#ep: the battle of the two bridges

[theslayerbrother]

Bros forever, their friendship is Special

[velvetydream]

꒰ :🥀 [ War is over? ] ”♡ᵎ꒱ˀˀ ↷ ⋯

❝ Request! ᵕ̈

Summary : The hotel was in shambles and a certain radio demon was missing from the group. Worried for him, you start your way down to the destroyed radio tower, scared of what might await you.

Pairing : Alastor x Doe! Gn! Reader

Word count : 2962 Words

Genre : Angst, Comfort

Warnings ➵ SPOILERS FOR EP 8!! Crazy Alastor, Out

of character? , Swearing, Blood

a/n : Thank you sm for this request! I love the idea and trope sm for Alastor! Also that scene- oh my, it was insane! I just love what a crazy and complexe chara he is!

Rly going into the crazy Al spectrum here, make him go crazy over almost dying saving his > friends <

Also added the reader being a doe! Hope that was okay! Despite it being a doe reader, I still only used gender neutral prounouns / only used > you < as for describing the reader!♡

Request by : @alastorsdarlingdoe

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Your eyes wander over the lights of Pentagram City down below, a breeze moves your hair, raising your hand to push a loose strand of hair behind your ear. Sighing, a hand runs over your forehead now, slightly pinching the bridge of your nose while leaning on the railing of the balcony. The music and chatter from inside could be heard, everyone was trying to enjoy this night before the battle, but you couldn't help but worry. Worried something might happen or that someone might die, even though you tried to push these thoughts to the far back of your mind, trying to be positive, trying to see the best, and telling yourself everyone will make it out alive and safe.

"Damn it.." Rubbing your fingers over your eyes softly, trying to remove the tears that were building up. Sniffing a few times, your foot taps the floor anxiously while your ears are slightly pressed back. Body noticeably tense and nervous. To many things going through your head, you loved everyone in this hotel so much, that if anything were to happen to someone you would be devastated. Especially if something were to happen to Alastor.

Alastor was one of the first sinners you got close to in hell after Rosie had introduced him to you years ago. By now you two were a darling little pair, as Rosie liked to call it. It did take a while for both of you to grow close and accept these feelings, but in the end, you did. Even though it was sometimes hard with an Overlord as your partner, he made sure you were safe and taken care of all the time, so you had nothing to worry about. You can still remember the day you met Alastor like it was yesterday. Sitting in Rosie's boutique, sipping on some tea, as she squealed in excitement before pulling the red-haired demon over. Of course you knew who he was before you even met him, no one goes through hell without hearing about the radio demon, who overthrew the old Overlords, sooner or later. Ears straight up and turned to his direction, your ears were slightly wide, visibly alert of the dominating and dangerous presence of Alastor. He though simply smiled at you, took your hand, and pressed a kiss to your knuckles, introducing himself to you. It was a beautiful memory. Not so beautiful was his disappearing for seven years, but you forgave him, which brought you to where you are right now, on the balcony of Charlie Morningstar's hotel. Worrying your head off over the ear against heaven and the exterminators.

"A penny for your thoughts darling?" Shrieking together at the voice behind you, you hadn't noticed Alastor joining you on the balcony, too deep in your thoughts. Quickly rubbing over your eyes, before turning to the man you love with a smile on your face. This caused suspicion to rise in him, were you crying? "Oh, Al! It's nothing important! Why aren't you with the others." Watching him slowly approach you, he softly places his hand on your cheek, watching you close your eyes and nuzzle into the palm of his hand. Alastor could see right through you and you knew that, he always knew when you lied, just like you did right now. "Oh my little doe, how can I be inside when my darling is outside here crying and overthinking all by yourself?" His voice was soft, it was only for your ears, he only used this tone with you. Opening your eyes again, gazing up at him with tearful eyes. He couldn't help but coe at this sight, his little doe darling looking at him all teary-eyed, though he preferred a different time for this sight.

"Now, now~ Why don't you tell me what's bothering this pretty little head of yours?" Wiping away the tears on your face and at your eyes with his fingers now, carefully to not accidentally cut you with his claws. Watching as your teeth sink down on your lip, another habit you had when nervous, making his finger trail softly over your lips, letting your teeth release the lip before you could bite it bloody. "It's just.. I'm.. Ugh.. Worried, what if something happens? What if someone dies? What if.. you die?" Tears were building up in your pretty eyes again, making Alastor chuckle slightly, not that you were crying, but that you were even thinking of him dying. He was the radio demon, no one would kill him, and no one would even get close to killing him. "Oh sweetheart, don't worry your little head over nonsense like this, nothing will happen to any of us and especially not me! Haha! Trust me dearest! Everything will be fine." Fingers softly swipe over your cheek, as he pulls your body closer to your face, leaning down slightly and planting a soft kiss to your forehead, before nuzzling his nose against your hair between your two flickering ears. Not being able to suppress new tears, your arms go around his waist, pressing your face into his chest. Alastor tensed for a second from your touch, but quickly melts into it himself, laying his arms around you, one hand softly playing with your hair.

He was right, everything would be all right, at least that's what you thought..

It was as if everything went by in a flash, the exterminators were flying down to the hotel, and everyone was doing their best while Alastor protected the group with a shield, to make sure no new angels could attack while the first ones were being taken care of. But that was quickly taken care of by Adam himself, breaking the shield which made your eyes grow wide, he was able to do that? This was not good at all. Doing your best to help the others, fighting back to back with Angel, shielding Husk from an attack with your spear, and pulling Charlie down from an attacker just in time.

This was truly hell. And it even got worse when Adam suddenly started targeting the rest of the group, where was Alastor? Looking around wildly you couldn't see him, Charlie speaking your exact thoughts that if Adam is here he must be... "WATCH OUT!" Husk smashes into you, pulling you to the ground to the side, where you stood seconds before now an angelic spear piercing the ground. "Get your shit together! That motherfucker isn't dead! So till this is over get your act together and make sure you're not the one dying, 'cause if you do that fucker will have my head for that!" Husk was shaking your shoulders violently, everything that was a blurry mess before slowly coming back to you. He was right, you need to survive this, if Husk said he wasn't dead, it must be true, he would probably feel it if Alastor died through his soul contract.

The fight continued on, after Sir Pentious brought his sacrifice, Charlie was facing Adam by herself, Vaggie was somewhere in the hotel with that one exterminator fighting, while the rest took care of the angels outside the hotel, keeping Charlie and Vaggie's backs clear. It was exhausting, you got a few injuries on your body too, but nothing too bad, the fight soon ended with Lucifer showing up to save his daughter and Niffty stabbing Adam herself.

After collecting your thoughts and hugging Charlie for a while, you started to look around. The hotel was completely destroyed, but with everyone around, there was new hope, with Lucifer leading the group and especially Charlie to not give up on this. Eyes wandering over the debris the hotel was now, over everyone around, keeping your eyes open for a certain demon. A thought pops into your head, making your way to the cliff, looking down, at the radio tower lying at the bottom of the cliff. Slowly and carefully to not trip, you make your way down, scared of what might or might not await you. Would he be there? Would he be hurt? Alive? Dead? Maybe he had gone again like those seven years ago, leaving everyone and everything behind.

Blood on the floor leading to the radio tower made your eyebrows raise, so someone or something for sure was here and injured. You just hoped it was Alastor and that he wasn't beyond getting stitched up.

Reaching the hatch to his radio tower, you notice it standing open. Reaching your arms out, you carefully pull yourself up and pull your knee up to enter the room. Looking up already while entering, you see Alastor standing at his desk, his back facing you, yet you could see the way his whole body was tense and clawing at the desk with his hands. Finally in the room, on your knees you slowly get up to stand, looking at the man you love worried.

"Alastor..?" His ears turn to you before his head snaps in your direction, making an uncomfortable cracking sound, his body turning to you fully now. His eyes looked like nothing before, blown wide, crazy, crazier than they had ever been. This wasn't Alastor, but the Radio Demon before you. "Darling.. You're hurt.." Looking down at his chest to the gushing wound, crimson red painting his already red clothes. Laughter echoes through the space now. "HURT?! AHAHA! You're funny dearest! I'm not hurt! I cannot be hurt, did you forget who I am?!" Blown red eyes were staring right back at your own wide eyes, your eyes wide out for different reasons than his. "I know darli-" He took a step towards you, making your ears stand alert, you didn't fear Alastor, yet the Radio Demon scared you right now. "OH DEAREST! What a fight that was! Me?! Great Alastor, altruist, dying for his friends?!" His ears were parted, flat to the sides, while his hands were slowly tearing at his hair, pacing in a circle now, before slamming his hands to the desk. Shadows dancing around the two of you in the red light. You didn't dare whisper another word, even your breath stocking in your lungs, not sure if you should even breathe right now.

Alastor was going crazy, the fact of him almost dying being seen as a hero fucked with his mind, did he care about dying? No, he couldn't care less, but being seen as a good person, a redeemed sinner, or a hero?! No.

"You know what?! Now! After all this, it made me hungry! Hungry for the freedom barely out of reach! Never have I felt this before, can you believe this?! I was.. AM! so close!" An insane monologue continuing, he talked as if he was rather talking to himself than to you, did he even register you being there fully yet? He was driven by adrenalin, by a close death. Raising your hand, you were about to reach out for him, trying to pull him out of whatever spiral he was caught inside right now. "I'm so close! These constraints must have a backdoor right?! This deal!" Fingers pulling at his locks again, your own hand stilling in the air, as you watch him pace around, his eyes darting everywhere, when looking at you, they looked through you, he did not even realize you were here.

His whole body was trembling by now, the smile was strained on his face, making you worried to the core. Never had you thought you would ever experience such a side of Alastor, it shocked you. Now that his monologue stopped, you took cautious steps toward your lover, your finger barely grazing his arm, his eyes now snapping to you, his ears following. He was looking at you finally, not over or through you, he realized you were there and that he wasn't alone. "You're fine Al, you didn't die, you proved it." You knew to get to him, you had to reassure him, even if it was probably a bad idea, but for now, this would probably be the only way to get to him. "You're right dearest.." His hands slowly lowered from his hair, a few hairs tangled in them from how hard he was pulling on his poor hair. Eyes trailing down to the wound on his chest now, feeling your own tighten at the sight of Alastor injured. This was something you didn't think was possible to happen till now.

"Let me take care of this.." Pulling him to the desk softly, you make him lean against it, as you push his coat off his shoulders and start to unbutton his dress shirt, laying them to the side carefully. Ears pressing to your head now as you take in the wound on his chest, you knew his eyes were following your every move, so you tried not to keep on that for too long. Gathering everything you would need to somewhat clean and stitch him up, the things you had would have to do. The air was thick when you got to clean his wound, Alastor was watching you with his smiling face, while your own was adorned with a frown. It scared you knowing he could've died if he didn't disappear mid-fight, he would be dead now if he continued. Those thoughts make your hands shake, your view getting blurry as tears fill your eyes. Looking up when his hand softly encloses around the one holding the needle. "My poor little doe, I'm sorry for worrying and scaring you." Lips press softly against the knuckles of your hand. Pulling yourself together, you quickly finish the stitches up, then you would have all the time to get emotional and cry. Helping Alastor put on his dress shirt now, he slumps down to the floor, his back leaning against the wall, he was probably exhausted. It would take a while for him to heal entirely and be the old himself again.

"Come here beloved." Alastor was holding his arms open for you, finding a place between his legs now, your head leaning on his shoulder, opposite of his injury, making sure you wouldn't touch the freshly stitched-up wound. "I'm sorry.. I was just so worried.." And before you knew it, the tears were streaming down your face, while Alastor softly held you in his safe embrace. "I know dearest, I know...But worry not, I'll be back to myself in no time, don't you worry." His hand was rubbing up and down your back, while his chin rested on the crown of your head. His words were true and you knew that, he would be his old self quicker than you would know, still, it scared you to know he wasn't unharmable and could die. Hiding your face in your hands now, your body violently shaking with sobs. "Now, now my darling doe, you know I hate to see you cry." Pulling your hands away from your face, he looks at you for a second, before your arms already go around his neck as you straddle his thighs now, body shaking with sobs while he feels your tears wetting his shirt. His eyes were slightly wide, a silent wince from his wound flashing through his eyes for a second, but he suppressed any sound for your sake. "There, there, it will be all right my little doe." One of his arms was going around your waist now, pulling you even closer to him, did his wound throb from you pressing against him? Yes, yet he couldn't seem to care. The other hand was moving its way into your hair, rubbing to bottom of your ears softly.

The two of you stayed like that for quite a while, the violent and loud sobs, soon subsiding to small whimpers before completely quieting down to soft tears silently running down your cheeks. Alastor shoulder was by now entirely wet from your tears, yet he couldn't care.

"Calmed down now, have been darling?" Feeling Alastor's lips press to your temple, you finally raise your face from his shoulder and look at him. Eye bloodshot from crying for so long, cheeks wet from all the tears and your throat sore from sobbing. "There is my beautiful doe, look at you, even after crying you're beautiful as ever dearest." Nuzzling against his hand that was now resting on your cheek, your eyes look up into his. Your eyes were something Alastor always loved, they looked so innocent and soft, something not often seen down here in hell. His eyes cast down to your lips for a brief second, you noticed and closed your eyes, inviting him. Feeling his soft lips on yours quickly, as his arm around your waist softly presses you against him, while the other hand still cradles your face. The kiss was soft, yet full of passion, it was all the feelings you two felt poured into one kiss. Which lasted longer than you thought. Pulling apart soon, puffs of air falling from both of your lips.

"I love you my beloved and I'm sorry for worrying you so much, but trust me, once this is over and I'll be able to roam free, watch me reach everything for us." Smiling at you, he softly rubs his thumb over your cheek before your head rests on his shoulder again, face in his neck. "I love you too Al.. I can't wait for you to be finally free again.." Pressing a soft kiss to his neck, giggling softly at him slightly tensing up from it before relaxing again.

You two took your sweet time together, was that what both of you needed right now, before eventually getting back and reuniting with the group. A new hotel and new goals waiting for everyone.

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Taglist :

@chewbrry @rinalouu @mysticwitchcraftco

[say-hi-intrepid-heroes]

alright let’s go over the junior year clues we got in the rick perry documentary thing (disclaimer: i’ve definitely missed stuff, but i think i got the big things, feel free to reblog and add with stuff that i missed though)

[at the bottom of this post I've typed out the decipherable words that plan out some combats and NPCs from Rick's screen. it's the most interesting thing but it's super long so it's at the bottom under a cut]

We get a blurry look at some minis. I’m seeing at least the PC’s minis, as well as what looks like Baxter the Gryphon.

There’s some major shots of this battle. Includes a Baby mini, the Hangvan with some kind of laser canon on top, a stingray-esque monster that is likely Night Yorb (see below), something that looks like maybe an ice elemental or the crystal (see below), and some large bugs and shirtless people. Clearly set in the Red Wastes. Detailed info of the planning for this battle below.

One of the shots had reference boards in the background. One is clearly for the Hangvan (see earlier screencaps), but the other is unclear. It looks like it includes some sort of tennis or tennis-adjacent sport.

Confirmation that Mordred Manor is a set piece.

Finally, one shot showed Rick’s computer screen with some critical info about planning. I’ve put what I’ve been able to decipher below the screencaps. and under a cut, as it’s very long.

EP. 701 DEFEATING NIGHT YORB CHASE (RED WASTES) Hangvan, Night Yorb is giant flying Manta Ray thing? Rainbow road, being chased by night yorb while trying to throw crystal into portal. Crazy gun on rough [roof] that gorgug made, I can’t get a lock on it. Just need one last final thing to defeat night yorb. Red wastes, chasing the night yorb around, flying bats teleporting onto rough [roof] of van, NPC allies, Balthazar, two other cars they are in contact with, tiefling bakers or sidekicks are reveals Stormchaser twister, trying to get a lock onto it, Night Yorb is escaping the world. Maybe night yorb gets away, why didn [didn’t] you get it? And Balthazar died? Murph invented the Night Yorb. Don’t fuck with the Night Yorb. Exploded out of riz’s chest, needs to be dumb as hell. it’s the jabberwocky, it burbled, hugely terrifying, Horrifying cursed thing. Unending night for two months. Dragon sized, bigger than the Hang Van, 30’ wingspan Stars and moon. While the night yorb flies it is night and not day. Not malevolent force, but everything on earth will die Have giant ghost busters canon, Honey I shrunk the kids cannon Driver, mechanic, gunner, navigator (using SW 5e mechanics) Hang Man - Fabian motorcycle Tether is attached to night yorb, either magic or harpoon Night Yorb could out pace them. Could smash van. Cultist of the night yorb appearing on the road, mad max style ”The night yorb is our god” Red Wastes Cultists: Riding skeleton horses, classic fantasy cultists, Manta ray night yorb masks Sword and Sorcery vibes, MUSCELY, oiled, black leather, rings Shadow of Night Yorb Tether must be reeled in over 4 rounds Success Meter - 4 rounds or it escapes Pop up cultists in the middle of the road 4 maps Straight away, gully bridge crossing, rap popping up, giant portal It’s going to another world but if it gets away thats just as bad Ayada [Ayda?] thing built in. Chekov’s gun. Gun has cool helix of energy that is getting cranked in. Gun is on the back and on the hood is a binding circle that Adaine does. Cultists are making the portal. YORBIES if they catch it, it gets bound into the paint of their van Gun is gorgug’s stuff and circle is adaine 6 cultist perusing them, 4 or 5 at the portal, 1 or 2 back up Single person traps, Vulture with cactus MINIS: Night Yorb - Giant shadowy manta ray, inky black dripping, made of liquid, different underbelly, deep indigo or bone white. Made of shadows, dripping aberration, flat plane, long tail, two weird eyes coming off front on stalks. Second set of PCs TERRAIN: Red Wastes! NOTES: favorite crazy dnd monsters, beholder, [unclear word, bu…ette] Fungal Black light portal battle! Dr. Strange battle set, pseudo pods of elder pod night yorb, day glow run fragments, purple stone castle night yorb temple, floor is octopus made of shadows. Starting mid battle. [blank sections] PROJECTION: Counter here of some kind?

POTENTIAL LOCATIONS Basrar’s icecream shop? Mordred Manor Seacaster Manor [crossed out] Strong Tower Luxury Apartments SAT Prep class [screen cuts off]

EP. 704 DENTENTION [detention] STEALTH CHASE SEQUENCE/ QUIET LIBRARY/ Aguefort chase sequence? Combine sets interrupted by having to make it past a hall monitor Underwater? Books suspended floating, everything is affected by water Don’t wake daddy? Start in Library to get to Aguefort’s office Hallway Classroom Bathroom Lockerroom [blank sections] DYNAMIC ELEMENT: Water

CONCEPTS Dicks! SPIRITUAL GUARDIANS - Full service on minis, summons, etc Psycadelic fungal giant, black light, trippy, beautiful Revisiting old set [screen cuts off]

[fyi everything past this point was very blurry, so I could only decipher pieces here and there]

EP. 706 OUTDOOR CONCERT COACHELLA Music feature? Flaming [?], giant [?] [???] Fig and Gorgug on stage [???] Lighting effects, [???] Floating stage or something [???] Demons? PROJECTION: Lasers?

NPCS/ VILLAINS/ MONSTERS/ ETC. PORTER CLIFFBREAKER is secret servant of nightmare king tactical battlefield combat that [?] 2-3 times larger than PCs LED buried inside him [???] Porter was [???] basketball player [screen cuts off]

[the rest was too blurry to make out anything other than a blank section titled ROLE PLAY/ NEUTRAL BOARD and a section that seems to be for EP. 708 and says EXTRA with some blurry words after it]

[wolfasketch]

I've started falling back into TrollHunters again. Name: Mira(felled) Nomura Age: 16 Mother: Zelda Nomura Father: Draal the Deadly

Nicknames/Other Names: Nymph/Little Nymph(Nomura), Secret Charm/Favorite Niece/Young Morrigan(Strickler), Mira-Mira(Toby), MiMi(Mary/Darci), Lady Mira(Blinky), Bat-Wielding Fleshbag/Bat-Wielding Menace/Pebble(Draal), Cousin(NotEnrique), Tainted Troll/Impure Spawn(Bular), Traitorous Whelp/Impure Spawn(Gunmar/Dic), TrollHunters' Pet(Gunmar)

Other Relatives: Kanjigar(bio-grandfather), Strickler(adoptive uncle) Love Interest: N/A Weapon: Bat Story: Managing to steal some of Draal's birthstone while they were a couple, Nomura created Mira as a pawn against the TrollHunter, counting on Kanjigar not wanting to attack one of his bloodline. What she didn't count on was falling in love with her child. Adorning to whelp in iron to keep her from changing into her changling/troll form and swearing Strickler to secrecy, Nomura raised Mira in the sun, far from the shadows of the Troll world and Bular, as well as Mira's true identity. What she didn't expect was for her daughter to befriend the boy who would become the first human TrollHunter. Sidenotes:

• Mira finds out her mother is a changeling in the 'Waka-Chaka' ep.

• She discovers her troll side at the end of 'Win Lose or Draal', after the Draal vs. Nomura fight.

• She finds out Draal is her father in the 'The Battle of Two Bridges' ep, before Nomura is sucked into the portal.

[valoisfulcanellideux]

Transcribed highlights from Pix and Zloy's "Chicken Block" series [Ep.1 & Ep.2]

Since I've been re-watching this hilarious series, I thought I'd transcribe some of the highlights, because these two are just so damn good together. Funny stuff from episodes 1 and 2 can be found behind the cut.

Ep.1

Zloy: [sings, to the melody of the 'Transformers' theme] "Log chicken. Chicken who's a log."

-

Zloy: "I'll need you to surround me in a pen with them [the chickens]. Don't worry, I'll blend in." [looks like this, so yeah... he will]

-

Pix: "I like the fact that you've just committed to your life in this new chicken commune now." Zloy: "Look, I have a boat. I can escape whenever I want." Pix: "That sounds like what somebody with Stockholm Syndrome would say." Zloy: "This is the prison of my own making!"

-

Zloy: "Hey! Hey, look! It's our first log that was pooped by a chicken!" Pix: "Nice! Can we call them organic now? Is that what we're allowed to—" Zloy: "Pixlriffs, ALL logs are organic." Pix: [laughs] "Responsibly farmed!" Zloy: "Show me… show me a single log that would not be an organic one." [giggles] Pix: "I wanna make some kind of, like, pithy remark about fossilised wood at this point, but I dunno." Zloy: "Fossilised wood would also be organic! Because guess what? It was still grown as wood. In a tree." Pix: [laughs] "This is a fair point. I concede."

-

Pix: "I can't tell if these logs inside this enclosure were pooped out by a chicken, or if they are just… logs that fell from this tree." Zloy: "I wanna say it's probably a community effort."

-

Zloy: "Oh! There's a skeleton! There's a skeleton! There's a skeleton! And it—" Pix: "Oh no…" [skeleton self-yeets off the one-block-wide bridge from the mob-spawning platform] Pix: [loses it] Zloy: "DID YOU SEE THAT?!" Pix: [loses it some more] "It just went! It was like 'Nope! Can't be bothered with you!' It saw you riding a chicken towards it, crown upon your head, glasses on your face, and decided, 'I'm not gonna mess with that guy'."

-

Pix: "One other thing I will always appreciate about Bedrock Edition over Java is the fact that the sky darkens around you when you're looking directly at the sun, because of how bright the sun should be. It's, like, the one lighting effect that actually makes sense in this version of the game." Zloy: "Also, the eyes don't start bleeding, but that's an… entirely different thing." Pix: "Yes. That's an add-on that I imagine people could make." Zloy: "You look up and there's the Rick and Morty sun, screaming."

-

Zloy: [to stream chat, as he looks at the assorted chickens] "Okay. Anyone want to give me a breeding pair?" [pause] Zloy: "Anyone who says 'Zloy and Pixlriffs' will be banned from every single channel on Twitch."

-

[Pix goes out toward the mob spawning platform with a sword] Zloy: "You don't have to wait between the swings." Pix: "I know, I know." Zloy: [giggles] "Hehe. Silly Java players! Hehehe!"

-

Ep.2

Pix: "I have coal!" Zloy: "YAY! Pix: "I have coal. Can make torch. Will make torch now."

-

Pix: [having farmed a bunch of wood] "The log chicken just gave me another log, as if to say, 'Why are you even bothering?' [addresses the chicken] I'm bothering 'cause you're not productive." Zloy: "Pick up the speed. Clench your… whatever muscles you're using." Pix: "Tighten your buttcheeks!" Zloy: "Yep. Push, lady. [pause] Don't actually push ladies."

-

Pix: "There is now a zombie with a gold hat who seems to be… okay, there are two of them; they seemed to have claimed the ship." Zloy: "They boarded the ship!" Pix: "We've been boarded." Zloy: "Oh noes." Pix: [grabs a sword] "I'm gonna go and defend us. I have lost the ability to sprint, though, so I'm not exactly charging into battle, but…" [walks toward the zombies] "GET OFF MY SHIP, YOU DINGUS!" Zloy: [giggles] Pix: "Oh hey, he dropped his hat! Yay! I have armour." Zloy: "You have a crown." Pix: "You have your crown, I have my crown." Zloy: "The matching attire." Pix: "It gives me Fire Protection 1, as if that's even an issue." Zloy: "MINE GIVES ME DIGNITY, DARN IT!" Pix: "I have no dignity."

-

Zloy: "Hey look! A spider." Pix: [laughs] "It's a string chicken." [they both laugh] Pix: "After a while everything on this map just becomes a chicken to me."

-

Pix: "I spawned with you in the cauldron. Which looks even more soupy now that it's filled with rainwater." Zloy: "Exactly! We're gonna be delicious!"

-

Pix: "Every time the honey dripping sound happens, I just feel like it's slime. I'm like, has a slime just spawned? Nope. It's just the scarecrow dripping."

-

Zloy: "I have, like, twenty dirt. Place it responsibly."

-

Pix: "Oh, a zombie villager! Haha, yeah!" Zloy: "WHAT? No way!" Pix: "Let's see what we can do about him." Zloy: "I mean, we have a boat." Pix: "Yeah, that is true. That is true." Zloy: "I already decided that his name is gonna be Grephew. Which is a very bad idea, because I can see there's another zombie inside of him. He probably will not survive." [Pix creeps out toward the zombie villager, who self-yeets off the bridge. Pix runs back again] Pix: "There's a tiny one! There's a tiny one behind him! He has a son! There was a child!" Zloy: "Grephew Junior! Yaaaaay! I… don't want to go near him. Okay, Grephew, son of a gun, you're making me do this. Here are full blocks to preserve you." Pix: "Oh man. It's super creepy that baby zombie villagers have the same sound as regular zombie villagers. It's like a child with an unnaturally deep voice." Zloy: "They just have a very deep voice, okay?"

-

[Zloy builds a shelter around Grephew, out of oak fences with an oak plank roof] Pix: [laughs] "He has a freaking abandoned mineshaft over the top of him now."

-

Zloy: "A skeleton on this platform. So… potentially bones. And I apologise, but also potentially getting boned, so…" Pix: "Yeaaah… 'bout that… I'm fine taking the risk. I have fire protection on my helmet." [I'm struggling to resist the innuendo on that one…] Zloy: "I also am fine with you taking the risk."

-

Zloy: [musing] "So, mycelium would be… a log and dirt, all right." Pix: "Consult the notes!" Zloy: "I have them on my lap. The entire whiteboard. It's not a big whiteboard. But it does obstruct my view so I don't see the keyboard and my own teacup. So there's a disaster waiting to happen." Zloy: [laughs; probably at a suggestion from stream chat] "Consult the book of armaments! Oh my god." Pix: [laughs] "Hold thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. Four shalt thou not count. Neither countest thou two. Unless, in counting two, thou proceedest to three." Zloy: "Are you still speaking English?" Pix: [laughs] "I'm just quoting Monty Python. Which is probably the most English you can speak." Zloy: "Are you still speaking English, or have you transcended into communicating only in Monty Python quotes?" Pix: "It's touch and go." Zloy: "Yeah."

-

Zloy: "This is the Grephew Island." Pix: "The Grefuge." Zloy: [cracks up] Pix: [laughs] "I'm sorry!" Zloy: [giggling] "That's going into the episode title. Like, you're ruining my SEO, but that's gonna be the episode title."

-

Pix: "We have four apples in the chest now. Which is nice. I'm still not eating any of them, because I enjoy chat freaking out about the fact that I have no health left." Zloy: "There is no reason to eat. Just DIE!" [they have Keep Inventory on] [long, awkward pause] Zloy: "There is so much political commentary in that one phrase I just said..."

-

Pix: [peers across at the spawning platform] "I keep looking at stuff over there and thinking, 'Is that a skeletal chicken?' and it turns out it's just, like, a sapling and I can't really see. Oh, yeah… ENHANCE!" Zloy: [laughs] "Crying out loud, I was waiting for you to remember that one. What do your elf eyes see, Pixlriffs?"

-

[Zloy is about to boat a chicken along a one-block-wide bridge] Pix: "Do you need a bit more space on the platform, or is that enough?" Zloy: "No, no. But I would appresh you taking out the spooder [spider]. I dragged a shulker this way, through the End, over the void, for thousands of blocks. [whispers] I think I can manage with a chicken. [pause] Mostly because the chicken is not actively trying to kill me."

-

Pix: "Oh my god! Phantoms have started to spawn, and they're skinless chickens!" Zloy: "WHAT?! NO!" Pix: "I DID NOT EXPECT THIS!" [both start laughing] Pix: "Yes! Oh, this map is good. This map is so good!"

-

[they kill a chicken-phantom] Pix: "Oh, it dropped feathers! What?" Zloy: "IT DROPPED RAW CHICKEN!" Pix: [absolutely loses it] "So phantoms are actually chickens?! What?! Oh, that's so good." Zloy: "They're regular chickens that came for vengeance!" Pix: [cracks up] "That's incredible." Zloy: "I just realised that they're gonna burn in the daylight and drop cooked chicken." Pix: "I mean, in theory. They could not do." Zloy: "Yeah, they couldn't." Pix: "But yeah, if they drop cooked chicken, that's like… actual genius." Pix: "Look at it dive. Look at it dive, like a graceful swa— [chicken-phantom bursts into flames] Nope, it is burning. Yes!" Zloy: [cracks up] Pix: "Self-cooking chicken!" Zloy: "Yes! We finally found the Kentucky Fried one!"

[thisisnotthenerd]

i have a feeling this episode is setting precedents for bells hells.

thoughts on the future:

fearne and ashton getting the shards and activating them? big choices. fire genasi satyr fearne. big power surge for both of them and probably peripherally for the party

ludinus having simulacra the way he does combined with the intense scrying/arcane eye on bells hells? they need nondetection. like now.

laudna having counterspell is going to be critical in magic battles esp if ludinus can keep chasing them. the combination of her usage of pate and the hound have been good creative uses, but she's doing what scanlan did for vm and having that all fall on her is going to be rough going forward if they're in a ton of magic battles and she'd the only caster who can counter.

speaking of laudna, knowing delilah's awake in whitestone might become a huge deal. oh boy here we go.

as they get into prep for going to ruidus i'm guessing we're looking at one ep of lore dump and power ups in whitestone, one or two of traveling to marquet and getting all their shit in order before they go up the bloody bridge, and then we're flying to the moon. they just leveled up to level 11--do i think they could potentially push it to level 12 before they get to the moon? maybe if they keep having battles on this scale and find enough stuff to match the elemental shards. plus new magic items and the ludinus loot (lootinus?).

imogen is likely going to get more power from the moon as whatever they're doing up there intensifies. similar deal with chetney (maybe). fearne and ashton are getting sharded. fcg is connecting more with the changebringer as they get closer to moving in on ruidus. orym's just putting in the work. and i think laudna has some choices to make.

the ziggurat sphere is in whitestone--anti-scrying, connection to delilah and the shadowfell? methinks there's some room for fun here.

in summary? c3e75 was legendary, and we have a lot of places to go from here.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Sylvie Nexus Event Theory

When they showed the recap on ep 2x3 I got really excited because it showed a clip from season 1 where Sylvie asked Renslayer what her Nexus event was, so I thought we might learn what it was that caused Sylvie to be arrested by the TVA. Sadly that wasn't revealed in this episode and is still a bit of a mystery but it did get me thinking about what it could have been.

I recently rewatched season 1 so that it would be fresh in my mind when I went into season 2 and I do have a theory as to what Sylvie's Nexus Event was. It's probably a theory everyone has already thought of, I was late to the party with season one so wasn't following any of the tags or theories, but anyway.

We know from Loki's own capture by the TVA that they react pretty darn quick to a nexus moment, its within minutes of Loki taking the tesseract and escaping that they show up. In episode 4 we get a flashback showing us Sylvie's arrest, which is pretty shocking as she is just a child playing with her toys at the time. Going with the fact that we know the TVA show up within minutes of a Nexus Event that would mean, as innocent as the scene seemed, something in this moment was what caused Sylvie's nexus event. I do think there are a lot of clues in this moment that tell us what that nexus event was.

Right before the TVA show up Sylvie is playing with a dragon and a Valkyrie toy. But what I think is important is what she says whilst playing with these toys.

The dragon swoops towards the palace, but Valkyrie flies over, defeats the dragon and saves Asgard.

I think there are two really important parts of this story. The first is the mention of Valkyrie. It's clear that Sylvie is imagining herself as a Valkyrie in this moment, maybe this is even the moment she decided she wanted to be a Valkyrie, which being born a woman would allow her to do unlike her male counterparts.

But another important part of this story is the 'saves Asgard' part. As she says this the TVA show up and arrest her, as they drag her away they zoom in on the other toys she was playing with.

The first thing that caught my attention was the toy of what appears to be a giant wolf, which instantly reminded me of this lil fellow:

Hela and her pet wolf Fenris. Hela who has a connection with the Valkyrie as she is the one that pretty much wipes them out, which is a point I will come back to in a moment.

So I actually think this scene with the toys that they zoom in on are suppose to represent the battle that takes place on the rainbow bridge during Ragnarok. The viking ship represents the evacuation spaceship that Loki shows up in, I think the little figurines actually represent people, the ones that are toppled over, being the ones that fell during that battle, and of course the wolf toy represents Fenris who was present on the bridge during that battle.

I think had the TVA not arrested her this is how it would have played out for Sylvie, she would have grown up to become a Valkyrie, and maybe when the Valkyrie are sent after Hela instead of them all falling, Sylvie is actually able to defeat Hela. In doing this she ends up either preventing, or at the very least changing how and when Ragnarok happens.

I also think there is some significance to the dragon toy she was playing with, although it wasn't a dragon that brought about Ragnarok, Sutur is a fire demon, so maybe the dragon, a creature of fire, was a subtle nod to Surtur.

When Sylvie is arrested she drops the dragon and Valkyrie toys and they fall out of our view, the camera then zooms in on the ship and wolf toys. I think this is to show that the timeline where Sylvie saves Asgard from Ragnarok has now been erased and the 'correct' timeline is once again what will happen.

So TLDR version Sylvie's nexus event was that she was going to be the hero that saved Asgard from Ragnarok. Thoughts?

[baylardo]

here are my ranked voyager 2 parters for fun please dont bully me thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i should have done these backwards idc.

1 killing game - amazing cold open start to the episode, i love janeway and karr they make me insane theyre great together as competitors and as leaders who want to save their people and they respect each other as enemies, quotable af, OUT OF UNIFORM COSTUMES ARE SUCH A PLUS, VERY unique take on a holodeck episode, love the hirogen designs, definitely has some points where im not paying attention but it feels somehow less than the other 2 parters, another mention of i love karr he is fave voyager antagonist hes literally everything 2 me, the first episode is very strong and memorable to me, the second ep fizzles out significantly but it still has a lot of memorable moments i think the battle at the end is the worst part lmao also that one SPEECH is a real snoozer for me, love the resolution, good stuff. ill get killed for this one but the lack of harry involvement in this ep is a major plus for me lmao. im glad with what he got purposed with, not in a cruel way but it makes sense given what hes good at.

2 workforce - MORE COSTUMES everyone looks beautiful, janeways late series chub is a major plus 👌, shes literally so quirky in this one and it hits on one of my favorite aspects of her character which is her hidden yearning to settle down and be happy and not a captain which she so easily lets herself fall into unknowingly lifted of those burdens, this is another two parter where the harry content wasnt terrible and i enjoy MOST of his contributions his bickering with the doctor about commanding the ship is a big negative but i like when hes whiney about his tummy ache lmao, seven’s bangs!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍 we stan, i love jaffen hes perfect for kathryn SORRYYYYYYY i think its charming how much hes like mark SAD, i love the tom and belanna content which is few and far between for me in the later seasons it just hits in a way that doesnt make either side seem self centered or angry for no good reason (rare) like its just them (tom especially) caring about the other which is what really drew me to enjoying them in the earlier seasons, i always love gaslighty lost sense of reality episodes theyre a big fave to me always can you tell, i enjoy the uniqueness of the doctor’s role in this ep it almost parallels what the rest of the crew is going through in how different it is to his normal regime

3 basics - another opening i like, its always fun to tie in other eps (Meld) and a great choice for a returning crew member given the circumstances of this ep i think its cute hes gotten into flowers, this ep has so much hecking dadcore in it OF COURSE ITS RANKED REALLY HIGH, i love the guidance chakotay receives from his father about fatherhood (selfishly it just REALLY conveniently ties into my au really well), ponytail janeway era MAJOR PLUS, i hate nail peeling HUGE CON, love that seska just breastfeeds on the bridge in front of everyone slay queen, i enjoy a lot of the marooned on planet scenes its nice in the context of how resolutions was just an ep prior, we love to see chakotay carrying baby naomi lalala, tuvok with a bow. i would bully him.

4 caretaker - everyone is so beautiful and babycoded, MARK!!!!!!!!!!!, love the nacene so much, this ep took me so many watches and reads of the book adaptation to comprehend ngl its not very visually cohesive, nostalgic fondness? always fun to watch endgame and go back it feels good to go back here, everyone in season 1 is great take me back papa, i was convinced harry/belanna was endgame from these two eps (honestly still wish it was sometimes lmao), i DONT like the quark cameo GET HIM OUT OF HERE, janeway moaning when shes tortured 😳, i hate the part where chakotays blowing up the val jean its always cringe acting/script choices to me, i love the firm uneasiness of janeway in the earlier seasons bc its her first command and she hasnt loosened up yet i just love when her performance of janeway is more rigid and u can tell when she gets uncomfortable idk i love early season janeway for that :)

5 endgame - bittersweet and irrevocably changed which is always my favorite for voyager ❤️, janeway trying to beat her delta quadrant speedrun score, i enjoy C7 sue me, i dont like a lot of the aging makeup that makes me particular and nitpicky lol, janeway throwing a tantrum until she gets what she wants BELOVED, i love seeing chakotay reject janeways dinner invite lmao thats what u get for being stubborn idiot!!!!!!!!! C7 earned, i think its funny and a bit contrived that they needed more reasons for janeway to cheat getting home so they set up a degrading illness for tuvok in the last episode of the show, neelix helping ship C7 so he can have janeway all to himself headcanon, i like the miral casting and i like that she idolizes janeway and they threw naomi to the wind lmao bye, subtracted huge points for ending the show on a borg plot when it should have been suspiria 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄, harry has some bad scenes in this one, i really wish wed gotten that alleged scene of the admiral talking with chakotay about janeway not suspecting his relationship with seven yet SIIIIGGGGHHHHHHH, i love that it ends on a weirdly unfulfilled note because ermmmmmmm i think many of them changed as people in the DQ janeway can finally rest but shes left lacking purpose and i think thats epic

6 year of hell - obviously janeway is a major plus and carries the entire story imo but i DONT like these eps, its got some great moments like i love seven helping tuvok shes such a spanky new character and i honestly kinda wish she got handled more like the glimpses of her growth scene in this episode rather than what actually happens rip, i obviously enjoy the POCKET WATCH, this is another two parter that lost me on cohesiveness a lot lmao and ive watched it many times, you could argue that im too dumb for year of hell (probably) but you could also say that star trek prodigy similarly struggles with its grasp on its portrayal of time travel and altering of timelines as well 🫣, i think about that scene where the doctor closes door on those crew members a lot where his face is like 😐, chakotay mustache 👌 gone too soon, its like a plus to me that its not a borg 2parter but i still think its pretty weak in what little it says about our characters and i dont think episodes where theyre erased from time/memory are a waste of time but their erasure from the timeline in these eps feel rather fruitless and dont feel like we really missed anything by fixing the timeline and thats disappointing to me usually these types of stories have like a DANGIT!!!!! feeling to them similarly to course: oblivion that just felt not there like what did we really learn seeing these characters do all of this stuff lol not much

7 futures end - the writing of this one always feels so expired and dated to me it makes me wince, love the costumes and some scenes here and there but not a fan of the plot, opening scene of janeway playing tennis is epic, i dont have a lot of positive notes for this one im sorry little ones, the dialogue is stinky no good the earth humans all feel like cariactures in their exaggerations because they have to stand out as being “dated humans” against our protags but it makes them feel so inorganic to me lmao BE NORMAL, its a plus that it isnt a borg plot to me but these eps were too early in the series for that lol, birth of ponytail janeway (if u dont count basics or threshold) positive, another cheap way of getting the emh a huge upgrade lmao but i respect it because if theyd “organically” made his holo emitter itd be one of those OP technological advancements that would break the universe with how much it could do, i would take these eps over the bell riot eps 🙄

8 equinox - honestly dont even like these eps very much but they feel more in character than scorpion does lmao, the more alien shaped fellas in this one serve a purpose in their shape and how it likely served to dehumanize them to the equinox crew in order to excuse their usage (positive), when janeway gets a chance to cancel someone for violating starfleet protocol she POUNCES (except when its her), janeway and chakotay back to morchaeling their enemies by fake fighting with each other all is right in the universe, i like the idea behind these eps a lot but the execution kinda fizzled out and lost itself (i think about the emh switcharoo in particular felt out of focus lol), i think janeway wanting to kill a captain who cracked under the same pressure shes been living under for ease is so epic SLAY QUEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9 scorpion - i really consider this two parter to be the downfall of the series, not entirely because of seven of nine but in how heavily it pivots the series into avenues more directly associated with the other series and the alpha quadrant itself, ive always really disliked how janeway is written in these episodes and how awkwardly it contradicts her choices made in Equinox AND YET her and chakotay manage to “fight” in both instances lmao, conceptually i like the idea behind a species capable of defeating the borg but i hate the visual route they went with them like star treks staple is humanoid and i dont like them lmao, at the end of day what janeway chooses to do is funny and i dont fault her for it but it all feels a little contrived for the sake of drama and getting a borg girl new cast member lol, like if you look at year of hell it seems like chakotay should have been the one advocating for the borg alliance,,, heck look at the ep ALLIANCES like thats chakotay being a kazon apologist as well ://// i love the scenes of them in these eps i love the drama but it all feels unearned to me

10 dark frontier - i feel like i always fall asleep watching this one lmao i have nothing constructive to say you lost me at borg

11 unimatrix zero - im not even a borg!janeway enjoyer dude this ep was never gonna hit for me lmao

12 flesh and blood - incredibly disappointing and thats why its at the bottom lol, such a cool idea for a plot but it turns into hologram rights zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, love the hirogen why they gotta make them so dummy pilled, i wish this was a holodeck warfare ep that involved trying to forge alliance or civil rights between hirogen and holograms and not a dumpy hologram populated ship set with only two protags :((((((( how does belanna always end up in these plots bro WHY ARE WE HERE AGAIN, i fall asleep to these eps a lot too lmao

[lloyd283]

Time for a trip to Ban tan now as it's custom jade armor season time. Two parts, with each arc explained.

Side A: Mirror into the past

"Lan jun has a hard time trying to catch all the new jade shards after defeating the crimson king last season. However, after a shard causes a paradigm shift in the crimson clan, she'll have to go further to rebalance the playing field whilst a stranger brings a dire warning..."

Right, Lan Jun is pushing her limits to try and catch each shard that's appearing, which is nearly every hour currently, and an episode focuses on her learning to balance herself. Another episode grants powers to her friends after catching four shards at once. At a mystic gathering, the black tiger plans a heist to catch the dragon beasticon but is thwarted before stealing a sharded card deck to try again until the cards run out. Here, lan Jun asks of her future, which greatly pains the reader showing her side B events up to the finale, warning her not to fall to pieces...

The crimson clan are leaderless until kai's father wins ownership through combat and begins searching for the shards, with kai trying to secretly sabotage them during the episodes, wanting his normal father back as if the power's driving him mad.

Now, Lloyd fully enters in episode 12 after appearing as a new student and laying low until a shard forces students to disobey everyone and vandalise stuff. As a consequence, everyone is to be slimed orange to show obedience to the crimson clan. Lloyd high tails it and begins moving very, very fast until reaching an alleyway and having a breakdown, causing a unique shard to appear that everyone's after. An indigo shard that amplifies powers and physique. Lan Jun finds Lloyd Sat in a particular way and invites him into her home. There, he hovers, worrying about taking off his footwear and ending up on the porch where he's casually talking to himself. After L.J. sits with him wearing specific glasses, he completely freaks out and nearly falls off the railing, whilst he's receiving visions of 2016, 2017, and The herald showing him the visitors helmet. Poor L.J.'s clueless but helps calm him down, which he says he's not usually like this and presents the indigo jade shard and after cleansing the shard, she teaches Lloyd how to cook as he can't really cook himself. At school, L.J. accepts the consequence, knowing the truth and helping calm others whilst Lloyd watches from a distance, but no one can see him as he's informed of terrible news: The Seven are gone. It's him and paradigm now.

Side B: Crimson Crack

"The crimson clan seeks the power to crack jade's armor, which a terrifying foe uses to her advantage. Before long, lan Jun faces the most dangerous days, yet as the battle looming decides more than just Ban Tan."

Lloyd's now regularly showing up and helping the team and the clan learn of the shatter shard, that can break any armor from a mysterious lady. Before ep 20, loose storylines such as our thieves and the crimson lord's life after season one begin to close as they sense danger looming...

The crimson clan strikes to claim the shatter shard with very familiar fluid abilities that Lloyd recognises as he finds out the paradigm's plan. Jade Armor is hit by the shard, causing her Armor to splinter into four parts, but before the clan can claim them, Lloyd forces the parts to her friends as he gets her to safety. Fearing the herald's involvement, he has to go off to do something else entirely to try and balance things as the others try to save the town. Lloyd's gone to the beasticon's bracelet was made, using the indigo shard to unlock a temporary gateway to the bridge in which he's looking at lots of objects that broke throughout words, including the watcher's broken helmet, claire's staff and surprisingly multiple phones with red paint in a corner, somehow. He's searching for the spare one made when a hologram of the paradigm appears informing him of attempting zero fusion and saying he'll be the only one left as it seems it'll take all her energy to hold it together and passing him the spare reminding him to remember the seven and what they did for everyone. She even suggests jonsey may be a good member. Lloyd leaves and rifts back to give to L.J. with her mother temporarily gaining human form due to what the paradigm's doing.

The clan begin experiencing chromed members into statues and the leader calls for a fight that they all precede to defeat him and opens a chrome rift that pulls the statues and kai's father in so L.J and Lloyd enter to rescue them, whilst lan Jun finds someone else and decides to save them whilst Lloyd brings the father out. It's the herald that L.J.'s going for, and after freeing her, they're launched out violently, and L.J. hits a wall very badly and isn't responding. The herald wakes to Lloyd staring at her with blade, pointed at her having a meltdown over her, taking the seven away from him before looking at jade and standing down, saying she's done enough already. She risked her life to save someone who shows no mercy. Somehow, she wakes up but notes the impact left L.J. in the armor, but her normal self is showing without a helmet. It's certainly shocking, and everyone's trying to see if she's okay.

Lloyd and the herald talk over what she's done, and he's the last of the seven. The herald says she wasn't always like this and decides to travel the omniverse to help make amends. L.J. explains she survived because the paradigm used her energy and can't be found anywhere, and Lloyd has to leave to help assist in controlling the damage. She hugs Lloyd before she goes, but he says he should be the one hugging.

Yeah, that last hashtag...

October spoiler...

[golddiggersgraveyard]

Molly Santana "Masonic Musik" EP review☽

Molly Santana's "Masonic Musik" starts off with a bang with the song "Greenlight." The intro song's instrumental sounds like it comes straight from a 2014 chiraq mixtape, which fits Molly's off key singing style very well. The overall Chief Keef inspiration within this opening song comes through greatly creating a raging opener that brings excitement for the rest of the project.

Now we have "Want" & "Nothing like this."

These 2 songs show off Molly's versatility, displaying that she can make music for her underground rap fans as well as her new attained mainstream audience who may know her from TikTok and or from seeing her becoming the newest addition to Steven Victor's Record Label "Victor Victor Worldwide" which she signed to this past Summer. "Want' & "Nothing like this" are mainstream pop centered songs that have the potential to be radio hits. With the production on these songs I can easily see myself walking through a H&M or Forever 21 expecting to hear one of these two songs. I believe that Molly is doing a great job at bridging her transition from underground Soundcloud artist to a bonafide versatile singer/songwriter. Displaying that she can create memorable hooks and leads where she does not have to abandon her original vocal style which make her music unique.

"So lost" seems a little clunky to me being the 4th song on the project it comes in with a smooth opening but then gets drowned with 808s. It's hard to follow this song as the previous 3 songs flowed perfectly into each other. "So lost" has a lot going on making it a battle between Molly's heavy expressive vocals and the beat. I do however like the intro & outro transitions.

"Windows up" the lead single for "Masonic Musik" opens with a bouncy club drum leading into Molly flowing about getting money and living lavishly. This song is very ambient and smooth deserving to be the lead single on her project. Not much singing on this one as she just flows with her rapping on the ambient pop beat. The music video for this song fits perfectly for the spacious and dormant vibe of this song. Being released on August 16th it comes off as a chill end of summer anthem.

Lastly is "Tell me nun" taking to Molly's original underground sound stamping the project, displaying that no matter how versatile she is she'll still come back to her underground rap roots with her flow and instrumental on this song. The lyrics fit superbly as she states "I been getting bigger, tell 'em, "Meet me at the top" & "I know from the outside it look nice, but this shit takes time." Molly is fully self aware that she is knocking at the mainstream music door as she is evolving bigger and better as an artist. The song title "Tell me nun" speaks for itself.

'Masonic Muisk" is a good EP consisting of Pop/Rap hits that solidify who Molly Santana is as an artist. This project is my real first introduction to her being that I heard about 5 to 6 of her previous singles before she was signed. This project though displays her versatility full throttle. Her production team on "Want", "Nothing like this", and "Windows up" did a amazing job drawing up a gleeful head nodding experience that both the average rap and pop music fan can enjoy. I look forward to seeing what is next for Molly Santana as I will now surely go back through her discography to discover what I have been missing. Noticing the turnaround between her debut self titled studio album and "Masonic Musik" was less than 5 months, Molly seems to keep on feeding her fans with new music.

[chevelleneech]

How I’d restructure the season.

This topic came to me by way of a DM, so I’m going to write it out here to make sure it makes sense.

Okay, so if I had to reimagine the pacing issues I’ve seen other people dislike or even reconfigure how the flashbacks fit in, here’s how I’d do it:

Episode One: would start the way it originally does, yet upon Indara realizing she knows the assassin, it melts into the flashback of episode three. We would see all of what happens there, then end the episode with the assassin killing Indara.

However, to keep things juicy, I would play up the vibe of the girls being sacrifices, written it so the forehead mark is never shown, neither Mae nor Osha’s name is said (they’d be called darling and sweetheart by their moms), and would have ended the flashback just as the bridge collapses with the girls finally revealing their names over a black screen. So we don’t know who said what. That way the audience has no idea if it was Mae or Osha who survived, nor which killed Indara.

I also would have included the moment Mae sees Sol kill Aniseya, but from her pov, that way Indara’s death comes across to the audience as a result of a young traumatized girl lashing out at the Jedi who tried to save her.

Episode two: I’d keep be the majority of the original ep1, minus the fight with Indara obviously. So it would start with the introduction to grown Osha, that way the audience is inclined to believe Osha is living a double life. When she’s arrested and is confused though, the viewers who guessed she has a twin (many people did) would instead say, “I bet Mae lived!” Which is ultimately fine, because while it’s predicable, it takes away the more expected evil twin plot twist, and instead forces viewers to question how Mae survived, why she wasn’t taken in by the Jedi too, and what caused her and Osha to not be on speaking terms. And once we learn everyone believed Mae died, we can instead have the quick scene of seeing Mae fall, and Sol pulling Osha back up. Thus creating a much more solid belief that the Jedi were there to help. Then I’d end the episode in the same place, with The Master talking to Mae about what an Acolyte is/does.

Episode three: Is the original episode two, with not much change. I don’t remember everything from this ep, but it when we first me Qimir and we get an idea of Mae’s plan, and it all is fine, if I recall. And I would have had Qimir tell Mae, “I know a guy who can get us to Khofar.” instead of saying he can get her there himself.

Episode four: Would must been episode four, because after the first three rearranged episodes, I think this one would make a bit more sense as a mid-point shocker. The only thing I’d change, is adding a second travel companion to throw Qimir’s scent. So the guy Qimir knew who flew them to Khofar would be the red herring, because he’d be more physically intimidating and white, tbh. He’s also be written as a pilot/bounty hunter who refuses to leave Qimir’s side until he got paid. That way the audience would be stuck waffling between whether The Master is Qimir or this random man he brought on their trip. Then I’d have the guy get lost, Qimir convince Mae to leave him behind, and then have Mae string Qimir up. Otherwise, everything is the same.

Episode five: No notes. Except mayyybe have the audience learn Qimir is The Master seconds before his face is revealed. So I’d cut from Jecki knocking the helmet off, to Osha or Yord tripping over the pilot’s body on their back to the battle, then cut right back to Jecki getting killed. So the reveal goes from light guesswork to “Oh shit! It IS the quirky Asian guy!” And it would instill an even deeper sense of fear, because he would have already killed someone without any shift in demeanor.

Episode six: Mostly remains the same, with the exception being I’d have cut most of Vernestra and Mog. Or at least condensed their scenes to fit in more scenes between Oshamir. Not for ship reasons, but because I feel like their entire stretch of scenes happened in a span of twenty minutes, whereas Mae and Sol spent an entire evening trying to fix the ship, and Vernestra and Mog literally traveled from one planet to another then stalked the jungle to find dead bodies. The time frames simply do not match for each arc this episode, so I’d have liked to see Osha and Qimir have more than one ten minute conversation stretched out over forty minutes.

I’d have had Osha actually leave the cave after saying she’s not easily corrupted, and try to find another way off the little island since she didn’t believe Qimir. I would have actually let the tide go out, and have her get on the ship, only for him to float over and ask her what she’s afraid of. Stuff like that. Not enough to make him sympathetic so soon, but showcase how truthful he was being in letting her leave or something. Other than that, I’d still end it with Sol telling Mae he’d tell her the truth.

Episode seven: my least favorite of the season, but less because I think its placement is wrong, than it is I don’t think it needed to be a full episode flashback. So here is my reimagine of this episode:

and I’d have ended it with Mae silently crying and telling Sol he ruined everything or something similar. I’d also have an extra ending with Osha removing the helmet and telling Qimir, “The Jedi killed my family.” You know? Nothing too too drastic, but something to keep the questions flowing. Because we learned in this episode the twins share a consciousness, so Osha saying that would lead us to believe she felt Mae find out.

Episode eight: Hasn’t aired yet, lol, but I’d start where we left off with Osha (in my version), but have the twist be the helmet didn’t help her feel it from Mae, but instead gave her back a suppressed memory of overhearing Sol and Indara speaking about it on the ship to Courascant 16 years ago.

The end. I almost gave up, but I made it! If anyone reads this whole thing, thank you but also ignore any typos. I’m too tired to read it back. Took an hour and a half almost to write.

If anyone has any different ideas, feel free to share.

[annikasevenshots]

Seven and Raffi in Picard S3: What We Know (part 2)

Original thread was getting too long, but do give it a read for the full story! I'll probably chop these into parts now that we're getting content of their interactions.

Episode 6 Round-up (now with gifs!)

When Raffi and Worf beam onto the La Sirena, Raffi immediately scans the room - and her face softens when she sees Seven. She approaches her - "hey, you. you alright?" - and Seven responds in a very Seven way - not revealing much about how she is, rather a summary of the Titan crew. Very professional. Work-focused. "We're alive, if that's what you're asking". For me, it calls back to when she calls herself "functional" in S1E5.

Worf does walk ahead of the two of them side by side in this episode, but they're not storming the bridge - whoops - just heading into the transporter room. Having had more time to process everything, Seven reaches out - "uh, it's good to see you", and Raffi says, "it's great to be seen". (I interpreted that as a reaction to her being undercover and not being seen by anyone). Then they share an exchange that, to me, showed... regret? Grief? Some poignant acknowledgement of, "we did what we had to do, but it was still hard to say goodbye"?

Being put in a live slug reaction situation, Worf points out that he's gone into battle with lovers countless times - Seven interjects and says she's not going - and Worf says that it was a relief, and he was practicing deceit. "Breakups on my homeworld seldom end without bloodshed". That's pretty much confirmation that Seven and Raffi are broken up, or at least on a break.

Between going into battle with lovers being therapeutic, and the breakups (the phase of being broken up?) not ending without bloodshed, it's very promising foreshadowing for when Seven and Raffi storm onto the bridge. They'll spill some blood, they'll air their feelings, they'll kiss and make up.

A now taken-down review says that "there is enough sexual tension between Seven and Raffi to power a small-scale ship". We start to see hints of that tension this episode. These two clearly still have eyes for each other and are not over each other, and there was a lot repressed in the short conversation they were able to have.

I mean, look at the way they look at each other. Eyes up here, people.

Anyway, I suspect we'll see more of this tension as they try to repress their feelings and attend to the mission at hand. But I think they'll realise that - in the words of Matalas - they will always be family.

This is significant wording! Family has been a great part of this season. From ep4 onwards, a Family Theme was introduced. This motif was reintroduced when Seven talks about her family aboard the Voyager this episode. The way she phrases it makes it seem like she doesn't have anyone to call family right now.

I think Seven's arc will be to realise that Raffi is family to her. Not only Raffi, but people on the Titan, Picard, etc. That being in Starfleet means that other people have her backs and she can do the same for them. It'll be a continuation of her long-standing arc to learn to be more vulnerable, to learn to trust, to create a home with someone.

Notably, Seven and Raffi were left out of the significant action towards the end. The TNG crew try to revive not-Data Data, Worf vows to hunt down the Shrike and save Riker and Deanna. I'm not sure what Saffi will be doing next episode. Probably hunting down the Shrike on the Titan. But I am hoping that this means they'll have some time to catch up with each other and talk.

Predictions for Ep7:

Terry has said it's a Vadic-heavy episode, so my guess is whatever Saffi are doing is the b-plot.

Seven and Raffi collaborate on a task, and they butt heads as they learn to work with each other again. The tension builds up.

Their relationship are still on the backburner this episode.

Predictions for the rest of the season:

More tension building in ep 8. Possibly, Raffi's family is addressed again, especially her granddaughter.

Saffi's key moment comes in ep9. Much like last season's extraordinary moment. Either in the aftermath or the eve of a great battle. Or both. It will be underscored by the Family Theme.

Seven and Raffi storm onto the bridge in episode 9.

Seven commandeers the Enterprise-F and hails the fleet of retired ships to attack against the infiltrated, interconnected active fleet.

There will be a Saffi kiss in the season finale. Just a gut feeling.

Possibly Raffi (and Seven?) meeting her granddaughter and Gabe, if they're present for Frontier Day.

[help-imanartistt]

GOING INSANE

so my brain keeps drawing genloss parallels to songs now so...

I could write an essay on both of these in full but I'll spare you for now...

THE MAIN CHARACTER - Will Wood

I can imagine a great little animatic to this hehee if only i could animate 😭

I imagine the person talking in the bridge is Hetch and then everything after the 'it's nothing new' line is Ranboo responding. Just this whole idea about loyalty and not breaking out of Showfall's grasp and the way that you can kinda connect the 'court fool' and 'the witches' to sneeg and charlie. Also the whole thing about 'doing what we need to to get through' implying that Hetch is also under some sort of control from the founder and also trying to belittle Ranboo for their decisions even though they weren't his own. Then the 'it's nothing new' line referring to the you guessed TIME LOOP. (I LOVE TIME LOOP SO MUCH ITS SO SILLY)

Leading back into the chorus. The creators not being seen as people gets called back to there 'So God forbid I'm seen just as an average human being'. This line also eludes to 'The Hero' like Ranboo being given a role and now they're expected to live up to what people think of them. Ranboo commenting on Hetch's two faced nature with the whole 'I mean imagine if antagonists lacked any evil scheme' bit and how he truly believed Hetch was going to save him. And you can kinda see the last line ('I'm the main character and you have to like me') as a way for Ranboo to justify all the pain he's gone through like "it would all be for nothing if they didn't like me" kinda thing.

COUNTING SHEEP - Crane Wives

I am not convinced this song was not written about genloss/j

This I imagine is the restarting of the time loop. with 'morning coming a day too soon' or thinking that you're dead and to quote the show that 'it wasn't supposed to be like this'. Back in the tiny room being the cabin.

I'll skip the chorus and get to the next verse for now...

The sunlight filtering in and Ranboo's dread of waking up has started to set in as it means that he is going to experience everything all over again. The sunlight could also be referring to the ending of ep 3 where he can see sunlight leaking in from outside but still chooses to ignore it. This could also imply that he was never fully broken out of Showfall's control until the end just so Showfall could get him to follow the story they needed. This leads into the cycle beginning again and the alarms ringing being his awareness that something is wrong and he will be stuck again forced through the same fate over and over. At this point I'd imagine that the mask has turned on meaning the something in them that is fast asleep is themselves and this fear of trying to break free sets in. I also imagine the 'it's a losing battle' line to be representative of Showfall almost mocking Ranboo as he struggles to grapple with reality (him yelling no as the mask turns on again in the first ep).

SO THE CHORUS

Having the wool pulled from your eyes is to see the truth. The mask in this case we can refer to as the wool. I'll let this kind person pn Genius to explain the whole sheep metaphor...

You see where I'm going here??

It's basically referring to how as soon as the mask has relinquished some amount of control and Ranboo is able to see how others are being controlled and deceived ergo eating their fill of sheep. I also really like the whole analogy of sheep because like the whole idea of those trapped in Showfall's control being unable to forge their own paths and make their own decisions. This also aligns with how the Showfall employees are just drones doing whatever the founder needs them to.

ANYWAY UHH THATS BEEN MY SECOND 600 WORD ANALYSIS HAVE FUN GUYS. (can you tell I'm an English student yet...)

[inkedkoi]

Rewrite: Part Two

Continuation of "Hold On To “What If”: Overanalyzing and Rewriting Sonic Prime" essay

[Once Again, spoilers for Sonic Prime, all media here belong to their respective creators.]

✨//🌻//✨

[S3 EP 4]

Just like in canon, Sonic remembers how he and Tails were a great duo, having adventures together and beating Eggman's plan. And now, as he's in the middle of planning for battle, he has to fight Tails' "look-alike", Nine. Even if it hurts on so many levels.

[insert title card]

Everyone has been busy for the past couple of hours, coming up with a plan. Sonic joins them and reminds them that they only have two objectives:

Rescue Shadow

Recover the Shards from Nine

When someone asks what would they do afterward, Sonic opens his mouth but quickly closes it. He... really hasn't thought about that. He responds that they'll just have to cross that bridge when they come to it, but this is what they have to deal with right now. The Council warns him that the shield won't hold Nine's attacks off for long. Sure, Mangey somehow was able to optimize it to a significant percentage. Sure, it was able to last for the past month, but now with the civilians from No Place and Boscage Maze here, they're wasting a lot more resources. Not just Prism Energy. Sonic decides for them to take a moment from plan-making to organize the Fortress. The Rose sisters offer to find more supplies and distribute them to whoever needs them. Sonic then turns to the Council and requests them to take some of his Energy. Everyone looked at him in shock, was he crazy? Even the Council was beginning to think that this blue rat really lost it.

But Sonic reassures them that it'll just be a bit of it, just enough to keep the shield up. He'll be fine. So, they let him do his thing. Sonic was placed back into the "hamster ball" and went on full speed. The generator quickly fills up. Just when they thought it was good enough, they told Sonic to stop. But for some reason, Sonic kept going, filling the generator to full battery. They rushed to shut the machine down, worried for Sonic. When Sonic came out, he stood for a good few seconds before he collapsed into someone's arms. They all crowded him, asking if he was okay. He only gave a weak yet brave smile and thumbs-up. That... was a lot. After a lot of convincing, Sonic stood up for himself, his hands on his hips for support.

Rusty commented it indeed was a lot more than what Sonic did when he first took the test. This surprised everyone. How was Sonic even alive? Was it stupidity? Stubbornness? Or just pure luck? Whatever it was, Sonic was a lot more than what they could've imagined.

x+x

We cut to the Rose sisters going to every abandoned room, seeing if there was anything they could use. So far, they were able to find some explosives and cans of food. But it was barely anything. Rusty went along and passed by another room only to stop and take a closer look. The door... it looked familiar to her. As much as she tried, she can't remember it. She loosened the boards of the door and stared at the unexpected keypad. She tried to enter the passcode, the one she always had, but it denied it. Well, she concluded that they must've changed it when she "left" the Council. So she tried other past codes, they weren't usually good at coming up with new ones without her. But nothing. There was one more she wanted to try: "B...I...R...D...I...E..." and surprisingly it worked. It was definitely a code the Council wouldn't even choose, so why did Rusty think of it. She doesn't know.

She entered inside the dark room to see something even more surprisingly. Usually, all the other rooms were tidied, maybe some dust here and there. But this one was the complete opposite; chewed-out cables and bits of paper were scattered on every surface imaginable. Rusty's detectors caught on the smell of burnt metal, confirmed by the marks she found around the room. Lying on the floor before her, she found an old ID, just as burnt as the rest. It covered the photo and some of the information, but there was something clear enough for her to read:

Dr. Rose, Assistant...

There was a huge computer on the other end of the room. Wanting to find out more, she approached to it and type in the same passcode she put on the keypad outside. Despite the computer being damaged, it was still functional, flickering back to life. It had an old database, one that Rusty never seen before. She decided to search up the name and pull up the profile. The picture here... was that her?

Thorn: "Hey, Black Rose found some more food packets? You got anything?" Rusty, her eyes not taking off the screen: "No. You guys go on ahead, I'll be there."

Black Rose joins up with Thorn, wanting to know what was the holdup. They both look at the screen, the picture.

Thorn, whispers: "Is that... Rusty?"

Black Rose looks over to Rusty, seeing that she is intrigued by the new information she found. Shocked, but intrigued.

Black Rose: "Let's give her some space..."

The two continued on without her, Rusty scrolling through what was her past life.

As Dr Rose.

x+x

Sonic limps back into the Council room with everyone else following behind them. Renegade is close by just in case Sonic falls again. As they did, Thorn and Black Rose just came back with carts full of supplies. They gasped at Sonic's state, and the rest explained what happened.

Thorn, shrugging: "You were always so stubborn."

Black Rose tosses him a snack bar. It wasn't the usual chilidogs he liked but Sonic accepts it anyway. A bit chewy, though. Back to planning, the Council actually came up with an idea after what Sonic had done. Nine was right about one thing: Sonic was a battery. A rechargeable one. They explained to everyone that since Sonic has a connection to the Prism, they can transfer the Energy to each other far more easily than any invention could. That was why in the fight back in Ghost Hill, Sonic was able to handle the Energy in his 1st and 2nd form. They share that energy. If Sonic could occupy most of the Energy the connection shares, it might prevent Nine from using the Shards' power. Slow down the reconstruction. Or at least enough to stall and grab the Shards away from him.

The rest were skeptical of the idea, and the Council out of everyone, to suggest such a thing. To use Sonic as a potential lab rat. Sonic, however, was willing to hear them out and decided to give it a shot if it came to it. He handled similar power before with the Chaos Emeralds, and this wasn't the first time he had to go all out when things got desperate. It doesn't matter how much of the Prism he has to absorb, he made a promise to them and he's willing to keep it. Everyone once again looks at him in bewilderment. Like seriously, how is he not dead?

Sonic: "Oh, that? I've already done that many times before."

Sonic turns to Rebel, seeing as she has the most experience leading an army, and asks her what their attack should be. Meanwhile, Rusty quietly enters in, her face in a blank state. The two other Rose sisters ran up to her and asked if she was ok. Rusty tells them that there was a lot of stuff she just learned and she doesn't exactly know what to make of it. It's not to say she didn't understand any of it, in fact, a lot of it fits her personality. The rest felt like she had imposter syndrome. It's simply the fact that she can't remember any of it. If she tried hard enough, maybe she could. But, nothing comes up. It was like a ghost, wanting to linger on her, but she couldn't see this "Dr Rose" back. Thorn and Black Rose each placed a hand on her shoulder as a form of comfort. Thorn tells her that even if Rusty doesn't remember everything, they'll still be here for her.

Rusty: "Thank you, Thorn." Thorn: "You would do the same for me, sister." Rusty: "Sister. I never had a sister before." Black Rose: "Now you got two."

The three share a big group hug. Sisters, from different worlds.

Renegade: "Well, look who decided to join in." Rusty: "I had unfinished business to attend to."

Rusty shoots a look at the Council, them having no idea of the implications. It wasn't of hatred, but rather newfound freedom. Confidence. We pull away from the group as Sonic summarized their plans once more, moving out of the room and outside, to see most of New Yoke vanishing away. Buildings coming out of the ground, scraping going along with it. It was now or never.

[S3 EP 5]

We open up to a view into the Void. It was surprisingly calm, despite bits of the destroyed gateways floating around. This didn't last long as the white noise from offscreen was getting louder. The camera pans to see the dark abyss growing much more than before, absorbing everything in its path. The same camera gets pulled by its force as well, passing by crystals, until it stops at a familiar shining stone:

The Chaos Emerald.

Shadow suddenly opens up his eyes, breathing heavily. It was as if he came out from drowning in water. For the vision he just had, it was hard to interpret why he saw the Emerald. Was... the Emerald calling out to him? Once he calms down, he then remembers where he was. That's right, he was trapped here in Nine's lab. He looked over to see Nine, using the red Shard with his mechanical tails, seemingly talking to someone. However, projected on the screen, as a view of New York, the image zoomed in to see...

Shadow: "Sonic?"

[insert title card]

Nine ends the message, the image of New Yoke gone, and turns back to the Shard. Feeling like someone was watching him, Nine turns to see Shadow.

Nine: "Who are you?"

Shadow's eyebrow rose with confusion. Did he forget who he was? They literally just met days ago. Nine rolls his eyes, putting the Shard back into the machine, before walking over to him.

Nine: "I know you're Shadow. But who are you really?" Shadow, crossing his arms in a huff: "I'm the Ultimate Life Form. That is all I am, and that's enough."

Displeased with this answer, Nine points out that not once did Shadow eat, drink, or sleep for the past few days. No normal Mobian is like this, so Nine asks again. Who was he?

Shadow shakes his head and simply says that he doesn't need all those things. He can if he wants to, but it's not required. Nine decides to not push it any further and goes back to his work. Shadow looks at the ground, picking up a piece of rubble. Both Shadow and the fox know that Sonic coming back for him. That's just how Sonic is. They also know how impulsive Sonic can be when his friends are in danger, always going off without a plan. Reckless, as Shadow puts it. And that is exactly what Shadow fears Sonic is about to do.

He needs to get out of here to stop him.

x+x

We cut to a flashback about Rusty. From a view of above, looking down at Rusty lying down on a lab table. Her paint and metal were completely new, shining by several lights. She is asleep, unable to hear the following conversation,

"That was a close call." "I'll say, that Flicky was a handful. I think it pecked me a hundred times." "We can't let this happen again. Send the bots to destroy any trace of what happened. Her office as well." [*aggressive baby noises*] "Now, now. She can still be useful. Besides, Rusty won't remember anything that happened here. Our empire requires sacrifices, and she is simply one of them."

x+x

Meanwhile in New Yoke, Rusty opens her eyes, seemingly recovering her memory (the flashback). She glances at her sister who seems to be doing some arts & crafts since there is nothing else they need to do. Rusty smiles and turns back to the project she's been working on.

We pan to Sonic looking at the view outside. The world truly was decaying, only just a few blocks left before they reached the Fortress gates. The plan was for Sonic to jump onto the "hamster ball" machine once again to open a portal to the Grim. As much as he wished not to get innocent civilians involved, they can't exactly stay here. The Void was an option, but Nine would likely have some of the Grim bots to attack while he's not there to save them. Besides, something in his gut was telling him that it was a bad idea anyway. Sails call out to him, it is time to go. Sonic takes another look at the window before going into the Council's lab.

x+x

Nine was in the process of planning his world, carefully twirling the Shards to an exact degree. Shadow, out of the blue, tells him that Sonic trusted him. Nine stopped what he was doing. How would he know? Sonic practically used him to get the Shards, for all Nine knew, Sonic lied to him to get what he wanted. Shadow rebuttals, Sonic may have wanted Green Hill back but he was the one who defended Nine since day one.

Nine grew angrier. As if, Sonic never saw him as Nine, he only saw him as a version of Tails. Sonic never understood what it was like growing up in New Yoke, he never understood why Nine acted the way he did. Why? Because Sonic never listened to him.

Sonic didn't know him at all. Neither does Shadow.

And still, Shadow says, Sonic trusted him, and Nine simply was going to get him killed back in Ghost Hill because he took the Shards. He manipulated the Shards and Shadow suspects that it's also causing the other worlds to collapse too. Just as Sonic told Nine, Shadow says that Nine was destroying their homes. This left Nine surprised, Sonic said the same thing. He glances at the footage of the bots he sent after Sonic. Currently, they are in the Void, making their way to New Yoke. In this footage, his eyes widen to see that the two hedgehogs were right. He didn't know about this. It conflicted with him. He didn't mean to do this. Like he thought before, Boscage and No Place were innocent in this. He looks back at Shadow, almost forgetting that he was there. Well... anyway, the Chaos Council was the one who started the destabilization of the other worlds, not him. Besides, if Sonic and Shadow were here, then it's fine. Knowing Sonic, he saved the Mobians from Boscage and No Place, so it's fine. Nine just needs to continue on. That's all.

Nine turned back to his work, his reaction being noticed by Shadow. Shadow has always been trusting of his instincts and it tells him that Nine messing with the Shards is affecting Nine. As if... the Shards have a sort of effecting the fox. The fox talks to his communicator, summoning all the Grim bots to his lab. The Alphas, as Nine calls them, are ordered to secure the Hideout at all costs when Sonic arrives. There was the possibility that Sonic may activate his full Prismatic form, and by then it'll be game over for Nine. For that, he gave the bots a bit more Prism Energy to withstand any attack, thanks to the information he gathered from Sonic and Shadow's fight against Grim Sonic (from EP1).

Speaking of Shadow, he was in deep concentration. He needs to get to Sonic now. For that, he'll need to connect with the Chaos Energy he had within him. With a click, he found it.

Shadow: "Chaos Blast!"

The lab was shaken by the huge explosion he caused, sending both the bots and Nine back. Nine got up from a daze and saw Shadow escaping from the cage.

Nine: "Get him!"

The Alphas chase after him while Shadow tries to fight back with a combination of Chaos Spears and Chaos-Snap. Of course, it wasn't as strong as he did it with a Chaos Emerald, but it's not like he had any other choice. Maneuvering himself out of the Grim through one of the sky tears, he uses his jet boots to move into the Void. Most of the bots weren't able to follow him, except for the Alpha Birdie. Now accompanied by two Grim Birdies. As a sort of parallel to how Sonic fought them (in EP2), Shadow tried his best to get them off his tail. The only difference was that he was far more confrontational, especially with his moveset.

For a moment, Shadow got to see his surroundings. His vision wasn't a lie, the abyss really was getting larger. Soon, there will be nothing left to protect. He headed for the New Yoke gateway, searching if there was a way to get in just as there was for the Grim gateway. Out of nowhere, the Grim Birdies found him. This time he wasn't so lucky, he got knocked out during the fight and fell into the abyss.

Nine communicated with the bots, seeing what had transpired, demanding them to retrieve him. The bots did as they were told, diving into the darkness. However, because of how far Shadow was, the bots were flashing bright warnings, saying that it was too dangerous for them to go even deeper. Nine was willing to push them to the maximum but then he heard a commotion going on outside. Of course, Nine hesitated to make a decision, he didn't actually want to kill Shadow, but knowing that the abyss swallowed all life, it was probably too late to get Shadow back from it.

After a while of internal debate, Nine told the Grim bots to return to the Hideout, failing their mission.

x+x

A portal from New Yoke opens up into the Grim, entering the Council's flying Fortress. Without needing the shield anymore, they opened the doors. Sonic was the first to see how much the world has changed when he was here (in the first EP). While some of the Grim crystals may be floating, the rocky ground was covered with grid lines. It seems that Nine wasted no time planning his "clean slate".

Sonic: "We'll get you out of there, Shadow."

x+x

We cut to Shadow's POV, his vision blurry from the fight that happened. Judging by the view before him, he seemed to be deep in the abyss. Hm, it was no wonder Nine didn't come looking for him. Nine didn't know his capabilities of being the Ultimate Life Form (TM), how much he could actually last in here. Longer than any Modian or invention, that's for sure. Sonic was there to bring him out of there (in S2 EP1), he was on his own this time. Despite his dazed state, he felt a familiar source of energy straight ahead. Indeed, there was a shining green dot, waiting for him. Sinking lower into the darkness, he stretches his hand out, tempting to grab this energy.

Chaos energy.

[Side note from Koi: yeah, these seem a little short. I just can't write fight scenes and stuff, sorry. But don't worry, I'll make it up to you in the next part!]

To be continued...

Previous Part || Next Part || Masterpost

[violetganache42]

I don't know if anyone else noticed, but I'm gonna throw this out here real quick: after watching this episode, I am more than convinced that the Galaxy Cup is being rushed through. The current arc started on July 2nd in Japan, and about a month later, we are already at the last day of the preliminaries. So much has happened, and like the previous arc, it feels like jack shit was accomplished with the tournament itself.

The first portion of most tournament arcs focus on the major characters making it through the preliminaries; here, two of the three protagonists' progress feels completely lackluster. We don't see more of Yuhi's Duels after winning against that Mary Sue of a cheater Epoch, and there aren't any more episodes or segments of Yudias teaching her about Rush Duels. Furthermore, we don't see any glimpses, scenes, or episodes of any other characters competing besides Chupataro, Manya, Rovian, George, Bochi, and London in ep. 66, and Manabu in… *through gritted teeth* the following episode. One could argue that it's because Bridge-era arcs are 13-ish episodes; that would be understandable if it weren't for the overlapping plotlines it has going on, including the shoehorned Providence furniture store plot. Six episodes going on seven into the arc and there's more emphasis on constantly treating Manabu poorly, using the Relic to build-up more oversaturated SEVENS fanservice via Otes' potential return, Epoch having way more focus than the Galaxy Cup itself or the other plotlines, and the furniture store abruptly showing up with no real significance to the tournament/arc other than just to tie into said Epoch favoritism.

I have previously commented on how the Galaxy Cup is being treated as a backdrop than an actual plot element, and this episode further proves it. Past tournament arcs like Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, the WRGP, the World Duel Carnival, the Maiami Championship, and the Friendship Games had different plotlines, yet they managed to integrate them into the tournaments and were easy for the viewers to follow along. The Galaxy Cup, however, suffers greatly from having too many plotlines to point of clashing with each other over which one is more important and ultimately overshadowing the main tournament plot. With the release of the next few episodes' synopses, prioritizing those conflicting narratives further came at the cost of not giving most of its chosen finalists some form of screentime that warrants them advancing into the finals, something I will comment about in a separate post.

I am astounded at how an arc like this one can not only carry over pre-existing issues that have developed since the 4th and 5th arcs, but also manage to practically fuck things up to the point of treating a piece of YGO anime tradition almost like an afterthought. It's frustrating and disappointing.

[sidecharactersdomatter]

Thoughts I had during TGCF S1 Ep 6

-Previously on TGCF…

-Woah, a waking up camera effect

-San Lang’s eating lunch

-Woah, that old man is traumatized

-Aww San Lang got all protective, and that body Language with Xie Lian, they are able to communicate verbally AND nonverbally

-This references the area region of China in the northwest where it connects with the Silk Road

-That was a huge caravan

-More secret body language

-Oh yeah, when he woke up he didn’t even drink water before explaining

-Woah that offer had the old man spooked senseless

-He’s got a knife!

-Of course being a martial god, he has experience in combat.  Have you seen him in a sword dual at Yinian bridge? (Subtle Phineas and Ferb quote)

-Gross his arm deflated!

-Stopped by a chopstick!

-Yep he dead

-How does one make another chopstick?

-I wonder who sent the puppet anyway?

-Oh yes he does dabble

-Telepathic chat room

-So many falling golden leaves

-Yep, it’s a free for all!

-Woah that shocked everyone and they went back to grabbing credits

-Well that just made him more interested in the Crescent pass situation

-They haven’t cleaned up the puppet’s husk?!?!

-San Lang has answers!  It’s so sweet!

-Oooh more worldbuilding on the desert area

-Is that who I think it is?

-And he hands San Lang his broom, they really are husbands

-Yep called it, and the gong noise when the door opened!

-Looking for answers is honestly a valid reason 

-Isn’t it obvious Xie Lian?

-They said it in sync again

-Oh they noticed San Lang now

-Oooh they’re suspicious 

-Oh he knows how to trigger Fu Yao

-No not the broom!

-I love pissed off Fu Yao so much, just look at how sharp his eyes are XD!

-San Lang is fluent in sarcasm

-And now Nan Feng’s pissed off too! XD

-Yes he has fixed up his home

-And Fu Yao’s still pissed off and skeptical 

-Man Fu Yao’s so condescending, I wonder where he gets it from…?

-Yes, they did sleep together better believe it

-He said it again!  “ With Heavenly blessings May all taboos be shattered”

-Woah, instant Silk Road shortcut

-Does he mean the North Star Polaris?

-Man that desert village looked really cool

-They have entered the desert

-*As they all start walking down the sand dune* I’m like: “How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean???” (Another iconic and amazing Last Airbender quote, and a really good crossover fanart idea). *casually gets started on drawing that crossover*  

-I really love the desert music

-Awww look at San Lang’s emo hoodie

-Aw the face he makes when he has to wear Xie Lian’s hat, there goes his emo hoodie!

-And then he gives the hat back to Xie Lian because he doesn’t want him to burn…

-You know what’s better than one evil Daoist?  Two evil Daoists!

-Also Fang Xin tends to get confused with Feng Xin(Nan Yang)  I’m experiencing that in this fandom

-Woah that’s a cool purple cloak

-That explains the misfortunes of the Crescent Pass

-OOOHHH!  Fu Yao got triggered again

-San Lang dodged that attack like a G

-An abandoned hut

-Yep here come the trust issues

-I might’ve noticed one thing off about San Lang…

-Foreshadowing with that “Runaway kid” bit

-Magic sleeves of holding! Count: 4

-It’s a polite battle!   Fu Yao vs San Lang!  Who will accept the true sight serum?  Place your bets in the comments!  (Kidding. I’ve already seen this episode and I know what happens)

-And then Nan Feng steps in

-And he drank the whole thing like a boss

-Now Nan Feng’s acting like an NPC from a fantasy video game

-Sharp sound when the blade’s being drawn

-Nah San Lang, they’re just testing you to see if you’re a ghost

-The sword broke XDXDXDXD

-And he’s tossing a piece of broken metal up and down XD

-Oooooh Who are they?

-The woman in the teal cloak saw him

-No dude, what did you just say about staying in the shelter to wait out the sandstorm!  SMH!

-Now he’s lost

-Oh good they all found him

-There’s San Lang!

-He’s so relieved when he found him!

-OH!  San Lang’s robe slipped off one of his shoulders and Xie Lian put it back up AAHH!!!

-He’s touched starved again!

-And then San Lang grabs Xie Lian’s hat from blowing away and helps put it on and tighten the strings!!!! *fangirls like no tomorrow!*.  These episodes just keep getting better and better!

-Best chemistry ever!

-“It’s not a strong wind.”  *Xie Lian gets caught in the sandstorm*  Yeah, you were saying Fu Yao?  SMH again

-Oh and San Lang got really worried!

-And after Rouye grabs San Lang and Xie Lian says, “I didn’t mean San Lang”. Rouye goes: “Really? Ok!”  And then lets him go, that’s just the hypothetical dialogue I’ve got for the silk band

-And we’re on another cliffhanger people

I know episode 6 comes out tomorrow so enjoy my Season 1 reactions for now.