#and involve a lot of people for a dude who’s about one degree away from being a hermit

[scarletspider2the2ndpower]

Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider (Vol. 1/2017), #14.

Writer: Peter David; Pencilers: David Williams and Ray-Anthony Height; Inker: Scott Hanna; Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg; Letterer: Joe Caramagna

[90s-belladonna]

would it be okay to request Bakugou's reacting to another hero trying to recruit his assistant who he has a crush on? I need a jealous Kacchan

Explosive Disposition: Katsuki Bakugo x Fem!Reader

I apologize in advance if it isn't the best, I still have terrible writer's block but I've got you anon!

word count: 3992

He doesn’t know when it happened but he couldn’t stop thinking about you whenever his mind happened to have a free second away from his hero work. He figured it was just that he found you funny or that he was beginning to appreciate all you did for him. However, deep down he knew that something had shifted as he had always been appreciative of your work since he hated filling out paperwork for the cases he solved, yet you did it for him without a single complaint. No, perhaps it was that he was finally becoming aware of his feelings, feelings that had always been there.

“and then (name) said ‘Dynamight doesn’t answer any stupid questions so before you open your mouths ask yourselves if your question is stupid. If you doubt it even a little do yourself a favor and just keep it moving because it won’t get answered today.’ It was hilarious! The reporters were trembling after that.” Kirishima lets out a chuckle as he recalls the events from that morning’s press conference. Their agency had just solved a huge case involving a criminal organization, and naturally, the media had a lot of questions. However, as Katsuki’s assistant, your main task was to constantly shield him from anything that could set him off to avoid a PR nightmare. 

You honestly didn’t mind the responsibilities that came with the job, you appreciated that Bakugo didn’t feel the need to put on a fake persona for the media just to come off as more likable, and you agreed that a lot of the questions they asked heroes were useless and unimportant. You quickly adapted to working with someone like Bakugo as both of your personalities were very similar, the key difference being that you were a very direct person who could communicate your thoughts and feelings easily and professionally. 

You were fond of Bakugo. Most of the tasks in your old job consisted of helping sleazy businessmen lie to their wives and cover up secret families and affairs, so working for someone as brutally honest as Bakugo was a breath of fresh air. When you finally had enough and decided you didn’t want to waste your degree working for shitty people with even shittier morals you got the email notification that they were accepting applications for administrative positions at a hero agency that was about to open up, and that’s how you ended up working for Dynamight. You quickly adapted to the explosion hero’s even more explosive attitude, and you’d be lying if you said the way he carries himself didn’t amuse you. 

While you could remain cool as a cucumber in stressful situations, Katsuki on the other hand was undoubtedly a hothead. While he likes to think he’s direct and honest with his thoughts, everyone knows that couldn’t be further from the truth. You enjoyed the job though, you got to come off as “Dynamight’s bitchy assistant” which came with a lot of power and respect, and that reputation kept people from approaching Bakugo with any stupid questions or comments knowing they’d have to deal with you and your attitude. You were the number one hero’s shield and everyone who knew Bakugo knew that much was true. Every action you took was meant to advocate for him and keep him in his comfort zone so that any useless interruptions wouldn’t affect his hero work.

“Oi idiot! Enough gossiping with your girlfriend we’re here for my issue!” Bakugo grumbled as he glared at his friend-turned-business partner. “Yeah, Yeah, honestly what can we even do anyway? The dude is untouchable. He’s the commission’s golden boy.” the redhead head argued before taking a bite of his food. “I can tell him off that’s what I can do. Call him out on national television. That’ll show that shitty knockoff.” Bakugo was fuming. He put a lot of work into developing his brand so for some nobody to come and rip it off, that truly pissed him off.

“No. It wouldn’t be a good look for the number one to bash another hero in front of the media like that.” Tsubaki argued, she was the head public relations agent for the agency and had made it a point that both heroes, especially Bakugo, ran everything by her. “WHAT THE HELL THEN? THAT ASSHOLE NEEDS TO BE TAUGHT A LESSON! OR FIVE!” the blonde yelled causing everyone in the restaurant to look his way, only to quickly look away the second he slammed his hands on the table. “Relax. I have a better option for you. We can always have an anonymous digital team spread info online with enough proof to back it up about how he’s trying to copy you. Reputation is everything for a hero and this will ruin his. The bonus side is it won’t get back to you so it’s a win-win situation.” the raven-haired girl suggested with a smirk.

Bakugo couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “That’s a coward’s way of handling shit.” is all the blonde let out. “Well, then we’re back to square one where you can’t do anything about it. He’s a prodigy and has the hero commission’s full backing. I mean come on it’s obvious they’re trying to have the kid kick you out of your number one spot.” Tsubaki argued, however, the blonde could not be reasoned with. “She’s right bakubro. They’re turning that guy into the general public-friendly version of you. I mean he started off as a wannabe hawks like a year ago, and now he’s changing every aspect of himself to mimic you. This needs to be dealt with quickly and efficiently.” The redhead tried to reason. Bakugo knew the two were right, which only served to piss him off more. 

“This is bullshit.” was all the explosion hero had to say regarding the situation. He hated feeling helpless. It pissed him off. “Hey I know you and (name) are roommates but please don’t let this get back to her. You know she goes into rage mode whenever someone pisses Bakubro off.” Kirishima pleaded with the tall woman sitting next to him. “Don’t worry. I keep client info confidential. Plus (name) isn’t much of a gossip, she doesn’t take her work home. It’s very much out of sight out of mind with that girl. God I love her, she’s so chill!” Tsubaki couldn’t help but gush about her friend, it wasn’t every day that someone so effortlessly cool befriended someone as wild and hyper as her. 

Bakugo couldn’t help but let his mind wander off to you, a small sense of peace passed through him at the thought of you being so protective over him. The truth is he didn’t need anyone to protect him, never had and never would, but he couldn’t lie to himself and say there wasn’t a strange feeling in his body that came with being cared for by someone. Even if it was just your job to do so, it strangely comforted him to know that someone had his back without question or hesitation.

“I don’t know if chill is the word I’d use to describe her, but she’s definitely a joy to have around the office.” Kirishima chuckled as he began to remember all the different times you had gone off on someone for trespassing on Bakugo’s personal space. The blonde can’t help but notice the doe eyes the taller woman gives his friend. “I know I requested the lunch meeting… but why do I feel like I just got tricked into paying for one of your dates.” He asked out loud as he observed the couple scoot closer to one another. “Maybe because you are!” teased the ravenette with a giggle following closely behind. He refused to show it but he was glad his friend had found someone that made him so happy. “Whatever.” he managed to grit out as he rolled his eyes and reached for his drink.

“All jokes aside, we do need to deal with this issue. That dude is just awful.” Kirishima stated, this made the explosive boy’s crimson eyes go wide. “See! Even shitty hair hates him, and he stupidly likes everyone!” Katsuki spoke, a delighted tone in his voice as he felt vindicated in his opinion of the up and coming younger hero. “Well, he certainly makes it hard to be on his side with that fake personality he puts on.” Kirishima explained. “I’ve been saying this shit for the last month, but neither of you idiots ever listen.” the blonde grumbled, only to be shot down by the public relations expert. “yeah well you hate everyone soo…” 

A few days had passed since the meeting with Tsubaki and Kirishima, not much had progressed regarding the issue of his copy cat so he still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to go terribly wrong. “You need to relax. It’s your day off. What good will you do the public if you’re always on edge?” Katsuki had been invited to, well more like forced, to attend a beach day with Shoto and Sero. “I’M ALWAYS RELAXED FLAT FACE!” the blonde fumed at his raven-haired friend. “sure you are big guy.” Sero quickly dismissed his friend’s uncontrolled temper knowing there was nothing he could do to diffuse him when angry. “Perhaps you should join us for a swim. Water can be very calming, it might help you forget about what’s causing you grievance.” a tired set of blue and grey eyes met his crimson ones, he always hated how the heterochromatic boy could tell when something was upsetting him.

“I’ll forget about it when bitchass Dynamic is buried six feet under.” he managed to grumble, this caused Shoto to hum in understanding. “I can see why his existence would upset you. Dynamic doesn’t come off as sincere, His energy seems brittle, as if he’s wearing a mask that could fall apart and crumble at any second. I would assume that factor paired with his attempt to mimic your personal fashion style as well as his rapid rise in the hero charts would only upset you more.” Sero watched in awe at how effortlessly the fire and ice hero was able to decipher Bakugo’s thoughts. “Tsk. I worry about you half and half. You’re becoming perceptive in your old age.” The blonde’s comment had Shoto perplexed. “So swimming?” Sero asked again in an attempt to move the conversation along, he was well aware that left to their own devices his two socially awkward friends would just sit there staring at each other in silence. “I’m not getting my hair wet.” “Oh right.” were answered simultaneously.

It had been about twenty minutes since the other two boys had gone out to swim. As much as he hated to admit it Sero was right, Katsuki had managed to relax a bit as he sunbathed and read his most recent favorite book. He had caught a lucky break as not many people recognized him when he was out of costume, his wearing sunglasses certainly helped with that too. It was looking like it was about to be a great day off away from work and all the worries that came with being a pro hero. That’s until his nose caught wind of a familiar sugary strawberry scent, he knew that perfume anywhere. Sure enough, within seconds your friend and you had settled in a spot in front and to the left of the spot Shoto had chosen for his group. The placement was perfect so that Katsuki didn’t have to outright turn just to look your way, and you wouldn’t be able to notice he was even there unless you looked back long enough. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to swim with me? It’ll be fun!” Asked a girl with pink hair, who Katsuki could only assume was your friend. “You’re lucky I agreed to come at all,” you spoke as you pulled a book and a bottle of sunscreen out of your weekender bag. “I’ll be fine, you enjoy yourself okay.” goosebumps covered Katsuki’s arms, a reaction to how sweet your voice was. He watched as your friend walked towards the water as you laid a towel on your chair and began putting on sunscreen. Being vigilant over you was like second nature to him, he didn’t even have to think about what he was doing, he just knew he had to make sure you were safe. After a few minutes, his brain accepted that no one was going to come to harm you, he could accept that you were at least safe enough to where he could go back to focusing on his book. As the minutes passed Katsuki felt himself relax. He didn’t want to assume anything, but something in the back of his mind was telling him his zen state was due to the proximity to you. He could feel his eyelashes fluttering shut and his vision becoming blurry. After such a stressful day he finally felt relaxed. Something about your presence brought him a comfort he’d never experienced before. 

About twenty minutes passed and the blonde hero was suddenly woken up, it was like his mind could sense you were upset. “it’s literally my day off, and I hate when grimy bastards bother me so fuck off.” your tone was not the usual bored tone you used on people you didn’t care for, instead it was a vexing one. This shift in you caused him to look over at who had you so exasperated just for it to be the one asshole who’d had him annoyed all week. “Look all I’m saying is why stay with a barbarian like Dynamight when you could be working for the next number-one hero?” The man said with a dastardly smirk. The blonde had to hold himself back from interrupting the conversation, you weren’t in any immediate danger and he would only prove the copycat right if he were to punch him for offering you a job. “and why the hell would I stop working for the number one hero in the country just to work for a loser like you?” You didn’t expect a response, you were hoping he could read social cues and notice the disgusted look you were giving him. However, you were far too optimistic.

“I’m so glad you asked! First of all, I can double whatever you’re making working for that… guy, and you would get to help build me from the ground up as the greatest hero in the country. Isn’t that far more fulfilling than doing busy work from a terrible boss?” Katsuki hated him. He hated his audacity, he hated his face, he hated the terrible blonde dye job on his hair, he hated his shitty voice, and most of all he hated everything he was offering you. HR will eat me alive if I interrupt him… But I’m dying to punch that bastard.  “Terrible boss? Who told you all that? More importantly how the hell did you track me down? We’ve literally never once spoken but let me make one thing clear. I will never and I mean NEVER choose you over Dynamight as a boss. I rather gouge my eyes out than have to listen to your infuriating voice ever again. This is why Bakugo is the number one. He actually cares about his work instead of running around trying to put on a fake image like you do. He’s the number one hero because he deserves it, he put in the hard work to earn that title. Now leave me the hell alone because I have no interest in working for an idiot like you.” To say he was shocked would be an understatement, it was obvious no one had ever spoken to the hero hopeful like that, and to rub salt into the wound everyone around the area was now snickering at the public rejection. Bakugo was also taken aback, he knew you had his back during working hours but to see you respected him enough to also have his back in your free time, that was a different development entirely.

Embarrassment aside, the up-and-coming hero had a mission to complete. He had to take you away from Bakugo. He had to take everything that made him who he is as a hero. So he resorted to the only option he had left. “Well, how about a date then?” Your face instantly gave away your abhorrence for even the suggestion of a date with such a clown. The younger hero’s audacity had Bakugo seeing red, his blood boiling, and every vein in his body popping through. “ew. stay away from me you damn loser.” you nonchalantly let out as you looked down in an attempt to pick up the book you had been reading which you accidentally dropped when the fake blonde approached you. You thought that was the end of it and that he would walk away soon only to be forced to look back up once more when you heard a loud smack. “WHAT PART OF STAYING AWAY FROM HER DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND IDIOT?!!?”

Your (color) eyes instantly met crimson ones. You didn’t even get enough time to process what was happening as you looked down at Bakugo’s hand only to see it grabbing Dynamic’s wrist. The younger hero couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight, almost as if he had realized he’d committed a great mistake and was trying to play it cool to avoid further embarrassment. “We were just talking. I wanted her attention is all, we were planning a date before you intruded.” “Ew, as if I would ever date someone with a bad dye job and no skincare routine.” you absentmindedly let out.  “You heard her. You weren’t planning shit so fuck off!” the blonde growled as he let the younger man’s wrist go and stood protectively in front of you. Dynamic clicked his tongue and put on yet another irritating smile. “Whatever. We’ll discuss our date later cupcake.” he spoke before dashing away so as to not further piss off Bakugo. “NO. YOU’RE STAYING THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!” The blonde yelled after the obnoxious man while you cringed at the fact that someone had dared to call you cupcake of all things.

You instinctively grabbed Katsuki’s wrist when you noticed his quirk beginning to activate. “He’s gone. It’s okay.” was all you needed to say, your soothing voice mellowing his explosive disposition. The blonde let out a huff before visibly relaxing, you took this as your chance to address him. “You sure take your job seriously huh? Coming to my rescue on your day off and all.” You snickered in an attempt to lighten the mood. “You wouldn’t need saving if you weren’t out finding trouble. Damn brat.” was all the blonde could manage to respond, he was well aware that he was being a dick in an attempt to keep you from noticing the blush beginning to dust his cheeks. “Who would’ve thought Dynamight was such a big softie? Protecting his sweet angel of an assistant from an awful man. The public would swoon!” You teased wanting to see just how far you could push your luck with the explosive boy.

“I’m territorial is all.” His voice was gruff, and he had a stern look in his eyes, almost like he was saying exactly what he was thinking for once. “I don’t like idiots imposing on what I consider mine.” Bakugo’s confession left you perplexed. You didn’t want to assume he meant his words to be interpreted romantically so you opted for attempting to diffuse the situation. “Yeah? I mean I can understand why, what would you do without me? I’m the best, a very efficient assistant if I do say so myself.” You spoke with a giggle, however, your heart betrayed you by acting on its own. The beating was completely out of control, as if it were running a marathon with no end in sight. His crimson eyes searched yours, as if your eyes could tell him what you were thinking or what you were attempting to do. After a few seconds when he felt like he was caught on he finally decided to speak. “Well, you don’t suck.” With that, he decided to walk back to his spot. You watched as he picked up his book and continued to read as if nothing had transpired, as if his words and his gaze hadn’t just set something inside you ablaze.

Two days later you were back at work. Your days off did nothing to help you relax, rather they had your mind in shambles as you thought through every possible scenario that could’ve happened had you responded to Bakugo differently that day at the beach.  It doesn’t matter anymore. I just need to focus on work, I’m probably just imagining things. There’s no way he could… He would never think of me that way.  You had never considered Bakugo as a romantic prospect before, however ever since he protected you, you’d be lying if you said the thought hadn’t crossed your mind. 

”Pro hero Dynamic has just announced his new official colors as orange and black! He also tells his fans to stay on the lookout for a new costume he will debut later this month incorporating his new colors!” The mention of the annoying man from a few days earlier caused you to look at the screen which typically had the news playing all day at the agency. Sure enough, it was a reporter standing next to the fake blonde, he had styled his hair in a spiked manner, which was a big difference compared to the slicked-back style he had at the beach. You couldn’t help but feel disgusted as you watched the man smile on the tv as if he wasn’t a complete and utter sleaze bag. “Ugh. I hate that guy.” Both you and a gruff voice said at the same time.

You turned towards the door only to be met with none other than Dynamight. “You’re very cat-like these days. I didn’t even hear you coming, maybe we should get you a bell.” You joked in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Try it and you die brat!” He joked back in a crude tone causing you to shrug as you gave him a mischievous smile. Something had shifted ever since your last conversation and you both knew if. It was an unspoken thing. Bakugo felt bare as if the walls he’d spent years building were slowly crumbling. “By the way… you should have the marketing team sue him. He’s clearly trying to profit off of your image. It’s creepy. You should crush his aspirations.” you let out as he began to walk toward his office. His eyes went wide at your comment. “I knew you’d understand… And that you’d have a solution that wasn’t stupid.” His comment had you lifting a brow making you wonder if perhaps he was already aware of the situation.

The pro hero turned your way and examined how your eyes looked at him as if you knew what went on in his soul. “If something or anyone bothers you… tell me. I don’t care how insignificant you think it is, you have to tell me. I’ll come to rescue you. I’ll protect you.” His voice was soft, unlike his usual tone, but he wasn’t asking. It was clearly a command. You weren’t sure how you should respond so you just nodded. Eventually whatever you two had going on would have to be addressed, but for now, the unspoken tension was all either of you could realistically handle. It wasn’t like either of you could read minds, and yet you understood each other perfectly. Both of you also understood the only obstacle keeping you apart was a fear of rejection, on both ends.

☆ Master List

☆ Oneshots

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2024: #27

27. FRANCE Slimane - "Mon amour" 4th place

Decade ranking: 103/153 [Above The Black Mamba, below Marco Mengoni]

Slimane has a very powerrful voice. 🙂

THE RANKING

Okay, FINE. I suppose I can't leave it like that. 🙄 Although I'd much rather would.

So *SLIME*-MANE. There's a lot to unpack and a lot I know most people will disagree with my takes, but oh well. I've ranked Joost low, and Mustii low, so it's only fair the Slimane fans get some scalding hot truth tea splashed in the face from this deluded overthinker. Disliking men is a much more productive way to run away from my problems than simpling them is.

So remember how I spoke about songs designed to Make People Cry? You know I hold emotional extortion in contempt. "Pity" is just a slightly more charitable way of looking down at others, and shouldn't be strived for. These anthems are inherently designed to manipulate the undiscerning into uglycrying while offering very little sustainance. Yep, we're here yet again. Another song that doesn't pass even a tiny bit of scrutiny, except in a language most viewers do not speak.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that "Mon Amour"'s francophoneness is what made many people sleep on the fact that it's not exactly narratively sound. Most people that I've spoken about ESC to that understand French haven't responded well to "Mon Amour" (lol one of my French friends bursting into chat all "SLIMANE REPS US? EW. HIS MUSIC IS SO BORING AND CORNY 😣" hours after Mon Amour's release passed without comment from any of us ♥).

The indifference makes sense when you read the lyrics. It's filled with cliche's that scream "I YEM ZE FR0NCH~", a little bit too much on the nose. If I thought "Évidemment" was bad, this is worse. Lines such as "reviens à Paris" and ''Es-ce-que tu-m'aimes où pas?" are such clichés they feel thoughtless and expected, like someone writing out the monologue on autopilot.

But what sets me off is the overal narrative. Slimane and France have attempted to retcon "Mon amour" as "the story of an artist reaching out to his fans, seeking validation" but that is not what the lyrics read out. Instead, speak of the aftermath of a broken romance, where SHE has had her heart shattered to a degree that she LEFT THE PROTAGONIST'S HOMETOWN FOR AN UNKNOWN DESTINATION AND BROKE OFF ALL CONTACT. Instead of giving her, you know, personal space or time to reflect, or even lick his wounds, he keeps desperately asking her whether she still loves him or not. Dude, I don't know her, and I know the answer is "no". Give it a rest, and move on. Sadly, Slimane didn't move on and spends a full three minutes wailing on about it. "I want her, I need her only her, why doesn't she love me". We know where this ends - with a restraining order and either her or him dead and dismembered inside a dumpster six months later. (Australia's jury of snarky yet emotionally intelligent gays picking up on this and ranking him dead last ♥ bless them ♥)

As you can perhaps tell, the above realizations completely KILL the romantic aspect of the song for me. I cannot, and WILL NOT get into its grief and sadness. All the parties involved should be GLAD it's over.

Instrumentally, the song's just... generic piano ballad, nothing new or innovative here. Dime a dozen, we've heard it before, bla bla bla. "Mon amour" is a nothingburger, an empty vessel for Slimane's vocal chops.

Which brings me to another problem I have with it - I personally don't really care much about technical skill? Eurovision is an audio-visual SONG contest, not a SINGING contest. It is cool that you can nail those masturbatory vocal projections. You're a singer who can sing. "Loud" however is a pitch, not an emotion. It would have been more impressive if you've also discovered the cure of cancer alongside it. (Curing tumors with vocal vibrations. Medical students reading this, get on it so I can be impressed by Slimane.)

Focusing exclusively on that though, is annoying to me. Good Eurovision entrants start with a SONG. "Mon amour" barely classifies as one. End off.

That isn't to say I cannot respect Slimane's vocal for what it was. I mean THIS:

is a feat only a few vocalists can successfully pull off. It is MORE impressive the first time you witness it before the laws of Diminishing Returns kicks in. But it was immensely clever to trial it at Dora and then include it into the song itself - it gives the performance stakes and gravitas, so why not?

However that brought the song's weakness even more to the forefront to me. My logic is the following: if you can pull off such a stunt, then why aren't you the immediate fave to win? Eurovision 2024 was the most open year perhaps of all times, and I'm supposed to believe a voice THIS strong cannot win it by itself? There are enough examples of strong vocals POWERING through merely decent songs (Céline and Corinne Hermès for instance) into a first place. If you can pull that off and still lose doesn't that prove your song is fucking shite?

Going into the contest I was HOPING to get something out of the live besides Big Vocals and also that France wouldn't morph into a direct contender to win (You would HOPE that 2024's varied and exciting line-up was competitive enough as to not crown a vocal projection exercise as its winner), and ultimately, I got both of my wishes because Eurovision 2024 was BORISVISION. I was the meta this year, bitches, and I think fourth place is a perfectly reasonable result for a vocal that strong on a song that nonexistent.

But more importantly, Slimane managed to inject his performance with EMOTIONS and good god I really needed that.

It took a LOT of effort from Slimane for me to recognize that yes, this man is cooking with gas, and his expertise elevates the whole package. "Seductive" is the incorrect emotion for the subject matter but whatever. Ignoring the subject matter is the only way you can enjoy the song, so if that's what one must to do end the night on a high note, so be it. I let it pass, with few regrets.

Like Nutsa, he served enough for me to respect him ~as a performer~ who deserved the result he got. Like "Firefighter", I still have some contempt for the song itself, and there's a strict limit for how Im i'm willing to place it.

Turns out that boundary lies at Marco Mengoni. "Mon amour" always felt like a lazy, soulless answer to "Due vite" for me, and I'm not willing put it ahead, nor to re-examine my stance on DV so quickly after my 2023 ranking. "Due vite" was a song that ultimately wasn't my cup of tea, but it was the superior composition, and deserves a higher mark.

So ultimately, I end with Slimane a bittersweet note. A man with the capability to win the Eurovision Song Contest, yes and who manifested his impending loss with below average penmanship. If the French are looking for someone to blame for not winning once since 1977, they can start with their failure to recognize their 2024 song needed a revamp.

THE RANKING (again)

[el-moscorrofio-y-el-mercachifle]

Hiiii, I really like it when you share with us the thoughts you have about ysblf! What did you think of that second "meeting" between Patricia and Daniel? The one where she goes to his apartment after calling him out on her cell phone and he told her to resign (and minutes later she finds Aura Maria with Mario). I always see people talking about their first "date", which was at her apartment, but in my opinion this second one was much more disturbing. This one had more blackmail, manipulation and ab\/s3 involved, which made everything sadder. Not to mention the way Daniel treated Patricia afterwards, due to her logical reaction, him sending her away soon after, had a strong impact on her (which makes me wonder about her backstory, and if this has happened before with other people

It really irritates me that they didn't give much insight into Patricia's past, I think that would explain a lot about her).

ps: sorry if I made any mistakes, I'm translating using Google Translate

Hiii! Thank you for the ask!! Don't worry about mistakes, this was very good!😊

Oh, that scene! It's definitely so, so ugly. I'd say is one of the ugliest because of the heavy themes. Fun act, I just rewatched the whole ysblf here in the US on the Peacock platform and it doesn't have the scene after, when they're on Daniel's bed and he's breathing heavily nd all that. Idk why's that, but I definitely want to rewatch the full uncensored versión again lster

The "date" escene is bad, but I don't think that anything there ((except the sexual harrassment, obviously)) makes me uncomfortable. Daniel quickly detected a golddigger with Princess delusions even though she's pretty pathetic, so he popped her bubble. She wasn't going there with a genuine desire of getting to know Daniel. She simply wanted a walking ATM, and Daniel knew that. She was just looking for a plan B in case her "relationship" with Mario didn't lead to economic comfort. (((You gotta be smart even to golddig, ppl lol)))

But THAT escene, when Patricia goes to Daniel's place to basically beg forgiveness, and Daniel takes advantage of it is so, so ugly, uncomfortable, and raw. We are presented a very human and vulnerable Patricia in a way that we didn't get to see much. We didn't see a walking comedy skit like she later became, but an actual woman who fell so hard that she's now having to accept being coerced into sexual favors because otherwise she'll be consumed by poverty. It's a very sad and human story. And yes, we know Patricia acted very wrongfully by damaging the computer, but that's nothing compared to what Daniel made her pay.

Daniel liked to humiliate people, especially those from whom he could get a reaction, like Armando and Patricia. Notice he barely ever bothers Mario, for example? Or Hugo? Sure, he gives poisoned comments to almost everyone, but you can tell he likes to particularly humiliates those who won't take it lightly and will break easily OR pretend to be more than they are ((ironic considering this dude conskders himself classy, rich, and smart and we know he isn't lmao)).

In any case, Patricia was the perfect target as she fits noth categories anyway, and he chose to humiliate her to the biggest degree in that scene when he sends her away. He is saying she is useless but for sex. That all she is and can ever be for a man like him is momentary fun. That all she prides herself in are mere facades and delusions and there is no value on her but her body. And of course, he's told her this before, but in this scene he actively demonstrates it.

The characters' backgrounds are somrthing that we really needed! Patricia is one of those characters that as the novela progresses it's easy to forget how real and human her problems are, and it's understandable the audience has that perception. The novela took her extreme poverty and made a joke out of it. But she really fell low due fully to her ego. She was coerced into sexual favors, and later basically sells herself to Nicolás for the money for her car. She goes so down to the point she doesn't eat for days. Her fridge is empty, she has no electricity some days, cold water. And sure, it's a grave that she keeps digging deeper and deeper with every idiotic decision; a hell of her own creation, but a hell none the less!

My guess for Patricia's past has always been that she was born into extravagabt luxury, not just money. Either her mother was similar to her in her grandiose and vain ways and instilled that mentality on Patricia, or maybe she died when Patricia was too little. Her dad definitely seems the kind to be trying to supply every single materia thing. Perhaps this was his way to fill the void that her mom left in her. They seem to get along, tho. We see her calling him all the time tk tell him good and bad things happenjng in her life, so we can say they're pretty close, but with firm boundaries from her dad's side. I imagine she lived on his expense for a long time and he's now done with it.

Thank you for the ask🥰🥰

[blazehedgehog]

Of all the positive contributions people have made to the sonic franchise, who do you think is most underrated for their contribution? This could be someone who worked on multiple sonic games, one sonic game or had some other behind the scene role.

It's hard for me to say because I feel like expectations for game development are rife with people getting outsized credit for things they weren't entirely responsible for.

And it's hard to know how much responsibility they actually had, right? Because, like, Yuji Naka was credited as "the father of Sonic" for a long time, but he was just a programmer.

But also, the Sonic development teams back then were less than 20 people. Less than ten, in some cases. Naka may have been a programmer, but he had the ability to sway art direction, game direction, and so on. With modern game development, you don't even have an art department anymore, because the artistic requirements for games require multiple art departments working in separate buildings (often separate continents) doing things programmers probably never see or touch until the game is at retail, y'know?

And in the case of Yuji Naka, you often wonder if maybe he elevated himself to the role of "the father of Sonic," given what has been rumored about the guy's ego. Did he take credit unfairly, or didn't he? It could go either way.

So I don't know if I feel comfortable saying one way or another because the only people who know for sure are the ones who were there when it was being made.

To me, it always felt like Hirokazu Yasuhara was the one not getting enough credit. He was one of the guys scared away by Naka's ego, and he was the primary game designer on most of the Genesis Sonics. He came up with the gameplay mechanics, he created a lot of the levels, and once he resigned from Sonic Team, he's been one of the only O.G. members to have legitimate, ongoing success outside of Sega -- he worked at Naughty Dog, Namco, even Nintendo.

To me, as much as Sonic is this amalgam of art, music, and gameplay, Yasuhara is more the real "father of Sonic" to me. You can have great art and music, but you need good gameplay for it to truly last. I think Yasuhara probably brought that to those games.

Also, as I mentioned, Yasuhara didn't want to deal with Yuji Naka anymore. I get the impression they've buried the hatchet to some degree since then, but back in the day, Yasuhara apparently wanted to get away from the dude. And in keeping with the idea that maybe Yuji Naka took credit unfairly, it wouldn't surprise me if he downplayed Yasuhara's involvement in those original games.

Who knows how different things could have been if he was allowed to stick around.

[blueikeproductions]

So the original pitch bible for Transformers Prime was revealed, its prototypical stage was called Robots in Disguise funnily enough, and I’m mixed on what I’ve seen.

Let’s be clear, Prime is ok, but I’ve always found it bland. Flash over substance, best remembered for being gritty and violent with little to say outside of that becoming a forced amalgam of what came before, while its true saving grace being it got Peter Cullen and Frank Welker back on TV in their best known roles. It never knew what it wanted to be, and it’s why I preferred RiD15 since, while far more “kiddy”, I respect a show that at least knows what it is sincere about it.

With that in mind, the concept art oddly feels more cohesive than Prime. The general gist was pretty unabashedly Bayformers: The Animated Series and to a degree I’m surprised they didn’t just do that with NEST, Sam & Mikayla instead of trying to make douchebag hacker Spike a thing.

Indeed, Spike was originally meant as the lead human, described as a rebellious hacker seeking the truth, and one day discovers a Transformer. While there’s no design drawn, reference photos use what looks like stereotypical teens from the 2000’s, ranging from a skateboarder to a grungy emo teen that reminds me of douchebag SM3 Peter with the symbiote. Going by the description and visuals, Spike was evidently split apart into Jack, Raf and Miko, which might explain why they never worked… at least to me. They became a fragment of Spike’s original personality and never fully grew beyond that, when keeping them a single character might’ve been far more interesting.

It appears NEST inspired TASK, no idea what it stands for, but they were similarly a military unit aligned with the Autobots. A female love interest was sketched out, though frankly with how masculine the sketch looks, I keep thinking it’s a guy. Sort of the reverse TF Zone Akira (looks like a girl, is actually a dude). Frankly I say keep the military person a love interest and make ’em a dude: let’s get Akira and Cain up in here with it lol. (I know they weren’t officially a couple, but I still think it’s funny. Plus a version of Spike with a boyfriend could be fun as something different.)

Anyhow, a big emphasis was humanity joining the fight, as well as how they’d react to the TF’s Great War. This didn’t really make it into the final product beyond Prime and RiD’s over fixation on hiding the robots (when in both cases it was becoming increasingly hard to believe people didn’t see anything or just shrugged it off. Though RiD at least had some funny bits poking fun at this I liked.) TASK was basically NEST, and in some cases was just one letter away from just becoming MASK. …Which leads into the toy aspect.

I think had they played their cards right with this early pitch, they could’ve had Autobots, Decepticons, and TASK/MASK transforming vehicles. A huge emphasis was placed on Optimus having specialized trailers, all seemingly based on the Armada and Prime Force drones from Energon to some extent. There was the base trailer that unfolded into a military platform for Autobots and humans to use, a drill trailer for Energon mining, a submarine trailer for water missions, I think I saw a jet trailer, and a tank trailer. It appears they could all Transform to some extent, even becoming armor for other characters to combine with. They evoke the later Cyberverse Spark Armor vehicle combinations with a dash of ROTF Jet Optimus, so the concept made it out just not in Proto-Prime lol.

There was also a proposed Energon Weapon gimmick that strongly resembles the RB style Energon Tools gimmick, so presumably it too got repurposed.

Curiously there’s a LOT of concept art of the Autobots in underwater missions, wearing armor that resembles the submarine armor TFA Bumblebee toy. One concept art drawing features a giant robot manta-fish guy, who I’m assuming was a Seacon or a Sharkticon of some sort. The later TFP prequel stuff that did get made involves an adventure on Aquatron, with Megatron becoming a liberator of the Sharkticons, so I guess that’s where that came from? Megatron even got a Sharkticon inspired toy to boot. I suppose it’s ironic we have all this water business but no one thought to include guys like Sea Spray (and NOT kill him off screen). The robot designs were all over the place. A lot of art mostly uses stylized G1 designs, but the proposed designs were a stronger hybrid of the movies and G1, as opposed to what we got which was purely movie inspired with a dash of Animated. It’s funny to me that after years of praise for Prime’s art style, upon seeing the concept art, it’s now ok to absolutely dunk on Prime. Megatron is the stand out for many, being a hybrid of his WFC, body, his Cybertron Mode Animated body and his Revenge of the Fallen bodies. His vehicle mode was a tank, instead of the first Bayformer space jet thing. He also had what I think might have been a battle axe on his back. It’s definitely cooler than what we got, and I get a strong sense it might crop up as a toy in a future Concept Art Studio Series release. The other designs I think got repurposed though. Bee’s design looks to be what eventually became RiD15, CV and ES Bee, Starscream became RiD15 Screamer, Soundwave’s Earth Mode became RiD15 and CV Soundwave. I genuinely believe RiD15 was where some of these designs were saved lol. Optimus was pry the more G1 looking, with the look possibly influencing his CV and RBA bodies. Soundwave had an alternate design that was his ROTF design, but with Fixit’s wheel feet. I personally hate this look, buts pretty clear ROTF Soundwave was still a huge influence for what became the final and genuinely popular TFP Soundwave design. Ironhide was one of the main Autobots along with Ratchet, both being heavily influenced by their Movie selves, like what would’ve happened with TFA Ironhide and TFA Ratchet. I suppose the funny thing is the Ironhide design made it through, becoming Kup in the American release but staying Ironhide in the Japanese release. Still, the designs were very rough, and as much as people seem to be more for them, they’re too busy and are still clearly finding a balance in what they wanted. I think had they refined it a bit more we could’ve had the perfect Godzilla: The Animated Series equivalent to the original Bayformers. Alas we got Prime, while well intentioned was a show that coasted hard on being dark and gritty, shackled to continued unpopular modern ideas that’s only held TF down than uplift it. I think at the very least EarthSpark is a better version of Prime’s ideas even if I don’t agree with its execution.

[aemiron-main]

mike’s conan poster and his gayness

tinfoil hat time

staring directly at the Conan the Barbarian poster in mike’s room with the context that Conan’s story might have undertones regarding “repressed homosexuality” and the fact that the poster is right next to a lamp (Will, who is associated with lamps but is also framed as mike’s light throughout s4)

with conan, the idea of repressed homosexuality seems to be tied to imagery about beefy mens’ bodies. so beefy dudes = repressed homosexuality. well. what’s right near the conan poster in mike’s room? a beefy dragon poster. which is also next to the ‘one way’ sign into the closet. 

also I haven’t seen the Conan movie (the above quote refers to the book) but apparently there’s a gay character in Conan and conan kills him and then puts on the gay guy’s clothes?? Just like how Mike is putting on clothes in this scene.  Putting on the hellfire shirt specifically (and I have a Lot to say in my gay Mike analysis about the links between hellfire and queerness), Mike, like Conan, putting on the clothes of a gay man that he killed/thinks he killed (the part of himself that likes dnd and hellfire is also the gay part, mike trying to ‘kill himself’/kill that part of himself as a gay guy like not actually kill himself but instead kill that part of himself by being in the closet and repressing it and trying to act ‘normal’ esp since imo in s4/the end of s3 he’s had some realizations about being gay).  Also worth noting that apparently the gay guy in Conan is literally part of an evil cult (hellfire parallel much??) Idk if this makes sense but like. mike is both Conan and the gay guy, trying to be Conan and kill that part of himself and put on the gay guy’s clothes (clothes that are associated with hellfire which is associated with queerness and seemingly parallels the evil cult in Conan) but in reality, he’s also the gay guy who got killed. Forced conformity is killing the kids: mike is trying to kill that gay part of himself because he has to conform/be ‘normal’.  But if mike is putting on the clothes of a gay guy that he metaphorically killed/is repressing (the hellfire clothes), then why is he still involved in hellfire and excited about it?  Because just like how conan puts on the clothes of the gay guy after killing him, Mike puts on the gay clothes/hellfire as a sign of having ‘killed’ that part of himself, the gay part of himself, but still embraces the clothes/hellfire just like how conan killed the gay man but still wears the gay dude’s clothes. Mike is able to embrace hellfire (to an extent) because he has realized that he will never BE ‘normal’. He’s trying to ACT normal in some regards (see: lenora), but his realization that he will never BE ‘normal’ has given him some degree of freedom to embrace nerdy/weird things like hellfire, but he’s still not quite at the stage of embracing his sexuality, just like how even though Mike is into hellfire, hellfire itself becomes villainized and seen as a cult, which pushes Mike into a position of needing to decide whether he’s still going to align with hellfire (come out as gay regardless of the hatred he may receive) or if he’s going to act as if he was never involved (stay in the closet and continue to try and ‘act’ normal). The only issue with that is that mike doesn’t ACTUALLY have that choice: people like jason’s gang already know he’s involved with hellfire, even if he doesn’t know that they know. (ie, people are already starting to realize that mike is gay/queer/suspecting it because of how hellfire works as an allegory for queerness/gay mike specifically and the satanic panic vs the aids crisis, especially since in the hospital in s4, mike is positioned right in front of a ‘donate blood’ poster in max’s hospital room but then moves away from it towards will- gay men being unable to donate blood due to the rhetoric surrounding aids crisis, mike physically moves away from the poster towards will (towards gayness) because he can’t donate blood as a gay man in the 80s). He also can’t continue to ‘act’ normal because it’s absolutely fucking failed for him and makes him seem MORE abornal (see: airport scene, rink o mania, mike’s monologue, especially the fact that the monologue failed, forced conformity is killing the kids).  I’m going to talk about this in my gay mike analysis, but Mike is beginning to experience external homophobia in the way that Will typically has that Mike hasnt- as Mike comes to terms with being gay and that he can’t change it, he also becomes more aware of the homophobic rhetoric around him. (the aids crisis rhetoric, villainizing of the hellfire club, him talking about ‘bullshit media propaganda’ etc). 

[lansplaining]

As you seem to be the go-to person for Disk Horse, what your opinion on women being horny over mlm stuff and men being horny over wlw stuff? Like. On one hand, I do get there's a degree of fetishisation that can seep into the real world. On the other, as a dude, I've enjoyed a lot of danmei made by women, and slashfics by them too, and I know women who do the same for horny wlw art by men. And I don't really feel that there's anything with women enjoying mlm stuff, not even in a fetishtic way if it's done with an ability to acknowledge the root of it if that makes sense? IDK

am I!!! am I that!!! I think I just bully anons!!!! do not lay this burden on me!!!!

i don't fucking know, man, here's my way too personal take:

actually first i'm putting this under a cut so i can delete it if people get weird

i was a pre-teen in the 90s/early 2000s when "gay" was the universal synonym for stupid, and one day when I was 12 i was walking down the hallway in my middle school and thought "what if I liked girls?" and then I thought "oh, I'd get bullied so much I'd probably die," and proceeded to not think about it again for about a decade. queer content of any kind made me wildly uncomfortable for some mysterious reason, which wasn't really a problem because there wasn't that much of it. but then I got into anime (lol) and reading fanfiction, and one of the shows I really liked had a semi-canon M/M pairing that involved my favorite character, and my habit of avoiding M/M (or F/F, but again, not really a problem because lol where) fic suddenly became a lot harder to sustain, because there wasn't much else! so i tentatively started reading it. and i realize how utterly embarrassing it is to be like "reading M/M anime fanfic helped me work through my internalized homophobia as a pre-teen" but that is, sadly, exactly what happened.

which is all to say: i don't think we can make any assumptions about what people are doing or experiencing when they read and watch this stuff. maybe some people are being fetishistic and weird, and maybe it's warping their view of real-world queer people in a way that eventually causes them to act in materially harmful ways, but... a) i can't imagine that's happening all that often and b) anything short of that just feels like... who cares. let people enjoy what they enjoy, you just can't know what they're actually taking away from it

[siderealscribblings]

Mending Warped Designs Interlude: Fractured Friendships. 

Six Months Ago…

"I asked for one thing; one thing and you couldn’t do it for me!”

If Nino wasn’t already worn out and at the end of his rope from having to fight an army of living statues under the sway of a particularly evil stonemason, Adrien’s salty mood did not make him feel any better

“Look…I had my eye on your mom all night just like you asked,” Nino said as calmly as he was able. Something about Adrien these days had a way of getting under his skin in ways that nobody else could. Maybe it was because he had a hard time watching his one time best friend become a grouchier, testier, angrier version of himself. Pity had turned to hopelessness that  had turned to outright frustration the longer he was away from Paris. And opening Adrien’s door only to get the third degree right off the bat did nothing to improve his mood.

“Yeah, except when a stone head went sailing through her window and wiped out half her living room,” Adrien snapped, pacing back and forth in his kitchen like a tiger caught in a trap.

“Your mom is fine, dude,” Nino said, holding a hand out only to get swatted away.

“Do not dude me right now,” Adrien said, brandishing a finger inches away from Nino’s nose. “Of all people, why did you ask Luka to guard her while you were off doing god knows what on Alya’s orders.”

“Okay, one,” Nino said, calmly redirecting Adrien’s finger with the back of his hand. “God-knows-what involved putting my fist through the stomach of a giant stone statue who was trying to eat a leg off the Eiffel Tower. Two, Luka kept your mom out of the line of fire and away from the worst of it; a lot of people are gonna need their walls patched up after tonight.”

“Oh, swell; we’re in great company then,” Adrien growled. “Did you forget what happened the last time Luka paid my family a house call?”

“What, last week?” Nino snorted.

“...what?”

Read More...

[crystalelemental]

We have now concluded the sixth entry in the Villain Arc, and oh man.   Oh man, is this my favorite?  I dunno!  I think I just have to continue coming to terms with the fact I really like Lysandre.

I talked about the first half already, but to recap, I really like the setup.  I like that we get some interesting Malva and Looker dynamics, with Malva actually being threatening and a bit of a problem.  I love Looker, I'm so glad Emma's here, and if you can't focus on the villain team doing their villain thing, then focusing on Looker Fam is a spectacular pivot, and I'm all for this continuing to be a focus in the Alola VA, provided it doesn't detract from Alolan units getting alts.   Though if they wanted to give me Looker fam Sygna Suits with Ultra Beasts...

Anyway, I really like the decision to focus on Looker and his group.  I’m kinda hoping that continues going forward, because to be honest, the Villain Arcs have a lot of issues that mostly center on this whole endeavor being The Giovanni Show, starring Giovanni.  Team Rocket is behind literally everything, because this series cannot get Gen 1′s dick out of its mouth for one goddamned minute.  Even the ones that are still fairly separated wind up involving them to some degree.  And it’s cutting into time that could be spent elsewhere.  I recognize that some antagonists like Lysandre here cannot go full villain again and still stick around.  I don’t begrudge them that.  But I also feel like this VA shows exactly where the problem is.

The protagonists are 100% pointless.  It was like this with Hoenn.  And frankly with Unova.  They don’t matter.  What did Brendan and May actually accomplish in Hoenn?  Nothing.  The story was centered on Maxie and Archie and how they’ve steered away from their villainy, and how Giovanni played everyone with this distraction.  Great, cool.  Unova?  Focused more on N and Hugh, which was cool, but also has literally nothing to do with Hilda or Hilbert, to say nothing of how completely irrelevant Rosa and Nate were.  Calem and Serena continue this trend.  They collectively accomplish jack-all.  It’s amazing how unimportant they are.  And trying to emphasize the protagonists in these stories?  Frankly is dragging them down.

The best part of this, bar nothing, is Malva and Looker’s dynamic in the first half.  The tension is divine, and the development for Malva is really nice.  But the second half, when Looker’s in action, isn’t strictly terrible, but gets a little choppy because it’s interspersed with “And let’s check in on the gang and Lysandre.”  Pick one.  There’s no reason Lysandre can’t be present in the hideout Looker is infiltrating, and strike a deal that way.  There’s no reason Sycamore couldn’t have gone with Looker to find Lysandre, and made this whole segment more cohesive.  The separation of these two bits really doesn’t do anything to help the narrative flow.  Which is a shame, because by separate parts, this rules!

Looker, Anabel, and Emma teaming up to track down and put a stop to Team Rocket, who have been the major masterminds behind the last five catastrophes?  Fantastic.  This is exactly the direction I want that to go, and I live for Looker segments, I am desperately hoping for more with Alola.

Lysandre getting focus as an antagonist that has completely separate views that puts him wildly at odds with the major antagonists?  Great!  I like that!  It’s a way to not have to get into the moral standing of Lysandre broadly, but you can still paint him as an evil dude by having him murder grunts.  Which he does, by the way.  It’s not hard confirmed or anything, but there is no other way to interpret that scene.  Lysandre murdered people, and it’s rad.

But I feel like we’re spending too much time with Lysandre justifying that he’s not actively hostile, and that he hasn’t broken Sycamore’s promise, and that we’re reaffirming that he’s on standby to see if everyone can make a better world, and not enough time on him doing anything.  This could’ve been a lot more dynamic if he were battling against Team Rocket as well, even momentarily to end the battle between Looker Fam and the admins, and getting Looker to let them take the grunts by force rather than the sudden “Surprise, we called dibs!” we get.

The only thing I did like about the gang’s inclusion is that it’s Shauna who sets up Lysandre’s re-affirmation.  I have this whole thing about how Lysandre’s mentality being about “chosen ones” and those who have the right to rule etc etc is basically just another fascist talking point, and that the antithesis of that is your friend group.  They may not be as talented as the central protagonist, but their presence and importance still exists, and keeps you on the ground, recognizing the importance of everyone’s involvement.  I dunno, I just liked how it tied in.

I also admittedly love the clownshoes of Lysandre not being evil, but also going on repeatedly about how Volcanion’s steam bursts can level mountains, and can create a new nation of beauty that he wants.  Like, dude is taking about wild amount of ecological destruction and the displacement of people and Pokemon alike with such a project, and they’re all like “Oh thank god, it’s not genocide again.  We were worried.”  Like it’s so funny.

That said, this whole event is very much setup for the next, and given Lusamine is in a similar boat of “We don’t really want to acknowledge the full extent of their villainy,” I’m willing to bet that this will primarily focus on Looker Fam once again.  Which is great.  I just also hope we can kinda get away from the protagonists needing to be there at all.  Just let Aether Fam and Looker Fam do their thing, which hopefully involves someone punching Giovanni.

[ddazzlingblds]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER.

REPOST DO NOT REBLOG !!

NAME: sam!! imperative that you use the !! so you look happy to see me DSFHSH I also respond to zack!

PRONOUNS: she/her, they/them!

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION: i'm not overly comfy giving you my discord right off the bat, so we can chat in the IMs for a bit before I crack that bad boy open!

NAME OF MUSE(s): Snapo Koski. that's fucking right. the snapo.

BEST EXPERIENCE: opening this asshole a blog and being legit SWARMED with interactions no matter how long or short i had them. i can't believe yall are enthusiastic about this man i'm so? GUYS ARE U OK. DO U NEED SOME COFFEE

RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS: nothing comes to mind as I already explained some of these when I did this on my Kaeya but the usual goes: don't be weird/possessive of your rp partners, do your best to avoid leaving anyone super behind and take their patience and presence for granted, avoid being offensive/provocatory with vagueblogging on main, dont involve others in drama and DONT force them to pick a side if theres one etc. I see a lot of things and stay quiet over those and I'm prone to walk away/emotionally distance in case of weirdness without many words and i GLADLY engage in this as I see fit

MUSE PREFERENCES: me, who cannot write a manipulative muse for shit: hey, let's take on the worst dude out here........ whoopsie. turns out that i can so double whoopsie?? complex muses to a degree. clowns... morally gray ones. probably muses who i can turn in my brain like a rotisserie chicken for how to tackle them. my best headcanon about sampo is the fight or flight one so far as i tackled his psychology behind being a mercenary kind of

PLOTS OR MEMES:  MEMES. can also be used to start plots bc im not good at hitting people up in the IMs for plotting unless i'm already a degree of comfortable with them :( if you're in doubt? perouse my ask memes tag and send one. i LOVE unprompted asks too!

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: 4 paras at minimum for each reply or assume I have been alien-napped by weird beings and switched with an impostor who wasn't left a script to follow to impersonate me.

BEST TIME TO WRITE: EVENING... if i'm not drawing or chatting with people or playing, I crack my fingers after my afternoon nap and kick in gear. lock in. ..... then I get distracted but that's another story. now that i have discovered that I can just do replies and draft them for later to appear productive i'm on top of the world tbh

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): mmmmmmmm not in a bad way. i'm pretty observant of situations and people and how they act but I don't use it for evil like him DJSHFSHF i'd say im more similiar to my wriothesley honestly... sighs. i miss him

tagged by:i stole it from myself. ultimate thief level tagging: steal from meeeeee

[juvederm]

this story been a wip since like 2019 maybe even 2018 and i have one version of it completed that i now just call a draft bc it's so incomplete to me even though it's posted on ao3

let me ramble

like if anyone's wondering why josh is such a focal point in my art it's literally bc of this damn story like 😭 i try to draw things that could potentially be a visual or something to be added in the story (ie drawing scenes that may happen or outfits he might wear) in order to keep myself motivated

since he's like the main character of the story, he's all i draw and talk about for the reason i just stated, like i can't allow myself to get unmotivated about this story bc it's been up my ass forever and has about 8 drafts at this point

it's such a hassle mainly bc of the complexities of how josh got the prank to work, the money spent, the routes he took, etc. i'm trying to find all of it to make the story as accurate as possible bc i can't have it not aligned with canon, while also having showing a diff angle of josh that i feel isn't in most ? fics about him ? and if it is, the fic is usually unfinished and untouched or a standalone

i stray away from that common way people used to write josh (or characterize him) as some suave, inappropriate and sometimes flirty dude (which is sooo inaccurate to his character i can't even emphasize that enough). i think he did make sexual jokes simply for the laughs or shock value. i think he does have charisma but not in the Womanizer kind of way that mike has. like josh has charm, but it's not because he's flirty. it's because he has this weird aura to him that makes him interesting, and makes him charming because of how he handles it

and i've said it before, i think it's all a front for him. he's not really like that. he probably dislikes being so fake, but is afraid of judgment and being isolated from others. so he tries to fit in as much as possible. even if it means drinking and partying enough to be called a "party animal" and being described as someone who "outdoes" everyone during drinking contests

i tried painting it as a slow descent for him in the story i'm writing. after he loses his sisters, everything's starting to fall.

best way i can describe josh: a steel tank rolling down a muddy hill that can be derailed by a twig.

i also tried showing his psyche through the clothes he wears. and his two different rooms (his room at his mom's, and his room at his dad's; i think they're divorced so).

his room at his mom's house has a lot more of his interests everywhere. you can definitely tell he's an art kid, movie obsessed introvert if you would walk into his room. he's eccentric when by himself to a degree where it's genuine and not a front. he kinda has an eccentric style as well, but after losing the twins, he loses that spark

when he moves in with his dad however, his room there is incredibly bleak. there's no posters, the spaces are wide, and there's no range in colors. just black, white and sometimes grey, maybe silver. and his clothes devolve to bland white shirts, black pants, black coats, etc. no poppy colors whatsoever. this kinda goes more into the head canon i have about his step mom, who is kind of on the traditional side.

and also when josh moves in with dad, he becomes invested in solitary activities such as painting, gardening or piano. all of which he does when he's completely alone. and painting and piano playing could be a way to vent out his emotions, even then josh tries to suppress it. he's way too used to doing that. but sometimes his artworks show that.

that's another thing. he's always been artistic and obsessed with painting. he had a lot more abstract pieces but as his mental health declined, the paintings became colorless and desaturated, depressing and claustrophobic (and also involved more of his fears like spiders and isolation)

anyways. maybe i should actually write for the story instead of talking about it

[honeycombstrawberry]

Today I kinda drifted away and ended up thinking about how the hell does Adrian get his suit done/fixed? Sometimes it's beyond repair and would need a new one, and a suit like his and for the use he gives it good construction is a must. We don't know if he made it himself, but he could be 3D printing the armor part. As for the suit, maybe he comissions someone and they're like "this dude does cosplay of a wanted murder but he pays good" ? And it gave me an idea: "y/n" is a recently graduated fashion design student whose prices are kinda low cuz they're just starting, one day they find an offer to make a suit and commit to repairs. The dude pays good so why not? He's kinda funny, and talks a lot, they find out they have things in common. They hang out sometimes and get too cozy for a pair of friends. When Adrian comes with a very trashed suit they start to wonder "is this the real Vigilante?" and asks him about it. He denies it at first, "y/n" replies "ah, what a pity, would be hot to do some roleplay before sex. I kinda have a mask kink" 👀

gonna try doing my first headcanon thread here!!

okay so, adrian and his partner-in-crime who makes his costumes headcanons, here i go:

when adrian first decides he wants to be a "costumed hero" his first thought is of course WHAT sort of costume he is going to wear. he knows he has to look dope as shit and also has to stop himself from dying. and his priorities do go in that order

his first thought is that he'll make it himself but when he puts together stuff he got online and from local stores he realizes he looks like a shitty cosplayer and he's like fuck this never mind i'm not dying look like this

his next thought is to try 3D printing his armor but then he accidentally falls in a river one day and his armor melts down into his clothes and he's like fuck this i'm not built for this shit

he goes on craigslist because he's a nutjob and puts up an unhinged listing like "need full body armor (with cool design) and consistent repairs. serious offers only." and expects lots of people will want to be involved

absolutely nobody wants to be involved with whatever the fuck that is, except one person: you

you have recently graduated from design school and you have absolutely no idea what to do with your degree. you've been thinking about taking an office job just to have steady work and to make ends meet, but you really would like to do something in your field, if you can help it

you're googling for design jobs in the area and you get a hit from a craigslist ad and you figure there's no harm in just looking at the ad. nobody knows if you look at a craigslist ad.

you actually think the offer is-- it's not conventional, obviously, but it's intriguing. and he's actually offering money in the more detailed description below, and he offers to meet in a public place to discuss everything, some local italian place.

you think about it for, like, three days straight, and at the end of the three days, the craigslist ad is still up. so you decide, fuck it. whatever. you don't have a job and this is at least something and if it doesn't work out you can just take an office job then, that's just fine by you. at least you gave this a shot before you went into something else completely

you agree to meet up with this guy in the afternoon at the italian restaurant and you show up there to realize the dude works there. he's a busboy and his name is adrian and he's got these dorky glasses and this big grin that you can't help but be endeared by.

anyway he shows you some relatively shitty drawings of ideas he's got and he basically begs you to turn them into something. when you ask him what it's for he says it's just for a project he's working on

you're like wow this dude is kind of weird. he wants to cosplay as a hero but with like all the real stuff. he must be legit. and he pays fine, and he seems nice, so you agree to at least discuss it. adrian gets up to get you guys drinks, and comes back talking a mile a minute about ideas he has

he talks for at least half an hour before he's told his lunch break is up, and he asks if you think you might be interested, and really, there's no reason to say no-- he's sweet, and he's smart, and he's so interesting, and the two of you do have so much in common. you agree, and he's so excited

you agree that he'll pay a third, you'll come up with the design for his approval and edits, and once you have a final draft, he'll pay another third; then, you'll come up with the costume itself, and when everything was done, he'd pay you the last of it. every time it got busted, he asked, he'd be able to come back and pay you to fix it again, on standing order, and you're delighted by the prospect of an ongoing dynamic with him, even if it's only a business relationship

it quickly becomes More Than A Business Relationship

adrian and you exchange numbers so you can talk about the work, but you start texting about pretty much anything and everything. it's not long before you're sending pictures of your progress, and he starts sending random pictures of things he sees throughout the day, and then you're doing the same, and then-

-and then you have a final draft of your design, and adrian loves it. he asks if he might be able to see you make it, just because he's curious, and you agree. you invite him over with a little thrill, excited to have this man alone in your home with you

you start working at making the suit, but it's not just that-

he comes over all the time

he comes over and makes dinner. he comes over and brings movies to watch. he comes over just to talk with you.

you find yourself putting off finishing the armor suit for him just because you don't want to stop spending time with him. but eventually you have to be done and you present him with the final product but you also ask if maybe he might still want to hang around a little bit sometime

he agrees eagerly and, even though his costume stuff is done, he still keeps coming around. the two of you actually start hanging out so often, it seems like you're spending every weekend together-- then most nights together-- then every other night together-- then it seems like you're spending pretty much all of your free time with him, and him with you

there's a few almosts, you know. a few nights where you stay up late and things get heated and tense and the two of you are drowsy and lax and you almost but then something stops him. something always ends up stopping him and you don't know what it is but you know it's something

then one day adrian brings the suit back in absolute tatters and just asks you sheepishly if you want to try the first repair

you're bewildered but it seems like the suit did its job-- whatever happened to adrian while he was wearing it seemed to shred the suit but leave him intact, so you can't be too upset about what's happened. even though it's kind of obvious now that he's not just using this for cosplaying and what have you

it doesn't take long before you're watching the news and you hear about this new costumed anti-hero-- masked menace-- local weirdo-- vigilante-- and you see a grainy photo of him taken on someone's cell phone and you recognize that armor and you pause the television to stare at it

you eventually take a picture of your tv, send it to adrian, and tell him that he needs to get over there immediately

adrian dawdles a little bit because he's afraid you're pissed and he doesn't want to have to say goodbye to you. but eventually he nuts up and makes himself show up at your place and he's ready to deny it, already saying he has no idea what you mean as if you wouldn't recognize the suit you made

he tells you the photo's shitty, then he tells you he's just cosplaying as that guy, but then you ask why he's lying to you, and his whole face just falls

he weakly denies it, but you see an opening here. this, you realize; this is what's been holding him back. every time the two of you have almost, he stopped himself because you didn't know all of him. but-- now, you do. you know all of him, and you--

you still love him. and that's the first time you realized you love him at all, but you realize you still do, that the feeling hasn't been diminished for finding out what he's been doing in the suit the two of you built together-- the armor you built for him, that keeps him safe and alive

you decide to prod him a little in both regards, and you tell him, "it's too bad you don't know who vigilante really is. because part of the whole reason i took this job in the first place is that i kind of have a thing for guys in masks."

adrian looks at you then and you just know he knows, and you know he knows you know he knows, and he just tells you in a rush, "i'm so sorry, i didn't want you to be mad, or get hurt, or--"

you stop him. you know what he meant here, and you get it, even if you're upset that he didn't tell you sooner. at least now, though, you can be an active part of this. you can find out what materials will be best, lightweight but most durable, best designed to keep him safe; you can really dedicate yourself to making his suit the best that it can be. first of all, you think, you should figure out how to make a prescription visor-- and one with better night vision, since you see him stumble around and bump into things at night

it's hard to reconcile adrian and vigilante, but not impossible, because they are the same, and you realize that with a snap, as if they're coming into focus as one man

when you realize it, adrian's right there, and the two of you finally stop with your almosts and finally kiss and adrian doesn't just bring you the suit when it's in tatters anymore, but he brings it to you when he wants to see you, and when he wants to show you something, and when he wants you to take the suit off of him. it becomes about so much more than that-- it becomes everything-- and you can't stop thinking about adrian out at night, with your armor keeping him safe

okay please tell me if you you liked this or not because i kind of loved doing this format and might want to try some more like this too!!!!!!

-

adrian chase taglist:

@violetrainbow412-blog @bigassbisaster @amysuemc @sunflowerfive @papitas-con-sal @saturnngal @neptuneswritingwork @jewishdelis @myguiltypleasures21 @pinkygunslingy @violinchick @r3tr0sp3ct @chaseadrian @breathing-in-waves @rishlurh @x-milf-hunter-x @goblynnrockz @theowritesstuff @jaysfav

[mayihavethisdanse]

“What is this, the Dark Ages?”

Or, Arthurian themes and allusions in the Brotherhood of Steel mythos as seen in Fallout 4. (But that’s a lot of words.)

Yep. We're doing this. 

First, some obligatory caveats: there is no single Arthurian canon, just 1500 years of assorted fanfic based on the whims of whoever was writing at the time. For this extremely highbrow Tumblr meta, I have ignored most of it and drawn on my favorites. Also Wikipedia.

Also, I am not an expert in Arthurian literature (or Fallout lore, come to that), and I preemptively beg the pardon of anyone who is.

Finally, in no way am I claiming that all these parallels and thematic echoes are deliberate or even significant. In fact, I'd break it down into:

Clearly deliberate allusions, whether in or out of universe;

Probably coincidence, but could be someone deliberately capitalizing on a coincidental similarity;

Almost certainly coincidence, but fun to speculate about; annnnd

Blatant Monty Python references. (Because of course there are.)

I'll start with the big one.

Arthur Maxson, boy king and unifier

(source)

So across all the retellings and variations of King Arthur’s life story, there are a few consistent elements, particularly in his early life and rise to power. Some of these threads are echoed in the Fallout universe, specifically (and unsurprisingly) in the person of Arthur Maxson.

Both the legendary King Arthur and Arthur Maxson were born with a claim to power lying in their ancestry, both were fostered away from their families, and both proved themselves in combat at a young age. 

King Arthur united the warring kingdoms of Britain into a single entity, making them stronger against outsiders and receiving general admiration and acclaim. Arthur Maxson united the divided factions of the BoS after the events of Fallout 3 and is held in similarly high regard by his men.

The name Prydwen is a reference to the ship of the original King Arthur. Presumably, Arthur Maxson (or someone in the BoS who anticipated his promotion) christened the airship in a deliberate homage to the Arthurian myth.

King Arthur is associated with his legendary sword. I think it’s notable that Maxson’s legend is associated with a bladed weapon, too. ("He killed a DEATHCLAW with a COMBAT KNIFE!”)

Probably coincidence, but fun: the historical emperor Magnus Maximus, who pops up a lot in early Arthurian legend, was known in Welsh as... Macsen. (⌐■_■)

Round Table, but make it dieselpunk

(Continued under the cut.)

Moving away from obvious allusions and into some looser parallels:

Like the Round Table, the Brotherhood is an exclusive knightly order with its leader being the one able to open it up to his chosen few.

Like the Round Table, the BoS sees itself as defending human civilization against forces of chaos. (I’ll touch on their tech-hoarding tendencies when I get to the Grail stuff.) This idea of civilization in the face of chaos goes back to the BoS’s founding, even though the level of isolationism we see in most of the Fallout franchise is not exactly what founder Roger Maxson had in mind: “Notably, Maxson's ultimate intention was to establish the Brotherhood as an organization that works closely with people outside of the Brotherhood, as guardians of civilizations, not its gatekeepers.” (source) In a lot of ways, Arthur Maxson represents a return to his ancestor’s original ideals.

Renegade knights? Internal politics? Traitors within? We gotchu.

In both the medieval legends and in all chapters of the BoS we’ve seen, there’s a big focus on bloodlines (ew). Ironically, it’s probably Arthur Maxson’s unquestionable ancestry that allows him to be more progressive than either of his East Coast predecessors when it comes to boosting Brotherhood numbers by recruitment (even though you can still see a clear division between “born Brotherhood” and recruited soldiers, but that’s a topic for another day). Maxson sees himself as an Elder who "cares for the people"—however misguided and patronizing that attitude might be—and whatever else you might say about the guy, you can't say he doesn't believe he has a duty. Which brings us to…

Know Your Enemy: Danse as Gawain

Before I start this section, an acknowledgement of authorial bias:

Gawain, as portrayed in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is my very favorite of King Arthur’s knights. (Other stories aren't always as flattering, but like I said at the outset: I'm sticking to the ones I like.)

That poem is my very favorite piece of medieval Arthurian literature. In this section, I'll refer to the modern English translation by Simon Armitage.

...that’s it, I have no other biases to disclose. 

What? 👀

(Art: Clive Hicks-Jenkins)

All right. So in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, you’ve got this himbo loyal knight of Arthur’s who finds himself caught up in... you know what, let me just paste in the Wikipedia summary. (The Toast, RIP, also did a pretty entertaining and more-or-less accurate recap.)

It describes how Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious "Green Knight" who dares any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts and beheads him with his blow, at which the Green Knight stands up, picks up his head and reminds Gawain of the appointed time. In his struggles to keep his bargain, Gawain demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honour is called into question by a test involving the lord and the lady of the castle where he is a guest.

Don’t worry too much about the plot details, though; for this post, I’m more interested in the thematic parallels. The Green Knight story is full of contrasts: order vs. chaos, civilization vs. wilderness, mortal man vs. Other... but let’s start with Gawain himself. 

Some stuff to know about Gawain:

He was "as good as the purest gold, devoid of vices but virtuous and loyal". Gawain took his principles more seriously even than the rest of Arthur’s knights, not out of pride but out of humility: "I would rather drop dead than default from duty," he says. 

He’s faithful and honorable and never even tempted to betray an oath, even when offered every variety of seduction and riches, except for a single moment of weakness in a desperate desire not to be executed for random shit by powerful forces for reasons he doesn't understand.  

Even though he doesn’t really understand why he needs to die, he sticks to his oath. Gawain's one weakness is a moment of desperate, private, human desire for survival. He'll submit to the headsman’s axe if he has to, but he'd still rather live. 

Above all, Gawain is the ideal of a human man: he might be the bravest and loyal man there is, but he’s still fundamentally human.

You can probably see where I'm going with this.

A few more fun facts about Gawain that resonate with Paladin Danse’s story:

He’s got a bunch of really shitty brothers. (No comment.)

Gawain (SPOILERS!) doesn't actually end up beheaded, but he does willingly kneel for his execution and gets a cut on the throat as a reminder of his sin. And, uh, Danse can also get his throat cut! It doesn’t end as nicely but it’s, you know, a thing that can happen.

Gawain might be a really good guy, and he tries really hard to be one, but in the end he’s nothing more than that: there’s nothing supernatural about him, he has no special powers beyond his own principles and devotion. He’s just a dude doing his Best. 

Wait, why not Danselot?

Oh, that guy? Here’s the thing.

Lancelot personifies the continental ideals of courtly love that became popular in the High Middle Ages. Central to his story is the prioritization of personal relationships and romantic feelings in a way that you don’t really see in Gawain's, at least in the Green Knight tale. (Later stories hook Gawain up with an extremely delightful lady, but even that is a different flavor of romance than Lancelot's and has more to do with Gawain honoring his word and his egalitarian treatment of women (hell yeah). In the poem, Gawain is impressed by Bertilak's wife but resists her temptation; in fact, the biggest risk is not that he'll yield to her advances but that he'll be discourteous to her, i.e., violate his principles and cause dishonor to his king and his host.)

Lancelot is driven by passions over principles in a way that Gawain never really is (at least in the stories I’m talking about; later writers have committed character assassination to various degrees). Yes, you could argue that both Gawain and Lancelot betray their oaths, but Lancelot’s betrayal is never, um, blind. He knows what he’s doing and makes a deliberate choice to prioritize his love for the queen over his love for the king. It doesn’t make him a bad guy—he too is an ideal knight with one fatal flaw—but his character isn’t as comparable to Paladin Danse. 

Yeah, Gawain is (in most stories) a prince and a kinsman of Arthur’s, but he’s ultimately a native boy who doesn’t break the mold of a Knight of the Round Table. Likewise, Danse is portrayed as competent and valuable to the BoS, but not exceptional or breaking the mold of what a BoS soldier should be: he simply represents the ideal. Meanwhile, Lancelot is a foreign prince who was marked from childhood as special and fancy, and his storyline goes alllll over the place. (Much like this post.)

For example, Lancelot goes to absolutely absurd extremes to prove his devotion for no other reason than to prove it. (“I’ll do any useless humiliating thing you want. I’ll betray every oath except the one I made to you. That’s what love is!”) Gawain would never. Danse would never.

Ultimately, Gawain's tests are of his character and not of his love. And like Gawain, Danse’s devotion is to service and his principles, not to another person—even Arthur Maxson.

All that said, there are some similarities: both are beloved by Arthur, both are held up as the ideal of what a knight should be. And even if their fatal flaws are different, both make the point that no matter how good and brave and loyal they might be, no human being can be perfect. 

(Except Galahad. Who is, as a result, very boring.) 

I’ll conclude this section with a quote from someone else’s take on the Greek Knight poem:

I like Gawain. He’s not perfect, but he’s trying his best which is all any of us can do. He’s not like the other knights in the Arthurian legends who occasionally ‘accidentally’ kill women on their little adventures and then feel hard done by when they have to deal with the consequences of that. Gawain holds himself to a high standard – higher, it seems, than Arthur and his knights hold him to considering how hard they laugh when Gawain tells them how bad he feels about the whole thing.

I think Gawain is very relatable in this story. We all want to be better than we actually are.

And that, more than anything else, is Danse.

The Grail myth

What’s that? Lost relics of power? Better send some large armed men after ‘em!

The parallels to the BoS’s tech-hoarding ways are obvious enough that the games themselves lampshade them (albeit by way of Monty Python). But it also ties into the larger themes of “purity” versus “corruption” and the BoS’s self-image as a bastion between civilization and chaos. (See Maxson's line in response to the Sole Survivor’s quip about the Dark Ages: “Judging from the state of the world, it wouldn't be a stretch to say we're living in that era again.”)

But the ultimate futility of the Grail mission is also worthy of note. The BoS might want the power of prewar tech on their side, but they’re no more to be trusted with it than any other group of human beings. No matter how they try, the “corruption” of humanity can’t be overcome as long as they’re striving to harness power for their own ends. You can only achieve power by surrendering control of it.

The death of Arthur

The nature of gameplay being what it is, it's not guaranteed that the Arthur figure will be fatally betrayed, bringing Camelot down with him—but it's not unlikely, either.

Awkward.

Some final spitballing:

Outside the Brotherhood, there are some fun parallels of the Arthur myth with the rest of Fallout 4. Betrayal by one’s own son, for example.

The key difference between the BoS and the legendary Round Table: King Arthur’s knights, for all their flaws and human weaknesses, are usually presented as unambiguous Good Guys. The BoS is... a little more ambiguous...

...but damn if they don’t think they're the good guys. 

A-ad victoriam, fellas!

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Sherlock ask: who is the bigger monster: Moriarty, Magnusen, or Eurus?

Oh, Mycroft. Okay, okay, I'm just kidding. No I'm not. It's Mycroft Holmes.

If you'd like me to choose between the three you listed, I can do that. I'd have to go with Magnussen. He's actually my favorite villain in the whole series. He's such a unique, different flavor to characters like Moriarty. The predatory behavior, all of the disguting little touched like peeing in the fireplace and licking Lady Smallwood. Lars Mikkelson is outstanding, and even though Magnussen doesn't cause the degree of damage than someone like Eurus, but he's easily the most unlikeable. And by far, I believe Sherlock's hatred for him, more than I do Moriarty. All of the twists and turns with this guy, right up to the shocking and yet surprisingly simple solution (that was not intentional alliteration) for how to beat him, just...he's despicable, and I love it. Never seen a villain quite like him before or since.

But Mycroft. My god.

Listen, I love this guy as a character. I do. He's believable, he's interesting, all of his various quirks and habits and mannerisms all come together to form a three-dimensional person who makes total sense as Sherlock's older brother, and hats off to Mark Gatiss because I don't think Mycroft would be quite the same without that portrayal. But that's all in appreciation of him as a character who fits into the story. But as a person? In-universe? My god, if I were Sherlock, I would have moved to another country long ago, just to get away from him.

I don't think I've ever met a character who was this controlling, where the other characters just kind of accepted it. The degree to which Mycroft considers himself in charge of Sherlock/responsible for him is already a bit iffy, but he has the means to exact that level of influence and control over Sherlock's life, and Sherlock and the others just take it as a part of their day to day lives. They don't like it, but they just treat it as inevitable and no big deal. Which is just...rather disturbing. While it's not the kind of thing you'd really notice on a first viewing, or at least I didn't...it gets insufferable on re-watches.

Sherlock claims that he "is" the British Government and while that may not be true, the other people in power appear to keep him on a very loose leash and let him do whatever he wants. Like get John's attention with over-the-top theatrics like hacking local phone booths, and then basically kidnap him - neglecting to mention that he's a government agent, and threatening John in the most pompous way possible. He tries to bribe John into spying on Sherlock, but I don't know why he even needs that, as in that same episode we find out he has tons of surveillance on them. I'm not an expert on privacy laws in the U.K, but the intentional focus on his own brother makes it feel like Mycroft isn't doing his job, and the whole thing feels very creepy. Imagine if he did something like that to say, an ex-wife? Yeah, see what I mean? I know Sherlock is a loose cannon sometimes, but he's also an adult and Mycroft is not his brother's keeper.

Let's talk about The Irene Adler incident. I've got a lot of strong feelings about what this show did with her character, but that's neither here nor there. Mycroft sends government agents to abduct Sherlock, to bring him to Buckingham Palace. Once there, he tries to pressure Sherlock into taking on a client while refusing to say anything about who they are, despite Sherlock making it clear that he's not comfortable with that. Doing that whole "classified" nonsense even though he's literally trying to force Sherlock to be involved in the situation. Sherlock refuses the terms, and to prevent him from leaving, Mycroft steps on his bedsheet, nearly forcing him into a state of nudity. He refuses to take his foot off the bedsheet. And - get this: Throughout all of this, Mycroft is insisting that Sherlock is the one acting childish. My god, dude. It doesn't matter if this is a matter of "national security" as you keep saying. Guess what: Sherlock is not one of your tools or your underlings. He's his own person who is perfectly entitled to take whatever cases he wants, and to have his own dealbreakers. You literally had to kidnap him, and you were expecting a "yes?" (Though Sherlock does say yes eventually.)

Mycroft also knew damn well that he was sending Sherlock into danger, as well as John. Mrs. Hudson later admonishes him for this, and he's not the least bit sorry. The episode skates over this bit, but I don't think it's talked about enough. Sherlock and John could have died. Mycroft knew this and did not tell them about the level of danger. And after all of that, he has the nerve to tell Sherlock that the Irene Adler situation is "no longer his concern." No, no, no. Sorry, but no. You kidnapped him and pressured him into taking this case with no information, it could have got him killed, and now you want to tell him that he's "off the case?" When you know full well what Sherlock is like? I said it before but I'll say it again. Sherlock doesn't work for you, Mycroft. You are not his boss. This comes up again later in His Last Vow, with Magnussen. Mycroft genuinely seems to think of Sherlock as a freelance government agent.

We're still not done talking about the Adler situation, by the way. Because later on in the episode, Irene manipulates Sherlock into deciphering the code and ruining the Airline Plan. Setting aside that I don't believe for one second that Sherlock, an aromantic character, would have fallen for this because he was #DistractedByTheSexy...this ultimately leads to Mycroft once again kidnapping Sherlock and bringing him to an aircraft (Where he now has the man who assaulted Mrs. Hudson in his employ. Are you fucking kidding me, Mycroft?) and all so he can just yell at Sherlock for screwing up his big complicated plan? He actually does abduct Sherlock and bring him all the way there just to dress him down for the security leak. Oh Mycroft, you must be so confused, because once again, Sherlock doesn't work for you. He's not a government agent at all. Mycroft does admit to blame for some of this, but he does so in the narcissistic "It's my fault for putting you in a situation you clearly couldn't handle, you were my responsibility and I overestimated you" type of situation. I swear to god.

Let's fast forward to The Reichenbach Fall. Something that I will say in Mycroft's defense is that the events of this episode are...unclear, largely because of The Empty Hearse. During one of the many recounts of how Sherlock might have faked his death, he claims that he and Mycroft were in on this from the beginning, though Anderson quickly points out all of the holes in this story. So maybe it wasn't really true, or maybe it was. But considering how quick Mycroft is to throw his family under the bus in other situations involving Moriarty (We're getting to Eurus, just hold on.) I'd have to say that most unfortunately, it would be very in character for Mycroft to have done what he did. The punchline here is that he leaked private information about Sherlock to Moriarty of all people, and it's not like he didn't know about the rivalry between the two of them by this point. Even if he didn't, what the hell, Mycroft? He lets his personal life interfere with his job, and he tries to bring his job home and force his family to be a part of it (mainly Sherlock.) Everything that happens in The Reichenbach Fall is arguably on him.

But everything that happens in The Final Problem is objectively, inarguably on him, and the episode even says as much. We can all feel how we want to about Eurus and her inclusion in the show. A lot of fans feel like her existence is the show jumping the shark, but whether it is or it isn't, doesn't change how these events came to be in-universe. Supposedly it was Sherlock's Uncle Rudy who started this process, of lying to Mr. and Mrs. Holmes about their own daughter, letting them believe she was dead, when in reality she - as a child - was thrown into a prison. It's not a mental hospital because she receives to treatment, in fact people are forbidden from talking to her because she's just "too dangerous" which I think we can assume is a skillset she developed overtime as a result of not being allowed to talk to anyone. She learned to manipulate people to make the most of conversations when she had them. It's not clear when Mycroft was put into control of this situation, but he chose to continue his sister's imprisonment. Y'know, I've been waiting for a moment to talk about how he reminds me of Albus Dumbledore, and I just realized how appropriate a parallel it is.

Wait, I've just remembered something else. Put a pin in Eurus for a second. In general, Mycroft also has a habit of searching Sherlock's belongings and 221B Baker Street, and you know he doesn't have a warrant for that. The worst thing is that John often goes along with it or asks him to come. Like...look, I know in His Last Vow, John was worried for Sherlock's safety because he was using again. But what does Mycroft do? Makes snide comments about Sherlock being "back on the sauce" and says that as a celebrity, Sherlock simply "can't afford" a drug habit. So to be clear, he's not really worried about Sherlock's health, or at least he doesn't convey as much. He thinks it's down to him to decide what Sherlock can and cannot afford, even though Sherlock's made it abundantly clear that he doesn't care what the press thinks about him. Oh, and he invited Anderson of all people into Sherlock's place to search it, "for your own good." No, no, no, no. All kinds of no. Why don't you just bring Donavan while you're at it?

On top of that, he then turns around and threatens the "fan club" with absolutely no provocation, threatens to hack their laptops and have them falsely arrested. And then he jokes about doing the same thing to John. Right in front of Sherlock. One instance of him trying to tell Sherlock who he can and cannot take cases about, and then Sherlock shoves him into the wall, in a very satisfying moment. If he only knew just how much Mycroft deserved that. If he only knew that his ability to process trauma and his memories of childhood, his very concept of family and likely his ability to make friendships, were all negatively affected by Mycroft's meddling. It's finally time: Let's talk about Eurus.

Okay, I'm not saying she's innocent. She's a murderer. But she is the way she is because of decisions that were made on her behalf when she was a child who needed help and care and rehabilitation. Mycroft says that Sherlock turned out the way he is because of his experiences with Eurus, but that was his fault! As was her fate. Eurus spends her life in solitary confinement, and Mycroft specifically forbids anyone from treating her or even talking to her. This is actual torture. Like, it is the textbook definition of torture. Mycroft takes it upon himself to decide that his sister is a lost cause and cannot be saved, he doesn't tell Sherlock or their parents that she's alive. But the one time that he does let her have human contact? Holy hell. His motivations, first of all, are selfish. I know, I know, preventing terrorist attacks is noble and whatever, but all I'm seeing is Mycroft once again forcing his family members to be tools in his job, against their will. Not only that, but who does Mycroft let Eurus see? Her parents, her brother? A doctor? No, let's go with...wait, I've got it! Moriarty.

This is what I mean when I say that I don't believe Mycroft telling Moriarty about Sherlock's life in Season 2 was a deception. Because it's the kind of thing he would do. Not only is this a betrayal to...oh, so many different people. Chief among them Sherlock, but also the security of the United Kingdom which Mycroft claims to love so much. Yeah, not only that, but...the lapse in common sense. This is peak dumbass. This is some next level stupid right here. Mycroft actually agreed to let Eurus have five minutes alone with Moriarty. I don't care if the episode calls him out for it and he acknowledges it was a mistake. Dude, you should have known that! Everyone who Eurus harmed and killed is a direct result of Mycroft's failure to handle her situation when it was not for him to decide in the first place. This was not his call, but he took upon himself to prevent their parents from finding out, and handled things for them. At the end of it all, when they ask when they can see her, Mycroft has the nerve to say, "There's no point." As if they care at this point whether or not he thinks it's a good idea. As if they were asking his permission. As if anything is going to stop them. As if they're not being remarkably calm under the circumstances.

Mycroft just has a serious problem with not only controlling his family, (he literally used trigger words to "monitor" Sherlock's trauma throughout his childhood, which...yeah, all kinds of fuck that) but he also has an obsession with asserting himself as the cleverest one. How telling is it that the one person in his family whom he admits to being smarter than him is the one he threw in a cell? But he's also quite comfortable in having oh so subtly bullied Sherlock for years for not being "as" clever as Mycroft, which...I mean, you say that, dude, but we never see you doing anything close to the deductions that Sherlock does. But all sorts of lines, like the ones he has during that game of Operation in The Empty Hearse, indicate this. I don't know if Mycroft is insecure or if he just feels comfortable with Sherlock being his inferior and he doesn't know how to imagine him otherwise, so he goes to great lengths to ensure that Sherlock also sees it that way. Few things are as cathartic as Sherlock's mother saying that Sherlock was always the grown-up, and just seeing those words go through Mycroft like a sliver of ice. Good. About time someone said it.

By no means am I saying that Sherlock himself is perfect, or that anyone in this show is. (Except Greg, he is flawless, no I don't take constructive criticism) If I were Sherlock, I would seriously want to get a restraining order against this creep. And the fact that it probably wouldn't even work thanks to his various connections is exactly the reason I'd want it in the first place.

[project-paranoia]

Let’s Watch: Yin Yang Master: Dream of Eternity

I have watched this movie 85 Whole Entire Times and I do not regret.  The only thing wrong with this movie is that it wasn't a fifty episode series.  I cried, I laughed, I fell in love.  The cinematography is on point, the acting is amazing, the crew member who put snow on people's eyebrows did an amazing job, and the acting!  The subtlety, the gentleness, the love and affection, the discussion of race is one of the best I've ever seen.

As people have pointed out before in series like X-Men that fear of mutant's is practically if not thematically justified due to the laser eyes in a way that fear of ethnic minorities just isn't in real life.  In Dream of Eternity however humans are equally if not sometimes more super powered than the yao they hunt.  Demons - very much not in the Christian sense - are a mixture of spirits, resentful souls, and animals and plants who cultivated to human form.  They often appear human at first glance and in some cases the extent of their power seems to be the limited to turning into a smaller more vulnerable animal.  Qingming's deliberate care and gentleness not only reflects his upbringing as a Yin Yang Master, but parallels the experience of racial minorities labelled as aggressive.

The movie takes particular care as well in the way it looks at trauma, grief, and love.  The three of which haunt the main characters and send out ripple effects into the world around them.  In the world of Dream of Eternity no loss is purely private, it spools out into the world around the person effected until they make an effect to acknowledge and deal with their experiences.  Qingming's warmth and gentleness isn't just marked by his behaviour but by the orange light he's lit by and his variety of shishen - but he is also separate, standing alone in frame and facing away from the people around him.  Boya's loss has made him unforgiving and as cold as the blue light he's lit in, and yet he is open and instinctive, talking and acting as soon as the thought enters his head.  The Empress is lost and drifting, trapped and grief stricken, vulnerable to those who profess to love her.  The film is simple, it says and shows what it means when it means it - but it is also as complex as the very human characters it depicts.  

The movie is made even more complex by its pull from theaters.  Claims of plagiarism drench the edges of the movie, which as true as the assertion that Fan BingBing went on a spa vacation in 2018.  Although this blog is about Chinese censorship dealing specifically with BL content, Chinese censorship also effects those who criticize governmental policy.  I hope that supporters of this blog will also support Chinese media threatened by censorship for many reasons so that artists and others involved in film making can continue to make meaningful content.

Doing a watchthrough of a movie is not feasible, but please enjoy a few thousand words - with spoilers on Yin Yang Master included:

* That gentle chiming and rain soundscaping is so soothing, what a great way to calm and lull the audience before the movie even starts * Qingming is so small and isolated in the frame - cinema! * The lighting and cinematography is just so good * Shifu, soft gentle teacher * So much love stored in the Shifu * Instant grow * This boy is Sassy * This theme of deflection in Qingming's character is established early * Deflection with a teleportation portal and then immediately deflection verbally * Shifu is certainly an attractive man aged up, but his face is also soft and gentle, something to note when his double pops up later * Also the awkward question of don't you have someone you want to protect, maybe part of the problem is that shifu is just really bad at wording things * The answer that yes he does has several meanings, one of which is immediately apparent when Shifu acts out one of those Father Saves Child By Yeeting them youtube videos * ACtion MuSIC * I love them your honour * The spirit guardian's design is so specific and elegant, absolutely superb you funky little shishen * I wonder if Qingming ever thinks about that if he didn't come back with all his fellow disciples that Shifu would have been fine * Maybe it's not that he doesn't have someone he wants to protect and more that he believes that he's not capable of protecting those he wants to * subtle indication Shifu's qi is corrupted * Precious Magic Childe ;-; * The framing, I'm living for it * The Serpent graphic is lovely * Also the way they set things up * Qingming cares so much about his shifu * Mark Chao just has the ability to crumple his face like paper * Sad Time exposition involving the corrupting influence of desires * "When you're gone I'll be all alone" in just about all you need to know about Qingming at this point in the story * Also like, sympathy for Shifu in raising this lonely child.  By all accounts he was an absolutely superb father figure, and Qingming I'm sure was not an easy child to raise.  He's the sort of kid that would take a lot of calm and patience. * Slumber party! * It's kind of interesting that this is an activity Fangyue and He Shouyue are doing together.  He's definitely obsessed and in love with her and she's just doing friends and family activities with him * Also yellow/gold lighting is kind of their thing * It's interesting how they do the make up for He Shouyue.  The actor is very attractive, but they make him up to look doll like, a little too pretty, a little too shiny.  Like a porcelain doll. * Cool lit Boya and warm lit Qingming appear! * Camels! * The framing is so good, they're careful to be sure he's shown as obviously isolated as much as possible * And it should go without saying that I adore the City * The matte painting is outstanding * But there's also the lighting, the vignettes, the clusters, the foliage * It is a supremely beautiful set * The irony that Killing Stone is playing along with Boya's music and then it's Boya who kicks him around * A small note, but one I appreciate - even when Boya has warm highlight's they're red instead of orange * "It's Jason Bourne!" * I hope Qingming paid for that water taxi * It's interesting how Killing Stone goes from the safety of Qingming's orange light to the danger of Qingming's blue * Colour related foreshadowing! * Look at this poor sweet man, how could anyone suspect him of anything.  He's just a sad man who loves his dead wife * Qingming's use of a fan is interesting - battle fans show up all over wuxia and xianxia, but it feels like it also ties into the way he's so very careful in how he presents himself.  There's that quote that a sword can only be a sword but other weapons are also able to serve other purposes - not a perfect quote but the point is got across. * The way Qingming just knocks Boya back, like get An Clue, my dude * The way that Killing Stone curls around the pipa ;-; * So the movie is based on the book series 'Onmyoji' by Yumemakura Baku.  The books start with Seimei (Qingming) and Hiromasa (Boya) already in a relationship talking about various cases Seimei has recently experienced.  Plotwise, obviously the stories are different, however thematically Seimei and Hiromasa discuss why some yao stick around and solutions to the difficulties and dangers they might cause - which is generally from Seimei's very successful perspective to listen and treat them like humans.  So in that way the plots of the books and the movie are quite different, but the themes are just about identical. * Boya says Don't Talk Me I Angy and also that demons don't have feelings and Qingming's face takes out a billboard that's just like Ah, Another Fantasy Racist, Excellent * Qingming also does what should be done in this situation, taking care of the victim not the racist * Fight scene!  Fight scene! * Qingming's first few moves aren't to attack, they're to distract and just hold his fan up to block Boya's way and his view - it's only when Boya persists in attacking that Qingming fights back * Qingming's sassy smile, he is very much deliberately irritating Boya as much as he's refocusing his attention and distracting him * "nICE sWORD" * I've sighed that sigh before * This boy is taking great pleasure from teasing Boya, but also he makes a really good point * I understand and relate to what Qingming did, but also I can understand why Boya was ready to throw rocks at Qingming when he saw him again * Killing Stone lit in Qingming's orange light again * Killing Stone, my beloved * A good gauge to the state of the world for yao is no one has told this sweet boy before that demons have feelings too * There are several lines like this in the movie that just drop kick you with Implications * The same way Qingming clung to Zhongxing, Killing Stone wants to join up with Qingming to have some compassion in his life * The way he asks to be a spirit guardian is so formal too, and Qingming is so gentle with him, I cry ;-; * The warm orange light of Qingming's love ;-; * He heals the wounds * It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realise it's the actual imperial degree speaking and not one the of Jingyun Temple Masters * The mutual this guy again is delicious * "Is it because of your pretty face" * Boya draws his sword so fast and Qingming is so amused by it * Longye!  Queen!  I love her! * The two of them seem to understand each other instantly * Those sassy little smiles * He Shouyue looks even more like a doll than before * Longye has her head on a swivel from second one, she plays the Maiden so well like she's not a skilled master * And her customer service smile * Qingming is shooketh

* What happens next?  You'll have to watch and find out!