#everyone has trust issues tbf

[premamelody]

tldr: specific criteria mostly. sort of a plot device.

more in tags

I don't like the fact that Tsunami and Glory are princesses by blood. When I started reading this series of books, I thought that they were all not of royal blood. It was surprising to me that Tsunami dreamed of being a princess, and this, surprise, turned out to be true. Why did Webs even take such a big risk by stealing the royal egg (like Hvitur. He stole the egg from the palace, sort of.). That is, do the books seriously want to tell me that among millions of dragons, ONLY DoD were born on the brightest night? Was it necessary to take eggs from such dangerous places? Why didn't Talons of peace just...conceive eggs at the right time? I'm sure that among the 50 dragons there will be two skywings that can mate at the right time.

[danieyells]

I also thought of the janitor too and have the theory of the scene of him eating apples and how he refers to the mc and apples as sweet + the parallelism of apples with the Adam and eve and everyone knows how it goes form there.

Second theory is more crack than anything but it's darkwick as an institution, like c'mon y'all's logo is a Big D inside a shield with what almost looks like horns, at one point it's almost too on the nose

@yuri-is-online

you are both making it sound like the janitor has appeared or been mentioned more than once and i'm losing my mind DID I MISS OR FORGET SOMETHING IS THIS MY TAIGA BRAIN AGAIN I DON'T REMEMBER HARU MENTIONING THE JANITOR OR HIM EATING APPLES. . . .

but yeah i don't trust darkwick so much anymore(or at least not cornelius and the japan branch of the institute and jin's father--not that i trusted jin's father at all) but LMAO THE LOGO IS A D WITH HORNS. I mean I'm pretty sure they're cat ears and the diamond inside the D is a cat eye but THEY LOOK LIKE HORNS LBR.

tbf though. these are Obscuary and Sinostra's and they look pretty sinister too.

Like DW is definitely bad guys, if only because they've got shitty judgement and they're restrictive towards the ghouls and treat them with such suspicion that the ghouls feel trapped at darkwick and like they won't even be able to escape the institute when they graduate and it's going to be a 'you're committing human rights violations' thing BUT. i think that's going to be a more minor and yet overarching issue compared to the spy plot and the prophecy plot and all.

then again. Cornelius insists that ghouls are naturally more aggressive than humans(this is rarely true) so it's entirely possible the spy intends to make the ghouls fight to like. test them and their strength and such. some sort of experiment to learn more about how the ghouls work/think/socialize/etc. It'd be easier for them to observe the ghouls on campus than off, so if they become troublesome and miserable, that's prime study opportunity!!! Which again ties back into 'the spy probably works for darkwick/the institute'. . . .

[minecraftrelatedrandomness]

reasons why the brothers in piracy have my heart and soul

aka a not-so-brief lore rundown explaining one of the main reasons why i am still crying over block game pirates

canonical golden child and scapegoat dynamic raised in a highkey toxic environment together but they reconciled early in the series

the first thing p!acho convinced p!scott to do after the reconciliation (on the same day) was to go sail out and help star get stars cute dog home (his name is dipper. he is baba)

p!scott @ dipper: "you look after him, okay?"

also same day as the above: p!scott jumped in front of a gun for p!acho. the protecc instinct only goes up from there

and during the reconciliation itself: p!scott made p!acho apple pie :((( p!acho then got p!scott some sweet treats as well

p!bek takes a bounty out on p!acho and immediately tells p!scott without knowing about the brother thing. that is how p!bek found out they're brothers and then had to hurry and carry out the bounty before p!scott could snitch

(p!bek carried out the bounty before she got snitched on but still failed it anyway LMAO)

p!acho claims to hate the heron faction and initially refuses to trust the other people in the nightingale faction to talk to the herons about something weird they found (read: server lore stuff). 15 minutes later, star is entrusting p!scott with that information, completely unprompted. absolute hypocrite, i love star <3

p!acho is one of the first people p!scott shows his tentacle grappling hook to (tbf i think he was the only other person online at the time but still. they are silly <3)

p!scott also kept his dogs at the nightingale base with dipper for a while <3 doggo family, even if p!acho has the family tree completely messed up

acho also considered having a dog park / doggy play area built somewhere between the heron and nightingale bases but no one ever got around to doing that :(

first big lore event: they go to a whirlpool. p!acho tries to go into the whirlpool and asks p!scott to lasso star and pull star back up. p!scott's response: "i feel like i would lose my lasso. and my brother." p!acho: "THAT'S what you're concerned about?!" (LITERALLY archetypical sibling banter)

p!acho then asks p!owen to lasso star in and both get dragged into the whirlpool. p!scott: "i'm not losing my brother again" *LITERALLY JUMPS INTO THE WHIRLPOOL AFTER STAR* (clip)

they immediately try to look for each other after everyone got yeeted out of the whirlpool

time skip: p!scott gets kidnapped by cultists. p!acho practically loses it. it's really telling that p!apo (guy that would start a fight with anything at the drop of a hat) has to stop star from going directly into the cultists' base to solo a reacue mission (apo episode)

p!acho: "i don't want to lose anyone. not again."

also: rescue mission time. the two brothers are the first pov characters to kill anyone in the series. also sweet reunion

time skip to halloween event (scott was not there due to life series reasons):

half the server gets trapped in the nightmare realm. p!acho's first nightmare message? "your brother hates what you have become. he regrets ever getting to know you again." (link to all messages)

star IMMEDIATELY STARTS HAVING A MENTAL BREAKDOWN IN 4K. like, my guy believed that. several people reacted badly to the messages but no one else started breaking down by message numero uno and that message was THAT.

time skip again due to scheduling conflicts: big lore time

p!acho goes on big lore quest that is potentially fatal due to Trauma Reasons. decides to leave p!scott with all the money star has (over 100k, richest guy on the server at the time, like holy heck) + dipper + really freaking sad letter/intended last message

p!scott gets the letter. IMMEDIATELY tries to go after star. zero hesitation. potentially fatal? nah, who cares, brother in danger is the important bit

"i'm not losing my brother again. once was more than enough."

(also it's heavily implied that p!scott's abandonment issues were indeed started by p!acho leaving the house without a note and basically going missing in action for over a year soooo)

p!scott is the only person p!acho has ever entrusted with the knowledge of why star left the isles without a note and what happened afterward (aka the Trauma Reasons star went on that quest in the first place)

[for context, p!acho left the isles because star never felt at home there. on ao3, we call that the A+ Parenting tag. and now you know]

and guess what? dingdingding, the quest was all for nothing and was basically a trap all along! only one brother can live (like we all predicted this but our hearts still DROPPED)

reaction? THEY LITERALLY TRIED TO DIE FOR EACH OTHER like zero hesitation At All

p!scott is pretty much the first to volunteer and makes a grand ol' pre-self sacrifice speech and basically just. tries to pull the archetypical c!scott move

but this time? he fails.

p!acho pushes him out of the way of the death trap and takes the fall. literally in this case

yep, one brother got impaled in a spike pit and the other could do Nothing but watch it happen and is traumatized forever

as i said: doomed by the narrative. everyone and their mother knew only one brother would survive the series but most of us Predicted the Wrong One

anyways, canonical survivor guilt ahoy, p!scott made a grave and did adopt dipper. and then has to break the news to everyone

"i've spent the last week just… sticking to myself, thinking… i was ready and… now i don't know if i am. but i mean, i can't blame them, what do they want me to do? put on an ad in questbuy? hey, my brother's dead! don't ask questions! it's just like every time someone asks me… i'm reminded of how much i failed. i have to relive that moment again."

as i said, traumatized forever.

and then my guy brought out his ~25 pet kangaroos as a coping mechanism so people would ask him about those instead of his trauma.

iirc according to the writer's room behind the scenes stream, p!acho would have side-eyed the kangaroos so bad (which is 100% sibling behaviour)

so you see, for much of the series, p!acho would talk to the stars as "starlore", with the stars representing an important character from their year+ away from the isles (long story, solo lore stuff)

by the end of the series, the same tradition has passed on to p!scott (and p!graecie), this time with p!acho :(((

and at the end of the series, p!scott is deciding to leave the isles because it was what p!acho would have wanted to do :(

[no-thoughts-only-soup]

yall didn’t like the recreyo ending? I definitely think there could have been more but what are your issues with it? I don’t mean this in a neg way btw, just want to hear other perspectives

Ok uhhhhh the reblogs in this post essentially contain most of our opinions but tbf it quickly devolved into “you know when you think about the Recreyo lore it makes no goddamn sense”

https://www.tumblr.com/datssokoolwhat/750599250631704576/i-trust-you-guys-to-take-the-voting-very

But to make a long story as short as possible: while we 100% understand the limitations the crew had (since y’know, suddenly we need to write an ending and yall) we’re mostly just disappointed in that it didn’t use most of its existing lore and instead introduced some last minute, barebones villain with some lore that somehow feels incredibly complex and incredibly confusing and meaningless.

The long story:

In my specific case: it didn’t feel like an ending.

A finale’s job is to be an end. Loose threads get tied up. The plot comes to a conclusion. The characters say goodbye.

And all of this could have happened if they simply gave an in-universe explanation as to why Recreyo can’t continue. I feel like they tried explaining that in part 2 with the entire “giving Ao’s energy back to the tears”, but it’s still way too vague and it doesn’t return in part 3, the actual ending ending (how does fixing the tears prevent them from opening a new portal, if Ai and Ao are the problem why are they a problem now ect) and there could have been a much more simple explanation: Maybe to defeat Ai, the plushies aren’t enough and they need to use the power of their portal creation to do it. Maybe Ao betrays them after defeating Ai and the only way to avoid the choice of which twin to keep empowering, they have to permanently seal the multiverse. Maybe the multiverse can’t be saved, and never opening a portal again after returning home is the best way to keep it from collapsing.

But there is nothing. And thus there is no in-universe explanation as to why the adventure can’t continue. And well “the adventure continues” can work well for some stories, it doesn’t work here, aside from teasing new things on their own channels (which still wouldn’t explain why Recreyo disbands in-universe).

And then there is the plot of the finale itself. Evil twin of former baddy who has up to this point never been mentioned before causes problems for reasons never explained or explored, said baddy is incredibly flat, has like 8 very generic lines and only actually appears in the last episode, where they are quickly defeated. The entirety of part 2 is just crack fixing, and the new lore is incredibly confusing.

All in all, it feels like they wanted too much for the finale, but there wasn’t enough time to properly use it.

I will admit there are a lot of great parts about the finale! The banter and humor is very fun, it’s great to see Ao and her awesome voice actress again (shoutout to Kowaitea), I love part 1 and how it feels everyone is participating in it rather than being it mostly Curt, I love the attempted scenarios, I just love it like Recreyo videos.

It’s fine as a Recreyo video. It just sucks as a story imo lol.

[bonesandthebees]

This chapter is also filled to the brim with crimeboys being able to read each other better than anyone else in the room could ever dream of.

Tommy sees through Wilbur fussing about the clothes and blending in. Tbf, that one’s very obviously about not wanting to get chased again and knowing he’s too tall to properly blend in anyway. And that tension and fear doesn’t really get resolved because Techno interrupts. I don’t think it gets resolved until they get to the stripclub, just by the virtu of actually getting there without getting chased.

Also, aside from being very casual in general (see: not flinching at his name, not overthinking everything he says, being incredibly clingy) when it’s just him and Tommy, Wilbur has now gotten used to taking his blindfold of around him. It’s honestly for the better because it probably means he has less headaches and he doesn’t have to be alone to do it. That’s probably a big reason of why Tommy made him take it of in the first place, he knows it gives Wilbur headaches. Still, he got used to making eye contact with Tommy in like a week?

[“Tommy’s here too.” / Techno snorted. “Figured. Meet us by the statue when you’re ready to head out.”] another little nod that Phil and Techno are very much aware of the codependency. Even if they don’t quite realise the full extent. They don’t really have a relevant reason to bring Tommy to the meeting content-wise. He’s just there because they don’t want to just take Wilbur (since neither of them will like that) and maybe to give him another chance at their trust (and that did not go well).

Also, I��ve only mentioned Wilbur’s outfit, but I love all of their outfits, especially Phil and Techno’s. Gotta love how the conversation starts out practical until [“What if we get separated?”] the second Wilbur expresses that fear (and shows the trauma it stems from) it conversation turns a lot softer and familial.

Which is where we get we get the start of protective emerald duo. It goes from general reassurance to the core issue [“But it’s the first time you’re doing something like this with the Pythia,” he argued.] aka the reason why Wilbur is afraid, it’s because he’s the Pythia and that puts everyone around him in danger. The narration reflects that mindset because that’s what he’s focused on, his title.

(2/?)

-🌲

the crimeboys codependency is reaching its ultimate peak at this point lol

yeah it was pretty obvious that wilbur's worry about the clothes had a deeper meaning to it. that one wasn't hard to tell. and tommy gets it. even if he's joking around he's worried about that exact same thing too. he's just better at hiding it than wilbur is.

I wouldn't say wilbur is used to making eye contact with tommy, but he's not thinking about it a lot in that moment bc he's got other stuff on his mind. it's becoming a more normalized thing for him so while he definitely still has a lot of moments where it feels weird, in that particular scene was just worried about too much other stuff to think about it too much (which, again, is a sign of how comfortable he is with tommy)

bringing tommy isn't solely about making sure wilbur has his emotional support little brother figure with him (though it's definitely part of it). it's more about the trust thing. and also that tommy, despite his age, is technically one of the highest ranked deathlings both in seniority and his connection to phil and techno. he was basically the 'first' of the deathlings besides phil and techno. he's grown up learning kristin's teachings. keep in mind, out of every single deathling in the temple, tommy was the one who was trusted to kidnap the pythia in the first place. that was arguably the most dangerous role of all, and phil and techno trusted it to tommy. because he's their kid. he's been getting trained by both of them for years. recently that trust has been broken a few times, but phil and techno still want to trust tommy. since they deemed him old enough to go on supply runs, he's been made privy to a lot of their plans before the rest of the deathlings find out.

so glad you liked the outfits I always have fun coming up with those

yup, wilbur's fear is due to his title. because that's what screwed him and tommy over before. the blindfold marking him as the pythia is the reason they kept getting recognized. so of course that's what he points out to phil and techno

[purpleplaid17]

Jess Watches // Thu 28 Dec // Day 97 Synopses & Favourite Scenes & Poll

Orphan Black (rw with mum) 5x04 Let the Children and Childbearers Toil

Sarah and Siobhan follow a lead on a Neolution defector, hoping for enough leverage to free Kira from Dyad's clutches. Also, Cosima investigates rumors about a creature in the woods.

The Sarah/ Helena scene in the convent is one of my faves of them. The vulnerability, the gentleness, the hopefulness, the sestra bond. And that any time Tat talks about filming this scene she gets emotional when thanking Kathryn's generosity as a scene partner. Also, Mrs. S in glasses these past 2 eps has been very distracting. I am thinking thoughts.

Unprisoned (with mum) 1x02 How to Be a Main Bitch

Paige moves into her new house, but Edwin complicates her life at every turn, including her relationship. Meanwhile, Finn helps Edwin get a job.

[Daily mantra] I am a main bitch. I AM a main bitch. I am a MAIN bitch. I am a main BITCH.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians 1x02 I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom

Percy finds his place at Camp Half Blood, where he learns just how special his origins may be.

Percy is the funniest little guy. He is just being hit from every angle with all this wild new information and is handling like a champ. I trusted Annabeth immediately but not her brother. His friendship just didn't seem as genuine and came across as more calculated. I don't trust the adults either tbf so everyone is sus atm. Also, I feel like I definitely should read up on Greek gods to understand the intricacies of the story better.

The Dragon Prince 5x07 Sea Legs

The Ruthless sails into dangerous waters, with Finnegrin in hot pursuit. Queen Janai and her guards face a deadly infiltrator seeking the Sun Seed.

The little baitlings getting their new names was so cute. The animation of it was over-the-top in a way that was befitting their character; Queen Janai getting momentarily distracted by an injured guard being the only time she was truly overpowered in the fight seemed an easy way storywise to prolong the drama, which I'm all here for. Especially if it means she and Amaya (who is back!) will take Karim down once and for all.

BBC Ghosts 5x07 A Christmas Gift

Mike’s mum visits, but her attempts to lend a hand drive Alison and Mike mad. To make matters worse, Betty soon senses something is awry with Button House, but does she know what?

I don't think I liked this new ending tbh, when 5x06 was a perfectly lovely way to end the series. I think the time jump of having the baby, then another at the end, made things feel a bit rushed. I didn't mind so much that Alison and Mike left. Life always moves on. I just didn't feel their joy or sadness or any emotions really. Maybe an extended episode would've solved a lot of these issues idk.

[hazelcephalopod]

The Bear and Disbelief in the Self

So, I finished season 2 of The Bear and I loved it. Fantastic, messy, fucked up people trying so hard and failing a lot.

The show I think has been pretty clear about it’s premise, which again I argue is: fucked up people trying. The characters all arrive here from some sort of trauma. For most of The Bear’s staff it is at minimum a loss, their friend and boss committed suicide after struggling a lot with various issues -which he tried to shove down and not deal with. In Richie’s case he’s also dealing with a massive inferiority complex and something else we will get too. Sydney is trying to recover from her failure with her own restaurants and we’ll get to something else. Carmy is dealing with the aforementioned suicide, but in his case this was also his brother who he had a complicated relationship with, his mother and family life just being a really big mess, and the abuse from his former boss. All three are dealing with deep seated disbelief in themselves, they they are not capable or receiving or creating nice things.

We see Richie grappling with this all season explicitly, he feels like he will be left behind. And he doesn’t believe he can keep up. He lacks confidence, and only gains it when removed from his life and put in a place we’re he can see a path to success and is told he has to have respect. Respect for his work, respect for others, and most importantly respect for himself. I think that is finally got through to him and allowed him to begin turning over new leaf; which he had to choose to accept. Sydney, also lacks confidence in herself, at least deep down. Tbf, she’s young, she has a lot of ambition and puts a lot on herself to succeed. She’s learning to lean on others and work with them and hopefully we see more of that explored in a future season. She’s beginning to make those choices that will allow her to succeed.

Carmy however is deep into all of those issues. He desperately wants to succeed, and specifically he wants to succeed in the way he’s been led to believe he’s supposed to. Make the restaurant work, be the best at it, be with the right girl. Be who everyone expects him to be, but -imo- he’s not sure that’s actually what he wants. He just doesn’t know how to let himself have that though; deep down he doesn’t believe he even deserves happiness or love. He wants to be in control, but he’s so out of control that he can not have that control he so desires. Which I’d argue he desires because he's looking for something. He won’t let himself have happiness or love because that might mean giving up control, relying on someone else. And that’s hard for him. Because so many people he trusted, and loved, have failed him. He’s so used to the pain he doesn’t know how to exist without it. He hasn’t yet made the choice, and until he does he can’t succeed. He can’t find what he’s looking for.

[no-shxme]

DEAR FUCKIN LORD YOU HAVE HANDS AND EVERYONE'S TRYING TO KILL ME TODAY

i got a rhaayn fic recommendation that im going to have to finish tomorrow that is really fuckin hot, one of my weaknesses got exploited, i made a darkin oc that has been rattling around in my brain all day with a rhaayn-like dynamic, i got the moves put on me by THREE DIFFERENT ANIME BOYS while i was just trying to do some quests in a game ONE OF WHICH CALLED ME "MY LIEGE" AND WITH HIM IT FUCKING WORKS SOMEHOW (tbf he calls everyone "my liege" but FUCK)

and THEN WE HAVE GRIT.

i fucking LOVE the way that fic turned out holy SHIT where do i even start

the late-night plea for trust? phenomenal. their fight? absolutely fantastic. the pain afterwards? stabbing me in the FUCKING chest i am not STRONG ENOUGH-

the starling was an AMAZING touch and the way sett has to come to terms with emotion because he doesn't know what the hell this weird feeling is is absolutely FANTASTIC i seriously cannot get enough of it

talon coming out as aromantic but still staying because sett is willing to accept him as his just- fucking- AGH no im not relating to talon on a level that's probably not healthy what are you talking about

and the ONE i love you in this fic, but it's not any of the usual high-romance shit, it's i love you done right

talon being flighty and just BIRB i will never not love but AGH

THIS WAS THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN AND IT WAS THE BIGGEST ONE YOU HAVE KILLED ME MY GOOD SIR (or ma'am? i have memory issues bear with me im not copying all this to check and then pasting it into a new ask ill just check after we're doing this in one take babee)

i need to go to bed before anyone else comes for my ass cuz all y'all got hands and i will Melt Through the Floor if anyone Else tries chatting me up today dear god sett and talon have me in a CHOKEHOLD and they will NOT LET GO THE GAY THOUGHTS ARE WINNING

if you wanna hear about the darkin oc im more than happy to explain her :3 just know there will be a lot of context

!!! you read grit! YES

sorry for the late reply i was outta town. but ahhhhhhhhhhh im glad you liked the swing of things and the lil touches like the starling!! i still come back and reread parts of grit sometimes. (though i am mostly unhappy with it, but that's an aside, nevermind that.) ughhhh im glad you liked grit so much! its like the sett/talon primer so im just really happy ;;W;; thank you for the kind ask i really enjoyed reading it ;w;

(also you can talk to me about ur oc if you want to, just dm me)

[islandsaoirse]

Made a very silly tweet about the HxH fighting game tweet, tbf it was overly snarky but I think the discourse around this game will be so evil besides the few I trust to know the systemic issues and perceptions. First it’s an Anime adaptation so you hav some weird attitudes around that? Then you have how many arena fighters we’ve had recently that aren’t…perceived well that tend to be anime adaptations. Eighting who makes good games but they’re known for, well, DNF Duel wasnt looked upon kindly. There is tons of potential but it’s wild how this specific game has everything that when you know the names and history makes everyone go “this is gonna be a strange one”

[forensicated]

TRIGGER WARNING: Discussion of cancer

Smiffina Episodes - Episode 322

Smithy supports Laura through the bullying of her son at his school, encouraging her repeatedly to attend Hendon to become a fulltime PC rather than just a PCSO.

Gina is clearly feeling ill, having to bollock Laura for a show down in the yard whilst holding her stomach and clutching a tissue with Smithy ever present behind her for support.

Smithy tries to get her to go home again but also points out he doesn't think she's being honest with him about how rough she actually is feeling as she keeps insisting everything is okay. "Well I could go into detail about the mouth ulcers, the cystitis, the way my stomach feels like it's on a constant diet of vindaloo but I don't think you want to hear that...!" and she cuts him off from continuing by walking off.

Gina hides herself in her office for the rest of the shift - only for a visitor to drop by. Jonathan Fox! He's visiting to tell her that he is the prosecuting council in the trial of Terry's brother. She tells him she's absolutely fine and doesn't mention anything about her cancer, however he then invites her out for a coffee so they can catch up. She immediatley assumes that he knows and asks who told him. When he remains confused she insists she doesn't have time for the silly games and essentially throws him out her office.

Laura finds Smithy and tells him that everything with her son has made her realise that she does want to go to Hendon after all. Smithy is chuffed and tells the gathered officers that the school have requested two beat officers as a result of the bullying/drugs issues. Roger chuckles and asks if "they'll need to supply their own short trousers or if they'll be issued with them." and Smithy grins and tells Roger he will just need his uniform - as he and Dan have been posted there until further notice. Roger doesn't find it as funny as everyone else, following Smithy shouting "Sarge? Sarge?!" to try make him change his mind.

Gabriel and Sheelagh dance arund each other again and Sheelagh tells Gabriel that whatever he's done it can't be as bad as he thinks. Which tbf, given she's already dated one PC who turned out to be a (multi) officer murderer and had his baby... she has a point! She's clearly after starting a collection. She tries to get him to open up and he keeps refusing, saying she can't trust him when he can't trust himself, he's done things he can never tell another person etc. She tells him she'll understand whatever he tells her. "I wouldn't expect you to understand.... you've never killed anyone." he says before walking off.

Jonathan visits Gina's office at the end of the day and tells her again that he is only in the station for work and he's utterly confused when she says that she knows he knows and asks him to stop pretending, letting it drop naturally into the conversation. "Who told you? Smithy?" she asks. "I've known about 20 seconds." Jonathan says sagely. "Gina Gold told me." Gina swallows hard but then the barriers quickly go back up, telling him she doesn't need tea and sympathy and she's never needed looking after in the past so she doesn't need it now.

[thatstheproblemwithnapkinman]

massive fuck off disclaimer, this is completely my opinion and you are allowed to disagree but i am also allowed this opinion. i did not cover everything and will not cover everything so don't expect me to. if you disagree, don't interact with this and instead reblog OP and explain your points <3

*sighs* ok

to make this easier, nightwing 2016, is vol 4, new-52 aka 2011 is vol 3, 1996 is vol 2, and the 4 issue mini series from 1995 is vol 1. i will not be talking about vol 1-3 but i might reference them so this is the lay of the land. also, did you know there are almost 300 issues of nightwing which is just wonderful (vol 4 #113 will be #300 even though technically counting vol 2 #1/2 and #1,000,000 it would've been vol 4 #111 but i digress)

let me get one thing straight, every single nightwing fan will have a completely different opinion on vol 4, my opinion will not be the same as a lot of people and that is ok. i am also relatively new to comics (past 6 months) but i have read a lot and that includes nightwing so feel free to think my opinion doesn't count, idc

short answer, it's alright, has some good, has some bad, it depends on what kind of nightwing you want, you should read it

im a court of owls stan myself so i quite liked how it started, love me some owls, but tbf most of it is forgettable to me (i know im sorry) like i definitely need to read it again but i could not tell you a lot of what happens even though i've read it a few times. however i am also doing a degree rn so maybe that's it but the bits i remember come from the last 2 big runs, that being the ric grayson arc and tom taylor's run, which let's all be honest, are the bits people have the loudest opinions over

ric grayson

maybe i'm just weird but it's not that bad

like no, it's awful and i hate a lot of it (especially when lobdell is writing it and it's just so dumpster fire) but actually once dan jurgens takes over it gets alright, and parts 3 and 4 are actually really fun, if not weird

have fun trying to get the gray son legacy tho, that book is so expensive and i want it so badly i think i'm going to drop £40 on it bc then i will have all of ric grayson and it's my favourite part (the name should give away what it's about)

even if i dont despise it with every fibre of my being, it's absolutely the worst part of vol 4 and i do not trust anyone that prefers it to tom taylor's run

speaking of

tom taylor's run

this is where the real arguments come in bc people are very divisive on taylor specifically

it is not the best nightwing, not by a long shot, but i see it as an easy introduction to the character

BEFORE ANYONE YELLS AT ME i know that isn't what we want, trust me, i do not want that either, but actually given that over the past few years so many people have gotten into batfam through wayne family adventures and fanfiction you need some sort of easy entry to get them hooked so they stay and buy more comics and they sure as hell ain't doing that in batman so nightwing it was

do i like that it's so clear that that's the objective? no

do i think people hate way too much on taylor's run bc dick isn't shown to be constantly manipulating everyone and fell through his window that one time after being hit on the head like 3 times whilst still recovering from BEING SHOT IN THE HEAD? potentially

again, it's an opinion. i like taylor's run but i also like grayson which is another divisive one so...

again, to reiterate, you should read it, it has some good story in there and regardless on overall opinion, taylor is giving us good bruce/dick interactions that are way more in character than whatever the fuck is going on in batman like im sorry idgaf if it's zur-en-arrh (which it wasn't in gotham war and i will fight anyone on that) bruce categorically wouldn't treat any of them like that, the bruce we get in nightwing and in titans beast world is more in character than the one currently in batman

potential spoilers, i don't spoil any major things but just villains and some plot stuff from the recent issues

i'd say my main issue with taylor's run is that im impatient and the main villain since #78 is still just there. he also disappeared mostly for like 13 issues and only now is it starting to be resolved but damn it's taken a while

that and also the latest development with dick and his, how would you put it, new fear? not a fan but i'm assuming taylor has a plan and it will all be explained starting in may

OH and batgirl babs, but i ain't going there

now is a good time to read it given that tom taylor's run is ending. theres another like 6 issues and it'll be over so if you end up disliking it, it's only a little bit left until it's done

the art is gorgeous, bruno redondo, travis moore, daniele di nicuolo, and sami basri absolutely smash it

omg and the best dc character ever gets introduced, haley, i love her and i am her biggest fan

anyway, that is the dumpster fire that is my opinion on this, can't wait for people to categorically disagree with me

and yes i am going to re-read all of nightwing soon, probably over summer when im not doing uni work and can take the time to go back through all 300+ issues in preparation for the ending

nightwing stans please give me all your thoughts on the current nightwing run (2016-present) i’m considering reading it but wanna know what the more hardcore fans think first

[euphoricfilter]

I'M SO ANNOYED AT THIS ANON. HOW DID THEY MAKE SUCH A TRASH TAKE ON THE BEST FIC EVER WTF??! DID THEY READ PROPERLY WTF?? OR UNDERSTAND HOW LOVE, JEALOUSY, AND OTHER EMOTIONS WORK?? They sound so pathetic omg. Why did they "read" this fic and then say the worst things omg? Hollyhomburg is so much nicer than me for calmly explaining it so well in their reply.

Ooh this ask gets so long. Sorry lol. I love bily so much omg. Tempted to send this or shorter (and prob nicer lol) version of this to hollyhomburg but they haven't replied to my ask on agreeing about the "manipulative" mc thing so idk hm. (They do seem to be answering more asks recently though wow)

Thoughts on this ask and the stuff I say further down?

Tbf I misunderstood Jimin with his last secret. Update: I think I don't dislike him anymore after getting to understand how he handles self-hatred. It's so sad TT I stil think Jimin and mc need to talk about it more for Jimin's sake and have some 1-on-1 bonding to fully resolve this issue for me though. They've felt awkward and distant since Tae's secret came out imo. We get Yoongi and Tae in the next ch though yay!! Sad that not every relationship is happy and romantic rn. But it's realistic that some relationships are slower to develop than others. And hollyhomburg would prob struggle to write a bunch of relationship developments at the same time. People (including me lol) need to be patient. and trust in the love and care the pack has for each other.

And the mc being "manipulative" part is instinctual to her according to hollyhomburg. It's understandable that people feel confused or interpreted it wrongly. But mc is a precious lil baby. I don't think it's bad that she is "manipulative" by acting cute and appealing to the alpha's instincts. Both sides are happy when she's being cute and lovely. (Did I interept this right??) And she doesn't have any ulterior motives at any point of the fic imo. Hollyhomburg also said this and that most of it is just how Jimin sees it. Jimin is just a paranoid boy :/

And Yoongi is a sweet boy. And Yoongi and mc went through some TRAUMA. (the trauma and how it affects them was written so well. how can you not understand and love these 2 omg) YOONGI HAS BEEN WORKING FOR MONTHS (AND STILL IS WORKING) ON MAKING A PERFECT CUSTOM COMFY HOUSE FOR ALL OF THEM! ACTS OF SERVICE KING. And there is so much explained in the fic about these two compared to Jimin and the other boys. I will only agree that Yoongi seems distant to the other boys and it's kinda sad. But I believe that they all love and care for each other. And the relationship between Yoongi and the boys will slowly develop into a happy, loving relationship again.

Was I too harsh on this anon? (I may have gotten too emotional idk. I am very protective over irl and bily Yoongi as well as bily mc so yeah lol. Hollyhomburg wrote all of bily pack to be so precious but I love these two even more) This anon seems so dumb to totally not understand how mc and Yoongi think...Only excuse I'll give is if they don't understand abo, mating mark, polyamory, and love in fics omg... Also please don't tag this under bily and my anon tag. Feels wrong to have negativity under these tags even if this anon is totally wrong omg.

-🖤

i think maybe they don’t understand the complexity of emotions?? i really don’t get it 🥲 and to sit there and write an ask about it as well AND sending it in 😭

holly is an angel i would have just laughed

i think that maybe they haven’t grasped the fact that like real people, the characters holly has written are more than just surface level, black and white emotions like a lot of stories show— they’ve taken time to delicately craft each of their characters in BILY

i think that holly has done well with the pacing of all the relationships, and it’s come off very realistic of what a poly relationship would look like from my understanding. not everyone is gonna fall head-first into love, it’s not always going to linear and i think that this series has shown that everyone falls in love in different ways and for different reasons. that emotions are complicated, the selfishness that comes with thinking about people you love while giving so much without maybe their understanding

from what i get, the m/c being manipulative comes from survival instinct, that maybe even she isn’t aware that she’s doing it, it’s something that kind of just happened, a habit that she can’t break. old habits die hard and i don’t think her initial intent is malicious in any way i think she’s honestly just scared and from what’s happened to her in the past i think she’s just trying to protect herself. i think for jimin, he knows where she was before the pack, he knows the people she was associated with and it’s only fair that he’s paranoid when they’re both very very good at masking emotions and turning a blind eye to things that maybe shouldn’t be brushed over. i’d assume that jimin is also aware that if she really did want to harm any of the pack for whatever reason she probably would have done so by now (i think it’s just his love for tae that has his skepticism spiked)

in the reply to that ask holly worded yoongi’s thought process and actions very well. maybe the person that sent in the ask hasn’t experienced any sort of past trauma themselves and therefore glazed over the complexity of emotions after such a traumatic event? idk the original ask came off a little tone death like they hadn’t considered each of the characters and their individual perspectives and past trauma

in yoongi’s defense he lost contact with the rest of the pack to protect them from his family, and i think naturally, even if you love someone a lot, a loss of contact for months is gonna put a standstill in the relationship, like the m/c, yoongi has been through so so much and like holly explains there’s always been slight favoritism, it was always, and will always be tae and jimin, just like jin and namjoon. sure the m/c and yoongi were thrusted into a relationship with doom hanging over them but there was love, and as much as yoongi loved the pack he’d learnt to love another even if their situation hadn’t been the most ideal. and as much as the m/c was reserved at the start, meeting the pack i think yoongi is slowly learning to love all of them again even if he already knows how, i think it’s about him finding comfort in a place where everything could still be somewhat uncertain

i don’t think he’s wrong either for the slight jealousy he feels, he probably felt like a hero, a pretty shitty one but having just the two of them survive for so long as suddenly your soulmate is being bombarded with 6 times the love than he was giving must be hard for him. and as holly explained it’s jealousy in the sense he’s scared he won’t be useful anymore and just :( poor yoongs, i’m glad they’re spending more time together now i love yoongi x m/c content

i think maybe that the anon had only surface level view of the story, maybe hadn’t thought about it from a new perspective, either the author’s, or the characters in the book, or read other people’s thoughts and feelings and similar experiences to those in the story or they themselves haven’t experienced anything that could help them sympathize with these characters, having a very black and white perspective of complex characters and emotions

[lokiitama]

Prompt Fill - Wanderers

Prompt: Alike

The trio explores some human ruins and gets interrupted.

A short chapter again, but it was very fun to write it!

Warnings: none

Excerpt:

“It’ll start a self-destruct program!” Zeph exclaimed.

Milo hummed lightly under his mask, not loud enough for it to be heard by his friends, as he moved a piece of wood that almost completely hid an alcove in the wall.

“Clearly not. It’s going to trap us in instead.” Thaska replied. His voice sounded calm, but seeing how his tail was thrashing about, he was definitely getting pulled in the argument with the avian.

Read the rest of the chapter on Ao3!

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Silly, some youtuber is praising the heavens for p5d

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahjkWFn6Kns

Ok! *starts video*

*salt in a way I wasn't expecting incoming*

*person puts a heart over Kanji and Naoto literally seconds into the video* *I take it as them being shippy towards then* You know what, nvm their opinion doesn't matter. I think I can close the video!

*pushes forward regardless* *person puts a clip of PQ2 in the middle of his argument that most of the spinoff games don't understand their characters and mess up the characterization and has most of the heavy lifting is done by the original characters, THUS IMPLYING RIGHT NOW that PQ2's characterization writing is on par with Arena/Ultimax/PQ1 fumble* The one good thing about PQ2 (besides FeMC), really? Yes the boot licking is a problem, but everyone is in char.

*Says that P5S's character writing is SOOOOOO good it should basically be considered P5-2 because it's that good* Did everyone just play P5S with their ass? Cause the first dungeon itself (esp with Anne/Ryu) has me wondering if the writers understood at least ONE of P5's characterization of them.

*Says that-that's not the case for the Dancing games* You're pretty right on that (at least with P4D)... Man.... not even 4 min in and made made a number of points/claims you got possibly one good point in (I'm not going to bash P3/5D's characterizations until I've replayed the story part cause I literally forgot it, so I'm giving them that point). *drops video* (tbf fair I have to go to work so I probs won't be on again until lunch at best or the next day at worst. Maybe it gets better, but my first impressions are left to be desired and I don't want to watch something that might tick me off atm, esp if it means seeing more K*nNao)

Sorry for being bitchy (mostly to the person), the person is probably nice and probably makes good points later and everyone else should def watch it too. I'm just annoyed having to see like 3 things in his vid that I highly disagree with so early in the morning (and ones I didn't expect to see opening a P5D video to boot!), extra not in the headspace to listen to that right now. Maybe later, they deserve a fair chance!

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

Ok this dracula daily makes me feel rage for Arthur, Lucy, Jonathan, and Mina in a way that's not super easy to explain quickly so please bear with me. Ignore the current vampirism that I'm sure will affect the proposed marriage for a moment.

Now I'm not at all opposed to Arthur and Lucy, they seem to have a lot of fun together and they're both good people. No reason why marriage couldn't one day be in the cards. But to hear Lucy talk about how in love and happy she is with Arthur, it makes me sad, because it's all so very high school. " We have such walks and drives, and rides, and rowing, and tennis, and fishing together; and I love him more than ever. He tells me that he loves me more, but I doubt that, for at first he told me that he couldn't love me more than he did then."

There's nothing wrong with this, it's cute, it's how young love is supposed to work, go on Lucy & Arthur enjoy your honeymoon phase <3. The issue is they both seem to think that having good dates = deep love and marriage for life. Again, maybe they could get there! Maybe it could be forever. But the way they talk about love tells me they're not nearly there yet. They need to get to know eachother more.

"Blah blah that's just how the Victorian upper class approached marriage" yeah but that's the whole point of why I'm angry (also tbf I have no idea if this is how the Victorian upper class generally approached marriage Victorianists you can chime in if you want) bc you know whose relationship isn't like this? Jonathan and fucking Mina's!!! Their marriage has evidence of years and years of planning behind it. They clearly have conferred about financial matters, made the decision to wait to marry until after Jonathan is a full solicitor so that Mina can work and they can both save for their family. I trust both of them to have a practical grasp on what being married to someone for your whole life entails. When they take the plunge they do so deeply knowing each other, and it is a very grown-up AND passionate sort of wedding.

Mina and Jonathan would probably be like this if they were rich too just bc they're planners, but they have to be like this if they want to have some savings to start life together, have a house, all that. They are forced to grow up although they are just as young.

Again this is not me being angry at Lucy and Arthur, but what happens if they get married in a month and they realize the infatuation was temporary, or they run out of things to talk to, or their notions of life turn out to be different, or they realize that who they thought the other person was is different from how they are. Then they will be dissatisfied for the rest of their lives, precisely because no one ever told them that love is more than good dates.

What gets me as well is that their parents are pushing this too. With Arthur his dad just seems to want to know he's got a family secured before he passes away, but with Lucy her mom wants her married precisely bc she's a rich girl and apparently Lucy can't know how to take care of herself after her mother dies but she's gotta get married to someone she has spent months getting to know and just hoping it sticks and doesn't give her lasting unhappiness. It drives me crazy! These two are not ready for marriage! How many real life unhappy marriages began like this bc two rich kids don't have to consider all the practical aspects of marrisge. It just makes me so angry. It's unfair to everyone.

[voidstilesplease]

Patrivan Drives Me Nuts, And Here's Why: Part 5

S5E4: The Body [1,2,3,4]

->Because Ivan Is Really Pissing Me Off (but not as much as Ari)

Hm, how to even begin?

Look, this episode was as bad as episode 3 as far as patrivan is concerned, but I didn't hate it as much... I would say. And that's only because I think Cruz evened out this whole emotional mess, and Patrick isn't as inferior to Ivan anymore. Like, he's finally got a bullet to fire back at the idiot. Yeah, yeah. I'm toxic like that. But what I'm saying is, right when I saw that, I knew Patrick's trauma after seeing the boy he likes and his sister having sex in broad daylight will soon be returned. By, like, two-folds.

BUT. That doesn't make it any less fucked up. I know. Because, seriously? Ivan's dad? It couldn't be, idk, an older brother or something? Granted, his dad acts like a man-child than an actual father, but still. Cruz is a very questionable third party to involve.

But again, enough to satisfy my thirst for revenge. Lol.

Anyway. Let's break this post into 3 parts based on the sequence of events in the episode concerning our lovely (and suffering) otp. First would be Ari and Ivan's boat scenes 😒 (I'm still fuming), next is Patrick's whole emotional train wreck 🥺, and lastly, the aftermath of that wreck. Which, for Patrick, typically translates to 'another bad decision', a.k.a. Cruz. 🤷‍♀️

1. Ari and Ivan.

(yeah, I'm not... I'm not gonna add gifs of them. Lol)

So, Ari and Ivan's boat ride and eventual boat sex.... *sighs* I really don't want to talk about it because it just makes me angry, so I'll get to the point.

Wtf was that? Ari can't get her boyfriend to spend time with her, because he's working to have money, so she drinks, summons "Ira" as Patrick calls her evil alter ego, and cheats on her boyfriend with the guy she knows her brother likes? And Ivan lets it happen, but I don't expect much from him, so I'm not even disappointed (but I am, truly, lol).

That's all I have for them. *leaves*

2. Patrick.

Now, this episode wasn't very kind to him, was it? Poor baby.

He doesn't appear until around minute 19 and already you can tell that he's not doing great. First of all, he's late. He's supposed to be around during his dad's welcome speech, but even Ari has no idea where he could be. And when he does arrive, he's clearly on something. He's interrupting his dad, being rude to people, and breaking expensive sculptures - just being a total menace. And to make sense of it, remember that we're picking up from episode 3's rejection from Ivan.

Obviously, he got very upset about it that he went out and drank, got high, and probably fooled around with strangers if the huge-ass hickey on his neck is anything to go by. And sometimes it annoys me how he could be so fixated on one person, you know? Because he could get anyone, but he spends most of his time and invests his emotions choosing people who wouldn't choose him back. That's just really... ANYWAY-

So he gets into a verbal fight with his dad that ends up with him getting slapped (and oh my... that confrontation reveals a lot about his insecurities, doesn't it?). Then he walks out, throws a tantrum outside (which, Patrick, baby, seriously? 😒), and as if he hasn't had enough stabs into his chest, he gets stabbed in the back, too. He catches his sister Ari and Ivan having sex - out in the open jfc - and, ooooooof, the look in his eyes 🥺🥺🥺. Just- *gestures*

This is the exact look that makes Cruz's entrance in the picture satisfying to me (despite the, well, obvious age issues). Because trust Patrick to make things messier for everyone. He can't be the only one that suffers lol. Though, tbf, I don't think he intends to hurt Ivan. Ivan doesn't like him like that, as Ivan keeps on insisting, right?

3. Cruz.

But Patrick can't even take all the credit for this chaos, can he? Because to begin, it's not Patrick who showed intent first. Patrick's out there pouring his heart out to Ivan's dad because he just really needs someone to talk to, and Cruz flirts with him. Unintentionally, maybe, at first, but flirts with him nonetheless. So, what's Patrick supposed to do, really?

He just got bitch-slapped by his dad, saw his sister getting it on with the boy who spacezoned him, then there's Cruz who comforts him, tells him that it's impossible that no one notices and wants Patrick for who he is (because he clearly does), and Patrick's supposed to - what? Walk away? From the one person who seems to appreciate him at his very fragile moment? Who's showing interest in him when the persons he wants it from can't give it to him?

So, he goes for it. And, no, it's not a smart decision, but it's the decision that gave him peace temporarily - took his mind off things for a short while. And he really needs to chill after all that, tbh. And Cruz is neither in a committed relationship, nor too afraid to kiss him. So? Cruz just so happens to be Ivan's dad, just like Ari just so happens to be Patrick's sister. It's really.... not that crazy. (*snorts* Lmfao XD)

---

Anyway, that's all for episode 4. And, y'aaaaall. I can't wait to discuss episodes 5 and 6 because they're, by far, my favorite patrivan episodes this season. Like *screams incoherently*

Like, how my thoughts about Ivan gets proven in episode 5, and how Cruz is such a little shit dad, and how I think Patrick is too villainized for going through with *it* (ya know, the pool scene), or accused of self-destruction when he literally just accepted someone's attention to soothe his broken heart. You know, it's for him. It's not about someone else.

Don't get me wrong, Patrick has self-destructive tendencies (exhibit A: the entirety of season 4), but I don't believe that particular scene is one of those instances. The latter one, maybe, yes. (Okay, to be clear, I mean when Patrick runs away from home after that video of Ivan in Ibiza and seeks out Cruz for comfort? I think that's in episode 7... Yeah, that's the one. That's self-destruction right there.) But this one (as in: episode 6, the pool scene)? No, that's just what would have happened in episode 5 had Ivan been too chicken-shit to finally make a move.

Anyway, I'm gonna talk more about that in the next ones. Ciao!