#assing this to the puck lore

[fairylando]

if you ever asked yourself what fairylando means... this video is exactly what it means.

[gamblersdoll]

𝓕𝓞𝓡 𝓨𝓞𝓤, 𝓘 𝓦𝓘𝓛𝓛 II

“what is it?” you ask, plopping on the bed as he stood over you. you felt.. nervous, nervous as if he was trying to intimidate you.

“you were wrong about what you said.” he starts off, crouching to your level while putting both hands on your shoulders. he furrowed his eyebrows, looking at you. “i do care.”

you sigh, looking away from him as he breathes softly. “i was.. angry in the moment.” you admit, bouncing your knee. you felt a tinge of guilt, but lets not forget how much a tinge can be. guts shakes his head, and you start again. “theres.. something between us, that it took me forever to realize, yet, i dont know if you even see it.”

hes confused, at first. trying to predict or pretend what the hell you were saying. truth is, he didnt know a damn thing. he sat there and looked at you, hoping your give more context clues.

you now were looking at him, eyes low but longingly.

it then pops in his head, looking to you even lore to rely on. “you mean the..” he trailed off, sliding his hands from your shoulders to your biceps.

you nod, feeling even more nervous, could you be more nervous?

“yeah.” you mutter, your foot tapping against the floor in anticipation. you look up to him, his eyes softened and glowy. you feel everything in your heart beating, growing louder the way he looked at you.

he tucks a hair behind your ear, looking to your eyes, then your lips, then back to your eyes.

how could you be this way to him yet think he didnt give an ounce of fuck about you? he thought, his hand curving around your cheek and pulling you closer to his own face.

“guts!” puck went around asking, you could hear him outside the door, and both of you sighed in annoyance. he stood back up, fixing your hair and straightening himself out.

“we’ll finish this in a few.” he gruffed, briefly opening and closing the door behind him. you flopped backwards on the bed, cursing puck for even being awake right now and looking for guts.

you were literally just right there.

and the cheap ass sanctuary were you slept came to an end, immediately moving to the next place. at times, your brand of sacrifice would pulsate. anytime it did, you all avoided the cause, and found some better town to stay at. the older villagers being mire welcoming and giving you slight hospitality.

that night pondered in your head, wondering how far you could’ve gone if it weren’t for puck.. or did you have it completely wrong? considering his feelings for casca. did you even stand a chance with guts?

probably not.

you sat in the bath, the warm water sweltering on your skin. you hear the others outside, their voices somewhat filled with laughter.

then, the thought of a repeat happened. what were to happen if you had left? could your journey end anytime soon? well, it could, most definitely. but could you choose to end it? to just decide you want to part ways with whatever group this was?

no, thatd be foolish.

“hey! you okay in there?” ishidoro asks, sounding impatient.

“yeah– coming!” you holler back, scrambling to get out of the water and dry off. you quickly throw your clothes back on, stepping out of the wash hall.

the thought of leaving immediately left your mind, realizing the biggest thing of all.

guts couldnt lose you, too.

[dmercer91]

happy tanner charlotte to the devs day to all who celebrate (ik in the og post i said her first game w them was on a wednesday against colorado, but i don't time travel and they don't have a wednesday game ever)

as a treat, here's a hockey deep dive on our girls (+ their relationships cause i'm nosy and i hope you are too)

tanner charlotte [charlie] NJD #19, RW

very physical player, felt the need to overcompensate when she was young cause she always heard that women never made it pro due to lack of hitting/ability to absorb- she just grew into the reputation and now it’s her thing. makes a point to be clean about it 

her and dawson used to always be 18 and 19, him being 19, but when he originally had 18 for the devs she decided to take 19 with the rags. now that they’re together again, they say it’s 91 and 19 inverted for each other

goal scorer with solid playmaking ability, definitely not a pk player but holds her own defensively. pp1 and 2 depending on rags or devs and also who’s hurt, how she’s playing 

really really good in the corners/puck battles 

not the speediest but it’s very obvious that she wants to get better and when she wheels, she’s pushing 

chirps like it’s the whole sport (her mouth gets her in so much trouble) and they’re usually funny ones she’ll throw around mid play. when she’s mad she doesn’t use her words as much as her body

drafted 19th overall in 2020

usually on a line with jhughes and bratt, but dawson begged and begged for them to line up together and it worked really well. as per usual, lindy fucked it up by separating them the next game

as of like three days from today, she’s in a long term relationship with jack. we all know the lore

jamie lochlyn [locho] SBY #12, C

she doesn’t particularly enjoy throwing the body but she’s so overprotective of her teammates that she’s like.. do u want me to kill that guy for you? and sometimes she does. do not, under any circumstances, get in her goalies crease. she’ll deck you. very often found jerking someone away from her goalie by the back neck of his jersey

as a kid her girls teams would give her whatever number was on the jersey that fit her best, and so when she got to her first rep hockey team and they had jerseys made to fit players with like last names and stuff, she was like,, twwwwwelllve (?). and so now she’s twelve, for funsies (listen. i wanted to give her a small number but tml has 2 and 3 taken, and 1,4,5,6,7,9, and 10 are retired. eight, one might say. but then the fuckass sby wolves retired her, too. they both have an 11)

she is one with the art of playmaking. so hockey smart it hurts. she was whipping plays out of her ass one could only hope to think up at like the ripe age of 9. goal scoring is rarely her friend, but when it is the goals are either gorgeous or a disaster, no inbetween. slays the pk and second pp unit

her and the boards are best friends

so fast that she creates a chill throughout the sudbury community arena, and her skating is absolutely beautiful 

she has anger issues on the ice so sometimes it’s witty and hilarious and other times shes reading you to filth. only whips out the chirps when she's really heated 

drafted in the 2022 draft, 95th overall (sry nicky you still exist i swear)

she works well with goyette, dvorsky and mccallum, so they usually toss her in the top 6 (sometimes on a wing) and hope for the best.

her love life is a complex thing (she refuses to admit she has a thing for a teammate)

due to her name, she can also go by JLO. this, in combination with dvorsky getting coined mr shortside, makes for a lot of content getting made with on the floor by jennifer lopez, ft. pitbull (this was 1000% why i gave her the name i did and why she plays for the wolves, sue me)

rylie scott [scotty] LDN #96, LD

will not hurt a fly, but can, if provoked. really good at absorbing hits cause the opposing boys in her first rep league were essentially told by their coaches to get her off the ice 

her big brother was a star forward about twelve years older than her, who never thought he was going to make it professionally. he wore 96 because her birthday was may sixth and his was april ninth. she always said she was a defenceman because she wanted to be able to stop him from scoring. he passed in a car crash a few months before he would’ve been drafted to the nhl, she was hardly six years old. when she made her first rep team and the jersey numbers went high enough, she chose 96.

shut down d all the way, a good handful or sometimes two of assists annually and four total ohl goals so far. pp time is through the roof but she will never see the ice on the man advantage 

good at digging the puck out but she rarely needs to exercise the skill cause she protects the puck so well, wonderful work at getting the puck out of the zone and guarding the line but she definitely won't be going on any breakaways.

she’s fast and her skating is very unique but she cannot go a game without banana peel falling at least once. edges are flawless… until they’re deeply flawed.

can’t chirp, doesn’t want to. someone will try to intimidate her and she’ll get nervous and laugh in their face.

127th overall in the 2023 draft

usually paired with bonk or dickinson, so they can help out on offence and she can focus on her role

love life? in her professional opinion, she has none. in my professional opinion, her and mackie samo met in dev camp this past summer and he’s hardcore pining. she argues that nightly facetime calls that can go on for several hours ‘don’t mean anything’ (EXTREMELY LOUD AND SORT OF OBNOXIOUS INCORRECT BUZZER)

:) enjoy! <3

pls send lore questions if you have any cos i love my trio to death

[hockpock]

i know hockpock has another meaning but every so often it brings Pontoffel Pock and His Magic Piano into my head cause i mis-singing "pontoffel pock where the heck are you"

I.. have absolutely NO idea what this is referring to, thank you 'nonymouse!

I'll have to look it up later and see what the ear worm is.

Actual Pock Lore: My sister in fandom @mistr3ssquickly used to call me Pockity, via this disney classic:

So when I wanted to change from the weeby Pocky-based handle I used to have I went with that.

turns out HockityPockity is a pain in the ass to type though, so it got shortened....there are a few places where someone got to the short one first though so there are variations.

To shorten it, I do prefer Pock over Hock. i don't know who hock is and it always takes me a minute.

It is also not "Puck", of Shakespearian fame.

[thenightling]

Maleficent is underrated

  My favorite Disney, live-action, movie guilty pleasure (besides Hocus Pocus) is Maleficent.  A lot of people think of Maleficent as a remake. It's not.  Much like Wicked it's an alternate perspective story or even alternate universe version of the events.   It's so deliciously cheesy such as with King Stefan's mysterious adult-form's heavy accent and it has some obvious flaws, like how in the opening narration we're told there are "two kingdoms" but one has "No King or Queen for they relied on each other." Then... that's not a kingdom.  You should have said "two lands."   But I still love it.  And I think Linda Woolverton did an excellent and underrated job of making Maleficent feel like a real character.  Not just a "Strong woman TM" but an actual character.  And Angelina Jolie's acting is so good that when she wakes up mutilated I find that scene very difficult to watch. I also love the dynamic with Maleficent and Diaval. I know he's a bird that was turned into a man (or turned into a shapeshifting servant / slave) but I still ship it.  I don't care that it's "problematic."  They're faeries.   Faeries ARE problematic by their very nature.  It's why, for centuries, Gaelic people found them terrifying.

It's also the first mainstream movie I know of to remember that faeries are vulnerable to iron.  The only other time I saw that on TV or film was Disney's Gargoyles, such as when iron chains held Puck.     So many people don't know that weakness today that a review for Maleficent: MIstress of Evil in Variety went on a paragraph long tangent about the "arbitrary weakness" of iron "invented" by Disney.   I love the respect to actual faery lore.  And I love that many of the fae folk look almost like Brian Froud illustrations.  

I certainly think it’s far better and more creative than Cruella.    Okay, so maybe it's not that much of a guilty pleasure.  I think I'm proud of my love for Maleficent.  And I think because so many dismissed it out-of-hand as a remake or just hate the idea of Maleficent being sympathetic, that they end up missing out on something they might otherwise like.  But she's a powerful, bad-ass, dark fae. with a raven-slave who apparently is crushing on her. And who doesn't want to be that? In the 90s I used to role play in the AOL RP community as Jareth from Labyrinth but if this version of Maleficent existed back then I might have wanted to play her too and that's saying something since (even though I'm a woman) I usually prefer male characters.

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Re:Zero S2: Episodes 3-4

God, this fucking show.

Not So Safe Haven

You know, the thought occurs to me that I haven’t given that much thought to Re:Zero’s broader lore. Perhaps that’s understandable; the first season was very focused on Subaru’s individual growth, with most of the lager implications for the world and its history playing out in the background. The true nature of the witches and sins, the political landscape of Lugunica, why Puck can turn into a big-ass monster and freeze the world to death... all that stuff was present, yes, but it mostly took a backseat to the overwhelming suffering Subaru experienced as a result of them. And that’s not a criticism, to be clear. Re:Zero as a story is all about Subaru and what he represents, so it makes sense for him to be the focal point for most of what goes on. But it’s also true that Subaru’s journey is one of learning to look outside himself and understand the places and people around him. So it only makes sense that as Subaru gets better at being a decent human being, his perspective broadens to give him- and thus, the audience- a clearer picture of the world he’s been transported to and the players acting within it. This may be Subaru’s story to us, but it has never been Subaru’s story to Lugunica. If anything, Emilia is the true protagonist of this world; she’s the one trying to win the royal selection and change the world for the better. Subaru’s just some unusually helpful doofus who decided to dedicate himself to helping her achieve that dream, and hey, isn’t it pretty neat that the supposed self-insert protagonist’s ultimate goal is just to support the awesome girl he’s in love with and help her become a hero that everyone looks up to? Man, that moment he says that people shouldn’t assume Emilia can’t make her own decisions and she’s made it here with her own strength was really fucking sweet.

But I digress. Now that Subaru’s officially reached the level of Being Actually Kinda Cool, the broader scope of the world and its struggles are becoming more prominent in the narrative. We’re getting more insight into the demihuman situation; the Sanctuary Roswaal and the rest of his village have taken shelter in is a village protected by a magic barrier that supposedly protects people of mixed blood from outside threats, but is actually just a prison that doesn’t let them leave. And judging by the squalid conditions of the place, whoever set it up really didn’t give a damn about demihumans. He just wanted somewhere he could shove them into so they’d be out of sight, out of mind. Small wonder that Garfiel, the Bakugo-voiced motherfucker Frederica warned us about, is willing to take the villagers hostage just for the chance of breaking the seal and helping his people go free. As hilarious as Garfiel is (”Why don’t you think about it?” “Thought about it. Don’t know.”), he’s also understandably desperate, and that leads him to take drastic measures to bring the Sanctuary down. But what chance does Emilia have of surviving its trial when even someone as powerful as Roswaal got nearly ripped to shreds attempting it? Hopefully being a half-elf counts for something, because I do not want to know what monster could be terrifying enough to lay Dio so low.

Interview With the Witch

And as if that wasn’t enough, we’ve officially had our first encounter with one of the legendary witches herself: Echidna, the witch of Greed. And sweet buttery muffins, what a meeting it is. Echidna is dangerous, but she’s also pleasant, happy to chat with Subaru as long as she can keep him wrapped around her little finger. You get the sense that she could pop his head off with the snap of a finger if she wanted, or at least cause him enough hell that he would beg her to do so. But she’s also hilarious! Like, no-holds-barred hilarious! Subaru and her instantly establish an incredible rapport that had be wheezing from start to finish. Echidna’s so powerful she doesn’t even really have to try to be that intimidating; she can just screw with Subaru for funsies and laugh at his reactions (”It’s a bodily fluid of mine.” I’M DYING HOLY SHIT) But Subaru in turn is just as capable of screwing with her by refusing to play her games. He’s devoted to Emilia through and through, and he has no reason to let Echidna sweet-talk him into spending more time with her. It’s the first time he’s used his simp powers for good, and Echidna’s reactions to him ignoring her are hilarious. She sounds like a spoiled middle-manager who can’t handle her employees suddenly talking back to her. Powerful, almighty witch she might be, but she’s still a fallible human at heart.

But all that humor doesn’t take away from how dangerous she can be when she puts her mind to it. And she’s happy to spill some very chilling details about the nature of her situation; she’s dead. Or at least, in purgatory. Apparently, the Witch of Envy is so monstrous that she killed and consumed the other six sin witches to grow more powerful. The Sanctuary is basically built on an Indian graveyard, expect instead of the souls of countless slaughtered Native Americans lashing out at the society built atop their bodies, it’s just the soul of this one very powerful, very evil being. What little remains of the witches’ power is passed down through the Sin Archbishops by something called a Sin Factor, and now that Betelgeuse is dead, the Sloth Factor he carried inside him has transferred to... Subaru, the person who killed him. What does that mean for the future? I don’t know, but even the mere implications are terrifying. The Witch of Envy is the one lodged in Subaru’s heart. She’s the one who squeezes him shut whenever he tries to talk about his Return by Death. She’s probably the one who summoned him to this world in the first place. And this is what she’s capable of? She’s so dangerous that she devoured all the other witches, who were presumably about as powerful as she was? Who pulled off great and terrible feats that Echidna lists as if giving her and her sisters heroic epithets? Is it even possible to fight something like that? I don’t know, and Subaru sure as shit doesn’t know either.

But the questions will have to wait for another time. Because Echidna has her own desires for the boy her sister pulled into this world. She wants him to do something very important for her. And the first step of that plan is quite simple...

Subaru has to face his past.

Happy Family

It’s perhaps to be expected that most modern isekai pay basically no attention to the life the protagonist leads in the real world before being Trucked over to the other side. They’re escapist power fantasies about traveling to another world and instantly becoming so cool there that your previous life basically doesn’t matter. They’re about getting away from the things that bug you about the real world, with little in the way of introspection about why those things bug you in the first place, or even if they’re things that should bug you. And you can’t really have a brainless escape from reality if the story is asking you think about the reality you left behind. But let’s stop for a moment and remember that these stories are supposed to be about people leaving their world behind. Realistically, that is not a change that should come without consequences. What would your friends think if you up and vanished? Your family? Your loved ones? Most isekai protagonists are teenagers, so their parents are hypothetically still very involved in their lives. But basically none of them acknowledge they even had a life before becoming JRPG Jesus-Kun. We don’t get to see how Naofumi’s parents are affected by their son vanishing, how Sora and Shiro’s parents feel about losing their children, how Death March What’s-his-face’s friends feel about losing such a nice co-worker. And we sure as fuck don’t get to see the protagonists’ reactions to losing contact with those people that supposedly matter to them. You really gotta wonder what the point even is of having them travel between worlds if one of those worlds is treated as basically worthless.

Throughout its first season, Re:Zero seemed to fall squarely in that camp. Subaru suddenly vanished from his world barely a minute into the first episode, we get no backstory on his old life or home situation, and the only time our world is so much as referenced is in Subaru’s huge breakdown to Rem where he lays out the kind of person he used to be, and even that lacks concrete detail. I didn’t really mind because the story was still excellent on its own terms, but I definitely wondered about who Subaru used to be. Well, it turns out, those answers were waiting right around the corner. Echidna’s trial places Subaru in a dream of his old life, back when he was a shut-in living with his parents. And at long last... we meet Subaru’s family.

And sweet buttery Jesus, this family is amazing. From the second Daddy Kenichi burst into Subaru’s room shirtless and trapped him in a wrestling hold (”What’s wrong? You look like you saw your dad half-naked first thing in the morning!”), I knew I was doomed to fall in love. These are some of the most wonderful parents I’ve ever seen in anime, goofy and loving and prickly and full of zest for life. And every single interaction Subaru has with them crackles with the kind of history you only get when you live with someone long enough to know them like an extension of yourself. Turning the soda can away before opening it because he knew his dad would’ve shaken it up enough to explode (”Don’t click your tongue at me.”) Going off on his mom about how disgusting mayonnaise is (”Anyone who picks mayonnaise doesn’t do it because they actually like mayonnaise, they just hate the world!”) That entire breakfast table scene where they’re passing the giant bowl of peas back and forth because none of them like peas (”Yes, I hate the same things you and your mom hate!”) God fucking help me, I could not stop cackling. There is so much life to their relationships, so much unspoken history and comfort and familiarity as they talk over each other and playfully bicker and prod each other in almost comforting ways. It’s the kind of effortlessly loving family most people can only dream of having. You’d never think someone with such incredible parents could turn out like Subaru.

But he still did turn out like Subaru. He still flinched away when his dad tried to suggest going to school. He still felt his heart race while waiting for the time to grow late enough that he could justify not going to school to himself (”It’s too late to make it to school now. So I have no other choice.”) He still become someone who, in his own words, tried for nothing and achieved nothing and became incapable of truly putting himself out there. And it’s only now, thrust back into a memory of his old life, that he’s really able to articulate why.

His Father’s Son

In a way, season 2 episode 4 reminds me a lot of season 1 episode 18. It’s basically nothing but conversation, diving to the heart of Subaru’s character simply by letting him talk about himself with someone else. But instead of the bitter, gut-wrenching war of words he had with Rem, his talks with his parents are products of love and kindness. This version of Subaru isn’t trying to destroy himself and everything around him with the hatred he levels at himself. This Subaru is trying to understand, to come to terms, to push himself forward even as fear still tries to hold him back. And in doing so, he’s able to get at the heart of who he is as a person in a way no one’s truly been able to yet, not even himself. This episode is basically Subaru’s entire life story, distilled to just around twenty minutes of soul-searching and reconciliation. In a show that’s always been a character study first and foremost, this is the most introspective it’s ever been.

Natsuki Subaru was a child who tried. In fact, he was a child who tried very hard. He excelled in school, he ran faster than his classmates, he took every opportunity to stand out and be showered with praise. He was his father’s son through and through, a phrase that quickly became something like a drug to him. The more the adults around him compared him to his father, the more eager he became to live up to that image, to earn their approval, to win their applause... and the harder it became to do so. His classmates started getting better than him. His grades and athletics were no longer the best. He could no longer stand out in the ways he used to. And the things he used to excel at only slipped further and further as a result. So he let his grades plummet and turned to acting out, to being the town troublemaker. He led his classmates on merry escapades, pulling off pranks and causing mischief. Once again, he was the name on everyone’s lips. Once again everyone was talking about him, looking up to him, chucking about him. And still, it wasn’t enough. He pushed his troublemaking farther and farther, seized with fear that the moment he stopped being entertaining, he’d be alone once again. He tried harder and harder, desperate to keep people’s attention, desperate for them to want him around, desperate to feel like he mattered. That he was important. That he was special.

That he was his father’s son.

But no matter how much he tried, it wasn’t enough. His pranks grew larger and larger, and still people slipped away. He tried to re-invent himself as class clown in high school, and his cringey shtick only alienated his classmates further. His need for validation grew so all-consuming that it became impossible for him to actually attain it. And slowly but surely, he lost the energy to even try. It barely took three months for him to stop going to school altogether. He retreated into his shell, barely left his room, gave up. He could no longer live up to the impossible standard he set himself to, so he decided to hold himself to no standard at all. But as he realizes now, even giving up was just another cry for an attention. A plea for his parents to admonish him, to kick him out, to say they hated him. To recognize he had failed and punish him appropriately for it. To tell him he was worthless for not being who he thought he was supposed to be.

When all he ever wanted was for people to want him.

Natsuki Subaru is not special. He never was special. He is nothing more than one human being among many, one soul among billions trying to live in an imperfect world. And here, we come to understand that not even his trauma was special. He didn’t suffer some horrible tragedy or become a monster through awful circumstances. All he ever was, was a kid who wanted people to like him. A kid who wanted to believe he was special, who was made to believe he was special. Gifted, even. A kid so remarkable that the people around him set him to standards he could never hope to fulfill. And when he realized he couldn’t live up to their expectations, with no other sense of self to fall back upon, all he could do was sink out of their sight and hope they hated him for it. Just an ordinary kid who suffered the ordinary sorrow of realizing that he was, in fact, ordinary, and didn’t know how to cope with that truth when he built so much of his sense of self-worth around being extraordinary. He’s no great hero, no legendary prankster, no Olympian, no math whiz, no comedy genius, no remarkable soul. All he is... is Natsuki Subaru.

And that’s all he ever needed to be.

Love Yourself

Because for almost thirty episodes now, we’ve seen what Natsuki Subaru is worth. We’ve seen him come into this world carrying all the trauma we’ve just learned about. We’ve seen him struggle and fail and suffer. We’ve seen him give into his worst impulses and almost destroy himself. And we’ve seen him pick himself back up, try again, fix his mistakes, push farther and farther, striving to do the right thing even when he had no idea what the right thing to do even was. We’ve seen him in his remarkable unremarkableness, facing down impossible odds with nothing but his own inner strength and the ability to try as many times as he possibly can before he gets it right. We have seen Subaru in all his highs and lows, all his triumph and failure, all his mistakes and redemptions. And now, after all the trials he’s gone through, he’s able to recognize that truth in himself. He’s as ordinary as ordinary can be, but that doesn’t mean he’s not capable of extraordinary things. He can still face down the most terrifying dangers, the most crushing existential terrors, and make it through to the other side. He’s his father’s son, but he’s also his mother’s son, and his grandfather’s grandson, and the culmination of too many people to ever truly live up to. There is no bar he needs to set himself again but his own. Your parents are only half of you; the other half can just be you. And if Subaru can even be half as cool as his dad?

Then he’ll already be more than worthy of calling himself home.

And seeing him come to that realization, adding up the sum parts of his person over the course of this loving reunion. Seeing him realize how much his parents loved him even as his worst, that he didn’t need to do anything special to be worthy of their love (”Who throws their kid out just because he retreated into his shell? Pick a more active method!” ”We had you because we wanted to do something for you.”) Seeing him understand that he doesn’t need to live up to his father’s legacy to stand on his own. Seeing him find the courage in his own strength to keep trying to fight for what matters to him. Seeing him realize how much he loves his parents and wish he could make it up to them. Seeing him break down sobbing as he realizes he may never get a chance to repair his relationship with him. Seeing him really, truly thankful to be their kid for the first time in far too long. Seeing him resolve to somehow, someway, sometime, find his way back to them so he can be their kid once more. Seeing him reconnect with the life he was trying to leave behind and promise to carry it with him no matter how much this new world might try to rip it out of him.

Seeing him promise to be the Natsuki Subaru who doesn’t have to leave the real world behind.

That, folks, was possibly the most beautiful moment in this entire show.

God. Just... god. It’s been about two hours since I started typing this post, and my eyes are still damp. Subaru apologizing to his parents for retreating from them broke me so fucking hard, I couldn’t stop crying the entire rest of the episode. And then seeing him bid his mother goodbye in the way he couldn’t right before he was spirited to this world in the first place... fucking hell, what a bad time to run out of tissues. Re:Zero’s had plenty of stunning, emotionally devastating moments before, but this episode, in its arresting portrait of just how damn normal Subaru is and how meaningful that normalcy is, might have just surpassed episode 18 as this show’s crowning achievement. It is, without question, one of the most beautiful episodes of anime I’ve ever seen. And as Subaru strides forward carrying his parents’ love with him, it’s never been more apparent just how fucking good Re:Zero is. This is a story about what it means to love yourself, how to figure out how to be yourself, how to understand what expectations to set yourself against and how to surpass them. It’s a story about failure and the darkness of the mind, how that darkness can leech out and poison your life. But it’s also a story about how to escape that darkness, how to find the strength to climb back into the light and become someone better. It’s a story that’s touched my heart too many times to count, and I’m sure this won’t be the last time. It’s just that fantastic.

And if the rest of season 2 lives up to the bar this episode has set?

Then we might just have a candidate for one of my favorite anime of all time.

Thank you, Re:Zero. Let’s see what other triumphs you have up your sleeve.

Odds and Ends

-”I got beat up for nothing. What should I do with this anger?!” Otto, I love you.

-”Is there some sort of translation glitch going on between us?” sldjfskldfjlsdkjf

-”I’ll pick up what’s left of you!” #JusticeForOtto2021

-”As you can see, I’m lovely and healthy as ever.” I missed you so much, Ram.

-Holy shit, Emilia earing the villagers’ trust is everything.

-kjdfhkadh why are you moonwalking

-”You’ve still got mom’s eyes that make you look like a villain.” Is... is that why he always covers his face when he’s overwhelmed? Um????

-”That was an axe kick! Nothing like a headbutt!” I love him

-”Even if I don’t deserve them, I’ll make them mine! I’ll worry about deserving them after that!” Subaru... sweetie...

Until next time, lads. Thank you for being with me.

[jellyfishjuliet]

im really hoping PRAYING miura doesnt try to magicksplain guts’ former violent tendencies because ‘hurr durr the suit made me do it’ cuz NO, the suit aint made him say that nasty shit to the old man back in the early volumes, and that suit aint the reason why he was traumatized and haphephobic. this damn mini-arc better just be lore-building on the armor and a possible power-up, but he better not be doin SHIT to minimize the violence guts was perpetrating when he was batshit and psychotic, and YES, i AM referring to the cold hard facts that he’s tried to rape casca multiple times while in a psychotic state, miura don’t PLAY with me bitch, keep this shit honest and let him suffer the consequences of his gohtdamn actions, let casca decide for herself if she’ll forgive him for his transgressions, i see the tomfoolery with danaan, this shit aint no fairy tail romance and casca shouldnt be wearin no damn cherry blossom negligee, let my bitch KILL someone, send guts’ ass back to the mainland, he needs puck by his side, that’s it!

[zdeno]

hot take: danton heinen didn’t exist before the 2014 draft because he’s actually just a clone of ellen who was manufactured as part of an experiment

ellen degeneres and bill maher accidentally had a baby and they were both so high off their asses they decided to name him danton. then they shipped him to Canada and parted ways to become television hosts on their own shows. he gained none of their interpersonal skills but can shoot a puck like nobody’s business. some say he’s still looking for them 💔… that’s the lore

[bi-allurance]

S2 ep 13

I don’t know what the fuck is going on but it’s their most elaborate plan yet to fight any enemy. And isn’t it like the only until s7 with the plans to to get Sendak to fuck off Earth.

Galra men are fucking stupid. Zarkon doing the most for the black lion despite it not being a good plan at all. Keith in the next season getting tunnel vision for Lotor. How they made good leaders is wild lkkdjjsndkd

“Begin the Ritual”

Honerva must have gotten the high of her life with that quintessence over surge

I like how one real big hit from the baddie really fucking knocked in HOW undertrained the paladins are.

Shiro and Allura doing the most coordinating in battle plans and then the next season, we get Keith being a wreck of a black paladin. Really messed the flow if you didn’t know about black paladin Keith being a voltron lore staple

Allura then having her own blast be fired to her after being so determined to not let the fight end so early was rough. It “ended” quickly as it started. The stakes are only high for moment before the writers get impatient.

There is pattern that the writer’s painfully take with Allura. Have her drained, weak or have little hope for a bit then have her recover suddenly only for them to knock her down again. It just 2 eps, she has been drained and exhausted three times and recover almost immediately to move on to the next thing. It just doesn’t feel aware/right to me

Seeing Honerva slide around like an air hockey puck is great after Allura kicked her ass

allura getting blasted by Honerva’s witchcraft to her being surpised she is unaffected in wild because its cool but never explained to audience what just happened. Despite her just wondering just happened, she knows to channel that energy back into a her own blast destroying the komer room or ritual room. It’s something that gets really explored in s5 with it only being touched once again before at the end of s4.

The writers expect for the audience to know rules, tropes, and info yet also stupid enough to forget about them

Shiro doing the most and finally get his bayard just to “disappear” was a waste for character development and story since Zarkon still alive. It only brought out Lotor.

[endlessnightarts]

CASTLEVANIA COD PLAYTHROUGH PART THE THREE

I finally noticed the opening fmv if you sit at the menu and it is very dramatic - but then again you probably don’t get to work for Dracula if you can’t brood in violent thunderstorms or hang out on top of cathedrals sufficiently.

We pick back up in the mountains:

There’s no secret area behind this waterfall so I just went swimming with Dank for a bit instead. 

Soon after I realized that to open every single chest in this game I have to stop and summon Puck bc of course.

Puck healed me on the way back to wherever they go when I’m not using them like that’ll save him :P

(I’m sure I’ll bust out my pocket healer during boss fights later I’m just being mean)

I’m trying to mess with the leveling up and evolution of my demons, but it goes by what weapons you’re using while they’re active

So to get the evolution line I want I’m stuck using an ax right now I guess?

SECOND BOSS

I figured out how to steal and got some cake from this dragon? Wooo

Dank performed admirably but like all tanks with a terrible DPS teammate(me) he died fairly quickly but by then I needed the healing anyway so Puck it was

I enjoyed:

Riding on this dragon while stabbing it in the head

Hector’s ability to fall hundreds of feet and be totally fine

The next area is the Garibaldi Temple which - FUN FACT - is the name of this stupid looking fish I remember seeing a ton of around the Catalina islands. They have big chunky foreheads

Here’s the in game temple, no sign of patron saint fish.

Cool temple, very moody, can’t wait to see what spooky things await -

hhhhmmmmMMMMMMMM DONT LIKE THAT

LOOK AT THIS MAN??? WIZARD? I DON’T KNOW AND NEITHER DOES HECTOR 

 I really feel like you guys are missing out by not being able to hear this random all knowing southern gentlemen who just appeared

He asks Hector to stop chasing Isaac, and as usual Hector suspects every new person he meets of being in league with Isaac first off. But he puzzles it out a few seconds later;

OH REALLY?!

This dude says he knows far more than we can imagine and the fate of the world depends on Hector not going after Isaac for some reason.

aaand he disappears in a ball of light

What the actual fuck is going on now?

This encounter more than any dead gf backstory makes me really start to empathize with Hector’s general state of angry and confused.

On the Rosaly side of backstory this guy drops that she was falsely accused of witchcraft and that’s how she died. So not only are there an awful lot of dead wives in this series, but more than one killed over witchcraft accusations

Gettin through this chapel/temple/whatever

Dank watcha’ doin’ there buddy?

My ax use pays off bc DANK EVOLVES

This step isn’t as exciting as where he’s going but its a step in the right direction, also I can switch back to swords for a bit unless I want to level up Puck

ok

OK

ARE YOU READY?

I am SO GLAD my brother was here for this next part because he immediately started screaming Starbomb lyrics

while walking through this random temple Hector runs intooooo

NEVER FEAR TREVOR BELMONT IS HERE!!!!! 

(with some very luxurious hair)

This whole sequence is honestly amazing

First they just kind of shout past each other until deciding to fight to the death

Trevor sees Hector’s crest and assumes he’s Dracula’s forgemaster - which Hector doesn’t deny or try to explain that he’s not actually.

Although it does bring up the question of why he’s still wearing his old gear, its been like 3 years since he defected from Dracula’s army.

Hector notes Trevor’s whip and realizes he’s a Belmont, so there’s no reason for him to want to throw down with Trevor but he does anyway.

(I didn’t get any screenshots from this fight because I was GETTING MY ASS KICKED)

But it’s one of those unwinnable boss fights - not the kind you’re supposed to outright lose, you have to take down a bit of Trevor’s health to trigger the next cutscene.

OF NOTE

Trevor can light himself on fire to hurt you so I guess Sypha got around to teaching him some magic

Trevor throws Holy Water around which apparently hurts Hector? Not sure if that’s just a lazy game mechanic or secret lore about the cost of being a devil forgemaster (although it does answer my joke about why Hector didn’t just jump in the holy water in the show)

Trevor’s whip also lights up like a goddamn laser

all in all a good time was had.

After the fight the boys actually try talking again

Hector still refuses to try and explain he’s not Isaac.

I also can’t get over the fact that Trevor just busted into Hector’s game, beat the shit out of him, insulted him and all but took his lunch money. 

I can’t wait for season 3.

Trevor realizes Hector isn’t the forgemaster he’s looking for because he’s not enough of a challenge to fight and Hector’s just like ‘fair enough’

He certainly tries his best.

They take a few seconds to actually talk to each other and confirm identities after trying to murder each other:

I_Havent_Played_Castlevania_3.jpeg

They’re cool now. I think we’re working together. But I assume in the same way  as Alucard and Maria in SotN where we just bump into each every few hours and high five in the castle halls before running in opposite directions.

That’s a good stopping point - this game is ridiculous but now it’s getting fun

Trevor’s eyes seem to be kind of wonky in a lot of these shots

but then again it is his scarred up eye so maybe it’s messed up

Mortals! Consequences from fighting monsters!

[cielospeaks]

tbh i think w go what it is, is early on there wasnt much super complicated lore abt the series- i mean there was, there always has been but it wasnt as prominent imo. theres just the classes, and like “any real or fictional historical/mythology/whatever 100 years or older person can appear” thing. (which is ironic bc theyve broken that w voyager being from the 70s and therefore too young, but then again theyve also broken the god rule probably). and bc that was the thing i was rlly hyped like “oh boy i cant wait to see himiko! or ikkyu!” and even the leak list ones i was hyped for, like ivan, bc i wanted to see what theyd do with them.

as opposed to now, there are literally no consistent rules and its literally just “whatever turns on the head writer is canon and anything else isnt” and its super annoying. i dont even mean like suggestive things (the thing abt shutting down artists if their character designs werent uncomfortably sexual enough is really unscrupulous, but thats less my point), just like the constant fake angst and abuse of certain characters for the sake of the plot. its kinda like that old “x character has depression and thats why theyre beautiful” that is just utter bullshit and insulting. they wanted to make all shakespeare characters fictional despite that many are real people. whatcha gonna do look at richard the thirds real dead corpse and say “no ur in a play so you dont exist” and just faze his skeleton out of existence? thats what they did to taira no kagekiyo. theyve had characters that were “not real person” before like kojiro and robin (tbh robin makes sense, bc its uncertain if robin hood really existed). i remember being pissed off abt hl bc they said neither are “strong enough” to be summoned as a servant (first of all fuck you, lobo at least is a real person, er wolf) but at least that isnt fucking erasing a real ass dead persons existence. the sal thing makes sense, what with the fictional “salieri” from amadeus/ect being more well known, but that fucking contradicts the “shakes charas are fictional so they dont exist” thing also. for all purposes fictional salieri is fictional so sal should be free from that inaccurate nonsense. heck vlad too, if we’re gettin technical, that homeboy shouldnt have to deal with any vampire shenanigans bc dracula is a fucking fictional character, even in universe.

besides that, just the writing/tone is rlly. no. a lot of the time. the story always assumes you sympathize w characters over others, and is really skewed- maybe not as much as f-h is regarding the direct main cast (the forced shipping w the worst person ever who fucking treats you like his plaything) but def w other characters (5.2 you can eat ass and heck off). i dont give af abt anyone in lb6 for instance, most of my caring abt garebear is based on just regular plain gareth bc thats the one i know. they didnt give any characters any impact and made most of the major characters just npcs rather than even based on a legend like the knights (how cool would itve been if they had like....the demon from freischutz and like... other somewhat mythological monsters instead. i mean like i have puck already, what if they had like a dullahan or the fucking loch ness monster, or ariel from the tempest, and just had an awesome british isles monster party? we couldve had it all)

[ipsens-castle]

FFIX should never EVER receive a remake, because it's perfect as is and frankly I shudder to think that Square would enlist Nomura to spearhead the project. However, there are so many opportunities for side-stories. Here are a few at the top of my head:

Fratley's adventures after leaving Burmecia (this would include Puck most likely saving Fratley's ass). Because FFIX is all about dichotomies, there could be regular frame shifts to Freya (this would include young Zidane most likely saving Freya's ass).

IPSEN!! Just imagine all the background and lore that can be spun going so far back in time to "when it was hard to travel," I'm melting just thinking about it.

The stone/petrified statues at the base of the Iifa tree. There's a lot to unpack here.

FFI aside: The Terrans escaping a dying planet, leading into Garland's efforts to siphon Gaia's life force over hundreds-thousands of years. I would love to see the significance of the eidolon Ark as a religious or cultural symbol here. Further, I'd be curious to see if Terra's planetary crystals consistently dying has anything to do with its people being immortal (as we discover in FFIX, the crystal requires constant flow to grow in power and create more eidolons).

And my personal favorite: the summoners escaping Alexandria hundreds of years before the events of the game, after Alexander's summoning and rampage. This could absolutely include Ipsen's story; what if he was one of the emissaries sent to separate the shards of Alexander's summoning crystal? Anyway, closing scene after the credits is the first scene of FFIX, the boat on the storm.

Sounds like most of these would not have happy endings, but I'd be fine with more Ivalice in my FFIX.

Feel free to add more :)

[writer59january13]

Wallet Blues

preface:hie do attest that poetry may not be best to express whoosh for bullion ingots tuff hill treasure chest with a lee till bitta chump change

boot an overpowering literary force to pocket earnings for grange upkeep     shrouded amidst gorse (hmm...who knows) maybe formerly owned     by Jessica Lange, who doth horse around, with neigh saying    

though lending tree mend us financial range   asthma saint Matthew life orbitz norse south, easter west, this chap older collage       queue bust puck ass oh...sketch chin nah       bare naked lady model 

  resembling alienated student     hovering under dark shadows     creating a strange ambient source errors trumpeting apprentice visa verse. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT QUEST --- or subtitled IN PRAYS OF LEGAL TENDER. Let this dog gone testes prime mate     ova simian sketch outhis general doggerel freely     unleashes swiftly tale lordof the flies - via his harried styled swiftly tailored brush strokes show strength

sans retracted claws, which might find mebarking up the wrong tree     arf find mewing this hep cat a tonic state taking a nap - in the land of doctor ah zee oz born akin to a long term chore,    where "death in Venice" doubting Thomas Man     dip presses sieve like tenon mortice pestle   expending energy thru the core   of cerebral xylem and phloem     pulpy resultant saw dust,     thus robbing potential     hob knob bing out the door, and force ache king portal dividend     unavailable to Eeyore this arduous slow-mo writing endeavor for... merely sinecure to taxi,     this spruced quest with confusion galore my non-conformist poetic   je ne sais quois x cell lent hoar re: covert letter de jour tempting ye to access mythic lore I entertain as minimum literary fete     less or morethen...whoosh     into circular filing cabinet yell score, a faux winning point, while this pissant   sends thee on a wild goose chase tour this non-formal rip pull sieve gallimaufry     might incite warreducing civilization and discontents     resembling stone age of your   descendants time traveled hiring Pixar     trainer of apple chomping antz so i wonder if any chance - please attest the truth sans, whisker of enjoyment experienced thus far reeding this mishmash vis a vis contrived boot not the besta temp tat virtual digital toy story confabulation,   

via ratatouille poetic brew chest to entertain, distract, confuse     materializes welcoming thee     into my virtual community as a guest into monopoly winning chance such a query motivates me to shrek out with excitement       asper when i did contra dance just in case a glimmering prospect exists cuz this anointed bard dislikes formality presenting a brief poe het tic summation oh viz word mangling skills, he hopes to enhance p'raps earn enough moolah to sight arc D’Triumph,Louvre, Paris France,     I offer the following expression for eyes to take a glance,

and help this intuitive Homo sapiens income     to expand and en-hance which byte size bit torrent humor       without use of strong arm, nor lance might cause thee to soil pants misinterpreting helter skelter raving rants well message understandable part time in   comb acceptable ushering positive stance a subtle intent worth hiring me doth sway     au currant series electronic charge, and ideally affect hypnotic trance. I betcha never red an email like this faux iambic pentameter electronic wire     from a boyish looking blood muggle,

although up in years (nonpareil courage to face voldemort never does tire), and two grown girls after being bribed,   would consider him a worthy hire to rake in gobs of legal tender,    

to satiate unquenchable hunger game of thrones, and thirsting fir knowledge     equals powerful raw reddit bits of computer know how to acquire.

this lettered sortie conveys     teensy weensy, itty bitty byte size work experience     (per this older mister rhyme stir hull lives north west of philadelphia city) approximately fifty miles, nonetheless, i hanker     (NOT to be confused with HACKER) though disparate deeds offset     by difference of third letter to employ computer and writing skills, plus rooted tidbits of moxie     playing at nearby Roxy burrow, which prompts this ditty expressing interest to apply mental tasks     ala computer trouble shooting many ascribe as obsolete passé nitty gritty on par with secret life of Walter Mitty, whom destiny protected and took pity this meant to be silly,     yet attempt tubby witty. No matter how many miles by car (your business might be within     dead man walking distance) opportunity, would not be on the far side to use acumen, human stamina for technologically spar   interleaving graphical non   denominational programs to get unstuck     from virtual feathery tar. aye ham bic pentameter faux pas akin     scotched by the managerial vetter analogous to cross breed Welsh Corgi with Irish setter, not traditional standard genre     for introductory letter no reason why non-coform muddy modus operandi cannot serve as mode to communicate     pursuit viz computer technician and paperback writer wannabe,   cuz I love each english language     as a bill collector pesters a debtor which honest to goodness confession     hopefully offers unique outlook in contrast to other respondents at least a bit better. -----------------------------------------------

add dee yo' - hens matthew scott harris alias hay4four@aol.com roosts at - 2 highland manor drive apartment ***schwenksville, pennsylvania19473

[thenightling]

Disney did NOT invent the fairy weakness to iron!

Here is a link to the Variety Review of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (Maleficent 2)

https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/maleficent-mistress-of-evil-review-angelina-jolie-1203365992/

Honestly, I thought better of variety.  

Not only did this critic clearly not watch the first movie but they spend a full paragraph complaining about the fairies being vulnerable to iron. Essentially claiming Disney pulled this random weakness out of their asses.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this complaint.  Cinema sins made a similar complaint in their take on Maleficent.

  https://youtu.be/svaLPBwDLCY

Not only was Maleficent being vulnerable to iron a major plot point of the first Maleficent movie but it is a well-established bit of fairy folklore.  It even predates werewolves being vulnerable to silver.   Just because Hollywood hasn’t used the iron weakness very often does not mean it is new.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_in_folklore

Here are some examples of fairy weaknesses to iron in modern pop culture. In the Marvel Heroes MMORPG (now defunct) the Dark Elves shout “They must have cold Iron!” while you are fighting them.

In Marvel comics The Dark Elves of Svartalfheim are vulnerable to iron. In Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman: At Worlds’ End, the character Cluracan (Clurichaun in Irish folklore) gets captured and restrained with iron manacles in an iron dungeon cell.  He is rescued by Morpheus, the lord of Dreams.   In Disney’s Gargoyles (which was a TV series from 1994) Puck is summoned and bound with iron chains.  Cold iron is repeatedly used as a weakness against fairies in Gargoyles.  It comes up in at least four episodes.   The Mirror, Ill met by Moonlight, and The Gathering Parts 1 and 2.  

 In the Hellboy comics iron is a fairy weakness.

In the Dresden Files novels and comics iron is a weakness of the Sidhe (Faeries). It comes up in many fantasy novels.  Authors like Angela Carter, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Linda Woolverton, and Jack Kirby have all written about it.  Even Anne Rice has started to use it as a weakness for her supernatural creatures.   

Iron as a weakness against fairies and elves or elf-like creatures comes up in several tabletop role playing games.  It’s very common in Nordic and Germanic fairy lore as well as Gaelic fairy tradition.  Actually the idea of fairies and fairy-like creatures being vulnerable to iron is found all over Europe.  

There are even seventeenth and eighteenth century werewolf legends from Germany that use iron as a weakness instead of silver (which is more common today thanks to the weakness being popularized by German immigrant, Curt Siodmak, for the movie The Wolfman (1941).  

Fairy vulnerability to iron is part of why horse shoes are considered lucky, because they can ward off dark fairies who might do you mischief or harm.   This comes from traditional Gaelic folklore.   It gets covered in the book Dark Fairies by Doctor Robert Curran.  

Just because it hasn’t been used heavily in TV and movies that does not mean it is new or something that Disney pulled out of their asses.   

Again, I honestly expected better of Variety.  Not only did they rely on a critic who never saw the first Maleficent movie to review it’s sequel but also this critic clearly has never been exposed to traditional fairy folklore. So much so that they felt confident in spending over a paragraph chastising Disney for “making up” iron as a weakness even though that is a centuries old piece of fairy lore and where many of our superstitions about nails and horse shoes came from.

[extreme-technicality]

Alright sO lore FIRST

There’s a thriving queer community that the Master of Lightning is v involved in, and through xem Fen and Puck and qpp also got involved. Qpp was obvs the first, she’s literally xyr daughter, AND she’s trans AND bisexual, if anything she’s Puck and Fen’s primary queer guide. ANYWAY!!!! Fen was a bit older, and they’d already sorta figured out they’re aroace before connecting to this huge ass queer network - they were still not quite sold on their gender or pronouns yet, though.

Puck, on the other hand, didn’t know he was aro yet. He and qpp had been dating for a bit, not as a concrete relationship but Definitely Seeing Each Other, and he was sorta dragged along as her datemate. Which is a good thing, cuz the Master introduced him to an Elder Aro and once he knew that there was a community and language to describe how he felt about romance he was All Over It.

Hi yes I still have Many OC Thoughts but I am currently at work so I can’t really get any of them out rn, but as soon as I get a moment I’ll be yELLINGGG