#but.... that scene with the fire explosion was so well animated

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Current obsession - the updates and changes to the Diaz house!!

Eddie has a new painting over the mantle

and a new one next to the front door in red and blue. The fire engine/truck on its side on the table has me feeling a certain type of way - it feels like a nod to the ladder truck explosion that crushed Bucks leg, but it could also be foreshadowing for this season as well - we'll have to wait and see how things shake out!

The water painting has moved again - its now on the wall next to Christophers room ----------------------------------------------------vvv

and these have appeared on the sitting room wall where that water painting has been seen previously - are they making you scream??

what if I showed you this picture from 4x14

are you screaming like I am now?? Becasue I am very very feral about that picture appearing - pennyfarthing megaphone mans megaphone is pointing right at Eddie nad Bucks ears ini these scenes - saying ... at the top of ones voice - the universe is screaming at you and you refuse to listen!!!!

There are new band posters in Christophers room - the Lunadeers one under the solar system mobile. The name Lunadeers is a fun one - its obviously a play on the band the Lumineers - a made up name, but is a play on the concept of illuminating something - the idea of lighting the way in the darkness - illuminating is also the idea of becoming enlightened and seeing things differently or in a new light.

Luna = moon and is obviously connected to the space theming, but there is also the deers part of the name - deers are crepuscular animals - they are more active at night - in the darkness - under the moon

I'm also clowning is a reference to Buddie because the 'mun' in Edmundo is pronounced moon and a male deer is a Buck - so moon-deer - Eddie and Buck - a nod to Christophers two fathers rom the set and props departments!

Then there is also the Violet Brothers poster on the back of his door - heavily leaning wards the yellow and blue colour ways, there is also the fact that violet is a really interesting colour - it represents future hopes and dreams, imagination and sensitivity!

Not to mention all the watery themes things I've already spotted - mostly what seem to be camp stickers on his wardrobe and the pinboard

theres also a 'boom' sticker - which I love as a possible nod to Christophers roast of Buck in 6x01, but also as a nod to the explosives buck and Eddie have dealt with as part of their job - the grenade and the rocket from this episode plus the foreshadowing of the ship going boom!

The cool cool cool sticker is giving me Abed from community vibes (a queer coded character in his own right!)

and Christophers room has now gained a plant - it moves around a bit - its on the table next to the lamp by the window, then its in a basket next to the table, but its possibly a nod to Christopher growing up!

[grizouille]

Summary of the panel with Jeff and Taz

(@pure-jeff-ward if you're interested)

1-"what the devil fruit taste like?" According to Jeff, a devil fruit tastes like watermelon and chocolate

2 - "what's changed in your life since One Piece? " (as far as I understood) Taz told Jeff changed his life. And Jeff is impressed by Taz's dedication concerning his training, joking about the fact that he was kinda jealous that Taz was muscled compared to him but mostly he admires Taz. He's happy to be him friends with him. Afterwards Taz hugged him. (So cute!)

3-Their favorite scene of One Piece(series) is the last battle scene with Sanji and Zoro. Jeff joked about Buggy not fighting, saying "it's really hard to train to disassemble your body and all, I can't do that now because I'm tired" and Taz was in fits!

4- favorite music :Jeff loves hip hop and apparently rap and Taz likes all kind of music except techno. He likes when there is a beginning and an end to a song, songs that are constructed. (for example, he was playing Blink-182 on his phone while signing autographs and AC/DC during the photo ops)

5- favorite anime: Jeff likes Ghibli movies ("my neighbor totoro" and "spirited away") and Cowboy Bebop if I got it well, Taz likes Trygun currently.

6- favorite memory of the set: Taz loved explosions in the water. He was afraid because he was resting in his tent, so got out like "what's happening?" but then found it funny and amazing. Jeff talked about winning against Iñaki on FIFA (He said "destroying his ego" or something in the same vein. )

7-favorite character from One Piece who's not in the show yet: Jeff has chosen Trafalgar Law right away because he really likes his power. Taz wants to meet Sanji's dad and brothers, wondering what height they'd be. (On that point Jeff teased him for minutes after saying "they could be this size.... Or this size.. So funny!)

8- "if your character ordered food what would it be?" Buggy would order something and send it back, even if it's what he ordered, screaming and breaking everything around just for the fun of it. Sanji would order/make tart, he does this for very special people only.

9-Taz loves doing salads on set but the guys aren't keen on it. So he makes dishes in which he uses butter and salt for everybody to like it. Jeff added"that made me fall in love with him" 😂😂😂

10- "If you were in Avatar the last Airbender, which element would you like to bend?" : Taz said fire and Jeff said he'd like to bend all of them, like Hang

11-the last question was for Taz. "how do you deal with injuries?" Jeff said he ignores them lol but Taz said it was not wrong because "if it hurts nevermind." Yet, he uses ice bags if it hurts too much. He added that one day he was so hurt he called his dad and was shouting on the phone like he was dying lol.

[autumnmobile12]

Something I wish had been addressed in My Hero Academia...

Pros and Villains alike underestimating the sheer determination of a Quirkless person with a weapon.

You have Geten monologuing on how only people with a strong Quirk have a place in the world. My dude...I can think of a few people who can absolutely challenge that philosophy.

Crossover insight.

Castlevania: In a world with magic, monsters and spellcasters, Trevor Belmont had no magical abilities, but he didn't let that stop him. Oh, the whips were magic? Support item!

Besides, he didn't use their magic elements most of the time. He puts out someone's eye in Season One and he straight up strangles a guy in Season Four.

Arcane: Ekko. No magic. Just a gravity-defying board, a metal pipe, and a well-time strike. Granted, he wasn't up against a magic user in this scene, but she did have a gun and explosives.

Avatar: And then we have Ty Lee not even hesitating to annihilate an entire group of Earthbenders with nothing more than her chi blocking fists. ATLA had a whole cast of non-benders who were holding their own against the ones with 'powers.'

Sokka

Suki

Asami

Jet

Mai

Moral of the story: Do not mess with the 'Quirkless' people.

...

It really goes to show how heavily the world in My Hero began to rely on powers to the point that anyone born without a Quirk (or a Quirk that was useless) was someone to be pitied.

Honestly, when I first started watching the anime, I was with my sister and she'd already seen it. So by the time we got the part with the Slime Villain and all the Pros not knowing what to do, I just turned to her and asked, "So wait, since Deku has all the knowledge about these Pros, is he just gonna become a master strategist and coordinate an effective attack and save the day?"

And she just looked at me with this sad expression and said, "No, but that would have been really cool."

Even though I enjoy My Hero Academia, faults and all, I will admit that is a small disappointment I'm still not over. And that might be why the Villain Deku AU appeals to me so much personally. It would have been awesome to have a Pro-Hero or a villain who was 100% Quirkless and making it work the best they could.

I mean, imagine anyone of the My Hero cast humbled like that. "Got our asses whooped by a Quirkless fella."

Aizawa's Quirk is virtually useless on its own. That's why he also uses a scarf, a knife, and martial arts combat to fight. Even if he lost his Quirk, he still has a scarf, a knife, and martial arts combat. Not much changes except he now has to adapt his fighting style to finding a different kind of opening to strike.

Touya might've been fine if someone suggested he use a highly-flammable accelerant as support gear. It was only prolonged usage of his fire that seemed to be hurting him.

Deku losing One For All? He was a brain over brawn character-type to begin with, so I genuinely don't see this as a major issue. An issue because losing any abilities sucks, but he's got a legitimate workaround as the strategist.

And if Midnight was going to use a whip...

...why couldn't she have used it like a fucking boss? Alas, we were robbed.

[bi-bi-bi-bakugo]

I watched You're Next with my roommate today and-

Wow

This was the first time I'd seen a MHA movie in theatres and it did not disappoint. Seeing One for All on the big screen was as jaw dropping as I was expecting. I felt like how Izuku must have felt as a kid when he watched that video on repeat!

Me and my roommate were practically CLINGING to eachother as we watched this movie. The choreography for the fight scenes was just so well done! I absolutely adore how beautiful their quirks all are, and love how intricate they get to be with movies.

I adored Kacchan in this. I mean I knew I would because he's been my favorite since I was 14, but still. He was hilarious without it diminishing anything about him as a character. One line in particular I feel encapsulates his character development (or part of it) extremely well.

When the boys (Izuku, Shoto, and Kacchan) are thinking about what All Might means to them, Kacchan says that All Might taught him it's no all about winning. I don't know about y'all, but I know damn well the old Kacchan wouldn't have said that. And to see his character development on display like that was beautiful.

The movie paired incredibly well with what is going on in the anime currently, and that enhanced my watch of it. There were lines said, things done, and callbacks done that hit hard and were impactful due to where the storyline currently is in the anime. (Final battle w/ Shigaraki for just manga people!) I'll have to rewatch it to catch all of them because I caught them as the movie was happening but I was in a theatre and couldn't just take notes. (Might when I watch it by myself though!)

Watching this movie brought out the little kid in me. It felt like a superhero movie. It felt like when I would watch superhero shows as a kid. It hyped me up in a way I wasn't expecting.

I only wish I could have been able to seen the others in theatre because seeing everyone's quirk (especially OfA, Kacchan's explosion and Shoto's fire and ice!!!)

Unfortunately, my theatre was too small to have the buckets. 😔

[aaamike]

Very Light JJK Spoilers

I’ve seen a lot of criticism about Sukuna as a villain. But I don’t think many people have taken the time to enjoy the time of big brain he is. We see this intelligence of his on full display during the Big Raga Incident.

- here upon ariving on the scene, Sukuna was able to deduce very quickly that:

1: Mahoraga is a Shikigami summoned by Megumi, despite never knowing about Mahoraga. Or the 10 shadows technique outside of what he’s learned from past battles during the Heian era and or his time in Yuji’s prison

2: Megumi’s subjugation ritual keeping him in a suspended state, and thus, he can’t die until Big Raga is dealt with.

3: Haruta staying alive being crucial to keeping Megumi alive throughout the ritual.

Sukuna is so familiar with Shikigami users and rituals associated to them, he’s able to figure in a few seconds everything that’s going on and what he probably needs to do. No other character in the series has demonstrated this level of analytical accuracy, this quickly.

- Here, Sukuna is able to identify what Mahoraga’s sword can do from their first exchange. It’s clear he’s seen or read about it before in the past. We don’t know all the battles he’s been a part of but he is clearly well versed in some ancient weapons as seen as during his battle with Kashimo.

Sukuna may be an avid enjoyer of his curse technique, Shrine, but he’s a fan of weapons, mainly in a lot of his Heian era artwork. Mainly a staff like weapon and then that lightning weapon he used against Kashimo. Let’s not forget to mention all of his past Heian era battles gave him a lot of experience. Who’s to say none of those sorcerers carried a cursed weapon. Based off of his current battle with our cast, he seems pretty used to sword users.

In short, Sukuna knows his way around cursed weapons, and is able identify what they’re capable of. He is also very capable of dealing with a weapon user, barehanded.

- lastly, we see Sukuna compare Big Raga to a something named Yamata no Orochi. Now Yamata no Orochi the Legendary 8 Headed/Tailed Dragon, in real life is a mythical creature first written about around the early 700s in Japan, “filled with malice” and eating young girl sacrifices every seven years. Later, Susanoo, the god of Storms, kills it. It’s known for having a few amazing powers but the main one is regeneration from damage, even death.

Now Sukuna may be referencing the actual mythology, since it was around during the Heian Era, which started at 794 AD and ended in 1185 AD. It’s plausible to assume Sukuna grew up well aware of the mythology. Or perhaps in the JJK universe, there was a Shikigami that may have created the legend we know today. Regardless, upon identifying how Big Raga preferred to stop his ops, via, adaptation, he activated Malevolent Shrine, to create the right conditions for him to use Fire Arrow.

(A quick aside for context, recently it’s been confirmed by Gege that Sukuna’s activation of Fire Arrow is simplified and buffed by the storm of cleave and dismantle turning everything into a fine powder in an air tight enviorment/ie his domain, so when the Fire Arrow activates, it causes an instantaneous explosion, disintegrating any and everything within the domain.)

I’m not saying the manga or anime implies Sukuna fought Yamata no Orochi, but it seems clear Sukuna knows how to deal with an adapting enemy: Obliderate it with an attack it can’t heal from, adapt to, or come back from.

I really enjoy how Gege writes action in JJK. In many cases, it tells you a lot about the characters involved and I believe the Mahoraga fight is one of the best, because it fully demonstrates how well experienced Sukuna is.

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Monday evening all :) Ewww an Ashley episode. Such a bummer after the last episode haha Not a ton of Chenford content but what we do get is good. There is a case involved but they're not in it enough to analyze anything. Oh also this ep is the intro of Chris so double eww. This episode is just one giant display of why Ashley and Chris aren't meant for either of them. But we knew that already didn't we? Let’s get started eh?

4x10 Heart Beat

Start our episode off with why Ashley isn’t right for Tim. Hit the ground running and the reasons are plentiful. First off Tim doesn’t even think to make Ashley anything. This is all for Kojo. Which I friggin love btw. The animal lover in me adores how spoiled Kojo is. Also imma need some more of this pup in S6. You hear me writers? I need this dog back. Ashley says she’s not a breakfast person but still the least romantic morning ever. They are very early in their dating period and its pretty tame. The way he moves around her. No intimacy at all. Avoiding her as he makes his way over to Kojo’s bowl.

Shows more affection towards his dog than her haha It’s the complete opposite of Tim and Lucy in 5x20. Where there is zero space, lots of touching, flirting and food to be had. Can't keep their hands off each other. The blahness that is Ashley is prominent in this opening scene. Also her judgy tone when she mentions that’s what he gets? If I was dating a man who took that good of care of his dog? I would be a goner. But this is Ashley so….

She is far too vapid for Tim. I looked up the definition of that word to reinforce my point. “Offering nothing that is stimulating or challenging.” If that isn’t the definition of their relationship and her as a character idk what is. Tim has found the very opposite from Lucy in Ashley. She is blah, doesn’t challenge him in any way and definitely doesn’t stimulate him whatsoever. All things he gets from Lucy. Interesting...Almost like he shouldn't be dating her....

She continues down her ‘Why she is wrong for Tim path' When she is afraid/doesn’t like Kojo. I already didn’t like her but this didn’t help her case. If I was dating someone and they didn’t like my dog?Goodbye sir. Twas fun while it lasted LOL Maybe it’s the protective dog person in me but I can not stand her first thought being ‘dangerous’ with Kojo. Just because he didn’t like her at first. Tim telling her he took him in cause Lucy couldn’t keep him.

He tries to help her adjust to him but she isn't about it. Just wants to leave. To me if my dog doesn’t like you that is far more telling than anything else IMO. Dogs have a good sense of people so this would’ve been telling to me as a dog owner. Ashley was already on my 'I don’t like you list.' But the not liking Kojo part plummets her to the very bottom…Also watching Tim with Kojo is ovary explosion for me. Way he pets him and loves on him. My heart. That's his kid.

We join our couple in their shop. Lucy asks how it’s going with Ashley? Tim says good but there was some weirdness this morning. Tim mentions he thinks she doesn’t like Kojo. Lucy’s reaction cracks me up. She could not be more telling when she says 'So you broke up with her? Thats too bad….I liked her…’ 'Lying liar. You know she was hoping he did. We all want that.

The way he loves that dog it actually would make sense. To Lucy as well her not liking Kojo is another strike against her anyways. It’s a valid response to anyone who is a pet owner really. Unfortunately we are stuck with her for a long while. Bleh. My dislike for her is very strong. Because she is everything he doesn’t need or want.

Tim says since when? Knowing she has never liked her. That Lucy had been giving him crap cause she’s a lifeguard ha I mean I can't say I blame her. I would too. Her sarcasm continuing with her reply. Fairly certain none of us considered it a career until Ashley came into the picture. Tim defends the training she had to go through. That it was rigorous training at the fire academy. Trying to make her job sound more prestigious than it is in just the name alone. Lucy doesn’t press it further and says my bad with a smile even though I think she is still secretly judging her LOL

Lucy has such a dog-mom moment here. I love it so very much. As she states his full name above LOL I bet you she has supplied that boy with many chew toys he’s destroyed. Makes me happy to think of Lucy going over to Tim's just to deliver treats and toys for their shared fur-child. Seriously going to need some couple moments with him in S6. It's a crime we haven't gotten them yet.

Lucy's transparency continues when she tells Tim 'Clearly Ashley has to go.' If only it was that easy. Saying it’s a moot point if she doesn’t like Kojo. Now anyone can see she isn’t right for him. The person who knows him the best? Can see it from a mile away the multiple reasons Ashley isn’t right for Tim. So might as well cut this off right now in her opinion. The look they share haha Even when talking about his relationship they are flirty af. So married in their disposition with one another. I love it. Also he's not really disagreeing with her...

Lucy ends up getting a phone call and it’s Ashley… She is confused but intrigued by this phone call. Idk how the hell she got her number. LOL Now you know Lucy is in love with Tim when she gives such solid advice to Ashley. It’s the way she talks about Kojo being like Tim. Girl is so gone for him. Something she continually tries to suppress this entire season. Like she is warding it off really.

Ashley tells her she likes Tim but she’s scared of his dog. Asking why she gave him away? Asking if he was too aggressive? Ugh I hate her animal ignorance so much. Maybe it’s because been I've been in dog world for over a decade but I cannot stand her going right to ‘aggressive.’ Lucy defends her boy says 'No! Not at all. He just wasn’t meant for her living situation.'

Lucy asks if she doesn’t like dogs? Secretly hoping she says yes heh Ashley tells she had a bad experience once. Lucy empathizes and says she gets it. Goes on to say Kojo is the sweetest guy. It’s here we see her switch over to gushing about Tim. It’s the way she’s looking at Tim in Grey’s office that gets me. As she explains how Kojo is just like Tim. Careful Lucy your feelings are showing.

He’s big, gruff, and a whole lot of bark but underneath is a sweetheart. I mean Tim is for HER. Let’s get that clear first. Tim is only soft for Lucy. I adore her helping out in this situation though. She didn't have to but it's Lucy. If Ashley could see how she was looking at Tim. She might feel a little threatened. Not only that but her deep knowledge of Tim. Might catch on she’s just the littlest bit in love with him lol But then 4x12 happens later on so.... How she didn’t break up with Tim after that display idk. So maybe she wouldn’t put 2 and 2 together.

I'm giving her too much credit haha Lucy speaks from a place of love about him. She probably has no idea how she is coming off but it's so obvious. Clearly not talking about Kojo in that tone. She loves that good boy but loves his owner more. Lucy tells her to talk to Tim about it. Ashley replies no that she’s not going to make him pick between her or his dog. That there is a whole genre of country songs about that. Before Lucy can defend Tim more or why she should Ashley cuts the convo off and says good night. Awkward…

It’s then we meet friggin Chris Sanford. *glares* The epitome of meh. Earlier in the ep they arrested young boy dealing drugs. He is one of James’s newest mentees. Lucy being the empathetic soul she is cites him out on a lower charge. That way he gets a fighting chance with James to turn his life around. Just has to attend his court date and such. Very kind thing of her to do for this young man.

He comes in like a mega douche. Instant dislike for his character for how he comes at Lucy. Trying to shame her for citing him out like she did. Calling her naive and basically being an absolute asshat. Lucy CRUSHES him in her reply above. I dislike Chris so very much so this was glorious to watch. Tim Bradford doesn’t stand a chance most days against her. You think your puny ass with 4 months of experience had a chance of winning that argument? What a putz…

Lucy catches Tim in the parking garage before he leaves. Ah this glorious place where all our wonderful moments occur. Lucy tells him it was Ashley who called her earlier. Gotta love how open she is with Tim always. As usual Lucy is toeing the line of personal boundaries with him. Possibly overstepping by bringing this up. But that’s kind of their thing.

Also like to note how telling it is that Ashley felt more comfortable coming to Lucy and not her BF about this. That she didn’t think he would listen to her but Lucy would. Because well she did. Lucy does get the other side of the story with Kojo. That is not a dislike but bad experience on her end. Which to be fair is valid when you’ve had a bad experience with a dog. Now that being said I still dislike so very much.

What I’m trying to get at here is Lucy interpreted this as Tim not fulling listening to Ashley’s concern. It’s not surprising Tim gets a little hard headed about things. Especially things he loves. So he’s instantly defensive about said things. I’m the same way. Lucy knows this about him. Which is why they’re having this conversation. So she can bring his attention to it in way only she can. Because Tim actually listens to Lucy. This scene really is more about their bond than his issue with Ashley. How Lucy is the only one who can ever get through to Tim. Her super power really.

He doesn’t listen to anyone the way he listens to Lucy. Especially when she is doling out advice for him. This is a kindness she is doing for him. Letting him know one his GF called her and two the reason behind it. That she is scared and he needs to listen to her about it. Tim shrugs it off like it’s nothing. Which you can see Lucy is a little taken aback with. How instantly shut off he is to this conversation. But like i said earlier he is defensive about things he loves. He LOVES that dog.

This is their dance with advice he is defensive or dismissive at first. Then it sinks in and he truly listens to what she is telling him. She may not like Ashley. (None of us do..) But she would be remiss not to share her opinion on this with him. Tim instead of thanking her for the advice deflects. Because well Tim. Asking why she is so invested in his love life? Asking with a little smile some sass in that question of his. Also gauging what her reaction will be. He is truly curious.

It is interesting how his love life is the only one she intercedes in. Not Nolan or any of his. She didn’t with Jackson for either of his love interests. Just Tim. Because that shows the level of importance this man has gained in her life. Saw some parallels to this moment and 2x03. When she was trying to pair Tim up with Rachel. How Lucy once again is involved in his love life. It’s true that she just wants him to be happy.

Also Tim’s interest in why she is interested in his love life is far different than 2x03. He didn’t question it then. Just thought it was apart of their bet. In S4 he is a lot more aware. Like I said in the last review their bond and their awareness of each other is far stronger than it was in S2. He is so genuinely curious why she is so invested in it?

They’ve had a lot of intimate moments and work flirts since 4x01. Tim can feel the shift that has happened between them. So it makes him curious why she is helping him like she is? Lucy does some deflecting of her own for his question. Saying she doesn’t want to drive around on patrol while he is moping around about this girl. He is so offended by her saying this it's so funny. That if he likes this girl he should listen to her. It’s funny all the things she’s telling him to do with Ashley he naturally does with her. Funny old world lol

Tim’s reply back cracks me up. Saying when has he ever moped? That he doesn’t even know how to. Oh but you do my love. You perfect it in S5. While you pine for her while she is still with Chris the putz. But ok sure you don’t know how. His eye roll is so damn funny Eric always crushes it when he does this. Her little Mmhmm as she walks away smirking. Has this man wrapped around her finger. She drives him insane and Tim absolutely loves it.

Tim follows through on Lucy’s advice and listens to Ashley’s fears. Really Lucy extended this relationship when it was destined to fail. But she cares so much about Tim and his happiness she gave him solid advice. This bit made me chuckle. Saying Kojo needs to be bossed around a little to listen. heh. Just like daddy. There's a reason he only listen's to Lucy.

Kojo being just like Tim of course he needs a strong woman to boss him around to listen. I wouldn't call Ashley strong but she got the idea. I mean that scene in the parking garage kinda a parallel to this one in that regard. Doesn’t listen at first then eventually comes around when they're bossed around ha. Not a ton in this ep for them. Solid moments nonetheless. Sadly we are saddled with a Chris and Ashley for a little while. But we get tons of goodies between all that so it helps.

~~~

Side notes- non Chenford

I do love James and Wes starting up their bromance. They cute.

Thank you to all who continually support these reviews. Your likes, comments and reblogs make it all worth it. See you Wednesday with 4x11 :)

[eternityservedcold]

an extremely thorough list of content warnings for jojos bizarre adventure

because the old one was made by a deleted blog so it isnt easily accessible any more (and i dont think it was good enough to begin with)

btw if you say anything to the effect of "why do people like jojo when it has x" or "you guys really excuse y?" on this post im just gonna block you. people who get angry about me saying to skip parts/episodes will also get blocked.

feel free to reply/send an ask with anything i missed, preferably with a chapter or episode number. parts 7 and 8 wont be on here in full until i finish reading them but feel free to send me cws for them and ill add them. also the warnings are just in the order they appear, and more specifically when they appear in the anime, so as to not have weird "x is more important than y" nonsense

general warnings

these are things that…. basically if youre triggered by these i think you should just sit this out tbh. its an amazing series but its not worth repeatedly triggering yourself. this ones just ordered alphabetically bc its throughout (read: in at least 3 parts)

blood, violence, body horror, gore, and death -amputation -animal abuse and death (especially of dogs) -decapitation -eye, nail, and mouth horror -impalement -parental and sibling death -police brutality -suicide and self harm

child abuse -child abandonment -corporal punishment -leering shots of minors bodies -pedophilia (still gets a warning every time) -physical abuse

christian themes and symbolism

drug use -alcohol -tobacco -underage drug use -unspecified white powder

fire and explosions

gambling

misogyny, both in-universe and on the part of the author

racism (gets specific warnings every time)

sexual misconduct -catcalling -rape (still gets a warning every time) -sexual assault -sexual harassment

unsanitary -eating/drinking gross things —being forced to eat/drink gross things -pee -poop -snot -vomit

vehicle accidents -car accidents -plane crashes

part 1: phantom blood

(manga only) ritual sacrifice

restricted eating

non-consensual kissing

(manga only) a dog is shown on fire

poisoning

chinese ethnic stereotypes

a baby gets eaten

part 2: battle tendency

okay im gonna rip the bandaid off now. there are nazis in this one, and its significantly worse than youd expect just reading that. im gonna quote the old list here: "there are so many nazis in this part and they’re not condemned like at all tbh". i would almost say its glorified, one of the main allies is a nazi and another main ally directly praises a different nazi. in the manga, hitler and swastikas are explicitly shown as well as nazis being called by name, but in the anime, they are removed and simply called german soldiers.

almost nothing from this part comes back in the future and what does come back is explained as it comes up or is understandable from context. so please. if you need to skip this part, just do it. i even understand if you skip the whole series because of this.

its possible some may find the mesoamerican aesthetic of the villains in this part to be insensitive or offensive. im mexican and i personally dont, but i could see why someone would

racism toward: -black people -mexican people —slavery and degradation of mexican women is explicitly shown -japanese people

hostage situation

kidnapping

human experimentation

ritual sacrifice

"man in a dress" gag and subsequent transmisogyny

unintentional incest. there are only two scenes of this, which are: -a character spying on someone (later revealed to be their mother) in the bath -going through said mothers belongings and talking about her panties

animal cannibalism

part 3: stardust crusaders

since fights in this part are much more self-contained than the other parts, its possible to skip some of these if youre triggered by them. those will be marked with chapter and episode numbers

a woman gets spontaneously undressed in the middle of a fight (only her bra shows but it happens against her will)

jotaro, a 17 year old, kisses an adult woman to save her from possession. i wouldnt really say this is pedophilia and it lasts for 1 panel/less than 10 seconds but i found it uncomfortable

while incapacitated from sickness, holly will randomly be shown naked with weird leering camera angles. this happens many more times in the anime than the manga

pedophilia (depicted as a bad thing and the victim is saved before anything happens) (skip chapters 17-19/episode 7)

native american stereotypes (skip chapters 20-22/episode 8)

"person gets replaced" trope (skip chapters 23-6/episode 9; chapters 76-79/episode 27)

infection

suffocation

drowning

"child acting like a pervert" trope (skip chapters 92-96/episodes 32-33) -in the same episodes, the child spends the entire fight naked which might be uncomfortable for some

stardust crusaders ova

this gets its own subsection due to being so different that i was having to say "this doesnt apply to the ova" for a lot of the warnings. unlike the main sdc section, since this ova is extremely pared down, there wont be skippable warnings. also note that this is in "manga order", so its 2000 ova then 1993 ova

the english voice actor for avdol (a black/egyptian character) is a white guy doing a vaguely "ethnic" accent

the non-consensual kissing thing above, here its with a girl jotaros age though

infection

suffocation

ritual sacrifice (used as the intro animation for the 1993 portion)

drowning

part 4: diamond is unbreakable

rape, pedophilia, and kidnapping mentions

physical abuse

electrocution

blackmail

yandere trope -emotional abuse -isolation -stalking -kidnapping

restricted eating

skin picking

(anime only) jumpscare

invasion of privacy (skip this part if this bothers you because one of the main allies power is just, doing this, and its constant)

"child acting like a pervert" trope

bodysnatching/"person gets replaced" trope

theres an uncomfortable scene where a child gets attacked in the bath (non-sexually). both the child and the attacker are naked for the duration of the scene

part 5: vento aureo/golden wind

gang violence/the mafia (main crux of the plot)

bullying

(anime only) racism toward japanese people

reckless driving

torture

rape (not shown just heavily implied)

terminal illness/infection/disease

(anime only) pedophilia

forced childbirth (its like, magical childbirth and the mother doesnt register it)

possibly offensive depiction of systems (systems, feel free to correct me on this)

medical malpractice

a guy gets swapped into a girls body and gropes it

part 6: stone ocean

(anime only) heavy use of chromatic aberration, which may be eye straining for some

this part is really horny, comparatively speaking. this isnt really a bad thing but depending on your level of comfort with that you may want to skip

(manga only) misgendering a trans man

hallucinations

memory loss

abuse of religious authority

(manga only, only in some translations) homophobic slur

grooming

gang violence

"disposable sex worker" trope

creepy stalker-ish behavior (the person who does it becomes a main ally & never stops or eases up)

cult

drowning

electrocution

unintentional incest

the kkk (in the anime its a generic racist mob) -lynching

part 7: steel ball run

possibly offensive depiction of native americans (feel free to correct me if youre native)

a 14 year old girl: -is a child bride and im pretty sure this isnt condemned at all -gets hit on by adults -experiences a rape attempt? -gets pregnant?

the entire plot is about curing a disability

medical malpractice

capital punishment

(only in some translations) r slur variant

homophobic slur

attempted pedophilia/rape?

"bisexual sex pest" trope (grown woman making advances toward a minor/trying to rape her)?

part 8: jojolion

ableism?

rape?

part 9: the jojolands

"unsettling gender reveal" trope

pedophilia

[nekole-doodles]

I was supposed to do this yesterday but I had homework so here is your Owl House DSMP AU dump :] (There are 2 versions btw)

"MAIN" Owl House DSMP AU: The Crow House(still coming up with a better name):

The island/demon realm this takes place in is called Essempii because Dream SMP sounds a bit on the nose considering Dream's role in this.

Tommy - Luz:

Tommy stumbles into the Essempii when Brian(Phil's crow/palisman) snatches the jar Shroud(Tommy's pet tarantula) was being kept in while he was on a walk holding Shroud's travel jar(don't worry, Tommy has a properly sized habitat for Shroud, the jar is only when Tommy wants to take Shroud out of the house. And yes I had to research proper tarantula care.)

Also, Shroud is a completely black curly-haired tarantula because it looked the closest to a Minecraft spider and was also a common species of tarantula to keep.

Tommy got in trouble a lot in school(in the human realm) for various reasons like letting raccoons into the school because he felt bad for them living on the streets, sneaking Shroud into the school and putting him in someone's hair(usually someone he found annoying), causing small fires in the science lab, and getting into fights with pricks, y'know, the usual.

When Tommy discovered the Essempii, it was on a Friday and close to summer break. He stays there for the weekend or a single day and leaves afterward. He makes a promise to come back when he's off for the summer.

Potions was the first type of magic Tommy learned to actually use and also got interested in Beast-keeping

Tommy learned about glyphs from Tubbo when they first met which I'll probably have a separate post for since I have a scene planned for it already. Basically, Tubbo knows about glyphs from experimenting but only knows the basic ones since he has the magic to not need them except for experiments. When they first met, Tubbo was using glyphs for an experiment that involved making basically a grenade. Tubbo taught Tommy the glyphs he knows and later, Tommy was able to figure out how to combine them.

Tommy's palisman will definitely be a raccoon in this AU version :))))) (In the 2nd AU version, he has a phoenix palisman)

Greek mythology isn't known in the Essempii, but Tommy read about Greek Mythology when he got bored back in the human realm.

Phil - Eda:

ANARCHYYYYYY (He's an anarchist)

He wasn't cursed by someone close to him(mostly because idk who it would be that doesn't already have a separate role). He was cursed by Admin Dream(who takes the role of Emperor Belos) for using wild magic and was going to be put into Pandora's Vault along with being cursed, chained up like a wild animal. This is the typical punishment for people who are caught using wild magic. However, Phil was able to escape and keep the curse under control. I have the perfect video to show what Phil looks like when the curse takes over but I don't have the energy to find it.

Also, I'm highly considering if Chat should be Hooty. We're definitely silly enough for it :/

His hardcore heart pendant thing is how he guages his magic

The curse didn't give him his wings. What the curse actually does is amplify hybrid genes.

Phil used to carve palismen for people in the Essempii but as the wood for palismen became more scarce, he couldn't do that anymore.

Tubbo - Gus/Willow

Tubbo mainly uses plant magic like Willow, but has Gus's general energy.

Although he mostly uses plant magic at school, he loves to use fire or explosive magic which- y'know, doesn't work out well considering plants are flammable and- yeah :/ He causes wayyyy too many fires. However, when he combines this magic, it's really useful in combat.

Tubbo likes experimenting with mixing magic and gets in trouble for it a lot but somehow finds a way to get out of trouble. After a very risky incident that nearly ended with serious consequences, he stuck to doing magic-mixing experiments in a secret lab setup in the forest(which is where he first met Tommy)

Has a bee palisman but I'm still figuring out a name

Tubbo has a garden and likes to put any weeds he pulls out into their own separate planters since he thinks they deserve to live as much as the other plants do because they're also just trying to survive(I got this idea from Tommy in Unlikely Events)

Tubbo and Tommy's shared love for animals and chaos caused them to get along well

When Tubbo isn't at school, he basically looks like a young version of QSMP! Tubbo's design

After students are able to join multiple tracks, Tubbo joins the beast-keeping and potion tracks along with staying in his current track

Ranboo - Gus/Willow

I have so much extra lore for Ranboo TvT

Even though they're in the Oracle track, they use other types of magic, mainly illusion and healing. Obviously, they are careful about when they use it and isn't as careless about it as Tubbo since they're trying to stay under the radar

They're secretly an enderian, a hybrid race that was slaughtered after Admin Dream took the throne because their enderpearls(which allowed them to teleport freely) were considered wild magic. Another big reason they were killed was because they have a natural talent for magic which Dream feared because they had the power to take him down if they worked together. Enderians were also one of the first people to discover magic so wild magic is ingrained in their culture.

To hide the fact they're an enderian, they use a concealment stone to hide their hybrid traits. Without the concealment stone, they basically look exactly like C! Ranboo but with different clothes. With the concealment stone, they look human(but with pointy ears of course) with heteochromic eyes(warm brown and muddled green), split black and white hair, and vitiligo.

Some enderians survived and had secret camps around the Essempii. The one Ranboo was born in was discovered and raided by Dream's army. Ranboo survived the attack because their parents hid them and gave him the concealment stone and a necklace that is a family heirloom. The pendant of the necklace looks like an eye of ender but smaller.

The concealment stone is kinda weak because to hide it, Ranboo broke it into smaller pieces so it could fit inside the eye of ender pendant. Ranboo uses their magic to help the illusion be more stable.

Sometimes, their magic isn't able to fully support the illusion so their mouth, hands, and eyes revert back and speckles of his black and white skin appear like freckles. To hide this, he wears a mask, sunglasses, and gloves.

They also know healing magic because they learned it back before the Enderian camp was invaded. They thought it would be useful and it comes in handy since Tubbo and Tommy always get hurt because they are chaotic and have a knack for getting in trouble.

Once they're able to take multiple tracks, they take the illusion and healing track. They want to learn how to control their illusions better to stay more concealed and they want to be able to heal Tommy and Tubbo when they get bigger, more dangerous wounds.

Okay that's it for now, I didn't realize how long this would take. I didn't even get to start talking about my 2nd Owl House DSMP AU(which is the one I like better despite it being newer and less planned). I'll continue with this AU in the next post then finally get to my 2nd AU.

[selfawarecobalt]

bro that fight was absolutely ridiculous! I love Gray but that was clearly main character syndrome. when Freed said that the rune won't cancel every magic to give Gray a chance I knew this was the first excuse to have the Raijinshuu lose. if serious, Freed could've just cancelled everything and the fight would've been over before it even began. then the Gray doesn't feel the torture rune excuse out of nowhere and the fact that Gray won against Evergreen Bickslow AND Freed with all ridiculous reasons and then struggled against an injured and exhausted Mirajane afterwards while Freed was holding up great against an emotional-overdrive, rage power Mira in the fight with her, it's all just so badly written. I would've given Gray the advantage of using devil slayer magic against people like Mira and Freed but at least make it a damn good and difficult fight because not only Mira is a power to be reckoned with, Freed has been set up to be too. then there are Ever and Bickslow qith their eye magics as well, and how they were knocked out was a joke too. I dont want this animated.

EXACTLY. I’ll be the first to admit gray would be powerful enough to defeat individual members of the thunder legion (that main character power boost) but that was an utter piss take. gray still struggled against just bixlow during their first fight, even if he couldve beaten him. that “um actually gray cant feel pain in this form” was completely stupid. ive seen a lot of awful things from modern fairy tail but that was undoubtedly the worst. also that “omg of course i feel pain i was hitting my comewades :((((“ INFURIATED me. didnt have that energy during what i assume was meant to be a “comedic” scene of him just beating the shit out of freed when he was already down. also the whole “lets rip the clothes off the only girl!” thing made me want to barf. i genuinely believe it would’ve been better for their characters if the thunder legion had been killed in the tartaros arc.

also YEAH THE WHOLE “struggled against an exhausted and injured mira” genuinely gave me vertigo after i finally escaped from having it shoved down my eyeholes. like yeah mira was rusty during her fight with freed but she was absolutely rage filled, and it was really emphasised just how powerful she was, and it was STILL a tough fight. against just freed. the whole thunder legion vs gray shouldve been a sweep in the other direction. weve seen they can all work together, using their unique magics to complicate things for enemies.

cant think where else to put this so im slapping this in here. EVEN THOUGH GRAY HAS DEMON SLAYER MAGIC NOW FREED HAS A FUCKING SWORD. also that stupid “gray teleports behind evergreen and bixlow” thing? WHAT KIND OF DEMON SLAYER MAGIC IS THAT. all fairy tail main characters are the worst type of mary sue. and i LIKE mary sues.

evergreen can turn people to stone and fire hundreds of BULLETS and explosions. bixlow can use his babies to beat the shit out of long distance targets and take control of their bodies (NOT TURN THEM CHIBI. HIRO.). FREED CAN FUCKING TURN INTO A DEMON AND ALMOST INSTANTLY TRAP PEOPLE AND DEPRIVE THEM OF OXYGEN, AND CUT A GODDAMN TORNADO IN HALF. THESE ARE VETERAN FIGHTERS WHO WERE ONCE ABLE TO DAMN NEAR TAKE DOWN THE ENTIRE GUILD. now theyre just a joke. their personalities have been completely erased and replaced with “omg laxus!!”. im going to hurl

if you HAD to make up an excuse to weaken them, sure you could make up some shit about “oh the barrier particles damaged their magic containers” BUT EVEN THEN THEYRE STILL SMART ENOUGH TO WORK TOGETHER.

seriously. this was the most blatant case of main character nepotism ive literally ever seen. i genuinely despise 100yq, it always felt so lazy and uncreative. uhh yeah actually surprise theres four more acnologias but more powerful. yeah theyre were never mentioned before so what. every character looks the same now. the lucyification of the fairy tail girls needs to be studied. this infection is taking away every single character and the only reactions im seeing to it are “omg glow up!!”

(also i HATE seeing people talk about the spinoff characters like “omg so cute its like an alternate universe” NO ITS JUST LAZY. HE ONLY KNOWS LIKE 4 CHARACTER TYPES AS MAIN CHARACTERS AND IM SICK OF NOONE ACKNOWLEDGING IT)

[tactical-mode]

remember to turn on closed-captioning for the dialogue!

Happy to be done with the first mission and to continue with the story! Getting the reactor explosion FMV without the score in the background took some patience - in Remake the SFX for the FMVs are baked into the music track, so turning off music mutes everything! Finding a way to force it to play SFX without music wasn’t too much of a challenge.

7R adds an extra scene here which I filmed and cut around.

[Chapter 02] Scenes 01-03 - Escape Tunnel and Splitting Up

Choosing the Barret shots was hard because he's so handsome and has so many almost-useful poses! Cloud and Barret's exhange at the end here is clumsily cross-faded by me. I couldn't make it work any other way, but it's not my favorite compromise.

Scenes 04-09 - Sector 8 Aftermath

Then, we get a bunch of scenery porn to one of my favorite all-time music tracks: Anxious Hearts. The melody during the last four bars (which we’ve heard before, in Mako Reactors) is a minor variation on the Prelude and appears all over FFVII’s score during times of conflict (including both Shinra and Sephiroth’s themes!). Genius, right? We're using the EC version here.

I quite loved this walking tour of destruction that 7R gives us here. 7R also gives us a lovely scene where Cloud sees fire and is reminded of his past - it’s quite a nice sequence. I’ve uploaded that scene and another Uematsu-inspired score among the other "B-Rolls," which you can find on the YouTube channel.

Eagle-eyed viewers may notice an original animation near the end of this episode. This is based on a poster the player can interact with in OG, and I think it contrasts the point of view of AVALANCHE with that of their victims, and I find that a very profound part of FFVII.

Animating it required sources some freeware brick and paper textures, and keyframing some lights to flicker and simulate fire, as well as some simple shapes running back and forth to create shadows on the wall. As an episode button, I’m quite proud of it.

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoy the episode! Of course, I’m sure some of you are really waiting for the next episode! Will I pull it off? You be the judge.

[the-blossica-fan]

Actor's AU!

How many things have blown up on set, either intentionally or unintentionally? And by who and the circumstances surrounding it?

And an estimation of how much in damages it cost?

Well... Money is quite a problem around here, it'll be had to determine an exact cost so I'll just put an approximate. Let's start with the simple

Ms. Radio's Ult animation almost made TTT's tvs have a short circuit and explode, didn't happen because God is good (They managed to stop the electricity)

Then there's 2.0 with the explosion of the Workshop. The whole place exploded but the camera stopped filming halfway and they had to re-do the take, therefore building another workshop again. The building and reparation were a pretty penny and it's a shame to have to change cameras in the middle of the scene. Still, it managed to be done.

1.8 manages to save costs on the final act by drawing it. What could have been a lot of CGI with the possibility of camera failure or the blood obscuring the camera got replaced by a 2D animation. Saved costs and explosions.

In the scene there weren't so many explosions, now it's behind the scenes where things get complicated.

Druvis III: I promise I have nothing to do with this

Lilya: ...Girl you poured alcohol on a fire

Druvis III: I... I thought it was water

Lilya: White Vodka! Courtesy of Eternity

Druvis III: okay but can you please put that off?

Lilya: Oh? Yeah, no can do, I got no water.

Ulu (VA): How are we going to explain this, Desert Flannel?

DF: Hell we won't, blame this on Spathodea!

Ulu: But- Spathodea can't cook!

DF: Neither can we!

As you can see, accidents happen (there were a lot of explosions and fire backstage and some... Some were pretty costly)

[lizajane2]

I'm sorry but this is gonna be a long post so buckle in if you read this. I just wanna apperciate animation as a whole.

I have watched anime since I was a child from Inuyasha to Bleach, then to One Piece and Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer. To experience the way animation has evolved is absolutely mindblowing especially with this fight.

My jaw was open the entire time in awe of how pretty it is. Like yes the fighting is amazing, but the animation itself is breathtaking. I mean you even have Luffy vs Kaido where he grabs clouds that are made of just water and you see it stretch as he takes hold, turns lightning into a solid form (rubber is an amorphous solid) and I point out these things because of the way they animated it.

When the texture of the lightning changes and how it bends reminds me of one of those plasma balls I had when I was kid. You would touch the glass and it would change its form. Kind of like how you see here as well when he goes to throw it:

It looks like he's holding fire, which is plasma like lightning, because it responds to electric fields. I go back to these fights a lot and see different things I didn't see before. It makes me love anime in general even more.

Another animated scene of Luffy in Gear 5 is this:

The immediate change in texture shows the viewer the power he has gained. You see, rubber doesn't have an internal structure, and they show that here by the way his body slightly bounces, in the way he breathes and in his stance. This is the scene that actually made me adore Luffy as Nika.

Now, I wanna move on to Demon Slayer. Tengen vs Gyutaro lives in my head rent free just as much as Zoro vs King does.

If you told me at nine years old that this fight would exist, I wouldn’t believe you. I would tell you that you are lying because of the fluidity, the lighting and directing. How it never misses a step. There is not a single flaw in this whole scene.

But what I really want to talk about in this anime is the explosion… I have never experienced a scene so realistic.

You mean to tell me that this isn't an explosion in real time? Bullshit. And when they zoom in on the snowflake as its being melted from the heat... I know it's simple, a tiny little detail, but those things make it for me.

[yourfavsasdragondescriptions]

Oh, you gotta do the Harrister, baby.

Let's see how this shall go.

Indeed we shall.

Due to his mutton chops, I see the dragon that Harrier Du Bois would be as an East Asian dragon like the one below.

However, since East Asian dragons are more associated with water than fire, I’ll have Dragon!Harrier’s breath weapon be a highly pressurized blast of fog. This fog can have a variety of effects depending on what skill is his signature skill at the moment. And he’s immune to the effects of his own fog. For example…

* Logic - Necrosis of the extremities, starting with fingers, then hands, then arms.

* Encyclopedia - Overloads the minds of those who breathe in the fog with forbidden knowledge, leaving them catatonic at best and violently insane at worst.

* Rhetoric - Turns allies against each other through arguments amongst themselves.

* Drama - Forces those who breathe it in to speak like they’re characters in Shakespeare stories.

* Conceptualization - Seems to affect the environment that comes into contact with the fog rather than people, causing architecture to manifest from nearby materials, and this can entomb living creatures unlucky enough to also be in the fog.

* Visual Calculus - Less of a practical skill and more for reconstructing crime scenes via casting projections of past events.

* Volition - Causes people who breathe the fog in to never tell a lie or, if they have committed a crime that Harrier is investigating, to confess on the spot.

* Inland Empire - Animates objects that come into contact with the fog and puts them under Harrier’s command. They deanimate when Harrier no longer has need of them.

* Empathy - Causes anyone who comes into contact with the gas, if they are about to do harm to someone or something, to immediately stop what they are doing and apologize. Also functions as a cure for sociopathy and narcissistic personality disorder.

* Authority - Basically mind control gas. Can also be used to make the dead speak (as long as said dead still have the proper organs to talk).

* Esprit de Corps - Gives Harrier’s fellow police officers seemingly superhuman abilities.

* Suggestion - Replaces the fog with a very thick smog with a color that just screams “this gas is cancer incarnate do NOT breathe it in”. And yes, the smog is a carcinogen.

* Endurance - Rapidly eats away at the muscle tissue of any living thing that enters it while not damaging bone, skin or flesh.

* Pain Threshold - Takes whatever pains you’re feeling at the moment and amplifies it a thousandfold. A Dark Eldar’s wet dream.

* Physical Instrument - MASSIVELY increases the pressurization of the steam jet, enabling it to punch through almost a mile of dense bedrock.

* Electrochemistry - Turns the fog into a hallucinogenic gas so potent that just breathing in even a single molecule of the stuff is enough to cause an overdose.

* Shivers - Electrically charges the fog to a point that it fires off lightning bolts in all directions. Though the bolts contain more than enough volts to kill a man in one strike, the charged fog is short-lived and vanishes seconds after it manifests.

* Half Light - Makes the fog highly explosive, catching alight within seconds of contact with the air and has a blast strength strong enough to level buildings if the gas is indoors.

* Hand-Eye Coordination - A gas with anomalous properties that cause whatever is in the gas that isn’t nailed down (up to the size of a truck) to be lifted up and thrown at Harry’s target at the same speed as… well, a bullet.

* Perception - Overloads the senses of those in the fog. Smells become so pungent they drown out all else, quiet whispers become a deafening clarion, and more.

* Reaction Speed - Speeds up the perception of time to whatever breathes the fog in. Can cause insanity to those who breathe the stuff in.

* Savoir Faire - Causes the muscles of whoever breathes the fog in to involuntarily twitch and shudder, the phenomenon becoming increasingly intense over time until organs rip like paper and eyes burst.

* Interfacing - If there is a broken machine in the fog, it repairs itself. Causes scrap metal to bundle together into what I can best describe as an approximation of a machine.

* Composure - Turns whoever breathes in the fog into stone. This isn’t immediate, but a gradual process outside of the fog. This phenomenon greatly accelerates inside the fog, with affected persons and animals turning to stone in seconds.

I’d do more about his appearance, but the breath weapon thing really gave my brain a workout, so I’ll leave you to interpret it on your own.

[scorchrend]

spark the electric jester movie

(black screen)

(animation studio like idk illumination or something while pan down from the sky revealing fm city)

spark: i’m spark the electric jester

(fade to a shot of spark looking mad at the window)

spark: aaaaand i, was just fired.

(jumps out the window)

(clips of spark running)

(breaking the shit out of robots)

(tilt up for fark)

fark: go home jester boy, nobody wants you

spark: well too bad! i’m about to be HILARIOUS. (whacks electric bat on hand)

(clips of different jester powers)

(spark getting shot at by those stupid ass gun crabs)

oh see: (spin dash)

spark (wind jester): yeesh get your own schtick

(explosions)

(completely unrelated cutscene)

romalo: HOOOOLOGRAPHIC NANOOOMACHINES!!!!

romalo & spark: you know em you love em

romalo: thaaaaat’s right (hand casting motion)

(tv static)

dr armstrong: need i remind you that what you’ve been doing lately is very much. ahem. illegal

(cut away)

prototype: prove yourself to me

kerana: (shooting arrows)

(thunderstorm)

seam’s pet: ROOAOAAHHHHHHH

(cut back to the scene with dr armstrong)

spark: uh….. ooooops

spark: will a record deter employers or something

(the megaraph fleet flying in space)

spark (running through enemies): IM OUTTA HERE

(fleet self destructs)

[THIS SPRING]

(sunfire forest pinball section)

spark: are you FARKING KIDDING ME!!!

[GET READY]

(the lightoria bay cutscene where spark shoots off)

[TO CHARGE INTO]

that green robot with romalos first cutscene: so like we’re gonna go do world domination and stuff

spark: oh okay

[WORLD DOMINATION????]

spark:

spark: WAIT WHAT!

(dramatic cinematic impact sfx)

(spark cocking his finger gun)

(spark fighting megagram)

(the floor getting blown up under spark n the prototype)

(spark getting grabbed by freoms arm)

freom(not present in the shot except his hand): DIE JESTER!!

[SPARK THE ELECTRIC JESTER]

(fark holding the scepter thingy camera pan up to show the megaraph)

fark (voice over): please, just go home. this is out of your league!

(wind blowing sfx gets louder)

(cut)

[APRIL 10, 2025]

[themattress]

Sailor Moon: Infinity - Original vs. Toei Adaptation

- Mugen Academy, there from the beginning of the original arc, takes until episode 120 to appear, with only 7 more episodes left in the series to go! A truly baffling adaptational choice.

- Chibiusa also meets and befriends Hotaru right from the start of the original arc, whereas it doesn't happen until episode 112 in the anime (also, Chibiusa isn't even there from the start).

- Hotaru's twisted homelife of being a sickly girl cared for by her shady scientist father and his equally shady assistant pops up in chapter 28. Not until episode 113 in the anime version!

- Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune working on their own and being antagonistic toward the Inner Senshi due to not wanting them to share in the burden they must carry is faithfully adapted during the first half of the anime arc. The second half, however, rather than having them develop past the antagonism, only doubles down on it and changes their reason for it as well to just them being really arrogant and hating the Inner Senshi's naive idealism.

- Ami and Viluy's interactions in Mugen Academy from chapter 30 is adapted in episode 122.

- Chibiusa making a Holy Grail for her art project in chapter 31 is adapted in episode 107.

- The scene with Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in chapter 32 is bizarrely moved to the start of episode 113 and with just Mamoru present with them. The respectful way they address him makes zero sense given the anime's context and change in the Outer Senshi's personalities.

- Hotaru's backstory is altered. Instead of being badly burned in a laboratory fire that kills her mother and having cybernetic implants given along with Mistress 9's egg when her father makes a pact with Pharaoh 90, she is almost killed in a laboratory explosion and her father has Mistress 9's egg inhabit her and Germatoid's egg inhabit him as a means to save her life.

- Sailor Moon obtaining the Holy Grail and transforming into Super Sailor Moon from the end of chapter 32 / start of chapter 33 is adapted in episode 111, with a different context and transpiring via the Outer Senshi's hearts rather than Usagi, Mamoru and Chibiusa's hearts.

- Originally, the Outer Senshi seek to kill Hotaru because she's the reincarnation of Sailor Saturn whom they have very specific history with and valid reason to fear. They pity Hotaru, but she's dying of illness anyway. In the anime, they seek to kill her both because she's the reincarnation of Sailor Saturn whom they've only heard bad things about and end up being completely wrong about, and because she's the Dark Messiah, vessel of Mistress 9...basically not caring that this makes her a victim. So basically the anime overcomplicated matters by giving them two reasons, both of them unjustified, instead of only one that was.

- Mistress 9 awakening through the seizure of Chibiusa's soul in Chapter 33 is adapted in episode 123. Subsequently, Mamoru keeping Chibiusa alive through his energy while the Sailor Senshi head to Mugen Academy for a climactic showdown is the same in both versions, although the anime kind of forgot to explain how Mamoru can even do that.

- The only things the climax of the arc has in common is Hotaru's spirit appearing before Mamoru and Chibiusa to say goodbye, and Sailor Saturn going to the Tau Nebula to kill herself along with Pharaoh 90 only to reincarnate as a baby on Earth. However, these are still drastically different in context. Originally, Hotaru's spirit appears because she died, splitting from her body in order to save the souls of Chibiusa and the Inner Senshi, while in the anime it's just Hotaru awoken as Sailor Saturn astral-projecting herself before making her sacrifice. Sailor Saturn is originally a different personality from Hotaru and was going to destroy Earth along with Pharaoh 90 until Sailor Moon dealt a crippling blow to Pharaoh 90 that made him retreat back to the Tau Nebula, with Sailor Saturn following to fulfill her duty and Sailor Moon using her Messiah power to teleport her infant reincarnation to Earth afterward. In the anime, Sailor Saturn is Hotaru and pushes Pharaoh 90 back through the Tau Nebula as a heroic sacrifice, with Sailor Moon using her Messiah power to go in after her, destroying Pharaoh 90 alongside her offscreen, and returning to Earth holding her infant reincarnation in her arms.

BONUS:

- A major climactic event from the Black Moon Clan arc that the anime neglected to adapt there was Sailor Pluto freezing time and dying as a result, which caused Chibiusa to transform into Sailor Chibi Moon. So here, Chibiusa makes her reappearance in the series as Sailor Chibi Moon in episode 103, having gained the form off-screen, while Sailor Pluto has a different time freeze-induced death involving an exploding helicopter in episode 124.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Winds of Destruction

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Here I am, dirty and faceless Waiting to heed your instruction On my own, invisible warrior I am a Wind of Destruction!

As many of you might now, I’m a huge fan of the Metal Gear series. What you probably don’t know is  that, despite the series having a penchant for squads of quirky bosses, I’m not really a huge fan of many of them. FOXHOUND? I mean I like Mantis and Ocelot. The Sons of Liberty? I guess Vamp is alright. B&B Corps? I barely remember any of them. I love the Cobra Unit, but that’s because all of them are batshit insane and weird. I’m not saying they’re bad boss fights or anything—far from it, they all offer fantastic boss fights—but as characters I’m not really big on many of these villains.

The Winds of Destruction, on the other hand? I fucking love these guys (and girl).

Metal Gear Rising is what happens when you turn the insane anime action of the main series up to 11, and so it should be no shock the squad of bosses is cranked up as well. Each and every one of these guys is nuttier than the last, and the whole lot of them are some of the most memorable and memetic characters in the franchise. Also Khamsin exists.

Motivation/Goals: So besides the obvious way they tie into the plot because they’re working for Armstrong, each of these villains has a theme song which pretty much details what makes them tick, what they’re about, and expands upon them once you get their health low enough during their boss battles.

Mistral’s theme, “A Stranger I Remain,” details how she has come to this land to sate her bloodlust, and how she truly feels most at home on the battlefield; Monsoon’s theme, “Stains of Time,” acts as a reinforcement of his nihilistic outlook; Sundowner’s theme, “Red Sun,” expounds on his nature as a card-carrying villain and how he revels in the violence and bloodshed he causes; Sam’s theme, “The Only Thing I Know for Real,” lays out his desire for a one-on-one duel with Raiden, his foil, to see who is truly worthy to stand up and continue fighting for their ideals; and Khamsin’s song, “The Hot Wind Blowing,” showcases his patriotic nature as well as just generally acting as a badass boast. Most of these songs  act more as thematic seasoning for the characters, adding on to what is already established in their cutscenes, but for some like Khamsin and to a lesser extent Mistral, it’s pretty much the extent of their development.

Performance: Every single one of these actors really brings their all to make these characters memorable.

Sundowner is the ham and cheese of the group, working alongside Armstrong to ensure that all the scenerey is well and truly chewed. And who better to bring on the ham than Crispin Freeman? Salli Saffioti is Mistral, and is it any shock she’s also played Black Widow before? And also Hilda from Fire Emblem, I guess? Then we have Monsoon, played by John “The Crypt Keeper” Kassir, who delivers everything with gusto as always. Phillip-Anthony Rodriguez makes Sam just as smarmy and charming as a rival should be, and Benito Martinez puts in his all to his brief role of Khamsin. Not a weak vocal performance here, I’d say.

Final Fate: Seeing as they are video game bosses, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Raiden slices each and every one of them into confetti. Special mention to the absolutely brutal death of Mistral, where she gets frozen in liquid nitrogen before you get to shatter her.

Best Scene: For most of them, they only get the one scene followed by their boss battle, with the exception of Sundowner and Sam. Mistral and Khamsin’s boss battles are obviously their finest hours, though Mistral’s takes the cake between the two seeing how explosive and exciting it is, living up to the promise of that first battle with Metal Gear RAY, while Khamsin’s is the finale of a DLC featuring the game’s ultimate jobber, Blade Wolf.

Monsoon has a lot more going for him, because before his boss fight he gives off one of the most amazing monologues ever put into a Metal Gear game, as he lectures Raiden on memes (“The DNA of the soul!”) and his nihilistic philosophy. Then you get to have a kickass boss fight where, if you do well enough, you will make this nihilistic bastard beg for his life as you hack him to pieces.

Best Quote: Monsoon has the honor of dropping the most iconic bit of dialogue in the entire game (outside of everything out of Armstrong’s mouth, of course):

"Free will is a myth. Religion is a joke. We are all pawns, controlled by something far greater: Memes. The DNA of the soul. They shape our will. They are the culture — they are everything — we pass on."

Sundowner, being the massive slab of ham that he is, is no slouch in the memetic lines himself. Two stand out, and that’s his battle cry of “I’M FUCKIN’ INVINCIBLE!” and his proclamation that he wants things to go back to the old ways of war, specifically “IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS AFTER 9/11!” This is hilarious because even with confirming that 9/11 happened in the Metal Gear universe, it still is probably only the second worst thing to happen to New York.

Sam doesn’t really have any great quotes that stand out, but this man is a master of reactions, from his shit-eating grin to his rousing applause. I figured I’d highlight that here.

Final Thoughts & Score: Let’s look at them from best to least best; I don’t think any of them are awful, though some are better than others obviously.

Monsoon

Outside of Armstrong and Sundowner, Monsoon is absolutely the best character in the game. I think part of it is because he so thoroughly represents everything the Metal Gear series is summed up in one character; he’s incredibly philosophical and legitimately fascinating while also being hilariously over-the-top and spouting off some of the most ridiculous and cheesy lines you will ever hear, all while being a bright red-and-black cyborg voiced by a guy famous for acting as the emcee of a horror show. Literally everything about him is the pure essence of the franchise, so even without Kojima’s direct involvement we still got a beautiful 10.5/10 character.

Sundowner

As far as the Winds of Destruction go, Sundowner is second only to Monsoon. He’s just over-the-top in ways I never could have even imagined for this series, and the only thing holding him back is he is almost immediately outdone by Armstrong two levels after you kill him. Still, this bloodthirsty butcher just revels so much in being a huge asshole and delivers all his lines with the Southern-fried charm that only an actor like Crispin Freeman could deliver, and you have a character I wish was around in the good old days after 9/11. He’s an easy 10/10.

Also he is literally just this image as a character, and that’s amazing:

Jetstream Sam

Sam is a really great character in the Cyborg Ninja tradition, easily following in the footsteps of characters like Gray Fox and Raiden himself. The sheer badassery of this man, a normal human whose only cyborg trait is a single arm and yet who is still capable of taking down a RAY by himself, cannot be overstated, and I think he gets a big boost from being playable. There’s an underlying tragedy to the character too, with how he’s something of a fallen hero whose sword was once a tool of justice but who became disillusioned due to his inability to make the world a better place all on his own  and losing to Armstrong in a fight. He’s easily the most complex character besides Armstrong, and his boss battle and theme song are both top notch. I really can’t justify anything less than a 10/10.

Mistral

As much as I love Mistral, it’s hard to deny she is really the epitome of a one-scene wonder. She does not get nearly as much characterization as her compatriots and is very vague and ambiguous even after the DLC… but that might be the point. Her image song is “A Stranger I Remain,” and though we know of her bloodthirsty nature from that song, Mistral still remains a mystery to us to the bitter end. But hey, it’s hard to deny that what we do see of her is pretty impressive (and I’m not just talking about her boobs, I promise). She’s not quite as good as her fellow Winds I’d say, but considering she’s a 9.5/10 that’s not really a knock against her.

Khamsin

Despite having one of the best songs in the game to his name, as well as an intriguing personality and motivations, Khamsin really is incredibly forgettable, to the point his comrades  don’t even bother to mention him in the main campaign. This is not something you should ever be saying about a dude who looks like Quaritch in his mech suit at the end of Avatar on steroids, and yet here we are. Of course, he’s certainly not awful by any means and he makes for a great boss fight, but he falls severely short of the main game’s enemies. Mistral managed to score as high as she did with only having one level to her, but Khamsin only manages a 5.5/10 with the same. Maybe it’s because he just feels so inconsequential… Eh, at least he looks cool.