#because their style is so pretty. it's so simple yet so complex. just amazing

[katimanki]

An AU where they grew up as upper class rich kids going to fancy charity events and banquets every weekend.

Mike hates them and is dragged to them against his will, but at least Max is also forced to attend with her family, so they don't have to suffer at these stuck up formal parties alone. The Byers-Hoppers are new in town and are attending their first charity event as members of the rich people community of Hawkins and Mike has a bi panic moment when he spots the family's twins in the crowd. (at first his silly ass almost mistakes them for a couple until Max corrects him)

The Wonder Twins(as Max calls them) seem like an intimidating pair, they are in their element at the fancy events, and Mike is very much not. But when he catches the twins pulling pranks on the sidelines of the events, he gets the courage to try and befriend them.

(this had a companion piece of Mike and Max, but anything I made would just not look even close to what the sketch did, so I just put the sketch under the cut)

[normal-internet-user]

Hello my dear!

May I request a 2012 Donnie x reader, but reader is Casey's twin sister? Like reader and Donnie are together and Casey's super protective

Have a lovely day/night

-🌻

Of course I can my darling 🌻! 💕

OVERPROTECTIVE

♡~~♡~~♡~~♡~~

Summary: After discovering that you're dating Donnie, Casey makes it his mission to 'scare' the purple masked terrapin.

Warnings: None!

Requested: 🌻

Female Reader!

.........................................

You winced as your younger sister yanked the comb through your hair once again. After finding out you were going on a date, the price for her silence was her getting to style your hair and pick your outfit.

"Are you done yet?" you whined, yelping when she roughly pulled on your hair.

"Nope!" She said. You could just hear her little gap toothed grin.

You sighed and slumped in your seat. You would like to be gone before Casey got home, mostly because you didn't want hin asking questions. He's always had a bit of a- uhm- protective streak.

And what with his already rival like relashonship with your boyfriend, you would really like to avoid any new conflict between the two. So it was best if he didn't know for now, and to your credit, you and Donnie were really good at keeping the whole 'We're dating.' thing a secret.

No one else knew with the exception of Master Splinter, but he was literally a ninja master, not much gets by him.

"Done!" Ella said proudly, handing you a mirror over your shoulder. You had to admit, it was better than you had expected, it actually looked kinda amazing.

"Thanks, now get out so I can change, I wanna leave before Casey gets home."

Ella nodded and skipped out of your room giggling about god knows what. After she left, you closed and locked the door, changing into the outfit she had left out for you.

You opened the door and Ella squealed in excitment, "You look so pretty, (Name)!"

You laughed, "Thanks, Ella. Alright, I'm out, if Dad or Casey ask where I went tell 'em I went to April's or somthing. Capeesh?"

"Capeesh!"

Ella gave you a big hug, then ran off to do something else, read probably. You knew she'd be fine on her own for a while since your dad would be home in about fifteen minutes and she was ten years old after all.

You made your way out of your apartment complex, walking down the ever darkening New York streets. You sent Donnie a quick text to let him know you were on your way to your arranged meeting place, and he replied with a thumbs up and a heart emoji.

You smiled, shaking your head at the simple reply.

You turned down a familar alley, using the worn fire escape to climb up to the rooftops, "Hey there handsome, you waitin' for somebody?" you say with a giggle once you reach the top, startling your boyfriend who was waiting for you.

Donnie spun to face you, relaxing when he saw it was you, "You scared me, (Name)!"

You laughed loudly, "You aren't very good at flirting, huh, Honey?"

Donnie chuckled, muttering, "You'd think you'd know that by now."

You walked over to him, placing a quick kiss on his cheek, further darkening his blush, "It's ok, I'm a big enough flirt for both of us pretty boy." you smiled at him teasingly.

Donnie rolled his eyes half-heartedly, clearing his throat, "So, uhm- I was thinking we could-" He was cut off by your ringing phone.

You pulled the device from your pocket, groaning when you saw the caller ID. It was Casey.

"Crap." you muttered.

Donnie snorted at your reaction, and you sent him a half-hearted glare before answering the phone, "Hello?"

"Hey there, (Nickname), where are you currently, like, at this exact moment?"

You gulped, "Uh, with, April."

"Try again, (Name)!" April's voice sounded from the phone

Double crap.

"Uhm-"

Casey cut you off, "Would you happen to be standing on a rooftop across from Mr. Murakami's shop with Donnie's arm wrapped around your waist? Or am I seeing dopple gangers."

Triple crap.

You and Donnie began to frantically scan the area, before you could even find your twin and April, a loud shout sounded from the building across the street, "That's my sister you brainiac punk!"

"Case', what the hell are you doing over there?" You shouted.

"Looking for you!" he replied,

"How did you even know I wasn't at home?"

"Ella told me!"

You gasped, "That little snitch." you muttered.

"I'm comin' over there!" Casey shouted, and you frantically waved your hands, "No you stay right there, Casey Jones!" you shouted.

"Well lugnuts." Donnie sighed.

You debated taking Donnie and booking it before Casey could get up there, but before you could tell Donnie your plan, Casey emerged from the fire escape.

"Alright, what's goin' on here?" He demanded, storming over to the pair of you and removing Donnie's arm from your waist.

You groaned in annoyance, "This is exactly why I didn't tell you, Casey. I knew you'd act like this."

"If it helps-"

"You shut up." Casey said, cutting Donnie off, "(Name), I don't care who you date, I really don't, but as your twin brother it's my job to make sure you don't get hurt!"

"Casey-"

"Hold on, I'm not done." Casey turned to face Donnie, "So, you listen up nerd, and you listen good. If you hurt my little sister in anyway-"

"Little?!"

"You are younger than me."

"Yeah, by like, 2 minutes!"

"Still younger."

You huffed, crossing your arms, "Whatever."

"Ahem, as I was saying. If you hurt her in anyway shape or form, you better expect Casey Jones to show up outside that nerd den of yours." Casey finished his little speech by poking Donnie's plastron, he then began to walk backwards towards the fire escape, where April was waiting and snickering at the interaction.

The whole time he was backing up, Casey was making an, "I'm watching you." gesture. He then proceded to trip over the edge of the building, and fall backwards onto the fire escape. He jumped up, made one last warning gesture, then he and April left.

You and Donnie looked at each other dumbfounded, "That's... not how I expected that to go..." you said, taking Donnie's hand.

"Me neither," He replied, pulling you closer "I genuinly thought he'd try to fight me. I would have won, obviously, but I digress."

The two of you began to lean in for a kiss, and you hummed, "I'd give him an a for effort, he was trying to intimidate a ninja afterall."

Donnie chuckled in response, and the two of you grew closer, faces only inches apart.

"Hey! No kissing!"

"Dang it, Casey!"

.........................................

There you go 🌻 Anon! I really had fun writing this, like, alot of fun! Tysm for the beautiful request and I hope you all have an amazing rest of your day/night!💕💕

[danielfeketewrites]

DOCTOR WHO TOP 10 - 11th Doctor

My favourite of the New Who Doctors. I started with his era and it changed my life.

10. The World Tree

A recent addition to this Doctor's EU canon, I utterly love this little story. It's another winner of the Paul Spragg Memorial, so you can download it for free on the Big Finish website. I urge you to do so.

9. The God Complex

Having previously written School Reunion and Vampires of Venice, I presume Toby Whithouse's reputation in the Who fandom was something along the lines of "he writes the fun, fluffy ones". The God Complex is his first darker and, well, more complex script. And it really, really works. I have a soft spot for most of his episodes anyway, but The God Complex is probably the most ambitious one. I adore the visceral liminality of that hotel, it's so good. (Also, I choose to ignore that nonsense reveal in The Time of the Doctor.)

8. Apotheosis / The Child of Time

These two basically form a two-parter, so I'm putting them together. Although, for the record, I prefer Apotheosis, contrary to what Jonathan Morris presumes in his commentary at the end of the comic strip collection. Mostly because I love Dan McDaid's art so bloody much, but also because of the atmosphere, setting, clever use of the medium (the stuff with the beard ROCKS), and nuns with guns. But The Child of Time is also pretty great as a big, satisfying finale full of fun twists. I said it before, I'll say it again - Morris is a great chameleon, perfect at writing excellent Doctor Who stories while using voices of other excellent Doctor Who writers. I mean, he admits in the commentary that he wanted to get the strips close to Moffat's style and I think he definitely succeeded.

7. Amy's Choice

It's a shame Simon Nye never wrote any more Doctor Who, because Amy's Choice is a stellar character piece. Toby Jones' Dream Lord is such a memorable presence and the connundrum this episode presents is really fun and unique.

6. Space in Dimension Relative and Time

one best the is it but One Year Doctor's eleventh in one-shot experimental only the not It's. clever really, really it's yet, simple It's. it read go all should you and story timey-wimey unique and fun really a in potential full it's to medium the uses Williams Rob.

5. The Eleventh Hour

The episode that hooked me. The episode that changed my life. I fully believe this is the best episode to show to someone new to Doctor Who.

4. The Rise and Fall / The Other Doctor

A two-parter, with the first part written by Al Ewing and draw by Boo Cook, and the second part written by Rob Williams and drawn by Simon Fraser. I've only read Year One of eleventh Doctor's comics published by Titan, but I strongly feel the story of the Doctor taking on SERVEYOUinc. In a way, the story feels like a conversation not just with Doctor Who's past and present, but also with it's future... It feels like the perfect antidote to Kerblam!.

3. The Day of the Doctor (and The Day of the Doctor)

Listening to Steven Moffat talk about The Day of the Doctor is weird. Everything around the writing and production of the 50th anniversary special seems like hell. And yet, the end result is something that's not just extremely good Doctor Who, it feels like it knows it's good Doctor Who. It looks simple, seems self-assured, appears to know exactly what it's doing. It's a minor miracle. And it's also amazing. Gallifrey falls no more. All thirteen and all that.

Note: This spot is shared between the episode AND the novelisation. I love both of them very much. Go read the novelisation if you haven't read it yet. It's really, really fun.

2. Vincent and the Doctor

Nearly everyone loves this episode and, well, I can't really argue with that. It really is special. I adore it, the greatest celebrity historical the show ever did.

1. The Doctor's Wife

My favourite New Who episode.

So, I am a huge fan of Neil Gaiman. That is probably not a shocking take on this website. My collection of his work currently includes 12 books (1 in Czech translation, the rest in English), 6 comic books (1 in Czech translation, the rest in English), and 1 script book. I love Neil Gaiman.

I love the idea of the Corsair. I actually roleplayed as an incarnation of the Corsair in a game of Cubicle 7's Doctor Who TTRPG at a Red Dwarf convention recently. In front of an audience of like four people.

Hell, I even made a fanart of the Nephew like 6 or 7 year ago. I love the poor Ood and I love the horror aspect of the episode, with TARDIS becoming an abject and unfamiliar place when she gets possessed by the House.

But the reason I love this episode the most out of not just the eleventh Doctor's era but all of the 2005 series is... Well, it's the relationship. The Doctor and his TARDIS. Or, the Thief and his Sexy. It recontextualizes the whole mythology, it recontextualizes the entire series in a way that's so moving and poetic and just... perfect. I love The Doctor's Wife.

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Garak

By Ames

No one here but us plain, simple tailors this week on A Star to Steer Her By. We’re finally scrutinizing fan-favorite recurring character Garak, who’s definitely more complex and nuanced than even some main characters we’ve discussed before. As we assembled our classic Best and Worst Moments lists, we found that Garak has the most moments that somehow end up in both. That’s how morally (and physically) grey this guy is.

So let’s get our measurements taken as we spotlight DS9’s resident Cardassian spy, played so stunningly by Andrew Robinson (have you read his book yet? It’s amazing). Scroll on below or decode some ciphers with us on this week’s podcast discussion (jump over to 48:23). Of all the moments we’re spotlighting, which are the best and which are the worst? My dear reader, they’re all best moments. Even the worst moments? Especially the worst moments.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Let us haggle Our very first introduction to Garak in “Past Prologue” sets him up as mysterious, sneaky, and downright sassy. It’s always nebulous just how far his covert information extends versus how much he’s ever just toying with Julian, but in this early episode, he helps the doctor uncover some shady dealings that the Bajoran terrorist Tahna Los has been engaging in. And it’s delightful.

Schemes within schemes Garak and Bashir team up again in the season two “Cardassians,” in which Garak sees through decades’ worth of Cardassian scheming (the best kind of scheming) to expose Dukat’s war orphan plot. The details are convoluted and Rube Goldbergy, but the tailor puts together all the pieces and concludes that Dukat is looking to undermine Gul Pa'Dar, some-freakin’-how.

Personally, I find this style a bit too radical Listening to Garak’s smoothtalking is always extra fun because he’s always saying more than is just on the surface. Even when he doesn’t have to! In his own way, he warns Quark that Natima Lang is in danger in “Profit and Loss.” By the end of the episode, he goes so far as to shoot Toran, saving Quark’s lady love and her students before they go “out of fashion.”

My best friend, Elim The first episode to appear on both lists is “The Wire” because it’s just so Garak. While he never tells Bashir the truth once, he’s at his most vulnerable when he’s telling his various Elim stories. In his own Cardassian way, he connects with his dear doctor and expresses things about himself that, though not empirically true, are him at his most real. And the shippers rejoice.

Major, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you looking so ravishing We give Major Kira major props for her role in the stunning “Second Skin,” but Garak plays a large part as well. When Kira and Ghemor’s backs are up against the wall, Garak comes through for the DS9 crew. And like when he killed Toran in “Profit and Loss,” he’s able to put his Cardassian patriotism aside to kill the hell out of Entek and quip about it at the same time.

The spy who loved me It’s no wonder people ship Bashir and Garak so much when there are episodes like “Our Man Bashir�� to fan the fires. And when things go awry in the holodeck, Garak is able to quip his way through the Bond-style holoprogram that they find themselves trapped in, all the while mocking what Julian seems to think the spy world is actually like. And he pulls off a tux pretty well too!

Excuse me, my dungeon awaits So many times that Garak saved the day have seemed to just be convenient for the character, but he’s especially heroic in “By Inferno’s Light.” He fights through his fears to go into the claustrophobia closet in the Jem’Hadar prison and remote into the waiting shuttle. Without Garak doing what needed to be done, surely the Jem’Hadar would have killed them all.

I promise you I will come back While the relationship between Garak and Ziyal always seemed kind of one-sided to us, we must admit that it was good for both characters to have someone whom they could relate to on the station. We see between “In Purgatory’s Shadow” and “By Inferno’s Light” that they care about each other, though sadly Garak never understands why before her untimely death.

A very messy, very bloody business Another episode that belongs on both lists is “In the Pale Moonlight.” We already gave Sisko some guff for this one, so let’s start off by being impressed by the layers of Cardassian scheming Garak does. Sure, it’s unethical and kind of monstrous, but it’s also a thing of beauty watching all the pieces of Garak’s plan come together to trick the Romulans into getting into the war. Not only can he live with it, but he sleeps like a baby.

Alan Turing, eat your heart out Garak uses some of his Obsidian Order talents to do some code breaking for the Federation in “Afterimage.” His arc in the final season of DS9 is a hell of a journey because he knows the work he’s doing for Sisko and crew will hurt the Cardassia he loves, but he also knows it’ll be for the best in the end to rid the quadrant of the Dominion so they can start rebuilding.

We might have a revolution on our hands Speaking of the Cardassia that Garak loves, he joins Damar and Kira’s little resistance in “The Dogs of War” and goes down to the planet to incite a revolution against the Dominion. When even Damar has opened his eyes to the atrocities the Founders are commiting in the Alpha Quadrant, then you know that it’s got to be something worth fighting for.

The last Weyoun In the siege of Cardassia Prime in “What You Leave Behind,” Garak gets to be the one to shoot Weyoun 8 after the two chirp at each other first. Turns out this is the last of the Weyoun clones, which Garak has firmly put to rest as the Federation ousts the Dominion forces from Cardassia. Garak’s story finally complete, his exile has ended in time to return to the ashes.

—

Worst moments

Nothing to look forward to but having lunch with you We’ll also see later in the series that Garak isn’t one to prioritize his mental health, so his abuse of his feel-good wire in the titular “The Wire” portrays how bad he is at taking care of himself or getting help when he is at his lowest points. When he attacks his friend and doctor when he’s going through withdrawal, you just wanna see him get better because this isn’t healthy, Garak.

Initiating counterinsurgency program level four Though Garak apparently has access codes that no doubt Sisko revoked after “Civil Defense,” he still utterly fails to stop the station’s counterinsurgency program from locking out the Starfleet personnel. In fact, per the “Attention Bajoran Workers” protocol, he’s made things that much worse by insisting they have to shut down life support only for a laser ball to replicate in Ops.

You can’t waterboard a goo It’s hardest for us to forgive Garak from ruthlessly torturing Odo in “The Die Is Cast” just to get back in the good graces of Daddy Tain… but we’ll probably do so anyway. We see just what Garak is capable of with these glimpses into his Obsidian Order past. We can absolutely easily picture how he could torment someone with just his unblinking stare. His eyes. HIS EYES!

But have you considered… murder? I may have found it adorable for Garak and Bashir to play spies in “Our Man Bashir,” but he has no idea how holoprograms work. Garak is so fast to jump to the conclusion that they kill everyone that it leaves one’s head spinning. This isn’t real-life spying, Garak. This is Julian’s sexy adventure, so of course the answer is seduction, not murder, and you should’ve known that.

Is this a date or an assassination? Ziyal is looking for company and invites Garak to sunbathe on rocks like the lizards they are… and Garak spends the whole of “For the Cause” caught up in highschool drama of what Ziyal’s inventions are. Does she like him or LIKE him? Or does she just want to lure him in to present his head to her father later? It’s all below Garak, frankly, when he could just, I dunno, talk to her.

Something swift and painless and preferably bloodless I gave Quark most of the stink for this one, but I can’t let Garak off the hook either. It’s a complete missed opportunity for “Body Parts” to necessitate Quark asking Garak to assassinate him when instead he could have enrolled Garak into some even more nefarious scheme. Garak himself should have suggested faking Quark’s death and it would have been excellent.

They’re dead. You’re dead. Cardassia is dead. I always found Garak’s plan in “Broken Link” to be tenuous at best and contrived at worst. He tags along to the Gamma Quadrant for seemingly no reason, then it turns out he wants to ask the Founders if any of the Cardassians from “The Die Is Cast” are still alive (a possibility never alluded to before), then he straight up tries to destroy the Founders’ planet until Worf beats him into submission. Huh?

It looks like I’ve captured your last piece, Chief The pretty decent horror episode “Empok Nor” has got a lot going for it, but every single time they made the kotra metaphor more and more blatant, I started checking out. Dear writers, your metaphor stood on its own without you announcing it twenty-five times. Have a little confidence that your themes are working because it was a good one… until it wasn’t.

Do you feel lucky? Do ya, Chief? But that is far from the worst thing Garak does in “Empok Nor.” The psychotropic drug is mostly at fault here, but that doesn’t mean Garak feels completely innocent. He straight up murders the Cardassian sleeper guards AND crewman Amaro in cold blood, and then kidnaps and threatens Nog so he can get at the Chief, taunting him like a serial killer the whole time.

Star-crossed lizards The sweet friendship Garak strikes up with Ziyal belongs on our good list for sure, but frankly the romance between them never quite gelled for us. We see in “Call to Arms” that they kiss goodbye when she flees the station before the Dominion swoops in, and it just feels… unearned? Garak admits in “Sacrifice of Angels” that he doesn’t know what that was all about, and neither do we.

When the devil asks you to dance, you say yes I may have marveled at Garak’s precarious plan in “In the Pale Moonlight,” but that doesn’t mean I condone any of it. Even the writers make it clear in Sisko’s actions that he finds it reprehensible how many casualties there were to pull it off: the cold-blooded murder of Vreenak (and his innocent guards!), the assassination of Grathon Tolar, the deaths of literally all of Garak’s contacts. This one’s on Sisko’s list too of course, but he at least knows it’s wrong.

You’re not worthy of the name Dax One final episode that’s on both lists. Classic Garak, playing both sides. In this case, it’s more evidence that Garak does not seem to value his mental health because, when he’s suffering panic attacks and more claustrophobia in “Afterimage,” the first thing he does is lash out at his therapist, Ezri Dax, who certainly doesn’t deserve it! The poor thing.

—

Well I hope we got in some cutting remarks about the good tailor of Deep Space Nine. Next week we’ve got another frequent guest star of the station to spotlight: Keiko O’Brien! Stay tuned for that while also tuning in every week as we venture through Enterprise over on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast. You can also quip with us over on Facebook and Twitter, and remember: the truth is usually just an excuse for a lack of imagination.

[aimedigital]

[Skip to the dotted line for the rules]

HI EVERYONE! Today, I'm super, so very excited to share with you AIME! So, I do understand Hazbin Hotel won the poll, but I'm extremely attached/adoring of this TADC OC (and my only TADC OC eheh... :'D). But that's okay! I'm only sharing the oc for now, maybe some art of her every once in a while or in different AU's. So, here goes! Put a lot of work into the design, super proud.

The most recent design in the bottom one (just realized I forgot to draw the shoulder straps, oop-). But color scheme is still the same. Top left is from one of my old styles (I still use it from time to time), to right is also older, and bottom, again, is most recent.

Aime has a rather complex yet simple personality. So buckle up babes, because this is about to get DEEP!

Aime is from The Amazing Digital Circus. She was 21 when she first got to the circus. So basically, she's the youngest one there.

She gets easily angry. Like PISSED. She'll glare at you across the room and you know your in for it. Anger issues~...

She has a cool but lovestruck personality. So like, Aime will just be casually leaning against the wall, rolling her eyes at whatever Caine says. But she also sometimes acts a bit obsessed. Again, lovestuck gal here. She wasn't always like this though. In the beginning, when she first got to the circus, Aime was curious and easily flustered. Now, she's harder to crack and built up her whole new self after hanging around everyone.

Aime is originally welcomed in by Jax (who actually treated her really well! She got the pranking gig down now!). Before Pomni came into the picture, she, Jax, and Kaufmo had their own little band of goofballs who just went around pranking and cheering up in a way. Once Kaufmo left, she did rather miss him. A lot. But like her other friend, she'd rather bottle it up. For his funeral in episode two of TADC though, she does go up and quietly places down a small locket including a photo with her, Jax, and him making silly faces at the camera. Aime then sets it next to Gangle's drawing and mumbles a quiet, 'Thank you, Kaufy,' and again, quietly, walks out.

Treats Caine like a father. This was part of her original story. And I'll still keep it! Aime is the kind of person to also manipulate others to get what she wants. She became close with Caine for that reason, but eventually it turned into a father-daughter like relationship. She suggests adventures all the time for everyone, and is practically the queen bee.

Aime also doesn't like the idea of leaving the circus. she said, 'Here, we can be who we want to be!" (incorrect quote). She likes being Aime instead of herself. She likes the people here. And she's scared that if they find the exit that's all gone.

She also sorta has a thing for Jax? Like, I really don't want her to be that oc, which is why I'm including this not as the first thing. Except she does have a crush on Jax. I originally planned her to be going around making it obvious to everyone, but I'm thinking she only does accidentally or when she's acting defensive. But their relationship is complicated. Again, at the beginning for her it was like love at first sight. She loved the personality, loved the act. Anyhow, she was lovestruck (told you ;P). After Kaufmo started acting more crazed, she became nervous and drifted away from that group, residing in Kinger in Gangle. But Jax did stick with him, resulting in Jax and Aime drifting apart. But at the same time though, they were getting closer. More just them time. No Kaufmo. So, they were mischievous on their own. Jax did name her! Aime, he said, was pretty. And unique. And stupid too. (another incorrect quote). Aime said, meh, okay.

Though she did still start hanging around the crybaby and crazy bug-obsessed chess piece more. She loves how silly they are, and it's her beat. She doesn't really care for the others much. She thinks Ragatha's a tryhard, and flirts with Zooble. Zooble's her flirt target because they're so difficult to get to. And Aime occasionally likes talking to Bubble about weird little things :3

So, Aime doesn't like Pomni. She hates Pomni. Boo, Pomni, she says. Aime is mostly just jealous that she isn't the newbie anymore. All the attention is diverted to Pomni instead. Aime is the 2nd newest character besides Pomni, and even though it's been a whole year since she got there when the newbie shows up, she's still pretty jelly. On top of the fact Pomni is obsessed with the exit, which is what Aime's against.

Aime's whole trauma-fear-thing was what I was talking about before. About leaving and losing everyone and being a whole new her. Don't think that needs too much elaborating.

P.S: Aime is tall! Like, Jax tall! But an inch shorter.

(This all may be edited later but for now I'm wiped out and tired, heh.)

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RULES!!! I'm good with fanart. In fact, I'd very much love it! But again, no pressure eheheh...! /lol. NSFW? Nahhh...doubt anyone will get up to that with Aime but I suppose? Just keep it respectful, please.

OC is 100 percent originally mine, any use of her please do credit me.

I think that's pretty much it though! Just please don't steal, I trust you all :]

But THANK YOU, for reading this through, sorry it was a bit longer. See you all next time!!!

-AimeDigital

[P.S- do feel free to ask me anything in the ask box! Makes me feel appreciated, so don't be shy!]

[comicaurora]

Hi Red, you mentioned a few days ago that you’ve honed your style to your own liking so I was wondering how you think your style has changed over time?

Re reading the comic the only thing I can concretely nail down as different from the very start with my limited knowledge of art is the lines seem a lot thinner in the early pages?

So anyway I thought I’d just ask you yourself how your art is different, did you change it consciously or did it just evolve as you got your eye in or something? Why did you change if it was deliberate etc

Thanks!

As a side note btw holy crap the newest pages are beautiful, it’s just struck me again how amazing every single one seems to be with magical effects and backgrounds and the rain over everything dude they’re so good

Good question! Tbh it's a good sign if the change isn't horrendously visible to anyone but me.

The lines are definitely thinner early on, and that's both a stylistic change and a result of the fact that I was less confident. Drawing several hundred pages will really get the muscle memory going, so now I'm less hesitant about the lineart stage, but early on I was thinking a lot harder about relatively simple parts of the visuals. Foreground poses, hair, fabric. It took me a lot more thought to get those looking good. The lines are thinner, less confident and a little more sketchy.

Could've easily thrown some building silhouettes in the background, drawn actual figures instead of the black mass of vaguely head-shaped things, etc - but nope. I was too busy figuring out how to make Vash's hair look. The backgrounds were pretty darn unpolished. They do their job, but at the time I wasn't really sure how to shade natural environments in ways that implied texturing. Even the way I was shading the foreground figures was pretty basic and unpolished, and I occasionally screwed it up - I hadn't quite refined my order of operations, so sometimes I'd miss regions with the paint bucket and just. not notice because of all the everything else I was focusing on.

Relatively simple visual concepts were taking me a lot longer because I hadn't yet worked out how to do them, so I had to figure them out on the fly. Erin's lightning bubble took a whole workday just trying to figure out how to strike the right glow balance that communicated "dome shield" without fully obscuring him behind the light. It's always a lot harder to draw something for the first time, and this comic has so much stuff in it that I was dealing with a lot of firsts in those first few chapters.

That also meant I had less time or focus to spend on cleanup, so sometimes shading would be a bit intermittent - like the barrel in this shot that hurts my soul.

I did figure out some foliage-shading shortcuts during the sentinel fight - layering rough-edged cel-shading produced the illusion of sunlight on leaves without having to hand-draw the darn things - but the science of making forest backgrounds look like Not Ass was still difficult for me. I really didn't like hand-drawing fully-lined trees for the background of shots, but I wasn't yet sure what the alternatives were.

When I did Falst's intro arc, however, I had a ton of forested backgrounds, and that gave me a lot of practice very fast at refining the forest background stuff and experimenting with the use of filtered sunlight and particle effects, and I finally found a shortcut I liked for drawing tree trunks.

By this chapter I was starting to feel good about how it looked. The colors balanced better, light and shadow felt integrated into the scene, I was getting a feel for the use of soft-edged glow and particle effects, and I wasn't struggling to make the shots feel coherent. Even the sentinel fight, which I'm overall surprisingly happy with, feels a little overly bright to me in hindsight - I would've shaded under the trees a little more aggressively if I were coloring it now.

When we hit Zuurith I had to start drawing very complex urban environments, but I used some of the tricks I'd learned for drawing forests to make things easier - simple color-block silhouettes for background shapes coupled with more detailed foreground elements for things I couldn't justify making featureless color blobs. If they were in the same plane as the detailed foreground characters, they had to be just as detailed. It was a pain in the butt, but the rest of my style had gotten intuitive enough for me that I could afford to spend more time playing with that. If I were still struggling to draw every foreground character pose, I wouldn't have had the brain bandwidth to get creative with the backgrounds.

It wasn't really an intentional thing. I started the comic doing as good a job as I could, because I really wanted this to work. I was familiar with the medium of digital illustration, I'd been doing large numbers of chibi illustrations for the channel for years, and I had some of the process down to a science. But parts of it were new and unfamiliar, and that meant I needed practice and a chance to refine what I was doing into a more efficient form. In the process, things got smoother and looked more consistent, because I was developing techniques to do certain effects that I could then rely on going forward.

When I had to draw the Paladin Archive as a background, I used a mix of techniques I'd had a chance to test and refine on previous pages. The glowing dust mote and sunbeam effects from Gleicann's forest made the archive feel dusty and helped add depth. The occasional painstakingly hand-drawn background shelf was an acceptable price to pay, because for most of the bookshelves I'd figured out a pretty quick and efficient brush trick to draw a large row of color-scattered rectangles, skew them, duplicate and blur them sideways, and use that to create a serviceable illusion of three-dimensional rows of books of various sizes.

Anyway, yeah. If the change isn't super jarring that's good news for me, because the process of improving my style has been complicated but very rewarding, and my only frustration with the process has been retroactively seeing everything I'd be able to do better now.

[paper--moons]

CG!Rappa Headcanons

Now, Rappa is a really rough and tumble kind of guy, there's no denying that—however, it's also worth noting that he doesn't choose to be rowdy for the sake of rowdiness and troublemaking. There's a method to his madness and that method is simply a I did it because it was fun mentality. And while fighting is fun and enjoyable for him, it's not the only that he finds rewarding. He might not be the most obvious cg, but he's got layers, and one of those layers tells him Why be strong if not to protect the small? when it comes to those he cares for.

Rappa as a cg is just a big teddy bear. He provides a lot of solid support for them, both emotionally and physically. Sure, he might not be the most well-versed in dealing with more complex emotions, but he does understand the importance of listening—along with the importance of what physical affection like a hug can do. The amount of reassurance they feel as he holds them tightly and croons a simple, yet heartfelt "I got you" is unparalleled.

Not only is he metaphorically a big teddy bear, but Rappa is a just a big guy in general. Which definitely helps keep regressors that struggle with feeling small due to body image issues in their regressed headspace. It's harder for them to feel like they're physically too big or tall to be as small as they need when he can pick them up like it's no problem at all. It's also something he does every chance he gets, and will in fact carry them propped up on his hip while he does around. Other things like piggyback rides are totally on the table too. And of course, he absolutely loves to toss the baby. Though he's sure to give them plenty of warning before he does so, and then lightly tosses them with grin and a "upsie-daisy!".

Speaking of upsie-daisies, Rappa is the type of cg that absolutely uses babytalk. And this isn't just limited to the type of things that some cgs typically sprinkle into their vocabulary when talking to their little one; he does not shy away from picking up and implementing whatever it is they have decided to call something either. They call naps "zee-zees"? Cool, he's calling naps that now too. Rappa doesn't care if it makes him look silly to adopt these words because one: it's really stinking cute of them and he wants to encourage them and two: if it makes it easier for them to communicate and feel comfortable while regressed, then he's going to do it.

He's also very much down to get on their level. They want him to play dress up with them and have a tea party? Sure thing bubba, you wanna pick me out something pretty to wear? Basically lets them run the show and enjoys the ride (as is his typical caregiving style; as long as they're having fun and not hurting themselves he's cool with whatever they want to do). So he's more than happy to have them pick things out of their dress-up trunk for them both while he gets some snacks and tea ready—he's also more than happy to listen to them babble on excitedly about things they like or any special interests they have.

Which it's also worth noting that he is genuinely amazed at hearing them go on and on about their special interest(s). Like they know so much! He asks them questions about it, loving how much they light up at the opportunity to share what they know. Offhand comments that he makes while listening to them, such as my baby's so smart, huh? hit different when they've had people in the past say otherwise about their (allegedly nonsensical) rambling. Rappa picks up on the way they falter after hearing that sort of praise, the quiet "are you sure?"s making him decide that they are going hear it more often if he has any say about it. He's so proud that they know so much and are so passionate, and believe they should be too.

Overall very protective of his little one! Nobody better say anything that hurts their feelings, or they'll have him to answer to. He's literally the perfect cg to have if they happen to start slipping in public too, or even just around someone else who might not know about regression. Because who is going to say anything negative to them about acting like a baby when they've got Rappa right there holding their hand? It wouldn't be a wise decision, to put it lightly. He's there to fight back against both their own negative thoughts and negative people for them.

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Bonus Marathon - Tales of Rapunzel #1: Secrets Unlocked

Introduction

The Tales of Rapunzel series is a collection of mini adaptions of selected individual episodes. While two praters, like Before Ever After, received their own novelizations, this book series would included two separate stories paired together for each release.

Today’s novelization is consists of ‘What the Hair’ and ‘Great Expotations’, or as it’s called here ‘The Great Science Expo’. I’m guessing they were still workshop the title when this book was still in production. Either way, it’s our first major appearance of Varian in the marathon outside of the series guide that we looked at.

Content

The writing for this adaptation is a little more simplistic than the other two novelizations that we’ve looked at so far. It’s not condescendingly easy, in fact you can still read it as an adult and not feel insulted by it, but it’s clearly meant to be a reading level below the first two books, and its certainly less complex than the two original novels that we’ve looked at.   

It’s hard to explain, unless you’re just already familiar with the suggested reading levels that the American school system utilizes, but let’s just say that this book is recommended reading for 2nd to 4th graders, while the other books are more 5th grade and up. 

The difference is in how much detail things are described in, now much exposition and action there is compared to how much introspection and world building there is, along with a distinct lack of metaphor and simile. 

This isn’t to say that these are completely non-existent or that the writing has an overly simple sentence structure. Rather that the approach to the story is more efficient and to the point than say something more slightly more challenging to read, like The Hobbit or Peter Pan. (And yes, the actual J.M.Barrie novel is a difficult read for even some adults let alone children.)

 And that is perhaps the best way to describe both of the adaptations within, efficient. Lines are cut, scenes are omitted, and subplots are streamlined to created abridged versions of the episodes. Yet what is dropped is ultimately unimportant to the over all story  and merely existed for flavor text and pacing reasons in the original format.

In ‘What the Hair’ Eugene manages to convince Varian to turn off the machines while they’re still in the tunnel, and Eugene is the one to deliver and set up the spectrograph. Where upon, he can get straight to warning Rapunzel and Cass about the earthquakes, bringing the climax forward.

This eliminates a lot of the running back and forth and repeating of the internal conflicts that the original episode had going on. Which aren’t bad things for tv series because it helps build character dynamics, but would be pointless in a one and done story.

Meanwhile, the ‘Great Expo’, cuts Rapunzel out of the main Varian and Cassandra plot. She still has her inventing subplot, which comes together in the climax to provide the episode’s chekhov's gun, but the scenes of her butting into their conflict is gone. Which in my opinion is an improvement.

While her additional scenes in episode weren’t bad necessarily, they were overall pretty pointless. At least there they were kept to a minimum and not shoved into your face like in S3, though. Still the story is stronger without them.

Presentation

This book wins in the presentation department, as its the only novel we’ve come across yet to have actual illustrations! And they’re all nice original art works that you won’t find just anywhere. Oh a few images do get reused in ‘My First Year As Princess’ but by in large they’re pretty exclusive to the novelization itself.

They’re all black and white and done up in the series style, and inked like a coloring book. But most impressively their is a lot of them and hey are evenly distributed through out the story and only appear when relevant.

Seriously, this is miles better than anything we’ve gotten so far, bar the comics which are nothing but pictures. I’m still amazed that stuff geared towards older audiences are so anti-pictures. It makes no sense.

Would I Recommend It

I would definitely recommend this if you are a Varian fan or someone who wants to collect season one in novel format. For the Varian fan there’s the rare artwork to collect, and for the adaptation lovers this is an important stepping stone in series, same as Before Ever After. 

Up Next 

It’s another IDW comic, Let Down Your Hair.

Also, this Thursday is the next salt stream on the discord.

https://discord.gg/SEncmZjs

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 16 part one

(Masterpost of All the Recaps)  (Canary’s Pinboard)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes

All righty, this one is going to be a laff riot...not. Let's do it.

The first half of this episode is like a beautifully executed standalone tragedy, while also threading together all sorts of themes and paying off all sorts of relationship building that's happened in the previous episodes. My hat is off to the writers, while I also shake a fist at them for making me cry an unreasonable amount.

We’re Sailing on a Strange Boat

The episode starts right off absolutely DESTROYING me with the Yunmeng brothers holding hands, fingers interlaced, in the first of many hand-touching moments that punctuate the episode.

Jiang Cheng has to be pretty far gone to accept this degree of comfort and tenderness. I think, from their positions, he is also holding Yanli's hand out of the camera's view. 

Zidian finally lets the trio go, and they immediately turn the boat around and head back to Lotus Pier. Wei Wuxian gets the clever idea to turn the benches into makeshift oars but nobody gets the clever idea to use magic to push the boat like they do literally every other time they are in a boat. 

Their emotional need to go back to Lotus Pier is understandable, but they are being disobedient and irresponsible by doing it. Jiang Cheng is the future of the clan, and should not risk his life, particularly after his mother chose to sacrifice herself to protect him and after both of his parents told him to go hide with his sister and personal bodyguard brother. 

On the other hand, Jiang Fengmian, as clan leader, probably had a duty to go into hiding himself rather than go home to die romantically, so his authority is questionable at this point. Anyway, this is the Jiang Clan, they get to kind of do what they want, except when that pisses Jiang Cheng off.

Lotus Pier Massacre

Back at Lotus Pier, the Wens are kicking Jiang ass. The fight choreography is pretty good, taking full advantage of walkways, railings, pools, and other features of the environment. 

Using the set this way always makes fights feel more kinetic and real, as opposed to simply sparring in an open area. 

(more after the cut)

Yu Ziyuan is fighting adequately with a sword, having given her preferred weapon to her son.  She's clearly been at it for a while, and is tiring; the Wen soldiers are starting to land more and more sword blows but no critical hits yet.

Wen Zhuliu is kicking ass and possibly melting cores, although we don't see him do it to anybody yet. Later we'll hear from Jiang Cheng that he crushed the cores of his parents, but it's not clear when that happens.

Sixth young master replays Jiang Fengmian's entire archery lesson in his head while he waits, and waits, for Wen Zhuliu to finish strangling a dude the right moment to shoot an arrow at Wen Zhuliu. 

Homicidal tart Wang Lingjiao notices him lining up a shot, strolls over, and stabs him in the back while he's still thinking about what Jiang Fengmian said. One could wish that JFM's archery lessons weren't quite so wordy. 

Wang Linjao normally doesn't carry a sword because of her low spiritual power, but apparently can use one just fine when she's killing kids.

If you start feeling like this episode is unreasonably painful, just think of it as building up calluses so you can handle Yi City when the time comes.

Jiang Fengmian to the Rescue

Jiang Fengmian shows up very far past the nick of time, although he is not actually useful, so it's questionable whether arriving earlier would have helped. But his wife is glad to see him.

Netflix subtitles say that Jiang Fengmian calls Yu Ziyuan "My Lady!" which sounds courtly and romantic in English. His actual words are "San Niangzi" which hunxi-gullai breaks out here.  I might render this as "lady wife!" rather than "my lady" but I don't think English really has a perfect equivalent.

Jiang Fengmian sails across the courtyard, knocking down a few Wen soldiers and becoming a young, slender man in the process.

I mean, come on, that stunt double does not look like a boxy middle-aged man from any angle.

The Dying Bit

The episode splits up the big death scene for dramatic effect but I'm recapping it all together to keep things simple.

Within moments of arriving, Jiang Fengmian gets shanked by Wen Zhuliu like Scatman Crothers in The Shining (or Groundskeeper Willie in The Shinning).

Wen Zhuliu stops a Wen soldier from finishing JFM off, just so that a different Wen soldier can deliver the killing blow from the back, which is kinda harsh. With all this spin-fighting there is probably not an implication of cowardice when someone dies from a stab in the back, but still. Too rude, Wen Zhuliu.

Yu Ziyuan sees Jiang Fengmian fall, and after having a moment of sorrow and despair, she stabs herself in the heart, falls down, crawls to him and interlaces her hand with his. He revives just enough to give her hand a squeeze and say "San Niangzi" one last time before dying. 

She dies next, with a smile on her face at the end. The soundtrack plays that amazing "horribly emotional death scene" music that isn't one of the tracks available on the OST, argh. This same music appears at the end of Xue Yang's story.  

Of the many things I love about the Untamed, the complexity of all the minor characters is possibly my favorite. These two people suck at parenting, and suck at being married, and ultimately suck at protecting and leading their clan, making stupid, selfish choices at every step of the building conflict. 

And then they have this incredibly romantic death scene, in which they both face the inevitability of failure, and find comfort in failing together. Yet their death scene is totally in keeping with who we know them to be, and who they are to each other; the drama doesn't cheat by making them ideal lovers or great people at the end. But they have a great, great moment.

Jiang Yanli, waiting in the woods while her brothers are presumably running toward Lotus Pier, drops her lotus pendant, which is made of the loudest jade ever discovered, and it breaks with a crash.  

Yanli, who is a well educated young lady, knows a moment of doomy symbolism when she sees it.

Jiang Yanli: Who put a giant rock out here in the woods? What are the odds I’d drop my pendant directly on it? 

It’s all Over Except for the Crying, Running and Choking

The brothers climb up on the roof and are shocked to see nothing but Wen soldiers and piled up Jiang corpses... 

...including one child who is either about to become a zombie or who is being played by a young actor who can't control their curiosity, judging by the way this eye is sneakily opened while the camera is running.

There's a moment where Jiang Cheng is saying they must have spared his parents, they must be okay, where Wei Wuxian's face is just...wow. You can see right here the gulf in life experience between these two. 

Wen Zhuliu roams around looking troubled while searching for more people to kill. He’s an interesting villain; someone who believes his loyalty to his boss makes him a good guy, but knows his boss is a bad guy. 

Then we are treated to a hell of a camera move, where it tracks over Yu Ziyuan and Jiang Fengmian together on the floor, heroic in death and still holding hands, and then sweeps up to show their killers sitting on the lotus throne. 

The dead couple were at odds for their whole lives together, while the evil people who killed them are acting like devoted lovebirds. It's a stunning shot and a terrific thematic contrast. When Wei Wuxian eventually comes to take his vengeance, he will spend some time turning Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao against each other, before ending them. 

The camera shows us JC's reaction, then shows his mother, then WWX’s reaction, then JF; each reacting to the death of the person who loved them. Some folks may feel that Jiang Fengmian actually did love Jiang Cheng but was just bad at showing it. But Jiang Cheng doesn't think so, and I don't think it's a given that parents love their children.

Side note: Macroexpression king Wang Zhuocheng is able to open his eyes so far that a giant strip of white shows above his irises, and keep them like that, which is quite a trick. Try it yourself.

Meanwhile Wang Lingjiao and Wen Chao gossip about YZY and JFM's bad marriage. Wen Chao admires YZY's beauty, and Wang Lingjiao insults her character, and announces that she's going to stab YZY's body a few extra times. Jiang Cheng briefly faints at this, taking a page from Wei Wuxian's book, and rolls off the roof. 

Run Run Away

Both young men run, and run, and run away from Lotus Pier while Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao mistreat the bodies of Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan 

The stabbing happens off camera, because it's ok to stab a live child on camera, but not a dead adult. (As always, there are cultural reasons for "what's ok" in any country, and I'm not saying anybody's wrong about these choices). 

Wen Chao follows this up with pouring a cup of wine across their faces. He does this in the style of a libation for the dead, but as a desecration, combining mistreatment of bodies with profaning a ceremonial rite. In a world where ghosts are real and have sharp fingernails, this is deeply, deeply stupid.

Yu Ziyuan’s actress Zhang Jingtong is able to have liquid poured INTO HER EAR without flinching. Mad props.

The brothers eventually finish running and arrive in a field with an extreme purple photo filter on it. Which I've done my best to remove for these gifs, with variable results. 

Jiang Cheng wants to turn around and go back to Lotus Pier. He says he wants to retrieve his parents’ bodies and to take revenge, but he's devastated and it seems likely he just wants to die with everyone else.  

Wei Wuxian pleads with Jiang Cheng to calm down and stay safe, while Jiang Cheng gives himself over to anger and shock as the brothers shout at each other.

Punching and running ensues, and Wei Wuxian tries to hold his brother back, grabbing him around the shoulders him in a gesture that painfully echoes the many hugs he's given over the years. 

This time Jiang Cheng doesn't just push him off. He turns around and chokes his brother for nearly a full minute, while screaming at him and blaming him. 

Just as when Madame Yu beat him, Wei Wuxian doesn't fight back; he pulls on Jiang Cheng's wrists but doesn't hit him or try to break his hold.

Finally Jiang Cheng lets him go, and cries out for everyone he's lost, while Wei Wuxian weeps silently next to him. Eventually they fall asleep in the grass together, their bodies curled up in the form of a heart. 

Damn, this episode really brings it.

Side Note: during their argument, Wei Wuxian says, among other things, that "revenge is a dish best served cold," according to subtitles. It's a French saying from the 1800s so it's probably not precisely what Wei Wuxian is saying. More importantly, as a longtime Star Trek fan I can't help but hear James Kirk yelling "KHAN!!!!!" whenever I encounter that phrase.

There’s Got To Be A Morning After

When they wake up in the morning, Jiang Cheng is still in his feelings, but now his feelings have moved along to despair, from anger.

I feel bad for noticing how handsome they both look in this scene. Let's all feel bad about this together.

Jiang Cheng is free to have this level of emotional breakdown because Wei Wuxian is there keeping his own shit together and focusing on what matters.

When Jiang Cheng refuses to get up, Wei Wuxian reminds him, very, very gently, that they have a sister, who has waited all night to know what happened.

At this, Jiang Cheng gets up, but won't look at Wei Wuxian, continuing to blame him for everybody else's actions, as he walks onward to find Yanli.

Wei Wuxian follows, hurt and bereft, as he gets to work internalizing everything that he's being accused of. This is good practice for his future as a widely reviled bogeyman.

Part two will be slightly less awful! Coming soon!

[theepisceswriter]

hiiii friend🥺🤍🤍🤍 I love ur blog so much it was an automatic follow when i found out u were a black writer too!!! for the event can i request Toji w/ hair bands & sunglasses if that’s ok<3 have a beautiful day xoxo

STALLION’S 600 MILESTONE EVENT

♡ Hair bands: Breeding

♡ Sunglasses: Over protective/Yandere

TW: whew Toji is a trigger warning in his own, not proofread so if you see something that doesn’t make sense shhhh, Yandere themes obviously, toxic relationship themes, jealousy, breeding, manipulation kinda, MINORS DNI!

WC: 1.9k

You should have known better than to even glance in another man’s direction, let alone give him the attention and blessing of being in your presence that Toji had made clear was reserved for him and only him. That was always stressed with hisses, tugs on your arms in the opposite direction, and threats of violence coming their way whenever he felt someone was becoming too close to what was his. 

His love for you was intoxicating to the point where it was a toxic bitterness with just a side of sweetness. A day never going by where you weren’t put on a pedestal and treated like a queen, him even going as far to literally kiss the floor you walked upon one day. So much love coming your way reserved exclusively for you was foreign to your body, so instead of leaving you clinged on to every overpowering gesture of affection sent your way. Ignoring the antics of your overly possessive boyfriend if it meant you would be loved a little longer. 

Toji never liked that slimy blue eyed man that always came around. A sneer always on his scarred lips whenever Gojo was around. Even the overly flirtatious tone of his voice got the hittman in an uproar, ready to grab his flimsy lanky body by the neck and fling it across the room whenever he cheekily let pet names for you seep from his pathetic lips. And if it wasn’t for you stepping in to calm Toji down when he was on the brink of violence then Gojo very well could’ve been extinct from this earth already. No matter how powerful he was, Toji's want to have you to himself was stronger. 

Still, their prior negative interactions with each other didn’t stop you from holding and entertaining a conversation with the white haired man when he called out to you and stopped you in your tracks of approaching the door of the apartment you shared with your beloved. 

Your heart was just too pure and sweet, always faithful for your Toji in return of his undying love, that you didn’t see anything wrong with the interactions. Expecting the conversation to last no longer than 4 minutes in fear of what would happen if your lover overheard you two talking outside the door. But no matter how many times you tried to dismiss yourself Gojo was just so adamant that you listened to the extended story of his and Geto’s latest wild antics. 

You didn’t even notice the presence of Toji until the low rumbling of a growl sounded from behind you warranting your eyes to move in that direction, only to be met with the sight of your angered significant other: chest heaving with anger, eyes low with vengeance, and muscles flexing ready to pounce and attack. 

“I’ll deal with you later, Satoru,” each word that left him was laced with a deep venom, “I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you.”

That was the only verbal warning given to him before you felt the force of strong fingers gripping at your neck dragging you in the direction of your apartment, your breath hitched in a throat and at a loss of words. Silently anticipating what was awaiting you the minute you would step in the threshold of your home. 

“Do you not love me?” The click of the door closing and locking is the only sound bringing you away from the maze that was your mind currently, the deep feeling in your gut letting you know that you had really messed up. “Is that why you continue to speak with that filth? It’s because you hate me right?”

“Toji–” The grip of his fingers tightening around the flesh of your neck cuts your sentence premature. 

“No, that must be it. You must be thinking of him fucking you right now. You want him to take you away from me, don’t you?” He continues on, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes threatening to spill on to his cheeks. “If I hadn’t come outside when I did he would’ve stolen my precious y/n away from me because he’s a fucking piece of scum like that!” His insecurities dare to pierce through his words as he screams them at the top of his longs, startling you at just how unhinged he was becoming right in front of you.

“Gojo isn’t even my type,” you begin to reassure him, choosing your words carefully, “I could never leave you, Toji. No one has ever loved me as much as you have.” You wish there was a more clear way to relay this to him without having to repeat every other week whenever he decided to have an episode over yet another man that wiggled their way into your life. His accusations were baseless and both of you knew it, but still his words sent a sting to your heart that had tears of your own threatening to spill from your eyes. 

It was like nothing you could do would ever be enough for him to feel loved securely and that alone put a knife through your heart. 

“You’re lying to me, you’re just telling me what I want to hear! I’m not stupid!” Without warning his fingers wiggle their way in between the rough material of your denim jeans to run a single finger over the damp fabric of your panties, sneer only growing at the realization of your wetness. “Is this for him or me? I can’t tell anymore when it comes to you.”

“For you.” You let out a soft pant when he moves your panties to the side and his bare roughed thumb makes contact with your clit. And in all honesty it was for him. There was something about watching him go absolutely feral over something as simple as another man having a conversation that made you feel appreciated; your toxic interpretation of affection. 

“It’s all for you. I don’t love anyone else but you.” It was the extra arousal that accumulated around his fingers that let him know you were telling the truth and even without it he would know you were telling the truth. Your body reacted to his touch and his touch only, conditioned by him to perform how he wanted it too at his will. Your body was meant just for him. 

“Kneel for me, darling.’

And so you did exactly just that, obeying his orders the moment he removed his hands from your pants. Not even bother to speak up about how you thought you should leave the corridor of your home and move to the bedroom. Your request would fall on deaf ears anyway.

Sinking to your knees you worked immediately on getting the string holding his white pants together undone, hand going to palm his bulge while you spent your precious time removing his boxers from his hips.

“Hurry up,” He hissed out in annoyance and eagerness. And just like minutes ago you obeyed his command, pulling down his boxers until his cock was springing free and slapping against the lower abs of his stomach.

The impatient traits in him had you grabbing your hair to gain control of you, not allowing your throat time to adjust or get ready for his size before he was lowering your mouth onto his dick. The sudden fullness leaving you gagging around his shaft that only sent shivers up his spine, grunts leaving his lips with each bob of your head he made you do.

The tears that were already brimming your eyes began falling down your cheek when Toji quickened up the thrusts of his hips into your mouth practically fucking it. Drool spilled from the corner of your mouth only lubricating it more and allowing him to move at a quicker pace than before and fit more of his fat cock down your throat, a slight stinging sensation making your throat sore with each thrust. 

Even through blurry teary eyes you could see his lower abs begin to construct signaling that he was close to his orgasm already, but instead of shooting his load down your throat and watching as your pretty face got messed up with it, he had different plans in mind. Pulling out of your mouth completely he allowed you a well deserved break to breathe and relax your jaw.

“Say you’re mine.” He commanded from above. 

Without a skip your lips moved to say, “I’m yours, Toji. Always and forever.”

Your answer worked in both of your favor because the sneer on his face finally changed into something of a smile at your words. 

Leaning down he gropes your breast through the restraint of your shirt before roughly lifting your shirt up and pulling down your bra to release them, a gentle smack landing on both of them soon after.

“Get up and face the wall.” Another command that you obey in seconds, gulping as you anxiously awaited his next move with nervous fingers gripping at the drywall. 

Your whole body was suddenly violently jerked from the motion of Toji practically ripping your jeans off of you with his strong hands, not even bothering to remove them from around your ankles but instead using them to keep your mobility limited slightly. 

“Mine, only mine.” He mumbles against your neck as he places kisses, sliding your underwear to the side with his index and middle finger to allow his cock access to your hole. Sliding into you until he was at the hilt with a moan that was borderline a groan, precum already dripping into the confinement of your walls.

“Gojo would never be able to fuck me as good as you do.” You pump his head full with a superiority complex knowing it would only make him perform better than he already was and you were correct because immediately he began thrusting up into you at a speed that left your walls contracting around his slick cock and his orgasm from minutes ago already catching up again. 

The snaps of his hips were quick, rough, and sloppy but the curvature of his dick against your g spot made any style of thrusting feel amazing to you. The pleasure barely allowed you to stand without your knees buckling in on you, the tight hold Toji had around your waist keeping you from falling on to the floor.

He hammered into you from behind while periodically squeezing the soft flesh of your breast, something he often found comfort in doing. Each lewd gasp that escaped your pretty plump lips only encouraged him to move quicker until he had profanities spilling from underneath his breath.

“Maybe I should know you up,” he suggests, “Make it so you’ll always be tied to me no matter what. Make your belly plump with my offspring. You’d be such a pretty momma and have the most gorgeous post pregnancy body. I wouldn’t be able to resist you.” Whimpers and moans sounded from the both of you at his words. The image he painted turning the two of you on in different ways that met in the middle. 

“Gonna get you nice and pregnant so no one else will mess with you again and you won't betray me again.” And with one final thrust he sent long spurts of his warm seed into your pussy. Only pulling away to watch his masterpiece with a smile as cum dripped from your hole and made a mess all over the insides of your thighs. 

The same smile adorned his lips as he walked hand in hand with you through the corridor of your apartments months later with your belly protruding and beginning to form a consistent ball while you waddled by his side, so dependent for him for almost everything you did due to the side effects of your pregnancy. 

[eveningstar1516]

Rise of the Demon King ~ Chapter 6

Rise of the Demon King

Fic: Multi Chapter Paring: MC x Everyone (Mostly Lucifer) Type: Angst with a Happy Ending Total Word Count: 26,758 TW: Major Character Death, Reader gets stabbed with a sword through their chest so..., Abusive Parents, Past Child Abuse, Demon Hunters, Loss of Control Summary: You’ve done it. You’ve finally done it. You’ve managed to anger the demon king. Now you hold your head high as he hands down your sentence. AO3 Portal: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27065362

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Previously:

Letting go, both demons left for the palace as I went to my room. Shedding my clothes, I bypassed pyjamas and laid in bed. Tears ran down my face as I thought about Y/N and all the precious memories we had made together. I rolled over and realized they left their Little D No.1 plushie here from their last sleepover. Clutching it, their scent strong on the plushie, I drifted off to sleep, hugging the Little D in my arms wishing it was Y/N instead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER 6 - Celestial Realm (1207 words)

I awoke to the sun shining brightly through the floor to ceiling windows overlooking a garden. The bed felt softer than a cloud. Basking in the softness of the bed, it took a hot second before I realized that this is not my bed and there is a SUN! Bolting upright I looked around a bedroom that was not my own. The entire wall on my right was covered in floor to ceiling windows. At the foot of the bed was a small bookshelf with some plants on top. Just beyond that seemed to be a walk in closet. A small bathroom was located next to the closet. Other than a small study desk near the bed, the room was simple and plainly decorated. The walls were painted off-white with light neutral pastel green trims and accents. A knock at the door had me jumping out of my skin.

“Y/N, are you awake?” Finally, something I recognize!

“Yes, come in Simeon.”

“Good morning Y/N. Did I wake you?” “No, I woke up a short while ago. Where am I, Simeon?” Simeon walked over and sat in a chair by the desk. A soft smile on his face as he answered.

“You’re in the Celestial realm-”

“Yes, I know that, I mean where in the realm am I? And who’s room is this?”

“This is a guest room in the House of Honors where Luke and I live. We found you passed out in the garden with your wings covering you.”

“We?”

“Michael and I. He and the rest of the Archangels live upstairs on the top floor.” Simeon opened his mouth to continue when we heard 3 strong knocks on the door. Michael then came in. He had a fair complexion. Reddish orange hair was braided down his right shoulder. He sported a get up similar to Simeons but he had a full gray half sleeve with a cape instead of Simeon's sleeveless leotard and over the shoulder cape. His shirt bore golden accents and his cape was golden on the inside without any tassels.

“Good morning Simeon, Y/N.”

“Good morning Michael. How did it go?”

“Father isn't exactly pleased to have Y/N up here, sporting a fashion similar to Samael’s no less. He requested an audience with them as soon as they woke and had eaten.”

“Very well, I’ll escort them there after they eat.”

“Father had specifically asked me to escort them to the palace. Simeon, you should attend to your other duties.”

“Of course.” Simeon turned to me, giving me a hug.

“It was nice seeing you again Y/N.”

“Likewise, say hi to Luke for me”

“I will.” With that Simeon let go and walked out of the room.

Michael now looked at me, looking less than pleased to be dealing with me.

“Follow me.” He then walked out and I scrambled out of bed catching up with his long strides. We soon entered what looked like a dining area. There seemed to be some leftovers from breakfast.

“Have a seat and help yourself. Once you finish, we will go see Father, he will decide what to do with you.” Michael didn’t bother waiting for my reply before heading off in the direction of what looked to be a kitchen. Following his direction, I grabbed a plate and put some familiar looking foods that I remembered Luke teaching me about. As I was eating, I mentally prepared myself for the inevitable face off I would have with God. It was not going to be pretty.

In the Devildom. After they lost Y/N

When they first lost Y/N, Satan kept to himself. He locked himself up in his room and submerged himself in his books. When he couldn’t take it anymore, he found himself in his circle taking it out on the humans down there serving their punishment. His wrath consuming him. One day Lucifer found him curled in on himself trying to reel in his wrath after unleashing it on some of the 4th circles' inhabitants. Satan didn’t sense anything approaching until he felt a firm but comforting hand on his shoulder. Looking up he found Lucifer looking down on him with a sad smile and a look of something between pity and sympathy in his eyes. Lucifer looked down at his brother, no, his son. He took one look at the state he found Satan in and did something he didn’t think he’d ever do again, he hugged him. Satan felt his older brother's, no, his father's arms wrap around him. At first, all he felt was shock. He and Lucifer haven’t hugged since he was a child, now though Satan found himself leaning into his father's touch. Ignoring everything around them, Satan let out all his grief and sadness, holding onto his father like if he didn’t he’d disappear as well.

Present

Classes were going slow for Satan. While he would normally be engrossed in the lectures, diligently taking notes, he keeps finding himself drifting between thoughts, not staying on one topic for long and always finding a way back to thinking about Y/N. About halfway through his curses and hexes lecture, he gave up on paying attention and let his mind wander and his hands write whatever they wanted. At the end of the lecture, Satan looked at his notebook taking in what he had written. Mind you, he didn’t pay attention and just let his hand wander. What he found on the page both amazed and saddened him. Today’s lectures had been about the art of seduction with the use of curses instead of a demon's natural charm or beauty. He ended up writing out diligent notes from his lecture, but instead of them being in his usual note taking style, he found them in the form of a story Y/N had once had an idea about writing. He wrote about his time tutoring Y/N for their exams and how they successfully seduced him but instead of acting like a kitten, they took a spell Satan taught them and altered it so that not only would they have seduced Satan, but he still regained his free will, with Y/N pulling the strings, unknowing to him. He read the short story his mind had came up with, his mind revisiting memories of different lessons with Y/N, their progress, their ups, their downs, the one time they cursed Mammon into a frog, the look on their face when they successfully executed a complex spell without Satan’s magical assistance. He found himself longing for those days, an unfamiliar yet comforting emotion filling his heart. As he walked through the halls towards his next class, he made a vow to himself to try and feel that unfamiliar emotion until he could name it, then keep feeling it, because, for Satan, it felt like Y/N was right next to them, with their signature smile on their face, proud of him for focusing on a feeling opposite of his wrath. Should he start to feel his wrath taking over, he would picture Y/N, holding his hand, encouraging him to feel that unfamiliar emotion. One he soon learned was called ‘Philia Love’.

[anewbeginningagain]

Some VM Qs I’ve been sending around. Would love your answers when you’re able/willing to answer:)

Best elements? Worse elements? Elements you think they improved upon the most? Elements you like earlier in their career?

What components do you think they nailed the most vs components you though they were less consistent with?

Best and worst contemporaries?

Favorite and least favorite costumes?

Was seasons as bad as I everyone made it out to be?

What you admired most about VM? Biggest criticism you’ve had of them?

(Also; when can I say out loud that D/W’s twizzels weren’t very pretty. Fast, in sync, and consistent? Yes. Pretty, eh.)

Well this seems fun! I know @macaroni-rascal already answered the same ask but I preferred not to read her answer until I'll submit mine LOL so then we can see if we still agree.

Best elements: I think what stands the most for me is their basic skating skills, especially as you can see them during patterns and step sequences. Their ability to generate speed out of nowhere while maintaining character and deep edges and soft knees are just phenomenal. In patterns, their blues pattern legit set a standard no one have compared to yet, their Golden Waltz from 2010 Worlds is one of my all time favorites, their Tango Romantica from the 2010 Olympics is breathtakingly epic and their Argentine Tango from 2008 Worlds is a showing precision to perfection.

Honorable mentions - their lifts are some of the most acrobatic and complex lifts we see to this day, and they are the masters of the NTMLSS and no one can quite do it like they can.

Worst element: Not exactly worse per-se but spins weren't their favorite elements and it showed LOL. Still, their Carmen spin at Canadian Nationals and the one they had in Moulin Rouge are some of my favorites since they hold amazing positions and are so fitting to the overall story telling of the programs.

I think they improved everything tbh, they were constantly improving and growing, I think to me their biggest improvement was in their maturity and their overall power, they always commanded the ice but in their last two seasons their power compared to the rest was on another level.

Not gonna lie, as I said every CD they did was text book imo, they even nailed the Yankee Polka ffs LOL so there's no bad CD.

As for components, basic skating skills were always amazing and kept improving, they always performed and interpreted the music even when they were skating babies. Composition is something that goes with how the program is build (or at least that's how it should be...) so since most of their programs were well build and varied in styles I think it was also great for the most part.

I don't have a favorite costume, there are just too many to choose from. I didn't love some of Tessa's dresses and hairstyles for "Seasons" and while I think her red Funny Face dress was very appropriate, it was also too simple to my liking. Oh, and the packaging for their 2008 OD wasn't great. The rest was as close to flawless as it gets tbh.

Seasons was not as bad as we make it be, it was a generally good program but not for TS standard and not for an Olympic season imo.

And finally, what I admire most about Tessa and Scott is their longevity, they lasted for 22 years, 20 of those years as competitive skaters, they dealt with injuries and surgeries, they dealt with what I can only imagine being numerous personal hardships (in terms of family, growing up, and such), and they stayed loyal and supportive every step of the way. To watch them during practices and performances is so magical because they can simultaneously be in their own bubble and make you feel like you are a part of their journey. That's a talent no other team has to that extent and it is what made so many people fall in love with them. And it is only made greater when you realize they are a once-in-a-generation kind of team.

As for my biggest criticism, I truly think they were humble to a fault, there were times that I felt that I wish they will just own their achievements and flaunt them (but in a nice way) so that the outside shoutings of "fans" will be silenced by TS own voices. However, I do understand why they were the way they were, they were burnt too many times and self-preservation became key.

[chibimyumi]

Hey I hope you're doing well!

Have you watched Furukawa Yuta's Mozart live stream? And if you have watched it could you you make a little review if you have time?

Thank you for answering

【Related post: "Mozart!" 2021 Live Stream】

Dear Anon,

Yes I did watch the Furuzart Live Stream! As said before, I am actually no big fan of "Mozart!" as a show, but I was ecstatic about Furukawa's reprise as Mozart because it'd be such a milestone for him. Last time in 2018 Furukawa underperformed according to himself and critics, so 2021 was his "redemption arc" for him, so to say. And boy he did!

In 2018 a main criticism about Furuzart was that his voice had no power, no volume, in 2018. Furukawa also admitted that as the musical prodigy W.A. Mozart himself, he could not afford to miss any note. One of Furukawa's weaknesses is his singing, so he underwent a new Spartan training back in 2018 just for this role. He even learnt playing the piano within a few weeks, just to do Mozart justice.

But in the end... well yes, he did hit all the notes... but he basically whispered most of his songs, and often he was so hyper focused on just singing the notes right, his emotional range varied between: "mildly nervously happy" to "extremely nervous". This time however, Furukawa shared in the press conference that for the first time he feels enjoyment in showing off his skills, rather than just anxiety.

This time round, Furukawa has improved his vocal range significantly, and singing high pitches comes with convincible ease now. The high transitions are smooth, and the belting/shouts are powerful! 

Mozart is a very child-like character. He is spontaneous, and has this tremendous talent and energy his human body fails to contain. In 2021, Furukawa really excellently managed to show how Mozart is just always bursting with unkempt passion, but has no outlet.

Mozart is employed by very high ranking people, so he always has to watch his manners. He however, is also strongly of the opinion that none of the nobles deserve his respect. It is amazing to see how Furuzart is always being in a state of: "I know I have to be polite, I will try a BIT, but you don't deserve any more than this much effort 👌" Honestly, this look of him wearing his locks with that... powdered situation on his head is the PERFECT representation of what Furuzart is. Even when sticking to the rules everything is just wrong.

When Mozart was fired for example, he had a small moment of: "dude, you're firing MOI? (ÒAÓ)" But then very quickly he realised that he was finally free, and his proclamation of freedom was the most genuine glee I've ever seen on stage.

Mozart's life is of course not a walk though the park, however... and very soon tragedy after tragedy strikes him. The moment the shit starts hitting the show though, Furukawa's Mozart is best described using just one word: "devastating".

During the special curtain call of the Final Performance, Director Koike Shuichiro was really emotional, and said that while in the spectators seats he was struck by how hyper detailed Furukawa’s acting was. Koike said: “It might be arrogant, but I think for once it is alright to say how proud I am of our work. I have always known Furukawa Yuta for his attention for detail, but today I learned just how precise, how detailed his acting can go. Now I’m a bit angry with him though. Why didn’t you show me this during the rehearsals?”

Furukawa has always had this incredible skill of devastating his audience with something so...complex, so subtle, and yet overwhelmingly heart-breaking to the audience. I think in Mozart we really see the full extent of Furukawa's skills. Especially because Mozart is so child-like, you just can’t help but feel like you want to protect him.

The “world of adults” was so bitter and unforgiving, and Furuzart really showed how he was trying so hard to compute everything... but was given no space to explore anything. (Honestly... isn’t that all of us right now?)

Though I still find “Mozart!” as a production flawed in many aspects, the piques are phenomenal piques. I think with the newly edited version of “Mozart!” 2021, the show is more coherent than before, however. I think “Mozart!” really is a coming-of-age-failed story. In Furukawa’s words:

The Grand Musicals written by Kunze and Levay are cultural markers in the Japanese theatre world, and they are known for the empowering female leads. Mozart however, I think is the only male lead among the Kunze & Levay productions? I feel tremendously honoured to be allowed this one role. Mozart is known only for his greatness, but this musical shows that no greatness is ever simple. Behind greatness is always just a human being. For me, I think the question this production asks is: “What is talent?” Is talent something that resides in the body, or the soul?   - Furukawa.

Other cast

Mozart is really 80% of the show; once he shows up, he hardly ever gets off stage again. This means that the side characters REALLY need to shine in order not to be forgotten.

Constanze - Mozart’s Wife

In 2018, the Constanzes were pretty badly received by the public. From left to right are Kinoshita Haruka, Hirano Aya and Ikuta Erika. Out of the three, only Hirano’s Constanze was what the show and TOHO’s reputation promised. Kinoshita and Ikuta were both described as: “they sing well, but they’re little girls trying on mommy’s high heels”, one of the harshest criticisms in public domains in Japan I have seen.

In 2021, Constanze was played by just Kinoshita, and I was very worried that the only reason she’d be there in the Imperial Theatre again was because she’s pretty.

Then I watched the show, and to my pleasant surprise there was significant improvement!! Kinoshita spoke and sang in a much lower and stable voice, she wasn’t forcing it, and she did have a little bit of zest this role demands. She is still not the power-house of a Constanze as Hirano and Sonim were in 2014, but Kinoshita was honestly not bad. I would still not have cast her myself, but that level of growth was incredibly enjoyable for me to watch.

During the Final Performance curtain call, Director Koike even stepped forward to say he was shocked to see how much better she had gotten.

Leopold Mozart - Mozart’s Father

Ichimura Masachika has played Mozart’s father for many years, and every time he manages to amaze me.

I think “Mozart!” does a great job at showing what fatherhood can entail: “everything awful to awesome.” Mozart’s father is unambiguously a loving father who is deeply invested in his children’s wellbeing and talents... but he is human nevertheless. He loves his son but also hurts him. Sometimes as a father he makes decisions he thinks is best for Wolfgang, but “the best” might not always be fun, “the best” might not be Wolfgang’s best, or “the best” might be “Wolfgang’s best” but not “Wolfgang in this world’s best.” Leopold is not a super big character, but I think in the glimpses we do get of him, he has portrayed the difficulty of parenthood, and the trickiness of “love and protection” better than many other portrayals of parents.

Nannerl Mozart - Mozart’s Sister

Nannerl was played by an absolute nightingale Kazune Miou, and she was just suchhhhhhh a blessing. What also does help I admit, is that she is not Hanafusa Mari. Kazune was amazing in her own right, but ESPECIALLY juxtaposed against Hanafusa, she was a blessing.

Kazune really manages the range between young girl to ripe adult woman very well, and this immense true love she has for her brother is just heart-warming to see. With Hanafusa it was just obvious that a 50 year old was trying to play an 18 year old who is actually 8 years on the inside. As rambled in detail in this post, my hatred for Hanafusa’s acting style is that she only has two modes: Whiny toddler girl, or whiny victim woman.

Kazune however, really managed to capture the many complexities of Nannerl’s character. How she is just unconditionally loving towards her brother, but also can’t help but be sad that the greater attention for “the miracle child” came at her expense.

Prince-Archbischop Colloredo - Mozart’s Boss.

Colloredo was played by Yamaguchi Yuichiro. Erm...... Yamaguchi is a great person, he is SOOO kind..........but everything about his singing and acting style just rubs me the wrong way... I always think his acting an unfortunate mix between a slapstick-comedy banana and a pompous opera ghost... ermmmm......... sorry, not for me.

Click here for the official PV.

And click here for the subtitled curtain call of the first day performance.

[nighttimepixels]

TALK TO US ABOUT MASS EFFECT I HAVE BEEN AN INSANE MASS EFFECT/SHAKARIAN TRASH PERSON SINCE 20-FUCKING-11 AND LEMME TELL YOU THOSE FEELINGS HAVENOT TARNISHED A SINGLE FRACTION IN THOSE TEN YEARS OH MY GOOOOOOODDDSSSS!!!!!!!

I DEMAND A PLAY-BY-PLAY UP TO THE MINUTE OF YOUR REACTIONS TO EVERYTHING!!!!

you are so valid and I totally see why everyone I've ever mentioned it to loves the hell out of it

aksdjlsdfj I meannnn if you want to hear my rambling about it then hell yeah

Okay, gonna put this below the cut to save everyone else XD also- since I'm not leaving this Mass Effect obsession anytime soon, if you're not interested in seeing occasional posts about it, please feel free to block the tag "night plays ME"~

(mild spoilers ahead??)

((also for real I mean it when I say this is rambling as hell lol, apologies and no stress if absolute no one reads all this))

OKAY SO Mass Effect 1-

Stars help me, I was honestly hooked right from the start?? Like even in Legendary Edition (the combined trilogy just re-released in one "can play it on one system + minor improvements", for anyone who doesn't know) where it's smoothed out, of course it's obvious that ME1 is a decade old... but the foundation for these relationships are all there and gods I love them already.

Like - Kaiden right off the top is a delightful good fightin lad, what the hell. I've heard that he's viewed as 'bland' by a good portion of the fan community but I dunno, he's a delight and even more complex by the time 2 rolls around and you encounter him on Horizon, it was honestly Ashley I was way more meh about - mostly because before you can learn about her family history/etc, she comes off as hella xenophobic and I was immediately offended for my growing space family that she didn't like/trust all the aliens around, pfff.

(she gets redeemed a bit through further actions/evolving thoughts, but I thought in retrospect it was a bummer that they didn't flip the order there, give her a chance to be liked before the complicating factor of being so rude about aliens >:c that then she could grow from... ah well. Apparently she has a good arc but uh, let's just say I chose Kaiden at the "key junction" in the latter part of the game so I won't be seeing anymore of Ashley uh... anytime soon, haha.)

Garrus??? Is??????? The ABSOLUTE best???????????

I liked him from the start, I'm always a bit of a sucker for a rogue-detective "the system won't bring this bastard to justice, so I've got to" type and all their moral shadiness XD But he just gets better, honestly, and where I'm at in ME2 (right before the Reaper IFF mission, as of typing this, with everyone's loyalty!) I am only digging myself deeper into this hole-

-*wheezing* okay anyways -

Wrex is AMAZING I love fightin' middle-aged krogan bastard, gods. Liara is great too, I'm a sucker for a wlw relationship (playing fem!Shepard, so) - buuuut I'll admit she's a bit more one-note in ME1. Last week while I was still on ME1 I remember hearing (while trying to dodge spoilers) that her arc is really good, though. I think they leaned a little hard on the 'innocent but sexy' sterteotype on her (so despite the yikes aspect of a few of the things I've learned in ME2, lol, I actually really like the complexity that's been added to her character.)

Saved Liara first, so by the time I got to Noveria and had the standoff with Benezia there was the chance to have emotions over Liara having to face her TwT and of course, I made the questionable but quality decision to free Queen Rachni heheh. no ragrets

More than a blow-by-blow of my choices though I totally wanna take the chance to say that even in the mild jankiness of ME1 (goddammit, the Mako.... please..... please just go up this impossible cliff I just want to resource hunt-) the way that the lore, both obvious/key to main plot and the lesser/filler/background/world-building kinds... I just love it. It incorporates it well, you can go ham in the codex learning more, or just dive into the basics - it's clearly a complex galaxy (and they do an even better job in 2 of fleshing it out further), and it never really felt overwhelming. It was pretty natural figuring it all out-!

Plus the interesting implications of resource hunting amongst the sapient races, and the little side missions you better bet I did every one of- there's so much rich depth in the story if you do 'em!! (And that lead with that Keeper side mission...? Looking back, damn, clever foreshadowing-!!!)

And oh my gods, Ilios??? hell yeah. I loved that mission so much, especially having Garrus & Kaiden with me when talking to the hologram/computer, and more than anything, that last sprint in the Mako trying to get to the jump before it closed-???

yeet the boi-

Also mannn I love a good setpiece, and having to go up the side of the elevator, space-side?? such a cool setup!!

Plus it felt good having been Paragon enough (as simple as the good v bad vibe system is, I don't hate it, lol) to avoid one of the Saren fights, ngl. And the er, "second fight" with Sovereign-Saren.... hell yeah

... I'll admit I had to double check my choice re whether to save the Council. I did in the end, but I swear, sometimes the way they phrase things I'm like ".... okay but Garrus is right, defeating Sovereign is more important than these few leaders??????" woops. Listen, priorities, is all I'm saying..... (￣ヮ￣|||)ゞ

'Course later they emphasize (in ME2) that there were 10,000 people on that same ship and I was like well I wouldn't have second guessed if I'd known that, I mean c'mon-

Also I did indeed romance Liara in this one, so I got that scene ;Dc But,,,, I also knew by the end that I was totally gonna romance Garrus in 2 since he's an option then finally,,,,, lemme tell you the guilt as I waffled over whether to romance Liara bc of it. hahaha.

Aaaaand Mass Effect 2-

So I'm only up to right before the Reaper IFF Mission, so I don't know the ending, etc etc lol. That said, I've just finished every side mission I've found with the exception of the Shadowbroker Quest and the Arrival Quest (I've heard the latter basically leads into ME3, and the former is best either right before the Omega 4 jump or in postgame).

So from the start - fuck yeah fuck yeah what a high adrenaline start Shepard noooooo but also yes save Joker aH-

The motion comic too hot damn nice job

I loved this setup, seriously - especially forcing Shep into this situation, having to work with/for Cerberus, and the compelling reasoning given behind "why" they do what they do (I especially found it a good point that the Salarians have the Task Force, the Asaris the Commandos, the Turians the- etc... like, true, when you put it like that, having a similar group advancing human interests/solving human interstellar problems is pretty reasonable...). That said, I love too that it really isn't shied away from how Cerberus is nonetheless fucked up - or its at least done fucked up stuff.

Listen, I still think some messed up stuff is gonna be revealed in 2's endgame......... after that Horizon mission and the Collector's ship???? TIM I SEE YOU YOU SHADY MF-

aaanyways lol...

I'm so so glad on a gameplay level they nixed the Mako style exploration. A few Hammerhead missions are fine and a lot more focused than the slippery ass navigation in that glorified ATV, pfff. The probes are a neat way of getting after similar resources - and more importantly, having good levels and some good hubs (the Zakera Wards, Omega, Ilium, etc) is way way more fun than having a more 'sprawling' space that is.... a lot of empty nonsense, lol.

Then there's the fact that we get Joker right off the bat and you can interact with him so much - and him and EDI??? Get out gods I love them. Kasumi is so right when she says they sound like a bickering old married couple lol. I have a terrible feeling that some shit is gonna happen with EDI..... but I don't think she's evil as-is, at least.

Side-eying the hell out of those "access forbidden" parts of her that she doesn't even know.... and the fact that her AI core has a locked door access................... something's gonna happen gdi LEAVE OUR ADOPTED AI ALONE.

(Also Joker pls stop fracturing your thumb on the mute button)

Also please save me there are so many hot aliens in this game,,,,, the xeno/monsterfuckers really comin' through strong in the sequels............... doin' the lord's work........................................

In general, I love how many levels ME stepped up in two with complexity and interwoven narratives!! Like, to the point it'd be almost a drag to replay ME1, even though it was fun going through it (if occasionally a bit tedious with the cookie cutter rando planet science/mine facilities, lol). Like, just from how fun and interesting ME2 is, mostly! more of all the pre-introduced races, plus new ones, plus more filling in of intragalactic politics, and more interesting implications of all these space-faring races mixing....

Also gods WREX and his planet holy shit,,,,, fuckin' hell yeah my man get their shit together and also adopt Grunt yes good-

And Mordin??? My singing semi-evil scientist best friend forced to confront his choices more than he thought he ever would have???? With some of the best ongoing general report chatter of all the companions??

(when I tell you I choked on my coffee when I talked to him after confirming romance choice w/ Garrus and that 'pamphlet' and 'anaphalactic shot if ingesting-' kajsldkfjsldfjk)

Like, fuck, the fact that they actually dive into the mixed morality and horrors of the genophage, and you can confront Mordin on it, for good reason, yet he still stands his ground, until finally some bits of his loyalty mission seem to... affect him, and I'm guessing might set up things for 3 with him? Unsure, but either way, damn, the fact that they start to dig into it...

And Taliiiii my beloved forbidden alien wife TwT her loyalty mission was SO GOOD. I love how varied they all are?? Getting to defend her and discover what she'd unwittingly been a part of-!!

Zaeed is a bastard but tbh I love that he is and that he's unapologetic in him - and Kasumi omg, best thief. A heist?? Gods, yes- I love our couch lounge chats XD

Samara is..... illegally.......... she's an illegally powerful and beautiful and eloquent MILF...........................

(.... listen I'm sapphic as hell and I'm kicking my own ass for picking her up last aksjdlfksjdfl - but her loyalty mission, damn. And seeing how there's this interesting cultural subset, and the struggle with the Asari in that they unquestioningly accept/respect justicars, but also know that the impact outside their culture is a diplomacy nightmare waiting to happen-)

,.,,,,,T,,, Thane,,,,,

I am weak for morally implicated murder dads okay?? And that voice??? His mannerisms?????? How you first see him, and that prayer after assassinating her...???????? And his history/his people's history with the hanar, gods I love how messy it is, it feels so much more real!

Also Jack is a mess and I love her (and want to get her some therapy, omg), and her and Miranda nearly duking it out after you've done both their loyalty missions??? so good and makes a lot of sense-! Honestly I would love more interactions between teammates on the ship, but there's already so much the devs had to balance I can't blame 'em for minimizing, heh. But suffice to say I also love Miranda and Jacob, even if I'm softest for my alien crew XD Hell yeah Jacob, we'll get loud and spill drinks on the citadel indeed TwT

.... I could write a whole essay on how much I love Garrus oTL Perhaps because he and Tali are the throughlines from 1 on your 2 crew, I have some of the strongest feelings about them... but genuinely, he was one of my favorite companions in the first game, and how you find him as Archangel in two? Getting to help him fight his way out after he's gone nearly 48 hours straight fighting off three gangs alone, jfc. His vengeance quest and what can happen there.... That line? fuck me, that line -

It's so much easier to see the world in black and white. Grey? I don't know what to do with gray...

How DARE you come for my heart like this, devs holy shit

(also, some other choice faves so far from the series from him include We can disobey suicidal orders?? and This wasn't in my training manual... [in 1, if you have him with you @ th Thorian fight] and his whole.... pop the heat sink - in his romance ;Dc)

asdasdfksadjfkl like I said I can write an essay on him PFFF suffice to say I'm very looking forward to his romance scene and where things go in 3

But yeah gods I'm just gonna keep rambling if I'm not careful lol. Gods I don't even know what to talk about it's all so good and while I can understand people roasting the obviousness of Paragon V Renegade (v neutral) choices/alignments, I think they do a pretty damn good job in 2 of pushing it further - to the point that there were some times that I accidentally got renegade points and I wasn't that mad, haha. There's so much fun in the interactions that I just have a good time anyways~

I have so many thoughts about TIM (The Illusive Man) and Cerberus.... theories evolving galore............... and like, what the hell!! Omega 4 going to the center of the galaxy is such a cool twist, goddamn - though my heart still breaks at losing Kaiden (his line if you haven't romanced him?? about feeling like he lost a limb when he lost you??? holy shit.... but I also can't blame him for not trusting Cerberus to the point of it affecting his ability to trust Shepard... like fuck Shep go after himmmm) I'm really excited to see where that goes since he comes back in 3, and what the fuck happens with Cerberus bc while I love the fact that obviously there are a lot of people in it for the right reasons, doing good work, there are those that are doing the opposite, and I have a very bad feeling about where TIM will end up landing....

All that said though I need to do the Reaper IFF mission (where I'm lightly spoiled as to getting That Boy, but not how/what happens to make it so - just that it's apparently wise to have all your side missions done before getting him...) and the actual Omega 4 jump. So we'll see what happens and what I think about it from there heheh!

.... major kudos and genuine props if you made it here to the end, I am so sorry for not editing on condensing all this, and appreciate you so much ;w;

[popculturebuffet]

Quick Thoughts: Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Reveal Trailer and Initial Roster

Whelp I didn’t expect to be doing another one of these so soon but welcome to quick thoughts where I give well quick thoughts on stuff instead of the longer form reviews I usually do. 

So as longtime or even short time readers of this blog might know I love NIck. I don’t review shows from it as often as Disney or Cartoon Network, but it was still a beloved part of my childhood and still makes great shows today such as the Loud House, Harvey Beaks and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It’s horribly mismanaged, which is why two of those shows are no longer with us and the last of them is weirdly missing from this game, and have a long and storied history of screwing things over.. and i’m not exagerating when Mr. Enter, no matter your opinon of him now, did a whole marathon of every nicktoon almost every entry included the fact the show had been screwed over in some way. 

But as anyone who knows my history with Disney will tell you just because I don’t sugarcoat a brand I like’s fuckups dosen’t mean they aren’t near and dear to me at the same time. I”m a grown up: I can have complex emotions towards a chlidren’s tv network. So I love it’s varied shows some of whom (Avatar, Harvey beaks again, Danny Phantom, Hey Arnold) are among my all time faviorites. 

Now something readers of my blog probably WOUDLN’T know is I love Nintendo, they have their own fuckups like weird release strageies and never doing a remotely decent discount like the competition, but their still a company I love and since I only play handhelds most of the time are my primary source of good shit. So naturally Smash Bros is my faviorite franchise of theres. I love the idea of fighting games but often struggle with the combo heavy nature. So Smash Bros, having a roster of some of my faviorite characters ever, a plaformer style control scheme, and a deceptivley simple style that’s easy to learn and fun to master with the right character, is my shit. Sure I won’t rush out to buy every dlc character, but you better belivie I played the hell out of Ultimate, will likely go back to it again some day, and did buy Banjo and Kazooie because fuck yeah. 

So yeah I needed to talk about Nick making their own smash bros clone. When I heard the rumors I wasn’t sure, mostly because Rumors can be just that.. but nope this game is happening and i’m all on board for it. This isn’t Nick’s first crossover rodeo in recent memory either also making a pair of Kart Racing Games: one I KINDA wanted to play till I looked at the roster, had a good laugh and lost that i want, and the other I really want to play as it seems like the first game if it were you know an actual game with a decent track selection, a deep character roster and an actual love of it’s properties. 

So making their own Smash Bros was a logical step and one i’m here for. We haven’t had any of the big cartoon networks make one since well.. Cartoon Network, and Nick has just a deep a bench to pull from, one that will hopefully get CN to get their cast to throw hands once more. 

For now though the idea of the vast history of nick all throwing hands with each other is amazing. Look i’m honest with myself: this looks like a decent smash clone,functional but nothing specail, but with the expressive character animation and solid roster you need for a game like this. I know going in i’m not going ot get Smash Ultimate quality of brawler, but i’m probably going to have fun with it. 

The only downside I see so far is , like the Kart Racers, theyd idn’t seem to get ANY voice actors for this which smacks of laziness, especially since most of the voice actors for these characters are still active, and in some cases like Spongebob or Loud House are still working with you. So you have no real excuse for this, shame on you.

But yeah the game looks good.. despite the trailer being pretty bad. It’s just some generic music set to “LOOK WHO WE GOT”. And granted look who they got is really spiffy and i’ll be diving into that in a second, but it dosen’t give any of these characters a reall chance to show off how they play or how awesome they are. It’s just a bland montage of whose in the roster in the same 2 or 3 stages. And when you have 15 stages overall to show off that’s not excusable. Again i’m not expecting Smash level quality revelas, this game dosen’t have the marketing budget, but you have a really great concept and roster here, you coudl’ve revealed it better and this game better. The Kart Racers 2 Trailer was also mildly bland but it did show off the game better, showing off several tracks and how VASTLY improved the roster was, so you CAN make a good trailer you just didn’t. It felt like they thought the poitn of all the smash reveals trailers was here’s a character and missed all the style and substance to them. 

That being said while the trailer was weak.. it was boyed by the fact this roster is REALLY damn good. Let’s face it I woudln’t even be talking about this game if the roster wasn’t this minty but they clearly learned from Kart Racers not to half ass it and while they learned the long lessons from Smash in how to promote the fighters they have, they learned the right lessons in having a nice mix of crowd pleasing faviorites for kids and vetrans alike along with a few deep cuts for said longtime fans. And this is JUST the intitial reveal roster: Given the Box Art isn’t out yet, I feel there’s more to come, especially since despite being perfect for the game there’s no one from the Avatarverse yet, but I also feel that Nick is saving that for a second trailer to announce the release date. But I can and will go into who i’d LIKE on the roster in another one of these sometime soon. -

Spongebob, Patrick and Sandy (SpongeBob Squarepants): I’m getting these three out of the way as their essentially to this what Mario and Co were to smash: necessary and inevitible.  As for who was chosen.. it was as obvious as putting spongebob himself int he game. Sponebob is Nick’s mascot, Patrick is nearly as iconic and Sandy is well loved as well as the spongebob character most associated with buttkicking. Being an expert martial artist is both part of her character and a cerntral part of her character and relationship with Spongebob. So yeah not a lot ot say here: it was ineivible but I don’t mind at all having grown up with them and with my niece and nibling being huge fans. 

87 Leo and 87 Mikey (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles): This one i’m mixed on. Not on the turtles being here: i’m a MASSIVE TMNT fan and i’td be stupid to leave them out since Nick Owns them, made the last two series, and they fit this kind of game like a glove, even having had their OWN smash clone to themselves once. 

No my issue is obviously in the version choseN: The 87 turtles. Again I have no beef with the guys themselves, I haven’t seen much of 87 but I want to and they look really gorgeous and nicely cartoony. It’s just a REALLY weird choice. The 87 turtles have never been on a nick network due to rights issues, have never been associated with nick, and aren’t the ones most kids of EITHER DEMO would be familiar with: Grown up fans of nicktoons from the 90′s like myself would be more familiar with 2003, and kids and teens from more recent eras would be more familiar with 2012 and rise, which REALLY should’ve been the rep. I mean their weird shame of rise bothers me enough on a good day but not using EITHER show you actually made bothers me, it bothers me a lot. I’ll still probably play Mikey, i’m not made of stone and as I said I have no beef with the 87 turtles, I just wish nick had used the others or hell just gone all lin and used one turtle from each cartoon. I mean if your going to use stuff you’ve barely aired why not give me some 2003 nostalgia too huh? Though it could just be that since, unlike the rise and 2012 turrtles the 87 turtles have the same body type and colors it was easier to just do all 4 and just give each unique facial expressions. Who knows... I knows it was probably that. 

Lincoln and Lucy Loud (The Loud House, Duh): Another pretty obvious one as The Loud House is currrently nick’s co-flagship show with spongebob. Still waiting for my diffrent world spinoff with Bobby and Lori guys. So yeah Lincoln isn’t a suprise and Lucy is only minorly one as it was a matter of “which sister”... and Lucy is one of the most popular. Neither really fit a combat setting.. but given this is a fun crossover game, that really dosen’t matter and in fact is kind of the fun: taking just the most insane matcchups imaginable and mashing them together. I mean this is a game where Lincoln and Lucy can beat up Leo and Mikey, why wouldn’t I want that kind of crack on my nintendo switch? I am hoping for Luna to make her way to the stage next as she was absent from Kart Racer 2 and would be really fun to play. Plus having ANOTHER bi fighter in the mix if korra gets in there would be awesome, let alone letting the two beat up or punch each other’s face. But again I could and probably will mak ea whole article about other possible fighters i’d want. 

The Plesant Suprises: Nigel Thornberry , Oblina and Powdered Toast Man (Wild Thronberries, Ahhh! Real MOnsters1 and Ren and Stimpy) : Yeah while only one of these cartoons was a faviorite as a kid (Wild Thornberries)... I have nothing but respect for these choices. One of the funnest things about Smash is while you can see some roster members coming sometimes you get utter curveballs like Mr. Game and Watch, Pirana Plant and MInecraft Guy. They also go for more cult franchises like SNK or Earthbound (the latter of which is fucking awesome localize mother 3 already dammit) too among the big heavies, making it feel like a true tapestry of Nintendo’s history. 

Nigel is the only one of these three that’s really obvious. He’s a meme, he was the best part of his show.. but it’s still just uniquely batshit to put NIGEL THRONBERRY in a fighting game. You better belivie he’ll be one of my mains. 

Oblina is more a suprise because I thought they’d go with Icket, but instead went wtih the character who was more popular and had a really unqiue and cool design, so i’m pleased as punch to have her. Finally while I don’t have any real attachment to ren and stimply apart from Log, and really it’s hard to gain any now knowing i’ts creator was a pedophile piece of shit, the franchise is still a cornerstone of nick history, the rest oc the crew didn’t abuse power or not make deadlines or be a com plete piece of shit, and powerded toast man is genuinely great. I”d love to see Really Big Man too, clash of the weird superheroes, I love me a weird as hell superhero. This also speaks promisingly that w’ell get some real weird curveballs to come and i’m here for it. 

The Rest: Helga, Zim, Danny and Reptar. (Hey Arnold, Invader Zim, Danny Phantom and Rugrats! ): Note i’m not lumping these together because their bad: their all graet nostalgic picks from timeless shows and with the rugreboot currently running on Paramount+, it’d be weird not to represent them. 

And since I brought it up reptar is a fun chocie, another oddball but one more understandable as no one wants to beat the shit out of a toddler. Or rather no one playing the game would care you could because it’s a silly fighting game and a 12 and 8 year old are also beat upable, but someone would probably throw a fit somewhere. Plus again it’s a game where you can have danny phantom fight reptar. Shut up and take my money. 

The rest are all great choices if ones I’m not suprised by: Hey Arnold’s an all time classic and being tough is a lot of Helga’s character, and again I can have her throw hands with nigel thornberry, reptar and a ninja turtle in the same match. Zim is another fan faviorite and fits the game like a glove and Danny Phantom is the one out of Nick’s three suprehero classics it actually still cares about so my boy getting in there isn’t a shocker, though his attacks lookw eird. Hopefully they green them up before the final prduct. 

So yeah overall it looks really promsing and really fun and i’ll probably check this game out if I get enough money when it comes out or more likely put it on my christmas list. But I will get it somehow this i swear.. speaking of which put manny in the roster dammit. If you liked this.. thing consider joining my patreon for a buck a month fo exclsuvie reviews and ot help me review tuca and bertie, amphibia and more as part of my memebership drive. 

[algernoninwonderland]

Miraculous is playing one big game of Calvinball with its magic/power system and it undermines the show quite a bit

TL;DR: Miraculous has, at first glance, a very basic power/magic system… Only whenever it tries to get more complicated than “Moon Prism Power, Make up!” it ends up being an unspeakable mess, due to poor creative decisions that don’t allow for the audience to truly understand what is going on and why, outside of “whatever the plot requires so that we can get to the next scene”. 

It may well be because the people making this show wanted to shift their attention to kwamis and their powers in the future seasons, but holding onto that for seventy-something episodes has done the show a disservice.

Longg isn’t the kwami of Perfection. Longg is the kwami of being a cool dragon. And sometimes, being a cool dragon is enough, you know? Instead of doing complex things poorly, you can tackle simple concepts really well and people won’t think any less of your creation, au contraire.

Throughout the history of the superhero genre, a pretty nifty thing most creators have understood is that you need to explain a bit of how and why the hero’s powers work. Superman is superpowered because it’s all a matter of gravity, a fact underlined in the very first issue of Action Comics, in the very first page of Superman ever. The X-Men are mutants. Sherlock Holmes was bitten by a radioactive detective.

Basically, what happens in most cases is, the creators come up with a set of rules to sort of explain the storyworld so that you know to manage your expectations, so that the storyworld feels more cohesive too. That’s what I call a neat way to allow your audience to suspend their disbelief and feel more involved in the story being told! Things happen and are allowed to happen a certain way for a reason in-universe, there is a kind of logic proper to the work of fiction being built that makes it easier for the audience to fully get into said work.

In Hunter X Hunter, Nen is a pretty cool concept that is well-defined, we see what it is at first with no explanations, and it’s hella intriguing, which makes you want to know more (and that’s deliberate) and then the manga explains it to you a few chapters later and for the most part, Togashi sticks to that definition. And now we understand what is going on and how. Cool, right?

What do we have here? Creative decisions that are often given justifications in-universe to make them more believable in the context of the story being told, even though they are ultimately arbitrary decisions which can be challenged (see how Superman’s powers changed over time, for instance). You can toy with these explanations and that makes for great comedic potential, just look at One Punch Man!

Magic can be a little murkier for sure, because magic doesn’t necessarily follow rational logic. I won’t be getting into the soft/hard magic talk here. Still, if you want your audience to understand what is going on and if you’re not a complete hack (looking at you Joanne Kathleen), you tend to set up some rules so that the audience can grasp what the hell is going on, understand why something is really impressive or really basic. Is it really such a big deal that a character is able to master that one spell? Why? Ursula Le Guin and Brandon Sanderson are really good at that, and manage a good balance of mystery and understandability.

Miraculous fumbles the bag pretty hard when it comes to how its magic/power system works. Which, after 70-something episodes, is not great. 

Part of it is due to the exposition style Miraculous has chosen for itself, which could be great but ultimately isn’t, and part of it is due to poor definition in the first place.

Miraculous hates exposition dumps most of the time, and I think it’s actually a good thing. No one wants to feel as though they’re sitting through a boring class instead of having fun. Well done, guys! Exposition dumps often make you all the more aware of the artificiality of a story. And so, Miraculous mostly relies on context cues as a means of introducing you to the world. They just show you the thing and trust you to understand and interpret it properly. And sometimes, it works really well!

I still sincerely believe that Stormy Weather is a fantastic first episode, and it does its job amazingly well. In 24 minutes, you learn the very basic outlines of how stuff works, relationships between the characters and superpowers. Yes, it’s very basic, but that’s fine, you can’t drop all that new information on your audience all at once. We understand that the power within the Miraculous, that of the kwami, allows for its wearer to transform. This comes with nifty perks, heightened agility, reflexes, amazing strength, magical accessories, and special quirks unique to each of the Miraculouses.

Are we good so far? See, if we stuck to that, it’d be fine. Not mind-blowing but pretty okay still. Doesn’t have to be too complicated to be enjoyable, just look at Sailor Moon!

And then Miraculous tried to spice things up and communicated its ideas so poorly that the arbitrary decisions taken by the writers are glaring, and seriously affect the audience’s suspension of disbelief and enjoyment. 

The kwamis aren’t just cutesy mascots, they’re gods. And yet their powers are very limited. Why? Well, the show doesn’t really bring that question up, we can only try and infer things. Now, what are these limitations, and why do they exist in the first place? I’ve got a vague answer to the first question (a time limit for transformation once the special power is being used).

The answer to that second question is very unsatisfactory, and that’s the only one I’ve got: “because the plot requires it if we want to do such and such thing”. Which is an answer that applies to absolutely all creative decisions in fiction, yes, but there’s usually more to it as well, in competently-made shows at least, it’s not so transparent. Why is Marinette able to wield so many Miraculouses at once? Well, it’d look cool and it’d make her look powerful, so why not! But Adrien can’t. Why? He just can’t. No explanations whatsoever. Just because. It’s magic. Shut up and watch the show.

Well, that’s not entirely true. We’ve got fleeting remarks about being able to unlock kwami powers and maintaining a transformation for longer and whatnot. The problem is, they’re just that, fleeting remarks, and worse, they are so scattered across the show it’s really easy to forget about them in-between episodes, especially since the release schedule is absolute nonsense (it isn’t the creators’ fault, but it certainly has an impact on the way the audience engages with the show). So no, the show isn’t going down the “just roll with it” route, not entirely… And that makes the lack of proper explanation that much worse.

It feels as through the few rules there are in Miraculous are being made up on the fly and… Heh. That’s just not great.

It doesn’t help that the powers themselves are… Really something, huh?

Chat Noir’s power is the only one that really fits with what his kwami is meant to represent. Destruction. Easy to represent, right?

Creation is trickier, that requires being imaginative, and Miraculous isn’t terribly imaginative when it comes to its lucky charms. Hey kids, did you know that you could use a ladder to stop an ice-skater? How creative! I mean you could also use salt to melt the ice, or a baseball bat to smash his kneecaps, then… The point is, being convoluted isn’t the same thing as being creative, and while Chat Noir gets to decide what he destroys, Ladybug gets an item thrown at her and you better believe she’ll find an use to it… How is that creation exactly? Is the lucky charm popping out of thin air creation? That’s a bit underwhelming, isn’t it?

Tikki represents convolution, Nooroo is the power of creating minor antagonists…

I had to check the Wiki to remember what concepts the other kwamis are meant to represent. There’s a disconnect between that and the way powers are represented on-screen. Pollen isn’t the kwami of Subjection. Pollen is the kwami of stabbing people with a stinger. How do I know that? I watched the show and nothing else.

If you want your audience to not be confused, if you don’t want your story to feel completely arbitrary to your audience (though it’ll always be just that), maybe take the time to explain things that are crucial for the understanding of the storyworld’s inner workings. You don’t have to give everything away in the first ten episodes, not at all, but you should explain them at some point, take the time to do so if these are more complex concepts that are crucial to your show. And if they aren’t key to your show, you don’t have to include them, and I promise no-one will notice.