#i actually find it hilarious how mad everyone was when they started actually kinda liking him

[we1come-to-swerves]

u guys have no idea just how many of these i have in store

the mixed signals he was sending him were crazy tbh

[ruggiesbiologicalfather]

NRC Boys When They're Sick

it's illness season baybee! so here you go!

Heartslabyul:

Riddle - it's a rare occurrence for him to fall ill but on the off chance that it happens, my boy is ready. he has a strict regimen of remedies on hand including face masks in heartslabyul red which he wears religiously. sadly, he sees illness as a moral failing and spends his time wondering how this could've possibly happened. he did everything right! curse this common cold! he makes trey take expert notes in class and deliver his homework to him so he can complete it immediately. no rest for true scholars!

Ace - massive baby. constantly whining. lord help his roommate. he's not NEEDY per se; he doesn't ask anyone for anything, he's just constantly reminding the world that he doesn't feel good. pity him or he gets grumpy

Deuce - tries to fight through it and convince everyone that he's not sick. the boy could be literally swaying on his feet and congested past the point of coherency and still say, "honor students don't get sick." slip him a few benadryl in his tea and he'll recover

Trey - two words: comfort snacks. he's pretty brave about being sick but he takes time off from classes and extracurriculars to make himself (or scavenge) some snacks. also hydration is key! he's a hot water with lemon kinda guy. god forbid he has the stomach flu and can't eat. he gets MAD

Cater - he never stays sick for very long. his recovery time is pretty impressive. however, while he's down he gets BORED. he starts out just playing on his phone in bed but without actual interaction he gets a little stir crazy. expect to receive a million messages while you are in class, several thousand of which are nonsensical videos that he finds hilarious due to copious amounts of benadryl

Savanaclaw:

Leona - barricades himself in his room with an "enter at your own risk" sign on the door (courtesy of ruggie). he spends his entire time trying to sleep but he's usually coughing so bad he keeps waking himself up. he's even more irritable than usual. ruggie manages to sneak in every few hours to deliver meds and snacks before fleeing the scene. once the sickness has passed, no one is allowed to mention it. business as usual

Ruggie - seasonal allergies warrior (sorry son, you get that from me :/). every time the seasons change, he gets a terrible case of the Yuck. luckily, he can always feel it coming so he pops four zyrtec a day (instead of the recommended One) until he obliterates the allergens. the grind never stops. godspeed my boy

Jack - the grind never stops but at what cost? he's so tired... so so tired. he tries to power through like a champ though. he spends his time off either studying or doing lighter versions of his regular workouts. and if you try to tell him to take it easy, he'll hit you with: "actually it's fine to do moderate workouts if your symptoms are all above the neck." alright big dawg.

Octavinelle:

Azul - disappears. just straight up hides. people joke that it's because if the twins see any sign of physical weakness, they'll eat him. you laugh... but it might... nevermind. he doesn't want anyone to see him sick. but if you manage to get a glimpse, you'll see he looks absolutely AWFUL. like moments from death. just let him hole up in the dark for a while. after all, that's the octopus instinct

A Note About The Twins - they always fall one right after the other: jade goes down first, floyd goes down harder. and it's always in the most inconvenient way. jade will be down for a few days and just when you think he's over it, floyd goes down in the exact same way

jade - he's fucking MEAN. he drops the snide, tongue-in-cheek, gentleman act and is a nightmare to interact with. if azul tells him to do literally anything at all, instead of giving his usual mischievous compliance, he will straight up tell him, "i hope someone deep fries you." it's terrifying. while he's in the throes of illness, azul makes himself scarce. and you do too especially after last time when you found out that moray eels actually have two sets of teeth. yeah... never again

floyd - immediately turns into a ragdoll filled with concrete. he's always found face-down in the middle of his bedroom floor and cannot be convinced to move. if you want him to rest in bed, you best prepare a team to haul him up there because he will not do it on his own. and he always spikes a fever of over a hundred no matter what kind of illness it is. it's kind of scary and you think he's gonna die. but then he just pops back up like it's normal. no easing back into health. just boom, bang, back to work

Scarabia:

Kalim - Must! Be! Babied! because he's so well taken care of all of the time, he doesn't get sick with minor things. it's always a huge event. he gets whiny and clingy and doesn't want to be by himself. jamil, of course, is constantly hovering through his recovery. however, as he's being babied, he's really in remarkably high spirits. just get him some soup and play a game with him and he'll be fine

Jamil - you'd have no idea he was sick if it wasn't for the dark circles under his eyes. as you know, he's very dedicated to his job so he doesn't take time off if he can help it. sometimes he can't help it, especially when it comes to stomach viruses. he is EXTREMELY emetophobic. he would rather lay completely still, barely breathing, than throw up. kalim tries to reciprocate the babying he enjoys but jamil is not receptive. just leave him alone

Pomfiore:

Vil - very self-sufficient. he insists that rest and hydration is the key and has a million little holistic remedies for any ailment. he is GLUED to his humidifier. he also takes this time to have a little self-care day. extra-long bath, face mask, mediation, the works. it's really quite peaceful. but NO ONE under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES is allowed to see him. the only person allowed in his room is rook (to deliver supplies) and even then the lights are off and vil is hiding. he declares loudly that he's HIDEOUS but you doubt that's true

Rook - never gets sick. like... to a suspicious degree. he could tongue-kiss patient zero and skip away merrily like nothing happened. there has been one time in your entire time knowing him that you've seen him almost sick and it was barely a sore throat. according to him, it's due to a combination of a naturally strong immune system and pomfiore's dedication to wellness. whatever it is, you can't help but wonder if he's lying

Epel - comatose due to horrific amounts of cough syrup. he doesn't have time for illness; it's harvest season and country boys make do

Ignihyde:

Idia - gets sick ALL THE TIME. styx was such a sterile environment that he never built immunity to common viruses. any time he needs to be out and about for whatever reason, there's a 50/50 shot he's going to come down with something. and you'd think he'd be a whiny baby about it but ortho always discovers him lying in his bed in a mostly dissociative state. because he never got sick as a kid in styx, he never learned to take care of himself so it's up to ortho to get him back on his feet

Ortho - with all due respect, this is a robot. you'll be involved in the next post buddy. hang in there

Diasomnia:

Sebek - his ears get clogged every. single. time. so imagine sebek's voice right... now imagine he can't hear. the entire dorm is aware when he's feeling stuffed up. of course, he insists on staying up malleus' ass as usual but he does so with kn95 masks, surgical gloves up to his elbows, and an honestly insane amount of hand sanitizer

Silver - i feel like it's obvious that his way of dealing with sickness is to just sleep it off. his body is already so prone to exhaustion that any fatigue just makes it ten times worse. but he doesn't like to fight through it alone. any time he gets sick, he makes his way into his father's bed and curls up there instead of in his own. lilia knows all the ways to make him feel better. he teases him a little, saying he's far too old to be coddled and soothed to sleep. but in reality, he doesn't mind. it's nice to have his little boy back for a while

Lilia - being sick doesn't really bother him much. it's a part of life and he's been around long enough to know how to deal with it. the biggest problem comes from his back. the physical exhaustion from illness means that the pain he feels is intensified. sometimes, he's bed-bound for a day or more. in those times, it's silver's turn to take care of him for a change. he likes to make little jokes about it, saying things like "ah yes, this is why you have children. good job taking care of your old man." he doesn't want anyone else to know what's going on and silver would never tell

Malleus - you always know malleus is ill by the wailing cry that emanates from sebek. he has failed his lord! how could he possibly forgive himself!? sebek tries to help but lilia has to shoo him away. in times like these, his reptile instincts kick in. he squeezes himself under his bed and barely moves at all. every few hours, lilia wiggles under there and asks if he needs to moisten him with a spray bottle to which malleus responds with spitting a few sparks directly in his face as a warning. he doesn't like to be bothered. he'll crawl out when he's ready

[xotication]

☆,

gamer bf kaneki..

he def plays ow, val, cod, & fort.. all the sluttiest games a man can play.

trust he sweats in each game too.

he'd be caught dead before he's ever bad at a game ..

he literally spends most of all his days gaming, it's a lil insane how much he just lets it rot his brain

he never rage quits but he screams so much & it's hilarious

eventually he realizes that he hasn't given you any attention & tells his friends that he has to get off for a couple hours, just for you

ken decides to start streaming one day & that day marked your fucken demise

he sets up a hand & face cam.. when you're against it, he's so confused.

you're sat there for at least ten minutes explaining to him how girls will go feral for this

one day you tune into his stream & you see multiple comments like "for free??" "wish he'd play with me" "why's he kinda.." "the veins.."

on one hand you're jealous, but on the other- you're happy knowing that he's your boyfriend

"baby can you bring me some water please" ken says in the softest voice ever, it damn near has you topple over nd roll around

you bring it to him nd he thanks you with a couple pecks

the chat is going absolutely wild?? both over his voice & him actually not being single

but what could they expect?

ken was a good looking, handsome, pretty, charming boy.. & literally every other word you could think of

he always had that sleepy look & he usually paired it with blue light glasses that made him look all the more nerdy

sometimes he'd even be shirtless & his collarbone would have you gasping for air

on some days ken didn't care about streaming

he'd sit you next to him or even on him & just have you watch him play

he'd look towards you after hitting the nastiest shots/clips on kids to make sure you saw it

some days you ask him if he wants to play minecraft with you & he never objects.. he will always make time for you when you ask for it

he introduces you to the game "it takes two" and streams when the two of you play

everyone ends up loving the dynamic you have & the way you treat each other

eventually chat starts suggesting that ken teaches you how to play the other try hard games.. so he starts with the easier one: fortnite

you think to yourself why any of them thought this would be easy for you bc it has you screaming for kaneki's help half the time you get into a close combat gunfight

he tries teaching you how to build & you end up putting random walls & stairs everywhere

he just laughs at you bc he genuinely finds it easy & can't seem to understand why it's difficult for you ??

"no sweetheart, you actually have to have structure behind your building" "i'm fucken trying ken??" "not hard enough??" "ok then you do it???"

bro builds an 8 story mansion in 20 seconds and it has you gagged

whole chat is like "were you silent or were you silenced..??"

when you start wanting to take gaming a lil more seriously, he teaches you how to play on mouse nd keyboard just like him

he even buys you a cute lil setup, & ofc its right next to his

when he introduces you to val, all the pick me's are targeting ken & it's funny asfk when they find out his gf is in the game too

they're all like "you're shit at the game anyway stfu" like HUHH?? mad bc he ain't yours lmao

also can i mention that ken is a proud "shit on" SCREAAAAMER

he has your initials in different colored keys than the rest of his keyboard

holds one of your stuffed animals on his lap when you're away from home

jokingly asks you for support under the desk (its not a joke..)

[pokedash55]

I gotta ramble about Showtimeshipping and Digital Circus for a hot minute before this thought disappears into the Void forever.

I just LOVE the potential of a Caine/Pomni dynamic in a one sided disaster ship kinda way. I see alot of shippers like making Caine the romantic one. Whether its Showtime or Royalshipping it seems Caine is boisterous and loud, therefore he's the haughty romantic. But he is afraid of Moon's advances, "Let's get outta here before the Moon get's frisky!". He's also an AI made for a children's point and click adventure carnival game by a cooperation in the early 2000s. Gooseworks has stated at Glitch con that he lacks alot of human emotions. I see no reason he would be outwardly romantic in the slightest other than his overenergetic and passionate personality.

I find it more hilarious if Pomni, the anxious and probably overlooked in her past life girl that she is, emotionally latched onto Caine in some way or another. Either from his personality being everything she wished she could be, bold and confident, simply seeing him as a powerful being that is the last remaining hope she has of returning to who she was, or a lighthearted Stockholm syndrome emotional dependency I dont' know. Maybe it's simply she found his voice attractive and spiraled from there. Pomni becomes angry that she's attracted to this floating teeth with eyes and just screams. Jax catches onto her little infatuation very easily and makes fun of her without outing her, making it a back and forth with them.

Caine eventually realizes his new player is unhappy and becoming increasingly unhinged very quickly. He doesn't want another intrusive abstraction, especially since she just got here, so he begins spending more time with Pomni trying to get her to chill. His purpose is to entertain and provide a fun escape from daily stress, so seeing a player as stressed as Pomni is tugs at his sensors. He needs her to be as accustomed to the world as everyone else is. If not he failed as a video game and failed is own programing. It's his duty to ensure she is comfortable and having fun.

So now Caine is hyper vigilant of Pomni's life and emotions. He takes her on adventures just for her to cheer her up, just the two of them. This is to ensure the quest is specific to her, that others aren't at risk to make her spiral further, and that he has full attention on her so he can assure her it is a painless and harmless quest, since he can always fix her or get rid of an issue if it becomes too much. All of it was just meant as a safety procedure, but Pomni sees it as coming on to her with his eagerness to spend all this alone time together. Human perceptions see it as a date, which is not even a thought for Caine. She's still jumpy and nervous and touches him alot. Like alot alot, which Caine thinks is her telling him she's lonley of course! So he gets her gifts to make her feel like she belongs and that she has things to keep her saine. Off course, this all interpreted by Pomni in a Human relationship lense and the attention deepens the hole Pomni has now dug for herself.

Eventually Caine rambles his frustrations about Pomni's behavoir and how no matter what he tries he can't seem to make her happy here to Bubble, who repeats some of his words to the cast that is mostley gone ignored, except for Jax (who already knew) and Ragatha, who finally understood what was happening and feels bad for them both. Pomni is struggling with a crush on a probably dangerous and confused AI while said AI is getting flirted with by a Human and is driving himself mad trying to decipher her strive. She steps up to actually let Caine know what he is missing and this is when true Showtime would start, with Caine realizing he does enjoy helping Pomni and Pomni coming to terms with her emotions instead of just screaming at herself for having them. From there they can have a cute, if mostly aromantic, fluffy friendship that almost borders on dating, but never quite gets there with Caine's limitations.

She's feeling claustrophobic from the tent one day and he generates a small area for her to explore stressfree to take her mind away from that feeling of being trapped. He talks about having creations both from Jax saying, "is this another one of your NPCs?" and Caine saying, "You know how I don't like people seeing my unfinished work" so he is a learning AI that enjoys creating and seems somewhat artistic, despite his limitations and bluntness. He enjoys helping her feel at home, despite the circumstances and Pomni grows more comfortable with herself by his radiating confidence, yet they can both be equally frantic and chaotic if the scene needs it. It's both a timid/bold dynamic and a chaos duo and I love it.

Ok that's my showtime HC dump byeeeeeeeee

[spinnenpfote6]

OMGGG Guuuys I had a great birthday yesterday!

I went to MagicCon with my 2 besties❤ & I'm SO happy to have gotten that nice photo with Elijah Wood! I actually got an autograph ticket last minute because I thought "Huh, why not? I have the money!" (which was good because the photo session was VERY quick).

We were in this huge room which almost looked like one for an orchestra and Elijah's place was down the stairs in the corner lol. When we arrived the employees told us that he's having a break rn and will be back in 5 minutes. Oddly enough there were only about 3 or 4 other people so it was pretty empty at his table. Then I heard voices, turned around and there was Elijah sauntering down the line of chairs behind us, chatting with Dominic Monaghan. I was like "Oh, there he is!" and it was so surreal! Also felt hilarious because I was BOTH "Wow, he's actually just a guy!" AND super star-struck.

And guys I can tell you that: I'm still SO mad at myself that talking to Wood made my stupid lizard brain flush my english-speaking-skills down the drain (the Terrible Terror from HTTYD comes to mind, staring into the void while licking its own eyeballs). Safe to say I was giggling the whole time and just started with something along the lines of "WOAH Holy shit, hi Elijah! Haha! Here!", handed him my drawing and told him that it's actually my birthday. He of course wished me a happy birthday, looked at my drawing for a while and went "Wow, that is SO pretty! Very pretty!" while signing it. As I was about to walk away I sent him into a laughing fit because I stared at him like a maniac saying "YOUR EYES ARE SO PRETTY!". So yeah. I REALLY hope to meet him on another convention to tell him why I love Frodo so much and maybe get a hug without my brain shutting off.

After that I did see him again at the photosessions (which had a long line this time but I didn't mind because I was chatting with my friends). I literally arrived jumping towards him, responding to his happy "Hi!" with a "Hi, it's me again!" lol. I wanted to put my arm around him but seeing the like 3(!) fat signs they put up informing us of the rules - consisting of "Please don't touch the actors" and "Don't do poses" (???) - made me re-think it because I'm a scaredy cat (despite living in Germany - the land of strict unnecessary rules) so I decided to hold my One Ring up. Obviously nobody cared about the no-touching-policy (when I left Elijah was just jumping onto someone's back lol) and if you look closely you can see that I actually DID put my arm around him but not as much as I would've liked haha.

Originally I wanted him to sign one of the photos of one of my favorite LOTR scenes (Frodo falling down in slow-mo at the "Prancing Pony" Inn, trying to catch the ring) but I failed to realize that you had to get the autograph photos at the entrance and having him sign my drawing turned out to feel much more sweet and personal - and I got a Happy Birthday from him anyway! And Frodo himself SAW and APPROVED of my first Frodo drawing!! (I kinda hope that it helped me to stay in his memory for a while - that or the fact that I was dressed entirely in bright red and probably looked like a walking strawberry to everyone.)

Fun Fact: I'm actually a bit taller than Elijah but because of my pose & his thick shoes we appear to be the same height. He doesn't seem too short in person though. Also, his eyes are very blue & nice, but not that unnaturally almost neon blue. I think the lighting & color correction of his movies make it look like that sometimes.

Despite me turning red and answering them - very audibly - with a "Nooo!" my parents REALLY wanna frame that photo now lol

OKAY it felt super good venting here a bit because I'm SO INCREDIBLY MAD AT MYSELF for not telling him how much I love Frodo and why and for for not asking for a hug on my birthday AND for having missed his panel because I was too distracted and stupid to find the right room but I'm still happy to have been able to show him my drawing, gotten the photo and to have met him overall. He seemed open and happy and when he comes to a convention in Germany or the Netherlands again I'll try to meet him again!

[drippingmoon]

Another Get to Know Me

Tags courtesy of @sleepy-night-child and @splashinkling aaand thanks a lot you two, I loved seeing yours🤩❤

a band you don't like that many others do

Hmm. I'm not really keeping up with people's music tastes anymore (except for you guys). But in middle school, everyone was obsessed with Panic! At the Disco, while I just couldn't vibe with them, so I was mildly worried I'd get defenestrated for it. I didn't, though the chairs did (my class was unique in that they'd slingshot chair seats out of the window by thing them with curtain beads, and they'd kinda just peacefully swing in and out till recess was over)

least favorite animal and why

Nightfriend, I feel like you're making me commit sins (though not really since insects are animals, but it does not feel so??), soo, I raise you: earwigs. Like. My Good Sir. Was there any need for you to grow pincers on your arse to look like you're gonna pull my brain through my ears? No? So please.

hot fandom take

I don't really have any. My fandoms have always been veeery small, even limited to one person (me. Waving, hello!), I'll just hand everyone hot tea and chill🍵

do you wear any jewelry, if so, what's your favorite piece

Not a jewelry person. I did use to have a kitty brooch... but the thing with brooches is, they are perfect for self-poking especially when you're so naturally inclined, so I gave it up.

a movie others liked that you didn't

Ouch, I'm really so out of touch with movies, and these days I'm watching what's very much not popular with people (except for Interstellar. Interstellar is baby). Probably any of the Pride and Prejudice adaptations, I had to go through them for a course, and you couldn't pay me to sit down with them again.

three things you love about yourself

*sees the question and shakes it like a snow globe*

These things so do not come naturally to me. Probably because I'm the type never to think if I can do something and just act, so pride just feels like spur-of-the-moment joy. Though, I'm really starting to think that's just what pride is.

Perfect, actually! So, that I just do stuff, probably my ability to entertain myself, and that I refuse to let life feel like a race. I'm here for the journey.

a place you hope to visit in the future and why

Iceland! Iceland! At night! When I can finally see all the stars, and very importantly, it'll be that delicious shade of freezing, and SNOW! I miss biiig snows so much!! And I want to share it all with my best friend🥰💜💙🥂

an actor that gets on your nerves and why

Am I supposed to know names?

things you're excited about in the near future

Ooooh, you find out like this I'm a bit of fraud come next week. I have goals to put an ungodly amount of chilli in the puff pastries I'll make next week, mostly because I wanna see for myself how painful it can get😈 and, oh, a lot of very awkward and very hilarious dancing, but with how silly it is, it energizes me like nothing else. (And it's still leaps and bounds classier than the 1967 Far From the Madding Crowd adaptation of Troy's... fencing mating rituals. Why was I made to watch that with mine eyes🤣🤣)

least favorite ship in a fandom you're in

I'm in a fandom? Since when? Jokes aside, probably Tomoyo and Kurogane from CLAMP's Tsubasa Reservoir, because HELL NO. Tomoyo crushes hard on Sakura, and you just can't separate Kurogane from Fai. You can't. It'd cost him an arm and maybe a leg also this time.

what's the most toxic fandom you've been in

Oh no, I just make some tea and detox whenever it's the case. I am not a social person, so it helps

list three things you find beautiful about life

Hnnngh, getting to talk to someone in the wee hours of the night when it feels really special, the wind and how it'll numb my fingers but rekindle everything else in me, and how you can grow to love so many things you wouldn't even have thought about before. I love being surprised by time.

any dreams for the future

My personality is such that, from time to time, I just won't dare make a sound from fear they'll just slip through my fingers. I am taught to wait and see.

But this is the rest of the time, SO

I WANT TO KEEP WRITING FOR THE REST OF MY DAYS, AND NEVER FORGET THE THRILL AND JOY OF WATCHING MY STORIES DEVELOP BEYOND MY WILDEST IMAGINATION, OO-RAH!😍👏👏🤺

how are you feeling today

A bit like someone's stomped on my face (sleep; my fault, this time, but the lack of required hours keep me hostage), but also? Energized. Ready to go. And I absolutely never rest😈

These were really pleasant, so if anyone wants to hop on and grab some tea🍵, I'm keeping this tag open for you! I love talking😊

[nono-bunny]

Thank Starkid for uploading VHSCC to Youtube, albeit temporarily, because their site doesn't work for me so I couldn't buy it or any other digital ticket (including Cinderella's Castle for which I was a kickstarter 🥲) and I'm so glad I can still watch it now!!

Anyway here are my thoughts/liveblogging post from watching! I didn't think to do this until I reached the second part and realized I had a lot to say so everything about the new material is retroactively written

I. Hate to say it, but I can't remember a single new song. One reason I love VHSCC so much is because it only took me one watch to remember the songs, they're incredibly catchy and iconic... And the new ones did nothing to me.

In general I didn't really vibe with the new material? I think it's important to note that I don't celebrate Christmas, like, it's not even the main wintertime holiday of where I live so inherently theres a level of disconnect for me with that angle, but I still find some Christmas stories charming- case in point, I genuinely love A Christmas Carol! I know these two stories outside of the lens of Christmas- I'm fairly certain I heard a different holiday version of Gift of the Magi as a kid, and I had the book of The Little Matchgirl as a kid and didn't uh. Really touch it after reading it once because I found it senselessly sad. So like? I'm familiar with these stories, but this version of them really didn't hit me in the way I think they're meant to or in the way the original versions do. I didn't really find Gift of the Magi touching or funny, which I feel like is what they should've gone for at the end, and I felt... Nothing with Little Matchgirl, which surprised me because I was fully prepared to cry.

Actually it. Felt really preachy while also somehow being just completely empty of meaning to me? Little Matchgirl in particular. Idk. The tragedy of it just... Completely failed to land for me when Clark immediately starts singing about uh. Activism essentially? It's like, bro, you didn't even give me enough time to process it or to get sad before you just started preaching at me??? Idk, I just. Really didn't like it. Clark's parts in general were the worst parts of the new material in my opinion, which surprised me, because I did like them in Christmas Carol! Idk, it might be a matter of the stories being too short, so it feels intrusive for the detached narrator to cut in to fill in blanks that weren't there or to hammer down the message, instead of letting the characters and story do it themselves.

I genuinely don't enjoy shitting so hard on the new stuff, but. I didn't really like them and kinda just wanted them to be over so I could watch a show I knew I DID like. I don't think it was all bad, I mean, the acting was fun and everyone's obviously mad talented, but in terms of musicality and story, which are the two things I really loved about Christmas Carol, it felt like a big step down for me. Also, I did like how Scrooge was just. There though, that was really funny

OK! Moving on! From here on its probably gonna be way more positive lmao because I love VHSCC and this is it now!

The smaller cast feels weird with how big the OG one was, in general the different casting is gonna be interesting. The stages configuration is a pretty big difference, but it does feel like, intimate which was probably really fun in person, and I like how they're playing around with it! I'm also less of a fan of this screen so far, it basically added nothing but uh. We'll see ig

Scrooge actually screeching after Clark narrating him doing it was a fantastic addition lmao. It caught me (and seemingly the audience!) so off guard and it was hilarious!! AJ has generally been way less physical than Dylan so far, which I kinda missed, but ngl he completely won me over with that one lmao

Meredith is so pretty, she's nailing it!! As I knew she would but. Still felt noteworthy lol

OK ngl given how Jaime was just. Not in the first half but still credited I was 100% sure she was not gonna be there physically, just through the screen similar to Ali in the OG, so I was actually really fucking surprised when she came out??? Where were they hiding her for the entirety of the first half!!! Travesty!!!

God the spirits are just as attractive a year later (two technically by the time of me watching this, but shh), they're SO good. A stark contrast to Clark's awful wig, actually, my god what is up with that thing???

Fuck yeah, physical chains!!

I wonder why they changed some of the interstitial lyrics? I mean, the snore was hilarious, but this isn't the first change and the previous one didn't have a comedic element added in.

The new choreography is excellent, I'm actually really happy with the stage for facilitating these changes

I'm sorry Curt is too much of a sweetheart and I'm really having a hard time buying him as post-money Scrooge lmao. He eats the singing though! Brian did too, but weirdly enough only on stage and not in the recorded version lmao

Janaya is fr so talented, I'd love to see her in other Starkid stuff!

I miss Corey. Unrelated to where I'm at in the musical rn but I forgot to mention it at the start. Brian is just. A completely different Fred and it feels weird

Best song incoming! VHSCC is what made me fall in love with James- it was the first time I saw him in a bigger role, and I can't wait to see him in Cinderella's Castle

Just wanna clarify: Brian's Fred is still fun, he's just like, different from Corey's? He's more... Sarcastic, if that makes sense?

Every year that goes by makes Brian playing Tiny Tim funnier

Thief Brian is giving Junior vibes lmao

I knew about Della and Jim replacing the gay couple so that wasn't surprising, but a nice cameo nonetheless, especially with how Scrooge bought Jim's watch lmao

Okay the "screen" aka what seems to be a sheet of fabric being projected onto is just. Completely pointless and useless aside from minor ambience. Not only have they lost the VHS aesthetic it had, the actually fun and cool effects just don't seem to be possible with it and it sucks

I do love the rest of the vast staring at and then dragging Scrooge down, that was cool

Is. Is that the ghost of the Little Match girl orrrr...? Are we dealing with an AU situation? I mean, the Della and Jim resolution doesn't necessarily conflict with what we saw and is very sweet too but. This sure raises some timeline questions lol

Matching uncle and nephew sunglasses 🥰

I wish more Starkid shows included the curtain calls, those are always so fun and they feel important to recreate the feeling of watching live theater, even through a screen.

Anyway, I'm done watching now! Final thoughts? Might warm up to the first half upon rewatching (not like it hasn't happened to me with some shows before!), but initially I'm not the biggest fan. I can't say that this rendition of a Christmas Carol is better, but it's absolutely not worse either, and honestly that's all I wanted really. It was still tons of fun, and I liked it a lot! There's for sure a disconnect between the two halves though- heck, even between the two stories in the first half- and they feel... Too different to me, so I can't exactly say doubling the length was exactly... Worth it? One advantage of the OG is that it's short, which results in me frequently rewatching it, and this doesn't really have the same advantage, especially not considering I'll probably only really wanna rewatch the second half Anyway... Regardless, I still wish I could've paid them to watch this last year, it sucks that their site just. Doesn't work for me, so I'm glad that they made it accessible for me here. And now I'm eagerly awaiting Cinderella's Castle!

[moony-2001]

Lore Olympus ch. 257-262 critique pt. 1

This one is gonna be split into 2 parts. I'm trying not to ramble on too much but I figure it'll be better if this bad boy is just split up. After that, I may or may not do more chapter critiques. I don’t want my content to *just* be chapter critiques

Ch. 257

I honestly don't remember having a lot to say about the beginning of this chapter. It was very meh. It basically just reconfirms what we already knew about the state of the mortal realm. I did want to discuss a few "stand-out" scenes when we flip back to the meeting room.

The bitter MIL trope

When we cut to Demeter trying to verbalize what's happening in the mortal realm, something she said really pissed me off:

Let me be clear. I'm not mad about what she said. I mean, I am, but I'm more mad at the fact that Rachel made her say this and the overuse of the whole "Demeter is a petty, bitter in-law that can't handle the fact that her daughter has her own life" trope.

Literally what problems is she creating from this plague?? First of all, this is a problem Persephone started, not Demeter, so Demeter confirming that the mortal realm is dying is not "creating problems". Inadvertently, the other gods back her up on this by expressing concern about the fact that what will happen to other non-immortal beings like the nymphs and what will happen if it spreads to the other realms.

I don't know if this is a callback to the original hymn, and if it is, it's in really fucking poor taste. In the original hymn, Demeter did not cause the winter "out of spite". She did it because she was fucking pissed that not only was her daughter taken away from her, but it was done so behind her back and without her consent. Also, can we stop with the "bitter MIL" trope, especially involving Demeter? I know MILs in real life can be a nightmare. Trust me, I know. But I don't think fiercely loving your daughter and not wanting her to be traded away like she's a set of golf clubs constitutes being a bitter mother-in-law.

Apollo

Yeaaaah Apollo is right, I'll give him that. Persephone is, once again, a big part of the problem. I know the gods aren't perfect. No one is perfect. But for some reason, a lot of the plot of this story seems to center around Persephone making these big-ass messes, blaming everyone but herself, and then doing fuck-all to actually fix the situation. Also, I find it hilarious that Hades is so offended by the notion that Apollo would accuse him of trying to expand his kingdom when his entire realm was built by slave labor. When has a slave master ever complained about having more slaves prisoners with jobs? Don't answer, that question is purely rhetorical.

Eris, my beloved

Ugh, the part with Eris is just *chef's kiss*. Especially when she transforms into Artemis??? I just??

I want to redraw the scene when I have time because I feel like it could be a lot more spooky-looking than it is now.

Hera

The rest of the chapter is kinda meh. Hated Hera and Apollo's interaction. Also, I'm pretty sure Rachel spelled "wife" wrong. A "waif" is a homeless person, particularly a child. Much hate to Apollo for what he said to Hera, even though Hera also low-key sucks. And yeaaaah. That's it.

Ch. 258

The handling of Hera and Kronos

Chapter 258 picks up pretty much where we left off with Hera. I gotta say I actually really liked this chapter. I know my whole page now is pretty much constantly shitting on the entirety of LO, but I gotta give major props to Rachel for how she handled 258. Was the chapter leading up to and including the interaction between Hera and Kronos perfect? No. But IMO it was still really good.

The reason why I say this is because not long before this chapter was posted, I and a lot of other anti-LO creators noticed there was a spike in comments both under Rachel's insta and in the comic's comment section romanticizing the relationship between Hera and Kronos. It was disgusting. Never should someone ever romanticize the relationship between a victim/survivor and their abuser. In this chapter, Rachel seemingly put her foot down about this and basically said "This is not okay". Now, she never outright said that anywhere that I saw, but that's the vibes I was picking up. Standing up to your abuser is really hard to do. And I'm proud of Hera (even though she's not real lol).

The one thing I did not like about this portion of the chapter was Hera and Hestia's interaction.

Really? That's all you have to say to your sister that has been going through a hell of a time? Yeah, okay, Hestia.

The ritual

Now that I've fulfilled my once-a-month praise quota for LO, time to get back to the shitting.

Besides the ugly ass art, I introduce a new challenge. The Persephone tries not to make everything about herself challenge: impossible. I see she's picking up a few tricks from Hades in the narcissist department. I've noticed, especially recently, that H&P has a particularly nasty habit of diminishing others' feelings or certain situations to make it all about themselves. I know I mentioned this in my last critique but I feel the need to bring it up again, especially in these last bits of this chapter.

Case in point A is that Hades and Persephone get so wrapped up in each other that they don't even notice that Hecate is, for lack of better terms, wigging out.

Obviously, she turns out fine, but seriously? You didn't even pay attention to her until Morpheus pointed out the fact that something was clearly wrong.

*unholy screaming* pt. 1

So you guys know how I felt about the whole nightie situation with Persephone. Well, you're in luck because the rage I feel for the last part of this chapter makes that pale in comparison.

This is case in point B of Hades and Persephone making everything about themselves.

When I first saw this I was kinda like "Huh???" And then the chapter ended??? I had to wait a whole ass week to find out but my fuckery senses were tingling.

Ch. 259

*unholy screaming* pt. 2

Boy oh boy were my fuckery senses right.

Literally, who fucking cares? This isn't about you!! You aren't the victims in this. They both started all this and they need to be willing to do whatever it takes to fix it. Persephone, to her credit, at least acknowledges that in a much nicer way. But yet again, HADES MAKES IT ABOUT HIMSELF.

"...it will come at a cost to us... we have to basically choose between us and everyone else." Uh. YEAH??? Jfc, stop being a whiney piss baby, and get your shit together! Choosing between yourselves and everyone else? Is that even a question? If you both have to sacrifice yourselves to make this better, tough titties.

The pool scene

This scene is what I was talking about when I mentioned Persephone's speech. But I still can't enjoy it. Why, I hear you ask? I don't know, MAYBE BECAUSE THEY'RE HAVING SEX WHILE THE WORLD IS BURNING DOWN AROUND THEM. Yeah, sure they deserve to have their lovey-dovey moments (I guess. Undeservedly so IMO). But how about you wait to pork until you've saved the world from perilous doom???

Also maybe I'm reading into this waaaaay too much, but tell me why I feel like Persephone just had sex with Hades to talk him off a wall. To me, it almost felt equivalent to "I'm going to kms if you leave me" or some other kind of weird hostage situation where now Persephone has to make HIM feel better even though this is about HER and how SHE fucked up. Idk.

Final notes

Well, that wraps up part 1. I know I've been gone for way longer than I said I was going to be and for that I'm sorry. Overall, pretty yikes but I liked 258 the best.

[plusultraetc]

WOW please ignore how much this brush in red looks kind of like blood upon closer inspection. I was trying to do Christmas colors with the green background + red & white letters and it went... questionably.

Anywho, here is the promised advent calendar recap/review (part 1!! to be followed by a very brief part 2 on or after Christmas lol) I've been having a really lovely time opening these every day, and I'm really excited to see what the final four pockets contain 👀

Day 1: All Might pin | Okay, so I actually knew about this one in advance--when I was reading item descriptions on different websites, trying to figure out whether or not I wanted to buy the advent calendar, someone posted a picture of this pin in their review 😭 Which, like, rude ig but it was a selling point for the calendar itself, so I really can't be mad about it. He looks like he's going for the world's greatest fist bump.

Day 2: Iida sticker | Iida truly said everyone out of the way, I have to appear in this advent calendar before Midoriya and Bakugou, and I love that for him. I am a very big journal & planner person so I'm always looking for more stickers, and I already have a small MHA collection where this one can live until I find a permanent place for it!

Day 3: 1-A pencil | Pretty self-explanatory, but I am like. Stupidly charmed by this. It's a really cute addition to my pen cup.

Day 4: MHA keychain | This has been one of my favorite items in the advent calendar. I've actually been needing a new keychain, and I really love the crest-like design. 10/10, flawless.

Day 5: MHA magnet | The first of the magnets! Love love love the color palette of this one, especially the hint of purple in the outline around the letters.

Day 6: Tsu & Uraraka to/from gift tags | These are also super cute, and such a great idea for an advent calendar!! Unfortunately, I don't know many MHA fans irl, so I doubt I'll be using them unless I plaster, like. Two people's gifts with four labels each 😭 One of my friends did dress up as Tsu for Comic Con this year, so she may be about to have A Very Froppy Christmas 🐸 🎄

Day 7: Hawks sticker | HAWKS STICKER MY BELOVED. This one is actually a puffy sticker, which can be a bit of a pain to place in a journal when you want to write on the following page, but they also add some fun dimension so I use them anyway lol. Needless to say, I Love Him.

Day 8: Endeavor puzzle | Everyone I've asked has concurred that this is indeed meant to be a puzzle!! Regardless of one's opinions on Endeavor, it is objectively hilarious that the makers of this advent calendar said 'here is a small picture of this man. Destroy Him.'

Day 9: Midoriya & Bakugou door hanger | Another incredibly amusing inclusion. Midoriya, who is supposed to be the 'welcome' side, looks like he's about to punch you across the continent. Meanwhile, Katsuki "Stay Out" Bakugou looks like he wants you to try it, actually. Make his day.

Day 10: Aizawa & Present Mic bookmark | My personal favorite, the erasermic bookmark. I'm currently using this for book club, and I have zero notes. They bring me inestimable joy.

Day 11: Shigaraki magnetic bookmark | Much like stickers, I always, always need more bookmarks. This one is kinda heavy, but not so much that it's cumbersome to use. However, my dog Hates Him--I say him, not it, because she was also Not A Fan of my Shigaraki figure when I unboxed him, which is weird because she's largely uninterested in the others except for the most recent addition to the collection. I think it's because their more dynamic poses are supported by an extra stand--they're definitely a little shakier and less stable than the others, but that still doesn't explain the bookmark. ANYWAY I've already started using this for my current non-manga read, go little rock star, no ragrets.

Day 12: All Might sticker | TRULY so many W's in a row. I do wish we'd gotten a little more creative with the pose here (it's the same as the one on the pin), but I Get It and I'm pleased with this one anyway.

Day 13: Toga pin | So I actually really love the look of this kind of pin on tote bags, and while I do already have a few of those, this was the point that I became Very Tempted to buy an MHA-themed tote and start yet another collection. Which, I haven't. Yet. Either way, she's very cute.

Day 14: Dabi holographic card | Dabi is the clear favorite villain of whoever designed this calendar, because this little card is literally so cool. Fittingly, he gets ✨dramatic effects✨ and ✨two poses✨ (the second pose is pictured below). I'm not yet sure if I'm going to use double-sided tape to turn this, too, into a sticker, but I think it's really fun either way.

Day 15: Midoriya tree ornament | Cute in theory, but admittedly very flimsy. It is however very seasonally-appropriate and therefore the flimsiness is excused.

Day 16: UA magnet | THIS IS SO CUTE. I absolutely love this kind of 'in-universe' merch, so this is another favorite advent calendar item.

Day 17: Tokoyami magnet | I was surprised that, of all the characters they chose to dedicate a magnet to, it was Tokoyami & Dark Shadow, but like. Surprised (affectionate). Surprised (positive). A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one, etc. This did get stuck to the table while I was taking pictures, but ain't that just the way. Go little rock star x2.

Day 18: Character cards | I don't have a lot to say about these, but they were fun!

Day 19: Kaminari note cards | Again: SUPER cute, and I love the pose they chose (lol), even though I personally don't have much of a use for them.

Day 20: UA sticky notes | ANOTHER FAVORITE, because I Love Stationery, so this is like the UA magnet but better. I would have paid the full price of the advent calendar for these + the erasermic bookmark because I am insane. Okay that might be an exaggeration, but still. Everything else is just almost-as-delightful gravy.

Day 21: Todoroki cardboard standee | Adorable!! I can definitely find a place for this on my bookshelf, so I'm really happy with this one too!

[felixstudios]

force the managers to play toono with each other all at once. yes the biggest toono game you can get is 6 players. but i think a 16 player toono match would be the biggest shitshow known to man and itd be hilarious

Random Corporate Clash Headcanons, They're All Playing Toono Together Edition

TLDR: Brian {kinda}, Holly {kinda}, Ben, Cosmo, Spruce, and Graham have constant beef. Belle tries to defuse it all and semi succeeds. Buck is laughing the entire time and keeps getting crazy good or crazy bad luck. Oh and he's eating his cards. Graham wins and Spruce flips the table

Duck Shuffler

🎰Eats his cards when nobody's looking LOL

🎰Either has astronomically amazing luck or terrible luck

🎰Laughs constantly throughout the game regardless of what is happening. It is all funny to him. He's having a great time

Prethinker

🧠Scoffs and tries to leave. Several times

🧠Says that someone as smart as him couldn't possibly enjoy partaking in a game that relies on chance so heavily

🧠If he loses he still gets really upset even though he keeps trying to rationalize he essentially had a 1/16 chance of winning

🧠He uh... he gets into some fights and arguments

Deep Diver

🫧Just has a good time on his own and doesn't really say anything

🫧Might laugh at some people's misfortunes

🫧She does give a few glares at +4s though

Rainmaker

⛈️Refuses to play +2s or +4s because she doesn't want the next person over to hate her

⛈️Unless someone prompts her to be competitive or teases or makes fun of her. Then suddenly she will get VERY competitive and determined to win. All those +2s and +4s she's been saving get placed down

⛈️She might cry if someone's especially rude when they tease her

Gatekeeper

⚔️Says she highly disapproves of playing such a game, but since she's forced to that's the only reason she is

⚔️Still gets VERY upset when she gets a +2 or +4 though. If she loses? Yeah that makes her mad too

⚔️But she doesn't care though! Totally!

Witch Hunter

🔱Tries everything in his power to escape

🔱Does NOT enjoy playing whatsoever

Bellringer

🔔He will do everything in his power to win, including coming up with plots with everyone else to mess with someone who only has 1-2 cards left by giving them a massive +16 or something

🔔Oh yeah, he will also resort to gossiping to try to keep everyone distracted about how few cards he has. Or ringing his bell really loud to bring attention to his head instead of his hands

🔔Will often act distracted and try to point everyone's attention to things outside the game. Not to cheat, just to distract everyone else from his hand and make him seem like a non-threat

Multislacker

���He eat sammich the whole time lol

🥪Literally couldn't care less about who wins or loses and just picks whatever card works when it's his turn

🥪He does find the constant bickering ond banter mildly amusing, though

Mouthpiece

☎️She made everyone cookies to enjoy during the game!

☎️ Doesn't really care what happens as long as everyone's having fun

☎️Tries to stop arguments and reminds everyone it's just a game and not that serious. She doesn't realize part of the fun of Toono is those arguments

Major Player

🎹You can tell that he's secretly mad when he doesn't win, but he plays it cool

🎹Makes a big show of himself to everyone

🎹He was secretly recording the entire game and uploads it to YouTube when it's done

Firestarter

🔥You can tell he's pretty guilty when he has to play a +2 or +4, but he only looks away quietly

🔥Graham insisted on sitting next to him so poor Flint gets extra guilt

🔥He doesn't really talk much and gets pretty freaked out by the loud arguments

Plutocrat

🌑Gets kinda upset when he doesn't win or when something goes poorly for him and he starts up arguments about it

🌑 Threatens that he's gonna have his Satellite Investors "persuade" them to join if they don't knock it off

🌑Even if he just seems really grumpy the whole time, he actually had a lot of fun. He just won't tell anyone about it

Treekiller

🪵Gets into a LOT of arguments over the game

🪵He takes it just a bit too seriously, for some reason. Like, just a tad? Like, he's genuinely kinda upset and kinda joking along?

🪵He flips the table at the end

Chainsaw Consultant

🪚Really quiet the entire time

🪚Kinda "Hmm" and "Hmph"s through it, but does occasionally actually speak

🪚Refuses to get mad or participate in the arguments

🪚Clearly finds amusement in sending out +4s, though

Featherbedder

💤Keeps falling asleep

💤Is just too tired to do or say much other than just play the game

Pacesetter

👟Well of COURSE someone as perfect as him is gonna win!

👟Insists on sitting next to Flint. There's a good amount of PDA

👟He'll act like he's being his usual impatient self and force everyone to play fast but he's ACTUALLY playing the long con. He actually has a strategy

👟He waits until he only has wild cards, +4s, and +2s. Then just plays those one at a time until he wins

👟Then Spruce flips the table and he gets mad

[hallucinateonpaperspines]

I'm kinda debating putting a RDR2 crossover out there, but I don't know if this is something that only works in the recesses of my brain or actually workable... it would defiantly be crack like no tomorrow and would not include the bots. Maybe? still figuring out details.

ehm, an actual fic would be a long ways off and I've been working on this sparingly on the side (OUAT and the next OT&T is actively being worked on, exam madness is over so I want to release one of them before Monday!) but I'm just kinda interested so see if there would be any interest in some gunslinger hijinks.

Soooooo

Ashlyn, Jack, Miko, and Raf are all transported to RDR2 via mission gone wrong/weird cave drawings/MC luck

Ashlyn figures out what happened pretty quickly (she should be getting a universe hoping punch card at this rate)

She does not realize that she isn't alone.

Cue one Ms Moore galavanting around the RDR map while the Kids stick around the Vander Linde gang and are Very Confused.

The Kids experience includes;

Jack being renamed "Big Jack" since Jack Marston complains that it's HIS name. Jack is just having a moment. He's pretty sure he was found and rescued by a cult.

Jack joins Charles on a hunting mission, only to find the previously missing Miko impersonating a bush and doing a surprisingly decent job seeking up on the deer. Miko goes on to join the gang with Jack. She keeps trying to sneak into robberies. Hosea always catches her, and she emerges from very comical locations.

Raf initially panics. Then finds himself at a poker table at a train station. Luck is is only a game of statistics and Raf knows numbers. Becomes the Poker King, the nervous face IS his poker face. Overtime he learns everbodies business. Nice side effect of being the only sober gambler in the state. And the youngest. Via this, he turns up at the camp one day. Swanson's like *surprised pikachu face* He hears rumors about a strange cryptid running around and is like "Yeah that checks out. It's Ashlyn."

Meanwhile Ashlyn Moore is;

Roaming the wilderness treasure hunting and gives Downes's house a gold bar. Just pops up in every other town doing side quests. Stories start spreading about the wild thing looking for the Hooch man.

Eventially captured by O'Driscolls. Probably for insulting their vests, refusing to pay a bridge toll, or making some very interesting insults about not being able to rob a potato. That camp doesn’t exist anymore.

At some point, Micah and Ashlyn meet- or fight as a first meeting. She bites. He was not expecting this. Says she must have rabies, this incurred further wrath. Ashlyn is brought to the camp by Micah, saying she’s an O'Driscoll (kids are absent for the time). The girl proceeds to call out every manipulative sentence and asks for a step-by-step torture breakdown.  Poor Kieran is getting flashbacks whenever she brings up gelding. Begins to creep everyone out when she keeps moving in the night. Still tied to a tree, but it’s a different tree.  Mentions scary camping statistics (how many bugs crawl into the ear). The hotel gains a lot of business suddenly.

Ashlyn finally meets Dutch and the look in her eyes makes the kids panic. Spiderman meme is done when Ashlyn realizes others also came with her.

Ashlyn plays poker. She does not know how to play poker, but she keeps winning. Everyone is convinced she’s either cheating or a poker master while Raf is calculating how some of these moves are possible. Arthur finds this hilarious when she asks what the discs mean. Micah’s brain stops working.

Pulls The Batman references via el rata, Javier loses his mind about the incorrect Spanish. So does Raf. Bonding ensures via trying to keep Ashlyn’s mouth shut.

At a certain point, Ashlyn would make eye contact with Dutch while dropping a gold bar in the donation box. Bonus points if he's in the middle of a moneh rant.

"Who'd ya rob for that, missy?"

"A police station."

She's not telling him its the burned out one down the road.

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

The Phantom of the Auditorium Musical

Okay, so hilariously, a friend of mine made a post that joked about making a kid’s version of Phantom of the Opera and while I wanted to make a Wishbone joke that it already exists, I suddenly remembered there actually was a “retelling” of sorts with the Goosebumps series. So I went to look it up and ended up discovering there’s a musical version of this with a full cast album and everything.

This was the original poster I saw at least. But anyway, I've been listening to the full album that was produced in 2021 and it's given me a lot of feels. So spoilers ahead although I will also add a disclaimer that I haven't seen the actual show yet so I'm just going off the impression from the soundtrack. But let's go over the plot:

 Now given my love of Phantom of the Opera, my mind has somewhat been racing over the comparisons. I love how fascinating of a take this is to have a ghost story about some kids who are preparing to perform the play but the specific script they're using hadn't seen the light of day in 70 years because the first and last time the show was done, the lead actor died in a staging accident before the curtain went up on opening night. Naturally there have been rumors at the school that the place has been haunted for years by the boy who was meant to play The Phantom as an effort to keep the play from ever being performed. And the production does seem to be cursed when rehearsals start and strange happenings occur. So our leads decide to investigate since it seems whoever is doing this is targeting Zeke, the boy playing The Phantom this time.

You can probably guess the twist a mile away that after our leads, Zeke and his best friend Brooke, discovered the trap door that had been built for the original production, a new boy appears at their school like in the next day or so. Gee, how strange. But he and Brooke hit it off right away and when it seems Zeke is being framed as the one behind the pranks at rehearsal, new kid Brian is happy to help! (Unrelated but the idea of these guys paralleling Erik, Christine and Raoul, just hanging out and Erik playing dumb while actually helping in the Phantom mystery is kind of hilarious.) They aren't really subtle about there being something weird with Brian either since we hear very early on that while everyone knows about the ghost, very few have ever seen him. Then in the song where he and Brooke meet, he brings up little asides like how he's not new very often and you'd think after all these years he'd learn to keep his mouth shut since he's so socially awkward. It's kinda cute and makes sense he wouldn't really know how to interact with people considering his situation.

So naturally, you'd think the big reveal is they'd find out Brian is actually the ghost and the one behind all the mishaps, right? Well, sorta. Turns out there's someone else who is actually behind all the warnings and pranks that's trying to get the show closed. Well! There's no ghost then! Mystery solved~!

The show goes on like normal and opening night finally arrives. Everyone is off to their corners getting ready in the mad dash before curtain rises when suddenly Zeke gets attacked by The Phantom! The show starts and everyone goes on without him because someone has deftly slipped into his place. Brooke has an idea of who when she sees The Phantom for the first time and the bright green eyes behind his mask proves it's DEFINITELY not Zeke. But she doesn't want to disrupt the play and things go off without a hitch until suddenly the ending comes and The Phantom decides to address the audience. Yes, he is the boy who died all those years ago, but it's time for him to tell the whole town the truth of what happened that fateful night. And with that, he's gone, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. End scene. Standing ovation. Everyone is happy. Brooke immediately rushes backstage to find Zeke and confirms that he's okay but that wasn't him out there. She thinks it might have been the REAL Phantom! Speaking of... Brian? Why are you dressed like that? You stole Zeke's role?? Why??? Which... Both are right. It was him that stole Zeke's role. And he's the real Phantom. See, while the prankster may have been determined to keep the play from being performed, Brian has wanted nothing more all these years than to get his spotlight. He WANTED the school to do the show so he could get the opening night that was stolen from him. His unfinished business, if you will. But all these years, the school and the town had forbidden the play to honor his memory. So now he can be at peace having finally gotten to say those lines and hear that roar that he had so looked forward to as a kid. But... Unfortunately since he's completed his business, even if he's been falling for Brooke, he feels like it's time for him to move on. They'll all see each other again some day. And this time he disappears for real, the curtain call is in a cemetery where we see Brian's name on one of the head stones.

"That's all fine and dandy, but is there a point to this story?" Actually yes. I wanted to give some background to this since it really only makes sense in context and I feel like the show / story might still be pretty obscure. But it's eaten my mind. The one thing that I like while there's the overhanging tragedy and mystery going on, the main theme of this show is about getting closure. And maybe in a way, redemption. For Brian, of course, but this is something seen with other characters too. Brooke and Zeke have their opening number saying they've always been in the ensemble and this needs to be THEIR year to get named roles. And to be the leads was just icing on the cake. Their teacher, Ms. Walker, says that her grandmother was the teacher back in Brian's day. And not only did she never get to do the show they worked so hard on, but, despite the school demanding every copy of the script be destroyed so it could never be performed again, she saved a copy and hung onto it the rest of her life. Why? Because she had always hoped to have another chance? Because unlike everyone else, she thought Brian would want it to survive? It's not coincidence that Ms. Walker decided to do THIS play when she got the chance. She's giving her grandmother some closure and maybe forgiveness for what happened. (Brian never blamed her. Rumor says that when she died, the script was discovered with a mask and rose lovingly laid beside it.) Brian of course gets his closure with starring in the show he always dreamed of, but more importantly, he's been alone all these years. Zeke and Brooke gave him a few months to do things he never got to do including making friends, falling in love, encouraging him to face his fear with the trap door that killed him, and working with Ms. Walker probably gave him some closure with what happened to his teacher / her grandmother when he knows it wasn't her fault.

And of course the whole town can heal in a way because the school is no longer haunted, and after generations knowing about this "cursed play" legend, the audience also finally got to see it in full and maybe take away some of the sting that's hung over the town all these years. Especially when the song about The Legend says how the princpal didn't want to do the show in the first place and wouldn't give them the proper funding, but the teacher was determined to do it anyway, I'm sure there was plenty of blame going around for those details to have survived all these years. Was it the poor funding that caused the staging accident? Was it proof they shouldn't have gone through with it in the first place if it was so dangerous? Was it foul play? I have a feeling the town knew he didn't "vanish" that night, finding him later in the aftermath, but that's how the legend goes. But hey! No incidents, standing ovation, and Brian's speech about what happened finally giving some closure to all the rumors. Closure. In the sweetest sense of the word.

I included links to the songs above, but if you'd like to just listen, I'm also sharing them here.

[unforeseen-idiot]

Emperor Pickletein Rides the Bus

Oh boy, the grand finale of a grand series. To be honest Princess Labelmaker is more of a climax to the series than this book is, but that’s ok. I like to think of this book as a great epilogue, just helping our favorite characters get to their happy endings and giving us some fun stories along the way. This book is interesting since it’s a story being told in semi-real time. At least the case file follows one singular day and some of its entries happen in real time. This is just a cool idea and helps keep things fresh. Anyway though this book also focuses on our main 7th graders even though Remi and Murky get little chapters of their own (some more fulfilling than others *sob). Dwight and Kellen are fun in this book since they basically just vibe the whole time, absolutely no drama whatsoever (I mean Kellen did the paper airplane thing and got mad at Lance, but Dwight was perfect). Some fun stories include Sara’s first chapter with her field trip haikus (I’m not really surprised that Sara writes haikus), the tragedy of Mrs. Porterfield and the TURTLE, Sara again, getting Rhondella to stop texting her Bib Fortuna boyfriend, and made you look because it’s just so accurate to middle school. I liked the use of Fruit-i-gami Yoda since it kinda helped show that our main cast doesn’t really need Origami Yoda anymore and neither does Dwight, he was there for a few final bits of advice to finish the character arcs but he wasn’t as common. This serves to my theory that as the story of the books go on the kids need Origami Yoda less and less (when the series starts every chapter is dedicated to a kid asking for advice but now Origami Yoda is hardly even present) and Dwight, who I think used him as a way to relate to his classmates that couldn’t understand him, is now ready to let go of him since he has a support system now and people who have grown to appreciate and understand him. It’s honestly a great character arc that I definitely couldn’t pick up on as a kid. And with that we have Harvey who carries around Pickletein, an annoying jag who just serves piss everyone off. I remember starting this book thinking why is Harvey doing this, he’s on our side now. But then I actually thought to answer my question, why is Harvey doing this, and I realized (like Tommy does later) that Harvey has similar mental processes to Dwight but handles them differently. He has a lot of passion and emotion, but it goes unnoticed since like Dwight, people don’t really understand Harvey. I think that Harvey sees Dwight adjusting to life, but Harvey still hasn’t and can’t understand why, if Dwight can do it why can’t he. So he makes Pickletein so he can have some way of relating to the world on this field trip. But when he keeps pissing people off on this field trip they all get rightfully mad at him and it’s all building in him, finally when Tommy gets kissed by Sara he just can’t take it anymore and punches him, and he immediately regrets it because he’s not a bad person, just emotional and confused, and when Tommy forgives him that’s the understanding he needs to finally find peace in himself and gain the same support system that Dwight has. Ok I realize I may be reading to much into that and I don’t have any basis for this knowledge, but it’s how I see it and I think it’s a great character arc for the both of them. Back to the fluffier stuff, the astronaut ice cream thing was hilarious throughout its time, and the fact that it paid off so well kills me every time. Amy and Lanlan have the funniest and realest time ever in this book, honestly Amy is so real in this book. The great respect given to the Bell X-1. Freaking Mr. Good Clean Fun. The ending showing how everyone has grown into better people thanks to Dwight and Origami Yoda (and that Dwight really hasn’t changed, rather the people around him changed for the better), and that Origami Yoda is in fact real I believe it. In conclusion, thank you Tom Angleberger for creating an amazing series and ending it properly.

[sburbian-sage]

You've complained a few times about people "roleplaying as The Jonkler", and it's gotten me wondering, are there any classpects where the best strategy really is to act like an unhinged horrible creepy violent lunatic? Or, if it is always bad (which would make sense, since acting like that kinda goes against the entire point of the game), which classpect would it be the *least* bad for?

Well, there's actually two different definitions of "roleplaying as The Jonkler", and we need to get our definitions straight.

The first definition of "roleplaying as The Chuckler" is the one where you have an entire replayernet before you, and you go into my inbox specifically to type out essays explaining how you're actually the most normal dude in the room because you've reasoned that despite clearly being sapient, Carapacians and Consorts, being game-generated NPCs who do not persist between sessions, are not actually "real" in the way that players are, so it's actually fine at best and morally neutral at worst to do actual SAW/Danganronpa shit to them, film the resultant gore porn, and then actually use it as porn. Or the guy who creates Doomed Timelines so he can torture the Doomed Timeclones to death as stress relief because "they're me so it's fine and also they're going to die anyway". There are, according to incredible amounts of math I've done on my end of the screen, exactly zero scenarios in which you need to do this. Doing this, in fact, actually denies you the Mandate of Heaven, you die BEFORE you go to Hell and a demon pilots your body until its worldly death, and I will be sending your IP address to darkweb assassins. Either keep it to yourself, attend an anonymous mental health thread, or write some weird fanfiction about it and upload it under a false handle.

The second definition of "roleplaying as The Giggler" is the one where you do act kind of weird and unpleasant but in a humorous way that makes it hard to get mad at you. And putting aside the fact that a lot of people describe me in this way, I can think of a few examples.

I once explicitly said that this is right up Joy's alley. With providence over fear, laughter, and redemption, I'd argue that Joy's "theme" can be interpreted as pushing the boundaries between the horrible and the hilarious in a way that robs the horrible of its power, like a parody. Alternatively, teaching lookers-on how to develop thicker skin with regards to transgressive behavior, and finding the line between "transgressive" and "pointlessly grating". Don't forget the redemption, there needs to be a point to the behavior.

Princes and Bards with certain Aspects can lead to this behavior, if they focus on certain interpretations of their Title. I could see some off-putting behavior when one destroys social cohesion (Blood), long term positive effects, nurturing, growth, and restoration (Life), or so on. Certainly "guy who goes around destroying life and making sure nothing good happens and nobody grows" sounds a bit Joker-y. Of course, the idea here would be that the Prince and Bard destroy to facilitate a grander process. "Destroying social cohesion" sounds anti-social, but it also negates groupthink and abusive dynamics, and "inviting the destruction of long-term positive effects" sounds like a guy who ruins everything for everyone, but it also eliminates complacency and spurs actions. Nobody likes being the guy who tells everyone that the weekend's over and it's time to get back to work, but it needs to get done sometimes.

Witches and Mages of Breath are often conceptualized as being nuts because their job, roughly speaking, is to destroy shit with no warning and to not elaborate on it. A common pitfall people fall into is demonizing certain Titles, not realizing that literally every Class and Aspect (including Wastes and Graces, including Doom and Law, including Thieves) are vital to the development of a successful session and a new universe, but I do think I would start abusing substances if I found myself in a session with a Mage of Joy.

Ditto with Smiths and Muses who get Aspects like Doom. "Hey I'm the guy whose job it is to cause decay and condemnation and long term negative effects everywhere".

Thieves.

[aprillikesthings]

OKAY I meant to start earlier in the day but I know once I start it will be difficult to stop lol

but I have some tasty pasta to eat let's go

(how much do you want to bet EVERY EPISODE after this is a two-parter due to the sheer amount of plot bumping into tumblr's images-per-post limit)

s4 ep11 beast island

They're talking about their plan to go to Beast Island and get Entrapta--and side note, the ship goes about as fast as an airplane, judging by the clouds/ocean's movement

will she tho

(I actually don't know! This is one of those plot points I forgot in part because I marathoned the last season and change of the show almost four years ago lol; like seriously from this point on I can remember random specific scenes but not which order or why they happened; it definitely doesn't help that a couple months ago I watched a bunch of She-Ra humor videos that are all, like, just clips from s5 in no particular order)

(seriously if you're a She-Ra fan they're great, they're especially funny if you're high as balls, which Daci and I were when I was like "hey you have to watch these with me they're hilarious")

the globe map is throwing some kind of angry alarm and Swift Wind's senses are tingling

They hit....something!

points to whomever designed that, it looks really cool, and yes, vaguely menacing

okay but you were ALSO told that Princesses were all evil soooo

They find Entrapta's mask and a Horde-made skiff and Swift Wind can hear some kinda weird noise

the ship did call it a Hazardous Materials Disposal Site...

anyway a bug-robot-thing starts to attack them--and Adora can't transform to She-Ra here!

OH HEY so the droning sound Swift Wind keeps hearing that's super fucking creepy is a Shepard Tone! (more info via wikipedia of course)

("April how do you know so much random shit?" I have ADHD and an internet connection. Also in this case specifically, Alex Hirsch once did an AMA in character as Bill Cipher, and he linked to a Shepard Tone and said it was his favorite song.)

Anyway they're attempting to fight the bug and losing

:D I KNOW WHO THIS IS :D

He scares the bug off with magic!! (Shadow Weaver did say he was a powerful sorcerer...)

dun dun DUNNNN

okay so I was confused as to how Glimmer was gonna get in there and duh SHE CAN FUCKING TELEPORT ffs

anyway Light Hope is a computer program and you're not the correct input??? you can't just order it to work pfft

YOU'RE NOT SHE-RA lol

Anyway King Micah hasn't been around other people in a loooong time and is bad with things like "personal space" lol

they're asking about Entrapta and I love that everyone in this show just Knows that Entrapta is like. Into robots. Sexually.

(I'm not looking right now but SOMEone has to have written a fic of Entrapta just making, like, really wild sex toys or fuckable robots, right? Right???)

LOL THAT'S HER ALL RIGHT

Entrapta apparently went to the center of the island but Micah is discouraging them from going. The sound Swift Wind keeps hearing is a signal of some kind from the center--

Apparently the signal is enough to draw people in and drive them mad.

poor dude

Also he thinks Glimmer is still a child and asks about Angella, and Bow and Adora just do a 😬

But they promise to take Micah with them once they find Entrapta and leave

I dunno I think it's kinda cute

Anyway as they keep walking both of them start having moments of borderline-crippling self doubt

Glimmer's killed the spiders that the Crystal Castle sets on intruders and is still trying to harass Light Hope into talking to her:

Apparently yelling that she wants to use the Heart of Etheria was the right thing to say

Back on Beast Island, the signal is getting stronger, Micah is trying to get more information about Glimmer from Bow and Adora, and also they're being hunted by critters:

There's some kind of distorted speech in the signal (which still mostly sounds like a Shepard Tone), and Swift Wind is frozen in place by it and this is happening--

CREEPY AS FUCK

D:

D:

Adora, trying to convince Micah not to give in, blurts out that Glimmer is Queen, oops

D:

D:

oh god there's a flash of light and Adora relives Angella kissing her forehead and telling her "take care of each other," then a bunch of moments of her and Glimmer, then:

"I won't give up, not on my friends, not on Etheria,"

--and she transforms into She-Ra :D

NICE!

The blast frees everyone of the vines and they're back to being themselves

"It wasn't the signal stopping me from being She-Ra, it was me. I was afraid Glimmer was right,"

"But I promise I'd take care of her--take care of everyone, and I will"

(actually you promised you'd all take care of each other, but whatever; like, this is part of her whole character arc)

Side note, She-Ra is taller than Micah by like, half a head minimum

The scary critters all run off because some huge monster shows up, the monster opens its metal jaws, and

and I've run out of images with three minutes to go pfft okay hold on

[wikiangela]

time for Lone star 4x01!

spoilers under the cut!

(some episode thoughts that got too long lmao)

aww I missed them so much

I agree with Paul, olives do ruin everything (like, fr, every single time there are olives I try one as if suddenly they tasted better, and every single time I wanna throw up lmao)

they're looking for wedding venues aaa I can't wait haha

not to be that bitch, but... oh my god Rob Lowe looks so good, the hair looks fantastic (like oh my god his hair 😍), and on a motorcycle?? wow, Owen has never been so hot 🥵

loving Carlos hanging out with his mama, and tbh this season all I want is to learn more about Carlos and his life outside of TK and the 126 (like, I've been wondering since at least s2 - does he have any friends outside of the 126, or Michelle in s1? like, does he hang out with his work colleagues, anyone else? what did he do before everyone moved there, aside from hanging with Michelle?? 😂 give me something 😂)

and here's Carlos!! the man I've been dying to see a whole 6 minutes since the episode started lol they could give him every single second of screen time and I'd be loving it tbh

tell TK what?? I'm so nervous lol but it can't be that bad if Andrea knows and isn't freaking out right? 😂

GRACE!!!! 😍 😍 😍 I got so excited when I saw her I heard and saw her I had to pause lmao - I missed her so much 😍

raining frogs... what the fuck is happening 😂

what in the apocalypse is this episode 😂

Carlos being married to Iris... I guess it might be an interesting storyline? not sure I like it though, and it doesn't make much sense in the context of s1, at least as far as I can remember 😂 (it kinda feels like they wanted drama for the sake of drama but weren't sure what to do with tarlos bc they can't break them up again, so they were like, fuck it, it doesn't have to make any sense) but whatever, let's look past this 😂

the frog in the throat is making me so uncomfortable I can't 😩🤢

well, I guess I'm happy that TK isn't mad or anything 😂 still, this came out of nowhere and it kinda doesn't fit to what we know - then again, we don't know much about Carlos🤷🏻‍♀️

that dude in the porta potty had some serious bad luck lmao on top of everything to land squarely in the tank of water lol

pls tell me that this season continues s3's Owen being just hilarious 😂 because I really enjoyed him last season, and I can't stop laughing at him now 😂 (also, he just looks so good? I'm sure it's the hair, something's changed idk 😂)

Carlos in that shirt with the necklace hanging out - oh my good he looks hot 🥵 that color looks so good on him fr 🥵🥵🔥

am i sensing something brewing between Tommy and Amenadiel from Lucifer? 👀😂 does that mean he's gonna stay? I kinda figured he wouldn't be a one off character when I recognized him tbh 😂

Iris looks so familiar and I'm not sure if I've seen this actress before or if she just looks similar to someone

not sure how I feel about her character yet, imma need more time to get to know her

what the fuck has Owen gotten himself into 😂 jfc that was..... lmao

so Catherine's gone? 😭 nooo, I love Amy Acker, I hoped she'd be back 😭

FBI?? now that's interesting - and where do I know this chick from??

sooooo, was that 1 tarlos scene supposed to be the "new fan favorite" like Ronen said? I'm kinda underwhelmed ngl😂

It was a great first episode, the calls really were something, and the personal drama is delicious though also confusing, I'm still not sure if I like the whole Iris storyline (not bc of tarlos, obvi, just in general it doesn't seem.... good? idk, maybe they hyped up the secret too much or smth but it's kinda meh - I've been waiting for more Carlos and his backstory since s1 so I'm kinda disappointed rn) can't wait for the wedding tho!

I hope Tommy will actually find love and happiness, and I wonder how this whole pastor thing will unfold

the most intriguing thing is probably Owen's thing right now and so far I'm not even mad 😂

well, those are my thoughts as I was watching, can't wait for the next one!