovian military. Her personality fragmented due to the brutal abuse she received from her captors for nearly two years, until she finally escaped. She got a medical discharge from the army after being diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Her personalities are: Mary, who is innocent and naive; and Walker, who is a ruthless, coolly efficient mercenary-for-hire. The existence of a third, ultraviolent personality, previously unknown to either Mary or Walker, is revealed near the end of the season. 

Mary meets and befriends Danny Rand, while Walker is hired by his enemies to stalk him, and eventually capture him so they can steal his Iron Fist powers from him. She later changes sides, getting hired to bring down Davos, the season’s main villain, by Joy Meachum, his former ally.

There are clear parallels to the Daredevil comics storyline, albeit in less extreme form—Mary befriends the hero, but isn’t romantically involved with him; her more violent personality works against him and fights him, but doesn’t try to destroy him. 

I enjoyed this version of the character more than I expected to, for a couple of reasons. For one, she is never the out of control, “crazy” stereotype of a person with mental illness. Both Mary and Walker are more-or-less functional adults, managing to live a strange hybrid life, aware of each other’s existence even though they don’t share memories.

But what I especially like is that she isn’t sexualized, at all. It’s incredibly rare, in my experience, to see a young, female antagonist opposing a male hero, and not have her be sexy. Older women are exempt from this obligation (see my list of examples above), but the young ones always vamp it up, and I am so tired of it. I am not opposed to sexy women, but I am very opposed to the requirement that all women must be sexy. (Unless they’re old.) Male antagonists aren’t required to be alluring, so why should women be? (Yes, I know why. I just don’t like it.)

There’s also a lot of potential YIKES in sexualizing a woman with a severe mental illness, which was caused by (among other things) repeated sexual violence. Could it be done in a way that isn’t super problematic? It’s possible, sure. Am I assuming that most television writers would give the subject the respect it deserves? NOPE! 

I’m really glad they chose to just not go there. Walker is extremely good at what she does, takes no shit from anyone, and (almost) never gets riled up. After everything she’s been through, nothing in her present life has the power to faze her, and none of the men around her have the power to intimidate her. It’s pretty great!

She isn’t the least bit coy or seductive, and, equally refreshing, none of the men try to sexualize her or hit on her. Everyone Walker talks to knows she is a highly skilled professional, and they treat her accordingly. Or, when someone does disrespect her, it’s never gendered as far as I can remember, and it stops as soon as she calmly states what she’s going to do to him if it doesn’t.

As for Mary, although she has a more feminine appearance than Walker (hair down and loose, makeup), she is also not sexualized. Her friendship with Danny, who is in an established relationship with Colleen Wing, is platonic, and no one else tries to hit on her that I remember.

So this is the version of Typhoid Mary that Erik Oleson was going to reboot, into a femme fatale. Only, you know. A feminist one. 

I...have some questions. What does that even mean? What does feminism mean to Erik Oleson? Let’s be real, the idea of a woman becoming an ultraviolent, sadistic man-hater as a result of sexual trauma would have been seen as feminist in some circles, back in 1988 when that version was written. So what, exactly, did he have in mind?

As I said before, sexual allure is a necessary component of a femme fatale. So she was definitely gonna be sexy. And you know now how I feel about sexy female antagonists. As for the “warped love story” part...Matt wouldn’t be cheating on Karen, since they aren’t together (please, for the love of mercy, don’t have them get together right before he meets Mary, we did that once and I do NOT want to see it again), but I am still not a fan of Matt/Mary as a couple.

Her Dissociative Identity Disorder raises some serious issues around consent, and even if the show chose to ignore that, there’s still the issue of past sexual trauma. Unless Oleson’s reworking of the character was going to include a completely different back story, a Matt/Mary relationship would mean Matt unknowingly having sex with a woman who has suffered brutal sexual abuse in her past. Not to mention, having sex with her that only one part of her personality actually wants.

Is it possible for someone with Mary’s past trauma and present mental illness to have a positive sexual relationship? In reality, of course! In the hands of writers with only a layman’s knowledge of psychology, on a show that loves to torment its hero, I wouldn’t bet on it. How do you suppose our poster boy for Catholic guilt would react when he inevitably finds out the truth?

Plus, aside from any issues around Mary herself, Matt starting a relationship with anyone other than the handful of people who already know his secret identity, means a whole new round of Matt lying to someone he cares about. Does anyone really want to see that? I know I don’t. Sure, maybe he’d tell her eventually, but how long would they have to date before he decided to trust her with the truth?

I’m not opposed to the Mary Walker from Iron Fist appearing in Daredevil, if the writers could come up with a new story for her (i.e, don’t just have her repeat all the same plot beats with Matt that she already did with Danny). But bringing her in as a femme fatale really doesn’t sit well with me. We’ve already seen Matt in an ultimately destructive relationship with a sexy, violent, morally grey woman. I really don’t want to watch Round 2: now with multiple personalities!

Of course, maybe we never will. The quote at the beginning of this post is from just a couple of weeks ago (July 25 2020), so Erik Oleson still seems to think it’s a fine idea. But obviously we don’t know yet if there will ever be a season 4, or who the show runner will be if there is. He may never get to make the story he was planning.

So yes, I realize I’m merely speculating about a completely theoretical story that may never happen. But I wanted to write this anyway. I had a strong “ugh, no” reaction to the idea of a feminist femme fatale Typhoid Mary, and I wanted to go deeper and pick apart my reasons for not liking the idea.

To the three of you who have read this all the way through to the end (this post is nearly 2000 words, yikes), thank you for indulging me! These are, as always, my own opinions, and YMMV. 

[dogcopter]

Rose is Lion Theory

Before Steven Universe Future ends, a consolidation of sprawling Rose Quartz endgame speculation into one post. Structured for story sense, but pulling from all points of canon throughout for context:

Mechanics/powers

Lion: secrets and behaviors

Suspicious characters, dreams and stuff

Future/speculation and arc implications

TL;DR: Maybe if she has the same abilities Steven does, Rose Quartz gave up her physical form to Steven, but did not die in the sense that her personality still exists somehow. Using the same sort of astral projection powers Steven has demonstrated, Rose has continued to watch over her son in secret after changing her identity, like she did when staging Pink Diamond’s shattering. 

Image and text heavy. Potential spoilers for Steven Universe Future up to Bismuth Casual - This is long and I may add a few things to it.

Lion’s introduction in Steven’s Lion.

After they meet in the desert, Lion follows Steven home.

Lion approaches Steven after he lifted up his shirt, exposing his gem, so it’s possible he recognized Rose Quartz’s son. However, the Gems had never met Lion, and didn’t know he was connected to Rose.

From Steven’s Lion:

Steven: Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are coming. Quick, put my head in your mouth! Pearl: Steven! What is that? What are you doing?

From Rose’s Scabbard:

Pearl: Does Lion have something to do with Rose? Amethyst: Ohh, of course! That’s why he’s pink!

...

Pearl: No, Rose didn’t have a lion, because if Rose had a lion I would have known about it!

How does Lion know where the Crystal Gems live? Where they’d take a corrupted Gem after destroying its physical form?

Lion doesn’t know where to find Steven/the Pink Diamond gem innately. In Jungle Moon, Stevonnie has to call Lars in order for him to find them, and Lars and Lion have identical powers from their pink revival.

Lars: Keep searching! We're not giving up on them, no matter what! Stevonnie: Lars! Hey Lars! Hey! Lars: There you are! We've been looking all over for you!

And Lars and Lion have the same magic abilities. Per SU podcast “The Fantasy of Steven Universe”

Anything Lion can do, Lars can do.

It’s possible Rose told Lion about the Gems and how to get to Beach City and where they live, but it’s likely he has never been there if they had no clue about him. He warps straight to the Temple.

The generally accepted explanation for Lion’s behavior is that Rose masterminded Lion’s knowledge and prepared for him to tell Steven everything, or at least told him her life story in enough detail, perhaps confiding in him, that his level of knowledge would make sense. 

Almost anything Lion does can be explained that way, but Lion being Rose makes more sense as an explanation. After all, she was known for being secretive.

From A Single Pale Rose:

Rose: No one can ever find out we did this. I never want to look back.

From Now We’re Only Falling Apart:

Sapphire: She lied to us! She lied about everything!

From Rose’s Scabbard:

Garnet: Rose kept many things secret, even from us.

From Steven’s Dream:

Greg: There were some things your mom didn't like to talk about. I never pressed her for details.

Mechanics

How is it possible for Rose to be Lion? Steven’s mysterious extra OP astral projection/dream/possession spirit powers that came up again in In Dreams.

Rose’s absence is consistently described as “giving up her physical form”.

Body swap: Steven controls other organic beings in Super Watermelon Island, The New Lars, and Escapism.

Dream travel, lucid dreaming, and dream TV: Steven is able to travel in his dreams and talk to others in Chille Tid (Lapis while fused in Malachite), affect the content of other people’s dreams Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service (Kiki’s recurring nightmare), change his own dreams and broadcast and record them in In Dreams (Camp Pining Hearts fanfiction)

Astral projection/”psychic ghost thing”: In addition to astral projecting in the above forms, Steven travels from Homeworld to Earth via astral projection in Escapism, and confronts the Diamonds via astral projection in Reunited. They can’t see him, but can perceive an “aura”.

If Steven can do this, and this ability was familiar to the Diamonds, Rose may be able to do these things as well. Steven’s ability to take over organic bodies explains Rose using Lion’s body because they’re related powers, which is made clear in Escapism when Steven astral projects to find Earth and ends up in a Watermelon Steven body far from home.

When does Lion act like Rose?

Secrets

The following section are things Lion knows that only Rose, or only Rose and Pearl know, including locations related to Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond. 

Secret: Lion

Went over this above. Gems didn’t know about Lion himself.

Secret: Armory

Pearl: You must be thinking of someplace else. I’m the only other Crystal Gem that’s witnessed the Armory’s magnificence before now. Steven: Nuh-uh, Lion showed me.

On one of their first adventures together, Lion brings Connie and Steven to a place only Pearl and Rose knew about. 

He also seems to know how the Armory works; he encourages Steven to activate the controls and doesn’t let the kids bail on training. Pearl had to climb a cliff to bring Steven there.

Secret: Mane

Lion’s mane contained Bismuth, Rose’s Crystal Gem keepsakes, including the sword that Pearl hadn’t seen. and keepsakes from Greg. 

When Steven finally unbubbles Bismuth in Bismuth and frees her from the mane, Lion immediately looks at the Crystal Gems’ reaction.

The mane also held the tape “For Steven”; “For Nora” was abandoned in the desert. Rose gave up her physical form before she could have known the baby’s sex, as Greg explains in Lion 4: Alternate Ending.

Greg: When you have a kid, you have no idea who they’re gonna be. Even Garnet couldn’t predict it. That’s what was so exciting to your mom, that life is full of so many possibilities, and you would get to explore them for yourself. I mean, you could be Steven or Nora or anyone else. And you can always change your name; hey, I did.

Lion is able to remove the sword from his mane in Lion 2: The Movie, meaning he may have had both tapes in the mane at one point, ejecting the Nora tape after meeting Steven. Not necessarily something he’d have to be Rose to do.

Secret: Scabbard & Battlefield

Lion finds Rose’s scabbard immediately at the battlefield. From Rose’s Scabbard:

Pearl: That’s the scabbard for Rose’s sword!

Lion also knows where to find Pearl when she gets upset; the battlefield where the scabbard was abandoned. Even though Pearl introduces the location like this:

Pearl: This was the site of a historic battle. Every weapon here was left by a Gem over 5,000 years ago. I don’t like to disturb it, but Garnet said we can’t just leave these lying around.

Later, when Pearl is upset, Steven asks Lion:

Steven: Do you know where she went? Lion: growl Steven: I’m going to assume that means you do.

...then he warps Steven to the battlefield. After Steven chases her to a floating island, Pearl then says:

Pearl: Do you remember this place? Do you have any of her memories? We were right here, over 5,000 years ago.

Pearl recreates the moment she and Rose chose to stay on Earth forever. Another location specific to Rose and Pearl.

Secret: Moon Base

Lion warps Steven to the Moon Base in both It Could’ve Been Great and in Can’t Go Back. The Galaxy Warp was destroyed pre-corruption, so unless Rose wanted to visit and gave excellent warp directions, Lion could not have visited it before. But Rose spent some time there as Pink Diamond!

Secret: Landfill/Pink Diamond

Lion brings Steven to the landfill in Lion 4: Alternate Ending, when Steven is paranoid about his magical destiny.

He was excited to get Steven into the mane in Lion 3, but in Lion 4 he’s reluctant to answer Steven’s questions, and acts much more subdued and serious than usual when they get there. 

He brings Steven to Greg to have his questions about “For Nora” answered, but leaves before Greg sees him. 

One other thing that’s slightly different between “For Steven” and “For Nora” is Rose’s monologue in the tape. Two sections are slightly different. One of them is this:

“For Steven”:

Steven, we can’t both exist.

“For Nora”: 

Nora, we can’t both exist, but I won’t be gone.

The other revelation in the landfill is Pink Diamond’s ship. Its location was known only to Rose, Pearl didn’t know there was still a working ship on the planet. From Space Race:

Pearl: It’s fine. I’ll always have my memories of other worlds. But now I’m here. On Earth. Forever.

Rose’s identity as Pink Diamond was a secret. In Legs From Here to Homeworld all it takes to activate the ship is an incidental touch from Steven:

Lion must have known bringing Steven to look for answers here would risk Steven discovering Rose’s secret identity?

Behaviors

Rose is not necessarily Lion full-time; Lion is a revived lion with the same powers as Lars. 

Lion’s relationship to Connie or Steven isn’t in this post, although it’s significant to both of them; Connie, Steven, and Lion have closely related character arcs, but in terms of the theory I’m sticking to characters Lion would have known as Rose or as Pink. I do have this brief post about Connie knowing Lion and Steven well enough to figure out Rose is Lion.

Garnet is also missing from this post because Lion has spent suspiciously little time around Garnet, presumably because Rose knows how her future vision works.

Lion’s interactions with other characters:

Behavior: Amethyst

Lion seems to like Amethyst! He’s particularly affectionate with her, and she’s affectionate with him. They’re shown in the background being cuddly a few times. Amethyst feels an instant connection.

(Is this a family photo?)

Lion also keeps an eye on Amethyst's reaction during Cry For Help, while Steven is distracted by Sardonyx’s whimsy;

Behavior: Pearl

Notable Pearl and Lion scenes. In Lion 3 they watch Steven sleep together.

In Scabbard they interact a lot and it’s interesting. He’s amused by Pearl taking the scabbard from him and annoyed at being shooed away.

Then he’s mad at her for trying to get into his mane.

We don’t get to see his face once when Pearl gets upset in the living room, but when Steven asks where Pearl went...

Lion knows exactly where to take him, and feels strongly about it.

He lets Pearl put the sword in his mane and ride on his back at the end of the episode.

He has some reactions in the movie, like after Pearl sings her incredible verse about moving on from Rose, Lion wakes up with this look on his face

He also hangs around Greg and rejuvenated Pearl, although his face isn’t shown much.

Behavior: Greg

Lion loves hanging out with Greg! 

Lion’s notable scenes with Greg include: that time he took Steven back to fight with the Crystal Gems in The Return, and then hid before Greg could see him in Full Disclosure. 

Is this a family photo?

And at the very end of the series, the time he shows up to face Greg with a badly injured Watermelon Steven.

Greg greets him with a smile before he sees Steven - maybe Lion’s shown up to spend time with him before?

Character development. And of course in the movie, Lion gives Greg a little kiss in a Crystal Gem groupshot. Very cute!

Behavior: Diamonds

Lion has a visible reaction to the Diamonds and seems to understand their power, even though he would never have encountered them before.

In Reunited, Lion tries his hardest and he’s the first to charge Blue Diamond after a teamwork. 

Makes sense for Rose to be angry with Blue

Also in Reunited, Lion is the only character who keeps an eye out for Yellow Diamond after the Cluster knocks down her ship.

In Legs From Here to Homeworld, Lion is making a face for most of the episode. He is not happy about this new development (asking White Diamond to help with corruption)

In Escapism, when Steven asks for help against White Diamond, Lion looks unusually worried.

He looks a little judgy when the Diamonds and Spinel sing in the movie.

Behavior: Spinel

Lion allows Spinel to ride around on his back, but he also shoots her dirty looks, 

and leaves her behind at the Sadie Killer concert.

If Rose is Lion, oof. But hey, still in character based on past behavior!

Behavior: Jasper

We don’t know the nature of Rose and Jasper’s relationship, and Lion doesn’t interact with her much, but Lion is there to witness Malachite’s fusion.

In Crack the Whip we get a few Jasper clues. He reacts to mention of Jasper’s name at the beginning.

He also seems big mad at Jasper, who spends the whole time aggressing at Steven under the impression he’s Rose.

Curious to see if this comes back when we get to hear Jasper’s story in Future.

Unresolved Mysteries

Some things about Lion and about Rose that still lack answers and could affect this:

What Lion and Rose’s relationship looked like

how he died and was revived by Rose’s abilities.

Desert Glass gem. 

The lizards he eats

Whether or how it’s even possible Rose gave up her gem to Steven while continuing to exist as a separate entity on the astral plane like this.

Suspicious Characters, Dreams & Stuff

Galaxy brain: if Rose is Lion, what’s to say she doesn’t have the other abilities Steven has? 

Steven has Pink Diamond dreams when he needs the information in the dream. When animal sidekicks appear they lead him to his goals. If Lion is a mysterious animal sidekick who appeared just to be Steven’s friend, and he’s secretly Rose, what other convenient animal sidekicks are suspect?

If he doesn’t have a magical destiny, but does have a magical, secretive mom who can astral project and hijack organic bodies, maybe she’s been lending him a hand here and there.

The only time the mask slips is in Storm in the Room.

Steven: And that’s why I’m here, isn’t it? Did you just make me so you wouldn’t have to deal with your mistakes? Is that all I’m here for?

Rose: Steven, you know that isn’t true. In the tape I left you, I told you how much I wanted to have you and let you exist.

Ghosts

There are a few characters I call “suspicious ghosts” who aid Steven along his journey. They only exist to be convenient to Steven, even though Steven doesn’t have a magical destiny, and might be Rose:

Tiny Floating Whale: Has Susan Egan’s voice and appears before Steven hears her voice in Lion 3

Baby Melon: Is friends with Steven, punches Steven to draw the ire of the other melons and sacrifice himself.

Dream Dogcopter: Leads Steven to Lapis when he’s looking for Malachite. Tells Steven to “take a deep breath” when Lion is trying to get him in his mane.

Melon Dogs: Shows Steven Malachite is near Mask Island. Tries to distract and entertain Steven when he’s trapped in Pink Diamond’s tower.

Maybe Pink Steven? Maybe Cactus Steven? (They could be more Rose ghosts, given the way they behave, but could also be exactly what they appear to be)

Dreams & Memories

Like Lion, Steven’s dreams also seem to help him out with information his mom would have.

Steven’s Dream: Steven asks Greg if his mom ever talked about Pink Diamond, Greg tells Steven that Rose didn’t tell him about her past. Steven has a dream of crying in front of the palanquin, prompting him to search for answers there.

Jungle Moon: Stevonnie is stranded on one of Yellow Diamond’s Moon Bases and has a dream that is partially a memory of Pink Diamond’s. Using the code they see in the dream, they are able to unlock YD’s console and call for help.

Can’t Go Back: Steven dreams of Pink Diamond trying to save Earth and Pearl with Rose’s sword, prompting him to speak to Pearl and uncover her secret.

Masterpost of suspicious ghosts that goes into slightly more detail.

Rose’s Characterization

From Storm in the Room:

Steven: I finally know the truth. I know what you are! You’re a liar! I thought you’d never want to hurt anyone, but you hurt everyone! How could you just leave Garnet and Amethyst and Pearl and Dad? They don’t know what to do without you! Maybe they didn’t matter to you as much as hiding the mess you made!

My read of Rose choosing to be Lion but not tell the others is because she cared about them, but like other things she’s done, that doesn’t change the fallout.

The good news: If Rose is Lion, and she is still around in some fashion, if she can only overcome this pattern of behavior and face the truth... then, like everyone else in Steven Universe, she has a chance to change!

But... 

Lion is pink because he’s like Lars: Yes. See above. I’m not claiming there’s an alternate explanation for Lion’s appearance or abilities, or contradicting his behaviors. It’s just that Rose is using his body.

Lion knows everything because Rose told him: I don’t think this makes sense given what we know of Rose. I don’t mind being wrong if there’s a better explanation.

Rose is dead My only response to this objection is yea, as far as we know, but there’s enough supporting detail not explained in other ways that I believe the theory has merit. It’s not like SU hasn’t misdirected us before.

Future Speculation

In the Steven Universe Future premiere, although Steven really doesn’t want to think about what she did anymore (and who could blame him?) we get a little bit of new Rose lore. Shy Rose Quartz.

I think this is Rose. I don’t know how she managed it, but I think we’ll learn soon. With the possibility Rose is Lion, and can inhabit other bodies, the whole vibe of Rose Buds changes. Here is a post dedicated to that: Shy Rose is Steven’s Mom. That’s all. From A Single Pale Rose:

Rose: Convincing? Pearl: Very much so, my DIamond. Rose: Soon it will be just Rose.

In Volleyball it’s also explained that she traumatized her former Pearl, and that Rose changed her behavior so much that it’s like Pearl and Volleyball knew two different people.

One last thing: Steven’s arc.

From I Am My Mom:

I get it now. I’m the only one who can stop what she started. I can stop all of it!

From Reunited:

Now all that’s left of her exists in me, and I think that we can all agree: that is a little bit upsetting. I’d rather think about a wedding!

From Storm in the Room:

No, I’m sure you meant it. I get it. I know you didn’t want me to deal with your problems. You’re a part of me now. I have to deal with what you left behind.

From “Happily Ever After”:

Once upon a time, I thought I’d always be in my mother’s shadow Answering for her crimes, I thought I’d always be in an endless battle

From the end of the movie:

There’s no such thing as happily ever after. I’ll always have more work to do.

Steven has a tough relationship with his mom by now. 

Like when she said “We can’t both exist,” recently called back in Rose Buds. 

From Storm in the Room:

In the tape I left you, I told you how much I wanted to have you and let you exist. Do you think what I said to you in the tape was a lie?

If you entertain this theory as plausible given the lore, the implications change; what if Rose isn’t gone? What if she’s not half of him? What if at least part of that tape was just another lie?

And I need you to know that every moment you love being yourself, that’s me, loving you and loving being you. Because you’re going to be something extraordinary; you’re going to be a human being.

Steven has internalized a lot from when he was young. His best friend Lion has been there for him. We’re also seeing the ways his childhood trauma has manifested in coping behaviors and automatic reactions from his gem, not unlike his mom before him. 

Right now, in Future, mid-breakdown - how would Steven react to such a paradigm shift?

Thank you for reading! I know this is a lot. 

[vagrantblvrd]

Watching the Rimmy Tim GTA Garage Tour video and omg.

Spoilers under the cut because reasons, but talk of AUs and ridiculousness also because reasons.

(In hindsight, the spoilers are like. A smidgen of this post/AU, but yes.)

I’m just.

That One AU with Jeremy who comes from a wealthy family but there’s, idk, Issues or some such associated with it that has him join the military as soon as he can?

His mom passed away when he was a kid - barely remembers her, really - and his dad threw himself into his work and Jeremy’s childhood wasn’t the greatest, you know?

Decides to go by his mother’s maiden name or something because his father’s name is so well known and he’s trying to get by on his own merits and such?

(Prove to himself he can after the last Big Argument with his dad over taking over the family business and having all his doubts and insecurities thrown into his face because born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he’s always wanted to be “norrmal” whatever that is, so. Yeah.)

Goes into the military and takes to it like nothing else. Gets thrown into a special forces group where he meets Ryan and the whole Battle Buddies thing happens, right?

Couple of idiots who don’t get along at first because Ryan’s been in spec ops for a while and he’s maybe a little jaded about rookies like Jeremy (even though Jeremy’s not shiny new at the time, but yeah).

Some rough spots until there’s a mission or something happening on their downtime/at HQ wherein they learn to look at one another in a different light?

Ryan thinking Jeremy’s a by the book kind of guy because hey, pretty new to things and he’s great at the “Yes, sir,” and “No, sir” and “Understood, sir,” shit and doesn’t yet realize what a little bastard he can be?

But yeah.

That mission where things go to shit really early on and Jeremy gets tired of playing the good little soldier - their usual handler replaced for the mission by some asshole from an letter agency who clearly doesn’t give a fuck about them, and just.

“Oh, shit,” Jeremy says, plucking his earpiece out and dropping it in the mud. “Fuck.”

Ryan watches as Jeremy brings his foot down on the earpiece, grinds it into the mud where he won’t have to listen to the weasel’s voice anymore and maybe get some shit done with minimal casualties.

Jeremy slides a look at Ryan who’s got his own earpiece in hand about to toss it into the jungle somewhere. (Always a jungle setting because anywhere ese is just not Cool Enough I guess?)

Ryan shrugs, feels his mouth twitch into a smirk because hey, maybe this Dooley asshole isn’t all bad after all?

And then the two of them go on to wreak havoc like whoah and fuck up the baddies to rescue the innocent civilians or whatever that got caught up in all this. (Ones the letter agency asshole told them were acceptable losses and to set the charges that would bring the building they’re being held in down and just. Yeah.)

Everything after that is just overall terrible for Jeremy and Ryan’s regular handler and superiors as they get along like a house on fire and things explode everywhere all the time.

After a while Jeremy feels guilty about not telling Ryan who he really is although he’s 99.9% sure Ryan’s figured it out by then? (Ryan’s kind of an idiot, but he’s not dumb, so.)

Talks himself up into Confessing to Ryan (the fact he’s in love with the asshole is a major motivation for it) but then they get that shitty mission that leaves Jeremy thinking Ryan’s dead.

Wakes up in a little clinic in a little country somewhere. No ID because the kind of mission the government would have to disavow and all that and anyway, anyway, better this way?

Problem is, okay, problem is the government thinks he’s dead too?

Helpful as he unravels the conspiracy that nearly got him killed and sure as fuck killed Ryan and also, okay, because I’m terrible like that, has Jeremy drawing on all the contacts and resources he’s made over the years in spec ops.

More than a few are ones he met through Ryan, and all of them are super fucking delighted to lend a hand when Jeremy tells them what he’s doing, you know?

Getting revenge on the assholes who killed Ryan and tried to kill Jeremy and anyway, okay. They’ve got a lot of friends out there.

Once Jeremy uncovers the conspiracy/baddies he has the choice of going back into hiding or taking his life back?

And at first he thinks it won’t be that hard of a decision because his old life was never something he wanted?

But his supposed death changed his father or made him realize how he’d been pushing Jeremy away and there’s this.

Jeremy’s old superiors give him this phone while giving him time to make his decision. (Figure he’s earned it, and they’ll make sure whatever he chooses he won’t get trouble from them and all that?)

And there’s voicemail messages he doesn’t intend to listen to, doesn’t want to know what they are because he’s definitely made up his mind about going into hiding/creating a new identity for himself?

But there’s a night in his motel room, shitty little thing close to a highway and the kind fo place he’s been staying in for the last however long it took him to get the assholes behind the conspiracy that fucked his life up beyond repair?

This night where everything that happened, everything he lost, hits him hard and he’s sitting on the edge of the bed with this stupid phone in his hand, you know?

Unremarkable flipphone deal, burner phone written all over it and it shouldn’t even be a problem to toss it in the trash and disappear, start a new life, but.

Jeremy listens to the messages on it.

A few from former friends and coworkers wishing him well and the like? But also a few from his dad.

He almost, almost deletes those messages right off the bat, but something makes him sit through them and he’s glad he did, you know, because, okay, because.

It’s clear some of the messages were left before The Mission, his dad all stiff and awkward checking in on his son? Doesn’t get why Jeremy left to join the military and there’s disapproval and condescencion galore in them, but after the first few messages the tone changes significantly.

Start just after The Mission, his dad angry at first like he thinks Jeremy’s put his superiors up to pranking him with a dead son (Jesus fuck) and the other stages of grief?

A few where he’s obviously accepted Jeremy’s death and is telling him the things he wished he had the chance to before he died. Has a whole change of heart and apologizes - he was tough on Jeremy because he wanted to prepare him for th world and all that bullshit? Did everything he did out of misguided love and apologizes and Jeremy, okay.

Never got to know his mom, but he’s got this chance to get to know his dad so he decides to reclaim his old life.

No interest in staying in the military after everything that happened, and they’re grateful enough for all he did he gets a dishonorable discharge and all that.

Goes back home and gets to know his dad, thinks about taking over the family business even though he’s not 100% sold on the idea just yet.

Which is good, because his dad isn’t pushing him to do it even if he wants Jeremy to?

Is trying real hard to let Jeremy make his own decisions and suchlike. (Has someone in line to take over some day, bright kid from the midwest and a degree in aerospace engineering. Which. Kind of not the right degree for this, but his dad doesn’t seem overly bothered and anyway, anyway, Jeremy likes Trevor pretty much from the start, so it’s all good.)

ANYWAY.

Jeremy doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life at the moment, pretty much content to let it come to him in time.

He’s got his own money - trust funds and/or the whatnot his mom set up and investments here and there, not to mention his time in the militray - so he’s covered on the financial front.

Gets a decent place of his own and starts working on figuring out who he is outside of the military and all that? (Tries not to think about shit like that he talked to Ryan about for hours, the things Ryan promised to show him/introduce him to One Day not knowing it would never come and all that, because Delicious Angst.)

Is finally starting to make good headway on figuring his shit out when his dad - who, by the way, Jeremy’s building a good relationship with - gets into trouble.

Finds out one of his trusted people in the company’s been making shady deals and the whatnot on the side for a while now. Profiting off other people’s suffering and keeping it secret until there’s a lip up. Discrephancy or soemthing Jeremy’s dad notices, looks into.

And then things go to hell again, because it gets Jeremy’s dad killed, you know?

Supposed accident - plane crash or something while he’s touring a facility and the press talking about it for weeks/months/however long, because.

Jeremy’s dad and the multi-billion dollar company their fmaily built up from nothing over several generations and just.

Yeah.

At first even Jeremy thinks it was an accident, but then he gets these phone calls and messages and realizes it totally wasn’t.

That someone killed him because he knew to too much and he’s like, fucking Christ, not this again?

But yeah, this again.

Can’t quite disappear to investigate on his own with how high-profile everything is and all that?

SO.

(This is where things take a turn for the are you fucking kidding me??? with my Plot Reasons, so bear with me???)

Jeremy goes vigilante.

Totally Batmans the shit out of things.

Digs into the money he had under his previous fake identity that he never told anyone about because who knew if he’d need it again, you know? (Don’t bother asking where he got that money because you don’t want to know? Also. A fair amount of his contacts/resources have warrants out for their arrest, so yes.)

Uses it to fund everything, and maybe puts some of his real identity money into things when his fake identity money isn’t enough, which.

Good idea?

But has the unintended result of drawing the attention of Trevor, who’s got his hands full handling the business side of things since Jeremy’s father died.

Has feelers everywhere (and a very, very good hacker in an old buddy of his) and confronts Jeremy about it.

Not sure what’s going on - thinks maybe Jeremy had something to do with his father’s death because rocky relationship ~conveniently mended not too long before his father’s death?

So, yeah.

Thinks Jeremy’s a murdered or at least capable of arranging a murder, and Jeremy’s like !!! and ??? and “What the actual fuck are you talking about, Trevor?”

And that’s how Trevor basically becomes Jeremy’s Lucius Fox???

The two of them working together to figure out what the everloving fuck happened.

Realize it’s something big, fucking huge. (Possibly connected to The Mission and the baddies responsible for it, although they’re not sure how at the moment.)

Trevor taking a specific interest in the R&D department to create gadgets/vehicles for Jeremy’s use in this private little war of his.

Matt taking on the side-gig of being Jeremy’s Oracle-ish person.

And Jeremy taking up the job his father wanted him to because it makes him a nice, shiny target, doesn’t it?

Feigns stupidity because actually great tactic? And also allows the conpirators to underestimate him to the point they expose themselves and just.

Yes.

ANYWAY.

In all this - Jeremy Bruce Wayne-ing/Batman-ing his way through things he meets this reporter type.

British bastard who’s recently moved to the states and not at all intimidated by the Dooley name and just.

All these dinner parties and Events, comments and the like over a flute of champagne on a balcony while the elites mingle inside and all that?

Feeling one another out because Gavin is totally looking into the same conspiracy that got Jeremy’s father killed (and possibly Ryan?) for his own reasons and just.

You know the careful back and forth that goes along with all that, right? The sly looks and double-speak and Intrigue that slowly gives way to mutual respect and even this friendly verbal sparring.

And then, okay, and then.

Gavin’s asked to do a piece on Jeremy for the paper/whatver news outlet he works for. More of a puff piece than anything - his last article whatever got him in big trouble because it was too critical of powerful figures in the city. (The piece on Jeremy is either a bid to keep Gavin out of trouble until things calm down or punisment, but yes.)

Jeremy’s gotten a reputation for having A Thing for fast cars (and bikes and planes and so on) and he takes Gavin on a tour of some of them.

The one thing Jeremy really spent his money on before things went to hell and his father died, and since he’s Bruce Wayne-ing the fuck out of thing he’s gone a little overboard.

Has this entire fleet of vehicles he’s given ridiculous names to  - and okay. Most of them didn’t have names until he and Gavin were walking through the garage and Jeremy was capitvated by Gavin’s laugh and honest joy at the ridculous names he had given some of them that he just made the rest up on the fly.

At which point Jeremy realizes he’s kind fo fucked because oh shit, he’s got FEELINGS for Gavin???

Has a little freakout over that because the whole Ryan thing and when did he stop thinking about him? (Guilt like whoah and thinking he’s betraying his memory even though rationally he knows Ryan would want him to move on, and anyway, anyway, Ryan never liked him liked him, so. Yes.)

Still.

He keeps freaking out until Trevor and Matt notice and have A Talk with Jeremy, get him to get his head out of his ass and realize that while his life is a shitshow - honestly, only so much Tragic Backstory one guy can have, you know? - he still deserves to be happy.

And then, okay.

Just as Jeremy realizes they have a point and he’s going to Do Something about his FEELINGS he runs into this little shit while out Batman-ing.

Thief, because of course, and breaking into the Dooley business tower for Secrets and there’s.

Fighting with the acrobatics and flexibility and Major Flirting. Rooftop chases and all that with Jeremy being like (oh no, he’s hot) because reasons, okay?

And then!

Just as he’s about to catch the thief the bastard hits him with a superhero/supervillain tazer-ish gadget. Enough to knock the wind out of him, have him drop like a ragdoll while the thief crouches beside him, something like concern (oddly familiar?) on the bit of their face he can see as they make sure he’s okay.

Little smirk when he catches Jeremy’s scowl aimed at them and a, “Next time, hmm?” before they make their getaway while Jeremy watches helplessly.

And, okay.

I think we all know Gavin’s the thief, right?

Only not so much thieving at the moment as he’s been hired by another party to do some digging into the Dooley business files because Plot Reasons.

Something Jeremy, Trevor, and Matt figure out after several weeks/months/however long of running into the bastard (Jeremy not realizing it’s Gavin all that time because of course) and such.

Jeremy fail!flirting with reporter!Gavin and the two of them kind of sort of dating? (Certainly end up in the tabloids with all this speculation surrounding them and such.)

And then, okay, and then.

Some situation where Jeremy catches Gavin in the act of Thieving at a Dooley business (it really needs a name, huh?) and thinking he’s finally caught the little bastard?

But then the real baddies, or rather some goons hired by the real baddies show up and the two of them reluctantly teaming up, because of course.

(All this time the two of them have been butting heads they’ve formed mutual respect for one another and such. Know they’re not the actual baddies of this plotline but can’t fucking get their shit together to team up on exposing the main conspiracy together because Plot Reasons???)

Anyway.

They team up and manage to beat the baddies, but Jeremy’s got a bullet in him and the cops are coming and they think Jeremy’s just as bad as the acutal baddies and it’s a mess, okay? Huge fucking mess.

Gavin dithers for a bit before he decides the hell with it and drags a Jeremy to his base of operations or whatever. Jeremy tries to protest because hey, what if this is a ploy to unmask him/kill him and Gavin ignoring him because good God, idiot, no.

They end up in a pretty involved lair - totally a lair - that’s clearly been in operation for a while now. (Years, maybe.)

Gavin sitting Jeremy down and telling him to stay put for God’s sake as he bustles off to get a medical kit to patch Jeremy up.

Fusses over him, Jeremy watching quietly because look, okay, look.

He’s known for a while who this thief must be, but he’s just.

Jeremy’s a fucking spectacular liar, you know. Best there ever was, and he’s gotten fucking great at lying to himself over the years.

So yeah.

He’s known Gavin’s the thief for a while now, just didn’t think about it. (Because then he’d have to face the truth and his life has been enough of a fucking roller-coaster without that revelation.)

And Gavin, alright.

Knows just as well the idiot he’s patching up is the same damn bastard he’s maybe a little in love with. idiot with his name on the side of a building and target painted on his chest and just.

They know.

But!

Before either of them can admit any of that, the asshole who hired Gavin to do the Thieving for him shows up.

Fucker Jeremy’s had the misfortune of running into a few times over the last however long he started Batman-ing around.

Stupid skull mask and all those goddamned knives and of course, of fucking course Gavin would not only be the thief he’s been trying to catch for forever, he’s also working for the goddamned Vagabond.

And, like.

Ryan (totally not dead, but don’t tell Jeremy that just yet) also ended up in a little clinic after The Mission.

Thought Jeremy was dead and decided to get revenge for him (them), but while Jeremy did the whole vigilante/Batman deal? Ryan went a little darker, got his hands dirtier.

Ended up picking up a mask and reputation the likes of which has hardened criminals looking over their shoulders.

Took an unplanned detour or two looking for the truth behind everything, and just as he thought he had everything figured out Jeremy resurfaced and brought it all tumbling down.

And then like.

Disbelief and anger and all that at finding out Jeremy was alive? (And guilt, for not looking for him hard enough, thinking he’d die that easily, who knows.)

Wanders about aimlessly after that for a while as Jeremy’s putting his life back together. Ryan did some shit he doesn’t think even Jeremy would forgive him for, and anyway, anyway, it’s better like this, you know? Not like Jeremy ever like-liked him, and other bullshit reasons.

Just when he’s about to set himself up for a life as a miserable bastard he runs into this little thief.

Has zero (0) plans to get to know the little bastard, but Gavin’s curious and persistent and before Ryan knows it Gavin’s carved a spot for himself in Ryan’s life.

Also, to his horror, Ryan’s gone and got FEELINGS for the idiot.

Mutual Pining, because of course?

idiots being idiots, and Gavin dragging Ryan out of that pit he’s tossed himself into bit by bit. And just when it seems like maybe Ryan can find some peace of mind?

The whole Thing of Jeremy’s father’s death and Ryan still having FEELINGS for Jeremy that make him want to find out what the fuck’s going on with that. (Because FEELINGS, but also they get wind of some terrible rumors surrounding the whole business, and also people wanting Jeremy out of the way, and just. Yeah.)

Still.

Ryan’s too dumb to know Gavin would help him out in a hearbeat if he asked like a normal human being because friends? So he goes and fucking hires Gavin, and then the thing with Jeremy’s Batman-ing and various things that end with the whole Jeremy being shot and Dramatic Reveal and yes.

Suspicion and paranoia (~broken trust that’s just them being dumb, but with good reason) and Delicious Angst and Drama as the three of them try to work together to find out what the fuck is going on.

Also?

Mutual pining like whoah because of course Jeremy and Ryan are still in love with one another after all this time? But now they’re also in love with Gavin and Gavin’s in love with them and they’re all super fucking dumb about it.

Trevor and Matt figure out the whole complicated ~love triangle (it really isn’t that, though, like wow, no) almost immediately and are just like jfc, why all the time the three of them are painfully oblivious about things?

Lots of fights with the baddies and minor injuries that allow Jeremy, Ryan, and Gavin to fuss over one another and have quite confession times about shit.

(Jeremy telling Ryan he wanted to tell him who he was before The Mission. Ryan wanting to ~reveal he was still alive to Jeremy but being afraid what might happen if he did because emotional constipation? Jeremy and Gavin and the whole situation they’ve been dealing with since they met, because omg, idiots. And then, like. Ryan and Gavin and this whole Thing neither of them have face up to between them that’s been brewing for forever. AND. The three of them being really fucking stupid about things.)

And then!

Final Confrontation in which they finally uproot the conspiracy/baddies responsible for The Mission and Jeremy’s father’s dead and this ??? moment where they’re not sure what’s going to happen now that everything’s dealt with?

Like.

Gavin’s still a thief and Ryan’s done some things (he thinks) Jeremy would never forgive him for and fuck knows what’s going on with Jeremy and his Batman-ing now.

Ryan and Gavin are about to take off - better that away and obviously Jeremy doesn’t have FEELINGS for them - when Trevor and Matt have ahd enough and engineer a situation where the three of them have no choice but to figure their shit out.

Lock them in a room/wherever together and refuse to let them out until they fucking talk to one another or something simlar and then it’s just.

Jesus Christ it’s awkward. And painful. And honestly kind of horrible, but they do the Talking and realize holy shit, they do have FEELINGS for one another and realize they could maybe actually do something good about it if they fucking tried, so.

Yes.

The three of them getting their shit together and  Jeremy continuing to Batman.

Ryan and Gavin sticking around, although now they’re working (mostly, although there are times they Thief when it comes to pretty shinies or just a unique challenge rather than for crime’s sake. (But that’s actually okay, because it means cat and mouse games with Jeremy in which outrageous cheating methods such as kissing Jeremy stupid are employed or vice versa and just. Yes.)

Jeremy takes a twisted sort of delight in confusing the fuck out the tabloids because he’s seen out and about with Gavin or Ryan. It’s assumed he’s shamelessly cheating on one with the other? But then the three of them are caught on what’s clearly a romantic night out or whatever and is the Dooley heir in a poly relationship or just that shameless???

And so on.

But really, it’s the three of them being complete assholes who are totally ~in love with one another taking perverse joy in tormenting the tabloids and all that.

:D????

[geekgirles]

Lila is not a sociopath. Stop spreading false information

Are you sure about that, though?

It's true a character's sociopathy will not be openly discussed or addressed in a kids show, the same way it doesn't outright mention the several issues Adrien's developing as a side effect of his father's neglecting parenting. But those are things that can be sensed, and that's when fans who enjoy analyses, such as myself, step in to help.

Leaving aside that I find your accusation of me spreading false information uncalled for, I feel obliged to tell you, in the most respectful way possible, that this is an opinion shared by many and backed by many others through throughout observation.

There is one particular post that explores the possibility of Lila being a sociopath in depth, however, I won't share it nor tag its origins because I don't want to put its OP in a difficult position. But I assure you, if you just type in the search bar something like "ML Lila is a sociopath", it should appear.

With your permission, I'm going to explain why I agree Lila Rossi is indeed a sociopath. This is an analysis on a character, so I won't tag it as hate, please, forgive me if it does look like it at any moment.

The first thing that should be addressed is Lila's knack for lying; very common in sociopaths.

Ever since Volpina, the ML team has made it clear that Lila's most distinctive trait is her compulsive lying. Her possible sociopathy is heavily hinted on this; in every single episode she's been in, she's lied about her past: 

Every single famous person she claims to have met.

 All her travels.

The various selfless actions she's done (such as saving Jagged Stone's kitten).

Being saved and best friends with Ladybug.

Living in Japan (supposedly).

Creating "Freestyle Clash 2".

If that weren't enough, not only does Lila lie with every breath, but she fiercely defends each lie. Proof of this are her reactions whenever one of her lies has been exposed or she meets someone who's aware of her tendencies.

In Volpina, after Ladybug exposed her, her second highest priority besides introducing her alter ego and trying to get rid of Ladybug was going to Adrien as her akumatised self to convince him she wasn't lying.

Then, in Chameleon, she covered up the lie about her wrist saying she'd only caught the napkin because it could've hurt Max, and later, when no one who doesn't know the truth was around to force her to act friendly, she coldly refused Adrien's request of her being more honest and furiously exclaimed the liar was Ladybug, not her. 

And before it's pointed out, she only calmly dismissed Marinette's attempt at exposing her with another lie in Catalyst because, as I implied before, there were too many people present to let her façade drop.

Not to mention the great lengths she goes to to make her lies more believable or avoid getting caught in said lie. In her debut, it was the necklace she bought to convince Adrien of her false superhero heritage. In Catalyst, she took the phone from her mother to prevent her from finding out the truth and talk with Mr. Damocles, as well as claiming he was akumatised too. In Oni-chan, she used every single piece of information Adrien had shared in the car to make her lies convincing enough to be allowed inside the mansion.

Another trait shared by sociopaths that Lila has demonstrated as well is her incapability to acknowledge her own faults, something that can be linked to her being immature.

This particular trait was shown again in Volpina, Catalyst and Chameleon: 

In Volpina, she blamed Ladybug for ruining her chances with Adrien. And while the superheroine played an important part in that, we must remember it'd also been Lila's fault for lying in the first place.

In Catalyst, while Lila was watching the news on her laptop right before Gabriel threw the bomb, she was, ironically, accusing the superhero of everything she had done both as herself and Volpina; lying, cowardice (she used her illusions to do her dirty job for her, instead of actually facing the heroes) and treason (her whole plan as Volpina was gaining their trust to betray them later, so…).

In Chameleon, she still blamed Ladybug for what'd happened at the park, claiming the superheroine had been the one who lied, not her.

Another thing linked to immaturity and sociopathy is not learning from one's mistakes, which, considering Lila keeps getting akumatised (now willingly), lying with every breath and has made no attempt at being more honest of a better person in general, I would honestly associate to her as well.

There's also the fact that sociopaths tend to display a violent behaviour; in Lila's case, although she keeps her mask around many people, whenever she has the chance to show her true colours, she takes advantage of it to the fullest. For starters, as Volpina, though they were actually illusions, she threatened Ladybug a total of three times with very aggressive scenarios; she "trapped" her under the threat of missiles, she pretended to blow down a building and to kidnap and endanger Adrien's life. As herself, though, she cornered Marinette in the bathroom and gave her an ultimatum, she tends to throw away her stuff whenever she's angry, she let her disdain towards  Kagami, Ladybug, Marinette, Chloé and Nino show and, as Chameleon she went and publicly tainted Adrien's reputation as well as proceed and furiously fight Ladybug.

Another aspect of Lila's character that backs this up is the way she reacts to minor offenses; again, Chameleon is the perfect example for this type of behaviour; especially the way she tries to get even from Adrien as Chameleon when the most harm he's done is nicely requesting her to stop lying, something he's in his right to do since Lila's the one trying to become a part of his life, not the other way around.

I also want to take the opportunity to point out something that I've discussed several times before; Lila declared war at Marinette even when she hadn't actually picked a side herself. Just by watching the last minutes of the episode it's easy to notice there's nothing that could be taken as a declaration of war from Marinette's part, she even let Lila's slip up about which one of her ears had the tinnitus slide and didn't interact with her again until the very last minute; when Lila herself made her her arch-rival. So why does Lila hate her with a passion now when she was previously willing to give her a second chance? Easy, because she was jealous Adrien had chosen Marinette over her; again, a minor offense. Especially because it was Adrien's decision, not Marinette's doing.

On the other hand, there's the thing with Lila's belief of being better than everyone else. She clearly says, when comparing Marinette to the others, that she thinks they're dumb. Just like she thinks herself as the best option to become the one closest to Adrien; deeming Chloé of tacky, Marinette of being "a dummy" and even badmouthing Nino; when two of the three aforementioned teens hadn't done anything to her, they hadn't even doubted her claims (in Chloé's case, at least not until she talked about her secret formula to call Ladybug). This is something she also shows when akumatised, she considered Volpina to be the best hero of Paris (going as far as saying she was the only hero the city needed), when Gabriel was putting her persona down compared to Ladybug she reacted strongly (even if Volpina was, indeed, a bad copy of a superhero) and as Chameleon she kept on underestimating Ladybug.

Lila has a knack for isolating people, both personally and using other means to do so. She's done it herself when she went after Marinette when she was in the toilet (I won't disregard the possibility that she might've offered to go instead of Alya or any other classmate in an attempt to win her over as well), she always talks to Adrien when the two are alone, even going as far as looking for a place where it can be just the two of them (the library in Volpina, the locker room in Chameleon, which she used to lock him and get a kiss to transform, or his house in Oni-chan) and she talked to Chloé when only Sabrina was present, who, unfortunately, doesn't have that much of a presence.

And as for the other means, if you think about it that's exactly her goal regarding her issues with Marinette and Adrien; she wants to isolate Marinette to get rid of her, and thus, the only person capable of making her web of lies crumble, and she wants to isolate Adrien to have him all for herself. And on a side note, when she straight up isolates people she does so in a way that the other won't have a chance to escape; she becomes unpredictable.

Something else that should be discussed is her façade itself.

Many sociopaths are known for appearing caring, kind and generous; things Lila pretends to be to win people over, such as promising Nino she'd talk to Steven Spielberg/Besielberg about him, her role in the environmental conference that took place in the Kingdom of Achu or promising Marinette she would help her get closer to Adrien. All the which make her look like an exceptional role model to others, like Caline's amazement on her numerous "feats."

I'd also like to mention that Lila shares another similarity to your average sociopath; she knows how to read people and tells them what they want to hear; something she even admitted herself.

In her debut, she complimented Chat Noir and agreed to Ladybug's change of her plan to defeat Hawk Moth to reduce suspicions on her and make the super heroine look paranoid and jealous. In Chameleon she didn't hesitate to entertain her classmates with more stories about her travels, the celebrities she'd met or her friendship with Ladybug, just like she complimented them all as well for being so kind as to "remember her hearing problem", to bring her her food and the like. In Oni-chan, she even played, or at least tried to, this card with Gabriel, telling him everything he wanted to hear about Adrien's protection and his parenting.

One more thing that I honestly believe Lila possesses is a very aggressive and intimidating, yet cold and distant stare. If you look at her closely, it's easy to notice most of Lila's character is reflected on her eyes and eyebrows, after all, the eyes are the mirror of the soul. She actually has two different types of glare:

Her coldest, most manipulating and most intense stare is one she reserves to people she despises, mainly Ladybug/Marinette.

The other, is less hostile, however, it still gives the impression of a predator watching its prey; of course, this kind of glare is the one she uses on Adrien.

And, lastly but not least, sociopaths are known for guilt-tripping others.

Lila herself has done this while pretending injuries and diseases to get what she wanted from others; the seat next to Adrien, her food…, to make Marinette look bad about not wanting to move to the back, to manipulate Nino into convincing Adrien to study with her, etc.

Lastly, I would like to point out that her possible sociopathy is not what makes her a villain; that's her ability to tell from right or wrong and, still, ignoring the right path. And I must let you know, anon, that I never spread false information. The one time I referred to her as a sociopath that I can think of, I was actually explaining another anon who'd seen that term being used to describe her in Wikipedia that I'd seen it myself on TV Tropes. And just like that, I wasn't the first to think of her as such, I only read some very good, in depth analyses that presented that option and found myself agreeing with them. That's all I did.

May I give you a piece of advice? Try voicing your concerns a bit more nicely, something like "I don't see why Lila is a sociopath. Could you please share your views on the matter?" It'll save you a lot of trouble :)

[dapper-ships-herself]

Dapper!!! :0c Tell me about your Fairy Tail s/i?

So! I technically have two for Fairy Tail, except unlike my BSD s/is where they’re each very different, the main difference here is simply the backstories, present day during the story the personality and most of my relationships are the same.

For personality in general, kind and soft spoken, with a subtle mischievous nature too, snark with a sweet smile you could say, but her teasing is never mean. Like so many members of the guild, she is fiercely protective of their family. The only way to actually make her mad is by threatening an innocent person. Her hobbies include reading, art, and staring at Erza. The exact nature and start of that friendship changes a little depending on the backstory, but basically they have been best friends since childhood, with my s/i harboring a secret crush all that time. I went into more detail on her relationships here.    

First backstory is the Dreyar backstory. In this she is Laxus’s little sister. She and her brother are close, he’s super protective, and my s/i looks up to him, in fact due to an incident when they were both children (which I want to write about) she vows that one day she will “grow strong enough to protect even you.” Though after their father was banished from the guild and Laxus changed, there was a rift between them, but she still knows her kind brother is buried in there. She also greatly respects her grandfather, not growing to harbor that same resentment as Laxus did. As for their father, I haven’t actually gotten to where he’s properly introduced in, I believe, the grand magic games arc, but I know that backstory and stuff, so I think she has mixed feelings about him, her being so young when he was banished that she really hardy remembers him and only really knows he did something bad to be kicked out. This is also the default backstory that I use most often.

The other backstory is the library backstory, and this one is a lot more me making shit up. In this, she was actually born far back in the past, in to a village that still feared most magics except for a few types of holder magic. My s/i was born as the grand daughter of the village leader, and she was also born able to use magic. She couldn’t do anything impressive as it was mostly only like magical potential, but still her grandfather wanted to banish her for it, but her parents managed to convince him that she was safe so long as they made sure she never used it. Still, rumors spread about her being “strange” and she was a black sheep of the village. She only had one friend, a girl a little bit older than her named Rimis, or Ri for short. Her childhood wasn’t great, but her parent’s cared for her and she had Ri, so it was fine. One day though, a magical monster attacked their village. In the chaos, she and Ri found themselves confronted by the beast and Ri was killed by it protecting her. In her sorrow, she blindly unleashed a wave of her magic, reaper magic. This took care of the monster, but all her village saw when the dust cleared was one little girl on the ground and the black sheep angrily crackling with dark magical energy. They were convinced that she used her power to bring that creature to their village in the first place, and no amount of protest and pleading would convince them otherwise. Her grandfather, in front of the angry mob her village had turned into, announced that she was a demon and needed to be sealed away, and he presented one of the few magical items the village held, a key to open the library of Nairat, said to be a vast library assembled by a demon that contains book from the past, present, and future, and exists technically as a pocket dimension outside of time. It sounds pretty great until you get to the part where it can only be opened to allow inside on person at a time, and that once someone goes in they can only get back out by reading every single book held inside, and if they give up then they are turned to stone. She pleaded that she had no part in the monster attacking, but no one listened, and even her parents only cried as they silently watched her get thrown inside. She spent the next 936 years trapped in there, not ageing physically or mentally, until she finally read the last book in Nairat’s collection and the door reopened. She found herself in a strange land, and stranger still the people here actually seemed to celebrate magic. She wandered from city to city until eventually she made it to Magnolia, where master Makarov found her alone in the streets and invited her back to the guild. After being alone for nearly a thousand years, she had kind of forgotten how to talk to people, and so was effectively mute for months. It took her a while to feel comfortable in the guild and to trust that they wouldn’t banish her, and for her to feel safe training her own magic.

After her backstory is revealed to the other characters, I imagine a sort of running joke is that they always expect her to have like some wise knowledge about a situation like she’s a scholar or something but she’s usually like “I wasn’t actually studying any of those books, I read them as fast as possible so I could get the heck out of that place, also I was like eight so   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ “ and she mostly only remembers vague knowledge and random useless trivia she loves to share.  

Fun fact, in this backstory, the cloak she wears was sewn as a gift from her parents.

As for what magic she uses, I used to switch it based on my mood between three different types, except now I think I want her to be able to use all three normally. Sounds op but I think I balance it alright and justify the why well enough also everyone in this show is op. Anyway, the magic types are the already mentioned reaper magic (basically controlling and shaping a dark energy, able to stabilize people in a critical state but not actually able to heal, with moves such as reaper’s scythe, reaper’s hand, reaper’s mercy, and reaper’s minions), sweets magic (a much lighter form of magic, takes the shape of pieces of candy, one capability is she can summon a giant lollipop that can hover off the ground but not actually fly, and like licorice whips, a tidal wave of sugar, etc), and crystal magic (able to grow crystals up from surfaces that jut up like jagged spikes or rise up like a shield). So each magic has different benefits and uses depending on what kind of fight she’s. I could probably explain them a bit better but I am a bit tired rn.  

Dreyar! Gillian can use these three because she was implemented with lacrima like Laxus by their father, except she’s not a dragon slayer and got two smaller lacrima that allowed her to branch her magic like that. She was born with the sweets magic. Some people have called her a protege because of this and she becomes embarrassed and a little ashamed, knowing that that strength is from the lacrimas. 

Library! Gillian learned crystal magic from a book in the library to then draw out most of her reaper magic and seal it within a crystal she created out of fear and shame, leaving only a formless magical potential inside herself, and then when she started learning magic at the guild properly, she used some techniques she remembered from some books to reshape the magical potential she had to present itself as something far less threatening, the sweets magic. During her personal arc early on in the story (I picture it being the arc before the Tower of Heaven arc), when her backstory is revealed (and I kind of want to type out what I picture for this arc because I got like a whole thing), that’s when she breaks the crystal sealing away her reaper magic and begins to realize that it’s okay to start accepting this part of her she’s been so afraid of even still. 

Maybe some of this actually wouldn’t fully work within the story, but like I said I haven’t actually seen the whole show/manga and while I do know at least generally what happens my knowledge isn’t perfect especially about lore things although I did try and do research. 

I tried to keep it a pretty basic overview but it still got long! Anyway, I love my FT s/i so I’m always happy to answer questions and stuff~

(Forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes please, it’s late rn and spell checking is for whimps (translation: I’m totally gonna reread this ramble tomorrow and kick myself for mistakes)) 

[memoriesofyourdread]

akishinji for the ship thing

Always AkiShinji for all the ship things.

who hogs the duvet: Okay, so it’s a constant fight in their sleep because Shinji is always cold because of taking those suppressants, and Akihiko can’t even subconsciously lose a fight. They may or may not have woken up to a ripped duvet.

who texts/rings to check how their day is going: Shinji texts to make sure Akihiko isn’t being an idiot while he’s in the country, but when Akihiko’s abroad fighting bears and training, Akihiko keeps up on calls because he misses his boyfriend.

who’s the most creative when it comes to gifts: Shinji, most definitely. Akihiko tries, bless his heart, but it’s always something that’s more utilitarian. Shinji appreciates it still, but Akihiko eventually learns that he can offer kinky sex things as bday gifts that are bit more creative than sock and turtleneck sweater. 

who gets up first in the morning: This one’s difficult, because Akihiko is most definitely an early riser to go on a run, but I feel like Shinji is an early riser too. Though, I think Akihiko wins out by way of just by way of if Shinji doesn’t have to be awake for anything, I think he’d sleep in. Akihiko doesn’t know what sleeping in is unless Shinji’s holding him down.

who suggests new things in bed: They’re both morons about this kinda thing until they hit their stride. After they figure out something sorta kinky by accident like Shinji liking his hair pulled, it all goes downhill from there. And let’s say when Akihiko comes home from his world tour of training, he’s got months worth of ideas to share with Shinji.

who cries at movies: BOTH. But specific ones only, and they will hide said tears and pretend it didn’t happen. Give Shinji animal movies like Homeward Bound or Look Who’s Talking (did I just date myself, I think I just dated myself) while Akihiko will cry for inspirational sports movies like Remember the Titans (most definitely dating myself, damn) but also anything with super sad family feels, but they avoid those movies in general.

who gives unprompted massages: ...welp, I read that as messages. Let’s try this again. Depends. Shinji will give Akihiko massages if he looks like he needs one after a good training session, BUT he will not do it if Akihiko looks like he’s pushed himself too hard. Akihiko, however, always loves rubbing Shinji’s shoulders when Shinji looks like he’s had a rough day.

who fusses over the other when they’re sick: Shinji is the mother hen of all mother hens, but he’s also the worst patient, so when Akihiko tries to fuss in return, he gets shoved out of the room.

who gets jealous easiest: Akihiko, most definitely shows it the most. He wears everything on his sleeve. Shinji gets jealous less easily, but boy, does he get petty when he is jealous.

who has the most embarrassing taste in music: Akihiko just listens to whatever his friends tell him, and his S.E.E.S. underclassman are a bunch of trolls, soooo. They introduce him to shitty pop and so much more, but everything that has a fast beat, Akihiko loves because it becomes good work out music. 

who collects something unusual: Probably Shinji. I can’t think of what, but I bet he’d have a secret collection. Akihiko doesn’t seem to be a person for material things, for the most part. He might have an accidental weird collection of things from training around the world.

who takes the longest to get ready: They’re both pretty quick, but Shinji manages to be dressed well first. Akihiko might be done first, but without Mitsuru (and her staff on speed dial, because let’s be honest, she doesn’t dress herself either), he’s a hot mess that thinks a ragged cape is a good idea. Shinji usually marches him back to the bedroom to get him dressed properly.

who is the most tidy and organised: Shinji is, but Akihiko isn’t exactly a slob, so much as anyone is a slob in comparison to Shinji’s organizational skills.

who gets most excited about the holidays: Akihiko stopped getting excited about holidays after Miki died, but after every thing with Nyx is over, and Shinji’s out of his coma, Akihiko starts to get hype over spending holiday with Shinji and his friends. Shinji thinks it’s cute, even though he will never admitted it.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: Shinji’s usually the big spoon, because Akihiko gets clingy and likes it when he can snuggle into Shinji’s chest. If Shinji’s clearly having a bad day, Akihiko will definitely be the big spoon to let his boyfriend hide from the world for a bit.

who gets most competitive when playing games and/or sports: They’re both competitive as hell, but Akihiko takes it to a new level on most occasions. When Shinji’s no longer feeling it because Akihiko’s taken it way too seriously, he tends to distract Akihiko by touching or kissing him. In a way, Shinji tends to win in those situations, so it soothes his competitive streak in the end.

who starts the most arguments: They are equally dumbasses about starting arguments and making them go on for much longer than they should. Every once in a while, if the arguments go on too long for petty reasons, Mitsuru or Kotone will find a way to smack their heads together. It tends to be a deterrent for continuing stupid arguments, since no one wants a Mitsuru execution or Kotone’s pranks.

who suggests that they buy a pet: Akihiko, because he knows Shinji won’t bring it up, even though he really wants a fluffy companion, since Koromaru tends to stay with Ken.

what couple traditions they have: Sometimes, instead of having a fancy date for an anniversary, they just go to Hagakure and get ramen. Also, October 4th is definitely a chill day. They eventually spend it with Ken, but for a few years, it was just not leaving the house and doing nothing but cuddling and not talking about it.

what tv shows they watch together: Their tastes in TV don’t tend to overlap, unless it’s some sort of nostalgia bomb from when they were younger. Reruns of the original Featherman, reboots of cartoons that they loved that didn’t age well but the reboot does it better, and stupid shows about paranormal things. Sometimes, it ends up being related to shadows and personas.

what other couple they hang out with: YukaMitsu, because Yukari’s big on getting Mitsuru out of the house and out of the office, so double dates with her besties is a great excuse. AiKo tend to be fun to have wander adventures with, since Aigis is still new to a lot, even years later, and Kotone is an enabler. The boys can never say they’re bored hanging out with them.

how they spend time together as a couple: Usually, sharing a good meal or chilling at home. Occasionally, when needs must (and they really must, because Shinji doesn’t even want to be a backup Shadow Operative), they’ll be together on an op for the Shadow Operatives, like trying to find out what the hell is going in Tokyo and what are the Phantom Thieves really doing. 

who made the first move: Akihiko. Always Akihiko, because the likelihood of Shinji believing he doesn’t deserve good things is very high.

who brings flowers home: Neither are really flower people, but sometimes, Akihiko will get some to be romantic. Shinji doesn’t really mind all that much, though he won’t say it.

who is the best cook: Obviously Shinji. Akihiko could probably burn water, but I don’t think Shinji never tried to teach him. Whether Akihiko had the attention span for it, is another story...

[thebestplltheories]

PLL The Perfectionists - 1x01 Pilot LIVE REACTION

WE ARE BACK!!!!

Ok I’m gonna do what I was doing for PLL where I react as I watch. But before I copy and paste the live reaction, I want to give my quick overview. That was by far a 10/10. That achieved everything a pilot should achieve. It introduced us to the characters, each of their stories, and the relationships each character has with one another. It set the overall tone, that this is a murder mystery with twists and turns to come. It established what the show is about. And it had occasional small shocks (I say small because there’s only so much that can be shocking in a pilot when everything is brand new). This was exponentially darker than the PLL pilot and for that I’m so grateful. We are cutting the high school airy-fairy (is that word used outside of Australia?) drama and going straight to scandals and a murder. I’m scared to see the ratings tomorrow because I want it to do well but hey it was trending worldwide on Twitter so that’s a good sign!? The show looks SO promising. I think I’m already in love with the cast. I just want to know more about everything and everyone and omg we are back!

LIVE THOUGHTS:

Love this intro! It sets the scene very well about the whole theme of perfectionism.

WAIT IS DYLAN PLAYING POKERFACE BY LADY GAGA HAHAHAHAHA

Okay sorry but that song ain’t it (“two can keep a secret if one of them is dead”). Why does it sound like an auto tuned choir? I’m happy for change. I actually don’t want the exact same version as the original series. But this one ain’t it. Is it too late to change it???

Wait, why is Alison walking around her new apartment like she’s walking around Jenna’s school for the blind in 710? If she lived 2 years of happiness and freedom of A, there’s no need to be so sceptical of danger every time you walk into a room. Anyway, doesn’t really matter.

Just the backing music throughout the scene is very PLL-esque! Yes, there is such thing as PLL backing music. And this is it.

Mona making a grand entrance!

I feel like Ali’s reaction to seeing Mona was a bit... underwhelming? If they haven’t seen each other in 2 years I expected a bit more of an “OMG”, and a “how did you get in my apartment”, etc. But they go straight to the point and cut the fluff so I don’t mind overall.

Mona recruited Ali. I knew it. And she works at BHU, we already knew that.

Emison is having trust issues. But she wants to do this for the kids. Ok I expected more detail there to satisfy the Emison shippers but whatever, I won’t cry at night.

Ok so Mary and Alex escaped Mona’s “dungeon”. That’s fine by me. Maybe that’ll be the storyline for a PLL movie later, who knows. It’s quite a vague answer but what did we expect... Mona to ADMIT to Ali that she captured her aunt? No. Mona could never explicitly say to Ali what she did. Hence the subtle pause before “... escaped me”. Only us the audience know the true meaning of that and I love how subtle yet meaningful it is.

Why do I feel like this security system is gonna play a massive toll throughout the entire series?

Loved the little Easter egg of seeing Mona, and Mona in the mirror (2 Mona’s). A subtle symbol/reference to her split personality in PLL.

I LOVED the scene of Ali teaching in the classroom! I got How To Get Away With Murder vibes...

Remember when we all thought Taylor’s death would be the main death of the show because of that memorial with her name on it... lol. Okay I’m calling it now... come back to this in the apparently mind blowing season 1 finale... Taylor isn’t really dead WE HAVENT TECHNICALLY SEEN A BODY

Love the complicated friendships going on between Dylan, Nolan, Ava, Caitlin! There’s a lot going on about faking being friends and faking tasks to uphold the image of being perfect. I love this theme and I feel like it’s super relevant to today’s world. Like especially social media. Everyone’s instagrams are always filled of their highs. And they’re mostly edited. No one ever posts/shares their low moments.

So no one knows of Ali’s past. Hmmm. We’ve had this discussion before, I don’t think it’s realistic that no one knows the name Alison DiLaurentis - surely that was on national news when “dead girl isn’t dead anymore” made headlines. But anyway. If they wanna pretend no one watches the news, it wouldn’t be the most unrealistic thing PLL has done.

Is Dylan the gay male character Marlene said she was going to introduce in PLL season 5B? Lmao about time.

WOW that flashback of Caitlin and Nolan just gave me PLL season 1 Alison flashback vibes! Nolan plays the bad manipulative guy so well just like Ali played the bully so well in flashbacks!

Two moms don’t make a right hahahaha who wrote that

Sofia looks FLAWLESS in the pool scene OH MY GODDD. AND her voice is so soothing what the hell

Love how the first scene of Nolan’s mother shows her standing on top of the staircase and the camera panning up. Great directing there. Showing she’ll be like a supreme leader. And then the camera being over her shoulders looking down on Nolan. Again great camera work which conveys the message that she is the boss of this town. I think she’ll be our new Jessica DiLaurentis lol

“I’d like some time for myself” ... “to do what?” OUCH why is that so iconic

Eli is... doing great. He comes across very confident. A star in the making?

Love the cinematography period. And Portland is beautiful!! Better than the Warner Bros lot.

Omg Nolan’s mother gathering “attractive” people for her photo op. Lol, they really are big on presenting a perfect image.

“You saw somebody else” NO CAITLIN, ALISON SAW YOU wow these kids will adamantly lie to uphold perfectionism. I keep saying that but I just love this theme!!!

“I know a little bit about manipulation” hahahahaha Ali

Omg Ali is so good at learning their lies. Of course she is, she’s had years of practice

The woods, Nolan? Nothing good ever happens in the woods.

Lol when Nolan tells Dylan to “kiss me” and Dylan actually contemplates it (and does it). That’s the type of power Nolan has over people.

I love how Ali is trying to help them! I can see a bond eventually forming here.

This scene where Nolan cheats on Ava isn’t shocking since they unfortunately shared it in the promos but hey a douche is a douche.

WHAT THE FUCKITY FUCKING FUCK IT’S TAYLOR WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOVE

OK I KNOW I GUESSED ALEX DRAKE BUT THIS IS A NEW RECORD FOR FASTEST THEORY TO COME TRUE

Well it wasn’t really a theory I was just joking that she’s not really dead because we didn’t see a body but still do I get a point? Lmao

Nonetheless that shocked me! I love that they’re trying to take down their own family, that’s so dark and it’s only episode 1!

Yes Alison is already getting suspicious. Solve this one please Ali

Sorry I put my phone down during that scene in the woods. I just knew it would be juicy and I wanted to immerse in it properly. I frickin adore this scene. It’s creepy in tone, set in the woods like classic PLL, they’re referring to Ali like a friend and my PLL heart is content, and this is the first time they’re all bonding over one thing: wanting Nolan dead. This is probably my favourite scene in the whole episode.

So I’m guessing the vibes are that they were being recorded in the woods about how they want Nolan to be killed? But didn’t Nolan turn off the security?

Mona gets in her car and chucks a big bag in the back seat. Where was she and what was in the baggggg

Ok that was a bit dramatic Ali (“why am I really here”)

Lol I had to rewatch that for a sec. I thought Ali said “and his dead sister who I just saw pick him up” and I was like wait what Ali knows Taylor’s alive??? No, “dead sister who I just saw a picture of”.

OH MY GOD WHAT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY!!!! THAT SCENE WHERE THE 3 OF THEM ARE WALKING AWAY FROM EACH OTHER... NOLAN’S BODY SHOULD’VE FALLEN TO THE GROUND IN THE MIDDLE OF THEM RIGHT THERE! That would’ve been iconic. Like “oh well we were just kidding about all that, good night xx” then nope bam dead body. But I guess he had to die with poles through his chest as Caitlin said.

Oh Marlene. That’s a LOT of dialogue for a death scene. I hope you can back up and explain what Nolan is talking about before he died. Don’t you dare tell me that was an interpretative dream. Again that’s a lot of dialogue for a death scene. You better know who that killer is Marlene! Don’t make it up the day you write the finale!

I don’t like how we didn’t see Nolan ACTUALLY be killed. They play it safe because they don’t want to show us the killer in action. they basically copied the format of Mona’s “death”. Just change the scene to a flashing ambulance with a lame transition lol.

Another missed opportunity. Mona should’ve said to Ali “they found a body”! That would’ve been iconic in every way possible. First it was Ali’s body now Ali is finding a body and hearing the news and ugh oh well

My god that’s a violent death. And pretty early in the series for a Noel-Khan-level death. Too bad the photos leaked online and we knew that Nolan would not only die, but die like THAT. Those extras/fillers on set really should get charged for having their phones on them and leaking shit. Isn’t there copyright laws or something???? idk

Ummmmmm what? What kind of sci-fi, dollhouse level bullshit is that? That’s kinda over the top. Ehhhh. We’ll see where that goes.

My brain right now instantly got to thinking if Nolan’s murderer will be the “A” of the series or if the killer will just be the main mystery for season 1? Is “who killed Nolan” going to be the overarching story of the entire show or will they answer that sooner rather than later and then start a new mystery? I wonder what the format of this show will be. That’s where my mind is right now as the credits play.

[tessatechaitea]

Team Titans #22

Team Titans is an anagram for "this could have been a good comic book but the execution was completely fucked up from the start."

If you can tell whether this kid is shocked or entertained, you're a better comic book reader than I am. And I'm a Grandmaster!

Meanwhile in New York, I'm faced with a similar conundrum.

If you can tell whether Killowat shit himself or had a wet dream, blah blah blah...you know the rest.

Little kids enjoying cannibalism (sort of? Were-creatures eating a Pegasus counts, right?), Killowat blowing his load so hard it wakes up the rest of the Titans, and now this:

I'm glad Fredric Wertham wasn't alive to see this debauchery!

The Team Titans have been put up in an old YMCA because they knew Prester Jon would fit in. The place is falling apart and there are *GASP* sex workers right outside! They're all disappointed that they survived the black hole because what kind of life is this? What did they expect, a mansion that's also a secret school for heroes from the future? A crumbling old YMCA should be exactly what they expected seeing that Terra describes their new gig working for the government as indentured servitude. Maybe there's a dictionary definition of "indentured servitude" that I missed? It's a good thing I learned how to type decades ago because I've just removed my eyes with some fabric scissors. Thanks, Urban Dictionary Rabbit Hole, for teaching me about My Little Pony crotchboobs! The drama between Redwing and Prester Jon continues because it's always nice to have drama that doesn't make any sense in a comic book and drag it on for several issues without explanation. Finding out that my sister could grow huge claws, pointy ears, and wings would be the least unsettling revelation I've ever received from her. Why the fuck is Prester Jon making such a huge deal out of it? In a world where Prester Jon dealt with hundreds of different superheroes on a daily basis, why would this change be so unsettling? Unless...of course! Prester Jon is sexually attracted to women with huge talons and pointy ears! Oh yeah! This is going to get incest! I mean good! The Team also manages to discuss earthquake preparedness because I guess some of DC's funding comes from Public Broadcasting grants? Over on Titans Island, the CIA have gathered a group of Team Titans together for their first black ops mission. The team will be lead by Aqualad and is composed of Mirage, The Human Mystery, Shockadelica, Wonder Boy, and Green. I can't believe I just listed a group of characters that include names like Shockadelica, Wonder Boy, and Green, and I'm mostly upset about Aqualad. Hopefully Mirage will tell somebody what she did with Deathwing! That's the only mystery I care about solving before this series ends. Hmm, apparently the mission is just sticking them on the Titans sub to wait for orders. Stupid comic book misleading me into repeating the "black ops" lie! Meanwhile in Seattle, Bumblebee and Herald will be leading another team composed of Metallik and Hero X. Maybe others but they're not named. A team in Torrance, California, learns how much people in the DC Universe hate super-heroes because editors at DC Comics have no clue what the whole medium has historically been about. Forget about inspiring heroes dedicating their life to helping make the world better. It's much easier to add drama if people hated and feared the heroes! So many assholes decided that the X-Men worked and thought the mutant premise could just translate to regular super-heroes. Plus it doesn't help when every other Superman story involves Superman being manipulated by a villain to use his powers against the people of the world. Stop giving the people of the world excuses to hate the heroes. Even I would hate Superman if his ego wouldn't allow him to leave Earth because he was a danger to it. Get the fuck away from humanity until you find a way to stop being hypnotized by magic villains, you fucking piece of shit! Um, Flamebird leads the Torrance team, composed of Nightrider, Battalion, Murder Master, some Judge and Jury member, and some other blockhead. No wonder everybody in Torrance hates the Team Titans (and the democrats, apparently)! They've shuttled all of the terrifying characters to the Torrance team! I guess I missed something over in the Darkstars comic because Donna Troy has decided to leave Terry and her baby to join the Darkstars. I can't say I disagree with that decision. Fuck Terry! Terra, Redwing, Prester Jon, Lapidus, and Killowat head to Qurac because remember how the comic book started there? They discover Chimera who must be a Team Titan because she knows their names and they recognized her dead pegasus. The Were-Creatures overpower them and they escape into a fortified building. But once inside, they discover Redwing has completely mutated too. The worst part is that Prester Jon calls her a hideous thing. She's going to remember that comment for sure. Team Titans #22 Rating: C-. Ignoring all of the plot stuff that annoyed me, I'm simply grading this comic book on one point: one of the Titans is called Murder Master and they held a press conference to introduce this guy to the community he'll be living in. And that community was already up in arms about the democrats taking away all of their military jobs! "Hey, angry people of Torrance! Here's your new local superhero team that will help protect your community! Battalion, a big gruff grizzly bear that probably hates you and would love to punch you in the face! Nightrider, a vampire that has just recently remembered he loves the taste of human flesh! A member of Judge and Jury, the bad guy Team Titans team that kills other Team Titans! And Murder Master, the master of murder! Don't you all feel safer now?!"

[tumblunni]

What do you guys think about the names Dustin and Darcy for my protagonists in Let's Go?

Cos i really wanted to play the co op mode thing by myself, just so i can pretend this role in the plot is filled by two siblings and have a bit of fun roleplaying that. But i dunno yet how the co-op works and whether you'd be able to customize the avatar of the second player or if its just the default trainer? Or can you only play co-op if you have two separate games? Im planning to buy the other version anyway once i get more money, so it could be fun to play my first version with sibling one and then the second playthru is sibling two's turn to shine!

Oh and the whole reason i wanted to do this is cos i wanna try out the customization features to make some ocs now that there's no competitive online stuff unless you pay a subscription fee (LOL NO THANKS). Like..i always felt like i HAD to make my character me in xy/sumo/usum, otherwise its like lying online? But of course i cant actually make me because theres no nonbinary option or even remotely ambiguous outfits for either gender. And you cant have wild hair colours while i dye my hair 24/7 irl lol. Its silly cos like 95% of the gym leaders and other characters ingame have anime hair colours yet the player has to be normal? So yeah i cpuldnt really enjoy making this innacurate defanged version of myself yet i didnt feel like i was allowed to just make up a new character either. Closest i could do was give myself white hair like my old trainersona when i was 12, lol. I mean i guess thats my 'real hair colour' underneath the dye right now, if you think about it that way?

OH GOD PIKACHU CAN HAVE A LITTLE TUXEDO AND BOWLER HAT HOLY FUCK IM SORRY TO INTERRUPT THIS BUT I WAS WATCHING THE IGN REVIEW AND THEY SHOWED PIKA BOWLER HAT PLEASE GO GOOGLE THAT VIDEO JUST FOR THAT 1 SECOND OF NEW FOOTAGE OF MY BEAUTIFUL CLASSY BOYE

okay where was i

Yeah! I think sibling trainers could be a good and unique way to handle a rival! Like having them be your sibling already establishes that rivalry. But it can be a soft and nice rivalry! I wanna go with that fun version rather than the full on angry exaggerated sibling rivalries you often see in kids media. Like i know that some people legit dont get on with their siblings and some people can even have a very gary esque full on rivalry thats sorta 'love to hate' or like..tsundere pretending you hate them. But personally i never had experience with that, i can never relate to those 'tfw u hate ur sibling and theyre always an asshole but lolll u love them anyway' posts. I only got to live with my little sister for a little while due to the catastrophe of abusive parenthood that was my childhood, and i lost contact with her forever when she was very young so i doubt she'd even remember me. *sigh* But like i don't think i only love her so much because i miss her! People say newborns and toddlers are the most bratty so like you'd think if i was gonna ever find her 'annoying' i would have done it back then. I was always just mega proud of her and whenever she'd be 'bratty' i'd be cheering her on and trying to protect her from mom. And when she'd try and pull pranks on me or practise play-fighting or whatever i was just like 'lol thats legit funny' and taking play-falls so she felt better about herself. Like we didnt have much power in that household so i felt like encouraging her pretending to be a wrestler would help her feel like she had some sort of control in some part of her life i guess? And just i wished i was allowed to roughhouse and run around and be all 'unladylike' and just enjoy BEING A KID when i was a kid, yknow? I always had legit fun being with her and legit enjoyed it and was legit proud and legit never annoyed. I just dont understand 'yeah she's annoying but i love her anyway'. I was only ever her rival as a play-rival to help encourage her to like.. Enjoy the things she enjoyed. Feel like someone else cared. I only ever acted like 'ha ha baby stuff yeah sure i hate hanging out with my sister" cos i thought i was SUPPOSED TO. I always felt so guilty doing it and so dissappointed cos id rather hang out with her than be a boring stereotypical teen tbh. I dunno, maybe this isnt typical for siblings and its just a sign of how badly we were raised? I was just real fuckin lonely and absolutely loved having a family member who loved me for the first time since my grandma died. Same reason i always used to act all 'i am too cool i totally am not soft for my lil sister' around my lil sister's dad. I really wanted him to love me too! I used to say swear words at him cos i thougjt he would thibk i was Cool And Adult?? I have soooo many cringe moments from that phase of my childhood. Man it hurts to think that i never actually did get to become that positive influence that protected my sister from my mum and let her know she was loved. Cos i was sent to live with my dad when she was like 5ish? And never saw her again and now im too scared to try and reach out to her again because 1: she probably doesnt even remember me, 2: theres a chance she believes my mum saying i was some horrible asshole who abandoned the family, 3: even bigger chance that contacting her could mean my mum finding me again and big fuckin risk of further abuse. Plus the awkwardness of introducing my trans self when she'd remember me as her sister and all. Sigh! All i can do is hope that her cool dad eventually got custody of her, and that he didnt turn out to be a secret bastard like when i met my own dad. He seemed good, but then again i was just a lil kid and my dad seemed good at first. Sighhhhhh...

SO UMM YEAH WOW I MADE MYSELF SAD

Anyway the point is that whenever i write siblings i'd rather write 100% unapologetic super loving love cos its wish fullfillment for me. This is also why in/cest shipping is a massive beserk button for me, good wholesome family relationships are REAL FUCKIN IMPORTANT and how DARE you corrupt that shit! Some people would fuckin KILL to have that wholesome family!!

Anyway lol thats why i'd like a Wholesome Rivalry for these sibling ocs! Like they challenge each other to contests along the way just for fun, and they react all 'wow my sis is the BEST' when you beat them, so hard feelings at all. And you dont JUST do rival stuff but also sometimes just hang out and have fun cos you missed each other. And if anyone threatens your sibling then THAT is the only time you see the Serious Sibling Power! Rival moments: ha ha lol bet ya cant beat me ooo im a scary villain LOL I CANT KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE HAHA! Giovanni punches your brother: *stony cold death glare from hell as tricksy prank sis turns into an unstoppable vengeance engine* Oh, but also the only other time they'd be serious is in their final battle together! Like most of the 'rivalry' is just competing to make the adventure fun and to help each other get stronger. But if sis/bro ever actually legit said they really want to fight to find out who's the best, and its like..important to help their self confidence, then i think bro/sis would respect that and go all out. Taking a fall and letting them win would be the most disrespectful thing of all! Oh, but i do think there would be one kind of battle like that during the story? Like in one of the more low stakes faux-rival fights the sibling actually does try and let you win, and the challenge is to try and lose against all odds. High stakes super failure battle!!! Imagine the evil team in the background like 'wtf' as these two run the most aggressively slow race of all time! XD

Oh and i kinda thought about different personalities for the two of them based on who you pick? Like i did like that aspect about brendan/may in RSE compared to other 'unpicked option becomes rival' characters in later games that didnt even have one personality let alone two. It just sucks that the personalities they decided to give them were 'female rival is super self concious and thinks youre better than her because youre a boy' and 'male rival is super ego and thinks he's better than you because he's a boy'. Boooo!

So instead of that the personalities i was thinking for these two would be less sexist lol. Male sibling Dustin is basically Wally so far? I need to develop him a bit more to make him a bit distinct, i mean its not like every single shy dude is identical. I'm thinking maybe mix him with all the wasted potential in Brendan? Like in the game they slightly hint at him having the ONE non stereotypical trait of liking cute teddy bears, and that made me think about how much better his whole plot would have been if it actually criticized his sexism and said that he only behaves that way cos he's overcompensating for being bullied for being 'feminine', yknow? And then in the manga they actually DO write him as super feminine, and even as a contest star who loves fashion and dressing up his pokemon! But then GAHHH they present it as some sort of fuckin 'character flaw', like he's shown to be selfish and superficial because of it. And the backstory is that him and the female protagonist used to be 'normal' until a traumatic event. Brendan was a Natural Fighting Prodigy until he saved his female friend from a wild pokemon and was so traumatized that he never wanted to fight again, while she wanted to learn to fight so she'd never need to be protected again. But this is not only presented as Wrong Ways To Be Gender but also like.. Fighting their natural instinct which still comes through?? Like male protag hasnt fought in YEARS yet whenever he's forced to fight he's just magically better at it than female protag who's been practising all these years to become his equal. Ha ha silly girl you can never achieve that! All you get is this patronizing 'well if you just tryyyyy girly things im sure you'll like it' plot and then you get rescued by him in the end because OF COURSE you do. Sigh! I cant believe they made me hate that pairing even more than the games did! So yeah i dont really wanna write Dustin as a jerkass who's secretly got synpathetic motives of internalized homophobia/sexism, cos i feel thats a plot very specific to my perceptuons of Brendan and id basically just have to make Dustin a clone of him and he wouldnt be able to shine on his own merits. Instead i'm just thinking of writing him as a 100% sensitive soul, and he still faces predjudice for not being that bigoted idea of an 'ideal man' but really the fact he doesnt bow down to their demands proves that he's the bravest person here.

And then I'm thinking maybe the female sibling Darcy is the older one and is a bit "gary ish"? Like eitjer way you still have a friendly and loving siblingness, but she's a bit more of a sass who is tsundere about admitting she loves her bro. But i dont think she's the cold or grumpy sort of tsundere, more like a trickstery tomboy? Bombastic loki jock sis! She can only be a bit abrasive with her bro cos she wants to teach him to be tough even when she's not there to protect him. But sometimes she can mess it up and make him feel like he has to change his personality in order to be tough, rather than letting him know she supports him in being "unmasculine" and just wants to help him find the confidence to stand up to people who bully him for it. Like she feels like she is 'weaker' than him in the sense that she worries too much about what people will think if she expresses her real emotions, yknow? Like theyre both suffering from toxic masculinity! He's suffering from the standard form where men who are too 'soft' are beaten down into that mould. Ans she's suffering from the problem where 'masculine' girls feel like they have to be '100% masculine' in order to be allowed to be themselves at all. Like back when i was a kid and before i came out as trans i always used to try and pretend to like sports ans like..cliche macho shit where you Cant Admit You Care About Your Friends and also i wasnt allowed to like ANY feminine things at all. I had to either follow the stereotype of femininity entirely or follow the opposite stereotype, i wasnt allowed to just reject stereotypes and like what i actually like. So yeah me realizing i wasnt really a girl has led to me embracing more 'girly' things than back when i thought i was one! So i think Darcy would have a similar arc but like..the cis equivelant? Just finds people who arent such judgmental pricks and stops having to conform to either of those stereotypes in order to keep fake friends who dont really give a shit about her. She can have a plot about both forced feminine and masculine stereotypes being equally limiting, rather than that shitty 'being masculine is a prison uwu every woman will be happier embracing her love of makeup' shit. That dominant narrative just made me feel like i was somehow wrong about myself whenever i didnt like 100% Of Sports All The Time, i must be somehow girly if i liked even ONE girly thing yet i needed hundreds of proofs if i wanted to be masculine. And like i wasnt just allowed to be neither! I wasnt allowed to like parts of both! I wasnt allowed to BE GODDAMN TRANS!!! So yeah i dunno if i'd go whole hog and make this character a trans man or a nonbinary person tho? I think she's just actually a cis girl who happens to be sporty and brash and likes a lot of 'masculine' fashion and hobbies. And she's just been made to feel self concious about it, as if she cant possibly REALLY be that unless she likes Every Single Boy Thing and wins at Every Single Challenge. Does anyone else remember that shit too? The girls have to win Every sports game against the boys in order to be 'one of the boys' but if you lose even one of them it somehow proves that you're inferior. Even though the boys lost 50 billion games to you and that doesnt prove theyre inferior! Like man she has sooooo many 'gary rivals' in her school life, thats why she loves going on this adventure with a kind brother rival who actually respects her! So her resolution would just be her staying the same but being more confident about it and saying fuk u to those fake friends. Same as her brother's plot, just they both face different specifics to the way this sexism affects them, yknow?

Oh but yeah when i did finally learn about LGBT stuff and realize i was trans it was Big Amazing cos even in the rare stories about Its Okay To Be Yourself it still left me feeling weirdly empty when the girl decides that yes she does wanna be a girl in the end. So i get that these plots might come off as queerbaiting if i write them badly? I need to make sure to make it clear that these characters 100% want to be seen as this gender and its just other people being fuckfaces and trying to define what their gender has to mean. I think maybe i'll try and mitigate this potential misunderstanding by adding different sorts of lgbt content. And, well, also cos i just want lgbt content in all of my stories because i am lgbt, of course! I'm 100% sure that Darcy is gay, and i think also maybe possibly Dustin is trans? Like, his plot is about being mocked for being a 'feminine' boy, but its also even more personal for him because he's a trans boy and he feels like he needs to change his personality in order to pass/he isnt really real because his personality doesnt fit the stereotypical image of a man. Like if you'd looked at the two of them back when they were identical twins, you probably would have expected Darcy to end up being trans if you were the sort of person who believes those basic ass stereotypes about 'boys who play with barbies and girls who play with trucks'. Or i mean maybe its the other way around and Darcy is a trans girl who still has a 'masculine' personality according to stereotypes? Or even both of them are trans and both face being told that they arent real because they dont fit the perfect stereotype of a trans person according to cis perceptions? Or maybe i'm overcomplicating things with all of this and it'd just muddy the message i guess. I might just keep it to them both being cis but also both of them like girls. And i can always apply my trans and other LGBT headcanons to other characters along their adventure.

Anyway LOL im rambling too much!

[recentanimenews]

Resident Evil 2 Remake Will Have you Seeing S.T.A.R.S.!

I’m supposed to gather some electric parts to turn on the mechanism that opens cell doors in the underground jail cell. I found one after dodging vicious zombie dogs, and now I’ve found myself climbing back into the very police station I was trying to escape less than an hour ago. I know where I need to go--by now the police station is somewhat safe, and I know the best routes to get to where I need to go… until I find myself needing to extinguish a fire. "No problem," I say, and go about doing so with some easy exploring. Things are going well. I’ve got good health, ammo, and then… Mr. X happens. Suddenly, everything I thought I knew had changed.

All the skills I remembered from playing Resident Evil 2 20 years ago vanish, as the huge Tyrant hounds my every movement. Open a door too fast? Footsteps. Shoot my gun? Louder footsteps. Suddenly… a door opens that I didn’t open. I panic, and run. "If I can just get to the save room, I’m fine…" And then I hear it. A Licker. I ran too fast and too loudly, and with only a second to spare I dodge into the S.T.A.R.S. office, safe for now, and pause the game. My breathing is ragged and I put the controller down for a moment. I’m terrified, excited, and above all, happy. This is the best feeling in the world!

Resident Evil was always my favorite horror franchise, and Resident Evil 2 was the game I spent the most time with when I was younger. I played it more than I played any other game in the series until the co-op fest of Resident Evil 5 with my partner. The zapping system of Resident Evil 2 entranced me; the idea that a game had multiple storylines that interacted with each other, and that the game itself changed when you played it again blew my mind. The campy charm of the weird puzzles, esoteric nonsense, and scary but cool monsters made it all a blast. And then Mr. X showed up in scenario B, and I lost my little mind! I couldn’t believe a game could have a monster chase me, know where I was going, and make me feel unsafe in areas I thought I cleared. Fast forward to 20 years later, and I found myself doing the exact same things I did when I was a kid, totally amazed by the experience I was having, and watching as nostalgia mixed with the new experiences introduced in this remake to create something truly special.

There’s no real way to beat around the bush: the Resident Evil 2 remake is an amazing game! If that’s what you wanted to know, you can stop reading now and go buy a copy of it right this instant. It might even be my Game of the Year, and the year just started, and yes, I know that Kingdom Hearts III just came out. But the Resident Evil 2 remake has an addictive and entrancing combination of things going right for it that make the game not only thrilling to play, but a game you constantly want to get back to playing. To play again and see if you can get a better score than you did, how much ammo you could have saved, what route you might have tried to avoid Mr. X better the next time (For the record, my Leon playthrough resulted in a 7.5 hour B rank, and I’m already gunning for that A!). If you have played Resident Evil before, you’ll likely find a lot to love in this game, and if this is your first introduction to the series (or maybe second following last year’s also stellar Resident Evil 7), you’re in for a real treat. And there’s an odd magic to this remake; if you never played Resident Evil 2, it’s still an amazing game, and if you were a fan of the original, the Resident Evil 2 remake might transcend to be an almost perfect game. The graphics are amazing, and the combination of sound, lighting, and effects make the game feel tense and scary even in well-lit areas, and downright terrifying in dark ones. Each area of the game (there are 3 major ones) have a distinct feel and sense to them, making them unique and exciting to explore.

But much of that, frankly, you probably already knew. The game looks amazing and borrows heavily from the new engine used in Resident Evil 7, changing from the first person perspective of that game to the somewhat more traditional over the shoulder camera from Resident Evil 4 through 6. The controls are fluid, particularly when compared to the older “Tank Control” style of the original, but at times I found the game still had a weird inorganic movement to it that made avoiding enemies still pretty challenging in tight areas, as if the remake combined the two control schemes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4. This isn’t really a complaint, and if anything the Resident Evil 2 remake feels like the best version of Resident Evil controls since 5 (omitting 7 here since 7’s first-person view really changed the game experience). In terms of how the game feels, looks, and plays, there’s very little to complain about with this remake; it just works.

Perhaps the biggest discussion to bring up in terms of gameplay, however, is difficulty. I found myself caught off guard by the difficulty of the Resident Evil 2 remake even as someone who had played all of the previous titles, and even done runs of earlier titles at harder difficulty. Generally, I play the game on normal first, then go back and test myself with harder difficulty, or use easy difficulty to attempt a speedrun or pick up missed collectibles. In this remake, my first zombie encounter left me totally stunned and, honestly, panicking. I had shot him in the head 4 times… and he got back up! I found myself running low on ammo constantly early on because I kept trying to kill my enemies, angry at times that the monsters I had so easily killed when I was younger were now giving me trouble. And then I encountered my first Licker, and things changed.

This game is not about fighting. It is quite literally about surviving, which means making the decision of when to fight, when to run, and when to plan your next move. Normal difficulty will provide you with this question just as readily as hardcore will, and players should be prepared for that difficulty swing if they’re used to Resident Evil 4 style Super Secret Agent Leon, popping off Ganado heads and doing sick melee takedowns. You aren’t that Leon (or Code Veronica Claire) in this Resident Evil 2, you’re a person trapped in a hellscape with no way out and limited supplies. It was a funny thing to realize, because the term “survival horror” has rarely focused on the actual “survival” part, with more and more modern games focusing on early weakness transforming into endgame destruction on a grand scale as your character finds better weapons and levelled up. The Resident Evil 2 remake turns that on its head, instead focusing on making you think about the best way to get from point A to point B with the least possible risk to yourself. A mistaken calculation can cost you time, ammo, and health, and there are even times when you’ll need to judge if it’s better to take damage to avoid using up precious ammo, and you’ll certainly need that ammo when you face the bosses that this game throws at you occasionally!

Each boss fight is exciting and challenging, and while you may feel frustrated at the amount of ammo used, the game seems somewhat fair in helping you replenish yourself afterwards, and doubly rewards you for good planning and smart use of resources and your environment. At times I felt early on that I might struggle with the game and run out of ammo, but when I finally finished Leon A, I found myself literally swimming in ammunition that I could probably never use all of. Judicious use of non-combat items matters as well, and while the game doesn’t have a strict upgrade path like later installments did, you can still find ways to make your weapons better, usually by hunting safe combinations and exploring hidden areas off the beaten path. To this end, the map in Resident Evil 2 is an amazing ally and one of the best new features in the game. When you enter a new area, the map will turn red if there are any items, files, or important interactables to locate. The closer you get to that item (or, if like me, you actually brushed up against it but didn’t notice the prompt), the map will tell you exactly what that item is for you to go back and grab. Seeing what rooms were red and what weren’t really gave me a sense of knowing that I had finished an area (for the moment, at least), and tracking my progress in an organic manner.

One of the charms of Resident Evil 2, and the Resident Evil series as a whole, are its puzzles. It would probably not be incorrect to say that the Resident Evil games are actually puzzle games that occasionally have you shooting giant mutated zombies and other things. If you wanted to abstract that even further, it’s honestly fair to say that the avoidance and risk-reward routing through areas of Resident Evil 2 is a puzzle itself. This is probably also why Resident Evil 2 is one of the strongest in the franchise with its somewhat ridiculous set piece puzzles spread out around the police department. Finding weird keys, turning dials on giant statues, finding gems to insert into boxes are all within the game's experience, and it does little to ever try and make any of that make sense. In the Resident Evil 2 remake, there are a few attempts with the narrative change that the police station used to be an art museum, but it still makes little to no sense, and is lovable for it more than frustrating or silly. The sewer system, with its chess piece keys, is even sillier, and all in all adds up to what makes Resident Evil 2 so fun: its charm. The game has a weird charm about it that makes the experience fun to work through, even when fighting off flesh-eating monsters. The puzzles add a thoughtful but not particularly difficult wrinkle to that mix, making you think every action out in advance, and putting you on somewhat constant quests to find the one weird item you’ll need to open a door so you can collect a medallion to… well, you get the picture! All of that supposed backtracking may sound tedious, but it isn’t, because every time you venture back into the areas you’ve explored, not only might you find new secret places to explore or connect to, but the threats have likely changed too.

There are a few odd quirks to the game, however. One of which involves the DLC add-on that allows you to play the game with the original Resident Evil 2 score and sound effects for things like menus and typewriters; once I heard about it from friends, I bought it myself during the review and was blown away by how much it changes the experience! While it may not matter as much initially if you’re new to Resident Evil 2, playing with the original score was the missing component for me in some ways of merging the two versions of the game. Hearing the classic police station music play when I entered the main lobby was an amazing thing, and it made me feel like I was 20 years in the past, playing the game for the first time. Even if this remake is your first rodeo with the game, I honestly suggest getting the DLC to really complete the package; the new score is fine by all means, but the original score was a real work of art that fit the game perfectly. The added benefit of the Resident Evil 2 sound effects being thrown in was a great bonus.

  My second issue with the game is voice acting. For whatever reason, Capcom decided not to use the union backed voice actors from past Resident Evil games; I’m not sure if development and recording for this game coincided with the SAG-AFTRA strike that took many voice actors out of games, but what I am sure of is that I think Capcom did the game a disservice by not working with the original actors to ensure the true feeling of Resident Evil 2 was preserved. The new voices of Leon, Claire, and the rest are fine, but they feel off or wrong in a way that you think you know what these characters might sound like, and they don’t. Some line readings are a little awkward (I’ve found this to be the case with Claire more than Leon), and while 20 years ago we might consider that campy charm, here it just sounds… odd. I don’t think there’ll ever be some way to fix this in DLC like with the music, and it makes me sad. I really enjoy the Resident Evil 2 remake, and don’t think I’d not play the game because of it, but I wish Capcom had waited or elected to pay the union actors and preserved the original personalities and intonations of the Resident Evil cast before release. As a few minor notes, if you get extremely anxious while playing horror games, or find games where monsters chase you constantly (like Alien: Isolation) hard to play, do know that Mr. X can be a bit of a handful (he’s really smart), but it doesn’t take up as much of the game as it seems. It can change the pacing and comfort level a bit, so be forewarned!

As we got our code right at release, I decided to take my time with the game and play through the storylines fully to see what the full game really had to offer. It may seem odd for a review, but here are a few tips that I learned while playing that I hope can help you out when you try out Resident Evil 2:

1) If you don’t think you’ll enter an area often or for a long time, aim for zombie’s legs rather than try to kill them if you can’t just dodge by them. It slows them down considerably and saves some ammo.

2) Blue herbs may seem worthless (there are like 2 enemies in the game that poison you) but can be combined with Red+Green herb mixtures to give poison healing but, more importantly, damage resistance! Great for boss fights!

3) Save frequently and cycle saves; I hunted a few trophies this way that I either missed initially, or would have needed to go back and do things I might not have done originally to get them.

4) Don’t worry about your ranking! That’s what replays are for! The game rewards multiple play through attempts through familiarity and speed.

5) Dogs suck. Run.

6) You get the ability to craft certain types of ammo. Always prioritize weapons that have scarce ammo but big impact on your play style or needs.

    If you are a Resident Evil fan, you probably stopped reading this review after the second paragraph; the game is just that good and you probably already bought it. If you’re new or on the fence, or never got to experience Resident Evil 2 the first time, you should absolutely consider making this game part of your library. There are a lot of great reasons to play through the game multiple times, and Capcom has promised some new DLC expansions to add on to the game over time as well. Even without them, the Resident Evil 2 remake is an absolute blast of amazing gameplay and experiences that you’ll find yourself going back to again and again, wondering if this time, just maybe, you can get that S rank. So buckle up, take your G-Virus shots, and get ready to tag along with Leon and Claire.

REVIEW ROUNDUP

+ Amazing atmosphere, graphics, sound direction, and controls make this probably the best Resident Evil yet

+ There is a lot to do across multiple routes and reasons to keep replaying the game

+ It’s Resident Evil 2!

+/- Difficulty might turn off some at first, but it is worth sticking through and learning from your mistakes

- While almost everything else is fantastic, the non-union voice actors used instead of the original cast is a real letdown

  Are you a member of S.T.A.R.S., returning for more? Or will this be your first encounter with Resident Evil? Let us know what you think of the game in the comments!

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Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[alexwolffe]

Top 10 favorite Wakfu episodes (with your thoughts and facts)

@thetristevaguard

My top ten favorite Wakfu episodes? Lol this is kinda hard,I kinda wanna say them all, but I’ll do my best (I’m gonna do it from season 1- season 3)

1) s1ep The Child from the Mist - just because of the waythey introduced the characters and world captured my much younger mind (lolI’ve been a fan since it first came out on Netflix) in a way that kept meinterested and invested in the characters and plot that have continued to thisday.  I love how grougaloragran wasintroduced and asked what was in the baby carriage (a baby, what else?) andRuel and Alibert’s dynamic, how adorable Yugo is, that there was a guybasically reading a pin up magazine in the restroom (sigh Anakama, this is akid’s show) and how Percedal is introduced.

2) s1e4 The Ugly Pageant - Okay this episode never fails tocrack me up. Ever. I’ve watched it so many times, because it’s so funny!  Plus it’s the second episode where the BotT(before the naming) is actually actively on the quest.  It starts to show the established dynamicsand roles within the group without giving away too much.  Percedal shows how he is a knight byattempting the “typical knight trope” with rescuing a princess from atower.  Which doesn’t go as planned.  At all. I also love how Eva looks reallypretty but feels uncomfortable in such nice clothes, Amalia doesn’t even try tobe “ugly” (until Yugo “helps” lol Siamese twin princesses), and Ruel’s A+costume. Seriously Ruel’s costume was FANTASTIC.

3) s1e21 – I enjoy this episode because we get to see Adamaitraining Yugo in how to use wakfu and use his unusual powers.  Not only this, but we get to see how Nox andIgol’s relationship. (It’s passive aggressive just saying). We also get to seeIgol’s one track mind and relentlessness when giving chase. Also that sun burnyikes!

4) s1e25 –I remember so clearly watching this when it wasout on Netflix and knowing this was the only season (at the time). I was heartbrokenwas Percedal died. Yeah Yugo was my favorite but stupid, loyal, and kindPercedal the Knight dying? With no continuation? That was just shocking. Plushe stayed dead. There wasn’t even abody to “revive.” And to see the strong Evangelene sobbing? And the sweet Yugoso enraged with grief? Nope, I was heartbroken; the gang had gotten togetherbut Percedal was dead. It had a huge impact on me.

5) s2e3 – DALLY WAS ALIVE. My pure joy and Percedal being like alive and attainable, heh heh fairlycertain my fam thought I was crazy (but hey my bro was excited too lol). AlsoRemington, lol he and his cat brother, I really like them honestly. I alsoreally love how he and Eva flirt with each other but it’s not even friendly,they literally insult each other with every snide flirtatious remark. I justfind his random appearance in this arc (and later other arcs) to be anenjoyable breath of fresh air.

6) s3e8 – This was actually the first time that I realizedthat Yugo was trying to hide something under his hat. That’s right, it took meup to the 8th episode of the second season to realize that Yugo washiding something under his hat. I just thought it was a part of his otherwisesomewhat plain costume. I never thought there was a secret, I never had anysuspicions or anything. I mean Sadida males have plant heads *shrugs* I neverquestioned it. Also the boys stripping and Yugo asking what “inhibit” means butneither Ruel nor Percedal knowing. Basically it’

Bonus: “Justice demands…….justice!” And the size of your armordecides how much of a “good guy” you are lol

Bonus bonus: Yugo’s tofu underwear

7) s2e26 – Yugo’s wings and the Percedal family starts. Thatshould pretty much sum it up, yep. Seriously, sex between Eva and Dallyhappened sometime off screen during the second season…..that’s just boldAnakama, dang. But in all seriousness that fight between Yugo and Qilby said somuch about the two characters, and really showing the sad reason for why Qilbywas sooooo warped and twisted. Honestly his entire existence would be sofrustrating exhausting….but he still needed to be locked in the void. He waspsychopath. *shrug*

8) The entirety of The Quest for the Six Dofus Eliatropes –cuz they could have just been a movie, just saying. No episode stood outbecause they were all AMAZING. Not even kidding. These three episodes? Well Iwatched them sooooooooo many times, trying to figure out what was going tohappen for the past few YEARS. Years, Anakama, years. Not cool bro. Anyway, theamount of detail and character development in these 3 episodes? Wow, there wasso much character development and I realized things I never had before. LikeYugo had a crush on Amalia? Yeah that’s when I discovered this ship….I reallyam oblivious. And Percedal and Eva had 2 kids? Time had clearly gone by at thispoint.  But my favorite parts? The fightagainst Count Hareburg (RIP s3), Yugo’s fight with Adamai (heartbreaking but Istill feel like Adamai was putting too much trust in what I called “the creepysnake lady”) (and he was getting on Yugo’s case about caring/trusting someoneelse over their brother?) (sorry still salty) (there better be repercussions ins4) and the epic battle that raged above the world of 12

Bonus: baby Ogrest calling Otomai “Daddy” *death by too muchcute*

9) s3e2 – The emotions that are present in this episode arebeautiful and heartbreaking. And Princess Amalia with her gravely sick father,a usually strong and occasionally goofy character, that, that was reallyrelatable. Even if that’s never happened to you, you at least have probablyknown someone or known someone who knows someone who that’s happened to. AndArmand was really getting on my nerves, but that might have been how he copes,I guess. Still rubbed me the wrong way though. I don’t he’s a bad characterthough, just not super likeable but I can’t figure out quite way yet. Then poorYugo was also crying, he was probably feeling so many emotions, I’m notsurprised he was crying. More than likely I’d say it was most likely a mixture ofguilt, anger, fear, remorse, and maybe some mourning. It was stated in s1 thatYugo can feel the Wakfu presence of other beings, and that was when he was juststarting to learn how to use his powers, so he’s much stronger, now? Could hehave felt the king’s wakfu presence slowly disappearing? I dunno. Also Dally isjust so sad and Rubi is such an old softie, he’s just lucky that Dally isoblivious….and dumb.  Okay Elely, isprecious and perhaps slightly OP, but not in a bad way……never pick a fight withher. EVER.

10)s3e7 – Battling to keep their underwear. *breathes in,breathes out* boi. Anakama I applaud thee, only you could make a serious battleabout fighting for underwear. But it was a fierce and well fought battle which youvaliantly won in the end. And then the kiss. Now that was a passionatekiss.  It was well done, but the emotionsthat followed after it…..were FANTASTIC. Typically the kiss fixes everythingbut this kiss both makes Yugo and Amalia closer and farther, leading todifficulties later.  But what somewhatannoys me is that dragon blood makes Yugo age slower but Adamai looks like hehad steroids with a growth spurt. Kay guys that doesn’t compute, just saying.  But back to Yugo and Amalia, I find theirrelationship so interesting honestly, and personally I can’t tell if it’d workout or not. Cuz clearly they both want each other but neither (mostly Yugo) canmake up their mind.  Like Yugo is precious,but he either needs to accept Amalia accepting his younger self or let her moveon…..as harsh as that sounds

But yep my top ten episodes plus reasons and facts, phew,you have no idea how tempted I was to copy and paste the Wakfu episode listWikipedia page…..this whole series is fantastic….

Now your turn ; )