#hate that they killed off my favourite character so many times :((

[confused-wanderer]

The villains are utterly confused.

They remember the first robin. They remember how bloodthirsty the little gremlin was, how he appeared out of the darkness with a “HIYA FOLKS” that gave people near heart attacks with PTSD so bad they flinched everytime they walked into a dark corner. They remember his grin, baring few too many teeth with a glint in his eyes whenever the bat wasn’t around to curb him. They remember the death stare, the brooding that made no one doubt this was the Bat’s son. They remember how a punch would land a lot harder than it was supposed to, or the screaming that followed. Oh they remembered him alright.

The second one thank the stars was better. The second robin was giggly. He would hop around town, offering his help to everyone who needed it. Sure he was rough with abusers but hell no one cared about them. Matter of fact, the villains were glad because those assholes deserved no sympathy. They remember his puns, his wonder, his innocence and his spark. They remembered his laughter, his concern - the kind that only comes from one who’s been on the streets. This one was better, and the villains thanked their lucky stars. They remembered him alright.

But now, as the years passed and new characters emerged, the crime city saw the rise of two characters - a sunshine happy nightwing and a ready to kill red hood. And naturally, from their experiences in the past, the villains ended up making an honest mistake that ruined the two vigilantes’ reputation:

The villains assumed the first robin was Red Hood and the other was Nightwing. And BY GOD Gotham has not seen unhinged chaos like this.

SCENE 1

Red Hood *drawing his pistol* : Please, reach for your weapon. I’m itching for an excuse for my intrusive thoughts to become extrusive.

Two-Face: You dare mock me little bird?! Well.. I may not have my weapon.. but I have something I know you’d like..

Red Hood: Oh yeah?What’s that?

Two-Face: TAKE THIS! *slams button and coconuts start falling from the sky, all cracking and spilling as they hit the ground*

Red Hood:

Two-Face:

Red Hood: .. the fuck was that supposed to do?

Two-Face: .. HOW ARE YOU STILL STANDING?! YOU HATE COCONUTS ROBIN!!

Red Hood: The fuck- .. wait did you call me robin?

Two-Face *grins* : Yea.. robin. The first one. Thought I didn’t notice?

Red Hood: The first one? Does this *gestures vaguely to himself and his weapons* seem like something the first robin would do?

Two-Face:

Goon 1: I mean.. yeah

Red Hood: What! The first robin was nice!

Goon 2 *guffawing*: I beg your fucking pardon??

Two-Face: .. you took my coin and attached a magnet beneath it so everytime I flipped it it wouldn’t stop spinning. Do you know how long that took me to figure out?? Do you know how insane it drove me?? Joker had to help me out of pity. OUT. OF. PITY.

Red Hood:

Goon 1: ..Also you did steal some of our bones

Red Hood: hedidfuckingwhatnow-

SCENE 2

Nightwing: Hey there buddy! You look frostyl!

Dr. Freeze: Aha! You are too late to stop me robin!

Nightwing: .. robin?

Dr. Freeze: why yes! Don’t act coy, I know it’s you there. Now that we’ve got that clear.. I was wondering if you remembered all those years ago when you gave me a source for electricity to power a hospital keeping my Nora?

Nightwing:

Dr. Freeze: well you weren’t careful enough and never told me how much I could take from it.. so I used it to power so many of my inventions that came after

Nightwing *remembering when Jason was robin and every damn time he came to visit Wayne Manor his room would always run out power and the countless cold showers in freezing winters he had to take because of it*: .. oh? Well, sorry to break your bubble, but that wasn’t me Elsa.

Dr. Freeze: no? You joke around, make puns and I’m supposed to believe it’s NOT you?. The first one brooded like there was no tomorrow. He pissed me off so bad once I overheard him saying his favourite ice cream flavour and I made sure it wouldn’t be available in Gotham for YEARS. You’re not as bad as the first one. I’d remember if you were him.

Nightwing:

Nightwing *firing up his escrima sticks to maximum voltage*: Oh let me jog your memory then :)

[volcanocraft]

hiii how did you like the wild life finale?

This seems to be a really contentious subject for the fandom and that's wonderful! I always enjoy when opinion is extremely diverse on a topic, i genuinely believe it contributes to a safer and more creative environment.

I think a lot of people forget that critique is ultimately derived from hope and love, it takes real time, dedication, and focus to understand and verbalize what they mean. Both parties want to see their series doing well. It would sincerely suck if everyone was so indifferent to the ending that one opinion homogenized the consensus of the fandom. It would be even worse if no one was allowed to voice their concerns or favourite moments in fear of betraying an established community narrative or attacking the ingenuity of the games.

Negativity comes from the same place optimism does. I have seen opinions I both agree with and heavily disagree with fundamentally, and I am ultimately very grateful to see both!

Thanks for asking my opinion. I don't think I would've written anything about it if you hadn't asked. Here you are!

The Good

Grian, Jimmy, and the ever present Cain Instinct

"It was always going to be this way, Jim." <- Said by someone who has a very normal relationship with a man hes known and attempted to nurture for around a decade.

I have to remind you that this is the second time Grian deliberately intended to end Jimmy’s life series, the first time is when they were Southlanders and he "snapped" at him for not taking his warning seriously.

I literally can't say anything that Grian hasn't said himself. If you watch his finale episode, he's constantly staring at Jimmy and thinking about how he could kill him right here and now. He switches to his sword, fidgets, stays silent while Jimmy and his group prattle on. Literally licking his lips and thinking about what to do. Ultimately, he chooses to strike without any chance of retaliation in the one place Jimmy feels safe in. And then when Jimmy is dead, Grian assumes he's watching him and says to his literal ghost "I love you"

Zombie Mechanic

I think this was a genius way of reintroducing the members who died early on. I don't think the series would've been the same without their revival. It was a super fun mechanic and their reduced health and commodified status balanced it out for me. You watched them lower your friend's casket into the ground but the next day he's back and he hugs you and you do not see any warmth in his eyes.

The Powerful Homo-eroticism of GemJoel [Canonized Edition]

The influx of gemjoel art was one of the best things in the entire world for me. Can you fucking believe i predicted it too. Now people refer to Joel as Gem's wife. This is everything I could have ever wanted. I've done three lines in celebration. Their dynamic was amazing too and i love that my inbox got flooded with anons as soon as any one of them said something incriminating. it's too bad they didn't battle it out for winner at the end with blood and tongue...

Good-FUCKING-Bye Canary Curse

I started getting really annoyed with how this specific fanon interpretation of Jimmy began to bleed into every single analysis of the series, creating relationships between characters and themes that were not there. I would argue that Jimmy himself barely believes in this supernatural phenomenon. I'm a hater and I only like it when I can fetishize watcher lore in a biblical sense.

The Bad

Leading Cause of Death... Snails

"You either loved the snail mechanic or you didn't" I say as someone who neither loved or hated it. But I think the fact that the snails ended so many peoples finales and contributed to so many deaths is a very valid criticism. I will say that Lizzie's snail and Skizzlemans whole episode kind of make it worth it, because it was just so fucking funny

I Wouldn't Have Attended Trivia Night

This is ultimately the point where I dropped off engagement wise. I think the trivia should have been minecraft-mechanic related and not about traffic life. "How many crafting recipes use wool?" Some of the questions were niche which makes sense because they were about specific moments. It doesn't matter if we think that lilac and poppies were important, no CC is going to, and the pool gets even smaller when you eliminate everyone who wasn't involved in that moment.

Conclusion

Personally, not my favourite. I think it lacks a lot of nuance the other series really cultivated with their simple mechanics which relied a lot on the ingenuity of the player themselves rather than situational opportunity. You could probably tell I lost interest because not even gemjoel could save me when I stopped posting about it. I got a lot of casual enjoyment out of it but that's it. I also eventually started feeling sore that the deaths were very coincidental. If you want a taste comparison, my least favourite life series is Secret Life and my favourite is Limited Life.

Some of the complaints I've heard is that there was not enough time for players to create alliances, flesh out cross-faction dynamics, or hold meaningful conversations. I disagree. There was a lot of motive for the players to collaborate and figure out the gimmicks together. They would even frequently congregate on the field at the bottom of the mountain. I think the wildcards helped make every conversation count and they could've talked at length if they wanted to (the G's did pretty often; as did Cleo and Bigb during the eating episode). There were a lot of chances to immediately take one another out but they decided instead to wait. Alliances were established and kept: the bamboozlers were ride or die for eachother, the spanners were tragi-comedy incarnate, and if cooperation's not your thing, you had team BET barely holding it together. People frequently encountered one another. I thought it was good.

Despite how I personally feel about it, I actually think its one of the best life series "objectively" in terms of content and watchability. There was genuine anticipation in seeing what happens each week. Each perspective was very personal because at that point it was about reactions and adaptability. If this was my first introduction to the life series, I'd be really pleased. But it does set up a kind of false impression of what the general theme of the series is. I guess you can think of this season as like... the beach episode [extended edition]. I did not get the impression the players were tired of the mechanics. The advent calendar format kind of does lend itself to a forced and rushed wrap-up finale.

[bichletmepickaname]

I am still mad about the fact Giopara League Viktor and Blizcrank are being retconned PELASE I LOVE JAYCE GIOPARA SO MUCH I MIGHT LOVE HIM MORE THAN ARCANE JAYCE

OMFG DONT GET ME STARTED.

I was mad that a lot of Giopara’s original characteristics didn’t make it into arcane because he is one of my all time favourite characters. But I was able to get over it because I found Talis’s character interesting for other reasons, even if I loved Giopara a hell of a lot more. Also because I was under the impression that arcane wasn’t going to be canon to league lore. I crashed out after finding out about the re write.

With Viktor it’s a little different in season one. I believed there was still a lot of room for his MACHINE herald arc. and he kept alot of his personality from league. And I thought they weren’t allows to fundamentally change a character so much from the original material. I was proven disgustingly wrong with each act we got till act 3. He wasn’t a machine herald. He didn’t cut off his arm and replace it with one he made himself. He was more of a mutant. And near the end he didn’t care if people wanted to be evolved or not he was going to do it, unlike Viktor in league. Again I wouldn’t mind this if arcane wasn’t becoming the new canon.

The way the did Viktor and Jayce’s relationship is portrayed in arcane is very basic to me. Arcane adds layers to all the relationship that league didn’t. Except for Viktor and Jayce’s friendship. Viktor and Jayce’s friendship was complex in league because neither fully liked each other(or atleast wouldn’t admit it to eachother), But they never were able to fully hate each other either. They were two outcasts who didn’t know how to act with other people. Jayce was an asshole who couldn’t even give pity to the thought that others would take a little more time to understand things than him, choosing to believe everyone was just stupid but he was aware that he was a dick. Viktor was someone who’s thinking no one could understand his thinking, leading them to dismiss it. But Viktor and Jayce were both intelligent, they were able to ignore each others flaws to work together. Before Viktor pushed it too far. What makes their relationship particularly interesting is that even when they become enemies they don’t really hate each other. In arcane Jayce and Viktor are friends, sure there’s the odd conflict but it’s clear that they are friends there close. They enjoy eachother company. And their enemy arc(their whole thing in league) is kinda thrown out the window. Theres no fight Viktor just leaves. Jayve doesn’t attack Viktor because we can see Viktor is doing something morally dubious. In league Jayce shows up at Viktors lab to get his crystals back, he see’s what he thinks is Viktor killing people for experiments and apologizes to Viktor for being an ass but insists that this wasn’t what Viktor wants. Then Viktor orders the bots to kill Jayce so Jayce blows up Viktor’s lab killing everyone Viktor was trying to save. There were so many layers to that scene. But in arcane Jayce gets told by mage Viktor to kill him but also save him? So he blasts a while in Viktor’s chest, we know he’s doing it for the greater good, but I still don’t know why he shot Viktor if he promised he would save him? I do enjoy Jayce in Viktor in arcane but league is just arguably more interesting. This wouldn’t be a big deal if ARCANE WASN’T BECOMING CANON.

Blitz crank particularly pisses me off, he isn’t in arcane AT ALL not even w mentioned, and his whole back story doesn’t even happen. Viktor doesn’t create him in arcane because he’s to focused on the HEXCORE. Blitzcrank being written out of the story while characters from arcane are making into league just rubs me the wrong way. I’ve always loved blitzcrank and I’ve been waiting for him to come into arcane forever. The fact that he doesn’t but arcane is becoming canon is worrying me.

Long story short I think arcane would have been better if it never existed/hj

[arrimorr]

Hello, nice to meet you!! How are you? I'm mesmerized by your art, the way you mix traditional, digital and 3D is fascinating! Also, your OCs and their stories and designs, I'm going through the tag giggling and kicking my feet! I would like to know if you could share your process or how your original characters' stories and designs came to be, the exploration and inspirations for it. I'm utterly fascinated and it made me want to create more and explore my own art!

Hiiiii!!!!!!!! 👋👋👋 Thank you so much, Im really touched by your kind words 😭😭😭

I'm also afraid I won't say anything coherent and useful to your questions, because there are many different directions I can go from with them...If we are talking about mixed media, I'm really into practical effects, that were popular in the old cinema (and can be found nowadays in things like Dhmis and I saw the tv glow), jdkslwlww there is something really uncanny and catchy about the mix of realistic imagery with something way more staged. This similarly applies to making simple and cartoony stuff mixed in with something more detailed and volumetric. Like....my art is FAR from there but this is what currently inspires me

(a trip to the moon 1902)

The funny thing is that I also initially started to play around with clay bc learning 3d was driving me INSANE, tears fell down my face as I went through the stupid donut tutorials, but Im kinda both here and there by the end of it. ANYWAY, if you have any technical questions about clay mixed media or 3d you can always ask me!

And with the characters its just a bunch of things and tropes that are rotating in my head from the media I like (well, in case with the Knight its the opposite actually, I made him out of a bunch of different designs and writing choices that I hate and then got stupidly attached).....My favourite cartoon of all time is Over the Garden wall and I think it shows haha. I also adore how in games like INSCRYPTION, Undertale and Off your main cast consists of "people" that were initially antagonistic to the plot, but, with some time start to feel like friends to the player. I made a bunch of miserable, hateful people that WILL try to kill the main character, but by the end of it, I really want tginf to be about finding human connection in a scenario where everything and everyone is inhuman. I grew up listening to A LOT of horror stories, so thats my comfort media 😔✊

Uhhhh what else...if you like my art I think you will like plastiboo (they have a Tumblr acc!), Im really inspired by what they do. Also lil Cthulhu has absolutely outstanding cryptid designs, and art and ...well..everything...and she has Tumblr acc too!

[pepperf]

There are so many things to be annoyed about the TUA s4 debacle, and I am exploring every one of them. This is not a particularly joyful thing for me, I don't run on spite, but I guess I just need to work my way through this.

TODAY'S ANNOYANCE! Read at your own peril! Dead dove, do not enter, I'm venting about both fandom's and Five's attitudes towards Lila.

I remember how much vitriol and pearl-clutching there was about Lila after season 2. Fandom at large HATED her: she was manipulative, she lied, she drugged Diego, she tried to kill them all, blah blah blah, god it was like people had never watched TV before.

This shifted to a somewhat grudging acceptance after season 3, "Well she's going to be a mum so maybe her claws have been clipped - but OH NO SHE'S STILL MANIPULATIVE, SHE PUNCHES FIVE AND FAKE-DRINKS AND EATS SUSHI?!" (If it's bad for babies, apparently someone forgot to inform the entire nation of Japan).

But now - now that Five "loves"* her, now she's been portrayed as a saccharine shadow of her glorious self, a living mannequin for your favourite blorbo to fuck - NOW you like her? Go fuck yourselves.

If you can't handle Lila at her most chaotic and weird and destructive and terrible, you don't deserve her. Let's be real, it's not about Lila at all. It's not about the character we've seen for the past two seasons. You don't want that Lila, you want some kind of Stepford wife to make Five happy. Which, hey, was apparently what he wanted, too!

For the record, and to stave off some of the flames I may be provoking, I think this version of Five is equally bullshit and feels like they twisted the character to fit the plot they wanted, rather than following what he'd been like previously. I mean, I do think he has control issues, he's forever telling people what to do, but he's not, in general, an emotionally-stunted manchild, and he's definitely better than this.

*Tell me, gentle readers, is it true love to lie to someone for six months about something that you know is vitally important to them, and then claim you know what's best for them, and then fucking sulk about it when they turn you down, or is that being an emotionally-stunted manchild with control issues? And some people think that is the height of romance! Are you on crack? Are you in a cult? Knock three times if you need help!

[discjude]

Oh boy oh boy its the discjude official COVEN bingo card!!! not many are about the coven themselves because i uh uh don't know too much about them but yeah. I've put a brief explanation of each of these under the cut (because a few are vague) (WARNING its a lot):

Lady Lesso mentioned: this one sort of coincides with "hester true evil speech". I reckon she's important enough to the witches to warrant a mention. Also. I think all of the Lessos might be relevant but I talk about that in my predictions

Obligatory Sophie cameo: she's Soman's favourite. She's showing up

Political commentary: based off of his substack, I don't think Soman will go too overt with it, but I think there'll be a more roundabout one. I'd love to see him address the fact that he wrote in that homophobia is a thing in SGE. Soman if you can hear me

Drag race reference: He's done this a lot before, in QFG mostly, and I think he'll do it again

TCY acknowledged: this could be like a "haha yeah you remember how the storian almost got destroyed? that was kinda crazy aha". I have a horrible feeling that he's going to completely skip over that part of canon

Hester gives a speech about "true evil": i mean come ooonnnnnnn. I also think this'll include something about evil love that contradicts the canon about it

No blatant fatphobia regarding dot: Soman phased this out in TCY I think he'll have stuck with it

Rats are, somehow, back. Not explained: Japeth killed at least one of those things and I genuinely think Soman will have forgotten it

Events of R+F acknowledged: ties into my predictions a bit, but I reckon the setup regarding neverland and the other stuff in Fall might come up

I'm right about my predictions: I think the entire thing looks very aquatic themed, and there's a lot regarding evil water stuff, so a) the mermaids are relevant b) the saders are (still) relevant c) the lessos are relevant. that's the big three in my opinion. I can't wait to be horrifically wrong

Storian still at fault: i mean. name one book where it isn't. and you cant say OTK that doesnt COUNT

Symbolic ending of the series thing: I want the storian dead. thats what this one means

Obligatory tagatha: come onnnnnnnnn

There is at least one twink: yeah. not much to say here

Vaguely pub-style setting: this one also includes "why is everything british" because i said so

None Japeth: Japeth is mentioned by name exactly no times. I'd love to have faith but I really don't

Tennis reference: I fucking CAUGHT Botic being a tennis player's surname in the prequels. he's GOING to try it again

Colour/lighting symbolism: have a draft rn about colour symbolism in SGE and I think Soman might lean into it

At least one snake: please i want to feel something

hestadil real: come ON he's doing this every tiktok post about coven has had the hestadil tag he's doing this

Aric is referenced: goes with my predictions and lady lesso being mentioned. I hate to say it I think he's far more likely to be referenced than Japeth

Big unanswered question gets answered: the BIG!! one is the Aric Dad Reveal. I want to know for parallel reasons and I think it could happen. maybe

no wait! We'll use the power of friendship: speaks for itself. something like this happens

major character death: goodbye dot. im being fr I think she's dying in coven

Thank you dearly to @liketwoswansinbalance for some of these entries I really struggled to think of some. Also no I'm not convinced of my predictions. But it'd be nice. right

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

I’m on my knees begging for the Sanzu headcanons! 😭💖

I got some!!!

His katana has a name

Became good friends with Angry, this was mainly due to how much Smiley and Mucho hung out. 

Everytime someone has asked about the scars on his face, he's given a different response as to how they happened.

He also frequently watched Shinichiro working on bikes when he was a kid.

Stole his bike

Has a habit of staring off into space and daydreaming a lot, people always think he's annoyed when he does that

While in tenjiku he kept his hands in his pockets a lot. This was to hide the way he'd clench his fists whenever they mentioned taking Mikey down. 

Didn't feel sad after he killed Mucho but he wasn't happy either. After the adrenaline wore off he felt nothing, just an emptiness. 

When he went to the festival with Senju as kids, they rode the carousel, both pretending to race each other on it.

Wasn't surprised but was also a little hurt when no one came to pick him up from juvie in the first timeline.

Didn't want to join a gang in the good timeline because gangs made him think of Takeomi and he didn't want to be like him.

Visited Shinichiro's grave often, each time promising him that he was looking after Mikey.

While growing up practising his katana was his favourite thing to do since it was one of the only times he got to be free.

During the good timeline he hinted he wanted a pet once. He was thinking like a dog or maybe a cat but Senju got him a hamster. He still ended up loving the little guy

Although he was the first one to teach Senju how to fight, he wasn't the last. After he left Waka and Benkei took over. When he did start teaching her it was only because she wouldn't stop asking him.

Attends all of Mikey's races in the good timeline

Goes to get cheesecake at least once a week with mucho

If he dates someone, one of his favourite things is to take them on bike rides. He doesn't care where they go, he just likes the feeling of them holding onto him.

A part of him was actually regretful after Emma died but he pushed those feelings away, imstead concentrating on Mikey.

Talking of character deaths, he did mourn Baji after he died too. Even visiting his grave often.

When Senju used to cry he used to sing to her to cheer her up.

Is kinda jealous of Baji and how so many animals seem to naturally like him 

Gets headaches a lot (he forgets to drink water)

Got on well with Ryoko (Baji's mum) 

In the good timeline he doen't know how to react to all the fan girls he has from his YouTube career.

Didn't actually hate Kakucho until Kakucho said he always hated him. 

Takemichi and Hina asked him for permission before planning their wedding on his birthday and he said yes. (It was the only day the venue was available for)

Uses an expensive cologne 

When he's cuddling with his partner he likes to stroke their hair

Takes very cold showers

[kaaaaaaarf]

fanfic author interview game

thanks for tagging me @moonheavens, @pretentiouswreckingball & @languagelessonswolfstar <33

How many works do you have on AO3?

32!

What's your total AO3 word count?

133,785. I write a lot of shorter fics....I have many, many more words in my google docs though.

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

The Killing Time (unwillingly mine) - aka murder husbands check me out - university au one shot back when we were dinosaurs - aka museum soft like silk chiffon - silk slip remus 🤭 they call it the cockpit - airport smut

the rest is under the cut:

Do you respond to comments?

Yes, but I struggle to keep up!! I read every single one, though. They mean so much to me.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Oh, hmm. I try to make most of my endings pretty hopeful, but I Want A Dog is hurt no comfort.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

Most of them tbh!!! Maybe back when we were dinosaurs?

Do you write crossovers?

Nope! Although @lynxindisguise has talked about doing a hatefuck b-side to everywhere, everything and I'd be down to help with that. 😇

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes, unfortunately.

Do you write smut?

hahahahahahhahha yes. It's so funny to me because when I set out to write fanfic I always said I wouldn't write smut, and arguably it's what I'm most well known for aside from murder husbands. I really struggle to write it, but I have received good reviews thus far. 🫡

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I had someone put my work on wattpad, which was really fucking shitty.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! I don't think I would really be okay with it unless I really knew the person doing the translation.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I write so slowly, and my writing is so dependent on the muse that I would be a terrible writing partner.

What's your all-time favourite ship?

Wolfstar!! Closely followed by everlark.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I was just thinking about this earlier. I had big plans for Nobody Parts Two Rivers Met but as much as I would love to finish it, I don't know that the muse will ever take me back.

What are your writing strengths?

Erm, good question. I think I have a really strong grasp on who my characters are. I'm also very good at comedic timing. This is always one of those things where I'm like...ask people who read my work, I really have no idea.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I struggle with blocking. If there is a lot happening in a scene (like the pool scene in I Got My Spoon (inside your jar)) or there are a lot of people involved I struggle to make it sound natural. This is the same with smut...I really do struggle with it, and edit it to death in order to make it sound not so person a does thing to person b, person b smiles. I also over-use the em dash and italics.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I wont do it unless I know a native speaker of the language who can translate for me. I don't want my poor grasp of a language to take a person out of the story.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I would say evan(s) but I finally wrote a piece for that! I wish I could write snowbaz...I've never written for a fandom that isn't the marauders and I'm not sure if I have the intrinsic motivation at the moment.

What's your favourite fic you've written?

Probably back when we were dinosaurs. It's my most personal fic for many, many reasons. It takes place where I live and in one of my favourite places for a start. I also see myself in both Remus and Sirius at different times in my life....also dinosaurs!!!!! Other than that, maybe check me out. First fic I've ever written off a prompt and to be frank, I didn't think I'd be able to....it turned out better than I ever could have expected, and bonus....people seem to like it.

np tagging: @pain-in-the-riri, @swifty-fox, @moon-seas, @lynxindisguise, @fruityindividual, @imsiriuslyreading, @brigid-faye & @eyra

[laniemae]

Chances Ojima dies this chapter? /Genuine

Hate to admit it but the chances of Ojima dying this chapter are incredibly likely, I’d say around 80%.

I know I’m usually the one to scream about how Ojima is “certainly gonna die” like every chapter but this feels different as usually it starts off with me feeling safe about him and close to the bda he shows up a bit more and suddenly I freak out about death flags. But the motive hasn’t even dropped yet and he’s already got a ton of screen time, big scenes and info about his character. With the bleeding plot coming into play, his relationship with monomoko and being her favourite student, painting the balcony shutter, and us learning more about his trauma. Like legitimately we’ve gotten so much content of him so early on in the chapter I cannot believe how he won’t die this chapter because he’s been so important. I don’t think a tetro character has raised this many death flags up until now and I’m usually the type to say that we shouldn’t scream death flags at every scene, or we should wait until the motive, but like this is just so much Ojima content. Like I should be happy getting a lot more screen time with my favourite boy but I’m just in complete anxiety knowing that this most likely is his last development before he dies.

Like and even going to story themes, we’ve been getting a ton of development with monomoko and her empathising with the students and questioning the killing game. And since Ojima is her favourite student it makes so much sense for him to die this chapter which could lead monomoko into even more of a spiral as she values his life which could lead to her potentially standing up in the finale of chapter 5. And I could especially see this being the case if Ojima is a killer where she has to send him off to be executed himself, and with how much Ojima is saying how he believes he’s gonna die in the school but also saying that he knows he won’t kill anyone would be ironic.

Also with the mural he’s painting on the balcony, I can’t stop thinking of how perfectly devastating for him to die there would be if he’s a victim. Being killed in front of the painting of the outside world you’ve been yearning for, having your last chance of freedom stripped away like that. Just imagine the unique 5th bda with Ojima’s blacked out sprite in front of the colourful mural unique to that one location. It’s such a perfect setup for him to die there that I can’t possibly imagine that it could go any other way. I heard someone say that if this is the case the student reconvening at the body would be called [Sunset] and just ouch…

God just writing this is making me tear up. Even hearing any discussion or even mention of the likelyhood of Ojima dying this chapter just makes me feel sick despite how much I also say it myself. It just feels different this time as the signs are here right from the beginning of the chapter that I am so so confident he’s gonna die and can’t let myself rest as every day feels like I’m getting closer to my comfort character dying and never being able to see him in an episode again. Like I wanna give my reasons for maybe how he could not die this chapter but at this point it’s so certain I don’t wanna get my hopes up at all so I’m just gonna be sitting here until he dies this chapter and I’ll have to deal with the fallout. If anything I hope an Ojima interview is our one way of giving him some extra screen time before he’s gone forever.

[mazzystar24]

I totally get I just finished my exam week (I had to do a math test at 8am Sat😭). Wish you luck tho!

Also do you have any good buddies fics? Destiel too?

Math test at 8am is BRUTAL

Thank you I will definitely need it😭😭

Unfortunately I only have buddie fics to offer😔:

(Warning I do like a fair amount of angst)

Right where you left me - by hyacinthusbloom ( @thebloomingheather on here) - when I say I might be as big a fan of this fic as I am of the show I MEAN IT, you do not even understand how much I love this fic or how obsessed I am with it, I have reread it so many times despite it still being in progress that I think I may genuinely qualify it as addictive, me and @estheticpotaeto legit wait for updates like a dog at the author’s door istg, like everything about this fic is flawless and written with so much love and emotion and the way the writer captures the effects of trauma is just amazing because it’s so rare to find this level of diving into ptsd and the more uncomfortable aspects of it that are more taboo or less understandable to people, like I can yap for an hour about this fic but I’ll just say READ IT

Any fic by daisies_and_briars ( @cal-daisies-and-briars on here) but one of my favourites of his is Both blade and branch and muscle memory and four can keep a secret and appetency and the two she’s writing right now (change the prophecy and steal my sunshine) -wow at that point I should’ve left it as any fic because that’s a lot of favourites😭😭

Any fic by @loserdiaz plus with them you get enough lighthearted fics to even out the angst

Ooo I’m not sure what their username on here is but lizzybizzyzz is also another writer who I just love their fics

Fractals by hobbitprincess - one of those fics that make you squeak at how much love these fictional characters have for each other

Beneath my mother tongue by archerincombat - the angst the writing the way they hit every single emotional beat? Amazing

Anything by this_is_moony_lovegood

Leave the light on (I’ll be coming home) by HMSLusitania - the presumed dead Eddie fic of your dreams, a constant reread for me it’s just 👌

Anchored by adorkable_buddie - sorry Chris you gotta be injured sometimes just for us to get our buddie dreams hope you understand and we appreciate your sacrifice 😔��

empty, broken, lonely, hoping by daniweb - when I tell you I love the presumed dead trope you best believe I’m telling the truth because the ANGST?? Yes please, LISTEN it’s the closest you can get to the emotional beats of killing off a character without ever killing them off because you love them and happy endings too much so TIM MINEAR TAKE NOTES I KNOW YOU SAID YOU LOVE THEM TOO MUCH TO KILL THEM, anyways back to to the point this fic again is just flawless execution by the writer like absolutely love it

every time we stop talking (the universe starts screaming) by withmeornotatall - emotional destruction and I absolutely love it, divorce era 2.0 and it HITS

Home is where it hurts- by rileyblue2001 - can you tell I hate the Buckley parents because I HATE the Buckley parents

The one with the return of the sex addiction by buddiefication (pumpkincreamcoldbrew) - I’ve reccomended so much angst so have a funny little light hearted buddie fic with the father bobby vibes we all love❤️❤️

Okay back to the angst tho 😭😭- out of ashes by Ashavahishta - AHHHHHHH THIS FIC JUST AHHHHH STOP THE WAY I WOULD DIE FOR A FOLLOW UP FIC TO THIS AHHHH I LOVE IT SM AND ITS LEGIT A ONE SHOT I CRIED SO HARD

Falling Slowly; Sing Your Melody (I’ll Sing It Loud) by Princessfbi ( @princessfbi on here who I also love sm of their fics so highly suggest just going on their page and looking through all the fics) - absolutely love it, legit gave me brain rot and got me obsessed for a GOOD while

I'm comin' back, don't let me go by wikiangela ( @wikiangela on here also love love their fics again so check them out but this one is probably my favourite of theirs)

Okay this is looking more and more like a uni reading list so I’m gonna shut up now but I hope you enjoy these fics and that a few of them emotionally damage you like they did me because I love to spread the joy (see: pain and suffering) 🫶🫶

[alittlebitofloveliness]

Pretty as Poison and Twice as Deadly

This is my @outsiders-gift-exchanges Valentines fic for @goldencherryskies who requested content for the soc girls from the musical. I haven't seen the musical but I did some reasearch and hope I managed to do Bev justice here. I have a soft spot for female characters who are kind of villains, and hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I'm so sorry it took so long!

Word count: 1681

***********************

The thing about poison is, it never really goes away.

It’s not her fault. She’s born with it in her veins, a lulling sweet slowness that the doctors had to wean her off of for a week before she was placed back in her mother’s arms like nothing happened, and from that moment on she was doomed, a princess of toxins made with shallow love, safety traded for dollars. 

There are many kinds of poisons, Bev knows, because she has a bookshelf covered top to bottom in medical texts and history books, declassified murder files and old wives tales that revolve around every deadly thing that flows through the blood or seeps through pores until it kills. Her mom thinks it’s morbid, as if it isn’t all her fault.

Bev loves poisons, almost as much as she loves shoes. There’s a poison for every occasion, just like there’s a shoe for every occasion. Nude ballet flats for church on Sunday. Ethanol cloaked in liquor to numb every sin. Pink pumps for school. Botulinum toxin to smooth wrinkles- or paralyse someone into slow asphyxiation within minutes. Black suede boots for date night with Brill. Thallium for a slow, drawn out death hard to trace back to anyone.

Her favourite shoes though, are a pair of strappy blue platform heels that match her eyes and the dress she bought when she went shopping last week. Her favourite poison is herself. 

She’s not sure when she realized it, the way everything she touches crumbles, withers or dies or changes irreperably for the worse, fast or slow or somewhere in between, but it was long enough ago now that she has embraced it, cloaked herself in it, has taken to heart being a deceptively beautiful creature with pain in her touch, like the phyllobates teribilis frog out in the colombian rainforest.

She thinks maybe people can sense it, a warning on her telling anyone and everyone to stay away. Cyanide smells like almonds, and Bev smells like chanel number five and a specific kind of bitterness that’s better termed cruelty.

Maybe that’s why she was never invited to Marcia and Cherry’s sleepovers, why Brill’s friends hardly ever threw her more than a perfunctory hello. Maybe they could sense the poison in her as far back as grade school and that was why she was always left to walk behind her so-called friends on the sidewalk that was only ever wide enough for two, why she sits in a crowd and yet is held apart in a way she calls aloofness but knows deep down is exclusion. Maybe it's why she’s as ugly inside as she is pretty outside, because the poison seeping out of her is just as toxic to her as it is to others, rotting her from the inside out. 

She swipes pink gloss over her lips and murmurs rumours about a freshman for no other reason than she can, venom curled around the syllables and acid in her tone. Her glare is the mouth of a water moccasin, a warning of pain to come, and people recoil like they would from the snake, and it brings her nothing but a savage sort of satisfaction.

She learned a long time ago that she will never be beloved, will never be universally likable like Marcia, who wears humour like hairspray, or loved like Cherry, pitiful and deep. No one craves poison, but everyone fears it, and she’s lived being feared long enough it’s started to feel like adoration all the same. 

There’s a greaser girl in her math class with smooth brown skin and long black curls, delicate and deadly as a belladonna flower. She’s poison too, Bev can tell, and she hates her for it as much as the grease girl hates her right back. They sneer and trade barbs and Bev has never understood anyone so much while not knowing anything about them. 

At lunch she sits with Marcia while they watch the football practice, Cherry off tutoring some freshman kid in english. Marcia could get along with anyone, could probably make conversation with a tree if she really tried at it, but she’s shifty when she sits with Bev, bereft without her redheaded sidekick and stuck without the buffer of the boys around. Bev pretends it burns instead of stings, tries to swallow the poison that floods her mouth, pooling on her tongue, the concentrated bitterness that comes from always being hated that only makes her more hateful. Hard as she tries, she can’t stop it any more than the naja pallida cobra can stop itself, and she spits venom with a tinkling giggle that makes Marcia flinch and curl into herself slightly.

Per usual, the venom struck.

Bev kind of hates herself for it. Marcia is her friend, as much as someone born of toxins can be friends with someone so pure, and yet the corroded part of her always seems to take over, always knows where to strike to inflame or paralyse or sting the most. 

Marcia doesn’t leave. Bev doesn’t really know why, knows that the one thing people can all agree on is to stay away from snakes, but Marcia just pastes on a smile and changes the subject, and by the time Cherry returns just before the bell rings, Marcia is back to glowing, not poisoned at all.

Bev envies her, and feels another piece of herself wither away.

She slinks to her science class, brushing cadmium from her hands and leaving benzene in her wake, a hazard to anyone and everything around her, but more than anything else a hazard to herself.

Maybe, Bev muses, as she idly watches a grease girl with a head of wild curls laughing alongside a guy she vaguely recognizes from the DX gas bar, she’s a carcinogen. Maybe she’ll spend her life slowly changing those around her until their very cells rebel against them. Maybe she’s a monster of her own making and she makes others monsters too. Like formaldehyde, she preserves only the most lifeless parts of a thing while leaching life from the very air around her. She doesn’t think she’s ever laughed as carefree as that Ace girl does when she blows spitballs at her friend’s hair, and she hates her and all the other grease kids for it. 

The bell rings and Bev sticks her foot out, tripping the girl on her way out the door. The glare Ace gives her is venomous, and Bev has to resist the urge to laugh. What kind of poison can harm poison itself? You can’t kill death. 

Cherry sits beside her during their last class of the day. She finds her and offers a sunny smile, red hair done up in a pretty french twist Bev would kill to learn. There’s a look in her eye that says Marcia told her what she said at lunch, and for a moment shame twists in her gut, a sudden, sharp burn like the sting of the European hornet. 

But Cherry doesn’t bring it up. Instead she offers her a piece of bubblegum from her purse and invites Bev to get milkshakes with her and Marcia after school. 

Caught off guard she stammers something about Brill and a ride home, but Cherry takes all of it in stride, green eyes as sad as ever and her smile a type of sweet Bev hardly recognizes because it never, ever turns cloying, is not fake because Cherry can’t fake niceties for shit. She steers the conversation with careful patience until Bev finds herself agreeing, following the redhead to her car after the bell rings.

Marcia joins them, laughs and waves away Cherry’s concern about her car, says her brother can drive it home for her when he’s done his baseball practice, she wants her girl time before they meet up with their boyfriends at the diner. She sits in the back seat, legs thrown up on the leather and shoes kicked off, while Cherry shrieks at her to put her seatbelt on and does she want to die if they crash, and Bev finds herself cackling from the passenger seat, something in her chest loosening.

Another thing about poisons: they’re tricky business. Many are deadly, but only if administered in a certain way. The Yagua people of Peru use blowdarts dipped in a powerful paralytic agent called cuare to hunt food, then eat the poisoned meat because the poison doesn’t get metabolized into the bloodstream. A papercut getting filled with the substance could prove deadly, but ingested in an inactive form it's harmless. 

In seventeenth century Italy, serial murderess Giulia Tofana sold poison in makeup containers, but symptoms didn’t prove fatal until discontent wives snuck their husbands the fourth and final dose. 

Sometimes, on days like today, Bev is left wondering if maybe Cherry and Marcia are immune to her poison in a way everyone else isn’t. Others, she convinces herself they just haven’t yet received a dose too big to recover from, is convinced it is building up in them, a growing, toxic mass that will one day be too much. One day, she will have proven herself unforgivable, and even these shallow friendships will be gone, and she’ll be alone.

But she’s not alone today. Cherry clutches her arm as they follow Marcia into the diner where their boyfriends have somehow beat them there and wave them over to a booth in the corner. Brill rises to greet her with a soft kiss and a caress to her cheek, and if Cherry and Marcia are sometimes immune to her, then Brill must be some kind of antivenom, because he makes her human. Hell, sometimes he even makes her harmless.

She drinks her milkshake, cold creamy chocolate bursting over her taste buds, holding Brill’s hand and listening to Cherry talk about the routine for their next cheer meet. She’s still wearing pink lipgloss and chanel number five, but for the moment she’s wild grapes instead of moonseed. For the moment, she’s harmless. 

It feels good. 

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 52 Hype Posting

Hi void. I am going to vibrate out of my seat. Oh I'm going feral, absolutely feral. Another WSJ cover and lead colour page next week already! Promotion on TV during prime-time in Japan! The insanely good volume 4 PV! Hokazono-sensei judging for a manga award! Kagurabachi's getting the push to be the Next Big Thing at last- you love to see it.

Kind of.

I want Hokazono-sensei to get all the recognition he deserves, but I also don't want the fandom to explode and become yet another annoying dudebro space. The success of the series is more important though, so I'm happy to see Kagurabachi get so much support. Everyone needs to know about this manga! ANYWAY.

LOOK AT THIS TROLL.

It's Chihiro's turn to have a creepy parasocial admirer now.

Hiruhiko's not doing this just for kicks, however- he deliberately (and successfully) triggered Chihiro to orchestrate his dramatic fall. Given what happened at the end of this chapter, I would not be surprised if Chihiro's literal descent is foreshadowing a metaphorical one of some kind down the line.

And this just breaks my heart:

Triggers Chihiro's rage then fucks off only to do this? I will not be mourning Hiruhiko's death.

Chihiro's not built for being a murder bot and it pains him so much to be seen as equivalent to someone like Hiruhiko. But he was taught to see things through and uses his hatred for the Hishaku to keep going. Revenge is probably the only thing he wakes up every day for- he wasn't kidding about that "fresh hatred" line in chapter 1. And neither was Shiba when he said living like this would break him. This kid needs a hug and a safe place to cry out the pain so badly, man...

More than that, though... more than anything...

HIRUHIKO'S THE FUCKIN' ANTI-HAKURI.

"We're equals", he says. "I killed my family", he mentions. "Let's be friends," he asks as he forces his way into Chihiro's life. "I'm the only one who can understand you." The hell you aren't you rat bastard. Hakuri's the one whose soul resonates with Chihiro's. He's the one Chihiro acknowledged as an equal and a friend. BEGONE, FOUL DEMON.

God damn it. Hokazono, I love you for making my most hated villain archetype into a character I want to see more of. I've never understood why playful psychopaths are so beloved but I get it with this guy. Smooth move making him the evil version of my favourite character in all of fiction, Mr. Author. Now I need Hiruhiko and Hakuri to face off over their ideals about who Chihiro really is. It would be the perfect reprise to the Sojo arc! PLEEEEEEASE. There's so much HakuHiro potential in this setup... Hakuri being the one to pull Chihiro forward again would be amazing. But not for his own goals this time- just to help Chihiro as a true friend and partner. Not gonna get too attached to this since it's just one potential development out of many... I won't let myself... (too late).

(Psst... 昼チ or 昼チヒ will probably be the JP ship tag/name for Hiruhiko/Chihiro. Ain't no way Chihiro is the top in this pair for most Japanese fujin lol.)

The Show

The main character of the play's name is Sasuke and Hokazono-sensei is a huge Naruto fan. So much so that he's taken his own spin on Naruto and Sasuke three times now (Enten, Roku no Meiyaku, Kagurabachi). Chihiro is, in fact, his OC donut steel character inspired by the most annoying emo ninja boy ever. I see you, Hokazono-sensei.

The Battle of Soshima might be a made-up title to reference the real historical event The Battle of Tsushima, which fellow Golden Kamuy fans will recognize. At any rate, there aren't any famous Japanese stage plays with the same name, so there's no direct narrative parallels to draw insight from (sad trombone noises). Fortunately for us Hiruhiko is a yapper like I hoped and tells us the plan pretty plainly anyway:

I relate so hard right now, random audience guy.

Hiruhiko says the plan to kill Chihiro's not a bluff. But he's not acting like he's intends to make good on that statement. So that means...

Perception vs Intent

Chihiro looking his best: stressed and menacing

This is gonna be huge I think. Remember what Azami said back in the Sojo arc in ch. 9:

Azami, please come back soon. I need you carnally.

Then consider likes like this...

Local violent gang member still pretty tough after becoming human shishkebab through a moving train.

Chihiro could be set up to tarnish his father's legacy.

The public doesn't know the true strength or capabilities of the weapons that won the war- they just know that Rokuhira Kunishige made them and they were the key to winning. So Chihiro dropping in on a stage play to splatter the audience with a headless corpse's blood is not a great first impression. He looks downright villainous in this scene. Awesome, but villainous.

The Hishaku are going to metaphorically "kill" Chihiro somehow. For some reason, tormenting this poor guy is absolutely vital to John's plans... it's probably more along the lines of Chihiro being a useful pawn to move around to create conflict they can exploit, but still. They're going to try to break his spirit this arc for sure. Leave Chihiro alone! He's been through enough!

I've got a hell of a lot to say about this but I need some key details from the next few chapters before going off on lunatic tangents. Fuckin' hell though, this is great. This is exactly the type of development I was hoping we'd see after Samura's chapter. Chihiro's committed to the cause of killing the Hishaku, who so far have been wholly unsympathetic villains. But killing is a wrongful act. And this chapter sets up that Chihiro might not be the sympathetic avenging swordsman we love him as in the eyes of the public- he appears to be more of a menace like some of the members of the Kamunabi accused him of. He might be challenged on his murderous modus operandi via a Hishaku-backed smear campaign. Seriously, using Chihiro's brutality against them to ruin his father's legacy would be so evil and cruel. I love it.

We'll be able to count on Shiba and Hakuri to make sure Chihiro doesn't go off the deep end at least. I wouldn't be surprised if Hiyuki played a pivotal role in helping Chihiro out this arc too, but I don't want to commit when we've hardly seen anything of her so far (my spaghetti sovereign... please come back to the main story full-time soon).

Whether or not I'm right (I'm not, I never am), Chihiro's murder sprees fueled by Fresh Hatred are going to get looked at in a critical way. High time and I am definitely here for it. Tell me what you've got to say about violent revenge motivated by grief, Hokazono-sensei. You have more space to examine the topic now compared to Farewell! Cherry Boy.

Shorter than usual but that's not a bad thing. I can always come back and edit this (came back to do so twice now already) or make another addendum post, but...

... Just choose kindness, people. For yourself and others. See you later.

[bilehwit]

Hi, another ask kinda indirectly related to the Bilehwit AU

But what are some of your personal headcannons about the bishops, that may or may not be in this au but as a personal interpretation of their character?

+ Who's your fav Bishop(excluding Narinder for now) ?

Favourite has to be Kallamar - gay coward??? Me coded fr fr.

That being said, I somehow always write more about Shamura???

But headcanons!

Kallamar:

🐙My man has a skin tone for gold, and he lets it be known by wearing enough to be heard janglin' a mile away.

🐙He has never once in his life done that! (He has done it 1 billion times, but he must appear better than thou.)

🐙Scared of Shamura when they're not lucid.

🐙Once drunk Leshy under the table only to then get decimated by Heket.

🐙Many spouses, does not like sexual activity. In my eyes he's asexual but a hopeless romantic.

🐙Will stop whole processions to look at bacterial growths on the floor.

🐙East Asian - South Korean, modern day would be a K-Pop beauty influencer.

Leshy:

🌱 Is Chaotic, but not in a fun way, more in a "Oh my God 3 people are dead" way.

🌱Used to biting to show affection.

🌱Cries when he's angry.

🌱Wants Shamura to be proud (they are.)

🌱Turns spouses into Witnesses. Also doesnt know what a spouse is/is for.

🌱Is the most physically violent.

🌱Ate scraps of metal on a dare (digested with no problems.)

🌱Russian.

Heket:

🐸Hates mushrooms (shockingly).

🐸Bought a cowboy hat.

🐸Likes to garden and cook but hates washing up.

🐸Says shit like "four score and twelve moons ago" to piss off Kallamar.

🐸Likes writing on Papyrus.

🐸Egyptian and will complain about heat.

🐸Lesbiab. Lesbaen. WOMAN LIKER.

🐸Tells you to go fuck yourself if you compliment her looks.

Shamura:

🕷When lucid, talks about the good old days.

🕷Most crimes committed as a mortal.

🕷Writes nursery rhymes for their followers.

🕷Used to have dancing rituals to gather sin - now can barely twitch their legs to a beat.

🕷"Oh, thank you Leshy- sorry, Narinder." "I'm Kallamar." "That's what I said." - common occurrence even before.

🕷Wants a pet so so bad. Do not give them one.

🕷Attracted to people with long hair and excellent grammar.

🕷Once did a kickflip so bad they had to kill the elderly congregation watching them.

🕷Tanzanian and speaks swahili when angry.

Narinder:

🪦Likes to bite Kallamar ("I can't help it, cats love fish." "I AM NOT EVEN CLASSIFIED AS A FISH." "You could be.")

🪦Indian, but spent so long in Purgatory he can no longer handle flavourful foods. At least at the start.

🪦Didn't realise Bilehwit had an ACTUAL CRUSH on him and thought they were like. Just that devoted. Pious. That's why they never took a lover.

🪦Cat baths when no one looks - gotta look constantly refined.

🪦Uses his third eye to scare people, namely children.

🪦I Would Never pt, except he definitely is still doing it while you watch.

🪦Finds children hilarious (to torment).

🪦Best dancer, worst singer of the Bishops. Can play music very well though.

🪦First time in Bilehwit's tent, he paid no attention because they were arguing. Then snuck in later to actually see the place.

And that's all my headcanons!

[wintersettled]

Ongoing Batfam recs

disclaimer! this is being written primarily off the top of my head so don't expect insane quality! also I'm aware a lot of people aren't sure where to start or what's current -- for that I recommend looking through reading guides but I thought I'd talk a bit about current ongoing batfam comics I'm aware of. To read these you could go to your local comic store, use the DC Infinite app or do what I often do and use alternative sites to read comics, many of which can be found by searching "where to read comics free reddit" via your internet browser.

not all batfam characters are currently appearing very much in comics so I'm afraid there will be a distinct lack of many favourites such as Tim Drake, Helena Bertinelli, Stephanie Brown, Jason Todd, and Jean-Paul Valley, however it should be noted that in Batman: The Brave and the Bold there is always a chance that an issue will feature one of them. This series features 60 pages containing multiple short stories which vary in length, some occurring across multiple issues. While it is labeled "batman" it regularly features characters outside of the batfamily.

I'd also like to not that due to DC's All-In there are many new authors and storylines starting up so most are barely any issues in! These are really just early on thoughts BUT it's a great time to start reading!

Regarding Bruce Wayne himself, Batman is currently (as usual) appearing in two new all-in arcs in both Detective Comics and Batman (2016). Can I say I like either? No! It is a long established fact that I am most definitely not Taylor's biggest fan and him deciding to rehash already done and in fact tired storylines as well as making minor adjustments to origins is no surprise nor do I care -- still I'll be fair and tell you that the story involves, you guessed it, the no-killing rule woah! Something so deftly written you can spot the killer from the first couple pages except this time the issue ends off with perhaps one of the most ridiculous and bad plot twists I've ever seen... enough hating on that. Now with the Batman series itself, I fear I dropped it ages ago. I'm understanding there's some conflict regarding the return of previous characters but following Gotham War I struggle to car about this run and I'll admit so far what I've heard from those who have read the recent series is mediocre at best.. still I recommend checking it out for yourself seeing as I can't actually speak on it.

Nightwing aka Richard Grayson is having a seemingly better time. With the introduction of Dan Watters as the new writer we're getting a new Nightwing (2016) story that I am feeling really positive about! I fully recommend checking this one out, just going off the first issue it looks good and I have spent the last month yearning for more! Titans (2023), however, I'm a bit more sceptical of... I'm liking the change in dynamics (always love a Roy feature and Donna leading) which see different characters taking the forefront of the team. I'm not a big fan of Beast Boy nor his dynamic with Raven so it may not be the best but I think the Titans are a super important part of Dick's story so I'll say if you're not keen on this, maybe run it back and pick up The New Teen Titans (1980) which is the start of the team and even sees Dick become Nightwing!

A new writer has finally joined up on Catwoman (2018) and let me say that I loved that first issue. Someone is trying to kill Catwoman and all of her previous identities. We hearken back to her international thievery and what a huge scale Selina Kyle was once on! I'm very excited to see her travel as the story progresses!

Damian Wayne continues as a main character on Batman & Robin (2023) which I am not caught up to so I can't comment on the story but at least in the past it's had its moments! I can't say I've always been totally into the portrayal of Talia however this series has in the past emphasized Damian's relationships with his father as well has others like Nika aka Flatline!

Both Barbara Gordon and Cassandra Cain have been appearing in Birds of Prey (2023)! I enjoy the series but I will admit I feel like it's still finding its footing and I loath the occasional portrayal of Barbara as Batgirl -- something I feel is actively harming the quality of the story. Most of the time she is portrayed as Oracle, and while her wheelchair has yet to make a comeback, I'm hoping somebody explodes the dark spirit of Dan Didio from that office so ableism and misogyny can finally die a cold and lonely death in their buildings janitorial closet. Anyways! Cass has also been appearing in her new solo Batgirl (2024)!! This is so exciting! If you don't know Batgirl (2000) is possibly one of the best things ever written in history and every one should read it so I'm so excited to see her back! This first arc seems to focus a lot on the dynamic with Lady Shiva, Batgirl's mother. While the first issue was more set up for the rest, I cannot wait!

outside of elseworlds I'd say that about wraps things up for current batfam! pick one up, I'd love to chat about it!

[hannibalvampires]

What We Do In The Shadows Finale Thoughts

I’ve seen a lot of different opinions on the finale and I thought why not post my own since I seem to agree with different things from those who disliked it and those who liked it.

So first off I was not disappointed by the finale, but the reason is because I already accepted that the show I loved in the first 3 seasons had taken a different direction.

I was disappointed when the show took a turn in season 4 and 5 and dropped or stopped focusing on a lot of my favourite arcs: Guillermo standing up for himself and becoming more confident, Nandor and Guillermo’s evolving relationship (which was clearly heading in a romantic direction), Laszlo and Colin’s friendship, etc.

I did not expect the finale to wrap up all these character arcs because I’ve seen for the past few seasons that they did not care about those arcs anymore. Instead they seemed to focus almost exclusively on the comedy aspect of the show and decided that the character building and development did not matter anymore.

There were occasional episodes where they would focus more on character development and relationships but the next episode would often act like they never happened and the characters learned nothing.

It was frustrating for a bit but I accepted it. The show was still funny and I enjoyed it a lot of the time. It felt like watching a different show that I enjoyed but not nearly as much as the show in the first 3 seasons.

The episode before the finale was one of those occasional episodes where they focused on character development and relationships. I loved it. However, having seen the pattern of the show the past few seasons I knew that it did not have much bearing on the finale.

I went into the finale with low expectations, partially because of the pattern I’d been seeing in the show the past few seasons, and also because I have experienced many awful finales of shows in the past. I was 99% sure that Nandermo was not going to happen. I didn’t think that Colin would learn the truth about Laszlo raising him. The characters would probably continue seeing Guillermo as below them and Guillermo would keep taking it.

The finale made me feel a bit better about how I’d been feeling actually. They addressed a lot of the issues I had with the last few seasons of the show like the characters never growing or changing, showing that it was deliberate. I personally didn’t like their decision to do that but at least I knew I wasn’t crazy. There were also funny moments and I liked that they put focus on Guillermo and his feelings.

They addressed more about Nandor and Guillermo’s relationship than I thought they would to be honest. I loved the Nandermo ‘ending’ in the third version, and their last scene together was definitely hinting at things, however I could see how someone could see that as baiting. And maybe it was, I don’t know.

I’m used to being queerbaited by ships where either neither of the characters were queer or only one of them was but they were killed or something, so baiting between two queer characters is confusing. Is calling it shipbaiting more accurate? I know there were no long-term same-sex romantic relationships on the show despite all the characters being queer other than Guillermo and Freddie (which did not last long and ended in a horrible joke), but does that make it queer baiting or just not great representation?

Overall I can honestly understand the people who loved the finale and the people who hated it. I think it all comes down to expectations and preferences, as well as how invested in the show people were.

I’m thinking of doing a rewatch of the show now and taking notes to better gather my thoughts and opinions. Who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind on some things.

Anyway that’s just my personal thoughts and opinions. Please be kind to each other.

[azri-e-l]

My thoughts on Teen Wolf season 5

Ok so um... I just finished season 5 because I had a bit of an accident and couldn't really watch the show plus I didn't really like this season so yeah...

Anyway here is what I think about this season and once again spoiler alert 🚨

How should I start, well this season was a tad bit too much, there was so much going at once.

In the first half it was kind of weird the switching up between the past and present and in the second half there were just too many things happening at once. Don't get me wrong, there were some awesome concepts but since most of them were done just because (not really explaining much about them) or weren't done more in depth, it all lost its potential.

First we have the Dread doctors, at first they seemed like really great bad guys with interesting superpowers, experiments against the supernatural and badass costumes but then they all just u know were no more. They didn't reach their potential which sucks a lot.

Then we have the desert people (I forgot what they are called) that try to help Kira and Kira's problems with her powers all together. Those people seemed cool with unique powers but were only mentioned and even Kira's problems weren't fixed, so yeah

Then we've got Malia and the desert wolf, her mother. This one got at least resolved but it still felt rushed and unnecessary

Then we have Parrish and his hell hound powers problem. This one also felt rushed but it was nice seeing Parrish at the end more comfortable with his power.

Next was the Beast, which I know was connected to the Dread doctors but I was still like why? It felt kind of too much you know although it brought the character of Marie-Jeanne Valet and she was mwah, love her plus the French accent of all the characters from her era 🤌

Ok let's move on to individual characters (not all of them) plus some of them just kind appeared or disappeared.

Let's start with Braeden, like wasn't she with Derek? Weren't they together after the Desert wolf? Idk if it was explained but it was still huh? moment for me.

Next sheriff Stilinski, since when did he and Lydia's mum have a thing together? That was so out of nowhere. I love his character but he was an ass for most of this season and Lydia's mum even though she is supposed to be a psychiatrist in place of Deaton's sister (who I have btw kinda adored) wasn't helpful at all, like she wasn't listening to what the kids were saying.

Next, I hate Gerard and he was brought back *sight*

Next we have the whole thing with Theo like was everyone so trusting towards him? Like they knew him for only a bit and everyone is like 'yeah let's go with whatever he says and ignore everything that people I have known for some time already say'. That was so frustrating...

Connected to this is what Stiles went through when he killed that guy in self defense. Because he told everyone from the beginning that there was something off about Theo but did someone listen to him? No, they didn't. (Let's ignore for a while that he too for some time for whatever reason trusted Theo and told him about what happened) And then everyone was against him. For this it would have been awesome if there was someone like Derek or Mr. Argent who are not that trusting because then Stiles would have someone on his side for this and he would have been more confident in his gut feeling.

Oh yeah coach and Melissa Mccall were amazing. Love them. Together with others like for example Corey (the relationship between him and Mason was cute) or Aiden and Liam. And it was nice seeing once again Deucalion (I kinda like his character).

And yeah I guess this is all, for this season I had a lot to say but it's my least favourite season so far.

Anyway thanks for reading and if u want let me know what u think.