#also any time they did that picture by picture flashback stuff was great

[ken-katayanagi]

It’s What’s Inside is a solid 4.5/5 for me because I actually didn’t play Cookie Run during it and I took out a piece of paper to write notes. - .5 for being mean to Brooke.

[jujumin-translates]

[A3!] ★ Main Story | Act 14 - DREAM CATCHER | Episode 11 - Overseas Training

Izumi: Umm, this is 7th Avenue, so…

Tenma: Is that it?

Muku: Ah, it is!

Misumi: We’ve arrived~!

Kumon: It’s so crowded here!

Kazunari: No matter where you snap a pic, it looks great and makes such a great ref~! Yukki, Kumopi, pose for the camera~!

Yuki: Sure.

Kumon: I love New York! (1)

*Camera clicks*

Kazunari: Here, here, Sumi and gang, you join too~!

Izumi: (Even after a little under 13-hour flight, everyone’s still full of energy. That’s Summer Troupe for you.)

Izumi: (But time really has flown by so fast from the time when we decided to go to the U.S. to now…)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

*Flashback*

Yuki: Training in the U.S.?

Tenma: I got a call from my dad out of nowhere.

Tenma: There’s a film festival coming up in the U.S., and he suggested that all of Summer Troupe come for a training trip. He said the agency would cover the cost too.

Muku: Huh? The cost too!?

Kazunari: If the cost is covered, then it’ll be a-okay with Frooch-san.

Kumon: I wanna go to the U.S.!

Izumi: But is it really okay for him to do that much?

Tenma: Partially, it’s because he feels bad about not being able to do anything for the company back when we were struggling with the whole Amadate mess.

Tenma: I think we should just be grateful for it.

Tenma: Theater and musicals included, the U.S. isn’t only about entertainment culture.

Tenma: It’s also cutting-edge in design and fashion, so I think there’s a lot we could all learn from it.

Tenma: He said that if we want to win the Fleur Award, the highest theater award in Japan, we should experience some authentic theater as actors.

Yuki: I am pretty interested.

Muku: Issei-san does have a pretty significant presence in the world, so it’s a pretty convincing argument coming from him.

Izumi: Well then… I guess I’ll take your word for it.

Tenma: Yeah. I think it’ll be a good opportunity for us to relearn some stuff, too.

Misumi: Let’s go to the U.S.~!

Kumon: I can’t wait to be on a plane~!

*Flashback end*

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Izumi: (We didn’t exactly have the greatest experience with Issei-san during the debut performance, but…)

Izumi: (Now he truly is supporting Tenma-kun’s path as a stage actor. I really am thankful for that.)

Izumi: (I hope they can all return home full of excitement and having absorbed a lot during our short stay.)

Muku: If we move a little further left, we should be able to fit the building in.

Kazunari: C’mon, Director-chan!

Misumi: Take a picture with us~!

Izumi: Ah, sure!

*Camera clicks*

Kumon: I still can’t believe how many people there are~.

Yuki: I mean, it is a tourist attraction, so it’s no wonder everyone’s taking pictures.

Tenma: And with the film festival coming up, there will be even more people than usual.

Kazunari: I’m so hyped for the film festival~. It’s something we never would’ve gotten to go to if we weren’t invited.

Kumon: I wonder if we’ll get to meet some of the world’s biggest stars~.

Tenma: But first we’re seeing this play before any of that.

Muku: Ah, we should start heading towards the theater now.

Izumi: The theater should be around-- Ah, over there.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Kumon: That was so impactful~! I feel kinda fluffy like I’m still in the story!

Tenma: I’ve never seen a production like that before, so I was really amazed by the whole thing and overwhelmed by the performance skills of the actors.

Tenma: It really reminds you of the wide range of possibilities that exist within theater.

Kazunari: The lighting and music were supes cool. Everything was so powerful and the impact was insane~! I feel like I’ve got ideas bouncing all around in my brain!

Misumi: It was so much fun~. I couldn’t take my eyes off it, it was filled with so much heart-pounding excitement!

Kumon: Yeah, yeah, it was like an emotional roller coaster…

Kumon: I couldn’t understand the language, but it was still conveyed through all they did~.

Muku: There were so many different types of actors. Not just in age, but in the way they acted too…

Muku: They each seemed to be making the most of their abilities.

Yuki: The costumes were good too. Those are what stage costumes should look like.

Yuki: This place really is authentic, and you can see that the pros are working hard to improve each other and create the best things they can.

Izumi: (Looks like each of them was inspired in their own way. I guess there are just some things that you can only get a feel for when you actually see them in person.)

Izumi: (We’ve hardly been here a day but I’m already happy we came…)

Muku: It’s all in English, but I just had to get a brochure too.

Kumon: Me too! Even though I can’t read any of it~.

Muku: When we get back to Japan, let’s read some of it together with a dictionary.

Kumon: Yeah! Looking at the credits, there are some Japanese-sounding names, though. Like the costume person, Aiko Kataoka--.

Yuki: Ah--.

Muku: Do you know who that is, Yuki-kun?

Yuki: Yeah, they’re famous.

Kumon: Really~?

Yuki: I see, so that’s…

[ ⇠ Previous Part ] • [ Next Part ⇢ ]

• • •

(1) Kumon says this in English.

[rabbittwinrithings]

Okay, so fun little life update!! August 2024

Truly, things have been so great! My new job is a dream come true and life has never been better. I do want to post on tumblr again, and I think it may be fun to use it as a place to post about what's been going on in my life and fun things that's been happening!

Right now all the events in this post are out of order cause I just grabbed pictures on my phone as was like 'Yea, these will do!'

(Everything here has been in the past 5-6 months.) (Heads up, long post under the cut.)

First off! I flew for the first time since I was super little.

I don't really remember the first time I flew. I knew my family went to Mexico, but I don't remember any of it. This time it really felt like I was flying for the first time and it was amazing!!!

I remember talking to my grandma on the phone while going through the airport, and every five seconds I stopped during the conversation and went "Look at that!" (Obviously, she couldn't see, but I would describe her what I saw.) I never thought much about airports before this, so being in one was a crazy experience. Same with the flight.

For both things I felt like a little kid. Just awestruck the whole way through. It felt like such an alien experience. Even going in the plane and taking off. I never really had a desire to fly all that much, but now? I hope to fly a ton more!

For my birthday (25, wooo!), my family took me down to Corpus Christi.

My sister and I went crab fishing, but only caught one little lady.

We were hoping to catch fish to cook, but in the end we just bought fish from the market and my sister and I cooked the fish and crab for dinner.

At the beach my mom, sister, and I saw a stingray. Not the best look as he ran off as we saw him, but still really fun!

A small break of cat pics! (Baby Yorda!)

I started running Dnd again. I'm running Curse of Strahd for my sister and some friends. It's going so well! Though I may have joked too close to the sun. Basically the party entered a dream/flashback and made a deal with old Strahd to redo his castle. They decided to repaint his castle in Barbie colors. We joked it never changed. Well, it never changed.

(For the art below I used this picture here: https://nat19.fandom.com/wiki/Castle_Ravenloft and then colored over it.)

I also made focaccia for the first time! The picture below is my second time. First time I did standard focaccia, but in this picture I did a more sweet one with elderberry honey, apple slices, and brown sugar.

Lastly, I lived all this time dodging Roblox, and I finally cracked. Though I only play Dress to Impress. Behold, some of my fits!

(Honestly, I'll probably post more Dress to Impress too. I've been so starved for a good dress up game and I'm obsessed!!)

I'll try and post more stuff like this. I feel like it could be a way to journal my life at the moment. I'll also try to take more pictures now for these.

Hope you all enjoy them too. And again, thank you everyone on here for everything! <3

[nicomrade]

so i reread the scott pilgrim comics this week for the first time since 2019? lots of stuff happened in my life in-between + i learned to actually like, pay attention when reading so this specific reread felt really important to me- the issue of reading it in french for the first time aside. heres some misc thoughts i had while reading! some of this stuff is drawing from conversations about the comics ive had with people over the years, i dont mean to break any new ground here, and i dont have a specific lense to look at the comics through so its not structured like analysis either. full thoughts under the cut! i hope you all like going on this little trip with me ^-^

so first of, the X motif! this i KNOW i saw someone else talk about. it comes up first on scott's jacket with the X-men patch (and it comes up again in that context- "then wolverine is crucified on a big X") and also on knives' scott-shrine, her dad slashes an X over scott's picture. these are the two biggest exemples but there really are Xs constantly in the imagerie of the comics, which is great and i love. the comic is about fighting ramona's exs, and this is foreshadowing that scott himself will be one, but its also generally about the baggage that comes with existing. at its core its really comics about dealing with whats over, so we get into scotts relationships w envy & kim & knives (& ramona), but we also get into his relationship with lisa (what couldve been) we also see him move flats (the end of an era!), in volume 1 scott tells knives about the house he grew up in that now belongs to another family, scott breaking his bass & no longer being in a band, etc. theres sooooo many flashback sequences in these comics and references to the past… its all about the X.!

loosely related in the foreshadowing department there are genuinely so many background details of stories about people who dont matter to the comics that foreshadow later developments. the details of why Crash & the Boys changed drummers is straight up the dynamics of Clash at Demonhead, theres the Lucas Lee movie on the BG thats visually identical to scotts memory of when he got with kim- and the reveal that the lady in that movie wasnt dead is arguably foreshadowing for scott reviving in volume 6? if you know whats happening in the story, rereading the volumes really is so rewarding. it also helps on a first read cause unconsciously its not the first time you're hearing about these ideas so theyre easier to digest & accept. this is also what the character explicitely referencing what will happen later is for- "i wonder how the Boys & Crash can do music without instruments- maybe it will be relevant later in the evening" "i'd need a deus ex machina to beat todd", these help you accept when these things do seemingly "come out of nowhere" later in the scene (and poke cheerful fun at it lol these are fun comics)

a personal fave of mine is the phrase "read the comic sometime" thats repeated in the early volumes at characters who werent there for something. its 4th-wall breaking, its fun, it nicely tells lost readers where to head to without re-dumping exposition, AND it helps keep track of who was where for what scenes … stuff like "when did stacey & ramona become friends??" or "i cant believe this is stacey & neils first meeting!" or "wallace was already introduced to ramona earlier" … its all fun and helps you stay on the ride. i think this is why i would read the comics back to back to back to back and retained very little. its easy to passively read these comics and its not a bad thing! though it is better to actively read them, and take these notes as fun jokes & reminders, and not life boats.

the 4th wall breaks are also great for the side characters having their own lives in the background. there are a lot more time indications in scott pilgrim than i remembered, if youre paying attention i think its really really easy to have a nice timeline in your head. but when stuff is broken to scott its not "i started dating mobile during X month" or "i came out X months ago" its "i started dating mobile during volume 3" and "i came out during volume 5" that way the reader can more easily relate it to the story that was happening at the time- and to keep in mind during a volume reread. its not a writing technique for EVERY comic, but its something that scott pilgrim gets to have BECAUSE its a comic- and unapologetically so! this is not a work that wants to be more novel than graphic to be taken seriously. its a comic, and its silly, and its also a work of art, and you have to respect it on its own terms.

theres also, uhm, ill be quick on this point cause its kind of weird how lesbians/sapphics are handled in the comics. its not BAD but theres clearly a bias towards male homosexuality being fleshed out and lesbianism not so much. but so the start of volume 4 is when kim & knives make out and it really starts this obsession in scott about this thing he cannot tell anyone about but is still thinking about, that prepares for roxies introduction- ramonas ex girlfriend. that i believe is also when wallace first asks if scotts broken out the "L-word" yet and it gives more context to scott assuming its lesbians? and him then going all "why does everyone keep asking me about lesbians!" but it is also kind of weird re: lesbian fetishism (which IS pointed out with scotts weird poster that no one likes but thats it). and all that with ZERO canon lesbians! roxie is pretty bi-coded i would say with her insistance on being "HALF-ninja", but ramona is described as an american ninja in the early volumes so its kind of loose. idk its weird and i like to think julie came out as a lesbian cause stephen & her being a comphet4comphet couple is really good to me

a thing id never noticed before is that julie was suspecting stephen of having views on knives during volume 4? and its why she was so shitty to knives for a while there, and then its "worked out" at the end of the volume. this feeds into the constant fear of cheating during the story, theres of course todd & scott who do cheat, but also more grey areas of relationships. im thinking of ramonas anxieties around lisa, and when scott finds out roxie stayed over at ramona's. about stephen too, his response to julie apologizing for being jealous of knives is very… uncomfortable

"i have nothing to fear!" "right yeah..." surely because hes starting to realize hes gay, and possibly because he's already vaguely started seeing joseph. we dont get more details on his relationships i am not going to accuse him of cheating LOL. i truly dont care. but its an anxiety that comes up again and again whenever relationships are starting to turn sour- "are they cheating?" and having been in my 20s for a little bit yeah i get it. scott not telling ramona about his job- not telling her much of ANYTHING during vol 4- and ramona not sharing much either are also part of this. theres a reason all of this happens in volume 4, and next volume ramona finds out scott cheated on knives with her. loss of intimacy and the breakdown of dialogue is all part of cheating anxieties, whether there is actual cheating or not. "what do i not know? what else are they keeping from me? they dont talk to me but they talk to them? are they cheating on me?"

theres a really neat thing the comics do to show the breakdown of scott and ramona's relationship in volume 5 and its the scene where ramona goes shopping and scott tags along. she spends it not saying anything (until she tells scott she doesnt even like his band) and scott obsessively talking about his comics (X-men!) while she doesnt look particularly interested.

this is the scene where scott breaks up with knives again!!! the roles are reversed, scott is now the one talking about whatever while his girlfriend's unresponsive, and obviously ramona doesn't break up with him here and there, and they dont kiss in a goodwill, but the ressemblance is there. and like with the knives breakup scene, we have a good date variant of this! its their very first date from the first volume where scott does mostly talk about himself but ramona is having fun joking with him. here we are shown their relationship slowly crumbling and it lays the ground for ramona leaving at the end of the volume.

similarly to how scott battles all of ramonas evil exs (himself included), ramona does face all of scott's own exs. its not as spectacular but we see her fight knives in volume 2, then she fights envy in volume 3. we also have her comment on kim that she does like her (same with lisa, who is not strictly an ex but emotionally is treated as such. especially with how scott sleeping over at lisa's is paralleled with roxie sleeping over at ramona's) these are not comments she makes about stephen or julie, for exemple, its specifically women who had a close relationship with him. and uhm ramona also comments on liking wallace who- again- is not STRICLY an ex, but hes also part of that volume 4 cheating anxieties conversation, wallaces incessant flirting, mobile himself jokes (?) about finding wallace in the arms of another man, etc. but most convincingly to ME because we are talking about EXs here is the flashback of wallace inviting himself at scotts house being identical to lisas scene of inviting herself at scotts, scott saying the story of how he ended up living with wallace is "somewhat gay", and the general college flashbacks.

i think this points to scott & wallace having briefly dated in the past, or (because hes paralleled with lisa) having a "what couldve been" relationship where they didnt make anything of it and now the time window's passed and emotionally? kind of feels like an ex. and if anything they ARE ex-roommates lol. this is not a scollace truthing thing, im a firm mobillace guy ok -_- im just saying its there. back to the point of ramona facing scott's exs as well, YES i am including herself in it. her going to the wilderness during vol6 parallels scott going to the countryside, the very place he faces negascott properly. and the way ramona talks when she comes back its easy to see that she did face herself on that trip. & the figurines agree with me that the idea of a negaramona does exist :)

thats more or less all i had in mind, i also feel like i was finally able to properly enjoy the themes of the comics of facing your own shittiness and doing better, of the harms of being stuck in your own head, of never ending up like gideon (who is so attached to his exs that he literally cryogenizes them!) the warning of rewriting your own memories (or at least biased recollections of it) uhm how breakups suck! and how cheating is not always black & white but also fucking sucks !! being out of school (wanting to go back to school?) and looking for jobs- and yes if scotts life had a face i would punch it too its literally unfair how easily everything goes for him on that front, even freeloading with wallace (<- jealous). envys obsession with a guy who is so obviously shitty but who shes been best friends with since they were 11 is also kind of… ooh i get it now…. its yeah. i think they really are comics for being in your 20s, a lot about dating? but its so generally about human relationships and dealing with your baggage, i think it is still relatable without the specific romantic relationship experience.? i love these comics. everyone read scott pilgrim if you havent in a while (or ever!!!!) and try to think a little about it as you read it really is so worthwhile. and if anything theyre insanely funny, and wallace is there!

[crypticlem]

the dark pictures directive 8020 trailer details

i'm really excited for this game so i just wanna point some things out and expand on little stuff we got in both the teaser trailer and title!!

so we all know how the vampires in house of ashes came from the moon, that's why they're so sensitive to sun, and light in general. and we know that all the dark pictures anthology games are connected, shown in house of ashes where we see rachel and eric in little hope in that short flashback. this game is probably connected just as the others are, and i think we will be seeing the vampires again.

you can hear the sounds of the creatues in the teaser trailer, which sound a lot like the same vampires from house of ashes. it also makes me think, how would they be able to counteract the vampires in this game? due to the fact they're in space and on the moon, where the vampires are most safe from the light, and are used to the sources of light there due to it being their habitat.

at the start of the trailer, you can see in the bottom left corner there is text saying "cetus constellation" which is an actual constellation, and is also known as "the whale" in english. while rachel is dying from the infection in house of ashes, salim says that the vampires originated from the cetus constellation, as he found the information in the scientist mary's notes.

about the title aswell, directive 8020 was an actual mission of nasa, which was cancelled. the mission was originally about controlling biological contamination from outer space.

in the bottom left corner of the trailer, you can also see the words "coc cassiopeia". coc could stand for certificate of competency, to show that the people going on this mission are verified and have the abilities to perform the mission safely. cassiopeia is also an actual constellation, it was named after the queen in greek mythology also known as mother of andromeda, and the constellation is also known as the w constellation due to its shape.

i think the spaceship is named cassiopeia, and the dead astronaut we see in the teaser is commander stafford, recording the broadcast outside of tau ceti f, as he said at the end of the trailer that's what he'd do, and then it focuses more on the planet that i'm assuming is tau ceti f.

with the dialogue "something's wrong with simms. she's trying to kill me!" i think simms got infected, like rachel, clarice and joey did in house of ashes. but by this point of dialogue, i don't think they've found the vampires yet or know of their existence.

"our next broadcast transmission will be broadcast from orbit around humanity's future home." most likely means that they are also on a mission to find a new planet for humans to stay that is capable of keeping them there, which could have vampires and even more creatures we don't know about yet there.

in the teaser trailer they also mention "tau ceti f" which could be the same planet they're trying to get human life onto, as it is a real exoplanet that is hypothesized to be able to support real life. currently it probably doesn't hold any real life on it due to the planet still being in its early stages, which could mean this game has a big time skip forward to when it's able to. i also like the idea of it having a big timeskip, as we could see the concept of future technology and how it's utilised in a game like this.

there are also possible easter eggs/references of directive 8020 in other games. in little hope there's an article about the apollo landing in a newspaper. in the devil in me there is a memorial of the ship "ss cassiopeia" which says:

"in memory of the victims of the great storm of may 1st 1907, in which 187 lives were lost.

the crew and passengers of the ss cassiopeia

which crashed into the rocks at the base of these cliffs."

the ship was an actual ship in service of the us navy in world war II. another one in the devil in me was the last paragraph in the second page of erin's anxiety book, which is a quote about a rocket being able to be launched from the nerve center. and the last one i found was a magazine in the devil in me titled "future vision: count down to mars" which could mean they tried to keep life on mars but it didn't work, or that's what they instead try doing in directive 8020.

it's also important to note that after directive 8020 was cancelled by nasa, they replaced it with directive 8700 which was a success, there could possibly be a successful mission after the main events of the game.

a lot of this could be wrong or right, it's just details i found interesting from the teaser trailer and title. i haven't taken a look at the teaser picture you can find in the devil in me, i'm not sure if there's any more info in that but i'll take a look eventually!! this was so long i am a yapper😪

[sherrymagic]

us akdgdhjkjs <3

i'm still convinced about dome being tonkla's brother and there being two timelines but now i'm having doubts about what great's visions really are and how the timelines work because great saw the vision when tyme came to him to ask him out remind him to come to the hospital right? but in the real past when title killed dome great didn't have a wound tyme would need to treat. so this vision can't be a memory from timeline 1 right? or am i overthinking this and great could've still gotten hurt after he witnessed dome's murder

my brain hurts lmao i hope i'm making sense 😭

also do you think win knew tonkla from before? i kinda got that vibe when he fist saw tonkla at the police station and then when he secretly took his picture and smiled at it and then said i didn't think you're like this. could be love at first sight ofc but it feels like he's met his first crush again or smth 👀

- @ahxu-laowen

LITERALLY SOF HDSAJBCSDJ WE'RE ONE BRAIN 🩷

same here, been wondering for a while what these visions actually are which implies asking myself what kind of scifi this is. i have been devouring content about multiple timelines & time loops for more than a decade now so i'm pretty much aware of how the various sub-tropes usually work and yet i still have no idea which ones i should be considering here. i agree with you on Dome being the dead brother and there being two timelines, and in the timeline where Dome died i still don't see any way in which Great can have met Tyme so far. assuming he didn't save Dome the first time i have no reason to assume he called an ambulance for Manee when the first rewind has happened (since my main theory is that time rewinds in timeline 2 to fix what he did wrong the first time in timeline 1) so my take is the first time he both ran away and hasn't stopped Title in time, therefore i have no idea how he met Tyme at all? but the flashes of them together have to be from timeline 1 so there MUST be a connection anyway??

you are making sense dw i am the right person for this kind of brain hurting discourse about science fiction stuff 😭

i admit i did not get that vibe but now that you mentioned it it could be? Win might have seen or met Tonkla before or it might be a typical "fates destined to interwine" thing as you often see in this kind of story, i was wondering just this morning how Win may pop up in timeline 2 bc there's little to no chance (at least according to my own logic + personal experience with time related stories) that Tonkla can not meet Win at all in the second timeline. might be as you said or something on a more "spiritual" level, there's not enough information out yet to be sure about anything on this topic for now 👀 all i know is with 8 episodes adding flashbacks too might be hard since there's way less time to go deep in stuff so for now i'll keep assuming he was just lovestruck by the sight of the pretty twink!

btw feel free to dm me if there's anything you'd like to discuss more deeply about this show, i'm always open to theorizing about anything science fiction and/or mystery-thriller related!!

[sonicasura]

I just realized something. Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom Link can also fit the Past/Present/Future Squad too. He was literally made to train to fight by the King Rhoam at age 4! And that same old man came back as a spirit just to send him off with little context to clean his majesty's screw up sooo...

Link (Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom)

The Past member of the group and oldest(slept for a 100 years). He was immediately thrust into his destiny at four years by Hyrule's King Rhoam. Link is plagued by both severe amnesia and feelings of failure. He's the only person with the most experience in elixir brewing, bears various blessings from Great Fairies to fallen champions alongside able to use the Sheikah Slate. Shortest amongst the three with the height of 4'11.

His dynamic is a bit different when it comes to Jim and Jak here! BTW, he woke up with his changed arm so don't worry about any TotK spoilers! Only abilities mentioned are from the gameplay demonstration done weeks ago!

Link is like the glue between his fellow traumatized heroes. Great around machines with Jak and an amazing cook alongside Jim. He's also the one to design various clothing for Daxter as having a massive wardrobe requires personal maintenance lest they break.

Link definitely indulged in Blinky's intrigue with machinery. Using his new mysterious arm to craft various devices whether it be from car parts or nature itself. His biggest project is a massive carriage like train capable of carrying the troll exodus with little issue.

Link tends to experience flashbacks despite being in Jim's world. These episodes are intense as his eyes will glaze over and the worst ones he'll unconsciously reenact. Multiple times someone had to restrain Link before he hurts himself or someone else.

Like with his OoT/MM iteration, the Champion's adventuring skills led to an abandoned yet functional Heartstone for the trolls to set up shop. Unlike his other incarnation, Link was more involved in the construction of the new Trollmarket. He did help build Tarrytown after all.

Link is quite protective of his fellow brothers in trauma and more likely to throw hands than his other incarnation. Feral gremlin that will make someone's life hell with everything at his disposal. Link literally bit Merlin on sight and Daxter manage to catch a picture of the glorious moment.

Gnome/Goblin whisperer. Everyone except for Jak and Daxter were flabbergasted seeing Link just eagerly chat with both species like lifelong friends. Blinky learns that the 'dangerous pests' tend to hoard priceless or forgotten treasures since the Champion gets these valuables as gifts daily.

You can't tell me Jim and Jak didn't try on Link's various outfits. That includes the Gerudo outfit used to sneak into Gerudo Town. Outcome? Jim could pass off as female and Jak gets extra food since it became clear he hasn't recovered from the malnourishment of prison life.

Once a warp gate to his Hyrule is open, Link definitely introduced both groups of friends. Blinky adopted Zelda off the bat and both research various stuff together. Everyone agrees she deserves to be a researcher than be stuck with the princess life.

Link absolutely learned to swear in every available language. He mostly tends to swear in Trollish, Precursian, Goblin and Gnome. Link definitely ate troll food than just learn how to cook it. If he can eat rocks and dubious food then you can bet your ass the Champion would devour stolen sock stew.

Jim might've gotten adopted by the Great Fairies. I quote 'He bears a spirit just like us, a fae caught in multiple worlds.' His armor issues are not only fixed but so is Merlin's spell. Imagine Jak, Daxter and Link's reaction when a full troll(Not Beast Jim design)comes out of the Fairy Spring then shifts to a human Jim. Yup, he can shift between all three now with a sunlight immunity bonus to boot.

Link's troll form involving the Glamour Mask is much different from his other incarnation. A Krubera/Gumm-Gumm hybrid whose light peach hide is adorn in burn like black markings, jagged bull horns, armored tail and shaggy mane of golden fur that covers his entire back. Scary looking? Yes but still a feral sweetheart.

Every Link craves a cuddle pile and he's no exception. Blinky has multiple framed photos of the kids fast asleep holding each other. Jim's full troll form is the designated pillow/bed especially if he lays on his back. Link and Jak sleep like a koala right on their larger brother's scruff.

When the events of TotK begin, he has a lot more backup for the approaching battle. Troll allies who can help fight the onslaught in the night and Spargan comrades to assist in the day. For once, Link feels completely ready to face this evil with his fellow brother figures.

And that's it! Until next time folks, I'll see you back at the crossroads because Spargus, Arcadia and Hyrule.

@paradoxical-hermitcrab

[ilikereadingactually]

The Warden

The Warden by Daniel M. Ford

i have mixed feelings about this one. i liked it enough to want to review it, i have some positives, but also some of the elements weren't quite for me. i think there's definitely an audience for it who will really like it though, and that feels worth writing about.

so! this has a lot of fun stuff going for it. there's an interesting variety of magic, and we get to see it used in different ways. there's a tantalizing amount of worldbuilding, establishing some of the rules of magic and of law, and a bit of history. that felt really delicately done to me, for the most part, especially the history! just enough to be interesting and keep me reading, not so much that i couldn't follow or remember it. we've also got a queer protagonist, which i always love, and a thread of storyline about her romantic interests, which is not generally my thing but was fun here. and i really liked the community aspect: the protagonist is assigned as a Warden, a kind of magical protector/civil servant, to a remote town and has to build relationships with the people there.

all of that felt like a great base to me, and i liked a lot of the characters; the townspeople, the friendly loner on the outskirts, the cute kid, the traveling adventurers, a great combo of personalities. but i just never really felt that much for the protagonist! we're in her POV, i wanted to like her. i think she made some good choices, she's capable and powerful, she's a rich city kid and it was fun seeing her earnestly try to adjust to small village life. but some of the quirks that i think were meant to humanize her and make her charming fell flat or were actually irritating to me.

particularly, she talks out loud to herself--not in little believable affirmations or exclamations, but in actual full sentences about what she's doing and thinking. but sometimes we get her inner thoughts in italics, as well, and there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when she's talking out loud (even at times when she's in a dangerous situation and making noise could give her away) and when we see her thoughts. we also get a TON of tiny flashbacks to her schooling, which frequently do end up being at least topically related to what she's doing at any given moment, but that didn't feel to me like they added anything. she recollects long bits of lectures in detail that i didn't gain extra insight from, and it wasn't until maybe the last quarter of the book where the flashbacks became actually part the ongoing plot via one specific teacher who is causing her problems in the present. then the story just...stops, at the turning point of an adventure, after several nested previous adventures had already wrapped up. it felt, to me, like the last chapter or two of this book should have been the beginning of the next one.

again, these are just things that didn't suit my taste--maybe they will be charming and great to someone else! so as always, ymmv.

the deets

how i read it: an ebook on Libby. and yes, i did pick it up because it involves necromancy and is called The Warden and i'm still deep in my Locked Tomb phase...

try this if you: like watching an academic snob make good in a podunk town, dig some travel through the woods, or have fun putting together a light mystery!

a bit i really liked: i can picture this posture exactly

Aelis's back straightened with the precise caution of the drunk who believes no one else can tell they're drunk. "I apologize, Magister," she began, slowly and formally. "Oh," the gnome signed, waving a hand vaguely in the air. "I remember my own graduation week."

[protect-daniel-james]

ask game! 1, 7, 8!

1. What part of the writing process is the most enjoyable?

Omg the research! + the moment when it starts making sense, you know? when you think of a story that would explore certain things and then you start thinking of specific scenes that could convey and portray what you want them to.

So, I'll take the example of Just a Step from Heaven, I knew I wanted to write about Franko's longing for cousin Jamie in an even more...concrete/sexual way than it was in Behind Blue Eyes (can you believe there was a guy called Alan in Behind Blue Eyes? where did he disappear in the verse lol... It wasn't him at all. It was cousin Jamie all along....). And then, I start thinking of the "scenery", the moments when it could become obvious, the setup... And as I do my research, I find out that Jamie & Louise & Frank & Christine actually went for a holiday together after the World Cup in 2010 - so that gives me a time frame, and I can work with that - Louise is probably bored in the marriage, Christine just recently became "public" with Franko, Jamie is now a pundit after his career was cut short with injuries, and Franko has just had a bad World Cup... plus there's the rivalry with Stevie G, Terry's scandal, Franko's ghost goal, Franko's previous relationship with Elen and cheating... And immediately, the characters have like...motivations, moods, emotions ready to be explored. And that's is like the A-ha! moment that I like - when I feel like I found the perfect setup like this, where I can write a few scenes and flashbacks that will give a broader image of the past, and the possible future - what Franko has been through, what he hopes for, what he remembers and doesn't remember... This is I think why I also like to "jump directly" into the story, in the middle of a scene, a convo, a situation. So this story starts with "Christine did even better than he'd expected..." so we immediately get the idea that he has expectations, and Christine is passing with flying colors, and the holidays are just a big test for her if she can be "part of the family"...

I think I do this a lot? It's probably taken from some writing manual I read years ago haha, where it said to throw the reader directly into the scene without explaining much - do not introduce characters in the way of "Frank entered the room. He was the son of Lampard Sr., a former West Ham player. He was quite short, had blue eyes and long lashes, and some freckles on his face" etc., like, make sure all these informations are conveyed, but gradually, don't just describe them immediately. Same with Txoria txori, I think there part of the beauty is that at the beginning you're not really sure what Mikel and Xabi are waiting for, where did they come from, what are they doing...

So yeah, I enjoy when the story suddenly comes together (sometimes it takes longer lol). And the research for the info, because every little bit of info can be turned into a huge headcanon.... Lampardverse style.

7. What do you love most about being a fic writer for your fandom?

I think now I have like a small circle of active people that we all kinda...vibe with? And it's awesome. I'm in a football fandom but in a sort of niche corner, where I tend to "know my readers" (yeah, the occassional Gavi/Pedri fics might get more kudos and comments, but idk, I just want to write whatever I feel like writing and not base my happiness on the number of kudos and comments - it just makes me happy that there are people in this fandom who appreciate stuff like Kvara/Victor, Lampardverse, Unai/anything, vampire!Unai, Mikel/Unai, Eddie & JT,... Niche things I guess. But the happier I am then when someone reads and appreciates it.

And of course as I said, I write self-indulgent fics. If I could draw, I would draw it - but I can't. So I have to write and hope it paints the picture as I see it

8. Talk about any friends/connections you've made as a fic writer.

Omg yess! So many amazing people with great ideas, fics and art of their own... Back in 2018 I was in the Croatia NT fandom, but it fizzed out pretty quickly after the World Cup, and I was kinda pissed off because I lost contact with almost everyone from the old fandom (and deleted everything from my old tumblr haha. but I'm glad I did that, it was the right decision for me in that time because I grew unhealthily obsessed with tumblr and the...validation from there?) Since then, I wasn't really one for building any "network" or community or whatever, I just wanted to write my fics in peace... But the community kind of sucked me back in/grew ? and this time it's not one specific NT or anything - and maybe that's the beauty and strenght? And these days I don't really feel like I belong into any specific football community, I'm just here to shitpost and thirst and spout out thoughts about stadium fucking and vampires and breeding and sad round faces... And if anyone wants to listen to it and read it, I'm more than happy to discuss anything! I suppose you as my Lampardverse co-creator know nothing is off limits :3 So yeah, this is a huge thank you to those that keep engaging and commenting and sharing their ideas and discussing the story ideas/characteristics with me on here, discord, and in DMs... obviously you (every morning, I check my discord to see whether a new idea has been dropped for the verse), @milfcaptainpike for the Graham&Thomas and Unai&Klopp love and more, @new-berry for all the fics and thoughts and posts and weirdness (in a good way), @antigonyyy for all the Grizione headcanons, @arthurhurtland for the Unai love and all the beautiful art, @skyenthusiast I miss you and the Magaluf shipping but maybe that ship has sailed, @blaugrana-blues for the Shevaverse, [redacted], and discord... And I could go on. Every single person that has ever commented/asked/DMed has one way or another affected what/how/how often etc. I write. Trust me, every time I see a notification on discord or here from one of you guys, I'm just incredibly happy, even if we don't really know each other that well.

[desmondkane-of-ao3-fame]

This kind of just popped in my head, but skarlow if Skara was also a late bloomer turned great bloomer like Willow?

I actually think there was a time this was what TOH was going for. Like, Skara performs next to no unassisted magic, to my knowledge. The only times we’ve seen her do any magic on screen is the scene with Bo tutoring her, and there’s like 2 instances of her doing it in sorta cannon stuff, once in a promotional piece about the covens where there’s a picture of her using a harp, and once in the FTF end credits. Plus there’s stuff like her punching Steve as opposed to like, casting a spell, or being the alt/strategist for Grudgby instead of playing on the list. I’m probably looking too deeply into things but I can imagine a version of the show where Skara was meant to have little magical power, and Willow learning that and treating her with compassion instead of mockery was what made Skara realize Boscha’s an ass and leave her.

But yeah, I like this idea a lot.

I’d imagine Skara would recognize her lack of magical ability early on in life, probably even around the flashbacks in Understanding, and try to hide that from Boscha. She’d help bully Willow because it let her feel better about her own lack of magic, but she’d also be terrified of being found out as the weak link. When her friends can’t animate a simple doll at Boscha’s Moonlight Conjuring, she’s scared it’s because of her. When Boscha makes her an alt player, Skara believes she’s onto her. Part of the reason Skara sucks up to Boscha and stays her best friend is because she hopes that even if Boscha finds out about her lack of magical ability, at least she might not bully her as she does Willow, right?

But of course Boscha finds out eventually. She learns about Bo’s tutoring, and soon realizes Skara’s been trying to not use magic around her to hide her lack of ability. And Boscha’s angry and disgusted by this. She turns against Skara, turns Cat and Amelia against Skara, calling her a liar and a phony and a half-a-witch. Skara’s devastated, hiding in a closet out of shame, where someone knocks after hearing her crying and-

It’s Willow.

Skara tries to stay silent, but Willow says she knows it’s her, and she just wants to talk. That she heard rumors about Skara being half-a-witch. That she isn’t there to mock her. So Skara let’s her in, opening the door to hear her out. And the two sort of stand there, unsure what to say or do, until Willow says that she’s sorry Skara has to go through this. And Skara snorts, not sure why Willow isn’t rubbing her nose in the fact she spent years making fun of her for the thing she’s going through now. But at least with Willow she got cool Plant powers. Skara doesn’t even have that! And Willow says that she knows what it’s like to be bullied, for people to leave you because they think you’re half-a-witch. Skara just winces, because she was one of the people doing that, and now she’s getting her just desserts.

But Willow tells Skara she’s there for her. She knows how cruel Boscha is. How hurtful she is. So Willow is willing to help Skara through this, if Skara wants it. And after a pause?

Skara tells Willow she’s sorry. Sorry she bullied her. That she encouraged it. Sorry she didn’t push against Boscha for years. Sorry she helped to make Willow feel this way herself, despite no one deserving this. Sorry she doesn’t know what else to do but say, over and over again, that she’s sorry.

And Willow sits there, listening, letting Skara say what she needs to say as tears start to form and Skara begins to just apologize for everything, from things she did to, to things she didn’t do, and all because at the end of the day she wasn’t strong enough. She wasn’t strong enough to stand up to the bullies. She was so weak she became one to survive, and look where it’s gotten her?!?

She’s the real Half-a-Witch.

And Willow sits there, thinks it over, and tells Skara that she doesn’t think of her as Half-a-Witch. She see’s her as a fully capable Witch, deserving of respect as anyone else. And, Willow believes, second chances.

And so Willow helps Skara off the floor, and Skara thanks her by promising to stand up for Willow, her friends, and anyone else Boscha bullies. It doesn’t matter if Boscha is better at magic. It doesn’t matter if Boscha mocks or belittles or threatens her. If Skara has so little power, then the least she can do is use it to help those who need it.

Like how Willow helped her.

And soon, after standing up to Boscha, after becoming Willow’s friend, and after a few way too many attempts at asking Willow out with Luz’s help, Skara began to recognize herself as Half-a-Witch.

One who found her perfect other half.

[here4theheartbreak]

I think I've loved every single hairstyle on Mingi. He has such a great face, it seems to work with everything — I like his shorter hair, his longer hair, his mullet, and everything in between!

You know, I never even considered that those little polaroid albums could be photocard holders! It's such a good idea.

Omg! That's soooo many albums!! An actual MOUNTAIN of albums. I bet you were excited when they all arrived! I would've been losing my shit. Ohhhh, I have the limited All to Action, too! You did well to get that as a surprise! 🍀

Your K-pop centre looks amazing! Full, yes, but amazing~! I think it'd be SO easy to have an entire room bursting with merch! Collecting kpop stuff is so dangerous... for your finances AND your sanity. I would spiral so fast. 😭🌀💸

I got the tarot deck from a Kickstarter, they're by an artist called Bana! They're very pretty! Although, they're a bit big. I think the normal/glossy decks are smaller/the usual size. But I saw the word 'holographic' and I couldn't resist. It was like I was having a flashback to collecting shiny trading cards as a kid. So, now I have to shuffle them with the widest hand stretch known to man. But it's worth it~!

That deck you have is super cool! I love dark and mysterious things! Why not add a little drama, and a little spooky mystique, to a reading? Waittttt, there's a Star Trek deck?? Thinking about it, I suppose there's probably a few at this point. TOS is one of my comfort shows! And I also adore the alternate original/kelvin films! ✨

If you haven't already, I hope you watch Lucky Oppa! Woosanhwa are so comfortable and relaxed on that show. The vibe is great. It's wholesome. They're eating well. They're surrounded by a soft pink aesthetic. I loved everything about it. There's also an episode with Wonho... which somehow has the opposite vibe?? He seems so nervous/shy!

Exactly! NO ONE is asking for the queer community to get any special treatment. All anyone wants is to be treated the same, to be treated equally, without any conditions. Queer hosts/fans/friends should be communicated with in the exact same manner that cishet hosts/fans/friends are. It's not a big ask.

One Day at a Time is such an amazing song!!! (I think they're all amazing, obviously, but you get it! It's important to me AND it's amazing!) I played it in my mom's car the other day... and she turned it down to talk, I was so OFFENDED. 😂 Good lil Boy!! That's a great one. I'm gonna be SO interested in what you choose in the end. There really is SO MUCH choice. 😂

I've recently discovered a similar shop to the one you mention! It's a few hours from here. But they're a queer, inclusive, body positive tattooist and the energy seems great!

Oh, you're so right! I've never really thought about it but Joong ALWAYS looks amazing with unnatural hair colours! And I think San does too?? Pink, red, blue. They all looked stunning on him! Though, I have to admit, the pink still has me in a chokehold. 😭😂

OMG. Wooyoung looks so TINY in that picture? And adorable?? I love him so much. 🥺

Talking of men looking tiny... have you seen this picture of Hongjoong and Mingi that's doing the rounds? It reminds me of that one stage where Joong appeared behind Seonghwa, with that backpack, looking like the smallest man in the world. 🥺💖

Did you see the kcon check in mission where Yunho had to hug everyone??Jongho was NOT getting hugged that day. 🐻 Him and Joong really said no thank you. be gone. 😂 Meanwhile, there's nothing that would improve my mood faster than a Yunho hug! 🤷‍♀️😂

I absolutely love the polaroid flip books. These ones hold 96 pcs each. The only thing is that if you have baseball card or Japanese sleeves they won’t fit - just a hair too big. But I found American Standard sleeves (56x87mm) work perfectly — Ryker and Ultra Pro both make good, sturdy ones in that size (I prefer DragonShield but couldn’t find the right size V_V).

Kpop is such a money drain, you’re entirely right. And I just learned OnlyOneOf is finally putting out a nightstick. Super excited but please I need to save money (I also need to get Ateez’s summer phonebook but I might wait until my friend gets hers in - she bought two and is selling one so I might snag that instead since I don’t need the pobs.) I finally got the blue and yellow Movements in, so my Ateez albums are complete — now just need to hunt for pcs for each of the albums.

I love holographic cards lbvs - they are so pretty - I may look and see if there’s a way to get them in the US now that the kickstarter has ended 🤔 And yes! They have a TNG one - which is the one I want, TNG and DS9 are my two favorite series; and they also apparently have a TOS one.

The TOS Deck

TNG Deck

I don’t personally care for the Kelvin films >.< - I’m a sucker for the og; I like TOS and as I said above, TNG and DS9 are my two favorites (Quark brings me so much joy, the little troll, I l love him) and I really am enjoying SNW …. Definitely have a crush on Pike and Spock, as well as Ortega.

I will definitely watch it! I have been watching some non-kpop stuff lately that I needed to catch up on lol - so I will have to watch it here soon! I adore Wonho 😭 I miss him - will have to watch that too.

Yesss, I like pink Joong but I have a particular soft spot for his Cruella de Ville hair from Guerrilla ngl, esp with the ponytail.

Omg he looks so TINY. I know it’s an optical illusion but it’s hilarious; they have bookend rappers - the tall big one and the tiny lil one lol.

I have seen that video of Yunho, I howled. Jongho and Joong both were ready to throw hands when he came for them 😂 Poor Hwa just looked confused and then resigned like, well, this is my life now.

Oh my god WATERBOMB. I hung out with my friends yesterday and we spent a solid like 3 hours talking about it, did you see them?! Idk what gave them the frickin’ right to act out like that but they need to be stopped. Mingi and San especially!?!?!? Like guys please, I am not your strongest soldier here. I simply cannot. (And then with Taemin performing today - It’s been a… Tense weekend lmao

But these finally came in, I am delighted. Displaying them on my desk is not enough, I need them with me at all times, they are so cute 😭

[ozma914]

Reviews of Indiana Jones and The Guardians of The Galaxy, and Stuff

 It's been such a crazy month I was just going to throw out one of my pre-written blogs. (I save up, just as I did with my newspaper column, in case of crazy months.) But instead here are a few quick things for whoever might happen to be reading blogs in the middle of summer.

Emily and I have only gone out to the movies twice this year, most recently to see Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny.

Yes, Harrison Ford gets the CGI treatment for a flashback; yes, it's really well done; no, it's not distracting unless you make it be. Yes, there are Nazis and time travel, although they don't combine in the way I expected. Yes, you can tell Ford is too old for this crap in "modern" times, which in this case is 1969; in fact, they hang a lantern on it more than once.

Jones has come across hard times due to a family tragedy. He's retiring from a teaching job in a small New York college (Hunter College, no relation), and doesn't have much to look forward until his goddaughter shows up, looking for a piece of ancient tech made by the Greek inventor Archimedes himself. Unfortunately, a whole bunch of people with guns are right on her heels.

And that's all I'll say about the plot, other than that, like any good Indiana Jones movie, there's a macguffin, and the Nazis want it. We get great action sequences, exotic locations, callbacks to earlier movies, and cameos from some favorite characters. It also gets murky from time to time, both in plot and when the action is a little too fast and/or a little too dark.

Is it worth a movie ticket? Yes. I'd put it as the third best Indiana Jones movie, after the original and the other one with Nazis.

  Meanwhile the apparently last Guardians of the Galaxy movie also came out, and was awesome on the big screen. (Okay, so that picture's from a previous one.) But be warned: It gets dark, mostly because it includes the origin story of Rocket Raccoon, and it is NOT a fun origin story.

I won't go into detail, because it's been out long enough now that you've probably either seen it or decided not to, but it's one of the better Marvel movies of recent years and well worth seeing in the theater. You might tear up once or twice, though, so bring a tissue or wait until it's on video.

Otherwise I just have my usual stuff. Coming Attractions remains a free ebook on Smashwords until the end of the month:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

The new versions of Storm Chaser and Storm Squalls are on Amazon, and hopefully other locations soon:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mark-R-Hunter/author/B0058CL6OO

  That author interview is still up on a Canvas Rebel:

https://canvasrebel.com/meet-mark-r-hunter/

 And I miss the dog. Here's hoping Canada gets rain--but not too much--and the rest of summer goes more smoothly for everyone.

Not too much rain!

Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

Other: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 2,772

Terezi: Troll this awesome coolkid.

Author commentary:

In the most fevered days of Homestuck fandom, there were hordes of teens who would roleplay online constantly, casually, for no reason at all, in anyone's direction. They used troll quirks, faithfully mimicked characters, the works. I only bring this fact up now because it occurs to me that this conversation does a great job capturing what it's like when you're minding your own business as Dave is doing, and some rando comes out of nowhere and starts roleplaying a troll at you, and you don't have the slightest fucking clue what's going on, what Homestuck is, or what this annoying child is trying to accomplish. Dave handles it the way I assume many guys would, which is through a vaguely detached series of counter-trolling measures.

Here comes the good shit. Thank god I put this comic in here. What would Homestuck be without award-winning decisions such as this? I mean, aside from respectable. Cool Dude and Stoner Lou was the precursor comic to Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff. And both comics were made specifically to spoof other people's bad comics involving this sort of content. Much like with SBaHJ, I bestowed that creation upon Dave and designated him as the fictional creator of the content that in truth I was responsible for before Homestuck began. Same thing here with CDaSL. Note how Dave's presenting this work in a flashback, casting it as a precursor work to SBaHJ, which he still considers to be a "vision" he is tinkering with, which is roughly true of the IRL progression of this content. (Though I wasn't taking this shit nearly as seriously as Dave is here, on an artistic basis. For me this was ludicrous shitpost stuff taking place on old forums.)

It seems Terezi provides the kernel of inspiration for Dave's next artistic endeavor, SBaHJ. Which also somewhat tracks reality, since originally SBaHJ stemmed from a playful roast of some guy's bad gamer comic, and in particular isolated certain peculiarities about the style, like the strange way the mouths were drawn. That's just how it happens. We all inspire and influence each other, even with our bad stuff. Sometimes our bad stuff gives people more to think about and find unlikely inspiration from than our good stuff. My bet is the guy who was the original subject of my roast is a thousand times more pleased to see his crappy comic left a lasting legacy in the way it did, than he felt any real lasting sense of pride or attachment to his bad comic. There is no way I wouldn't feel the same way if I were in his position.

Cry like a girl? Terezi, we need to have a talk about this internalized misogyny, which your planet supposedly doesn't even have. This was an important line though, because it established that Terezi had the objective of making Dave cry, which she finally succeeds in doing when we hop back to the "present." Some might say that bamboozling him into a vat of soup surrounded by crocodiles chopping onions actually constitutes a desperate measure. But hey, it gets the job done. This is another very good panel, incidentally. This scene, combined with the LOHACSE moneycrime antics, all paint a picture of Dave's adventure as a nonstop parade of utterly ridiculous shenanigans, mostly fueled by Terezi's whims.

[tharizdun-03]

Arcane Watchthrough

Episode 1: Welcome to the Playground

EP 1 was very good! It's not an unusual premise, but it's the execution that really stands out here. Aesthetically, it's wonderful, very stylized, strong artwork, and lots of small character acting. I see it setting up plenty thematics and character stuff too. Impressed.

I'll say tho, it's a fair criticism towards Powder. I'm all about making people feel included and realizing their full potential, but if she screws things up every time during your missions, maybe don't bring her with you? Or at least give her a lesser role, like keeping watch.

Probably my favourite little moment from the episode tbh, got a laugh out of me. Very expressive. I like Vi.

Episode 2: Some Mysteries Are Better Left Unsolved

Arcane keeps up the solid work with EP 2!

Episode 3: The Base Violence Necessary for Change

That was SO GOOD.

Episode 4: Happy Progress Day!

Ooh, timeskip. Jinx, huh. Wow, her guilt of having accidentally killed everyone, and the trauma from Vi "betraying" her, has messed her up so much, and Silco makes her actually feel important, as her little inventions finally succeed, for example.

It makes sense, basically, that she's the way she is now. The janky flashbacks are great, with Jinx's demonification of her past and the people in it, being literally represented in the visuals, painting over her memories, to cope with the past.

Just also taking the opportunity to gush about how good the show looks. Background art, for example, beautiful.

Episode 5: Everybody Wants to Be My Enemy

What stood out to me about Arcane's 5th episode the most was the directing! The overall storyboarding, imagery, and editing, were all significantly better in this episode (and it was already fantastic). Wonder if there's a specific reason in staff for this. Best episode so far.

I think you really notice the storyboarding right from the get-go, I thought this perspective was really cool, for example.

I like her voice a lot.

Silco got the drip.

Cool transition.

Look at that. 

As this is the same place she used to practice, this is probably a reference to that shooting practice? I'm thinking beyond the point of the scene just showing how different she is now. Would've been cool if the practice targets were like fake tree birds or something. 

Just top-notch editing for this scene, and the fact that Jinx still can't beat Vi's score, one she did years ago, when she was her age, just feeds into Jinx's insecurities even further.

Sick transition (also love the 2D effects work).

First of all, very cool with the horn built into the violin, but just a fantastic scene overall. The violin is my favourite instrument, you know, so any scene is elevated with violin music. Also, sick stage work, I'd attend that.

Very abstract presentation for the sex scene, keeping it tasteful and also allowing them to tie it into Victor fainting in some visually interesting ways.

Another sick transition from the previous scene.

I wasn't sure if Jinx and Silco's relationship was paternal or romantic, and I think it was intentionally ambiguous but to what purpose other than to keep us guessing I don't know, but I know now that it's paternal. Baptism-like scene here, to get rid of "Powder."

I think these are the band members for Imagine Dragons? If so, that is very cool. Also, playing the opening in an episode is always awesome.

Look at how the camera turns 90 degrees here as she throws Vi to the ground, that's so cool.

Lots of character and story goodies too, it's just fairly straight-forward so I don't have too much to comment on that, but it's all fantastic, and it's a bummer I only really have time for the series on Sundays (as I'm watching with my Dad) cause I'm loving it.

Episode 6: When These Walls Come Tumbling Down

Oh God, I'm gonna cry.

Episode 7: The Boy Savior

Holy shit

Episode 8: Oil and Water

This show is so good. I'm consistently impressed by how every single character is given relevance and focus, always contributing to the bigger picture. EP 8 managed to do so much for all of them.

Vi and Caitlyn goodness, Viktor finally outrunning the boat, some continuingly appreciated Medarda characterization, haunting hallucination scene with Jinx, Jayce having to make increasingly more difficult choices, Heimerdinger still being active, etc.

The fight scene had me giddy as fuck, and for some reason made me tear up a bit (cause it's just that awesome I guess lol), and it ofc being intentionally set up as really fucking cool so they could bring us right back down to face the actual real life consequences too.

Episode 9: The Monster You Created

Wow. What a finale. The whole dinner set-piece was such a brilliant idea for the climax that when I first realized it was happening I cursed myself for not realizing how perfect this would be. Honestly tho, this episode did the most for Silco imo.

“Don’t cry. You’re perfect.” 

There's so much to unpack here. Of course, on an obvious level, Silco chose his daughter over his dream. He is the only one that completely sees Jinx, all of her, and loves her unconditionally, and accepts her for everything.

Vi, of course, loves Powder too, but it's not "open and unconditional" in the same way as it is with Silco. She screams at Jinx to remember her past, in order to force Powder to reawaken, but that just makes her paranoia and hallucinations worse.

Silco shoots at Vi, not just so Powder won't awaken and he can get what he wants, but also because he knows that this hurts Jinx and genuinely empathizes with her, with that pain, and realizes Vi is hurting her, by doing this, and by being at all, and he intends to protect her.

Silco accepts Jinx, mental issues and all, doesn't even blame her for killing him, and tells her that she doesn't need to change, which seals Jinx's decision to stay as Jinx. After all, she's already perfect.

The best part tho, is that Silco's love isn't just open and unconditional, it's still rooted in selfishness as well. He genuinely loves her as a daughter, and empathizes with her, as he sees himself in her, but she also embodies what he loves about the undercity.

Silco chose both Zaun AND Jinx. He doesn't want a Zaun that has to deal with Piltover, he knows that won't work out. He loves the chaos in the undercity, that brings out the monsters within the people, I mean, under his rule, the undercity got worse, and intentionally so.

By choosing Jinx, he not only chooses his daughter (and still allows her to choose who she should be), but he chooses the idea of Zaun that he wants to preserve, that chaos, that city that forces people to rise and grow powerful through conflict, which Jinx embodies and fulfills.

This really ties into why Silco chose to take Jinx in which should seem a bit out of character but in combination with empathizing with her being betrayed as he once was, he also sees Zaun as he envisions it within her and how she embodies that idea more than anyone else.

It just, it would've been so easy to fall into the trap of making him get attached to this child for no real strong reason, but Jinx explicitly ties into his fundamental principles of being, so his actions stay totally in character and only richen him further.

Of course, I'm not trying to glorify Jinx's and Silco's relationship at all. It may have been open and loving, but that isn't enough to properly raise a child. 

Man, that you're perfect scene tho, I've rewatched it multiple times, and I tear up every time lol. Of course, this episode did wonders for the other characters as well, with that wonderful callback as Jayce stops Viktor from suicide this time, for example. Just fantastic all around. Very excited to see what season 2 has in store.

Overall Thoughts:

Arcane was so good I genuinely can't come up with a single flaw or anything I would've changed lol. Wonderfully written story just elevated tenfold by some of the best presentation ever. Silco is an all-time favourite antagonist but top-notch cast overall. Unmatched insert songs.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 315: I Didn’t Expect This to Blow Up

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “guess which plot that you thought was dead is actually not dead and is making a comeback!” and we were all “EVIL HPSC??” and he was all “girl you know it,” and that’s the story of how we got a sexy Lady Nagant flashback with lots of guns and murder. Flashback!Lady was all “gotta murder peeps to preserve the people’s trust,” but then a little while later she was like “actually wait that makes no sense,” and so she shot her evil boss and they sent her to jail. Back in the present, Deku was all “okay fair, the hero system might in fact be a little fucked up, but hear me out... have you considered not helping AFO take over the world so he can murder like a bazillion more innocent people??” The chapter ended with the not-all-there Overhaul finally revealing himself to Deku, and I honestly have no idea where this is gonna go.

Today on BnHA: In what is unfortunately the single worst plan ever concocted by anyone in BnHA, Nagant is all “I’m going to try and get this Deku kid to panic and freeze up by putting someone in mortal danger.” Deku is all, “[doesn’t panic and freeze up at the sight of someone in mortal danger].” Nagant is all “omg no way.” Deku, who is now all of a sudden being so OP that even I have to acknowledge that it’s OP lol, is all “[smashes Nagant’s gun arm to bits]”, which sucks but is also really cool, and which also apparently makes Nagant decide that she actually likes this kid after all. Deku is all “NAGANT I REALLY LIKE YOU AND THINK YOU’RE GREAT SO PLEASE JOIN UP WITH ME AND STOP BEING EVIL.” Nagant is all “aw shucks (✿ •͈ᴗ•͈) well okay then” and everyone is all “( ･◡･) ✰ ( ˆᴗˆ ) ( ᵘ ᵕ ᵘ ⁎)” and then Nagant FUCKING EXPLODES LIKE AN EGG IN THE MICROWAVE AND FALLS TO HER DEATH!!!! except not really because Hawks saves her??? In conclusion, (a) THE FUCK, and (b) AFO TURN ON YOUR LOCATION I JUST WANT TO TALK.

so I have to tell you guys something, which is that barely ten minutes after I made that “please don’t send me spoilers” post the other day, someone replied to the comments in a stunning fit of “tell me that you’re twelve without actually telling me you’re twelve” energy and posted what seemed to be the copy-pasted spoiler summary from reddit or twitter or whatever lol. so here is my good news/bad news rundown of all that

good news: I have very well-conditioned ABORT!! reflexes and have trained myself to immediately look away from the screen (usually in dramatic fashion) as soon as I realize that whatever I’m reading is a spoiler

bad news: unfortunately as I was subsequently deleting said comments, I accidentally read the very last one

good news??: said spoiler was so unbelievably, absurdly over-the-top that I’m almost positive this person was just trolling. like, there’s just no way lmao

bad news: but in the unlikely event that it is true I will absolutely lose my shit I swear to god

(ETA: “NAGANT DIES.” that was the spoiler I read lol. like, literally all I read from the person’s comments was “My Hero Academia Chapter 315 Title: “Beautiful Words.” Chapter starts with...” and then I noped out of there, and then of all the comments to read as I was deleting, it had to be that one lol. I seriously was just like “SURE, JAN.” all “just how gullible do you think I am” sob. but I was wrong. a troll, but an honest troll they remain.

but anyways like I’m pretty sure Nagant isn’t even actually dead lol, so in the end this whole little adventure doesn’t even have a point to it, but for me it was a journey!)

anyway, so there are apparently two versions of the chapter today?? no idea what the difference is, but I’m going to go with the Bean version, because it’s the one at the top and I don’t feel like making decisions today

huh, so Overhaul is actually more coherent than Horikoshi was letting on

look at him having a whole back and forth conversation with her. side note, how is he still this jacked when he’s been sitting in a cell doing absolutely nothing for the past six months

anyway so he says he’ll go with her on one condition. I wonder what that condition could possibly be. do you think it could be the thing he literally hasn’t shut up about ever since he reappeared lol

yep! and damn -- maybe this guy will surprise me after all

still would be nice if you also felt a bit sorry for the little girl you tortured and traumatized, but this is something at least. maybe Deku will yell at him for that other stuff lol

(ETA: also can’t help but wonder if he wants to make amends because he put him in a coma, or because his plan was a failure and ended up destroying the family. just hoping you’ve finally had that “hurting other people is bad” epiphany dude.)

anyways so now Nagant’s arm is transforming again, and this particular transformation happens to be the only truly unsexy thing that Nagant has done thus far so I’m just gonna skip right on ahead lol

aaaaand we’re back to the delirious ranting

buddy. just. read the fucking room, guy

wow she really is aiming at Overhaul, then. those theories were spot-on

damn she’s really out here all “it really fucks with kids’ heads when you kill people right in front of them and make them blame themselves” like yo

I’m picturing her saying all this in a very loud stage-whispery tone while making very significant eye contact with Deku lol

uh oh but wait

um. okay. who’s gonna tell her. Nagant I might have some bad news for you about the kid you’re trying to capture here. specifically about the way he tends to do the opposite of what you’re thinking that he’s about to do

holy shit

so it’s basically just “tap x repeatedly to charge up your attack” lol

and okay, so that’s cool and all, but is anyone else wincing at the thought of what that must be like on his knees. oh to be young

anyway, but so to the surprise of basically no one, Deku did not, in fact, freeze. I am very sorry, Nagant. he’s just like this

LMAO

someone wanna tell me how getting yoloed in the fucking ribs by this fucking slingshot kid moving at literal sniper bullet speed is in any way even remotely better than getting hit by the bullet itself lol

(ETA: this is 10x funnier now that we know the bullet wasn’t even gonna hit him lmao.)

anyway so now Nagant is having an extended “!?!?!?” reaction about how Deku just moved with no hesitation, and I’m starting to get an inkling of fear that the rest of this fight isn’t going to go very well for her and maybe that’s what all the “hoo boy” is about

oh my god Deku are you about to Gomu Gomu no Rocket yourself at her you insane little man

now Three is popping up again and he’s all “I see you’ve learned your lesson and are now only using three quirks at once instead of five” like with all this effusive praise about how great and badass Deku is and sob, okay, yeah. this chapter is basically one of those machines that shoots tennis balls at people, except instead of tennis balls it shoots hot piping discourse

OH MY GOD

YOOOOOOOOOO but also, NOOOOOOOOOOO

lol oh my god it’s literally two opposing reactions at once wtf. do I love this or hate this. like just for once can Horikoshi actually let a badass lady character win their fucking fight without getting their arm ripped off, BUT ALSO fucking look at that absurdly cool “SMASH” onomatopoeia though. it looks like it’s about to float right off the page holy shit that’s some seriously good art

anyway so is this really the end?? do I need to break out my ಠ_ಠ faces

lmao okay yeah I can definitely see how this would piss a lot of people off

he basically one-shotted her and she’s all “damn this kid is so amazing that I’m about to do a complete 180 turn on all of my previous angst” lmao. Horikoshi is really shounening it up today

on the plus side though, maybe this means there’s still a chance for her to join up with him after all? unless that spoiler was true lmao, then all hell is gonna break loose

YESSSSSSS

OH MY GOD AND HE SAYS THE BULLET WOULDN’T HAVE DONE MORE THAN GRAZE OVERHAUL ANYWAY, wow, I’m actually more relieved by that than I would have expected. I mean I would have forgiven her either way, but it means that there was still more hero in her than she was letting on

YES!!! FUCKING YES, THANK YOU

lol but I mean, it’s also like, “oh so today they get to have brain cells”, thank you so much lol. sometimes it’s really hard to tell which times we’re supposed to question these character decisions that seem dumb, and which times we’re just supposed to full on embrace them and switch off our critical thinking

but okay, so in this case it really was Nagant going easy on him on purpose, and not just her fucking up for no good reason even though she used to do this for a living and was the best in the game. and I know in this case it’s probably just Horikoshi giving us some consolation headpats to soften the blow of her losing so abruptly, but you know what, shit. I’ll take it

also you guys the light is coming back into Deku’s eyes again for just a moment here and I’m having feels about it?? the way it still comes back when he’s reaching out to save someone, and following his own hero path instead of the much darker and lonelier Christopher Nolan path that’s been laid out for him instead that he never wanted?? it’s both reassuring and also very sad

YESSSSSSSSSSS

DO IT LADY OMG PLEASE?? PLEASE COME BE HIS NEW IRRESPONSIBLE ADULT SUPERVISION YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO

AHHHHHHH SHE’S GONNA DO IT AHHHH

p.s. I am now absolutely scared shitless that that spoiler was actually true sob. swear to god, I will throw this manga into a fucking volcano. but we’re almost at the end of the chapter and this seems just WAY TOO GOOD to be true fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck f

UCK

NOPE NAH SEND IT BACK, NOPE, NUH UH, DIDN’T ORDER THIS. “GULLIBLE” OKAY FUCK YOU?? “COUNTERMEASURES” NOPE, DON’T NEED ‘EM, WE’RE ALL FINE HERE. WE’RE ACTUALLY GOOD SO YOU CAN JUST GO, OKAY. PLEASE

fuck, lol, I don’t wanna do it. I don’t wanna scroll down what have I ever done to deserve this oh my god

WHAT THE HONEY-ROASTED FUCK

WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT FUCKING VOLCANO IN ICELAND THAT I KEEP SEEING ALL THESE PICTURES OF. WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT SHIT. LET’S GO

ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW

can someone please give AFO a really good, sharpish kick in the balls. just really let him have it. I’m so tired, what the fuck

-- ARE YOU KIDDING ME LOL WHAT

bro. I was literally going through my Excel folders to find the spreadsheet about female characters in BnHA that I made back when Midnight died. was gearing myself up for a wholeass rant. and honestly I might just let all of that continue simmering on low to keep it warm just in case lol, because to tell you the truth I have absolutely no idea what’s happening right now

my girl straight up does not have a face. she used to have a face. people usually need those, idk. like, even if she’s alive, her gorgeous eyebrows are definitely not making it out of this and I’m gonna throw a funeral just for them

how the fuck did AFO just blow her up?? how did he know what was going on?? and if he had a quirk that could explode people at will, why is this the first we’re hearing of it?? you’d think that might have come in handy at Kamino or Jakku, like what

(ETA: present!me, who’s had more than three hours of sleep and can now actually remember facts about the series, would like to remind past!me that AFO gave Nagant a quirk, and so this is probably just more Vestige shenanigans now on his part. that’s also probably why Air Walk suddenly stopped working out of nowhere. still doesn’t explain why he doesn’t go around blowing people up more often though but maybe he thinks it’s gauche.)

Hawks just straight up out of nowhere. just Mirioed his way straight into the chapter just in time to be too late sob. here I was looking forward to seeing your face when Deku showed up with his new best friend. can’t believe Horikoshi deprived us of that moment

on the plus side, WELCOME BACK, HAWKS’S FEATHERS. I have no doubt that in this chapter of Deku being an almighty threequirk-mastering god, and Nagant losing anticlimactically only to be immediately blown up because girl characters in BnHA can only be cool for one fight and one fight only, there are still some people who are focusing solely on the “how dare Hawks get his wings back when he is a MURDERER this is an outrage what about CONSEQUENCES” discourse, and to hell with all the other discourses lmao

anyway, so yeah. wow. and now it’s just occurring to me that maybe the real reason why Overhaul is there is so he can get a head start on that amend-making by actually doing a good thing for once in his life, and using his quirk to heal Nagant. assuming he can still do that

and so now Horikoshi has got me out here actually rooting for Overhaul. you know what, on that note I think I’m just gonna go ahead and call it a day sob

[themirokai]

POI 02x17: Proteus

This is a bit of a tough one as I’m getting back into doing these because… I didn’t like it that much. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Look, I called that the FBI agent was the bad guy as soon as he was in the house with John which removed most of the suspense. And then the episode took all of the conventions of a locked room mystery and played them out in pretty predictable ways. Revealing the killer via lightning flash in a dark room? Come on.

Gif by @hadlathneth Original

This just didn’t do it for me. BUT! Let’s talk about some stuff I liked.

The movie theater bit! It’s really fun to see a scene I’ve seen referenced a whole bunch of times actually in the episode! Going to see a movie together and taking their dog (in a questionable service vest) is such Rinch-y goodness. And there was Only One Umbrella!!

Gif by @gallifreyan-detective Original

But poor Bear doesn’t like rain! Get him a raincoat to go with that vest, Harold! Also, I have thought a lot about the service vest thing. A lot of the problem with animals who are not trained service animals posing as them is that they are disruptive because they don’t know how to behave properly. Obviously that wouldn’t be a problem for Bear, but the vest still gets a little side eye.

There were several great Harold reveals in this episode including:

Harold owns a plane that he can fly himself into a storm …

Gif by @gallifreyan-detective Original

and he’s a storm chaser!

Gifs by @gifsontherun Original

(Not pictured: John’s “hmm” reaction to that revelation because mobile still has a 10 image limit and I needed more gifs for the last part.)

Ok, a lot of this episode comes down to this moment. It is kind of creepy and very well-acted.

Gifs by @magicb0x Original

But the part that really made me sit up and pay attention was the implication that Harold’s glasses aren’t prescription. Serial Killer Guy had no problem seeing through them and Harold doesn’t seem to have any problem seeing without them.

Gifs by @magicb0x Original

I can’t find a gif of this but Harold doesn’t start squinting until Carter arrives, at which point he makes a show of it and gets his glasses back. The extra interesting thing is that he has glasses in all the flashbacks with Grace and Nathan. So was he wearing fake glasses that whole time? That would match up with his comment that Serial Killer Guy is an amateur at this. No spoilers please if this is something that the show explores later on. But if you disagree with my read of that scene, I would love to hear about it!

One more (gif-less) thought. There’s a part where Cal tells Carter that the reason he has an IAB file is because he worked undercover narcotics. I’m watching We Own This City now, which is a dramatization of a true story about plain clothes Baltimore cops doing insanely awful things and boy does that comment by Cal hit differently with that context. (Also, another request that if you’ve watched We Own This City to come talk to me about it.)

What did YOU think of this episode? Did I give it short shrift? Would love to hear what others think.