#also I’m SO disappointed they changed the op

[dahldahlbills]

im no longer sorry abt jojo posting on main I am having THOUGHTS and i need to get them out

- Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town straight up gives Sitcom vibes and i love it??? It makes me so happy. It’s so weird how we went from ~travel across the globe to defeat Dio~ to ~mystery in small town~ like it hardly feels like the same show and yet it also still maintains the absurdity of jjba

- still really thrown by the fact that the whole hamon concept was just.. thrown out the window after part 2?? (Tho I was surprised to see it mentioned a few times in part 3) I did question how they’d keep the whole hamon stuff interesting over so many seasons, but it’s literally just dropped(as far as I know halfway through part 4)?? P bizarre if you ask me

- I really never expected to love each season so much? Whenever I finish a part I’m like “I don’t think I could love the next part as much as I love this one” BUT THEN I DO the characters really just worm their way into my heart ajfhsjf

- also: kakyoin.

[chloeangelic]

addressing the drama (with receipts)

I wanted to have my ducks in a row before speaking out instead of just responding; I’m not doing this to change anyone’s opinions - it’s really not possible change someone’s perception of me even if it’s based on falsehoods - but I need to do this so I know I’ve said and shown what needs to be shown, and people can do with it what they please. 

To the readers and writers who have blocked me, unfollowed me, and mutuals who have stopped talking to me over this - I’m really, really sad you didn’t come to me first and give me the opportunity to explain what was going on. I understand if you wanted to distance yourself from drama but I also need you to understand that this was not discourse-drama I willingly got myself into. This was a month of frequent harassment and slander that eventually turned into bullying by a group of people using false info, hiding behind side blogs and anons, and I hoped it would blow over but it never seemed to stop. With anons turned off for most of the last two months, people have gone to my friends’ inboxes instead to harass them about me (and insult them in the process), and I can’t do this anymore.

I feel so alienated and disliked in this community that I can’t go on the dash without feeling like I shouldn’t interact with anyone out of fear that they’ll get uncomfortable seeing me in their notifs. People keep saying they want the community to get better and then they jump on the bandwagon of vague posting and RBing without taking a second to verify the claims, clearly not realizing how much hurt it causes to perpetuate it. If you’re reading this, I  hope your name isn't the next one they pull out of the hat when they want someone new to push off the platform. 

Explanations, timelines and receipts below. 

-

For anyone waiting for an explanation regarding the posts and anons about me that have circulated for weeks, or waiting for receipts proving or disproving that I’m a mean girl who spends my time talking shit, here you go. I am so beyond hurt, I don’t even know what to say. I’m floored, I’m so disappointed in this community and I’m so sad. In the last two weeks, I stayed up until 4am one night receiving screenshots of posts and anons about me, I cried, I tried to understand why this has happened to me, and I have sat here day after day with no answers. 

If you think I’m being melodramatic, try losing a quarter of your mutuals and having a bunch of people block you when you’ve had either no interaction with them or they’ve all been positive, and see how that feels, on top of constant rumors about you being a terrible person when you know you’ve barely had any negative interactions with anyone on the platform. I can’t be on tumblr any longer without exonerating myself and putting it out there that all of this has been one gigantic mess based on lies about me, seemingly compounded by grievances people have against Gracie (some one whose personal conversations have nothing to do with me). Either I do this, or I log out forever and only post on ao3, cause I feel like the fucking grim reaper here. Posts about me being an awful person are still circulating, despite the original post being deleted and the follow up stating that the OP has talked to me and they have apologized.

I’m not naming names in this. I will be using person A/B/C/D to make it less confusing. I’ve removed identifying information from the screenshots because even though I’m hurt by these people, I know that they will get dogpiled and harassed if I identify them, and I want it all to stop. Several have apologized to me and I have accepted. 

Sometime in December, rumors started circulating that there was a “big/elite writers discord” where they talked shit about small writers (I’m not in any discords specifically for writers and I have never heard of such a server). At about the same time, person A - someone who was very active in my own, now-deleted discord server, started frequently vagueposting about me, calling me a mean girl and, intentionally or not, made it seem like I was part of this “elite group of writers”. This is someone who I have never had a negative interaction with and who seemingly out of nowhere decided that I call myself elite and I’m a terrible person. 

Person B had some grievances with myself, Iris, and Gracie it seemed, so they went to person C and accused us of talking shit in our voice chats. I assume person A and B have talked about me at some point and validated each other’s claims, but I can't know that for sure. Person B messaged me from a burner account and apologized, then seemingly deleted the account after I responded.

Gracie frequently posted about us three chatting, and although I understand this might have felt alienating to some, many writers are open about having group chats with each other. All we did was write, edit, and Gracie sometimes made memes. We talked about non-fic stuff often, and when Gracie had an issue with other writers and she was upset, we talked about it. That’s what friends do. She knows that I believe those situations were handled poorly. One of those situations came to light recently - I had a very pleasant conversation with the writer involved, and we are still in touch.

I have spoken to person C, who posted the most “popular” smear post about me and some of my friends. They retracted their statements and profusely apologized to us, admitting it was based on stuff they heard from person B, showing me screenshots of the conversation. However, their original posts are still circulating through reblogs despite being deleted from their account. 

Person D also posted about me and my friends, however their post was sort of ridiculous, accusing me of spending more time replying to anons than writing. I found this funny, but the way they slut shamed my friend was absolutely not humorous, and dragging a random writer in to criticize them was a strange attempt at adding fuel to the fire. 

-

And for the receipts, 

I blocked person A after seeing a handful of vague posts clearly about me, and after they interacted with every single rude anon posted about me that I saw. I think that’s reasonable, no? I’m not gonna post screenshots of their posts cause I honestly just don’t want to look at them again, they make me feel kind of sick if I'm honest, but if anyone doesn’t believe me, they are welcome to DM me and I will send. 

Person B messaged me, admitted to partaking in this mess, and apologized. This is part of a LONG message:

Person C apologized over message and called me on discord. We had a conversation clearing things up, they deleted their posts and wrote a public apology. 

If you need any proof that person B’s claims were, in fact, baseless, look at this exchange between person B and person C after person C had cleared things up with me.

Person D honestly just creeps me out, cause what the fuck is this? Fine if you don’t like me based on my writing or my persona on here but… Why the witch hunt? 

ETA: Person C asked person D to take down their post and they never responded. This was sent prior to that, I know the full context, I just thought this specific part was worth sharing to show how vile some people allow themselves to be behind burner accounts.

What kind of behavior is this? This was from a sideblog, and I don't know what their main account is. It creeps me the fuck out knowing this person is lurking somewhere in the community.

I have hated every moment of this. None of this has been fun for me. This has completely fucked up my motivation to write and my enjoyment of it, it has made me anxious, it has messed with my self esteem, and it has made me want to log out of Tumblr and not come back. 

Please, I beg, if you have an issue with me, just come to me and I promise I will have a conversation with you. You can’t tell people’s tone over anon and I don’t think that’s a good way to have a conversation, especially one about something that should be solved in private, so they remain off, but my DM’s are open. 

I'm so sick of seeing vagueposts and trying to decipher if they're about me. Having to do that a bunch of times messes with your head.

I'm not sure what to do moving forward, but I needed to say my piece. I don't want to talk about this again, I want to put this behind me. I seriously hope this doesn't wreck my last remaining want to share my writing on here.

Thanks again to everywhere who has supported me in my DMs and comments, you mean the world to me 🤍🤍🤍 And if you found yourself duped by all this but change your opinion on me now or eventually, I won't hold a grudge, and I'm happy to speak again and pick up where we left off.

[ceruark]

I had come to send an ask about Sunday because I’m obsessed with your Sunday writings but then I got distracted by the fact that you’re a Pokémon fan!! (Something that. honestly I should’ve assumed from your pfp/name) do you have any hcs about how N or Kieran would be as yans? (I’d ask about Volo too but I never finished PLA loll if you’d like feel free to talk about him though!)

yandere! kieran and N headcanons

synopsis: yan! kieran and N (separate) x gn! reader words: 1.6k cw: yandere themes: obsession, stalking, manipulation a/n: i gasped so loudly seeing this ask that i physically hurt my chest,,, thank you for my life OP (and feel free to send that sunday ask! <3) i’ll hold off on volo for this ask since you haven’t finished PLA (highly recommend that u do though!!)

Kieran

“I’ll probably just get in your way if I stick too close, so I’ll just...follow you from a safe distance!”

If there’s anything the ScarVi DLC taught us, it’s that Kieran is an obsessive at heart.

Prior to the finale of Teal Mask, his obsession with you is rather innocent— that is, it’s certainly concerning, but it’s also not actively hurting anyone. He’s a massive stalker, but relatively harmless; he doesn’t have a Rotom phone so he can’t take invasive pictures or anything like that, and he doesn’t quite yet have the confidence to approach you. At this point, he’s content just observing you from afar and basking in any attention you do decide to direct at him.

“I was getting worried. It'd be so disappointing if you had gotten weaker.”

Things are much different post-Teal Mask, though. His insecurities are rampant and it would definitely affect how he treats his crush, whether you’re the trainer who caught Ogerpon or just some poor soul who attends Blueberry Academy.

He talks down to everyone, but he seems to take a special sort of glee in picking on you specifically. It doesn’t matter where you are— the Terarium, the cafeteria, an empty classroom, or some isolated and abandoned corner of the library— if you’re not in the privacy of your dorm room, he’ll find you, even after you go out of your way to change your schedule every day and take different routes to get places.

Ignoring him will only make things worse. He’s so high on his own power that he’ll see your attempts at brushing him off as a challenge. In his eyes, being strong means being desirable. He’s the strongest at the academy, so why would you possibly not want his attention? Who’s more worthy of your time than him? If you give him the silent treatment, any student you interact with will face his wrath in your stead, resulting in you being isolated. You’ll have to come to him if you have no one else to turn to, right?

He’s infuriated if you spend too much time with any of the Elite Four members. Especially Drayton. If you care about the safety of either of you, don’t even breathe in that boy’s direction.

Despite how cruel he can be, he still relishes your attention and praise, and giving it to him can help make him more tolerable. Tell him how strong he is after a Championship match or compliment a new battling technique before he can bring it up, and he’s putty in your hand. He’s wrapped around your finger, and it would serve you well to remember that.

“So do you think… we could start over from zero and be friends again?”

After the events of Area Zero, he becomes a weird amalgamation of his previous yandere sides. 

Though significantly less willing to openly act on it, he’s still as possessive and jealous as ever. He won’t try to isolate you like before, but he’s not above giving you a kicked puppy look if it means you’ll put off other plans to spend more time with him. He’ll heavily lean back into the innocent act if it means keeping you close.

Just because you’re allowed to have friends now doesn’t mean he’ll allow people to forget their place. If someone tries to pursue you romantically, they’re swiftly dealt with, threatened somewhere well out of your sight. He might feel like he doesn’t deserve you after everything he’s done, but that doesn’t mean he’s willing to lose you.

The obsession is back in full force. Hidden beneath his seemingly endless notes on Pokémon battles, tactics, and stats is a similarly-sized stash of notes on you. Your battling style, your food preferences, your interests, stories about your past that you’ve shared with him… the list goes on. He has a phone at this point, and the only thing that rivals his impressive catalog of your entire being is his hidden collection of photos of you taken without your knowledge.

If those close to him comment on the nature of his crush, he’s quick to deflect. It’s easy to guilt Carmine into dropping it by bringing up how she used to treat him, and Crispin’s easy to distract. Drayton, Lacey, and Amarys pose much more of a problem, but as long as you’re not in any distress, they really don’t have anything to complain about.

Just spend time with him and show him affection, and he’s pretty much harmless. If he knows he’s as important to you as you are to him, then there won’t be any need for him to act on his more… concerning tendencies.

N Harmonia

“The result was the same... But you... Who are you?”

As the resident N enthusiast, there is a pretty notable difference between yandere N before the ending of BW1, and after.

As the Plasma King, N is so caught up in his ideologies that he can’t recognize his feelings and actions aren’t conventional or healthy. I can’t imagine Ghetsis raised him to have a healthy concept or model for love, so any form of attraction he feels is something he has to navigate entirely on his own.

That being said, any of his yandere tendencies outlined in this post— both before and after his redemption— are completely unintentional and don’t come from a bad place. He would never be intentionally cruel or harmful toward someone he holds such precious and pure feelings for, even if it was for his own benefit.

Assuming you’re a trainer who opposes his beliefs, he finds himself in a place of great frustration. He despises the fact that you fight to preserve a world that he has witnessed create so much suffering, and yet he finds himself drawn to you. The key to understanding someone’s point of view is to understand where they’re coming from— their background, their upbringing, the very nature of who they are— and that’s how he rationalizes following you around and taking note of your encounters with others and who you choose to regularly associate with.

It doesn’t help that your pokémon speak so highly of you. They adore you, going so far as to say that they wouldn’t want to live a life where they aren’t at your side. You’re the walking contradiction to everything he stands for, the sledgehammer to the foundation of his world— is that why you give him this weightless feeling, like he’s floating?

His confusion manifests into a more intense version of the quiet rage present in him throughout the entirety of the first game. The words he directs at you have a harsh edge, and he presses you with questions on your worldview so much that it feels almost suffocating. And yet, he always seeks you out, seeming to only be a few steps behind or ahead of you at any given time.

“What? You're leaving at a time like this? My formula didn't account for this variable…”

If you’re affiliated with Team Plasma, though, a much different side of him is brought out, one that is more manipulative. 

As his ideals are dismantled right before his eyes, he’ll desperately cling onto something familiar, and that something is you. If at any point you show signs of losing faith in Team Plasma, it won’t be the Seven Sages who try to reindoctrinate you— it will be him. And with your king— who you so deeply adore— speaking to you directly, convincing you to keep fighting for him, how could you say no?

I feel like once he catches one of the legendary dragons, he’ll try to keep you by his side as one of the grunts who tend to him. There’s no longer a reason for you to leave the palace when his dreams are so close to coming into fruition. And when you inevitably get antsy and express that you want to leave, visit the outside world for just a day, he’ll hit you with the cold water. Why would you want to leave? You wish to give up on your shared dream, now of all times? If that’s what you truly desire, then you better be able to withstand living in disgrace in the eyes of your revered king.

The Shadow Triad gets utilized a lot more in both cases. If you’re a normal trainer, they’re “requesting” your presence more than just the couple of times that they do in the game, and if you’re a Team Plasma member, then you’re never out of their sight. Not for a single second. They’re always keeping tabs on you from the shadows, reporting back to N immediately if even one hair on your head is out of place.

“Making dreams come true is hard… I wonder if we will meet again…”

After the finale of BW1, though? He’s quite possibly the most harmless yandere out there. A declawed cat that just wants some headpats, if you will. 

I feel like even though it would pain him greatly, he’d leave his darling behind when he goes out to see the world beyond Unova. He has to pick up the pieces and become a better version of himself, and when he returns, perhaps he’ll be someone worthy of your love.

And when he does return, he’ll be relatively normal. He would never want to keep anyone chained to his side, and he wants you to chase after what makes you happy. Far be it for him to stand in your way.

The only thing that remains is the unintentional manipulation. You’ve always been very accommodating of him, and you’re always willing to cancel plans and return to the home you’ve made for yourselves on days where he feels like everything is just too much. And if he sometimes uses that to get you away from someone you’ve been giving a little too much attention— well, it’s not like it’s hurting anyone.

[shawtythatluvsurgut]

What made you go from feeder/ffa to feedee?!

Also, what is your biggest feedism kink that really gets you going?

(before you read this, please know that nothing i said in response should be taken as me being upset with OP because i am not at all upset with this ask)

i’ll answer the bottom part in my video, but i want to address the top question because i received it more than once.

I am still a feeder. I am still a FFA. I’m a part-time feedee and FULL-TIME feeder.

I am not saying that i’m not a feedee because, I mean, cmon look at my page lol. but i am still a feeder first and foremost. that will never change. i decided to get into testing out the feedee role because i didn’t have anyone irl who i knew that was into feedism or even willing to try it. my last partner made me think he was into it for a bit, but then did a huge 180. it wasn’t until one of my close ‘friends’ (😏) and i started flirting a bit that i realized he was actually into the idea and it brought me back into feeder mode. just because i am dipping my toe into the feedee realm does not mean that i am not a feeder first, so please stop taking that title from me.

i know i have a lot to prove. between my dad’s health rapidly declining which led to my disney arc being cancelled and also my constant switch between feedee and feeder content, i know i’ve disappointed quite a few people recently. for that, i am sorry, but i also don’t regret spending that time with my ill father instead of making feedism content at disneyland ngl. i know a lot of people were pissed (i can tell by how many subs i lost) and i do feel bad and sincerely apologize, but life gets in the way of work at times and i needed to prioritize life in that moment. as for my indecision between being a feedee and a feeder, ive realized that im much more into the feeder role. i love eating and doing it for you all to enjoy which is why im not rejecting the feedee position and am still leaning into it, but i get much more pleasure from being a feeder. i’m much more into the dominance and control that i get as a feeder. however, i do like the plushness on my body that i obtained from being a feedee. i say this all to make the point that i still play both roles, but Feeder will always be my main role. it comes to me naturally and sometimes i have to force myself to be a feedee which can kinda ruin it over time.

also please keep in mind that i’m 21, so i’m still at an age where i flip flop between my sexual identity so so so frequently. I like being a feedee at times, but i always have and always will LOVE being a feeder. now that i have the december trip planned and have someone willing to let me feed them that i also happen to know really really well, im excited to get back into my feeder mode. i will probably switch between the two for a while, and i’m sorry if that annoys any of you.

also, just because i mainly feel like a feeder does not mean i am planning to get ripped or skinny again or any of that. i’m just not focused on gaining right now and haven’t had the appetite or $$ to do stuffings. i am not trying to lose weight; it is just happening naturally due to life circumstances. please stop messaging me accusing me of being a fake feedist or saying that im ‘intentionally getting skinny again’ because that is not true. i don’t care what my size is tbh, im comfortable in my body, i just have other priorities right now and a lack of appetite.

just please stop trying to imply that i’m no longer a feeder because that couldn’t be farther from the truth. it sucks having other people tell you who you are, especially when you’re still figuring that out for yourself. please keep that in mind.

thank you and ily guys. and NO I AM NOT MAD lol. i am not mad at this ask at all; just wanted to clarify what my role in this community is and that is full-time feeder/part-time feedee.

Thank you.

Nico

[satancopilotsmytardis]

hi sorry idk if this is rude to ask but a few post ago in a hashtag you mentioned possibly talking about why you haven’t updated changing currents or a cat by any other name in so long and would it be rude to ask for a follow up on that? those are two of my absolute favorite fics of yours that have me foaming at the mouth and i’m kind of curious about what’s going on with them, no pressure of course just curious

Ope, no, in this case it's not rude. I meant to make a proper post about it, but then I got distracted with the Guard Dog update and starting to plan Monsterfucking Kinktober. 

So for Changing Currents, my main concern is that because it's so heavily inspired by the dystopian genre, I got really in my head worrying about what people would say when that series doesn't end with some kind of revolution or anything like that. I was definitely going for something more akin to The Giver than Divergent, if you get my meaning. I got really worried that people would be disappointed if the story didn't end with some huge action-packed climax, and I psyched myself out of working on it, because that's not the story I was ever planning on telling. I also have some other plot points that I think are going to be controversial and that go against a lot of the things that people have been predicting, which also developed into me worrying about expectations. I'm planning on the rest of the story being covered in two more chapters, and I have the full outline for it as well as an outline for adapting the story into a non-fanfic book, but I just haven't been able to get out of my head enough to touch it again. 

For ACBAON, it comes down to something similar. The next chapter is going to be the final one, and I have the whole thing outlined, but I keep hesitating working on it because I know that people are going to look at the ending and want more of the story. But I know how I want it to end, and I never want a story to be continued just for the sake of it. I also don't think that every story should end with the characters having reached a perfect stasis, I want it to feel like they're going to go on with their lives, but that this is the point were we waved goodbye and trusted them to move on without us. 

But those are all my personal hang-ups and things I've gotta work through at my own pace. Those stories have been stressing me out, and since I write for fun, I've just been letting them stew, writing a few hundred words here and there when I feel okay about them. I will complete both of those stories in my own time, but until I find a way to make them something that makes me happy again, they're essentially on hiatus. 

[temporary-tats]

So, anyone else just get viscerally gutted by the Volume 9 Epilogue?

*spoilers below*

I was crying a minute into it like holy shit. Nora’s reactions to everything are just so, SO RAW. Ren missing Jaune and doing his fucking BEST to hold everything together, Winter trying to live up to her role as the Winter Maiden, “You would be so disappointed in us” - fucking CUTS my soul.

CVFY!! SSSN!! The dynamics of Vacuo hating Atlas for disrupting their lives, the way Willow and Whitley are doing their damn best to change for the better and help those around them, as are the Ace Ops. Qrow supporting Willow while she tries to quit drinking! Qrow honoring Clover and Ruby by staying optimistic.

Oh the mural, the mural oh god. It hurts so good.

VALE IS GONE??? Like SHIT? Salem is truly on a rampage now, which is fucking terrifying.

Ofc, Raven coming through to reunite everyone. Nora, Ren, and Oscar’s reactions to seeing RWBY literally fucking killed me like, Nora’s gasp just gutted me.

One thing this epilogue made me realize - do, do Tai, Kali and Ghira even know what happened???? Jaune’s family??? Like we of course got *some* of the direct responses to the situation for Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Jaune, cause they all had someone in Atlas and now Vacuo who knew what was happening. It seems global communications would be working if Amity is actually up now, but like, DID ANYONE TELL KALI AND GHIRA? Like absolutely no direct mourning for Blake which has me like, does anyone outside of Vacuo even KNOW?!

If Vale is gone, what about Patch?! Like WHERE IS TAI???? SIR??? COME BACK??

This also has me imagining Kali and Ghira weeping over the loss of their daughter who they JUST GOT BACK. Like Blake has been back in their lives for so little time, and now she was like technically dead??? Imagine the pain they’d be feeling. Oh god that hurts to imagine. I love the Belladonnas if that isn’t clear enough already ;-;

Fuck. I’m not dumb enough to expect any sort of a proper ending for RWBY, but I fucking hope so desperately that something comes through and the IP is swept up by someone capable and caring, that the vision is carried through to the end and we get some sort of closure for this story. Until then, whether it be the death of our beloved show, or the revival through some external force, I’ll be over here soaking up fan works to try and fill the gaping hole in my chest.

Remember Her Message

- Long Live RWBY

[toxictoad]

HADES 2 GODS RANKED BY HOW MUCH I WANT TO KISS THEM

(and also gameplay)

DISCLAIMER: I don’t think any of the gods are bad. I’m ranking them in comparison to each other. Even the worst boon in the game is still good, and obviously all the art is great.

Also I'm writing this in EA patch 4.

Aphrodite–

I mean she’s obviously hot– she’s THE goddess of beauty, but Hades 2 is an absolute improvement. This isn’t just Aphrodite, this is Aphrodite Areia. Kick ass, honey I love you so much. You don’t need clothes to fight a war. She’s so salty I want her to step on me.

Her boons are pretty good. Decent damage and her duo boons are nice. Heartthrobs are BROKEN and I do builds with them as often as I can. Meshes well with other gods. Love Handles is my favorite duo boon in the game.

Please kiss me 9/10 times Gameplay 10/10

Apollo–

He’s a pretty boy, but his prep vibes bring him down a bit. He’s funny though and I love all his interactions with other gods.

Good boons. I don’t usually take his core stuff unless I have the Sister Blades, but having a larger area of damage is nice. I like his sprint boon. Sunny Disposition is great if you’re doing a Heartthrob build. Generally he’s good but there are better core boons.

Please kiss me 5/10 times Gameplay 7/10

Artemis–

Goddess of lesbians. Not wlw but I believe in their beliefs you know. The bear pelt and all the antlers are SERVING. She’s like if one of those hunter dudes on tinder was actually hot. I love her but also I’m a man so I feel like she should be with someone else.

She’s not a core god so her boons are a little hard to judge. Critical damage is always nice, and running into her is always better for a run. All her offerings are good, although Pressure Points is better with the Sister Blades or the Witch’s Staff. I’m just gonna rank her compared to the other ‘lesser’ offerings in the game, not compared to the regular boons because she only appears once per run.

Please kiss me 7/10 times (But like platonically) Gameplay 10/10

Demeter–

Gilf. Don’t @ me you know it’s true. I’m a little disappointed that they made her look younger for Hades 2 but I guess it makes sense lore wise. Old lady in armor is peak art. I love her, I adore her, and her design is magnificent. Mwah.

Her boons are good. Freeze is a great effect especially for getting used to the game. Not as effective with the Umbral Flames or Sister blades, but they’re great with the Moonstone Axe and Witch’s Staff. Rare Crop is only good early and Plentiful Forage is objectively kinda bad but I take it every time.

Please kiss me 8/10 times Gameplay 8/10

Hephaestus–

Spoilers: He’s the hottest male Olympian. I LOVE him. Please hold me in your arms my stupid little bisexual heart needs to be cuddled by a sweaty blacksmith. HOW could Aphrodite cheat on this man? He's perfect. Also legit the funniest god.

His boons are a little hit or miss. When they’re common they aren’t great but they stack pretty well. His magic gain boon is probably the worst out of all of them, but Mint Condition and Uncanny Fortitude are hands down my favorite boons, and like I said: Love Handles is my absolute favorite duo boon.

Please kiss me 10/10 times Gameplay 7/10

Hera–

My QUEEN. I love her. Please leave your husband. I would treat you so much better. She’s elegant, she’s powerful, she’s HERA. Josette Eales voices her and does an IMMACULATE job. I want Hera to call me a good boy please please please.

Her boons are alright. Hitch is a good effect if you can apply it in a large area but it’s not great against Guardians. In the most recent patch they changed her cast and I think it’s a little worse. She has alright duo boons, and Queen’s Ransom is funny and also can be pretty op if you have Hera as some of your main boons.

Please kiss me 10/10 times Gameplay 7/10

Hermes–

ADHD TWINK. He’s my homeboy and I vibe with him hard. Longer hair suits him and I wanna take him on a date to an aquarium. So pretty. I hope he can see his husband Charon again soon.

Speed boons are always cool. Dodge chance is invaluable if you have shit reaction times like I do. Nimble Mind is his only boon I don’t like because it just doesn’t feel very effective. Nimble Limbs is awesome for the Moonstone Axe, and Quick Buck is one of my most chosen boons. Ultimately good but his boons can feel a little ineffective when they’re common.

Please kiss me 7/10 times Gameplay 9/10

Hestia–

Not a gilf but I do love her. She’s sassy and ruthless and I love her design so much. I want to sit in the thicc auntie’s lap please. Super hot punk old lady.

Scorch is a great effect. Her attack and special boons are awesone and her cast is good. Getting Flame Strike, Ice Flourish from Demeter, and then their Freezer Burn duo boon is how I beat Chronos the first time. The rest of her duos are fine but not amazing.

Please kiss me 8/10 times Gameplay 9/10

Poseidon–

He’s definitely hotter than in the first game, just not my type. He’s very funny in an annoying kind of way (Side note: I REALLY want him and Odysseus to learn about each other. Their beef would be SO funny)

His core boons feel less powerful than in the first game. Double Up and Hydraulic Might are the only boons of his I take consistently. Damage isn’t terrible but not the best. His duo boons are generally pretty good though. Island Getaway is nice when you can get it.

Please kiss me 3/10 times Gameplay 5/10

Selene–

Ethereal moon mommy. I love her. Would probably be terrifying to approach in any capacity but she’s just SO pretty.

It’s a little weird to rank her since hexes are the replacement for Olympian aid in the first game, but generally they’re all pretty good. Wolf Howl is my favorite. I never take Twilight Curse or Dark Side, but that might just be because I don’t understand them.

Please kiss me 8/10 times Gameplay 7/10

Zeus–

No.

His boons also seem a little weaker than the first game, but chain lightning is a fun effect when you get it pumped up a bit. Blitz is a kinda weak effect but if you can get Toasting Fork on them they’re good. His legendary boon and duo boons are both a little meh.

Please kiss me -100/10 times. Leave me alone. Gameplay 4/10

This was fun. I'm probably gonna do this again with other characters lol.

[26790048]

The Boboiboy x Dead Or Alive Challenge (A. K. A Elemental Hero In a fighting tournament)

This mindset came to me as I was reading the Azur Lane x Boboiboy Wattpad fanfic by Jikdot and MHA x Boboiboy Galaxy by StarTwinkle (both I recommend a read), and since I’m recently into the Dead Or Alive series and quite disappointed by a lake of fics in Wattpad and FanFiction.Net. So I wanted to see if something like this could work with some future fanfic authors.

Okay for the DOA fans, Boboiboy is a popular Malaysian CGI animated show about the titular character getting 7 (started with 3) Elemental powers (along with their Second Tier forms, Third Tier forms,although he has two and one of them is uncontrollable,and Elemental Fusion) from a Power Sphere named Ochobot and along with his friends (Ying, Yaya, Gopal and Fang) they go out and save the world and the Galaxy. There has been two series (the original and Galaxy), two movies (a third one being released in 2025) and comics (I think the rest like the Elemental splits, TAPOPS etc can be explained by looking at the Boboiboy Wiki or some other sources).

For the Boboiboy fans, Dead or Alive is a fighting game series from the 90s that mostly centre around the Mugen Tenshin Clan and DOATECC (a company that host DOA tournaments but hides their schemes behind the publics eye) and that’s all I could say about the story of the franchise (like I said, I just got into the series so I’m not as knowledgeable about it as other fans of the franchise, so if you want to learn more about Doa, either just watch a YouTube video or look up some of the lore).

But what I do know is that DOA is a fighting game with Breast Physics and a lot of Fanservice (which I’m not complaining about) that has Ninjas, Clones, a Wrestler that turned into a model but turned into a singer then went back into the wrestling world and also it’s connected to Ninja Gaiden and has an Ecchi spinoff called the Xtreme series in which most of the girls are just chilling in Zack’s island (the most recent one Venus Vacation has 19 new Girls, so if you want to, you could include them in this crossover).

WAYS IN WHICH BOBOIBOY COULD FIT INTO DOA

Boboiboy teleports into the Dead or Alive universe due to either a new Power Sphere or a Dimensional Teleportar (You could place him at any DOA game but I recommend starting from DOA 1) and stays in that dimension until his friends find a way to get him back.

They take place in the same Universe. With that you could start this crossover from any series but I recommend using the First Three Seasons and the Movie (you can Age up Boboiboy if you want to) taking place during Doa 1 to 4 (yes the first four games take place in a year and I know it’s bullshit but I do recommend the Movie taking place after DOA 4 or Xtreme 2) and the Galaxy series taking place in DOA 5 to….uh Venus Vacation? Either way you can start the crossover from any entry of these two series.

3. (Even though I don’t count this but I don’t want to be the only one who feels this way so I’ll include it here) Reactions, you could make the cast of Dead or Alive react to some clips of Boboiboy like his first uses of the Penta and Hepta split against Bora ‘ra, the Elemental Fusions against Retak’ka or some of your favourite clips from the series, you could also use plain shenanigans like the Boboiboy Instagram posts which are about what Boboiboy and the others just do in life other than fighting.

How Boboiboy could influence some events in DOA (or you, the author could change some weird decisions by the development teams.

(This is something I thought off when writing this challenge) Boboiboy saving False Kasumi (from Doa 5) from getting killed by Hayate and Ayane, since False Kasumi isn’t someone with evil intentions and really thinks she’s the actual Kasumi I think that Boboiboy might try to stop Hayate and Ayane from killing her (fighting them if need be) and try to get her as far away from Kasumi Alpha.

Might try to get Ayane to open up as to why she hates Kasumi and at least try to be friends with her as that is something I could see Boboiboy doing as he’s dealt with sibling relationships before (Fang and Kaizo) but not to this extreme so it might be a challenge for him.

Boboiboy could also participate in the Ninja Gaiden series like with Razors Edge where Boboiboy could help Ryu with dealing with the Goddess and finding a cure for that disease that was killing him. You could also have Ryu try to train Boboiboy on mastering and obtaining his Third Tier powers.

(Now this is for the future authors) Try to make Boboiboy interact with the other characters in the series as he could build new friendships, rivalries and relationships and try to make some characters arcs not be redundant (Cough Leifang Cough) but also let them interact with Boboiboy’s Elements like how would Jann Lee interact with Fire/Blaze, how Hitomi would interact with Leaf/Thorn/Jungle, Kokoro with Water/Ice etc. The possibilities are endless.

You could put in some villains from Boboiboy into DOA like Ejo Jo, Adu Du (although he is less of a villain), Kapten Vargoba etc. You could also put in Reverse Boboiboy (which is a fan made version of Boboiboy but evil and bloody) alongside his holy handsomeness that make some of the toughest Guys and Girls of the series blush (okay that last part was a joke….probably).

This is specifically for Genra. Make him a Mugen Tenshin Clan member that was captured and controlled by DOATECC out of his free will which was probably intended in DOA 3 and not another villain that was hungry for power (don’t know why Dimensions did that) as that makes Ayanes story more interesting and heart wrenching.

You could also add New Elements and Fusions if you want to.

(Okay that’s all I could write about this crossover and man was it stressful to make but anyways I hope some future fanfic authors will enjoy the idea).

[ladylooch]

https://www.tumblr.com/ladylooch/731357105322393600/livs-not-used-to-being-the-centre-of-attention-so

Omg nonny is so right (which makes me sad for Liv a little bit but sometimes we gotta suffer for the plot sweetie!)

But Liv is also surrounded by all these men in her life who would do anything to protect her 😭 timo, lio, little bros, uncle Nico, EVEN CONNOR I’m sure takes an older brother position 😭😭😭 and luca’s just like, yeah I’ll put up with it all just for her???!! SWOON

B IM CRYIN

Ope. This got really long 😅

Liv gets a part time job as a waitress at a little pub in the center of town. She does’t need the money- her dad would get her anything she wants- but she really wants the experience. The town has had an influx of tourists and it’s fun to interact with so many different cultures. Of course the bar has a local crowd. Part of that crowd is David, who is a creepy dude that likes to slap asses of the waitress when he’s had one too many shots of vodka. 

Liv has avoided run-ins with him, until one night when she’s particularly flustered and doesn’t swing wide enough to avoid his wandering hands. He brushes her ass and asks her if she wants to go home with him. Liv declines and he asks again. She says no firmer. He shrugs, saying, “you’ll give in to me one way or another.” Liv is thankful when Luca comes to pick her up from work that evening. 

She ends up sharing the incident with her coworkers who share their own terrifying stories with him. One girl was cornered in the back alley with him and only escaped because a cook came out to throw garbage away. David is friends with the bar owner, who insists David is harmless and joking around.

It didn’t feel like joking to Liv. 

Liv tells her mom over drinks a few nights later. Emma expresses concern and wants Liv to talk to Timo.

“Daddy will make everything worse.” Liv grumbles, grabbing a piece of gouda and popping it in her mouth. “He’s so… aggressive.”

“This is one of those times where we let your dad unleash.” Emma insists.

“Can we talk about something else?” Liv abruptly changes the subject. “Luca and I are going into the mountains next weekend.”

Emma allows her daughter to drop the subject, but she will be telling her husband.

“How is work, Livy?” Emma asks on Sunday at family dinner. They have a full house, Emma’s favorite, with the Meiers, Hischiers, Connor, and Luca. It was a warm day spent on the boat and in the water. Liv is pink and slightly sunburned, feeling exhausted and disappointed she has to work tomorrow.

“Fine.” She mumbles.

“Mama told me you were harassed at work.” Timo says. Liv whips her head at her mom who is glaring at her husband. “And we decided you’re quitting.”

“We?” Emma snaps, pinning her husband with her fiery gaze. “That is not-”

“No I’m not.” Liv cuts her mom off.

“I’m with your dad on this. You don’t need that job. I’ll take care of you.” Luca interjects. 

“I’ll take care of my daughter.” Timo grumbles. Emma smacks his thigh, mortified at this entire situation. She told him discreet! She completely forget that nothing about Timo’s protectiveness is discreet.

“That’s sweet, Luca. But Livy, I don’t like what you told me. I told dad because I am concerned for your safety. The owner doesn’t seem to understand the threat to his staff. You aren’t walking to your car alone at night?”

“No, I walk her to her car.” Luca says.

“Every night?” Timo asks. 

“I uh, set an alarm and meet her at the back door. Then we walk together to her car. I follow her home to make sure she gets there okay.” The table goes dead silent, all of them sneaking a glance at Timo who, for once, doesn’t have a scrunched nose while looking at Luca. 

“I like that.” Timo finally says, “but Liv, I don’t like that townie at the bar harassing you or anyone else on the staff. I’m going to talk to the owner.”

“No.” Liv groans, putting her forehead on the table. “I shouldn’t of brought it up.”

“We’ll take care of it, dad.” Lio assures, munching casually on his third bratwurst. Connor nods his head in agreement. 

Liv thinks the conversation has been dropped as the group collectively moves on, However, her next shift, she is mortified to see half the bar completely occupied. Timo, Nico, Lio, Connor, Luca, Logan AND Liam are all sitting on the barstools. Timo is right next to David. Liv tries to avoid looking at him but she has a feeling Timo already knows.

“You two are too young to be here.” She says to her younger brothers.

“They can stay. They’re with a parent.” The other bartender insists. She knows that rule, but she still doesn’t want them up here.

“Behave.” Liv points at Timo first, then walks further down to Luca. “Babe.” She whines slightly.

“We are here for a drink. That’s it.” Luca assures, reaching his hand out. Liv slides their palms together gripping his wrist with her fingers. “Can you come over tonight? I’ve missed you the last couple of nights.” Liv appreciates Connor as the buffer between him and the rest of the men in her family. Liv decided to stay at home the past two nights to ease some of the frustration building again with her dad towards Luca. But she’s missed the way it feels to fall asleep warm and snuggled together in his sheets.

“Sure.” She nods, then steps on a box to kiss him.

“Oh! You kiss all your customers like that?” David hollers down. All the men scowl in his direction like a domino reaction.

“Are you David?” Timo asks.

“You’re Timo Meier.”

“Yeah. And that’s my daughter you harassed the other night.” Timo stands. “Would love to chat more about that outside.” He points to the door. David holds his hands up when the other men stand in unison. 

“Ohmygod.” Liv groans. Why isn’t her mom here?!

“I don’t want any trouble.” David stutters. 

“Then you’re going to leave my daughter and every other woman in this bar alone.” David nods. “And if you don’t, I will personally give you free plastic surgery.” The bar quiets at Timo’s insinuation. Liv can only hear the whooshing of her heartbeat in her ears. David nods again. “Now I’m going to escort you around for your apologies and then you’re going to leave. Start with my daughter. And hang your head in shame like you should.” 

David does his apologies while the owner watches on, embarrassed that his idol is making his friend do this, when it should have been his decision all along. The owner apologies to Liv and hopes she will continue to work there because she is a great employee. The Meier, Hischier, Wood, and Fiala boys all have a celebratory beer, then head out, back to their nights. Except for Luca and Timo. 

The tension between them is tight and distracting as hell for Liv during the rest of her shift. 

“Dad.” Liv says when Luca goes to the bathroom. “You can leave. Luca is bringing me home.”

“To his or yours?” 

“Can you not do this anymore?” Liv sighs. “I don’t want to feel like I’m disappointing you by loving my boyfriend.” Timo’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“Boyfriend? How will that work when he is in Minnesota and you’re back at Columbia?” Liv’s face clouds over, making Timo feel guilty for popping her bubble.

“You and mama did long distance.” Em and T might have fudged some of their relationship to their children….

“After awhile, baby.” Timo says. “Not at first.” 

Luca comes back, halting any further conversation about what this is or could be or isn’t.

[hoonvrs]

hi saint! about that one anon ask

this just shows we should stop calling them idols and use artists instead

because they’re not, they’re human beings who make mistakes and in the best scenarios own up to them and don’t do them again

and while i, as an ultimate pacifist, wouldn’t really use insults as a solution, i truly understand why they are used, because it is very much disappointing to see anybody, knowingly or not, support the genocide that is happening in gaza, not even just disappointed but angry and sad, since innocent lives are taken by the money they spent either to sip on their frappuccino or eat their big macs

this whole thing with jake would be much better if those who decided to throw insults as well as those who bashed them for so would just use the situation to idk spread even more awareness?? and share some ways to actually help?? as much as boycotting is important sending, for example, humanitarian help is i think a little bit more urgent

still, i hope his apology will somehow change something, after all, it’s the first time anybody in kpop actually apologised and didn’t just wait for their company to do something or simply delete the post, that's an improvement

tbh when i thought about it i was kinda impressed since they can’t really engage in anything that is even slightly political or controversial so him saying sorry is somewhat of a statement, which is sad but we all know what the kpop industry is (one big piece of shit ❤️)

it’s sad what happened under op’s post, truly shows what views and morals some engenes have

damn that’s long hope everything makes sense :’)

hi joojoo

calling them artists instead is totally valid but would be hard since they themselves call themselves idols so it’s basically become their occupation name

don’t get me wrong i am completely against war and violence but i am also with it when it comes down to you can’t do anything but use violence because it’s the only way people will listen to you.

the people have every right to be angry and express that anger because this isn’t a little situation and it’s more shocking to not know what’s going on instead of knowing. also let’s not forget the person called jake stupid for doing something stupid, they weren’t being aggressive or bashing him they literally called it for what it is

now if they said something outta pocket i’d be like okay fairs that’s too far but trust me nobody will sob and cry over being called stupid or an idiot especially not a 21 year old grown ass man

these people have been using their accounts nonstop AND STILL ARE to spread awareness but just because they COULD use this opportunity to spread more awareness doesn’t mean we completely invalidate their hurt and anger. are we also forgetting this is done online?? it’s literally twitter where i’ve seen worse shit then someone calling their fave an idiot like when did people become so sensitive and defensive over a man who doesn’t even know your first name

icl i was genuinely surprised myself at how quick he responded esp under a post where gaza and genocide where explicitly mentioned so there was no room for that and kudos to him and i also get that it’s such a big step up and improvement in that fuck ass industry but i’m not about to praise someone to the ends of the earth for being a decent human and not supporting the death of innocent civilians

i really hope he does learn and educate himself because it’s no one’s responsibility but his own and hopefully prepress more carefully with what he indulged in and what he shows to his viewers

[rallamajoop]

Theme, character, and a few more thoughts on the RE4 Remake

So, having played the Resident Evil 4 remake, I had a ton of fun – but in the end, I think it worked better for me when they remade this game as Resident Evil Village instead.

As every gaming outlet on the net has already told you, there’s a lot to recommend this title. The gameplay is terrific, new!Leon is still stupidly endearing to me, and there are so many little details in his character animation that I love to bits (seriously, he and Ashley actually managed to make me feel guilty about making them run back through the pouring rain hunting that one treasure on the map I’d missed – it’s that good).

But story-wise, I can only wish they’d had the guts to remake this thing a little harder. And while I have sunk a truly stupid number of hours into getting every achievement in RE8, RE4 seems to have tailored its own post-game ecosystem specifically to turn me away. And that's just a little disappointing.

The full RE4 experience is roughly twice as long as Village, but it feels like it has about half the actual plot. Most of what happens once you leave the village area feels like padding, the game spinning its wheels to fill in time. The lore makes less sense the more I try to get my head around it. Parts like Ada’s role feel so unfinished I can only hope there’s more coming in DLC. And despite token attempts to link events thematically to RE2, the result probably works better if you haven’t actually played the RE2 remake lately.

And while you can always say, “C’mon, it’s RE4! No-one remembers that game for the plot!” I’m left going, well, sure, but they remade Leon’s story in RE2 so well! And everything that left me wanting here was stuff they did just as well in RE8 – which was already basically a stealth remake of RE4. Was it so unreasonable to hope they could pull off the same here?

But enough hand waving. Let’s talk specifics. I’ve already talked Luis. So it’s time to talk Leon and Ashley.

I have so many mixed feelings about RE4-remake!Leon. So many.

In so many ways, he just works. He’s not the same Leon of RE2, but he’s changed in ways that make sense given several years of special ops training. He's taken several levels in badass and he's a lot more jaded, but at heart, he’s still a sweetheart who does this work because he wants to help people. And yet people who know him still call him ‘rookie’, still insinuate he hasn’t changed, and it’d be nice if that was something the game was more interested in exploring.

But while RE2 was inarguably the biggest day of his life to date, RE4 ultimately feels like just another day at the office for new!Leon: beat the bad guy, save the girl, fail to figure out what the fuck Ada’s deal is, go home. Nothing that happens to him in RE4 feels personal. Everything that’s changed him between RE2 and here has already happened, off-screen, and I can’t help but wish we were telling one of those stories instead.

It's not for lack of trying. RE4 opens on a heck of a thesis-statement about Leon: what he’s been through since RE2, hints of conflict with his current employer (“I was ‘asked’ later to join a top-secret government program. Not that I had a choice. The training, the punishing missions, almost killed me.”) There’s also one hell of a mission-statement about his feelings on the Raccoon City incident: “If I could just forget what happened that night, the pain, even for a second, this time, it can be different.”

That’s great as an opener! First question: different how?

What difference here is worth celebrating? This time Ada got away, blatantly alive and with the prize in hand, not even pretending she wasn’t using you? This time you got to save the little-infected-blonde-girl (who-was-only-involved-because-of-her-parents’-career-choices) yourself, instead of Claire doing all the real work? This time you rode out the explosion with only one other survivor for company instead of two? You still saw more people die than you saved! You still left a whole infected-and-dying population behind when you left! Seriously, what’s supposed to be different here?

The game seems to want us to believe that saving Ashley is enough to make it "different." On my second playthrough, I even caught Leon repeating that line, ‘it has to be different this time!’ as he carries her into Luis’ lab. But this doesn’t land for me, because – again – Leon got out of Raccoon City with Claire and Sherry. Claire didn’t need a whole lot of rescuing (much as I gripe about her story, she objectively achieved a whole lot more than Leon did), but she certainly appreciated his help. RE4 even shows us a shot of them all walking off into the sunrise together in its Raccoon City flashback.

The lore surrounding this franchise suggests that post RE2, Leon becomes almost family to Sherry ‒ you'd really think she'd count. I’m sure there’s an angle you can find somewhere where Leon would feel like saving Ashley is ‘different’ enough ‒ guilt isn’t a highly logical emotion ‒ but it’s really not coming through for me. And that makes the game's whole thesis statement feel awfully hollow.

Some other token thematic attempts are made: on the boat with Ada, Leon says, “you try to save one person, you get a hundred more killed.” Well, in the process of saving Ashley, they got Luis, Mike, and both those Spanish cops from the opening sequence killed. Saddler and his cult do get wiped out in a way more definitive way than Umbrella did in RE2 ‒ and that surely saves more lives in the long run than saving just Ashley ever could ‒ but that doesn’t seem to be what "has to be different" is going for. This is a lot like my issues with how Jill’s PTSD was dealt with in RE3 – we’re just vaguely waving at a past conflict as a way to lend nebulous weight to the present, and hoping the audience will fill in the blanks without further prompting. This is not how successful theming works!

Really, what makes this so disappointing to me is that it’s not like Capcom has never done PTSD-backstory well. See, as exhibit A: Resident Evil 8. Game opens with multiple reminders that Ethan is still dealing with trauma from RE7, the feeling that he ‘never really left the Baker’s basement’ – and as the story progresses, we learn that in a very real sense, he never did.

The reveal is the answer to a mystery that's been teased repeatedly since RE7, and coming to terms with it is a vital part of Ethan’s character arc. Though plenty is still left to the audience’s imagination, the pieces are all there. Ethan’s no longer in denial about how much his experience has changed him, but what matters to him hasn’t changed. If he’d come out of the Baker’s basement still human, he’d never have survived long enough to save Rose ‒ hell, there'd have been no Rose at all. There’s no going home again for Ethan, but he’s at peace with that. It’s really that simple: give us specifics, and specifics that make sense.

Ultimately, I think trying to frame RE4 as RE2-but-different was a mistake. The original RE4 wasn’t conceived that way, and the remake hasn’t been remade hard enough to make it so.

That doesn’t mean there’s no Leon-centric thematic material to explore. That opening also sets out a wealth of great potential surrounding Leon’s ‘not that I had a choice’ position. Build on the conflict between the Leon who’s out here trying to save a girl’s life, vs the Leon who’s out here trying to protect US political interests. Play with the idea that he’s still being used by the US, just as Ada was using him back in RE2! Let the enemies point out that Leon is as much a puppet of the US administration as the ganados are puppets of Saddler! Fucking do something with Krauser: one of the very same people who put Leon through all that ‘training that almost killed him’ has turned around and decided that their job is a sucker’s bet ‒ that should be a thematic goldmine! And then let Leon turn around and tell them all to go to hell. It’s all right there, c’mon!

The game toys with the question of whether Leon’s changed since RE2 – Krauser says he hasn’t, Ada says he hasn’t – heck, even Luis’ final words, a guy can change, right? are poking around the edges of similar themes. Leon’s problem back in RE2 was never a failure to save people, it’s getting too caught up in other people’s power plays to make any real difference himself. Is that still true here? It's really not clear.

Similarly, it’s so easy to imagine Leon was chosen for the job in RE4 because he’s got such a hero-complex he’s obviously going to work hardest to keep Ashley safe – because no, Leon may have taken a dozen levels in badass, but at his core, he hasn’t changed. But I’m pretty sure he’s going to be okay with that, just as long as he’s changed enough to be able to get the job done.

And think how much more it should give Leon and Ashley to bond over too, when… oh, right. Time to talk about Ashley.

The general buzz about remake!Ashley has been overwhelmingly positive. She’s so much better than the infamously-annoying original!Ashley, she feels like a real person now, people legitimately care about protecting her, and so on. And I sure as hell don’t want to tell anyone they shouldn’t like new-Ashley. She’s not annoying. I didn’t dislike her as a character. But the longer I spent with her in this game (and you spend more time with her than another other non-Leon character), the less she felt like an actual person to me, and the more glaring it was just how little I knew about her.

Here’s what we do learn about Ashley. She’s a college student, apparently 20 years old (she doesn’t really look that old, but what the hell, there are 20yos who look like Ashley, let’s not get stuck on this one). Her father is the president of the United States. She develops quite the crush on Leon over the course of the game (and who can blame her?) Leon handles this as deftly as you could ask for under the circumstances – he doesn’t want to lead her on, but he also doesn’t want to shut her down any harder than he has to. Ashley is understandably terrified, but coping with it with enough composure to keep her head most of the time, and the one time she does freak out and run off, it leads to one of my favourite scenes in the game – where Leon comforts her, and gets to show his gentler side.

Over the course of the game, she gains a certain level of confidence – in herself, and in Leon’s ability to protect her. All that talk about being his partner and wanting to become an agent like him is probably just her crush showing, but again, Leon treads a careful line to validate her as much as possible without ever really saying yes.

And this is all fine, but nothing really changes in Leon’s feelings about Ashley as they spend more time together. He’s 100% there to protect her before they met, and after spending all that time with her, sure, same deal. That’s his job. Nor does Ashley herself really get to change much. In her early chapters, she's already capable of smashing a window to save Leon from a burning building. By the end, she's... still completely helpless to save herself without him. Nothing really pays off.

Alright, now let me tell you about Ashley.

Ashley is a fucking political prisoner, a pawn to people who see her only as a means to an end, and yet the notion she’s in a situation any bigger than herself never enters the picture. At an age when a girl should be earning some independence, she’s going to be officially pigeonholed as her father’s daughter in the minds of the entire world. For four to eight years of the past and/or future, she’s going to be one of the most important and over-protected people on the planet. And yet, within the last day or two, all that security failed. People she and her father trusted – heck, that the whole US government administration trusted – betrayed them. She’s been kidnapped out of the blue, presumably bundled into a plane and flown across the world to some hick-village in rural Spain.

Surely Ashley should have some kind of opinion on all that, right?

There are all sorts of plausible reactions someone might have to this kind of situation. She could blame herself for not taking security more seriously. She could blame her security team for letting her down; her dad for putting her in this position, the possibilities go on. The game does vaguely wave in the direction of Ashley having (reasonable) trust issues when Leon first appears, given she attacks him with a candlestick and runs off, but then she, well, sees some ganados out the window, and everything is forgotten? It’s all over very quickly. Her only opinion on her situation is that she doesn't want to be taken over by a parasite. Such character!

Later in the game, we discover that Krauser was personally involved in her abduction. Ashley never gets to have an opinion on this. Did she know Krauser personally, or was he just pulling strings from a distance? Wouldn’t she have questions for Leon about his relationship with Krauser? Wouldn’t this have been a great opportunity to expand on Leon’s barely-a-footnote history with Krauser and that whole messed up political conspiracy ‒ even to talk about why Leon was trusted enough to be sent on this mission alone? Well, too bad – we’re on the back foot of the Ashley-two-step throughout both Krauser’s appearances, so Ashley’s not around. And Krauser’s own motivations are apparently no more complicated than "wants to be more macho than everyone else." What a damn waste.

Beyond the initial section set in the village itself, it’s disappointing how much of the plot of RE4 basically comes down to: Ashley gets captured, Leon rescues her, rinse and repeat. There are variations, sure (Ashley freaks out and runs off, Leon has to find her, Leon gets trapped, Ashley has to free him) – but the overall pattern gets pretty monotonous. Ashley frees Leon, then immediately gets captured. Leon tries to rescue her, but fails, and is thrown down a hole. Leon almost catches up with Ashley, but she’s being moved to the island. Leon finds Ashley on the island and rescues her, finally! Ashley swiftly gets captured again. Leon rescues her, again. But don’t you dare let Ashley get carried off by one of those goons out of sequence, that’s an insta-fail state. What, you think this is a situation where the bad guys can just carry Ashley away with impunity? Ha.

This is what I really mean when I say it feels like this game is just spinning its wheels for so much of its runtime. There is some additional plot surrounding Luis to break things up a bit, and a few allusions to the idea Ada’s up to something, somewhere, with a grand total of 4 named boss-villains popping up to monologue and/or fight you. But they're all kept pretty rigorously segregated from one another, like cast members who will no longer appear in the same scenes for contractual reasons. 'Wants power' or 'is under mind control' is as complex as the villainous motivations get.

The villains of RE2, 7 and 8 all had their own relationships, conflicts and internal power struggles, all presented for you in cutscenes and dialogue, and the result created some of the most memorable characters of the whole franchise. In RE4, you're lucky if you glimpse a vague hint of history in a document somewhere. C’mon, game, you’ve put Sargent Rambo and Midget Napoleon on the same team, and I don’t even get to see how much they must hate each other? That’s just not fair!

Ada’s role in this game feels like such a missed opportunity too. The final note she and Leon end on in RE2 could have gone in so many directions (how much did she genuinely care about him? Was she just bluffing by lowering her gun?) if they’d only had the sense to play into it. But RE4 seems to have picked up the tune a few verses earlier, back at ‘Ada’s evil and using Leon without a care’, and just keeps on repeating that until the scene fades out. Leon gets no answers. Maybe Ada sees him as slightly more than a useful tool, but who’d know? Ada’s just… there. Remember Ada? She’s a thing that happens to Leon sometimes.

But there was still the potential to do so much more. Tell me more about Ashley, to begin with! What’s her relationship with her father like? What’s she studying at uni? How well did she know her security team? Does she even know what country she’s in? Let her and Leon bond over their positions as human pawns in political schemes so much bigger than them as people. Let someone wonder if it’s better Ashley dies than comes home infected. Let the goal of saving-Ashley come into conflict with the goal of defeating-Saddler! Let Leon question his superiors' priorities! It's all right there to play with, I promise you!

Heck, let Hunnigan (or some other official voice in Leon’s earpiece) disagree with him at some point. Delve deeper into the scale and implications of Krauser’s betrayal! Contrast him with Luis – they’re on virtually opposite tracks as people who’ve switched sides, but they’ve both made more meaningful decisions about who to work for than Leon ever has. Let me feel all the different interests at conflict here – between Luis, Ada, the US government, Krauser’s rebellion, and Saddler’s cult, there should be enough of them. Let Leon question what he’s doing there – saving one girl or saving the whole US administration, but ultimately just saving one girl. And if you still want to tie it to RE2, it doesn’t have to be about it being different, it can be about Leon feeling like he’s made a difference this time. There’s got to be something you can find here that’ll resonate.

Going by the general reception to the game, these don’t seem to be issues that have bothered the masses. Given how revered RE4 is in gaming history, I can well believe there was real resistance at Capcom HQ about to trying to rework it more than a relative minimum, without trying to build any real thematic weight into what originally worked as a fairly cartoony rescue-the-princess caper. It’s still got great gameplay and some lovely character moments – I wouldn’t dream of debating that. But as a whole, RE4 felt thematically empty in a way I didn’t get from RE’s 7, 8 or Leon’s story from the remake of 2. If anything, it reminded me more of my problems with RE3 or Claire’s story in 2 – there are ideas here, but what they add up to is less than the sum of its parts. And that’s a disappointing feeling to come away with.

The remake still has a lot going for it. But remade a little harder, I can’t help but feel it could’ve been so much more.

[nikiiyaki]

Hi Nizz just so you know you are never gonna get rid of me❤️❤️

I’m kind of curious to see how an ops fan sees the show and it’s characters since you’re literally the only person i follow that watches it, so do you have a few OPS hcs? :3

AH HELL NAURR I'M GONNA CALL THE POLICE!!1!

Joke aside I did made some headcanons for the sillies :3

Anyways, OPS BORDER!!11! (screenshot edit)

SEXUALITY (and gender) HCS 🏳️‍🌈

Kripta -> Demigirl , AroAce (She/They)

Macabro -> Non-binary , Pan-Ace (Any prns but mostly goes by They/Them)

Scossa -> Cis girl , Straight Ally (She/her)

Albein doesn't know what LGBTQ is but he treats queer people as normal people

GENERAL HCS 📝

Albein doesn't like carnival games and thinks they're a scam

Macabro is a cat person and his favorite is probably going to be the black ones

Kripta never understands modern humor

Scossa has a secret sticker collection (she's obsessed with them)

Macabro can somehow pronouns long words well

Albein eats Lunchables as a midnight snack

Macabro was very closed off and introverted in his childhood due to the fact that he was an outcast

Since Scossa is canonically an orphan, she never really learned much in her childhood (except socialising) which is also why she never accept the fact that GASTON will never like her back

Kripta listens to breakcore

Macabro is probably the type to reply with just a " K " during a conversation (much to albein's disappointment)

Albein enjoys fidget cubes

The screenshot edit without the text

Additional Notes 📌

I gave Kripta an eyepatch since I'm pretty sure albein's classmates are not stupid enough to not know that one of his friend is dead

I also gave her sharp nails to scratch the haters!!

I ran out of ideas for albein's clothes so I just gave him a kidcore fit

I added some yellow on Scossa since yellow is a common color to signify electric (blue and white are also included but you get my point)

I didn't change much on Macabro's design due to the fact that their design is too good to be remaked imo

[crowsandturtlesandbatsohmy]

Transformers One Thoughts

Vague spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

AMAZING. MIND BLOWING. The amount of times I, as someone who was raised on Transformers, was restraining myself from squealing with joy at some of the references or favorite minor characters is insane. I JUMPED IN MY CHAIR JUST SEEING WHEELJACK! And man-oh-man, Optimus’ grand entrance??? Cackling. Everything it should have been.

I will say that I did not appreciate relating to D-16 as much as I did. That was not fun. Why did he have to be the one I looked at and went “yeah, that’s me.” I KNEW HOW THIS WOULD END AND I STILL RELATED TO HIM MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE. SO NOT FUN. Justice for all the mom-friends out there. We didn’t deserve this. It was really neat watching his progression though, and understanding why he is the way he is and feeling bad for him and wanting things to please, please not go this way. Please let it be different just this once.

I didn’t really care for Elita, tbh? Like she could have just not existed and I would’ve been perfectly fine with that. She got on my nerves. Like, we only get one (1) female main character and you write her like this??

Orion was amazing. I admit to being skeptical because I will always believe no one other than Peter Cullen is really Optimus Prime. And I don’t think that’ll ever change. But Chris Hemsworth did good. Also I love reckless Orion Pax. I never knew I needed it but I LOVE HIM.

Bumblebee was perfect. No further comments your honor. I take that back, THIS IS MY SON AND I LOVE HIM. Bumblebee has always been my favorite Transformers character and he’s the one who convinced me to give this movie a chance. He is absolutely precious and I love him to death. He reminds me a lot of TFA Bumblebee, who was actually my first ever introduction to Bumblebee’s character, so he’s a smidge nostalgic for me :’). I have to say I think one of my favorite things about Transformers, consistently, is the dynamic between Optimus and Bumblebee. This was a little different than the Father-Son duo I’m used to. More of a Big Brother-Little Brother vibe, but I’m not opposed to that at all! They’re still gonna kick butt and they’re still gonna do it together, and OP still has a soft spot for Bee, and that’s the important thing to me.

Brushing over the deceptions briefly—

THE BACKSTORY FOR STARSCREAM’S VOICE??? I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT BUT I LOVE IT!!!

Also (SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS) Megatron getting his cannon-of-death (yes I know it has a name, cannon-of-death is more fun) BECAUSE OF STARSCREAM??? When Starscream is always the one he uses it on the most??? THAT WAS SO FREAKING HILARIOUS TO ME!

The -wave joke was funny and you know it.

Listen I am a diehard Soundwave fan. Doesn’t matter what show, I LOVE Soundwave. I was not disappointed here AT ALL! The only thing I would’ve liked is a bit more interaction between him and Megatron so his characteristic loyalty makes sense, y’know? I mean a huge part of his whole shtick in all the shows I’ve seen is that he’s loyal to Megatron above anyone else, even to the point of death. So if they’re gonna go that route here, I’d really like some explanation as to why.

Listen. As much as I love Soundwave, I freaking HATE Shockwave. And yet here I actually enjoyed his character?? That was weird, but a very nice change!

TLDR: All in all, I loved the movie. If you’re a Transformers fan and can legitimately afford to go see it in theaters, please do so instead of pirating it online. There’s sequel potential, but if it doesn’t do well in theaters we’re never gonna get one.

[moon-goggles]

Generation Loss: The Founders Cut Thoughts

I adore genloss and was there to watch the premiere of the founders cut but one thing I do have a problem with is some of the pacing, and I’ve thought about it a fuck ton believe me but I gotta say some things; I think the cut isn’t perfect but IT IS interesting, it adds a lot to the project as a whole actually despite the cuts and it’s great to introduce to others who are intimidated by the vods who aren’t actively interested in the people playing as these characters BUT, it loses a lot of context for why and how it’s so horrifying as a concept unlike the og material.

I appreciated the pacing of the first episode but it lost some key contexts like GL!Charlie’s grandma and GL!Ranboo generally fucking up his place and other details that really built more onto how they were being controlled which thematically connect to the horrors you experience in episode two.

Episode two was already, quite long in the og vod and frankly not my favourite (hot take I know),,, but it was missing the horror of Charlie? Like what makes that surgery so jarring is how it was presented and it left me sitting there a little disappointed as it’s my favorite part. The episode felt very filler and it once again, takes over a majority of the three episodes due to its content and nothing wrong with that but the pacing felt slow and drawn out after the Candy Room. The pacing and editing could’ve been done differently for the rest of that episode in my op. Especially after the fast pacing and clean editing in the first episode. I don’t think it necessarily should’ve gone fast like the cabin in the woods, because the theming of that episode was about puzzles and such, but I don’t feel the time they used was necessary for the story or idea of everything being a game for the show YKNOW?

Episode three of course, my favorite beloved, not much had to be changed or cut as the pacing was already mostly planned well and efficiently from it being pre-recorded toward the end for cinematic feels, I don’t really have any complaints toward it except for the fact that it’s prior episodes lost the impact or context needed to bring you to the conclusion as an ultimate horror realization. GL!Ranboo saying thank you was such an added moment and HETCH actually being colder and directive toward them was good chilling touches but once again I feel that thank you isn’t as holy shit without some of the context you get from the og material cuz it was cut.

The ending was DEFINITELY worth the wait it left me intrigued and excited because it connected and set off the premise of smth beyond generation 1 and I’m pretty excited for what’s to come—

But overall the whole project, I knew it would be cut and edited as seen fit as states “THE FOUNDERS CUT” and that there was possibility for tidbits of lore that added on. I got exactly what was expected and was told we were going to get I just feel it leaves a bit lacking for the reasons stated earlier. This honestly could be somewhat of an intention because it is the FOUNDER’s cut, and what the FOUNDER wants shown despite the screen card for episode three about it not being something you’re supposed to see.

The whole premise of generation loss’ title losing some of its media and context for the cut and the way its perceived as a whole is honestly really smart and cool if you know the og material and I’m still stuck on if that was intentional by any means or not besides the obvious decisions for the audience to see where GL!Ranboo repeats himself over and over, the surgery’s horror being skewed, and HETCH acting as somebody being worth trusted as he did in the og, and etc. Because clearly, it was intentional but I’m not sure it was presented in the best way possible.

The additions tho once again I quite appreciated, getting to see that the food in episode one was horrific for a split second and GL!Ranboo’s past for those split seconds as well, very nice. Also the Showfall Media Mascot, Squiggles, having his very own animation was neat too tho his chat box almost never going up because of the cuts made it feel strange when it did show up in my op. And of course the new voiceover additions and tape at the end added so much tonal wise and made me rethink and evaluate what I assume as the consumer of this world’s lore, which I quite enjoy and appreciate!

[indigo-a-creeping]

Hi Indigo, I got to see my results today. I think they look good for now but I’m interested to see how swelling changes them. I wasn’t super happy with the MA that helped me today. She was super nice and but super mechanical and definitely more of a get-in-and-get-out type. Which isn’t great when I have questions. I should have been more assertive. I ended up having to keep a drain in because my left side drained 20ml in the last 24 hours and 30ml the 24 hours before and they were concerned about the 30ml being on the line of their limit. So now I get to travel home with a drain, which isn’t their fault but it’s still annoying for me. But like, I only have one follow up appointment a week from today where I submit pictures, I don’t even talk directly to anyone. And I don’t know how long I’m expected to sleep elevated or how long I have to sleep only on my back or if I can drive or when I can lift my elbows higher than my shoulders. It’s just frustrating right now. And knowing that no one in my family gets it is tough.

I feel really disappointed right now and it’s not with the results. It’s with everything else.

I just want to thank you because you don’t even know me and yet you’ve been the biggest help out of anyone. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, it’s meant more than I can say.

I'm sorry things have been rough. The MA I had was not super forthcoming with information either (I feel like no one really was), and I am also often not good at speaking up.

There was someone in the group text of people who had surgery in May who went to the GCC the day after me, and they also had to go home with one drain in. They said it was pretty easy to get out when the time came.

You will have more followup appointments in the future (at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months, I want to say), just submitting pictures and a brief summary, though you're able to write as much as you need to. For me, they just said I was "right where I needed to be," and that was it. If you have concerns that aren't addressed or you just want extra support, you can always call them.

I slept elevated for another week after the post-op appointment, and then took away pillows as I felt comfortable. When you feel like you can sleep on your side, it's probably going to be okay (though I waited a long time because I didn't want fluid to build up unevenly). I tried gingerly lying on my side at maybe week 4-5? I didn't feel comfortable sleeping that way for another couple weeks.

You can drive as soon as the anesthesia and bigger narcotics are out of your system. I started driving just past 1 week. It was tough at first, mostly because the binder made it hard to turn my body enough (so not super safe to drive, but I did it anyway). The first week of driving I kept my hands low to turn the wheel with little movements, and week 5 I felt like I didn't have to protect my chest from the seatbelt.

I was reaching out almost as far as my arms could extend the day of surgery, but I know even at week 3 I physically couldn't raise my elbows above my shoulders. By week 6 I could lift my arms, and I had maybe 85% flexibility and strength back (that's when I went back to work).

You can find information online, but each surgeon has different guidelines and everyone heals differently. Especially at this point, you'll be pretty safe listening to your body.

I know how you feel being alone with this, and I'm glad I've been able to help! I hope this helps too!

[animechick2015]

Anime I Watched in 2023, Part 1:

1. God Troubles Me 5/5

This is technically called a donghua but we’ll consider this an anime for this list. This show is the Chinese version of Gintama and I am for it. It so hilariously charming that I got addicted quickly. There wasn’t a single character that I disliked. In fact, there wasn’t a single episode that made me bored. The animation style was godly that it definitely gave a lot of Japanese anime a run for their money. Please, please, please give this one a chance.

2. Mob Psycho 100 100/10

Epic. Brilliant. Heart warming. Those are not enough to describe how much I loved this anime but it’ll have to do. Seriously, this one blew me away. I thought it was just a quirky anime about a middle schooler going psycho whenever he’s pissed but I’m so glad I was wrong. The second season caught me by surprise; it’s definitely my favorite of the three. Mob’s character development happened so effortlessly that I actually had to take a moment to let it all seep in on how much he changed. Also Reigen is the best Master in the anime universe, hands down. His confession to Mob at the end brought tears to my eyes, he truly cared for Mob.

3. Charlotte 4/5

Absolutely loved this one. The reason that this didn't get 5 stars was because the ending felt a bit rushed. Also, I didn't like Kumagami dying. He was such a vital character that I felt like we should've explored more. If I was the MC I would've definitely travelled back in time just to save him. Overall, I highly recommend this anime.

4. Barakamon 5/5

After watching a depressing anime like Charlotte, you definitely need something lighthearted to watch and this was really got me out of my funk. I wasn't expecting this to be so funny, honestly. This was such a warm, funny, slice of life that made me crave living in the countryside.

5. Blue Lock 5/5

Ok I have to admit I didn't start off liking this one. Isagi's whining was grating on my nerves. Thankfully, I have learnt the error of my ways and have now come to realize that Isagi is HIM! Holy crap the development of this boy was crazzzzyy. There are so many interesting characters in this show that I was confused who was the real main character. Also, it was so refreshing to have an anime without the power of friendship; it was every man for themselves and I was absolutely there for it.

6. Play It Cool Guys 5/5

Ahhhh this was such a cute wholesome anime! If you're stressed out with life please just watch these adorkable group of young men try to navigate their lives. It was so nice to see the uncool side of guys for once. The episodes were short and sweet and I really hope we get another season of them.

7. Tomo-chan is a Girl! 5/5

This was such a funny and sweet show. I'm always a sucker for friends to lovers romance so this was right up my alley. This anime also had so many charming side characters that I couldn't but fall in love with them also.

8. Ice Guy and his Cool Work Colleague 5/5

I felt so single watching this. How do I sign up to work at their company? I swear everyone was finding love and being all happy while all I get in my workplace is stress and more stress. It was also so refreshing to have a romance anime with adults and not high schoolers.

9. Demon Slayer Season 3 5/5

Another great season to another great anime. Can I just add that I loved the OP from episode one while everyone was hating on it; it was such a banger! The animation was once again top tier that I can't wait to see what the studio does when animating the last arc. This was a tough season to compete with the flashy brilliance of Tengen's last season but they did wonderfully. I'm glad I got to see my baby girl Mitsuri finally animated.

10. My Love For Yamada -kun is Lv 999 5/5

I watched the first episode right after it aired and I knew I couldn't hold out for another week. I devoured the manga! It was that good. The anime definitely didn't disappoint. This was such a sweet, comforting anime that put my cynical heart at ease. I really hope that we get more seasons because my boy Yamada is the standard!