#classic girly and sweet without being too boring | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

icanbehardcore · 6 years ago

Text

My top 10 Powerpuff Girls episodes

(PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WAS WRITTEN BACK IN NOVEMBER SO SOME OF THIS IS A LITTLE OUTDATED SO WE’RE NEARLY INTO FEBRUARY...ABOUT TIME I FINISH THIS DAMN REVIEW!) For some reason, @princess-peachie‘s love for PPG made me want to do this too haha! Can you believe that The Powerpuff Girls -one of the greatest Cartoon Network shows- has turned twenty? I know it's a little late but I get such great fond memories watching this as a little kid. The Powerpuff Girls was a spunky, energetic, entertaining, action packed, heartwarming and funny show. I indulged myself into watching this whenever I could and I always looked forward to it. It didn't matter if I saw the same episodes repeated again and again, The Powerpuff Girls would never shy away on putting a smile on my face. I LOVED this cartoon, it’s pretty special to me because it came out on the 18th November 1998 (my 10th birthday), at the time, we didn’t have access to Cartoon Network so I wasn’t aware of this show until early next year. My first glimpse of the Powerpuff Girls was a mention and a brief clip shown of the girls flying and staring at the camera during a line up of Cartoons showing at the time. I actually got curious straight away and had no idea whenever I’d get the time to finally watch it.

Finally one evening after 2 Stupid Dogs finished, The Powerpuff Girls was announced next and this finally gave me a chance to watch it in peace. I was alone in the living room and I quietly sat there like ...well a kid, waiting, I was excited, I would finally get to watch this show after trying to.

Unlike most Cartoon Network shows in which it took me a while to get into such as Ed, Edd n Eddy, I already found myself smiling to myself and even quietly laughing. If I can remember correctly, the first episodes I got to watch fully for the first time were “Fuzzy Logic” and “Tough Love”. I don’t know why but somehow I knew I was really going to enjoy this show more than I’d expect. The Powerpuff Girls isn’t JUST your average typical cutesy show starring three female leads. It has more than that, it had action, it had a great stories, it had great adventure, it had great voice acting, speed, pizzazz and most of all…IT was actually very funny! Craig McCracken had come a long way since making these characters onto a small card he drew, to his own animated shorts to then one of the most iconic and important shows Cartoon Network had ever put onto their channel.

I loved it more for what it produced, I really liked how it pulls your audience in thinking it’s a cutesy girly show with all rainbows and giggles, but really, it’s a cartoon that captivates the audience with it’s humor, voice acting, soundtrack, atmosphere and even the sneaky pop cultural references and of course: adult humor. I would constantly tape the show whenever I could and when it came to those memorable ones, I KNEW I’d enjoy them again after more than one watch. There was something about this show that really appealed to me and sometimes I couldn’t quite lay a finger on it. When I first watched this show, I was glad I had instantly become a fan because this was one of those shows that I got into and enjoyed before anyone else did in the household. I’m glad it wasn’t just a girly girl’s show. I was happy that the main heroes were unique in appearence and seemed all sweet innocent looking kids which do nothing other than fighting crime, play around and act like little kids. I think what grabbed male audience’s attention more were the villains and I can see why. They were all funny, engaging and their use of dialogue and voice acting were terrific. All well done to a tee!

When you’ve got voice talents such as Tom Kane, Jennifer Hale, Cathy Cavadini, EG Daily, Tara Strong, Roger Jackson, Jim Cummings, Tom Kenny, not forgetting the late Chuck McCann and even occasional to major and minor voice appearances from Kevin Michael Richardson, Rob Paulsen, Kath Soucie, Jeff Bennet and even Mark Hamill, WHERE can you go wrong? With a good cartoon, comes a good cast of voice artists.

Craig McCracken put his heart into this show and I am glad to have grown up with this masterpiece. The Powerpuff Girls is no doubt one of my favorite animated shows of all time and I will continue to watch them again and again and never get tired at watching the many episodes that are so dear to my heart. Craig really knew how to create a masterpiece and one that would go onto become a cultural phenomenon. He really knew how to create great characters young, old, male and female, and yet have the main lead cast all female that would appeal to both girls and boys is quite a milestone in cartoon history.

In honor of this series, I will be counting down my top ten greatest Powerpuff Girls episodes. I will however not be including the movie, the Christmas special or the Dance Pantsed Special, also I am only focusing on the original 90s show and not the 2016 reboot. WARNING: Spoilers ahead.

With that being said here are what I consider the greatest episodes.

10 - The Bare Facts This was one of the first episodes I ever got to record onto vhs, I remember so well on Christmas eve and I couldn't wait. I would constantly watch it played back again and again and you can see why.

Most episodes focus on the girls fighting crime and succeeding, but here, all the action is unseen...at first.

Sometimes when sibling characters argue in animation, it can be degrading, unpleasant and makes you want to lose interest in the characters all together, but here, it's done right, to a point where the arguing isn't degrading or stale and actually pretty funny. Also I love how clueless the Mayor is about everything, especially the scene about "the note", this scene always had me laughing as a kid.

Throughout this episode, the setting is all in the Mayor's point of view, complete with various styles of the girls versions of the story on how it all happened, done with an art style shift for each girl. This idea is hilarious and I love how they constantly jump in with different story telling patterns as follows: Blossom tells it mostly focusing on her (all about her, nobody else), complete with a light red tinted scene.

Bubbles tells it in a rather light hearted but adorably accurate way, complete with crayon drawing scenes.

And Buttercup tells it in a rather shadowy olive-green scene, mostly focusing on the action and not the details like Blossom did.

The Mayor however is oblivious to what has happened and is only wondering why the girls were laughing earlier.

I will NOT spoil the ending for this episode for those who haven't seen it, although I really could have done without the narrator's little puns to go with the moment. Again, the episode title just may give you some ideas.

Overall, this episode was great and was even nominated for an emmy with it's brother episode "Bubblevicious".

KEY MOMENT FOR ME: The "pretty clouds" scene. Seriously cracks me up!

9. Just Another Manic Mojo

I can't think of any episode focusing on Mojo Jojo to be as brilliant as this one, sure "Child Fearing" was hilarious, "Monkey See, Doggy Do" is a classic and "Mr Mojo's Rising" is one that shouldn't be ignored. But if I had to pick any of the Mojo Jojo themed episodes, it would be this one. Just imagine, a day in the life of a villain: Waking up miserable, going through so much hell each day and reading the news to such goody-goody acts.

Watching this episode back to back constantly, I never got tired of it and I knew it almost word for word at some point.

The first half of this episode focuses on Mojo getting up, regular routines such as showering, doing his teeth, ceasing the day and readying up for breakfast...until he discovers drama in the kitchen...ONE EGG LEFT! I just love the little ramble he does here, over a single egg, what follows is an ingenious rollercoaster of comedy gold. Whenever Mojo's onscreen, you can't help but laugh, with his hilariously bad Japanese accent and repetitive Speed Racer-esque sentences, you can see why he was a fan favorite.

What follows the events is the girls accidentally having their ball crash through their window and what do they do? They ask for it back (well, better than busting in through the roof and looking for it, eh?).

I would probably give it away if I were to describe what follows afterward, but if you really want a laugh, then this episode is the one for you. Of all the episodes where the girls drive Mojo insane, this has got to be the funniest.

KEY MOMENT FOR ME: Just Mojo Jojo, he's absolutely hilarious in this episode, the girls being a runner-up too for not keeping still. Also one word: "curses".

8. Supper Villain This episode is hilarious on many levels, most of the story is done for laughs and the setup is well...average...averagely brilliant. It's great to hear Kath Soucie on the Powerpuff Girls again (true fans should know that Soucie started off voicing Bubbles in the two pilots via What a Cartoon before Tara stepped in for the role).

The repetitive dialogue is great, played out for laughs and builds up for even more laughs, mixed with great voice acting.

The story? Harold Smith spends his life working at a mustard factory, bored with his life, he longs for something more, with a dark secret. But when his beloved wife Marianne invites the neighbors over for dinner, Harold is vulnerable and finally breaks free and shows his true colors.

His outfit reveal (obviously home made) is enough to make anybody laugh off of your seat. With his newly found identity, Harold reveals his first villainy. From here, we get some hilariously unforgettable gags, and one of the best scenes that eventually became an Internet meme: "Eat your pea, Professor!". No matter how many times I watch it, the dinner scene is just classic. Being a comedic show with guests at dinner, I'm pretty sure you can figure out what happens next.

Key moment for me: "Eat your pea Professor!" No doubt about it.

8. Jewel of the Aisle I'd like to point out here that this episode aired right as Kelloggs released a Powerpuff Girls themed cereal. Sadly it was limited and has since discontinued, so good luck on throwing your pennies onto ebay to grab a box. Now, this episode never really gets talked about enough, maybe because the main villain here is a nameless crook who you never really see again. The story's premise is simple, the girls fail to track down a thief who had just stolen a priceless diamond from the jewelry store. Unable to locate him, they retire for the night, swearing they will meet again. The crook however, hiding in a cereal factory accidentally drops his prize into one of the boxes, which then ends up in the local supermarket.

When the crook fails to find his precious gem, he's down to one box -which ends up in the hands of the Professor. The crook follows him home stealthily only to his horror to find out that Professor Utonium is the father of the Powerpuff Girls. Upon his spying, he notices a commercial (with terrifically shifted fluent animation that almost feels Disney or Warner Bros. esque) and comes up with a cunning plan...dressing up as "Lucky Captain Rabbit King", the cereal's mascot, I'll leave it up to you on what cereal brands they were parodying here.

While these cereals weren't so big here in Europe, heck, I only ever remember eating Lucky Charms in my own youth a lot until they went up in price later on. I still got the reference easily thanks to the internet. This still didn't stop me from getting laugh, gag after gag.

Think of this episode as a Yogi Bear cartoon, but instead of stealing a "pic-a-nic" basket or a pie cooling off on the window sill (or a plate of hog jowls if you're thinking Ren and Stimpy), you've got a box of cereal with a hidden unknown prize not included in most boxes. The comedy in this episode is hilarious, for example, how much cereal did the girls go through and not notice a diamond? Also, the classic usage of oblivion and determination is brilliant, it's like watching classic golden age cartoons of the 40s and 50s again. The crook taking on a role parodying the Trix Rabbit is just so funny to watch, no matter what he does, he is being outsmarted by three adorable kindergartners. I love how the girls just play along with the gag and constantly kick him out,. My favorite part would have to be when the crook disguises himself as a monster outside off the front window complete with a Townsville scenery. YOU know you're going to laugh out loud when an idiot pulls this gag out of his hat and fails to succeed.

On a spoiler's note, I felt a little sorry for the crook when he broke down, forgetting about the jewel and focusing on the cereal, I don't know, maybe it's when Bubbles (who is honestly the sweetest little living being on two legs in cartoons) actually gives in and offers t it to him. While most stories like these do tend to have a happy ending for the determined victim, we don't get that here, which is why this episode works. Again, while I've probably spoiled most of the plot, it's too simple anyway. With that being said, "Ridiculous Lucky Captain Rabbit King, Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets are for the youth!". Okay, I'm actually craving junky cereal now, especially imported from USA! Key moment for me: The comedy in this episode.

7. Telephonies This is another classic episode, the comedy and timing is perfect, the plot is great and gives us a look into the lives of the villains when they are chilling out and not plotting evil schemes. When something is funny, it has to have speed at exactly the right time, otherwise the joke falls flat and loses it's cool, that's if you can pinpoint that in your head and understand where I'm going with this.

When the Gang Green Gang start making crank calls throughout Townsville, they are lacking in great ways to pull them off. So, after calling the Mayor with Grubber impersonating Ms Bellum, making him leave to "cut the ribbon for the new mall, declaring it open", giving them the free run of the Powerpuff Hotline. What we get is a rather "interesting" insight of the villains at home doing their own thing as the girls burst in and constantly beat the living hell out of them, only to learn that they were NOT even committing any crimes. Here, we learn that Mojo Jojo is more sophisticated than you think (yet we see him in Manic Mojo actually buying eggs at the supermarket), he listens to classical music and reads the paper and even takes naps in an armchair. Also, what can be more funnier than the "evilest of all evil" ("Him") working out in complete aerobic equipment? That is just friggin hilarious, I also love how polite he is when the girls break in, but the one that gave me the most laughs out of the villains was Fuzzy Lumpkins. Nobody likes having their privacy invaded, especially when you're taking a relaxing bath, the delivery here from the girls was priceless, especially when Bubbles ended it. I love how the violence and beating up here is played more for laughs and not action itself.

Another thing that still cracks me up in this episode is that these villains are all pretty close friends and even keep in touch by landline, that's right, even down in the depths of hell, HIM has his own phone to make calls. When's the last time you've seen cartoon villains in conversation over a phone? Brilliant!

The ending too is pretty funny and I like how the girls don't believe the Mayor after three cock-ups in one day.

Key moment for me: As I said, Bubbles' delivery to Fuzzy was "tell it like is is funny", BUT the true comedic gem in this episode personally is Professor Utonium. The running gag with him still at the receiver on hold is fantastic. I will forgive the fact that near the end, you see him outside the girls door but I guess that adds to the comedy.

6. The Powerpuff Girls Best Rainy Day Adventure Ever. That's right, that is the actual name of the episode and by god it's a mouthful. Now THIS episode just gets better and better every single time with each watch, whose genius idea was it to create an episode where the girls play pretend? In this case, literally playing The Powerpuff Girls. This includes them playing various roles for other citizens in Townsville and as all kids do when playing together, arguing on who gets to be who?

Honestly, this episode's premise is spectacular. I love how the girls hardly even use superpowers at all, not to mention the unforgettable one liner from Buttercup while playing as a monster. Also, it was nice to actually see the girls here get more comedy than they usually do. For most of the part in the series in general, the comedy is thrown around depending on the characters, story and situation, but here, the girls really do steal the show.

I'm pretty sure a lot of us as kids can relate, with our friends or siblings role-playing as our favourite characters from cartoons, but as each other, that's unique.

PPG Best Rainy Day Adventure Ever is definitely one of the funniest episodes of season 2, so next time you're having a bad day and it's raining, not up for walking the dog, cos it's rai-, okay, enough spoilers. Go watch this one next time you want to see a lead female cast of kindergartners at their funniest.

Key moment for me: The Mayor. You'll have to watch it so not to spoil it.

5. I See A Funny Cartoon In Your Future Seasonal rot is painful, especially cartoons that were so highly well received by critics and fans alike. After the Powerpuff Girls movie, the show followed the upgraded animated style which kind of watered down the true charm of the first four seasons, as well as lacking in great ideas for stories, most of seasons five and six were...mediocre with sour pickles on top. Luckily, this one made me laugh. A hell of a lot!

The entire story is told like episodes of Jay Ward's Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, complete with cheesy but hilarious and witty puns, fourth wall breaking and running gags. We also have the main one off villain here voiced by the late June Foray (voice of Rocky and Natasha Fatale). I like how she and her goosey sidekick are drawn to mimic the style of Jay Ward's characters and the little commercial near the end of the episode spoofing the Nicotine Patch. It's such a shame this episode wasn't traditionally animated, for I would have really liked to have seen some lush fluid animation to boot up this episode more. Interestingly, I never saw the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons as a kid, since they weren't very big in England, but I got into the franchise when I watched the movie on VHS non-stop and loved it (it's a guilty pleasure haha), so you can see why this episode gave me loads of laughs.

Also note that sadly, June Foray passed away in July 2017, leaving a legacy of cartoon voices behind and fond memories. Since her passing, Mrs Strong herself went on to provide the voice of Rocky for the new Rocky and Bullwinkle series, keeping the spirit alive as always. Good one Tara! Great work. And I mean it! KEY MOMENT FOR ME: The voodoo dolls. Seriously, I quote this a lot haha! Also, just the whole episode being a tribute to Rocky and Bullwinkle.

4. Meet The Beat-Alls Okay, this is definitely getting close to what a WatchMojo list would look like, no? WELL I'm gonna jab this list and have it up before you can say "Ringo Starr's a Powerpuff Girl!", but how can I NOT make a top 10 Powerpuff eps. list and NOT include this episode, and I quote @UmbraMagna, "This episode is absolutely fantastic!", never have truer words been spoken? Telephonies made way with great laughs, but that was more focused on the Gang Green Gang, here this episode focuses on Him, Mojo, Princess Morbucks and Fuzzy in what is probably the funniest Beatles parody I've ever seen.

Craig McCracken himself has always been a huge fan of the Beatles, so when season 3 was ending soon it ended with the sister episode to Moral Decay and you know what? It saved the season finale. Every second, there's a reference to...well, the Beatles. Sure, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" of The Simpsons was fun and had lots of references to the band and other acts, but an entire episode where it's nothing but Beatles second after second, how can you go wrong?

From the Abbey Road walk, to the musical style, to the Yoko Ono reference, to just everything about it, it's one episode that will have you laughing after a Hard Day's Night. EG Daily (voice of Buttercup) has stated during a Comic-Kaze guest panel that this was one of her favorite episodes.

Show creator Craig McCracken himself even listed this episode as one of his top ten favourite episodes of all time. There is one little nitpick, but I guess it doesn't matter, since it still makes way for great comedy and I like how a SINGLE rock actually defeats the girls (back when cartoons weren't very pc, just the way I like'em). Whether you like the Beatles or not, Meet the Beat-Alls is a great episode with the villains at their best. Key moment for me: The whole episode, brilliant!

3. See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey. NOTE: WATCH THIS EPISODE WITH CAUTION! CONTAINS FLASHING IMAGES! I LOVE THIS EPISODE! Remember what I said about seasons five and six suffering from seasonal rot and mediocre episodes? Well, here's one that I probably consider one of the best of them during the Chris Savino era. The entire episode is much longer since the intro is cut short to make way for what comes next. An unbelievable half hour of a pure masterpiece.

For many, being a great voice actor means they have to know how to sing and here, we have a lot of it. It really gave the voice actors' chance to show off their singing voices a great workout and boy, did they nail it right out the park? While it's not the most comedic, it's still epic, fun and unforgettable. This episode was like an evil apocalypse, not even fighting on who gets to defeat the girls or who gets to cause destruction or rob banks. It's a real shame they never released this as a true soundtrack, it's so beautiful.

It's got an Andrew Lloyd Webber and Pink Flloyd's "The Wall" feel to it. I really wish this was the episode's true finale, since it's been debated and rumored to, unfortunately the true finale (not counting the specials) was that of What's the Big Idea, a complete let down, since both McCracken and Savino agreed that the show had run it's course, even though Cartoon Network did ask for a seventh season. If only...sadly, we can't have everything.

The Gnome -the main villain of this episode- was quite interesting, exchanging peace to Townsville for the girls' superpowers, yet making everyone bow down to him. Sadly, this episode was banned from airing in the USA, some say it was because of the message of communism, but the true reason for the ban was for the red and white blinking lights that flashed during the Gnome's spell. It's too bad this was never edited for safety so the US audience could experience it at the time but luckily, it was included in the complete tenth AND twentieth anniversary box set, just proceed with caution, I'm saying this for your own safety. I love the Gnome's setting, in a large rose where he lives in peace, I forgot to mention that he was voiced by the legendary Jess Harnell and boy, was he a perfect choice? Have you ever heard Jess sing OUTSIDE of cartoons? Why don't voice artists get more love? Seriously.

Speaking of which, Tara Strong and EG Daily (who only just recently released a song "Impeachable" (parodying Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful") together for charity) really got to show off their vocal talents here more. Also not to leave her out since I love all three of these amazing talents, Cathy too has a remarkable singing voice! God bless these ladies! In conclusion, See Me, Feel Me Gnomey is a fantastic episode, mixed with action, drama, music and sheer brilliance from start to finish. Key moment for me: The whole episode. I can't pick one moment. I really loved the harmonizing from Strong and Daily during Cavadini's singing solo in "You Wanna Make Us Feel Real Good". Seriously, once these three sing, it just seems unreal, yet magical.

2. The Rowdyruff Boys Okay! I'm pretty sure a lot of fans saw this one coming, I mean it's one of IMDB's highest rated episodes, as well as another one of Craig McCracken's favorites. This episode not only marked the debut of the titled characters of the same name, but was the first of many half hour episodes and of all of them, this one was at it's best. While not the MOST comedic and the boys at the time didn't have as much personality as they did in their later appearances, this episode still left a huge impact on the fans, in a good way. The action in this episode is some of the best I have seen during the McCracken era (something the later episodes lacked), probably along with Stuck Up, Up and Away and Bubblevicious. Tired from constantly being defeated day after day and thrown into jail, Mojo Jojo comes up with the perfect plan to get rid of the girls by creating a trio of kids of his own. Instead of the sweet ingredients for the perfect little girls, Mojo gathers up several ingredients to create the not so perfect little boys. I love how the idea was a reference to the little rhyme "What Are Little Boys/Girls Made of?".

There's some pretty funny but questionable moments, such as...why would the prison serve escargot? I love how the caterer actually smiles in response. Also, why is the Talking Dog suddenly a prison guard? Oh what the hey? It still makes for hilarious gags such as having his tail snatched to finish the ingredients. What I don't get though is Mojo's breath as he flushed the ingredients down the toilet...then again, maybe it was because of when the girls were born causing the chemical reaction to still have an affect which in return passes on to others, in this case, the Rowdyruff Boys. Interestingly, the boys named themselves, while the Professor named his girls. What made this episode great was the voice acting, Roger L Jackson as Mojo yet again was perfect, as well as providing the voice of Butch, Buttercup's counterpart. Cathy, Elizabeth and Tara's energy in this episode were spot on and we even get to hear the legendary Rob Paulsen as Brick and Boomer.

When the two teams meet face to face, they start a huge brawl, the action as I said is amazing, some of the best in any episode, it's like the teams have lept right off the screen.

There is a little problem I have with this episode and...well...it's the whole counterpart vs counterpart thing. I mean...is it really that hard to tell the difference between a little boy and girl with the same hair color? Especially when they use the same chunks of animation for each member fighting against each other, take the cartwheel scene for example. Other than that, the animation in this episode was terrific.

This was also one of the first episodes in which the girls were defeated and nearly for good. But with the Disney-esque tears of life trope, they are revived in seconds. I can forgive this trope here but NOT in Pokemon: The First Movie. Shamed and crestfallen by their defeat, the girls decide to leave Townsville, only to be given a pep talk by Ms Bellum.

And what we get after a little subtle adult joke followed by a defeat from the girls...without the violence, in Sara Bellum's words, "try being nice". I just love how the boys are distracted by the girls as they are standing looking pretty...well, pretty. Pretty as any little girl could be, I laugh my head off every time in this scene, it's both cute and funny, especially with the flirtatious "come hither" eyelashes and sassy “Hey boys!” expressions on the girls that aren't usually seen. You'd expect this kind of thing on a more mature character, one with an hour glass shaped figure and heels. But alas, being kids, the boys can't stand the thought of ...cooties and somehow, this kills them. Literally. No, seriously, they actually die, in a rather humorous way after a long battle with the girls. What makes this scene great is that there's no dialogue, not until the boys scream at the top of their lungs.

I may have spoiled it a little but hey, visualizing it in your head isn't the same as watching it and believe me, it is a really funny scene. Think of it has a "distracted by the sexy" trope but toned down. Also, what I said earlier about the counterpart trope, I'll make this an exception since it was clearly obvious that it was going to happen.

This episode is a fan favorite, unfortunately, it did have a reputation of inspiring fanart and fan-fictions and McCracken himself actually poked fun at this scenario in The City of Clipsville. This episode was not afraid of almost killing off the main characters and three children in fact, but then again, there was so much edge in this show, there was nothing like it at the time. The mix of action, humor and drama is perfect. It's too bad the follow-ups with the boys didn't get the same impact as this one. In conclusion, The Rowdyruff Boys is incredible and really shows that girls are tougher than they look. Take Buttercup's quote "It takes more than a couple of cheap shots to make us cry!". Inspiring.

Key moment for me: The boys' defeat...by cooties. Hilarious. After nearly an entire episode of nothing but non-stop action, violence and a huge brawl in Townsville, we get a comedic flirt scene.

NOW before I finally get to number one, here are some honorable mentions.

Him Riddle Diddle - I love the suspense and how it already started with peril, it felt like some kind of action movie. HIM sets the girls up on a riddle-fest or else the Professor will -in Him's words - pay. I could have had it on this list but...the one bit that bothered me was Buttercup piloting a helicopter...umm...when did she learn to...okay, Uh-Oh Dynamo, they are controlling a large robotic being of themselves but a helicopter? I don't know, maybe it was all done for comedy but yeah, it's still a great episode. What makes this episode great is that it builds up with suspense, from one riddle after another, still filling comedy in the cracks and gaps of course. Also when you have Him as the main villain, he's always coming up with something unique, yet nasty. I won't spoil the ending but it is hilarious, I love the girls' reactions after working their butts off to save their father ONLY to...well see for yourself.

Superfriends - @KarToonComics has already kind of gone on about this episode and I have to agree with her on what she said. I have had lonely problems growing up and found it hard to make friends and socialize. Also, I've personally lost friends due to someone else cutting in the way and excluding me by taking over them and. I don't like to go into it, but we have all had that experience.

The girls meet Robin, their new next door neighbor and befriend her, it's really satisfying to actually see the girls being kids, having fun and playing together for once.

I shut this one off the list though, because...well, some of the later episodes, I can't stand the sharpness in Bubbles' accent, it's noticeable especially in her Ls. It's like she's getting a bit of a Spanish brogue in there (which probably makes sense since she can speak the language), but I just find it really distracting.

Also, while I really liked Robyn, she somewhat looks similar to one of the other kindergartners in school. Watch Stuck Up, Up And Away and see for yourself. Her friendship with the girls was cute, I really like how they all bonded together like all little kids, but of course, being superheroes, the girls didn't always get enough time to meet their new friend, their next door neighbor in fact. That's pretty sad, you can tell the girls themselves could feel it inside them that they wish the hotline would once not ring and they could do their own thing but Townsville seems to have problems every single time.

Robin and the girls walk to school together the following week when a limousine pulls up carrying Princess Morbucks as a passenger. She offers the girls a lift in the car IF they let her be a Powerpuff Girl, the girls' decline the offer (by the way, I love Blossom's expression during Princess's little bribe).

I can't really go on more without totally spoiling the episode so see for yourself what happens from here. It's a great episode, also a BONUS for Robin's hilarious one liner and of course the entire sequence set to the song Signal in the Sky by The Apples in Stereo, damn, why couldn't we have more episodes like that, that'd be just brilliant. I'd have loved to have seen a cameo appearance of Bis, or Dressy Bessy.

Helter Shelter - I don't know why but I wish this episode was longer, then again with a premise as stupid yet funny as this one, it would probably lose the comedy after a while.

Bubbles loves animals, we all know that. In fact, she loves them so much, she has a habit of bringing them in the house.

The following afternoon, Bubbles brings in a baby sperm whale into the house and the results of trying to hide it from the Professor are hilarious. I love the way the girls panic and all the hiding spots aren't very well hidden for a large mammal such as a whale calf.

The dialogue and gags are some of the stupidest yet funniest in any episode, yet they somehow add up nicely. I also love the running gag of the Professor yelling out Bubbles' name, he kind of reminds me of Dave Seville in Alvin and the Chipmunks. .

You'll have to watch the whole episode to find out what happens but I can't say if it will make you laugh or not.

Equal Fights - This was a great episode, in fact I felt it could have been longer, but then it would probably drag on and go nowhere. The girls become sexist to all males after meeting and releasing Femme Fatale, a master thief, bank robber and also bit of a hypocrite.

While Grey Delisle did a fantastic performance with her role here, I felt that Femme Fatale was one of the more forgettable minor villains.

If this were a double length episode, I would have liked to have seen more of a backstory on why she's a misandrist.

Also I felt the character was eye-candy and fan-service material, from her slender figure to her skin-tight outfit. Also, I love how precocious the girls themselves are on a brief history lesson about Susan B. Anthony.

The morals were great but personally, this along with a similar episode Members Only just didn't quite make the cut for me. I did love the references to the Justice League though.

Child Fearing - I love the Mojo Jojo themed episodes, especially where he's with the girls throughout and they make each other's lives a living hell. Unfortunately, some were a fluke and hit and miss while others like Slumbering with the Enemy and this one; Child Fearing are great.

Late for science presentation in a rather clumsy fashion, the Professor hires a babysitter to look after the girls. There's a wonderful reference to a certain N64 game here, I don't want to spoil it in case you may haven't seen it. But it's a great laugh if you know your games. I also love the little smirk the girls give each other when they know they are alone and the Professor forgot to ring for a sitter.

Anyway, the Mayor is too busy to sit for the girls because he's playing video-games, so the girls get an unexpected visit from their arch-enemy Mojo Jojo and the results are pure hilarity, one after the other.

The girls aren't stupid, without a simple huddle or plan, they immediately decide to take advantage of all this and become incredibly obnoxious, mischievous and bratty as any little kid can be. I usually hate obnoxious characters but it's played here perfectly.

It's impossible not to laugh at Mojo here, but also feel sorry for him at the same time. It's a real shame there weren't anymore episodes that had this kind of comedy, because this one is absolutely hilarious from start to finish. Also, the TV scene is absolutely brilliant, the highlight of the episode.

Buttercrush - This was one of the many episodes that immediately got me into the show. Already silently into it that is lol. Anyway, this was an episode I felt went on just too quickly, but if it was extended, it would drag on.

The Gang Green Gang reek havoc at a playground and when the girls show up, the gang's leader Ace throws drops to his knees and does a pathetic routine of guilt. Reluctant, Blossom (being the leader of the girls) agrees, but Buttercup begins developing a crush on Ace, after a tip of his shades, a soft thank you and a wink of charm, Buttercup believes she has just met Mr Right.

Interestingly, Buttercup barely has any dialogue in this episode, heck she only has one or two lines top and tail (if giggling counts). This episode was not afraid to tackle the precocious crush issues, here we have a kindergartner falling for a teenager. It's amazing what the writers got away with in this show.

Buttercup would sneak out every night to visit the gang, I don't know HOW she managed to avoid the Professor checking in on her or anything.

This is one of the few Buttercup themed episodes that was actually good, if not the best one. Although I put it in the honorable mentions because...well...Buttercup's crush didn't last long, in a way it's a good thing otherwise her sisters would have been history, but makes you wonder how much love suddenly poured out of her own heart.

Overall, it's a wonderful episode and deserved a mention.

Cat Man Do - I was SO close to putting this one in the top 10, I saw this episode a lot on Cartoon Network when I was a kid, seriously, they repeated this one again and again yet it never bothered me.

I guess I put it here because...well...the origin of the cat is unknown and who was his master? We never see or hear from him again (minus a brief cameo).

While I haven't found of thought up any theories, that doesn't stop this episode from being a classic. I did feel like the heist scene with the Professor went on a bit too long for a ten minute short. Also, if I were to pick a moment that had me roaring with laughter (not just this episode, but the entire show) every single time, it would be the "We can keep Kitty" scene. The reactions of the girls are priceless and I love how they suddenly lighten up in seconds. Comedy like this in cartoons is rare now, especially with such speed. Also a bonus for the cat himself being voiced by Mark Hamill.

Bought and Scold - Of all the Princess Morbucks themed episodes, this has to be one of the best. Here, she buys all of Townsville and makes crime legal, making the girls' and other citizens' lives miserable. This even leads to everybody's belongings becoming property of the Morbucks household and the villains get to do what they want. Most of all, the Mayor gave the key to the city to Princess, causing her to take over Townsville.

That is until the girls think up a plan to get all they had stolen from them back in a rather hilarious twist. I also love when Morbucks finally snaps and eventually agrees to make crime illegal again, the girls just go off to do what they do best. Seriously, how can you not love the dialogue free scene with the Gangreen Gang, also Blossom's little smug expression when she shows Ace the legal and illegal papers is just brilliant.

As satisfying as it is to see a happy ending again, I can't help but feel bad for Princess here, yeah she's rotten and spoiled but maybe she was raised like that. In fact, you never see or hear of her mother in this show and her father comes off as a bit abusive as seen here with the newspaper, obviously not giving his own daughter a chance to speak. That's why I left it out here.

Super Zeroes - Kids will be kids! Whether they play make believe, go on adventures with their toys or are influenced by cartoons and comics. Which is pretty much what inspires the girls to create their own alter-egos here. Well, sort of.

The girls are sad because they don't feel like "better" superheroes. They don't have an interesting backstory, nor are they dark and tormented, nor do they even have interesting costumes. So they decide create their own alter egos complete with new costumes.

Don't question where or how they got these outfits or maintained the little abilities, I guess that adds to the comedy. I love how when a monster does hit Townsville, the girls go their own way in their own fashion, very slowly and the results are hilarious! I love how Buttercup's alter-ego "Mange" only goes out at night, kind of a not to Batman. I love how Bubbles' alter-ego resembles My Melody and other Sanrio esque characters while Blossom's got a Wonderwoman vibe to it. I can't really give the episode away without spoiling the plot truthfully but I guess the moral is to be yourself and stick up for it. Which is exactly what the girls did at the end. Only a little spoiler. The moment that really makes this episode is the fact that the girls take so long to fight, you'll have to see it for yourself to get the laughs.

Mime for a Change- Season 1 of the Powerpuff Girls was terrific, there were so many memorable and great episodes and one that particularly comes to mind when you think "Craig McCracken" is this one. I used to watch this episode a lot back in the day and loved the concept of it. I'm not too keen on clowns but Rainbow is just the average friendly harmless kind of person who does his job. She he sounds pretty obnoxious and irritating but he doesn't have many speaking roles. His villain alter ego was pretty unique power-wise, but the question I'm pretty sure we're all asking is...was the bleach radioactive? Was there Chemical X in it? Guess we'll never know, but in a way, that's what adds to the charm. Either way, the bleach seeps out not only the color on Rainbow, but his cheerful personality too. His good kind heart and light sense of humor has gone sour and his love for bright colors has switched to black and white.

Upon realizing what he can do, Rainbow or in this case, Mr Mime can now takeover Townsville by draining all the color right out of it. Not only that, but also affecting those cheerful moods of the citizens of Townsville, also they can hardly speak due to the power of mime. It's really clever. We also discover in this episode that Bubbles loves to draw and colour, especially with crayons like most little girls her age. Upon discovering the black and white atmosphere, she goes on a rampage scraping wax of colour with every crayon she has. Seriously, it's like her box of crayons never ends or run out! Ah cartoon logic.

I have to admit, Tara Strong's performance for Bubbles here during her little panic is pure gold, just listen to those vocals! Keep in mind that she was only 25 at the time. Mega talent!

Her sisters soon take action and look for the suspect. When they finally find Mr Mime, they make chase until they are at a dead end and are ambushed by him. Why couldn't the girls just fly away? Bubbles meanwhile, thinking she had proudly saved the day all by herself wonders where her sisters went and when she discovers them depressed, colorless and mute, she sobs but brightens up immediately remembering she had a crayon but to no avail, it doesn't work. Realizing that her crayons aren't magical, Bubbles thinks up the next best thing...of all 90s cliches in cartoons, she and her sisters save the day...with ROCK MUSIC! Yeah, it's cheesy and all but also a beautiful message. A message of love. Love Makes the World go round is one of the few times the girls ever actually did a musical number and oh my god was this one memorable? I wish there was an extended version of it and an official release, but I guess we'd have to make do with the hidden track on the Heroes and Villains CD. Just listen to that chorus. This is the song that Cavadini, Strong and Daily all used to warm up their performances and vocals whenever they were together in the studio.

I put this episode in the honorable mentions because of the ending, it was a bit hypocritical, one minute the girls are singing and putting a smile on everyone's faces, the next thing, they send Rainbow to jail when it wasn't his fault. Of course, he may have been forgiven later on. But who knows? Overall, this was a memorable episode. KEY MOMENT: Seeing the girls hug, it was adorable!

Ice Sore - Blossom discovers that she has a power that her sisters don't have, causing her to show it off. I put it in the honorable mentions because it deserved it, I felt that Ms Keane making all her class go outside in the frying heat to be a bit irresponsible though.

A Made Up Story - Phyliss Diller's performence as the villain was great and the comedy in this one a bit slow but did have some hilarious moments, plus that ending! It feels like what would happen if Stephen King’s Carrie was turned into a comedy.

Tough Love - One of the first episodes I ever saw and caused me to fall in love with the show as so as I watched it. The concept is dark, creepy and yet unique. When I saw those girls get beat up, punched, kicked, beaten up (heck even by adults), I couldn't believe it. I knew this was the cartoon I waited for, all my life.

Bubblevicious - While not a favorite of mine, I still had to put it here in the honorable mentions list, because, well Strong's performance as Bubbles was absolutely brilliant. Hearing her growl that epic drawn out "haaardcoore" was the cherry on top of Bubbles' character and we see a more stronger side to her. Fed up with being treated like a baby, she does things her way, something even Buttercup probably wouldn't do. My problem though was the way she treated the Talking Dog, threatening to hurt him, a bit hypocritical for Bubbles' taste since she loves animals. This episode was Craig McCracken's all time favourite and you can see why it was nominated for an emmy.

Speed Demon - I gave this episode a mention for the creepy-factor and I mean real creepy. Sometimes I don't know if I'm watching a creepypasta or an episode of the Powerpuff Girls. The show is usually full of action, bit of drama but going as low as this is unusual, this was another dark episode. Everyone chanting "your fault" to the girls is like the equivalent "They're all gonna laugh at you" from Carrie. Can you just imagine travelling so fast that you went fifty years into the future? The concept of this episode is both creepy, unsettling and disturbing.

Knock It Off - Again, an episode that isn't often talked about. This double length episode is one of the darkest in my honest opinion. Dick Hardly is one of the nastiest, sadistic and cruelest one time villains I have ever seen. Cloning the girls with a full vile of Chemical X and shipping them all over the world just sounds like yet another creepy pasta.

Also, have you seen how deformed these clones looked? Enough to disturb any audience. The scene where the Professor discovers the base and suddenly freaks out at all the hideous deformed clones is probably how anyone would react if this happened in real life. Also, seeing the girls die onscreen was heart wrenching, of course, if this show ended now, it would have been one sad finale.

Did I forget to mention that Dick Hardly's monster form was just terrifying! Those tentacles on his chest just really seemed off. On the funny side, I love how it’s like the writers were trying to push it on how many times the girls say “Dick”. Also, what was that nerd doing with his PPG doll?

The Boys are Back in Town - The sequel to The Rowdyruff Boys, this half hour romp sees the girls meeting their match for the second time. The girls learn that the boys were brought back to life from HIM and had given them a cootie vaccination, so they are now strong against the girls. I left it off the top ten list because...well, again, the counterpart battle technique just got stale and I found that the boys personality resulted in some rather gross and painfully vulgar scenes. It's like they were trying to compete with Nickelodeon's 90s shows.

Also just a side note and personal opinion: I do prefer the boys' hairdos here. Also the scene where the girls discover the weakness was hilarious. A bonus for Blossom’s cheeky little one liner.

Beat Your Greens - This was a classic episode. I remember watching it a lot as a kid. The moral is simple: eat your vegetables.

This was the time when Craig McCracken was still at high stakes on the show and this was only it's second season. A time when morals weren't always the key of the show. Also Buttercup's brief pep talk/speech to one of the kids was great and really motivating. Also I love the little Star Wars reference.

Curses - I left this one out because this trope has been done before in other shows including Spongebob Squarepants and Arthur. But that doesn't stop the episode from being funny. The villain was hilarious, a literal talking potty-mouth who basically just talks gibberish as if he's swearing and every time the girls swore, it was bleeped out with various sound effects and the results are hilarious. I think the funniest moment was when the girls flipped out on the Mayor all over a pickle jar complete with swearwords and their mouths washed out with soap. Overall, this was a funny episode but sadly, when a trope has been done to death, is there really any high stakes for it to be in a top ten list?

And the number one greatest Powerpuff Girls episode is...

1. The Powerpuff Girls Rule! I am counting this one as an episode! Argument invalid! WHERE do I begin? This was all drawn and animated on Flash and released as the 10th anniversary special and you know what? It's absolutely brilliant. Everything is thrown at you in seconds, the humor, the pacing, unpredictable moments, the voice actors returned again and are just as great and the best part? Craig McCracken came back to write this masterpiece!

Not only was this special a breath of fresh air for the fans, but it felt like a new revival for the Powerpuff Girls done right! Sadly, this was Craig's last involvement with the Powerpuff Girls...when you think about it though, it’s not the same without Craig McCracken as writer and director, so you can see why there are lots more funnies here compared to seasons five and six.

Originally, this was planned to be an hour long but instead was reduced to a full length episode, which is why everyone suffers from motormouth syndrome throughout!

I love all the little callbacks to the classic episodes, including the villains and nearly every second had me laughing with tears streaming down my cheeks! THAT'S the true essence and formula of The Powerpuff Girls. Try watching this special with a straight face if you are a die hard fan of this show, seriously! It's impossible!

Ten years before, the reviews poured in calling this cartoon "gut-bustingly funny", well, this really shows! It's like the show had won back the brilliance when Craig came back and I really wish there was more!

The plot is so ridiculous yet hilarious and I quote the PPG wikia: The key to the world is sent to Townsville, and The Mayor has the responsibility of keeping watch of it. However, he misplaces it, and all the villains of Townsville break free from prison to search for the key, each one of them wanting to obtain it and rule the world, especially Mojo Jojo. The Powerpuff Girls must find the key and return it to The Mayor, before the villains get to it.

Everything about this episode is absolutely fantastic. I will forgive the little reference to a certain 2000s meme thrown in, although it wasn't really needed, but who can complain, right? It was bound to happen since every decade, cartoons tend to have that trend that will blend in with show's plots.

The moment all the motor-mouthed dialogue starts, it's impossible not to sit back with an enormous smile on your face. This was like a true love-letter to everyone who worked on the show, filled with crazy gags and some of the funniest build up on the show, complete with crazy references and everyone filling in on tickling the funny-bone.

The moment Blossom does her impression of Mojo Jojo (COMPLETE with camera angles, close ups and a shot of the entire planet earth) is hilarious! Her sass and smug attitude here just makes it!

I love how cartoony and slapstick this special was, although a little out of character, I don't care, I find it rather hilarious! There's surprise after surprise, after surprise! I've never seen The Powerpuff Girls go beyond the mark of full-on craziness!

I will admit, the motor-mouthing did feel a little forced and rushed but the plot still made up for it with all it's glory! I can't give anymore away without spoiling the entire cartoon so go watch this special when you can!

The Powerpuff Girls Rule! is -in my opinion- the greatest episode of all time. Now ten years old, it makes us all wonder what is in store for the twentieth anniversary. With the reboot having mixed reception and the merchandise still selling, we can only dream on having another special just as fresh and funny as this one.

"Key" moment for me (okay, that pun was lame): The whole episode was filled to the brim with timeless and hilarious moments but if I were to pick one, it would have to be Mojo singing a Jimmy Hart version of Part of Your World. Honestly, the funniest thing ever done on the show, period! Kudos Craig McCracken! You can’t spell slaughter without laughter and this episode did just that almost! A new meaning for the term: gut-bustingly funny!

And with that, ends my top 10 greatest PPG episode list! What are your favorite episodes of all time? Which ones make you laugh the most? I'd love to read and/or hear your opinions! :) With that being said, after twenty years, this show still holds up and I will always enjoy it again and again whenever I have a bad day. If you really want to see every classic episode again, then go buy the complete dvd set, it’s just been re-released as a twentieth anniversary box set! Thanks for reading and thank you to @crackmccraigen for this masterpiece!

#The Powerpuff Girls #top 10 list #best episodes #PPG #cartoon network #brilliant #my opinon #screw watchmojo #haha

26 notes · View notes

bonnie-bambiette · 5 years ago

Text

Bakugou as a bookworm headcanons

Doesn’t flaunt that he likes to read but isn’t hiding it either. He’s not gonna get embarrassed about being caught reading despite it not fitting his image much. He doesn’t really care.

He hates young adult contemporary and he PERSONALLY wants to FIGHT John Green. (For his birthday Mina started a petition that if it gets 1000 signatures, John Green has to have a boxing match with him. So far the only people who signed it are Sero and Kaminari.)

His favorite books are those books that are kind of geared towards young/preteen boys. Even well into adulthood he still finds himself reaching for these kinds of books. Books like Pendragon, Hatchet, etc.

Prefers adventurous books that are fast paced. Anything with monsters, dragons, fighting, all that jazz.

Isn’t too big a fan of the classics, unless it has a “bad ass” plot like Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Don’t tell anyone but he cried at the end of Frankenstein.

Prefers paperbacks over hardbacks and if he sees you reading a paperback with the cover bent back he will consider you a villain and take you out.

You know those cheesy, girly horse books like Chestnut Hill and The Saddle Club? He got hooked on one of those series once. His grandma got him one for his birthday one year and he scoffed at it until one day he didn’t have anything else to read. He read it super quickly and just... became invested with the characters so he had to finish the series. He’ll take this to the grave.

Will never admit this but secretly dreams of having a date with a cute girl on cool Autumn day. They’re holding hands in a bookstore and its raining outside. He’d like to buy her coffee as they browse the books, too. And then she would get chilly and he’d nonchalantly drape his jacket over her whilst saying something cool and she blushes. He honestly daydreams about this way too much, especially when he’s visiting his favorite bookstore. He’s secretly frustrated this hasn’t happened to him yet. He just gazes off into the distance with that stupid, angry look on his face (you know the one) and scares away the other customers ‘cause they think he’s about to implode, even though he’s thinking sweet thoughts. Employees on more than one occasion have had to ask him if he’s alright.

He likes Harry Potter, but he thinks it’s kind of overrated. (Despite this, he PROUDLY wears the title of Gryffindor.)

Sometimes he likes to read bad supernatural teen romance novels and make fun of them. He WILL leave very rude and mean reviews on Goodreads. Has gotten into fights with middle-aged moms on there before.

He likes reading while reclined on something, laying on his back, one hand behind his head and the other holding up the book.

He kind of gets bored quickly and doesn’t usually like to read books more than three hundred-ish pages.

Prefers stand alone books to series.

Wants to get “The Dreamhouse Kings Series By Robert Liparulo Is Criminally Underrated” tattooed on his forehead.

When he was a kid, he “ran away from home” once to live in the wilderness to be like Sam from My Side of the Mountain. He packed a little bag full of granola bars and everything a child would think to bring to the forest. He lasted until sunset, when he realized his dad was at work when he left, and he hadn’t got to hug him goodbye. When he got home his dad asked him if he wanted to play video games and his mom was making his favorite for dinner, so he kind of forgot about living in the wild.

Will fight ANYBODY who says Tolkien is overrated.

One time Mineta kept repeatedly interrupting Katsuki while he was reading and Katsuki tried to throw him out the window.

Even though he isn’t one for romance stories, he occasionally reads poetry, but will get embarrassed if he’s caught.

For some reason his local librarians hate him and always say he has a book overdue even though he doesn’t.

Really wants to write his own book but he’s terrible at writing. He doesn’t understand how he can read so much yet still suck at writing. He writes anyways though. Almost always a fantasy about a super handsome warrior king who fights everything in the world. Also hits the keys SUPER hard while writing and talks to himself as he writes. Things like “HEH THAT’S SUCH A COOL IDEA.THIS BOOK IS SO BAD ASS I DON’T CARE IF NO ONE ELSE WILL READ IT.” He has never finished writing any of the stories he starts.

Doesn’t care if reading isn’t one of your own personal hobbies, but if you say it’s dumb or boring (*cough* Kaminari) he will be L I V I D.

Has a really soft spot for the Chronicles of Narnia.

The type to go see book-to-movie adaptions in the theater and loudly complain about how bad they are. He takes all the Hollywood changes VERY personally.

Doesn’t really have any bookshelves in his room at his house. He has a few piled up around on desks and things in his room, and keeps most of his books in the shelves around the house in the living room and hallways. He does have a small bookshelf or two in his dorm at U.A. though.

Always tells himself he can read while eating without getting anything on the book. This is always a lie. Don’t lend your book to Katsuki and not expect at least a coffee stain when it’s returned.

You know when you go to the library and they have those giant posters of celebrities holding books to encourage kids to read? He totally does that when he becomes a pro hero.

Idk what this was, I’ve just had bookworm!Bakugou on my mind for a little while. I may or may not add more.

#bnha #bakugou #katsuki #bakugou katsuki #kacchan

3 notes · View notes

lolitain · 6 years ago

Text

The Perfect Choices for Daily Costumes

Have you browsed about and looked around Lolita’s stunning wardrobe collections, marveled at their beauty, and yet refrained from treating yourself with these gorgeous dresses just because you thought there would be no occasion where you could wear them? Well, maybe it is time to think again. Most, if not all, of Lolita clothing, is ideal for day to day, routine wear and here, we will take a look at some of the reasons that make it so:

COLOR

When it comes to casual, daily clothing, most people tend to generally go for more subtle and understated colors. You certainly do not want to stand out for the wrong reasons, which in this case can be shocking, bright colors that may appear to be just too much for the occasion even if the style of the dress is as simple as it gets. Lolita takes that into consideration and keeping that in regard, offers a number of light, pleasant shades of pretty, feminine colors that make for a cute outfit that is perfect for any casual occasion.

Take the Bowknot High Waist Pure Color Classic Lolita Half-Sleeve Dress, for example. Made from cotton, the ruffled layers of the delicate fabric fold and fall over each other to give a soft and casual look to the outfit while also being a unique and incredibly pretty choice of dress. The half sleeves and the bowknots, as well as the buttons in the midline, from the neck to waist, contribute to making it look as far away from overly formal as possible. The finishing touches are delivered by the shade of the dress- a hue of a toned down pink that does not scream in your face or look too girly. It gives a young and feminine look that most young ladies look for in a dress they can use as daily clothing.

Another great option is the Rabbit Basket Series JSK Ruffle Classic Lolita Sling Dress. A simple sling design dress accompanies by a white, frilly shirt underneath, making for a classy and girly look that is perfect for casual settings. The hushed down, the baby blue color of the dress compliments the frills and bowknots that decorate the dress as well as the Easter Egg baskets lining the bottom half of the understated dress. While a darker tone or a brighter shade may have made the dress better suited for only certain, specific settings, the subtle hues make them perfect for regular, day to day attire.

Bowknot High Waist Pure Color Classic Lolita Half Sleeve Dress: https://www.lolitain.com/pink-long-sleeves-classic-lace-bow-classic-lolita-dress-p-288.html

Rabbit Basket Series JSK Ruffle Classic Lolita Sling Dress: https://www.lolitain.com/rabbit-basket-series-jsk-ruffle-classic-lolita-sling-dress-p-7632.html

STYLE

Try to avoid more complicated and large patterns. You can choose a more regular dress, avoiding the alternative super long skirt

Lolita also completely understands if you feel like you are not one for fancy, elaborate dresses and would rather stick to a simple T-shirt and jeans kind of situation. Well, fear not, because Lolita’s daily wear collection offers a whole collection of simplistic yet extremely unique and eye-grabbing short shirts and blouses which you can pair with pants, trousers, skirts, or any other clothing item of your choice and liking.

The Sugar And Matcha Series Ivory Retro Bats Sleeve Classic Lolita Shirt is a classic example of just how much beauty Lolita has to offer in simplicity and minimalistic designs. The clean, white shirt fits your form without being too clingy and the baggy fabric at the sleeves gives it a special look as opposed to a boring old T-shirt. The sleeves fit snugly around your forearm and wrists while the neck of the shirt is embellished with some very pretty frills. The whole design is understated and feels even more camouflaged with the washed out white, making it perfect for everyday dressing.

On the other hand, we have a more jazzy and interesting look that will keep you looking stylish, classy, and always appropriately dressed. The Antique Chair Series Apricot Doll Collar Short Sleeve Classic Lolita Shirt seems to take it back a few years as it features a rather short length, a very pretty doll collar that wraps all the way around the shirt, and short sleeves, making it the perfect button-down shirt for a fun day out and about in the summer sun and the spring winds.

Sugar And Matcha Series Ivory Retro Bats Sleeve Classic Lolita Shirt: https://www.lolitain.com/sugar-and-matcha-series-ivory-retro-bats-sleeve-classic-lolita-shirt-p-6266.html

Antique Chair Series Apricot Doll Collar Short Sleeve Classic Lolita Shirt: https://www.lolitain.com/antique-chair-series-apricot-doll-collar-short-sleeve-classic-lolita-shirt-p-7421.html

MATCHING

Reduce the grotesque and cumbrous accessories, be simple and generous

The key to maintaining a low profile while wearing unique outfits on a daily basis such as available in Lolita’s daily wear collection is to keep it simple, elegant, and incredibly beautiful. Sometimes, all you have to do is let your outfit shine through without forcibly mixing and matching it with a hundred different accessories to make it look like your everyday wear.

Consider the gorgeous Alpen Rose Ethnic Style High Waist Fishbone Light Dark Green Lolita Skirt. Take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the dress alone- furbished with a low neck, naked shoulders, delicate floral patterns on top of a subdued shade of dark green on the knee length skirt, a red ribbon in the middle of the blouse, a rose emblem embellished on the side of the neck, and finished with a fine, ribbon choker. This outfit alone is all you need to be ready for the day- sometimes your clothes are the only accessories you need.

With dresses like the Daily Lolita Jumper Skirt Strawberries Printed Lolita JSK by Souffle Song, all you need is a light chain necklace or an elegant bracelet to go with the dress and voila! The candy-colored dress rids you of the need to load with heavy, cumbrous, and awfully grotesque accessories with a sweet and charming strawberry pattern that looks natural and compliments the color of the dress well.

Alpen Rose Ethnic Style High Waist Fishbone Light Dark Green Lolita Skirt: https://www.lolitain.com/alpen-rose-ethnic-style-high-waist-fishbone-light-dark-green-lolita-skirt-p-6374.html

Daily Lolita Jumper Skirt Strawberries Printed Lolita JSK by Souffle Song: https://www.lolitain.com/daily-lolita-jumper-skirt-strawberries-printed-lolita-jsk-by-souffle-song-p-5782.html

#daily lolita #lolitadress #lolitashirt #classicallolita #lolita costumes

3 notes · View notes

cromulentbookreview · 6 years ago

Text

Menstruation!

Yes, that’s right, menstruation! Something half the world’s population experiences on a monthly basis - the regular discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from inner uterine lining through the vagina and...are all the dudes gone?

Sweet.

Let’s talk about Mackenzi Lee’s fiercely feminist follow-up to The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy!

“You’re trying to play a game designed by men. You’ll never win, because the deck is stacked and marked, and also you’ve been blindfolded and set on fire. You can work hard and believe in yourself and be the smartest person in the room and you’ll still get beat by the boys who haven’t two cents to rub together.” - From the ARC of The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

For some reason, I have a terrible time writing about things I really, really like. I can go on and on about that one thing that I hate (and I do, often), but when I like something, I say “hey, I like that” and then not much else. My eloquence deserts me when I have to articulate why it is I love something beyond “aw man it’s the best” and then nothing else. Not sure why that is. What I do know is that I finished reading The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy on August 28th, actually, it was August 1. I know how dates work. I started writing a review as soon as I finished it, then just...didn’t. Perhaps it’s pure laziness. Perhaps its writer’s block. Perhaps it’s because I’m in the middle of another epic book binge (five books in, four to go, plus a novella and possibly an ARC of book 10!).

Whatever the reason, I’ve come back to this review over and over, determined to be clever and such, but...man it’s just harder to write about things you love versus the things you hate. It’s very easy to criticize (fun, too), but writing endless praise gets boring fast.

So how am I supposed to describe how much I love Mackenzi Lee’s books?

Mackenzi Lee’s works are the book equivalent of a warm, comforting hug. A hug delivered directly to your brain, with words. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue was one of the best books I read last year, and its sequel does not disappoint in the slightest. Lady’s Guide is 100% pure feminist awesomeness. If you’ve ever been angered by the patriarchy, then this book is definitely for you.

Since praise is hard and complaining is fun, let me take a moment to complain.

All girls, all women, really, know how it is to feel “less-than” for simply being female. That shit starts the minute we’re born and it’s pervasive as fuck. It never stops. Even in a world where a family cannot survive on just one income, women are expected to work two jobs: one for pay, and one for free. Women are described not as people, but as extensions of others: “Wife”, “Mother”, “Girlfriend”, “Daughter” - as if that is all we are, and all we’re expected to be. (On a related note, I am so tired of books with titles that end with “wife”, “daughter”, “sister,” etc. Also, describing women as “girls.” Fuck that shit, I’m an adult, don’t you call me “girl.”). All the bad things that happen to women are our own fault somehow. Rather than teaching men not to attack women, women are expected to take every single precaution in the universe to protect themselves from men. A single “lapse”? Well, then, anything that a man does to you is your fault. Ladies, have you ever had to fake a hypothetical male partner in order to avoid being harassed? Because men would automatically respect a non-existent male before a real human female?

I am so fucking tired of all of that shit. I am so tired of women being blamed for every single bad thing that happens to them. I am so tired of men getting away with harassing, demeaning and belittling women. I am so tired of male authors saying shit like “Mary Shelley didn’t really write Frankenstein!” I am so tired of women’s accomplishments being treated as “less-than.” I am so tired of a woman’s value being equated with whether or not she has a husband or children. I am so tired of a woman’s worth being equated with her appearance. I am tired of being paid less for the same work my male coworkers do. I am so tired of job interviews with loaded questions meant to suss out whether or not you’re planning on taking maternity leave (because it’s illegal to ask if someone is planning on having kids, but perfectly OK to ask “what are your future plans?” wink wink). I am so tired of all of it. It’s bullshit. All of it is bullshit, and the fact that being a woman means fighting an uphill battle every goddamn day just makes me tired.

And all I’ve described above is just a fraction of the bullshit women of color experience. It’s the fucking worst.

This is why we need books like Lady’s Guide. The patriarchy might not be as visible or obviously terrible as it was in the 18th century, but it’s still here, and still as toxic as ever.

Ahem. Anyway. Ladies Guide! See, I can complain forever. When it comes to things I love I’m like “uh, I love it, you should read it” and that’s it.

Lady’s Guide takes place roughly a year after the end of Gentleman’s Guide - Felicity is living and working in a bakery in Edinburgh. She’s been trying, and mostly failing, to get accepted into medical school. But, this being the 18th century, and Felicity being a woman, she doesn’t get very far. After her coworker at the bakery proposes to her, dismissing Felicity’s desires for an education as nothing more than a phase, Felicity decides to take off and try again in London. She sets up shop with her brother and Percy, living happily ever after (because Monty/Percy forever, goddamn it!) and attempts to get into one of the London medical schools via subterfuge. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work out. Felicity is on the verge of giving up when one of the hospital’s more enlightened board members gives her the contact info for Alexander Platt - a trailblazer in the medical field and Felicity’s idol. Dr. Platt might just take a woman on as a student, but he’s all the way in Stuttgart...

...about to get married to Felicity’s childhood best friend, Johanna Hoffmann. Sounds like a perfect way for Felicity to ingratiate herself with Dr. Platt, right?

Except Johanna and Felicity had a falling out years ago. As kids, Felicity and Johanna loved exploring and science and getting dirty, but, as they got older, Johanna started showing more interest in “girly” things while Felicity’s interests never strayed. Nothing like that painful phase of adolescence where you look around and see that all your friends have changed, gotten into boys and makeup and all that shit, while all you want to do is read Tolkien and watch Sailor Moon...

Such a classic episode.

Anyway, Felicity decides to say “fuck it,” and head off to see Johanna in Stuttgart anyway, because this is her chance and she’s not going to throw away her shot.* So Felicity teams up with Sim, a friend of the pirates from Gentleman’s Guide, ditches Monty and Percy and heads off for the continent.

And if reuniting with an ex-best friend who you haven’t spoken to or seen in years isn’t awkward enough, meeting your hero, who is about to get married to said ex-best friend, is even worse. Like all heroes, Dr. Platt isn’t exactly everything Felicity thought he would be. And his upcoming marriage to Johanna isn’t exactly a love match on either side...

Lady’s Guide is not only a massive brain-hug, it’s existence-affirming. Felicity writes herself a message, one she returns to time and time again throughout the book, and something all women and girls should hear: You Deserve To Be Here. Yes. Yes you fucking do. Felicity deserves to attend medical school - but men block her path. She deserves to be her own woman, an intellectual, a scientist - all of that, without being scoffed at.

Lee also makes the point, throughout the book, that the patriarchy is not just men. Women perpetuate patriarchy as well by bullying and policing the behavior of other women. We’re kept down by our own infighting. We see this in the relationship between Felicity and Johanna, whose friendship fell apart because of their differing views on femininity. Felicity was keen to reject feminine trappings, like clothes, makeup, boys, etc., focusing instead on her books. Johanna wanted to embrace her femininity and be a scientist. Felicity looked down her nose at Johanna’s embrace of the traditionally feminine, and Johanna resented Felicity’s high-and-mighty-better-than-you attitude, and thus their childhood friendship fell apart.

The relationship between Johanna and Felicity and their views on femininity is very much like Sansa and Arya Stark. On the Sansa-Arya spectrum, Arya is all about rejecting traditional femininity - no frilly dresses or talk of marriage for Arya. No, she’s all about sword-fighting and vengeance and wearing other people’s faces as masks. Sansa, on the other end of the spectrum, embraces traditional Westerosi femininity, at first suffering it’s trappings, but then she learns to embrace it in another way. Sansa learns to wear her femininity like armor, and use it to her advantage. First, she uses it to survive in King’s Landing, where one wrong move would have gotten her killed, then she uses it to get the same thing Arya hopes to get with her assassin skills: vengeance. Independently, Sansa and Arya are both powerful women. Together? Aw, man. Shit’s going to go down.

I do have one nitpicky complaint, re: Lady’s Guide.

At one point, Johanna tells Sim: “I will drag you back to Bavaria by the ear and take you to court there if I must.”

OK, so in the novel, Johanna lives in Stuttgart. Stuttgart is in Baden-Württemberg, though so...why is Johanna threatening to drag Sim to Bavaria? In the early 1700s, Stuttgart was part of the Duchy of Württemberg which was definitely not in Bavaria. I’m not sure how the Swabians would take it if they were mistaken for Bavarians. Or vice-versa. And heaven forbid you mix up Bavaria and Franconia, even though Franconia is technically now a part of Bavaria…

Ok. Here’s the thing, though. Germany, as it is today didn’t exist until the 90s. The 1990s. Until then the 99.999999% of German history is trying to figure out the goddamned map. There was no unified “Germany” until 1871, and even then the borders didn’t mesh with what they are today. The area that we refer to as “Germany” historically was about 100,000,000 little Kingdoms/Grand Duchies/Duchies/Electorates/Principalities/city-states/what-have-yous tangled together by the Holy Roman Empire, until Napoleon kicked the Holy Roman Empire’s ass in 1805, leading to Francis II to dissolve the Empire in 1806 then it was the German Confederation with the same amount of Kingdoms/Grand Duchies/Duchies/Electorates/Principalities/city-states/what-have-yous … Jesus, just look at the maps. I mean, look at Baden-Württemberg in the 18th century alone!

I honestly don’t know how actual Germans sort this out. It’s easier to just be like “OK, we’re just going to start at 1871 and go forward, OK? Let’s just call everything that came before Germany and move on.”

Still, if you’re from Stuttgart and you show up in Bavaria to file a complaint, you’d probably get laughed at by a bunch of mustachioed dudes who’ve been drinking since 9 AM.

But really, that is my only complaint. Read The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy. If you pre-order it, you can get a bonus ebook epilogue to Gentleman’s Guide! So...go do that.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Everyone, women especially.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: Assholes, men’s right’s activists.

RATING: 5/5

TOTALLY UNBIASED FANGIRL RATING: 5,000,000,000,000,000/5

RELEASE DATE: October 2, 2018

ANTICIPATION LEVEL FOR SEQUEL/CONTINUATIONS: Olympus Mons

AMOUNT OF TIME IT TOOK ME TO WRITE THIS RIDICULOUS REVIEW: 21 days. Hahaha, no it took me 48 days. Because...fuck...I don’t know.

* (curse you, Lin-Manuel Miranda!)

#the lady's guide to petticoats and piracy #mackenzi lee #montague siblings #monty/percy #felicity montague #historical fiction #ya historical #ya feminist fiction #we need diverse books #YA LGBT #lgbtq literature #the gentleman's guide to vice and virtue

8 notes · View notes

bugheadfamily · 6 years ago

Text

Bughead Family Discord Member Spotlight

Graphic by: Katie ( @betty-cooper )

This week the spotlight is on Bridget (@duskyblossom)! Click the read more link below to get to know our member!

Spotlight by Mila, @jughead-jones

Bridget | @duskyblossom

Name: Bridget

Age: Old enough to do Lego.

Location: Somewhere in this crazy universe.

Any other languages aside from English people can contact you in?: I would say a little bit of French but probably best not to haha.

Favourite Riverdale characters and ships?: Betty, Jughead, Cheryl (after she reconciled herself), Mary, Midge (rip), Valerie (somehow fell off the face of the earth?), Fred! My favourite ships are definitely Bughead and Choni, they’re just so adorable!!

Favourite moments from S1 & S2?: My favourite episode was 2x09 because of how the writers executed it, I know a lot of people disliked it but I thought the storylines in that made sense (Not because of the lack of bughead, I liked the actual CONTENTS and not just the shipping aspect.) 2x12 was also really good! In terms of bughead content,obviously 2x12 and 2x14 were the most bughead filled parts of Season 2, but I really liked 2x05 because man, that pulled at the heartstrings. Stuff like the ‘I believe you, Jughead.’ scene was what made Season 1 really cute in terms of Bughead. I also really liked the dynamic they had between Betty and Jug in S2.

What are your hopes for S3?: In terms of Bughead, I really want to see RAS giving them a chance to act like real teenagers not 25 year olds. I want to see them being all cuddly and just being happy for once!! I’m also super intrigued to see where the serpent storyline will go, and how Betty will interact with Gladys and Jellybean.

Other fandoms you’re into?: Nothing, really. I used to be a huge Hunger Games and Harry Potter nut, so you can still talk to me about those! I also LOVE The Office, it’s my other favourite TV show!

Something non-fandom you love?: Reading, art, and baking!

What are some of your favourite movies/TV?: Oh, BOY. This question is really hard. For TV, obviously Riverdale is my number one, but The Office US comes a close second. I got so invested in The Office and it was so difficult to see it end. For movies, the Sound of Music can’t really be beat in my books. It’s such a timeless classic that i’ve loved forever. La La Land is my VERY close second, that film was and still is the death of me. Lady Bird was an INCREDIBLE film, I really related to it and its bittersweetness and sentimentality! And classic musicals like Mamma Mia and Grease.

Favourite books?: I read a lot, so I’m so excited to share some of my faves! Obviously the Harry Potter series, that influenced me a lot. The Hunger Games trilogy was also really gripping and I loved that. The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon was so enlightening and I loved that. The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Saldinger, such a classic and I loved the way it was written. Turtles All The Way Down by John Green is a really good book that brings light to mental health in a less harsh sense which is perfect for me. I’m also reading The Circle by Dave Eggers at the moment which is great so far!

Favourite bands/musicians?: I don’t really listen to anyone in particular, but my 2 favourites are Adele and Sam Smith.

If you could live in any fictional world which one would you choose and why?: I feel like everyone says this, but probably Harry Potter. I wouldn’t want to risk the chance of getting murdered in Riverdale tbh!

Favourite food?: This question is so so SO difficult but I’d have to say shoestring fries with aioli and a huge side of salad.

Favourite season?: Spring! All the flowers bloom and all the baby animals are born, it’s starting to get warmer but it stills rains! Everything about it is just wonderful.

Favourite plant?: Baby’s breath! It’s so delicate and sweet.

Favourite scent?: Starfruit or vanilla bean. Starfruit is such a fresh and pleasant scent, while vanilla makes me feel all cosy and calm.

Favourite colour?: Pink, pink, pink!! I love it so much.

Favourite animal?: Can I be boring and say dogs? I just love them.

Are you a night owl, an early bird, or a vampire?: Can I say none of these? I love sleep so mornings are not for me, and being a vampire is a big no-no. So I guess I would say night owl, as I’d rather go to sleep late than wake up early.

Place you want to visit?: All over Europe - it’s such a beautiful and interesting continent.

Do you have pets?: If you do, tell us a little about them: Yes I do! I have a schnoodle (schnauzer + poodle cross). He is the cutest little thing and always gives me snuggles even though he really just wants food haha. I love him to death.

Tell us a little about yourself?: I mean, what’s there to tell? Hmm… I guess I could say I’m a creative person. Work that I’m not inspired by is really difficult for me such as areas like mathematics or science. I’ve always been a creative soul, I much prefer the arts over sitting at a computer and typing equations or finding out molecular structures. That stuff just doesn’t interest me! I’ve always been a girly girl at heart, as I said before I adore the colour pink and cutesy things. Tying in with being a girly girl, I’ve been a hopeless romantic since I can remember. I feel like I always look at the idealistic side of things, which doesn’t help me being a perfectionist. To all the people who aren’t perfectionists, lucky you. It’s beyond frustrating when something isn’t how I want it to be. Making art and other things is a challenge for me, if I’m not completely happy with what I’ve done, I will throw it out. There’s a running joke that I’m not allowed to give up on a piece anymore because I’m that bad! I’ve always been super academic, I’ve never been one for sport as it doesn’t activate my mind as such. Although I must say, swimming is something I’ve always been good at. I’m such a water baby! I’m super in to fashion and photography, it really interests me how you can express yourself through simple things like what you wear. I think that’s it!

Fun or weird fact about you?: My pinky finger on my right hand moves completely on its own. I can move it up and down without any of my other fingers moving. I haven’t met one person who can do it too!

Asks for fanfic authors:

How long have you been writing?: About 3 years now!

Which is your favourite of the fics you’ve written?: Well I mean My Muse Yet My Saviour as that’s the only thing I’ve done in the bughead fandom so far!

Favourite fic/chapter/plot-point/character you’ve ever written?: Probably Chapter 9 of MMYMS. (Spoiler if you haven’t read it!) I was really glad I got to incorporate Jellybean into the story and write her out in my own way as I’ve seen other writers do before. I can’t wait to see how she’s portrayed in S3!

Which was the hardest to write, and why?: All of it, to be honest. Writing is difficult for me as I get bored easily with a lot of things and I have to push myself to put out the best content I possibly can.

How do you come up with the ideas for you fic(s)? (examples: Do you draw inspiration from real life? Listen to music? Get inspired by TV/movies?) Do you have an process to your writing?: Can I say my brain? I just make stuff up as I go along, and somehow make it work! There’s no rhyme or reason to my writing either - I just word vomit onto my document and then organise it!

Idea that you always wanted to write?: Just normal, teenagery bughead. I think that’d be adorable!

Favourite character to write?: Betty - she has so much versatility and you can create a lot of dimension with her!

Best comment/review you’ve ever received?: All of them. I’m so appreciative of all the praise I get, it really motivates me to create more content. Thank you to anyone who’s ever commented, I appreciate you!!

Best and worst parts of being a writer?: Best is probably having that creative outlet to share your work and ideas. It gives me a chance to share all my thoughts and feelings in a way and I love it! Worst is probably the time it takes. Mostly I don’t have enough free time to write and when I do I’m not in the mood. Finding that balance is really difficult.

Do you have any advice to offer?: Keeping working hard! If you don’t push yourself, your work won’t be of your best ability. Giving yourself a challenge shows off your skills and makes you work harder than before, which really pays off.

This is the second instalment of Bughead Family’s Member Spotlight series. Each week, a member’s url is selected through a randomizer and they will be featured in a spotlight post. In order to participate, please join the Bughead Discord (more information found here). Thank you.

#bughead #riverdale #bughead family discord #member spotlight

16 notes · View notes

findingafreenameishardwork · 7 years ago

Text

I mentioned that I’m writting a little fanfic for Daughter of the Lilies (a great webcomic by @bludragongal, go read it, if you haven’t yet). This thing is now done :) I hope you’ll enjoy it, even if English is not my native language

Brent goes shopping

"Is tradition", explained Orrig as Thistle added her own token into the inconspicuous looking leather satchel: "Ve do it every solstice. As new one in team you can choose drafting order."

Hesitantly Thistle looked around the group of fellow adventurers and then chose the order that she thought of as the most neutral one existing: "Um... alphabetically?"

“That makes Brent first”, Orrig declared unceremoniously and hold the satchel in his direction.

Brent used one hand to cover his eyes and grabbed with the other one into the bag.

Highly concentrated he shuffled around before he decided which one to pick out. He would have never admitted it openly, but this whole affair made him anxious; he would have no trouble with Lyra or Orrig – but Thistle? Thistle was his worst case scenario.

He could imagine the secret gift exchange vividly in his mind; with Lyra it would go something like “Oh you bought me a bottle of the fancy stuff! That’s exactly what I wanted! Thanks Brent!” followed by a hearty pat on his back. And Orrig would get a box of his favorite sweets and say “Good choice. I like this present” before giving him a hearty pat on the back. But Thistle? When trying to imagine giving her a present, his mind only conjured an image of chirping crickets. He had absolutely no idea what to get for her! So no matter what, he had to pick one of the others.

“How much time do you need to draft, Brent?”, Lyra asked annoyed, so he swallowed and finally grabbed one.

“Great demonstration of patience”, he retorted, while Lyra simply let her hand swiftly dive in and out of the bag in one flowing motion.

“Patience, my <censored>”, she returned: “I don’t need to have patience with people who deliberately waste my time.”

“Enough!”, interjected Orrig and made his own pick: “This solstice tradition, so be nice.”

He gave the satchel over to Thistle who took the last token.

Brent watched her interested as she found out who her secret solstice gift receiver was; did her expression change?

He realized that he hadn’t found out his draft yet and looked at his clenched fist, where the secret still lay inside.

“Ve vill split up now and meet again in four hours at inn for traditional solstice dinner. Don’t forget to stay vithin price limit”, Orrig said and the group split up.

Brent deliberately let himself fall a bit more behind, prolonging the moment before he found out who he got. It was not like he disliked Thistle or anything; but he liked the solstice tradition too much and didn’t want to ruin the mood by disappointing the newest addition of the group. But he probably had no problem, the chances totally were in his favor, the more he thought rationally about it, the less it seemed possible that he got her of all things.

Unconsciously he held his breath when he opened his fist to unveil the pick. A long sight followed.

Nervously Brent scanned the sign of the shop before him, and scratched his arm uncomfortably. He could do this. It was not his kind of store, but he wasn’t some dumb insecure teenager. Compared to the REAL dangers and challenges he faced daily as part of his work, this was… still scary.

‘Don’t be a sissy elf!’, he spurned himself mentally and went into the shop with grim determination.

He just needed to grab some random appropriate book and everything would be alright, wouldn’t it?

Inside the bookstore there were myriads of books crammed into overflowing shelves, with the sole store salesdwarf sitting at a tiny looking desk looking bored. But that immediately changed, as he (or she? One could never be completely sure with those) noticed him. His face lit up brighter than Wu’s scales in a dark night and he happily went into selling mode: “Welcome to ‘Books, books, books!’ the best and sole bookstore in town! What can I help you with?”

The dwarf came over to him, surprisingly speedy and stopped uncomfortably close to him, smiling at him with a grin wide enough to scare a lesser Drath away.

“Erm...”, Brent stammered intimidated: “I want a book.”

“Great!”, the salesdwarf exclaimed, without a hint of sarcasm in his voice: “We have those! Do you have a certain one in mind?”

“Errr… Well..” Brent hesitated because he felt so utterly uncomfortable at this place. It was not like he couldn’t read at all, but his experience with reading till this day had been less than stellar. He was never able to get the appeal of it and the few times he gave this another chance had made him feel inadequate. Somehow lesser. Stupid.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The stupid half-orc, that wasn’t even able to read out words like extraordinarr... eckstraor… special words without stumbling over his own tongue.

“We have books by R. G. Wells and also books about building wells, the whole line by B. A. Cons’Tructor, to be precise. Does that sound like the kind of reading you are looking for?”, the dwarf inquired.

“Um… no?”

The dwarf’s brow began to twitch slightly, barely noticeable: “How can I be of service then?”

“I’m looking for”, Brent started, unsure how to go on. “...a book. A good one!”

“That’s great”, the seller repeated affirmatively: “So, what do you want to read?”

“Oh… no, no. It’s not for me, but for my colleague!”

“Ahhh”, the dwarf began to nod appreciatively, “so, what does your colleague read?”

“I… don’t know exactly.”

More brow twitching. “Does your colleague have any special interests? What is his or her occupation? Do you know any of the books he or she read?”

“Um… She seems to like flowers a lot. And magic. She’s a mage.”

“Perfect, I can work with this information!”

The dwarf whirled around and picked unerringly books out of the shelves. With a staple higher than his own head he returned to Brent and set it gently down on a stool. He took the first book of the pile and held it in the most scenic way possible, so that the cover was in perfect sight.

It showed a plain, yet beautiful, young maiden in a long flowing dress, who lay in he arms of a handsome and surprisingly ripped mage, as indicated by his long impressive staff and strategically torn robes. Both were surrounded by perfectly red roses, which glistened. Crowning this was the books title; which was to embarrassing for Brent to notice.

“This book is extremely popular with our female readership”, the dwarf explained: “And it has elements that perfectly cover the topics you mentioned.”

“I don’t think that’s the best choice”, Brent said full of doubt: “I don’t think she is very girly… I can’t imagine her being into typical feminine stuff. You now, cooking and fashion and… you know what I mean. She’s more the smart type.”

“No problem!”

The dwarf gently put the book down and picked up the next one. It had no illustration on its cover, just the title “Pride and Maguerites”.

“This one is a bit more… intellectual, a classical story, so to speak. Still very much appreciated by our female clientele.”

Brent scratched his chin: “I’m not sure. Can you tell me a bit what this book is exactly about?”

“Oh, it’s basically about a young aspiring woman, that meets this young suitor who she at first utterly refuses-”

“Pass!”, interjected Brent and underlined his point with a swiping gesture: “I don’t think you got it. She’s like really smart. Smart smart, not pretend smart.”

“Okay, okay.” The salesdwarf took this book and several others from the staple: “If you don’t like belletristic, we still have a nice selection of books with a more scientific approach. This here is by the way a personal favorite of mine.” He gave a book over to Brent, who read its title “Thoughts on taxonomy of the plants by Carolus Linnaeus”. Turning a few pages he quickly realized what was wrong with it: “Were are the pictures?”

“Well, not every book needs to be illustrated, Sir.”

Brent gave the book back, not without visibly wrinkling his nose: “It’s a present. Without pictures it just looks so dull. I don’t want to give something like this, in the end she thinks she is dull herself!”

The dwarf almost sighed, but regained his composition fast enough. He took another book from his staple: “Okay, perhaps this one might be more to your likening. It has some very nice diagrams in it and absolutely no romantic content. And only a smart person versed in the arcane arts would get and appreciate it.”

Brent looked doubting at the dragon-like insignia at the front.

“I don’t exaggerate when I claim, that every decent mage’s library should have its own exemplar of the ‘Assorted Essays by Master Hym’.”

Brent shook his head: “But then she probably has already got her own one, won’t she? I can’t give her a book she already owns, can I?”

“Fine” the dwarf replied and took the bottom book from the pile, which was quite thick and heavy: “I doubt she’d have an exemplar of this book, because it was publishes just a week ago.”

He presented the book to Brent, who inspected the cover. The title was 'Plants – what they tell us' illustrated with a lovely thistle. He turned a few pages and he immediately liked it; there were detailed drawings of plants and charts everywhere and still enough written text, so that it would last a while even for Thistle. He couldn’t suppress a smile: “Now that’s a viable choice. How much?”

“Oh, it’s really cheap, all things considered.”

“Ho much?”, Brent asked again, while a bad feeling started crawling around in his stomach.

“A very low price for such a quality book, just look at all these illustrations!”

“How. Much?”

“Two point five. Almost a steal.”

Brent got his purse out and picked three coins out.

At that sight the dwarf started chuckling: “Is that a joke? Two point five means two hundred and fifty coins!”

“What?! No, that’s way too expensive! I’m on a budget.”

The dwarf couldn’t suppress a sight anymore. He reached into his pocket and looked onto his pocket watch: “Please, just listen, Sir. You could tell me how much money you want to spend and I’ll look if I find something suitable. It’s almost four o’clock now and I want to close in time to celebrate the solstice with my family.”

Brent turned pale: “It’s that late already?! I have to go!” He turned around in place and darted out of the shop. Quickly he ran to the inn, but not without making a quick stop at a market stand with a variety of colorful drapery. Women liked fabric, didn’t they?

“Hello I need something for a solstice present!”, he announced immediatly and hold out his complete budget.

“Oh, okay”, the seller responded mildly confused because Brent disturbed her during packing up for the evening. “Do you want something specific?”

“Just something solstice-y! And please wrap it, it’s a present!”

The seller grabbed some fold-up kerchief-thingy and put it neatly onto some packing paper.

“Please hurry, I don’t have time left!”

The seller swiftly wrapped up the textile and returned to Brent a definitely misshaped package.

Brent grabbed it: “Thanks, great, here!” He dropped the coins into her hand and ran faster than a really slow arrow from Lyra to the inn.

The big city clock was sounding the last chimes of the hour, when he reached his destination. He went into the building, where the rest of the team already sat around a big table on which the first course of the solstice dinner was waiting.

“I’m on time!”, Brent wheezed, gasping for breath. He sat down on the only free chair.

“You are!”, Lyra acknowledged and grinned: “Good that Orrig does not like us to bet, otherwise I would be a few coins poorer now.”

“Stop it”, Orrig interjected: “Ve now solve the secret gift exchange. Thistle, choose order.”

The attention shifted and the hooded mage seemed to shrink a little bit: “.. em, alphabetically again, please?”

“Is good”, Orrig nodded and put a package onto the table and pushed it over to Brent.

The quarter orc looked at it and then started unwrapping. He found a piece of high quality sharpening leather inside. “Oh… thanks.” He needed a few moments to process the gift, but then he smiled: “I can definitely put that to good use. Thanks!”

“I vought so.”

Lyra cleared her throat: “I’m next!”

She put a big bottle on the table and angled herself on her chair to look sideways: “Lyra! I got you!”

She turned directly around: “Really? Who would have thought, what a surprise!”

Turning back: “I got some of your favorite brandy!”

And again: “Aww, how nice, it’s 'Le fancy stuffe'. You always know exactly what to get for me!”

She grinned and unstopped the bottle with her teeth to treat herself to the first sip.

“People could get themselves?”, Thistle asked, mildly confused: “Doesn’t that kinda undermine the premise of a secret gift exchange?”

“Is part of tradition”, Orrig explained, while shrugging with his shoulders.

“Okay”, Thistle replied and put a small package on the table and pushed it to him: “I.. well… hope you like it, it’s not very special, but I really tried to find something nice… and well.”

The orc opened the packet and found a few balls of green wool and a crotchet hook.

“I heard you like to knit, but then stopped for some reason and so I thought that you maybe would enjoy crocheting?”

“Is good choice”, he replied: “I like this present.” Followed by a light, but not unhearty, pat on her back.

Now all eyes wandered over to Brent. He needed a moment, but then realized: “Oh it’s my turn!”

He threw the misshapen package over to Thistle, who utterly failed at catching and dropped it onto the ground.

“Oh, sorry!”. Brent nervously cleared his throat. Oh, what had he done? He were so fixated on arriving on time, that he didn’t take great care in choosing a present in the end.

‘Great way to ruin the mood, Brent’, he thought to himself: ‘This may be the only thing you’re actually competent at.”

The mage meanwhile carefully unwrapped the paper and gracefully unfolded the fabric. It was a shawl, slightly transparent in the shine of the inn’s light installation and intricately embroidered with little flowers and butterflies. A few moments she did nothing, but then she sniffled.

‘Oh dammit!’, Brent thought, but Thistle suddenly blurted out: “This is soo pretty! One of the nicest things I ever got!” This was followed by an impromptu hug; which she held for around three seconds, before she realized what she was doing. “Oh, I’m sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry!” She unhugged Brad immediately and jumped up: “I… I… think I need a moment. Alone!” She half ran, half stumbled to the outside, while the rest of the group just locked after her.

Finally Lyra took the word: “Great done, Brent. You made her cry.”

“Shut up, Lyra!”, he returned sharply and folded his arms. But all he could think about was how soft and nice and warm that hug from Thistle had been...

As far as disappointments went, he wouldn’t have minded a repetition of this particular one.

#dotl #dotl fanfic #brent #bristle #precious cinnamon roll

87 notes · View notes

prowrestlingextra-blog · 6 years ago

Text

JaxSB

This showed up today on my FB Flashback, pretty humorous article I had e-mailed a friend who had moved out of the Jacksonville area back in the late '90s. It's from the Florida Times-Union sports section during Super Bowl XXXIX week here in the 904! Circa January 2005 - Enjoy! Go ahead, bash us! We can take it; we'll even help you insult our fair town! By: MATT SOERGEL, The Times-Union Dear glamorous out-of-town journalist: How y'all doin'? Thanks for leaving your incredibly cosmopolitan city to spend a few days here in the sticks. We know: We can't believe we got the Super Bowl either! And we know that a big part of your Super Bowl fun lies in pointing out the inadequacies of the host city, even if it's San Diego, which is, like, the most perfect place on earth. Boy, you must be licking your lips waiting to dig into us (if you've been able to wait, that is). And then you've got Detroit next year -- lucky you! It gets even better: To do your big story on Jacksonville, we've saved you the trouble of having to leave your no-doubt completely unacceptable hotel room. (Sorry, the Magic Fingers aren't working and the soda machine's out of Diet.) We've done it for you. After whiling away a few hours down by the "cee-ment" pond, swatting at mosquitos and gnawing on boiled peanuts, we've come up, for all our colleagues covering Super Bowl XXXIX, exactly XXXIX reasons to bash Jacksonville. (Sure, we had more, but the XXXIX number just seemed so catchy.) They're all yours: Feel free to embellish/adapt/discard as you wish. 1. Jacksonville's original name was Cowford, a Timucuan Indian word meaning "hot, flat boring place by the river." 2. Jacksonville: Conveniently located near South Georgia. 3. Yes, we're small. But we are the second biggest city in the country with a "ville" in its name, behind only Hooterville, home to Uncle Joe, the Petticoat Junction girls and Arnold the pig. 4. Yup, that's downtown. That's all there is. There isn't any more. 5. There are so places to eat after midnight. You got a problem with waffles? 6. There are multiple dining options in Jacksonville: Fried or smothered in barbecue sauce. Or both. On waffles. 7. Strip clubs here have either nudity and no alcohol, or alcohol and no nudity. City council members spent the better part of January discussing how many square inches of buttocks could be exposed by bikini dancers. Some fun, huh? 8. As unbelievably grim as it is here for you glamorous out-of-town journalists, we're actually all spiffed up for our big date with the Super Bowl. You should see us in the morning, without our makeup on. Man, oh man. 9. Is Jacksonville Southern? Put it this way: We have public schools named for Robert E. Lee, Jeb Stuart and Nathan Bedford Forrest (one of the founders of the KKK). 10. There really are Confederate flags in the windows of pickup trucks. We can vouch for that. 11. Sure, it's unbearably hot nine months of the year. But it's a wet heat. 12. "Cute" is probably not the highest praise a Super Bowl city could ask for its airport. 13. Jacksonville's as red as red-state America gets. And if you have a problem with that, you must be a girly-man, defeatist ultra-liberal who hates America. 14. Even Orlando likes to make fun of us. Orlando! Our response: "Yeah, well ... um ... uh ... Mickey Mouse!" 15. When we want to make fun of someplace, we pick on Yulee. Hardly a fair fight, but that's the way we like it. 16. Since they fixed the paper mills, it doesn't smell anymore. Not as much anyway. Unless the wind's blowing down from Yulee. 17. Yes, that's an ocean 15 miles east of here. But they built the city on a river. Go figure. 18. Jacksonville is so backward, the river runs north. 19. There are lots of things for tourists to do here. It's called St. Augustine. 20. You weren't mistaken: Somebody just called you "honey." (Admit it: You liked it.) 21. True fact: The college radio station in town plays easy-listening music. 22. At last count, 18 radio stations were vying for the honor of being called Jacksonville's classic-rock station. 23. The remaining three stations play today's country hits, all the time. 24. There are two kinds of homeowners in Jacksonville: Those who say they have cockroaches, and those who are liars. 25. That cool Skyway tram you see running through downtown? It doesn't go to stadium. Or the arena. Or the ballpark. Or The Jacksonville Landing. But it does connect a couple of really big parking lots. 26. Jag-wars? Jag-wires? We're still making up our minds. 27. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet and .38 Special all came from Jacksonville. Notice a trend? 28. Limp Bizkit too. Our bad. 29. Just like in other cities, concertgoers here hold up cigarette lighters and chant: "Free Bird!" Only we're not being ironic. 30. Jacksonville is so boring, even hurricanes won't come here. 31. The biggest landmark downtown is First Baptist Church. At least we know they aren't going to go out of business. 32. Can't find a cab? Don't feel bad. Jacksonville natives have never seen one either. "That's one o'them yeller cars, right?" 33. Last call in this town is 2 a.m. However, get-your-butt-kicked-because-you-looked-at-my-girlfriend-the-wrong-way-time is right around 1:45 a.m. 34. Yes, that was a restaurant sign you saw that said "Chinee-Takee-Outee." 35. A strip mall for every taste. 36. There's a slight sprawl problem. Wherever you are, you're 25 minutes from wherever you want to be. 37. Sweet Home Alabama invariably gets the biggest cheers at a Jaguars game. And we don't even like Alabama. 38. Jaguars games almost never sell out. We're too busy doing, um, ah, all kinds of other exciting stuff instead. 39. The city recently chose a new slogan: Where Florida Begins Runner-up slogan? The City That Sleeps

0 notes

tumblunni · 8 years ago

Text

ANYWAY! I’mma gonna talk about my playthru of Digimon World Next Order, to distract me from the fact i’m rapidly approaching the ending and have to wait to sate my JRPG tastes on Persona 5 afterwards...

* it is really really REALLY REALLY really REALLy great to finally be able to play a game in the DW series as a female character. Holy SHIT, man this is overdue! And it isnt handled awfully like in Cyber Sleuth where everyone constantly calls you male and the character design is really oversexualized and doing weirdass poses for everything. There’s still a lil bit of ‘cliche girly option traits’ but seriously she’s like the least stereotyped design we’ve had in the games since Dusk and Dawn! She gets to wear SHORTS and A HOODIE! A hoodie that has an inexplicable hole in the back for some reason, but whatever! xD Also I actually like her version of the Protagonist Hair better, even tho I think its lame they colour coded them in the ol cliche genderedness. Boy character just has one streak of coloured hair at the front, but girl has a spiralling streak on the end of her ponytail that looks like a punk poison sort of fashion~! And it leaks pixels when she runs, and has a really nice glow effect that kinda makes it draw patterns as you swing her model around. Makes me wanna run in circlesssss~ Her dubbed voice is a bit boring cliche anime love interest tho, a bit squeaky after you’ve been hearing it for hours. But the dude is Like Every Shonen Hero Voice Ever, so i think its meant to be intentionally generic for both of them. I could swear he’s voiced by a bad Tai impersonator! XD Also I’m just kinda thankful cos every other girl in the plot gets a REALLY squeaky unbearable english voice, thank god protagonist is spared...

* its a lil bit of funnyness tho that for some reason the skill list is the only place where the translators forgot about the protagonist options. Like.. a LOT of Tamer Skills are weirdly gendered when it would have taken five seconds to change that. Why does it have to be stuff like ‘Cooking Boy’ and ‘Cooking Man’ instead of basic and advanced cooking? Especially cos the other one in between is called Gourmet Cooking...

* I love forever that so many of the virus type recruitable digimon are sweethearts of hugs and joy. Now THAT reminds me of the original Digimon World! Seriously I am SO GLAD that Literally The Same Myotismon has a sidequest about rescuing his precious myobrella so he won’t faint in the sun. or like.. if its not the same Myotismon then MAN he would totally be a great ship with the other equally helpless one in the first game XD He has a nice new function as a townsperson, instead of just being ‘a manager’ in the colloseum and never even being a fight. (That annoyed me as a kid! He just stands there!) Now he runs the card gallery, cos you collect ‘antique cards’ in this game and he restores them with his painting skillz. its a nice lil in-joke cos they’re all the original first trading card artworks from waaaaay back in the first season! And Piedmon is in this one too, yay! He’s actually like the only morally dubious virus type AT ALL, he talks like a cliche mwahaha mad scientist even as he does nothing particularly evil. His sidequest is a funny thing of playing hide and seek and he sucks at it. While yelling hammily about being an evil genius! And then he has quite a useful function in the town, he does a random effect on you once per day with his evil science, and it could be good or it could be bad, but if its bad he actually pays you compensation money for it! EVEN THE EVIL GUY IS TOO KIND And OH MAN I am so happy and sad for Skullgreymon! A good guy skullgreymon was always one of my ideas for a DW fangame, im so happy it happened for real! In this game Skullgreymon is a fashion designer with low self confidence, and you recruit them by finding weregarurumon who’s their biggest fan and becomes their first friend. Its so sweet! They never actually interact once you recruit them both tho, cos they work at different parts of the town. But im still gonna assume they keep in touch! Its also a shame skullgreymon doesnt actually run a fashion shop, cos there actually WAS a fashion shop in Digimon World Redigitize aka the one damn game we’ll never see dubbed T_T Instead skullgreymon gets this kinda depressing role of just standing around outside the entertainment area saying ‘i wish i could work with children but they’re always scared of me’, and then if you bring a newly hatched digimon to see them then they gain bonus stats from being terrified somehow?? NOOO WHERE IS THE OPTION TO TEACH MY CHILDREN THAT SKULLY IS A FRIEND

* Anyway, my main digimon are (still) Hershey and Zephyr, and I love them! I’m still working on hoping to eventually get the full terriermon and lopmon canon digivolution lines with them, wow its hard. But I adore them no matter what form they take at the moment! I ended up loving them so much that i never raised any other digimon ever. i just rename them the same name every time they reincarnate, and pick the same eggs! I’ve gotten close to unlocking every single variation of the bunno brothers evo lines!! But it IS getting really annoying that you have to type the name manually every time, why no option to just stick with the previous name? DW1 had that and it was on way worse hardware! Oh, and its funny that I started off calling them the bunny brothers cos thats what they were in adventure 02, but then after playing the game for ages I’ve settled on headcanoning hershey as female and zephyr as nonbinary. And also I started off with the cliche personalities of sassy rebel terriermon and stoic lopmon like in Tamers, but Hershey ended up being the rebel instead and Zephyr is like a shonen hero cinnamon roll! They’re both equally sassy and eccentric tho XD I’m not quite sure yet what would be their ‘canon’ final mega forms that I wanna keep them in for the final boss and stuff. But hershey’s made me regain my appreciation of Ladydevimon after I stopped liking her as soon as I grew old enough to understand that most of her fans only liked her for being ‘a stripper’ :P Like.. she’s a really damn good design even without the fanservice?? I like her way more than devimon, myotismon and etc, I wish she’d gotten to be a major villain! i mean it sucks that devimon got to be one when she’s literally his evolved form. (And yes I am happy that it continues to be canon that ladydevimon can digivolve from devimon and the same for angewomon and angemon. DIGIMON AINT RESTRAINED BY HUMAN GENDER ROLES YO) So yeah anyway, I kinda headcanon Hershey as a hypothetical less skimpy redesign of LadyDevimon? or like.. if she got her own unique Mega form that kept a similar design, rather than just being retconned into lilithmon and rosemon’s evo lines. I just don’t think the skimpyness fits with Hershey’s personality but the rest of the design just has such a cool piratey thiefy type look?? And she’s like THE BEST monster girl in the franchise, she’s the only one who really gets to be monstery looking, even if she’s still an hourglass figure sex object. i mean i always thought it was meant to be a subversion of that?? She has that giant monster claw hand and is really vicious and powerful in battle! All her animations in the game are her shredding things with it and doing the classic dracula rise-from-the-grave when she’s knocked out, and just... ITS REALLY BADASS!! I didnt know how cool a fight with her could be, cos she just got that stupid ass fanservice joke slap fight in the anime... ANYWAY Ladydevimon is good I appreciate her I like her even though she’s in the general genre of fanservice digimon that I dislike. She’s like the one single one I dont hate! (Tho I still wish we had more than like.. two un-fanservice female digimon in the entire damn series) Buuuut I dont think her design quite fits Hershey even though she’s the digivolution I keep using ingame. Maybe if I can find a different Mega that I prefer, and make up a fanmade digivolution line? or I could do a fanart variation of the digimon...

* ANYWAY I kinda ended up headcanoning Hershey as a former member of the broken apart pirate crew in Mod Cape. Cos like.. what if your digimon had backstories of what their life was like before they met you! like Gatomon in Adventure, they were chosen to be partners to a destined hero but had to wait so long they’d become disillusioned. Cos when you meet em at the start of the game they’re mega level and only get poofed back into eggs cos of machinedramon’s attack. WHAT LIFE DID YOU LEAD WITHOUT ME. I AM HERE TO PROTECT YOU NOW AAAAAAA!! So yeah it would be cool to headcanon Hershey as a former highway bandit type character who has trouble adjusting to living in a city surrounded by happy innocent people and hugs. I dont see her as grumpy tho.. like, she’s kind of a bombastic trickster archetype but she’s still super cynical and ‘I only care about myself, anything else gets you hurt’. I was thinking maybe if I designed a fanmade mega for her she could be like a magician pirate zombie demon??? Like.. yknow piedmon is a deck of cards clown guy with those four daggers? i actually got Piedmon as her digivolution when she was a Ladydevimon and I was thinking MAN it could be so cool if we had like a zany zombie digimon who attacks by stabbing a sword through her own back! Like ��watch me saw a woman in half’ XD A design where she has a load of weapons stuck in her and uses them to fight with! like how mummymon is a mummy + soldier in a leg brace design, hypothetical zombiemon could be a zombie + actual tragic assassination victim. Plus a magician. Or a clown. And ladydevimon. And a pirate. LOOK I JUST HAVE A LOT OF MUTUALLY CONTRADICTORY HEADCANONS OKAY xD

* I don’t really have as much development ideas for Zephyr yet, aside from that they’re Hershey’s more cheerful and positive sibling. But I see them as also being kinda creepy and battle-hungry and stuff? Like.. both these twins are total virus types, clown type, typical final villain type of acrobatic doom! And both are good guys deep down. But Zephyr is a more cinnamon roll type of good and Hershey is grumpy unwillingly dragged into goodness. And like.. Zephyr is a bit dotty and only accidentally creepy, not really understanding how to socialize properly. And probably they would be like ‘NO BIG SISTER, STEALING IS BAD’ *currently stabbing a guy* I think maybe my headcanon for Zeph might be that they were for some reason left completely alone while waiting for the protagonist? Hershey at least found some companionship with the pirates, even if she became super bitter after the team broke up. I think Zeph maybe started off as a wild forest mon that’d even forgotten how to speak, until by pure chance they bumped into their long lost twin sister and then met the protagonist. So like an innocent angel who’s all new to the city and excited about everything, but also kinda fighty and dangerous because of the same stuff that makes them innocent. I dunno, I might make them an angewomon or ophanimon to match with Hershey? Tho I wanted to make them both good guy virus types, it could be an equally interesting contrast to have a vicious battle-obsessed angel who’s the absolute opposite of softspoken fancyness! And I also kinda associate them with the colour green even though I ended up picking a grey themed digivolution for Hershey instead. But all of Terriermon’s natural digivolutions are all machiney and don’t suit this personality as much... I dunno, maybe I could make up another headcanon/variant type thing? Cos after all lopmon’s line gets two champion level forms and two megas but terriermon only has two recolours for the same ultimate level. Maybe even it out, lol! Or like, I’m thinking like.. what if Terriermon had a mega that suited Henry more? i was reading someone’s review where they said it was weird that pacifistic Henry got a giant robot specializing in attack while Rika got the humanoid pacifist digimon. And yeah, that IS totally weird! And it got me imagining what if Terriermon got a humanoid digivolution that was like a martial artist?? or maybe like a speedy superhero lookin armour thing! Like just a more humanoid rapidmon! or I dunno maybe if puppetmon is in this game then zephyr could be puppetmon. I miss puppetmon. puppetmon never got to be in ANY games except dusk and dawn! I WANNA SEE A 3D PUPPETMON YO!!

* Man I just spent this entire post rambling my headcanons for silent protagonist characters instead of actually talking about the game... aaaa...

#bunni plays next order

4 notes · View notes

maddieziegler-news · 8 years ago

Note

Hey, I hope this is not weird...was just curious if you have some book recommendations :)

Hey, of course it’s not weird, I’m happy to help, especially when it comes to books! ;) So I don’t know which genre you’re looking for, so I’ll just recommend some books and if you need more you can tell me more details like genre etc. I’ll also link all books to their goodreads page, so you can quickly look at the description, author etc. :)Ok, so if you’re into fantasy and like reading series, I recommend the following: 1) the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas (there are currently 5 books out, the sixth to come this September). It’s a really easy read, like you don’t have to focus much and it’s very entertaining, with really great characters, it gets better and better with each book and is super exciting, funny and just a joy to read. One of my all time favourite series everrrrr!2) Another series I love is The Paper Magican by Charlie N. Holmberg, three books, but really short ones, so a quick read and what I loved about those books was the magic system. Like it’s really different to the way magic is usually potrayed (you can do magic with paper, glass etc) and it has a really sweet love story and I usually hate love stories, but this one was really cute.3) Game of Thrones of course! But I don’t know how old you are and how much into reading. This series is honestly up there with Lord of the Rings, George R.R. Martin is a genius, but it’s A LOT to read and really really complex, with sooo many characters, so you really have to be up for that, otherwise I wouldn’t recommend it since it’s anything but an easy read.4) The Selection series. At first I didn’t think it would be something for me, since it looked really girly and all and that’s not so my style, but they were sooo good. It kinda reminded me of the show the Bachelor lol? I hate the Bachelor, so it’s not like this, don’t worry. The concept just reminded me of it. :D Like there is a prince who is supposed to marry and girls all over the country can sign up for it and then they “draw lots” and 35 of them get chosen and get to the palace and then he has to eliminate one by one, but that’s just one of the story lines, like there are rebel movements involved (it’s kinda a dystopian society) and it just all gets bigger and bigger, so yeah.5) An Ember in the Ashes by @sabaatahir, it was really hyped, so I was reluctant at first, but just a few pages in and I was hooked! Such a great series, I certainly recommend it! It’s a really brutal world, kinda inspired by Ancient Rome (?), but also by real events from our world today and you have two main characters from whose point of view the story is told, both on different “sides” of the political system portrayed in that world, but I don’t want to say more, just read what goodreads says lol, I’m so bad at explaining without giving anything away.6) Red Queen, loved it! It kinda reminded me of the Selection Series and it had this dystopian vibe about it again, but also this “palace atmosphere” (sorry, don’t know how to describe it, but some parts take place in a palace), I liked the main character a lot (also she’s a POC), there are currently two books out, but the third one will come out February 7th (the day I’m done with exams, what a great coincidence!).

7) If you’re into mythology, I recommend reading anything by Rick Riordan! He’s amazing, I loved the Percy Jackson series, you’ll learn a lot about Greek mythology, but in a super fun way, Percy is honestly hilarious, the entire series is and it’s super diverse, which is great and a super easy read, not complicated at all and I know so many who loved this series, no matter what age, so yeah!8) The Song of the Lioness Quartet! I stumbled across it when I was about 11 I think, total coincidence, someone had lost it in school and we never found the owner, so I read it and then went to get all the other books of the series. It’s about a young girl and her twin brother. He is supposed to become a knight and train at the palace of the king, she’s supposed to become a “lady”. But he’s much more into magic and she loves fighting, so they switch roles and she pretends to be a boy and goes to the palace and trains to become a knight and it’s honestly such an empowering story, especially for young girls to read, but also for grown women. He’s trainging to become a powerful magician and kinda gets on a bad path, but I won’t say more. It’s super fun to read!9) If you’re more into daker material, the Abhorsen series might be something for you! It’s quite dark and scary if I remember it correctly (i read it about 7 or more years ago), but sooo good! Really different from other fantasy in my opinion!

If you’re looking for a good biography and are into dance (which you probably are if you follow me), I can recommend Michaela De Prince’s biography, Taking Flight! It’s told beautifully and she talks not only about her hard childhood being a war orphan and all, but also about racism in the ballet world.Another biography I can recommend is about Sasha Cohen (if you’re into figure skating), she’s my favourite figure skater and her biography was super interesting to read!I don’t know many love stories and stand alones (i read so many series omg), but I can recommend The Siren, it’s a love story, really different from many books I’ve read. It took me some time to get into it, but when it did, I cried and laughed and just had so many feelings. It’s about a girl who became a siren and wasn’t allowed to use her voice in front of real people anymore, who lost her family to the see and had to “sing” ships into ruin about every 6 months killing all the people on it to feed the sea. It’s kinda a double love story, to a man and to the sea (strange, I know!). It’s really sweet and sad and different and a stand alone (not to big), so it’s certainly worth a try too! Oh and it’s by the same author as the Selection Series I recommended above, so if you like her style, she writes a lot!If you’re looking for good classics, I can recommend anything by Jane Austen honestly, her books are easy to read and super sweet love stories! Also Oscar Wilde if you’re a bit older and like a challenge and a good laugh (and are like me way to cynical in life).Okay so I could go on and on, but I probably already bored you to death and spammed all my followers, so sorry for that! If you need more, feel free to send another ask, it’s also easier for me if you tell me your favourite genre and what you like to read. I’ve mainly recommended fantasy now since that’s my favourite genre, but I’ve also read tons of other stuff, so I can certainly recommend more! ;)

#asks #long post #sorry #got carried away again #i just love books so much

2 notes · View notes

sand-rose · 5 years ago

Text

Finally got around to drawing and writing Ezzy’s and Luna’s character bios! I’ve started playing their household a little alongside my others in Sims 4, so I’ll have a lot more photos of them to share in the future. I’m hoping that the more I play, the more they’ll grow on their own as characters like Reim did. They’re just too cute together!

Character Bios Below

Full Name: Ezlyn

Gender & Sexuality: Female, Lesbian

Pronouns: She/Her

Ethnicity/Species: Ego Entity

Birthplace & Birthdate: Ego World (specifically the city Gavron), December 20

Guilty Pleasures: listening to punk/rock/heavy metal music, energy drinks (she insists the caffeine crash is worth it for the rush), playing electric guitar and writing song lyrics despite her inability to sing, sweatpants and hoodies when at home with Luna, playing any sport that gets her blood pumping

Phobias: It might sound silly at her age, but Ezzy is afraid of losing her hearing. She never used to think much about cranking the volume on her headphones all the way up when listening to her favorite music, but after a relative warned her about it she became a little scared. She may be in the fashion biz with Miss Pan and Luna, but music is her true passion. She shudders at the thought of never being able to listen to her favorite songs again, and the thought of never hearing Luna's cheerful voice again really upsets her. So she takes care now not to turn the volume on full blast when she's listening to music, and she makes sure to give her ears plenty of breaks when listening for long amounts of time.

What They Would Be Famous For: She's part of Miss Pan's entourage in the fashion industry. She and Luna are always at her side, ready to offer advice and opinions on whatever crosses the boss's mind. When it comes to Miss Pan's clothing lines and fashion amusement park exclusives, Ezzy handles the more tomboy-ish designs for women's clothing, as that is her style. One day she would like to be famous for her song lyrics and guitar skills, but it's a dream she's kept on the downlow.

What They Would Get Arrested For: Probably skateboarding where she's not supposed to and then arguing with the cops about it. lol It hasn't happened yet, and hopefully it never will. And while it's not technically an arrest, before she moved in with Luna she had the cops called on her more than once for blasting the stereos full volume.

OC You Ship Them With: Luna. Luna is her best friend, the love of her life. She didn't mean to fall in love with her, but she did. For years they were Pan's assistants, best friends, inseparable. They were always together, two peas in a pod. Luna was dating a guy from the amusement park's makeup department at the time, and Ezzy realized after a while that she was kind of jealous of him. She didn't say anything, of course, and just pushed the feelings away, because Luna was her best friend and she was a little confused herself why she felt that way. After Luna and the guy broke up, it took Ezzy some more time to work out her feelings and finally work up the nerve to confess to Luna how she felt.

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: No one, really. She's pretty chill, relaxed... She's easy to get along with, and if someone does have a problem with her, that's their problem, not hers.

Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: She's honestly not too into either. She doesn't really watch movies or read books unless Luna urges her to check out something she's obsessed with at the moment. She'll happily oblige because she knows it'll make Luna happy. But if she had to pick... She likes superhero movies. The action is cool and she assigns theme songs to the characters. As for books, she likes comics because she can listen to music while she reads them and it adds to the story. They also tend to tie in with a lot of movies, so it's easier for her to get involved with the plot, trying to connect the dots.

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: She loathes musicals if the music is too bright and cheesy. She can deal with them if they're in the vein of Sweeney Todd, but upbeat musicals just annoy the crap out of her. She wants music she can bang her head to, damn it! And she's not much for what's called the classics. They had to read both Real World and Ego World classical literature in school and she hated it. She's not dumb, but looking up what certain words and phrases meant sure made her feel like she was. Fuck that Charlie Pickens guy, or whatever his name was!

Talents and/or Powers: She's a pro with the electric guitar, largely due to the fact that she started playing the instrument when she was 5. Her older brother Jax got one for his birthday that year and she pretty much stole it when he got bored with it. She's great with other instruments, too. And Luna thinks Ezzy's ability to assign a song to someone within minutes of meeting them is a talent, but that might just be some sweet flattery. lol Aside from music, Ezzy's pretty athletic and adapts to a new sport very quickly.

Why Someone Might Love Them: She's the chill pal, the one who rarely loses her cool. If Luna is freaking out over something she might get caught up in the moment and freak out with her, but with anyone else she'll keep her cool. She's just a cool person in general. lol

Why Someone Might Hate Them: She doesn't put up with rude people, which is just one of the many reasons why Pan loves Ezzy being her assistant. She keeps people in line and makes sure they know their attitudes aren't welcome in Miss Pan's presence. She's not the violent type, but she will unleash verbal hell on a person and publicly humiliate them if they don't act right. So in short, she has zero customer service skills, so anyone who gets on the receiving end of her backlash probably will hate her. lol And you would think that because of this It might hate her, but they actually get along. They do bicker, but it's like friendly arguing. There's some people he hates because they don't put up with his attitude, and then there's people he respects for the exact same reason. She just happens to be one of those that earned his respect. lol

How They Change: As one of Pandora's assistants, she's a side character, so she really wasn't all that fleshed out when she first appeared in my old comics. She and Luna showed up a few times here and there and I really loved drawing and writing them, but there just wasn't much to their characters. Now that they're in my Sims game, I get to see how they act and evolve on their own, kind of like how Reim did. The main thing that did change was her and Luna's relationship. They were best friends and that's all I intended them to be. But looking back on the comics when I was making their characters in Sims, they just seemed so perfect together. And growing up in the conservative rural environment I did, 8-9 years ago it just didn't really click that they could be a couple. Now that they are, it feels right and I'm super happy for them! <3

Why You Love Them: She's the rocker chick of the gang. lol She's a total tomboy, the type that rarely wears dresses or skirts, and she's not afraid to get dirty in the mud while playing sports. She was always friends with the boys, and she'll speak her mind without a problem. She's the exact opposite of Luna, so they remind me of the whole yin and yang concept. Together they create the perfect balance, which is why they might work so well as Pandora's assistants!

Full Name: Luna

Gender & Sexuality: Female, Bisexual

Pronouns: She/Her

Ethnicity/Species: Ego Entity

Birthplace & Birthdate: Ego World (specifically the town Fairton), June 11 Guilty Pleasures: clothes shopping, buying dresses and shoes, and having mini at-home fashion shows so Ezzy can see her latest buys; going to the dog park and watching all the cute doggos (since their apartment doesn't allow pets), listening to Ezzy play the electric guitar, watching Ezzy jam out when she's listening to music through her earbuds, facial masks and hot tea

Phobias: Horses. When she was 6, her family visited a relative's farm and Luna accidentally spooked one when she wandered too close and shrieked in delight. The horse stomped its hooves and whinnied and the shriek of delight quickly turned into a shriek of terror. Looking up at the horse in that moment suddenly made it seem very very big and very very scary. She's fine with pictures of horses, but seeing them in real life or on tv or in a movie makes her uneasy.

What They Would Be Famous For: As one of Pandora's assistants alongside Ezzy, she loves to design the girlier clothes in Miss Pan's clothing line or the amusement park exclusives. She already has her dream job designing clothes, so while Ezzy might venture into the music industry at some point, she's content to work with Miss Pan for many years to come. So if anything, her fame as a designer might continue to grow.

What They Would Get Arrested For: Nothing. Luna is very sweet and pure, so she wouldn't really do anything that might get her arrested.

OC You Ship Them With: Ezzy! They're just so perfect together, the sweet cheerful girly girl and the cool chill rocker chick! At this point I can't imagine either of them being with anyone else. When Luna and her ex broke up (they ended their relationship on good terms; they're still friends and coworkers) and after some time had passed, she was surprised when Ezzy confessed her feelings for her. She was nervous to think of Ezzy as anything more than her best friend, because she didn't want to ruin their friendship if things didn't work out, but after their first date she realized she might have already been in love with Ezzy too. Needless to say, it wasn't long until they moved in together and now they're happily married!

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: I doubt even It would want to murder Luna. Her cheerful personality might annoy him, but she's always nice to him and thinks his weird t-shirt designs are 'so badass!' And unlike Aurora, she doesn't scold him when he swears.

Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Like Pandora, she loves the sappy romantic movies/books. There's a spot on the coffee table in front of the tv in their living room that is always occupied by a box of tissues. lol

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: She doesn't really like the 'based on a true story' movies/books. Her dad loves them, and growing up watching those types of movies sometimes got her mixed up on whether the story took place in the Real World or the Ego World. Which led to her getting events and people confused when learning about both worlds at school. The Ego World basically 'copies' material things from the Real World (like books, movies, video games, merch, etc), but of course has its own original products, so it's not uncommon for kids to get confused with which world has what. (History, religion, ethnicity, and world culture can also be very confusing, as the countries in the Real World don't exist in the Ego World, but they share cultures and other aspects because of Egos learning them from their Hosts. It's... complicated. lol) And because Luna's dad loves learning about the Real World, it was especially difficult for her to keep facts in order.

Talents and/or Powers: Her dad and younger brother Seren call her 'Miss Moonshine', a play on 'Miss Sunshine' using the meaning of her name. (As a side note, this was before her dad learned the Real World meaning of moonshine, but by then the nickname had caught on and they found it hilarious.) They like to say her power is that she's always got a smile on her face and can always cheer them up when they need it. She also loves interior design and Ezzy gave her full control on decorating their apartment because of this.

Why Someone Might Love Them: She's the one who genuinely cares how your day was, if there's anything she can do to help, to make you feel better. She's just a happy person in general, and she likes to make others happy. Sometimes it wears her out, being the one to make everyone feel better, but Ezzy's taught her that it's okay to take a step back and stop being 'the mood fixer' all the time. She's just a nice, caring girl that loves to laugh and smile and her mood is contagious!

Why Someone Might Hate Them: If anyone hates Luna, they deserve to never be happy again. Luna is a precious ray of light in the world, and as Ezzy would say, 'any haters can fuck off'.

How They Change: Again, she showed up with Ezzy a few times, but never really enough for me to think about her in detail. That's why I really loved doing their bios like this! It really helped flesh her character out a bit. The main thing that changed was the fact that she and Ezzy are a couple now, and it feels so right! They complete each other. <3

Why You Love Them: She's a good, kind person and the world needs more kind people. She and Ezzy have a loving relationship and she's got a strong heart full of love for her dad and brother. And I LOVE the antics she gets up to at work with Ezzy and Pan. They're a playful trio that make work fun! And I wish I had a sister like Luna. She's such a sweetheart!

Other OCs Written Bios Here

Other OCs Drawn Bios Here And Here

#egos #my ocs #i want to do this with the other side characters now #i'll have to make them in sims first #so who knows when i'll get to that

0 notes