#There isn't enough talk about this series.

[comicaurora]

Just saw the announcement about Heartwood Coven, and I'm super excited!

I know that when you're exploring a genre, either for the first time, or just the first time in a while, sometimes inspirations for new Trope Talks emerge, and as a fan of spaces adjacent to Magical Girl media (Kamen Rider, mostly, but Ultraman, Super Sentai/Power Rangers, and Garo also exist, just to scratch the surface), I honestly find it kind of difficult to think of any tropes in the space that don't just devolve into little trivia factoids, or a 'Yup, that sure is a thing they do!', despite being in the space for decades. But I also know you have a keener eye for media tropes than I personally do.

So, all that is to ask, are there any tropes in that space that have caught your attention recently? This isn't even specifically asking about a potential future video, just in general.

The ingredients for a Sentai/Magical Girl story are very distinctive, especially when compared to other superhero genres!

Comes As A Set! Everyone in a thematic team has acquired their powers the same way, and the powers are very minor variants off of each other - one character might have The Specialest Version where their powers are strongest and their heart is Most Pure, but everyone else will be running at the same power level with almost no specialization. This sounds obvious, but almost no other superhero team does this. Even the X-Men, whose powers are all Being Mutants, come across as a seriously varied menagerie with wildly disparate power levels. Everyone being The Same Thing In A Different Color is pretty unique to this space!

Monster Of The Week: Not the only genre this appears in, but one of the only spaces where it's straight-up down to a science. The big bad of a series like this will only make a real appearance in the grand season finale. Until then, the team will be fighting their lieutenants' minions at a rate of one per episode. The big bad doesn't even usually deign to make the minions themselves, since they're much too busy standing in their recycled animation evil lair. The minions will have unique gimmicks, but will share similar levels of thematic and structural closeness with one another that the heroes do - they'll all be kaiju, or walking evil spells, or disgruntled citizens gifted thematically inconvenient superpowers. Where are these minions coming from? Sometimes the answer is "they cook em up at home" and sometimes it's "they corrupt innocent people so the heroes have to go nonlethal." It doesn't make much difference in the execution, so it's mostly dealer's choice.

So Many Wonderful Toys! These heroes aren't afraid to accessorize, and the merchandising department also says we have to. When the formula needs mixing up, just give someone a new weapon or vehicle or mech or powerup macguffin. And unless you're only giving the upgrade to the Designated Specialest Pure Of Heart one, make sure to bring enough for the rest of the team, because this is a good way to bring in a round of powerups for everyone and give them some new stock animations to reuse every episode!

There's Only One Way To Win And It's Teamwork. My personal gripe with a lot of these stories is that, by nature of the formula, the characters usually end up becoming largely interchangeable in a fight, because nobody is allowed to win before they do the Big Finisher they always use. And if the Big Finisher is "the most specialest pure of heart character remembers their job and blasts them with the Friendship Laser" that means the rest of the gang is basically on minion-punching duty and repeating "no way! my attack had no effect?!" Every fight has to run through everyone's big canned moves, usually one at a time, and since none of them will do any appreciable damage then they'll combine their giant robots or wait for the leader to bust out the Friendship Cannon and the fight will be over. I think this one's genuinely kind of a weakness of the format; it's pretty rare for a single non-leader character to get a day in the limelight or end up having the exact ability the week's bad guy is allergic to. Nobody gets an individual chance to shine unless the writers intentionally break the formula to make it happen.

The Sixth Ranger! You thought your team of five color-coordinated thematically linked cool guys was complete, but surprise! There are more colors/planets/dinosaurs than just the starting five, and some powerfull badass with unknown morals and a frightening reputation has just turned up wearing your team's matching outfit! Because the team comp is so ironclad compared to other superhero formats, this is always very disruptive and kind of a big shakeup that could restructure the whole status quo, unlike in typical superhero teams where individual attendance is optional and it's not a dealbreaker whether or not Wolverine is in this week.

And Your Friend Steve: someone's will they/won't they significant other is constantly hanging around the fights, in or out of a secret identity of their own, and their main contribution is to get kidnapped by the big bad, brainwashed by the big bad, or kidnapped and then brainwashed by the big bad. Outside of their busy schedule their main narrative role is to reinforce the Secret Identity concept that would otherwise risk slipping out of relevance. It's easier to remember your identity is supposed to be secret when Your Friend Steve keeps turning up at fights.

Bumbling Minions, Serious Boss - this is just an observation on my end, but it's quite common for the villain's crew of lieutenants to be somewhat more comedic than the main Big Bad - whether they're just a couple wacky minions or the comedy comes from how flustered they get when they inevitably lose, comedy is derived from them experiencing the wrath of their evil boss after the good guys win. But all this levity drains away as the lieutenants get whittled down and the finale approaches, and even if the villain has seemed clownish in the safe confines of their lair, when they actually go on the warpath and become the main present threat, they stop being funny entirely. Or, failing that, they get usurped by a new, worse villain, and they become the cartoonish lieutenant to the new guy. Villain chains of command get complicated.

The magical girl equivalent of the shonen anime Super Saiyan transformations is Pretty Dresses. The escalating ornate-ness of a magical girl's Pretty Dress corresponds one-to-one to the Bigness and Glowiness of a Super Saiyan's hair and reflects the reality-warping power contained within. Sailor Moon in a lacey bridal gown with gauzey diaphenous wings and a tiara is the kind of threat Goku would save in his contacts as "new sparring partner"

[babyangelsky]

My Favorite QL Kisses of 2024 💖✨

Welcome to Babyangelsky's 2024 Wrap Up! To commemorate my second year of watching QL dramas, and my first year of actually talking on my blog, I've compiled a series of lists to celebrate all the QL things I loved this year!

Please feel free to take my categories and make lists of your own and tag me in them if you do!

💜 All the lists can be found here! 💜

From horny kisses to sweet kisses, lip kisses to hand kisses, and everything in between, these were my favorites of the year. A few couples feature twice but that doesn't mean I love the others any less, it just means I couldn't decide between two.

♡ Rak x Mut Blinding Blue Jellyfish Light of Love Kiss (Love Sea)

Fort and Peat are such good on-screen kissers that I could've honestly chosen any other kiss from this show and it would've been amazing but! Blinding light of love kisses are my favorite kisses so it had to be this one.

♡ God x Diew Pilot Kiss (Monster Next Door)

YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH I WISH THIS KISS HAD MADE IT INTO THE SHOW. THIS KISS SINGLE-HANDEDLY CONVINCED ME TO EVEN WATCH THE SHOW IN FIRST PLACE.

Pilot kiss you will always be famous.

♡ Jack x Joke First Kiss (Jack & Joker)

Now THAT is how you resolve the tension. Sometimes the slow burn is really a slow fuse and at the end you get a very hungry, very horny explosion. Thank you, YinWar.

♡ Gi Seop x Jin Woo Under the Bed Kiss (Boys Be Brave!)

There's just something about this scene that really made it stick with me. It means everything to me that Jin Woo was the one to kiss first after he spent so much time and energy trying to run away from his feelings. I always love when I can see the exact moment someone gives in.

♡ Yuan x Qian Morning After Kisses (Unknown)

Quite possibly one of my favorite morning after scenes ever. Tender and sleepy and soft and filled with the relief of finally having something you've wanted your entire life but never believed you could have.

♡ Korn x Tonkla Reunion Kiss (4 Minutes)

Did I spend the entire show wanting Tonkla to kill Korn? Absolutely, and I still wish he had but you know what? Tonkla wanted Korn and I want Tonkla to get everything he wants in this life. Also it was just a really damn good kiss.

♡ Vivi x Mook Couch Kiss (Love Sea)

Vivi could neither communicate her feelings effectively nor follow her own excellent advice but what she could do was kiss the breath out of Mook and do it very well.

♡ Haruki x Jin Playground Kiss (Our Youth)

It's not just that this is the first time we could see Jin actively kiss Haruki back, and with the blinding light of love illuminating them no less. It's also that Jin finally allowed himself to voice his genuine desires and be selfish and allowed himself to give in to the moment.

♡ Moo x Kang Boyfriend Proposal Kiss (Only Boo!)

MY ADORABLE BOYS ARE FINALLY BOYFRIENDS FOR GOOD!They're living their dreams, they're in love, and they're letting the whole world know it, together.

♡ Anin x Pin "It's Still Noon" Kiss (The Loyal Pin)

After so many years of yearning, there was not a force on this earth that could've stopped Anin from making time with her girl at every opportunity. Who cares if it's noon, they're in their house and food shouldn't be the only thing that gets eaten in that dining room.

♡ Kyousuke x Isumi Confession Cheek Kiss (Sugar Dog Life)

Listen. Sometimes, when you are in love with someone who is very sweet and oblivious, a simple confession isn't enough. You need to hit them over the head with your feelings, or kiss them as the case may be, to help them along and realize their own.

♡ Yak x Dee Over the Shoulder Kiss (Wandee Goodday)

It's just such a pretty kiss. They both are, but that cheek kiss hits especially good with that blissed out look on Dee's face. My love of blinding light of love kisses might have some serious competition from pink light kisses.

♡ Jane x Ryan Tippy Toes Kiss (The Trainee)

Their first kiss, which took place just moments before, was perfectly lovely. I enjoyed it a lot. BUT THIS SECOND KISS? THIS LITTLE PECK WHICH RYAN ASKED FOR BY SIMPLY STANDING UP ON HIS TIPPY TOES? SUBLIME. PEAK ROMANCE.

♡ Meiji x Freya Lipstick Kiss (Deep Night: The Two of Us)

The correct way to apply lipstick. The only way to apply lipstick actually.

♡ Do Hoe x Ju Yeong Snack Time Cheek Kisses (Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo)

This? This was what we deserved. We deserved the achingly sweet domesticity of Ju Yeong bringing Do Hoe snacks while he studied and kissing his cheek every time. We deserved to see them in matching fuzzy teddy bear couple pajamas.

IT'S WHAT WE DESERVED!

♡ Phee x Non Pink Kiss (Dead Friend Forever)

I was thrilled for this kiss by mere virtue of finally getting to see Ta and Barcode kiss, but the expression on Non's face? The pink lighting? Phenomenal.

We really could've had it all. Rolling in the deep. 🥲

♡ Takashi x Hiro Claiming Kiss (Love is Better the Second Time Around)

A hickey may be the result, but every hickey begins life as a kiss. And this kiss was a symbol of Hiro's desire to feel like Takashi was really his, to not feel like an outsider in Takashi's life, and to be someone Takashi could share everything with.

♡ Huaien x Xiaobao Blinding Light of Love Kiss (Meet You at the Blossom)

Sometimes a good kiss is more than just a good kiss, which this was. Sometimes it's about what the kiss means to the people watching it. Sometimes it's about the fact that it exists and that people get to watch it at all.

♡ San x Vee Forehead Kiss (Century of Love)

This kiss was such a gentle, loving reassurance that Vee would take the lead and take care of San during their first time being intimate together.

♡ Myung Ha x Yeo Woon First Kiss (Love for Love's Sake)

So incredibly visually pleasing and also: "You're my first everything". My heart. My entire heart and soul. Has anything ever been as earnest as those words and this kiss?

♡ Ming x Joe Face Sniff Kisses (My Stand-In)

This is exactly the sort of tenderness Joe always deserved from the man he loved. Even though it took a thousand agonizing years for Ming to get his shit together and give it to him, better late than never. Plus, I always love when we get sniff kisses.

♡ Sun x Junior First Kiss (Caged Again)

What an absolutely perfect, absolutely lovely first kiss between two absolutely darling boys who are figuring out what it means to be in love with each other. I adored it.

♡ Yuan x Qian Dinner Date Kiss (Unknown)

It's the wine splashing that really makes this for me. Yuan waited years for this date and for the opportunity to yank the man he loved across a dinner table to kiss him. And I just love how he looks down at Qian's hand before he does it.

♡ Do Hoe x Ju Yeong Christmas Present Kiss (Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo)

It's Christmas and Do Hoe is smiling and kissing his boyfriend and everything is peaceful and romantic and horny and good.

♡ Jack x Joke We're About to Fucking Die Kiss (Jack & Joker)

There's a bomb around Joke's neck and bitch ass Alice is out here being Jigsaw, but damn if that's gonna keep Jack from staying by his boyfriend's side. If they're going down, they're going down together, making out in front of god and everyone.

♡ Anin x Pin Party Kiss (The Loyal Pin)

This kiss from the trailer was the one I was most excited to see and it didn't disappoint. It's pretty! It's horny! Anin is wine tipsy! Pin is jealous because other women were hitting on her girl all night! Perfection.

♡ Shan x Ob-aun Blindfold Kiss (Battle of the Writers)

Tutor and Yim kiss so pretty and this show spent its entire runtime reminding us of that fact. I could've chosen any of their kisses, which is true of many pairings on this list, but this one is particularly pretty. And you can see Yim's shoulder moles, which is a fun little treat just for me.

[iamtheonethinginlifeicancontrol]

I have thoughts on this week's episode of Ranma 1/2 (ep 11)!

I thought that the re-framing that the anime did of Shampoo and Akane's match was very interesting. Choosing to have Akane lob a desk at Ranma and then have him hit in the head by a football (holy head trauma, Batman!) was such an interesting change to make! Ranma being unconscious for a minute or two before running off in search of Akane gave the match more time to occur, built more suspense, and gave Ranma himself more urgency in his search.

The rest of what I have to say contains spoilers (can we say this of a manga series that finished in 1996?) for the end of the manga, under the cut

I'm a die-hard 乱あ shipper and have been since I first read Ranma 1/2, so this episode delighted my little shipper heart. There are some small but significant deviations from the manga that I wanted to expand on, and one particular change that is narratively significant in light of manga canon.

Putting aside the issues of Shampoo's newer fixation on Ranma-as-male as her future husband per Amazonian law and how that impacts the dynamics of our tsundere couple in this ep, I'm choosing to focus on the scenes related to Akane's showdown with Shampoo and the changes that the anime made from the manga (and why I'm living for them).

As mentioned, the decision to knock Ranma unconscious is an interesting change to make, but I'd argue that it works well and was a well thought-out deviation from manga canon. As I said above, it gives the match more time to occur—whether that impacts the duration of time that the Xi Fa Xiang Gao technique takes is yet to be seen. It also builds suspense for the audience, especially in light of the younger generations/newer audience members who may be interacting with Ranma 1/2 for the first time. Most importantly, though, it gives urgency to Ranma's search for Akane that isn't quite there in the manga. Sure, he's worried as he runs after Shampoo and Akane after he gets delayed (by Akane slamming a window in his face lol), but the time that elapses between the two girls going off to fight and Ranma going after them is very short. Maybe 30 seconds, 60 at the very most. I'll include a panel below to illustrate this:

And of course, I'm not arguing that Ranma isn't worried about Akane or fearful that she'll get hurt. But there's a fairly significant difference in how this is portrayed (see below) versus how the anime chose to approach this.

For one thing, the framing is very different. Akane getting injured, while of real concern, is being shown in a humourous way; her facial expressions (like the swirly eyes) and Takahashi-san's characteristic "るーみっくサイン" (rumic sign) are used for comedy, to make it seem like any hurt Akane might incur won't be too serious. Plus, while Ranma does try to diffuse the tension after Akane grabs P-chan from the tray and gets the Kiss of Death for her trouble (lol Shampoo just gives those things out like party favours, doesn't she?), and tries to avert the fight between the two girls, the time that passes doesn't truly allow his concern to sharpen further. As seen above, Ranma's worried-but-determined. He's not flooded with anxiety (or particularly intrusive thoughts imo).

However, the anime chose to allow Ranma to actually lose consciousness at the beginning of the girls' match. We don't (and probably won't) know how long Ranma was actually unconscious, but it certainly was long enough to warrant his frantic search for Akane.

And frantic it is! This man starts running around the entire campus yelling her name, escalating to screeeeaming by the end. Please see below (subs are Akane's name [あかね] and onomatopoeia/sound effects for running and heavy breathing):

But don't worry, guys, he's super laid back, super chill. Jk just in these screenshots alone, he's calling/yelling her name 10 times.

Let's talk quickly about framing here! This is pretty starkly different from how the manga frames these scenes. The colouring is dark, the sky is cloudy, there's no lightheartedness to be seen, and Ranma's frantic and anxious, underscored by the, uh, musical scoring. The anime is treating this as Serious Business, which does make a lot of sense, given that Shampoo chased onna!Ranma all over China trying to kill him, and that experience is what's informing Ranma here. He has an interspersed imagination spot (see below) of Shampoo hitting Akane point blank in the chest with one of her chuí, and we see Akane exclaim in pain, fall to the ground, and remain motionless. He's panicking because he knows how dangerous Shampoo is, and he's afraid for Akane. He doesn't want her to get hurt; he wants to protect her wellbeing, especially because he's seen that she's less concerned with that than he thinks she should be. His insult from the skating arc makes another appearance here: he calls Akane "鈍い女" [nibui onna; slow/dull girl chick], which in his imagination looks like Akane leaving herself completely open for a sternal strike? But his anxiety is informing this mental image, so he's probably imagining a worst-case scenario. I'd hope that his opinion of Akane's capability would be higher, but I digress.

After he stops running about and screams Akane's name in desperation, he quickly hears Ryouga-as-P-chan's voice, he dashes toward the sound, finding Akane unconscious on the ground: fears confirmed!

And here's where, to me, it gets really interesting. We see that Ranma is calling Akane's name and cradling her in his arms; very different to this scene in the manga, where he's on his knees next to her, calling her name and saying, "hey, [untranslatable word that could best be read as] just..." (see below):

And in the anime, this becomes what I think must be an intentional reference to the end of the Saffron arc in the last volume of the manga (38). Ranma says the same thing in one of the last scenes of that story arc, cradling an unconscious Akane in his arms, calling her name, and begging her, "起きろよ、あかね" (okiro yo, Akane; wake up, Akane], among other things. See below for comparison of the manga (upper left-hand panel, specifically) vs the anime:

And here's episode 11's parallel:

Well, gee, what does Ranma screaming her name while holding her with tears in his eyes remind me of? I'm glad you asked! It's the next panel in the manga!

Spoilers, but really.

I've reached my pic limit on this post, so I can't compare and contrast much more, but I do have more to say on this parallel. Might make another post later, so that I can show more pics for illustration.

Whether I make that follow-up post or not, my immediate thought when I saw this in the episode was both that it was an intentional reference to Jusendō, and that it was intended to be the first of a pair of narrative bookends (i.e. recurring or similar scenes meant to refer & compare to one another within the narrative to illustrate something, whether character growth, story progression, relational changes, etc). If we do get the Full Ranma Series animated (may it please God), this is both foreshadowing and bookending, and I'm delighted by it!

Also, even if we don't get to see the Jusendō arc animated, Yamaguchi Kappei will have had the opportunity to play a version of that iconic scene from the manga and do his best "Akaneeeee!" scream.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: The Headless Snowman

Debut: Super Mario 64

Hello everyone! Today I will be talking about the Headless Snowman and HEY what's the big idea here? Don't think you can pull a fast one on me like this. This is no Headless Snowman. This guy is Bodyless! Trust me, I'm aware of parts. I know Head, I know Body, I even know Greater Trochanter, and this is no headless snowman. There had better be a good explanation for this, or I oughta...!

Yeah, that's a good enough explanation. I'll allow it. A severed head does imply the existence of a headless body, after all. Decapitation does not poof a head out of existence! Just puts it somewhere else. But something you might not have realized about the Headless Snowman is that "he" is actually a THEY! No, not in a non-binary way, sadly. Well, maybe, I don't know. But I mean in the sense of being two people!

When Mario talks to the head, it laments that its body has melted away. And when he talks to the body, it asks if he knows anybody who needs a body. This is not a matter of reuniting the snowman's head. These are two different snowmen, becoming one entity! It's strange. It's... beautiful.

Mere moments ago, this was two guys. They did not even know each other. And now, they are one. Fate Mario has intervened to change the course of their lives forever, and they are closer than any two humans could ever dream of being. The head immediately calls the body great and perfect, and the body says nothing, clearly speechless. I wouldn't know how to respond right away, either! But they have the rest of their lives to figure it out, and, their very beings intertwined, explore each others' hearts, minds, and bodies. Give them privacy, now.

Let's look at the image that adorns the stages both of these snowballs reside on! It's a weird image. It's obviously the snow head's face, but it does not feel very snowman at all! To me, at least. I'm so used to the "smile made of a series of rocks" style of snowman, but that's just how Western snowmen look! Asian snowmen tend to utilize a single piece for the mouth, among other differences. As Mario fans we are familiar with the "bucket for a hat" design trope, but I didn't realize that Asian snowmen actually tend to be made of just two big snowballs, rather than three! Like a spider to the Western snowman's insect!

So remember: no matter where you are, a snowman's lowest body segment is the abdomen, where it keeps its most vital organs. In case of emergency, you will know where to strike!

Hm... strike? Like bowling?

Yeah! Strike like bowling! This is the Snowball Slalom minigame from Super Mario 64 DS, which features the snow head as the star and playable character! Yeah, I consider this to be a playable appearance by Headless Snowman. Why not? It isn't actually bowling, but it's similar enough as a linear ball-rolling game. It's nifty that here, it's the head who's rolling, but in the main game, it's the body who rolls down the slopes to meet the head! The head was probably chosen here just because it's more recognizable and fun to look at, but you can interpret it as the head wanting to go for a roll and have some fun! The body probably told the head what fun it was. They're so lucky they have each other!

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hey there, here's a question I've been thinking of and I wanted to hear your thoughts on it.

Who is the strongest Death Eater Harry could defeat in a one-on-one duel?

I think by the time of Deathly Hallows the strongest Death Eater Harry could beat would be Bellatrix. Every other Death Eater I can see Harry beating, to various degrees of difficulty, but Bellatrix would be his greatest challange.

She is considered one of Voldemort's most dangerous followers, perhaps only weaker than Snape and Voldemort himself, both of whom are in a league of their own. She is the top Death Eater for a reason.

True, Bellatrix was killed by Molly, though I'd say that is because, while Molly is no slouch in a duel and was fueled by motherly rage, Bellatrix clearly underestimated her and wasn't taking the fight seriously. Also, Bellatrix was probably tired from essentially fighting all night up to that point.

Needless to say, I think Harry could defeat Bellatrix in a duel, but it would definitely take everything he's got. He'd have to pull out all the stops to win and he'd be exhausted afterwards.

Beyond that, I think the only two Harry couldn't beat would be Snape and Voldemort. Snape soundly defeated Harry in HBP and Voldemort's went toe-to-toe against Dumbledore who had the Elder Wand in OOTP. I think in the future Harry would reach their level, but by the time the series ends he hasn't got there yet.

Like, you're talking to Harry's number one defender and believer here and after just reading the first two sentences of your ask, I was like:

"Voldemort. He could go one-on-one with Voldemort,"

And then I read the rest of your ask, and I understand where you're coming from, and I don't think Harry has the most advanced spell repertoire, or that he's the best dueller when it comes to finesse (because that boy is not a polished dueller), but I think by book 7 Harry can go and hold his own against both Voldemort and Dumbledore in one-on-one duels if he was pushed to it.

What I mean is that Harry is a very "depends on the situation" type of person. If you put him in a position where he has to defend himself (and others) from any opponent(s) and he lets his instincts do what they do best — I think he could survive 1v1 duels with anyone. I'm not saying he won't struggle, I'm not saying he would necessarily win, but he'd get out alive to fight another day. Against any Death Eater (and even multiple Death Eaters, I think, under the right conditions)

I mean, in book 4, we see a 14-year-old Harry go 1v1 with Voldemort. And sure, Voldemort is toying with him there, he isn't trying to kill Harry for most of the duel, but Harry resists the Imperius, he does dodge out of the way of spells. He does shot spells back and fights in a way many can't:

“You won’t?” said Voldemort quietly, and the Death Eaters were not laughing now. “You won’t say no? Harry, obedience is a virtue I need to teach you before you die. . . . Perhaps another little dose of pain?” Voldemort raised his wand, but this time Harry was ready; with the reflexes born of his Quidditch training, he flung himself sideways onto the ground; he rolled behind the marble headstone of Voldemort’s father, and he heard it crack as the curse missed him. [...] he was not going to die kneeling at Voldemort’s feet . . . he was going to die upright like his father, and he was going to die trying to defend himself, even if no defense was possible. . . . Before Voldemort could stick his snakelike face around the headstone, Harry stood up . . . he gripped his wand tightly in his hand, thrust it out in front of him, and threw himself around the headstone, facing Voldemort. Voldemort was ready. As Harry shouted, “Expelliarmus!” Voldemort cried, “Avada Kedavra!”

(GoF, Ch34)

And yeah, the Priori Incantatum was lucky, but luck wasn't enough to save him:

The closer that bead moved, the harder Harry’s wand vibrated; he was sure his wand would not survive contact with it; it felt as though it was about to shatter under his fingers — He concentrated every last particle of his mind upon forcing the bead back toward Voldemort, his ears full of phoenix song, his eyes furious, fixed . . . and slowly, very slowly, the beads quivered to a halt, and then, just as slowly, they began to move the other way . . .

(GoF, Ch34)

Harry needed a stronger force of will and concentration on his magic than Voldemort. Harry won against Voldemort on pure magic, will, and focus when he was 14. He barely survived a 1v1 with Voldemort, but he did so on a combination of luck and talent, and force of will. Harry is insanely talented with low self-esteem, but this feat he pulled at 4th year is utterly insane:

“I will say it again,” said Dumbledore as the phoenix rose into the air and resettled itself upon the perch beside the door. “You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you tonight, Harry. You have shown bravery equal to those who died fighting Voldemort at the height of his powers. You have shouldered a grown wizard’s burden and found yourself equal to it — and you have now given us all that we have a right to expect.

(GoF, Ch36)

Dumbledore is right. This shit Harry pulled is so incredibly impressive and most adults in the wizarding world (including almost all Death Eaters) would not have been able to pull it off even if they had the same twin-core wand situation. There is a reason Harry is considered Voldemort's equal. He is.

He's just young, inexperienced, and unpolished.

We see the Death Eaters that were at the Graveyard like Lucius are wary of him after the above display:

“You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!” “Oh, you don’t know Potter as I do, Bellatrix,” said Malfoy softly. “He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter.”

(OotP, Ch35)

And in OotP, we get the answer regarding Harry and various Death Eaters as the fight emerges:

The second Death Eater, however, had leapt aside to avoid Harry’s spell and now pointed his own wand at Hermione, who had crawled out from under the desk to get a better aim. “Avada —” Harry launched himself across the floor and grabbed the Death Eater around the knees, causing him to topple and his aim to go awry.

[...]

Harry seized his chance: “PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!” The spell hit Dolohov before he could block it, and he toppled forward across his comrade, both of them rigid as boards and unable to move an inch.

(OotP, Ch35)

And we see Harry's limited spell knowledge in full display. He doesn't have the experience to duel them properly, so he just fucking tackles Death Eaters to the ground or elbows them. That's what I meant by Harry would find a way if he was pressed. It's what he does.

By the end of the fight in OotP, before the Order arrives, Neville can't cast, Ron is high and attacked by the brains, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna are all out of commission, leaving Harry alone against Bellatrix, and all other Death Eaters that weren't dispatched yet:

“Let — let the others go, and I’ll give it to you!” said Harry desperately. A few of the Death Eaters laughed. “You are not in a position to bargain, Potter,” said Lucius Malfoy, his pale face flushed with pleasure. “You see, there are ten of us and only one of you . . . or hasn’t Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?”

(OotP, Ch35)

It was Harry vs 10 Death Eaters (including Bellatrix) and Harry was managing at 15.

Yes, he had the prophecy so they weren't shooting to kill him (for the most part), just incapacitated but, like, that's still incredibly impressive. Especially since he also managed to make sure none of his friends were killed. Harry wasn't just fighting for himself as for a good portion of the battle he and Neville were dragging unconscious friends with them.

And later, the same 15-year-old Harry chases Bellatrix on his own, and he manages fine:

She aimed a curse over her shoulder. The tank rose into the air and tipped. Harry was deluged in the foul-smelling potion within. The brains slipped and slid over him and began spinning their long, colored tentacles, but he shouted, “Wingardium Leviosa!” and they flew into the air away from him. Slipping and sliding he ran on toward the door. [...] Bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall, but she looked back as he sprinted toward her, and aimed another spell at him. He dodged behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren; the spell zoomed past him and hit the wrought gold gates at the other end of the Atrium so that they rang like bells. [...] “Potter, you cannot win against me!” she cried. He could hear her moving to the right, trying to get a clear shot of him. He backed around the statue away from her, crouching behind the centaur’s legs, his head level with the house-elf’s. “I was and am the Dark Lord’s most loyal servant, I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boy, can never hope to compete —” “Stupefy!” yelled Harry. He had edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at the now headless wizard and taken aim at her back as she peered around the fountain for him. She reacted so fast he barely had time to duck. “Protego!”

(OotP, Ch36)

Yes, he's fighting very defensively becouse he lacks experience, but his instincts and responses are quick enough to dodge, evade, and face her without suffering an injury. He succeeds in casting a Crucio on her, not the other way around. None of her spells hit him. And she definitely tries.

He manages so well that Voldemort comes in to help Bellatrix:

Harry laughed again because he knew it would incense her, the pain building in his head so badly he thought his skull might burst. He waved his empty hand from behind the one-eared goblin and withdrew it quickly as she sent another jet of green light flying at him. “Nothing there!” he shouted. “Nothing to summon! It smashed and nobody heard what it said, tell your boss that —” “No!” she screamed. “It isn’t true, you’re lying — MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED — DO NOT PUNISH ME —”

(OotP, Ch36)

Personally, I don't think he just came into the ministry to save her, but many Bellatrix fans say Voldemort came in to save her, save her from who then? — well, if we read the scene, the only one he could save her from at the moment he entered is Harry.

So, by Deathly Hallows, I think Harry could definitely defeat Bellatrix one-on-one. I think Snape would also struggle to duel Harry by that point. If Harry is in his element the way he is in the battle in the DoM, Harry would've been able to avoid Snape's spells at the end of HBP. Snape does beat Harry in HBP, 100%, he does so almost easily. But, I think it has a lot to do with Harry's emotional state and exhaustion at the moment. He did just drag Dumbledore back from Voldemort's Zombie Cave of Doom and fought his way through the castle after watching Dumbledore die. Harry was not on his A-game (though, I do think he'd struggle against Snape even at his best at 16, but it won't be such an easy defeat is what I'm saying).

I do want to raise the moment right before the iconic "there's no need to call me 'sir', professor," line:

“Pathetic, Weasley,” said Snape, after a while. “Here — let me show you —” He turned his wand on Harry so fast that Harry reacted instinctively; all thought of nonverbal spells forgotten, he yelled, “Protego!” His Shield Charm was so strong Snape was knocked off-balance and hit a desk. The whole class had looked around and now watched as Snape righted himself, scowling.

(HBP, Ch9)

When Harry is in a fighting state and running on instincts alone, I think he would be able to live through and even defeat Snape in a 1v1 duel even if Snape was actually trying.

Again, it's not that Hary won't struggle against Bellatrix/Snape/Voldemort/Dumbledore, he would. But Harry's fighting strategy is to evade getting hit and then hit once back, and make that one hit fucking count. Harry is really good at dodging, casting shields, and in general not getting hit. He's really good in defense, no joke. He's got these Seeker reflexes. He's good at it even against fast opponents (becouse his responses tend to be faster when he isn't super spent/in pain/etc.), and that's what matters because really, his opponent's magical skill doesn't matter if none of their spells land. And Harry rarely gets hit in duels when he's actually fighting. (Against Snape at the end of HBP he kinda just stood there, he wasn't really doing his regular dodging and moving around).

So becouse regardless of who Harry faces, he would be very skilled in evading, I think he could definitely hold his own in a one-on-one duel with Voldemort/Dumbledore/any Death Eater. As long as he doesn't get hit and he lands one good hit (which he proved he can accomplish against both Snape and Bellatrix) he could potentially win. He just has really good battle instincts, but I won't say he knows how to duel "properly". He doesn't.

We see Harry's quick reflexes in DH, as well (even when there is no threat):

The two workmen made identical movements, and Harry mirrored them without conscious thought: All three of them drew their wands.

(DH, Ch9)

Ron jumped off the bed, skidded on a discarded Chocolate Frog wrapper, and smacked his head on the opposite wall; and Harry instinctively dived for his wand

(DH, Ch6)

“You—crawl—back—here—after—weeks—and—weeks—oh, where’s my wand?” She looked as though ready to wrestle it out of Harry’s hands and he reacted instinctively. “Protego!” The invisible shield erupted between Ron and Hermione. The force of it knocked her backward onto the floor.

(DH, Ch19)

With Harry, it's all about quick reflexes and raw magical talent. His reflexes are transferable skills from Quidditch, while his magical talent is something I spoke of extensively here, here, here & here.

Besides, I, at least, have complete faith in Harry's abilities and will. I mean, it's Harry, if he feels he needs to do something, he'd find a way to do it. Especially if he needs to protect others. It won't necessarily be a pretty or elegant duel, but he'd do what needs to be done.

[saturnine-saturneight]

Holoatypical: Dev Log 1

Number one in what's hopefully going to be a pretty long series of updates!

So, first things first: Godot rocks. I've been using it for two weeks now, having switched from GameMaker (and before that, Twine, and before that, Java and JavaScript), and Godot does so much of the heavy lifting for you. It genuinely feels like an engine that's designed for making games. Unlike GameMaker, which was like wading through molasses every step of the way, while some sort of molasses shark is biting at your ankles. And I've coded in JavaScript.

Second, let me show you what I've been up to!

As you can see, I'm working on a prototype to try out the merging mechanic. It's got some (ha) bugs, and dragging things could be smoother, but the critters do actually snap into the grid and merge now, and I'm very pleased with that.

This chamber you see here is going to be the lab. As it's planned right now, the player will have infinite initial building blocks (eggs, spores, seeds...), which merge into different critters depending on environmental variables (artificially set in the lab) and on which other specimens are currently in the chamber. The challenge is to figure out the right parameters. I have no idea how big the chamber needs to be for that, but that's not really an issue, because...

This isn't so much a prototype as I'm just straight up building the foundations for a game, which is why it's taking me so long. The grid you see here is controlled with a few variables, and everything is flexible enough that I can simply change the grid size during playtesting and it still works.

The tile grid is an array of arrays, filled with slot nodes that I instantiate at runtime. Is this the best way to learn a new program and language? Haha. Who knows.

Specimens have a sprite sheet with all their stages on it, and when a critter levels up, the part that's visible to the player just needs to be shifted 64 pixels to the right.

That's x starting point, which is the specimen stage/level times 64, then y starting point, width, and height. Fun! So easy!!

As to the sprite sheet, I'm going against common advice and making these big. The 1bit style is super fast to do, and in my opinion, a certain level of detail is important to make the sprites look like anything. I'm moreso playing with the look than really wanting to make a retro game.

This sheet only took me an evening! I'm enjoying it because it really forces you to abstract the shape and focus on what's most important about the critter. (This is a style test - I haven't decided yet how weird I want to go with these vs making them look more natural.)

Next up will be ironing out the kinks, making an egg dispenser and a specimen incinerator so the field can be filled up and emptied, coming up with a few more specimen, and then going into play testing.

But in the next dev log, you're probably going to hear way more about the story and the characters. I am eyeing a visual novel extension for Godot (dialogic), which, if it does what I think it does, is going to take a lot of work off my hands and only leaves me with writing the actual dialogue, which I've already started on.

@tragedycoded @badscientist @curiouscalembour @writingrosesonneptune @gioiaalbanoart @monstrify @cowboybrunch @tsunamiscale @marlowethelibrarian

Was this format interesting? Less code? More code? Anything you specifically want me to talk about in this process? Let me know!

[sooahbites]

So, in an ask I mentioned how Kendra and Jaewon had a situationship at some point.

That happens when they're around 12, faaaar before Donnie meets Kendra, Jaewon goes to the same school as April, and at some point she meets Kendra. Jaewon has a huuuuge crush on Kendra, because, what do you know? Kendra is absolutely Jae's type, so she gets hooked up. Luckily for Jae, she ends up catching the attention of the lilac haired girl, which ends up with Kendra also liking her, this leads to them becoming more close, slowly it leads to things turning more romantic, they get more affectionate, they start holding hands, hugs last longer than necessary, they spent good amounts of time talking with each other, chattings get more intimate, and before even they realize it, they've shared a few kisses, everything is going great, wonderful, amazing.

There's just one tiny detail and that is that all of this is happening behind close doors, for the rest of the world, Jae and Kendra are nothing more than mere acquaintances.

And you might be wondering, why? Because Kendra has a case of internalized homophobia. Kendra CAN NOT let anyone know that she has something going on with a woman that goes beyond friendship, because that's no where near normal. But at the same time, she has A LOT of feelings for Jaewon, she really likes her in a very non-platonic way, so this is very confusing and infuriating, because Kendra knows that two women is absolutely horrible but at the same time she craves what she has with Jae, she likes it, she likes HER, but a normal relationship just can't happen in Kendra's mind, so she just keeps her there, like waiting, keeping Jaewon on edge all the time.

This obviously hurts Jaewon like y'all have no idea, because Kendra can pass to treat her like she's the love of her life, to treating her like she barely even exist when there's other people around. And poor Jaewon cannot bring herself to say anything to Kendra, why? Because she's extremely hooked up with her, because she's a hormonal teenager dealing with her self esteem, she is no where near to what she will be in season 1, to the confident no-bullshit girl she will be when she turns 15. Nope, Jae is a troubled teen girl that thinks Kendra is the love of her life and that if she lets go of her, she will never be able to find love again and her life would be ruined.

This goes on for A YEAR.

Picture Jaewon, going to cry to Donnie, Leo and April, the closest ones to her, about how much it hurts her that Kendra barely talks to her, them getting angry and promising that she would end things and that this was going to be the last time it happens, to then return a few hours later saying everything was forgiven because Kendra apologized.

Those three are just beyond tired.

With this dynamic, of Kendra being able to treat and say whatever she wants to Jaewon, no matter how hurtful it can be to the girl, without any consequences, because Jaewon is so hooked she would forgive anything from Kendra, Kendra starts treating Jaewon worst and worst. At the beginning Kendra genuinely cared for Jaewon but at some point she realized she could just use her whenever she pleased, because she would always be waiting for her, so she started doing just that, using her.

Eventually, luckily, Jaewon reunited enough courage to end things, after hours and hours of Donnie and April telling her that Kendra wasn't doing any good to her, Jaewon went with Kendra, got firm and told her that she was leaving that weird relationship they had for good. Kendra argued, of course, because she still liked Jaewon, she was just showing it in a horrible and distorted way, but Jaewon didn't fall for her manipulations this time, so she ended up getting out of there and salvage her mental health.

So, jumping to what happens in the actual series. In all the time Jaewon is with Kendra, Donnie never meets her in person, it isn't until the actual episode where they met that they meet here and it goes exactly the same.

Later when Donnie is telling Jae about the thing that happened to him with the purple dragons, because Jae wasn't there (she was sleeping and it's better to not wake her up), Jaewon is surprised that Donnie met Kendra and Donnie is surprised that Jaewon knows her.

"Wait, you know her?"

"Donnie, that's Kendra, THE Kendra."

"..."

"OH SHI-"

And that's basically it :3.

[antennaed-kenzy]

Gift, Money, Fame, Love [Mikage Reo]

❄ Mikage Reo x f! reader

❄ notes: proofread, characters above 18+, slight suggestive, fluff, occ

❄ Day three of the Christmas Series.

❄ Extras: Work count 2k+ The third one of the best Christmas Series. We love our rich king and queen. Masterlist of series

being held high in society isn't always best for some people, even some relationships.

Gifts, money, fame, love, and shouts were all she would ever receive. Either if they were for people she classified as her fans, or were from a famous football player Mikage Reo. 

The two of them, Reo and {Y/n} had an interesting relationship. They weren’t together but they were close to each other. Close enough for him to give her gifts and love, close enough for her to go to his games, cheer him on, and give him a sense of love. 

{Y/n} was currently at a photoshoot. She was one if not the best models in the world at the moment. She was busy with photoshoots, runways, and agency calling from north to south, east to west. Though she does get her rest occasionally, she mostly works with high-end companies, which benefits her and them. 

“Pose for me,” The photographer says as he takes more photos of the women. 

She was dressed in a robe, but not just a simple robe. No, it was a long pink sheer robe, the material feeling as light as a feather. The hems of the fabric were made of feather material, making them soft to the touch. Since the fabric was see-through, she was wearing an undergarment that matched the light pink color. 

Reo was watching her do all different poses each time the camera flickered and the lights flashed in the room. He watched her and soon got bored of the cameraman talking to her like a puppet, even though it was her job he didn’t like one bit of it. This cameraman seemed to be possessive over her and wanted things to fall his way.

[E/c] eyes follow a certain figure out of the room. Snapping in her face made her face back to the cameraman. “Focus on me, {Y/n}-chan. Who gives a shit about him.” He snapped another photo. “You are a top model, one that motivates others.” Snap. “That raises beauty standards.”

SnapSnapSnap

“I think we are done for today.” {Y/n} bows at the cameraman. She walks out of the room and sees Reo standing outside on his phone. “Good, you’re still here.” She heaves a sigh. “I thought you had left already.”

Reo looks up from his phone. Eyeing her up and down. “Yet you are still in the robe.” He smirks at her.

“It’s a gift. They said I could have it,” She smiles at him giving him a little spin. 

“Even though it is not a gift from me?” He lightly laughs seeing her spin around, the robe lifting from the ground as she does. 

When she was done spinning to show off the robe she faced Reo. “Really. It’s not like you would get this for me in the first place.” 

—

The warm weather shuns over the busy streets of Tokyo– the busiest part of the streets following {Y/n} as she walks with Reo. Hoards of people surround the two, while bodyguards do their best to fend people off. This happened anytime she wanted to go out of a shop, she was always bombarded by fans. It didn’t help that Reo was with her as his fans also trailed along. 

The two walk into a store and the crowd of people dissipates within seconds. Reo looks at the female beside him who seems on her feet again like she has just woken up, though they have been at this for at least an hour. 

Bags were around his arms, along with more bags around a servant's arm who accompanied them. None belonged to the purple-haired male, they all belonged to {Y/n} who was now walking around the store and placing items in her hand. Reo's purple eyes trailed every step she took around the store, grabbing items, looking at them, and assessing them, either putting them back or adding them to the stack forming in the cart. 

“Your total is 64,422 yen.” The words snapped Reo out of his starning. He slowly walked up to the check out standing there as {Y/n} took his wallet from his pocket and paid using his luxury business expense card. 

The cashier smiled at the two, handing the man yet another bag to carry. She thanked them for shopping when they were already out the door. 

A smile on her female face while looking at Reo’s and the servant's disheveled faces. “I think we can be done for today. Don’t you think?~” She sing-sung her last sentence leaving a tone to remember by Reo. 

Both of them nodded their heads. The servant called over a limousine driven by Ba-Ya. The men load the bag in the limited trunk space before joining {Y/n} in the back of the limo– or Reo joining her and the servant getting into the passenger seat with Ba-Ya as he didn’t want to disturb the two. 

“Did you have fun today, {Y/n}?” Reo looked at the plenty full of bags and then at the smiling female. 

“Of course, Reo!” She beamed with excitement. {Y/n} scooted her body toward the male. Her arms wrapped around his next pulling him close for a hug. 

His hands naturally found themselves around her hourglass-like waist. His hands traveled up her back, as her hands traveled down his back. Reo traced circles, squares, stars, and any shape he could. He didn’t let go of her for an instant and neither did she. She melted into his touch as the snow melted to the coming spring days. 

“Tomorrow is the first day of the summer,” Reo whispered soothingly in her ear. “Are you going to wear the swimsuits I got for you?”

He felt her nod against his shoulder. Reo counted to trace on her back, and surely he heard her little sleep whispers for her. Ba-Ya did her best in the driver's seat to make sure it was a smooth drive for the young master and his lady. 

When they got to her house, Reo and the butler started to take in her items. {Y/n} was on her door holding it open for them as it was the least she could do for all the work they were providing her with. 

All the items were in her house, and Ba-Ya had already left along with the butler. Reo stayed behind, helping her unpack all the items, putting them where she wanted them, following her finger to a spot, and placing the items in their spot. 

—

Lights flashing on the water. Clicks bounded off the sand. Pose of pose. In the water or on the sand. Click after click pose after pose. She wished she could take a break.

“Break!” A crew member called out. 

{Y/n} dropped her pose, her body falling back into a better living position. She ran over to Reo, arms swung open. Her body collides with his. Every part that wasn’t covered by fabric touched his body even closer. 

She got her tippy toes to whisper in his ear, which he bent slightly for her. “Kiss me.” 

Reo looked at her, his purple eyes shot open, “What?!” He whispered-screamed back. 

“Kiss me so this guy will stop looking at me weirdly.” She quietly yelled in his ear while pointing back at the guy who was ogling her. 

Reo eyes follow where her finger is pointing and sure enough a guy is looking straight at her up and down. The male hands slithered to her nape rubbing the spot. He held her face up, his lips landing on hers that tasted like cherries.

Reo kissed her deeper, his tongue licking her lips. {Y/n} slightly opens her mouth letting his tongue slide in exploring every inch. She tasted too sweet and he wanted more like an addict. Reo other hand wrapped around her sinched bare waist pulling her closer to him. 

A moan escaped from her mouth. {Y/n}’s hand glided up to his face cupping his face and pulling his grasp closer. He tasted like fine rich smother wine that you could only get made personally for you– he was made perfectly for her. 

—

“Pose!” The photographer spat as they clicked another photo. 

“Sorry,” {Y/n} apologized posing for another picture.  

After a while of snapping photos {Y/n} along with the crew took a break. She grabbed a robe to place over her body and went straight toward her changing room. I hate this outfit. She partially ripped the clothes off when she made it to her room. I hate this makeup. She wiped the makeup off with a makeup remover. I hate this. She changed back into the clothes she wore when she arrived, laying up to head out into the cold.

{Y/n} stormed out of the building leaving the other clothes behind. The team tried to grab her and pull her back but no one was able to reach her by the time she was at the door.  She waits at the train station waiting for the next train to arrive. 

It has been six months since she last saw Ba-Ya. She was always there ready to take her home after the shoot due to Reo’s request– It has been around five months since she last saw Reo. Since he left for a game, since their last kiss. 

She wanted to taste him again, kiss his soft lips, and encase her body into his. The train swooshed the wind, her hair blowing past her face as her eyes followed the train. 

The female boarded the train. She found an empty seat to sit down. The train filled with people and {Y/n} was watching them all pass by, with music playing in her ears. Purple short-haired crossed her eyesight. Her head cocked toward the direction of where she saw the figment go.

{Y/n} got up from the chair in the direction she saw. 

Purple eyes meet her [e/c] watering gaze. “Reo?!” Her voice cracked when she realized who she was staring at. 

“{Y/n}?” Reo stood up from his seat. 

Now they stood eye to eye, face to face. Inching closer toward each other, Reo's hot breath tickled her neck as he grabbed her in for a hug. She stood there for a second before wrapping her arms around his strong body. 

The people encircling them realized who they were. The sound of clicking and flashing surrounded the two.

Oh right, that’s why they have let each other go. The summer had gone and snow hit the ground changing seasons– changing people. Changing how the world works and how people act. News spread like wildfire when Reo first kissed {Y/n}, well first kissed her in public. The people went crazy. Two completely different individuals were down each other throats on a job site nonetheless. Her job site.

But they loved each other and always have. Even if they never said it to each other. They would buy each other gifts, each of them trying to top the other whether money-wise or value to the heart-wise. They didn’t let the fame intercept their relationship, which is why they never said they were dating, but to them rather loving each other had given each other what they needed to know how they truly felt. 

When the news got out of their make-out session, they had no choice but to leave each other. It was best for each as they lived separate lives. One was a famous football player, while the other was the best model of this century. They weren't made for each other in the public eye but in the comfort of their own home, where they could hold each other and melt into each other, one a wix, the other a candle. They fit perfectly. 

“Please don’t leave me again, Reo,” {Y/n} gripped tight around his waist. 

Reo cups her face making her meet his gaze, “I will never leave you again my dear, {Y/n}.” He kissed the top of her head and the noise of others withered away. Now it was just the two of them. Just them, as it should have been from the start.

a/n: i see you

[miss0atae]

My two favorite couples from this series 😍

Tall & Handsome Stoic Guy and his Smol & Feisty Gangster Boyfriend™

LET'S TALK ABOUT CHU (2024) episode 8

[sulfurrrr]

tbh I find Caitlyn's use of the Gray really interesting not only as a form of chemical warfare, but of psychological warfare too. The way she deliberately designed the strike force uniforms to work in tandem with the Gray in order to mimic the appearance of a monster from Zaunite stories with very recent presence in Zaun's recent memory (it was only during Cassandra's lifetime that the Gray was "locked away") to evoke fear in ordinary Zaunites is so so crazy to me.

And Jinx REALIZED that!! that's (maybe.) WHY that showdown took place in front of a carving of Janna– she's using those stories (which likely evolved alongside one another) to frame her reaction to Caitlyn's crimes as a sort of divine retribution!

Caitlyn thinks Jinx is this terrifying monster of a girl, and while it's true Jinx has done some awful things, ever since the beginning of this season (arguably since after the timeskip, even) Jinx has been working in direct response to Caitlyn and Caitlyn's actions, whether or not either of them are truly aware of it.

[bumblingbabooshka]

It's impossible to write a TOS x Any other Series crossover [for me] without having to think about whose lens it's going to primarily be from because the vibe of TOS is so distinct and I think quite different from all series that follow it. The way the characters speak and are presented is so theatrical and of course steeped in the past that I find myself considering if this is, say, Janeway meeting Kirk (through a VOY perspective) or if I should write Janeway as she would appear if she stepped through a portal and was in TOS' universe.

[lala-blahblah]

I will never make this because it would be for an audience of one (me) but ever since reading "If we Were Villains" (story about serious drama kids in college who perform shakespeare and deal with a murder) I have been entertaining the thought of a crack fic crossover with High School Musical The Musical The Series where the staff decides they will no longer put on shakespeare after the tragic accident that happened at Thanksgiving, because Shakespeare plays would only increase the tension and drama. So they hire Ms. Jen who decides their spring play will actually be High School Musical (which exists in the 90s in this universe) and it ruins the vibe so much that everyone gives up on being dark and mysterious because they're universally pissed at Ms Jen for making them learn choreoraphed basketball dancing.

[beatcroc]

turns out i have to make an unnecessarily wordy thoughtspost about doombox too bc there is nothing about this character that isn't fucking ridiculous and also really funny and i'm kind of really obsessed with all of it. ordinarily i would just start firing but in this case I need to just. paste his bio and then go through it step by step because every phrase here is absurd when looking at how he's handled along with the other characters and the world as a whole. here we go

first sidenote: i should also add 'nonsensical' to the list of descriptors up there, because this is a fighting game and no doubt has the typical Bad Fighting Game Writing at play that doesn't really hold up when put under scrutiny as i'm about to, but understand that this is something i've come to love about the genre and its typically batshit lore, and it further enhances the experience for me. it's all utter nonsense and its my favorite shit ever.

the biggest thing to me that makes his entire shtick ridiculous is that he was explicitly made to be a weapon. like his express purpose is destruction and/or killing people, and he certainly has the disposition to be doing that. except that he is not doing that. he's out there playing Ball Game, evidently of his own volition.

i feel it is also important to highlight that he was not originally or intentionally a boombox; he just kinda lives in there. his own bio frames it as happenstance, but sonata's dlc skin lore** implies he isn't permanently stuck in there and can kinda just hop out and take control of whatever he wants whenever he wants. there is an entire goddamn tank just sitting there in the background of one of these stages. he is a weapon. there is heavy artillery readily available to him that he could be commanding if he wanted to, but he's not doing that either. he is still a boombox. i think he likes it in there. *there's an argument to be made that maybe he's not powerful enough to control something that large, or maybe just that switching hosts is really tiring or risky. im just saying though there's like a bajillion host devices better suited for A Fucking Weapon than a boombox, but he seems really committed to this for some reason. while im here btw it's fucking terrifying that he apparently can possess thing that are Not tech as well **as a side note from that the specific mention of her boomhammer is interesting. i don't think it's an intentional implication but i enjoy the idea he has an affinity for sound-based devices; i like to think the boombox left an impression on him with its being the initial thing he possessed and got used to

and then there is the berserking. the 'rampaging', as it is otherwise called. not exactly strange on its own given his temperament and designation, but strange for the way it's characterized as only a tendency. it's only that he's prone to rampaging. he rampages often, but not all the time. just often! what is he doing he is not rampaging? getting a custom trimmed jacket with his own logo emblazoned on it? like a nerd? and on the flipside, what exactly do these rampages even entail? because it's apparently not anything destructive or disruptive enough for anyone to care about stopping him under normal circumstances.

like how are you a giant angry "not exactly stable" weapon of a guy and everyone's like 'yeah that's fine. that's our doombox!' toxic's specific wording regarding his getting unfucked postgame is "back to his old raging self", which implies to me there's almost a certain fondness, or at least amusement, at his being like this. i know one of the core themes of lethal league is letting these oddball misfit dudes do their thing and freely be who they are, but like. is doombox sincerely just not a threat for that? like really? dice's interactions also sort of imply that his actually trying to kill someone is really out of the ordinary for him so truly like. db my man what ARE you doing out there. * re: toxic and dice's talking about him; i do also find it amusing that one of his defining traits is just being pissed off all the time. again, not surprising given his purpose/designation as a weapon, but funny in that it's like. how he's KNOWN; in the sense that it is immediately noticeable and a cause for concern for other characters to see he is Not angry. fuckin social barometer of a guy. local angry guy isn't angry, something's wrong.

the "reasons for playing in the league unknown" bit also strikes me as a little odd even though it REALLY shouldn't. i'm like 97% sure it's just written like that to make him seems mysterious and unpredictable and dangerous, but it's a weird thing to call attention to when you consider that...less than half of the other characters' reasons are known? raptor is there trying to get info on his dad, that one's well out there. dust & ashes i think have some kind of implied reason for being there as well but it of course isn't elaborated on, and grid is like trying to impress "the youth" and establish a profile or something. nitro seems like he might not actually be IN the league as an official competitor? it's just helpful for him to know how to ball for the situations he gets into with his investigations. everybody else's "reason" pretty much seems like they're just out there to have fun. and toxic says as much in the story mode intro! the game was developed for people to escape the monotonies of shine city! so to imply doombox has a separate, non-recreational reason for being here is weird. the easiest read on it for me is just that he was drawn to it cause it's intense and destructive but at the same time.... if all he wants is an excuse to wreck shit....why are you competing in a structured sports game with rules and shit my dude. you are a weapon. just go attack people. except that we've established that he doesnt really do that. so. once again. what IS he doing out here

----

aside from the bio though, there's of course random little tidbits of characterization throughout the game itself and they are all also likewise ridiculous.

he refers to himself in third person, which is always an amusing choice for a character in general. it carries with it a certain sense of ego, an awareness of and and pride in one's presence and gravitas. this was mostly just surprising to me bc before i started looking at everything, i'd assumed he was more or less mindless and, yknow, robotic; without much personality/reason for being there beyond being the Biggest Baddest Best At Ball Game Guy doombox is already very imposing, so this is frankly a well-earned sense of pride for him to have.....but it still doubles back to being funny again because, as i've established above, he could stand to be a hell of a lot scarier! but he doesn't seem to notice or care that there are many readily-available options for becoming more powerful and/or establishing himself as unquestionable top dog. so instead he is a boombox. third-person is also often used for characters who are a little dumb, and i think this applies to doombox as well. he is a weapon, and clearly a brute-force-over-precision type of weapon at that, he doesnt need smarts. i think this is also sort of hinted at with his voice lines; where the other characters have some kind of snarky phrase or one-liner for their kill/score voice line, doombox just goes "bye-bye". Which is still appropriately Disrespectful, but it's also very, uh... simple. again i just think there are... more imposing things a guy like him could be saying there, but i guess he hasn't got anything more than fucking. bye-bye.

anyways the ego thing i think is well-echoed by his stupid fucking jacket. none of the other characters have their logo as part of their design and i'm pretty sure the rest of the symbols are just game abstractions and don't exist in-universe, but like. doombox is just going around wearing a jersey with his own damn face on it. ok. to be clear i love his jacket but it is literally so silly for him to have that. imagine being the guy having to custom-fit a fucking boombox. did db pay for it? how? we're getting into unproductive territory here but you could ask a million questions about that jacket and they all have hysterical implications. while im on the topic of designs i'd also like to say that while i don't count any of the other blaze redesigns as "canon" like actual events the characters went through between games [like raptor in particular would have already had to have the stitches since that's his backstory, it's just they weren't a design point before], doombox is in a weird spot since the first game's design for him was very specifically referencing its HUD in a meta way for his flavor and that was pretty much the entire extent of his flavor; while in blaze he and the HUD are very much separate distinct things with their own flavor. there's more to talk about here later but as it pertains to design what im saying is i think he just went out and found a better and cooler boombox to be in between games. and also got a funny jacket. *actually i have no idea if there's even a Timeline here. the gut vibe i had been running on was that blaze happens a couple years after the original, but looking at it now that doesn't seem right. does blaze Replace the timeline of the first game? are there even Events in the first game to count as a timeline? do they run concurrently?

alright anyway the last point here is the 3rd-person thing is even moreso interesting to me though bc i was under the assumption that 'doombox' was something akin to a codename he was given when other people saw this big fucking Thang rampaging through the streets. but seeing as 1. he's definitely aware of it, and 2. not even the damn scientists who made him knew he was in a boombox [as implied in his dlc skin lore], i'm led to believe he came up with the name himself. the fucking tape in his cassette player does just say 'doom' on it so i am choosing to believe that's either where he got the name, or that he put that on there himself.

MOVING on, another really good thing is that he does this

i just think it's funny he's continuing to use the thing as an actual boombox; i feel like that isn't something he necessarily Has to do. obviously he's susceptible to certain quirks and limitations of being a boombox re: mind control tape, but i don't think that means he has to play out its every function. i think he's doing that on purpose and i am filing it under "he likes it in there". hes listening to his jams.

also on a similar note,

this is also not important and i realize it's mostly just a quirky videogamey way to get around saying the robot kinda character is "asleep", but i do enjoy the implication that shine city's biggest terror is like out there running on 4 D-cells.

also i'm making this guy out to be a city street menace, and the vibe i had assumed for him before was like, a random encounter in the back alleys that you super do not want to run into; but his associated stage/hangout seems to be the desert/scrapyard? which i don't really have anything interesting to say to that, but it's definitely a different vibe for his character if he typically hangs out in more desolate areas.

---

i think maybe the most baffling thing doombox has going on is the apparent "rivalry" with dice. this is also bizzare from dice's side of things. what the fuck does it even mean to be "rivals" with doombox? what are they competing for? what kind of things does dice get up to that doombox would even give a shit about in the first place, let alone to be considered a rival in? i mean, like, the league, probably, but why dice specifically, out of everyone? would doombox's league rival not just be whoever's the [second] strongest there? i believe dice when he says they're evenly-matched, but there isn't really anything that implies dice is of particularly high prestige within the league so it feels like he shouldn't hold much interest as a target. to be fair dice doesn't seem like the type that would care about prestige, but again, if he's not out there flaunting his shit or trying to claim he's the best or whatever, why does db care? this would be a lot easier to understand if it was a one-sided thing on doombox's part like okay maybe dice pissed him off one day and he's still mad about it. whatever. that's the vibe they go for in story mode, but then there's dice's dlc skin description, which seems to run entirely counter to that and has dice as the aggressor:

when deprived of his usual sense and restraint, dice's first thought is I Gotta Go Fuckin Kill Doombox? even if he's over it under normal circumstances, it's clear both of them have some deeper-rooted beef in this exchange. there is yet another layer to this in that doombox is, weirdly enough, not really shown to be the kind of guy that's interested in revenge. again, going back to his own dlc description, he- and i quote- "couldn't care less" about the guys who made him capturing him and chaining him up. his only interest there is breaking out and getting back to doing his thing. if you want to be really generous, you could also read this vibe from the story mode epilogue: doombox was not the one hunting down the safety league, that was nitro. doombox was simply, as stated before "back to his old raging self". both of these to say, he simply does not seem to give a shit about people who have directly wronged him and only wants to Do His Thing. so. once again. what the fuck is going on with dice that they both have lasting beef here. i truly cannot fathom what either of them did to be so mad specifically at eachother. this rivalry is something they reference a LOT too like it's a big deal in-universe, or something otherwise really important to portray. like

lore so strong you gotta put it on an achievement!!!!! really!!!!! and there are no details whatsoever about this????? * while i'm here i'd just like to say have more questions about dice than fucking anything else in this game. sadly there's practically nothing to intuit from the game about any of his situations so i don't have much for coherent thoughts to post on him, but my god. what the fuck, dice. this rivalry is arguably the single strangest thing doombox has going on but it doesn't even break top 5 weird things about dice.

anyways, the final section and MOST interesting thing to me in all this is that, coming out of the first game, i was really under the impression that doombox is just the arbitrary final boss monster you gotta kill; no real purpose or personality his own to speak of, and most importantly just synonymous with the game itself and its aesthetics re: mirroring the HUD design. he certainly still holds the role of big scary final boss monster in blaze too, but blaze 1. has him much more fleshed-out as his own Guy, and more importantly, 2. doesn't really consider him a Problem like your typical big angry final boss monster. or at least not moreso than anything else going on in the game. he's not a threat to be eliminated, he's respected as a character and as a competitor in the league; and more than that he just seems to be... liked? as in, liked by other people in-universe? and he's liked enough that they'll readily help him out so he can keep doing his thing? i do think latch fixed him up postgame mostly bc he felt bad about being the one responsible for getting db brainwashed in the first place but like. the game could have just as easily gone "and then doombox was defeated yay" and left it at that. instead, they seem to have a vested interest in keeping him around. most transparently this is likely just a "we can't get rid of any of the playable characters or else story mode would be noncanon", BUT the point of this post is trying to read cohesive narrative sense into places there probably isn't any, and my read here is that doombox is a sort of inadvertent guardian of the league. for 1, he does still very much embody a lot of what the game [both The Videogame and the league itself] is about, but more importantly i think his presence is just really good at keeping a lot of the more minor threats at bay. if you try to fuck with the league, you will eventually be squaring off with doombox, most likely having freshly pissed him off in the process, and i can't imagine that goes well for who or whatever is in that situation. there's probably not much that wants to stand up to him by himself, and there's even less that can challenge the league as a whole unit; he's really just a good guy to have on your side like in general when you are running an illegal sports operation. i think at Worst toxic might see him as the league's funny little mascot but realistically i think she has more respect for him than that. either way i don't think he's going to care and it doesn't affect him much regardless. for this, doombox simply gets to keep doing his thing, whatever the fuck that may be. there are certainly still forces beyond his control at play here [as demonstrated in story mode by the safety league], and when these come into play, the league in turn looks out for him and keeps him on top of his game. i'm not sure if he has the, uh.... kind of cognitive ability that he could be grateful for this, but if nothing else, we know he seems to enjoy playing in the league, so he probably at least recognizes that he's not going to meet a lot of resistance in it and/or that it's a good environment to keep doing as he pleases. i don't mean for this all to sound so transactional, but it's hard to say whether he has much charisma in-universe for people to want him around for more "legitimate" reasons. likewise, there's also still a lot up in the air on how like... sapient doombox actually is. whether he can have complex motivations about anything or if he has some concept of "having friends" or if he can experience emotions besides rage; i tend to lean to "no" on those because i am really trying my damndest not to woobify this guy, but ultimately i don't think it matters much; in the end, he and the league are still mutually beneficial for eachother, and they still enjoy having the other around. and i think that's pretty cool :)

[pinkkop]

After ep 3 of Spare Me Your Mercy my biggest suspect is the Director but I'm not sure at all.

The director talking about the murderer in private so confidently made me think it maybe he isn't the murderer. But he is the one with the most motive and I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Kan's mentor was someone special to the director. Otherwise why would he keep a grudge for 8 years and possibly try to frame Dr. Kan.

I find it odd that the director wanted to confront Dr. Kan himself but maybe, if it's very personal to the director, he wanted the satisfaction of cornering Dr. Kan himself. It especially wouldn't make sense to do this if the Director is trying to blame a murder he committed on Dr. Kan.

Pretty sure the sugar baby is a red herring. He seems pretty unhinged and very intense and also like he idolises Dr. Kan so he doesn't really have a motive. Unless he idolises him so much that he wants to do the same thing that Dr. Kan does but doesn't do it as well because he isn't a doctor, hence the murder.

About Dr. Kan's past with his mentor, I'm assuming that yes it was his first time euthanising someone which could have gone wrong in many ways. In present day he seems to have a very thorough way of doing it and that probably comes from doing it wrong in the past.

I wanna know more about Dr. Kan's past, and also his shared backstory with the director. Something must have gone wrong since the Director is so focused on it.

This show is such a delicious meal!

[bibiana112]

One of my favorite character traits that Junpei has is how as much as he's protective and caring to his favorite people and impulsively jumps into danger to help others if he has an opportunity to without wanting anything in return and highly values the promises he makes he just seems to also always be more curious than he is sensible or empathetic, he gets so caught up on the horrors he sees but he has such a hard time looking away, he's right to analyze and be intrigued by the ninth man's remains but he stands around staring at it until he pukes, in the showers you can interact with the wall behind which lies "Snake's" corpse and he will pick up more details about it each time you click on it until he has to mentally rip himself away because it's not that he can't keep looking at it it's that he better look away and focus on getting out, and the way he talks to Clover about the body with every minutiae she wouldn't want to hear is like his brain connects faster to his mouth than it can connect to his sense of morality sometimes which I guess turned out to be a good thing in this one case or just good common sense in general like there's other minor things he blurts out at times, he's stated to not have tact be his strongest suit, he's insensitive on accident trying to fumble through interactions even if he's entirely confident on what he's saying he's soo sharp when he has a goal in mind but he's soo dense if he's trying to just exist my man is so traumatized and his brain always seems to default to taking the most of any given situation in as possible to desensitize himself instead of any other response and sometimes it pushes his mind to be so single mindedly entranced on not ending up that way too that he'll describe a mangled body in excruciating detail to a grieving relative even if that's his friend and even if he feels guilty about it immediately as soon as he catches up with what just left his mouth instead of staying in his thoughts

[eddiemunsonsmum]

Just saw this comment on a story posted a month ago.

*cries in Eddie Munson Solo Series no one wanted to read, interact with or request for*

No shade to the person that commented this on their own fic if you recognize it. It's not their fault. I'm not mad at them. More crying in the tags.