#but also as a fellow ace I understand how out of his depth that might put them

[cheeriecherrymain]

Hi! I love your writing!!! do you think you could write something of viktorxasexual!reader? like either just headcanons or maybe a short drabble of like the reader coming out or something? that would be super cool!

p.s. seriously i reread your stuff like everyday, your writing style is gorgeous and i love how strong the character voice always feels!

omg fellow ace hello?

---

Viktor x ace!Reader

-So you guys have probably been friends for a while before you start, like, dating. I feel like Viktor is the kind of person who would need a stronger foundation in friendship before taking a step into something less platonic.

-That being said, the dating aspect of your relationship is still relatively new. You’re friends, you know each other super well, but now you’ve got a whole new area to explore and learn about, and it’s…a little bit daunting.

-You never really thought you’d be telling him about your sexuality. Not because you’re ashamed of being ace or anything - mostly because you never thought it would come up in any of your conversations.

-But now that you’re together, you know that there are certain norms and expectations. Not that you really care what other people think, especially since it’s none of their business. But you and Viktor haven’t really spoken in depth (or at all) about any potential physical aspects.

-You know he’s got his own limitations, and you know he might also be dreading the sex conversation, but…your biggest worry is that he’ll take it personally. Logically you know that he won’t, but a little part of you can’t help but stress over him reacting poorly and internalizing it.

-The last thing you want is for him to resent you, or worse, feel bad about himself.

-So when you sit him down one evening, tucked up quietly together on the couch in your apartment, with the quiet rasp of music playing in the other room, he automatically knows something is up. He knows you - he can feel the tension in your body as you recline against him.

- “Is everything alright?” he wonders softly, letting his cheek come to rest on the top of your head.

-You’re silent for a few moments, before you sigh. Deeply. And begin your explanation. 

-How you’d spent so long trying to figure yourself out, looking at labels and definitions and trying desperately to match them up to your feelings. Identifying as several different things, none of them ever feeling quite right. None of them ever fully explaining the way your mind and your heart feel.

- “I swear, V. It’s not you - I promise it’s not you. I just don’t- I don’t feel- I’ve never felt-” You cut yourself off with a frustrated grumble, wrapping your arms around your body in an attempt to soothe yourself.

- “I’m asexual,” you finally say, somewhat grateful that you’re not looking at him. “I never told you because I didn’t think it was important to our friendship - quite frankly, it was none of your business. But…but we’re together now, and I love you. I love you so much. And I know you might have some reservations, or expectations, or your own anxieties, and I-”

-The last thing you expect to feel is the tender pressure of his lips on your temple, chaste and warm against your skin, and his slender arms carefully wrapping around you, holding you steady against his chest.

- “You were worried I might not approve?” he asks.

-You press your lips into a line. “Not entirely,” you admit. “I…was honestly kind of anxious that you might take it as me not being sexually attracted to you. You specifically.”

-He nods in understanding.

- “But it’s not you,” you reiterate, turning your head by a fraction to peer at him as best you can. “I just don’t feel that way about anyone. I never have. It doesn’t mean I love you any less - doesn’t mean I don’t want to sleep next to you at night, or cuddle, or hold you hand, or kiss you! But…”

-Your trail off sadly, glancing away. “I know that’s still a deal breaker for some people. And I just…I wanted to get it out of the way before we got too far, in case you…I dunno. Don’t want me anymore.”

-He’s still for several moments, and in the silence you can almost hear the cogs and gears turning in his mind, making sense of your words and organizing everything into tidy lists.

-And then, his arms tighten around you, and he nestles his chin into the curve of your neck, pressing his cheek against you, his fluffy hair tickling your skin.

- “If I’m being honest,” he begins, “that is…somewhat of a relief.”

-Your shock is palpable.

- “My…eh…libido has never been particularly high. Even more so now that I am no longer in my adolescence. This is not to say I completely lack interest, it’s just…I don’t possess the stamina necessary to regularly satisfy a partner who…who wants…”

-You bite back a smile at his awkwardness, feeling the heat from his undoubtedly pink face seep into your neck.

- “All this to say - I’m happy you’ve told me,” he finishes. “This is our relationship, which means we get to make the rules. If sex isn’t something you want, then that’s alright. The odd time I do get the inclination, I’m well enough to use my own hand.”

-The dam finally breaks, and you start giggling, partially due to how he barely manages to grate out some words, but mostly because you’re happy. Relieved. Elated that the man you love is so wholly accepting of you.

- “Just so we’re clear, though,” he says again, “You are still alright with kisses, no? And other affections?”

-Finally, you’re able to fully relax against him, practically melting into his arms. “Yeah,” you sigh, entirely pleased, “But only ever from you.”

[shyvioletlife]

Okay but honestly I can’t tell if I want to curse Brennan or thank him for the genius move of giving andhera the detect thoughts potion instead of taking it for himself. Hob dismissed it as never trying the same battle tactic twice, which is fair, and he couldn’t risk being distracted during a potential ambush, also fair. But gods I would give anything for an au where hob got to hear rue’s confession of love within their own mind

Brennan managed to hit upon the exact choice that would simultaneously reveal all of their thoughts and the internal dilemmas the characters were going through while maintaining the angst and miscommunication they’ve been building up

[just-another-hhazbin]

I have a question for you:

I'm aroace, and while I love Alastor and that he's ace and potentially aro (not sure if the aro part is definitely canon or not), apparently Viv has said in past streams that he's egocentric/doesn't love anyone but himself and I'm concerned that that's why she made him aroace. Especially if he's definitely aro, since if he were only ace it'd be less questionable imo. Granted, he does have friends so the "only loves himself" thing may not be 100% true, and these things could still change while the show's in development. I'm just kinda worried about Viv's reasoning. What do you think?

Hello, fellow aroace! I find it both amusing and suiting that I received this ask several hours after I queued the ADHD Alastor reblog, because to me, they are very similar subjects.

To the best of my knowledge, Alastor has been confirmed ace in canon by Vivziepop. However, only Faustisse, who i don’t believe is any longer a member of the Hazbin team and has never been in charge of such official decisions, openly declared him aromantic.

However, Vivz has hinted at this, but holds off at the last moment because she wants “people to ship whoever they like and to have fun” (paraphrased).

That’s... not great reasoning and vaguely problematic in and of itself, implying that aromantic people cause problems and etc., but whatever. It’s a smart marketing decision and helps prevent the fandom from turning into even more of a bloodbath than usual, so I understand why she decided that. Do I agree? No. Do I understand? Yes.

However, it is issues such as what you bring up that makes me somewhat thankful we haven’t seen him officially declared aro (yet).

If you’ve seen my aspd!Alastor or other aspd posts, then you probably know some of my thoughts on the subject. For those who haven’t, I’ll take it from the top.

I... am also concerned. I think in the end that how much depth Alastor’s characterization is given will determine whether or not the aro is a good move. 

From what we’ve seen and what’s been given, Alastor is a manipulative, unhinged, sadistic, vaguely narcissistic asshole who cares nothing for anyone other than himself. On that description alone, I would very much recommend not labeling him as aromantic. Aro people have had enough of that stereotype, thank you very much. Also, people such as that can experience romantic attraction, it’s just that they tend to be douchebags about it.

That being said, the Alastor comic does give me hope.

(If you haven’t read the comic, go do so, because there be spoilers ahead. https://www.hazbinhotel.com/alastor-comic/page-1)

Yes, he’s a generally annoying pain in the ass dressed in bright red. However, he also wasn’t just going about his business killing everyone for the Hell of it. Sure, he might do that sometimes, but I’ll take “sometimes.” Furthermore, he wasn’t purposefully extra-dickish to customer service people (unless you count feeding the birds, which should be considered a crime but also, Radio Demon, could’ve been worse) and he tips street musicians while being kind to his fans. 

He obviously does want social interactions, and was increasingly frustrated and upset when everyone fled from him and the rose wilted at his touch. He wants positive interactions! He wants joy and pretty things and obviously does care about what others think of him, despite statements to the contrary.

And of course, the culmination of him indeed committing a murder and going full cannibal on someone’s ass... after stepping in to stop that person from abusing a customer, giving him a second chance, and then intervening again to stop the asshole from assaulting someone else.

None of these actions had any benefit to him. He knows that this will only increase his reputation as do-not-fuck-with-or-speak-to at worst, and have no affect at all at best. But he does it anyway.

So. If this is the Alastor Vivz sees and if we get more of him, of an Alastor who yes is a bit of an unhinged serial killer cannibal but also seeks out positive interspersonal interactions and cares about strangers, then I would be much more settled with giving him an official aromantic designation. Because then it’s not just that he said “fuck people and relationships; I’m a narcissistic sadist,” but that he’s searching for personal connections that resonate with him, and romance just isn’t it.

So. Yeah. Right now a lot of shit has been said about Alastor official and otherwise, half of it contradicting itself, and while I am Definitely Concerned about him playing into the stereotypical tropes around bad aro rep, I do have some hope that maybe it could play out well.

Also, unrelated to Vivz and how she and her team handles things, there’s always the fact that Alastor’s brother from another mother is undoubtedly Hannibal, who is the most in-love cannibalistic sadistic narcississtic serial killing gay to ever gay (or kill), so that’s a nice little counter-argument to have if and when people decide to be shit about Al’s character + acearo rep.

[feline17ff]

*Rising from the depths to log in to Tumblr after literal years*

Tl;dr: How I would imagine grown-up PPG world to be

My qualifications: grew up with PPG, had a PC game, t-shirt, official online games, went to a PPG themed event at a mall, I think I even had 3 stuffed dolls

Now, my turn on how I think the PPG and their world would grow up + some angst for the network + teen issues for teenagers + opinion from a qualified PPG fan for the OG fans

1. They were good people so they would help people and be kind without a second thought. No, they won't do drugs or be abusive etc. It might be edgy, but that's not the PPG. The PPG are wholesome and amazing. They also love and respect their family and other people.

2. Blossom would be a scientist or doctor, biotechnology, nanotechnology, idk. Prof would be super proud. Angst: annoyed that prospect of science is dependent on corporations and investors, e.g. Insulin cost in US, lack of investors for renewable sources, etc.

3. Bubbles. I've seen people think of her as pursuing animation. Game design would work too. Tbh more thought needs to be put here. Angst: maybe she's frightened of growing up, being an adult. Adulting is hard and she wants to go back to being a kid. She loves her stuffed animals and there's nothing wrong with playing with them as an adult, but she could be using them as an unhealthy mechanism to deny real life. There's a term for this but idr now.

4. Buttercup. Firefighter, police officer, something physical would be good. Angst: She loves sports but can't participate because her powers are an unfair advantage so she could never pursue that dream.

5. Professor Utonium. He is a great dad and professor. See number 1.

6a. RRB. I understand the shipping potential and a lot of fans would love it...but watch "The Boys Are Back In Town" and you remember just how awful they were (remember Bubbles and the slug?). The original show was a superhero show for kids, the RRB are villains. Unhealthy message here if you go with shipping them right off the bat.

6b. It could be enemies to unwilling allies to casual acquaintances to friends to more than friends. But it has to be earned. They have to be redeemed. They have to show that they are redeemable.

6c. How it could go out is the RRB are villains, a big threat for the PPG. Which they are. Mojo Jojo and Him are their father figures so when it seems like the girls finally defeated Mojo, they go in a blind revenge rage against the girls. Absolutely no romantic/sexual tension, please, that would be disgusting and distasteful. He's not dead though so when it's revealed he's alive, the boys are ecstatic. Maybe the girls had something to do with saving him or finding him alive and nursing him back to health. Maybe not.

6d. The boys are back to normal and happy to be a family again.

6e. Idk, Boomer might be in a life-or-death situation and his brothers don't believe him and he almost dies but the girls save him. It can't be Brick or Butch coz they'd be aggressive. Boomer would be curious. Anyway, I don't like romance so we're gonna go the platonic way. Boomer finds better siblings in the girls, because, well, they are! So he discreetly becomes a friend and their inside-guy to villain happenings.

7a. Romance between the PPG and RRB. I'm ace and aro so ideally I would love all platonic, nothing romantic, but there's this unspoken soft spot for my fellow fans who I've never met. So this is for you guys!

7b. Boomer and Bubbles find some mutual interest and/or just like each other's company coz their families can put pressure on them. I would love if they'd go the ace/aro platonic married friends with tax benefits situation who play video games together instead of kissing and the other thing.

7c. Blossom and Brick eventually bond over their love of their families and that they'd do anything for them. But will have to work on this in Brick's case coz it's not at all apparent in the original that the boys care about each other.

7d. Buttercup and Butch can bond over things they think are fun but not 100% good or bad like their families want. Like, illegal racing (I think it's called drag racing) would definitely interest both of them. And since they have superpowers they can go to more extremes than humans. But his family may think he's wasting his potential, Buttercup's that she's doing something illegal even if no one gets hurt. Similarly, extreme sports but even more extreme coz they're super and can't get hurt. Like, full-on adrenaline junkies. And bros, brotp, regardless of if a romantic relationship is where it leads to, at least at first.

7e. Or just keep them as villains? Like the original? No platonic or romantic relationship at all. That'd be super funny for my ace/aro self. Haha, imagine the shippers' frustrations. Priceless.

8a. THE BRO CODE. And, by extension, THE SISTER CODE. They are color-coordinated so I don't need to go in detail of who's with who even if it was never official. But no, I cannot digest a non-color pair here, not at all. It's fine up to their colors, but beyond that, it feels disgusting. Like, what if a pair got married and but it's like they had kissed their in-law??? No, please, icky.

8b. Respect the CODE. Their relationship with their counterpart may be romantic or platonic, but with their counterpart's siblings it should definitely be platonic.

8c. If the girls are gonna end up with the boys, it has to after they've matured and shown they're good people. If not, then they could remain platonic friends. Could also hint at something more with their counterpart if at the end of the series they're still not ready yet. Or they could just remain single :)

9. Ms Bellum as mayor? Makes sense. She might be overqualified though, maybe she takes an easy job so she can relax most of the time? Or she's also in charge of the FBI or something. And I don't want ex-Mayor to never make an appearance. He should be a regular too, at least as regular as Ms Bellum. Maybe the adults (Prof, Bellum, Mayor, Ms Keane) can have a monthly golf hangout thing.

10a. The villains are iconic. English isn't my first language but I've heard the term "campy" been thrown around, I think it means what I think it means but I'm not in the mood to research. Mojo has to be a chimp, idk how. Maybe like the butler from the Umbrella Academy, or Salem from the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch. (And don't you dare make Sedusa disgusting. Make her PG like the original did, you cowards! Maybe she's just really good at conversation and manipulation mind games, idk.)

10b. Him. If you wanna go gritty with him then watch the episode that scared and scarred me, the one where the girls just want a simple race but they go forward in time. It's scary. I'm not going to watch it again but I'm 90% sure it was Him.

10c. But you should also remember that Him is really fun too! Like the ending of the riddle episode, the ending of the birthday episode. Him is super powerful for some reason but can be nice. Chaotic neutral I think.

10d. Actually, all the villains are chaotic neutral. As someone pointed out, the comics make them out to have a gentler side, and so do some of the episodes. They're supposed to be fun and evil, but ultimately just fun and funny and campy but not too serious.

10e. Could go the MCU Loki route and have these fun villains be cartoonishly evil, but get progressively more anti-hero. Because they are! They were exactly like this in the cartoon! Remember the episode with the baseball? Babysitter? The riddle episode?

10f. For an edgier take, Him's superior could be the main bad. We never had a clue where his powers came from so you should be free to make it up as you please. But read the wikia to be sure.

10g. The RRB are villains and they should be treated as such. Imagine if the 3 RRB all have different ideas of how they should fulfill their evil legacy / bad boy shtick. Like Brick could be subtle embezzlement or manipulation, mafia. Butch could be gangs and stuff, rivals with the Gang green gang but doesn't have the skills to be a gang leader, could be Brick's muscle / right-hand guy / the guy who does the dirty work. Boomer idk, maybe a pickpocket? Or like his bros know he isn't cut out for this so they dis him and so he's technically on his own and free but sad so be pursues other avenues (see 12).

10h. Let the actors have some fun with their villain shtick! (And also the heroes ofc) It'd be way more fun to watch.

11. Narrator. He'd be fun. I haven't watched any eps in years but I assume he's there for witty commentary and funny stuff. Would love if people interact with him and he replies and has to change his tone to make it seem like he's not biased against the villains or something.

12. I'm not gonna scroll up. Buttercup had a crush on Ace. Blossom and Bubbles thought it was funny to kiss the RRB. All 3 of them were okay with kissing the boy, whose name I don't remember, when they figured out that cooties aren't real. What I'm saying is, as much as I wish they'd be aro, they're not. They could be ace but they're not aro.

13. I just had the best idea! There was a post that the girls were created through science and the boys through "witchcraft". I'm sure magic exists in the world, see Him, so what if Boomer pursues magic and witchcraft, wizardry, sorcery, whatever. Idk. The girls have careers so the boys need careers too, they're the same age.

14. Please have an end in mind. Be like The Good Place, ATLA, Carmen Sandiego. If it's a villain of the week thing without an overarching story, then fine, have lots of a seasons like normal cartoons. But, if you want an overarching plotline, stay on it and end it when it's time. There are so many shows that kept adding seasons that I left them.

15. No, I don't want them in dumb tiny dresses. Don't Harley Quinn them. Give the characters and the actresses the respect they deserve. Give them comfortable, practical dresses first, cool and aesthetically pleasing second.

Can't think of anything more rn. I definitely think all the villains should be anti-heroes by the end of the series coz they've all had their good and kind and fun moments.

P.S. Remember their powers! Only Blossom has ice-breath and only Bubbles can speak squirrel. She can also speak Spanish but the others could have learnt over the years if they wanted to.

P.P.S. I would love if we could have some closure on the PowerPunk Girls and the RRB's mirror counterparts. But it has to be campy and funny and NOT slutty or too serious.

P.P.S. How the show should be: Campy and funny and NOT slutty or too serious.

[kitkatopinions]

Honestly, shooting Oscar was the closes they got to an acceptable ‘good guy does evil thing’. The key being that there’s enough interesting tragedy to explore, and since Os didn’t actually die Ironwood could be easily redeemed. We’re at the scene, as Ironwood stares at the Vault. He hears someone coming down and let’s out a painful sigh because he fully understands the pain Winter is going through (the same he is with abandoning Mantle). As he turns around to comfort her, he sees Oscar. /1

You know, I fully agree that James shooting Oscar is the most ‘good guy does bad thing’ we ever needed from James. By piling on evil thing after evil thing, not only did it take away from Ironwood’s character (and the character of everyone close to him like Winter and Qrow,) but it made it so that very little that he did actually gets any focus, including shooting Oscar. Did Ruby ever even know about it? Did we ever see Oscar grapple with the fact that James had tried to kill him? Did we ever see Ironwood even acknowledge that it happened? The moment feels entirely passed over. Then again, with Sleet, the Ace Ops are all shocked about Sleet, Winter looks hesitant, but then steely and accepting, Marrow is alarmed... But ultimately that goes nowhere. Winter having stood by Ironwood even while he murders unarmed civilians and not considering it a deal breaker, along with the other Ops (yes, even Marrow,) isn’t really gone into and is brushed under the rug, because the focus quickly changes to him working with Watts. But do we see Penny in a moment of clarity forced to grapple with the fact that a former mentor and someone she probably saw as a friend had forcibly taken control of her body? Does it even have a long term affect on the story? Considering Penny could’ve died due to Cinder trying to steal her powers just as easily as a robot as she did a flesh-person (with Pietro claiming he couldn’t restore her again,) I’d argue that Ironwood hacking Penny had zero real effect on the plot. At least our main cast freaking knew about it, though, instead of the other scenes of Ironwood’s descent being mostly for the audiences sake it feels like. We quickly move on from the emotional weight behind Penny getting hacked by a mentor/friend, because then we get some rabid fire “what the heck” moments like Ironwood being like “huh, shoulda tortured Qrow.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  And I could’ve tormented some teens.” And Winter is freaked but then we only have like a minute of sitting with that before there’s a bomb threat, and James is threatening to bomb the people of Mantle for... Reasons, standing in his backlit light with the black background so you know it’s spooky villain time. This at least gets some more focus, but even then, in the fight with Winter when she’s listing grievances, she doesn’t really get into the whole torture/bomb thing. And James is still not the focus, the primary threat of the last two episodes is Cinder. Everything in season eight was just so rushed and hurried we didn’t get a chance to focus on anything for the time that it needed with the exception of possibly Renora’s makeup/breakup? which was also badly handled, but got like, the appropriate amount of screen time imo. But we definitely didn’t have any time to get into the meat of a good hero-does-bad concept. Which is a shame, because it could’ve been good.

You’re right that shooting Oscar was all they needed. They established a really good base conflict: James believes they’re in a no-win situation and is trying to save as many people as he can while Team RWBY believes they need to come up with a plan that will save everyone all at once / because of Team RWBY’s actions, Ironwood doesn’t trust them and tries to have them arrested, Team RWBY are fugitives who no longer have Ironwood’s resources to rely on and must grapple with those consequences of their actions. Then, they want to - imo unnecessarily - drive the point that due to the terrible situation, the recent perceived betrayal of Team RWBY and co, his own deteriorating mental health, and pushed by his TOTALLY UNMENTIONED semblance, James falls into destructive actions that cause harm. Having him shoot Oscar/Oz in a moment of paranoia does this without wholly ruining his character. It breaks Oscar’s aura, but nothing worse, and one could argue James didn’t mean him to go over the side (you know, except that the writers did mean for him to mean to, but for the sake of this narrative, we’ll say it was maybe unintentional.) It could’ve been something that Oscar/Oz then have to process or struggle to understand, or forgive, while it’s something Ironwood could regret and possibly come back from while still clearly being in the wrong in that situation, and it could’ve been treated more sympathetically. We could’ve actually paid attention to that moment, rather than having it (and every single further jump into villainy) swept away. James could’ve been an antagonist for the season without being a full villain. Not everything has to be “Team RWBY against pure evil.”

We already had Cinder, Watts, Tyrian, Emerald, Mercury, Neo, Hazel, and Salem for god sakes. Most of those villains had to get taken out by fellow villains - in fact, all of the villains that we dealt with in V7 and 8 that got taken out of the picture were by the villains, including Emerald abdicating, which happened because of Salem’s motives and Tyrian confirming them and Oscar literally just said a sentence and then sat around. None of these villains were used well or got the focus they needed except for possibly Cinder, who wound up not growing at all anyway. But they could’ve been a great, compelling threat if they hadn’t gotten trounced by a fifteen year old with a magic deus ex machina after doing almost nothing this season, because they had to get pushed aside so Ironwood could have his moment as a villain. And then even Ironwood got pushed aside too. Even the built up and dreaded ridiculously stupid grudge Qrow had that made him want to kill James just up and vanished. It’s almost like James never had to be a villain at all since it amounted to nearly nothing and there was very little emotional depth tied to it. It’s almost like the writers could’ve actually made their existing large amount of villains more interesting and do something with them.

Like, don’t get me wrong, Watts was amazing. And the temporary team up of Watts, Cindy, and Neo had me thinking CRWBY would do something interesting and compelling with the villains for once (I’m putting on the appropriate clown paint for it.) They could’ve used the volume 7 momentum to go into an actually emotional arc centered around this one violent act, how people feel about it, how James might come back from it, all while giving the focus to the actual main villain of the series and presenting her as the real threat. But instead...

Anyway, this wound up being a pretty long post. Sorry about that. :P

[asteroiideae]

okay, so I don’t make these kinds of posts often because tbh I’m a little lazy and very tired like 24/7 lmao but I’ve been seeing a lot of Pride reading lists hit my dash (and they’re excellent, and I save them all!) buuuut reading books is still a roadblock I’m struggling to mentally overcome -- and audiobooks are great, but they take 84 years (sometimes literally???) to get through. so! I thought I’d share a (very tiny) list of the queer manga I’ve read this year that you might enjoy for Pride, with some descriptions/trigger warnings/thoughts to go with them. so here we go in no particular order other than where they sit on my bookshelf:

What Did You Eat Yesterday? by Fumi Yoshinaga

okay so I know I go on about this manga at literally every presented opportunity, but I honestly just can’t help myself??? as a thirty-something queer adult, I really love the quiet maturity of this relationship between Shiro and Kenji; especially when it’s highlighted by references to shenanigans of their youth, and the ways in which they are still growing as both individuals and a couple. I’ve only read the first six volumes but I’m OBSESSED.

Status: Ongoing (17 volumes; 15 translated) Summary: Shiro and Kenji are an established adult couple with separate careers and interests, whose relationship is depicted over the meals cooked for them by Shiro. This doesn’t have an overarching plot, which might be off-putting for some readers; each chapter can be compared to a fanfic one-shot, usually containing it’s own tiny storyline or theme. It’s literally just domestic moments and meals shared between these men. Warnings: While I didn’t personally have a problem with this, younger readers might find some of the dated terms offensive. If you’ve spent any time with older queer folks (older as in 45-50+) this won’t be anything you aren’t used to, but if your experience of queer folx skews younger or online, you might get taken by surprise. There’s also some internalized homophobia; and by some I mean quite a bit. Shiro’s personal arc (at least in the first six volumes) heavily revolves around how much he closets himself and tries desperately to pass as “normal” in Japanese business culture.

Boys Run The Riot by Keito Gaku

holy shit holy shit holy SHIT. this story is so good??? so VERY good??? I was a little cautious, and a little bit uninterested in a story about teens (only because I’m in my thirties and crave more adult representation,) but I was VERY WRONG to be. Boys Run The Riot is beautifully drawn, beautifully written, and probably my favorite work on this list. the mangaka is also trans so the inherent understanding and nuance of our protagonist’s experience is really lovely. Also featuring a fantastic brotp between a trans boy and his new himbo bestie; no seriously if you want a story about a trans boy getting to have good broships with other boys his own age I CANNOT stress this enough. Volume two is releasing next month; I have it preordered. I’m laying on my floor wishing for time to hurry the fuck up. I need more of this smol angry trans boy and his big soft himbo bff. PLS. Status: Ongoing (4 volumes published; 2 translated) Summary: Ryo Watari is a second year high school student who is trans and struggling to feel comfortable with his very rigidly structured life at school, at home, and among his friends (to whom he is not out.) By chance he meets Jin Sato, a cis boy who also feels outcast (often judged for his appearance without any deeper thought.) When Ryo comes out to Jin in a state of frustration, Jin accepts who Ryo is and makes an offer -- why not start a fashion line that subverts all the expectations that have been put on them both; why not express themselves even when they’ve been told they shouldn’t. Warnings: Ryo is struggling with gender dysphoria, and it is written by someone who has probably experienced it, so it might be a little real for any trans folks who deal with that. Also, while neither the narrative nor Jin misgender Ryo (at least, not once he expresses to Jin that he is a man), Ryo is not out to anyone else and so he frequently is misgendered at school and we see how badly that impacts him and the way he views himself and processes his emotions. Ryo spends a lot of time being angry and trying to swallow it down, and that can be very raw to witness at times. There is also a depiction of unsafe binding (though the mangaka has an immediate note about binding safety, and goes further in-depth at the back of the manga.)

Our Dining Table by Mita Ori

okay, so I was a bit on the fence about whether or not I wanted to include this as a rec, but I decided that it might actually been what someone wants or needs, so here it is! while I really enjoyed this concept, and I’m always a sucker for found family stories (let me tell you I’m queer without telling you I’m queer, much?) it feels like this story is a bit rushed at times, and the romantic relationship between our protagonists is very blink and you’ll miss it. I don’t even want to call it subtle so much as it is just not remotely the focus of the story so it’s a little startling when it happens. but! if you’re looking for a story about adults processing grief and trauma together, and learning how to care for another person (and as a result, learning how to care for themselves,) this is a nice read that isn’t too heavy!  Status: Complete (one volume) Summary: Yutaka is a salaryman whose past experiences prevent him from reaching out to others, even through something so simple as sharing a meal. Despite this is REALLY loves to cook, and wishes he had a reason to do it more often. Then he meets Minoru, and his muuuuuch younger brother Tane (it’s like a 17 year age gap between the brothers?) and finds himself teaching them how to cook, and overcoming his fear of eating in front of others. Warnings: Good news, there’s no overt homophobia in this story! Bad news, the other trauma makes up for it! We have a lot of trauma surrounding parental death, childhood bullying, and adoption; in addition to an actual fear of eating in front of others.

Our Dreams at Dusk / Shimanami Tasogare by Yuhki Kamatani

this is the first manga series I collected, and I’m still very pleased about that. the art is ABSOLUTELY stunning? the use of visual imagery and surreal analogies to explain queerness is fucking on POINT. I cried so hard during a couple of these volumes I developed a migraine. I only have one piece of critique on the whole thing (addressed in the warnings,) and I intend to do another re-read when I’m ready for the catharsis of sobbing into my pillow again. Like Boys Run The Riot, Our Dreams at Dusk is drawn and written by a member of the queer community (a non-binary mangaka, this time,) and as a result it hits pretty fucking close to home in a lot of ways. while I really love this series it’s super not for the faint of heart, you WILL come out of this reading experience with some things to unpack. Status: Completed (4 volumes; 4 translated) Summary: We mostly follow Tasuku Kaname, as he is outted at school by a classmate as being homosexual, and his initial despair and subsequent journey of acceptance. In this process, Tasuku finds himself at a drop-in center, which seems to primarily function as a safe space for queer people; we meet several lesbians, an elderly gay man, a trans character, and a young character who isn’t ready for any kind of label because they are still ??? about themselves and their identity. Each of these “secondary” characters is given room to breathe and to work through difficulties of their own while Tasuku watches and learns that even though life is hard sometimes, there’s beauty to be found in one’s own strength. Warnings: hoooo boy; well there’s all kinds of homophobia and transphobia; a character is outted against their will (multiple times), there’s some really insidious transphobia covered by “concern”, there’s internalized homophobia everywhere, and a very complicated asexual character whose presentation left me (as an ace) with super mixed feelings and a lot of frustration (though I wouldn’t call it bad necessarily; just wanted to put that out there for my fellow asexual folks.) If you have read (or go on to read!) any of these, please let me know! I’d love to chat about the stories, and hear your thoughts on them -- because we’re a broad/diverse community and our own experiences shape us differently and give us different insights. <3 ANYWAY, for those of you who read this monstrous self-indulgent post, thank you! Feel free to add any queer manga you’ve been reading below - I’m always on the hunt for more recs!

[tooweirdforyou]

Matchmaking Time ♡ » @kaku-lover

matchup request ; Alrighty! I can't wait to see who you match me with 🥺👉🏼👈🏼 (i will love anything you write)

I'm like 5'0, i have short brown hair, and honey-brown eyes. I'm chubby so I'm perfect for hugging 😌

I've had people describe me as kind and sweet. I'm generally really patient, but it can depend. I'm quiet around people I don't know, loud around those i do know, and I have a quick temper😳. I'm rather opinionated on things like human rights and injustice. I'm rather protective of my friends and extremely loyal. It would take a very good reason for me to turn my back on someone and even then it would seriously depend.

I like to read and play video games (I'm kind of boring dhdhf) I also like to write poetry sometimes. I love most kinds of music, and I still appreciate the ones that I don't. I'm the kind of person who unironically enjoys the song Boyfriend by Big Time Rush.

If it's okay, just please don't consider Akinu or Blackbeard. I... have very strong negative feelings on them. I hope that's okay, I really don't mean to sound rude or demanding :(

Both male and female are okay with me!

Eee, I hope I didn't write too much! I'm excited to see who you choose for me :D

Thank you~~~

Hii! You kind of sound like me, haha. Except I don’t write poetry, but instead fanfics! And you don’t sound rude at all, I understand.

I’ll most likely not match anyone with those two regardless but I appreciate you telling me. :) and bless my fellow chubby and short people. :D

So, without further ado, I match you with..

Revolutionary Sabo!

So, the blonde beauty is the perfect match for you, in terms of a male pairing.

Sabo would actually absolutely adore your height, since he’s a little over six feet. He can wrap his arms around you and place his chin on top of your head and just hold you close into his arms. -u•

He really appreciates your loyalty towards your friends and loved ones, since he is as well. Your kindness only adds to your attractiveness and how cute you are to him, and he isn’t at all bothered by your quick temper. He grew up with Ace, remember? He knows how to handle it, haha.

Sabo also reads daily, whether it’s to study or brush up on some information, he enjoys opening a book or two occasionally. He’s a playful person and would definitely be pretty competitive if you ever play games with him!

Now Sabo isn’t a huge fan of much music in my taste, but he does appreciate all forms of art. So your poetry would interest him and he’d ask if he can read a few entries you wrote.

Oh, and no worries that you’re quiet when you first meet, Sabo is a natural smooth talker and he’s very patient and understanding, so he’ll definitely get you to open up pretty quickly but at your pace, of course.

“Hm? Oh, there you are, angel. I was wondering where you were. Come on, let’s go to the bedroom and cuddle for a bit, maybe even read a book or two.”

Overall, I truly believe that Sabo is the best match for you, and I think you two would really hit it off. ;)

Bellemere!

This beautiful woman is the perfect match for you, in terms of a female pairing.

First off, Bellemere was a former marine, I believe, and she strongly agrees and believes / supports your opinion on justice and loves how loyal you are, because she is as well. She admires loyalty.

She shares your interests in different music, she likes listening to many and I believe her favorites is more of a soft melody type, piano music mainly. And she’d love to hear your poetry if you ever feel like sharing, though, she might zone out when she hears your voice because your voice is her favorite thing to hear. :)

Bellemere loves how sweet and cuddly you are, she really loves to hug people and you are perfect for that! She doesn’t mind your temper, since she had to raise two girls by herself so she’s also used to it and knows how to handle it.

She is extremely playful and loving and as much as she loves you, she will dominate you in all your video games so good luck. >:D she isn’t a fan of all games but she’s always willing to try whatever she’s never tried though.

“Come on, you’ve beaten me once, soak it in. I let you win because you were being cute. Next time, I won’t be so nice, so let’s have a rematch!”

So overall, Bellemere is a really great match for you in my opinion, I really think you two are compatible. :3

Honorable Mention : Issho / Fujitora

Obviously, if you aren’t into older people, then Fujitora is more of a father figure in your life, and I believe he’s someone that would be great to have a platonic relationship with.

Your opinionated thoughts on justice and the fact that you are extremely loyal and protective is already a perfect match for Fujitora.

Plus, this man is a big child, I’m positive, so he’s a great opponent for your video games. Think of like a cool / best grandpa that you have, you know? :)

A/N : IDK WAS THAT A GOOD MATCHUP? is that how you do these things? :> I thought it was okay. I would probably go in more depth and give more details and such, like first date, first kiss and etc, but I’m Saving those for AHEM Valentine’s Day,

And, I’m still sick but I wanted this out so people have a good idea of what specifically I do for these matchups so.. hopefully this was okay? TuT

-

(also if I had to pick a match for you off the very top of my head, it would probably be Ace because I feel like he would treat his partner right and you deserve it 😤 plus I feel like with your kind personality, it would mesh well with his. Ace seems like he would gravitate to kindness, and he would definitely ask Marco for help on how to take care of you when you get sick. He's adventurous, so he could bring a lot of excitement to you and he would probably have a wide variety of things he likes to do, so whatever your hobbies are, he'd at least try once. With you being sweet, it would help heal those painful cracks in his heart. While he doesn't expect you to "fix" him, your affection would over time help him anyways. If someone so nice can love him, maybe he does deserve to be happy.) ((If you drop some personality info/preference info, let me know and I'll totally do a more indepth and more thoughtout matchup for you♡♡))

okay, the fact that you even made a matchup for me is so sweet and :0 ACE?? omgg 😭 omg, this was already so sweet enough of you already and so much, and you’re willing to write more?? ahhh, my heart. I luv this 🥺🥰❤️ thank you!

[ziracona]

Might be that someone already asked but give us your wisdom. Headcanons for Felix and Élodie

Initially, they’re just shocked to see each other again. And in the realm. They haven’t crossed paths since they were kids. But then almost immediately things are uncomfortable.

Élodie is the one who got the kids to go into the internment camp, /and/ who personally activated the sigil that brought the Entity to them all. She is directly responsible for the loss of her own parents and Felix’s and all the others. So, seeing him again, her first thought after surprise and relief at a familiar human is “Oh no. He hates me.” And she immediately becomes reactively and agressively defensive of herself and her past actions, predicting hostility that isn’t there yet.

Since Felix’s paragraph never even mentions Élodie, I have to assume she does not play super majorly into his own trauma memories actually and he doesn’t harbor intense resentment towards her, and probably both doesn’t blame her for being the one to push them into that trek, and simply know she activated the sigil. So, he’s surprised and relieved (even though it’s kind of awkward), and then kind of just hurt because she’s immediately reactive around him and almsot seems to resent him. He probably gets kind of pissed (understandably) like “Well you were the one who sent us down there—I don’t know why you’d hate /me/ over it” and that only makes stuff worse.

Felix is very easy to push around and terrified and takes a long time before he gets used to the realm. He is a cautious and hesistant man in general, and very very very out of his depth, both from being kind of rich and cushioned against life, and just by nature. He takes a long time to adapt and is miserable and scared, but he really does try.

Claudette, who is also miserable and scared, and Dwight, who was long the same before adapting, are especially nice to him and work to help him adapt. So are Tapp, Jane, Jeff, and Ace, who also try—especially Jane, who is well versed, and Tapp, who has experience—to comfort and reassure him about his wife giving birth without him there and his family waiting back home.

Felix misses his wife deeply and would never cheat on her and abandon her and his infant child back home on favor of a steamy realm romance. (I hold Felix ships in contempt >.> my boy has no reason to be regarded a cheater fuck off leave him alone. He’s a decent enough fellow.)

Élodie is a lot braver than Felix. She adapts to the realm quickly for average, as she is used to danger, pain, and hardship. However, unlike Felix, who is afraid and weak initially due to his complete lack of hardship experience, but is team-oriented, Élodie is used to working alone, and is not a great teammate for a while. She doesn’t mean to be cruel, and she’s not like, unfeeling or unsympathetic. But her own experience is so rooted in self-preservation and operating solo, she takes time to get used to having to share that burden with others. And kind of is resistant to it at first. It’s just...not what’s in her programming. It’s been a long time since other people were aside from in a trade and at arm’s length at best.

The survivors are such a big family though eventually Élodie is overtaken by their genuiness and affection. I think Jane and/or Kate and maybe Dwight talk to her at least once, about how this is affecting teams, or about the group’s way of operating and relationships, but I think really it’s just being saturdated in Claudette asking her for help gardening and explaining new poultices, and Meg doing movie scripts theatrically and asking her questions all the time like an (endearingly) annoying little sister, and Jeff and Tapp and Adam always there to save her and take a hit in a trial, people singing together at camp, Dwight passing her supplies to help her get started. It the family. She gets so slowly warmed up to being genuinely cared for and wanted that her walls start to go down, and she starts unlearning her instinctive reactions and begins fighting to save not just her but them too, them before her sometimes, just because it truly becomes what she wants.

Élodie is fasinated by learing any kind of information that could be useful and very dedicated, so she spends a lot of time with Dwight, Claudette, Jane, Adam, Zarina, and Tapp especially, trying to track down any information that could help them escape eventually and stuff to help then survive in the meantime. Bc of her previous life and knowledge, she is extremely useful at this.

Also gets along well with David/Kate/Laurie and Yui and Zarina. After dying, she really really wants to pick up as much fighting skill as she can.

Felix gets along pretty well with everyone, but hangs out more with the chiller activites people like Adam, Ace, Tapp, Jeff, Jane, or Dwight/Quentin/Claudette.

After arriving in the realm, Felix feels bad most of his skills seem less useful. After Dwight talks to him, he decides to so the little he can, and that even if he’s not got worlds of skills for fighting or escaping the realm, it matters at least a little he /can/ make peoples’ lives better. So he adds some rudamintery shelters to the campfire area so they have a few little actual kind of partial buildings now. He’s not the most personally skilled with tools, but he has an expansive knowledge of how to make things function well and last and be given proper support, so he and Jake make a good team when it comes to home construction.

Things with Felix and Élodie are tense for a while. They don’t fight, per se, but because she anticipates that he hates her and is automatically basically hostilely defensive towards him in preperation for that, Felix feels very disliked by her as well. With some interveigning from the others—especially Jane and Dwight—things get a little more cordial. And Felix starts trying to work hard to make things work and dedicatedly saving her in trials. Élodie hates this, she thinks/tells herself because he’s trying to be superior/sanctimonious towards her, but in reality because she is crippled with guilt over what happened a long time ago. Still, after a while, she starts trying to save him hard too to be just as good, and it’s hard to hate somebody who has rescued you from death, so unintentionally this ends up tricking them both into starting to be chill with and enjoy each other again.

Eventually, there is a breaking point when they’re alone—maybe it’s late at night and Élodie or Felix asks the other to step away to talk. Maybe it’s in a trial, and Felix is offering to die so she can take the hatch, and she just can’t take it anymore. But it happens, and Élodie breaks down and asks why he’s doing this and says she knows he must hate her, and tries to apologize and defend herself viciously at the same time, and it’s a mess, and Felix never knew she actually summoned the thing at all and it’s like getting kicked in the stomach, and he doesn’t even know what to say or think. For so long he’s blamed himself; he’s never blamed her. But he didn’t know it was her fault, and it kind of is, and she’s falling apart, and he’s so overwhelmed, and what is he supposed to say? Is he supposed to forgive her? Supposed to hate her? But. He thinks for a second. He lost everything, but so did she—so did all of them. And she didn’t know. Nobody warned them, their parents could have, and didn’t. And she was a kid. Kids make mistakes—that’s living, that’s growing up. Adults do too. And he doesn’t hate her, and it doesn’t matter if he blames her, because it doesn’t matter who /is/ to blame. They were all kids, and it was a tragedy, not an act of hate or maliciousness, and that’s all that matters. They both lost everything, and all that matters is they do the best they can with what they have now.

And that’s what he tells her. And it’s hard to accept, but she’s so relieved. She breaks down and cries and apologizes for real, no equivocations, no defense, just sorry, and he tells her there’s nothing really to forgive because it was an accident, but that if there was, he would, and they’re friends after that day. Almsot inseperably. She’s there to ask about his wife and baby he hasn’t got to meet yet and to encourage him like the best friend he never had growing up, and he’s there to hear her theories and long spiels on fascinating finds, and ask about home and what she truly wants if they make it back like the best friend she never had either, and because she finally has people she loves, she has answers to that now.

[theonceoverthinker]

Why Clover Isn’t Going to be a Traitor

So, @fairgame-is-endgame made a great post this last night debunking some of the more ludicrous pieces of evidence as to why Clover’s is not a traitor. It’s an awesome post and if you’re a Clover or Fair Game fan, you’re gonna want to check it out.

This is a continuation of sorts because as opposed to taking down the minute details being honed in on as evidence of why Clover might be a traitor, I want to compile the evidence presented by the show and secondary material (Ex. Amity Arena) that show strong signs that whatever Clover’s character direction will ultimately be, it won’t be as a traitor to the larger group fighting against Salem (And possibly not even against Ironwood).

So, what is my goal here? To reassure my fellow Fair Game friends that we’re not headed straight for a pitfall? To give the haters a piece of my mind? To speak into the bottomless chasm that is the Internet as a means of dealing with my fandom-based RWBY loneliness? ...A little bit of all of that, if I’m being honest. In any event, I don’t post a ton of analysis pieces, but this is something I feel strongly enough about to give voice to, so let’s see how it goes!

Everything’s under the cut because this is fairly long!

1. The Clover/Robyn scene from 7X5

If Clover was ever going to be set up as a surprise antagonist, it was going to start to show itself in this scene -- a scene that pits Clover against a character he views in an antagonistic light that didn’t end up being a misunderstanding -- more than any place else. 

And it did the exact opposite.

I mean...it did a little, even with the context of Clover and Ironwood’s true goals. Clover is pretty cold to her under his veneer of carefreeness and stops Ruby as she even tries to relate to Robyn (Perhaps that’s out of a fear of Ruby telling her too much, or perhaps it’s just a sense of distrust, but that will probably be revealed soon enough). I’ll walk with you that far and admit to some slight shadiness. But I’m going to argue that that only goes to a certain point, and a small point at that by highlighting the biggest takeaways of that scene. 

The scene between Clover and Robyn tells us a few things.

-Clover and Robyn’s opening dialogue, tone, and animation make it very clear that they’ve met before, but are not on good terms with each other. This is further communicated by Clover’s adamant refusal to disclose information to Robyn about the supplies. Now, I’m going to argue that in Clover’s defense, it just makes sense that when faced with a frenemy (That’s being kind) who is looking for information he has no desire or order to give to her (As we’ll learn later, Clover is a by-the-book guy), that he be in no hurry to tell her what’s going on. Additionally, while he lies to her face about his intentions, he’s very clearly speaking in a way that communicates that something IS going on that he cant speak of (His vocal inflections show that he clearly doesn’t expect Robyn to believe that the tower is getting a checkup, but hopes that it will be enough to shut her down for a bit), giving her that much information to work with at least until she gets elected. 

-Clover’s not especially excited about the prospect of Robyn being elected onto the council, but he still wishes Robyn good luck in the election. Not only that, but the facial expressions he gives her, the tone in which his words are said, and the fact that he delayed his return to the van just to do so heavily imply that it’s a genuine wish. Granted, we later learn that this may only be for reasons amounting to the fact that she’s not Jacques Schnee, but still, he knows she wants to help, and while they don’t get along, he’s receptive to that desire.

-Robyn trusts Clover enough that she reasons that asking for him to disclose information is a worthy pursuit (She does so twice) before attempting to attack the group. Otherwise, she’d have gone after them the moment they stepped out of the van. Since Robyn’s a character we’re supposed to end the scene having trust in, the fact that she does have lingering trust in Clover leaves the impression that we should as well.

All in all, while we don’t know a lot of tangible information pertaining to what they are to each other at this point in the story, we do get a surprisingly large emotional understanding here of their complicated dynamic. We know Robyn is correct in how the people of Mantle deserve to be informed of these goings on, but also why Clover is right to keep his mouth shut until the time comes to reveal all, and I think the attention to this dynamic paid here shows that both of these characters have their hearts in the right place.

2. Amity Arena Card (And Its Follow Up Twitter Post/Introductory Loot Drop)

There are two things I want to point out about this description that I want to touch upon here.

First, “there’s nothing subtle about what the Ace Ops leader Clover is about.” Now, that’s not to say he has no hidden depths to his character (It would really suck if there wasn’t any more to him), but I feel like these few words communicate a lack of secrecy as to his values, personality, and alignments. Can having all three of these things be positive still amount to a villain? Sure -- you can kind of say that makes him like Hazel in that regard -- but I think my next point will solidify that’s not the case.

Second, I’m gonna make this one short and sweet. There is no way to basically say that ‘this new character (Clover) is going to kick a beloved protagonist’s butt (Qrow’s butt) and that will be a good thing for said protagonist,’ and then have that new character end up being a baddie. While my knowledge of the game is a limited since I don’t actually play it, I did do some research today, looking at various cards for both protagonists and antagonists, and they overwhelmingly geared the framing of these card descriptions towards a more hero-focused outlook on the characters. Basically, this game is not about to cheer for a hero like Qrow to be defeated by someone who will turn out to be a villain, if for no other reason than it’s a poor choice for the game’s long term posterity.

But just in case that card’s second-to-last line left anyone with lingering doubts about its intentions, the RWBY Amity Arena Twitter page was kind enough to elaborate on it!

 I feel like that wink emoji should be doing my work for me here. If there was ever a doubt as to the intention of the wording, this tweet should clear it up. Clover is so clearly being shown by the Amity Arena card as a positive influence on Qrow’s life, and in a way that implies that that’s not about to change anytime soon. 

Like, if they wanted to convey ambiguity as to Clover’s moral alignment, they could’ve just said something along the lines of “Who knows,” or “Guess you’ll just have to wait and see.” In the world of Remnant, ambiguity is a force more powerful than the Light and Dark Gods combined, and one that knows no shortage of uses! But no, they literally spelled out that line’s intended meaning, with inflections and a winky face to boot!

I’m not going to try to go into detail about all of the little intricacies of this reward card, because someone already did it for me! I direct you to this AMAZING analysis by @scathing-eyes​ where she highlights both what this single message has to say about Clover and Fair Game at large.

3. Introductory Card on Twitter

Thank you so much to @homokinetic for linking me to this card!

If you’re trying to depict a shady character or even one who you have twisted intentions for, this is not the description you use for them. Here, we’re not given soft and vague allusions to Clover’s allegiances that could imply sinister motives. We’re told flat out that Clover acts in the best interests of Atlas and does things by the book. I mean honestly, that second point should de-trigger any alarm bells because Salem...doesn’t really have a book. I mean, she has goals, but as to how they get done? She doesn’t care! But Clover and Ironwood care about doing things by the book because they feel like those rules, for as flawed as they are, are what will keep the world from succumbing to chaos (Whether they’re right or wrong...look, I love these two, but they are flawed -- not evil, but flawed). Salem, on the other hand, worships the idea of chaos since it makes her goals that much easier to fulfill.

I think the line “tries to bring out the best in people” is also important. Salem’s forces gain strength by exploiting the worst qualities in people, and Clover stands in stark contrast to that philosophy by focusing on nurturing their best qualities. This is well communicated in the series with his actions towards Qrow and the introduction to the routines and options that the new Huntsmen now have access to. Not only that, but those means of nurturing come down to themes of unity and order (Showing Qrow the benefits of working with others and taking pride in his accomplishments, showing the new Huntsmen the positive ways they can impact Atlas, encouraging them to take a night to refresh their spirits), literally the very outlooks on life that Salem seeks to obliterate in order to ensure that humanity will be destroyed again. Just in terms of philosophies, Salem’s team and Clover are so fundamentally different in ways that just aren’t compatible. It’s not like Clover and Qrow where their differences complement each other and can mutually benefit the other. There is no way that Salem can benefit from posing a figure that inspires the endurance of the better qualities of the human spirit in a position of power.

4. The Overall Lack of Narrative Sense in Making Clover a Baddie

Clover is a character meant to foil and relate to Qrow. That’s not even an opinion. Everything from their contrasting semblances to their scenes together cement that as an absolute fact, and whether you ship it or not, their connection just can’t be ignored. 

All that said, while Clover is an important part of this duo (Duh), it’s Qrow who is the focal point. Qrow is the character we’ve spent four seasons with and watched him struggle and develop through his journeys. So it’s fair to say that the impact of Clover and Fair Game on his character (Again, whether romantic or platonic) will be something that will significantly impact the direction of Qrow’s character going forward.

The next logical question, of course, is as follows: What’s the narrative point of Clover being a baddie for Qrow’s character? @skybird13​ wrote a fantastic post about the overwhelming benefits of a genuine Clover as opposed to the redundancy of a Hans-esque traitor Clover storyline. You should absolutely read this post, but I’m going to quote the segment that spoke to me the most.

“I think the most surprising thing RT could do with Clover’s character at this point is to let him be exactly who he seems to be. Should he have his backstory and his secrets and his own demons to deal with? Absolutely. I would love to see that. But when it comes to Qrow’s trust in others, I think that has been pulverized enough throughout the series. Putting him through it again serves no narrative purpose except to send him right back into the tailspin that he’s currently digging himself out of which, in all honesty, isn’t great writing.“

And yeah, I have to ask: What point would another stab at Qrow’s trust do? If Qrow was meant to be a character who would face a tragic end, then why didn’t he back in Volume 6, when it would’ve been infinitely more appropriate? He literally lost faith in the person he dedicated his very life to. Why show Qrow recovering from his low point and building him up in Volume 7 just to tear him down? Unlike a character like Ruby, someone young and idealistic who watches the conventions of trust and goodness in her life crumble before her eyes over and over again and grows from it as she discovers new things about herself and others, Qrow has already had a lifetime’s worth of those ideals crashing and burning, and we’ve already seen the results of that growth, both on the high and low ends of his viewpoints on life, but especially the low points. What is the point of returning him there that couldn’t have been more naturally done but one volume earlier?  

The Conclusion

...I’m bad at ending things. But I know I’ve made my case, and I’ve made it about as well as a case like this can be made.

Rooster Teeth, through both its primary and secondary means of storytelling, have made a strong case for a Clover who will remain loyal to the betterment of Remnant, regardless of the path he personally chooses to get there (Joining Robyn vs. Staying with Ironwood). For them to change gears after all this setup and make Clover an ally of Salem would be frankly nonsensical after all of this careful buildup.

Could it turn out that I’m wrong? Of course, but despite the suspense in my heart, I can’t help but trust RT here. Maybe that’t the result of that bop of an intro. Maybe it’s the prospect of my new ship becoming canon. But I don’t think that trust -- while based in emotion -- is baseless, and if RWBY has a theme, isn’t it to have a perspective like that?

So here’s hoping the Clover is just another instance of the payoff of trusting love! 

[fifiliphaser]

Don’t Give Me Flannel (Cherik Ficlet)

[AO3 Version]

“You’re my roommate who’s super cute and it’s the middle of the night and you’re cramming for your exams in your flannel pajamas and disheveled hair and it’s becoming increasingly hard for me not to kiss you” AU

So, yeah, here we are. It was supposed to be a shorter one-shot, around 1,000 words or so, but I sort of took that prompt and ran with it, because apparently I cannot write something without any world-building in it. But it was a pure pleasure to write, even if I should've been working on my other WIPs. *sigh*

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this short—yet still somehow almost four times longer than intended—ficlet.

It's not beta-ed, just edited and proofread by myself, so you know the drill—and I'll be really grateful for any valuable remarks!

“Can you finally go to bed?”

Although Erik’s voice is hoarse, his annoyance seeps through very clearly. As a result, the question sounds more like an order, despite it not really being Erik’s intention. Nonetheless, he’s too groggy to care.

Generally, Erik Lehnsherr has always prided himself in being quite a heavy sleeper, capable of sleeping through anything and everything ever since he remembers. Even when he was just a few years old, he would occasionally wake up to hear about the storm roaring through the night, which did little to disrupt his sleep. His mother used to joke that the bomb blowing up nearby wouldn’t manage to jolt him awake. The manifestation of his powers in the early teenage years disrupted his routine for a while, but he managed to go back to it by the time he started university, and this time he hasn’t let anything get in the way of getting a healthy amount of sleep.

Willing himself to fall asleep has never been problematic either, even with a lot of background noise. Unfortunately, it seems like the light is his ultimate weakness. He’s been struggling to doze off for quite a while now, but a small lamp still kept alight turns it into a truly challenging feat. Facing the wall that his bed was pushed to, his eyes closed shut, he’s desperately trying to force his mind to finally shut down, having already given a shot to counting sheep and focusing on his breathing. Sadly, without the comforting darkness to drown out any unwanted late-night thoughts, he is unable to succumb to sleep. The worst thing is, he’s slowly growing more and more desperate and the thought to just ask Charles—the very culprit behind his current predicament—to do this for him keeps lingering at the forefront of his mind.

A quiet groan escapes his lips as Erik turns around, towards the rustle of paper behind him. Charles Xavier, his roommate, the fellow student who also happens to be a mutant, is sitting on the carpet between their two beds, surrounded by an array of textbooks and notes. He is, by far, one of the very few people whom Erik tolerates and who somehow tolerate him in return, which is still somewhat unbelievable to Erik—how such a person as Charles, so unbearably idealistic and impossibly kind, would like to as much as simply be in his presence continues to escape his comprehension.

Nevertheless, here they are, Charles spread on the floor and Erik failing to fall asleep. Overall, Charles is quite a nice roommate, certainly much better than the previous ones that Erik was unlucky to live with. (Or maybe it was them who were unlucky enough to cross his path, Erik wonders sometimes.) Although a chatter, Charles doesn’t bother with meaningless conversations and he has a quick wit, which is even more prominent over the chessboard that they sometimes use to play, all of which make him a pleasant enough companion even on the worst of days. His bright big eyes, with their remarkable blueness only accentuated by the flannel pajamas he is currently wearing and with his floppy hair falling over them, make him look rather appealing, as a quite impressive group of both male and female students can corroborate. Despite that, Charles’s favourable looks are no more than a pleasant addition, or so Erik tries to convince himself of.

He cuts that train of thought short, though. They are friends, even though this label hardly conveys the depth of their bond. Charles may be the closest person Erik has ever been to, other than his parents, which makes him just about the only family Erik has left. To ruin the most meaningful friendship in Erik’s life due to his irrational sexual urges is just unthinkable. So he proceeds to do what he’s been doing for weeks now, burying the budding attraction deep enough that the telepath won’t see it.

“I can’t fall asleep with the light on,” he grumbles, seeing that Charles has hardly reacted to his previous question. When that doesn’t work either, Erik continues, his brows furrowing, “I have an exam tomorrow, too, you know.”

Charles finally looks up at him, and his eyes are sparkling in the warm light of his bedside lamp, his liveliness evident despite the dark circles under them. Erik shouldn’t find that sight so endearing, and yet, he’s mesmerised all the same, almost forgetting his own annoyance.

“Yeah, sorry,” Charles says apologetically, gazing down at the notebook he’s just been leafing through. His lips, even redder than usual, what with the way Charles continues to chew at them, curl into a little self-deprecating smile. Erik can’t help but trace their movements when his friend adds, “Just… five more minutes.”

It’s clear how tired Charles is, leaning on his hand which is perched up on his lap and visibly fighting off the urge to let his head drop on his notes. Erik rolls his eyes, irritated with Charles’s insistence even more so now that he sees his exhaustion. It may even explain why Erik’s own tiredness feels so profound; if Charles is on the verge of falling asleep, his shields are prone to get weaker and sometimes he starts projecting his feelings, as if his mind was trying to get rid of the sense of fatigue simply by pushing it away.

In truth, Erik doesn’t mind it as much as he thought he would. He minds feeling more tired than he actually is, that is, but not the mental contact itself. It never fails to surprise him, how much he actually enjoys having someone brushing against his thoughts. Of course, he believes that all mutants should be treated equally, regardless of the nature of their mutation; and yet, telepaths are often facing quite a lot of resentment, even within the mutant community itself. For many, it is one thing to pass someone with a tail or a pair of wings on the street without batting an eye, and something else entirely to have a stranger overhear your thoughts—something intimate and meant to exist only for you to listen.

Erik can understand where such reservations might come from, even though he himself doesn’t view telepathy as so problematic. In fact, the anti-psionic bias seems to be chiefly the product of ignorance—there aren’t that many telepaths, most of whom not even powerful enough to fully enter someone’s mind without touching that person or at least being in a very close proximity to them, but people nevertheless are afraid of feeling so exposed, with more than unfavourable portrayal of telepathy in the media as manipulative and exploitative only feeding their fear.

Not that telepaths are actually interested in reading or controlling everyone’s minds; the fact that is obvious to anyone who has actually met a telepath. It would be exhausting, after all, to listen closely to every thought that comes your way. Not even mentioning the fact that a lot of people think they’re incredibly interesting and worthy of attention, while, in actuality, their thoughts are mundane and their secrets nonsignificant.

Erik has crossed paths with enough telepaths to know that. Besides, if telepaths truly did always listen to one’s every thought, Charles would already bloody well know how annoyed Erik has been for quite a while now.

“You’ve been cramming it for—” Erik reaches out with his power, tugging at the magnetic lines surrounding him, and feels the hands of Charles’s watch which is still wrapped around his wrist.

The soft hum of its metal is pleasantly familiar. Charles takes it off only to sleep, and its constant presence allows Erik to sense him, even if his friend is out of sight. It never ceases to surprise Erik how comforting he finds it, the possibility to feel Charles’s warm skin against the stainless steel of the watch anytime he wishes, wherever he is.

Erik reads the hour and groans resignedly, “—for six hours straight. You know everything that you need already.”

“I have to ace it,” Charles mutters, his gaze fixed back on his notes.

He bites his lower lip, again, and it’s truly infuriating how captivating it is. Erik spends entirely too much time looking at those plush red lips of Charles’s, wondering distantly if they’re as soft as they look and if their redness would be even more intense after a thorough kiss…

It’s getting ridiculous. He shouldn’t allow himself to think such things, especially not about a telepath.

“Did you even touch the tea I made you?,” Erik demands instead, resisting the temptation to ask another question that sits at the tip of his tongue, one that is as improper as it is stupid.

A quick glance at Charles’s nightstand confirms what Erik has already suspected. The green mug with a cat and a silly chemistry pun printed on it is standing exactly where Erik put it three hours ago.

Charles looks up once again, his lips rounding in a way that is both adorable and infuriating. What’s more, the sudden movement makes his hair, ruffled from the way Charles runs his hands through them every now and then, fall down his forehead, and Erik barely battles the urge to reach out and gently brush them away.

“Oh,” Charles breathes, his wide eyes making him look like a puppy whose owner has just scolded them for something that they are absolutely guilty of. “I’m terribly sorry, my friend,” he says sheepishly, averting his gaze. “I’ve got too immersed in all of this.” His hand flies around over all the books, the sleeve of his slightly too big flannel pyjamas tumbling down his forearm and falling over his wrist.

Why Charles insists on sleeping in that atrocious thing, whose only saving grace is its nice blue colour, remains a mystery to Erik. Their dorm room is relatively warm, even in winter, and yet Charles seems to be perpetually cold at night, sleeping under a pile of blankets all year long. Erik is reluctant to admit it, but it worries him that although the summer is about to start, Charles’ nightwear hasn’t yet changed. If he’s so cold, perhaps there could be a way to warm him up a bit. Which is hardly the best line of thinking for now, because the only solutions Erik can think of involve things that he’s pretty sure Charles wouldn’t want.

A small shudder runs down his spine, and Erik has to clear his suddenly dry throat, forcing his mind to think about something else—anything else, really. He ends up recalling the details of a few cases which will most probably prove to be useful during tomorrow’s exam, trying not to wonder how it would be to wrap his arms around Charles and pull him under the covers.

Frustratingly, even repeating in his head what he already knows by heart isn’t tedious enough to put his mind to sleep.

“You can’t keep doing that.” Erik’s voice sounds annoyed even to his own ears, more so than before.

“I know, I know…,” Charles says under his breath, clearly having completely recovered from his previous mortification.

“You should’ve started earlier.” Erik’s tone might be a bit too harsh, certainly more than he intended. He can’t help himself but be frustrated, though, what with everything that watching Charles raise his hand and gently tap his fingers against his lips does to Erik’s insides.

Charles sighs, burying his face in his hands. “I know that too.” Erik can barely hear him, his voice muffled by his fingers, but he can tell that Charles must be annoyed with himself too. “Just… this isn’t half as interesting as the project I’m working on,” he explains, with an edge to his tone.

Erik rolls his eyes, though there’s hardly any malice behind the gesture. “I can believe that, but it’s getting annoying,” he says a little less sternly, despite his patience seriously dwindling.

“Sorry.” But Charles doesn’t look so sorry as he grabs one of the textbooks and opens it, back in that study mode of his.

Taking a deep breath, Erik barely refrains from raising his voice, his irritation only worsened by the worry about Charles’s awful sleeping habits. “You know all of that. Go to bed already.”

Charles’s thoughts are clearly far away from their conversation when he mumbles, “Just… let me finish—”

“Charles, you’re overtaxing yourself.” Erik’s tone is yet again harsh, though this time he can’t keep worry out of his voice.

The telepath doesn’t even respond, his whole attention at the textbook on his lap. Despite his immersion in the text, Charles’s head continues to be drooping, his back leaning heavily on the frame of his bed, and Erik doesn’t know what to do anymore to make this man finally get some sleep.

It’s still somewhat bewildering to him, to care for another person’s well-being so much that he starts completely brushing aside his own. It’s not like he is uncaring, but ever since his parents passed away Erik hasn’t allowed himself to get too close to other people. His wounds haven’t properly healed yet, and the thought of losing anyone else is so unbearable that he’d rather isolate himself than face the prospect of going through that again. Yet, he finds himself growing more and more fond of Charles with every passing day.

Although everyone seems to love Charles—that goes without question—Erik isn’t like everyone and a creature of very little trust, so he can’t be easily swayed into liking someone, even if confronted with the smoothest of flattery. But Charles isn’t like anyone else either and hardly an overconfident and snobbish smooth talker that Erik thought he was upon their first meeting. It took more than a couple of heated discussions during quite a few classes and the mutant rights club meetings and one memorable party, however, for Erik to start appreciating Charles’s seemingly endless enthusiasm, his infuriating idealism and the admirable faithfulness to his own ideals, and, most of all, his unconditional kindness. 

As a cynic and a firm believer in the need for separation between baseline humans and mutants, Erik naturally would never agree with Charles’s integrationist ideas, though deep down he has to begrudgingly admit that such an approach might be beneficial in some instances. Besides, it’s not his fault, really, that Erik can’t resist that warm laughter, the playful quirk of that red mouth, and the mischievous glint in those hauntingly blue eyes. If he didn’t know much about telepathy, he’d think that this endearing charm is just a trick, but he knows better. Charles really happens to be just as charming, as if having the magnetic personality of an opposite pole, whose call is quite hard for Erik to resist.

Which doesn’t make Charles’s late-night study sessions any less irritating.

Erik must do something to make Charles finally go to sleep, and if the Charles way of talking and negotiating doesn’t work, it’s time for the Erik way. He slips from under the covers and jumps to the floor.

“Erik, give it back!,” Charles shrieks the second Erik snatches the book away from his hands, though his protests are much weaker than usual.

“I need sleep and so do you,” Erik says stubbornly, hugging the book to his chest. “So, just put it all away, or I’ll do that for you.”

Charles looks at him for a long moment, the exasperation in his expression mixed with something else, something odd. There’s a heaviness to his gaze that makes Erik shift minutely, slightly uncomfortable under the scrutiny of those brilliant eyes.

“You’re insufferable sometimes,” Charles says eventually, although he doesn’t sound resigned, only mildly amused.

“You’re the one to talk,” Erik snaps back, albeit good-naturedly.

Signing once again, Charles just shakes his head, a small smile creeping on his lips. Then, he fixes Erik with a stern gaze.

“I’ll go to sleep when I finish this chapter,” he says seriously, and the determination that is colouring his eyes suggests that he won’t step down this time.

Erik purses his lips and regards him for a moment, contemplating the offer. The chances for negotiating conditions more favourable for Erik are scarce, and now is not a good time to pick up a fight. It seems best to relent.

“Okay, I’ll take your word for it,” Erik decides, slowly releasing the book from his grasp.

Charles quickly goes to grab it before he can even let go of it, the telepath’s fingers brushing against Erik’s forearms and leaving a trail of the pleasant tingling sensation behind. Erik can’t help but sit here transfixed, the plush carpet soft against the bare skin of his shins, as Charles goes back to studying. There’s something enthralling in watching him in his element—because as exhausted as Charles is, there’s still so much passion in the way he’s practically devouring what is written on the pages before him. His eyes are alight again, and his lips are moving—lightly, captivatingly—as he’s quietly repeating the crucial tidbits of information.

Erik has never wanted to kiss someone so much in his entire life.

Although the book is once again laying open on his lap and stealing all his attention, Charles looks up from it, apparently having noticed Erik’s dumbfounded expression. “You can go back to bed now,” he points out lightly, his brows drawn in mild confusion.

“Not until I tuck you in first,” Erik responds before he has time to think much about his words.

He doesn’t even get a chance to start feeling self-conscious, however, as Charles is seemingly taking it all in stride. “That won’t be necessary, my friend,” he says, giving Erik an amused look, the corner of his lips—so distractingly red—rising in a half smile, and Erik finds it hard not to stare at them.

Instead, he narrows his eyes. “We’ll see.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Charles snorts and glances down at the book, his fingers finding their way back to his mouth.

The tip of his thumb begins to slowly trace the outline of his lower lip, back and forth, drawing all of Erik’s attention to that one delicate motion. He cannot help but be hypnotised, wishing against his better judgement that he could reach out and replace Charles’s fingers with his own. To map those lips with his touch, to explore the softness against his fingertips…

Erik looks up abruptly, his eyes boring in the ceiling. Breathing out, he almost groans, but refrains from doing so not to distract Charles. It’s really of no use, allowing himself for such mental escapades. This absurd infatuation has already made Erik’s life miserable enough, there is really no need to add fuel to the flames.

Except, he finds himself unable to stop. Everytime he sees Charles, hears his warm laughter, feels his fingers brushing against his own arm, is confronted with a clever and spot-on counterargument during their arguments, or witnesses a particularly cunning move during the game of chess, Erik can’t stop his mind from being consumed yet again by the thoughts of his best friend. It’s truly a miracle that Charles hasn’t picked up on those thoughts yet, and for once Erik is grateful for Charles’s strict moral code.

Nonetheless, Erik knows he has to put an end to it. It’s just a silly crush, after all, nothing worth putting their friendship on the line. No more foolishness from now on—he’ll just focus on getting through his studies, pushing all the other matters aside.

After some time, which seems to have stretched from mere minutes to long hours, Erik abruptly hears Charles close the book. He drops his gaze in time to see his friend put it down and then proceed to gather all the rest of the study materials into a pile.

“Okay, I’ve finished, happy?,” Charles says, pushing the pile closer to his bed. “You can tuck me in now.” He looks up and momentarily furrows his eyebrows. “Erik?”

Somehow, the earnest look of those beautifully blue eyes makes Erik’s resolve snap. So much for an end to all the silliness. Before he can stop his traitorous lips from moving, the question is already leaving his mouth, the one he’s been longing to ask for so long.

“Can I kiss you?”

There’s a moment of stunned silence, as Charles’s eyebrows slowly rise, disappearing underneath his dishevelled hair. He’s still for what feels like an eternity, and Erik can feel the tendrils of the telepath’s thoughts retreating from his mind, folding in on themselves, which can’t possibly bode well.

Panic begins to rise in Erik’s chest. With his breath quickening, he does his best to slip on a mask of indifference over his face, hoping against hope that Charles hasn’t seen anything damning in his mind, especially not any of those lewd thoughts he’s been having lately. But before dread can consume his mind like a wildfire, Erik sees Charles’s expression soften and then the telepath is leaning in, stopping only when his face is a few mere inches from Erik’s.

He’s so close that Erik nearly goes cross-eyed, Charles’s breath ghosting over his lips. Erik remains frozen, waiting for his friend’s response, anticipating and dreading it in equal measure. He sees that Charles’s eyes are flickering all over his face, filled with… Is it excitement, or rather nervousness? Regardless, his look is clearly inviting, so Erik lets himself hope that maybe his friend does want the same thing.

“Yes.”

For a second, Erik isn’t sure if he has heard it correctly. It was barely a whisper, and Charles agreeing to such a ridiculous request sounds too good to be true. It soon becomes clear, however, that Erik’s ears were not playing tricks on him when Charles gives him one last smile and leans in farther to close the distance between them.

Erik’s eyes close on their own accord, and it takes a heartbeat for their lips to meet. It doesn’t feel like a particularly world-changing moment—or maybe it does, just not in the way Erik expected. It’s not like a lighting strike, turning his world upside down and igniting a raging fire inside of him, but it rather feels as if long-lost puzzle pieces finally fell in their proper places.

Kissing Charles feels like coming home.

His lips are just so soft, pliable against Erik’s, the warmth of their gentle touch spreading through Erik’s whole body like little electric shocks. The kiss is rather chaste, close-mouthed; even so, Erik can feel the air between them slowly changing and starting to crackle with the kind of tension that has barely reached the surface before. The wave of excitement mixed with lust that swiftly encompasses his mind proves that he’s not the only one who notices it.

Erik senses something else, however, something much deeper and warmer, as his hands find their way to Charles’s face. He runs his fingertips over the expanse of smooth skin, gently stroking Charles’s cheeks, and he can feel the warmth rising there. He can’t help but smile against his friend’s lips, feeling an affectionate nudge in his mind in return.

And then Erik hears it, a soft murmur permeating his thoughts.

I thought you’d never ask.

If anyone's interested, here's the mug Erik was reffering to (I found it funny, don't at me ^^').

And I'm considering perhaps writing more in that 'verse, so if any of you has any ideas, prompts, or requests, I'll be more than happy to oblige ;)

(Generally, I have more in store for Cherik, especially after Dark Phoenix (we'll always have Paris, after all), but those works are also getting longer than expected. Still, I'm cautiously optimistic about finishing them in August.)

[ledenews]

Sky the Limit for Union Local Jets

The question of whether the Union Local girls could answer the bell against a similarly talented team in a big game was answered Saturday with an emphatic yes. Beating previously unbeaten Indian Creek by 19 points (64-45) on a neutral floor tends to put things in perspective. Any thoughts of an emotional letdown were quelled Monday with a 79-49 win against John Marshall. It's a team with no seniors and only one starter who will be legally able to drive a car by school year's end. So while many might believe Saturday's first half was the first time this team had been in a close fight, that wasn't quite the case. “The first time we played Ferry, we were down one midway through the third and against Shadyside, it was a three or four point game at halftime,” recalled Union Local head coach Ron Barr. “Our first game against Monroe Central, we had four brand new starters on the floor and they were scared to death. We were down 13 in the first half but cut it to five at halftime and ended up winning by 15.” None of the aforementioned teams are slouches and all will be playing in the OVAC tourney next week in their respective classification.

Union Local Last Unbeaten Team

The team fought through its early maturation process and stands alone, the last unbeaten team in the conference with a 19-0 mark. This team is built to win, and win big, averaging more than 70 points per game. It's a rare combination of size and speed that allows the Jets to play fast on both ends of the floor. The “smallest” player in the starting five is also its oldest in junior point guard Casey Kildow (5-6). On the wings she's joined by her sister, freshman Torre Kildow (5-11) and sophomore Hannah Merritt (5-8). Underneath stands the team's tallest player along with its most physical in 6-1 frosh Reagan Vinskovich and 5-7 sophomore Keira Gregor, respectively. Speed and tempo are their game.

Union Local won the Buckeye 8 title with a 64-45 win against previously unbeaten Indian Creek. The players, coaches and support staff pose with the championship trophy, perhaps the first of a lot of hardware to be won this season. “We go into every game, hoping we never have to run a play. It's kind of our moniker,” Barr said of his team's offensive philosophy. “That's the way I like to coach and it's the way they like to play. “Offensively, we like when other teams press. It puts us into fast break mode and that's to our advantage.” That's not to say Union Local can't play in the half-court offense. Merritt and the Kildow sisters all can pop from the perimeter, and Torre connects at a near 50-percent clip from behind the arc. They can also penetrate and attack the basket, or dump it off to the bigs underneath. Rinskovich averages a double-double per game with around 12 points and 12 boards per. But it's a balanced scoring effort to be sure. Torre Kildow (16.5), Merritt (11.0) and Casey Kildow (10.5) all average in double figures with Gregor (6.8) not far off the pace.

Teamwork, Understanding

The girls understand their roles and have flourished in them. “The lack of selfishness and finding their role has developed over the course of the season,” noted assistant coach Nikki Gregor. “Not everyone is going to be the leading scorer, but the important thing is to know your role and execute and if we can do that, winning is inevitable. “The win belongs to all of them. They each play a part.” Defensively, they are a nightmare as well. Multiple six or near-six footers creates issues when attacked the basket, moreso when long-legged and long-armed defenders can move and adjust quickly, covering ground in a hurry and allowing their teammates to take chances to force turnovers. “The fact we can switch among defenses so easily gives us an edge,” Gregor said. An uptempo offense that can excel in the half-court when necessary coupled with a diverse and conditioned defense is a tough match-up. That begs another question though.

Union Local's starting five of Casey Kildow (2), Keira Gregor (40), Hannah Merritt (30), Reagan Vinskovich (42), Torre Kildow (22) and sixth-man Baylee Rex (21) have their team playing at a torrid pace and sitting with a spotless 19-0 record as the postseason approaches.

How good can this team be?

Union Local has featured some quality athletes this century and captured a few OVAC titles. But you have to go back 20 years to the 2000-01 team coached by Rick Jones to find one as dominant, or even a few years further back to 1997-98 to find another that had a similar hot start to the season. Gregor knows this more than most. Back when she still used her maiden name Kemp, she was a senior on the 97-98 squad, also coached by Jones that started the year 15-0 before back to back losses to Bellaire and Indian Creek spoiled the perfection. They finished 19-3, with the final loss coming against Fort Frye in a sectional. The Cadets later lost to Bellaire in the district semifinals. That was a senior-laden team led by junior Erin Mason, Gregor, Jamie (Carruthers) Vinskovich, Dawn Renzler and Courtney (Feaster) Howard. Fellow juniors Angie Ault and Jess Chillinsky were part of a starting lineup that mixed-and-matched between six girls. A few years later, Gregor's younger sister Heidi Kemp was part of a group of seven seniors, also led by a junior in multi-sport all-Ohio athlete Jenny Campbell, that took things a step further.

Depth

Depth was one of that year's team's aces in the hole. While the starting five usually consisted of Campbell, Jenny Chillinsky, Amy Scarnecchia, Casey Stenger and Amanda Mercer, Kemp and Miranda Thompson both drew starting nods depending on matchups. The 2000-01 Jets were battle tested come the post season, having faced the likes of Bellaire's Kacie Vavrek, Martins Ferry's Lindsay Coyne, St. Clairsville's Piccolini sisters, Bethany and Lindsey and even the Fort Frye duo Krista Ferguson and Cincinnati signee Leslie Knoch, though Knoch missed the regular-season showdown won by the Jets. “Their guard size was comparable to ours,” Barr said of his team and the 00-01 version. “But they were more seasoned. And that year, it seemed like every team had two or three really good players. Every game was a dog fight.” Union Local advanced through the sectional round and came within five points of winning a district title. But once again, the postseason nemesis of Fort Frye, this time at full strength, was victorious, 65-61. The Cadets fell in the regional but were voted No. 3 in the final Division III AP Poll. Union Local was close behind at seven.

The 1997-98 team was the last one to start the season 15-0 prior to this year's teams current 19-0 mark. Front Row: manager Tyler Feaster, Jess Parker, Emily Tacosik, Dawn Renzler, Angie Ault, Erin Mason and Courtney Feaster. Back Row: Coach Jackson, Nikki Kemp, Jess Chillinsky, Casey Stenger, Jamie Carruthers, Erin Patterson, Jenny Chillinsky and Coach Rick Jones. Kemp (Keira Gregor), Carruthers (Reagan Vinskovich) and Patterson (Alliegh Cheatham) all have daughters on this season's team, while Tacosik is the cousin of Casey and Torre Kildow.

How do they match up?

There are a number of similarities when comparing the three teams. Each team boasts lights-out shooters, capable of attacking the basket or pulling up from the perimeter. All three hammered teams with transition offenses and showed equal tenacity and tempo defensively. But when comparing present-day to 97-98, Gregor believes her daughter's team has the advantage in the post. “Jamie and Jess were our two 'bigs' and I played there as well, but Keira and Reagan have a huge advantage over the three of us in the paint,” Gregor admitted. Vinskovich would tower over the 2000-01 team as well, as Stenger and Scarnecchia were the only true posts on the team and neither were near 6-1 in stature. But what they lacked in height they made up for in physicality. Where the 2000-01 Jets may have the advantage is both in depth and conditioning. “We had a rotation of seven girls that started or came off the bench and we didn't really skip a bit no matter who was in,” Kemp recalled. “We not only ran a track-meet style offense, but we pressed A LOT. Having fresh legs running in and out made it doable.”

Turning to now

The OVAC Championship Tourney is approaching and soon after, the OHSAA tournament will begin. Goals have been set and some have been achieved already. Others are further down the road. Eventually, the Jets will run into a veteran team that has the conditioning and talent to keep up with them for four quarters. None have yet, but it's bound to happen. That's when the true test begins. Barr noted that most of these girls have been playing together since they entered third grade. They may be relatively new to varsity basketball, but they are quite familiar with one another. That trust in their teammates shows. “This team has incredible chemistry. They've played a lot of basketball together so you don't even realize how young they really are,” Kemp said. “The sky is the limit for this group and I can't wait to see how high they fly.” Related: The Best of Bishop Donahue Hoops Postseason Again for CCHS Read the full article

[askaceattorney]

(Video in Letter)

Dear Anonymous,

That makes sense, as long as it was the title that reminded you of this blog.  If it was the video itself...  Actually, that probably makes sense too.

Dear Anonymous,

...Uh... I don’t... know if I want to respond to this...

Dear 1,

Says you.

Dear 1,

Cece Yew. I remember because I adore Calisto and her awesome case.

Dear K.,

I do my best to keep an open mind and answer everything I can, but I’d be lying if I said that never happened.  One thing that bugs me is when someone sends over 10 letters in a row.  Technically, it isn’t against the rules to do that, but the polite thing to do for the sake of other writers is to keep letter submissions down to one or two per day.  I know how tempting it is to send something when you’ve suddenly been hit with a great idea for a letter (I used to be a regular submitter myself, in fact), but if you can have some patience for your fellow Ace Attorney fans, it'll make things easier for everyone.

Dear Asher Wright,

Lately it’s just been me doing the answering, but when the Modthorne gets the opportunity, we take turns answering every other day.  There might be some that we save for one another, but we usually answer whatever we find next in the queue.

Dear Asher Wright,

If what you’re asking is who answers for which character, we both answer for them all, together. If there’s a contradiction between facts that you’ve noticed and we haven’t, assume it’s because the people answering were different.

Dear gyakutensaibanvsaceattorney,

I gotta be honest -- spirit channeling is one of my less favorite parts of Ace Attorney.  It was certainly an interesting and unexpected gimmick when it first appeared (or more accurately, when Mia first reappeared), but I’m a little uncertain as to why Shu Takumi decided to mix something so outlandish and mystical with something as serious as the legal business.  Given, the games are far from 100% serious most of the time, but when a dead person suddenly shows up -- not someone who was assumed to have died, but someone who legitimately did die-- it kind of throws a wrench into the whole “win the case using logic” strategy of the game.

That won’t stop me from talking about it, though.  The theories you proposed sound like they could make sense -- they provide an explanation for why Mia’s spirit looks exactly like her former self, while Dahlia’s looks like it came straight out of a Ghostbusters movie.  Although it does make one wonder why Tahrust Inmee’s seems to be completely naked...unless he was secretly a nudist or something.  Then there’s the matter of spirits changing into a butterflies (although technically it’s supposed to be the butterfly that carries the spirit, but I’ll leave that one alone), which also makes sense if they can change their appearance like they did in Ghost Trick.

I don’t have anything to rebut your explanations, but I sort of hope it’d be possible for someone to remember their entire life after they reach the end of it, rather than just whatever fears or anger they held on to, but I won’t worry myself over it.  Death and the afterlife are complicated subjects, whether we’re talking about the Ace Attorney universe, superstitions, folklore, or the real world, but I’m sure we’ll understand it all soon enough.

Also, I didn’t know about Gyakuten Touhou before reading this letter, so I looked it up and...I can’t say I’m sure how I feel about it.

Actually, I can:

What the heck!?

Dear whatareyoudoingstopthatrightnow,

You know, I agree.  In fact, I think I’ll go ahead and do that right now.  Good thing he hasn’t received too many letters yet.

(Video in Letter)

(Songs in Letter -- Disturbing Image Warning)

Dear Annoying Anon,

Oh..........Oh, dang.  That title is certainly appropriate, to say the least.  I’m not too fond of games or other media that go that far into the depths of stress and madness, and even less so when they decide to mix it with demonic themes, but apart from that, it sounds like an intriguing story beginning.

Anyway, if one of the Ace Attorney cast was to set foot in that story, I imagine it would be someone like Shelly de Killer, Joe Darke, Kristoph Gavin, or another murderer whose past we know very little about.  Or, if you were thinking about using a protagonist character, Simon Blackquill might be a good choice.  While he isn’t exactly a tortured individual, the only part of his past that’s been revealed so far is a very violent and unpleasant experience.  Besides that, he already has skills in combat, and I’m sure a lot of his fans would love to see him use them in an actual combat setting, rather than threatening to use them in the courtroom.  Plus he’s even an expert in psychological tactics, so he just about fits the bill perfectly, if you ask me.  It’s up to you, of course.

The soundtrack is very well done and inspiring, by the way, so thanks for sharing those.  Although I probably shouldn’t have watched that last one before having dinner.  I no longer had anything near an appetite afterward.

-The Modthorne and Co-Mod

[league-of-light]

2019 What’s the Weekly Challenge Rankings Week 1 Weekly Challenge What Is It IDP Flex Weekly Challenge? Rankings

What’s up YouTubers it’s the Will + Dyl show back at it again with another set of power rankings. And by Will + Dyl back at it again I mean Dylan back at it again while I incoherently ramble nonsensical garbage next to him. We’re off to a great start. Per usual, Dylan will provide his EXPERT level statistical analysis of players and teams, and I’ll pick some stupid meme to run with. This week we’re going with Super Smash Bros because Banjo Kazooie just dropped and it’s the only light in my life outside of Ace and Dairy Delight. Anyway, take it away Dylan.

__________________________________________________

Howdy folks! It’s been a while. I’ve wanted to get back into writing Power Rankings, but it seemed like a bad idea. I haven’t followed football late in the 2017-2018 season, and honestly, I have no idea what’s going on. But Will has convinced me that it doesn’t matter, and that I can do these anyway. So without further ado, here are my power rankings, based on what I understand about the league from almost two years ago. 

11. Cleveland Browns

The Browns have been the worst organization in football for about 15 years. Last I checked, this team was losing every single game, finishing the season 0-16. And now it seems that Josh Gordon DeShone Kizer aren’t even there anymore? This team has no shot. I don’t know who this Daniel Jones fellow is, but hopefully he can help; otherwise, this team is primed for a lot of losses. 

Super Smash Bros character: Pichu. If you’ve played Smash Bros, you know that Pichu has nearly the same moveset (if not the same exact moves, sue me Evan I don’t use Pichu) as Pikachu. The only difference is, anytime Pichu attacks, it also hurts itself. Just like me, every time I look at this stupid gimmick team I decided to go with instead of actually trying to win free money.

10. Honedge Heroes

Antonio Brown AND Le’Veon Bell? I’m not a fan of taking the two Steelers, who will steal touches from each other. Brandin Cooks is great, and I like Derrick Henry, but I’ve never even heard of half of this team. This team should suspend any hope they had of being a contender. 

Smash Bro: R.O.B. Rob is a robot, so is Dylan.  I am reminded about a thing I read today on Reddit about a robot. It was written by Douglas Adams. Please hold while I find the quote:

A robot was programmed to believe that it liked herring sandwiches. This was actually the most difficult part of the whole experiment. Once the robot had been programmed to believe that it liked herring sandwiches, a herring sandwich was placed in front of it. Where upon the robot thought to itself, Ah! A herring sandwich! I like herring sandwiches. It would then bend over and scoop up the herring sandwich in its herring sandwich scoop, and then straighten up again. Unfortunately for the robot, it was fashioned in such a way that the action of straightening up caused the herring sandwich to slip straight back off its herring sandwich scoop and fall on to the floor in front of the robot. Whereupon the robot thought to itself, Ah! A herring sandwich...etc., and repeated the same action over and over again. The only thing that prevented the herring sandwich from getting bored with the whole damn business and crawling off in search of other ways of passing the time was that the herring sandwich, being just a bit of dead fish between a couple of slices of bread, was marginally less alert to what was going on than was the robot.

^ This is Dylan, and the herring sandwich is the New York Mets.

9. Cursed Will

It’s tough to rank the team with the best player in football (Aaron Rodgers) this low. But Jordy Nelson is getting up there in years, so I’m not sure how good Rodgers receivers will be. 

Super Mash Potato: King K. Rool.  Dylan had a pretty fire one for this, so I’ll let him take it away:

IT’S NICE THAT AFTER YEARS OF FREELOADING IN SMASH GAMES AS A TROPHY AND A STICKER, KING K. ROOL FINALLY DECIDED TO CONTRIBUTE AND BE PART OF THE SMASH ROSTER. THIS DOESN’T HELP ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO SPENT YEARS WITH THE EARLIER SMASH GAMES, BUT I’M SO FUCKING HAPPY THAT NOW THAT HE’S OLD AND IRRELEVANT, HE FINALLY DECIDED TO BE USEFUL.

For those who don’t know, Evan now pays rent. For those who also don’t know, Evan and King K. Rool are both thousands of years old, have leathery skin, and eat Taco Bell every other day. Also, check out this screenshot of K Rool from when Banjo was announced, it’s literally the most Evan photo on the internet.

8. Float Like a… Whine Like AB

I’m not sure why they have Alex Smith’s backup at QB. Davante Adams and Michael Thomas are great, but Mark Ingram seems to be their only competent RB. Maybe they’ll get Alex Smith and find a way to contend. Otherwise, I’m not really sure what this team is doing. 

Smush - Donkey Kong. For those of you who don't know, Donkey Kong got his name because Nintendo wanted to convey that the ape was stubborn, so they picked the most stubborn animal they could think of. Or at least that’s how the story goes. That alone would be fitting enough for Jason, but really he gets DK because of DK’s affinity to charge up a punch and wiff on it, only to CHARGE UP AGAIN LATER.

7. tbt to K88 being platonic

I’m glad to see Larry Fitzgerald is still around, and they have Andrew Luck’s long-time favorite target Eugene Hilton. Ben Roethlisberger could have a huge year with the talent on that Pittsburgh offense, and Alvin Kamara is great. Still, I’d expect Devonta Freeman to split carries again, and the Bills’ defense can’t be very good. 

Super Dunk - Young Link.  Young Link has been out of the Smash Brothers games for over a decade which is almost as long as Harnsowl has been out of America.  Also, YL can drink a seemingly endless amount of Lon Lon Milk, just like Harnsowl with alcohol. 

6. Spicy Meatballs

From what I’ve been told, James White should be the best RB in football by now. I’ll take Phil’s word for this. And Drew Brees is awesome. But I’m not sure about the rest of the team. JuJu Smith-Schuster will have trouble getting touches over the Killer B’s, and all I know about Anthony Miller is that he was a mediocre NBA player in the 90’s who had a brief cameo in Space Jam. Tough to see this team doing well if they can’t improve on that depth. 

Super Meesh Pepe - Samus. Another soulless human robot thingamabob whose only purpose is to watch the New York Mets. Dark Samus for when the Mets lose. So I guess always Dark Samus?

5. No Content

I don’t know if Kyler Murray is actually good, but I’m expecting a big year out of Eric Decker. And the Colts QB has always loved throwing to TE’s, so Eric Ebron should have a huge year. A definite sleeper who might take the league by storm.

Supper Dinner Brother - Lil Mac.  Dylan beat me to it again:

I respect the effort that they put into making Little Mac a better character. They improved his aerial gameplay and his recovery, and made a bunch of other improvements. It must have taken them, like, 12 weeks of work! But, despite all that effort, he’s still in a low tier and can’t compete with the stronger characters.

Honestly, the biggest difference here is that Lil Mac definitely never skips leg day (see photo)

But apparently Kyle has been for the past 84 days.

4. Shit Outta Luck

For some reason, their team page says that they dropped Andrew Luck, but I’m going to assume that there’s some kind of issue in the database that will be resolved shortly. I’m assuming some team that already had a franchise QB took Saquon Barkley at a completely reasonable pick in the draft, and he’s doing great there. And Mike Evans is a star. Once Andrew Luck is re-added to the roster, this team can be a real contender.

Smash Bros Character - N/A. Dylan, Who’s fuckin team is this?

3. I’m Still Here Bitches

A shockingly strong showing for Team Arielle. David Johnson, from what I recall, is the best RB in football. Julio Jones is awesome. Dak Prescott is pretty good, although honestly, I still think Tony Romo is better. Damien Williams might not get a ton of carries in KC, but I still think this team could go a long way.

Daisy. Daisy doesn’t belong in Smash (yeah, I said it Andy), and Arielle doesn’t belong in the league

2. Team Mar

The squad from the 845 is looking very strong. Two superstar WR’s in Alshon Jeffrey and Keenan Allen, a perennial MVP candidate in Matt Ryan, and two top 5 caliber RB’s in Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey? I have no idea how this roster is even possible.

Mashed Potato: Joker.  I honestly know nothing about you, just like I know nothing about this anime (?) character who is in Super Smash Brothers. His name is Joker but he’s clearly not from Gotham and your instagram handle is Marisa845 and you’re clearly not from the 845 otherwise Bowers would’ve remembered seeing you at South. He knows everyone who went to South.

1. Venice Beach Hulkamaniacks 

Now here’s a team of people I recognize. A.J. Green? Trey Burton? Melvin Gordon? Shady McCoy? DION LEWIS? I honestly don’t see how things could possibly go wrong with that kind of talent. This team shouldn’t lose a single game. And there you have it. Hopefully by next week, I will have learned a little bit about the modern NFL and can take a better stab at these, but hopefully this helps get you excited for another great season of the NATIONAL! FOOTBALL! LEAGUE! Back to you Boom.

Smash Boo: King Dedede. The people’s champ. The Penguin with the Hammer.  Just like Kirby, King Dedede can suck in opponents.  Just like Bowers, if those opponents taste like carbs, he will not swallow them. King Dedede has an unrelenting hammer akin to Bowers’ unrelenting trade offers for LeShady McCoy, and had this other game where he got swol af just like Bowers is gonna be at the end of his journey. At least his 12 week journey has seen results. 

Also, I’m genuinely unsure if Bowers wrote this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jibCSdZ8xG0 

73. Andy Brown

A late addition that we had to shoehorn in here even though they don’t belong in the Power Rankings.

[knightofbalance-13]

Gainax Retrospective Review 4: DieBuster, the return of an old friend.

Sequels are a...mixed bag. Some are good, some are bad, some are great and some are just awful. This is for a variety of reasons ranging from poor scripts to bad acting to just not caring. However, one overarching aspect separates the bad from the good: the spirit of the original. SO long as a sequel has the spirit of the original it has a good shot at being a good sequel. This is because at essence a sequel is simply the original work extended. It’s the same show just a little different. And Diebuster does a good job at this. Sadly, it’s only a good job, not a great one.

Made in 2004 as the twenty fifth anniversary special of Studio Gainax, Diebuster follows the adventures of Nono, an eternally optimistic android girl who looks up to a legendary hero and wishes to be a space pilot to fend off the scourge of the space monsters. As she tries to be a space pilot, Nono meets a true space pilot named Lal’c who, in turn, is calm, cool and kind of indifferent in opposition to Nono. Together along with the cold hearted rival Tyrcho and the charming Nicola, they fight against the Space monsters. While the story is short it does have it’s fair share of twists going from our hero Nono ending up being a Buster Machine (heavily implied to have powers that exceed even the original: GunBuster), the things they thought were space monsters actually being protectors of humanity that were assaulting certain members of the human race because they were evolving into the real space monsters and the person that Nono worshiped “Nonoriri” is actually Noriko from the original. SO the plot is a bit more complex and ingaging than before...if it was able to match the energy and focus of the original. GunBuster, while having a mostly straight forward plot, kept a great focus on the story that made it’s short length work as well as it did and had a lot of vibrancy to company it. Diebuster’s focus skips around a bit and the energy at times feels lacking in comparison. In short: The age of the story really shows as it feels like an old person trying to reenact an old event: Impressive but as good as the original.

The themes of the show are...hard to pin down. Again, GunBuster’s focus made this easier as it kept on three themes constantly while Diebuster’s themes jump all over the place. Diebuster has a theme about growing up using the Topless as a metaphor as when a Topless reaches a certain age they lose their power and adults often treat them with contempt...But Topless often curse their abilities and some people have become messed up by it so it’s hard to say if the show is saying if growing up is good or bad. I guess it could be saying that Growing up is hard but necessary but the Topless are depicted as needing that power is it still doesn’t make sense.

The next theme has a bit more focus. This is the theme of character interactions in the story and how the events change them, There is a lot of focus here as throughout the story we focus on the many ways the people interact with each other and how they change one another, similar to Evangelion and FLCL. Except whereas Evangelion only focused on the negative and FLCL focused on the positive, Diebuster tries to take a look at both sides with a slightly optimistic viewing similar to GunBuster’s, it even has a similar talk in it in whether or not humans should try to survive and risk evolving into space monsters (which in of itself could be an observation on how a war slowly turns you into your enemy) or if they should just die with letting people in the future decide whether or not their monsters. Again, the show doesn’t have the focus needed to completely convey this but it does do a better job.

There is also a third theme of achieving impossible stunts through the good ol’ motto of “Hard Work and Guts.” It comes up a couple of times and is used for some spectacular feats and really gets you engaged but I’m talking about it here because...well, there’s another anime that take this concept and busts right through it next time so I’m gonna conserve my thoughts there.

Now let’s take a look at the characters for this round. First person we’re taking a look at is the main character Nono. Nono is an energetic, cheerful girl who wants nothing more than to pilot a Buster Machine just like her hero who is later revealed to be Noriko from GunBuster. Ironically, Noriko and Nono are pretty much complete opposites as characters. Noriko was shy, nervous and not very self confident whereas Nono is energetic, not shy in the slightest and is full of confidence (excluding when it comes to her surrogate sister.) Noriko’s problem came from her potential never being tapped into ,due to her mental failings, Nono’s problem is that she never gets the chance to show her potential. So this makes DieBuster develop in a much different way. Nono, while silly at times, displays immense amounts of seriousness when the situation calls for it and takes her job as a protector of humanity very seriously. She works very well as a contrast to Noriko and they would have made some very interesting interactions with Noriko had they ever met. In contrast, she’s like a happier version of Simon who just never got her chance until everything changed for her and she has some sibling problems like Naota but these are more her fault than the siblings. Another flaw of hers is her inability to read people thus causing her to hurt some people but then this is balanced out by her surprising ability to inspire others through her simple and pure spirit. All in all, a fun character with a quite a few quirks that make her endearing. However, she lacks the conflict of her predecessor that made her so compelling.

The second character under our scope is Lal’C. She is an ace space pilot and a Topless, a person with special powers that allow them to defy pjysics through mechas...And it’s not Spiral Power. Cool, great under pressure and acts as a reluctant mentor to Nono, Lal’C is the Kazumi of DieBuster who acts as a great compare AND contrast to Kazumi: the contrast comes from the fact that while Lal’c acts as the Kazumi of this show she’s actually not that sensitive or kind as Kazumi: She’s blunt, rude, cold as hell and can be pretty damn rash. She does have a kinder side that Nono brings out that is the result of Nono’s positivity that we see but most of the time she’s just rude.The comparison comes from the fact that she’s honestly trying to help Nono the best she can, worries greatly about her and is very close to her. She does her best to help Nono achieve her goals and acts as her superior for a good chunk of the anime until Nono is revealed to be the seventh Buster Machine and the tables turn with Lal’C being forced to rely upon her student. However, what makes Lal’C even better than Kazumi is that the relationship brings out a lot of character development from her while Kazumi for the most part didn’t get too much from Noriko in terms of story. The pilot goes from being a powerful but cold, distant, rude and kind of pessimistic girl to someone who keeps fighting and fighting despite the odds with lots and lots of loyalty to Nono. All in all, out of the three successors to Kazumi I’ve seen, Lal’c is definitely the best one.

Third up is Tynco, the Jun Freud of our little sequel. Another Topless that is constantly trying to surpass Lal’C, displaying a great amount of disdain with her fellow Topless and is a complete cynic when it5 comes to their powers, believing only in cold hard cynicism. But we latter see that this is due to the fact that she was unable to help her dear childhood friend who died despite all her powers as a Topless, thus leading her to who she is today. But through Nono’s constant exposure and her dedication and optimism she regains that hope  in her powers and becomes a much softer and kinder person. While this is all well and fine, she is simultaneously both a weaker and stronger Jung Freud parallel. Stronger because the anime takes time to develop her and have her change feel more in depth and natural but weaker because that test of character Jung went through never really happens to Tynco and what test of character she does have feels...out of place. She’s a nice character and everything but she just feels too out of place and...bricky.

Finally we handle Nicola who is the reflection of Coach Ohta at first. He’s handsome, smart, wise, older, been in the battle far longer than most of the characters ect. He flirts a lot with Lal’C which does lead to some interesting scenes with him and Lal’C and he does do some work to try and find out what is going on, Nicola is juts not that good of a character. In fact, he’s rather bland and uninteresting beyond the flirtiness of his character. He doesn’t hold Coach Ohta’s firmness yet understanding, his love for humanity, his ability to see the inner depths of characters or even his presence. He isn’t as morally ambiguous, intelligent, manipulative or complex as Gendo. he’s not as wacky, intelligent, funny or entertaining as Kazumo making Nicola the weakest incarnation of the Coach character. Not to mention he tries to rape Nono at one point so...I think we should move on.

The sound of the anime is still very good. It’s opening song Blue Magic is uplifting and smile inducing benefiting the less serious DieBuster and it’s protagonist although it is a pop song so you might not think that it is all that great. The rest of the music uses the good ol orchestra to convey the feelings of the scenes which it does a great job at doing, especially the part with Tynco getting back into action. It also uses a few pieces from GunBuster which are utilized excellently. The voice acting is pretty good as Nono and Lal’C have teh perfect voices to match their characters but this show is only in Japanese so I can’t make a full judgement.

The animation and art have taken quite the leap from before. Even though FLCL was very well animated top where even it’s messier scenes befit the wild atmosphere of the show, DieBuster seem to take bits and pieces from every Gainax show before with the large expressive eyes and colorfulness of the original GunBuster, the more realistic bodies and faces of NGE and the wild energy and glowing effects of FLCL, marking it as an evolution in the art styles. The mechas are heavily personalized and stand out which makes them a joy to watch in battle and the enviroment5s are very well made in that they always capture the scene and it’s tone like Nono’s leaving in the dark and cold signifying a tough road ahead. The animation is very well done, the fights scenes are fluid and a treat to watch, the wacky moments are wild and uninhibited and the casual, more heartfelt scenes are subtle and beautiful.

All in all, DieBuster is a good show whose greatest flaw is that it lacks the focus of the original GunBuster. It works as a 25 year anniversary show in that it contains a lot of references and gags to GunBuster if not a few to FLCL but it doesn’t work as well on it’s own. DieBuster is fun to watch and entertainingt but it lacks the depth that the original had and makes mistakes that the original didn’t. In the end, it feels like the old girl tried to pull off the magic that happened before but all those years worn on her and she could only perform a valiant effort. Although the animation and art as well as sound were great, the other aspects didn’t hold up.

So at the time it seemed like Gainax had hit something of a wall: What could they do next when even the sequel to their greatest anime so far didn’t work? It looked as though their first shot was going to be their last, especially as Hideaki Anno took a good chunk of the people at Gainax to found Studio Khara. But little did anyone know, their greatest work was about to happen a mere three years later. A show that held the heart of GunBuster, the intelligence of NGE, the energy of FLCL and the style of DieBuster while pushing the limits of everything before it and beyond.

Ladies and Gentlemen, ten years ago, that very anime was aired. And it is the aniem I have been building up to. The Magnum Opus of Studio Gainax and the subject of our final review: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann!

Prolouge GunBuster Review NGE Review FLCL Review

[novahawk9]

Balance Theory: Redemption

This is crazy, but I need to get it off my chest. 

There is WAY too much antagonism between the OT fan’s who want Kylo dead ASAP and the Kylo apologists who think everything is Han and Leia’s fault.

So.

This is my take on why Han, Luke, and, Leia are likely not the least bit responsible for Kylo Ren, and about the possibility of Ben’s redemption. If you don’t like both of those ideas then this post is not for you.

Some of you already know, or have been kind enough to help with a theory I am working on. There was a piece of it I didn’t know how to address. 

There are toxic Kylo apologists, who blame Han & Leia and Luke for Kylo’s evil deeds. I don’t want to give excuses to folks who already use non-cannon bits and promotional quotes like they are facts. Especially when those things are designed to point the fandom in the wrong direction so that Disney can shock us later with something else. 

At the same time many Han, Leia, and Luke fans still hate Kylo pretty strongly, as we’re left to assume that Kylo killed Han. 

My theory speculates that Han is not dead, and that Rey is the actual chosen one, who has no father. Poe has Han’s role as the ace pilot, and Leia’s background, from a family that supported the rebellion. Finn has Leia’s role, the imperial insider trying to do right (trapped in a prison numbered 2187), and Han’s background, with no family or even a name of his own. Rey has Luke’s role, as the last hope, and Anakin’s background, the chosen one, of the light this time who will balance out Anakin’s Darkness. Kylo Ren has Anakin’s Role, as the troubled student who will fail to live up to his Master’s (Snoke) hopes. Ben Solo has Luke’s background, living with his Uncle before the call to action, frequently failing his way through the story, and falsely believing his father is dead.

Link to rest of (very long theory) ---> https://tmblr.co/Z_hTZq2Fh7hlU

This would mean that Kylo isn’t completely doomed, and could get a chance to go out like Vader, helping kill Snoke and saving Rey’s life or something.

But there is another possibility for redemption I want to talk about.

>AGAIN< .THIS. .IS. .WILD. .SPECULATION.

(That dares to treat Star Wars like it's Star Wars.)

Okay.

It seemed weird to me that Han and Leia give the same version of Kylo’s betrayal of Luke, even though neither of them has been able to find Luke and talk to him, or even each other.

There was also a suspiciously missing parallel. In the OT we are told that Anakin Skywalker was a good guy, but he turns out to be the primary antagonist himself. There is a similar revelation as Anakin becomes Vader in RotS, and that Palpatine is in fact, the Sith Lord. It simply wasn’t a surprise to us, like it was to the characters of the PT.

When the massacre at the temple happened, Luke Skywalker disappeared. The Jedi Master who surrendered himself to Darth Vader and the Emperor aboard the second Death Star, abandoned the galaxy went into hiding? This is something that many OT fans have taken issue with, but I suspect there MIGHT be an understandable reason.

We know very little about what happened at Luke’s temple. Only Han and Leia’s summary of what happened. That account is not first hand, it’s not even second hand. They were not there, and have not spoken to either of the two people to survive, and R2 has been in his self-induced coma.

What if we’ve been misled? What if the shocking revelation of this trilogy is that one of the Bad Guys isn’t as completely evil as we’ve been lead to believe? Instead of the old hat repetition of one of the heroic figures actually being a bad guy?

Luke survived the slaughter at the temple. The clip from the vision and trailer show both him and R2-D2 surrounded in smoke and fire. To me, it seems to imply to me that Luke is seeing the scene for the first time. Could that be something he was not present for? Luke Skywalker is a Jedi Master, one who could have defeated just about anyone, including Ben Solo. Luke chooses not to kill Vader in RotJ, AFTER defeating the ‘chosen one’ himself. Becoming the first person since Count Dooku to do so. 

Bloodline implies that Luke and Ben are frequently traveling through the unknown regions. Looking for new Jedi and the fragments of Jedi History. Leia doesn’t know exactly where they are, and that’s not exactly surprising to her. 

We also know from promotional material, that Snoke targeted Ben, but we don’t know many of the details.

I’ve speculated elsewhere in the theory that the Knights of Ren are not Kylo’s knights. That the name ‘Ren’ functions like Darth did for Palpatine and the Sith. We were told that Snoke forbids the use of Ben Solo’s name, and gave him the new one.

Kylo himself also gives us some interesting information. He calls Ben Solo weak, foolish and ‘like his father.’ What could possibly have happened that made Ben seem weak to Kylo? What did he do that Kylo find’s so foolish? 

Han shows up at the last second to save Luke from the Death Star. Han shows up at the last second to save Leia in the Hoth evacuation.  What could Ben have done that was ANYTHING like Han? And how did that go so completely wrong?

There are several parallels between Ben and Luke, and I think this is another. 

When Luke’s is training with Yoda his dark visions and impulsive temper lead him to abandon his training to go help his friends. Vader used Han and Leia, and their pain to draw Luke out from hiding on Dagobah, and away from finishing his training. 

Snoke targeted Ben.

What if Snoke had his knights of Ren attack the Temple, while Luke and Ben were not there. What if he targeted and tricked Ben into thinking he could save his friends and fellow students? What if the knights of Ren were sent to destroy the temple so that they could capture Ben Solo?

The knights of Ren were not related to Ben Solo. They had none of the familial connections that allow Luke to escape Vader, and Ben would have no friends or family left nearby if the Knights of Ren had already slaughtered those at the temple.

Failing to save his friends and fellows would leave Ben Solo feeling both weak and foolish, after trying to save his friends.After trying to save the day like all the stories of his father.

Luke may not know for sure, but arriving afterward he would have an idea of what might happened. He has known Ben a long time. He would have a number of heavy emotions to deal with and plenty of doubts either way. 

The galactic political situation is another question, and what about Han and Leia? I’m going to guess that Leia was spending a fair amount of time founding the resistance. Han was likely helping supply and fund said resistance, but I imagine they were not at the same place when news about Kylo Ren broke. 

Because that news would not have at the same time as the destruction of the temple. Again, during his fall, Snoke forbid the use of Ben Solo’s name and gave him the new one. Jedi Master Luke Skywalker could sense that there was still good in his father. He would have seen that depth of darkness in Ben. This would mean that Kylo Ren was not one of the knights of Ren that attacked the temple. He would have had to have already spent a great deal of time with Snoke and then not have that darkness noticed by the galaxies greatest Jedi master. I do not believe that is possible.

Ben would have had nowhere to go if he killed those at the temple. He also would have had nowhere to go if the entire galaxy THINKS he slaughtered the Jedi. 

They essentially kicked Leia out of the senate for not disclosing that she was Vader's child, and Leia never really trained in the Jedi arts. Ben is Vader's grandchild, who is not just strong but trained in the force. Snoke could use his imperial loyalists in the senate to further condemn Ben, but also Han and Leia and Luke. 

Ben didn't feel abandoned by his busy parents growing up. Kylo was born out of the frustration, and rage AT Snoke and the knights of Ren. So Snoke blames Han and Leia for abandoning Ben when Snoke had kidnapped him. Afterall Han, Leia, and Luke are legendary hero's who freed the whole galaxy from the empire. Why couldn't they just take the time to free Ben? Snoke tells Ben that it was because they don't want him. Eventually, Kylo believes him.

Which is why we find them in such different places at the beginning of TFA. They each feel responsible is small ways. They each see things that they could have done better. Without knowing the whole picture.

Luke would be conflicted about what to do, especially if he knows who Snoke is. But I also wonder if he might have finally found that mythical prophecy we hear so much about in the PT. They implied that’s what he was out looking for it.

What if he realized that Anakin wasn't the chosen one? And that he could not defeat Snoke and save Ben without the help of said chosen one?

Balance Theory assumes that Han Solo is not dead. Most OT folks weren't too big on Kylo's redemption even if Han wasn't dead. I’d like to know if this would make enough sense, and be enough for Kylo's redemption arc? Would it be enough for OT fans? as well as the ST fans? 

It would mean that the crimes Kylo still needs to atone for are primarily against our heroes. Seeing the light and helping destroy Snoke, and save Rey, Finn, and Poe, in addition to his family, would be significant steps in the right direction. Would that be enough to redeem Ben Solo?

What do you guys think? I'll take any kind of feedback I can get. I know it's crazy. But it's also Star Wars.

Thanks.

[fashiontrendin-blog]

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Entertains Some Crucial 'Game Of Thrones' Theories Ahead Of Season 8

http://fashion-trendin.com/nikolaj-coster-waldau-entertains-some-crucial-game-of-thrones-theories-ahead-of-season-8/

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Entertains Some Crucial 'Game Of Thrones' Theories Ahead Of Season 8

I tried to get Nikolaj Coster-Waldau on the phone for weeks.

He’d been camping on ice caps in the idyllic Greenlander boonies ever since he wrapped filming on the highly anticipated final season of “Game of Thrones.” Meanwhile, I was tethered to the desk in my AC-blasted open-plan office, hopeful that Jaime Lannister would one day call me back. I had hope. Winter was everywhere.

“Apparently, calling to the U.S. from Greenland is high risk,” he told me when we finally connected over a restricted line earlier this month.

In reality, any conversation between a “Game of Thrones” star and a member of the press is high risk. Creators Dan Weiss and David Benioff run a tight ship now that the HBO fantasy series has soared past George R.R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” books. Fans have never been as rabid as they are now, salivating over any small morsel of information offered about the show’s mysterious Season 8. 

At this point, no one knows when the final episodes will drop. We just know the hype portends them to be more ostentatiously cinematic than any of the series’ previous seasons. 

According to our favorite 48-year-old Denmark native, the six-episode Season 8 arc was the most grueling shoot he’s ever been a part of. “I think if it hadn’t have been the last season, people would’ve just collapsed,” he said. “We wouldn’t have made it. I mean, at one point the crew had 52 nights in one go in Northern Ireland. Just unheard of.”

So maybe the ice-cap vacation was well deserved. Either way, here’s our restricted-line phone conversation in full (though slightly edited for clarity), in which we talk about what he imagined happening in Season 7, what it was like to act out his last scene with Cersei and what he made of Gendry’s inexplicably fast running.

And yeah, he knows how the series ends and just won’t tell us.

After seven seasons of playing Jaime Lannister, you, my friend, finally received an Emmy nomination.

I know. I wore them down, slowly but surely. [Laughs] No, I was very surprised and very happy.

How did it feel to see your name up there for the first time?

I was on another trip in Greenland and I was standing in the airport with my two daughters and our two dogs and we’d been rerouted. I was trying to persuade this cop to allow me to take the dogs out because they were about to … I’d say pee their pants, but they were ready to go. Then, I got the call [about the Emmys] and it was very confusing — a perfect way to find out. The cop then allowed the dogs to go out so it was a huge moment of joy for the dogs and for me. For different reasons, but we shared the joy.

You’re not only up against your brother, Tyrion Lannister, but Commander Waterford, Jim Hopper, Saul Berenson and Prince Philip. All these amazing supporting characters. Are you afraid of the competition?

No, no, no, no, should I be? I’m thrilled!

On “Game of Thrones,” we’re such an ensemble cast and there’s a feeling of “we’re doing this together.” So I see myself there representing the actors with [fellow nominees] Lena [Headey] and Peter [Dinklage], and I’m just thrilled to be there. The other actors in the category are all tremendous, but I don’t feel any anxiety or fear. Also, the show got 22 nominations! It really is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s unbelievable.

Do you think there’s a scene from last season that solidified your place on the Emmys roster?

I don’t know. I’ve been getting to play in so many great scenes over the years and there were a couple of big scenes in Season 7. There was Diana Rigg’s [Olenna Tyrell’s] last scene, which was beautifully written. I forgot to mention that she’s also nominated [for Guest Actress], which is very well deserved. And then my final scene with Lena [Cersei Lannister]. We’ve built up to that for seven seasons so it was just a great way to end it. But I don’t know! I think I’m the wrong person to answer these things without sounding creepy or disgusting.

You’ve just got to be into yourself, Nikolaj.

You just got to be into yourself and it’s just, no, no. I’m not. 

HBO

In all seriousness, that scene between Jaime and Cersei was one of the best of the entire series, let alone Season 7. How did it feel to read that finale script and realize how far Jaime had come to shut down Cersei for the first time?

One of the difficult things with this show as an actor — and I speak for myself — is, up until Season 3, I knew what was going to happen. Then, after that, the writers kept everything very close to the chest. They didn’t share anything but the scripts. Now, of course, you use your imagination all the time, so I kept imagining what would happen after we finished the season. You build these whole storylines up and then suddenly you come back and you read the scripts and you go, “Oh, well, how am I going to do that? How am I going to get to that point?” In my mind, after Season 6 ― which ends with Jaime coming back [to King’s Landing] and seeing Cersei on the throne ― I imagined a lot of other things happening.

Dan and David have always played the long game the way they stretch things out, so when you get the payoff it really pays off. And we had a lot of almost heated discussions about how I was going to get to that point [with Cersei]. Like, [I asked], “Why don’t they discuss in depth the death of their son [Tommen]?” And they told me, “Well they do, but we don’t see that.” So all those things. It’s so much fun and difficult, and it’s also very frustrating. But then when you finally find your way, it’s very rewarding. For me, anyway.

I’m sure it’s tricky navigating it all. 

What I’m saying though, is I thought that end scene in Season 7 would have happened before. For me, playing Jaime, when he gets to that point, it really was “finally!” Finally he says no. Finally he stands up to her. It was such a brutal scene because they’re playing two different games: Cersei’s playing the game of thrones and Jaime’s playing the honest game of survival, and trying to accommodate both his sister and his brother. I hope that makes sense? 

It makes perfect sense to me because just watching Season 7, it really did fly through so many storylines. I mean, Gendry’s speed-running to the Wall alone threw everyone for a loop. Do you feel that’s because the writers didn’t have George R.R. Martin’s books to really lean into for that exposition in the scripts like they’ve had in the past?

You’d have to ask Dan and David since it’s their show. I think that they definitely spoke to George R.R. Martin a couple seasons back to hear how he imagined the ending to be. But it’s not written, so it’s one thing to have an idea but when you’re writing it, it changes. Dan and David had a very specific end in sight and they also understand the fact that you don’t want to overstay your welcome. “Game of Thrones” has been such a success for that reason — you know there’s an end in sight and they’re not going to stretch it out.

But yes, Joe Dempsie, who plays Gendry, is a very, very fit young man, so I’m sure he can run that fast.

He’s a tremendous runner.

HBO

Speaking of Joe Dempsie, we interviewed him last year and he said he could actually be Cersei’s legitimate son. Do you have thoughts on this theory?

She’s been a busy bee, my dear sister. [Laughs] There are so many theories out there that you comment on one and then it takes on its own life. But, yes, I’ve heard that Gendry [pause] … I think Joe just wanted to get on the throne and that’s why he’s putting it out there.

Spoilers are hard to come by, especially going into Season 8, but in the script for “Dragon and the Wolf” it says Jaime is now “a lone horseman heading north on the Kingsroad.” So can we assume Jaime is heading north toward his brother, right?

Well, he is heading north. I don’t think you can assume that he’s going to make it up there, but who knows. For sure, we see him head north. He might be eaten by dragons, you never know. Or he might just stumble, things happen. Or he might find the love of his life and suddenly he’s like, “God, this is it. No more.”

Well, we hope you’re heading north to be with Brienne! The true love of your life.

Ohhh, well, who knows? [Laughs] I don’t, well, I know how it ends but … no, I can’t comment on that.

You did mention that Jaime sports a beard next season, so we know some things.

Well, he’s on the road for a while. Wherever he is going it takes some time, so his hair grows. He didn’t bring a trimmer this year. He’s always carried this little, neat, traveling trimmer, but he left that behind since it was a quick departure.

He forgot all his toiletries.

As fans of Jaime’s character arc, we are hoping you go fight with the good guys. And we have talked in the past about Valyrian steel and how Jaime is the owner of one of these deadly weapons.

Yes, you would think it’d come in handy if you had to fight the White Walkers. It’s true. But who knows.

I just hope you don’t stumble into a White Walker on your own when you’re on the road…

Well he’s got the Valyrian steel! He could’ve made his hand into Valyrian steel instead of a gold hand — that would’ve been clever.

That would’ve been very smart! Or dragonglass, perhaps.

Wouldn’t it be cool to see an epic “Avengers”-like moment with all of you owners of Valyrian steel — Jaime, Brienne, Jon, Sam, Arya — just taking out White Walkers?

Mmmm, that would be cool. [Laughs] But let’s just wait and see if that happens. I’m so excited.

Cersei’s playing the game of thrones and Jaime’s playing the honest game of survival, and trying to accommodate both his sister and his brother. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Back to some serious business, leaving Cersei is also leaving your unborn child…

Those things are 100 percent connected. That’s also what he told her, he says, “What’s the point? If we don’t defeat this threat, there is no future for our child.” I think he’s doing it for the right reasons, he gave his word, but also it’s the future of mankind and the future of him and Cersei that’s at stake.  

Now there is that prophecy that says she only has three children – so what are your thoughts on this? Is it Jaime’s baby? Is it Euron Greyjoy’s? Could she be tricking you?

[Laughs] How depressing! But, no, I can’t say anything. Euron Greyjoy…

Yeah, no one likes that guy.

I’m sure Season 8 is a game-changer for Jaime and the rest of these characters. Can you tell me anything about how you felt when you read the final season’s scripts? Were you satisfied as a fan of this world?

I wrote the writers when I finished reading and just said, “I don’t think you could’ve done a better job at finishing this story.” To me, it was very satisfying but also very surprising and all the things that I was hoping for. It still made sense. It wasn’t like one of those where the killer is suddenly revealed in the last act and you go, “Oh! I didn’t see that coming.” Here, they’ve done a really, really good job.

And you made it to the final season!

I know! It was a surprise. God, every time we got a new script I thought, “OK, this is probably going to be the one.” But no. The Lannister kids made it to the end.

How was it finally saying goodbye to this character being that it is the show’s final season?

It was a little bit emotional at the very, very end. It’s also just a build-up because throughout the season we had a lot of teary goodbyes and farewell dinners. When my turn came around, I really didn’t think it was going to phase me, but I have to admit that right when they said, “This is a series wrap for Nikolaj,” there might have been a tiny bit of moisture in the air, just around my eyes. [Laughs] But that was it, that was it.

I’m sure you went out and had a few beers or cocktails with your cast and crew to lift your spirits. 

Yeah. We did, we did. We had quite a few of those. And whether we’ve been in scenes together or not, almost all of the season was shot in or around Belfast. So for the first time in all these years, the whole cast was, more or less, in town together the whole time. It was just a lot of fun to hang out and spend time together and appreciate what we’ve experienced and how lucky we are to be a part of this show. Yes, the success of the show is great, but it’s really also meeting all these people in Belfast ― it’s the same crew from Season 1 to the end. It’s a special thing. And someone said we’ve had no assholes, which is quite extraordinary, really. You look at a workplace of more than 1,000 people, and there are no assholes.