#and when i do have original thoughts it's only gonna be about stuff nobody else gives a flying fuck about. like tales or ys or tok

[igneouswyvern]

being the only fan of something is so great because i am the sole ruler of this kingdom. no one is around to tell me my headcanons suck or that all the characters are ooc

however it also sucks because i am the only fan. no one is around to support my headcanons or tell me they love my portrayal of the characters

[evanpeterswhoresblog]

Office Secrets

Luke Cooper x f!reader

TW: smut, p in v, unprotected, fingering… lmk if there’s anything else lol

Word count: 1526

Friendly note, I wrote this all in one day so it’s probably not the best but I’ve been so obsessed w Evan lately I just needed to write lol Enjoy!!!

~~~

“So, who wants to bet the two newbies are doing it?” Meredith says as she puts coins into one of the vending machines.

“They so are,” Kevin says. “Have you seen the way they look at each other it’s like- Pam and Jim.”

“Hey!”

Angela shakes her head. “You people are disgusting… but I wouldn’t doubt it. I’ve seen them flirting on multiple occasions.”

“This is all circumstantial, it doesn’t mean they’re sleeping together,” Oscar argues.

“I would bet they are,” Phillas says with a laugh. “I mean I remember how fun it was being all secret with Bob, it’s so thrilling.”

Pam glances at you in the annex, Luke’s leaning back on your desk, smiling as you two talk. She looks back to the group and shrugs. “It’s possible they are.”

~~~

“Hey y/n, do you think you could make some copies for me?” Pam asks as you’re walking by.

“Yeah of course, double or single sided?” You reply with a smile.

“Double please.” She hands you the original.

You walk to the copier, but as you’re about to open it, Luke slips in front of you.

“Luke I was about to make copies,” you say, annoyed.

“So do I, you aren’t the only person in the office who needs to get stuff done,” he laughs.

“Since when have you ever had things to get done? You’re the laziest person here.”

“That’s hostile,” he replies, turning around to give you a smirk. “I might have to report you to HR.”

“Just please hurry up,” you mumble.

“Anything for you babe.” He winks.

You turn to the camera and stare, almost at your limit with this boy.

~~~

“I just don’t understand men sometimes it’s like, he’s so different when we’re alone yet in public he wants to be the biggest ass ever,” you rant to the camera, you’re in the hallway near the elevator where no one will hear you. “Sometimes I just want to knee him in the balls and get on with my day.”

“If he’s so annoying why do you sleep with him?”

You frown. “He’s really good at that stuff, most assholes are honestly.”

~~~

You’re at the vending machine getting a snack when you feel arms snake around your waist. You quickly turn around and push him away.

“Luke stop it we can’t be doing this here,” you whisper.

He looks out the windows then back at you. “Nobody’s around, come on just one kiss. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since last night baby.”

You and Luke were hired about three weeks ago now, both just interns to help out with the little things around the office. At first you thought Luke was an idiot slack off, but after a week of him constantly flirting with you, you decided he wasn’t that bad of a guy and of course he’s gorgeous. And, after one night where he gave you a ride home this simple work crush turned into casual sex.

You made Luke promise to keep it a secret, you didn’t want anyone at the office to think your personal life would interfere with you doing your job. So, far you don’t think anyone has figured it out, and your glad.

“Don’t talk like that here,” you say, giving him a slight glare. “We made a deal.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I’m serious Luke, imagine if Michael found out. He’d make it a whole thing.”

“It probably already is a thing, Jim and Pams was.”

You scoff at him. “Okay, that doesn’t mean this has to be.”

“Whatever,” he says as he begins to walk away. “See you later.”

You give an annoyed look to the camera and shake your head before returning to your previous activity.

~~~

“Listen, y/n is a good girl I guess, I just wish she’d stop acting like the office finding out about our thing is the worst possibility imaginable,” Luke tells the crew outside the break room.

“What do you think would happen if they found out?”

“I don’t know, they’d give us weird looks. It doesn’t really matter it’s not like me and her are gonna be working here forever. At least I know I’m not, not sure what her life plans are.”

~~~

You stare at the clock and sigh, still a whole nother hour left at the office. This whole day has been terrible, mostly due to Luke. You don’t understand why he’s acting so annoying today. Usually he’s decent toward you, probably because of what he wants from you the second work ends. You turn back to your desk and start to organize papers, deciding Luke isn’t important.

A few have passed when Luke appears beside you. He leans back on your desk, one of his hands gripping the edge. You try to ignore him, keeping your attention on the stack of paper you’ve been messing with. Luke doesn’t let you ignore him forever though.

“Can you come with me somewhere where we can speak privately… away from the cameras.”

You look up at him. Is this it? Is he really going to break it off at work? You can’t believe it. You want to give him a piece of your mind, so you slightly nod and get up, following him out of the annex and down the hall to one of the stock rooms. You’re ready to start giving it to him but before you can he smashes his lips on yours.

At first, you’re caught off guard, he’s never kissed you at work before. You don’t hesitate to kiss him back however. He backs you up till the back of your legs hit a spare desk. You let him guide you onto it, your kiss turning into something more.

He bites down on your lip, his hands roaming up and down the sides of your body. You have to admit, you’d been craving this too. Even though you saw each other last night. Luke was the best you’d ever had, how were you supposed to not want him again? Even though he’s been annoying you all day you can’t help but melt into the palm of his hand, he’s just so damn attractive.

“Luke, we can’t do this at work,” you whisper, the sensible part of you taking over.

“Nobody will know, come on baby, I’ve been thinking of you all day. I need you,” he replies.

Your stomach fills with butterflies at his words. He knows exactly how to persuade you. You fall back on the desk as he kisses down your neck, Your legs wrap around his waist, he makes you feel so good. He brings his lips back up to yours as one of his hands starts to slip up your skirt and under your panties.

He starts to rub small circles on your clit; you to moan into his mouth. He smirks against your mouth. You wrap your arms around his neck and pull him closer, you love the feeling of his body against yours. It’s the best you’ve ever felt.

“You’re already so wet baby,” he mumbles on your lips.

“Luke,” you moan.

“Do you want it baby?”

You nod, moving one of your hands down to rub the bulge in his pants. He grins at you and removes his fingers, beginning to undo his belt and fly. In seconds you feel his tip brushing against your entrance. He leans back over you as he begins to slowly thrust inside of you. You bite down on your lip and close your eyes, the familiar feeling of him filling you taking over.

You throw your head back as he starts fucking you. The sound of the desk hitting the wall doesn’t even register in your head. You’re too engulfed in how good Luke’s dick feels inside you, hitting that special spot that makes your legs shake. His head rests in the crook of your neck, he’s moaning and whispering all the dirty things he wants to do to you. It’s all too good to be true.

Eventually though, you feel that tightening in your stomach, your orgasm approching. Luke must realize this because he doesn’t stop his violent thrusts for even a second. You hold on to him tightly, biting down on his clothed shoulder as you finally cum. He finishes with you, pushing himself so far inside you he’s hitting your cervix.

He lays on you for a few seconds before pulling himself up enough to look down at you. His chest is still heaving as he speaks in a soft voice, “I really like you y/n.”

“I really like you too Luke,” you say with a weak smile.

Both of you get yourselves decent fast, you’ve been away for at least fifteen minutes by now. You give Luke one last kiss before exiting the small room alone, he promised to wait a minute or too before following.

As you sit at your desk and resume your previous activities, Luke walks by you, sending a quick wink before disappearing into the main office. You give a small stare into one of the cameras, your face turning bright red. This was only the beginning.

[2uhhyatko2]

super bakery au thoughts

Okay i just wanted to put down some ideas i had for it, it might get random as well as spoiler future sketches regarding flower ranchers+SPOIL FUCKING EVERYTHING OKAY

tango knew scar well before anybody else. Him, scar and zed were middle-high-post secondary school besties.

Scar technically knew mumbo during school but when mumbo just came to their primary school, scar was already on the last year of it(so like 2nd and 4th grade). During that time of being buttercup trio-besties*with feelings* they accidently found out about it when mumbo's mum found his old stuff in large amount and he ask scarian to help with it

Zed cut off all connections and just disappeared after he found out that tango applied for special group. they wanted to be scientists, find reasoning behind abilities. Tango received a couple of emails from unknown addresses and absolutely random ass IPs for Zedaph's name but yeah no connection(they were quite passive aggressive and even hostile after Tango officially got into that special group. and they were like years apart, so Tango knows that he is being watched)

Tango and Jimmy were boyfriends prior to knowing Scott and Ariana. I am speaking like 5-10 years of relationship before scott, they were engaged when they went the "wait i like that guy too" route

Jimmy is Grian's cousin, i am not changing the fanon

He knows.

Tango doesn't! but he knows about Scar, obviously

Tango has minor sparking abilities. With right ammunition he could actually use something close to fire balls, but usually his fights went like this: some time of general fighting+pistols, while doing all that he tried to get on/around the enemy as much fuel as possible, and SPARK it all up.

He and scar did work in pairs, as scar was great help both from behind and along with him

Whatever I draw on sketches with his leg needs an addition that they couldn't leave the area for more than 10 hours. So yeah, his first major injury was worsened A LOT and this gave the effect that it gave

Nobody knows Tango outside of work and family, he never had a public reputation, and Scar didn't receive his until much later

Scott knew ariana first and only then grian. He originally was just an intern at the place Ariana was randomly visiting and they simply found each other interesting.

Grian did think of making out with Scott, same with Scott, nobody did anything lol

Zed would appear with Impulse and Skizz if I don't die until then. Jeez they're gonna be interesting :)

Zed does have an ability too and combined with his sciences OH JEEEEEE it is gonna be interexting x2

Zed went into cyberbiology and bio 3d printing :3 I should stop now lol

Okay the last one: gempearl were real until both realised that they are aroace so say hi to aroace besties

[evangelineshifts]

I need to tell someone this at least.

So this new pjo show is a complete joke, especially to some of the oj book fans(like me) who are so disappointed by how it turned out. The acting was stale(actors weren’t given anything to work with so fair), the visuals weren’t anything to speak of, the plot was nonexistent, everything was going too fast or too slow at all the wrong times, there was so much telling and almost no showing it felt like a voiceover or something, not only did they completely change what happened in half of the original book but they also added new and completely unnecessary scenes, to top it off the episodes were 30-40 minutes long with each episode having a budget of FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS. From the start of this they already messed it up, they promised a book accurate series but they’d be better off calling it loosely based (Percy is supposed to have black hair but his actor has blond hair and they expect me to like it??) they changed everything that didn’t need to be changed and the quality was so bad it makes me sick, and everyone is defending it and they’re all saying how good it is and yet there’s almost nothing good about it at all. And everyone’s defending the actors ‘oh they’re just kids’ they’re also getting paid to do this why aren’t they showing any emotion??? So it completely ruined any chances of this show being good and now I’m getting it practically shoved down my throat by every app and site I visit so it’s just sickening me even more and I’m trying to leave it alone but nobody is letting me because they’re saying how ‘good’ and ‘accurate’ it is. And rick(the book author) said he chose the cast because they were the best for the characters but none of the cast was actually good in this series(they were more in character out of it and that’s a whole nother slap in the face), the best thing I have to say about them is that their best performance was when they weren’t in the scene over explaining(which was almost never) the show never gave us any time to figure things out or be interested because it’s just so badly written it drags down everyone else involved. So now not only at i waiting for the ‘real’ pjo fans to realize that this show sucks but I’m also waiting for this show to get cancelled because it know it will. It sucks, and after waiting almost a decade this feels like a slap to the face. Why? Why would they completely change almost everything that made the books good? And I feel like what’s worse is that whenever anyone puts out any valid criticism on how little they stick to the book(making Percy blond, making clarisse skinny and not masculine) they get harassed into silence as if that’s a good argument? Is it so hard to put on a wig or some eye contacts or smth? You’re telling me these bland script writers are all they could find with a 15 million dollar budget? And where are the new faces? Everyone in that show is some kind of nepo baby or well known celebrity so that doesn’t work either. And it hurts so bad how they butchered the books to make this knockoff barely well thought out show. I hope this show never gets a season two because I’m actually sick thinking about how they’re gonna butcher that book.

I agree with some of the stuff said here except for the things to do with the actors. I think with the material given they did an excellent job with what they had. Their emotions were more in micro expressions which is really all they could do cause the setting was so serious and not in an action type way (which is when actors usually get to use big facials) through out the majority of the show. As a viewer I can understand why you think they’re acting was stale or emotionless but as an actress myself I can see it was anything but. They did really well considering the circumstances. And as for looks I really don’t see the point of making a big fuss cause that’s one thing I do agree with Rick about (one of the only things) as long as they embody the characters they can play them. And you can tell that from the way they act at the very least outside of the show that they do embody their characters amazingly. There’s no doubt in my mind about why they were casted. I do think that RR was a bit in over his head when trying to be so involved with the making of the show. I feel like overseeing the writing process just to make sure that they’re getting it right would’ve been enough but I think he got a bit too excited to try and make this something memorable and to his liking that he sort of overshot it. I wish there was a way that they could like redo season 1 or make some sort of redemption in season 2 but I’m a bit skeptical. These kids deserve a shot though, I’ve been following them all since the casting announcement and they’ve been working their ASSES off. They all read and reread the source material, they made an effort to interact with the fans and give as much insight as possible to the filming process, the kids themselves made an effort to become good friends with one another which really they just had to be friends at the least but they have frequent sleepovers and hangouts all the time from what I can see. They really care about this project and I think that in and of itself means that it’s worth fighting for. If not for Rick, for them and for the fans who DO like the show. They deserve their chance.

I do appreciate you feeling comfortable enough to share your thoughts with me!! Your opinion is completely valid and understandable!!

[magewolf-the-artist]

Misc Domestic K-9 Thoughts Susan kinda acts as a shoulder to vent to whenever anyone needs to talk. She can’t really offer much in response or comfort since A, she’s the type to push things away and compartmentalize, and B… well, she can’t exactly promise everything’s gonna be okay, now can she? Still, sometimes it’s nice to just talk

Some days though she just kinda… shuts down emotionally. Just kinda lays on the floor and can’t find any motivation to get up or do anything. Thinking about everything and nothing at the same time, staring blankly into space

Charles usually stays with her during these episodes and depending on the day, he either just sits with her or rambles about random things like he would when they were both alive

Charles constantly does stupid shit and distracts himself because he doesn’t, he’ll start thinking about his daughter how he left them behind all his friends and family and how his daughter Lily is now without a father and that he never got to reconcile with his ex wife Emily and the fact he’s stuck in some stupid rusty metal cage and how his murder was never solved and-

Yeah, it’s best not to dwell on that. Ski ball is much more fun, anyways

Rocket only goes out at night to avoid unwanted attention. They exit and enter through the one window in the break room

On their late night excursions, Molly drags Edd to go stargazing and constantly gushes over how pretty the stars are here and points out the constellations. Edd doesn’t really understand most of it, especially her rambling about space, but he tries

Charles keeps track of the days via tally marks on one of the walls in the facility. Currently he is on day 2,553, which is off by a little over a year but it’s still pretty close considering they’ve all been stuck in a rinky dink bunker for the past 8 years

On that note, nobody else likes the calendar because it just reminds them of how long they’ve all been dead and trapped here. Charles kinda gets it but it gives him something to do, soooo…

Rosemary is kinda… frozen emotionally. She’s just as fragile and unstable as when they first got there and doesn’t do much beyond draw, think, and cry. Charles tries to get her to do stuff with him but she staunchly ignores him

Rosemary has complicated feelings regarding Rocket. On one hand she’s glad they at least had each other before she died, but she also feels like she failed them for not realizing Felix was spitting absolute bullshit and guilty that she can’t be fully there for them

She also feels like a failure of a wife and mother in general for not being able to find Jack and leaving behind Sophie

Charles kinda acts like the fun uncle to Rocket and often ropes them into his shenanigans

Everyone feels guilt about something in some way. Susan and Rosemary regret building and designing the animatronics respectively. Charles feels guilty about not finding Susan sooner. Rocket feels guilty because they feel like they’re deaths led to all this bloodshed

Now granted, Susan and Rosemary both know that neither of them could have possibly predicted any of this and Susan has assured Charles multiple times over that he wouldn’t have been able to do much for her anyways. Rocket though…

Susan is the most casual about her death and is very gallows humor about it. Rocket just kinda shrug and say, “haha yeah that sucked, anyways-“. (RETCONNED) Charles desperately tries to change the topic. Rosemary breaks down.

BSI employees who get assigned to stay at the K-9 facility complain a lot because not only is it dark, cold, and kinda creepy, but it’s boring. This and the fact it’s used to store everything from the original Bon’s Burgers, it’s jokingly referred to as The Graveyard Shift

I imagine Rocket overhears this one day and tells the others. Everyone kinda laughs at how unintentionally accurate that title is

Edd and Molly like to make fun of Bon a lot for a variety of things, but especially him not instantly killing his victims so they don’t scream (Geez, you’d think for someone who’s killed a bunch of people, you’d be better at it by now!)

This REALLY gets under Bon’s skin because he doesn’t understand why these children don’t fear him. The only reason he doesn’t retaliate though is because he knows he’ll get his ass kicked

Everyone else has differing reactions to Bon. Susan thinks he’s annoying as hell and isn’t afraid to let him know it, Charles is extremely unnerved by him, and Rosemary has a panic attack at the merest glimpse of him

Ashley is still a mess and everyone feels very sorry for her. They welcomed her into the fold right away and she usually hangs out with Rosemary, since they’re both extremely depressed

Ashley, Kevin, and Hilary completely covered one of the walls in drawings of penises while they were there. It’s one of the few things that can cheer Ashley up and she goes there if she’s feeling particularly nostalgic

Rosemary has banned Rocket from going near said wall and I imagine that conversation went something like this:

Rosemary: Edd, Molly, I don’t want to you to go near that wall anymore!

Edd: But moooom-

Rosemary: Don’t ‘but mom’ me! I don’t want you looking at such obscenities-

Molly: But mom, we would’ve already had the birds and the bees talk if we were still alive!

Rosemary: … *pauses for a moment, before slumping over and violently sobbing*

Edd: … Oh good going, Molly, you made mom cry!

Molly: Well it’s not my fault! I didn’t know she was gonna cry about that-

Edd: She cries about EVERYTHING, Molls. What did you THINK was going to happen?!

*They dissolve into unintelligible bickering as Rosemary continues to have a breakdown*

[loveislandthegame]

my overall thoughts on S7, art edition: it's giving rough draft . i really have no idea how any of these design choices got approved in the first place

as an artist, and more importantly, somebody who has eyeballs: this season looked like absolute shit . i can’t speak for everybody, but personally i would be embarrassed to release work of such poor quality

not only is it hideous, it’s clearly rushed. i'm getting the vibe that FB took some s4-6 concept islanders and threw them all together at the last minute (still believe the theory that alex was going to be the redeemed eddie FB was talking about, before the poll revealed nobody wants that nasty man back lol)

weird poses, weird proportions, weird shading on everything, and almost every single guy has youcef's abs . rafael did when he was first revealed, even though he has love handles ??

this is just speculation, but i really do think the heavy amount of reused assets is to cover up signs of AI art. everything that is original, like hair, hands, and clothing, looks a hot ass mess . i think we’re all aware that uma's hair looks crazy, but it's not just her. pretty much every islander has an issue where the flow of their hair is "unnatural," like it was either drawn by AI, or by an artist that was paid one cent & pocket lint. if there were any human beings involved in this, whoever designed that blue tutu partywear and the suggested prom outfit needs to be fired expeditiously

the customisation options are severely lacking, and it's further limited by some of the stuff being straight up unusable. mind you, this is a gem hair and a gem hair colour. you have to pay for this 😭

instead of adding new clothes/hair/accessories, or at the very least, fixing the issues with the options we already have (why do the necklaces go under half of the clothing ?) ...they keep adding shoes. ugly as hell shoes at that. we don't even see MC's lower body outside of picking outfits , so what is the purpose of having like 30 fucking pairs ?? i know FB has a "thing" for feet, but come on man . these yellow ankle-breakers are the stuff of nightmares

clearly their quality assurance team has left the building, we’re the QA now 😭 problems that should've never happened in the first place, like the arm tattoo having no transparency on plus size MCs, the hole in the curly hair, earrings going behind hair, alex’s eyebrows, and rafa’s anatomically incorrect body were only adjusted after complaints. everything else is just gonna stay looking busted i guess lmao

[theworldvsyoshiko]

So, the current state of affairs...

The settlement's in pretty much its final shape. A few of the original buildings are still hanging around, but they're almost solely used for utility.

All the living area stuff is clustered around the rec hall. Everyone's got their very own Extremely Impressive bedroom, except the Thavon/Josefin/Payne polycule, who still share one. Still in the process of making rugs for all of them. Toward the right is the new hospital, and past that, the new guest rooms. There are now six paid guest rooms of roughly the same quality as the ones the actual members have, and the old rec room has been converted to free/cheap shared guest rooms. 18 guest beds, 8 hospital beds, and 4 prisoner beds, and at times most of those are full.

There's also a kill pacification-of-new-friends box to the south, since everything's walled in now. Apart from the spotlight, those are all tranq turrets off to the right. The lack of traps + lack of battle animals or mechs + use of nonlethal weapons means that fights are still pretty dicey in here, even with the raid difficulty set at like 50%.

Out of the 22 factions on the planet, 5 are allies, 5 more are neutral, and the rest are hostile. Not bad progress. Unfortunately, one of the factions...

... is perma-hostile, and can't be reasoned with. Nothing I've been able to do by fucking around in dev mode or anything can change this, so I think that probably Bandits don't have a generator for non-hostile pawns. Some other groups are like that, and thus can never be non-hostile. I thought I'd disabled them all at the game start, but guess I missed one.

So the Dancing Flock is gonna bring peace to the planet apart from these very stubborn bandits.

Aelanna "Anna" Cessara

Still not much to say about her. Anna spends all day cooking, gardening, and doctoring. Anna and Josefin have been close friends pretty much the entire time, and if it weren't for the penalties for non-human anatomy, they'd definitely be banging by now. Josefin is literally her only friend.

Josefin Xiontara

Just look at her. With 18 Shooting, an archotech arm, and the Askbarn bonuses, she's great in a shootout on the rare occasion that she gets to use an actual weapon. As it is she just makes masterwork furniture all day. You'd think that with double passion for Crafting she'd be great at it by now, but this group's needed so much construction that it's just about a full-time job.

Josefin actually gets along really well with almost everyone. She doesn't even hold a grudge against Saio for her still-broken nose. However, there's one exception: Sonia. That sassy little brat can't get enough of insulting her.

Erika Belsaas

She's now the group's Scalpelizer, their official super-doctor, so she's pretty much running the hospital. That, research, and getting high accounts for pretty much her entire day.

Similarly to Josefin, Erika likes everyone. Unlike Josefin, almost nobody likes her back that much. Erika really likes insulting people. Not sure what that's about, since there's no reason she should. But, while Erika considers about half the group to be her friends, only two of them actually think of her as a friend back. Presumably everybody else isn't fond of being compared to ungainly animals by a stoned moose.

Stork Saio

Saio's still the group's official artist, and he's damn good at it. (Apart from the Really Nice Pants incident.) He's pretty much constantly making sculptures these days. His melee skill... well, he still gets to use it sometimes, but I try to keep him and Payne out of combat when I can. They're too kill-y.

Saio only really likes Payne and Josefin, and barely has an opinion on anybody else. This includes Trav, who's his lone romantic option as a gay guy. For now, at least.

Thavon Rovon

Being the local mechanitor really should be a big deal, but this isn't a group that has a lot of use for, say Centipede Blasters. I probably should start progressing through the mechtech tree a bit, though. Thavon's melee skill is pointless. She's the group's second-best crafter, so she gets saddled with making a lot of the 'it's nice to have quality but I don't really care' stuff like clothes, and she trades off research duties with Erika.

Thavon's married to Payne, of course. Thavon's up there with Josefin in being pretty close with the whole group. ... except Josefin. Somehow these two have shared a bedroom and Payne for like half a year and they have basically no opinion of each other. I'd blame the fact that Josefin's always running around doing construction and Thavon spends all day in the workshop, but... so does Payne.

Willow Payne

20 melee hell yeah. Also, in addition to the combat aura and flight powers, Nephilim also have Lay On Hands, which is an instant wound-mending, similar to the one Sanguophages get. That's been such a fucking godsend for this whole hospital thing, because somebody can walk in half-dead and Payne just zaps them back into one piece. Payne's good at enough stuff that she stays pretty busy.

Married to Thavon, sleeping with Josefin, etc. Payne is so fucking pretty that most of the colony loves her, but she's only fond of a few people in return. And, she's the one person to outright hate someone. She cannot stand Saio. -41 relationship. She'd get a mood boost if he died. I think they have general low compatibility, but the two also got into a fight a while back. Since they're two melee monsters, it did not go well for anybody involved, and Payne ended up on the floor with about half her bones broken. She's holding a grudge.

Travis "Trav" Roth

Trav... isn't good at a lot, but another shooter is nice, and his weird fox powers are pretty handy in combat. The Animals skill would be great, if this group had any use for war animals. As it is, I've assigned Trav to handle the group's Gauranlen tree. It makes little fighty plant guys, don't worry about it. Getting some melee tanks out of it. Anyway yeah he spends about 6 hours a day pruning a magical tree because he isn't good at much else.

Trav's got it rough. He considers Payne, Thavon, and Anna to be friends, but none of them like him in return. The only person who does consider him a friend is somebody that Trav moderately dislikes.

Sonia Pseugite

Listen... she's 11. She's working on it. She got garbage growth at 10, thanks to showing up when she was already partway through that age bracket. She also got intensely unlucky though--she hit 10 right when she was literally about 20 in-game minutes away from ticking up to the next growth level, which would have given her another passion. As it is... I gave her a gun and she's been pitching in as a junior nurse, so hopefully some day she'll be good at something except digging. Right now she's like some kind of mole racial stereotype.

Sonia really likes Payne. Literally nobody likes Sonia. Nobody really hates her either. Not sure why that is. She's new, but she's not that new, compared to...

Luis "Silver" Vital

Okay look yes I never announced Silver when he showed up. He arrived here as a pirate, and a 7-flame Genie who was only a teenager was just too good to pass up. I mean, that Crafting is the main draw though. As soon as he arrived I put him in charge of making charge weapons for everyone who can shoot. They don't need them often, but when they need to fight, they need actual guns.

Despite being a socially-inept newcomer, Silver's friends with most of the group already. He's even the closest thing Sonia has to a friend.

[muthaz-rapapa]

[Theory] Kaito's Desired Endgame

Actually, this is more of breakdown of why I don't think the common (?) theory of him aiming to switch Akiho and Sakura's lives is true.

It just bugged me a lot and I need to sort these thoughts out of system. Because if Kaito does want the girls to switch places, then that would count as malicious intent on his part (cuz doing so would harm Sakura which is like the biggest tabooboo in CCS land). And that doesn't align with what I see in the portrayal of his character so far.

Yea, he may be sneaky but there has been nothing to suggest that Kaito is a cruel or evil person. Far from it.

So I'm going to attempt to prove the "switch lives" theory wrong and come up with a possible new one at what his real goal might be. (others may have thought some of this up already but I've been out of the loop on CC as a whole to mentally recover so...just please give me space, thanks)

Remaining chapters

Let's start with the technical stuff first.

CC will end with vol 14 and right now we are currently at 69 chapters with ch 70 to be released at the end of January (so within a few days).

Usually a volume has 5-6 chapters with each one being about an average of 30 pages long. If so, the story should end with ch 70 or 71, right? Since vol 13 ended with ch 65 so ch 66-69, which are already out, fills up 4 chapters of vol 14 already.

Well, final manga volumes can be thicker than the regular volume by having more pages in the final chapter(s).

This happened with Pandora Hearts (the only other manga I have on hand that I can use as reference for this matter). Its final Japanese volume (24) had 70 more pages than the previous vol 23 and the final chapter alone totaled around 100 pages. See below photo for comparison:

Yea, so at the very least I think we might get 1 or 2 more extended chapters after 70 to wrap everything in the story up properly. 3 chapters maximum if we're really pushing it.

It can't be 5 chapters because then the story would end end at vol 15, not 14.

Right? Right. Ok, next.

EDIT: I stand corrected because ANN announced in an article last year (?) it would end at vol 14 but apparently, there was a mistake and now it'll end at vol 15. So yea, there's 5 more chapters of story after ch 70!

2) The possibility of a "simulation" or a dream-like scenario where the two "Alice"s experience switched lives.

Kind of something similar to the final judgement in the first arc where Sakura faced off against Yue before becoming the master of the former Clow Cards. The part where she went unconscious and saw a world where everybody forgot who they loved most?

Yea, that's exclusive to the anime series. It didn't occur in the original manga where Sakura stayed conscious, fended Yue off and won a lot faster.

If such a thing were to be added to CC's finale, you're going to need at least 3 out of the 6 chapters left for the desired...emotional impact. But even so, when we've spent a whole two volumes in the fantasy world of Clockland already, adding another layer to this "dream" the characters are already in...it's kinda superfluous and tiring, to be honest.

Not to mention, you need pages to wrap up other things as well. Like addressing Sakura's control over her growing powers? How are they gonna close that out? What about the European magicians? Will we know what they'll do once they learned Akiho isn't the artifact anymore? So many things to do before ch 75.

Creating and diving into another reality adds a whole other problem to the pile and frankly, even with the Exchange card, I don't believe there's even enough magic to be able to pull off such feat either.

But more on that later because there's something else that I must address before that.

3) Clues aren't direct and premonitions aren't exact.

There seems to be some collective perception that Momo's hint for Sakura back in ch 50-51 is suggesting Kaito intends to have Sakura replaced with Akiho and that's why nobody recognizes Sakura when she runs around frantically asking everyone what's going on.

Bzzt. Wrong.

The hint was not that she was going to be forced to switch lives (because if that were true, where was Akiho then?) but rather, Sakura was going to be thrown into the world of the story of Alice in Clockland. In other words, Momo's book.

Notice how all the houses and trees and stuff resemble props within a play? And how the school play eventually ended up connecting with the story in the book.

Yea, the hint was telling everyone that the finale will take place in a fictional setting.

As for why none of her family and friends recognized her in Momo's simulation, the opposite actually happened when Sakura became "Alice" after entering the book.

In the hint, Sakura remembers everyone but nobody knows who she is.

In the book, Alice!Sakura doesn't remember who she herself is but all the Clear Cards that took on the image of her loved ones (and therefore, are representing her loved ones) do.

In other words, the hint was meant to throw everyone off of what to expect while still giving us a clue of what will occur in later chapters. (side note: this also sorta brings to mind a line that Alice in the AiW books said: "Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't.")

And the meaning behind the hint became clear quite recently to me too.

Sakura was able to break the spell on her and recall her true identity by remembering the bonds she has with the people important to her. This effectively indicates that the memories we have with others are a large part of what defines who we are.

That if we don't lose sight of our connections with those dear to us, we won't lose sight of ourselves either.

Just like how Akiho recalled much faster about who she herself is by remembering never forgetting her feelings for Kaito.

Next, the premonitions.

Keep in mind that while Sakura's dreams fortell the future, they are also a product of her mind trying to sort things out while she's sleeping.

The things we couldn't readily process while awake (like confusion, shock, etc) would often be set aside in our unconsciousness to be dealt with later. Notably during the time we're not awake.

And I believe that the brain would try process those things to the best of its ability...but it can only do so with the information it already has available on hand. So anything you're not aware of or don't know yet, something else will be used as placeholder instead.

For example, the cloaked figure that Sakura pulled the hood off to reveal (a soulless-eyed) Syaoran underneath. That actually foretold that she will confront the Dreaming Card and an imposter Syaoran (aka Kaito in disguise) in Momo's book.

When she was still dreaming of MCF (sp?), she wasn't aware of Kaito's true identity as a magician yet so she kept seeing Syaoran in the cloak who always wore an expressionless face that she couldn't decipher. Because she didn't know that person was going to be Kaito.

But after she learned Kaito could use magic in ch 54, she no longer saw MCF!Syaoran in her dreams anymore.

Additionally, the Akiho who Sakura saw in her dreams turned out to be different than what's happening now.

In her dreams, Akiho is not conscious and always wearing her ritual dress with a vacant expression on her face. Like an empty doll.

But in the book, Akiho is awake despite the fact that her memory was temporarily subdued and she is wearing a noticeably different outfit. The dress of the Red Queen.

Her expressions are solemn but her eyes are very much alive in contrast to the Akiho in the dreams.

As for the serpentine winged dragon, no one smart should've expected it could represent anyone else other than Kaito.

On the corner of Kaito's robes as well as the back, there is the symbol of the dragon.

But as Sakura didn't suspect Kaito of anything yet at the time when she started having these dreams, her mind used the image of a dragon to clue her in on who she will be confronting later on.

However, it should be noted that none of what Sakura saw in the dreams suggests that she will switch lives with Akiho.

It only foretold that she will meet and confront these figures (the imposter Syaoran/Kaito in disguise, Akiho, the Dreaming Card and the dragon/Kaito as his real self) within the book.

And that future she saw already came to be as of these past two volumes.

4) The creation of the Exchange card

It should be pretty obvious by now that the whole synchro plan was for the sake of creating the circumstances needed to establish the foundations of this card.

Through Akiho and Sakura sharing feelings and bits of memories across their joint dreams, the idea of a "trade" has been incepted into Sakura's mind early on so that she will eventually create a card that can function as a link, a channel, for an exchange to be possible on immediate demand.

Throwing her into the book and making her "Alice" was just the final push to materialize the card into existence. Because the cards are born from Sakura's inner emotions, the events that led up to this point were meant to foster a certain feeling within her for that purpose.

As "Alice", the heroine, she was faced with the dilemma of the Red Queen's loneliness and inability to leave Clockland. That is what developed a wish in her to save the Queen (Akiho).

A desire to help Akiho by saying "I should've taken your place".

With that desire, a new card is born.

My prediction was correct (partially). Kaito was betting on this with the combination of his two plans (the synchro + the story of Clockland). He wanted to utilize the heroine's tendency towards altruism to bring about the card he needed.

As long as Sakura wanted to save Akiho, she would be able to birth the card needed for such a task.

However, none of that necessarily means he intends to use it to switch their lives. The only definitive thing out of this was that he wanted a specific card from Sakura all along...which is also what he's been saying all along, too.

How he intends to use the card may not be what everyone is expecting.

5) Conditions that need to be met + conflicts that may arise in using Exchange.

There are several things we need to ask before we come to any conclusions, chiefly among them the following:

Who can use the Exchange card? (read: is likely to use it in the current scenario)

And do the conditions differ depending on the person using it? Along with what their respective wish is?

First off, let's remember that the four central characters are all within a rather ambiguous space at the moment.

While the Clear Cards are there in the book and were created by Sakura, she was told that not all of them would not outright obey her commands. Or at least, they are following her subconscious will rather than her conscious one.

For example, when Sakura was fighting off the Dreaming card, trying to escape the book with Akiho, only to realize she didn't truly leave the book and what she saw was only a dream. Her attempt to leave was an illusion...a dream that she wished for as clarified by Kaito after it broke.

In other words, it can be interpreted that what Sakura truly wanted deep down was to believe that everything happening around her was not real. That it was a dream.

We should also note that Kaito, as the author/creator of Clockland, has some significant control over this field as well. They are playing on his turf right now so he has a slight advantage over them.

At the very least, the ones that seem to hold the most sway over the turnout of the story are the two most powerful magicians present (Sakura and Kaito) as well as the one whose choice will influence them the most (Akiho).

Moreover, we should also remember that he was able to use Clear Mirror to disguise himself as Syaoran.

As such, who can be called "master" over a Card may have been blurred within the book. It's possible the cards can respond to the will of anyone.

Depending on whose hand they're being held in and perhaps also, provided that the order they give doesn't conflict with Sakura's subconscious desire.

So now it becomes the question of who Exchange will fall into the hands of...

If it goes to Sakura, there are two ways this can play out:

Kaito reveals the truth about him and Akiho along with his wish to Sakura and asks her to use Exchange to fulfill it. If his wish is for her to switch lives with Akiho (and therefore, harmful intent), of course Sakura would refuse and his plan will fail on the spot. So naturally, it can't be that. Frankly, this approach makes no sense and further rules out the switch theory. Kaito cannot afford to fail in his quest to save Akiho so he needs a plan that is as airtight as possible with a higher percentage of succeeding. Relying completely on Sakura's goodwill won't give him that because he knows Sakura isn't a pushover. He knows she wouldn't just say "yes" to anything drastic even if it's to save a friend.

A more likely possibility is that he would offer himself in exchange for Akiho's life. His priority is to save Akiho and the most immediate danger is the book inside her. More than switching lives, he needs that book removed (and there's no guarantee that switching lives will remove the book anyway). He is willing to sacrifice everything he has, including his magic and what's left of his dwindling life, to get it out of her. In which case, Sakura would also refuse because not only would that hurt Akiho if she loses Kaito but it would also be assisted suicide. Which is something she would never consent to (and also extremely inappropriate for a story with a young age demographic). Sakura would never consent to sacrificing someone else no matter what the cause, especially when she still knows nothing about Kaito. And when she does learn the truth about him and his and Akiho's past, it will just make her refuse to let Kaito die even harder.

This part of the theory hasn't taken into consideration of what other cards she might use later (like Rewind) but I think we can say with some certainty that Exchange in Sakura's hands would be a dead end for Kaito so he will probably do his best to not let it go to her.

Now, if Exchange falls to Kaito, then it's a question of what his true intentions are with this card.

Everyone wants to perceive that he wishes to switch the girls' lives.

But I...simply do not believe there's enough time to bring about something that cosmic-sized of a change (along with all the action it entails), prevent it, resolve the issues at hand, have Sakura's party learn everything about Akiho and Kaito's pasts, reconcile...and then dedicate the entire last chapter to SyaoSaku being loveydovey with each other for fanservice. If the last 5 chapters are all 30 pages each.

Also, it seems a little too obvious to be true and there are too many contradictions that can make this go wrong.

For one, if we follow by the rules of magic, magical transactions usually need to be equal in value on both sides to be done successfully. Otherwise it will either not go through...or there will be severe consequences to make the transaction even.

So the definition behind Exchange shouldn't be that different.

Frankly, in the case of Akiho and Sakura's respective lives, they are not in fact equal.

They may share some things in common (being chocomint fans, of the same height, etc) but those are all surface similarities and nothing deep.

Since they've led different lives and had different experiences, they would naturally have different feelings, different hearts and therefore, different values.

What is important to Sakura is not the same for what is important to Akiho. For instance, the people they love most are different and thus, inexchangable.

There are also things that Sakura has that Akiho doesn't (magic, family, happy childhood, etc) and that goes the same the other way around, too. Akiho possesses things that Sakura doesn't have either (passion for books, emotional scars, trauma, and a deeper understanding of darkness due to a sad past).

Adding that up, the exchange would be doomed to fail because Akiho and Sakura are too distinct from each other as individuals to be switched smoothly.

Kaito is a magician so on top of knowing how different Akiho is from Sakura, he must be aware of this rule as well.

Furthermore, if the Exchange card takes into account what the user sees as equal in value for a trade, then he would fail there too.

Because of course he would place more importance on Akiho's life than Sakura's or anyone else's.

The scales would be tipped and maybe the magic might not even start up because the conditions for a fair trade have not been met to initiate it.

There's also the possibility of Kaito exchanging positions with Akiho.

In fact, he and Akiho are on more even standing than Akiho and Sakura are.

They share similar backgrounds (lonely pasts, traumatic and abused childhoods) and both are in danger of "dying" with their time running out (Kaito from using too much rewind, Akiho from the progression of the artifact that will erase her soul).

Since Kaito possesses a lot of innate magic while Akiho has that book filled with magic inside her, he can have Exchange put the book inside him while Akiho receives his magic. Doing so, Akiho's soul is preserved at the cost of his own.

But does he really want that with how much his life has been shaved off already from the multiple rewinds?

Doubt it.

Because besides saving her soul, Kaito wants Akiho to live a long and happy life as well. He didn't do all this work just to extend her life for a few more days or weeks or months. He wants her to have a future.

Moreover, even if it can save her soul, any method that forces magic onto Akiho goes against the biggest principle he's been standing by this entire time: that Akiho doesn't need magic.

That she isn't less valuable because she doesn't have any powers.

Whether it be from Sakura or him, it doesn' t matter. He does not want Akiho to change since she's already fine as she is now. She's fine being a normal person.

Giving her magic goes against the moral of their story and most of all, would validate the cruel criticism Akiho's clan had always thrown at her which is something Kaito would want to avoid at all costs.

So any way that ends with Akiho gaining magic is a no no. Because as long as she has magic, whether as an artifact or a magician, Akiho will always be in danger of being taken back by her clan to serve their own purposes.

They only have any interest in her if she contains power within her. If she doesn't, they will give up trying to reclaim her. That is the best outcome Kaito could hope for. Hence why he wants the book removed because then the magicians will stop chasing after Akiho for good and she can finally live in peace.

One more thing. A switch of lives means uprooting what has established the girls as the people they are now...which is gonna be incredibly hard to do.

Not only does it mess with personal history and relationships and therefore, effectively change who they are, it can screw up world through... some effect.

The girls have already lived 13 years, they made their mark in the records of time. The logic that constitutes them individually are already imprinted on the fabric of reality. This is not easily undone, rearranged and stitched perfectly back together.

And the price to attempt it sounds like it would be too much as well. It's not something Kaito alone can pay for. Not even with his and Sakura's magic combined.

Again, his major goals are 1) to remove the book from Akiho foremost and 2) to ensure that nothing that makes Akiho "Akiho" changes.

That includes the things that are the most precious to her. Her appreciation for books, her cherishment of Momo, the friendships she's made in Tomoeda.

And also, her love for her parents.

She may not have known them but she still treasures the fact that she had parents once, that she is the daughter to someone. The few things she does know about her mother and father, she keeps close to her heart. She wants to hold onto whatever she has of them because she has nothing else of them to keep.

Kaito understands this more than anyone because Akiho told this to him herself.

And the fact that Lilie, Akiho's mother, was also a significant person in his life is more than enough to deter him from ever wanting to sever the connection Akiho has with her parents. Because Lilie is an important part of Akiho, too. If Akiho loses that, she will no longer be the Akiho that she is now.

In short, switching Akiho's life with another's might turn her into a girl who has warm family and friends and a happy, sheltered childhood and all...but that girl wouldn't be the same Akiho in front of him at this moment.

Therefore, I must conclude that exchanging Akiho and Sakura's lives is probably not what he's aiming for. Because that ultimately means changing Akiho from who she is now into someone entirely different.

She would not be Akiho anymore if that happens.

6) Kaito's true wish + the endgame he wants

This is the part where I throw out a new theory.

Even if it's not an exchange of lives or magic, there will still be an exchange of something.

A wish and a price to pay for that wish.

Kaito wants the book that has been carved into Akiho's body to be removed.

The book has been implanted by the powers of many, many magicians from both the Association and Akiho's clan. And over the years, more magic has been added to its pages through all the books Akiho had read.

The amount of magic within her, though not specified, must be enormous. For it to be taken out without harming the vessel (Akiho) would require a very hefty price.

Kaito's life and his magic might not be enough. Hell, even adding Sakura's magic into the equation, overflowing as it is, might not be enough either because she is still only one person against the hundreds of magics and taboos stored in Akiho.

So what can Kaito offer, something that only belongs to him, to make it so the book no longer endangers Akiho? What does he alone possess that can match in equal value for the fulfillment of that wish?

Perhaps his own existence?

As in, erasing it from the world? That's a pretty big offer, isn't it?

Like it was discussed above, any tempering with the events of time is a very difficult thing to accomplish. In the magician society, it is also a widely known taboo. You don't mess with the workings of time and even the altering of one person's life in the flow of it can result in some significant change.

But see, if this is indeed possible...then the task is "easier" to carry out with Kaito precisely because there a very few people who are aware of him. In fact, the less others know about him, the better. It would not create such a big backlash if he were to disappear.

Because he thinks he didn't make enough of an impact on anything that would be hard to forget and also probably believes that everybody wants to forget about him.

He has no blood relatives looking for him so he believes he doesn't have a true home or family to go back or belong to.

The Association only ever saw him as a tool to be used and is out to kill him for taking Akiho (the artifact) away so they definitely won't miss him.

And nobody in Sakura's party really understands what he's after. They only suspect he's scheming something so they think the worst of him because they lack information to consider otherwise. Moreover, Kaito had also went to great lengths to hide his personal information from being discovered. He doesn't want people to know about him because that will make disappearing much more difficult.

Knowing him and his self-loathing, his belief and depression that he'll always be alone, his guilt over that blank book comment that brought this fate upon Akiho (the person he loves most) and how little time he has left to live anyway, Kaito is definitely in the mindset that there would be no problem if he were gone.

For him, it might even be preferable. This way, Akiho can be saved and he (as the "villain" he thinks he is) can exit this story, this world, so that it could have the "happy ending" he envisioned.

Though I suspect he wouldn't request for an ending on such a massive scale either because again, he cannot risk anything that could change Akiho from who she is now.

He'd still want his efforts to remain, to keep everything that built up this story to stay (taking Akiho away from her clan, bringing her to Japan, letting her meet and befriend Sakura, enacting the magic of Momo's book to remove the artifact, etc) so that it preserves Akiho's foundations as her own person.

He would just want to blot himself out. So that only he is forgotten after this is all over.

Akiho can still have Momo, her friends, her memories of her parents, the life she's lived up till now. It's only Kaito who wouldn't be there like he originally was.

There may be blank spots left behind where he used to be but since not many people knew about him, he trusts the world can fill in those blanks on its own. Like history correcting itself by creating little "coincidences" or whatever to explain and make sure things make sense.

For Akiho, he knows he can at least entrust her into Sakura's care after he's gone. That might be another reason why he allowed them to form a close friendship in spite of the dangers it could've posed to Akiho (i.e. the artifact reacting to Sakura's magic and reaching closer to completion, thereby shutting Akiho's consciousness down).

It wasn't just for the sake of the synchro and creating the Exchange card he was waiting for. It was also because he needed a good person to be there for Akiho, someone who is capable of protecting her when he no longer could. And for sure, he has confidence in Sakura because everybody knows Sakura will never abandon a person in need.

As long as the book is removed, the European magicians won't come after Akiho anymore. Sakura and co can take good care of Akiho because they are kind people. They will give her a safe place to stay, away from all the troubles of magic.

Including him, who believes his value lies only in his magic and was the source of this whole mess to begin with because of his affiliation with magic.

To make up for his "sin", for what he accidentally did to Akiho, Kaito is more than willing to step aside and vanish so that he doesn't get in the way of Akiho being happy.

However, he could not be more wrong because he still has absolutely no idea just how much Akiho loves him and therefore, how it's inevitably going to change her, to destroy her, if he erases himself from her life.

She is who she is because of him. If it weren't for Kaito making the choice to take her away from her clan, to save her from the doom of losing her soul, she never would've gotten this far. She never would've survived to become the Akiho she is now. Never to know what love is, to make friends and to realize that she's always had the choice in the matter of her own happiness.

Kaito taught her all that. He gave her that chance when no one else did.

He is the lynchpin of her existence. The reason why he's the most important person in her life.

She was able to become who she was because he was there for her, to support her and encourage her and to protect her and love her as she should've been loved.

Take him away and everything that they both worked so hard for will become undone. It doesn't matter how well taken care of she is by people like Sakura afterwards, they can never fill the hole he'd leave behind.

That void will always hurt her because she knows something, someone, is missing from where they should be.

Only he can fill that spot in her heart. No one else can.

He is the only person for her. He is the only person who knows best how to let Akiho stay Akiho.

And Akiho's greatest task in this story is to make him see that.

To make him realize that there is someone who will be deeply affected if they were to lose him and that's her. The one he cares most about and wants to save the most.

If he doesn't want Akiho to change into something she isn't...

If he doesn't want to see her worst off than she is now, a hollow husk who will grieve the loss of him forever...

If he truly wants her to be happy, then he has to listen to her. He has to believe her when she says "I love you. I will never be the same without you so don't leave me. Stay with me."

With that, I think I can picture the order of what might happen for Akiho and Kaito.

Akiho will be saved first with the removal of the book.

Then Kaito will be saved next through some other miracle means with Sakura's assistance.

But for sure, it is Akiho who will contribute the most to stopping him from dropping off the edge of no return. That loss will be hers to bear if she fails to so the one who has to put in the most effort to save Kaito will also be the person who loves him the most.

And she'll do that all without the need for magic. Just like she's always done to get by.

She just needs to be herself, to just be Akiho.

After all, Akiho is the true main character of "Alice in Clockland" whereas Sakura is the stand-in heroine for the sake of manifesting the magic Kaito needs.

The world of Clockland can bend to her will because she is the Queen.

Likewise, the story of Clockland can end however she wishes it to because she is in fact, the real Alice.

Kaito weaved this tale for her sake, for the real Alice.

Therefore, only she has the power to stop him. Only Akiho, the real Alice, is capable of turning him away from death and giving him reason to want to live.

Kaito wants the best and happiest ending for Akiho? Then don't go. Don't disappear.

He needs to understand the importance of his connection with Akiho. He needs to understand what it is that his most beloved reader truly wants in order to properly give her the most satisfactory "happy ending".

[skelekin]

Sonic Prime Season 2/Season 1 part 2 thoughts and critiques

Nobody asked but I'm gonna share em anyway, minor spoilers ahead

Stuff I liked:

Shadow. Good god how refreshing it is to see a portrayal of Shadow that isn't one-note and sucks ass. his voice is closer to his original SA2 depiction, him beating the snot out of Sonic isn't entirely unprompted and random, and honestly his scenes may have carried this entire season. The interactions he has with Sonic are also fantastic and oooogghh gay

Sonic!! I'll be honest I really have a hard time understanding ppl's issues with his characterization here; he's a naive, impulsive, rebellious teenager that wants to see the good in the world. I like that I actually get to see him make mistakes, jump to conclusions, and be scared or sad. This is the kind of thing I feel like ppl have been ASKING for from him so I don't quite get the pushback

Nine is great as ever, definitely a highlight of this entire series and he could possibly end up having one of the best character arcs in the franchise

Chaos Sonic!!!!! Wowie what a fun dude, his segments made me smile the most

Animation is once again super bouncy and fluid with dynamic shots, you can tell action is this team's bread and butter (to a fault at times, but I'll get to that later)

Stuff I didn't like:

Good GOD is the pacing bad. Honestly I think it might be worse than season 1, there were so many times where I thought to myself "nothing is happening", and desperately wished they used the little time they had per episode to flesh characters out or have some more world building.

On that, as great as the action animation is, these scenes easily take up two thirds of each episode and it gets very, very boring after a while. It becomes difficult to appreciate them when they seem to just never end. There were so many times when I would become relieved when they finally took a pause, only for that relief to vanish a minute later when the egg council throws out more of the same exact cannon fodder for yet another battle scene

And speaking of the egg council, oooh boy did they get grating. I get this is a kids show, I'm not even expecting like ATLA levels of villains here, but they feel straight from Disney Junior. The concept of eggman cloning himself and having each one represent a different aspect of his psyche is fantastic, but it's completely squandered on one-dimensional tropes that tell literally the same exact jokes word for word, there is nothing intimidating about them

Like I said I desperately kept begging for SOME level of adequate screentime to flesh out the characters and other worlds, but as is, aside from Nine, the other versions of these guys just have One Bit and their worlds again feel ripped from Disney Junior. I was holding out hope that since season 1 had to introduce all of them that season 2 would get to show more, but no. Pirate world where they all go yar har and that's it. Jungle world where they do battle cries and that's it. Despite being the crux of the entire premise of this show they're painfully uninteresting

Where is Shadow!!!!!! What little we see of him is fantastic, too bad he's barely present! They hyped up his elevated appearance so much and seeing him hardly get to do anything was such a let down.

Chaos Sonic, as fun as he was, was only present for one episode. Why

It's very saddening to see this show fall into the recent trap plaguing media aimed at younger audiences where everything is dialed up to 11 nearly All the Time. The samey stock background action music hardly ever stops, once again these guys can't seem to go one minute without punching swarms of copy paste goons, we must keep jingling the keys because how else will we keep kids' attention. I think back to how 4Kids added unecessary music queues to every single action when adapting Sonic X and how much worse it was for it

Overall Prime has been really frustrating because there's so many glimmers of potential on display that get bogged down by the fact that they're just not willing to fully commit to and take any risk on. Idk how much of that is the team's fault, I don't doubt the possibility that higher up the chain some suits are holding their vision back. It just sucks bc I really, REALLY want to like this show more, but I can't really say it's more than just. Okay

I hope season 3 is able to reel it back in

[kiruvry]

I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABT THE MIITOPIA PLAYTHROUFH

HIIII!!!!! OKAY OKOK

just to start with its just like. my teammates that are overwatchy and stuff because i hardly think id have enough people to work with if i made npc smth from ovw 🤨 but what i do have is uhh!!

jack, gabe, ana, reinhardt, cassidy, genji, moira, angela, torbjörn, lena and then winston for the horse LMFAOOOO

the blackwatch team were supposed to be the ones i had in realm of the fey rather than neksdor but i remembered you only get the tank job in realm of the fey so i had to swapsies 🤨

OK SO LJKE. OK.

im at the point in the game where ive just gotten to peculia and like. have just gotten to the darker lord yk 🤨

- jack is the main hero, i play him as a stubborn chef (grillmaster76 reference 😨) but bc of the yk . main hero thing he's swapped jobs to being a thief with the neksdor crew (i missed gabe) and was a warrior with the realm of the fey crew B)

greenhorne

- gabriel i played as a stubborn thief, moreso because you can't get the vampire job until way later on but also like ?? i dunno man!! i kinda fucked with it so it's staying

- ana i chose to be a kind mage i think . i was gonna make her cool originally but i kinda enjoyed the little quirks w the kind personality 🤨 mage i chose for reasons not even i really know ?? i was definitely tempted by the sleep tight skill i think LMFAO

- reinhardt i play as an energetic warrior, for like. obvious reasons id hope FGAHGSJAHDJAF

neksdor

- cassidy i played as a laid-back popstar, for genuinely no other reason that nothing else fit and i really wanted his hat 😭 also i thought itd be so funny to have him of all people be the like. relationship fixer 💀

- genji i played as a cool imp i think . ya. i would've gone warrior with him because of the sword but i really did NOT wanna repeat jobs it makes me so 😿😿AUEEUUgh repeating them so i ended up going with imp for him ?? it's really funny to be honest 😭

- aaaand moira i played a cautious scientist :] cautious not so much because it matched personality wise but moreso for the quirks that it has, i felt they'd be fitting !! reasoning for the scientist job though i think is obvious HSJAHAJAJ

realm of the fey

again this was supposed 2 be the blackwatch folks but i had to swapsies bc im crazy picky with my jobs 😿 ueueue

- mercy i played as a kind cleric, kinda because like. Woah. The Healer . but also the opportunity for the resurrection ability with angela gawddamn ziegler of all people is way too good to pass up on 🤨

- torbjörn i think i made a stubborn tank?? my friend violet suggested the tank job for him and it made me giggle bc it reminds me of his turrets HEHAGSGAJSJSF i also thought itd be really funny for him to straight up launch teammates

- tracer i chose to be an energetic cat i think . YA . energetic because like. this is lena oxton we're talking about . and i think i went with the cat job because of it's like. IDK it feels fast/agile and the claws reminded me a bit of tracer's double guns so 🤨

for non teammates i don't have many npcs who are ovw folks, but the process behind deciding the first dark lord was really funny HEHAHAHAJAJ

legitimately my train of thought was like... who in overwatch is just incredibly pathetic . nobody came to mind. thought harder. reach an epiphany.

and then we got here <3 (mii by @violetspark14 btw !!! they're fucking CRAZY)

and great sage ramattra followed shortly after, i think it's the way they dress + the staff and sorta the general vibes of the sage?? IDK. i remembered i had to assign a mii and like.

(VINE BOOM)

(AGAIN, MII BY VIOLET :] they're responsible 4 theeee ramattra + maximilien + torbjörn miis :])

you can't see everybody here properly but!!! the gang :]

and of course i can't just NOT let you all see this video when i managed to capture it in time ❤

[sakumasmut]

Hi! I’m sure you don’t remember but I was the one who sent a ramble about the ES idols putting vibrators and using it during their live show a long time ago & I also rambled (somewhat recently? not really) a bit about AFAB! Natsume not being able to take much into him.

I was wondering if I could either take shiina anon or 🧂!

[Dub-Con touching elements? Aaaa I’m not 100% sure but just placing just in case! Also GN! Reader/Producer]

I still have thoughts about the ES idols before their live shows starts. How about making them needy before the live? Bonus points if they cry.

I was originally going to say fucking but I didn’t feel like that fit in. Also I’m not too sure how to explain this small thought ramble without sounding too repetitive and such…

Hm maybe if their s/o (who’s also their group’s producer) decided to suddenly pull them away from their group mates and drag them into a nearby private dressing room or restroom stall about 30 minutes to an hour before the show is suppose to start and then start touching them in certain… places…

Oh gosh, the way the idol would just be confused yet flustered by their s/o’s actions. They’d be saying stuff like:

“Huh? What are you doing?“

“Wait, hey! Stop/Quit it!”

“Please don’t—the concert is about to start soon!”

They soon get needy by your touch, whether it’s visually shown and obvious or not. And again, whether it’s subtle or not, you can just tell (or hear…) that they want to either touch you or want you to continue touching them.

The sensitive idols especially… touching them and making them hard. Them squirming and waiting to the point they have tears in their eyes because of waiting and being repressed (is that the right word)…

But overall of course, you’re gonna them touch you. You help them get off, hearing the sounds of their moaning and whimpers—hoping that nobody else heard…. After they came, they’re pretty much thinking about what happened just now and blushing yk

If the idol did actually cry oh my gosh. Sometimes idols have to wear eyeliner and stuff—I especially think about UNDEAD or Valkyrie with this, they’d get kind of upset their stage(?) makeup is ruined and they would either need to fix it themselves or have somebody come fix it for them… it’s ok tho they forgive you for ruining their makeup (and them)

AAAAAAAAA IM NOT TOO SURE IF THE RAMBLE IS LONG OR NOT, REALLY SORRY THAT IT’S ALL OVER THE PLACE AND KIND OF UNREADBLE

I added you as the salt emoji! and dw I’ve gotten longer rambles

I think it’s a good concept, groping and teasing them right before a live, only to pull back when they do get hard. at that point they have to beg you to finish, lest they’re still hard before going on stage…

[aliferous-ly]

I know nothing of DSMP but I would love to hear how the ending/story/characters/creators were mishandled if you’d like to rant/ramble

OKAY.

I didn't watch the ending. I barely knew the ending was happening, because by the time it happened I was so disenchanted with the whole dsmp that I didn't really care. so I heard through the grapevine (Tumblr dashboard) that it was like.. everything blows up we're starting over and everyone's memories are wiped.

Which. Is a choice. But is a particularly horrible choice when one of the people roleplaying.. died, and would therefore "not be remembered" (with no new content). The people close to this person confirmed that dsmp 2 would continue technos legacy and that they wouldn't forget him, but the fact that it needed to be said in the first place is just. An awful feeling. like, none of techno’s actions would have any bearing on dsmp2...?

So fuck the ending, who even cares about it. The beauty of the dsmp is supposed to be the many interlocking characters, since they're all roleplaying to have fun with this comedy/serious rp. But the creators (read: the main creators slash writers of the arcs) would often ignore other creators on the dsmp and their role. Niki frequently was talked over and ignored. Her and puffy planned a dsmp lore stream only to cancel it because dream scheduled a server-wide event for the same day (literally the day before). eret regularly planned lore and streams, but received rare replies in the discord. they were the first villain character and received so many death threats for the arc that really kick-started the serious storylines, and then their character was mostly forgotten by the other big creators. I understand the improv of rp, but the streams started becoming more and more planned, and eret wanted to be in them! And as the original traitor, having her as a staple would have been INTENSE. but she just kinda.. dropped off. Anything to do with the egg was vastly considered uninteresting and therefore lesser to the "main" characters, which is, of course, tommy and dream. which sucked because I didn't care about tommy and dreams storyline and I liked everyone else's 😭😭 (this is more neg for the community than the creators, but whatever)

Another thing I hated was when the creators would joke about how cringe people getting invested in Minecraft RP is. stuff like that. because it shows that at a certain level they're ashamed of creating it? They're embarrassed of it. And so they disregarded their audience and fucked up the storyline and now dsmp 2 is never happening because who's gonna watch it? their scorned audience? like holy shit, guys, you were getting 200k viewers a stream because people liked the story. people like stories!!! the medium doesn’t MATTER.

Like.. okay. There's some really good characters in the dsmp. Schlatt, I think, had the best character, because he was cohesive and had an arc -- he entered as a villain against wilbur and tommy, was further corrupted by power, physically crumbling from his poor choices, was super horrible to quackity which set up quackity’s arc & insecurities... and his death was interesting! nobody killed him, he just succumbed to his own problems. I still think techno is a good character, because he stuck to his thought processes and morals (which was basically, governments = bad, people = good. with a dash of extremely violent inclinations). Whether or not you liked him. His problem was his innate existence as unkillable (technoblade never dies, he won a battle against the whole server, etc), because then it can get tedious, but he'd been planning to have cyberknife the Government Lover to counteract this (god, I miss him).

Dream is... Dream, I guess. Sam has a good character, very nice corruption arc (everyone literally hating him in his chat was annoying though. Like guys, you're in sam's chat, you gotta root for SAM. go to Tommy's stream if u wanna be a little bitch). also sam’s arc had everything that dream apologists wanted with dream’s character, lol. dream had no regrets and was a horrific abuser. sam started good and slowly corrupted to evil through “the ends justify the means” choices, which is FASCINATING, because by the end he was a mess of ethics and trauma. I love Niki's arc, but I wish she could have had more closure with Wilbur, because he was huge for the beginning of her arc. Hannah, bad, ant, and punz had this super cool thing with the egg (bad and skeppy was WILD) and I loved the fantasy aspects and that it didn't take 4 fucking hours to do the climax, with like 1 hr of actual action. (the egg was like... a fungal infection came to the dsmp and infected various characters to do its bidding by promising whatever they want most. and bad wanted to be with skeppy, who is his actual in-canon soulmate, since bad’s CANON LIVES were tied to skeppy’s. meaning he never lost a canon life unless skeppy did. fellas...)

I guess overall it's like... the main creators didn't communicate and plan enough with many of the people who wanted lore and arcs. Foolish, quackity, purpled, Sam, and Charlie did really well at the end, I loveddd the whole purpled defecting and shit. charlie’s arc was incredible. and they COMMUNICATED in the discord to make this happen. 

Dream, sapnap, and George just had no handle on the storyline they were trying to construct. And it's their server. They needed an ending. Something satisfying, cathartic, something where tommy finally gets the chance to heal which might only happen alongside dream's death-- and the servers getting blown up by a nuke okay sure that works too I guess.

I’m so, so upset by the lack of happy ending for tommy. like, the cc wanted to move away from dsmp, so they could have written an ending for the character and then he could ease away from the server and lore. it didnt have to happen Like That.

Also, if dream wanted to play a different character, then Do That. He could pretend to be a shape shifter who liked the original dreams form, or the original dream could be a shape shifter who copied dreamXD (the literal god of the server, which I feel like was not mentioned more that foolish had regular interactions with them?), or just, anything. but the constant evil!dream abusing tommy was getting a bit much. it was just never ending.

AND. THIS ISNT EVEN TALKING ABOUT THE STUPID FUCKING THREE LIVES THING.

Like.. they had three "canon" lives. This happened because the original roleplay was Not Serious, it was just them fooling around. They would kill each other to steal their stuff. Everyone died all the time. And I don't remember the specific inciting incident.. it might be as far as tubbo getting executed on stage? but suddenly This Death is far more important than all the Other Deaths, so they have to separate them and add some significance, but tubbos back now and technos not apologizing which is a whole thing (oh nooo techno didnt save tubbo from being executed despite not receiving any communication), so tubbo is alive, so this death is Significant (but he's still alive) so. three canon lives. Which is dumb, because the only thing (seemingly) signifying a canon life loss is that it's literally written into the plot. (Which, jack manifold dying to techno and then falling into a glitch and respawning, to then claim that he lost his third canon life but through pure determination to kill tommy/techno crawled back out of hell, is metal as fuck). which takes out a lot of the improv, makes things a lot more staged. But it's canon, in the lore, that sometimes people die and they don't lose a canon life. It's just.. so bizarre. (Phil having one life to show that he's from a hardcore world is also, however, very cool).

it makes the whole thing a bit meta, using terms like “canon life” within the actual roleplay. the only bandage I could think of would be coming up with unique ways each specific character could die. Like, tubbo can only be killed via explosives/fireworks. Tommy and Dream can die by axe. techno’s is unknown, until tubbo infiltrates phil’s house and finds information that techno can be killed by being crushed. this would cause some other brand new problems, though.

Anyway. Wilbur's plots were well written, but disregarded Fundy (his canonical son) and mostly Niki, too (who he brought into the server). George obviously didn't give a shit about lore, bc he was never there. Sapnaps lore is meh, even though he has, arguably, one of the most interesting relationship webs of the server (his best friend became this abusive pos, his parents are skeppy and bad, he’s off-and-on dating quackity and karl, both of which have their own crazy shit going on. god, i didnt even talk about karl). Tommy's was very well done even though I personally didn't like his character.

Like... These people just didn't know what the fuck they were doing. Which could have been fine, if they didn't try to capitalize the fuck out of the views lore streams could bring while also ridiculing their audience for liking this sort of thing, and then attempted to tie it together into some sort of ending to the tommy / dream arc. Like, new arcs can happen, sure, but things have to end! They have to!

Honorable mention for ponk who regularly streams earlier than I watch but consistently was on the dsmp. He kept that shit alive. He was the og. His tree jumpstarted the lore. Much love for ponk and many wishes for future successes for that man.

Also it was really weird how the dsmp was primarily white men because it originally was just dream and his friends, which obviously is fine ur not gonna intentionally diversify your minecraft server for friends, but after people started pointing out that most everyone being added was a white man and the only defense was that it's dream and his friends became.. thinly veiled. Because he started adding people that hes not like, close friends with, but they were also white men. Like I'm so sorry Michael mcchill I love you and your energy is fantastic but this is about you and manitreed and foolish and and and. There were like 30 people on the server and like 6 poc. maybe 6 women. (Shout-out to Tina, lmfaooo).

idk. it’s a storyline that was wonky and weird at its base, so the viewers were willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for a lot of things, because we knew that it was improv and sometimes things dont go your way. and they had this massive, growing, beautiful thing at their fingertips. and wilbur said “yeah i’m not writing this arc” and communication became nonexistent and everything collapsed. the server literally NUKED ITSELF. OK . holy shit.

that being said i immensely enjoyed my time in the dsmp fandom. it helped me through covid, it inspired me, i’ve written quite a bit of fic for it. i loved the dsmp. there are aspects that i still love, and will love forever. but holy shit. we were not treated well.

[kyrodo]

I've normalized people acting stupid around me. For example Choskey will act dumb about "what I wanted to watch" and both me and Red would tell him I wanted to watch the thing we were watching before the pvp arena minecraft thing he showed. And his reasoning he eventually revealed was because he didn't want to watch something he wanted to be awake for and he also doesn't like watching incomplete animes if they're good cause he doesn't want cliffhangers. Another example is Red acting stupid when he's watching something going on in a parking lot, either a homeless person he wants to help, or some activity that seems suspicious to him. Because Red has some kind of police obsession which I almost don't blame Kay for getting angry at him now. Especially when the reality is they cause more problems than they solve, and they're used to control people, quell protests etc. I'm not gonna get too far into that, but I'm not the type of person who gets a hard on watching police chases end poorly for people.

Back to topic though, I'm used to it now. I'm used to people acting stupid for one reason or another, not being as forthcoming as I am, lying, putting on a farce, acting like they don't know what I'm talking about. As long as the person on the other end at the end of the day is someone who supports or cares about me. As long as they are not my enemy. After all that's only happened once. Once out of all the years I've lived. ONCE. So not only are you the only person who's ever switched gears every time I interact with them depending on how I interact with them, you're also the only real enemy I've ever made. What is that supposed to say about me?

You can bring a whole army to fight a private war with me behind Red's back, but at the end of the day you're the only one crying wolf. Obviously other people aren't seeing some of the things you're seeing because I'm not hostily subtexting them but is that it? Is that enough for not a single person to hate me except you out of my entire life? I'm saying you picked a hard person to frame.

It's funny how back then I used to almost believe everybody in the world hated me and that's what started our interaction at all, but it was literally just you and your friends all along. Who else is there? Who else has some vendetta against me? Who else has tried to fuck up my life? When I was ranting towards Kay, how much of it do you even think she read? I fought a one-sided war against her she wasn't even paying attention to or didn't make any indication of reacting to, hoping she cared enough that she would, and she didn't. I don't even make enemies, you just came at a good time. I'm not like my mom. I don't go out of my way to piss off managers or give people a hard time. So what the fuck do you want me to do?

I can only be so little, and I can only do so much. I had a massive footprint in 2020 that was largely ignored by the person it was originally meant for. But otherwise my footprint when it comes to drama other than you is pretty fucking nonexistent. Because I'm not the type. I have transparent thoughts on social media, if not in public then here, but beyond that I'm not bothering people am I? Nobody's trying to subtext me, there's no parasocial anything going on anymore. And in vrchat. Nothing. There's no attack drones. No negative words behind my back. Everybody has had good experiences with me. And I literally can't do any better than I already have. Why the fuck do I need to fit your blown out standards when everybody else gets along with me just fine?

And just like how siber got his art skills when he was completely emotionally crashed due to psychotic depression, I'm an absolute beast at avatar customization. The holes in the stuff I don't know are getting filled in every time I work on anything. And I keep making friends. I have two boyfriends. I don't know how poorly you wanted my life to go in the aftermath but allow me to disappoint you.

And the cherry on top is that my "reading" skills aren't being constantly stress tested by someone every single day. The only people I want to interact with these days are as non-toxic as a fucking crayon, subtly or not. My avatar is so cute. My personality is so cute. Where I'm getting rejected in the edgieverse, elsewhere I'm finding loads of acceptance when I use my real strengths. Why should I try to find friends with the personality that only exists when I'm having problems with someone. Especially when the only people it would appeal to aren't the people that would calm me down. What comfort is there to be found in someone about as soft as a fucking toothpick.

I don't want more reasons to remain aggravated, I want someone that would help me stop. You're the opposite of that. You leave shouts on people's fa pages trying to recycle drama. I can't even wrap my head around how much of a dick you were to me. Every action an ulterior motive to get me reading subtext again so I can get hurt again. So I can give you a free pathway to attack and abuse me with. Find someone else.

[bearpillowmonster]

D23 Haul

Eh. No Kingdom Hearts. No Big Hero 6, that would've made everything worth it but I feel like lately companies have been showing too much too early. Here's Incredibles 3...it's happening, dunno what it's going to be, when or anything else but it's coming! Frozen 3, concept art, 3 years from now...which is so far away that I wouldn't even plan on getting people's hopes up, look at Beyond the Spiderverse, where is that? I don't mind waiting for it but they set that original date too soon, it wasn't just the strike, it was that they weren't even ready for it to begin with, it was a pipe dream and only makes people more wary when something gets delayed. I thought we learned this from CP2077 but apparently nobody learns anything.

On a positive note, I'll allow the Lilo and Stitch one even though Detective Pikachu set the standard for those designs but it had a cool intro. Tron at least had a cool laser and Nine Inch Nails (though no actual music reveal) Zootopia and Moana did great. Snow White actually got a trailer. Toy Story told us what it was about (even though it sounds tacky and seems in part with the og TS2 concept)

The parks. Yeah, we're gonna have a Lion King Land and an Encanto Land and a Frozen Land and a Villain Land- "Well, when is that?" Uh, yeah, left on read, so we have pictures! "That's concept art. That's not going to be how it'll look." Come back to me when you have models or animatronics and did you really just tell us that LK Land was based on the 1994 movie and show us concept art for the 2019 one? AND it's just Splash Mountain but with Pride Rock? You've had since 1994 to think something up and that's it?

Look at all the hotel concept arts to what they ended up being. So you're telling me that you won't (not 'can't', 'won't') spring for a new dragon for Fantasmic (which is literally on the poster for it) but you'll make a whole side-park for villains and add a dragon. And the walking mat...yeah, that's cool technology but that's all you're showing. You didn't incorporate it into anything. "Yeah, we're going to use this in the future...for something!" It's all tentative.

Well, what about the games? They had a big presentation set out after announcing that they wanted to get back into games. The stream actually taking place within Fortnite. They had an Epic Mickey panel celebrating its remaster and original release. They have all these Marvel games in the works, Kingdom Hearts (of course) and rumors that the Disney Afternoon cast will join in Fortnite, a vague Epic Games collaboration announced earlier in the year. So what did we get? I'll start a bingo card...Oh...it started a half hour later than scheduled. Ok? Oh, it has the leaders with Dave Filoni, Pete Docter, Kevin Feige and Jennifer Lee and they each have something to announce. Ok, Disney Villains in Fortnite. More concept art. Ok? The Incredibles in Fortnite. Ok, a picture. IG-11 with Baby Yoda backpack and Moff Gideon coming next week. Ok, this is all Fortnite, maybe they'll get that out of the way first. A bunch of Marvel cast which was inevitable as they have most in there already, ok. Black. Huh? Black? Oh, it's over, they didn't say bye, they didn't say anything else, just DONE, mic drop. You needed a whole event and panel that was delayed...for some skins?

I thought they were holding back throughout the year to save stuff for the game event but no, they were actually just trying to scrape the barrel to make stuff for it, maybe that's why they delayed it, they realized that they didn't have anything and had to try to get everybody that got applause on stage. They didn't seem to know what they were doing, like these people were thrown in, quickly briefed to add a quick word before grab the wheel and show it. It reminded me of trying to stretch out my powerpoint in college to meet the 5 minute runtime.

Show me stuff, sure, there was no shortage overall but I feel like concept -> production -> marketing -> release should be how it goes but lately it's all been combined with production taking a backseat and release still on the GPS. Show me earlier stuff at an event like D23 but make it past the concept stage first, show me production!

They design it to generate hype so much before the fact that by the time it actually releases, you feel like you've seen everything and nothing is no longer a surprise. "Oh yeah, Incredibles 3 is coming out. I could've expected that but now it's real and I heard about it 20 years ago." It's not just Disney, it's every corporation, I see it with game shows. Oh...a title card...oh...CONCEPT ART. I love concept art but it's more something I like to see AFTER THE FACT as bonus of seeing 'we went from here to where we are now!' but I see the whole journey now, I don't need the after the fact, you're not investing in your future, you're investing in your now so that investors will see this, it's no secret, it's not about the mainstream fans anymore that actually do most of the promoting for you and give it the returns. It's a bunch of rich people buying into other rich people and the audience just happens to be outside fueling it.

[askgideongraves]

Nobody wants to hear this from a Gideon askblog but I'd rather get it over with than just leave it inactive or whatever. This is probably the most vulnerable I'll get on here so don't be fucking weird about it or anything.

Okay so I've experienced a specific set of symptoms since I was a toddler and I've only opened up to my [7th] therapist about it. I've been going to child therapy clinics n shit most of my life and the last time I opened up to one of them [idk which one or how old I was] they brushed it off as me just playing pretend or having an "overactive imagination". Which they should've looked into more than telling me to just cope with anxiety attacks. I have severe childhood trauma from abuse from ages 0-14 and a bunch of therapists would basically disregard it, when I was like 14 I had a whole ass psychiatrist tell me during my diagnosis that "they weren't gonna focus on my trauma cause clearly my 'anxiety' [which is really paranoia which therapists have also disregarded and only ACTUALLY acknowledge it recently] is worse". Well, those specific set of symptoms that I mentioned, I finally brought it up to my recent therapist. Ever since my last therapist who told me it was my imagination, I hadn't told anyone about it in nearly a decade probably. She told me that my symptoms basically overlap with OSDD/DID, but it wasn't my primary diagnosis [she thinks I'm schizoaffective instead since my bipolar disorder doesn't fit a specific type except for that one due to my delusions n shit. We're still tryna figure it out but I doubt I'm schizoaffective due to my lack of positive symptoms but it could just be me in denial idk, not important].

So yeah child therapy fucking sucks but what does it have to do with the Gideon askblog/ fandom??

Basically I wasn't just being cringe for having a house with different people in my head [mostly of fictional characters from what I know, as a kid I thought the fictional characters were cool even if some of them would hurt me but turns out I have other people who my brain just created and I never noticed], I literally had people in my head who were part of me and caused me to have multiple streams of consciousness. Idk when the hell Gideon actually appeared, but I know in 2022 or 2023 [I forgot when already], he became more active in my head. When I created this blog I was highly manic. I was literally telling my therapist that Gideon was the reason why I was manic and we thought it was delusion again but it didn't make sense since I mostly have religious delusions or whatever. I was highly manic because I wanted Gideon to be emotionally attached to me in my own head, when he arrived my head felt empty and he was the only person there. For a while I couldn't interact with stuff involving Gideon because I was so manic over him. Eventually I came back and tried continuing this blog, but this was the time the Anime came out. The anime's whatever, I can ignore it, but Gideon can't. He hates the way he was interpreted and sees that everyone's misinformed about him. The Gideon in my head is mostly based on the comic, so seeing anything involving him regarding anything but his original source, he gets defensive. It sounds cringe as fuck but unfortunately I have physical symptoms with mania and when I try to interact with anything regarding it, he gets stressed and stress triggers my manic episodes. Is it delusion?? Idk. Am I a system?? Idk, I'm probably in denial but yes I am Plural and acknowledged as such recently, it's jarring knowing I've never been just "one person". He lives with me until he disappears like everyone else who lives in my head. His existence is the reason why sometimes I wouldn't know how to answer his questions or would know exactly how but then come off as defensive which is why at times I could interact with other Gideon askblogs for shits and giggles but other times get annoyed from notifications of people trying to RP as "Gideon" interacting with this blog. This blog would stress the both of us one way or another which is why I just stopped. I can't lie and just say I'm fine with doubles or doubles dni, it's silly to me but maybe not to Gideon. I don't know, but this blog is open to everyone, just follow the general ruleset and we're probably chill. Being plural explains why I'm inconsistent with that stuff.

Maybe one day I'll be able to get back to it like a silly Qna or maybe I'll rebrand this account and just give it to Gideon to use as a personal blog. But who knows. If I sound cringe, whatever, sometimes I think my plurality is cringe from being shamed by other people or even me not understanding my own symptoms for a long time. I'll try to be open to questions one more time on this blog, you can ask me about whatever the hell this is, I'm open about it. As for Gideon, maybe asking him as a character was an innocent but wrong approach on my end, I don't blame anyone. If you have any questions directed to "him", please treat him like an actual person, not just a character. I could probably answer for him or something. He's someone who very much needs that respect and acknowledgement while some other people in my head probably don't care. But this goes for anyone interacting with any sort of system/plural that do have fictives, always keep in mind to approach them like actual people and not just fictional characters you think is cool. Most of the time this is literally our brains just trying to survive and are stuck in a dissociative state or whatever.

Sorry for being a yappatron, but one final reminder, he's not a delusion that I know of, I know he's not a "real person" but he is involved with my plurality. I've been seeing a good therapist that finally helps me for like a year or two and I do get reality checks from other people when they deem it necessary. Thank you for your time if you read all of this, being able to talk about this is important to both me and "Gideon".

TL;DR: I'm plural because of trauma and didn't know for a long time which is why I've been so on and off about this blog and interacting with anything Gideon related since he hates it [his source is the comics so he hates everything else]. You can ask questions about it but I can't guarantee this blog will be the same ever again now that I'm aware. Also treat systems/plurals with fictives normally .

How I feel as a fictive joining a roleplay as myself

[dangan-kagura]

Ok. So about that rant I posted a few days ago. I got an email saying it was taken down because Tumblr thought it was hate speech. Now I mean this in a nice way, but it's been bothering me for a long time.

I come from a generation where posting rant videos and writing rant blogs was normal. But now, in this new generation, rant videos and rant blogs are now being viewed as cyberbullying and hate speech. I guess I'm just feeling bothered because part of me thinks that people are still getting away with that kind of thing.

It's like this. Anyone ever heard of review bombing? It's when a majority of people write negative reviews as a means of either trolling or giving destructive criticism to something highly well received. It originally started in the video game culture, but I believe it can mean more than just ranting about games. So part of me thinks that online reviews are a new way of ranting about stuff, but people are taking action about it, getting everyone to understand that review bombing is on par with cyberbullying and hate speech.

And here's something else. You know that YouTube web series, AVGN? Well, sufficient to say, I never liked it because I didn't think he was funny. To me, the AVGN was more like a bully than a nerd, and the reason I say that is because at the time I learned about him, which was like back in 2008, part of me was under suspicion that the AVGN was inspiring bullying, cyberbullying and maybe even review bombing. Moreover, part of me was under suspicioun that he's also the reason why people would make rant videos and write rant blogs as a means of giving something destructive criticism. And let me say that every time I read a negative review, I always read it as if it were destructive criticism because part of me thinks that nobody is giving constructive criticism because they were inspired by this guy. But I guess that generation is over and everything's different now. I don't mind getting more specific about this guy, but I'm gonna leave it at this.

But here's something else bothering me. If I can't get away with writing a blog that was viewed as hate speech, how is that any different from critics writing articles about criticizing popular things? It's like this, a couple of years ago, I went to all sorts of sites to see what the worst songs were and pretty much, every article included labeling top-charting pop songs as being the worst kind of music. It bothered me because there's music out there that I don't like that doesn't get that same kind of criticism. I'm gonna admit that I don't like metalcore and screamo, and it's been bothering me that the genres have suddenly become popular over the last decade, I'd explain more but I'd rather not. So how is it that journalist are giving negative reviews to top-charting pop songs just because of how annoying they can be sometimes? Why would people today still flame Nickelback and not flame screamo bands? I just couldn't take that anymore. I'm not even sure if people today are still flaming or trolling Nickelback, how would that be any different from my rant? Is flaming Nickelback not considered hate speech? Why would people get away with that? Also, remember that Rebecca Black song, "Friday"? Well I've read that that song was so poorly received, all the hate and trolling it was getting resulted in Rebecca Black being a victim of bullying and dropped out to be home schooled by her mother.

Even in 2023, I'm still not over the things I believed in back in high school. I don't know if I can change myself and change the way I see things. Obviously, I'm the type that has trouble accepting change. I realize that I said some horrible things in my rant, but it was like, only a little and I apologize for writing it. If I can't rant about the pop cultures I'm not into, because of how annoyed I am with their popularity, how do I feel better about myself? How do I keep my triggers under control? I'll never understand the differences between hate speech and negative reviews, that's what's bothering me.