#Seriously let the lesbian live and get a sword

[chaoticcutiewhirl]

I wish she didn’t die in HL1, just for the reason of having a Half-life 2 mod of her being older (As she is actually one of the youngest people in Black Mesa alongside Gordon) and she is still capable in combat, just with a sword she stole from a museum to fight everyone with.

Gina Cross

[rootspiral]

AGATHA ALL ALONG DEEP DIVE: episode 1 part 1

(Wandavision entries: [1][2][3])

(AAA entries: ep1 [1][2][3][4] ep2 [1][2][3][4] ep3 [1][2][3] ep4 [1][2][3])

IT'S TIME TO REWATCH AGATHA ALL ALONG, WITCHES! And as usual, spoilers below.

episode 1, Seekest Thou The Road

Wanda is dead (no she ain't). As a result, her spell is weakened and Agatha has changed from her nosy neighbor character to detective Agnes (or caught the true crime bug, as Herb will put it.)

Stinky grimy Agnes, so serious and depressed. As soon as she appears onscreen she's humming the Ballad.

Detective Agnes has just been recalled to action after being off duty for a while. She was punished for "punching a suspect", which is code for going after Wanda. Agnes points out that now the suspect is a convicted felon, i.e. that she was right after all and Wanda is dangerous and evil. "I can't be right and wrong" she says. "Yes, you can" says Herb, because both Agatha and Wanda are villain and victim. And lol at the police tape symbolizing Herb's fence. You know the poor guy is in his garden looking down at Agnes in her Bonher family tshirt, wondering what the hell is going on.

oh that's a seriously good shot

Agatha looks heartbroken when she sees Wanda's body, doesn't she? She looks so sorry.

Herb (the real Herb behind the illusion) confirms that Agatha is acting different than usual.

THIRD TIME SHE DISCREETLY DRIES HER TEARS

There is nothing funny about Detective Agnes. Or rather, it's funny to watch her because she's so intense, but we laugh at her, she's not being a clown on purpose like Agatha usually is. And Agatha right now is in a lot of pain, even more than usual having completely lost her agency. This character so unkempt, so sad, so doggedly searching for answers, is more true to Agatha's real self than what she usually lets people see. Deep down she's just a tragic lesbian wet rat.

Somebody called in to have the body found, and I think that somebody was Rio. Why would the body be next to the water otherwise? It's like the River of Life laid her gently where Agatha could find her. In other words, Wanda's death brought her to Agatha. I'm curious about these woods too, we know they don't actually exist as this is all in Agatha's head, but where did the idea come from? Are these the woods where she killed the Salemites? Where she gave birth to Nicky? Or where she buried him?

Agatha's victims from the finale flashing throughout the opening. Wherever it may bend, I'll see you at the end.

"based on the danish series WANDAVISDYEN" never fails to destroy me. and it's so clever too, it's like they're telling first time watchers that yes, this seems like a grim detective show, but you clever audiences know that things are not as they seem and this is a parody, right?? this is not serious at all, it's funny! Laugh! Except. It's not funny. It's not funny at all. And you're going to realize only when it's too late. It's the same thing they do with Sharon/Mrs. Hart, they lure you in with laughs only to hit you with heartbreak. This show is not a comedy at all. It's at its very core a senseless tragedy.

Sarah/Dottie lives next door too, was Agatha talking to her through a window, or does the library desk symbolize another fence? This poor woman, hasn't she suffered enough? But they all more or less try to help Agnes, that's sweet. Has anyone from SWORD or whomever dropped in to talk to them, did the Avengers just decide to leave Agatha there? Did Monica (or Ralph) even explain to the poor people of Westview that she's a witch, or do they just think she's a random neighbor who couldn't be saved from Wanda's Hex?

THE MAILMAN CONTINUES BEING SUSPICIOUS. Is Agatha putting words in his mouth, or was he (the "messanger") sent by someone to warn her about the Darkhold being destroyed???

her FACE when she sees Rio

and the way Rio just stares and stares. When you rewatch this scene knowing that this is the first time she gets to see Agatha in centuries... and she has to be cool and she has to be gentle. I think it's deliberate that they put Phil/Harold/Ross Geller in here, because he's one of the funniest people in Westview and it's suggesting a first time viewer to read this scene as a comedy. Except it's a cosmic tale of tragedy and heartbreak, but you're not supposed to notice yet, even if it's right there under your nose.

Stop being such a lone wolf, Agnes. Or rather, stop being such a sad and lonely covenless witch, Agatha.

Rio laughs her delighted little laugh, licks her lips, looks out the window for a moment as if overwhelmed, then goes back looking at Agatha and basically devouring her with her eyes. ("te veo.") (thank you for my life aubrey plaza.) Agatha stares daggers back, but her body language stars getting defensive. She feels very vulnerable.

Yep, defensive. And wistful.

She is doing her job, like always. But she's also going above and beyond. There is technically no need for her to wake Agatha up, but here she is, dropping gentle clues, guiding her with such patience and care.

"If you wanna be in control you can be" is said in such a kind tone, but it's also sexy?? I think Rio really likes for Agatha to take control, in a lot of ways. Her body language is the opposite of what Agatha is doing too.

Oh noes she's making herself so small now. She's like, intrigued and angry and happy and scared to see Rio. They're both being so tentative!! And she doesn't actually know who Rio is because she's under the damn spell, so her body language and feelings are pure instinct. They come from somewhere very very true and deep. (and LOL that mug says "get a clue")

Is this who you are now, Agatha? the intense but lonely detective? she's genuinely interested, because Rio investigates Agatha just as Agatha investigates everybody else. Rio simply cannot get enough of her. and she keeps talking with this gentle, warm, understated tone.

Gains personal space. Keeps staring and staring.

oh now we're leaning. they do this every scene they are together, they keep getting closer and closer even if they don't mean to, like magnets.

Agatha literally bolts to the door and tells her to leave. Rio's presence is so overwhelming in so many different and complicated ways, and she doesn't even understand why that is at the moment. Kathryn Hahn is playing this perfectly straight (no pun intended), there is genuine pain in her voice.

"Te veo", which is not "see you," but I see you, I'm always looking for you, I'm always watching. And I finally see you, after all this time.

Oh, honey.

I'm running out of space again, but I promise I'll continue this tomorrow. Thank you for all the notes you guys, I was not expecting so many! I'm doing this mostly to amuse myself, but it's nice to know that the brainrot is collective 🙃🙃🙃

go to the next entry

[neko-naruto]

we might just bite underneath the moonlight

Summary: Chilchuck can't help himself from helping Marcille on the rebound of Falin's death, even if he knows that's all he'll ever be to her, the rebound

Tags: heavily suggestive themes, wound cleaning, the hot springs itself isnt sexual but the making out is, complicated relationships, check Ao3 port for full tags

Authors Note: "Ace write a normal fic for dunmeshi please" fuck ya life, femme4butch lesbian marchil with a brief meijack cameo at the start. in all seriousness the marchil fanart is fucking fire and i had to write *something* for ya'll, it ended up much longer than it was meant to be. hope ya'll enjoy and if ya do consider dropping a reblog or checking the Ao3 port, it really means a lot

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56221963

"Being butch is being chivalrous," Chilchuck explained when his first daughter was old enough to ask why he never dressed like a gal and always wore tape around town.

"Right..." Meijack said, only a hint of confusion on her voice.

"It's like an honour code," Chilchuck said, a bit firmer this time, "A way to confirm that you'll always be the fists they need in a fight, or the one to foot the bill on a date- you're too young to get it."

"Dad, I asked a question, now answer it." It's almost a demand, proof that she is old enough to get it. Proof that she could leave any day now if he wanted it or not, which he really doesn't.

Chilchuck sighed, "It's not something I can teach, it's something that you fall into if you're meant for it."

-/-/-/-

Taking the hit is a reflexive thing, he still hates himself for it. Throwing himself in harms way for the femmes and letting the men take it head on is how he is whether he means it or not.

Blood bursts from the wound along his shoulder but he tries to strafe back into the dodging regime before anyone can register he took a hit for Marcille. He wipes down the wound and oh, yep, that's an arrow lodging itself in his spine. It has enough force to make him stumble and trip and fall, banged against a column and ears ringing.

Death by living armour.

This one is new.

He can hear it clunk as it steps ever closer and closer, fun. He sacrificed himself for Marcille, the girl who wouldn't even spare a second glance at the butch who won't see sixty. Humorous. Ironic. Tragic...?

No, no, not tragic, not tragic for Marcille. She couldn't care less about him, she couldn't care less about men. And to her, he's part of men. He's something so well disguised he'd never be clocked as anything but another dumb guy.

And he can live with that, that might just be the pre-death clarity talking-

A scream is ripped from his throat with the sword plunging deep into his flesh. As mortality is ripped from his body his hands fly to the blade and then he's gone.

-/-/-/-

The bandages wrapped tight around his chest are stiff now, he supposes that they've been down for long enough without a window to change them that they would get nasty. He's pretty sure it's giving his clothing the funk what with the sweat and blood seeping into it that he can't wash out while still wearing it.

He hitches his backpack a little higher up as they reach floor four. Cool air washes over him comfortably as the slow and lazy flow of the water bounces back and forth. It's comforting, he never thought he'd yearn for floor four. Full of sirens and kelpies and deception galore, seemingly calm but full of danger.

Senshi's laying down a pot already and Laois is probably drooling over whatever it is that their latest companion is cooking. And Marcille is brushing her hair, undoing the braids slowly and letting it fall down over her shoulders and Chilchuck isn't allowed to stare.

He wouldn't dare stare, not without her permission at least. That's sacred to her, her hair, her magic, it all ties into one thing that's the core of her existence. It'd be kind of obscene to catch a glimpse of that without her permission, even if Chilchuck is a rogue, a thief, and a cheat he has standards.

"I'm gonna wash off!" Before he gets a response he's trudging over to a sharp corner to slip behind.

The ledge sort of crumbles off the further he strays from the initial landing of the floor. Turquoise glow casting up from the water below, it's scary to expose himself in a false isolation. No one is watching, it's fine, no one is going to walk on over. Well, maybe Laois, but Laois is a dumbass who absolutely would.

First the scarf comes off and his breath hitches as it rises over his head. He should've changed his wraps before coming down to the dungeon, he should've known better. He's been doing this adventuring shit since he was a kid how did he not figure something so simple by now.

He kicks off his socks and shoes next, lining them up next to his bag. In an effort to avoid the inevitable, he retrieves his towel and fresh bandages. They're dropped near the edge as he proceeds to disrobe.

The leather armour slides off much easier then the scarf did, so much easier. With the first step taken, everything afterwards becomes so much easier and he supposes it's that way with everything. Even so he's hesitant to slide off his gloves and reveal scarred flesh to no one but himself and the gentle glow of the lake.

He'll never be able to tell what's harder to take off be it the pants or the shirts, but he still shucks off his pants first. He's starting to feel the nausea, the insecurity, the fear. Of what? He's not quite sure but he swears he's breaking a code of conduct of some sort by stripping down and washing off to save himself from potential infections.

Chilchuck steps down from the ledge onto a raft before taking off his shirt, only then does he dare even think about the bindings wrapped so tight around his chest. He doesn't even have anything to bind, god, why does he even bother. His ex-wife was the only one who could see through the facade and want for what he is anyways, not like he'll luck out with some bi chick again.

Slowly he sinks into the light blue waters, arms rested on the planks of the raft as the stiff gauze soaks. He's slow to unravel the binding and he can only give a stiff exhale because wow, he forgot what it's like to have chest weight. Familiar but foreign, something he barred because he was sure he didn't get as many jobs looking like a girl.

A cigarette would go great with having a soak and relaxing a bit despite all the stress. He doesn't have any of those so instead he dunks his head and washes off, same refreshing feeling. It's nice to get off a couple days of grime, just relaxing enough that he zones out to the point he doesn't register the outside world until Marcille drops her staff.

Oh, fuck.

"Marcille," Chilchuck begins, back still turned to her.

"Y-Yeah?" Marcille asked, trying desperately to beat down the red up to the tips of her ears.

"How much did you see?" Chilchuck asked.

Marcille doesn't answer.

"How. Much."

"Enough." Marcille choked out.

"Look, just toss my down my clothes to the raft and I'll get dressed. Let's act like this never happened, for both of our sakes." He's screaming at himself for saying that. This is his chance, his one, singular chance, and he's butchering it.

Marcille does as told and averts her eyes.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's rude to peep on a lady?" Chilchuck has the gall to ask it as he drags himself out of the water and towels down. He hears a small squeaky sort of sound from Marcille in response, he shrugs it off and tugs back on his pants.

"Well, yeah, of course they did."

"Lemme guess, you didn't think I was this?"

"Yeah." She tugs down the hem of her sleeves a bit, "Did you properly disinfect any wounds?"

"Don't be an idiot, I don't have any wounds to disinfect, and I would've if I had." He's lying, he didn't have the time to reopen a scabby one that had bits of gauze stuck inside, merely skin deep but still an issue. His gloves slide on back with ease but he has to tug just a bit to ensure that they cover all the scars properly.

"Are you almost done? Senshi sent me to get you for dinner." Marcille tapped her foot anxiously on the ground. Very briefly, she wonders if Chilchuck can hear the fact that her heart is racing. She wonders if her heart could just stop right here and now to save her from the shame of it all.

"Hold your horses," Chilchuck answered with. He hisses as gauze comes to lay atop the wound again, he'll tough it out.

Before Marcille can stop herself she whips around to face him, "I knew it! You are hurt..." Her enthusiasm peters off and the red on her face intensifies as Chilchuck scrambles to cover his chest.

Chilchuck's sputtering a bit, scrambling for words to try and get across the exasperation, "I told you to be patient!"

For a brief moment there's silence.

And then.

"Do you want me to clean the wound?" She speaks almost too quietly for even Chilchuck to hear.

"It's fine, I'll manage." He keeps wrapping the gauze as he speaks, when Marcille steps closer he stops. With a heavy sigh, he speaks, "Look, you weren't supposed to find out, no one was. So let's forget about it. Let's both just forget this ever happened so you can go live your good life with Falin, sound good?"

Marcille shook her head, "I can't, I can't let you risk getting an awful infection and dying a slow death."

"Oh yeah? How come?" Chilchuck questioned as he watched Marcille step forward again. He tries to step back but he's been thoroughly cornered to the ledge, he knows that if he steps any further he'll fall in.

"You're my teammate."

"You never spared a glance at me once."

"I didn't know you were, were, you were-"

"A woman?"

"You weren't supposed to be."

"Yeah, I don't get as many jobs with my tits out."

The crassness makes Marcille go even brighter red, it makes Chilchuck smirk. She waves it off, "Just! Let me help."

He hesitates, "Fine."

And with slow motions he undoes the wraps just enough to let the wound be exposed. It lays below the clavicle and Marcille's hands are soft as they trace over his skin far too slowly. He tenses as well kept nails brush over the edge of the scab and pry the bits of gauze and discoloured dry blood.

His blood is red and her hands are pale. The contrast is staggering and he tries his best not to watch because this isn't right. Something is screaming at him that this isn't right or good or lawful because she wasn't supposed to know unless she asked. And he wasn't supposed to be walked in on while he was washing off and changing his wraps-

"Do you want me to call you she?"

Chilchuck goes rigid, shoulders raising and eyes widening.

"Got it, not she."

"You're the second person to ask me that after my wife."

"Oh."

"You haven't earned the right yet." A choked sound slips out as the magic weaves through his flesh and purges it of the potential infection. She retracts her hands and he tries not to reach out for them in response to the motion, "Not yet at least."

Her eyes aren't on his, he can't tell if they're cast to the floor or not. He reaches to fully wrap his chest up again, gauze unfurling to lock himself back up again. The way he should be, it's safer, it's better, it got him three kids who he misses dearly and more jobs than he'd ever needed.

"You look pretty," Marcille confessed, ears drooped just a bit. She feels like she shouldn't be saying it.

Chilchuck gives an amused huffing sort of laugh, "Ya think?"

She nodded.

"It's not just because I'm shirtless is it?" As he speaks he tugs his shirt back on, along with his scarf. He just stuffs his leather over armour in his bag, too stuffy to wear it now that he's hot under the collar.

That gives her pause, "Well-"

Chilchuck sighed, "Think before you speak, don't give an older gal hope."

-/-/-/-

There's an undeniable itch deep inside of Chilchuck's bones and he can't place his finger on it, can't tear himself open to satiate it. He just feels nauseated, vaguely dizzy, and his stomach is in intensive knots no matter what he does to quell it. Cramps? No, no he took his contraceptives.

Did he?

Fucking hell, did he?

He can't remember and he can't ask Senshi to cook up something that'll help with cramping because he'll lose respect if he's outed as a woman. He thinks. He presumes. Senshi's a nice guy, has lots of respect for Marcille, a classically womanly woman.

Chilchuck? Not a classically womanly woman. He'll be disowned, or called a fraud, something awful is bound to happen. But someone is bound to notice that he's lagging behind and in what can only be described as agony, and if its Laois, he'll definitely be diagnosed with a deadly disease of some sort.

Please let there be a natural hot spring somewhere, anywhere nearby. He won't be able to actually have a soak if the guys insist on joining but at least the heat would be a comfort.

Chilchuck dropped down next to the fire, "Hey, Senshi, what's for dinner?"

"Sautéed vegetables, it's a simpler dish compared to what we usually have. But sometimes a light dish is good after excessive amounts of complex dishes." As he speaks he tosses in a handful of diced herbs, "I might check for mushrooms around the springs once Marcille is done in there."

"There's actually a spring down here?" He sounds a bit more excited than he should, not even a floor back did he take a soak. But he yearns for the warmth like a cat yearns for the sun.

Senshi gives a nod, "Yep, great place. Two pools with a bit of a stalagmite barrier between them, quite nice. I set up some lanterns a while back, it's a quaint little section."

"Call me when dinners done, I'm taking a soak." He hiked up his backpack before trotting off to where he can hear Marcille's heartbeat and the slight ripple of water. Sure, he has to strain to hear it a bit, but he picks it out.

-/-/-/-

"Chilchuck, is that you?" Marcille asked from behind the stalagmite wall.

A pause, "Yeah."

"You don't have to be on that side, what if Senshi or Laois comes by?"

"I still have my shirt on, I'm just enjoying the heat."

"Oh."

"Lemme tell ya one thing about being a butch, Marcille." For a moment he wonders if he should give her the spiel he gave Meijack, but he chooses against it. No, no Marcille would know by now. Surely she's met normal butches before? Regardless, he sits against the stalagmite border and speaks, "After sixteen plus years of keeping your real self effectively hidden, you learn better than to make such basic blunders."

She sinks below the water briefly and the silence makes Chilchuck almost uncomfortable.

"I appreciate the concern."

"You can do that on this side of the divider."

"But what if Senshi or Laois arrived? Wouldn't look very good if I was peeping on ya, that'd ruin my reputation."

"But-"

"Marcille. I'm fine not getting in the water."

She stands up and ah ha, she's taller than the divider. And when Chilchuck tilts his head back to face her he can see so much of everything above the belt. Red rises to his face faster than it should and for some reason he can feel his jaw go slack as he stares.

Before even more precious seconds can pass he's jolting away. She leans on the border as best she can, arms crossed over her chest. He swallows thickly as he glances up again to meet her eyes.

"You're in pain," She declared.

"So what if I am?" He countered.

"Look, I read somewhere that Half-Foots get it particularly bad compared to other races due to their size influencing pain tolerance and durability. I've seen you hobble and you curl up in a ball and grovel when you're trying to fall asleep."

"Are you asking me to get naked and take a dip with you?" He tries to cut down his own embarrassment with vulgarity that usually makes Marcille squirm.

"So what if I am? It's only to try and help you out, I'm a girl too ya know."

"I know."

"Then how come you're so hesitant?"

"Reasons."

"You're still not over your wife."

"Don't pry, Marcille, it's rude."

Marcille steps back and sinks back into the water, "Whatever."

Only a brief moment of pause has to pass before Chilchuck stands up and walks over to the divider. He leans on it for a moment, "Look, I guess I could join you."

Marcille spins around to face Chilchuck, "Really?"

"Yes, really. Just, don't make such a big deal out of it."

-/-/-/-

It happens so much faster than he can keep track, maybe he's getting too old for this 'falling in love' thing. He's got three kids, he's definitely too old for this.

Maybe the heats clouding his mind, the temperature a comfort soothing his frayed nerves. His wraps are still on but they're coming off, slowly unfurling as the heat threatens to suffocate him with the way it's tied too tight. And Marcille is staring, mostly submerged, but eyes just above enough that she can watch.

"Marcille, don't make it weird." It's more of a demand than a plea but he can't tell if the heat on his face is from being perceived or from being in the hot spring.

"Sorry," Marcille mutters the word as she presses herself against the ledge, hair scattered around her like tentacles or silk woven from gold.

Chilchuck can't decide which comparison works better.

...

. . .

Marcille gives a short hum, "You look pretty."

The heat is stripping away his inhibitions.

"You look pretty too, unfairly so."

She edges ever closer to him, not sliding along the rocky bench-like formation of the spring, but pushing off.

"You think?"

Chilchuck nods, watching as Marcille glides closer with the grace of a mermaid.

"I don't think," He said, voice slow, voice low. Dropped lower than usual, a slanty smirk on his face. He leans forward a bit, "I know."

"You know?" Closer, closer, closer. She's so close but she's so far and the clock is ticking but time is coming to a screeching halt.

"Oh believe me I do, Marcille." He slinks down from where he sat to meet her halfway across. It's a small basin anyways, but it feels so much larger when the tension and the steam blends into one and he goes blind. He keeps his hands to his sides instead of reaching out because if he missteps with his motions then everything will go downhill.

She isn't afraid. That or she's just not thinking properly. Her hands are soft when they come to rest on his shoulders, one sliding up to the side of his neck. He leans into it a little bit, "Then that would make you one of the hottest ladies I've met."

Chilchuck laughed, "You thought I was a guy, do I really count, Marcille?"

"Now you do."

As she leans forward her hair falls, caging Chilchuck in and locking the door but hey, who is he to complain when it feels so good to give in? To get what he wants, it feels so good. Like fire. He's drowning in flames.

Her other hand works its way to the small of his abdomen and slides up to unfurl the gauze fully. It shocks a gasp out of him and further she presses onward, no inhibitions, no fear, no hesitance. What is she running on right now? What is in her head? What the fuck is making her do this, but holy shit, he does not want her to stop.

Eventually her hands are in her hair and pulling just a bit but her hands stray just a bit and he lurches back. Shoving her off at the shoulders and stumbling, he scrambles to retrieve his wraps.

"What the fuck, Marcille!" Maybe he's a bit louder than he needs to be but he needs to get the point across, "There are, there are boundaries."

It takes her a moment before her face goes bright red and her ears droop, "Oh god."

"It's not fine, but, it's not bad either." Chilchuck is rebinding himself as he speaks but he's still trying to ease the shattered mood, soften the blow. Don't be a douche, you can turn someone down nicely, but he isn't trying to turn her down either. He just needs to slow this down, way down, to a snails pace.

"I don't know what got into me, Chilchuck, I'm so sorry-"

"Marcille! It's alright." He steps close enough to reach out, hands held above the water. He gives a small nod and she places hers atop his, "It's okay, I don't mind fucking, but can we not do it right now with zero warning?"

Marcille nods, "Sorry."

"Stop saying sorry, it makes you sound like a coward," Chilchuck said, voice firm but with a hint of affection lacing it, "And you're not."

A small smile tugs at Marcille's lips, "Alright, thanks, Chilchuck."

-/-/-/-

Chilchuck sleeps without his wraps that night because they got soaked and he was running low anyways. When Laois asked Chilchuck didn't answer, when Senshi asked Chilchuck didn't answer. He didn't owe them an answer even if their assumptions would probably be way off.

They just come up to him one morning and offer to cut his tits off, he'd probably keel over laughing if that happened. His wondering of what's going to happen is very brief when he finds Marcille standing next to his bedding. She drops down to her knees, fingers curled to press nails into palm.

"Yeah, Marcille?" Chilchuck asked gently as he sat up. He stretched his arms over his head and fuck, his spine hasn't felt like that in years.

"Could we share a sleeping bag tonight?"

"What?"

Marcille stands up, "Nevermind."

"No, Marcille. What's wrong? Tell me what happened," He speaks sluggishly, a tired inflection to his tone.

"It's dumb."

"We almost had sex in the hot springs, that was dumb."

Marcille drops to sit down next to Chilchuck, "It was about Falin, we couldn't save her."

"It'll be fine, we're gonna save her. I promise." He's making wild promises. Ones he can't pull through on. But ones that he needs to make to get through the night breathing easy.

He places his hand on Marcille's back and she leans heavily into him, "I miss Falin."

Oh.

He's a rebound.

That's... fine, he knew from the start it'd never work out anyways. Why hope that it might because she kissed him? Why hope for something farther out of reach than the stars? He's dumb, he's an idiot, he isn't even a hopeful one.

This dungeon is getting to him, to fall for Marcille and be stupid enough to think that she'd mean it in any way more than deprived desperation. He still steels himself and hums along, "I miss her too." It feels like he's being stabbed as a much delayed realization hits him, the words falling out of him feel like blood being hacked up.

[miseryandroses]

Doric x Male! Reader Drabbles

I know most people headcanon Doric as being queer or lesbian but in my mind she’s bisexual. I dunno it might just be because I’m bisexual too or smth. Anyways enjoy!

P.S. if you haven’t seen DnD honor among thieves do yourself a favor and watch it

#1

Y/N drinking coffee, shirtless, after a steamy “chat” with Doric.

Doric suddenly sneaking behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist.

Y/N: Hi

Doric: Hi (she says muffled as she speaks into his back)

Her hands make their way up his body until they rest on his chest, giving it a little squeeze and touch.

Y/N: Are you seriously fondling my chest right now?

Doric: (Takes her head off of him) not my fault your pecs are bigger than my tits.

Y/N: (Spits out coffee)

#2 healer Y/N x flirty Doric

Doric getting lectured and patched up by Y/N after a fight with some red wizards.

Y/N: I mean what if you were killed?! It’s not like we can find another tablet of reawakening!!

Doric: Maybe there is one (she mutters)

Y/N: Well… maybe? I dunno. I’d have to ask Simon or something, ooh maybe we could go over some old scrolls or-Wait! You’re trying to distract me aren’t you?!

Doric: Oh please (she smirks) if I wanted to distract you (She turns around with a seductive look on her face) I’d have done it already.

Y/N: I-I (Blushing) just be careful next time (he says as he averts his gaze)

Doric: Uh-huh (she says smiling)

#3 Rogue Y/N x Doric

Y/N (a rogue) was sent to infiltrate the emerald clave base camp and get info back to Forge. However he didn’t plan on running into Doric. The two engaged in a fierce albeit short battle that ends with Y/N cornering Doric, who is out of energy to transform or run.

Y/N: tsk tsk. Honestly I expected more from the great leader of the emerald clave rebellion.

Doric: (sniffling and tearing up) Go ahead then, do it. Finish it!

Y/N: Are you… crying?

Doric: N-No! (tears fall down her face)

Y/N: oh my-fuck! Cmon you lost fair and square! Meet your end with dignity!

Doric: I am! (She’s sobbing at this point)

Y/N: …Damn it!! (He lowers his sword) Fine I’ll let you live! It’s not like Forge is paying me enough for this shit anyways (he grumbles)

Doric: (Stands up with a smirk on her face) Thanks! (She quickly transforms into an owl-bear and knocks him into a nearby tree before turning into a hawk and flying off)

Y/N: fuck! (He groans before sitting up) I think I’m in love (he smirks to himself)

#4 cute Y/N x Doric

Y/N and Doric have been off an adventure for the past couple of days and he can’t stop thinking about her horns and what they might feel like. He often found himself staring at them. Unbeknownst to him, Doric knew he was looking at her horns. After much stalling, Y/N finally mustered up the courage to ask her if he could feel her “abnormal” appendages as they were lounging at their campsite

Y/N: Hey, uh, Doric?

Doric: Yeah (she turns her head to Y/N)

Y/N: (gulps) I uh was wondering if I could-

Doric: Feel my horns? (She raises an eyebrow at him)

Y/N: Well, yeah…

Doric: Fine, but make it quick

Y/N: (his eyes light up and he makes his way to her before gingerly placing two fingers on her horns) oooh… (he says with adoring eyes as he rubs them up and down)

Doric: (embarrassed but happy that someone appreciates her horns considering how many people hated her appearance) Ok that’s enough! (She jerks head back suddenly)

Y/N: Oh what? That’s it??? (He says kinda disappointed)

Doric: I’m not a fidget toy!

#5 Y/N x rat Doric

Doric likes to sometimes turn into a mouse and nestle in Y/N’s hair. Y/N allows this as long as she doesn’t transform while on his head.

Edgin: (Singing a song and playing his lute but stops when Y/N walks by) Um Y/N don’t freak out but there’s a rat on your head.

Y/N: I know (he continues walking without turning to Edgin) oh could you keep it down my girlfriend’s trying to sleep.

[stealingpotatoes]

HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW AHSOKA EPISODE IM SCREAMING

I HAVE and this is honestly the first week i've been actually invested in watching the next ep omg!!! they're doing interesting stuff!!

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

THERE'S SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT OMG. first of all i have to say the late great ray stevenson/ baylan is absolutely the highlight of the show acting & character wise, there's so much depth he's putting into the character somehow like every line he says i'm shoving sabine and ahsoka aside like this is my new fave sorry lesbians. biggest cuntserve of the show

HOWEVER COMMA THE REASON I'M SO INVESTED IS BC IT'S SUCH A GREAT WRITING CHOICE TO HAVE SABINE GIVE INTO HER ATTACHMENTS AND JOIN THE THRAWN STANS TO GET EZRA BACK. YES!!! SHE WOULD!!! she isn't ready to let go of her attachments!!! she won't do as ahsoka says!! fuckin anakincore of her!!! willing to raze the galaxy for the last few parts of her family!! LITERALLY CANNOT WAIT TO SEE WHERE THIS GOES

Also I think the direction was a lot better? I'm shit at clocking how good fight scene direction is but there were a lot of scenes that just felt so much stronger than the prev eps? like when sabine puts the ball in baylan's hand they made you FEEL the weight of that moment with the pacing and camera and the sound design.

ACTUALLY THO THE FIGHT SCENES WERE A LOT BETTER THIS EP partly bc there was just. More to them? i liked how ahsoka dealt w marrok in 2 seconds basically indiana jones shooting the sword guy style bc that made the baylan/ahsoka fight SO MUCH MORE IMPACTFUL bc she's seriously trying and she's flipping and doing all this crazy stuff that makes you go shittttt these guys are super great jedi -- AND ALL WHILE trying to get the map so it wasnt just a "we're fighting bc we're fighting/ to not die" there was a very feasible objective on-hand to make the already great fight even better

and of course i have to talk abt That. i was poggin beyond belief when hayden showed up like LETS GOOOOOOO. and its super cool!!!!! but i do hope they do smthn interesting with this tho (I HAVE FAITH IN THIS SHOW AFTER THIS WEEK SO I'M HOPEFUL) and actually explore ahsoka and the super fuckedup complicated relationship she has w anakin/vader instead of going "ah its so nice to see you again!! im gonna ignore you murdered children and all our friends and tried to kill me etc etc bc people want to see us as friends!" like no i dont want that!! this should be her opportunity to work w the trauma they keep hinting at but not rlly exploring (ie w her taking on forceless sabine as a padawan or how she keeps acting like all that happened was she walked away from anakin and he didnt fall. it could be good writing for trauma) and have ahsoka like... accept the past accept what her master became and MAKE ME INVESTED IN THIS ITERATION OF THE CHARACTER. BC THERE HAS BEEN LIKE NO CHARACTER MOMENTS AND IT'S NOT HELPED BY THE ACTING/ WRITING!!

also did ezra yoinking her outta the world between worlds give her nine lives is she just gonna be able to walk out after dying again

[sam-da-sloth]

I just finished Earthspark and OH MY GOSHGFHHBBNNHH. I loved it. I require more. Give me my precious content, or there will be problems.

My honest review of Earthspark.

~~~~~~~~~~~SPOILERS~~~~~~~~~~

Things I loved:

Steve Blum.

Megatron calling Twitch ‘Little Bird’ absolutely melted my heart because, next to him, she is sooooooo tiny! It’s adorable.

Buddy McSnarly. Buddy envisions everything I aim for in life.

Dot and Megatron’s dynamic was beautiful. They were so cool together. I love the fact that even though Dot is a human he laughs with her and treats her like a friend. If I don’t get a whole lot more of them in the next season there will be problems.

The fact that they only draw attention to Dot’s prosthetic once and it’s when she’s telling the bad guy that she was harmed by the war too, is awesome. It shows her not letting it get in the way of her day-to-day life. She fights giant alien robots like a badass. We need more characters like her in modern media, people with disabilities that have normal lives. I love the way she was portrayed.

Swindle was awesome. I loved tfa swindle and I think tfe Swindle is my second favorite portrayal of him.

Twitch’s swords were awesome.

Nightshade. REPRESENTATION BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. FUCK. YEAH. I have wanted a non-binary transformer since I first got into transformers and my wish was finally granted. I love Nightshade and they better have an important roll or I will throw hands.

The fact that Megatron seemed to have better morals then Optimus, intrigued me.

Steve Blum. (part 2: electric boogaloo)

Lazerbeak was adorable and I want to hug him.

Soundwave looked awesome. (Flat Fuck Friday)

The main cast of humans wasn’t just white with a black person thrown in so they could say they have a diverse cast.

Hashtag calling herself Sparkplug and then saying they want revenge on Skywarp because and i quote: “We used to be roommates (insert picture of Hashtag and Skywarp on a bunk bed) in the bad guy academy (insert picture of them staring into each other’s eyes blushing and holding each other.) The fact that Skywarp uses she/her pronouns makes this even better because it means: Imaginary Lesbian Relationship.

Episode III: Return of the Blum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things I disliked:

The fact that the smoke and fire were 2d while everything else was 3d bugged me immensely.

Mo’s head and eyes seemed like they were twice as big as everyone else’s was kinda weird but that’s probably just me nitpicking.

Starscream showed up for less than 10 seconds. For 5 seconds he was just a silhouette and it lit him up, he did and evil laugh and then the episode was over. W H Y. WHY MUST THEY TORTURE US WITH FALSE HOPE. I NEED STARSCREAM CONTENT. AHHHHHHHH- (in all seriousness I can’t wait for more Steve Blum as Starscream. He did an amazing job in tfp and I can’t wait to see what he does now.)

All-in-all Earthspark was awesome and I can’t wait for more content.

[ananinidraws]

Redesigns for Zeldas and Links. This is part 2. Part 1 is right here

Descriptions for each under the cut:

Classic:

- Trans male, he/him

- Heterochromia

- Mute. Speaks through sign language

- Modest boi, doesn't like to brag and doesn't know how to process compliments

- Horrible with directions, needs to have a map or compass on hand at all times

- Also has poor memory, always carries a diary/notebook with him

- Became a traveller after his adventures, documenting his journeys in his diary/notebook

- Is very close to Ribbon. They have a lot in commun and generally enjoy being arround each other

Ribbon:

- Trans girl, she/her

- Chubby

- Has a crush on Classic, but has not admited it to him yet

- Cheerful and a bit of an airhead. Spends a lot of time daydreaming

- Doesn't have much experience with running the kingdom, and is often at a loss of what to do. Dream currently helps her out

Dream:

- Grandma™

- Has no clue what's going on. She just... kinda hangs out. Since she has nowhere else to go

- Wished she could go back to before she was put to sleep. She misses everyone

- Has become a mentor figure to Ribbon

- Has a lot of experience that she passes down to Ribbon

Twilight:

- Fantastic with kids and animals. Not so great in other social situations

- A nice, simple and polite young man. Is a lot smarter than he lets on

- Has a quiet and peaceful life in Ordon Village after TP. Perhaps alongside Illia?

- Preserved the twilight shard, and can change into his wolf form at will. Likes to turn into doggo mode sometimes just to wander arround without a care in the world

- Will sometimes accidently try to maul enemies in human form

- Colorblind (like dogs!). Also has big chompers. ALSO also, turning into doggo mode so much has caused his human form to have some diferent characteristics

- Admires Dawn a lot, but they aren't very close. They mutually respect each other

- Still great friends with Midna

- Fully vocal, just anxious

Dawn:

- Love interest: Midna. Big lesbian vibes

- Very tall. She towers over the other Zeldas

- Markings from the Ganon posession

- Doesn't show much emotion. Always serious and professional

- Respects and is in good therms with Twilight, but is a bit distant

- Has found a way to bridge Hyrule and the Twilight Realm, so she and Twilight can go visit Midna any time

- Genuinly feels relaxed arround Midna. All her usual tension melts away

Discord:

- A mess (post adventure merge, without Shadow)

- Very unhappy about their situation. Does not like being 4 entities cramped in one body and wants to be separated again

- The 4 Links fight over control constantly after the merge. Before pulling out the Four Sword, each had their own turn, but they became more vocal after having the oportunity to live as individuals

- Because of the constant fight over control, Discord is very much disconected from everything. Most of the time, they spend it not moving, looking at nothing, completelly lost in their own turmoil

- Along with Flower, they decided the course of action was to split up again and live as individuals of their own

Flower:

- Love interest: Green

- >:3

- Chaotic. BFFs with Red and Shadow, cause chaos together

- She and Green love going together into flower fields, like old times

- Does not take her duties seriously. Preffers to goof arround, gets easilly bored if she's stuck in the castle all by herself

- In the brief time after the merge, when Discord was still arround, she spent a lot of time trying to cheer them up, to no avail

- She was the one that decided that separating them again would be the best course of action

Green:

- Love interest: Flower

- Leader, but has no clue what he's doing

- Even if he might be confused 90% all the time, he is still very competitive. Usually loses said competitions, though (because they are usually against Blue, who he constantly butts heads with)

- Is like a big bro to Red

- Proud owner of a single braincell

- He becomes Flower's bodyguard

Red:

- Love interest: Blue. Pan boi

- Baby boi. Baby

- Very innocent and sweet. Can cheer anyone up

- Has a mischevious streak, though. Shadow is a bad influence (and so is Flower)

- Blue is his favourite to be arround. He absolutly knows the effect he has on him, and takes full advantage of it (like i said, Shadow and Flower are bad influences)

- Proffecient with magic, especially fire and explosions

- Hands are calloused and full of burns, so he wears protective gloves now (Blue was the one that made him wear them)

Blue:

- Love interest: Red. Very, very gay, but also very much in denial

- Extremelly short fuse, will get angry if provoked

- Does not like Shadow and Vio that much. Cares about them deep down, but does not apreciate the constant pranks and teasing

- Prideful and loud

- Has absolutly no idea how to deal with embarassment, and is very easilly flustered

- Red is the only one who can calm him down. The others just give him space when he blows up

- He will never, EVER admit it to his face, much less to anyone else, but he really likes Red (in denial about any further feelings, though)

- Became a royal knight

- Neat freak. Everything must be organised and tidy, otherwise he will explode at the nearest person and go into a frenzy of cleaning. If anyone makes a mess on purpoise, he loses it

Vio:

- Love interest: Shadow

- Very smart, and rubs that in to every person he encounters

- Usually quiet, but is a sarcastic and cocky lil bicth

- Usually doesn't tag in with Red, Shadow and Flower's shenanigans. But if he does, lord help us all

- Tag teams with Shadow to make fun of Blue, because his reactions are the best

- Doesn't get a lot of sleep

- Specialises more on defensive magic, as oposed to Red's offensive magic. Barriers and healing are two he's particularly good at

Shadow:

- Love interest: Vio

- Bastard™

- Loves messing with everyone (even with Vio, but less frequently). His favourite victim is Blue. His reactions are priceless

- Is still adjusting to living as a good guy. Doesn't really know how to act in social interactions, so defaults to mischief

- Always manages to find himself in trouble

Wind:

- Aro Ace

- Rowdy Pirate Boy, fully vocal, and swears like a sailor

- Cannot swim very well, but loves the ocean

- Lost his eye in the Ganon fight

- Not the sharpest tool in the box

- The bandana is actually Tetra's! She gave it to him as a gift

- Is at the same time very energetic and very lazy. Likes to just lay arround in Tetra's ship

- Linebeck is his unoficial parent

- Took Aryll and his granny along him in his and Tetra's journey to New Hyrule. They all settled there

Tetra:

- Rowdy pirate girl

- Keeps her dark skin, as she should have in the first place

- Just cuz she's the ruler of a new contry, doesn't mean she lost the atitude

- Anjean and her were BFFs

- One of the only Zeldas to reach a very advanced age. Was still arround to watch Ghostie grow up

- Has gotten into trouble multiple times, due to her pirate ways. Has no regrets, her pirates often steal from those who deserve it anyway

Engie:

- Love interest: Ghostie

- Shy with strangers, barelly speaks (still very polite, though). Becomes a chatterbox with people he's close with

- Will infodump about trains

- A descendant of Aryll, not Wind

- Fidgets a whole lot, especially when he's nervous

- Inherits Tetra's bandana

Ghostie:

- Love interest: Engie

- Eyes change color acording to her emotions (like when she was posessing phantoms)

- Tetra's her granny, and she lived a bit to see her grow (i chose to ignore what Hyrule Historia has to say)

- Inherited all of Tetra's attitude

- Anxious baby, tho, panics quite easilly

- Engie is there to confort her, though

- Loves listening to him ramble about stuff

- Has a big mark on her stomach/chest area from haing her soul ripped out of her body

Warrior:

- Nonbinary, goes exclusivly by they/them

- Mute. Speaks through Proxy

- At first, they didn't like Proxy that much. Now they are inseparable

- Misses Lana. Sometimes, she comes by for a visit, but can never stay for too long

- Rapier is a close friend

- Linkle is actually their younger sister! Though neither know this

- Despite their anxious nature, they are a fantastic leader

- They are careful not to get too overconfident (they had a very bad experience last time that happened)

Rapier:

- Lesbian

- Wreckless, will throw herself into danger without thinking twice

- Usually comes out unscathed, though, she is confident in her abilities. Actually, one of, if not the best, Zelda when it comes to combat

- Has a more laid-back aprocah to her duties. Is like the cool aunt

- Will stab as a warning

- Impa has to keep her in check, otherwise she will be quite irresponsible

- Warrior is a close friend, she thinks of them as a little sibling she needs to protect. Dials down her rebelious atitude arround them, so that they don't get too overwhelmed (they don't like her wrecklessness)

Rythm:

- Dramatic little shit

- Bard vibes, flirts with anyone that he comes across. Usually results in comical fails

- His worst atempt yet has been Cadence

- Fully vocal, and a chatterbox with everyone

- Loves to dance

- A talented musician. Can pick up any instrument and play it no problem

- Atrocious singer, though

- He and Harmony have forgiven Octavo and are in somewhat good therms with him (after he served some time in... is there even something akin to a prison in Hyrule? Nah actually, he spent a long time stuck with Cadence)

- Rythm is kinda jealous that Octavo, not even trying, managed to "snatch" Cadence away

Harmony:

- Cheerful and bubbly

- Has stayed good friends with Cadence (headcanon that her world is part of Hyrule, just in a somewhat hidden part of it. Perhaps in a diferent timeline. I have a whole headcanon about the timeline too, maybe i should make a post about that)

- A very good singer. Rythm and her often pair up to perform. He plays the instrument and she sings

- Rythm has tried to flirt with her on multiple times. She laughs and brushes it off as a joke

- They are still great friends, though

Wild:

- Love interest: Sidon. Disaster Bi

- Confused

- Has not regained most of his memories, and the ones he does have... hooo boy

- Resorts to being an unhinged cryptid as a way to cope

- Will eat anything he finds on the ground

- Partially mute

- Silent and him have been reconecting. He might not have all his memories back, but he still thinks she's cool

Silent:

- Anxious baby. Struggles with her self esteem

- Loves to do research on... anything! Even if it's insignificant

- Especially loves researching animals and plants

- Mom friend 2.0

- Infodumps a lot

- Still has her memories from 100+, and is still sad about it

- Has been trying to reconect with Wild. It is a bit awkward, but both of them are trying their best

[yashatopsuwu]

Oh wait I thought you all weren’t serious about the whole thing of the Mighty Nein dying and starting campaign 3.... but it seems most of the people are worried about it.

Let’s talk and do please give me an essay as to why would you believe the mighty neins death would be caused by a little bitch with god complex issues.

Let me point out these specific things about each member that makes me believe the living city and the tomb takers don’t have a chance against them:

We literally have a ✨butch✨ lesbian with daddy and mommy issues... is there anything else to add to that- seriously that’s like the most powerful combo there could be between the group. Hence why she is so good at annoying the fjuck out of the god complex little bitch that is Lucien.

We have yet another ✨butch/soft✨ lesbian who loves flowers but will also make you choke to death on said flower if you touch any of the members- she will literally throw a sword their way because of how angry she is at the enemy attacking her friends (and she will break literal chains for her girlfriend and will go to hell and back for her too.) (Powerful combo: lesbians in love)

We also have a cute cleric who is definitely a healer but will most definitely cut a bitch-because her logic tells her if she kills the enemy first they won’t hurt her friends and she is absolutely right 100% love her for that. Also she has a literal demiGOD as a best friend. Send post.

We got two buddies for the price of one motherly goddess- she literally put Caduceus in the Mighty Neins life for something and she probably expected it to be about Fjord... she’s now scared for all of them probably but hey she responded to a direct prayer from Caduceus once and I bet she’ll do it again.

We got a semi depressed cool mom with anxiety overflowing her pink dress after her sons death... there’s nothing else to add here she’ll literally end the city on her own so her son doesn’t die again- no doubt about it watch it happen ✨aha✨

Finally we have a depressed wizard with daddy and mommy issues but it’s significantly different (and crispier) from our first butch lesbian of course as I am sure you all know. He has been a character that has been through enough to act recklessly and that’s what makes him ✨dangerous✨ but also very ✨reliable✨ to get shit like Lucien ready to be killed (or grilled).

On a serious note I believe Mathew will put a tough challenge but I don’t think he’ll make them feel like they cannot do anything other then die. Mathew is a good DM and the cast are good chaotic players- but I am sure you all know this by now. Happy Wednesday you guys!

[autopotion]

Man I like Thirsty Sword Lesbians. I wasn't sure if I would at first--I don't always like heavily romance-focused tabletop, it can come off as a little cringy and often comes through very awkwardly at the table--but TSL is such a delightful campy romp it's hard not to love. It doesn't take itself seriously, it knows it's ridiculous and over the top, and I'll be honest I just get the serotonin hit from reading about a tabletop world where Everyone Is Lesbians.

I mean they're not exactly, the game absolutely embraces lots of different sexualities (and even says your PC doesn't have to be a lesbian!), but clearly the focus is on lesbians and the playbooks & default campaign worlds were crafted with lesbians in mind. That way of structuring tapletop games is still not exactly commonplace lol. Like I'm just thinking about the fact that I'm running Waterdeep Dragon Heist, and of the NPCs provided in the book like 75% are men, there's one gay couple (also men), there are two trans characters (a nonbinary character & a trans man), and there's one F/F couple who have let in a third, Also A Man, because he's just so suave and sexy even the WLW couldn't resist. As written, in the text, there are no lesbians. There's no trans women either, let alone lesbian trans women. After running that, reading TSL was like... chugging pixie sticks lol.

Idk. TSL has some ideas about queerness, sexuality, and innate human nature I don't necessarily agree with (and it also draws a lot from fandom culture which I'm not a huge fan of [lol] these days), but I don't agree with pretty much every TTRPG I've ever read about What Human Nature Is because that's so hard to distill anyway. TSL is trying something different that's about embracing the sexuality of women who want to kiss and actively fuck other women.

That kind of thing is still genuinely so rare IMHO. Kids' cartoons have made great strides, I'm not discounting that, but they're for kids, so exploring the "sex" part of "lesbian sexuality" doesn't happen. The PCs in TSL are all adults, unless you play a campaign that explicitly suggests otherwise. And since I mentioned fandom like... that's one of the biggest perpetrators of the annoying "background women chastely holding hands and smiling prettily" thing. While you can play settings in TSL where sex isn't involved, it's pretty blunt and open about the fact that the game was crafted with the sex lives of lesbians in mind. It's in the title!

Look, I don't know if TSL accurately represents how I feel about being a lesbian, but it doesn't have to 'cause that's extremely personal anyway. It's still about part of the lesbian experience, specifically the instant gratification of getting into cool sword fights and flirting with every lady on the way. Yeah if you want to explore your sexuality in a super serious way maybe don't play a TTRPG where one of the default settings is named Queertopia and in one of the scenario hooks you're trying to break up a wedding in Heteronormia. But like. That's the point. It's trying to be campy, ridiculous fun.

[derivativealigner]

Well I haven’t watched sp all the way through for about a decade now, so I thought it was time

Sometimes I wonder how accurate the fandom is when it comes to how we interpret the characters. Like, why is Stan a football star so often in fanfic and why’s Kyle always the smart one? So I thought I’d rewatch the show and make notes along the way to see where the source of all these interpretations is. I also wanted to see if I could get some fun info to analyze, but season 1 is pretty sparse in that regard so there’s not too much of that in this post, but I’ll make a post for all the other seasons too as I watch them

In summary, it’s established in season 1 already that Stan’s a star quarterback and an animal lover, Kyle’s an A+ student, and Kenny is poor and knows a lot about sex and doesn’t have many qualms about doing crazy shit. Cartman is a bit weird since he’s mostly just a naive brat in this season, but he and Kyle have a mildly antagonistic friendship already

I have all my notes under this cut. They include a bunch of small details and other observations. I also listed every Kenny death just because

Ike has freckles

Cartman says “Weak!” and “You guys” and “Seriously” a lot from the start, also “Kickass!” He doesn’t say weak or kickass much in the later seasons iirc

Stan says “Dude, this is pretty fucked up right here” three times in this season but they dropped that catchphrase pretty quickly

Bebe got named in episode 2

Stan’s been an animal lover since s01e03 Volcano since he won’t shoot a bunny or anything else. He does shoot Scuzzlebutt at the end though

Cartman’s a pathological liar but in a childish way

Randy got named in s01e03 Volcano (and it only got worse from there)

The mayor went to Princeton

South Park is next to Mt. Evanson

Kenny will literally drink gasoline

Stan’s a star quarterback in 3rd grade

Clyde’s voice is wrong as hell in S01E04 Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride and he has a dog, Rex

Garrison says Kyle is an A+ kid

Shelly seriously abuses Stan, punching him, throwing him, maiming him with a lawnmower

Cartman had a pot-bellied pig called Fluffy

Cartman’s mom smokes crack and has sex with strange men

Dr. Mephesto is probably a Buddhist since he says “Thank Buddha” instead of “Thank God”

Clyde’s voice gets kind of fixed in S01E06

A guy called Mr. McCormick is killed in a protest, launched and splattered against a network building. He doesn’t look like Kenny’s dad though

Zombie Clyde attacks Bebe, rude

Wendy gave her costume contest prize (2 tons of candy) to hungry children in Nairobi

Cartman’s mom is on the cover of Crack Whore magazine. “Back do’ ho… Five on one action!” is the headline

Cartman genuinely cries at Kenny’s grave after the whole zombie thing but gets over it because of candy

Stan knows his mom’s credit card number and has no problem using it to adopt an Ethiopian child (the boys wanted a watch that came with the adoption, they weren’t doing it to be nice)

Cartman calls Stan a vas deference, Stan doesn’t know what that is so Kenny says “Dude, it’s a pipe for your peepee” (according to a transcript). Kenny sure knows male anatomy

Kyle sniffs Kenny after Cartman asks why poor people smell like sour milk and Garrison says “idk eric they just do”

Cartman thinks poor people should die and decrease the surplus population

When the boys get Starvin’ Marvin delivered to them, Cartman says “Hey mom, we found an Ethiopian, can we keep him?” and his mom says “Sure, hun.” She rarely says no to Cartman

Kenny’s dad is an alcoholic who drinks scotch according to Cartman. I mean, Mr. McCormick is seen drinking in multiple episodes and has a hat that says SCOTCH so it’s probably true

Kenny’s family says grace

Craig’s first appearance is S01E09. Also, S01E09 is the first time Kenny doesn’t die (Coincidence? I THINK yeah but it’s still fun)

Clyde got named in S01E10

Clyde and Bebe both spit on Pip’s face, friendship goals <3

Cartman and Kyle have their first fight at Cartman’s birthday party because Kyle didn’t give the right gift. Cartman slaps his face and  screams “I hate you! I want you to die! Die!” while on top of Kyle who’s not really fighting back

Satan throws a fight with Jesus after everyone except Satan bet that Jesus would lose, which leads to Satan winning everyone’s money. Mr. Garrison says “What a mean thing to do!” and Jimbo says “He is a jerk!” and I thought it was quite a laugh so I wrote it down

In S01E11 Tom’s Rhinoplasty Bebe and Wendy are sitting in the swings together and generally appear together throughout the episode, then Bebe gives Wendy a makeover so they’re bffs obviously <3

Craig first appears in the classroom, though not sitting down, in S01E11

Wendy’s not happy about Ms. Ellen taking Stan away from her, she says “Don’t fuck with me! Stay away from my man, bitch, or I’ll whoop your sorry ho ass back to last year!”

Kenny gives Ms. Ellen a scrumptious looking sausage as a valentine’s gift and giggles deviously. Wendy’s gift to Ms. Ellen is a dead animal

Even Kenny doesn’t know what a lesbian is

Wendy’s grandma died in S01E11

Wendy gets Ms. Ellen killed by hiring the Iraqi government (?) to put her in a rocket and shoot it into the sun, then she and Bebe have a pool party (very cool, they wear sunglasses 😎) and watch the rocket hit the sun

Cartman and Pip play a game of kicking each other in the nuts until someone falls. Cartman calls it “Roshambo”

Kenny has a sack of marbles

The boys aren’t fans of Barbra Streisand, but Stan is a fan of the Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway (he’s not a quarterback anymore, he’s an American football executive and the president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the NFL according to wikipedia.)

Officer Barbrady is a fan of Fiona Apple (who was 20 at the time and had only one album released called Tidal)

Ned knows how to pilot a helicopter

Kyle’s mom is a fan of Streisand unlike literally everyone else, she even gets an autograph from Mecha Streisand

The boys are fans of Robert Smith, the lead singer of The Cure. Stan says “Robert Smith is the greatest person that ever lived!” and Kyle says “Disintegration is the best album ever!” and Cartman says “Robert Smith kicks ass!” and Kenny’s dead so he doesn’t get to have an opinion

Cartman has tea parties with his toys: Polly Prissypants, Clyde frog, Peter Panda, and a dragon called Rumpertumskin

Kyle wants to make fun of Cartman for the tea party but Stan stops him because he’s concerned that Cartman needs help

Craig is in front of the school counselor’s office in S01E13

A young miss Cartman drinks like a motherfucker at the 12th annual drunken barn dance where Cartman was supposedly conceived

Stan lets Cartman borrow his bike like a good friend

Garrison wanted to have a threesome with Chef and Cartman’s mom. I don’t know why I’m making a note of this but uh… yeah.

Cartman’s mom has had sex with everyone at this bar that Garrison’s drinking at, including principle Victoria, the mayor, Father Maxi, and Jesus (and maybe Kenny’s dad since he’s at the bar but the camera doesn’t pan to him when Garrison says they’ve all slept with Liane). Later Gerald Broflovski is a possible father to Eric, so he fucked her too. Also Mr. Mephesto and his friend Kevin, that little guy, are candidates along with a lot of other people, including the 1989 Denver Broncos (and Mr. Tenorman is included in that later)

Cartman doesn’t make fun of Kyle for being Jewish much at all in this season even though the Christmas episode is all about Kyle not celebrating

Clyde and Token appear very early on and Clyde has always been in the classroom (along with Bebe, Red, Kevin Stoley, Wendy, and Pip and uhh DogPoo too I think). Craig appears later in the season and Tweek’s not in season 1 at all, so Craig’s gang isn’t really a thing yet

And here’s a list of the ways Kenny died in this season. He dies in every episode except episode 9, and he dies twice in episodes 2 and 3. Altogether he dies 14 times

S01E01 Killed after alien shoots him, cows stampede over him, then cop runs him over which finally actually kills him

S01E02 Killed in a play by a falling teepee, then a second time shot by Garrison which sends him in the air and he gets impaled on a flagpole on the way down

S01E03 Killed by a volcano rock that burns him then rolls on him but he’s alive again in the end but gets shot by Ned’s gun that he drops and it accidentally goes off

S01E04 Gets his arms and head torn off in an American football game

S01E05 Stan’s clone punches Kenny into a microwave where he gets cooked alive

S01E06 Death touches Kenny

S01E07 Kenny gets crushed by a Russian space station and turns into a zombie because he gets Worcestershire sauce in his veins, then Kyle chainsaws zombie Kenny in half, then zombie Kenny rises from his grave and is crushed by a statue and a plane

S01E08 Kenny is killed by a bunch of turkeys. His eye gets plucked out. It’s dark blue

S01E10 After Kenny gets turned into a duck-billed platypus, Jimbo and Ned shoot him

S01E11 Ms. Ellen throws a sword through Kenny’s face

S01E12 While Mecha Streisand and a giant robot Leonard Maltin fight, Kenny plays with a tetherball and gets the rope wrapped around his neck and it strangles him

S01E13 Kenny gets stuck on a go kart and it drags him around but stops and he’s still alive! Too bad the go kart stops on train tracks and a train runs him over. Stan’s grandpa sends a video of the event to America’s Stupidest Home Videos and wins $10,000

If you read all that, first of all hello. I’m not new to the fandom even though this is the first thing I’ve posted on this tumblr blog. I’ve been writing a fanfic called Caffetamine though so I’m not a complete non-entity. Anyway, I’ll watch season 2 soon and post my notes on that too probably.

[kittyprincessofcats]

She-Ra S5 E05 - Save the Cat

ARE YOU READY TO HEAR MY THOUGHTS ON THE BEST SHE-RA EPISODE EVER? SO AM I!

Sorry this took so long. I was pretty nervous to talk about this episode, to be honest, because I love it so much and was scared I’d forget something or wouldn’t do it justice. Don’t know if I still need to say this at this point (since it’s been so long), but there will be spoilers for the rest of the season in this post!

- First of all, and I’ve already talked about this in my review of Stranded, but I need to say it again: Just the premise that Adora is going back to save Catra from Horde Prime really makes their story come full circle: Back in the pilot, Adora left the Horde without Catra, and Catra has been accusing her of “leaving her behind” ever since. In Catra’s mind, Adora leaving the Horde meant that Adora didn’t care about her, and it’s been a huge source of grief and bitterness for her. And now, so many seasons later, even after Catra has hurt so many people, even after she’s asked Adora not to come for her, Adora is literally walking up to Horde Prime himself (way more dangerous than Hordak’s version of the Horde) and endangering her mission and the entire world because she doesn’t want to leave Catra behind again. Because Catra means that much to her. It’s such good storytelling! If Corridors was what started Catra’s redemption, then I think Save the Cat is what redeemed Adora in Catra’s eyes (or at least, what made her understand that Adora does care about her).

- I love how determined Adora looks in that beginning shot. That’s the look of a girl about to go save her gf!

- I thought it was a bit strange that the clones didn’t notice that Adora’s talking to the others on her way to Prime, but since Prime later reveals he knows her friends are there, they probably actually did notice and just didn’t say anything.

- I wish they’d kept that scene of Glimmer having a more elaborate flashback, but I get that they just didn’t have the time for it.

- I love how Entrapta just goes *heart eyes* at the many clones. And Bow asking if they’d believe they’re the inspectors 😂 - great way to bring back that gag.

- “You would never risk the safety of your Catra.” PRIME SHIPS IT. No, seriously though - Prime says he “sees all” (and we know he’s seen Catra’s thoughts) and he said “your” Catra. This, and some other lines in this episode, made me realize it would be canon. (Also, fun fact, because I watched some bits of this show in other languages for fun: As awful as the French dub is for changing that “Kyle had a crush on Rogelio” line to “Catra had a crush on Rogelio”, in this instant they did really well: In French, Prime goes a step further and says “your precious Catra” instead of just “your Catra”.)

- The way Prime touches his clones is so creepy.

- Entrapta asking Wrong Hordak (thinking he’s Hordak) if he recognizes her made me so emotional. I wasn’t even that into Entrapdak back in s2/s3, but the way their relationship was written in season 5 really made me ship it. It’s about the PINING, the LONGING, the TRAGEDY, the way his memories of her make him overcome two mindwipes... I’m here for it!

- I always wonder if it hurts Entrapta when someone grabs her by the hair. Since her hair is magical and all that.

- “We’re not keeping him.” “But we broke him! We’re responsible for him now.” Okay, I love Wrong Hordak. I love how Bow talks about ‘keeping’ him as if he was a pet. And I also like how Entrapta immediately realizes how useful having him around could be. Also, I love that they name him “Wrong Hordak” and seriously just keep calling him that. 😂

- “I don’t fight for the first ones. I fight for my home, for myself and for my friends.” I honestly really like that the show never showed us the first ones or Adora’s birth family. Not that it would necessarily be a bad thing, but I like the message that it doesn’t really matter where she came from - Etheria is her home and what she’s fighting for and that’s enough.

- “Of course, your Catra.” He said it again!

- “She hoped you would come for her, poor thing.” Oh, the angst is real, I love it! Just thinking about Catra (who’d told Adora to stay away) eventually getting so scared that she started to wish Adora would come for her after all... I love angsty stuff like this.

- Oh, that first look of Catra with the gelled back hair and green eyes is so properly creepy.

- When Wrong Hordak complained about the ship being designed “so that it may only be navigated by one who access to the hivemind” it reminded me of Entrapta’s castle that only she can navigate. I think some people have pointed out before that Entrapta and Horde Prime are foils to each other (especially when it comes to Hordak), so that’s a really nice parallel there.

- How did Glimmer manage to open that door when she’s running from the clones? I thought only the clones could open them? Is that a mistake, or is there some canon explanation?

- “What did you do to her?” Oh, I love it when Adora’s so worried about Catra. These two and how cute they are will be the death of me.

- Oh, Prime’s so creepy when he touches Catra... I love him as a villain, but I love to hate him, you know?

- “My place is with Horde Prime, Adora. I don’t want to leave.” Can we talk about the parallel between this line, and Catra insisting back in season 1 (in Promise, I think) that she doesn’t want to leave the Horde?

- “You broke my heart.” I mean, come on! That’s gay!

- Catra and Adora’s fight is so tragic because it’s the first time they’re fighting but both genuinely don’t want to hurt each other.

- “I’m not leaving without you.” Exactly what Catra wanted to hear from Adora back in The Sword Part 2 - You know what I said in the beginning of this post about their story coming full circle?

- “I don’t wanna hurt you!” “But you have already hurt me.” This is supreme lesbian drama, and it’s so good! (I’ve been waiting so long for a show to give a lesbian romance this kind of attention!)

- Adora’s terrified expression when Catra almost lets herself fall is so painful. And the way she hugs Catra afterwards... my heart.

- Catra and Horde Prime talking together is creepy in just the right way.

- “I always hated that guy in particular.” Hell yes, Glimmer!

- “She was afraid in the end. And she suffered. Perhaps I will make her my new vessel, though she would not last me long.” Oh, the angst hurts so good, I love it! (Why do I love seeing my faves suffer?) Also, this slicked back hairstyle on Catra looks kind of amazing.

- “Why did you come back? We both know I don’t matter.” “You matter to me.” 😭😭😭😭😭😭 Yes, tell her, Adora! Tell her you care! Don’t let her talk herself down like that!

- “Come on, Catra! You’ve never listened to anyone in your life. Are you really going to start now?” I love how this is what gets through to her. I could also just quote the entire dialogue from here because everything about it is pure perfection:

Catra: “You’re such an idiot.”

Adora: [smiling and crying] “Yeah. I know.”

Catra: [laughs]

Adora: “I’m going to take you home.”

Catra: “Promise?”

Adora: “I promise.”

Catra: “Adora...”

I mean, what do I even say to that? Catra affectionately calling Adora an idiot, the callback to Promise, how Adora doesn’t hesitate to say “I promise”, how Catra breaks free of Prime’s control... it’s all so perfect. 😭

- Adora just not hesitating to jump after Catra - that’s love, holy shit!

- God, Aimee’s voice acting when Adora cradles Catra... so good. (And that’s their childhood theme playing in the background.) Didn’t Aimee (or someone else?) say on Twitter that that was intentional since your most vulnerable moments make you feel like a child again, or something like that?

- Adora’s transformation into She-Ra gives me chills every single time. Best scene in the entire show, don’t @ me (or at least second best after the kiss). The way she cradles Catra’s lifeless body, Horde Prime’s taunting words, and then she opens those glowing eyes... amazing. And what makes it even better is that this is her first proper transformation after breaking the sword. We got a tease of it in Stranded, but this is when She-Ra really comes back, and it’s her love for Catra that enables her to transform. PERFECTION.

- “You miscalculated.” Yeah, you miscalculated how gay she is.

- Entrapta whistling Darla over like a dog is amazing. 😂

- Adora carrying Catra bridal style while that epic music plays... I’m living!

- Also, side-note: Adora’s new She-Ra look is SO MUCH BETTER than the old one! She also seems a lot stronger now - look at that fancy stuff she can do with the new sword! (I like the idea that the Sword of Protection was only holding her true power back.)

- That healing scene! Adora’s healed people before, but it’s never looked this gay. And Catra waking up and saying “Hey Adora” is just so fitting.

- That hug... I’m not crying, you’re crying. They’re finally together! And Catra’s clinging to Adora so tightly! 😭 Also, she’s purring! (When I first watched this ep with my sisters, one of them literally went “Finally!” at this moment - mood.)

- Hordak finding the LUVD-Crystal and saying Entrapta’s name also gives me chills. I also just realized that he thought Entrapta was dead until this moment - holy hell!

- One more thing I love about this episode is that their plan to save Catra actually worked. Because it’s a plan that seems so stupid and risky at first, and while you’re watching you kind of expect it to go completely wrong and expect Horde Prime to catch them... and then it seems like he does, only for Adora and her friends to turn things around and succeed. I love that.

- Another thing worth pointing out is the whole symbolism of Catra’s death and rebirth and how it marks the beginning of a new chapter in her life.

So yeah, this is the best She-Ra episode ever, I rest my case. Before I watched season 5, I expected it to be gay (I even estimated the chances of Catradora becoming canon at around 70%), but I didn’t expect it to be THIS gay. This episode went beyond my wildest dreams and expectations. Horde Prime saying “your Catra” twice, that whole “You broke my heart / Prime has set me free of that pain” talk, Adora being so scared for Catra during their fight and so determined to save her, the whole “I’m going to take you home / I promise” part, Adora jumping after Catra and cradling her in her arms, her love for Catra bringing back She-Ra, the bridal carry, the healing scene, the hug, and I could go on. Noelle said on twitter that there were two versions of this episode and the gay version is what we ended up getting - AND IT SHOWS.

This is when I knew for sure that Catradora was going to be canon. Before season 5, I gave it a chance of 70%. After those little hints in the first few episodes, I said 80%. But after Save the Cat, I was 100% sure. I basically already considered it canon after this. I kept wondering how it would happen, but the "if" wasn’t a question to me anymore - so I decided to just lean back and enjoy the ride through the rest of the season :)

[Previous episode]  [Next episode]

[ask-fantasy-sanders-sides]

(Le block dragonwitch) ey Roman can you tell us a little about the Wándërland the travelling troupe thing? How much fun was it?

(Roman grins and laughs,)

Roman: Oh, so much! I’ve spent so much time with them, and they’re lovely people-- they’re like my second family!

Roman: Somiza and EV are the troupe leaders, and the loveliest pair of lesbian aerialists in the kingdom~! Haha! --EV is a mysterious one, and I’m never quite sure what she thinks of me??? But Somiza is darling, the closest thing I have to a sister! I watched her grow up and everything! --They have an adorable adopted baby girl named Peia, I think she’s around five now? She’s very shy, but she likes my stories!

Roman: And there’s Tamaris, he's one of their wizards. Me and him get into plenty of trouble~! --And of course, Pryce would join us, when he was still part of the troupe! Hahaha~! Oh, I almost feel bad for the others, having to deal with us~! Vanessa is another wizard, and she specializes in fire magic, like me!! --She used to be pretty crazy when she was younger, but on more recent visits, I've found she's...much more subdued now. But, she'll still goof around with me when she's in a good mood~! --I suppose I should expect that change in all of them, with time. I know I'm immortal, but it's always going to be a little sour to watch kids grow up on you...

Roman: Speaking of little ones! There's a little boy named Cyrus, and he's so sweet -- He's one of the kids I talked about, who would propose to the handsome prince after a show? Except... frequently, and he was around six? Haha... Now that he's older, he just sees me as a role model, which I am both flattered and relieved by~ I adore him too! Just not.... like that

Roman: Milo and Elias are an adorable couple -- the cook and stableman, respectively. Milo's one of the more serious of them, so I often found myself in his company when I needed a little grounding. He's a gentle giant, though, don't let him scare you~! And Elias has him wrapped around his handsome finger~ Honestly, he's one of the prettiest looking men I've ever met! --And very fun to hang out with, of course~ But seriously.

Roman: Moira is a scholar with a temper -- not unlike Logan, haha~! ...But, Moira could seriously kick my ass. She wouldn’t, though~ She’s very sweet, most of the time! She and Vanessa are an item, if I remember correctly. And there’s Lea! She’s a fire-dancer, and she's like just like herding around a little sibling~! She's always teasing me, but it's all in good fun -- and she never fails to remind me about her opinion on Knights, but I don't take her seriously~ Her twin sister Myra is a much gentler soul. She's very quiet around me, but she's a hopeless romantic, just like I am~ I get started with my stories of knights and princes, and she always lights right up! I'm glad, it's good to see her smile so much.

Roman: Lorilla is an animal tamer -- her bear Caramel is absolutely harmless, though~ -- and she functions as one of the guards of the group. She's kind to me, though I can tell she finds my general persona exhausting. But! I can surely win her over with a few well-placed doe-eyes~! --Raena is the same way; tarot reader, group mom friend, generally kind, but refuses to encourage my grandeur.

Roman: Then there's Dario! Another very handsome dude; if he was gay, he probably would have broken my heart by now~! But, we are very good friends! And he is an excellent fighter! --He didn't believe my "Holy Warrior" act for a second, since he....actually knows how to use a sword. And he's never going to let me live that stunt down... And, there’s our friend Theta! He does a sword routine with Dario, and they’re spectacular~! --Theta is more concerned for my well-being than generally fond of me, though. He’s only thirty, but I’m pretty sure he sees me as a child... Pft! He’s just no fun~!

Roman: And then, of course, there's the tiefling siblings! Missy likes to make fun of me, and Jester is an absolute menace! --He’s Vanessa’s student, I think, but even she can’t get him to stop targeting me... The two of them generally avoid me, really, unless Jester playing a prank on me. I swear, every time I've seen that boy's face, the next second I have something awful in my hair! --Yuuto is another of the younger group, and he doesn't like me much either, for some crazy reason! I think the three of them are working together to be the bane of my free time, sometimes... But despite that, I love them all~

Roman: I've spent a human lifetime with that troupe, and I'd do anything for them. I've many times considered joining them for good, but I'm always drawn back to my temple one way or another... --And of course, now, I have Patton and Logan to stay for! And Virgil too, if he decides to stay with us~!

Roman: Ah, I hope we run into them! I can't wait to see them all again~!

[boneempress]

followup to the thesis: (nearly?) every non-pov woman in htn is a deconstruction of a character trope, & some are associated w/ women and some aren’t? abigail is dorky mom + nerdy librarian except also feral spirit magician & accomplished scholar; dulcinea is... the dulcinea!! surprise!! but instead of a pedestal she gets agency. ianthe is a male trope (draco hotboi) applied to a woman — but mercy’s is the unlikeable woman, mean but not in a hot way, & the deconstruction is she’s a whole person.

I think you could probably extend that last part - “the deconstruction is she’s a whole person” - to the entire cast, even; take Ortus, who seems like he’s going to be a one-dimensional joke character for about one and a half books, until he’s not. But these books are especially rich in female characters who do not fit exactly into their prescribed archetypes.

I also think you can apply it to perspective characters, although we obviously get more complex views into their inner lives and motivations. Gideon is often described in fandom as a himbo because, well, she’s a dumb of ass gold of heart cool sword butch lesbian...but...himbo is a specifically a male trope, and the corresponding female trope from which it is derived, the bimbo, is basically a very stupid but very hot woman who exists to please the male gaze and conform to some ugly misogynist ideas about women. Which is the very opposite of what Gideon Nav is. The point is, there is no such thing as a female himbo who is treated seriously as a character, as far as I’m aware; it’s not a trope that women generally or lesbians and butch lesbians specifically get to have in fiction, but there she is.

And Harrow - Harrow is a lot of things poured into one tiny goth nun witch, not easy to distill into an archetype, but let’s go with ruthless genius who will stop at nothing to get what she wants for one of them. Again, this is not a trope that is especially common for female characters. Further, while it’s how she’s presented at the beginning of Gideon the Ninth (by Gideon) and how she perceives herself, it’s not even really accurate to her. She’s not self-motivated by the attaining of power, and acts almost entirely in the interests of the people of the Ninth House, who she’s been left to care for by the world’s worst adults since the age of 10. She’s not ruthless, she loves deeply even if she’s incapable of conceptualizing or vocalizing it properly, she feels the weight of every one of the 200 dead souls exacted as the price paid for her life, and especially the 201st; I don’t believe her for a second when she says she’d do what her parents did over again if given the choice. She doesn’t even kill “Ortus”/Gideon Prime/(actually it was Pyrrha in that scene in the incinerator) when given the chance, and he’d spent the entire book up to that point trying to murder her. She upends everything you are meant to expect about her and from her as a character from her introduction as the sort of person who’d spend all night digging in hard dirt to bury some bones with which to beat the shit out of Gideon Nav.

(This will sound silly but I’ve never even thought about Dulcinea as Dulcinea from Don Quixote, the perfect exalted woman-on-a-pedestal who both Palamedes and Gideon treat as a recipient of their chivalry, mostly because, like Gideon, I never think unless I have to. Interestingly, she gets agency and is a crucial plot driver in both versions - Cytherea obviously needs no one’s help with anything, while Dulcie chooses the manner of her own [soul] death and does so in a way that fundamentally changes Harrow’s decisions about herself and Gideon at the very climax of HtN.)

[the-everqueen]

why i disliked “the traitor baru cormorant”

so...recently i read Seth Dickinson’s The Traitor Baru Cormorant. i bought it thinking, Cool, an insightful fantasy series for me to get into while i wait to hear whether i passed my qualifying exams! i have some time before the semester starts! 

and then i absolutely hated it and spent every minute cataloguing what i thought Dickinson got wrong.

...uh, if you want to get the tl;dr of the liveblog i gave the gf, here’s the top three reasons i disliked this book:

1) not a fan of the “strong female character” trope

yes, Baru doesn’t sling around a sword or shoot arrows better than Anyone In The Whole World. but Dickinson IMMEDIATELY tells us (not shows, tells) that she’s good at math, she’s clever at picking apart strategic scenarios, she’s a savant. (tbh, i don’t love how he shows this, either, with the standard child-prodigy-who-catches-the-attention-of-a-powerful-adult trope.) in Dickinson’s crafted world, her math skills aren’t entirely unusual: women (for...some reason?) are stereotyped as being good at calculations, despite also being aligned with hysteria and too many emotions. this bothers me more than it’s probably supposed to, because the sexism in this novel doesn’t really seem to follow an internal logic. i guess it’s so we can have a woman as the protagonist? also...hoo boy...her “savant” characterization bothers me because...she’s heavily coded as South East Asian (...maaaybe Philippines or Native Hawaii, but as i’ll get to later, Dickinson doesn’t make a huge distinction). uh...model minority stereotypes anyone? yes, within the text, plenty of people associated with the Empire comment that it’s impressive someone of her background got into a position of power so young. at the same time, i’m sure that sounds familiar to so many Asian-identified people! the constant tightrope of being expected to perform to a certain (white, Western) standard while also being Othered. mostly this bothers me because Baru is also characterized as...a sellout for the Empire. sure, her stated goal is to undo the Empire from within, but [MAJOR SPOILERS] in the end it appears that her actual goal was to attain enough power that the Empire would let her be a benevolent dictator over her home island? and it’s only after a major PERSONAL betrayal that she revises this plan? [END SPOILERS] Baru also assimilates without much pain or sacrifice. she hardly ever thinks about her parents or her childhood home. she willingly strips herself of cultural signifiers and adapts to Empire norms (apart from being a closeted lesbian, which...yeah, i’ll get to that, too). and it’s not that Dickinson doesn’t TRY to make her a nuanced character, but...to me, it feels so painfully obvious that this is not his experience. it feels almost...voyeuristic. 

...much like his descriptions of wlw desire!

2) we get it, you read Foucault

the categories of sexual deviance are based entirely on a Western Victorian-era medical discourse around non-heterosexual forms of desire, but Dickinson ignores the network of sociocultural, religious, and historical contexts that contributed to that specific kind of discourse. he uses the terms “tribadism” and “sodomy” but those ideas CANNOT EXIST outside a Euro-American Christian context. yes, a huge part of the 19th century involved the pathologization of sexual and romantic desire (or lack thereof). but that in turn goes back to a history of medicine that relied on the “scientific method” as a means of studying and dissecting the human body--and that method in itself is a product of Enlightenment thinking. Theorist Sylvia Wynter (whomst everyone should read, imho) discusses how the Enlightenment attempted to make the Human (represented by a cisgender, heteronormative, white man) an agent of the State economy. every categorization of so-called deviance goes back to white supremacist attempts to define themselves as ‘human’ against a nonwhite, non-Christian Other. and IN TURN that was ultimately founded on anti-Black, anti-Indigenous racism. at this point it’s a meme in academic circles to mention Foucault, because so many scholars don’t go any further in engaging with his ideas or acknowledge their limits. but SERIOUSLY. Dickinson crafts the Masquerade as this psuedo-scientific empire that’s furthering erasure of native cultures, but...where did these ideas come from? who created them? what was the justification that gave them power? [MINOR SPOILER] blaming the Empire’s ideology on a handful of people behind the Mask who crafted this entire system makes me...uncomfortable, to say the least. part of what gives imperialism its power is that a lot of ordinary people buy in to its ideas, because it aligns with dominant belief systems or gives them some sense of advantage. 

also speaking of cultural erasure...

3) culture is more than set dressing

again, to reiterate: Baru does NOT think back to her childhood home for longer than a couple passing sentences at various points in the narrative. but even though the early chapters literally take place on her home island, i don’t get a sense of...lived experience. this is true of ALL of the fantasy analogues Dickinson has created in his Empire. i felt uncomfortably aware of the real world counterparts that Dickinson was drawing inspiration from. at the same time...there are basically no details to really breathe life into these various fantasy cultures. i HATE the trope of “fantasy Asia” or “fantasy Africa” or “fantasy Middle East” that’s rampant among white male sff writers. Dickinson does not get points from me for basically just expanding that to “fantasy South East Asia,” “fantasy Mongolia,” “fantasy South America,” and... “fantasy Africa,” plus some European cultures crammed in there. he’s VERY OBVIOUSLY drawing on those languages for names, but otherwise there’s no real sense of their religious practices, the nuances of their cultures, the differences between those cultures (besides physiological, which...oh god). part of that is probably supposed to be justified by “well, the Empire just erased it!!!” but that’s not an excuse imho. 

also...in making the Empire the ultimate signifier of the evils of imperialism...Dickinson kind of leans into the “noble savage” stereotype. Baru’s home island is portrayed as this idyllic environment where no one is shamed for who they love and gender doesn’t determine destiny and there are no major conflicts. (there is a minor nod to some infighting, but this is mostly a “weakness” that the Masquerade uses as an excuse to obliterate a whole tribe.) Dickinson justifies young Baru’s immediate assimilation as her attempt to figure out the Masquerade’s power from within, but given that the Masquerade presumably killed one of her dads and her mom maybe advocates a guerilla resistance...it’s weird that Baru basically abandons her family without a second thought. yeah, i get that she’s a kid when the Masquerade takes over the island, but...that’s still a hugely traumatic experience! the layers of trauma and conditioning and violence that go into this level of colonization are almost entirely externalized. 

(later it’s implied that Baru might qualify as a psychopath, and tbh that feels like an excuse for why we haven’t gotten any sense of her inner world, not to mention kind of offensive.) 

this isn’t exhaustive but...

it’s not that i don’t think white people shouldn’t ever address POC experiences in their books. just...if your entire trilogy is going to revolve around IMPERIALISM IS BAD, ACTUALLY, maybe you should contribute to the discourse that Black, Brown, and Indigenous authors have already done. reading this book made me so, so angry. i did not feel represented! i felt like i was being talked down to, both on a critical theory level AND on a craft level. there are SO MANY books by actual BIPOC and minority authors that have done this better. N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy and her current Cities series. Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti trilogy. Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House remains one of the more powerful novels i’ve read on how The System Is Out To Destroy You, That Is The Point. (Bardugo is non-practicing Spanish and Moroccan Jewish on one side of her family, and her character Alex is mixed and comes from a Jewish background!) 

...

there’s not really a point to this. i get a lot of people have raved about this book. good for them. if that’s you, no judgment. i’m not trying to argue IF YOU LIKED THIS YOU ARE PROBLEMATIC. i’m just kind of enraged that a white dude wrote about a Brown lesbian under a colonial empire and that THIS Brown lesbian under a colonial empire couldn’t even get behind the representation. also kind of annoyed that it’s the Empire of Masks and Dickinson either hasn’t read Fanon or didn’t see fit to slip in a Fanon reference, which like. missed opportunity. 

[archer3-13]

people are upset, and people are upset people are upset, and i get it thats just how the media climate is these days, but from what im getting/hearing second hand the bigger problem with masters of the universe revelations is that it hit on a really good idea and then doesn't use it as much as it should. and im not even talking about he-man/adam dying cause really, thats a done to death concept that usually has a lot of fertile ground to explore but no one seriously takes. I'm more so referring to how centering a story on liara having to struggle with reconciling adam and he-man as the same person would have been good ground to develop an interesting story, it's just a shame the show doesnt actually do that from what i've heard.

like, hear me out: adam and skeletor die as does man at arms/duncan cause hes not going to be doing anything anyways so might as well have him exit stage left, as a means of kicking off the story. liara, understandably upset that not only her best friend/possible love interest is dead but also her father [figure? idk im not familiar with he-man] is dead as well and the secret of adam being he-man let slip just before adam died and theres no one around/left to explain wtf just happened, gets upset and caught up in an emotional roller coaster gets into an altercation with the king and queen and when they cant provide any answers her mood gets worse and she begins to slip into a paranoia in the heat of the moment. point being, she leaves, its framed as a bad thing, and we smash cut to her being a miserable paranoid mercenary smashing faces for fast cash and living day by day pushing everyone out of her life cause its easier then dealing with the cluster fuck of feelings about the entire incident.

liara, now at her lowest point then gets the call to adventure that magic is dying in eternia and thats a bad thing cause that means everythings gonna get fucked/the world will end. pushed into the adventure by necessity of not wanting the world to blow up, liara reluctantly tags along with her token lesbian sidekick who takes the roll of the plucky optimistic youth to counter and question liaras new found cynicism and angst and they go on an adventure to unfuck the world. over its course liaras new friend helps liara rationalize and sort out her feelings over her life effectively falling apart, which coincides with liara gradually beginning to regain positivity in her life and hope culminating in liara and adam meeting again in he-man valhalla.

here they get to sit down and talk about adams perspective on the issue, about how adam almost resented the he-man powers and persona to an extent because it symbolized to him his own weakness and inability to protect eternia and his friends without it, how he carried on the role because he felt it was more important to protect eternia and his friends then wallow in his own misery, and importantly he reconciles with liara over keeping he-man a secret saying that well he justified it as keeping his friends and family safe it hurt liara regardless by implying he didn't trust her enough to tell her. liara accepts the apology happy to have gotten to settle things with adam, apologizes herself for having 'lost her way' for a while and resolves to save eternia not just for her own ends but for everyones sake. then ya have things play out much the same as before, adam returns to eternia to fix the sword despite having to give up his place in he-man Valhalla to do so, almost succeeds but then gets stabbed by skeletor making a power play and the... season[?] ends with a cliffhanger.

bim bam boom.

[medea10]

Medea’s Worst Year of All-Time Anime/Game Superlative

Nobody saw this year coming…except for maybe Barbara Walters! Who could have predicted that this year would bless us with Australia burning, the entire west coast of the U.S. set on fire, stupid people setting fires because they wanted to reveal a baby’s gender, murder hornets, Ruth Bader Ginsburg dying, an almost war with Iran, serial killer mascots arrested, policemen killing unarmed black folks for having a counterfit $20, policemen killing unarmed black folks for breaking up a fight, policemen killing black folks for holding sandwiches, policemen killing unarmed black folks for fucking sleeping, a wide variety of “Karens” coming out of the woodworks, the end of Bojack, the end of Steven Universe, the end of Empire, and a pandemic so huge it’s killed the economy, canceled fun, and given the U.S. president the dumb-fuck idea of injecting bleach to kill the virus!?

SERIOUSLY, WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED ALL OF THIS WAS GOING TO FALL IN OUR LAPS LIKE HOT COFFEE ON THE CROTCH?!

At least there was anime this year.

…

At least there was SOME anime this year.

…

Biden won the election and Vickeblanca came out with Black Catcher this year.

Hey internet, it’s Medea here to give you her trashy opinion on this years anime and games that she’s watched or played. Because for some reason, my loser-ass loves to do out-dated as fuck memes! I shouldn’t complain, this shit brings a lot of attention to my page every year when I do this. Yes, 2020 was a complete dumpster fire so large that Domestic Girlfriend is crying foul. Many of us had to go on lockdown and ended up binge-watching the entire 957+ episodes of One Piece. I did no such thing. I am one of those “essential workers” so I didn’t hunker down for 9 months straight. But when I was home, I was watching anime. Actually, I would have done that even without the pandemic. I’m an introvert and find the human race to be deplorable.

You all know how this goes. I go over the best this year had to offer me. I had to search really hard to find the good in this year, especially in the anime world. Many things had to be put on hiatus or were delayed to a later date. Just a reminder, I don’t discriminate in what year the anime or game came out. If something came out in the happier times of 2007, that anime or game counts! Let’s get at it!

First Fandom of 2020: Interspecies Reviewers

Did anyone expect a fan-favorite of 2020 was going to be a hentai? Did anyone have on their batshit 2020 bingo card that a hentai was going to grab everybody’s attention? At the beginning of the year, my mind was set on the Railgun sequel and Eizoken. It wasn’t until licensors, streaming sites, and TV stations in Japan dropped this series that I started to pay attention. And got immediately hooked! It’s about three men going to different brothels and reviewing their time with the ladies. And these ladies are of different species! So with every bang comes possible enlightenment, new kinks, or a night of having your dick sucked off more than humanly possible. This anime blew away all of my skepticism and first impressions right out the window. Maybe it’s because I’m a degenerate and am often curious about sexual content, but this was a guilty pleasure of mine this year.

Favorite Main Character of 2020: Moroha from Yashahime

I know the majority of this story is going to revolve around Towa and Setsuna, but can we please focus a little more energy on the spunky, quarter-demon girl?! I know they’re pitting Moroha as the comic relief, but I’m hopeful that she’s going to surprise us one day. We fans of InuYasha would spend the past decade and some change wondering what InuYasha and Kagome’s daughter would be like. This year, we got our answer with Moroha. She’s got this wild side to her, probably due to the fact that she’s spent her entire life on her own. And while she’s silly at times, she can get down to business in a pinch. She has her father’s sense of smell. She has a sword. She’s able to shoot sacred arrows much like her mother. And to top it all off, she has this special rouge that if she puts it on, she’s able to unleash that ¼ demon power inside her and become Beniyasha! Yeah, I know the power only lasts a minute, she’s only 14, give her a break! I will gladly go through another week scratching my head at the confusion this story gives me if I get to see one more second of Moroha and her crazy antics or her bad-ass slaying.

Favorite Villain of 2020: The Devil Believers from Black Clover

This was one hell of a year for Black Clover. It would have been an easy choice to pick the devil and possible super devil that appeared during the elf fight. But I’d like to give a nod to the filler arc villains. And you can’t blame this group for wanting the power of the devil. They’re literally the bottom-rung of the Clover Kingdom and ones with little to no power or mana. So I can agree with why they would want the power of the devil. For one thing, they’d have more power. And for another thing, they’d be able to exact revenge on those who have wronged them. On some occasions I agree with exacting revenge and when it comes to the nobles and some characters in Black Clover, some folks do deserve death. I mean, have you met the king of the Clover Kingdom? Plus, this town and many other poorer towns get looked over by the kingdom. Peasant uprise! Anyways, I thought these people were really crafty in their crimes. I mean, they were able to knock Asta out on his ass with specially made poisons. I was actually hooked to this story of Black Clover (despite it being a filler arc). I know we’ll never see them again as they have been exiled, but it did have me semi-rooting for them.

Favorite Video Game Character of 2020: Honey from Pokemon – Sword & Shield (Expansion Pass)

Sorry Raymond from Animal Crossing!

Honey is the saucy wife of Mustard…I did not expect that to come out the way it did, but here we are! She has one hell of a team you can fight once a day. She looks out for her husband, the dojo, and the students of the dojo like they were her own children by providing food, drinks, and others. However that does come at a price as you do have to give up a sizable chunk of your watts that you collect in raid dens. I’m sure a bunch of MILF chasers were more than happy enough to give her all their hard-earned watts just so they can have their one-on-one moment on the beach with Honey.

What won me over was when that one guy from a rival dojo bad-mouthed her husband’s dojo and she…I think she kicked this guy’s ass herself. I don’t think she used any of her pokemon. Game Freak won’t show it, but we all know she kicked this guy’s ass to a point where he’s begging for mercy.

Honey, for the win!

Favorite Game of 2020: Animal Crossing New Horizons

This game was just Zen for me. I know the release of this game came with some controversy like Gamestop saying it’s an essential business and will remain open for people to get their copies of the game. Hell, I was one of those assholes in line waiting to get a copy on March 20th. Did I predict that a pandemic was going to rage out of control when I got a prepay copy of this for Christmas 2019? NO! I only predict political things, not deadly pandemics! The good news, we social distanced, didn’t catch the covid and got the game.

Anyways, this game has been a non-stop calming and fun ride. I can even forgive their botch-up of Bunny Day. They even have events for holidays I never thought they would ever touch. I mean, does anybody know when Museum Day is? Probably not until Animal Crossing had an event for it! I’ve been able to let my freak-flag fly with designing my island. And this goes way beyond New Leaf for the 3DS. I can make a sign post with the words “Fuck Trump” on it and post it in my yard. I can dig up trees and plant them elsewhere. I can poop in a toilet. I can craft furniture and put my own design on it. My furniture can have Tracey Sketchit’s beautiful mug on it. I can sit on Tracey Sketchit’s face. I am a sick fuck and I don’t care. I can give Raymond and Bob maid outfits. Magical time in my game! My hopes for next year…I don’t know, get the Festivale furniture, get Papi and Olivia to join my island, maybe visit Danny Trejo’s island, who knows, sky’s da limit!

Favorite Het Couple of 2020: Nasa and Tsukasa Yuzaki from Tonikawa

This is one of the most unorthodox marriages I’ve ever seen. But in this 90 Day Fiance world we’re living in, I shouldn’t pass judgement on these two getting married in episode one and not knowing much about each other. Nasa meets Tsukasa as he was about to be plowed by a truck. Tsukasa saves his life. Nasa says she’s beautiful. Tsukasa says she’ll be his girlfriend if they get married. He agrees. She disappears. Four years later, Tsukasa appears in front of Nasa’s front door with a marriage registration form. Congratulations buddy, you’ve got yourself a waifu! In some way, this felt like watching Yamato and Takeo from My Love Story. I was fascinated with them progressing through their relationship. The only difference is that Yamato and Takeo took the old-fashioned route. This couple did everything ass-backwards in terms of having a relationship. But I couldn’t take my eyes off Nasa and Tsukasa’s relationship during each episode. I find them cute.

Favorite Yuri Couple of 2020: Karin Asaka x Emma Verde from Love Live Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

AAAAAAAAAH! I’M IN IDOL HELL AGAIN! Yeah, no kidding! I came this close to putting Miu x Nicole from that abomination 22/7. But thank God for Love Live! There’s no telling if any of the girls from the Love Live franchise are confirmed to be lesbians. But fuck it, all of them attend all-girl schools, no males exist anywhere, and Sunshine gave us Kanan x Mari! Yeah, you know Kanan and Mari is canon as fuck, don’t at me. So naturally, I found more third-years to ship in the new Love Live series. Now I know I should have put up Ai x Rina or Ayumu x Yuu. Especially the latter due to recent events! But Emma x Karin is my OTP.

Now Emma is an exchange student from Switzerland and in coming to Nijigasaki, she first meets Karin and they became instant friends. When Emma said she wants to become an idol, Karin helped her quite a bit. Even though Karin had no interest in being an idol as her modeling career is starting up, Karin would occasionally help Emma out. And surprise, surprise, Karin ends up fascinated with the idol world and Emma helps her come to the light to be herself there. Okay, I’m totally reading this in some fragmented way, but I’m currently playing Love Live School Idol Festival All Stars and the app game has a lot more stuff involving stuff the anime has yet to talk about. Confirmed or not, Karin x Emma for the win!

Favorite Yaoi Couple of 2020: Eiji Okumura x Ash Lynx from Banana Fish

It took me a while to get here, but I finally made it to 2018’s overlooked gem. Forgive me for not being fully caught up, but from what I’m watching at the moment, I’m sticking to my guns and supporting the hell out of this. I mean, I could have mentioned The Titan’s Bride here…but fuck no, I ain’t goin’ down that mess! Ash has gone through a lot, I mean a helluva lot in his past. His cute boy looks have made him a target on the streets of New York, with mafia dons, and with prison inmates. But dude can kill if you mess with him. Then you have Eiji, who is just a literal example of a “pure cinnamon roll (until episode 8)”. These two are as opposite as you can possibly get. Ash is from New York and Eiji is from Japan. Ash likes hot dogs with everything on it. Eiji likes grilled fish and natto. Ash spent the majority of his life killing on the streets. Eiji was a track superstar. You get my meaning. But when we got these two together it’s quite adorable. Ash is really able to change when he’s around Eiji. Ash isn’t some heartless killer on the street about to kill a thug with prosthetic fingers. When he’s with Eiji, he’s a joker that can easily get scared of pumpkins. And even in later episodes, you got these two acting like a husband and wife.

Fandom That You Didn’t Expect to Get Into: Les Miserables – A Girl Named Cosette

Let me explain a little something. Les Mis! I have never seen the play, watched the movie, or read the novel prior to picking up this anime. Not a single one of those! And that’s a bit of a head-scratcher when you realize I was a bit of a musical theater nut in my teenage years. But one thing I do like is when Japan does an anime based on plays or historical events (like Romeo x Juliet or Rose of Versailles). The second I popped in Les Miserables the anime, I wanted to binge watch the whole 52 episode series. It is by no means a perfect adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. Several key players end up surviving all the way up to the end of the story! But because this was my very first viewing of anything Les Mis, I took to the story of Cosette and was eager to see what was going to happen next in her tale. Unlike the movies and play, Cosette was the main focus of the story besides Jean Valjean and Javert. And thanks to watching the unfortunate stories of Cosette, Jean Valjean, the Thenadiers, Javert, Marius, and the rest, I thought it was time to watch the OTHER adaptations to Les Mis.

…

Russell Crowe sucks.

Fandom That Made An Unexpected Comeback: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni

Higurashi or When They Cry is one of my favorite fandoms of all time! So naturally when we heard that it was making a comeback, I was excited. It was also very odd that Higurashi was given this sequel or reboot. Ahem! There’s another franchise that needs a face-lift. Umineko still deserves a better treatment. Plus, now that this series was out of the faulty hands of Studio Deen, Higurashi will get the special care it deserves. Believe it or not, it wasn’t just the anime that made a comeback for me, but the manga as well. Since 2009, I’ve read several volumes (out of order) and would every now and then come back to read the story. Back to the anime, this reboot or sequel…you know what, I’m gonna call it a “rebooqual”! This rebooqual sucked me back to the town of Hinamizawa and all the murders. Every week, I find myself comparing the current episode to one from the 2006 version. But then the fourth episode of each arc seems to catch me off guard.

Where are they going with this story and these twist endings to our favorite arcs? I did not expect Rena to turn a simple attempted murder into the end of School Days! I didn’t expect Rika to die in the most disgusting fashion they could think of. Could someone kill Teppei fucking Hojo? I will pay ¥5000 for someone to do that job. So yeah, because I know how much of this plays out and who does what, I’m usually watching and reading while making wise-ass remarks. But I still have fun with it.

Fandom That Inspired the Most Crack: Konosuba

In a year where I caught up with the popular Isekais like Shield Hero and Re:Zero, I found the wacky misadventures of Kazuma Satou to be amusing as all get-out. From the first 5 minutes, I found myself laughing at Kazuma’s misfortune. Seriously, how the fuck do you mistake a tractor for a car, have a heart attack, piss yourself, and fucking die in the first couple minutes to the series? You can only get away with this shit in gag animes! But it’s not just Kazuma’s dumbass, there’s a mage who only does explosions, but loses all her energy after one blow-up. Then there’s a busty, blonde who gets turned on by getting hurt and can’t strike anything with her sword. Anime’s biggest masochist or Cheryl Tunt incarnate, I haven’t decided which one to believe! Then you have this loud, crazy goddess chick named Aqua. She’s also useless about 86% of the time! Watching their unfortunate missions is all the crack that I need to get through this year. Seriously, Darkness is just all kinds of fucked up, but we love her.

Last Fandom of 2020: Yashahime

That’s right, the InuYasha sequel gets top spot here! Even though week after week I find myself asking more questions than when the episode started, I’m still hooked. If you’re like me, you watched and fell in love with the series InuYasha. So if they’re doing a sequel, you’re expecting to see all of your favorite characters from the prequel like InuYasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Sesshomaru, Koga, Rin, and the rest. Actually, no! Quite the opposite! We’ve got Sesshomaru’s daughters, but no Sesshomaru. Rin is sleeping in a tree we think! We’ve got InuYasha and Kagome’s daughter, but they’re M.I.A. None of the girls even know a thing about their birth parents.

Now are these new characters a catch like the ones from the previous series? Some are! The three main girls, yes! Especially Moroha! I’ve already praised her name earlier in the superlative. Towa and Setsuna do take on some personality traits from their parents. Setsuna is definitely serious like Sesshomaru and Towa sometimes has a carefree yet loyal aura to her like Rin. I know I’m always skeptical when a series gives us a sequel featuring the offspring of the main characters. Especially when you’ve got some lame examples like Boruto and Eureka Seven AO (I might retract my diss on Boruto later)! As each week gives us a new episode, we’re unraveling new clues into a lot of things involving our old favorite characters, as well as the new ones. So I have high hopes for Yashahime for the time being!