#SO the real neat thing about this imo is the way that it is animated. probably done this way by the limitations of the animators timewise

[sengoku-nadeko]

[pixelatedbugs]

Looking at all of the messed up boss forms during the Neutral Flowey fight

I just want to talk about them i like them a lot. i was very obsessed with help_tale when i was younger and that's probably why. spoilers below cut, and body horror warning because of the topic ofc.

Decibat

Starting with Decibat, no eyes and a stomach mouth. Awesome!! The stomach mouth kinda goes along with Decibat's noise theme - HUGE MOUTH is loud and Decibat wants quiet.

Dalv

Out of all of the Flowey forms only 2 actually made me jump and this is one of them. Creepy eye things get to me and that’s why this is one of my favorites. It's really simple but it's great. Also the way it glitches sometimes makes it look like he has more than 2 eyes, which I'm not sure if it's on purpose but it's still neat!

I do wonder what would be under the cloak, like would it just be normal Dalv? The void? Something like the Deer Lord from Spooky’s Jumpscare Mansion? idfk. His face being obscured is like how Dalv obscures his face with his cloak for the majority of Dark Ruins, and since we don't really get to know him due to killing him, we don't get to see his real face..

Martlet

Martlet technically doesn’t have a form like the others but I didn’t want to leave her out. This scene does a great job at being unsettling with the lack of talking portrait and the slowed down Snowdin imo. i really like how her hugging animation changes for just that One Frame, it's slow enough that you'll probably catch it but quick enough that you might be wondering if you imagined it.

And then there's the whole "I'm so happy I found you! So happy I found you. I found you." that happens and then her face melts to reveal the Eye. The eye is in grayscale, like Flowey is during the second phase of his fight, so I wonder if it's meant to be HIM looking at you through Martlet.

And the melting parallels her death in No mer- hey wait, why does Martlet melt in both routes where she dies? Like??? I mean, she does have connections to Alphys and the True Lab so like...or maybe i'm just over thinking it. Either way this ones cool, if I knew pixel art I would try to make a form for her like the others have.

El Bailador

I think a lot of people believe this is the scariest one and....yeah. This is the other one that actually made me jump. The smile, the Eyes, it's fucking scary i hate this one (positive). The large strained smile goes with how El Bailador wants to make everyone happy with his dancing even though some prefer quiet, which he doesn't realize. does that make sense idk if that makes sense.

Starlo

Oh boy plant growth body horror! Yeah this one’s good. The vines growing out from his face, the weirdly elongated hands, the way the piece of straw on his hat changes to a flower. Honestly I have 0 clue what is going on with his face. Very cool. I also just noticed the holes in his poncho, like bullet holes? i saw someone say he's still hot on twitter and im scared

Ceroba

Ceroba's gets bonus points for being one of the rarer ones, because you have to abort a No Mercy route to see it. Besides that, no face! Wahoo! Plus her bow has changed to have a flower in it, which matches Starlo.

My favorite thing though is that the way pixels are scattered (i cannot find the right wording for this) kinda makes it look like she's constantly turning into dust which is really cool!! I think her face might be obscured for the same reason as Dalv, considering you have to be in No Mercy to see this you never get to know who Ceroba is.

Guardener

Overgrown robots overgrown robots overgrown robots. She already was overgrown but it gets more turned up with this one which makes me very happy, I love overgrown robots and machinery. All the vines get changed into flowers as well to fit, yippee! The Delta Rune logo on her chest is also scratched out, which is one way to send a message...

Axis

I like how the lack of face here parallels both how axis dies in No Mercy AND the death of the blue soul. This one's very cool, though i wish there were some more wires in his face like his death sprite in No Mercy has. thats a weird thing to wish for isnt it. Actually now that I'm looking at it more, it kinda looks like a mouth? That might just be because of the things at the top and bottom, I'm not sure if it's meant to be a mouth.

Oh! And the heart in his chest is missing, which hurts because both ways you can spare him involve filling his heart (either with Daisy or compliments. Also, Axis' neutral route spare is extremely cute, please go check it out if you haven't seen it.)

anyway thanks for reading through teehee my favorites are probably dalv’s ceroba’s and guardener’s. i have to wonder what the Feisty Four would have looked like in this? They don't get any because well, they don't die, but I like them...I don't really have any ideas myself, though. ok bye

[dentos-wife]

Tokyo Mew Mew New is done and what are my thoughts? I think it’s better than the original and I LOVE the original, it’s one of my favorite magical girl shows and introduced me to the genre. I also rewatched it while this was airing to get a better feel on the simulators and differences

Almost every single problem I had with the original has been addressed in New

The mews were more characters then the stereotypes they were in the 2002 show, Mint and Ichigo especially. Lettuce got some of very concrete development along with Mint who reached her goal. The ending felt more solid to me. Masaya finally was the character he was meant to be and what a difference! It’s amazing how bad the 2002 anime did him seeing this.

More detailed and in depth analysis under the cut but if tldr

In almost everything so let’s get to it

-I fully admit I didn’t like Ryo in the OG he felt like he took screen time solely to make a love triangle. Could have focused more on how he felt about the other girls, the project, his goal. They did that. Here Ryo took responsibility for his actions and felt guilt over putting the girls in this mess becoming more than part of a love triangle (and even that was toned down a lot) which is ironic because yes he did get less focus and I would understand why Ryo fans would prefer the OG don’t blame them at all especially if they’re shippers. He got a lot more content in 2002. But I finally got what I wanted from him; responsibility

-Zakuro of all the girls got the shaft for sure I wanted to see her past like the rest but the more equal footing with Mint? Good shit, I love equal ground in things and they finally sold me on Zakumint too. In 2002 it just felt like unhealthy idolization on Mint’s end. I like how Zakuro loves and cares about her friends too and even wanted them in the video with her to show the real her. It's no longer just Mint idolizing her while she does her own thing, she feels connected to Mint too. And I LOVED how Mint was her reason for joining. They were cowards for not canonizing Zakumint after all this because it was 100% the parallel to Ichisaya

-Speaking of Mint while I do like the environmental push they gave her in this one I do miss the ballet aspect and imo her transformation was nerfed probably the one one I'd say worse then 2002 but I would throw that away any day for the character she was in this compared to the rich rude stereotype she was in 2002, very 90’s. She was of course friends with the Mews there but she actually felt closer to this group compared to how she used to be. However she was also one of the biggest character changes so if you really liked 2002 Mint I can see you not liking the Mint she is here, I’d say the most striking character change of the girls from 2002 is her.

-Lettuce! I adored how she picked up on the emotions of Deep Blue and how she had her little romance arc that was meant more for growing her character and left her open ended, don’t get me wrong I now like Ryo with her, good job New, but the point was show her growing confidence. Along with her going back to the museum and her episode there about alien society in the past I loved it all.

-Pudding and Tart felt the most similar to their og selves so I don’t have much to say on them they cute though

-Pai also felt the most similar up his og and then the ending took a turn; that put him too above og Pie for me, liked that a lot more then killing Tart then sacking himself. His whole life was dedicated to restoring his planet. He was told Deep Blue was the one to do that. And then Deep Blue who he put all his hopes on changed his mind it’s very easy to see why he acted the way he did. And it was a really neat parallel to Ichigo snapping and turning on her friends when Deep Blue first appears. Deep Blue just brings the worst out of you huh? No wonder he was seen as some kind of god.

-And even Deep Blue! At first I was miffed he wasn’t a psychopath and just kind of there while Ichigo had her own mental battle but when you find out why…he’s just a normal guy er alien. Yeah he doesn’t like humanity and blames them for destroying the planet but that’s it. He’s not out to get ultimate power or anything like that he just feels at war with humanity and wants his home back for his people. But through Masaya experienced the same feelings and thoughts resonating with Ichigo’s emotions on how things could change and shockingly seemed willing to work things out. Which probably would have ended with dying to release the Mew Aqua anyway but…Pie sped the process up. And I loved this I loved there was actually no true big bad it’s very different from even the manga but the true evil is selfishness toward the environment, cherish the planet work to protect it; all planets.

-Mayasa is my new second favorite character (Twas originally Zakuro but now she's 3rd), but others have said better so I’ll just say 2002’s main issue was taking away his character he’s a huge multi dimensional character all with reasons for how he is but because this was the early 2000’s and following on tropes he was just the typical “pretty boy” love interest, to parallel Ryo being the typical “bad boy” love interest. And it’s a goddamn shame, I enjoyed him in the manga but seeing him in motion really allows you to get into him and see him for who he is. Dislike is fine but if you still hate Masaya after this and call him bland bread and boring (I lived through the 2002 fandom I know) when he’s gone beyond that; you’re probably a bitter shipper and should try to see beyond that. Also this face was gold

-Ichigo my fav my beloved! Had an arc! Before she was your typical magical girl protag and there’s nothing wrong with that she’s a cute cat girl; what more do you need? She was still very much a duo with Masaya so if you don’t like that that didn’t change. What did though was her growing into becoming a Mew Mew finally deciding she was happy it happened then turning to wanting to be useful wanting to find out her future while everyone else around her figured it out. And her answer? She doesn’t know and that okay there’s things she wants to do, lots of ideas she has on everything she wants to accomplish but she hasn't picked yet

She even gained two more ideas at the very end

But she has time to decide on all of them because:

That’s a really good and wholesome message. If we do get a adaptation of ala mode since she stuck around I could see her mentoring Berry now while still working on figuring out her future. It's a more subtle form of development then say Lettuce or even Mint but it's there and appreciated.

Okay that was all I liked, now for what I didn’t.

-The pacing did suffer a bit a times like Ryo’s backstory feeling rushed or Pudding and Tart feeling like enemies to lovers on crack with so few episodes with more it could have been drawn out longer for sure. But really most of my issues could be fixed with more episodes

-There’s also the idol segments normally it was fine but it really took me out in Puddings episode

-I still don’t like Kish, if you like him more power to you I have no idea how you feel about this version but it’s been three iterations now and he still gets on my nerves; sorry Kish. The one thing I wanted was why he likes Ichigo and still don’t know that maybe if he didn’t start out liking her immediately? Dunno but he’s the only one my feelings didn’t change on at all, so felt like I had to note it. I do think if you ship Kishigo you're going to prefer the 2002 no epic scream in this one

-Cat Ichigo was cuter in the 2002 (this is a nitpick)

Anyway! Just because something is a classic doesn’t automatically mean it’s better all the time. I keep hearing how the classic is untouchable and…it was an anime made to sell toys, I hope you don’t think OS Pokémon is the greatest thing ever too lol. It’s just a different take from a different time this isn’t like comparing a soulless Disney remake. This was made both with and as a tribute to Mia Ikumi and I think it shows.

All are good but as for me if I’m ever introducing a friend to tmm this is going to be my go to

Red haired Mew Ichigo will be my choice every time.

[mdhwrites]

whats your opinion on caleb and evelyn (at least from what very little we know of them-)

imo the whole caleb clawthorne thing is like. one of the most pointless things in the show ever

I have called them and their connection to Belos "TOH's final trick". TOH has a single trick up its sleeve that is great for fanfic writers and TERRIBLE for a narrative. They introduce really compelling relationships and ideas and then they never do anything with them. It happens with Amity and Luz, Amity and Willow, the Hexide Squad and the Coven System, Hunter and Belos, etc. etc. All of these concepts present tantalizing issues that one could really delve in deep to and find a lot of meaning... But TOH isn't interested. It is more interested in a blog about how deep Amity's character is implied to be rather than doing anything with that depth, hence why so many people hooked onto how awful the confrontation with her parents would eventually be and then the show itself just... Has her in like three minutes of that episode and her confrontation doesn't feel like the main point of it even if it's the climax. And then it's effectively over and any issue between Lumity is never brought up again.

Caleb and Evelyn are the same but with a bit of FNAF storytelling thrown in. The pictures are vague after all so people can interpret them in different ways for what they mean. The cast has been coy as to the actual events. It's a multiple choice backstory for your villain that ranges from irredeemable monster to sympathetic villain. That way the show can claim to have a complex villain that doesn't technically invalidate the fact that they have no interest in writing a complex villain, nor do they want to need to.

But it was also one straw too many. Lumity getting together paid off in some way that old narrative baggage of Amity's, even if less powerfully than it could have. Hunter being possessed and fighting off Belos doesn't have the weight it should and I have problems with how selfish the reasoning is rather than ideological but it is a payoff to that relationship. However, a genuinely real amount of time is spent in S3, and S2, building up that Belos is something more than a genocidal, egotistical asshole. Caleb and Evelyn are a LOT of this. So what's the payoff?

There is none. Beating him isn't an ideological victory. They don't come up like Lief did for beating Andrias to pay that off. In fact, they come up less in the final fight than they do during the fight in King's Tide where the heroes LOSE. So they spent some of the very limited time they had to wrap up their story on a subplot about Belos' backstory that doesn't actually inform us of anything, doesn't affect anything and has no payoff except the most obvious one.

It's literally Willow's story except for your PRIMARY ANTAGONIST'S BACKSTORY.

The fact that the majority of the meat of it is done in a really just AWFULLY animated set piece who's literal writing is boilerplate at best does not help it at all. The best parts of this mechanically are the portraits in Hollow Mind and they're vague and that's IT. Otherwise, it's clunky for the most part. I'll give the moment when monster Belos sees Caleb as he tries to take on a new form is neat but it tells us nothing and feels out of character in the end that he'd give enough of a shit to be haunted by his brother, especially after he's killed his brother so many times. Honestly, the Golden Guards looking like Caleb even NOW just makes me think the Collector is right: He likes hurting his brother. Why else would he not finally stop after the hundredth betrayal? Unless he gets off on the moment of their betrayal I guess.

It's just not good and a casual fan is going to like it even less because they won't really absorb and think the portraits so to them, it's just one really awkward sequence in the first special, an eerie sequence that doesn't add to anything in the second and then is sir not appearing in the third. That's not engaging.

Since little of it is engaging, it fails to function as a trick. After all, any magician will tell you that everything is about misdirection in their craft. Without it, a trick becomes nothing but smoke and mirrors instead of magic.

======+++++======

Btw, mentioned FNAF so may as well say here: Saw it and really liked it. I keep considering making a blog about it and then just... not.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[mmmmmmky]

response to tags time this got pretty long but if you reblogged my limbus status poll i answered here :)

mhm lmaoooo. idk i somewhattt enjoy charge they are cool but it is kindaaaaa gets boring sometimes. i am honestly not too sure. i thinkkk i recall seeing a team built around suncliff i thinkkk it was rupture sinking but idk i havent looked at his kit. BURNNNNN real asffff burn is fun i did a silly run with them. i wish i had the liu 000 ids. ooo liu yisang sound cool. @melonisopod

real asf! mhmhm real i love sinking, boat trio is fun.

FUCKKK YEAHHH real asf. tremor is cool, i havent gotten the chance to use the silly tremors but i liked tremor before it was cool. idk i like the silly bursting and raising stagger is neat. "oh oh just do damageee you will stagger them faster" :( it is fun (silly). cant fucking wait to build the tremor team of my dreams when the event drops. rip charge lmaoo, it is kinda just base doesnt stand out. @gachabastard

real as fuck i also rotate when doing md but idk i enjoy some more than others plus i cant build them all

FUCKK YEAHHHH WOOO SINKINGGG. this is true! the linton gregor is very nice in sinking teams too but yeah that is the core. g greg and nclair is kinda silly slots lmao but real asf. @wavesofstatic07

Real as fuckkkk. true! yeah maybe i was harsh on charge it is pretty fun and i like w ryo and don a lot. ONFGGGG i honestly cant wait for the charge renaissance (and the intervalio in general i am so curious what they are cooking)(no fucking way we go ON a w train right?). @runn1ngn0se

[this one was later but moved up bc it is relevent to above]

mhmhm sinking is very nice i love regular skills doing 100+ dmg a coin andddd sinking deluge getting 9000. but hmhmhmhm charge tremor is big? very neat hmhmhmhm see above but rose meur hmhmhm realrealreallll. burn is also cool! mhm!

Very fucking real sameee, got 9431 dmg just the other day. killed shock centipede in 2 turns and one turn sign of roses on mdh floor 5.

oooo? interestinggg hmhmhm. dungeon only is fair yeah mhm. hmhmhmmmmmmmm. this is very fucking cool. i see hmhmhm. we have a chef in out midst bc you are COOKING. mhmhmmmm very neat. id personally maybe hmm actually honglu still in for tremor hmmm. maybe more tremor units for w meur? (regret faust maybe) idk i just havent heard much good things about w meur. very fucking cool @rumekfuria

real as fuck! i love pirate greg

real asf!!!! id count it as dps bc it doesnt have a real through line its is just what works ykyk? very real.

lmao very real. yeahhh idk if it bc it is metaaa bc other teams totally preform better in there element i think but it is just very simple to use imo which is why. also it got fleshed out early so it has kinda dried up in recent interest. it still is very fun though and i like it it just doesnt stand out as a favorite imo. very fucking true. coolness > meta the animations are some of the coolest. beeg number :) @freiflies

onfgggg i love poise bl is very quite good. i wish i had nelly ryo, i have more then enough to shard her but what if i pull her rolling for others! i need to wait until i spend my lunacy pile (7000). mhmhm yeah the ego gifts make any status really fun. poise pops off normally but guh with everything else on top?? mhmhmh, i regularly get core ego gifts by like floor 3 and the rest of the mdh is swept. @sveta-karelia

WHEW i think that is all of them with text. thank you everyone who responded :):):):):):)

[doingherbestbutnot]

One of the most important things Nightow did to develop his plot (read: psychologically fuck up the twins) was create isolation between Kni and Vash with the rest of humankind early in their lives. Specifically talking about how in Stampede and the manga the vast majority of humanity appear frozen.

We see in both how Vash clearly wants connection (Stampede he's literally naming them [using their real names?? unsure] and talking to them) but Kni's full background wasn't explored with as much depth in Stampede (read: not a criticism of Stampede, she's only 12 eps long 🤣🤣 and I love herrrrrr she can do no wrong in my eyes).

But looking at Kni's background, especially in the manga?? Like damn bro lol Kni is basing his entire world view off of like four people for 100+ years essentially (confirmation bias is a powerful drug my friends) meanwhile I can’t help but think of all the people I know IRL that - even the non-anime watchers - who would meet someone like Kni and be like "you’re under our protection now; our rate is one hug per hour. Would you like to pay up front or create a payment plan? Also, here’s a list of recommended local mental health professionals. No shame in the game; we’re all mad here.”

Both as a joke and partially serious like… I just imagine the girlies on TikTok telling Kni he's fucking awesome, he just needs to meet more people, diversify his experiences, and check in with the squad/friendship-board of directors before acting when he gets upset 🤣🤣

I think the brilliance and horror behind Kni's character portrayal is how he forces you to question what is true "evil" and the juxtaposition with Legato and other characters is amazingggg. Like, reasonable people can conclude Kni's not truly evil and the most controversial part of him (and, conversely, Vash's pacifism) is how you can see and know people like Kni IRL and still love/defend them just as Vash does, but the moment you see another do the same you see the morally grey spots and flaws in your own actions. Kni's actions may be perceived as evil but the moment you divorce his actions from his mental processes he’s really just misguided, afraid, and so deep in a hole of his own making he can't see anything else.

Y’all have already (correctly imo) pointed out Kni isn’t Vash’s true foil in Trigun (he's more of a mirror), I just think it bears emphasizing that Kni and Vash are both so intolerably human in so many ways while both thinking themselves so different from humans. Which, I get is the entire point of fiction here but 🤣🤣

I just think it's real neat, okay?!?! I love that the twins aren't real foils to each other but one is a mass murderer for a cause and the other is so starkly pacifistic that he refuses to be "logical" and kill the killer.

This started as a small thought... and got out of hand. OH WELL LOL might expand more on it later but that's all for now ✌️✌️

[souljellied]

What would you have changed about the Kim Possible live action?

To start on a very oddly specific note: I get what they were trying to do with all of Kim's random flips and tumbleturns etc, but it really highlighted to me that some movements which look fine in a cartoon look absolutely unnatural in real life. I think they did some cartoony things great - Drakken and Shego still have big Cartoon Villain energy to them, and the school setting looked almost exactly as it does on the show which was neat!

But some of the action visuals did not translate well to live action. I'm not sure what I would have changed exactly, but the scene where Kim's running for the schoolbus and does a bunch of unnecessary flippy stuff went straight into Narm territory to me and that's the one I'm thinking about here. Keep the flips for the fight scenes, maybe?

Changing the setting: A timeskip with an older Kim and Ron would have allowed them to take the plot in a bigger and more grandiose direction. Replicating the animated show felt like a waste, really. Give Drakken and Shego some huge mega death laser (I can't remember what schemes they've done exactly... something they haven't done, but big and ridiculous and overambitious) or find a way to bring the aliens back! Dip into some of the show's lore (Team Go, Global Justice, or any of the bizarre worldbuilding around the fact that supervillains walk around everyday places in their costumes and no one bats an eye!)

Seeing Kim and Ron in university or jobs would fit with that theme of 'taking a step up' that just makes sense for a big budget movie. Fans of the show already saw Kim in high school, let's take the chance to see her somewhere different (in a setting that we're not constantly visually comparing with its animated counterpart).

Monique. WHERE WAS SHE I'M SO MAD. Same for the other secondary/tertiary characters, even if it's just cameos. Felix, Zita, Josh! The characters, even the less prominent ones, help make the world of KP what it is. It would have been nice for the movie to acknowledge more of them. I'd have liked the movie to have given us more things that built upon the world we knew and loved instead of ditching half of it.

Drakken and Shego were honestly great and so was Ron's casting. Kim's vibe felt... off. She's got insecurities but the movie put too much emphasis on those insecurities IMO. Kim's charisma is intense though, so I get it's hard for a young actress to pull off.

All in all, something dramatic and plotty and funny and ridiculous and grandiose that felt bigger than high school drama, really.

[thebuttsmcgee]

ALRIGHT so I finished the rest of tgamm's S2 eps so far and to both test out this read more trick that I haven't learned how to use even after all these years and for everyone's convenience, my long thoughts will be in the read more.

My abridged thoughts, are that the eps were p good! Very solid batch all around and I'm sure the later eps will be just as fun, maybe even more! 👍!

Aaaaas for the longer thoughts, well they're not that longer tbh.

I was a bit. Hm. Not disappointed but more, surprised? I guess, that they focused a lot more on the main cast rather than some side character and their story but that's not a bad thing, I just find that some of my fav eps from S1 tended to do that tho! And thankfully, the writing like usual managed to be good enough that I didn't really think that much about it, while watching it.

Anyways, Scratch's backstory that was literally shown for less than a minute. OOOH. OHHH THAT WAS GOOD. LEGIT WAS SO GOOD. It perfectly captured that touching emotion that S1 had looooots of moments with. Also worth noting is that the soda was founded (I think?) in 1909, so Scratch probs isn't that old. Ooh man I hope the theories from way back about how his sailor themed memorabilia is actually for a purpose!

Oh yea, Scratch as chairman. Neat. Hm. Not bad, but hm. Just kinda neat I guess imo of course. Eh ya know what, now that I think about it, the show has been handling it rather well, its not an instant problem solver and it hasnt gotten in the way so far, yea its p neat. He spent the first half of the ep just being like "enjoy yourr afterliiiife [:○)" just to drift to "GET OUTTA MY HOUSE" and that was funny.

Oh yea and as always, the backgrounds were colorfully delightful, the voice acting was top knotch, the animation and different storyboard artists' styles were great and the music remains baller. Reaaaally hope it gets more appreciation this time around!

I FORGOT LOL Scratch's ass being plot relevant is fantastic. Like. Wow.

Sharon's episode was great!!!!!! I love the real emotion of unsure fear, uncertainty, but being able to overcome it due to support from loved one. GGGRHH THIS SHOW AND THE FAMILY WRITING WOO. They always nail it. Seriously I hope that this ep gets more recognition among fans.

Andrea's ep was also fun! Really stuck to their idea of her just being a bit misguided, not really mean hearted. I also love that they chose to talk about how convenient enterprises can unfortunately take over independent businesses and that it's up to the people to choose those independent businesses, not the corporate world.

Libby's ep was p fun! Very nice that she's getting more attention, and that they had an ep based on her love of her family library.

Molly overworked herself, again, but at least by the end she got to have fun 👍

Darryl's was p okay, definitely better than his last one, but I kinda feel like maybe Darryl also could have learned something? Buut then again he's just a kid and his parents accepting him for who he is, is a wonderful message so it all evens out :^).

As for the Chens, they're okay! I like June, autism blast has been deployed and that's rad. Ollie is okay, DEFINITELY overhated like geez he's literally just some guy. Granted, I'm not sure how this whole ghost hunter thing is gunna turn out tho. Considering that Scratch IS family, it makes for a neat obstacle I suppose.

And as for the thing that's been the main talk of recent, The Ship.

Reuben and Pete.

Gotta say it's p good, good on Pete.

Oh yea and molly and ollie is okay? I guess. Not really bad, not all that interesting imo tbh but it's really harmless. It clicks in a bit too much for my taste. Like Molly has been shown to be a bit too optimistic for people, then some guy shows up and is almost exactly like her. Ehhhh, again, not bad but some people DEFINITELY need to calm down, after all the show is mainly centered around the family and love between them, not romance. Just not my cup of milk ya know?

The actual in characters in the show, in their real life shipping them tho, was, hm. Don't. Don't quite know how to feel about that.

Pete and Reuben tho. C'mon.

Oh yea, new antagonist on the way too ig, he's voiced by Jeff Bennett so good for him!

Iiiii guess that's about it! Overall, p good batch! Hopefully the rest will be either just as good, or even better!

And lastly but certainly not least,

a dope hat makes any design look better 10/10

[twigwing]

tell me about sally

SALLY IS ACTUALLY UNFORTUNATELY A BIT OF A BLIND SPOT FOR ME cuz i haven't watched a lot of AoStH or SatAM and haven't read a lot of the Archie comics... at her best, she's super cool though! she was used uhhhhh Poorly for most of archie's run, just acting as A Girl for sonic (and sometimes other male characters) to "win" or "lose" (rugh.) and... generally being misunderstood and mistreated by the men writing her (the team that came after the "original batch" of writers had their own problems writing characters esp women too but that's a whole other thing i again don't have too much authority on since i've read a series of VERY random archie issues over the past 12 years, mostly from the Tracy Yardley era and Sonic Universe actually lol)

at her core though, sally has always been that kind of "kick-ass royalty" type you get out of girls in media from the time period. active member of the cast, smart, funny, cool, realistic when needed, kindhearted but not foolish, a little exasperated by Oh You Boys. she's also always been sonic's girlfriend/love interest, which i feel like some people aren't aware of and think sonally is just from archie? they're if not outright dating just very comfortable and flirtatious with each other (they're childhood friends!) in SatAM. i actually had a couple episodes on again while doing dishes recently and there was a scene where sonic and sally kiss and their friends are just like standing around waiting for them to stop LMFAO

uhh i put images in here and they made the post really long so i'm gonna put a break

i know even Less about AoStH sally... apparently they're officially dating according to the SNN? also, she's pink, and i hate it

SHE LOOKS SO MUCH MORE GIRLNAKED IN PINK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i do love that she's naked though. pave the way for clothesless female animal chracters girl... a legend... an icon.... unfortunately an icon who was slowly given clothes to hide her Heinous Female Form (i'm joking) over time

for the longest time she just had this little vest though still chest out. go girl go. the little vest was sooo Gender to me as a kid. also her archie eyebrows!!

as sad as i am that they covered her up, i do think her post-reset archie outfit is super cool!!!

i take a lot of cues from this sally as well as the Sonic Riders design ethos when dressing my own sonic ocs actually! she's so sporty and fun, i love her. her bright red hair is really nice too, imo. she lost her eyebrows though :(

her archie designs.... oooo she is suuuuuuuch a little gender envy sapphic to me LMFAO. bi legend...

i feel like moooost people know this by now but sallicole... it is Real... they couldn't make it real real for real for real but god these girls...

their designs look good together i feel... <3

mmmm i forget what the point was. but yeah, unfortunately i don't know much about sally's use in canon/spinoff material... but what i've seen of her i really like (other than the royalty thing though, i don't like sonic(the character)'s world having a rigid political system especially one based on royalty sorry LMFAO. it's weird!! and also enabled a lot of wack writing for sally in archie!!!) she's a really fun character when written well and given a proper role, and i think she's a really neat companion for sonic (not necessarily romantic... their dynamic is really fun when it isn't bogged down by boring love triangles, they bounce off each other well). i think the idea of sonic having a childhood friend like sally is really neat, especially when you add tails to that history. weird little misfit friendfamily

unfortunately, sally probably won't ever be used officially again. i know the IDW team especially Ian Flynn really want to... but if they did, they wouldn't ever be the same as they were before due to the agonies sadly, and IDW does have a good amount of characters similar to sally now (though i will NEVER say no to more cool girls. in fact give me more. outnumber the cool boys, i demand it). but still! it'd be neat to see her in action in official material again. for now though, she and the rest of the freedom fighters are at narrative rest

but sally still remains a beloved part of the fandom! i still see fanart of her, and i see fans remixing current storylines and putting her and the other freedom fighters back into the cast. i'm glad that at least she hasn't been forgotten

[ribarukirikaindenial]

snst thoughts for when The Fave eventually comes back in jn (intruding in the tag again etc), or a (long) list of things i wish could happen because it would be neat imho

- one character pointing out that snst really seem like opposites

- reiji being mentioned (bonus if satoshi spontaneously asks “how is reiji-san doing?”, or it could be just his lil bro mentioning the big bro), even better if he is briefly shown (watching shinji and satoshi’s potential future battle in the pwc, for example)

- confirmation of whether shinji managed to beat jindai post dp or not 

- shirona being involved in some way during their reunion (she was always watching over them during dp, so she could watch over their potential battle now, too)

- if they eventually battle, it would be cool if it was a 3vs3, it would be a throwback to their very first battle back at the beginning of dp (and 3vs3 were a recurring thing with them). it would make it more interesting than just a 1vs1 too, imo, and we could see what kind of pkmn shinji has now

- if they eventually battle, i want them to genuinely have fun and smile during the battle. while i felt like they already had fun during their last battle in the league (they smiled and complimented each other, for example), it also had lots of stakes for satoshi so there was a pressure attached to it (he and his team completely lost during their first full battle, so they felt like they definitely had to win in the league to make up for that loss). now, it’s different and i don’t think they would have anything to prove to each other at this point since they already settled their differences. so it could be a different kind of battle, more “free” and where they could go all out and have fun... it would be nice if they showed how they still acknowledge and respect each other (satoshi dropping a "aikawarazu sugoi~” for example, or satoshi pulling something unexpected during their potential future battle and shinji noting that satoshi hasn’t changed, something like that)

- snst friendship crumbs pls... (the first word of the "when one life meets another” quote is “friend” after all) (i’m also very curious as to how satoshi would refer to/introduce him, if he does?? it’s interesting because he never referred to him as his rival in dp, so would he now? what is snst? We Just Don’t Know)

- their pkmn interacting. it would be cool if pikachu and elekible met again since they were kind of friends already back in dp ;; (and the thought of elekible still being by shinji’s side this whole time is also good, they both seemed on the same page back then) 

-  gou and shinji interacting (insert here bnha joke because both their seiyuu are classmates in that anime ww) (the other real reason is that i think both these characters were intentionally made to be “satoshi’s opposite” in some ways, so that makes them similar on that point, as gou is “the co protag who is his opposite” and shinji is “the rival who is his opposite”, so idk it could be fun to have one interaction)

- characterization wise, it would be good if shinji was much more “relaxed”/at ease with things/wiser and less on edge than before, a bit more openly appreciative towards his pkmn too (like at the end of dp). just, sweet development iunno, showing that he isn’t stuck on the past anymore and generally being more pleasant to be around LOL. i am also curious about his current goal. what does he want to do, now? his goal at the end of dp is that he wanted to challenge jindai again, so if he managed to win, then what? what happens next? i feel like he is kind of like satoshi in that regard, where clearing a hurdle isn’t an end in itself. even though satoshi became champion in alola, that wasn’t the end of his dream and he still had goals to work towards (he wants to be a pkmn master, not necessarily a champion etc). so i hope they can parallel each other in this aspect. 

- just random musings about things that happened, but... 

(this is 妄想 heavy from now on, just wishful thinking, etc) if i recall correctly, shirona saw herself in shinji (back in dp040), talking about how she used to be in the pursuit of strength, like him when she was younger. but she got wiser with time. shirona also mentioned at the end of dp that both snst would climb their way up in the champion league someday which is seemingly what is happening now. back in the day, i found it a bit special because we never really had a projection in the future, or a prediction for the future for other characters.. so it made me think that these two are meant to remain rivals forever in the same field, pulling each other to greater heights, etc... i wonder if shirona is someone shinji could become like, in the future. wondering this, because satoshi was clearly meant to parallel dande, galar’s champion (in the way they both interact with pkmn, their personalities, etc), and dande is someone who seemed to feel lonely and scared at the top since he had never lost a battle and wondered if he could improve any further. in a way, dande didn’t really have someone who could truly come close to him. so it’d be nice if satoshi, as he is now, could still have a valuable rival in shinji, someone who could always challenge him and who would be his equal (musings for their future etc, i like the thought of them being eternal rivals). i’m also wondering if satoshi’s ascension to the top of the pwc will be that easy.

anyway, who knows if half of these could fit in one ep of cameo but i can dream ww just give me crumbs for the next decade, basically 

[autisticandroids]

I appreciate you being Dean concerned and not Dean critical. I’m sure you’ve already answered this before but what do you genuinely like about him? A lot of his good traits get twisted in your meta (and in the show) which is really interesting! But like. What about him do you just think is neat?

Also, you don’t talk about Sam a lot but I’m rewatching season 8 and it really feels like both a continuation of preseason one -> season one (Sam has a normal life, Dean is gone -> Sam wants to return to his normal life but Dean coming back gets him back in the game) which also gives it finale vibes :(

Besides the fact that the stuff with Amelia is really boring, it all just feels ooc and like a step back for Sam. Not to go on a rant but Sam seemed to finally make peace with his life back in season 7.

The stuff with Amelia also has both the same and the exact opposite energy as the stuff with Lisa. During his time with Lisa, it was always like Dean had one foot out the door back to hunting. During his time when he goes back to hunting with Dean in season 8, it feels like Sam always has one foot out the door back to Amelia.

That and I just can’t bring myself to give a shit about Amelia (maybe because she’s boring and inconsistent, maybe because info about her is drop fed instead of presented mostly all at once like with Lisa in season 6, maybe because she’s just shoved in for something for Sam to be up to and it feels ooc to me idk)

I thought I’d like season 8 (and I do really like a lot of Cas’ stuff but he’s always my favorite anyway so that was basically gaurenteed) but a lot of the stuff just makes my brain feel like a white noise machine. I’m only on episode 10 so I’m sure it’ll get better for me once the Sam stuff gets resolved but for now it’s very.... eh.

Thoughts?

okay so, what i like about dean. hm. that's hard! i love dean, for all sorts of reasons, and i know i'll miss stuff, but: - he charms me, on a sort of pure, animal level. he's very charming, that's true within the show but it's true for the audience, or at least me, as well. he's funny, he's affectionate, he's sweet, and he tries so hard. and it makes me love him - he's compellingly tragic. like dean is a fucked up guy, he hurts both himself and everyone around him because of patterns of trauma an neurosis he can't break out of. no one wants to be a bad guy, no one wants to hurt the ones they love, least of all dean, but he can't stop doing both those things. like his self-made cage of ideology, emotional repression, and control is killing him, and it's killing everyone who doesn't get away from him, and that's sad! it's awful! no one is winning except dean's self-image. he will sacrifice everyone and everything he loves on the altar of never having to re-evaluate himself. or, i hope he won't. but he might! and that's sad! it's the perfect tragedy! - second hand deangirlism due to cas kinnie disease. men will be the first person who was ever nice to castiel and then me and castiel will love them forever about it. - he is my little puzzle box and i will solve him - straightmarried gf i liked that sam ran off and tried to escape The Life in s8, that makes sense to me. i think sam really fundamentally doesn't want to be a hunter and the only reason he gives up on trying to leave post s8 is that it is impressed upon him that he's completely trapped. he can never be free. dean will always drag him back, kicking and screaming. i actually feel like sam's equivalent to lisa isn't amelia, it's jess. i talked some about that here but like. both jess and lisa were kind of synecdoches for a false ideal of the american dream, each in their own way. they're both images of suburban perfection, and what draws the winchesters to them is the desire to fit into that image.

but comparing lisa and amelia..... like, dean promises sam that he will go try to make a normal life with lisa, and then he does, because that obligation is all he has left to cling to. like dean is nothing but a miserable little pile of duties and tasks, he doesn't know who he is without a chore (see: demon!dean's total directionlessness) and lisa is the last promise he made to his brother, so he fulfills that. she's an idea to him, not a real woman. the thing he's clinging to, in sam's absence, is not lisa, but the idea of a normative suburban lifestyle. but then the moment sam shows up and voids his own last wishes, dean is like okay bye i don't need to fulfill this obligation anymore. like he was never all that interested in lisa. he didn't love her and his relationship with her was built on obligations, normative images, and anxiety over her safety, which finally resolves itself in dean horrifically violating her by asking cas to wipe her memories.

whereas sam is with amelia because he like, meets her and they form a connection. they hit it off. and sam has a pattern of like. when he wants to get away from something, especially if dean isn't around, he jumps into bed with the nearest girl who smiles at him and then forms a super intense with her. his early season one-off love interests, ruby, and now amelia. (amelia is actually kind of the last time he does that, because after season eight he gives up trying to escape for real). but what he's clinging to there isn't an image that he's trying to fit into. it's the girl herself. like he likes amelia and he wants to be around her and he dives into like. spending time with her and building a relationship with her. and like amelia is a real woman and sam sees her as a real woman. like she's a fucked up mess and so is he and they connect. like she's a bitch and she clogs her drain with limes. also #MyGirlfriendsHusbandFightsForYourFreedom. like samelia is a little boring but i don't begrudge sam that. it's almost compelling because it's boring.

i'm actually not a huge season eight guy myself but my issue with it isn't samelia.

actually, and this is a complete tangent, can i bitch about season ten for a second? like. okay. seasons eight and nine are about sam learning that dean will never let him go. that he's trapped forever in the hunting life and trapped forever with his brother, that dean will do horrific things to him in order to keep them together. and slowly just... giving up. deciding to relinquish his dreams of getting out once and for all.

and then season ten rolls around and suddenly sam makes a hypocrite of himself? suddenly sam is the one who will go to any lengths to save dean, even against dean's own wishes? NOT believable. like sam should be like. sad and fucked up about it, but letting dean go his own way. if anything, cas should be the one trying to save dean against his will, that's way more cas' move. like there's definitely a certain level of cas -> dean :: dean -> sam that exists in the show, at least in terms of protective fixation. cas is somewhat more respectful of dean's boundaries and autonomy, but he's the one with a pattern of blowing up at dean for being self-destructive etc etc.

like, sam should have been way different in s10. i don't know exactly what i would do with him, maybe give him his own distinct plot? or maybe have demon dean last somewhat longer and make "demon dean tries to kill sam" a whole multi-episode arc, i think that would slap. and then the relationship fallout from that can be many more episodes.

like imo this happened because jeremy carver got his start in season three, when sam legitimately was trying to save dean against dean's wishes, but in s3 that made sense. like, one, the brothers were much closer then, dean wasn't quite as much of a prison guard for sam, but two, much more importantly, dean's deal was sam's fault. he blamed himself. he wasn't just trying to save dean from dying, he was trying to save dean from going to hell because of him. like girl, it made sense in mystery spot. but this is not the energy you should be bringing to the table with sam in s10. ooc!

[sporesgalaxy]

Hello hi yes I love your funny little fursona!! My heart has grown three sizes. Any facts about them you want to share?

in keeping w my trend of being terrible at naming things creatively BUT in a surprise twist contrary to me usually using my real first name for everything: they are called Puppy :)

there's no like story lore but imo they have a fun history and you get to see my old old art lol

Ive had them for 10,000 years (since 2014) and theyve gone thru some cool phases

originally it was just like "yeah this is me but a dog" and here we see the first inklings of me getting tired of my long hair I had for 21 years

I was a big fan of The Sky in high school and I would take lots of pics of sunrises omw to school so I worked that into Puppy's design by colorpicking from those photos. I did cloudy days as well it was really neat tbh and prrroooobably taught me some color theory!!!

THEN. I did apply the fairy thing even way back when bc well fairies have always kinda been My Thing

but it always just looked very silly WHICH I LOVE BEING SILLY but i never TRULY embraced it....I kinda wanted to be cool and anime back then but thats never been my style.

There was also a weirdly Queen Nothing adjacent voidy ventsona Puppy moment but I don't really wanna repost those. Theyre not graphic (less so than qn even tbh) its just no fun to me.

then theres a bunch of untagged years of me just doodling puppy occassionally, mostly without the sky motif and sometimes as a fairy.

Then muuuuch more recently I did a really groundbreaking Puppy redesign. Some really game changing stuff. Now you might not even recognize them after this. But just try to keep an open mind

I did add jorts to the dog.

They gradually and.....apparently offscreen and uncatalogued became Full Jeans Pants cause I dont really OWN any jorts? I own 1 pair of minijorts but I kind of hate them and dont wear them. But I wear jeans pretty much every day. So here we are

[volfoss]

how about ranking bucciarati's team?

regret to inform you that ur gonna get a very long answer bc i have passionate feelings about them all! also trish is in this bc she is part of the team and no one will tell me otherwise and will also include some rambling bc it is me and i have so many feelings towards these characters and none of them r cohesive

under the cut just in case (post writing yes it was long)

Giorno Giovanna:

way way more complex than ppl normally give him credit for (i will not go into feelings on how a majority of the fandom treats him unless ppl want me to then i will in fact make a very long ranty post and will not be stopped)

mildly op (esp at the beginning with how hes kind of able to just use his stand really well w no problems altho i think thats true of most of the jojos that we have seen animated?)

i am emotionally attached to him and want to give him a big hug

hes just a kinda goofy kid and is maybe a bit not good with figuring out hey this is a semi dangerous situation maybe i shouldnt be taunting him (leaky eye luca for example)

has the actual best theme

i love how he works off the rest of the team so well (even w members who do not like him)

is in my top 3 jojos i love this kid sm i would adopt him if he was real

7/10

Bruno Bucciarati:

the fucking way his character develops from licky man to best dad material is my favorite thing

his outfit is so so so good i would die to wear it

in general this man is one of my fave jojos characters and i get a lot of comfort from him

hes just really neat and has a good taste in music

he did his fucking best and i will always love him for that

imo the way that his death was drawn out was genuinely one of the most heartbreaking deaths in the entire series and fucks me up each time i think of it

i feel like he really is the one to hold the team together in a way that everyone feels cared for and saved

def has a savior complex tho for sure

dilf but im ace

also manga superiority bc he either makes the stupidest faces or looks very nice (anime has a lot of weird animation in regards to his face) and also because its lingerie there instead of a tattoo that changes thickness and placement every second

10/10

Leone Abbacchio:

guilty pleasure liking man

i am obsessed with his vibes and wish to become him

i cannot physically express just how much i love him but hes one of my faves of all time (not obvious by my theme at all wdym)

i miss his manga palette but also the colored manga isnt my beloved but also black lipstick abba

hot take maybe but anime abba looks better than manga minus the lipstick debacle

hes so so tall and i will steal his height in a nice way

his past man his past it fucks me up

his death fucks me up normally but when i was rewatching recently, i saw he gave this tiny lil smile after helping the kids get their ball and i could not take it anymore

him and brunos relationship (canonically and out of canon too) is one of my favorites in the series

also fandom hot take as i guess i am doing those for everyone- but ppl either have him as cosntantly trying to murder giorno or being like good son and v out of character, and it is really weird? not sayign that ill do better when i write them but also like im convinced some ppl havent seen the show or smth

i will steal both him and bruno and marry them both <3

this man is beloved i love him to death

10/10

Pannacotta Fugo:

i cannot spell his first name to save my life

also fandom take- ppl make him constantly only angry boy all the time and it really irks me. ik araki did not give him 2 much to work w in terms of canon personality but its frustrating

the light novel purple haze feedback is so so so good and adds sm to his character and i really like it for that!

fugo is one of those that imo deserves a lot and didnt get that

genuinely the vibes between how he treats narancia is v interesting to me, like its clear he cares about nara but nara not doing great w math really frustrates him

i love their interactions and how he is genuinely a kind person at times

the manga colors r superior here, my strawberry boy <3

i just really love and appreciate him a lot and wish that ppl gave him more love

i keep getting assigned him on kin quizzes

very smart good boy

ALSO ok fugo did not do any wrong by leaving

unsure if thats a hot take but i genuinely dont blame the character one bit for leaving and again purple haze feedback really delves into that and why he did it

if ur a fugo fan go read it

his past is really upsetting esp in the anime i will cry over it

his stand is adorable and i wanna hug it

his vibes r fun and i wanna gift him strawberry dangly earrings

8/10

Narancia Ghirga:

this boy i am also adopting (i am adopting most of them sorry)

i really hate how ppl act as if hes stupid bc bad math skills do not equal stupid like did ppl not see the fight w formaggio??

the way he just fucking dove into the water after the boat and how brunos face went all soft and happy it will never not make me cry

he is constnatnly making me wanna cry if i think too much about him for 2 seconds i love him sm

how can anyone not adore him when he set an entire street on fire yk

hes just happy despite his past and it makes me sad i love nara sm

torture dance is one of my favorite memes from the show

ALSO ok the way he died so suddenly absolutely broke me bc the remaining team members r really just seeing everyone die in front of them so quickly

his goofy and laid back moments r my fave

i love just how loyal and caring he is to his friends

his stand is really cool and again the fight w formaggio was so fun to watch

8/10

Guido Mista:

probably my least favorite member of the team for a semi good reason:

the jokes towards trish are really really uncomfy and how fugo doesnt wanna be involved but he is pushing him to do something that makes him uncomfortable did not make me like him a lot

hes goofy but not goofy enough for me to be ok with the repeated jokes about that esp in the body swap episode (ik it was supposed to be funny but it just felt off)

his vibes r good but i wish we got to see his hair

the fandom interpretation is normally pretty good of him overall?

despite not loving him a lot, i really enjoying writing for him (one day might open up headcanon requests or smth but unsure)

hes someone id wanna watch movies w but his taste in movies and mine r very different

love how he and his stand get along

honestly has very very good comedic potential

i really like how he and giorno interact as the series goes on (in a platonic way i need to clarify that i love their friendship)

again him in purple haze feedback was really interesting

probably a 5/10?

Trish Una:

beloved and deserved better

her first outfit in the manga > outfit in the anime

actually in general i believe in manga trish superiority like her hair in the manga looks so cool

her stand her stand her stand i love sm

if u dont include trish in the group i am murdering u <3

HER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!!! IS SO GOOD!!!!!!

fandom gripe is how people either pretend she does not exist or has the trish first introduction thing where shes using her defense mechanisms and acting a bit spoiled

OK but her in purple haze feedback!!! mild spoilers but how bruno was taking care of her post the ending of vento aureo makes me so happy each time i think of it

very mad that she canonically didnt really get an ending and yet again PHF my beloved actually gave her that

how spice girl starts out as a stand thats helping her thru a very stressful situation is so cool and i love it

DAD BRUNO DAD BRUNO DAD BRUNO *frothes at the mouth*

but more seriously how she leans on bruno and begins 2 trust him and nearly point blank is referring to him as a father figure always fucks me up

esp because of the resulting fight afterwards

and the very ending of the arc that ends w bruno being like bye gonna go in the clouds and look ethereal now, oh man it makes me so sad

bc giorno is the only one that knew what happened and people that were closer to bruno due to knowing him longer didnt

i wanna see how trish coped w that personally

despite being introduced not at the beginning i think her arc and character in general were as well paced as it could be!

9/10

finally done! sorry that took so long but oh man i have so many feelings towards these guys its not even funny

[veeranger]

can you maybe talk about Va-11 Hall-A? you talking about it a little made me remember i had to play it so i did and I liked it a lot and would like to hear your opinions as I respect you

its only been a few days but i think ive reached all the conclusions about the game i need to. i think VA-11 HALL-A is a really good game and a great visual novel yes its a visual novel dont @ me im right. actually i think its funny the game tells you to curl up with a blanket and snacks like its gunna be a chill relaxing experience because like tonally speaking its kind of not. theres some heavy shit in the game especially near the end and its not the kind of light chatting simulator you might think it is. not saying i think its a stressful game or anything but i alwys thought that was funny. 

anyway heres my real thoughts. im gunna put it under a readmore for spoilers after a certain point

oh also make sure you play the prologue chapter and the anna demo. those are extremely important despite being hidden behind a nondescript menu icon that the game makes no effort to tell you about. thats genuinely my only complaint about the game 

there’s a quote by mike pondsmith, the creator of the cyberpunk ttrpg about how cyberpunk “...can not be about saving the world. You’re saving yourself or your community. The stakes have to be something that involves the player. You can’t just say, ‘The world is craptastic and you can’t do anything about it.’ No. You don’t have to save the world, but you need to be able to save your mother or the apartment you and your friends live in.” 

and i think that ideology was, intentionally or otherwise, probably otherwise because im pretty sure pondsmith gave this quote a few years after VA-11 HALL-A came out, very clearly captured in this story. Jill and her friends live in this terrible shitty city in a terrible shitty world but thats just the setting yknow. glitch city is a backdrop to tell a series of small scale personal stories, not about “surviving in a hellish dystopian” but just...living in the real world. thats just real life for these people you know. every story told in the game is very personal. nobody is blowing up corporate buildings or igniting a revolution its just like, dorothy reconciling her anxieties about being close to her mother, alma’s family troubles, stella and sei’s mutuals traumas and their close relationship, Jill’s grappling with her own life choices. its nothing crazy its very pedestrian and lowkey, its not exactly something you’d expect from a game with CYBERPUNK stamped on the subtitle but it fits the genre extremely well. 

if nothing else VA-11 HALL-A is extremely well grounded in the reality its set in, everything feels lived in and real, like glitch city is a real place you could go to or something. all those newspaper articles about big events right next to articles about some lilim idol or reruns of a nostalgic anime and the danger/u/ posts about weird conspiracies and arguments about stupid weeb shit it just creates a wholesale sense of realism. i once saw someone complain that in persona 5, you only ever hear other students and people in the streets of tokyo talk about whatever is currently happening in the story and at the time i dismissed it as nitpicking but after VA-11 HALL-A i understand that a little better, it creates a game world that only revolves around the player’s actions and story as opposed to a world that keeps turning on its own that your character just so happens to live in. the story of the game might be about Jill and her friends but the world itself is not centered on them, it doesn’t even know they exist. that’s just excellent worldbuilding imo. 

now at this point i want to talk about Jill’s story and please if you haven’t played  VA-11 HALL-A yet and are reading this and you have any thoughts about playing the game please stop here and go play it first I don’t want to spoil this really good story for you.

man i really liked Jill’s story. i had no idea it was coming so the whole thing sidelined me as much as it did Jill when she heard that Lenore died. the way every aspect of the story was handled was so good. i felt the same way Jill did when she lashed out at Gaby for lashing out at her, i felt the same regret she did after she calmed down and realized she screamed at a grieving little girl and i felt the same kind of anxiety she felt when she had a second chance to talk to Gaby and make things right. every note of the story hit for me and it was just good good good. i liked that Jill was able to come to terms with her own poor choices without hoisting all the blame on herself or absolving herself of any wrongdoing either, i liked that she was able to move on and free herself from feeling shackled to her past but was still able to say that she loved Lenore and still does. i liked that it was a gay story even if it was tragic, it was respectful and well written. i also just love love loved how she was able to reconcile with Gaby and start being her big sister again. obviously if you know me you know that’s something i love and so i was extremely pleased with how they were able to continue that relationship. 

just yknow...its like pondsmith said. you cant save the world but you need to be able to save your mother or the apartment you and your friends live in. Jill is able to save herself, save Gaby, not from dying or anything but just like...just from pain yknow. she helps Dorothy save herself and commit to wanting to be with her mother and that in turn helps Anna. she helps Stella and Sei find closure for a traumatic experience in their lives. But even then she can’t save the bar, or save everyone she loves from living in a horrible world. VA-11 HALL-A still closes down in the end but hopefully if you mixed your drinks right everyone you love is able to move forward a little better than how you found them and i think thats pretty damn cool. VA-11 HALL-A is a really good story and its a neat little game. 

oh also i loved Anna she was such a fun presence. make sure you play the Anna chapter after you beat the game!

[lolothesilly]

*kicking door down* 001 for the kirby series gogogo :)

THANK UUUU

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: META KNIGHT..... he's been my blorbo since i was a little kid i LOVE that stupid gay orb 🥰🥰🥰 i also really like Escargon and Fumu from the anime!!! honestly most kirby characters are very comforting to me :D

Least Favorite character: ummmm H/altm/ann tbh 😩 he just gives me bad vibes. like "rich older white man who screams at mcdonalds employees" vibes. im not a fan of s/usie either but i appreciate her aesthetic and she can be pretty funny in fan works. (censoring names so it hopefully doesnt pop up in their tags)

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): hehehe ok so. i have so much metadede brainrot its not even funny. so thats my number one. i think the other four would be.... kirby/prince fluff (kirfluff), galacta/hyness (galyness), captain vul/sir arthur (vulthur), and uhh maybe fumu/adeleine ?? (adefumu ???) idk if that last one is a thing but i think itd be cute!! either that or DMK/daroach (darkroach) :)

Character I find most attractive: umm uhh uh.... daroach??? maybe??? or meta knight or galacta or escargon or dedede.... can u tell im vincian lol

Character I would marry: escargon 🥺 i just think he's neat 💖

Character I would be best friends with: meta knight!!! i also think he's neat :) also hyness

a random thought: uhhhhh idk what to put here lololol maybe like.... i headcanon that meta and kirby are both autistic 💖

An unpopular opinion: hmmmm well i dont think d/amet/ameta is the spawn of satan which ive been told is a pretty unpopular opinion among some parts of the fandom lol? like i respect if people arent into it or arent comfortable with it but some of the vitriol i see around it is pretty baffling imo. theyre literally not related so there's really no moral high ground involved. its ok to just not like a ship? idk

My Canon OTP: metadede is probably the closest thing to a canon ship we're ever gonna get from this series which is fair enough

My Non-canon OTP: kind of covered this in "5 fave ships" but. metadede lol >w<

Most Badass Character: DMK tbh :) hes just a cool guy

Most Epic Villain: hmmmm i think............. its hard to think of most kirby villains as "epic" bc most of them are either cosmic forces with little personality, or absolute scrunklies. so i guess star dream?

Pairing I am not a fan of: m/etas/usie lol. just makes me uncomfy 🤷‍♂️

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): DEDEDE IN THE ANIME SPECIFICALLY!!!!!!!! I CRY ABOUT THE WASTED POTENTIAL!!!!!!!!

Favourite Friendship: kirby and everyone :) haha for real though uhhh probably either meta & dedede (i love their partnership regardless of whether its portrayed as romantic or not) orrr kirby & bandee !!! or kirby and prince fluff. or kirby and fumu. or kirby and marx? kirby and dedede?? kirby and meta knight??? kirby and adeleine and ribbon?????? this gumball is full of SO much friendship yall

Character I most identify with: i literally kin meta knight 🥰

Character I wish I could be: hmmm idk tbh? daroach maybe bc hes so confident??

[tigerdrop]

hey i just wanna say the long posts genuinely make my day. also can you talk more about gordon freeman character because the way you write him makes me quake in my gay little boots

i would love to talk about gordon freeman. thank u for the opportunity

the first thing i need to communicate about gordon is that this dude sucks. and i say this in the fondest way possible. he is a bitch from the moment he drops into the world until the moment he goes out. if you dont believe me, give it another watch! gordons mouthy and rude for no real reason, at least so far as “being a regular dude on his way into work” goes, and this dude goes around calling his coworkers names with zero provocation. (of course, we all know that the reason is because its a funny guy improv stream that borrows a bit from freemans mind, but im talkin from a character sense.)

but my argument isnt just that gordon freeman sucks. its that he sucks in a very specific way that i find insanely endearing. i love this dude. i love to hate him. hes awful in a very mundane sense - weve all known a guy like this, at least if youve spent too much time online - and its cathartic to watch him suffer because of it.

gordons a smart guy. as written, hes gotta be - hes a recent MIT grad, on his way to work at a top-secret research facility to do weird shit with crystals and theoretical physics. but the thing about smart guys is that theyre often......selectively intelligent. we can see this in the way that he has a hard time navigating his surroundings, and needs the science crew to guide him through it and keep him alive.

this is one of those things that is a natural consequence of somebody going through the game for the first time, but that i am interpreting as “gordon is kind of stupid sometimes”. its uncharitable but its not like he doesnt deserve it. he likes to boss around the crew as if he knows what hes doing, when he often very much does not, and is fond of demeaning their intelligence. hes real bad about this with tommy in particular, treating him like hes a kid whos playing at being a scientist when tommy is actually a decade older than him. all i am saying is that gordon ought to stay humble. hes awful cocky when he perceives himself as better than others.

which, i think, tracks with how cocky he gets when he gives up on the whole “well-meaning citizen” thing and just unloads bullets into people. he puts up a front of being a Nice Guy, you know, just some dude caught in a bad situation who doesnt like seeing his companions obliterate every NPC they come across, but that doesnt stop him from cackling like a fucking madman and mowing down aliens (and soldiers) every once in awhile. when he stops seeing himself as helpless and starts seeing himself as the one in control, the gloves come off. he gets mean. and i think thats very sexy of him

this, among other things, is why i am insistent that gordon freeman is a control freak. he desperately wants to be in control of the situation at all times, shepherding around the science crew primarily by bitching at them, but its of limited success. its futile. sisyphean. tommy, coomer, bubby, and benrey exist almost to torment him with exactly the thing that would make him suffer the most: a gaggle of people running around causing problems for him, but he cant go anywhere without them b/c hes reliant on them to make it out alive.

its perpetual suffering, and its cathartic to watch. and funny, too. and if youre a little weirdo like me, its very, very enjoyable. how twisted up he gets when nobodys listening to him! how sweaty and frazzled he must look. its cute, and it also makes me want to reach through the screen and shake him and tell him to just be a little nicer. he wants control but he doesnt know how to attain it, he doesnt know how to play nice like a real leader. i think its a neat contrast to gordon freeman as we know him in HL2, where he literally is the leader of the resistance and has to live up to it. this is gordon freeman but if he was moe through helplessness.

“helpless” is, i think, a great way to describe him. a core bit of imagery in half life is this sense of railroadedness and helplessness, with gordon freeman being put into play like a chess piece and having no choice but to move forward. and this iteration of gordon leans into that by being totally dependent on the science crew in order to make progress and Not Die. and hes also subject to the whims of benrey, local eldritch weirdo who has basically made it his life mission to fuck with gordon.

gordons anxieties dont help with that. if he wasnt so fun to stress out and fuck with, the science crew probably wouldnt do it so much! too bad for him that they like fucking with him so much that he was driven into a panic attack (multiple times, even, depending on your interpretation). hes got that real neurotic mindset. always worrying about shit that could go wrong, and attempting to exert control over his surroundings in an effort to control the anxiety.

IMO the real way to nail the Neurotic Gordon Freeman Experience is to combine the ever-present anxiety with his pervasive sense of self-loathing. he openly states that he has no friends and nobody seems to like him, and to that, i really gotta say, i wonder why. he doesnt really seem to factor in that hes kind of a bitch, and has way too high an estimation of his own intelligence relative to everybody elses. its really one of the worst ways to be: aware that people dont like you, but unaware of exactly why. if he was like, 10% nicer, he probably wouldnt have had half as many issues getting through black mesa, but also, its funny to see him squawking his way through the game. so, you know.

its stuff like that that makes me headcanon him as a dude with low self-esteem in general. convinced that hes not likable, not attractive, out of his element......impostor syndrome, except that theres some truth to it. this is a guy who truly does not realize how good he has it: he really is just an average shitty dude, and yet, somehow, benrey took a shine to him. some poor motherfucker out there actually likes him and wants to suck his dick. thats dedication

also, i keep bringing up “repression” when i talk about gordon. and hopefully, what ive been talking about helps explain why. he has a strong desire to be a regular dude, not just murdering his way through black mesa, but if hes pushed hard enough he leans into it. gets bossy. picks up a cigar off a dead soldier and takes a long drag, before smacking forzen around with a pistol and ordering him around. gordon freeman is a regular, kind of anxious guy who likes competitive swimming and streaming on justin.tv and making anime references, and he is also a guy who takes a filthy pleasure in making a trained soldier his bitch. and i didnt make up any of this shit - this is purestrain canon, baby. this is a guy with problems

to me, this screams the kind of guy who represses a lot of shit b/c he doesnt feel like its morally decent. you run into this guy a lot online: the wokeboy, the online leftist, the guy who spends too much time on social media websites. (like reddit. i think he would actively use reddit and he would never get any appreciable amount of karma but he never stops posting. its sisyphean! cathartic.) from the way he talks about “bootboys”, i think it tracks. he knows about imperialism, he knows about feminism, but at the end of the day hes your average american white dude who struggles with internalizing it.

a lot of those dudes struggle with sex and gender issues. (dont we all.) when youre trying to be a Good Person(tm), you spend a lot of time thinking about your own relationship to sex and kink and all that shit. and i maintain that a too-online dude who buries a lot of his control freak tendencies would also try to bury a lot of weird sexual shit in an attempt to seem Normal and Well-Adjusted and not like a little freak. i justify this by the sheer number of times gordon blurts out weird sex shit as a joke. there are only two outcomes to making that many piss jokes: either youre secretly a piss guy, or you lathe-of-heaven yourself into becoming one. i will stand by this

ive talked a lot about why this dude sucks. now, let me talk to you about what makes gordon so much fun to write. first things first: hes funny! a subjective evaluation, yeah, but both in- and out-of-character, hes aiming to be funny. and being the straight man to everybody else plays into that whole “helplessness” thing.

secondly: underneath it all, there is a good dude under there. gordon worries when his companions get hurt, he tries to clean them off and patch them up, and hes got his lil leftist heart in the right place. you could even read a lot of his bossy, bitchy demeanor as him wanting to make sure everyone gets out okay and doesnt hurt themselves. when it comes to animals and anti-imperialist sentiment, gordons a pretty good guy.

hes the kind of guy who would probably see a dog on the street and get excited and play with it, but would get really prickly about the correct way to put dishes in the dishwasher. control freak tendencies.

finally, subjecting such a miserable, tormented guy to even more psychological anguish is really, really fun. you feel a little bad for him, but he kind of deserves it. so many problems he goes through are purely of his own making, and if gordon would just relax and quit trying to hard to maintain control - of himself, of the people around him - and own up to having Problems and Issues, he would be a happier guy. but thats why its fun to bend him until he breaks. being a little control freak myself, putting gordon freeman thru psychosexual torment is cathartic.

when it comes to writing his thought processes, the fact that he is canonically some kind of psychotic (yes, i am boldly claiming this. suck me) and i am also canonically some kind of psychotic makes it easier to write what i think his thought processes are. i just give him my brain issues of “getting lost in thought” and “overthinking fucking everything”. a touch of paranoia helps. even if i dont explicitly label him as schizophrenic please know that i am writing him as a paranoid little nutcase at all times because, uh, you write what you know.

paranoid. anxious. of the mindset that everyones out to get him (which isnt helpful when everyone is out to get him). repressed and deeply Not Normal but trying so very fucking hard to be normal and well-adjusted. a control freak with sadistic tendencies who also really, really likes getting bullied by his best frenemy. a hapless little nerd who sounds really cute when his voice starts to break from nerves. and, most importantly, a dumb jock. do not ever forget this.

thats gordon freeman, babey. hope that helps