#at least that weird dragon guy isn’t real….he was. interesting

[metallatch]

the fifth season of tmnt 2012 is not canon.

the creators of the show have stated that none of it actually happened in the original timeline.

how the fck do you create an entire final season and just casually say It Didn’t Happen?

[baronaliswritingcorner]

Tales of Symphonia Stray Thoughts #11: Meltokio Sewer/Sybak Again/Gaoracchia Forest

-Zelos: ..."Well, in the end, we're of the same lot, really.

Genis: What do you mean?

Zelos: No one wanted us to be born."

There's so much to be said here. Despite having a hand in every faction, Zelos is clearly apathetic in whoever's the winning side so long as they serve his interests -- enough to even swallow his own prejudices. Cynicism born from four millennia-long theocracies will do that to you.

-Those knights at the gate are real bros.

-“I used these to sneak back home.”

...hmm, but Meltokio's a gated community. Where was he sneaking back from? I know we all use our headcanons to imaigne towns and inns populated across the landscape, but "sex clubs littered across Tethe'alla" is territory I'd rather not traverse.

-Colette stop casting judgement on those snakes. they're snakes. save that tp.

Also listen to those low-quality hissing effects HISSISHSISHSISSHSISHISS

-“…I guess so.” Isn’t a very Presea line.

-“Now I can do this and that without anyone finding out it’s me…”

Sexual harassment! Also another one of those weird vague, low-context lines they don't bother cleaning up for silent dialogue.

-man it sure is convenient how those spider webs keep popping up just in time to help solve the block puzzle huh gang

-sneaking into the mouse holes while you're tiny is a clever gimmick but uh

who's stuffing these weapons into tiny bags and shoving them into mouse holes

-That shot with the group's feet is good. Tales of Symphonia is hardly known for its chorography, but there's some good shots now and then.

-Any digs at Zelloyd aside, Zelos’s queer-coding is pretty, well, evident. You got the pink outfit, Masaya Onosaka's flamboyant performance in the JP version, annnnnd him randomly hugging Lloyd at random intervals (As seen here.)

Combined with all the women hungry for his status and good looks, and you got a classic recipe for repressed homosexuality. Not exactly a wonder that's Symphonia's most popular boy's love pairing.

-Regal’s theme is gooooooooood. Listen to that sax. Damn!

-Love how nonchalant Sebastian is about everything -- guy just doesn't give a fuq his master's wanted. Almost like that's not the first time. (Hmm...)

I channeled this quality for my Colloyd Week 2024 fic to fun results.

-Speaking of queer-coding, “bud” is good localization for “hunny.”

-"You’re pr-pr-pretty." is peak relatable. Poor Genis!

Well, then again, I guess most of us haven't tried to put the moves on victims of Exsphere parasitism.

-This is where the game does this weird habit of pointless gags/scenes with Colette, although her crickking her neck in her sleep's pretty funny.

-Man-made summon spirits…geez don’t tell me they ended with up eldritch FMA abominations lol. "Shee...na..."

-Geez, the half-elves're stuck down there too. There’s a door in the side of the lobby – at least they have beds there, right? Right? Racist bastards.

-“I thought Kuchinawa had talked to you about it, but I guess he didn’t.”

lol don’t tell me he tried to steal the freakin' EC

-Okay wait did he lock the gate at the bridge too lol that’s like the pettiest plan ever. ���Yeah this’ll stop them!”

-“Are those decoration things Exspheres?”

how do these things even work. Are they like containers or something. namco pls

-Raine says the EC was a land vehicle but I dunno how that could be anything but a boat. Sheena and Zelos complain about it too but, I dunno, it looks like

-So do wing packs work like hoipoi capsules in Dragon Ball? At any rate, love the Sylvarant teen trio losing their minds over it. Such child-like innocence.

-I've mentioned before how the HD ports remove ellipses, but Presea's "...Professor?" here has the "professor" removed as opposed to said ellipses. Weird.

-The EC music is so purty. Trying to remember why I’d always get stuck here though since the port’s straight ahead LOL

-So you know those optional cutscenes where Kratos's travelling around Tethe'alla to find ingredients for the Eternal Ring? I know I've seen the Ozette one numerous times before, but while the script/descriptions for the others sound familiar, I'm not sure I ever watched them in-game? Hmm.

Anyway, uh, interesting they just had a broken machine from the Ancient War lying around the academy.

-“It seems monsters existed in the prehistoric era too”

yo then why’d you imply cruxis made them

The guy’s second line here references criminals – I could’ve found out more if I talked to him sooner. I'm dying for some lore here, man!

-“Was the warrant put out for you because you were using strange chemicals?”

what

-“Don’t misunderstand me. I’m talking about rune bottles.”

what

-“It’s not a mistake for humans, who are unable to use magic, to pursue magitechnology.”

This guy repeating history aside, they never explicitly mention magic works in the main story, do they? As in, the whole "Kratos and Zelos can only use magic thanks to Aionis" deal. You'd thiiiiiiiiiiiink that'd catch attention sooner.

“If we capture some of the monsters that have reappeared and force them to continuously use magic, we may be able to confirm the effects of pushing the limits of magic-usage”

lady

chill

-Zelos: "Hello, hunny."

Girl: “Hehe, here you go.” GIVES ME EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS.

...y'know, as fun as this gag is, I wonder if it's aged well, lol.

-The Gaoracchia Forest opens with...Colette apologizing for being too cheery. Um, okay.

-“Zelos, you are in the way of the pope.”

“Heh, I’ve known that since I was a kid.”

Hmm, how so? I demand to know the history here.

-THE BOXER IRIIIIIIIS

I could discuss Tales of Symphonia's enemy variety, but I know some of you are curious about this particular baddie following my Colloyd Week fic -- as it happens, I never had any particular affinity for them until recently when @frayed-symphony's illustration of all the Gaoracchia Forest monsters was reposted before Colloyd Week.

Somehow, my eyes fell upon the Boxer Iris with its big weepy eyeball and bulbous boppers and I just went, "...you know, that's a really fun enemy design. I gotta use that critter somehow." How that morphed into "non-verbal mugger", I dunno, but it became one of my favorite details. Now I feel kinda bad slicing it up.

Anyway, she's now living happily with Fred in one of those thorn bushes, I'm sure. They'll be back.

-Ugh I swear shining the light on those bushes drives me crazy. Y'all know what I'm talking about? why you gotta come at them from different direction

-Colette’s one-armed strength…is that how angelic senses work? Housework must be a breeze for her -- imagine her just lifting furniture around. There's a fic here!

-Ya’ll, have I ever mentioned how much I love the Recover/Resurrection sound. So heavenly. Mmm.

...Oh yeah, I didn't discuss any of the Presea and Regal stuff, huh? We'll get to that next time. Lots of ground to cover.

[topramenfinds]

Major Tears of the Kingdom Story Spoilers!

So I’ve been seeing a lot of comments lately about Link looking kind of dumb when talking to NPCs about Zelda after he’s already found her. The common criticism is “Link knows where Zelda is so why doesn’t he tell people that the person they saw isn’t her?” However, I haven’t really felt this way when playing and I think it’s for the following reasons.

1) Most people are trying to find Zelda because she gave them weird instructions and they want answers. Link can figure out it’s not really Zelda even before actually finding her, and the “goal” of these encounters doesn’t change much even with this knowledge.

Take the gorons, for example. The player can figure out pretty quickly it’s not Zelda talking to Yanobo. But even if you know it’s not her, you still have to try and find this person to figure out who they are and what their end game is. Link isn’t going to be like, “well, that’s not the real Zelda, so why bother?” He’s still going after them. It’s the same for Yanobo. Knowing it’s not Zelda doesn’t change anything. They’re still going after her because there’s still the mystery of who this fake Zelda is. Besides, the person looks like her, so why not call this person Zelda until they figure out who it is?

2) Most of the people looking for her are random NPCs and there’s literally no reason for Link to recount the entire somewhat complicated story of why that’s not Zelda to these people. I mean, most people don’t even recognize Link, so imagine recognizing a celebrity as they come to your horse stable, this celebrity tells you not to go near your well. You are so convinced this person is who they say they are, and that they have your best interests at heart, that you follow their instructions. And then some random twink cryptid comes up and explains a psycho story about how he saw (clearly drug induced) visions of the past, so he knows that the celebrity was sent back to the dawn of civilization and they turned into a dragon so the person you saw isn’t really the person you think they are. Even if the guy has a degree in engineering, you’re probably not going to believe him. Link is not going to explain that to every random person he meets who thinks they saw the princess. At the very least, it’d be too time consuming. I’d argue even people he knows marginally well wouldn’t believe his story, so if he is going to explain it to someone, it has to be someone he really trusts and who really trusts him.

Which brings us to the question of why doesn’t Link tell people he’s close to, like Purah or the sages? Well…

3) The whole thing is traumatizing. When I found the Master Sword, I just sat there, staring at the Light Dragon until she moved out of view. Every time I see her I stop and watch for a few minutes, just out of grief and as a sort of tribute. And that’s because I’m just playing this game. The character, Link, who is probably in love with her, is likely worse off. Whenever I, as a player, meet someone that I, as a player, know and care about, I feel like I don’t want Link to tell them about what happened. Because why am I going to make Link experience that trauma again? And why on Hylia’s good earth would I want to bestow that trauma onto those I care about? These people are full of hope that she’s still out there (and they’re not wrong), and I’m still hoping there’s a way to bring her back (I haven’t finished the game yet so no spoilers please).

I just got to Gerudo Town and talking to Riju is the first time I was a little surprised Link didn’t say anything about Zelda. But, at the same time, Riju doesn’t need to know right now. She’s got all of Gerudo Town to worry about and I still have hope that the real Zelda will be back to visit her someday.

I feel like Link would be the type of person keep his pain to himself, to try and minimize the suffering of others by not putting them through what he’s been through. Even in Breath of the Wild, we saw in the memories how he suffered alone, and that’s why he stopped talking. It’s because of this that Link’s actions in Tears of the Kingdom make sense to me. He’s not refusing to tell people about Zelda because he’s dumb. He’s not telling them because he doesn’t want to burden others with the pain of knowing the truth. He’s traumatized and doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions in a healthy way. Also explains why he keeps building war machines…

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 125

Life comes at you fast.

Man, Vegeta Blue looks way better than Goku Blue. I just want to see Goku get to UI again so we won’t have to put up with this teal color anymore.

Anyway, last time Gohan sacrificed himself to eliminate Dyspo.  Now, on the bench, Beerus gives him an attaboy, and at first he calls him Goku’s son, then he corrects himself and calls Gohan by his name. 

Gohan stands up and bows to Beerus in appreciation.  Everyone stands up an claps for the show of respect... is what I would be saying if this were happening in front of a wrestling crowd.  The Mutal Respect Pop is always a classic.  Well, I’m marking out for Beerus and Gohan, even if this group is just sitting on their hands.

Oh, right, Goku spares a moment to mark out too.  Everyone who says Goku is a bad dad is a big poopie-head.  He’s in the middle of a hellacious battle with an unstoppable opponent for the fate of the universe, and he still can’t help but check out his son getting a compliment. 

Anyway, let’s move on to the real meat of this story, which is Top fighting 17 and Frieza.  Staring off, Top is just fighting 17 alone, and he can’t get past 17′s force field.  It’s interesting, because this arc has done a lot to cement the idea that 17 is a green force field specialist.  It’s not his only trick, but he does this one a lot in the Tournament of Power, and it’s clearly meant to be his unique thing.  Meanwhile, I don’t think we ever see 18 do it, even though a number of video games give her a pink force field, implying that she has the same ability. 

Anyway, 17 returns fire when he gets the chance, and Top can’t get clear without eating a hit.  From the bench, everyone wonders what 17 is up to, since this appears to be a stalemate.  18 suggests that the stalemate might be the point.  17 won’t tire out, so he can literally do this for the rest of of the tournament.  If he can keep Top pinned down, he can run out the clock and Universe 7 will win, since they have four fighters on the stage and U11 only has two. 

This is the first real talk of Universe 7 trying to leverage that advantage.  We never learn for certain if 17 is seriously considering this, although he probably likes the idea of shaving some second off the clock, if nothing else.  After all, Goku tried to ring-out Jiren with misdirection instead of power last episode, so the desperation seems to be setting in with these guys.

But it’s all for naught, as Top manages to see a pattern in 17′s shots and gets clear without being hit.  Then he does something really extreme...

Yeah, drink it in, folks, it’s Top’s mouth.  Not a big fan of this.

Top sets up a beam struggle with 17 and seems to have a clear advantage, until who should happen along but...?

Frieza’s here, and he’s going to enjoy shooting Top in the back while he struggles against 17. It’s an impossible situation for Top, and Frieza’s savoring every moment.

Finally, Top is overwhelmed, and Frieza takes some more time to gloat.  He’s really laying it on thick considering he only met this guy less than an hour ago.  It kind of makes me question all the stuff he said to Vegeta on Namek.  There’s an implication that he was genuinely hurt or at least offended by Vegeta’s betrayal, but now I get the sense that he just plays mindgames with everyone, even when they’re already beaten down.  I’d use Top as an example of this, except...

...Top isn’t down, and he’s far from beaten.

He begins to power up, and it’s so impressive that everyone starts to notice...

Even Jiren is like “So, he’s finally made his choice,” or words to that effect. 

From the bench, Belmod explains everything.  Top isn’t just the leader of the Pride Troopers.  He’s also a God of Destruction-in-training.  This was a weird time to reveal all of this, since up to now the show really hadn’t addressed this process.  Whis and Beerus have occasionally mentioned the notion of Goku or Vegeta replacing Beerus as Destroyer some day, but neither Saiyan wants the job, so it never really goes anywhere.  Top is the first guy to demonstrate this in practice.  So now we see that the Hakaishin aren’t immortal, and they replace their dead with other mortals who have undergone special training to ascend to godhood.  This is why Beerus has an angel guide, Whis.  Once upon a time, Whis must have trained him the same way Top was trained, and then Beerus took the job and continued to need Whis to show him how to do it properly. 

The manga spelled all this out before the Tournament of Power, when Belmod introduced Top as his successor.  Also the manga had Belmod explicitly state that he was planning to retire soon.  I kind of wish the anime would have given us the same information.  As it is, it just seems like Belmod is training other Destroyers for no real reason.  

As far as the timing goes, I can see why the anime chose to wait.  They introduced Top as Kahi’s “bodyguard”, which is a clever way of hiding Top’s true potential to the competition.  Not that they expected Top to pull this off during the tournament, but they were aware of the possibility.  So it’s a great twist.  The problem is that they never explain why Top has been preparing to take the role.  It just sounds like they snuck a god on the team without telling anyone. 

I think the narrative is fairly clear, though.  Whis had said that there were rumors of a mortal defeating one of the Destroyers, and that almost certainly had to be Jiren, who must have beaten Belmod at some point.  And maybe that defeat convinced Belmod that it was time to hang up his clown shoes.  He probably offered the job to Jiren, who must have declined, so he asked Top, who accepted. 

From the way Belmod and Khai describe it, it sounds like Top learned how to tap into this Destroyer power some time ago, but he never truly embraced these abilities until now.  And Top himself declares that he no longer fights for justice, as that concept no longer has any meaning for him.  Instead, Top says he now fights for the survival of his universe, as he has become an arbiter of what shall be and not be.  So it’s kind of like he had to let go of his mortal life as a Pride Trooper to get this power-up. 

It seems like the only one who doesn’t understand the gravity of this development is Frieza.  His ki blasts simply vanish when they hit Top, because he’s wrapped a field of destruction energy around him like armor.   Then Top shoots a big ball of destruction energy at Frieza, and he still laughs it off, because he easily neutralized a similar attack back in Episode 95.  He thinks this will be just as simple.

Yeah, it doesn’t go so well for him.

There’s a big explosion and even the spectators have to shield their eyes.

The sky even changes color, which is great because I was getting sick of that green background.  Actually, this may have nothing to do with Top, since the last time the Null Realm changed color, it was when the tournament was half-over.  This might be another response to the timer.

The blast wrecks a huge chunk of the ring.  I don’t seem to have a good shot of the aftermath, but I’m pretty sure half of it is reduced to rubble.  I guess that doesn’t matter much, since there’s only six people using it.  Half the space is still plenty.

With Frieza MIA, 17 can only try to carry on the fight as best he can. This time when Top uses his Justice Flash, 17′s barrier begins to shatter.  Even his conventional ki attacks are stronger than before.

Fighting back is useless, since energy blasts don’t even slow Top down anymore.  They’re just obliterated against the destruction energy around his body.

Hiding is nearly impossible, since Top can just destroy all the obstacles in the ring and come straight for his target.  It’s suggested that if you tried to punch Top in this state, you might lose your arm. 

But Frieza still comes back to try again.  He’s dropped out of Golden mode, but he still survived the Destruction Energy Top fired at him.  My guess is that Frieza was able to neutralize it like he did in Episode 95, but it took a lot more out of him this time around, which is why whole ring didn’t get annihilated.  And yet he still acts like Top isn’t any big deal.  I don’t know if Frieza is just delusional here or he’s just so used to being like this that he doesn’t know how to be desperate or worried.

Top doesn’t mind taking a moment to show him.

Yeahhhhhhh, crush his dumb little head!  Grape juice for everyone!

Well, actually Top explains that he can’t destroy Frieza, since he would just get disqualified for that.  But when he tries to chuck him out of the ring...

17 spoils the shot, and Frieza lands in some crevice somewhere.  So he’s still in the tournament, for whatever that’s worth.  So is 17, although his prospects are looking mighty dim...

I mean, he was having trouble with this guy at the start of this episode, and now the situation’s only gotten worse for him.  What’s he gonna do now?

Here’s KISS with “Heaven’s on Fire.”

[faroreswinds]

Well, a new Fire Emblem: Engage trailer dropped. 

Hmmm... thoughts below the cut.

Oh look, a dead parent. Again. 

And she looks a LOT like another mother we know.... Hmm....

:/

-------------------------------------

I betcha this dragon is Mom. It’s not the new MC- we see this dragon push the MC to the side as if to push him out of the way of danger. I’m guessing the purple lightening is the Fell Dragon’s attack- purple is Fell Dragon color. 

-----

“When your memories return to you...”

So our MC has lost his memories. 

Again. 

Thankfully this trope isn’t totally OVER done in this series for our MCs. However.... this character seems too much like Robin. More on that in a bit.

-------------------------------------

Honestly, Marth looks pretty good here. I like his model a lot, and I like is VC. 

It seems like he has a history with our MC. This Marth is specifically called Emblem Marth (Ok?) and he knows something more about the MC than he is letting on. 

Some interesting tidbits about the Emblem characters 

Based on Marth’s words about “remembering him”, the MC had to remember who Marth was in order for Marth to even answer is call.

Emblem can fight side-by-side with their ring-bearers. 

Apparently, they can float

And based off other trailers, the ring-bearer and the Emblem can merge together.

See? Float!

-------------------------------------

Good Dragon (Divine) versus Bad Dragon (Fell)

Wow, completely new territory! /s

Here is the Fell Dragon. Yes, it is actually called that. Which is a complete copy of Grima. 

Purple evil dragon called a Fell Dragon? Like, come on....

What’s weird though is that the color schemes they choose to go with the Fell side and the Divine side.

Ok, so, the Fell Dragon and his followers are in darker colors, like black or purples, while the Divine Dragon and her followers are in lighter colors, like blue and whites. 

So why is Red also being used to signify the Fell side?! 

The red hair is supposed to be the “evil” side, while the blue is supposed to be the “good” side. Absolutely no logic behind the color schemes here. Because we see Red also on the “good” side too.

-------------------------------------

:/

Bro. For real?

(Maybe the Engage one is the Fell Dragon’s human form or something, there is a Third eye and super pointy ears)

-------------------------------------

Is this our new “Young Girl is actually a ancient dragon” character? 

She shoots a fireball at some evil solider that looks a lot like a Risen. 

She is apparently “passing through” looking for someone. Who? Probably the MC but doesn’t know it yet. *shrug*

-------------------------------------

Ok, so the set pieces... are not as bad as I feared. 

They aren’t good, but they are certainly better than Houses. It’s still got a cheap, low quality feel to them, but they occasionally can look pretty decent. At least they can some scale to them. 

-------------------------------------

Fearine (Guessing the spelling here) is one of the Nations Named. If we are to believe the voice over, it is implied that these guys are from Fearine:

These two look like brother and sister, and are probably royalty. Only a guess, though. 

This also appears to be Fearine. A lush, farming country with plenty of green pastures. 

Based on the rest of the trailer and small clues, it seems Fearine is our “main” nation, the ones we either are from, were found in, or currently live in. I’m guessing the boy and girl will be our first allies and our main allies, sort of like Chrom and Lissa from Awakening. (Also, apparently the MC was sleeping when found, just like Robin! More on that later).

-------------------------------------

Brodia (Guessing the spelling here) is one of the Nations Named. If we are to believe the voice over, it is implied that these guys are from Brodia:

And this is outright stated to be their crown prince:

Brodia is said to be the Kingdom of Might, and it took some doing for Fearine to form an alliance with them. Their King is said to be ambitious man.

Based on what we can see, Brodia seems to be a more military-minded country, with rocky terrain more than lush fields.

I’m also guessing this guy is the King of Brodia based on his armor and hair color, looking a lot like the Crown Prince:

Kingdom of Might? Ambitious King? Took a lot to make an alliance with them? Main color Red? 

Possibly a traitorous nation then?

-------------------------------------

Solm (Guessing the spelling here) is one of the Nations Named. If we are to believe the voice over, it is implied that these guys are from Solm:

Probably Solm’s prince and princess. 

Solm seems to be a desert nation, but apparently has quite the abundance of food. They are an “open-minded country” and have always had good relations with Fearine. Solm appears to be the POC country and is... very tropical. 

The boy seems a LOT like a Claude copy, tbh. Charming, from a country that isn’t just European fantasy, darker skin.... Well, this series does copies a lot, so that’s not a surprise. 

-------------------------------------

Eluzia (Guessing the spelling here) is one of the Nations Named. If we are to believe the voice over, it is implied that these guys are from Eluzia:

Also, I just have to say it, but here is another generic “sexy dark evil lady”

I’m also guessing that these guys are also from Eluzia:

It is snow there with long winters, and apparently is not a part of the Alliance. This implies that Fearine, Brodia, and Solm have some sort of Alliance with each other, but the specifics aren’t clear. 

The Eluzians are said to also worship (some of them, not all) the Fell Dragon. Which... makes sense. Look at the guy! He’s dressed in black and purple. So this is our “cult” country. 

The voiceover said they “worship the Fell dragon” while showing this screenshot. We can see that weird girl in blue and blue and the white-haired man who is probably King of Eluzia (and possibly making the girl his daughter) standing in front of this alter.

Which is weird, the dragon in the center looks like the dragon who protected the MC (the Divine Dragon) rather than the Fell Dragon. Interesting. 

-------------------------------------

So here we have the King(?) of Eluzia with that Valider-like man from before. I’m guessing that this man is the Fell Dragon still. They are standing in some dark cathedral. The King is bowing to the Dragon here. 

Much purple. 

Also, interesting to note, but the voiceover states here that “he is not yet at full strength”. They either mean the MC, or the Fell Dragon. Or maybe someone else, but these are my two guesses.

More evidence that the guy is the Fell Dragon. Look at those Talons!

-------------------------------------

So the “bad” nation also has a ring of their own with some unknown Emblem character in it. And it looks like the King of Eluzia possesses it. 

Some cult woman. Doing purple evil magic stuff. 

-------------------------------------

“By virtue of your science, we will kill every living soul in this castle”. 

Her eye is interesting. She has blue and red in it. AND pointy ears. Perhaps she too is a dragon of some sort? Perhaps related to the Divine Dragon and the Fell Dragon, just as our MC is?

-------------------------------------

So the Crown Prince of Brodia apparently has Roy’s Ring. 

Princess of Solm gets Ike’s Ring.

Prince of Fearine gets Luncina’s Ring. 

We aren’t shown who is using her here but.... well, here she is. 

-------------------------------------

I’m guessing this is when the Fell Dragon turns into his dragon form from the scene from earlier in front of the King of Eluzia. Either catching him off guard, or to punish him. Guy looks terrified. 

-------------------------------------

So this is another angle from the scene with the King of Brodia from before, where we see a purple-glowing hand catching his blade. It looks like the King of Eluzia caught the blade, and is using his ring he pulled out from another scene to summon Lyn. 

Which means that rings can be used for evil, and they glow purple when under evil influence. 

I’m guessing the scene here goes like this:

-------------------------------------

Speaking of evil rings, it looks like the Princess of Eluzia eventually gets Lucina. We can see it also turned Lucina’s hair red. 

It also happens to Marth. It seems to be a painful process, since Marth is screaming. We can also see the Fell Dragon behind there. 

-------------------------------------

A memory scene perhaps? We see flames occasionally here, which goes well with this:

Which is our MC, surrounded by flames and with entirely red hair. Likely, he fell to darkness in the past and did something truly awful. I’m guessing when he banishes the evil, his hair will become fully blue. 

This location also looks a lot like this location from before:

Same pillars, and is also damaged. So likely, from when he burned the place. 

This place could be Fearine. 

-------------------------------------

One last big thing is... the characters they show. They show quite a few new NPCs, and man....

Non-Fredrick guarding Not-Lissa. 

A Pegasus Knight with a skirt... again. Please give these girls proper leg protection. 

These designs aren’t terrible but they sure are boring. But I can at least tell, based on color scheme, that they are likely from Fearina. But I can’t say the same for everyone.

Terrible design. Awful. Dumb as shit, and I cannot tell you where she is from. Maybe she’s from Eluzia based on the color scheme and the dumb tatoo on her face? Maybe not.

Compared to past “women in armor” designs it’s not terrible. But again, I cannot tell you exactly where she is from. Mayyyybe Fearina, with that green and gold and silver? 

No fucking clue where they are from. They are clearly in Solm but don’t look like they are from Solm. The blonde guy has a terrible design. The red-haired guy is a bit better but still not great. 

Here is the Princess of Eluzia. WTF? Her design is atrocious. Who signed off on this?

Urg. I hate it. 

I have mixed feelings about this one. Love the colors, but the big balls are just so tacky. 

I’m so torn on this game....

[adventofheroes]

Kamen Rider Ryuki-Crossover Ryuki Chapter 2

Things sure were crowded aboard the Den-Liner. Mainly because Decade had left the battle early and didn’t teleport anyone back to their own homes. This forced the Den-Liner to become a glorified bus stop service. Riders were spread out into train cars, Ryuki was with his fellow Heisei Riders. Taking out his Advent Deck, he laid his head back on the window behind him. That last battle was pretty tiring. He tried to close his eyes but sleep was difficult given the other riders.

“I was manipulated by a space alien to become Kamen Rider Build.” Said a proud but arrogant voice. 

“Kuuga’s powers come from an ancient source,” Godai said. 

“Agito’s powers are ancient as well, but was given to me by the Overlord of Light to combat the darkness!” Shouichi said. 

“I fought against despair inside of me and gained magical powers,” Wizard said. 

“I saved Philip from a laboratory and united our minds became the two in one Kamen Rider!” W said. 

“I’m an Orphenoch and after finding the Faiz belt I was able to transform. It didn’t stop me from having to do laundry though.” Faiz said. 

“I am simply the sun.” Said another voice. 

Shinji thought it was interesting how other Riders got their powers.

“Sounds awesome everyone!” Shinji exclaimed. 

The other Riders turned their attention to Shinji. 

“What about you Ryuki? How did you get your belt?” Wizard asked. 

“W-well it appears on me when I take out my card deck! I didn’t really get it any special way!” Shinji said. 

“Okay but surely it was a story on how you got the card deck?” Godai asked smiling. 

Shinji took a moment to decide how to explain his story in the coolest way possible.

“I found it.” He said. 

He got nervous.

“You just found it?” W asked. 

“Yes,” Shinji said. 

The Riders paused for a moment and then laughed. 

“I guess some of us just have to be normal people wearing a suit. That’s okay too!” Shouichi said. 

“Wait.” Faiz asked, “Did you get your strongest form in the mail too?” 

“No, it was given to me,” Shinji said. 

The other Riders laughed again, Build slapped Faiz’s back, “Good one 555!” 

“This isn’t funny. I got my strongest form in the mail.” Faiz said as he looked away. 

“This is my stop. Gotta go! I’d love to study your Advent Cards though sometime Ryuki!” Build waved goodbye as he got off the train. 

Shinji laid his head back again. 

Am I really just a normal guy who found a card deck? He thought to himself.

One by one the other Riders left. He assumed he would be last. He would talk to the Taros for a while, even though he found them very weird. 

“So you’re not a real dragon?” Ryutaros asked. 

“No, just a guy,” Shinji said. 

“We’re going to ORE Sanjou Journal?” Momotaros asked. 

“Yes, ORE Journal. My workplace. I’m running late!” Shinji said. 

“You know this is a time travel train right?” Momotaros asked. 

“I heard that there’s a beautiful woman at ORE Journal, perhaps you would care to introduce us Ryuki?” Urataros asked. 

Loud snoring prevented Shinji from answering as he sighed, he then walked over to Naomi’s drinks. She was mixing some coffee as she turned and saw him from the corner of her eye and smiled. 

“You’re Kamen Rider Ryuki right?” Naomi asked. 

“Yes, that’s me the dragon knight. I’d like a coffee or at least a break from them.” Shinji said. 

“They’re a handful, but they’re like sweet kids at the end of the day.” Naomi said as she gave him a cup, “What’s it like having a pet dragon?” 

Shinji took a drink and his face turned sour, he forced himself to swallow down the coffee. It tasted quite terrible. 

Naomi’s eyes widened with glee, “Oh that means you like it!” 

“Y-you make this for them?” Shinji said pointing at the Imagin. 

Naomi nodded. 

That explains this awful taste! He thought. 

“What’s it taste like?” she asked.

I can’t tell her that though!. Shinji thought.

“It sure tastes like something they would like,” Shinji said as he coughed. 

“Aw thank you!” Naomi said as she walked around the counter to serve the Imagin. 

However, suddenly the train came to an abrupt stop, “Uwaaaaa!” Naomi shouted as she fell over. 

Shinji saw her falling and reached out his arms to catch her, but lost his own balance and fell on top of her back. The coffee spilled everywhere. Shinji felt embarrassed. 

“S-sorry I wasn’t fast enough.” He said. 

He and Naomi stood up and grabbed some napkins to clean up the mess. 

“Silly Shinji, if the train’s stopped it’s probably time for you to get off.” She said helping him clean.

But to their surprise, the door opened and a man wearing a brown tunic-like cloth and a long scarf. He also carried a weird book. 

“Ah, Kamen Rider Ryuki. Though not quite 2020.” The man said walking by. 

“I remember you! The scarf-jerk!” Momotaros said pointing. 

“I’d prefer to be called Woz. Servant of ZI-O the King of time.” Woz said. 

“There’s a king of time?” Shinji asked. 

“Get off my train!” Momotaros said. 

“This isn’t your train, it’s the Owner’s,” Urataros said. 

“Dummy Momotaros!” Ryutaros said. 

Momotaros leaned in and whispered, “But he doesn’t know that.” 

Woz smiled and said, “Of course I would know that.” 

Momotaros held in his anger, “What are you doing here?” 

“It seems that puppets of previous Kamen Rider foes are reappearing. What are you doing to solve this.. Problem? Should we have to intervene?” Woz said. 

“NO!” Momotaros said, “We were the time police before you came along, we can figure this out ourselves! I thought that clock kid wasn’t a jerk!” 

“Oh Waga Maou didn’t send me himself, I noticed the time distortion. He’s too busy studying right now. It’s very important to the time stream.” Woz said. 

“STUDYING?!” Momotaros said. 

“I’m a reporter, I’m sure I could help you guys solve this,” Shinji said extending his hand. 

Woz and Momotaros stared at him. 

The next moment Shinji was at the front of ORE Journal’s offices. He sighed as the Den-Liner began to take off. 

“Bye.. Shinji!” shouted Naomi as she waved. 

Shinji waved back as he walked towards the front door.

They didn’t outright say it, but the other Riders think I’m outclassed for these sort of things. I may not remember how the Rider War ended, but I survived it. I’ll prove to the other Riders somehow that I’m capable. 

“Excuse me..?” asked a voice. 

Shinji turned to his right and sitting right outside his building was a homeless man. Shinji was startled for a moment. 

“Do you have any food? Spare change?” the man asked.

Shinji instinctively took out his wallet, “Please wait a moment!” 

He held his wallet upside down and then realized it was empty. 

“Oh, so we’re both poor.” The man said, “Doesn’t the EIC pay you?” 

“Sometimes wait..how do you know I work here?” Shinji asked suspiciously. 

“I’m quite observant because it’s not like I have a job or anything. Maybe hunting for rats is a job.” The homeless man said. 

“You know you shouldn’t turn your back to a mirror in this town,” Shinji said. 

The man smiled, “Scared of the old rumors about the 2002 disappearances in this city?” 

“Y-yes,” Shinji said. 

“You’re a reporter. Believe in facts, not superstition. I’ll still be here later. Go to work.” He said. 

Shinji nodded and went to the door before realizing he forgot something, “Wait! What’s your name?” 

“My name? I’m Tatsuya Kano.” He said. 

“Goodbye, Tatsuya.” Shinji then went inside to ORE Journal’s office. 

If Shinji had better ears he would have heard Tatsuya say, “Goodbye Ryuki.” 

Next time… Artwork made by a friend, who wishes to remain uncredited.

[inkedmyths]

S1: E15 “The Benders”

Brought to you by Crepe Please Your Dragon Funds

This episode featuring: misconceptions, being hunted for sport, lying to cops, and more fucked up family parallels

The hell does that title mean

Guess I'll find out

[ Kayla: Elements or drugs? Who knows! ]

What kind of name is Hibbing Minnesota

[ Kayla: A real place, probably. ]

Yeah but its a dumb name

Never put your face close to the ground at night

LMAO ITS NOT THE POLICE ITS THE DUMBASS DUO

Sam is no fun. No more darts for Dean

Uh oh! Scary noises

Sam no

Oh its a cat lol

Hes gonna get grabbed for real right

Oh Sam DID get yoinked so this is a Dean ep

Like the rifle

Oh hey Sam buddy. You look uhhh pretty stuck

Man how do you pick these names, Dean. "Greg"

LMAO IS THIS NOT EVEN SUPERNATURAL. IS IT JUST KIDNAPPING. IF SO THAT WOULD BE REALLY FUNNY

LMAO Alfred is funny

HE REALLY DID JUST GET KIDNAPPED HUH

I mean it might be a cult or something

Dean this is what happens when you make up shit all the time LMAOOO

Then again Dean is like. Legally dead rn isn't he. Bc of the mimic thing

Dean trying to dodge the fact that he's Dean Winchester and legally dead

THIS ALFRED GUY IS HILARIOUS hes such a bastard

Oh is he about to die

Man I'm rooting for him but I get a feeling he's our sacrifice

OH SHIT hes trying to stab him!!

Are they just hunting people for sport? Are they just normal weirdos??

Oh that does seem to be the house

Uh oh ma'am unfortunately Dean was right I don't think this will go well

Uh oh. Weird girl. Is she trapped? Being held hostage? Part of this?

Oh fun its a whole fucked up family?

UH OH DEAN

God these ppl are grubby

Hurry hurry

Oh good

[ Crepe says some spoilers in the chat. At least she spoilered them this time, so I don’t know what it is. Apparently Kayla is shocked by this tidbit. What are you people talking about. ]

Hello?

DEAN bestie you made it

LMAO they're saying all this in front of the police lady and she's like "???"

Damn so its just a bunch of serial killers. Thats wild

Real "Scooby Doo taught me the real monsters are people" energy

[ Crepe: Maybe the real monsters were the humans we met along the way. ]

They're just hunting ppl for funsies.

"Demons, I get. People are crazy."

Ohh cmon bestie don't get jumped

OH SHIT THE GIRL

OHHH SHIT DEAN

Yeah they're literally just hunting people for sport

Its supposed to be a fucked up parallel yeah. Hunting dad and his hunting sons.

[ Crepe asks if they have trophies. I said yeah, pictures. She seems disappointed by this. ]

GO SAM

GO GO

YES GET THEM

Yeah thats deserved. Fuck that guy

Yeah get out of there lol

Damn

-

This show LOVES to have people parallel the Winchesters in various fucked up ways. Emphasizing their bond, emphasizing how messed up their life is, how one change might change them... interesting.

[metalandmagi]

Winter 2021 Anime Worth Watching!

Since 2020 basically sacrificed itself to give us the most stacked anime season of all time, I’m currently buried under the weight of almost 20 shows airing per week. So for anyone who’s looking for some anime to watch this winter, here’s some first impressions! I’m speed running my list this time by only talking about the new shows...because otherwise this would be my great American novel. 

If anyone’s interested, I have master lists for both 2020 anime and 2019 anime, because there’s no shortage of fun things to find. 

New Shows!

And before anyone asks, So I’m A Spider, So What? isn’t on here, because CG spiders freak me out.

Cells At Work Code Black: This...less comedic spin off of Cells At Work (made by a different studio) takes the wholesome concept of Osmosis Jones meets cute anime girls and turns it on its head. In this much more depressing version, we follow a rookie red blood cell who works in the body of an overly stressed, alcoholic smoker who puts every strain on the body imaginable. I love Red Blood Cell AA2153 and his co-workers, but man am I glad we get the regular Cells At Work airing this season too, because I need something fun and uplifting after seeing my sweet son go through hell every episode. 

*Heaven’s Design Team: Have you ever wondered how God came up with some of the weird ass animals that live on this planet? Like, what’s the deal with giraffes? And why can’t we have dragons and flying horses? Well this is a comedy about the engineers and designers in heaven creating the new animals that are going to inhabit the Earth. That’s it, that’s the show. It’s kind of in the same vein as Cells At Work, having comedy blend with a surprising amount of educational information. If you want something light and funny, this is the show for you (though I don’t think it needs to have full length episodes). I’m just hoping there’s an episode about how the hell the platypus was created. Also it’s the only new one available on Crunchyroll.

Horimiya: A romantic comedy about a girl named Hori who fits the image of a perfect queen bee and a quiet bespectacled boy named Miyamura who never makes an impression at school. When the two meet by chance outside of the classroom, we see that Hori is practically raising a younger brother by herself, and Miyamura is actually a sweet guy who happens to be covered in tattoos and piercings. This show is an exercise in breaking down the images people have of others in their minds, and it’s a concept that really hits home in a fun and meaningful way. Honestly, this has become one of my immediate favorites. The characters have great chemistry, and I can’t wait to see more of them!

Monster Incidents (Kemono Jihen): When big shot Tokyo detective Inugami is called to a rural town to investigate a series of strange animal deaths, he finds a mysterious boy with the nickname Dorotabo who has been shunned by the other children in town. As the detective gets closer to Dorotabo, he discovers that there may be more...inhuman secrets to the boy than he realizes...and Dorotabo discovers that Inugami has some secrets of his own. This is a hard show to sell without spoiling the first episode, but it had twists and turns that kept me engaged from start to finish. I’m really interested to see where the plot goes, because I thought this was going to be something totally different just from the PV and series summary. If it plays its cards right, this could be a great paranormal detective show!

Wonder Egg Priority: A psychological drama about a girl named Ai who starts having dreams about a mysterious egg that promises to give her what she wants most in the world...a true friend. Before long, she begins to see how the dream world and reality are tied together, and trippy antics ensue. It’s hard to say more without spoiling anything, but I had to go back and add this one in because I made the mistake of thinking it was an OVA when it’s actually a full series. And what a series it’s starting out to be. This anime has all the psychological discomfort of a Satoshi Kon product with the beauty and style of something from Kyoani (even though it’s made by Clover Works). It’s really one of those anime you just have to see to understand.

Sk8-∞ (Skate the infinity): An original skateboarding anime from Bones, featuring a typical sports anime protagonist who takes a new transfer student who has never skateboarded in his life under his wing. Together they compete in dangerous races and take the skating community by storm. The character designs rival Appare Ranman’s in outlandish creativity, and I can smell the main characters’ ship dynamic a mile away (considering they’re exactly the same as the protagonists from Robihachi). If you’re looking for some wild and crazy fun with top notch skateboarding animation, don’t skip this!

2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu (Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Club): Yes, it’s another volleyball anime. And no, it’s not just a clone of Haikyu. This story follows Yuni Kuroba, a physically built but emotionally weak teenager who finds out his childhood friend Hajime is moving back to their hometown for high school. Yuni discovers Hajime has become an exceptional volleyball player and they join their school’s volleyball club hoping to turn the unknown team into a rising star. If anything, this anime is much more like Stars Align or Free, where the sport is a backdrop for letting the characters explore their personal problems. Or at least it seems that way after the first episode. I went into this show ready to throw it in the trash because how could anything compete against my beloved Haikyu, but I found myself really enjoying the dynamics of the main duo and I’m curious to see what the rest of the team is like.

And speaking of sports anime rip-offs…..I can’t believe I’m including this but…

Skate Leading Stars: The show where the animators clearly wanted to design another throw away idol anime but saw how popular Yuri On Ice was so they decided to make whatever the hell this show is instead. It revolves around a fictional team sport called skate leading, and we follow the world’s most insufferable main character, a former figure skater named Kensei who wants to return to the ice and join his school’s skate leading team after he finds out his childhood rival is going to compete in the sport. Look, this show is just trashy enough to get a certain type of audience hooked, and it mainly has to do with the best boy of the winter season, Hayato Sasugai, the aspiring team “coach” who pulled most of us into watching this show with his punk appearance, snide comments and smug personality. He’s basically the lovechild of Izaya Orihara and Shizuo Heiwajima in a high school sports anime setting. The show treats itself with the perfect amount of sincerity to get away with being absolutely ridiculous most of the time without making you feel like you’re watching it from a dumpster...like Try Knights. You will know after one episode whether this show is for you. All I can say is, Hayato is worth the watch, and I haven’t seen any 3D animation used for the skating scenes (yet) so that’s a win for me. 

Honorable mention:

Jobless Reincarnation ( Mushoku Tensei): Yet another isekai where the main character is hit by a car (big surprise) and gets reincarnated into a fantasy world...but he happens to remember his previous life and narrates himself growing up as a jaded adult. I’m only including this because it looked amazing animation wise, and I love the opening where getting hit by a car and dying is actually traumatic. And I love the protagonist’s parents (who are retired adventurers who just want to bang all the time). But honestly...the main character is the fucking worst, and I don’t know if I want to keep watching it because of how creepy and weird he is. Like...he’s the hit on your fantasy mom as a baby kind of creepy and weird. But for anyone who wants a cool looking isekai that had an amazing PV, it’s worth checking out. 

Continuing Series!

Because the real gold of the season is in all the established anime getting their next seasons, I’m just going to list some of the things that are also amazing and definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already (because I’ve already talked about most of them at some point and don’t know what else to say).

Attack On Titan season 4

The Promised Neverland season 2

Beastars season 2

Log Horizon season 3

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime season 2

Re: Zero season 2 (second cour)

Dr. Stone season 2

Cells at Work season 2

Osomatsu-san season 3 (second cour)

Higurashi New (second cour)

Jujutsu Kaisen (second cour) 

Not to mention all the shows I don’t watch that everyone else loves...like World Trigger (which I have seen quite a bit of, but long shounen shows are too much for me now) Quintessential Quintuplets, and Non Non Biyori. 

So there’s just some of all the anime airing this season. Hopefully, someone can find something they like. Here’s to a great year...well, of anime at least...

[all-about-the-tea-parties]

House of the Dragon Episode One thoughts as I watch:

I really like the two young girls so far they’ve been captivating and Matt Smith is promising as a creepy grooming uncle

Not sure I enjoy the… visuals?? It’s kind of uncanny valley. It both feels too real (because I can tell it’s a set) and not real enough (because I can tell it’s a set). Nothing wrong with the sets in question, just… disappointingly obvious. GoT had sets too (alongside a plethora of locations which gave it a valuable realism) but all the sets in Game of Thrones weren’t overly noticeable which meant they felt beautifully rich in terms of world building.

Also don’t like the editing style. Early GoT was frugal w/ editing. The dialogue took centre stage and actors were allowed to command a scene from beginning until end (unless there was a poignant reaction). So far the editing feels sporadic and unintentional. And certain camera shots feel a tad ambitious for no particular reason, which makes it seem indulgent. It’s all a little distracting.

The dialogue is actually good! Not word play levels that I expect, but contextually there isn’t much need yet. Not much politicking happening because there’s no real “enemy” whereas in GoT the enemy was everyone, so much politicking all the time. The dialogue, though clever, is very upfront (because the targs are unquestionable in their power). So it’s good. No need to distract ppl with so many cuts and weird shots.

Maybe they’re trying to distract from the sets?

It just feels a bit… modern? Staged?

A quick question: idk if it’s my tv or not, but like is the frame sped up? On my tv it all feels s little too fast in movement (sometimes tv offers a “hyper realism” thing and that might be messing w/ my experience)

There’s def a lack of proper intrigue. But I know that’s to come, so it’s fine.

Really it’s the visual part that bothers me.

Not sure I enjoy seeing Matt smith in a sex scene but alright

The girls are the best part for sure, and I know they’re the point of it all, so I do hope the writers aren’t sacrificing the intrigue of other characters for them.

Like imagine game of thrones if D&D framed Jon Snow as the main character from the beginning. It’d be boring af

I like seeing my guy from outlander here tho. Not enough variety in accents in fantasy and I appreciate it here.

NOT THE HORSE

I HATE JOUSTS

NO MORE HORSE ABUSE

Is it ok? It’s ok?

I wanna be grossed out by siblings being in love but like considering the family they’re in, it’s probably at warped attempt at normalcy. Like at least they were married to each other and not an aunt/uncle (or PARENT)

Ugh the “impossible choice” fucking starting to see this trend in film where men are shown to have to decide women’s lives during childbirth (obviously at sn attempt to humanise them and make them good “but in a bad position”) like honestly it’s the new “turning your wife’s death/trauma into your own for a plot point” like spareeee me the angst most men HISTORICALLY had no issue killing their wives

Oh fuck me he’s gonna kill her

Never mind he’s a bad person

Never mind it was gruesome

They didn’t frame it as a difficult choice or like “he didn’t have any other option” or “he’s still good actually because we cut away from it all”

Holy shit MAJOR trigger warning for a torture scene

Like sure yeah maybe they were both gonna die but the doctor clearly didn’t give af about the queen so I doubt there’s was much investigation for a better option (that saves her)

Wait so he has a son now

Oh the baby’s gone

I LOVE how Valyrian sounds 200 years before Dany

The rolllls

Small touch I really enjoy? The fires give off so much smoke and I’ve never seen it before in a show. Do they normally cgi it away?

Not sure I’m hooked, again, intrigue is missing, character across the board that are all thoroughly interesting, but I DO like our main contenders.

They did NOT just throw the Game of Thrones ending shade like that

They. Did. Not. Just say DANY was meant to get the throne (even if for a short while because I feel she’s only meant to have it to unite the realm for the battle and likely leaves/dies after, as an end to an age of magic).

Like the point of GoT was obvs that the politicking WASNT the point but it’s suchhhh vindication that Daenerys was magically destined to ascend the throne

I don’t care if you think Jon is an option - she was the mother of dragons not him

Doesn’t mean Jon doesn’t do important things during the war to come, or even become a king after Dany, as this show said a Targ w/ dragons is needed to protect the world from a position of monarchy - doesn’t mean that monarchy exists for very much longer after the war ends.

So TECHNICALLY she both WINS the game of thrones AND breaks the wheel

Coupled w/ the fact that they HIGHLIGHTED Dany’s name at the beginning

G RR Martin is practically shouting who becomes the head of Westeros during the winter war. (Again, not necessarily the PTWP, because this is a separate Targ dreaming, not the prophecy that Rhaegar became obsessed w/ but now I see why he became obsessed w/ it if he was given this info by his dad before hearing it).

Ahhhhhhh

V I N D I C A T I O N

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Mega Leech

Like every cartoon ever made, today's episode is the environmental episode. We all know how high-quality those tend to be, right?

Let's get into the twelfth (chronologically the tenth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Mega Leech.

We start off with the shyest girl in Marinette's class, Mylene, mentally preparing herself for a protest with her boyfriend, tough guy with a soft side, Ivan.

Wow, real subtle foreshadowing there, writers.

The thing Mylene and Ivan are protesting is something called the “Oxygen Project” by Mayor Andre Bourgeois, which will supposedly create fresh air for Paris. To be fair, this isn't just a random character trait they slapped onto Mylene like what we've seen with other episodes this season to justify their new Akuma forms. Back in the Season 2 episode “Reverser”, a major plotpoint for the final act was that Andre was about to approve a project that would send trash into space, which Mylene and Ivan were protesting at, before the titular Akuma threatened to send the trash back to the Earth. This show can get weird at times.

Even though they're the only two protesters, Andre still has Officer Roger Raincomprix take them into custody. To his credit, Roger does try to resolve things diplomatically, and is very hesitant to take them to his car (even though they aren't handcuffed and there's no divider), he only does so when his job is threatened by Andre. And let's get the obvious joke out of the way now because there's going to be a lot of moments like this.

Marinette sees the event from her house, and after running late to school resulting in a brief moment of Unfunny Marinette Slapstick, tells the class what's going on. Surprisingly, instead of ignoring the whole situation like every other episode she's been in, Ms. Bustier decides to actually be a teacher for once and calls Roger. She says that she'll supervise their protest while the rest of the class comes with her.

Back at the park, Andre is about to chop a tree down with a chainsaw, but is soon called out by Ms Bustier. Mylene calls out Andre for the obviously not eco-friendly project, but he soon plays an ad for the Oxygen Project.

Huh. So this is how Druidia's canned air business took off.

To be fair, this is actually a funny scene, as it does feel like an over the top commercial you'd see, especially the kind that gets promoted by a politician. Of course, this funny joke is soon followed yet another reminder that Marinette likes Adrien, because the writers assume the audience will forget if they aren't bashed over the head with this knowledge every episode.

And as usual, Adrien ignores Marinette's odd behavior around him, but that's more because he's distracted by the ad, because he was told it was for perfume (did the oxygen line not give away the purpose of the commercial?). Quick question: Why is Gabriel taking part in this? Why is a fashion designer being commissioned to create a bottle for a government-sanctioned project? Does he just invest in random projects and hopes they'll go under so he can akumatize someone? As for Mylene, her classmates are naturally confused as to why she is opposed to this project if it's good for the environment. Her response is something that can ironically be used to criticize this very show when talking about the Oxygen Project.

We then get a moment where, of course, Chloe is the one to say she doesn't care about trees despite having no real prominence in this episode. Seriously, this is the only line she gets and it's to remind the audience how much of an irredeemable monster she is.

Oh my God, Astruc, why don't you just say she's a climate change denier while you're at it, seeing how you already view them as criminals? You clearly want to throw every negative character trait and label at her, don't you? If you're so crazy about hating her, why not make Chloe Captain Planet villain levels of evil?

Marintte points out the obvious flaw in Andre's plan to stop pollution by selling air in plastic bottles that can easily pollute the ocean, which gives the Mayor a lot of bad press, and even though she's the one to say this, Mylene still shames her for ignoring her attempts to get people to protest because she was busy. Yes, the show is seriously trying to blame Marinette for not doing enough to help the environment on top of her various other responsibilities like PROTECTING THE CITY OF PARIS ON A DAILY BASIS.

The families of the kids come to support the protest, and Andre tries to call Gabriel for help, but he basically tells him to figure it out himself, supporting my earlier theory in the process. He transforms into Shadowmoth and sends an Akuma and an Amok to Andre. This transforms him into Malediktator again and and gives him a Sentimonster ally, the titular Mega Leech.

Mega Leech is another example of a Sentimonster with a simple design but a really interesting set of powers. As soon as its summoned, Malediktator jumps into his mouth and summons an army of minature clones of himself (making me wonder why they didn't call the Sentimonster “Micromanager”) to jump into the ears of civilians and control them directly like Plankton in that one episode of SpongeBob. It's a pretty terrifying concept and a really clever extension of Malediktator's mind control powers.

Adrien transforms into Cat Noir and tries fighting off the Malediktator clones, but obviously gets overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Marinette soon pretends to be possessed by a Malediktator clone to get Mylene to run away while she transforms, once again summoning her Lucky Charm as soon as she meets up with Cat Noir because the animators really want to show off the new suit. She uses the Lucky Charm, a single ice skate, to break the mayoral sash around one of the Malediktator clones and frees the Akuma and Amok, but Mega Leech is still around, along with the brainwashed civilians. She and Cat Noir realize that the Akumas and Amoks must have multiplied when Malediktator cloned himself. Ladybug tells Cat Noir to distract the Malediktator clones (the latter actually acknowledging how he always has to do that)

Ladybug meets up with Mylene in the sewer where she had escaped to earlier, only to find the girl crying. Ladybug offers Mylene the Mouse Miraculous, but she turns her down because of how scared she is. Unlike when they tried to do the same thing by having Zoe doubt herself in “Queen Banana”, this scene makes sense because Mylene has consistently been shown to be a very timid person. It feels much more believable to see this from her. Granted, it's undermined by Ladybug saying that Mylene is already like a superhero because of her protesting for a good cause. I get she's trying to reassure her, but the whole environmental lesson is kind of muddled by saying Marinette doesn't care about the environment because of how busy she was FIGHTING CRIME. Thankfully, the lesson is more about bravery being able to move onward in spite of fear.

Nevertheless, this still motivates Mylene to take the Mouse Miraculous and transforms into Polymouse.

And boy, is it bad. I'm not trying to body shame Mylene here, I'm glad they didn't try and slim her down either, but I'm really not a fan of the color scheme for the suit. With the use of pink and white, it looks way too similar to Pigella.

I get that they were trying to make Mylene look like a mouse, but I'm just really not a fan of the white gloves and boots. They stick out compared to Pigella, where they actually blended in with the color scheme. Then there's the actual suit itself. Why give the suit a hood if you're going to make it yet another skintight jumpsuit? At least with Carapace, they had more armor to help him resemble a turtle, but there's no excuse here. And finally, the hair. How can you take a girl with a very vibrant hairstyle, make it pink when transforming, cover it up, and then call it a day? There are just so many questionable design choices here. I don't think it's as laughably bad as Shadowmoth's suit, but it's really one of the weakest hero suits to be introduced recently.

I'd give my thoughts on how to improve it, but thankfully one of my anons gave their own ideas for a redesign.

Thank you to whoever sent this in. You certainly get character design better than some of the animators on this show, and that's saying a lot given they're supposedly better than the ones at Pixar.

Ladybug gives Polymouse the ice skate to use as a makeshift flail with her weapon, a jump rope, while she fights the Maledikator clones. Polymouse uses her power, Multitude, which turns her into a swarm of miniature clones to take on the horde of Malediktator clones and free the brainwashed civilians. Ladybug meets up with Cat Noir, but big surprise, Cat Noir gets brainwashed by a Malediktator clone. Sure, Polymouse frees him from the control, but I'm surprised Ladybug isn't more used to this happening by now.

Ladybug then gathers several temp heroes to help them out. She gives Kagami the Dragon Miraculous to become Ryuko, Nino the Turtle to become Carapace, Max the Horse to become Pegasus, and she gives back the Bee Miraculous to the super amazing Zoe so she can once again become the world's greatest superhero, Vesperia. There’s a brief joke where Cat Noir rushes to join the team pose, which could be seen as foreshadowing for future events, and if it is, good job, writers.

Pegasus uses his Voyage to teleport Vesperia above Mega Leech, where she uses her Venom on the Sentimonster, while Ryuko uses her Wind Dragon to gather all the scattered Akumas and Amoks freed by Polymouse for Carapace to trap in his Shelter. Ladybug purifies all the Akumas and Amoks, gives Andre a Magical Charm, tells him to rethink the Oxygen Project, and the heroes leave where Ladybug takes back all their Miraculous.

Back at the park, Andre decides to plant more trees in what's obviously not a desperate attempt to save his reputation. He may say he's doing the right thing, but I doubt investors will be happy that the project's being aborted just like that. We get one more hilarious moment where Marinette stutters around Adrien, who soon goes home and gets sent to his room by his father (because we just needed an Angstdrien Depreste scene this episode for some reason), who fidgets with his ring and stares ominously as the episode ends. And in case you live under a rock, this reignited a certain fan theory I'll be talking about in another post.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty decent episode. The environmentalism subplot was pretty standard for episodes like this, with how the antagonist is a rich asshole who doesn't see how he's harming the environment, and gets his mind changed by a hopeful youth. I'm glad Andre isn't Captain Planet villain levels of evil here, though I am glad the episode acknowledges that there's no single solution to stopping pollution, and that there needs to be more unity if we need to help the planet's situation.

While it had a bumpy first act, things really started to get interesting as soon as the action started. Questionable design aside, I thought Polymouse (who didn't even name herself in the episode) had a good first outing with the use of her powers coupled with the use of the Lucky Charm. The first act with Mylene really showcased her character and her courage in the face of adversity well. Part of me kind of wishes we could have seen her interact with Ivan while she was transformed, but then again, he was still brainwashed I think.

The other heroes honestly felt shoehorned in during the climax. I get that they helped gather all the Akumas and Amoks, but there was really no buildup to them appearing like in other episodes with multiple heroes.

The one major problem I have is how the episode tries to blame Marinette for not being as kind as Mylene because she didn't know about the protest, even though, as I have stated multiple times, SHE ROUTINELY SAVES PARIS EVERY EPISODE. I think that counts as saving the planet.

This episode had some flaws, but it was still pretty enjoyable, and it was one of the better episodes this season so far.

[alfredosauce50]

would you be down to do 2p china hc’s? im very curious on how you characterize him!

I’m down! I’m guessing you figured I had my own interpretation of the guy after I answered an ask saying I’d write for him. I really like 2p! China as a character, but I have to say, I haven’t properly written for him before. Nevertheless, I’ll give you my thoughts on him as a person!

2p! China Headcanons

Zao’s appearance doesn’t give away much of his personality. He’s got a bit of a baby face, and he has a sociable and pleasant demeanor for the most part. So if you didn’t know him well enough to see past those traits, you would be surprised at how shady he can be.

Appearance

Like his 1p counterpart, his dark brown hair goes past his shoulders and is tied back in a low ponytail. It’s pretty thin too, so it stays flat against his back. But that’s what makes it look so good. He isn’t the tallest guy out there, as he stands around 170cm or 5′7″. Doesn’t mean you can easily take him out in a fight, though. He’s quite slender, but he’s muscular and knows a few martial arts to boot.

He has a lot of tattoos, and he doesn’t try to hide them. He has dragons curling down his arms, as well as Chinese characters etched into his back. Most of the time, he wears traditional clothing, such as a sleeveless Tang suit, so his arms are exposed. It’s almost as if the colors black and red were made for him. And he knows it. So unless he’s having a bad day where he’ll go for a simple T-shirt, he likes to dress to impress. Not that he even needs to try.

He’s devilishly attractive, and the way he talks gets girls flocking to him.

Personality

Zao is very easy-going and open-minded. He’ll talk about anything with anyone. Everything is fascinating in a way, and nothing seems to faze him either. So he’s the type to question the most trivial things in life--or list drugs as casually as you would your favorite candy bars. It’s also difficult to shock him, or anger him. When life deals him a bad hand, or springs up inconveniences, he’ll go with the flow because that’s life. So unless something involves the person he likes, he keeps himself pretty level-headed.

With his willingness to talk about anything, comes his brutal honesty and bluntness. So sometimes, he’ll find himself offending people even if he never meant to. If he does this to women, they’ll slap him before storming off, leaving him in confusion at what he did wrong. But if he does this to men, he’ll have to be quick on his feet to escape a potential fight. Unlike a few other 2ps, he has a good temperament so he avoids violence, but he’ll resort to it if he absolutely has to.

Despite the careers he’s depicted to have, like being a drug-dealer, something in adult entertainment, night-life, or anything illegal, he has strong fraternal instincts. If somebody embodied the “big brother” trope, it would be him. He cares a lot for his younger siblings, and they look up to him as a role model. But he’ll always tell them, “Do as I say, not as I do!” As comfortable as he is in his own skin, his own identity, he wouldn’t want them taking after him.

He’s very flirtatious, and a huge tease. How he shows he likes you is through making you blush, or embarrassed. He’ll call you pet names. Shower you with compliments. Refer to you as if you and him are already an item. If you bumped into him at a grocery store, he’ll help you shop, then say, “So, is that all we need? I can’t wait for dinner tonight.” Zao is also unapologetically dirty-minded. He’s all about dirty jokes, conversations, and gestures. The bigger reaction he gets, the more addicting they are.

He doesn’t have any qualifications, not even a high school diploma, but he’s street-smart to make up for it. That’s how he makes so many connections and hustles his way up to the top in shady businesses. If you need something, anything, legal or illegal, expensive or cheap, you can ask him, and 99% of the time, he’ll say, “I know a guy.” If he likes you, all he wants in return is something perverted. A kiss, maybe. Or maybe your underwear.

Interests

He loves anything cute, and he doesn’t hide it. Sanrio is a must--he keeps a collection of their plushies, most of them being Hello Kitty, but he also likes other characters such as Cinnamoroll and Pompompurin. Sometimes, he can get a bit obsessive over whatever sells fast. So if he has to, he’ll stay up and keep refreshing the page selling whatever he has his eyes on. If he’s infamous for his connections that let him get pretty much anything he wants, surely he can get his hands on the limited-edition Hello Kitty-themed towel, right!? He isn’t against having other kinds of merchandise either, like household items, but he keeps it lowkey for functionality.

In his house, you’ll find a lot of imports from East-Asian countries. Not only is he used to using them when he was back in China, they’re better than what you can find in America. Or at least, in his opinion. This includes cosmetics, snacks, alcohol, and decorations.

Although he doesn’t have a lot of time to, he enjoys watching anime. That’s why he makes sure to get through the most popular and mainstream ones first.

Zao likes to keep connected with his culture. He doesn’t care to assimilate, and being ‘different’ doesn’t bother him at all--he thinks it’s what gives him a unique personality and background. Since he doesn’t have a lot of friends to speak Mandarin with, he’ll look for his neighbors who can, and strike up a conversation every now and then. As well as that, he’ll give his siblings red pockets for Chinese New Year so they can spend it on food, videogames or whatever they want.

He can’t cook for shit. Even then, he has strong opinions on food, especially Chinese. While he enjoys westernised take out like Panda express, he wishes people would stop assuming Chinese cuisine is just dumplings, fried rice, noodles and yum cha. They’re B-tier at best. For a country with that rich and long a history, there’s so much more to indulge in. Too bad he can’t make anything if he tried.

Psychology + romance

Zao is used to being a second choice. His cheerfulness and bluntness make other people think he’s creepy or weird, so he can’t quite wrap his head around somebody liking him to that degree--or getting particularly close to him. At least, emotionally. There are a lot of girls who want him for one-night stands. But this doesn’t stop him from flirting with someone he genuinely likes, even if he doesn’t expect anything in return. It’s fun because they get flustered, after all. But when they start returning the same energy, get persistent, or even make him suspect that they like him back, he will get nervous. He’s used to being the chaser, not the other way around. So if the tables turn and things start getting real, he will back away.

As confident as he is with his image, it’s difficult for him to get intimate with somebody romantically. He’s open, but can’t be vulnerable. He’d rather keep things casual, so when he really falls for someone, he’ll be conflicted between keeping things the way they are, or pursuing them.

Eventually, these feelings will deepen to the point being just friends becomes suffocating. That’s when Zao loses his cool and gets frustrated. It could happen due to a build-up of his emotions, or an event that makes him explode from jealousy. He’ll get desperate after so long of not doing anything and make it very clear he wants you. “Just date me already!”

When he finally gets together with you, prepare to be coddled. He’ll want to help you with anything the best way he can, and go to extreme lengths to do so. Nothing seems extreme when it’s for somebody he cares so much about. While he never holds it against you--how much he does for you--he may or may not guilt trip you into giving him more affection. But only subtly. Instead of him kissing you, he'll loiter around your presence until you kiss him. And when you do, he’ll smile like an idiot.

He never makes it explicit when he wants to take you out on a date. Zao will just ask you if you’re free, and take you out for the night. He doesn’t see a point in labelling it as a ‘date’, because he doesn’t just see quality time with you through a romantic and sexual lens. He values the friendship aspect of it as well, and you really appreciate him for it.

Zao loves to cuddle. He doesn’t hug you much throughout the day, but when you’re at home and about to sleep, he will hug you, a lot. He won’t let go while he talks to you, and will only loosen his coils when you fall asleep.

Acknowledgements

I was mainly inspired by the 2p! China in the story, “Dragon District”, written by xYourHero. So props to them. The fandom’s perception of him has definitely deepened because of it, and it’s great seeing underrated 2ps finally getting the attention they deserve! I’m one of the people who’s had my characterization of Zao take after hers, so I’ll also be crediting her for my headcanons.

You can find the story on DeviantArt, Archive of our own and Wattpad. I adored that fic back in the day. Such good memories. I wasn’t even writing back when I was reading it. Any who, let’s get right into it. I’ve divided the headcanons into subcategories, appearance, personality, interests, and psychology + romance.

(Look at this fanart is by Amphany on DeviantArt. It was drawn for xYourHero. I’m gonna put it here for reference. https://www.deviantart.com/amphany/art/Dragon-smoke-548426383)

[akaiamedama]

Of crocodiles and rings and a possible connection to a teased weakness

Crocodile is a guy that is real extra and dresses sharp and loves his bling bling, right? He’s a man of high standards, so of course, he’s gotta wear bling to show that. Other bling loving characters are Capone Bege and Blackbeard for example. All three of them like to show off that bling. Now why do I mention the other two? Coz look at these three bling loving gentlemen, wearing rings on every finger and tell me where the difference lies. I’ll wait.

Exactly!

As opposed to Bege and Blackbeard, Crocodile doesn’t wear a ring on every finger. Obviously he cannot wear 10 rings coz he only got one hand with 5 fingers but he also never wears 5 rings. No, no. This guy, ladies and gentlemen, kinda makes it a point to always leave out one finger and that’s the ring finger. Ha- interesting.

Now, of course this could be mere coincidence. But let’s be realistic here, it’s Oda. He clearly has a reason for it as he’s been true to this detail ever since Crocodile was introduced over a decade ago and the only real question is ‘why’?

Why would Crocodile do that? He clearly loves wearing rings so why not wear them on every finger? Why leave out the ring finger for crying out loud? If one wanted to leave a finger without a ring, one would probably leave out the pinky or the thumb but who puts rings on every finger and leaves out the ring finger? I tell you who.

Crocodile. That’s who.

If you’re one who believes in symbolism and all that stuff, then you’d probably find it interesting that the ring finger symbolises releationships with others especially romantical ones as it is seen closest to the heart and therefore or because of it is the finger a wedding ring is worn on. In most cultures the engagement ring is worn on the right hand and the wedding ring on the left as the right hand is often the ‘physical’ one and has a greater visibility. It’s probably interesting to note that the left hand is considered to represent your character and beliefs. Ha. Interesting that Crocodile is missing that one, huh? Anyhow, in Crocodile’s case left or right hand doesn’t really matter as he only has one left (duh) so an argument can be made that sides don’t matter and the importance lies on the finger itself.

The way it looks right now is that he’s making a statement leaving out the ring finger and there are a few possibilites here. Of course it could be a family ring and he could be from an important family but really, not only would that be a bit to similar to Doflamingo, it would also not make sense to not just replace the family ring on the occations he’s not wearing it. But he never wears a ring on that finger so one can only come to the conclusion that there’s some sentimental thought behind that.

The most logical would be that there is a ring he believes should be on that finger. Either he’s keeping it free for a future event coz he doesn’t have the ring yet (which I doubt) or he’s keeping it free coz technically there already is a ring for the finger. This could be a ring he doesn’t have anymore and regrets it (like he lost it with his left hand or threw it away) or a ring he does have but decides not to wear for his own reasons. Whichever it is, it clearly has such an important value that he doesn’t just covers it up or replaces it. 

Now, given the ring finger and it’s symbolism the thought of a wedding ring isn’t too far fetched. We don’t know enough about his past to say that he could never have been married so I think it’s worth looking into.

Let’s just imagine for a second, that the ring missing is indeed a wedding ring, what could that mean?

He could have had a wife but she died and even though he’d technically not be married anymore, people who lost their partner almost always keep their wedding ring as a memento. If they move on, they don’t wear it anymore but they often keep it. This could give another perspective to the ‘wounds’ Daz was referring to after Marineford as he was clearly not talking about Luffy’s physical wounds but about the emotional wounds that came with losing a loved one.

Crocodile could have had a wife but she betrayed him and he took the ring off as to break the relationship and connection. Then the choice to not wear a ring on that finger in the future could serve as a reminder to himself not to trust people, not even those close to you. This could possibly explain his huge trust issues.

However, these two scenarios, while possible, don’t strike me as the most likely simply due to the two following scenes:

“If you want to protect something, do it right!!” 

This could be totally random and only refer to the moment at hand but it could also indicate that he knows a thing or two about how to successfully protect someone. Which leads us to the infamous

“I know one of his weaknesses ...!! But if he cooperates with us ... then I won’t say anything about it!!”

Think about it, the biggest weakness ANY pirate of Crocodiles caliber could have is a loved one or people they care about and their identity and location to be known by the public or enemies (marines, pirates etc.) because no matter how powerful a pirate you are, if information like that was to spread and reach the wrong ears, this could have catastrophic consequences for you and the people you care about. It’s used over and over in OP stories like when the marines hunted down Gol D. Rogers offspring and slaughtered all newborn who could potentially have been Roger’s child or when the marines swore to kill Luffy for being Dragon’s son or when Zeff was used as leverage to force Sanji to comply. I doubt anyone knows Usopp is Yasopp’s son or that he had a woman and child in Syrup village otherwise someone would have probably attacked them to get back at Yasopp. Maybe that’s one of the reasons he left them. As to protect them.

Ivankov and Croc met years ago when Croc was still considered a rookie, so in his early/mid twenties. If there is indeed a ring to that finger and the person is still alive, Ivankov could know her identity or location and this could totally be the weakness Ivankov was refering to. Of course this only works if the person is still alive. 

Now I know, you’re probably scratching your head, thinking I might be a bit nuts going this direction considering it’s Crocodile we’re talking about but really, think about it. His choice of jewelry is mega weird so what could be the reaaon for it? Also it’s hardly the weirdest theory out there (looking at you femCroc theorists).

This would also tie in neatly with why he decided to have his Baroque agents working in teams of two with male/female. I mean, unlike other characters, he clearly doesn't seem to see women as the weaker sex and him having his agents work in pairs has to be grounded somewhere. Maybe he was raised like that and his parents where a good example of how well men and women complement each other or maybe he made the experience himself. If so, I tend to think that he wasn't betrayed by the woman... or maybe he was and that's one of the reasons why he was so paranoid and basically expected Robin to betray him. All possible, really.

It’s also apparent that Oda incorporates marriages a lot more often nowadays than he did in the early years of One Piece. Mr 9 and Mrs Mondey got married on a cover page and have a baby, Capone got married and his henchman Gotty married too, Sai and Baby 5 married, Sanji and Pudding were meant to marry and let’s not forget poor Senior Pink’s backstory. 

Last but not least, I’d like to point out a seemingly random fan question Oda answered in an SBS which seems just kinda odd once you consider everything I said above.

Now the question focuses on “they never had a child” and “I wonder what faces their children would have”, yet Oda starts with “They’ve been to weddings before ...” ... WOW. Really? Why would he say that? XD No one even asked about weddings. Funny. So they’ve been to weddings, huh? As what? Guests? Grooms? You know? It doesn’t seem to mean anything but if you consider Crocodile’s rings and such imo it’s just a weird thing to say. Then the mysterious “I wouldn’t say whether they had children or not ...” ..... 

Note: Especially during Alabasta Oda often forgets to draw Croc’s rings at all or accidentally leaves out the wrong finger but he is consistent with the rings since Impel Down. He still forgets them from time to time but he doesn’t switch the fingers anymore so one could reason that he had a vague idea of Crocodile’s reasons behind the rings when he introduced him but only solidified it or gave it more details once Croc showed back up. The anime and games however often just leave out the wrong ring probably thinking that it doesn’t matter.

[brawltogethernow]

I suppose the next step then is "BBC Merlin but it's SpideyTorch"

Oh my god. TEACHER, TEACHER, SHE’S TARGETING ME okay okay uh.

Peter, secret warlock, goes to Camelot with his mother figure, May, who does not know about the warlock thing because it kicked in when he was a teenager and they both strategically decline to tell each other things. Gaius is Reed, who was the court sorcerer and is now the court scientist. (He’s not an old man except spiritually where he has been a senile professor since he was 19.) He literally didn’t change anything he was doing, considering science and magic as different points on one spectrum anyway-- No. That’s Doom’s schtick. DOOM was the court sorcerer, and was fired. He is upset about it. Reed is just a science guy but worked extensively with Victor, so he’s kind of useful, but not as useful as Peter was hoping.

I know very little about Sue and Johnny’s dad except that he’s a supervillain who...faked his death, revealed himself, and then died for real like 12 hours later? Did he also fake his wife’s death at some point? Would he do a mad king magic ban thing? Idk but for plot purposes we’ll say yes. They conveniently already share Arthur’s dead mom syndrome. Maybe their aunt whose name is different depending on what issue you’re reading is also here just to convolute the court drama. Wait no didn’t Arthur have a shady uncle show up after like five seasons. She.

Peter is very talented at finicky, specific magical formulas. (Reed: :) )But in practice he really prefers to just slam out a big wave of power, and if that doesn’t solve the problem, repeat until it does. (Reed: :( ) He gives this a go at the beginning of sorting out any problem, like restarting your glitching computer, and if it doesn’t work the problem is complicated enough to be an episode plot.

So obviously I’m still gonna do secret identity shit? Peter saves the young prince and heir’s life and is rewarded with a second job; he only came here for job reasons and you’re all lucky he doesn’t turn down paying jobs otherwise he’d be having some words with the king. Peter also accidentally becomes a masked vigilante out in the town. His very existence is illegal because he’s obviously doing magic! They keep sending his boss out to hunt him down, and their eyes are always locking dramatically and shit in brief silent stare-offs from opposite ends of the street in thunder storms at sunset until Johnny’s horse rears and breaks the eye contact causing Peter to snap out of it and flee. You know how it is.

Sue is older than Johnny and thus older than the magic ban, so she responded to it by going “:) That’s nice, Dad” and socking away a bunch of books before they could go on the fire, and now she’s just a sorceress on the dl. This is approx. a first season finale reveal, because her real superpower is being able to keep her mouth the hell shut. I literally cannot with how nobody in Merlin ever exchanges information, so shortly after Peter and Reed learn this they exchange secrets, like sane people, which opens up their resources a bit.

That said Sue is an extra legitimate royal, not the Morgana equivalent. Maybe Gwen should be Gwen, especially since I have thought Gwen/Johnny/Peter has potential since reading Spider-Man/Fantastic Four (which if you read an earlier ask, I recommend if you want to see new art of Gwen being mean in hair clips). But Peter/Gwen and Merlin/Freya are like...same energy except the latter wasn’t as well done. And Merlin’s Guinevere honestly more reminds me of Betty. Morgana--

(wheeze)

(cough)

Okay I thought this trying to reconcile as much of the cast as possible and I now can’t unthink it so. The king’s ward is Dorrie Evans. Yes she goes nebulously sapphic evil witch queen. Sure she was an unpleasant teenager and readers hate her, but you know what, I’ll simp, whatever. Let Dorrie poison some people. In a cape. This feels natural to me. Also Betty Brant and Dorrie Evans???? Betty/Dorrie vibes???? I guess!!!!

So like. The thing where Arthur gets mystically whammied by love potions once a month, except also Johnny’s normal relationship-anticipating giddiness happening organically mixed in, the part before he actually starts dating someone and becomes immediately depressed. Peter is in the bg sarcastically dismissing magical incidents saying he can’t even tell the difference, and Reed is like 😬 Please Check Anyway. Peter’s not, haha, Peter’s not jealous, Johnny is just an idiot, and, okay maybe Peter is a little jealous! But it doesn’t matter because the prince is going to marry some noble and--

Reed: Prince Johnathan is a bit like a little brother to me, so Please Stop Telling Me About Your Problems.

Reed/Sue is reciprocated but on permanent hold for class reasons. Spideytorch is in the same boat except they’re also stupid and working it out by dating their way through the whole country, except Peter is actually into that and Johnny is not.

The dragon is...Ezekiel?????? That’s the right level of wise wry mentor who’s very shady and will kill you, so he’s a dragon now. And when he tells Peter he’s the (other) chosen one, Peter full stop doesn’t believe him. This disbelief goes on extensively. Peter is not a fate-oriented person. Johnny would love to hear about the fate thing, but no one will tell him.

Literally I’m just going to add more chronologically unmoored medievalish shit to Merlin now to cram more of the cast in. There’s some kind of town crier/herald outfit, and Jonah is their boss. He’s just out in the road yelling sometimes even though he can delegate that. The buglers otherwise known as Bugle staff named Peter’s vigilante persona the Spider, which was supposed to sound menacing but is in practice also cool. This is out-of-universe fairly equivalent to Merlin’s real name as a neat two-syllable animal word and possible title. In-universe maybe I’d elbow out Emrys and just use this. Merlin is already very servants-don’t-work-like-that, so Betty just also has two jobs for no reason so she can knock elbows with them.

MJ is the court jester and knows absolutely everything, which is a dramatic mid-game reveal that isn’t exactly foreshadowed so much as always possible while carefully obscured from the viewer (the reader). Before this she’s already a Wise Fool, Shakespeare-ways archetype character, it’s just not clear how much. She is the most important character in Homestuck Merlin Spider.

Every ship is real for at least 30 seconds. Most of the extended FF cast are either magical antagonists or weird nobles.

Ben????? (Grimm, I mean. Ben Parker is dead. Ben Reilly is a recurring episodic plot.) This show was painfully formulaic and would simply not keep someone with any version of his deal in the main cast, but he’s a full quarter of the FF so. A magical accident approximated his rock body deal. Maybe specifically tying him to ~the magic of the land~. And then, uh. Wandering the country is too satellite-like. Hiding out in a forbidden castle wing is interesting but doesn’t do him justice. So I guess it’s a come and go semivoluntary transformation thing that’s kept secret? Rock werewolf. Were-rock. Good opportunity to fake out like you’re going to do a monster of the week plot, and then he contributes to the tension to abolish the magic ban.

Knights?? Wyatt is there from the beginning, being tall and reassuring (holding a sword edition). Not sure how him or his immediate ancestors got to Europe and then ended up this involved with the local nobility, but it was probably exciting. And Flash, or he’s an early addition. Either way he’s from the same village as Peter and is approximately White’s Kay, except directed at the wizard instead of the future king, and otherwise you can completely superimpose their comic dynamic including the fanboying over the secret identity angle, which is entertainingly seditious. ...Others. I don’t know enough FF characters for this. I’ve accidentally implied the eventual addition of Bennet Brant, but his evil sorcerer of the week energy is very strong, so maybe not. Randy eventually because I already implied the Robertsons and can see it.

This is so long, covers nothing, and explains none of the namechecks. Using both these characters’ franchises in one fusion is too much stuff. I keep not talking about the core relationship because it’s just. Like That. I don’t feel like I need to elaborate on the Merthur dynamic, even transposed on a different ship. It’s Just Like That.

[chunhua-s]

Ushijima With A Jamaican S/O!

okay so the first time he heard you speaking patois his brain just.... shut down

what the fuck are you saying? it sounds like english but see because he can only listen to about three english sentences before his mind breaks, he loses track of what you say past the first sentence

it happens everytime a family member calls you — you just.... switch to talking patois, and your poor boyfriend is standing in the doorway of the living room while you’re walking around the kitchen and speaking in all these sounds that make absolutely zero sense to him

it makes it worse that you’re one of the faster talkers (even your family members and friends tell you to slow down because they literally cannot understand a word you’re saying) so whenever he hears you get really excited it just sounds like you’re speaking in cursive

you have these moments where you’ll speak to him, and then if you’re extremely frustrated or passionate with what you’re saying, you’ll just switch to patois without even realizing it. it’s only when you see steam coming out of his ears after you said “no but yuh nah understand weh mah seh to yuh” that you realize what you’re doing and laugh while hugging him in apology

he asks you to teach him 🥺

that’s how he learns that the word bomboclaat isn’t just some weird twitter term but instead a curse word

he starts off fairly well considering patois is kinda broken english, so he can pick up on small things without much help

he understands better than he speaks, but he tries to put in the effort because he’s so interested by it (and by you overall. he loves everything about you. he’ll literally be fine if you say anything to him in patois and he doesn’t even have to understand, he just wants to hear you talk)

he’ll have times when he’ll lie his head on your chest, takes your hand and places it on top of his hair so you can pat him gently, and asks you to talk (that’s a thing between you two actually! just lying on each other’s chests and listen to what they have to say)

he LOVES reggae ( he prefers it over dancehall tbh)

you put on a playlist once during one of your ‘spring cleanings’ (he doesn’t understand why you call it that when you’re doing it in october)

most of the songs are what you heard your uncle play in the yard when you were younger; welcome to jamrock, rocksteady, red red wine and a handful of others

his personal favourite is smile jamaica by chronixx 🥺 it makes him think of you and your pretty ass smile whenever he hears it

when you confess to him that you never really listened to reggae or dancehall much when you were growing up (aside from what you would hear in coaster busses and taxis) he holds your hand and tells you that you both can listen to them together

you love him so much you could cry

you did. you cried because how could one man be so pure and sweet and absolutely wonderful?

his least favourite food is calaloo :( he thinks it tastes too bitter even if he eats it with fried dumplings

he just... you saw the way his eyebrows furrowed in confusion but he continued eating it anyways

when you ask, he looks you dead in the eye and tells you “it’s bitter.”

he still ate it though because you made it

you promise your aunt and mother know how to make it better, but honestly you kinda ruined calaloo for him (he might eat it if you add saltfish though)

but if you give him stew fish and ocra? he eats all of it

i dunno he just seems like that kind of guy

he also loves jamaican curry! your family made it for him when he visited for the first time with white rice

speaking of your family, they love him. all of them were so nice to him when they first met. your uncles shook his hand with the biggest smiles and your aunts all gave him those big hugs with the lil motions where they rock side to side with the hug. each and every one of them welcomed him like they’d know him all his life. he told you later that he was really happy when they all welcomed him like that

your uncles and cousins call him “boss man” and “general.” listen when jamaicans give you a nickname it’s gonna stick. forget your real name, that designated nickname is all they’re gonna call you by.

so anytime you guys visit, he’s the first one they call to, “weh yah deal wid boss man?!” or they dap him up once they get comfortable enough with a “why pree”

the first time he heard them say it he turned to you for explanation, which you told him it’s basically like “how’s it going?”

so you and your family teach him to respond with “mi deh yah” which is like “i’m good.” the first time he says it he actually sounded pretty good! (due in part to hearing you repeat it to whoever you were on the phone with whenever you wanted to hang up.... y’all know what im talking about right? that “yeh man mi deh ere a gwan meds ennuh” when you wanna get off the phone

it was either that or “yuh good though?” those were basically his lil indicators to know when you’re done talking

your uncles tried to get him into playing dominos with them 💀 see i imagine him being absolutely confused the first couple of rounds until he finally catches on, and then he gets into it. you’re just watching him and all your aggressive uncles slam the dominos on the ludi board they use as a makeshift table.

when they offered him a cup of rum he politely declined, but he did get himself a lil bottle of dragon stout to hold on to

when you guys are leaving, he hits them with a “likkle more” (something else you guys taught him to say and you get so excited at how good he sounds!)

in summary, he loves your family and your family loves him 🥰 they always tell you to bring him whenever you plan to visit and when they call they ask about him before asking about you

he basically became their son. you? you’re the stepchild that they forget about whenever he’s around 💀

you’re not complaining, you’re happy they love him so much

and you love him too

this was an incredibly self indulgent hc post and I don’t even know if there are other jamaican hq stans up here but im posting it anyway because 😌 ushijima wakatoshi

[mugionthewater]

Tsumugi Shirogane Deepdive: Prologue

I’m in a DR mood right now, and really enjoying revisiting Tsumugi in particular, so I thought I’d do a chapter-based retrospective focusing on all the cool Tsumugi material! A reread project especially rewarding for a character like Mugi, so I’m really excited.

In this series, I’m focusing a lot on all the foreshadowing, and also what we can extrapolate about Tsumugi’s true character along the way. I’ll be doing this chapter-by chapter, including the prologue as well as an installment for her Free Time Events.

Full spoilers for V3 under the cut.

The Pre-Prologue

We first see Tsumugi in the gym by the exisals to get their uniforms and their memories. Tsumugi herself has four lines of dialogue in this scene, nothing that particularly stands out, but there are a couple of things worth noting about how she (and everyone else) is dressed.

Kaede describes how she was kidnapped on her way to school, and it sure looks like that’s the case for almost everyone in the room. We’re used to seeing DR characters in flashy outfits that vaguely resemble school uniforms but actually reflect their individuality, so when the game first shows them in an ensemble lineup like this, it’s a lot more striking.

Not so much in this CG. While there are plenty of visual details that tell us about these characters (Saihara’s already hiding under a hat in his sprites; Iruma is revealing; Kiibo and Gonta are buttoned up and orderly, but Kaito’s shirt and jacket are undone to show a bold-colored undershirt), their uniforms look like they’re doing what uniforms are supposed to do: be bland and blend in.

What about Tsumugi? Tsumugi wears a basic uniform like everyone else, but this is where we get the game’s first indication that all is not what it seems with this girl. The clue is the blue. She is the only one in the lineup whose primary color isn’t a neutral tone. What’s more, it’s the same shade of blue Tsumugi is associated with throughout the game. Visually, part of her is already in character as Tsumugi Shirogane, SHSL Cosplayer.

Of course, there’s a much bigger item foreshadowing Tsumugi as the bad guy, which is that in advance of everyone getting their “memories”, the main emphasis is their new clothes delivered by the Monokubs.

There are a couple of reasons the clothes are significant. For starters, there’s a direct line to Tsumugi’s cosplay talent. For anyone inclined to suspect her before starting the game on account of her talent (and her general don’t-look-at-me-I’m-not-suspicious vibes), this is immediate theory fodder. This also primes the audience to look at the setting of V3 with a critical eye, between the contrast of the kids’ boring outfits and their flashy new ones and the Monokubs making explicit references to starting the “story“, there is an immediate suggestion of artifice that runs all the way down to their identities. Not for nothing is Kaede’s magical girl transformation visually similar to the memory light.

Another thing: pre-memory light, the person in the room whose outfit is the least uniform-y is Amami.

At the very least, it’s a look that’s noticeably more casual than what most of the cast is wearing. After Chapter 6, we know that Amami made it to the end of the 52nd Killing Game before he and Tsumugi were condemned to execution via participating in the next killing game- which he seems to be realizing in this scene- so it’s possible they’re coming right off the heels of the last killing game. It’s an ongoing mystery what his relationship with her was like up to this point? Does he know she’s the ringleader? Is “Tsumugi Shirogane“ anything like the person she was in the last killing game, assuming she was even there?

I’m not confident Tsumugi really switched to a new persona for the 53rd Killing Game, even though fake identities is kind of her whole deal. I’ll get more into why in this series, but I think a lot of the character we see in the game is the “real“ Tsumugi, to the extent that such a person even exists.

Introducing Tsumugi Shirogane: Professional Cosplayer, Sex God

If you go back and read the promotional blurbs for V3, Tsumugi’s mention her tendency to get so lost in thought that she’ll ignore everyone around her. This little trait isn’t super weird at first, until you realize later in the game that she doesn’t carry the shtick past the first chapter. It’s like she wrote the character blurbs herself, realized everybody has a wacky “thing“ that would come up immediately in the introductions, and came up with an act of low-grade wackiness so she’d fit in in the prologue.

This is great stuff, looking back. It gives an intro in brief to the many contradictions of Tsumugi Shirogane. On one hand, it’s overly phony and performative. But on the other hand, there’s a core of truth there about her character- she really is someone who stays in her thoughts without a care for anyone around her, albeit less in the cute way and more in the horrifying sociopath kind of way.

It also tells us something important about Tsumugi’s commitment to the Killing Game. She cares about maintaining the integrity of this world and its characters, but is pretty indifferent about maintaining a role for herself. She doesn’t give a shit about having a storyline or even much of a character. The pleasure of DR comes from what she can get as an observer/consumer. 

This is entirely consistent with what she tells Kaede and Saihara about herself and her feelings about cosplay in the actual introduction.

This is the ethos that makes me wonder how dishonest Tsumugi really is. She’s dishonest as hell, of course, but given that she later applies the entire DR LARP reality show experience as “cosplay“, what she says about her convictions largely rings true. She clearly cares about making her tribute an authentic one (lol), which extends to her being the primary creative director inside her fiction bubble.

It partly explains why she spends the next five chapters being little more than furniture. In her mind, her job as a producer precludes her from being a character in her own right, because doing anything to pull focus is tantamount to self-promotion, and, well, that’s an abuse of power that gets in the way of the story!

(sidebar: there are some fascinating things we could speculate about what she says about cosplay relates to her relationship with the rest of Team Danganronpa and the outside world, but this post is getting long, so I’ll save it for another day)

Like everything else about Tsumugi, it’s not until the end that you can fully contextualize how sinister she’s being here. What she passes off as a cute passion for cosplay is actually a bone-deep sense of consumer entitlement taken to a logical extreme. Tsumugi is a more vicious indictment of terrible nerds and a selfish fandom than anything Hifumi Yamada could embody. She loves DR so much, and feels so strongly that nobody should be participating in DR with any corrupt motives, that anything less than the real deal is unacceptable. To this end, she will happily transplant entirely new emotional realities on the others so that even the emotional torture of the Killing Game is authentic. In Tsumugi’s selfish nerd brain, this is the important part of the drama of Killing Games, and anyone who disagrees with her approach is a fake fan who doesn’t deserve any kind of creative control.

Anyways, there’s more to say about Tsumugi’s introduction, so moving on

Some pretty overt foreshadowing here. In the Japanese script, her reference is ep. 53 of Kiteretsu Daihyakka instead of Doraemon. I like the change for the dub, even though it’s pretty obvious. Someone who knows DR primarily through the dub is less likely to know about the franchise’s connection to Doraemon, anyway.

Tsumugi also points out the weird dragon statue in the hallway that will lead into a new part of the school down the line. It’s a neat little metatextual trick on the audience, because it’s the kind of thing that’s not suspicious at all on a first playthrough. She’s an NPC in a DR game, of course her dialogue is gonna point out plot devices that will be relevant shortly, but on a reread you know she’s being deliberate about it. This is far from the last time this kind of thing happens with Tsumugi.

Lastly, this charming observation from Kaede about why she’s maybe not so plain afterall.

Kaede puts it in the worst way possible, but it’s interesting that she, a person with a generally good read on people, decides immediately that there’s more to Mugi than meets the eye. Not only that, she relates it specifically to an audience spending a lot of time looking at her. If she were any less gross about it, Kaede making this kind of observation would land like a big clue.

This leaves us with the biggest question from the prologue: if Kaede wasn’t too busy being horny and gay, could she have put two and two together and thwarted the ringleader?

There is SO much more to say about Tsumugi, so I’m really excited to dig deep into other chapters!

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Ok so since I went on a wee tear about people reading someone other than Pratchett, the same as how HP fandom needs to read someone other than she who shall not be named, here are some authors to check out! Some are classics who you will have read before, or at least heard of, I hope some of them will be new to you as well. 

Feel free to add to it. I’m going mostly for fantasy/sci-fi/fabulism and their adjacencies:  

Octavia Butler (she’s a classic and her stuff from the 80s alone, and the context she was writing in, is 100% more radical than half the crap we all spew out now.) 

Angela Carter (she’s a classic for the retold fairy tale. I’v read other authors who try this and everyone is derivative of her and no one is nearly as good)

Scott Lynch (fun fantasy assassin world - though I feel like he’s #problematic for some reason now? I don’t follow all the lit drama that is out there)

Marie Brennan (dragons! women in science!)

Stephen Graham Jones (Indigenous [Blackfoot] horror and the struggles of belonging)

Natasha Pully (steampunk and spies! Also you want some actual, canon, like it’s clearly stated gays in Victorian England and not some bad jokes vaguely hinted at kinda-sorta in Monstrous Regiment)

John Gardner (fun weird fabulism? idk I’m just here for Grendel) 

Imogen Hermes Gowar (Mermaids! cabinets of curiosity! low-urban fantasy! I got queer vibes from her stuff) 

Waubgeshig Rice (more Indigenous (Anishinaabe) horror - his latest Moon of the Crusted Snow is *chef’s kiss* perfect) 

Jeff Vandermeer (environmentalism sci-fi/spec-fic - weird and very Floridian. More women in science!) 

Amanda Leduc (new author! Apocalyptica and centaurs and meteors)

Katherine Arden (eastern European folklore retold in different ways)

Tamora Pierce (I know I bang on about her all the time - openly gay and trans characters; deals with racism and doesn’t dismiss it by saying speciesism is more interesting; no “loitering with intent” jokes that show how everyone hates the homeless and gay men etc.) 

Ursula K LeGuin (another classic; also openly gay and trans characters; fascinating stuff with gender and race; she’s so fucking smart)

NK Jemison (Like LeGuin, so fucking smart, doing cool stuff with race and sexuality and also environmentalism and other issues)

Silvia Moreno-Garcia (she wrote Mexican Gothic! She tends to do fantasy and gothic and folkloric retellings set in Mexico - her latest is 1920s Mexico and the Mayan god of the dead has come back. Shit proceeds to get real)

Rebecca Roanhorse (there’s a massive flood; so many earthquakes and other events cause magic to return. Tells the story of a group of young Navajo kids dealing with all of this)

Karen McBride (new author! Crow Winter is great - girl returns home to Spirit Bear Point First Nation and starts being visited by a local spirit/god and things go from there) 

Lydia Kwa (magic-realism in 7th century China with many ghosts and oracle bones also martial arts and some good action) 

Eden Robinson (she wrote the Trickster series! If you guys like trickster gods and the shit that can fall out from magic powers going sideways? Her books are for you.)

Tochi Onyebuchi (deals with magic and race and racism; also cops and incarceration and the violence of the carcerial system.) 

Rivers Solomon (she talks about race and slavery and class through spec-fic - she’s more on the sci-fi side - also she talks about generational trauma and inherited struggles)

This is obviously just a starter pack. 

Honestly though, if you want radical fantasy that talks about real issues? Stop reading white straight men for a year. For just one, single year read only black and indigenous authors, lgbtq+ authors, Latino authors, east asian authors etc. 

There is a massive wide world of radical work out there. I’m sorry to say, Pratchett isn’t really part of it. But if that’s what you’re yearning for, if you want to see yourself and your struggles on the page? It’s out there. Just google “queer fantasy” or “Latino fantasy authors” or “afro-futurism” and you will be inundated with fantastic writers all worthy of reading and exploring.