#and opinions. dont paint the most /interesting/ picture.

[avrorean]

one of my plans for 2025 is to do a full friendship/rivalry/romance study of merrill, I need to remember who this woman actually is beyond fan interpretation

[mundaneblue]

Alien Stage Theory time!!

With Round 7 just around the corner, I felt it fitting to look back on my theories I've gathered so far and very heavily believe in. But my most CRUCIAL one that I always feel like talking about is:

Ivan meant for both him and Till to die in Round 6.

So I am of the opinion that Ivan did NOT plan to do the whole sacrifice at all.

It was spontaneous.

And I have several reasons to back this theory up.

So we all know that ever since Ivan and Till were kids, Ivan had been obsessed with the idea of them escaping together.

He knew Till valued “freedom” and because he did, Ivan started to value it too. But never alone. Only with Till.

Since Ivan went back to Anakt instead of escaping after Till did the same because of the fear of leaving Mizi.

Even in the scene where Ivan finds Till passed out in around 6, he looks helpless, and cradles his face in a “Dont worry, it’ll all end soon” kind of way.

So when Till stops singing and Ivan approaches him to kiss, the kiss was NOT planned.

Now this was the factor that surprised everyone. Even Unsha. It was so unexpected that he wished he knew what Ivan was thinking, but that’s the thing.

Ivan WASNT thinking.

Even Ivan himself was shocked at what he was doing since he had no control over his actions at that moment at all.

And this correlates to ivan's eccentric behaviour. As we know that ever since he was a child, he never really felt like he fit in with his fellow peers. This is very interesting to me as in Black Sorrow we are shown this picture of Ivan being very uninterested in spending time with the kids in his class. He has this mundane look of unamusement.

But as we look at more alien stage content, we see that Ivan was actually one of the most social in his class. Everyone admired him.

This shows that the rounds/videos don't necessarily mean what was infact happening but what the characters themselves felt.

This is also why I believe Ivan and Till were way more closer than what Ivan painted in his rounds. He just never felt the same love from Till, hence his constant inner mantra of wanting Till to look at him.

Now we've gotten that clear!

The main thing I want to deliver is that Ivan is an unreliable narrator. And he doesn't know how to handle his feelings in a methodical way. He has this distortive, almost possessive view when it comes to love and honestly that, to me, is what makes Ivan Ivan.

Ivan doesn't know how to properly think when he's faced with his emotions. He's used to tuning out his emotions to do things. So when his emotions get involved? It's like an electric shock and he relies on the thing closest to him to hold on to.

And that thing is Till.

Ivan was obsessed with Till. I'm sure we all know that but people really undermine his determination when it comes to Till.

I really do believe that Ivan planned for both him and Till to die in R6 as an ode to their longing for freedom.

Because all Ivan ever wanted was to be free with Till.

The counter statements that suggest he wasn't choking Till and merely had his hands on him simply doesn't sit with me as the animation clearly showed Ivan's hands clenching hard as he progressed to choke him.

Look at the dent formed by Ivan's fingers on his neck, right at the crucial point of air supply.

And Till is shocked but as he's gradually losing air, his eyes start to get heavy and he gets ready to accept the darkness that follow

And while Ivan is getting shot, he chokes him even harder.

Because that IS his goal.

For Till and him to die so they'd be together in whatever life that follows hereafter.

I disagree when I hear that Ivan meant to sacrifice himself for Till. Yes that did happen at the end but it was never what he initially intended. His initial intent was far more dark and possessive. Which is very on brand for a Vivinos character.

However, now we're getting to the sacrifice part and I believe this is where Ivan had a turning point.

As he gets his final shot and basically sees he's about to die, he looks at Till in surprise.

Because no matter how much he wished for them both to be together, he can't kill his God. He can't kill his Universe. Ivan is possessive but Ivan is also weak when it comes to him.

This smile of his shows that sentiment. "Ah I really can't go through with it afterall"

Ivan always believed he and Sua were similar but he resented her for sacrificing herself for Mizi. He believed he was better than that. He won't ever do that. Wherever Till goes, he goes. Yet, when he was actually faced with the task of doing it, he finally realised what Sua felt. Because Sua, just like Ivan, was also quite possessive of Mizi.

He couldn't do it, and at that moment he knew that he and Sua really weren't so different. Only difference was that while Sua was loved, felt love. Ivan never felt it.

Ivan did everything for Till. He stayed at Anakt for Till. He pursued alien stage for Till.

And his last act was also for Till. He wanted his last action to be for himself, to finally grant his long due wish of being with Till but he couldn't do it. And while the sacrifice was spontaneous, it was just so...easy to do. Because again, Ivan thought Till never cared as much about him as he did (abandonment issues at their finest) so him dying wouldn't really affect him as much.

This makes Ivan so much more tragic for me. And this heavily fits him as a complex character.

"Thank you for being the victim of my shallow emotions."

When were you or your feelings ever shallow, Ivan...

[petewentzisblack1312]

If you haven't done so already, I would love to hear you elaborate on You're Crashing and how it relates to the Fred Hampton Jr trial? My knowledge of him and the trial starts with your header text and google isn't exactly forthcoming on the climate of public opinion at the time it was actually happening. Also I just want to hear your thoughts since I heard it from you first, if that's ok

no problem. take what i say with a grain of salt, as im not american, so this isnt my history directly. additionally, this was before my time.

after the beating of rodney king at the hands of police, and the acquital of 3 of the 4 officers responsible, there were riots. the 1992 los angeles riots to be precise. these riots sprang up amid a backdrop of tension between black american and korean communities, and during these riots, a korean menswear store was firebombed. fred hampton jr, son of civil rights activist and martyr fred hampton, was found guilty for this, with the main piece of evidence i believe being that there were blisters on his hands. he and his supporters maintain his innocence for this event. many people, particularly black political activists, believe that his guilty verdict was mostly because he continued his fathers legacy in fighting for racial justice in america.

it is a known fact explicitly stated by the band that youre crashing but youre no wave is inspired by this trial (this is pre release, so the song names are different). this is demonstrated through the narrative told by the lyrics. the story ended before it began. the DA didnt need to give his closing argument, because the jury already believed it from the narrative spun on the news. 'everyones looking for relief/a bidding war for an old flame's grief' the old flame in this case being his father, from whom he picked up the torch. you could pay to close the case like a casket, because whats inside it is messy, and no one wants to see the dirty guts of the truth. the jury is stacked. the witnesses are well paid (too well dressed for the witness stand). the song heavily, heavily implies over and over, that this is not a fair trial, and that there is a foregone conclusion.

i feel as though its easy to argue this song is out of place, but personally, while its VERY on the nose and not really all that subtle (and i like that about it, dont get it twisted), i think it fits into the theme. i mentioned a while back that 'be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. then life seems most enchanted after all' refers, in the context of its association with this album, to the stars in hollywood. ioh is about media narratives first and foremost. its about fame, and celebrity, and painting a perfect picture, one that sells well. its all about the artifice ('style your wake for fashion magazines' 'i only think in the form of crunching numbers in hotel room collectong Page Six lovers' '"we need umbrellas on the inside" get me just right.') and in this case, it shifts its focus from media and celebrity into media and politics. which i find really really interesting.

[timeausterrors]

hello! this is for the thoughts on homestuck! i think it's interesting how you can read the beta kids as the different troubles a kid could face growing up and, frankly in my opinion, john is no exception. i feel like his upbringing is emblematic of like... you can grow up in a good community in a happy household with a loving father and still not come out of it okay because it's not that simple. he reads SO clearly to me as that experience kids have with mental illness- you don't know what's going on other than there's something wrong with you, because nobody saw any reason to tell you anything else was a possibility. not to mention when you consider it in the transgender context. it's all the little unfortunate side effects of the classic suburban lifestyle that pile up on top of each other- by all means you should be happy, but here you are, just as discontent as all the rest of your friends. ...looks at the big textblock and starts sweating. john makes me feel a lot of emotions if you couldn't tell. i just think he's neat.

yes!! i hardly ever see true analysis of june, especially in early acts, which is wild because she is literally the Main Character. and there is really so much to explore with her, especially when it comes to her emotional struggles and connections with people.

SORRY I WENT OFF A BIT...

june has got to be one of the most heavily autistic coded characters in homestuck, which is saying something bc almost all of them can be read as some form of neurodivergent/mentally ill (or both). but june, specifically, is interesting because, as you said, she had the most "normal" upbringing of all of the kids, both alpha and beta, and by far has the hardest time making connections with people. she has a tendency to derail conversations towards her interests ('shitty' movies) and it often feels like making connections of events to her movies helps her process and relate to those events. she often takes people at their face value, and struggles to pick up on sarcasm or tone through text, and is very gullible because of it (terezi tricking alt june to fight her denizen early, then not taking dave or davesprite seriously until the last minute – she either believes everything someine tells her or nothing, depending on her pre-established notions of the person).

all of these make genuine relationships and connections difficult to build with june. the theme of loneliness with her is Extremely prevalent throughout the comic, even in the snapchat epilogues. she is like the manifestation of undiagnosed autism in children (especially young boys who are trans and dont know it yet). she has a caring dad and a 'good life' but her struggle to make irl connections and that feeling of knowing Something is different about you (or something is "wrong" with you) but not understanding what it is... i feel a lot of that is why june resonates with people.

this is not even going into detail about june's trans coding (be it intentional or not on hussie's end, a good portion of the kids have very real trans coding that i wish more people would appreciate cough cough jake, jane, eridan, the zahhaks.... cough cough cough) or her role in the narrative as both a breath player and a main character... it all paints and extremely compelling picture of this character and i really wish more people would appreciate her!!

sorry for da word wall... june also makes me feel a lot of emotions 🥹

[unexpectedbrickattack]

Does Peppino actively enjoy using himself as a subject or does he just use it for marketing? What other things does he usually like to draw or make? Is he a wood carver? I can see him as a wood carver

Oh this is interesting; ive been stuck on this for a little bit. The needle swings between yes and no mid response lol. I think he enjoys being able to use his likeness for marketing, but less so for personal, artistic use. It feels obvious to use ur own face and/or name for ur business (one that u put so much blood sweat n tears in) but he doesnt feel compelled to draw himself. There is a level of self awareness(?) i think u have to have to even desire depicting oneself in art and i think he would be too focused on his failing business to start that process. He has more important things to do. But on the flipside; i think he would look at his own creations (for his business) and regard them as reminders of his failures. So he wouldnt have the best opinion of himself.

But! i think he would enjoy others depictions of his likeness. Despite his awkwardness, he enjoys putting on a show, he enjoys performing to some degree, he likes entertaining a crowd. He feeds off of positive attention (like most people do) even if it leaves him a little flustered. People take pictures of him and he smiles earnestly. He doesnt have the words for it, but it is grounding to see himself outside of his business and existing outside of his failures.

This obv gets better postgame as he gets more support for his business. But also, as Pepperman starts to take genuine interest in his form to use as a muse. It is the perfect balance of him enjoying being an art subject, without him having to Make the art. And tying his visage to a now profitable, successful shop, makes him feel a bit better about seeing his own caricature on the storefront. I can see him in Peppermans studio being convinced to draw himself on canvas, and instead of his usual caricature style, it is an attempt at realism with him waving hi towards the ‘camera’, which is a nice contrast to Peppermans first picture of Peppino looking very blue and very sad. Pepperman is delighted lol look at his muse branching out !!!! Pepperman does not do this for anyone but he lets Peppino take the picture home with him (‘But you must promise to give me a copy of this to hang in my studio 😊 PROMISE ME-‘)

And yes, Peppino wood carves bc Peshino is a wood carved toy!! Hes got some bits in him to let him move around w a simple wind up mechanism. I dont think Peppino would do this in his free time prior to postgame, but as he gets more (positive) time to himself, he starts to take up some easy crafts. Wood carving when hes home and watching tv, and sculpting/painting when hes at Peppermans studio.

[nagipeko]

lyney and lynette :33 - lee

MY BEAUTIFUL PAPER TWINS

LYNEY

First Impression: smiles. ive been wanting them since the fucking. the one teaser you know the one. the teaser where they also teased ningguang cyno ayaka etc. i was like Holy Fuckkkkk magician twins i need them NOWWWWW

Impression Now:

hes crazy hes fucking crazy. 17 year old french-filo boy hes fucking crazy hes so codependent on lynette ive talked about this extensively in the past but the way that these twins literally only ever had each other is fucking sickening. they were children. THEY ARE CHILDREN STILL. the way that lyney relies on his image of The Good Older Brother in order to feel stable is fucking crazy. hes crazy. in the archon quest when he starts panicking when lynette is missing you can see the cracks start to form. without his sister he feels like hes nothing. without lynette he started to have panic attacks and he couldnt even calm himself down no matter how hard he tried. i hate it here

Favorite Moment: his big brother complex showing up when lynette disappears

Idea for a Story: I DONT KNOW CAN HE JUST BE HAPPY FOR ONCE?> PLEASE?"

Unpopular Opinion: i think lyney fans are annoying a lot of the time because of the way they tend to push lynette out of the picture like. you know lyney would hate your ass for that shit right? tell me you know that.

Favorite Relationship: The Beautiful Paper Siblings

Favorite Headcanon: he likes to tuck lynette and freminet into bed like as in literally pull the blanket over them and brush their hair back and kiss their foreheads before he gets into his own bed. and they know that when he does these little acts of love he feels more whole himself so they let him do this without complaint because they love him too. and they all love each other so much.

LYNETTE

First Impression: again i was already a fan since the old teaser

Impression Now:

I AM PHYSICALLY FUCKING ILL. her backstory is one of the most tragic ones in genshin im being serious AND CAN I SAY IF SHE WAS A BOY PEOPLE WOULD TALK ABOUT THIS MORE. sorry. her perfectly crafted calm and indifferent mask as a response to her trauma.... yeah who cares i dont care. the way she cares for her twin is so so so subtle that a lot of people miss it i think. she knows that lyney wants to take care of her, so she lets herself be taken care of. she provides a safe area for lyney to just. stop the charming magician front and just be quiet for once... its so so interesting how the public images of lyney and lynette are literally the opposite of how they are in private; lynette is actually quite witty and she enjoys chatting meanwhile lyney is not actually that extroverted and outgoing. ITS ALL AN ACT. and this was SO FUCKING GENIUS to put in fontaine. everything is a facade.

Favorite Moment: i just think shes so cute dont you agree :'-) she is so cutey with it

Idea for a Story: Therapy 😊

Unpopular Opinion: I AM SICK AND TIREDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD OF PEOPLE ACTING LIKE SHE ONLY EXISTS AS AN EXTESNION OF LYNEY 🤕🤕🤕🤕 ughhhhh

Favorite Relationship: The Beautiful Paper Siblings

Favorite Headcanon: i think she and lyney do each others face paint makeup :'-) i think shes often furrowing her brow and concentrating on drawing lyneys tear and hes always trying to make her giggle but all she does is give him an unamused look and he throws his hands up and hes like Tough crowd, tough crowd... A shame.... and then sits quietly humming to himself the rest of the time. i think when lyney does HER makeup hes like My, Lynette! Have you always looked this dashing? and her facial muscles just barely twitch and thats how lyney can tell that the compliment worked

[chntfessions]

sydediah- I dont like, i see jedidiah as aroace and i dont see any chemistry, i think like it would be more interesting if they stayed unlabeled or platonic

elijadam- i dont like, elijah is a human (?), he still has a chance to redeem himself and his actions are rooted in mental illness, i find it so weird when people ship a character who is mentally ill with a being of evil, adam is a demon, he is literally just evil. I find it so weird when people ship a mentally ill character like elijah with a character like adam because it just paints a picture that all psychotic and insane characters are just evil and aren't complex.

rowniper- i dont like, I find juniper a really interesting character but most of the time hes only boiled down to being british, with no other personality which just makes the ship boring when people give juniper no other personality other than british

marisalem- they get a pass, theyre cute

lucille x jedidiahs dad- they also get a pass

any other ship- i dont like

i dunno i feel like the fandom focuses on the shipping wayy too much, but i understand its a fandom and its just what fandoms do

(this is just my opinion btw, ship what you like as long as it isn't illegal)

can't say i agree with all of your takes but i'm pretty neutral on most chnt ships so you guys have fun :3 (DON'T START DISCOURSE OVER THIS POST) 🎀

[syrupspinner]

i just defeated Ben and Ed

dead game, am i right?

ill come out and say that, for better or worse, the most notable thing about this game is how much it shows its age.

so, indie games have always been innately countercultural in my opinion. people make indie games because theyre inspired to do something the AAA industry lacks, and a lot of the indie games that pop off into popularity do so because they offer something that mainstream gaming cant. in the current zeitgeist, we can see that best by comparing the innate simplicity and modest of indie games compared to sony's big 10-years-in-the-oven blockbuster. thats not to say indie games dont have work put into them, id never say that the year after pizza tower and sea of stars game out, but those are video games for gamers, not cinematic experiences for the general public

all this is to paint a picture of the mid-aughts, where gamers were freaking the fuck out about their hobby being made casual. the industry didnt want to cater to the same closed circle of hardcore dedication forever, and wanted to follow the wii's success by making gaming something everyone can enjoy. in other words, less call of duty, more wii sports. also unignorable is super meat boy hitting the shelves in 2010. i bought a copy from walmart as a kid (a physical disc that made me download steam to play it) and was shocked by the difficulty and the humour trying way too hard to be offensive. woah, an aborted fetus is the bad guy, youre just like the kid in my class whos mean to girls for attention. either way, it was a runaway success, and set the standard for indies to be rude & tough even if they werent directly inspired

so, ben and ed happens. an unflinchingly difficult platformer that has a meanspirited and gross edge to it. and yeah, this sure reads like someone wanted to make a difficult game all right. it's not I Am Bread levels of fuck-you-just-because, but it still feels like it cares more about being hard than being fair

like, the penultimate level has buzzsaws swinging back and forth across a pit of acid that the platforms dunk you into sometimes. add some laser sharks and we have an avgn bit. but it doesnt feel like ive been given a fun challenge here, just something hard for the sake of saying "look at me i did a tough thing" to all my friends. it doesnt feel intrinsically rewarding to overcome, because the difficulty is cheap

also, in the very same level, you can press tab and ragdoll under everything for like... two minutes straight. thats not hard, dude.

my final conclusion is that this game feels like its chasing trends from the time and doesnt hold up as a result. maybe itd feel less like that if the game didnt have the same "look at me im so dark and yucky" vibe that every newgrounds game had? like, the premise of kidnapping a zombie and making them play wipeout is already bleak enough, you dont have to make the antagonist jontron with acne and litter the game with ads for meat-flavoured dentists or whatever the fuck.

to close this off, i think this whole thing can be summarized by saying if you know about this game in the current year, at least if youre anything like me, you probably know about markiplier losing his shit

whats at the end? ...a facebook link, to a page trying to kickstart an ARG that fizzled out due to lack of interest and seemed to just be a roundabout reference to a creepypasta from almost 15 years ago.

alright

[istherewifiinhell]

Wifi's (and friend) Ultimate Turtle Journey: Mirage Volume 1 skip list.

Have you ever started to get into a really popular media that you know next to nothing about? And the amount of ingrained cultural knowledge and predisposed popular opinions to have about it all left you all discombobulated? Did you then decide the best way to handle that was to go through all the media in as chronological an order as possible?

Well. Hi! I (and my companion in turtledom) did that with every cartoon, movie, anime ova, touring musical production and educational VHS we could find of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But now plumb out of media of the moving picture sort, it was time to get into comics.

This is not a list trying to make you read mirage, nor will it be a "just the good plot stuff" list. Those already exist! This is list for anyone also taking a maximalist approach to enjoying art, and letting the ideas of the people who make it flow over you. I think friction in consumption of art can be really interesting. But I will try and give you context for what that friction might be, and the lines I drew about no longer thinking something was worth my time (I never skipped tho i did occasional skim >_>). SO! Lets get too it!

Mirage 1-11, and the character micros (named after each character, published in order: Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello and Leonardo)

This is the "core text" as it were. Obviously read it. This is probably what you need if you want to get into fights on the internet too. I might recommend a pit stop to read Eastman and Laird Fugitoid, maybe after issue 4. Issue 8 is a crossover issue. You could read the micros however but read no. 9, then Leo, then 10.

#12-18 are, brace yourself. Filler. Oh the terror. I think mostly good! 12-15 all got adapted into 03 episodes. Here's the break down.

#19-21: Return to New York

#12 - A Laird turtle romp, has good character work, action.

#13 - A guest issue, but Michael Dooney's best imho, makes sense chronologically and in tone. Women's depiction in comics Advisory warning.

#14 - An Eastman turtle romp, cute Casey and April stuff, a favourite of mine.

#15 - Laird again, and adventure again. good art.

#16 - A guest issue, Mark Martin, also his strongest imho. Not very chronologically based (a time travel plot in fact) but I'd recommend this even to people who don't read mirage.

#17 - Eric Talbot, kinda of a guest issue, within its own text, non canonical, but cute. Mikey focused.

#18 - Guest issue, Mark Bodé. The plot is. Anti MSG messaging? Turtles go to China. Really truly, you can skip this.

Yes again, obviously you should read these. I like them so much. Brothers! Feelings! Murder! Its the works.

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1-7

Probably not were they go by publication date, but for simplicity... Lighter, easy read comics, all of them were adapted into 03 btw. I say read em, I saved them up for when mainline got too vexing. But probably at least read 4 [I, monster] and 6 [Leatherhead].

#22-48. Yes, most of em. Are "the guest era". But painting this large a chunk with the same skip or dont skip brush is beyond the pale. Some of the best and worst of Mirage is in here. Lets break it down.

#22-23. Sequels to #16. Not as strong, much weirder. But if you wanted more. You've got it. Has one gag I really like, and one I really don't.

#24-26. Rich Veitch's river saga. THE frictional art of frictional art. Emotional arc for the turtles, political and spiritual messaging. Advisory Warning for depiction of an Indigenous (Of an Algonquian tribe, probably Abenaki?) character and themes of colonialism, lots of offensive language used tho also, pro land back? Mysticism abound. If you read it, lets talk!

#27 Michael Dooney, a revisit of characters from Tales of TMNT, Radical and Carnage. Now in a... spiritual battle involved in (I believe, Lakota) religion. Stuff to chew on maybe, less offensive langauge but also maybe less to say. Dooney's treatment of women hints to a pattern.

#28 Written by Stephen Murphy and with art by Jim Lawson, makes this technically canonical, and regardless. Introspective and emotional. SO FUCKING GOOD. Also an 03 episode.

#29. AC Farley, read it for the art alone. Wild plot, fun romp.

#30. Rich Veitch again, cars! the grotesque! Highway culture. Very strange, pretty fun.

#31. Mike Zuilli and Stephen Murphy. This is truly, an AU. Continued in #35-36 (Sans Murphy). Maybe interesting to check out? Weird ass hell, maybe not in a good way? The strangest Splinter and Shredder. Mysticism, ofc. 36 Does end interestingly at least.

#32 Mark Bodé again, April and a female friend in Egypt. Cursed mummies, bad outfits. Truly skipable. (Also side bar: If someone told you this is the Only issue were April is drawn as Black or ambiguous. I Disagree. Lot of artists drew her in a lot of ways)

#33. Richard Corben. Silly turtles time travel. Cute, though the art might have given me motion sickness???

#34. Rich Hedden & Tom McWeeney. This is a Parody of the TMNT. Also not very funny. Also depicts a man having delusions and the shooting himself. (As comedy. of course. and its still not funny). Extremely skippable, though despite myself, the shots were said man sees the world populated with turtle mutants are kinda nice.

#35-36. See 31.

Phew. Done. #50-62 is the City At War arc, and finale of Mirage vol. 1. Read it! And good luck skipping any of it, it's like. 5 parallel story lines across 13 issues.

#37 Rick McCollum and Bill Anderson. I. ADORE. This issue. On the record have been singing its praises. Extremely characterful of the turtles, a reptile specific spiritual journey. Sequel to a mini "Donatello: The Ring", from Turtle Soup #2.

#38-40. Hedden and McWeeney again, this time, hornier. Still not funny. SKIPPPPPP.

#41. Matt Howarth. A look into the turtles, and Splinters, dreams. Just a cute little comic.

#42. McCollum and Anderson. Pretty good, an immortal witch summons ghosts of famous people to do her bidding (kidnap the turtles!). Mild advisory for women's depictions in comics, at least their drawn cooler... I like their Renet actually.

#43. Paul Jenkins and A.C. Farley. More of that good art! Donnie in his FEELINGS. Wild premise.

#44. Rick Arthur. Sequel to "The Name is Lucindra" Turtle soup vol 2. Raph gets a female sparring partner. There's maybe some feelings involved? its fine.

#45. Dan Berger. The return of Leatherhead! Probably canonical? I like it!

#46-47. Michael Dooney. A plot thread from #9 gets picked up. The turtles time travel to feudal Japan to stop a bad guy. Doesn't get more classic that that. Dooney's depiction of women goes turbo nuclear with this tho. Renet is less garbed than very and being man handled A lot.

#48-49 You have reached normal continuity by mirage regulars again. Casey Jones has a moral quandary of vigilantism. Return of Nobody from Tales of the TMNT. The turtles say some based shit about cops.

And that's pretty much it! I'm not skip listing all the side content cause i haven't read it yet and also. If your the kinda sicko who wants to read Mirage's Gobbledygook, Grunts, Turtle Soup or Plastron Cafe... What would you need a skip list for?

Wow! Now that's really it! You did it! Catch me next time when I finally know what the fuck happened with the rest of Mirage's publishing! Or what the hell is up with image comics? Or maybe those darn adventure comics from Archie.

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Der Kronprinz (1989) [The Crown Prince]

This one was really good, I was very pleasantly surprised!

But before I talk about everything that I liked, I need to be negative for a moment. So, Ive been trying to watch all these films in their original language and Ive mostly succeeded so far, but this was a hungarian film that I watched the german dub of because I thought it was a german film and it obviously wasnt. I dont really like watching dubbed live-action media, I actually thought for the longest time that I didnt like watching any live-action media because "seeing humans captured on film felt unnatural to me" like Im from fuckin back when movies were invented, but then I realized that the thing that actually felt unnatural to me was the fact that the words people would say were obviously not actually coming out of the actors' mouths. I know better now, but dubbed media still feels 'off' to me whenever I watch it, and that was the case here as well.

There were also some weird directorial choices that contributed to that off-ness, like whenever a character would make a longer statement, the camera would slowly zoom in on their face until they were done, and the way people would look towards the camera was very weird, its not that they would look straight at the camera/at the audience but they would kinda look past it but it never really seemed like they were looking at other characters who were behind the camera, it felt more like they were looking past 'you' or the audience. Idk, Im not describing it in the best way but it made for kind of a weird viewing experience

But whatever, the plot of this film more than makes up for those minor complaints. This isnt just a straight-forward romantic retelling of the events leading up to Rudolf and Mary's suicide like most of the other films so far, its actually about these two guys, Peters and Lukacz, trying to piece together the truth of Rudolf's death in the immediate aftermath of it. Peters is an american wroter who originally came to austria and met up with Lukacz to write a book about the austrian empire in general, but then they announce Rudolf's death by stroke pretty much as soon as he arrives. They talk about it while theyre on a train to vienna and the conductor overhears them them and tells them that he thinks Rudolf was actually murdered because 30-year-olds dont usually die of strokes so thats suspicious, and he wasnt very well-liked at court so theres a motive there, which piques Peters' interest. Then, when the newspaper says that he died due to heart issues instead, Peters decides that he needs to get to the bottom of this, and then the rest of the film is him and Lukecz going around and asking people who were somehow involved with Rudolf and/or his death, interspersed with relevant scenes from his life.

If youve read my other posts, Im sure youve already guessed that the main reason I like this film so much is that it has a different setup and approach to this story than the others, and that is true, its so unbelievably refreshing seeing a Rudolf-film thats not just two hours of "aww isnt it soooooo tragic that he was soooooo in love with this 17-year-old girl but just couldnt be with her because of his shitty family and wife, they had to both die to be together 😭😭", but I also think it was very well-executed. All these interviews with all these different people who are all biased in different ways do a good job of painting a very complete picture of Rudolf (in my opinion as someone whos not very familiar with him as a historical figure, Im mostly saying that because he comes across as very flat in most of the films, which I dont think is the case in this one). Theres also all these rumors sprinkled in from like random people around Maylering that Peters and Lukecz interview to see if they maybe know anything, or even them themselves being like "you know, I heard this thing...", which I really liked because it added to this being a film about the unreliable narrative(s) and the drama around the mayerling incident. In some ways its about the messy birth of the whole Mayerling Mythology which was very interesting after seeing all these romantic and 'clean' movies that exist because of it.

Another reason why I liked it, that you might have guessed already as well, is that Mary wasnt really in this film all that much. And I know that sounds bad especially coming from someone who would consider herself a feminist, but Im gonna be honest with you, Im at a point where i dont even want male filmmakers to include female characters if they clearly dont care about them. Give me a story with a rounded out cast consisting of only guys instead please, its easier to ignore the fact that you dont see women as people that way. Sorry, Im just so sick of all these boring one-dimensional portrayals of Mary and her relationship with Rudolf that this film gets points for simply not torturing me with it. However, Mary does get one very interesting scene in this one, its the very first scene of the movie before we even meet Peters and Lukecz, and its basically the only part thats presented as 'true' because its not framed by any kind of unreliable narrator; theyre at Mayerling and Rudolf is finishing up his goodbye letters and Mary asks him if he's writing one for Stephanie, he tells her that he already wrote one and shes like "did you tell her that Im with you? I want her to know that Im the last person who saw you alive", the scene goes on for a little longer but I only wanted to talk about that part because, good god, that is such an insane thing to say. But I mean, I like it, I think its interesting that shes spiteful towards Stephanie here both because Mary is usually portrayed as innocence incarnate, and because I feel like these films never really get into what she thinks of her. Well, technically this film doesnt really get into it either, but atleast theres something there

Anyway, thats pretty much all I wanted to say, the only thing would be that I didnt really like any of the performances but I find it hard to tell if its because they were actually bad or if its just that off-ness I talked about at the start.

All in all, it wasnt my favorite viewing experience but I really liked this film, it was very interesting

Oh, and theres one last thing I have to say that didnt fit anywhere else, I feel like I havent had one of these in a while;

To my knowledge, this was the second time Rudolf has been shown as a child in a film since Erzsébet királyné (1940) which is literally insane to me. Youre telling me theyve been making films about this mentally ill freak for 49 years at this point and not only has no one ever attempted to seriously psychoanalyse him or link his mental illness to his childhood, only two of them ever even showed him as a child?

[mental-health-advice]

im sorry that it's so long i dont have anyone to share it with and i dont have money for psychological help but i am desperate

i have this problem that i cant listen to people, it's very rare for me to find other people's lives interesting, even my best friends'. sometimes i have this moment when im curious and ask but I don't ever catch myself as little as having thoughts about other people and i can see that i struggle with empathy

i realized lately that all my attempts to help other people in the past were caused by my feelings of superiority towards them, now i just don't attempt to help them at all. i've never been listened by my family, no one ever listens to one another and none of us seems to be truly interested in each other that much. all my friends through my entire life have never been the types to get into any deep conversations as well. ive been heavily bullied my entire life and my parents never asked about anything, my friends witnessed me getting bullied a hundred times and it was all just ignored and no one ever reacted or talked to me about it. since i was 10 i live in some other world in my head and that's all i think about in life, i feel like i built my entire life around it and it's terrifying because it doesn't seem normal to other people. sometimes i get people telling me that i might be autistic but i feel like it's such a heavy word for what im going through and also ill never probably be able to find out

now that im at university in a completely different environment and city, it scares me that i don't know how to fix it. when someone asks questions about my own life i have no idea what to say. i've never been asked about my opinions, my health, things that i like. i barely think about these things myself and to that i am expected to show interest in other people and ask them the same questions

i want to have friends but i feel like i just deserve to be isolated because im not empathetic and it seems like im also fake. it's complicated i guess i just have to ask if there are any advice to find people around me interesting so i can have friends

Hey there,

I’m so sorry that whilst you were growing up, no one really seemed to listen to you or take an interest in you and your life and also that you grew up being bullied. It actually also helps to paint a picture of why you may find it difficult to make friends and hold conversations with them now.

It’s really important that you know and remind yourself that you definitely do not deserve to be isolated from other people. You did not ask to be treated as you were whilst growing up and nor were you always able to stop it from happening and especially in regards to the being bullied by others. When you feel like you don’t deserve to have friends or to socialise with others, it can be helpful to remind yourself that we as people are social beings and so we all need someone in our life, even if it’s just one or two people! Remember that it’s also not about the quantity of friends that we have in our lives either but rather the quality of the friendship!

In regards to making friends now, sometimes it can he helpful to just casually catch up first and then form a bond with them from there. So for example, do something with them where talking is not the main focus. So, maybe go to the movies with them, to a local attraction like to a zoo or a walk with different sceneries. Try and do something that you can talk about what is going on around you as opposed as just ‘talking in depth’ about things. This can also be a great ice breaker as well! From there when you see them, perhaps speak to them about the experience you both shared, likes and dislikes/ what you most enjoyed and didn’t. Again, this can take the pressure off just talking and will allow you both to have a focus in the conversation with them. It will also allow you to get to know the other a bit better and in time you may find that the conversation may flow a bit more easily and especially if together you do different things that you can then both chat about!

Showing empathy to others is a little harder and especially if you weren’t shown it in your early life. It is something you can definitely learn and do though so don’t be too hard on yourself! Maybe a good starting point may be to look at yourself and how you would like someone to treat you or react to you in different situations. This can really help with the learning process as even though people need different things after going through different things in life, often what we all have in common is wanting a friendly ear, someone we can talk too who we feel like really cares about us!

I really hope that this has helped a bit and please do let us know if we can help to support you in any other way!

I’m thinking of you and hope that you are going well!

Take care,

Lauren

[cardboardclownery]

[ SWAGGER COLLAGE TUTORIAL OR SMTH ]

Woaaaaaaah we got a special one today folks-

My dear buddy chum pal broski bestie asked me to teach it how i do my collage-y lookin art, and i figured i might as well make it available to anyone else who wants to know B]

Quick disclaimer: im not the best at explaining stuff, and also am not a professional or anything!! Listen to me or dont, these are all merely what i do when i make this kind of stuff-

Oh, and ill post the full spread im making here separately for anyone whos interested in that rather than this guide thingy :P

Since i usually like making more cohesive spreads with a certain theme or subject, i like doodling potential drawings i could use in the spread before starting!! This is very much optional, but helps a bit in case youre worried about having no ideas when you go straight into drawing. You can even plan out where youre gonna put different drawings on the page if ya want!! :]

After that, i rummage through my Trash Box for trash that matches my vision for the spread,, if ya catch my drift B]

For this one, since im making matching spreads for disposable girl and irreverent girl (weevildoing swag yknow yknow), i picked out some hot topic tags and stuff, a few tags from clothes that looked fitting, and a pretty bit of a pokemon tcg deck box i saved!! I mostly just went off of vibes and colors this time, but you can go off of whatever feels right when youre picking collage stuff -v-

Oh, and if you plan on trying out a lot of collage stuff, COLLECT SO MUCH TRASH. Find a bag, a box, anything to hold some fun looking wrappers and junk you could use. Be sure to clean anything used to hold food though, ants dont make good collage bits,, usually,,,

Now, the natural next step: gluing that junk on!! Generally its good to have some sort of pattern for how you glue your base collage bits down, like sticking to certain parts of the paper, or making a shape, using a color sequence,, though just slapping stuff on until it works for you also goes pretty well in the end if youre into spontaneity! Just trust the process and go with the flow and all that-

Oh yeah, and collage includes more than junk yknow!! You can use different kinds of paper, stationary like sticky notes and stuff, anything to add some variety in texture BP

Now for the fun bit!! Well, i find all the steps pretty fun, but the drawing part is probably the most fun for you lovely readers ;]

Not much to say here, just do whatever youd do with a typical drawing/page! I recommend trying to fill most/all of the spaces you left blank (if any) when gluing stuff down. Working around all the collage may serve as a challenge, but its not tooooo annoying once youve gotten a feel for it. You can also add some more collage here if you want -v-

Finally, the second best part (in my humble opinion): the stickers!! I usually do this last, but the order probably doesnt matter? Just kinda,, put stickers on wherever!! Try layering them, or covering doodles with them, or making new pictures with them, go CRAZY WITH STICKERS!! You can also use some paint pens or gel pens to add a little pizazz,,

Once youve bedazzled to your heart’s content, you can add any other details and finishing touches you deem necessary, and v o i l a, youve got a collage!!

Dont worry too much about things looking “right”! Ive found that art is a ton more fun when im not stressing out over how clean my work looks, its all about having fun and expressing yourself!! If something looks a bit wonky, or you think you glued something in a weird spot but cant change it, keep rollin with it! With collage in this style, mistakes are kinda part of the experience, so dont worry yourself too much if things dont go as planned

Hope this was atleast somewhat handy!! Lemme know if you want another tutorial like this or something idk-

[peachie5000]

*sighs* yatora for the ask game

send me a character and i’ll list: favorite thing about them *points* art student *points gay art student with relatable portfolio grind* I love his struggles they're so RAW

least favorite thing about them

HE WORE THAT BEANIE AND GLASSES LOOK AND NOW I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT HE PULLED OUT A BANGER LOOK AND WILL NEVER WEAR IT AGAIN

favorite line

ooogh its funny cause I do think yatora has some amazing lines but some of my favourite favourite involving him are usually said to him when he's at his lowest not something he said... Probably "I'm actually scared of drawing"

or if we're going full yatoyota - "I like you, Yotasuke-kun, but I also hate you so much it makes me feel sick"

brOTP

Can I put murai here and in the ship category cause my god

OTP

Yatoyota, but also murai x yatora

Yatoyota is way more canon supported and ultimately makes me brain worm bc of their interactions but the gremlin part of my brain thinks that murai and yatora would be a steamroller unstoppable power couple and also the type of partner yatora would be supported the most by

nOTP

i guess yatora and miki? Love her but their dynamic works well as friends tbh.

random headcanon

Yatora would definitely like Eizouken if he was ever persuaded into anime but it would take like. miki begging him to watch it first - he'd actually probably go for something shounen-y or gundam themed as his first anime is he ever went there. Overall I dont know if he would be a big otaku though - just picking and choosing series that interested him.

unpopular opinion

I want to see him screwing around more because as much i love when he paints and angsts seeing his mask and duties to being responsible slip off more when he's spending time with friends is always so cathartic

song i associate with them

OOOO "i bet on losing dogs" by mitski

favorite picture of them

ooOOGOGHGHHGKDLH;GAD don't mind me yatora my beloved

oooo you wanna read blue period so bad OOOO

[squeiky]

!!!List of papyrus things!!!

(Update 3! mini update.)

For anyone who needs more info on the guy! Since you usually dont see alot of info about him!

A list of stuff thats just papyrus's tid bits i've collected overtime!

(Disclaimer: some things can be taken off of memory, though I did search most of the stuff up, so you dont have to worry too much. But if your feeling unsure, search it up! And correct me while your at it.)

his room doesn't play/have music.

(If you have reunited playing at enter his room, it'll disappear forever. Untill you go back and let it play again. Even without reunited, a song that plays no matter what room your in, doesn't play any music.)

Never takes off his battle body.

(According to sans, he only takes it off if he has no other choice too. Otherwise he'll just put clothes ontop of it, or just repaints it if needed. He does how ever, change his pants but never takes off the top.)

the minute "royal gaurd " is out of the picture, he's got nothing.

(It was the one thing he worked up for. When the royal gaurd disbands He says he "working hard on doing absolutely nothing". Then again this can be interpreted as papyrus does say he is working on something, despite not being a royal gaurd yet.)

He lies. (And can manipulate)

(Though he is really bad at lying, he seems to manipulate just fine, though its usually not out of malice. He gets undyne to befreind you by mentioning "challenge", which is a weakness of hers, since she never can turn down a challenge. And has lied about floweys name to her to. Has lied to sans or atleast mislead him about the things he knows about. Pretended he didn't know what a lab was during a call in hotland, but if you call him when sans isn't there, papyrus mentions the lab as if it was common knowledge instead of saying "Labrador-y?" As if he had no idea.)

Changes up his attacks

( if you get captured a few times, you see variation in his attacks. If you do it right, you can get him too skip half of his entire attack.)

Calls his own puzzles "Awful"

(This happens after battling papyrus, he says "WHO KNEW THAT ALL I NEEDED TO MAKE PALS... WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM??" This could be interpreted in many ways.)

Spikes, fire, traps, fencless bridges: are all safe for children, according to papyrus.

("EACH AREA HAS TO HAVE A PRECARIOUS BRIDGE" -bridge likely to collapse, dangerous. "ITS MANDATED BY THE GOVERNMENT. OF COURSE KING FLUFFYBOY WANTS TO UNMANDATE IT SAFER." "WHY?! WONT HE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!)

Has "talked" with asgore before.

(Sadly, asgore and papyrus has crossed paths. Asgore advises him not to but dangerous puzzles around town, for the children. Papyrus wants to put dangerous puzzles around town, for the children. This results in them bickering over saftey laws, with papyrus usually winning.)

Tried to start a flowey fan club

(On multiple occasions calls flowey "his best freind" and shows genuine love for the little guy. He even gave flowey a little red scarf to match his, during the 5th anniversary winter alarm clock.)

Has photo-graphic memory for phone calls.

-call in the room where undyne chased you. He seems nervous, or atleast stressed out during this call. I'll leave any and all interpretation to you.)

(Ps: papyrus has bad memory, but good photographic memory?)

His disliking for grease

(Says this during a call with undyne in grillby's place. Undyne says she loves grease, and he quickly dismisses his opinion in favor of hers. Of course, papyrus HAS visited grillbys before, as the dogamy and doggeressa mention him with sans. )

Calls alphys "great"

(During the first tile puzzle, he praises alphys by calling her "THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS" )

Knows about undynes crush on alphus

(He teases undyne a few times on this, leading to the "hot voice" and "audible wink" papyrus lines. He's not oblivious to the things around him, unless he chooses to be.)

Put limes in his eyes!

(Conversation in hotland! The guy thought limes where cucumbers and stuck them in his eyes. When. He thought it wasn't working he put more limes. It burned like hell but he says it was all to have "mettaton's bishoning eyes")

Knows about mtt's eyes

(Nobody seems to know that mettaton has eyes?! Undyne confirms this fact. Papyrus is the only one who outright mentions it.)

He got mettaton to do the tile puzzle thing

(FOR SOME UNEXPLAINED REASON- mettaton was the tile puzzle robot alphys built. The puzzle robot papyrus had during his own tile puzzle. Infact, during mettaton's tile puzzle in hotland, he says that you'd is this a few hundred rooms ago. If you call papyrus, he starts rambling on all the instructions again. Hehe.)

he likes dinosaur oatmeal

(According to the undertale tumblr, flowey response to "whats papyrus's favorite food?" Is DINOSAUR OATMEAL!! YAY!)

really enjoys mtt's show and mtt in general.

(and mtt even helped him with a tile puzzle)

enjoys cars

Owns a car bed

(Want to drive one)

really freaking artistic!

(Paints a whole bridge, makes a snowpapyrus, made his own costume/battle body, built a okay replica of a sentry station)

The red book on the table in the skelebro's house is infact his!

(For specifics, the quantum mechanics book with infinite books inside of it. It isn't specified who reads it, but both brothers should be capable as jokes and puns are not out of papyrus wardrobe.)

has his own shed and tools.

(Also known as "the punishment shed, doghouse, cpature zone, guest room, a garage" or undyne's pun which was "the coolshed". Ah, to be enriched by shed puns... Wonderful.)

tried to learn the "horoscope"

(Got "stumped" according to sans)

thinks junior jumble is harder than crossword

wants a 6 pairs of hot pants and 6 pairs of legs to wear those pants

has a dream of owning a shop where he just sells flames

(Call near in waterfall, near the turtle man shop.)

He's very influential

(If he's the only one killed in a neutral run, even without undyne, a revolution will still occur. Look into it yourself if need be.)

Called himself a genius

(During the instance, where he talks to you after turning the light on in sans's room.)

Can't really tell when someones mad

(He couldn't tell when undyne was mad at him during a call. He asks us too.)

Doesn't watch anime.

(He thinks its like cartoons for babies. Jokes around with undyne for awhile before taking it all back once he knew she watched anime.-during one of the calls.)

Brutal kind of guy

(He says this himself, i don't exactly know WHY he thinks this of himself, but he does.)

Bookworm

Owns a bookshelf

(He has a book Its where his vast dictionary comes from.

Knows about the time and space manipulation tactics sans uses.

(HE KNOWS- HE MENTIONS IT WHEN HE TURNS ON THE LIGHT IN SANS'S ROOM!!)

believes you can be a better person, if you just try.

(And he's right. Even if you kill him he still believes this, beacuse well.. Its true. Undyne wont forgive you and try to kill you, sans won't fight you, bht he's still right either way)

Knows about river person

(He asks about how river person is doing. No body seems to know about river person, and its unsure if undyne knows about their prescence.)

The days in his date scene (Monday, Tuesday, weekday, Thursday,e.c.t ) changes depending on your computer. Even though the date in undertale is always Monday.

(River person has a scheduled thing that matches up to your computer date as well, but this is about papyrus, not river person.)

Weird abilities

(Flying and super speedy twirling, flying backwards. He doesn't even hide it.)

He's pretty freaking tough!

(According to undyne, the person who defeated asgore.)

His "absolutely normal attack" is a giant cluster of bones.

(In theory, his attack could be the size of the entire area, including the giant bone at the end.)

Papyrus can lower the giant bone at the end of his "absolutely normal attack"

Has Collection of bones (or was planning to make one.)

(The room behind the sink was made for.. His attacks/bones. Before toby(dog)came in and made a shrine instead.)

Is annoying dog's favorite target.

Has a cannon, spears, fire thingy, and a dog at his disposal.

(Displayed during the bridge scene)

One persistent dude.

Likes to say "NYEHEHE!"

Has alot of MTT items.

Owns makeup!

(Mtt brand of course!)

Never dated anyone before.

(He says it himself.)

owns a dating manual

Not much of a sleeper.

(To the point where he just calls sleeping "naps" which aren't that long. He outright says he's always working, so he doesn't sleep.)

Dislikes hotland

dislikes hotland x2

Dislikes hotlands puzzles

Dislikes hotlands ethics.

Doesnt know much about hotland

(Says he knows it like the back of his hand!)

Says he never taken off his gloves, so he has no idea how his hands look like.

(He wears gloves or mittens on top of his gloves. And refuses to take it off, like his "battle body")

Calls hotland's steam puzzles garbage.

Dislikes hotlands conveyors

Thinks L1 and R2 stand for left and right

( Of course, it takes him awhile. He starts making puns, and tries to compare the words to pasta, and THEN comes to the conclusion that its left and right. Its Trail and error.-)

Knows about death.

(Said he wanted to meet death one time during a waterfall call.)

He pauses when speaking as a lost soul.

("I MUST CAPTURE A HUMAN! THEN EVERYONE WILL. ...." This is unusual as he is the only one that pauses. This can be interpreted, but it is rather interesting nonetheless)

Alright this is a bit more interpretive. Things may not be 100% facts down here.

Disclaimer: i will be putting "Interpretive" in red coloring for things that have may my interpretation or opinions in! Please do be mindful in your search, and take it with a grain of salt. It doesn't make it comepelty wrong, it has facts! Just muddled with oppinions.

Ready?

self-worth problems.

( can be called interpretive: He always feels very unimportant, as if he doesn't actually matter. During a call in waterfall, with the puddle hallway, papyrus talks about not letting it "get to you" or something along the lines of that. Since undyne speaks from her experience with the puddles, then i'd assume papyrus would too.)

(I think its just a sign of self doubt or insecurity. Someone once said its dysphoria, which is a cool headcannon for paps or something. What ever it is, he has some demons that he doesn't want to let out.)

Forgetable.

( according to the genocide description)

( Interpretive: Other than that, he's not even noticable. Though, there are a few people that appreciate him, most dont really acknowledge him. Unless you kill him of course!)

Sad/depressed?

( interpreitive as well:Before the human showed up, sans explains how his brother was feeling quite down lately. We see a.. Happier side of papyrus through out our journey.. He vents out to us, the player/human, about things he dislikes, or troubles he faces. Hes like a froggit. Life is hard for a froggit.)

Smiles through things.

("This is where I tried to capture you! What a bad memory." -quote he says as he smiles through it all. He does have a sad emote, but so far i have only seen it during a call in hotland, where the CORE was shown. As your adventure is coming close.. To an end.)

Uses his playful "OUCH!" emote when you straight up kill him. Instead of his hurting/in pain emote when flowey catches him off guard before absorbing everyonesones souls.

(The reason is unkown, but that emote is normally associated with more of "light taps." Examples are, toriel's fireballs at asgore and flowey. Unless... Cutting off his head was considered a "light tap" then, but flowey wrapping him in painful vines is considered more painful than getting his head chopped off and still having enough consciousness to joke about it.)

He knows his cooking sucks and that nobody likes it.

(He's not naive. He knows. He even says it. "Nobody has like my cooking before!" - QUOTE. This isn't some hidden fact. He's trying his best, "mabye next year, he might even make something edible." -sans quote.)

That was all the stuff i gathered for now.

Feel free to tell me anything i haven't added! :)

yeah, hes a pretty cool dude, ain't he?

(Edit: i've added some new things to the bunch, and fixed/deleted ome opinions or unrelated junk. Please, continue helping me add!)

[aphrodaisyacs]

since you both asked for Shigaraki I hope you don’t mind if I combine the ask in one post @tomuratime​ @dreamofmysteries​ !

favorite thing about them

I absolutely love the way he’s been written, and how his character develops throughout the course of the series. He’s genuinely one of the most interesting parts of the manga for me, and I’m glad I picked up the BNHA manga again if only to witness this (because last time I stopped roughly around the School Festival Arc and most of the interesting parts about Shigaraki hadn’t happened yet)

least favorite thing about them

I guess initially I didn’t like him much because as Deku had pointed out in Kiyashi Mall, he seemed destructive just for the hell of it, with no intent or purpose behind his actions. Like he was just lashing out at things around him. But he’s grown past that and thus grown on me as a character as a result.

favorite line

Shigaraki has so many lines I legit don’t remember most of what he says. But if I had to pick I think it’d be the speech he gives to the heroes during the war arc. I think my fave segment from that is this

brOTP

Based on current canon, Spinner. Seeing the way Spinner slowly grow to respect him throughout the MLA arc (exactly like me now that I think about it LMAO) was actually super sweet, especially as we got to see a more human side to Shigaraki! Based on technically-fanon-but-possibly-canon-in-the-future, Deku. I just,,, really think that these two could’ve been awesome friends and I’m interested in seeing how Deku’s quest to “save” Shigaraki would pan out in the future.

OTP

Natshig, because somehow I gravitated towards the one ship with zero canon basis LMAO. What can I say except it’s fun.

nOTP

I really do not like the ships of him with any of the characters who raised him, namely AFO, Ujiko and Kurogiri

random headcanon

I just think it would be hilarious if he cannot type. Like maybe from the way he’s been forced to hold his phone all his life, and he values giving a fast reply over a reply with no typos. So sometimes the LoV would get a text from him saying “dont foeget the mmeetint tinitgb” and it’s up to them to figure out what he’s trying to say.

unpopular opinion

I think he should 100% get away with all of his murders, actually. Like the moment he yeets AFO out of his consciousness he should just run off into the sunset and avoid jail or execution or whatever society is planning to do with him. You know, as a treat.

song i associate with them

I think Paint It Black (Ciara’s cover specifically) is pretty fitting with his grief and desire to destroy everything around him, with “paint [something] black” basically meaning destroying it with his quirk.

favorite picture of them

The way he put the hand on top of his head? The way he’s holding his chopsticks? The weird googly eyes from the artstyle? This is peak Shigaraki and no one can convince me otherwise

send me a character

[fipindustries]

critical missive

dedicated to @cryptovexillologist

oh boy arent we in a fine pickle now?

usually i enjoy talking openly and bluntly about my opinions on whatever the last thing i read is, safe and secure in the knowledge that the author will most likely never stumble on my measily 700 followers tumblr blog, so i am free to express my opinion to my heart’s content knowing that no feelings will get hurt. 

mission critical would be no different except i talked with the author and read their acknoledgement and the AMA they did on discord after writing the story and they have endeared themselves thoroughly to me so my language will have to be neutered, at least for the first half of this excercise. afterwards things will get a bit harsher but i’ll try to rest at ease in the knowledge that we seem to be kindred spirits and i would be delighted in hearing any kind of criticism of my work either positive or negative. 

ok, enough coaching done, lets go on to what i thought of this novel.

it is a delightful romp, as i said before, the worldbuilding is understated and realistic with enough glimpses of depth and detail to suggest a much larger picture. this world feels inhabited, lived in, like it was well chewed on for long by the author before putting pen to paper. consequentially the characters that arose from this world feel like they belong, they feel like real people with real lifes. by far the strongest sections of the book were the flashbacks to their lives before the plot started. their voices, regretably, do sound very similar when interacting with each other but in their own sections the characters shine in their charm and cleverness. every time one of their flashbacks ended i was left with the intrigue and the desire to know how their particular story would continue.

the terra ignota influences are very noticeable, the world and its people carry the same kind of almost childlike positivity and innocence, the same kind of cheerful, happy go lucky trust in human progress and the great project of humanity for the future with the same sobering forlorn attitude towards the horrors of the past.

on top of that its silly, gosh in heaven it is silly. it has moments of cringe, in the best of ways. strange slapdash bits of flavor, immature non sequiturs, small indulgences from the author’s own weird interests and dumb meme humor. i do love me my awkward corners in a book, after all it is those that make something unique. there is a clear personality poking through and it is a delightful personality to meet.

i cant help but like this almost more for the context in which it was written than for the content itself, it was done during quarentine as a way to both stave off cavin fever and to process the author’s feelings regarding their gender identity. as someone who also wrote a story where i almost deliberatly tried to trick my self into breaking my own egg and who turned madly towards creative endeavors to survive the pandemic i can sympathize strongly with this. i am really happy that the author got to do this and kickstarted a project towards a big, possibly decades spanning trilogy.

so, yeah, those were the nice things i had to say, if you are content enough with that you can stop here but if you are curious to know more, well... you can

in short: it is a bit of a mess. again, im willing to be lenient, considering the way in which this was worked on, this is very much a really early first draft. the second half of this story was a very slow and very boring trudge towards a sudden end.

first, the fact that the flashbacks and the worldbuilding bits are the strongest part of this story means the actual plot itself suffers from being fairly boring and generic. “astronauts explore alien planet, find spooky stuff there” was already old hat by the 50′s. it is a plot so worn down and archetypical that it really cant survive if that is literally all you are going to do with it, and that is kind of all that this book does. i did mention moments of flavor and strange self indulgence. we needed way more of those. yes thats right, im saying that this story was not self indulgent enough. when you have such a well trodden plot such as this, worn down to the point that it becomes paint by the numbers, we need quirky, we need cringe, we need strange excess and personality. the author mentioned that they would love to see some of the weirder alexandria fan fics, well so do i! be the miracle you want to see in the world! the moments alexandria debated if wether identifying as a trilateral were amazing but they were not enough. we have a great structure here but lets put some proper meat on these bones, some proper fat and skin, some clown make up and a weird novelty hat and outrageous clown shoes. im getting carried away here, lets get back to the point.

the other problem is  there is not a clear trajectory for the story here, no well defined moment of climax and the emotional beats tend to fall a bit flat or to come out of nowhere. there are emotional crisis which i sort of missed or didnt get where they came from. the characters act in ways that are hard to relate to  that come off as stilted. the way they conduct themselves through the mission felt at times weirdly unprofessional and like it didnt follow much of a logical throughline, and when i say logical i dont meant “i wanted the characters to act hyperrational at all times” i mean i want the characters to act in ways that make human sense. ironically the one character that acted a bit too human for my tastes was the AI. alexandria is an interesting character but i feel that the place to explore that idea is not in the middle of an incredibly important mission where having your mainframe experience a crisis might not be the most practical thing in the world.

the ending was jarringly sudden, i didnt feel there was a proper resolution and finishing it off with flashbacks to the time the characters were training was... odd. i reached the last line and it felt like the story had just decided to stop without ever having reached anything that came even close to the third act. all of this can be easily fixed with some concientious editing and a complete rearrangement of the different sections of this story.

all in all a great first step in what i hope will be a long career as a writer.