#give his character a depth that perfectly fits with that. and. then. yeah. yeah. yeah. just yeah.

[astrxealis]

the character development of so many ffxiv characters mean so much to me :((

[darkstarofchaos]

Having seen some frankly irritating opinions from both sides of the aisle, I think some of y'all need to chill about the way the Decepticons were handled in EarthSpark.

Decepticon fans are allowed to be upset that the faction's depth and potential for development was tossed aside in favor of "Decepticons are just evil".

However, depth and potential doesn't mean the Decepticons have to be buddy-buddy with the Autobots. Depth is amoral, you can be a villain who resists "redemption" and still be a well-rounded character.

My issues with S2 vs S1 are as follows:

The lack of good explanation for why the sides are fighting again. I am not upset that the Cons are villains again. They have no reason to like or trust any human or Autobot, and gratitude for having your life saved only goes so far. My issue is that S2 literally opens by saying the Cons started the fight again just because that's what Cons do. Obviously the story is from the perspective of the main cast, and there are hints that they could be intentionally unreliable narrators (Starscream refers to them as oppressors, Breakdown challenges Bumblebee about giving up on Cybertron), but we aren't given enough time with the Cons to draw a solid conclusion about the intentions here.

The way the heroes treat Spitfire, i.e. a literal newborn. She was 100% in the right when she said that she didn't know the moral rules she was being expected to follow. But because she wasn't born with morals and an understanding of mortality preinstalled, the heroes condemned her instead of trying to de-escalate and take responsibility for their part in the situation (granted, Megatron was the only flight-capable adult present and he argued against de-escalation. Which tracks because he's Megatron. But someone should have pushed for a peaceful resolution).

How much depth do individual Decepticons still have? Who knows, Starscream, Shockwave, and Breakdown are the only ones with any focus. The others are only seen fighting, causing trouble for fun, or just standing around growling. Twitch - i.e. one of our main characters - literally spends an entire episode in the Con camp and we still manage to see nothing of Decepticon life when they're just hanging out. And yes, I know that the more characters you have in a scene, the harder it is to show their personalities. You can still show them playing cards or arm-wrestling or something. Anything to show that they're actually people and not just a hive mind that exists to fight.

Starscream. Specifically the last 20 minutes of the S2 finale, because everything else in his characterization fit S1 until that point. He literally calls the Autobots oppressors, so of course he's going to fight them. He wants Aftermath kept out of the way (that's a child, so that's perfectly reasonable) and he's frankly patient with Twitch-as-Spitfire, in spite of Skywarp's incredulity that he lets her "get away" with causing trouble (again, that is a child. Patience is the correct response). He even seems to like Spitfire after meeting the real her. The only issue I had with Starscream leading up to the second half of the finale was that his motivations didn't seem to be much deeper than "I want power" (I could be misremembering that point - there may have been an "Earth is going to be our home, let's make it better to live on" when he and Shockwave discussed Cybertron). And then the last 20 minutes happened and I can't see any logical extrapolation from S1 to that. It was just a generic "Starscream goes mad with power", and it came completely out of left field. Not even any remorse about what he "needed" to do or any attempt to justify himself, it was just, "Yeah, I'm worse than the people I called out for being oppressors, isn't it great?"

If there is some big plot twist where it turns out the heroes were unreliable narrators all along, some of my issues will actually be fixed. However, I find that extremely unlikely, for one major reason: all of the non-Decepticon characters who disagree with the heroes are either villains or they "come around". The Quintessons felt betrayed by Quintus? Nah, Quintus was a great guy, you can tell because he tortured a kid for wishing she had never been chosen by him. Prowl doesn't like the Autobots' reliance on children? Silly Prowl, those kids are special, we want them to fight. The narrative never, at any point, entertains the idea that those dissenting voices might have a point. Which means we're probably meant to take the heroes at face value on most, if not all things.

TL;DR: the Decepticons being villains makes perfect sense, even with the context of S1; it's the heroes acting like they're only fighting for power after we had several episodes about second chances and not all Decepticons being the same that makes it feel like a cop-out. And Decepticon fans are allowed to be upset that some of their favorite characters had interesting stuff going on only to be functionally relegated to Voiceless Grunt Number 3 (and yes, several Autobots have also been relegated to Voiceless Grunts. If one of your favorite characters has fallen victim to this affliction, regardless of faction, you have my sympathies).

[zahri-melitor]

I think one of the interesting things about comics is the depth of characterisation. And one of the ways characters get that depth is by effectively ending up hypocrites. And how they get there is by taking a story where often people are yelling that it's bad characterisation, and looking at it to work out 'okay, but it happened, how do I fanwank that into fitting?'

It's the next line on from 'he would never say that!" Okay, but now he has said that. What made him say that, and why? What do you have to do to the character to set him up to say that?

Because generally, I would in most circumstances find a way to make the story fit, rather than discard it. Because by working out how to fit it, it can deepen characterisation, by showing when and why they cross a line.

For instance, take Dick. Dick in Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul is convinced that trying to resurrect loved ones in a Lazarus Pit is a lost cause and you won't get back the person you lost. Dick in Batman & Robin 2009 however puts what he thinks is Bruce's corpse in a Lazarus Pit to try and get Bruce back. That, on the surface, is an obvious contradiction. Why is Dick crossing that line? Well, Dick's a hypocrite, because when it's Bruce, he has to try, even though deep down he's aware it's a lost cause. A contradiction that almost certainly occurred because Morrison fundamentally does not pay attention to what other writers are doing with characters leads to a situation that gives more depth to Dick and Bruce's relationship, because we see where Dick had to struggle with his own instincts.

Take Tim. On the face of it, Tim and Damian's rivalry was unexpected and out of character. Tim is a character who makes friends easily, has worked with difficult characters and antiheroes on multiple occasions, who is good with children and known to form solid bonds with them. Yet Morrison clearly wanted Tim off panel and unavailable for their story, and so...Tim's reaction to Damian's arrival turns into a rivalry. And the reason why it works? Because we find that Tim and Damian are simultaneously occupying the other's biggest blindspot and insecurity. Tim has to work hard to accept Damian (and Damian equally has to work hard to accept Tim) because of how much they press the other's buttons. And it's a huge part of their long term relationship now! But on the face of it, it was not an expected reaction on Tim's part, especially since in the same period, Tim is extremely sweet and welcoming working with Chris Kent and Helena Kyle.

Take Barbara and Helena. The thing I love most about Babs and Helena's relationship is the layers of conflict that build up between then. Because while some writers gloss it as "Babs is jealous that Helena and Dick had a one-night stand", that's not all of it or even the largest part of it. Helena, by becoming The Bat in No Man's Land very specifically did something calculated to piss Barbara off: she saw Helena as trying to be Batgirl, and a Batgirl who was violent and ready to kill if necessary, of having assumed the mantle without asking. And Babs hated that. But equally, Helena had reasonable grievances: she wasn't thinking of Batgirl, she was trying to be BatMAN, and Barbara is rude to her and often refuses to work with her even as Babs will support other violent characters (Jean-Paul particularly in that period) and sides with Bruce against Helena. Helena doesn't like Babs because she sees Barbara as too close to Bruce and not getting called out for her behaviour (almost shooting Black Mask in No Man's Land!). Barbara doesn't like Helena as she won't follow the rules that keep vigilantes safe and working with the GCPD in Gotham (and because she's got a jealous personality and yeah, doesn't particularly like people who've slept with Dick). And this complex net of perfectly reasonable dislike between the two makes their relationship far more interesting, even as it built up largely via writers who did not care why they disliked each other and just wrote them as 'jealous' because women don't like other women, right?

Take Bruce and his varying reactions to his children dying. Because even as some of it is tied up in Dc's changing approach to the finality of death between the 1980s and present, it says such interesting things about Bruce, because Bruce was torn up but put in the work to move past his grief over Jason's death, to move on and keep living, to the point he rejected a villain offering the opportunity to resurrect Jason (Neron, in Underworld Unleashed). And that contrasts to the way he reacted to Damian's death, where he tried to accept it, but kicked and fought once a villain offered the opportunity to resurrect Damian and worked to get Damian back alive, in the most desperate circumstances. And that also contrasts to Tim's 'death', where Bruce is again horribly cut up and guilty over it, but accepts the death and doesn't investigate it like he does Jason or Damian's, leading to the situation where Tim is certain that Bruce will come to rescue him, but Bruce isn't even looking because he's sure Tim is dead and he's not fighting to get him back. And that's hypocritical! Bruce fights so much harder to get Damian back than the other two! Tim has to rescue himself, and Bruce is horrified when he realises that he should have been looking for Tim, especially when Tim fought so hard to find him when he was missing. It's a contradiction! It says things about Bruce's reactions to the deaths of loved ones around him and how far he'll go to get them back. Because Bruce will not resurrect his parents (Tower of Babel you will always be famous). He won't resurrect Alfred or Jason or Tim. But he did resurrect Damian.

And so, when I read Damian getting stroppy in Batman #149 over Bruce's Zur-Clone, I both see why people who are very fond of Damian think it's bad characterisation, but I also see it and think: Damian's being a hypocrite, and he's hurt and cut by the fact that Bruce's focus isn't on him.

Yes, Damian has a fascinating relationship with his own clones in Robin: Son of Batman. I've read it, and I saw his growth and acceptance of his disfigured clones, who he saw as representations of the bad parts of him that also deserved acceptance. That's some powerful imagery. But just because Damian accepts his own clones, doesn't mean he is going to be accepting of someone else's. Damian's rude and pointed about Kon's existence as a clone. For Damian to be grumpy and disparaging over the personhood of a brand new, fast aging clone who attacked him? Yeah, that's a personal hypocrisy I can see.

Everyone was just fine about beating up and destroying the Failsafe robots and ZEA robot Batman, who also had transplanted personalities. There are plenty of robots in DC who are awarded humanoid status (the Metal Men and Red Tornado just for starters). What is the line that makes ZEA robot Batman not 'human' but Bruce's Zur-Clone human? If Damian's mentally categorising the clone with Zur rather than in the set of 'human', of course he thinks Bruce is dwelling and obsessing over a clone that is shortly going to die, and who he doesn't see as being worth fighting to save.

And so what is a bit of characterisation largely for narrative reasons (Zdarsky wanted someone in the scene to go 'why are you fighting for this, Bruce') turns into another layer of the Damian story: where he can be a little hypocrite, who often reacts very differently when an issue is personal to him to when a similar issue is affecting someone else. That's repeated behaviour for him. Damian doesn't tend to react well to other characters getting attention that he sees as his.

I dunno. I see the complaints but it's also something that I can very easily fanwank into my perception of the character. It gives Damian more depth. Contradictions often do.

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Trolls World Tour

So I'm learning more and more that the Trolls franchise is not what I was led to believe for such a long time now. Because I really did actually like the first one a good bit. So how does its sequel hold up? Well...

We once again follow Poppy and Branch, this time on a quest to stop Barb, the Queen of the Rock Trolls, from stealing the six strings that create all music types in the world of the Trolls (Rock, Pop, Funk, Classical, Techno, and Country). Barb's plan is to unite all Trolls under Rock exclusively, so its up to Poppy (who is struggling to learn what it means to be a good queen) and Branch (who's struggling to confess his feelings for Poppy) to save the day.

Yeah, pretty simple, very "questy" premise here, kinda feels like the structure of a video game in a weird way? Like our crew rolls into the various territories of the other Troll tribes and we get to see a little taste of who they are and how they live but none of it is really that in-depth, which is... fine, I guess, whatever. There are certainly some... interesting themes they're trying to get across here, like historical rivisionism and even overcoming racism??? I think?? But of course, because this is a kids movie, its all very simplified into "we're all different and that's ok!" because well, they're not gonna make it that complicated for the little kiddo brains this is clearly targeted for.

As a result, we get a much simpler movie than even the last one, which was already pretty simple. The characters from last time around are all pretty much the same as before, Poppy is still upbeat and eternally positive (though her arc here is pretty satisfying of her learning to listen to others and that she doesn't know best all the time), Branch is still The Best Character in this goddamn franchise, the side characters are all just... there. And as for our new characters, none of them really stood out that much except for Barb. She's a pretty fun villain! Very punk rocker, very sassy and sharp, and she even gets a few good moments to give her depth by the end and make you ok with her eventual redemption. She's cool.

The music is a little more varried this time around too, because well, it has to be given this movie's premise. So we get some tastes of country and funk and rock alongside the usual pop, which is still the most prominent genre for sure. There are even hints of classical, raggae, even goddamn k-pop because lord. Though I will admit, when they started singing Gangnam Style I think I lost about three years off my life jesus christ.

The visuals are just as lovely as the last though, dedicating itself to an even more arst and crafts asthetic than the last. The homes of all of the other types of trolls are really fun and varied and fit nicely with the style of music they're trying to embrace. There's nothing too fantastic going on here with the animation, but its still very nice to look at all the same.

So yeah, Trolls World Tour is... fine. It's perfectly watchable, just like its predecessor was. I would dare to call it mid, which explains the score I give it below, I guess. It just... exists. And that's all I can really say about it.

Overall Rating: 5/10

Verdict: WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU TWO ALL MOVIE?!?!?!?!

Previous Review (Abominable)

Next Review (The Croods: A New Age)

[animehouse-moe]

Best Anime Openings Spring 2023

With the Spring season winding down, I thought it might be a fun time to share my favorite openings from this season (may or may not do an endings one as well). Initially I had thought about doing a tier list, but that's far too arbitrary for my tastes at this point, so we're gonna stick with the ones that stood out. I'll just go ahead and get started.

Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers - Magical Destroyer

I don't really need to say much about this one, I already wrote about it in depth once. But yeah, damn good opening that has the perfect mix of everything Inagawa, and tells a self-contained story about the journey of these magical girls and Otaku Hero. It's a wildly impressive affair from start to finish, though not quite for the faint of heart as the music choice may be abrasive to some (personally, I love it).

Heavenly Delusion - Innocent Arrogance

Really, this and MAD are interchangeable as my openings of the season/year. In most cases though I give the edge to MAD for the insane style of the latter half, but Innocent Arrogance is far tighter affair. Its themes and stories are more apparent and accessible to fans of the series, and it has a more unique style throughout with the harsh highlights and lighter/softer color palette through most scenes.

Hells Paradise - Work

I might avoid the anime like it's the plague, but you do have to give credit for the opening. Solid on all fronts, it has a unique style that sells the characters and world incredibly well, all tied together by very fluid and dynamic camera movements. Plus, Millenium Parade on an opening is always appreciated. I would still say it's comfortably below the first two in terms of quality though. The stories told through visuals in the above are just out of this world.

Skip and Loafer - Mellow

The song title for this one is very fitting. It's an incredibly comfortable, fun, and warm opening that does a lot with how little it shows. As expected, the color design is wonderful and has the perfect vibe for being a slice of life. The icing on the cake though is the dance sequence. Full of energy and joy, it tops off the wonderfully full feeling that this opening gives viewers.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Slash

Potentially hot take for this one, but while the opening is solid, it's how it teases the story that allows it to be superior. The pieces that are placed in plain view that we're only able to understand in hindsight is where the appreciation for this one comes from. The pieces that aren't directly tied to that comparison are solid, but I wouldn't say they're amazing. The best non-teaser though has to be the scenes of Miorine underwater and in a fractured crystal, as they reflect her mental state without placing anything in front of the viewer to compare it to.

The Legendary Hero Is Dead - Shinda!

This one really surprised me, between Masayoshi Ooishi performing divorced from the other half of OxT and a relatively unknown pair of directors for the opening, a very impressive effort was given for something incredibly memorable. Aggressive colors and storyboarding, a campy feel that plays right into the spiraling shots and lower quality CGI. It presents something incredibly memorable but without an incredible amount of effort expended in pursuit of it. Great example of a solid OP on a (resource) budget.

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage - Gold

There's not much to say here other than the geniuses over at WIT did it again. A wonderfully executed opening that chronicles the journeys of our various characters as they join Bojji on his adventures. It's incredibly cute and heartwarming, and one of these days I'd love to break down how perfectly it rehashes the story of Season 1 into an energetic and hopeful opening that punctuates the intermediate stories of this season. Also, WIT is yet to miss on song choices for these openings.

Dead Mount Death Play - Nero

I think this opening is the one with the most wasted potential out of the ones I've seen this season. There's some really incredible shots and ideas through it with stuff like looking through the eyes of characters and what they see, but at the same time there's quite a few bog standard pieces that fill out the build up to the crescendo of this OP. I wouldn't say I'm disappointed as I wasn't expecting anything out of this world, but I think if the team pushed themselves a little more they could have had a huge creative breakthrough.

Also, you should 100% go watch the MV that was made the song itself. It's animated by a single person and is entirely out of this world in execution. Amazing work.

And that's about all the very notable ones I have to talk about. There's some I was disappointed with like MahoYome's new OP that was rather restrictive, or the unremarkable nature of Demon Slayer (Zankyou Zanka >>> Akeboshi >> Gurenge >>>> Kizuna no Kiseki ) or Dr. Stone's latest openings. While there was certainly let downs and disinteresting openings, there was also evidently quite a few surprises and dark horses that appeared through the season. Overall, it's really enjoyable seeing how much a lot of newer shows are finding inventive ways to deliver creative and memorable openings.

[rivusatrap]

ONCE BROKEN

by @skloomdumpster

Riven gets cursed by a magical jewel and he must act on his deepest desire in order to break it and live (aka rivusa fuck or die with feelings)

Musa/Riven | Explicit |   21380 words | 2 chapters

Favorite Quote: The entire fucking fic.... Like I my favorite quotes are spoilers and I can’t type them here because I want you guys to react to it in the context of the fic. So yeah, read the fic.

If you like hurt/comfort fics with a lot of feelings and internal struggles and pining, and also fuck or die and amazing smut, you should should read this fic!

READ IT HERE

So I have to start with a disclaimer, Jo, the writer of this fic, is my best friend in the whole world and was the one that got me into writing fics and into making gifs and the whole fandom world. So I might be a little biased with everything she does - even if I think I’m not.

I also followed the creation of this fic, reading it multiple times before it was finished and giving her my 2 cents about it (And making a gif for it). Jo hasn’t written a Rivusa centered fic in a while and I was trying to keep a chill head while internally screaming with excitement that she was writing one - If you aren’t aware, I’m I like Rivusa a bit. Just a little bit.

This was a birthday fic for @gossipqueen2000​, another amazing writer and fellow rivusa-stan (totally recommend her fics btw), and Jo first asked Mo what she enjoyed most in fics so this gift would be perfect. I’m not 100% what was in that list because that was a private conversation but boy am I happy with whatever Mo said because the final result was EXPECTACULAR.

This fic. THIS FIC. Ugh, where to even start?

Jo has a way of writing that not only sets the scene perfectly but takes you back and then into characters heads in a way that’s not tireing or confusing or that breaks you out of the plot. Everything happens in the perfect pace, fits right where it needs to fic and flows easily, you could read 100 pages of her writing and feel like you read only 10.

What I also love a lot about her writing, and something I think I struggle a lot with, is showing characters emotions, what they really feel in a way that isn’t “he was sad”, “he was angry”.

You could feel Riven’s love for Musa, not only the romantic love, or the physical lust he has for her, but the true, real love, because of little things like how he knows to keep her ID and her card in his wallet because she has a bad habit of not carrying one, or how he knows the lyrics to her favorite songs- which he also knows not to sing along because she hates when people do that. Details like this, details she adds at just the right place at the right time, show you so much more than what is said, shows the reader characters habits, their history. It gives their feelings depth and it makes it all just feel more real.

And the whump! Jo can write whump. The same way she writes love she writes pain and its so detailed and hurts it makes your heart squeeze. I don’t read a lot of the fics she puts out and I’ve apologized to her tons about it but because she loves hurt and whump and my heart is very fragile, I cry about the most littlest things and when I read a whump fic of hers it literally ruins my day because its all so real and raw and my mind just can’t stop thinking about it.

And the smut... oh boy oh boy... Jo says she’s not really a fan of writing smut but she’s amazing at it, with just a perfect dose of kink mixed it to make it spicy(er). And the smut in this didn’t dissapoint. After reading about, what 19k words of hurt/comfort you finally arrive at the smut and you yell FINALLY! and its HOT!

The plot, which maybe should have been the first thing I talked about but oh well. The plot is... what other word can I use that isn’t “perfect” or “amazing” because I think if Jo were to beta this post she’d say I used these words too much already... The plot is genius (?)

But seriously, Jo could have taken a trope like fuck or die, which is usually straight to the point and PWP, but made it just that, quick and easy. But no, she created a whole intricate universe, a whole detailed backstory, ten years of pining, before she delivered on the prompt. And then instead of making it so they resolve the issue right away, she draggs it over a few days, makes Riven taste the power of the curse, makes him prepared for death as much as he can be because he thinks there’s no way out of it. She makes you yell a the computer/phone screen because RIVEN YOU ARE SO FUCKING STUPID.

I think if I say anything else I’ll be spoiling the fic too much for those who haven’t read. So read it.

And while you’re there check out Jo’s other fics, only a few are rivusa because her main ship is skloom but I 100% recommend them. All of them.

[lovelytayforce]

TBH I think the Chameleon is already shaping up to be a better execution of Kai’s character concepts than Kai himself. She’s a green villain who steals the power of kung fu masters from the spirit realm (including Tai Lung), and has a whole motif around taking instead of giving. This also applies to her identity motif; Just as Kai is forgotten by the time of a film that discusses Po’s identity, the Chameleon’s need to copy others indicates a lack of real identity/confidence as well. She also just looks cooler imo. I feel like Kai’s green eyes and horns didn’t do enough to convey his supernatural vibes, whereas the Chameleon’s species is perfectly connected to her motifs as a character.

First off, Hello and thank you for sending me this ask!! (I thought I'd never get one but we out here~!!!!) Ahem anyways, I wouldn't say Chameleon's need to copy is from a lack of identity, that would fit more for Kai funnily enough considering no one knew him and he was a mere shadow of Oogway, this is where these two supernatural characters themes divert in my opinion. The Chameleon has more confidence than Kai in seeing the power of intaking multiple arts of Kung Fu and integrating it into her own. Kai was just a (mentally) weak man using strong foes as an army with no input of their own because that's all he was "A Controlling General". The Chameleon though obviously has her own army that conducts things in their own ways, ie the sunbathing naps, there's a decisive lack of control and breathe of freedom between the leader and subordinate compared to Kai. Aka Cammy (I'm sorry I am tired of spelling her whole name) doesn't have to zombifiy people to follow them against their will. She knows she is strong and is making herself stronger and more of a respected power. Considering trailers have already shown she is well versed in the movements of Kung Fu.

And I get it audiences won't look at her almost damn perfect form that could only come with ages of practice, but I do cause I LOVE KUNG FUUUUU~!!!! <3 Anyways, sorry for that long tangent anon, I just really love what the Choreographer's did with her movements. They are sooo CLEAN~ (But frfr I wish the director didn't market the damn MCU stunt actors when they had a man from RUSH HOUR 3 on the line!! Bro get your thoughts together!!) As for Kai's horns and green eyes, yeah I can see what you mean, he seemed more akin to some davy jone's locker sorta ghost and not some demon of the depths. I can see where they tried to work with what they had but it just didn't have that oomf feeling as Cammy does her with her mix of beautiful older Chinese attire and all the designs upon her head, some that resemble Chinese characters. The designers this time, tried to get away with more by making the Awkwatwat Fox; basic Furry bait. Which good on y'all they KNEW they had to pop off with my Auntie Miss Davis on the mic!! For BHM baby!! So, yeah tldr: We love ourselves Miss Cammy for BHM and Awkwafuck can suck one!

[girlbob-boypants]

1-21-25 for uh Guild Wars? or whatever you want

You know what yeah let's be violent about my beloved game. Oh okay this was a lot more than I expected uh lets put that under the cut

1. The character everyone gets wrong

You think I'd say my precious baby boy BUT its Caithe. She's an incredibly interesting character who is denied the actual on screen depth and arcs she needs. It's an interesting case where the people who hate her are missing the points and the people who stan her talk like she's actually given an arc instead of simply plopped into the story with a "she's better now." The key example being the fact that she doesn't show up in s4 until THE END OF EPISODE FOUR??? That's hardly her fault cause for whatever reason THATS when she's allowed to actually give a fuck about the daughter she loves so much that the moment that daughter cared about the fact that WE WERE BEING MURDERED she ignored Aurene for fuck knows how long?? And then admitting that is enough for them to ignore the psychic connection Aurene canonically has with the Commander so they can just. Set Caithe to post therapy with no real story. The people who hate her act like she's personally the cause of every single problem in the game and that setting her on fire and replacing her with a man will fix everything. Meanwhile the people who stan her claim her story was sooooo good and 100% justified and didn't fuck with things or have problems. She's a brilliant concept that post HoT is executed in a parking lot. And while her parts in EoD are perfectly fine and logical it's just...ugh. She's barely there and exists purely to limit Aurene's screentime with the Commander. Which sucks cause I love both of them.

21. Part of canon you think is overhyped

All of EoD. I am going to pick at a certain part, actually. Rama as a character and especially the entire story with the cop father he has was TRASH. Not as in it's a bad idea but in that it's so terribly done. The lack of build up, the fact that it's the ONLY RATIONAL PERSON WITH A PROBLEM WITH JOON'S MONOPOLY OF TECH who turns out to be King Fascist, the way they just don't explore Li's whole being Kurzick like Rama (or at least I think that's what was being implied? It was literally just Rama saying his Secret Name in front of us and then not addressing it). It all goes nowhere and means very little beyond the strike mission. Like no we aren't going to explore this corruption of the cops, we aren't going to discuss why the society of Cantha would cultivate a minority joining a supremacist group, and we're ESPECIALLY not going to explore Rama's feelings about it for longer than a minute or two. Didn't you know his entire story is that he has a crush on a cop? Don't ask for depth, don't ask why the only people who have an issue with forest polluting tech monopolies are fascists and ecofascists, and don't ask us to give Rama lines that aren't mcu zingers. Take what you get and go make really fucking questionable jokes mocking his hat without expecting more of the expac that brutally murdered Icebrood Saga and gave us CHAMPIONS.

Not too fond, really.

Also the beast races but that's not really controversial to say it's just true. But I hate the Kodan, Grawl, and Centaurs especially. Whoever wrote their parts in s2 and s3 should be hit with a bat and robbed.

25. Common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

This one I'm actually having trouble with rn. The obvious answer is character hate and, no, I don't mean character criticism. I mean things like 'i hate Trahearne cause he sucks his voice is annoying and he's overhyped' and the many, many death wishes. This feels like a cop out but I barely scroll the tag anymore cause the game is in a weird space in my heart so I only really engage with it as I see fit for myself. Which is mostly nostalgia tinted thoughts about past seasons and expacs but hey. Better than being a rage filled ball of spite and bad faith readings like I've been in the past with things I've fallen out of love with.

I'd also say I got tired of the weird relationship gw2 has with strikes and raids both from newbies AND vets alike? This game kinda sucks at making the endgame accessible for everyone and I'm vividly aware of that but vets complain that it's stale while gatekeeping to the point of intimidation and newbies all sit and stare at the training LFG without doing anything like these groups are a match made in hell and if anet just learned how to make something like the ff14 duty finder it'd probably be a lot easier but that would require work and admitting that having some kind of role system would make class and party designs easier.

[starlight-phantom]

Idr if you've talked about this before, but top 5 video game soundtracks? As a whole? 🤔

I think I have but I have terrible memory and my opinions are always changing so might as well do it again.

1 - I'm gonna cheat and say every single Persona soundtrack because they're all amazing, I won't pick a favourite, you can't make me. Also it honestly depends on my mood at that moment in time to decide which is my favourite. Just listen to battle themes and credit themes and you'll get it.

2 - Sonic 06, while I am biased towards Adventure 2 because childhood, overall 06's soundtrack is the most in-depth and ambitious. Like, there's so many moving parts and there's so many leitmotifs that appear in multiple tracks, I mean the His World leitmotif appears in 14 different tracks throughout the whole soundtrack. And not to mention, all the music is just gorgeous. One of my personal favourite tracks (excluding the obvious ones) is Aquatic Base Level 1, just because it's the last level in Sonic's story so you expect loud and bombastic as you rush to the final confrontation... And instead you get this almost soothing yet sad sounding track.

Although, I will give a shout-out to Adventure 2's ost for having a different genre for each character and all the different Live And Learn variations, and Unleashed's ost because I love how each region's music uses instruments commonly used in their real world counterpart's music. It's beautiful.

3 - Jet Set Radio/Future. Both games soundtracks are fantastic. But I mean, they're composed by Hideki Naganuma, so what did you expect? And if you don't know who I'm talking about, you probably will when I say the phrase "Ain't nothing like a funky beat". Yeah, he composed that. But they're just so much fun and fit the game's aesthetic perfectly. My personal favourite track is Humming The Baseline which is the track that plays in the character/mission select area of the first game. I dunno, it's chill and it sets the tone perfectly for just a bunch of kids hanging out, skating, and doing graffiti.

4 - NieR Replicant/Automata. I don't even know how to describe this music... Lonely? Desolate? Thought provoking? I dunno, it perfectly matches the quiet, long abandoned areas you run through in these games. Plus, the touch of the Chaos language is just the cherry on top. My personal favourite track is Kaine, both the Escape and Salvation versions, they haunt me.

5 - Nights Into Dreams/Journey Of Dreams. Little bit of nowhere and yeah, there's a lot of soundtracks that are arguably better but I just love these soundtracks. 1) They're just so soothing and match the dreamlike state of the events perfectly, and 2) I like flutes. That's it. Flute pretty. I mean, could my favourite track be anything but Growing Wings? It's probably the most well known track from this sadly mostly forgotten game. It's beautiful.

[sunlightandsuffering]

https://www.tumblr.com/sunlightandsuffering/728848190643798016/ive-just-read-rip-luv-and-i-had-to-come-here-to?source=share

I wrote that review and I’m at it again: no no no, I think the way they got together in the end was realistic and coherent with the story. Some might find it anticlimactic and you’ve said it yourself you thought they needed some big event for it to happen. While in fact I think the contrary, codependent couples get (back) together exactly like this. Mikasa was always the one taking and not giving smithing back, she never felt she had to, and in the end this didn’t change a lot. She made a concession she should’ve made a long time ago but in the end their dynamic didn’t change. She wanted something out of him, desses him for it, and got what she wanted, which is how their fwb arrangement started in the first place even though Eren obviously hates the mere idea of it. And Eren said it himself he’d never stop loving her, now this was his choice, and for him to do what she wants this time again is exactly in character for him. They’re codependent as fuck, we couldn’t realistically expect sighing the boundaries and timeframe of the fic for them to get together some other way. They aren’t healthy at the end but it doesn’t matter, not everyone is healthy or gets healthy at the snap of their fingers. So yeah I think the way they start dating fits perfectly their characters and their dynamics in the story

💗💗💗THANK YOU BESTIEEE!! 💗Honestly u get it anyway lol, u get that fic more than I get that fic but honestly wtf are EM with out toxic codependency lol, WHERE IS THE FUN IF THEY'RE NOT CODEPENDENT CHAOS 😂😂 but lol the first summary I had for the fic was literally like 'you know that annoying toxic on/off couple in your friendgroup that constantly gets back together even tho they're so obviously toxic, this is them' and literally true dattttt. But yeah Eren was just happy she gave in, in the end, u know he would have been there for her no matter what he just didn't want their relationship to be like that anymore. THANKS FOR SUCH AN IN DEPTH CONVERSATION ANON 💜💜💜🥹🥹 U GET ME

[kaitsawamura]

would you like to stay forever?

SUMMARY⎮   Sparring with Pro Hero Kirishima Eijiro in his private gym at his home doesn't seem like a bad idea if you don't count the fact that you really, really like him.

STATS⎮ minors do not interact, 18+ ⎮  Rating: M (for mature)  ⎮  WC: 5525  ⎮   Pairing: Pro Hero Kirishima Eijiro x Fem!Reader  ⎮   Tags: Aged Up Character(s), Friends to Lovers, Sparring, Smut, Fluff, Age/Experience Gap (if you really squint)  ⎮  AO3

NOTES⎮  Thanks to @spacelabrathor​ for listening to me scream about this and to @some-kindofgnome​ for fueling my Kiri fever dreams.  Yes, that title is based on a Mulan quote. This whole fic was based on THIS POST and Kirishima seemed like the perfect character for this pwp.  Hope y'all enjoy!  (Also please for the love of God, click on the banner to see in HD if you’re on mobile, it looks so much better lol)

It was Saturday and even though you’re on your way to becoming a Pro Hero, you can think of several things you’d rather be doing with your one day off than going to Kirishima Eijiro’s house to spar.  But here you are pulling into his driveway, going over combat moves in your head as if your life depended on it.  They weren’t really serving their purpose which was to distract yourself.  Kiri had offered up his personal gym, encouraged you to stop by with one hand in his pocket and the other rubbing the back of his neck as if he was nervous.  

A couple of his friends had already taken him up on the offer.  You were the only one he’d offered who hadn’t come over yet.  He had texted you a couple of weeks later saying he was starting to take it personally…  and then immediately texted with a laughing emoji just to clarify he was only giving you a hard time.  It brings a smile to your face now as you remember it.  Yesterday he had also clarified it would just be the two of you if you were self-conscious sparring in front of other people.  You’d have the whole place to yourselves.  Like that should mean something.  Which it did.  It does , you realize with butterflies growing in your stomach.  Kiri doesn’t need to know that though.

The two of you had been toeing around something since you had been hired at Fatgum’s Agency a year ago.  Neither of you had made a move.  Kirishima, the Red Riot, was a big Pro Hero and while you took pride in your quirk, it didn’t hold a coin to some of the others you’d come in contact with.  It had surprised you when Toyomitsu had brought you on.  But he had mumbled something about “liking your spunk” and that he thought a teleportation quirk would be a useful one to add to his agency.  The first day you had shown up, Kiri had immediately caught your eye.  Not for the obvious reasons.  Obvious reasons being the fact that he was climbing the Pro Hero charts or the fact that he had a dynamically interesting quirk or that at twenty-five he was already built like a brickhouse. 

Those were all valid reasons, yes, but what had pulled you in was his smile and his genuine interest in you outside of your quirk.  But he was just like that you had quickly discovered.  He knew everyone’s coffee order and what they liked for lunch.  He knew when to push and when to back off.  He knew when to talk and when to listen , knew when he still had a lesson to learn.  The kids flocked to him.  Even now you’re still entirely convinced that’s actually his quirk, getting people to like him.  It’s not a difficult thing to do though.

Your brain stutters back to the present when a text notification pings from your cell phone as you sit in Kiri’s driveway, picking at non-existent lint on your gym shorts.  The cute ones you’re still convincing yourself were your only clean pair and that’s the only reason you wore them.

KIRI : i saw u pull up, u gonna come in or what 😂

Had he been waiting for you to get there?  You tapped out a quick response, one that hid the little flip in your stomach at the thought: creeper, you were watching for me lmao

Response bubbles immediately flash on your phone screen but you’re angling out of your car and shutting the door before he can reply.

Somehow, this house fits Kiri perfectly.  It isn’t big.  You had seen pictures of other top-ranking Pros’ houses.  Enji Todoroki’s house, for example, was fucking ridiculous.  But even without a massive floor plan, Kiri’s house is nicer than any you’d been in for some time.  Clean, straight lines and lots of windows.  In fact, you can see straight through the floor-to-ceiling windows out to his backyard when you reach the front door.  Is that a pool ?  Kiri had tons of fun showing pictures at the agency; it was a well-deserved investment for his already multiple years of service as a Pro.  The pictures hadn’t done the place justice though.

Kiri comes to the door, throwing it wide open with a huge grin that shows off his sharp teeth.  You ignore the way your mouth goes dry as he drags you in, babbling on like an excited little kid at you actually coming.

“I really thought you were gonna back out!  I mean, that would have been fine, of course.  I just can’t see the point of having the whole place to myself all the time.”  He’s irresistibly cute, walking around showing you the living room and the kitchen and pointing out to the backyard where, yes, there is indeed a pool.  “You can come over any time and use that too if you want!”  You thank him, warmth pooling in your stomach at how incredibly nice he is.

“Uh, we should probably get in the gym.  I have… stuff to do later,” you finish lamely.  You don’t have anything to do later but very quickly you’re realizing how far out of your depth you are here.  The familiar beginnings of the head over heels fall is washing over you in steady waves.  But you’re coworkers and the thought of coming to work every day and having to see his adorable face and not doing anything about it is almost making you nauseous.

“Oh, yeah, it’s just down the hallway,” he rumbles, leading the way and you follow trying and failing miserably to calm the nerves flashing through your veins.  You’re here alone with Kiri , the man you’ve been crushing on since you’d started working with him a year ago.  And now your stupid brain isn’t just thinking about what it would feel like to run your tongue along his teeth or how his hands would feel between your legs.  No, your stupid brain is thinking about what Kiri looks like when he first opens his eyes in the morning.

Your one-track mind is not getting any help, especially when Kiri walks through the doorway of the gym addition and immediately proceeds to pull his shirt up and over his shoulders and tosses it to the side.  Shit.  His back muscles ripple with the movement and when he turns to face you, it’s heart-wrenchingly obvious that he has no idea the effect he’s having on you.  He has to know .  Doesn’t he?  From your end, it seems wildly obvious that someone as good-looking as him should know .  

You glance around, eternally grateful for the fact that the gym is also attractive.  Floor to ceiling windows span two of the walls here as well and there’s a large set of French doors leading out to the yard.  You find yourself actually in awe when you get a better look at the landscaping.  It’s so green .  There’s a small patch of lawn but the rest is just artfully arranged native flora and fauna.  Violets, tulips.  Huge hosta plants.  And cherry trees heavy with their signature sakura blossoms.  

“Kiri, it’s beautiful!”  He comes to stand beside you, looking out the French doors as well.

“You like it?  I guess it is pretty nice, huh?”  You glance up at him, your chest expanding on a lurch looking at his smile.  You’d never noticed before but he has a light dusting of freckles across his nose.

“Yeah, really nice.”  You look out again, letting the silence grow until it feels like the most comfortable thing in the world.  After what seems like an eternity Kiri clears his throat, rocking back on the balls of his feet.  “What are you thinking for today?”  The question leaves your lips and you’re immediately regretting it; your stomach flips again when Kiri looks at you like you’re prey.

“Close combat, hand-to-hand combat.  You did mention a while ago you wanted to strengthen that, right?”  You throw your head back, rolling your eyes, and groan.  The two of you make your way to the center of the mat.

“Yeah, I mean, I’d be scared to take me on too,” Kiri says, large hands on even larger hips.   He isn’t as tall as some of the other heroes at six foot three inches but he’s wide , thick.  You know for a fact you couldn’t wrap your arms around his waist and have your hands meet.  He’s wearing the biggest shit-eating grin you’ve ever seen.  The sharpened points of his canines are out and on prominent display.   Famous last words you think as a snarl erupts on your face.

“I’m not scared , Kiri.  I just don’t want to wear you out .  You’re a Pro Hero.  You’re on the job a lot more than I am.  Plus, you’re getting kind of old.  Is that a little gray I see coming in?”  Kiri bares his teeth even more but it’s not lost on you that he quickly reaches up to rake his fingers through his hair.  There isn’t any gray, obviously , but the thought has Red Riot distracted.  Distracted enough that when you plant your feet and your fist connects with his face, your knuckles hit skin and not the reinforced rock of his quirk.

“ Shit.”  Kiri takes a step back, reaching up to cradle his jaw.  His tongue swipes out to lick at the blood on his bottom lip.  His vermillion eyes find yours and if you didn’t work with him on a regular basis, you would have felt fear at this moment.  You know he wouldn’t hurt you but even now, a thrill races through your veins like electricity.  He looks as if he’s going to devour you.  You take your own step back, readying your quirk, reaching out to it as your fists hold their position in front of your body.  A dark chuckle spills from his chest as Kiri calls on his own quirk.

Now it was your turn to be distracted; you had always been fascinated by Kiri’s quirk, the way his body looked when it hardened up.  The ripples of muscle still visible under the toughened skin.  The divots and ridges and how they mapped their way across his shoulders and chest and abdomen.  You knew how it felt to the touch in fake combat.  The Fatgum heroes all took pride in maintaining a healthy routine; sparring was a common workout that was previously done at a local public gym.  You wonder absently what it would feel like to touch him slow and at the moment.  When you could give extra attention with extra time. 

Kiri closes the space between the two of you at the moment your mind strays and you barely are able to teleport out of the way to avoid him crashing into you.  You try to take a swipe at him as you materialize from in front of him to behind but this time he’s ready for you and he’s using his quirk.  Instead of moving out of the way, he plants his feet and allows your punch to hit.  Pain radiates up through your fingers and wrist.  It always irritated you that you had to prepare yourself to strike Kiri when he was using his quirk.  Otherwise, you’d be in for a whole lot of hurt every time you landed a punch.

Teleportation is a pretty handy quirk.  It gives you a pretty good advantage the more you work on your close combat skills.  The trick with Kiri was to keep going at him until he ran out of energy.  You hadn’t gotten to that point yet; your quirk had its limits as well.  You were only two years out of UA, Kiri was out by seven.  His strength was already fairly unmatched; sparring with him was always good practice.  You relish the thought of the day you can win a sparring session without tapping out.  It surges through you like pure energy.  

You teleport to stand in front of him again, shifting your weight into your hips and up through your right hook.  This time your fist connects with Kiri’s side and he lets out a small grunt.  Your fingers don’t hurt so bad this time and by the time Kiri is retaliating, you jump back a few feet.  He hmms, a sound that reverberates from his chest.

“That’s all well and good but how do you expect to do anything if you jump that far away?”  He lunges forward at a running start, leaping at the last second, sending his gloved fist into your stomach.  You were fast, but still not always fast enough.  You double over, the air rushing from your lungs and your pre-workout protein smoothie threatening to exit back the way it went in.  Sweat is already beading on your brow and sliding under your tank top.  You take a few breaths through your nose when an idea pops into your head; you stay bent over.  “Hey, I didn’t hit you that hard.  You good?”  

Kiri comes to stand in front of you, leaving him vulnerable.  He can’t see your smirk until it’s too late.  You wail on him, using some of the basic combos he’s taught you before today.  Satisfaction rolls through you when he actually takes a step back.  But then he puts his arms up in front of him, clenching his abdomen and bending inward to protect his core.  He drops just a fraction and before you realize what’s happening, he’s swiping his leg out to push through yours.  You watch in slow motion as you see his laughing face then the ceiling of the gym as you flip and land on your back.

If you thought you were out of breath before…  “Fuuu-.”  It’s a wheeze that feels like it’s ripping your chest open.  You’re seeing stars.  Kiri stands over you, hands on his hips again.  You stare at his face; the hero has his hair pulled back into a bun.  You snort, rolling your eyes.  Why does he still look so fucking good?  The sweat has caused some of the pieces falling out of his hair tie to curl.  His hair has curl to it?  You’ve never noticed before, considering he always gels it into spikes.  You like the curl.  “Are you--are you gonna help me up, or what?”  It was still painful to talk.

Kiri tilts his head to the side, just slightly, and crosses his arms.  “I’m thinking not.  Last time I let down my guard you got those good combos in.”  You stare in stunned silence, sitting up so you’re supported by your elbows.  Kiri shifts slightly and if you didn’t know better, you’d say he’s backing up to… get a better view.   

“Is that any way to treat your student,  Red Riot?”  You know you get under his skin when he clicks his tongue against his teeth and holds out a hand with a begrudging eye roll.  He pulls you up with ease, quickly enough that you almost lose your balance, swaying into his space.  You look up, eyes moving back and forth between his.  

He draws in a breath and drags his bottom lip between his teeth.  “First of all,” he says as he places his hands on your upper arms, “I’m not your teacher.  I’m not that much older than you.  Secondly,” he mutters as he tucks a stray lock of hair behind your ear, “our relationship isn’t that formal is it?”  He’s so fucking close.  This is getting dangerous.  Dangerous because Kiri is within kissing distance.  Dangerous because this gentle side of him is making you lose more breath than falling on your ass.  Dangerous because the thought of Kiri taking you on the floor right now is almost too much to bear.  

So you fall back on what you’re here to do.  Fight.  You flash him a wicked smile before rallying your quirk and teleporting a few feet away.  His hand is still raised in mid-air and when his head whips to look in your direction, his crimson eyes are narrowed and his nostrils are flared.  He laughs and rolls his neck, dancing on his toes.

“Okay.  I see.  I’m not gonna go easy on you, you know?”  You snort and put your fists up in front of you again.

“As if you were going easy on me before, Kiri.  Bring it on.”  He smiles, the sharp points of his teeth enough to make your thoughts swerve again before you bring them under control.  “Bring it on,” you whisper more to yourself as you brace for the fight.

Two hours later, you feel the strain in your muscles.  Your quirk is running low on reserves and you know you won’t be able to use it much more.  Kiri looks like he hasn’t wasted a breath but you can see he’s getting tired in the way his feet don’t move as sharply.  And if the length of time he’s using his quirk is any indication to his state of mind, you know the two of you will be calling it a day soon.  But you’re also both stubborn.  And you’re dying to get one more good move in on him.

The cockiness the two of you had at the beginning of the sparring session hasn’t gone away but has burned hot into determination.  No more smiles, only clear-headed concentration.  The two of you are an arm's length from each other, throwing various punches and switching quickly between using your quirks and not.  You’re breathing hard, sweat gathering at your brow as you throw another right hook that Kiri easily blocks.

“Get out of your head.  You can be too predictable sometimes.”  He doesn’t mean for it to come across as rude but the words strike a match to a guttering fire.  You bare your own teeth at Kiri even though they aren’t sharp and probably don’t look nearly as threatening but it helps you feel powerful nonetheless.  You drop without a second thought, lowering to your palms and sweeping your leg out in front of you in a wide arc.  A grin spreads across your face when your calf meets Kiri’s ankle.  He’s too physically dense for this move to work if he had seen it coming.  But he doesn’t.  And his solid 220 pounds of muscle falls hard.  

You allow yourself the satisfaction of the moment for only a split second; Kiri’s recovery time is much shorter than yours so it isn’t long before he’s scrambling forward.  He goes straight for your wrists to subdue you but with a smirk, you realize in his haste he’s put himself in the perfect position for you to possibly gain the upper hand.  You scoot up away from him just enough to drag his arm forward and swing your legs around his neck.  Then you elevate your hips and lock your core.

It’s over from there as you squeeze with every last ounce of strength left in your body.  It doesn’t take long for him to tap out.  You release as soon as you feel his loose hand tap your arm; he collapses over you and you’re too tired to move away or push him off.  Now his breathing is rough and you feel a surge of pride.  You reach up and place your hand on his head where his bun has come undone; he’s so heavy but it doesn’t feel bad.  In fact, the feel of Kirishima resting his head and upper chest on your stomach is feeling nothing short of good .  He’s still between your legs and suddenly the air is crackling with a new kind of energy when you gently comb your fingers through his hair.

He rises up, his hands on either side of you.  His hips rest between your legs; the mingled heat radiating from both of you is almost more than you can take but there is no way you’re going to move anywhere.  He leans forward, so close you can see the flecks of burnt orange in his eyes.  If you moved forward just a little, you could close that space between you.  He leans down more, his mouth right next to the shell of your ear.

“Maybe not always predictable.  You did good today.  Probably some of the best fighting I’ve seen from you so far.  Keep it up.”  He grunts, a shift of his hips allowing the curve of his cock to brush against your clothed sex through his gym shorts.  He stiffens in what you think might be embarrassment.  “Shit, sorry, let me just, uh--”  The stuttering mess he becomes right before your eyes makes something lurch in your chest; you reach for his face without thinking.

“Kiri,” you whisper, rolling your own hips against his.  His cheeks are burning a shade of red almost as vibrant as his hair.  You bring up your other hand, holding his face between them and bringing him down to settle over you once more.  Your lips meet his; he seems to war with himself for just a moment.  A suspended second in time.  But then he gives in, slipping his tongue against yours in a delicious sliding vision of what’s coming.

He reaches between you to slip his hand under your tank top; his hand is big and nearly encompasses your side.  But it’s warm and gentle.  Gentle.  Who would have guessed that Red Riot could be so fucking gentle?  But he is and when his hand moves lower to slide below the hem of your shorts, you give yourself to him with no reservations.  His middle finger passes through the mess of your sex; a hissed breath rattles through his chest as your back arches on a ragged groan.

“ Shit.  You’re so wet .”  He slides his finger back and forth, gathering your slick on the thick digit.  He takes his hand away and you mewl.  “Can I?”  He asks breathlessly as he hooks his hands on the hem of your shorts.  You nod, eyes half-lidded.  He pulls them down along with your underwear and the way he looks at you, at what’s between your legs, you don’t even have the wherewithal to feel self-conscious.  Adoration.  It’s the only word you can think of and it makes you wonder if you’d made a mistake waiting so long.

He’s on his knees when he takes your legs and drapes them on either side of his hips; this time he doesn’t hesitate in slipping his finger into your cunt.  You nearly see stars just from that and if one finger is any indication, you’re in for it.  Slowly, he adds another, his hand pumping into you in a steady rhythm.  You’re grabbing for the ground, grabbing for him as a strangled noise pushes from your throat.  He reaches out with his other hand to splay it across your sternum and it’s the only thing anchoring you as he adds the third finger before scooting down to put his mouth on your clit.

“ Kiri,” you keen, shoving your hips into his touch, frantically scrabbling for his wrist that’s on your chest just to have something to hold on to.  He’s done this before, he’s had to.  He’s too good.  Too fucking good.  Already there’s coiling in your gut as incomprehensible words tumble from your mouth.  “Shit.  Shit.  Kiri I’m--I’m gonna--”  He rumbles approvingly against your clit; the vibrations send you closer and closer to the edge and when it crests, your back arches near pain as you cry out, your voice echoing in the gym.  It’s deep, roaring through all of your limbs but  Kiri keeps going, fingers still pumping, tongue still swirling around your sensitive nub.

Another orgasm breaks over you sharp and quick and the overstimulation has your legs quaking as your arousal gushes over Kiri’s hand and tongue.  But then he’s moving again, and you’re blearily aware that he’s shoving his own shorts and boxers past his hips to free his cock.  You stare as it bounces back to sit near the planes of his stomach; it’s already leaking steadily with precum.  Kiri looks back at you and when your eyes meet, you dart your tongue out between your lips to wet them.  Another time, maybe.  

Kiri leans forward to lift you up and the closer you get you can barely see any red in his eyes; his pupils are blown, his nostrils flared as he lifts you like you weigh nothing .  He could snap you like a twig.  But he won’t.  You know without a doubt this is the safest you’ve ever felt, even as he lowers you slowly over his cock and it does feel like you’re being split .

“ Fuuuck…”  You wrap your legs around him, your mouth dropped open, your hands gripping his shoulders.  You try not to dig your nails in but it’s almost impossible with how you’re being filled.  You knew Kiri was big but this was almost too much.  His forehead drops to yours as he pants.  But he’s not moving, won’t move until you tell him to.  It makes your heart ache and your cunt floods, drunk on the affection thrumming through your veins.  You roll your hips experimentally and the friction is bliss.  “Oh fuck, ohfuck.”  You move again, pushing yourself up and back down, listening to the hitch in his breathing.  “ Kiri, please, ” you whisper.  Those words… they’re enough.

Kirishima grips you by the hips, his fingers splayed and digging into the flesh; it’ll leave bruises and the knowledge cracks through you like electricity.  Let him leave marks.  Let him leave them everywhere.  He’s moving you up and down his cock, grunting, mumbling.  “Tell me, Kiri, tell me.”  His eyes meet yours again and his own mouth drops open.

“Fuck, you’re so good.  S’ tight.  Jesus, I-- ” Kiri moves his hands from your hips to support you as he lays you down on the floor of the gym.  The idea should be questionable but it’s not, it’s fucking not and you can’t concentrate on any other thoughts when Kiri grabs your wrists and pins them gently above your head with one hand while the other comes back to your hip.  He thrusts into you at a brutal pace but… it feels like home and you think in that moment as your cunt begins to seize around his cock that you would give up forever to continue touching him.

“Yes, Kiri, yes.  Right there, right--shit yesyes yes. ”  He pistons up, the veins of his cock rubbing just right and when he releases the grip on your hands, they’re moving to wrap around him on instinct.  He’s planting kisses along your jaw, mouthing up to your lips and back down to graze his teeth over your pulse point.  “Do it, fuckin’ do it, let them know ‘m yours, ” you slur and when he bites down you crash over the edge on a groan that’s really more of a scream.  Everything goes black but you're cradling him to you as his movements become more erratic.  The snapping of his hips is getting sloppier by the second and a steady growl punches from his lungs with each breath.  “Cum, Kirishima, cum inside me.”

He’s never heard those words before and it lights a fire in his veins.  His head is buzzing and then he can’t hear anything as his cock releases and he’s spurting searing hot ropes of cum into your cunt.  He goes until you’ve milked every last drop from him and he’d be lying if he said his world didn't suddenly feel whole.  Finally, his body settles and his chest drops to yours.  Everything slowly bleeds back into focus and somehow, everything seems more colorful than it did moments before.  You’re still clinging to him.

“Kiri.  Kiri, babe, I can’t breathe,” you say and he slowly rises, taking in your blissed-out expression.  Your eyes can barely stay open, your cheeks are flushed.  He backs up to see his handiwork on display, hyper-focused on the trail of the mingling cum dripping from the mess of your sex.  But you’re smiling.  Lazy and tired, completely at ease.  “Wanna take a shower?”  When you nod he doesn’t hesitate in standing to kick his underwear and shorts the rest of the way off his legs and then he’s grabbing you, scooping you into his arms and against his chest.  He pads out of the gym and across the hall to his bathroom where he deposits you on your feet, only after he’s sure you can stand and only long enough to turn the shower head-on.

He puts his hand under the water, waiting for it to get warm.  Steam billows from behind the glass door when he’s turning back to you to remove your tank top and your sports bra.  Thank god you chose the front-closure one today; you didn’t think either one of you wanted to struggle to get one up over your head right now.  When your breasts spill out of the high-impact fabric, you notice with tender amusement that his cock is half-hard again.  His eyes go dark again and he leans in for a kiss.  But it's slow and sweet. 

"You're so fuckin' beautiful," he whispers.  He ignores his arousal, ushering you into the stream of water.  Your care is the only thing that matters to him right now.  The heat slides across your body, and when Kirishima steps up behind you and begins soaping up your shoulders, it feels like heaven .

You take turns washing each other until you’re both blissed out in a different kind of way and the only thing either one of you can think about is sleep.  But the afterglow is fading and doubt is creeping in.  When you step out of the water, you stand awkwardly as Kiri hands you a towel.  “You okay?”  He’s actually concerned and you can’t put your finger on why you’re so fucking grateful for it.

“Yea, just tired.  I should, uh, probably get going.”  Kiri freezes and you think you’ve said something wrong, already crossed a line.  Your brain is like a broken record as the stomach-curdling image of having to see him at the agency flashes across your eyes in vivid detail.  But then he’s stepping into your space and pulling you in for a hug.  A hug.

“Don’t go,” he whispers into the crown of your head and it has you smiling like an idiot against his chest.  His skin smells clean and warm with a hint of spice.  You bury your face further in as you nod against him.  Then he’s leading you to his room, to the king-sized bed.  He peels back the comforter and the white sheets and pulls you in beside him.  Your back is against him and he hooks his foot around your ankles, bringing you even closer.  

He doesn’t say anything more, just lets out a huge sigh as he wraps his arm around you.  The last thing you notice before your eyes flutter shut is how your heartbeats are thumping at the same steady rhythm.  

Late afternoon sunlight slants in Kirishima’s bedroom window, creating interesting patterns across his blanket.  It’s pushed towards the end of the bed, your legs intertwined and tangled in the sheets.  He’s still dozing, his breathing not quite that of someone sleeping but not of a person fully awake.  You reach out to cup his cheek, stroke above his eyebrows, caress his lips with your thumb.  A contented sigh leaves his chest as he grabs your hand and kisses your wrist.  His eyes are open now and he watches you.  You smile at him, snuggling closer, not wanting the moment to end.

“Hey,” he says quietly, suddenly serious.  “I just want you to know, I don’t do this all the time.  I mean, I’ve been with other people before but I don’t…  I don’t really hook up .”  Things start clicking into place as you realize what he’s trying to get across.  He just fucked you stupid in his personal gym and somehow he looks bashful.  And because you love it, you’re not going to help him along.  You just watch, biting your lip to keep from giggling.  “I just.  I guess what I’m trying to say is I like you.  I’ve liked you for a long time.  And normally I would have wined and dined you first but...  Well.  Here we are.  Would you like to stay for dinner?”

That’s the last straw; your laughter comes bubbling out of you and Kiri is leaning back to look at you with a quizzical expression on his face.  “Is something funny?”  That just makes you laugh a little harder but the confused look he’s wearing has you leaning in to press your lips against his.

“I’ve liked you from the first day I met you, Kiri.  I’ll one-up your offer and tell you that I might like to stay forever.”  A grin rips across his face and your heart blooms with warmth and affection.  The world seems full of possibilities but none of them matter except for the possibility laying right in front of you.

[natewriteslol]

Hey lol i hope i'm not bothering bug if that's okay could i request the first years + Grim {platonic only for the gremlin lol} (sorry i just love them they're all so precious🥺) with a MC who has demonic heritage? Like, when the mirror judged them he talked about them being stronger than the average human or something and they just shrugged went "ah yeah, it's because my grandparents are demons".

They're still human since they're the dominant genes but as i said previously they're stronger than an average person and have heightened senses. they're not as strong as a demon or a half-human half-demon but they're capable to defend themselves if needed.

Bonus if they actually get to meet their demon relatives and their relatives are super sweet to them. Sorry i just love the thought of a thousands of years old creature being soft for a kid 👉👈 gsksgs sorry that this is so specific gsksgsk

A/N: There’s nothing wrong with specific asks bby I love this prompt! I will be making a part two where the first years meet the grandparents :)

Y/N is gender neutral

Characters: Ace Trappola, Deuce Spade, Epel Felmeir, Jack Howl, Sebek Zigvolt, Grim (platonic ofc)

Ace:

-You both had to study for an upcoming test for Magical History

-Ace texting you, and I quote “PLZ HELP”

-With a ridiculously, large textbook with leather fastening laid out on the table and other resources you began your session

-”Okay, I understand every section of this book. But the last one is about demons, but I really don’t understand it. It’s in this forgien text and I can’t read any of it.”

-You turned to look at the page, looking it over, you understood it perfectly

-”It’s discussing magic potion compounds demons use. It’s nothing that we really need to study in depth.”

-Ace looked at you like you grew another head, “How could you understand any of that, Y/N!?”

-”Well, my grandparents are demons after all.”

-”Y/N, what the fuck.”

-You can’t just drop a bombshell like that?? So casually??

- Ace had been crushing on you forever, and just now you’re confessing this to him??

-I mean he knew that you were incredibly strong, but he just thought that was how humans from this place you call Earth come from

-He was so shocked and in a state of disbelief that he just had to meet your grandparents

Deuce:

-There had been rumors of a dark evil from within the forest, something otherworldly

-”Hey Deuce, wanna go check out of what's in the forest?” you asked, bored on this Friday night

-”W-what?! Are you crazy? I’m not going with you and you shouldn’t either-”

-And there he was, by your side roaming through the dark forest with a flashlight

-Hearing the coos and caws of different creatures lurking within

-”Ah new humans to devour, my favorite!” a new voice exclaimed.

-And while Deuce screamed, he got infront of you to protect you “Y/N get behind me now!”

-”Y/N?

-You recognized that voice. “Eren?”

-”Oh, well this is awkward-”

-”Now what did your mother tell you about terrorizing the innocent?” you asked, gripping the shadow beast’s...ear?

-”Now you best go home, otherwise I’ll tell Aunt Acheron!”

-Deuce was in a state of shock, mouth gaping open at your exchange

-”Sorry, that was my cousin Eren” you said sheepishly.

-”What do you mean cousin?” Deuce asked, not believing what was coming out of your mouth

-”Well my grandparents are demons. Almost my entire family is!”

-You were just… full of surprises aren’t you Y/N…

Epel:

-Pomefiore was hosting a “Party for the Ages” as Vil called it

-And they needed to get these decorations on point, so Epel called Y/N to help aid them

-They needed to hand the streamers from the upper handrail of the stairs, which keep in mind is a completely second story

-”Hey Y/N, could you please hang these up there?” Epel asked, handing you the streamers

-”Oh okay cool” you replied. Wait why are you running- oh my god you jumped to the second story of the dorm

-”Y/N!” Epel yelled out.

-”Yeah?”

-”What did you just do?!”

-That was superhuman strength, no human being could jump from the ground to the second story of a house, let alone a mansion like building?

-Once you both finished decorating you told him about your heritage with demons

-” I-I see”

-He understands but he is still in shock

Jack:

-He always knew that there was something strange about you

-Your abilities were flat out inhuman and your smell was different

-But he just couldn’t figure it out

-Until one day, he just had to ask

-You decided to help the organize the Rugby field with him in the afternoon

-”Hey, Jack! Catch!” you said, about 80 feet away from him

-And there you threw, except you didn’t quite aim it right

-And...the ball went right out of the vicinity

-the display looking like a comet as it blistered with so much heat it turned a bright orange-fiery hue

-Jack gasped at what just happened

-”Y/N, what even are you?” he asked, still bewildered

-”Well, a quarter demon. I’m not as strong as my grandparents though” you smiled.

-Jack loves you dearly Y/N, but god did you confuse him

Sebek:

-Ah, Sebek he really did try to keep his feelings for you at bay

-I mean, him with a human? Pathetic, it could never happen

-But everyone did see how he treated you more gently than others he had distaste for

-When he realized your true power and when you told him about your family was when you challenged to spar him

-Sebek decided to just go easy on you and throw out a couple of magical beams or whatever to help your skills in combat-

-Wait you’re beating his ass hold on-

-Even though Sebek won, the fae started his own little fit

-”What was that?! T-That isn’t like weak humans at all!”

-”Well, technically I’m not human since my grandparents are demons.”

-You grabbed your towel since you started to sweat

-”Well I’m going home, nice sparring match, Sebek! You did super good!” you complimented, giving a soft pat to his forehead with the back of your palm

-If he struggled this much fighting someone who only has a ¼ or ½ human DNA (he doesn’t know your parent’s DNA after all) then how powerful is a fullbread demon?

-The man has so many questions that he will bother you about

Grim (platonic):

-He knew during the first few months of school when you both had ghosts in your dorm

-And while you didn’t mind, there were a few in particular that seriously got on your nerves

-Those ghosts had to go

-One day they just wouldn’t stop messing with Grim

-And while he is a slight menace to society, Grim didn’t deserve it

-So you decided to take out your Amina Box (Soul Box), or your Soul Snatcher as you liked to call it that your grandmother had gifted to you

-Once you opened it, in the ghosts went inside vacuum like

-Grim was so weirded out

-”They were bullying me the whole time and you didn’t bother to stop them?! And where did you even get a box like that, stupid human?”

-”First of all, it was a little funny. Second off, I’m not really a human, after all my grandparents were demons.”

-Grim stayed in silence, connecting the dots until the light bulb went off and he got a little jealous

- “How come all the cool stuff happens to you?” Grim said, pouting.

-”Don’t worry, Grim. If ‘cool stuff’ happens, I’ll be sure to take you with me. I promise.”

[cdroloisms]

I have seen a few fanfics with this premise, so now I wanna see your hands drabble with it. AU where everything is the same except nobody knows that Dream is actually the youngest member of the SMP at 14-15 years old. Bonus points, revived Wilbur figures it out and makes some plans for how to use this knowledge to his advantage.

ooh yeah !! this au is one of my favorites - it’s a really interesting examination on the mindset of different characters in the server, plus just fun for just Angst Purposes. this is a little messy but i hope you like it! 

tw: abuse, torture mentions, broken bones, branding mentions, trauma, emotional distress, unhealthy relationship, unhealthy coping mechanisms, smoking, mental illness, panic attack, mentioned death, dark portrayals of ,, most of the server, prison arc/pandora’s vault 

“Hey. Thought I’d find you here.”

Wilbur turns at the familiar voice at his back, smiling.

“Dream,” he pulls him in to clap him on the back, ignoring the other’s full-body flinch at his movements. “How’ve you been, man?”

“Don’t pull that bullshit on me,” Dream’s words are biting, but he smiles as he says them - a small, bitter thing that stretches over his scarred skin. His new mask is pulled to the side of his face, exposing the dark bags beneath his grey-green eyes, the varied scars that fall over the bridge of his nose and under his jaw to trace down his neck below his collar. Wilbur watches him as he walks forward to stand by his side with a small spark of fascination, enhanced further when Dream’s eyes narrow at him. “What are you staring at?”

“Nothing- nothing,” Wilbur laughs. “They just really did quite a number on you, huh?”

Dream stiffens, then rolls his eyes. “Well, he did have seventy four days, or so I’ve been told,” he quips back, words dry. “Not that there was any keeping track in that hellhole.”

“Speak for yourself,” Wilbur smiles tightly, amusement coloring his words as the other scowls. “I kep track of my thirteen years quite well.”

“Whatever you say, old man,” Dream huffs. “You have a cigarette?”

“I almost feel bad, y’know. You’re kind of underage, man,” Wilbur feels his smile widen when Dream glares up at him, eyes glinting dangerously from behind his eyelashes. “I don’t know if I should.”

“I was younger when you gave me one the first time,” Dream retorts immediately, not bothering to hide his annoyance, sharp-edged and acidic. “And even younger when you drafted child soldiers to fight in a war for your own glory. Don’t make me laugh.”

“Ouch, really know how to hit a man where it hurts, don’t you?” Wilbur mimes pressing a hand to his heart like he’s been shot with one hand, the other fishing through his jacket pocket for his pack. Dream rolls his eyes again, but stretches a hand out for him to press a cigarette and a lighter in his palm.

“Learned from the best,” Dream drawls, going quiet as he focuses on holding the end in the flame and then pulling the lit cigarette to his lips. He chokes, as he always does, on the first drag, sputtering slightly as the smoke seizes in his chest like a puzzle piece that doesn’t quite fit, and Wilbur watches the little flickering light at the end of the stick in his hand as he struggles to catch his breath.

“Surprised I can stand the sight of these things,” Dream says suddenly, quietly, as Wilbur pulls out one of his own to light. He looks up, meeting Wilbur’s quizzical look with a faraway one of his own. “Quackity was a fan of making me his personal ashtray.”

He reaches up towards his collar, pulling it away slightly to reveal a collection of puckered circular burn scars that dot the skin of his shoulder to trace to the edge of his collarbone. Wilbur hums in vague sympathy and acknowledgement, breathing in a drag of his cigarette slow and smooth and feeling the smoke fill his lungs.

“Guess it didn’t make the cut of torture methods bad enough to become a trigger,” he laughs, sharp, the bitter punctuation of a joke he’d realized would fall flat halfway through speaking and fidgets awkwardly with the cigarette in his hand as he looks off into the distance. “I should make a tierlist. It could be...useful.”

The words are empty - Dream wouldn’t be able to stomach torturing anyone and they both know it; Wilbur cocks his head to the side curiously, deciding to press the point anyway.

“Useful?” He takes a deliberately heavy drag, blowing the smoke out slowly from his lips and watching as Dream flinches away from it. “How so?”

Dream keeps looking stubbornly away, the only indication he’s heard at all being the way his lips press tighter together. Wilbur laughs softly.

“You mean with Big Q, don’t you?” Dream’s hand, which never seemed to stop trembling since he’d left Pandora, starts shaking harder, the smoke rising from the cigarette clutched tightly between his fingers making a jagged pattern in the air. “I won’t judge man! He tortured you for- what, 72 days?”

“74,” Dream’s shoulders rise to his ears, his head pitching forward as his arms wrap around his torso in a futile attempt to hold himself, “74 fucking days, and no one gave a single shit.”

Wilbur hums, encouraging, trying to tamp down his curiosity from making itself too obvious in his voice. Dream had been closed off for as long as Wilbur had known him, his walls only rising more after they’d pulled him out, half-starved, half-dead from the depths of the prison, newly revealed face startling young even deprived of the baby fat that would’ve otherwise lingered in its corners. For the other man to actually say something, to give more clues into his head than his usual one-word answers and bitter sarcasm - Wilbur settles in place, raising his cigarette to his lips once again. This will be interesting.

“I just-” Dream’s voice cracks, and he goes quiet, looking down at the cigarette in his hands like it’ll give him the answers he’s looking for. “I don’t understand. They’re all perfectly fine with throwing me in there and leaving me to rot, with letting Quackity come in every single day to make my life hell, but all of a sudden because I’m fifteen that changes? Because I’m a “child”? Because that makes them feel guilty?”

His grip tightens on his arm, breath seizing in his throat. “It doesn’t change a damn thing and they all know it. All of them were perfectly fine with watching me die, with sticking me in that hell, with letting Quackity- fucking-” his free hand reaches for the long tangles of his hair, the sandy locks peeking out from between his fingers, “He did- everything he could fucking think of, carved words on my goddamn back, broke every fucking bone in my body just because he could, branded his fucking NAME on me I-” he squeezes his eyes shut. “I screamed for them every single day. All seventy-fucking-four and I was still calling their names and-” Wilbur reaches towards him, watches as his head snaps away once again. “It didn’t fucking matter.”

“Dream-”

“None of it mattered. All that matters is that I’m a fucking child, that I’m fifteen fucking years old. Not that they stood by while I died twice with no means of defending myself! Not that they threw me in a fucking torture chamber! All that matters is how old I am and I fucking hate them!” He shouts, voice breaking and dissolving into a choked sob, and Wilbur watches quietly as Dream swallowed back his cries, shoulders shaking silently. “I- I hate them. All of them. At least Quackity still treats me like normal- the rest of them just look at me with this- this stupid pity, I don’t need their pity, I don’t need anything from them, not anymore-”

“Dream. Look at me.” Dream’s head snaps over, fear flashing in the backs of his eyes before it disappears as fast as it came. Wilbur ignores it, shucking off his jacket and draping it carefully over the other’s shoulders. “They’re hypocrites, I know. That’s why we’re doing this, yeah? We’re blowing it all up to kingdom come. You know how it goes.”

Dream meets his eyes, a storm warring briefly over his face before he looks down. “It was never meant to be,” he says, sounding tired, sounding resigned, and Wilbur smiles darkly at the self-same bitterness that shadows the words, recognizing the ashy taste from when they had coated his own tongue.

“Atta boy,” he says, grip firm on the other’s shoulder. “See you tomorrow. You can keep the coat for tonight; it’s getting cold.”

“Thank you,” Dream murmurs, quiet, and they both know it’s about more than just the jacket. “See you tomorrow.”

[ultraericthered]

Final Fantasy VII - English Dub VAs

Exactly the kind of post it sounds like.

Cloud Strife: 

Steve Burton (pre-Remake content) - Iconic original English dub voice for Cloud. His record is a mixed bag. In the first Kingdom Hearts, about half of Advent Children, almost half of Dissidia,Crisis Core, KH 2.5 Re:Coded, Final Fantasy Explorers, World of Final Fantasy, and Dissidia NT, he does really well. In Kingdom Hearts II, the rest of Advent Children and Dissidia, Dirge of Cerberus, and Dissidia 012, however, he kind of sucked and sounded lifeless.

Cody Christian (Remake continuity) - Hard to believe this isn’t just Steve Burton under a different name! He matches Steve’s voice perfectly and his performance is up there with Steve’s best work.

Justin Briner (Machinabridged Series) - Justin voiced his version of Cloud like Deku well before he actually voiced Deku! It’s normally not the sort of voice you’d imagine Cloud to have in the actual story, but when he gets to play serious and dramatic, he totally fucking kills it. 

FANCAST OPTION - Mark Hildreth. While nowadays I doubt he’s gonna get any work due to having been in a horrible cult, knowing exactly what they were doing but keeping silence about it for years and all that, back in the day he would’ve been my go-to voice for Cloud. Just listen to him voicing Heero Yuy, Terry Bogard, and Angel.

And my favorite one is.... Cody Christian! He’s got everything in the quality of his voice that Steve Burton and Mark Hildreth have got, but like Justin Briner he gets to act out a complete character arc for Cloud, even in just his first game! Definitely glad he’s in the role.

Barrett Wallace:

Beau Billingslea (pre-Remake content) - Back in the day, there was really no other black VA in the industry that could’ve fit this role better than him. He’s deep, gruff, rowdy, and delviers his material perfectly. John Eric Bentley (Remake continuity) - When I heard him in the trailers doing this straight up Mr. T-sounding voice, I wasn’t sure I liked it much. But then we all heard his full performance and....yeah, he knocks it out of the park. Really gives Barret a lot of depth.

Anthony Sardinha (Machinabridged Series) - For the most part, he does a very goofy sounding macho doofus voice for Barret, but for this version of Barret that works perfectly and has a lot of charm to it.

And my favorite one is....Beau Billingslea! Definitely no offense to John Eric Bentley, but Beau’s voice was exactly what I imagined Barret to sound like when playing the game, so I’ve got a bias here.

Tifa Lockhart:

Rachael Leigh Cook (pre-Remake content) - Everything about her voice sounds perfectly fitting for Tifa and she nailed it every time she voiced the role, even in lesser showings like Kingdom Hearts II.

Britt Baron (Remake continuity) - So to play off of Cody Christian’s Cloud, they found someone who sounds almost exactly like Rachael Leigh Cook! This is just getting freaky now...

Sarah Anne Williams (Machinabridged Series) - Makes a full journey from this Tifa’s more toxic, vulgar, self-destructive personality to her hidden depths and vulnerability as she develops into a better person more true to the original canon, and she pulls it off flawlessly!

And my favorite one is.....I can’t really choose. They’re all too good!

Aeirth Gainsborough:

Mandy Moore, Mena Suvari, and Andrea Bowen (pre-Remake content) - Wow. Three different actresses in this one role and none of them get it down pat. Mandy could barely voice act when she did this role in Kingdom Hearts, Mena did a dull sweet-sounding voice that could be even more lifeless than Steve Burton’s Cloud ever was, and while Andrea worked well for the younger Aerith in Crisis Core, I can never fully buy her as the 22 year old Aerith in anything else.

Briana White (Remake continuity) - Thank Youtube for this person and her getting cast as Aerith in Remake! They finally got it right!

Kira Buckland (Machinabridged Series) - A VA I can imagine could pull off an excellent canonical Aerith, but for this series she had to play up this ditzy, peppy, sweet and lovable Good Girl personality.

And my favorite one is....Briana White! Does this come as any surprise? She’s as ideal a match for Maaya Sakamoto we could get!

Nanaki/Red XIII: 

Liam O’ Brien (pre-Remake continuity) - One spoken line in Advent Children, but spoken in a voice from a VA that suits Nanaki so well.

Max Mittelman (Remake continuity) - Probably one of the best roles I’ve yet heard from this VA. He really delivers on the ambiguous age and the gruff, wisened warrior tone the character speaks in for when we get to know him at first. Rebirth steps it up a notch by having him drop the facade and start talking like the teenager he truly is, with the difference being startling and effective in how it alters perception.

Curtis Arnott (Machinabridged Series) - Undeniably entertaining to listen to, but this Homer Simpson-esque voice is the exact opposite of how you would expect canonical Nanaki to sound like!

FANCAST OPTION(S) - Dan Green. They had Mewtwo’s voice as Nanaki in Japanese Advent Children, so I don’t see why not go with a more literal English counterpart, and c’mon, the voice fits perfectly!

And my favorite one is....Max Mittelman! He’s just brilliant all around.

Cait Sith:

Greg Ellis (pre-Remake content) - British VA who decided to go with a Scottish accent for Cait, reflective of the character’s Celtic roots.

Paul Tinto (Remake continutiy) - Silly Scottish voice, again.

Nick Landis (Machinabridged Series) - Silly Scottish voice, again.

FANCAST OPTION - Tom Kenny. He wouldn’t even need to do an accent, just his typical cartoony voiceover would get the job done! Or, if you really have to go for Scottish, then David Fucking Tennant!

And my favorite one is....I can’t really choose. All of them work.

Cid Highwind:

Chris Edgerly (pre-Remake content) - Honestly, I did not like the way this voice sounded in Advent Children, Kingdom Hearts II, and Dirge of Cerberus. A Southern accent is fine, but not a full on drawl! But as of his recent reprisal in the Kingdom Hearts III DLC, he’s got it down.

J. Michael Tatum (Remake continuity) - He gets it down immediately.

Brien Olvera (Machinabridged Series) - Totally perfect and hilarious.

FANCAST OPTION(S) - Michael Sorich, Fred Tatasciore, or Jack Angel. Sorich is a natural for this sort of role, Tatasciore would’ve been ideal casting due to his voicework as the very similar looking Damon Baird, and Jack Angel actually voiced another Cid later on.

And my favorite one is....Fred Tatasciore! I’ve long held the belief that Chris Edgerly and Fred Tatasciore should’ve had their roles in Advent Children swapped, and I still stand by it and forever shall!

Yuffie Kisaragi:

Christy Carlson Romano and Mae Whitman (pre-Remake content) - Christy voiced the role in Kingdom Hearts and Advent Children while Mae voiced her in Kingdom Hearts II, Dirge of Cerberus, and the DLC postgame of Kingdom Hearts III. They sound pretty much 100% identical to each other...or at least they did. Mae Whitman’s KHIII reprisal sounded notably aged, more like Amity Blight than Yuffie.

Suzie Yeung (Remake continuity) - Sound exactly like how Christy and Mae used to! Holy shit, how does Square Enix find this talent?

Courtney Williams (Machinabridged Series) - She sounds a bit like Mabel Pines or Webby Vanderquack due to the hyperness being played up for this version of Yuffie, and she makes it work great,

And my favorite one is...Suzie Yeung! Out of all of them, she’s the only one who’s actually authentically Asian. Points just for that!

Vincent Valentine:

Steve Blum (pre-Remake content) - Steve does solemn and creepy voices like a pro, and he did great as Vincent in Advent Children. What happened to him in Dirge of Cerberus? He sounded so stiff!

Chris Tout (Machinabridged Series) - As expected, he plays up the melodrama of Vincent’s character for laughs, but in a cool voice!

Matthew Mercer (Remake continuity) - Matt is to the role of Vincent just as he is to Ganondorf; he’s as perfecft a fit as you’d hope for!

FANCAST OPTION(S) - Robin Atkin Downes or Christopher Bevins. Downes using his Baron Zemo voice, and Bevins his own amazingly spot on Steve Blum impression.

And my favorite one is....Robin Atkin Downes! Blum and Mercer are cool and all, but this is closest to what I hear in my head for Vincent, and it’s almost a bad joke that his is the last voice you hear in Vincent’s own game....as Genesis?!?

President Shinra:

James Horan (Remake continuity) - The tone of his voice is perfect, but the voice itself isn’t consistently solid. It sometimes sounds a bit like Jamieson Price, who voiced Reeve back in the older content!

Graham Stark (Machinabridged Series) - Good Southern accented president voice that fits the more legit affable Shinra of this series.

FANCAST OPTION(S) - The late Robert Ridgely or the still living Maurice LeMarche would’ve been ideal, as they could’ve delivered the Orson Welles impressions. Or for the Remake version, I wish they’d cast Richard Epcar in the  role, as he’d have matched the late Genzo Wakayama much more perfectly.

And my favorite one is....Robert Ridgely or Maurice LeMarche! Sorry, but I just can’t unhear him sounding like Charles Foster Kane!

Rufus Shinra:

Wally Wingert (pre-Remake content) - Perfect. Everything about it.

Josh Bowman (Remake continuity) - A bit deeper than I’d expect, but pretty solid acting for the small part he got in Remake. Getting to go further into the character with more material in Rebirth really helped him improve, so now he sounds almost as ideal as Wally Wingert.

Xander Mobus (Machinabridged Series) - If he wasn’t doing that Frank Underwood-style accent and goofy delivery, he’d actually be a perfect fit for canonical Rufus. That said, his Rufus is hilarious.

FANCAST OPTION(S) - Geoffery Arend would’ve been an even better casting for Remake Rufus. Given how much his Riddler sounds like Wally Wingert’s, he could’ve easily done the same here!

And my favorite one is....Wally Wingert! They’re all so good in the role, but this initial casting for Rufus was just striking casting gold!

Reno:

Quinton Flynn (pre-Remake content) - He was double-cast as Reno and Axel just like the late Keiji Fujiwara was, and he did perfectly.

Arnie Pantoja (Remake content) - It fits Reno. Just...not as well.

Curtis Arnott (Machinabridged Series) - Same as the above.

FANCAST OPTION - Roger Craig Smith. He took over for Quinton as Deidara in Naruto dub, so I wish he’d done the same with Reno.

And my favorite one is...Quinton Flynn! Got it memorized, yo?

Rude:

Crispin Freeman (pre-Remake content) - Not the role I’d expect Crispin to voice, but he did best he could with a deep, gravelly tone.

William C. Stephens (Remake continuity) - A black VA providing the voice for Rude just naturally fits better, as William demonstrates.

Marc Swint (Machinabridged Series) - And as Marc demonstrated!

FANCAST OPTION - Kevin Conroy. He’s a white guy too, but does anyone else hear an unintended Kevin Conroy impersonation in Crispin’s Rude? Was not able to unhear it after I noticed!

And my favorite one is...William C. Stephens! His Ving Rhames-esque voicework makes for easily the coolest sounding Rude!

Elena:

Bettina Bush (pre-Remake content) - A very nice, very well fitting casting choice for Elena. But she only got like two or three lines.

Piper Reese (Remake continuity) - No voice acting experience to her name, yet she put into her performance everything needed to pull off the ideal Elena and nail both her ferocious and comedic moments.

Morgan Berry (Machinabridged Series) - Cute and hilarious as usual.

FANCAST OPTION - Michelle Ruff. This role is tailor-made for her!

And my favorite one is...Michelle Ruff! See above.

Tseng:

Ryan Yu (pre-Remake content) - Yeah, I get that Tseng is meant to sound stiff and like a pro, but this was just WAY too monotone!

Vic Chao (Remake content) - Another Asian VA, only this one actually has an awesome sounding voice and great delivery!

Scott Ferichs (Machinabridged Series) - He does...an Alan Rickman impression? Even for a parody series, I’m not sure I get this one.

FANCAST OPTION - Eric Vale. When I look at Tseng, I hear Sakyo

And my favorite one is...Vic Chao! He does the all around best job!

Reeve Tuesti:

Jamieson Price (pre-Remake content) - It’s the same performance type as his Janyu Wong from Digimon Tamers. That’s ideal casting

Jon Root (Remake continuity) - Not as distinct as Jamieson Price obviously, but he does very well with what he’s given to work with.

Nick Landis (Machinabridged Series) - The one time Reeve and Cait Sith actually share a VA, and Nick’s versatility makes it work!

And my favorite one is...Jamieson Price! Can’t go wrong with him!

Heidegger:

John DiMaggio (Remake continuity) - John’s no stranger to voicing  Final Fantasy characters and he always does it so well. Heidegger is just the latest example of that. His voice and laugh are on point.

Ty Konzak (Machinabridged Series) - He delivers this snarly pirate-like voice that’s about what you’d expect of a parody Heidegger.

FANCAST OPTION - Charles Martinet. German accented Wario. It’s pretty self-explanatory.

And my favorite one is..Charles Martinet! Just listen to Wario’s laugh!

Scarlett: 

Erin Cotrieli (Remake continuity) - This is a solid fit for her voice, though she’s not done the “kya-ha-ha-ha-ha!” cackling thing so far.

Amber Lee Connors (Machinabridged Series) - Amber’s talent for voicing sultry femme fatale villains and also being really funny shine here, making her version of Scarlet a very enjoyable character.

FANCAST OPTION - Lani Minella. A super veteran VA (and original voice of Rouge the Bat), she’s just got the voice for it, y’know?

And my favorite one is...Amber Lee Connors! KYA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

Palmer:

William Salyers (Remake continuity) - Another stroke of casting genius. Palmer just plays to all of Salyers voice acting strengths.

Ben Creighton (Machinabridged Series) - Can’t really be sure that Palmer wouldn’t sound like this even if it wasn’t a parody series!

FANCAST OPTION - Jeff Nimoy, sounding like an aged Tentomon.

And my favorite one is...William Salyers! He embodies Palmer!

Professor Hojo:

Paul Eiding (pre-Remake content) - VERY outside-the-box voice casting, and maybe with better direction it coud’ve paid off. But what we got from Paul sure didn’t, being easily THE most ill-fitting original dub voice for a FFVII character. Sounds too feeble and annoying!

James Siei (Remake continuity) - Now THIS is more fucking like it! An actually Asian VA who not only delivers a bone-chillingly creepy performance, but who sounds eerily close in tone to Derek Stephen Prince as Vexen/Even from Kingdom Hearts, who shares a VA with Hojo in the original Japanese language (twice over, in fact!)

Edwyn Tiong (Machinabridged Series) - Another Asian VA who hams it up a lot more but can also be genuinely unsettling to listen to! He’d fit just as well as the psychopathic scientist in a non-parody work!

FANCAST OPTION(S) - Ezra Weisz, Dwight Schultz, Sam Witwer, Udo Kier, and naturally, Derek Stephen Prince.

And my favorite one is....James Siei! Paul Eiding’s was a misfire and with Edwyn Tiong and my Fancast picks they’re all in line with how I’d expect Hojo to sound. James “My Cabbages!” Siei being cast as Hojo and nailing him so hard was a total left field turn and one that puts me in his corner. He’s now the gold standard Hojo voice.

Sephiroth:

Lance Bass and George Newbern (pre-Remake content) - Lance Bass was a huge miscasting by Disney when they were getting star talent to voice FF characters and KH-original characters for the first Kingdom Hearts, and he sounds too youthful and not a thing like how Sephiroth would later sound. George Newbern, on the other hand...casting the dude known for Theodore Rex and Superman in the role of Sephiroth became the stuff of voice acting legend, as he blew all expectations out of the water. He’s THE iconic voice of Sephiroth.

Tyler Hoechlin (Remake continuity) - I get what they were doing, casting another Superman as Sephiroth...but Tyler is a Superman actor, not a Superman voice actor. As such he seems to put the work into making his voice sound sinister and Sephiroth-like while failing to convincingly act the material he has to say in that voice. However, in the first 45 seconds and the very last 45 seconds of this video, we can hear how damn good he’s capable of doing. That capability thankfully carries him through in Crisis Core Reunion and Rebirth, where he steps up his game and improves his voicework in the role, in some areas  even shining brighter than George Newbern!

Mike Varker (Machinabridged Series) - Totally obscure VA picked out by TeamFourStar to be their Sephiroth but holy shit, he fucking killed it! Just listen to this villainous monologue and try to NOT get chills!

FANCAST OPTION(S) - Sephiroth is a role that could be easy to cast but difficult to really nail. A handful of VAs I think could do it include:  Skip Stellrecht, Crispin Freeman, Paul Dobson, John Rafter Lee, Christian Bale, Michael C. Hall, Mark Whitten, and of course the Newbern Soundalike Supermen Tim Daly or James Denton.

And my favorite one is....a three-way tie between George Newbern, Mike Varker, and Skip Stellrecht.! All three are 100% godly fits!

Biggs:

Gideon Emery (Remake continuity) - A cool, smooth sounding Biggs.

Chris Niosi (Machinabridged Series) - He gets it down alright.

FANCAST OPTION - Michael Daingerfield. His voice fits well when voicing Biggs from Star Wars, and it’d fit just as well for this Biggs.

And my favorite one is....Gideon Emery! Guy’s got too much charm.

Wedge:

Matthew L. Jones (Remake continuity) - Sounds exactly how you’d expect Wedge to sound like.

Chris Zito (Machinabridged Series) - Same can be said of this one.

FANCAST OPTION - Tyler Labine. Same as both of the above.

And my favorite one is....I can’t really choose. All of them fit.

Jessie:

Erica Lindbeck (Remake continuity) - In her more mellow and mature moments she sounds just like Eli Ayase, but then in her cheeky, playful, flirty trolling moments she just goes full Kaori Miyazono. It’s as entertaining as it is kind of distracting.

Jesse Nowack (Machinabridged series) Ha ha. His name actually is Jesse! He did slur-voiced Jesse of this series as well as he could.

FANCAST OPTION - Grey DeLisle Griffin. For whatever reason, I always heard original canon Jessie sounding like Daphne Blake.

And my favorite one is...Erica Lindbeck! She just went SO HARD.

Marlene Wallace:

Grace Rolek and Ariel Winter (pre-Remake content) - They did fine.

Brielle Milla (Remake continuity) - She also does fine.

Corrine Sudberg (Machinabridged Series) - She did fine as well.

And my favorite one is....I can’t really choose. They all did fine!

Elmyra Gainsborough:

Julie Dolan (Remake continuity) - She played this part wonderfully.

Sandra Espinoza (Machinabridged Series) - Works good for the material she’s given, being both funny and painstakingly sincere.

FANCAST OPTION - Barbara Goodson. Back when she was younger in the late 90s, her voice would’ve really fit Elmyra.

And my favorite one is....I can’t really choose. They’re all so suitable.

Don Corneo:

Fred Tatasciore (Remake continuity) - He camps it up like crazy in this role but also can be threatening when need be, not to mention the horse winnying laugh he does. Much better FFVII role than Loz.

Josh Tomar (Machinabridged Series) - Perfect for the Don in every way, about exactly what I’d always been imagining him to sound like.

And my favorite one is....it’s a tie! They’re both perfect in this role!

Zack Fair:

Rick Gomez (pre-Remake content) - Zack’s expanded presence in this sub-franchise is strange for a lot of reasons, but if it’s to be, then he needs a likable enough voice to sell the character. Rick’s got it.

Caleb Pierce (Remake continuity) - Possibly even moreso than Tyler Hoechlin as Sephiroth following George Newbern, this is a huge trade down. I think Caleb could do well as young, up-and-coming Zack “the Puppy”, but his ability to pull off the tougher, more experienced Zack seems beyond him. He just cannot emote well.

Nathan Sharp (Machinabridged Series) - Perfectly cast, and did an ideal job at voicing Zack in the bit part he was originally meant to be.

And my favorite one is...Rick Gomez! Still the definitive Zack Fair!

[arotechno]

Jughead (2015), Issues 1-6: Discussion and Commentary

"I am like unto a god, Archie Andrews. Respect me as such."

Recently re-typed and ready to go, here is a broad discussion of the first volume of the Jughead reboot comic series. I was originally going to review each issue individually, but given that the first six comprise one story arc, I decided to do the whole volume in one go. That means this is a bit crunched for time and therefore not quite as in-depth as I wanted to go! But I encourage you to read the comics for yourself, if you are able.

This will not be spoiler-free, for the record! The images here are taken from my own copy using my phone, so they're not the best quality! But they also aren't especially crucial to this commentary, so you'll have to bear with me.

I just really like the inside cover art for this volume, alright (it's also the cover of issue 5)? I can't help it, I'm aro, I see heart imagery and something in my brain goes haywire.

When we first meet Jughead at the beginning of Volume 1, he comes off as lazy and apathetic, at least on the surface. After an all-nighter of playing video games, Jughead is dragged to school by Archie. There, they find that Betty has started a new campaign to save Fox Forest, a beloved local greenspace that is being threatened by Veronica’s wealthy father, Mr. Lodge. Jughead is… not very interested in Betty’s cause, to put it politely. It’s not that he doesn’t care about Fox Forest, but he does not believe that Mr. Lodge would be convinced to change his mind by a petition. He tells Betty as such, and she remarks that he lives a very hollow life.

“Man, you’re so cynical,” Archie tells him. “Is there anything you’d actually fight for?”

The answer is yes. What ultimately gets Jughead to fight for something? Food—well, kind of, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

When Archie and Jughead get to class, they learn that the principal of Riverdale High, Mr. Weatherbee, is being replaced out of the blue by a new guy called Stanger. Stanger is a stiff, serious type, and he immediately starts making changes: new uptight teachers, a strict dress code, new bootcamp-esque curriculum, and most importantly, supposedly nutritious slop to replace the food in the cafeteria.

This sends Jughead down a bit of a rebellious path—he’s not a rule-breaker, but he’s perfectly comfortable with bending the rules in his favor while narrowly skirting around getting into trouble. He starts selling burgers in the cafeteria, with the proceeds benefitting Betty’s fundraiser for Fox Forest.

(Hell yeah, Jughead, unionize that student body! Sell those burgers! You have nothing to lose but your chains!)

This stunt gets Jughead on Stanger’s bad side immediately, and a slowly simmering feud between them ultimately boils over when Stanger plants a knife in Jughead’s backpack to get him expelled. Thankfully, his dad is able to talk his sentence down to a week’s suspension, but that doesn’t stop his friends (and his mother) from worrying about him.

As an aside, I’d like to take a moment to appreciate Mr. Jones.

“Something’s off here and I’m not sure what it is, but I am sure Jughead didn’t bring a knife to school. My boy’s weird, but he’s not a criminal.”

I really like this line from him to Betty. He clearly knows his son and is willing to stand up for him, and it’s comforting to me, especially viewing the story through the lens of Jughead being aroace, that Mr. Jones is not at all bothered by his son being a bit on the strange side, as long as he’s still a good kid. Nothing but respect for Forsythe Jones II in this house.

Something fun and unique about this volume in particular is that in every issue, Jughead either falls asleep or passes out, and has an elaborate imaginative dream about the events of the story. In one he’s a pirate, for example, and in another he’s visited by a descendant of Archie’s from the future, who belongs to the time police. But towards the end of the volume, the line between these daydreams and reality seem to blur for Jughead. He comes to the conclusion in one particular nightmare that Stanger is trying to brainwash them all into becoming mindless agents for his evil organization—and then he realizes he may not be that far off from the truth.

Jughead brings this realization—that Stanger is using the school as a sort of training ground for secret agents—up to his friends, and understandably, they aren’t convinced. They worry that the compounded exhaustion of multiple all-nighters playing games and the stress of being suspended has started to get to Jughead, but he vows to prove it to them.

I mean, damn, Betty, that kind of hurts. (Don’t worry, Betty is actually a good friend, as I’m sure we’ll get into later in the series.)

To make a long story short (and to avoid spoiling the entire plot for those who haven’t read it!), Jughead does find proof, and once he does, his friends are immediately on board. They are ultimately able to save the day, and once it’s revealed that Stanger and the new teachers are ex-CIA trying to brainwash the students (no, seriously), Mr. Weatherbee is re-instated as principal and things return to normal.

I’m leaving out a lot of nuanced details, mostly for the sake of time, but there are a lot of surprisingly weighty moments to this first arc, and Zdarsky’s character writing is incredibly endearing and funny, while still hitting the serious moments when it needs to. There’s an interesting underlying commentary in this arc about military recruitment and U.S. propaganda; Stanger says that he specifically chose Riverdale because the students are so average. There’s something to be said here about the way the military industrial complex preys on average or underprivileged teenagers to convince them to serve when they feel they have no better path to take. It’s an almost funnily serious commentary for Zdarsky to make with a seemingly silly and off-beat comic series, and I respect him for that.

(If you recognize this panel, it’s because it appears on the page where Jughead’s asexuality is canonized. What a good page. So good that nobody ever points out this panel.)

By the end of Volume 1, we see that Jughead maybe isn’t as apathetic and careless as he seemed to be. Sure, he got up in arms about food of all things in the beginning, but it stopped being about food very quickly, once he realized that something truly messed up was going on. And it bothers him, deeply—at one point, the gravity of the situation begins to weigh on him so heavily that he nearly gives up entirely, convinced that there is nothing they can do and that they ought to just lie low until they make it out. But he does end up making things right, with the help of his friends, and in the end, he does decide to help Betty out after all. It’s the least he can do, really. You do get the impression that although Jughead’s friends often don’t take him seriously, they’ll always have his back when it counts—and he’ll do the same for them, even if he’ll insist on being a bit snarky about it.

(That slightly cynical attitude is still there, though, and truthfully, Jughead wouldn’t be the same without it.)

To close out, I am just going to share some of my favorite panels/quotes that didn’t fit elsewhere, including some choice Aro Moods. I hope this (admittedly brief) discussion of Volume 1 convinces you to read the comics, and to join me again when I cover the next arc. Until then, cheers to Chip and Erica.

Jughead’s attitude towards Archie’s romantic problems will never not be funny to me. He’s just like “RIP to you but I’m different.”

Kevin. :/ Kevin come on, man. Mr. Zdarsky, sir, this is character assassination. (Jughead’s face in the corner is a reasonable reaction.)

This one’s gone around so many times before (as have a bunch of other aro moments that I don’t think I need to bother re-posting here), but I just think it’s neat. Don’t worry, Betty lets go.

Aaand lastly, I just really like this line from Jughead. “The world is out of our hands, pal. You just gotta make your own weird way in it.” That we do, Jughead. That we do.

[thedawningofthehour]

Oh, I am furious about Jaime. Not that I thought there was going to be a 'happily ever after' with him and Brienne, but in one fell swoop they destroyed his entire character arc. The depth of his Kingslayer title, his journey to become a true knight and a better person.

(I also rambled a lot forgive me) (also spoilers for the books, but nothing too drastic considering they're still at season 5/6 point in time)

And fucking Cersei. CERSEI. I think there was only the one scene that references this, at the beginning of season...5? Where she meets with the witch who tells her her future. Which was a great scene-except they skipped the most important part. The part where she asks about her children, the witch tells her "gold shall be their crowns and gold shall be their shrouds. And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you." 'Valonqar' is High Valyrian for little brother, and this is part of what fuels Cersei's hatred for Tyrion. She's convinced that he will kill her. Part of her reasoning for wanting him killed after Joffrey's death was so it would disprove the rest of the prophecy, shielding her from being cast down by another queen and protecting her children. After all, her only other brother is Jaime, so her valonqar had to be Tyrion.

Yeah, Jaime being her valonqar is the most popular theory. Other theories, include Tommen, Sandor or Stannis, (the wording implies that it may not be her little brother) or even Arya Stark, since it's High Valyrian and we've already established that their word genders don't match up perfectly with Westerosi. It would still be very poetic to have Tyrion kill her as a self-fulfilling prophecy, considering Tyrion legitimately loved her and the rest of his family until they condemned him to death. But I think the evidence supports it being Jaime. It just being incredibly appropriate aside, both the twins state on multiple occasions that they believe their lives and deaths to be linked, that they will "die together as we were born together."

You wouldn't even have to change much, literally just that one scene. Other people have said that they thought that Jaime must have been lying during his out-of-character moments, telling Tyrion that he doesn't care for innocents and telling Brienne that he's just like Cersei-to set the stage for him leaving to kill her. He'd want them to believe he's regressed, both to keep them from suspecting what he's about to do and stopping him, and to soften the blow when he leaves. Brienne would mourn less if she thought he was just an asshole, right? She'd get over him and get on with her life. Return to Cersei, pretend to run back into her arms-and then wrap his hands around her neck. Fulfilling Cersei's prophecy and paralleling his slaying of Aerys, and save Westeros from another tyrant. And then get killed by Cleganebowl or the rest of Cersei's Queensguard or whatever, but we all knew he wasn't going to get to marry Brienne and live happily ever after on Tarth, raising extremely badass blond babies. As much as that would rule.

Like, Germ's deaths often feel random and harsh, but that fits the genre. It's what gives it it's vibe. And his deaths rarely feel unsatisfying. Robb Stark was cut down in the prime of his story, the Red Wedding feels chaotic and wrong, no one was happy with that ending but we were still satisfied. Nobody stared at the screen and went "...that's it?"

The actor who plays Bran legitimately thought he'd received a prank script when he got it. He thought they gave everyone a joke script where their character 'won' the game of thrones. While the way they did it was stupid, it is implied that Bran will be king by the end of the books. At least a king-he might become more of a spiritual king or whatever by becoming the Three-Eyed Crow and taking the place of...fuck, I'm forgetting his name now but the original Three-Eyed Crow is a Targaryen, so there's extra symbolism in that if he takes the 'throne' of another would-be king. Bran is one of the five characters Germ told D&D to keep alive until the finale, implying that he has plans for them-the others being Arya, Jon, Tyrion, and Dany. I can see Bran becoming King of the North or taking the Iron Throne, but more in a 'literally every other candidate is dead' way. I think Jon and Dany will die in the final battle-I mean, Jon is dead right now in the books, but it's been heavily implied that he'll live on in Ghost until he's resurrected. (oh yeah, that's another thing I don't think the show really mentioned? All of the Stark children are wargs and have special connections to their wolves-Bran is just the most adept at it. That's part of the reason I think Sansa will die, the death of Lady metaphorically marked her for death; she's been doomed ever since. Also there's a significant chance that Robb Stark died twice, once as himself and once in Grey Wind's body) Arya would never want to be queen of anything, and it's been made clear that Tyrion is meant to be the Hand, not the king.

I mean, who else is there? Stannis is still alive in the books, but Germ has confirmed that Shireen will be burned in the next book, ending his line. And I doubt Stannis will survive the book either. Cersei's children are all doomed. Robert's other bastards, you could make that argument but I doubt Westeros would accept another Baratheon ruler unless they were well-known and had a strong claim, and a bastard would not. If there's no Targaryen left to take the throne it would have to be either the Starks or the Tyrells, and a Tyrell win would be very anticlimactic. There's also the issue that Bran is impotent now. If he became king they would just be putting off another succession crisis, since he can't have heirs. If Sansa or Rickon survived he could name one of their kids, but still. That gets messy. (see the Dance of the Dragons, or everything with Maegor the Cruel)

I mean, it's been theorized that Jon and Dany will have a child together, the metaphorical union of ice and fire, and potentially it will end with Tyrion ruling as their child's regent. That would be how I'd end it. Sadly I don't think we'll ever know how it ends.

im back with a game of thrones update

after watching through a lot of the show very quickly i have two episodes left, which are the ive heard are absolutely terrible and are the reason my dad (who says season 1-4 are almost perfect television and a great adaptation) hates the show so much. my mom and i have been pointing out dumb things while watching (such as lady mormont being shown turning into a white walker, then being shown on a funeral pyre despite literally every white walker shattering??) but ive still heard that the dumbest and worst things are in these last two episodes.

as curious as i am to see the "terrible ending" ive heard so much about im not really looking forward to whatever these episodes have in store

I will admit that my memory of that episode is hazy due to traumatically blocking most of it out, but it was just the white walkers who shattered, right? White walkers are different from wights. White walkers are seemingly live people turned into whatever they are now, and presumably can still 'grow up' as it's shown that Craster's sons all become white walkers themselves. Wights are reanimated corpses-unintelligent, fragile, and decaying. Lyanna Mormont became a wight. And I think they all just collapsed at the end of it. So...that part at least was not a plot hole.

The dead/survived ratio in the Battle of the Long Night was just fucking ridiculous. Yes, it was crazy and random and tons of people died, but no one really important. Pretty much just everyone the writers didn't really have more material for and wanted to justify getting rid of. Jorah's unrequited love for Daenerys? Doesn't matter anymore! Theon? His redemption arc was over anyway! Ed Tollett being irrelevant now that Jon is a king and there are no POV characters in the Watch anymore? That's cool, he can just die! Beric Dondarrion-okay, I am STILL salty about what they did with him, he's already dead in the books but (and this is a spoiler but I'm trying to encourage you to read the books) he dies bring Catelyn Tully back to life, who then takes his place as Lady Stoneheart at the head of the Brotherhood Without Banners. Meanwhile fucking Sam survives. Don't get me wrong, I love Sam, but how he's portrayed in the show-mf would not have lived. They tried to make it a GRRM bloodbath but critically misunderstood what he did to make his deaths feel so brutal and realistic.

I will say, as much as I would have loved little Lyanna living happily ever after as her badass self-killing a zombie giant while having the life crushed out of her was a death worthy of her. And this is Game of Thrones, so honestly that's as much as you can hope for.

One of the places-I mean, there are many places D&D went wrong, but one of the big ones I think was the decision to make the Long Night a secondary plot point and treat the conquering of King's Landing as the real end battle. Germ has likened the white walkers and the army of the dead to climate change and the advance of the Night King during the War of Five Kings is very much a political metaphor-people are fighting over something dumb like who gets a chair while the real threat goes unheeded, and when it arrives it will not care who sits what throne. Rushing through that just to get back to 'who gets the Iron Throne' is profoundly missing the whole point.

Really, Germ first thought the novels would be a trilogy. The first book detailing the War of Five Kings and the birth of Dany's dragons and her rise to power, Book 2 being Dany returning to Westeros and the ensuing conflicts that will cause, and Book 3 being the war against the 'real' enemy. We aren't even through Book 1.