#also his hubris is kinda hot tbh

[paranormalinstigator]

as someone who firmly believes in the paranormal because i have had paranormal experiences, i think shane madej is hilarious. i don't think he's stupid for not believing; i just think he's a fascinating individual because he's seen and heard more believable evidence than probably anybody, and he's still like "hm. nahhh. anyway!"

[mdpikachu]

Going thru his desert barren tag again and I wanna say as one of the 3 pyrrhon blorboers on earth I do think the fact he tried to incinerate pit is also essential to him 🙏 I do agree that he's more complex than ppl say, just I think he believes he's doing the right thing even though he's definitely not until the very end yk yk. Though tbh I'm just happy to see someone even try to think abt his morality when most ppl just take for granted what the other characters say abt him. Like he has more character traits than being a little dumb at points 😭

Oh it absolutely is important!! Upon further consideration it's very clear he thinks he's right... Right up until when he gets screwed over for his hubris.

But YEAH. He's out here trying his best. Guy knew what he was doing. Who else did???

And like. We have no info on what he was like outside of that. IS he a lil dumb? Absolutely. He's absolutely the kinda guy to use his divinity for the dumbest shit and he's right for it and all the gods hate him.

Why yes, he IS going to fly in the public square if it means helping that old lady get her cat from a tree.

The Sun God does not CONSIDER things. The Sun simply Is and Does.

And I still totally think he'd be an absolute killer at storytelling. You KNOW he'd be standing on a table, doing all the voices himself and acting things out.

Throw A... A... [has to check] Arlon in a partnership with him and you have a good set of DMs for a tabletop game. He brought food. It is hot and it is ready. (is it good?) It is hot. And it is ready.

pyrrhon........

[nalyra-dreaming]

Rewatch thoughts episode 3

The bench really carries decades old couple energy ;))

I desire not as much as you do in combination with the expectation of Antoinette burning later… Lestat fooling around probably never felt too threatening while everything was going well.

Edit: Thx to @lynnenne , I misheard: It’s actually I desire blood as much as you do… that voids the above completely, but gives an interesting aspect to his hunger phase indeed. And the control!

The Angel of Starvation. Criminal Biscuit. Drama Queen. (Edit 2: I know the transcript says "Angel of Salvation" here, but that I definitely hear differently, and tbh that one doesn't quite make sense to me, because Lestat is griping at Louis passing over victims he points out. But that just as a note.)

The pride in Louis‘ voice when he says that Antoinette had heard about the Azalea in Atlanta… and Lestat’s eyes following her right after Louis‘ said he didn’t want to kill anymore.

I always forget about the other businesses down Clayborne.

I am kinda sad they didn’t use Lestat had surrounded me in episode 1, just on the tape. Such a potent statement.

That respect for the choice Louis‘ had made was 90% annoyance I bet, tying in to what he says in episode 6, that he can feel Louis judgement.

If only Louis would have joined in that proposed threesome. Damn.

Sam got Lestat’s laughter down uncomfortably well.

The of course is still hilarious/ingenious.

I still stumble over sanctioned infidelity. Because that is not something I would‘ve taken away from that, lol.

It still is so weird Louis didn’t just fire her. I mean he had employed her. Never mind killing her, but I would’ve reacted allergic to her voice?!

And Louis always winning kinda implies he knows the trick to stop the time now… 😈

That no ring on your finger comment hits harder when you remember the emerald ring later… (books)

That kiss is really hot.

Louis‘ wounds are still healing when he’s back. Lestat probably didn’t need to see it, he smelled it. Also Louis coming right out with it….. GODDAMMIT TALK WITH EACH OTHER 😤 😫

Kill the Hans. God that whole scene is so …. brilliant. Every time. The emotions, the execution, the powers, the makeup. Just…

Also, quite a while ago someone mentioned that this is how Lestat and Louis fight prior to Claudia… prior to a real chance of Louis leaving. Quite equal shouting match. It’s really interesting.

The hobby remark and that whole scene. Ouch.

That sign while Lestat was still in there sure is something, Louis. The hubris on display…. have I mentioned how I love how this show plays with words.

The way Lestat drops the newspaper. Lmao.

Also Louis really knows where to hit with words, too. Oof.

I guess we all know that need to do something when we cannot… I can understand him there sooooo well. But still, choosing to bring her to Lestat for him to turn her… is quite the statement/decision, too. Gosh Louis 😅

[max--phillips]

Joel’s the obvious choice for a White Trash Wedding fic. I think Joel was always capable of the violence he dished out, it just took the right circumstances and motivation to bring it out of him, so given the right motivation in the fic (loved one put at actual risk by the Earl-equivalent), he could absolutely make that decision. Tbh I could see him and Tommy doing it together, or you could make it just Joel, him not wanting to put his brother at risk, giving him plausible deniability.

There’s a number of ways ‘Earl’ could go, too. Texas has a lot of hog farms or deep creeks. You could also have him ‘accidentally’ fall into the dug out and prepped foundation of a building scheduled to have concrete poured that week👀 Easy guarantee of people never finding the body. ALSO also any of the community members or secondary players could pull a Skidmore, MO, and maybe the whole neighborhood/town just aren’t that sympathetic about ‘Earl’s’ disappearance 😌

Taking notes taking notes…

This is irrelevant at this point because this idea fucks but the song you’re referencing is Goodbye Earl, which I have also had rolling around in my head for a fic idea for a hot minute, not White Trash Wedding, but for real

I mean. Here hang on

“Well, the weeks went by and spring turned to summer / And summer faded into fall / And it turns out he was a missing person who nobody missed at all”

SOUNDS LIKE THE WHOLE TOWN IS NOT THAT SYMPATHETIC TO EARL’S DISAPPEARANCE.

Anyway. This idea is beautiful and I love the idea of Joel and Tommy kicking ass for the “Wanda” character.

THAT SAID I would like to talk about White Trash Wedding for a moment. First of all because they fit THAT MUCH OF A BANGER into basically three verses.

“You can't afford no ring / You can't afford no ring / I shouldn't be wearing white / And you can't afford no ring”

“You finally took my hand / You finally took my hand / It took a nip of gin / But you finally took my hand”

THEN SKIP TO THE LAST VERSE

“Baby's on its way / Baby's on its way / Say I do and kiss me quick / 'Cause baby's on its way”

LIKE HELLO!!!!!!!!!

Imagine that! Joel gets you pregnant! He doesn’t wanna desert you but he’s also a little bit commitment-phobic, and you’re like. Dude. Let’s just get married. It’d placate my parents and we love each other anyway. And he’s like. Mmmmmmmmmmm yeah idk maybe. And you keep badgering him about it as you get closer and closer to your due date and finally you sit the man down with a drink for him and a not-alcoholic drink for you. And you’re like. Here’s the deal. You wanna be this kids dad? Marry me. And after the drink. He finally agrees. And you wanna get this show on the road and so do your parents, but you’re like, PREGNANT at this point. But you have a wedding date set anyway, a week before your due date, which is hubris at its finest. The day comes and you feel weird. Then you start having contractions. And you’re convinced they’re the fake ones, bc your due date isn’t for a week. You have time. And so you just tough it out which is MUCH easier said than done. But then. You’re in it. Wedding is happening. Joel knows something is up. You know something is up. Everyone’s kinda like. Something is up. And then about halfway through your vows you throw the towel in you’re like “alright this baby is coming right the fuck now let’s wrap this up.” Everyone is now freaking out trying to get you comfortable but you and Joel both are like, trying not to laugh about it because frankly this is insane. This is an insane series of events.

[plantwalkingamongstmeremortals]

Hi :) for the ask challenge : 1, 4, 7, 11, 15, 21

Obviously you don't have to answer all of them unless you want to :)

1. How long do you hc the travel time between Divinity’s Reach and Lion’s Arch?

I am VERY BAD at time and distances to be honest, something like a couple weeks by foot sounds like a decent distance between two major cities (esp considering how much of kryta is western europe and that doesnt seem completely incompatible with real life western europe) but i have a lot of trouble picturing how much that is, and tbh i'd need to add hundreds of villages and quite a few minor towns in between anyway to get something that feels like RealityTM.

Funny answer is the game is 100% of the reality of tyria. You CAN do the one-hour walk between LA and DR. the whole world is smaller than france. Not what i believe but really funny to think about.

4. How much smarter than everyone else are Asura actually? Is it all just hubris and in the end they just have a better education system?

YES IT'S JUST HUBRIS. The "some species just are Better at x" fantasy trope definitely is rooted in real life racism and i hate it so i really believe that all differences are cultural (because the implications otherwise feel kinda gross). And considering how high and mighty they are about it, them not sharing the education and science cuz "nah you humans/sylvari/charr/norn definitely are too stupid to understand" makes sense, but hopefully with everything that's been happening, asura seeing others make super cool tech and stuff, they'll realize that everyone will profit if they share their knowledge on a deeper level >:3

7. How does an average Sylvari’s average day look like?

im bad at average help. more seriously they don't feel like they have a structured work day like we do (and i assume most other races do too bc that's the vibe they give. gotta work in the fields or make tech or idk what). Maybe the Socialist Utopia where they come give a hand at the Necessary Jobs for a bit (just thinking about how the dream might mean everyone Knows how most of those work?) and then just chill out doing the hobby they feel called to. Overall i think they have a lot of ~empathy~ and respect of other individuals' liberties so theres not much being forced on others and people can just vibe however they want without having to stress about paying rent or shit like that.

11. Are magic abilities learned or are people born with them? A combination of both?

Mostly learned i think! There might be some biological stuff that might help somehow, like how some people learn how to draw way faster than others, and some others struggle A LOT but if the world has magic, i'd let anyone learn to channel it! And I think the way gw1 works might support it, with all the profession trainers who teach us skills..... The captured elites might be some form of "i saw magic used this way, so i am learning from seeing my magic used against me"? I really feel like i'm making shit up on the spot im sorry but also what did u expect from this idiot /lh

15. A headcanon about a minor race, like Quaggan or Dredge.

theyre all perfect. thats it. (more seriously i don't have that many thoughts about any of them i just think we should Learn More). Oh and considering the prev question: yes a necromancer quaggan is a posibility. Baby quaggan walk, followed by corpses, i love ♥

21. Mallyck. Other Trees. Mordremoth’s blighting trees… Are the Sylvari not unique?

hhhh so i was a bit no when i saw the question at first but ive been Thinking so. LETS RECAP THE DATA WE HAVE.

Apparently a dev confirmed malyck did Not Come from a blighting tree during a live or on reddit or whatever i can't check ever gw2wiki source okay, which confirms that whatever the most complicated answer to the question i come up with is most likely true.

The wiki says the seed for the pale tree was a blighting tree seed stolen by Ronan but the source seems to be an artbook i don't have so idk if it's the wiki people extrapolating because i can't check. so first let's assume it's the case: NOTHING is stopping anyone else from having stolen a seed too and planted a tree and theyre all kind of cousins (sylvari/mordrem/other tree ppl) which is very cute and that feels like the most canon-compliant explanation of malyck bUT it's not fucked up enough to my taste so i'm gonna say (for the sake of argument at least idk which option is alex-canon yet) the pale tree came from just something else. Ronan and Ventari planted a lil gay tree and some sleeping mordremoth magic made it Alive (because we need plant dragon connection anyway (we couuld fuck that up but that sounds like too much work for now)) but there were too many good gay vibes so the tree ended up making overall nice and very gay plants. WHICH MEANS. there's nothing preventing sleeping mordremoth power to just vibe with trees that are supposed to be significant in other ways and awaken them to make lil plant beings.

Downside to all this is why haven't we seen them in HoT, BUT maybe they were too far away. Maybe a chaotic neutral quaggan planted a cactus in elona and mordremoth made choya because of that. Idk man.

[potatoesandsunshine]

truly incoherent late-night ramblings about the mighty nein and pride under the cut. an unorganized stream of consciousness basically. i’m so tired i have so many Thoughts

cad saying tonight that nobody in the m9 is vain (can’t remember if he said “none of us are vain” or “none of you are vain” but i’m going with the first one bc i can’t watch it again till it goes up on yt) really got me thinking because my immediate reaction was “no? that’s not true?” but i couldn’t figure out why exactly i thought that - so naturally i spent the rest of the episode pondering it.

like... the members of the mighty nein are each in their own way juggling a massive load of insecurity and in some cases just pure self-loathing but they’re still very... they’re not vain, but they are proud to the point of arrogance which is just super interesting from a character perspective (just wanna note here this is not a “and this makes x character A Bad Person” hot take or whatever, characters have character flaws and that’s what makes them interesting to me, please don’t come to my inbox saying i hate fjord or caleb or caduceus or veth or jester or beau or yasha because that’s just not the case) anyway imo yasha is currently the only one who hasn’t shown a big moment of this flaw, everybody else has. yes it’s possible i don’t remember a moment for yasha at this second but tbh she’s spent so much time getting controlled by other forces this campaign like :( give yasha a break challenge :( she gets one from this post

early on beau had her kind of rebel without a cause, too cool for school thing going on - to me that’s a kind of pride? like it came from a feeling of isolation and disconnect from the people around her and the structures her life had operated in and also the idea that “i’m the only one who sees how bullshit everything is” that’s (at least in my own experience) a really common feeling in late teens/early twenties. honestly the first moment that shook her out of it was dairon imo (i know that a lot of beau’s change is attributed to molly’s death but i honestly think it started back with that brawl in the warehouse) and dairon has continued to be a (flawed themselves) check against arrogance for beau which is really interesting to me? anyway continuing

fjord’s whole persona that kinda wasn’t a persona during the pirates arc (i’m talking specifically about the captain pursuing his own ends, not about the accent thing) was very much a character based on knowing more about the world than everybody else did, even though i don’t think fjord himself believed it? honestly for all that you can say about fjord i think he’s lowest on the list in terms of pride (besides yasha!! who isn’t on this list!!) bc he’s very honest about the fact that he often feels like he just does not know what’s going on around him. props to that bc it is hard to do.

veth’s biggest Moment of this (and pride just doesn’t feel like the right word but i don’t know how else to capture the meaning, the idea of Knowing Better than everyone else i guess? you know what i mean) that i can think of is the letter to astrid in zadash that everyone screamed about bc caleb was the current fandom favorite sadboi at the time; it was such a big moment of trying to arrange someone else’s life for them that’s like. like it’s a Big Moment idk how to explain it. i think a lot of the responsibility she feels for yezza and luc also relies on the premise that she Knows Best which again is super interesting because it clearly causes her a lot of guilt that she’s not doing Enough for them in her own eyes when it’s like... like... talk to each other... idk idk i have Feelings about the brenattos. Arranging the lives of other people, no matter your intentions, is imo a thing that comes from thinking you Know Better than they do. 

caleb... i so do not want to re-litigate the disintegrate discourse that was imo truly a waste of time last week but i do agree with the idea that caleb’s got ye olde mythological-level hubris. the man has a goal of turning back time to rewrite his own mistakes and like it’s not just a dream it’s a Goal He’s Working Towards which means that either 1) he believes it’s possible for him to do it or 2) he can’t admit that it isn’t possible and he has to live with ‘his’ mistakes (i can’t get into the caleb stuff rn but uhhh it’s not as much a personal failing as you believe it is caleb). both of these viewpoints are like. so dependent on viewing himself as A Power That Affects The Universe instead of someone who is affected by it which is kind of the sentiment i’m trying to get at idk idk it’s late i’m tired

it’s interesting with jester and caduceus for a couple reasons but the fact that they’re both literally blessed by gods is like... like i can’t say they’re unduly proud (i don’t really think that any of the m9 are like unduly proud) because they’re literally made More Important by the deities of the setting from the moment of introduction but we do still see really interesting stuff from both of them imo

caduceus thinks he knows better than everybody else which is something i think we’ve seen from the beginning as well? that’s part of why he’s kind of set himself up as the Wise Councilor of the group (and if you ask me, why he seems unable to reach out for support of his own - all the instances of someone digging deeper into him were instigated by other people from what i can remember right now) and it’s been neat to see him reconciling things he Knows Are Right from his time in the cemetery with a more complicated reality in the wider world. it’s hard for me to say that cad’s arrogant because he thinks he’s privy to the literal divine plan when he is privy to an actual divine plan thanks to the wildmother but i think it’s interesting to see it in the small moments. we saw it more earlier i think? but like this part of his character isn’t Gone. as long as he’s got himself designated as the group moral compass i think there’s an element of this in play. 

and jester ohh jester i love u i’m so sorry everything has been so hard for so long like aaaa imagine you find out your best friend (who is also your god) has been lying to you for all of your friendship and also lying to all of his followers (because it turns out he’s not a god, technically) that’s so hard anyway. anway. i don’t wanna derail into talking about how much i love jester but i love her ok? ok. anyway jester’s current defense mechanism is retreating into the fact that she’s the best follower of the traveler and he loves her the most, because she’s Special (which again, her god told her this there’s literally nothing i can say against it) but we’re seeing that kind of fracture in an interesting way if you ask me? because the fact of the matter is, whenever jester asks a question about ‘the followers of the traveler’ she is implicitly also asking a question about herself (this is why i was so fascinated by her convo with fjord tonight also). it only works for So Long to keep repeating that you’re special when you’re not sure about it anymore oh jester i am so worried about u ohhh :( i am so sleepy but i have so many thoughts

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S2 Ep 44-45: Kaiba Hallucinates a Dead Woman and Then no One Talked About it???

So, for the record, I am writing a little bit to the future here because I did make a little bit of buffer. And this episode had a Hella Random Thing in it and I just want y’all to know I try to create an authentic reading experience--although it’s not like a blind riffing, I clearly watched each episode twice to make the caps and write all this stuff--and I do it one episode at a time so you get a somewhat close to a realistic live cap experience, but like, believe me when I say I did not see this coming.

At all.

At all.

And if any of you were watching this at home and saw this happening then you are lying OR you have been writing a very creative fanfic and this fever dream was also shared by that one guy on this writing staff who really really really stans Seto Kaiba. Lets dive into it, shall we?

Things start out pretty normal, as we are yet tucking another hospitalized person into Kaiba’s floating coma ward.

I’m starting to notice that this room also has sheets which just means when they got to Bakura, they just didn’t feel like tucking that nasty boy in. They looked at him covered in blood and grime and whatever other sweaty layers are all over Bakura and were like “None of us like Kaiba, but we don’t want to do that to his linens.”

And then the episode starts with Joey literally saying this

Now in the actual line of the show, Serenity stayed behind because she wanted to be strong for Mai, a lady she looked up to so much for all of 3 hours. She also said that her brother’s strength inspired her to have the courage to stay well below deck and whatever the hell nonsense was going on up there.

I mean courage is a word you could use to describe it, I would just call it common sense.

Also, look at this Christmas miracle.

I like that someone on the animation team was like “How else are they going to know that Mai isn’t wearing the disk? Draw it on the table. We have to.” and then bam there it is. That is one super random detail.

(more under the cut)

At the top of the blimp, they’ve decided to give Marik a little bit more space.

The Yuge crew must’ve looked at this situation and been all “I can stand next to Marik, or I can appear to root for Kaiba.” And they made their choice.

Below deck we get to see one of my favorite things, that’s right, it’s fake UI for TV shows.

these look like windows you pull up in Maya when you’re trying to find the right vertex or something. Maybe that’s what inspired all this? I dunno, it’s very silly that he would need the same image of a card twice, and that he would need one flipped and in wireframe. Especially since all they're doing is translating a language.

Or maybe he’s just been dogging Kaiba for half an hour before this episode started? Who knows, but honestly, I kinda have to side with Kaiba on this one, moving Mai would be a bad choice since there’s doctors--right there--but like...they should land the blimp though. Like the blimp with a murderer on it maybe needs to land at some point?

But never mind that, there’s cards to be played.

Or...not played.

It takes Ishizu so long to show up that Roland almost cancelled the game and I was so ready to not have to watch a card duel. I was so ready for that to be the canonical end of Ishizu but of course that didn’t happen.

PS, Marik is permanently glowing now.

Kaiba still doesn’t believe in magic and this guy has a constant third eye. So did Yugi all of last duel and Kaiba was just like “I don’t get your weird fashion” and tbh that’s a fair assumption to make.

To be fair, they probably only have once source of not cursed jewelry living underground, and it’s probably why their so matchy-matchy. Like, we all have that one Aunt (I was that one Aunt for a little while) with an Etsy shop and way too much inventory that they just give away to family every birthday and holiday. Judging by how much jewelry these two are wearing, their one Aunt isn’t doing so hot selling her merch.

Anyway, Marik’s good side makes an attempt to reach out and it doesn’t get him very far.

Honestly, when you look at it, there’s more people here from Kaiba’s extremely close school class than there is from the Ishtar family. And they don’t even know that Odion is also related. Sort of calling the kettle black here.

Again, ancient Egyptian Samurai with Yugioh cards would have been one hell of a spinoff with so many problems, where is that anime?

So, the game begins, between a mostly-neutral-antagonist and a protagonist who has done nothing but lock herself in her room in the dark for about 1/4 of a season. I have literally no idea who I’m supposed to be rooting for. Neither does anyone on the show.

Things went about as well as you’d expect dueling a psychic, because Kaiba has learned absolutely nothing from dueling Pegasus.

*Mokuba still has the whistle*

Anyway, because Ishizu can read the future, she knew she’d be going up against a dude who relies on very big strong dragons, so she straight up removed every strong card from his deck, leaving only six cards. 

It’s at this point that he only really has one option, to play a Blue Eyes White dragon, which he had in his hand still, or to play the God Card Obelisk which I think was still on field? Again I don’t pay too much attention to the duels but the big thing is that he’s gonna use Obelisk, so Ishizu cursed it so it would hella kill him.

Much like any of the God Cards have done thus far. The worst cards. These are the worst cards and at this point no one should want them anymore. But youknow, hubris.

This is all pretty run of the mill since every time Kaiba duels, he gets hella dunked on, but then...this happens out of absolutely no where.

WHAT?

SHOW.

The least dateable guy in Yugioh!? How is it Kaiba--a past version of him mind you--but a shirtless Kaiba who’s got some lady draped across his arms like he’s gotta model for the cover of a Harlequin romance novel for old ladies? Which...I can arrange that.

Why--out of all of these boys, was it this one that has something the most resembling a fully formed relationship? More so than Tristan, more so than Yugi, more so than whatever was going on with Joey last episode.

What!?

WHAT?

This came out of no where like a jump scare!

And like, here’s the thing, if Kaiba was your slice of pie from the weird ass hair dessert tray that is Yugioh’s selection of husbands, that’s fine. Ship away. But like, imagine with me here, you have a boyfriend--and if you don’t like boys that only adds to this experience--you have a boyfriend and he has the most normal hair of anyone you know, and that’s really great. But his voice ALWAYS sounds like he’s announcing an NBC cop drama. Like you’re eating dinner and he’s like “Can we watch the food channel?” like he’s solid snake.

You’d kill him. You’d kill him way before you end up dead draped across his arms in some weird flashback. You’d straight up kill him.

Sorry, I just made him a lot more attractive for half of you. Whatever, my plan backfired.

But, despite...how...he is, now Seto has one of the most tragic of all the relationships on this show, up there with Pegasus and his dead wife. And so like, I turned to my bro and was like “WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT WHAT JUST HAPPENED??”

Cuz this show that has very, very little dating in it. A show that has had no physical kissing unless you count that time Pegasus macked a ghost. A show where someone almost got married to someone they never dated in their life and they shrugged it off. A show that had Mai and Joey friendzoning the hell out of eachother rather than admit any sort of crush. A show where Tea and Yugi went on a date but then I guess forgot that happened 20 episodes ago and are now in permanent friend limbo. (Tea and Yugi so far having the most realistic dating experience tbh.)

This is just straight up here’s a picture of past Seto, and his dead wife is here too, no explanation! Have fun digesting that!

(wouldn’t have noticed they forgot to finish Yugi’s necklace if I hadn’t done the cap. hm. So fast I blinked and missed it until I wrote this copy.)

And like, I’m making it seem in these caps as if these characters talked about what I just witnessed in any degree and straight up they didn’t. Of course they didn’t. Kaiba didn’t want to discuss this crazy ass thing that happened. Just me. I am the only one that’s talking about this in 2019. Just me.

So I turn to my bro and was like “you have to tell me what just happened” and bro was like

“Sorry to disappoint you but...I’m pretty sure that dead girl never comes up again.” and then he kind of continued “I’m pretty sure Kaiba sacrificed his one true love in order to get his Blue Eyes.” and I realized “Bro, is this just a headcanon you made up? Are you telling me your spicy Seto Kaiba fanfic as if it’s true just like that one time you told me that Yugi’s Grandpa ate a guy in Egypt and I believed you for 30 episodes?” and bro was like “Mmmmmm It’s probably a headcanon. I’m pretty sure they dropped Kaiba’s dead girlfriend plotline completely off the face of the Earth. Like a LOT of plotlines from s2, Rach, don’t get attached.”

So, because Kaiba believes that his.......dragon.......told him to play a dragon, Kaiba sacrifices his Obelisk to play a dragon--thus removing the Obelisk curse.

So if it’s strongly suggested that Kaiba’s love for this dragon is youknow, an equivalent to the devotion you would have a for a dead wife you have cradled in your arms, then -- has Kaiba been dating this dragon the whole time? Is that what the show just seriously suggested to me with this juxtaposition? Because I am an illustrator and if I wanted to make someone look like they had an intense and complicated relationship with a playing card, that is how I would draw it. Just saying.

And like for serious, how is it that Yugioh keeps writing it’s own fanfic? Like, is this dragon infused with the spirit of his dead wife? Is that why his reincarnation has this weird fixation with the Blue Eyes White Dragon? OMG this is absolutely ridiculous, I can’t believe I’m considering that Kaiba was literally married to what is now his paper card of a dragon. Of which he has 3 of.

Clearly I am thinking way too much about this.

I mean to be fair, Kaiba did save Tea that one time. He also took out a helicopter and a crane at the same time but Tea was just fine.

Oh boy.

That was so freakin random. Well...I’m glad that Kaiba got back together with the dragon. They had sort of a breakup at the beginning of the season and now KaibaxDragon is back in full swing. Good for them.

This was the only guy smart enough not to play a God Card, PS. This guy. I guess if Seto fell in a plot coma the entire tourney would be essentially over, so...it had to happen this way.

But dead wife, amiright?

Here’s a link to read from S1 Ep1

And PS in case you don’t know about the Billionaires and Baby’s books that have--I swear to you, like 400 books in the series--please admire the billionaires and babies books. Never read them. But I like to spread the news of these completely insane and real book covers wherever I go.

[roxannepolice]

I just want to thank you for being really out there and talking about your spec that Rey will have a dark moment in IX. I agree and I get so frustrated with people who insist she's already learned her lesson. She needs to fail and by her own choice, not just because she can't convince Ben to go home. She needs to screw up and have it be on her otherwise she's a static character who doesn't actually learn anything. I dont get why that's hard to conceptualize.

Thank you anon, that’s very kind of you.

I think there are two main reasons why the audience wants Rey to be a static character: tropiness in reylos’ case and projection in general audience case. The point is, Rey, the way she appears to be, is a character people want to listen about: unconflicted, unproblematic, überpowerful, supertalented, beautiful and to all this being a woman and a “nobody” (social justice points). Rey’s story, as it hitherto presented itself as, is on the one hand very beautiful and important to tell - everyone can be a hero, you will find your own place in world and history regardless of existance or non-existance of you predetermined status - and thetefore tlj’s message of her arc was important to tell, but on the other hand is, I would say, dangerously flattering. An every(wo)man hero, such as Luke openly was, is a character with whom we journey, discover our problems, get catharsis with but never overidentify with. A no(wo)man hero is a character we project ourselves upon, they don’t lead us on a journey because they apparently don’t need one - and neither, therefore, do we, we just have to be on the unproblematically obvious “good side” and all the rest like special powers will just come as a reward, not to mention skills which will apparently get transferred to us from some bad guy as a punishment for their hubris (again, not my interpretation of the interrogation scene). Note that we weren’t given any scene of Rey actually training, let alone failing at her training, which I on the one hand get (especially considering I count on there being heavy hell in epix), but on the other am disappointed to know all Matt Martin had to say to that on twitter is oh well, we assumed you’d guess she’s training. Cheesy as montages are, it is through watching the hero fail that we identify with them, their failures become our failures and thus their eventual triumph is both cathartic and uplifting. Not giving us the training and failures works just fine for action based movies - note that very often as a poor response to even poorer sexist arguments against Rey characters like classic James Bond are used - but SW always had their psychological/personal journey subplot, in which it just won’t work. 

Additionally, SW have never given us main characters that “just are” good or evil (except for the really old ones, having finished their symbollic journey) or perhaps were always telling us that everyone is naturally good but everyone can become corrupted - either by the character flaws that they don’t even find worth dealing with (the hitherto because I kinda hope Rey’s denial based temporary fall will happen without external help “irredeemable” evil like Palps) or because they got exploited by others (Anakin, Ben). Nurture has never been brushed under a carpet in GFFA and what mattered most was love but parenting skills weren’t completely unimportant - but never the social status or bloodlines, at least not directly (the indirect relationship is there, of course, since people in better social position usually have more abilities to provide for their child’s welfare - but also to spoil and neglect them). And it sometimes makes me sad when I realise that it’s very possible that should we get what I anticipate - temporary Reyfall accompanied by permanent Bendemption - some will screech about how that tells us women are weaker than men or that social status does affect our potential to be a hero. Which won’t be the case - should Rey break then it will be after an inhuman effort of going on for 19 years without love and should Ben see the light then it will be because despite all the flaws OTrio had as caretakers he was deeply loved by them - but it will have nothing to do with either their gender or social status. 

And then there’s the reylo problem of tropiness. On the one hand it’s very admirable that fine people here have recognized Beauty&Beast among all the lightsabers, but the problem is the deductive conclusion that Rey is like Belle. TBH, this is one of the things that I love about reylo relationship - that SW took a tale as old as time, usually rendered in badly obsolete gender relations and gave it a brand new life making Beauty a rough ass kicking sand goblin and Beast a polished Hamlet-y princeling (while keeping them both hot af). The same goes for reverse anidala - I absolutely agree the parallel meant to heal the wound Ben’s grandparents created is there, but Rey isn’t Padmé, let alone actually upgraded Padmé, now with better psychotherapeutic skills. Again - nurture isn’t unimportant in SW, Padmé was raised with a possibility of her being elected a queen, of taking care of a whole nation ever present, so I really can’t see how Rey just knows how to fix a broken Skywalker boy while Amidala just didn’t. Which is not to say that Padmé’s reaction to sand people massacre was the right one and Rey closing the falcon door was the wrong one. What I am saying is that it wasn’t a conscious psychotherapy on the latter’s part.

The sad truth is that we’d all kinda want Rey to be a force-sent solution to all of galaxy’s problems, regardless of whether that means fixing a broken Skywalker boy or killing him. But that was never a thing in Star Wars. End of the day, Luke’s heroic climax wasn’t about saving the galaxy only realising the deeper meaning of compassion and succeeding there where neiter of his mentors did. And I just can’t wait to see where Rey’s inner journey will lead her, though hopefully that will include bringing real balance to the force with her dark prince at her side, the task at hand having been repeatedly proven too difficult for one person to achieve.

[shazzbaa]

So I Saw Doctor Strange

EDIT: I just found this all typed up in my drafts from the day after I saw Doctor Strange several months ago. it’s very ramble-y and not very edited but uh,,,, im just gonna publish it, HERE, HAVE A, VERY COOLED OFF HOT TAKE?????

It was O-Kay. I’m typing up my thoughts because I can’t sleep, and also because this movie is my actual exact trope (please see figure A: my entire webcomic) and yet, while I had a nice time watching it, I kept kinda drifting out of the movie to question the choices it made.

I should also mention, I never read the comics and I never watched any cartoons with Strange in them, so I don’t really care about accuracy in that regard. All I know is that I read his origin story off wikipedia and said “man I hope this movie is good because this could really be my jam.”

ENTIRELY COMPOSED OF SPOILERS:

THINGS I LOVED:

I loved that the hospital kept coming back!! I expected it to just be his origin story and then disappear, like the theatre that scared baby batman, but every time something bad happens to him or his allies he uses his weird new magic to teleport STRAIGHT TO THE HOSPITAL, because OBVIOUSLY that’s where you go when you get hurt!! It’s what he understands and he’s comfortable in that environment and I can’t get over how happy I am with the idea that this ridiculous sorcerer keeps coming back to the ER when he gets really hurt. Also I love the juxtaposition of Dr. Strange’s frankly absurd getup (aka: my aesthetic) striding through An Actual Hospital as if he remotely belongs there. This is 100% my favourite thing about this movie.

I loved that Strange’s hands never get fixed!! He doesn’t GET MAGIC TO FIX THEM, he gets magic to give him a new purpose so that he can finally get over his inability to do surgery. This is infinitely better tbh, both in a non-ableist message sense AND in a “Shazz is happy because he still keeps this one weakness at the end and that’s the kind of thing she likes in stories” sense.

I liked the dimension-altering spell that turns all buildings into a Terrifying Conveyor Belt Of Machinery. Especially in that very first scene, it looks cool and feels like actual magic, something barely fathomable, bending the world to your will.

She kisses him on the cheek!!!!!! I’m 90% more heartwarmed by this choice -- their relationship is so strained at this point that a lips-kiss would feel forced, or inappropriate,  like, Obligatory Superhero Kisses Girl Scene, but instead it’s just a moment of, “this is all still a mess but I genuinely care about you.”

Also while we’re on the subject of non-sensual physical touch, I love that the Ancient One holds his hand!!! More deep, meaningful platonic touch in movies please!!!!!!!

I like a lot of the little goofy banter -- “oh, you joined a cult,” and Strange whining about how nobody will name anything after him because his name is Strange. But I’m a sucker for this stuff (see: my entire webcomic).

THINGS IM REALLY MAD ABOUT:

okay but how do you take FREAKIN MAGIC and turn it into SWORDFIGHTING??? who looks at all of psionics and goes “hey lets all play soulknifes.” Seriously tho, there’s like two cool spells and everything else is the exact same choreography you’d expect if they were using staves or fisticuffs and that’s JUST A DANG SHAME!!!! WHERE IS YOUR IMAGINATION MARVEL

I’m not asking for all the spells to be wacky I’m just askin for it to look different from just wackin swords together and blocking them!!! THATS THE MOST BORING THING YOU COULD POSSIBLY DO WITH MAGIC!!!!

that early scene where Strange’s consciousness is getting slingshotted around while the Ancient One schools him about how much he doesn’t understand is unbelievably boring, and this is coming from someone whose biggest turn-on is slightly frail boys being terrified. Why does that scene go on so long??? He hasn’t even earned that experience and it doesn’t even look that cool.

I JUST REALISED THIS IS PROBABLY ENTIRELY COMPOSED WITH THE 3D VERSION IN MIND AND NOW IM EVEN MADDER

THINGS THAT WERE ALLLLMOST COOL BUT I FEEL ULTIMATELY UNSATISFIED:

What the heck is going on with Doctor Strange’s character arc

There’s the weird feeling throughout that Strange learns nothing and is not actually different. Like, I’m sure this isn’t exactly true, but I’m having a hard time countering that idea. He starts out an arrogant person who trusts his own judgement above anyone else’s, and then ends a slightly more polite arrogant person who trusts his own judgement above anyone else’s.

I’m gonna compare Strange to Tony Stark, because I liked Iron Man, and it felt triumphant in a way that Doctor Strange didn’t, and Tony Stark also remains arrogant throughout, but here’s the thing -- Stark’s sin in Iron Man wasn’t hubris, it’s thoughtlessness, both socially and globally. “Proof Tony Stark Has A Heart” and so on. So when Stark remains arrogant, but his beliefs are shaken and he wants to reach out to help & defend others, we don’t feel like he’s gone nowhere. Meanwhile Strange’s sin IS presented as hubris -- he didn’t believe anyone could do what he could do, and his ego is what’s constantly chided by the Ancient One. And then he continues being exactly this way, doing whatever he wants because he doesn’t trust others to guide or help him, and saves the day?? It’s just weird because it seems like maybe they didn’t actually understand what they were setting up?

I think it’s a good choice that he doesn’t quite master magic throughout the course of the movie -- that fits. He’s not the Sorcerer Supreme at the end because “it’s not about you.” But it’s a timid choice, because how do you make a story where the theme is “it’s not about you” and still have the main character single-handedly save the day? You’d have to be a lot more creative than this movie was.

Strange handing the scalpel to Nick is a nice moment but it doesn’t count as paying off this arc/theme/whatever. Strange literally can’t use the scalpel and remembers that the girl he likes trusts Nick, so Nick is the best they’ve got. Strange is a smart guy who’s afraid to fail, he’s gonna make the choice that’s most likely to succeed. We already know he’ll ask for help if he has literally no other option. That’s not a payoff!

There’s a REALLY COOL thing that’s brought up halfway through where Strange freaks out that he killed a guy. He starts yelling about how he’s a doctor who swore to do no harm and I got really excited -- this is an actual redeeming character trait, a chance for Strange to Care about people in contrast to his flippant attitude at the beginning and put his brilliance to work not serving himself, but others -- and the fact that it put him in conflict with his more ruthless fellow sorcerers was also interesting. AND THEN THAT’S IT, THATS THE ENTIRETY OF THAT ISSUE, BASICALLY JUST THAT SCENE.

Like, yeah, at the end he did find a creative way to strike a deal instead (THO HE ARGUABLY DID A LOT OF HARM TO THOSE GUYS THAT GOT SUCKED INTO HELL THE DARK DIMENSION, HMM) but that sort of got lost in this OTHER theme about rule-breaking versus rigidity that got pulled in at the end.

Ultimately it feels like they had three different themes going simultaneously -- Dr. Strange has a huge ego and needs to let go of it, Dr. Strange, as a doctor, questions the sorcerers’ ruthlessness, Dr. Strange is willing to break rules that the other sorcerers aren’t. And it’s only that last one that really feels like a major theme of the movie at the end.... but it’s not really set up that way at the beginning????

//SIGHS A LOT ABOUT THE THING AT THE END OF THE MOVIE

the part where they’re Too Late and Strange turns back time so that they won’t be is cool. I’m not gonna knock that. BUT HEY THAT WAS SET UP ALREADY AND WASN’T AN ASSPULL

uggghghghghghghg like.... this is, I don’t know, it’s a genuinely smart move, and it feels like it works, but it also has that feeling of “oh, I guess this is possible then,” because it wasn’t really set up well. THATS NOT WHAT YOU WANT FOR THE CLIMACTIC END OF YOUR MOVIE!!!

Look, there’s the bones of something good here. Strange messes up by trying to do a cool thing and throwing everyone into the mirror dimension, and actually exclaims “this was a mistake” (which I expected to be a way bigger deal???) -- and then at the end he does the exact same friggin thing by jumping into a dimension with a plan that seems like it’ll make sense. So what if he learned from his mistake instead? What if he realised he’d need help understanding dimensions, and we saw him asking questions and getting guidance and finally being willing to trust that maybe someone else knows more than he can teach himself? In that moment, we could learn a little bit more about bringing different magic to different dimensions. And at the end, what if it wasn’t a split second decision by Strange to do a risky proceedure (aka, the thing he already did at the start of the movie) but instead, Strange has the idea to carry time into the dark dimension and checks his idea with the others? You could even bring the violence angle in here, if the others had some other option that would be less magically risky but involve more death, and Strange chooses the one where nobody has to die, and maybe even asks them to trust his decision -- something he never felt the need to do before. Instead of the ENTIRE TIME ISSUE feeling like kinda an asspull because it’s all a surprise, it’s the Time Loop Bargain that’s a surprise, while everything else has been firmly established.

I don’t know if this would work or be the best choice. But like!!! these are things that feel like they could’ve been worked with a little more to make the whole movie feel more cohesive!!! instead of having one theme, and then dropping it and picking up a different theme, and then kinda fumbling that into another theme, and not being sure where to put any exposition or character development.

I really like that Strange is kinda.... not physically amazing. Like, he’s been taught how to fight, but it’s clear he’s leaning a lot on his cloak for the fancier stuff and he’d still definitely get beat up without help. This is obviously like.. my character type, but wouldn’t it be cool if he were just a smiiiiiiidge older?? Like, a little frailer, can’t really fight that well without magical help? NO? JUST ME?????????

okay I think that’s everything. thats my opinion of dr strange

[autisticteru]

this is completely unprompted but i just feel like sharing my first impressions of mp100 cuz why not i made this blog to infodump i can do what i want. 

and honestly i read the whole thing about a year ago with very very little spoilers directly after watching the teaser for the anime so a lot of my reactions to the series were very raw and uninfluenced by anybody else’s opinion. i didnt even liveblog it i just read it. and im very glad that was how i read it and im just. reminiscing on that because im grateful that i did that back then.

mob

i first ever saw mob in some fanart that was tagged mob psycho 100 like. a good few years ago tbh. i figured it was some anime or manga i didnt get the time to read but mob first looked to me like he was a delinquent or something. the title and the way i thought abt the word “mob” in my head def had something to do with that, but also he was a straight faced boy who just seemed really seirous. i remember reading in an interview abt one punch man a bit over a year ago that ONE described saitama as stoic and mob as emotional. that. surprised the hell out of me and got me interested but i only read literally EXACTLY right after i saw the first teaser trailer for the anime

when i read the manga i fell in love with the boy right away. it didnt take me long at fucking all. he was great and wonderful and i loved him and i related to him big time and i wanted to see him grow more and more.

and my feelings are pretty much the same now except more complex. but im remembering the first time i got to the end of the world domination arc. i think that line “that’s why I will help you” really impacted me a lot for some reason. mob was, very special to me. he felt very much like me. i could relate to him a lot

reigen

i first saw reigen in some fanart but i thought he was some teenager at first because it was just some kinda cartoony fanart that wasnt very detailed. i guessed that he and mob were a duo or something like saitama and genos were from one punch but i did not guess that it was going to be a master-discible relationship

i hated reigen at first gonna be completely fuckin honest here i was a bit annoyed with him like yeah he was funny but he was also kind of rude??? and i didnt like that he was tricking mob because i loved mob 

by the end of the read he really did grow on me. but ive always been a bit hard on the poor guy, but thats just because hes an adult i suppose. even during the separation arc i have to admit.....i wasnt all that sympathetic toward him until the VERY VERY end. IF IM BEING ENTIRELY HONEST I WAS KIND OF GLAD BECAUSE I WAS GLAD THAT MOB REALIZED HE DIDNT NEED HIM AND THAT REIGEN REALIZED HE DID. also i felt he did deserve at least some of what he got from that arc, all things considered. dont get me wrong, i love him now but it did really take a while for me, probably longer than anyone else i know. now im love this greasman with my whole heart (but i still wish he would pay mob more. preoblematic fav for that reason only)

dimple

i knew that dimple was sort of the mascot character but i hoped he wouldnt be one of those annoying ones but i didnt think he would be since i had some faith in ONE’s writing abilities. he seemed like a ghost and i knew that mp100 had ghosts so yeah i thought it was cool to have a ghost character why not

lots of ppl were irritated by dimple at first but. ehhh i could never hate him. i only mildly disliked him before i realized he was That Guy. anyway i had been mostly neutral on dimple but by the mogami arc i actually really started loving dimple a lot because he saved mob a bunch of times and i support mob having friends i dont  care who they are i want this good boy to have friends

by the end i absolutely did love him i loved him and reigens interractions at that point but i didnt know if it was like. socially acceptable to ship him with reigen. i wouldnt have done it with sg dimple because i had no idea that was even a thing. i forgot abt that dumbass security guard he wasnt even a person in my mind honestly the first sg dimple fanart i came across i was so confused  i was like. who is this. who is this man dimples possessing. took me forever to realize it was that security guard who he possessed for probably less than an hour and that confused the hell out of me but then i realized. oh. u guys just want to make him hot. okay

ritsu

ritsu was probably the character i knew the most about, but i knew very little. i only saw him in opm/mp100 fanarts where they compared mob and ritsu to tatsumaki and fubuki, and i guessed that ritsu was the fubuki with the inferiority complex. and i was right but it wasnt it quite the same way. but overall he seemed interesting in that regard since i loved fubuki at the time so he was a character i was looking forward to.

ritsu was...it was love at first sight??? yeah. i loved ritsu so much right from the start i loved how he was introduced i loved his character arc i loved the whole way it was presented if the teru arc just before that hadn’t already hooked me then his arc sure as fuck did. 

the last line i ever saw ritsu utter when i finally caught up with the manga was the famous “hnn...the loans” line. perhaps one of the best lines of all time??? i loved ritsu and since i knew fuck abt shit wrt what was going to happen in the scar arc i was literally about to cry when it was revealed he might be dead god. i was SO STRESSED IN THAT WHOLE FUCKING ARC I DONT THINK I HAD EVER BEEN MORE STRESSED IN MY LIFE.

teru (oh boy)

i first saw teru in the first teaser. i think that was actually the thing that made me want to read it, mostly because the animation and movement in that scene just was so. good. and flowing. he seemed like a villain to me, or some sort of rival. but a harmless one. one that couldn’t fucking touch mob. it sort of reminded me of the thing w/ saitama vs sonic in opm. he seemed like an asshole, but for some reason in my heart when i saw him doing that shit there, i felt like i would like him. i had no basis for this. but i cant believe i was right

when i first saw teru in the manga i was gettin all excited because “hey this looks like the esper kid in the teaser!” and i was excited to see a new character like that introduced. i at least wanted to meet another esper. and teru seemed like the type of villain who would get his ass handed to him in the worst of ways and realize that mob was much much stronger than him and maybe hed even gain some respect for it and i fucking called it i cant believe it i called it in the first page i saw him i fuckign CALLED IT. and i was screaming throughout his whole arc. every second i found myself absolutely falling in love with him and. actually. unfortunately understanding exactly where he was coming from. and once mob went on the whole “you’re just like me” speech, that was probably the defining moment. 

but it didnt stop with that arc at ALL. every gotdam second he was on screen after that i was honestly thinking in my head “stop doing that ur gonna be my fav if u keep doing that!” but he kept doing that and wound up being my fav and i loved how much he believed and supported mob and i loved how different and yet how similar he was from the first time we see him and. i couldnt help myself hes my Type. i was destined to fall for him from the start

shou

I HAD NO PREVIOUS INTRODUCTION TO SHOU BEFORE I READ THE SERIES. HE WAS NOT ANYONE TO ME. HE WAS NOTHING. which was why so much of the claw stuff surprised me tbh. but yeah i had no idea who this kid was i had not been introduced to him

when i first saw shou i disliked him for beating up ritsu and capturing him and mob and i also disliked him for calling mob a coward and THEN i disliked him for burning down mobs house and possibly killing ritsu and his family in fact by that point i was seeing red i wanted that fuckr DEAD. but then it was revealed that everyone was safe but i was still a bit peeved that he did what he did to mob just to leave a “fuse” but i was also projecting a bit because shou almost gave me a fucking HEART ATTAKC and i was NOT GOING TO EASILY FORGIVE. i did forgive tho. eventually. after my poor heart calmed down and i saw him get beat up by his dad and his hubris 

at the end i shipped ritshou because obviously i shipped ritshou i mean how can u not i mean theyre just really good i shipped it 

so like yeah