#a total curveball lol

[creatively-cosmic]

i completely forgot to ever put anything abt him up here please enjoy the dragon master (as seen in missing numbers). weve been struggling to work out his design so bad but we did the last two sketches tonight so ig that's the most up to date for his hair and scars. the first one is the current colors tho

[kirayamidemon]

i need him to come home sosbbs

[fae-morrigan]

Someone put a post (where they admit they straight up dont know these characters lol, and also spell damian as 'damien' so like. yknow.) in the tags saying that if you're a fan of Jon & Jay, you shouldn't buy super son. Well, as the crowned CEO of Jay & Jon, I'm here to tell you guys that you absolutely should.

Super Son did the amazing thing of hitting several marks that I predicted while still managing to surprise me in how they hit them. Which is high praise for any story: A great narrative should be able to both meet reasonable audience expectations (i.e, staying in character, setup payoff) WHILE STILL throwing in curveballs that tell you something new.

There's a lot I want to analyze and get into, namely how I think the rooftop conversation between Jon & Nia is really brilliantly done in what it says about both characters, but mainly I've been thinking a lot about how great those last few pages were and how I think Sina absolutely nails how Jon & Jay's specific issues interact with each other.

Jay's always been a blunt person. From their first meeting back in SOKE 2, hes said what he thinks, and rarely does he try and soften himself. More than that, his bluntness is often a shield from vulnerability, which Jay struggles with the whole scene. It makes total sense, after what hes experienced (re-traumatization at the hands of a friend) that he's displaying that trait again.

Jon, however, is immediately vulnerable. This is the most poignant confession of the issue: Not even in the amazing sequence of Nia helping him make a place in the darkness (look, its back, thanks isabel!) do we get this admission of fear.

And Jay, like always, embraces him. Sidenote, LOVE how they got in the thing Jon does where he's constantly tucking his face in people's shoulders during hugs.

But the moment ends, and we get here. First of all, cold af. I could feel the aura before I turned the page.

Second of all: Jay is totally valid in feeling this way. And it makes perfect sense that he would.

Sara was his everything. Getting her back was one of his main motivations in SOKE. Because of Nia's actions, she died horribly (do you know what happens to a person when they fall from that sort of height? I do. Its AWFUL.) for an unjust cause. Of course he's glad she can't hurt anyone else!

And that's when we get to my FAVORITE PART! Oh how I love this bit. Because like. You understand why Jon's angry- Its a harsh thing for Jay to say! Nia was the one who kept him sane while he was trapped in his own mind! But Jay, like always, is RIGHT: Jon DOESN'T get it. How could he?

Jon Kent will NEVER, ever, be put in this position. Out of universe, his parents are Clark Kent and Lois Lane. They'll ALWAYS come back. Hell, the fact they'll always come back is something Ma LITERALLY says to Jon in SOKE. He will never, ever have to know this pain.

In universe, Jon's a white american. Despite being queer, despite being an alien, he'll never know what its like to be this kind of collateral, delegated as pawns in a greater war for 'freedom'. That is what killed Sara at the end of the day: imperialism.

This next bit hurts my heart. Great job, guys!

For one: Jon claims he's not excusing the mistakes Nia made, but by downplaying it like this... yes he is. But did you catch that part? Right at the start of that bubble?

"I'm going to fight every day to make up for my own part in this."

That's where it clicked for me. Something I had been hoping for since Nicole first called them twin flames.

He's projecting.

Of COURSE he's defending Nia. Of COURSE he wants Jay to forgive her. It isn't just about the fact that she gave him support, it isn't just the dreams, its the fact that... well. If Jay can't forgive her... how could he EVER forgive HIM?

THIS is where the fact that Jon and Nia are so similar as character SINGS. They become mirrors to each other, evaluating their own self worth through the other, at the unintentional expense of the people they've hurt.

Jay's right, though. Again. Its almost like he's the embodiment of the truth or something. He doesn't HAVE to do anything.

When he starts crying though, I immediately was RUINED. This is the first time we have EVER seen him cry before during his entire existence of a character. And its not really even because his mom is dead (though yes, that) and its not even because of the argument. Its because Jay fundamentally wants to be understood, and he's not getting that.

Which is important for the next bit:

I want to first backtrack a bit to Son of Kal El again, specifically, issue fourteen, right here.

Hello, two-panel sequence that succinctly describes these two as characters. How convenient you are for me, a guy analyzing a work that isn't written prose.

Jon isn't good at letting go, for better or for worse. The things he cares about stay with him, and when something or someone tries to exit his life, he clings to them with all his might.

Jay however, both selflessly and selfishly, is willing to let go first if he thinks its better for the other person. To me this line so effortlessly summarizes who Jay is- he's a person who's accustomed to not having things, and will leave before it hurts and he gets too attached.

And that thought is ALL over this scene. Jay, who begins to let go, Jon, who both literally and physically CLINGS to jay, practically begging him to stay.

(Sidenote. This is like, the third time Jay mentions breaking up when Jon starts acting up. Good for you king, keep that white boy on his toes, let him know he ain't all that.)

Every little detail of this four panel sequence is killing me. "My worst nightmare is not having a home with you in it." His greatest desire. The thing that kept tipping him off in every fake reality Nia constructed for him- Jay's absence. Him wiping the tear of Jay's cheek. Jay walking away from him.

But what really gets me is how on this page, Jon talks about them as 'we', while Jay is firmly stuck in 'I.'

This is what made me LOSE MY MARBLES at three in the morning. Just utterly fucking off my rocker in a straightjacket talking to myself.

Because this is what JON wants. But is it what JAY wants?

Jon never asks.

What about what Jay fears? What about the life that HE wants? What if he doesn't want San Francisco? What if the life he wants is the life he HAD before everything went wrong? Jon outright says he wants a fresh start. But Jay, Jay's someone with such deep connections to what he just lost, what he likely WANTS to get back. His country. His mother. His sense of self. But. He says yes.

(Sidenote. FIRST I LOVE YOU WOOOOOOOOOO) To quote my buddy Dami: Oh, the drama of needing a future with someone who can't get over the past.

It is left unclear, by the end, whether or not Jay is saying yes to this because he genuinely wants to, or if he's only saying yes because he doesn't want to lose Jon, too. Jon doesn't stop to question whether or not Jay's only reaching after him because Jon's walking away. We, the audience, are left to ponder that for ourselves.

How much of Jay saying yes is him just accepting that this is the best he's going to get? That he's never going to be understood because nobody wants to understand?

He's an afterthought to Nia, an obstacle at best, and to Jon he's a particularly handsome prop in this little fantasy he has of running away and starting new. He's either not thought of at all, or when he is thought about, it's in the context of how he can emotionally fulfill the other person And you get why Jon did this. He's desperate, he's hurting, he just got tangible evidence that the time he has with the people he loves isn't ever guaranteed. He's been needing space from Clark and Lois for MONTHS because god knows they haven't been fulfilling his emotional needs. In a very real sense, Jay is who he has.

But wanting someone to stay with you so much that you'll... Not even ignore, but just not ever consider what they may want. The intentional isolation, moving halfway across the country away from all support systems. The need to cling to someone.

It reminds me of... something. Someone.

Don't tell Jon I made this comparison. He'll kill himself. Jon and Ultraman ARE similar. They're both such deeply lonely people who cling very tightly and even though it manifests in different ways and even though they have different core thoughts about it. The effect at the end of the day is the same, isn't it?

Is loving Jay not a brutal act of destruction?

There's so many more details about this story I love. Jon & Nia's conversation being vague enough that you have no idea how Jon meant what he told her but you KNOW how NIA took it (girl you can do better hes literally ugly!). Jon breaking a pillar by bonking his head against it (LMFAO). The pretty lies vs ugly truth dichotomy of Jay vs Nia here.

But this one scene, man. This one fucking scene takes the cake. STELLAR work all around. Every panel counts.

This better lead into a full Superman & Gossamer run or SOMETHING or I'm going to have WORDS with DC's editorial staff.

[pressplay-if]

ooooh, having both the top 2 popular fandom ships involve the MC is a recipe for drama 👀 not been into a lot of bands, but been in LOT of fandoms 😂 it always creates this weird tension between the stans... awkward for Zima and Stevie who I imagine as very chill w eachother actually 😅

I can see the ship wars now: MCevie and MCima rising in popularity together, and shippers butting heads immediately. MCima's getting accused of romanticing toxicity, and MCevie's getting called boring prudes. Character attacks on the shippers, turning into attacks of the ships, turning into attacks on Stevie/Zima as people. Stans getting even madder at each other trying to defend their favs. Fanfic stereotypes emerging in both ships where Stevie/Zima get villainized in the respective MCima/MCevie fics... Zima reduced to just a player/slut manipulating and abusing the MC, contrasted to an angelic Stevie. Stevie as an annoying, clingy two-faced bitch only pretending to be nice, getting in the way of the OTP (characterization gets even harsher if Zima/MC is an MLM ship 😒). 'Are u an MCevie or an MCima?' being an actual divisive Thing in the fandom. The tiny contingent of Zima/Stevie shippers that pop-up just as counterculture to it all, that come out with surprisingly compelling stuff.

And in the end it was all just a very vocal minority, but Zima and Stevie stans still get a little anxious around each other after all the drama 😭 the vast majority are not rabid, and are in fact crossing their fingers that the other is gonna be chill about their fav 🥲

LOVE the shippers not even considering Angel for MC tho - he's really got perpetual comic relief/'only exists as a character to help the main pair get together' written all over him. Curveball for everybody when my MC ends with him in the end 🤭

Oh damn this ask is everything. Yeah Stevie and Zima are... surprisingly cool with each other, once the entire thing with Zima and MC is resolved. They can even become really good friends.

Ngl I can totally imagine it going the exact way you described. Fandoms can be so downright horrible, especially when they're about real life people. Like, I've mostly only lurked in fandoms in my earlier years, so I saw some... interesting things. And I'm glad I never got into it deep enough to partake in any controversies. And nowadays I kinda enjoy those videos about toxic fandoms and, like, their rise and fall hehe

I have nothing more to add to the analysis you gave. An essay for the ages. Sadly, it reads entirely plausible

And yes since Angel is rather average in his looks and presentation of himself, whenever someone's talking about him, it's actually about his guitar playing lol. Like its "oh monsanto was really laying it down at that live show" not "omg I wonder who he's shacking up with" and then when MC gets with him, all the stans just go "huh"

[imaginespazzi]

Bestie, now you got me invested in the exes to lovers fic haha, saw some of your responses to another anon so I thought I'd tack on a few more thoughts:

Wow 9 years since they broke up, damn - the angst is really gonna ANGST huh, but also the TENSION after so many years apart oof.

Oh man, I wonder how P felt when she first heard about Azzi having a kid. Like I'm sure she would have been happy for her but also them having a family by that point in their lives is something she must have always dreamed about and aw, my heart already hurts a lil bit for P.

Also, imagine Azzi's daughter knowing who P is immediately when she first sees her and P is completely stumped by it. I feel like either Azzi or more likely Azzi's fam would still have so many pics around where P's in it so I feel like Azzi's kid would already have an inherent familiarity with her. Would be even cuter if P was kinda her favourite player (outside of her mum obvs) - I could also totally see Tim being the instigator of that, like he'd definitely be keeping track of all of P's basketball achievements and watching her games and his granddaughter's just his lil sidekick 😌

Agree with other anon that having them on the Valks would be nice haha, yk life imitating art and whatnot 😉. But also, Mystics would make a lot of sense if Azzi's a single parent, so she's close to her support system BUT Tim and Katie would also definitely be the type to move to wherever Azzi is if that's what she needed so I think GSV still works!

Also, them ending back up on the same team in the W - I'm guessing it's cause one of them gets traded or is a free agent, but then the question is did they choose the team knowing the other is there or was it out of their hands? Hmmm.

Anyway, just some food for thought, hope it helps somewhat (and apologies if it doesn't!)

In other news, what's your assessment of the W season so far? I still haven't fully immersed myself but am trying to keep up! I fear this is just how I am with basketball, even with the NBA, I don't usually pay as much attention until after the All-Star break or the playoffs 😅 I'm glad Indy's staying out of the lottery picks though (and hopefully it stays that way) 🙏

And you work with kids?? Naw love that lil piece of Nivi lore!

-🙋‍♀️

YAYYY I'm glad you're invested 😌

Then tension's gonna be interesting because even though they've been broken up for nearly a decade, they've still had to see each other a fair amount because of the W and there's just a lot of pent up tension that's going to blow up when they're on the same team

Paige definitely did not take the news the best. I haven't quite decided how this child came to be but there are definitely ways to really torture Paige with it if I choose to be sadistic about it...

Azzi's daughter definitely knows Paige, not just of her but she's met her at games before I think and she's basically awe-struck by Paige. I have so many ideas about this relationship like I think I'mma enjoy it the most to write.

I do kinda want them of the Valks cause it would just be so fun and I lowkey want to name Azzi's daughter Stephanie (after Steph) so it would just work out really lovely and then Paige would be the one who moves teams and I think that'll probably have to be a trade because Paige isn't willingly going to torture herself ya know? Which tbf I guess is kinda unrealistic because who the fuck would trade Paige but ya lose some ya win some with logistics 😭

I love my kids on most days but the bad days....oh the less said the better but it's definitely a good curveball for my baby fever lol.

[siflshonen]

Hi, I love your analyses and your fics! 💕Especially that Eureka Seven AU man ngl it lives in my head and starts playing in my local theaters every other night at 2 AM, but *clears throat* I'm getting off topic lol :D do you have a bakudeku fic/authors rec list?

I'm honored you read the Eureka Seven one!

Good Bakudeku authors... the truth is, there are SO MANY. Just in general, and so many that are really, truly excellent. I have begun consuming more and more fic lately as I feel the itch of the subtext of what's happening in the manga rapidly becoming text and just plain consuming me, but many of the individual stories I've read can be GREAT as a story but perhaps not so great as a canon-faithful representation of Bakudeku - so I'm not entirely sure what kind of Bakudeku you're asking for ("fun and good story" versus "horny vignette" versus "that's totally Katsuki and Izuku.")

Also, like, for several of these authors, their Bakudeku portrayals evolved as the series progressed and we all learned more about these characters and the varnish of what BNHA pretends to be (superhero stock shonen!) peeled off to show what it actually is (The newest generation of something that should never have been domesticated now outgrowing the limits of the modern genre.) This is always good to keep in mind when looking at the dates of each work published.

Um, it's hard to pick just a few, and even harder when there's no specific direction about what TYPE. So here's a scattershot off the top of my head:

Me. My work. Read Mundane Crimes, Public Displays of Affection and I Want What I Don't Deserve. Those actually have some substance to them. The rest are kind of whatever, but you may still find them fun.

Kickass AUs and All-Rounders

chymerical is my favorite author on this list. They can do anything. I care about sports now because of chymerical. There's your fuckin' fadeaway.

young_crone - some are truly Bakudeku and some are just great stories that are using familiar names. Read all of 'em.

SmartiMart - Variant Edition is a sweeping epic and fascinating enough that the Bakudeku isn't actually its primary draw for me. Please also read Where in the World is Marigold? It's not Bakudeku, but I love it. SmartiMart is clever, inventive, and sometimes so much of a romantic that it makes me go, "woah, now! That's a bit much!" but in the best way.

iphido - this author has only one work for bakudeku, and it is worth it.

nicc - bite-sized sweet scenes, though many are very NSFW. Consistently excellent.

pikahlua - Dragonheart. this is your kick in the pants to finish those scenes, Pika.

Romantic Comedies

qodqodqod - Cringe comedy where love always, always, always prevails and bakudeku can't out-stupid their way out of it. Great job of not making the miscommunication, or lack of communication, a bore or overdone past what it needs to be.

heartsinhay - the cringe comedies are named that for a reason.

Darker Stuff

rironomind - apparently published something new earlier this year and I missed it??? DAMN! Existential, experimental, melancholic, high concept, fantastic. Rom's work is mostly in this category because it tends to throw curveballs at the reader. This is the category that just felt the most right by its vibes.

bkdkink - Lemonhead specifically.

Roadtripwithlucifer (read their new stuff too) - horny, but focused and full, full, full of ennui and anger and love and grief. It's the confidence of handling the last four that makes these works shine.

Surveycorpsjean - hit or miss for me personally, but always well done.

majjale - always great work; sometimes hit-or-miss for me personally on the bakudeku.

[never-say-neverwhore]

for the ask game. eulalie. go

yessma'am!

How I feel about this character

Overall, I really like Eulalie's character, and her vibes! I love how she's almost doll-like, and manages to be graceful while also a bit clumsy when it comes to socializing (mood). However, it does sort of bug me how most of the time she's written as only an addition to Berenice (and vise versa), and specifically the less useful of the two. The only time she's really been able to be of help to the group OUTSIDE of the group (/ teaming up with someone (Berenice)) was the end of the first season, where she puts in her two cents about the theory of the afterlife and her support of Lenore, which serves as a tipping point to get the others on board. (10/10 scene btw I fuckin loved it)

I wish she got more time to shine, and really show her strengths more than just a helper / secondary to other characters. Other than that, I do have one more thing that sort of bugs me, which is, funnily enough even though I quite like her design... Her design. Her design is nice, don't get me wrong-- I love the vibes, she's one of my favorite characters to draw. However, considering she's supposed to be Japanese, and comparing her to other characters, it really feels like she sort of just got the anime treatment...? She has these big wide eyes, purple hair (although it's apparently just a stylistic choice, but something that affects her specifically and no one else), and her eyes and eyelashes are more stylized than most the rest of the cast. While that's not bad as itself, I just wish she was given more actual Asian features, or made so that it's a bit clearer that she's Japanese rather than just her Spectre and her last meal (which, to be fair, while it's a Japanese meal, it's a little funny to assume ethnicity based just on foodstuff imo)

Even with all of this, though, I love love LOVE Eulalie, she's probably one of my top 3-4 Nevermore characters, and I'm excited to see how she grows next season!

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Oo fun stuff. Let's see...

Pluto

I find their interactions fun, but honestly what I ship them for is more of what they could be rather than what they are. I like how Pluto's an absolute mess lol, then Eulalie just being the embodiment of :)? I think they could be fun, they deserve to bond more like how they sort of did at the end of the season. Pluto loves etymology, Eulalie loves the afterlife and mythology, there's a large overlap between etymology and mythology, so they should have an autism off about that I think. And smooch a bit maybe.

Berenice

I honestly haven't thought much on them, but I find them really cute! I love how they play off each other, and how just casually affectionate they are with each other. Rather than them being completely whipped for the other (sort of like how Pluto is an absolute mess crushing on Eula), I see them as very down to earth and casual about their relationship, not too flustered over it most the time. They can just casually cuddle and talk about their day, and that's good for them! Honestly talking about them for the first time and yeah. I should draw them, they're cute :]

Annabel Lee

Random curveball, ha! Again with my sentiment with Pluto but blown to the extreme, I like them for what they could be rather than what they are. Seeing as they have a total of 1 tiny interaction lol. Honestly I got drawn into this by some friends on discord, and like... hear me out.

Annabel constantly is on guard, and people only sees what she wants them to see. Everything she does is an act, and she finds being seen in truth by other people terrifying. Eulalie, on the other hand, doesn't hide who she is at all. She's completely honest, almost to a fault, and earnest too. She says what she thinks, and genuinely thinks what she says. She's not afraid of how people think of her or judge her, and as such, she's much less afraid of people than Annabel is. I feel like Annabel, as she's around Eulalie more, could come to really respect and even admire that about her. At first, she's certain, something's going to happen to "make her see reason". However, even when Eulalie's harassed a bit, she bounces back, and she doesn't take it to heart. That really makes Annabel see... wow. She's stronger than her in that way. Yet maybe instead of viewing her as a threat, she finds herself wanting to get closer to her, and see just how she does it.

Eulalie, on the other hand, is simply a curious critter, as one might say. She sees Annabel and goes oo! She seems neat! She has no qualms about talking to her (and apparently messing with her hair lol), and overall is just genuinely curious of What is Up with this lady. She finds Annabel strange, to be honest, in her demeanor. She seems so reserved, yet perfectly put together at the same time. It's almost uncanny, really. She finds it sort of fascinating. As they get closer and closer, maybe Annabel starts to lower her guard a little, and Eulalie goes !! Wow... that's the real her. She's spectacular. I want to see more!

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Another hear me out...

Will!

After the manor arc Eulalie is sort of just like... Will, hon (/p), Blink twice.

No but in all seriousness, again, Eulalie is very close to her friends and wants to protect them. She feels obligated to help them, but not from fear or guilt, but because they're her friends and she wants them safe. Will, meanwhile, likewise feels obligated, and yes, does care about Montresor, but it's more out of fear (both of him, yes, but also abandonment in general). So while Lenore can yell at him till the cows come home about Montresor not actually caring about him, I think Eulalie can help make him realize that friendships should support both sides, not just one, and overall like... man help this man. Free my mans. I find his and Montresor's interactions fascinating don't get me wrong, and he's guilty too Will is not innocent but please. separate these two a little . Except Eula I feel would actually be able to explain it not in a "montresor is using you and is a terrible person" sort of way (even if she thinks that), but in a "this friendship is hurting you more than it's helping" sort of way. Idk

My unpopular opinion about this character

,,,she actually has one of if not my least favorite spectre designs,,, (I love her powers though they're so pretty though) im sorry girl 😭

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I fucking WISH we had gotten a flashback or scene of after Will kinda got um. impaled numerous times by Eulalie lol. Like- since he was in spectre form, he didn't die from that, but since Eulalie's powers iirc allow her revert malevolent spectres, and he's neutral, I dunno if she would've been even able to let him die??? So like... best she can do is remove the lances lol, I'm just curious on how that went down,,, cuz she clearly felt bad, Berenice did too, and then there's Will being self deprecating and also impaled so like. Fun times. I wish we had seen more of what happened there.

[charlie-pippin-faraday]

V3 TRIAL 2 UPDATE

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I WAS RIGHT I WAS RIGHT I WAS COMPLETELY FUCKING RIGHT!!!!!!!! SHE DID IT KIRUMI DID IT I WAS 100% RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! god i'm so smart i'm so fucking smart i caught onto it immediately i knew it and it feels so good to be right about it. and i was like mostly right about how it went down!! i KNEW she handcuffed him and drowned him in the big fucking sink!!! and i knew she moved him window to window into the gym!!! i knew she used the cable and the rope! i didn't predict the rope slide on the inner tube and tbh i thought she would've knocked him out by putting something in his food rather than clocking him on the head, but overall i was still right!!!! AND i was right about him being in the piranha tank!!!!!!!! i totally forgot about the pane of glass so that makes sense why they didn't eat them but i TOTALLY called him being in the piranha tank. i didn't predict the right timing, but i don't think that's my fault, they kind of threw a curveball on me mid-trial with maki revealing she'd talked to ryoma after nighttime had started

the motive/why she did it i was a little less on the mark on. i DID predict it had something to do with her getting her kubs pad, though was not correct on the manner, i really thought kokichi would've given it to her, i did not expect the sheer luck of her getting her own (luck? makoto naegi haunting the narrative once again). and no one requested her to kill him like i'd predicted - though ryoma kind of gave himself up to be killed, which was kind of in the general vein of one of my theories. she didn't do it while everyone was in the bug room like i'd thought, but i'm pretty sure she was running around preparing at that time, and her having access to the stuff she'd helped prep in the gym helped her with the murder, so i'm counting my lines of reasoning here to be right as well.

additional commentary throughout the trial:

lmao kokichi was taking NO fucking prisoners with all those absolutely scathing insults to miu

"my goatee makes me look like a glamorous celebrity" lol

"that's our kaito, right?" aw shuichi

lmao everyone be calling kaito an idiot

"that hopeless idiot may have encouraged me a bit" lol is that just maki and kaito's relationship in a nutshell?

"she's not lying! can't you tell just by looking at her?" i think i'm watching a man actively becoming down bad in real time. during a TRIAL

i relied on the walkthrough much less this time! being razor-focused on what i thought went down and who i thought did it (and also being right about it) certainly helped. multiple choice questions were no problem, and i can do the mass debates pretty well - didn't need help with that part! the shooting is actually alright, i can do that (i also got the laser beam perk or whatever it's called to make it shoot faster which was a HUGE help). now, the other minigames in the trial? uhhhh now those i needed help with lol

was i, shuichi saihara, hitting hookers with my car in that minigame? was that what was happening???

i REALLY hate the lying mechanic. i hate hate hate it. it's difficult, it doesn't make sense, and i'm fundamentally opposed to it. this is a TRIAL, it's about finding the TRUTH, why in the world are you fucking forcing me to LIE?! developers there HAD to be a better way than that

okay i've come to the conclusion that the stuff on the kubs pads is utter fucking bullshit and completely made up. because you CANNOT convince me that kirumi was running the nation, that simply is not possible. like i simply refuse to believe it. and also, i know the lore of these games, the world has already fallen into despair, is there even a government to run? if the dumpling that looks like makoto naegi is "someone i'm pretty sure i've seen before" then this doesn't take place in the past, and this is already a despair-filled world! and i might not remember correctly, weren't the motive videos in the first game fabricated as well? to a point, at least, 'cause didn't it show sayaka's idol group dead, but in reality they were just abducted? idk, i might not be remembering that right. idk, something about this just doesn't pass the smell test. there's no way her kubs pad is real. and i don't care that upon seeing it she "remembered" the memory, they have erased and tampered with the memories of the kids in every single one of these games. it would be easy to implant false memories, especially ones that preyed upon her internal need to serve and help people and even amplified it so that there were millions of people needing her help. like giving her a false memory like that is such an obvious way to potentially make her go off the deep end. there's no way it's real, it's just a manipulation

another reason i do not believe it is real: there is NO FUCKING CHANCE ryoma had NO ONE who cared for him, like i also fucking refuse to believe that. THAT is ALSO a deliberate manipulation of ryoma, a man who was already hanging by a thread searching for something to latch onto and to fight for. like that's nothing but a manipulation into making him give up. there probably IS someone, but of course monokuma wouldn't tell him that, it's just a lie to make him give up and die in the game. and that's absolutely cruel

man kirumi really fucking lost it right at the end there, huh? there's something so fascinating to watch about the most dignified, composed person here losing their composure and rapidly unraveling, fighting to reach an outside world that is probably a complete fabrication. man, what a tragedy.

the maki reveal is...not unexpected, tbh. there was so much shady stuff about her. and like toko in the first game, there is not a CHANCE she is killing a single person in this game lol

keebo watching maki strangling kokichi by the throat like "man, why didn't i think of that?"

and thus concludes my trial commentary! man i almost hit the bullseye on this one, i feel so fucking smart. and i think that's about as high as i'm gonna feel, i don't anticipate i'll be as right on the money with any of the rest of these murders lol

on to chapter 3!

[saintseiya-zone]

Sooo...what'd you think of Next Dimension's ending?

You are very lucky I happened to check on the blog today lol. I don't have strong feelings about it.

It did seem odd to me that Kurumada wanted to resolve the 3 overarching problems (Odysseus, 18th Century Holy War, Seiya's curse) in only 15 chaps. I don't feel he managed that. However, I also don't feel like "releasing them from their memories and burdens" was particularly awful. Room for improvement? Sure. Total catastrophe? Nah.

I get it, waiting so long for the end and it comes as such a curveball. Understandably, it didn't tick everyone's boxes

[suzieb-fit]

After an overly indulgent day yesterday, I'm on it this morning.

I stayed in bed late. That's actually a GOOD thing for me, with my usual problems with too little sleep and waking up far too early.

So out fora drizzly half hour walk. The weather doesn't hold me back. I'll still do this in the middle of winter.

I made a slightly different breakfast.

Absolutely divine with my collagen/inulin/creatine coffee!

I'm training heavy these days, so my level of protein isn't necessary for everyone. But I've recently switched my macro targets. I used to follow Mindy Pelz's "ketobiotic" principle, which was perfect at the time.

60% fat, 50g maximum NET carbs, thecrest as protein.

But now I need more protein, more carbs and less fat.

My new ratio (without getting too obsessive) is 40% protein, 30% carbs and fat.

Only a short "digestive rest" today, even though breakfast was later than usual. I ate way too late last night, and I ate way too much!

All the same kind of food, just much more of it, lol. And that's not cool. Too much healthy food is unhealthy!

Excess of any kind is not healthy.

But it happens every now and then, not very often, so I need to accept its just one of those rare curveballs from a history of disordered, binge related eating habits.

When breakfast was settled, I got on with my next Nike Training programme session.

Challenging as always, felt great as always!

Lunch after that was bacon with fake cheese, grapes and salad. Delicious.

I based my fitness mostly on cardio today.

Second workout, before my afternoon snack was upper body resistance band work.

I combined strength with cardio. Someone on FB requested one.

But I totally messed up, and deleted it before uploading it 😂😂.

Never mind, I'll try again over the next few days. Still a great workout for me, though!

Dinner later will be chicken, veggies and avocado.

Pretty good day with my boxes ticked.

[vodika-vibes]

Ahsoka is learning the wonders of Ashanii’s questions about her relationship status lol

Ahsoka thought that she had parenting figured out, and then Ashanii threw her a curveball, lol

"I don't get it," Ahsoka says to Blue as she watches Ashanii drift to sleep on his shoulder, "Why does she always go to you when she wants to be carried, and why do you always humor her?" Blue smirks at her, "I'm her favorite parent," Ahsoka glares at him, and folds her arms over her chest, "She's 12 years old. You should make her walk." "Why would I do that? She's hardly heavy, and she's got short legs. It'd take us forever to get anywhere if we had to walk at the pace of Ash'ika." Blue counters. "She's not short, she's petite." Ahsoka says, "She hates being called short." "It's the same thing," Blue says with a roll of his eyes, and then a sly smile crosses his face, "So...are you going to start dating General Luminara?" "I'm not having this conversation with you." "Because it's totally fine if you do. Ash'ika has plenty of people who are willing to look out for her when you want to have some alone time," Blue continues undaunted. "Are you the reason she's obsessed about my relationship status?" Ahsoka demands. "No. But she does raise a fair point." "When are you going to get a girlfriend?" She asks, pinning Blue with a look. "I, General, am 20 years old, or 10 depending on your point of view. It's different." Blue says with a roll of his eyes, "Besides, we're not talking about me. We're talking about you." Ahsoka stares at him, and then looks off into the distance. "20. Stars, I'm Mom to everyone on the Fulcrum." Blue bursts out laughing, "So nice that you've finally caught that, mom."

[justhere4thevibez]

annual writing self-evaluation

thank you @pipergirl17 and @erythromanc3r for tagging me!

1. List of works published this year (in no particular order):

oh gosh, I've been busy-busy this year with fanfic, so here goes!

Complete works:

... And a Hellcheer New Year 

Galentines and Valentines

Hold Onto Me

Devil in the Woods

Every Time I Run, I Run to You

Eddie and Chrissy Go to a Wedding 

Knocking Me Out With Those American Thighs

Cooking Up Something Sweet

Please Don't Say You Love Me

Let Me Start Over Again

You Got Me Good

Be My Breath (Through the Deep, Deep Water)

This Old Man

Do You Wanna Touch Me

My Words Will Be Your Light

She'll See I'm Not So Tough 

She Knows What She Wants

Give Me a Taste

The Right Kind of Sinner

Release My Inner Fantasy

Hooked on a Feeling

Whiskey & Wine

The Graveyard Smash

Long Is the Road Out of Hell 

In a Sentimental Mood

Set My Soul On Fire

Burnin' Out of Control

WIPs:

Looking For Something Dumb To Do

I Can't Get Rid of You 

If You Fall, I Will Catch You 

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

hmmmmm, that's a tough one! I love them all for different reasons, but I will say I'm very proud of Long Is the Road Out of Hell because it's my longest fanfic to date (almost 60k!) and at one point I really wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish it. but I did!

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

tbh if I'm not proud of something, I won't publish it. but I think the work that frustrated me the most was Whiskey & Wine, my kinktober fic. I pushed myself too hard with too big of a goal and burnt myself out halfway through. but I did learn the importance of setting boundaries for myself (and why I need to be careful committing to challenges 😅)

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

not gonna lie, once I publish something, the words tend to leave my brain, so I don't always remember what I write lol. I should probably keep a doc of good lines from my fics so I have something to present when people ask me 😂 but here are two excerpts that I'm pretty proud of.

Devil in the Woods: He had loved her since the first time he opened his eyes to find her snuggled up on his chest. He had loved her longer, since the moment he’d held her in his arms on that endlessly rainy night. And longer still, he’d loved the little girl who played jacks with him on May Day and laughed at his wild antics.

Hooked on a Feeling: He knew he could be… a lot, as kinder people said. A goddamn nuisance, according to everyone else. He didn’t mean to be, he just tended to… latch on to things. Kind of like a bulldog (but in a nice and lovable way, thank you, Jeff). And right now he had ChrissyChrissyChrissy clamped tight between his jaws, and he hoped to god she didn’t ask him to let go.

5. Share or describe a favorite comment you received:

I have a few regular commenters who give me the longest, loveliest comments where they literally analyze each chapter section by section 😭 it makes me feel so loved. but as for one individual comment, I distinctly remember a commenter from one of my early fics commenting on a really tough scene I did re: chrissy's eating disorder. they said that they also had an eating disorder, and that chapter was very healing for them. I don't think I'll ever get another comment as powerful as that.

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

I go in and out of mild anxious/depressive episodes, mostly due to outside stressors, and that makes it really hard to write. writing is the one constant joy in my life, and when I don't even feel like doing that, I know something is very, very wrong. but luckily, they don't usually last too long!

7. A scene or character that you wrote that surprised you:

mike's redemption arc in Long Is the Road! that one was a total curveball to me, and it only came about because it was the closest place I could think of to have Chrissy walk to after her mom kicked her out. total accident, but it spawned on of my favorite sibling-ships for chrissy that I've ever written!

also writing wayne's pov! i never intended to do that, but once I started, his voice just kind of stuck in my head 😂

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

I wrote a lot. like over 300k of fanfic. and i even got back into writing some original fiction, which I'm so excited about!

I also started writing smut for the first time in 2023, which was something I never anticipated doing, let alone enjoying! but it's been super fun

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

I'd like to work more on my original fiction, maybe get a short story published. I'd also like to get better at world-building! I tend to get so focused on the characters that I forget they exist in a place I should spend some time creating lol

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

@slumped-in-the-arms-of-fiction all the way! she's been such a wonderful beta reader, cheerleader, and overall positive influence on my writing. I Can't Get Rid of You wouldn't ever have happened without her support and feedback!

11. Anything in your real life show up in your writing this year:

ooh, buddy! pieces of myself get sprinkled all over the damn place 😂 but as for specifics...

Galentines and Valentines opening scene was reminiscent of the girls' nights me and my college friends used to have (and still have sometimes)

Hooked on a Feeling had elements of my own past experiences of being laid up in a hospital (and being very annoyed about it)

This Old Man was absolutely inspired by my love of Columbo

You Got Me Good definitely included some of my own thoughts and feelings about when I get a little too high 😂

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

give your writing time.

it's so tempting when you have a new idea to jump on it and then get frustrated when it doesn't immediately turn out the way you want, but I've found that if I give myself time to think over a piece before I write it, and let it sit for a little while after I write it, I'm much happier with the end results!

13. Any new projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

finishing my three WIPs! and hopefully a little christmas fic 😂 I don't have anything else immediately in the works, thank god!

14. Tag three writers/artists whose answers you’d like to read:

@1lostsoul0fishbowl @pearlypairings @rose-n-gunses and anybody else!!!

[bestworstcase]

with only three episodes left, what do you think is in store for the rest of the volume? personally, i’m having trouble imagining a solid resolution fitting into such a small window. not that i doubt there’s a way to end this volume succinctly—rwby is always throwing curveballs i could’ve never predicted hitting, which i love—but i suppose the hangnail in resolution’s cuticle is that jrwby are all finally facing their lifelong, beaten-in worldview being turned on its head and that seems like the kind of thing (on top of neo’s untold ever after story) that needs more time to be resolved. in which case, ig we’re not looking at a clean wrap up? do you think they end this volume ascending the ever after? escaping back to remnant? (i ask those two questions separately bc i wanna say they might have different answers lol)

as a point of comparison, here’s everything (not necessarily in chronological order) that happened in the last three episodes of V8:

1 - ironwood vs everyone beat down

2 - winter heel face turn completed

3 - met ambrosius + staff of creation rules

4 - magic rules lawyered penny into a flesh body to save her from the virus with a side dish of horrible body horror robot body death scene and holy shit atlas is FALLING.

5 - creation of whacky portals for evacuation to vacuo

6 - emergency evacuation broadcast CANCELLED!

7 - cinder remembers the power of friendship and uses it for evil

8 - cinder recovered the lamp and scored the password and used the last question to spy on team oz which is fucking hysterical by the way, so she knows the entire plan

9 - YANG DIES?

10 - ruby and blake fall too. and neo

11 - the evacuation dumps everyone in a sandstorm so they can’t call for backup and also the exit is one-way (“oh dear. ambrosius \:” love that enthusiasm sir)

12 - HARRIET TRIES TO NUKE MANTLE?

13 - ironwood murders jacques

14 - eleventh hour harriet heel face turn also zeki dies because atlesian tech goons thought the nuke needed to be plugged into the IOT for some reason god bless

15 - PENNY???

16 - and winter becomes the winter maiden

17 - TEAM RWBY TOTAL PARTY KILL!!

18 - jaune also

19 - salem and cinder playing chicken over who is going to blink first like they don’t both already know that it’s going to be salem

20 - ATLAS OBLITERATED FOREVER

that’s a lot of things!

now, it’s a lot easier to set up and execute a dense, tightly-paced climactic spiral of disaster than bring a lot of interconnected emotional crises to satisfying resolution in the same amount of runtime—but on the other hand, V9 has a lot less going on. it doesn’t FEEL that way because the emotional development has been so rich and done so, so well, but there honestly are not that many narrative threads to tie off. basically, the big ones are:

1 - ruby’s emotional crisis

2 - jaune’s corruption

3 - neo

4 - how do we get home?

5 - what do we do once we get there?

compared to the sheer amount of dominoes V8 had to juggle, handling this stuff is a nice little walk.

the key thing to remember—& this has been true for every one of rwby’s climactic sequences and also counts as writing advice—is that none of these major threads are truly discrete. they’re all interwoven with each other and bound together with all the smaller filaments (like the cat’s arc or little’s arc or the framing device of ‘the girl who fell through the world’ and what really went down with alyx and the tree), so you don’t have to resolve them separately and indeed you can’t because it all has to happen at once. what this means, from a writing standpoint, is you layer up and make every scene work towards the resolution of two or three major threads and however many minor filaments you can fit comfortably so that everything is doing work for everything else. if you’re efficient you don’t need a lot of time to pull off a stunning climactic sequence, and efficiency is something rwby has always been very, very good at. this is true even of V1 even though V1 feels laughably inefficient by the standards of V8; which is to say, they started off good and got much better.

the other piece to bear in mind is that V9 is not meant to be self-contained; it is not a character-focused breather volume to let the protagonists heal up before returning to remnant to carry on as they were, it is The Answer. when rwbyjn go home they are not going to return to the story they fell out of at the end of V8. that story is OVER. it ENDED. the final word was checkmate and the world they knew is GONE FOREVER. salem WON. the ever after is an epilogue to that story and the prologue for another; it isn’t building towards a resolution so much as it is building a hook.

(<- remember V3 “beginning of the end” and “end of the beginning”? this story-within-story device is something rwby has utilized before; this show is a singular contiguous narrative in the literal sense, but it’s structured as a trilogy.)

so V9 needs to be a satisfying farewell to the middle book and also make the case for continuing on to the third and final story—which very much works to its benefit here, because the sweeping emotional changes being developed actually SHOULDN’T be resolved. a clean wrap up would critically weaken the narrative structure. the immediate crises need to be realized—there must be a moment of peace, of closing one book and beginning the next; a hopeful glimpse of the story to come, of what it could be—and then they go home. and the new story begins.

in the figurative sense you could call it ascension. in the literal sense, no, i don’t think any of the remnant characters are going to ascend because i don’t think they can (frankly i’m bemused as to why so many people seem to believe otherwise; it seems to me that the cat has made it very clear that ascension is closed to non-afterans). but the idea of ascension? oh, yes, they’re carrying that forward with them.

as for whether they’ll return to remnant—yes. i think the probability that they don’t find their way home by episode ten is zero. how they return is an open question but also not a question at all, because the tree is the question and their answer is the door; this has been spelled out, explicitly, albeit in wonderlandish terms. what we don’t know yet is what this will look like, because the tree is also the blacksmith and the ever after runs on wonderland rules. it’s not going to be literal. (<- unless abstraction is less absurd than the literal option, which is possible given the likelihood that the ever after itself is fictional.)

[mmmmmmky]

CURVEBALL, Break the Rules by Simon Viklund !

Really put our backs into it, Max out pursue it ! Whats a better time than now to cross the liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine !?

Oooo oo lmao yeah, totally different. It is a nice vibe though. I've payed the smallest bit of payday 2 I thinkk. This is pretty cool. I enjoy it but not quiteee my vibe lol. It is good though! I'd totally rob a bank to this.

[ppeonppeonhan]

15 people, 15 questions

I was tagged by a new mutual zimmbzon in this fun little getting-to-know-you quiz.

Are you named after anyone?

Real name: Yes, a saint (first) and my grandma (middle).

Tumblr handle: It means "shameless" in Korean. Jungkook of BTS said that word perfectly described V, and it stuck with me -- and not many foreign words do. Plus, it perfectly encompassed the content I share here. 😜

When was the last time you cried?

Yesterday, thinking about Night potentially unaliving himself if he reaches his limit with Day's emotional abuse, and Mhok being triggered to remember his sister's death if he witnesses the attempt and tries to stop him. (#LastTwilight) In real life, making myself cry worrying about shit that didn't or might not even happen is my specialty. Anxiety perpetually at 11.

Do you have kids?

Do my parents count?

What sports do you/have you played?

If I were athletically inclined, I'd play soccer, baseball, tennis, volleyball, and hockey. But I am extremely accident prone, and deeply disinterested in anymore ER visits.

Do you use sarcasm?

My best friend gifted me this in college, so...probably.

What's the first thing you notice about people?

Whether or not they feel comfortable around me. It helps me gauge how much of my personality I should show. Am I starting at a 10 or a 2? I know we'll be good friends if I can hit 10 before we part ways.

What is your eye color?

I wish my eye color was violet or that eye color changed based on your emotions. This thought inspired by my recent viewing of both Dungeons & Dragons and the new Percy Jackson Disney series.

Scary Movies or Happy Endings?

Love a happy ending, but only if it makes sense and doesn't seem tacked on after a major unresolved conflict. I only do scary if it's a murder mystery, cause it's like solving a puzzle.

Any talents?

I don't panic under pressure. If anything, it's when I excel the most. Which...is probably a trauma response, but whatever. Lol I've also always been good at seeing the potential in people, whether they were famous or a work colleague. Like I can tell when someone is going to excel in life and what they would excel at.

Random example: Jesse Plemons. Who could've predicted him going from dorky Landry in Friday Night Lights to a respected character actor across film & TV? Me. I did. Who could've predicted he would marry Kirsten Dunst and have kids? Nobody. That one was a curveball. Lol I mean, his competition was Josh Hartnett. Be fucking for real.

Where were you born?

On the East Coast.

What are your hobbies?

I work too much to have substantial hobbies, but if I had time, I would do these more: skateboard, write fiction, photography, wander new cities/neighborhoods, make crafts, explore museums, cook new recipes, learn how to play the drums, and learn Korean + Thai + Tagalog.

Do you have any pets?

No, I'm afraid of having to bury them -- and I don't want to clean up poop. Lol But if I could have pets, I'd get a parrot, an iguana, a lot of different fish, and whatever breed of dog Henry Cavill has. For now, I'll stick to my 8 plants. (RIP to the previous 7.)

How tall are you?

Tall enough to reach things for all of my under 5'4" friends -- of which I have many.

What was your favorite subject in school?

Science, but I was very bad at it. Lol I excelled mostly at Math, English, and Spanish.

What is your dream job?

Storytelling in all its forms. But based on my career trajectory, I'd be happy to settle for a marketing job that allows me to craft very subtle product placement in a series or film.

I'm tagging... @my-rose-tinted-glasses, @wanderlust-in-my-soul, @gothicbarbie, @mikuni14, @heretherebedork, @liyazaki, @mooninagust to post their responses, if they haven't already.

But it's TOTALLY optional. Happy motherf*ckin' New Year! 🤸🏿‍♀️

[burgerspeople]

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

31 with both of my accounts combined— 2 on my burgerspeople account and 29 on my original account I use for another fandom plus a buttload on FFN

2. What's your total word count?

187,337 thank god for calculators lol

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Actively, Bob’s Burgers. A handful of others in the past, but occasionally SVU. I tend to hyperfixate on one fandom.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos:

Curveball is my more popular BB fic, but I have some SVU ones that surpass it in kudos on my other account.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A death fic I wrote for another fandom lol

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Stay tuned.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not in the BB fandom.

9. Do you write smut?

I haven’t in this fandom but have in other fandoms.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Years ago

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have co-written many stories with a dear online friend for many other fandoms. We met in person for the first time last year after talking online since 2010. 💜

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

I go through phases. Right now, Zekina lol. But I also will always worship EO from SVU, Johnlock from

Sherlock, and Destiel from Supernatural

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

None as of now

16. What are your writing strengths?

Fluff and angsty ideas

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sticking to one plot lol

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

I haven’t tried it

19. First fandom you wrote for?

iCarly I was twelve okay

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

It changes lol probably curveball right now

@theangrypomeranian tagged me 💜