#also ignore the fact that im watching like a whole bunch of things currently

[viqwxcs]

might start watching arcane soon :p

[dibbs-n-scribbs]

Yippee!! Thanks for the tag!

*Tagged by:* @chrisredfield73

*Last Song:* Psychokiller - Talking Heads (this is the only talking heads songs ive ever listened to according to my knowledge. I listened to it so much while ordering a burrito at Taco Bell that now whenever I listen to it I get a burrito taste in my mouth, which is both unnerving and cool at the same time)

*Favorite Color:* Im one of those ppl who say purple but then like a whole bunch of colors, but for now its gotta be purple, mustard-ish yellows, & rich reds And burgundys

*Last Movie:* Rugrats in Paris - was originally gonna be Surfs Up cause its on YT for frEe now, but this was next in the recommended section so I watched it for nostalgia (Fun fact: When I was younger I once cried myself to sleep with the “I want a mom” song cause I thought it was so sad and emotional and my Mom heard me and I explained it to her in tears)

*Last Show:* Seinfeld!! I started watching Seinfeld this year and I’m so glad I did. It took me multiple tries to truly get into it, but now I’m on the beginning of season 7! I love learning everything I can about the show, and I honestly think its one of the best sitcoms ever made. Its funny, smart, and the cast is incredible. George is my favorite hands down. If i were to watch this when I was younger it probably would’ve been Kramer, but honestly George carries the show for me. Ppl IRL have heard me gush about George so much that now I’m committed to working on a full-on slideshow presentation on why I am weirdly attracted to him (I still dont even know myself lol) (im not a big dm person so i probably wont talk one on one about it but i love seinfeld so pls pls pls tag me in some seinfeld posts if ya could :DDDDDD)

*Sweet/Spicy/Savory:* Im mostly a spicy/savory type of person! If you were to ask me when I was younger, definitely sweet all the way, but now not so much (makes my teeth and stomach hurt). I’m Mexican but honestly don’t eat a lot of spicy foods, but I do like the green spicy salsas we make - just the right amount of heat for me! Ive always liked meats like chicken and carnita, since thats what I grew up eating the most, so I do have a preference for savory types of foods as well!

*Relationship Status:* Im single! Never dated before but if George Costanza is available let me know 🥰

*Last Thing I Googled:* honestly I just looked up “is savory in meat” cause i dont know what counts as savory off the top of my head (I just wanted to be sure!). The one before that though was “when is tf2 based” cause Im working on a sort of personal project involving my tf2 oc and I want to try to make it as true to the tf2 lore as possible while also taking into account actual clothes, songs, and other lifestyle things from that time period!

*Current Obsessions:* Seinfeld and TF2 (also Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia but I haven’t watched it in months and Im still on s4 :’0) - if you like these 2 things an abnormal amount like me uh heyyyyyyyyyy!!! lmao

*Tag Nine People:* @babsvibes @fyfepuff @heough @honeysparklesmash @ivorydoesstuff @maybe-memories @al8estos @sharpe-fan @arcadefl00r (feel free to ignore, just wanted to tag y’all!!)

Nine people I'd like to get to know better

Tagged by @meghawhopp <33

Last song: Down by the River by Borislav Slavov from the Baldur’s Gate 3 Soundtrack (or more specifically the cover of Down by the River by Nerissa Ravencroft)

Favorite color: Blue and purple!

Last movie/TV show: Seinfeld, I’m currently on season four!

Sweet/spicy/savory?: I have a huge sweet tooth, so sweet things

Relationship status: Single

Last thing I googled: I searched up the show “Arthur” because I was trying to find that one meme where Buster was like “You really think someone would do that, just go on the internet and spread lies?”

Current obsession: Fragaria memories and tears of themis mostly^^

Tag Nine People: @kyaruun @xinieeee @deadmansbistro @florapot @hunita812 @scuffle-with-spirals @rexonalapis @maxellera @manicpixiedoomedgirl

[tulipfromtheinternet]

Here's what happened: @novemberhush tagged me to do several tag games and I wrote the answers out all at once but I'm too lazy to separate them! So, here I am! Let me know how far you get into reading this🤣

Five questions to get to know you better.

1) What colour are your eyes? Brown

2) What little thing instantly tells you that a person is good? Someone who helps others without needing to be asked. It's in the little things, like opening doors or helping someone carry something.

3) Do you have a recurring dream? I dont remember my dreams anymore but I used to have horrible recurring dreams where I spent the whole time trying to keep my teeth from falling out. They would get really lose and I'd push them back into place and the more I messed with them the looser theyd get until they just fell out in bunches

Also, there's a dream where my family and I are being chased and everyone manages to jump in the car except for me and I spend the whole dream trying to reach someone's hand so they can help me get in because whoever is chasing us is very close. I have never managed to catch a hand.

And finally. I'm in a huge house looking for someone and there's people in all the rooms and they're all distracting me from finding whoever I'm looking for. And im late. I have to leave right now but I can't until I find whoever.

4) What is the most interesting class you have taken? I think it was my women in American history class. It was just like a regular history class but it focused on how whatever was happening at the time affected the women or how the women affected what was happening at the time.

5) How often do you find yourself daydreaming? I think pretty often!

Name/nickname: Tulip

Zodiac: libra

Height: 5’1

Languages: just 2: English and Spanish

Nationality: American

Favourite season: Fall! As I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate it more.

Favourite color: pink and yellow! I cant decide which one i like more I love them both (no decisions because I'm a libra😌)

Favourite animals: whales, elephants, bears, sharks: my beloveds!

Favourite fictional character: oh this one is hard! ...Sailor Moon (watch me change my mind 2 seconds after posting 🤣)

Tea, coffee or hot chocolate: hot chocolate

Average hours of sleep: maybe 6???

Cat or dog person: dogs! (I do love cats though 😊)

Number of blankets slept with: lately just 1 because it's hot. But when it gets cold like 3!

Places ancestors are from: honestly, who knows. My family is Mexican but that doesnt really tell me where my ancestors are from.

Dream trip: Iceland!!!

Blog established: 2016??? Maybe, I'm not sure

Random fact about yourself: I had lasik but my good vision only lasted 7 years... I miss wearing sunglasses I can see out of 😥🤣

Three ships: Buddie (9-1-1), eleanor and chidi (the good place), Jake and Amy (b99)

Last song: you asked for this by halsey

Last movie: legally blonde

Currently reading: Fanfic and that book I cant finish 😩

Currently watching: I've been watching shadow and bone, outer banks, happy endings, and virgin river... I havent finished any of them

Currently consuming: a salad!

Currently craving: a nap and a grasp of basic math

@northisnotup @mistmarauder @buckbuckley @ashavahishta @hmslusitania @johnbroutledge @from-nova @fleurdebeton if you guys would like to answer any of these questions? All of them or whichever ones seem more interesting? Or none, feel free to ignore!

[obikenobis]

INTERVIEW GAME 

i was tagged by @mandah-lorian​ !!! thank you so much kiana!!! 💖💖💖

nickname: i umm....don’t really have one i guess lmaoo, my brother and i call each other noob so much that it’s basically a nickname so i’ll just count that

pronouns: she/her 

star sign: im a leo (even tho 90% of the time i dont feel like it lol)

height: 5′2 :(

time currently: 5:13 pm

birthday: august 14th!!

favorite groups/bands: i listen to a lot of Mumford & Sons, Snow Patrol, All Time Low, Coldplay, I guess The Beatles, The Decemberists, The Killers, Aly & AJ (their music fucking slaps) and if i add any more it’ll be wayyy too much lol

favorite solo artist: TAYLOR SWIFT i’ve been a fan since i was 7 years old, Lorde, Phoebe Bridgers, beabadoobee, Regina Spektor, Sleeping at Last (who is technically a solo artist i think,) Noah Reid, Julien Baker, the list goes on

song stuck in my head: THAT DUMB CHUG JUG FORTNITE SONG ITS BEEN STUCK IN MY HEAD FOR WEEKS

last movie you watched: lmao robots (2005) because it’s an anti-capitalist cinematic masterpiece and also ewan mcgregor’s in it (the whole movie is basically just ewan fake screaming with an american accent sjdfkhs)

last show you binged: i’m binging how i met your mother right now because it’s been a looong time since i’ve watched it so i thought why not

when you created your blog: damn i literally made this sideblog in february so this blog is still pretty fresh, but i’ve been on tumblr since 2013

last thing i googled: “how to get anvil minecraft” ..............

other blogs: my main is @laleelawadee !! and i’ve got a marvel sideblog that i should probably use more lmao @eliizabetholsens 

why i chose my url: when i first made this blog i was just sort of absentmindedly typing in a bunch of semi-canon names, not expecting any of them to stick, and of course my fav man is obi-wan so i was trying some obi names and this one was somehow available lmaoo

do you get asks: i mean i usually expect zero asks so the fact that i’ve actually gotten some is a surprise to me lol

how many people you are following: 209

how many followers: 625 seriously yall im blown away thank you!!

average hours of sleep: it’s either 4 hours or 11 hours there is no in between

lucky number: 14!! im basic and it’s just my birthdate lol

instruments: i play the ukulele!! i’ve got two—an ebony wood one and a pretty teal one <3

currently wearing: a blue striped shirt, some jeans, my taylor swift cardigan and my one ring necklace lmao

dream job: a graphic novelist or a storyboard artist at disney/cartoon network :) 

dream trip: i’ve technically been in tokyo.....’s airport, but i wanna actually go to tokyo and explore the city!! also anywhere in europe really, like scotland or ireland!!

favorite food: spaghetti #1 (my dad makes this tomato vinegar sauce thats SO good) and literally anything with rice: eggs with rice, nuggets with rice, shrimp with rice, chicken with rice, squid with rice, i can go on forever

favorite song: saturn by sleeping at last, a truly gorgeous song that hits me with a shockwave of emotions every single time

top 3 fictional worlds to live in: oh star wars ofc, but also middle earth!!! and umm third world, skyrim i guess lol, i wanna be a khajiit 

(no pressure!!) tagging: @emilykenobi @myonly-hope @obihoekenobi @kenobismullet @radiantskywalker @reyobi-wan (also if you’ve done this before feel free to just ignore this lol)

[luci-cunt]

Tell me about Magneto🤭

MAY YOU CAN’T SEE IT BUT IM KISSING YOU SO PASSIONATELY RIGHT NOW

Ok so listeeennnn tooooo meeeee, okokokok, so a while ago I went on this James McAvoy bender--don’t ask--and I saw he was in the X-Men movies, whic hi haven’t watched since the Wolverine movies/ Last Stand when I was like, actually a baby. So anyways I flipped them on thinking “yeah what could go wrong?” except I watched them in the wrong order

Anyways here’s an essay on why neither Erik or Prof X was right and the actual answer would be to compromise and these movies how how because they’re both too stubborn and couldn’t it destroyed their friendship and fucked everything up. 

Also the fact that X-Men: First Class is the best Villain origin story to ever cross the screen.

Ok so spoilers ahead for X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: First Class

Now, it should be noted that I’m no an X-Men expert I just love these two movies. 

So for some context: First Class and Days of Future Past are both kind of prequels, except DoFP is a prequel-sequel?? becuase of time travel?? I’ll explain don’t worry. The point is, they take place in the past where all the characters are younger. James McAvoy plays Professor X (who I’ll just be calling X for this whole thing), Michael Fassbender plays Magneto (aka Erik), oh and Jennifer Lawrence plays Mystic--who will be appearing in this essay XDD. 

Alright so first of all have a plot summary: DoFP is about Wolverine getting sent back in time so he can convince a younger Prof X to stop Raven (aka Mystic) from getting caught by this guy Trask who then uses her DNA to create super weapons that irradiate all mutants. The current future Wolverine is in, he, prof X, Magneto, and a few other mutants are trying their best to survive but it’s a losing battle and their only hope is to literally change the past. 

This one takes place after the events of First Class, which I will now explain. 

So in First Class a younger Prof X and Magneto team up to find and recruit bb mutants to X’s school because the government wants to use Mutants to help fight the Russians (oh head this takes placee in the 1960′s right before the Cuban Missile Crisis). This is essentially a Magneto origin story and also--in my opinion--the best villain origin story to ever cross the screen. 

OK so now some details on our main characters: 

Magneto/ Erik Lehnsherr: a literal holocaust survivor who’s only goal in the begining of the story is hunting/ killing nazi’s, specifically one nazi who tortured him specifically and I will get into him later don’t worry. 

Professor X: super smart rich white boy with a heart of gold but also enough naivete to make a lamb look like a Stephen King character. 

Already you can see very stark differences between the two of them. Erik is set up as being a staunch pessimist while X is a vivid optimist, and that makes sense. X’s grown up sheltered and never wanting for anythign while Erik suffered a trainwreck of the greatest traumas in human existence hitting him over and over and over again from like age fucking 9. 

Ok also tehre’s J-Law’s character Raven, who is a mutant that can change her skin to look like anythign she wants it to but her actual form is blue/ scaly/ “not pretty” (bullshit but ok). She met X when she broke into his house one night to steal some food and then they became friends, their relationship will become important later but for now that’s all u need to know. 

ok so anyways, in the begining of First Class Erik is hunting + killing Nazi’s, specifically looking for this one called Schmidt because when Erik was little he and his family were carted away to a concentration camp where Schmidt witness Erik use his metal bending powers and decided to “train” him. aka physically/ mentally abuse him for years. The whole thing starts with Schmidt trying to get Erik to lift a metal coin with his mind, when he can’t (because he’s a child who didn’t even know he had his powers until literally hours ago) Schmidt puts his mother’s life on the line and when he still can’t Schmidt kills her. This sends Erik it’s a rage and he crushes some nazi heads but then Schmidt is still standing and mentions how “oh gotcha, so it’s rage and pain that’s the key to your powers huh?” anyways this tidbit and the coin will become important later trust me--

Meanwhile Prof X is graduating from Oxford/ generally being an idiot pretty boy. He’s a telepath who knows about his powers and has used them from an early age. He also wrote some big paper on mutants, which gets the attention of an FBI agent who witnesses the villains being mutants and wants his advice

However, the villains just so happen to be Schmidt, who’s going by “Shaw” now, so when X and the agents catch up to him Erik is already there and on a mission to murder his ass. Some bs happens, Erik tries to pull a submarine out of the water but can’t (T-T this will be important) and X jumps into the water to stop him because the mental stress is literally killing him. 

That’s how they meet. 

It’s important to note: up until this point, Erik didn’t know there were other mutants, so meeting X, who’s friends with Raven, is kind of a big deal for him. He and X become very fast friends and also have a very homoerotic montage where they become dads for a bunch of mutant teenagers, because they realize they can use X to track all these baby mutants, collect them, and train them so they don’t grow up fearing their powers. 

Anyways, the other thing about this is that now that Erik has this newfound group of people that are just like him, he’s opening up, and X is helping him realize he’s actually so much more powerful when he taps into happy memories rather than fueling himself on pain and rage. This scene always makes me sob oh my god--

Also, fellas--is it gay to “access the brightest cortex” of your homies memories and remind him that hate and pain are not good motivators before reminding him that he has good memories he can draw on and showing him that his life has not been entirely painful?

YEs, the answer is yes are u shitting me??

ok so anyways--something to note about this is that X and Erik are both very protective of all their new kids, but Erik is especially so. I’m going to be getting into this more but just tab thsi thought for later :)

Now, the plot’s kicking up a bit, because it’s at this point that Erik and X capture one of Shaw’s (aka the nazi’s) main lackies and they question her until she gives them the info that Shaw’s planning on using the Cuban Missile Crisis tensions to start a nuclear war to wipe out all humans so that only mutants survive in the new world. 

Obviously they want to stop him, but also, you can kind of tell that Erik is not totally against this plan, which only gets to be more later but that’s for later. 

Right now I wanna take a quick break to talk about Raven--aka Mystic, aka J-Law. She and X were childhood friends and she kind of clung to him because she doesn’t have family/ anyone she can really be herself around besides him. 

X insistently says throughout the movie he sees her as a sister, but it’s kinda obvious she’d be down to fuck. She has this big plotline where she keeps trying to get X to understand why it’s so frustrating for her to have to be using energy to look “human.” Because her natural form is the one with the blue skin. X doesn’t understand this because his power is easy to hide, it’s simple for him to just fake-human and have no one be any wiser, Raven, however, doesn’t have that luxury and when she tries to explain this to X it just flies over his head, insisting she hide her natural self to better fit in if that’s what she really wants. 

Queue Erik, who comes in as a king of self love. He’s pretty blunt about it, but his point is basically “you’re wasting energy by constantly pretending you’re something you’re not--stop” and she responds essentially with “yeah but then no one will like me” to which he responds “then make them.”  

Raven’s relationship with both the boys is used through both First Class and DoFP to really highlight their faults. X believes humans and mutants can coexist but he thinks we go about doign that by completely ignoring the pages of history of abuse mutants have suffered--and it’s mostly because he hasn’t experienced it. 

Erik on the other hand will do everything and anything he possibly can to protect his new family/ people, and in his head that means exterminating any and all threats. By the end of the movie--humans become one of those threats. 

The point of this whole ramble is that: they both represent utter opposites, BUT, X’s blind optimism and Erik’s blind pessimism are equally bad.

Ok so back to plot for a second to prove this. 

Shaw is revealed to be a mutant himself and he also has a helmet that can block telepathy. (yes it’s the magneto helmetjasjd;fkjaskl;dfjasldkj jsut wait).

His plan’s complicated but basically: he’s going to poke America and Russia until they pop and incite a nuclear war. And it works. The whole pre-climax of the film sees X, Erik, Raven, and the other mutants all working double time to stop Shaw’s plan (AND IT INVOLVES ERIK SUCCESSFULLY PULING A SUBMARINE OUT OF THE WATER!!! BECAUSE NOW HE’S USING HAPPINESS INSTEAD OF ANGER/ PAIN!!!). 

Anywho, they’re doing all this, but then some bullshit happens, the plane they’re on crashes oh and -- yeah there’s this part where Erik uses himself as a seatbelt for X it’s fantastic but anyways--

This is finally the climax of the film. 

Also possibly the greatest scene in film history in my humble opinion. 

Because listen--in order to stop Shaw they need the helmet off of him so that X can telepathically freeze his ass and they can arrest him or whatever. So they split up--Erik rushes into the wreckage to find Shaw and X stays behind ready to freeze the guy as soon as the helmet comes off but--

Well, vengence is just too tempting. 

So when Erik gets Shaws helmet off, X freezes the guy, and he’s ecstatic, at least until he realizes Erik plans on killing Shaw. 

He’s pleading with Erik because this is vengence and he can’t chose that but Erik just puts on the helmet and--taunts Shaw, pulling out the coin Shaw taunted him with all those years ago and in a mimickry of the game Shaw forced him to play as a child and killed his mother over--he slowly floats the coin at Shaws head, telling him “I’m going to count to ten, and all you have to do is move.” 

But he can’t--because X is holding him--and that’s the point, Erik wants him as helpless as he was, and X can’t let his hold on Shaw go because that would mean putting Erik in danger but he’s also in Shaws head so he feels the coin go through his head as though Erik was doing it to him and the fucking cinematography in this scene is so fuaksdjf;laksjd;fjasd;lkfjadsl;asdjf;ljL:DKJFL:SDKJFL:D KFUCKKKKK

This scene is cinematic perfection don’t fucking lOOK at me unless you agree.

T-T and then, it only gets worse, because now Erik’s finally finished his original purpose--killing the man who killed his mother and ruined his life--and now he’s got a new one, aka protecting his new family aka the mutants. 

AND HE’S ONLY PROVEN RIGHT THAT HUMANS ARE A THREAT BECAUSE THEY TURN AND TRY TO KILL ALL THE MUTANTS IN THE PLANE CRASH AND JSUT--

And so he stops all the missiles flying their way, and turns them around on the humans and X has to stop him but he’s not listening and the rawest fucking line in the whole movie comes when X says

“There’s hundreds of men on those ships--innocent men. They’re just following orders!” 

And Erik simply replies, “I’ve been at the mercy of men ‘just following orders’--never again.” 

And then he goes to blow up the shipsthen one of the other characters goes to shoot Erik and he deflects the bullet wtihout thinking right. into. X’s. back. 

Paralysing him. 

And just akjd;fjasdflkjasd;lfkj this scene speaks for itself

Listen just--akjdsf;ljasdlk jguys this movie has no right being this good.

And then the movie closes off with X and Erik literally begging one another to just see it their way--because they both want so badly to be on the same side but they’re too stubborn and they refuse to see compromise and just ajkdf;lja;sdkfja;sdljkfsadlkf

Ok I realize now that I barely talked about DoFP but this is already so long. The major things I was going to bring up was teh absolutely fantastic bitter exes energy that McAvoy and Fassbender bring to that movie it’s excellent but also the fact that X is literally the only person Erik goes out of his way not to kill despite standing directly in the way of Erik’s goal. 

Like, you remember my whole deal with Raven??? yeah that’s x10 in DoFP (which takes place quickly after this movie) yeah so her and Erik are close, and shown to be close, but the second he thinks she endangers his fam he literally 180′s so quick and tries to straight up murder her. 

BUT HE FUCKING BENDS THE BULLET AROUND X’s HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! X!!!!!!!!!! WHO’S LITERALLY 100% AGAINST HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST

Ok, that’s all. By the way I don’t want to like, up your expecations too much because I actually kind of hate X-Men: First Class almost as much as I love it?? it’s very..... of it’s era, and cheesy, and dumb--but fucking magneto you guys holy SHIT

[cherryblossomshadow]

Untamed thoughts

Character notes

Okay, it’s official. I’m obsessed. I didn’t think I could be into something so intensely, so soon after Good Omens, but here I am. This is just so the high fantasy, repressed feelings, magic- and sword-fighting stories I’ve been missing 💖

So, I wanted to record some of my thoughts from watching Untamed, before I get too far or watch/read other formats.

So spoiler warning for anybody who hasn’t seen anything, and also warning that I haven’t finished, so I’m guessing at things I don’t know and don’t understand…

BEGIN THE NOTES:

So the first couple minutes was a straight up bloody swordfight. So when they whipped out the magic….like I was nOT EXPECTING THAT! BUT I AM HEEEERE FOR IT. YESSSS! It honestly took me so hard by surprise, and I wish I understood how their magic system worked, but it looks like I’ll have to read the book for that.

Jiang Cheng

Okay, the first couple minutes I rewatched two or three times because I understood nothing. But I latched onto three names to keep track of. Wei wuxian, the guy that everyone inexplicably wanted to kill. Lan Zhan, the Neji-looking dude that really wanted to save him (and somehow wasn’t also being attacked), and Jiang Cheng, the guy that really hated Wei Wuxian and hit him with his sword to plunge him to his doom. He notably did not attack Lan Zhan, too, which like … would have been easier than reaching over the ledge to strike the dude hanging by a hand, but whatev 🤷‍♀️.

Also, nobody was actually paying attention to the man they purportedly wanted to kill because they were all fighting over …. something (was it the Stygian metal? I forgot at this point)

And then flashforward several years, and Wei Wuxian is summoned and he runs into a bunch of Lans and Jiangs? (Not totally sure, but I recognized Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng! At least their names when it came up on screen). And Jiang Cheng was really rough to whats-his-face, the little Jiang (who seemed like a nutball with some daddy issues, but 🤷‍♀️) which seemed to fit my current characterization for the-guy-who-super-hates-Wei-Wuxian.

AND THEN THE ETERNAL FLASHBACK STARTED. Look, I’m not even all the way through the flashback at this point. I just started the part where they all got summoned to the Wen Clan for “lecture.” And like, he was like Wei Wuxian’s brother?! They were like super close?! It really hurts to see the pure domesticity of their relationship when I know he will be responsible for his death. And he’ll do it with so much … anger.

And yeah, everytime he was around Wei Wuxian, he seemed annoyed and always complained about him. But he really cared (the bunny scene? The how worried I- I mean, my sister was), and I’m so scared to find out what turns him against Wei Wuxian.

Edit: from the second his mom stepped on screen, I was like wholly focused on Jiang Cheng’s face. She stepped up to him and said nice things and he looked so happy, I literally said out loud, “Ah, so he’s a Mama’s boy.” But then she started spitting venom, mostly against everyone else, but no she turned on him, too. Said he would NEVER measure up to Wei Wuxian. And isn’t that the most horrible thing to say to your child. The father was absolutely no help (three wives really?) and no one spoke against her, even when she attacked Ah Li (and who could bear to speak bad about Ah Li?).

Wen Qing

So, I wasn’t sure what to think of her at first. We knew she was working for the “bad guys,” but she was mostly doing it for her brother so, ya know, I kinda withheld judgment for a while. She tried (not too hard, but ya know) to look for the Stygian metal, but for some reason didn’t assault or steal from Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan when they found it? (Maybe she didn’t know, but they were pretty bad at lying about it). And they were trying to set up a cute little romance between her and Jiang Cheng, which seems cute so far.

AND THEN SHE WARNED HIM AT THE INN. Like, okay, that’s it. I’m hers. I’m sold. Like, not only was she rebelling against what Wen Chao told her, she’s doing it in a smart way that is unlikely to get her killed. Direct defiance isn’t quite her style; behind-the-back subterfuge is. And I am HERE FOR THAT. AND FURTHERMORE, the way she got Jiang Cheng’s attention, and maneuvered a way to get close enough to whisper to him WAS BRILLIANT. I rewatched that scene several times because it was so clever and subversive, I really loved it.

Edit:

I wish she would explain things to her brother. Just saying “stay away from Wei Wuxian, your friend, the guy who saved you” does not work, my dude. You could have at least pointed out the fact that you kind of repaid his debt. Like that was a valid point that you forwent to give him an ultimatum.

Wei Wuxian

Okay, the first thing that sold me on Untamed, I’m not ashamed to say, was Xiao Zhan’s face. It’s just … Undescribable. Beautiful. I could stare at him all day. His smile? Dead. The black outfit with copious red is my favorite. After episodes of seeing him in white, when he changed into that iconic black and red, *swoon* … I think my mind froze. AND THERE’S A RED RIBBON OR SOMETHING IN HIS HAIR? ARE THEY TRYING TO KILL ME?!?!

But of course there’s more to his character. Ahem, that’s arguably more important. But like I’m not blind.

Anyway, he seemed pretty typically lackadaisical, goofing off main character, ya know. Insanely confident in himself, which being a protag, was not unfounded. I felt kinda bad for him whenever he tried to goof off with Jiang Cheng or Lan Zhan and they just … totally shut him down. Cut him off. Ignored him. That hurt. But he was indomitably cheery, and I respect that.

MY FAVORITE MOMENTS HAVE TO BE WHEN HE GOES FROM GOOFING OFF TO BEING BADASS IN 0.03 SECONDS, THOUGH. He’s done it before, but the most recent in memory is when he STARTS RECITING THE LAN CLAN’S RULES INSTEAD OF THE WEN CLAN’S. LEGEND. He’s just spouting off and having a good time and tHAT SMIRK! But then he turns, and his face turns serious, and I just. Chef’s kiss. BDE

Lan Zhan

Okay, I am really anxious to see more because a lot of his interactions with Wei Wuxian have felt … closed off to me. Like, granted, I’m not good at reading body language and subtext, which is why I like reading, so they have to TELL me. But Lan Zhan….you’re killing me here. I’m so blind.

Ya know, when his brother and uncle were talking …. I wonder what he was like before though. It sounds like he’s all uptight for a reason (maybe he used to be different and something happened?) so I’m excited to see Wei Wuxian break through his barriers.

His behavior … it’s super straightjacketed now, but I wonder. He kinda reminds me of Tenya Iida (BNHA), and I think he has Chaotic Lawful energy. IM CALLING IT NOW. (Btw, icydk, chaotic lawful is a totally, ahem, valid alignment defined as: “He has a strict moral code but it’s Chaotic as all f*ck”

Edit: Now, I recently watched some episodes from the Wen Clan arc (or whatever it’s called; I’m currently trying to avoid spoilers, so I’m avoiding the wiki), and he CARES. (Granted, he’s gotta be hurting bc his whole clan was like annihilated? Maybe? Did he give up the Stygian metal? It’s all really unclear?) He yanks the whip out of Wen Chao’s hands like nobody’s business, like Nobody Touches Him Except Me. I’m so excited!

Lan Xichen

Okay, it took me forever to understand that he was the clan leader? I had assumed it was the uncle dude. And where’s their father???

But when he whipped out the flute and magicked everybody’s swords into the ceiling. Yasss.

Also, um, I kinda sensed something with him and Meng Yao. Like, maybe it’s just rare to see men having such respect for each other. But that was such a hard meet-cute, I’m like … I mean, is it just me?

Okay, rant over, don’t mind me. I might keep this updated, but i mostly wanted a record of my thoughts thus far on Untamed, bc honestly, I’m already planning my rewatch 😁

[spelviin]

endgame thoughts, not because i think i have anything valuable to say abt it, more just bc i want to get my initial unsullied opinions out before various overly nitpicky or overly praisy internet thinkpieces come around

okay so. first of all, i’m tired to death of the way folks talk about the mcu. like, it’s either a godly feat of everything and the most important thing ever or the literal devil incarnate and the source of all evil in this world. i am literally so fucking bored of both these perspectives and have zero time for either of them. 

yes, the mcu is emblematic of a lot of problems in the current state of the film medium as a whole. yes, it is also a really cool feat of storytelling that a whole bunch of movies spanning a whole bunch of years could all come together and culminate in a big huge blowout finale. yes, it could have been far better, but yes, it also could have been far worse. 

i wasn’t a fan of thor being a punchline in this film. like, the whole “lol thor fat” thing was like, really tired and not cool. and the fact that his genuine moments of expressing grief and the significant trauma he’s been through were played off for laughs more often than not bc “lol thor supposed to be big many man but he’s crying like a wimpyboy instread.” like, fucking please. it’s 2019 and other male characters were allowed to be shown crying and processing their trauma but thor’s??? not allowed for some reason??? anyway they did him dirty in this movie and i’m not super pleased abt that. 

i didn’t like that they fridged natasha. i’m not a fan of scarjo so much these days, but i did like natasha. 2012 me adored her and was 100000% behind her as the Only Woman (despite being miffed that she was the Only Woman) and i really liked her character and redemption arc through the films that she appeared in. and like, i get the justification for fridging her. like i get that she was this assassin who killed a bunch of folks and in the end, not only wiped out the red in her ledger, but saved the whole damn universe in doing so. i get that. i’m just annoyed that they literally went and fridged the Only Woman to give the boys manpain before the third act. 

speaking of the ladies.... the One Scene Where Women Get To Do Things. my god. the critical feminist part of my mind greatly resented the obvious lip service of that scene, and the fact that the ladies only got the one shining moment before we got back to the sausage fest. but lord, the lesbian part of my mind hella enjoyed it. like i was legit bouncing in my seat like YESSSS FUCK EM UP LADIES i was just completely stoked. 

and my god. MY GOD CAN WE TALK ABOUT CAROL’S HAIRCUT AKA A GIFT TO THE LESBIANS. THIS MOVIE HAS MANY SINS BUT WE CAN ALL THANK IT FOR THAT HAIRCUT. (and again, feminist me is like, hey, dont focus on her appearance, focus on the important shit she did in singlehandedly turning the battle around for everyone, but lesbian lizard brain is hhhhhhhhhhhhh girl hot)

anyways. 2012 me was a month out of a major jaw surgery when i saw the first avengers, puffy faced, on heavy painkillers, and unable to eat any solid foods, and just generally weak and miserable. i dragged myself to the theatre and i smiled the whole way through that movie bc even though i was feeling super shitty, that 360 shot of the team made me so excited and happy. so happy that i watched and rewatched a bootleg download over what was probably the worst summer of my life, and it made me happy and gave me hope, dumb as that may sound. 

i havent watched the first avengers movie in a long time, and i’m not sure if i’d feel the same way seeing it now. remembering how it felt then still makes me happy, but seeing that same 360 shot repeated in endgame didnt stoke much emotion. tumblr fandom took a lot of my avengers joy away. the drama and character hate and constant complaining and cringe culture bullshit exhausted me. and the recent turns of the mcu also contributed to that. a lot of things contributed to it, i guess. but i dont feel as happy as i once did. so a lot of this movie rang a little bit hollow, needless to say. 

that being said, though, i did feel a little flicker of that joy. for all the movie’s and the franchise’s faults, of which there are many, i can say that the moment where all those portals opened up and the revived characters stepped though, i felt that happiness again. i legit almost cried when i saw shuri’s silhouette step out of that circle. that moment when the score came in with that booming version of the avengers theme, i was 2012 me again, just for a moment, and i think that’s worth something. to me, that’s worth something. so for all its sins, i thank the movie for that. 

this is rly rambly and im tired so im just gonna say 2 more things. things i’m not personally super invested in, but other people are, and so i feel i need to have an opinion on em.

first is bucky. i fucking adore him, and i am kinda miffed that he got like, no interactions with steve. i know steve/peggy is the canon ship, i knew it was always endgame (heh) and that stucky is just a fandom thing. but god damn it, even if they were never gonna have their relationship go there (which tbh i literally never even came close to expecting to happen) it still feels a little bit unfair to have steve basically ignore probably the most important person in his life. like, i know he wanted to live his happy straight life with peggy, and passing on the shield and identity of captain america to sam is super important, and i loved that moment and would never begrudge him that bc i adore sam. i was just... really sad that bucky had to get kinda shafted for that. (literally all i was saying in the last half hour was “but where’s bucky? but what about bucky?” our boy deserved better. 

second is tony. tony tony tony. i know folks have a lot of strong feelings about him, both ways. i know of folks who think he’s the scum of the earth for some dumb reason, and i personally know others who think the entire mcu should revolve around him, for equally dumb reasons. i’m more neutral. i think he’s a good character who made questionable decisions in the past. i feel for him and his struggles with PTSD. i respect him as a character in-universe and also for what he and RDJ accomplished. like, if he hadn’t hit it out of the park with that first movie like a fucking decade ago, none of this would have been possible, and i think that’s pretty damn cool, regardless of feelings on the monster juggernaut the mcu has turned into. basically, i know some folks are maliciously rejoicing at his death while complaining that he got a hero’s send-off when he is a Bad And Not Morally Pure Man, which is. boring. and other people (namely one who i know personally in my family) who are mad because he is an Angel and deserved the Best Happy Ending Because No Bad Things Are Allowed To Happen To This Perfect Boy. i’m not here for either opinion. i’m okay that he died (peter crying over him did get to me in a huge way, but i think tom holland just has a power that if he’s crying, i’m crying so idk). i think it’s cool that he got to save everyone and got a heroic and well deserved send off. this isnt a revolutionary opinion i just wanted to throw it out there bc im bored with the polarization. 

and... yeah? i think that’s it? sorry, im really tired and this probs doesn’t make sense but i just felt like i had to get the initial reactions and feelings down before the thinkpieces get to me lmao. 

oh, also nebula deserved better 2kforever i just love her a lot and want her to be happy and not suffer, kthxbye 

[tigerlover16-uk]

In a way its really wierd to me how angry people get over Super. It's clearly just trying to be a simple comedy action series aimed at kids. Though I suppose there is the ageold ruining my childhood thing. But it doesn't really strike me as very provocative to inspire such strong negative feelings. Im just mostly looking at what it's trying to be. It doesnt strike me as tryhard either. The most powerful being is a audience selfinsert that just wants to have fun. Its so selfaware on many levels.

A lot of people obsess over Dragon Ball and want it to remain this (In their heads) perfect, untouched work of art I think. I’ve never agreed with that sentiment, but Dragon Ball IS one of the most iconic and influential anime and mangas of all time and has a special place in millions of peoples hearts. With that kind of pedigree, I get a lot of people having very high standards for any kind of a follow up.

There are legitimate grievances to be had with Super, and plenty of things that can theoretically go wrong with continuing Dragon Ball’s story (Just look at GT for proof of that).

So it’s perfectly reasonable to have concerns… but, unfortunately the Dragon Ball fandom has the same problem as the Star Wars fandom, Sonic fandom, and really a lot of other major fandoms out there: They let their nostalgia and obsession with the series get completely out of hand, and treat every mistake, big or small, as a sign that the end times have come and that the series is ruined forever.

Some of this does come from nitpicky aspects of the series that only certain obsessive fans actually care about and the majority of viewers are actually casually ignorant to (Like power scaling), some of it does come from places of genuine concern (Animation issues and messed up production early on, stuff like the Future Trunks saga ending, the show running in circles with certain characters rather than letting them progress further, etc), but a lot of it is, frankly, people just wanting an excuse to complain because “It’s not like Z!”.

As someone who grew up with the Star Wars Prequels and 3D era Sonic games, and prefers them to both franchises earlier outings (Mostly… 06 WAS a complete mess, nostalgia aside), I tend to have little sympathy for people whining about how a flawed sequel has completely ruined their favourite series and thus their childhood forever. 

And while I do sympathise with more reasonable fans who have fair reasons for disliking it, I think people in general are being incredibly myopic if they think that Super can actually damage Dragon Ball as a whole.

Like, you want to know why I keep comparing it to the Prequel Trilogy? Because for all the handwringing from petulant manbabies about how their precious (Dated and somewhat overrated, FTR) sacred movies had supposedly been ruined forever… the movies didn’t actually hurt Star Wars much in the long run, let’s be honest.

The Original Trilogy still exists. They’re the same movies they’ve always been, and if you don’t like the Prequels you’re free to ignore them and enjoy the original three movies for what they are, since they do function as a self contained story. There’s still plenty of tie in material from the old and new EU for people who want MORE Star Wars content not related to the Prequels too.

And on that note, we’ve had PLENTY of good Star Wars content since the Prequels came out too, with the tv series Star Wars: The Clone Wars frequently being hailed as one of the greatest works in the entire franchise, if not one of the best cartoons ever made, with some Prequel detractors even arguing it SALVAGED those movies. And let’s not forget how the first installment of the sequel trilogy became the first franchise film to gross over $2 Billion at the box office.

That’s not even getting into the fact that the Prequels also brought in a whole generation of new fans and lead to their love of the franchise, myself included.

For whatever problems the Prequels had (Real, imagined or grossly exaggerated), in the long run… Star Wars was fine. 

Even now with the Last Jedi, which many argue is a horrible movie that hurts the overall story of the Star Wars Saga (Funnily enough, I’m actually in that camp this time), I think similar logic applies. I, and other fans may not like it or a lot of stuff the Sequel Trilogy has done, and with stuff like Solo the Star Wars franchise may be going through a bit of a rough patch in terms of public interest at the moment… but honestly, I don’t think things are going to be bad forever.

People will eventually move on with their lives. People who don’t like the Sequel Trilogy can move on and enjoy the old movies while pretending they don’t exist, and enjoying whatever other spin offs they like, while fans who do like the Sequel Trilogy and modern star wars content can look forward to more stuff they enjoy. 

I can complain about certain directions the series has taken, but as someone who’s endured having people tell me that my childhood favourites ruined their lives (To which I have to say… please go outside and get some air, for Christ’s sake), I have no interest in wangsting about the state of things when I have a lot of better things I should be doing.

That’s not to say no one should complain of course, there are legitimate failings to the Sequel Trilogy and Last Jedi in particular and people have every right to complain (As long as they’re not the toxic fanbrats whining about the “SJW AGENDA!” And bulling the cast, those people can jump off a cliff along with the people who bullied Jake Lloyd and drove Ahmed Best to contemplate suicide). In fact, it’s a good thing for people to be critical since actually constructive criticism is necessary and good feedback for studios responsible for these pop culture franchises.

Going back to Dragon Ball, I personally enjoy Super. I think it’s done a lot of good things, though also had various missteps along the way. But despite those issues and while I hope future works take steps to fix and improve on things, I’m fairly happy with the current state of the franchise and eager for more.

I do think you have a point too, anon. Super itself isn’t honestly trying to be anything revolutionary or even on Z’s level. If you actually examine the show as a whole, it’s basically extended filler that mostly serves to expand the universe, create a big sandbox for future stories to possibly build on, and further develop several characters. The only time it really tried to do anything particularly ambitious was in the Future Trunks saga, where we had villains who questioned the state of humanity and there was an ideological battle going on between them and our heroes, mostly Future Trunks.

Other than that though? We got two movie retellings that were basically self-contained conflicts, a small-stakes tournament that mostly served to introduce a bunch of new recurring characters, and a multiversal tournament that, while it did do some interesting thematic stuff here and there… was mostly an excuse to introduce EVEN MORE new characters, give old ones a chance to shine and develop some more, and have a lot of cool looking fights.

Super isn’t really trying to be Z. It just wants to be a fun show for kids and which nostalgic fans can hopefully enjoy. If anything, I think it was mostly a test run to see whether continuing the franchise with more stories beyond the occasional movie was viable.

There’s certainly gripes to be had, but really Super’s status as a fill-in for a time gap in the Z anime to me just makes it feel a lot more low risk than an immediate sequel to the end of Z, since things do still end the same way they did regardless at the moment. It exists for fans to enjoy if they want to, but it can be easily ignored for fans who don’t and prefer the previous series.

And personally, I don’t think it’s really possible to truly “Ruin” Dragon Ball because the story already got an ending. The original manga, and the two anime adapting it, are a complete story on their own. One with a very open ending that leaves the door open for future stories, yes, but it’s a complete story nonetheless. Whatever directions future series may take, good or bad, it’ll never truly change the story as it originally was, because that manga and it’s anime will always exist for people to enjoy as it was intended.

I hate GT and I’ve complained about it plenty, but while I have very personal reasons for why it annoys me… at the end of the day, it’s irrelevant now. We got a different continuation that ignores it, it’s divorced enough from the original canon that I can just go about my days pretending it doesn’t exist, and I got my closure over it with that last re-watch sorting out my feelings on the series. 

So, really, flawed as it is there’s nothing to be REALLY mad about, is there? It exists, but it doesn’t do me any real harm, and it’s there for people who do enjoy it (For whatever weird reason, lol) to watch at their leisure. So in effect, it’s harmless… or at least it will be once we get another post-EoZ series to prove it didn’t completely close the door on those being made.

Dragon Ball’s kind of lucky in that way. It got to a point where it had a satisfying resolution where it can hopefully stand the test of time as a classic work of fiction, but people who want more still have the opportunity for that. 

And people who don’t think it should continue, or just don’t like those continuations, are free to not watch those works and enjoy the series the way they want to. Or, even if they don’t like Super, it’s still possible a better series or other products like movies can be made down the line that they can enjoy better.

Just like with Star Wars and the Sonic games.

I may have issues with Super from time to time, but overall I think it did a lot more good than bad, and most of it’s faults could be improved on in future series. The worst thing it actually did was destroying the original future timeline, but even that’s fixable if they just have another story with Future Trunks coming back and have somebody go “Hey, maybe we can use the Super Dragon Balls to bring your timeline back”. 

I get having personal attachment to the series and it’s characters, I do too. And I get people getting emotional when they feel something they like is being disrespected in any way. If people think the show handled Goku’s character badly or did something to hurt the overall ongoing story, then they’re within their right to complain and be upset about that. TO A REASONABLE EXTENT.

I do also get the feeling a lot of people just can’t handle Dragon Ball having a flawed follow up, aswell. Given that Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z are influential classics, it makes sense that a lot of people would be unhappy with anything that didn’t live up to that quality. But I think some people do get overly worked up about it.

Fact is, all franchises have both flawed installments, and a number of duds to show for them. Star Trek has bad movies and the bad series here or there (Enterprise). Doctor Who has had bad seasons. Marvel and DC have had plenty of bad comics and media adaptions. Mario and Sonic and Pokémon and lots of others have had bad games or adaptions. But that hasn’t ruined everything that was good about those series, or stopped them from putting out good new content.

Every piece of media has it’s flaws to be frank, and every franchise will inevitably stumble here or there. Dragon Ball has had plenty of duds before Super. The Broly movies, GT, Return of Cooler, Episode of Bardock, a bunch of bad video games most people don’t even bother to remember, FREAKING DRAGON BALL EVOLUTION. And plenty of stuff about the old series themselves has aged terribly (Especially in early Dragon Ball). But none of that has managed to kill the franchise.

We’ve had bad, mediocre and decent though heavily flawed Dragon Ball stories and products in the past, and we’ll have plenty more in the future. And while there’ll be stuff that is worth griping about, really at the end of the day it’s not the end of the world, and people who do get legitimately angry thinking it is need to relax now and again.

I get people thinking that things should have just stayed the way there were, thinking that Dragon Ball shouldn’t have been continued if that continuation wasn’t going to live up to it’s predecessors. And I’m never going to argue that people shouldn’t complain about things (I certainly do).

But realistically, Dragon Ball was going to have follow ups sooner or later. It’s the biggest franchise Toei and Shueisha have, and one of the most iconic series of all time. Whether I or anyone else thinks Dragon Ball needed a follow up or not, it was bound to happen because we live in a world where milking popular franchises is the name of the game. 

People can complain about it, people can and should have issues with flawed products. People can insist on Dragon Ball’s legacy needing to be preserved. But like I’ve said... the series as you loved it isn’t going anywhere. No one is obligated to support everything the franchise does. So I don’t think getting overly angry or worked up about Super or GT or whatever not being everything they wanted them to be is something to freak out over.

Fact is, for all the complaints... a lot of people still love Super and enjoyed it. A lot of people still love Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. Super has brought Toei nothing but monetary success, and interest in the franchise is at the highest it’s been since Z finished airing in the West over a decade ago and the franchise went truly dormant for the most part. If anything, I think Dragon Ball actually gets more respect these days than it did for most of the latter half of the last decade, where it became sort of an internet laughing stock in the West.

We’re still getting plenty of high profile and quality products, like FighterZ, which along with Super itself and the movies preceding it has helped draw in a lot of new fans and brought back a good chunk of lapsed ones. There’s a generation of children the world over that are going to have grown up on Super as their first Dragon Ball series, and it’ll be an important part of helping them get into the franchise and the previous series, much like Kai before it. 

And we’ve got a new movie coming out that’s generating a lot of hype and which looks to be giving the franchise a much needed and exceptionally positive visual overhaul, which it’s needed for a while now.

For all the ups and downs, and there have been plenty... Dragon Ball is doing fine. Regardless of what any individual person thinks of Super, Dragon Ball’s legacy isn’t in any danger. The franchise isn’t collapsing, and the overall story and all of it’s characters haven’t been completely ruined beyond repair.

Things could be better. But Z and Dragon Ball could have been better in a lot of places too. It’s okay to be unsatisfied about the current state of things and to voice complaints, as much as it’s okay to be loving the thrill of having Dragon Ball really make a comeback.

Things will be fine. With Super currently off the air, I think now’s the time for everyone to just take a chill and relax. The world didn’t end, and it’s not going to any time soon. (Well, unless Trump throws a hissy fit and launches nukes at everyone but, you know, hopefully that won’t happen).

[emilyartstudios]

Get to know me tag i was tagged by @peachy-julia ahah thank you so much!! ^^ RULES: you must answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people (if you all think I've got that much friends you're tripping wth) THE LAST…
1.Drink: orange juice 
2.Phone call: ahah can't remember, I mostly text :)!!!
3.Text message: my best friend ahah we messaged through snap 
4.Song you listened to: OH NO you caughttt meee (Carmen by Lana because when I'm in her album, I want to listen to all of them)
5.Time you cried: VOLTRON BRO DONT GET ME STARTED HAVE YOU EVER... 
6.Dated someone twice: naw
7.Been cheated on: naw
8.Kissed someone and regretted it: ahaha
10.Been depressed: :/ don't we all feel down sometimes?
11.Gotten drunk and thrown up: naw LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS:
- light greens (like green tea))
- blues - pinks/purples 
IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU… 
15.Made new friends: yes! Pretty good I should say
16.Fallen out of love: naw
17.Laughed until you cried: I think so! This could be true!!
18.Found out someone was talking about you: naw
19.Met someone who changed you: Maybe ahah
20.Found out who your true friends are: I've always known for sure who my real friends are
21.Kissed someone on your Facebook list: I stopped the whole Facebook thing :) GENERAL… 
22.How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: almost all of them which is why I don't go on there anymore
23.Do you have any pets: I own two birds; a cockatiel and a love bird. And a cute French poodle :)
24.Do you want to change your name: I'm very happy with my name as it is
25.What did you do for your last birthday: i was with my family the whole time it was great ^^
26.What time did you wake up: LMAO AT 2:00 pm leave me alon- 27.What were you doing at midnight last night: I was hanging out with my fam as always they're great 28.Name something you cannot wait for: Voltron SEASON 4!!! And my new case for my phone :,)
29.When was the last time you saw your mother: 5 minutes ago I suppose?? :0
30.What is one thing you wish you could change about your life: Maybe the fact that I wasn't such a good networker when I was younger :/ (but now I'm trying my best!! ^^)
31.What are you listening to right now: CuCo's full album: Songs4U!!! ITS GOOD ITS REALLY REALLY GOOD
32.Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Thomas yes not a tom though 
33.Something that is getting on your nerves: Ah;;; I mostly ignore things that's aggravate me (like some fandoms) but rn for sure the whole Charlottesville situation :/
34.Most visited website: I visit YouTube, insta, PaigeeWorld, and DeviantArt a lot!! Not here so much but I do come lmao
35.Elementary: some good shit
36. High School: I want to say that Junior and Senior year was the best year yes yes shout out to the best times 37.College/university: Im not a sophomore at my college and i still don't know why I'm here lmao!! I'm here to draw but I haven't learned anything that I want to learn :0 but it's still cool! I learned a bunch of useful skills though! (As I should because I'm in paying for this???)
38.Hair color: I have very dark brown hair! I have been thinking of dying it a dark purple but I for sure won't cause I'm boring
39.Long or short hair: I have sort of long hair? But I want to cut it short ahah I always wimp out tho
40.Do you have a crush on someone: naw not rn
41.What do you like about yourself: ah;;; I am always willing to learn and I always do something with my full power!
42.Piercings: I have my ears pierced :)
43.Blood type: I don't know my blood type :0!! Hopefully I find out one day and I can donate ^^
44.Nickname: Em sometimes or mely
45.Relationship status: I'm personally not interested in having a relationship ahah it's a long story!!!
46.Zodiac sign: Gemini!
47.Pronouns: she/they/ whatever idrc
48.Favorite tv show: HAVE YOU WATCHED SENSE 8 ITS GOOD-
49.Tattoos: I do not have any but I do want one!!! But my dad doesn't like them lmao// hopefully I can convince him one day :)
50.Right or left hand: I'm right handed but I do teach my left hand some stuff FIRST…
51.Surgery: there's a vague memory if I did get one or not but I cannot remember 
52.Piercing: My ears were pierced when I was a baby but I feel like I can still remember myself crying like a little BBBBitttch
54.Sport: I don't play sports my dude I'm an artist ha
55.Vacation: I never went anywhere for my vacation times
57.Eating: first thing I ate? What?
58.Drinking: Ill talk about the first time I drank that frappe at McDonald's Boi that shit good
59.I’m about to: start drawing not wTeam Nyan art lmao!!///
60.Listening to: STILL CUCO but um his song neon baby is playing :)!!!
61.Waiting for: my case to come home!!! And an email from my client ahah
62.Want: to be fully ready for the next school year OTL 63.Get married: Idk I've always seen it as a maybe option :/
64.Career: IT BETTER BE SOMETHING WITH ART AND THAT IM DOING MY OWN STORIES THATS ALL I ASK AAaa WHICH IS BETTER… (in a significant other?)
65.Hugs or kisses: both both both
66.Lips or eyes: BOTH BOTH BOTH
67.Shorter or taller: taller for sure because I'm like really short and no one is shorter than me- 68.Older or younger: Same range as my age!! They at least have to be close younger or older :0
70.Nice arms or nice stomach: nice arms bro
71.Sensitive or loud: AH ANYONE IS FINE TBH!!! Sensitive is great and cute!! AND LOUD IS LIKE IDEAL
72.Hook up or relationship: relationship!! I don't play around
73.Troublemaker or hesitant: BOTH BOTH BOTH HAVE YOU EVER… 
74.Kissed a stranger?: no ahah
75.Drank hard liquor?: yeah and I'm not fond of it;;;
76.Lost glasses contact/lenses?: no I still have my glasses from the first prescription :)
77.Turned someone down?: ooo idk fam
78.Sex on first date?: naw I'm not down
79.Broken someone’s heart?: ahaha perhaps I did sadly
80.Had your heart broken?: hmm
81.Been arrested?: no no no
82.Cried when someone died?: yeah of course ahah ya kidding me?
83.Fallen for a friend?: no actually ahah DO YOU BELIEVE IN… 
84.Yourself?: I wish to say yes!! ^^
85.Miracles?: yeah!!
86.Love at first sight?: maybe maybe idk liking at first sight maybe
87.Santa Claus?: Coca Cola created Santa Claus 
(It's a joke please don't grab me by the neck damn) $$$$ 88.Kiss on the first date?: hmmm 
89.Angels?: yo maybe idk OTHER…
90.Current best friend’s name: UM I HAVE SO MUCH GREAT PEOPLE IN MY LIFE THAT I LOVE??? 
91.Eye color: Brown ^^ 92.Favorite movie: SHAW SHANK REDEMTION PLEASE WATCH IT ITS GOOD I ALSO REALLY LOVE DISNEY's TANGLED AND BIG HERO 6 THANK YOU VERY MUCH I WILL NOT TAGG ANYONE HEHE BUT IF YOU WANT YOU CAN DO THIS TOO AND SAY THAT I TAGGED YOU!!! PERFECT WAY TO MAKE FRIENDS TOO

[yourtaintedvixen]

Shina 100 facts

1. What do they smell like?

Honey & silk  naturally but sometimes flowers due to her shampoos/soaps/perfumes

2. What is their voice like?

She has a very quiet and calm voice with a french accent like the french singer Indila

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B-A1YFMRcU

3. What is their biggest motivator?

Shina’s biggest motivator has to be her books, she really loves and enjoys them and some have such moving storys that they motivator her to carry on with life in genral.

4. What is their most embarrassing memory?

Probably when she was asked to join a threesome and she pratically ran away from being to flustered 

5. How do they deal with/react to pain?

Shina does not deal with physical very well at all and has a very low pain tolerance so usually ends up crying . however when it comes to emotinal pain she usually hides it behind a smile so is very good at hiding it and tends to do so

6. What do they like to wear?

dresses, any and all kinds as long as they are a dress she will wear them

7. Which of their relationships have impacted them most positively?

In all honeslty probably her relationship with Ai, her past relations haven’t been good and its usually people use her and abuse her a lot to get what they want out of her but Ai spends time with her and is just as affectionate as she is maybe just a little more then she is but thats something she needed some who wants the whole package that is shina ;;

8. What’s the weirdest thing they’ve ever eaten?

dragon fruit but even thats quite tame, she did like it

9. Describe the way that they sleep.

on her stomach sprawled out on the bed, as a baby that how she would lay on a night and has done ever since, its very comforting to her and the fastest way she falls asleep.

10. What is their favorite food/kind of food?

any kind of fruit, she really likes grapes or anything sweet really as long as its a fruit, she isn’t really that keen on junk food

11. What do they feel most insecure about?

For shina its her ears, she dislikes them and often calls them usless. with her being deaf and her ears stuck up for everyone to see it makes her hate them and ontop of that they are rather sensative to touch which makes her hate them even more.

12. How do they like to dress?

Japanese fashion , she loves the bright beautiful colours and embraces them

13. How do they react to feelings of guilt?

she usually stays quiet when feeling guilty and tends to go out her way to fix whatever she feels guilty about

14. How do they react to/deal with betrayal?

she acts as though its fine and alright but when by herself she will cry a lot and hide in her room and refuse to leave

15. What is their greatest achievement?

right now i don’t think shina has a greatest achievement since she hasn’t really done much.

16. What are they like when they’ve gotten too little sleep?

she will be fine though will yawn a lot and if someone sits her down and lays her down she will instantly fall to sleep

17. What are they like when they’re drunk?

when drunk she is flirty and very touchy feely but she has never been drunk to a point that side of her comes out.

18. What kind of music do they enjoy?

shina is deaf and cannot hear music but she sometimes can feel the vibrations of music and put together a beat

19. Are they right or left handed?

both! this way she can write using both hands at the same time

20. Fears?

heights | fish | vampires?

21. Favorite kind of weather?

Rain or snow its the only weather she can feel physically on her skin so she enjoys it

22. Favorite color?

Pastel Green

23. Do they collect anything?

book! all kinds from all over the world she especially fond of fairytales and has always secretly wished she could be like one of the princesses in her books

24. Do they prefer either hot or cold weather more?

Cold weather, it give her excuses to hug people and for people to come over to the castle since its rather warm there

25. What is their eye color?

Brown

26. What is their race/ethnicity?

white asian

27. Hair color?

pastel blue

28. Are they happy where they are currently?

yes very much so : 3

29. Are they a morning person?

yep! tbh shina is an all day round person she can wake up at any time and be her happy chirpy self

30. Sunrise or sunset?

both! she loves the nice vivid colours that come with both

31. Are they more messy or more organized?

organized, she has to be otherwise the castle would be a mess

32. Pet peeves?

people who are rude or ignore her | people who destroy / disface books for no reason

33. Do they own any objects of significant personal importance?

Shina has a jewllery box on her dresser which holds a bunch of notes written by her mother to shina when she was pregnant with shina as well as her mothers wedding ring and various other small things that belonged to her. since her mother died during child birth these are all she has of her mother.

34. Least favorite food?

olives

35. Least favorite color?

brown

36. Least favorite smell?

fish

37. When was the last time they cried?

a while ago when she found out lirco was dead and was fed up of people lying to her

38. Were they with anybody the last time they cried?

yes she was with Ai actually

39. Tell us about one of the times they got injured?

she broke her leg once as a child when she fell out a tree, her nannies and maid kept tellign her a lady can’t play outside and do un-lady like stuff so she climbed a tree and then fell out of it.

40. Do they have any scars?

yes she has a scar on her right-hand side from when she fought with callum as a child and callum dug his nails into her side leaving a mark. its barley noticable now as well as a few others in other places.

41. Do they struggle with any mental health issues?

shina does struggle with a very mild form of depression which is why she often puts herself down.

42. Do they have any bad habits?

being clingy?

43. Why might someone dislike them?

she’s a pushover and doesn’t tend to stand up for herself so it makes her weak in peoples eyes

44. Why might someone love them?

she’s very caring and pretty?

45. Do they believe in ghosts?

of course she does ! very much so

46. Is there anyone they would trust with their lives?

she’s a very trusting person so there is a few she would trust with her life though im pretty sure about only 4 people would actually want to keep her alive if it came down to it

47. Are they romantically interested in anyone?

yes she is

48. Are they dating/married to anyone?

i suppose they are dating since they go on dates

49. Do they like surprises?

yeah from time to time but not when she’s asleep

50. When is their birthday?

June 22nd

51. How do they usually celebrate their birthday?

She usually has a ball in her home town though she doesn’t stay long, she is usually there for an hour and then people forget its to celebrate her birthday and she’s left alone so she prefers to spend her birthdays alone rahter then being forgotten.

52. Do they have any family?

yes she has her father as well as a few cousins, aunts, uncles ect she also considers callum’s mother and father her own

53. Are they close to their family?

No she was never close with her father but she is close with callum’s parents since they raised her.

54. What is their MBTI type?

Advocate (INFJ-t)

55. What is their zodiac sign?

Cancer

56. What Hogwarts House would they be in?

Ravenclaw

57. What D&D alignment are they?

Lawful good

58. Do they ever have nightmares? If so, what about?

no, she tends not to have them but when she does its usually about being left alone

59. What are their views on death?

Shina isn’t really scared of death she jsut sees it as a peaceful sleep more then anything else. how she dies is what she is scared of.

60. What is something that they’re sure to laugh at?

Puns! she really enjoys them and they make her giggle or even being tickled

61. When bored, how do they pass time?

she tends to read a book or work on her fanfictions

62. Do they enjoy being outside?

on the night time she does, she enjoys the stars and the cool breeze that comes with it

63. Do they have an accent?

yes a french one : 3

64. Upon seeing a slice of chocolate cake, what is their first reaction?

she isn’t too bothered by it since she isn’t a fan of cake but she would probably take it and put it away for callum

65. If they knew they were going to die, what would they do/say?

She would accept it and probably act as though things are normal and try not to tell anyone with the fear of upsetting them

66. How do they feel about sex?

Shina has doesn’t know anything really about sex apart from that it hurts the first time which actually makes her scared of it because of her low pain tolerance. she would probably be all for foreplay but very nervous when it came to the actual thing.  

67. What is their sexuality?

Bisexual

68. Do they become squeamish at the sight of blood?

no, not really, growing up with someone who has lupus sadly it was a common sight so she isn’t sqeamish about it

69. Is there anything that they find really gross?

puss like infections and stuff it makes her sick even just thinking of it

70. Which TV Trope(s) best describes them?

um im actually not really sure

71. Do they enjoy helping people?

yep, even when scared she will go out her way to help someone in need

72. Are they allergic to anything?

nothing

73. Do they have a pet?

yeah, she has a cat that doesn’t like her but she loves it regardless

74. Are they quick to anger? What are they like when they loose their temper?

it takes a lot to upset shina, and its very very rare she looses her temper but when she does she will not be afraid to smack whoever has upset her

75. How patient are they?

very patient indeed

76. Are they good at cooking?

she’s good at baking more then cooking but she can cook

77. Favorite insult? Do they insult people often?

shina doesn’t insult people so doesn’t have a favorite insult

78. How do they act when they’re particularly happy?

she squeaks or chirps and usually nuzzles if its a person who made her happy

79. What do they do when they learn about other people’s fears?

she lets them take their time in explaining them to her and sometimes will help the ones that want help and offer support to the ones that don’t

80. Are they trustworthy?

yeah, she doesn’t tell anyone anything unless she thinks a person is in danger

81. Do they try to hide their emotions? Are they good at it?

she hides negative emotions and oh boy she is very good at it

82. Do they exercise regularly?

no she doesn’t really like it though she will go for a run or a swim if asked to

83. Are they comfortable with the way they look?

she is comfortable with her body but not with the way she looks and can often put herself down, she is slowly disliking how she looks so on good days she’s alright with herself and bad days she isn’t

84. What are some physical features that they find attractive on people?

she likes peoples smiles and eyes but she really isn’t too much into looks its more of their personality

85. What kind of personalities do they find attractive?

confident, affectionate personalities with a sensative side to them that she can see

86. Do they like sweet foods?

yep but its mostly fruit rather then cakes and cookies ect

87. What is their age?

shina is about 19+

88. Are they tall or short or somewhere in between?

she is very short 4'9

89. Do they wear glasses or contacts?

none she has perfect eyesight

90. Do they consider themselves attractive?

no she doesn’t at all really which is why she get rather confused when people compliment her apperance

91. What is their sense of humor like?

she has a well balanced sense, she likes her jokes but knows not to take them too far

92. What mood are they most often in?

she is mostly just mellow and neutral maybe a little happy

93. What kinds of things anger them?

lies, she can not stand them

94. Outlook on life?

she’s an optimism

95. What kind of things make them sad/depressed?

other people crying, over thinking things

96. What is their greatest weakness?

she is a pushover so often gets used by people

97. What is the greatest strength?

she’s very kind and caring

98. Something that they regret?

she regrets saying horrible things to a person who is dead now and she knows she can’t take them back.

99. Biggest accomplishment?

she doesn’t really have one yet ;;

100. Create your own!

quote her?

"do you really want to have a bath with me that badly?"

-shina , 2017

DONE X’D okay now @hour-glass-giwa you do Ai >v>

[bbjhfgjngdbliy-blog]

Saihen of the Sound part 3 The Unseeing Gaze

He had spent weeks inside the cave mending his wounds. "Im no Kabuto but I still think I did and okay job" He spoke to the empty cave. No answer was given. He felt slightly confused as to why that disappointed him. "Ive been in this cave too long." He muttered to himself. "This is what I get for thinking I could take the raikage and his B. I was so stupid I thought myself smarter than the enemy. I underestimated my foe. Orochimaru would be so disappointed!" His throat tightened as he spoke this. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the musky smelling wall behind him. In his mind he saw a face silhouetted with no features except the eye of "that" clan. The voice echoed through his mind "Pathetic. If thats all you have then you are truly worthless to me. No wonder I had to give my life. It's becuase you couldn't help me think of a better way." The eye got closer and Saihen could feel the disdain coming from it. "IT'S YOUR FAULT I'M DEAD" Saihen jerked awake ignoring the wetness he could feel on his cheeks. It's just a dream At least thats how he tried to convince himself to calm down. The emotionally distraught shinobi stood up and grabbed the summoning scroll laying by his bedroll. Without this it would've been for nothing. The scroll and the absence of his custom arm is all the proof he has of his encounter.  His wounds healed he sets off for the Village of the Leaf. Hoping to run into a old friend. The journey to the leaf was uneventful. The aide of a kind vender kept him from halving to walk the whole way. While riding on her cart the woman had offered him a lift saying the leaf was her destination. Saihen accepted of course it was a very long walk. As he climbed into cart he took a look at her. Her short red hair hair that fell past her ears. He took notes of the dark kimono she wore and her arm guards. She held out a hand to help him up. But what caught his attention most were the blue of her eyes. One was a dark blue like the sky before a storm but the other was a light blue like a still lake. Along the way they chatted about multiple things. The woman was actually delivering a shipment of medical supplies and rare tea leaves to a cafe ran by a woman named Kaika. "Really all types are allowed there she doesnt descriminate. She was a medical nin before the shop opened. Since then she rarely leaves." The woman smiles. "She offers asylum to any who need it no questions asked" Saihen smirks to himself What are the chances that he gets a ride to the exact place he was heading? Things might actually work this time. The woman stops talking with a confused look on her face "I am so sorry I dont believe I ever caught your name" Saihen started to lie but then decided the woman was no threat to his current goals. "You may call me Saihen" "You may call me Mai" She replied. After that they merely chatted about the weather and the state of the world. For two weeks they traveled together. The fact that no bandits or anything of the like attacked surprised Saihen. Multiple times along the trip he had thought they would be. He felt eyes watching and they passed through many perfect ambush spots. Yet Mai just kept on driving seemingly oblivious to the dangers. Maybe he was overreacting after all the war had changed things. Maybe bandits were no longer in these parts. "Maybe that new hokage brat actually has good security measures now" Saihen thought. "Well if bandits are no worries that merely leaves skirting the Anbu until I get what I need" As they approached the front gate of the village guards stopped them. One approached the cart. "Who are you and what is your business here" Mai reached into her kimono sleeve and withdrew a paper with the emblem of the leaf stamped on it "Im sure everything is in order." Saihen had never seen a guard look so surprised as he saw the paper "Yesyes of c-c-course go right in." Mai smiled "Why thank you" As the went through the gates Saihen was struck with the size of the village. It had grown so large since he was last here. The streets were packed with people runnings errands or just enjoying the weather. Skyscrapers dotted the skyline. The sky had airships coming and going. The mountain had more faces since he was last there. The stoic gaze of the new hokage gazed upon the village. Judging all those who traveled its streets. Turning to Mai he asked "How did you get through security so fast? They didnt even check us." Her eyebrows bunched together "Oh I must have forgot to mentio-" "My lord" Both Saihen and Mai heads turned to see a robed figure kneeling in front of them. Hood hiding its face "Any orders?" Mai looked down at him "At this time no. You did an excellent job go back to base with the others and rest up." The figure stood up and Saihen saw under the hood. His brain reeled from what he saw. " A ceramic mask! In the shape of a fox. Anbu.Lord?!!!!!!!!!?????? The bandits? Of course! That means.. Oh no" as the pieces fell into place. 'How did I not notice? Am I slipping this much?!" The thoughts raced in his head. He turned towords Mai and saw a slight smile on her lips. "Piece it together did we?" Saihen focused his chakra around himself ready to flare it out. "Release!" He fell to the ground agony racing up his arm. Yanking up his sleeve he saw a seal glowing on his forearm. "Of course why would anyone actually help me? Foolish" He looked up at her from the ground "So sorry about the ruse. But when the Raikage sent word that a one armed shinobi had attacked him and then I picked you up. It was just too much to resist. Didnt you find it strange i just happen to be going where you were planning on going? She laughed. "I assumed one as smart as you would figure it out but oh well. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Mai, high lord of the Anbu, the strongest of the leaf and you, well you are my prisoner. " From the ground Saihen tried to focus his chakra again only to be met with the same searing pain on his arm. "That seal on your arm prevents chakra usage of any kind as well as disguising my face. A custom made seal specifically crafted to aid in prisoner transport." Saihen struggled to his feet. A crowd of people had formed around them. He was sure she had other Anbu watching. He could use no chakra while this seal was on his forearm. He couldnt fight without his puppet arm. He was truly and utterly out of options. "I give up. You win" Saihen stood shakily "I surrender" Mai strode up to him "As I thought. come with me the hokage wishes to see you personally." As she turned and started to walk four Anbu dropped down around Saihen completly surrounding him. The crowd parted to let them through. "My own personal funeral march with her leading the way." Desperately looking for any way out. As long as the seal was on he was helpless. The Anbu kunoichi lead the way through back streets. "Probably to keep me away from the civilians. No collateral damage. No witnesses" Passing by an alley he saw a small basin used by blacksmiths to cool hot metal. As they approached the smith came out holding a red hot hunk of metal inbetween a pair of tongs. "This is my chance." Saihen launched himself towords the smith and pressed his hand against the metal "What are you doing?!" The smith took a step back as the smell of Saihens burning flesh filled the air. "Come on come on" Gritting his teeth as the metal seared the skin on his hand. He pulled it back to see that the seal and been divided cleanly in half by the burning. Ignoring his pain he touched the inside of his sleeve sending a bit of chakra to release the summon he had there. Instantly dozens of smoke bombs fell out of his sleeve filling the air with enough smoke to almost be tangible. "GET HIM HE IS RIGHT HERE STILL!" Saihen jumped onto the roof only to find an Anbu waiting for him "Damn. perimeter guard" The Anbu started to reach up to touch his communicater. Saihen launched himself at the ninja, arm drawn back and glowing with chakra "HIRODURAA" The Anbu recognizing the attack vanished. Saihen landed where the anbu was and stopped the chakra flow "Heh,didnt think that would work. They really are jumpy" He heard the sound of multiple feet landing behind him. Not even turning around he took off. Focusing on his surroundings as he leaped roof to roof. Then he saw it,Kaikas cafe safe haven to all. Even the anbu need express Hokage permission to go in. He landed on the street, ignoring the people staring ran as hard he he could towords the doors. All he needed to do was get inside. The he would have a few hours while the went through the process of getting permission. "STOP HIM HE HIS RIGHT THERE! STOP UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE HOKAGE UZUMAKI NARUTO STOP" Mai's voice sounded out behind him. He was sure she had a small army behind him but he dared not look back. As he approached the doors and saw the guards out front he started yelling his own message "ASYLUM ASYLUM" The guards in front of the cafe spread apart and openend the door to let him pass. The second he touched the inside of the cafe the doors were shut behind him. He looked around the cafe finding the owner standing behind a bar serving the most exquisite meals he had seen in weeks. The room was brightly lit and packed with people eating.Barely any of them paid him any attention apparently used to this kind of thing he sat down at the bar. "My name is Kaika you can tell me your name or not however you wish. You are safe here until the hokage himself tells me otherwise. You may stay as long as you wish. Now are you hungry or require any medical aide? " The owner was standing over him looking mildly shy but also eager to help. "I do have a slight burn I would like some treatment for" he pulled up his sleeve for the first time seeing the damge he did to his arm. The skin from his knuckles to halfway up his form was simply melted off. He could see the fiborous muscle under neath. Kaika gasped "That looks pretty bad however." She placed her palm over his burn and Saihen watched in amazement as new skin crisscrossed across the wound stitching it closed. He gazed up at the owner "I..I don't know what to say. Thank you" She smiles "Its not a problem. Is there anything else youd like?" "Actually is there someplace private we can talk? I need your help finding someone who may not want her name being broadcasted everywhere." Kaika nodded and motionend for him to follow Saihen got up and followed her to a back room.she shut the door behind them. The room was small and filled with boxes fhat smelled VERY strongly of tea "So who is it you need to find?" Saihen pulled the scroll from his robes and unrolled it on the table between them. He unlocked the seal and in a puff of smoke Sammehada appeared on the table and promptly wrapped its hilt around Saihen's wrist enjoying the chakra. "Her name is Abunai. We used to travel in the same circle so to speak. I merely wish to find her and return this." Kaika's eyes widenend. Her voice came out out slightly above a whisper. "Is that..HIS sword?" "Yes" "The one that Killer B took?" "Yes" "So that makes you the shinobi that attacked him and his brother and stole it?" "Yes" She sat down on a box. "You are a VERY wanted shinobi. The entire alliance has people looking for you. The Hokage, once he finds out that you are in here he will come himself. He and B were quite close In the war." Saihen was shocked. "How close?" She looked up at him a sad look in her eyes. "They were like brothers. The hokage takes family quite seriously." Saihen sighed. "I will be out of here as soon as I can I dont wish to cause trouble for you. Do you k ow where I can find her?" Kaika pulls out a map and marks a place on the map. "She told me if anyone is ever looking for her to send them there. I hear the beach its on is quite beautiful." Saihen fills with dread "That is months away without an airship. There are no non alliance airships. I can't possibly get there." Kaika is lot in thought for a moment "I think I can help that actually. One moment." She walks to the door and pokes her head out and starts talking. A few moments later a petite girl with curly bown hair and glasses comes in and smiles at Saihen. "Oh I can work with this." She drops a case on the floor "Im a but of a master at appearing to be someone im not. I bet you think im a girl" "Arent you?" She giggles "wouldnt you like to know? My name is pidge by the way and im going to change how you look" Kaika walks out saying "have fun you two" Hours later Saihen walks out of the room. He had to admit pidge did amazing. He has a new puppet arm that does things he hadnt even thought of. He walked with a limp thanks to uneven shoes. His eyes were a light green thanks to contacts and his hair was now down to his waist and a dark black thanks to some chakra enhanced growth. She even gave him a chakra suppression device to hide his chakra. Pidge had said any time he needed help he was welcome to get ahold of her she was fascinated by his ideas for applications of chakra and machinery. He thanked both her and kaika profusely and walked out the front door. Right past Anbu waiting outside. They didnt even look at him twice. The ticket clerk paid him no attention as he bought a ticket and took his seat on the airship He had a new identity courtesy of Pidge and a full belly courtesy of Kaika. He wished he could stay. As he watched the village grow smaller on the horizon he actually felt sad to leave them behind. "Another day perhaps"

[aurimeanswind]

Fearful Endeavors—Sunday Chats (1-29-17)

To Disclose Up Front

So. I’m afraid. It’s a thing I think goes without saying as a very empathetic United States citizen. I’m really, really afraid. 

It may seem crass, or tone-deaf, or ignorant, but I don’t genuinely have the energy to enter in the national dialogue against the seemingly facist regime that is beginning to plague my great nation. I have a lot going on in my life, and not a lot of time and resources to compromise in order to assist in this thing I also care greatly for. That may make me a bad person, or at the very least, a worse person than who I could or aspire to be.

I’m aware of that, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry most specifically to the people who are directly affected by this disgusting situation we find ourselves in.

It is not excuse, but as I’ve talked about multiple times before, I have a very overactive sense of self-empathy, and seeing this torment has begun having a very detrimental effect on my personal well-being and health. It is absolutely in no way and excuse, but it is very much the honest reason I find myself shying away from the dialogue and discourse that is plaguing many of my social media feeds, my friends’ conversations, and beyond. I can’t be a part of that, as a selfish, 20-something year old, who wants to make his dream come true, and wants to figure his life out.

I wanted to put this here, up front, as a full reveal of my position, as Sunday Chats is and always has been your peak into my psyche, my well-being, from worst to best, and what my week has been.

This has been my week. I will attempt to keep reading, to keep learning, to keep watching, and stay attentive. 

With this said... Onto the game-talk.

Twitter in the gaming space has blown up in a fun way recently from this little piece that’s been making the rounds:

I managed to get over 30 likes when I tweeted this out, and I didn’t want to bog-down my followers with all my replies to this, but I thought it was fun, so why not participate! I did the first 9 of these on Twitter, and here is a link to that thread to see those replies and those first 9:

THREAD

So for my editorial today, and I’ll try and keep this succinct, I am going to do my 10-30. STRAP IN!

30 Likes, 30 Games

#10

Best gameplay is tough. I may ultimately have to give it up Spelunky. But Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix is a close second. With Persona 4 being a close third.

But Spelunky is a game I continue to play and play, not for any particular reason, save for the fact that it plays so damn well.

#11

My current gaming system of choice is the PS4. The Dualshock 4 is maybe my favorite controller ever made, and the system is a comfortable, easy to use and navigate platform with a bunch of great deals and exclusives. Where the Super Nintendo or PS2 are probably my favorite platforms of all time, the PS4 is a comfy go-to right now.

#12

Journey is by no means hard, and is in no way off-putting. It’s beautiful, and simple, and it’s mechanics and gameplay are a great showcase of what video games can do. If I were to say a game of my all-time favorites that everyone could and should play, especially those who have no context for video games as an art form, and what they can accomplish, it’s unquestionably Journey.

#13

A game I’ve played more than five times? Haha, that is actually not a short list.

The big ones, though, would be The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. Played each of those at least six times each. A Link to the Past maybe 12 or so times, to completionist levels of finished. But the big one, because of how much time it is in my life, is Kingdom Hearts 2. I’ve “FULLY FINISHED” that game maybe five or so times, with a couple additional playthroughs on top of that. Love those games

#14

I have multiple desktops on my computer, and for the past quite-a-few months years the first three have been Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5. On my phone Rise Kujikawa also occupies my lock screen, as she has since I first finished P4G in 2013.

#15

Since I can’t play until I finish this

#16

Easily it’s The Last of Us.

#17

This one is actually really hard.

For all of his dumb BS, I do love Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts. He is a great antagonist.

In the same vein, Liquid Snake/Ocelot is right up there from Metal Gear.

But maybe ultimately it’s Duke, from Tales of Vesperia. He is a really great villain, and such a wonderful contrast to Yuri, the protagonist.

#18

Maybe not my #1 favorite but always an inspiration to me and one of my all time heroes: 

Samus Aran

#19

Never Not the Normandy

#20

JRPGs

All my anime boys (and girls!)

#21

Persona 4 Golden. Best story, about finding the truth and true friendship along the way.

#22

This one hurts. The biggest for me is easily Alundra 2

The first game was masterful, and it’s sequel had literally nothing to do with it and was a total cash grab on the cult following of the original.

Breaks my heart :(

#23

Plenty of things fit here. I mean, Uncharted 4 or The Last of Us or Witcher 3 could hit here on a technical level, but Journey, Kingdom Hearts, or Tales of Vesperia could also hit in the style department.

Pick your poison.

#24

Does Super Nintendo fall under classic? If so, then A Link to the Past.

If we’re trying to go older and older, than probably Mario Bros or Pac-Man.

Sooner than that, Super Mario Bros 3

#25

Haha, how about all of them. A game I plan on playing is all of them. A few at the top of my mind: Battlefield 1, because people won’t shut up about it. Nier, the original, because I’m really curious about it, and 999, because Nabeshin really loved it.

#26

Persona 4, Mass Effect 1-3, The Witcher 3, The Last of Us (the best of all 4).

#27

Two here:

One, the final battle with Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts 2.

But even bigger is the FIRST FIGHT ON TOP OF A BATTLESHIP FROM METAL GEAR SOLID 4 HOLY SHIT.

The literal definition of “epic” distilled down to a video game scene. Holy shit. The music from all the games. The style changes. My heart is racing just thinking about it.

#28

The Zelda team and Naughty Dog are close behind.

#29

Honestly probably something weird like Dead Space or P.T. I used to hate horror so much, but those two are some of my absolute favorites of the last handful of years. Dead Space is a bit older, sure, but I adore that game.

#30

No words need to be said. Not an original statement, but I stand by it.

Whats on Tap

Resident Evil 7

Hey why don’t you just watch me play this game!

Loving it so far and I talk about everything I’m loving in that video!

The Division

Once more you can look so i don’t have to tell you. Got dragged back into this weird nightmare by friends and I’m having a blast.

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep 0.2 A Fragmentary Passage

Other than having maybe the best worst name ever, HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS

KINGDOM HEARTS 3

I BELIEVE AGAIN

It’s really good.

Tales of Zestiria

This is becoming a bummer of complex, weird emotions.

It really feels like a mostly-misstep for that series, and the open world parts of it are contrived and actively bad.

But I want to finish it. There are cool, interesting parts about it.

Questions

Weird. It’s very physically exhausting, because I have to walk a lot. And I have to drive a lot to get there. And I’m not used to that.

It’s really stressing me out.

I don’t have a lot more to say about it right now, but we’ll see how things develop.

Hi Roger.

Clearly you’re asking the wrong person.

Thank you for your follows.

Love you, brotha.

SO EXCITED.

But seriously, PAX East is my favorite show, as you know Harold. Can’t wait to go again, talk to folks, make some connections, and really work that show again. It’s the only show out of the year I get to work, and it’s a ton of fun.

Heh, well, about that.

I’ve never played Resident Evil 2! Or Resident Evil 3! Or Zero! Or Code Veronica!

I’ve only ever played 4, 5, and about half of 6. I have recently for the first time EVER been playing that Resident Evil 1 remake on PS4, which has been FASCINATING. Resident Evil 7 seems super great so far though!

Uh, to go? Hopefully? I mean, I am going under the assumption that I am approved for my press badge, which is the only way I can make it.

I don’t know who all is going, but I sure hope it’s a bunch of cuties like usual! Right now, myself, Tony, maybe Scott, Jarrett, and Logan Wilkinson are going for IrrationalPassions.com. More stuff on that soon. I know Kaylie is going because she told me so! I really hope Joey Noelle goes. Danny Juarez really wants to go. Trevor Starkey will be there!

Sure we can hang out Xyger. 

I personally don’t like pineapple on pizza. But I love pineapple! I’ve had it before and it’s not like I hate it or anything. Like what food you like! Im not a fan of mustard but a whole bunch of people really like that, so people can just like different things and enjoy them and that’s great because it makes us all different and that’s a good thing! 

Uhh... I don’t know?

Danny you need to pay all your debts off first. I’m worried about you. Like, on a near constant basis I am worried about Danny Juarez. For sure.

But yeah maybe we can do that sometime. I don’t know. You keep saying “when I come visit” to Vegas and I have no clue when something like that could happen, but we’ll see!

Okay, I think that’s all I have in me, emotionally, for today.

Shoutouts

Shoutouts to all these incredible people that give me hope:

via The New York Times

That’s all I’ve got. I’m gonna go play Kingdom Hearts now byeeeeeee~~!❤️

[adhdvane]

Anon back again, don't worry about delay in answer! I'm not expecting you to reply in a matter of seconds and I'm patient anyway! (●'◡'●) (and yeah, tumblr's notification system kinda suck so really, not your fault haha)

I understand your struggle with fics all too well lol I'm sure a time will come when it just clicks and you can write the good stuff ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ And no need to feel bad if you haven't posted a lot on ao3! You don't have to have 1000 fics or 200k word-long fics for your works to be enjoyable!! Even little ficlets and drabbles are good to have around ♥

It's good of you to have taken time for yourself if you needed it ♥ And yeah, completely understandable to hesitate and come back to fandom in general with the current state of things (a couple years ago I made an IE/Go sideblog and I'm still terrified that someone is going to come up and yell at me for shipping the characters lmao And that's without counting the Problematic™ fics I wrote when I was 16 lmao)

Regarding your tags, I'm just sitting there like starry-eyed because YES TenKyou. I'm DELIGHTED to know that's your preference because that's mine too for the ship asklhjkh

As for Todd and Prof Mirror, that's a tough and personal question, so good luck! (I'm thinking Todd topping's nice but does it make the prof kink better or not is the question!! ALSO in the french version, I know there's a line from Todd going like "Mirror was already being called Professor before he was a professor" so maybe he's not the only one with a prof kink, just from a different angle, hah)

(you say sorry for rambling, but joke's on you, I ramble too! Sorry for clustering your blog though woops Have a good day! (´･ω･`) )

rip, okay, once again i apologize about this one being even later, mostly bc i saw it early, but i haven't been able to sit down and respond to it. this week was the last week of the month so i actually had a lot to do at work and was able to go in every day (as opposed to 1 - 2 days bc business is still so slow). but at the end of the month i do invoicing for inventory charges for that month for each customer. though i was able to actually get a lot of it done sooner than usual (bc i actually started the process on tuesday instead of thursday), there were still three big ones i couldn't even do until thursday bc they had several orders in production that didn't get shipped until thursday. I was going to finally get to this ask on friday when i got home (we only work half days on friday and close at noon)… but the new gbf event had started… and uhg… a sho centric event. g od.

rest of the word vomit under the cut

before i just—IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ ABOUT THIS GBF RAMBLING FEEL FREE TO SKIP BELOW TO THE END THE GBF OF RAMBLE—this event askjdsjkdfslkdjsdjg talk about giving the antag his redemption art event. the emotional growth in sho. so many new assets to save… there are fricking 6 different versions of his character labeled _painful (_painful, _painful2, etc.), and like so many zoom in's that basically every one of his images has an _up version (the battle ones ((the ones of him on his gearcycle)) also have a bunch of _up2 versions that are zoomed in between the default and _up close up) anyways these in particular kill me.

sho "i'm-not-going-to-cry-or-show-expresions-of-gratitude" awkwardly smiling and crying in this event (while also repeatedly getting the shit kicked out of him/getting hurt. having a moment of breaking down from exhaustion and pain, in the rain, before deciding he has to swallow his pride. every single english word that comes out of his mouth, cv: taniyama kishou is a gift (on a side note i can't believe he fucking played alpha in chronostone. like thats fucking hilarious a va and voicalist capable of such range and drama voicing alpha and his serious monotone ass). Sho (@tsubasa): You showed me the light before—[…] Tsubasa: Wait, what? Whaddya mean I showed you the light? ((you mean when he punched you in the fucking face at the end of the previous event of this series?))). I mean I already shipped bc of the their last event, how can you not ship the guy screaming he's going to kill the protag w/the protag esp after getting punched in the face by the protag at the end makes him calm down and be like fine i guess you win i'm not going to try to kill you know and our gangs don't have to fight. also they're both like 16 (or at least tsubasa is canon 16 (a yeas totally looks like a 16 year old) and sho is at least still in school and at least confirmed to be a minor (not age of majority, which idk what that is exactly in universe, could be 18, could be 20, bc it is fantasy, but it's also japanese, thoguh japan's age of majority is actually lowering from 20 to 18 next april (2022), drinking/smoking/gambling age will still be 20, and the comment in this event was about we're still minors save the smoking for when you're an adult). sho could arguably be 18 or 19 and still believably in school and be considered a minor legally (if in universe gbf follows japanese laws) considering the time he spent in juvie he could easily have been held back. gbf will probably just make him tsubasa's age if a canon age is release. but thinking about sho being 19 and tsubasa being 16 would make some ppl upset and that brings me joy. (also just how funny it could be thinking about (bc everyone is perpetually the same age) how later when sho a year older and legally being able to drink, and tsubasa not, and despite the fact sho being like i will break the laws about physically assaulting a guy but underage drinking, smoking, and drugs is a no-no is fucking hilarious. (the app is rated t so i guess there's only so much you can do…) (oh and one last note, a character in the event asking if sho enjoys the pain and is a masochist, to have other character be like dude you can't just ask someone that. sho saying no he doesn't enjoy the pain. only for later when they are escaping, a character noting "You look rather happy about all this. Now I'm sure youre a masochist." gbf first crushing my sho masochist headcanon and then building it back up in this event, thank u gbf). anways, rip that was a lot and not even everything, as you can see i have been… distracted by this event. apologies

—END OF GBF RAMBLE—

oh god worry about ppl like that in ina like, there really people out there who don't want you shipping ficitional children?????? and the main ina cast is roughly between 12-15. and got i started watching ina in 2013 when i was 19. which apparently for some people is like bad uwu because it's a show for young teenagers (like lol too bad i'm 27 and even though i haven't kept up with aries i still love ina and all the little babies and wont stop shipping). i didn't even know there was people out there who get UPSET AT AGING UP??? like wtf???? sorry i want them to be old enough to marry, adopt children, have a job, and also f.uck. the dpk au is my lifeblood (and has a lot of Problematic™ content that's never even been posted online anywhere bc it used to be an rp. my favorite is that out of all the relationships in the au, tenma and kyousuke's is probably the most unhealthy bc of kyousuke's mental health. some very bad things happened to fei (per request of my rp partner) (part of vanfeny and garsha's revenge on saru as they were sent to megun while saru walks around ''free'' (what exactly is free is a whole other lore mess in itself that i wrote up about post chrono stone future). and that just lead to more bad things fei then did to himself. problematic™ content 9492347 in the dpk au, shipping ozrock and lalaya. (even worse, bc of lore planning i did for the au and decided how their species worked, lalaya is about 6.5 cycles (faram obius years) or roughly 130 earth years and biologically similar to 13 year earth years, and ozrock is about 48 Ixal years roughly 48 earth years and biologically similar to 24 earth years. so like even a worse ship. i mean just ignore cultural norms would be different on an alien planet and also she's royalty and has an obligation to be wed even younger and is probably socially more mature than a human 13 year old. rip sorry i just like alien stuff. a lot of this was also because wouldn't it be great for lalaya to have a really long lifespan so the human friends she makes get older faster and also die way before her :) ina's gunna hurt me with the bug aliens then i'm going to… continue to hurt myself with more alien life span stuff.)

Anyways, With TenKyou, idk I think it's easy to paint tenma as the innocent ~pure baby~ and kyousuke as ~bad boy~ bc of the first inago… and seed kyousuke was a little bastard man (affectionate). which would idk explain the default to kyouten. but like kyousuke chills the hell out in chrono stone and galaxy. and just bc tenma is a dumbass with a heart of gold obsessed with soccer doesn't necessarily mean he's has to be ~innocent baby 受け~ trope. (not that these are the only tropes that decide) (maybe it's bc i sort of like messing with what it must be like to be the main protagonists best friend and watch him continue to overcome everything and be in the spot light and how everyone praises him. kyousuke with self-esteem issues, looking back at all the problems he's caused, tenma has flaws but they're either negligible or something to love about him and mine have only hurt others. disregarding his own goddamn plot armor in the past. complex, emotional, suffering kyousuke is how i like my kyousuke. need we even get into how god eden was canonically revealed to be physically/mentally abusing seeds and that whole can of worms) (also just "nervous baby i don't know how to approach tenma" kyousuke, "cheeky little shit doesn't have any regards to personal space and boundries" tenma) at least if anyone starts giving me shit about an ina ship or problematic fictional ina content, i can always respond with something i drew back in 2015.

back to the matter of new snap though… that line is so familiar (im pretty sure it's in the eng txt, i have it set to jpn audio tho). i recently started keeping a log of the messages that pop up on the camp, lab, and map screens (but haven't saved too many bc i get distracted or at least i know i'm missing quite a few i have vague memories of). (also idk why my first thought to that line was mirror responding with "That was because you were the one calling me that.") there actually were a couple messages i saved initially that would be useful for fic writing:

Todd: "The professor used to be kinda reckless back in the day. I suppose after 10 year he must've calmed down a bit."

and

Mirror: "Todd's calmed down since I last saw him. Or maybe he's just acting mature because you kids are around…"

possible implications from these that I'm deciding to consider for headcanons:

both reckless and wild in their early 20's but that's not unusual, so they were acting like reckless young adults when they were 20. makes sense.

because mirror mentions the last time i saw him (which is definitely implied not 10 years ago since todd had a research team pin so obviously he's been around a bit since the lab was established) meaning todd is potentially still a chaotic bastard but is just trying to act like an adult in front of the kids. beautiful.

and on that note another wonderful Tood message:

Todd: "I never invited Phil to be my pupil—he just declared himself my "number one student" and started tagging along! But honestly…I was kind of flattered."

the possibility that when todd showed up in game, after that cutscene he went to talk to mirror like "this 10 year old just started following me and wont go away, pls help. what do i do?????"

this unsupervised 10 year old just followed a ~30 year old man into the wilderness and somehow just declares todd is mentor (and took the research team pin from todd to ''borrow''). this is a hostage situation. todd is the hostage.

the idea that perhaps todd just got back from a long expedition and was glad to be back and spend time with mirror, except this kid started following him around and wont leave him alone or go away, and then when he got to the lab there were two more kids there. how the fuck am i supposed to get it on with mirror when we have little alone time and when we finally do we're constantly at risk of being interrupted and/or walked-in on. (that last part was mainly the premise of the fic i wanted to write. "these kids are a handful how are we supposed to have intimate time. especially bc they're all so young and have child energy levels and when they go to bed i am already fucking exhausted." i'm thinking it might work better as like a drabble collection, that way i don't have to adhere to a plot line and can pick and choose scenarios to write because i keep winding up with more scenario ideas that i can nearly piece together into a coherent timeline anymore.)

(also a bit that rita becomes suspicious that they are 100% fu.cking even though all that happened was mirror wasn't asleep up in his bed above the lab and fell asleep in one of the bungalows w/todd and then tried to cover it up like haha what no, i was checking on todd he's not feeling well uh… what? where are my pants? oh. oh i can't believe i just totally got out of bed and left the lab without my pants haha.) (todd and mirror just trying to keep their relationship a secrete out of fear of rumors spreading and it affecting the lab's funding, even though rumors definitely started ages ago but neither of them realize). (also todd doesn't trust phil to keep his mouth shut and doesn't like the optics of the random 10 year old who started following him (UNSUPERVISED) just blabbing to his parents about how his cool mentor is dating the professor at the lab like yikes that could end badly worst case scenario.)

(i like the idea of mirror playing along with todd's ki.nk, albeit a little awkward sometimes (not very good at being intentionally 'sexy' about it, but that's not what todd wants anyways bc it's already inherenty sexy for him). Phill has a message "I barely get half the stuff the professor talks about. Do you?" and i can only image if he said that to todd

todd: （人*´∀｀）i know it's hot

phil: what)

anyways i hope you don't mind me rambling even more on your asks like this. last time i totally just cut chunks out to be smaller but this time… i'm going to leave things in rip.

[topicprinter]

Hi all, I recently wrote this post about how Drip screwed over its most loyal customers and I thought perhaps /r/Entrepreneur would get value out of my lessons learned.----If you’re not familiar, Drip is email marketing software that’s pretty heavy on the marketing automation front. I won’t do them the courtesy of a link, so you’ll have to Google them if you want to check it out.They’ve been around since 2012 or so, founded by someone I trusted, but he sold the business to Leadpages a few years ago, and it’s been going downhill ever since.I’ve been using them for years as the backbone of two “side” businesses: IndieHive, which covers this website for freelancers and the related products and services that I sell, and Everleads, a curated lead generation site for freelance designers and developers.In 2016 and 2017, I really dug deep into Drip. I built out dozens of interconnected workflows to carefully shepherd my subscribers through various funnels and sequences with duplicate emails or annoying content that’s not relevant to them. I integrated my web front-end with their APIs so that I could customize the site for subscribers. I wrote bridging scripts to connect it to Mixpanel for analytics, and I used Zapier to hook Drip up to even more services. It was the heart of my entire business, and it was awesome.But throughout 2018, things started to go awry.I kept experiencing glitches in the workflows where people would get stuck on workflow steps that should be instant, like “remove tag”. Or people would end one workflow and start another, but not have any of the data that the first workflow had set. There were honestly dozens of these little glitches, but individually they were minor.Also troubling: deliverability started to slip. Not precipitously, and I can’t prove that it wasn’t just my emails, but I have heard from others that they were having issues with getting their emails into people’s inboxes in 2018.But the most egregious thing for all of this was that support was basically no help at all. I probably opened two dozen support requests in 2018 and I’m not sure they actually resolved a single one. We’d spend hours going back and forth so they could even understand the problem. Then they’d almost always say one of two things:“For a workaround, just insert a number of delays between steps in your workflows so that the system doesn’t get confused!” So all my workflows had little 5 minute delay steps to try and make sure things worked correctly. Which they still didn’t. Wtf.Or they’d just say they need to escalate to the developers and then I’d get an email weeks or months later from some random support engineer letting me know they were still looking into why the most basic functions of their software don’t work right. Awesome.Alarmed by this, I repeatedly researched alternatives throughout 2018, but nothing seemed worth going through the pain of migration and the risk of just having similar issues somewhere else. So I kept resolving to be patient with Drip and hope (pray) that they were hard at work at undoing whatever architectural disaster had led us here.And then…In early January 2019, while I was on a relaxing cruise with my wife for our 15th anniversary, I got an email from Drip:https://ryanwaggoner.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/drip-bullshit-pricing-email-2.pngSo basically: “Hey, we’re raising our prices in 12 days! You can keep your current price if you switch to an annual plan!”And if you read it carefully, there’s something pretty important missing from this email.It doesn’t say what the new pricing is**. Seriously wtf.**So I emailed to ask. They responded the next day (so now I have 11 days) to reveal they were doubling my monthly price.Drip raised my price from $184 / month to $368 / month with 12 days notice.That’s just about the worst way imaginable to treat your oldest and most loyal customers.And it was the last straw for me.Now, to be clear, I completely understand wanting to grow a company in a new direction, or thinking that you need to raise prices to reflect more value.But you don’t do it when your platform is half-broken, you don’t do it with 12 days notice, and you grandfather in existing customers, at least for long enough for them to migrate. Also, you tell them the price when you tell them that prices are rising.It’s hard to imagine how Drip could have been more disrespectful to their customer base than what they did here.So as of last month, I switched all my subscribers to ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign for Everleads and IndieHive, respectively. That’s thousands of dollars that Drip won’t be getting from me. I managed to get both setups completely migrated off just before their billing renewal dates, in one case with literal minutes to spare.It was a pain and required some late nights but it was worth it to deny them another penny.I’m not alone in feeling upset about this. Twitter was ablaze for weeks with people who were angry and bailing for greener, more respectful pastures. I’ve taken a sick joy in watching a lot of people migrate off Drip with much larger lists than mine.I also cancelled Leadpages in favor of Instapage. I was already unhappy with Leadpages, mainly because it feels pretty clunky and dated, they aren’t very responsive to user feedback, and they’re still missing some pretty basic things (like being able to pass form data to the thank you page. Seriously?).Side note: I was going to link to the Leadpages idea portal, but they apparently shut it down. Makes sense, since it was filled with hundreds of good ideas with many, many customer votes that had been ignored for years.Regardless, even if Leadpages was awesome, they own Drip and I won’t give another penny to such an unethical company that treats its customers so poorly.And this migration was a huge pain (which is what they were counting on), partly because of how complex my Drip setups were, but also because ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign are both pretty different from each other and from Drip. On the surface, they all do some of the same things, but once you dig in, things diverge, which made the migration especially painful.Drip is complicated. Stupidly so. In fact, it’s so complicated that there are a number of problems using it:It doesn’t really work. I mean, it does like 99% of the time, but that last 1% means that some of your subscribers are going to have a bad time. And it’s not just that their emails won’t show up. They might just get stuck in a workflow, or skip some emails in a sequence, or get things at the wrong times, or lose data, etc. And since this happens randomly, the number of subscribers who experience it accumulates over time.The customer support reps don’t really know how it works, because it’s too complicated. So you end up spending hours writing up descriptions of the problem and putting together screencasts to show how things don’t seem to be working, and the only response you get is that they’ll have to ask the developers.It encourages you to setup really fancy complex automations which, even if they did work, are way beyond what you actually need. Just imagine: you can do anything! You can track everything! You can have an unlimited number of tags and fields! Track and automate all the things!Your setup can end up being really brittle and deeply tied to the Drip architecture, which is a problem if you want to migrate off. And it’s hard to expand and modify over time without breaking all kinds of things for your subscribers who are in those automations.The setup is hard to document. It’s easy to end up with a large collection of documents and spreadsheets and screencasts to try and explain not only what you did, but why you did it.It’s hard to audit and debug when things go wrong. And things will go wrong. It’s hard to tell exactly what’s happening with your subscribers, where things went off the rails, and how to get it back on track without screwing things up further.In the end, Drip for me felt like a really shitty programming language. Technically possible to do almost anything, but so painful that in the end you wish you hadn’t bothered.By contrast, ConvertKit is simple. And yes, I think it’s too simple in places. I think there are some genuine gaps in the functionality that makes it a little too hard to get done the things you want.But I’m also aware of the fact that I’m coming from Drip and a really convoluted setup, so being forced to simplify is probably a good thing.And ActiveCampaign is not simple, but it’s powerful in a bunch of ways that Drip should have been. Additionally, it has the distinction of actually being, you know, functional. Crazy, I know.Also, ActiveCampaign apparently is more open to feedback than Drip. I posted a Twitter thread listing some things that I like about it and Jason VandeBoom, the founder of ActiveCampaign, setup a call with me to go over some of my feedback. And ActiveCampaign isn’t a tiny company; they have hundreds of employees and are much larger than Drip. It meant a lot to me that Jason would just jump on the phone with a random customer to see how they could improve.Meanwhile Drip’s emails aren’t even signed by an actual person. During this whole debacle, I don’t think anyone from Drip actually responded to anyone’s tweets or complaints. A couple days after the initial announcement when things were blowing up on Twitter, they sent this out another email that was basically "sorry, not sorry"Just like their price increase, all of their corporate communication just screams “We don’t care about you. Go away.”So I did.I’m actually really glad that I dropped Drip, after all that. Partly because of how much better ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign are as tools, but mostly because it taught me a lesson about how you need to be careful when you’re a small company about who you integrate with, because while your interests may align now, that could change at any point.But this rant has gone on long enough, so I’ll save that point for a future post.Disclaimer: just in case Drip decides to sue me (which would be so on-brand for them at this point), ALL the descriptions of Drip’s functionality, failings, and communications is to the best of my recollection and should not be taken as a literal word-for-word account.----Happy to answer any questions about my experience with Drip, ConvertKit, or ActiveCampaign. Would also love to hear anyone else's experiences with any of those (or others you'd recommend in the space of email-based marketing automation).Original post: https://ryanwaggoner.com/drip-pricing-review/