#he has a funny backstory he was just a regular guy and then he was asked to join the cia and was like ok

[armed-saphire]

Im open to decoy octopus fan indoctrination… please enlighten me 🙇‍♂️

its kind of hard to indoctrinate people you kind of just have to get it

[anxiousheart7]

*spoilers* Astarion’s story - analysis and thoughts

I’ve been thinking quite a lot on Astarion the last couple of weeks, and the journey I’ve been on with him. I’ve seen a lot of content about him.

I’ll start by saying this - I didn’t ascend him. I couldn’t. I did, however, watch the ascension on YouTube but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. And I’m going to explain why.

Here’s the TL:DR version, with my deeper dive below.

As Astarion gets his revenge in Cazador, his flurry of knives felt oddly satisfying to me. It was a release as grim and cathartic. That cry of pain and ending felt necessary for him. I came out of that palace knowing that it was ok and he’d be ok.

The ascension felt gratuitous. Watching him carve exactly what Cazador put him through should have been cathartic too, but it wasn’t. I just felt a shiver of cold. And that was the moment I knew it was the ‘bad’ ending.

Experiencing Astarion’s Journey - delving deeper

I don’t think I’ve ever quite experienced a character story like his before. Here’s someone who is quite clearly designed to draw you in via the usual routes. He’s attractive, he’s got the funny lines. He’s the rogue - a lot of D&D players’ favourite class. He quickly becomes indispensable.

At the start, his flirting was fun. Act 1 I think is supposed to be a light hearted toe in the water, so to speak. Right up until your first major choice with the goblin vs tiefling conflict. Then it becomes real. But until then you can spend copious amounts of time wandering and chatting to your new friends in camp while some of them (namely Lae’zel, Gale, Karlach and Astarion) go straight to ‘i want you’ territory. And you’ll gravitate to those that are ready to get hot and heavy because…video game sex.

There was such a focus on romancing your camp and you lean into that so heavily in act 1. Approval is all-important. And his approval is harder to get, so you try harder with your choices. You want this guy. Like really want him. He’s like ambrosia. And, if you’re not one of the 100k rejections toted in Larion’s infographic, you get him.

As a recovering people pleaser, I’m not going to lie, that was a hard concept to grasp. To make your choices based on who you were trying to impress is exactly the kind of behaviour I’ve been trying to step away from in real life. But hey, this is a game so I’ll be ok.

And then it starts…

Looking back, there’s this line that stood out ‘it felt like you weren’t all there’. Despite his insistence later, Astarion was very likely going to that place of dissociation that he talks about later on. And that’s sad, because as Tav you want this milestone to be special. You want them to fall in love with you. The reward for all your hard-earned approval hiking.

But Astarion masks. He masks well, but you can tell on Insight that it’s all an act. Even when you look closely, the ham fisted complements he throws at you reflects the 10 charisma he’s carrying around. He works as a lothario not because he’s an adept silver-tongued Casanova. It’s because he’s simply beautiful. People see him and want him. His looks mask what’s going on underneath. But then you look into his eyes and it’s right there, plain as day.

There’s so much more underneath. I have watched the scene over and over with the hammy chat up lines as he’s trying to convince you to sleep with him again (I got propositioned first before the tiefling party) and the more I watch, the more I believe that ‘I love you’ wasn’t an act. They wouldn’t have given you three brush off comment choices if it was. He meant that, and I don’t think he even realised he meant it until he found the words coming out of his mouth - as though he was daring himself to say it.

With Astarion, it’s all in the eyes.

And, as someone who has seen those eyes in the mirror on a pretty regular basis, I knew there and then until he started revealing his backstory - the scars, the master and all the rest, I knew this was going to hit very hard and this man was a deep well. He was so lost that he barely had any idea of who he was any more.

By the time you’re well into Act 2, you’re starting to get the gist of him. You learn about his sadness and sense of loss around his identity before he was turned. You learn about the scars. And you learn about Cazador. I got the sense that all of this exposition was almost like a therapy dump from him. Thoughts and feelings he’s wanted to express for decades but hasn’t had a soul to tell - or he’s been compelled not to by his master. Now he can get them out. He can voice how unfair and unjust it feels. The sarcasm, the cynicism, all a way of expressing how much pain he is in. But one thing he’s never lost is the knowledge that he doesn’t deserve this. He hasn’t been beaten down so much to believe that he is unworthy of better treatment. And that sense of self is what I believe has kept him going all this time. He knows it wasn’t his fault. He knows Cazador was a cruel, sadistic monster.

And I hugged him. Of course I hugged him. I defended his autonomy from the moonrise drow and I hugged him after. At this point I’d fallen as hard for him as he had for me. I cared for him. I couldn’t make any of those obviously awful choices with him. When the details of the ritual came up I felt a knot in my stomach. And sure enough every time we talked after that point he talked about taking that power and I thought ‘this will be rough’.

It reminded me of a lot of really bad experiences I’d had in the past. Boyfriends and friends who were clearly bad for me and I was bad for them. And yet, I needed to help this guy. This person who had nobody for so long. Who didn’t know what it felt like to have someone actually care about him.

I looked this as someone who has experienced trauma in their life. How would I feel. How have I felt? To be scared of so many things. To wonder why on earth would I do something nice for someone else when I’ve sat in alleys, starving and in pain while people just walk on by. No gods to answer my pleas for help. I’d be cynical and disapproving too. I’d have a warped sense of humour. I’d want to never feel that again. Of course he saw the one thing that could protect him and feel compelled to grasp it with both hands.

Astarion has conjured up feelings in me I thought were long gone.

Astarion’s finale

The images I’ve included in this post have been doing the rounds on tumblr and this hits so hard it hurts. Astarion’s journey ends in such as way that it’s meant to be hard.

If you’re a gamer that commodifies your characters as a series of stats or objectifies them based on their design, then ascend him. It doesn’t matter to you. And I’ve seen plenty of people on message boards and Facebook saying exactly that - “but he gets these powers and is so badass”. They’ve never seen past the facade. He was a jerk at the start of the game, a creepy flirt and a vampire ready to be staked. And that was it.

Every excessive power in this game has a major consequence that you have to live with. This choice I think is one of the biggest before the climax of the game.

The ascension pretty much erases him. It takes who he was and the healing that he’s done and throws it away, as if it never really mattered.

And to him he’s worth exactly what he thought he was to begin with. His self-worth is warped into superiority and his hunger and fear replaced with a hunger for power and dominance. He’s not free in this form. He just becomes a new kind of imprisoned. He’s placed in stasis forevermore. And this won’t last forever because as absolute power corrupts absolutely, it also falls. Just like Ozymandius, he’ll rise and collapse under his own grandiose. And he’ll take you with him if you let him.

That steamy scene before he turns you is basically exactly what the Larion writer is saying - you’ve not empathised or grown here. Have your sex scene and then enjoy your eternal enslavement with New Cazador. It’s a bad ending for you and Astarion. You get to be exactly what he was, no matter what pretty words he tried to convince you with - he’s still that 10 charisma trying to convince himself as much as you. He’s Act 1 Astarion with some nifty new powers. He will control you like a doll and yours will be the same half life his was. He’ll start with promises of being his right hand, but somewhere down the line you’ll do or say something and he’ll do to you what was done to him. It’s the ultimate narcissistic relationship.

If Astarion walks away, he’s him. Truly him. With purpose and a new path to walk. You can build a new life together with nothing holding you back. The trauma behind him, he can now walk a path of healing for himself and learn who he is. It makes me feel hopeful and joyful that he gets a second chance.

And that’s where I’m at. My ideal ending is for them both to go off together searching for a cure for his vampirism. Whether it’s possible, who knows - on writing this I’m still to finish my first run of the game. But at least there’s that glimmer of hope in that ending.

I think Astarion is beautiful. There’s a reason half the internet is madly in love with him right now. But if you let yourself, he becomes more than a nice body and a pretty face. His complexity opens up like a puzzle box and you feel the satisfaction of a truly beautiful arc come to its climax. He’s a beautifully written and crafted character and I’m so glad to have experienced his story.

I could say so much more…but it’s long enough as it is. Thanks for reading x

[enemyoflactose]

I finished Battle City

So for my redemption arc, I have finished both Duelist Kingdom and Battle City.

I think I may have gotten worse.

I'll start by talking about voice acting and which one I prefer:

Bakurae: I like both Ted Lewis and Rica Matsumoto's performances. They both did amazing and I am so bi for their voices.

Marik: His goofy ass skeletor voice is not it. It's funny as hell, but he just sounds better in the sub.

Odion: I like both

Ishizu: I like both

Everyone else: could go either way

Characters:

Yugi didn't really do a lot at the start, and everything I want to say about him happens in his duel with Joey. Honestly, I don't like how in the anime he doesn't play much of a role.

Yami Yugi: this man... This man.

Téa: I love her. Honestly. She gave like zero friendship speeches this season and didn't really do much except help Yami find Ishizu.

Joey: I LOVE JOEY WHEELER.

Tristan: he's there. I don't like how he treats Serenity.

Serenity: I actually really like her. She's not the most realistic sister character, but I still like her.

Duke: my guy, leave the girl alone.

Marik: I can't take him seriously. I just can't. He sounds like Skeletor, his plans are stupid, he can barely duel, he's a coward, he dresses ugly, mother fucker uses Revival Jam, this happened

How am I supposed to take him seriously?! Also, his backstory didn't do anything for me. Like, yeah what he went through was awful, but it just feels like an excuse. It felt like Ishizu and Odion were trying to justify Marik's behavior and say he did nothing wrong and should be forgiven. (Also, I saw a post about how Joey should have showed Marik sympathy. They blocked me when I said that was stupid)

Ishizu: she's such a great character. Her love for her siblings feels real, she's a snarky dork, her duel with Kaiba is fantastic, and she's pretty.

Odion: Am I supposed to feel bad for him? Not because he was horrifically abused I do feel bad about that, but with the way he was treating Marik... My guy was an enabler. Of course Marik is still evil under your care, you haven't done anything to help him be good. He just rolls over and lets Marik do what he wants because he doesn't want to betray his oath or something.

Mai: literally so cool. I'll actually get to talking about her in a bit.

Kaiba: iconic.

Mokuba: he takes his duel commissioner job so seriously it's adorable. He just pops up out of nowhere to catch people cheating and then Kaiba comes along to scare the cheater when they don't listen to Mokuba.

Regular Bakura: B-baby boy???

Yami Bakura: I'd literally bend over for him. He can have all of my possessions. Anyway I feel like he went through some character assassination this season. He just doesn't seem like a threat, but I guess that's how abusers get ya because he stabs Regular Bakura.

Arkana: I've said it once and I'll say it again, I am a sap. I felt so bad for this guy. First his magic show goes wrong, then his face gets mangled, then his wife leaves him, then he gets indoctrinated into Marik's cult, then he almost dies by saw blade, then he actually dies.

Lumis and Umbra: these two are gay and dating.

Strings: there is nothing there.

Mako and Weevil are pretty much the same.

Espa Roba: he's a cheater.

Duels:

Bandit Keith vs Yugi Moto (Duel 1)

The first duel of the season introduces us to Marik. We learn that he wants the puzzle and has a magic rod that can mind control people.

This duel shows off that Yugi is not yet as good a duelist as Yami because this loser gets fucking cooked.

Yami Bakura shows up and breaks Keith free. This makes Marik a little annoyed.

Marik makes Keith break the puzzle.

Bakura comes in and helps Yugi fix it, but he puts a little piece of his soul in the puzzle because of reasons that are never explained.

Bakura leaves and Keith burns the building down.

Joey and Tristan save Keith and Yugi.

Yami Yugi vs Jonny Steps (Duel 2)

I am not talking about the duel you suckers. I'm talking about what happened before the duel!

Yami and Téa go on a date. During this date they go on wacky high jinks and Yami gets Light Force Sword.

After dueling Jonny Steps, they go to the museum and meet Ishizu. She tells them that Yami is actually an ancient Egyptian pharaoh and he needs to save the world by joining Kaiba's tournament and winning it. Also he needs three Egyptian God Cards.

Joey vs That one guy (duel 3)

Joey gets Exodiad and feels so bad that he doesn't go and visit his sister in the hospital.

He also lost his Red Eyes Black Dragon.

Tristan finds him on the beach and shows Yugi and Téa who he found (fuck you 4kids)

Kaiba vs the machine (duel 4)

OBELISK, FIST OF FATE!!!!!

Yami vs the one guy(duel 5)

Yami beats Exodia and wins back Joey's Red Eyes.

Joey declined it.

Joey vs Espa Roba (duel 6)

In this duel Joey faces an alleged psychic who had already defeated Rex Raptor.

Rex tries to help Joey for a little bit, but stops like half way through the duel.

During this duel, Espa is talking about the universe and how he can't lose and shit like that and Joey's just clowning on him.

Espa Roba has his brothers up on a building helping him win duels.

Joey figures this out.

Joey wins the duel.

Some guy in the audience says "Espa couldn't predict he'd be a loser", and I think that's funny.

Joey got a Jinzo!! The only good card he'll get this whole tournament.

Yami vs Arkana (duel 7)

Yami faces a magician who's all like "Aren't you SO sad that your precious Dark Magician is in the deck of another duelist???!"

Some bullshit happens, Dark Magician is sentient and saves Yami, Dark Magician Girl is summoned by Dark Magic Curtain, there's shadow blades, guillotine-chan is here, apparently there's no service in the tent.

Yami wins.

Arkana dies or something it was really unclear.

Joey vs Weevil Underwood (duel 8)

Joey got his deck and Duel Disk stolen by some mustache and had a card put In it.

Joey and Weevil duel ata fountain.

During this duel Weevil calls out to the Parasite Paracide card in Joey's deck and turns all of Joey's monsters into insect cards.

Weevil brings out Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth. Joey destroys it.

Weevil brings out his Insect Queen and talks about how much he wants to fuck it. Joey destroys the Insect Queen and wins it.

Joey gained the worst card of the season.

Yami and Kaiba vs some guys (duel 10)

Kaiba uses Lord of D and two Flute of Summoning Dragon to summon three dragons and then he summons Obelisk and then he wins the duel and takes some locator cards.

Joey Wheeler vs Mako (duel 11) ft. Marik falling for the Bakura sham.

Joey and Mako duel.

Joey is putting on the world's greatest show, and is told to stop because it's "embarrassing and taking to long"

Joey tries to use Parasite Paracide, but flip monsters haven't been invented yet.

MEANWHILE

Marik almost runs over Bakura.

BACK TO THE DUEL

Mako is telling a son story about his dad and how Legendary Fisherman is his dad and he loves his dad so he has to win the duel for his dad because he loves him ever so much.

MEANWHILE

Yami Bakura is talking mad shit and Marik's all like "This idiot has NO idea that to open the door to darkness he needs the Egyptian God Cards."

What if my guy was talking 'bout Kingdom Hearts?

BACK TO THE DUEL

Mako used a ritual card 🤮

Now Joey has to find the fisherman and attack.

Joey finds the fisherman and attacks. Mako gets sad. Loser deserved it tho for using rituals.

Joey uses some gambling cards and oh no

MEANWHILE

Bakura puts his scam into action and says he's a strong duelist (He's aight.)

Marik doesn't even fact check this and makes a deal with him.

The rod for a god card.

BACK TO THE DUEL

Joey uses Panther Warrior to wipe out the ritual card 🤮, and wins the duel.

Joey has gained Legendary Fisherman! Not as bad as the last card, but Joey you have a shitty deck how do you keep winning???

Seto and Yami vs Lumis and Umbra (duel 12)

THERE'S ANOTHER FUCKING RITUAL CARD!!!! AND IT'S NOT EVEN A GOOD ONE!

It's awful, it sucks, it's worthless, they should have just used level cards

This duel is not worth my time.

Yami and Seto win.

We interrupt this essay to talk about important stuff that happened out of duels:

Bakura got stabbed

Mokuba, Téa, and Joey got kidnapped

Tristan ran for an hour with a teenage girl on his back

Duke hit some guy with dice

Mai met Serenity

Joey got mind controlled

Téa girl mind controlled

Joey vs Yugi/Yami (duel 13)

I cried during this duel

Joey got mind controlled by Marik and is evil and dueling Yugi for the puzzle and they're also strapped to this anchor that's gonna drag them to the bottom of the ocean in an hour and oh my God this duel

Téa's life is also being threatened but she's a badass who doesn't care.

Kaiba can't help because then Téa will die.

Joey was given all these rare cards and is using them against Yugi.

Yugi is so scared to attack because he doesn't wanna hurt Joey.

Yugi is so fucking sweet I love him so much.

Yami is just in the corner like "you good Yugi?" And "Oh no!!! Joey!!" I love them so much

Yugi ends up giving the puzzle to Joey so he can fight Marik better, he summons R d eyes black dragon to get through to him, this shit is just barely working I HATE THIS DUEL

Marik is being a whiny little bitch ass loser because his mind control is failing

Joey breaks free after attacking Yugi then he uses the effect of some mirror card to attack himsefl

Joey and Yugi both plummet to the ocean, Yugi is saved by Joey and Joey is saved by serenity.

I LOVE JOEY WHEELER

Meanwhile at the hospital

Yami Bakura vs Bonz (duel 14)

This episode is so fucking good. The animation, the duel, BONZ IS HERE

This duel starts off with Yami Bakura already being kinda annoyed. He just got jumped so it makes sense.

He summons a headless knight and it gets destroyed.

He destroys Bonz's cards.

Bonz fuses Medusa and crawling dragon to get... An elephant?

Then Bonz activates that one card that makes you lose life points for every card sent to the graveyard. Yami Bakura responded by fucking cheating and just tossing his hand to the graveyard.

Then he summons Earl of Demise and Bonz puts him in a cage.

Then Yami Bakura uses ectoplasmer and wipes out Bonz's life points and sends him to hell the Shadow Realm.

Mai vs Jean Clawed Magnum (duel 19)

I am not talking about this duel other than

Joey x Mai supremacy

We love polarshipping

Stuff that happens before the finals

The gang is shocked at the idea of Regular Bakura dueling (rude)

Tristan can't flirt

The gang raid Joey's pantry

A bingo machine

Yami Bakura pretends to be Regular Bakura and messes with Joey by saying shit like "Cheerio" and "fellows"

Marik does stuff

Odion gets threatened a few times

Ishizu shows up late

Mai drinks censored wine

Yami Bakura vs Yami (duel 15)

This shit is so hype

It starts off with Yami Bakura being dog shit and summoning weak cards (it's for a plan), and Yami and the gang just ragging on him and insulting him.

Then Bakura summons Dark Necrofear, but he doesn't attack because he's scared that Yami's face down card is a trap (reasonable)

Dark Necrofear gets destroyed by a buffed Dark Magician Girl, but this was all part of the an because now Yami Bakura can use not only his Destiny Board (worst win strat ever), but he can also use Dark Sanctuary.

At this point in the duel, Yami Bakura is cooking. He is dominating.

He got out his Dark door, Yami can't attack more than once. He got his spirit redirecting attacks at Yami. He's cooking something delicious.

Then Yami special summons Dark Necrofear and now Yami Bakura can't use his strategy.

Unless he summons Jougen the Spiritualist!

Now the sanctuary is back and he can keep up with his shitty win strat.

Then Yami summons Slifer and he contemplates death.

Marik makes Odion walk over and go "I release Bakura from the spirit" and Bakura starts dying and at this point my shipping senses start going nuts.

This duel has become a love triangle between Regular Bakura, Yami Bakura, And Yami Yugi.

But that's not important.

Bakura doesn't like this strategy because it's for cowards and he's worried Yami will attack his host. (Reasonable. The Yami he knows probably would've)

Yami meanwhile doesn't wanna attack Regular Bakura because that's his friend.

No one has told this boy to just surrender.

Yami Bakura takes control of Regular Bakura again and tells Yami to attack him

Then Yugi tells Yami that he did that because he needs Bakura, not because he liked him. (This is untrue if I believe hard enough)

Regular Bakura is knocked out and the ring is gone.

Joey vs Odion (duel 16)

Joey is talking shit.

Odion keeps setting and passing

And oh what's this?? FLASHBACK

Odion was abandoned on the door step of Marik's and Ishizu's parents. He was raised by them but never truly accepted.

He wanted the tomb keeper initiation to become accepted, but he was adopted. So that didn't happen.

DUEL

Joey's losing

FLASHBACKS

Odion was Marik's best friend and watched their mother die immediately after Marik was born.

He vowed to protect Marik.

DUEL

Odion has trap monsters and Joey is surprised by this.

A massive scorpion monster thing is summoned and Joey says

"Are you really Marik?"

Then Marik has a temper tantrum and tells Odion to summon Ra. Odion summons Ra and fucking dies.

Then Joey dies.

FLASHBACK

Odion watched as Marik got his tomb keeper initiation and afterwards he did his own initiation.

DUEL

Odion tries to get up, but he doesn't.

MEANWHILE IN JOEY DREAMLAND

Joey is having a dream about his friends helping him get ready for a tournament and he can't get up.

DUEL

Joey gets up and wins the duel.

Marik is having a migraine and then becomes Yami Marik.

Mai vs Marik (duel whatever I don't wanna check)

Marik got a fashion upgrade and looks better!!

During this duel Kaiba is edging himself waiting for Ra to be summoned.

Marik makes the duel a shadow duel and starts to erase Mai's mind.

Mai loses one memory and almost gives up immediately.

Marik continues his mind games while Joey and the gang try to help Mai out.

Mai is having non of this.

Mai steals Ra

Marik is cooking

Mai summons Ra, but Marik broke a rule because Ra is written in a foreign language without a translation.

Mai loses because she can't summon Ra and Marik attacked her, Joey, and Yami.

Final duel, Kaiba vs Ishizu

Ishizu should have won

Kaiba and Ishizu keep milling each other's deck.

Ishizu has a plan though. She saw it in her visions

Kaiba defys those visions tho and instead of summoning Obelisk, he summons the Blue Eyes White Dragon and wipes out Ishizu.

I forgot to talk about the Yami vs Strings duel

Marik is a pussy so he uses some murderer to duel

During this duel Marik is using cards like Revival Jam and Jam Breeding Machine.

He uses them to summon Slifer.

Yami is trapped in a cage.

Yami uses Revival Jam against Marik and uses it to cause Marik to lose by DECK OUT.

DECK OUT

That's embarrassing.

So yeah, I think this journey of redemption is becoming a journey of derailment instead. Wish me luck and health.

[frazzledsoul]

I almost don't want to give the Palladinos credit here, but I half think that there was something going on offscreen with Jess around episodes 5 and 6 of Season 5 of Gilmore Girls. Episode 5 is the wretched double date episode where Luke and Dean fight, and Episode 6 is the one where Lorelai finds out that Sherry left Gigi with her worthless father and Rory seeks out Christopher and tells him to stay away from Lorelai before he screws up her life again.

I believe Jess is only mentioned in these two episodes. In the double date episode, Luke is ranting about how Dean is not good for Rory (Lorelai's response is that "their problems were mutual" and Luke "doesn't know the whole story" which is funny because those additional details would definitely not endear Luke to the guy) and Lorelai asks if she should date Jess instead (Paris AND Marty are right there, Lorelai. Just sayin').

In episode 6, Luke and Lorelai bicker over the porch light being broken and Lorelai says the last person to change it was Dean and again argues on his behalf because Jess never bothered to change the light.

At this point in the story, Rory is still dating Dean and realizing the only thing they have in common is misplaced nostalgia and is trying to corner Logan to get the lowdown on the Life and Death Brigade. Rory has her adventure with the LDB the next episode and Dean dumps her the episode after that when he sees her partying with Logan and his friends. She's in the process of moving on with her life and leaving Dean behind.

So what was going on with Jess? I figure the final rejection by Rory probably gave him the push he needed to write the book, end his mediocre "messenger" career, probably get his GED, and move to Philadelphia to start his new life (and of course, begin the Slutty Philadelphia Jess era). Obviously that doesn't happen all at once, so I figure he probably wasn't ready to move until at least the spring/fall, but things had likely begun to progress by this point and Luke probably knew he was planning to move and had mentioned it to Lorelai...who is still dubious, still pushing for Dean over Jess, still trying to rationalize Rory's affair even as the incident seems to have moved her further back into the past, not the future (and likely trying to be supportive so that Rory doesn't push her away again, because she now knows Rory can and will stop talking to her and will bring up Lorelai's own mistakes if she feels she's being too judgmental).

Meanwhile, Jess is actually moving forward offscreen instead of trying to relive his high school years. Would have been nice to see some of that.

Milo was unavailable during this time, as he was a season regular on NBC's American Dreams. They had a shortened season, but networks aren't always amenable to lending out their actors to the competition (the only other season Milo doesn't pop in as a guest star after he left the show is season 7, when he again was a regular on another NBC show). I don't think this was necessarily planned ahead of time, but the backstory works nicely for what was going on with Jess at the time.

[iamnmbr3]

I love how this blog and a few others call series Loki “Larry”. No matter how you look at it, Larry isn’t Loki. He doesn’t have Loki’s mannerisms, he doesn’t think like Loki, and he doesn’t act like him. (Heck, I don’t even think he likes being a Loki.) Is Larry a sweet, selfless, soft, and gentle idiot I feel a bit sorry for? Yeah. Is Larry Loki? No, he shares Loki’s actor. (And Sylvie isn’t a Loki in the slightest.) Also considering the TVA is still a bunch of shit fascist who hate freewill…Larry’s sacrifice was for nothing. The TVA makes me sick to my stomach, and the fact Sylvie is coming to the comics….ugh. And don’t get me started on the “YOU JUST DON’T WANT LOKI TO MATURE/GROW/HEAL/BE HAPPY” stans who come for you if you say you hate the shitshow.

It always delights me how much this has spread. My greatest contribution to the MCU fandom lolol. It started from a chat @nikkoliferous and I were having and then we started using it in our posts and then it just spread. It originated because I really hated calling the show character "Loki" since he was so obviously a different character. I much prefer to separate him in my mind. Plus I think it's kind of funny and draws attention to the fact that the show turned him into a regular person instead of a fantastical fantasy character.

I don't know why they thought "regular guy" was a better concept for a show than "alien viking war magical space prince" but...that's what they did. Well, let's be real. They didn't think it was a better concept. The whole aim of the show was to get audiences to stop caring about the character by systematically stripping him of everything that made him interesting or unique - from his aesthetic to his backstory to his abilities - and either doing away with it completely or giving those things to other characters instead (but in a boring cheap way - see: Sylvie's pathetic dollar store clearance rack horns). It's bizarre though, because by destroying their own character and alienating their own fans they just harm themselves an deprive themselves of potential profits.

Even more disturbing is the show's pro-fascist messaging. They openly made a genocidal organization that wants to eliminate free will by repeatedly wiping out the existence of entire universes the good guys. And they made Mobius, a willing participant in that organization who tortures Larry on multiple occasions and never regrets his actions or apologizes, the "moral core" of the show and presented him as Larry's friend. It's quite despicable in my opinion and I am still mystified that there wasn't more blowback over the offensive messaging. (And that's not even getting into all the other bigotry and issues with the show - see here for details).

[mychlapci]

okay finally i can go off anon now that we're not being horny!!!!

you have no idea how much of a problem i am going to be for you >:]

right one of the characters i find to be infinitely fascinating in terms of how the fandom looks at them is rung. like for me, rung is a socially awkward aroace autistic. his reason for being in psychology/psychiatry beyond just wanting to understand himself (which is also a reason i think he's autistic bc one of the main symptoms is an inability to understand one's own emotions) is because he wants to make connections with other cybertronians without the social pressures of dating or interfacing.

i think the whole "primus has game" jokes are genuinely really funny because y'know he's literally god, but i do think that in a good ending of the lost light, where rung managed to survive and explore himself through the aspect of godhood, i think he'd find, with his memories restored, that loving other cybertronians on a romantic level is odd to him

he's got these vibes from those around him that this new knowledge, the knowledge that he is literally the being that so many of them prayed to in times of anguish, makes it difficult for them to interact with him in the same way as before. i do still think he'd have genuine connections with nautica, skids (because fuck canon he's living), and megatron.

those three in particular work so well on a platonic level with rung. megatron is someone who i think would find a lot of solace in discussing philosophy and ethics with literal god, also though the lens of the fact that i bet megatron has loads of religious trauma since the functionalists justified their actions through their worship of primus

nautica, being from caminus would also work really well with a newly godhooded rung. like caminus is a heavily religious society as well, arguably more religious than modern day cybertron and i think she and rung would discuss the science and perhaps some of the earlier days of rung's existence together.

and skids. well i can't really see skids seeing rung any differently. i think the two of them are in a queerplatonic relationship. they enjoy each other's company very much.

the idea of rung living to understand his godhood is something that's been bouncing around in my brain for a while because of one of my oc's.

to put it bluntly, this oc, malware, was a former guard of the senate, picked by alpha trion to serve and protect the prime's and their legacy. she's pretty old (roughly 7 million) and when nova prime left for the stars xey suffered a rather intense psychotic break that eventually devolved into her becoming entrapped in a very long series of delusions where primus himself was watching xeir every move.

she ended up betraying the senate and joining the decepticons, where xeir delusions eventually spiraled from primus watching her, to the literally embodiment of the decepticon cause controlling xem. she was friends with damus prior to the war (due to xeir studies of chemistry which he found interesting) and when the DJD got formed she ended up joining as the first helex.

TLDR; malware ends up defecting and starts having regular therapy sessions with rung, alongside a nice dose of antipsychotics. and when the war ends xey join the lost light.

and this leads me to the idea and concept of mecha who have been having therapy sessions with rung having to struggle with potential religious trauma from knowing that the guy who've been talking your religion problems over with is actual god himself. fucked up and evil

i don't think rung himself would really view himself as good interestingly enough. he's shown throughout the series to be a very shy and socially awkward individual, to the point that he can hardly believe the stories that rewind and chromedome tell him about his alternate universe self.

rung is such an interesting character to explore through the lens of having to know that he likely never got to fully understand himself and his backstory before dying and being essentially forgotten by everyone in his life.

it makes me sad to think about because i think rung, of all characters, should've gotten to see a new cybertron. imagine a version of the bad ending where rung, fully understanding his position as a god tries to steer his people towards a brighter future, one where he can help those who truly need it through therapy and proper medication

hopefully this doesn't sound like nonesense. i just love thinking about complex platonic relationships and as much as i'm a shipper, i wish i got to see more platonic rung with the other members of the lost light

just realised i don't gotta cap this off with my anon tag lmao

Rung... I don't think about Rung often enough. But to be honest, I don't necessarily ship Rung with anyone, and i am definitely very fond of imagining him in deep platonic relations with others. We know he's a bit unethical, hehe, making close friends with your patients probably isn't advised, so I really like that edge about him. I always saw him as a bit of a bleeding heart of sorts. He'll go beyond standard procedure to help out his patients...

I mean, religion in transformers has always been kind of iffy, but it's okay we can fix that. The fact that Rung's godhood has not been discussed more is kind of a crime. I would have loved to see people interact with him knowing he's Primus. Maybe some, who have really been hurt by religion, struggle to separate Rung from the religion that caused them trauma - i mean, Rung had nothing to do with that, but it's difficult to think about Primus, who, if we assume they view him the same way we view god, should be almighty and all-seeing and know that he'd done nothing.

love that you snuck in your OC. we are being self-indulgent in this house today‼️it is very curious to think about someone with such a deep, horrible issue with Primus and godhood and finding out that the therapist that helped her out was god himself. I mean, what's that mean for someone whose greatest fear for so long was the thought of god watching their every move... (sorry if i'm butchering OC lore, i'm just rambling on along bc i don't wanna read my philosophy assignment for today)

I honestly could never really gleam Rung's relationship with Cyberton properly, but it would be so interesting if he took a leading role in making it better. I feel like everyone who went with the Lost Light kind of... "ran away" though, y'know, in search of something brighter than the ruined, dead Cybertron they've left behind. Finding out he's Primus, Rung might feel a sense of duty and responsibility to come back and help out...

[cannonball5]

My thoughts on Deadpool and Wolverine

(Heavy spoilers for the movie, you’ve been warned)

I just want to start off by saying that it’s a good movie, a fun movie, but it’s not the best Deadpool movie and it’s not the best Wolverine movie.

I think the biggest issue is that it tries to balance the wacky comedy with some heart that Deadpool does with the more somber and serious tone that the Wolverine films do. Sometimes it works…and sometimes it doesn’t. I think the film would’ve been stronger if they focused on making it a Deadpool movie with Wolverine in it vs trying to fit a Wolverine movie inside the Deadpool movie. There’s a whole stretch of the film where the Merc with the Mouth seems like side character in his own movie.

That said if they wanted to show a beaten and destroyed Wolverine they needed a better tragic backstory. When I heard that a bunch of “humans” killed the X-Men my first thought was “huh?” How could they beat Jean Grey a mutant so powerful that she could burn your psyche to cinders? Storm is basically a weather goddess. Professor X literally has the power to change their minds. How did the X-Men get killed by a bunch of regular people?

I have two ideas they could’ve done. The first is go full “Old Man Logan” backstory. For anyone who doesn’t know in the Old Man Logan comic all the villains team up to finally get rid of the heroes. When the bad guys show up at the X Mansion Logan fights them off, all the while unsure of where his team is. When Wolverine finishes off the last villain he turns around and all the bodies are just his team. Mysterio appears and reveals he tricked Logan into killing his friends. They could do that, have it tie into X2 where someone uses Stryker’s hypnotizing fluid to have him kill the X-Men.

Alternatively you could have the same story as the film but instead of humans it’s a bunch of souped up Sentinels. Then during the fight with Cassandra it’s revealed she used her powers to make the Sentinels stronger (something she did in the comics) because she got bored waiting for another Charles to show up for her to kill.

Anyway it’s still a fun movie, definitely worth the price of admission, just not as strong as I’d thought it’d be.

Also here some nitpicks:

The Wolverine-Sabertooth fight should’ve been longer. They even said in the movie we’d been waiting 20 years for this fight and it didn’t even last 20 seconds.

No mention of Ghost Rider. They mentioned practically all the various non Disney Marvel or Sony Marvel films except for Ghost Rider. I’m just saying a quick mention of him fighting Cassandra and almost winning…until Alioth showed up.

Lack of non X-Men villains. All of Cassandra’s minions fall into two categories, disposable faceless minion or X-Men villain. Considering they brought in Blade and Elektra it would’ve been cool to see some of their enemies. Deacon Frost or The Blood Pack from the Blade movies, and while Elektra wasn’t a very good movie I do remember the villain Tattoo being pretty cool or at least bring in a Bullseye variant. Also maybe throw in a Dr. Doom.

They should’ve brought in Michael B. Jordan. After the hilarious misdirect of Chris Evans reprising his role as Johnny Storm, it would’ve been so funny to see Michael B. Jordan coming in and you hear the Wakanda theme and you’re not sure if he’s playing his Johnny Storm and it’s another misdirect or if he’s actually a Killmonger variant. I just think it would’ve been funny.

[theinfiknight]

Something that's really funny to me about every single player-character in the pokemon franchise is how none of them have any sort of narrative backing to them being the protagonist. Every single player-trainer is just some guy, no traumatic backstory no extraordinary motivation no nothing. In every single game without fail the other people you meet, especially your rivals, have infinitely more protagonist energy, right from the first game. Blue is the Professor's grandson and a Pokemon prodigy, if anyone would be narratively advantaged in becoming the champion it would be him rather than this random other kid with no narrative significance other than being Blue's rival. Silver is the son of goddamn Giovanni, his whole story, his angst and his resentment all scream main character way way way louder than regular everyman gold and kris, who have loving parents and nothing to prove. Barry is literally the son of a Frontier Brain! If anyone's gonna beat the elite four it's him! But no, instead it's just some nobody from twinleaf who saves the universe, befriends the Devil and defeats Cynthia besides.

N's backstory and quest could be the plot of a shounen. He's LITERALLY the Chosen One and Legendary Hero who can Talk to Pokemon. He has green hair for fucks sake!! Doesn't get much more main character than brightly colored hair!! But no, some kid from nuvema is also recognised by the other dragon and steals the center stage from him.

Hau is the grandson of a Kahuna and struggles to leave his shadow, Gladion is an emo boy with eighth grader syndrome except he's actually on the run from a massive evil organisation out to get him, and Lillie is a desperate child struggling to create an identity for herself outside of what her abusive parent forced on her, all the while hiding an infant god. All three of them could be Naruto characters in terms of their backstories but no. The random new kid from Kanto somehow sweeps them all away, solves all their problems, defeats the multiversal star dragon and saves the world. It would be like meeting Izuku in MHA and hearing everyone's stories and dreams and watching them struggle and out of nowhere some random black haired background guy swoops in and defeats All for One.

Granted, gen 3 makes you the kid of a gym leader but his name is LITERALLY Norman. He's mister normal. He even looks like an npc. Plus your rival is the Professor's kid so in terms of narrative significance they outrank you. And THAT'S not even mentioning miss Scion of a long line of dragon masters Zinnia, who for some reason is ignored by Rayquaza in favour of this random other kid who comes from a loving family, lacking nothing and facing no major difficulties in life.

It's almost ridiculous how all these anime protags end up as side characters to this generic npc looking ass dude. Hop's entire life revolves around one day becoming stronger than his brother who is also the strongest trainer in the world, Bede is an orphan from nothing who was taken in by Bill gates and then abandoned by him, Marnie literally has her hometown peeps cheering for her at every match. Arven's parents are world renowned researchers who vanished on him while his beloved partner languishes on death's door, Penny was bullied out of school and went through a whole anime arc about bonds and friends and unavoidable goodbyes and Nemona is struggling with finding a kindred spirit while being a Goku in a world full of Yamchas. Any one of them could be the main characters of a generic highschool or sports anime, but it's this random new kid who JUST got their first pokemon who solves all of their problems and saves the world. Barely in the first year of highschool and already lived through the plot of Jurassic Park and Terminator. It's like generic black haired isekai protag syndrome except it's your player character in every game.

Of course there is one notable exception to this list, which is Legends Arceus, where you are literally the heaven sent saviour, chosen by God, replete with hax isekai powers that allow you to trivialise the things that others balk to even think about. Full credits to that game though for making the entire thing very believable and more importantly, super fun.

[junegirl06]

An analysis of the funny lil gremlin:

Jevil is a pretty facinating character. He's gotten obviously overshadowed by characters like Spamton. Which is justified as Jevil played an admittedly insignificant role on the plot of chapter 1 and was more confined to his role as a "secret boss" than Spamton, who did play SOME role in the plot (even though he kinda barged into it) and had a much more fleshed out backstory than Jevil. Though the clown man does play a pretty important role in the bigger picture of the game by introducing the theme of freedom in characters other than Kris, and setting the predecent of future secret bosses exploring said themes of freedom.

Jevil's whole "I'm the only one free and everybody else is the one trapped" thing is kinda odd, but it starts to make sense when you really think about it. Gaster, or whoever it was that drove him to insanity most likely gave him some degree of knowledge of the nature of Deltarune. (Or at least a bit MORE knowledge, as even regular darkners seem to be a little aware that their world works on video game logic- ie. the tutorial puzzle guys- Lancer and his sign telling you not to take the darkfruit) This is a videogame. With main characters, npc's, and a set storyline everything is supposed to follow. Everybodies actions are dictated by the plot, the creators, (toby fox) and everything in this world isn't even for the darkners or the lightners. Everything is just for the convinience and enjoyment of some otherworldly being. (the player) Nobody can choose their own fate in this world. Nothing anybody does truly matters because the story will find SOME way to keep going. (take the weird route as a prime example of that)

This knowledge obviously broke Jevil, but his mind rationalized it in an extremely strange way. If nothing he does matters, than that means he could technically do anything. There are no consequences. At least to him. This is what he means by "being free." He is free from the limitations of society, responsibility, morality. This, of course, led to him doing whatever he did to get himself thrown into prison. A prison separated from even the ones in the normal basement.

Though, even faced with obvious consequences, Jevil was way too deep in his insanity. Being stuck in a prison alone defnitely didn't help his mental state either. That's part of what makes Jevil scary in my opinion. He's somebody with absolutely no restraints. He has absolutely nothing to lose and nothing to gain from fighting you. He just does it because he's desperate for SOMETHING to happen after probably years of being stuck and alone.

He represents the joker card (I mean it's pretty obvious, but is there anything actually confirming he's the joker card?) pretty well, with all that said. Obviously there's the whole thing of "being abandoned," as typically for most card games, (there are actually games that require the joker card) the joker is set aside without being used. And also to my knowledge, joker cards can be used for pretty much any purpose you want. They can replace a missing card on a deck, be used in magic tricks, be put in the bottom of the deck to prevent anybody from seeing the bottom card, or even be something like a "skip card," forcing a player to skip their turn. It's specifically because of their lack of functionality and adherence to the 4 suites of the deck that they are able to [I CAN DO ANYTHING!] I found that pretty cool.

I also find it interesting that Spamton seems to have the exact opposite mindset as Jevil. Jevil probably(?) didn't have to struggle too much to get his position as court Jester. Even before he went crazy, he most likely always was just a little goofball who just happened to get the attention of the king with his antics. In contrast, Spamton most defnitely struggled a lot to even keep himself afloat - Wondering why all the other addisons seem to be doing fine, when he was (probably) doing the exact same thing. (at least before gaster/the mysterious entity) He was most likely given the same knowledge the entity gave Jevil, and he absolutely hated it. He actively tried to fight against it, unlike Jevil who basically embraced the idea of a world where your choices don't matter and used it as an excuse to do whatever the hell he wants. Spamton didn't want to be confined to a story. This... game. He desperately wanted freedom, and he would do anything to get it. Even when he failed he would keep trying. After all, perseverence did let him become a big shot, even for a little while, so he just had to keep trying... right? Uhh... this wasn't supposed to be a Spamton analysis, but I just found that contrast cool.

All in all, Jevil and Spamton set a really interesting precedent for the future secret bosses and I'm excited to find out how toby fox handles the next one and how that boss will tie in to the whole freedom theme.

[ouroborosorder]

It's Keys' Regular (?) En Dub Review Corner!

Reed is great, I wish her accent was more Irish, but considering I was worried about whether or not they'd get her autistic nine-yard-stare-voice vibes down at all, it's very above my expectations.

Skadi is a disappointing performance from my favorite voice actor. But it's fine because-

Skadi the Corrupting Heart is the entire reason they got Cristina Vee on for Skadi. You can tell this is the case because she goes so fucking hard on it that it's not even funny. It's hard as hell to hold a candle to the original, but she actually manages it. My only regret is that I have watched too many Cristina Vee performances and the second her voice cracks I immediately lose immersion because her voice always sounds the same whenever she's crying no matter who the character and I just snapped back to thinking about how good miraculous ladybug is

Harmonie is pretty good! Superbly puntable, but perhaps a little stiff in delivery.

Puzzle is genuinely just really lovely. He somehow sounds more cunty than Harmonie, and I think it somehow works? The second I realized who they were casting, I knew instantly this would be a good performance, and I was right.

Breeze is cute! It's pretty solid.

Savage and Franka are kinda bad. I wasn't expecting much, and I sure got what I was expecting.

Flamebringer what the fuck who the fuck is this guy and why isn't he voicing everyone in everything??? I understand why people are attracted to men now.

However, I need to give a special shoutout to the single best performance in this batch:

Arknights has a long and really frustrating scar left on it by the early game having very minimal writing for operator files, backstory, and voicelines. A lot of early operators end up being REALLY flat and uninteresting as a result, and it takes a lot to rise above that flatness. But I am astonished to say that Firewatch's performance is one of those rare dubs that manages to be so good that I legitamately felt something for a character I previously didn't give even a single shit about. It's so good that I am finding myself genuinely emotional about this character whose lore could be snuck into an exam written on your palm.

[putonmyfavoriteshow]

Life With Luca thoughts/reactions

WOW, I really enjoyed that way more than I expected to!

OK, so timeline wise the math isn't really mathing for me lmao. Like how do they both have 14 yr olds and Simon being in college already?? The show only ended in 2009/2010 which was 13/14 years ago?? What year is it in this universe??? They both had children the year they went off to college lmao??

But I'm happy to ignore logic since I actually enjoyed the newbies a lot.

I liked that Luca/Skylar weren't just a repeat Casey/Derek dynamic and weren't rivals who full on hated each other but just grew up differently and had some jealousy/hostility toward the other because of that, but actually were a lot sweeter together during more serious moments. I think their personalities perfectly reflected how they were raised - Luca is a bit of a rebel, but he's very much Casey's son, he's trained in First Aid! and has a granola bar in his pocket at all times, albeit stale AF, and takes care of his siblings even if he can be lazy about it sometimes. Skylar is more mature minded but she has the freedom of Derek's parenting so she's not nearly as high strung as Casey is, but she is more organized and put together to make up for Derek's lackadaisical way of living.

I LOVED SIMON!!! He was easily my favorite new character. I can't believe I went from forgetting he even existing to absolutely adoring him. He was so lovable and silly and he must have such a wild childhood being the Venturi-McDonald baby, I would love more backstory on him!

Molly/Kai were adorable and the perfect little chaotic kiddos to round out the ensemble :3

George/Nora - although I wasn't as invested in them, their relationship is so adorable and they're just as dorky and sweet as they were in the series.

The random jewelry heist B-plot was so random, but kinda funny. I'm down for some chaotic hijinx, and I love how it ended with that theif falling through the ceiling XD

The return of Lassiter and Sam were great. It would've been great to see any of the show regulars honestly but I'm glad we got some. I think the return of D-Rock really got me. When they started singing the song I had tears in my eyes. And Ralph as a surgeon was such a great way to explain his absense lmao.

I missed Edwin/Lizzie/Marti. I think that was my only real let down with the movie. They didn't need to be in the whole thing but even a video call would have been nice :/

Career-wise I'm glad they went with Derek as a rock star and Casey as a lawyer. Even though Derek was the hockey guy, seeing him roam around as a rock star with his daughter really just fits his vibe. And I'm so glad the movie course corrected VWD Casey because I was never a fan of her dropping out of college to dance in NY like ?? sure Casey loves to dance but she loves to use her big brain even more!!! Plus fighting for justice?? THAT'S SO CASEY DASEY!!! So it was taboo then, I feel like it's even more taboo now, but had you lived it you would get it! These two always had way too much tension and never quite fell into a sibling-like relationship. They were insanely obsessed with each other making everyone around them uncomfortable, so they were destined to be messed up soulmates <3 It may be an ick for some and that's valid, but for me they'll always be "the exception the the rule" ;) Also Ashley and Mike were always pushing the limit on them, they knew what they were doing! Ok, so now that that's out of the way, I knew that we weren't going to get canon Dasey out of this, but I'm so glad the writers delivered on giving us some great Dasey content regardless. The fact that both Skylar's mom and Casey's hockey husband were both entirely absent and no love interest was given was wise. We basically got to see Derek and Casey play house and be the married vibes that they are which is honestly what us hardcore LWD/Dasey fans want anyway. Mike & Ash didn't miss a beat! That was really Casey and Derek back on my screen and it made me really emotional <3 Maybe the movie didn't have a whole lot of just them, since their children were the focal point but the way it ended, it just made me want more and feel like we were being set up for ...possible canon Dasey? But even if not canon, I think that if the show does get picked up, we can get so much fun Dasey content from it to build from anyway (canon is overrated sometimes lbr) Plus I genuinely enjoy seeing Derek and Casey in parental roles so that would be awesome. And SIMON MORE SIMON PLEASE!!!! <3

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. saturday we did voy's "basics part ii" and "flashback," and last night we did voy's "the chute" and "the swarm." not really last night changed bc i am writing this at fuck o clock its going up tmrw w/o me but w/e

basics part ii:

this one was fine. or rather the a-plot of this was boring, the b-plot fucking ruled

like, what do i care about the surface of this planet? ik there's a whole season that happens after this, nobody important is gonna die. even the critter was no that interesting

also, FUCK the baby not really being chakotay's. i was so fucking devastated. i wanted him to have a little guy sooo bad. they gave it to me and then snatched it away. imagine how he must feel...the whole ship in danger to save the kid that wasn't really his, and two people DIED in the process. the a-plot was terrible.

but ohhh the doctor and lon suder taking on the kazons alone. mwah.

first of all, what a match-up. the doctor can't be killed or harmed, not really, not the way suder used to enjoy hurting people. so that puts them on totally even terms

secondly, the fact that suder FINALLY almost overcame his violent impulses and now he has no choice BUT to give into them for a cause greater than his own needs (to have peace with himself)...that's juicy stuff. his struggle when he came back after killing that one guy was absolutely incredible.

finally, i love that out of any two people who could be stuck on voyager, you get the idea that these two people had the best chance of doing what they did. like the doctor is quite literally PART of the computer that runs the ship, and suder has all the violent impulses of his former life now combined with tuvok's methodical nature and his own hard-earned patience. truly a force to be reckoned with. it doesn't really push your suspension of disbelief when he takes out all those guys at once because part of him has been waiting to do that for a looong time

genuinely i'm only disappointed they killed him...a character like this could have EASILY been a regular. i'll miss him so much

flashback:

I LOVED THIS ONE.......

the undiscovered country was not my favorite tos movie by far (it ranks near the bottom actually) but i wish i had skimmed it at least before watching this. the movie footage being there was so so fun, and JANICE RAND! i'm always so happy to see her turn up, she deserved so much better, even if most of her tos scenes did annoy me to death

anyway, imagine being in a show and 30 years later they are calling you on the phone asking if you would like to do another episode of the show. star trek really is so unique in that regard, very few franchises have that same kind of staying power. m*rvel who? get the fuck out of here.

i looooooved getting more of tuvok's backstory. i think it's really hilarious that spock's parents almost disowned him when he joined starfleet but after that vulcan parents are like pressuring their kids to join to be more like him. poor spock and poor tuvok i wish they could have met onscreen just once

janeway in the old uniform!!!!!!!! she looked amazing

mixed feelings about janeway's speech about how things were different in the tos era and that's why sometimes they didn't do the prime directive. actually, it's funny because i got a little huffy at her "they were quicker to reach for their phasers" comment like GIRL NO THEY WEREN'T and then like the very next day i watched "taste of armageddon" where kirk did immediately start blasting because the disintegration chambers triggered his tarsus iv trauma and had to reluctantly forgive her

that said. spock mention.

the chute:

something lgbt happened on star trek voyager...i don't ship this couple because i'm still kirby with a gun re: tom paris, but i'm incredibly happy for people who do. i think about how i would have been if this had been chakotay and janeway instead (besdie myself) and i just KNOW the harry/tom shippers were eating

i wish harry kim got more to do...he had a little more this time but his solo scenes didn't have much meat to them, it was his scenes w tom paris that really stood out

and like i didn't hate those scenes, but the "shitty hellhole prison" plot itself also kind of bored me, because we just saw a far superior version of this happen to o'brien on ds9 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and to me one half of tom/harry is kinda boring and never gets his chance to shine, and the other is eternally on probation for being too annoying in season 1. so i had a hard time staying invested

that said it was very fun when janeway came down through the hole guns blasting. now who's playing cowboy, captain?

the swarm:

this was another one where the a-plot sucked and the b-plot ruled

i know janeway doesn't wanna add another 15 months, but man, come ON...it was very dumb not to go around. it was even dumber to not go around WHILE YOUR DOCTOR WAS BROKEN. take a few days to fix him and THEN go. also WHAT HAPPENED TO HER IDEALS? the showrunner really needed to keep this shit straight this was wildly out of character for her. that plus constantly brushing off kes...not her finest episode tbqh

the doc losing his memory was great though. kes is SO kind to advocate for him as she does and she and b'elanna were just great in general. kes even gave him a little kissy!! treat him really niceys: the episode

the other doctor hologram was really funny too although his usage of the "it" pronoun made me flash back to my rage when people did that to data during tng

it was actually so true to life how people with dementia act...kes did a great job of keeping him calm until the end :(

and the humming!!! i can't believe they left it there, but i suppose the implication is he gets it all back. and what a breath-taking spot to end it, honestly

TONIGHT: ds9's "apocalypse rising" and voy's "false profits" (i read the summary and good god someone HELP me)

[thewritingautisticat]

Saw the Tags

RANT TO ME

I need something to read pls

Hahaha you asked for it okay 🤣

Okay so my favorite little guy is my boi Peg, he's a very smol bean and is around 12 when he first shows up. He was born with some physical disfigurement, particularly some malformation of the face and a hunched back, as well as one leg that wasn't formed properly. That leg eventually gets amputated and he walks with a pegleg (hence the name Peg)

His parents abandoned him when he was an infant due to the disfigurement and he was sold into a Freak Show, where he lived for most of his childhood. It was extremely abusive and left him traumatized and with a lot of scars. Someone eventually helped him escape, and he got taken to a tavern cuz no one really knew what to do with him, so he's spent the last couple years basically working as an errand boy and bartender there. At 10-12 years old. But this is is like mild fantasy/olden days so no one really cares about keeping a child away from alcohol. It's not like a super great environment, but it's way better than the Freak Show and all the thugs and people there kinda just think of him as their little mascot or whatever so it's not too bad.

Anyway Peg is the purest bean, the sweetest little guy, never complains, works hard, is a literal beam of sunshine. Like literally I just wanna cry about him all the time. He's babey. And all he really wants is to be cared about. The tavern people do feel affectionate towards him but are just really rough and not super kind about it. He needs someone to love and take care of him.

Enter Caldren, my other favorite OC (okay I have a lot of favorites but these are pretty much the top two). Caldren. Sigh. I love him. I adore him. He's also incredibly stupid and stubborn. He's here because he's on a Revenge Quest™ to kill the guy who killed his parents (ah yes, cliche backstory my beloved). He's already committed arson and sort of accidentally abandoned his childhood-best-friend-who-has-a-crush-on-him-except-he's-not-aware-because-he's-stupid in his one-track obsession with revenge. He's convinced that once he kills this guy everything will be fine and he can fix all the problems he's already caused, except he just. Keeps. Making. Things. Worse. This boy. He's fifteen and his brain is not fully developed yet, which is the only excuse I have for him sometimes.

Anyway, he shows up at this tavern to try to get some training in how to commit murder, sees this Freak and literal child, and immediately decides that Peg is his brother now. He literally knows him for less than a day and is already pulling knives on people who dare be mean to him. And Caldren has SOOOO many issues, but the one thing he's got is he will literally do anything for the people he loves.

So Peg finally gets all the love and affection he needs and deserves. Caldren is so soft with him and slowly helps him to work through his trauma and fears. Caldren is so funny because he can go from Intense Murder Mode to the sweetest, cuddliest big bro in the blink of an eye. They're the actual epitome of "I'd kill for you" and "Please don't". Caldren is tall and brooding and dark and angsty, and Peg is so smol and sunshiney, and they're just so cute.

THEY'RE JUST THE BEST BROTHERS AND FOUND FAMILY EVER AND I LOVE THEM. I WANT TO SCREAM AND CRY ABOUT THEM ON A REGULAR BASIS.

😭😭😭😭😭

[spider-jaysart]

So silly/weird as heck Headcanon(s) incoming;

Between all the younger members of the Kents; Jon might be the one who sleepwalks/floats the most often even compared to the nocturnal Christopher or late night club regular Conner

Rao knows the amount of times the little guy ended up either waking up in the ceiling of the house, in the middle of the barn rooftop or on top of the kitchen stove, light drool on his mouth and in his hands, either his pillow or some snacks he ate.

Also, Chris and Jake often make live streaming of either their reactions to their favorite shows, eating increasingly spicy wings or just them playing with Krypto and Haley respectively

Also also, Chris and Jon often times just share their sleepwear since while somewhat differing in height, said sleepwear is flexible and capable of fitting the both of them. Sometimes one night can have Jon in a white t shirt with blue striped flannel pants and Chris has a blue shirt and grey sweats, hips the next night it’s reversed. That’s how used to them they are

Also also also, Jon, despite having Kryptonian dna, inherited his Grandfather Sam Lane’s allergy to peanuts. Though not as severe as General Lane’s, Jon nonetheless substitutes peanut butter in his sandwiches with sunflower seed butter instead.

@paladin-of-nerd-fandom65

I love these, especially that first one hahaha!!

And the one about Jon and Chris switching clothes is adorable! I like it a lot💗

The one with Chris and Jake starting a YouTube channel sounds really fun. It also reminds me of my au where Jon's a YouTube gamer and sometimes invites Damian, Maya, Kathy, and Colin to play with him in multiplayer games in videos and sometimes doing funny reaction videos with them as well, or just with Damian, on anything (sometimes Krypto interrupts the vids by walking into the room lol and Jon just calls him Henry as a cover up nickname, which I came up with to be a fun little reference to the Superman actor Henry Cavill)

Jon actually getting his peanut allergy from Sam as a small backstory makes that headcanon even more interesting! And I like how Jon still somehow finds a substitute flavor for himself as a loophole to still be able to eat and enjoy pb&j sandwiches lol

Thanks for sending these, buddy! They were really a joy to read!💖💙💖💙💖

[rueitae]

Season 2, Episode 5: the Boston Tea Party Caper for @csweekly

BACKSTORY DAY BACKSTORY DAY

And not just for Ivy and Zack! They literally meet Carmen on her first caper and Player is so YOUNG. They’re babies all of them and I love them. Honestly it makes it even more special they met each other on caper 1.

“Player can have his own room” I could literally cry at the sweet sentiment but also my conspiracy mind whirls because so many throwaway lines were foreshadowing WHAT IF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN TOO

“I thought he lived in the cloud” LOL

Zack: maybe it’s a flying race car?

Let your dreams become reality next week, Zack.

LoL Shadowsan did not ask for a flashback but he’s literally getting one. That’s so funny.

These two episodes are so interesting. Zack, up until now, we have only known as a ray of sunshine, a golden retriever. But Trey is about the only person EVER to get under his skin. Even Dash Haber, who actively tried to do so, only succeeded in making him nervous or mildly annoyed and generally clueless in a stressful situation. But as far as I can see, Trey is not insulting Zack. He’s insulting the car, which Ivy built from scratch with her talent and skill. Zack doesn’t get mad over himself. He gets mad over people knocking his family. Only once they do that does Trey get Zack mad by insulting him personally.

Okay counting the cars, Zack comes in fifth, so they DO qualify. They just don’t have a car for the actual money races.

Shark Head Eddie is peak character design.

Urgh the sibling conversation in the car breaks my heart. They are such good kids. They don’t want to do this but they will psych themselves up to do what they have to. Contrast that to when they’re stealing to help Carmen. It’s a mission they can put their hearts into.

Okay this is the best way to tell the backstory. Shadowsan’s even half invested. And Carmens just. Nah I’m not letting you get off the hook for this one. You two started the story I’ll finish. And now we get Carmen’s side!

“A few months” my butt. More like a few months had to be closer to a year to 1. Grow in height 2. Grow the hair

And honestly changing the plan because Zack and Ivy are there and stressing Player out just becomes the norm. Also that’s great Ivy could sneak in specifically because Player cut the security cams. They’re unintentionally helping each other already.

Carmen not used to driving a vehicle. Boats in the middle of the ocean have no traffic.

I DONT EVEN HAVE MY LEARNERS PERMIT.

Please someone write the fic where Zack shows up in Canada to help Player pass his driving exam. PLEASE

I am endeared that Zack and Ivy give the first geography brief. Literally everything about them endeared them to Carmen.

Carmen Sandiego, kidnapped by two siblings from Boston for a history lesson. The comedy That her hat just lingers for a minute in the air.

Reminder for next fic to have Zack attempt to create a baseball rivalry with Player or Carmen over the BlueJays or Padres.

Player literally fact checking them from Canada lol he’s so chill they’re family already.

Also, Player has changed into his regular series outfit. No more white hat. He’s “red hat” with Carmen now. Let me talk about his layers of clothing color theory now, Even if it’s a fashion disaster it has meaning. Blue shorts are for his white hat days, as blue is ACME/the “good guys” so to speak. He wears a red T-shirt to show his loyalty to Carmen, but because he’s a secret he keeps it covered by the grey hoodie. Lastly, the yellow zipper on his hoodie matches the yellow zipper on Carmen’s stealth suit. Usually yellow is for team red Allies. Sonia, comes to mind later. Players outfit is literally inverse of Carmen’s. As she wears black underneath the red, and wears blue gloves.

You can literally see Carmen’s disappointment forming as the sibs start talking about the money.

I FORGOT it was Brunt who called it Beantown lol

I also forget how soft the classmates were on Black Sheep. Le Chevre wants her to get away. He knows how angry the Faculty are and what an egregious move she’s made by running away. He understands what that means. He still cares about her safety right now. It’s such a good scene. Because Carmen might have been fond of them, but she acknowledges they all joined VILE and knew what they were getting into. She’s not holding back and she’s not going to show much emotion over it. She knew this was going to happen one day.

If I had a nickel for every time Le Chevre and El Topo got pushed into the water I’d have like four nickels by now.

The WAY IVY RESPONDS to Carmen needing muscles I’m dying every time.

Ivy and Zack are so chaotic they’re helping Carmen without even realizing it yet. Just solidifies they’re made for each other. Also!!! I love how curious and inquisitive Ivy is!!! They haven’t even joined Carmen but she’s already thinking about making a grappling hook!!!! What a little scientist!! Bellum would love her.

Their team up fits so perfectly. Ivy and Zack need out of town, and Carmen has found out she very much needs some ground assistance. AND FRIENDS MORE FRIENDS. It’s just been her and Player it has to be lonely.

And to round it off, Shadowsan’s pov on the Faculty reaction. That’s so neat that because he’s there we get all of the pov. That was really cool because sometimes we’ll get that insight into the third party reaction for no reason in other shows, but here it’s because Shadowsan remembers and he’s there! So they all participate in reminiscing.

There! Series ending explained. Ivy and Zack love what they do. And they love Carmen. Despite their fear sometimes, they get a huge rise out of being able to thwart the bad guys. They love racing yes, but they still get to do so in a way now. They tried something different and they love it.

I knew this logically, but seeing all four of them get into the car has my mind racing with joy over the many trips to the airport and road trips the four of them have taken.

Also Player is so endeared to them too. He specifically uses the term flying car teasingly. I love. This family.

Next week time for Rue getting massive second hand embarrassment (but still a good episode! Effective!)

[thetobiroppofan]

one piece rant #1: the gay evil pronoun

im nervous to start this off cause what if some random incel comes in saying "erm snort actually this is wrong" like go kiss my ass basement dweller I am a 15 year old trans boy do not fw me yu dcikhead :(

anyways I wanna talk abt doflamingo today

Doflamingo's honestly a great villain, in my opinion. This is WAYY different than like.. a great person. He serves as a good driving force for the plot and I think he like is honestly kinda well-written. I mean, the guy's morals and stuff are downright despicable as expected of a villain. I don't know how to add gifs I forogt

ok so I figured it out woohoo anyways

Starting off, his backstory is honestly fuckin' sad as hell understandably, I mean obviously he's still a dickhead I mean like one of the first panels of him going down there was "where are the slaves lets buy some"

little ugly fuck........... anyways

Quick explanation for anyone reading who a. doesn't know his backstory or b. just wants to read; Doflamingo's family was originally celestial dragons (a whole society 'above' the rest of civilization, generally they're hated by the public but their word goes above anyone elses, even the Marines at times, so people have to keep their shit together) but his father decided to move down to the real world as regular nobles.

yeah so that was a bad idea.

his family was borderline fuckin JUMPED over their former status as world nobles, and were forced into poverty, his mom died, and yada yada he shot and killed his own dad and joined the pirate life. I'm just rereading one piece again after a 2 month break, on alabasta, so details might be off do NOT take my word for granted chat

but like you get the gist, former noble goes down to civilization, is tortured, gets inducted into the pirate life, etc

the reason he was inducted was through trebol, since he saw young doffy and went "yeah that kids got potential" and not in the drake way

Trebol's the guy on the left, the uglier one

yeah so basically over the course of dressrosa (The arc where doflamingos the main villain), we learn more tidbits about his actions like how he took the head of his father back up to the home of the world nobles and asked to rejoin the celestial dragons (he was obviously rejected) and ykw I forgot to mention: doflamingo has a BROTHER. his name is Rosinante, and he's a great guy but he ends up working for doflamingo (spoiler alert: he's not actually there to be a good brother he is a spy) but over the course of the backstory, Doflamingo's newest member, a young Trafalgar d. water law

yeah he's lowk ugly as a kid but it doesn't change much when he grows up

side note: I love how ugly some op kids are like its just funny anyways this isn't abt law that's a whole other rant

anyways so law joins the donquixote pirates (Doflamingo named it after his last name, donquixote) and I'll talk more abt law's stuff later in another rant along with Rosinante (doflamingos brother) however all you need to know ATM in this rant is 1. Rosinante and Law leave to find a cure for laws disease+rosi discovered law has 'The Will of D.' (I'll need to explain that later wont I) 2. Rosinante already ate a devil fruit and if u weren't aware already u cant eat two dfs or else you DIE

happy father son bonding moment

oh btw

During their time out, Rosinante and Law get a call from doflamingo telling them to come back so Rosinante can eat this devil fruit doffy planned to steal called the ope-ope no mi (remember what I told u sister.) so he can cure law

yeah so

since rosinantes a marine he stops that, and hides law in a chest after forcefeeding him the devil fruit and skipskip andddd oh no

OH FUCK!!!!!!!!! ROSINANTE DIED.

oh btw you see the unshaded bright white chest RIGHT behind him

you'll never guess who's hiding there.

tragedy strikes.

but this ain't abt two tragic found family LOSERS (i don't mean this I love them both guys please I have a law Funko and plush I'm a mother) this is abt evil incarnate right here in a bright pink feathery coat and fuckass glasses

anywyas law goes on the run finds his crew this ain't abt him we're focusing back on doffy

so like skipping allat stuff we are now in the time when doflamingo says "fuck it" and decides oh yeah lets take over

an entire kingdom

thats what normal pirates do anyways.

So using his devil fruit the Ito Ito No Mi (which allows him to manipulate strings, allowing him to be like spiderman and also be a puppeteer which btw that reflects his char so much like gyattdamn!) he demands a beri sum of like 10 billion for this king to have his nation left alone before he like takes over him, puppeteering him to slaughter his own people before coming to the rescue yadadyadyaydyaydyaydaydysyay8dy8

so yeah

he takes over dressrosa, actingg as a 'hero' and he and his crew rule over the kingdom now

I don't think I've talked abt sugar yet but she can turn people into toys and form contracts, and that's what she basicallyy did with people who either a. doflamingo didn't like or b. spoke out against the pink feathered fuck

thats part 1 for now mainly just a backstory dump

i am insane

thanks for reading chat this has been a Quinn tm rant