#but its also pretty weird youre talking to me like we have the exact same knowledge base to draw from

[ghostcrows]

theres something about going from 'read as a woman so men assume you dont know the most basic shit about anything' to 'read as a man so men assume you automatically already know what the fuck theyre talking about, about anything'

[river13245]

The Wingman

Navigation / SPN Masterlist

Charlie Bradbury x Male reader Platonic, Sam Winchester x Maler reader

Charlie had managed to convince you to finally come out with her. She wanted to go to a bar to hopefully find a woman, it had been almost a week of her asking you so you finally caved in. You weren't a huge party person and definitely not a drinker. In fact you drank so little that you're sure after a few small drinks you would already be tipsy and who knows what secrets you would let slip during that time.

So this is why you were currently getting into a nicer outfit. Wearing a white button up shirt with the few top buttons undone. The shirt is tucked into black dress pants and since its chilly outside you have put on a black jacket that goes well with the vibe.

The bar that the two of you were going to was a nicer bar than the ones you are used to. You go on hunts every now and then, either on your own or helping someone with one. So you were making sure you looked at least halfway decent.

Your hands were running through your hair when Charlie walks into the bathroom. Some people would have found this weird because why was a girl just walking into the bathroom when a guy is in there but with the two of you it isn't. The both of you have known each other since you were kids. So she's more than welcome to have no boundaries with you. Of course she wouldn't walk in when you were not decent. She isn't crazy.

"You know you have to be my wingman tonight right?" She says as she stands beside you finishing up the little makeup she does wear. She wasn't one for makeup but she will do light blush and some mascara just to liven herself up. "trust me. I know the routine Char"

She elbows you and turns you to look at her. Then she brings her hand through your hair some more and finally gets it looking good. "there. It was getting boring just watching you struggle" As you roll your eyes you grab your phone putting it in your pocket before walking out the bathroom. "come on we better leave now if we want to make it at a decent time"

As you walk to the door Charlie grabs her phone and wallet. She was planning on drinking while you weren't. If you did drink it would be because someone paid for it.

When the both of you were ready you open the door for her and then begin walking to the bar. It wasn't a far walk and because of the fact that she wanted to drink it wasn't a good idea for her to drive back home. You would walk her back home if she didn't go home with anyone tonight.

The streetlights were on and the sun was low so it was getting pretty dark. The only sounds to be heard as the two of you walked was the cars passing by and your own footsteps. Since you were the perfect gentleman you walked on the side closest to the sidewalk because you knew the rule.

Charlie was talking about plans she had next week and as she was listing her plans off she looked over at you. "Oh by the way I'm also planning on going to the bunker to see the guys. You want to tag along?" You thought about it for a moment and before you could even say anything she spoke "Sam will be there" This earned her a glare from you. "How many times do I have to tell you that nothing is going on between the two of us"

She laughs and shakes her head "yeah what ever you say. That man looks at you the exact same way you look at him." You were looking straight ahead at the building that you were approaching. "If something were to happen it would have happened by now" There was no response back because she knew that you would get into your feelings if you both talked about it too much.

-----

When the two of you finally arrive and get used to the new scenery people start to come up to you. They ask if you would like a drink and you get a non alcoholic drink while Charlie gets her favorite.

While the bartender gets the both of you your drink. The both of you are just talking and not really paying attention until a random girl comes up to the both of you and starts engaging in a conversation.

The conversation is going really well until she says "You two are cute together" This causes the both of you to look at each other and laugh. "oh no no no. We are not each others types at all" Charlie says and the girls eyes widen "wait are you into women too!?"

This was your cue to slip from the conversation because that's all it took for them to hit it off. You head to the other end of the room and sit down, this is how it usually was when the two of you went out. She would find someone and hit it off, while you would sit and read or something else because you weren't interested in getting with anyone. Your feelings were for someone at the moment anyways.

From across the room you feel her eyes on you and when you look up you give her a thumbs up and a big smile encouraging her to go with the woman. Telling her that it was okay to kind of ditch you tonight. You could never be upset because you knew what would happen and even when she was drunk we never just left you alone she always made sure you were okay with it.

Everyone in the bar were on their way to being drunk or already were. Men were at the pool table in the corner talking loudly to each other not being able to understand just how loud they were being. Music was being played and people have been dancing along to it. Groups of friends were dancing together and some couples etc. etc.

Big crowds were definitely not your thing because your anxiety spiked. Especially when all the people were drunk. You weren't able to be around to many drunk people without you being super on edge because of some past experiences. So to try to calm yourself down you pulled out your book and began to read.

As you read you really wished you had your headphones or earbuds right now because all the loud noises were getting to you. Your sensory overload was becoming too much. You were noticing everything except that Charlie had looked over at you and instantly pulled out her phone

-----

Charlie was flirting with the girl. They were both hitting it off really well as she talked about how she was into D&D too but has never tried LARPING so they were talking about it.

Then after a while Charlie looked around just to make sure you were alright and when she found you she seen the way you were running your hand through your hair every few minutes or squeezing your eyes shut. Even in her drunk state she knew exactly what to do.

She looked at the woman in front of her and spoke kindly "hey I have to call someone. But I don't want to stop our conversation" The woman smiles and nods "its for your friend its okay. Go ahead"

Charlie pulls out her phone and clicks on a contact and puts it up to her ear. "Charlie?" the mans voice spoke through the phone. "Hiiii Sam" it was obvious to know that she was drunk because her voice was more high pitched. "are you drunk? Where are you?"

There was a worried tone to his voice and she laughs while shaking her head. "I may be a little under the influence but that's not why I called. y/n is here with me, we kinds separated from each other but I can tell he's having sensory overload and not doing well can you be here?"

Sam had gone quiet over the phone, the only sounds to be heard was shuffling. "Sam?" Charlie said and that's what made him respond "sorry I was getting my shoes on and getting a few things. Ill be right there. Enjoy your time"

She hung up and went back to the conversation with the girl in front of her.

-----

A few men and women had come up to you asking if you wanted to dance but you turned them all down. You really didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea and so you kept your head rested on your hand while you closed your eyes trying to block the noise out.

You hadn't known how much time had passed but when you felt a hand on your shoulder. It caused you to jump out of your skin. "sorry hun didn't mean to scare you" Sam's voice came out soft and the nickname he let slip out caused a blush to form on your face.

Looking up at him as he took a seat beside you. "its okay Sam. What are you doing here?" He was going through his bag that he brought with him as he replied. "Charlie called me told me you needed some company"

He hadn't wanted you to know that she noticed you weren't doing to well because he knew how you got when people pointed it out. You had traits of autism but have never gotten tested because your parents didn't believe in it. When you had your moments you would rather someone just silently make sure you were okay in public without pointing it out and making it a big deal.

The book that you were holding is not placed on top of the table. "thank you. Uhm I just, Crowds aren't really my thing" Sam smiles and pulls out a small bag "yeah I've noticed. Not a bad thing though, just means you like private more intimate places"

A smile forms on your face as you look at him. "yeah. I'm sorry that she called you. You were probably busy" He shakes his head "I'm never to busy" His words were spoke with such seriousness as if he was speaking the truth. You didn't know what to say but you didn't get the chance too before there was a loud smash that made your body jolt and your hands go to your ears.

Sam instantly stands up and places his hands over yours and brings them down to your lap. "it was someone just dropping their bottle. Its okay. Here" he grabs something from the pouch and pulls it out it was earbuds.

It was the same earbuds that he had gotten for you a few months back. Ones that blocked out most of the noise from the outside world. You looked up at him and the both of you made eye contact before he placed them in your hand. "thank you"

He smiled "its no problem. Put them in and ill play a song for you then we can dance to take your mind off everything"

You put in the earbuds and he pulls out his phone and once you nod he plays a song. Its songs that were just instrumental because he knew that at the moment if someone were to be talking in your ear you might just tip over.

Taking a deep breath and closing your eyes for a moment just letting your body relax a little before you stand up and take his hand. Sam leads you to an empty place and then places his hands on your shoulders lightly. They roam up and down your shoulders and then down to your back and you can feel how your body immediately relax.

He makes sure to be gentle and let you make the next move because he doesn't want to overwhelm you. So when you finally move closer to him he moves his hands to your sides while you place yours on his shoulders.

The music in your ears had a romantic kind of feeling to it and it was making you feel so many things. Sam looks down at you as if he sees you for all that you are. As if he can see all your flaws and still think you are the most attractive man he's ever seen

"Sam" Your voice was soft and quiet because of the emotions going through you. The both of your bodies were so close that you can feel his chest against your own as you danced with him. "y/n" his voice wasn't as quiet as yours had been but filled with so much hidden emotion that it sent a shiver down your spine.

No other words were spoken between the two of you for a few minutes. The only thing you could focus on at this moment was the way your heart was beating faster and how you could feel Sam's breath fan against your face as he spoke your name.

You began to become so tired of all the games. Just wanting him to kiss you but you refused to kiss him and ruin whatever it was going on between you. He must have had the same reaction because he spoke "I'm going to kiss you" his hands pull you against him more as he leans down and places a soft kiss to your lips.

The kiss was soft at first and it made your hands go to the back of his head as you deepen it. His soft lips against your own and then when you deepen it he matches the energy and his tongue slips into your mouth as his hands tighten their grip on you more possessively.

Your knees almost gave out so its a good thing that he was holding you up. When he pulled away it was far to soon for your liking. He had just kissed you as if he needed you to breathe and now as you look up at him. He was looking at you as if you were the only one in this room. "How about I take you to the bunker with me?"

There was nothing that insinuated that he meant that in a way that was like *let me take you home and we can fuck* but still it made you freeze. When he noticed your reaction he shook his head. "Let me take you back to the bunker to take care of you. Ill make you food and then we can watch whatever movie you want"

As he grabs his bag, you grab your phone and book. Then once you both get everything he grabs onto your hand and you begin to walk out of the building but not before you look over at Charlie and she's already looking at you giving you a thumbs up and a smile. "Its about damn time" she mouths to you and you laugh while Sam just smiles and shakes his head while mouthing the words "be safe"

-----

The night was spent with a sandwich that Sam had made for the both of you. A movie had been playing while the two of you ate. It was a romantic comedy, one of your comfort movie.

However your moment was ruined because Dean came down and whistled dramatically "well Sammy I didn't know you had it in you. Its about time" This caused you all to roll your eyes and laugh.

Then when the movie was finished you ended up falling asleep next to Sam as he just had a hand on you just to make sure you were there as the both of you slept.

[gadriezmannsgirl]

Can u do a pedri angst where him and reader finally make it official after months of him chasing after her but the next day the paparazzi find him getting cozy with a girl qnd its all over the media and she feels embarrassed but he doesnt think its a big deal so they get into a fight but make up in the end

I had this already done and then guess what...? I saw the same req but with Gavi🥴 Please, I don't really know how many times I've said it but don't request the exact same thing to other writers. I had this made before I saw it with Gavi so...🥴 Please, tell me what you think of this, I truly hope you like it!

Wrong Move -P.G8

Summary: He doesn't see what's wrong but you do

You remember the excitement on Pedro's face when you told him that you were finally agreeing to go on a date with him after five months of him trying. He went all in towards you and hugged you against him for a whole five minutes murmuring a few thank you's and a few you won't regret it's.

And it's not like you weren't interested in him, because you were; but, he was a famous football player and you were a simple univeristy student who works her ass off to pay for her university and bills. His busy and flashy life didn't contrasted a single bit with your boring and stressing studing one.

You were also scared of the media breaking into your private life and not to mentions his fans that could break you in millions of pieces with three words and also he had a reputation often being connected with random girls with the context of a hookup, he saying that he didn't looked for a serious relationship made you hesitate about him but Pedri reassured you and show you that, that was past, that he truly saw himself in a long run with you and that you'll be more than a random hookup.

He worked hard for you to believe him and he show you he really meant it.

That's why you gave him a chance and after eight months together as girlfriend and boyfriend and one month out in the public eye, you felt for the first time ever doubtful of everything he had said to you.

Pedro had asked if you wanted to join him, Fer, Adrián and their girlfriends on a night out since it was Adrian girlfriend's birthday and as much as you wanted to, you couldn't because you had to submitt a twenty-five pages essay in fours hours and you were barely at the fifteen page.

"Don't overwork yourself, amor, please" Pedro had said grabbing his keys "Te quiero, sé que podrás hacerlo, bonita" (I love you, I know you can do it) He smiled as you kissed him goodbye

"Te escribo al terminar, diviértete pero no mucho" (I'll text you whenever I'm done with it, have fun but not that much) You smiled fixing the neck of his polo as he pulled you closer to him by the waist kissing your lips once more

"I could never, not if you're not with me" He said against your lips before pecking them twice

"Anda, lindo. Te quiero" (Go pretty boy. Love you)

"Yo más, regreso más tarde" (Love you more, I'll be back later)

Two hours later, you got some weird inspiration and managed to finish your essay, you texted Pedro with the image of your submitted work and a lil "🎉😌 Did it!" To which he replied with a heart eyes emoji and "My smart girl" as you smile and got ready to have some dinner and shower.

Four hours later, you were sat on your couch with your chest tightening and watching the video of Pedri with a girl all over him, they were sit in some couch but this girl had her whole front pressed up against his side, her arms linked with his and they were talking.

The video showed him looking at her and sometimes nodding or shaking his head speaking with a smile but she was laughing, throwing her head back, pushing her hair out of her shoulder, the video ended with Pedro getting up and she following him.

Underneath, the comments were all of them disappointed on Pedro and supporting you but it didn't mattered to you.

What mattered is that how you were feeling, you were embarrassed, everyone was talking about how you were "The one who got cheated on", you wanted to cry and deeply wanted to know what is going on, on Pedro's head. You wanted him to tell you what did you just saw and the why behind his actions.

Ten minutes later approximately, you heard the front door being opened, soon your heard him taking off his shoes and then leaving his keys on the holder you guys have. Seconds later, you saw his figure greeting you in your living room.

"How did you passed from thirteen to almost thirty pages of content in two hours? Was I distracting you?" He laughed lightly coming over to you but his comment didn't changed your facial expressions, he didn't noticed them "I'm truly happy for you, bonita. However, don't let an assigment that long get up to you at last minute ever again. I don't want to see you that stressed out again, you were gonna pass out and I would have done it too 'cus-" You interrupted him showing him the video

"What's this and who's that girl?" Your questions sounded defensive and catched Pedro out of guard.

"¿Disculpa?" (Sorry?)

"Who's that girl? And what is this thing that's happening on the video?"

"She's just one of Ferran's friends"

"And are Ferran's friends allowed to link their arms through yours, push themselves against you and basically hint that they want you to... You know?"

"She wasn't hinting anything"

"You are right. She wasn't hinting, she was showing you. She was openly flirting with you and you weren't doing anything to stop it"

"You're overreacting this"

"Am I?" You stood up shaking your head in disbelief "If I am, then why millions of people are agreeing with me too? I'm not the only one. People are thinking you cheated on me with this girl"

"And you believe them?"

"I don't... But should I? You were incredibly cosy with letting her rest her front against your fucking arm over and over again. You were laughing, shaking and nodding your head at her words without pushing her away or letting her know you had someone waiting for you at home"

"Had?" He asked eyes wide open as you closed your mouth "You're just being jealous. I wasn't flirting with her and I definitely couldn't care any less if she had another intentions with me because I am that crazy in love with you, I am freaking greatful and satisfied for what I have at home that I don't need to see anything or anyone on the sidelines"

"Really? You have such a weird way to show that"

"Y/N..."

"I'm tired, Pedri. We can talk it later, I'm not in the mood to hear or see you anymore" You sighed shaking your head, you grabbed your phone and passed by him going to your shared bedroom "I definitely didn't think this could happen to us"

He heard it.

"Nothing has happen to us! You're overreacting!" He yelled pushing his head up so he can see you

"Would you think I'm overreacting if tables were turned around? Would you think it's okay if I go to some other man and flirt and link my arm through his and push myself onto him? Would you accept, me looking into your eyes and tell you: "I wasn't flirting with him"? Wouldn't you feel down knowing a millions of people have seen it and are letting you look like you were cheated on? Wouldn't you feel embarrassed? Are you sure you wouldn't? Because if you wouldn't then yes... I'm overreacting" You said looking into his eyes "Accept it, you fucked it up when you let her get that close to you"

"So this is it?"

"I don't even want to know if this is it or if it isn't. You can make your own assumptions and you can let me known them with another video if you like, I'll be in the guest room. I'm done. Night, Pedri"

And with that you were gone as he stood there looking up at where you were standing. He took his phone and got inside Twitter, the video was the first thing loading into his homepage.

He gulped watching it, it really could be misinterpreted but he wasn't doing anything with other intentions. He loves you with his whole life. It can be said that he loves you even more than he loves football, you came into his life unexpectedly and turned it around 360°.

He didn't see girls who weren't you with other eyes, he even stopped receiving fangirls numbers to prove you he is serious with you and to let you know how much he respects you.

"Why didn't I pushed her away?" He questioned himself

She was funny and he did liked her, as a friend, she lets herself be liked and gets into the group fast but in his mind and heart you were the only one.

You are the only one and he did the wrong move. His efforts that once were high now laid at 0 and he did understand your point of view now.

Frustrated with himself he got out of the app and his eyes connected with his home lockscreen. You and him kissing each other in a beach during you vacations in Canarias, the beauty of the photo is the love you two have for each other and the kiss that was interrupted by smiles on both of your faces.

He has to make it up to you.

Picking up said photo, he captured it with: Mi única chica, te amo💜 hoy y siempre♾️. (My one and only, I love you. Today and always) He turned off the comments for everyone except for you and headed up to the guest room.

He had to be careful with his words and explain himself as much as he could. Your eyes were closed but your cheeks had tear marks, you were awake just ignoring his presence. He sighed and crunched down to be in front of you.

"Que soy un idiota" (I'm an idiot) He began "I swear to everything I own and to everyone I love that I truly don't care about her, I talked to her and tried to be just her friend, she's nice and she may had wanted something with me but the only one I want, the only attention I want, the only girl I will care about the most, the only girl I will flirt back with, the only girl I fall in love with, the only one who I make fool with, my only one everything is you" He reached out to push your hair out of your face and when he saw you didn't reacted back to it, he let his palm lay softly on your cheek carressing it with his thumb.

"I'm sorry, mi vida. I really don't know why I didn't pushed her back, I should have because I'm a taken man but I guess she's new over here and we just wanted her to be comfortable with us"

"But not that comfortable" You said as Pedri smiled

"I know, she crossed a line" You open your eyes and looked at Pedri "I'm sorry" You shook your head smiling lightly "And you didn't overreacted, I would've done the exact same thing if tables were turned around. I'm truly sorry, mi vida"

"Don't do it again, Pedri"

"Pedro"

"Pedri"

"Pedro"

"Pedri"

"You only call me Pedri when you're mad!"

"I still am!"

"What can I do for that bad feeling to go away?"

"Cuddle me, love me, give me some ice cream and never do it again?"

"I can do all four and mostly the second one" You smiled and lifted the blanket for him to step inside. He smiled taking off his hoodie and joggers being left in his boxers and wrapped his arms around you.

He pushed his head down and searched for your lips, kissing you softly and slow "Te amo" He breathed out

"Te amo, mi niño lindo" You whispered back as he pressed you further into him. You guys got comfy and after a few minutes Pedro gasped "What's wrong?"

"The ice cream" He turned you around and got out of your hold

"Pedro, no! Come back here! Ice cream can wait!"

"I know how that goes! Ice cream CANNOT wait!" You smiled widely falling back into the pillows.

He may did a wrong move but he always knew how to fix it.

°°° °°° °°° °°°

Taglist: @gaviypedrisbride @stuckinaf4nfiction @elijahslover @azzpenswrld @http-isabela

[deuterosapiens]

And that's that for Echoes of Wisdom! A pleasant, charming game to be sure!

There's good and bad to be had, but it's certainly an unusual game. I'll definitely be going back over it to collect those Echoes I'm missing, which luckily for me, is a scant ten, per the post-game break down. One of which, humorously enough, is the damn carrot Echo used to summon your horse. I did not actually bother to do the Horse Ranch quest until just after my fifth (or sixth, depending on how you're counting) dungeon. Just going to drop a break here though, because I want to talk a bit more freely about this game.

So, there are a couple of Echoes I've discovered fairly trivialize most combat encounters. The Wolfos echo, any of the Darknut series echoes (the Level 3 variant I actually used basically as a blender throughout the entire last act, in the Still Ancient Ruins), and the Chompfin echo for water.

This game does a fair job of combining the "play it your way" mentality of the recent Wild era titles with the more strict flow of classic dungeons' puzzles. While you have considerably more options in this game, they will typically amount to being a variation on the same sorts of themes. Use fire to light torches- whether that comes from a Brazier, a Torch Slug or an Ignizol is entirely up to you, for example.

Let's talk about the key feature that honestly probably amounts to one of the biggest draws of the charming little game: DUNGEONS (and their BOSSES).

Let's see, there's three main dungeons, followed by Hyrule Castle, then three more dungeons (plus the endgame). Which means we follow the Ocarina of Time dungeon structure, which actually means we follow the A Link to the Past dungeon structure, which is appropriate, all things considered.

Each dungeon requires the traversal of a short Still World segment, which will bring Pokémon Platinum fans immense joy, before pissing them off at the memory of the Distortion World's absence in BDSP, and Legends-Arceus. These segments are mostly platforming with little significant puzzle-solving. They are the reason the Old Bed echo appears at the front of my Most Used list. But the weird eldritch, distorted scenery is quite nice to appreciate. It really does a fine job of setting up the game's final boss too.

I'm a bit torn on if I have a favorite dungeon. I definitely have a least favorite, in the form of the Lanayru Temple. Oh sweet Demise, these ice puzzles pissed me off. I did, however, find that dungeon's boss (SCORCHILL) to be quite fun, so we've got serious points awarded. Eldin Temple is weirdly small, and kind of hallway-y, if you get my drift, but it has Volvagia which I absolutely refuse to complain about. Hated the Mogryph fight, though I expect that's because I made it significantly harder than it should have been. The Faron Temple is interesting in that it really tries to hide its linearity: the theme is Jungle Temple and it honestly captures that feeling pretty damn well: the miniboss is also immensely fun, at least in how it is presented to you, though it's not particularly challenging: Gohma is, well, Gohma, so I don't think we're winning any Boss points with it. Vocavor is a boss with an interesting design, but underwater fish bosses have never won any awards and they aren't starting to now (it did bring to mind a Bowser Junior fight in Mario Wonder, so there's that).

Huh.

Oh, right, Ganon. Eh, this is literally the exact same fight as in Link's Awakening and, if I remember correctly, A Link to the Past. Somehow, however, and I cannot for the like of me figure out how, Grezzo has completely thrown off the timing of this fight: for some reason, and I'm admitting this solely for opacity, the Dead Man's Volley sections are timed, and I literally cannot find a better word for it, wrong. Luckily, they are technically optional if you have the right Echo (which you will, as it's given to you in this very dungeon), but it brought me death and therefore annoyed me.

This game follows up with our recent (if you call Skyward Sword recent) trend of having a massive horde battle precede the final boss. Well, sort of a horde- Zelda's Echo casts Echoes of her own that should be a challenging horde, but alas! The Hylian Blender renders this fight significantly easier than any other.

I will have to look this up, bit did anyone on the dev team have any involvement with Kirby Star Allies? Everything related to Null reminds me of Void Termina, and I am struggling to believe this is simply a coincidence.

Speaking of Null, let's talk about Null!

This thing is one hundred and fifteen percent definitely my favorite thing this game presents us with. Null is an entity from the void, imprisoned within the world itself by the Goddesses of the Triforce (sorry, Prime Energy- this bothered ne immensely), imprisoned to prevent it from devouring all life that might appear within the void. A classic primordial horror, if I do say so, and if there's one thing I'm a sucker for, it's primordial entities who are world-bent on the annihilation of existence itself. When you see this thing's lair, Earthbound had better jump so far forward in your mind you are given extradimensional whiplash.

If I were a timeline fanatic, I imagine Null would screw it up so damn much.

So, where do I stand here. Where where where.

The ideas behind this game are quite odd, to say the least, and their execution is a bit short. I feel like if this map were larger, and if there were more Echoes and quests, I would have more thoughts on how it plays. I just finished the damn thing and I'm not quite sure how I feel about the actual experience of playing it, which is absurd, really.

This one does feel like a love letter to the franchise's highs and lows, a bite-sized sandbox just screaming "We love Zelda!"

[logicheartsoul]

This meta has been a few years coming, but recently inspired due to: 1) Sian (@siancore) mentioning and incorporating into her amazing fic End of the World the moment that this meta is about, and 2) talking to Mexi (@thatmexisaurusrex) about this and then when she made that "share your fave sambucky moments that are canon" post, I knew this needed to finally been written and have its own proper post.

(Also, to @elektraking who wanted to be pinged when I finally wrote this, I finally did it!)

This post is long and image heavy but I didn't want to put it all under a read more.

We all know this scene from Infinity War, it's been all over people's dashes and giffed and etc etc. We also know it's a pretty quick scene, not necessarily a blink and you miss it one, but because it moves pretty quickly. If you're not paying too much attention to everyone else in the background, things will slip by.

However, watching things in 4K can really make things interesting because 1) you can zoom in and 2) you can zoom in and see some pretty clear detail, like the fact Sam and Bucky are looking at each other during this entire scene.

You can see here that everyone present except Sam isn't really watching Steve and Bucky interact -- either they're blocked from of the camera (Rhodey, Ayo, Bruce) or they're not looking at them (Nat has her eyes closed, T'Challa is looking at the side).

Sam is clearly in Bucky's line of sight, even if Bucky is looking at Steve (because we know Steve is moving closer to him and is about to talk to him)

On zoom in, we can see Sam is not zoned out, this is a very focused look at what is happening in front of him.

The next moment is where Steve goes in for the hug, but during this hug, a couple of things happen: 1) Sam moves closer towards them a bit, 2) he and Bucky actually DO stare at each other over Steve's shoulder

And for more than a few moments. Sort of significant if you think about the fact that Sam and Bucky seem to communicate a lot with nonverbal looks between each other. (We see this a few times in Civil War, and then later in this movie, but that will be even more apparent as fact in Endgame and, of course, TFATWS.)

And perhaps this could be passed off as "looking at each other coz we're looking in the same direction" except for the fact that Bucky makes a deliberate look at Sam when we get the pan over to his face.

When Steve backs away from the hug, we see Sam is still looking at Bucky, so we can assume during the entire exchange when the camera goes towards Bucky, Sam is still doing that.

Which leads us to when the camera pans over to Bucky.

(Yeah, yeah the cropping on this is kinda weird for me, but I wanted to make sure you could see his face.)

Steve proceeds to ask Bucky how he's doing. And of course, Bucky gives some kind of cutesy quip that fills space and time before going to the next big plot thing.

It's very interesting that Bucky pauses right after saying "uh, not bad", but as indicated by the arrow I put in the gif, he's staring in the exact direction where Sam would be. Because if you notice in the screenshots before this moment, above, when Bucky and Steve break away from the hug, Sam is in Bucky's line of sight but somewhat to the side, the same direction as the glance in the gif.

Now, as we know, the others are barely watching Steve and Bucky's interaction except Sam, who's still watching with focused attention.

If you were standing where Sam is standing, watching all of this, hearing Steve asking Bucky, "how's it going" and he responds "uh, not bad," and pauses WHILE looking at a glance in your direction, most people would consider that a moment.

And why wouldn't it be a moment? No one else is paying attention to Bucky or Steve except Sam. Bucky and Sam have before this comment were looking at each other when Steve brings in Bucky to a hug. Hell, Bucky could have just said "for the end of the world" without looking sideways and the scene would've worked as intended.

Yet, he gives that glance, and has a smile as he says, "not bad". While looking at Sam. It's so quick, yet it says so much. And considering how we know it's canon for them to be able to speak volumes by just sharing glances at each other (hello Sam looking at Bucky during Endgame), why wouldn't that apply here too? Because the glance wasn't really needed if you think about it.

And of course, Bucky deflects with his "for the end of the world" coz 1) he doesn't want Steve to try to make more small talk and 2) world ending shit is happening, they do NOT have time to stand around, they need to coordinate and they're on a time table. Because we all know Steve, he would want to know the reason why Bucky is actually smiling probably one of the first genuine smiles he's given on screen since TWS.

Anyway, we all know the rest: the plot moves forward, Sam and Bucky end up standing close to each other to witness Thanos' forces trying to get through Wakanda's shields, and then they end up being blipped.

Still, while a short, quick moment, on closer inspection, a lot can be said. Another in a line of Sam and Bucky's "saying things with a look" moments, but an underappreciated one.

[devine-fem]

As someone who likes Damijon as both platonic and romantic…I don’t understand the obsession of certain antis bring up whole age gap thing when it comes to Damian and Jon. It’s getting really old and pissing me off at this point.

I can’t recall a fandom I’ve been in where antis kept bringing up an age gap between two characters.

Idk if I’m talking out of my ass but it sounds like as if antis think the fandom puts Damijon in sexual situations 24/7 when that’s not the case.

Jfc no one is forcing you to ship them if you don’t (it’s not even canon!) but don’t go around accusing the fandom as p*d*s just to make a point. ( I know in fandoms there some weirdos too but it doesn’t make up a whole)

Let the Damijon fandom enjoy whatever crumbles they are getting right now…because it’s really just crumbles at this point.

If those antis also consist of those who are our rival ships (they know who they are) like yall are getting canon content rn from DC if you’re upset with the quality of it speak with your wallet idk…???

Sorry for the rant it’s just for the most part Damijon fandom has been pretty chill (excluding Twitter that’s another can of worms) and I hate the accusations parts of the fandom love to make.

Yeah… people don’t talk about how Jon had to be 11 to Damian’s 13 before he left for space because they only read super sons, they never really look at any other source or think about their ages as more than that because tom taylor said out his mouth that they were 3 years apart when dissing the ship BUT he admits himself to not know their exact ages and that it could be a 2 year age gap.

So I just think of it as two years, and with two years I don’t really care because personally even in my youth I’ve been with people who are two years older with no issue because age alone doesn’t determine whether or not someone is taking advantage of you for obvious reasons. Age gaps are not tangible things, to some people what you consider weird is normal to someone else.

Then there’s the fact that neither Jon or Damian have birthdays. Damian was aged up for teen titans which people don’t seem to care about. Among other things like how Jon and Damian are the same age in most other universes… did you know that? Also, people like to say theres a maturity gap but forget that Damian was the immature one that picked fights. Plus, when characters grow up beside each other then it’s less ‘weird’ cause then they are expierencing similar traumas. It’s probably lots smaller then we think.

When I talk about them with a three year age gap then its probably platonic but sometimes romantic, two years then its sometimes platonic or romantic, one year, platonic or romantic and I stay between these because their age can slightly change their dynamic. It’s for fun, its exploring their platonic dynamic if it had elements of romance to it. Its interchangeable to me but for the most parts its two.

They are barbies that I play with at my own free will. They are not real people, they may imitate life but they do not infact replicate it.

So yeah… when they are young I only ever have really seen or interacted with media where J and D have not done more than maybe peck. Its just supposed to be cute and sweet.

Do people not understand the concept of the fact Jon and Damian should not be getting into a serious relationship while they are young or else it would go horribly wrong? Do they not understand that a lot of the ships appeal in the childhood friends TO lovers factor?

It kind of bothers me to be having to put the fact that I l hate Jonjay and like Daminika in my bio so people can get a feel for the type of person I am. And “rival” ships? there’s no rivalry, I don’t feel threatened by other peoples ships at all… especially if they’re canon… unless its like jonjay where the origin of the ship is inherently problematic, substanceless and built on character assassination… but we hate damijon and praise THAT? We say that damijon is worse than that? I’m sorry but jonjay to jon kent is jayroy to roy harper to me.

Twitter is very strange, very very strange people on that app to which this morning I had to uninstall because I KNEW that they would feel threatened by damijons today and hate profusely in response to it.

Although, you guys gotta put that age gap shit to bed…

Dami look 14 here to you? If Damijons are the ones who don’t read comics then how do we know that they are well in their 20s and 30s here. They are both consenting adults in main continuity that can do as they please here. You simply cannot say anything. No arguement can be supported now because now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

There was no point in hate the age gap really in the first place since time was always gonna heal it anyway???

But part of me kind of understands hating it if you experience fandom through twitter which is not a fandom app at all. Damijon stans are annoying and gross on twitter, I get it but not everyone is inherently horrible for obvious reasons.

[lilioopdf]

Do you think that there is a possibility that Pepe might be considering quitting racing altogether?

I say this because I recently saw an excerpt of an interview, where Pepe mentioned that he nearly quit racing in 2020, after a bad year, until his parents encouraged him to keep going.

He's had a terrible year this year and this last weekend with the crash left him visibly shook in a way I haven't seen him before.

Plus, he has joined university and I'm not sure what the point of that is, if he's really serious about his racing career. Other drivers like Ollie Bearman quit school early and have said that you need to give racing your 110%, which you can't do, if you are trying to do school and racing at the same time.

Finishing school is one thing but I was very surprised when I heard that Pepe was pursuing university as well. It might be a controversial opinion, but I don't think that's the right move for him, when he's already struggling in F2 this year. He needs to focus and give more time to racing next year, but instead, he is putting more on his plate and risking not maximising his chances and giving racing his best shot next year too.

He's so young, he can always pursue university later if he needs to, instead of doing it now, when it's going to potentially affect his chances of succeeding in motorsports, where there is such a narrow window of opportunity, which he only has now and which won't be available in the future.

oh my god the way i completely forgot about that interview until you brought it up

ABOUT THE UNI THING THOUGH OMG i asked my friend the EXACT same thing and she told me she doesn’t think he plans on quitting racing just from “vibes” so i was like yeah okay whatever but honestly i get what you mean too because in my mind, uni is such a time consuming and overwhelming commitment the way racing is and he will (ultimately) have to choose what he wishes to prioritise more in his life

i know lorenzo fluxa once mentioned that he was starting uni soon in a prema vid (but i think that vid was posted like a year ago), and now he’s currently racing in elms (i think?? ill have to check) and idk if he’s still pursuing his education but he is basically doing what pepe is doing yk? and if he is still in uni rn, i feel like that just shows that studying while racing is still very possible (although i do think its very tiring and honestly, not very smart because you won’t be able to fully commit to either)

but i also believe that pepe’s family really does prioritise having a good educational background, because there was also an article talking about how his mum was very proud of the fact that her son was one of the few drivers in f3 who actually completed his compulsory education. plus pepe has mentioned multiple times that his mum/parents wanted him and his sisters to speak really good english and therefore put them in educational institutions/with educators that could teach them to be perfect english speakers so it would maybe make sense that a uni degree was always a part of what was planned for him in his life

and idk if this is weird but his family basically founded (i think??) movento, and its a really big company in spain LOL (ofc i mean racing is expensive and they have to fund him somehow) and i think there are quite a few family members who are a part of the company and in the more higher ranking positions in the company, so then i looked at their linked in (not stalked!! because it’s public info anyway) and they all come from pretty good edcational backgrounds so having a good education was probably (again) what was always expected of pepe

i think itll be unfortunate if he ends up quitting though because if we sit down and properly think for a sec, there’s already been millions lost to funding his career so far, and i know racing already caused him to not do as well in high school, and that he himself thought it was so amazing that he ended up passing his IBs so BASICALLY what im trying to say is that chances are, he might not be in a very good uni because of entry requirements and etc. (unless he paid for a spot somewhere? maybe?) and his degree will still be a degree, but it’s not the same as a degree from a better educational institution and that if he does quit racing, it’s probably just a degree that will help him either work in his family company in the future, or go back into racing in a different position like an engineer or something idk (i mean he’s mentioned the engineer part before so it wouldn’t be completely shocking yk)

atill idk aaaa there’s sm more i wanted to say but i’m typing this as i rush to get ready for a formal dinner so i’m def missing out on stuff and making mistakes in my speech but omg thank u for bringing this up i hope youre having a lovely day/night rn

[libra-cant-just-dance]

Ok I'll talk about the last preview drop since I did it for the others

So I'll say they're all really good looking maps! The quality is definitely there. I'm just not that excited about them because I was hoping for story mode and there's no story mode. And cuz I don't like any of the songs.

So one thing that applies to all the maps: I don't like Ariana Grande. I don't think she sucks or anything, her music just isn't for me. So that's gonna make all the maps a liiiiittle "eh" for me. I think it's kiiiind of a bad idea for them to put so many Ariana songs in one game? Just becaue it kills variety and not everyone likes them? Especially when like a third of the really good looking maps now are all by the same singer. But I'm happy all the Ariana fans are happy!

One Last Time: I'm pretty excited for this one! More lore for side character coaches is fun. I'm really curious which coaches they're gonna show and how much of them. SO happy they're covering the Ari/Grace lore that was revealed in Avery's lore week video! I think the idea of cupid helping them stay together is cute! If they don't end up staying together at the end of the map I'll cry. Also now I'm thinking they could put The Bride and Rasputin in here? Or have Cupid have something to do with them getting back together in another map, if they don't in Payphone. A lot of possibilities here. The move of her shooting an arrow and Grace getting hit with it is so cute.

break up with your boyfriend, i'm bored: I feel like this song should not be a kids game. But. Aside from that. YOOO SLAY. Super cool background, super cool coach. I want to see more of her! JD make her the next bad guy the girl gang has to fight after they finally hit Night Swan with a bus.

we can't be friends: I hate when songs titles are all in lowercase. Sorry that's not relevant. Anyway. LOVE the style of this one!!!! God it's so creative and so cute!! Her costume being like paper cutouts! I! Love it! Also love that she's so fashionable and adorable and her boyfriend is literally just. Some Guy.

One Last Time (Extreme): Again, I don't really like when extremes are the exact same background and coach as the original. Especially when the original gives us story and the extreme is just a watered down version of that so it can focus on the dance. But oh well, that's a me problem. Not much I can say about this map cuz it's not that different from the original. It's pretty. Curious if we'll get more story in this one that wasn't in the original, but I doubt it.

the boy is mine: I'm honestly not totally sure how I feel about this one? Something about the vibe seems a little off? I think it's the choreo or the costume or both. The moves feel kinda weird and something about the costume looks kinda off? I think it's the midsection? Idk how to describe it. Cool background, I'd like it if there was a story here but I think its just guy dancing in Cyberfunk. And he's got a really unique energy/attitude here. I either don't like it or I love it, I can't tell.

[rxttenfish]

Vampire hater? I that vampires were objectively perfect metaphors for predators?

I've always thought there was a lot of fun stuff they can be used for. Can your tirade be today?

lol. lmfao. i think vampires remain god awful metaphors for predators the second you know anything about predation or how it happens in nature.

okay lets start with the parasite bit because thats easier for me. parasitism is also a little bit of a... non-definition too, and technically is just another form of predation too (much like how we should probably define herbivores as predators too because plants are alive and just as alive as animals and the actual mechanics of herbivory is better understood that way but Oh Well i cant even get people to understand that reptiles are alive so plants are a no-go), so all im really talking about is disputing a certain idea of how they behave as predators. for the purposes of this, lets define parasitism as a form of predation that consumes prey in units of less than one.

for one, in a significant chunk of media, a vampire preying on a human usually kills that human. im assuming for this that the amount of blood they need is just equivalent to one human, rather than getting into the supernatural weeds of why this kills the human. you could also just assume the vampire is incompetent and dispatches the prey due to not know how to feed on blood and NOT, but thats bad for the species if all vampires do that.

this is BAD for a parasite. parasites do not actually want to kill their hosts. why would they? for most parasites, the host is not only their source of food but their HOUSE, their source of everything in the world. sure, never leaving the host makes reproduction a complicated mess, but thats the price you pay for getting literally everything handed to you on a silver platter. a parasite is not designed to leave the host, or not for long, and usually makes use of intermediate hosts to do so anyways, minimizing non-host time. did you know most parasites dont actually have any adaptations to manage their body temperature? because if they live inside a host body, then they can just use the hosts body temperature in the first place, nice and perfect for them.

high parasite loads in single hosts are not actually good for the parasite, anyways. anything that effects host health isnt good for the parasite, actually, because they run on such a fine line of "host is healthy and happy = even better food and house for me!" and "host cannot be TOO healthy and happy, because then their immune system has an even better chance to kick me out and kill me (at the same time ofc)"

vampires that just... kill their host upon first contact with said host are not being very good parasites. theyre bad parasites actually. why are you burning your own fields. the blood comes BACK.

but this is when you say, ah! but what if theyre like mosquitos and vampire bats and other forms of parasites that dont live inside their hosts body!

one, you still have the issue of STOP KILLING YOUR DAMN HOSTS. stop removing food sources for yourself in the future!!! but also, theres a reason vampire bats are so fucking weird for deciding to become obligate sangivores as tetrapods, and its because blood is a pretty shitty source of nutrition. its high in certain things, sure, but also it is crucially missing several different things necessary for life to Function, and this is a pretty extreme way to live if you cant just find ways around that. ie: is a vertebrate.

lack of detection is also the name of the game here. you do not want your prey to even notice that you are there, you do not want them to dislodge you, you want to get in and get out. why are you being the exact same fucking size as your prey. thats how you get immediately noticed. and you LOOK like how your prey looks???? in a social animal???? good job getting marked as 1. OUTSIDER TO INSIDE GROUP and 2. POTENTIAL THREAT. theres so much back and forth, pros and cons, competition and collaboration, in social species, that you shouldnt get wrapped up in that if you can help it (which you shouldnt, because you are trying to eat these people, not have your own feeding attempt thwarted because they pulled you into their social dramas and now you cant get close enough to any of them without getting noticed or possibly attacked anyways)

honestly the size thing is one of the big things for me. it makes no sense. theres a reason predators as a rule are smaller than the prey that they hunt, and thats because the 10% rule of tropic levels still applies here. you are operating at an energy deficit. the energy it takes to capture and kill and feed and digest (because you have to have energy to even begin eating something!! even if you dont catch it yourself!! digestion consumes energy!!!) something the size of a human will NOT be made up for by the energy you get from that human if you are ALSO the same size as a human. you are so much more likely to get caught and found out (and no i do not care how op your vampires are, getting outnumbered is far more powerful in real life than it has ever been in fiction because fiction solely runs on "rule of cool" and it kills me when people then try to apply it to real life) (see also: STOP KILLING YOUR SOURCE OF FOOD YOU IDIOTS) (YOU DO NOT GO INTO THE FIELD AND START KILLING ALL OF YOUR HERD OF COWS BECAUSE ONE BULL GORED SOMEONE) (YOU HAVE TO EAT TOO) and to have your feeding attempt botched if you are the size of a human. theres a reason all the sangivores we have are all fractions of a size of the animals that they feed on, AND this is already counting sangivores who eat OTHER stuff too (a lot of blood-feeding insects will also be important pollinators who eat nectar!! vampire bats are weird by only eating blood!!!)

theres also the issue of timing. vampires ALWAYS eat way more often than they should. like, okay, blood is garbage food and it has no fat meaning no extra stores of energy to prevent immediate starvation if you miss one feeding. but these are also animals that are taking a little bit of blood from an animal far larger than them who will not miss that amount of blood taken. they can afford to double-dip, because they arent killing their prey. sure, they can kill their prey in massive swarms, but not only does this primarily effect the young/small/weak and less so for the adults (a fair enough price to pay, babies are cheap and animals always seem to have a higher mortality in their early life than adulthood), but also this is a pretty rare situation to begin with and the bust/boom suggested would be beneficial enough alone to make up for the cost of these losses.

but no. vampires are killing their prey, they have to take a large amount of blood at once (one whole human the same size as them), and they only specialize into ONE TYPE OF PREY. yes, i know theres recent talk of vampires who eat animals, but no. im going pop vampire, the vampire that most people will first think of when thinking of a vampire, basic as shit.

humans are bad prey, okay? this is what all these stories dont understand. humans are really, really bad prey. first of all, we are apex predators to begin with (do not come at me and argue with me about this, an apex predator is literally just one of the largest predators in its ecosystem, can (not necessarily will) eat nearly any other type of animal in said ecosystem, and is rarely predated upon as adults. lions and bears and tigers and sharks are all regularly eaten by other animals when they are cubs. like i said. infant mortality is universally pretty high), so thats a bad call. even in cases of maneaters that exist, theyre nearly all animals that have had their natural form of living interrupted in some way. habitation is the least damaging option (aka why you need to STOP FEEDING THE WILDLIFE), but also if the animal is injured, or sick, or very old, or nursing cubs. aka, all the cases where we would expect an animal to start taking on riskier prey that cannot pan out. the lions of tsavo could not eat their regular prey due to injury and already were feeding off of bodies left behind by the human atrocities of the railroad being constructed. humans both remember and hold grudges. this is a bad strategy, and vampires have made the fatal mistake of absolutely needing to be in absolutely tiny populations just to make the numbers work and also being large enough to actively target. you cannot squish every mosquito, but one vampire already requires such a massive population to support them that you can easily drive them to localized extinction by just killing one.

which is another thing. if you are killing a human every time you eat, and you are eating often, then the humans are not replacing themselves. humans take at least 9 months to make another human, and even that is basically useless without a good decade and a half more of just waiting for them to grow up and get to a decent size which might then be useful for you. if you target the infants to begin with, then thats way less blood, not going to be enough, and youre going to make multiple kills in one night just to make up for that absence, and then some because you need even MORE to make up for the extra energy you just spent obtaining all of said infants. not to mention the time lag itll take for the same humans to make more humans to replace those, AND humans have a limited reproductive window to begin with. this is very bad if you have to eat more than once a week. hell, this is bad if youre even doing the regular predator thing of eating a single large prey maybe once a month (and they supplement their diet with other, smaller prey items to make up for the energy deficit). do you know how long it takes a wildebeest or a zebra to go from calf to reproductive adult? its not 18 years, okay.

and again i just sit here and fume thinking about every excuse made that vampires are using mimicry to look like humans to get close to them. first of all, thats not how most aggressive mimicry works. most aggressive mimicry is looking like something appetizing to your prey item, something it wants to get close to, or something it wouldnt even notice at all. usually if youre looking like a specific animal, its not actually FOR that animal, and aggressive mimicry to begin with is rarer than you think. the only example i can think of is the (small!!!!) fraction of ant-mimicking jumping spiders that do prey on ants, but not only is this rare due to how scary ants themselves are, but it cannot really be just copy + pasted onto humans, who have an entirely different reproductive setup and no queens that churn out hundreds of offspring a day (more than any spider could eat in the one single community of ants) and are mammalian megafauna that have extremely high energetic needs and physical effort required just to kill a single one of those bastards, let alone repeatedly doing it more than once, AND being obligated to navigate space in the same way that they do.

all of this is nonsensical because i am very sick right now so you know. unpolished vampire rant.

[director-yomi-hellsmile]

Cube joke (pinned post)

If you know me from @/growling or @/seth-burroughs then you get a krówka. Personal blog of Yomi Hellsmile, so just call me by that name. Serious metaphysical fictionkind & fictive, I'm actually fine with treated as literal Blorbo From Your Games it makes me feel sane and slightly better than just having it ignored. Please poke me around and bombard me with questions as much as you like I thrive off of attention and require constant enrichment in my containment chamber. Just no being weirdly invasive/rude with questions like ''what is the exact mechanism of how you tried to kill your girlfriend that one time'' or otherwise not saying shit to me I know you wouldn't say to literally anyone else please I'm trying to be so nice every day

Fine with source talk / Rain Code discussion (if you're cool with me getting a bit weird about it), fine with all sourcemates if you are respectful/nice in turn, I don't have anything against doubles and I'm waving at you same hat style but I'll probably just nonjudgmentally block you for my own comfort, sorryyyy I gotta take care of my shitty heart rate.

I'm very often not good at articulating myself and a lot of things I end up writing end up kind of incomprehensible or weird, I can't really do anything about it so don't point this out unless you absolutely need to have something clarified. Sometimes I get confused and either not really get what you're saying or can't reply to you for quite some time whether because of that or my perpetual low energy, if you @'d me or sent me an ask and I don't respond within a week then I'm not purposefully ignoring you; either need to take longer time with writing, or I don't really have an answer. Don't blow up at me for asking you to clarify something in simpler terms. My tone might be off either due to those, my brain just working differently, or english not being my first language.

Other info + disclaimers/warnings:

Trans man + non-binary bigender, masculine or neutral terms only - and no, "girl" is not gender neutral and I do not care if you use it that way. If you'd like to perceive me perhaps refer to me even: he/him, it/its or xe/xem/xir, and only those; do not call me by they. Also don't call me a "boy" I am a grown ass man.

Loveless aroace (and faggot in all directions if you unlock my easter egg), aplatonic, afamilial, posting about those pretty often. Or I think. I'm trying.

Semiverbal LSN-MSN Autistic and refuses to shut up about it + Narcissistic PD (so please bring criticism up nicely) and will keep talking about it and my beautiful big dark narc rage eyes. Follow me in order to fulfill your mutual list diversity quota /joking that was a /joke

Do not insult me as a "joke", or approach me with any sort of overly familiar playful rudeness. I kind of hate how normalized just being ~ironically~ straight up mean to people is on here. No I probably won't read your sarcasm unless I've already memorized all your speech patterns or something

Mainly into: Rain Code (lol. lmao, even), Warriors, Akuma Kun, Mouthwashing, birds, cat genetics and scraping pretty rocks off of sidewalks

Plural, we are not interested in assigning roles to each other or specifying our "origin" or how it all happened as it's not currently relevant to us nor is it any of your business like why do you care. Anyway this blog is safe for endos or like, any other type of plural.

Occasional nsfw posts under the #nsft tag, which will contain a bunch of hard kinks like torture rape violence etcetera, so, block that if you don't want to see those. That's also the only tag I consistently use on this blog.

[chocottang]

heyyys hope this isnt an awkward ask but, since you like cami a very normal amount i presume, i thought i'd ask... do you maybe understand or have any interpretations or headcanons about cami and her shadow and how they manage to coexist in the same body together?

(e.g.: is cami always her shadow? do you think she see it and interact with it like fred? how come she has more control over it than other characters but still not enough? etc.)

overall just your personal thoughts about it just because i think that was never really explained in the show and i would love to see what someone who has such a complex and interesting understanding of her backstory thinks about it ! hope this isnt weird to ask hnhnfnfng

hey! not weird or awkward at all, i love getting asks! and thanks for the nice comments u///u

i put a read more just in case it's too long

like you said, cami's shadow wasn't explored a lot in the show, we only got two frames to be exact.

i'm going to call her shadow tat

i already talked about the first frame in the analysis: i think tat came out as a result of cami's realization that she's not alone, that eak and t-trap have been with her all along. tat was probably triggered by the uncommon influx of overwhelming emotions. her purporse seems to be to keep the body going as normal, since the only thing that we see of cami after this is a frame where she looks the same. we don't know if it's cami or tat in z3r0 but she's also acting the same.

about the second frame, it's interesting in the context of the song, because tat seems to be reaching for something while the lyrics talk about finding a way out. after the song, tat takes over the body, so maybe it was alluding to the way out of the shadow world. but, the frame also goes together with this one in an interesting way.

this frame is actually supposed to go with the one of ttrap reaching for cami when they were kids, cami only reaching out now. but, it could go with both of them. cami is both reaching towards ttrap and tat. meaning, she wasn't taken over by her, but rather, she let tat take control. it may be alluding to cami letting her most repressed emotions take over again, accepting them. nevertheless, we know shadows are sentient beings, not just metaphors, so this leads me to think that:

1. even though cami was met with a pretty strong realization after eavesdropping eak and ttrap, she didn't want to actively change anything about her life. at least not yet.

2. cami and tat have at least met before for cami to willingly give her control. besides, they don't look even mildly surprised about what's happening. only on the second frame does tat look different and it doesnt strike me as surprised, but rather like she's just reaching hard.

which brings me to this question: how does cami have powers? a little out of nowhere, but bare with me.

cami and owynn have powers of some sort that are connected to the shadow world, they can make someone's shadow come out and cami can make someone into a mindless zombie.

we've seen that shadows have some sort of power. gold could turn people into mindless zombies (or maybe he was just retransmitting cami's power?), shadow fox had some sort of fire (or maybe he was the fire?) and fred was able to...explode...and make a group of people forget the last year of their lives.

in z3r0, we learn that when humans and shadows fuse, they gain powers that can debilitate shadows.

this makes me think that cami and owynn's powers are nothing more than their shadow's powers. i don't think its a fusion, since those powers seem to be specifically for debilitating shadows, the opposite of what owynn and cami do. in the case of cami, her powers may be just her shadow coming out, since we dont see her eyes very often. but im very sure that the one time owynn used his powers on that one piano, it was himself. so, there exists a way for a human to borrow their shadow's power. meaning, they have to have a relationahip with them in some way. do they make a deal? do they force them? i dont know. but based on the little we see of tat, it seems that at least her and cami are in good terms.

i don't think it's in the level of fred and freddy though, as i believe most shadows are confined to the shadow world unless they take over the human's body. fred is an exception, a very special boy. but i don't think it's necessary to have a ghost form in order to form a bond with a human. the villains seem to know quite a bit about the shadow world, so maybe they found a way to access it on command so they can regularly talk to their shadow and make sure they access its powers.

so, i think cami and tat are in good terms, and cami visits her regularly in the shadow world. whether it be for accessing her power or to talk about what tat has done outside with the power. since the powers are used to serve the villains, tat has to know about the plan and is on board with everything, and since cami has always been aware of what's happened regarding the plan, it means tat is always telling her what she's done (if she's the one using the powers). they really trust each other and are on the same page. at some point, they had an agreement that when cami has to deal with strong emotions, tat will go out. this may be so cami can escape the situation so she doesn't have to deal with her feelings, while tat keeps normalcy. also, so they can be a productive peon for owynn regardless of the situation. so, they have open communication and willingly give control of the body over to the other one, the frequency of this depending on if tat is responsible for all magic acts or if she only goes out on dire ocassions.

the fact that she has more control over her shadow than most characters may be because she simply has more of a relationship with her. or, perhaps the control she attempts to have over her own feelings manifests in a docile shadow, easily controlled. I don't think tat has the same cold personality as cami, but rather she pretends to. i think, in reality, she houses cami's deepest and most repressed feelings, and tat pretends that she doesnt have them so cami won't get mad at her. she does it and agrees on everything cami wants to do so she continues visiting her. even shadows can get lonely, especially in the black endless nothing of the shadow world.

uhh i think that's all i have. its mostly dumb theorizing. thanks for the ask!!! it was really fun to think about. i do like cami a very normal amount <3

[awordbroken]

MotR impressions after 18 hours/3 playthroughs (pretty negative, ngl)

on my first playthrough i admittedly mostly faffed about with whatever seemed interesting. ended up getting the parliament ending, but since characters were still pushing me to investigate the murder before the trial i ended up wasting a bunch of time on that which turned out to be completely pointless.

i never really felt like there was a good time to put everything else on hold to pursue romance, but since i knew the game was supposed to go through three 'seasons', i figured i could put it off until after the trial. this was incorrect, the trial is the end of the game and the third 'season' is just the ending of the playthrough. technically i got AN ending on this playthrough, but it felt pretty hollow since i still had no real clues about the murder nor managed to squeeze in any romance or even close friendship. even despite spending a decent amount of time with Griz on achieving the parliament ending, as far as the game was concerned we seemed to be little more than strangers, presumably because stupid me didn't devote any of my limited time to spending time with her solely for relationship-building.

second playthrough, i thought ok, this time i'll have a romance in mind, i'll just pick up the parliament ending again and then devote the rest of my time to flirting with Mr Pages.

i didn't really want to have to express interest in it to Griz's face immediately after the first meeting where it barely says anything, but in my first playthrough i don't recall ever getting a second chance to express interest, so i guess that was obligatory. so that was already starting out feeling weird and like the game was demanding i express interest before giving me any reason for my character to have any.

spent a decent portion of the playthrough gathering censuses and turning them in in batches of 2-3, mostly ignoring sidequests and the murder mystery (since i knew doing the parliament quest would bypass it). none of my interactions with Pages felt like there was any natural building of closeness or an interest forming, so despite the constant insistent popping up of the generic menu for defining your exact kind of interest i was hesitant to assert that my character was already in love -

(and i also didn't fully understand that this was solely a menu for defining what options you want available for the character - i thought 'decide to kiss Mr Pages' meant, you know, that my character would try to kiss it right then and there? not that that would simply unlock a future option to try? i fucking hated this intrusive pseudo-ic menu to be honest, immensely disruptive to have Mr Pages tell my character that it was only indulging this romance as an experiment with love stories immediately followed by this FUCKING menu popping up and my eyes falling on the option 'decide to marry Mr Pages'. REALLY? as if the complete lack of internal narration or continuation of that scene didn't already make my character feel like an automaton with no interiority whatsoever, this gameplay menu with its utterly generic options inexplicably masquerading as an in-character prompt really was the final nail in any tension or immersion in this "romance" that i might have deluded myself into feeling)

- getting back to the point above, nothing in the generic "pursue your romance with Pages" scenes ever felt like a natural point to escalate the relationship, so possibly i was a bit slow in pushing the "romance" along, because i didn't even end up getting the Vake-at-your-window scene until the last day of the game, and the ending at the feast didn't even give me the option to talk to Pages, so. once again, ended up getting the exact same ending with no close character relationships.

starting my third playthrough i was, ngl, pretty frustrated. at this point i just went all in on Pages, turning in every new census i got to maximize my scenes with it. once again, i never felt like there was any point where i honestly believed that there were feelings developing between my character and Mr Pages, i just pushed those buttons in that behated relationship-defining menu and suddenly Mr Pages was calling my characters its pet or whatever. cute, but the lack of any emotional buildup or sense of progression just made it feel completely hollow. the kissing scene, the brief fetish gear bat sex quest and the Veils scene were literally the only glimmers of interest in this whole "romance", with the rest of the time spent with Mr Pages feeling like nothing so much as those parts in persona games where you spend time with a social link but don't have enough relationship built up to get the next real scene, so the game just briefly shows the characters chatting somewhere with some variation of "you spent some time with x."

bored. i spent most of this playthrough bored. i never at any point felt like either of these characters so much as liked each other. in fact they barely felt like more than strangers. ostensibly they ended the playthrough in a relationship. the epilogue made no mention of how things may turn out in the future. maybe Veils ate them both off screen and put them out of their misery.

speaking of Veils, was there supposed to be any followup after reporting its appearance at your window to Pages? it just seemed to be abruptly dropped, which was a shame since, again, it was about the only interesting thing to happen.

i also noticed that, by prioritizing spending romantic time with Pages (which you always do alone with it) i never got to see any of the scenes with Griz that actually show some insight into its personality or relationship with the other Masters, like confronting it about things like the drownies. is that really how it's supposed to be? having to choose BETWEEN romancing a character and actually getting to know it in any meaningful way? make it make sense.

at this point i feel like i haven't had a single playthrough that left me feeling satisfied and like my character got to experience a complete story, so i don't know. maybe Mr Pages' romance is just uniquely bad. maybe you're not actually supposed to want any romance in this ostensible romance game and i should just be pursuing the plot. maybe there is a way to have a fun and satisfying run of this game, but then how, why, is it that after three playthroughs, i still feel that i don't know how i'm supposed to achieve that?

[fioras-resolve]

So like, representation in games is weird. It's critically important, but uniquely challenging due to the nature of interactivity. And a big part of this is that there's, by my estimate, two separate tracks for how representation works in video games. I'm going to be talking primarily about queer rep here, because I am a white, American, and (mostly) able-bodied transbian. If anyone wants to add on to this conversation, I absolutely encourage it, so long as you don't fling shit at people. So!

The first track of representation is one that's mostly unique to games. Representation as player empowerment. This manifests as giving players the freedom to be and express themselves in the game world.

So like, character creators are the most obvious example. What gender can you be? What race? What body type? A thing I've seen a few games do that I love is letting you pick any voice set regardless of the rest of your character, so like in Baldur's Gate III, you can pick a masculine voice but a feminine body, and that's just really cool.

Another way it's important is with romance options when applicable. Like, it was a problem with the early Mass Effect games that you couldn't enter a gay male relationship. It was a problem with Fire Emblem Awakening that for all of its marriage options across characters, apparently none of your 30+ units were interested in a same-gender marriage. Functionally, you aren't allowed to be gay in these games. So Mass Effect 3 letting you date Steve Cortez, and Fire Emblem Three Houses giving several options for queer S-Supports (although I haven't played the Mass Effect games and some of FE3H's romances are controversial) were welcome changes.

But the other track is representation as storytelling, and this is pretty broad. Basically every topic in the representation discourse surrounding other forms of media also applies here. I'm not gonna go into this too much because you've heard a lot about this already, but in my opinion it's important to have positive representation that mainstreams us to society, but also diverse representation because the human experience is vast. We need the joy, the sorrow, the rage, all of it, and games offer a unique artistic space to convey all of this.

...But sometimes, these two tracks rub up against each other. Because storytelling sometimes means disempowerment, but a disempowered player can often be viewed as "bad game design" by people who aren't thinking of video games as stories or art, but as entertainment or toys.

For example, remember when I mentioned Three Houses? That game was a massive stride in queer rep for Fire Emblem. But I had an annoyance as I looked through these romantic options. While yes, some characters can married as the same gender, all of them can also be married as the opposite gender. In fact, there is nobody in this game that a straight person can't date. Opposite-gender attraction is a given and the default. Everybody is either straight or bisexual.

To be clear here, because I know people are going to get at me for this, no I'm not against bisexual representation in Fire Emblem. I'm not even criticizing any individual example, Dorothea is one of my favorite characters. But what I am saying is that, in real life, some people are exclusively gay. There are a lot of men who a woman would never be able to date, and vice versa. I don't think that's a bad thing to want to express.

But from a pure empowerment angle, having a woman that a straight man can't marry is incomprehensible. Isn't having more choices better, rather than blocking someone off for "choosing the wrong gender?" I've actually heard this point from someone, phrased in this exact way, and I can't really sugarcoat this: I find it repugnant.

It's a stance that views these characters as entitlements and not as people worthy of respect. And I know that these are fictional characters and not real people, but a good character isn't just a proxy for audience expression. Also, if we take "romance as player expression" to its natural conclusion, then having a character who is asexual becomes bad game design. A character romantically inaccessible to me, the protagonist of the world? Blasphemy.

I think the real important thing about games is that, even outside of representation, "the player should be empowered" is a view that's often unspoken but unquestioned. A game can be moving, tragic, heartfelt, but it must also be an experience where you, the audience, are fucking cool. Every obstacle exists for you to rise above, every entity in the world that isn't you is either a tool or an adversary. Meg Jayanth calls this "White Protagonism" in her excellent piece that I couldn't do justice here. Keep in mind as always that it's both possible and necessary to enjoy media while also being critical of its more problematic aspects.

Empowerment is a valuable tool in game design like any other, but the issue is that it's also extremely popular, to the point where it's just become what games are. And it's worth pushing back against that, so games can grow as a medium. So that we can tell stories, and have characters, and convey themes, that aren't tied up in a game designer's quest to make the protagonist the coolest guy.

But despite how critical I've been, these two tracks aren't mutually exclusive. They do clash with each other sometimes, but ultimately there's room for both. I look forward to the day I can play a bog-standard RPG that lets me change gender mid-game. I look forward to playing a polyamorous character, in a game that recognizes that as valid. But I also look forward to more characters like Guilty Gear's Bridget, an actual character who goes through a genuine journey of discovery, in a way that's warmed the hearts of so many trans women, including me. Ultimately, we just need queer rep in games, more of it, and it's never been a better time to make some. Just remember, there's a difference between letting the player be queer, and having a queer character.

[n7punk]

Okay, so I like love your work and I just finished Smile like a switch blade, and I'm work on Let Me Ride. I have a question about your AU magic-cats. If they have fur, how do hickies work? And also, how does blushing work? Like its when blood is visible under the skin, but Catra's got fur so how can her skin be seen when she blushes?

tricky answer tbh XD this is something that's kind of handwavey because of how much the answer varies by how you conceptualize catra's appearance and biology in your head, so buckle in. i feel like i talk about this like once a year and my answer is always Similar but not the Exact Same.

okay, Catra canonically has fur and blushes in the show, so for Cartoon Logic I just assume the fur on their faces (and other parts of their bodies) is finer/thinner which would allow blushes/hickies to show through some, but I'll be honest, I avoid picturing what magicat faces would look like outside of drawings because it seems like some creepy Cats (2019) shit (i think nate even said as much at some point, though he is notorious for saying total jokes that get taken too literally - and he definitely said that last part, i think on the blm stream? "you need to learn not to trust everything we say, we like to joke around," roughly from my memory).

how "detailed/realistic" i picture catra varies, but i never see fur on her face in my head, nor do i see a transition between where there is fur and is not. when i write, however, i refer to her having fluffy cheeks because like, her cheek tufts are observable in canon, but even following their existence i don't think every inch of her face has true fur on it and it probably thins out. I mostly think of it just as those cheek tufts even though i know that probably isn't "correct."

i generally try to mention things like blushing being observed on catra less than other characters because i do think they would be subtler with the fluff she is supposed to have. that said, catra can feel herself blushing and such, so from her pov it happens just as much as it would from adora's. and if we're talking about adora setting out to make a hickey or something, she can do that even if it's harder to see the product when she's done.

blushing is also weird, because i think for a lot of people you say that word and they picture cartoon shit (ive seen a post with a lot of notes indicating that, and have had that conception myself), but that isnt how people actually blush irl. that doesnt mean real blushing is not noticable still (generally in more than just the actual blood rush with the expression/mannerisms that accompany it, which would be just as observable on catra as others), but it is a lot more "flagged" and obvious in how it's portrayed in cartoons. it's kind of how, irl, people frown or show sadness with their eyebrows/eyes, but on the computer we convey it with :( A blush is generally pretty subtle, which is harder to convey in animation, especially simpler styles, so it ends up being just red cheeks in a cartoon and we all know exactly what that means.

tldr; catra is fluffy as a cartoon and she blushes, but she's probably less fluffy and it's less observable "in live action", and either way i just say eh. her fur is thin enough in those areas for it to be observable even if it is less noticable

[crystalelemental]

Alright, tried out the Trial Tower in Nobeta. I made it about five minutes in before going no thank you and ditching that mode entirely. I have zero interest in that whatsoever. So I guess final thoughts tonight! I'll be picking up a different game tomorrow, not sure which one yet.

Okay so my first post about the game already mentioned the Dark Souls comparisons to be made, given that the "souls-like" feel is what was apparently being aimed for. But you know, I think that's the wrong comparison, having finished the game. The real comparison is Bloodborne.

Through the hidden lore you get from item drops, what you learn of the world is that humans were, at one point, piddly weak losers that the other races bullied, until humans had a breakthrough and promptly genocided everyone else. While timeline is shaky, my interpretation is that this was possible almost exclusively through the use of these soul dolls, that are basically powered by the souls of the dead and damned. You know, the usual "kill the prisoners and inject their souls into this kill bot, what could go wrong?" A lot of this happens through the Church, who has outrageous political influence to the point of being able to decimate an otherwise well-respected kingdom with effectively no consequence. It's implied they're also the cause of a plague that people thought turned you into beasts, and are pretty pissed that witches are incidentally immune due to the incense used in their rituals negating the virus/drug. Nobeta in particular was a powerful witch they sealed away to, I assume, prevent interference.

All of that is...a lot more Bloodborne aligned in style than Dark Souls, if you ask me. Just slap in some alien shit and it's got all the toppings.

The specific variety Nobeta brings is that its protagonist talks, and there's a more clear driven story going on, at least as far as character events go. The pivot is that Nobeta as we see her at the outset is not Nobeta. The cat leading you is...well, we don't really know their name or exactly what their deal is, but they're trying to bring back the true Nobeta by bringing her body back to the throne that has her soul sealed up. The current host, Nonota, was crafted to run her body and fight for the church I think? Exact purpose wasn't completely clear, but somewhere along the way things didn't feel right and she sought answers, running into this need for the throne, and developing a sense of self despite being an unconscious amalgamation of soul residue. Your conclusion is that Nobeta revives Nonota in the body of the cat left behind, attaching the bow that the first boss asked Nonota to preserve, and that she effectively tried to grant continued existence to all the other soul dolls that gained consciousness through herself. It's an alright twist.

Now, I do understand there is set to be some story in the Trial Tower mode. Specifically, once you clear it, there's a scene. I do not know that scene, maybe it adds a lot of context. But personally, I feel like this game overall is trying to emulate the FromSoft storytelling style, but it doesn't quite land.

I think a big part of it is that there's a weird mix of "not enough background information" and "too many direct answers." Nobeta's ending and events have clear-cut answers, whereas a lot of things in Souls games have answers that are murky. Approximate understanding, but there are gaps you have to intuit. It doesn't have a hook for a deep dive in that way. But at the same time, the background information regarding the Church and what's going on with demihumans is...pretty lacking? Like okay, all the other races are dead now, so...why do we care that they existed? There's not really a situation where it feels like any talk of beasts and the experiments intermingle. Souls are just souls, there's no deeper meaning to them, in the way Bloodborne had blood ministration causing the beast transformations if you dig enough. The Church is just a shit organization, that did some sketchy stuff, and there's...not much else to dig into about the specifics. There's not really speculation to make about orcs or elves or anyone else either, because there's no enemy with consciousness whose dominant soul is clearly among those races to shed light on what was going on or hint at the causes of strife. It just comes away feeling less dynamic.

As for the gameplay aspect, this is where things diverge. This does not play like a Souls game. It plays like a shooter. Magic is core to everything you do; melee only matters under one restrictive condition. Your arcane attack is standard damage. Ice works like a gatling gun, with low damage but rapid fire attacks. Fire is several bursts of good damage at close range, so I think that's usually shotgun, but it also charges to function like a rocket launcher with an explosive attack, but you can attack with it and it's your melee that quadruples your damage. Then there's Thunder, which is your sniper rifle that deals obscene damage and tracks from here to Timbucktu. I'll be honest. Once I got Thunder, I did not turn off Thunder unless puzzles required other spells. Arcane can pierce shields, so that's really handy at times. Fire buffing physical is how you have to break a lot of the stones that create barriers. Ice when charged makes a shield that negates fire floors, which doesn't come up too often. But Thunder is just always good damage and range, and when charged puts you in the JoJo's Frozen Time for a bit and it's all super busted.

Upgrades are found in chests, and it's...not too hard to find most, but I definitely didn't find all of them. This isn't too big a problem, I don't think, except where Wind is concerned. I feel like missing Wind tomes is a recipe for being unable to progress. There's one (1) optional area that I found before I was supposed to, because I remembered an unbreakable stone that the Fire tutorial explained the solution to, so I doubled back, but it turns out there was an easier way there later on. It got me early access to Thunder though, so good trade.

Leveling is interesting, but also kinda bland. See, this is another souls-like thing, in that you spend your points on upgrading statistics you choose, but unlike the Souls games, there's no equipment, and thus no restrictions, so the stats you allocate to don't really matter as much? I put most into offenses, since Strength also influences mana recovery, but HP and MP were pretty easily managed through recovery so they weren't huge needs. Endurance also only came up one time during an attempt at what I thought was a jump puzzle, but was actually the boundary edge of the zone and almost got me killed, but I had enough to continuous air dodge back to safety. All this to say...the game's balance is really just looking for whether you leveled all your stats fairly evenly or not. Getting to level 25-30 in every stat is gonna be fine. Which does impact replayability. It's a short game, you know? When there's not much variety, how engaging is a second playthrough?

"That's what the Tower is for." Fuck the tower. Okay look, I have a vendetta against games that implement levels as a feature, then slap in a mode that says "you can't level up for this." What the fuck's the point then? It's even worse when you can tell the allocation of whatever levels you did get are shit garbage.

The tower itself is just a boss rush. Defeat eight bosses in sequence, Mega Man endgame style. The problem is they're massive HP sponges, you can't level up, you only get points to spend on stuff from very specific skills like casting in melee range or hitting the absurdly specific Absorption parry timing, and those points are used to upgrade or access spells since you only start with Lv 1 Arcane, Wind, and Absorption. These points also need to go to healing for HP and MP, because your regen rate is absolute garbage. This is the first any only time all game I truly ran out of MP and had no recourse. When the points are already that hard to farm, and spells are a dire need to deal anything close to reasonable damage, I have no investment in this mode. I could eventually do it, but there's no saving, and I am no longer in a privileged position of being able to just play a game for 5-7 hours straight for vanity's sake. I will not be participating in this one.

All in all, it's a fairly cute game that I would recommend, if it weren't for its rarity and price tag. This game is fucking $50 on the Switch e-shop. That is like $30 too many for such a short experience, with the kind of challenge mode it has thrown in. I can't even say it's anything visually impressive. It sort of hits a disqualification on price tag alone, which is kinda sad, but I hear it's like half as much on Steam, so those playing on PC are free to get it. It's worth it for $25. But not for $50.

[mdhwrites]

I know you said on Twitter your least favorite joke in TOH is the joke from Edge of the World about the head Titan hunter being named Bill. My least favorite TOH joke is from Escaping Expulsion, when Gus suggests they cast illusions of "lady guards" to distract the guards and Willow is like "this isn't a cartoon from the 40s!" Firstly because, why would Gus make that suggestion? Who says the guards are heterosexual men? The Boiling Isles feels pretty gender and sexuality neutral so that's a strange assumption on his part. Second of all why is Willow referencing something from Earth that she would have no way of knowing about aside from maybe Luz, except why would Luz tell her about cartoons from the 40s? Third of all, the whole joke is just brimming with this smug aura of 'look everyone, we're so progressive, we're NOT going to do this trope that we COULD do because we're not a cartoon from the 40s!' Like, if you have to pat yourself on the back for not writing something worse then maybe your writing isn't actually that good. You know? IDK, it's such a small moment so it's weird that it bothers me as much as it does but I feel like it's a microcosm of a lot of my issues with TOH's writing. Anyway, any thoughts on that joke or TOH's joke writing in general? 🦎

There is... a lot to be said about the humor of TOH. I actually covered, theoretically, one problem in a blog about the male characters in TOH. That blog is relevant to this because 80% of TOH's comedy is predicated on the misery of some sort of the designated comic relief characters. In S1, this is pretty much entirely male. In S2, Lilith joins these ranks but not as the straight man she was in S1 (the comedy term, not the sexuality) but as just... The same sort of gag character everyone else is.

This designation of comic relief also commonly comes with only being allowed one or two main jokes that will be used over and over again in someway to make the character look like a fool. Now slapstick is fine and I like stuff like Randy Cunningham so I can enjoy it. The problem with TOH's comedy writing is that it's not creative, interesting and kind of eventually gets very obvious. As such, it becomes incredibly boring.

This is almost entirely why I found King to be a boring character for the entirety of S1. He just... isn't a character. He's two jokes that aren't very different from each other. A child trying to be taken seriously or an animal that is trying to have the respect of a human. Both degrade him, both have him acting the fool, both have him looking stupid, etc. like that and because he is the comedic backbone of the main trio in theory, these jokes are repeated somewhere close to a BILLION TIMES.

But... All of those lead to comedy that is for the most part boring. Without the actual interplay of characters, the comedy feels superfluous. It's like anything that relies on its comic relief to be able to claim to be a comedy rather than actually having that comedy weave in and out of the piece naturally. An untold amount of meh animated movies have this exact problem so it's nothing new even if people somehow don't understand that it is a problem.

But let's talk about the other 20% with the two jokes discussed in your ask! Both of them are in line with the fact that when the show isn't using slapstick, it's subversion. Namely, subversion of cartoon and fantasy tropes. The only problem is that it seems to think it's revolutionary for subverting tropes DECADES old... When they've either entirely fallen out of fashion or the sorts of subversion they're doing have been done for... decades as well almost.

Because distracting the guards by dressing in drag isn't something modern cartoons play straight anymore. They'll either see through the disguise, call them ugly, not be of the same species, etc. like that. And all of those are more of a joke than just calling out the fact that it's a trope and then that's it. That's the joke. Which isn't funny or clever. It's just an observation that begs the question of "Okay, and? We weren't treating you as a show from the 40s. Are we supposed to?"

As a tangent though: That whole conversation is a mess. You pointed out all the world building issues with it but let's just talk about who does what. Gus is weirdly the only character IN CHARACTER as they discuss this plan. Top Student Amity wants to go in and FIGHT EVERYONE while Willow, who has never shown any real cleverness with her magic, just overwhelming brute force, is the one to suggest actually being sneaky with a magical solution while also being the one to scold Gus the hardest. Admittedly, I don't agree with people who think Willow suppresses her emotions so her speaking up is in character but how overly mean she is about it feels like it was written for Amity but it was boarded wrong or something.

The other major issue in both jokes though, much more in the one I hate most, is the feeling of smugness. That the show obviously thinks it's incredibly clever for the joke. I mean, just how weird are fantasy names? Balthazar? Magnus? Tarik?

Oh, wait, TOH actually used that last one. And the others are rooted in cultures not in America so treating as entirely fantastical nowadays is just kind of being an asshole. I mean, how many Japanese or Arabic names are going to sound weird to an American, where 'Christopher' is about as complex or interesting as our first names get? So maybe you shouldn't judge so quickly.

But that's not the point anyways. It's that so many OTHER fantasy shows take themselves so seriously with these names or ideas or leaders and look how 'funny' it is when they're named something like Bill! Or they're actually a stoner! Aren't we a riot?

And there's never thought beyond that. Of how it clashes with the narrative which is the REAL reason I DESPISE the Bob joke. Unlike something like the Bile Sacs, something that is used as a subversive joke that fucks up the magic system in some way because they'll never get brought back up again... Bob fucks up his episode.

Theoretically, the tension of the episode is whether or not these people are good and if King should be with them to find out about his culture. The first time "Bill" is uttered out of Tarik's mouth, the show just hard pauses for a second, as if to allow for the snickers to die down, before Luz even straight up asks if it's short for something. They straight up spend 15 seconds of the episode destroying any possible gravitas this character has.

Which is an immediate sign. If these characters were actually meant to be a dilemma from a character standpoint, they'd be taken seriously. They could be silly but their culture would matter. Their leaders would matter. In fifteen seconds, for the sake of a joke they're obviously so proud of, at the ten minute mark so we have half the episode left...

The audience knows the truth. They're grifters or bad men in some way and King and Luz shouldn't trust them. All for fifteen seconds for a bad joke that's not original in the slightest.

And for anyone who thinks we're thinking too hard about these jokes: That's not our problem. Okay, it absolutely is my problem, I overthink most things, but in general, if we're questioning jokes this much... The show has failed. In some way, the joke has broken the suspension of disbelief and now I'm not watching something I'm invested in, I'm instead aware of it being a construct and kid's show. And because of the egotism, it demands higher scrutiny the moment that happens. I've talked about this problem with TOH before. And comedy suffers the most from it because TOH doesn't do rapid fire comedy. It wants its jokes to be gut busters. It's REALLY confident in a lot of them, especially the more ego put into the joke. And... I'm sorry. While TOH does constitute deserving the comedy genre title, it's just not a great comedy. It's fine at best usually but it doesn't have variety and it's usually not clever. Does it sometimes manage a great one? I would hope so since it's literally listed as a comedy. But if you want something unique and that deserves to think of itself as a gut buster, you're going to have look for something that tries harder than this. (and of course as a caveat to ALL of this: I prefer British style of humor and interplay which takes a lot more sarcasm, back and forth, etc. like that so I'm a bit predisposed to not being hit as hard by it as others. Comedy is so subjective though that that's why I tried to stick to kind of the general, structural and presentation issues with the comedy rather than whether the jokes themselves are good or not.) ======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!