#but i still think some of the character designs are cute.. (cube was my favorite) <3

[rhinoyo]

obscure protag girls that have crushes on princes

[project-sekai-facts]

What's ur fav piece of trivia for every* character?

(*or at least as much as you can recall off the top of ur head)

my favorite trivia for characters is usually just whatever i think is funniest so just keep that in mind. that's not always the case but you might see it become a pattern. oh the other thing is whatever is most soul-crushing so yeah.

Ichika - either the fact her name comes from how her parents met (because i think it's really sweet) or that she accidentally discovered miku when she was watching videos on her dad's tablet and opened a recording of a miku concert

Saki - she used to listen to the song Time Machine when she was in hospital (at Ichika's recommendation) to remind her of family and friends. It's the in-universe reason why she is featured on the cover. This is actually one of my favorite facts in the game overall.

Honami - she is surprisingly good at flirting

Shiho - not one I've posted before, but in Run! Sports Festival! she couldn't bring herself to throw any of the balls in the ball toss because they had cute animal designs on them

Minori - she once passed out because Haruka wished her happy birthday.

Haruka - she likes penguins because she thinks the way they waddle is cute and she likes how round a lot of penguin merch is

Airi - she followed all of Shizuku's campaigns and bought all the magazines she was featured in when she was still a member of Cheerful*Days. She insists it was just research.

Shizuku - either that she usually has a thermos of miso soup on her to eat after practice or archery club or that she isn't good at texting. i haven't posted either of these before

Kohane - again one I haven't posted yet, but her favorite photo she's taken of Count Pearl is one of Pearl eating mice. the rest of VBS are surprised that she isn't squeamish about that sort of thing (i dunno what they're talking about that sounds like a very cool photo).

An - the possible symbolism of the black stripe on her new school cardigan. hello to the person who submitted that i am still not over it.

Akito - in Cinema he's the only person to sing solo during the first two choruses, the others don't get solo parts in the chorus until the end of the song. i think about this one a lot actually

Toya - he can't swim

Tsukasa - he's the comedic relief and there's a lot of really random shit i know about him because of that, so my favorite fact about him is whatever will have the most impact in the moment if i were to mention it out of nowhere. for a less vague answer, this one although i consider it to be one of my worst posts

Emu - she's very good at replicating cartoon faces. i like this one because it raises a few questions about whether the L2Ds are still exaggerated or if she just looks like that and no one questions that she actually has a cartoon face. what if project sekai ends with them all becoming self-aware.

Nene - either the fact that she thinks the forest has good graphics or that she called rui's mom "auntie" when she was younger because i think it's cute.

Rui - i like a good reference and i appreciate that he sometimes references famous people and media.

Kanade - she's left handed. i also like that her family name was made up specifically to contrast with the rest of N25.

Mafuyu - either that it's shown one time that she can see ghosts and then it's never brought up or referenced again, or that the "mom's cooking" listed as her favorite food might refer to the bunny-shaped apple slices her mother would make for her when she was a kid. i also like the detail that her eyes being two-tone is because she inherited the eye colors of both her parents.

Ena - twitter user. also despite loving cheesecake, she doesn't like cheese. girl what the hell.

Mizuki - they started out editing by making AMVs for a magical girl anime they liked. Amia comes from the name of a character from that anime. also did you know they put ice cubes in noodles because of their sensitive tongue. ice cubes.

Bonus - some side character stuff I like

Kotaro's favorite food is strawberries but he doesn't like strawberry flavored things for whatever reason

Asahi and Sakurako's family names are Chinese mythology references

Tatsuya's hobbies are motorbiking and fishing. these are not things you expect to go together

Nagi hated tomatoes but she would eat them in front of An

Iori hates spicy food, whilst Mio's favorite food is super spicy ramen. Meanwhile Mio doesn't like cream, but Iori likes crepes (which usually have cream on them).

Souma started listening to foreign music after Arata left for America

gbr i forgot about the vocaloids for a second but before i call it a day i think it's incredibly funny that Len cannot reach the stools in crase cafe.

[diacripticcomplex]

My absolute favorite DL characters in no particular order:

🌸 YUI KOMORI 🌸

Never understood the hate towards Yui. Again the anime is a promo for the game and it did not do her character justice at all. The prequel and sequels for some of the mangas did her character justice. She’s a very kind and compassionate person, she’s HUMAN and grew up in a church, she’s a soft girl who doesn’t like violence so y’all can only imagine what this girl has to go thru meeting a bunch of bloody thirsty horny vampire boys, who have severe parental issues and a bunch of other abusive behavioral problems, but she is very patient with each and every brother in all the routes and I love that about her, she’d be a really good therapist too lmao. She’s an Angel, must be protected at all times. I won’t tolerate any Yui hate on this blog.

❤️‍🔥 AYATO SAKAMAKI ❤️‍🔥

Poster boy for the entire franchise. A lot of people find him to be annoying, he is annoying and we love his Aries self for that. While Ayato is a menace to society he’s got a good side to him as well and for the most part knows right from wrong, more than some of the fandom gives him credit for. I also really like his character design, he kinda looks like a mean little bat. They give him a lot of cute and playful moments with Yui and I think that’s beautiful especially in a dark themed game series, they have serious moments but also a lot of light hearted moments and I think that’s important to lighten up the mood sometimes.

👨‍🌾 YUMA MUKAMI👨‍🌾

First off, I absolutely love his character design, the messy long hair and he’s a giant too plus they gave him realistic human hair and eyes to show that he used to be human, maybe I’m thinking too deep on it idk. I absolutely love the identity crisis he had due to his amnesia and the connection with Shu, it brought that twin flame connection back, I love those best friend tropes a lot, his voice actor also is Mako from Free! So I have no choice but to Stan Yuma. Yuma also has a lot more self awareness then the rest of his adoptive brothers and thinks ahead due to his past experiences, he knows that he’s a vampire now but still has a garden for food and has sugar cubes with him at all times, he uses his past experiences and acknowledges that it happened then moves forward he doesn’t dwell on it too much.

🔪AZUSA MUKAMI🔪

He’s a lil creepy, and socially awkward at times but he’s just so relatable sometimes. He’s very soft spoken and he a lil wild with his pain tolerance and some of the out of pocket shit that he says, but I think he’s such a sweetheart, protect him at all costs as well, even his brothers know to protect him at all costs.

🎻 SHU SAKAMAKI 🎻

Shu will forever be my favorite DL boy, he doesn’t like doing anything but can do everything and do it perfectly too. He has severe ptsd, depression, and detachment issues. No you can’t fix him even Yui realizes this and just accepts him for who he is because that’s the only way it’ll work. He’s also hilarious without even trying to be, he says some mean shit at times but it’s so unhinged like damn Shu you don’t have the energy to eat, shower, wipe your ass but you got the energy to completely disrespect all your siblings with a few words. Also his beef with Reiji is somewhat familiar grounds especially if you have a sibling that is constantly irritating your soul. I always felt like I could relate to Shu the most due to him having a hard time getting close to people after losing his best friend, he can’t just get over it either, I don’t like when people would say “oh it happened a long time ago” yes it did but everyone heals at their own pace and it’s important to acknowledge that as well.

[woolydemon]

what are your thoughts on blurr?

I HAVE... MANY OF THEM. This is gonna be a long one (also im assuming ur talking abt tfa blurr)

First impression

I was just scrolling though the TFA tags before finishing my first watch of the show (bc... I'm like that I guess. I am willing to spoil myself stuff just so I can see fanart of them before I finish the show </3) and OF COURSE I saw him.

I immediately was like "OH,, HIS DESIGN IS FUN,," and he was a lil hyped up for me based on how ppl are like "look at this lil cute boy <33!!!!!"

Impression now

He's... not a "lil cute boy <33". But thank goodness he isn't bc I love him for that.

hearing his voice for the first time caught me off guard since ppl were drawing him.. In a certain way that doesn't quite indicate how much of a cringe nerd he actually is. He's just such a weirdo!! And thank god for that!! I wouldn't want him any other way, also I related heavily to his talking habits that's where the roots of kinning happened </3

What's also cool is that he is still kinda badass while still definitely being such a dweeb, like he ran across the galaxy!!! How did he do that??? Fucked up. Also despite being somewhat eccentric, he is definitely one of the most level headed characters on the show and that's just a fun concept to me :]

Favorite moment

probably all 13 minutes he appears in the show?????? (listen. i like him a lot)

like idk even his appearances in Velocity are interesting bc like... What is he thinking while all of this is happening.

is frothing at the mouth with rage at being controlled like a remote control toy car?? Is he freaking out over the fact he almost killed bumblebee?? is he impressed by how bee was able to quickly access situations and respond accordingly to them?? The possibiwittys..

but aside from that i just love seeing blurr being blurr at any moment, I give him full permission to infodump at all times

(also i love seeing him banter with bumblebee, wish we got more of that dynamic but alas </3)

Idea for a story

ooogh... i got some ideas.

I love seeing stories abt him dealing with the cube trauma but sometimes I think about what if he just went over to shockwave in prison and lashes out at him but in the end it just. Doesn't make him feel better and he's like "WOW. THIS SUCKS I NEED THERAPY"

Then there's an AU I've been thinking of where Blurr joins the crew from the start bc Ultra Magnus wanted someone to keep direct tabs on Optimus for him (and also intel didn't want to deal with him anymore so they just willingly sent him away </3) then u explore how he fits into the crew now (bonus points if he actually joins illegal street racing on his own terms this time, and then bee finds out and is like "dude what the fuck". There's reasons for this of course- this didnt come outta nowhere)

Then there's all the blurrbee fics that are in my brain, but the one I find rlly fun and interesting is Blurr gets forced to have a partner bc the cube incident and of course he's like "no!! I want to avoid social interaction bc i have social anxiety problems" but he looks at the list of new elite guard members for him to mentor and he sees. Bumblebee on that list. Apparently Bee's got the chops to be a really good scout, plus his reputation as a member of Team Prime made them willing to accept him into the Elite Guard. So now Bee is mentored by Blurr and is also Blurr's emotional support bot, plus they go on fun adventures and fall in love <3 good for them

Unpopular opinion

as I've said.. blurrs not a "lil cute boy". He's not some pushover!!! he's immensely stubborn and does not let willingly let anything get in his way!! He is also super intolerant of bullshit so he's probably going to shut down any of that before it gets out of hand

also while i do rlly like the idea of longarm and Blurr being friends, I think it's rlly funny if they were bitter workplace rivals and constantly going back and forth being extremely passive aggressive while maintaining professionalism. Like how blurr was sent to earth by longarm before he was able to get his breakthrough on the Flipsides case!! I imagine that conversation being like

Longarm: hello agent Blurr, I know you have been dedicating a lot of time and energy in figuring out who amongst the entertainment guild could possibly be a sleeper agent but I'm afraid I will have to postpone that by sending you in earth to monitor Optimus prime and his crew uwu

blurr: oh. .. thats. Completely fine sir. *Cuts to him later banging his head against the wall*

Favorite relationship

hmm.. I wonder whats my favorite relationship with Blurr in it?????? wat a mystery.. /j

OK Yeah. Its Blurrbee. I'm just so in love with their dynamic in the show and also what ISNT in the show. There's actually this bit in the Allspark Almanac where Blurr talks about how he thinks of Bumblebee as slightly annoying but has his heart in the right place and??? That's so sweet?? Blurr genuinely has a good opinion of Bee from the start and respects him which is. Very different from how a lot of other bots see Bumblebee.

I'm just saying, blurrbee dynamics ARE THERE and they are INTERESTING!!! Please think abt them please think abt them plea

Favorite headcanon

I think Blurr is very defensive of any friends he manages to actually have. Like he cares abt ppl like Wheelie and Dug Base A LOT.

You can call him a weirdo all you want, he doesn't care. But you start making fun of how Wheelie or Dug Base talk?? Ur gonna face his righteous fury!!!!!! He will end ur life and I might not be joking about this

[prettywarriors]

what are some of your favorite and least favorite magical girl raising project designs? and your thoughts on magical daisy just because she's my fav

Heck yes opinion time! But first what you asked for:

Magical Daisy Good. The yellows-browns-beige works really well with both the purple accents and the minty green hair. She has pleats distributed evenly through her design, and they work in tandem with both the ribbons and with the daisies through her outfit without it getting too busy. I like her detached sleeves with gloves, and I am a sucker for practical footwear on a MG (both for them and for possible cosplayers) I’m not Crazy about the. Pouch? Asymmetrical bustle? The thing off her waist on her right. But it balances with her off-center headdress and has the same small design on it so it get’s a pass. Her hair is simple, but I like it and I think it works for her A good design for an anime (if the MGRP anime had done really well, do you think we would have gotten an in-universe magical daisy episode?)

Other opinions under the cut

Haha only giving opinions on 3 girls? I’m reading Peaceful Days now so enjoy my speed thoughts on MGRP-Aces outfits.

But first Maruino deserves so much recognition because her use of cream and dark brown in place of white and black whenever possible, combined with her chibi style and general color pallet choices, is so good. I know I’ve talked about the LN look vs the anime looks here before, but some designs would just look not nearly as good if she didn’t know how to use colors as well as she does

MGRP:

Snow White- School uniform with an armband indicating she is someone who can help, but with flowers. It’s cute, it’s fairly simple compared to other mgrp outfits, I like the big flowers on the sides of her outfit over the ones hanging from the ribbons off her back. A solid look, but not a winner in my book

Ripple- This is going to come up with quite a few of these designs but I like basically everything but the body. I like the sleeves, the geta are great, love the one ponytail with big shuriken, scarf brings great contrast to the rest of the color scheme, bikini top with ribbons attaching it to a wrapped skirt? The skirt feels like this could have been a keikogi but the top is almost wholly unadorned and overall I wish this was a better look than it is

La Pucelle- Great idea, meh execution. Knight And Dragon? Love it! The navy blue for military feels with armor and goes well with the gold&cream&brown. Her horns are cute! I like the tail- it fits the character and isn’t too large or distracting. Once again I like the arms-neck-legs but the body is. a bikini with a drapery bit off the top and the tabard. The tabard is good! But why is she in her underwear? Give pants??? 

-And yes I know swimsuits cover just as much as underwear but this isn’t a swimsuit and it’s a lazy way to cover what needs to be cover and not even try to make that area of a design more interesting. This doesn’t apply just to LP or even MGRP I have seen comments on this before and unless the character’s outfit is an actual bathing suit, try harder.

Top Speed- A wife. A halloween wife. God I lover her personality and her outfit is definitely on the simple end of mgrp outfits but very fitting. The colors are great, love the hat and the tall boots, the cape stripes might be my least favorite bit? But I feel if it was solid it would be too bland so. And the end of her braids looks like a broom. I love her. Good design.

Ruler- I hate this. But why..... Is it the navy blue is a singular piece? I liked Ripple’s scarf for contrast but maybe this piece isn’t large enough? Her head things look like two crowns on the sides of her head and their weird and. Not awful? But not great. The cape looks chunky at the end? In a weird way? Or is it the drop waist on the top. I know I don’t like the butt fluff. I do like the shoes&leggings? pants? And her crown and hair stars. bad/10 for reasons I can not place

Swim Swim- Techno demon in the accessories, pure schoolgirl in swim class in the torso. The white suit+black devil wings is good as character contrast , and her....hip...discs? have demony tails which is good, but the big headphones and floating disc things work great with the shoes but not with the rest of the outfit? This is two outfits in one but not in a good way. Pick a lane.

Minael&Yunael- They might not be super-murders but boy that’s their only redeeming trait. I do not like them as fictional people. And outfitwise? Meh. I like the chat balloon halos, and the one wing look for the two of them works, and again the use of Navy rather than pure black is good, but the old fashioned dress with a bib is. boring. and not in a simple way just not interesting? Like I think if the stiped bib thing was removed it might look better? This also might be a secret hatred of mine as I think I have figured out from a later outfit. For now- boo

Tama- Are you spotted or brown&white? Her fluff bits and legs say spotted and her ears and tail and paws say brown and white and I wish we’d pick a lane? Also not crazy about the butt-length cape. I do like the bone clasp and the hood, and you have to have big ol paws for a dog girl. She’s. Fine. Just fine.

Nemurin- Her hair clouds say magical girl, the rest says generic cute sleepy anime girl. I like the socks, and her hair, but she’s not that interesting? Don’t get me wrong she’s cute but the bulk of her design is Big PJs. The candy clasp is nice as a sweet dreams thing? Sorry Endo

Calamity Mary- Titty fur. Boots with spurs and arms with fringe and mini cowboy hat are all good, and her skirt is. A little boring but fine. But the best part of her top is the sheriff badge. If we’re committed to evil=slutty=evil, you can still make a more appealing lewd top than a bikini over some fluff. Let sluts be sexy? Stay dead bitch.

Magicaloid 44- Elementary schoolgirl but robot. Bulky but in that smooth modern look. I’m a sucker for hair horns, even when they’re metal or plastic, and she just has a good silhouette. But her colors could be better? I will say her mn art has her skirt look like a skirt, and the anime said This Is A Solid Hunk Of Plastic/Metal and I think that works better. Swap her dark brown bits for a navy to go with her skirt and i think i’d be out of complaints

Sister Nana- There are multiple MG nuns. What’s up with that. Good use of sexy belts for theme consistency, but I with there was more red up top or her shoes were a different color. 9/10 for dirty nun

Weiss Winterprison- Girl I love you why is your outfit not good as a MG look or even really as an outfit. Your practical looking boots have heels, your colors are boring and messy, you have like. belts but not enough for them to look interesting? Gurl I love you do something with this bland mess.\

Cranberry- ‘I love this’ I say threw clenched teeth. I love green and flower motifs, and I like boleros and big sleeves. But I’m not that into this? I think it’s that her top looks like a nice shirt that’s a little long and then she. Just has leggings on and a big belt. I guess the buckle is like. A big thorn? And i’m into tunics with leggings but this doesn’t? do that in a way I like? The red-blue roses are a nice contrast to the green and creme but i just. I have no idea I want to be in love with this and it’s Middling for me. More elf ear’d MGs pls

Hardgore Alice- I love alice, I am a fan of edgy spins on stuff(sorry), so I’m a bit disappointed? And I think it’s just the colors? I love the checkered pockets and the striped stockings and bows and the headband and apron and bloomers and dress shape and even her eye bags (mood). I guess I just wish there was more of the off white-maybe for the full apron? or even the bloomers? I love you please re-color.

Restart:

Keek- This bitch might win it for worst look. I like her hair color, and giant sleeves, and the cd and rubix cube are nice touches for an outfit, but what outfit. A bikini top and slightly-larger-than-usual underwear style bottom with a big plate of metal? Are those supposed to be shorts??? Points for normal shoes but take off the coat and this is nothing. And the coat isn’t much to begin with. 0/10 might take home the gold

Clantail- I wish the apron part was gone? But the colors are good tho I do have a question about the horns- they’re cute but if she can change her lower body to other animals they won’t always fit very well? And her necklaceuhhh tattoo? is odd. But she’s fine

Pechika- Good colors, like the feathers, I wish the chef’s coat had a different fit but it’s good. Could go without the tail. Also has some almost military feeling elements like the hair cross and the? epaulets? This is a spats stan account

Rionetta- Great use of colors, patterns, ribbons, has a specific look that works great for the doll dress. Hell year ball joints and weird eyes. Wonderful. I hate it. No fucking clue why. Like with the angels maybe? I hate strips? Except I don’t. Maybe just in specific situations? Or I hate multiple patterns? Rio looks good. I just see her and go into a rage. 

Nonako Miyokata- A very good look overall, just not super Magical Girl? Definitely magical miko but. The yin yang accessories feel a tad out of place- replace them with existing themes or add them in elsewhere

Magical Daisy- Still good

Nokko- This is just a maid. A cute maid with a weird choice of hair decor, but I think she got her outfit at the same shop as Milkit. *shrug*

@Meow-Meow- boy I hope I didn’t just at someone for real. I like her colors and tail, poofy detached sleeves are good, her top works with the open dress. I’m a fan of detailed edging on a piece, and it works with the pattern.  I’d’ve liked to see more of the bells that are on her wrists? I guess she had a racist accent originally though which yikes. 

Genopsyko Yumenoshima- A great sentai outfit, love the helmet ears and the tail. Not good as a magical girl outfit unless we fully dissolve the mg/sentai line. But the suit is great, slightly oversized gloves, and retro lasergun that doesn’t even work? Yesssss.

Detec Bell- Fwuffy. Great hat, love the dress, a good use of a cape, simple but very good. I feel a feel some of the ribbons could be changed up but a solid if simple design. 

Lapis Lazuline (2)- Cute starry tiger princess? I guess I’m a fan of navy and brown because i’m into it here too. Good use of the silvery details on the sleeves and dress bottom, and the links both at the cape clasp and on the boots. Really nice.

Melville- Bootleg Cranberry in every way. I like her over-pants and sleeve-cape, but the weird bib-top under the bikini top is a bad shape? Hair roses good and leg thorns do get a thumbs up. 

Cherna Mouse- If the turtle gets it’s own distinct look, why is Cherna just baby+ hamster? The hood is cute, and I dig the boots which work with the shoulder things, but said things don’t go with the toddler one piece+cape. She reminds me of Moetan and that is a bad thing.

Pfle- Ohhh this bitch. I may have been reading these books but I have no damn idea what she is up to and I hate it. Love her eyepatch tho. Super cute throne-wheelchair and it continues the bird motif. Her dress is nice but not that interesting? Seems more generic old timey fancy lady dress than Magical. Honestly I could go for some mixing up of the colors here? The dress and hair and throne all are a bit too similar. Maybe make the dress wine?

Shadow Gale- I like her look but I don’t feel it says nurse as much as it’s supposed to? Her aces profile honestly gives Rue vibes. It’s very monochromatic but I guess that works for her. Big fan of her skirt, kindof with it went all the way around. Solid design

Masked Wonder- Who? I refuse to play person5 because it’s been overhyped but isn’t this one of them? Not awful as a phantom thief outfit, but doesn’t say magical girl phantom thief at all. I do like the roses on the belt and. garters? Kindof wish we’d loose the color on the cape because it clashes more than anything with the rest of the look

Akane- I like her long hair flower. But her samurai-kimono look doesn’t feel blended well enough imo and the colors are too over the place while still being bland.

Lake of Fire Flame Flamey- Hell if I know how she looks I just love typing that name

Limited:

Weddin- Good colors, a bit too busy? The chains+roses+lace doesn’t feel well balanced. But the flame and ankle chain are balanced because Maruino is good at asymmetrical details 

Captain Grace- A pirate magical girl? Is she legit the only one from any main stream series? Well she set the bar high. The captain coat is great, multiple small anchors, the hat, and her skirt(?) is very cute. I guess the sole of the boots stands out a bit? But very solid (wait is that a tail? or a butt hook? :/)

Funny Trick- If Las vegas was a magical girl. Colors and silhouette are good, I’m just not vibing with this. sorry girl

Kuru-kuru Hime- Yiss more ballet themed outfits. Good colors, love the shape of the giant back bow. I could go without the big ribbon coming off the headpiece? It’s nice

Postarie- Buttwings! I love her hair shape, just. Not a fan of the orange and green colors? She’s a delivery girl but feels more marching band. It’s a good design, just doesn’t feel fitting? Great just not for her

Rain Pow- Now this is a sci-fiy look while still saying magical girl. The tail is yet another weird thing, and I could go without the permeant ring behind her, but the shape of her outfit is very good, and love the silly heart hair. Wish the gloves were a different color? But this is up there

Tepsekemei- Genie outfits being problematic isn’t something I can speak to, but this is a solid genie look with additions to feel different, specifically the lotuses. It’s good, and I haven’t seen flying turtles since love hina so. Good for her.

Mana- You’re not a magical girl. Maybe I just hate bibs? The hat is great and snake leg is fun, I wish her collar was actually smaller to stand out more? It’s a fine mage look i guess

Hana Gekokujou- Great use of hair color as contrast to a committed color scheme. A cute traditional bunny look. Not personally my favorite but it is Good.

7753- Big Coat! Giant heart braids! Consistent heart theme! It’s bland compared to a lot of the other outfits, and I don’t think her flat heart uhh hair? pieces? like rain pow? work as well with her. But I think she works well for a member of the resources department. Wait is her hat backwards? Amazing

Archfiend Pam- I’m mostly a fan of this. The top is great, it’s carried through at one hip, she has the weird arm guy to keep her asymmetry going on. I just wish she’d commit to either fur Or pleats as trim? Both is a weird texture choice

Pythie Frederica- This bitch took a while for her proper appearance. I love the horns on the hood, and the stars throughout work well. I really don’t care for her skirtdress though? It’s too long and in ribbons and feels almost jellyfish-y? I feel it’s supposed to feel like she’s standing in fire but that doesn’t work pass a glance for me

Tot Pop- Love hot topic. Her spiky ribbon is my favorite bit, and I’m a fan of oversized sleeves. A great mall goth look, not amazing as a magical girl look tho. The head decor feels most on brand for the genre.

Punkin- What if the three musketeers were murderous and royalty. I love the hair feather and dig the ruff, the cape honestly feels like overkill? The boots are great and I dig the pants. Once again, why tails. I know mahou-furbies has reviewed a lot of these girls with the same comment and she’s right. Pick red or blue for this look though.

Sonia Bean- Kindof busy, in a garbage way. Like her outfit is made of fancy garbage to make an old timey doll. Which is fitting. Love the dress shape. Less into the weird dangly poofs.

Jokers:

Princess Inferno- The whole princess line works well together. Quake has the least Team outfit but I feel all four work well together? Inferno’s bikini is a smidge above other tops with the fire shapes, and I like her hair, but I think she’s my least favorite princess.

Princess Deluge- Swirls and scales throughout? Armor? Gold jewelry? My biggest issue is the chain to the weapon because this is a really nice outfit.

Princess Quake- Why does your tail start in the middle of the back? I like her leotard and eye theme, and her head piece adds nice shape. Good asymmetry. shame she’s into children The hair gem is a fun touch

Princess Tempest- The apples are a weird touch? Good for color but weird as a theme? I love the leaves- honestly I’m a huge fan of the vaguely toga-y look. Are the apples supposed to be an atlanta thing? Her skirt could be a bit better but Nice

Prism Cherry- Princess of our hearts. What a color scheme. Her oversized dangly accents work well here I feel, and I love the skirt and the leaf looking ribbon behind the neck. I could do without the arm fluff, but the top garter for the skirt is a nice touch

Marika Fukuroi- My wife is a bitch and I like her so much. A much more vibrant outfit than most of the mgrp girls, the black is edgy but in a fun loud way. I love her skirt and every damn crazy flower. Her top is my least favorite with the smaller flowers connecting her top to her bottom and the frills that honestly are out of place. Great eyes

Styler Mimi- A fancy outfit that fits her theme, with a nice silhouette and simple color scheme. Ruined by the giant back powder puffs. Yes she would be fairly simple without those but they’re so garish and awkward. Good hair

Stanczyka- I thought her middrif was another hunk of plaster like the mask and now that I see it’s just skin with some stars :/ The whole head thing is good, and the fur is consistent throughout even if I’m not a fan of it. The giant sleeves are. weird. I want to like them but. Her swirly tiddys are a nice touch. The brown hair on the tail doesn’t fit

Lady Proud- For someone who lived for a lot of pages I do not remember her. Her leotard works with the sleeves to feel like an old timey dress and the way the cape is being held up to look like bat wings is nice. The green layer in her hair is an odd choice. I do dig the hair clips with the horns

Umbrain- Froggy slicker. ...Sakura did it better, the yellow and purple&red is a meh color combo sorry. I do love the candy additions for the ame(rain) ame(candy) play, and her umbrella is great. But once again I am confronted by a bib. Also her slicker is actually two pieces? Bad colors, bad body, good theme

Filru- I like the colors and the corset, and in theory the chunky knitting is very cute but I feel it’s at odds with the boots and corset. Make the whole thing chunky knitting- it’d be cute. The head doily also could be more on theme imo

Uttakatta- again, what did you do? giant overalls are good in theory, but the slits and the. bubbles? clear donuts. are just ugly. Honestly her whole look is not good, and a bubble theme has so much potential for cool shit :(

Kafuria- good use of colors, I’m not personally into the shape of her kimono as a mg dress, but the wings and the veil+such are nice

Grim Heart- this bitch. God her dress is a great shape. I think i’m not fully into her spade tail ribbons, but otherwise love? The flamingo is Silly but again as an alice fan, i do not care (ask me about kagihime for 10000 words of rage!)

Shufflin- the tiny bib haunts me but the big double sides apron card piece is a nice way to do the simple and versatile Card look. The hair is cute and i like the suit as a big piece behind the head

Aces:

Armor Arlie- chunky suit of armor. but Cute. as an armor fan in MG designs, even I think this is A Bit Much, but it has enough going for it that i think it’s a fun look

Bluebell Candy- once again Maruino kills it with using navy very nicely. A military vibe with the epilates and double breasted uhh skirt decor. honestly shocked the hat is center, and mm good hair happenings. A very nice design. still not into the weird fluff tail stuff

Dark Cutie- Great hair decorations, love the lunar details, seems to be a leotard over leggings? It’s nice. It’s not crazy grabbing or stands out that much in silhouette, but i do like it

Micchan the Dictionary- tying your coat around your neck is not valid, motarboards are not good magical girl accessesories, i personally have an owl vendetta, the red in her shoes appears no where else, and the shape of her dress is just weird. plus that hair is. not good. Oh wow. I might rank her lower than keek. oh Wow

Glassianne- this is just that alcreamie pokemon. i wish the exposed strawberry went all the way down instead of there being more icing along the bottom. she has a consistent theme and nice colors, i’m not not digging it

Uluru- said dog. 7753 and tama’s child. she looks warm but not super magical. why is she dog themed?

Sorami Nakano- gamer aesth. I could do without the hair paws, but the jumper is super cute, love the eyes and the hair tones, general color scheme, bandaid is a cute touch. A solid look.

Premium Sachiko- good colors, i like the cut of the sleeves/boots/dress, but her art has her legs blend together and that’d just the art but weird. nice use of four leaf clovers and horseshoes throughout for her luck theme. 

CG Angel Hammer- I like the flowers and the bones tail/wings. The halo thing is. odd, and it’s hard to get a great idea of her actual outfit. weird hair choice, tiny bottom but at least it has some frills. Needs more art

Patricia- acab. great colors tho and I like the shapes for the shoulders and wrist, and the light theme. The bright blue ribbons and earrings stand out well. This is actually a really solid design. 

Puk Puck- i hate this baby angel there’s too much to look at. Your bondage leg is weird! cute chest piece. you can’t have cloud swirls and drills for hair damn it. your halo also has a veil? fuck you. 6/10.

Best Outfits: Princess Tempest and Grim Heart Worst Outfits: Keek and Micchan the Dictionary and Uttakatta

[ygocollablove]

@augustwritingchallenge‘s 2020 monthly prompts have come to a conclusion, and YGO Collab Love would like to present all its members who participated this year!

Before that, I would like to give thanks/applause to @cieryuu for creating the banner above (and another round to @darkmagiattack/@crshrs for making the template). Look how adorable it is! <3

There are many pieces still in progress even after the challenge’s end day, and we are excited for the day that the fics will all come to completion. Otherwise, please give love and comments and feedback to the pieces listed below!

For Art submissions...

scemo vampire yami Bakura by @crshrs Vampire AU Rating: Teens and Up Blood warning

For General Audiences...

Step One College, Step Two Take Over the World by Souless_Robot ( @soulessrobot ) Status: COMPLETE College AU Characters: Chazz Princeton & Ojama Brothers Summary: “Step one: get into Neo Domino University,” Chazz lifted one finger and waved it in his spirit partners’ faces. “Step two: get a Ph.D. in dueling. Step three: get hired to teach at Duel Academy. Step four: take over the school.”

Dueling Royalty by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Modern AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Kaiba will block you on Twitter.

Diagnostic Don’ts by Souless_Robot Status: COMPLETE Hospital AU Characters: Jack Atlas, Seto Kaiba, Alexis Rhodes, Duke Devlin, Atem Summary: Dr. Seto Kaiba very much does not want any fellows in his diagnostic department. Unfortunately the hospital administrator Atem has different ideas. That's how Kaiba ends up with three fellows in his office. It's a good thing Kaiba doesn't plan to keep them for very long. He'll bet Wheeler he can get them to quit by the end of the week.

Mr. Jounouchi Will See You Now by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Role Reversal AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: The CEO of Jounouchi Corp. is known for being charming and lucky—not just a shrewd businessman who bravely took over the company for his alcoholic dad. Seto Kaiba is a bright kid who really needs to pay for his brother’s eye surgery.

Succ's to be You. by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Flower Shop AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Kaiba is the worst at office plants.

For Teens and Up...

Cafe Nervosa by Elexica ( @elexica ) Status: COMPLETE Coffee Shop AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Good morning, Domino! Dr. Seto Kaiba runs a call-in psychiatry radio show, and whether he wants to or not, he's listening. His sound engineer, Joey Wheeler, unfortunately has to listen too.

All the King's Men by Souless_Robot Status: COMPLETE Soulmate AU Pairing: Rivalshipping (Chazz Princeton x Jaden Yuki), Spiritshipping (Jesse Anderson x Jaden Yuki), Supreme King x Chazz Princeton Summary: Or Chazz is the Supreme King's soulmate but not Jaden's.

Wasted by Elexica Status: COMPLETE College AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Kaiba gets drunk at Mokuba's fraternity initiation party and does the cute orientation leader's calculus homework. He's bad at flirting, but he's good at math.

Blank Slate by KitsunePhantom09 ( @kitsunephantom09 ) Status: COMPLETE Soulmates AU Pairing: Kingcrabshipping (Jack Atlas x Yusei Fudo) Summary: Everyone has a mark signifying their soulmate. Yusei doesn't.

The Voice in My Head by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Soulmates AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: The month leading up to when you meet your soulmate is the only period in your life where you will hear another voice in your head, their thoughts streaming through your mind. For Jounouchi, it's hell.

Demon Days by Souless_Robot Status: COMPLETE Angels & Demons AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Joey never meant to be permanently assigned to earth after the events that take place in the Garden of Eden. Still, now that he is he really wishes he would stop running into his least favorite demon. Unfortunately, it seems the creator has other plans.

Cancelling the Apocalypse by Elexica Status: ONGOING Chapters 1/3 Post-Apocalyptic AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Are Joey and Kaiba drift compatible?

Straight to the Top by Souless_Robot Status: COMPLETE Band AU Characters: Joey Wheeler, Seto Kaiba, Yuugi Mutou, Chazz Princeton, Jaden Yuki Summary: Joey is a folk singer trying to break into the mainstream with her childhood friend Yugi. Too bad she gets nothing but problems most from the Kaiba corp record label run by the young CEO and music prodigy Seto Kaiba.

A Good Match by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Superheroes/Superpowers AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Or, Kaiba and Jounouchi can't wait for the whistle to start fighting.

Good Eggs by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Farm/Ranch AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Kaiba is forced to work as a farmhand the summer before college. Joey doesn't mind the company.

Mercy by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Crime AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Kaiba's a bit tied up at the moment.

Who You Gonna Call by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Treasure Hunters AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Ghost hunter Joey and skeptic Kaiba enlist Yugi's help in answering the question: Are ghosts real?

For Mature audiences...

And Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.” by KitsunePhantom09 Status: COMPLETE Vampire AU Characters: Yusei Fudo Summary: Rule #1: Never answer when you hear them knocking.

Dark Web by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Pirates AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: You wouldn't download a car. Kaiba would.

The line that stands between us is 100 lives worth living by SwordsAndSwongs ( @blue-eyed-priest ) Status: ONGOING Chapters 8/32 Pairing: Prideshipping (Seto Kaiba x Atem), Rivalshipping (Kaiba x Yuugi Mutou), Stoicshipping (Kaiba x Priest Set), and Puppyshipping (Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: In a world full of multiverses, who will Kaiba meet? Is it his Pharaoh, his enemies, his few friends? Or is it himself, waiting at the end of every step taken?

Demon in a Bottle by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Angels & Demons AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Kaiba overdoses.

Addicted (You’re My Favorite High) by KitsunePhantom09 Status: COMPLETE Crime AU Pairing: Kingcrabshipping (Jack Atlas x Yusei Fudo) Summary: Yusei has never felt like this before, and he desperately doesn't want it to end.

Netflix and Chill by auroraXborealis ( @xauroraxborealisx ) Status: ONGOING Chapters 11/? Pairing: Puzzleshipping (Yuugi Mutou x Atem) Summary: When the department of Human Resources from Kaiba Corp decides it is in the company’s best interest to send some of its employees on a team-building seminar for a whole weekend, Atem does not think his bonding experience with his colleagues will turn out to be this intense. Especially when he is thrown into a downward spiral of strange events with the one coworker he dislikes the most: Yugi. Now, they must work together to survive and figure out all the clues to make it back home.

Enemy Fire by KitsunePhantom09 Status: ONGOING Chapter 5/? Pairing: Kingcrabshipping (Jack Atlas x Yusei Fudo) Summary: Jack has just escaped a horrible alpha, but is in dire straits – heavily pregnant and out on the streets in the middle of winter does not bode well. But as his darkest hour arrives, so too does his savior.

Catalysts for Kindling by bewdofchaos ( @atems-leather-pants ) Status: ONGOING Chapters 11/? Pairing: Puzzleshipping (Yuugi Mutou x Atem), Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: In the eight months that Yugi and Atem have been roommates, they have formed a fast friendship over their fondness for coffee, late-night study sessions and video games. But recently, something has not been quite right. When Yugi receives a mysterious parcel, he is sent on an unexpected journey where each new step makes him reconsider everything he ever knew to be true… but mostly his relationship with his roommate.

The Dark Woods Circus’ Monster by KitsunePhantom09 Status: COMPLETE Circus AU Pairing: Kingcrabshipping (Jack Atlas x Yusei Fudo) Summary: Once, the circus was meant to wow and inspire its audience with feats of grandeur. Now it horrifies and terrifies them with unholy creatures of man's own design.

Time to fight fears, for once and for AUll by Seiyofira ( @seiyofira-doesntknowshiet ) Status: COMPLETE Chapters 11/11 Summary: These will be some scattered works for AU-gust 2020, which will either revolve around Yu-Gi-Oh! DM or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, I will put the used AU prompt as well as either YGO or JJBA at the beginning of each chapter. They do not build a consistent story!

For Explicit audiences...

Forgiveness by KitsunePhantom09 Status: COMPLETE Angels & Demons AU Pairing: Kingcrabshipping (Jack Atlas x Yusei Fudo) Summary: An angel is offered as a sacrifice by a cult to appease their lord.

Scrubs by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Hospital AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: The door to the supply closet doesn't lock, but that doesn't stop Drs. Kaiba and Jounochi from having an intimate moment.

Embrace me, Love. It's been a long day. by Cleopatra ( @writelovetomeempress ) Status: ONGOING Chapters 20/33 Pairing: Flareshipping (Seto Kaiba x Atem x Yuugi Mutou) Summary: Atem is gone, back to the Afterlife when the Ceremonial Duel was complete. A piece of Yuugi's heart went with him. Kaiba, with all his genius and all his tech, has found a way to use the Quantum Cube to claim the victory he was denied. Per a reluctant deal, Kaiba brings Yuugi along. All the bravado in the world couldn't prepare Yuugi for that final goodbye, and with shaky hands, he broke their world completely.

Porcelain Wings and Shattered Dreams by Life_0r_Death ( @life-0r-death ) Status: ONGOING Chapters 11/17 Pairing: Kingcrabshipping (Jack Atlas x Yusei Fudo) Summary: Paradox has come to take his revenge against Yusei Fudo, but a former king will sacrifice himself for the love of the greater good. Too bad sacrificing doesn't mean death, but a perpetual prison of different worlds, different dimensions where Jack gets to witness what could have been.

For fics Not Rated...

Doin’ Time by Elexica Status: COMPLETE Childhood Friends AU Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba x Joey Wheeler) Summary: Joey is trying to get a contraband cell phone in Juvie Hall. Kaiba is a little more ambitious.

A huge round of applause for everyone who participated and who are still fighting the good fight of completing their fics! We hope to join again next year and provide a plethora of amazing YGO-related fics for you all to read! Congratulations everyone!!

[sally-mun]

OKAY BITCHES ON TO PART 2!

Also don’t forget to check out Part 1 if you haven’t yet!

British

Okay so maybe it’s in poor taste to start the British section with dolls I’m not actually sure are British, but fuck it. The one on the left is a doll I’m reasonably sure I got from a British seller, and the one on the right seems to just be a scaled-up version of it, SO. That’s what I’m going with.

No joke, the left doll is my favorite Sonic plushie EVER. It’s so incredibly fluffy and the proportions are just right and it’s really well-made and AUUGHH I LOVE HIM. Interestingly the doll on the right is made of the same uber-fuzzy material, but it doesn’t have as much of a fluffy effect because of the larger scale. Also the shoe stripes are ribbons for some reason, which makes them stand out from all the other dolls.

So this is from a line of dolls that, as far as I’ve ever seen, are simply known as “Europe prize” plushies. I don’t know if they were actual prizes for some sort of game or claw machine or whatnot, but that’s how I tend to see them listed. These dolls are REALLY nicely made and incredibly cute, like way more than usual. I also have the Knuckles from this set, but he doesn’t live in this net so he’s not pictured here.

I know this line also included Sonic (obviously), Amy, and Shadow, but I’m not sure who else. I’d REALLY like to get the others someday, but I don’t have much hope for that, since they’re long since out of production and prices just keep going up as everyone cashes in on nerd collector culture.

This doll is fine enough on its own (if a bit fearful in the eyes), but what’s really odd about it is that it’s like literally twice as tall as the other dolls in its line, for some reason. I have the Sonic and Tails from this set, and their sizes both match each other, but for some reason Knuckles is a tall boi?? Oh well.

I believe this set also includes an Eggman doll, but I’ve never seen it before.

I wish I’d thought to showcase it better in this photo, but the tag on the bottom of Sonic’s right foot here is the real spotlight of this doll. I don’t know much about the background of this doll, but i know that tag on his foot is what distinguishes him from other Sonic dolls, and collectors go NUTS for this guy. I remember missing out on one years ago because the shipping was too costly (it’s always been rough importing from Britain, but it used to be a lot harder), and for a while I thought I’d never get one. Oddly this one that I did eventually nab is the only one I’ve ever seen with suction cups. I’d like to hope that one day I could get the one that doesn’t have them, but I’m not holding my breath.

Following the last doll, I’m sure a lot of you are immediately noticing that this Tails also has the tag on his foot, albeit a very faded one. This doll is also super odd, because EVERY other time I’ve ever seen this doll before, it has NOT had the foot tag! This one is the only one I’ve encountered with the tag, and I didn’t even know it had it until it arrived in the mail. This doll is also about 50% bigger than the Sonic doll with the foot tag, maybe he goes with the non-suction cup’d Sonic plushie? I don’t know off the top of my head how big that Sonic is supposed to be, so it’s possible! Or maybe these dolls have nothing to do with each other, and I bought some weird anomaly. Definitely one of the weirder Tails plushies in my collection.

Australian

EASILY the ugliest doll I will ever own, short of maybe obtaining the Tails that matches this set. (Trust me, the Tails is REALLY FUCKING UGLY.) I have such mixed feelings on this lil guy because, as many of you already know, this is one of the elusive Sega World Sydney dolls, which means it’s EXTREMELY rare and thus meant to be treasured... and yet holy shit guys how did you fail so hard on this doll. I mean FOR FUCK’S SAKE HE DOESN’T EVEN HAVE SOCKS! OR FINGERS!! There were plenty of Sonic plushies in the world by the time this doll was created, and they all socks and fingers, let alone better designed faces. I dunno man, I don’t know how to reconcile how ugly this doll is.

And then there were two.

Those of you that’ve been following me for years have probably already seen these before, but fuck it, here they are again. The Sega World Sydney plushies are the ONLY official Sally plushies to exist, and like the Sonic one, it’s really difficult to reconcile how incredibly ugly they are. I mean I can at least cut them some slack with the faces I guess, because the one on the left isn’t terrible I suppose. I think the fact that she doesn’t have hands is really stupid, but I mean, if Sonic didn’t get fingers I guess I’m not surprised Sally didn’t either. No, the thing that really gets me about these Sally dolls is the hair. It’s hard to tell from this angle but it’s.... bad. Oh my god it’s so fucking bad. It looks like she had a bad incident with a weedwacker. WHO THE FUCK DID THEY HIRE TO DESIGN THESE PLUSHIES?!

Whatever, I don’t turn away official Sally merch. Vests exist for these dolls, but as you can see I don’t own them for either of these two. I do have a third, smaller Sally that DOES have her vest, but she doesn’t live in this net. Maybe another time!

More bad Sally hair, this time without legs because she’s a hand puppet. She probably has the worst hair of all of the Sally dolls I personally own, it’s very clumpy and matted. The others’ hair is at least still fluffy.

I’ll let the fact that she doesn’t have hands slide here, being a puppet at all, but even then it’s only because I’m feeling generous. There’s no reason she shouldn’t have had them.

SOOOO not technically a plushie, but it was in the net and I’m doing Sally items right now anyway, so fuck it. This is a mini-backpack, but the fabric is so furry that it’s pretty much impossible to get a clear picture. I left the strap there sticking out just to help give some idea of what shape you’re even looking at.

I can’t remember what I paid for this, and honestly I don’t care, because it’s so unique and I’ve never seen another one since.

Bootlegs

A friend of mine sent me this as a surprise a few years ago because he thought it was cute, and I definitely have to say it’s one of the more fascinating items in my collection. Most of the time bootleg merch is trying to imitate something official to confuse the buyer, but so far as I know this is completely original! I love it because it’s what I imagine Sonic would look like if he were an Animal Crossing character. The most bizarre detail of all, though, is that the tush tag has the logo for Detective Conan instead of Sonic the Hedgehog. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY.

This is a fake version of the Fang/Nack doll from Sonic the Fighters, but honestly, I don’t mind at all that it’s a bootleg because holy shit this doll is higher quality than some of my official ones! (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, SEGA WORLD.) According to the pictures I’ve seen, I think he’s actually even better quality than the original he’s copying!

It’s hard to describe just how nice this doll is, because the picture seriously does not do him justice. The stitching is perfectly clean, the proportions are absolutely perfect, the fabric is soft and high-quality, and oh my god the HAT!! The hat is AMAZING, it’s actually solid and holds its shape VERY well! The same goes for his tail too, on that note. Plushies with long tails tend to have trouble maintaining their shape, but this doll’s tail is really well done. He also has a much longer muzzle than most dolls of this time were willing to use, which again helps his proportion and overall accuracy. I don’t give one single shit that this doll isn’t official, I love him so fucking much! <3 <3 <3

Other Dolls

What can I say, I fucking LOVE Nick Wilde from Zootopia, and this is one of the best dolls of him I’ve ever seen. It’s actually really nicely made (they put a LOT of work into his shirt), and he’s very soft and huggable. Also, bless that smarmy expression, they got it just right.

Jumbo Tom Nook! This is the only jumbo plushie of him I’ve ever seen, so I’m glad I was able to nab it. The fabric is oddly shiny though, and I have no idea why?? I have several Tom Nook plushies from different doll lines, and I’ve never seen another one that’s shiny like this.

Decided to picture these guys together because why the fuck not. I apologize for the lack of clarity, but I’ve never been willing to open their bags. I want them pristine~

One thing I think is cool about the Undertale dolls is that there’s so much uniqueness put into each one. They all have differently shaped tags to reflect their individual personalities, and the plastic bags they come in have different patterns as well. The fabric patterns all completely unique to each one as well, so they’re not all clones of each other (especially with Papyrus).

You can actually still buy all of these guys right now on the Fangamer website! They’re pricey, but you get a quality that makes the price worth it, and you get a discount if you buy them together!

Vault Boy from Fallout, and for some reason I’m just now realizing that I don’t know what vault number is on his back. I feel like a terrible fan, FORGIVE ME. He has also never come out of his bag, so sorry for viewing difficulties here as well.

Companion cube ‘fuzzy dice’ for the car. This is one instance in which I have actually not used the car-related plushie in my car, as at the time I got this it was VERY difficult to get companion cube merch of any kind (these dice were actually a compromise with myself because I still couldn’t afford a regular cube), and after the work I put in to find these I definitely wasn’t going to risk them in my car! Just as well anyway, because they’re awfully big and would’ve been pretty cumbersome to look past.

...I did, however, put these in my car for a while. These are fuzzy D20 dice, because come on, if you’re going to hang dice in your car and have the option to use these, how can you not?? It definitely got a lot of compliments, even from people that simply saw them through the window. I didn’t even play tabletop games yet at the time, I just really liked them~

AAAAND THAT’S IT~ At least, that’s it for this net! Maybe I’ll do this again with the other nets sometime, if you guys would like to see more. I do have another one that also very much needs a dusting, so we’ll see!

Thanks for tuning in!!

[adultswim2021]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force #42: “The Last One” | December 31, 2003 - 11:18 PM | S03E24

Also known as “The Last Fucking One For 2003″, and boy, is it a special one. It also sorta felt like a series finale at the time, which I think sorta began a running joke about Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s constant imminent cancellation on-air. I feel like every season Adult Swim would casually mention that it was the last season ever when it actually wasn’t. I was under the false impression that this was in fact intended to be a series finale, but I can’t find anything actually supporting this. I guess I just took the title very literally.

In this episode Aqua Teen’s entire rogues gallery (with a few exceptions) shows up to the Moon at the behest of the Mooninites in order to discuss a dastardly plan to finally end the Aqua Teens’ reign of terror once and for all. Dr. Weird and Steve aren’t in this one; their absence is actually explained in the previous episode’s cold open. I’d normally link to the relevant blog post, but I completely failed to mention it. They were invited but couldn’t make it. While we’re on the subject we’re also missing Wayne "The Brain" McClain, Love Mummy, www.yzzerdd.com, Willie Nelson, and Universal Remonster. I just copied and pasted that from an Aqua Teen Wiki. I removed “real wisdom cube” (the Brian Posehn one) cuz the other wisdom cube is still here, kinda representing the both of them.

Their plan is inane and makes very little sense. Still, they attempt to go through with it. The proceedings cause multiple characters to drop off. The Frat Aliens get eaten by an alien babe, the Brownie Monsters get executed via firing squad, etc. The final confrontation finally does happen. I’m happy to report that the Aqua Teens come out on top. Thank god.

The whole episode was pulled off due to Jay Edwards’ organizational skills: in the commentary he describes that despite the intricate and tedious work that had to go into this episode that it still came together relatively quick thanks to them keeping an extensive animation library. The ability to recycle all those characters easily meant that this episode could actually happen. Also mentioned is that it took about a month to record this one, seeing as how it involved calling back a lot of guest voices. It’s amazing how stacked this one is. I always assumed that maybe they wrote all of these in advance of recording them so they were able to just record this episode piecemeal.

This one is real funny, and not only crammed with references to previous episodes, but there’s one very notable reference to the Adult Swim message board where Mooninite 1 (NOTE: I despite having to look up his name to spell it correctly that I’m now just adopting his designated title in the Schooly D Mooninites song instead) revels in his non-invite to the Plutonians, claiming “Plutonians are teh suck”. That’s a reference to a post on the adult swim message board where somebody wrote “anime is teh s uck” (a space between the s & u in “suck” because that was the only way to circumvent the swear filter on said message board). This phrase was merchandised onto t-shirts. More about this during EPHEMERA WEEK, which is nipping at our heels. Yikes!

MAIL BAG

I will give you the Master Shake plush for free but you have to promise me is not going to end up in some antifa shithole lol.

I can’t promise that :(

The creepy things Shake says when they first turn on the evil TV are directly from Robert Blakes very spooky character from "Lost Highway".

I didn’t know this! My Lost Highway blindspot has fucked me yet again. I’m simply fucked.

Do you think David Lynch the king of all things weird could make something for Adult Swim that is weirder than Tim and Eric' Bedtime Stories? Also which one of those is your favorite. If you are going to say "Angel Boy" don't bother!

I got this one earlier than the other David Lynch message so please don’t be FUCKING cute mischaracterizing this as a coincidence. Allright? Anyway, I think “Roommates” is amazing, and I love the part where you see Tim’s narcissistic one-man show. That scene is so good and I think of it a lot when I attend open mics. Thanks.

Life's no fun if you are eating pizza on a bun...

Yeah man

Hey there kid, it's me John Lennon of the original Beatles. God has granted me an opportunity to contact one person on Earth from my heavenly perch and I just wanted to say that I think your blog is pretty cheeky and good. We all love to read it up here so keep up the good job. Cheers.✌️

Wow, thanks! I’m sorry that when I was 13 I made a gun finger at your portrait on the wall of the Redding Red Robin and said “BANG BANG!” in a goofy voice. I guess it all simply came out in the wash. From now on, I’ll imagine there IS a heaven thanks to you. Dogs cats and crackerjacks as they say in the UK!

[alanna-artroid]

Cookies I Have From Cookie Run So Far! (And My Thoughts On Them)

Alright, I’ve gotten pretty far in Cookie Run: Oven Break, and I felt the need to share my thoughts on all the adorable cookies I’ve unlocked so far. So far, I have 50/100, so I’d say I’m making good progress. On to the list!

GingerBrave: The bravest boy. If this was a show, he’d clearly be the main character. I recently got him a little suit, so now he’s a gentleman! 

GingerBright: Sweet little lady. She looks like she’d be nice to get a coffee with or help you with homework. I definitely ship her with Brave, no doubt about it.

Strawberry Cookie: Precious baby! She’s super shy and I am compelled to protect her at all costs. Her pet is also a Tamagotchi, so she must be a gamer! Sweet!

Skater Cookie: HE WAS A SK8TER BOI! SHE SAID SEE YA LATER BOI! 

Zombie Cookie: This is one of the fastest zombies I’ve ever seen. They seem like a nice guy overall though.

Princess Cookie: Heck yes, a mischievous princess! Those are the best! I love her dress and hair bows. I bet she just pretends to get kidnapped for the lols.

Pilot Cookie: Is it just me, or is this little old man smaller than most of the other cookies? Whatever, he’s got a cute mustache and he’s adorable. Go and fly!

Vampire Cookie: As a vampire nerd, I immediately adored this guy. I will gladly give him grape juice and chill with him under the light of the moon. 

Gumball Cookie: Is this was Splatoon is like? This boi has a lot of chaotic energy and I like him.

Pistachio Cookie: I love this warrior woman so dang much. Look at that minty green hair! Her power is also SUPER helpful. She a speedy knight!

Pancake Cookie: HE’S A FLYING SQUIRREL! HE’S TOO CUTE I CAN’T EVEN! LET ME HUG THIS TINY CHILD!!!

Peppermint Cookie: Sweet baby. Good baby. My mom would probably adore this baby. (She loves mint and she’s not even a big sweets person.)

Muscle Cookie: As a lesbian, I’m not into big abs and muscles, but he’d probably be a good gym partner. Don’t mess with him is all I can say.

Cherry Cookie: Little Red Riding Hood got some bombs! I hope she and Gumball can go cause chaos on the weekends.

Hero Cookie: Precious nerdy boi with science! I saw his Island of Memories intro and his bond with Jellyco Cube is just the sweetest thing! Follow your superhero dreams, my baby!

Fairy Cookie: I didn’t know Tinkerbell was in this game! Also, I got her a bee costume and that looks super cute on her. Love her hair bun.

Werewolf Cookie: ULTIMATE FLOOF! Doggo here has a lot of angst and I worry for him. Maybe Vampire Cookie can teach him to chill? That’d be nice.

Rockstar Cookie: Oh, the songs I could sing right here. High tier rocker boy. Loving that flowing white hair. Rock on, buddy!

Soda Cookie: Go-to starter for my Breakout runs. I love him very much, he’s super cute! Let me go to the beach with this righteous dude! 

Dark Enchantress Cookie: Oooooh, she is GORGEOUS!!! I love her design~! I’ll be sure to invite her to any fancy balls I might have, as to avoid any Maleficent scenarios with this savage woman.

Moon Rabbit Cookie: My spirit animal! I love how she constantly munches while she runs. This girl is such a mood for me. Cute little bunny ears~!

Space Doughnut: Awww, look at this alien dork! Their design is very cute, and I love how their expression of >:3.

Macaron Cookie: Such a sweetie pie! Why must they all be so adorable?! She’s a little drummer girl! That is too precious! Look at her dress and hat!!!

Pink Choco Cookie: She reminds me of a show I watched when I was younger. It was about a space girl, does anyone remember it? This girl will save the day, I can tell! 

Avocado Cookie: Strong girl on the loose! My pun-loving friends would adore this cookie. And she’s a blacksmith, which is always cool.

Whipped Cream Cookie: Elegant ballerino!! He’s definitely one of my favorites! Such a beautiful boi~! I love his design so much, and he’s very useful. <3 <3 <3

Blackberry Cookie: Yeeees! Gothic girl for the win! She is SO dang pretty! I am WEAK for gothic lolitas, and she even has ghost buddies! I bet she’ll love spooky games like Luigi’s Mansion and Hollow Knight.

Lemon Cookie: Edgy boi is trying way too hard to be Shadow the Hedgehog. I mean, can you SMILE for once dude? It’ll take me a while to bond with this guy.

Salt Cookie: He strikes me as a wise old man you’d find meditating at the top of a mountain, or in his case on a boat in the ocean. I bet he has lots of knowledge to share.

Squid Ink Cookie: AWWWWW, SWEET BABY SQUID!!! Guys, I think they might be my favorite! They’re so squishy and mighty, and they need all my love and huggles!!! Don’t be sad baby, I’ll be your friend! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Lime Cookie: Beach girl! She’s like Lemon Cookie, but slightly nicer! I really like her hair and beach ball. Very cool girl.

Ninja Cookie: FINALLY! SOMEONE WITH MORE THAN TWO JUMPS!!! I went kind of crazy with his jumping powers at first. He’s super cool. Not sure why his pet is a ghost though.

Pomegranate Cookie: Oooh, I love Asian fashion~! Look how fancy and elegant she is! Her story concerns me, and I’m worried about her.

Angel Cookie: Good cookie, sweet cookie. Wouldn’t hurt a fly. It looks like they trust the devil boy, which is beyond kind of them. I love it when angels get along with demons. Defy angle roles!!!

Devil Cookie: Speaking of, they’re a cute little bean too! I love the naughty demon trope, and this cutie is so mischievous! Call Angel your “rival” all you want, I’m still shipping you dorks.

Roll Cake Cookie: Imagine, if you will, the world’s biggest game of Whack-A-Mole! With that hammer, this boy would win without question.

Popcorn Cookie: I’d be happy to go with this girl to the movie theater! Also, I love how she had popcorn for hair buns. She seems like she’d be up for a fun time!

Carrot Cookie: Oh my lordy, her ponytails are carrots. The artists for this game are so clever. Strong but tiny farmer, I approve.

Ion Cookie Robot: Yes! A robot! I love robots, and this cookie is no exception! Definitely one of my favorites, up there with Whipped Cream Cookie. They’re super powerful too, and REALLY useful in Breakout and Trophy runs.

Dino-Sour Cookie: Gee Dino-Sour, how come Devsisters let you have two pets? Very cool punk boy. I can see him going to Rockstar Cookie’s concert.

Plum Cookie: Aren’t plums purple though? This boy is one tough cookie! Look at his karate moves! Honestly, I thought he was a girl at first. Why must these boys be so pretty?!

Yogurt Cream Cookie: PRINCE ALI! FABULOUS HE! ALI ABABWUA~!

Alchemist Cookie: Look, it’s Twilight Sparkle! Apparently, Vampire boy is her brother? I really like her hair braids(?), I just wish she’d loosen up a bit. She seems like a nice girl.

Roguefort Cookie: Aaaah yeah, elegant thief! This cookie is the coolest! I love this aesthetic so much~! Blue cheese has never been so fancy. Just look at this charmer, stealing hearts!

Pitaya Dragon Cookie: OOOOOhohoho! THIS is what I’m TALKING about! Look at this beast, they’re GLORIOUS! They’ve probably killed a bunch of people, but They’re crazy powerful and I adore them.

Knight Cookie: This guy is SO much fun to play as! He just won’t stop, he’s too fast!!! I couldn’t stop laughing once I found out just how fast this knight could go! Somehow he controls better than Pistachio? I don’t know, I love him!

Birthday Cake Cookie: TOO PRECIOUS FOR WORDS! SHE’S SO DANG CUTE!!! Also, her “Bonus Time” changes to “Happy B Day” and I... I just can’t! She’s the sweetest thing!!! <3 <3 <3

Cocoa Cookie: Awww, look at this sweet baby! I wanna snuggle her! Her design looks so warm and comfy. I have plenty of hot chocolate to give her. <3

Raspberry Mousse Cookie: Ah yes, the pretty boy that got me into this game in the first place. Along with Squid Ink, he’s probably my favorite. There’s a reason he has the highest affection so far with me. I just adore his design, and he’s very powerful! I will ALWAYS have him ready for Breakout and Trophy Runs. Well worth all the hype. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Rose Cookie: Finally, we have this lovely lady. Everyone is shipping her with Raspberry, and rightfully so. She is a high-quality woman that makes gay men straight and straight girls lesbian. Look at that outfit! And those dance moves!

Aaaand that’s everybody for now! I’ll update this once I get more Cookies. So far, I like most of them a lot. Anybody got some favorites they’d like to share? I’m still new to this game, but I’m happy to hear what others have to say!

UPDATE 1: 

I went back and fixed all the gender mistakes I made. (I’m so sorry! D:) Also, I got a few more cookies! So here we go!

Walnut Cookie: Precious detective baby! The newest update is only making her cuter! Probably the shortest of the bunch, and I adore her design~! <3

Cinnamon Cookie: Super useful power so far, and they have a really cool cape! Those cards are very handy! (I promise I’ll pay attention to the genders of these cookies from now on! I don’t want to misgender anyone again!)

Sparkling Cookie: Oooh, a sparkling cider cookie! That’s honestly the only boozy thing I enjoy drinking. He is super classy and seems like the life of the party. He strikes me as a Great Gatsby kind of host.

Moonlight Cookie: OOOOOOOH~! LOOK at this GODDESS! I love the nighttime/dreamy aesthetic. This girl has Luna’s hair and a wizard’s outfit, high tier cookie!

White Choco Cookie: This game sure likes it’s knights, huh? This girl is a fine lady and apparently, she attracts all the lesbians. Can’t say I blame those girls, I do love that hairstyle. 

Spinach Cookie: Aaand the newest cookie to hit the scene, this girl! I have never met someone so dedicated to vegetables, so I have to applaud that. She’s a super sweet girl, and I hope we find who stole her precious vegetables!!!

UPDATE 2:

More Cookies! It’s been a while since I’ve updated this, so I have quite a bit to share. On to the new ones!

Mustard Cookie: Look at this punk girl! Street artist on the loose in the streets! I always admire people and characters in this style, so I’m supporting this rebel all the way!

Herb Cookie: Now THIS guy is everywhere! It seems the fandom really likes him, and I can see why. He seems like a very nice boy, with a sweet plant baby. I like the leaf hair, very cool.

Sea Fairy Cookie: I love how everything on her flows. Her hair, her dress, she’s so beautiful~! I will say though, Legendaries are SO DANG HARD to level up and get affection with! WHY?!

Cream Puff Cookie: Awwww, look at this precious baby girl~! Look at her soft hair and little dress! I almost feel bad running with the super cute ones, I don’t want them to get hurt! 

Matcha Cookie: Oooooh, all these ancient-looking cookies have the coolest designs! She’s probably insane, darkness will do that to ya, but she seems harmless so I like her!

Ice Candy Cookie: This chick could crush me like a grape and I don’t know how to feel about that. Hopefully, she’s only savage on the ice rink. I do NOT want to mess with this girl.

Cherry Blossom Cookie: Awww, look how pretty she is~! Cherry blossoms are always so lovely, and this girl embodies that. She has a PARASOL for crying out loud, I CAN’T EVEN!!

Grapefruit Cookie: This game sure likes sports, huh? She seems really cool, I love her colors! Do you think she’d play Skate 3? Hopefully, she’d get a laugh out of that game.

Pirate Cookie: This guy has been a long time coming. I’ve been curious about him since the Breakout episode. He’s pretty neat, I appreciate how he naturally comes with an extra revive.

Kumiho Cookie: Cool! A Kitsune! I love the spin on the concept of cookies. Let this marshmallow fox live out her reverse-furry dream! I’m loving her design too, look at that hair! 

Marshmallow Cookie: Oh cute! Another marching band cookie! According to her story, she and Macaron had a falling out. I hope they can reconcile and be friends again. :(

Dark Choco Cookie: WE’VE REACHED MAXIMUM EDGE! WITH OREO SHOULDER PADS!!! Interesting how he’s still trying to be a hero, which is a nice spin on the “I have evil powers so now I’m evil” trope. Here’s hoping he stays strong.

Fire Spirit Cookie: Ah yes, the classic lord of fire. A staple for any fantasy story that includes the elements. Again, it’s impossible to get the affection for these guys.

Mala Sauce Cookie: Yay! I got Pitaya’s girlfriend! I always love it when there’s a tribe/society of warriors and the WOMAN is the strongest one there. Heck yes! This warrior lady is a badass!

Firecracker Cookie: I didn’t know I was invited to a rave party! Love the neon colors on this cookie, that’s something this game really excels at.

UPDATE 3:

I’ve reached 90 cookies! I’m on the homestretch!!!

Cheesecake Cookie: OH MY LORDY LOOK HOW FANCY SHE IS! I adore her already! Fancy ladies are the best ladies!

Kiwi Cookie: This game REALLY likes sports. He looks cool, can’t complain.

Yoga Cookie: Awww, a pretzel is trying to be loose! I’ve done yoga a few times, and it is very good for your body. Nice colors, simple design, nice.

Dr. Wasabi Cookie: I’d reference some mad scientist, but I know a lot of them so we’d be here for a while. Her combi generator has been very helpful.

Tiger Lily Cookie: IT’S THE EYE OF THE TIGER IT’S THE THRILL OF THE NIGHT, RISING UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF OUR RIVALS!

Chili Pepper Cookie: Uh oh, this one’s a troublemaker! I really like her hair, it’s very bright. Secure your pockets around this chick, that’s for sure.

Millennial Tree Cookie: These cookies are too pretty, I keep thinking they’re girls! This guy is so beautiful~ truly a being of nature!

DJ Cookie: Ooooh, I love her design~. Rainbow colors will win me over every time. And look! She’s wearing a Bi Pride shirt! This girl is awesome! I like how her special power is basically tiny Guitar Hero.

Snow Sugar Cookie: Soft baby, sweet baby. Looks very cuddly. Their level was very helpful during Sandwich Cookie’s event in getting frozen jellies. Those blue bears aren’t easy to come by!

Fig Cookie: CENTAUR! I wasn’t expecting one of those here! She’s such a sweetie pie~. Since everything and anything is allowed in this game, can we get mermaids or harpies next?

Cotton Candy Cookie: PRECIOUS BABY! She’s so gosh darn cute, I can’t take it! I personally can relate to falling in love with things so easily. And there are official plushies of her now! ONE DAY I WILL BRING HER HOME!

Purple Yam Cookie: Bro needs a chill pill. Not ONCE have I seen this guy smile yet. And I thought Lemon needed to lighten up. Milk seems to care about him though, so I guess he can’t be that bad.

Milk Cookie: The softest of warriors! Look how cute he is~! I adore him! Plus he really shines in the stories. I can only assume Yam is his boyfriend or something. Am I wrong about that?

Cyborg Cookie: Hey! I saw the storybook for this one! I’m surprised I haven’t unlocked this “Aloe Cookie” yet. Are they still in this game? I can’t find them on the chart. Anyway, Cyborg is cool. Very nice design.

Mango Cookie: Newest baby! I love him, and would love to learn all about the islands from him! I’m gonna say it, I already ship him with Ananas Cookie, no questions asked.

[otomeverything]

NOTE: This review is SPOILER FREE.

7’SCARLET

Release Date: May 25, 2018 (North America) Developers:  Toybox Inc, Otomate Publishers:  Idea Factory, Aksys Games Platforms:  PS Vita ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

As the second title released by Aksys Games for their Summer Mystery Bundle, 7’scarlet offers one gripping mystery-solving game play amplified with a cute touch of romance.

Walkthroughs:

Hino Kagutsuchi Isora Amari Toa Kushinada Sosuke Tatehira Yuzuki Murakumo True Route & Final Character

  Read the game’s synopsis here.

  FIRST IMPRESSIONS Otome Visual Novels are either a hit or a miss when it comes to it’s story narratives. Just like Collar x Malice, 7’scarlet did one hell of a job foregoing a very intriguing mystery-type plot line while having a few romantic events as an additive to its overarching deep story. Like a really good book or a TV series, it was so hard to brush off the game’s story build-up as it became curiously engaging in each chapter you progress.

With the help of it’s unique visuals and animations, playing 7’scarlet was close to watching your favorite anime series.

  ART One of the things I really enjoyed while playing 7’scarlet was seeing its astonishing BG images. It’s just so pretty, it’s like wallpaper material, no kidding! (giggle)

. The game’s artist was non other than, Kurahana Chinatsu an illustrator who’s also famous for her other popular works such as the character designs for Uta no Prince-Sama, Lamento (Beyond the Void), and Togainu no Chi.

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Looking at these lovely BG images reminded me of browsing through expensive art catalogs!

  SOUNDTRACK AND VOICE ACTING There are two opening themes, “World’s End Syndrome” and “LOVESICK”, you can unlock the latter after finishing a certain route in the game. The BGMs are good too, some are rather simple but very fitting for the game’s setting and story transitions. Heck, I ended up buying the whole 7’scarlet soundtrack in iTunes.

And like any other game, there will always be that one song you’ll end up getting stuck with, even after completing  the game. Dat-one-song that gave you so much FEELS. In 7’scarlet, mine would have to be the song “Starry”.

  Voice Acting

Nobunaga Shimazaki “Hino“ – Napoleon (Ikevamp), Kurogane Naoto (BlazBlue), Mitsuhide (Sengoku Nightblood)

Tetsuya Kakihara “Isora“ – Shin (Amnesia), Victor Frankenstein (Code Realize), Karasuba (Pyschedelica BB), Toki Tanba (Charming Empire)

Showtaro Morikubo “Toa“ – Impey (Code Realize), Reiji (Uta no Prince-sama), Okita (Hakuoki)

Chiharu Sawashiro “Sosuke“ – Shila (Snow White and the Red hair), Hero (Caligula Effect)

Shinichirou Miki “Yuzuki“ – Hijikata (Hakuoki), Nesso Galland (Black Wolves Saga), Bucket-Sensei (Bad Apple Wars)

Sanae Kobayashi “Yuki“ – Sara Nome (Macross Zero), Nagisa (Maid Sama)

Hiroki Yasumoto “Mr. Karasuma“ – Azrael (BlazBlue), Nidai Nekomaru (Danganropa V3), Hyuga (KLAP)

Hiroki Takahashi “Kagura Tsukuyomi“ – Rayne (Neo Angelique Abyss), Otohiko (Kamisama Kiss), Koujaku (DRAMAtical Murder)

Daisuke Kishio “Yasu“ – Azusa (Diabolik Lovers), Mizushima Arata (Kiniro no Corda: Bluesky), Kuzuryuu (Danganropa V3)

Chiwa Saito “Yua“ – Aoi Asahina (Danganropa V3), Taokaka (BlazBlue), Domina (Period Cube), Fate (Caster)

  MAIN CHARACTERS (SPOILER FREE)

Recommended play order:

1)Hino 2)Isora 3)Toa – only unlocks after finishing Hino and Isora’s good ending 4)Sosuke – only unlocks after finishing Toa’s good ending 5)Yuzuki – only unlocks after finishing all of the character’s good ending

  Hino Kagutsuchi

Childhood friend

Sporty

Dork

Hino’s story was cute. It had very few spoilers regarding the game’s overarching plot but his route did a good job catering as a story build-up for the oncoming routes you’ll get in to after finishing the first two recommended ones (his and Isora’s). I enjoyed the fact that Hino was physically a jock on the outside but covertly the biggest dork on the inside

(the guy fangirls on ‘kawaii’ things! Awww). His romance ventured more into the friendship-type-love rather than a mature one. His route wasn’t my favorite, but it was definitely a good start, nevertheless.

  Isora Amari

Best Chef

Hot tempered

Jealous

Yandere

Just like Hino’s route, Isora’s story offers very few spoilers of the game’s underlying plot but was well written enough to create a very mysterious atmosphere of the town, Okunezato. Isora’s character depth was also deeper than I expected and I wished the writers expounded more on the justification of this character’s actions rather than just throwing it on the spot. Despite this, I love Isora Amari’s story. It had great pacing, enough to give you that creep factor you seek in every mystery-themed visual novel. His romance, on the other hand may or may not suit everyone’s preferences. Although I personally enjoyed it, I can understand how it may not work for some. ┐(︶▽︶)┌

  Toa Kushinada

Cat mom

Clumsy af

Color blind

such a sweet boi!

So my first impression with Toa was: “Really?! I have to romance this clumsy nerd, seriously, game?”. Then I started playing his route just to get it over with and oh my goodness! I did not expected the sudden turn of events! 

As I’ve probably mentioned repeatedly on my previous reviews… I absolutely love it when a game catches you off guard, and this route takes the cake! I was left speechless.  I couldn’t talk more about his story without going into spoiler territory so I’ll leave it at this: Toa was such a great character and he deserves all the love in the world! Best boy (imo), one that’s definitely unforgettable.

  Sosuke Tatehira

Smart

Neat freak!

Best Doctor

OC!

If there was one route that got me at the edge of my seat in 7’scarlet ~ it was definitely Sosuke’s. His story had great pacing where it started off very light and warm then surprisingly escalated into a few bemusing affairs. His route also introduced a more definitive and deeper story regarding the mysteries surrounding the town of Okunezato. While the suspense was a little overwhelming in this route, I wanted to commend on how the romance never took a back seat in Sosuke’s story. His relationship with the heroine felt genuinely real and I love both his and Ichiko’s character development. I also loved the fact that Sosuke was such a neat freak and becomes very obsessive-compulsive about something so simple such as a goldfish scooping game! The perfect husbando, if you ask me! (chuckles)

  Yuzuki Murakumo

Jerk Boss

Hot!!!

Intense

Tsundere

While the suspense was building up in Sosuke’s previous route, Yuzuki’s story on the other hand was a power house of thrill and drama coupled with a few action packed scenes and romantic events… And although it happened so fast, all at the same time, I’ve got to say it was paced really well that it didn’t came out too forced nor too overwhelming with information. I personally love Yuzuki’s character. He’s cold and irritable on the outside but inside his icy personality is one very warm fluffy husbando! 

 His story was probably the most compelling as far as solving the mysteries of Okunezato goes.

  Ichiko Hanamaki (You)

amnesiac heroine (explained in ??? ‘s route)

hates strawberries (explained in ??? ‘s route)

can’t swim (explained in ??? ‘s route)

Despite the the main protagonist’s naivety and recklessness to a point where you’d clearly have to question this heroine’s sense of danger 

 (laughs), Ichiko Hanamaki had a couple of good points up her sleeve such as her strong will and determination to look for her disappeared older brother in spite of being absolutely clueless on where to begin. Another enjoyable aspect, was how this heroine sometimes gets shamelessly clumsy in declaring her love to the gentleman of her liking. She had a couple of funny moments that got me all “wtf lol” ~ so it was never a dull moment playing her as the MC. 

    And it gets better… So the story doesn’t really end there. After finishing Hino, Isora, Toa, Sosuke, and Yuzuki’s route. Two more routes unlocks in this game.

Who is the culprit?

Another factor why this game was so entertaining to me was that it reminded me of playing Mafiascum; where each player gets to accuse anybody as the culprit and the accused needs to present alibis to which another player/s confirms it to prove his innocence.

As someone who’s been playing mafiascum online for a long time, the game’s conclusion was somewhat predictable but I’ve got to admit, it was one gripping read and the “True Ending” was painfully heartbreaking.

  TRAILER

  OVERALL THOUGHTS?

7’scarlet is a very well written mystery themed visual novel. While the story appeared so simple, the events where paced so good that the rise and fall of tension as you unravel the mysteries remained suspenseful enough to keep you wanting for more.

I had a couple of moments where I really couldn’t put down the game for a second just to eat or sleep because I had to know, I NEEED to know what will happen next!

Truth be told, I had never expected I’d get so emotionally attached to this game. It’s really one gripping read. It’s one of those titles that’s hard to get over with even after finishing the game play. I think an overall rating of 4.5/5 is an appropriate mark for 7’scarlet. The rest of the .05 completing the perfect score is just me wishing they could’ve done more with the last secret route as I did felt it to be a little lacking as far as how the story concluded.

I would say the animation and movie clips were an additional plus points. Although without it, the game still excels as one of the most compelling stories an otome game has to offer. Do I recommend this game? YESSSS! If you’re looking for a good mystery-romance themed visual novel with great art, music, animation and one unforgettable story that will rob you of words, 7’scarlet is the perfect choice. All your money’s worth it too.

            Romance and Folklore – 7’scarlet Review NOTE: This review is SPOILER FREE. 7'SCARLET Release Date: May 25, 2018 (North America) Developers:  Toybox Inc, Otomate…

[lovemesomesurveys]

When was the last time you used a pair of ear/headphones? Last night.

Have you ever tried to count to infinity? I remember as a kid I’d try to see how high I could count, but I got bored quickly lol.

Do you like making mixed cds? I used to, yeah. With things like Spotify; though, there’s no need anymore.

Would you want to live forever if it meant being a tree? No?

What is the strangest thing you’ve put chocolate on? I don’t think it’s weird, but chocolate covered potato chips are delicious.

Could you earn a good living selling weed? I wouldn’t know.

How would you use a photographic memory? It would have been useful when I was in school.

What would you do tomorrow if you had $500? I’d put it towards my new laptop fund.

What body hair gets the most attention? The hair on my head.

What’s your favorite commercial? I don’t care for commercials.

Do you like pie? I like cookies and cream pie and banana creme. I don’t like fruit pies.

Do you appreciate dishwashers? Yeah.

If you could change someone else’s past, what would you change? Yikes, I wouldn’t. I’m playing this game called Life is Strange, and the main character has the ability to do that, but it’s the whole butterfly effect thing cause you can’t change something without changing everything else. The changes could be good or bad.

What’s the worst experience you don’t remember? The incident that paralyzed me. I was only 7 months old, so I have no memory of it.

Are your dreams usually cheerful? They’re just super random.

What’s your favorite color of eyeliner? Black.

How’s the weather where you are at? It’s finally starting to feel like fall.

Anything bad happen today? Nah.

Can you solve a Rubik’s Cube? I’ve never really tried. I give up fast.

What was the last thing that you microwaved? A microwave tv dinner thingy.

Did you have an easy-bake oven when you were little? Yes.

Have you ever seen a donkey? Yes.

Do you like sheep? Sure.

Do you like dogs? I love dogs.

Do you have one? I do.

Do you ever want to be married? Meh.

Do you take a lot of pictures? Of my puppy, haha.

Where is the boy you want most? Off somewhere not knowing I exist, ha.

Where will you be 2 hours from now? Here.

What is your current mood? Hungry and tired.

Where are you going tomorrow? I have a doctor appointment.

Who was the last person you yelled at? *shrug*

Do you think you’ll be a good Mother/Father? I don’t even know if I want kids.

The last thing you drank? Coke.

What’s in your pocket? Nothing.

What colour are your fingernails? Natural color.

Have you ever left school just because you didn’t want to be there? No.

Did anything cute happen today? My puppy is cute.

What are you currently hearing? The TV.

Are you afraid of the dark? Yes.

Do you usually tell people when they hurt your feelings? Very rarely.

Do you have a common first name? I knew a few Stephanie’s growing up, but it seems less common now.

Do you like your middle name or your first name more? My first name.

What year would/did you turn 21? 2010.

What was popular when you were a kid? Barbies.

Do you wear more rings or necklaces? Neither.

Have you ever been engaged? Nope.

Can you see your veins through your skin? Yeah.

Do you worry about having good grammar online? Yes.

Do you know anyone with a lazy eye? No.

Did your parents let you have pets when you were a kid? Yep.

Would you rather live in an apartment or a duplex? I live in a duplex.

Do you like spicy chips? I loved spicy chips and spicy everything, but I can’t eat that stuff anymore due to health reasons. :/

Do you have any ‘different’ keychains on your keys/purse? Yeah.

Do you collect pins? No.

What band was on the last band t-shirt you wore? Nirvana.

Do you wear more pink or yellow? Neither.

Have you ever been out of the state you were born in? Yes.

Do you have any tattoos on your arms? I don’t have any tattoos at all.

Have you ever owned or known someone who owned a black cat? No.

When was the last time you felt jealous? I don’t know.

What’s the last thing you bought besides food/drink? Sweaters.

What album is the last song you listened to from? I forget what the last song I listened to was.

Who scheduled your last doctor visit? My mom still does that for me.

What’s the last video game you played? Life is Strange.

Do you have anything on your wrists right now? Nope.

Do you have any holiday theme’d socks? Yes.

What kind of accent do you have? Californian, I guess?

What’s the last funny movie you watched? Hmmm.

Can you remember your parents’ birthdays? Yes, of course.

Is there anyone who you just absolutely cannot STAND being around? No.

What is the design on your shirt? It’s an old school Star Wars shirt.

Do you know anyone who just flat-out fails at life? Me?

Are you a Ghoulscout? No.

Do you know someone who’s just always wrong about everything? Kinda.

Do you make fun of people often? No.

Do you read your friend’s surveys? I read the answers to a few people on here that I follow.

If you had to get a tattoo tomorrow, what would you pick? I’ve been wanting to get free bird tattooed on my inner wrist, but I’m a wuss.

How do you feel about band tattoos? I don’t feel any kind of way about them.

How much are you willing to pay for a pair of sunglasses? I don’t wear sunglasses cause I wear glasses.

What is the origin of your last name? Irish.

Do you ever use the n-word? No.

What piercing do you like most on the opposite sex? Not into piercings anymore, but I used to like snakebites.

What brand of hair dye do you prefer to use? I get my hair done at the salon.

What country do you live in? USA.

Did/do you ride the bus to and from school? I had to take the bus sometimes while in college.

Do you prefer beef, chicken or steak? Chicken.

Are you any good at applying make up? I suck. I just keep it simple with eyeliner and mascara.

Do you misuse commas? I don’t believe so.

Have you ever bitten your dentist? No.

Are you someone who likes to make simple things difficult? I’m great at making everything difficult.

Who makes you laugh the most? My lil bro.

Do you have any plans for this weekend? Nope.

Do you crack your knuckles? Sometimes.

Coffee or Tea? Coffee.

Do you know anyone named Matt? Nope.

Wearing any bracelets? No.

When were you last outside? Uhhh.

Do you need someone to cheer you up right now? Meh.

Are your nails painted? Nope.

Do you think things will change in the next 3 months? No.

Do you think you’d make a good parent? If I decide to be a parent someday I would like to think so, but as of now I don’t see myself having kids.

You start crying. Who do you want by your side? No one.

Ever cried while you were on the phone with someone? Yeah.

Did someone screw you over lately? No.

Would you ever get your hips pierced? No.

If you were given the chance to go to Paris, would you go? Um, YES.

Who was the first person you talked to today? My dad.

What’s your favorite musical? I have a few I like, but I don’t have a particular favorite.

How do you get to sleep? I get so tired that I pass out. ha.

What happened at the last party you went to? I hung out with some people. That’s about it.

Have you ever smoked a cigarette? Nope.

What’s your hair like at this present moment? A mess.

Are you more comfortable sitting or lying down? Lying down.

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen? *shrug*

Are you an untidy person? No.

Have you ever been a fan of N*Sync? Yep.

Do you watch a lot of television? It’s mostly on as background noise, but I do have my shows I watch.

Do you think you’re fat sometimes? No.

Do you like to flex your muscles? What muscles?

Do you think you’ll ever get plastic surgery? No.

Have you ever completely misunderstood what somebody was saying? Yeah. It happens.

Favorite kind of cake: Funfetti or white cake. Always with buttercream frosting.

Was it a boy or a girl to text you last? Boy.

Name something you are doing tomorrow? I have a doctor appointment.

Do you sleep on your stomach? No.

Where are you going to be at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow? Probably still at my appointment because they take forever.

Are you missing someone? Yes.

Do you like horror or comedy? Comedy.

Who did you last share a taxi with? My friend.

Dogs or cats? Dogs.

What were you doing at 12 this afternoon? Sleeping.

Do you think you will be in a relationship 3 months from now? No.

What’s your favorite season? Why? Fall and winter.

When’s the last time you did something you knew was wrong? I don’t know.

Did you have any unread text messages this morning when you woke up? Yeah.

Who was the last person you hugged? My mom.

Do you think you would be a good parent? wtf lol i swear this survey has asked this three times? <<< Okay it’s not just me I was like wtf?? Enough with this.

When was the last time you cried? The other day.

Who was driving the last time you were in a car? My mom.

Does any part of your body hurt right now? Yes.

Do you like your bed? Yes.

When did you last talk to your brother or sister? Just a bit ago.

How much cash do you have on you? I don’t have any on me.

Are you tanned? No.

Did you get any compliments today? I haven’t gone anywhere. Not that I would because I look like a mess.

Have you ever gone to court? No.

Do you get jealous easily? No.

Would you ever want to swim with the sharks? Nooooo.

What are you doing Saturday? Nothing. I should get my hair done, though.

What is in your back pocket? Nothing.

What were you doing at 3:00 a.m. this morning? Playing Life is Strange, current obsession.

What do you usually do first in the morning? Check the time.

Are you any good at math? Nope.

Any plans for Friday night? No.

Do you have a little crush on someone? Yes.

When’s the last time you ran?
 Uhhh.

Do your jeans have rips, tears, and holes in them? No.

What are you dreading right now? My appointment tomorrow.

Do you celebrate 420? No.

Do you get the full 8 hours of sleep a night? Yeah.

If anyone came to your house on your “lazy days” what would ya’ll do? Ha, everyday is my “lazy” day. I don’t like unexpected visits.

Who last grabbed your ass? Probably Joseph.

Have you ever been on your school’s track team? No.

Do you own a pair of Converse? Yep, a couple.

Did you copy and paste this survey? Well, yeah?

Do you eat raw cookie dough? I used to as a kid when I didn’t know about salmonella.

Have you ever kicked a vending machine? No.

Don’t you hate it when the radio ruins good songs by playing them over and over? I don’t listen to the radio anymore, but yeah that was annoying.

Do you watch Trading Spaces? Nope.

How do you eat oreos? I twist ‘em and only eat the part with the creme and I dip it in coffee.

Have you ever stayed online for a very long time waiting for someone? Yeah.

Are you cocky? No.

Could you live without a computer? I’d really rather not.

Do you wear your shoes in the house? No.

Who or what sleeps with you? I have stuffed animals on my bed.

At what age did you find out that Santa wasn’t real? I think about 8.

What do you do when you’re sad? I’m always sad, so I just go about my day and do what I do.

Who would you call first if you won the lottery? My mom.

Last time you saw your best friend? Last night. I slept in super late today and she already had left for work when I got up.

Are you in high school? Ha, no.

What jewelry are you wearing? None.

Is anyone on your bad side now? No.

What’s the first thing you do when you get online? Tumblr.

Do you watch Grey’s Anatomy? No.

Would you wear a boy/girlfriends clothes? Sure.

Where do you work? I don’t.

What are you doing tomorrow? I’m answered this so many times.

Do you return your cart? My mom does.

Do you have a dishwasher? Yes.

What noise do you hear? The fan and my brother cooking.

Would you survive in prison? No.

Who is the youngest in your family? In my immediate family it’s my younger brother. In my extended it’s one of my 2nd cousins.

If all of your friends were going on a road trip, who would most likely overpack? Me.

What’s the last thing you purchased? Food.

Do your siblings ever pay for stuff for you? Yes.

What brand are your pants right now? *shrug*

Ever been to Georgia (the state)? I have, actually.

What irritates you most on the internet? Just some posts I see and comments made about certain things.

What brand is your digital camera? I use my phone for my camera.

Do you own expensive perfume/cologne? No.

Are you taking college classes right now? Nope.

Do you like sushi? No.

Do you get your hair cut every month? No. I haven’t had a haircut in like 2 years.

Do you go online everyday? Yep.

What makes someone a best friend? You just have a special connection.

[spinjitzu-comics]

Ninjago High School AU

This is just the stuff I currently have planned for the characters. Some are more well-developed (like Lloyd) than others (like Wu). Also, yes, there are still Elemental Powers in this AU.

Lloyd Garmadon

Certified Sass Master™

Will listen to any music

His regular playlist quite literally ranges from stuff like Anthrax and Pantera to Ke$ha and Katy Perry.

Listens to upbeat, repetitive music when he’s upset or stressed and he can’t focus.

dubstep/techno mostly

Artsy as all get-out

All his elective classes are art

Sculptures

Probably friends with Morro

Will fight you

If he loses he’ll cry

If you lose, you’ll cry

And he will laugh

Plays piano!

Rebellious phase has hit him hard

@ Wu: “YOU’RE NOT MY REAL DAD DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO”

Gets bored easily

Fidget cubes and doodles out the wazoo during math class

Seriously all of his homework has a doodle of some kind on it

Asexual aromantic

Platonic crushes on all the other ninja tho

Especially Kai and Zane

Golden Power

After discovering it, it tends to flair a little when he’s angry. It trails behind all of his motions and let’s be honest here it tends to sparkle. So he kinda looks like a glowy, full sized angry Tinkerbell.

Lord Garmadon

lol where?

there’s no Lord Garmadad here

not that Lloyd knows of

he could be Garmadead for all Lloyd knows

Literally a raging psychopath with severe DID

other Identity is Sensei Garmadon

he’s the Garmadad we all know and love

Been hiding out in a secret lair for 10 years

Sensei Garmadon always tries to go back home when he’s awake but he can’t remember how to get there

Wants to take over the world

Actually still loves Misako and doesn’t want her hurt and that’s why he left

Deadbeat Dad™

Except for Sensei Garmadon

He is Best Dad™

He’s fine with Lloyd’s sexual/romantic interests but he’s distressed by the thought of Lloyd never having an heir.

Sensei Wu

Cryptic™

Tries to be a father figure to Lloyd but Lloyd aint havin’ that shit

“YOU’RE STILL NOT MY REAL DAD” “Lloyd pls”

Definitely in love with Misako

Treats the Ninja like his children

Morro is his biggest regret

Reason why is in Morro’s part.

Morro

The Rage Child™

He’s so heckin’ angry

Resents Wu

Looks up to Lord Garmadon

Definitely plays with Ouija boards

Might be a demon?

Probably a virgin

R e b e l l i o n

“YOU SEE THIS GREEN STREAK WU?! YOU SEE IT?! THIS GREEN STREAK SAYS “FUCK YOU”!”

Likes storms

Literally the most power-crazy teenager in Ninjago and ended up literally fighting Wu when he found out his destiny was essentially to just be a minor antagonist in everyone’s lives rather than be super powerful like he wanted to be.

Sexually and romantically confused

Misako Garmadon

Just wants what’s best for her child.

Loves both of the brothers very much

Married to Garmadon but when he didn’t come back in like 3 years she started ‘dating’ Wu

Knows Lloyd doesn’t want to acknowledge Wu as a father figure and she’s somewhat exasperated

“Lloyd I’ve been dating him since you were 9 and you never had a problem with him before.”

“He wasn’t actually trying to be my dad before, mom.”

Supportive of her son’s interests

She literally bought him all the art supplies he could ever possibly want.

He even has his own pottery wheel and a kiln.

She’s also supportive of his sexual/romantic interests despite being somewhat disappointed that she’ll never have grandkids.

Kai Smith

If you tell him not to do the thing he will do the thing to spite you

Actually a sweetheart

Kind of a narcissist but mostly because no one else gives him that kind of attention

Only listens to rock music unless he has no choice

He can stand to listen to most of the stuff Lloyd listens to but he doesn’t really like a lot of it.

Favorite band is Three Days Grace

Secretly likes Sleeping With Sirens

Likes watching Lloyd paint

Lets Lloyd paint on his arms and face when they’re in a tough situation and Lloyd needs to distract himself.

Lloyd’s started using Kai’s left arm as a canvas for floral designs and his right arm as a canvas for flames.

He couldn’t hold still the first few times it happened because it tickled but now he’s mostly numb to the feeling of paintbrushes against his skin.

Bisexual demiromantic.

Kind of likes Lloyd (like that) but respects that Lloyd isn’t romantically or sexually interested at all and does his best not to push his emotions on Lloyd.

Also kind of likes Jay just a little bit but respects that Nya likes him and wants his sister to be happy.

If I put Skylor in this AU he’ll like her too.

Hoodies. Just... Hoodies.

He likes being warm.

Once he discovers his Elemental Powers he tends to accidentally light things on fire when he gets agitated.

Cole Brookstone

The Dancing Queen™

Amazing singer

Protective of all his friends.

He is the mother hen. It is him.

Vindictive boy if you hurt his friends.

Sexually confused but has crushes on pretty much everyone he knows no matter what gender

He thinks Kai is mildly attractive and might date him

“Lloyd’s cute I’d date him and probably marry the fuck out of him if he wasn’t aro.”

“Jay’s pretty cute too but I think Nya likes him and I know he likes Nya and I’m not gonna be a homewrecker.”

Would probably date Zane

After discovering his Elemental Power he takes an interest in physical combat.

Gay 4 Nature™

Zane Julien

A legit angel

Not a robot but he’s still a little... Off.

Super smart

Anxiety™

Secretly loves memes and makes “Get in the bag Nebby” jokes with Lloyd 24/7

Most of the memes he likes are the old fashioned cat memes

But he has a tendency to do the “mmm whatcha saaayyyyy” thing

Has a fidget cube that he likes to take apart and put back together

Shop classes

Ace and demiromantic

Platonic crush on Lloyd

Would probably date Cole or Kai if given the chance or if he could get over his anxiety.

Might date Nya

He always knew about his powers and he’s constantly cold to the touch

Jay Walker

Anxiety™: The Sequel

Constantly screaming on the inside

Straight as a line

Head/heels for Nya

Best friends with Zane and Cole

Also does the “mmm whatcha saaayyyy” thing

The Inventor™

Once he finds out about his powers he uses them to help his inventions succeed.

Will accidentally shock you if he’s stressed

Nya Smith

BAMF

Can kick your ass

WILL kick your ass

Protective

Bicurious

Definitely likes Jay though

Thinks her powers are dumb

Literally makes it rain when she’s upset

She’s sad and so are the clouds

Okay that’s all I’ve got for now.

[deltaengineering]

spring anime 2017 part 2: girlfriendship is magic

I can’t believe Maidragon was so powerful it brought the entire 90s back.

See also:

• spring anime 2017 part 1: woke up late

• spring anime 2017 part 3: comfy and easy to wear

• spring anime 2017 bonus round: things you already knew were good

Clockwork Planet

Yes, forecasts this season predict heavy showers of magical girlfriends.This time the dude afflicted by this sudden precipitation is a clockwork nerd, who gets a clockwork gothloli dropped on him. This may be less of a coincidence than it sounds because for spurious reasons the entire planet has been replaced by clockwork – if you thought this show was mentally capable of having a metaphorical title, I have bad news. So basically this is teen schmuck + robot superweapon having fights in a city that looks like a lazy steampunk cosplayer’s top hat, in between erotic misunderstandings. I’m regretting that I called Macchiavellism’s fights bad because a couple good action cuts are already a lot to ask for, as evidenced here: It looks just terrible, and obviously the content itself is even worse. Nuh-uh.

Eromanga-sensei

I love Hiro Kanzaki’s character designs. There, I said it. I just wish they weren’t attached to bullshit like OreImo or Eromanga-sensei, which, being by the same author and all, is more or less the same thing. It’s pretty bad when the implied incest fantasy is the least revolting thing about your celebration of otaku shittery: So a schlubby light novel protagonist who also writes light novels (and who happens to be surrounded by hot bitches that just love people who write light novels because that’s so cool) finds out that the mysterious porn artist he’s collaborating with over the internet is actually his hikkikomori little sister, who reacts to this revelation like any girl would: being tsundere. This means it’s full of mildly self-deprecating nerd humor, the infuriating kind that makes it abundantly clear that if the author meant any of it, he wouldn’t write this crap. Even worse is that the sibling relationship is played for sappy family feels, which I would be more willing to give the benefit of the doubt to if this wasn’t OreImo 2: The Sequel To OreImo. And the main guy can’t keep his eyes from wandering anyway, so it’s not like there’s a mystery here. I’ll say it looks real good, obviously there’s money in the OreImo market and it’s well made as a result, plus the aforementioned character designs. But if I want more Hiro Kanzaki I’d rather watch Go! Go! 575 again.

Hinako Note

There’s actually no Manga Time Kirara adaptation this season, but worry not, Hinako Note is indistinguishable from one of those (that one being GochiUsa). So it’s Kirara at it’s most basic too: 5 girls with mild, generic quirks hang out and cute things take place. You get your shy one, you get your hungry one, you get your tiny maid one, etc. Ostensibly this is theater-themed, but as of episode 1 it’s less about theater than K-ON is about music, and that’s saying something. Now, these shows are always extremely inoffensive by design, and if they do nothing fundamentally wrong they just come across as dull. Since this does nothing fundamentally wrong, it just comes across as dull. Congratulations, Hinako Note, you pulled it off even while being born in the wrong magazine.

Kabukibu!

The easy hook when writing about Kabukibu is that it’s another DEEN show about a classic Japanese performance artform, but it’s blindingly obvious right away that Kabukibu is no Rakugo Shinjuu – it being about a school club is right in the title after all, and it has the requisite spurious punctuation too, so everything else falls into place from there. The main innovation is that this is about cute guys doing cute kabuki. As always, our main dude has to gather the five members to bring the school club back to life first. So it’s unimaginative and honestly rather bad, but I still like it. For starters there’s the bit where our lead is such a nerd that he spends every conversation clearing up common misconceptions about kabuki, which is hilarious, since it resembles weeaboo Richard Stallman wanting to interject for a second over and over again. Secondly, the comical cast of misfits does seem to have potential, with a rock singer that can’t sing, an obvious woman that is actually a woman, and so on. Overall it reminds me of Cheer Danshi, an obvious C-list production that gets by by being earnest. If I can learn to not be annoyed at the yodelling kabuki inflection, I might actually watch this for a lark.

The King’s Avatar

This may be completely outside the “Japanese cartoon” purview of this post since it’s 100% Chinese and doesn’t even have a Japanese dub like the Haoliners productions, but it’s on MAL so it counts I suppose. Also, it’s rather... good? The King’s Avatar is about a legendary MMO pro gamer who gets kicked off his team and has to give up his account, which afflicts him with a multitude of sads. After a bit of soul-searching he starts playing the game again on a new server, starting from level 1. What makes this not as bad as it sounds is that it’s not an isekai bonanza, but a sports show where the sport happens to be visually interesting, and it’s a slow and contemplative sports show at that. The whole “starting from level 1" thing is a topical twist on the sports comeback story, and it looks fairly nice too, a few bits of unfortunate CG aside (but that’s common, so whatever). Yeah, I like this, and if fansubs turn out to not be a huge hassle to get hold of I’ll give it a try.

Love Kome - We Love Rice

Back in Japan, please enjoy this short comedy about rice crop gijinka, boyband edition. It has atrocious character designs and is painfully unfunny. So nothing new there.

Re:Creators

Girlfriends keep falling in my lap, and that might mean my eyes will soon be turning red. Hey, this is the old “reverse isekai”, where some nerd gets to live with a bunch of characters from his favorite anime that inexplicably became real. Brace for domestic hijinks and fish-out-of-water comedy - and a lot of action, because this is Ei Aoki working with offbrand Fate material. He may be this show’s saving grace, because I’m willing to forgive dumb action anime a lot if it at least manages to have some actual fucking action in it. The idea that these anime characters think they’re in the “realm of the gods” (i.e., their creators, you see) also has some storytelling potential, if it doesn’t get buried under stuff blowing up and comedic trips to the konbini. And it doesn’t have a “walking in on the girl naked” scene, which probably counts as “classy” in this field. I don’t know, it sure is stupid as hell but it might be a good time. We’ll see.

Renai Boukun

Renai Boukun is a comedy’s comedy about a very silly cupid that ships people, and herself. As a real anime comedy, it is of course chock full of people acting wacky followed by reaction faces, which is my kryptonite. I do have to admit that this show at least goes all out with it, it’s fast and furious and never lets up. Some of the jokes are even okay (mostly the more absurd ones like the unsettlingly bizarre cat with a human face), though most are just repetitive, like the yandere girl being constantly jealous. Yeah, this is just totally not my thing, but if I give it any amount of praise that probably means it’s a good one?

Seikaisuru Kado

Never say that bureaucrats don’t get no respect, because this is the second season in a row where we get an anime about pencilpushers being totally awesome. The main difference between this and ACCA is that ACCA was roughly 80% style, and Seikaisuru Kado has no style. It makes up for it with conviction, because this is a show where some desk jockey assigned to wind down an electroplating business spends a night googling, with the result being him developing a new electroplating procedure that saves the company and impresses physics professors – and that is the intro before the science fiction aspect comes into play. Oh yeah, there’s a science fiction aspect. So after a job well done, Super Bureaucrat Man is taking a flight from Haneda airport when a Borg cube unceremoniously drops on the plane. The rest of the episode is spent with scientists trying to figure out what happened, mostly by shooting tank shells at the cube and so on. Guess they just aren’t bureaucratic enough, because by the end our hero emerges from the cube, having apparently come to an agreement with the proprietor. Uh. Yes, this is an extreme amount of nonsense, and I have no idea where this is supposed to be going. With the amount of military hardware on display, it makes me think “GATE, but not for total assholes”, but who knows. It looks very weird too, it’s a CG show that cuts a lot of corners by using 2D animation (I know, right?). Usually CG characters are good when you have a lot of action because it enables a fluid camera, but this has no action and they still could have done their special effects in CG like everyone else. So it ends up as an anime where the important characters look worse than the unimportant ones they couldn’t be bothered to build a CG model for. The whole thing is bizarre enough to be intriguing, but I don’t have high hopes for it, especially since the slots for shows I actually want to watch are now filling up.

Tsuki ga Kirei

Case in point: Tsuki ga Kirei is a romance about a bookish nerd dude who loves to quote Dazai at his most morose, and a neurotic girl. Needless to say, it is very awkward, but also kind of cute. This may seem like a slim synopsis, but that’s pretty much it: Tsuki ga Kirei is the sort of show that has the potential to be great if it pays off, but just becomes boring to infuriating Mari Okada clone #3879435 if it doesn’t. So it’s a risky proposition, and not one you can call based on the first episode. On the execution level it seems to do it right so far, it’s well directed, sticks to its slow, sensitive tone and looks pleasant and detailed – the only distracting thing are regrettable and robotic CG background characters all over the place. Overall, this is a show that demands at least three episodes, which it will get from me. Ask again later.

Twin Angel BREAK

Finally, if you’re looking for some basic-ass mahou shoujo shit, here’s the new Twin Angel spinoff. It’s indeed some basic-ass mahou shoujo shit (two-girl team aka PreCure version). The genki red one and the reserved blue one go around fighting evil by the moonlight or whatever, while being cheered on by their one-gimmick-each friends. I somehow doubt this thing is setting itself up for a subversion of any kind, so yeah. What you see is what you get. The only memorable thing is that the action is more than merely bad here, it’s comically bad. Seriously, it’s somewhere between Astro Fighter Sunred and Ninja Slayer. Too bad the rest of the show is just unambitiously competent, so watching it for production pratfalls seems like it’s not worth it either.

[ttawoabw]

World’s Finest: The Collection – Wonder Woman Box

So I’ve taken a bit of a break from book subscription boxes, I just wasn’t feeling satisfied with the contents and there haven’t been many books that were releasing that caught my interest and fit various subscriptions services themes.  So here I am with a very different subscription box unboxing and review.  A DC collectors box.  Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been reading a lot of comics this year, I’ve always loved MARVEL movies and DC TV shows.  But this year through my reading slump comics have honestly been a godsend (without them I wouldn’t have reached my Goodreads Reading Challenge Goal) and relief.  I found I much preferred the DC characters and have been really enjoying the Rebirth series’ (mostly Super Sons), so when I saw the unboxings for World’s Finest Batman box (their first box) I decided I had to get it myself.  Unfortunately I missed out on the Batman box but I got the Wonder Woman box and I’m so happy with it!  The contents just fit more into what I want to be getting from subscription boxes, there is really unique and useful items.  In the Batman box there was a grapple umbrella.  I mean that in itself sold me on the box.  Anyway, I’ll stop babbling on and get on with the unboxing and review.

As always we start with the box itself – I am so impressed with this box.  I love it.  Is that weird?  I’m totally going to use it for other stuff, like storing my comic issues or bookish/nerdy goodies.  It’s sturdy, and the shipping sticker was attached to a layer or plastic covering the box so there’s no ugly sticker.  The design is great and it’s just overall an awesome box.  Yes, I know I’m weird.

The first thing in the box was this fierce Wonder Woman t-shirt. Now I’m not sure how many guys would wear this but I think it’s pretty awesome.  I’m not that keen on the type of collar it has, but that’s not a real problem.

Next up we have an item that made me laugh real hard.  They’re sweatbands but they’re like Diana’s crown and (kind of) bracelets.  I’m actually starting to workout a lot more so these will be SUPER useful, and funny.  And they’re soft.

Followed by your own real life Invisible Jet! Well, Invisible Jet ice cube (trays) anyway.  But ice is practically ‘invisible’ or clear so it’s almost the same thing, right? This is actually really cool, I don’t see myself using it while I still live with my parents, but when I have my own house and my own freezer you bet I’ll be using them!

  Up next we have a twelve pack of Wonder Woman comic cover postcards.  There’s two of each so six different covers.  They’re classic and retro and since there’s two of each I’ll actually be sending some postcards!  I typically hoard them, if I only have one of something I like I tend to hold onto it.  But since there’s spares I’ll share.

Then we have an exclusive vinyl figure.  I haven’t ever collected these types of figures (I have kind of started collecting Funko Pops!) so this was something new for me.  I like it a lot, I’m not sure about the sculpt on the face or the size of the boobs but I guess it’s the boobs are more accurate to the comic portrayal and well.. It’s a small figure and face details are so tiny I can’t really fault them.  I’m a perfectionist so it’s probably just my personal view.  But yeah, this was cool.  I think every box has an exclusive figure like this (so they all match) featuring the character from the theme.

  Now the following (or should I say above) item included is one of my two favourites from this box.  It’s this Lasso of Truth mug and it is AWESOME, I never would have thought of doing a mug like that but it’s so cool and it’s like her lasso has been coiled into a mug.  I don’t really drink hot drinks so this will probably hold pens or bookmarks but I adore it.  It’s officially my favorite mug.

      Second to last we have this pin set with three different pins.  A portrait, her shield emblem and her crown.  I think these are really cute.  I’m not sure I’ll actually use them since I’d be worried about loosing them – I did put one on my bookbag though.  So if I ever get around to the bookstore or library at least one of the pins will see the outside.

Now for the last item and my personal favorite.  The letter opener!  Yep, this is a letter opener.  I am TERRIBLE at opening letters.  I’ve torn so many important pieces of paper and lost so many codes and such because of my poor letter opening skills; and I was going to buy a Wonder Woman one in the new year – but then I got this!  It’s not as big as the one I was planning on getting, but it works perfectly and it’s just so cool!  I love this.  This is the kind of unique practical novelty stuff I’ve been wanting from subscription boxes (not this size necessarily but this kind of usefulness) and it just makes me so happy.  If I ever end up in an office job you better believe I’ll be taking this with me to put on my desk.

  Obviously the shield and sword come out of the stand.  I’m not sure what purpose the shield has but it fits on my finger so maybe it’s like a finger guard from the sword – if you’re clumsy like me and holding even a dull tiny sword is a risk then this makes sense, otherwise I probably sound crazy.

  Final Thoughts:

I loved this box.  It is on the dearer side, but it’s quarterly and the curating of the box and quality of the items justifies the cost.  I really loved it, it was filled with practical useful items that have a novelty comic spin on them.  As I said above the stuff in this box is the sort of stuff I want to be seeing in subscription boxes, useful everyday stuff (yes candles, lip balms and bath bombs are useful but there’s only so many of each you can have before you get sick of them).  I’ll definitely be keeping my subscription and I can’t wait to see what the next box has!  I bet the character will be Superman, followed by either The Flash or Aquaman.  Depending on which box comes out when the Aquaman movie comes out.  They should time it so they correlate. I definitly recommend this box, maybe not if you aren’t a huge comic fan, but if you’re starting a collection or are already a collector I’m sure you’d love this box.

You can actually get this exact box, since they’re done quarterly there is plenty of time for you to get in your order.

You can order your DC World’s Finest: The Collection box HERE for $48.99 USD (not including shipping). If you want to check out past boxes click HERE. 

  My Links:

Goodreads : Becca Winter

Instagram : bookie_becca

Twitter : @Becca_Theory

Facebook : The Troubles And Woes Of A Bookworm

Affiliate: Book Depository

Referral: OwlCrate

Referral: The Bookish Box

Becca

xxx

  The opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone.  This post is not sponsored I paid for the box myself.

What's your favorite comic book character? World's Finest: The Collection - Wonder Woman Box So I've taken a bit of a break from book subscription boxes, I just wasn't feeling satisfied with the contents and there haven't been many books that were releasing that caught my interest and fit various subscriptions services themes. 

[barrenharold021-blog]

What should be the emotional bond between children and robots?

When I brought the robot home from the Apple Store, I knew I was inviting a new kind of strangeness into our lives. My wife worried about giving our 4-year-old son a(nother) digital thing, a “smart” thing. I worried that he wouldn’t know what to make of it. Or that his little sister would break it. Or that I’d be jealous. Because I have always wanted a robot.

This one was Cozmo, a $179 gadget produced by Anki, which has taken more than $200 million from venture capitalists to bring “artificial intelligence and robotics to our everyday lives.” The company was founded by Carnegie Mellon graduates in 2010, one of many businesses spawned by the university’s robotics program. In downtown San Francisco, Anki employs nearly 200 people making toy robots governed by artificial intelligence.

The robot was the last present my son opened for his fourth birthday. He and I giddily pulled it out of the box and he waited patiently as the toy charged, staring at it. Cozmo is rectangular and about four inches long, with treads like a miniature tank’s; a tiny lifting arm for picking up and playing with the “power cube” blocks that are bundled with the product; and a small, low-resolution screen for a face. In an MIT Media Lab study conducted on smart devices and toys, a pair of kid participants deemed Cozmo “a bob-cat with eyes,” an apt, if dadaist, description. Do Robotic Pool Cleaners Really Work https://www.robotsden.com/do-robotic-pool-cleaners-really-work

Stefania Druga and Randi Williams, the researchers behind the study, want to know how children perceive smart robots, and, eventually, to study how those bots affect kids’ cognitive development. So far, they’ve discovered that little children (ages 3 and 4) aren’t sure whether the robots are smarter than they are, but that slightly older children (ages 6 to 10) believe the robots to have superior intelligence. Druga and Williams were inspired by the research of the legendary Sherry Turkle, who wrote a highly influential 1984 book called The Second Self. She argued that computers, as objects that exist somewhere between the animate and the inanimate, force humans to reexamine their own minds. Small children, she found, were fascinated by the question of whether computerized toys were alive, dead, or something else.

Finished charging, Cozmo came rolling out of its base station with some little bleeps. It blinked up at us with its lively eyes. Cute. We taught it to say our names and recognize our faces. Then we played a game of Quick Tap. I set one power cube in front of the robot and another in front of my son. At irregular intervals, the cubes light up with color patterns. If the colors on the two cubes match, you try to press on yours before the robot presses on its own.

Cozmo lifted its arm over the cube. My son’s little fingers dangled over his. The cubes flashed all blue. My son saw the lights and his hand twitched, but he waited for the robot’s arm to smack down first. The robot won and chuckled to itself. I tried a few rounds of the game, winning each time. Cozmo began to jitter and make minor-key noises that conveyed anger and frustration. “Don’t beat him!” my son yelled. “You’re making him sad.” We played several more rounds, letting the robot win, and it vamped back and forth across the floor. arduino robot arm source code https://www.robotsden.com/7-arduino-robotic-arm-project-ideas-tutorial-plus-source-code

It was bath time. We sat Cozmo on a ledge by the sink. The robot gamely rolled around, pushed up to the edge, and then pulled back, looking frightened. I watched with concern, hoping it wouldn’t drive itself off. Which, a few minutes later, it did, landing softly in the hand I’d extended half a second earlier. I was relieved, and unable to disentangle the financial and emotional components of the feeling. “He’s like your sister,” I said, another intrepid being who has not learned the limits of her physical abilities.

Cozmo’s creators think of it not as a bot but as a character, like you’d encounter in a movie. “Our motivation at the start was: What would it take to bring a Pixar character to life?,” Boris Sofman, Anki’s CEO, told me. They wanted “to make him understand his environment and relationships.”

Previous generations of seemingly smart toys usually relied on clever tricks. Remember Furbies, the ’90s sensation? They seemed to learn from their owners, because they gradually spoke more English, but in fact they’d simply been programmed to use more words as time went on. Humans, nonetheless, had the pleasant illusion of being the instructor. remote control car with night vision https://www.robotsden.com/best-remote-control-car-with-night-vision

Cozmo does something more than that—is something more than that, though still less than the living thing that my son seems to think it is. Cozmo can sense the world through a camera, and the images it captures get fed to an affiliated smartphone or tablet, which processes the data into a simple model of the world in which the robot finds itself. Are there people around? Are there power cubes to play with? Is it near an edge of a table? It does a simple version of what any autonomous robot must do, from a self-driving car to the pack robots that Boston Dynamics developed for the military.

As you play, software inside Cozmo determines the robot’s state: It can get excited, scared, nervous, happy, sad, frustrated. Sofman calls this software the toy’s “emotion engine”; it links the sensory technology to the robot’s behavior. Anki has hired animators from Pixar and DreamWorks to design some 1,200 little movements for the robot to make. Their animation software is hooked up directly to sample robots: The animators create new ways to show that Cozmo is, say, frustrated, and play them back through its body to see how people interpret the robot’s actions. The goal is to choreograph movements and expressions that will induce genuine emotions in the toy’s owner.

In the latest version of the software, Cozmo must be fed, repaired, and played with, not unlike the Tamagotchis of yore. But unlike those simple gizmos, which merely beeped or flashed simple expressions on a tiny screen, Cozmo can use the full breadth of its animated repertoire to summon particular feelings in its owner, and to foster emotional bonds. The idea is to create “a deeper and deeper emotional connection,” Sofman said. “And if you neglect him, you feel the pain of that.”

When he told me this, I felt a flash of not-quite-anger. It seemed almost cruel to design a robot that could play on a young kid’s emotions. And I had never considered that, in the coming human–robot conflagration, robots might take over simply by expertly manipulating us into letting them win.

Turkle has more-pointed concerns. She finds the notion of children empathizing with robots troublesome and quite possibly dangerous. Kids need connections to real people in order to mature emotionally. “Pretend empathy does not do the job,” she told me. If relationships with smart toys crowd out those with friends or family, even partially, we might see “children growing up without the equipment for empathic connection. You can’t learn it from a machine.”

My son and I sat on the porch playing with the robot. He shouted commands: “Say hello to my sister, Cozmo!” When I had Cozmo say his sister’s name by typing it into the app on my phone, he was delighted, but I also feared that I’d been sucked into a deception that the bot was even more capable than it actually was. toy robot that blows smoke https://www.robotsden.com/toy-robot-that-blows-smoke-gifts-to-delight-your-inquisitive-kid

Cozmo’s personality masks all that the robot still can’t do, Sofman told me. It can’t hear you. It can recognize only a few objects—basically power cubes, pets, and humans. And it’s completely dependent on the smartphone’s processing power to do anything. Shut your phone off, and Cozmo shuts down too. But “people become more forgiving of limitations if you have the right emotional cues,” Sofman said.

Humans don’t need much help to believe in a machine’s capabilities. Waymo, the company that emerged from Google’s self-driving-car project, has come to the position that there should be no intermediate steps between a car you drive yourself and a fully autonomous vehicle, because as soon as humans believe that a car (or a robot) has the slightest autonomy, they overestimate its capabilities. In early testing, a Google employee even climbed halfway into the back seat while the experimental software was driving on the highway. After watching enough video of how people in the driver’s seat behaved while the car was driving, the Google team set its sights on pure autonomy. Humans could not be trusted, because they were too trusting.

On the porch, my son discovered a new favorite game with Cozmo. Again and again, he turned the robot on its back so that it could not use its treads. The little robot flipped itself over in different ways and with varying levels of success, and my son laughed and laughed at its attempts. Whatever protective impulse he’d felt had dissipated in the physical comedy of robotic struggle.

Then, as he is wont to do, my son abruptly decided that he was done and that the robot needed to sleep on its charger in his room. As it turned out, what he really wanted was to watch TV, and my parental anxiety immediately attached to one of the other nightmares of our age. (Perhaps the whims of a toddler are not so easy to predict and manipulate.)

As I snuggled Cozmo into its charger, it was strange to think that the siblings and cousins and descendants of this little robot would one day, maybe quite soon, be everywhere. Self-driving cars, warehouse bots, autonomous drones—sensing, perceiving, reacting robots will be part of my son’s world. I feel about them as my parents did about computers: It will be necessary to understand these machines to comprehend the world. So now we have our first robot.

[wolfy19982-blog]

Review #4 Oct. 14, 2017 “Write Your Own Stories”

 So as I started this I'm sure some have asked, why the quotes? Well each quote I have well I have either put on as a summary for this movie or for others my favorite quote from the movie. And the quote for this time is actually the very last thing the audience hears before the credits role. This movie? The Book of Life.

Knowing that this movie is one of the very first animated films produced IN THE US with a majority hispanic/latino background, minus Channing Tatum and Ron Perlman, it's pretty good. And before someone messages me saying they feel triggered because I didn't use "latinx"....

Traditional Spanish has the masculine form say latino, for a group of people as well and as for a male. The reason why is still unknown to me. I grew up using latino, because yes I am Hispanic of Latin and Caribbean descent. Meaning, I understand how some feel on that topic but I feel comfortable using the masculine terms when speaking of a group with or without women.

Now let’s talk about the director, Jorge Gutierrez, a Mexican animator, painter, writer and director. Personally I know him the most for his television show that was on Nickelodeon called El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, where the main character was a sort of luchador that was also a crime fighter. Already after doing research and finding out he did a show that at time (to my knowledge) the only other cartoon with an almost all Latin American based characters was ¡Mucha Lucha!. In all honesty I praise his work, yes it is on the Mexican roots because that is his nationality, but yet he opens the doors to people who may have little to no knowledge of the Mexican culture of Dia De Los Muertos.

Anyways, also knowing that Guillermo Del Toro was involved with this made it even more awesome for me, and I paid no attention to this movie at all when it was released. It's Guillermo Del Toro, the guy that came up with the Dark Knight Joker smile before the Dark Knight Joker did it! (I am referring to Pan's Labyrinth, kind of funny how Dark Knight came out in 2008 and Pan’s Labyrinth came out in 2006).

To any reader that is in love with the 50 Shades film series, he's the director Charlie Hunnam stopped filming 50 Shades of Grey for, yes Crimson Peak is on my list to do. And yes Jax from Sons of Anarchy was originally supposed to be Christian Grey.

So onto the film review really! Let's take a look at The Book of Life!

The film starts off with a group of kids going to a museum, there they meet a woman tour guide who shows them to the Mexico section. Explaining everything to them she brings out a set of dolls, and where the story really begins. A trio of little kids on Dia De Los Muertos(Day of the Dead). The trio being our, I don't want to say heroes, love triangle.

We start with Joaquin, the son of the town hero, orphaned mind you since his mother is no where to be seen. Manolo his friend, the son of a family of matadors(bull fighters) going back many generations. Finally Maria, the girl and third to the triad, she is a girl ahead of her time. There we meet our other characters La Muerta who is literally a walking and talking sugar skeleton. And Xibalba, to me at least I am reminded of Hades mixed with Thanatos from Greek Mythology (god of underworld and god of death). 

Because of this as years go by the love triangle grows stronger causing Manolo to go to the world of the dead (I forgot what it was called), now because of his death caused by Xibalba he goes through the realm of the forgotten, a place where all souls go if they are forgotten to find La Muerta. There Xibalba is caught cheating and Manolo wages a bet, him winning. Once he’s up there he wins the girl and it’s a happily ever after.

To start it off we’ll go to the cons because I don’t have that many, and I’ll do it in bullets with why.

Cons:

The fanbase: they are a large group of people and in fact without them there wouldn’t be a Book of Life 2 coming out, but some were accusing Pixar for stealing with Coco.

Channing Tatum: I know without him the movie may not have even gone to theaters, his voice as Joaquin just kinda felt off at the beginning, only at the end did it work

Joaquin: I understand, girls love the musician, and I know that he was in in love with Maria too. He was the town hero, he would’ve been more likable if he had a more in depth tale instead of being the son of the original town hero. For me, there’s a scene where he shows Maria something he held from her, it may have been better if he tried as much as Manolo for her to be difficult to choose. To me though the role of Joaquin felt as if instead of someone in love, he felt more like the friend that didn’t want to be left out seeing his best friends falling in love with each other, giving him more depth would’ve helped and hopefully the sequel will give him a character arc.

The relationship between La Muerta and Xibalba: I get that they are lovers, but I don’t know anyone who can get over an argument that quickly. They are gods so I understand.

The narration: I understand that the narrator was put as well as the children to get the audience interested, for me though whenever the film would go back to the students though it took me away from the movie, it would have been better to me at least, if instead of starting the film with the film, having the narrator (SPOILERS is revealed to be La Muerta) to be shown at the end, so the story wouldn’t be cut when there was a interruption from a child.

Pros:

The characters: The chemistry between them all was so great, it feels so natural! Besides Manolo, my favorite character goes to two people the pig, and La Muerta. Yes Chuy is a comedic relief and how he oinks but who can say no this this?

Anyways, La Muerta is literally death emboddied. I honestly love how they show her enjoying the wager, even being interested in the song Manolo sings at Maria’s song. Not only does it add mystery to what kind of guy she wants, it shows that even though she is a goddess she does have emotions, she is usually calm, but she can get mad or even curious and that makes her a more interesting character.

The songs: Yes they have a mix of original and known songs, yet they mix them well. And they sound good both in English and in Spanish which makes it even cooler

The design: The aesthetic for the characters within the tale in a tale reminds me of the director’s previous work being El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera. The way the characters are presented as dolls makes it even more spectacular; not because it’s easier, no because it makes the viewer believe it is a fantasy like world sending said viewer to a place they may have never been to before. And because they are doll, well they can do things that normal humans can, like be torn apart and be fine with it.

The cast: The cast is awesome! Minus Channing Tatum before the end. Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Dany Trejo, Hector Elizondo, Grabriel Iglesias, Cheech Marin, and so many more people with the Latin background. Not to mention Channing Tatum, Ron Perlman (who I’m starting to think has a cameo or a role in ALMOST every recent Guillermo Del Toro production), Christina Applegate, and Ice Cube, by the way those are the only non Hispanic/Latino cast that I know. 

Chuy: I don’t know why I have a separate section for him but I just love him so much! He’s like that pet I never had. Not only was he not you know a pet from the pets of the Disney princesses (Yes Moana has a pet pig but that movie was released after this one), he doesn’t really have that much screen time. And when he did, he was so cute. Even as a grown pig he was cute!

The dialog: What can I say I loved it. The way they spoke, minus Joaquin and Maria’s father, it felt real like you could have an actual conversation with them. 

The Sanchez family: Yes Manolo’s father was a stereotypical father, and well he’s kind of accurate in some Hispanic/Latin families. The father is the stern one trying to raise his children right hoping they would surpass them. Families that I know well most want them to become the successful careers (current times a doctor or lawyer) also while being able to give them grandchildren.His mother though well, she knows her child the most, usually the grandparents but having his grandmother on the side with his father made more interesting. Not to mention the extended family, there well there are some that have dreams in common with us, and some that we have no idea where they came from (the clown cousin). 

My final thoughts? I haven’t been able to find it anywhere in Spanish since I saw it on my phone, but it’s a beautiful story. It’s not a damsel in distress story, its a coming of age story where one must choose between their passion or the traditions their family have. 

Quick research on Xibalba, his name in Mayan means fear, and Xibalba is actually the name of the K’iche/Quiche (Guatemalan) Mayan underworld which actually makes his character even cooler.

Do I recomend it? Yes! Everyone will enjoy it whether you are Hispanic/Latino or not. 

Personally for me I give it a 7/10, it’s great but there is something missing and I’m not sure exactly what.