#hope you don't mind me being insane about my blorbo Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[just-a-itty-bitty-kitty]

Ohhh that is so interesting, and something I haven't even considered before!! But you're right, the way we get Opportunist in TPATD is completely different from how we usually get him. Opportunist is our self-preservation at the expense of others, or at least, that's what he usually is. I think we can look at the reasons behind his 'betrayal' in two ways.

We can confidently say that certain voices act differently depending on the route (Tower!Broken and Cage!Broken, HEA!Smitten and Thorn!Smitten, Cage!Skeptic and EOTN!Skeptic, etc.), and that can mean that A) a voice's personality and role changes depending on the way it was formed, fundamentally changing the voice itself(as in, if you were to put Thorn!Smitten in HEA, he would act differently as to how he would normally), or B) a voice, much like a person, would behave differently in different circumstances(as in, If the Princess previously didn't display how powerful she is over us, why would Broken have a reason to submit to her in The Cage? To him, we're on the same level, so he leans more towards an empathetic reading of the situation, as opposed to his behavior in The Tower.)

And that brings us back to Oppy. In both of those readings, his behavior makes sense.

If we go with the first, then by killing ourself, we practically removed a part of him that cares for our survival. This very much creates an Opportunist at his very worst, Opportunist that would choose to hurt others over his own survival, that only knows how to hurt, that revels in hurting. Usually, he seeks power as a way to find safety, to make sure that no one can get to him. But in The Spectre, you aren't in any danger. The Narrator is clearly not powerful enough to stop you, and you can just walk out completely fine, but you choose to slay yourself just to hurt her again, just to display your power over her. And so this Opportunist is a direct reflection of your actions.

And if we go with the 2nd reading, and think of Oppy as an individual entity with his own stable set of morals and a sense of personhood, well. He's self-preservation that appeared in response to our lack there of. By slaying ourself, we effectively proved that we do not act in our best interest; and in this case, 'our' includes all the voices as well.

Opportunist loves to think of himself, TLQ, and the voices as a 'team'. In The Wraith he goes out of his way to make sure that all of them get a good position, even though he doesn't have to. It would be much easier to differentiate himself from the rest, but he doesn't. This community-driven mindset exists as a safety feature. If you're one of the little guys, you have much better chances to get what you want if you unite into one big group(His voice counterpart, Hunted, seems to operate on a similar mindset, though much more literal-survival-driven, and mayhaps more genuine, as opposed to Opportunist's social and detached).

That's why TLQ's actions in 'The Spectre -> The Princess and The Dragon' lead Opportunist to the 'natural' conclusion that They're no longer on the 'team'. First, they hurt themselves just to spite the Princess, then they completely disappear off the radar, and THEN it turns out they were just. Chilling. With said Princess. In Her head??? The Princess in that route is very much an 'other', and anyone who is an 'other' is defaulted as a potential threat in Oppy's eyes. TLQ is aligning themselves(willingly or not) with an enemy. And said actions also make TLQ too unpredictable for Opportunist to confidently stand by them. It's much safer to just get rid of this 'decider' that constantly shifts the board and puts the whole team in danger.

None of this is to necessarily excuse the little rat's actions, by the way. He's literally the worst person ever in TPATD(and in most of the routes he's in tbh,,) but his actions do have explanations and I do genuinely think he has a potential for growth. Everyone has.

holy shitballs I think I just noticed why the opportunist is so willing to kill us during patd. it's not just because he's a piece of shit and an absolute bastard /pos so the moment he gets access to the driver's seat he will backstab us immediately (or maybe it is that idk)

something to note is that despite the differences in each variation, opportunist is still a "survival" voice. this is a consistent trait of his across all routes. in the witch he straight up admits he's a compulsive backstabber because "it's how we survive", during the wraith he is DESPERATE to get on the princess' good side, and in a certain way in hea he doesn't want the lights to go out and insists we're happy, which you could see as a version of wanting to survive. in the wild everyone's sort of the same though so idk much about that one. anyways, the point is... it seemed a little out of character for him, because he's trying to get *us* to survive, not just him, since we're technically one. so why the hell would he turn on us? then it hit me:

it's because we were willing to kill ourselves if it meant killing the spectre too. our life was never a priority in our eyes. we took the chance we got and us dying alongside her wasn't important at all.

[mustfindcreativeusername]

(maybe scroll past if you love love bbc sherlock)

Me: honestly i fucking hate bbc sherlock by this point i mean yeah i loved the first two seasons loved loved loved them but then it haaad to get so complicated but still i could live with season 3 but wtf was s4??? And why did they have to... Do. That. Why make me hate even one John Watson i love my Watsons why did you make him a piece of shit in the last season, texting another woman to the point he considers it cheating is one thing i mean depends on the texts but that's forgivable it was just texting after all, anyway that's one thing but he blamed Sherlock so much for Mary's death when she!! She!! Jumped in front of the bullet to save him. It was her decision (why did she have to be a mega spy? Why did she have to surgery-shoot Sherlock. It wasn't as safe as she thought he literally died and came back and if the ambulance had come a couple minutes later he would 100% be dead wtf and he forgave her too) it was Mary's decision to sacrifice herself for Sherlock and he blamed him to the point where he basically internalises that Sherlock killed her. And i understand needing time alone or whatever but mrs hudson said he's sick, john, pls come see him and he was like yeah whatever sure if you insist ig.

Oh and . Yeah. He fucking. Beat. Him .Up??? Not punch him -haha funny- not hit him once, or even twice. No. He fucking beat him up. With punches and kicks and stuff. While he was looking at him like. Not quite believing. That his friend, "best friend" would do that to him. And yeah him being on drugs would have contributed but he ended up in the hospital?? After john beat him up. I didn't watch that episode in a while but i don't remember john being extremely remorseful or worried afterwards. He saw that cd from mary and only then he was like, "oh no my friend". Your friend. Your friend who would do literally anything for you. Your friend who a couple days later hugged you while you were crying. Did you even hug back? Did you ever apologize? I don't remember. He might've. But i dont remember it. And sherlock forgave him. Just like that. Worse even. I don't really think that he was that mad at him in the first place. Heartbroken, yes. Did you see his face? When john was beating him up? He wasn't even in his right mind, mega on drugs and stuff, and he'd just had a 'that is not the person i met' moment, tma fans wink wink, he was not well and you beat him up. You're a doctor too. Ha. Your best friend, the one who would do anything for you, die, kill, make himself sick to save your mental health or whatever was going on in that episode. In the following episode, days later really, he's made to choose to kill either his brother, HIS BROTHER, or John, and both Sherlock and Mycroft immediately, instinctively know that he's not gonna kill John. He loves him too much. I never really got it the first time around, the first time i watched. It's insane - Sherlock's devotion to John. He literally loves him above anything else, including himself. And I'm not a shipper. Oh i am usually a johnlock shipper but not them. I do still think they belong together but man oh man i hope john groveled. Why did they have to do that. Make us, make me hate john watson. I loved him. In the first two seasons, i really really loved him, he was my blorbo, well, the word blorbo didn't exist yet but he was. And i have a list somewhere titled 'heartbreakingly raw lines' and it's honestly mostly about the delivery of those lines and  "no, he's my friend, he's my friend, please" is right there, nr 1. Nr 2 is close, it's from good omens, bookshop fire, also about a friend, you get it, and after these two there's a biig big big gap before the third. Those two are supreme, nr 2 is so so so heartbreaking but it did not even compete with nr 1. To this day if i recall that scene, those lines, "let me come through please, no, he's my friend, he's my friend, please " i feel sick. My stomach is twisting right now, as i write. I loved john. I loved their relationship. Friendship, whatever, autocorrect asked me if thats what i wanna say. Why ruin his character? Just to be edgy? Why would you make him beat up his best friend, that!! friend. Oh and then, once they did make him do that,  just gloss over the fact. I'm not even saying make Sherlock be mad at him. That bitch loves him to the point it's almost pathetic. But there are other ways. How can you just gloss over that. He punched him several times, he kicked him while he was down. I'm sitting here thinking "what a piece of shit, punch a wall if you're that angry, i get being heartbroken about your wife, and feeling guilty, and overwhelmed, but that is no excuse". Why do i have to call any John Watson a piece of shit. Hell, why do i have to call this one a piece of shit, i fucking loved him. 

That's the one thing i do really really hate about that show. They did a lot of other stuff, all the characters were edgy-ified and made a little worse, as opposed to the ones from the books (lestrade is fine actually) but it doesn't upset me too much, i just see it as its own show instead of an adaptation adaptation and yeah, really not that upset. And i didn't really notice at first but there was queerbaiting wasn't it. I mean there were just a little too many jokes. I guess. I did see it when i rewatched it. Still. I never really saw them together, yk? Like yeah, together forever, but not as a couple. Needless to say i was very happy when like two years after i first watched it i learned about QPRs. Like yeah yeah that's what i meant. So it had a lot of flaws i guess but stuff you could get past, yk. And the first two seasons really were amazing, i wanted to snort them. But i am glad i was only vaguely familiar with the stories when i watched it, i think i would've liked it a lot less. I mean acd Sherlock Holmes is such a nice man, he's a sweetie honestly, he giggles and rubs his hands together when there's a clue, and yeah he's got some 'get to the point' moments but he's not an asshole. He monologues about flowers at some point. I love bbc Sherlock (the character) too, i really do, but he can be a bit of a prick. Intentionally, not bc he doesn't realise it. Did he just decide one day he was a sociopath and leaned into it or what. That high functioning sociopath thing was just him being dramatic, we're not actually supposed to believe he was, right? God i haven't thought- really thought - about this show in a while. And i can't believe i thought for so long we were getting a s5. After how s4 ended? That was a "soo they had many more adventures but this is where we part ways with them, byyeeee" ending. Did you know, tv time had it listed as "to be continued"/ a running show for so long after s4 ended. So so long. After like 4 years i made my peace and I'm pretty sure even then it was listed as running. I checked on it again some time ago, a year or two ago and it was finally listed as finished and i felt both disappointed and relieved. Like if your loved one has been missing for years and years and you finally find out they're dead. You kinda knew that but.. deep down... But still, you're relieved to know. Well maybe not exactly like that. Tv time isn't the ultimate authority, but. No, you know what it felt like? Passing a corpse every now and then and one day seeing that they've been layed to rest in a grave. And maybe it's for the best. S4 did so much damage, I'm not taking good, owie my heart, damage, i mean ruining John, and... making the dog a boy??? I'm not gonna talk about the whole Eurus thing bc i did like one aspect of it (horrible labirinth with really fucked up decisions to be made. I never saw any saw movies [lol. Saw saw] but that's what they're like right?) but yeah just make her an actual supernatural force at this point. The fuck. So maybe it's for the best. Not getting a s5. I've made my peace a long time ago and as i said, I'm starting to feel like i harbour some sort of hate for this show. Not the "i wish I'd never watched it" kind, not the "tf what did i ever see in it" kind either (s1 and 2 my loves) but it is a hate nonetheless. I'm glad I've moved on from it.

People on the internet: omg they're talking about making bbc Sherlock season 5!

Still me: omg omg no wayyy yess pleaseee maybe everything will be fixed and nice and cute yesss gimme gimme 

[little-meowyao]

Hello..If you don't mind me asking (again), can I ask, what are your top 7 (or top 10) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc) and your top 10 favorite (fictional) characters from any media? Why do you love them all? Sorry if you've answered this questions before......

I haven't! And I'm so thrilled you sent this actually

(Readmore because long-ish post)

So when it comes to medias, I am going to say (and I hope you don't mind classics lol)

No Longer Human

This book is just. Everything to me. You have no idea I went through it so quickly I ADORE IT. Literature bible

Did you ever get the feeling of being so similiar to someone, so close, but there's just this sense of sheer disconnect from them? Like a thread that should in all reason hold two things together but doesn't? "Hello, I feel disconnected from humanity" "Hello, I feel disconnected from humanity too but I can't relate to you"

No Longer Human my beloved

2. Nirvana in Fire

This speaks for itself, I think. It is so incredibly intricate and compelling, also I love Lying Liars Who Lie. And trajedies. I like palace/political dramas a lot!

3. I Became a God in a Horror Game (GHG)

How do I even begin to explain this one. It's a 1.5 million words beast. I've only read half of it. I am on the edge of my seat always. The protagonist is kinda scummy, money-obsessed, and so so interesting. They have powers

Again, I've only read half of it, but it's that kinda novel that just keeps you READING READING READING. I like it a lot

There is a beast of a little girl and a little clown named Daniel. He only just started appearing but if anything happens to him, I will kill everyone in the room and then myself. He's murderous, but that's fine because he spent 10 years in constant torment

The worldbuilding is super intricate

4. Bungo Stray Dogs

I love the worldbuilding (although Fyodor's ability reveal was super whack) but the relationships are what get me. Fyolai especially, a hyper religious man with a savior complex that in the latest chaps I've read is implied to be kinda suicidal and an atheist clown who seeks pure freedom and wants to kill Fyodor because his affection for him is a cage and he also reeks of religious trauma. They are So Insane

Dazai is my most favourite for obvious reasons (see: NLH rant above) but Mori. Mori, this man. Wow

VERY controversial opinion within BSD fandom but I adore Mori and desperately want to know more about him. I will murder someone if his entire backstory isn't shown

Also Fuukuchi. [Weary sigh] I adore Fukuchi. Such a complicated man

5. Mo Dao Zu Shi

I really didn't think I'd put it this low but it's kinda whack actually. Very compelling but also unfortunately very vague world. I love the social dynamics at play and I do think that the ending, while super cruel and horrible to so many people, is thematically appropriate

Also it contains my currently favourite blorbo! Jin Guangyao my dearest. What an interesting little bug

6. The Inheritance Cycle

One way more childish than above (YA) but so good nonetheless. I love the implications of the magic system (a whole language that invokes magic! The Ancient Language) and of the dragons, but especially of the ra'zac. Gods the ra'zac

Birdish creatures that exist outside of the magic grid of the Ancient Language. They cannot use magic but they cannot be detected by it either. Most likely they don't have a name in the ancient language (the One True language of the world that dictates natural laws, kinda). They seem to be natural predators to humans

Their natural speech is hisses and clicks and stuff but they can speak. Then they metamorphise into lethrblaka and lose the ability to speak, and start flying

I also love the implications of the dragons being able to just erase things from existence (via bouts of magic they don't entirely control). They erased the names of the thirteen dragons that willingly participated in the massacre of their species. Their names cannot be spoken out loud and anyone that reads them quickly forgets. It also doomed the dragons to isolation, because any sort of communication or "I like [thing]" would be like naming themselves. Many of their riders (humans bonded to them since their birth) went insane because of that, and a notion dragons are wild beasts spread from that (they're not, they're as sentient and intelligent as any human)

And 7. The Plated Prisioner series

The worldbuilding is not super complex. They have powers that come from fae ancestors, and that's about it (so far; I've only read up to the 4th book)

What keeps me hooked is the story itself. The pacing is actually really good (I think) and the story just keeps going and you just want to keep reading and reading and reading. There are moments of massive tension and people who die and the transformation of the mc is incredibly cool

8. Genshin Impact

This would probably be further up if you'd asked me an year or two ago. I like the story a lot and the characters are really cool. All The Fuckery of Mondstadt has me hooked (why do essentially all the Mondstadt characters have some trauma or something weird about them. Genuinely. And what was the deal with the upside down statue. And why is Celestia pointing to it)

I am really looking foward to 7.0 version and beyond where we get to FINALLY face the main antagonists (HOPEFULLY BECAUSE IF IT ISN'T THE TSARITSA WHO COULD IT BE) and then for Kahenri'ah. There's a character (Dainsleif) that shows up once an year, drops a lore bomb, traumadumps, and then disappears, and he has the entire playerbase by the throath. Though the lsst two quests with him have been sadly very short :(

As for my blorbos, I'm just gonna list some of them (in no particular order)

This is /checks notes, 6 books (series), a show, and a game

Jin Guangyao (MDZS)

Qi Rong (TGCF)

Kaeya (Genshin Impact)

Dainsleif (Genshin Impact)

Bai Liu (GHG)

Dazai (BSD)

Fyodor (BSD)

Mori (BSD)

Nikolai (BSD)

Fukuchi (BSD)

Lan Xichen (MDZS)

Nie Mingjue (MDZS)

Daniel (GHG)

Georgia (GHG)

Tang Erda (GHG)

[snellyfish]

(duck) THOUGHTS!! THOUGHTS ON EPISODE 10-11!! NOW!! I AM SHAKING YOU VIOLENTLY PLEASE TELL ME

OHOGHGOH MY GOSH OK OK OK you know how funny it was for like 2 days straight after we FINALLY caught up i just kept saying "i have to go write out my thoughts on drdt and feed my anons (mostly with you in mind)" every few hours with nothing but "i thought you already did that??" in response, cue me being like "no but like for real this time"

I also give my best wishes to the creator of DRDT, you've given us such a fun story with fun characters and I hope you the best on recovering, resting, and focusing on yourself. If we never get another episode that is a-ok, I'll be very sad but only because I truly appreciate the art and writing for a wonderful story that you've given to us all for FREE. Thank you for that<3 For clarity and reference, this whole ramble is written with the intention/presumption that we will get more chapters, though I'm not getting my hopes up

!!!!! DRDT EPISODE 10 AND 11 SPOILERS BELOW !!!!!

Also just an insane wall of text in general, jfc, you have been warned

Ok so first of all, I'll say what everyone's really here for:

Sorry, I personally fucking LOVED the twist, no significant complaints with it; it's a character trope I ADORE and more than I ever could've asked for to come from such a blorbo as David

Sorry, yes, I am also unfortunately down bad for him, HOWEVER-

Extremely happy that David wasn't the killer because we get to see more of this little freak in action in the next chapter, I can't even tell you how excited I am for his character omgomgomgomg I love horrible fucked up manipulative freaks so much. I also don't blame anyone for not enjoying his character anymore (especially if you liked the trope of his preconceived notion of a character) but like, me personally I can appreciate any character no matter the morals (the less the better imo) as long as they're written in an interesting and compelling way.

The way David is so horrendously straight-forward about everyone else just being a funny little pawn to him with absolutely no remorse (genuinely hope he never gains any empathy or I'll be a little upset ngl (well…depends on how it's done I GUESS!!)) makes his seemingly multi-layered character into….. something one-dimensional (/pos /GEN!!! one-dimensional is NOT a bad thing if it's a cool dimension that causes fun character conflicts) but the WAY they introduce this static ruthlessness to him is just;;;; CHEFS KISS. He's still a layered character, sure, two-faced freak running the long con, but his true self is just so reprehensibly remorseless it's hard to see ANYTHING under it

We were also both dying of laughter in the first episode how David had a really long horribly winded speech about fucking,,,,,,God knows what,,,, And no one acknowledged it and me n my bestie were just fucking whale eyeing each other like "SO IS NO ONE GONNA TALK ABOUT THAT? WE'RE JUST GONNA STEAMROLL RIGHT OVER HIS MINI PSYCHOTIC BREAK? OK" Not to be salty but GUYS.. Anyone who genuinely believed David was a good person and were shocked with the twist I…I'm sorry …… I'm sorry that we did not watch the same character introduction …. I've been on team two-faced David from the start that's my manipulate mansplain manwhore right there, babe! If you don't love him at his X you don't deserve him at his Y

Erm erm erm also thought it was hilarious when David was droning on after his big real reveal because, even though I was having a great time with it, I was also just repeatedly muttering "the fish…..?" looking around like the john travolta gif "the fish? the fish? guys, the fish? can we talk about the fish? im dying to talk about the fish" AHGHGAGAHA AND JUST GETTING SO FRUSTRATED WHEN EVERYONE FINALLY BROUGHT UP THE FISH AND WERE LIKE "OH EM GEE THE LIAR IS LYING ABOUT KILLING AREI??? DAS SO CRWAZY" Old school Danganronpa feeling of screaming at the characters denseness, so nostalgic, I DID ENJOY IT, IT WAS FUNNY, I HAD A GOOD TIME HAHA I loooove characters who lie for no good reason only to benefit themselves and have a good time while others suffer (Kokichi doesn't count + I don't like him (also stop comparing David to Kokichi you guys are insane and don't understand character nuance SOWWY))

My apologies I'm still like keeling off [MULTIPLE SUBSTANCES OF VARYING LEGALITY] so DON'T tell me if this is incomprehensible or not because I'm speaking straight from the heart and the heart says I won't him. This reminds me that for the entire time he was having his MAIN psychotic break (especially in the animation) my best friend wouldn't stop fucking muttering in distress "I WANT HIM I WANT HIM I WANT HIM" I had to tell him to shut the fuck up even though I was also internally very much not normal. We should both be shot.

Still think David and Hu should kiss. I think now more than ever they should kiss. Maybe make out.

Actually do you know how many times I said "Shut up, Hu." during these two episodes?? It was at least 5 I was getting SO mad at her for like no good reason, I don't even remember WHY exactly but I think her mom friend energy was getting TOO motherly and I'm no longer appreciating the particular WAY she mothers people, i.e. picking favorites + taking accountability for said favorites + defending them blindly and naively but in weirdly elitist way etc etc etc.. Very typical of Snellyfish to ship toxic men with female characters they don't like. Maybe I should look into my soul for this one, doesn't seem like,,,healthy, or something. I'll write my own callout post for me on that one dw.

Also I'm not necessarily saying Hu has bad writing or a wholly unlikeable personality at all btw, I am interested to know Why she's like that, I just gotta get over the hill of disliking her rn. Uber sweetie characters like that can just get on my nerves is all. She's also definitely got the secret motive for having multiple Attempts, huh? Give us your backstory queen,,,, I promise to like you a little more if you can bring a lil tear or two to my eye,,,,,,, I think my main thing with her is that she's like the most NORMAL of the group LMFAO

Either way, Huvid real. Sorry, but it shouldn't be surprising, I'm a Verturo shipper after all, it's in my natur-

SPEAKING OF VERTUROOOOOHHHH MY GGOOODDDDD I ATE SOOO DAMN GOOD. NO CRUMBS LEFT, I WAS GOING CRAZY. GOOD GOD CHRIST ALMIGHTY. The way that Veronika was the ONLY mf defending Arturo and he was like "girl you're making me look BAD" was so fucking funny, I am so horribly obsessed with their dynamic it's unreal

Not to "omg as a veronika kinnie-" for the millionth time but GIRL-- the way that I've said in the past Multiple Times that I hope both Arturo and David get worse and worse in an irredeemable way (mostly David, I kiiiinda want some nice Arturo content maybe one day 😳), and to have Veronika in like the same episode (I think) pivot back and forth towards both Arturo AND David in a "ohhh you're horribly fucked up I hope you never get better because I want in your brain NOW!!! let me IN!!!!!! THE TOXIC FUMES ARE CALLING TO ME LIKE A SWEET SWEET SIREN!!!!!!!" I think all three of them should also hold hands and kiss and--

OH. OH OHH. ARTURORRROOOO God as a general fuckin stan of all three Arturo + Veronika + David I ATE SO DAMN GOOD IT'S BEEN CRAZY TO CONTAIN MY THOUGHTS LMAO, had to stew on this one before writing it all out y'see. I definitely want to rewatch this chapter sometime because I know I've consumed it pretty mindlessly and a lot goes over my head. EITHER WAY.

Arturo backstory real??? Arturo's breakdown about his sister and how it's not his fault?? Not your fault in what way? Blushes and bats my eyelashes and holds your latex glove hand. plink plink. <-- sound of me batting my eyelashe.s. I was also incredibly normal when he straight up pulled a scalpel on Eden Kai Satou style, really really sane I didn't make monkey sounds or ANything like that, you guys. trust me.

In general I try not to give too hard of a time on DRDT's writing because it's like,, a passion project, obviously not professionally done, just a happy little writer writing their happy little characters AND I APPRECIATE AND RELATE TO YALL SO MUCH FOR THAT;; But I do have to finally properly mention how I frequently face the problem of a very consistent flow of characters being very straightforward, telling instead of showing, and making things just very awkward seeming? I bring this up mostly because of the Eden/Arei scene. Don't get me wrong I LOVE that dynamic and I LOVE what could've been between them in their friendship (🌈?) but I also wish that they didn't write Arei to so boldly claim like "I've been a manipulative bitch" or something like that, I guess I just don't feel that it's the kind of thing someone (especially like her, even with her breakdown-breakthru with David) would be able to articulate so clearly, and accept so honestly in such a short timeframe; I dunno. I've felt this way with a lot of dialogue even just in the prologue/introductions sections, wherein characters speak like they're Just Characters and know exactly how to word things like robots and just don't speak like Real people half the time. Whateva. That's my nitpick. I definitely think the dialogue has gotten better but the Arei thing ticked me off, but, I think her self-awareness might just be a crucial part of her character I'm not picking up on enough so,,,,augh, might just be me, honestly! I'm not the greatest writer myself so 🙏 feh!

Can't wait to figure out if I ship Arturo and J or not. Feel insane about it. Every time they talk I'm like DO I??? DO I SHIP IT??????? LOOKS AROUND AT THE AUDIENCE

GUYS I'LL BE REAL I'M STILL SO LOST ON WHO THE FUCKING KILLER IS LMAO!!!!!!! Entirely forgetting everyone's alibis right now so I can't really say who I'm leaning towards because they could be completely safe and I'm just dense and didn't pay enough attention. My b.

Even though Ace is one of my top fav characters I can feel myself getting steadily less and less interested in him just because all of his energy is going into the stupid Nico/Levi situation and I'm like SO sick of it Actual. I know it's mostly because I don't personally like Nico or Levi AND because this shit keeps getting brought up with no resolution nor any progress and it's like BRO.. I'M SICK OF IT. The amount of times they would bicker and I'd say "I'm sick of this drama." and then strategically zone out in self-defense was kind of funny. ACE DEFINITELY HAD SOME REALLY GOOD PARTS IN THESE EPISODES OUTSIDE OF THAT THOUGH GHGHHG HE KEEPS ME HOOKED, THAT DAMNED SMILE, as a chihuahua lover myself I can never stray too far from Ace's light, he's so fucking funny and I love his dynamic with David-- oh no, I love his dynamic with David........... Looks at my palms.

As always: Charles<3 I have such a funny relationship with him because it's like, he's not one of my top favs by any means, doesn't stand out the most for my particular taste, but I also have literally no reason to dislike him and he's just written GOOD, so whenever he shows up and has a nice scene or a nice line I just go "ah,,,,,,, charles<3" Not a single negative thought about him. He's like a sister to me. This isn't true I have many negative thoughts about my sister but you know!

I THINK THAT'S IT. THERE YOU GO. FEAST, MY ANONS, ASSUMING ANYONE HAS THE WILL TO READ THIS IN IT'S ENTIRETY HAHAHAHA. Time to go watch Demon Slayer Season 3!!!!!!

[nanamis-bigtie]

So, I watched the RED Movie yesterday. I have very mixed feelings. I'll explain everything under cut since I want to talk about scenes & plot & involved characters.

So far, a short non-spoiler review:

-> if you're not 100% sure you DON'T want to see the movie, don't hesitate and get yourself a ticket, this is one of those made to be enjoyed in cinema, the experience won't be the same at home

-> if you want to see this only to see your blorbo in action...you most likely will be disappointed, unless your blorbo is Koby, Barto or Usopp

-> if Uta's design & everything told about her in promo materials didn't convince you to like her...you most likely will be disappointed too

-> ...actually, you will have much more fun, if you stop treating it as a movie and start to think about it as high budget music video with Ado's pirate-sona. a big animated fanfic with a quirky OC

-> if you can wait, do yourself a favor and watch it AFTER you read this week's chapter, you will thank me 🤭

And now to the juicy meat.

I went to cinema knowing well this is NOT a movie for me. I'm a manga-only fan, I know anime only in bits and RED is my first OP movie ever. The info revealed in campaign didn't make me enthusiastic, especially given how much they push Uta on the pedestal. Frankly, if not for sis who really wanted to see it, I'd not move my ass to cinema.

But I did. And much to my surprise, I did enjoy it lol Wouldn't call it a good movie (maybe it is for OP standards, no idea), but wouldn't call it a waste of time either. Just a fun thing to watch together with a bunch of nerds, so you can make weird noises when your faves show up.

Uta for me was the weakest point of the movie. Not because I find her a bad-written character (I actually like what they made with her but that's later), but because she has like, 0 chemistry with characters on screen. Her relationship with Shanks and Luffy are limited to very short flashbacks and a few scenes with Shanks at the very end. Luffy and Uta interact with each other but I just...didn't get a feeling they're old friends reuniting after years. I mean, compare it to how Luffy reacted to Ace in Alabasta. Everytime Luffy and Uta met, it felt like a staged scene, and given that a majority of movie is played in alter-reality, controlled by Uta's mind, it gives one whole additional layer of that weird, fake feeling.

Following with the weak points: there's a whole lot of characters who do NOTHING. If we cut all the fight scenes but the finale, a good part of the cast has nothing to do. They just...are. Because they're Strawhats/popular characters. But even with those fight scenes... Zoro, one of the most important characters in the serie, got more or less the same screen time as a fucking chibified fursona of a ship. Even Shanks and Luffy, 2 of 3 main pillars of the movie, don't do that much. Really.

Honestly, fight scenes but the last one disappointed me. I'm a simple One Piece simp: I want to see my blorbos flexing muscles in crazy fights. I know this is not the essence of plot, but it's the flavor. One Piece wouldn't be One Piece if it wasn't boiled in broth made of bloody, sweaty tits, goddammit. In RED majority of fight scenes are edited like AMVs. With insane graphic quality, but with the same chaos and level of cuts and edits. Plus Uta being Uta through majority of screen time. Which is...UGH. The way she fights is really interesting! Whenever she does it, the jaw just drops! I wanna see her fighting with that power! Not look at heavily edited idol performance!

Luckily, at some point movie finally chills down and lets the plot breathe. And once it stops being an AMV on speed, it becomes quite interesting. Especially with the way it flashes out those few characters who got something to do. BIG kudos for choosing less obvious ones for pushing the plot motor: Bartolomeo, Koby, Blueno, Usopp (feat. his daddy issues). Koby was the absolute MVP. Holy fuck. I hope this is just a foretaste of what we're going to see in manga.

Fan theories connoisseurs will be over the moon with the number of symbols and wink winks. Not gonna lie, I focused on lyrics on purpose, to avoid sensory overload from those shaking AMVs and was surpirsed how much info is hidden in them. Like one, big teaser for the upcoming events.

I wonder how many connections will be revealed later. The robots from library? Hell, guess what just happened in chapter 1065 👀 They weren't lying that events aren't canon - but lore definitely is.

The animation & music combo is INSANE. Especially when they let Ado sing instead of pushing her to perform as a candy idol girl (the opening song made my skin crawl jesus christ that was horrible). Gods, the more crazy Uta gets, the better songs get and when the music goes low ohhhhh yes, that's the good shit.

NO FANSERVICE. IN ONE PIECE MOVIE? MORE LIKELY THAN YOU THOUGHT! Except for one very toned panties joke and one not-moving panel from the credits there's literally no fanservice. Null. Zero. Nada. And they let female characters fight to their fullest! Nami, Robin and Brulee do in comparison as much as other background characters.

The final is. IS. I swear, it's one of the best directed fights I've seen in One Piece EVER and hello, forget about the non-anime thig, I watched the famous Katakuri vs Snakeman and the Rooftop. The combo of powerful music, smooth animation, characters cooperating in perfectly-balanced yet unexpected teams, the multi layered attack lead by Usopp and Yasopp, Snakeman-Nika fusion & Shanks finish, fuck, I swear, I was shaking.

I hope this is how final fight in OP will look like. A whole team of our faves from various fractions against Im maybe? 👀

Loved how balanced the humor was. Characteristic for One Piece yet, tamed. Nothing too perverted, nothing too gross, everything chaotic as fuck. Love you, Bepo.

But my favorite part is probably the way they handled the conflict and the case of who's a villain. Don't wanna say too much cause imho this is something everyone should interpret according to their own judgement, but liked how they placed the core in the moral dilemma between bringing relief and utopia for the cost of freedom and remaining free but having to face the reality (oh, someone was inspired by The Matrix). Should I run into lie to comfort myself? Is it a wise idea to try and shield someone from consequences of their actions, even if they were not fully conscious? Does one have a right to decide what's good for others?

If not for the BULLSHIT finish, I'd say the second part saved the movie in my eyes. Sadly, it added to a bad aftertaste. Well, at least I have the OST. And soon-to-come shirtless snake gifs.

Overall, not a tragedy, thing more enjoyable than irritating even if you are easily distracted by things you don't like (like me lol), worth spending money and time even if for just watching an AMV on big screen.

And the obligatory traditional number scale: 4/10 as a stand alone movie, 6/10 as a meat for OP fan, 10/10 of Law's hairy leggies my beloved.

[artekai]

For the ask game... Horizon Zero Dawn (??? That's the name right???) I don't know anything about it but I would like to hear about your scrunkly and co \(￣︶￣*\))

YES!!! THANK YOU I'm having so much Horizon brainrot right now!!! :D

blorbo: Does Artekai count? Artekai doesn't count, does he? He may be not be a canon character, but because he is an Horizon OC, he's dragging me deeper into Horizon hell all on his own ;-; As for actual canon characters, I feel like I don't really have The One Fave yet? But, if I had to guess, the competition seems to be between Aratak, Elisabet, and Sylens. Aratak is your usual emotionally repressed DILF, except he doesn't have any children (with the bonus that he is relevant to Artekai's story), while Elisabet is your usual self-sacrificial scientist who wants to save the world and is also wrapped up in a tragic romance, so you can see why I'd be drawn to them :') More on Sylens later.

scrunkly: Ikrie! She looks very cute and I admire her strength! She makes me smile :3 And there's also Itamen, that scene where Avad tells him "welcome home, my brother" melted my heart ;-; And there's GAIA! Could anything set off my protective instincts more than a loving AI that cares about nature and would sacrifice herself for her children? :')

scrimblo bimblo: I don't really know? Maybe Ourea, Aratak, or CYAN, but since they're from Frozen Wilds, I wouldn't expect people to give them as much attention as characters from the base game... No one else comes to mind right now.

glup shitto: I love Gildun and Varga, both from Frozen Wilds! They have very little screentime, but I instantly loved them because they're very charming and their personalities are so much fun! They're also a lot more willing to help Aloy out right off the bat than 80% of the characters, and Aloy could really use the support... I would love for Gildun to be her weird uncle. And maybe Varga could be her girlfriend...? I don't mean to get attached to another pool noodle pairing but I'm just saying :')

poor little meow meow: SYLENS. Part of me is like "noooo don't get attached to Sylens haha!" but we all know problematic faves are some of the best, and Sylens is no exception. This man was INSANE for starting a literal cult because he wanted to learn arithmetic. It's not that he enjoys hurting people, he just doesn't care because he's obsessed with knowledge, and honestly? I respect that. They do say that the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down, and Sylens sure is the king of fucking around and finding out!! He's winning the blorbo competition, good for him, good for him.

horse plinko: uhhh... I don't really know? I guess Aloy has a lot of angst potential, so let's go with that.

eeby deeby: Ted Faro, no question! I hope he's already there! <3 Also Helis!! I might throw Lansra in there too depending on my mood. She might be a grandma but that doesn't justify her being so mean to Aloy!