#for real tho i fucking love this book and i'm so impressed with how they were able to make buddy such a 3 dimensional character

[magentagalaxies]

buddy cole autobiography update: THERE IS BUDDY COLE ANGST IN HERE I REPEAT THERE IS BUDDY COLE ANGST IN HERE

[rapha-reads]

IWTV rewatch

(fascinated by the choices made between books and show so I gotta study them like bugs under a microscope. Spoilers for the whole show and the books)

Season 1 episode 6 [Like Angels Put In Hell By God] - part 1/2

- [Louis] "Excruciating pain was the proof I was still alive." - that's one way of confirming proof of life.

- [Daniel] "'He could fly?' [Louis] 'Yes.' [Daniel] 'Like Superman?' [Louis] 'Not like Superman. Superman is a fictional character.' [Daniel] 'But in the air, with a 'fuck you to Newtonian physics' flying?' [Louis] 'He said it was more like floating, arising at will, propelling in a direction by the decision. He called it the cloud gift.'"

Love how Louis is adamant in pointing the difference between Lestat and Superman: one's fictional, the other is very much real. No fiction here, no sir-e. And hello canon callback, the Cloud Gift.

- [Daniel]"That's the voice of Doctor Fareed Bhansali." - EXCUSE ME. WHAT. WHO. HOW. WHAT. Filed under things that mean nothing to the non-book readers but will make the book readers lose their minds.

- [Louis] "Are you still dreaming about our first meeting, Daniel?" - I'm gonna go ahead and say, yeah, from what we know of that meeting now, that's definitely the stuff of dreams. Bad dreams, that is.

- [Daniel] "Can you fly, Louis?" - helloooo PTSD.

- [Louis] "I suppose he thought if he exposed all his power to me, I would never feel his equal and the relationship would suffer." -… Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that exactly what it came to be? Also, in book canon, Lestat doesn't like using the Cloud Gift. It's very tied in with Akasha and the abuse he goes through at her hands, and he resents that loss of control and bigger divide between him and humanity.

[Daniel] "'He only beat me the one time, Officer. It's not his fault.' Classic Stockholm, eh, Doc?" - still tripping over the fact that THAT'S Doctor Fareed, oh shit, 1, he's hot, 2, THAT'S FAREED BHANSALI. Oh, and also, Daniel is right and he should say it. But also he doesn't have all the facts, which are 1, we love Lestat, 2, one murder attempt kinda makes up for it, they're even now, and 3, "memory is a beast".

- [Louis] "Are we the sum of our worst moments? Can we be forgiven if we do not forgive others ourselves?" - THIS. I don't have more comments, just this, so much.

- Oof. Welcome to physical therapy. As a vampire, that must be excruciating.

- [Louis] "'If you ever wanna talk about what happened to you while you were gone, you know you can, right?' [Claudia] 'Uh-huh.' [Louis] 'Or you could just tell me his name, write it on a scrap of paper.' [Claudia] 'You gonna be my knight in vengeful black?' [Louis] 'I am the knight.'" >> 80 years later, "I own the night", we love character development when the seeds are planted from the beginning. And puns, we love puns too.

- [Lestat] "The Book of Hours, extremely rare, 15th century. Silver and gold in the vellum, palettes of blue and old rose." - I want that book so bad… Ahem. I mean, nope, forgiveness will not be bought by gifts, no matter how impressive or expensive.

- [Lestat] "Perhaps we should let him decide if he wants to see me or not." - I think the coffin flying out of the window is a very clear answer.

- You know what, I'm ready to incorporate in my belief system that Emily Dickinson is a vampire. After all, s2 already said Samuel Beckett is. Let's add the Brönte sisters to the list too. Not the Austens tho, I don't think so.

- I love how mature Claudia looks in that hairdo.

- [Lestat] "I'm nothing without both of you." - sweetie, you need to grow an independent self.

- [Louis] "For six years in all, these raw and desperate mea culpas came like the tide. And for six years, they were greeted with silence or fire. We burned more gifts than bodies in that decade, but they would not stop coming. And Lestat's relentless determination began to crack my considerable armor. Perhaps it was the modesty of the gesture. But in the spring of 1937, one broke through."

If they were real people, I'd say" girl, no, run, stop". But the beauty of fictional characters is that the more messed up, the more compelling, and I am on the edge of my seat getting ready for Lestat to come crawling back and for Louis to fall even harder.

- Aaaaaaaaaah, Lestat singing!!!! Rockstar Lestat wheeeeeeeeeeeeeen.

- [Louis] "The audacity of it all was matched only by its sincerity" - that's the definition of Lestat, that here.

- [Louis] "Six years of begging, you think a song's gonna get a rise out of me?" -… Babe, you just swam the Mississipi and broke down a door, I'd say he managed it.

Also, hello again, Sam Reid's training routine. Man, that chest.

[Louis] "Write me a song and put your lover's voice in it?" - I don't know if I wanna applaud Lestat's boldness or rip his heart out for his casual cruelty.

Sorry Antoinette, nobody ever holds a candle to Louis in Lestat's eyes…

- [Daniel] "'You took Lestat back.' [Louis] 'The vampire bond. There is no human equivalent.' [Daniel] 'Lover, murderer, maker. You took him back.' [Louis] 'It's a bond than can never be fully severed. A bond like that makes you believe there's only the two of you on the planet.'"

Daniel Molloy season 1: giiiirl he's abusive and violent and a cheating liar, why would you take him back?

Daniel Molloy season 2: never mind, better the guy who loves you and would have died to save you even though he's the one that broke you than the psycho besides you who's been lying for 80 years and is the reason your daughter's dead, I am now the number one Loustat defender.

Mate, same.

- I am absolutely mesmerised by Louis's eyes in this episode. Oh, boy, how is he so, so beautiful.

- "His name was Magnus. He took me from my room in Paris, as I kicked and screamed. He kept me for a week, locked in a room full of corpses - some freshly killed, some bloated and black. But they all looked like me - my coloring, my physique. My own eyes staring back at me from rotting faces. He fed on me every night. And then he put me back in the tower with the look-alike corpses. I thought for sure I'd be one of them, but instead he turned me into this. No grand history of vampiric origins or physiology, no rules, no counsel. Just a sweeping hand to a pile of money and the sight of him throwing himself into a fire. And then I was alone. I thought… 'I can't drink hot blood. I can't feed on others.' I cried. I called to God. I didn't want this. But I have a capacity for enduring. It's why I don't particularly like being abandoned."

Aah, this is such a fascinating moment. Lestat is trying so hard to remain impassive and neutral, but his voice wavers all through the story, and his gaze is distant and clouded when he recounts the worst parts, his fear, his loneliness. And then Louis looking at him with so much compassion and so much pain, fully empathising, and Claudia, even though she also feels some modicum of pity, immediately looking to Louis and seeing that he's fully back to loving Lestat, and for his sake, for his sake only, she agrees to Lestat coming back… Beautiful.

And then when you think about Lestat's origins as a vampire (and we haven't even touched on his human history because damn that part too is hard), enduring is really his main trait. He's a survivor. In every meaning of the word. Survivor of rape, because that's what his turning is, survivor of several types of abuse going back all the way to his childhood, survivor of his own demons,… As Louis said, are we the sum of our worst moments? In Lestat's case, I feel like the answer is clearly "no. We are the sum of how much we're trying. We mess up at times, we fail, we hurt each other - but we keep trying our best and we keep trying to stay true to ourselves and we make amends and we recognise our faults".

A pause, here. Breathe. And then onto part 2.

episode 1 | episode 2 | episode 3 | episode 4 | episode 5 | part 2 | episode 7

[6mayhem]

top ten men??

okay.....this is a long personal post BE PREPARED!!! to find me cringe after this

in no particular order and most are also gonna be fictional LOLOLOLOLOL starting with the real people tho

gerard way...what can i say..... just 10/10 who I'm trying to be. All my problems would be solved if I could 100% embody him body mind and soul circa mid 2000s because spiritually that's who i was born to be. also the music is good very good. does he even count as a man anymore everyone's a transgender nowadays. anyway i don't actually know anything abt him apart from the stage persona and that's the way I'm trying to keep it bc everything i learn about celebrities I learn against my will

manuel germanletsplay. god i was so obsessed with him as a teenager. for the americans: he was of the biggest german gaming/minecraft youtubers and national heartthrob among teen girls. everyone shipped him with his friends including me THE FANFICSSSS..... he inspired a lot of transgenderism in me due to his twinky nature and his piano talent and long hair and the fact he never (to this day) showed his face. his persona was like a real life creepypasta character when it comes to sex appeal

isak valtersen skam..... skam is like my longest running hyperfixations i first watched it circa 2017 and have been rewatching at LEAST twice a year since then. idc that it's a teen show.......... he contributed greatly to my transgenderism. I love manipulative teen guys who are just the absolute fucking worst when you look at it objectively. he was such a male manipulator the whole s1 arc rlly made him out to be such a mastermind supervillain it was so silly. and then he got rlly pathetic in s3 ❤️❤️❤️❤️ anyway awesome outfits also..And anger issues

mickey milkovich shameless.... don't feel like I need to explain. WHAT AN ARC !!! he's a terrible person but like somehow the most sympathetic character in the entire show. everything past s7 was such flanderization it made me mad as hell but before that waowwaow.....he deserved better. my meowmeow. would move mountains and literally kill people for the most average annoying guy ever (real mickey fans hate ian) (jk hes fine minus the last 2 seasons)

syd march antiviral. what a fucking freak. he's got everything. blood kink. appearance of a sickly victorian child. horrible daddy issues. bisexuality. a thinly veiled transgender subplot. he's just so slimy and greasy and you just wanna punch him the entire movie I love it. big fan. also a male manipulator..U never know how much of his weakness is real and how much is faked to gain people's trust. he's just like me when it comes to obsessing over random beautiful women!!

sven kretschmer from ich hasse liebeslieder. no one knows this book because it was posted in like 2015 on a german fanfiction website but it permanently changed my brain chemistry. wow. i love him so much. he's everything to me. eyeliner wearing bisexual emo with greasy black hair who canonically looks like gerard way and struggles with every mental issue under the sun. erectile dysfunction subplot. has an abusive father. my favorite band is only kj because that's HIS favorite band. you could trace back 90% of who I am as a person to sven. HE BECAME A TATTOO ARTIST ALSO THAT'S SO COOL!!! and he's the most loyal bastard ever just a kicked puppy kinda guy i love men who are really clingy in relationships. but at the same time he also has insane anger issues which I ALSO love in a man GRIN 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 ^^^^ see above faves this is a whole archetype of guy for me

jack as you are.... See profile pic!! you already knowwwww!!!!! he's just like me fr. sheltered/seen as weak and sensitive and longing to be rebellious and do things to impress other men (in a homosexual way). maybe transgender? maybe killed his best friend/brother/lover!! again...greasy long hair YAYYY!!! the whole movie could be a forcemasc fantasy

mirco from this sorta obscure book called landeplatz der engel....his mother rejected him. the woman who took him in is a prostitute.... he says ableist slurs but is the least ableist person in the whole book...he wears a ring with a jewel in the shape of a boar head how cool is that?? and he stole a car. and does illegal car races. and ditched his girlfriend for his new male best friend. and he's secretly really traumatized but never wants to be a victim and gets mad when you imply his past affected him 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 idk I just love how he never pretends to be a better person than he is, but the opposite of it. He never gives himself credit for how kind he is

will graham... What a fucking freak(2). proves that your life isn't over at 30 you can still find the love of your life and do really weird shit because you decided that the only thing you care about is what a freaky european cannibal thinks of you.

adam saw....what can i say. he's awesome. he's transgender. he's funny. he's tragic. he's in love with a man twice his age while his brain can't decide if it should see him as a father figure or romantic interest. relatable to me personally

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

my oc neph bell because he's awesome and basically me

steve harrington and eddie munson from stranger things bc i still ship it (there's zero canon moments but idgaf about canon its stupid anyway) bc 1. Tragic blond failson with daddy issues and 2. eddie gave me aesthetic aspirations fuel for like a full year before i figured out who i wanna be. so yeah. I'm only a little bit ashamed of this

tyler durden fight club because yeah. and by extension the narrator bc the moments where he acted like a proper weird fucker were so funny and also meeeeeeee x3

nezumi no.6 you edgy fucker

mo folchart inkheart bc i always wanted him to be my father

kurt cobain

my other oc cesar liehmann bc he embodies everything i like re: blond men with anger issues who have to compensate for their average height by acting more confident than they are

free space for whoever i might be forgetting rn. I always have a LOT of thoughts about fictional men....

SHIN TSUKIMI FROM YTTD LOL I REMEMBER BEING CRAZY ABT HIM

max zerophilia... just completely embraces his sexuality and status as a Z. shamelessly in love with both luke and luca. HOT!!!! kind of bad at flirting but it works for him. AND HE'S ALSO HOT AS MICHELLE AND I'M BISEXUAL SO THAT'S THAT

[multishipperofgaydeadwizards]

I have returned. And today I come with quite a number of ships so like brace yourselves, I'll keep popping in between my work. Speaking of prongsfoot, can we talk about just how perfect Remus/Peter would be?

1. They'll be the EPITOME of soft cottagecore. Baking, reading, picnics, growing plants, taking care of any wounded animals in the nearby area they'll just be so sidnsmsjdlsnsjdb

2. Peter knits. And he makes all the sweaters for Remus. And Remus absolutely adores watching him walking around with yarn and needles just going at it whenever wherever he gets the chance to

3. Cut to Remus being absolutely destroyed when it gets to him that Sirius killed his boyfriend but not being able to do anything as he sinks into his mind and never comes out. The reason he goes to Hogwarts in Harry's 3rd year is because he knows Sirius will be there. Him trying to kill him and Sirius trying to explain what really happened. And him demanding proof cause he's never seen Sirius be more... serious about anything else. And then the betrayal he feels when he sees said proof. Cut to him burning all the sweaters.

4. In this scenario, I like to think Peter started our as a spy for Dumbledore but he got turned into a death eaters for reals. Or he thought that the baby Voldy was targeting was actually Neville and he convinced himself that once Neville was taken care of, all his friends and his boyfriend will be safe. I have no idea where I'm going with this

5. They're both not players but they'll go up to the stands whenever prongsfoot is practicing and it'll be a cute double date

6. Remus can't figure out his feelings and talk about them for the life of him. But Peter, even tho shy, is very honest and cut the crap kind of person. With a little encouragement from Jamie, it works out really well.

7. Peter started getting into poetry because of Remus. (I actually was gonna type books there but my fingers just went and said poetry so we're going with it) He first started reading them to impress Remus but he couldn't actually understand them much. Later he fell in love with them. Or more specifically, he fell in love with how excited Remus got when talking about them. They'll both be in the kitchen and Peter will be walking around doing whatever needs to be done for what he is baking and Remus will be sat in one corner of the tabletop and talking animatedly about whichever poem he read/ was reading.

8. Ohhh they'll be so soft with each other I'm gonna cry. Sorry I'm making my point again. But like imagine like blurry sunlight coming in through paper thin curtains and baby's breathe flowers nestled between sunflowers and the smell of a bakery and the comfort in old sweaters and soft shy glances and pinkies intertwined and wishing on dandelions. That's them.

Ok I actually really likes doing that (8). It was kind of like a moodboard but with words. I'm gonna start doing it for all the ships now hehe. I'll come back later and do the same for the older ships I was ranting to you about (do you maybe happen to remember which ones they were? Or do you have them tagged?)

9. Their shipname would probably be "Moontail" I think... other possibilities are wormy which just sounds like a nickname for Pete. Or moonworm which isn't that bad ig but idk.

10. I think their ship is the one with the least possibility of an angsty beginning. Hit me with whatever you got tho. I think I'm slowly seeping back into my fluff phase from my smut phase (dw the cycle will continue and I'll be back to angst again lmfao)

Pls keep popping up I love it when you do :D I sadly won't be able to reply tho bc I have cooking today 😔 so you'll have to wait until I'm back home

HSJEBSONEO REMUS X PETER!!! I LOVE YOUR MIND!!

1) they so are, you are so correct!

2) omg he doesssss. it's his go-to gift for everyone, but especially for remus <3

3) oh fuck... that's so heartbreaking wtf :( but I can absolutely see it happen

4) I don't think that it would make sense that he thought the baby he was talking about neville at the beginning sure, but he told voldemort where the potters where so obviously he knew that it wasn't neville

5) absolutely. they wear matching sweaters :)

6) yesss. like I said before peter confesses first

7) awweee that's so cute! I can totally see that happen omgg

8) I love this. every time I see ships or characters described like that I melt. pls do do that :D

9) moontail sounds so cute omg >w< but moonworm is kinda cute too

10) "unrequited" that's all I'm going to say (it's my go-to lol)

I can't wait to see what else you come up with :)

[zannolin]

hello! sorry to bother you, but I saw you said you're reading your book number 91 (!!!! That's impressive) and I've been looking for book recommendations lately, so if you don't mind, would you share some book recs you have? (of fiction if it's possible). thank you!

haha yeah i tend to spend most of my free time when i'm not writing (or doing fiber crafts) reading books. absolutely so happy to give recs!!! all the time!! will talk ceaselessly about the books i'm reading!!

anything by ann patchett ever but my favs by her are bel canto, the magician's assistant, and commonwealth. she's litfic and very very good, even her nonfiction stuff

the scorpio races by maggie stiefvater is my fav book of ALL time. it's ya urbanish fantasy. lifechanging.

the locked tomb series by tamsyn muir. lesbians abound. sci-fi/fantasy absolutely gorgeous in every way. cuts me to the bone

jurassic park by michael crichton. yep there's a book! i am almost done reading it right now (it is in fact book number 91) and i seriously love it like could not recommend more.

any of kristen arnett's books but mostly dead things by her is my fav! it's about a lesbian taxidermist

it's middle grade but the beyonders trilogy by brandon mull is so so so good and i love it deeply

lockwood & co by jonathan stroud is a fun ghost/paranormal series; literally the best ghost series i have read bar none

if you like peter pan, fairytale retellings, or having the heart ripped out of your chest by the concept of loneliness and growing up or the lack thereof, the peter and the starcatchers series by dave barry & ridley pearson is a really good peter pan retelling. if you're willing to overlook how some aspects of the peter pan story as a whole have not aged very well. book four is so fucking good tho

i don't often recommend ya fantasy or romance of any kind but the folk of the air series by holly black is a really good fey series with enemies to lovers i actually liked

in a similar vein of the two above, the lunar chronicles series by marissa meyer is a really fun sci-fi retellings of fairytales; heartless by her is not connected in any way but is also a fairytale retelling i fucking LOVE

our wives under the sea by julia armfield is queer, excellent, and a little horrifying

authors i have only read a few from but highly recommend and need to read ALL of include octavia butler and toni morrison

her body & other parties by carmen maria machado is a life-changing collection of queer horror short stories; in the dream house by her is also incredible but it's a memoir and you should look up content warnings on it beforehand if you're a person who doesn't do well with heavy content

i've only read the first two books but the beartown series by fredrik backman is REALLY good; it's about hockey and friendship and living in small towns and stuff. it does deal with some heavy content as well so again w warnings etc but truly i'm obsessed

mexican gothic by silvia moreno-garcia was another horror book i really liked

middle grade again but i adore the twistrose key by tone almhjell (it's fantasy and about like growing up and beloved pets and things) (i'm trying not to rec a ton of middle grade here because i know it's not for everyone but i am an enjoyer of a lot of middle grade series if you ever want recs lol i am like supreme lord of reading puzzle/mystery/adventure series)

i have only read one book by tj klune thus far but my friends swear by him

the princess bride by william goldman is unironically SO good

if you like vague horror, suspense, and having your mind boggled, mona awad is really good

the dead lands by benjamin percy is (stay with me here) a post-apocalyptic retelling of the journey of lewis & clark (yeah the guys from us history) and i'm gonna be real. i was shocked by how much i liked it. it's WILD.

babel by rf kuang is like. massive. but it's really good historical fantasy.

the only good indians by stephen graham jones is really good horror and i've heard really good things about the rest of his books

meddling kids by edgar cantero is this really funky scooby-doo inspired horror/mystery novel that i love. it is Very quirky.

not fiction but animal vegetable miracle (barbara kingsolver; about farming and american food culture and family and stuff), the shallows: what the internet is doing to our brains (nicholas carr; about information technology etc), long live the tribe of fatherless girls (t kira madden; memoir, trigger warnings again), and the radium girls (kate moore; us history) are just. so so so good. in many different ways. couldn't not rec them!!

thistlefoot by gennarose nethercott is really good fantasy; it's an urban fantasy take on the baba yaga mythos that i really loved

four treasures of the sky by jenny tinghui zhang is historical fiction with a tinge of fantasy; gorgeous writing

the girls at the kingfisher club by genevieve valentine is a flapper retelling of the 12 dancing princesses

tender is the flesh by agustina bazterrica is really really fucked up horror/dystopia about a world where cannibalism has been legalized; very graphic in a sense but like. WILD to read.

i hope that's a good range! i read allll sorts of books and i know not all of them appeal to everyone but those are the ones i've really really enjoyed within the last couple years. hope you find something you enjoy out of all of them!

[mejomonster]

Okay so I've been reading Red White and Royal Blue the novel and I'm thrilled to report it IS a different experience.

I saw the movie first? Phenomenal. On its own merit, as it's own experience, hands down best movie I saw this year. And definitely one of my fave romances I've seen (along with But I'm a Cheerleader).

This book? I can see already the impression that the movie simplified, softened, and changed some things in some areas. I think the movie, based on the 100 pages I've read so far of the book, changed enough that the movie does read as different characters In The Spirit and Themes of the book. Movie Alex is like book Alex, but almost another universe of him (like Guardian Zhao Yunlan in chinese drama versus book). Henry so far reads as similar in novel to movie, but movie did not have the time to do his traits with as much nuance. Which like. I think many movie differences were made for making a concise movie length story, a slightly more on the nose story to make the main points hit audiences strong enough to get understood clearly, and to of course emphasize more of the points the movie script aimed to emphasize and focus on in that limited time.

I'm reading the book now. And delighted to say Alex's family is handled with much more nuance. Also the book is fascinating in my experience as the first fictional novel I've ever read with so much clear real life applicable casual political references. I've seen biographies and nonfiction books do this on occasion, but it's fascinating seeing a fiction novel do it. I think it's a brave and higher risk writing choice as it's both individual to author and even more so using the political as a reflection of characters, drawing concrete lines by which to judge them in the sort of terrifying "this stuff effects people's lives" way real public figures get judged. Fitting in seeing Alex and June as Public figures, but also risking as a writer your characters No Longer conforming to the "everyday man" character everyone can project onto. Bella in Twilight has a lot of Mormon related cultural experiences bleeding into how she's written, but the author didn't make her overly Mormon with a church she belonged to and overt commentary on that religious view of the world in relation to say Vampires and marriage and sex. (There are books that do tho, I've read realistic fiction like The Poisonwood Bible about missionaries which very much heavily directly discussed real religions and those beliefs effecting people's personalities and actions in the story). It's interesting to see a Romance novel go for the specific at the risk of making those characters less easy to "project" onto. I prefer this choice, the same way Fingersmith by Sarah Waters is one of my favorite romances and those two fucked up women sure aren't "everyday" average joes you can project onto. This writing choice makes the points made in Red White and Royal Blue a lot more pointed qnd with a lot more to back them up. It's interesting seeing. The movie definitely toned down things in this regard (while still including more overt politics than I've seen in many romances except say But I'm a Cheerleader with its brazen condemnation of conversion camps). I can see how the movie flattened Ellen to make her a more likable less flawed person, because it's easier to sell a loving mom President in a movie under limited time to give her no Significant Flaws. But the book has time to hammer her stubbornness has destroyed personal things, at times clashes strongly with her son who turned out so much like her (and is partly why June does not click with mom the way Alex does), how moms choices and personality were not necessarily good for June and Alex at times, how Alex clearly learned to be a workaholic qnd avoid his personal pain by being stubborn like his mom. She's someone he admires, and someone he emulates both good and bad, and someone he's infuriated that has those stubborn workaholic realistic traits he's copied. But a movie doesn't have time for the good and the bad, the realism of the damage all parents in some ways cause even if unintentional, the realism of what going through divorce means for each partner and their kids. The movie doesn't divorce them, because it's easier to sell a married mom as a positive (like the book lol comments on). I get it.

Anyway more on Alex's family. I deeply appreciate they're flawed and realistic in the book. In the movie, in its own interesting way I found it interesting to watch Alex (raised primarily with secure attachments and open loving secure support from both parents Together) with Henry who did NOT have the same emotional relationships foundation from family (only his Sister being a Safe Enough relationship to trust to emotionally rely on). Versus now the book, seeing they actually both can bond over these imperfect situations of their families. Which in its way, is realistic to many people who've found love. It gives them more to see understanding with each other in. And in Alex's case in the book in particular, his background details give us more about who he is qnd what drives him. The movie had to simplify those elements of him qnd Harry outside romance in order to tell a timely romance story. The book has more space for those individual character stories of trauma and pain and growth and connection.

[expectopatronum18]

UNPOPULAR OPINION( may not be tbh)

DISCLAIMER = This is just my personal opinion, I don't mean to offend anyone who likes the character

I really don't like Ginny Weasley. Partly because of the stuff she does( I'll come to that in a moment), and partly because of the way she's written. She had a few good moments till book 4 and had some great character development in book 5. I absolutely loved the interactions between her and harry in ootp n was looking forward to more of her in book 6. That's where the trouble comes tho, because book 6 absolutely ruined her for me.

Let's start from the beginning. I HATE the way she treated Fleur. Sure, Hermione n Mrs. Weasley were rude too, but she took it to a whole other level. Lyk it's okay to complain about how Fleur treats her lyk a child n all that, but Ginny goes as far as to mock Fleur for her french accent by calling her 'Phlegm'( yeah, coz EVERYONE'S born with a typical British accent) and mocks her femininity by 'prancing across the room with her arms held aloft like a ballerina.' She never really apologizes for any of this. All of this while Fleur's relocated all the way from France just to fit into their family. How tf does the plot expect us to find this funny!?

Then there's her treatment of Ron. She calls him a prat when he's just nervous during quidditch, does literally nothing to help him through it, and makes impressions of Ron nervously hobbling by the goalposts for the amusement of the team (teasing ur sibling about their insecurities in front of a whole crowd doesn't count as a normal sibling thing)

Now, I don't mind characters with these flaws, but she's never called out by anyone within the story. Harry might hv rose-tinted glasses for her( which is a dumb argument btw), but it doesn't mean he's deaf enough to not hear anyone else criticize her. Far from this tho, the narrative expects us to find this 'cool' and 'feisty'. She's also unnecessarily violent, with that bat bogey hex being lyk half her personality. Oh, and I'm not buying the 'she's been sneaking out to practice on her brothers brooms since the age of 6' bs....lyk how tf wud molly n arthur not notice their 6-7 yr old flying in the backyard? Not even once? Really?

She only has the exact traits harry needs in his ideal partner. No complexities, no insecurities, and no account of how she managed to bounce back after she was fucking possessed. Instead, hbp tried to promote ginny to us by showing how cool n popular n perfect she is, rather than some realistic character exploration.

This is more of a personal thing now, but I just find her sense of humor annoying. Lyk i generally prefer dry, sassy comebacks( there's no need to call me sir professor, or; yeah, u can have a word, goodbye) than her bold, loud, 'jk trying to promote her as cool n funny' sense of humor.

None of this is rectified in the end, as she sadly ends up being harry's metaphorical prize after he's defeated Voldemort, with no real development given to her outside of her relationship with him. She had so much potential, I wish her character hadn't been restricted or brushed off so much.

[i-sveikata]

Hi! I loooooved the new chapter, it was def worth the wait! So much to unpack this chapter but my main take aways are:

1. Love vegas' guards. I really relate to oat having to pee every five min. Same.

2. Super impressed with vegas and how he can get aroused in any situation. Like, bro you almost died and getting to smash pete is the first thing you think about??? He's gonna have a rough couple of weeks with no sex.

3. Kim is 25?????? I thought he was maybe a year or two older than chay. I know the series is very vague on the character ages. I think the novel is a little more clear with most of the characters being in their early twenties. How old are the all characters in your fic? Is vegas older than pete? I'm super curious.

4. I know this is a vp fic but I'm super excited to see how the other couples work out. Kinn is a massive tool but I'm still rooting for him and porsche to have a happy ending. Porsche deserves it. I was rooting for kimchay to patch things up in the show. I don't know about in this fic though 😅. I hope kim can at least give a real apology for Chay's sake at least. What are your thoughts on the kimchay relationship? Do you have any plans for them?

Thank you so much for the great chapter! Wishing you the best!

Ahh thank you angel!! Haha poor oat and his tiny bladder but of course Pete was just being impatient and getting annoyed by the smallest things because he was so worried about Vegas!

Omg Vegas is literally feral!!! But I do think there’s an edge of real insecurity to that where he’s afraid that if he’s not providing mind blowing sex at any given moment that Pete might not put up with him (this will eventually be addressed at some point tho) but yeah he is going to have a hard time in the next few weeks

Yeah all the ages were kinda vague so when I googled I basically just came across guesses for age ranges? So in this fic Kim is 25, I have Kinn as like 26/27 and tankhun around 29/30. Pete and Porsche are both around 24 and Macau and porchay are eighteen (though Macau is older and is closer to turning nineteen at this point) Vegas is a little older than Pete around 25/26. But also in the show the actor that played Kim looks wayyyy older than the actor playing chay so I did kind of want to play that up a bit to add to the unsettling vibe?? Like tbh all of these relationships in this fic (and in the show) are a bit unsettling that’s why the power and control and ideas of consent are all swirling around in the story tbh!

Kinn is a massive tool for sure but until things improve I basically considered that fight with him and Porsche as Porsche basically dumping his ass.

Tbh Kim and porchay were never particularly important to me but that’s because I don’t really find the young innocent/naive and ruthless/liar/false identity couple dynamic very interesting even if I do like their characters? Obviously there’s more to the story than what’s come to us in this chap from Porsches biased perspective but yeah I don’t really envision them having a happy ending in this (but I’m not sure if they did in the books anyway? But yeah it was a pretty bitter ending in the show) I think kim will do his best to apologise but he kinda seems to strike me as the most similar to mr korn personality wise? So he’ll be sorry that chay is hurt but not necessarily sorry for his actions if that makes sense? He’s ruthless and I think he got a little caught up in the pretending with chay too

But yeah basically I kinda wanted to highlight how the cruelty and the trauma trickles down into all of mr kan and mr korns sons and how they still pass that on in how they behave in their relationships in different ways tbh they’re all pretty fucked up

Oh you’re welcome! So glad you enjoyed the latest chap!

[ghost-proofbaby]

Some more headcanons for you 😌

- Eddie is not a "You like that band? Name 3 of their songs 😠" kind of dickhead, he's actually super thrilled when people like the same music as him. And when someone he has a thing for likes it, he's so excited to have something to connect with them on, and it makes them just that much cooler to him.

- He's an absolute expert at the "Quick, pretend to be my boyfriend so this creep will leave me alone!" game. He'll do it for his friends, for a total stranger, for a girl, a boy, anything, and at the drop of a hat. He gets real theatrical about it, too, the dramatic little shit. But he never forgets to make the person he's helping out feel safe.

- (this one is really indulgent self-projection but) Eddie l o v e s a good Renaissance Faire. Strong chance he would work at them when he grows up (just trust me on this, it's where the Eddie Munsons of this world go). And yes, he absolutely wears a kilt as part of his costuming.

- He is a raging bisexual, and I am prepared to die on this hill. The crush he has on Kirk Hammett can only be matched by the one he has on Elvira.

- He is incredibly impressed by any kind of home-cooked food. He doesn't know how to cook (although I bet he'd be good at it if he learned), so he mainly subsists off TV dinners and takeout. Someone could make him box brownies and he'd think it was the best thing ever.

- When he reads to someone (of course he loves to read his favorite books out loud to people), he always does the voices, and sometimes he gets excited and he acts a scene out.

- This is a cat man. He loves cats, and cats love him. There are a bunch of strays, I'm talking at least 6, that he feeds around his trailer. He can't bring them inside because his uncle has allergies, but he makes sure they all have flea collars, and he sets out nice boxes and soft pillows and blankets for them to sleep on. They all have names. His favorite, the one he would bring inside if he could, the one he'll probably take with him if he ever moves out, is an old, scraggly orange boy with like one eye, ⅔ of one ear, a mouth full of snaggleteeth, and a cropped tail. He calls him Tom Sawyer, and he CLAIMS it's after the Rush song, not the Mark Twain character, but he's lying.

- He's a switch and a verse. And he's all about service. I said what I said.

- He's an absolute sucker for a classic cheesy fantasy movie. Dark Crystal, Willow, Labyrinth, The Princess Bride, The Last Unicorn, all of that stuff. I know people think he's a horror movie enthusiast, but they simply don't understand his love for Legend 😩

- He loves vegetables when they're still crunchy, hates them when they're cooked into mush.

- His uncle had more of a hand in raising him than his parents ever did. *Sally Field Aunt May voice* He is HIS boy!!

That's all I've got for now. I could keep going forever tho 😂😂😂

honestly i'd let you keep going forever these are GOLDEN

all of these are so near and dear to me, but that ren fair one? as someone who is going tomorrow again - you're fucking right. all i do when i'm there is think "this is eddie core, that's so eddie core! oh, EDDIE CORE!" he absolutely would go, and he absolutely would work there. he'd be amazing at it. it's also the one place where he's not worried about bullies. there was a fic once i believe that pointed that out - it's too nerdy for him to worry about bullies showing up there because they wouldn't be caught dead attending! he'd love dressing in character and would find it all so endearing. he'd be a sucker for all the girls in corsets, for all the little stores and all the neat attractions. at mine, there's a little attraction where there's 'mermaids' and i just know he'd probably be besties with the mermaids, hanging out with them and bugging them nonstop. he's cool there. he's respected there. i just know our boy would thrive.

[ofswordsandsorcery]

My thoughts on SHADOW & BONE S2

SHADOW AND BONE SEASON 2 SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

GRISHA VERSE SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

!!!!SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT!!!!

I wrote this while watching, so it's really chaotic

Also, I haven't read any of the books in a while, so forgive me for not remembering how to correctly write the names and probably forgetting stuff :D

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED CLICK OFF THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE

Episode 1

A privateer actually, it's an important distinction

Take your fuckin shoes off the bed

TAMAR AND TOLYA FUCKING ICONIC

Episode 2

THE BOOK, IT'S LIVES OF SAITS, OH SAINTS IS IT BEAUTIFUL

"you live in a single moment I live in a thousand"

You're old as shit we get it

Nina Zenik is a fucking menace and I am SO living for it

Also, we love a queen that eats <3

Oh oh Nikolai trying to steal Mal's girlfriend i see

Tamar and Alina interaction ahsjsjsjsj

The bonding over being shu han???

Awww, i loveee themm

You are FANCY CARGO

I'M DYING

Wylan and Nikolai working together would be the end of the world as we know it

HE SAID THE LINE

HE SAID IMPROBABLE

I- I CAN'T OMGGG

I thought the girl working for Aleksander was Zoya for a sec and i was SO confused

Aww, Wylan he's beyond thrilled, he just doesn't show it love

FUTURE HUBBYYS

Jes getting his fucking hat before leaving is everything

Episode 3

Soaaring flyyyyinnn

Nikolai is one hell of an inventor

Jes and Wylan on a missionnn *in a singing voice*

Nina giving Kaz contra >>>

Ajsjyjsjsjs Prince Nikolai reveal i am jsksksjsj AN ICON, truly

You lying bastard

Whack

Even more iconic

David and Genyaaaaa

I love David

I'm still so incredibly mad

On an unrelated note: Lewis Tan is one fine man

A casting decision I actually love

Side eye to Nikolai

(sorry paddy, nothing against you, you are doing a wonderful job just really not how I imagined Nikolai to look at ALL)

Nadja meets Tamar

Brb, I'm going to turn in to a useless queer

Also, I love Aldrick

ZOYALINA ZOYALINA ZOYALINA

Fuck allies, you need a wife

I am so living for Wylan begrudgingly agreeing with Jes

Wylans horrified stare at the piano playing omg and the little flinch

"He's really good" lol

Jes is so falling in love with Wylan over his piano playing skills

That LOOK

YOU KNOW WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT THAT IS SO CUTE I'M CRYING

Uhhh, kaz inej fight lol

Let me bandage it for you even tho i am deadly afraid of touching skin

Ahhh, communication

Omg the subtle shaking? The fear in his eyes? Well done.

What's your telll?

The cane the limp, know ones ever smart enough to look for the real one????

It's not what you think??

Nina is like yeah, take your bullshitting elsewhere

Ahaaa

I LOVE seeing that friendship develop.

Shit at first dates lmao

Love you Nina

Kaz fighting scene omg

Badass.

Crow club takeover? What?

Y'all I wasn't prepared for this

So much is happening at once, help

Eww he licked the knife? Bah

Go Inej, get his ass..

THE HAIR FLIP

INEJ INEJ INEJ INEJ INEJJJJJ

BABES YOU'RE FUCKING BADASS

Wow the prayer

So much emotionnnn

Ajhsjsjsj

Vladim, what are you doing love

General Kirigan what the actual fuck

That.. Is your mom

The horror on David's face

I feel the same way tho

I HaVe a PrOPosAL

Shut up Nikolai, you're gonna get punched again and you're face is actually to pretty for that...

STOP IT. They're holding hands

I repeat THEY ARE HOLDING HANDS

This is a fucking emotional roller-coaster

I'm not going anywhere - walks away

Thanks Jes, for saying what i thought

Jesper you little fuck

Don't betray Wylan like that?

Wylan talking about how Alby isn't responsible for who his father is

Van Eck im FUCKING LOOKING AT YOU

Oh Mathias my poor boy <3 he seriously needs a hug...

What's your price? Nuh uh

Episode 4

Vasily you idiot

TAMARR <3

Razrusha'ya

Ruined? I AM NOT RUINED I AM RUINATION

Baghra the wise im cackling

I KINDA LIKE YOUR FACE?

Jes you can't just drop that casually and then move one as if fucking nothing happend????

No mourners no funerals and it's almost all of my babies

Nadjas impressed look at Tamar and her axes has me SOBBING

TOLYA WITH HIS BOOOK

LOVE

That was a long time ago

Yeah oops

Make him kneel make him kneel make him kneel omg

That whole scene is so fucking good i had to actually rewatch it multiple times before i could move on

Tolya and Tamar supremacy <3

Not The POETRYYY

Tamar and Tolya meeting the crows??? Holy shit

This has taken so many twists and turns and loopings what

You could... Come with me??

Wylans lil shrug???? I'm actually crying

Kit's acting in the confession scene? SPECTACULAR the glances, the lil eye roll before be gathers the full courage, the little waver in his voice when he does confess??

A WYLAN KISS? WHAT I DID NOT EXPECT THAT AT ALL

HELP

HELP

HELPPPPP

Maybe you need a reminder?? The laughs the giggles I'm going to spontaneously combust

Wtf kaz

I worry about you?

I can't have a weak link in my crew?

You're a bloody idiot, is what you are

Nina should kock some sense into that head of yours after what you just said you moron

I think Rollins knocked it outa ya

And king he shall be

Just not yet oops

Unhinged Genya? hell yes!!!!

Ahhh, Baghra, you sly fucker

Not Adrik

Not him

Please not him

Jesper, Inej and Nina solidarity

Jes loves the gossip so much ahahahah

Episode 5

Genya not wanting David to see her because she's afraid of what he'll think hurts my heart

Genyalina hug supremacy

Baghra said sobatchka

I'm crying. This is not the time but omh

YOU DON'T NEED FIXING

Damn right she doesn't.

Tolya looking at the bowl of food is literally me

NINA AND TOLYA BONDING OVER FOOD

NOT WHAT I THOUGHT I'D GET BUT NOW I NEED MORE, OH LORD

I'm not here for you whoops

Oh Jes, you said the wrong thing baby

Bhez Ju? It looks INCREDIBLE!!!

Tolya being like wtf is going on with you and wylan is gold

I know metal

David i love you

The gentle forehead press

What did you do to him

Tolya giving relationship advice to jesper avout wylan I'm going to cry

Nvm I'm actually already crying

Nina trying to talk to Kaz about tea had me laughing so hard

Tolya snacking all the time, we love it

Zoya honestly

Tolyas comment about soldiers, i love that

Episode 6

MAMA

I'm laughing so hard

Poor Mal

He doesn't deserve any of this

The thief is so beautiful

And she's so badass

SHE'S DOING A GRISHA VERSION OF BLOODBENDING??? THAT IS GENIUS

Lol she's giving it to Jesper

I think she knows he's a special one

Love her so much

Another Wesper kiss??? Also, Tolya's knowing face lmao

Mathias = slab of fur and i will not refer to him as anything else ever again

Episode 7

Why on earth is everyone losing their hands?

This is ridiculous

Let me introduce you to Inej - Badass of the Barrel

Uh oh is right you witch

The crows join, it's over you idiots

Not the cane, that's a sacrilege what you just did.

Sibling reunion I'm sobbing over that hug

Um, Mal u okay hun?

Episode 8

Not kaz giving his cane away what is happening???

My Man

MY MAN

MY MAN

Kaz and Tolya bonding over Poetry? Of all things? love it

Ah ah ah is that an upward lip tug i see Kaz?

Jes... Why did you ruin the moment like that?

There's six of you you morons

Just don't know it yet lovelies

Have i said i don't like Genya's eye thing? It just looks so cheap

He wants an investment lol

Kaz you fuking idiot

You actually have to say it you know

Oof, the I want- I want you

Gives me the same vibes as i love, i love, i love you

How many fucking flying ships do they have?

Nah wtf is this Inej & Tolya shit

What's with the suggestive camera angles, stop that

Actually, i like the sturmhond look on Mal

Inej on the boat taking over slaver ships

So many things i didn't think I'd see this season omg

Ketterdam what kinda fucked up, out of proportion moon do you have???

Ugh not the apparat

Fuck off already, i didn't miss you at ALL

For a man of faith...

Love you for that, sobachka

Finally a better eye patch

Zoya you actually could lol

Are we going to get a triumvirate sitch with Alina?

Omgg yesss

You finally gonna go to Fjerda huh

I AM SO LIVING FOR THE DRESSES

EXCEPT ZOYAS... WHERE'S THE SIGNATURE BLUE SILVER?

Not that it doesn't look good just...

Talk about show stopping, am i right

Well, that's a way to end the show

Additional things I LOVED

- The show name at the beginning of every episode

- The different languages >>>>

- everything Tolya does

-Patrick Gibson as Nikolai, the longer I watched the better it got

What I did NOT like:

- lots of things actually but I have decided for myself that from here I'll just see the show as something different from the books and cherish it for what it is

-David and Genya having literally five seconds before he died? WTF? David was supposed to be here longer :/

-that they put SO MUCH into this season? like so much is happening at once and then they introduce additional stuff??? Felt a little rushed to me... Like were kinda already at the point of King of Scars but at the same time the SOC plotline is so ripped apart? I am confused...

[starleska]

Hey! How have you been? Sorry for disappearing, I deleted my Tumblr for a bit and then I uh forgot to remake it because I was 3D modelling in Blender for 3 months and learning how to code. Long story. I still haven't done the analysis of the Toymaker that I promised back in December. So there is that. But the good news is that I am not currently spending my days 3d modelling all day every day, which does actually make the possibility of me ever doing an analysis much more possible.

Also I might have a book recommendation for you. I have been recommending it to literally everyone around me lol. It has weird little men. Who are fucked up and pathetic but in a bit of a cute way? Depends on what genres of books you like tho. There is also an audiobook version if you prefer that. Oh and a film adaptation but that one...well...it is technically a good adaptation but it also kinda completely glosses over any of the deeper themes. Like yeah the plot is very faithful. No themes present though. Not sure about the quality of the audiobook but I personally want to listen to it later because I want to see what direction they took my favourite freak's voice in.

Anyway, I hope you are doing great!

Ira oh my goodness you're ALIVE!!! 🙈💖💖💖 hello my dear friend, how are you doing? it's been so long!! 🥰 ooh wow, sounds like you've been super busy!! please don't worry at all - real life can always pull us away from our Internet sillies, but i'm so glad you've been doing something so interesting with your time!! 3d modelling in Blender and coding is so impressive - are you working on something specific, or is it a secret? 😉 oh pal, don't worry about the Toymaker analysis at all! if i had a penny for every time i've said i'll do a fandom-related thing and then didn't, i'd be very rich indeed 😂 if the mood strikes you i would be delighted to see it, but don't let fandom fun become another job, you know? :3c ohoho i am very curious about this book recommendation - what is it? 👀 you know i love weird little men!!!! and it's always fun to see what gets other people fixating hahaha i'm so glad you're back buddy!! welcome home, settle in, and i hope to talk to you more soon 🙏💖

[twilightknight17]

P5T Story Finale - Part 1

I'm just starting off with the assumption that this will have to be 2 parts, to fit all the pictures I took. XD

So, where we left off, I was doing pretty good.

We'd beaten Metal Marie, and Lavenza had some challenges for us to unlock our final skills. I was kind of hyped, because honestly, it seemed like a good opportunity to get everyone's ultimate personas back. And then Erina could just have whatever.

It was not second awakenings, despite the way they talked about it sounding very second-awakening-ish. Instead, we get a maximum power skill for each Thief's specific element. And, sorry everyone, but Joker's is the coolest.

I also think that it's worth mentioning that when you die, Lavenza quotes Paradise Lost at you.

She also quotes it at the very start of the game, so she's very well-read. Probably Margaret and Theodore's influence; I can't see Elizabeth sitting through a book like that. XDDD

Anyway, Lavenza's challenges were some very elaborate puzzle levels and endurance missions with gimmicks, but nothing that was completely unreasonable. The one where you had to kill everything in one turn by using one-mores and platforms to get Joker to the top of the level to trigger the widest-possible AOA range was awesome. I felt smart when I finished them, which was the important part.

And my reward, other than skills, was......

You have to be level 96 to fuse Satanael, tho, so like... holy fuck, Atlus. Booooooo. And he's got like seven components, which I'm pretty sure he did in P5, but you couldn't fuse him til NG+, so you at least would have had most of them by then. This is just taunting me. Plus, it's not nearly as easy to get money in this. You have to replay missions, and later missions give more money but also take longer, so it seems like it'll be a little tedious to complete the compendium.

ANYWAY.

Metal Yoshiki and Metal Shadow Toshiro went down next, and I'm pretty sure it confirmed that it wasn't actually Toshiro's shadow, just a piece of Salmael masquerading as it. I wasn't... super impressed with these fights? They were basically the same as the first go round, just with more health, more damage, and slightly different arenas. Metal Shadow Toshiro skipped his first round and went right to Giant Scary Eri, so... Yeah. They were fine, I guess.

I did notice something a little funny, though. The final Kingdom is "The Path to God" in the replay menu, and there are six missions (not counting the bosses), each with a letter appended to them.

All six in order spells "A S Y L U M".

If Salmael rules this Kingdom, is he the crazy one, then? :P

So, we are off to the final boss. My goblin kids are ready to beat the shit out of their third god in like... four months? Wow.

Slap him so hard he drops his head, Futaba!

I finally realized what this thing's appearance reminds me of. Some weird fusion of Yald, and the Queen from Deltarune.

He has the SMUGGEST VOICE of any god so far and it just makes me want to hit him harder. Maybe I should have done some grinding for Satanael after all.

He just wants to ~save humanity~, and I'd just like to mention how much I love my wife.

Salmael is totally cool with our disagreement, obviously.

Us? All by ourselves? You think so highly of us~

Salmael says that his actions are the consensus of humanity, so we should just give in. The game gives you an option here between "Our wills are firm" and "Send us back to the real world." Which, if you remember, he offered to send us all home without our powers or memories, so... put a pin in that. We'll be back. In THIS timeline, we tell God to fuck off, as is our wont.

I feel justified in writing Ryuji calling Yaldabaoth "Yald" in an actual fic, now. XD

Seriously, Atlus, one line of dialogue. "We've already beat up a 'god' who thought he knew what was best for us." Call Maruki on his BS.

Anyway, as always, these gods who want peace and happiness and order are willing to murder us. Ooohhhh nooo, I don't waaaaant to use force, you just leave me no chooooooiiiiiice~ Blarg. XD

The battlefield is wild, though. I'm always down for a good giant clock.

The five platforms rotate either forward or back based on a skill that warns you in advance. Platforms that go past the end positions sink into the green, and more arise on the other side to replace them.

So, we wallop the shit out of god while avoiding being tossed into a green abyss. I only lost Toshiro during this stage of the fight, so I still had my three primary fighters and three baton passes.

Salmael, upon being knocked down in round 1, throws a temper tantrum, and... well, I guess calling it "going one-winged-angel" isn't appropriate here. He's still got all his wings, just gets more raggedy and dirty.

But the important part is that he loses the mask and his face is FUCKED UP

He gets two new attacks for this round. The first one is a very Dark Hour-esque clock which leaves numbers on some of the platforms. That's how many people need to be standing on that particular platform to avoid triggering an attack that paralyzes you on your next turn.

Overall, challenging! Especially because the numbers don't rotate with the platforms, so if he does both skills at the same time, you've gotta make sure you're not gonna rotate away from the number you need. (Learned that the hard way.)

The second one is some kind of giant antenna that spawns in the middle of the arena, and you have like... three turns to AOA it before he does some horrible targeted missile barrage. I had the worst time with that. That's how I lost all three of my remaining squad in one turn, because I couldn't get the downed enemy to line up right to allow the AOA.

So we're down Ann, Morgana, and Akira. Welcome to the fight, Haru, Yusuke, and Ryuji!

Salmael's second form has about twice as much health as his first form, which can be mitigated by AOA-ing the antenna, because Futaba can then turn the missiles on him. I only managed that once. X'D But the game REALLY smacked me when it did the clock attack and the arena rotation on the same turn, and the clock was four platforms, each with a 1 on it. I didn't have Toshiro anymore. I couldn't put one person on each platform. So everyone got paralyzed, and the rotation was poised to dump both Haru and Yusuke into the abyss with no way to move them.

It was going to be up to Ryuji to win this fight alone.

...or, it would have been, but as I watched Yusuke sink into the green depths, I realized that... the platform just popped back up on the other side. Yusuke was fine. Didn't even do any damage. X'D I spent the whole fight thinking that if I got sucked down with a platform, that person would just die. But no.

In the end, Haru dealt the final blow, and Salmael took that really well. He just straight up starts taking a swing at us and throwing gears. So I guess we DID slap him so hard he dropped his head!

My baby boy gets to say more than one line of dialogue in this game!

This is the smile of a savior, everyone.

Honestly this last AOA cutscene is wild. I like it better than Scramble's, I think? I need to watch it again, but it's really well done. Halfway through, Erina gets squashed by a whole ton of gears and ends up... I'm assuming drifting in the Sea of Souls, and Toshiro calls her back so she can take her Ernesto form and blast the hell out of Salmael. And then she turns back into Erina and she and Akira slam a flag through Salmael's face. :3

Yeah, yeah. Same as every other monster.

Salmael takes defeat well, of course. By exploding.

And Toshiro catches a brief glimpse of the overwhelming existential dread that knowing about meta-space can cause: namely that humanity is constantly accidentally almost destroying itself.

I like to think that he gets a phone call from the Shadow Ops at some point. XDDDD

Anyway, with Salmael dead, his primary Kingdom is collapsing, so it's time to get the hell out of here. And with this, I have hit the image limit, so... Off we go. Part 2 is next!

[petrichoraline]

Hiii let me chacha real smooth in your inbox for that "X or Y" game!

The Untamed or Word of Honor? Pat or Pran? To my star or To My Star 2? Pawin in Star in my Mind or in The Eclipse or in Never Let Me Go?

Gmmtv whiped boys edition: Palm or Tinn?

And would you rather eat Noey's over salted food OR Tan's 'dr bun wont eat that' instant(ly failed) noodles? -☆

<33 what a smooth sliding into my ask box 🥰 it's a tough road ahead from here on though, go make a cup of tea, i've prepared you a read

The Untamed or Word of Honour?

ohhh shit, okay. so.

cql was the most draining show - it's amazing and so enticing but i had never watched anything from the wuxia genre before so it was A Lot..i would not rewatch it tbh, maybe the special addition if i miss wangxian too much 💞 it's so tragic and i'm always at risk of The Feels when i come across any cql or mdzs post, not to mention the yi city arc which fucked me up in a particular way...

woh doesn't make me as emotional because everyone is insane? it's actually impressive how unhinged every single person in the show is, the stories are tragic too, especially the last episodes but i was kind of numb to it, decided to focus on my guys and their happy ending only ✌️

woh gave me wen kexing, visuals (the designs of the characters are wild, espeecially the ghosts, they're straight out of a children's book, so expressive and individualistic) and the most blatant expression of romance they could - not only could you feel the love through each gaze, touch and action but boundaries were pushed in terms of script and the portrayal of physical affection was more than what they had to do. also i'm obsessed with the lipreading videos <3

cql and mdzs are still distant to me and i feel like an outsider to the fandom but i feel the same way about woh. cql introduced me to wuxia, i see posts about it more often and i feel like i remember the characters and events better. not to mention i got into mxtx bc of it so i have it to thank for the blast i have when im reading svsss. so ig i have to pick the untamed? but woh really is special, i hope ppl watch it

Pat or Pran?

boyyy i would usually say pat no questions asked but i think about pran and how he's handled all that his mom put him through and how he clearly struggles in so many ways and my protective instincts are screaaming, he's such a brave patootie (or, yknow, patootie)..but yeah no, i'll say pat, he is so loving loving loving despite everything, so considerate, so caring, he's a bit of a jock, a bit of a theatre kid, a bit of a band member - he's straight out of high school musical but adorable

To My Star or To My Star 2

TMS2!! i am sure s1 is great but it just didn't leave a lasting impression on me, it was the second season that had me shaking in excitement and yelling at the screen and going through tumblr to read analyses and stuff. it made me care about seojoon and jiwoo soo much and even if in the future i find the first season better in retrospect, s2 is my baby (and it got me so excited bout daseul's vision for blueming 2 🥰)

Pawin in Star in my Mind or in The Eclipse or in Never Let Me Go?

ohh that's interesting..maithee, namo and phum are all annoying but supportive losers lol

i dont have much of an opinion on any of them like phum was a villain for most of the show and then he had a glow up and became a rich hottie with a cute boyfriend, namo was a decoy that suddenly became a part of the squad and i dont remember much about maithee in the og show honestly.. based on the our skyy 2 episodes, i'll go with namo - he gave off sweet supportive kid who just wants to be loved and that's pathetic and cute <3 (tho maithee deserves betterrr)

Palm or Tinn?

in terms of whipped, i think i'd go with palm. man is borderline crazy for nueng, it's impressive. with their our skyy 2 eps out it's confirmed it's not just teen hormones lol

when it comes to my personal fave...they're both precious and frustrate me a lot but ig i'd go with tinn - i think of his reaction to gun rawring at him, about him coming back with those grocery bags.. he's so intense and awkward and devoted but it's not in the way palm is (which makes even me a bit uncomfortable hahah)

eat Noey's over salted food OR Tan's 'dr bun wont eat that' instant(ly failed) noodles?

i cannot deal with salty food, i'm more sensitive to salt than others so whatever noey's cooking has got going on that makes others spit it out immediately? not for me. nuh uh.

i can't find tan's noodles but i found the chicken scene and boyy that is probably salty on top of burnt and with disgusting texture soo (also burnt on the outside raw on the inside is wildd)

yeah. noey's food. small bites, lots of water - if it's otherwise tasty then i'll take a day to finish it, it's cool. :') (on a side note they'd both look with such anticipation and nervousness and wide eyes and aaa reminds me of dfqc, i love it when bad cooks try their best and realise they suck lol)

[tc-frog]

april TC challenge days 1-10 by @morethanwords0475 <3

this challenge seems like fun so i thought i'd participate yay :) catching up and hopefully doing it daily afterwards ^^

Day 1: Happy April Fool’s! Have you ever pranked your TC; if so, how did they react? nope and i don't think i ever would. i just don't have the guts to prank teachers (or even friends) haha

Day 2: What is the earliest thing you can remember about your TC? oh god i love this memory pahahaha i was new in class (i changed schools two weeks after the year started) and the very first lesson was J's religion lesson. i remember him talking about Jesus smoking weed and being high or something and at first I thought “where the hell did i land here” lmao😭 so my first impression of him was like "who tf is this guy and what did he smoke"

Day 3: Do you like your TC’s subject? Do you consider yourself to be good at it? hmm with him as a teacher i do like it because, as i mentioned before, he teaches religion, but it feels more like philosophy. and i definitely prefer the latter haha seeing as philosophy (and religion) are very subjective topics, i can't be objectively good at it. when comparing myself to my classmates i would say i'm more interested in philosophy, books by philosophers and all the ideas than them. that doesn't make me good at it tho, so unfortunately there's no answer for that sdlkghsldkg

Day 4: How do you feel about your age gap? it's a pretty normal age gap for a student and a teacher to have i guess slkdghsldkgh (our age gap is approximately around 35 years)

Day 5: Have you ever said anything to your TC that showed you favoured them? Have they said anything like that to you? in our conversation on teams, i mentioned that i really liked his lessons and his way of teaching. in his reply, he thanked me for it and said that's most important to him. :) i don't know the exact wording, but i can dig up the message and post it if anyone's interested

Day 6: Have you ever noticed any small habits that they have? If so, what comes to mind first? J is ALWAYS so confused and really aloof. like, that man can't hold a thought for a second. if you ask him a question, be prepared for a ramble that goes on for half an hour without ever mentioning the topic of your question again. it's so funny honestly😭

Day 7: What gift would you really like to be able to give them, regardless of if it’s realistic or not? okay. man. this is really fucking weird. please don't think i'm weird😭 also not exactly a gift, i'd want it back haha buuut i've always thought how i so desperately want to give him my little notebooks i carry everywhere which are diaries, poetry collections, just my thoughts scrabbled out on paper. i want him to understand me and by reading these notebooks, he would. as a real gift, i think a book annotated by me would be nice, i just want him to see my thoughts about books he's read too

Day 8: Does your TC ever talk about what it was like when they were still a student? he did, once. he told us how he had no idea what he wanted to do after school and how he was actually a really bad student. i really felt him in that moment slkghsghslk

Day 9: Does your TC have a significant other? If so, what do you know about them and how do you feel about them? yesss he has a wife and they've been married for a reaaaally long time i think. i saw her once with him at our school prom, they were sitting on the table next to us, and both of us were eating. at the time, i avoided him and tried to act like i didn't see him in hopes of him not noticing me lol. about his wife - if he talks about her, it's only ever positive so i can imagine she's really nice. :)

Day 10: What is the longest time you have gone without seeing them? of course the usual summer break, but actually right now! he had a pretty bad skiing accident around the start of february, so i haven't seen him since then. if everything's good, i'll hopefully see him again on friday! but it actually made me really sad that i didn't see J for so long because i promised myself i would try to talk to him before i never saw him again. i know he sometimes talks to students who stay behind after his lessons, sometimes for a really long time, and especially after the awkward end of our conversation on teams i really really want to have a long and thorough conversation with him just once. i don't really have a lot of possibilities anymore, time is running out, so i'll have to be brave and find an opportunity and then actually talk to him haha. wish me luck, i'll surely make more posts about this lol

[aydascomprehendsubtext]

While I think the general Vibe of glass onion is less class warfare and more a particularly vicious satire of bad rich people I think Helen's final act burning the Mona Lisa is really weird and almost rubs me the wrong way in the opposite direction?

So like to start in a story way she absolutely has to burn it. Like it's the most chekovs gun to ever chekov. It's very well done visually with shots that parallel her and the painting, it's the narrative punch of the thesis about disruption.

But I also don't love it as a political message? Mostly because I'm also not impressed with the idea that the most devastating way to harm capitalism is by destroying... what we colloquially call high art and culture?

Two critiques to deal with first: First of all I've seen people say it's not the real Mona Lisa but honestly I can't stand that interpretation I don't see it in the actual film text I think it ruins the impact of it I do not see it. Secondly! I think that post I just rbed about knives out being movies that love kinda being Good at stuff is absolutely right. Theres a veneration of intelligence and Real creative works and artistry and Knowing stuff in all this. And I think there's a ton of problems with that. On the one hand I'm compelled by the idea that it's a critical first step to dissolve the perception that these tech dudes or politicians or celebrities DO actually know what they're talking about. Like I do think persuasion in this area specifically is a noble goal. But yeah probably more importantly it's a very cringefail liberal John Oliver fantasy to say that's enough to win! And that absolutely extends to high art - the first knives out the punchline about the kids is that they can't do complex creativity, don't appreciate their fathers art because they're nepo babies or whatever. Like wow yeah he's the good millionaire because he's nice and also because he's good at books. Glass Onion really is a new take in this regard because it's saying fuck that! Burn the Mona Lisa even if people love it ESPECIALLY if people love it.

BUT ALSO I have two kinda fundamental problems with this worldview that views culturally valued art as an inherently bourgeois phenomena. First of all like ok slight tangent but. lmao yeah ofc Ryan Johnson is talking about art that's what he does yknow? Like on some level I think it's a little strange whenever people criticize media for talking too much about Media. Like yeah capture more of the human experience but you probably know more about creating art than me because I don't make films!!!!

Second tho is way more important because fundamentally like. Idk if I agree that trying to make really good art is something to sneer at and I DEFINITELY don't believe sneering at people who intentionally don't engage or care is #praxis. And I'm open to the possibility that my classical liberalism Wes Anderson aesthetic upbringing has infused me w some bad instincts here but I just don't think it's a real life good idea to burn the Mona Lisa! One movie that I saw that I really loved this year was The Menu which was a vicious satire of the idea that people trying to do high art are engaging in it in bad faith. It says "cuisine is a scam a cheeseburger and crinkle cut fries are our only salvation." And like while I enjoyed that movie... I refuse the premise! I don't think art and striving for art that communicates and innovates and yes is frequently silly and self important is mutually exclusive with LOVING trash and when things are bad and the art fails at what it was trying to do but you love it anyway. I love bad art because it teaches me something about good art and vice versa. I think opera is probably a capitalist hellscape and yet we should have more opera singers not fewer. Idk how to synthesize this I love glass onion i think that last post about it is spot on media criticism and I also love the Mona Lisa and don't love a politics that says we should disrupt it.

[mejomonster]

I've been watching The Vampire Diaries lately as a show to kinda relax to without needing full attention and:

Kinda ship Bonnie/Caroline unfortunately I doubt this show has lesbians (but buffy had willow/Tara in the 90s so I wish this 2000s drama does -.-; I'll see I guess)

Kinda enjoy Tyler and Jeremy's scenes post 1x10 which I'm surprised by cause before I'd been rooting for Tyler to die

Damon/Elena are eons more interesting to me as a dynamic in that their scenes together have less predictability and more interesting outcomes (I get why elena/Stefan is a thing, they're both book loving reading nerds who like to talk about that stuff for hours and write diaries and spend quiet nights kissing/sleeping together and chatting about stuff they fan over basically - without the vampire old issue/Katherine ex situation they'd basically be a normal couple with shared interests, but like... as tv entertainment that's just not as fun to watch as ppl who do not get along and slowly need to learn to understand/interact. It's like angel/buffy versus spike/buffy or faith/buffy I suppose. Except I do appreciate stefan/Elena actually fight over "yr a vampire damn! People are dying I need to get AWAY this is fucked" and "I look like your dead ex what rhe fuck is wrong with you/any other secrets??!!!" Because like while it's still teen romance show level "I love you" ridiculously fast and unrealistically with a yikes vampire usual age gap lol, at least Elena's and stefans reactions seem somewhat more like real people would actually do? Whereas like... idk I usually see a much less realistic reaction of "wow people are dying I need to get away from you and reevaluate my view of the world goddamn".)

Bonnie makes me feel like I'm watching Charmed

Watching vampire stuff I'm glad there's a lot of death in this cause what even is a vampire story without people getting their blood drank? Also this show reminds me I've got my own vampire story I eventually want to write ToT but mines more itwv level bloody than teen angst. That said, i appreciate the slightly outside of high school elements of the show which remind me of charmed or buffy and give the impression this show CAN grow beyond a high school setting as the plot ages out of it, like buffy did, which gives it space to possibly do some cool stuff later on (that say a show like teen wolf bound inside teen-life couldn't really move to)

Thank goodness the show has some horror scenes and fights I really Can't focus without my action scenes lol

Like buffy (tho idk How better the writing will get) I can tell that around mid season 1 the writing shifted from Teen Show Pilot usual to having a more solid idea of the angle it wanted to go in. Caroline went from a "could be any teen extra" to a character with a clear personality, Bonnie went from only magic-show-plot element to someone who's friendships and enemies in the show matters, Matt and Jeremy as plain humans get a more defined characterization driven by their internal values more than only what's happening to them externally, Elena once she finds out vampires exists her character acts much more idk Likable to me? She's an everyday girl stand in, but with the knowledge of vampires her personal bg as someone fucked up by tragedies in the family and feeling death is inescapable to her (vampires all around and looking like a dead ex katherine), her desire to not see anyone else die and personally try to help stop vampires who are hurting people in town (despite being very mundanely human) gives her a solid backbone of who she is when put in a hard position. I liked her trying to fight a vampire alone with pencils and a broken broom - she doesn't succeed as she's a completely untrained and regular strength human but it shows she's got future potential and a trajectory, her trying to stop vampires from killing, her willing to go into danger, her willing to confront anyone, etc. She's showing some interesting traits specific to her that not every character Would do. Even Stefan with as little as I'm personally clicking with him, is making lets say Relationship choices that are distinct from Edward type or Angel type or Spike type or Lestat lol, so at least he's feeling like His Own individual character in a vampire story instead of a copy of someone else. He communicates eons better than Edward, saying he'll leave before leaving for someone's safety lol, and just in general open to conversations when conflicts come up more, he's mopey sure but not to the level of emo Angel from buffy is (and not quite as creepy tho he also stalked for a year lmao) and Lexi coming into town showed he's really not Endlessly pessimistic the way Louis or Angel would be. He's got a distinction versus other leading romance vamps, and although his dynamic doesn't have the enemies/rivals to friends to lovers I enjoy in watching a romance (bellamy/Clarke, lexa/Clarke, lucifer/Chloe, spike/buffy, louis/lestat etc) I do like that he feels like his own character to me. So I'm hoping like buffy the depth of characterization gets a bit better as time goes on for everyone. And the plot expands past high school as characters age up.

Damon and Stefan remind me of Dean and Sam. Yeah I know what I said ToT if supernatural went on 150 years and they turned into demons or vampires or whatever, both fell for the same girl, who's to say what coulda happened. All IM saying now is a crossover when they'd both been airing would've been hilarious.