#don't like it as much when people think they're being soooooo funny

[trinketstreasuretrove]

I keep bouncing back and forth between interests like pong

Extra thoughts/details & sketches below cut

You have no fucking idea how much thought I put into this

Kremy: Changeling that disguises as a unicorn

Gideon: Kirin

Frost: Unicorn

Gricko: Earth Pony

Torbek: Abada

Twig: Breezie

There is going to be so much rambling so fucking STRAP IN

Okay so. Changeling Kremy. I realized like 80% of the way through I coulda made him a dragon but I wanted to draw horses soooooo... :| I imagine he is CONSTANTLY changing around his cutie mark. He could theoretically give himself a normal mustache but I think the idea of him being unable to do so is stupidly funny so he still draws it on. I tried to give him twists bc I thought it'd look pretty & I don't know how I'd translate the hair people usually give him in human designs onto a horse. I'm PRAYING that it's clear enough they're supposed to be twists (ref image below)

I'll be honest I think Gideon is the one I put the least thought into. Although that's mostly because his idea was the first one I just LATCHED onto and stuck with. He's a Kirin so he still has the connection to fire and whatnot. Instead of being imprisoned by hobgoblins it'd probably be diamond dogs in this au. He does still have a beard unlike usual Kirins but it just sort of melds into his mane.

Frost was a FUCKING NIGHTMARE (heh mare) to design I'm ngl. I kept having to redo his colors and had to heavily simplify his robes (and even then I had to redraw them when I got to the coloring stage because I hated them that much). But I think he'd turned out quite pretty in the end. I didn't want to just slap stripes on a horse and just call it a day though so desgining him to look recognizable but not just look like a zebra or a weird shaped tiger was difficult. He does have the saddle bags they have in MLP to stand in for his backpack & I tried to give it a similar pattern to his waist sash he has in his splash art. Also his mane is supposed to look like this under the hood.

It's supposed to have some strands coming out the sides to resemble the stripes on his face & I really hope that comes through in the design O.O

Gricko I also admittedly didn't think too much on because his design translated surprisingly well into a pony :] It was a little difficult to figure out his mane but I think it's quite cute. Figuring out his cutie mark was stressful. I wasn't sure if I should've gone with something music or animal related so I started sketching a harmonica with like. a music sheet? coming out of it? But after messing with the shape of the "wind" coming out of the top I realised I could make it into a paw to sort of combine music and animals and I think its verrry cute :]

Torbek! Torbek! Torbek! :D I'm crazy happy w/ how Torbek came out. He translates shockingly well into pony form especially when I found out ab Abadas in MLP. The incredibly lanky proportions fit verrry well. The leg designs are supposed to reference how his (witchlight-effected) arm in his splash art turns darker towards the ends and the stripes on his chest reference the straps from the straight jacket(?) under his coat. ALSO Abadas do have a cutie mark/cutie mark equivalent design on their flank (they represent their special talent and I think Torbek's OG mark would be about climbing) but I covered up where it would be with some witchlight machinery cause I thought it was clever :] it's specifically based on this plate(?) on his back

Anddd finally Twig :] I went into her design immediately knowing she was gonna be a Breezie. I originally just kinda slapped some colors onto a basic Breezie body and added a hat but it was really boring so I added some spots and gave her colored hooves to spruce it up just a little bit. The spots also gave me the ability to give her some AJ style freckles which I think are verrry adorable. :]

PS. as a treat for reading all that heres the OG concept I sketched up in MS paint (the designs stayed mostly the same [besides color palette] but I thought Frost look too tiger-y so I changed it up a bit in the end) You get a gold star if you can make out all of my handwriting btw

[mochinomnoms]

picture: PTM jade and mc/y/n/yuu and jade drops "subtly" that morays mate for life and that he thinks shy ppl are cute, and hopes they can crack out of their shells, in order to try and coax the reader into getting over they're "shyness" toward they're feelings to him

i also think it would be funny if jade was lamenting about how no one wants to join his club :( he just wants someone to hike with :(( just for his pearl to point out that no one in their right mind would walk into the woods with the scariest mf in school, whose actively proud of how scary he is

jades reaction: :O D:

even worse if reader said something like "at risk of getting my ass beat" before saying all that to him

I love the idea of Jade trying to subtly push Yuu into being more forward with him, but maybe being conflicted because their shyness is soooooo cute! I think he gets a kick out of them getting riled up and then claming back up in their little bubble again. It's cute, and he wants to see it a much as possible.

I don't know how he drops it, but somehow the topic of romance comes up, maybe Yev is talking about an arranged marriage he's in. He's complaining that the other person is not his type, but it's fine, since he can divorce after a couple of years with the help of a solid prenup. Maybe Jade makes a mention that morays rarely divorce, looking at Yuu as he says, "We morays mate for life, once we've chosen a mate, we never look back."

They're sweat dropping, trying to nonchalantly look away like they aren't aware of Jade's devastating love for them. It helps when he immediately turns to Riddle and asks, "You'd know, wouldn't you Riddle? My brother has been chasing after you for years now, fuhuh."

Now it's a whole scene with Riddle, red faced, demanding that Jade explain what exactly he's insinuating, while Jade is smiling and keeping quiet.

But regarding the club, I like to think he gets new people during his third year! Wynfred is a weird little shit, so he doesn't get put off by Jade, or really listens to everyone's warnings. He assumes that Jade will like him cause he's great and everyone loves him! A lil delulu as a treat.

[rwbyrg]

Another thing I had noticed was the way Ruby interreacts with everyone vs. how she interacts with Oscar. Like her mannerisms seem to change a bit when she speaks or is near him or she treats him differently from the others. Because personally I've never seen her act very nervous around the others when she met them versus how she met Oscar, and she still does it to this day. What do you think?

I am soooooo late to answering these asks and this got sooooo long aha. Thank you for your patience. 🙇‍♀️

I have noticed that Ruby acts markedly different around Oscar than the others! And in my opinion, it is done with a great deal of intention. The thing with RG is that a lot of what makes the ship so strong is how subtle its writing is. So much of it is paralleled themes and a lot of it relies on an absence of something that is usually present. Often treating the absence itself as a presence of something to be paid attention to.

When we first meet Ruby in V1, she says she gets along better with weapons than she does with people. (Lol isn't it funny that Oscar's name means "God's Spear" haha. surely that has no correlation whatsoever... anyway).

When Ruby meets Weiss, she gets screamed at and makes a dust bomb explode in the courtyard, but by V2 so many of their conflicts are resolved and they've become rivals/besties/team partners.

When Ruby meets Blake, she's got her foot in her mouth and is super awkward... until there's an opportunity to connect with her about stories and fairytales. Then we see Ruby's earnest side come out and the anxiety in her pretty much disappears.

When Ruby meets Jaune, it's remarkably not awkward. Their shared social awkwardness and feelings of not belonging at Beacon cancel each other out and they're able to have a fairly normal conversation.

Very quickly through the early volumes, Ruby gets comfortable. As a leader, as part of her team, as a welcome part of their social circle. She's young, still optimistic and full of hope. She hasn't been given too much trauma or cause to question herself by that point. She has her moments, sure, but like a lot of kids that don't fit in much and aren't super social, she's actually really good at it once she's given the chance.

But when Ruby meets Oscar - while she has experienced some of the Horrors™ that have chipped away at her self confidence - she's not too different than usual. Not at first, anyway.

He comments on her eyes and she responds naturally by asking him who he is, she's able to be candid with her response when she's told he's carrying Oz around, and yeah she giggles a bit when they're all playing the 'getting to know you game', but she also smiles at him. Earnest, trying to make him feel at ease cause this situation is kind of weird for all of them. When they spar later, she's being a goofy kid. Sticking her tongue out at him, laughing while they throw and dodge punches, running to help him when he collapses, grabbing his wrist with very little hesitation to tug him towards the rest of the group. It's all fairly normal...

...and then the Dojo Scene happens.

With the Dojo Scene, the narrative tone of their relationship is both established and changed. Ruby comes down the stairs and she's open, at first. But as they talk a bit more, her body language becomes more and more closed off the closer she gets to him. Clasping her hands in front of her when she asks a question about his past, then hugging herself as she dares to step a little closer to him, as if putting up some kind of protective barrier.

She tries complimenting his efforts, laughing a bit to hide her nervousness, is fairly candid, and makes a bit of a joke. But the joke reveals a wound of hers that hasn't healed yet and opens the conversation up to vulnerability. A vulnerability that Oscar points out immediately. One she has not spoken to anyone else about up until that point.

"How do you handle all of this?"

Ruby pauses. She's not used to talking to people about her problems. At first, I don't think she's even thinking about herself when he asks. She nudges him to clarify what he means and he opens up about his own fears, which prompts her routine song and dance that she gives to everyone. Uplifting words, holding onto hope, keep moving forward, just don't let the things that haunt you catch up and you'll be fine.

And Oscar doesn't accept it. He isn't moved by it. He's not comforted. He rejects it, questions it, and completely lashes out. Is actually angry that she's telling him to "just press on" in spite of those fears. Is angry on her behalf that she's not being honest about her own feelings.

And Ruby cracks. She actually opens up and talks to Oscar about all the grief she keeps buried down and doesn't burden anyone with. She might have argued to herself that it was the only way to make Oscar feel better, but it's uncharacteristic for her. She doesn't usually have to go that deep to cheer other people up. When she tells him about her losses and motivations, Oscar joins her in that open doorway, in shared vulnerability... and the moment she sees an opportunity to retreat, she takes it. Not used to this closeness in the slightest.

From then on out they're still friends, clearly. Their bond strengthened, if anything... but Ruby does not know how to handle him when he has such a skill for seeing through her in ways no one else ever seems to catch onto. She's able to push it away a bit when he's pre-occupied with something else. When he's worried about the merge or his mistakes in Atlas, or they're in a group conversation, she's able to act with some sense of normalcy... but when they're alone that awkwardness comes creeping back.

When WBY confront Ruby about her decision to keep the truth from Ironwood, Yang specifically asks how Oscar feels about it, and we see Ruby falter. This is a direct parallel to Bumbleby circa V8 when Yang is the one worrying about Blake thinking less of her for her own decision. We've seen Ruby disagree with people before and remain confident in her choice... but she questions herself here because of how much she values Oscar's opinion. And their disagreement colours more of her interactions with him throughout V7.

When they're all practicing in the academy training rooms, Oscar comments on her semblance. Asking if she's always been able to do that, which is something he wouldn't ask if he didn't pay close enough attention to be able to notice such differences. She's laughing awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.

And the fumble, when they finally come back together with renewed trust - that I already dove into a bit over in this post - she's still doing it!!

She is so excited to talk to him again, to not be at odds, that she almost runs directly into his back and is all flailing arms, and awkward giggles as she tries to tell him she agrees with him. When they finally establish that they're on the same page, she's hugging herself tight, rubbing her arm, looking away from him in her nervousness. Even when she walks away she's hugging herself again. Meanwhile, Oscar is all open body language, hand on hip, hand extended to her, active listening and receptive to what she has to say.

Interesting that this conversation's themes around choosing truth over fear calls back to the Dojo Scene so well, innit? 🤔

The last example I want to give isn't about Ruby. It's about Oscar. Throughout the show, he's always been a bit skittish, jumpy, and expressive with things like loud noises and - quite noticeably - touch. Oscar's been tackled to the ground by Nora in multiple hugs, tackled by the whole team in V6 after he went missing, scooped up by Jaune after he was kidnapped, and in all of those instances there has been a noticeable physical discomfort from him. Often a flinch or a wince beforehand, only relaxing into it after the surprise of the impact is over with.

But Ruby has put her hand on Oscar's shoulder multiple times (outside the Dojo Scene) without eliciting that response from him. One of those touches made him blush, if anything. And when Oscar returns from Salem's prison, beaten and covered in bruises. Ruby is running to hug him and not only does he not flinch, he smiles with open arms, completely ready for and accepting of it. And then the narrative robbed him of the chance 😭

Ruby, despite her usual confidence, resolve, and unwillingness to talk about her issues, becomes nervous, awkward, and self conscious around Oscar. The absence of her usual demeanor becomes the presence of how much she values what Oscar thinks of her and how vulnerable he's able to make her feel. (Which, for a character as emotionally guarded as Ruby, is a good thing).

Similarly, Oscar's established pattern of resisting physical touch - even when he's injured and probably sporting a few broken ribs - is absent with Ruby. It becomes a presence instead of his comfort, trust, and (desire for) closeness to her.

While these examples aren't exhaustive, generally speaking, the absences of their usual behaviours around one another become the presence of something unique to their relationship and often serve to highlight their attachments to each other. Be it how they interact with each other directly... or how they act when they're apart. But that, my friends, is an entirely different post and I have rambled long enough for today.

[atopvisenyashill]

Worst things GOT did casting wise:

- making Dany too beautiful (+ styling her in a way that she never has a hair out of place, always wears BLUE - which makes her look peaceful and soft and angelic, not making her burn her hair off etc). I just think of that one official art piece that's in the illustrated AGOT book where dany is bald, with the dragons and sparks and frames around her and its so striking instead of the "beautiful angelic blonde women stand empowered with her tits out" scene we got

- casting Iain Glen as Jorah and not like. a random Lannister (like. Come on. He is a burly and ugly man... why are you casting one of the most beautiful men to play him.... this is how we ended up with dany/jorah shippers)

-making Joffrey too unattractive (this is not meant to disparage JG who is a great actor and seems like a really cool dude and i'm not saying he's ugly but I think from his very first scene Joffrey looks very punchable and it would have been so much smarter to make the audience .. relate to Sansa's infatuation with his golden looks. In my head (and in all the official art) Joffrey looks like a male version of cersei/a younger version of Jaime.)

- making Dany, Jon, Robb, Marg, Brienne etc 10+ years older than Sansa and the younger starklings .... It's not "the main characters and arya (who is so cool and can kill people) + the little children" it's ONE AGE group of equally important characters

Like I know people are upset at Ned/Jon etc being too attractive, WHICH I GET, but I feel like those were very vibe based casting decisions and i'm ultimately fine with that (I also think it's easier for the audience to root for someone if they're attractive so like. I guess they had to do it) but these other things resulated in people's perception of the characters being so wildly different from what they're supposed to be. The real reason people get so angry whenever someone says they wish tamzin had stayed is because they don't like the idea of daenerys not being this ethereal beauty (TM is beautiful but not in a conventional way) that they can fully root for without issue.

1. NO YOU ARE SOOOOOO RIGHT ABOUT THEM REFUSING TO LET DANY LOOK UGLY. it’s not to say tamzin isn’t clearly beautiful, but i think she’s beautiful in the same way gwendoline christie is, which is that she’s very striking and she has a strong presence but she’s not exactly what people picture when they say “typical hot lady” (which is Crazy these are all able bodied white women, like the definition of “beauty” is soooooo fuckijg narrow that tamzin merchant is ~atypically beautiful) vs emilia definitely is, and YES like everything from not burning her hair off to emilia being,,,,,fuller in figure than dany as a fourteen year old would be is just very clear that they saw dany different than the way she is On The Page. i mean i know people whack george for saying that she’s like a sexy funny lady or whatever but george never lets go of the fact that she’s incredibly young whereas d&d completely miss that part of her character.

i will say i Get the criticism of tamzin perhaps not picking up on the conlangs easily because one thing you can say for emilia is that she had a decent head for the conlangs, she’s even still partially fluent in dothraki lmaooo. but all the other stuff they said about why they recast dany it’s like. hmmmmmmmmmm.

2. absolutely right about iain especially because he’s similar to idk paddy in that he’s got CHARISMA but unlike viserys, they didn’t intent to portray him as a deeply flawed, antagonistic character they went in portraying him as like an objectively Good Guy dedicated to dany. he’s just so much less creepy and pushy in the show and has several scenes where he shows some moral backbone - that “yet here you stand” “yet here i stand” scene is sooooooo good for example, the fact that he actually apologizes for spying on dany, giving him the greyscale story & not having him fuck a valyrian looking woman in a brothel 💀, etc etc - and you also just lose some of the creepiness here because emilia is clearly a grown if young woman and ian is handsome, so it’s like. welll of Course you want to root for them to be together! and never mind that this is a Massive departure from their book characterizations!! again, they have this idea of jorah in their head that doesn’t match up with what’s on the page even a little.

3. i do get your point re: joffrey and i think this is my problem with aidan as littlefucker too - they’re too obviously villains and it makes ned and sansa look stupid. like, in the books we have that moment where robb almost decks joffrey which does seem to signal something bad but the crown prince being full of himself doesn’t mean he’s going to threaten his betrothed’s sister with a sword then get his ass handed to him by a toddler. in the show we get QUITE a number of scenes where joffrey is shown to be a brat AND as you say, just like aidan, jack has a Certain Look, he looks like a shitty jock who has allegations against him ajsjdj like irl when jack smiles he’s so adorable!! but in the show they REALLY play up his ability to channel a greasy aura ya know aksjd. when the point of asoiaf is often that villains don’t LOOK like villains, but some of our Main Villains clearly resemble typical villains in the show.

4. “it’s ONE age group of characters” NO YOU ARE SO RIGHT. like, there’s several years difference from robert to ned to cat to the twins to tyrion but they’re all the same generation of characters. there’s that exact same age difference from brienne to robb, dany, jon to sansa, arya, bran, with theon kind of similar to characters like jorah, who are old enough to remember The Before Times but aren’t quite in either generation. but because they wanted dany, brienne, jon, robb, and margaery to be more of a Typical archetype rather than an exploration of that archetype, they aged everyone up and essentially invented another generation between the “adult” characters and the “kid” characters. not to be super nerdy here but one of my favorite worked shoots in wrestling is one cody rhodes did where he was ranting about the way young wrestlers get put through the grinder and he has this amazing line where he sums it up as “old men talking, young men dying” and it’s not to say there aren’t a lot of old dudes Also dying lmao but you really see this where young leaders are often unprepared for their responsibilities and used as puppets by older men and you just MISS THAT when that whole generation is so grown!

it’s like they looked at those themes of war being terrible and all consuming and brutal no matter how justified you feel you are and went “wow war is brutal 😍” LIKE PLEASE????

[bandtrees]

AAHHHH!!! AAHHHHHHHH DIALTOWN AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay i've had a night to sit on the evil route and put my thoughts together and holy shit dude. ALL OF IT- all of it was so good but i'm obviously (being the callum and gingi guy) going to focus on the callum and gingi stuff. spoilers ahead if you have not done the evil route gooo do it!!!!

i think looking at the worst end of the evil route is best to view through the lens of "the literal opposite of ch3" and also "knowing who milt and marla and all of them are" because - for starters - i think the approach dogman has taken, out of universe, is genius. i know milt and marla aren't ingame mostly for writing constraint reasons, but the specifics of their lives (milt's especially, being basically erased from history) not being something you ever get is really really good because history just... does not remember them!

milt committed suicide but according to dogman that's not even public knowledge, as far as anyone in-universe knows he just disappeared and all of the turmoil that took place is kind of lost to time. and i think knowledge of his name, much less what happened to him, being something you have to dig through paratext and get an easter egg of a fuckin tie-in web quiz to learn, is... probably the experience you'd more or less have in-universe. he's someone you only really know if you're really into the subject.

and to be honest i dont think i would have it any other way, because what the dlc does to you if you're one of those who know is MADDENING. it's everywhere. the hat motif. i have very strong feelings on evil route peter essentially having the exact role marla must have - the conversations gingi has with the narrator, with roger, is soooooo gooooood. it's a subtle background puzzle you get to piece together that (i reckon) also would hit hard for any player who doesn't Know(tm).

(and that also segues into a general feeling i have about the dlc, being that i am not a dsaf guy at all, i was into dialtown first and i have no interest in dsaf i'm sure its great but just not something i think i'll ever look into: for a bit before this dlc i was worried if it would be enjoyable as someone who's not into dsaf or has context for any cameo characters or references - but it was and is :D the characters all exist perfectly in dialtown and the references that exist still have merit on their own and are funny/etc on their own even without whatever added context im sure dsaf gives. which is good and i love it.)

all of that to say, i really really love what this dlc did for so many characters, but especially gingi and callum (and the narrator!) - i love how, as seems to be callum's destiny with maladjusted people, gingi only sees him as an incomplete and biased ideal to strive for. we simultaneously get so much weight and nuance to callum through seeing gingi go down a similar path, but also get so little of it because the only thing gingi cares about wrt callum is him being the "greatest salesman ever" and completely discarding the parts of him that made him anything but an industrial supervillain.

i think it wouldv been easy for it to just be "phonegingi is basically becoming (the worst parts of) callum and so, when they're working with mingus, finds some degree of kinship in the pictures etc of him" but the fact they're completely dismissive of mingus and her family history in every way, demanding the pictures of him be taken down, making a jab at him being "forgetful", staining and ruining them, etc, is even MORE telling of what they've become. much like callum was, they've found success and don't really think about how they got there or who helped them get there!

(see: mingus having marla's hat, which gingi takes from her when they execute her - you could say that hat symbolizes the genuine good that callum did despite his mixed legacy, and the love that he had for his wife and those closest to him: and that's something gingi is completely ignoring in favor of having it be another symbol of their (and callum's) power :D)

also the space ending. You're telling me gingi became wildly successful and then in an act of innovation-induced hubris, locked themself in an inescapable box, alone? Good god man. callum is INESCAPABLE in this route its so fucking good. elements of him and what happened to him and the path he went down are everywhere - even in other routes, there's roger's amnesia, there's gingi making other people suffer for their mistakes: it's so horrifying when you realize what's happening but in retrospect the signs were always there. roger's plant is literally crown mechanics. no wonder that man's juices are all over the goddamn place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also gingi getting a cat tail in the bad ends is genius. 10/10 design choice. really good dlc. this is not a coherent ramble but i'm hopped up on being insane about what iv witnessed this weekend and also we have like no food in the house rn. we dont even have fucking milk iv had to make pb&js with this strangely tasting strangely textured squeeze bottle jelly and not even have milk with it. roger is the only thing keeping me stable

and roger himself is like... god, i dont even know what to say about him really? i adore him so much. he's a brilliantly written character. it's to the point where i cant even like analyze anything i just kind of have to point at him really hard and hope you understand. i related to him a lot as i'm sure a lot of people did. inexperience and "stupidity" and forgetfulness are traits that often get flattened into either completely sympathetic non-flaws or completely unlikable annoyances and i think how the dlc touched upon those traits of roger's - funnily a lot of the time, yet very respectfully and sympathetically when the time came for it, while never letting you forget the genuine harm it was causing to the people around him - was reaaaaally good. you love roger but you understand why others might not - but even then, like the rest of his workers, you still care about him first and foremost, not what he can accomplish.

and i think that duality being present in the good/evil routes is really good: roger's good ending is one where he flubs the presentation and hands the reins over to someone he trusts more to fix up the place, and he acknowledges his workers love him as a friend more than they do a leader. and the evil ending is the one where he has a wildly successful, energetic presentation that people love, and he's getting praise and is saving the plant and everyone's so excited, because not only is he promoting an underhanded shitty scam, but it's not him. he IS, like gingi, becoming a HORRIBLE version of himself: the point where good intentions or even ignorance begin to matter less and less in the face of actual harm being done. again, much like callum!!!!!

i also love peter. oh my god peter. in his marla crown era

i 100% had more to say but i'm beginning to lose it. oh yeah THE FUCKING INSULIN SCAM IS CRUEL. that part had me with my hand over my mouth and my eyes just agape at how fucking grim it was. the reveal that peter's wife is also diabetic makes it go from "pretty fucked up!" to "actively devastating". truly gingi at their worst. both it and the blowout argument they have with the narrator afterwards are done excellently. taking advantage of peter's tendency to worry about roger, roger's not wanting to upset peter, peter's fucking diabetic wife, is so so cruel and i love it. really really gets into the weight of what you're doing and how fucked up scams are, we are out of the realm of silly jokes about crypto and in the realm of ruining peoples' lives. it's so good.

anyway. really good dlc. i will surely have so much more to say and create about it. it maddens me that it's only five dollars because i dont think i will ever be the same again after that to be quite honest with you!!!! literally my only gripe is the way it's kind of carried on dialtown's general problem with its non-main female characters but that's something people have talked about more and articulated better than me.

good dlc. really good dlc. cough up the five dollars because it is truly worth so much more i havent even been able to touch upon here. and if you havent played dialtown cough up the eight dollars and then cough up the five dollars. its real good.

[briankang]

Hiiii, canon comp skz fic anon here, thank you so much for answering my question over with chanrizard :) Coming off anon because I have more questions if I may, please. Do we know if chris/felix/jisung/jeongin shared a room in the dorm too, or were they more evenly distributed across those three rooms that skz ended up taking over completely in ep 2 of the show? My understanding was that Changbin, Hyunjin, and Seungmin were also already around (basing this on how long they said they were trainees for from ep 1), tho presumably in a different dorm I guess? And that Minho joined as a trainee last... Sorry, just trying to get my timelines straight here before I write too much more fic *sweatdrop*

omg no problem of course!!!

based on what we see in the show, those 4 are already at the dorm space they seemed to keep until 2022-ish. this is what it looks like when we first see it:

they all end up moving their things around so i don't think they shared rooms necessarily, but definitely the dorm itself! i know for sure chris used to room with young k of day6 (and roomed with him the longest, i think they said abt 5 years), and if memory serves i believe bambam also shared with them (fun fact, they used to steal young k's mattress off of his bed and drag it around to eat fast food on)

i don't think it's ever really said by anyone, but i personally have always assumed people that live in seoul sort of used the dorms as needed if they're staying late (which was...a lot), but those who had come from overseas or other parts of korea that were too far had more permanent spots in the dorms (of course), or maybe had separate ones even based on that distinction.

i think they also tried to keep them pretty close to each "debut group", but not necessarily stuck to it, but for reference the original debut group for skz was chan, allen (now in cravity), jisung, changbin, steven (now in luminous/ahof), hyunjin, jeongin, yao chen (former r1se member now a soloist), seungmin, felix,🤢woojin, and minho at the very tail end. cute pic of (most) of them all here (p sure thats minho in the very bottom lmao)!

which if u want a brief history lesson for some backstory:

yao chen ended up going to a chinese boy group called r1se (that...no longer exists but he's v successful solo now! i do wonder if he was actually meant to be in boy story but was perhaps a bit too old/concepts were changed? their oldest are 04 liners LMAO) and allen was actually meant to be in it as well but apparently didnt like the idea so he ended up going to starship and minho ended up taking allen's spot in the group and show despite being there like barely two months (p sure allen had been in there for a WHILE). steven's never said anything about why he left jyp, but he was on produce 101 and i'm p sure left sometime after that (common).

there was an additional almost member named john aquino who ended up moving back to america, but he's met up with them before on tour and also put up one of the funniest instagram stories i've ever seen of him putting bottoms up by trey songz to the my house cover chris did calling him mr.stealyourgirl because he "has that kind of vibe about him" (also realized getting this tweet the Youth™️ do not know abt this song and have proceeded to make a big deal abt it and taking it as like....Fact and serious bc they didn't live through the swag era like some of us). here's another funny ass tweet w/ some posts. i think this is the funniest way i've ever seen somebody refer to him as being sexy by saying he could take anyone because he's so hot and charismatic (it's also soooooo late millennial/early gen z of him sLKSDJGLKSD john reminds me of young k's old friend from toronto terry actually)

other boys who were considered i believe at some point: yuchan and byeongkwan, who both left in abt 2016 to go to beat interactive and debuted in a.c.e (yuchan and chris were the treadmill zombies in the twice mv for like ooh-ahh!) and daehwi and woojin from ab6ix!

all that to say i have to assume all these boys were in these dorms at one point given they were all overseas trainees (yao chen from china, steven from sydney, and allen and john from the us), so if anyone was bunking there it was them, which would also explain why those beds were empty now since they were no longer part of the debut project. i wanna say maybe allen and chris shared a room at some point but i can't put fact to that, but allen has a lot of stories about chris's mom so they were close! if you want the order of who joined:

chris (2010), jisung (2014-2015-ish), jeongin, hyunjin, changbin, woojin (2015-2016), felix, seungmin (2016/2017, seungmin passed an open audition, felix finished out his school year), minho (2017)

lmk if this helps any!!! old jyp lore is my favorite topic 😊

[bridgeportbritt]

Ravikumar Jet | Somewhere Over SimDonia

Jennifer: Okay, so Rose does Ballet, right?

Gianni: No, that's Ella.

Jennifer: Ugh, why can't I get this right?

Gianni: You should've been researching me with your mom.

Jennifer: Funny. I don't think that would've been a good idea if I wanted to keep dating you.

Gianni: Ouch. I'm just kidding. Jeez, relax! Everything is going to be fine.

Jennifer: Easy for you to say! You didn't have to do a whole background check just to meet my family.

Gianni: Uh...

Jennifer: My mom's amateur detective snooping doesn't count. She can barely work Simstagram... I had to submit paperwork to come here! Your family is royal!

Gianni: Yeah, but they're like cool about it. Trust me they are going to love you.

Jennifer: And why are you so sure?

Gianni: Because you're someone that I'm bringing home for one. That obviously means something. For two? Because you're awesome and sweet and funny. There's nothing not to like.

Jennifer sighs: Thanks, I'll try to remember that I guess.

Gianni: Trust me, they're going to just be excited I'm bringing a girl with me. You being the best girl ever will just be icing on the cake. My sisters are going to try to make you like them more than me, Emmitt's going to go out of his way to make you comfortable at the palace, my brother and his fiancé are deep in wedding shit, but they are literally the nicest people.

Jennifer: And you're mom?

Gianni: Uh... my mom? Well... she's fine.

Jennifer: That's it? Just fine?

Gianni: She can be... kind of difficult, but usually only if you rub her the wrong way. Which you won't so I wouldn't worry about it.

Jennifer: Okay... gosh. This is so unlike me to be nervous about this kind of thing. I don't know what's wrong with me.

Gianni: I guess you just really want to impress the guy you like's parents. Probably because you like him soooooo much.

Jennifer tries not to laugh: No, that's probably not it.

Gianni: I get it. I'm pretty great. Man, you're lucky to have me.

Jennifer teases: Oh my, Watcher. Sooo lucky.

Gianni: There's my girlfriend.

Jennifer: You're so...

Gianni: Charming? Funny? Handsome?

Jennifer: I was going to say insufferable. But I guess you're those other things, too.

Gianni: And that's why you're on this plane flying to another country for a practical stranger's wedding.

Jennifer: Yeah, this is crazy... I'm excited, though. I've never been to SimDonia.

Gianni: It's fine, I guess. I never really get the tourist experience when I'm there.

Jennifer: Oooh, we should go do some touristy things.

Gianni: Sure. We might have some downtime when my mom isn't breathing down our necks about, I don't know, flowers and shit. Do you feel any better?

Jennifer smiles: I do. Thank you.

Gianni smiles: Of course. Thanks for coming with me.

[rickytickychow]

I don't even have words for Apology Tour, it was such a great follow-up (types so many words)

idk if Stolas understands how Out Of Nowhere this whole crystal thing was for Blitz. Like sure, it had been a few months, but Blitz was truly expecting a "same as always" kind of affair, misread Stolas's advances and got shut down and shut out the MINUTE he made that mistake. Stolas's little "thank you" speech was visibly genuinely confusing and horrifying to Blitz.

And then (AS BLITZ EXPECTED!!) the prince who supposedly loves him soooooo much walks away after ONE MISTAKE.

Also Stolas, annoyingly enough for Blitz, will never understand why Blitz feels looked down on and mistrusting until he acknowledges his objective place in hell's society. Stolas has never felt like he looks down on or demeans Blitz because he truly put the guy on a pedestal for so long. Now he's assuming that because Blitz didn't respond to his love confession mutually, Blitz didn't actually mean any of it. Bc God forbid your grand romantic gesture out of nowhere doesn't make the other person sweep you into their arms.

The amount of exes at Blitz's party shows how little patience he truly has for relationships despite trying to connect to others, but it's also showing us how much contempt and impatience people really do show him. Objectively, Blitz knows he's a difficult person. He doesn't know how to navigate his OWN feelings, much less someone else's. It's soooo funny to me how he does indeed end up at the "I hate Blitzø" party.

ALSO????

"I don't think you meant to hurt me, cuz I don't think it meant a thing at all"????? STOLAS DID YOU SEE ALL THE BULLSHIT HE DID FOR YOU I THINK IT MEANT SOMETHING TO HIM IDK

Blitz is not someone who does things he doesn't want to. He may have been hasty agreeing to the full moon deal, but he VERY CLEARLY enjoyed it and didn't want it to just... End.

And the Striker thing was also a low blow on Stolas's part. Moxxie and Millie saved his ass, taking BLITZ'S van after he already explained that Loona had an appointment that COULD NOT be missed. I can't imagine Blitz enjoys being in any given hospital longer than he has to. But despite the audience knowing what affects these things, Stolas does not.

This is kinda disjointed but while I feel bad for them both idk. I feel worse for Blitz bc Stolas has every opportunity to get better once he heals his emotional pain. Every Single one. He's still dealing with the divorce and moving sure, but he's a prince with magic, resources, and as Blitz pointed out, a nearly immortal body.

Blitz has all this inner turmoil and... None of that security. He has more to lose by letting people in. He's had to claw, fight, and drag himself for everything he currently has. It's hard for him to apologize because honestly? None of his actions are excused by this fact whatsoever, but he's owed a lot of apologies from people over the years, too. When he says "they're for pussies and no one deserves them anyway," I don't think he's just bitter about giving them. I think he's bitter about the idea of receiving them. Wanting someone to apologize means admitting they can hurt you. Blitz is well aware he can and has hurt others, but loath to admit when he is hurt.

For all his talk about not thinking Stolas can get hurt, Blitz is the one who actually acts like he's infallible - that makes others expect more from Blitz, but he will take them being angry at him over being perceived as weak or pitiable.

Stolas lovvvvves being weak and pitiable because he was expected to grow up quick, and the tragedy of that doesn't excuse his part here either. Anyone can agree that his attitude toward Blitz has taken a complete 180, with no visible effort to see things from Blitz's perspective. Sure, Blitz has been an angry asshole about it, but people seem to think that not showing anger makes whatever shitty behavior they choose automatically better. It doesn't.

I can't wait to see more about Blitz and Verosika too. It was really eye-opening for both Blitz and the audience to see that side of her. There's probably more to their breakup than her saying "I love you," but that being the catalyst for Blitz up and leaving is the WORST. That had to hurt, and even if he just felt unworthy/unable to say it back right away, Blitz should feel bad about just running away.

Since he plays things so close to his chest and acts aggressive, it's easy for everyone around Blitz to overlook any selfless actions and label him as angry and selfish. It's pretty heartbreaking how his relationship to the world and his trauma responses make him lean into the idea that he's a terrible person.

TLDR GREAT EPISODE WHOA these emotional disasters warm my heart (with rage ❤️). Welcome back Verosika lmao

[kimbapisnotsushi]

Hi, can I ask your top 5 favorite characters from Haikyuu? Why you love them? And, what are your top 7 favorite moments from the series? Which top 3 fav games are your favorite (between which team)?

Also, why do you love Haikyuu? What made that series special to you?

Yes, I'm so excited after watching the movie. Haikyuu really is one of the best anime/manga series ever....

(Love your headcanon Haikyuu, thanks for sharing them)

aww thanks so much!! i am so so sorry this has taken me a while to get to, but i'm happy to answer!!

to get the last one out of the way first: i've probably mentioned this, like, a million times already, but haikyuu has so much great symbolism and imagery and characters that just make it really fun to dive into and think about!! they all come together to make a beautifully constructed story, which can be very difficult to do when the genre is realistic fiction/sports. and i like that the overall messages and themes are very hopeful and uplifting at the end of the day—it's about connection, it's about dreams, it's about trying again and again. it's about getting back up!!! it's about trusting in the people around you, and being able to trust yourself. it's something i really appreciate and keep close to heart. i love haikyuu for lots of reasons, but this covers the basics of it pretty well!!

now, as for the rest of what you've asked . . .

top 5 characters:

okay i'm going to cheat a little and say that kageyama and hinata are obivously tied for first. i can't help it!! they're the main charas and they do it so so well. the growth that they go through is one of my favorite things about them, as are the relationships they have with each other and the people around them. they're sort of a package deal, really, so i don't think you can blame me for that

in second place i would have to say oikawa!! beautifully flawed and beautifully human and such a great antagonist overall. i think he's the closest we've ever seen to a character almost making a mistake that they would have regretted (ie hitting kageyama), and even despite all that it's not like he truly hates kageyama or wants him to stop marching on his own path. he's also just really funny and pathetic i love him

YAKU!!!! YAKU MORISUKE MY BELOVED. i like him because i find him very relatable and i love what he does for nekoma!!!! he's so badass!!!!!!! everyone loves him everyone thinks he's so cool AND i love his whole thing with shibayama and lev. he's kind and caring but hides it under like five layers of being a bitch bastard if you're someone who annoys him i love him so much oh my god

and on that note kenma!! thinking about who he used to be, who he helped kuroo become . . . the fact that he finds volleyball fun and admits it . . . the fact that he loves it despite how exhausting it is . . . how he loves his friends and team . . . kenma's story was so wonderfully done and i adore it with every bit of my soul. he cares soooooo much!!!!! i adore that about him!!!!

hngngnsdhfsjyuef last one this is so hard . . . but i think i'm going to have to say hoshiumi! the way he wants to prove how he has nothing to prove and wants to leave no room for doubt . . . right off the bat he recognized hinata for what he was worth because they were the same!!! and the way he said he'd wait for hinata!!!!!! i could probably go into so much about how hoshiumi was probably the first to look at hinata and see a true and proper rival because there was no way he couldn't when he knew what it was like!!

top 7 moments:

oooooh boy. okay first off is the first boom jump during the nekoma match, when kageyama calls for an open!!!! i love this for obvious reasons but UGH the fact that it symbolizes kageyama's trust in hinata and is a testament to how far they've both grown . . . how kageyama decided to make it a set for hinata rather than giving up on him . . . how hinata was able to fly to reach it . . . it is soooooo good oh my god

hmm second i would have to say are definitely the parallelism panels (real match vs practice) during the nekoma match!!! the idea that karaneko playing against each other is so familiar and so fun that it feelsl ike home and feels like any other day is so precious to me. truly one of the best moments that show how haikyuu is about connection and love and passion.

"someone even better will come and find you" are you SHITTING me. everything we learned about kageyama and his grandfather broke my heart but that scene especially, followed by hinata's "i'm here!" easily makes into top seven for me oh my god. i get so many emotions thinking about it and it was just so incredibly well done.

when hinata yells "I'M HOME" during the jackals v adlers match!!! and everyone yells 'WELCOME BACK" and kageyama says "took you long enough" GAH i want to cry. baby is home and he's back amd he's here and they're together again!!!!! i just hngngngn UGH

when oikawa shows up at olympics with argentina!!! and he calls it a family reunion!!!! i wanted to cry!!!! i guess it does depend on the translations you've seen but i MUCH prefer it when he calls it that because that really solidifies what haikyuu means!!! and it shows how he's never forgotten where he came from!!!

kenma's "this is painful. this is tiring. i don't want it to end" with the panel of him GETTING BACK UP AND RUNNING TOWARDS THE MATCH??? that meant EVERYTHING to me oh my god.

ughhhhh last moment . . . this is so hard . . . i'm going to cheat and say hinata's collapse during kamomedai because of everything that happens after it!!! takeda on his knees talking to him, kenma's "i came to cheer up a friend", kageyama's "but i wanted to go further with this team" . . . it gave us so many good things and i think is also such a pivotal moment in the story!!! i don't think most people were really truly expecting it (although people have def picked up on its foreshadowing before) and it makes you think that really anything can happen during a match i'm adding a bonus to this: that moment during the all-stars match when oikawa asks ushijima what he thinks of oikawa's "petty pride" now, and ushijima tells him "i think it's fantastic". LIKE HOLY FUCK WE HAVE COME FULL CIRCLE!!!!!!!!

top 3 matches:

okay this probably goes without saying but karaneko at nationals!!! that was everything to me!!! that was what we were all waiting for!!!! i know there are those who don't like it because of how it ended but imo it's very fitting for someone like kenma and it really does, once again, give off the sense that anything can happen in a match and can make you win or lose—it's what furudate's been trying to tell us this whole time, even if some read it as a cop-out.

inarizaki match definitely. it was really really good not just for introducing inarizaki and their stories but also the fact that we realize hinata doesn't have to be chained!!!! there are people capable of keeping up with him and there are people who WANT to keep up with him at his level!!!! atsumu was the first determined to do so!!!!!!! (which i could talk about more but like. that's a story for another time)

AGH last one was so hard . . . it was a toss-up between karasuno v seijoh (spring high playoffs), karasuno v shiratorizawa, or jackals v adlers and i'm going to have to say jackals v adlers!! i love the other two but the fact that we got a match fthat shows how far everyone's come and how they're still connected and passionate and full of hopes and dreams is my favorite thing ever. we got some GREAT stories within that match and we got to see so many characters return!!! what more could you ask for, really?? i will say tho that i'm giving honorary mention to nekoma v nohebi i've got such a soft spot for that match LMAO

but that's it!!! thanks for the ask i had fun answering all these. if anyone's ever curious to know more about anything i've mentioned feel free to swing by, and thanks for reading!!

[lettucedloophole]

spoilers for the latest dungeon meshi ep but oh my GODDD i love marcille my pobrecita.. i think ryoko kui wrote sexism's effects on marcille really well, i think it's neat how she's a silly little guy and other people kind of underestimate her and it seems she is often down on herself about her failures or, "burdening" others in a way that feels very authentic to how it feels to be a woman and have that extra pressure of perfection to dispell suspicions of your inferiority. it's just very much the feeling i gather from it which makes marcille so relatable. and then to put another layer on it when it came out that she did black magic, she's literally A Bad Ass she is LITERALLY a Badass which makes her doubt of herself even more starkly inappropriate, and in this new episode despite the Fact that she is A Bad Ass when everyone's being a BIG MEANIE to her she's like a sad puppy when people don't let her help with revivals and like idk if i missed something but she doesn't even push back against them saying they're going to turn her in in like, a threatening way, she is just... scared. which hurt me i just wanted everyone stop being so MEAN TO HERRR my POBRECITAAAA. MY TINY LITTLE BABYY

i also laughed a lot and freaked out catching up on the two latest episodes today. DEVASTATING miscalculation on chilchuck's part to protect senshi when laois has No sense of Social cue. really happy to see laois and kabru meet, they're really funny together and i see why people like them so much as a ship now!! i am ECSTATIC that shuro is out of the game in terms of ehem. courting falin. bro COULDN'T HACK IT gEDDEM marcille. get that red dragon lady.. and omg it made me SOOOO MAD that they tried to blame marcille for that like how could that even b her fault!!! >:((( its obv the mad mage's doing. i dont get it they r just big meanies!!! stop shitting on my girl!!!

i like how kabru is like laios if he had more social awareness and was a litle Conniving... and omfg i thought it was so funny and sweet how shuro and laios just fucking beat each other up 😭 shuro said i hate autistic ppl fr. no but im glad he showed up for laios & co. in the end.. sometimes you just gotta talk ur feelings out over a fistfight lol

it was soo so fun seeing everyone interact .. all these fun characters... i cant wait to see what happens next!!! i love this show literally one of my fav animes EVER now definitely its so good its SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD!! im terrified not knowing when its gonna end and how im gonna cope when the season ends 🗿 methinks i will have to read the manga instantly after or i will go insane from dungeon meshi withdrawal..

[mochinomnoms]

I'm not sure if this counts as a request for 'Shrimpy Chronicles', but do you have any headcanons regarding Coral and Pearl or the triplets (Poppy, Moss, Lumiro) as grown ups/teens? I can only imagine how some of them might be troublemakers like their Dad(s)

Bonus if Shrimp Yuu is wailing because her babies are growing up like: "Why would you leave me!?"

See I think it would be funnier if one of the Dads was wailing, the obvious answer would be Azul but like Floyd wailing and wrapping himself and his tail around his kiddos is a way funnier image to me.

I have a few ideas for the kids, part of me wants to make them just like Jade and Floyd, but realistically they wouldn't be the exact type of menaces their fathers were.

As teens, both of them are relatively straight forward and socialites. Compared to the (adult) twins, they're not fairly intimidating, so they're very easy to approach or be approached by. This is partially because they appear a lot more human thanks to Shrimpy Yuu's genetics. But it's also because the Leech family is lowkey training them for a...different part of the family business, one that requires them to be charismatic and to blend in with the crowd.

Unfortunately, that last one is a bit hard as, despite them being rather sociable, are also quick to gossip and even start fights if it entertains them. Coral especially likes to whisper into other's ears and make little 'suggestions' to people, rile them up so to speak, and watches in glee as she and Pearl bet on who will win the fight she causes. Pearl is just very curious (or impulsive), so she tends to get into all sorts of situations just to see what will happen if she touches that big red button that says 'DO NOT TOUCH'. Anything that happens after is totally not her fault! They shouldn't have made that button soooooo touchable!

Unlike Jade and Floyd, who enjoy personal space and doing their own thing (and even often fought as kids for annoying each other), Coral and Pearl are attached at the hip. If one likes one hobby, the other will find herself doing a similar, if not the same hobby just to hang around her. It's quite funny to see growing up, as neither particularly realizes it when one picks up drawing, the other does painting. One starts baking, the other starts cooking.

The funniest is when both try to do the same thing, but in each other's space. Once, Pearl took up reading horror novels and Coral started hovering over her shoulder to see what her sister was up to. After about 10 minutes, Coral as completely splayed over the top of the chair, cheek pressed against Pearl's as they both read the book together. They're very fond of each other, though they have their squabbles (usually over food, they both are gluttons).

The triplets I haven't thoughts as much about so I don't have much to share about them...ask again later lol

[drbtinglecannon]

Herlock Sholmes! And Barok

Oh boy my favorite loser addicts!

This got really long lmao so under the cut.

Herlock

I am admittedly a little anxious getting these two because typing this up I realized almost all my thoughts on them are extremely unpopular lol so I need everyone to prommy not to kill me 🙏

How I feel about this character

Ngl I hated his ass in 1-2 haha I was mourning Kazuma so bad, but he grew on me quickly like some kind of fungus. I was routinely laughing but cringing at the shit this guy did on screen. I do have qualms with how he handled the Iris situation (like. A Lot of them...he needlessly caused her so much more anguish by letting her think any parent of hers was still alive and by keeping her at arms length because he didn't think he was worthy to assume the role of dad even tho she imprinted on him like a duckling, not to mention the whole parentification she went through due to his issues) but I find him to be a fascinating flawed individual with a really fucking good design, I want his clothes so bad, also his theme is great. He lies but he wants to do what's right but he's manic but he's got a delicate ego but he's hilarious

Also round of applause to Herlock for giving us the Dance of Deduction, sure it dragged on at times but it was fun, extra applause for the dance around a bomb that one case

All the people I ship this character with romantically

Vanlock. I don't vibe with him x anyone else for a variety of reasons, none of them being "it's problematic" (short of like. Something actually illegal) so much as "I don't like that age gap" or "I don't like that ship because it makes one or both of them kinda scummy if they were fucking around" etc (like he knew Kazuma was alive, it would make him such a jackass if he was with Ryuu while Ryuu was grieving Kazuma y'know?)

He and Barok have bitter exes energy the few times they interact which is already hilarious but also post canon everything wrt Iris would result in a ridiculous co-parenting situation. I think there's a lot of interesting angst & healing potential between the little family dynamic there and I have written & read a lot on it, they're just really funny. It can be wholesome or toxic!

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I do think that maybe back in the day Herlock had unrequited feelings he never acted on that Yujin politely pretended not to notice

*prepares myself to get shot* hm/mk. I know they're the Sherlock Watson duo, but they are an iteration of it where I love their weird platonic friendship and not the romantic/sexual angle. They are inarguably important to each other and I think being platonic makes it more interesting the way they connected and kept in touch the entire time since they separated. Herlock brings out a levity & silliness in Yujin that's funny to see, and was almost certainly a major catalyst in Yujin healing from the loss of Ayame

My unpopular opinion about this character

I know some shippers think it's romantic that Herlock considered Yujin to be Iris's real dad but I think it was irresponsible and selfish of him to do that, considering Yujin did not seem to feel that way himself and poor Iris suffered for years from it. Like bro YOU'RE her dad! (He gets there eventually tho)

One thing I wish would happen/had happened in canon with this character

Ryuu should've punched him in the face when he realized his involvement in Kazuma's "death"

Barok

How I feel about this character

My poor little meow meow, the saddest wettest prosecutor. He's hot and his theme fucks really hard and he sucks so much but it's soooooo funny for the most part. It's interesting how difficult he is interpersonally to Ryuu & Susato (bc he's a racist bitch) while also being one of the most helpful prosecutors in the series from the gate. He's such a bitch about it the entire time tho but he really does indulge any stupid argument as he genuinely cares for justice (EXCEPT with Soseki he just wants to ruin that poor guy's life)

I get a bit defensive of being a bvz fan because like, yes he is racist, but also he's a British noble from 1899-1900ish he realistically would've been so much worse irl (almost every British char you interact with is racist 😔). I guess it's just like, this is the setting of the game, and it's completely understandable that's a deal breaker for people!!, but the fandom at large back in the height of when the duology localization came out was extremely aggressive against anyone even vaguely amicable to him. He's supposed to be a flawed yet sympathetic antagonist, he's the main prosecutor that's how the entire series has operated!! He also does show genuine remorse and dedication to change by the game's end, and I think it's important to let flawed characters get better because we need to let flawed people get better. He's realistic in an ugly way

All the people I ship this character with romantically

I do think the idea of Barok having a small crush on Ryuu post canon is funny tho, but I don't think he'd act on it. That's also the only vibe I get for gen//baro because there is absolutely no way Genshin would return such feelings when Klint is right there being a sluttier age appropriate option

Again just vanlock. I am very picky on ships, sorry to be boring haha.

To go a little more after my comments above, vanlock just drove me absolutely insane right after I finished the games, and some of my favorite fanfic I ever read was a series about their growing relationship post canon. I left comments so long I went over word count, which is as impressive as it is embarrassing! I also wrote a lot of fic for them, at one point I had the most posted by 1 author haha

My non-romantic OTP for this character

My unpopular opinion about this character

Barok & Ryuu, they have the funniest rapport. I actually didn't realize "learned friend" was lawyer slang when I originally played the games, I thought Barok was just being a cunt and Ryunosuke decided "fine I'll be cunt too, bitch" when he started saying it back. Bvz pal he just wants to be your friend but you're so mean and intimidating haha! The way Ryunosuke just approaches him in 2-3 and is like "Soooooo heard your brother got murdered" and then later that same day shows up at his office with Iris, calls Barok ugly and Klint hot in the same sentence, and the two of them just harass him until he finally runs out of things to say, god it was so fucking hilarious.

The only way that entire scene would've been better was if Barok's desk was smashed and poorly reassembled like in the concept art

I like him haha

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon

I always wished he cared a bit about his sil, especially because his ass is not beating the incest allegations with how heartbroken he was about Klint & being British nobility in the 1800s 😭 it's difficult being a fan of this loser

I understand why Klint would be most important, but I prefer baskerzieks being genuinely in love and Lady B as another doting older sibling to Barok, so I wish he had acknowledged the tragic death of her too. I do wonder if part of why they kept her so far from any bit of the story is because Iris looks SO MUCH like her to the point it would make him look extremely foolish not putting 2&2 together when he first met Iris

Oh also Shu Takumi please. Please tell us how he got his facial scar. You told us how Enoch had white hair which isn't even that weird for aa why did you not tell us how a main character got a facial scar that he has an animation where he touches it? Please

[f0point5]

I read an essay called "Why I'm not a feminist" and it resonated with me soooooo much. it was written by this woman who was arguing that everything 50s feminism (like, second wave feminism post women getting the right to vote) stood for was only benefitting middle-upper-class white women. the ""goal"" of that movement was to get women in the workforce, but women of colour had been working for decades (and more), and it was largely unrecognised and not respected, so it was just stupid to call that feminism when it was only benfitting such a slim portion of the population (not to mention, queer women were still largely looked down upon, too, so this movement wasn't benefitting them at all either)

i think we've moved away from that now somewhat, and @ the anon who was talking about the different types of feminism: i think "all women" having equal rights/respect is intersectional feminism, which, sure, could be seen as a subset of feminism. but imo, intersectional feminism is the only actual feminism (aka, the only movement that is actually trying to achieve equality for women in terms of how they're regarded and the opportunities they have)

i take a lot of issue with people being like "yas girl power" when scumbags like margaret thatcher/suella braverman come into power. just because the person in power is a woman doesn't mean that's a good thing. so yeah, i don't think feminism should be just about helping women get into the workforce. it's about equal opportunity and equal access. if women want to be a CEO, they should be able to do that. if they want to stay home and take care of their kids, they should be able to do that, too. currently, they face backlash for doing either one. imo, feminism is about letting women be afforded the same grace and respect as men, therefore leading to equal opportunities.

Oh yeah this is actually funny to me because the amount of time I spend thinking I would love to live in the Bridgerton/Georgian period because I could just sew and ride horses all day is hilarious considering I’d be just as likely to be born broke and doing farm work.

I agree that women in power isn’t always a good thing but that’s not because they’re women, necessarily. The other side of that coin is when a woman doesn’t do well in a position of power, the first thing people go for is the fact that she is a woman, rather than focusing on her inadequacy for the position which doesn’t have to do with her gender.

I remember reading a whole long thing once about how feminism in the 1920s was bogged up by a cigarette company wanted to market to women and not just men. And how it was compounded by governments wanting to collect more tax money by encouraging more members of a household to work. And how razor companies started a campaign telling women body hair was gross because they wanted to sell them shaving equipment. Just like how “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” was started by a company trying to sell more bacon. Shit just gets hijacked by people trying to make money. Unfortunately the middle class and women are often the losers when that happens.

[gregoftom]

I don't know if you've watched it but if you ever did need something else that has tomgreg vibes…I would thrust Suits upon you. the quality is gonna be a dip from succession, but. marvey. mike and harvey. they.

it's the semi-reluctant but love-stupid mentorship. it's one of them kind of being a fuck-up (and getting high) and the other being high-flying, from the bottom to the top, teaching them how to be rich.

it's the teasing. it's mike trying to get harvey to admit he cares about him -- and as the seasons go on, harvey's care for him worn on every single one of his sleeves, can't contain it. it's the way their humour just clicks and they enjoy each other so much.

it's the heated "good boy" (in the second fucking episode!!!!). the way harvey gets such secret pleasure after mike teasingly telling him "aye aye, captain".

it's the devotion. "he goes, I go." "I'm not giving them you." it's the way whenever mike's love life with a woman progresses harvey's immediate response is lashing out in frustration, and by the end of the episodes he's collected himself to be happy for mike's happiness, because caring about mike is his number 1 above all else. it's the possessivenessss. it's harvey not knowing a single other associate's name, other than "mike ross."

it's harvey imagining mike in drag??? it's the Looks between them. it's their surprise when they're witness to how much the other cares about them. it's them existing in each other's space. it's the outright fucking flirting. it's the heartache.

it's other characters calling them on their shit ("you boys have a nice date?" and harvey, defensive, like why is that funny "couldn't be better. he even paid") (and "I need to know if the prom king and his boy wonder are still an item […] Did Mike and Harvey break up break up, or did they take a time-out and, like, say to each other, 'hey, let's see other people'"). it's "my date just got here" as mike enters.

it's mike turning up to harvey's parent's funeral and being the one person harvey most needed to have there for him.

it's the puppy motif!!!! and calling him with fucking hand gestures!!

it's harvey not even wanting an associate and then being like This One so fast. it's the way they push each other. it's the actor and his wife shipping them! it's "the one person who has the right to treat me like his associate, but treats me like his partner anyway."

it's it's it's.

they're like, otp of all time, imprinted on my heart. and I think why tomgreg is attacking me so badly is because there are a Lot of similarities in the dynamic it's soooooo. anyway I miss them. and any tomgreggers might like em.

(also I adore all your talk about tomgreg, and chewing through all the show has given us. it's not ooc at all and it's so fun and it's such a nice community enjoying itself and you're providing joy and connection and it's great. that anon's just having a sad day and lashing out. have a good one, love you for being here <3)

oh my god?! THAT SOUNDS AMAZING and soooo tg core omfg i NEED to check that out, holy shit. i just read the summary too and!!! omg. omg. YES

and!! thank you so much! that's great to hear, i'm so glad! <333 love to hear it, and i love being here too! <3333

[novelmonger]

I played Death Stranding and I have...questions.

I considered posting about these things as they came up while playing, but figured that as soon as I started talking about it, Tumblr would start throwing spoilers in my face. So instead of having to tiptoe through that minefield, I've been saving it up until I beat the game and could talk about it freely.

Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk!

Why the heck are the cities all named "____ Knot City"? Why would they not use the names of old cities or even towns that used to be roughly in the same location?

Why does no one use ordinary surnames anymore? There's literally no reason for people not to use them a mere generation (if that) since the apocalypse.

WHAT THE HECK KIND OF NAME IS DIE-HARDMAN THAT IS THE STUPIDEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD

For that matter, why has so much changed in such a short time? The last president was still around in living memory, so the Death Stranding just happened a few decades ago at most. And I don't think this is set super far into the future - not like Horizon: Zero Dawn, for example, where it makes sense that no one remembers what life was like in 21st-century America, because it's set a thousand years in the future. Everyone over a certain age in Death Stranding can remember what it was like before, so why is everyone acting like they're unearthing some incredible archeological find when they discover that people used to...I don't know...play video games?

Carrying unborn babies around in a tank because their mothers are braindead and thus connected to the world of the dead and so the babies can detect the presence of the dead...may be one of the creepiest things I've ever done in a game before. And I can't decide if this is a pro-life thing or not, because there are soooooo many mixed messages of some characters insisting that BBs are just tools, and others who treat them like actual babies.... I mean, I saw Lou as a person from day one, and clearly, Sam came to the same conclusion since he named Lou...but I just wonder what the creators of the game were thinking when they implemented that.

Okay, I get that not everybody knows that BBs even exist, but of those who do...why are more people apparently not bothered by carrying around what is apparently a human child in a little tank??? Wouldn't it take an awful lot to convince people that the thing that looks and acts like a human child is in fact not a human being - when you can literally see everything they do, you can hear them crying, they are fully formed, so it's not like they're weird-looking little fetuses? Do I just have too high a view of humanity?!

WHO THE HECK DECIDED THAT THE OMINOUS GHOSTLY SPIRIT THINGS THAT CHASE YOU DOWN TO PULL YOU CLOSER TO DEATH SHOULD BE CALLED "BEACHED THINGS"??? WHY DID THEY GO WITH THE STUPIDEST-SOUNDING, LEAST INTIMIDATING NAME THEY COULD POSSIBLY THINK OF?! I was creeped out when they were just BTs, because that sounds kind of ominous, but as soon as I found out what that stands for, I burst out laughing. They'll never be truly intimidating again.

Why is there an online option at all in this game? Does anybody actually play with it turned on? I immediately went, "lol, nope" as soon as it was explained to me. If I wanted to play an MMO, I'd go play World of Warcraft (or whatever the kids are playing these days).

Why. On Earth. Are bodily fluids used to make grenades. Were they trying to make you feel like a monkey throwing feces around? Why is showering and using the freaking toilet an actual gameplay element? (What is this, The Sims?) Why is there a button you can press to pee on the ground while on the road? WHY DOES A HOLOGRAM OF A MUSHROOM APPEAR TO MARK THE PLACE YOU JUST WATERED THE GRASS???

Why is the tonal shift so severe when you're in a private room? Sam goes from being a stoic grumpypants who just kind of grunts at people, to making faces and breaking the fourth wall. Is this...supposed to be funny? Is what happens in private rooms outside of canon? No, that doesn't work, because there are quite a few plot-advancing cutscenes that happen in private rooms....

Why does Fragile chew so weirdly?

WHY ARE THERE ACTUAL LITERAL MONSTER ENERGY DRINKS IN THIS GAME AAAUUUUGH THE PRODUCT PLACEMENT IS SERIOUSLY MESSING WITH MY SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF DX

Why on earth is there a random hologram of Aloy and a Watcher from Horizon: Zero Dawn? All it does is serve to yank me out of my suspension of disbelief and remind me of a game that does a much more convincing job with the post-apocalyptic future of North America.

Why bother with the whole repatriation thing? Did we really need an in-universe explanation for why you can come back to life if you get a game over? Like...it's not going to make anyone forget they're playing a game. And they didn't do a great job of establishing right away whether or not Sam retained his memories after that scripted repatriation at the beginning. Left me very confused for a long while. If they wanted him to survive his wife's voidout, he could have just...not been there when it happened, you know? (Upon reaching the end of the game, I understand a little better why they did it this way, but I still think it's a bit clunky.)

Why the heck is Conan O'Brien in this game? Like, I can sort of understand Guillermo del Toro, I guess, but....

What's the point of making the MULEs addicted to oxytocin or whatever, so far gone that they're compelled to steal people's packages for the high of it? That's...really stupid and unnecessary. Seriously, you could just have them be bandits. People who are hostile to Bridges to such an extent that they attack porters on sight, or who have broken away from others and created their own little communities, and they have no qualms about stealing packages from people, in case they might contain valuable resources.

Why does nobody in this world know how to use emojis? Were all the mail messages written by boomers?

Who on earth hired the actress who played the Chiral Artist, and why didn't they get someone to play that role who could actually act?

Why is it that all the significant NPCs in the game are so...unique? You've got Mama and her BT baby, not to mention that she doesn't decay after she dies and is somehow alive in Lockne's body. You've got Deadman, who is a literal Frankenstein's monster of corpses stitched together. You've got Heartman, who undergoes cardiac arrest and gets revived every 20 minutes.... I mean, none of the characters important to the story are just normal people dealing with the Death Stranding. They're all one of a kind. Which isn't bad, per se, but it sort of stretches my suspension of disbelief. It would be one thing if it was a deliberate gathering of exceptional minds or something, but it feels like they all just "happened" to be working for Bridges or something. Am I being too picky here?

Why is Higgs that creepy? I mean, I totally dig how hard Troy Baker leaned into the craziness of the role, all slick and sinister, wearing a chiralium mask shaped like a skull, blipping in and out instead of walking two paces just because he can...but why have him smear tar around and lick it off his thumb? Why have him lick Sam's face? It just seems...rather excessive to me <_<

Who on earth came up with having Sam compare himself and Amelie to Mario and Princess Peach? Or for that matter, who had the atrociously lame idea of "Mario and Princess Beach" being an actual line of dialogue we had to hear with our own eardrums? Because I think they need to be fired. Kojima-san, if that was your idea of 'humor' or something, please fire yourself. You're not allowed to string words together anymore.

So...wait. Is it supposed to be a surprise that Clifford Unger is Lou's father? I mean, if it was believable for Sam to not have figured it out a long time ago, that would be fine even if I was pretty sure - that's just dramatic irony. But, like...Sam has been seeing visions of Lou's memories pretty much every time he hooks them up. That's canonically backed up in-story. I find it really hard to believe that Sam wouldn't have pieced it together in all that time.

When Die-Hardman finally takes off his mask...there's nothing unusual about his face? I was expecting some kind of disfigurement from timefall or something, but he looks completely normal, and yet everyone starts muttering in shock?? Is the surprise supposed to be that he's actually completely normal???

WHY ARE THERE TWO CREDIT ROLLS?!?!?!?! (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ This game take so long just to get through the ending....

Why is this game so fun and addictive despite being so wonky and weird? I loved it. Couldn't stop playing ^_^

Now that I've finished, I am so confused by the timeline and who Sam actually is, so I'm headed off to go research what the heck is up with this game @_@

[papirouge]

you are right, "woke" has truly lost all meaning as a term... one of my new favorite games has a very basic and positive message to it but because the localization inserted some nonsense about a nonbinary character it got labeled as "woke SJW trash" even tho the rest of the script is pretty accurate to the original Japanese

I also saw comments about how just including a gay relationship in this game is "agenda-pushing" like I really don't get that tbqh. it just reminded me of people complaining that the new Zelda game is "woke" because it has a few characters who aren't lily white and Zelda has short hair lmao

LMAO Dying at the "woke" Zelda bc some characters are Black. Isn't that a fantasy game? like, with magic, talking trees, trolls and shit but Black people existing is a reach?? (they did the same for Lord of the Rings TV show)

I think the reluctance of these folks to see non White people in fantasy content is bc White people want to gatekeep fantasy as a 'White only' genre. Which is funny because White people have no problem reappropriating foreign genre for their own gain 🙃

Funny how these woke hunter always forget those Hollywood movies adaptation of foreign stories where the studio ALWAYS need to shove a WHITE hero for some reason or purposely use a story where a White character can outshine others?

Remember the samurai movie with Tom Cruise? 7 years in Tibet? Also Mulan love interest was supposed to be a White man initially, but people complained and it's been scrubbed off. There are whole think piece exposing how the Whites LOVE inserting themselves into POC stories to elevate themselves as heroes. Even woke storyline don't go that far with their non White characters ; they are always confined as side kick and minimum screetime (is it true that all the dark skin characters of the house of dragon ended up dying after the first season?? lmaoooo)

And I always said that the issue wasn't non White people being shoved in "White people story" because when Black Panther happened their were still mad and were seething about that movie catering to Blacks (but don't you dare saying movies featuring mostly White people are catering to White, it will make you an awful wokester lmao). Whites will always feel entitled for other races to relate to their stories, but never the other way around. There's a post floating around cathblr with Catholics raving about Arabs discovering the Lord of The Ring and enjoying it a lot. And I couldn't help but think: would those catholics turn the favor and rave about an Arab movie with islamist undertones...? 🙃 lmao.... Those people are soooooo transparent 💀

Everything is woke if you try hard enough, anyway. Scrotes are seething because they consider some video game female characters are purposely made ugly (like Aloy from Horizon Dawn. A scrote was coping bc the mocap actress was much more beautiful and he couldn't wrap his hand as of why they would change her face to make her look more 'rough' ...when he's just too stupid to grasp that this choice is actually pretty coherent with the storyline since homegirl is nomad WARRIOR.).

I also remember when they made a revamp of Mortal Kombat chara design and changed characters body proportion to become more realistic, scrotes got mad lmao It's hilarious how they think they're really doing something 'counter-culture' but they only show how porn fried they are. There's no way to think this

...is better than that

Btw, all those ANTI praising Japan for being anti woke are up to a very hard wake up call. Many japanese celebrities are vocal LGBT+ supporters, a significant amount of online stars are gay/queer (Ryuchell, Peey, Kemio...). Even recently a member of AAA (a famous pop band) came out as gay 😬 there's a huuuuge push for LGBT visibility into the Japan entertainment right now, so it's obvious they have no idea of what they're talking about... The other day on Twitter I've seen a post summing up why Western conservartard scrotes love Japan

This post was in a thread about nuclear bomb and American burgers saying it was oKay tO kIlLs thOusaNd of CivIlIanS bEcAuse jApan wEre tHe bAd GuYs 🤡

The USA humiliated Japan in the non threatening " tech/anime obsessed pacifists". Unlike other countries that still have a minimum of pride and honour, Japan doesn't remind the USA how bad they are and the unchecked harm they done to them. They are also completely economically submitted to the USA (there are still American base out there.....). So the USA give them a cookie and constantly elevate them as the perfect non White country 🙃