#also everyone looks so good in this pv

[sundial-bee-scribbles]

hai guys :3

[cryptidmickle]

so what if. and hear me out. i made my own au for shadowvanilla purposes-

au details below

HELLO SO I PRESENT AMNESIAC AU

so you see, i was minding my business, drawing and looking at cookies and how everyone has their own cool aus with awesome designs and i went "well im not very good at designing but i Love putting characters in Situations"

this au is mostly focused on shadowvanilla so dont be too hopeful I'll get into the other cookies besides their little circle, im ill for gay yaoi only okay

So! motions to comic above, amnesia smilk time! let me elaborate

Pure vanilla fucked up BIG TIME, in that he maybe ventured out to beast yeast alone to try and find out more about the beasts and a way to stop them, as people with a savior complex have a habit of doing. Maybe, perhaps, also at the same time, smilk was getting the workings of his new dough body done and sensing pv was nearby decided to take the opportunity to torment him a little, yknow he cant help himself! he needs to see him

a nasty little fight and confrontation in some old structures of smilk (or at the spire) result in pv using a strange spell he spotted in the surrounding papers and documents, and .... accidentally cracks smilk's soul jam! hehe, oops!

and also sealing his memories. double oops. damn, what are you gonna do now pv?

well he cant leave confused smilk alone here, and itd honestly be best the other beasts and dark enchantress dont drag him back there in this state, so he offers a hand.

"Come with me. We can help you, I'll make sure you're okay."

a memory-less smilk is confused by this but... he's already grabbing the other cookie's hand before he realizes it. It'll probably be fine, something about this cookie... makes something in him feel okay.

taps forehead, im still working everything out of course, and i WILL be cursing all of you with sketchy stuff about it when I'm able, i need more time to figure out smilk's behaviors without the soul jam and corruption

of course I'm always of the mind that pre-corruption smilk was kind of a rat and rude but how exactly is the real question!! how bad was it before the corruption exacerbated the negative qualities of knowledge and his personality

anyways,,, feel free to ask questions!! it could help me figure this all out, if yall are interested of course,,,,,,,my,,,, handful of crk followers SNRRKS

[rosyhoneydew]

"Buck, Tommy, hey! There's room over here, we'll scoot down!"

Evan bounds over to the booth, sliding in easily next to Eddie. Tommy's quick to follow, finding his seat next to Evan, but taking care to keep a small gap between them. 

In the weeks that the two of them have been together, it’s been kind of amazing to watch Evan dive headfirst into their relationship. Tommy has zero doubts about the two of them, but he does know that these moments can still feel a little scary in their novelty, and he meant it when he said he didn’t want to pressure Evan. 

He's aware that the 118 aren't anything like the guys he worked with when he was there. He's also aware, however, that no matter how close you are with your friends, your family, no matter how well they take it when you come out, it’s different, showing affection to another man so openly in front of them for the first time. 

At least, it wasn’t easy for him when he finally brought his ex, Mark, along to Harbor's holiday party. They were only together maybe 4 months before it was clear they wouldn’t work out, and Tommy's not convinced that it didn't have anything to do with how he'd tense up any time he felt his boyfriend's hand around his waist. He needed some time. He doesn't blame Mark for anything, of course, but he really likes Evan, so he's going to do whatever he can not to scare him off.

"You guys must work some crazy calls in Air Ops, huh Tommy?" Ravi asks, a while later. They've been trying to keep the shoptalk to a minimum, not everyone's partner is a first responder, but they seem to keep finding themselves back here.

Tommy opens his mouth to respond, but Evan is speaking before he has the chance.

"Ravi, you have no idea. The other day he flew out to PV, right? And his team had to rappel down and get this hiker into a basket. It was crazy! It's super hard to get close to those cliffs 'cause they crumble so easy, you know? They kept showing footage of it on the news." And Evan's a couple of beers deep but Tommy is certainly not expecting the confident way he slings his arm around Tommy's shoulders, effectively killing any space that was still between them, or the way he turns to Tommy, lowers his voice, and adds, "It was so hot."

He's pretty sure that last part was only meant for him to hear, but, well, Evan's not really known for his discretion. Hen snorts and Tommy's pretty sure she's laughing at whatever dumbstruck, lovesick face he's wearing.

"Cool!" Tommy hears Ravi say, through the thrumming in his ears.

It doesn't stop there. Evan keeps a hand on him all night. When Tommy goes to the bar to get their next round, Evan kisses him on the cheek, and when he returns to the table, his hand finds Tommy’s thigh. And more than once he feels his face burning hot at the sensation of Evan's eyes on him.

He’s brazen in the way he looks at Tommy, leans in to mutter comments in his ear, and orients his whole body to face Tommy. He’s pretty sure they’re being a little rude, neither of them fully tuned in to any conversation being held tonight, but he's silently grateful for the way their friends give them a little grace. He only spots a few good-natured eye-rolls despite the way they’re clinging to each other. Though, he has a feeling they’re only going to get away with this once. 

They stay a little while longer, finishing up a few bar snacks and listening to some of the wilder 911 calls Maddie had fielded that week before everyone starts to make their way back home. Tommy’s barely buckled himself in before Evan’s hand reaches for him again. He’s flushed, clearly buzzed, but his head seems to still be on straight. It lolls to the side as he looks at Tommy. 

“Did you have fun?” His boyfriend asks. 

Tommy smiles, lifting their joined hands, and kisses Evan’s knuckles. “Yeah,” he says, “I did.” 

[strongbabe2907]

Here’s a little review of Zepp Haneda - Dir en grey Who is this hell for tour 2024

In the morning i took a wrong train and almost ended in Yokohama, lmao. In the end i was there around 10:40 and we got the merch tickets.

After that we met up with a few people and had some food. The cafe/bar we went too was blasting Dir all day and played their pvs inside too, it was surreal but very cute.

Visnu brought the art books and it was so cool to see them irl before she put them in the gift box🥰 everyone worked so hard!! Go check out #SilverCoinProject if you haven’t! I’m not an artist i send in some pictures hehe. There’s also a picture in there of my gifts.. maybe i’ll post them later on social media now i have given them.

So we walked around a bit and went to the torii my friend recommended, but they were doing construction work right around it so it was a bit noisy.

When it was time for merch we found out todays sticker was Kaoru!! I hoped a shiny but unfortunately just normal ones. Still cute.

I bought more merch for friends and some standees, did some trading with other japanese fans and some gift exchange 🥰 honestly everyone has been so nice and sweet.

We god dinner before the show and i started to get nervous again.. we split up waiting because we had different numbers and i was very focused on the counting haha.

I had 235 for vip which got me… 6th row maybe? Second barrier in zepp. Which was.. i had hoped for a bit closer but it is what it is.

Again i was between Kaoru and Kyo and looked at them most. Shinya wore his white outfit, Die also wore a white outfit. I think Toshiya was all black? He wore the shorts with something on top and dramatic separate sleeves.

Kaoru looked amazing! He was in all black. Black dress shirt with big collar. Wearing a small, wide black tie. His waistcoat thing and trousers/shorts were the same texture/print. The waistcoat was much more wide/baggy and shorter in the front and longer in the back. I think it had 2 rows of 3 buttons on it. The shorts were just passed his knees and veryy wide with big pockets on the sides. He wore black leggings with them again. Black dr martens and i think socks?

His hair was pulled back in a little ponytail and he had two strands loose in the front. One behind his ear and one just loose. He had the usual make up, little fangs, eyeliner and dark shading especially around his head. He was the only one that didn’t change for the encore.

Kyo wore the same simple outfit. I still couldn’t make out the tat very well, but thought i could discern some points to it.. Visnu later mentioned she thinks it’s either like a little star or a cross?

He wore low black doc martens this time.

His voice was just 💯from the start. They seemed more energetic/relaxed than the first show (which was still really good btw). He did some dancing (god he’s so tiny..) and moved around and took his earpieces out to listen to the crowd sing/shout. Closer to the end he pointed at two people, one right ahead of me. I think one of them had made a tattoo like him and he was smiling? Cute.

Also HELLOOO obscure was so awesome. It was the more recent version which i personally prefer. It was so cool!! And i mentioned this on twitter already but Kaoru didnt do much wahwah but he did grunt along with tsumi no kisei and was doing tough guy act to the crowd and singing along with a song (sorry cant remember which) for a long but, it was really cute. They switched sides once i think. My friends said there was almost a twin towers collision but i didnt see.

After the last song (Eddie), Kyo did a big smile and said ‘bye bye’ and he was off.

Shinya’s drumstick landed right next to my foot but i was busy looking at Kaoru😭😂🙈(he was also throwing stuff). Then girl next to me notices a tiny but before me and bend down to grab it, but it was fine i mosty found it funny i missed it cos i was going 👁️ at Kao.

Everyone but Kyo also threw a tour towel.. maybe shinya didnt? Im not sure. Toshiya was smiling and put his face in it before tossing it in the crowd lol. Kaoru also threw it near the front and Die tied a knot in it again and pitched it to the back of the venue lol.

So good live! Girls around me were lively but i was standing at a bit of a dead area in the crowd?? I liked both citta and zepp even though the vibes were different. (Citta was def more intense)

After the show we got the vip bags! They’re very cute. And now i try and recover a little before heading to Kyoto.

[firestorm09890]

stray canto vii part 1 thoughts (warning: long)

so many cool new designs!! it made me realize how few of interest we got in Canto VI. Then almost everything was pretty standard (classic maid and butler outfits, lots of suits, Cathy had a fancy dress at least? and everything was brown. yes I know, T Corp color drain, but still. and Öufi came before season 3 ended so that didn’t count), but this time we have Camille, the P Corp guys, Fanghunt Office, Hugo I guess, Hong Lu’s sister, the firefist guy? if he counts? he barely appeared, Sansón, and all the fancy dressed up bloodfiends. woo babey!!

speaking of Jia Xichun, I like her! She’s cute! I didn’t expect to see anyone related to Hong Lu, but in retrospect I probably should’ve, since his turn is next and his family is massive. I hope nothing bad happens to her. I've never read Dream of the Red Chamber

also speaking of Hugo, lol. lmao. when he was talking about pressing the button to get the reward I was like “oh hopkins 2, got it” and then Ryōshū sliced off his hands so I guess… not hopkins 2

ALSO the blonde Fanghunt guy is named Romero, which is apparently the name of a character in Vampire: The Masquerade. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an intentional reference

Sinclair cursing that one guy out was so awesome. I remember when Canto V part 2 came out and he censored himself saying “Bitch Brother” people were worried that the new translators were making him softer than he actually was, but, nah, he tries his best to be a polite boy but when he’s actually genuinely pissed off he does not hold back. Ryōshū correcting him BUT THEN SAYING HIS INTERPRETATION WAS GOOD absolutely killed me. my son demands respect

it’s a good day to be a Leviathan fan

The scripted loss encounter was so cool. They set you to level 45 no matter what level your LCB Don is, and take away all your EGO except the base (which you can’t even use), and I don’t know how far you can actually get in this fight because I flipped tails every single time and lost every clash

let’s talk about the Barber! leave it to Project Moon to look at the character who didn’t have very much of a personality who stuck around with the priest and attempted multiple plans to bring Don Quixote back home so he could become sane again (and burned a bunch of Quixote’s chivalry books, also with the priest), and turned him into an insane vampire woman with big scissors and a shrill cackle who stitches masks onto people’s faces.

interesting choice to have Sancho and Dulcinea both named in a single line and then not acknowledged or mentioned again

Sansón! so based on his story log portrait background being bisexual, the blue name, and him resembling someone in Demian’s group in the Limbus Company PV, I feel confident saying he’s part of Demian’s Group. The spot where his Sign would be is covered by his mask, though, so no one in-universe knows

I think this is why Sinclair was cast in the role of the Knight of the White Moon: he also has the sign, which Sansón (who is the Knight of the White Moon) would be able to see, and even if other sinners have it too, they’re not Demian’s special guy. everyone else, though, seemed to be cast in the most humiliating role possible: horse to be ridden for Gregor, wild animal for Heathcliff, random peasant for Rodya, presumably homeless old person for Outis

ok Sansón. in the book, he’s a young college student who read the first part of Don Quixote and, in part 2, approaches Quixote saying he’s a big fan and encouraging him to go back out and do more knight stuff. However, he actually just thinks Don Quixote’s antics are very amusing and isn’t actually an earnest supporter, and is conspiring with the barber and priest to get Quixote back home to stay. the way they (priest and barber try to bring him home in part 1 is by tricking him with an adventure that’s conveniently in the same direction as their home village, but then they get sidetracked in an inn for a long time so they just put him in a cage and drive him home. in part 2, they want to play on Quixote’s terms for a more effective result. near the beginning of the second part, they have Sansón dress as a knight (called the Knight of Mirrors/Knight of the Forest. these titles have no significance in the book but apparently the mirror thing forces Quixote to see himself as the frail old man he is in Man of La Mancha), say his lady is fairer than Dulcinea to get Don Quixote to duel him, and then make Quixote promise to stay home for a year when he loses. however, Sansón is the one who loses, because he wasn’t expecting Quixote to actually be good at jousting. Later, near the very end, which iirc is 3 months after the first encounter, another knight called the Knight of the White Moon issues the exact same challenge to Don Quixote (it’s just Sansón again, and "White Moon" has no significance in the original book either), but this time Sansón wins, so Don Quixote goes home, dejected, and then becomes “sane” again and dies.

Since this Sansón is part of Demian’s group, I don’t think his intentions will be the same- the Barber was a bloodfiend, and he sees beyond the ambitions of the bloodfiends now- but it’s fun to know how he is in the source nonetheless

I really like how he didn’t show up after the Barber’s defeat to say something cryptic and then leave, he told us quite a bit, and though his methods were… questionable, he DID force the sinners to actually finally pay attention to Don Quixote

speaking of the stage play, I like the juxtaposition between Sansón’s play and the Barber’s. in a different context, what Sansón did might’ve been framed as horrifying, and we’d be talking about how uncanny and unreal this is, but I don’t think that’s the intention here. the sinners might be playing roles, and all the enemies are cardboard cutouts, but it’s better than putting targets on real people (though I guess they’re not “people”, they’re bad, bad, bloodfiends). the cheerful music in La Manchaland is distorted and out of place, while the stage play is nice in comparison. the music for the talking sections is a bit too upbeat for the situation, but the music during the battles really immerses you. guitar! trumpet! maraca! this music is clearly composed to emulate spanish music, and it’s very earnest, which I think is important, with how easily music sets tone in media.

in both cases, Don Quixote is in a delusion. nothing in the stage play of her adventures is real, but she’s also completely wrapped up in the narrative of evil bloodfiends without the knowledge that she is one. a violent nightmare and a peaceful dream, both of which she needs to wake up from.

they both do this thing with black-and-white thinking, too. there’s a difference between the “good” bloodfiends, which you should get along with, and the “bad” ones, which you need to kill (though Don sees them both as bad), and then the bandits in the stage play are cartoonishly evil and love to bully the weak. except it seems the first is the narrative the Barber wanted to sell, while the second is Don Quixote’s reality… I mean, the play is definitely inaccurate, but we’ve seen how Don behaves

if you follow me for kingdom hearts and are for some reason reading this you know how much I love Nobodies in kh. people who used to be human, but aren’t anymore, who look close enough but are different on an intrinsic and physiological level, that everyone automatically treats as unreasonable monsters that need to die when they’re more complicated than that… I love it so much, I’m cheering and clapping whenever bloodfiend morality is brought up. Moses said that Larierre was cordial and offered her a place to sit and talk, but then also said bloodfiends are insatiably hungry and you shouldn’t underestimate them. agh I love it

also THE MUSIIIIIC every fight theme so far has been a banger. songs that were already good but with typical carnival instruments, big brass swing, the aforementioned nice spanish music, and the fucked up and evil sequel to dubstep electroswing featuring evil laughter

and finally, the helm of mambrino. in early part 1 of Don Quixote, he sees a barber (COMPLETELY unrelated barber to the other barber btw) carrying a basin on his head, and thinks it’s the amazing mystical Helm of Mambrino, so he attacks the barber and steals the basin. Don Quixote wears it as a helmet a few times and everyone thinks it looks really stupid. they did not fight a bear for it, nor did they go into a cave. idk what this might actually be in the City. either we’ll see or we won’t

[yridenergyridenergy]

The wholesome-ish friendship between Shinya and Kyo

Their latest playful Q&A in Haiiro no Ginka vol. 100 has prompted me to compile examples of this weird but overall wholesome relationship that Kyo and Shinya have and which is not obvious at first.

Situation #1

In October 2017, Kyo gifted Shinya with a custom white version of a MadaraNingen one-piece. As far as I remember, that article of clothing was not available for purchase in white at all, to the public. And of course, we all know that Shinya prefers to wear white.

Situation #2

I think that in response to Shinya sharing a video of him briefly playing with the minicars that were sold as tour goods in This Way to Self-Destruction, Kyo posted a story on Instagram of him revving up a bunch of mini-cars and persistently making them hit his phone propped up on a counter and displaying a picture of Shinya. At age 43. To which Shinya made an Instagram post vaguely hinting that: "Good children should not play with the mini-cars to hit someone's picture!"

Kyo's Instagram Story "The proper way to use mini-cars" video

Shinya's translated response

Situation #3

In late 2022-early 2023, Shinya publicly celebrated his bandmates' birthdays via emojis on Twitter, and Kyo was the only one to respond, in kind.

Situation #4

Kyo posted a cryptic picture of Shinya's video meeting with Mana in an Instagram Story and he has mentioned on Twitter at least once that he was watching Shinya Channel (the making of the FaFa onigiri).

In the same vein, Shinya took his failed attempt at needle-felting a pink bunny in March 2022 and turned it into a miniature hammer-wielding bunny in October 2022, in response to sukekiyo unveiling their Mosaic Shoujo PV which featured Kyo in the killer bunny suit.

Situation #5

This very old video of Kyo teasing Shinya by pinching the side of his dress, Shinya reacting by pushing Kyo a bit and Kyo falling into a robot dance in response.

Situation #6

The coffee maker. In one of the live talks held during the COVID-19 pandemic at concert venues, Shinya mentioned having a coffee maker which was of no use to him, and Kyo expressed interest in taking it from him. Later, in the Galacaa livestream talk between the two, it was revealed that Shinya had promised to give Kyo his coffee maker, but he never pulled through on that offer. Kyo, sporting a doodled face to hide his own, insistently questioned Shinya on this unreliability when the topic was brought up by fans in the comments. Shinya kind of struggled but ended up explaning that the coffee maker was really useless because of a defect, that it would not have been an appropriate gift anymore. But he forgot to update Kyo about it after he tried to contact the manufacturer. Kyo replied like: "Oh, alright then."

At some point, Kyo took the matter to Twitter, confronting Shinya about it with their respective member photos to illustrate the dialogue, and Shinya replied the same way.

Situation #7

In that same livestream, Shinya is so used to Kyo's bullshit by now that he completely ignores Kyo's doodle face sheet and casually leans forward to look past him and at the interviewer, sat on Kyo's right. After a while of this, the interviewer points out to Shinya that Kyo is insistently staring at him with this disturbing face, which is when Shinya becomes startled and nervously laughs upon realizing that, also making Kyo chuckle.

Situation #8

More often than others, Shinya and Kyo are documented chatting on the chairs backstage while they wait for everyone to be ready to start the show. Maybe there's something to be said of how they are the two members of the band to leave the stage the quickest, while Kaoru, Toshiya and Die stay for a while to throw picks.

Situation #9

Miscellaneous pictures of the two:

Situation #10

Apparently it was Shinya's earbuds that Kyo used to play with the cat (also Shinya's?) in this famous old video.

Situation #11

Other interactions on Twitter include commentary regarding the song battles that fans were voting on via that same website, during live broadcasts from their manager Fujieda on Galacaa. Kyo and Shinya were the only two members reacting to the songs that were pulled out of the box, Kyo sometimes replying to Shinya's own tweets wondering what he meant or outright questioning his preference.

Another interaction consisted in Kyo copying Shinya's tweets regarding the release of their Phalaris album and twisting Shinya's cute comments into hellish versions.

Situation #12

Probably a bunch of elusive comments throughout the years, but here's an example of something that Shinya said about Kyo in a magazine interview.

Situation #13

In Haiiro no Ginka vol. 100, the members were asked to send each other member five questions. Some chose to personalize them based on what they actually wanted to ask of the others, while a couple decided to send the same questions to all, but members were not told who the questions came from. Kyo picked up on that anonymous part of the game and when answering Shinya's set of questions, he ended each of his short answers with a second sentence that can either just be the Kansai dialect for: "Aren't you Shinya!", or in other dialects, translates more to: "Shinya, you bastard!" hahah. From what I saw, nobody else hinted at who they thought the questions came from in their answers. In reverse, Kyo took up two of his five alloted questions for Shinya with the simple statement: "You don't know you're dead yet!", a quote from Fist of the North Star which is highly intimidating as it hints that someone has defeated the character so easily and lightning-fast that they are a dead man standing, their body having trouble catching up with the reality that they were slaughtered. Shinya, in response to that repeated tease, stubbornly replies in his polite and formal Japanese that: "No, I'm not dead." Their Q&A with the other members were not nearly that quirky.

Situation #14

At his SERAPH birthday concert in 2023, Shinya said that his three treasures in life are:

DIR EN GREY

SERAPH

sukekiyo

Situation #15

Kyo replying to Shinya's post featuring a very old picture of Kyo (which was however respectfully hidden by Phalarisu-kun) by pulling out the oldest/youngest postcards of Shinya he could find, also commenting to paraphrase Shinya: "Postcards that probably no one has anymore." His own postcard depicting him peeks from underneath.

Shinya replied to that with: "I tried to look for it but couldn't find it 🥺"

Situation #16

On Twitter, Shinya posted a photo with other artists which he explained as: "Yesterday, we had a birthday celebration for everyone born in February and March 🎂 Happy birthday everyone 🎉🎉🎉"

To which Kyo directly replied: "I wasn't invited." (born February 16th)

And Shinya responded with: "The DIR EN GREY guys are a bit mean 🥺"

Kyo never replied to that.

Situation #17

Going to combine two things considering how long ago they were.

Shinya and Kyo were the first members of Dir en grey to meet, and the day right after I posted this compilation happened to be the 28th anniversary of when they first performed together.

There's also an anecdote that, way back then, no one in the band knew how to contact Kyo because none of them had his phone number, but eventually Shinya just casually revealed that he had it all along and said: "Oh I'll just call him"

Situation #18

Shinya and Kyo are the only members who are clearly dog lovers in the band, while Die and Toshiya are part of the cat team. Shinya used to have a dog (chihuahua?) and Kyo now has Pun-cha. Shinya recently wore a sweater with a dog on it.

Situation #19

In a tweet that Kyo has since deleted, he wrote that if there was one grudge he still held, it was that he never appeared on the cover of a Rockin'f magazine. Shinya also wasn't featured, so he added that while he doesn't have a grudge against them, he has declined interviews and comments for a certain magazine after that.

Situation #20

During their European tour 2024, Kyo and Shinya embarked in a playful spat on Twitter, seemingly out of boredom while traveling on the tour bus. It was funny the way it culminated in both of them forcing the other to subscribe to their fan clubs to find out more. On Kyo's side at least, I didn't see anything related to that on kyo-online for real hah.

Situation #21

Shinya took the time to snap a picture of Petit Brabançon playing on the Yunika Vision screens while he was out solving a game, then posting that on Twitter and promoting Petit Brabancon. " I heard Kyo sing while solving a mystery in Shinjuku"

He also made numerous mentions of the Petit Brabancon posters around Gorilla Hall in his video touring that venue:

... Did I miss any? And there will undoubtedly be more to come!

Thank you very much to shinyaburashka, mementoboni, lamenty45 and degtau for your help!

[yuurei20]

Twst Channel Halloween Special 2023, notes

・It has begun! The location of the new Halloween looks like it is called “Playful Land,” the Twst equivalent of Pleasure Island?

・There is a PV!! Ortho! kalim looks amazing! Ace! Circus theme!

・HONEST JON Oh he looks amazing

・Evil laughter, who is this? We don’t know, they didn’t show us…

・“The Dancing Dolls and Theme Park of Illusion” Fellow Honest and Gideru (Spelling might be wrong, apologies!)

・Fellow Honest is voiced by Sugita Tomokazu! (Gintama, Demon Slayer, JOJO’s Bizarre Adventure, Persona 5, ONE PIECE)

・Now is the card illustration reveal! (After the commercial. Since Ace, Kalim and Ortho were the only ones in the PV, maybe they are the SSR?)

・Trey is an R card! (These designs are amazing) Jack is also an R card! We get to see just his entire tail!! Jade is an R! His has eels forming a heart at his hip! Floyd’s Okamoto is delighted. Lilia is an R! Yana had so much fun with these designs, they are so great.

・SR Vil! Wearing a toy soldier hat. So interested in the story, what is going on. SR Floyd! Such dynamic poses this time, for the dancing dolls theme, maybe. Also, heart eels on his boots! Leona is SR, his ears from out of his hat, top hat Leona amazing. Cater is SR! He looks so good!

・SSR! Ace! Yamashita is delighted, it is an amazing illustration. SSR Kalim! This is a very new look for Kalim, looks so good. SSR Ortho! So great, this is so interesting, what is going on with everyone aahh

・Now are comments from Yana (read by Kalim’s Furuta) on the new characters’ designs. Theme Park show actor theme! Based on Stromboli’s puppet show and pleasure island, but mostly inspired by the puppet show. Hidden characters in the three SSRs? Event starts on the 20th!

・And now they are going to talk about Twst Fes! Kalim’s VA Furuta is taking off his shirt to show off his muscles again ww he did this at Twst Fes too

・Kalim’s Furuta is talking about nervous he’s been to do the live script reading during Twst Fes. He says he planned the salute that he and Jamil’s Futaba did when they appeared on stage and were surprised when all the other groups did the same thing ww

・Kalim’s Furuta is showing off his socks and now everyone is standing up to show off their clothes they are so funny

[ded-lime]

what i think on the whole making vessels thing the pale king did

first of all this is not about excusing pk, however the 'me exploding people who say pk is an asshole and throws kids in a pit with my mind' is very true, aside from the fact that it's literally not what happened, pk's character is all about a guy who was in a desperate situation without a good solution and saying that he's bad for what he did is missing the point. just like the colour scheme of his palace bro is morally grey. there are things that i believe made his plan sound not as bad as it is before it's implementation, and some of my interpretation seems to differ to how it is more commonly seen (that i know of at least).

so what was the plan? place eggs in he abyss and let the void animate their shells and voilà got some vessels.

why have the void? well one reason is obvious - it's a natural enemy to the radiance of sorts, an opposite of light. another one is the supposed belief that a creature of void does not feel or think. also yes the idea is that 100% of them are empty, that's the foundation it is on. i believe that he has done some experimentation before making this plan(and possibly before the infection): he's the type to build and reasonably coming up with that shit requires familiarity with the void. so assuming that they would not feel pain or think could come from that, also not that insane for a god who gave bugs minds of their own to think that with walking examples of void constructs. so godly resilience and empty head, can't feel the pain he has to put it through and strong enough to contain another god.

why so many of them? the reasoning for that is the same as why any creature has many kids: most of them not surviving for long. not just the climb, but just not even being born (which i think most of them just didn't) or dying right after (instability such as turning to liquid or crumbling shell).

the climb so here's a thing i thought since playing the game years ago. the abyss memory is a dream and not quite literal. you hit an egg with a dream nail, every time you've done that you go to a dream, i don't see why this is different besides it looking differently. the real part being pk getting pv and fucking off. and climbing up in general i guess but you know that. i don't think the ghost was literally hanging on that ledge and literally falling off after some screenshake. it's a representation of ghost and/or every other vessel getting left behind and pv leaving. and getting charm about uniting the void right after plays more into it.

the climb in itself could be a way to see which ones are stable enough, could also be a culture thing as rotten eggs all around hallownest may suggest that they are a bit more like actual animals in regard to offspring. (don't forget that this is not human society we are talking about.)

the main fucked-up-and-feeling-guilty-about thing in this whole ordeal is letting the void consume thousands of your yet unborn children inside out and subsequently animating them with it or let radiance kill everyone and picking the first one. which is you know, sucks and is pretty fucked up and he did indeed feel guilty about it. well that and then the whole hollow knight ordeal later but that's pretty straightforward. does he realise that they are not empty? like yeah probably suspected it at the very least, but that's when you can't just drop everything you've done up to this point to save everyone. only thing that does is add more guilt and drama.

the things done and decisions made were not to be cruel or evil or whatever, we don't see what this place was like before the infection and for all we know he saw the future and still thought this was the best option. how fucked up would that be huh

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 52 Hype Posting

Hi void. I am going to vibrate out of my seat. Oh I'm going feral, absolutely feral. Another WSJ cover and lead colour page next week already! Promotion on TV during prime-time in Japan! The insanely good volume 4 PV! Hokazono-sensei judging for a manga award! Kagurabachi's getting the push to be the Next Big Thing at last- you love to see it.

Kind of.

I want Hokazono-sensei to get all the recognition he deserves, but I also don't want the fandom to explode and become yet another annoying dudebro space. The success of the series is more important though, so I'm happy to see Kagurabachi get so much support. Everyone needs to know about this manga! ANYWAY.

LOOK AT THIS TROLL.

It's Chihiro's turn to have a creepy parasocial admirer now.

Hiruhiko's not doing this just for kicks, however- he deliberately (and successfully) triggered Chihiro to orchestrate his dramatic fall. Given what happened at the end of this chapter, I would not be surprised if Chihiro's literal descent is foreshadowing a metaphorical one of some kind down the line.

And this just breaks my heart:

Triggers Chihiro's rage then fucks off only to do this? I will not be mourning Hiruhiko's death.

Chihiro's not built for being a murder bot and it pains him so much to be seen as equivalent to someone like Hiruhiko. But he was taught to see things through and uses his hatred for the Hishaku to keep going. Revenge is probably the only thing he wakes up every day for- he wasn't kidding about that "fresh hatred" line in chapter 1. And neither was Shiba when he said living like this would break him. This kid needs a hug and a safe place to cry out the pain so badly, man...

More than that, though... more than anything...

HIRUHIKO'S THE FUCKIN' ANTI-HAKURI.

"We're equals", he says. "I killed my family", he mentions. "Let's be friends," he asks as he forces his way into Chihiro's life. "I'm the only one who can understand you." The hell you aren't you rat bastard. Hakuri's the one whose soul resonates with Chihiro's. He's the one Chihiro acknowledged as an equal and a friend. BEGONE, FOUL DEMON.

God damn it. Hokazono, I love you for making my most hated villain archetype into a character I want to see more of. I've never understood why playful psychopaths are so beloved but I get it with this guy. Smooth move making him the evil version of my favourite character in all of fiction, Mr. Author. Now I need Hiruhiko and Hakuri to face off over their ideals about who Chihiro really is. It would be the perfect reprise to the Sojo arc! PLEEEEEEASE. There's so much HakuHiro potential in this setup... Hakuri being the one to pull Chihiro forward again would be amazing. But not for his own goals this time- just to help Chihiro as a true friend and partner. Not gonna get too attached to this since it's just one potential development out of many... I won't let myself... (too late).

(Psst... 昼チ or 昼チヒ will probably be the JP ship tag/name for Hiruhiko/Chihiro. Ain't no way Chihiro is the top in this pair for most Japanese fujin lol.)

The Show

The main character of the play's name is Sasuke and Hokazono-sensei is a huge Naruto fan. So much so that he's taken his own spin on Naruto and Sasuke three times now (Enten, Roku no Meiyaku, Kagurabachi). Chihiro is, in fact, his OC donut steel character inspired by the most annoying emo ninja boy ever. I see you, Hokazono-sensei.

The Battle of Soshima might be a made-up title to reference the real historical event The Battle of Tsushima, which fellow Golden Kamuy fans will recognize. At any rate, there aren't any famous Japanese stage plays with the same name, so there's no direct narrative parallels to draw insight from (sad trombone noises). Fortunately for us Hiruhiko is a yapper like I hoped and tells us the plan pretty plainly anyway:

I relate so hard right now, random audience guy.

Hiruhiko says the plan to kill Chihiro's not a bluff. But he's not acting like he's intends to make good on that statement. So that means...

Perception vs Intent

Chihiro looking his best: stressed and menacing

This is gonna be huge I think. Remember what Azami said back in the Sojo arc in ch. 9:

Azami, please come back soon. I need you carnally.

Then consider likes like this...

Local violent gang member still pretty tough after becoming human shishkebab through a moving train.

Chihiro could be set up to tarnish his father's legacy.

The public doesn't know the true strength or capabilities of the weapons that won the war- they just know that Rokuhira Kunishige made them and they were the key to winning. So Chihiro dropping in on a stage play to splatter the audience with a headless corpse's blood is not a great first impression. He looks downright villainous in this scene. Awesome, but villainous.

The Hishaku are going to metaphorically "kill" Chihiro somehow. For some reason, tormenting this poor guy is absolutely vital to John's plans... it's probably more along the lines of Chihiro being a useful pawn to move around to create conflict they can exploit, but still. They're going to try to break his spirit this arc for sure. Leave Chihiro alone! He's been through enough!

I've got a hell of a lot to say about this but I need some key details from the next few chapters before going off on lunatic tangents. Fuckin' hell though, this is great. This is exactly the type of development I was hoping we'd see after Samura's chapter. Chihiro's committed to the cause of killing the Hishaku, who so far have been wholly unsympathetic villains. But killing is a wrongful act. And this chapter sets up that Chihiro might not be the sympathetic avenging swordsman we love him as in the eyes of the public- he appears to be more of a menace like some of the members of the Kamunabi accused him of. He might be challenged on his murderous modus operandi via a Hishaku-backed smear campaign. Seriously, using Chihiro's brutality against them to ruin his father's legacy would be so evil and cruel. I love it.

We'll be able to count on Shiba and Hakuri to make sure Chihiro doesn't go off the deep end at least. I wouldn't be surprised if Hiyuki played a pivotal role in helping Chihiro out this arc too, but I don't want to commit when we've hardly seen anything of her so far (my spaghetti sovereign... please come back to the main story full-time soon).

Whether or not I'm right (I'm not, I never am), Chihiro's murder sprees fueled by Fresh Hatred are going to get looked at in a critical way. High time and I am definitely here for it. Tell me what you've got to say about violent revenge motivated by grief, Hokazono-sensei. You have more space to examine the topic now compared to Farewell! Cherry Boy.

Shorter than usual but that's not a bad thing. I can always come back and edit this (came back to do so twice now already) or make another addendum post, but...

... Just choose kindness, people. For yourself and others. See you later.

[tinycheesecakedetective]

*Addendum: Fading Letters AU pt. 2: White Lily

I'm a FOOL.

Apparently I've lost all sense of time because I've been gone for a YEAR AND FIVE MONTHS. What the heck. Right. My rendition of Swap!Lily, everyone. It would've been out sooner, but I cannot draw backgrounds for the life of me. This had me stumped for a good long while until I just decided "fuck it we ball", and here we are now. I'm just glad it's out so I don't have to worry about her anymore.

Now unlike PV, I thought White Lily didn't need any updates to her look in the AU. I thought she was pretty set and done, but I reserve the right to change my mind in the future. Her design is pretty simple; it's the blind healer outfit but more so tailored to White Lily. Her staff is bound shut, she's cloaked and wearing rags, and most notably, her eyes aren't visible. She's hiding her identity out of shame, in search of something precious to her.

~~~

Quick Rundown: White Lily is stuck in Beast Yeast after falling ill, so Pure Vanilla went in her place at her request. (For more information, click https://www.tumblr.com/tinycheesecakedetective/744518672544071680/im-baaaack-i-mean-i-made-one-post-about) .

After PV became this universe's Dark Enchantress, the other half of him was sent to the Fairy Kingdom. Meaning unlike Canon PV, White Lily found out VERY quickly about what happened to him(or what she thinks happened, all she knows is that he's dead), and she takes the news horribly. She immediately blames herself for what happened and ended up grief stricken over the entire thing, so much so that she hallucinates him calling out to her. Elder Faerie tried her best to console her afterwards, and told her it would be possible to bring him back. She swears she'll do everything in her power to bring him back, but the Dark Flour War starts and she has to head back to Crispia. During the fighting, White Lily debates telling the others about what happened to Pure Vanilla, but she doesn't get to when she sees what looks like PV. She thinks it's really him, but then upon closer inspection she realizes something's not right. In reality, the real PV is wreaking havoc across Earthbread as this universe's DE, and no one knows it. The final battle is upon them, and PV has them against the ropes, their soul jams in his grasp. In a last ditch effort, White Lily attacks full force with dark moon magic and is able to stop him. She realizes who he really is, and while she's shocked, WL instead shows determination. She's part of the reason why he is the way he is, but she wants to set things right.

After the war, WL spent some of her time in Beast Yeast in order to understand how to bring back PV. With Elder Faerie's help, she returned to Crispia in search of the soul gem shards. She becomes a nomad, wandering around the world and only stopping for breaks. Along the way, she meets several cookies and makes a new friend. Her journey comes to a halt, however, when a group of travelers also finds one of the shards in their own quest.

~~~

Got all that? Great, here are a few head canons! White Lily's the one that bound her staff shut. From time to time, she visits the Vanilla Kingdom and gives a small tribute to PV. WL also keeps in touch with Elder Faerie through white butterflies he sends, and he gives her advice and motivation. Sometimes she makes small resting areas, and whenever she packs up a lily is there in it's place.

And that's it for now! If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to ask. Y'all have a good evening!

[foxwitchaine]

Which is your most hated character in Miraculous Ladybug?

I wouldn't say hate so much as strongly dislike, as it takes a lot for me to outright loathe a fictional character. More often than not, I have better things to spend my energy on than hating a fictional character.

But if I were to answer that, five take the top spot:

1.) Lila Rossi

I know. Surprising, isn't it. Well, it's all fun and games until you actually meet one in real life. And it's frustrating as hell getting those with the wool over their eyes to listen until it's too late. I have to emphasize that it wasn't originally part of the plan to redeem her in the early drafts. It was thanks to Rafe that I even considered doing a Lila redemption.

Lila had a lot of potential in the early seasons. Of course, that was before she was turned into a one-dimensional villain with little in the way of making her interesting. It says something that I got the feeling the showrunners were trying to make her hateable without actually putting in the effort while reading the Chameleon transcripts. (I had to stop reading to settle my blood pressure)

All in all, Lila is just a symptom of a bigger underlying issue regarding the show's writing. I personally think she has a very nice design, but it looks better in 2D than 3D.

2.) Gabriel Agreste

He's a severely underwhelming main villain. At the start, he had potential. But as the series drags on, it's become painfully clear that the showrunners don't actually know how to make a compelling main villain. He was surprisingly much more intimidating and better-designed in the pilot PV.

Gabriel also lacks the charisma you would find with iconic main villains such as Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, the rogues gallery in the first Powerpuff Girls, Batman's rogues gallery, and so on. I could make a whole post about how to write Gabriel better, but I don't feel like resurrecting a dead horse.

3.) Adrien Agreste

The poster boy for wasted potential. When Rafe and I first started watching Miraculous Ladybug, Season 2 hadn't been released yet. He was nice, if a bit bland. Could have used some flavorblasting in both design and personality (he's a fashion model, for crying out loud. Where's his fabulous wardrobe?)

And then all the red flags in Seasons 3-5 started popping up.

As it stands, he's nothing more than a plot device to humiliate poor Marinette. And a mouthpiece for the writers' very skewed morality. We weren't going to redeem him at first, but then it occurred to me a fantastic way to strike a devastating blow against Gabriel. I won't say anything more since they're spoilers.

4.) Alya Césaire

Ohhhh boy. Where do I even begin with this one? Disregarding the racism allegations towards the writers regarding her character, Alya is just an awful best friend, plain and simple. While it's true that she's a go-getter who isn't afraid to go for what she wants, that same trait has pretty much been solidified into a toxic trait courtesy of her refusal to question Lila later in the show. Even after Marinette broke down in front of her and confessed her secret identity in Gang of Secrets.

I will forever hate that episode just for how entitled everyone was about Marinette's secrets.

When Rafe and I were brainstorming who to use as our civilian antagonist to fill in for Lila, it was rather telling that Alya was among our first choices. It wasn't our intention for her to fall as hard as she did in The Wolves in the Woods, but honestly? It was inevitable.

5.) Caline Bustier

She's a non-authority figure who coddles the troublemakers in her class. I'm restraining myself at the moment because I've had teachers just like her in real life. Who look good on paper and are the sweetest people on the outside. But their inability to discipline a class regardless of behavior does a lot more damage in the long run than many would care to admit.

Bustier is a character who I could have grown to understand if the writers handled her better. The biggest brat of the school is the daughter of the city mayor. That right there is a beautiful setup for interesting conflict. We could have gotten a plot where we had a good, caring teacher trapped in a terrible situation by her superiors. Which is unfortunately something that can and does happen in real life. Instead, we got an airhead who can't for the life of her understand this simple thing called nuance.

I find it very telling the fandom prefers Mendeleiev over her.

Honorable Mentions:

Principal Damocles: Too much of a spineless noncharacter to really care about

Tom and Sabine: I try to understand the parents' side of things given parenting is far from an easy task

Bustier's class: A mixed bag here, since I don't think they're necessarily bad kids

Mayor Bourgeois: Again, another mixed bag here since he's another spineless "parent"

Zoé Lee: Too much of a blank slate to have an opinion on

Félix Fathom: What kind of a name is that?

Master Fu: He was done so dirty in his backstory

Chloé Bourgeois: Another with wasted potential

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Yapping about 2.2 CN livestream yippee

Disclaimer:

(Does not surprise me that the characters are white, Bluepoch is a CN company and with the gap between Global and CN versions they are more likely to cater to CN audiences than Global. Hyping R1999 as good rep with only one patch and three characters was setting up expectations. If anything we had a higher chance of getting poc characters in this patch, and only a higher chance.)

The release being just after Natlan was horrible timing tbh. Am I disappointed? yes. Surprise? no. This was the more likely outcome and after oh boy the reception will be for the patch Bluepoch should rethink future patches. People have the right to complain about this patch and Bluepoch should learn from this.

Alright other bits:

(Us getting to Brazil this quickly is probably due to Red-38, Lilya did cross the Aegean Sea in 1.9 and I think 2.1 shows it got upgraded)

Oh lawd Vertin suffering immediately, jesus being choked to death oh wow were not holding punches, you can see her actually pass out lawd. We literally cannot leave Vertin alone before someone attempts to murder her. She's already burnt her finger (thats minor), had someone reshow her trauma and now being choked to death and its only the third patch. How is she alone? With the officer maybe or spots Kimberely and chases after her/ gets cut off to end in this situation? Is this near the end of the patch story maybe? Im guessing the spy Igor talks about is that guy or he is working with the spy.

Last time Vertin was completely alone: Oranges scene with Arcana, Tuesday and the illusion and now this.

Kimberely being playable (I saw that post earlier on who she is based on why did it not click) is pretty cool, another singer character is nice. This is the literal reverse of the oranges scene with a better outcome. (Ms Grace is an engima pun intended, where is she? Shes the one Kimberely is following after so probably may hunt her or even Vertin directly)

Sophia being the leader of the new Manus interesting (I wanna see where they will go with her) (so far everyone thinks Arcana is dead but Druvis)

Lopera probably is gonna need to grow on me, so far not much (the others like Mr Duncan and the Awakened character I forgot their name drew me more), we got that Manus guy who the PV focused on probably conflict in that.

Having an Awakened similar to A Knight is a win (such a cool design)

Mr Duncan seems like a fun character (like Lopera I need a bit more)

The story being focused on Zeno is interesting (I guessed right that Zeno will get focused on in these patches) Hopefully we may get more characterisation of Lilya this time.

Sotheby potentially getting a new mentor figure from Me Duncan in that one frame like Mr Karson would be interesting.

Urd/Martha/ Bessmert is here! Deffo shes gonna pick up Vertin after she passes out, likely looling after her until she wakes up and disappears or somethin. (Vertin is gonna have questions she saw Martha disappear in the 1914 why is she here?) (Also yep deffo her mom or a relative, their hair colour looks identical)

Skins!!! Shamane, Vila and Marcus!! I don't have Shamane but Im so close to not being f2p with Vila and Marcus. Look how happy Marcus is! 37 ult looks amazing as well. So many skins this time around.

The suitcase lobby! It can change! Its so pretty! O wonder if in future patches we may get other designs, like Vienna for example?

(Candy crush lol)

The greater question is if this Chapter will be one arc or span multiple patches like the latter half of the 1.0 story?

[lizaluvsthis]

Since Fatal Lavenders will be discontinued / wont have another chapter for this year- I'm dropping off notes-

OLD CONCEPT REF SHEET

CURRENT CONCEPT

These were all part lore dumps that I never gave more details for her character I just want people to know that she aint dead. Yet.

INCOMING LORE:

HEATHER'S LORE:

Lets just say her Human body became permanent right after PV created it just for her. In order for the body to deform and revert back to goop- the USB had to be broken.

The USB is supposedly attached INSIDE of her right hand- (I didn't included that because it mightve been a bit too gore-ish black-)

She had those clear milk skin, more of a brownish color hair, and also heterochromia eyes.

And ofcourse, Four's favorite color. Blue. The thought of matching colors with your partner would've been a thing by now for her.

In the end of the plot- she was different than that- she considered to be one of those good people who change for the better. (This was her second option)

SMG3 is just jealous when she's around with him but doesn't say a word, remains to be silent all the time.

The clear skin is supposed to be vitiligo and such as her eyes are like bright blue ones. She wears casual clothes than the overalls.

Heather uses She/Her pronouns. Her sexuality is undefined.

SHORTER THAN SMG4! She is genuinely a nice person (even at the end) but since I didn't like the plot of soft- I erased her full character and made a new one for TAG6 as a replacement.

Heather died happily and accepted her fate.

The flowers symbolize as the main characters:

Orange - Meggy

Red - Mario

Purple - SMG3

Blue - SMG4

Light blue - P E A C H

TAG6's LORE:

She had tanned skin and a curly brunette hair. Just by looking at her eyes you KNOW there's something up with it.

Unlike anyones white eyes, they have one more of a yellow-ish detail of color. The overalls are part of what the usb could copy just like Three and Four's main one.

For TAG6, their Human Body is temporary. By what Puzzles made for her has a limit due to the USB's capacity. With that said- the USB is right inside of her. To function it must be there.

Tag6 is shown to have a mean trait- tho she never loved SMG4 at all and to anyone else she doesn't like anyone that they encounter.

The lilac filled on their eyes have somekind of hypnotism when people stare at it. (It may work for some but it doesn't work all of the time)

I thought of making her whole appearance give out the lilac theme due to the mixture of RED and BLUE.

(Which is aka SMG3 and SMG4's eye color and since they helped each other out to finish the usb I think they shared some of their links)

Tho TAG6 does have a yellow appearance in its Combat mode.

Tag6 uses she/they/it pronouns. Its orientation is Aromantic.

THEY'RE SLIGHTLY TALLER THAN SMG4! (Suprisingly this doesn't bother him at all since any woman/men is what he'd prefer-)

And since SMG3 is different to act here when with TAG, he starts up an arguement calling her as weak/selfish than she already is. Causing them to piss off and smash his face with its hammer to the air.

Tag6 can be a bit more impatient, they may look like they're a nice person in general but literally they do it for attention and to get what they're willing to succeed.

But in reality behind their mask they turn out to be the cold hearted, uncaring, hateful, disgusted, and a negative being out of all existance.

At the end of the plot they didn't give a damn when it came to SMG4 she just wanted to finish the mission for its master. But since it failed, she never cared anymore less rather than punching insults at Four.

She gives out the color of Lavender which also is close to main purple (because Purple is SMG3's color signature as well-) TAG6 is basically a copy of that color as well.

I think those are all of it- thank you so much for reading everyone I hope I made some of yall inrerested about this lore because not any other people can create such an amazing idea like this one-

Also for those who are waiting for the new chapter it wont come out this year so you'll have to expect it for the early 2025th

[musicfranchisetournament]

propaganda under the cut !!

bang dream :

back again apparently there was also no propaganda which.  i thought bandori was more popular, rip. Anyway ive been playing for years and its so fun, all the music is great (mostly, im not a fan of hhw sorry). but genuinely all thw bands arw so good and they've improved a lot over the years, plus the newer bands are awesome. actually how do i do propaganda aside from showing people the music. you just gotta believe me its good. i love roselia and afterglow abd  ras. also prsk fans,  shiho is in this and shes in roselia

LOOK. i get it crashes a lot. i get the gameplay isnt for everyone. i dont care. i will always love bandori. the covers slap and the comms are good and the art style is pretty and i just. love it. lisa best girl

idolm@ster :

This franchise started back in 2005. After 19 years, it's still ongoing with new characters and songs. So many variety of songs. There's the OG idolmaster, dearly stars, cinderella girls, million live, sidem, shinymas, and the most recent, gakumas. You can definitely find a character you like. I'm very thankful for idolmaster.

look at saki hanami. listen to her lil pv intro. listen to fighting my way. look at uhm. ok theres not much content yet for hatsuboshi gakuen but like i love her already idcccc. tbh i was just looking for oc voice claims when i found her but i love her. i know nothing about these games or anime or wtv  maybe i shoukd.

[asimplevampire]

so thanks to angelapleasant's take on Buzz in Something Wicked (brilliantly written btw), I've been thinking about how I want to do the Grunts, because I was never satisfied with how I was writing them. If I ever bring back my modern uberhood (I have the canon URL!) or if I want to play them in medieval PV or what have you. and well.

I do like the fanon more than she does, but I also want it to be more. complicated. tastier. a bit less... teenage. and seeing angelapleasant's depiction of Buzz and Tank made it click, the exact dynamic I want.

so in order to make this work we first need to accept a postulate: all the Grunt boys are neurodivergent. yes, all. None of them will ever get a proper diagnosis while they're living under Buzz's roof. But...

Buzz is the kind of middle-aged white guy who yells at everyone if he can't keep to his strict routine, and only eats three foods, and has Strong Opinions about sportsball statistics. He's very invested in Looking Like The Right Kind Of Person-- he's constantly masking, honestly-- and very invested in Being Normal. (Incidentally, this is why Buzz hates PT- not aliens in general, PT and the Smiths. He can't stand that someone so Weird is better at Being Normal than his family.)

Tank takes after his dad, and also has the profound misfortune of Taking Ideas Seriously. When Tank believes in something, he genuinely believes it with his whole chest. This is a rarer quality to have than one might think. It is also a deeply unfortunate quality to have in a place like Strangetown.

Ripp doesn't like routines. Or being told what to do. Or having to focus on anything but the, like, three things he cares about. And none of those things are Normal- he likes art and music and writing terribad romance novels. He's also flamingly bi, and since he's a Romance sim, he's not very good at keeping it under wraps. He started talking about having crushes on boys in kindergarten.

Buck has exactly one interest (pet fashion!), is also an incredibly picky eater, doesn't like loud noises or crowds, and can't tie his shoes or tell time on an analog clock. He talks a lot with family and friends, but completely clams up around strangers.

And so we've got this family dynamic where...

Buzz is harder on Ripp than he is on either of his other children. Buzz desperately wants Ripp to be Normal, for both selfless and selfish reasons. The world's a cruel place to be Not Normal, after all... and it's a cruel place if your kids reflect Weird back on you.

Perhaps a bit too hard. Perhaps pushing into the realm of "asking Ripp to do the unwise or impossible". Perhaps getting worse and more unreasonable the older (and surlier) Ripp gets.

Ripp resents this, ofc, and pushes back. They've got a vicious cycle going where Ripp rebels harder every time the General puts more expectations on him, which makes the General push back harder with more expectations, which makes Ripp rebel...

Tank has been watching this horrible cycle his entire life. And no one bothered to tell him that the expectations Buzz puts on Ripp are not the same expectations that Buzz wants him to live under.

And Tank takes ideas seriously.

So Tank is desperately struggling to live up to this impossible ideal that no one asked or expected of him. He's trying to be the perfect soldier, get perfect grades, be perfect at his job, keep his room perfectly tidy, be Better At Being A Good Normal Person than anyone else in the family, hate the people the General wants him to hate...

If Buzz knew what Tank has internalized, at this point, he'd be horrified. He mostly just wants his kids to do their best... and mayyyybe not publicly embarrass the family.

Buzz is also easier on Buck than either of his other children, because he's the baby and you just kind of ... instinctively want to take care of him. It doesn't hurt that Buck looks more like Lyla than either of the other kids...

So Tank is desperately struggling to live up to an impossible ideal that no one asked him to live up to; Ripp is desperately kicking against the pricks of an impossible ideal that everyone seems to want him to live up to; and Buck is alternating between Getting Forgotten and Getting Spoiled Rotten.

You've got this horrible, horrible family dynamic, that could probably be resolved with, like, three honest conversations and some honest renegotiation around expectations. But all of these men (except maybe Buck?) are incredibly emotionally constipated and Will Not Talk To Each Other without some severe goading from an outside force.

idk, that's just where I'm at at this point, and I don't think I've seen anyone else with this specific headcanon. especially not neurodivergent!Buzz.

[isekai-crow]

The Witch and the Beast / Majo to Yajuu Episode 1

Overall Score So Far: 9/10

WE'VE GOT A HOTTIE LINE UP OF ALL GENDERS!!

Guideau on the left, Ashaf in the middle, and Genderless Hottie on the right :3

HOW ARE THEY ALL SO PRETTY.

Anime, now with more CROW BAIT. This time it's literal!! :D

OF COURSE the Goth With The Coffin on his back can use CROW MAGIC. AHHHHHHH.

Also, Guys. You guys. Fucking TOSHIYUKI MORIKAWA is voicing Ashaf.

THE VOICE OF SEPHIROTH. GRIFFITH FROM BERSERK. DANTE FROM DEVIL MAY CRY. TYKI FROM D. Gray Man. We get THE KING OF THE DARK AND BROODY SEXY MAN VOICE.

And Guideau is voice by Taichi, You - Jousuke from JoJo, Suphia from TenSura, Saya from Dead Mount Death Play, and Dorothy from Princess Principal!! A great rough and tumble voice perfect for Guideau. (1st Epi Spoiler: I can't tell if she's voicing Guideau's true form.)

More Episode 1 Spoilers Below!

I don't really know what I was expecting except for Hot Goth Dude with a Coffin Boyfriend, and a badass punch-em-up beauty with a nasty mouth from the PV on youtube, but that's what I got and more, and I am so very pleased about it.

I was SO EXCITED ABOUT THE CROWS YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Hottie Mage whips out a spell covered arms and MY BABIES ARE BURSTING FORTH IN A MURDER OF ADORABLE!!! I might have woken up Capybara's deaf elderly neighbors in my excitement.

What I was not expecting was a giant Zom 100 Shark to show up in the middle of the city lmfao.

Zom 100 Zombie shark on the left and Big Buff Giant Shark Dude on the right.

It's just a dude whose turned himself into a shark with magic, who immediately gets dispelled by a witch, and that THIS IS A NORMAL OCCURANCE??? People are like, oh noooo, there's a giant shark, Ione will deal with iiiiit, no worriesssss.

The implications this gives of a mixed soft/hard magic system tho.

I'm really looking forward to learning (or maybe not learning and discovering through negative space) the rules that don't get broken (which is necessary for a magic system), but also hope that they'll be playing hard and fast with what's possible. Cause seriously, wtf is this shark. Delightful, lol.

They mind games played with "Are Witches Bad or Not?" in this episode is fun, because as a viewer going in blind, we could have had some lawful good protagonists or we could have had some chaotic anti-heros, and I would have accepted either outcome. We kind of get both and that's even better!

Trying to include a speech about the morals of getting revenge with Ione as she tries to justify her actions for removing the lock on her grandmother was interesting, but I'm still not sure if her Grandma was the one to cause the fire and people 300 years ago killed her, or if her getting blamed for the fires and then killed just so happened to lock the fire away, but either way...

Along with this I'm not surprised by the coven of would-be witch's nor the attempts by them to claim that witches aren't bad, "you're just like everyone else," when you can tell from the art that the stereotypes in this world hold weight, lol.

However, I don't know WHY I was surprised by said witches getting their hands and feet removed as part of a ritual summoning of hellfire.

How... how is there not blood E V E R Y W H E R E ??!!?? Some heavy duty arteries have been cut, yo. I guess there kind of is but there should be MORE.

Ashaf finally figures out what's going on and gives in to Guideau, letting her go wild, and HELL YES I love it when we get a beast gremlin on a rampage!

Witch Laser Beams! Sure!

I also LOVE when Characters get the shit beat out of them and then Keep. Standing. Up.

The very purposeful listing of the two ways to lift a Witch's spell at the very beginning of the show, True Love's Kiss or A Change of Heart),was such a great Chekhov's Gun that I knew there was probably going to be another (secret) way to deal with it.

Fuck yea, angry kiss!! Let Guideau feast on your soul!!

But the most surprising thing that has me fully on board and ready to rock and roll is Coffin Boyfriend.

What gender is Coffin Boyfriend? We don't know.

However.

Coffin Boyfriend is not a third character like I initially expected.

Coffin Boyfriend is Mother Fucking Guideau Y'all.

Everything makes so much sense now. Ashaf carries coffin boyfriend's true body around in his backpack like it's no big thing.

And Guideau, with all that rage packed into a tiny little body, has to go around kissing witches to switch from her current body back to the original to then proceed to beat the shit out of said witch.

I fucking here for this. I'm so hype.

Hot Bois, Crows, Body/Gender Swaps, Witch and Magic Fuckery. I'm here for it all, y'all.

(I might even go read ahead in the manga for this one cause OH MY GOD MANGA ASHAF IS ALSO VERY GOOD)

This ART STYLE.

But also... Chrollo? Is that you?

Ashaf on the left, Chrollo Lucilfer from Hunter X Hunter on the right.

I love this. I love their vibe. After Apothecary Diaries, this might just end up being my favorite this season. I'll save that judgement for a few more episodes in though.

ep2 ep3 ep4 ep5 ep6 <- these will eventually become links