#Wu is mostly just sad

[badgermolebender]

A day in the life of Wu of the Hou-Ting Dynasty, King of all the Earth Lands, and Glorious Defender of Ba Sing Se, 54th Earth Monarch

Morning

* Wake up

* Get out of bed

* Get out of bed

* Come on, you really have to get out of bed now, you have responsibilities

* Get out of bed

* Breakfast - look over the day’s meeting schedule

* Read over reports from yesterday

* Consider writing Mako, he still hasn’t responded to your last letter

* Attend first meeting, with transportation ministers, discuss the new trains constructed by Kuvira and the funding needed to maintain the system

* Try not to freak out at the mention of Kuvira and the war, succeed — mostly

* Wish Mako was there, you could really use some of his straight-talking, no-nonsense comfort, he doesn’t need to put up with you, he doesn’t need your problems

* Attend second meeting, with financial ministers, argue with them over the new tax structure

* The next time one of them implies you are too young or inexperienced to know what you are doing you are going to scream

* NO! that’s what Auntie would do, you are not Auntie, you won’t let yourself be

* Succeed — for now

Midday

* Lunch - breathe, you can get through the rest of the day

* Consider writing to Mako, the worst thing that happens is he doesn’t respond, it’s not like he isn’t already annoyed with you

* Attend last meeting of the day, with cultural ministers, try once again to convince them to use their funds for a memorial for the victims of Lake Laogai rather than finishing The Earth Queen’s Temple, that it would be good to commemorate the history of the people not just the Royals

* Make no progress, argue them to a standstill

* Consider introducing legislation to undo centuries of discrimination against same-sex relationships

* Your ministers/the aristocracy/the remaining Dai Li would know, they would know

* They’d go after you, your reign, your life

* Decide to start small, tomorrow

Evening

* Dinner - try not to cry staring at the empty table

* Wish that your parents were alive

* Wish that any of your family were alive, so you weren’t king, so you didn’t have to do this, so you weren’t alone

* Feel guilty for thinking this, you’re doing good work, you know you are

* Read over reports from the day

* Wish you could run away to The Cave of the Two Lovers and live with the badgermoles

* Make notes for tomorrow’s meetings

* Consider writing to Mako, he hasn’t written back because he hates you

* He’s always hated you

* He’s always going to hate you

Night

* Go to bed

* Wish you weren’t so alone

* Wish he didn’t hate you

* Wish he could love you the way you love him

* Try not to cry yourself to sleep

* Fail

[al-luviec]

day 2 - energy / life / green

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

No you don't understand, Anne and Marcy third-wheeling Sasha during the dinner episode (and Sasha third-wheeling herself during battle of the bands) is so important to me. Anne and Marcy have come so far having left Sasha behind. They're happy and confident and strong and closer than ever, all because they were finally free. Because Sasha wasn't there to stunt their growth. Despite how much they love Sasha and how much they don't want to admit the distance helped them, it's true: Anne and Marcy were both victims of a toxic friend and they're learning to move on together. Ik it sounds like I hate Sasha because whenever I write about her I make her out to be a massive piece of shit but that's because... she kinda was! And I love her for that! I love these three, I love their story and their drama and toxicity (I was soooo happy when it was revealed Marcy wasn't as great as she initially seemed like - yes! The CONFLICT is CONFLICTING). Like yes marcanne is my obsession, I have marcanne brain worms, but I think one of the reasons marcanne works so well is because of Sasha. Their past, present and future with her have such a huge impact in Anne and Marcy's relationship with each other and with themselves. You can't separate these three and I love it, how easy it is to ship two of them without making it weird by leaving the third one behind (ironically, Sasha the Character is included by leaving Sasha the Person behind).

Marcanne to me is about two childhood friends living in a toxic situation healing together after leaving, only able to fall in love now that they are free and more comfortable with themselves and each other. They couldn't fully connect with each other before - not really. Anne didn't see the importance of listening to what Marcy had to say nor did she take it too seriously, and Marcy was simply not in contact with real people in the real world at all. None of this was Sasha's fault entirely, but she did third-wheel Marcy and she was possesive with Anne and was just a generally terrible influence on her, while reminding Marcy that, well, she didn't really matter all that much to anyone. Removing Sasha from the equation is not enough but it's a necessary step towards knowing each other better and the fact that they so easily became closer than ever just shows their eagerness to be together for real this time. Marcy's increased confidence and Anne's newfound empathy and admiration for her friend wouldn't have been possible with Sasha's domineering influence present. If they were to fall in love, it'd be because Sasha wasn't there to stop it.

I imagine that, once she finds out, she'd be furious, but mostly just devastated. Her friends only found love once she was gone. As if they think they'll be better off without her.

[onedeadkitty]

In light of Blue Eye Samurai winning an Emmy I want to get something off my chest.

It makes me so mad that Michael green gets all the credit for Being the “creator” of Blue eye samurai. It’s so tragic and almost ironic considering the contents of the show that all the Asian women that worked on the show get completely overshadowed by the husband of the real creator AMBER NOIZUMI, who came up with the show and wrote most of the plot. Also the shows *director * JANE WU (who is incredible) and the countless other Women/Asian artist, writers and actors that often don’t get mentioned.

It’s the tragedy of Hollywood plastering the white male pos big name guy over all the marketing for the show all because he directed other unrelated movies. And then people not watching the show cause “the creators a Zionist” (which is a valid reason not to watch something)

And it’s just sad a show created mostly by Asian women about Asian women basically gets sabotaged cause Micheal green is an idiot who doesn’t understand the morals of the very show he’s working on.

It all feels like a frustrating bojack episode.

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Gmmtv 2025

So now, that I have time, I'm actually gonna sit and watch the trailers properly. Let's go.

Dare You to Death - The plot is appealing to me, the cast is interesting. I was never a JD fan so if I decide to watch it will be for all the ensemble and the actual plot.

Head 2 Head - My babies! Forced cohabitation my beloved. I'm gonna pretend I didn't see the vision thingy cause other than that this just seems like a cute bl, and I'm here for that.

Burnout Syndrome - OffGun in a love triangle? Gun being fought over by two men just has god intended? I am so seated for this!

Whale Store xoxo - MilkLove is back and I wanna like this one. It seems cute, and drama light. I'll probably be tuning in.

Only Friends - Dream On - The chill that came down my spine when the song started playing. I left my body. With that said, and like I said before, EarthMix is here, so who am I kidding? I will watch. Kinda surprised to see JossFluke already paired in another bl, before the first one has even started airing. OhmLeng was predictable as a recurring pair and I'm always here for Ohm. Leng has a lot to prove being surrounded by all these names.

That Summer - MOND! Mond kissing boys! That's it.

My Romance Scammer - Not in a million years did I think we would get this OhmFluke combo. Dimples is back kissing boys and Ohm is just back. And MarkJunior seem to be here to stay. Also, I love that since we got gay marriage we should immediately tackle gay divorce. Sounds good.

Melody of Secrets - I'm glad they're back playing adults although the dynamic seems to be the same. I wish they changed it up and let Book be the pursuer. I like the horror elements and we don't get enough of those but I don't know about this one.

Love You Teacher - The first half of this trailer had me. I love Perth and he's playing a grown up so I was sold. And then it happened. And I don't know how I feel about any of it.

MU-TE-LUV - I guess we're getting this and not OurSkyy3. Will watch the queers and the rest we'll see.

Cat for Cash - This is just rude. Do they know that cats are my ultimate weakness? I can't watch all these shows, but a show with talking cats? multiple of them?? C'mon. I'm not even gonna pretend to be torn about this one. I will be watching.

Girl Rules - So, Only Friends but make it sapphic. I'm sad to say, I'll probably pass on this one.

Boys In Love - PAPANG!!! The rumours were true and he's paired with Pod in this. All I saw in this trailer was that and the dimples. Who is that kid? Cause he's adorable. This is the obligatory high-school bl, it looks soft and fluffy. Might check it out.

My Magic Prophecy - I will be skipping this one.

A Dog and a Plane - What a mess of a trailer. But do I care? Not even a little. It's TayNew so I'll be watching with bells on.

Me and Thee - This show will be the true test of how shallow I can get. Will I start a show because Est was wearing glasses in the trailer? Only future me will know. Look, PondPhuwin can play, we know this, but I don't know if I want another show with them so soon. At least they're playing different roles, so there's that.

Wu - Who was saying this wasn't bl? Did you not see the golden thread? And the fate talk? And the looks? And well, everything? It's a bl. I don't know about this one mostly because I don't know the actors. Although tumblr is doing its job well and I'm this close to binging the frenemies show so maybe I'll reevaluate.

Memoir of Rati - I am so easy, it's embarrassing honestly. They so pretty, the scenery is so pretty, historical bl. Sold!

Ticket To Heaven - So many flashbacks to catholic school. It looks good, which doesn't surprise considering it's Aof. I'm glad GeminiFourth are back playing more serious roles. I am really intrigued by this one but also don't trust it completely for some reason. I don't know yet.

Yeah, I'm a sucker. I will be watching most of the first episodes of this line up in like a year when they actually get made. Probably not gonna stick with a lot of them but we'll see. As it's becoming obvious, I'm easy.

Also just a fun fact I guess, and as @lurkingshan as said here, with these shows, 4 couples will hit 5 series as a pair. OffGun, FirstKhao, ForceBook and EarthMix, even though that last one I'm counting Ossan's Love which is also not released yet.

And another thing, of the Gmmtv 2024 QL shows, 7 have yet to premiere. Thame Po, will premiere December 13 but the other six don't have dates yet. They are : My Golden Blood, Ossan's Love, The Ex-Morning, Us, Sweet Tooth Good Dentist and Revamp. So yeah, we're not gonna see any of these new shows anytime soon. Although I'm putting my money on the OffGun series being one of the first to premiere in this line up.

All the trailers and posters for gmmtv2025 can be found here.

[zkoh001]

Back to Ninjago ✨

I was drawing this. For 72 full hours (spread out trough like-3 months)

It doesn't look like I put 72 hours into this... (I swear my confidence went like a drunk rollecoaster while making this piece)

But alas, it is done, and I worked too hard not to share it. Behold the elemental alliance. (I can't draw armor. So the design changes are mostly because of that)

I totally got the Masters of Sound and Gravity the first few times, which is quite hilarious cause the Master of Gravity spends quite some of his screentime flying, but oh well.

Also, I tought they were related (for no particular reason) hence the positioning on the picture.

The guy on the left side of the picture was literally listed as "unknown elemental master" and I literally only added him so the proportions were more balanced (also so noone could argue it isn't finished)

I feel like his power was supposed to be lightning (based on the outfit) but then season 6 happened, and he was quietly retconned to make way for libber. I hesitated making it a father daughter situation, with him passing his powers on faster than Cole's grandfather to Lilly, but in the end, settled for making him a Master of Light.

Lilly and her father joined together, but neither of them are sure why it took so long for the power to pass down (probably after or at the very end of the First Serpentine War). They were both the type to understand it's war, and those rarely have a happy ending (in general, these people were kinda forced into this role because of their powers, some of them pretty young) Maybe the late heritance caused issues with Lilly's immune system leading to an early death? 👀🥺

I like to think the old Master of Earth was a mother hen of sons just as Lilly (it's genetic a this point). The above picture happened sometime after Garmadon's banishment.

Libber (or whatever they call the previous Master of Lightning) turned out really cute, I'm probably most satisfied with her (also gave her freckles to match Jay). I feel like we massively missed out on having her be the one to make/power Prime Empire. I mean, I get they wanted to save the mom storyline for MotM, but I'm sure you can write two separate stories revolving around parents. I also believe she joined really young, probably the youngest (and she was a menace. Also imagine if she was friends with the twins, the tragedy)

Wu and Garmadon pretty much have their canon designs (I like that they are dressed the most "traditional" out of everyone) except I added a bit more purple and gold respectively. Also, I'll mention it here, every active elemental masters have eye colours matching their elements, and their pupils are light (giving way to theories about them not even being human). The spinjitzu bros have "rings" around their pupils in the opposite color (purple for Wu, gold for Garmadon) showing the link between them and their powers.

When Garmadon is banished, Wu's eyes become completely gold, affected by their severed connection (and Garm has red eyes, but normally his would have become purple as well) Also, I kinda traced the text on their gi, cause I'm not drawing that from memory 😅

Master of Shadow was one of the first to join the Alliance, but is not the youngest member, she wanted a peaceful solution at the start, and like most of the earlier members, have a more nuanced view on the war, probably even had serpentine acquitances, which is why she looks so sad a lot of the time.

I see Ray and Maya as a kinda golden retriever, black cat dynamic. Maya was incredibly skilled, cold and precise, and one of the deadliest elemental masters (I was cooking up some story about a warrior clan she grew up in, but it's up for interpretation).

Ray meanwhile lives by the principle of "They can't know my next step... if I don't know my next step." Runs in, swords blazing, most people fighting him are just sort of. Perplexed at first.

And of course Maya didn't like him at first, but it's really hard to dislike Ray long term. (Which is how he also became Wu's best friend, despite him trying to hold a 'polite acquitances' type of relationship with the Ems. Ray is just like that) But she fell first.

Either this happened, or he went ahead of the trouble and asked him first.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand (working a lot on this means I had a lot of time to microwave these dudes, this post is looong)

Master of Ice is just that one kind of slightly creepy wise old man, who just... knows stuff. Everyone just sort of accepted that you don't ask him how or why he knows stuff, he just does. Wu and Garmadon have a tendency to follow him around (cause he's pretty similar to their father in a way), which kinda translates to everyone following him around like little ducks (even when he barely socialises with anyone lol).

Design for Master of Ice is inspired by @maydayissleepy, go check out their art!

And I already made a bunch of posts about Hands of Time and the time twins, but design wise, I just made a new one (to avoid the complex armor). When in battle, it's basically impossible to tell the two of them apart. Also, they have heterochromia because they both have two powers technically. The murky brown we see in the show is because they lost the power, but are still technically the Masters of Time, since it never passed on (if the blades broke somehow it would go back to them)

I feel like they joined later (even way later, which is why they clashed so much with the alliance) which is why they aren't mentioned in the early flashbacks (and also cause they didn't exist yet), and went kinda gungho on the war, not really knowing (or caring) for it's nuances.

Anyways, let me know what you think!

[ajmasch]

@here4hualian kissmas day 23: kissing under...

Unfortunately, there was too much to do once Hua Cheng returned from his year-long absence for him and Xie Lian to celebrate the way they wanted. The heavenly capital had to be completely rebuilt and restructured, not to mention the increased ghost activity with the recent opening of Mount Tonglu and release of several prisoners by Jun Wu. Perhaps some of it could have been mitigated through the intervention of a supreme, but with Hua Cheng and Yin Yu both gone, control of Ghost City was relying almost entirely on He Xuan for a year, and he was barely managing that, much less helping to control ghosts elsewhere.

So, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng ended up being too busy to really focus on themselves and their relationship at first. Which is why, once things had settled down enough, they decided to take some time to themselves. Xie Lian left heaven to the newly established council, Hua Cheng left Ghost City to the recently reinstated Waning Moon Officer, and they went to travel, giving instructions that they were only to be contacted in the case of a serious emergency.

They had both been to so many places in their lives, but had mostly been alone. Now, they shared the experience with another. They traveled the mortal way, walking or occasionally catching rides on passing carts, and they talked. They shared memories, both happy and sad, eager to learn everything about the time they had spent apart.

Then, one day, they were walking through a forest when it started to rain. Hua Cheng immediately pulled out his umbrella, stepping close to Xie Lian to shelter him from the storm. Their hands instinctively reached for each other once they were close, red strings resting against each other as their fingers intertwined.

Xie Lian laughed once he noticed their position. “It’s just like the night we re-met!”

Hua Cheng grinned at him. “Not quite.” He glanced at Xie Lian’s outfit to emphasize his meaning. “Gege made a beautiful bride.”

“San Lang made a handsome bridegroom, come to steal me away,” Xie Lian replied.

“Oh?” Hua Cheng leaned in. “Was Gege admiring this one?”

“Hm, maybe a little,” Xie Lian admitted, leaning in as well to nudge Hua Cheng with his shoulder. “San Lang was so powerful, so composed–”

Hua Cheng snorted. “Composed? Gege, I was losing my mind. To have finally found you after all those years and you were wearing bridal robes? It was like every wild fantasy was coming true at once! Honestly, it’s lucky Gege tried to capture me when he did, or I would have done something absolutely ridiculous like propose on the spot…”

“Really.” Xie Lian suddenly wrapped his arms around Hua Cheng and lifted him over a puddle in the road. He set him down on the other side, but remained face to face, relishing in the stunned expression caused by the sudden display of strength. Now that Hua Cheng was caught off guard, he continued, “Would San Lang have passed that one off as a joke as well?”

“Ge–” Hua Cheng’s voice came out as a squeak. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Gege…”

Xie Lian kept going. “You know, if San Lang had waited a little bit longer then, I would have said yes.”

“You–” Hua Cheng swallowed. “You would?”

Xie Lian nodded. “Ever since you walked back into my life, you’ve made it so easy to be happy. Even on the rainiest days,” he gestured to their surroundings, “when I’m with you, none of it can touch me. No matter the state of me or the state of you, you’ve stayed by my side and given me your everything. I want to do the same for you. Hong’er, Wuming, Hua Cheng, San Lang… I want to be your husband. I want to spend the rest of eternity with you, so, will you marry me?”

Hua Cheng was speechless. Tears had begun to fall down his face halfway through Xie Lian’s speech, and it was only the need to keep holding the umbrella above his head that was keeping him from shaking and falling to his knees. Overcome with emotion, he couldn’t do anything except surge forward and pull Xie Lian into a needy, desperate kiss. Everything he couldn’t put into words, every intense feeling, he pushed them into his beloved’s lips.

The kiss could have lasted for hours as long as either of them was aware, lost to each other in the protective bubble of the umbrella. When they finally broke apart, they were both breathless and smiling widely.

“So? Is that a yes?” Xie Lian asked.

“Gege. My prince, my god, my beloved. Xie Lian. Yes, of course I’ll marry you.”

The rain slowly came to a stop. The clouds parted, and the sun began to shine, but the couple under the umbrella didn’t notice. Rain or sun, it didn’t matter. As long as they were together, it was perfect.

[weekend-whip]

Ninjago Fic Rec Week (2024): Day 4

Prompts: AU/Movieverse/OCs! (Catching Up! I uh skipped Day 3 oop but I've got plenty to offer for this day! Which is...also late...don't look at meeee)

Aus WITH OCs (or as I like to call this list, my own personal indulgence corner. All the AUs/Movieverse stories I've read are ones that get recc'ed a lot already + I myself have already recc'ed them at one point or another, soooo let's throw some pure spotlight onto some OC stories! Even if a lot of it is connected to me to some degree that's irrelevant):

As The Years Pass By: A fic currently in the process of being rewritten/reworked but still chock full of next-gen Dragons Rising goodness! And it stars the one, the only, Jenna and Ethan from @rainofthetwilight!!!! This fic made me fall in love with her characters and I've loved reading/seeing/drawing these two adorable kids ever since!!!!

Dad!Jay AU by @taddymason: An AU so good I'm still catching up on reading it bit by bit to savor it for longer *-*)9 All the stories in this series are worth the read alone for the accumulation of taddy's character Kaida (a girl who needs no introduction–she's that awesome guys, trust me) but also the eventual father-daughter bond with amnesiac!Jay that is gripping and engaging aaaaall the wall through!!

I Carve This Poem From the Harshest of Storms: Another I'm not caught up with YET (a running theme for this Fic Week, it seems hgfhgfdfgds i'm sorry I'm slow and have a short-attention span). It follow two fascinating peeps in The Administration following The Merge, and without giving too much away, @theartsyswissapple ‘s voices for the characters just POP and make them feel SO real and it's been intriguing to read so far so yeah others should give it a try too!!!

What it Takes for You to See Me: A Spinjitzu bros story with added FSM and Mystake goodness too!!! This is one I've just started reading myself, but you know I love some throwbacks to Wu and Garmadon's past! And the OC here, @marhan-writes-n-draws's Amka, fits into the setting like a glove!!

Honeycomb: Gotta give a shoutout to @miqotepotatoe's Lucy while I'm here too!! Some short, sweet snippets of the Ninja Team's best (and most yellow) cheerleader!! I love her dynamic with everyone, and especially Cole <3

The Space Between Us: A very deep and heart-wrenching introspective into @k1ngtok's characters Lynda and Jamie, Master(s) of Space. It's story about siblings and bonds at its core, but also be mindful of tag of you're looking to dig deeper! (it also takes place in legacyverse technically but that's neither here or there I promise)

Flowery Language Another super funny and endearing story by King following Jesse (hey it's my boy!!) and Antonia on the case to discover who's been leaving flowers in Jesse's locker (spoiler: it's not Cole lmao). It's actually a semi-sequel to this old thing *I* wrote however long ago, but thaaaat's not required reading (though it does help). If you want more of a fix for the Jesse-Antonia duo + more of Jamie, this is the story to read!

Learning to Love (Again): Yet another King fic based in legacyverse (a coincidence), this one kiiiind of takes place during Season 2/Book 3 and follows Jamie on his quest to truly show his friends (Nya, Antonia, Harumi, Jesse, and...Olivia?!) just how much he cares about them through the power of love languages over the course of a week and it is AWESOOOOOOOOME!! Soooo many touching and feel-good moments, mostly soft slice-of-life with teenagers being teenagers, and is a great pick-me up when your soul is feeling sad ;w;)/ I advocate for this one just for the warm soft friendshippy-feelings it gives me alone!!! AAAAAA—

Something About Morning Glories: Jesse (oop there he is again) takes it upon to himself to comfort Jay after the latter finds himself concerned about something following obtaining his True Potential. A duo I desperately want to write more about but can't yet, so this little bit of foundation for their relationship will have to suffice for now ;w;)/

(and if you're still clamoring for more of a certain magic pink fool, there's plenty more where that came from; perhaps there may be a Jesse-Antonia friendship origin story on deck soon, along with maybe some DR stuff~! ...listen there will never be a good chance to self-advertise like this again!! BE YOUR BIGGEST FAN!!! SELF-LOVE BABY!!!! *-*)9 )

In the Company of the Stars: A tale as old as time—a Royal!AU where the fair groundskeeper of a palace's garden (that's the OC) falls head over heels for the prince far out of his league (that's Cole)—except, the prince absolutely likes him back...albeit only as his secret, suave alter-ego. But is that really true—and, more importantly, is there bigger problems to deal with right now???? There's romance, mystery, good food, royal drama, angst, fluff, sabotage, magic, a whole bunch of flowers, Harumi causing chaos on purpose, Skylor throws Chad across a room, Jay goes on a rampage a some point, Kai can't flirt to save his life—the author just needs some fresh motivation to post the darn next chapter already because the ending's gonna be really really good ;V

[agatharkn3ss]

Episode 6 initial thoughts

Ok, so first things first - I can't pretend, I'm feeling pretty smug right now, I posted this before the episode aired. So when I saw Lilia in the first few minutes, I literally screamed... Predicting the sigil story right is going to be my humble brag for the rest of the year.

My Teen theories didn't pan out quite as well, but at least I got some of it - the bar mitzvah, the reincarnation and his resulting confusion, the reason, why he wanted the locket and that he was missing Tommy... And I got Ralph Bohner right!!!!

where is that blue pentacle scene going to come in then, I wonder?

I loved how Billy has actually crossed paths with everyone from the coven!

Lorna Wu was the inspiration for the Road. Should've seen that coming.

William/Billy story is a sad one, but I mostly feel bad for the parents. They don't even know they lost their son!

Billy is the BLACK HEART!

I need to cool down first, but it looks like Rio is the master manipulator here. Is she after Billy? Couldn't get the body when William died so she's trying to right the wrong?

I am certain Rio feels connected to Billy because of his literal "near death experience". She knew about the black heart and she knew how he was looking for the locket ("are you hiding evidence?" the second Billy attempts to break in). Maybe she can read him like he can read minds?

Is it possible she can traverse/predict time too? She seemed to know what Lilia was going to say about Salem Seven in the last episode.

OR Rio was sent to Agatha from the future, from Lilia as Lilia dies and Rio comes to collect her? So that Rio warns Agatha about Salem Seven? Aghrrrrr blurb. I need to sleep on it.

I laughed so hard at the whole "Agnes" stage. I have watched Agatha's pov in ep.1 so many times, that I can almost quote what she thought he was saying and I just couldn't stop giggling. Beautifully done.

Oh, the reunion talk. Kathryn, I love you so much. Every line was funny and meaningful and full of all sorts of emotions. It was the highlight of the whole episode. This is the reason and the reminder that we are watching "Agatha all along" and not "Billy"

Wonder if Billy knows that Lilia and Jen are alive? Did Rio save them? Or Alice? Either way, he didn't seem THAT bothered. So much for his previous speech about killing witches not being "for him".

Now that Billy hype is over, can we go back to focusing on Agatha for the rest of the show? Please, thank you.

[ataraxixx]

my piece on why i really like echo. i have ruminated a lot of these thoughts in my brain for awhile but i realized ive never actually made a public post abt it .. echoheads lets discuss extensively

see. i think we can all agree about the most common echo characterization. at least the one i usually see in fics? and generally most fan content. hes a happy-go-lucky guy whos a bit child-like or naive, very innocent and mostly just glad to be here and full of wonder and whimsy and etc. and also really loves zane and is very kind and sweet and etc.

i am not saying this is an incorrect characterization by any means . obviously. because hes literally got like 5 minutes of screentime and most of that is spent not talking so its really up to whoevers writing him how they want to take his character. but i also think that making him just. Fine with everything is a very underwhelming way to take his character. because he could be so much more than just. zane's brother who is innocent and silly. he can be innocent and silly and still have complicated feelings about his situation and existence yk.

i enjoy villain/antag echo bc it gives him a role in which to explore those complicated feelings as Himself. not as second fiddle to whatever zane is doing, but as a story of his own to come into his identity. because often times when hes included in fan content hes there just to be zanes brother and nothing else. which is so sad for him. because in canon thats all he ever was and all he'll ever be to his father. to zane. to the ninja. he's just the copy. the lesser version. he can never be his own self he will always be a derivative of zane.

like how is that not an interesting thing to explore. and how could we not think about the complicated feelings he would have about that. echo isnt stupid. he isnt incapable of having those kinds of feelings about his identity or role in the world because he is Literally Zane. he is programmed to be identical and he is in every facet of his personality and mannerisms a reflection of how zane was before he met wu/the ninja. when he was just a bit clueless about the world but not Stupid. just unknowledgable. and he was still capable of complicated feelings about himself because we see as early as episode 2 of season 1 he is wondering about himself and his role in the team and how he feels about the world. he isnt just content every day of his life to simply be there; he questions things and thinks about them deeply. why do fan creators often rob echo of this same capability and dumb him down to simply being child-like or incapable of complicated thought?

i always see him just. Fine with everything. and i dont think he needs to be a villain or evil or even violent to make him an interesting character. but i also think that anger and violence is a natural progression of the situation he has been put in by the doctor and by extension the ninja. they too do not regard him as his own individual, only as an extension of zane. which is literally crazy. because he is a whole ass person. they disregard his identity because its the same exact one as a person they already know; but he has no control over that. he didnt ask to be made as a copy of someone else, and now he exists, and he is forced to live knowing he was never his own person, even though he Is. Because he is Himself and he Exists and yet he isnt because his face doesnt belong to him and his voice doesnt belong to him and his name doesnt belong to him. the world decided he is someone else and he cant be who he actually is because someone else is Already him. like christ man. why are we sleeping on this and just making him like yayyy:3 im so happy i love everything or whatever. bro should be questioning his existence!

because i do think joining the SoG gives him such an excellent entry into both formulating his own identity while also paralleling harumi in an interesting way; for both characters in their attempts to create their own identities opposing the ones theyve been forced into, they end up only relating themselves to that identity anyway. in echos attempts to separate himself from zane he ends up relegating himself to hating zane because zane took something from him, an acknowledgement that he is a copy in the first place. their scrapped fight dialogue is so interesting guys. a discarded replica an experiment left to rust. should he not be upset that despite not asking to be made, much less in the image of someone else, he was left abandoned? that he was created solely to be hated by his creator for not being Someone Else? And now he is stuck always chasing after the shadow of that person because he was never meant to be his own person. only zane's copy. never as good as the original. and he has to live with that. its so devastating and good characterization and so interesting that i cannot pass up on it for simply having him be Guy Who is Happy and Innocent.

He is not stupid. He would definitely have less anger in his heart if the ninja got to him before Harumi did, but i think its so impossible that he can simply look at zane and feel nothing. that he can see the person who has cursed his existence into meaninglessness and just be like omg brother:3 because he is doomed to constantly be relegated to Zane's Brother and he will never be Echo to these people that call him a friend. He cant even use his own name he has to be Echo. because its someone elses name and not his even though it Is His its the name his father gave him. but hes not allowed to use it because hes not the original. and he is lesser. and he will always just be zanes brother and he will never be zane. and he will never even be echo. isnt that so fucked.

[wuhuha]

Isaz Mano - The mentor who got a sad backstory

An entry in my WOA art series aka Wu's Oc Academy. Were I take all my OCs and try fitting/reimagine them all existing in the same made up fantasy setting.

Who was this Oc originally?

Keeping it short: Do you know what Adventure Quest is and Artix Entertainment? One of the franchise's game is named DragonFable. Well that's the origin point on Isaz Mano. His name literally just means Ice Moon, dangerously close to Moon Moon ngl. Okay so in DragonFable there is a class known as Soulweaver, that I mostly mained, and in that storyline your 'main' elemental dmg kinda defaults to ice. That's the tl;dr.

As the story goes- I've reused and recycled this Oc and funnily over time he aged. Like I think Isaz is the only one of my Oc that I've imagined/drawn visibly older as time passes. So naturally he takes an mentor role in my Oc crossover universe, as he is one of the first character consciously I fitted into several fictional universe.

Wu's Oc Academy ver.

Introduction:

Working for WOA as a teacher, Isaz teaches History magic and Elemental evocation.

From a young age, Isaz was surrounded by the beauty of snow and ice, learning the ways of the cold and its power. His brother and sister-in-law were skilled practitioners of elemental magic. The brother specializing in wind magic and his sister in-law being a descendants of the elemental sister who had the gift of the air. Eventually Isaz's brother would have a child named Mara.

Their family was beloved. They were known for their compassion and their talents, helping their coven's nearby villagers to survive the most brutal winters. Unfortunately one night a terrible fire was set ablaze on the their home, with the perpetrator being unknown. At the time Isaz was away and wasn't present to act. In the aftermath of the disaster, his niece managed to escape with nothing but her familiar in her arms. The coven and home was destroyed and so much was lost. Two of them being his brother and his sister in-law. Despite a deep part of him seeking justice for the fire that claimed his family, he still had to care for his niece, Mara and his job at WOA.

Carrying a deep guilt for not being present for the incident, today Isaz lives with a dual purpose: to protect and guide the young as overseer of the Winters Blessed at WOA, and to seek the truth behind the fire that took almost everything from him.

He doesn’t believe that some form of vengeance will fully heal him, but he knows that seeking answers and using his power to protect the next generation, is what gives him  purpose. The cold is his constant companion, figuratively and literally, but with each spell he casts, he hopes that one day, he will find warmth again. If not for himself, then for those he vows to protect.

Fun facts:

Isaz familiar is an ice elemental he's know since his childhood. Yes, the desing it's just Aegis from DF but smol.

Due to his mastery of the element of ice, the spirits of wind and ice follow his, thus always lowering his body temperature. (He is always 'cold'.)

So Dragonfable kinda defaults your characters personality to be a bit of a quippy meme lord. This is just the tone of the game and Artix games in general, no biggie. But it never really matched with who I imagined Isaz to be, so I decided to do a write up on what I imagine his personality being.

...It ended up begin very long. Not sure if I will post it, but I'm suprised on how much Isaz is my blorbo lol.

[coffee-master]

it’s sad we didn’t get to see some of Nyas solo missions as samurai x in the show. Can we get a solo mission of Kai where he is badass ?

also, imagine Cole hating Samurai X and thinking he is a show-off and badmouthing the samurai every time the ninjas (plus Wu, Lloyd and Kai) have dinner and Kai can’t say a word). He would be embarrassed to find out it was Kai all along hahaha

To answer that Anon I need to explain firstly Kai's role as the Samurai X here, because it's way diffrent compared to Nya's.

Here I'm gonna mostly talk about Samurai X

Why did Kai became Samurai X is pretty much easy to answer. At the beginning Kai was pretty much taken away from the fights (mostly by Nya) by other ninjas and treated a bit like a damsel in distress.

Kai was often irritated by it, because he wanted to help the team and especially his sister, by others just didn't let him have this chance. That's why he created Samurai X.

Better question is how he created Samurai X?

Kai isn't engineer of any kind or a tinkerer of any kind. You could even say that he doesn't like any too complicated technology. This just isn't his thing. So how was he able to do that?

After all this is Nya's thing and there's the point.

Since they were children Kai had to take care of Nya, when they parents dissapeared. It was hard time especially for Kai, since he had to provide food and money for both of them. And to be able to do that, Kai had to drop out of school and start working pretty quickly.

Meanwhile Nya still went to school in that time. Kai wanted her to be fully educated and have better job for the future, so she wouldn't have to work that hard like him.

In that time Nya discovered her passion for mechanisms, constructing and building machines.

So often after school his sister liked to talk about this subject and Kai would quietly listen to it. Moreover Nya had often took part in school technical projects, where she always won. For the first place she also received cash prizes, which supported them.

With new motivation and passion she started to really get into it. In her free time Nya often used to draw some plans and detailed plans for new projects with explanations.

And that's the point of how Kai made it.

At some point Kai was tired of doing nothing and decided take matters into his own hands. He stole one of her sister's project and built it cumsily.

Yes, Samurai X was originally one of Nya's project. She had a lot of them, but didn't have time or money to make it reality.

I don't think I'll give here much of Kai's solo missions as Samurai X, because this isn't part of his personality or him.

Kai did this, because didn't saw any other choice. He was able to adapt to the situation, but building machines isn't part of his hobbys or he's as good at this as his sister.

Building Samurai X was actually very difficult for Kai.

He did this becuase he wanted to help.

Of course there surely will be some solo missions of him in this, but not many.

In the beginning Nya didn't notice that one of her plans was gone, until she met Samurai X.

And obviously she was confused and furious. After she immiediatelly started searching through her projects and couldn't find it.

So yeah, like in canon non of ninjas liked Samurai X very much, but Nya hated him the most. The fire ninja thought of him as a thief, who couldn't even do her work properly.

She would be very determined to catch him and win the bet.

But during this time the meals would be very weird for some people..

Ninjas: *are eating meal together*

Cole: Yeah, and there was this Samurai X guy-

Jay: Gosh I hate that guy-

Nya: You hate him!?

Nya: Let me tell you something, because this guy isn't any kind of Samurai! That's just a cheap thief, who couldn't even do the work right and made some sort of cheap fake- MOREOVER HE'S-

Kai: . . .

Kai thinking: *Oh god I'm so dead if she finds out, I'M SO DEAD-*

First | More about AU | Previous | Next

[glittercakes]

Sparklas Incorrect Quotes

(Quotes generated by perchance.org)

-

Sherman/Detective to The Squad: None of you know what propaganda is, do you?

Hiro/Mighty: I think it’s when a British person takes a good look at something.

-

Kage/Ninja: I scare people a lot because I walk very softly and they don't hear me enter rooms. So when they turn around, I'm just kind of there and their fear fuels me.

-

Patty/Patissiere: Forgive me Father, for I have sinny-sin-sinned.

-

Hiro: *coughs blood*

Patty: Don't die, Hiro!

Hiro: Don't tell me what to do!

-

Austin/Cowgirl: Like, no offense to myself and all, but what the fuck am I actually doing?

-

Brenda/Swordfighter: You made enough pasta that you could take it to lunch tomorrow. Put it in a container.

Austin: Shovel the pasta into your face. Do it. Put it in your face. The future is meaningless but the pasta is now.

-

Sherman: There is no future. There is no past. Don't you see? Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every fact.

Wu Xie/Kung Fu: ...All I asked was if you wanted to cut your birthday cake first.

-

Wu Xie: Whatever happened to the concept of less is more?

Austin: But if less is more, then just think of how much more 'more' will be!

-

Sherman: This is a very powerful artifact. You’d be messing with some forces we don’t fully understand.

Austin: That sounds like a dare to me.

Sherman: Oh my god.

-

Robaire/Dashing Thief: Everyone knows that Santa is an invention designed by the big five corporations to sell tinsel and video games to an unsuspecting public.

Marissa/Mermaid: The whole “childhood wonder” stage just blew right past you, didn’t it?

-

Hiro: I have one brain cell and it bounces around in my skull like a windows screen saver.

Hiro: When it hits a corner perfect, I’m allowed one good idea.

-

Robaire: Do you support gay rights?

Marissa: I’m literally gay.

Isa/Figure Skater: They’re avoiding the question!

-

Hiro: I don’t know, this plan seems complicated.

Isa: You once said that about an orange.

Hiro: They don’t make sense. Apples, you eat their clothes but oranges you don’t.

-

Sherman: You're ignoring all your problems.

Wu Xie: I know.

Sherman: You also know it's an unhealthy coping mechanism?

Wu Xie: I'm ignoring that fact as well.

Sherman:

-

Marissa: If I run and leap at Wu Xie, they will most certainly catch me in their arms.

Marissa, running towards Wu Xie: Coming in!

Wu Xie: No! I’m holding coffee!

Wu Xie: *Drops coffee and catches Marissa*

-

Robaire: Hey, do you know the password to Sherman’s computer?

Hiro: Fuck you, Robaire.

Robaire: Hey!!

Hiro: No, you misunderstood, the password is "fuckyouRobaire".

Robaire: Oh, no numbers? Not very safe.

-

Wu Xie: Are they stupid?

Kage: Yes, but they prefer to be called Hiro.

-

Wu Xie, on the phone: What’s up, Hiro?

Hiro: I’m sitting in a pool of blood.

Wu Xie: …Um, is it YOUR blood?

Hiro: I think so.

Wu Xie: Do you know where the blood’s coming from?

Hiro: Probably the stab wound.

Wu Xie: YOU’VE BEEN STABBED?!

Hiro: Oh, yeah, definitely.

-

Hiro: How do you do that?

Brenda: I'm fearless.

Wu Xie: I saw you run from bees yesterday. You flailed around and tripped over a chair. It was both hysterical and sad.

Brenda: I'm mostly fearless.

-

Marissa: You don't think I can fight because of my gender!

Brenda: I don't think you can fight because you're in a wedding dress. For what it's worth, I don't think Wu Xie can fight in that dress either.

Wu Xie: Perhaps not. But I would make a radiant bride.

-

[saelterlude]

link click musical list pt.6, (longer bcs i keep accidentally posting these early, gotta make up for the short pt.5)

also hi, this one took a while bcs i keep getting sad over not finding a Wang Yifei-Zhu Hanbin LG uppies clip :')

(pt.1, pt.2, pt.3, pt.4, pt.5, pt.7 here)

81. 24/03/2024 night, Zhu Hanbin wore his shirt inside out lol, there's a good chance it was like that the whole performance since LG actors don't change costume. Also, I love how Zi bowen shouted his name, it's cute.

82. Cai Lu's short vlog, includes Guo Hongxu and Ji Xiaokun karaoke, JXK being bad at basketball, and chilling in the dressing room.

83. 28/03/2024, Cao Muzhi getting manhandled by Cai Lu (I drew it hehe) and also giving the biggest laugh when he won first round of RPS against Zhu Hanbin plss.

84. 01/04/2024, Wu Hanglu bullying Bai Zhuoming, Du Guangyi being aggressive, and BZM being confused and overwhelmed in RPS. If you're asking why DGY shouted his line, it's bcs BZM and WHL were too busy bickering to beckon him to the couch like they're supposed to do. Also, they sing 'Dive Back in Time' together.

85. 29/03/2024, Wang Yifei, please stop bullying Wu Hanglu, don't squish her, look at her, she's tiny. See? Now she's bullying you back.

86. 05/04/2024 night, piglet is back!! Wu Yihan, Cai Qi. WHY ARE YOU BOTH SO MEAN TO THE PIGLET?? WYH does not let CQ play around with RPS (by not doing them at all)

87. 05/04/2024 night, bonus to the performance above. WYH does not hug in "Pursuing Light" for once.

88. 06/04/2024 day, New Cai Qi pair unlocked with Guo Hongxu. Awkward eye contact and GHX just assumes he won RPS when he didn't lol, don't you know CQ cheats? Also, Zuo Yiping looks so short between them, helpp.

89. 30/03/2024 night, Wu Yihan going *finger points* "whos singing the sofa song?", and Qian Dongyue's birthday!

90. 13/04/2024 day, I think, Wang Yifei scared Guo Hongxu with that overly enthusiatic jump hug.

91. 13/04/2024 night, Jing Yanqiao 21st birthday!! Let's go! There's actually a full video of your encore now.

Also, #90 and #91, both GHX and JYQ caught off guard by WYF and ZHB's mic cupping habit during 'Dive Back in Time'

92. 06/04/2024 night, I can't find a clip showing Wu Yihan drinking vinegar, but I can show you Cao Muzhi being cute as he walks across the table. And saying 'be careful' in 'Dive Back in Time' bcs something happened with WYH offscreen, i think he hit a camera.

93. 06/04/2024 night, nevermind! Shimmer to the rescue! Here is Wu Yihan drinking vinegar! (he Du Guangyi-ed himself (#19 and #31))

94. 14/04/2024 day, Guo Hongxu has successfully been influenced to cup their mics. Also, I'm now declaring that Guo Hongxu and Wang Yifei is the perfect disgruntled cat-oversized puppy duo, just look at their hug.

95. 14/04/2024 day, another POV of the performance above so you can see Wang Yifei nod approvingly once GHX uses his method.

96. 14/04/2024 night, just a shortclip of Wang Minhui putting Cai Qi in a headlock.

97. Event clip, mostly just explaining the basketball event itself but I wanna show you all Du Guangyi being bad at basketball in the last 10 seconds.

(speaking of event, the theatre is gonna count which actor scores the most during basketball scene/"Faith of Friendship". me and the musical brainrot gang over in the lc 18+ server are doing bets on which actor is scores the most by the end of the month)

98. 19/04/2024, poor Deng Xianling just wanna tie her shoes, stop bothering her lol.

99. 19/04/2024, same performance as above. English boy Teng Chunpeng is very excited abt basketball.

100. 20/04/2024 night, have Jing Yanqiao, shamefully losing 2-8 to Zhu Hanbin

101. 21/04/2024 day, Bai Zhuoming won the match, he teases Wang Minhui about it the whole encore to the point he messed up the entirety of RPS song lol. (Also, they got 15-12, they were conspiring together)

102. 22/04/2024, Shu Rongbo getting startled by Cai Lu's leg and Du Guangyi adding to the leg jenga is very precious, I wanna draw that. SRB also won basketball 36-0 bcs DGY is a softie granpa, I guess we knows who wins this month.

(and no, as much as i favored him, i did not bet on srb :') )

(also, did i wait for the 22nd so i can get at least 1 srb video this post? yes.)

*Please give a big round of applause to @shimmeringweeds for all xhs clips. I could not navigate that site at all.

Bonus time! Made a list (here!) of Zhu Hanbin and Jing Yanqiao performances the other day, thus that's the bonus clips you're getting for this part. Please check them out, they're really cool.

But I guess I might as well add this funny video of Cai Qi and Cao Muzhi performing 'Mia Famiglia' from Apollonia musical. It's gold, just for the fact that CQ acts as if he's in a drama while CMZ acts as if he's in a comedy.

[hurlingsupport]

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (Gender Neutral Reader Insert)

Chapter 3: Secrets

<- Previous Next ->

You covered your nose in disgust, though it did nothing to protect you from the stench in front of you. What the hell did those three do last night that required a punishment such as this?

“Enjoy cleaning this up, boys,” Roxie said, throwing shovels into both of their arms. What confused you more was the fact that Brooklynn wasn’t being punished. Curiosity burned within you, but the thought of asking her about it was like a cold bucket of water. That curious flame died out quicker than it was lit.

Your eyes turned to Ben briefly as he gagged. No matter what happened, you were just glad you decided not to take part. Kenji may call you a loser, but who’s the one shoveling dinosaur poop? Not you, that’s for sure.

“We’re going to the genetics lab,” Roxie finished, walking away from the revolting sight the group currently stood by. As she walked, the rest of the group followed. Except for Brooklynn, who stayed behind a bit to take a photo of the unfortunate fate the two boys were suffering.

Darius sent you a sad look, one of which you returned with a dead stare. It wasn’t your fault he was impatient. If he had waited just one night, he’d be on his way to see some baby dinosaurs. Darius’s stare broke as Dave threw something towards him.

“Cologne.” He specified, “That’ll help with the smell. And the ladies! What-what?”

He casually put an arm on the truck behind him. “But mostly the smell. The stench of dinosaur poo can really linger.”

Darius attempted to say something, but the sound of the engine drowned his voice out. His figure quickly disappeared as the vehicle sped off.

Brooklynn scoffed, “Ugh. I’m still dropping followers?” She read a comment aloud. “‘When are we gonna see cool stuff?’”

“Chill, dude. I just got here.” She huffed, slouching in her seat.

“So, when’s your next video?” Sammy interjected. “Ooh, maybe there’s baby dino eggs in the lab. Everyone loves a baby video!”

Brooklynn looked at her phone with newfound determination. “Whatever it is, it’ll be cool.”

You furrowed your brows at Ben as he hummed. He was slapping sanitizer onto his arms like it was lotion, like a weirdo. It seems you weren’t the only one disturbed as he quickly paused his humming to stare back at Yasmina.

He immediately defended himself. “Sanitizer. Who knows what kind of creepy dino goo is at that lab?”

He poured an unhealthy amount onto his leg. “Gotta be ready for anything. The world is a grab-bag of gross, and we’re all just along for the moist, sticky roller coaster ride called life.” He finished as he rubbed the sanitizer into his leg. He really was treating it as if it were lotion.

Despite that, Yasmina seemed to believe his paranoid speech and poured some into her hands as well. And while you weren’t scared necessarily, you followed in her footsteps. She was probably one of the few you really respected here.

You grimaced at Ben’s groaning once he massaged even more sanitizer into his neck. Thankfully, Brooklynn took your attention off him by starting another one of her videos.

“What’s good, Brooklanders? Today, I’m coming to you from one of Jurassic World’s coolest remote genetics labs!”

The surrounding equipment trilled as you entered.

“It’s so shiny in here!” Sammy gasped

You couldn’t lie about how excited you were to be here. After all, you were a pretty big fan of dinosaurs. It was a dream to be in the place where they bring dinosaurs to life.

“This is a rare window into the park’s inner workings.” Roxie began to monologue. “Not just anyone can come here, you know.”

Dave stood proudly, hands on his hips. “Yep, this is where the magic happens.”

“Doc Wu-Wu!” He suddenly shouted, pumping his fist.

The doctor in question slowly turned as Dave continued blabbering. This didn’t end until Roxie ordered him to stop.

Your attention drifted as the supposed adults continued their conversation. Honestly, with how old Dave seemed to be, you’d think he’d be more mature than the kids he was in charge of.

Ignoring your growing annoyance, you instead surveyed the genetics lab. Surrounding you were shelves full of amber, a fossilized mosquito occupying each one.

That’s right, these scientists originally brought back dinosaurs from the blood left inside a fossilized mosquito, didn’t they? It still amazed you now, as it did when they first announced it. You remember sitting on your couch, your eyes rereading the article on your laptop until you were sure what you were seeing was right.

“Young lady, no recording in the lab,” Doctor Wu addressed Brooklynn, a hand on her shoulder.

Oh right, you’re in a dinosaur lab. Enough memories for now. This was something you couldn’t take for granted.

Brooklynn immediately went to defend herself, with Wu clearly not fully paying attention. At least until Brooklynn mentioned how she simply wanted her followers to meet the genius behind Jurassic World. Obviously, it was a ploy to get permission to record in the lab, but it seemed convincing enough for Doctor Wu.

And that’s how you got here, with Doctor Wu going on an interesting rant about the genetics lab of Jurassic World.

Sammy cuts in as she notices a random eyeball lying on one of the lab tables. “Woah! Eyeball!” She makes an ‘ooh’ sound when a scientist nudges it with a tool.

You couldn’t comprehend why they needed an eyeball, but then again, you weren’t in this camp because you were a scientist now, were you?

At least it was a little entertaining when Ben audibly shuddered. His hands held to his chest as if the separated body part would reach out and grab a hold of him if he didn’t keep them in place.

Sammy explored around the lab, asking questions left and right yet never allowing Doctor Wu to answer them before interrupting him with the next one.

“You guys, look!” Dave called the group over. “Oh, I think one of these eggs is about to hatch.”

“That’s not possible.” Doctor Wu says as he comes closer, confusion lacing his words.

Everyone gathers around the incubator, watching as a singular egg gains more and more cracks.

Yasmina gasps, “Is that a tail?”

A large egg piece falls from the source and baby dinosaur goo lands directly on Ben’s shirt. You muffle your giggles with your hand as he shouts in disgust.

“Get it off me! Get it-” Ben abruptly pauses.

The baby dinosaur is now fully visible, the only egg piece left laying on its head. As it attempts to push the piece off with its feet, it ends up flinging itself backwards. Luckily, Ben catches it before it ends up on the ground.

This surprises you. Isn’t he a total germaphobe?

Ben gently sets it back onto the incubator, taking the egg piece of the baby’s head while doing so. The baby dinosaur squeals, and you’re now sure it’s an Ankylosaurus.

As if a switch flipped, Ben coos at the baby despite his hands being covered in goo.

“One of its head bumps is bigger than the other!” Brooklynn remarks, her camera recording the baby.

You lean over Ben’s shoulder to get a closer look, him tensing briefly. Brooklynn was right, which confused you. Seeing as they made these dinosaurs in a lab, organic mistakes like this shouldn’t be possible.

This is further proved when Doctor Wu walks over to the group surrounding the baby. “Asymmetry? In my lab?”

“She’s so… tiny.” Ben remarks. She was about the exact size of his hands, which was obvious in the fact he only needed one to hold her.

“But she won’t stay tiny for long, right?” Roxie looks to Doctor Wu, who stood behind Brooklynn, Ben and you.

“That’s the idea.” Doctor Wu comes closer, taking a better look at the baby dinosaur. “All the dinosaurs go through an accelerated growth cycle.”

That would explain why they always had dinosaurs ready to be on display. They didn’t have to wait years for them to grow.

“They’re supposed to incubate for 13 weeks with no noticeable defects,” Wu continued. “But apparently this one slipped through.”

Your eyes caught onto Brooklyn sneaking away. You weren’t a snitch, so you did nothing other than give her a questioning gaze. She didn’t seem to notice.

When her figure disappeared, you turned your attention back to the baby Ankylosaurus. It was now rolling about on the incubator. Ben’s hands hovered over the baby, ready to catch it again if it were to roll off.

As it squealed, you couldn’t help but smile. Who knew that baby dinosaurs were so cute?

“Do you wanna hold it?” Ben suddenly asked. You briefly thought of saying yes. This baby was just too cute not to at least consider it. However, one thing was holding you back.

“No, it still has egg goop on it.” You brought a finger up to its shiny head, rubbing gently. Ben didn’t seem to mind your answer. It was clear by the way he brought it up to his face. He couldn’t get enough of this dinosaur.

“Well, that’s it, Ben. Looks like you live here now.” Roxie teased.

Doctor Wu immediately shattered the light-hearted mood when he stormed in, dragging Brooklynn behind him. “Time for you all to leave.”

“Hey!” Brooklynn scoffed as he pushed her.

“Clearly, this group has no respect for my lab.”

Ben instantly brought up the baby dinosaur, who he seemed to have named Bumpy.

While he asked about what they’d do with it, your eyes drifted back towards the incubator. The egg shells left by the baby dinosaur caught your eyes.

You remembered how your group left Kenji and Darius behind to clean a pile of dinosaur waste. You couldn’t care less about Kenji’s disappointment in the punishment. He completely deserved it. Darius, on the other hand…

He likes dinosaurs. No, actually he loves them. You could tell by the way he acted. His hands would ball into fists, and he couldn’t seem to stay grounded. He wanted to see some dinosaurs so badly he made an entire plan to sneak out to do so. And it ended up going terribly, that much you could tell.

Which is why you were stuffing the Ankylosaurus egg shells into your pocket.

You didn’t feel bad, really! There was no reason to! Darius did something stupid, and he’s getting punished for it. It’s how it should go. But you can’t help but feel like he deserved some slack. Especially with Kenji influencing him.

So you’re definitely not doing this because you feel bad for Darius. You’re doing this because, hey, who doesn’t want some dinosaur egg shells? Definitely the reason.

Dave’s voice catches your attention. “Let’s hit the road. We are not wanted here!” He says sheepishly.

Doctor Wu ended up taking back the Ankylosaurus. Or Bumpy, as Ben had named her. Though that was to be expected, you can’t exactly keep a baby dinosaur in the camp. Despite that, Ben still seems pretty bummed out about it.

Once you’re all seated in the jeep, it speeds off. You catch Ben staring at the floor of the trunk. You offer him a simple pat on the back, as you’re not sure what else to do. He smiles a bit in return, so you consider it comfort worthy.

“Hey guys!” Darius shouts once the jeep pulls in where they left them. Weirdly, they were out of breath.

Roxie voiced your curiosity. “Why are you two so out of breath?”

“Just doing the job we’re told.” Darius answered, though you’re sure that wasn’t entirely it. “How was the field trip?”

“Oh, well, um, Ben fell in love with a dinosaur,” you grinned at Yasmina’s words. “And Super Star here got us booted from the lab.”

“That is not what happened!” she defensively shouted.

Sammy changed the subject. “How’d poop patrol go?”

“Uh…” Darius stilled at her words, the shovel he was holding almost falling from his grip.

“Awesome!” Kenji interjected. “You all should’ve seen how I owned-”

“This valuable experience!” Darius cut in. “Um, learned a lot about ourselves and, uh… yep!” He smiled.

It was awkwardly silent for a moment until Roxie got a whiff of their stench. “Well then, hit the showers. And maybe stay in there for a while?”

“Use soap.” Ben added as the jeep drove off. “Lots of soap!”

And that was the end of the genetics lab ordeal.

Later that night, your self acclaimed dino-buddy is talking up a storm with you. Or more like asking. He even invited himself onto your bed! At least he showered. You didn’t want his previous poop cleaning stench to wear off on you.

“A baby Ankylosaurus hatched while you guys were there? What the heck!?” He held his head in his hands.

As expected, it befuddled Darius that so much cool stuff happened while you all were at the lab. You also thought he’d be more jealous than he is about your entire dinosaur experience.

This just further convinced you he and Kenji were up to some odd dinosaur business before your group came back.

Talking about the baby Ankylosaurus reminded you of something else that you had forgotten. You shoved a hand into your pocket, feeling the shells. Your face burned as you thought of bringing up your little gift.

“And you said it had asymmetrical horns, right? Man, I wish-”

“You don’t have to.” You randomly interrupted.

Darius paused his ramblings and looked up at you, brow raised in confusion.

“Wish, I mean. You don’t have to wish.” You fumbled with your words. This was new to you. Your brows furrowed in frustration as you thought of what to say next.

You grabbed the eggshells from your pocket and forced them into Darius’s hands.

“It’s gross, I know. But it was the only thing I could take without messing up lab progress or whatever.” You paused, looking up at Darius’s expression. Upon seeing his still figure, you continued anxiously.

“Actually, you don’t even have to keep them. It’s weird that I kept those in my pocket. I should’ve left them in the lab. You can-”

Your anxious words cut off as Darius suddenly lunged at you. Your first instinct was to pull him off you, but as his arms wrapped around your torso, you realized he was only hugging you.

Oh.

He was hugging you.

“This has got to be the coolest gift I’ve ever gotten!” He said excitedly.

When he pulled back, you saw his happiness. Not only in his smile but also in the crinkle under his eyes and the dimples on his cheeks.

And though he ducked his head as he inspected the pieces you did your best to keep from breaking within the confines of your pocket, you saw something else.

You saw Darius.

[spicyicymeloncat]

Hey ngl I am not enjoying the discourse about Misako and Garmadon and who’s the sad puppy dog oh so owo traumatised little flower parent and who’s absolutely down right evil rot in hell forever leaking fuming bag of toxic waste parent.

…

I asked my boyfriend if I should post this and he said I should write a conclusion. And I’m thinking about this. What’s my actual opinion on them? Who’s the better parent? Who’s the worst? Has Lloyd ever a good parental figure ever?? IS THERE ANY DECENT PARENTAL RELATIONSHIPS IN THIS SHOW (jk Ed Edna and Cyrus Borg y’all are doing great).

And yknow I hate the Misako vs Garmadon bc it feels like some of you act like the only reason people hate Misako is because they just hate to see a woman on the screen. But like. No. I disagree. I mean not totally, some people do let misogyny affect their opinions on things. But like, it’s almost as bad to act like the horrendously awful writing of Misako as a character just didn’t happen. It’s horrendous BECAUSE of misogyny (and the fact that the show is not written well in a lot of places anyways).

Misako spends a whole fuckin lot of of her time in the show in the most sexist era of Ninjago, and then doesn’t really get much development after that. Her memorable moments are literally coming back after having no contact with Lloyd, flirting with Wu a lot, being Lloyd’s mother, being a researcher, flirting with Garmadon and like being his wife, getting kidnapped a few times, the letter, and uhhh being a little sassy? As I was saying this I realised I could probably list every detail we get on her in the show. It’s that little. And can we agree, I’m not saying she’s evil and should have chosen to be well written. I’m saying she’s clearly a badly written character mostly used to prop up other characters arcs, and that’s the fault of the writers. Like you can justify some of what she did but it’s not presented in that way bc the writers don’t put in the time to make her compelling.

So why the hell are we comparing “might as well replace her with a trophy for a poetry competition” Misako with characters who were less neglected by the writers. And why are we surprised when people don’t like her compared to a character who the writers put more effort into telling a more compelling redemption, a character who we get on screen for a whole season during his time as a reformed villain, a character who we see spending time with Lloyd much more than Misako. In comparison Misako spends a lot of her scenes holding hands with Wu, hanging out with Wu, like where’s the mother son bonding road trip?? We don’t get a season where Misako tags along with the protagonists and I wish we did but we do get that with Garmadon (twice) and it’s s3 and 4 and she spends those seasons with Wu (and like Wusako is not popular bc their relationship was framed as romantically inclined and she was still living and presented as married with Garmadon at the time so likeeee)

I’m not saying Misako is a worst parent, I’m saying her relationship with her son is not as fun or as enjoyable and that’s why people don’t like her as much. Not necessarily because everyone is a misogynist. But because not everyone is about to reconstruct a Misako with good writing just to enjoy her more.

Have we considered that liking Misako is a spectrum, almost because the writers gave us nothing for her and we’re all just filling the blanks. Some people are projecting hard. Some people are projecting their abandonment issues onto Lloyd. Some people are projecting the struggle of parenthood onto Misako. Some people didn’t think at all about her. Some people only like her out of spite of how annoying it is to only see Misako haters. Some people only like her because she’s one of the scarce female characters of the show and it’s fucking rough. I wish there were more people who liked women as characters tho. Like tbh it still kinda feels like we’re still stuck with the same single archetype for how we see women. Sexy badasses who snark and kiss other women. Tbh I feel like most of the fandom just projects onto characters and that’s why Ninjago discourse feels so vicious bc people are fighting for their lives that they have stitched into their image of their favourite Lego and I’m getting very off topic what was I talking about??

Uhh anyways I like Misako and I hate Misako I feel like all her haters and her stans and the show writers and the myself are wrong about her in some way. I think I’m tired of the debate of whether she’s a good mum, we should be talking about what her favourite food is and it’s probably soup she probably puts it into a flask to take on her work adventures I DONT REMEMBER WHY I STARTED WRITING OH WAIT IT WAS THE GARMISAKO PARENTLYMPICS.

Neither Garmadon and Misako are better than each other. I’m gonna blow your minds rn but write this down if you care about traumatic parent child relationships (so like if you’re gonna write an angsty Lloyd fic). But when your grow up in an abusive household, there’s a high likelihood your parents aren’t clones of each other but instead bad in different ways.

(Tw: I traumadump to you about my not great parents. Skip past the italics)

One of my parents is emotionally unstable and immature and yet more in touch with me emotionally, my other parent is neglectful and has unsatisfiable expectations of me and yet she doesn’t verbally abuse me.

One isn’t worse than the other and worrying about who is worse often ends up minimising the damage the other causes. Why does one have to be worse when it’s more accurate to describe the experience as “they’re bad in their own way”. The “who is worse” debate is definitely something people from broken households ask themselves and I think we can definitely explore Lloyd’s character in terms of that, but there’s no actual answer. You can’t put a number on trauma and I personally don’t think we should be trying to. Goodbye black and white thinking, hello to messy and complicated, as most bad parental relationships are.

I don’t think Misako and Garmadon are great or justified in what they did, and I don’t think they were terrible or that Lloyd shouldn’t have forgiven them either. I wish we got more development for both of them (Misako more tho bc the writers are bitches) and I wish people didn’t ignore either her characterisation as a loving character as well as her characterisation as a once distant one (and then hinge their opinion of Garmadon as a comparison.).

Idk. Idk what this post was I’ve just always been annoyed at other people in the Misako fight club, some people get way too one way about her, like some of y’all get mean about her I think. I opened tiktok once just to feel like the anger was warranted. Idk she’s not my favourite character and I feel like that’s not allowed bc people act like the only way you could hate her is because you’re sexist and I disagree. But I like her as a character that I can get mad at and then forgive. She’s so interesting. She’s not evil she’s complicated I like having complicated feelings about her. That’s the most compelling part of her in my opinion. I’m a Misako hater and a Misako enjoyer and I’ve thought too much about her and that has to count for something

Now. No one is allowed to read one line of this post and then act like I’m taking away freedom of speech or that I hate women or take a fraction of this and get overly angry. This is due to the fact that this is my opinion. The penalty for doing this is that I take your tumblr profile pic and photoshop it into a garbage bin and I will show it to my boyfriend and we will laugh.

There are so many different points in this post and like it feels like this could be five separate posts but oh well. Send post.