#he was also there originally but they were really similar and will-o is plot relevant so I wrote him out

[casperheights]

Silly Danny sketch page for practice :) ft lil Will-o

[op-sheepy]

ok so I'm particularly interested in

Bellamy Law

Law and Bible stuff

Law is a substitute kindergarten teacher

shichibukai applications

reverse hanahaki disease (?? do u spit out flowers when your nemesis walks by?)

if you feel like elaborating on any of these!

This is gonna get long and I actually contemplated posting them separately but would that have been more work? Yeah, that felt like more work so for anyone interested, check under the cut. :D

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Bellamy Law

Hm… This would be an attempt to explore the parallels and contrasts between Bellamy and Law. I've always found it fascinating that the former was a foil to the latter.

They both come from well-off  towns in the North Blue.

Bellamy left because of boredom. Law had no choice because Flevance.

Both ended up seeking Doflamingo  because of  his notoriety as a pirate. Both admired him initially

Doffy favored one over the other though. Bellamy always sought his approval but was never really part of the inner circle Doflamingo cared about.

Law got the dubious privilege of being part of the family despite being absent for so long. Even offered one of the highest seats by Doffy's side for seemingly nothing.

Law had no trouble turning his back on Doffy once he realized the man's nature. Bellamy tried to stick to his principles until the end despite admitting that he new he was wrong.

Bellamy can (and did) quit piracy after his ordeal with Doflamingo. Having the option to live peacefully, perhaps a return to his previous life (the one he considered boring). Law can't do that quite as easily what with his Devil fruit and his reputation.

I thought it would be interesting trying to explore what Bellamy was thinking. Did he hear the Donquixote Pirates talk about their missing 'family'? Did he get to see Doffy be amused at Law's rise as a Supernova while he kept being reminded of his own status? Did Law save Bellamy partially because he also saw what he could have been had Corazon not saved him?

On principle, Bellamy should have hated Trafalgar Law. Does. Bastard even saved him without him wanting it. But there was something about the shadows haunting those eyes and Bellamy started to wonder.

He had heard the family talk about Law before. The child personally taught by Doflamingo, chosen to be his right hand. Never was he compared to the man because Law was just obviously better. Smarter. Stronger. Bellamy was ever just an uncouth thug.

He was allowed to 'borrow' Doflamingo's symbol while Law had an empty seat waiting for his return–a seat Bellamy had wanted enough to risk everything for.

Maybe he had resented, Trafalgar Law for carelessly rejecting the things he had that Bellamy had always desired. In the end too, Trafalgar Law did prove to be better. He'd done as a child what Bellamy had trouble doing even as he was now.

But having been given the chance to observe the other man as they all recovered, he wondered, perhaps for the first time, whether despite Law being better than Bellamy, Bellamy had had it better–barring the poor life choices.

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Law and Bible stuff

This is just me wanting to know how many biblical parallels and themes I can draw from Law, the Donquixote brothers, the characters associated with them, and his backstory. Honestly not sure whether this would become a fic and in what style or I'm gonna give up and just make it a post.

Not gonna elaborate on them much but here are the ideas in more bullet points (yay):

Law gets familiar with all four horsemen of the apocalypse: conquest, war, famine, and death. He even survives them.

Law is like the son in the parable of the prodigal son to the Donquixote pirates. Except the themes are inverted.

Doflamingo and Rocinante -> Cain and Abel

Ope Ope no Mi -> Granting eternal life by sacrificing one's own life

Gods descending or living among humans. Also, Homing and his family being prosecuted for other people's sins.

That scene where they were hanged by their arms outstretched looks like a crucifixion. Also, Rocinante was on the right while Doflamingo was on the left. Similar to how the penitent thief was on the right and the unrepentant one to the left.

Flevance being considered a paradise with walls/fences/gates and somewhere Law cannot return to.

In the panel where the Donquixote pirates are seated at the table, there were thirteen of them with Doffy at the center. Same as The Last Supper

There are a lot more of these (David and Goliath, Solomon, Jonah, Job, etc.) but I kinda lost the notes and some are more visual so I can't really explain it too well. This would is a drabble series to emphasize or highlight the parallels so no proper snippet for this one.

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Law is a substitute kindergarten teacher

Originally an idea to get around most of the Heart Pirates being nameless but evolved to include other characters as kids. Chopper is a kindergarten teacher and he convinces Law to take over his class for a week because somehow Law has the qualifications to and free time. Naturally, he wasn't able to say no.

Unfortunately, despite not being terrible at handling children, Chopper's class is filled with menaces. Also, despite not being terrible, Law can still be awkward so...

"Mr. Trofao–fargar—"

"Trafalgar."

The kid—which one was this one again? Shit, he should really get them name plates or something—scrunched up his face and tried harder, "Tar-pal—"

"Law. Just call me Law."

"Mr. Low"—eh, close enough—"can I go to the bathroom?" Wide imploring eyes stared up at him.

"Sure, go ahead." Law gestured towards the exit of the classroom with his head.

The kid just stared expectantly at him and he tried to suppress the need to narrow his eyes.

"Is there… anything else?"

"Mr. Chopper always comes with me to hold my hand."

Really?

"Mr. Chopper isn't here. You should practice doing it on your own now." He said after a deep inhale.

"But the monsters might get me…"

"No, they won't."

"You don't know that."

"I do." Before the kid could open his mouth again to argue, he added, "Besides, children taste terrible so you're safe."

The kid looked stricken and took a step back from him. Uh oh. Glistening eyes, wobbling lower lip… "Alright! I'll go with you." The kid did not look reassured. In fact he looked like going alone with Law was the last thing he wanted to do. Guess, he kinda implied that he ate children didn't he? Oops.

Well, the kid needs to go and he's not going to be cleaning up after him if he wets himself.

Law glanced at the rest of the children. It was Arts and Craft time and they seemed preoccupied enough. Still, Law doubted Chopper ever left these kids alone–already he could see some of them glancing up at him, waiting for him to leave no doubt to cause trouble. That Monkey kid in particular looked extremely suspicious.

He stood up from his crouch and clapped twice to get everyone's attention.

"Alright. Fall in line. Single file."

There was some grumbling and questioning directed at him. "What's going on?"

Law shrugged. "You're all going to the bathroom."

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Shichibukai Application Forms

Crackfic where the World Government and relevant parties review various Shichbukai Applications. Most submitted by the pirates applying themselves, some produced by their own staff. They discuss and debate. As well as judge pirate resumes.

She scanned the document. Terrible format, really. If you fail to impress within the first page, you've failed entirely. There just wasn't anyone promising enough in this batch of applications or any of the other ones before. The last one had been that clown. "Apprentice to the Pirate King," was a pretty hefty credential.

"Oh, how about this one? Three years experience pillaging, and they even listed all the towns they looted." One of the newly transferred administrative staff said.

"None of these are worth considering at all. You know, when Mihawk was asked to submit his application, he hadn't bothered with all of this. He just sent us a card with his name on it and the title "World's Strongest Swordsman," underneath."

The staff perked up. "Oh, there was an application like that." There was scramble and some shuffling before a plain white card was produced. "Here."

"'From Trafalgar Law'. What does this even mean?"

"Well, it did come with a big box..."

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Reverse Hanahaki Disease

(?? do u spit out flowers when your nemesis walks by?)

Haha. At first it was going to be that way (because it is hilarious) but the inflicted would probably choke to death too soon. Or if both enemies had it, they'd end up just coughing flowers at each other until they stopped being enemies.

The version I ended up going with was that this variant of Hanahaki, instead of afflicting those with unrequited love, affected those in denial instead. The reverse part comes from the original idea that this would usually happen if you somehow fell in love with your nemesis (someone you originally hated). So it's not the thought that the other person can't love you, it's that you can't accept that you love that other person. You get cured by confessing to the person sincerely.

This is actually another KidLaw (surprise!). And the flower coughed up directly represents the person they're in love with (I went with Oda's flower representation for them because I found it funny for plot)

So the idea is that, you get sick but you don't automatically know (maybe) who it is because that's part of being in denial. Kid and Law have many enemies after all. In this story they both get it though not exactly at the same time and not known to the other.

He survived Amber Lead Syndrome only to be killed off by a stupid flower disease that apparently knows more about his own feelings than he does.

He glared at the petals. Tulips. Red.

An image of a cocky grin and a shock of red hair flashed through his mind and—nope. That's not right.

He coughed harder, tears stinging his eyes with the effort. More flowers. Now he has enough for a bouquet.

Alright, he was a doctor. He could do this. Differential time.

First, which variant does he have. He doesn't particularly feel unloved or hopeless. There wasn't anyone he wanted in particular to love him. Ok, nothing. It was maybe safe to say he had that other variant.

Which was stupid because Law had many enemies and he hated all of them.

And cue the racking coughs. More red. He was very familiar with that particular shade.

New theory. This was a new variant that somehow makes you sick when you think of the person you hated the most.

Yes, that had to be it. He thought as he all but collapsed on the floor from the sudden paroxysm.

I knew this was gonna get long. :) Oh well...

Thank you for playing. :D

[scripttorture]

I'm not sure if this question has been asked before, but what would be usually the reason why people would torture someone? Not to justify (torture is unjustifiable in any situation) but I really needed a driving force for a villain why they would w/o sounding ridiculous or implausible, and any reason I come up with falls kind of flat (... Which I suppose is expected, since that's how the reasonings behind tortures are in rl I guess)

I can help you out here. And I want you to know that from a writing stand point this does make perfect sense. Motivation, however shallow, is important for capturing a character.

 Yes a lot of the motivations in reality are flat, shallow and outright stupid. And it can be a careful balancing act, showing those motivations making them understandable without straying into justifying them. It can also be hard to make an interesting character with flat motivations.

 I think I’ll start off with talking about motivations/‘reasons’ in reality and then talk a little about when and whether we should break from reality when we write about torturers.

 Remember that there isn’t a lot of research on torturers. So I’m working from the little bit of research I can access, interviews with torturers and anecdotal reports. It isn’t perfect, but this is (so far as I can tell) the best information we have at the time of writing.

 Understanding why torture occurs means understanding that it is structural violence.

 I do take questions on abuse, I personally don’t see much point in sticking to the strict legal definition of torture when I’m trying to help authors do a decent job portraying trauma survivors. But sometimes the definition matters. And torture is essentially defined as abuse by government employees*, by public servants in positions of authority.

 Over and over again the reasons torturers give for their crimes come back to flaws in the organisations they were part of. Consistently, across cultures and time periods, they describe understaffed, high pressure environments with no training, little supervision and the instruction to produce results or else.

 This combines with cultural messages that violence ‘works’ and existing sub-cultures of torturers within organisations to perpetuate abuse.

 It’s also worth mentioning that for most torturers they’re coming into an organisation where there are already established sub-groups of torturers. The group dynamics do seem to play a role in all this. Though it’s difficult to say how much when we’re entirely going from what torturers say and they are… demonstrably inaccurate when it comes to talking about torture.

 Having said that; torturers do seem to encourage each other to more and more acts of violence. They treat it almost competitively. They will also, sometimes, approach new recruits and bring them into the torturer sub-group, pressuring them to participate.

 I’m unsure how much of a role the social factor plays in torturers starting to torture, but it definite seems to keep them torturing when they say they’d rather stop. There are a couple of reasons why.

 First of all there’s a sort of implicit threat; refusing to torture is seen as a threat to the torturer sub-culture. And these are people who have already shown a capacity for violence. There have been cases of torturers attacking other members of the same organisation for their opposition to, or refusal to, torture.

 There’s also a social aspect; once involved with the torturer sub-culture the individual tends to become more and more cut off from the rest of the organisation. The group of torturers becomes more or less their entire social circle.

 We’re social animals. So leaving, rejecting the entire social group, is a big deal. It’s hard for us to do.

 The toxic sub-culture torturers form encourages them to root part of their identity in their capacity for violence and how ‘good at it’ the other members of their group think they are. They tend to tie ideas of toughness, dependability, achievement and (often) masculinity to torture. They frame themselves as especially manly, strong and ‘willing to do the tough jobs no one else has the guts to’.

 It’s complete nonsense but it’s what they do.

 And it means that facing up to the fact torture is pointless feels like an attack on their self worth. A lot of them choose to double down rather then face that reality.

 This isn’t a definitive list of relevant factors. It’s my assessment of the ones that always seem to show up. There are usually other factors that feed into particular situations. Rejali’s Three Systems is a worth a read on that front.

 Ideas about social hierarchy and transgression are common features. So things like ‘anyone who does That Terrible Thing deserves to be tortured’ or ‘no one Like That would be in this part of town for an innocent reason’.

 All of this means that motivation can be tricky to write, because the real motivations are often not the sort of thing we’re taught are ‘interesting’.

 Real, honest motivations are often things like:

‘I think those people deserve it’

‘I was told to’

‘Everyone else was doing it’

‘I couldn’t think of anything else to do’

‘I got angry and took it out on someone else’

‘I thought it would work and no one ever taught me another way’

 That’s not a definitive list but you get the idea. And probably get the point about these sorts of shallow motivations being narratively unsatisfying.

 So let’s step back from the reality and tackle the writing problem at the heart of this: how do we make this interesting?

 There are a couple of different approaches.

 The first approach I see is to accept that the motivation and the villain are shallow and shift the interest away from the villain.

 Villains don’t need to be interesting. And they don’t need to be the focus.

 If your story is structured in a way which primarily makes the villain a looming threat and focuses on the heroes, their journey, their relationships then adding detail or depth to the villain is unnecessary.

 The Lord of the Rings trilogy does this with several of its major villains. The Shape of Water does it for the main villain. Zelda: Breath of the Wild (yes I bought a switch during lock down, and it’s my first Zelda game I am not sorry) does it with Ganon.

 Another approach is to accept the motivation is shallow and shift the focus away from the villain’s motivation.

 Villains do not need to have a grand philosophy or deep motivation or underlying pain in order to be a good read. They don’t need to be an intellectual threat to the heroes in order to be a legitimate threat.

 For instance Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, I’d argue one of the best takes on the character ever. But if you go back and watch the episodes he isn’t deep. His motivation almost always boils down to pettiness, greed and a vindictive streak a mile wide. It is incredibly shallow.

 But he’s fun to watch, because he’s unpredictable and funny. He’s also a legitimate threat to the heroes because he’s so incredibly destructive. More then any other villain his crimes are aimed at effecting large numbers of people. That sets the stakes high without any motivation or philosophy coming into it.

 The focus is on what he does each time he shows up, not why.

 Persona 5 pulls off a similar trick. Every single one of its villains has a shallow motivation. But each of them also has power over one of the heroes or another innocent person. They don’t need a deeper or more interesting motivation in order to make life miserable for the heroes. And every caper hinges on the heroes trying to stop that worst outcome.

 As much as Fullmetal Alchemist is a deep story which touches on many complex topics, neither version (the original manga or the 2003 anime with it’s very different plot) had a particularly complex villain at the end of the story. In both cases the ultimate leader of the ‘bad guys’ just wanted more power. And didn’t care how many lives they destroyed to get it.

 Not all stories need a Killmonger.

 It’s always worth taking the time to consider what your story needs, rather then what’s fashionable in fiction at the moment. On a personal note some of my favourite stories have been either entirely focused on the heroes or had explicitly shallow villains.

 The reality is that most of the time motivations for large scale atrocities are shallow and unsatisfying. Giving fictional villains deeper or more complex motives can work, but it can also mean twisting the narrative up to make it look like the villain (and hence their actions) are more reasonable then they are.

 Killmonger’s twisted vision of what would make Wakanda ‘better’ works in Black Panther, just as White Wolf’s similar motivation did in the comics a decade or so earlier. They work because they’re directly competing with the hero’s vision of what would make the world better. And because ultimately it’s about showing why T’Challa’s way is better then the villain he’s facing off against.

 But I can think of other stories where giving the villain a ‘deeper’ reasoning just served to make them look reasonable. While they were arguing for torture and genocide.

 And… I just think we’ve got enough of that in real life.

 At the end of the day your villain should be serving a role within the story you’re creating. Motivation is one of many ways that we try to make sure they serve that function effectively and entertainingly.

 But, despite what some people would have you believe, it ain’t the be all and end all of whether a villain or story is entertaining. Personality, plots, aesthetic and sometimes how satisfying it feels to see their day ruined, all feed in to how well a villain works.

 The threat they represent in the story isn’t dependant on whether their motivation is deep or nuanced or rational. It’s about their ability to follow through and sometimes the horrific nature of the desire itself.

 So I guess a lot of my advice here is to consider what your villain actually needs to do in the story. Then take a step back and consider whether deeper motivation adds anything to that.

 Be aware that the more complex motivations and drives you add the further you’re getting from a realistic torturer. Which is not inherently apologia, or inherently a bad writing idea, but consider what any deviation from reality implies.

 I hope that helps. :)

Available on Wordpress.

Disclaimer

*The international definition can include groups that control territory, ie an occupying force. In some countries the definition is slightly wider and encompasses some international criminal gangs.

[popculturebuffet]

Darkwing Duck: Just Us Justice Ducks

This is it. 7 reviews, 10 episodes, 2 teams,  7 brave heroes, 13 villians but only 5 of which are relevant here. All leading to this. One big final review of one of the most loved, most important and most awesome Darkwing Duck episodes, the ONLY two parter outside of the pilot in the show’s long history. If your just joining us, as hinted at in the opening sentence i’ve been doing reviews of every episode of darkwing duck featuring the first apperances of the Justice Ducks and Fearsome Five. The only exception was Megavolt, but I ended up doing Negaduck instead, so I could cover both Megs and the original version of Negsy in one fell swoop (A great idea and comission from longtime supporter of the blog WeirdKev27). All so I could give this the build up  it deserved and get the background I didn’t have years ago when I wanted to watch this, wanted to see all of the first apperances first.. then just didn’t get around to it, not even finding out the episode order is an utter nightmare.  While i’ve given out about this before, allow me to do so again: Due to prioritzing what got done first over proper order, ALL of the justice ducks first appearances eps were aired after this and while Morgana at least got an episode before this, it was her second appearance. Same with LIquidator and Quackerjack though like Morgana, Quackerjack still got an episode or two before this one. So yeah as a result to most kids it was a bunch of heroes just introduced, up against two new villians and 3 old faviorites. You kinda see the problem. It’s why I watched it in chronlogical order: to have this be a gathering of established heroes against darking’s worst foes... and the debut of the worst of THE worst, the true Negaduck at long last. So with the proper build this deserves and not much else to say, let’s look at this two parter and see if all my effort was worth it and if the hype is real. Let’s, get, dangerous under the cut

We open in St. Canard in Darkwing Duck’s secret HQ over the bridge, where he’s getting ready to go out with Morgana and does... things to his hair. 

Excellently terrible hair do.. seriously I love a good pompadour as much as the next person, probably unheathily more than the next person, but this isa bit much and adding a curl to it is just.. 

I mean Superman’s hair looked better at this point, and for those wondering “Wait superman usually has a pretty good look”.. welll. 

Yeah.. post-ressurection.. he had a mullet. Look there are only 4 people in the world who can pull of a mullet: Brock Sampson, Patrick Swayze (God Rest his soul), Hank Venture and Daniel Cooksy as a teenager. And he ALSO put a curl in it and it still looked okay because that’s one of this things along with being selfless, and idiots calling him bland for you know, being a kind hearted symbol of humanity at it’s best. But man the mullet was just not for you bud. 

Morgana naturally tries to change it while Gosalyn watches and...

Yeah as you can probably guess a LOT has happened.. and all off screen. Morgana is not only fully on the side of good apparently, but she and Darkwing have gone from simply flirting with one another to dating AND Gosalyn has met her and they fought the astro mummies together.. no wait that was the Caballleros yesterday.. but still eveyrthing else is PRETTY important stuff and even with the messed up episode order the kind of thing you’d ASSUME an episode would be made about. I mean this is her meeting darkwing’s kid for fuck’s sake. That’s a big step in any relationship let alone one just starting out. And trust me, I didn’t miss anything: every other morgana ep seems to have them already in a steady relaionship. I DO think it’s stuff like this why some fans aren’t crazy about this relationship. Me I think he’s honestly too good for her. 

But before they can go out for whatever vauge date they were going to have the power goes out and DW notices it’s megavolt and prepares to go after him only for Morgana to question him about their date. 

Morgana.. sweetie.. the entire city is blacked out. Nowhere will be open.  But Gosalyn offers an alternative, Morgana go along with him and while both are reluctant they go with it. So Darkwing confronts Megavolt... and soon finds a bunch of chattering teeth. Yup, it’s Quackerjack as the two have teamed up, and together easily defeat Darkwing, putting him in an electric chair. The two also really get along which makes sense: Both have similar personalities, being kinda nuts indivdiuals with a singular obession , which compliment each other as toys often need electric power after all. THey strap darkwing into an electric chair, that got dark fast and he begs morgana to save him.. only for her to accidently turn him into jello. I mean.. they say pudding but.. their diffrent things. Just because world famous sexual predator Bill Cosby promoted BOTH for the jell-o brand doesn’t mean Jello is magically pudding. If he could magically make one thing 

Point is Darkwing is jello, the villians mock him then set up some kind of device and head off.. while also mentioning a mysterious boss. I wonder who it could be. 

Nah.. too obvious. Darkwing is humilated and of course blames. morgana.. for saving his life.. as while the jello humilated him he’s also you know not dead. 

Anyways Darkwing storms off while Morgana worries he likes her. Morg.. the guy got pissy because you saved his life the wrong way with some bad aim. And before that clearly just wanted you there as a trophy to impress you instead of because he valued you in any way but your looks, because let’s face it he’s shown no intrest so far in any way that isn’t superficial and neither have you in him. You both need to actually try to deepen this or end it.  Anyways enough me ranting at 90′s cartoon characters, it’s time for our next Justice Duck to enter the episode as Stegmutt is selling hot dogs now, but no one stops because they just.. run in terror. Poor guy, good thing he’s too oblivoius to notice. Maybe Dr. Fossil had a point.  Back to the plot and it turns out the next phase in the Fearsome Five’s plan is to take out the police... okay so wait are they the bad guys or not? Questions for later. Point is we get a nice mismatch as Bushroot’s timidity contrasts perfectly with Liquidator’s showman ship and he drowns them out. Darkwing prepares to attack, but gets interrupted by Stegmutt, refuses his help.. and we get the best and most iconic gag of the episodes: Darkwing makes a joke about playing pretend.. and senseing Stegmutt is a dummy have him pretend to “put out the darkwing”.. which equates to pulling a Droopy while saying “put out the darkwing”. So the two villians finsih their job and high five and this is one of the most charming parts of this 2 parter: the camradere between the five minus negaduck. The other four just.. easily bond and enjoy each ohters company, only fighting ONCE, and then being on the same page after that. 

It’s also what makes them so deadly: the go too for ANY superhero team in any medium is to simply get the vilians to fight each other as most vilian teams are built on REALLY shaky ground, a mixture of egos and ambitions that unlike with most superhero teams, can’t really be overcome with the greater good.. because their only in it for what they want. The thing that keeps any of these groups together longterm.. is camradere. I’ts why the Flash’s Rogue’s gallery is easily one of the most dangerous; while there are outliers like the reverse flash, most of them are part of the rouges, and ascribe to their rules and morals.. and thus the camradre and support that comes with it. One guy with a cold gun or a super flamethrower or a weather wand or mirror powers.. is pretty damn tough. All four and more together, willing to bail one another out, having their own tailor and weapons hookups. The four remind me of that: a bunch of guys who have the common goal of beating darkwing but likely just.. hang out when not trying to do crimes. Well except negaduck, hence the four thing. By not being able to just easily turn them on one another, it means you HAVE to take them all at once. Even if you got rid of negaduck as both the comics and the 2017 reboot have shown.. you still have 4 immensley powerful, quackerjack included, supervillians who easily can work together instead of a bunch of angry assholes who tend to work better one at a time and just with a united goal. Point is Darkwing Duck is Darkwing Fucked.  Darkwing once again refuses help and yells at Stegmutt, because he’s been evne douchier than usual, and then makes the mistake of yelling at Neptunia, who promptly has her octopus friend throw him into the distance because .. well he deserves it. So while Darkwing patches up that wound to his pride and his spleen, we finally meet our vilians new boss: NEGADUCK. And... they do not explain why a guy who looks exactly like drake is here, if he has any relation to the other negaduck he was inspired by, or why any of them would trust him. This would bother me more.. if A) it wasn’t too much of a stretch for darkwing to have foes we hadn’t seen given the whole casefiles thing and B).. well okay this isn’t really a logical opinon but since when have that stopped me. 

There’s a damn good reason that Negsy has one of the biggest episode counts of Darkwings villians. The guy is just.. the perfect foil to Darkwing, the Joker to his batman, the reverse flash to his flash, the green goblin to his spider-man, the sabertooth to his wolverine. He’s Drake’s equal and opposite number. While Drake can’t take two steps as Darkwing without wanting some attention, Negsy is happy to avoid having any until the moment strikes. While Drake wants attention as much as he wants to do the right thing, Negsy just simply loves doing what he’s doing. To quote the Spies are Forever song “Somebody’s Gotta Do it” “Can’t you see.. how much I enjoy this, i’d never avoid this, cause buddy i’m a diffrent breed. This is my calling, and though it’s appaling, I love making people bleed.” 

He just LOVES being evil. He’s as comically devoted to being a bad guy as Darkwing is to being a good one. He loves the idea of being able to shoot a bunny, he revels in his villiany and he loves every second. But as I said unlike darkwing he dosen’t let his flaws get in the way of his villiany as much. He still does on occasion, he’s still a version of Darkwing after all, but he has his eyes far more on the prize and is far less prone to distraction. He dosen’t care about toy deals or infamy.. he just wants to watch the world burn and laugh manically over the flames. While his obessions CAN be used against him.. as this episode shows it only lasts for a bout a second and he’s usually ready for it. He’s a Drake with no morals, no connections and few drawbacks. And he’s also every bit as clever, with him winning for most of the two parter. And not because the plot needs him too.. he’s simply THAT good at planning, with his plan here being geninely clever. I’m REALLLY hoping for Frank to lead the reboot because combining ALL of this with his reboot backstory will be divine if he gets to. Negaduck was very much worth the hype. 

So his next plan, itself clever.. is to dress up as Darkwing and inflitrate SHUSH, taking out the next possibly thing that could stop them. And he does so easily, even while Darkwing is there and to show off just how friggin awesome he is predicts what Drake will say. The only thing that trips him up is drake hilarious pointing out a cute bunny, because he and the other Negsy apparently share the same burning hatred, causing him to get out his shotgun. And can I just say how wonderful it is he can use a shotgun?  That’d never pass nowadays, which isn’t the worst thing but i do question why VILLIANS can’t be shown being reckless with fire arms. Their the bad guys, kids aren’t going to see it as a good thing. And they still equate laser guns with guns. They aren’t going to trivilaize gun violence because of Darkwing Duck or Looney Tunes. 

Even being found out Negaduck still acomplishes his goal and floods thing. So now both the cops and shush are down, and things aren’t looking great. Darkwing’s still determined he can do this himself and beat them.. but it’s transparent that not only he CAN’T and won’t admit he’s outnumbered but freely admits he just wants the biggest win of his career by taking them all out 4 to 1. Probablem is.. he’s not spider-man and this isn’t the sinister six. As I said he’s not fighting a villian group whose egos clash so badly , at least whent hey first formed, they have to take turns or in later iterations have some member blackmailed in> Their working in concert. He needs help but as we’ve seen multiple times now Darkwing just can’t accept it. He has to be in the limelight and while he does have to relearn the lesson .. it works better here as personality flaws aren’t the kind of thing that fixes itself overnight. Sometimes never. It feels less like it does sometimes in cartoons, where the character just.. never fucking learns, and more like Darkwing has learned it.. he’s just so very human and thus can’t resist sliding black. Less peter griffin more bojack horseman is what i’m saying. I mean there are still bits of just poor writing, but for the most part his ego is like most of his enimies: he just can’t get it to stay beat. 

So it won’t suprise you that when the national guard and gizmoduck are called he’s not happy. You may recall when I reviewed “Tiff of the Titans” I REALLY hated this verison of Gizmoduck. He was concited as Darkwing but treated like he wasn’t, treating the daring duck of mystery like a criminal for stupid reasons and was generally pretty useless and obnoxious. The fact that hamilton camps gizmoduck voice sounds not like a 20-30 something like Fenton is but like Grandpa Simpson mixed with a dash of dudley doo right dosen’t help. 

It’s not lost on me that Dan Castellaneta’s character is NOT the one that sounds like Abe Simpson either. But while that problem is still around... the rest of them.. aren’t. Gizmoduck’s character development actually stuck from last time, so rather than be a dick to darkwing he’s warm, friendly and happy to accept his help when Darkwing shows up, thinking his old “Buddy” is just volunteering to help instead of screaming at him for doing his job. Not only that but while he still has elements of a standard superman type “Cape” hero parody... their more toned down and actually funny with him giving giant speeches, and that being useda gainst him and being over the top.. but still being the noble, big hearted hero you’d expect from the roll, just wanting to do good not for the Glory he gets anyway, but because people need him. In short.. he’s 100% better thsi go round. Well okay 80.. he still sounds like this. 

Gos also brings Morgana along, because apparently she forgot the entire episode where her father was so obssed with being noticed he tried to upstage his 10-12 year old daughter... and you know the hundred other times Drake put his ego over his job. 

So he naturally wants to shoo her while Gizmo. .warmly welcomes the help because he recognizes that people are counting on them not counting on him.  Just then the villians make their move and activate the electro slave device from earlier which.. does nothing like that’d sound like and just creates a giant electrical wall, cutting off ST. Canard and bringing the plan full circle: The villains have now cut off the town and taken out almost anything that could oppose them. And despite you know everything Darking only gets more pissy when Stegmutt and Neptunia show up., Stegmutt because he still wants to return Darkwing’s change as Darkwing bought a hot dog from him and Stegmutt’s also a really sweet guy and Neptuina because well... .the ocean’s her thing and a bunch of bad guys just put a giant line through it she’s now on the other side of. Gizmo suggests the obvious: It’s a day unlike any other when a threat no one duck, or fish or dino duck, can face alone. It’s time to assemble! And Gos is more than excited about the idea, suggesting the name Justice Ducks which.. is honestly fairly weak in my opinon. Not BAD but very clearly just “Justice League” with Ducks in it. Given how good the series is at names, you think they’d of taken more than five minutes on this one. Maybe it was disney mandate I dunno.  But the concept itself.. is brilliant and I wish it came back in other epiosdes; Taking a bunch of other heroic characters in a setting and making them into a team is always a great idea, it’s why the tmnt unvierses have been using the mutanimals more and more lately, and they do ballance each other out nicely. You have a nice contrast of powers: while multiple have super strength, stegmutt is your bruiser, Gizmo is the tech guy, darkwing’s the strategy, morgana handles magic and Neptuina can swim in anything and is super strong and agile outside and inside water, so as long as she can keep hydrated, she’s useful> Which by the way has ALWAYS been the case for aquaman.. except the superfriends version. 

He really does suck and ruined it for the rest of them till Jason Mamoa and his mighty abs, coupled with Geoff Johns run on the charcter that served as the foundation for that movie, finally rescued the character from a fucking decades old cartoon’s smear campagin.  They have the makings of a great team.. it’s just Darkwing dosen’t want a team and screams at everyone to get out and that he dosen’t need them.. I mean he does try to be softer on Morgana but.. he’s still a dick and she really should dump him. Seriously, their attraction is superficial, at this point at least we’ll see in Feburary if it gets any bettter, he dosen’t respect her as a person, and now he’s having to restrain himself at yelling at her.. for HELPING HIM. When he clearly needs it. Holy shit... I was not prepared for that amount of douche. And this would sink the two parter.. were this not clever setup for one hell of a downfall and not a key part of his character. Like has been said: Ego is a massive part of him, and as Tad Stones has put it his real arch enemy. It’s been the basis for several episodes and as we saw in the pilot was his motivation for getting into crimefighting in the first place. He means well and clearly has a heart.. but this is just as much about thwarting evil as it is the attention. And here it’s used perfectly as in the reverse of the gizmoduck episode, where he wanted attention but for fully understandable reasons and judged Gizmo more on stealing his thunder, which while petty i’ll admit is a bit fair given Gizmo did NOTHING in St. Canard but got the key of the city while Darwing had saved it multiple times at this point. 

Here he’s being petty and selfish.. and he has no good reason. It’s just his own ego wanting the credit for everything when it’s not what he or the city needs. Honestly this feels like an ahead of it’s time parody of how Batman would be written when written poorly sometimes in the years after this episode:  a massive dick who thinks he knows better than everybody else and everything else should be entrusted to him because he’s the goddamn batman, the kind who throws people out as potential parts of his family for petty shit and acts like a controlling ass and okay maybe this is spiralling a bit. But the refusal to see any other way is right? Yeah that defintelyf its darkwing like a glove and eveyrone leaves either bummed or pissed at him. And the most pissed? Launchpad who while agreeing to it, his face and tone clearly mean he’s disapointed in his buddy for acting like this when now is REALLY not the time. 

And I wish.. we got more on this because Launchpad disappears till the ending scene after this. No really. Despite being Darkwing’s best friend and sidekick and despite warranting a spot on the justice ducks and despite having every reason to pitch in. he just vanishes. I mean Ducktales may of gone overboard in not having him around since Let’s Get Dangerous, but at least that’s a valid reason: he has another family, he’s really busy and Scrooge has another talented pilot to do the job for him. Granted he’s clearly still doing it offscreen at times but he was both a major part of an hourlong and will be part of any possible spinoff. And hell even back in season 1 when the character ballance was at it’s worst... Donald and Beakly at least HAD reasons for not being in a whole lot of episodes: Donald HATED his uncle, HATED adventure, and HATED the fact his kids were following in their mothers footsteps as he only saw death at the end of it. While they SHOULD have found ways to include him more and his exclusion was pretty bad... he at least had a reason. Here launchpad just has to go now his home planet needs him. And he’s not the only one Gosalyn gets more, she’s worried about darkwing, we’ll get to why in a second and wants to go but Gizmoduck refuses.. and then ALSO vanishes. Which makes even less sense as when has Gosalyn EVER listned to an authority figure? Especially when her dad might be dead? It’s just grossly out of character for her to agree to sit things out and not just tag along with steggmutt anyway once gizmo can’t stop her. I do get this is about the justice ducks but there’s no reason to neglect the other main characters. At least have Negsy capture them too or something. Cripes. 

So yeah the “thinking he’s dead part”. Darkwing sets out to find the five’s lair and misses the big honking flag Negaduck set up, but finds a crumb, puts two and two together and finds them.. as Negaduck planned. Down to the crumb thing as, in my faviorite line of the episode, he planned on Darkwing missing the flag and focusing on the flimisiit clue instead. Naturally they kick his ass, EASILY, and throw him out a window to his death and in classic bond villian fashion don’t check for proof of death. Krakoa would be ashamed. So part one ends with darkwing duck getting thrown to his possible death...

Only for part 2 to pick up with him landing in a trash truck before exiting. And this.. is what makes the ego parts tolerable.. Darkwing.. earnestly reflects, depressed he let his own ego get in the way of things and shoo off his only hope, and thus let the villians take over the city, with Bushroot’s plants harassing people, quackerjacks teeth running the police, and Megavolt having taken the power company and using it to shake down locals and Liquidator flooding part of the city for a plan we’ll get to in a moment. He’s at his lowest point and tht’s while it work: his hubris DOSEN’T get unpunished, he’s fully sorry for it and while he dosen’t out and out apologize to them, he’s not only genuinely contrite but does work well with them and evenly when he finally does get back to them.. but we’ve got a bit to go before that.  So with Darkwing missing Gizmo takes over as big good and not bein ga prick eagerly takes the others help Neptuina nopes out of helping, which fits her personality, so with only three left because he dosen’t consider children useful  which shame on you. I mean i’ts responsible from a real world standpoint but not from a cartoon show standpoint. But anyways they split up gang: Gizmo will go take the power plant back, Morgana will try and use her spells to find the lair and Stegmutt will find darkwing. I do like despite how they neglect Gosalyn that her friendship with Stegmutt was remembered and used as a plot point here. 

So we then get to a rather repttitive part of the two parter. It’s not lacking in good gags or character moments but it’s basically the same scene repeated 4 times just with a diffrent scenario and gag for each of the justice ducks and the fearsome five member they encounter. They do their respective schicks the hero is defeated.. this is 5 or so minutes of a 20+ minute episode. Not TERRIBLE stuff, iv’e seen worse repttition, but not terribly intresting compared to the rest of the four parter.  So, Neptuina encounters Liquidator, whose scheme is selling rafts to people to not drown in exhange for a millioin dollars.. or whatever they have he’s not picky, and they fight but Liqui ultimately wins, Gizmoduck, in the best of the four sequences, swoops in to stop Megavolt and not only lands on his foot.. but spends so long speechifiing Mega gets him from behind, phrasing. Stegmutt hilariously tries disgusing himself with Groucho glasses and is bested by Quackerjack, and Morgana finds the lair but gets taken out by bushroot, though her pet spider archie escapes to go warn the others. 

So after all that Archie makes it back to darkwing’s hq.. only for launchpad to squish him. “ew a bug!”.. just a great quick laugh. Thankfuly he’s more resilent than the average spider and is fine once Gosalyn scrapes him off and they now know the five are in trouble. Also I was wrong Launchpad does return.. for this one scene. And neither get into action once Darkwing returns and after an overly long bit of him deflecting blame to the point I was screaming. 

That being said it is nice when once Darkwing is aware of the situation he gloats a little.. but still goes to save them without any hint of caring about doing it all himself. He learned his lesson.  So at the Lair of the five, Negsy shows what a sadsitc bastard he is, another great side of him.. from a writing standpoint at least. It shows that like darkwing despite a comedic exterior.. he’s VERY dangerous. And he’s set up speciic tourtures for each of the five he has: He’s hooked up Gizmoducks armor to a device that lets him control it’s power flow, so right now it’s entirely drained.. but he can overload it and electrocute him to death when he flips THE SWITCH. Neptuina is stuck under a heat lamp and will fry when he hits THE SWITCH. Stegmutt is stuck in a weightless enviorment that will also loose air when he hits THE SWITCH and morgana is in a chair that will crush her tod eath when he hits.. THE SWITCH... he really loves THE SWITCH and props to him. A lesser villian would’ve had all the traps have a diffrent trigger which while making it harder on any rescuers is just a time waster asking for the heroes he hasn’t gotten to yet to break free. And while it is based in his sadism he still fully intends to watch the deaths personally. Seriously he’s got all his bases covered.. and would’ve won.. if it wasn’t for the rest of the five.  The rest of the five are fighting over territoiry: Buddies they may be but they all want the pie. Negaduck, in his most badass scene shuts them up by pulling out his signture chainsaw for hte first time and scaring the crap out of htem, then using it to carve up the model of the city: They each get a quarter.. and he gets all the loot. Which they dont’ like but agree to to not die today. Though really... what’s the value of that? They have a full city held hostage, control over a quarter each, and no real way to SPEND the loot without letting someone else, say scrooge mcduck, in to stop them. Just give him the money and let him sit on it Smaug style. You get a quarter of a new york sized city to yourself to live out your dreams. I’d love that... maybe nto become a supervillian for that but still, point is you have carte blanche jsut take the W.  Darkwing meanwhile uses Nega’s scheme against him and plans to be delivering skulls, after flowers only piss nega off, and then knocks the guy out.. though his attempt at playing Nega fails as the Four have wisely decided that since they outnumber him and a four way split of the loot is better than none of it, to kill him. Nega.. is not pleased and just wants them to attack him, and they do, and it seems darkwing’s going to have a front row seat for THE SWITCH. But Darkwing recovers, and we get a great tug of war between him and negsy as the switch is turnd on and off on and off till Darkwing finally wins, and then frees Morgana and apologizes and has her free Gizmo, and so on and so on. So our team is reunited, Darkwing’s finally ready to lead and thus we get our battle cries “Justice Ducks, ASSEMBLE!” “Fearsome Five, GET OVER HERE!” And the two face off

And the battle.. is fantastic. Easily the series best so far as everyone gets a moment to shine. Neptuina takes out both Liquidator and Megavolt, this time beating liquidator by creating a whirlpool inside him and turning him into a watery tornado and crashing him into megavolt before he can get stegmutt. Gizmoduck beats Quackerjack handily by using a drill on the teeth, great gag then giving Jacky some ansteic.. a boxing glove to the face. And Stegmutt takes on bushroot and when unsure of what to do.. we get a truly wonderous callback as Stegmutt.. honestly dosen’t know what to do.. so Darkwing gets some payback and tells him to “put out the bushroot, put out the bushroot” you can guess what happens next

Or if you want the more recent versoin

Point is three down two to go, and we get a call back to the pudding thing with Morgana trying to hit liquidator.. before Darkwing in a show of how much of a team player he is now, offers his help, simply having Morg teleport some instant pudding mix over the guy... I mean at least it’s brown this time even if i’ts still  in a jello mold. And to finish it off he and gizmo awesomely use a mixer on both sides. So our heroes have triumphed.. almost. Negs has the controls for the barrier and runs out planning to destroy st canard if they refuse.. then being Negaduck decides fuck it i’ll do it anyway... but Darkwing stops him and we get a slapstick beatdown as DW uses an anvil a pie and other classics and utterly curbstomps his nemissi in an wesome scne. The day is saved, the generator shut down and the city freed.  So we wrap up with the Justice Ducks celebrating.. with Gos and Launchpad. I have an inlking how that conversation went. 

Darkwing relcutnatnly is forced to eat his own words and admit he both enjoys the team and needed their help, before heading off on that Date with Morgana.. though Gizmoduck tries to make it a group thing. Dude no one likes a third wheel.. not even when i’ts ninja brian. So Darkwing uses the iris out to escape, but Stegmutt does try and give that quarter back first, with Darkwing, in a genuinely sweet moment, telling him to keep it and then going off, having earned his happy ending and grown as a person.  Final Thoughts: This episode was WORTH the build up I gave it. It turns out I really didnt’ need most of the intro epsidoes, as while it enhances the villians the heroes are all given decent enough introductions apart from morgana so tht even without the context of how darkwing knows these people it still works. It’s a thrilling, tightly paced for the most part, hilarious and wonderful two parter that ties a huge chunk of the show together into one hour long masterpice. I had my issues of course and i’ve stated them: Gosalyn and Launchpad doing nothing, the pacing towards the middle of part 2.. but otherwise.. it’s perfect. It’ has a great character arc for darkwing on top of everything, once again having his ego bite him in the ass but in a unique enough way it dosen’t feel like a retread of the pilot, and having him genuinely feel bad about it and grow. a bit smug when he learns he has to rescue them sure but he’s never smug to the heroes themselves. And ironically.. he gets his big moment. While he dosen’t beat the five himself he still infliatrated their hq, beat up their leader, saved his friends and then beat negaduck all by himself AGAIN. It may of not been the big moment he wanted.. but it’s the one he needed.  As for the road to the justice ducks itself.. it was a fun ride. Only one honestly two bad episodes; Tiff otf the Titans and Paint Misbehavin and even those had their moments, paticuarlly Misbehavin’s art sequences. The rest of the episodes ranged from alright to standout and overall it was a hell of a time.. so i’m going to rank all the ones i covered leading up to this review. Just Us Justice Ducks (Both Parts) Negaduck Beauty and the Beat Dry Hard Jurassic Jumble Ghoul of My Dreams Something Fishy Fungus Amongus Whiffle While You Work Paint Misbehavin Tiff of the Titans And i’m proud to say this is the first ongoing project on the blog, the first story arc or what have you, i’ve completed. While I DID do a four parter of catch as cash can, this is the first one i’ve done over several months that i’ve completed and i’m proud of it. Does this mean i’m done with Darkwing?

Next week we’ll be wrapping up some more unfinished buisness with another Darkwing Double Feature, this time covering the short career of Quiverwing Quack and in Feburary, and the reason I spent so much time catching up, we’ll be seeing both Morgana and Negaduck again just in time for Valentine’s day. After that?

We’ll just have to see won’t we? So until there’s another rainbow, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. 

[thundersolstice]

I was inspired to ask this after stumbling upon how detailed your fan metas are and all the thought put in them. I was curious if you ever thought about what role Ratar-O might have played in Season 2? Ratar-O ended up becoming one of my favorite villains due to him acting like a dark reflection to Lion-O.

This has been sitting on my drafts for ages because I accidentally lost a bunch of what I wrote (damn app) and ragequit. But in the interest of answering the ask before the year ends, here's what I got. Sorry it's so late, anon!

Always happy to ramble. I really like Ratar-O, too, especially as a foil for Lion-O. I have thought about Ratar-O’s role in future seasons a bit, but not at length, and nothing with strong support from canon material... That said,

ThunderMeta: On Ratar-O and the Rats

First, a quick summary of what facts I’ve gleaned from canon re Ratar-O and the rats, and a few assumptions I’m basing my headcanons on:

Ratar-O was the absolute ruler of the rats, but I'm unclear what his title is. I’m also unsure if he inherited his rule (as the heir to a ruling bloodline traced, at a minimum, back to Ratilla), or if he seized his rule on his own power. It’s probably splitting hairs, but I like knowing these things.

Perhaps worth observing: when Ratar-O states Ratilla is his ancestor, he could have meant it in a “the ancient rats are our ancestors” way, not necessarily a “Ratilla is my great-great-greatx50-grandfather” way. The latter has a stronger basis in canon because Ratar-O specifically states: “…My ancestor, Ratilla…” but, you know. Just putting that out there.

It’s unclear if Ratilla was already leading the rats or if he came to power after obtaining the Sword of Plun-Darr. I’m operating from the tentative assumption that if Ratilla was not “born a king,” then he established his dynasty with Mumm-Ra’s Sword. 

My tentative assumptions for Ratar-O are either: (a) Ratar-O is a direct descendant of Ratilla; and therefore Ratar-O inherited his rule, or (b) Ratar-O seized power and set himself up as the rats’ ruler by his own hand. I regret that I had to think so hard about that.

I’d like to see Ratar-O come back for a Round Two with Lion-O in either the second or later seasons, either as a lackey a la Slithe & co., or entirely independent of Mumm-Ra. I’d like to see Ratar-O moving against Lion-O on his own (they’re fun to watch together), but I think it’d be more likely for Ratar-O to approach the Ever-Living to ask for aid in revenging himself on Lion-O. I don’t recall that Ratar-O had a huge role in the classic series the way Slithe and Mumm-Ra’s other minions did, but I could see Ratar-O perhaps forming an alliance with Mumm-Ra rather than directly handing himself and his people over to Mumm-Ra’s absolute rule (as far as Rataro-O knows, anyway. lol)

Another thought I had is that Ratar-O might not return in the second season (although I do expect the rats to join the final battle against Mumm-Ra in the finale), but could appear as a villain in his own right in the third or later seasons, maybe in a kind of “I’ve been plotting my revenge on Lion-O all these years now feel my wrath!” way. That scenario could go all kinds of directions, and it’d make a nice early arc to keep the thundercats busy while Mumm-Ra is secretly recovering/freeing himself from the Ancient Spirits/&c.

Backing up a bit, I’m particularly interested in what Ratar-O’s people do in the wake of his defeat/the destruction of his mine: if the rats were abandoned by their ruler when he “fled back underground,” that may’ve created a power vacuum in the rats’ government, which would open the door to all the change and likely chaos that follows a deposed despot; or if Ratar-O only fled from Lion-O, but maintained his grip on his people, then there’s still the original question of the civil unrest resultant of tyranny, which could only be made worse by Ratar-O’s defeat at Lion-O’s hands, as well as general observations and talk about how Lion-O, an enemy king, treats the rats better than Ratar-O ever has (“Your people are just slaves on the other side of the whip!”)…

The rats clearly have a long, bitter history with the cats (along with just about every species on Third Earth lmao), so it’d be nice to see how Lion-O unites them under his flag (or his Code, I suppose), particularly since they have a very recent painful history in the cats’ enslavement and subsequent liberation. I wouldn't expect Lion-O to struggle overmuch to convince them to fight with him, but I would really, really like to see all the conflict that comes from the rats rubbing shoulders with their recently freed slaves, particularly through individuals' POVs. Such as, a cat (with their own story) recognizing a rat (with their own story) who beat him/her or killed a loved one or the like, and the many different ways similar scenarios play out across all these reunions. I'd expect to see healing if not forgiveness, eventually, but I wouldn't mind seeing any of the hundreds of other ways different dynamics end, either. And Lion-O getting caught up in at least one of these personal conflicts, and Lion-O talking to rats and cats personally and convincing then to move on, and just Lion-O being a fantastic leader to all these people with so much pain between them and hnnng I need it.

Now to conclude with a totally relevant gif.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 224 “On The Shores Of Lake Shikoku”

So we’ve a new chapter... and a new fairy tale character to meet.

Meet the new awesome guy who joins the cast and introduces himself in his elegant tattooed birthday suit, pirate Boutarou, real name Oosawa Fusatarou finally delighting our eyes with his awesome look!

But well, let’s not run ahead.

The chapter starts with the promised Ogata colour cover.

The awesome Tsurumineko discovered the text written on it is probably a reference to the Japanese postal service Kuroneko Yamato with ‘Sā ikau! Yamaneko Ogata no hitchū-bin’ (さあ行かう！ ヤマネコ尾形の必中便! “Con on, let’s go! Wildcat Ogata sure-hit service!”) being a put on their courier service (宅急便 “Takkyūbin”). Even the small text ‘Ippotemae e!’ (一歩手前へ! “One step ahead!”) should be a reference to Yamato’s slogan ‘Ippomae e!’ (一歩前へ “One step forward!”).

Of course, twisting the reading a little and adding the chapter’s title ‘Shikotsuko no hotori de’ (支笏湖のほとりで “On the shores of Lake Shikotsu”) to the writing you can have “Come on, let’s go! On the shores of Lake Shikotsu”) which can hint this will be where our characters will converge.

The sentence is also used as a meme due to this commercial ‘Sā ikau ikka o agete Nanbei e’ (さあ行かう一家をあげて南米へ “Come on, let’s go to south America”)

Now… the visual.

The art at first made me think this cover was meant to be part of a series of ‘Golden Kamuy’ early covers presenting the characters and their equipments, then discharged because Ogata’s equipment wasn’t really as noteworthy as the others (I mean, we got from Sugimoto’s presentation the info about the rifle, the bayonet and the belt with the ammunition so the most we could get from Ogata were new info about his uniform and nothing more).

The style of the colouring, has many have noticed, reminds of old manga from ‘60/’70… and, more specifically, reminded me of ‘Cyborg 009’ (サイボーグ009) a beautiful manga series from the great Ishinomori Shōtarō (石ノ森 章太郎) transposed in various anime and movies.

The series is about 9 cyborgs whose uniform is similar to Ogata’s but commonly in a red colour with an extremely long yellow scarf (in some transpositions the uniform is white or blue but the red uniform is the most iconic). Ishinomori has also some covers in which he couloured in yellow the characters, further connecting the visual of this cover to his works.

What’s more as I said ‘Cyborg 009’ is a manga about 9 cyborgs of the ‘00’ series (001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008 and the titular character 009) who were originally people kidnapped and forcefully turned into cyborgs by the evil Black Ghost organization, led by its tyrannical leader Skull (スカール) whose name can also be translitterated as Scar,

to undergo experiments that would allow him to use them as human weapons to promote the production of cyborg warfare. The cyborgs however escaped and rebelled to the Black Ghost organization.

Next to Ogata’s image there’s his name written in a peculiar way. Ogata Hyakunosuke’s name is normally written in kanji as 尾形 百之助 but this time Noda wrote it in Roman letters except for the kanji 百 which means “100”, and in short contains ‘00’ as if to joke he’s part of the ‘00’ series of cyborgs… and from this point is easy to see the parallelism between the Shinigami Tsurumi (whose face can resemble a skull) who’s planning to produce weapons and drugs to gain from war and Skull and his evil organization.

Of course, if we’ve to assume Noda wanted to establish a parallelism between Ogata and the 00 cyborgs we would assume he compared him to the titular character, 009, real name Shimamura Jō (島村 ジョー), a half Japanese, half American boy who was shunned by his peers because he was a half-breed, became a delinquent, escaped from a juvenile detention facility before being captured by Black Ghost.

However as @raggiodilunablr suggested, it’s also possible that Noda is thinking to a parallelism not with 009 but with 001 (100 in reverse).

001, real name Ivan Whisky (イワン·ウイスキー), Russian, a baby born with a severe illness on whom his father Gamo, a famous brain surgeon, performed numerous brain enhancement processes which allowed his mental capacity to far exceed that of a normal human. The implants were inserted against the wishes of Ivan's mother, Erika (who he even kills in the manga). Later on though his father went mad and discharged him in the care of the Black Ghost as he focused on creating other cyborgs. Due to all this Ivan is a highly intelligent, genius level child, talented in scientific analysis and can telepathically converse at an adult level, often working as the other leader of the cyborgs. He has an "ends justify the means" type of nature and he is willing to sacrifice the title character 009 to save the world (though 009 is okay with it). Considering how Noda likes to parallel Ogata to a child, it can be it’s 001 he had in mind.

Anyway I recommend everyone to go read the manga or watch the Cyborg 009 anime series as it’s awesome and a great classic (never mentioning the other characters in it can vaguely parallel our cast of characters in Golden Kamuy).

But now let’s move to the plot.

Ironically Asirpa too decides, same as Ogata, they would have swans for dinner and explains to Sugimoto how they would hunt him. When she explains they use the light of a fire to draw it close Sugimoto, whose arm is still in a sling, worry they would hit the swan.

Honestly the contrast between Sugimoto not hesitating in the slightest to maim or kill people for his goals but yet being shocked by how Asirpa would do the same to animals in order to eat them to survive never fails to impress me. Asirpa first says they wouldn’t hit them but grab them geeently, to then admit they would just bash them in the neck with a piece of wood… because really, Sugimoto, how would you expect just gently grabbing them would cause them to die so that you can eat them?

There’s a minor gag about a swan and Shiraishi both being lead there by the light then noticing each other, the swan about to attack Shiraishi (swans are pretty aggressive despite their beautiful look) before Asirpa clubbed the swan. The group then eat the swan, with another recurring gag of Asirpa offering the head to Sugimoto and Sugimoto not really eating it before we’ll move to the real plot of the story.

Shiraishi had been checking the gold dust that Heita was carrying and had noticed something. Heita had kept samples of the gold dust from every river he went. It turns out gold dust from different rivers have different looks so a skilled gold panner can tell where the gold dust was found just by looking at it.

Now, credits when it’s due, for most of the Heita arc I was assuming Heita was a charlatan, using the lie he found all that gold dust and all his talks about knowing how to find gold to draw there unsuspecting victims and robs them of their money.

It turned out the guy was genuinely an expert and his aims and problems were of different nature and this chapter remarks it.

Anyway we now get a summary of the whole gold story.

A long time ago the Ainu gathered up the gold dust in a single place, feared it would cause disaster and hid it. Time went by and eventually only few men knew about it. Shiraishi assumes those men were the ones killed in what he labels as the ‘Nopperabō jiken’ (のっぺらぼう事件 “Noppera-bou incident”).

Now… originally the men murdered and chopped to the point they were reduced to lump of flesh were assumed to have been 7, one of whom should have been Asirpa’s father. We know Asirpa’s father managed to escape but Shiraishi assumes 7 men were still killed. It’s possible the men were 7… albeit it’s also possible, since those Ainu were chopped into pieces, their remains scattered, that the men murdered were 6. I don’t know. I don’t even know if it’s relevant how many were killed, we only know Ariko’s father was among the deceased.

Shiraishi suggests that it’s possible though that other people (in additions to the ones who died) knew were the gold was, which is why Noppera-bou and Co wanted to move the gold, so as to better hide it.

Shiraishi points out in the end it seems Noppera-bou did all the work by himself… which is a huge assumption. They could have moved the gold together and then those men could have been killed so as to keep the secret on where the gold was.

Anyway, no matter if the moving was done by 1 people or 8, Shiraishi’s theory that it shouldn’t have been moved far is solid enough as moving all that gold would be troublesome even for 8 people.

Shiraishi suggests if there’s Ainu who knew where the gold previously was, those Ainu should have ben residing near the previous hideout for the gold. Shiraishi says if they could find out which type of gold dust was hidden there they could figure out from where the gold came.

Sugimoto points out either way they can’t do it as the gold is HIDDEN, meaning they can’t check it to figure out where it was taken from and Asirpa agrees he’s being an idiot but Shiraishi proves again he’s all but that.

Shiraishi is awesome people, please, remember about it!

In fact Shiraishi remembers that Tanigaki told them Noppera-bou ran away with part of the gold but then his boat capsized and the gold dusk sank.

Sugimoto remembers this happened in Lake Shikotsu.

Asirpa wonders if Shiraishi is suggesting to drop searching for the skins as they had always done and start searching for the sunken gold dust.

Shiraishi points out since getting the skins might be completely impossible this could be another way to approach the problem but when Sugimoto sums up their new course of action...

Sugimoto states he thinks each step is too hard and, as to make matter worse Asirpa points out the very first step is impossible for them as Lake Shikotsu is the deepest lake in Hokkaido so they can’t dive in it and recover the gold Noppera-bou lost… and here it’s were Asirpa is missing a tiny yet extremely relevant detail.

In fact a flashback starts, reporting what happened one year ago at Lake Shikoku, hinting the convicts escaped around one year ago.

Heita went on a boat on Lake Shikoku with someone else. That someone else wants to dive in the lake and is employing Heita to get some help. Said someone else is the Pirate Boutarou, mentioned by Kadokura in the previous chapter and whose real name is Ōsawa Fusatarō.

We get some explanations on how this guy is an amazing diver, who can stay underwater for 30 minutes, has giant feet and palmed hands. As a child he was employed as one of the workers who ferries lumber down the rivers refining his skill in the water then moved to just pull people into the water, drown them and strip them of valuables, which later caused Ōsawa Fusatarō to gain the nicknames of ‘Kanbō no kaizoku’ (監房の海賊 “Pirate of the prison”) and ‘Kaizoku Bōtarō’  (海賊 房太郎 “Pirate Bōtarō”), taking advantage of how the kanji 房 which in his name is read as ‘Fusa’ can also read as ‘Bō’ when meaning “prison cell”.

As Boutarou surpasses the current world record for longer immersion and deepest diving Heita considers escaping, hoping he dies as he thinks it would be impossible to accomplish such a feat, a clear hint he wasn’t with him out of his own will.

We go back to our trio and what Shiraishi knows and spurred him to make such a theory and that Asirpa was missing.

Asirpa was wrong into thinking no one could dive deep into lake Shikoku and find the lost gold as, among the samples of could dust Heita possessed, there’s one belonging to ‘Kaizoku-san’ (海賊さん “Mister Pirate) coming from Lake Shikoku.

While the images show us Boutarou finding the boat Noppera-bou used in the deep of the lake, Shiraishi explains this ‘Kaizoku-san’ is one of the escaping convicts, a particularly tough guy… and then Shiraishi shows, turning around the package containing the sample, that Heita had already identified the gold. It came from Toppu River (徳富川), Saru River (沙流川), Sorachi River (空知川) and Shiriuchi River (知内川).

Long story short, what Shiraishi is suggesting is not that they’ll change their modus operandi, but that they’ll hunt that guy by checking those rivers.

The last page is cut in two panels, one shows Sugimoto, with his eyes white the way they whiten when he thinks at murdering someone saying they could catch a pirate if they’ll go to those rivers and, in the other panel, the flashback of the face of Boutarou, smiling underwater as he had found Noppera-bou’s boat, hinting to how Sugimoto and Boutarou will likely fight.

It’s worth to note Sugimoto’s arm is still broken so there’s to wonder if we’ll have a time skip in which it’ll heal or Sugimoto will have to face Boutarou while being at disadvantage. Hijikata also might be converging on him so we’ll see.

It’s also noteworthy how, through all the chapter, Vasily was nowhere to be seen.

I don’t really get Noda’s plans for him.

I take Vasily and Ogata will have a shoot down, but so far Vasily merely seems a character forcefully added to the group just for this, his contribute to the plot too small to be noteworthy (yeah, Vasily did something useful here and there, but it could be easily removed by the plot with very minor changes without anyone noticing) so his presence seems mostly forced.

Anyway as I’m a visual person let’s analyze the situation through a map.

You can see the 4 rivers Toppu River (徳富川), Saru River (沙流川), Sorachi River (空知川) and Shiriuchi River (知内川) Heita noted down in blue. Shiriuchi river is pretty far from the others even if, notably, the gold fever in Hokkaido started there. My guess would be the hideout for the gold should have been located around one of the other three rivers as they’re closer and it would easier to bring the gold there.

Now the river closer to Tomakomai (苫小牧市) which you can see in red and where the Noppera-bou incident took place, is Saru river so maybe the previous hideout was there.

Lake Shikotsu (支笏湖), in pale blue, is not so far from Tomakomai.

Now I left always in blue Uryu river (雨竜川), where the Sugimoto’s group is, while I coloured in red the other cities/places which are relevant for us.

Otaru (小樽市), where Asirpa’s Kotan is but also where Hijikata’s group is and where Tsurumi’s headquarters are located, Barato (茨戸), the last place in which Tsurumi was seen, Noboribetsu (登別市), the place near which Ariko’s village is (Ariko’s father was one of the men who died in the Noppera-bou’s incident) and in which Toni Anji’s men were, Asahikawa (旭川市), where the 7th division headquarters are located, Kabato Prison (樺戸監獄), which is actually located in Tsukigata (月形町) and from which Pirate Boutarou’s men come, Kushiro (釧路市), near which Kirawus’ village is and, although I think by now it won’t be relevant anymore, Abashiri (網走市).

I’m not really sure if all this can turn to be useful but I think it’s a good thing to have an idea of where everything is.

Now… unless the next chapter will deal with Tsurumi, the transitional chapters might have ended and the next one could start the Boutarou’s arc. As Hijikata has just learnt he’s on the move, he might try to converge on him. Now… there’s to wonder if Heita managed to pass the info about where the gold could be to Boutarou. I’ll go and speculate he did so, which would mean Boutarou would try and inspect one of the rivers Heita mentioned. As Toppu river is the closest to Kabato prison and, conveniently to Uryu’s river (where Sugimoto is), there are chances Boutarou and Sugimoto will meet there. It’s hard to say if Hijikata’s group will manage to get there before or after Sugimoto. We don’t exactly know where they’re on Uryu river but the distance both groups have to go through to get on Toppu river could be similar and if Hijikata equips himself and his men with horses they could get there faster… though Sugimoto could try to use a boat to run down the river so… hard to say who’ll get there sooner.

Tsurumi is currently the closer to Kabato prison, so there are high chances if he was informed about Boutarou’s moves he might reach him before the other two.

We’ll see.

What’s noteworthy though is that although Boutarou seems a vicious criminal he’s also one with a working brain and with a group of them below him. I honestly doubt he can become the leader of another group chasing the gold, it’s more likely he’ll end up joining one of the pre-existent groups searching the gold… if he and his men survive the meeting with one of those over mentioned groups.

This chapter also remarks who’s the other person who has a working brain.

Shiraishi.

Although assumed to be dumb right from the start, Shiraishi is actually quite intelliget and the proof is he’s the ‘Escape King’ a guy capable to invent always new and succesfull ways to escape from prison.

The trick that caused people to think Shiraishi is dumb wasn’t Shiraishi inability to think but Shiraishi’s tendency not too worry too much about things, causing him to act in a dumb way most of the time.

When Shiraishi thinks things through he’s actually amazingly smart and Noda hinted at it in many subtle ways. In addition to the various escape plans Shiraishi came up with, we see how Shiraishi came up with the plan to locate Hijikata and how he managed to trick him by handing him a fake copy of a tattooed skin, how well he can collect info (he’s the one discovering about Nihei and Henmi), when Wakayama proposes betting with dices he’s the one wanting to check the dices, he is the one to realize the nonsense of Tsurumi’s plan (it would be better to share the gold,), how Sugimoto has a person he loves back at home, how Hijikata planned to use Asirpa to promote his war by having a newspaper write an article about her, how he understood in Abashiri Kiro might have harmed Inkarmat and Ogata might have shoot Sugimoto, how Kiro lied to them, how Asirpa grew through her travel in Karafuto and what she planned to do when she escaped and how they do need a plan if they want to take part to the gold hunt.

While Sugimoto was just ‘let’s wait for Hijikata and Tsurumi to argue and then snatch the skins from them’ Shiraishi went and thought up to a strategy they could put into action.

Although Shiraishi can still act silly and careless, he’s starting to think things more and more, and proving he has a fine brain, a brain fine enough he could be a strategist.

Really, Shiraishi is awesome! I can’t wait what he’ll do next!

[memaha19]

Things I Want(ed) From KH3 That Re:Mind is Probably Not Going to Fix

 AKA, a brief interlude from Frozen 2 posting because Kingdom Hearts was on my mind this morning.

AKA, I’m excited for Re:Mind but still...

AKA, KH3 disappointed me and I’m still salty about it almost a year later.

AKA,  there are many “my problems with KH3″ posts/discussions floating out there on the internet and many are probably worded better than mine but, as I said, the game was on my mind this morning.

Just...the worlds. The Disney worlds in KH3 bothered me. There were so few of them but they were so so LONG. Some of them were painfully long. Toy Box felt like the longest experience of my life. Every time I thought that level was coming to an end, BAM, another trek to another area. And Arendelle...though I love Frozen, there’s only so many times I can trek up the mountain only to get thrown off and have to climb back up again. There were so few worlds, only seven, I believe, (because we’re not counting Twilight Town or the 100 Acre Woods, more on those later), that I think they could’ve given us a few more worlds and made the levels a little...shorter? A little more detailed and charming? The levels were huge but empty and devoid of the character that previous Disney worlds had in other games. The previous main games had about 10 or 11 worlds, not including the throwaways (like Atlantica in KH2) or the final worlds (TWTNW and End of the World), so there could’ve been some more! Birth By Sleep had numerous shorter worlds and I vastly prefer that to slogging through the same world for hours. Even the way that KH2 had us revisit each world would’ve been nice.  What’s more, they could’ve taken some of the massive time and space devoted to the empty, excruciatingly long Disney worlds and given us more time in Twilight Town or the Keyblade Graveyard, or put a playable Radiant Garden in the game. Those non-Disney worlds always served as nice interludes in the other games and it’s sorely lacking in this one. (And yes, I have heard that Re:Mind is going to let Scala be a playable world, so I’m excited for that!)

Related, I also wanted some worlds from older Disney films. I know the other games have had worlds from older films, but almost all of KH3′s worlds were so jarringly...current. I would’ve liked to see some of the older Disney film worlds rendered in the beautiful graphics of KH3, but, instead, the oldest film represented was Hercules (1997). Three of the worlds (maybe four, actually, with the Pirates world) were from movies from this decade (Corona, Arendelle, and San Fransokyo).

Related, they did the 100 Acre Woods so dirty. It was disappointing and short. It used to be a fun little interlude between the big worlds in previous games, a time to chill and play a mini-game and not have to fight a big boss fight. This was like “hello, here’s one mini game, goodbye.”

Related: all that Twilight Town exploration we got in the other games and this one gives us the forest and the town square area and that’s it?! We can’t even go to the clock tower or inside the mansion? When we first got to Twilight Town I was like “wow this is gorgeous!” and then quickly disappointed when I realized we couldn’t go anywhere.

Related, I’ve seen others say this and I agree: the Disney worlds seem like they’re just there, oftentimes, to get in your way. They feel like obstacles to the actual plot because they didn’t bother to place much/any relevance to the plot into any of the Disney worlds. Sometimes we get little snippets of the big story, like Marluxia and Larxene hanging around in Corona and Arendelle just to say cryptic things without ever being a real threat (that in itself is weird too, I spent ALL of the Corona level bracing myself for a fight with Marluxia only to fight...Mother Gothel’s heartless?) but it feels like two different games: The KH that wants to still be about Disney worlds and the KH that has gotten so deep in its own world building that it doesn’t have time for anything else.

Related, again: KH3 has an abundance of Disney worlds where Sora being there doesn’t make any difference to the plot. The most fun Disney worlds have always been the ones that have an original story that we’re actually involved in. Corona is just the plot of Tangled with Sora and co. tagging along. Their presence or lack thereof make no difference to the story. Arendelle is the same way.

The boss battles in the worlds were...lame. I understand that it maybe doesn’t make sense to fight someone like Mother Gothel, who never shows any physical fighting power in Tangled, but we can’t fight Zurg? We’re in a literal toy store and we can’t fight Zurg as the boss? We have to fight a weird doll and 800 robots? We have to fight Hans’ heartless? Not Hans? We fight Mother Gothel’s heartless? Not Marluxia, who’s been harassing us all level long? I understand that they held the KH characters back because of the whole “assembling 13 pieces of darkness for a big final battle” thing, but we had to fight Xemnas like ten times in previous games, they could let us fight Marluxia twice.  I feel like the other games were a lot better at having us face a combo of heartless/nobodies/unversed AND Disney bosses. But, as the game has really zero interest in making the Disney worlds a part of the plot, they throw these cheap (and endless) unversed/heartless bosses at us and they’re all so EASY. They could have, and probably should have, let us fight the Organization at the end of each world and then let us fight them again in the Keyblade Graveyard, similar to the way Chain of Memories had us fight each Organization member a couple times.   

When you finally do get through the Disney worlds, the ending is like “here’s all these characters that have been missing from the rest of the game” and the Keyblade Graveyard flings boss battle after boss battle at your face without much rhyme or reason. And while some of them are fun, some of them feel like “let’s just pair these characters together and make you fight them at the same time so we can save some time because we didn’t bother to put any of these fights into an earlier part of the game”. I’m looking at the Luxord/Marluxia/Larxene fight in particular. I would’ve understood pairing the last two together, but then Luxord is also there like they didn’t have any other place to put him.

This game is too easy. I’m not great at video games. I’m good-ish. I’m into stories more than anything so I hate when a game’s difficulty keeps me from completing it and keeps me from seeing more of the story. But I still like a little challenge. I have not-so-fond memories of yelling at the TV as I died time and time again fighting Ansem/Riku at Hollow Bastion in KH1, but I also have fond memories of finally beating him and what a rush it was! I didn’t get any of that in KH3. I’m not sure I died more than once or twice, if that.

The way they just let the Organization members hang out in the worlds and do nothing has always seemed weird to me. They’re big parts of the overall plot but now they just stand around and verbally harass Sora? As I said above, I spent all of Corona thinking I was going to have to face Marluxia at the end. Instead, they stand around in the worlds and then they stand around in the Keyblade Graveyard in the cutscenes and just talk. Also, okay, maybe I get the reasoning behind why Luxord was in the pirates world and why Vanitas was in Monstropolis, but Marluxia seemed like he was shoehorned into Corona solely because of the connection between the magic flower and his powers, which was stupid. And Larxene had zero connection to anything going on in Arendelle.

All the characters we’ve been waiting for (Ventus, Aqua, etc.) don’t appear until the very very end, which is a problem with the story pacing. They tease us, very early, with Riku and Mickey trying to find Aqua and then immediately drop that plot point to give us some empty Disney worlds. (Side note: this 100% tricked me into thinking we’d be switching back and forth between what Sora was up to and what Riku was up to and I was sorely disappointed as I played and realized it wasn’t true.) They dither in this “Sora needs the power of waking” to avoid giving us Ventus until the very end.

Just...the story pacing in general, which kind of ties into everything else.  This game has a beginning, because it had to, and something they wanted to end with but they weren’t really sure how to fill the space in the middle. You spend most of the game just chilling in the Disney worlds with very low stakes. This big battle waiting at the end is always there in the background but, partially because the Disney worlds feel like distractions that don’t add to the story, the middle of the game never really feels like it’s building toward the ending, or anything. And then, when you do get through the Disney worlds, about 75% of the plot is thrown at you in the last hour or two of the game. It reminds me (a lot of this game reminds me, actually) of FFXV. I love FFXV dearly, I’ve poured A TON of hours into gathering ingredients and taking photos and doing side quests, but it has the same plot issue. The majority of FFXV is a light-hearted journey about four bros on a roadtrip, only for everything to take a VERY dramatic tonal shift about 3/4 of the way through the game and then stay very very SAD for the rest of the game. KH3 does something similar, with the way we spend most of the game traveling through Disney worlds and cooking food with Remy, only for the game to suddenly remember at the 11th hour that it’s supposed to be wrapping up this big 10+ year long story and thrust you into battle after battle and plot-heavy cutscene after plot-heavy cutscene.

To the pacing point: yes, I’m aware these games have always had slightly funny/back-loaded pacing. However, a main thing the other games had that KH3 lacks is that Radiant Garden/Twilight Town/Traverse Town interlude world that helps push the plot along. Without that in KH3, we get a ton of long Disney worlds where we’re like “when is the story going to happen?” and then the Keyblade Graveyard where suddenly ALL of the story is happening. Previous games have let us experience the Disney worlds for awhile before bringing us to an interlude world which furthers the plot, a la the big Radiant Garden section in KH2 that happens midway through the game.

Anyway, I think Kingdom Hearts 3 was a gorgeous game, graphics-wise, and I’ll still be shelling out money for Re:Mind come January, but after waiting for 14 years for a continuation of the main story line, this game just feels like, after everything, Nomura still wasn’t sure how to end it? It feels rushed and underwhelming and incomplete as hell. 

TL;DR: I have all these thoughts about KH3 that I’ve waited 11 months to express.

[inexchangeforyoursoul]

Hello, hello, here’s my piece for the Halloween minibang organized in courtesy of the Chicken Tendies and Bacon Bits DabiHawks server~ and have the link to a more sensible reading experience (as t gets rid of formatting, too, and I’m lazy to put it all back in, at least for now): ao3

I was paired up with pineapple hair boy (dunno his url still rip) and our promt was haunted maze! \o/ I kinda included the other two we were gunning for, devil deal and ghost stories, so... multitasking, yo. Also put in my suggested fog, because as time passed, I realized how good it was even though I just put something into the box lmao

I’ll link pineapple’s accompanying piece as soon as they’re done with it, right here, in this line!! AND HERE IT IS!!!  👀

(Some of you may note... that I was supposed to be the artist. Well, it’s a long story, and likely on me tbh; I spent p much the entire week working on my piece, but I also started writing this one, and suggested doubling down on content, but unfortunately timetables are evil, and pineapple got mobbed enough as to likely run out of time if he also wanted to finish writing, so, um... yeah. This is not to say that we won’t do our original project, though, so stay tuned for the bonus round, hopefully soon! \[T]/)

(... also, I may or may not be considering to make this a full story, so there’s that)

Keigo trips for what feels like the millionth time on this way through the undergrowth- by day, the manor labyrinth is fairly easy to navigate, the kids frequenting it has kept it threadable. Nobody has legitimately tended to it for years, though. Or rather a decade, actually, it’s been a while he was here. Honestly, who cares, because--- oh, for fuck’s sake, more rose or blackberry or whatever vines to untangle his legs from. Great. Just… great.

He squints at his watch; still on time. Catching his breath after getting free surprisingly fast this time around, he takes a look at his surroundings. Not that he sees much, bear you. It’s near midnight and pitch dark. To top it off, the thick-ass fog often present, source: right damn here, has also crept into town. In fact, this is the worst it has gotten this year yet. There’s also barely anything he can hear from the dying-off autumn festival two streets and half an estate over.

It’s only him, his phone's flashlight, and the camera around his neck that also keeps getting caught in shit. That, and his own breathing that's getting his lungs numb from all the cool, wet air they are being exposed to.

Fooling around for so long has made him feel… antsy. Just a bit. The fact that his goal, that is to say the family crypt of the moneybags who used to live here is so close doesn’t help, either.

The entire plot is the stuff of local legends. The mansion is-was infamous for its… flammability, so to speak. Every few years, at least one room got totalled. Some believed that the last master had been a pyromaniac, up till the umpteenth house fire snuffed his line, and himself at the age of 60-something, out for good. But old folk said that the building had been ablaze just as frequently before his time- and truth to be told, there had been two more fires ever since, although those could have been the aforementioned kids or the occasional squatter. Two fires in about ten years is pretty normal in an abandoned place like this.

A few of those old people said the mansion had been built on hallowed grounds in their parents’ time, and the fires were punishment for disturbing the church ruins and the dead it used to house. Even fewer said the church must have been built on the very gates of hell and the ruins had kept the flames at bay.

And old geezer Giran in particular said that you could see the devil himself on the night when spirits roam free, around where the isolated belfry’s foundation stands still with walls crumbling- the place around which the crypts were erected on top of upturned graves. To be frank, the dude himself looked as if he escaped from hell, so what better myths to bust as an aspiring photographer? And even if the devil won't drag his ass outside, this will still make one hella Halloween photoshoot. He has loads of candles and some lampions in a backpack to get the mood right as well.

If anything remotely threatening pops up, though, like a mean stray dog… or a horde of drunk homeless, he's so ready to run for the hills, you have no idea.

He’s pricking his ears good as he closes in on the center of the once-upon large cemetery. One has to acknowledge the effort those rich bastards put into this dumb maze layout just to hide their own dead. It’s as if they feared a zombie apocalypse and concluded that they wouldn’t be able to get out if the hedges grow in a pattern, like, seriously. Then again, if the ‘horde of drunk homeless’ situation comes true, it will feel and work just the same, so who’s he to judge.

The scenery, too, is something to behold still. The entire area is surprisingly… not very foggy. One can see just as far as there is anything relevant to see, nothing more, nothing less. The waning moon even came out to play for a bit, shedding some decent light on his surroundings.

What catches his attention is not the excellent lighting to make photos, though, but rather someone sitting on the ruins of the old belfry, right under where the plump planet is working her magic.

He checks the display of his watch again- two past midnight. He’s late. Well, bummer… maybe next time.

That… guy, though? He doesn't look like any devil he knows of, but rather a human figure. One he also doesn't know of, actually. Which is remotely more interesting than Satan himself, because… that’s a goth silhouette if he’s ever seen one, and he’s seen all in town. All three of them.

They are a chill bunch, so he figures he might as well go up to this one. May be an acquaintance of Tokoyami and company’s who was also told about this spooky deal.

"Hey. Have you seen the midnight devil, or did he not get the memo this year?" He lifts a hand over his eyes to let him have a clearer look.

Just the way the other looks over to him, even while slouching quite a bit, is in a manner that’s nothing bar… uh… majestic, should be the word? Sublime? Yeah. That's peak cinematography. He’s… a bit at a loss of words here, because? People have waxed lyrical about the positively blessed relationship between him and sunlight, but this guy?? Has legitimately the most beautiful pair of eyes ever, period???

Before he could get too entranced by the sight of the sky blue pins of the overshadowed figure sitting between a moonlit sky and milky deep sea of mist, he notices that said eyes skim over him. Slowly, creeping down, and then up. Um…

Did… did he just check him out?

A hardly concealed grin can be heard out of his voice as he speaks up. “Hey there, angel."

… that's a yes.

This… coming from someone with eyes and a voice like… that, is actually… hm.

Like, look… he’s been looking forward college to maybe…  find someone he genuinely clicks with. But he has been through this immediate infatuation thing a hundred times already… and knows from experience that falling for mere potential is a grave mistake. What even are the chances that he’ll be the one? Put the aesthetic boner away and think rationally, Keigo. You don’t even know his name.

However, if, and IF he plays his cards well and this is not a total asshole… he could get both a photoshoot and a phone number out of this endeavor, which sounds like an excellent deal.

“Straight to the point, eh?” he acknowledges with a grin that's almost genuine. “Witching hour stuff aside, I don’t think I’ve seen you around…? A friend of Tokoyami’s?”

The other hops off the wall as he’s talking, stirring up some fog. Keigo could swear to hear absolutely nothing upon him hitting the ground. Must be the grass, but still, confirmed for cat. Not having to deal with the moon’s flare, he can now also tell that he’s about as old as expected.

The young man pauses to think for just a second before walking up to him. Nonchalance and weariness mingle in his steps.

“No, but I think I do know who you’re talking about. The kid with the raven.”

“Oh? Yeah, that’s him. Just visiting, then?” So he’s somewhat familiar with the area. Huh… how in hell did he never notice someone so obvious? Maybe he should come out here more often.

Also, is it just him, or did it get really cold all of a sudden?

“Him and his friends spend a lot of time here, I know enough. And yeah, something like that.”

As he stops in front of Keigo, an odd sensation trickles down his spinal cord, raising every hair on his nape. He’s had this once or twice when watching a legitimately good horror movie or catching a glimpse of an especially beautiful scene, or at least something very similar. It’s just the cold and being out in the middle of nowhere with a handsome stranger this time (which is kind of a combination of both), but still.

… this is not the time to be thinking ‘but what if he’s a serial killer and you are stuck out here with him alone’, brain. Thanks.

“Family business, gotcha.”

He’s onto something, because a certainly troubled look flashes over the hot--- the goth’s face as he reaches up to his own nape to rub away at it. “... yeah. That.”

The train of thought is seemingly swept out of the way after short consideration and his attention returns to Keigo. His neutral staring face is actually a little unnerving, no lie. “What about you, coming out here? Didn't quite catch what you first said.” He eyes him in a way similar to when he was sitting up on the wall, as if measuring him up.

“Oh, I wanted to take some photos,” Keigo starts, lifting the camera and the first candle he can grab from the bag, swinging it playfully around a few times with a smile to mask the nerve building up inside. “I figured it would be a nice opportunity even if the hearsay tale of the ~devil~ coming out at midnight was total humbug. This place is very atmospheric.”

What he says rouses a chuckle from the other. “Oh, so I wasn't imagining things. Been a while since I last heard that one.”

For someone deadpan he really has a cute smile. We are on a schedule here, but please never stop?

Keigo presses the tip of the candle into his cheek in contemplation, trying to steer his thoughts back on topic. “You mean, that local legend thing? I heard about it fairly recently… from the most suspect old dude." He rolls back and forth on his heels, watching out for reactions; "Giran, if the name is telling. But asking other old folks made them ring a bell, too, so I guess I was just ignorant.”

The other raises an eyebrow in amusement as the fading smile pulls into a smirk. "Maybe you are, a little bit."

Oh, come on. "Nobody is born cool, wise, or a folklore expert, okay…?" He pouts.

"I could already tell you were born without a trace of those things, alright."

"..."

He just said that. Looking him dead in the eyes.

Wow.

Dude's lucky his smile is cute, because that was so uncalled for and he's way too proud of himself. Sheesh. Anyway…

"Said the one who wouldn’t know manners if they hit him in the face…” He sighs. "Before we go down the name calling path, though… I’m Keigo." This was getting a little awkward without throwing it in, although he doubts the cocky asshole deserves it.

“Touya. My pleasure.”

Keigo hums as he moves to rummage through his stuff for the lighter he definitely threw in the bag before setting off. That’s not a very common name, but… “I think I’ve heard of you before…? Beats me where, though.” He’s pretty sure the conversation happened years ago by the crypt here, though.

Everything he says seems to amuse the other to no end. “It’s probably for the best. You seem like the type to run for the hills.”

Keigo gives him the side eye; being right aside, the hell is that supposed to mean…? And he’s so smug about it, too. About everything, really.

And no, it really wasn’t a line even remotely connected to serial killers, shut up, brain.

“Cryptic, are we?” he sighs, lighting the candle with a flickering click at last. The gentle flame sheds some dim, fog-broken light onto Touya’s face, and Keigo hates himself for being charmed by what he sees once more. That pale skin looks too perfect to be true… should feel like silk under one’s touch. If he ever gets a proper close-up look, he swears he’ll get a heart attack.

Touya blinks once, resetting his expression to nearly a default. “It's the two of us in a haunted, abandoned graveyard, inside a fog ridden maze, on the night after the 31st of October. You are basically begging to wind up dead. Coming off as cryptic and creepy as possible right now is elementary, angel.”

He… he legitimately can’t argue with that. The guy's almost as good at this as the bird kid is. “... touché.”

Stunned for words, he places his candle where planned instead. It's so stupid, but makes… so much sense. Is this why they all are like… that?

As he moves on like that without a word, Touya seems to get weirded out himself. "... You okay there?"

"I just had… an epiphany." He says, putting the first lampion with pinpoint precision. This guy just accidentally revealed some kind of arcane goth knowledge too advanced for him to begin to understand and doesn't even know it.

Touya heaves a deep sigh. "... you obviously got the wrong one out of that, but congratulations nonetheless."

“Maybe? I have not the foggiest what you were trying to imply.” He’s not that thick, but the dude’s being ~cryptic~ or whatever, and he’s not in the mood to write an essay on what edgy goths mean by what they say.

“Ah… figure that's why it's so clear out here this year… all the mist from the glade must have relocated to your head.” concluding that, Touya’s eyebrows pull closer upon seeing whatever else the blonde pulls out from his backpack while shooting a glare in his direction. “… what are those for?”

Keigo considers not answering at all, but decides against it. Being the bigger person by default is such a chore sometimes, but… “There’s some decent moonlight to work with, but these umbrellas help me get the little extra I need right where I want it. See?” With that, he turns the flashlight on and blinds the other with the sudden brightness.

“Ow, seriously?! I haven’t seen daylight in decades, turn that shit off…!”

… but, he can multitask and still be an asshole while answering the question. And laugh at the reaction, then laugh some more the decades comment as the other rubs his eyes, because he positively has the looks of a display-tanned indoor hermit. A hermit who is having a bad time.

“Wanna help, or would you rather brood somewhere the umbrellas won’t be able to reach you?”

A mechanical click can be heard in the distance; now that there’s no music playing in the streets, the bad (and always slightly ahead of time) clocktower bell can be heard signalling quarter past midnight. This seems to catch Touya’s attention and remind him of something as he stares into a nondescript spot for a while. At the very least, Keigo is certain he’s not thinking about the question that slipped out and which he will regret- if he says no, it’s gonna be the disappointment… if yes, then it’s because of all the things that will definitely go wrong.

“... well, it’s not as if I had no time to kill,” comes the apathetic answer a few seconds later, although the wrinkling eyebrows are telling of his misgivings regarding the idea.

“...”

Now, hold on… hold on, he may have an even worse idea that he’s definitely going to regret…

Keigo taps his pointing fingers against the camera anxiously. “Actually… say, what would it take for youuu… to be my model tonight?” He takes out his best puppy eyes as he looks over to him with the tiniest smile, blinking slowly.

It’s as if Touya had another light induced migraine immediately. He looks almost disgusted, which… is hilarious. “For that I'll take both your life savings and your soul.”

Keigo stifles both a giggle and a sigh at that, resulting in somewhat of a snort. He must be put off by those umbrellas quite a bit. "Really…? If that’s all, fine by me."

The answer brings back Touya to a much more reserved, if not vaguely sceptical stance. “You… sure are ready to jump the gun for that, huh.”

"Well I, too, am asking a bit much of you out of nowhere, aren’t I?” He asks, shrugging. “I figured it was worth asking, at the very least… you fit the mood a little too perfectly, one doesn’t get an opportunity like this every day. If all it takes is my birdie bank, that’s fine by me. … We can also talk about the soul part later if you want to.” It takes him every ounce of self restraint not to throw in a wink at the end.

“...” Touya stares in contemplation before taking a deep sigh and scratching his head. "Fine. I guess it’s going to be much less bothersome than posing for hours to have a portrait painted."

Keigo’s ears perk up at that. Like, a lot. "Y---you… there's a portrait?!"

Whaaa?!? A professional-ass painting, of him?? And, even more importantly, where?!?

"... I know what you're thinking of, and no, I have not the slightest idea. Who knows, maybe it even burned along with---" he cuts himself off right there. For the first time that night, he seems upset, or rather angry; whichever it may be is the strongest emotion the blonde has seen him display in these past minutes, affecting even him quite a bit. His hairs stand alert once more--- but the sentiment goes as it came, along with Touya’s stifled ire.

"... never mind. Let’s just… get on with this."

"..." He figures that being nosy would be straight-down rude, having just met and already asking for quite a bit… so he lets it slide as if nothing happened.

Keigo turns around to the lampion that he placed before the convo started.

Huh… that’s weird.

He doesn’t remember lighting it.

Overall, Touya seems to pay quite a bit of attention to what he's doing, visibly taking mental notes of the processes he goes through. First, it's a little embarrassing to be watched so closely, but eventually Keigo gets used to it and just does his thing. He soon finds himself in the zone, in fact. Hell knows how much time goes by as he keeps clicking away, barely even instructing, but rather just basking in whatever the other does, giving the okay to everything. He’s not even bothered by the bone cutting cold that’s now heightened by a breeze, because Touya seems to be a natural, and by god, does his presence do things to him. He’s had phases of architecture, mixed media with cutouts and shadow play, birds, and abandoned places, but this… this must be what finding a muse feels like.

When he's looking for the misplaced lighter for the hundredth time again, it's already shoved into his face.

"You should just keep this in your pocket, angel."

"Ah, thanks." He takes it, then turns to Touya sheepishly while pulling his jacket tighter as the light wind blows especially cold air down his collar. "I've been… stupidly quiet for a while. It must be really awkward, uh… am I really not bothering you?"

"It's fine. I like having the company."

Maybe his voice is softer than before… or maybe he’s just imagining things.

“I, uh--- same.” Keigo feels blood creeping to his face, so he quickly moves on; “I have enough of these candles left for like about one more location. Any ideas?”

It takes Touya only a second of consideration before he nods towards the belfry ruins.

He flashes a smile; “Gotcha.”

In barely 10 more minutes, Keigo is speeding through the hundreds (whoops?) of photos he’s taken, walking circles around the ruin. His breath hitches over the one where Touya looked directly into the camera right by the wall. He’s gonna frameit and putitonhiswardrobedoor andmmmakeit his ppphone wallpaper---

He can hear a chuckle behind him, and remembers that whoopsie daisy, he’s not alone. “You're pleased as punch over a few pictures… It’s adorable.”

Keigo gets red to the eartips this time around, realizing that he’s got that goofy-ass smile Rumi keeps teasing him for. Unfortunately for him, once it gets pointed out… it always sticks. “I’tsjustthat---…!! I… didn’t think I’d get such nice photos at all? Moody scenery is nice and easier to sell, but I prefer lived-in spaces and models, anything that feels alive. Especially when they’re so pret...ty. Patient.”

Someone kill him.

“...”

The thin eyebrows twitch the smallest amount and for a torturous, silent pause Keigo wishes for some kind of deity to strike him down and grant a merciful, immediate death.

“I suppose I’ve had a few years to put some patience practice under the belt.”

He fights the urge to run away crying. There’s no way anybody exists who wouldn’t see right through that… at least he gets to see that cute smile once more.

He forces one on, too. “... I can tell.”

The wind starts picking up, distracting the other. Touya takes a look up to the moon, which has made quite some progress on its route since they’ve been there. Then there’s three clicks echoing through the night, signalling that it’s nearing 1 a.m. “Well… you were babbling about showing me, too, so you better hurry. I don’t have much time left.”

Keigo snaps out of the shameful frustration only to be legitimately ashamed. “Oh… sorry, I… hadn’t even considered that you had other business tonight.” Shit. He just assumed he had all night, but Touya was just humoring him until he had other business.

The other shakes his head. “It’s no issue, just get your fidgety ass over here already.”

As he makes his way over to him, Keigo feels something grab onto his leg and the familiar itch of thorns scratching up skin through his jeans.

Fucking vines again.

He should have expected this, shouldn't he. As he stumbles forward, he sighs in immediate acceptance.

He would have never expected being caught, though.

Nor Touya’s hands being as cold as a frozen piece of meat that can be felt even through his jumper and jacket. His touch sends shivers down his spine, freezing him in surprise first; if the strap didn’t get caught around his arm, the camera would hit the ground as his hand loses its hold on it.

What he’s definitely not ready for, however, is the arctic chill radiating from every inch of Touya’s, the same icy presence that he’s been feeling ever since… since he got close.

The thing that makes him break into cold sweat and brings even the blood in his veins to a halt, however, is the pair of forget-me-nots staring into his soul from mere inches.

Those beautiful, blue eyes, that… that are glassy and clouded and definitely not… human.

His lips part, but the scream dies off in his throat.

The realization flashing in his eyes draws a lenient, gentle smile onto the pale face. “You’re slow, angel.”

Keigo's paralyzed in what he can only guess is sheer terror, his body's last resort in hopes that the threat will just leave if it's not interesting enough to investigate. His mind, however, is racing and panicked as his inevitable end leans in for the kill.

Fuck.

Fuck, he's… dead.

He's dead, he's dead, he's dead---

He’s dead.

At least, that’s what he remembers thinking before passing the fuck out… not knowing who exactly he was referring to anymore. Because he feels positively not alive when waking up on the belfry’s cold ground, on the patch of concrete that lay behind where the catafalque used to be, surrounded by what remained of the candles and lampions he had brought along, and some of the flowers that people decorate graves with.

The spot where everyone suspected a former hidden path… or another grave.

He turns around, because now he remembers where he last saw the name Touya- it’s barely legible, but there it is, crudely chiselled into the stone right above the grey ground.

At first he supposes that the cold, empty feeling that seeps through his entire being must be the nasty cold and pneumonia he gets after the deed. As the days go by, however… the shivers and cold sensation persist and his dreams are plagued by endless mazes, fires, and haunting, blue eyes all the time.

His second guess for the cause of it is lingering fear: on the camera, he finds creepy photos of himself lying in the grave once he gets better. When going through them all, he considers to delete the ones he took of the other or use them for digging, (there’s no fucking way he actually hung out with a ghost, is there?) but… they all pop up as vaguely distorted landscapes, with light spots where a pair of eyes may or may not be.

Having stared blankly for like an hour at the one he really liked back then, he throws the camera into the corner of his armchair and doesn’t touch it for weeks.

This carries on through winter, in spring, and he's convinced of how badly he fucked up when even in the suffocating summer heat he feels the veil of an icy embrace.

Once leaves start catching rust again, the chill makes his bones ache, much like they did after the encounter. And it only gets stronger by the day. He hasn't shown the pictures, developed or otherwise, to anyone. Somewhere down the line he figured… that he should just give him the photos and trade them back for his soul, because hell if that dementor did not help himself to it right along with the kiss he definitely got but doesn’t remember. Trauma alone cannot possibly cause this.

It's midnight again. This time, he's already there, waiting for the toll of the distant church bell they had fixed and reset sometime in spring. The autumn fog is as thick as ever.

His grip tightens on the envelope; deals like this are notoriously hard to break or undo. Hell, the guy agreed to have the photos taken, creating a nice little loophole. Whether he printed them, deleted them all or whatever might be a moot point.

… no. No, he can't start thinking about this right now, if he comes he'll get this thing annulled, get his damn soul back---

As the last gong dies off in the night, a pair of lean arms slink around his aching chest and pull him against a body so cold it's scalding his skin.

"Hello again, angel," greets the voice, sounding a hundred times sweeter than he remembers.

…

Or maybe… he'll just let him keep it forever.

[emperorren]

Patrick (H) Willems is doing videos on the limitations o the MCU. In the first one he makes two points that I believe are relevant to SW fandom (a) in MCU films a character is formed in their origin story but then never really changes or grows in any significant way beyond that and (b) in these movies the "character stuff" (shawarma and buddy scenes) are what people are there for vs the fights. I think people came to TFA expecting it to be an origin story that set up unchanging goodies to buddy

I haven’t seen any of his videos but I will definitely check them out, thanks for the rec! I think people tend to underestimate the impact the MCU format has had on pop culture in the last decade, especially when it comes to serialized blockbusters.

in MCU films a character is formed in their origin story but then never really changes or grows in any significant way beyond that

This is so spot on (also explains why the origin-story/first chapter MCU movies are the most compelling ones, with some exceptions, like C.A. The Winter Soldier, which actually has some character development and creates new interesting dynamics between the protag and other characters—that sadly remain vastly ignored in the following movies but that’s another issue). 

To be honest, the MCU didn’t actually *invent* anything, but rather derived this format from comics. It’s similar to the equally common “Half-Arc Season”, as TV Tropes calls it—which is typical of formulaic monster-of-the-week tv shows (e.g. Supernatural, The X-Files, but also animated series like Sailor Moon). You have the main characters, premise, call to adventure and core conflict(s) all established in the first episode, which is then followed by a number of monster-of-the-week / filler episodes that don’t actually develop the overarching plot (or, if they do, they do it in excruciatingly small steps or in such an underhanded way that you have to sit down and analyze the episode closely to notice it), then you’ll probably have a mid season climax, then other filler episodes, until the end of the season where the overarching plot suddenly accelerates and the conflict reaches a final climax and is resolved. Character development is often uneven, shallow and/or poorly executed. The filler episodes might be centered around some ‘lesson’ that the main characters learn during their monster-of-the-week fight, or around highlighting a particular trait of the characters’ personality or dynamics with each other, but all tends to be flattened and made inconsequential, as each filler episode generally starts with a soft reset.

Lots of serialized works and franchises tend to default to this storytelling mode. It gets under your skin and it doesn’t surprise me that lots of people, esp. kids and young adults, expect even stories deliberately conceived as three-act narratives to behave like this.

I think people came to TFA expecting it to be an origin story that set up unchanging goodies to buddy

Definitely. It’s funny because a lot of TLJ naysayers criticized the movie because it’s supposedly a filler episode, in the sense that the plot doesn’t move forward and whatever happens is irrelevant since the status quo is reestablished at the end of the movie. But character-wise, TLJ is a HUGE leap forward, and it changes the interpersonal dynamics between the main characters in a big way. Methinks people wanted TLJ to be more of a game-changer plot-wise, but also ironically more of a standard filler middle chapter as far as character development and character dynamics are concerned? It’s definitely true that many fans were expecting the entire character arcs of the protagonists to revolve around cute feel-good bonding moments MCU style in between one big fight against the baddies and another and nothing more complex or thought provoking than that. Instead they got a) the heroine developing a bond with the villain and having a completely separate journey from that of the other two members of the so-called “heroic trio”, and b) fanbro icon Luke Skywalker never actually meeting the other good guys in person, denying them the much anticipated *reunion* and buddying moments with the new trio and stuff.

[kman1902]

Bits and things about movies and TV shows in 2018

It is a rather similar post to what I have done back in 2016, and I thought it would be a great way how to re-start /for at least a fifth time/ to write and share some stories of life, movies and some other things as well.  Movies and TV series have always been something that I enjoy watching. I love it for many reasons, starting with the fact that you can see a form of art displayed on the screen. Imagine how many people it took to put the whole thing together. Actors, directors, designers (costume and set), producers, editors, sound engineers and way more. Movies and TV shows in a way also provide a great escape for those who need it. You can let your imagination flow with the movie and explore something above your own life. Movies and TV shows can also change our perception of life. I am not saying it alters your life completely, but I do believe that a great idea caught in a movie can be taken home with you and it shifts your understanding at least a little bit.

This is not a list of the TOP 10 movies, created by the academy or a scientifically proven list, this is just me as a friend and a lover of the arts sharing my own favourite movies and TV shows of 2018. A fair warning ahead, these are not just movies and TV shows released in 2018, but I have included older ones, which I have seen and enjoyed in the past year. I have been nice and I linked all the titles with the IMDb pages as well. /Enough blah, blah and lets start!/

The Voices (2014) - /Told you that I ain't sharing just 2018 love affairs/ This one definitely has flown under the radar by many. Ryan Reynolds is in it, so do you need any other reason, why not to watch it? It is a very psychedelic thriller comedy. It definitely made me a bit sad the next day /and slightly relieved/ that I can not understand what my animals are trying to say. 

Black Panther (2018) - Of course this is on my list, not just because I am a huge fan of the Marvel cinematic universe, but also because this raised a new bar for superhero story telling. I know that a lot of people did not like the movie, it was not their taste. That is totally fine, cause we are so different, with so many opinions. But for me the movie felt great because it was engaging both on the action, I loved the story how Black Panther came to be and it was filled with color. Also in my opinion the African style was very nicely added within the clothes and each tribes specific culture. Additional reason why it is one of my 2018 favourites is also due to what it did on a social level. If you have no idea, what I am talking about, check this article. Wakanda forever!

The Office (2005–2013) - As I had no job for a month and a half, between writing job applications and sleeping /officially we stick with this story/, this was what I devoted my whole attention to. For sure this is not everyones cup of tea, but as a person who quit working in a big corporation I could relate to a lot of things within the show. Also I started daydreaming of having a similar love story as Jim Halpert and Pam, but more in reality I was driving towards being Stanley or even Creed. Not sure what I am talking about, again? Just check out the show. The jokes are still very relevant and the corporate environment is still the same. 

Avengers: Infinity War (2018) - /Give them all the Oscars/ A second of many entries from the Marvel universe. Not everyone likes superhero movies, but for those who do, I think this one is one of the top ones. The sheer pressure throughout the movie and the rather dark ending of it brought many people to shed a tear. /Me included/ What in general I love about superhero movies lately is the fact, that it is not all fun and games, and being the best. It is portrayed as a challenge that actually in the end destroys you. Speaking in philosophical terms, it is the same as being nice and open to everyone in these days. Sooner or later you will burn out for the sake of others. Back to the movie, it is also amazing that they managed to connect so many characters together and bring a good story with them all. Marvel has definitely worked this out, and the result of Captain America: Civil War already showed it. 

Lady Bird (2017) - Yes, standing next to superheroes there is also this film. The simple question - do you remember how you felt when you were seventeen? When I look back at things now, sometimes I would give everything to be seventeen again. Take away the responsibilities and everything, but then I also remember that even back then the world felt a bit too big to handle. Most of us have managed to step away from the idea that we need to please everyone, but still we do like the idea that people like us. Remember how it was back then?

The End of the F***ing World - There are many opinions about this TV show, from people saying that it is awesome, to people saying that they don't get why others waste time on it. I loved it. It is best if you check out the trailer and give it a try. Maybe it connects to people on a personal level and it drives them to watch it, maybe that is also the reason for such divided opinions. 

The Magicians - I have not seen Harry Potter /for shame... I know... how can I even exist/ but I think this would be something a HP fan would love as well as anyone else. The premise is simple - what would you do if you would find out that magic is real? I watched the first season with a buddy in 2017 and then I binged watched the second and third once I moved back home. It is a crazy story that can also drive the question in your mind - what would do if you would find out magic exists? Watch the first trailer here and do the goddamn magic! P.S. Hurry up season 4 is just around the corner. 

The Orville - I owe a lot to my buddy Marian for sharing this with me. This show definitely receives a gold medal from my side. It is funny, engaging and it talks about so many social questions and issues all at once. In our society I would expect we would be more advance and wiser, but there are still so many instances of racism and homophobia around us. This show tackles these serious notions and others perfectly. Of course in reality most probably if we would meet alien species at first it would be bombarding them and asking questions later, but just think how our belief and general acceptance would change if we would live and work side by side with aliens from many different planets. There is more to life than just black and white, and it is my belief that we should be advancing to a more open, understanding and diverse society. Second season is out now and so far it is as amazing as the first one. 

Papillon (2017) - The story plot I think is not heard for the first time. A wrongly accused man gets imprisoned and forms a friendship with someone. But the story develops and takes you along with it. The sad reality is that quite a lot of people have faced it back in the day and in some countries they face it still. 

A Prayer Before Dawn (2017) - The plot of the movie is based on a real life story of an English fighter who is imprisoned in Thailand. It is not an easy afternoon movie to watch, it is actually rather hard to digest, because of the simple notion that it is true. I can only be surprised how in reality the main character has survived it all and how he now works with prisoners and tries to help them. 

Origin - This was such a damn surprise. Started it at the end of the year and binged watched it until the end, after coming back home from a New Years party on the 1st of January. It is a thriller horror mashup. The idea of moving away from direct jump scare and gory horror is something that I love, and this show delivered on it. Being a suspense play between hunting an alien on a spaceship, surviving and dealing with their own pasts, the survivors on the ship portray brilliantly how people in stressful situations change. The horror genre is not for everyone, but seeing that this is not the standard horror flick with gore added, I can only recommend it. 

A Quiet Place (2018) - I started 2019 by really jumping into scary (or I would much rather call them thriller) movies. In a way, I blame Origin for that, because it filled me with adrenaline and I needed more suspense, and boy o boy, did A Quiet Place deliver on it. John Krasinski has directed a great movie, playing in it with sounds and sign language, adding suspense as the movie develops. It is called one of the best movies of 2018 and there is a good reason for that. I did not like the ending of the movie, but that is something you can check out and share your opinion about.

Aquaman (2018) - Yes, I am ending the list with a superhero movie. I just will come out and say it - I loved Aquaman! I am still so hyped about it, that I am even going to take my sisters kids to see it. The DC universe has been in the shadows ever since Batman v Superman (I am on of the few people who loved it), better let's stay away from Suicide Squad because it was a pure disappointment. Justice League was ok, but in all honesty I forgot I have seen it. But Aquaman... oh Jason Momoa, hats off for bringing the character that has been a bit of a joke between the comic fans on the first spot. The visual effects, the action, the story. It was all really well combined. I do hope that Warner Brothers and DC take this into account and they maybe find their vibe in creating good movies. I still don't get it, why did they get so afraid when people said that Batman v Superman was so dark.  

Honorable mentions:

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) - Perfectly stands next to Avengers: Infinity War and tries not to compete with it. 

Venom (2018) - Not sure why people did not like this one. 

Deadpool 2 (2018) - It is Deadpool... how can you not love Deadpool? 

The Terror (2018) - Literally a chilling TV show thriller. 

Bird Box (2018) - The hype is very real and deserved. 

Outlaw King (2018) - Netflix definitely has the power to create great movies (most of the time)

Darkest Hour (2018) - As it turns out Mr. Churchill in real life was not such a nice guy, but Gary Oldmans performance of the character was amazing. 

Altered Carbon (2018) - I like Sci-Fi and in particular I liked Blade Runner 2049, and this gave me a similar feeling to it. 

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017) - I did not know Vince Vaughn could play such a strong and steady character. This movie reminded me Shot Caller which in a similar way undeservedly flew by people. 

I did not get it:

The Predator (2018) - They had such an amazing material (first two movies in particular) to work with, but they created such a dud. 

Bright (2017) - I miss the days when Will Smith was in good movies. 

Skyscraper (2018) - I know that The Rock can do way better movies. Just look at The Rundown (2003). 

Daddys Home 2 (2017), Tag (2018) and Night School (2018) - Comedy movies in general are facing a hard time, it could be because most of the jokes have already been said and also because it is hard to connect with a slightly older audience. /Yes, yes 27 is not that old, but it is not that young as well either/ I think comedy movies should stop dumbing it down and maybe trying to find more intelligent and maybe sarcastic approach to jokes. Not saying that the movies are bad per say, but they are not impressive enough in a genre that deserves and needs impressive, good comedy movies. 

Murder on the Orient Express (2017) - Tried to watch it at least three times and could not finish it.

This is for sure a view point of my own and I am not expecting that everyone would have the same opinion about the movies selected. Movies and TV shows are something to enjoy and entertain ourselves with. It is not just the story plot, the acting, it is also camera work and playing with words and in some cases even sounds. Spending their free time in front of the screen is not for everyone, but for me, I love a good movie and TV show, the same as I love reading a good book in the morning whilst going to work. 2019 will be an interesting year for movies and TV shows, as Marvel is releasing Captain Marvel, Avengers: End Game, there will be also many great shows returning like The Magicians, The Punisher, Vikings is now running as well, and of course Game of Thrones comes to an end. 

Have I missed something watch worthy? 

Let us hope for a headbanging and awesome 2019 inside and outside of the big screen!

[tammyhybrid21]

Words on Superheroes

Let’s talk about a trope that people like.

Or rather a concept that people like. Superheroes. Superheroes and superpowers. This comes more or less directly as a result of my brother constantly bursting into my room and discussing it... also as an aside, there’s also the face that Boku no Hero Academia is still somewhat popular. One Punch Man, and everyone still enjoys Marvel and DC so yeah.

Let’s talk about this.

Yeah, this...

So where do I begin... maybe with my own experiences with the trope... which y’know that’s always a good place to begin, whether or not it goes anywhere... so here I go. In my experience, superheroes are just one of those things that has crept into more or less everything... Or at least the concept of beings with otherworldly or otherwise alien/superpowers has crept into more or less everything. Whether it’s your typical super speed, telekinesis or super strength, or even flight, it’s hard to argue that it’s not something that we’re fascinated with.

So, what are my experiences with it...

Well, first off, let’s get the most awkward example out of the way... my Sonic Fandom days... Yes... you heard that right, Sonic Fandom. I uh... went through many phases while I was in Sonic... so you know that’s all good and cool, and...

But yeah.

I’d have to say that Sonic the Hedgehog and his fandom would be what first introduced me properly to the concept of characters with superpowers... before that I was vaguely aware of the superhero fandom, but not really interested in it or anything... I mean, sure there was Spiderman... but... anyway... let’s move onto why this is important...

Furries... And the Furry Fandom...

Yes, I cringe. I cringe because back in the day I was definitely on the fringes of it. Mainly with the Sonic Fandom, which was also where I got into the concept of superpowers, notably superpowered anthros. Because it seemed to be a fandom rule. If you had an OC, they had to have some kind of extra special ability. They couldn’t just be straight forwards...

Which lead to a slew of characters... and well, many of those characters are still around, albeit no longer as Sonic characters... rather... more... general anthro characters. And I’m not really going to talk too much about them... but it is something that I do need to mention... Especially since that’s a concept that I keep returning to in various different iterations as well.

And of course, there’re my surviving OCs who are still around and in use.

Notably, the Fox Triplets, Buziba, and Mana, yeah. Aside those guys, there’s Tony, Zeke, Tamara Alto, The entirety of the Solar and Luna Kingdoms, Vidiarka, Speedy & the rest of the Secret Freedom Fighters... and if I keep going I’m just going to end up with a giant list of characters who you’re going to have no way of decoding or understanding... all you people need to know really is... I have literally hundreds of characters from my Sonic Days...

And the majority of them have some sort of power or other oddity about them. Which alright... I can give my younger self kudos for creativity.

But that’s where I need to get to the point. In the context of the wider universe did it make sense to have over a hundred characters each with their own powers and abilities? Not really... Even as different and as varied as they are... it’s kind of ridiculous looking back that absolutely everyone seems to have some sort of ability...

And sometimes they couldn’t even use them.

Buziba with his telepathy/empathy and the inability to turn it off, Mana literally being time personified in the end... no literally, he was and still is. A small five year old known as the Son of Time... Weak in body, but in spirit and mind-- yeah not so much... And then there was Tai, the ten year old mutt with a “jinx”... And those are the simple ones...

“Simple”

Some like Tamara, my first OC, and kind of obvious self-insert was a bit more complicated with her electrokinesis that also gave her super speed and the ability to absorb electricity and withstand it... Of course I do vaguely recall that she had an upper limit of... I think it was around 50,000 watts? Maybe, I dunno, I can barely remember. And I apparently didn’t have it in her profile... So you know, that was a thing.

That was a thing...

I can’t find the full information on... Aside her, there was her cousin who was a pyrokinetic... and well, her squad of siblings. Who I can vaguely recall all had their own similar vein abilities. Runs in the family and all you know... her slightly younger brother was water, the twins were both earth, Freedom water... she was kind of the odd one out huh... then again fitting...

Of course, Sonic Fandom was also the fandom that spawned my habit of making young characters the most OP things ever--

Mana isn’t the only example of that...

There’s these guys.

These guys... known as the Emerald Children, or the personified Chaos Emeralds... and yes I still have them, and they still look like this. So I should probably give you the basic rundown... But that’s a bit... heh... kind of weird to think about... But for the basic of basic explanations each character had an assigned element and their name vaguely linked them to it.

Scintilla-Energy-Fennec Fox, Ignis-Fire-Chinese Dragon, Alchemy-Light-Gerbil, Hydro-Water-Bottlenose Dolphin, Noctis-Shadows-Honey Badger, Dust-Eartth-Mole and Aero-Air-Masked Owl

Pretty obvious and basic... and since they appeared as kids, of course they were going to be in the Chaos business. They’re kids... how could you expect them to be anything else? Also... I remember having a kind of logic behind their species... But I never really wrote down exactly what that logic was so...

All I’m going to be able to tell you is what their species even are... and before anyone asks... yes they are still those species, and they are still the personification of Chaos Children... Which is still a fun topic... but not one I’m going to get into...

Also these kids... along with Dino, and Inu existed long before Mana...

But you know... I’m not going to talk too much about that, since it’s not really relevant, aside the fact that yeah... really, really young characters with near godlike abilities... Each of them literally personified the element that they were associated with, along with the rest of the power of Chaos...

Which... you know... chaos in Sonic is a little bit ill defined... what even is it? Some kind of magic force, who knows.

It’s chaos we’ll leave it at that.

So... moving on from Sonic, the second fandom that really introduced me to Superheroes as a proper concept was Marvel. Which... actually happened because of a friend of mine. We had this whole concept, a whole story... A whole series actually planned regarding the Marvel universe...

And this is where things get... well weird. You see, I still have all the notes from that whole idea, and it was spawned with some help from the Superpower’s Wiki and the random generator. We both hit the randomize button, twice mind you.. and those were our powers...

If anyone asks, I’m not sure if I’ll answer what mine were but for a small hint of the endgame, the entire thing was to be called Unlikely Balance once it was all done and finished... why is this important...

Because this is where I started to think a hell of a lot more about the concept of powers and the world. At this time, I was still deeply into Sonic and the majority of my OCs were still getting random powers... Sometimes... rather literally.

You see, as a concept Unlikely Balance forced me to stop and actually ask some questions in regards to the world and the characters that we were using, particularly our main trio...

I mean, it was just the two of us who were going to Author it but...

Three main characters.

Genevive Stone/Vidal, Tamika Lore/Mortimer and Lachlan Garvin

And shit... 104 pages worth of discussion and ideas... which... wow... okay... looking at that is very, very intimidating. Especially with the understanding that it started as just us two playing around with the concept of us having powers and then kind of wondering, but what if...

Which lead to a buttload of discussion. And again, it was really the first time I had thought of powers beyond the small perspective of, a character with powers... Since the Marvel Universe really was quite extensive and wild... which meant that we had to figure some things out... especially in regards to how the characters met, whether they knew each other before and in the greater scheme of things what their powers meant...

Of course they begun as just... you know... kids. Kids who had to grow up...

They started the whole series as nine year olds, after all. Which meant we had to really factor in how having those abilities would affect those around them, and what protocols would be followed. How would their families treat them over the abilities and everything--

And I really don’t know if I would be able to really dig through a 104 page document to find all the most important details... Also, by the end it had shifted I remember, from being a Marvel story to potentially an original one... since all that we really needed were our main three characters and the plot.

There was a lot in there actually.

Politics, Laws and the ideas of what exactly is legal for a superhero, and the musings on Secret Identities... to a cult after our main trio because they had a greater destiny due to a time travel screw-up and paradox plot... which... wow-- what a detail to just remember right?

Also there was some stuff about growing up and dealing with that, because of course, they start as kids and the world has some lessons to show them. Which gets into the morality arguments of the whole issue.

Which were huge.

Morality.

Is it right for a superhero to kill, or what?

Which while I won’t go into too much detail... the whole issue is kind of hinted at with their names, along with their ultimate fates... which you know... I’m not going to spoil because there’s the hope that maybe we can or will finagle this into an actual story at some point... maybe.

Who knows?

I mean I sure don’t... right now it’s just a lot of discussion and chaos and well, you know. Needs a lot of sorting...

But on the topic of whether or not it was right to kill villains... well, the two main character’s had what I remember as being somewhat opposing views on death, and whether killing was alright... in fact it spawned a sub-plot where they have to deal with the whole issue... which is kind of funny when it comes down to it because the one who’s more... “morally upright” was the one who was more alright with killing and the one who killed first...

And isn’t that an issue.

But at the same time that’s a huge conflict right there... the plot of an entirely arc... Also I forgot how often a character dies and then comes back to life in this... which is another thing I suppose that I should touch on, but even in context it’s... weird.

Or tricky...

But you know, it was our loophole to deal with how often a superhero would die only to come back... and it was because of clones... Which you know, that’s a perfectly logical explanation one of the trio had the ability to make clones, and those clones would tie to the souls of them, so each time they died, they merely woke up in the body of one of the clones, keeping the experiences...

Which--

Which actually made their ages rather fuzzy if I’m going to be completely honest because the clones didn’t really age from the point that they were first made unless they were disconnected-- which also had a couple of clone villains involved and boy wasn’t that a whole huge mess...

I also don’t remember the order of events as clearly as I would like to-- I mean, I have each arc written but-- well that doesn’t matter as much.

But there was a lot of themes explored in that whole mess, because it wasn’t as simple as here are a bunch of characters with powers go. Unlike in the Sonic Fandom, where it was just... most people seem to have powers for one reason or another... or at least the majority of them do.

So we got into the whole, Mutants, Metas and Aliens-- which alright. There was also time-travel and the exploration of where these powers came from albeit only a base touch down. And since it was Marvel, you can bet we delved into what about the normal human population and all that.

It-- It was heavy.

But ultimately incomplete, and while that did delve into the darker side, it ultimately became just another story about growing up.

Just with superpowers.

Aside that there’s my... Lunia Series.

Which is actually funnily enough a bit of a BNHA story before Boku no Hero Academi-- what if, what if everyone in the world had powers? That was the entirety of the Lunia Series. And... there wasn’t actually all that much more to think about--

Oh

Wait

Actually

The Lunia Series started with one character, and one concept. Like legitimately it started with a character concept of someone with invisibility-- a character who struggled to be seen at all. I mean that was what I started with... and then came the royalty plot, and her “friend” Max-- it grew an awful lot.

And I mean a lot, there’s a whole series-- which actually means I need to stop and talk about this a little bit, because the Lunia Series was my first big project and one of the stories from it... well that was my first year’s NaNoWriMo story...

An absolute mess, I mean I definitely learnt from it... but the issue with that mess, was well-- I got to the word count and hadn’t even hit the first major climax in the story yet. Which okay fair, fair, guess it really was going to be a superhero story-- except Prophecy wasn’t.

It was a story set in the same universe, with another ton of wold-building and ideas like Unlikely Balance... but... You know...

I had a super, super vague idea of the plot for that...

guy writes a fake prophecy so he can run away from the throne, years and years later people are taking it seriously and they think that Ace is the prophecy child, No he's not, Ace decides he has to be and steps up into the role, Prophecy was never real letter found, Chaos, Wait but everything matches it, Ace continues to be Prophecy child... and eventually Rules the country because ??? that's what the prophecy was about...

But beyond that I never had too much of a plot direction it was just Chosen One, Unchosen One, wait he is the real Chosen One playing around with... And a lot of symbolism and doubt and family is super important... with some crossdressing for plot!

Which didn’t translate the best into an actual plot. But it did have so many concepts that I really want to come back to. Because wow, I loved these characters, still love these characters...

But those two stories. Invisibility and Prophecy weren’t the only ones set in that series-- and warning for a specific plotline, regarding Rape and Rape Tropes, but there was a third story called Survivor that I still have the plans for. And this one is where the morals of a society based around superpowers really came into play.

With a lot of questions over self and what constitutes as a crime, and how willing is willing and it was a huge mess. Because some powers muddy the lines, and there’s a huge question in regards to consent and choice...

Which you know, I guess that was something. Also a lot more on the topic of heroes and villains since it was set in a different country from either of the ones that were featured in Invisibility or Prophecy... which actually crossed over a lot closer than one would expect since Tecusa(Invisibility’s Protag) ended up receiving refugees from Dená in the story, refugees that were featured fleeing in Prophecy-- among other crossovers regarding the news and developments in both countries...

And then there was Survivor which was the most set aside of the three.

Taking place in a more traditional Heroes verses Villains setting because that was the way that country was laid out. Nitida, the country of heroes and villains. Set apart from the rest of Lunia by their constant chaos due to that culture... much, much more comic book here--

And then the main character was a rape victim...

Which ahhh... yeah. That was also where I hit that phase, toot toot here come the characters I designed from more or less pure spite because I hated how certain tropes were used and overused... so... I ended up with quite a few character’s who’re kind of-- well.

And no, this isn’t Buziba. Although he falls into the same category. This character was Benjamin “Ben” Chandler... And looking back over my notes... A transboy who’s family accepted him, which alright. Guess younger me had more than a few reasons for why things were happening, but it’s still really, really, really bad.

The execution could always be better.

But that’s why Survivor existed.

To explore those darker things. The crimes that happen, and people don’t want to acknowledge. And Benjamin is a more egregious example, I’ll be real. He’s... not a good character in hindsight, but hey A++ for learning...

Buziba’s a much better character in general and his backstory for it all makes, more sense. But at the same time, I’m not going to lie. My wild boy definitely has more than a few rough spots in his backstory and character that make him something of a cliché/stereotype for this... or at the least, that make the one doing this to him such.

I mean... LOOK AT THIS BOY!

Anyway... Ben did explore another side of the world... and I’m going to leave it at that because honestly. Not much more, to say...

So let’s get into the part of the whole superhero plot that people probably really want to know about, more than stories and themes-- powers.

And what ones I think are more, or less useful. More or less scary. Which ones are the most surprisingly dangerous? Surprisingly tame?

And this--

This is tricky

It really is. Like there are honestly a few powers that no matter what they’re kind of lame, like glowing, but there are others that seem useless, but can be downright terrifying when used in the right, or wrong way. There are some that are just unchanging, and then there are some that sound interesting but always get used in such route and predictable ways...

And then there are the powers that tumblr has gotten it’s claws into and turned into something of pure nightmare fuel by making you stop and think of the greater implications that they imply and the domino affects that they would have. It all matters. It all comes tumbling down. Thankyou tumblr.

But seriously, think about this--

Think about it--

Because how many, how many of these powers have required secondary abilities? If you turn invisible you have to have some other way of seeing things to be able to operate and function in the world to actually be able to live. Super strength and speed both require extra resilience. A healing factor is pretty much required for most powers, by default.

But seriously, how often do people think of these things...

Or the side-effects of healing either...

Aside what Boku no Hero Academia has been doing. Which you know that’s a first, we don’t see the consequences so much. And it messing up your natural healing, that’s good. Really good and interesting. Also... anyone else-- anyone else just generally freaked out by healers in general. You never know exactly where their healing comes from.

Positive or negative.

Also... those who know how to put you back together... typically also know the best way to tear you apart and to absolute shreds. So... you know, fear the healer.

No seriously. Fear. The. Healer.

Fear them.

I want more dangerous healers. Personally, I love my villain healers, villain doctors. Because wow. Break you and remake you. But whatever you know.

I mean, aside that, there’s also that one tumblr post about probability manipulation and wow, wow does that get scary when played a slight bit darker.  But seriously, the general rule for this is really-- really down to creativity. How creative can you be with the powers nothing more nothing less.

I mean I even discussed it with a friend regarding fixing the Power of Three arc in the Warrior Cats series...

Which you know, there is a way to fix that. Although that’s an old cup and in general for Warriors I never got past the first arc and Firestar’s quest so most of what I know is generally, what the fandom puts out more or less... but then I’m the same with most of Naruto because the protagonist just rubs me the wrong way.

But he’s a good example of flaws in a system and disabilities and just... ultimately I don’t know...

But if anyone’s curious about fixing the Three... well, a small thing is it’s kind of spoilers for the vague, extremely vague plan I have regarding my Unbound Unleashed series following Tinderkit-- still, a small hint is the thematics of Mind-Body-Spirit... so do with that information as you will.

Also on that note, special abilities in Warrior Cats in general is an interesting concept, because aside communication with Starclan there is the concept of prophecies and seers, although that’s another pile of prey that I’ll have to get into some other time--

Maybe when my Warrior Cats muse actually returns.

So yeah...

I think that’s all I can really say on superpowers. There’s a lot to say, but I don’t really have much that I can cohesively piece together when I’m just kind of gushing and babbling to fill up my word count for NaNoWriMo, since this month is meant to be vent... so...

Yeah, done.

[zydrateacademy]

Review - Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

Some of my readers may recall that I found Origins to be lackluster, or at least my review gave off that impression. I believe one of my quotes was, “An extra year of work and this is all they could come up with?” I’m going to be honest, while I did have a good couple dozen hours on Origins I feel that kind of opinion was premature. I actually found Origins to be quite fun, and I would go on to play and beat it up to three times, including a full playthrough on my YouTube channel. Origins was fine and the combat was fun. Odyssey comes to us with a lot of the same ‘feel’. The combat is largely the same but with some tweaks, and I’ll get onto that shortly. I do have some vague gripes but I’ll attempt to salvage what little I know of the game’s story to start people off with.

Also, there will be spoilers in this review. We return to Layla Hassan, the vaguely ‘rogue’ Abstergo employee that found Bayek and Aya in the previous game. Apparently there was a bit of a timeskip or there’s even more lore I’ve lost out on not reading the comics, because there’s some implication that she went full on rogue and is in hiding from Abstergo, now. I’m not even really sure what her motivations are anymore other than a more classic artifact hunt, from the precursor race that has haunted the series. She finds the spear of Leonidas which has the DNA of two siblings, which she can use to hunt through their memories due to an upgraded Animus, as opposed to digging through one’s own ancestors. I still find it a bit odd. In the first couple of AC games, it was implied that the precursor race and their technology was a mostly recent find and the two secret societies were practically scrambling just to get their hands on one. Here in Odyssey, we’re practically tripping over them. The main antagonists have one that is some kind of mind-reader. The spear of Leonidas turns out to be one. There’s a series of mini quests where you find a half-dozen “Apples of Eden”. Remember that? From The first three games? The entire plot centered around one, and now we get several!  So we’re put in the bodies of one of two protagonists, Kassandra or Alexios. Most sources I spoke to have chosen Kassandra, and there’s some consensus that her voice acting is stronger. I admit my choice is a bit more personal. I, like many people, are starved for proper female protagonists. Evie in Syndicate was plenty of fun but the game still forced Jacob gameplay on you from time to time. Playing as Aya in Origins was mostly a gimmick, only in naval combat (a precursor to Odyssey’s current style) and during some of the finale segments. She wasn’t customizeable, couldn’t change her gear or anything so again, mostly a gimmick. Yikes, this is a lot of negative for what is really a good game! Maybe I’m getting it out of the way? I did say there are several improvements, so let’s get down to the mechanics of the game. There’s a lot of them, now.

The combat is a lot more fluid and reminds me of the days in Unity where you actually had to think about how you fought. In Origins, I basically dodged everything and used the heavy attacks exclusively. That’s been tweaked here, as I feel Kassandra’s dodge is a bit shorter range and the full on dodge puts her much further away from the enemy that is desirable so you must decide what kind of dodge to use and when, but mostly it forces you to learn how to actually parry. Parrying has been in pretty much every AC game but this time it actually opens enemies up for combo attacks, wherein you can mix and match light and heavy attacks, and there’s eventually a perk to pick up to give you bonus damage if you do exactly that.

You have three kinds of damage trees you can actively focus on this time around. Between Hunter, Warrior, and Assassin, which are all self explanatory. Rather than keeping them all even, you can actually choose to focus on one style over another. I am personally trying to keep my Assassin and Warrior lines fairly even. Stealth is, as in Origins, incredibly powerful but you won’t be able to one-shot enemies anymore if you are under geared or have been neglecting your spear (which is your blade in the absence of the hidden one). Open combat is however, extremely common so I can’t imagine going full Assassin and being able to get much done. Maybe by better gamers than I.  Moving on, the world is... extremely large. I’m not sure how much larger than previous games they’ve claimed but it’s probably true. Adding to that fact is Fast Travel is only linked to Synchronization points rather than any and every city or major outpost. With a further lack of those, you’re forced to run or mount your way through the world and I’m here to tell you... you’re going to actually want to. Most of the world’s various points are in fact, relevant to something. Ancient ruins have tablets as loot that you’ll need to upgrade your ship. Alpha animal dens typically have high amounts of leather, mines have metals. Many points even have clues against cultists (which I’ll get into later), legendary gear or just fighting will lower the power level of the region which unlocks Conquests, a fun full-battle gimmick which again, I’ll describe shortly. Basically, there’s almost always a reason to actually explore a majority of question marks on your map as you’ll walk away with something that’s worth your time. Browsing my map just now, I can see I’ve skipped a few but I imagine something will take me to them in the future.

This game has a couple of new features that mixes things up. We’re in the Peloponnesian War, which reflects as an actual game mechanic. Every region is controlled by either Athens or Sparta. Your character is a mercenary and can choose to fight for either side at any time without any consequence, and you’ll be forced to after a certain point. I picked up a contract (which are constantly spawning quests, so there’ll never be anything to not do) that required me to kill three Athenian region leaders. Unfortunately, I had been favoring Sparta up to that point and all the regions within my level at the time were all controlled by Sparta. I had to kill and weaken my own favored people in order to shift the control so I could do it all over again against a different faction for epic gear and rewards. Doing all of this unlocks conquests, where are full on battles where you fight hordes of your chosen enemy faction while dealing with captains, bosses, and mercenaries that like to pop up during them. It’s probably the more fun of the new mechanics but I can already see it as just ‘going through the motions’ at a certain point, but they’re worth doing due to the amount of experience they offer.

Speaking of Mercenaries, the game has a bounty and “Wanted” system, reminiscent of earlier games. In games like AC2, your wanted meter affected how quickly Ezio got caught by patrolling guards. In Odyssey, you get hunted by enemy mercenaries which you can choose to kill or knock out and recruit them to your ship’s crew. There’s even an entire tier system as your character earns their way up a “tier” listing and eventually become the top dog. It’s all very similar to Shadow of Mordor’s orc hierarchies but it’s a less complex variant. They all have their unique names, backstories, and weaknesses but there are no over-bosses and nothing you can really do to manipulate their flow. You can only really control your bounty meter, which you can pay it off or kill the sponsor who hosted the contract against you. Beyond that, it lends to some interesting encounters. One merc helped me against a legendary animal quest, but more often than not they’ll come swarming when I’m trying to stealth or fight through an enemy fort, usually resulting me in fleeing. When they show up, it almost always complicates matters so unless you’re actively hunting for the gear they carry, it’s best to keep your bounty as low as possible.

Also having the same ‘feel’ as Shadow of Mordor’s orc mechanic is the Cult of Kosmos. I only found this story arc, maybe an entire fifteen hours into the game but that’s because I spent several doing nothing but exploring the map as my level allowed. Still, it’s a very interesting idea. Once you discover their existence you’re given an entire menu to hunt them down, and doing so is necessary to power up Leonidas’ Spear, alongside several very powerful legendary sets of armor. The idea is that you don’t have all of their identities unlocked and cannot track them all immediately (though it does give you a handful of freebies to get you started). Instead, you have to explore the world or actively investigate some of the clues they give you. This one is fairly straightforward;

However I once had one that said he was in a “Wolf’s Den” in a certain region, so I had to do some actual footwork. Another was near Athens and just told me to “help people nearby”, which turns out that I just had to do several side quests before their identity was revealed. So some of them are locked behind the story, you won’t get them all right away. It’s a very interesting way to go about it. As I said earlier about the world, you might just trip over some clues as you’re out exploring. While some cultists might be locked behind story, there WILL be some just actively wandering the world and you might not know you’re killing one until the “confirm cultist kill” message pops up. Next we have the naval combat, which I have mixed feelings towards. Black Flag is the series golden boy in terms of naval combat, and is one of the best games in the series if you can stomach the more lackluster main story missions (though the story was great overall and I liked Edward’s arc). While there’s certainly some complexity to be had in Odyssey’s ship combat, I still find it a bit more flighty and fast paced, but not in the best way. In BF, the ships felt... meatier. While not being slow, they were big and they hit the waves in a convincing manner. In Odyssey and even Origin’s own special segments, everything just hauls ass and cuts through water like it’s not even there. Even ramming is considered a major part of ship combat and frankly, I’d prefer the balancing flow of firing volleys and bracing against their own shots at the right time. You even get extra rewards if you manage to cleave a ship in two when you’re finishing them off.

I’d rather just shoot stuff, honestly. It still retains its enjoy-ability and I don’t at all ever hate going out to sea, I just don’t like more extended fights and I’m still not sure which of the three actions nets the most rewards; Cleaving, Boarding, or Shoot N’ Loot? I’ll figure it out eventually. So there’s a couple more of points of contention before I summarize.

It can be glitchy at times. I did a Spartan Kick againt an alpha lion for him to clip into the rocks. The game lacks the movement control Unity once had, so holding shift while trying to run away has Kassandra mount every brazier, stick or overhang which can lead to me losing more health than I’d like when fighting stronger enemies. There are some reports of people not getting legendary items (which only ever drop the once). You have to manually save, because right now it’s all cloud saved so if that gets lost or corrupted, you could lose dozens of hours of progress and that kind of thing causes gamers to quit. It’s not nearly as bad as Unity’s release but there are the occasional game breakers which I’ve yet to experience, thankfully. Finally, I’m a bit iffy on the leveling speed. Using very simple math based on my level and hours placed, I net around one level per hour. There was plenty of exploration within that but I was still actively doing stuff, clearing forts and the like. The world is massive and there’s plenty to do in general, I just feel like there’s a lot of footwork to get anything done. Since enemies scale with you (at 50, all regions will be at least 46, where the rewards cap out), I feel the level locked regions are a bit pointless. This ties into a current bout of controversy, so let’s dive into that before I summarize. 

Microtransactions are still a thing. People are exhausted but we expect it from Ubisoft. While it’s mostly cosmetic, there are sets of gear you can buy that have their own stats and bonuses as legendary sets have their own boost when you wear all five pieces. They aren’t any more powerful than other gear, though having a full legendary set right off the bat will certainly give you an edge. The main debate is that the scaling for endgame becomes a bit skewed and I’ve heard from some players that the last few levels are a hell of a marathon to level through. The story offers a permanent 50% experience and money boost (including a variety of cheaper, more temporary ones) which some reviewers have stated does actually make the game better. I imagine such a boost probably makes questing a better incentive and thus leveling quicker. One reviewer made mention of “Pay to play the game less” I find incredibly inaccurate and they probably haven’t actually played (because of course!). As an actual player, I will say the game is massive. The story is long, the regions are large, and you can’t exactly just sprint through the main story and ignore everything else. Especially when several of those “everything else” can be a lot of fun! Even at level cap, you’re probably still hunting those last few cultists, switching some regions to your favored faction, ekeing out those ship upgrades, getting money to fully upgrade your legendary set, or even finding a full legendary set that suits your playstyle the most if you haven’t already. There’s a lot to do and while offering a permanent boost for 20$ is certainly a bit scummy, the “pay to play less” is a horrendous misunderstanding of the game. The game is good! It’s an improvement on Origins in several ways and for once I actually enjoy exploring the variety of question marks that litter my map. I’m only halfway through the world, there’s so much I want to do, armor sets that I wish to acquire to suit my more stealthy playstyle. The world is gorgeous and photo mode has returned to accentuate that fact. There’s no assassin order nor are there Templars, just a cult you’re set out to destroy for some personal slights. You’re a mercenary and the world is yours. Odyssey will also be receiving some support and attention as they won’t be releasing one in 2019, so for a game we’ll be ‘stuck’ with for a couple of years, we’re in good hands.

[animeloveworld]

A Review on Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Note: This review is not mine.I have posted this review here because I feel it summarizes the anime Code Geass very well.

However I will be posting my reviews in the future once I get more experience.

This review is taken myanimelist from the reviewer kiriska.

Overall Rating 9

I was incredibly skeptical about Code Geass at first, but I'm very pleased to say that I was greatly surprised.

STORY - Before I saw this series, it was described to me on multiple occasions as "Death Note with mechas." After seeing it, however, I am inclined to disagree. The similarities between the two series are superficial at best, and though I can see why people would draw the comparison, I don't really think that dis/liking one means that you'll dis/like the other. But anyway, unlike Death Note, I wouldn't say that the story in Code Geass is particularly notable or unique. It's actually rather straightforward and even a little cliche, but that's exactly why this is such a well done series -- the barebones storyline is handled in a refreshing and new way that grabs the viewer's attention. There are enough twists and turns involved to keep you on the edge of your seat. The pacing is excellent and nothing feels rushed or drawn out. Indeed, the progression up to the conclusion is especially brilliant. (It's a cliffhanger "ending," but oh, it's just a fantastic cliffhanger.)

The series is also appealing in its uncanny ability to mix genres. Yes, this is a mecha series, but it really doesn't have to be. Yes, CLAMP did the character designs and there are some very shoujo elements (read: homolust), but there are very shounen rivalries and some pretty epic battle scenes too. Everybody wins! Additionally, because of the number of characters, the story allows for a number of small subplots. I was very happy with how this was handled in particular because all of the subplots relate and affect the main plot directly, whether by revealing some bit of information to both the characters and the viewer or by pushing forward interesting character development. Everything is well thought out and wonderfully executed, so despite the fact that "strong-willed person with plans to change the world receives mysterious power that helps facilitate his goals" isn't a very unique storyline... Code Geass makes it work.

Also. Code Geass utilizes the "best friends trying to kill each other" plotline, and I'm a sucker for that plotline.

CHARACTER - The characters in this series are rather varied. Some are very plain and one-dimensional, while others have an amazing complexity to them that makes them very life-like. I'll be honest. I've become somewhat infatuated with Lelouch as a character (and am rather biased as a result). To me, he is very much a human character -- he has emotions, opinions, a unique point of view, and some very serious flaws, all of which make him incredibly easy to relate to and to sympathize with. He is easily the most complex character in the series, and he feels real to me, even with his supernatural powers and his genius-level intellect. This ability to make the audience relate to him is also probably the series' greatest strength and the main reason why the story is able to remain relevant and interesting despite the fact that there aren't too many new ideas plotwise.

Suzaku would probably be second in line for complexity after Lelouch, though his sense of justice might be called cliche at first (along with Nunnally's and Euphemia's), and his hax-level physical prowess is somehow harder to accept than Lelouch's genius-level intelligence. It's harder to appreciate Suzaku's depth at first, partially because he is presented as Lelouch's main obstacle and the audience's sympathies are with Lelouch, but a great deal is revealed about his character throughout the course of the series, and he becomes an amazing foil to his rival. Their conflicting ideologies and philosophies are fascinating if you really look into it, and gay as it sounds, they really do compliment each other very well.

Much of the rest of the cast seems to fall into typical archetypes -- there's your adorable little sister, your mad scientist and his assistant, your cheerful schoolgirls, your best friend, your most loyal soldier, your second-in-command, your village idiot, your... really creepy lesbian girl? Despite the generic-sounding descriptions, most of the characters are actually pretty fun, or at the very least, interesting. C.C. provides snarky commentary. Shirley spreads innocent schoolgirl love. Nunnally is so moe you'll die. Jeremiah is a good butt of all jokes. Little bits of backstory are tossed in here and there to separate them from the crowd, but it's never enough to actually intrude, and the wide range of characters lets you settle into the world pretty well too; after all, what universe is complete without an animal mascot that shows up now and again?

ARTWORK & ANIMATION - I wasn't too impressed with CLAMP's character designs at first (noodleboys!), but as always seems to be the case, they gradually grew on me, and I remembered just how pretty X was. CLAMP just knows how to make everyone look amazingly sexy, male or female. I really loved how they did all of the facial expressions in the series though, especially for Lelouch. Seriously, that guy had some of the most awesome crazy expressions, some of the most amazingly touching sadface expressions, and of course, some of the most amusing WTF expressions. The mecha designs for the Knightmare Frames were also pretty awesome. I dig the whole rollar blade thing, and some of the technologies they come up with are neat, if a little over-the-top. The animation is fluid and smooth for the most part and very few things stood out as being bad.

MUSIC - Initially, I wasn't particularly fond of any of the OP/EDs for Code Geass except the first ending by ALI PROJECT because 1) they're awesome, and 2) Yuki Kajiura's style seemed to suit the series very well. The screaming violins both convey the high status of Britannia and the intensity of the emotions in the series. The rest of the themes seemed lackluster in comparison, but though I was never a huge fan of FLOW, "COLORS" kind of grew on me after a while. The final insert song, "Innocent Days" by Hitomi is pretty nice as well. Very thoughtful, very poignant, very fitting. The background music during the series was negligible for the most part; there is some pretty generic battle build-up type music and other appropriate, but rather typical, themes. Still, there's some neat classical/opera stuff, and the "All hail Brittania!" theme is definitely awesome.

VOICE ACTING - I've seen all of Code Geass subbed and most of it dubbed. Although I was incredibly turned off by Johnny Yong Bosch's role as Lelouch initially, it kind of grew on me, and now I think it fits well enough, though I do wish he'd change his voice a little more when Lelouch is Zero (make it a little deeper?). Suzaku's dub voice surprised me with how appropriate it was too. One of the things I really wish we could replicate in English though, is the subtle differences in manners between characters, between Lelouch and Suzaku at various stages of their lives, and between Lelouch and Zero. In Japanese, when Lelouch and Suzaku are children, they refer to themselves with "boku" and "ore" respectively. As teenagers, the pronouns are swapped, with Lelouch using "ore" (Zero uses "watashi") and Suzaku using "boku." Euphemia uses "watakushi." I'll skip the grammar lesson (go wiki "Japanese pronouns"), but suffice to say that these differences provide a lot of very interesting insight into each of the characters. It's really too bad English isn't nearly as interesting.

The rest of the voices in the dub are pretty average, perhaps the low end of average, with a stereotypically high-pitched girly voice for Nunnally that is amazingly annoying, and very forgettable voices for virtually all the female characters (Milly, Shirley, and Kallen all kind of sound the same). I was very impressed with Lloyd's dub voice though, even if nothing will ever amount to his amazing original voice, which is uh, amazing! Seriously. One of the most amusing voices I've ever heard. Jun Fukuyama's voice for Lelouch I found to be a bit too deep/old sounding initially, but that grew on me as well, and I really love the badassity of his voice for Zero. Suzaku's original voice sounds a little generic at first, but it grows with his character. There's a good bit of Engrish in the Japanese version as well, which is always fun. I don't think you can ever get tired of their "Yes, my lord(o)!" or their "All hail Britannia!"

Overall, I'd say the original is damn awesome, and the dub is pretty watchable -- always a plus, right?

OVERALL - I really love this series, and I definitely did not see that happening. Honestly, I found the first episode incredibly underwhelming: the opening sequence made it look like a series I wouldn't be interested in watching at all, and all of the expository really turned me off...but the second episode? That was so much more epic than I could have ever predicted, and I was pretty much won over after that. I'm just a sucker for chess analogies, I guess! Seriously though, good story, good characters, good animation, and good music! Mechas, politics, rivalry and comradery, strained friendships, love and hate, complex ideologies, and blowing shit up! What more could you want? :D

[fannishcodex]

AU where Star is even more literally Eclipsa 2.0 and falls in love with a monster from Mewni, and they eventually have a half-monster/half-mewman child together (who physically takes after monster dad the most and doesn’t really look mewman, except for inheriting Star’s hair and eyes).

Quick OC intro before doing some more elaboration below the cut: the monster of Star’s affections is Kit, one of Rasticore’s nephews. (Wanted to toy around with the concept of look-a-like next gen/generation xerox--Moon’s look-a-like daughter falls in love with Rasticore’s look-a-like nephew. Also toy with the animosity between Moon and Rasticore, more intense and different in this AU.) Their daughter is Nimbus, whose cheek marks are narwhals. If Nimbus holds the wand--broken under different circumstances in this AU--it turns into a pale pink watering can, the broken wand crystal takes the shape of a raindrop and its green color reflects her monster heritage.

This is still a work-in-progress brainstorm for this AU. (It does have similarities with another AU for Star that I posted about before [x].)

Complete AU where a lot of the backstory on Mewni (i.e. for Moon, Toffee, Eclipsa, Heinous, etc.) is different, and an AU where season 3 definitely doesn’t happen, but neither do seasons 1 and 2. For example, Ms. Heinous is a full-blooded mewman.

I was working on this before canon “monster bash” personally disappointed me. (This is also what I had been showing WIP sneak peeks of earlier [x] )

Below is more about this AU, including even more of my salty af response to canon:

This is absolutely not MonsterArm!Marco or Monster!Marco. This is Star/OC. No Marco in sight.

No offense to anyone, but unpopular opinion: part of this AU came from the fact I’m honestly getting weary of all the Starco OC children, and Starco in general.* It’s too much of the same stuff for me. I want something else--and something that ties in more directly with the monster-mewman themes that I’m more interested in, and feel are more important. Also part of this AU is coming from me being salty AF about current SVtFoE canon developments wrt to monster-mewman themes, and just really focusing on what I would prefer over canon right now. (Again, I started making this post before the new episodes in November. I just felt even more salty af about all of this after those new episodes in November.) Other personal reasons behind why I made this AU, and this gets salty af too in some parts:  

-I really am way more invested and interested in the monster-mewman themes in svtfoe, and expanding on that and focusing on that, even down to tying Star’s romantic arc to that, making her romantic arc more plot- and character- and theme-relevant through that IMO. Like if Star /has/ to have a romance, why not tie it directly into monster-mewman themes? Why not have her fall in love with a monster from Mewni?

-I literally keep wondering what if Star was even more like Eclipsa, down to romantic interest in a monster.

-I like the idea of monster-humanoid couples having children who take after their monster parent more. Of half monster-half humanoid children that don’t look that humanoid. (Because I feel like that’s happened too much, and it’s getting old; I’m tired of the idea that there’s this half-monster/half-humanoid kid, but she/he is still so humanoid-looking, and I’m like “what about her/his monster heritage??” and it turns me off; like, when the hybrid is too humanoid-looking, it feels like the monster heritage is barely present, and I don’t care for that. I want more half monster/half humanoid kids actually looking more like their monster parents. Also I feel like the face is like the most key part of the design--if the face looks too humanoid, then the whole design is too humanoid.)

-I like the idea of a half-monster princess--who physically takes after her monster heritage the most--having a claim to the Butterfly matrilineal throne. (Bonus points for Septarian monster heritage.) Even though I’d rather see the system torn down, I also can’t help but like the idea of a half-monster princess taking the Butterfly throne (before she eventually ends it after doing what she can do with it to help monsters--because ultimately part of helping monsters should have an end to the Butterfly kingdom itself, and/or its removal from the original monster homeland; or it /is/ completely reclaimed by monsters.) Or again, she just has a claim to the throne that conquered the monster half of her family--but that doesn’t mean she ever takes the throne, and may just help tear it down instead.

-I like the idea of mixed race half-monster/half-mewman children in general, especially if they’re members of the Butterfly royal family tree, and again if they physically take after their monster heritage more, if they don’t look so mewman/humanoid.

-Also tbh I keep enjoying the idea of throwing Star onto the Lizard Love/Septarian Love wagon.

- And I just finally wanted Star’s half-monster daughter way more than another Starco kid.

-I know in a previous post [x] I did say I didn’t like Starco being used for marriage and babies for Star’s endgame--but like I mentioned before, I’m interested in the idea of, if Star has to have a romance, let it tie more directly into monster-mewman themes. Let her romance arc have actual interracial themes that deal with a race oppressing another, and how individuals of those races can come together, and come to want to end that oppression. Just in this case, I find marriage and babies /as a part of/ Star’s endgame more interesting and meaningful to me if she chooses a monster for her love and has a mixed-race child with him, and who physically takes after monster heritage more than mewman heritage. I also feel like that ties more into Star’s individual life in a way, not just her romantic/family side--like it ties more into those monster-mewman themes where she feels more like an individual with her own goals. Just, it feels like it ties into Star having other concerns outside of romance, it feels like it ties into Star having increased agency and exerting power to change her world for the better, and having to deal with what her family history did. That’s something I just can’t really get out of Starco.

Again, this AU is still a rough work-in-progress. I’m still trying to figure things out, particularly more about the OCs/Star’s monster husband and half monster daughter. Below is what I have down so far that I feel like sharing, besides the designs I came up with. Also will involve a bit more WIP brainstorming on AU worldbuilding, including info on characters other than the canon/oc ship and their child:

-The monster of Star’s affections is Kit, one of Rasticore’s nephews and nieces. I literally thought of Rasticore having a large extended family through his multiple siblings each having their own offspring, and altogether giving him quite a few nephews and nieces for my AU started in between seasons 2 and 3, ‘wrong space wrong time’ [x] . I decided I wanted to combine that element with this AU (and to actually just make this part of an alternate continuity with ‘wrong space wrong time’ AU). Also my pre-season 3 AU has Rasticore and Moon personally loathing each other, like they actually know each other enough to really hate each other, which makes it even harder for me to resist the idea that Moon also has to conflict with Star falling for someone related to a monster she really /personally/ detests, combined with the racism that’s been ingrained in her. And again, I wanted to toy around with the concept of look-a-like next gen/generation xerox--Moon’s look-a-like daughter falls in love with Rasticore’s look-a-like nephew.

-Kit Chaosus Disastorvayne, son of one of Rasticore’s younger brothers--who shared a resemblance to Rasticore, and passes this down to Kit--is the same age as Star. He and his siblings have long been orphaned, and currently live with one of their aunts (one of Rasticore’s younger sisters). Like many other monsters, they’re impoverished and face mewman aggression.

-I’m not dealing with S3 canon directly, and going with my AU backstory in “wrong space wrong time” AU instead because tbh I prefer it, and it’s more fleshed out and ready for me to use--but more about that AU is another post for another day.  Just to sum up one detail, I’ll say that Rasticore and Moon have different backstories in this and detest each other for some different reasons, and more intensely because they are more familiar with each other.

-In this “Star is even more literally Eclipsa 2.0″ AU, Toffee was captured and brainwashed along with Rasticore by Miss Heinous--who also has a different backstory and is a full-blooded mewman--and St.O’s after a savage battle with Moon (before Star or Kit were ever born). Both Toffee and Rasticore have been brainwashed into working for Ms. Heinous and her related interests, and that’s where they are while Star is born and eventually inherits the royal wand. (This does include Toffee/Rasticore ship because I like that ship.)

-In this AU, Moon chooses to focus more on personally training Star rather than sending her to Earth once she immediately screws up with the royal wand after first receiving it. Maybe just spend more time with your kid and teach her more about the magical artifact she’s been given with seemingly little prep beforehand, instead of immediately shipping her off to another dimension with still not much instruction on newfound power boost granted by said magical artifact. So Star is never sent to Earth when she’s 14, she stays on Mewni.

-Star continues to go around picking fights with monsters in her spare time, and this now includes fending off Ludo’s attempts to steal her wand. In this AU and with Toffee brainwashed and forced to serve St. O’s, the events of “Storm the Castle” don’t exactly happen--and it’s Star who finds the monster tadpole babies, instead of Ludo. After her initial disgust, Star watches them more closely, and finds their behavior adorable, and they actually look kinda cute. Instead of Buff Frog, Star takes the monster tadpole babies in, and secretly cares for them at Butterfly Castle.

-Through caring for the monster tadpole babies in secret, Star starts to realize the brutal truth about the upcoming annual observance of Mewnipendance Day, and hesitates with attacking Buff Frog when he tries to steal her wand again.

-When Mewnipendance Day actually comes, it’s the usual for Star: on Mewni, Star always makes public appearances with her parents celebrating the holiday, presiding over huge reenactments and festivities per their status as the royal rulers and heir to the throne. Star is much more apprehensive this year and worrying even more about the monster babies she left in her Secrets Nursery (codenamed Secrets Closet). Some of Star’s older cousins on her father’s side convince Star to join them for their own little celebration, thinking she’s old enough now that she has the wand and thinking this’ll be a treat for her; for once really thinking about appearances and actually realizing it’ll look strange if she resists this invite too much after years of behaving a certain way--last year she would have been immediately thrilled by such an invitation--Star agrees and sneaks away with them.

-Star relaxes with her cousins--their cheerful mood is infectious, and the corn milkshakes they’ve grabbed taste delicious.

-Star’s older Johannsen cousins take her to the edge of the Forest of Certain Death, to what ends up being her first meeting with Kit--locked up in a cage, in front of a decent-sized topiary maze. Star’s cheered up mood drops. Star stares at the caged monster, and he’s shorter than her, and she’s seen and fought shorter monsters before, like Boo Fly, but this--Star thinks this monster could be her age. Her cousins tell her they’re gonna let loose this beast later for a monster hunt, through this new topiary maze grown from this new line of magic seeds from Quest Buy. Unsettled, Star tries asking why, what did this monster do to end up like--her cousins get really confused by her line of questioning, wondering why she’s overthinking this.

-Star’s the only one to notice Kit move quickly but carefully, slipping a claw through the bars and take a key from one of her cousins standing too close and completely clueless. Too late, Kit realizes Star saw, and he catches her eye, looking freaked out--Star says in a loud voice that her cousins are right, but their topiary maze needs a complete makeover. Taking out her wand, Star goes to town using it to make the topiary maze bigger and thornier and with a million more flowers, all while her cousins watch in awe, sufficiently distracted from Kit unlocking the cage door and bolting into the deeper woods.

-When her cousins finally realize Kit is gone, they freak out and start to look for him. Star stops them, calming them down a bit, and confidently insisting she has this covered. She’ll just turn this topiary maze into a topiary bloodhound that’ll track that monster down--oh no, /oops/, what do you know, my spell backfired /again/, don’t worry, I’ll totally make the topiary hound spit you guys out, just give me a few...hours? Sorry, please don’t tell my mom--she’d doubly freak out if she knew you guys sneaked me out, and with me screwing up my spells /again./ Just, essentially Star feigns another spell backfire--like she’s been known to do--to further help Kit escape. It works.

-Back at Butterfly Castle, Star coos over the monster tadpole babies, but is still freaked out. Star’s certain that monster must have gotten away, her cousins didn’t get him--but there were a lot of mewmans celebrating, what if someone else had?... Star flips through her ancestral Book of Spells for some kind of locator spell, and asks Glossayrck for help, but acting cagey about her exact reasons. Glossayrck seems to consider, then seemingly unconcerned, he unlocks Eclipsa’s chapter without identifying who wrote it, and shows Star the spying spell.

-Star uses the spying spell for the image in her mind, of that monster… When Star finds him still making his way through the woods looking like no one followed him and looking unhurt, she reflexively audibly voices her relief, “Okaycoolyou’refine”. Star jumps back when Kit whirls around and spots her. They’re both startled and confused and freaked out, Star says she didn’t think he would notice her, Kit points out there’s a hole in the sky and she just talked, and Kit bristles, wary, is this some really sick mewman game, letting him go like this to track him down again, was this her own hunt but longer--Star, bug-eyed, insists she’s not hunting him, she just wanted to check to see if he was okay--and their strained interaction goes on. Kit remains tense and biting, and Star awkward and unused to dealing with someone like this. When Star says she was only trying to help, Kit asks why, and what does she want, his complete gratitude? Her mercy that still confuses him isn’t going to make him suddenly agreeable with any mewman, least of all their princess. And again, her mercy is confusing, doesn’t make sense, and he’s still wary of her, especially since she’s watching him through this giant magic hole in the air. But eventually Kit concedes that Star saw him take the keys and didn’t expose him like she could have, and did distract his captors, so he gives a small gruff thank you, but he isn’t charmed by Star, and she doesn’t feel any better. Star leaves Kit alone, deactivating the spying spell.

-Completely freaked out by Mewnipendance Day and what just happened because of it and hitting a new fever pitch in her fear of what would happen if her parents or the royal court or any mewman discovered she was caring for monster tadpole babies--well, Star realizes she can’t secretly care for them while living in Butterfly Castle and being the crown princess. So bundling herself up in a disguise made from old goth gear that had been on sale in Quest Buy--that she had got during her spiky leather phase with Pony Head before--Star secretly leaves the monster babies at Ludo’s castle for Buff Frog to find, and Buff Frog happily adopts them. Star gradually develops more sympathy for monsters and disillusionment with her own people.

-Star begins raiding the food hoards of mewman nobility for monsters while in a dark drab disguise cobbled together from Quest Buy goth gear, the same ensemble she used for when she secretly took the monster tadpole babies to Buff Frog, with some modifications. She continues to do this and other acts of sabotage against ruling mewmans while in disguise, and her alter ego comes to be bluntly called the Rogue, hated by most mewmans and appreciated by monsters, but both think the bandit is a monster. ( @lemonadesoda drew some images of this Rogue Star AU [x] )

-Wanting to check on the monster tadpole babies--and feeling a strange new loneliness in Butterfly Castle after growing increasingly wary of the main beliefs her ancestral home holds--Star uses the spying spell to contact Kit, and ask him to do it for her. He’s freaked out again and wary of her locating him like this again, but Star says it’s her only way to get in touch, and asks for another way to please reach him, because she has a request. Kit first wants to know what it is, right now. Star tells him about the monster tadpole babies and shows photos on her mirrorcell for proof; she asks if Kit could please check up on them for her, and she would compensate him with money, food. Star says she doesn’t want to use this spying spell to check on them, because she doesn’t want the tadpoles’ new family to know about her, and if Kit spotted her, they might too; it would be the same risk if she tried sneaking around there again. Star’s emotions and photos make Kit reconsider her, but he’s still not entirely certain. But the promise of compensation strikes a desperate chord with him, he and his family could really use food and money. Kit agrees, and he and Star plan to meet in the woods to exchange info for payment.

-For this, Kit goes to Castle Avarius saying he’s looking for a job--which would be nice, actually, really fulfill that job hunt he had started before insanely getting some help from the Butterfly princess. Kit had heard some rumors about Ludo, but none had been clear about his efforts in Avarius Castle; when he gets there, he gets confirmation of what they’re doing. If Kit could get some kind of paying position here on top of what he was doing for the princess, that would be beneficial; even more so if a steady position here would give him a steady business arrangement with the princess, if she continued to want to pay for this specific information. It works out, Buff Frog even seems to like him--seeing the babies in person made Kit warm up and admire their cuteness, and compare them to his younger siblings and cousins, and when Buff Frog asks if he ever looks after them, Kit says ‘yes’--and Kit has the job and the info. The job is really just babysitter assignment to Buff Frog’s babies, but it’s a job, and Kit had experience with his younger siblings and cousins. Buff Frog had shouted down Ludo and put his foot down, saying that though Kit was newly of age at 14 years old, he would still be the youngest; and the babies needed care for when he was away on missions. Kit could look after them, and also help with upkeep of castle, and generally free up the older monsters for more mission work while he tended to those things.

-Kit meets with Star afterward, and they do the exchange, of info for payment. They maintain this arrangement periodically, through texts after sharing mirrorcell numbers. Star takes more care to repel Ludo’s forces--Buff Frog among them--through less harmful and more benignly defensive spells. (Ludo, Buff Frog, and the other monsters notice. Princess Star’s spells remain quirky, but they also seem strangely less violent.   They aren’t sure what to make of this though.)

-Star and Kit are the same age. At 14, Star is taller and thinner, Kit shorter and bulkier. Their size and shape difference are actually similar to young Moon and River in the comics. But as they grow, Kit sprouts and becomes more slender, while Star becomes bulkier, and still grows taller, and she and Kit end up at about the same height.

-Star knows most people either have disdain for her and then are charmed and soften up and they appreciate her in quick order, or people just have disdain for her. Star figures Kit was the latter, but still he was new--his disdain was more blunt, more than any other; and she didn’t entirely run from his disdain like others, or write him off as annoying and opposition to be safely ignored. How could she? Star felt he had every reason to dislike her, and it unsettled her. It unsettled Star, not only because she wasn’t used to this, but also because she felt she deserved it. She hadn’t directly done anything, but somehow that felt worse; to have his disdain (wariness) exist due more to her people--and how her people seemed to define her whether she wanted them to or not--felt worse. Sometimes Kit seemed to try to catch himself, and looked at her in a different way that made her stomach squirm, and then he’d try to act more careful and deferential in a way that made her feel gross and reminded her of servants back home in the castle (that made her think of a picture book where the pop-up flames now seemed ominous and the monsters terrified rather than terrifying). Star was grateful when those moments didn’t last long, and found that she preferred his blunt bite over his remembering that she was someone to fear and defer to due to her race and rank. She was unsettled, but Star found the latter unsettled her more than the former. Star preferred Kit’s disdain, his challenge to her, because it felt like he was getting less freaked out by her, that he wasn’t afraid to speak more of his mind with her, that he saw her, and not just her people and her rank; saw that she was someone who could listen to him, and not shut him down by any means necessary.

-But Kit wasn’t angry like Tom, to Star’s mind. In her mind, Kit felt angry-justified-and-truly-hurt, not angry-controlling-tantrum. And Kit could never be as explosively angry as Tom. But Kit’s anger made Star pay attention, it carried more weight (while she would often roll her eyes at Tom’s anger, and finally leave him partially due to that). And Kit was angry, but deep down Star thought he was soft, and wounded.

-There were little moments of something less strained between them, as time went on. Those moments grew more frequent. (They had always gushed over the photos Kit secretly took of the babies to show to Star. Their texts to each other had grown more relaxed outside of business terms.)

-To her surprise--and even gratitude--Star found Kit seemed to grow less wary of her.

-Kit didn’t know how to feel when he realized he felt a certain level of comfort and trust to be gruff with Star. That he could, in a way, vent with her like with some of his friends, though more gruffly, harshly. It grew less harsh as time went on.

-Star and Kit reached a crisis point when it occurred to them--the first time seemed okay, but were they just being creepers now with continuing to keep an eye on the monster tadpole babies like this? Star felt particularly like a creeper. Did she really not think Buff Frog would take care of them? She left the babies with him, she had to...really leave the babies with him. She probably shouldn’t keep secretly looking over his shoulder like this.

-Kit reconsiders a little, saying the babies get photographed all the time by Ludo’s other monsters, and they text the pix to their other friends, and Buff Frog is fine with it, he could do the same with Star, it’s not a big deal--

- “...We’re friends?” Star asks Kit, and for some reason, for a snap second, he feels completely doomed by this truth. (When had it happened? When had Star’s steadily increasing excess of text emojis brought a small smile to his face, when had her rambling and brightness and stumbling earnestness to listen and tolerate and even act nicer made him stop seeing her race and rank first?) After that, Star and Kit meet each other outside of the business arrangement they made, and text even more outside of it.

-Star eventually makes friends with the Alternative Monsters too.

-Things between Star and Ponyhead become more strained. Star is getting these other concerns about her kingdom, but Ponyhead isn’t too interested in hearing about this, and still just wants to party with Star. They start to drift apart a bit. But later, Ponyhead shows to be more loyal to Star, and while she’s not particularly interested or understanding, when it comes down to it, Ponyhead will stand by Star. They still have less to talk about and bond over as time passes, but Ponyhead remains loyal, and Star does appreciate this. (Ponyhead does whole-heartedly approve of Kit later, though she’s really just approving his superficial appearance.)

-Kit and Ludo develop an odd friendship.

-Eyepatch Bull Dog, Porcupine Warrior, and Turtle Monster still meet Buff Frog, eventually hired by Ludo through Boo Fly. Eyepatch Bull Dog clashes with Buff Frog /and/ Ludo. But along with Kit, Eyepatch Bull Dog inspires Buff Frog to be more firm with Ludo, and cause a shift in prioritization. Buff Frog starts to move from looking to loyalty to Ludo and the wand as an effort for monster survival and betterment, and back to the raids for food and supplies, and other means to resist mewman power. Boo Fly, Kit, Eyepatch Bull Dog, and the other monsters rally around Buff Frog, and Ludo becomes more of a figurehead, until he shapes up with Kit’s help and follows Buff Frog’s lead.

-Star eventually confesses to Kit she’s the Rogue.

-Star eventually loses an eye in a Game of Flags. Over the years since inheriting the wand at 14--and gaining and losing the monster tadpole babies, gaining Kit’s friendship, becoming the Rogue--her relationship to that Butterfly tradition has become complicated. She’s also started to challenge the value and nature of that too, but also grew to see it as a way to try to assert her authority as the future queen. (Throwing a guard into lava during her first Game of Flags both alarmed and hardened Star and made her more questioning. The guard had survived, Star had turned back at his pained yell and helped him out, but he had been grievously injured, and Star had been greatly impacted.) Star is vocal about her increasingly radical beliefs, especially about helping monsters and giving up mewman power to do so. Star still tries to be more calculated with how vocal she is about this, it’s a work-in-progress; see if going slower will help; act more benign sometimes to try to make sure no one suspects she’s the Rogue, and to also avoid Moon snapping and sending her to St. O’s. It’s a balancing act Star maneuvers a lot. Moon is a mix of alarmed, incredulous--and skeptical, not taking her daughter seriously and believing she’s too flighty and immature and it’s a phase she’ll grow out of, and refrains from genuinely threatening or even considering St. O’s as an option in response to this. The rest of the mewman nobility just steadily get angrier, and eventually this results in a more severe attack during Game of Flags that costs Star one of her eyes. Star still manages another victory, but there’s no saving her eye, it was cursed off through a mix of spells the healers and Moon can’t rectify. Star tries to be nonchalant, but this is now more ammo for her detractors in the royal court--they’re now attacking her marred appearance/beauty. But Star refuses any attempts to remake her image with two eyes in any form of royal portraiture of her after she’s been maimed.

-Star ditches the intricately embroidered eyepatch Queen Moon commissioned for her when Kit gives a simpler eyepatch he made for her. She wears it exclusively and lies to any mewmans who ask about it, saying she picked it up from Quest Buy.

-Kit convinces Star to come clean with Buff Frog, especially since there’s already been a weirdly silent confused understanding between them ever since she hesitated to attack him, and then continued to avoid aggressively repelling him and Ludo’s other monsters from wand theft. Just tell Buff Frog. After confession and discussion, a more formalized alliance between Star and Buff Frog and the other monsters is made--and eventually friendship with them. (Star can babysit the tadpoles with Kit now.)

-Ludo and Star grow to...tolerate each other. But they’re not exactly friends. They still dislike each other quite a bit.

-Star literally does not learn of Eclipsa’s existence, which is largely kept hidden in Butterfly castle, and becomes more of a fiercely guarded secret as Star grows more vocally radical. The concern grows that even telling Star about her as a cautionary tale will backfire and only serve to give her the wrong ideas, and so any word of Eclipsa is forbidden.

-Star tries to pass relevant info about the ruling mewmans to Buff Frog and his increasingly rebellious group, tries to provide a distraction for any of their efforts. On top of her continued activity as the disguised Rogue, Star generally tries to sabotage mewman power from behind the scenes while also publicly trying to diminish and reform it.

-Star only manages to get a handful of allies among mewmans--Ruberiot the Songstrel, Foolduke the Jester, and the genius Mime. They’re not much in numbers, but Star is grateful for them, and they ultimately also end up being the closest thing she has to friends that are actually mewmans, a first for her. (Ruberiot, Foolduke, and Mime proved more open, partly because they took to heart their partial outcast status--they all aren’t the highest ranking mewmans, and experience issues over their lack of rank, such as some mistreatment from the highest born mewmans they serve, i.e. Star’s uncle Heartrude, Ruberiot fearing Moon will execute him for any screw-ups because he heard the previous queen had done the same before; partly because their trained deference to higher ranking mewmans ends up taking the form of actually listening to Star and really acknowledging her role as their future queen, and thinking she must have a point, and hoping that she will be a good queen. The three also grow charmed by Star’s essentially eccentric, bright personaltiy.)

-Star both breaks away from and is forced out by mewman society, she rejects them as the majority of them reject her, and she throws her lot in with Buff Frog and Kit and the latest iteration of a growing monster rebellion. Ruberiot, Foolduke, and Mime join her.

-Moon and River stay with the status quo that upholds mewman power, and are estranged from their daughter. They feel as if Star is still an immature child whose mess they have to clean up, and they need their daughter back home to finally set her straight.

-Eventually Star and Kit become romantically involved, further estranging Star from her parents and mewman society, but ultimately giving her immeasurably more happiness. Their wedding is somehow small and crowded at the same time, packed mostly with Buff Frog and other monsters that are friends, allies, Kit’s family, as well as Ruberiot, Foolduke, Mime. (Ludo is grudgingly there and hates that Kit married Star; and Star is still confused about how Kit made friends with him.)

-When Star is pregnant with her and Kit’s child, she finally meets a brainwashed Toffee; and Kit discovers his uncle Rasticore hadn’t actually died in battle against Queen Moon like the rest of his family had believed, but had been brainwashed along with Toffee by St. O’s instead. Toffee and Rasticore are eventually freed from their brainwashing and start to recover, while taking refuge with the new monster rebels that include Buff Frog, Kit, Star, and others.

-Star and Kit have a daughter. They try to come up with names before she’s born, but Kit keeps drawing a blank, Star can’t decide on which adorable name she wants, there are too many. But when Star realizes she and Kit have a daughter, with cheek marks of her own, Butterfly tradition occurs to her, and even some concerns. Star actually really hadn’t let herself think she might have a daughter, because that would make things more complicated, that might make Star’s mixed race child seem like she might have the slimmest chance of inheriting the throne and make the Butterfly kingdom want to target her more; Star thought more she would have a son, and kept thinking of cute names for him. But it’s a girl, and Star considers Butterfly inheritance; she fears her daughter being even more of a target; but she really considers the idea of her mixed race daughter inheriting and becoming Queen, and it’s not an entirely unpleasant thought, in terms of personal and practical and moral reasons--it could be fitting, it may be good, it may be fair--but she really wants to put her daughter’s best interests first--and one of the ideas Star has grown to consider is that the line of Butterfly queens and mewman rulership as it is should simply end--she should have taken control and ended it, but she had failed, she hadn’t managed it yet--Star is still not sure what exactly to do, but she wants to keep and protect her daughter… But Star also considers the monster heritage of her daughter, and she’d like the name to reflect that in some way too.

-Star suggests to Kit to name their daughter Nimbus, rambling off her reasons: many names of Butterfly women have had some sort of sky/aerial quality, Star included; Nimbus fits in with that, and acknowledges Star’s like of clouds, and her Cloudy spell, and actually sounds pretty cute in her head. /If/ she ever becomes queen, she’ll have a name that could go well enough with that role. (But above all Star wants her daughter safe and happy. Her becoming queen is not a priority.) And a cloud sounds like an aerial object physically closer to the land that Nimbus’ monster heritage has a true claim to. After listening to Star’s rambling reasons, Kit agrees. Kit nicknames her Nim, and Star loves that. The ability to shorten it to Nim is even cuter to Star, and the sound of it and its three letters reminds Star more of Kit.

-(Princess) Nimbus “Nim” Chaosus Disastorvayne Butterfly (she knows she’s in trouble when either of her parents use her full name) largely resembles her father, but inherits her mother’s hair and the color/shape of her eyes. She has cheek marks like her mother and the rest of the Butterfly women. They’re the shape of narwhals, which delights Star and amuses Kit. And her cheek marks are red, like the markings on Kit.

-Buff Frog is essentially Nim’s loving grandfather. The aunt that raised Kit is essentially Nim’s grandmother, though is literally her great aunt. Ludo and Boo Fly and Ruberiot and others are some of her many uncles. Nim calls Rasticore and Toffee her uncles too (Ludo takes pleasure in pointing out Toffee would be her great uncle; Kit tells her Rasticore is his uncle, so that makes him her great uncle too; and sometimes Nim will use the full term with them). Some of her many aunts include Porcupine Warrior, Foolduke and others.

-With my AU world backstory, I have Star even more like Eclipsa--my AU continuity has Eclipsa fall in love with a Septarian monster, and together they have Toffee, their half-monster, half-mewman child. So, Toffee is a mixed race member of the Butterfly family tree too. This is eventually revealed while Nimbus is an infant. I also like the idea of adding this nuance to a bond between Toffee and Nimbus--they have very similar common ground that they can’t really share with anyone else, except each other. Mixed race Toffee also has a mewberty form, indicating that his mixed race is the cause, given that is a defining difference between him and other full-blooded Butterfly women and their mewberty forms. It may indicate that for this mixed race, female gender stops mattering to the unique mewman Butterfly bloodline, or the monster half does not read as male to the Butterfly blood, or something else. (This is based on this fantastic AU fanart of Mewberty!Toffee, half-monster son of Eclipsa [x].)

-Ever since she was little, Nim took comfort in Toffee having hair like her, the only Septarian monster she’s met who does. She took comfort in knowing Toffee’s half-monster/half-mewman like her. (Toffee never knew that comfort until Nimbus was born.)

-Star still has a brightness and goofiness around her, but she’s also grown more fierce and crafty after years of trying to undermine mewman power in battle and in royal court maneuvering. She’s developed a pretty good poker face, an evolution of what she demonstrated in her old family portrait made a few months before her 14th birthday, but she doesn’t use it that often. Yet Star has become kinder too.

-Nim’s personality takes a lot after Star’s--especially a 14-year-old Star’s--though in some ways she’s gentler. She keeps her quarters messy like Star had at her age. (Star keeps her quarters only a little messy now.) Nim loves to garden. She likes adventuring a lot too, and likes to combine it with gardening, discovering and studying new plants. Among her garden are Mewni carnivorous plants that she finds adorable and full of personality. Nim’s embarrassed by her allergy to corn, especially when her parents try to guard very seriously against it.

-Kit has become more warm over the years. But there can still be a bite to him after what he’s lived through.

-As Star grew more powerful, so did her mewberty form. Its appearance changed a bit too. It remains colored purple, with some yellow speckling. Her lower body has grown more spider-like, ending in many spiked legs.

-Nim has a mewberty form too. Though she was an example of mewberty being triggered by something other than discovering a romantic interest in anyone. At 14, when she accidentally took a bite of something that had corn in it, her face broke out--in many copies of her narhwal cheek marks. Her corn allergy triggered her first mewberty transformation. Her mixed race heritage may be the reason for why a large growth increase was demonstrated in her mewberty form as well as a more difficult time experiencing it--while in mewberty, Nim seemed to vocalize pain, and vomited many narwhal marks, as many as the amount of narwhal marks fell off her body and webbing. While in mewberty, Nim’s two legs merged into a unified tail-like structure, that ultimately was more reminiscent of an insect’s lower body.

-When (if) Nim holds the royal wand--broken under different circumstances--its shape isn’t a wand like her mother’s, or her grandmother’s, or many other Butterfly ancestors’. When Nim holds the wand, it turns into a pale pink watering can. Nim is told her ancestor Festivia was similar--when she held the wand, it turned into a goblet. The broken crystal on Nim’s watering can-wand resembles a (broken) rain drop; its green color reflects her monster heritage. Nim tends to come up with a lot of garden-themed spells, like Poison Ivy Bomb, Venus Fly Jawtrap, etc. Nim takes to carrying her watering can-wand around in a backpack.

-The above is more, “if Nim got the wand,” I’m still fuzzy on how the context of that would work to my tastes, if the wand would still even be around for Nim to use, or if it’s broken under different circumstances. But I do like the thought of her getting to use the wand too.

-Poetry makes me nervous, but I’ve even come up with a Mewman propaganda-fueled caption for Star’s tapestry in this AU:

Underneath the crown

Lied a fierce and wild girl

Who ran away with her monster lover

Acting just like another

-...I also keep thinking of silly mixed-naming for this Star/OC ship too, like just StarKit.

*Tbh for me, it’s getting to a point where it’s like ultimately all the Starco kids are kinda bleeding into each other, it’s started to feel all the same to me--though that sorta makes sense because it’s all variations of offspring from one extremely popular pairing that I’m now honestly feeling overwhelmed with. I can’t take the Starco overload anymore.  I’m missing real variety. Also I feel like Starco keeps distracting from themes and plot in svtfoe I care way more about, and think are/should be far more important, i.e. monster-memwan themes. If Star /has/ to have a romance, I keep thinking I wish it was tied directly to those monster-mewman themes then, that she should fall in love with a monster from Mewni. And I just...don’t like Starco. I don’t really care for Marco tbh, I just...don’t. There are way more interesting characters than Marco in svtfoe, and more interesting themes. Star’s awesome, but I just don’t care for her Earth roommate and friend that much. Princess Marco and Monster Arm are more interesting, but they don’t happen enough. And Marco still just...rubs me the wrong way, tbh. It’s a gut dislike/apathy, I suppose. If I have to ship Marco with anyone, then Tom (and sometimes Jackie). I just...don’t feel the Starco ship. I don’t care for it. I’ve been enjoying brainstorming a Star/Septarian Monster OC ship and their half-monster/half-mewman daughter way more.

[jatamansi-arc]

so, the second time i watched annihilation, i have a lot of feelings about it. like a lot lot. and i’m not sure if anyone else will agree with me, but i’m gonna fucking dump all my notes here so i can come back to them here and see how i feel about them in subsequent viewings.

i really love the movie, though. i liked it the first time, but i loved it this time. so much. definitely one of my favorite movies ever. maybe actually up there with everything is illuminated with being my actual favorite.

spoilers, y’all.

the first time you watch this movie, you walk away blown away, going AAAAaaaaAAaaAHGFJ about it. the second time you watch it? they aren’t kidding when they say everything has double meanings. literally everything does. i think that’s half the reason that makes it so much fun to slowly dissect.

annihilation isn’t a story about depression, though i can see how it’d be read that way very easily. there are tons of elements that would lead you to that conclusion. rather, i’ve come to the conclusion that it’s one about the competition between our tendency for self-destruction and our capacity to forgive. it’s a love story.

the most important thing that annihilation repeatedly touches on, is really playing with philosophical and allegorical extremes and dismantling them. the question of whether something is a scientific proof or a sign of faith is posed to lena several times in the film, and the question is never answered but carefully balanced. and it’s shown time and time and time again, in sweeping scale and in minute details. for example: ventress, the pinnacle of the rational and higher thought, has a name that draws its source from a term meant to show someone’s ability to take brazen risks. she takes her notes when talking to lena with artist grade sketching pencils. ventress’ mask is good, but she is desperate dreamer who wants to see what lies beyond the shimmer before her body takes the chance from her.

all of the main characters’ names, however, were picked very specifically. 

lena: short for helena, which can be taken to mean ‘torch.’ there’s the whole thing about helen of troy eloping and causing the trojan war to bring her home, too. but more importantly, i firmly believe it’s also a play on the hela cell line.

anya: ties to anna, a prophetess of the bible, who preached of redemption and experienced deep loss early in her life.

cass: short for cassandra, another prophetess, but one who was cursed so that her words wouldn’t be heeded until it was too late. she was also connected to troy.

josie: josephine is the feminine form of joseph, and the father of jesus is the patron saint of contentful death, and is almost always displayed surrounded in his field by flowers meant to represent purity and resurrection.

kane: from o catháin, which means war like or battle. 

everyone in kane’s group had a surname that has been shared among three kinds of famous people in every instance: a scientist, a religious scholar, and an author. it was weird enough to note.

area x is in an area that’s remote and has alligators, but the thing that makes it interesting, is that bears and alligators don’t have much overlapping territory. this means if it wasn’t already a giant red fucking flag to begin with, our furry friend is a composite from the shimmer.

the shimmer may be alien or it may be biblical; the reality of it doesn’t much matter. what it does, is take the cells of the dead and dying and recycle them. when ventress talks about how a shark and alligator are clearly intermingling genetically and lena dismisses it, lena isn’t wrong, but lena’s error is that she’s not thinking broadly enough.

cass is the first one to drop the hint, right after we get lena talking about the bruise that she gets with the fight with the alligator. it’s where the tattoo would eventually be later on -- except there is a hitch. cass is also clearly skeptical of this, and it reads easily on her face, before she talks about her daughter dying of leukemia and how she died, emotionally, with her. it’s a hint that lena’s cells immediately begin to mutate once this happened. whatever the shimmer is, it takes hox genes, which are what hold the entirety of our genomes, and is trying to manipulate and recode what it can with what’s available. this isn’t evolution, but a sort of intelligent design with very limited resources and a finite understanding of what it’s doing. it’s creating immortal cell lines, though, and the hints are dropped about five thousand times over.

the man that kane and his crew kill likely had cancer. look at how prolifically his cells were mutating before he died, and his complete lack of reaction while being otherwise vivisected. what’s even more interesting is that ventress, who otherwise never gives a fucking shit about anyone, is visibly shaken for the only time in the movie. she was the one who was in charge of area x. she knew about everyone going in there. it’s much more likely she’d have an investment in knowing what happened to someone else who was ‘self-destructing’ for a similar reason to her.

once she has her answer, it’s straight back to business.

the reason the bear is tragic -- and ultimately horrific -- is because it was spliced together from bits and pieces of dna by a being that has never seen a fucking bear besides the hyperstylized one that was on kane’s chest. it wanted to build what it saw. it was curious. it looks like his tattoo; look at it closer when you get a chance.

it’s furthermore meant to represent kane’s fear. absorbing cass’ voice as its call is only meant to really drive the metaphor home, and to make josie’s decision in the next arc all the more poignant.

the symbolism behind the bear, by the by, is a lot of things. most important is the duality of the male and female. it’s one of the rare animals that represents both sexes. bears also represent a desire for answers and, again, resurrection. 

and when looking for cass, lena sees two deer, who are again another rare animal who represent both sexes and are oftentimes portents of death and a hope for a return to life after that death.

anya’s role in these scenes is important because they’re allegorical. the implication that lena’s and kane’s addiction to their careers is what kept them apart is certainly clear, and it’s not just casual happenstance that anya self-destructs in a house that’s a carbon copy of kane’s and lena’s home. anya’s death is meant to represent breaking the cycle of addiction (even if you’re terrified) and the beginning of the resurrection of kane and lena’s relationship. she was the paramedic, after all.

she’s also meant to stand in for kane here, because her words are meant to be accusatory towards lena, as if it were kane saying them about her cheating. 

“ you don’t get to ask that question, you lying bitch! you get to answer it!”

“what we know now -- what we know, is that lena is a liar.”

^ that one is really fucking important okay

who delivers the death blows against the bear is important. it’s josie. young, doe-eyed and fresh faced josie who is full of life and has dedicated her life to studying the science understanding the interactions between matter. who eventually gives her life over to the entire process, but not before saying something really important to lena:

‘imagine dying in fear. i wouldn’t like that at all.”

THAT’S GONNA BE RELEVANT HERE SHORTLY HANG ON.

by the by: lena finds out her humanity is slowly leaving her at the same table where we see kane time and time again. kane’s self-destruction is external while lena’s is internal, at least at the time. 

josie, anya and lena are not impacted in the same way that kane, vertress and other clearly sick people who have gone into the shimmer are. or, at least, not at the same pace. it makes me have the theory that lena thought kane learned that she was cheating, but kane was perhaps hiding something much worse. there could be a lot said about what guilt does to people, on both sides. they may have both been hiding things. it really twists the whole plot to an interesting angle if the reason kane was sitting, so melancholic and distant, was not because he knew about lena and daniel, but because he was angry and upset at himself for not being able to tell his wife that he may have been seriously ill. it may also be why the clone of him suddenly crashed once it’d been outside, in the real world, as well?

it further tells an interesting tale if you read that dying in the shimmer causes a far faster progression of mutation and, in a sense, almost a sort of dementia. kane may have lost himself entirely over the course of what felt like 10-12 days, knowing very little in the end other than he truly loved lena.

regardless of my theories on it, the shimmer is still literally kane’s feelings of adoration towards lena on display. if you debate me on this point i will fucking fight you.

coming back to allegory: kane’s self-immolation was meant to represent genesis and the big bang. lena’s fight with clone!lena is a battle with what’s meant to be the perils of knowledge (and forgiveness/grief, I think, honestly) and her eventual departure from what’s clearly meant to be a garden of eden metaphor. the phosphorus grenade, the second time around, is meant to be the fruit of knowledge.

it was clone!lena that survived imho, because original!lena didn’t have the tattoo by that point. clone!lena did the instant she was made. and the instant whatever lena did survive made it outside, she pulled down her sleeves.

when she’s being asked questions at the end, she literally mimics clone!kane to perfection. she even drinks the water, with the hint in the glass that two become one via the pooling on the side of the glass. it’s, furthermore, a throwback and lead-in to the next scene, serving as a reminder to the very beginning of the movie when lena talks about how cells reproduce. one becoming two, two becoming four, etc. but as one of my friends said, sometimes two need to become one first. GOOD POINT IT WAS A GOOD POINT.

in the end, it really didn’t matter which lena survived, because lena’s an unreliable narrator and ultimately lying to get exactly what she wants. if they knew the reality, they’d never let them be in a room together. the book talks about biological imperatives a lot and the movie deviates pretty strongly from it, but this was an instance where you definitely get exactly that vibe. this is adam and eve on a whole new, cosmic scale.

when she asks kane if he’s himself and he says no, he returns the favor. lena doesn’t answer the question. kane’s facial expressions are very telling, but i’m not going to tell you what they are if you didn’t see them. then we get the shimmer eyes and it makes me very happy okay.

the amount of fucking times the immortal life of henrietta lacks is referenced in this movie DRIVES ME BATTY but in a good way??

[phantomthiefjeanne]

My Top 5 Arina Tanemura Series

This is a rather loaded question, so get ready for A List that Massively Overcomplicates What Should Have Been a Simple, One-and-done Affair! Ft. extensive reviews of all the series named. 

This is a very subjective list, but I do try and work in what is objectively high quality vs. what I simply Like (which imo is just as important in a genre that’s all about fluttery hearts and feeeelings!). Mild spoilers for Tanemura’s work ahead. 

#5: Full Moon O Sagashite

Cue gasps from the peanut gallery for what some (especially international audiences) might consider Tanemura’s magnum opus being ranked so low. Here’s the thing: if this list had been about objective quality, I would concede that this series is too good for just spot five. But since this is about personal favourites, FMoS still straddles the bottom of my own list of bests only because I read it in a time in my life when the themes of cancer! and death! just didn’t sit well when I had to confront those demons in real life as well as on the page. Such personal biases might have also explained why I never fully connected with the characters: Mitsuki, sweet child she is, felt too idealistic for a girl who’d been my age and going through similar struggles, like a distant fairytale princess. I loved and admired her but never fully stepped into her shoes, creating a disconnect the rest of the equally lovable cast could never overcome.

The “She Knew!!” Twist was a game changer in my perception of Mitsuki and the series, however, and the series remains a showcase of what Tanemura does best: classic-literature-worthy monologues, true-to-life humour (because no real life tragedy is all gloom and doom!), and breathlessly emotive art. It’s a love letter to and deconstruction of a tropey genre in equal measure; Full Moon takes the Pierrot idols by STORM in showing that transforming into a new body can mean more than just surface-level wish fulfillment for some in our society. Its shinigami mythology deftly communicates heavy themes without getting bogged down by irrelevant details, and the pacing balances its diverse plot lines without tonal whiplash—not an easy task to do so seamlessly when you really consider how ambitious and complex the series’ premise is. 

For one, it definitely runs the Tragic Back Story Gamut in a more organic manner than SHK, letting the past actually affect the present in a satisfyingly circular way. And the romance! If you squint past some of the more forceful scenes and the Takuto-age-debacle, it’s got one of the most wholly original main pairings around, swoony and engrossing because of the tragedy edging in on the sides and the Found Family aspect, but also because you’re never quiiiite sure until the very end if you’re getting the happy ending less creative shoujo setups promise. And, confession: even though FMoS is #5 here, I actually like its anime adaption better than my precious KKJ’s. It had music worthy of its source material and changes that didn’t completely uproot what the illusively elaborate manga stood for. 

#4: Time Stranger Kyoko

TSK could have been good. Like, really, really good. It’s an exercise in What Could Have Been, if only the editorial staff had given the series a chance to settle into its voice, yes, but also if Tanemura had exercised more focus and constraint in her execution of this weird, weird tale’s starting chapters. I’ve heard reviewers call it confusing on a worldbuilding level, and I’d be inclined to agree, but the logistical ramifications of its admittedly scattered lore are captivating. The details of the Earth Kingdom’s technology and governing system might be questionable, but the details Arina embeds in the relationships between the central love triangle, the intersections of the twelve strangers’ side stories with that of the main one (the witch story in SDC, actually Yume’s story upon conception, is proof of how lovely even the stories we never got to see were D:), and the heroine’s unconventional personality (they say they cut the series short because of her?! every complaint about Tanemura’s heroines being too heroic, too candy-like should be addressed to the editors that shut down Kyoko—the girl who struggles to connect with the tragedies in her friends’ lives because she’s never experienced strife like that and can’t will tragedy upon herself or anything! That’s. So. Relatable. To readers! And relevant to the very tropes Tanemura plays with! AUGHHHH!) elevate the manga waaaay above your standard MacGuffin Hunt, which could have been interesting in itself when you have all of time as well as space to explore. The fact that the rushed ending not only makes story-sense but feels emotionally satisfying, like you wouldn’t even have guessed there was that much behind-the-scenes drama to what’s presented, proves Tanemura’s talent as a storyteller.

Still, you can’t give an award to the imagined greatness of What Could Have Been, and Tanemura’s storytelling wasn’t entirely faultless in inciting what was essentially the series’ cancellation. As entertaining as they were, characters like the thieves and Chocola detracted from the story’s forward momentum and frankly made the series strange in ways that weren’t creative but rather just uncomfortable. The inexplicably incessant focus on the harassment of the teenaged girl characters unsettled me—odd for a series that contains one of the sweetest, most consensual pairings in Arina’s career. 

Kyoko and Sakataki, as a couple but also as separate characters, saved so much else about the series for me. The brash, lazy princess and her stoic, loyal knight...They’re such well-established characters that even with the mounds of untold chapters, you can sort of fill in the blanks on what their love line and separate characters arcs Could Have Been.

And also, since this is a list of my self-indulgent personal favourites, I just really love elementalists and twins, y’all. TSK has BOTH elementalists AND twins, PLUS angsty brothers and secret royalty trying to blend in in high school (it was only the first chapter, but whatever). TSK checks so many of my boxes. That’s why it ranks so high despite its flaws.

#3: Sakura Hime Kaden / Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura

Full disclosure: I grew up with Asian period dramas, with its stunning sets and sweeping costumes. Sometimes they had demons and magic swords. Sometimes they just dealt with the cutthroat machinations of palace politics. Either way, I loved them, and so how could I not love Tanemura’s take on the genre with a series that deals with BOTH?!

SHK’s pacing gets so muddled later in its run you can see the boom mike and stunt wires trying to very mechanically drive the once-promising series to an abrupt end, and the lack of very distinct features in the main character’s personality made it hard to sympathize with her as her destructive fate came into fruition…

but Y’ALL. As a period fantasy and romance and showcase of East Asian myths and even as a shounen manga, something the series is technically not, it is a MASTER CLASS. Tanemura excels in taking what you expect and not so much as stomping on those expectations as much as perfecting them and filtering out the impurities holding them back. Tanemura’s art is also at the top of its game here; the drama and dynamism her detailed style and heavy screen tones deliver fit the series like a glove. The perfunctory bumps along the way to the expansive legend Arina is trying to tell are disregardable in light of how epic and original this series is. With its massive cast of demons and royalty and everything in between, it tries to do a LOT, and for everything it does wrong, it does twenty other things right—and most of the time, it’s the first to do it, in what might be the only period-magical girl series out there.

Its strengths are especially evident in the first three volumes, before the story is bogged down by the Princess Rescue arc, which caused a halt in forward momentum that the series never really recovers from. These starting chapters are perfectly paced, with gorgeous worldbuilding (the soul symbols! what a clever character device!) and deliciously dark stakes that seem to get higher and higher without running out of steam—and we haven’t even met our main villain yet!

As interesting as the main villain is, though (I absolutely despise him but understand where he’s coming from—finally, Arina has broken the Weak Villains curse she and the MCU had both been cursed by), the introduction of him and his demon posse bloats the series to the point where, like TSK, we get sad about What Could Have Been because a lot of what these beginning chapters achingly builds up to, like the xenophobic tension between the emperor and the demons, or Asagiri’s character arc regarding personal sacrifices, falls to the wayside in favour of later, less promising developments.

BUT STILL. Those beautiful transformations. The unconventional way Sakura and Aoba’s swoony romance unfolds (even if the Yuri arc was misplaced). The lush costumes and backdrops. The breathless revelations Tanemura doles out with ease throughout...SHK is severely underrated in the overseas fandom, in my opinion, and I highly implore everyone to at least give the 12-volume series a try, especially now that the series is complete and you won’t wreck your heart agonizing at the cliffhangers between the chapters. If you think you’ve grown out of Tanemura, SHK might just change your mind. It’s dark without being cynical, with a heroine who proudly exclaims that she loves the sensation of just BEING ALIVE even as the world collapses around her. Maron and Mitsuki would be proud. 

#2: The Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross / Shinshi Doumei Cross

In the grand tradition of Hana Yori Dango, and the Heirs and Gossip Girl-types that followed, GAC is a story about the dramatic lives of rich kids at a rich school, with Cinderella imagery to boot.

But this is an Arina Tanemura series, so YOU KNOW it’s going to take the outdated, melodramatic clichés that plague such seemingly unintellectual stories, like birth secrets and arranged marriages, and turn them into something new and deeply meaningful…just like how the Fairy Godmother makes magic happen with Cinderella’s old rags.

The junk-food quality of other (to borrow a word from Korean dramas) “makjang” Cinderella stories is still there, to ensure maximum entertainment and enthralment, but with SDC and the surprisingly deep themes it has to convey, we discover that it was never the genre itself or even its well-worn tropes that was lazy—it was the previous writers, who could never quite pace character arcs or plant plot twists in the masterful manner Arina does. Ouran takes standard shoujo tropes and parodies them. SDC makes a convincing argument defending them by showing how, in the right hands, these devices can work and work well without irony.

Is the series unrealistic? Sure, but instead of treating it like the simplistic slice-of-life it was never meant to be, read it from the lens you’d use for a lore-heavy fantasy novel or palace drama, and you’ll see the genius in Arina’s intricate storytelling, ambitious themes, and breathtaking academy politics. It’s got surprisingly nuanced messages to convey about relationships of all kinds (not just romance!) and enough self-respect to never repeat a plot line, never let a character remain a stereotype, never let the story be as simple as “plucky girl falls in love with cold heir”… The situations the characters are thrown in may not be familiar to us, but their emotions always are. These emotions bounce off the page and speak volumes even when we’re reading between the lines—even when they’re so heart wrenchingly, humanly complex only one of Tanemura’s transcendent analogies could do them justice.

SDC is shoujo at its best: fluffy and fun, but even when your heart gets on its rollercoaster to sink and fly per a wave of Fairy Godmother Tanemura’s magic pen, your brain comes along for the ride. You get as much out of SDC intellectually as you would emotionally—and that’s a whole lot.

(Now if only I could get that live action adaption!)

(Also, btw for those who haven’t read it, SDC is a little funky with its LGBTQ+ representation. It’s there (I saw my bi daughter Ushio’s cameo in idol dreams the other day, and CRIED), and it’s mostly positive, but definitely a lil tone-deaf and misguided. Just a forewarning. This is also partially why this series isn’t #1.)

#1: Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne / Phantom Thief Jeanne

I don’t really need to write a blurb on why I love KKJ, do I? This whole blog, despite it being my personal, already feels like a 7-year-old shrine to the series. I’ve talked a bit about my relationship with the series here and here. I honestly can’t remember if I’ve ever divulged on Tumblr how important this series is to my very core, however: at a time when I was having the darkest of thoughts and my family came tumbling down around me, I took solace in reading and re-reading KKJ. I looked up to Maron but connected with her as well; at a time when I felt abandoned, she showed me how to survive...because it’s ok not to thrive 100% of the time. You can see in Arina’s freetalks, for better and for worst, she really put her truest self into the pages of the manga. It remains to be one of the rawest works of fiction I’ve ever read–and thanks to KKJ itself, I was able to move on from that dark period and later interact with Pretentiously Serious Fiction in my academic career, but nothing’s ever quite hit the genuineness and vulnerability Tanemura expresses within KKJ’s 7 volumes.

Even when Maron’s lessons ended, the series introduced me to an online community that I can honestly say saved my life. The debt I owe to KKJ as a reader, a creator, and a living human being is immense. 

And that’s not even getting into how good it genuinely is, you guys. Even if you aren’t big on Tanemura’s nuanced approach to human feelings and sweeping universal truths about the human connection, you gotta admire the genius of her pacing. The series is so fluid, with no moving parts missing nor extraneous–a rarity in this genre. KKJ’s plot twists and character arcs unspool organically, with unmatched grace. Looking at some of the male characters’ actions, I’ll admit it’s not perfect, but the experience it provides very well may be. Dear reader, even if KKJ is not your #1, I hope your #1 book, song, film, whatever provides you with the same kind of sanctuary that KKJ was for me, way back when. 

As if this list wasn’t long enough, some honourable mentions: 

Almost made the cut: (Absolute awakening angels) Mistress Fortune It’s so cute! And does what it sets out to do so well! It’s a short, sweet romcom starring a magical girl duo...what more could you want? I used to agonize over how the side story left their feelings (Arina had promised to go back to them! She’d PROMISED!) but after having lived, loved, and learned past the duo’s age bracket, I totally get it now, Kisaki. I do. 

Now if only Giniro hadn’t been quite so forceful, and if the weight loss plot lines could have been dropped entirely...

Favourite oneshot: The Short-Tempered Melancholic I love both parts of this duology! Even if it’s straightup silly in what I think is supposed to be feminism, the romance is adorable and it’s ultimately inoffensive. Like with Kyoko, the well-crafted heroine and hero carry this one home, and I wouldn’t have minded an entire series just about them and those ninja hijinks. Runner-up for oneshots would be Shoujo Eve: 24 Hours. 

Favourite *new* Arina series: Idol Dreams/ 31 idream The pacing’s a little messy and the story’s logistics don’t quite click as well as, say, FMoS, but of the smaller projects Arina has taken on since SHK, this one’s definitely my favourite. Even with all of its cameos and references, it stands alone well enough as a good josei series, rather than a TanemuraTM series. As with KKJ, here she tackles subjects that feel personal to her, and the authenticity works.

Phew! That was probably more than you asked for, which is why I left this post until Reading Week to write. As well as a Top 5 list, I think this doubles as a Top Recommendations list–so feel free to message me if you’re interested in anything I listed! ;)