#after 80 yrs i did this

[unproduciblesmackdown]

similar to the greentext stuff - i was visiting with my neighbors and their grandkids were around, and I said to this eight year old, "Hey, you wanna know something cool? I was playing the game when the Endermen came out." and his eyes went wide, like this kid looked like i told him i landed on the moon. His grandma thought it was really funny, and she said she has no idea what i'm talking about, but her grandbabies do, and that's incredible to her.

oh that's fun lmao, when minecraft & that update's existed for more than your whole life, and yknow being that young and like Next Year fr is this huge time scale away, a couple of years is a quarter of your life thus far and like maybe nigh half of the part of your life you actually have longterm memories for....i was checking out this dev's blog's archives about a:tdd's release in 2010 & in one entry they compared the implicitly Roughly concurrent release of Minecraft and i was like hey whoah. forever primarily being a game i've Heard Of more than any more direct exposure so i had no precise sense of [before minecraft release] [after minecraft release] Year 0 there but it's like for sure back in thee day when minecraft was a new thing, huh

[welcometoteyvat]

read baizhu’s stories. he wins for most balanced character of all time

[lemongogo]

genuinely at a loss 4 words ok

[beaversatemygrandma]

A lot of the complaints about DLCs being essentially part of a normal gameplay and just being some random upcharge that makes zero sense wasn’t something I understood all too well. Until now.

Like, the Pokemon DLC and We Happy Few, Outer Worlds, and whatever, it was extra quests that you’d know nothing about unless you saw the ads. Like okay. That’s fine. That’s DLC. New area. New Quests. Like $10. Nbd. THEN Comes one i ran into last night. So, I’ve been going through AC Odyssey finishing all the side quests i didn’t get to and just having a good time. Well, I starting working on the Atlantis related stuff. I went through all those hoops and special quests only to be met with a: “Buy this DLC to continue!” only to find that it was a $25 DLC for literally one questline and I was seething. Like. You give me all these things just as a PREVIEW Of A FUCKING DLC?? Wtf man. Why would you do that?? That was like a two hour preview of the DLC. Rude.

Like, I love Assassin’s Creed games but I’ve never bought one full price. They go on sale like twice a year and I usually get one around then for literally less than half the price. This time around, i was like, ‘hell yeah, $12 for the full game’ and bought it, not knowing that TWO QUESTLINES Lead to the fucking DLC. Now I’m thinking I should’ve splurged and got the whole deluxe game while it was on sale, but it was like $24 instead of 12 so i was like, ‘eh, if i REALLY want to do that maybe I’ll pay the $5 to buy the DLC later on.’ Little did i know that it was the same price as a damn indie game when it wasn’t on sale. Maybe when it’s on sale again bc I’m broke and the ‘full’ games are like $90.

[nalyra-dreaming]

i still can't believe they gave us that single glimpse of dreamstat in dubai!! (and louis just looking at him with a hint of a sad smile, even while recalling one of the darkest moments in their shared history.) it was such a low-key reveal, but it hinted at so much!!

i mean, they made a big deal of louis 'saying goodbye' to dreamstat, burying himself in the businessman persona, during eps 4-6. and from his tale you'd think he'd permanently closed the door on his visions from then. but if that were true, it's weird he didn't react at all to dreamstat suddenly appearing before his eyes for the first time in 80 yrs or so.

do you think he ever really stopped seeing dreamstat? going by his reaction, i think he at least indulged in these visions every once in a while (he has some control over them after all) & never stopped feeling the presence of lestat even when he couldn't 'see' him.

I think... I think Louis probably started "inviting" Dreamstat again some time after San Francisco. After that "door" had been opened again, with the call to Lestat.

After, over the years, he came more and more to the realization that some things did not match up. After he knew he need council outside of Armand's reach. And the only one he trusted... was Lestat after all.

And so he turned to Lestat once more.

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

It's so crazy to me that swifties think her music from different "eras" sounds differently than each other when all of her music just sounds the same to me.

Like I have seen swifties do nothing but shit all over conan gray's new album when he literally did such a huge switch from his typical music and has shown such an insane range artistically, and vocally (while addressing topics like queer religious trauma, accepting love exists after growing up in an abusive household, generational trauma, and a tongue in cheek song about the bourgeoisie by a person who actually grew up in poverty all masked in referential upbeat 80s pop).

But he's best friends w olivia, he didn't listen to midnights immediately after it came out 2 years ago, he stopped talking about her -- so swfties are totally ok to be raging homophobes and generally unpleasant people towards him ig, despite him actually doing what they say they love their fave for.

holy shit we have a conan gray stan now. (so irrelevant but i used to watch his thrifting videos in high school so seeing him so famous now is insane. i literally remember watching his ucla acceptance vid in my jr yr of hs)

plus neither conan nor olivia are white. they’re both wasian, with olivia being half filipina and conan being half japanese. swifties coming in with the 2 for 1 combo of homophobia and racism disguised as “stan beef”

swifties have proven themselves to be the type of ppl to listen to liberal content from the most centrist woman ever. like they’re those people who are like “i’m okay with gay people as long as they’re not my kids” or white people who are like “im not racist i have x friends!” its truly just for social clout their politics. taylor swift the temu of music if you ask me. or shein if taylor gets hit with RICO charges idk

[crushedsweets]

when exactly does everyone die in your au? except for the ghosts because they’re already dead

THIS IS SO SAD LOL i dont have specific deaths in mind for them, but i can give you the general lifespan i'd give them... if i were to make a comic, none of them would die in it cuz i like them.

this is all under the assumption that a random car accident or whatever doesnt kill them first. CW for death and brief mentions of suicide

Tim and Brian would probably live into their 50s, maybe older. they got away from O/S and do live a relatively relaxed life, but the sickness and other stuff took a huge toll on their health so i cant see them living into their 80s at all

toby is not living past his 30s. canonically he dies like mid 20s - only reason i make him live into his 30s is cuz i like him. O/S syndrome (and plot armor) keeps him going

kate also would probably only live into her 30s-40s. her health is fucking horrible, she was malnourished for so long, she's been beaten and torn up and attacked so many times by random shit . again, only reason i havent had a random cryptid kill her at age 17 is cuz i like her...

natalie would be more likely to live a long life, i could see her being a 80 yr old lady covered in tats. by time she's in her 30s, she's completely settled into a career and apartment. wouldn't have killed anyone in a decade, has no plans on going back to it (since O/S syndrome is why she did it) so its a decent lifespan.. but she doesnt have great health, very related to O/S syndrome

jack would live well into his like... 150s. this is dark but he may take his own life if he realizes how old he's getting without visible signs of aging, he has NO idea what his lifespan is because he can barely describe his own species, and he doesn't see himself making a new set of creep friends after the proxies and natalie and nina move on/die. immortality in such a form is genuinely hell for him and he rather die than spend forever being what he is

jeff dies before he's 30. either a cop or one of his victims fights back and kills him.

liu has a relatively 'normal' life and health+healthcare, so he would have a decent life. i could see him growing old with grandkids

like liu, jane would have a long, fulfilling life

nina is always putting herself into insane dangerous situations but she eventually wants to settle down, so a normal lifespan i suppose...

basically, if they were actively infected with O/S syndrome (proxies, natalie, jeff) , they're gonna live a shorter life. if they weren't infected (liu, jane, nina, jack) then they're more likely to live a longer life, if we assume they die from average health/old age complications

[ceoandslutler]

have you heard kuro dubbed in any language other than english? or in any other asian language other than korean or chinese? well i found a persian one and it's so fucking bad that it's hilarious.

(also stay tuned to find out why the persian dub of kuroshitsuji being so bad has directly to do with anti-shipping sentiment and puritanism)

i would like to politely invite anyone who's ethnically from/lives in/speaks the language of a country with an ultraconservative government to contribute to this post if they know a dub of kuro (fandub or licenced by a company) in their language to contribute to this post (agree or disagree that policing media causes a drop in its quality and accessibility in other countries) but let's keep it civil. if you are not from a country like this but have something to say, feel free to add anything on, the conversation is open to all :)

so i just heard the homemade persian dub of kuro's first ep made by some young people who sound like they're in uni (probs 18-23 yr olds), tears have been flowing from my eyes for the past 20 mins

(link under the cut)

to save time, go watch the bits i linked below or just laugh at the whole thing (full link) but don't blame these kids for being awful at this or just skip to the end of the post. as i said, there is a reason this dub is so bad and no official dub exists and it has to do with... anti subculture?!?*

but first, the funny stuff

ciel's voice is awful but just listen to the goofy dub laugh seb's va did at the start I'M FUCKING SOBBING (00:15-00:35), and also not ciel's va MOANING after the op song (2:35) ??? i REPEAT the woman who VA'd ciel was fucking MOANING, the YAWN was the worst part, dub team shotacons???

also SHEEL FANTOMHAYO?? THE KID'S NAME WAS DUBBED AS SHEEL FANTOMHAYO. (refer to 6:30 in the video linked)

now this isn't because we lack a 's' in our language (my alias is literally a persian name meaning shadow aka ✦sayé✦), we've just transliterated it as shiyel, but SHEEL???

the other guy calls him fantomhayo too (8:25) and the fantomhayo condition strikes again with sebastian's va talking about the fantomhayo hospitality at 12:40 ish in the video.

this is particularly bizarre because we do have a V in persian, please guys, use it!

please note: i have nothing but good things to say about finny's va... the way the va says "sebaastiyaan!" (12:43) is so cute <3

at 13:00, we get this golden crumb "meyrin... oh meyrin" from this college aged dude doing sebastian (who is SO lost) then he proceeded to say in persian "i beg you, ON MY LIFE, just pour the fucking wine in the glass and walk away" save me from the bad dub, ono daisuke, save me...

the furnace scene is just gold (18:50 onward is comical, the scream at the end... priceless), these people deserve an award, im tempted to do subs on this whole video because the translation is so wrong yet absolutely too hilarious to leave untranslated. also, i like how you can hear other people talking in the background constantly, they didn't even bother finding a quiet room 😭😭

finally i translated some of the best comments under the vid (everyone fuckin hated it 😭)

..tldr: irani/persian speaking netizens are brutal. but also, it shows that persian speakers are used to quality dubbing, otherwise this wouldn't be so offensive. if we were used to badly done dubs, the comments wouldn't look like this. many famous kdramas and jdramas and indian/turkish films have been dubbed. animated movies e.g. disney films and most commonly 70-80s anime have huge followings in iran and were dubbed extraordinarily well. in fact, in iran, many of our own films are dubbed especially if the original footage did not capture the audio well enough/the director was unhappy with the actor's delivery and it's usually hard to tell if this has happened because it's done very well. shockingly, dub is more popular than sub. so why does kuro not have an official dub? why is the fandub so bad???

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING

*IMPORTANT: an anime like this is not allowed to be legally dubbed by studios in iran because iran is under an islamic theocracy (the islamic republic) and all media that promotes devil worshipping and blasphemy is banned, homosexuality is too (anyone can tell kuro has homoerotic undertones, the homophobic heads of media would never let this queer gothic romance through). oh and trans people are "allowed" on TV but only if they're not vulgar/explicit (not even then, half the time) & grelle would not make it into the anime AT ALL. even if we ignore all the devil worshipping and queerness, sex is banned too (as well as lewd appearances of women), so season 1/2 & boc would never make it. oh and alcohol, bom would never make it. oh and also, women's empowerment is banned too so boa would never make it. when will it end? will someday everything be banned? sure looks like it. but isn't this what anti shippers want? i mean kuro IS problematic media, it never condemns people for having sex or partaking in drinks, not even murder is condemned.

moving on, the subtitled version of the episodes are very well done for what they are but it's still not good, you won't understand what's going on properly. meanings are lost. a dub is much more accessible to those who can't read subs and generally a necessary option. people NEED dubs. don't get me wrong, the iranian fansub team are dedicated however subs are much easier for fans to do than dubbing. as you heard, kuro's persian fandub was frankly terrible. these kids didn't even know how to pronounce ciel's name and it's NOT because of the language barrier, my theory is that because the internet access is so limited, they had to figure out how to pronounce ciel's name purely from the japanese original or another lang dub and had no access to the eng dub. as you can see, they are not able to follow the mouth movements either (don't have editing software); i assume the internet restrictions targeted streaming platforms w the dub on it (because the government wants to CONTROL what media people consume) so they had to figure everything out from japanese or another language, (they probably used another fandub to translate since the ed seems to credit the eng vas while they can never be heard in the bg) which is not easy. unfortunately english is taught in schools around the world not japanese so the dubbers' translation was quite honestly terrible- after all, they had no official script to base their translation off. BUT if a professional dubbing studio (e.g. iran's glory entertainment) got their hands on kuro, it'd probably be dubbed very well. if mehrdad raissi, CEO of glory, was on for seb's role, it would be glorious (pun intended). if he did flynn rider well, he can do sebs well too. but that studio often has their shows played on state televisions and the last thing they want is to get blacklisted and arrested for dubbing the gay demon butler anime. please do not take this fandub as representing all persian-language dubs. and remember, kuro itself is banned for being problematic media in counties like iran... no sebaciel needed (although anyone can definitely see the gay undertones to the story from a cover alone).

if you want to ban people from shipping things or making fan works that are problematic... soon you'll have to get rid of problematic media in general. and already, antis sound like the media people in charge under a dictatorship. "violence is okay, murder is okay but s-sex?!? women in scandalous clothing!!! oh good heavens..!" this is the kind of mindset which leads people down the rabbit hole of "this is problematic!! let's ban it!!!" until there's nothing left, a slippery slope. imagine this was the english dub of kuro. imagine it was banned in western countries and a team of young'uns had to gang up and make their own dub using only the japanese raws. imagine problematic media like kuro wasn't picked up the west because it's "shota" and that's bad. we'd be stuck looking at the same sanitised stuff and if we wanted to watch kuro, our options would be trash dubs (no offense) like this one. pretty scary to think this could be the state of the english dub if puritanism was as bad here as it is in countries like iran. policing media and deciding what creators should or shouldn't create will take you to the side of theocratic dictatorships and you will fall into alt right puritan lunacy, fanpoll are about as woke as a dictatorship, remember that.

don't sound like this:

NEVER sound like this.

it is clear that conditional freedom is no freedom at all. there should be zero criteria to the media we want to create, no religion or purity culture to it. just be media literate. let nobody control what you want to create or consume! (or you'll end up in a world where the media that is deemed "problematic" is maintained but only through underground circles, losing quality and accessibility day by day, until these channels are shut down too and only a sanitised husk of options for media consumption remain)

[daenystheedreamer]

No real and based I love lestat but I fully do not understand the people who believe Louis is lying and manipulating? Like are there parts of the story where he’s trying to make himself look good, yeah but those are really obvious where he’s like oh I was taking these pictures but it was nothing really. But on the whole I think he’s pretty truthful and the reason the story changes is because his perspective changes. Like if he just wanted to look good wouldn’t he have been like nah lestat’s full of shit about how Claudia was turned. But instead he says looking back I think he was right and that’s what you should use while making a face that is so full of shame and regret and loss like it just happened yesterday even though it was 70 yrs ago because Jacob Anderson is a phenomenal actor

i dont think this applies to every lestat fan of course but it IS sinister how there's really this idea/theory that louis/armad/claudia are all liars besmirching innocent sad tortured traumatised perfect precious white man lestat. lestat having those evil parts of him is what makes him funnnnnn why are you shaving off the bipolar disorder off him!!! theres a quote from one of the writers from the after-episode of the finale where its like this is the real lestat, not the 80% accurate lestat. hugely paraphrasing but very telling to me. we largely did see lestat. scream

[stormblessed95]

https://www.tumblr.com/stormblessed95/733070094082736128/the-thing-about-yoonmin-that-fascinates-me-is-how?source=share

umm does anon live in some alternative universe of army fandom where people are calling Yoonmin fanservice? Cause from my 4 yrs of experience what i know is tkkrs occupies around 80% of army fandom and #THEY love to call jkk fanservice and since they want jm to stay away from jk they ship him with yg like not even jkk posts get's so much like from armys the way yoonmin get's. There's decided ships for this fandom since beginning and that's taekook, yoonmin and namjin. These are the most popular ships in the fandom so idk where that fanservice came from.

the thing that irks me about yg is how easily he can praise jk and Th who are also maknaes but it takes special efforts for him to praise him. When someone tries to praise jm here comes my man yg saying "yeah but jungkook does it better", "yes but jm can you stop doing that", "yes but why did you have a guitar when you don't know how to play" , "yes but why were you getting emotional that wasn't the time" there's always a but when it comes to praising jm but see how effortlessly he does it for jk and TH. The whole tom and jerry dynamics being him constantly saying something to jm idk how that's fascinating to y'all.

I remember how armys were dragging that one grp which i think was seventeen or something else i don't remember but yeah they were saying that the members needs to have some sense cause they were teasing one member over his weight but yg saying "i don't why you were shirtless when you're body wasn't even that great" like yes king show us how tom and jerry works. It actually gave me a small heartattack when in today's suchwita yg said something one good line about jm. Anyways jm loves him so i have no right to feel bad or anything on his behalf.

Anon didn't say anyone was calling yoonmin (or any one else) fanservice, so 1. Calm down over THAT part. 2. There have also been jkkrs and vminners and sope (hopeminers? Lol) since 2013 as well, so relax there too. Not that it's a competition?? Because that's weird...

And 3, and most importantly.... the thing that irks me about you is that you are speaking in fact about yoongi not complimenting jimin ever, when Yoongi praises Jimin just as much as he teases him. And for all the bickering and teasing Yoongi gives Jimin, Jimin gives it right back JUST AS MUCH. SO GOD DAMM, chill out and look at the whole picture there. Like my god, the man can barely breathe without praising Jimin in some way... Jesus.

A whole Compilation for you...

Always encouraging him and believing in him

Just spoiling him

1. Question: what is Jimin to you?

Yoongi: person I want to take care of

2. Question: to yoongi, jimin is __?

Yoongi: important person

Just loving on him all the time

The other boys always making Jimin be the one to ask Yoongi for things because he always gives Jimin what he wants

The man just cannot help himself, here is a whole thread to look through!

"It actually gave me a small heartattack today when Yoongi said one good line about jimin"

Is doing nothing but exposing yourself as ignorant. Because like cmon have you watched ANY content? Not just yoonmin bickering compilations?? Lol Jimin didn't talk about how much Yoongi gives him love, support and encouragement ever since their trainee days until now for you to act like he doesn't do anything but dote on the man. The bickering is something they both ENJOY and doesn't upset them. Jimin doesn't need your protection. He especially doesn't need it from YOONGI of all people.

"Anyways jimin loves him so I have no right to feel bad or anything on his behalf"

They say after writing an entire essay doing exactly that... better luck next time I guess?

Do yall forget that yoongi is my man? My bias? Everything to me? That trashing him in my inbox is NEVER going to get your a sympathetic ear? Lol especially when you are just laughable wrong??

[kohakhearts]

whats yr headcanon about gary's parents?

ok confession: i don’t really have specific headcanons about gary’s parents except like. They’re Dead JFKDFJDKXJ but i have some ideas about gary’s childhood that would relate so i can share those!

probably 80% of my headcanons are actually derived from texts that were at some point at least considered canon in some respect (not necessarily canons derivative of the anime specifically - while their character Trajectories are very different, game/anime/manga counterparts are still fundamentally The Same Character imo. which means blue’s lore from any other source is free real estate for my garyisms :p). first one is pokemon zenshou, which says that gary/blue and daisy’s parents died in a car accident.

then, there is takeshi shudo’s novelization. which says that gary, though he lived with his grandfather (presumably), attended school in a different town/city. at this point, it’s only conjecture - but my thought on this is that by the time his parents died, gary was already in school. and some people have pointed out that it seems probable too that his parents wanted him enrolled in a specific school (e.g. a private school, or just a more academically streamlined one). and that makes a lot of sense to me! tangentially, i taught in a school like that - and yeah, most of the kids are the children/grandchildren/etc. of professors, administrators, dentists, lawyers. a lot of them commute from one end of the city to another, upwards of like. 2 hours one-way. and as someone who actually grew up in the middle of nowhere where there was only one (1) school everyone in the town could even go to, that was a weird experience, culturally. so i think it makes a lot of sense for his family to want to keep him at the school he’s already at.

personally, i always read that as a “not wanting to take him from his friends” thing - but i also don’t think he had many, if any, friends in school. especially not after he’s moved away and has to commute that far. so it makes me think that his parents either didn’t talk much to professor oak about gary, or didn’t know much about gary’s school life. my guess is the former. i expect they were actually fairly involved in his academics (whether or not they were involved in anything else, it’s hard to say, but i have no reason to think he wasn’t deeply loved - honestly probably a bit spoiled - by his parents, even if they did also push him to do well at school). i don’t know what kind of work they did, but i don’t think either of them would have been researchers (if they had been, i think this would have been an easier decision for gary to make. instead, he struggled with feeling like he didn’t measure up - to his grandfather. it seems to have little to nothing to do with his parents).

i also don’t know what i think of his parents’ backgrounds generally. i expect at least one of them is from cerulean city based on professor oak’s teaching background there (and he’s not very old, so it would make sense that he started a family there and then moved back to pallet town later). but as for gary (and his sister - i know she’s not in the anime, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t exist. dengeki pikachu is based off the anime and daisy (well. may) exists in that. so everything else going on in that manga aside, i’ll claim it lmao), i think they’re from viridian city. don’t know what happened in the in-between, but i just think like. blue has a relationship to viridian city - he becomes the gym leader - and arguably so does gary, à la os064, so i like the idea of him having grown up at least partially in viridian city. having gone to school there. etc.

so with the school thing, i think gary’s parents died when he was probably around 7 years old, maybe even 8. this isn’t entirely inconceivable - the one true “childhood friends” scene we get is a flashback from ash in ag in lights, camerupt, action! where he remembers the last time he watched a movie. they LOOK younger in the flashback, but he actually just says that it was sometime before he left on his journey. so them being like. 8 or 9 there isn’t a crazy leap. otherwise, all their history is like…obviously meant to be shortly before they get their first pokemon. that doesn’t mean they’re not childhood friends. it just means they didn’t know each other necessarily when they were really young children.

re: gary’s sister, my headcanon is that since she’s older than him, and takeshi shudo stipulates that age 10 = adulthood in the pokemon world, she doesn’t move to pallet town when their parents die and instead decides to go out on her own. in my big gary study fic i’ve been writing since i rewatched the os, i had her move to cerulean city to train to attend a school for pokemon breeders (based on daisy’s aspirations to be a breeder and then a groomer). so that’s another reason why i think gary was around 7 when his parents died: it doesn’t create a huge age gap between him and daisy but still justifies why she’s absent in the anime.

i think that’s pretty much all i’ve got? would love to hear other people’s ideas or expand more on something here though!! thanks for asking! :’)

[synthfagz]

predictable music question but do you have a specific decade of music that's generally yr favorite? and or what are yr favorite genres from every decade 60s-onward?

uhhh probably 80s but anything from 90's and 2000s are very close behind. honestly interchangeable

and my favourite genre from the 60s um im not sure what to call it but that Super Influential period of rock music like early pink floyd, early bowie, the velvet underground + nico, the beatles. also i do enjoy a lot of the pop and jazz and blues and stuff from the time though im not a tar pit. from the 70s proto-punk and the beginnings of post punk. x-ray spex, joy division, the clash, wire, crass, etc. and of course the stuff that the aforementioned artists did later in their careers. which is a given. (70s pink floyd is unmatched but i miss syd barrett :( ) from the 80s POST PUNK!!! (and all the subgenres of it like goth and dream pop) the smiths, bauhaus, killing joke, cocteau twins, jesus and mary chain....im like the 87th biggest post punk fan in the world. 90s definitely riot grrrl. bikini kill, sleater kinney, babes in toyland, hole, etc. the 2000s i guess post hardcore? tbh i dont think about genres with music from after y2k. thursday, my chemical romance, at th ]e drive in, etc. i was never a big emo fan. i like og emo and midwest emo and scramz but was never big into the myspace era of emo besides mcr and a bit of ptv and the used. and 2010s i guess just basic indie shit? car seat headrest, lemon demon, grimes, nouns, crystal castles, etc. im lame. and last but not least 2020s. we're not long enough into it to choose a favourite genre but im a big hyperpop fan

[haro-hawayu]

CCS: Clear Card Ch. 80

FINAL CHAPTER! I actually read this the day it came out, but didn't get to finish this post and it was sitting in my drafts for a few days TuT. This chapter can be found on CLAMP-net’s YouTube Channel. As always, please check out @meimi-haneoka's post on the latest chapter for EN-JPN translation differences!!

Links for previous chapter reactions can be found here.

Reading Reactions:

And for our final chapter, our wonderful protagonist/heroine, Sakura

Whoaaa, so did Sakura split the books in order to better hide them?

Fujitaka-papa so kind.

I also can't help but made me think of Yuuko's shop...

Eriol and Sakura keeping us readers up to speed on what's happened XD

WHERE IS MOMO???

Awww Flight is still there!!

UM, THE KEYS?? MORE TRC REFERENCES???

Touya is the same as ever haha~always teasing, but always so kind

Lol, love that we can see Kero-chan and Touya being in the same scene even when things are back to "daily life" things

SYAORAN

SYAOSAKU ARE SO CUTE GAHHH

I really love how Yukito's bonding with Nakuru and Spinel~

AKIHO TuT

I'm sad that she's transferring, but at the same time, am happy that she's happy.

WHAAA STOPPED TIME!! STOPPED TIME?!!

I wonder if one of the major factors of Eriol deciding to help them stemmed from Clow & Yuuko stuff... oof, not the TRC/Holic feels again

Yes, KEEP TALKING KAITO! So many overdued words!!

asdfjsldjfj REAL NAME REVELATION!

I'm SO HAPPY THAT THEY'RE TALKING!!! TUT

Annnnd they're still keeping a space for her (i.e. Eriol buying the house so Akiho's stuff remains, Akiho's room remaining as is in the Kinomoto home), even tho she's leaving, she has a place with the people she's leaving behind, a place to return to

Awww it's cute that the boys are talking ahahah--they can actually be friends!! They even exchanged numbers!!

asdfjslajlk AKIHO HAS A REAL NAME TOO

It makes so much sense too!! TuT

THE END (????)

~~

Wow, just wow.

I'm sad that we didn't get to see Momo returning... I'm hoping that the special chapter that's coming out next year will address this... is it too much to ask???

For the most part, I am satisfied with this ending. There are some hinted tie-ins with TRC (the tattoo, the wand), prob a bit more than I expected, so I wonder if TRC will uhhh get a little jumpstart, or if we can see what's been going on over at the other side of things... Clear Card arc's end leaves things very hopeful. Even though the way they talked about how Kaito's time being "stopped" makes me think about Yuuko, there seems to be so much more hope that Akiho & Kaito will be able to find a solution to this, whereas with Yuuko, there seemed to be so much regret and problems as a result.

Speaking of Akiho & Kaito (I'll still call them as such LOL, their true names can be just for the ones they shared with... like how TRC SyaoSaku will always be SyaoSaku to me even after their name revelation), I'm glad they were able to have that talk in the end. With Kaito apologizing for his actions, and knowing WHAT he did wrong. As sad as I feel about the two of them leaving their friends, the fact that they will be together makes me feel very happy. I found it so cute at the end where Akiho shares her true name with Sakura and not Kaito yet bc she's still a bit upset with him XD oh Akiho~

This is so surreal because back then, it felt like such a far-fetched dream for there to be a CCS sequel. I still remember when TRC was FIRST announced ~2003 (wow 20 yrs ago), I thought it was a sequel since it's featuring Syaoran and Sakura. And when it was addressed that it's not the SAME two, I was hoping we will at least find out what happens after end of CCS bc of CLAMPverse (what I called CLAMP's version of multiverse). Seeing an ACTUAL CCS sequel just made me so so happy (although a part of me feared: but at what cost??!!--I think this was slight TRC/Holic trauma speaking). There definitely were some dark moments, especially involving Akiho, but I'm glad it had a good end. The anime adaptation was great as well, so I really look forward to the continuation.

CCS was the first anime series that I watched (USA dub) that got me into anime; in fact, it's still my favorite anime series of all time! But I was a very immature fan back then and it's kinda embarassing to admit LOL. I used to really dislike Meiling back then and wondered why they had to create her at all when I found out she was anime-only character (I saw her as a threat to SyaoSaku relationship). I also did not like the idea of Eriol x Kaho because I liked Eriol x Tomoyo more (ET still has a very special place in my heart... being one of my earliest uhh... fanon ships)... it was also to the point that I kinda disliked Kaho, until I rewatched CCS series in it's entirety. I love both Meiling and Kaho A LOT now btw. But gosh, I was such a silly child then... cuz I literally was XD I guess my point is that I'm glad that as an older fan, I am still able to follow Sakura's journey and the "essence" of the series/characters has not changed even after all this time.

Until next time~

[torc87]

About "Go back to where you came from" and "Ashkenazi Jews are European" ideology

So, I am a Russian born Jew who lived in the US since I was a child. Let me ask you a question.

If tomorrow I move to Ireland and have children born there (w another Russian born Jew to be clear), would those children be able to claim Irish heritage?

Mind, they would be raised in Ireland, go to Irish schools, but they wouldn't celebrate St.Patricks day or Christmas, or Easter or speak Gaelic or believe in fairies or have a personal familial connection to the years of Irish famine, which is a Big trauma I'm Irish history.

So, if they claimed their heritage to be Irish, would they be? Would they feel Irish? Would you consider them to be telling the truth if they claimed to have a connection to Ireland and so they could use Celtic myths and speak w authority about issues like Britain/Ireland? No?

Ok. What about their children? ( Provided they also married into the same community of Russian born Jews? ) When would they be indigenous to Ireland?

Keep in mind, the amount of cultural mixing happening currently is way more than 80 yrs ago when Jews went to separate schools, had separate jobs, had separate religious ergo social institutions. There was far more of a cultural difference in the past bc Jews were not majorly assimilated as now.

So how many generations would it take now for my descendants to be considered of Irish heritage? W a claim to Irish land? Able to call themselves the Irish People?

So I know the answer for my great grandparents. Despite being born in Belarus and Ukraine they were not considered those peoples. How do I know? Their birth certificates said Jew. In contrast w those that said Ukrainian. Or Belorussian. So did my grandparents - born in Ukraine or Moscow. So did mine, for all that at least four generations on both sides were born in Soviet Union countries, and me in Moscow, my birth certificate in the 80s said Jew as my nationality.

I can't really trace back much further than my great grandparents' parents but I think before that we must have come from Germany - the last names all sound German - and we weren't Germans there either bc German children got to go to school. Jewish children did not, which was why there was a migration to Russia.

I know my family wasn't considered German by Russia bc at the time all immigrants lived in enclaves of their own peoples. Germans lived together - Russian rules. My family did not live in a German enclave. They lived in the part of the land where Jews were allowed to live.

So for the past 4-5 generations my family wasn't considered Russian. They weren't considered German.

They had no heritage or claim to being from those lands.

If they weren't from those lands, then were were they from?

Where were they native to?

How is it that despite the past five generations of my family not being considered European ( West European) I am suddenly expected to think of myself as such?

Despite them not being accepted or treated like Europeans, despite them being othered, despite them having no native ties to the archaeology or myths or beliefs of the peoples living in that land, I am suddenly to think of myself as a European?

My mother lived 30 years in Russia before we got refugee status in the US. She has never, in her life, thought of herself as Russian. No religious connection or much knowledge of Judaism ( soviet union forbade religion so she never prayed, barely believes in a god, doesn't know the rituals) She speaks of us and of them. Of us not being welcome there. Of the difference in mentality. And if I went to a Russian now and said I was Russian and then said, Russian Jewish, there would be a distinction. I wouldn't be Really Russian. My identity would not be considered Russian.

And despite all that, we are to think of ourselves as European?

After leaving western Europe as refugees? After being unwelcome there? Other there? After it being made clear to us that there is a difference btwn us and them?

And don't forget, we tried to fit in. We celebrate New Year's like any Russian, we didn't go to synagogue, or pray, we went on political communist marches like everyone else. We dressed and ate like everyone else - if I suggest not eating bacon my family will laugh me out of the house.

But we weren't Russian. Not in their eyes. And not in ours.

I think what a lot of people screaming that Ahkenazi Jews are European fail to understand is that Europe is not America.

I am an immigrant. I feel American. My passport says American. My sister was born here - she will think of herself as an American from birth and what celebrations or foods or dress she has won't matter bc America accepts cultural diversity without delegitimizing the claim to American culture. Bc everyone except for Native Americans is an immigrant and there are so Many cultures that the main identity stays American. Bc there is no concept of American heritage bc there are So many immigrants, no indigenous claim to the land unless you are Native, it works differently than in Europe.

Here, everyone is different so the differences don't matter as much.

Europe? Majority share a culture and a heritage in most countries. Not just a language, that can be learned, but a past. And those who do not share that past will not fit in. Will not be fully accepted if they act on those differences at all.

Think of the protests in France bc the Muslims are not assimilating. Are following their own traditions. Are they considered fully French? Or is half of France terrified they will defile the true French culture?

Being of a country is more than being born there. It's feeling a connection to the land, feeling like it's past is shared. Feeling like you can claim that identity and the heritage is yours for good or ill.

Ashkenazi Jews can't claim that for the countries their families came from. Weren't ALLOWED to be a part of those countries.

So don't try to change the past now. Ideas of who is European and who can claim that may have changed - there's more movement and immigration now, more acceptance of it, but it's too little too late.

A people who were kicked out or ran from Europe cannot and will not be considered the same as the peoples who forced them to leave ...or die.

I am not Russian. I am not Western European. Not while my birth certificate says my race is Jewish. Which ...it's going to say that for my entire life. So no, I won't accept suddenly being forced to accept a heritage denied to me before just bc it's more convenient to your ideology to think of me that way.

[roobylavender]

(Really long ask ahead i’m sorry!) I think your thoughts on dick and his similarities vs differences to bruce are so interesting! Personally i’m wondering how much of NTT played an influence on this kind of characterization bc i’ve never fully finished ntt but i read like nearly all the pre-80s batman 1940 issues lol and dick very much was portrayed as more idealistic than bruce in some ways while more no-nonsense (? For lack of better word) in other ways, like when it comes to batman easing up a little on selina for romance reasons LOL. Though ofc dick totally turns into - well, a dick - in team books, as i grow older i find myself far more compelled by a potential story of an 18 yr old who seemed to have the whole weight of the world on his shoulders (by his own perception) and breaking under his own impractically strong sense of duty and sky-high expectations for others, then realizing as he grows older that it doesn’t have to be that way esp after seeing the perspectives of characters like kory, wally, joey, roy, etc. Like personally as someone who never really had a huge interest in NTT anyway, i’m surprised at how desperately people want to hold on to the characterization of dick when he was 18-19 and never letting him grow past that, like it’s so difficult for me to believe that at age 25 he would be the same uptight controlling kid that he was at 19. Maybe i’m biased though bc i was like one of those insufferable INTJ internet stereotypes as a teenager, and while that worldview did bring me achievements i’m proud of like the fact that i’m in med school rn studying what i love, i still know that at age 22 i have changed SO much from when i was 18 and i can’t imagine any reasonably mature or normally-functioning person (let alone someone high-functioning like dick) not doing the same lol. Especially since dick is the kind of person who would literally die if he’s not constantly growing and evolving past his faults bc of his insufferable perfectionism, idk how he’d be willfully blind to the negative effects of his worldview in early NTT and refuse to grow from there. He even has a quote that’s like “i’ve spent years as a student of my own behavior” which i always found highly encouraging bc i know he really does want to improve himself even at his worst. It reminds me of that Marcus Aurelius quote: “if someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, i shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone; the harm is to persist in one’s own self-deception and ignorance.” But what are your thoughts? (Thank you for reading all this 🥹)

oh i absolutely agree! i cannot tell you how many times i think about the person i was a couple years ago and who i am now like i cringe so much omg.. maturity is an ever persistent process even if we don't recognize its effects immediately and it absolutely is crazy to think that anyone would remain in such a static state of mind for several years on end. esp when like you said dick is someone who wants to be better! so despite his several hypocrisies it is nonetheless in his best interests to look internally and analyze and evolve. and i feel like that very much could have happened had there been any actual segue between dick's breakup with kory and his re-entry into the batfam. i don't think there was much of a connection between these two sets of writers at all and so what you got is what felt like two very distinct parts of dick's life that didn't necessarily reveal a bridge point. so it's not entirely unrealistic that dick may grow to be the person (at least to some extent) that bat canon portrayed him to be in the years that followed but i certainly think as it stands it felt unearned and like all of his issues explored in ntt were conveniently swept to the side without any semblance of closure (albeit i do think some of these issues are addressed in outsiders '03 but in that dickheaded way that winick explores things generally. so i'm not sure it's the kind of closure people actually want). it's very sad and ig that's what people cling to more than anything. it's not that they're opposed to him growing to be a better person but that they're opposed to a version of dick who feels like he sprung out of nothing

[the-skeleton-speaks]

this is free reign to ramble about your tavs and/or durges. i would love to hear about them what are their stories 👀👀👀

I'm gonna ramble about Belir cause I think I've talked about him the least

Putting a cut here to save your dash lmao

He's a circle of spores druid who absconded from home at around 75-80 to escape his family's smithing/forging business (as oldest sons were going to inherent them once they turned 100) and connect with nature rather than machinery. He always felt a close relationship to the part of nature that was often overlooked or hated. Mushrooms, lichen, mycelium, etc were incredibly fascinating to him, and he often snuck into the woods near Rivington as a kid to spend his time there, where he talked to the fungi like they could listen and respond. Eventually, at around 135-140 yrs old he was bestowed a gift by them, the first inklings of druidic power.

He sought out more knowledge on his druidic powers when he left home, but didn't make it too far out before the nautiloid nabbed him

Being forced into this leader role really started taking a toll on him. He grew close with Astarion and Halsin, and eventually started catching feelings for both, but felt it unwise to rifle up any romance during this time of peril.

He let Astarion feed on him almost daily, yes deeming it a necessary advantage but also craving that closeness, the numbness afterwards, the feeling of warmth rushing through Astarion's frigid digits as he had his fill. He was falling harder and harder, but was beginning to be unable to separate the feeling of love for the snarky vampire and the feeling of desperation for that mental release, especially after what happened with Last Light Inn

Belir was the weakest out of the team. He couldn't focus properly on his druid power, not knowing how to properly use it, ending up a weight he couldn't lift off of their shoulders, watching more and more resources be spent keeping him alive. He felt horribly guilty, like a complete burden on his companions.

When the Emperor offered the Astral Tadpole, Belir took it with barely any hesitation. Finally, he thought, a way he can be useful to his friends. But it changed him in ways the emperor conveniently forgot to mention. He became extremely aloof and cold. He began separating himself from the party, doing things on his own, going as far as planting wulbren's bomb in the steel watch without their help. All through it the emperor praised him for his obedience, and suggested small ways to help him be even stronger.

Belir became proficient in heavy armour. He began welding Ketheric's warhammer and only used his druid power to wildshape his way into places he shouldn't be. Eventually he lost contact with his druid powers completely, unable to even sense the buzz of mycelium that used to conversate under his feet.

The time to defeat the netherbrain was upon him. He had the emperor turn Karlach into a mindflayer because he felt it was best for her condition, and he became so powerful at half-illithid, her becoming full illithid must do even more, right?...

He still, despite his best effort, despite all these sacrifices, was the first to go down in the big fight. Karlach and the Emperor took out the brain in the end, he was revived, and the Sword Coast was saved.

So why now did he feel so empty? His tadpole was gone, he was no longer illithid in any sense. The world was saved, he could rest.

But he couldn't rest. He parted ways with his companions, a sickening dread in his stomach as he realized most of them barely even said goodbye. He stayed in the city to help rebuild for a while, and attempted to reconnect with his druid power, to little avail.

Then the epilogue party. He felt tense, worrying that he may not be welcomed very kindly. But most of his worry was put to rest as people chatted, albiet a bit tensely, with him. He talked to Astarion, the conversation going rather well, the two even laughing and sharing some wine. But they soon parted once more, and Belir turned to face the druid by the campfire.

With some confidence and some help from that wine, Belir decided to act on his feelings for Halsin and explain his initial delcine was out of fear that they may not make it out alive.

Halsin reciprocated, and Belir picked up his things and moved to Reithwein with him. Halsin helped him slowly reconnect with his power, he got some (semi-proffesional) therapy and all seemed well.

Until he realized he was still pining for Astarion. Missing him in a way he felt he should have let go of months ago. And yet, dreams of tender kisses and travelling hands plagued him. He knew Astarion didn't feel like that, that Belir had soured their relationship long ago, that he could never truly make up for it. When Astarion eventually visited Belir ended up confessing these things. They talked it out, the conversation going a lot smoother that Belir had hoped. By the end his feelings weren't quenched, but it helped. They both knew they wouldn't work as a couple, but Astarion was more than willing to begin rekindling their friendship.