#and i used fo think the anime was goofy

[ceoandslutler]

i was bedridden yesterday night so i watched the black butler movie, definitely would not recommend, what the actual fuck happened

- the names

- the plot ?!?!

- the kiss 💀

[deltastra]

My Thoughts on Tower of God Season 2 Episode 4

HELLO I AM BACK!!! THIS EPISODE WILL FINALLY END THE TRUSTWORTHY ROOM TEST! I'll admit so far I have not been appreciating the changes or cut content, in addition, the animation has been lacklustre. But I still look forward to ToG content every week!

WEBTOON SPOILERS WAS TEASED BUT NOT OUTRIGHT STATED

Rating: 6/10

Summary: They...they skipped some very important scenes. Overall the pacing was not good. At least this arc is over.

Oh man. Love vs Viole wasn't the best and I feel like a lot was cut that really made the fight stood out. But it's whatever.

Oh, they changed this scene too. Ehhh I can see why given the source material but this made Yihwa look very incompetent. Gives off the wrong impression to anime-onlies in my opinion.

Oh no...

I love how compared to Rachel's betrayal. Wangnan's one was heartbreaking for BOTH parties. Nia genuinely didn't want to do this but he just wanted to protect the woman who took him in. Just like Wangnan, Nia NEEDS to climb the Tower no matter what. And sadly, in the Tower, you never know who you have to step on in order to rise to the top, that's the cruel culture within it. I believe the anime did a good job in showing the genuine heartbreak and regret Nia has in betraying Wangnan, but also showing that he would do it again if it meant protecting the lady that helped him.

THIS IS WHY I LOVE WANGNAN. HE IS JUST GENUINELY A GOOD PERSON LIKE BAM. HE UNDERSTANDS NIA AND WHY HE DID WHAT HE DID. It's sad that Wangnan got betrayed but the fact that Nia did it to protect someone he cared about, there's no way Wangnan would be upset about it.

They nailed the tone of this scene. While they didn't show us his death on screen, I did appreciate the way they clearly conveyed what happened to him and Wangnan's anger.

I ALWAYS LOVED THIS QUOTE FROM HORYANG. AND I LOVED HOW VIOLE WAS SEEKED OUT ALMOST IMMEDIATELY BY WANGNAN. Viole is their ultimate evil to them as he is FUG Slayer Candidate. Lurker is a POS and needs to be punished. A clear difference between the two. Wangnan knows he is not strong enough to do it and as usual, he needs others to help him, but that does not make him weak.

They should've added in Love's genuine disbelief over Viole copying moves. Because he did say it took him a long time to come up with and master his abilities, yet Viole copied them in one fight. It could've showed how much of a big deal this was.

Uhhh I think they glossed over how Wangnan got that remote, I swear it was way cooler in the WEBTOON.

I always loved this quote from Wangnan. As for the whole scene, it felt...rushed...the pacing felt off

If this was meant to show a POV of Horyang rushing....it was slow man... If anything, it felt awkward.

Damn that was good animation. I think they love animating Horyang. Fair enough. My boy deserves some love. ALSO KEVIN PENKIN GO OFF KING I LOVE THIS OST.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH THIS SCENE LOOKS SO GOOFY IN THE ANIME I LOVE IT.

And our first glimpse over Prince genuinely having what it takes to survive in the Tower and not relying on his privileges.

OH THAT ANIMATION FOR HIS RIGHT ARM LOOKS SO GOOD.

ANDDDD HORYANG GAINED A FANBOY LETS GOOOOO. Love the soundtrack here too!

I love this scene so much because it shows how complicated people are when it comes to climbing the Tower. The same people that betrayed you for their own goals, have something they want to protect. On the other hand, the "scumbags" in the Tower, like Lurker, were also victims once. I don't feel sympathy for Lurker, but I understand how he ended up like this. His mindset is also very interesting. Don't hate or resent anyone. Just climb.

It's annoying how people find this scene stupid. "WHY DID WANGNAN FORGIVE HIM?! HE IS SO DUMB"

Wangnan forgiving Lurker is a middle finger to Lurker's whole philosophy. He will change the Tower's culture, and he will do so with friends. If theres no need to resent or hate anyone, whats stopping you from from caring about people and forgiving them too? There's no way Wangnan is legit forgiving Lurker, it's moreso to show him, "I am different from you." Which Lurker would hate even more. Contrary to popular belief, needlessly getting revenge won't fill any hole in your heart. It's a shame that Viole is getting the "sigma MC will get revenge" treatment from the fandom right now...

(Also insert my usual "Kevin Penkin cooked" comment here thanks.)

HAHAHAHAHAAH MAN THESE TWO.

NOO THEY SHOULDVE ADDED THE SCENE WHERE HE TRIED TO GET FRIED CHICKEN BUT WANGNAN AND MISENG ASKED FOR SWEET AND SOUR PORK INSTEADDD.

And there it is! I always loved his ideology! BUT ALSO THEY DIDNT EVEN EXPLAIN HOW THE TEAM WON. HELLO THTS LIKE KEY INFORMATION???

WHY DID THEY NOT GIVE HIM HIS SCOUT UNIFORM HELLOOOOOOO

Alright...I'll be honest here. Did NOT like the changes in this test. I was okay with them removing the small scenes of sweet and sour which were mostly comedic. But some changes made no sense, like...why? Anyway, I hope after this, the pacing and animation gets better. Time will tell!

[popculturebuffet]

Next batch of Adult Swim shows from 2007-11 (notable their live action stuff increased around this time) with favorite character from: Xavier: Renegade Angel, Delocated, The Rising Son, Titan Maximum, Mary Shelley's Frankenhole, Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule, Childrens Hospital, God, the Devil and Bob, Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell, and Mongo Wrestling Alliance? Off the Air being skipped for lacking a recurring character.

Never seen The Rising Son, your pretty face is going to hell or any of the off the air stuff. Yup this was the live action era alright.

Xavier: Renegade Angel: I didn't get this one when it was out but should revisit it. I hear it's good. Delocated: I'll note a faviorit eif I have one as for a lot of these I really don't or don't remember it well enough to have one. That said Delcoated is .. eh. I like the basic concept, jon himself is hilarous, but it soon devolves into one man being a giant jackass for far too many seasons. I watched way more of it than I care to Titan Maximum: I loved this one at the time but nowadays it's.. eh. Not bad, beautifully animated and it still deserved better.. but the comedy dosen't hit as well as it used to though the concept, a reckless idiot has to get his team back together to fight an old teamate they abused is great.

Mary Shelly's Frankenhole: Another one to revisit and one I genuinely like a lot. It was Dino Stamatopous' follow up to Morel orel and sadly one of his last cartoons, the last being high school us which

But Frankenhole is one I wouldn't mind revisiting and has a simple premise: Celebrties visit dr frankenstine for help. Frank here is a cynical pompous asshat and the style here is a beautiful sor tof pupetry that looks like papercraft. The show is criminally underated and I'm ashsamed I haven't thought of it in so long.

Check It Out! With Dr Steve Brule: This one was okay, haven't watched much of it. But John C Reily is as great in the role as ever and it was a briliant idea fo ra spinoff, I just never vibed with it like I did with tim and eric. This is also as you can probably guess around the time I sorta checked out of adult swim. Still a few shows I watched on and off and obviously I returned for ventures bros and I watch it more NOW, via hbo max, but most of these shows really didn't do it for me and I mostly watchede because it was on the same block as other things I watched.

Children's Hospital: Okay while this era is a bit eh for me, this show is solid. It never fully did it for me but I respect it's stacked cast, goofy parody and accuracey to how these types of shows, paticuarlly greys anatomy which I have watched every episode of.

Mongo Wrestling Alliance; I didn't think much of this one but being way more into wrestling these days, i'd gladly revisit it. I"ve also grown to appreciate metalocalypse more so being from one of the same creators, that'd probably also help.

God the Devil and Bob: I need ot rewatch more of this one. As a kid I saw bits and piece sof i'ts an original run but the concept is great, and I like kit's characterizations: the devil as genuinely good at his job but badly wanting his absientee father figure to notice him and god being laid back, a mild prick, but ultimately well meaning.

[kaiju-kinnie]

Two people have shown interest which means I'm free to blow up about this.

I'm tired of shipping. Like genuinely, I'm so fucking tired of shipping. It's not even fun anymore, and half the time it's just annoying like dear God. Not everything has to be about romance. You don't need to look at all possibilities of x characters having a romantic relationship fo fully enjoy them as characters, or to try and understand them on a deeper level. And hell you don't need ships to make something more "interesting". Things aren't boring without romance. I'm so tired of people consuming media through the lens of "who can I pair with who"

Like not everything has to be about romance. It's already everywhere, in almost every song, movie, TV show, book, comic, game, etc, there's going to be themes of romance. No matter how genuine or shoe horned it is, it's there! If you want something that explores the relationship and dynamics of characters in a romantic light, the options are endless.

And if you happen to think that two characters on a movie or show have chemistry, then whatever. That's fine. More power to you.

But then you have cases like Unicorn Wars.

Unicorn Wars is a beautiful movie about war, prejudice, religion being used as a justification for colonization and control, the dangers of us vs them mentalities. It is a fucked up movie. It is a tragic movie. And the tags are full of shipping art. Fan art, fan fiction, aus, comics, etc, of two ot three character. You're going to be hard pressed to find anyone genuinely talked about the movie or its themes, or even be able to tell what it's about if you look at its rags.

Another example is the first spiderverse movie. People were so desperate to ship something, especially for an mlm ship, that they shipped spider ham and spider noir. Like sure, on one hand it was funny. But people acted like they needed some romantic pairing to focus on.

The same is with Portal! It's comedy, scifi horror game about escaping a giant robot. Everyone knows Portal. We have the "cringy qnd infamous" (at least thats how people tend to view the ship now, back in the day youd het hatemail for not shipping it) history of people shipping Chell with Tumblr Sexyman Wheatley. But there's also GLaDOS. People have the hots for GLaDOS, I get it. She's hot. Giant mean woman hot. People project themselves onto Chell, as people tend to do with main characters, and ship them. (Also ignoring the fact that it's implied that Caroline was Chells mom, but hey people are desperate for wlw ships because of how rare they are in media).

When Frozen, a movie about how you dont need a romantic parrner to be loved, first came out people were RABID about shipping Ana and Elsa to the point where they were using suit actors as Disney hugging as proof their ship was canon.

This also happened in Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. The movie has zero romantic subplots, and very little focus on the human characters. But everyone shipped Ghidorah and Rodan because there's a joke in the movie about what happens when wild animals invade eachothers territory. Note: Ghidorah came in to best the shit out of Rodan and display dominance.

Hell this also happens with lesser known media. I'm PG Psycho Goreman, people were so desperate to have someone to ship that they shipped the two main characters who were siblings. Like God damn my guys.

Digital Circus isn't even a week old and there's shipping discourse. Someone dug up my friends YEARS old post about why ChelDOS makes them uncomfortable (a small untagged post with under 50 notes) and started sending them messages saying they're "being rude and mean".

I looked up shit for Ghost and it's 70% shipping content. Cool, the goofy backstory about Satanists trying to rule the world with music is kinda pushed to the side by the fan base so people can white fics about the ghouls fucking. I get it! They're a horny band. But please guys come on, I wanna see someone explore their backstory and gimmic.

God it's like this on Twitter too. It's fucking insane. Not everyone needs to be boyfriend girlfriend. Like yeah, in the end it's harmless. But please how to enjoy content outside of "okay but what if they kissed"

Hey can I drop a take on you guys real quick? A potentially very hot take?

[the-dragon-invasion-is-near]

Red from AvA and AvG!

He is my blorbo from the series, and i've wanted to draw him and talk about my hc fo a while

Also, i wanted to experiment with drawing with lines, and i think it looks cool on the bandanas and shoes, but the bird handling gloves.... look a bit weird, so i may change that in the future.

Me talking about my headcanons below the cut!

link to blue's design

Ok so

•He/him. I think of red as a he/him because i love to see guys interested in animals for short, biology/zoology/ecology for long. I just, always had she friends that loved cute bugs and animals, and one guy friend that also did, but. Recently i meet a guy that was inspired to study zoology by the same teacher that inspired me, and the talks that we've had are just so fucking cool. We don't just talk about fluffy animals, we've talked about spending a lot of time trying to identify the diferent species of plants on our "gardens", or trying to nail the specifics of a spider that appeared and had cool markings.

I am 100% projecting, but i think he/him red fits, and is so cool.

i hc him as one of the best fighters on the group, but it's hard af to get him to fight full potential y'know? He seems careful on how hard he'll go, specially if it's not a very dangerous situation. But when shit goes down, he's often the last one to go down, AND he has given tsc a hard time, in the lush caves episode. Another thing that makes him go easy, it's that he doesn't want to harm people or even some mobs, even if he could (like in the monster school episode)

He seems tough on the outside, but when u get to know him he's

kind

wholesome

a dumbass /with love

goofy

he get's carried away

he gets amazed and hyped easily

and he's very loving

He couldn't build shit even if his life depended on it, but he tries

he is good with the sword and close combat, but im giving him a (baston de ovejero) sheepdog cane (i translated that) because i bet he needs it often, and it's less generic than the sword (i KNOW it's not on minecraft, leave me alone/hf)

The gloves are bird handling ones, i bet he gets bited a lot, and he spends a good amount of time with birds, so he needs them

the boots are because tsc would get mad at him because he often got mud and stuff on his feet, and he'd make everything dirty, so now he just uses the boots, and leaves them outside.

The head bandana is mostly because of the monster school episode honestly, but i just like more the look of a full thing rather than just the thin string

The neck bandana looks cool, and it's for cats and birbs to redt in there.

[everyhowlmarksthedead]

OPEN WOUNDS.

Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes x Reader

Anon asked: how about an imagine in which you an ez fight because of emily

Chapter index

Chapter three ; part one

Word count: 3k

Thanks to my lovely beta reader @chibsytelford 💘

Author comments: I hope you all enjoy. I have to divided it in two parts 'cause this chapter has 5k, so the second part while be posted tonight. Gif credits: @angels-reyes.

Tag list: @starrynite7114 ​ @chibsytelford ​ @dazzledamazon ​ @mara-mpou ​ @sammskellington ​ @gemini0410 ​ @1-800-imagines ​ @briana-mishell24 ​ @sassymox @wrcn9fvlcver 💥 (if you wanna be tagged, send me a message!)

“What's a ‘Samcro emergency’?” You ask, sticking your head out the door.

“Shit, (Y/N)! You scared me!” Taza is breathing fast, leaving in the background his task of packing some clothes. He frowns at you, trying not to laugh whilst sitting on the bed with crossed legs. “Sons of Anarchy”.

“I know them”.

“We have to go to Charming. Some days. Maybe three”. He explains continuing with his bag and his stuff.

You sigh nodding without asking any other question. Taza pulls apart the bag, sitting close to you with an arm on your shoulders. You know you can't go, and it's not about feeling helpless or scared, but somewhat lonely even with all the animals around you in the ranch. 

“EZ isn' comin'”. Che finally says.

He doesn't like the idea of you two being somekind of friends again. He doesn't like the idea of him trying to recover you. And he doesn't like the simple idea of him being next to you. But Bishop took the decision of letting him take care of you, while they were in Charming. Taza leaves a kiss on your temple, surrounding your neck with his forearm to put you closer.

“Usually we don't text or call while we're on the road, but I'll. I'll, at least, send you some messages, okay? And if anything happens I wan'ya to call me”. You nod with pursed lips in a soft smile. “I would take you with me, if I could”.

“It's okay, Taza. Club decision”. You joke on him with those words that Bishop always says.

“Yea', club shitty decision”.

┅┅ ┅ ┅ ┅┅

Yes, you were expecting something like that to happen. Taza is hitting Ezekiel's back against the wooden wall, with the cuffs tangled in his shirt. Nose almost touching nose, and EZ's hands raised to head height on air. Gaze away. Waiting for the threat and maybe a punch.

“I'm gonna tell you something, prospect. If you bother her, annoy her or make her cry, I'm gonna stab you so many times that you will look like a strainer and then, I'll use your blood to make an Apache ritual”.

You're rubbing your forehead heavy with eyes closed and an arm crossing in the other. You know he's talking serious. He will do it without doubting or feeling bad. It's been two months, but Taza just was trying to protect you at his own way.

“You're a prospect, taking care of the Vice's kid of your club. Not the miserable ex-boyfriend who broke and buried her heart without giving a shit”. Without let him go, the oldest turns to the huge doberman sitting on a corner. “If he comes closer, you fuck him up, Rico”.

“Taza, I'll be okay”. You say, when you know it's enough for both by placing your hands on his shoulders to pull him away. “You're gonna be late”.

EZ puts his clothes on well, licking his lips whilst picking up the plastic bag on the floor, to walk towards the kitchen and run away from him. You help the vice-president to wear the vest, making sure he has everything that he needs. Then, he leans to you cupping your cheeks on his hands as he always do before leave the ranch.

“Call me whenever you need it”. He says, keeping your gaze with his. You nod, before being kissed on your forehead by him. “I'll be back in three days. Juan, Alonso and José will come to help you with the animals. And you also can call Vicki, if you can't find me, okay?”

“Okay... It's okay, go”. You chuckle nodding again, hugging him for some long seconds.

The dog follows you to the porch, supporting your shoulder against the white wooden column, with a melancholic smile on your lips watching how the man gets ready to leave. Turning on the motorbike and looking at you one last time, before go. When he's far enough, you make a sign to Rico to go back inside.

Closing the door with a heavy sigh, you walk towards the kitchen where EZ is. You want to tell him that you're sorry about Taza' attitude, but you're not and also you're not the type of girl who lies. Opening the fridge, you grab a beer with your gaze on the prospect placing the food on the counter to prepare lunch.

“You don't have to cook fo' me, Ezequiel”. You say softly, opening the bottle to have a sip.

“I wanna do'et”. He shrugs, turning at you with a dearly and ravishing smile that makes you spit out the beer, starting to cough with an evident lack of air. “Hey, hey! You okay?”

Rico starts to growl showing him his sharp teeth, when the prospect comes more closer than the dog thinks is necessary, standing between both. EZ walks away with hands raised whilst you recover, nodding energetically.

“Do—Don' worry”. You say finally having a deep breath. “So... What 'you gonna do?”

“Best veal ribeye from pops”. He answers opening the paper to show you. “He said it's your fave'”.

“Pops knows me well”. Supporting your forearms against the counter you have a look of it. It's huge. Enough for both.

“So do I”. EZ adds, taking off of the bag a small glass jar with some kind of sauce. You know what it is. Sweet tangerine compote. The last time you tasted it you were still going to high school.

With pursed lips, you take from his hand to open it, smelling it with eyes closed. The aroma brings you back too many memories. The prospect is staring at you, adopting the same position as you, but with an elbow nailed on the counter and his cheek resting over the fist. Your eyes meet his, with the same goofy smile on your face.

He's trying. He's trying to be the man who you fell in love with. The last two months have been like a little odyssey between Ezekiel trying to please you constantly, and Taza silently judging. At least, you know that Emily has not approached him again, nor have they had any contact. She tried. Angel told you. And his little brother blocked her number and told it to Miguel. That's why Taza let him be around you. Because he's really trying to get you back.

“I thought you could like it”. EZ says getting up to find a pan.

“Yea', it's... a great surprise”.

“What if you set the table in the meantime?”

“Sure”. Clearing your throat, you nod.

It's the first time in almost three months that you're alone in a house. Doing everyday task as if you were a couple again, but you're not even sure when it's going to happen. It's kinda painful and stressing, 'cause you would like to give him a hug at least, as you used to do before he fucked up everything.

“(Y/N)?”

“Uh?” You ask shaking your head going back to reality.

“The table”. He laughs, making you blush.

┅┅ ┅ ┅ ┅┅

The day has been something strange. You can't remember when was the last time you laughed so hard, after seeing EZ running away from some rebels chickens, who tried to bite him for catching an egg. Between beers you shared some old memories of your childhood and it was really like if nothing bad happened. But the reality was that you were falling into pieces internally the whole time, remembering the words that Taza told you the night he found you. “No men deserve your tears, unless they are of happiness”. 

It's half past eleven when the movie ends. Rico is sleeping next to your feet, resting on the table. Your shoulder is touching EZ's softly and you're about to fall asleep too. He gets up of the sofa, grabbing the empty bottles of beer to clean the little mess you two did between drinks and popcorns. Rubbing your eyes with your knuckles, you lie down placing your hands over your stomach with a loud yawn coming out from your lips.

“You sure you wan' me to leave?”

“Umpteenth, I'll be fine, EZ. I have Rico and I'll set the alarm”. You nod rolling your eyes.

“Okay, but call me if you need it”.

“I will”. Getting up, with the dog imitating the move, you guide the prospect to the front door. “Good night”.

“Good night”. He says doubting for a second, till he finally leans towards you placing a hand on your back to press his lips on your temple.

He close his eyes as you do, focusing on the gesture. Getting longer than expected. One of your trembling hands travel to his nape, surrounding it tightly with your fingers. EZ takes another step closer to you, wrapping your back with his arms. And you want so bad to run away from him, but you also want to stay 'cause it feels like you're at home again. His smell melting with yours, your breaths matching. Sinking your nose on his collarbone and his fingers getting tangled on your tufts, Rico starts to growl. Saved by the bell.

“Fucking dog...” EZ snorts pulling you away so slowly that it hurts.

“Fucking Emily”. You reply with a jolly smile, raising both eyebrows.

“See you tomorro'”.

“See ya', Ezekiel”.

┅┅ ┅ ┅ ┅┅

The sun hasn't even risen when you hear the doorbell ring. Rico barks at you, licking your face as you can wake faster. You growl at him getting up by your hands and pulling away the hair in your face. The dog runs out of your room, listening his paws going downstairs. You follow him, turning on all the lights on your walking, till reach the entrance. Setting off the alarm, before it can start to sound loudly, you open the door. EZ is back and your heart jumps, hoping that nothing bad happened.

“Is Taza okay?” Your voice sounding desperate. He nods to calm you, coming in.

“But the club needs us. Well, they need me, but you can't stay here alone”. He says carrying a huge and black cloth backpack in his left hand. You notice then that he isn't wearing the Mayans' vest.

“What do you mean?”

“Take some clothes, we're going to Charming”. EZ replies, leaving the bag on the sofa and having a seat next to it.

You don't know if you're excited or scared. Eight hours of a motorbike trip. You're not ready for that. But again, club decision. So you go back upstairs to keep some clothes and necessary stuff on a bag, hanging it in your shoulders after changing your pajama for some comfy jeans and a long shirt. Before go, you also check that Rico has food and water, till the day laborers come to the ranch to take care of the animals.

Putting on your jacket, you walk towards Ezekiel bike, tying your hair in some kind of unmade braid. He whistles at you, making you turn confused.

“We're going in your car, we can't get the attention of cops”. 

You sigh somewhat relaxed, nodding and running till you reach him, guiding the prospect to the garage where your old Mustang is parked. Throwing the plastic cover to a corner, you unlock it with the control. But before you can sit on the pilot seat, Ezekiel takes the key.

“I drive, you sleep”.

“Bu—”.

“You don' know the road”. Good point. 

Once the Mayans' backpack is kept on the floor of the back seats, the younger Reyes turn on the car. You know how much he likes to drive it and he's gonna take advantage of it. He steps the gas, enjoying it like a child, while you turn the radio looking for some music. It's going to be a long trip and you know you won't cross big talks, so you suppose it's gonna help. Even so, you fall asleep faster than you thought, lying on your seat with both legs curled on it.

A finger tours your temple down to your cheek, in a soft and slow touch, pulling a brist of hair behind your ear. You stir gently on your seat feeling how your body starts to awake, licking your lips sleepy and opening gradually your eyes. EZ is staring at you with no gesture on his face, lying on his own seat, till his smile appears as a flash.

“Where are we?” You ask getting comfy, covering your mouth to silence a yawn. 

“Next to Lost Hill”.

“What time is it?”

“Almost nine. I have to put gas and I thought maybe you wanted to eat something”. He answers you, taking off the key from the groove.

“Yea', sure”. You nod opening the door, letting the fresh air bristle your skin. It's a little cold, but nothing that you can't handle with.

Walking inside the fuel station, you continue through the hallways till the fridge grabbing some prepared coffees, before looking for something to eat. Choosing some sandwiches and two bar of chocolate, you continue your steps towards the counter.

“This and... forty dollars for the Mustang”. You say picking up your phone to pay with it.

Cleaning a small rheum, the prospect throw over the counter a big packet of Skittles. You turn at him, who has a big smile on his face. It's been almost five years since you've eaten them again. The first time and the last was with him. In Santa Madre. Clearing your throat, you put the phone above the dataphone, while EZ takes the bag.

Even if the coffee is cold, makes you feel better, lying on the hood of your car against the front glass.  The youngest Reyes is standing close to you, doing the same and smoking a cigar, while he has his eyes on the road.

“How much is left?” You ask giving a bite of your sandwich.

“Five hours, more or less”. He says sitting on the hood with crossed legs, throwing away the cigar and giving the last sip to the cup.

“I know how to get to Stockton”. 

“I drive, (Y/N). Don't insist”.

“You can't drive for eight hours, EZ”.

“Who says, uh?” He asks turning at you with an eye almost closing because of the sun.

“I don't know. Maybe the cops? The doctors?” There's sarcasm in your voice, making him laugh lying his back next to you.

“What do I win?”

“Don't punch you”.

“It's an offer I can't refuse”.

“I know, I'm irresistible”.

“That's true”. He agrees, getting up to give you the keys. “The charter of the Sons' in Stockton will escort us. You drive till then”.

“What about Oscar?”

“He's already at Charming”.

“Oh... Okay”. You nod getting up and throwing into the trash the food packaging.

Even if you know the road to that city, you use the gps on your phone to avoid rush hour traffic jams and maybe finding a shorter way to go to. It's been a long time since you drove your car for more than thirty minutes, that you forgot how good it feels. The windows down, the fresh air stirring your hair, with an elbow nailed on the door and your cheek above the palm of your hand. Some latin and soft music sounding, evolving the Mustang, and EZ humming the lyrics to avoid the silence between both, even if sometimes seems like he want to tell anything enough to break it. It's the first time, without counting the last day, that you two are together and alone since three months ago. And you have a lot of words stuck in your throat, but you're not capable of saying something. You love his voice, he loves yours, and you used to talk for hours. You missed that. 

Sideways, you can see EZ opening the Skittles, making you smile for a thousandth. He throws a few in his hand, offering you as many. Changing your arm to hold the steering wheel, you raise yours on air. All the candies go straight to your mouth, chewing them.

“Do ya' remember that tim—”.

“That time you almost die”. You can't help but laugh hair, putting on your sunglasses well, nodding with your chin. “Jesus Christ... I didn't know if I should cry, laugh, or what”.

“Angel was scared as fuck!” He breaks in laughter too, shaking his head after that. “Good times”.

“With you almost dying?”

“You understand me, baby”. He says, knowing instantly that it wasn't the most appropriate word to use, by the gesture on your face. “Sorry, I...”

Silence. You sigh licking your inner lip, biting it gently. It doesn't make you feel uncomfortable, but you're trying to take your time till your heart is fully healed to let him come in again. Turning up the volume of the music a little, you focus all your attention on the road, only talking to him if you need to drink water or check something in your phone.

And, by following the instructions that Bishop gave to Ezekiel, you stop on the first fuel station of the town. The seats change, sitting back on the other to let him continue to Charming being escorted by the SOA charter of Stockton. You're pretty excited, looking on your phone how you're getting closer to your destiny so you could see the crew, but most important, Taza and Angel. Shit, you need them right now a lot.

[alexlabhont]

I didn’t mean to fall in love with you

Chapter Four.

Book: Queen B - Choices (Universe)

Pairing:  Poppy Min-Sinclair x Trans!Male MC (Beck Hughes)

Genre: Canon re-write (Because I can)

Rating: Anyone can read it, really

I´ll be posting this one over here because Tumblr, for some reason, thinks my secondary blog is a bot...

This is me trying to write by and for the Trans community, specially FTM community, meaning, trans guys, but I actually took the liberty to use They/them pronouns for everyone out there who´s interested (Also, the name Beck was the most neutral one I could find, trying to use the cannon Bea Hughes)

Now, about the PAIRING... I will be using choices style, kinda, because I want to give you choice at some point. If you have any comment, PLEASE BE RESPECTFULL and patient with me. This is also my first english fanfic and english is not my mother language, so... i’m sorry fo the grammar errors

CHAPTERS

The beginning

Chapter one 

Chapter two

Chapter three

ONE-SHOTS

Just a dance (Zoey x MC)

—————————————————————— 

“What the hell are you doing?”

Zoey Wade. The nerve of this girl of interrupt her meal. Poppy took the time to leave her fork down before bury her gaze into the other girl.

“I should be asking you the same thing. Who do you think you are to talk to me?” She asked exasperated.

So far she was doing good, the last details of her plan were tuned, the day to destroy Chloe and take back her very deserved number one place had come. The excitement she get every time she made a perfect move in order to obtain what she wants was in her veins, but of course, something had to happen. Or someone.

“Don’t play the fool, Poppy. It doesn't suit you. I'll ask once again: What are you doing with Beck?”

“Oh, what do we have here…?” She thought, intrigued.

“I’m sorry, did you crashed your head against the pavement or why do you think I owe you an explanation?” Poppy pushed her salad aside, her appetite completely gone because of the insolence. This Nobody thought she could come and disrespect her in her own spot of the cafeteria like they were in the same level. Zoey was seriously stupid. “Whatever me and Beck are doing is not you fucking business, Wade. Why don’t you just get a life a little less pathetic and go on with it.”

The spark in Zoey’s eyes changed, a little mix between anger and a cold serious look that, Poppy had to admit, scare her for a split second and then… jealousy? The other girl leaned on the table towards her, threatening, trying to intimidate her, but Poppy stood still, not giving her the pleasure to give in to her ridiculous games. Especially feeling all those eyes over them, people murmuring and whispering. She couldn’t let her have her way.

“Listen very closely, Min-Sinclair: I care about Beck and we all here agree you’re a selfish bitch. I know you’re not up to something good, so I will do everything on my power to make sure Beck’s far away from you claws.” That was so ridiculous that Poppy cracked a smile, making fun of Wade. She couldn't even be mad with a clown like her. “I’m telling you now, back off…”

The two of them kept that position a few second, a fight between wills neither of them wanted to loose. Finally, was Zoey the first to walk away, falsely believing her message was received.

Oh, Zoey… as if you could do something to stop her from her aims.

“Hey, Zoey?” Poppy called, the daggers in her mouth ready to hurt her really bad. “Why would anyone be interested in you while they have me?” Zoey stopped immediately, the strike hitting the spot. Poppy smirked, understanding everything right in the moment. Zoey likes Beck, it was so clear it actually felt cliché

“Ha! This must be entertaining.” Poppy thought, enjoying the effect of her words in Zoey.

“You’re just a three-digit fool who hasn't learn her place. Why don't you save yourself from humiliation and forget about Beck completely?” The strawberry blonde smiled at Zoey with a friendly smirk. “You know? My day with them yesterday was really good, so I'm feeling generous.” Poppy took her things and walked to be face to face with Zoey, who was getting red from frowning. “I’m forgetting about everything you just said and giving you a second chance. You see? I’m making you a favor! Your welcome, sweetie.” She added with an obviously pretentious voice before going out the cafeteria.

Even though she looked calm and perfect as always, inside Poppy was furious.

How she dares!

What the hell was wrong with that loser? Does she really was that horny for Beck?

“Well… if she was, I couldn't really blame her…” Poppy thought.

She wasn’t lying back at the shelter; she really thought they were cute. The way they looked at the animals, that stupid, goofy smile and congratulations Beck gave the puppies and kittens everytime Piper told them they did a great job. Poppy had a lot of fun doing the commercial, so much so she couldn’t help but be so honestly involved in the making, enjoying every part of it, in fact, Beck was different from how they’re act in Belvoire everytime they both meet.

They weren’t infuriating, insulting, a ranking climber, selfish dude who played the game even better than she expected. Actually, while having lunch, Beck was… fine. A big asshole from time to time but in a funny way. Pretending to be so nice and shit was actually easier than she thought around Beck, she was even glad to have them now at ten spot. Definitely she did a good choice.

But now, Zoey had to come and ruin her everything. And it actually pissed off Poppy badly. Beck didn’t need a personal protector, and Poppy didn’t need competition. She believed it would be easier to have Beck, at first she thought it was because they were trans, she read about it online: most people wouldn't date a trans person because… reasons.

But Belvoire proved to be different: it turns out Beck had a lot of friends, and a lot of girls daydreaming about them as usually they do around Alphas, admiring them secretly while doing exercises in the gym, trying to dance with them in parties… but Beck refused all of them. They were shy, they looked uncomfortable with anyone.

Anyone except Zoey Wade.

The both were really close, always together like Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Before all this, the very same Poppy had seen them hugging, flirting and practicing music together. Still, the strawberry blonde never thought of her as a threatening opponent. But now, Zoey Wade just make herself a target to eliminate, maybe not this time, after all, she did give her a second chance. She was a woman behind her own word.

But… She still had to do something. So she quickly took off her phone, typing a message to the matter at hand.

Poppy:

So here’s the plan

I'll need you to meet me at this address at 10pm sharp

Don't disappoint me, tushi-face 😏

She waited a few seconds, almost a minute. What took them so long?

Tushi-face🤡:

What? Why?

Poppy:

You'll have to trust me 😉

She looked at her screen, waiting for Beck’s answer. What were they doing? Texting Zoey? Her patience was running low when a little buzz alerted her.

Tushi-face🤡:

This can't be good. I'm not going

Were they serious?! Beck was playing with her kindness more than they should. No good at all.

Poppy:

Coward 🙄

Tushi-face🤡:

I'm not a coward

Quick answer. Poppy smirked mischievously. Beck always gave her a lot of information to work with, so transparent it was almost a sin to take advantage of it. Almost.

Poppy:

Prove it 💅🏻

Typing… typing… nothing… typing… typing…

Tushi-face🤡:

I’m going to regret this, am I?

Poppy:

Sending the location now

With a smug smile, Poppy send to Beck the location where the Club Malibu was. It was a exclusive place where only the elite could go. Yes, she said Zoey was temporarily off limits… but she didn't say she wouldn't be taking her chances up.

Tushi-face🤡:

Clubbing? Not my kind of place really

Poppy:

Ew, when you put it like that you sound so boring

Tushi-face 🤡:

Why do you want me there anyways?

Poppy:

All in due time, Farmsville

All in due time 😘

~~X~~

Poppy check the hour in her phone once again, it was almost 10 pm and she was already expecting Beck to show up because of the paranoia. Her foot tapping repeatedly against the floor it was the proof everyone around her needed to know she was nervous. What the hell took them so long? Did Beck decided to ditch her last minute?

Was it Zoey Wade´s fault?

She swore to god she´ll kill the girl after a humiliating and memorable reve…

“Could you calm down already? They already here” She heard Bradley say and immediately look right at the door, where Beck was being escorted to the V.I.P. area just like she asked for.

Damn, the dude knew their ways.

Beck was looking fucking hot, the black scheme really suits them and the way the shirt showed his muscles caused a lot of eyes stick to them as thirsty bastards. To top it all, the song playing in the back and Beck´s expressions were on point to make them look sexy as hell. Feeling a pang of jealousy, Poppy frowned. At what point will this bitches stop looking Beck like a piece of meat? Disgusted, Poppy stood up from her seat, very willing to show all these whores who they were competing against. With a sexy and confident smirk, the strawberry blonde walked towards Beck, sashaying her hips seductively, quickly catching Beck´s gaze.

And she loved it.

She could see the gasp, how the air escaped their lungs and redness taking over their face. Oh how she adored to cause that effects in Beck, all those girls didn’t have a chance. Embracing their strong arm, Poppy smile at them leaning her body against them, drawing a property line.

“Hey there, Tushi-face. I´m glad to see you´re not totally incapable of following directions.” She greeted them, leading the way to the exclusive section.

“Nice to see you too, Poppy.”

“Really? That was all?”

“I have to say… You´re looking fine tonight”

“Yeah, that´s what I thought”

“Is that your attempt at flattery, Farmsville?” She was not going easy on them.

“I´m not stupid enough to try and flatter you. I was just stating facts.” Oh god, that was so cliché she even scoffed. How many times have her hear that before? But something about Beck being the one to say it, turned her perfect pout into a haughty smile. As she was saying, pretending with Beck was easy, it came to her naturally, effortless.

“Maybe you´re more observant than I gave you credit for. I like it. And I have to say, I´m shocked. For once you don’t look completely unfortunate. And here I thought you were a total lost cause.” She joked, smiling just like before while having lunch.

“Wow, back to squared one already with sucking compliments?” Beck smirked, a total funny jerk.

“Try not to push your luck, Farmsville. You don´t want to be on my bad side, again.”

“Really? I don’t see the difference.” They pointed out, testing her. Poppy came closer to them, completely pressing her body against Beck´s arm, letting them feel her heat, her breast, her perfume. The distance between the two was so close that Poppy could feel their fresh breath, her own heart beating fast, excited as she whispered in their ear.

“Stay with me through the night and I promise I´ll give you a taste of the differences…”

Their dilated pupils, the small, imperceptible shiver in their body and that cute yet sexy gesture in their face that appeared after Poppy move away was all she needed to see. She actually liked them…

And she was gonna have them.

-----

Next

[hanniiesuckle17]

i would like to bless your followers and dash, sooo can you give me a crash course in noir 😊😊

OMG YES OFCCCCCC💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

OKAY SO HERE IS THE DEAL

NOIR is a nine-member boy group under Luk Factory

(Not really pleased with how they are promoting my boys but imma get over it one day!)

Our fan name is Lumiere (or Lumi) and we don’t have any official colors or a lightstick yet.

Noir debuted on April 9th of 2018. With the mini-album Twenty’s Noir. Their title debut song was Gansta (SUCHA GOOD VIDEO) 

They also had a predebut song called As a Star and it makes me so soft.

Their next comeback is on the 27th (THIS MONDAY!!!!!!) The album is called Up the Sky and the title track is called Lucifer

IM SO FUCKING EXCITED YOU HAVE NO IDEA

MEMBERS 

Shin Seunghoon

Shin Seunghoon is our precious leader!!!! 

(He was what got me into Noir. I saw a video about the best leaders in kpop and I was like)

He is 27 years old. His birthday is May 30th, 1993 (He is a Gemini)

Boy is tallllllllllllllllllllll

like he’s 5′10.

but in pictures by himself he for real looks like he is 6′2

istg he is like 65% legs.

ALSO MAN AS A RIPPED CHEST SORRY BACK TO REGULARLY SCHEDULED NOIRING

He is the leader, main rapper, and also sometimes a vocalist (but the rappers in this group pretty much fo everything)

HE SPITS FIRE when he wants to. 

Really good at freestyling 

He makes mixtapes on youtube on Noir’s channel. (I think he has 5 out now)

He is a college-educated man!!!! (He went to Korean National Open University

He took taekwondo when he was younger

The man trained for 8 years

He and Hoyeon compose and format a lot of their songs with a team of producers from LUK

(I often think he and Chan from skz are really similar.)

Seunghoon is legit a father of 8 soft crackhead kids. istg he is so done with them most of the time

We call him our koala because he looks like one <3

Seunghoon is obsessed with accessories and wearing them to the point where stylists literally have to take them off of him. (I have never not seen picture of him not wearing jewelry. )

he is actually in the military right now and i miss him so fricking much TT

All in all hot boy on screen and soft dad in real life

Kim Yeonkuk

this boy I cant

Kim Yeonkuk. Damn.

he was on Produce 101 season 2

he was eliminated on ep.5 :(

He is the lead dancer and a vocalist

Yeonkuk is 25 years old. His birthday is February 8, 1995 (An Aquarius)

is totally the aegyo king but denies it

he seems cold at first but has a big ass bright personality its so freakin adorable

my personal favorite clip of him is and the boys dancing around on vlive to big bang and him saying fantastic baby (its sounds so cute when he says it)

He is also a 5′10 tall boy

he trained for 3 years

THIS BOY IS SO FREAKING SKINNY SOMEONE PLEASE EGIVE HIM A HAMBURGER OR SOMETHING TAKE HIM TO TACO BELL

not kidding

his waist is so fucking small its scary.

Yeonkuk=stringbean

literally a walking meme.

pause in any interview and he is pretty much gonna give you a memeable face

this boy is so loveable and goofy 

also if this boy doesn't post like 8 photos of him doing something on insta im convinced he thinks that it just didn’t happen

he never posts just one photo its always like 6-8

also I was highkey afraid he was gonna go bald last comeback when they legit turned his hair into smurfs pubes

Lee Junyong

Lee Junyong. When i say i love this man with my whole heart

also 25 years old

his birthday is March 1st 1995 (Pisces)

another 5′10 king

Main vocalist.

he is a former member of INX

his brother is Seungyong from N.CUS

he trained for 4 years

THIS MAN IS TOO ATTRACTIVE FOR THIS EARTH

vocals for days. VOCALS.FOR.DAYS.

Did a cover of BTS’s The Truth Untold with Siha and literally gives me chills.

He has little crooked front teeth so when he sings he has this tiny little breath in some of the words so his voice is even more distinct

BUT LIKE JUNYONG HAS THE CUTEST SMILE EVER (I love his teeth in that's a weird thing to say but i think they are so cute)

he is 1/2 of the Highnote Belting Club

talks. all. the. freaking. time.

he goes live alot

boy is obsessed with Yunsung someone save yunsung from him

total crackhead when not doing real interviews

never fails to make me smile

he is said to be the moodmaker of the group

APPARENTLY HE WAS IN ONE EPISODE OF MY FAVORITE DRAMA AND I HAD NO IDEA

he was in episode 6 of The Liar and His Lover

overall he is just so sweet and funny and its so easy to love him

Nam Yunsung

Yunsung is the Lead vocalist and Visual

24 years old His birthday is August 29, 1996

He is a virgooo

MAN IS 6FT EVEN

lead vocalist and LOOKS IT

he is the king of intense eye contact with the camera 

he looks like legit prince charming

2/2 of Highnote Belting Club

weird af

istg he is the biggest crackhead

very extra. (as you can see in gif)

he calls himself a vampire because of his super pale skin

he trained for 4 years

he raps part time

HE ACTUALLY ENJOYS EXCERCISE

he hides snack between his bed and the wall but apparently daewon and junyong steal them

I think he rooms with junyong? not sure

Someone save him from junyong. boy is going to be smothered to death

ngl their relationship is really cute

he was also in Produce 101 S2 but left bc of health issues.

cutest thing ever and then turns into a devil onstage

a literal puppy

he is big fan of ateez and he and another member actually went to the groups first concert in korea

he is just so precious and weird 

Kim Siheon

oml this smol bean

Kim Siheon god damn

He is 23 years old

Birthday is December 23, 1997 (Capricorn like meeeee)

also 5′10 babyy

Vocalist but also a rapper (he rapped suga’s part in their remix of BTS Fake Love)

LIKES TO BIAS WREKC FREAKING EVERYONE

Beware the Siheon

He has a hot older sister, Hanbit, from a group called Hot Place (Their debut song is called TMI and its pretty good.)

HOTNESS RUNS IN HIS FAMILY

he trained for 5 months

he really likes drawing and does caricatures of his members

he is the eyebrow king

idk his eyesbrows are just.... 

stylists do things to his eyebrows anf it just fucks everyone up

high key has the best fashion sense

others boys willshow up to vlive in like hoodies and he is wearing a freakin casual suit

BOY PLAYS TO WIN’

he is like a boss at every kind of game

claims himself to be sweet like “Heonie”

“Hi! I’m siheon! Heonie Heonie Siheonie!”

he is a litter quieter than the other guys 

BUT he is so funny 

he doesn't like spice on his food for some reason

yeah he's crazy

he trained for 5 years

he's just precious and hot and hot and really hot

Ryu Hoyeon

THIS MAN HAS GIVEN ME SO MANY PROBLEMS

Ryu Hoyeon.

So he is my bias wrecker. Boy climbed up my bias list so freaking fast

He is the main dancer, vocalist, and a rapper (he also composes and arranges with Seunghoon)

He is 22 years old

His birthday is February 6, 1998 (Aquarius)

anontherrrrr 5′10 babbyyyy

cheekkkkkbooonnneeeessss

SHARK BOYY

He says he looks like a shark and i agree

HE HAS A NICE FUCKING TORSO

There was a predebut photo of him half shirtless it was awesome

he was also on Produce 101 S2 

eliminated on ep.5 :(

he trained for 2 years

He, yeonkuk, and seunghoon were in the Japanese tour of the musical Altar Boyz with Teen top’s Niel,2PM’s Chansung, and many others

he has a semi viral video of him

when he was a trainee / on produce 101 he was dancing to nct127 cherry bomb and had an unfortunate but quite hilarious accident (just look it up its funny)

sucks ass at games. every game. ever.

he is a low-key crackhead. he is a calm crackhead lol

VERY ATTRACTIVE

he used to have a youtube channel

you can still see his insta (leaderyoo) its so freaking cute and has predebut stuff of all the boys

he made their entire remix of fake love

he choreographed their song Diamond and also their cover of Taki Taki (which was very hot)

becomes a beast when dancing

he has an original chore to WEight in Gold that is very.......(insert eyebrow wiggle here)

has that dorito torso

(tiny waist and broad shoulders)

also thighs god damn

He is also a HUGE Vixx fanboy

Alter ego is DJ Ironman

He is very close with Siha, Siheon, and Yeonkuk

they turned him into a traffic cone for the Doom Doom comeback

he speaks a little bit of English (just a little bit)

all in all I'm completely in love with this man

Yang Siha 

THIS MAN IS SO FINEEEEEEE (he's my bias btw I have never been so in love with a man other than jisung)

Yang Siha is just uugghghhh god damn

22 year old babyyyy

Birthday is March 9, 1998 (Pisces)

Lil baby is 5′7″ oml i love him

MAIN VOCALIST AND DESERVES IT

he likes watching youtube videos and anime

He trained for 1 year and 1/2

looks good in every freaking hair color

his voice does NOT MATHC HIS FACE 

but not like in a Felix level way

He says his most attractive features are his “feminine features” (he says his unpronounced Adams apple and his small noes and doe eyes

HE HAS SMOL EARSSSS and i lovethem

close with Hoyeon and Siheon

but like his voice though

its so freaking pretty

it gives me chills

everything about him is perfect

he has tiny lips lol

he can play guitar

legit i swear his entire closet is black he rarely wears color

legit EVERYONE LOVES HIM

if someone is hugging anyone in a vlive or something

its siha

its always siha

everyone cuddles siha

i wanna cuddle siha. fuck.

for some reason I've just noticed this

the boy likes to wear long sleeves idk why

he also always seems to wear this one necklace Idk why but its so pretty and i really love that he does idk

he says his favorite song by NOIR is Travel (its also my favorite. its on their debut album and omg his part <3)

he is just so pure oml everything he posts on insta just makes me so soft

he is just so freakin cute and makes me switch lanes so fast

Kim Minhyuk

ooooof this cutie

Kim Minhyuk is something else

i just don't know what he is lol

Lead rapper and lead dancer

22 years old

His birthday is March 18th, 1998 (Pisces)

5′11 boy yes sir

ALSO A COLLEGE EDUCATED MAN

He went to Seoul Arts College

he has an older brother

apparently he cooks in the dorms

he trained for 1 year

he likes to play basketball

he really loves taking photos on his camera

he HATES bugs. its kind of funny ngl

he also is deathly afraid of balloons (i will not apologize for laughing at this one)

He and yunsung loooove ateez. they went to their first concert.

HE SERVES LOOOOKKKSSS

I think he is the most versatile member (look wise) because sometimes its hard to recognize him with each comeback because they change his style

he has these really cute big circle glasses he wear and just uwu

he kinda looks like Simon or Theodore from Alvin in the chipmunks in the best way.

he has a thing about jumping

like whenever he gets excited or happy he just starts jumping

he smiles like sunshineeeeee

even though he is the second youngest a lot of the members say that they go to him for advice 

(probably cause he has permanent hold of one of the 3 braincells noir has)

he looooves girl group dances 

especially twice 

TIKTOK KING 

He owns Noir’s tiktok pretty much. also their insta

he's a precious chipmunk

Kim Daewon

Thhis baby oml

Kim Daewon is the cutest thing since that fluffy little dog whose name i cant remember

20 years old 

Birthday is April 18th, 2000 (Aries)

Lead Dancer, vocalist, maknae

PROTEC THIS BABY BOY

In pictures he looks tall af

actually...

5′7″ but looks like 5′4″

the cutest thing everrrrr

HIS CHEEEKS

the biggest fluffiest cutest cheeks

everything about him is smol except for them thighssss

trained for 1 year

he has one older sister

THE BOY NEEDS MORE LINESSSS LUK FACTORY GIVE HIM MORE LINESSSSSS

he goes off in the chorus of their b-side track “Between” though like fuuuuuuucccckkkk (lowkey one of my favorite songs by them)

literally one of the funniest people you will ever see

extra crackhead energy

makes all the boys laugh

he loves chicken and snacks (gotta keep those cheeks in top shape)

literally the softest boy

he's good at everything i swear

he likes to shimmy.

has a cute butt lol

he talks in tiny

literally the cutest maknae ever oml

I hope this helped guys!!!!! I really hope you can stan noir and support them in their comeback this Monday! I hope this helped @distrikt9 if you need videos or anything feel free to ask! I love sharing my boys. They really are so underrated. I did this so fast ngl. I've never typed so fast

[iheartsunset]

can I have some skip headcanons

Papa Louie Skip HCs

-Skip Festin (yeah that’s a ratatouille reference) is a 64 year old construction worker and substitute teacher who lives in Oniontown with his 13 year old foster daughter, Hestia, and his wife, Blanche. He used to coach football at the local high school and still continues to support his former students now playing in the big leagues. He’s most often seen alongside his rat, Pastrami, working alongside the street, happily engaging with his students, cheering at the stadium, or enjoying a nice sundae in the Scooperia.

-He’s a goofy guy who often uses dad jokes or crude humor, but he’s still an encouraging, yet strict guy who always keeps himself level headed (except when he yells at the tv during football). He uses stupid puns with his daughter and it makes her cringe, but she still loves them nonetheless. He and his wife are both huge sports fans and will go all out for tailgating. He’s really just like any other dad character I make hcs for since I absolutely suck at making personalities so many characters are basically the same person really.

-Papa Louie has many “workers” that are tasked to step in if one or both of the workers aren’t able to make it. Skip is one of them, and while Koilee and Carlo are sticklers for punctuality, Koilee often has exams or labs while Carlo never wants to miss a family gig. Along with Radlynn, Whippa, Mousse, and Sarge Fan, they help run the restaurant in either of their absences. He’s Carlo and Koilee’s favorite since he’s so fatherly and amazing (that and the rest of the alternates secretly scare them and Skip was the least likely to kill them in their sleep).

-Hestia had originally found a blind rat in the street and asked Blanche and Skip if they could keep it. Skip was going to say no, but he didn’t want to disappoint her, so he said yes. Fast forward a year later and now he and Pastrami are basically besties that go everywhere together. It’s actually illegal I think to bring a rat into any restaurant, but I think we all already know that Papa has the means and opportunity to bribe health inspectors. If money fails to work, Pastrami can always call upon other rats to tie up health inspectors and keep them in the pantry (for legal reasons, this is a joke, don’t Sue me Disney please)

-He once got so worked up over the Onion Town football team losing and before he knew it, he’d thrown his sundae at the tv and it fell off the freaking wall. Koilee and Carlo were absolutely shocked. I think Sarge Fan even started crying. Now Koilee and Carlo don’t let the sports channel on the tv anymore, they’ll just play anime or Asian dramas or even the Hallmark Channel.

-He likes to keep drawings on the white boards in the classrooms he teaches in. They’re not good drawings, but you can barely make out that it’s Dio or SpongeBob. It’s so heartwarming that the janitor becomes very sad when he has to inevitably erase it.

-He knows a whole bunch about Greek mythology and French media and culture, especially since his daughter’s name is Hestia. His favorite story is the one about Cassandra of Troy, he just likes it since it’s the least gruesome or sad out fo all of them. I mean the city of Troy was destroyed and that’s real sad, but I mean compared to everything else, yeah it’s not too horrible I guess.

-He will chase you with a jack hammer if you insult his rat, his family, students, coworkers, or the Scooperia workers. He’ll especially say “You’ve ratted your last tatouille”. He also has a cement truck and other heavy machinery that he’ll use if you’re a piece of trash.

-He always carries bags of cheese in his pockets for Pastrami or anyone who wants cheese.

-Skip is very squeamish and will faint at the sight of blood. This was pretty prominent when he had to sub for a both a health class and a biology class and he passed out during both.

-uh yeah, so skip exists and he’s pretty cool sounding, but he’s not really on my list of customers I love to death, he’s very precious though

[calliecat93]

Top 5 Things I Disliked About RWBY Volume 7

Well everyone, Volume 8 will soon be upon us. IDK about anyone else, but I’ve never been so anxious about a volume in the near seven years I’ve been watching this show. Not even V3 had me this nervous, and I knew by nature of it being a Tournament Arc that it was gonna be painful. But as we near the new volume, I want to reflect on the previous one. So I am bringing back my Likes/Dislikes posts… except this time I DON’T have to do twelve posts for six volumes in a week. Only gotta do one Volume for today and tomorrow. Phew!

While V6 remains my favorite volume,V7 was a very well done one and by far the best written thus far. It was honestly super hard to pick five things I didn’t like, and are all pretty minor honestly. Heck I expect V8 to address some of these since V7 was clearly the build-up. But I did manage to make a Top 5 Dislikes List. As always, this is just my personal opinion and you are free to disagree with me. Take everything here with a grain of salt. Anyways, that’s enough exposition. Let the countdown begin~!

#5. Too Many Characters/Lack of Focus

RWBY has a lot of characters. A lot, loooot of them. You can tell it’s an anime for that reason alone, haha. Volume 8 thought might be the winner in the amount of it’s cast. We have our main cast, which consists of nine characters already (ten if you count Ozpin and eleven if you count Maria), which is already a lot to keep up with. But in this volume we have Ironwood, Penny, Winter, the Ace-Ops, Pietro, Robyn and her Happy Huntresses, the Schnee Family, Watts, Tyrian, and the list goes on. And those are just the relevant ones.

To the show’s credit, the volume mostly handles the focus well. They make sure that ones like Ironwood and Penny get a proper amount of focus considering their importance in this volume specifically. They also do a lot to showcase characters like Robyn, Clover, and Marrow so that we understand what they’re like and care about them, which makes how things end up even sadder. That being said, it did cause some of cast I think to get the short end of the stick a bit. Characters like Maria and Jaune pretty much got barely anything, and Blake and Yang would have also been out of luck if not for their talk with Robyn in Chapter 7. Some of the Ace-Ops, like Elm and Vine, and the Happy Huntresses who aren’t Robyn also didn’t get a lot of focus and the latter especially only got bare minimum glimpses into their personalities. Even with characters I was happy with like Ruby, Weiss, Ren, and Nora I feel could have had more done with their arcs here (the latter two especially but we’ll get tot hat later) had there been less characters and/or more time.

This is Number 5 because not only is it a minor issue, but it’s kind of inevitable. Shows only get so much time and the characters we focused on needed that time. Ironwood’s downfall wouldn’t have been nearly as powerful if it weren’t center stage. It’s one of those hard choices where you want to see more, but the show just had other things that took priority for the sake of both production and the story. Ultimately, it was the right decision and at most just makes me wish there was more.

#4. Emotionally Draining

Again, minor. I wasn’t even sure if I should add this because really I think it’s more of a personal thing than anything. But I failed to come up with another option, so... gotta take what I can get.

As good as this volume was, it was a VERY emotionally draining one. It was probably the only time I was kind of happy when it was over because ie meant a chance to breathe until V8. There’s the whole political plot that hit way too close for comfort, Tyrian’s murder spree and Penny’s framing, Ironwood’s downfall, everything from the halfway point of Chapter 11 to the end. Heck eve the first two chapters, and even bits of 3 and 4, were super tense and on edge. We had plenty of light-hearted and fun moments in the beginning. But by Chapter 6, that came to an end (or I didn’t find funny, like JNR’s antics in Chapter 8, sorry guys) and it was V3 again, but somehow even more on-edge.

Like I said, this isn’t really a dislike and is on here because I couldn’t think up anything else. As I said, the writing was very strong and on-point. I was nervous, but I’m pretty sure that’s because the writers wanted the audience nervous. They wanted us to feel the tension and fear. hey wanted us to be as conflicted about everything as the characters that we were watching. It was effective too. But it did leave me relieved that it was all over. I didn’t watch V7 in full again until recently when I got my Blu-Ray copy to put into perspective how drained I had been. I was fine upon rewatch, but yeah... way to rise up my stress levels CRWBY!

#3. The Ren/Nora Conflict

This is related to the Number 5 section. I think we can all agree that Ren and Nora tend to get the short end of the stick compared to Jaune and the rest of the main cast. V4 was an improvement, but 5 and 6 returned them to minor supporting roles and even V4 did more for Ren than Nora imo, who to this day is imo the least developed of the main cast. But clearly they wanted to start changing that, and given Jaune more or less got closure last volume it seemed like an ideal time to give the two development, especially where their relationship is concerned.

While Nora was overall fine, Ren... not so much? They do a god job setting up the two’s conflict, albeit the cliché ‘girl compliments boy, boy ignores her as they’re in the middle of something else’ joke in Chapter 3 was dumb. But Chapter 6 made it clear that there was far more going on. Nora is pushing to help Mantle and in the following chapter we have her snap at Ironwood for forcing so much sacrifice on it, but not on Atlas itself. Ren however is closed off (more tha usual), focus more or less solely on the task, is clealry afraid of their uncertain battle against Salem, and even seems to side with Ironwood in Chapter 7. It’s the first major conflict between the two with Nora just trying to get Ren to talk to her. She even finally kisses him... and we all know what happens after that.

The main issue here is two things. One, we NEVER get any clarity on why Ren is acting so cold to Nora, the one person he was always open around (well... for him anyways). I mean I have a good idea why and I’m 99% sure that V8 is going to go into it, but without any clarity it just comes off as him being unfair to Nora who is just concerned for him. The other issue is there is no closure to 9it. We have the final chapter where Ren tries to fight Neo, but as she’s disguised as Nora it goes badly. The poor boy is tearful, snaps at Nora when she tries to calm him down, and it ends in the boy looking like he’s about to have a nervous breakdown. It’s heart-wrenching, but still ultimately leaves the conflict unresolved. Plus we had a pretty large gap between the Renora Kiss (Chapter 6) and that moment (Chapter 13) with some brief moments sprinkled in. Otherwise, Ren acted as we’d expect even with the goofy plan in Chapter 8 where he seemed unusually chill considering. So it just kinda feels like for a while they... forgot about it.

This is right in the middle because as I said, I expect Volume 8 to go more into this. They’ve outright said that if there was something we were confused by or felt didn’t go anywhere, Volume 8 was going to address. This was set-up, and it leaves me anxious to see how things will go with these two especially going off the brief lines we heard in the trailer. But it still sucked that we got no closure and didn’t go further into why Ren is acting like he is. I know I was unsure of how to feel when it was all over. But I guess we’ll see the final result soon enough.

#2. The Truth Revelations

If you were reading my Volume 7 reviews, you know that I REALLY did not like how Chapters 9 and 10 were done. Why? Because of the truth reveals. Now I now know why t was handled like it was, which actually saved it from being out at Number 1 on the list. But does that change me opinion of it? Nope.

First, I want to talk about how it more or less began. That being Blake and Yang revealing the Amity Project to Robyn in Chapter 7. While I DO like them taking matters into their own hands instead of being complacent, I STILL have major issues on how they didn’t talk to Ruby and Weiss about it. I’ve heard the arguments about it, but imo when we have Yang having major hang ups with lies and half-truths (it’s why she was enraged at Oz), her and Blake seeming to pull the same thing... doesn’t look good. There is zero on-screen indication that they let the other sin about it later, which had they done so then the group could have planned proper steps in helping the two sides which may have caused Ironwood to not jump off the slippery slope as badly. Will V8 mention this? IDK, but it does bother me and I would like it addressed especially concerning the themes of trust.

Then we get to Chapters 9 and 10, where my issues go into effect. Robyn drops the hostility and reveals her knowledge of the project, but wants to try and work with Ironwood. The heroes reveal everything to Ironwood and while understandably shocked, he otherwise takes Salem being unkillable well. Then the two leaders reveal this to Mantle, using Robyn’s Semblance to prove it, and... that makes the citizens okay. Yeah... even knowing what happens later I still have issues with this. Because even with that knowledge, there was NO GOOD REASON fo AY of this to go well.

Robyn may know why Ironwood was depleting Mantle resources, but it doesn’t change that he caused a LOT of damage to Mantle due to it. Ironwood, despite his expected reaction coming later, still took the Salem news far too well especially considering how on-edge of her he’d been at that point. The citizens of Mantle know about Salem, but not why ironwood was depleting resources. Plus it doesn’t change that he was a borderline tyrant towards them and he didn’t try explaining that part to them. The fact that THAT calmed them down so easily, even with Robyn’s presence, just came off as... too easy.

Which it was. All of this was an elaborate psyche out. We think that things are finally going well... then Chapter 11 happens, and it goes downhill from there. Can’t lie, they got me. Chapter 11 was a HUGE gut-punch for that reason. As such, I decided to put this at Number Two. But it’s only because of the psyche out. It was still done to make the shock effective and while it worked, it doesn’t change that it felt like things got downplayed far more than they should have. Still, it saved this form taking the top slot. So what DID make it? Well...

#1. Willow Guilting Weiss

For a character that only got one major appearance, Willow left one Hell of an impact. All we knew about her prior was an off-handed remark by Whitley in V4 that implied that she was an unhappy drunk. Here? We see exactly what Jaques has done to this poor woman. She’s a drunk, unhappy, and her expression just screams exhaustion and broken. She knows that she did nothing for her children once she broke, something Weiss makes very clear, but she does make some amends by giving Weiss her Scroll and the evidence needed to expose Jaques and Watts, She’s even relieved when We3iss confirms that she’s never returning for good. It’s a very powerful scene that in minutes makes Willow one of the saddest, sympathetic characters in the show.

I do have one huge problem, however. That’s when she leaves. She has one request for Weiss, and that’s for her to not forget about Whitley. While it’s been becoming more and more clear that Whitley is a scared kid who has been just as abused by Jaques as his sisters, he WAS still a cocky jerk to Weiss. He was never nice to her, and when he was it was for his own benefit. He had zero issue rubbing into Weiss her misfortune in V4 after the concert and how he’s the new heir. Of course Weiss wouldn’t like him and be justified in believing that he didn’t like her. When she points that out, this is Willow’s line:

Of course not. You left him here... with us.

Yeah, this really pissed me off and I think is a problem on the writer’s end. They want to have Weiss realize, like the audience is, that Whitley is like he is because unlike her and Winter, he can’t escape, has none of the abilities that they do, and is thus still a prisoner and under his father’s control.. He succumbed to it instead of fight or get away because that was all that he could do, and hating his sisters kept him in his father’s favor. It’s all very understandable and yes, having Weiss realize this and make an effort to try and help Whitley would show how much she’s changed and allow the Schnee Family to all break free form Jaques once and for all.

But the way the line is worded make it feel like Willow, and in turn the narrative, is gui9lting Weiss into not realizing this and not helping Whitley prior. Umm... no. Hell no. Weiss was under zero obligation to help her brother, who at the time portrayed himself as an egotistical snake to her. He rubbed his success in her face. he rubbed getting the title in her face. He was even trying to do so again in the very same chapter Willow was introduced. Weiss HAD to help herself. And unlike her, who as far as we know never hated Winter and the two always treated each other well, as far as we can tell Whitley never had that relationship with them and we don’t know if he ever tried. Jaques made sure that Whitley and his sisters would be divided, and Weiss shouldn’t feel guilty at all for not seeing this.

I get why some may get after Weiss and what Willow was trying to hint to her. We know that Whitley is a victim. We know that because he had no one, he became the way he is. He still has hope, but Weiss is the only one in any position to get him the help that he needs. I expect V8 to go into this, especially since Weis sis why Jaques is now in prison and took away the only figure that Whitley had (a HORIRBLE one, but still the only). However Weiss did what she could in her position, and doesn’t have the advantage of NOT being in the audience to everything. Do I expect her to realize all of this and try to get Whitley to as well? Yes, and it’ll be her character coming full-circle as well. But did she deserve to be guilted? Hell No. Don’t think it was intentional, but it still rubbed me the wrong way and I still don’t like that bit. Thus, it is the moment I dislike most in RWBY Volume 7.

Okay, that’s it for now. Tomorrow, I’ll post my Top 5 Likes. Which trust me, I got plenty of ‘em~! See you all then~!

[bi-bobbysoxxers]

🏀, 📖, 🎸, 🚗, 👤, 📼, 💄, 🔮, 🎁, 💞, 👭, 💘, 🕛, ⛅ for the Gay/Lesbian ask game please?

Alrighty lol xD

🏀🏐 Do you play any sports?

Uh, not anymore unfortunately. When i was in middle school, i played basketball, volleyball, did cheerleading, and was in running club. In highschool, i did cross country in the fall, and i think that's it lol, since i was mostly obsessed with doing theatre lol. I realy liked building the sets and painting, and being on running crew lol. If i ever decided to join a sport, it would be either soccer or beach volleyball, since those seem the most fun. And good cardio too!

📖 Do you write?

Yeah, occasionally lol. I'm not the greatest writer ever, but i'd like to think i'm proud of the work that I've posted. Mostly just Haikyuu and K Project fics. Here's my AO3:

https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElotheFairy

Eventually i want to write some BSD and She-Ra fics, cause i have some ideas, i'm just pretty lazy when it comes to writing, whoops.

🎸 Are you a musician?

Oh I wishhh. That would be so cool. I used to be able to play the piano, and I'm able to reteach myself the scales and play simple songs if I'm sitting at home, but that's about it lol. I need one of those lil whiteboards that you can stick right above a keyboard so i can just have the scale in front of me and learn cute studio ghibli piano songs lol.

🚗 Can you drive?

Surprisingly, yes. Lol I'm a Midwest American queer, so we gotta either learnt to drive ourselves to the cool places, or date someone who can drive us everywhere xD I'm great driving in my hometown and in my college town, but I still can't drive in super big cities quite yet. That'll have to change soon tho once I move for my apprenticeship!

👤 Favorite LGBT fictional character?

Does Kakashi count xD

I'm sure there are a bunch of good queer characters out there, but deadass, most of the shows I watch, it's merely implied, oof. If we're going with canonly queer, i guess i like Simon from Love, Simon a lot. Oh, and of course, Scorpia from She-Ra lol. I hc her as a nb androg lesbian lol. Oh, and Chloe and Max from Life is Strange, and that one chick from Stranger Things, i guess.

If we're going with just, an implied/possibly coded queerness, I love Oikawa from HQ, i headcanon him as a demiboy who is bi or pan. (I headcanon that most fo the dudes from that anime are bi lmao). Uh, I also love Akutagawa and Odasaku from Bungou Stray dogs. I headcanon that Akutagawa is a trans nb guy, demisexual, and panromantic. I also hc Oda as bi lol. I also love Akagi and Misaki from K project, i hc Misaki as a bi trans guy, lol. And i hc Akagi as cis and bi. For She-Ra, i adore both Bow and Sea Hawk, i think it might be implied that Bow is a trans guy, so i hc him as trans and bi. And for my love, Sea Hawk, i hc him as bigender and bi, who laters gets into a polyamrous relationship with both Bow and Mermista lol. Sorry, I have a lot of implied queer hc's, lol.

📼 80's or 90's?

90's for fashion, hair, and makeup.

80's for great music, cute ppl, and fun design ideas lol.

💄 Do you like makeup?

Uhhh, it's kinda complicated.

I like makeup as a concept of freedom of expression, feminity, a way of transforming yourself into a piece of art, blurring the lines between gender ideals, presentation, makeup for fantasy concepts, etc.

But i also dont't like makeup sometimes because it's def been used as a tool to pressure women into performative feminity, used, as a way to groom young girls, used a sneaky way of breaking down a lot of ppl's self confidence, it encourages highly unrealistic beauty standards (for both women and men), i also hate how motherfucking EXPENSIVE and unsustainable it is.

So as a tool for art, genderfuckery, and self-expression, i love it. But as a msrketing concept mostly driven by male CEOs and years and years of misogny and captialism? Not so much lol. I like wearing makeup for big occasions or for when i feel hyperfeminine some days, but I usually prefer going without it.

🔮 Do you believe in astrology?

Yeah, to a reasonable extent lol. I'm not one of those queer that obsesses over every little detail tho. I'm still def learning about it. I recently lesrned that you can combine astrology, with tarot readings, which can greatly specifiy the readings, for both yourself and other people, so I think i'll try that once I get a tarot deck for my birthday lol.

🎁 Fave holiday?

Well, I could be one of those queers who automatically says Halloween, but the more i think about it, i think i like the fall/halloween season waaayy more. Which makes me think that I actually like Thanksgiving a lot, as just, an American holiday. I don't think we shoukd really celebrate it for it's historical reasons, but i also will never say no to good food, family, friends, and a general warmth and sense of peace during that time of the year :3

💞 Fave thing to do on a first date?

Festivals!!!! I looooovee going to any type of market, festival, etc. with someone. I think it's a great way to explore, start conversations, and learn about someone. Cuz like, the type of art, food, trinkets, and music that draws someone in can you a lot about that person, if you think about it! It's hella cute. And then once you're tired of the crowds, most festivals usually have quiet garden or parks near them that you can escape to for some quiet time and deep conversations, lol.

👭 Do u have a gf? Do you want one?

No, I don't have a girlfriend lol. I have an amazing and very caring boyfriend tho. I have briefly dated women in the past tho. It's been fun, lol. I've always wondered, if i had more past romantic/sexual experiences with women, then maybe i'd possibly identify as a lesbian, but honestly, I'm proud of my journey, and I get very happy when I think about my bigender-ness and bisexuality lol. I don't think I would change that for anything. For whatever reason, i think I just click better with bois and nb ppl rather than with cis girls, i'm not sure why lol. But good for anyone who has a gf right now plz treat her like a kweennnn xD

💘

Do you believe in love at first sight?

No, lol. I used to, back in middle school tho. I def believe in love at second sight, or love at first conversation. Ppl are so damn cute when they talk about things they're passionate about, or even when they just get goofy and rant to you about a crazy story lol.

🕐 How old were you when you realized you weren't straight?

Oh god, lol. I was... *tries to do math* I think 16 or 17? I uhh had accidentally fallen for one of my best friends in high school lol. It turned out okay tho, we're still friends to this day. Thanks for that, friend, I'm so glad i realized that sooner rather than later lol.

⛅ Winter or summer queer?

Oh def, winter, lol. Altho winter depression is real most years, idk, i feel lkke i would rather be anxious and cold, rather than angry and sweating buckets lol. Actually now that I think about it, the summer always makes me a little more moody than winter, cause i always feel like i should doing more, but summer's really a time for waiting and rest, if you think about it. I'm always happier in the winter cause most of the time, i'm slowly moving towards certains goals in my life, and the world just...seems happier and more cozy in the winter season, idk.

Thanks for these asks, dude! I had a lot of fun with them, lol.

Anyone can ask me any of the other q's on the pinned pride game list if you'd like! Happy Pride, BLM!!

[valhalla-awaitsfor-us]

My goodbye to Voltron

Hi guys! Some of you know me, some of you don't, but my name is Sol I've been on this fandom since the end of season 2, Im -or was- a Plance shipper and I'm graduated in filmmaking.

I'm a peaceful person by nature so I'm not writing this to generate any type of conflict, I just need to get it off my chest. So, these are my thought on season 8, but mostly on Voltron as a whole. This is my personal journey through the serie and is something that I feel the need to post somewhere because I crave closure. Spoiler: Is not nice. So if you liked this season, or if you just want to avoid any type of rant. Please don't read this.

Ok, here we go:

Thoughts on Season 8:

Just why?

Plot? weak Characters? Totally out of characters

Just why. 

I watch the first 2 episodes and I just couldnt  go through the whole season. For the first time in my life I couldn't end a serie. I talked with some people so i know what happened... but damn. What a mess.

Shiro was almost like a background character. And the original backfroundcharcaters, instead of growing up and have a moment to shine, they simply vanished. I we could have seen more of Hunk... but I was expecting this. He was an important character on season 7... so I guess thats all for him.  Keith giving pep talks?mmm... I mean, it could be? But it still pretty weird. I sounded like a fanfiction...Pidge was... was such a nerd stereotype. Her character ended up being two dimensional. And yeah, sure, I wanted Plance... but beyond that, it would be nice to see for once the  nerd character have feelings. Sure, she cared for her family... but after she found them her plot was over. She just stood there and give a lot of info, like in a exposition. We get it, she is smart. Youve been telling us that for 8 season. And then there's Lance, who was promised a great arc.... and yeah, that didn't happen. His arc was what? Have a gf? His insecurities magically disappeared because he get to be with the girl fo his dreams? And this comes for a person who dosent ship Allurance BUT who think her little date was cute as hell. Just... no.

And finally... Allura.

I could never connect with her... why?I don't know, probably because her 3 main features were:  being a diplomat, being loved by everyone and suffering... she did had her moments...but I could count with the fingers of one hand the times on the show where she was actually happy or just being goofy and having a good time. Thats bullshit, and it isnt fair... But you wanna know what it also NOT fair? Killing her like that.Is messed up. Just why?

The villains motivations were exaggerated. (Haggar actually had her son dead body on that robot, like what the fuck) I feel like they solve everything with the power of friendship  and the whole thing was a big example of deus ex machina.

Also: Shiro wedding? really? that... that isnt... god, I just cant.

And finally, the biggest what the hell of the whole season:

Lance alteans marks.

How why and when?

Is he an Altean now? Why? How does it work? The power of true love or what? Don't throw us random stuff to us and then leave without any explanation. This mean that Lance have altean blood? Or Allura love turn him into al Altean?  Guys, you are writing a show and this is not a continuity error. This could change the characters story and consequently the whole plot. Is some random and just a big nonsense to put something like that on the final season and dont even have the decency of give an explanation.  So now Lance is gonna outlive his family and friends? Is that a real thing? Wow, how wonderful.

Oh and wait, The Lions just flew away ... like..what...why... Guys you are not even trying, thats lazy writing at it best.

Thoughts on Voltron:

Here we go.

I preferred character driven writing above plot driven writing anyday... and personally I think Voltron could have had a really nice balance between the both of them. But they screwed up their characters and then they also screwed up their plot.

After season 2 the show started to lose it quality. That just a cold fact. And I dare to say that it was because they stop focusing on the relationships between the paladin (just take Keith and Allura for example. They had the perfect oportunity the create a great bond between the two of them after season 2... and they just didnt care. AT ALL)... but ofc, it could also be because the plot started to lose sense. Who knows.

But I stayed. I stayed for season 3, and 4 and 5, and 6. Why? Because the great voice actors and the amazing storyboard artists, digital animators, ... the crew was fantastic. But  after season 7 I lost hope, and season 8 was a mess. With bring me to point out this: The people who says "Don't be an anti, if you don't like it go create you own content". I get it, I really don't like ants, they just awful... but Im point out facts and trying to explain why Im so dissapointed in a show that actually helped me a lot when I was feeling terrible with my life.And the thing is. I AM TRYING TO CREATE MY OWN CONTENT. In a graduated in filmmaking, and working my ass off to have a job on the industry, and I'm actually writing a script for an animated movie. But is hard.

  And the simply true is this: JDS and LM are designers, not writers.  I know they have talent... but again: They . are.  not . writers.  So yeah, I cant help but feel like thats a little unfair for people like me who actually studied for years to become a scriptwriter. Because here the thing: to have a good show you need to have a good script, you need to know the tone of the story you are trying to tell and you need to know your characters inside and out .And here is the trick: you need to show us all that, instead of telling us about it.

We all know that Voltron could have been the next Avatar... but ended up being just was another show with a big budget. And that's sad.

Here are some perosnal things that I cant beleive they didnt touch on the series:

-Keith almost dying for the greatest good.

-Lance actually dying.

-The whole friendship between the paladins never really show... is always just told  to us “yay, they are best friends” but not once they actually talk about their feeling, about their lifes, etc.

-I could talk about why plance make a lot more sense, especially because their stories arcs really compliment each other and help them grow as a individual characters... But whats the point.

-Axca ended up being just there.

-Lance having an altean sword? uh... hello?

-Lance explaity saying  that he is from cuba but never speaking in spanish. Thanks for that latino representtion Voltron, I loved it.

- Shiro becoming a background character.

Anyway, it used to be a greta show and I'm always gonna be thankful to help me on my darkest time... but I'm glad is over.

Now lest forget about the last 3 seasons and be happy. 

[noddytheornithopod]

So, Star Wars Resistance... I saw the premiere and the subsequent two episodes that Disney put online. I’ll discuss my thoughts under the cut (expect lots of Autistic feelings on Neeku :V).

I don’t know if I’m just getting older and would’ve felt the same about Ahsoka and Ezra’s first appearances, but I’m kinda finding Kaz annoying for now. I’m sure he’s going to develop and get better at... everything, but for now I’m finding him kinda grating. Like, he’s got the immaturity those characters had, but he’s more obnoxious about it especially since he’s such a try hard and his awkwardness with everything got annoying for me quickly. But of course, the massive idiot always ends up being right or fixes the problem of the episode. Makes me wonder how he even is a good pilot and flying T-85 X-wings in the New Republic navy. :P The most interesting thing about him so far is how sheltered he seems with his parents doing everything for him until now.

Oh yeah, Kaz saying the New Republic is all he’s ever known and he wants to fight for it... can’t wait to see how he’s going six months later. :P

We got a little bit of information about the Republic and Resistance relationship actually stated in visual media, namely how they weren’t allowed to engage Vonreg and Kaz had to get rid of them, and how the New Republic isn’t a fan of the Resistance even if they’re kind of necessary to keep an eye on the First Order. I can’t help but wonder if Kaz’s dad is secretly a First Order sympathiser, given the novel Bloodline indicates a lot of the “centrist” (as in, they want to centralise power) senators were secretly FO sympathisers. We don’t know much about Kaz’s dad besides him being a wealthy senator, heck we didn’t even see him when he talked with Kaz.

Besides Kaz being too much of a doofus for my liking, my other big issue was... Neeku. I’ve discussed before that his Autistic coding is pretty blatant, and these episodes pretty much confirmed he’s quite stereotypical there. I want to like him, but I feel really uncomfortable watching him. I’m not sure if it’s just me being overly weary and internalised ableism talking, but the whole literal minded thing got old fast. Like, if the character had more nuance at this point I might find it funny and relatable (think PnF or MML in this regard), but Neeku is so stereotypical (right down to the fucking Sheldon style voice - wait what do you mean his voice actor was also on The Big Bang Theory) that it just leaves me feeling second hand embarrassment. I thought they were going to be more introspective when he gets upset and talks about how he finds it hard to get others... but nah. Speaking of which, I kinda feel really weirded out at how they basically used his literal mind and naivete to basically get Kaz into conflict with everyone by taking his boast literally? Like great job guys, I sure feel so much better about myself right there. :/ I also feel weird because they make him seem really childlike and really emphasise it, and people talk about how cute and adorable he is. It’s just uncomfortable. Also, Kaz taking advantage of his literal mind to deceive him and sneak off from work? I literally said “you dick!” out loud to Kaz there. So yeah, Neeku isn’t really working for now. I hope they develop him more because my gosh I don’t want to watch Star Wars Sheldon every episode.

Yeager is probably the best character so far. I like how he’s a wise old mentor type but he also already showing his more flawed side in how he’s trying to avoid any of the First Order conflict. I also want to know more about his time in the Rebellion, how he knows Poe and what happened to his family (don’t you DARE tell me his kid was kidnapped by the First Order). Also, him being more grounded I think really helps in the face of doofus pilot and space Sheldon.

Tam is good. They haven’t really done much with her yet, but I’m sure that will change eventually since she has expressed her own ambitions. Also I definitely feel bad for her since she’s genuinely hardworking and committed to her jobs only for that doofus Kaz to show up and fuck up everything. I kinda get vibes of the whole “loser male protagonist overshadows actually competent female supporting character” thing here, to be honest. Like obviously Kaz has to grow as the protagonist but wow, I feel bad for Tam (though I guess we’re supposed to).

BB-8 is cool I guess, always there to pull off nifty stuff to help. I guess Poe is using Kaz’s astromech for now while BB-8 has Kaz on the mission? Bucket is okay I guess, nothing too special yet, his intro felt very Chopper though.

Haven’t seen much of the aces yet besides Torra, she seems nice and I’m definitely curious to see how her relationship with Kaz develops as they become friends. Also wow Kaz, you definitely underestimated her, just because she’s the youngest and newest doesn’t mean she’s easy, she’s an ace for a reason you ding dong. :P

The other denizens of the colossus are fine, at least the location is well thought out and the world building is there. Nobody I’ve really gravitated towards yet.

Torra’s father seems creepy. I can’t help but wonder if he’s a First Order sympathiser, or will at least be a total pushover in the face of them. I think I heard something about taking control of the Colossus but I’m not sure if it was about him or I misheard, I doubt it would be so vague though.

Dammit, I wanted a sympathetic Neimoidian, but the dude has to be in league with pirates and by extension the First Order. Also why does he have to be so fat, why do the villains have to be fat (yeah you know why but meh)?

Elijah Wood’s character was something for sure. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him, I won’t be surprised if he ends up being a thorn in Kaz’s side in racing and mechanics or even works with the First Order.

The racing parts were pretty good, actually.

I want more of Vonreg. Of course we have to start small with those pirates being hired to do shit for the First Order, but he seems interesting. Also he’s got a cool voice, but it’s Lex Lang, of course I’m happy to see Dr Neo Cortex as the First Order’s top pilot.

Phasma is here, woo! Hope she is able to satisfy her fans here where she couldn’t in the movies. :P Also Commander Pyre is the gold stormtrooper, I wonder where he sits among the First Order if Phasma is always around for the important stuff?

Poe was cool, and Leia’s appearance was nice.

Why do the First Order want control of the Colossus? It seems pretty insignificant, but I guess we’re going to find out why it’s so strategically important with time. Definitely curious to the strategy at play.

OH YEAH also the racial diversity among the humans is pretty good too from what I can tell.

Overall, I’d say it was an okay start. It hasn’t got me fully into it like The Clone Wars movie or Rebel’s Spark of Rebellion did when they first came out, but IDK if it’s because I’m older or Resistance is aiming slightly younger. It has a lot of promise and I’m curious to see where it goes especially in regards to Yeager and the First Order’s plotting, but my gosh do Kaz and Neeku need development. I’m sure it will come since these Star Wars animated shows do show that patience pays off, but yeah. For now, not too into Kaz’s goofy antics. :P

[wonder-carolina]

Tag

🌻 Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are suppose to write 92 truths about yourself and tag 25 people.

🌻 I was tagged by the AMAZEBALLS @misshollander1

🌻 LAST…. ♦Drink: Water ♦Phone call: my mom so she could pick me up ♦Text Message: I have an obligation to driving school that day ♦Song you listened to: Hair by Little Mix ♦Time you cried: a week ago because I was so stressed

🌻 HAVE YOU EVER….

♦Dated someone twice: Noh

♦Been cheated on: Noh

♦Kissed someone and then regretted it?: no, no one has kissed me and I haven’t kissed anyone :)

♦Lost someone special: no not yet

♦Been Depressed: I try to stay as optimistic as possible

♦Gotten drunk and thrown up: i’m 16 :) so no

🌻 LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS…(whyyy)

♦Blue

♦Green

♦Yellow

🌻 IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU…

♦Made New Friends: Fo Sho

♦Fallen out of love: never

♦Laughed until you cried: defnitely

♦Found out someone was talking about you: I spend 80% of my time in la la land, so i never really know

♦Met someone who changed you: I guess so

♦Found out who your true friends are: oh yeah definitely

♦Kissed someone on your facebook list: facebook is for parents thanks

🌻 GENERAL…

♦How many Facebook friends do you have in real life: no tengo un facebook

♦Do you have any pets: no...sadly :(

♦Do you want to change your name: Nah I like my name it’s legit (although white people pronounce it wrong half the time)

♦What did you do for your last birthday: just spent it with my family

♦What time did you wake up: 8:00 am :/

♦What were you doing at midnight last night: watching TV with my parents

♦Name something you cannot wait for: to freaking graduate high school and go to college, AND all my fav movies coming out this year and more shit.

♦When was the last time you saw your mother: uh like 10 mins ago shes in the kitchen i think

♦What is one thing you could change in your life: where I live cuz i want in state tuition for college. Also my parents mind’s on being a musician (i’m like Archie right now I swear).

♦What are you listening to right now: Hair by Little Mix (again yes)

♦Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: I know a Tom I think. 

♦Something that is getting on your nerves: Donald “Stale Moldy Cheeto” Trumpet and middle schoolers. I freaking hate middle schoolers i swear.

♦Most visited website: Youtube/Tumblr I guess?

♦Elementary: it was...an experience

♦High School: nO

♦College: Kennesaw State is my reality school, but Georgia Tech and or CalTech are my dream schools

♦Hair colour: Dark DARK Brown (many ppl think its black)

♦Long or Short hair: short-ish

♦Do you have a crush on someone: uh not at school but Tom counts...right?

♦What do you like about yourself: My musicality because I guess I’ve always had a natural talent for reading music and playing instruments. I also like my music taste and I wouldn’t change it for anyone. And my eyebrows I guess, everyone always says I have nice eyebrows. I don’t really know what that means but okay. 

♦Piercings: Ears

♦Blood type: CONFIDENTIAL (its somewhere in my medical records idk)

♦Nickname: I have a. nickname only my family uses, and my pen name on here (Lina). My brother calls me Pato (spanish for Duck)

♦Relationship Status: I’m as single as single pringle

♦Zodiac Sign: virgo :)

♦Pronouns: she/her/it

♦Fave T.V Show: Shadowhunters, Riverdale, New Girl, Jane the Virgin, Teen Wolf and sooooo many more gosh.

♦Tattoos: nah man, i’m underage

♦Right​ or Left handed: Righty

🌻 FIRST…

♦Surgery: tonsils taken out when i was 5

♦Piercings: Ears

♦Best friend: I don’t even remember, but I know her name was Lucy

♦Sport: shit, uh, i can’t remember but probably soccer

♦Vacation: It’s probably Washington D.C. My second home is D.C.

♦Pair of Trainors: (i looked it up) uhm like baby keds called Osh Koshes (i think)

🌻 RIGHT NOW…

♦Eating: nothin

♦Drinking: nothin

♦I’m about to: make some cookies, i’ve got a cookie craving

♦Listening to: Umbrella/Singin’ In The Rain mashup

♦Waiting for: TO GET OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL 

♦Want: to meet my favs AND GO TO COLLEGE

♦Get Married: Fo Sho

♦Career: Mobile App Developer or Author or Astronaut

🌻 WHICH IS BETTER…

♦Hugs or Kisses: Hugs (apparently I give good hugs)

♦Lips or Eyes: Eyes

♦Short or Tall: Tall but not a Brachiosaurus

♦Older or younger: Not gonna lie, I like older guys but not like OLD. 4 years max, 5 depending on the guy. Not younger. I have my reasons. I wouldn’t mind same age if the guy isn’t immature

♦Romantic or Spontaneous: both are ok

♦Nice arms or nice stomach: bOTH ARE OKAY

♦Sensitive or loud: a good mix of both because I’m both

♦Hook up or Relationship: Relationship

♦Troublemaker or Hesitant: a mix, it’s always fun to get in a little trouble, but being careful is okay too

🌻 HAVE YOU EVER..

♦Kissed a stranger: No sir

♦Drank Hard Liquor: nO

♦Lost glasses or contact lenses: i have no glasses or contacts

♦Turned someone down: perhaps..Idk

♦Sex on the first date: what the hell no

♦Broken someone’s heart: I hope not

♦Had your own heart broken: maybe, it might have some foot prints on it

♦Been arrested: No, I’m what you call a “goody goofy” when it comes to the law

♦Cried when someone died: I cried when an anime character died, but no one close to me has died yet.

♦Fallen for a friend: wHAT No??PSH ha NO (yessss oh god)

🌻 DO YOU BELIEVE IN…

♦Yourself: for the most part

♦Miracles: yeah, believe me, been there done that

♦Love at First Sight: hmmm, it sounds like a stretch, but yeah I guess

♦Santa Claus: not anymore

♦Kiss on the first date: um, no

♦Angels: yeah, there’s probably like 3 watching me write this right now. I see you angels (no i dont :( )

🌻 OTHER

♦Current Best Friend’s names: Hailey, Pareesa, Nyla, JADE MY GIRL, etc.

♦Eye Colour: brown, straight up

♦Favorite Movie: bro, no I have too many. My fav OLD movie is The Breakfast Club tho. I highly recommend it.

TAGGING:

@jaderz-mega-yikes @nebulaeofpie @dah-knee-cuh @takemespidey @tomhollandlibrary @lghockey @lilaudrey23

Such a shame they didn’t ask favorite book, but oh well. YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS IT IS REALLY LONG

[canvaswolfdoll]

Canvas and Video Games

Have I talked about my Video Game history? Feels like I have, but I also can’t remember doing so. I’m also running low on possible essay topics, and haven’t finished off any media that I can review[1] recently enough to do that instead…

So, hey, you nerds, let’s talk about Video Games!

Because that’s obviously been a massive influence on my life, what with… my entire brand, really. Egads, am I a nerd, sitting here with a New 3DS in a charging cradle in front of me, trying to work out how to do better quality streams and deciding to write an essay about Video Games.

It all started with my brother, old Foxface himself. As the family lore goes, my parents once didn’t want video games in the house, what with… the social stigma, I guess? It was different times, alright?

Point is, my brother’s speech teacher was all ‘Hey, you know what may help with speech? Video Games! Get him video games.’

And so my parents did, despite any reasonable connection or evidence in the above argument.[2]

So they bought him the Sega Genesis, the only non-Nintendo console we’ve ever owned. He played Sonic the Hedgehog! Also… no. It was mostly just Sonic.

Obviously young Canvas was also interested in the wonder of interactive media, and the running rodent, so I’d watch him play, and occasionally step in as Tails or try to play it myself. And I was terrible at it.

Eventually, the Nintendo 64 was released and added to our fleet of hardware, and we never looked back! Ha ha!

That’s the console that we really cut our teeth on, with it’s many beloved games, from Mario 64, Star Fox 64, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (first Zelda game I was ever aware of), and so on and so forth. We ended up with most of the major releases.[3] Also Mischief Makers for some reason.

It was also the height of Video Rental stores, though I never got to choose games to rent. Vulpin stuck with Space Station Silicon Valley which… might deserve an HD Remake, to be honest. Such a bizarre premise people would eat up, nowadays.

The Game Boy Color arrived, carrying Pokemon and various shovelware, plus a few Zelda Games. Tried my best with them, but for the longest time I never actually completed a video game, or got that far, though I did finish Johto in Gold, which is something.

Gamecube came out, the Dreamcast died, and I began to become aware of the surrounding culture as my capabilities to use the internet matured. We also continued a trend of our person game libraries for the generation growing larger than the last. Lots of GameCube games.

Animal Crossing was a Christmas gift early in the cycle, and it was the first video game all of the kids in the family played, to various extents. Elder Sister was her usual perfectionist self, paid off her house, then pretty much stopped playing video games forever afterwards. Little Sister still plays the occasional game (mostly Paper Mario), but largely it’s just Foxface and I who are deep into the gaming scene.

But, like so many things, tracking each and every experience would be a rather sisyphean task, so I should try and refocus here.

Video Games have always been a presence in my life, and thus had its effects on my creative self, from imaginary friends to the little stories I’d crafted pacing the backyard. They were my chief insight into narratives and various genres, design (whether costume or set or mechanical). Nintendo Power helped educate me on the concept of news and industry, as well as the community that could grow from a hobby.

In fact, Pokemon was the main driving force behind the event I joke is the time I’ve ever made friends myself,[4] being approached while reading a book related to the franchise during second grade. It was nice.

Learning about the internet and GameFAQs hinted towards the wider world and culture, and eventually I came upon 8-Bit Theater, which fired up my love of comics in a big way. Comics and stories made from and about elements of video games? That’s so cool!

Then Nintendo Acres happened.

The diminishing use of quality sprite work in video games makes me sad, by the way. There’s just something about the GBA/DS era graphics that invokes joy in my heart, by now even Pokemon has left sprite work behind for models, and even kitschy independent games tend for the super minimalistic version of 8-bit and… whatever one would refer to Atari graphics. Had I artistic talent, I would slather my media in 16-bit evocative of Friends of Mineral Town or The World Ends with You.

In fact, I think that’s one of my main hurdles getting invested in Stardew Valley[5] and Undertale. They just look ugly, even by the standards of kitschy 8-bit style. Frisk is malformed, and all the Stardew characters are in the wrong perspective for the rest of the world. Sprite work can be so beautiful, and yet no one puts in the effort anymore.

Look, sprites aren’t the only aesthetic I love, just so we’re clear. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, I just prefer bright, cheery worlds. Tale of Symphonia is one of my favorite games, if not my absolute number one.[6] There’s just something very nice about a fantasy world that looks lush and vibrant, where you’d be happy to live just for the scenery. The Tales series and Rune Factory also made me very positive about oddly intricate characters in fantasy. I’ve never liked the dirt covered fantasy of… let’s say Skyrim. Fantasy should be about escapism, grand adventure in grand landscapes, not the crushing reality of medieval times.

More Ghibli, less brown is what I want in general.

I may be an oddball for the elements I look for in video games. I like RPGs (obviously) but there’s very few members of the genre I actually enjoy. I flat-out can’t stand western Video Game RPGs.

What I usually look for in games is both a compelling narrative and interesting mechanics, with allowance for the ‘Classics’ and trendsetters.[7] This is something I find lacking in Western-Style RPGs, with their focus on customizing and granular stat advancement. Sure, I understand someone’s desire to try and put a popular character in an Elder Scrolls, or place some curious limitation on themselves while crawling around Fallout’s wastelands.

But because the game needs to allow the player to make whoever they want, it severely cripples the writer’s ability to write the “main” character into the plot, lest they step on the agency of the player. So, from my perspective, we end up in one of two situations: the PC is a non-entity in the plot, with the narrative happening around and to them instead of with them. Or, we get a Mass Effect situation, where they treat it like Choose Your Own Adventure, and you end up shooting a dude when you thought you were just going to arrest him.[8] That’s why I much prefer being handed a protagonist with a history and personality.

Now, those familiar with my tabletop philosophies, and namely my disdain for randomized Character Gen because it takes away player agency might be tilting their head at this inconsistency.

Well, it’s a scale thing. I realize Video Games have a limitation, and thus it’s unreasonable to expect it to cater to you completely. Tabletop, however, allows endless narrative possibilities, because it’s being created in the moment. So, with Video Games, I’m more willing to just let the story take me along as an observer, like a TV Show.

Which is to say, I don’t really project on the Player Character, and am I happy with that. It’s a division between game and story that may seem odd, but it’s what I look for: every piece having a narrative purpose, especially the loser who’s carrying us on our back.

So, narratively, I prefer the style of JRPGs (also, I like Anime and it’s tropes, so…). Yet, I have never really gotten engrossed in any Final Fantasy Game, because list combat is very dull. I mean, grindy, set the auto-attack against opponent style of Western RPGs[10] aren’t much better, but at least it’s got a hint of visual interest.

What am I left with? For a while, Tales of Symphonia, but now I’ve got Rune Factory, with it’s rather simple combat, but still mostly fun (helped along by other elements), and especially Fire Emblem, which what I wish battlemat D&D combat could be: quick, clever, strategic.

Though I’ve only played the 3DS installments thus far, due to lack of accessibility to the early games, which I couldn’t be bothered to try when they were released. Did try the first GBA game to be ported over, but that ended up having the worst, most micromanaging tutorial I’ve ever seen, and thus I am incapable of completing the first level.

I know how to play video games, Fire Emblem. I am aware of the base concept of pressing A. Yeesh. You’re worse than modern Harvest Moon games!

I’ve also never gotten invested in military FPSs, as a mixture of finding the gameplay boring, difficulty mastering it, and mockery whenever I was roped into playing one with friends.[11] In general, I don’t like being in first person view, as I find it limiting to controls, and responding to things that get behind me is annoying, because I flail trying to find the source of damage, then die.

Though, with time, my avoidance has decreased. Portal has a first person camera, but in a mixture of a more puzzle focused game and excellent integration of tutorial into gameplay,[12] it takes an agitating limited camera and makes it very workable, while also teaching the player how to interact with a game in first person.

I also played a little Team Fortress 2, and now Overwatch. The difference with those two over, say, Modern Duty or whatever, is the tone. The two games are competitive, yes, but also light hearted and goofy. Death is cheap and non punishing, the addition of powers make character choice widely different and fun, and, when I do get a little frustrated, it’s very easy for me to take a breath say ‘It’s only a game’ and let it go. Which is important when playing video games, sometimes.

Because that’s what games should always be: entertainment. It’s why I don’t try and force myself through games I’m not enjoying or lose interest in (though obviously I do try and come back and finish the plot) and why I very rarely strive for 100% completion. Because I want to enjoy myself, not engage in tedious work.

It’s also why I don’t care about ESports. Because I don’t care about sports. People doing something very well doesn’t really appeal to me. High-level chess players aren’t interesting to watch or study, seeing two teams of muscled people charge one another isn’t fun, and fight scenes with the usual punching and kicking is dull.

Because, what I look for in most cases is novelty.

Seeing a master craftsman make a thing once can be interesting, just to see the process. See a master craftsman make the same thing a 100 times is uninteresting, because nothing new is happening. When it comes to sports and games, it’s more interesting to see novices play, because they mess up in interesting ways, spot and solve problems, and you get to sit back and go ‘Now, I would’ve done this.’

So, yeah, not a big fan of Counterstrike and League of Legends news, even besides the toxic communities.

Public perception of video games turned rather quick in my lifetime. It used to be such a niche hobby, enjoyed by nerds and children and so such. Yet… well times change, don’t they? Obviously children grew up and brought games along with them, but the hobby has expanded to become mainstream, a console being as necessary as a television, where those without are viewed as bizarre, despite it not being a physical need.[13] We all remember the children who noted their family doesn’t have a TV (or keep it in the closet), and I wonder if XBoxes have gained the same traction.[14]

If only tabletop games could get the same treatment.

Though I still wouldn’t be able to find a group, but still…

Now that I’m an employed adult, I have even more control over the games I play. Which means a Wii U and a custom built PC.

That I built myself, because I also enjoyed Lego as a child.

Between the two, I tend to have a wide enough net to catch the games that interest me. Sure, there’s still some PlayStation exclusives I’d love to try (Journey, Team ICO’s works, plenty of Tales games…)[15] but some of those games are slowly drifting over to Steam, and I already have a backlog, so I can wait it out.

That’s my stumbled musings about video games… Oh! I stream them! Over here! Watch me! I love to entertain and amuse!

Also maybe consider supporting me through patreon? Then I can put more resources into being amusing!

And share any thoughts you have. I’ll listen. Until then…

Kataal kataal.

[1] Did finish rereading Yotsuba&! but there’s nothing to say about besides “Read it!” [2] Certainly didn’t help me. [3] Though not Harvest Moon 64. One day, I will slay that whale. One day… [4] The rest are inherited after old friends leave. [5] Someone on Reddit commented its port to the Switch may help scratch the itch left by Rune Factory. They are, of course, dreadfully wrong. [6] I still dislike do rankings. [7] IE, I’m not a big fan of hallway-bound FPS games, but have played through the Half-Life series. Mostly for the connection to Portal. [8] I know it was in the ‘Renegade’ position, but I thought it’d be played as ‘I’ll risk losing the Shadow Broker to book this small fish’ sort of thing. I’m not very clever, okay?[9] [9] I actually never progressed much further than that. Perhaps it’ll be on CanvasPlays someday. [10] I don’t care if you have a list of subversions of this style, by the way. I really don’t. [11] I once annoyed a former friend for not knowing there’s an aim button. I didn’t know this, because I don’t play FPSs. [12] There’s a very nice Extra Credits about this somewhere. [13] Though as a cultural need… [14] Nintendo Consoles, of course and unfortunately, being considered the off-brand. [15] the PS3 port of Tides of Destiny. Yes, it’s a disgrace of a Rune Factory game, and it was also on the wii but… well, sometimes I’m an insane collector![16] [16] I don’t even need a PS3. I can get it used for, like, five bucks from GameStop…

[placetobenation]

Fun and Fancy Free

Release Date: September 27th, 1947

Inspiration: “Little Bear Bongo” by Sinclair Lewis and “Jack and the Beanstalk”

Budget: N/A

Domestic Gross: $2.04 million

Worldwide Gross: $3.165 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 67%

IMDB Score: 6.6/10

Storyline (per IMDB): Disney version of fairy tale “Jack and the Beanstalk”, featuring Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in the main roles. Also contains another short film, re-released as “Bongo”.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We continue on with the Disney canon and we have the fourth of the six package films to be released during this time. It was no surprise that Disney was still feeling the effects of World War II and were still in money-saving mode, but unfortunately the quality of the films has taken a bit of a hit after starting out so strong. Since there are only two shorts in this film instead of multiple shorts like in Make Mine Music, hopefully this film will be a bit more streamlined and that it will be a vast improvement on the previous films.

Voice Cast: So we have a bunch of returning actors for this film which was fine since we get a lot of familiar faces on the screen in terms of the characters and therefore, we didn’t have a reason to add that many new voices. The returning actors making an appearance here include Cliff Edwards who returns as Jiminy Cricket, and we also have Walt Disney himself, Clarence Nash, and Pinto Colvig voicing Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy respectively. This is actually a pretty sad moment because this would be the last time that Disney would voice Mickey Mouse aside from archived footage of him being used way down the line. We also have legendary singer Dinah Shore return as the narrator and singer of “Bongo”, and finally Billy Gilbert returns as well as he provides the voice of Willie the Giant. Of the new people that were brought in, we had puppeteer Edgar Bergen serve as the narrator for “Mickey and the Beanstalk”, and he even brings his puppets Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd to assist him. His special guest is child star Luana Patten who had appeared in “Song of the South” and makes an appearance here, and finally Anita Gordon appears as the singing harp and the King’s Men also make a return here as the singing crows in Happy Valley. It was good to have some familiar voices involved since they have become synonymous with the characters they played and they played their roles well in this film.

Hero/Prince: N/A

Princess: N/A

Villain: For the first time in quite a while, we have a few villains in the film which was interesting since we didn’t have a clear hero or heroes unless you consider Bongo, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as heroes though for me they didn’t quite make it. We first have Lumpjaw the bear who tries to steal Lulubelle from Bongo only to fall victim to him and his unicycle and he is swept away in the river, and he was a fine villain though he was on the lower end of the villains. In that same vein, we also have Willie the Giant who steals the golden harp from Happy Valley to help him sleep, and he tries to kill Mickey, Donald, and Goofy when they come to his castle only for them to reclaim the harp and Willie is seemingly sent to his death when they destroy the beanstalk though we see he survives and continues to look for them. Willie does seem to be a gentle and fun giant though he does show some unpleasant tendencies when he goes after Mickey and his pals, but it is not enough to rank him high on the list and more than likely he might be at the very bottom since he is a gentle giant. It is important to note these package films don’t focus on a lot of these first few categories since there are multiple segments and there is no real interlocking storyline.

Other Characters: We do have a solid number of characters sprinkled throughout both segments and even in between the two segments, and we start that right off the bat with Jiminy Cricket making his return to help bridge the two segments. For “Bongo”, we have Bongo the bear himself as he goes from being a circus act to living in the wild which he has a hard time adjusting to, and then we have Lulubelle the bear who Bongo falls in love with and ends up fighting Lumpjaw for. We also have the other animals in the wild who end up befriending Bongo and the rest of the bears who stand in fear of Lumpjaw until Bongo gets rid of him, and while none of the characters have dialogue the story is still well told by Dinah Shore. For “Mickey and the Beanstalk”, we of course have Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy who are starving farmers who climb the beanstalk to the castle, and we also have the singing harp that Willie steals and Mickey and his friends rescue. Given that there were only two segments in this film as opposed to the multiple segments in the previous film, it was fine to have this few characters in the film since they were fine being in their own segments.

Songs: After the last film which featured a lot of songs that were already known, we go back to original songs for the film and we have a lot of songs to carry the film. We kick off with “Fun and Fancy Free” which was the title track for the film, and as I mentioned before it always seemed like they just wrote a song that features the film title in it. The next song is when Jiminy sings “Happy Go Lucky Fellow” which he does a fine job at, and then we go right into “Bongo” as Dinah Shore sings the songs “Lazy Countryside”, “Too Good to be True”, and “Say It with a Slap”, all of which were fine songs for the segment and Shore shows why she is a legend in the music business. We then have the few songs for “Mickey and the Beanstalk” which include “My, What a Happy Day”, “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum” which was sung by Willie, and finally “My Favorite Dream” sung by the harp which was also a trio of fine songs for the segment. Again while these songs may not rank high in the overall canon, they were fine enough for this film and were good for their specific segments.

Plot: Unlike Make Mine Music which was pretty much just a series of segments set to music with no real flow between them, we follow the formula similar to the Three Caballeros where we have two segments that are tied together in a very loose way. Jiminy Cricket acts as a host of sorts and the two segments that we get are told in the style of a story being told, “Bongo” through a record narrated by Dinah Shore and “Mickey and the Beanstalk” told by Edgar Bergen to his guest Luana Patten. It was pretty clear that “Mickey and the Beanstalk” was the main segment of the film and “Bongo” was just here to help fill out the film, and I also liked how we only had two segments which made the film feel more streamlined as opposed to having multiple segments with no consistent flow. It is nice to see Mickey, Donald, and Goofy together in a film especially considering this would be their only film that wasn’t a short segment, and since they wouldn’t be in a full-length film again it was a fun enough short to feature them especially in a familiar fairy tale.

Random Watching Thoughts: We get another theme song shoehorned in to match the title of the film; How much did this choir get paid for doing these films I wonder?; It’s good to see Jiminy Cricket again on the big screen; “Misery for the Masses”, just the kind of book everyone needs in their collection; Cleo the goldfish makes a return as well; Even though it is the 1940s, those newspaper headlines could easily be used today with what is going on in the world; Since when did cats like to eat crickets?; I like how Jiminy talks to the dolls like they are real people even though he knows they’re dolls; I don’t know how many children would have classical records by the likes of Beethoven and Brahms in their collection; Wrong story about bears there Jiminy; That is the most talented bear ever if he can do all those things in the circus; Even back then, they brought up the poor conditions for animals in the circus; That had to be the easiest escape from a locked door ever; The two chipmunks in the tree looks just like Chip and Dale; So Bongo is easily able to climb a pole in the circus yet he can’t climb up a tree; It is always interesting how they portray the beauty of nature in the eyes of the animals; The animals took a quick liking to Bongo even though they were earlier laughing at him for not being able to climb the tree; I feel like some of the designs of the animals were just copied over from the animals in Bambi; Ahh, the real quiet of nature while the insects cause a major commotion; Nature turned on Bongo extremely quickly after luring him into it; I do like how they showed how hard it is for Bongo to transition from a domesticated bear to living in the wild; Even in nature we have love at first sight; Even though my views on these package films have not been too positive, I will never deny that the animation in them is fantastic; Where did all those bears come from?; Lumpjaw just sounds like a name for a villain; So bears show affection for each other by slapping each other in the face; Bears clearly have no rhythm when it comes to square-dancing; Lumpjaw makes a complete mess of the forest by knocking all those trees down, you would think he was a lumberjack; How lucky was Bongo to have his hat catch on a branch to save him from falling down the waterfall; I’m surprised that even though they are bears, they didn’t catch flak for the fact that a male bear was slapping a female bear in the face; My how the world has changed as a little girl staying with an older man and two puppets was perfectly acceptable in the 1940s, but today he would be accused of being a potential pedophile; Charlie the puppet is quite the cynic; Only a harp would be able to keep a valley completely happy and when it was taken, the land fell into depression; That is the saddest excuse for a sandwich ever when it’s two super thin slices of bread and a thin slice of a bean; Donald says that he’ll be all right as his eyes spin like crazy; Charlie is a dark puppet if he’s talking about killing a cow in front of a little girl with no remorse; Fun fact of the film: there was talk about showing a scene of Mickey selling the cow and the two he would be swindled by were none other than Honest John and Gideon from Pinocchio, and another potential scene saw him be sold the beans by Queen Minnie Mouse; Another interesting fact is that Walt Disney was originally against the idea of doing “Mickey and the Beanstalk” because he thought it destroyed the characters; It’s amazing how long that cottage was able to hold out before being destroyed by the beanstalk, and that they are able to stay asleep as long as they are even if they are being thrown around by the beanstalk; So reading up on this short, it was originally intended to be released on its own and production began after Dumbo, but RKO Radio Pictures doubt on the film coupled with World War II forced it to be released like this; Donald you fool, why would you taunt the giant mosquitos?; Goofy is going through so much trouble trying to get his hat on that giant glob of J-ELLO; Is it just me or does the model of the harp look like an inspiration for a certain fairy we will see in a few films?; I love how they hyped up the giant to be a mean and scary thing only for us to find out he was really a gentle giant; Chocolate pot roast with green gravy just doesn’t sound appetizing; So he gets excited about the pot roast only to then make himself a sandwich; Since when did Mickey have the ability to be a palm reader?; The harp is smart to sing the instructions to Mickey so he doesn’t get caught; You know everyone talks about the giant falling when they cut down the beanstalk, but no one talks about the potential damage the beanstalk causes on the areas where it crashes down, especially considering how big it is; How was Willie able to survive falling down the beanstalk like that?; So we find out that the house is overseeing Los Angeles since we see Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, this film was a significant improvement on the previous two films though it still pales in comparison to the films that came out prior to the package films. It’s hard to completely fault Disney for taking this route as they were still recovering from World War II and the loss of profits overseas, and it’s clear that they were just trying to get through the decade any way they could while saving as much money as they could. That said, we have seen a pretty big decline in the quality of the films after starting the decade strong though again the onset of World War II was a bit out of their control. Hopefully, the last two package films can match this one in terms of its quality and help end the decade on a high note, and as for this film it is about in the middle as it is one of the better of the package films.

Final Grade: 5/10