#doesn't work as well the other way for the aforementioned hip reason

[rivercityrabbitsbro]

Went for my ADHD checkup yesterday and left with a referral to podiatry lol

It went "How else are you managing your adhd" -> things that are meant to help with focus -> making quiet routines for myself -> doing yoga regularly -> "hey actually bc of the yoga I've noticed that my left foot's not just fucked up from an old injury but in fact functions completely differently than my right bc of this congenital thing I've got going on, and it's making my practice uneven. Pain and discomfort I can deal with, but my left and right side practice being uneven is unforgivable"

So I'm seeing a podiatrist first and then maybe at some point she's gonna send me to an ortho bc I have a fun never-diagnosed hip thing since birth that I'd just love to know what's going on in there. I'd love to have something to call it other than what my sister said when I was little which was a "double-jointed left butt" lmao It's not an issue as of right now, just inconvenient for sitting on a hard floor.

[ratwavekayla]

I make a lot of playlists. I've made two for Terminal, an upcoming digital pirate action game coming to Kickstarter on July 20th (written by me, illustrated by Gormengeist, edited by Alyssa Ridley).

There's lot of different reasons I'll make a playlist. Capturing a mood, something to create a certain mood, processing feelings. I make playlists for most books I do and they're usually doing one of those others for me as well.

This post I'll share both playlists and run through one which will also work as a sneak peak at the game.

The first playlist (the Digital Pirate Action mix) is a long sprawling one that I keep adding to. It's stuff that feels like Terminal vibes, whatever that means. It's lot of alternative hip hop, dark ambient, harsh noise, some pop songs and then songs from various influences sprinkled in. There's a character in Terminal called The Hedonist, an obsolete program and pirate contact who runs a nightclub for others who've escaped deletion. I imagine the Digital Pirate Action mix as what's playing in her club.

The second playlist (Enter the Terminal) I made more recently, after a conversation on a yet-to-be-released episode of This is Your Lifepath where we talked about music. In this case it's a linear playlist where each sings maos to aspect of the book. It's less concerned with being a cohesive listening experience and more about whatever songs reminded me of different things.

Gonna do a run through of this second playlist and explain some of my thoughts, also because it's a useful way to preview the game.

Song 1 - Break the Glass by Clipping.

This is essentially a mood setter. I think of it like an opening credits song. The repeated refrane of "wake up", lines about "life binary in Morse code". I was thinking of unreality.

Song 2 - Gospel for a New Century by Yves Turner

This song I'm also thinking about breaking from the simulation.

Song 3 - A Drop of Nelson's Blood by Jarvis Cocker

I needed a sea shanty (in this case a cover of a sea shanty) to set the mood in the Wake, the real world. Long ago, before anyone can remember, the robots and humanity shattered the moon and the world flooded, reshaping landmasses. Now the pirates of Libertatia, those who've awoken from the simulation, battle the Robot Authority on the waves.

Song 4 - Road to Hell II from Hadestown

In the world of Terminal there is story of the omen, someone who emerges in each iteration of the Terminal with extraordinary power. They use this to battle the system and hope to overthrow it. They have always failed. This song choice reflects, the idea of trying again, in the hope things might turn out different this time.

Song 5 - Saint by Deaf Havana

For this song I was thinking a lot about the pressure the pirates are under. Specifically I ended up thinking about Captain Breach, the chair of the Captain's Council, who has this position at what is going to be a pivotal moment in Libertatia's history.

Song 6 - Miracle by CHVRCHES

I wanted a song to represent the character of The Seer, a program with the power of precognition, who often aids the pirates but is ultimately still a routine part of the Terminal's function and so is difficult to trust.

It was hard to find a song that really fit, and honestly this doesn't feel like it fits perfectly but I think I'm almost imagining from the perspective of a pirate wanting to feel trust.

Song 7 - I'm Beginning to Think You Prefer Beverly Hills to Me by Fight Like Apes

This was about the aforementioned Hedonist. An upbeat song about firing fit their attitude to being declared obsolete. She intends to dance to the night away until the curtain falls, rather than fighting back.

The Hedonist's starting point of inspiration was the character of the Merovingian from the Matrix sequels. Her role in the world ended up drawing from Carrie Ann Moss's character in Mass Effect 2. They also, in my interpretation of them, ended up having some Jareth the Goblin King vibes. She's one of the NPCs I end up thinking about a lot.

Song 8 - Not in This World by Kids in Glass Houses

A campaign of Terminal begins with the startup operation Run, Atalanta, Run, a scenario designed to introduce players to how the game plays and the world as a whole as well as sparking the overall campaign. It involves your crew trying to help free a restless sleeper known as Atalanta. It's the thing in the book thats going for the plot of the first Matrix film the most.

I was thinking of the character Atalanta with this song choice. The lyrics "Don't wanna see, I want an ocean, and all of the madness, so give me your worst" feels very them.

Song 9 - Heel Turn 2 by The Mountain Goats

The major scenario arcs in Terminal are called Crashes, and each could escalate to the point of being the games finale. I picked a song for each crash.

Heel Turn 2 is for Curations of The Archivist. The crew faces of again an obsolete program who's former role involved cataloging everything important in an iteration. Now they turn to capturing and freezing everything they find value in, eventually threatening to cause enough instalibity to kill everyone in the system.

Heel Turn 2 felt appreciate for this bitter character lashing out.

Song 10 - Zero Zero by Gerard Way

The Crash Multiplied by 0 involves faxing off against the titular 0, a former special agent turned living virus who threatens to assimilate the entire Terminal (their analog should be fairly obvious to anyone who's seen the Matrix films).

This was an on the nose song choice but the refrain of "Call me zero you are zero" is pretty perfect for the way they assimilate others.

Song 11 - Frankenstein by Rina Sawayama

Corruptions of The Passenger involves facing a new plot by the Robot Authority, involving a program who can hack into pirates mind and leave bots that take over. The first known hacked pirates is Orpheus, appropriately named for their failure to avoid looming back.

I love the album Hold the Girl so much. I think this placement here is almost imagining this as from Orpheus to The Passenger.

Song 12 - The World We Knew from Sayonara Wild Hearts

The Dying Dream is where a lot of the games Paprika influence is. The crew venture into a firewalled off domain where nightmares have begun to bleed from the mind of a dying sleeper. Much of the dreams fixate on the fears and regrets of the sleeper which led to me picking this song from Sayanora Wild Hearts.

Song 13 - Born to Lose by Jenny Owen Youngs

The Twin Peaks influence I may have mentioned before is sprinkled throughout the game, sometimes in direct riffs like the character of The Arm in the Dying Dream, but also in general vibes and logic of certain places like The Seer's domain. The Crash Tortures of The Killer draws some influence from Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, and involves The Killer, a disgusting program deployed by The Puppeteer, threatening lingering threads to the crews sleeping past.

The lyrics "Somewhere in the night, a man is standing by/With a deal you won't be able to refuse/No, you can't call him, but expect your phone to ring/And brother, you prepare yourself to/Offer up what you were born to lose" reflects the way The Puppeteer wants to blackmail the crew into doing their bidding.

Song 14 - Life on Land by Dessa

The Crash Sailor's Warning is the only Crash taking place mostly in the Wake, the real world. It involves tensions at the heart of Libertatia, and challenges the crews relationships with their pirate comrades.

Using a song called Life on Land for this Crash is partly being cutesy but also a lot of the song does feel like it drives at the mindset of the central NPC Captain Wail.

(Not related to Sailor's Warning but the lines "I'm just a girl, in the body of a boy, in the belly of a whale" also really brought to mind transness in Terminal specifically.)

Song 15 - Volunteer DJ by Fishboy

[ERROR//PERMISSION DENIED//OPERATION ENCRYPTED//ALTER EGO CONTROLS REQUIRED]

Ok so I won't say what this song relates to textually, but thematically I was thinking about the last and what gets left behind.

Song 16 - Black Wave by K.flay

So as mentioned before any of the Crashes can become the games finale, the Total System Crash, where as well as defeating the central threat you'll determine the fate of Libertatia and this iteration of the Terminal. This song fits for facing something as immense as the fate of two worlds and also musically fits for like a final montage as you prepare for the last showdown.

Song 17 - There is a Place for You Here by Left at London

Figured the last song on this playlist is almost like an end credits song for the book. The lyrics remind me of some of the more emotional and subtextual themes of the game.

Like I said, less musically cohesive then the other playlist, like very much made up of songs I listened to a lot that I linked to different things. Probably also influenced by my mood when I made it, which was kinda depressed over some personal life things. It's got a more melancholy tone then the playlist I made have made a week before or a week after.

Anyway so that's two playlists about Terminal, which as a reminder is coming to Kickstarter on July 20th. Please follow the pre-launch at terminal.ratwave.uk and back when we go live!

[fineillmakeaslasherblog]

Can I request OG Michael, Norman, Billy Lenz, and Vincent being edged? 😏

Unfortunately, some of these may be a little lackluster. Anyway, nsfw under the cut.

OG!Michael Myers:

Good luck lmao

It's not really his thing, and he doesn't have a strong enough reaction for it to even be that fun if you tried.

The first time, you get a pointed look and a lil huff (which is admittedly pretty cute, but never tell him that)

He doesn't have any reaction beyond that, though. His body language is hard to read in general, and the bedroom is no exception.

Still, if you've reached the point in a relationship where he lets you anywhere near as vulnerable a part of his body as his dick, you've probably figured out how to read him, and he's more annoyed than aroused.

If you do it again, that irritation falls over a precipice and he bats your hand away to finish by himself. He doesn't have the patience to put up with this.

Altogether, not really his cup of tea. Overstimulation, on the other hand...

Norman Bates:

Why would you do this? Do you want to make him cry?

Okay, the answer is probably yes. But I digress.

As soon as you take your hand away, he looks at you like a wounded animal. Pure betrayal in his eyes. It's really cute tbh

That said, he finds that he doesn't actually hate it. He trusts you, and he knows that you won't push him into something he doesn't want, so he resigns himself to flopping his head back with a broken sigh so you can continue.

And if you start praising him? Any apprehension he had about the whole thing goes up in smoke. The first sweet words leave your lips and any ability to think clearly is replaced with buzzing nothingness.

Tell him how good and patient he's being for you as you edge him to tears and he's making the prettiest little sounds in your ear in no time.

His stamina in the bedroom is absolutely abysmal, so this is probably a decent way to make sure he can actually go for longer than five minutes.

Just make sure you do let him cum by the end of it. He's not one for long-term denial. It may seem to him more like rejection than any kind of kink.

Billy Lenz:

Another man who you would have to be truly sadistic to edge, though for very different reasons.

This man's sex drive is absolutely ungodly, which actually makes him pretty hard to edge since he hardly needs any stimulation to cum. Still, if you can manage it, the effort is well worth it.

When you first start, he's moaning and whining before you even wrap your hand around his cock, so I sincerely hope that you have thick walls.

That noise is nothing, however, compared to when you stop. The scream he lets out is the most pathetic, agonized sound you've ever heard from him, which is quite a feat in itself.

Despite his eagerly bucking hips, though, he's internally panicking. Why did you do that?! Were you mad at him? Did he do something bad? Did he finally say something that crossed a line?

Are you going to leave him?!

Please calm him down before he works himself into a frenzy. For all his filthy rambling, we all know that he's a deeply wounded man, and you need to be patient with him.

Give him lots of kisses and praise, maybe even tell him how pretty his cock looks when it's twitching with need, and he'll very quickly warm up to the idea.

That being said, have lots of water on standby any time you plan on edging him. Even a single edge can be enough to have him sobbing. (See the aforementioned sex drive.)

Just make sure to read his body language and you'll be fine. He can't handle as much edging as most, and letting you do it at all is a massive show of trust that can easily be shattered if you take it too far.

Vincent Sinclair:

Easily the most straightforward of the four. Make no mistake, he'll whine and squirm, but he takes it relatively in stride.

If you're lucky enough to be doing this while his mask is off, his face is scrunched up as he tries to control his reactions.

Not because he doesn't want you to see them, necessarily. But contrary to popular belief, he does have some sense of dignity to uphold.

Even with his mask on, though, you'd be able to read him from his hands flexing and releasing repeatedly, the slight tremor in his hips that only grows stronger as you go, the muscles in his abdomen convulsing every time you pull away.

He can easily handle this for the longest, too. Vincent is a patient man, and it will take a lot of effort to get anywhere close to his limit. (That's not to say he won't be complaining about it before then, of course.)

If you really want to make him whine, don't focus too much on his cock. Leave lingering kisses on the rest of his body, gently bite his inner thighs, make sure his whole body is burning with need.

Making sure he's pent up and drawn taut from the beginning will only make his reaction when you deny him all the sweeter.

[hispipsqueak]

Forever

Hanta Sero x F!Reader NSFW

Summary: After years of being together, you and Sero decide to reminisce in the best way possible.

WC: 2.2K

A/N: Hi friends! Sero is one of those characters that I truly see as good husband material and I wanted to express some of those feelings in this piece. I know for a lot of us, especially in my age range, growing up and leaving that age of “dumb teenager/early 20′s mess” to “adult with responsibilities” is a big change and I hope that is reflected a bit in this. Also, there’s car sex. So that’s fun :D As always, likes and reblogs are very much appreciated! Thanks for reading <3 P.S: CAN WE TALK ABOUT SERO IN THE NEW EP??? ahhhh

TW: car sex, adulting/getting older, domestic relationship, daddy kink, breeding kink, mentions of drug use

Sero's eyes stared at the glowing screen, trying to comprehend the information yet again.

His gaze darted toward the corner, 3:36 A.M., and he yawned, before blinking and trying to re-read the document again. 

"Hey pretty boy." 

The smell of jasmine perfume and honey wafted in and he smiled sleepily as you ran your fingers through his shaggy black hair.

"Mm...I know, I know." He muttered, nuzzling into your touch. You were his rock, always making sure he ate well and slept enough, making sure he wouldn't overwork himself. Sero thought back to your UA days of sneaking out at 3 AM to some fast food joint and getting stoned while eating greasy fries in the back of his car. Time sure flew, huh?

You rested your head on his shoulder and pressed a kiss to his neck.

"Come to bed. Paperwork will still be there in the morning, I promise.", you muttered into his soft skin. He relented and pulled himself out of the chair, twirling you around so he had you pressed against the wall.

His eyes roamed your face. You were still gorgeous as the day he first laid eyes on you in high school.

"Whatcha thinkin' about, Hanta?" you whispered. He grinned, that toothy smirk that you fell in love with unchanged after all these years, and kissed you. 

"Just reminiscing. Thinking about how far we've come. Remember when we were annoying teenagers, sneaking out of the dorms?" 

"I'm pretty sure we are the reason for Aizawa's grey hairs now. Remember when your van broke down and we had to beg Bakugo to pick us up at 4 A.M.?" you giggled back, thinking of the blonde's angry scolding the entire ride home.

The two of you chuckled quietly, thinking about the years past. You glanced down at your hand, the sparkling diamond that adorned it shining in the dim room. 

"I remember the day you proposed too. I'm pretty sure I thought you were going to dump me." you teased.

Even in the dark, you could see his face flush and his eyes narrow.

"I was NERVOUS. I was trying to ask the love of my life to spend the rest of our lives together and you just sat there being beautiful and Denki spent the day before trying to convince me to do a flash mob and it was a LOT of pressure!"

"You literally started off with, 'We've had some bad times, and some good times, and this was fun'." You laughed, picturing his face that day. He was sweating bullets and your heart was sinking, thinking he was ending it. He had been so secretive and weird the weeks prior, as opposed to his normally chilled out demeanor. 

Sero kissed your forehead.

"I still have no idea why you said yes, but you're stuck with me, babe." He clinked his matching band against yours, a gesture the two of you did to remind yourselves of your unbreakable bond. 

His long arms wrapped around your waist and pulled you close to him and you buried yourself into his chest, smelling his citrus-scented soap. He rested his chin on your hair. 

"When did we get so old, Y/N?" He whispered, his eyes looking at the walls behind you. Pictures of the two of you decorated the house. The pair of you in matching sunglasses at the beach, a group photo of you two and the squad at dinner after the aforementioned proposal, a candid on your wedding day, and then the two of you holding your twin boys.

"I'm pretty sure after we became parents." you mumbled into his chest, your sleepiness apparent in your voice. "I think once I had to say Daddy in a non-sexual way, was when I realized we were old." 

Sero chuckled quietly, his hands squeezing your waist. 

"But, we're still cool right? We aren't our parents." 

You looked up at him, eyebrows raised.

"Hanta, are you worried about getting older?"

He closed his eyes. 

"Not worried as much as...I just...I don't wanna be an old guy who drives a minivan and talks about retirement and golf."

Your eyes widened and you burst into laughter.

"Baby, I'm pretty sure you would never take up golf."

Sero pouted and you grinned before continuing.

"But in all seriousness, we aren't the kids we were in high school. Maybe we can't pull all nighters and still function the next day, and maybe we have to be parents who eat more vegetables and less french fries. But it's also nice to have a car that doesn't require a running start to move, and have a house instead of sneaking in and out of each other's dorm rooms. And you know, the kids are KIND OF cool."

He nodded.

"They are pretty cool kids."

You cupped his face, tilting him towards you.

"If I have to grow old with someone, I'm glad it's with you."

His face flushed and he pressed his lips to yours, kissing you deeply. You gently tugged at the longer hair behind his ears as you kissed him back. He let out a low groan and his hands kneaded at your curves, squeezing your ass and hips.

Finally, the two of you broke apart, breathless and grinning. He pressed his forehead to yours.

"How about…we reminisce a little more? Maybe...in the car, for old time's sake?"

You nodded and the two of you headed to the garage, trying to stay as quiet as possible to not wake up the kids. Sero opened the car door and the two of you slid in the backseat, giggling like teenagers. 

You straddled him and could feel his cock through his joggers. He groaned as you grinded against it, teasing him with hungry hot kisses to his neck. 

“You’re such a tease, princess.” He whispered before tracing the shell of your ear with his tongue. Your body shivered at his touch. Even after all this time, he made you feel like a lovestruck schoolgirl. You ran your hands down his toned chest, his body lean from hero work, and slid your fingers underneath his shirt.

Sero took this as an invitation to pull off his black tank top and you did the same to your sleeping shirt, an old band tee that you snagged from him. His hands cupped your breasts, slowly kneading the soft flesh as he placed soft kisses on your collarbone and shoulder.

“Mmm...you’re so fucking beautiful. How the hell did I get so damn lucky, babe?” He said between kisses. Sero had a way of making you feel like the sexiest woman in the world and you couldn’t help but smile as he worshipped your breasts, kissing and licking his way down till he latched his mouth over your nipple. 

Using his other hand to tweak and tug at the hardened bud, he alternated between the two, sucking and leaving soft bites. Your back arched involuntarily, pushing your chest deeper into his mouth as you moaned.

“Fuck…need you Hanta.”

His long fingers worked their way down your belly, tracing circular patterns as he reached your sex. He ran a finger across your slit, barely parting your folds.

“What do you want, baby? Tell Daddy what you want.”

“Please...please touch me. Please daddy.” you begged, grinding yourself against him for the smallest amount of friction. You could feel yourself leaving a mess on his sweatpants, but you needed his touch.

He let out a deep chuckle.

“So desperate, huh baby? Let daddy take care of you.” You bit your lip as he plunged two fingers into your cunt. The length, combined with the hooking motion had you gasping. He continued to plunge in and out of your sopping heat as you rocked against him. Your thighs tensed, threatening to close on his arm. He maneuvered the two of you so you were laying on your back across the seat, his hand gripping your soft thighs, holding you in place as he finger-fucked you.

“Take it like a good girl baby. Let daddy make you feel good. You look so beautiful for me baby.” He praised you as he pushed deeper into you. You could feel him hit spots in you that made you see stars. All you could do was lay back and cry from the overwhelming pleasure that clouded your brain.

“Fuck...daddy, gonna cum soon!” you wailed, eyes rolling back. Hanta then chose this moment to pull his fingers from you, leaving your pussy to clench around nothing. You let out a frustrated whimper, tears leaking from your eyes.

“I’m so sorry baby, but I promise I’m gonna make it all better. You trust me baby?” He asked, his eyes dark with desire and something primal.

You nodded, sniffling at the shock of your orgasm being ripped from you. He tapped your lips with his fingers,still dripping of your arousal. Obediently, you opened and sucked on the two fingers, tasting yourself. 

“Look how good you taste baby. You’re such a good girl for me. I want you to lick up every last drop from my fingers. Can you do that for daddy?” He asked, grinning.

Nodding dumbly, you slurped down every bit of yourself from his hand. He pressed against your tongue, making you gag around him. You looked up at him, drool falling from the corners of your mouth. 

Hanta felt his cock twitch. Fuck you looked so sexy, so fucked and in love. He could see the devotion in your eyes as you looked at him awaiting his next instructions.

He pulled his hand back, strings of saliva hanging off of his calloused fingers. He propped himself above you so he was looking right down at your gorgeously fucked out face.

“You ready baby? You ready to take all of Daddy’s cock?” He asked, tugging your shorts down and lining himself up with your entrance. Your fingers found their way to his neck, tugging him close to you. The two of you shared a deep kiss, exchanging unspoken promises and memories before breaking apart. You nodded, looking deep into his eyes.

“Always."

Hanta felt his face flush, before slowly pressing into your tight heat. You bit your lip. No matter how many times the two of you had done this, you still had to prepare for his length. He wasn’t the thickest but his cock was long and lean just like him, with a curve that pressed itself right against your most sensitive spots.

“Fuck...you feel so good for me. You’re squeezing me so well baby.” He murmured, his dark eyes drinking in every inch of your body. His hands ran up and down your sides as he looked down at you and he gave you a small grin as he pinched your hip. You dug your fingertips into his shoulder blades, pulling him flush against you.

“Oh fuck you feel so good.” You rocked your hips against him, rolling yourself onto his cock. He took this as a cue to go faster and started to piston deeper inside of you, his balls slapping against your ass. His tip slammed against your walls, burying him deeper inside you. Moans and sighs filled the backseat and you gripped him tightly.

“That’s it babe, that’s it. Taking daddy so fucking deep. Fuck you’re sucking me in so well. I might have to knock you up again if you keep it up. You want that princess? Want daddy to put another baby inside you?” Hanta panted, hungrily kissing your neck and shoulder as he fucked into you faster. His teeth nipped at the thin skin and you cried out, from a mixture of pain and pleasure. “Answer me baby girl.”

“Y-yes daddy! Please fill me up with your cum. Need you so bad. Wan’a have your baby.” You moaned, delirious from him. The windows to the car were foggy and sweat ran down your bodies as you repeatedly crashed into each other, and yet all you could feel was him, all you wanted was to stay with him and please him as much as you could.

He could feel his release rapidly approaching. His hand snaked down to your clit and he pressed tight circles to the sensitive bud. Your back arched from the seat as you moaned out a mixture of curses and begs. Your mindless babbling spurred him on more. He wanted to keep fucking you, make it so you couldn’t remember your own name, drive you insane with desire and want.

“Tell me who’s fucking you so good baby. Who’s making you feel so fucking good? Who’s cum do you want to fill that tight little pussy of yours?” He breathed out, slamming into you impossibly faster.

“Daddy daddy daddy - DADDY!” you chanted, your mind fuzzy as you tightened around him, creaming on his cock. You wrapped your legs around his waist and rode out your high on his cock as your eyes fluttered and your mouth dropped open.

“That’s it, that’s it, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” He groaned out as he released into you, filling you with his seed. His cock twitched, spurting his load into you and his fingers gripped your hips, holding you tightly as he filled you up.

The two of you panted, breathing hard as you came down from your highs, slowly moving into a position where he could hold you. He moved some strands of hair, plastered to your face with sweat, and pressed a soft kiss to your temple.

“I love you.” 

You grinned, sleepiness overtaking your body as you leaned into him, your lips pressing against his skin.

“Forever.”

[fly-pow-bye]

ThunderCats Roar - “Prank Call”

Co-Executive Producer: Victor Courtright

Supervising Producer: Nate Cash

Producer: Marly Halpern-Graser

Story by: Victor Courtright

Teleplay by: Marly Halpern-Graser

Directed by: Jeremy Polgar

I was expecting a lot less from this episode just from that title, that’s for sure.

This episode starts with Lion-O talking about how, as Lord of the ThunderCats, he will not give up on fighting the forces of darkness, as the camera is zoomed right into his face. Gee, I wonder if he's not fighting those aforementioned forces of darkness, but actually doing something really mundane.

Big surprise, that turns out to be the case, as Lion-O is repeatedly punching a TV trying to get it to work. He's not lying about the darkness, he's just fighting against the darkness of a non-working TV. There's more of a joke here than one might realize. This is a problem, because there might not be any TV stores on Third Earth!

Tygra, the down-to-Earth straight man of this reboot's version of ThunderCats, decides to bring out his secret weapon...a TV manual that says "How to Television." If the grammar error was intentional, it really wouldn't fit Tygra as the down-to-Earth and by-the-book voice of reason. Lion-O decides to take all of this to heart and read along with him...

...or, he can just hit it with the Sword of Omens, and let the Eye of Thundara do all the work. Hooray for simplicity! Cheetara may also have a point about there probably being TV stores on Third Earth, because it does get at least one channel that airs the Silverhawks. Kids, that's another show by the same people who did ThunderCats. Maybe if this reboot does really well, we'll get "SilverHawks Squawk."

Unfortunately, this fictional reboot appears to be truer to the original than this one, as it's too slow and boring to appeal to today's kids. At least, that's what everyone seemed to imply about the original ThunderCats. WilyKit and WilyKat aren't swayed by the majesty of Commander Stargazer, and they want to go outside and explore. Tygra tells them that they can't go out to the wilderness by themselves unless they have a chaperone, and he specifically chooses the guy that just hit a TV with a sword. Well, it worked, so I can't argue with that logic.

Lion-O immediately jumps at the opportunity with a audible and visible "heck yeah", but the ThunderKittens respond with an audible and visible "that stinks." Lion-O tries to make his case.

Lion-O: Just us cool kids hanging out, getting into trouble, fun stuff!

Wait, us "cool kids"? Are they or are they not going to go with the "Lion-O is still a kid in a grown man's body" plot point from the original? They never really confirm this either way, though Roar's version of Exodus implies he was an adult even when he was escaping from his exploding home planet. WilyKit and Kat say that if he's a chaperone, he's one of those grownups, with Kat calling him "basically the same as Tygra."

We get a zoom in of his brain at that comment, which is extremely small. This is funny because he's not particularly intelligent. Honestly, I'm surprised he even had a brain. Cheetara comes up, saying that it's also not that bright of an idea to let the "baby king" babysit them, and Lion-O responds that he's basically an adult, which still leaves the answer to the “was he calling himself a kid because he’s still a kid in a grown man’s body” question vague, and there's no manual for that.

Tygra then takes out a book called "How to Responsible". I get it, like how the last manual was called "How to TV". Again, if the grammar error was intentional, it really wouldn't fit Tygra as the down-to-Earth and by-the-book voice of reason.

But no, he's not going to read some stinky manuals; he wants to be cool and hip, not by someone who is literally by-the-book. Lion-O doesn't want to be just a chaperone, he wants to be the best chaperone ever and a general "cool guy". First, he's a cool kid, and now he's a cool guy. I guess that "baby king" comment got to him, if a little bit less than "you're basically Tygra."

Using his and Snarf's knowledge of the coolest things on Third Earth, he takes them out surfing on the waves of the Jade Lagoon, swinging across the Bottomless Gorge, and telling stories about how he convinced a caveman to give him a time capsule. Less than a minute into this outing, the ThunderKittens are already calling him cool...well, almost cool. He rubs his cheeks with enthusiasm at that.

WilyKat points to a big rock with a bunch of pointer fingers pointing to a sign that says "Danger! Evil!! (Bad Stuff Inside!!!)" When the exclamation points get more numerous with each warning, one knows its serious. Even Lion-O knows this, as we don't get the way-too-easy joke about him just ignoring the sign and saying, "well, it must be safe!"

Instead, he tells WilyKit and Kat that they should leave it alone. Snarf nods to this oath of safety, which is fitting for the original Snarf without the annoyance of Snarf's way of speaking. WilyKit is not impressed by this, and says "whatever you say, Tygra."

So Lion-O kicks through the walls into the evil "danger evil" location, and they find a giant crystal in the middle of it. Lion-O gives some pause to interacting with it, thinking that it must be the evil stuff that sign was warning about, but the ThunderKittens immediately go out and touch it. Lion-O tries to raise some concerns, but WilyKit suggests that he's becoming Tygra. They get a lot less subtle about this here; Lion-O outright says that there should be a manual for that crystal. He's just setting himself up for the inevitable "you're just being like Tygra" talk, and he shuts his trap.

In the opposite end of the "how much one shuts their trap" line, the crystal then lights on fire and reveals that it was calling Mumm-Ra. Those telephone sounds aren't just to sound cool; it turns out that this crystal is like a giant telephone, and it only has one number on its speed dial. Mumm-Ra answers what a "who dares to call the tomb of Mumm-Ra", and WilyKit and Kat know exactly what to do.

We get the titular prank call, with WilyKat declaring himself as the evil plumber. Lion-O, again, tries to get the kids to stop doing that, but they respond by reminding him that they did kick his bony butt. Wow, a hint at continuity? Say it ain't so! Well, okay, they're going to kick his bony butt in any other episode featuring him, so it could be a coincidence.

Snarf is even more the voice of reason even if he doesn't use it in this reboot, and Lion-O eventually tells him that he shouldn't be like Tygra. It's a good downwards progression for Lion-O in this episode. He starts out as kind of the voice of reason, and then he just decides to be the irresponsible caretaker that joins in on the mischief.

He does have a reason for that. After convincing Mumm-Ra to screw his cauldron to fix his plumbing problem, causing his lair to flood, they laugh it up. Sure, they angered an evil ever-living guy, but one of the kids called Lion-O the best chaperone ever, so it must be fine for him to do that!

While Lion-O has a brain that is easily breakable, Mumm-Ra's is a bit bigger, as he eventually realizes what's going on. This crystal has a few other abilities, including teleportation, as he's able to reach through the crystal and grab the ThunderKittens right into it. Turns out, this was a crystal he had that he forgot about, even with all the pointer fingers surrounding it, and he knows how to use it. Well, sort of; Mumm-Ra does seem to share Lion-O's hatred of using manuals, as even he doesn't know all the features of the crystal. He doesn't even know where he teleported the ThunderKittens to, only hoping that it took them somewhere nasty.

He does know one other feature of this crystal; it can store and give him evil energies, turning Mumm-Ra into his buff form again. He's not as big now, but at sunset, he'll be at full power. Lion-O would try to stop him, but he realizes that he can't fly, and he's way up there floating on that phone-teleporter-evil-storer crystal.

Mumm-Ra, using the crystal to fly away, goes right back to his pyramid, and Lion-O vows to go to the pyramid and fight him. But not before we get another close zoom-in on his face, getting a slightly off-model shot of him covering his mouth and saying "before Tygra finds out."

For the record, Cheetara guesses it, but Tygra and Panthro are kind of clueless. Hearing some commotion surrounding that evil pyramid outside, they go into the Thunder Tank and drive it, two of them assuming the baby king and the kids must not be there. Tygra may be the straight man in this episode and almost every other time, but even he is fallible.

Lion-O shows up at Mumm-Ra's lair first, and reveals that he found a way against the "but he's up so high" problem: use the robotic Snarf's ability to turn into a jetpack. Maybe he just assumed he had that feature, because he seems to do everything. One can even play video games on him, though they're too old-school for the ThunderKittens. Huh, I realize that's a continuing theme from the last episode, and thankfully for this episode, that's not something I'll say very often.

Unfortunately for Lion-O and fortunately for the TV-Y7-FV rating, he figured out that strategy too late, as the crystal has given Mumm-Ra enough power to be impervious to stabbing. The other ThunderCats show up, and they see that Lion-O just lost the kids.

Everyone knows where this is leading to, but Mumm-Ra has no time for "sorry I'm such a jerk" scenes. He immediately commands silence. Turns out, that crystal takes that as a command to petrify the others into not so flattering poses. One can see Tygra's now-sculpted behind, one cannot unsee it.

He then throws Lion-O and Snarf into the crystal. I would say that if he petrified Lion-O too, the episode couldn't continue, but it's more likely he wouldn't know how to activate that feature again since he didn't read that all important manual. Lion-O’s not the only person who needs to learn a lesson.

It turns out, the crystal teleported to this void, the same void that the ThunderKittens were sent to. They tell him that there's absolutely no way out of this void, which only contains carpet, and they begin to cry about it. It's really over-the-top, with them crying buckets of tears over this situation and blowing their nose with tissue paper. It's not played like a tear jerker scene, it seems more like a "huh, look at how much they're overreacting" joke.

They do throw in one plot-important aspect to that joke, giving it a point: Lion-O asks where did they get that tissue paper from. This scene isn't funny, so we can't use the Roger Rabbit excuse, but it turns out that paper came from somewhere. Let's see Mumm-Ra figure out exactly what it was, as he's gloating about how the ThunderCats are defeated without him even worrying about reading a manual.

Lion-O: You mean this manual?!

It turns out, manuals are good! That's the lesson of the day, kids: make sure to be educated, and Lion-O had to learn this by having every other option be unavailable to him. That's how lessons should be learned!

While he may have found out how to get out of the void thanks to that manual, the sun still sets, and Mumm-Ra's power is now at its maximum. He's big enough to use the ThunderCats base as a chair again. However, he does not c, because reading the manual gave Lion-O knowledge beyond knowledge, giving him the ability to just talk to the crystal to undo all of that evil stuff.

The joke, of course, is that this mystical crystal is more like one of those smart home devices. It's even activated by saying, "hey Crystal", and it talks to him like a Google Assistant or Alexa. See, even ThunderCats has to go with modern times!

We get our fight scene, and yes, one of the actions is a "mummy butt spanking" from Panthro. One can see Mumm-Ra's not-nearly-as-sculpted cheeks, and they cannot unsee it. Outside of that, it's a decent fight scene, with one particularly neat effect throughout it: as one of the evil actions the crystal did was give Mumm-Ra the power, he's constantly fluctuating between his skeletal form and his muscular form. The animation isn't as good as the last episode's, but I'd say the rest of this episode stacks up pretty well against that one. At the end, Lion-O shouts a one-liner to finish this whole scene, echoing the moral of the story:

Lion-O: You should have read the manual! (winks at camera)

Including that eye wink makes that line so cheesy, but I'll accept it. At least it's self-aware about it. He decides to destroy the crystal, which causes Mumm-Ra to revert back to his skeleton form as he falls into the cauldron. Wait, I thought the cauldron was broken! Never mind. In the end, the day is saved, and Lion-O has learned not to trust glowing crystals. That wasn't exactly the lesson, but Tygra accepts it anyway.

Also, there's a "The End" title card drawn in crayon? Cartoons seem quite satisfied with just ending abruptly now, including every other ThunderCats Roar episode I've seen. It's not like this was the end of a running joke, it's just there. Seems like a minor thing to talk about, but I just found it kind of odd.

How does it stack up?

This one feels very similar to Boggy Ben, but it feels a lot more connected. I had no real issues with this episode other than the over-reliance on wacky face gags, something the last episode lacked. It has good pacing, and there's even a moral somewhere in here that the kids could learn.

Again, I was wondering if I should give this one rating or another, but in this case, it's whether it's a 4 or a 5. So far, this is the best episode I've seen, including some episodes after this one, so I might as well give it 5 cats. Maybe there will be better episodes that will make me re-rate this one, and I hope that's the case, but as it stands...

Next, we meet Mr. Driller.

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