#but a lot of these were easy to figure just based on smart thinking when it came to the stories moving forward

[youarentamaybeyoureayes]

still not over rina so i dug in my camera roll to find some of my s4 predictions from a year ago because i have nowhere else to post these lol (warning, most of these are pessimistic as hell because i had very little trust in tim and s4 kept me up at night until the very moment i pressed play)

[chuluoyi]

࿐ ࿔ 🕰️ 「 08:25 P.M 」

tw: pregnancy. overall, just some domestic dad-to-be gojo trying to show how much he loves you even with how your body changes and all <3 based on a request!

a part of gojo's love entries

don’t think that satoru hasn’t noticed how you linger in front of the mirror these days, touching your body all over—particularly your baby bump. seeing your face twist into a sad frown dampens his spirits too.

on the other hand, you understand that it’s a natural process, but you have never gained this much weight before, and despite already having your husband reassure you before, you still feel somewhat meh about yourself.

“how’s my favorite girl and little rascal doing today?” he flopped down on the bed beside you as soon as he returned from school, caressing your belly. “ready to come out yet?”

you throw him an unamused look. “no, satoru. and don’t make it sound so effortless. i’m the one pushing him out.”

“ahh, but i can’t wait though~”

his palpable excitement actually made you smile as you placed your hand over his. but then your smile fell a bit and he was quick to notice it.

“what’s on your mind?” he asked then. “talk to me, hmm?”

“no… it’s nothing.” you looked away, a bit ashamed. if satoru says he’s not bothered by your figure, you really shouldn’t be thinking about this any longer. you didn't want to make him worry… but it really wasn't easy to let it go.

“hmm, my baby mama can’t be sad,” your husband pouted, and suddenly he pulled you closer, wrapping an arm around your shoulder. “she’s the cutest when she smiles.”

you looked up to him, feeling the security in his arms and yet still a hint of uncertainty in your voice. “am i just cute… to you?”

you wanted to be beautiful too. like how he used to sing you praises during your school days.

satoru grinned. and it’s the kind of toothy grin that makes your heart soar.

“no. you’re also pretty.” he tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear. “and you’re smart, kind, nags a lot, gets pouty easily… and you're sweet like a dango, makes me want to gobble you up.”

“so now i’m a dango?” you nestled your head against his broad chest, feeling your face start to heat up, and a smile beginning to curve your lips. stupid satoru. he said all of them so easily it was making you giddy and felt silly for doubting him at all.

“just because our baby is going to be a mochi. and look, you’re so close to carrying him to full-term,” he rubbed your swollen tummy again, this time with a more sincere smile. “i love you the most for it.”

your eyes took a shine, processing his words, and you could’ve sworn that right now, nothing could’ve shaken your feelings for your silly husband.

suddenly your baby kicked you hard as if to reprimand you too for your insecurities, and you winced.

“hurts?” satoru questioned, slightly concerned when you nodded. “wait i’ll tell him off.”

he cleared his throat and began making circular motions on your abdomen, as if to summon him.

“yo, brat. you can’t kick your mama like that too often these days. you’re accumulating karma and she counts it. when you come out, she’ll forbid you from eating our favorite mochis and—”

“satoru!!”

and then the two of you just burst into giggles, and once again, you utterly and thoroughly fell in love with him. for always making you feel safe... and loved.

“you know, satoru...” this time it was you who hugged him, breathing in his scent for comfort. now you were totally worry-free, the softest of smile on your face. “i’m really grateful that... we found each other.”

at your heartfelt confession, satoru felt his chest tighten with warmth and his cheeks flush. he is so blushing and he tries covering it with a chuckle. and the words lingering at the tip of his tongue were—

“heh, aren’t you glad you married me?”

yeah... i’m so glad that it’s you too.

[vanderdyks]

We dont talk enough about the fact that Goku wasnt born strong. Gohan, Vegeta, Broly, Goten, Trunks... all born with innate strength. But Goku... Goku was weak. His entire life growing up, there was ALWAYS someone stronger than him.

For a saiyan to be outmatched by earthlings... ridiculous. But he was. Several times over. Every bit of strength Goku has, he had to work for, train relentlessly for. Its easy to forget because hes so strong now and continiously comes out ahead. But thats the POINT.

Vegeta grew up knowing he was the pride of the saiyan race, born strong, elite, a prodigy. He was hopelessly outmatched by frieza and some of his army, but for a saiyan, vegeta was the strongest (or so he believed).

Because the saiyans put so much belief into power you were born with, power you were destined to have. You either had strength or you didnt. And Goku didnt. So he was third class. His destiny wasnt power, it was weakness.

Its why Vegeta is so constantly thrown off by and therefore obsessed with Goku in the beginning. Because how could someone born so weak be THIS strong? It didnt make sense.

Then we have Gohan, born with incredible hidden reserves of power. Unlike Goku, Gohan was born with potential. His strength was always there. And sure, he had to work incredibly hard to unlock it but its a story arc we keep seeing repeated with gohan. Either its unlocked with anger or someone unlocks it for him (the grand elder, old kai, etc.)

And then Goten and Trunks, both super saiyan by the age of 7. Power came EASY to them. It was as natural as breathing. Goku, Vegeta, and even Gohan all struggled to reach super saiyan. It took a toll. But Trunks and Goten take that power from literal legend and make it a game.

No one has ever had to work as hard as Goku to achieve strength. And you can argue with me on this all day long if you want to. He didnt have hidden powers. There were no hidden reserves, no one to unlock his innate abilities. When he was a child, his unnatural strength compared to human made him special. But for a saiyan, goku was one of the lowest of their race.

Every bit of strength, every morsel of power in gokus body, was built through training. He didnt unlock hidden potentials, HE CREATED them. Its why Goku is the mortal who figures out how to unlock ultra instinct. Because he almost never won a battle purely based off a sheer power, no. Goku had to be smart, needed to be clever. He was forced to hone technique just as much as power, was taught by all his masters the importance of harnessing his mind as well as his body. He grew up meditating, sensing energy, learning not to rely on his eyes, but all his senses. He was training to filter out his own extra unnecessary movements all the way back when he first met Korin and then later again with Kami.

Goku lost fights a lot. All the time. But everytime he lost, he learned. Because he was forced too. Because when Goku lost, there was no backup. He was it. And so he would HAVE to come back stronger, have to find the way to win. Or everyone would be dead.

Maybe its just me but i just think theres something incredibly special about a saiyan labeled as "weak," a saiyan no one bothered to pay any mind to being the first to become legend. He avenged their entire race. That little boy with a tail, born with a power level of 2, became the strongest of them all.

[allykakamatsu]

Twisted Wonderland DnD

Title says it all, basically here's what I think the NRC boys classes and species would be in Dnd

Notes:

This is me trying to adapt their powers not what they would pick, for example if I was going on what they'd pick Epel with be a goliath barbarian

Everyone's going to have a level cap of 15, with the exceptions of Leona, Malleus and Lilia cause they're noticeably older than everyone else so I felt fair giving them a few more levels due to more experienced.

I'm sticking to cannon species if I can, but I will be mixing it up in the cases where either A, there isn't a good substitute or B, I think it would be funny.

Just cause I like to I tried to give everyone a multi-class. Also this is being done with base 5e rules so none of the new 2024 stuff.

Obviously this is just for fun idc about being optimal here.

And with that House Keeping done, let's go!

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

Riddle: Human, 3 Zealot Barbarian 12 Abjuration wizard

A caster with barbarian levels, well if there was ever a way to prove this was just for fun this would be it- Jokes aside the subclass doesn't matter too much here, I just had to squeak some barb levels in here cause of Riddle being a very angry boi plus him somehow having the strength to throw Floyd across the room during their orientation. The wizard levels are more straightforward, he's a smart boi and abjuration is where all the 'no magic allowed' spells are so yeah.

Ace: Human, 8 Arcane Trickster Rogue 7 Glamour Bards

Unlike everyone else sans Ortho, I didn't really have any unique magic stuff to use as a baseline for Ace, however one of his talents is sleight of hand tricks so I figured rogue would be a good fit, and Arcane Trickster with it's invisible mage hand in particular would be pretty fitting. As for bard, that one's mainly to show that he's a show off and Glamour is the one I always kinda see as the most flashy. Plus, look me in the eye and tell me Ace wouldn't be a Vicious Mockery spammer.

Deuce: Human, 5 Champion Fighter 10 Redemption Paladin

Probably one of the easiest ones for me to figure out tbh. Some flavour of fighter for his delinquent days and him getting into a lot of fights then (I went champion cause of crits but tbh any could work), and then redemption paladin cause he's trying his god damn hardest to be a good boi now, not much more to it.

Trey: Human, 8 Transmutation Wizard 7 Shepard Druid

And in contrast to Deuce being one of the easiest to figure out, Trey might just be tied for the hardest because I did not know where to begin here. Eventually I went transmutation wizard cause all of it's spells are about changing something which fits with his UM, and then Druid due to the nature and healing spells combo being a decent fit for his cooking and his big brother instincts. Again, this is the one I'm least sure on so if you have any other ideas please tell me.

Cater: Half Elf, 10 Lore Bard 5 Illusion Wizard

That moment when I have to justify the species more than the class-. Tldr, some writers, namely @ladyazurith , have sold me on the concept of half fae Cater so I wanted to throw that in, and since their isn't a half fairy race half elf will have to do. Meanwhile the class was really easy, Illusion wizard cause while there's no spell that quite replicates 'Split Card' their collection comes close, and lore bard cause Cater as a bard just feels right, though I'm open to thoughts on the subclass.

(rest underneath cut). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leona: Tabaxi, 5 Battle Master Fighter, 11 Storm Sorcerer

I love my lazy cat man, in general but also here cause he's easy to figure out. Any fighter subclass would've worked, I just went battle master cause some of the manoeuvres like tripping felt like things Leona would do in a fight, and the Sorcerer levels were mainly cause I wanted to get him disintegrate which was the closest spell I could find to King's Roar, I just went storm cause none of the other sorcerer origins seemed like the best fit

Ruggie: Tabaxi, 12 Thief Rogue 3 Enchantment Wizard:

Another simple enough one. Given his upbringing thief rogue just made way to much sense, and as for enchantment wizard well, that's the school of magic Hideous Laughter and it's stronger Tasha version belong to and that's such a good fit for 'Laugh for Me' it's not even funny.

Jack: Shifter, 10 Moon Druid 5 Cavalier Fighter

Thank you Savannahclaw for being simple- Jokes aside, Moon Druid is the class all about better wildshape, the ability that lets you turn into animals so it's perfect for 'Unleash the Beast', and again the subclass didn't matter too much for the fighter I just wanted it for more melee strength (+Jack wanting to copy Leona) and I went cavalier cause I thought it would be funny if he got the bonuses when he was the mount- Also went shifter cause there's no werewolf race and I had to improvise

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

Azul: Simic Hybrid, 10 Fathomless Warlock 5 Whispers Bard

And in complete contrast to the last dorm the Octotrio were collectively a pain to figure out. Eventually I did settle on this though. There's no octopus race so I went Simic Hybrid purely because it can have all kinds of aquatic limbs including octopus tentacles so 'close enough' and Whispers is the spy bard so all the public charms plus a lot of sneakiness. As for warlock, look, I know realistically Azul would more likely be a patron than someone making a devil deal given how he is, but I couldn't resist plus nothing's stopping him from making deals of his own to take down his boss-

Jade: Triton, 10 Spores Druid 5 Whispers Bard

Before anyone makes the joke yes the twins being a species named Triton is ironic but again I didn't have the best options here. That aside, the class here was easy enough, the bard levels were mainly for fast friends and zone of truth which combined make a pretty good representation of 'Shock the Heart' and I went Whispers for the same reason as Azul. As for the druid levels well, Jade clearly loves nature given how he started the Mountain Lovers Club and all, wildshape is a good way for him to turn back into his true form, and well, Circle of Spores specifically is a creepy mushroom themed subclass which just fits way too well.

Floyd: Triton, 2 Land Druid 13 Hexblade Warlock

Despite how long this one took me to figure out this one's pretty simple. Druid for wildshape though unlike Jade Floyd isn't sticking around nearly as long, and Hexblade cause well, I wasn't actively writing down spell lists but I was keeping them in mind and out of all the classes that had the spells I wanted for him (shield and counterspell to try recreate 'Bind the Heart') warlock was the only one that gave any kind of melee game, plus idk Floyd does seem like the type to find a cursed sword and keep it as a pet. Also,I'm not going into abilities but he also absolutely gets the grappler feat cause boy has gotta squeeze.

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

Kalim: High Elf, 12 Divine Soul Sorcerer 3 Creation Bard

After the fishies gave me a lot of trouble we're back to simple thank god. Kalim does scream sorcerer to me due to the 'being born with more magic without having to work as hard for it' thing (I mean this with love I love my sunshine boy) and I went with Divine Soul to kinda reference Kalim being one of only three students at NRC to use light magic plus given all the assassination attempts the various healing spells it comes with probably come in handy (also sorcerer's in general are good with con saves which is what you need to beat poison). The bard levels are pretty much just cause he likes performing and making people smile, subclass doesn't matter too much, and lastly high elves are like the typical high magic rich people race which I think is a good fit.

Jamil: Yuan-ti, 4 Assassin Rogue 11 Enchantment Wizard

Time for my babygirl everyone- My bias aside this one was fun and thankfully pretty simple. I went with Yuan-ti cause that's the snake race and I couldn't help myself (also it has advantage on poison saves so extra fitting), Assassin Rogue cause rogue is generally a good class for getting through social interactions, notably with deception which is fitting, plus I have a sinking feeling Jamil at least knows how to kill if not has already done so. And finally, enchantment wizard cause that's where all the mind control spells are, notably level 11 is when you get mass suggestion which is basically what Jamil did at the end of book 4.

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Vil: Human, 10 Alchemist Artificer 5 Glamour Bard

I know I could've been more creative with the species choice here but Vil was one of the first I worked on and I wasn't going full hog wild yet- That aside, this one was surprisingly simple, Vil is the best potion maker out of the dorm specifically dedicated to that so the subclass that's all about making potions was just way too fitting, and glamour bard because Vil is absolutely a bard and I tend to associate this one with being the most bright and showy which is a public image I think Vil would like.

Rook: Wood Elf, 12 Fey Wanderer Ranger 3 Eloquence Bard

A rare case where I knew the class right away but the subclasses were hard to nail down. I know hunter ranger seems like the obvious one but tbh I'm not crazy on it and the 2014 version especially is kinda boring so I looked at the others and I think Fey Wanderer fits Rook a bit better cause of his love of beauty and all Fey being pretty in their own weird little way, plus it's more light themed and since he's one of the light magic students I wanted to lean into that. Meanwhile I think the bard stuff he picked up from Vil and I went eloquence cause that one's all about the fancy words which Rook is full of. As for the species, I have no deeper reason other than Wood Elf feeling right admittedly-

Epel: Halfling, 3 Wild Magic Barbarian 12 Swords Bard

Sorry Epel, I love you but in my mind you're a tiny boy holding a comically large axe- As for why I didn't push that gag further, well that's mainly cause I wanted to replicate UM when I can, and for Epel the closest I could get with my level cap+multiclass rules was Wall of Force so he had to go caster, and since I realised the rest of Pomfiore were at least part bard I decided Epel can join in on the 'fun'. Though I did do him the mercy of picking College of Swords cause Vil can force this angry boi to play music and charm people but he's gonna do it in the most violent way possible-

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

Idia: Fire Genasi, 10 Battlesmith Artificer 5 Shadow Sorcerer

This was easier than I was expecting ngl. Tldr, Fire Genasi was the closest I could get to... whatever is going on with his biology, Artificer is the resident builder class so it's a good fit and battlesmith in particular is all about making weapons which is kind of what Idia did with Ortho, and Shadow Sorcerer cause his weird blood basically mandated some sorcerer levels and shadow is all about death which fits Idia's deal pretty well.

Ortho: Warforged, 8 PSI Fighter 7 Shadow Sorcerer:

And in complete contrast to his brother, Ortho is probably tied with Trey for the character I had the hardest time with but hopefully this'll do. Warforged is the resident robot race so that was a shoe in, I just kinda assume Idia used some of his magic to create Ortho hence the sorcerer levels plus spells like magic missile is the closest I can get to his laser beams, and fighter cause it's the generically good combat class, again subclass is debatable. I tried but I have no idea what I was doing for this one tbh-

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

Malleus: Fairy, 12 Draconic Sorcerer 5 Dreams Druid

Okay, I know Dragonborn is the obvious species here but man is literally the prince of the Fae and there's plenty of spells to transform into dragons so screw it Malleus is a fairy. Other than that it's pretty straight forward, Draconic Sorcerer cause no duh, and Dreams Druid cause A, Fae prince aka tied to nature and B, after book 7 I don't think I need to explain why Malleus having a sleep themes class is fitting.

Silver: Human, 13 Twilight Cleric 2 Dreams Druid

Okay, hear me out with the class here, namely cleric cause I don't think I have to explain Dreams Druid here either. Tldr, I wanted Silver to have plane shift cause that was the closest thing I could find to his UM. Unfortunately it's a high level spell so I can't properly fit in a martial class while keeping to my level limit. Fortunately cleric is one of the classes that has Plane Shift and it's good with melee weapons as well as armour, plus it's all about holy aka light magic so it's honestly kind of perfect. Also I went Twilight Domain cause Lilia found him at night and it's a nice way of showing how despite where he was from Silver true place is with the Fae rather than his birth family.

Lilia: Dhampir, 5 Eldritch Knight Fighter 15 Bladesinger Wizard

Okay I know I should've made Lilia a fairy along with Malleus but we all joke that Lilia's a vampire so when I remembered Dhampir was an option I couldn't resist. That aside everything else is fairly simple, a melee fighter with spell access in Eldritch Knight and a caster that prefers to fight at melee in Bladesinger, perfect for a former war general, and this way most of his actual spells can go to fun utility options, as well as more... questionable spells like ones to 'help' with his cooking.

Sebek: Lizardfolk, 10 Ancients Paladin 5 Storm Sorcerer

Again, there isn't a half fairy option so I had to get creative, but instead of just going half elf again I decided to do a silly and lean into the crocodile jokes. As for the classes, Storm Sorcery was mainly for the lightning spell access, and paladin was just too good of a fit for Sebek. I was tempted to go Crown due to his loyalty to Malleus but I decided on Ancients due to his pride in his Fae side but this one is pretty debatable. Though a bonus for paladins in general is Aura of Protection which provides allies advantage against fear.... the situation was more despair instead of fear but it still works pretty well for a certain moment in book 7

If you made it this far, thank you for indulging my bullshit

[coricomile]

I think my biggest objection to the idea that Joke gets no focus on his trauma or that the show downplays it vs Jack or others in the debtor sphere is that he does. He gets slapped in the face over and over again, but keeps coming back to help because that's all he knows and expects. Joke's reaction to anything going wrong is to swallow it and say it tastes good. Please, sir, may I have another?

It is a central part of his character. 

Jack, Save, Tattoo, Hoy, and even Aran have a fallback. They know they have people that will love and support them even through the shittiest things they do. Tattoo is the catalyst for everything that has gone sideways. He is the direct cause of everything that has gone wrong from the initial heist. But Joke forgives him and swallows the responsibility to fix everything at his own cost, because that is how he handles failure. 

Jack knows Joke didn't do well in school. He knows that some ten-fifteen years ago he got a hand me down workbook with errors and tear stains that ended up being from Joke, but that was from a child. He doesn't understand how deep that academic failure has impacted Joke's core idea of being "stupid". He sees Joke the way Joke sees him- talented and smart. Joke's smartness doesn't come from books like Jack's does. It comes from observation and social interactions. 

And I don't think the show was playing that moment as a- hah- joke. His panic attack is shown building and building until it's broken by his father's surprise entrance. Jack wanted Joke to realize how smart he is, because he knows Joke has so much wisdom and wanted him to have that moment. But wisdom and intelligence are different stats for a reason. It's part of Jack and Joke's fundamental differences. 

Jack throws himself on the spike because he knows someone will pull him off eventually. He is needed. His community relies on him in a heavy, heavy way. Joke throws himself on just hoping his body will be a decent shield until someone better comes along because he can't fathom anyone needing him in that way. Joke has always seen himself as the sidekick or a background character, and when the show is in his POV it reacts that way with him. 

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo has been getting lots of kudos for how it portrays the ways Dohoe and Juyeong- and Hyeonho, to a lesser extent- handle the trauma that was thrust onto them in different ways based on who they are as people. And it is a great portrayal. But I also hate that Dohoe's trauma steamrolls over both Hyeonho and Juyeong and that they both spend the back half of the show literally and figuratively bowing and pleading to him because they were in the wrong, because their trauma turned into trying to make amends to a man that didn't want them. I was not rooting for him at all, even understanding his viewpoint. 

Part of it is just individual experience. A lot of these themes hit super close to home, and we see ourselves in specific characters. It hurts seeing the character we identify with getting stomped on, and it is easy to bypass the other one getting kicked.

[total-drama-brainrot]

Island Assistant Noah AU, where Noah got himself eliminated on purpose, but Chris + Chef somehow figure it out... The day after Noah's elimination, everyone is surprised to see that Noah's back... Chris reveals that inside the contestants' contracts: "Anyone who gets eliminated on purpose, will become Chris Mcclean's Assistant."... And Noah has to be decent at his job, or he won't get paid... Noah stays Chris' Assistant all throughout Island, Action and World Tour! 🌎 (I'm sorry if I'm asking this twice; I don't remember asking this!)

OKAY!! SO!!

You did already ask me this and I did have an answer in the works to the original ask, but because Tumblr's mobile app is my number one enemy, I accidentally posted it. So, really, it's super fortunate that you asked this twice!

But! Because I'm a smart cookie, I took some screenshots of what I had typed out in the original post, so I can just re-type it out here and carry on! (I'd post just the screenshots, but they're full of typos because I'm just awful at typing on a phone.)

So, here's my answer:

Yes!! Give me a Noah who thought he was being so sneaky and cunning by intentionally getting himself eliminated, only for it to backfire horrendously!

The producers would've known that the contestants were being sent to Camp Wawanakwa instead of the resort their contract heavily implied they'd be going to, so they would absolutely anticipate at least one of them trying to pull a stunt like Getting Themselves Eliminated Intentionally- either as an act of defiance against the trickery (of Camp Wawanakwa not being what was advertised) or just to be spiteful.

Noah being the one to do so is just happenstance.

(It was more so expected from the likes of Duncan or Izzy, who are outwardly anti-authoritarian and not afraid to confront perceived injustices.)

If I may, I'd suggest having the contract outline that whoever intentionally gets themself eliminated has to work as a base-level intern, and that their "pay" is them working off whatever expenses the show invested into them as a competitor (travel costs, lodging, food, ect.). So Noah ends up stuck in the role of an unpaid intern for however long it takes him to "earn his keep" so to speak. But it's a Sisyphean task, since his debt is ever growing- he's forced to stay at Playa des Losers as an intern, and his daily cost of living is just added to the expenses he needs to work off.

At first, he'd be outright resistant to doing any of his tasks as an intern, because why should he? He didn't ask for the job, he didn't (knowingly) sign up for it either, and it's not like he's gonna be paid for his work. That is, until the producers threaten to pass his debt off to the rest of his family to "pick up his slack"; Noah's not heartless, and he cares a lot about his family, so he concedes to actually doing the work expected of him to save the rest of his brood from having to compensate for his short-sightedness.

(Let's say this turn of event takes about a week, meaning that from the time of his own elimination to the threat to his family's financial wellbeing, only Justin and Katie have been eliminated. Since, at least during Island, it's established that a challenge and subsequent elimination ceremony happens every three days.)

Now, the thing about lazy people- of which Noah undoubtedly is- is that they're downright innovative when it comes to figuring out shortcuts for any type of labour. Now that he's invested in doing his job, Noah uses that big brain of his to quickly figure out how to get all of his allotted tasks for the day completed to near-perfection, in a manner that's both efficient and easy. It gets to the point where he's completing a full day's work in an hour, spending the rest of the day doing what he loves; nothing. The other interns are just as annoyed as they are impressed.

Word quickly gets back to Chris about his miracle intern. But he's either too preoccupied to actually listen to who it is, or no one thinks to explain that his most productive labourer is the ex-competitor he'd contractually conned into the position.

Needless to say, Chris' interest is piqued.

The host issues a request to have the mystery intern shipped out to the island so they can work on the "important stuff" instead of doing menial tasks on the Playa, and is met with staunch refusal on their part. Which is odd, at least to Chris, since the interns send to be far too scared shitless of him (or, more notably, Chef) to ever outright deny a request like that.

It makes more sense when Noah's literally dragged kicking and screaming back to the island. Of course the only person ballsy enough to defy Chris' whims is the same contestant who got himself intentionally eliminated via deliberately pissing off his teammates. But he's back, now, so he might as well be put straight to work! No use in wasting labour, after all.

(Again, this probably happens over the course of a few days at most, since showbusiness is such a hectic and fast-paced line of work, so let's say that Tyler's the only new elimination in this timeframe.)

Again, Noah utilizes his higher-than-average smarts to figure out how to streamline his expected tasks because he's lazy, inadvertently proving himself as a Valuable Asset to both Chris and Chef since he's surprisingly good at what he does (even if what he does is very little by design). Chris is quick to offer Noah an ultimatum; he can either be promoted to being Chris' Personal Assistant, thus meeting the demands of his previous contract (and, of course, entering a new one under different pretences) and finally being paid for his work, or remain as an unpaid intern indefinitely and receive penalisation for his slacking off- since, despite the fact that he's gotten all of his work finished, he's still technically on the clock for the allotted work hours and should be acting as such instead of lazing about.

It's not really much of a choice. Noah reluctantly takes the promotion.

That's how he finds himself in the position we all know and love; Chris' Personal Assistant.

Because of his new promotion, he's expected to be at least within the vicinity of Chris at all (reasonable) times. The problem with that? Chris is hosting the show he got himself eliminated from in the most socially destructive way possible. Noah's now contractually forced to, at the very least, tiptoe around the prior teammates he knowingly and intentionally made hate him and dearly hope they don't notice him.

...Thus begins an AU's worth of shenanigans wherein Noah is desperately trying to fly under everyone's radar as an intern.

(I'd carry on into what he does during Action and World Tour, but this post is already fairly long, so maybe another time?)

[racefortheironthrone]

I just came across this bit of reddit dribble and was curious what your opinions were:

“Tywin doesn't think he's smarter than he is. I'm not just saying this because he is actually pretty smart, but because he doesn't overestimate his intelligence or it's ability to get him and his family out of trouble. So much of what he does in the series is defensive actions based on the assumption that his enemies know what they are doing and are smart enough to be threats.

You have to remember, he doesn't actually start anything. He sent the Mountain to raid in the Riverlands because Cat kidnapped Tyrion unprovoked. That actually gave him Casus Belli against the the Tully's at minimum, and the Starks once Jamie confronted Ned about it and Ned backed up Cat, and the Arryns once Lysa imprisoned Tyrion. Tywin tried to avoid open war by raiding instead, as a means to pressure Hoster Tully to influence his girls to let Tyrion go. It was an action that could be easily walked back if Tyrion was released, allowing everyone to move on. Everyone involved should have recognized that Tywin was within his rights to outright invade the Riverlands in response to the kidnapping, and his merely raiding was restraint meant to leave room for de-escalation. The problem was that Lysa was insane, Cat and Ned were morons being manipulated by Little finger, and Hoster was incapable due to illness. Tywin overestimated the intelligence of his opponents in this instance, by a lot. He also never underestimates the Tyrells, unlike everyone else, because he understands how cunning Olena is and how she runs the House. While everyone else assumes the Tyrells are jokes, Tywin understands that he has to keep them happy. He likely figured out that Olena was the mastermind behind Joffrey's death and chooses to scapegoat Tyrion to maintain the alliance.”

How does the line go, "every word you just said is wrong"?

Cat did not just kidnap Tyrion, she exercised her rights as a noblewoman to have him arrested - that's why Tyrion is put on trial at the Eyrie. The proper response to that is to use his family's position at court to win a trivially easy legal case and completely maneuver his political rivals out of royal office by exposing them as paranoid and lawless, not to send the word's most identifiable deniable asset to attack the Riverlands, making his enemies the injured party. Far from avoiding open war, Tywin got maneuvered by Hoster and Ned into violating the King's Peace and committing open treason by attacking the King's banner. If Robert hadn't conveniently dropped dead exactly when he does, Tywin would have been denounced and attainted as a rebel.

Likewise, Tywin was losing the war in the Riverlands when the opportunity for the Red Wedding dropped into his lap, and almost lost the Crownlands too if it hadn't been for Littlefinger's "just in time" arrival bailing him out.

[halliescomut]

Love Sea Ep 3 watch along

Okay, but that little reminder text is a perfect example of showing you care without saying you care. 🥹

Okay but sometimes Mame is unexpectedly very deep and very good with words.

P'Vi confuses me. I do like the blunt honesty her and Rak have though. That's important in friends.

Mook is so absolutely adorable. If Vi makes her cry I will figure out how to kick the ass of a fictional character.

So it seems their dad did worse than just leave them based on that convo between Rak and his sister. (I think I remember discussion of that from where ppl were discussing the novel on Twitter, but I did make the decision to not try and read the novel first.)

I kinda wanna know where all of Mut's button-up shirts are from. I really like them.

Rak being all depressing and Mut and ....shoot I forgot his name again... going diving.

Mut(Fort really) is just so cuddle shaped.

On iQiYi the OST lyrics overlap with the actual captions and it's annoying as fuck

This fucking nosey ass 🤣🤣

The difference in aesthetics for their clothes here is so wild. I will say though that I like that there's wardrobe repetition. That's not always common in TV, and it really fucks with the believability. I know it's more common in Thai BL, but that's mostly bc so many involve ppl that wear a uniform of some sort (looking at you University BLs).

Interesting...very interesting. I talked.... somewhere... About how the social power dynamics at play here were dangerous because they were going into this whole thing without being honest (with themselves or each other) and it was going to have fallout.

I don't know if I'm surprised Mut took so long, or if maybe I expected him to take Rak's verbal abuse a little longer.....

A beautiful scene. It's a lovely bit of physical acting how Rak sort of melts into Mut.

I do think it's so funny how Mut always says he's so simple (and in some ways he is) but people seem to take it to mean not smart or clever, and he's very obviously both. I can't tell if he truly sees himself that way or if it's an attempt to have people underestimate him....maybe it's both.

Well now I'm just depressed. Thanks a lot Rak. But seriously, I do appreciate the clarification of the family dynamics. I'm also a bit surprised Rak is opening up so soon to Mut about this. Idk if it's because it's at the front of his mind, or if Mut's kind of easy acceptance of everything makes it seem easy...idk.

Ruh-ro raggy .... Rak thinks this is gonna be a failed experiment because he truly doesn't think real love exists, but I fear he will be wrong (this is a romance after all).

I'm curious about Mut's motivations though. I believe he believes in love. I also think he wants Rak to, or maybe just for Rak to have some peace? Idk. He's surprisingly hard to read. As much as I think he likes Rak (both as a person and a sex partner) I don't think he's fallen in love with him at this point.

While I do love a fake dating storyline ... I'm still on the fence about P'Vi.

I feel like Fort had to carry Peat for a long time for this scene. I bet his arms were killing him. (Though we've seen the gym pics, I know he's been working out.)

That's so cute.

Oh yeah...slow mo pushing the hair back. Very Baywatch

Are we doing more beach sexy time?

I Guess Not. We're back at the keyboard.

You're gonna sit here and tell me that's not a goddamn puppy in human form??? LIES!!

He's goddamn adorable. I'd want one for myself if I wasn't Ace and had any idea what to do with one other than feed it and take it for walks.

Peat's got nice hands 🥵...send tweet.

That was such a sharp poke. OMG 🤣🤣

Okay but this is practically a still from the PaiSky fanfic I wrote. Linked here.

Rak likes cuddles. Cute little bean.

Palm ....that's his name. I was thinking Pond earlier, which is close. And now he's being nosey again.

Mut's face when Palm waved back🤣🤣🤣 Like bitch I ain't waving at you

I do think it's sweet how determined Palm is to be a good wingman though.

I do appreciate the love bite front and center. But what are our thoughts on whether it's makeup or a 'practical effect'?

"A dog in rut more like." "Well then his owners is as well." 🤣🤣

Mut's nervous to take Rak to his home. Sweet, but legit if Rak were to judge him for his home I would vote for kicking him to the curb, no matter how much I like him.

Ahhhhh.....so Ja is VI's costar...okay. God I forget how fucking tall he is. Mans practically a redwood.

Is this like Wedding Plan, but make it straight???

I know that bunny purse is entirely impractical for the person I am, but it's so cute.

It really is weird people would be claiming boob job when I think Vi is a B cup on a good day.

Very impressive just fully ignoring the sexuality question Vi.

Mook, babes....you gave in way too fast.

"I'm not bi." I know a lie by omission when I see one. That statement does not equal that you are straight.

You are a damn liar Rak. This little visit has nothing to do with inspiration. You want to be nosey and learn more about Mut.

I like the environmentalism aspect woven into the show. It's good.

As if I couldn't hate your dad more Mut. Calm down Satan.

So we know why Mut left. But really how can someone make their living from nature but not care enough about it??

Okay exhibitionist Rak.

Idk why but there's something about Rak straddling Mut that just....

Well.....we can tick off the Fort's nipple obsession of on the bingo board.

And we're returning favors. Very egalitarian.

Two condoms....well. You certainly had plenty of energy there didn't you....

There's a couple wrappers on the floor, but those do look unopened.

Also vaguely off topic: while the sheets are not the Slutty Geometry Sheets™️, I think my sister has the same kind.

Hmmm....now this is a juicy conversation. Rak being so intentionally honest here telling Mut to ask him to stay. He's afraid to take the leap, but he wants to.

As a side note....I cannot tell you how much I love them showing Fort's physical 'imperfections'. The kind of farmer's tan he has going on, you can see the stretch marks on his upper arms. He's an absolutely gorgeous man, but so often that stuff gets filtered out, or covered in makeup. I love seeing it. We need this more.

OMG I'm crying.

This is important though. Rak needs to know that his answer will have consequences.

That was the right answer. (Though the shabby hole comment about his house was a bit much. I'm hoping that's more a translation issue.)

I suspect the country mouse shall go to the city in next week's episode.....

Awwww Rak in Mut's tank top. Cute.

I really thought Rak was bare-assed for a second pulling a Pete, but no, he's in khaki pants.

So cute and sweet 🥹🥹🥹. Also, I love the bed net. Malaria is no joke.

So next week are we looking at just an NDA or is that contract for like a full Sugar Baby position??

Also end credits change-up again. Now MutRak are walking together....symbolic.

Well that's all for this watch along. I don't think I'll have 4k words to say about it tomorrow, but we shall see.

[killershrike]

ok guys here's a tiny sneak peek at a section in chapter 7 of dark suspension. just because languages are one of my autistic special interests lol I thought this might be fun to share to the fandom. I finally figured out how I imagine yautja to speak to one other, outside of human translation or you're reading two yautja converse in my fic. This is a COMPLETELY UNEDITED SECTION please do not think this is the final draft lol this is just the bare bones I thought would be neat to share

Han-e'sain's POV:

"Can I ask a question?" So-yin hums from his side, and the yautja rumbles in approval. He nods. "How did you get so good at English? No offense, I know you're smart. You just picked it up so fast-"

The warrior laughs, reaching out to rub her back in an easing way. "No offense, little one." Ghost assures her before continuing. "This device," He gestured to his gauntlet. "combined with my bio-mask allows me to trandlate any language to yautja. I can also search for specific things, translations, whatever I want." The woman looks astounded.

“While you slept and I could not sleep, I would study the ooman language." So-yin nods.

“You said it was kinda easy, right?” 

Ghost chuckles. “Yes. Now, no offense to you, little one, but there are species out there that do not even use words to communicate. Only facial expressions, gestures, sounds. Your ooman language is not so hard.” She considers the thought, looking intrigued and interested before getting herself back on tack, pretty green eyes focused back on Ghost.

“Too me, that hardest parts were identifying the correct region. And translating my language to you. It was.. very difficult. I probably sounded very stupid at first." The yautja even clicks, looking down at ground in embarrassment.

So-yin reachs out to teasingly tug a long dreadlock, smiling. “No, you didn't. You sounded better than a lot of other humans ive spoken to.” She giggles. “What was so hard about the translation?”

Ghost had to think for a long moment, trying to find the right words that weren't overly complicated for his sweet human. “The structure of your language versus ours. Very few ooman languages operate like yautja. We have an.. usual word order if i attempted to directly translate from my language, without added context or interpretation.” The woman looks even more curious now, and the yautja rumbles with humor as they walk.

“How's the structure different? I'm no writer or anything, I know plants more than I know language. But I'm curious.” A soft hand reaches out to grab onto his, managing to grip only three thick fingers in her small human hand.

Her lover rumbles on, "Yautja place the object of a sentence first. Then the verb, then the subject.” When So-yin tilts her head in confusion, Han-e’sain chatters in amusement. Her scrunched up button nose with a thick gold ring hanging from it was just too adorable.

Leaning down to pluck a vibrant pink and white striped flower, he holds it out to her. So-yin takes it, closing her eyes and inahling deeply before tucking it behind her ear, meeting Ghost's gaze again.

“Flower to her gave I.” He rumbles. “You would say something like, I gave the flower to her." Ghost clicks, with a little annoyance. "In my head, I kept switching the words around. It took me time to sound out the correct ooman sentence, in my mind."

So-yin understands, giggling now. Raising his hand and pressing a warm, soft kiss to it, she murmurs. "Love to him gave I?" The look of unsurity makes the yautja burst into deep, loving laughter.

"Very good, little one. You will speak yautja in no time." The rumble ends with a deep kiss.

-------

Anyways, I entirely based the structure off of Klingon! Object first, then the verb, then the subject.

So if you wanted to say something like "I gave him a book." It would translate to "Book to him gave I."

As we place the object (book), before the verb (gave), and then the subject (I.) Hopefully that makes sense and is interesting for any of my other language nerds lmao I know it's not that deep or complex or cool but I just thought it was Kinda Neat

[wannabemasterofwindintraining]

You can't just leave me like that😭 I need to know razor's lore PLEASE

Ugh fiiiine since you're asking i GUESS i will talk about the oc lore 🙄🙄🙄 (silly)

So we all know the hit show lego nexo knights if you don't honestly skill issue have you been living under a rock or something lololol imagine

Well in nexo knights there's a knights school shocker i know a school of knights?? What a novel idea

It the start of the extensive oc plot that me n a few friends have been making up as we go razor n their friends are in the knights academy

However plot twist razor is a actually a MONSTER!!! can you believe that a monster in the killing monsters 101 place that's crazy

Since razor is a basilisk they can disguise themself so no one can tell they're a monster well no one but the besties

Their friendgroup are @/merloksdigitaltoes ocs cherry🐍 sage🐦 n trace🐐 and @/stellarwaffles oc talya☀️ + a surprise addition that will join later🦈 wink wink we call them the chimera pride :)

Anyways academy arc doesn't really have much plot it's just the characters getting introduced to each other n hanging out

Sage adopted trace as his friend while cherry adopted razor meanwhile cherry n trace were beefing but dw they make up all 4 of them are friends now yippee 👍talya joins the academy later in the years n joins the friendgroup cause gaydar for monsters

Apocalypse arc is based on the sadly cancelled s5 where the gang are basically trying to not die

Talya gets infected big L just don't get infected loser trace dies but then comes back then dies again skill issue n the other three are just going thru it™️

At the end of the arc razor graduates but not the rest of the friendgroup cause um have you considered being older?? Idiots 🙄

Fish arc is the MAIN main arc we think about that lore needs like 10 pages on it's own

This takes place like a year or 2 after the last arc when the group all graduated a lot of ppl are going missing in the peaceful seaside town of forgetavile n as their first group mission the gang are tasked w figuring out what's going on n fix the issue

Turns out fish ppl have been kidnapping the ppl of forgetavile 😱😱 the knights try to do something but thise fishes are smart dealing with them is no easy and oh no this glowy mean fish lady put a curse on cherry wtf

So they're all staying at forgetavile trying to stop more ppl from going missing until they deal with the fish pp also they find this weird fish twink washed up on shore? He's talking a lot of nonsense about a place called totallynotatlantis and this loser named agniss? Idk he looks gay

Maybe some day I'll post all the fish arc drawings i never posted it'll take days to post all of them lol

Last arc in the timeline is cayne/mimic arc this one involves another grouo of ocs

So remember how razor is a basilisk? Ok hear me out what if there was another basilisk n HEAR ME OUT!! What if he was EVIL

This evil basilisk is named cayne explaining the name of the arc n he was actually annoying the other oc group before the gang got intangled with the plot

The other group minus one are still in the academy so when they found this loser trying to commit identity fraud they asked the older moe experienced group to help (they will later regret this decision)

We don't have a clear story w this one it's just cayne going around committing identity fraud all over the room also sage n that fish twink are missing from that arc i bet they're kissing i hate those homosexuals

I gotta stop talking now the ops are onto me i got too mentally ill

[scribble-dribble-writes]

hi!! could i request smthn w miguel o’hara based on vampire by olivia rodrigo?? 🙇‍♀️ it can be gn or fem

Interesting, very interesting

*rubs hands together to make the most tear jerking piece ever*

---

Dream crusher

Word count: 1000

Warnings: angst, lot of angst, antihero x assassin reader trope 😏😌🤭

---

The argument had gotten to its peak, as he stepped to reach for you, to console you but you took a step back.

The last six months had been tumultuous. Filled every high and every low, stuck in a loop of wanting his affection and trying to convict him for his crimes because that was why you were here. To eradicate him, to end him. And here he was with those dark brown eyes that turned into honey, only for you. And now you were at a crossroads.

But you put out your reasoning, that if you could somehow flip this scenario onto him, if you could get him to break then what you had to do would become easy, to stick the dagger and vanish into the multiverse.

“How’s the castle built off people you pretend to care about?”, you asked him. Gesturing to his lab and the screens that were lit behind him.

“Look at you, cool guy, you got it.”, you huffed to see his emotions flicker across his face even though he did his best to remain placid.

“Six months of torture you sold as some forbidden paradise.”, you let the remark out and it was taking effect. It was breaking him down.

“Why are you doing this? Don’t self sabotage.”, he held himself together. And it cut you deeper because he had caught on to exactly what you were doing.

“I loved you, truly. Todavía te amo.”, his fingers fidgeted for you and it amazed at how much power you held.

“You gotta laugh at the stupidity.”, you huffed as you wrapped your arms around yourself.

“How couldn’t you see why I was here, Miguel?”, you furrowed you brows but the anger with which you had arrived vanished. Now, the love you had for him was holding you back getting you to say words you didn't entirely mean.

“Did you think you could live here with such comfort around you? when I have to mourn my world, the one you destroyed.”, you marched towards him and with every step you took, he began to shrink. Till his shoulders were arched, his face downcast.

“I’ve made some real big mistakes, sure.”, you continued with your rampage.

“But you make the worst one look fine.”, you lashed out and he stood there, taking it.

He was letting you pummel him, and you were going ahead with full force as the anger surged but along with it was a voice begging for him to do something. To fight back, to react, because seeing him like this was breaking you down simultaneously.

But you had to do this. For revenge. For all the people who had lost their home. But as you paused, you heard him speak.

“Everyone I talked to, told me you were bad news.”, he said and it made you freeze.

“You called them crazy, Ah dios, I hate the way I called them crazy too.”, his eyes found yours and all your plans crumbled, cause tears were streaking down his cheek.

“How did you lie without flinching?”, he asked his eyes roaming across all the places he had kissed on your face, as he was hurting from not seeing the signs, for loving you without doubt.

“Qué fascinante, paralyzing tragic little thrill.”, he held his gaze, it softened as he said it and with that he looked away.

“Can’t figure out just how you do it.”, he mumbled as he looked defeated.

You mustered your courage. You had a cause. You were doing this for justice. You wanted to touch his cheek.

Justice.

You wanted to turn his face towards you.

Justice.

You clenched your fist as you resisted.

“I should have known it was strange.”, you said it but your words were beginning to lack their prior punch. Now they seeped with feeling.

“You only come out at night.”, you didn’t have the strength you thought you did.

“I used to think I was smart.”, you zoned out, all your strategies and plans now failed.

“But you made me look so naïve.”, because his love had transformed you. He had shown you his true self and the wounds he harboured from what had happened.

And as you stood there in the silence, your eyes flitting to his lips reminding you of all the nights he had whispered sweet nothings or the soft longing kisses he gave you, especially the one time he was so happy to have you with him that it had caused his fangs to nip the edge of your lips by accident. But it was you who had sunk your fangs of vengeance into him now and he was bleeding all over.

“You said it was true love.”, he turned to you but his eyes now red, filled with hurt and sorrow.

“but wouldn’t that be hard?”, he laughed cynically.

“You can’t love anyone, because that would mean you had a heart.”, he pushed away from the desk, slowly resuming to stand to his full height to look down on you.

But it wasn’t true what he said, you held your head high to face off against him but in truth you were holding back your tears. The damage you wanted to do to him was useless and somehow with every word he said with his broken heart, it wounded you much more deeply. Because you loved him and you couldn't uphold your cause.

“I have made some big mistakes.”, he reached for you slowly and this time you couldn’t move away. So you stayed, to feel his finger trace your cheek.

“But you made the worst one look fine.”, he said with a sad smile. Because the worst thing you had ever done was what you did now. You broke his already shattered heart.

“The way you sold me for parts and bled me dry of all my feeling for you.”, he didn’t let you go and your body craved his warmth. This plan of yours had failed and now you dealt with it’s torturous aftermath. He was never going to let you get close again.

He leaned down, almost as if he was going to kiss you but stopped as his lips hovered over yours.

“I was going to ask you to marry me.”, he whispered and it sent a chill down your spine.

Instead he clicked his tongue as though he had been met with misfortune.

“Dream crusher.”, he said with a weight and it broke your heart. With that he moved away, taking with him all the love you had only ever dreamed of.

[suzieburself]

Mike and El’s Opposing arcs in Season 3 and how They Will Lead to the Downfall of Mileven

This will mostly cover season 3, but I’m going to briefly go through the first 2 seasons as well for a bit of context to the overall analysis

Season 1

The milder version of the born sexy yesterday trope. A lot of smart  people have already analyzed this but it’s basically when the nerdy male protagonist that’s easy to project onto gets the superpowered woman who knows nothing about the world. The Duffers faced some backlash for this and said they were subverting the genre by giving El some independence. 

Season 2

Separates the two to give El a new arc not centered around Mike at all while Mike is centered around both her and Will. At the end, they still have had pretty much zero real conversation but they do share a kiss. 

With these two seasons in mind, it seems obvious to the GA that they are in love, but in reality, there is a lot to question in their relationship. Is it really love if El is the first girl that’s ever shown interest in Mike? Is it love if Mike is the first person her age to ever show her any kindness? Is it love if they’ve never had an emotional talk? Is it love or is it still just the born sexy yesterday trope?

Queue season 3 answering these questions…

This is where I can see people disagreeing, but here is what I believe to be El’s arc first throughout season 3, how she gets her independence to throw off the trope and proves her genuine love for Mike. 

Eleven

The season starts off with the Mileven makeout where they playfully disagree and then Mike has to leave, already opening up the illusion that this season is going to be full of Mileven. Then what happens? They break up the next episode and stay broken up for pretty much the whole season. The breakup opens up for the Max and El friendship and for El to become her own person away from Mike.

With Max’s advice, she dumps Mike, not because she doesn’t want to be with him, but because there is a clear lack of communication in their relationship. And although El seems generally happy broken up with Mike and hanging out with Max, Max does have to reassure her that Mike will come crawling back to her. 

The most interesting El line from the season is “How do I know what I like?” 

This holds a lot of significance in terms of Mileven because again, El is very new to the society and all relationships. She’s still figuring herself out and I think this line perfectly captures her arc this season of figuring out what she likes or in this case, who?

Through the season, we see her warming back up to Mike during the sauna test, at the hospital, and then when she overhears him at the cabin. Max gives her a lot of advice, but ultimately, no one tells her whether or not she should get back with Mike. That is her decision that she comes to at the end of the show. 

So, where does El’s arc wrap up?

Now she has a female friend which is one of her strongest platonic relationships, she has a father, and she gets to act more like a normal teenage girl and discover what she loves, in other words, she’s starting to fully figure herself out. She’s now a more fleshed out character that doesn’t fall into the born sexy yesterday trope with complicated relationships and real interests. So that leaves the ultimate question… Where does Mike fall into all this?

And that leads us to the closing of the season. This is where El decides that she does know what she likes and even with everything else in her life, even with her independence, she still wants to be in a relationship with Mike. 

Whether you ship Mileven or not, the break up was absolutely necessary for El’s narrative, allowing her feelings to finally be truly confirmed and real. “I love you, too,” she says and this is absolutely genuine, at least based on the rest of her arc. 

So if El’s romantic love of Mike is genuine, then it must be true for Mike as well, right? Obviously, he wants to get back with El just as much as she does with him. Obviously, they are the main couple and so what if they have a small fight? Clearly Mike and El would have similar arcs since they are soulmates and meant to be, right? Right????

Mike

It’s all in the opposing narratives of Mike and El in this season (and honestly the other seasons as well) which is laid out for us in the first scene where they want different things (Mike singing and El telling him to stop). Sure it could be not that deep, but let's look at the two characters narratively speaking. 

Mike is in the perfect nuclear family, he has interests, personality, and good friends. Sure he’s not popular, but like he says in season 4, what if he doesn’t want to be? The only thing he’s missing? A girlfriend, obviously. We all know in order for someone’s life to be complete, they need a romantic interest. 

Original pitch for Mike’s character for the Montauk Project (now Stranger Things)- “Mike Wheeler is twelve. He is a cute kid, but a birthmark on his left cheek leads to much bullying and near-crippling insecurity. He has never had a first kiss, much less a girlfriend. He escapes his insecurities through reading fantasy novels, spending time with his three best friends (Lucas, Dustin, and Will), and retreating into his own vivid imagination. The Dungeon Master of his Dungeons and Dragons group, he writes sprawling adventures with fantastical monsters. When he finds himself on a real adventure, facing real monsters, he will discover a courage he didn't know he had. By the end, he will even kiss a girl.” (Taken from Stranger Things Wiki) 

His arc surrounds a lot of things, but kissing and being with a girl to fight his insecurity is very obviously one of them. 

If we look at Eleven, her arc isn’t about romance at all. Her arc is about discovering the world and finding friends and family who love her, things Mike already has. This comes to fruition at the end of season 3 where she gets everything, friends, family, and romance. When El is without Mike, she actually grows her other relationships such as with Hopper in Season 2 and Max in Season 3 (one could even argue Will in season 4). 

The opposite ends up being true for Mike when he’s with El. Season 3 is the first time we actually get to see them act as a real couple (excluding the Snow Ball) and it is also the first time we see a rift in the party, specifically caused by Mike.  Mike and El are the first ones to leave Dustin and the others in the first episode, he’s the one late to the movies, prioritizing El who he sees every day, over his friends. Sure Lucas is also responsible for making fun of Will’s campaign but that’s not who Will calls out…

“You’re ruining our party!” 

“You’re destroying everything and for what? So you can swap spit with some stupid girl?” 

Everyone is putting the blame on Mike and his prioritization of El over everyone else. So while El is making friends, Mike is losing them. 

Another difference between the two is how they receive relationship advice. This is both of their first relationships so obviously it’s normal to go for advice, but the key is when. Max gives El advice on breaking up with Mike, sure, but she follows her heart in terms of getting back together with him.

In the hospital scene, this is the first time after their break up that they are interacting alone. This only ever happened because Lucas pushed Mike to talk to her, to give her the olive branch. Without him, Mike would have continued to do nothing and let them be broken up.

Through all of this, we still don’t quite have a grasp on Mike’s real feelings. Sure we know he thinks getting back with Eleven would be “logical”, but does he love her?  Well, just like El, Mike does get a moment similar to El’s love confession at the end of the season that is supposed to prove Mike’s true feelings, but just like everything else, it is pretty much the opposite of El’s.

“I love her and I can’t lose her again!”  This is loud, this is panicked, this is public, and this wasn’t even supposed to be something Eleven heard. 

Compared to El’s “I love you, too,” which was quiet, something she took time considering saying, during an intimate moment, and something that was only supposed to be for Mike’s ears. 

Hm, I wonder which one was more genuine?

And if you think just saying he loves El is enough, well look at season 4. Why would they reuse the plot of Mike not being able to say he loves El if it’s so obvious he does love her and already said it? Just the fact that that was an actual plot line proves this one wasn’t enough to prove Mike’s real feelings. 

So still, Mike’s true feelings in his relationship with El are hidden from us. 

And this brings me to the other differences in Mike and El’s actions at the very end of the season when the Byers move. 

All of the romance in this goodbye is initiated by El. Mike’s being friendly, sure, but he doesn’t make any romantic moves on her. El even tries to flirt with him and he is so friendly with her, it becomes incredibly awkward. 

And as El fulfills her arc and initiates a kiss with Mike, saying how she loves him, and making it her own decision, what does Mike do? 

Absolutely nothing. He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t kiss her back. He doesn’t even close his eyes. 

Thus ends El’s arc. 

And thus opens Mike. 

Thus answers the question of El loving Mike with a “yes”.

And answering the question of Mike loving El with an “I think so?” at best, a “no” at worst, but more likely than not, and “I’m not really sure yet”. 

I’m not going to go into detail surrounding season 4, but his arc only continues from there. We still don’t have that moment of “oh, he loves her” (and if you think it’s the monologue then I don’t really know what to say…). I want to go into more detail of this in a different post and how Byler ties in to that. 

In conclusion, after season 3, we are able to determine El’s feelings as genuine and are not able to yet figure out Mike’s. 

The question still stands, how do we know what he likes? 

[lookslikethatsallthetimewehave]

l'm no child psychologist, so l'm just guessing here:

The devs probably believe that kids today would just be running around the map, clicking random stuff and not knowing what to do. When they do make progress by doing such, they wouldn't know how to find the next story beat. Then they'd get frustrated at the "boring game" and quit. If they had something to guide them, like a push in the right direction, maybe they would know how to play it.

But Poptropica already does that indirectly. Character dialogue, setup of the map, the story leads you to complete the game. It's especially true for the simpler islands. Overall they don't tell you when you'll complete the island, and imo they shouldn't. That's like doing a word search with the answers already underlined.

It takes patience, a whole lot of patience. I can see some good in a progress bar (keeping track of how much you've completed)... but the map already does that! And they don't spoil the island by turning it into a string of side quests!

Simplifying the puzzles also feels like assuming your audience doesn't have the patience and the willpower to complete them. Yea most popular video games among kids now are straightforward and quick to learn. But the thing is, those games aren't puzzles. Puzzles are meant to be challenging, to encourage problem solving. This was why Poptropica was considered an educational game in the first place!

(Also, we already have a lot of running “easy” islands that new players can complete swiftly. There’s no point to nerf the “hard” islands, the ones known for being difficult, to be “beginner-friendly”)

TL;DR I do get wanting to give everyone a fair chance without having to look up tutorials, but basically (unnecessarily) child-proofing and watering down the game as a whole is... kinda insulting to newcomers.

(Sorry for the long send again)

You hit the nail right on the head. Now the nail hurts.

I mean, I guess I could see why they think kids nowadays need the hand-holding. They use TikTok, they're probably not that smart /hj

But yeah, you're 100% right. The fact that Poptropica is a problem solving game is what made so many people love it. The user got to run around and figure out clues and items that they will deduce for themselves how and where to use them. Kids love being able to figure things out on their own, figuring things out on their own is one of the things that makes games like Poptropica so much fun.

And the fact that there were islands back in the day that offered a real challenge, like Mythology, Skullduggery, Steamworks, etc shows that they respected children's intelligence.

I don't know much about what kids like nowadays (except for toy reviews, weird meme videos and the like, based on what my 10 year old cousin watches), but the least people can do is just... try to give them something that has actual substance XD

Not only that, but the newer islands don't have a lot of room for the user to run around. Some of them only have three areas. And even some of the older islands that only had a few areas, there was still plenty to do.

You wanna know what I think? I think because it takes longer to make islands now, due to Flash being gone and the limited amount of people working at Poptropica due to layoffs and whatnot, that's most likely one of the contributing factors to this new change of pace. I get the feeling that if they had more people and money, things might get better. But that's just my two-cents.

[jellyfishdoodler]

Three years ago yesterday, my friend took his own life and I still miss him almost every day. I hope he would like this little piece.

I also wrote something under the cut- mostly just kinda rambling about him but its more just for me.

Take care of yourselves out there and I beg of you, if you are struggling, please reach out to somebody. Because if you leave then you will be so dearly missed by more people than you know.

You are loved, you are cared for, you matter so somebody.

Take care 💛

I think about you a lot. 

But the things that come to mind are mostly about the video games you used to play with me.

You adored the giant mushrooms in minecraft. We explored far lands and deep caves together. You always killed the mobs for me because I was scared of dying even though we had Keep Inventory on. We would have long strip mining sessions and talk about how we were doing. Tell jokes and stories from our lives or just quietly enjoy each other's company. You always got so excited to see any of the in-game critters. You would have loved the cherry blossoms they added.

You always picked dark green in Among Us but always changed your hat for silly situations. Once you thought I was smart for going back and killing you while you were behind the Admin table, but I was just panicking. We laughed about it in the lobby after I lost. I tried looking for screenshots but I think they got lost. But we'd always run around the boxes while we waited.

You loved to wear the cute outfits in Animal Crossing. I gave you the pretty umbrella and it became your favorite item. We gathered on my island like it was a party to catch shooting stars and spin our umbrellas in unison in between the showers. I remember you lighting up like the sun when you got the New Horizons themed Switch for a really good price because it was in a small local game shop everyone overlooked. 

You enjoyed playing Grounded in early access. Telling me how decorating your base was your favorite part even though you couldn't sit in the little grassblade chairs. There's been a major update with story and more items added. It's also multiplayer now... 

I would give almost anything in the world to be able to play with you again, Gydeon.

I think about you a lot.

You were deeply protective and loved your friends with your whole chest every day. Even when it was damaging to you.

We would talk privately outside the server we met in. Saying how so many of them were in the wrong for so much of the drama they caused and that what they were doing was not okay. But they were our friends. We held each other's hands while walking on eggshells together. Trying to settle their emotions and each other's when we had nothing left to give. 

I still remember your bright laugh. I remember your sleepy mumbles not wanting to leave the group call when it got late in your timezone. I remember you being bored out of your mind while you waited in your dad's car. I remember you getting furious over the actions of someone and losing your cool. I remember you being so excited when you figured out and came out as Pansexual. You decorated all your avatars with Pan flag stickers and were so giddy to find out that part of yourself. I remember you joking about your depression. I remember you being down low and I remember how we would go online and play together to escape for a while.

I think about you a lot. 

Finger snapping has become a stim for me because you taught me that the sound comes from when your finger thumps against your palm. 

Whenever I need to feel brave I think about you standing up for what was right even though you got backlash for it. 

You had so much courage and pride but the thing you inspired in me most was to choose kindness above all else. No matter what. Its easy to be rude and angry and violent. It takes a strong spine and head to be able to let petty shit go and to choose to remain soft and gentle in spite of everything.

I think about you a lot. 

Its been 3 years and I still hold some guilt in my heart for what happened. I don't think it will ever go away and I almost don't want it to, but I've worked hard to make it bearable. Your memory still weighs heavily in my chest when I think about you, but it's more like a comfortable weighted blanket rather than an unrelenting mountain trying to swallow me whole.

You were an incredible young man and I'm one of the luckiest people in the world to say I was able to meet you. Even if the time spent with you was far, far too short. 

You were funny. You were smart. You were the kindest, sweetest person I have ever had the honor to get to know. 

You were one of my close friends and I miss you dearly, Gydeon. I love you, buddy.

[capnkerfufflez]

I contain multitudes, so i made a uquiz for some of my quintessential sonas for fun

i dont really expect people to take it, but man i love an excuse to draw some of my boys i don't give much love to brief descriptions and the result descriptions under the cut

here's the link outside of just embed btw : https://uquiz.com/hkfS0R

in image order and i marked the number and color of the background above we have :

1 [red] E : non-fandom sona I use to vent mostly - "Conceptual Chaos Junkyard" / "CC Junkyard" so he's mostly negative traits of myself turned up to 11. He's the overly emotional and sentimental and over-reactive side of the duo between him and G.

"[[ oh baby girl, I'm so sorry for you, get some help ]] Everything you've ever done blows back up into your face, you don't know what you're doing wrong?! Or well, you've figured out a few things wrong with you, but you can't figure out how to fix those things about yourself…"

2 [red/orange] Knox S. Consumer : kinda a minecraft sona? - "What's Minecraft is Yourcraft" / "Yourcraft" He's in general a minesona, at least when I first made him. In Yourcraft he is the sona/character version of an oc that's a minecraft youtuber/streamer and who is very distinctly not me, so Knox falls into an odd character category where's he's both my sona and an oc's sona. He's an old grouchy wizard type, but breaks character often to help friends

"[[ you may think im stretching on this one, but i assure there's more obscure ]] You know so much yet so little. The type of guy that can recite so many video game lore details and fun facts across all subjects, but will fail to realize that they really did mean it calling it "cream cheese," it is actually a cheese. You are very smart though, with your intelligence only rivaled by your stubbornness."

3 [red/pink] Dong : pokemon not a big surprise, but he's a pokesona of sorts. He's a Mareep that's specifically paired with my friend's Wooloo "Ding," he's somewhere between a pokemon in the anime and pokemon mystery dungeon in terms of personification, he's very bitey.

[[ haha dong ]] Lil gremlin guy. You're the typa bitch to fucking taunt people bigger than you and when they get pissy you go 'oh im just a lil guy a lil birthday boy.' All talk no bite. well, maybe a lil bite, like consensually or deserved.. BUT the point is you take no responsibly of the misdeeds you may or may not do !

4 [orange] Bibbly : double life / life series Bibbly is the character I made soulmate's with my friend cause we were watching other people make sona's and pairs with their friends too. Bibbly is based off of a drawing I did based on a more literal interpretation of one of my minecraft skins (specifically my 453 skin), "Bibbly" coming from "Biblically accurate." Personality wise he varies a lot cause in conception and most practice he is an utter coward, very reliant on my friend's character, though in other interpretations I make him a lot more jaded and no-bull shit but also those are usually what is supposed to be later in his development and/or away from my friend's character

[[ telephone game of sonas ]] You are a recursion of self analyzation. You try to map out your intricacies only to have your theories on yourself become rules. And once you've realized its a set habit of thinking. You know trouble and you avoid it the best you can.

5 [muddy yellow] Clart : minecraft sona ? - "What's Minecraft is Yourcraft" / "Yourcraft" Similar case as Knox, where Clart is my sona and the sona of one of my oc's who isn't me, but for Clart he and the oc, they align closer with who I am so it's not quite as weird a case. Clart is very easy going and cares a lot, he isn't particularly notably in Yourcraft as he's not really someone who develops more a character that help's the other characters develop

[[ straight up gooping ]] You just want a break, things to be nice and easy and do menial tasks and be with your friends. You give all you can, not because you feel you need to, you just want to and you can. You know pain and cruelty, you choose to be kind.

6 [yellow] [453>- / 453 / The cooler Casey : a general sona He's a more stylized, exaggerated version of myself and usually a lot more malicious for the fun of it. In his "lore" he is a shapeshifting sand.. thing, it depends on the specific backstory I'm going with. He is generally very energetic and bitey and evil for the sake of it cause man villains are fun when they are having fun and he is having a blast

[[ creature !! ]] You are the coolest sexiest mother fucker out here! or you sure pretend to think so. A whole fucking jaw breaker flipping between god-complex and inferiority-complex, who knows what's at it's core (probably inferiority). You love to be an edge case, probably the type of guy to make a fan character concept that's over done but do it with a twist. No fear of ocs coming off like a mary sues just cause YOU know how cool and really clever they are really even if they give a bad first impression.

7 [lime/green] Casey : general sona / how i draw myself This is just me, like, just how I draw myself, it's as general and genuine as I can manage which my not really be all that accurate maybe but oh well

[[ oh fuck u are just like me frfr ! or like at least closest approximation ]] You are only human. You love your friends more than the world and you try to be worth all you're given. You have some self esteem and self image issues, but maybe if you shove your ocs full of enough of your issues you'll solve some.

8 [green?] Caddle : general sona / fursona / the one i use for sexual stuff Caddle is a cow-adject shapeshifter. He is the sona I use the most when it's anything sexual, usually paired with my partner's fursona, but he's supposed to have other buddies too that I never really draw. I've got complicated feeling on sexual stuff and myself in relation to it, so he gets those feelings dumped into his character too. But aside from that he is a fun character especially to draw cause inconsistency is baked in and I love him dearly, he is very lazily chill with a big heart, he's also a rodeo clown even though i dont draw a full on clown get up for him much

[[ honka honka we got certified clown ova here ]] You are silly, a goofball even, one may even argue a jokester. You may present all goofs, gafs and dick jokes, -and by all means you do genuinely loving goofing gaffing and dicking- but you are a person with complicated wants and thoughts and feelings. Wants and thoughts and feelings you hold close to yourself, you do not know how to voice, so more often than not, you don't.

9 [bluish green] Gilon Kurt : lesser sona Gilon is a sona that I made just on a whim off of a twist on my name with "fluffle" being a the name for a group of rabbits, he's "Capn Kerfluffle." And then I made him a rival to my main fursona in their story and he gained a personality outside of me as they so often do

[[ rage rage murder rage !!!! ]] You have worked so hard for what you have and yet it is never enough. There is always something else to achieve more to earn, people clawing for what you have. You can have no peace nor solace, relax? chilling? never heard of her!! There are experiences to be had!! People to meet!! Friends to continuing loving!!! And you'll fight for it all, fight until you die!!

10 [cyan] Yeode : minecraft sona [real] Yeode my beloved, she is my darling rock-based robot made to search villagers that learns to live for herself kinda. A lot of her kindness and softness and story comes from backstory for just me playing minecraft ig who is a lot less kind in practice.

[[ yippee !!! ^.^ ]] You are a people pleaser to your core! You are born and molded by your attachments and use to others. Even in their absence you still live on for them in part.

11 [saturated blue] G : non-fandom sona I use to vent mostly - "Conceptual Chaos Junkyard" / "CC Junkyard" similar situation to E of mostly negative traits, but the other side of it for the most part. she is full of anger and malice at being stuck with little control over her situation and takes it out on E

[[ oh sweetheart, no ]] You think yourself a "bad bitch" a "girl boss" even. Emotions are not your strong suit. You have a hard time managing your own feelings, let alone dealing with other people's. You may not always be right, but you work hard to try to be.

12 [less saturated dark blue] D. Base : minecraft sona, specifically in magic mods / heavily modded minecraft he came about from when i was testing a modded server with my friends there was something that would crash my game if i entered specific chunks, and in those 'dead' chunks was my silk worms so i made dBase as a character for the friend server and he is supposed to be that glitched silkworm i got in testing, uuh end then that server slowly broke too, so i like to think it was somehow also his fault; while i did get to play on the server i got really into a few magic mods, mainly mana and artifice so he is not only gitchy but a magic man

[[ grub ]] You think of yourself highly, not perfect, but damn good. You've worked your ass off for the skills you've obtained and are happy to show off when they are even slightly relevant. Your "fuck it we ball" attitude somehow works out for you most of the time, though some collateral damage to others.

13 [light blue] Clerk James : fursona / used to be mascot character to note if you see other art of him there is a stark difference between the silly goofy Clerk that's my sona and the asshole angsty backstory version of him before he got so very concussed; current Clerk is very sweet and very dumb, he's the "capn" of a pirate themed ferry though also goes on some genuine treasure seeking adventures pg pirate style

[[ consider it the post-drownings one, don't worry ]] A mix of poor memory, self-doubt, and self-hatred that results in a potent blend of guilt for things you aren't really sure you deserve to hate yourself over, being it maybe not or fault or maybe never really happened. Aside from that you're upbeat and a bit stupid in a silly lil guy way. You're just a lil guy!

14 [purple] Cassio Inerta : homestuck / trollsona - "retroll" he is baby, very sweet and well meaning but oh so very problem avoidant and low empathy mostly from being sheltered; in retroll he is canonically in-universe a self insert of myself watching the plot go down and has a made up boyfriend given to him who loves Cassio by virtue that is what the boyfriend was made for, but kinda just puts up with Cassio, a projection of how i felt and feared in some previous relationships

[[ explicitly cannon self insert huh ]] You are a suckerrr for romance. You want and want and want so badly and you feel and in every instance you are given a taste it feels unreal. it feels unearned. It feels disingenuous. But you need it so bad. You don't know shit about anything, so terrified to fail you're terrified to try. But little by little you keep trying.

15 [magenta] Carcumber : a sona based off of my friend's previously-main sona's species so my friend's main sona and mascot character was a "lavamander" though the species had other character with other elements such as ice and sound waves and species had name trope of two favorite foods combined; Carcumber's name was Carrot + Cucumber but my friend changed main sonas and has since renamed most to just a single food name hence the opening statement for the quiz, i dont remember if he had an element associated, if he did i think it was "cart" or "car" or "money" or something stupid like that, and his is a used car salesman, similar energy and pathetic-ness of spamton

[[ oh man do i gotta change his name now that's that not the naming scheme? ]] You are passionate about everything you do! Cause if you aren't you don't do them! You exaggerate yourself to the point the mask becometh you.

god ya that's a lot of em and i have more sona's than just that, but most fall similar to others or i dont use enough to care

if you read it all thanks so much i love u :D

[demonir]

Ok I caved in and played the og Postal game, as in the one that's free on steam currently. Here are my thoughts very messily arranged after finishing a single playthrough in one sitting.

Long fucking post ahead

Initial thoughts? that bitch should NOT be as loud as it is when you first launch the game good god I didn't even have my volume up all the way and I still got jumpscared by intense metal scraping, screaming, banging and an assortment of creepy sounds. I get it, ambiance and mood or whatever and I think it was done on purpose but geez calm down.

Also it forces you into fullscreen with no option for windowed at all which is a curse for me the sort of guy that likes to pause mid playthrough to scroll social media for 20 minutes before coming back in (I still did it even with fullscreen, I'm unstoppable). This is not however like a genuine complaint or anything just a pet peeve, the game is also old so like they were all forcefully fullscreen back then. Even in the 2000s the games grabbed you by the throat and forced you into fullscreen I remember it SO clearly, and you'd be lucky if they gave you the option for windowed (I was born in 2000 btw for reference) thankfully my beautiful beloved windows key button is there for me, mwah.

As for true first gameplay thoughts? well I did the main campaign or whatever it's called (I suck at retaining information bear with me this isn't a serious review or analysis go watch some dude on youtube for that), I played on easy in sort of a preemptive way because I know older games tend to be hard and I am not a talented gamer however I should have perhaps played in normal difficulty because halfway through the playthrough I had topped my health and it would ever barely go past 130 so I was practically invincible, the main gun also had infinite ammo and idk if that's because of the difficulty I chose or that's the default... I'm assuming it's a difficulty setting thing.

Starting the game is a bit... jarring?? It just gives you the ever famous bit of creepy text at the start before you press enter and you're just unceremoniously dropped in the level, you're not given a tutorial of any sort or ANYTHING you're just there but thankfully I was smart enough to check the controls before starting the game... that uhh... still didn't stop me from accidentally pressing Q which is the suicide button and I got an achievement for that then had to start the level from scratch again. First things I noticed as I was simply dropped in was just the lack of music, there is ambiance sounds but there is no music there are no sound cues no anything most of what you will hear are the voices of your victims, the sound of guns, violence, and the random Postal Dude voice line which he does not speak a lot at all. There are some bits of music sometimes in some levels but they tend to happen if you're standing by a specific place or did a specific thing.

Most notable sounds that stuck to me were the sirens at the air force base (I think it was air force base, again my memory is bad I don't retain shit well) and a church in the bad neighborhood level that if you approach you start to hear what sounds like children chanting and whispering, very creepy! love that!.

The one sound cue that you can hear whenever must be activated by yourself which is the Execution, simply approach a crawling victim and press X to finish them off, didn't figure that part out myself for a while until I checked the keybinds a second time and I was like? what's this?. The execution will play a sound cue and make Dude shoot the victim finishing them off, it is rather sinister the first time and has you going ooooo but then it sorta becomes this repetitive thing as you keep playing. There are no different execution animations depending on what gun you had equipped at the time, Dude just does the same animation and sound which is a bit disappointing but hey it's whatever.

Also had to learn the hard way that while you're in the execution animation you are not invulnerable and will eat shit and die, I think it was in the second level that I went to execute an enemy and I got a rocket to the face that killed me in the spot (that earned me an achievement tho) in the end the execution mechanic is useful just to make the Hostile number go down faster rather than wait for them to die, that or you're just simply an asshole. Pick one!

My personal playstyle was not to kill civilians if I could avoid it, not because I think I'm some angel and I must prove to others that I am not evil just because I played The Violent Game but just because I didn't want to, I wasn't here to be a completionist. I must however say that once you've killed all hostiles and you're walking around the map and you see that the population count is simply one... you can't help but hunt down that single person and make that number go to 0, and that's probably why I need a trained professional to talk to idk (JOKE JOKE JOKE)

Civilians and Hostiles are not that hard to distinguish from each other, they have different designs and you'll quickly be able to tell which is which by the end of the first level however you WILL kill civilians even if you don't want to because oh my god do they love to get in between you and the enemy, there is also friendly fire between civilians and hostiles like they just be killing each other without me doing jack shit it's kind of ironic in a way.

When I got to the level with the marching band I initially just watched them go until they got exploded by Hostiles and then I died shortly after so on my second try at the level I don't know what came over me but I tried and for the most part succeeded in protecting the marching band from hostiles for a little while, it was kinda funny.

I only ever died like 4 times maximum because again halfway through I had maxed out my health and the enemies barely did any damage to me, this sorta warrants a second playthrough in a harder difficulty I think

As for the maps themselves I really liked them I think I like the world of Postal 1 more than Postal 2 and the rest but that might just be because I am a certified desert hater (I WANT MY GREENS) I really liked the style in which the maps are drawn they're all in these dark colors but still have parts that pop out when necessary, and I was also very surprised when the perspective became even more top down view than before then went back to normal.

Overall the whole vibe of the game made me feel like I was a kid again playing an incredibly violent and horrible flash game on a free website without parental supervision, I know flash games came AFTER Postal 1 but I wasn't born at that time so my childhood experience is that. I am so sure that Postal inspired so many of those horrible flash games and I wasn't even aware, I honestly could see little pre-teen me somehow playing Postal and like getting nothing of it because I didn't know english LMAO

When you reach the end of the game AKA the infamous school part you do NOT get to play at all, it's just a cutscene of Dude going ham and causing no damage before he breaks down and yada yada yada he gets locked up blah blah blah the stress of modern life blah blah we get it.

Weirdly enough only 8.9% of players have the achievement for finishing the game (Called Get A Girlfriend, funny name) so like I wonder what the hell people are doing that they aren't finishing the free game that took me uhh *looks at playtime* 2.1 HOURS TO FINISH most likely less bc at least a few couple of minutes was me tabbing out of the game but still having it open

Also thing I forgot to mention earlier when talking abt the controls... when you finish a level you aren't immediately sent to the next you're just...there... it took me a bit to realize that you're supposed to press F1 to go to the next level which again I found out bc I'm such a nerd about checking keybinds before starting games

Now uhhh aesthetic thoughts, I already said I like the level maps I find them nice and interesting probably my least favorite was The Farm because 1: I expected pigs and cows and sheep and I spawned in SURROUNDED BY OSTRICHES? and 2: it has tons of foliage and trees that obscure your view and this wouldn't really be an issue because when dude goes under there's an overlay that let's you see but it does NOT happen when an enemy goes under or behind it so you essentially loose track of them but they can still see and shoot you which made this level a tad bit annoying, thankfully it was one of the levels with the least amount of hostiles to deal with.

As for all the creepy illustrations and art between levels and stuff, I like it a lot! I'm just a horror lover in general and I love creepy visuals and boy does Postal have those, the diary entries before every level though? ehhhhhh they're hit or miss for me... mostly miss, the "the earth is hungry, the earth is also thirsty" strikes me as funny for some reason? Idk I think that's a me being weird thing. Postal Dude is over there losing his goddamn mind and I'm grading his diary entries like "this text isn't as evocative as you think it is, you should read more literature"

Final thoughts? Good game, fun game. I'm fine with weird violent games that challenge our morals and stuff I think those should exist to some extent and the game Hatred from 2015 wishes it was half as compelling as Postal 1997 is. I can see how this game caused such a scandal back in the day I mean you're just going out and killing everyone in sight and Postal Dude clearly enjoys it and regards himself as some sort of hero for it, fucked up stuff! I just personally no longer react with the same sort of shock I did as a kid to that stuff bc I've been desensitized and can detach myself from the scenario it gives me. Could go on a tangent abt how different the rest of the Postal series is and how I'm a bit adamant abt playing that (You cannot make me play Postal 3 fucking ever, sorry) but I'm lazy and I got no valuable points to make so I won't

Final verdict is play the game if you got like 2 free hours and just want some mostly mindless point and clicking action