#i find it very interesting that sm was the series that changed so many things

[forestofmemories]

something something the lessons they’ve learned up until now thanks to everything they’ve experienced, the special connection with nature (with the tapus, with alola itself), and the bond they (people and pokemon) all share bc they’re always working together and helping one another shaped satoshi in a way no other *region* did

[hillarydiangelo]

omg tell me about the chosen it sounds cool

Hello ❤❤❤ Yess, happily!!

Okay okay, where to begin? The Chosen is a series that tells about Jesus' life and mission through the eyes of the people who lived with him. But!! listen. As someone who has been posting about everything on this blog but religion for the last four years, trust me, this series is amazing.

The Chosen shows Jesus in a human way like, he makes his bed at night, accidentally cuts himself at work, he eats, dances, sweats, laughs and jokes, he plays ball with his childhood friends and plays in the sea with his student friends. He hugs and kisses his mom and his students, and he hugs and kisses everyone who comes to him who needs it. And showing so much of his human side just makes his divine side amaze us even more. The LOTR healthy masculinity part is true. I promise, this series is such a joy even if you aren't a christian and Jesus is a teacher, a doctor and a love like you've never seen. "Come and see"!!

Most noteworthy is that one of Jesus' students, Matthew (who wrote one of the four Gospels) is autistic in this series!! I love Matthew sm and he does shows up a lot.

The quality of the series is amazing!! They developed the characters so well, real and complex. The series' photography is stunning. What we see of Jewish culture and beliefs are very interesting. They didn't ignore women, they are just as important. The actors are not white (well, some of they are, I suppose, but the actors have very different nationalities/ethnicities).

And don't worry!! If you don't know the history or don't know much about Jewish culture and beliefs, we have characters like Mary, Matthew and Tamar who are also new to this and the others explain things to them and to you.

The series currently has 3 seasons (it is planned to have 7 seasons) each of 8 episodes ranging from 30 to 60 minutes. It is all produced with the support of donations by people who love the project and is available for free forever on the website comeandsee.net and on the app with subtitles and dubs.

As someone who couldn't listen to religion without an anxiety attack in recent years, this series is a safe place to give it a go. And I insist because I really loved it and I know it's a difficult subject for many people. It is a safe place to hear the story of this man that changed the world for the first time if your only contact with it was through people who couldn't tell you this without hurting you.

Like any adaptation of a true story, The Chosen takes artistic liberties to fill in the gaps we don't know about the story, but the series seeks to stay true to the original message of the Gospels and you will find most of the conversations and miracles are reported in the Gospels.

[idyllic-affections]

hii, i've always been watching you from afar and just wanted to say that your achilles heel has to be one of my FAVOURITE series to note! (for the life of me, i can't remember if you've posted a part 2 for it). pantalone hasn't been a very notable character for me, yet not only did you manage to portray his character well, but you also provided such a great dynamic between pantalone and the reader, which made it SO interesting to catch up on and go "what's next? what will be next?" you made me feel interested in a character that i literally feel nothing towards, and i'm sure i can say this for many of your followers!!

he's supposed to be this rich madman that cares naught for anything else, or at least, that used to be my general understanding of him as a character (haven't put much thought into him!) but reading through your fics and rambling really has opened my eyes to him! your platonic fics, like the entirety of them, really feels so natural and right, i'm always in awe at how well you manage to properly describe how it would feel to be so, so close to these characters in such an intimate, yet familial bond. keep up the good work, and i hope you continue to write what makes you happy! have a good day!

(wrote this at nearly 1am, hope there's no mistakes!)

ahh hello dear!! thank you sm <3 i did post part 2 and i'm quite happy with how it came out! and i appreciate that so much. my interpretation of pantalone is always changing and developing, because really, i don't have much to go off of. so i have to fill in the gaps with what i think he'll end up being like based on the few bits of information i can find... and a lot of people seem to enjoy the way i write him! which is something i'm very happy about. there's a lot of potential to be explored with a character like that.

i do my best to show people that intimacy does not have to be romantic and does not have to have romantic undertones. platonic intimacy is often overlooked, whether in a familial context or just in a generally nonromantic context. and i like being able to bring attention to it in this way. in some cases, it helps me work through personal issues. in others, it's just because i feel an astounding amount of platonic love for a character, and people do seem to share that love! it means a lot that you think so highly of what i write <33

i find that portaying trust and intimacy is never as simple as saying "i trust you." actions do speak louder than words sometimes, after all. it's the little things. in the case of achilles heel, it's pantalone's inclination to take off his gloves when he knows he'll be in physical contact with [name]. because those gloves create a safe barrier between him and the blueblooded nobles he has to associate with, between him and his coworkers, between him and the world. but he doesn't want that barrier in between him and his child--if anything, he wants them within that barrier. there are other ways too, but that one is the most important.

but thank you!!!!! you as well, dear 🫶🫶🫶

[sasudou]

Yes i was the one that sent the ask about jjk ending estimation! Thanks for ur thoughts. But when i said characters dying off screen i didn't mean major characteris in particular, i meant more like side characters, especially ones that u would think would have been doing something but no. Since kenjaku is out for blood rn i imagine many will end up dead because what is jjk if not dark to its very core?

Also who knows what will happen to gojo, gege hates him sm but something tells me he will either leave him alive as last or kill him somehow. The alternative is they might never end up freeing him at all! As much as gege said he needs to tell megumi about toji, I don't think ppl should hold onto that statement alone for a belief that gojo can get outta that box. I would love it ofc but as u said, writing changes with different routes the plot takes 🤔

I AM SOOOO SORRY 😭

i thought i posted my response but apparently i didn’t 😭😭😭

anyway anyway here’s the answer:

hmmm yeah i can see side characters getting killed/captured off screen (or maybe only their last moments are shown, like with principal yaga). since the US wants a lot of sorcerers, i doubt every fight will be fully shown.

in one interview gege said that between gojo and the first years, either one will die and everyone else will live or everyone will die except for one person, so there’s a very big possibility that gojo will die at the end of the series. (personally, i think it will end with megumi being the only one alive, but only because i find that interesting).

for the toji thing, i think megumi will become aware of who his father is, especially since he is now the head of the zenin clan. that, however, does not have to be done through gojo. i doubt that—if or when gojo gets out—he and megumi will have time for a long, deep talk about his father and gojos past, as there are more pressing matters to attend to. if both gojo and megumi do happen to survive till the end of the manga, then i can see that talk happening. also, yeah! authors change their minds a lot so there’s a possibility that gege changed his mind about this. (also, just a side note, i think people are making the whole “when megumi finds out about toji” thing way too big of a deal. i don’t think megumi cares all that much about who toji is. so many people are making it out to be a “when gojo tells megumi, megumi will no longer trust him” type situation and i just don’t think that’s true. gojo has been there for megumi way more than toji has. megumi has outright said that he doesn’t care to know where toji is, what he’s doing, or who he is. of course, his opinion may change, but i doubt he’ll get mad at gojo over it).

[wayward-pendragon]

Anime Recommendations!

Hi everyone, I hope y’all are safe and happy! With quarantine still in place (at least in my country), I’m gonna keep the random rec lists coming! I’ve been watching a lotttt of animes and rewatching favourites, so I thought I’d share some of my favourites of all time! A lot of them are pretty mainstream, but for my friends who aren’t really into anime, these will get you hooked! In no particular order, let’s get started!

1. Snow White with the Red Hair, 24 episodes 

This is hands down my favourite anime of all time. This shoujo anime make me feel so happy and it’s so wholesome, honestly such a feel good anime. Without spoiling too much, it’s about a herbalist named Shirayuki who ends up having to flee her home country and ends up meeting Prince Zen and goes to live in his country. The cast of characters in the anime is so good, there’s not a character to dislike. The genuine build up of friendship and eventual romance is just so sweet please watch. 

2. Demon slayer (26 episodes) 

One of the best anime I’ve watched this past year. This anime has amazing plot, awesome animation and a great cast of characters. This anime follows Tanjiro as he becomes a demon slayer after a demon killed his family. Tanjiro and his sister, Nezuko were the only survivors but Nezuko was turned in a demon and now Tanjiro is on a journey to change he back into a human. If you are into anime with amazing fight scenes, I highly recommend. 

3. Hunter x Hunter (148 episodes) 

I am currently watching this anime and it honestly made it onto my lists of favourite anime super quickly. The series starts with Gon and his quest to become a pro hunter and find his dad and goes on from there. With so many episodes and arcs, you can’t stop watching. The characters immediately hooked me on this show, Killua and Gon’s friendship is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever seen in anime, I literally want to adopt both of them. This anime is so heartwarming but also kinda dark and action packed. 

4. Haikyuu!! (73 episodes, on-going)

My favourite sports anime my god. Haikyuu follows a high school volleyball team as they try to make it to nationals. This series made me so much more emotional than I thought it would, but you get so involved with the team and characters and want them to succeed. All of the characters from all of the teams are also fantastic and hilarious. If you need a fun but exciting anime, please please please watch Haikyuu!!

5. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (64 episodes)

Where to even begin. I would say this is one of the most popular anime and for good freaking reason. Without giving too much away, this anime follows brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric as they go on a quest to get their bodies back. Honestly this is one of my fav animes, if you like awesome fight scenes and really intriguing plot, you will love this anime. 

6. Yona of the Dawn (24 episodes) 

Another amazing anime but sadly, unfinished. I think this anime is best to watch w/o knowing very much. Just know that there is really good characters and character development and a very attractive love interest :))))

7. Soul eater (51 episodes) 

One of the first animes I ever watched and as I remember it’s hella awesome, if you like halloween then the whole atmosphere of this anime will intrigue you. The fight scenes in this are really fun and so are the characters. If you need a fun medium length anime, I would recommend this one!

8. Inuyasha (193 episodes)

This anime is worth all the hype in my opinion. The plot was great, the characters are fantastic and romance is so freaking cute I can’t. I’m also a sucker for asshole characters who are secretly really sweet. 

9. Fruits Basket (2019) (25 episodes (S1), S2 on-going)

This is the cutest anime. The whole cast characters is amazing and you get so attached so fast. The protagonist is so sweet and optimistic and I really just wanna protect her. I went into this knowing next nothing and I think that’s the best way to do it. The 2001 version is good too but 2019 has better animation and is closer to managa (and has more episodes!). 

10. My Hero Academia (88 episodes, on-going)

I love this anime with my whole heart. There is an adorable cast of characters and amazing fight scenes, I love this sm. It’s set in a world where like 95% of the population has ‘quirks’ which are basically super powers but not all of them are super powerful. Super heroes protect cities and the anime follows a high school where the students are training to become heroes. The main character is born without a quirk but through some crazy circumstances he ends up acquiring one. In my opinion this anime is worth the hype. 

11. Ouran Highschool Host Club (26 episodes)

This one is wild. Ouran Highschool Host club is so iconic and it’s hilarious, I laughed out loud watching this one so much. Honestly I went into this knowing nothing and I think its funnier that way. 

12. Yuri!!! On Ice (13 episodes)

THIS ANIME. The first sports anime w/ canon LGBTQ+ romance and its beautiful. I love the style, the skating, the music, the characters, just everything about it. This follows Yuri Katsuki, a professional figure skater from Japan and his skating career. After messing up a major championship, Yuri is lost and doesn’t know what to do w/ his career. After seeing a video of Yuri skate, his idol Victor, a skating legend, shows up to be his coach. Please watch this anime. 

13. Attack on Titan (62 episodes, on-going)

If you are looking for a badass action anime this is the one for you. Humanity has fallen to the mercy of giant man-eating titans, and the people that survived live within a walled city to keep the titans out. This anime is a little disturbing and violent but it is so badass. Also Levi, the most badass character ever, makes this entire anime worth watching. 

14. Ao Haru Ride (12 episodes)

Hands down my favourite romance anime. This anime is so freaking cute and it gave me so many fuzzy feelings. The animation is also super nice so that is always a plus. It follows Futaba and Kou who liked each other in middle school but were separated. They meet again in high school but they have both changed so much. If you want a romance anime I really recommend this one. 

15. Naruto (720 episodes)

This is a freaking classic and really long. Almost everyone and their mother has heard of this anime or watched some of it before. Basically it’s about ninjas and follows mainly Naruto Uzumaki who want to eventually be the leader of his village but his ninja skills need a lot of work. I honestly didn’t think I would love this anime as much as I did but its just so good. It is a very big commitment to finish though so be prepared. 

16. Your Lie in April (22 episodes)

Well this anime is literally beautiful. It is centered around 2 teens w/ major musical talent. It gets deep very fast but its also light hearted and wholesome. This anime made me cry like a baby so get your tissues ready. 

[therealvinelle]

You mentioned that you and SM have diff ideas for a "happy ending" in the Twilight verse. I was wondering, what would you constitute as a happy ending? Is it even POSSIBLE now? If not, when do you think it would've been possible in the series? (btw love the metas~! 030) -Sw

Ooooooooooooooh INTERESTING question.

To start with, no, it’s not. I don’t think it was ever possible.

We have a cast where, in no particular order:

Carlisle’s coven is a lie and his marriage doomed

Bella is depressed

Aro killed his sister, life is terrible

The shapeshifters have been dealt a cruel hand

Edward is Edward. (Meta to come.)

Victoria’s a miserable person in a miserable relationship.

SO MANY MORE. If you’re a Twilight character and you’re not a Dostoyevsky novel, you’re doing it wrong

And this is before Bella ever moved to Forks.

Now, we can wring the happiest ending possible out of what happens after she arrives in Forks, and make a better timeline. Who is it better for, though? The cast of Twilight all have conflicting interests, one man’s fortune is another’s misfortune and all that. I like Aro well enough to want a happy ending for him (also because a happy ending for Aro is a happy ending for mankind), but his happy ending conflicts directly with a lot of other characters’ happy ending. Another example, if Bella had been crushed by that truck in Twilight, the story wouldn’t have happened and there would have been none of the canon suffering. In particular the Volturi, the Denali, the homeless population of Seattle, and the shapeshifters would all be better off. I would argue the Cullens would in the long run be better off as well. Is that a better timeline, then, should Bella have died that day?

What, for that matter, is a happy ending?

Many of the characters have problems that run too deeply to ever be resolved. Carlisle’s coven is doomed, and while there are many ways it could fall apart there’s no timeline where his heart isn’t broken. Victoria’s in a horrible relationship with James and has nothing else with life, and whether he lives or dies you can’t easily fix that.

To make canon a happier place, you would have to make some tough choices.

Edward, for instance, I really do believe that the happiest ending where he’s concerned would have been for him to die from the Spanish Influenza. Vampirism has turned him into... well, it turned him into the narrator of Midnight Sun. That’s nobody’s fault. Edward Cullen is sinister. If he gets his happy ending, that’s bad news for everybody else.

And once you start playing that game, you have to wonder if Esme, Jasper, and Rosalie would have been better off dead too. (I’m on the fence about Alice.) Esme is... whatever she is, Jasper seems biologically wired to be miserable, and Rosalie has made it clear she wished to die. Now, when it comes to Rosalie I believe she could find true happiness as a vampire, but she has a very long way to go and it would mean letting go of some things she’s not ready to let go. To be happy in her marble skin, Rosalie has to relinquish her desire for humanity, and that’s not happening anytime soon.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

What would I change?

I think a few things go fatefully wrong over the course of the Twilight series.

We have, in no particular order:

Bella falls for Edward, and becomes his bride. By the end of the series she has no independence, no self-reliance. She’s completely dependent on him.

Victoria loses the one person she had left in life, goes mad, and builds a newborn army. A lot of people die, and Victoria herself dies a cruel death.

Carlisle and Aro’s friendship is ruined, causing such things as the Breaking Dawn debacle.

Bella demonstrates her gift’s efficiency against the Volturi before the vampire world. Either the Volturi or the Cullens will have to die after this.

The shapeshifters are bound to the Cullens forever thanks to Jake imprinting.

There are many ways to prevent this. Bella could have stayed home on the day of that baseball game, she could have neglected to go to Forks in the first place. Edward could have died of the flu, Carlisle could have run into Jasper before any other Cullens and formed a two-man vegetarian club with him, or he could have stayed in Volterra. There are countless of alternate paths the characters could have taken that would have led to a different outcome.

So, yes, a better timeline is perfectly possible. And just about any timeline than the canon one would be better, so really, anything will do. A happy ending, though... maybe possible, but it’d be a thorny path and not everyone involved would be happy.

This is why I write fanfiction, really, my Twilight fics current and planned are all on some level headed toward a better timeline. They have that common denominator.

[prettyboykatsuki]

Cont* (uh same anon that sent the ask ab analyzing mha and the characters?)

Like honestly kats behavior although not excusable, was heavily influenced by society. From the moment he got his quirk he was conditioned into believing he was better than everyone else and that everyone was valued simply for the quirk they did or didnt have and not their person over all. His future was already predetermined when he got his quirk because it was so powerful. And now hes around people like aizawa and the rest of class a thats teaching him that theres more to being a hero and a person than just your quirk and winning vs losing. The league and stein were not lying when they said that heroes create villains and violence because they gave themselves the authority to decide whos good vs bad, and who is valuable vs who isnt. These are the people that create issues like the ones that bakugo and even shouto had

No bc frfr i didnt like kats at all at first esp after he pretty much told izu to off himself but i realized that i look deeper into characters and analyze their actions and behaviors when i actually genuinely care ab the show to the point where i kinda start fixating on it and not just watching yk? So after they fought in ground beta and maybe even before then when i started analyzing mha and each of the characters, i slowly started to love him esp now that i was deep enough into it to care more ab his character? Honestly i could talk about mha, the characters and the flaws in hero society for hours now💀 but anyways i love kats sm now☹️☹️☹️ hes had really great development esp now that hes around such positive influences and not being influenced and enabled by the toxicity of their society

( cw for mentions of discrimination, bullying, other metaverse stuff and my own personal thoughts lol )

edit: copypasted the wrong thing lol

tl;dr i agree completely lmao

i think one of the really good parts of bnha as a manga and as a series is how the workings of quirk society effect both the quirkless and those blessed with quirks in different ways.

bakugou is a direct parallel to deku in this specific way. not that these things excuse his behaviors in anyway. but truly, sincerely - so much of bakugou's characters are the effects of the pre-determined worth that comes with being blessed with a quirk. we see this theme reinforced like countless times through the series

and every single character in the show must suffer the consequences of quirk society - both good and bad. from todoroki and the exploration of quirk marriage eugenics, to people like shinso who face an onslaught out discrimination on the basis his quirk. the societal impairments you face is something we see a lot. with shigarakis backstory very directly.

but i think bakugou comes from the opposite side of that. it is an exploration of how someones character can be diminished if they're praised solely for qualities they had no control over. and it also shows that it is bakuguous responsibility as a character to grow, change, and show respect to others.

many of bakugou's beliefs were fostered because of that. but it also made him deeply insecure and question everything around him. while he was most certainly benefitted with certain experiences, he also deeply suffered on a personal level. i truly find this part of his character so interesting.

in general i completely agree lol

[augustmoment]

Meet me,

Namira Maziyar.

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo! Warm reception to those of you who have come to Namira's blog. Firstly first, let me introduce myself. I go by the name Namira Maziyar. You may refer to me with Amy, Nami, Mimi, Mira, Rara for short—(other nicknames are welcomed as long as it is still related to my name and does not have bad meaning). My preferred pronouns are She/Her, already at my legal age (twenty-three in Korea!) and coming up with Leo (the good one ♡) as my horoscope. Goes by ENFP as the result of my MBTI. My TOP 2 love language is Word of Affirmation and Quality Time (just in case it's needed).

I'm the one who is noisy and talkative. I'm good at starting a conversation, also approaching people first. If I get a good response, I can say, I'm good at finding topics (so, it's basically depends on you too, because sometimes I can't handle convo-killer). I'm a sensitive person, I can feel the mood swings from how you respond. So, if there's something that doesn't make you feel good, just tell me. Even though I'm not a good listener or a good adviser, I can understand people's feeling very well. Many people say I'm good at comforting people. If you need someone to talk to, I'm ready to listen to all your stories! Just knock-knock my roomchat, ya (don't feel averse ^_^).

Get to know Namira's interests!

What am I into? Actually, I'm into so many things. Recently into watching k-drama, anime, and reading some books. A cluster of stars, the moon, the sun, and theory about the world of outer space! 🚀💭 *giggle*

͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ✢ ♡  ⊹  .  ° ✢ ♡  ⊹  .  ° ✢ ♡  ⊹  .  °

Music taste? I was the type who could listen any kind of music. If I thought the music was good and pleasing my ears, then I'd either likes it or I put it in my playlist. But I'm a casual listener of Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Nadin Amizah, Reality Club, Novo Amor, Bruno Major, The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, and many more.

Top 5 Spotify Playlist:

Anything You Want – Reality Club

Summertime Sadness – Lana Del Rey

Labyrinth – Taylor Swift

Mendarah – Nadin Amizah

5AM Empanada with You – Bubble Tea and Cigarettes

͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ✢ ♡  ⊹  .  ° ✢ ♡  ⊹  .  ° ✢ ♡  ⊹  .  °

Watchlist? I enjoying myself watching some cartoon, k-drama, c-drama, anime, movies, series with romance, fantasy, mystery, thriller, horror as my favorite genres.

FAVS: {♡}

Our Beloved Summer (k-drama) on Netflix

Bridgerton (series) on Netflix

Horimiya (anime) on Netflix

Sweet Teeth (c-drama) on IQIYI

Kiki's Delivery Service (movie) on Netflix

͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ✢ ♡  ⊹  .  ° ✢ ♡  ⊹  .  ° ✢ ♡  ⊹  .  °

Anything more! I'm a cat person (I love kitten sm <3) and really love oreo flavored any food or drink. When I'm sad, McFlurry Oreo and Cookies & Cream Frappuccino is my life saver! Ah, don't forget Strawberry Cheesecake too. Neeways, Kuromi is my soulmate. (ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ)♡

ABOUT MY MUSE:

ㅤㅤㅤ ⋯ 🗝️ ❀ Chaewon ⁺ Legal (23+) ⁺ Leo ⁺ ISTP ୧

Kim Chaewon (김채원), also known mononymously as Chaewon. She's the leader in a South Korean girl group named LE SSERAFIM under the auspices of Source Music. Born on August 1, 2000. Her English name is Anna Kim. She was a former trainee of Woolim Entertainment and participated in 'Produce 48' and she ranked 10th at 'Produce 48' finale, then debut as a member of IZ*ONE. Her MBTI used to be ISFP but now it has changed to ISTP. She likes mint-choco ice cream and doesn't drink coffee. A calm person but she's everyone's sunshine!

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ୧ ⁺⁎˚ ꒰ఎ ★ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ 🧸 ⑅˚₊ (🕯️) . . z Z

Before becoming mutuals, you should read this:

<☆> I do temporary a lot. :D

<☆> Sometimes I'm a fast and slow at replying personal chat and prefer socializing in group chat. But don't worry, I will try my best to reply anything, so, don't hesitate to talk to me! ♡

<☆> You can break the mutual if any time if you found me too loud or (maybe) annoying for you.

⚠︎ ! DNI ! ⚠︎

LGBTQ+ phobic, racist, disrespectful, loves to spread hate, abusive, over NSFW, rprl acc, please don't interact with me. I beg you.

Another ACC!

♡ https://twitter.com/forelskcet

♡

If you perhaps want to send me anonymous message(s), you can hit me up through:

[epicspheal]

Heya! I hope your doing well!

Ever since swsh gave the rivals something to do after the fact( something that I believe only happened to Blue), I can't help but think of the rivals prior who haven't. What do you think they end up doing? I know that Blue ends up becoming a gym leader, but would still be interesting what you plan for him too! :3

Hi there @ihopethisendswell! So actually, it's the norm typically for the rivals to have something to do, even if it's just continuing being a roaming trainers. Being a roaming trainer is still just as valid of a career path as other routes given the way the Pokemon world works, it's just not as solid of a career path as say gym leader or research assistant. Pokemon Sword and Shield is one of the only main games that really puts emphasis on the rivals' alternate careers paths as part of the plot outside of the gen 5 games. So like you have Blue who becomes gym leader and also helps his grandpa with his research by still be a roaming trainer (much to the frustration of anyone trying to challenge his gym). By the time of Sun and Moon/USUM he has ditched the gym to become battle facility which ultimately given his status as a former champion ends up being a much more fitting role. Granted he needed that time as a gym leader as long standing humbling exercise so it wasn't a bad call at all. Then we have Silver, who remains a roaming trainer, though he kind of mainly sticks around the Dragon's Den because he really wants to avenge that loss to Lance and show how much he has changed. Then we have Brendan/May (when not the protagonist) who end up going back to being full time assistants professor Birch. Wally on the other hand, is much like Silver in that he continue to be a roaming trainer, with him staying around the Battle Resort in ORAS with him eventually going to the Battle Tree by the time the SM/USUM events occur.

Barry also follows the roaming trainer route with him staying Stark Mountain in Diamond/Pearl and with Platinum he hangs around the Survival area.

Gen 5 is where the rival's future goals get the most attention, and was the best well done (SwSh in my opinion failed hard on the rival's goals bar Klara and Avery's). Bianca is still my favorite "how to do a future career path" ending in the entirety of series which is she really doesn't know. She ends up taking up a position as Professor's Juniper's assistant. However it's this linefrom Bianca in Pokemon Black 2/White 2 that I really enjoyed:

"Actually, I'm not sure being a professor's assistant is really what I want to do... But when I do the work, I have lots and lots of fun!" I really appreciated that they allowed Bianca to have doubts that this is her final career path. She's still a child and I can remember when I was her age (God, I sound so old) how many career paths I thought about in that time frame...and only one of those comes even remotely close to what I'm attempting to go back to school for. I liked how she's just trying to things and aiming for experiences while not trying to commit herself to one specific path. Now obviously this could theoretically be true for any number of the rivals as with the exception of Blue (and Wally although for some odd reason they didn't give him an aged up model considering he'd be just as old as Red and Blue are) we don't see them as adults and their ambitions could very well have indeed changed over the years. Then you have Cheren who after that scolding from Alder really begins to question his pursuit of strength and what he really wants to do. Cue 2 years later in BW2 where we see him as the Aspertia City gym leader as well a lecturer at the trainer's school. Fitting as it shows his desire and capabilities as a trainer but also allowing a more concrete goal than just pursuing strength but actually overseeing the future generations. And Hugh, another one of my favorite characters, concludes his story arc on forgiveness (since he had absolutely none for Team Plasma at the beginning of the story) ends up a roaming trainer but also helping the good side Team Plasma in Driftveil City reunite Pokemon that were stolen during the events of Black/White to their original trainers. So he has a goal and really touching one I might add, one of the few that doesn't revolve around battling or researching.

Then there's the XY rivals who were admittedly the most shafted. They all pretty much end up as roaming trainers except for Trevor who already had the aim of completing the Pokedex for Professor Sycamore and he continues to do so.

The no specific aim works the best, in my opinion, for Shauna as she really didn't have much of a goal to begin with outside of travelling/making memories, and much like I said with Bianca, it's okay for characters to not have a specific end game (although I personally see Bianca's route as better as although she isn't quite sure what she wants to do, she does take initiative and actively pursue a goal to gain experience and see if it's for her).

Serena/Calem (again when not the protag) having no set aim also works because they were most competitive of the group and continuing to be a trainer makes sense, but since they get hardly any development it just feels hollow and not satisfying. At least with characters like Wally, Silver and Barry who are roaming they all went through some major development. Lack of major development plus no end game just makes Serena and Calem unfortunately just not stand out.

Then Tierno...poor Tierno. He's my favorite XY character and I hate that screwed over so poorly. He actually a goal but the game doesn't allow us to see how a dance team would work. Kalos really could've benefitted from a Pokemon Contest/Musical like sidequest where Tierno shines in. So him being a roaming trainer is just...meh.

Now moving on to Gen 7 and best boy Hau (Hau's up there with Blue and Leon as one of my favorite Pokemon characters PERIOD). In both Sun and Moon and USUM he's a roaming trainer but I argue that Sun and Moon actually wrapped up his character better, despite USUM giving him much more in the way of development. By that I mean he explicitly mentions to the player that he wants become strong enough to find his father who fled Alola because the pressure of being the Kahuna's son was too much. So yeah he is still just a regular trainer, but he does have an explicit goal that goes beyond just trying to continue to measure up to the player. He also helps to train the reforming Team Skull grunts in the art of Alolan SuMo. In USUM this is erased for a more generic roaming trainer scenario unfortunately. Gladion's fate also changes depending on what version of the Gen 7 games you play. With Sun and Moon he ends up taking over as Aether's president but also still trains on the side as he is one of the challengers that can come for your title in the post game. In Ultra Sun and Moon he actually takes the "I'm going to Kanto" route instead of Lillie although he actually back and is essentially a roaming trainer since Lusamine's villainy was nerfed and therefore allowed to stay as Aether's president

Then there's Trace who ends up champion then loses it, but keeps on going in this endless circle of trying to reclaim it from the player. And then finally the Gen 8 rivals where we have Bede, Marnie, Klara and Avery all become gym leaders and Hop is a professor. Despite this cast having the most focus on their future paths since the gen 5 rivals I don't think they were done that well. Like Klara and Avery's worked, really well and they're probably the only rivals bar Trace and Blue who actually their goals (with them actually maintaining there dream status because their goal didn't involve becoming champion).

I've talked about Hop's on this post before but the lack of genuine foreshadowing just made his sudden declaration of wanting to be a Pokemon Professor just come out of nowhere. And honestly considering the fact that he had just come out of a depressive stage and still hadn't quite addressed his idolization issues I think he would've been served better with the Bianca route where yes he becomes Sonia's assistant, but it's clear that he's still trying to find his new path and that he's just open to trying out research rather than making a rather bold claim that this was his new career path. Either that or do better in the foreshadowing where he shows he has a much clearer interest in academia but feels like he needs to be a champion like his brother.

Then there's Marnie who I've also stated was kind of screwed over. Because she made it rather clear to Piers she didn't want to be gym leader (which makes sense given that she saw how that position screwed over older brother that she admires). She's pretty much doing this because she still has the motivation to save her hometown which is extremely admirable and mature. But also it's sad, like if she didn't have to do this, would she honestly still be gym leader. I think not, at least not immediately. Considering that gym challengers can still compete on the big stage with the champion's cup rematches and some even can be invited to the Galarian Stars Tournament, I think if I had of written that I would've focused on how with Leon as the head of MC he's going to actually work with Spikemuth to revitalize without shouldering the responsibility on one single person, especially a minor. And let her be a roaming trainer and live for herself and not continue to be Spikemuth's martyr.

Then there's Bede who quite vocally states when crashing the Champion's Cup that he was ready to retire. Like poor boy goes from being used as Rose's wishing star collector and fall boy to Opal's reirement plan. Like yes it's great that Opal actually remembers his name and gives him a support system and teaches him some discipline. But still it's kind of sad as he was very much okay with retiring but more or less gets goaded into staying because of the stadium audience.

So this post got way longer than I what it was going to be but hey that happens. But yeah too long don't read, all of the rivals do have a goal, even if a lot of them end up as roaming trainers. If I'm honest in most cases (bar the gen 6 rivals because they lacked developent) the roaming trainer thing works. Because they're kids and they still have their whole lives ahead of them and they don't need to have concrete job just yet. Especially because in some cases the concrete plan just doesn't always fit the character. It works best when it feels like an organic part of the story and not just trying to wrap things up for the sake of wrapping things up.

Finally, to answer your question about how I deal with Blue. Well in my Pokeverse (dubbed cactusverse in case you see me refer to my AU as this), I tend to be fairly canon compliant to the games. So after he loses his champion title to Red he becomes Viridian gym leader, slightly patches things up with grandfather by helping with the research and eventuallya head of the Battle Tree as an adult once he gains the Battle Legend Status (which is an actual legitimate title in cactusverse held currently only by him, Red and Leaf, although one of my OCs gets this designation as well). So nothing that really deviates from canon except for some offscreen events. Basically the battle legend status is bestowed if a major event happens that is taken care of by an already established powerful trainer. So there's a rather major plot thing the Kanto Trio gets involved in that once they take care of gives them their status.

Also for cactusverse there's the whole issue of the Viridian City gym. So it eventually it gets passed down to Trace as Blue has shown that he's become a bit too powerful to be a gym leader. He was honestly when he first got it probably still a bit overkill for an 8th gym leader, but he also really needed an attitude adjustment. And with Lance being a far better father figure to him than Oak could ever dream of, with the help of Agatha tried to rein in his egotistical and self important ways by giving him the position. Which worked very well. Still in cactusverse there's rules on the win percentage a gym can have and that's determined by position. Win too many for your rank and you get moved, vice versa if you lose too many, and sometimes you might even lose your position. The first and last gym leaders are always the most at risk of losing their status. This actually happens to Wallace, Iris and eventually Raihan because they just end up exceeding the strength of most challengers who try to challenge them. Hence why all three of them end up champions at some point cactusverse (Raihan does not become Galar's champion, but Johto's champion since I really like the idea of him spreading his wings beyong Galar).

Blue between the time of BW2 and SM had ended up getting to a point that no one had gotten a gym badge off of him in a couple of years which is unacceptable by league standards and he would've gotten booted out sooner had Lance not personally asked my OC Terra to come kick his butt and get a badge off of him. And cue possibly the most iconic and brutal gym battles to have ever gone down in a region of outside of Galar because two heartbroken champion tier trainers, who broke each other's heart is a recipe for a frightening battle. Lance happened to referree that match and might be a little traumatized. Terra won and he was able to give out his last badge before Red came back from his latest global trip and said let's go to Alola.

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Nightwing 83 Review

guess who isn't weeks late this time. my opinion of the series is going up a little bit. it's still not great, but i'm not actively put off by it anymore the way i was after 81. not going to tag as spoilers, but be warned that they are under the cut

i’m sure you all are well aware of this but now, but dear god i love bruno redondo’s art. like, an unhealthy amount. the pink and blue is getting to be a theme with either him or just this run, but i am definitely enjoying it. the movement in this cover is clearly obvious, but well done. you recoznize right off the bat that the cover was drawn to drag your eyes down the page until you get to the bottom, but you enjoy the whole ride there. 

also, redondo’s way of drawing a character in stages of action so we can see just how much they’re doing in a split second of movement is quickly becoming something i like to see drawn with dick, and any other character that has that sort of ease of movement and body sense, like cass or sin or maybe a super. 

and he’s in action the entire time! there’s shot drawn just to show off a shirtless comic book character, the way nightwing is so often subjected to. he’s shirtless because he’s changing his clothes, and that’s all we see, no more and no less. very practical, very well done. i like it.

he looks so cute right here oh my god. the little squint, the hair curls. it’s adorable.

but also like. unless melinda has specifically outfitted the door spyhole so that the person on the other side can’t see dick looking through it (and in all honesty she might have) then everyone on the other side can see dick looking through that door. 

bringing your attention back to the “i can’t see melinda’s fbi file oh no!! it’s redacted!! whatever can we do!!” stupidity. redacted files are child’s play for oracle, and definitely doable for both dick and bruce. so that’s bullshit.

now, melinda apparently grew up with the maroni family, then took down part of the family from the inside. the maroni family is a large and notable presence in gotham, one that bruce pays a respectable amount of attention to. he definitely would have grown suspicious when two members of the maroni family were taken down, and with some investigation, he would have discovered melinda’s plan. and it should go without saying that the majority of things you see batman doing? dick can do it too.

it’s not so much that i don’t like how clever the villains/antiheroes are getting. i don’t like how dc heroes are increasingly written as less intelligent. they seem to be relying on pure fighting skills or luck, which may be the case for a couple heroes, but has never been the case for most of dc’s big name heroes, the bat family included. it’s irritating to me to see this sort of stuff pop up as a major plot point when i know that, if dick or bruce had been written with the amount of skill and power that they canonically possess, this entire mess would have been sorted out years ago.

unrelated but dick and melinda have the same hair

this may just be me, but i was always under the impression that dick doesn’t really have a “double life???”

yes, he’s talented enough to create enough differences between robin/nightwing and dick grayson’s mannerisms, way of movement, voices, and speech patterns so that it’s very difficult to put the two together.

but nightwing has never been separate from dick grayson, not the way bruce and batman is. he’s always leaned more towards clark in that aspect: his hero persona is an exaggerated, stately, larger-than-life version of who he really is. there’s no second persona, no real “dick grayson identity” and “nightwing identity.” they’re the same person with the same goals, ideas, and skills. one just pretends to abide by the law, and one gives up pretense of that.

oh good thank god. if he’d trusted her right off the bat (hehe. bat.) i would have slapped him upside the head. at least he’s still got instincts.

gosh the colouring on this is cool. the red has enough purple and pink tones to it that it doesn’t abruptly ruin the tone of the artwork. but it’s definitely glaring enough to take the reader outside of this personal moment they had slipped into between dick and melinda, to put them back in the present where they’re reminded that oh yea there are people hunting dick down. 

the next panel keeps this up too, in a less severe way. melinda’s bodyguard shows up (i forgot her name sorry :[ ) and subtly places us in the middle of an action scene rather than a private, personal scene.

laughing so fucking hard have our little vigilantes grown so accustomed to breaking into places that it doesn’t even register as a crime anymore??? tim coming in through the fire escape to pick bernard up for their date and being very much confused as to why bernard is freaking out.

i really like melinda’s shirt and now despite all the work i have to do and the fucking conference i have to host on monday i want to spend hours scrolling through clothing shops online trying to find this shirt. the mock neck/neckline is so cool i want it

so roland just assumes that a very dangerous vigilante who is highly talented in combat and a very dangerous bodyguard who is also highly talented in combat had a fight that ended with this very dangerous bodyguard being tied up and she looks completely fine? roland just assumes that her having no visible wounds or bruises means that they got into a fight and she lost that easily? uh. aight then

dick what are you doing. legitimately what the fuck are you doing. why are you posing oh my god. you are injured and tired and in absolutely no position to go hand to hand with one of main enemies. jesus christ run away or head to lower ground or something. don’t just stand around letting the floodlights show exactly where you are.

i don’t understand what he’s trying to do here??? blockbuster fully bought the story that dick fought them both, won, tried to get info out of them and failed, then hightailed it out of there. he didn’t have to draw roland out for a fight.

but it does look cool. the way the light just highlights his silhouette and the blue parts of his costume does look badass. he does get style points in my book for this.

w h a t  d i d  i  f u c k i n g  t e l l  y o u ,  d i c k ?

very classic superhero line and it does sound like something dick would say in a fit of righteous rage but also it makes me laugh so hard because all vigilantes think they’re so powerful that the law doesn’t apply to them. dick vigilantism is illegal. you’re acting above the law and pretending it doesn’t apply to you. hypocritical much?

it happens so often in superhero movies, tv shows, comics, whatever and it makes me giggle every damn time.

pretty decent comeback but before i start seeing people writing blockbuster as a thug i’m going to remind you that he made a deal with a demon for genius level intellect. if this turns into another bane situation i’m going to be a little miffed. he’s a smart man, which makes him a dangerous and infinitely more interesting enemy for nightwing.

this is so horribly in character i want to scream. (or. at least. it lines up with one of the versions of nightwing i have in my head.) he’s running right towards the bullets, miraculously doesn’t get shot, while making a sort-of pun. i hate this so much. i love him.

this is cool. this art is really really cool.

he leaped from a building right towards a helicopter that’s actively shooting at him, but none of the bullets are touching him. none of the corruption of the city can touch him no matter how hard it tries, because he’s too good to be corrupted. Comic Book Logic Can Be Good Sometimes Actually.

batman’s belt what??? swiss army knife who?? sorry, i only know nightwing’s bright blue escrima.

this is one of my favourite things about heroes with exceptional abilities, even more so if the hero is human. the things they can do are so far beyond the realm of normal human abilities that it’s equal parts terrifying and awe-inspiring every time they act.

he just used modified grappling wires to hook to the door of a moving helicopter, swung around the helicopter safely without hitting the blades, gained exactly the right momentum to swing upward again right through the opening of helicopter, then fought and tied up the men before they had any idea what was happening. that’s near impossible to do.

it’s stuff like this where i just sort of sigh in contentment. no matter how many times they leave out dick’s detective skills or conveniently forget that he’s actually a master planner and team leader and make him out to be this forgetful dude who makes everything up on the fly because of his “circus roots,” at least they won’t ever take away dick’s sheer physical ability honed to perfection. 

the art, too! in a few panels, dick’s drawn a little lightened or blurred. he’s moving so quickly and fighting so efficiently that he can barely be seen by the enemy. he’s got perfect form all the way through.

and THIS!

there was a helicopter that had five men shooting at him with what looks like machine guns. most people would be dead. some would run away, and be nimble enough to survive without fatal hits. there are very few people, even in fucking comic books, who can look at that hopeless situation and turn it around so quickly and thoroughly that he benefits from it instead.

i just. love nightwing.

it was funny the first time as a comic reader aware of the meme. it’s really not anymore. why the hell would you, in universe, be wearing a shirt that has a picture of your boyfriend being hit in the face by his father. 

okay that was funny. 

look at lil bitewing, so concerned for her human!!! love her sm. 

also a question as to the timeline of things. is nightwing happening before or after urban legends? 

i was so distracted by dick wearing a robe and briefs and nothing else that i didn’t register the second part until later. he slept for two days?? babs, baby, he recently had a very traumatic brain injury. why do you sound so nonchalant?

@TIM X COFFEE SHIPPERS GET FUCCCCKKKKEEDDDDD

ngl i totally forgot about that dude oops

this comic is giving so many reaction pictures. you know how you always use the worst possible picture of your friend for your friend’s contact picture? i’m just getting so many of these.

leslie!!! the titans!!! lucius!!! dick going to go see old friends!!!! the titans!!! this part made me so irrationally happy it really did. gar being the one to just. offer dick solutions with open arms. this was the best

i wish i could just copy and paste this entire scene, but that would take up way too much space, so i’m just going to talk about it instead. 

you gave me my name, nightwing, and you gave me some of the best advice i’ve received in my life: beautiful little throwback to nightwing’s origin. you’d be surprised at the amount of people who don’t know where the name came from, or who don’t know how much clark means to dick. and the fact that dick still looks up to clark as a hero, recognizes that clark isn’t always perfect and yet continues to hold him in such high esteem, and still looks back on advice that clark gave him fondly just warmed my heart so much.

for a man who has fearlessly stood up to darkseid, bruce will do a lot to avoid a conversation: “grrr. i’m the BATMAN. i’m so DARK and MYSTERIOUS. nobody knows the true me. no one ever will. i will be LONELY for the rest of my CURSED LIFE. such is the price of a hero. ignore my farmer himbo husband in the background”

but i don’t think there’s anything heroic about being a billionaire: another nod to how much dick follows clark’s example rather than bruce. yes, this was a very poignant and important criticism, and i think it’s wonderful that this was published in a pretty popular comic book. but the thing is, there is a way to be a heroic billionaire, but only in fictional universes. the way bruce, ollie, t’challa only ever use their wealth to help people. they donate massive amounts of money to charities that they themselves create so they know exactly how the money is being used. they hire people who aren’t likely to get jobs anywhere else and pay them much more than what a base living wage is. they use their power to help push progressive laws and social change. they are helping. 

dick doesn’t fully see it that way. he spent more than half his childhood the son of a billionaire, but still believes that one could be more heroic when one doesn’t have obscene amounts of wealth. whose example do you think he followed to come to that conclusion?

superman looked up to alfred pennyworth?: i mean yea alfred may have been a wildly irresponsible guardian and one hell of an enabler but goddamn if he didn’t love his kid.

you don’t need my input. you’ve thought it all through: ooooooh this line made me grin. for so long, dick’s treated clark as a mentor and a guiding figure. he’s still seen as a kid, an up and coming, snot-nosed titan with dreams of a better world. clark still thinks of him as a kid, despite watching him grow up. but this little line was something i think dick needed sorely to hear. he doesn’t need anyone’s guiding hand on his shoulder, he doesn’t need to ask for permission. he doesn’t need clark to support him the way he did when he was a teenager. he’s all grown up now, and he doesn’t need clark’s help. i imagine it was a bit of a surprise for dick to hear that. 

honestly, i couldn’t think of a better role model: ohhh but it doesn’t stop there. clark just straight up turns the tables on dick. imagine you’re dick, and you’ve looked up to this one hero your entire life, and then one day he turns to you and says that he thinks you’re so kind and smart and worthy of a person that he wants you to mentor his son!? goes to show just how much clark trusts dick.

i swear to god dick probably cries every time he hears clark compliment him because bruce is so rare and sparing with his praise that clark giving him the slightest hint of approval is just a dopamine rush.

also, now deathstroke and superman have both asked nightwing to mentor their kids. the juxtaposition is fuckin hysterical. imagine either of their reactions when they realize what kind of company they’re with

lets talk colours for a second, because i absolutely adore how classic colour tropes have been subverted in this comic, and in this general run really.

warm tones have usually (usually, not always) been associated with light and comfort and friendship and,,,,,well,,,warmth. whereas cool tones are usually used to unsettle, or make a scene seem colder and put the reader on edge. this varies if a comic only uses cool tones, or only uses warm tones, but if a comic uses both, this is generally well-used.

that isn’t the case in this run.

dark red, orange, and other warm tones have been used to symbolize danger, action, attacks. hot pink isn’t usually included in this colour group, but it’s definitely part of it in this case. in contrast, scenes that have cool colours give us the impression of slipping into a comfortable, calm scene with babs, tim, the titans, and other allies. even the beginning scene with superman has this blue, but then it transitions into something more golden coloured. dawn broke over dick, as his new idea came to light, and that was reflected in the art (and the sunrise setting.)

have there ever been times when dick’s longed for the comfort of his mask because he didn’t feel confident as dick grayson? i can’t think of any. i may be wrong, but this struck me as pretty ooc.

am i just??? gay and reading this all wrong??

cause i was under the impression that when someone says they are grateful for your friendship you don’t immediately kiss them. 

or is this like. normal straight mating rituals.

i mean he’s smiling afterward but still babs aren’t you supposed to at least make sure it’s okay first? you guys broke up a while back after you said something along the lines of “i want to be coworkers with you and nothing more because i don’t trust you or feel comfortable around you as a civilian anymore.” like lmao after you say something like that to someone i would assume that you don’t have the permission to just kiss them whenever you want.

show of hands who else got real sad when they realized dick was talking about himself in this.

sure, he could be referencing the things he’s seen blockbuster pull, and the children on the streets. but “i’ve seen money used for enforcement,” sounds a little too close to dick’s entire life being destroyed by one man threatening the circus to pay protection money for me to completely ignore. and “i’ve seen the poorest and most vulnerable blamed and punished rather than assisted” becomes a lot worse when you remember dick was thrown in juvie for a couple months until bruce was able to obtain legal guardianship, and in there, not a authority figure believed him when he told them his parents were murdered.

he’s lived this before.

a. mother. fucking. typo.

fucking why

i mean i’ve stated my distaste for the batfamily groupchat before but like. this is reaching new levels of ridiculousness. jason sounds like he was written by a fanfic writer. tim sounds like he was written by a fanfic writer. steph sounds like she was written by someone who doesn’t know the first thing about steph and wanted to include her for “family points!!!!!” damian’s supposed to be completely off the grid, and everyone’s searching for him. i do love the way cass texts tho.

well god fuck now i’m crying

dick got a phone call, a sorry, and a thank you out of bruce. i feel so much secondhand happiness for him, if that’s a thing. we’ll just ignore the way bruce looks ugly af and focus on the good parts okay?

and again with the colour symbolism here!

i’m either going to love this or hate this. who knows, we’ll see.

something something hearts something something pink is an evil colour something something. i need to know more about this guy but there’s definitely symbolism there. 

is it just me or does this dude look like the backstabbing traitorous absolutely motherfucking piece of shit villain that killed tadashi hamada in big hero 6?

~~

taggggg list: @woahjaybird @birdy-bat-writes @anothertimdrakestan  @subtleappreciation @screennamealreadyused @bikoncon @pricetagofficial @catxsnow @maplumebleue-blog-blog @sundownridge @thatsthewhump @xatanna-troy @red-hood-redemption​ @capricorn-stark​ @batshit-birds​ @comics-observer @buticaaba​ 

[practicalmagicintuitions]

A little something about tarot for beginners and everyone who is interested.

I planned this post for a long time, mainly for tarot newbies, someone who wants to start or  just interested in how works. It won’t be a Tarot 101, definitely not. More likely, how I work with the cards. 

DISCLAIMER: If you are underage I cannot and I won’t give you any ideas how to hide your practice from your parents or guardians. I know tiktok is very popular, but be careful because there is way more misinformation than any other SM site. 

First, you obviously got familiar with the basic meaning of the cards, the build of the deck. You will learn the suits, the arcanas, the court cards, the numerology groups, and a few keywords. But this comes with practice. This doesn’t mean you can only draw your first card after you learned all of those things. No. When you buy your deck, look at each card carefully. Do not turn into a companion book or the internet immediately. Think about the card, make notes into a journal or a paper about what you feel, notice when you look at the image. Makes you happy, makes you scared? Is it dark, it is light? And after that, you can read what the book says. 

Tarot is about storytelling so your intuition, your memories, your feelings are very important.

When someone is saying tarot has fixed meanings… this is not entirely true. One card can have many many meanings depending on its position or the surrounding cards. Yes, Death card won’t mean your soulmate is coming on a horse, but it’s also 99% won’t mean you are gonna die. 

If you want fixed meanings, you should read Lenormand instead. In Lenormand, there are certain combinations with fixed meanings, there is no place for intuition. The pictures on the Lenormand cards have aesthetic purposes only they don’t have additional meanings. Tarot is intuitive. It means you combine the meanings of the cards and above that, you are using your intuition AND the pictures on the cards. Movements, colours, directions, animals, flowers, symbols etc. 

What do I mean? I’ll show you. 

Those are the Fools from the classic RWS, the Modern Witch Tarot and the This Might Hurt Tarot decks. Look how similar they are at first. They are representing the carfree, daydreaming attitude, the journey. They all have a companion, a dog etc. You can fairly read those the same way. Of course, there are differences, the big city instead of the mountains, backpack etc, but I think those are amazing starter decks. 

I think I wrote in my first tarot post that even many people do not like the classical RWS deck, because the images seem ugly and there is no diversity, for me that is the basis and I think everyone should have own it. But if you absolutely don’t want to because you don’t like it at all, those 2 decks, the Modern Witch Tarot and the This Might Hurt Deck seems a good starter deck. RSW was not my first deck, I haven’t started with it, so you can buy it later on if you want and start with the deck you like more. It is very important to choose a deck that speaks to you. Tarot first and foremost is about your personal journey or helping others if you are reading for others. What I am doing here in tumblr is fun, a good practice, it is testing my abilities but tarot is not only for knowing more about our celeb crushes. It is a guied to ourselves. 

Let’s see more examples with pictures.  The RWS tarot and the New Vision tarot.

New Vision tarot recreates the RWS imagery but as you will see gives a different perspective to the cards, therefore gives a new layer to them. I heard the deck has only a little white book, not a real guide, which is a shame. I think it’s an interesting concept and you could deliver very different readings than with a standard RWS. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend this deck to a newbie but it’s interesting so I show you. You can see how different those images, how different intuitive messages you can get.

Same-ish concept is the Vica Versa Tarot. Based on the ratings it is more usable than the New Vision Tarot. This deck has pictures on both sides and the meaning varies depends on this. This is also a very RWS based deck so it is very interesting to me. Not in the near future, but I want to purchase this deck. 

I will show you a few more examples of cards that are less based on the RWS system (or not at all) therefore you need you and your intuition more.

RWS, Gentle Tarot, Wild Unkown, Shadowscapes

I hope you understand now how important it is to use your own intuitions, feelings, experiences and find the style that suits you. Personally, I prefer the more earth-based, pagan or darker decks (not too dark though, I should say more serious) but you can find all pastel pink, fluffy decks too. There are literally thousands of decks on the market in every style. But those are not cheap things, if you cannot connect you won’t be able to work with them. If you like a deck, go to youtube, search for a flip through. Look at the cards carefully. If you still like it, amazing. However, if you bought a deck and it turns out not for you you can still sell it online or if you are really lucky you have spiritual stores or fairs in your area where you can sell or change it for something else. 

Connecting the cards it’s not easy, but one of my most spot-on reading was when I let my intuition work completely. I remember I pulled the cards and I started to collect the information about what they could mean. And I felt it makes no sense left to right but right to left I understand it crystal clear. I was hesitant because you have this preconception you have to read the cards in order, but guess what, you don’t have to. I will link an excellent video about it, I found it after my reading and it was a light bulb, aha moment for me. This youtube channel is not for beginners, but I recommend watching this video, you will understand what I ment and it will help you.

The other thing, yes, in western culture we read left to right but this is only one way you can do it. You don’t have to stick with it in your readings. In the most popular spread in the Celtic cross you read the last 4 cards from down to up. And on the standard RWS deck (as you can see on the first picture above), The Fool starts his journey and he is heading from right to left. Isn’t this amazing? And the Major Arcana is about The Fool’s journey. Aka your journey.

*( I cannot link here, in the middle of the text, so it will be video 1 at the end)

So don’t be afraid, be free, make your own meaning, rituals. This is your tarot journey, no one else's. Yours. Don’t let some bitter, “I know better, you are wrong” people take your enthusiasm away. 

You can read many books and sources but it doesn’t mean you will understand the cards. You cannot read the cards mechanically. Keywords are helpful at the beginning but after a while you have to leave them behind and use your intuition. 

99% of the tarot readers have difficulty with Court Cards. Those are basically people on the cards, doing very little. Some readers read them only as a person, some of them read them as an influence. Just because there is a man on the cards this doesn't mean it represents a male in your life. So it’s hard. 

One exercise which is fun and you can make it easier  is that you try to pair them with people in your life. Do you have an impulsive brother who is flirty and rushing things? Knight of Wands. Do you have a mean female boss, who is gossiping and bitching? Queen of Swords rx.  Of course, this is very basic, but it could help and it is fun.

If you don’t want to use your family or acquaintances, use tv series instead. I think Game of Thrones is amazing for this. It has so many different characters. Many of them are even changing. Jon Snow went from Knight to King, Arya from page to Knight, Sansa from Page to Knight, from Knight to Queen.

The second type of exercise is similar just with the minors. Choose a movie and try to tell the story with the minors. People met, fell in love, getting married, broke up, fighting over money during the divorce etc. All in the cards. 

Pulling a card daily is amazing in every way. People recommend doing this in the morning, however I like to do this at the evening. Firstly, because I am a night owl, mornings are painful for me and I don’t have time in the mornings. But the most inportant reason is because I can be anxious and easily stressed out. If I pull the Death at the mornig I will stressing out the whole day. However if I pull this at the evening as a summary of my day maybe I will realise immediately, “oh, my favourite tv show was cancelled, bummer.” or “ I have a new teamleader at work or school, so this is a new cycle for us” I think this gives you a bigger and clearer understanding how those cards are fit into your daily life and what are they meaning for you personally. 

When you choose to do any kind of divination it’s crucial to protect your energies. So it’s inevitable to start meditating. The other two practices which I highly highly recommend are called Grounding and Circle Casting. Don’t be scared, those are just higher forms of meditation that help you to keep the balance, but those are also a must if you decide to do another type of Energy Work, for example of Energy Manipulation. I will link an excellent video about it. This YT is also an amazing resource if you are interested in Wicca. You don’t have to! This channel is amazing anyway. Personally, I am not a Wiccan either as I am not celebrating Wiccan sabbats like Beltane or Imbolc, but I love this channel so so much.

*I cannot link the video becuse she’s blocked this option but this is her site. Go and check her  Centering and Grounding ║ Witchcraft 101 video, it was uploaded on July 10th in 2019 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFz0Rtv2bh86aUy_5_YsGLw

There will be a point when someone wants to scare you that tarot, divination and spirituality are evil. It is not. Tarot is a piece of paper with pictures on it. It’s not deviant or anything. The cards have no intentions or consciousness, they are just cardstock. Not bad or good. What can make it harmful is the unethical people. Someone who wants to bribe you to pay a big amount of money because “you are cursed” or is someone trying to manipulate the readings to scare you or make you do something. If your intentions are good, have a moral and you protect your energy, you don’t have to be afraid. 

In my experience usually people who are heavily involved in churches or Christianity try to push that the tarot and spirituality are evil. Of course not all of them, I know many professional tarot readers who are also Christian, love Jesus etc. 

What you should know and maybe this could give you a little comfort or calm that we are all spiritual beings. All of us are made of energy. We are so much more than flesh and blood and bones. Everyone is attracting or have spirits in their life even the most hardcore churchgoers have. You are not bad or evil just because you use divination. Always your intention is important and that you seek the light side of spiritualism. 

I hope you liked this post, it becomes my baby and I am really proud of it and I hope you will find it useful or interesting. In the forseeable future I am not planning anyithing similar but I am open to questions as always. Maybe I will have an answer.  

Be Blessed.

[keiksy-cake]

Lunatic Blue Ch4 (TW Gore || Hetalia Doujinshi)

This chapter of Lunatic Blue doesn’t contain graphic images however it is still quite creepy and tragic as it deals with death, please read with caution!

I didn’t make this series, I’m just a friendly neighborhood translator! The original work is linked! ^^

Lunatic Blue 1

Lunatic Blue 2

Lunatic Blue 3

Lunatic Blue 5

It’s a little hard to tell but the character is Tino, I at first thought he was Italy and was very confused lol

Reference to Prussia saying he hates Russia so much he loses 4 eyelashes; see second to last page. Also, lol, they thought the killer was Russia, can we get an F in the chat? XD

Kibo Chonpa is a toy thing in Japan with a creepy smile; see last page

Ahh, this one was so hard! What makes this difficult is not only that I have a hard time reading the hand written kanji, but also because this series uses a lot of slang, katakana and references! I had to research so many words and phrases, especially with this chapter, I still don’t know what Fin’s “mohyo” means but I’m guessing it’s some sort of thing Fin says T-T

For example I had no idea what a kibo chonpa was, I couldn’t find anything on it! But I happened to see an image of it with the same characters/letters and I realized it was some sort of brand thing... Also the 4 eyelashes thing, I WAS SO LOST, like “why are they talking about eyelashes now?!”, but luckily, and thank goodness, my very long history in reading doujins was bringing back some memory of seeing the same phrase in a different doujin, and I remembered it was something Prussia says.

Also, interesting thing, Alfred sees to call Ludwig “Luis” (ruisu), Feli calls him “Lut” (ruto), and Gil calls him “Lutz” (rutsu). Idky. Anyways, on the third page, Antonio seems to call him “Pu-chan”, which might come from “Puroisen” (Prussia). I’m not sure where else it could come from so I think the writer might’ve added this as a mistake (since he’s “Gilbert”), which is why I changed it to “Gil-chan”.

Also also, I have no idea about the last sentence of Francis’ blurb thingy, it was “yoku nugu”, and the “nugu” apparently has something to do with taking off clothes, I think it’s a reference to how France likes to get naked like in the April Fools episode, but I’m not sure T-T

Anyways, I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a few days! I know how hard it is to wait, especially with such a good series like this! This one took so long because all the complicated phrases and stuff made me want to give up several time but, luckily, I finally finished it today! My eyes burn especially today but it’s all worth it if I can bring doujins to you!

Like the others, this chapter was so sad! It hurts my sufin heart sm! I’m really glad though that we finally got to see some mention of Russia, I’m still very very curious to see what role he will take in this series! Considering he lost his sister, I imagine he must be absolutely devastated, and probably feels insulted that he was being considered as the suspect. It also hurts my heart that my poor cinnamon roll was again assumed to be the villain of the story T-T (even though I admittedly laughed lol)

Once again, I made absolutely nothing in this series, I’m just a friendly neighborhood translator! The Pixiv ID is 76109488 and is linked on the number and source!

Lunatic Blue 5

[ggukkiedae]

Idols “Crushing” on Seri

(pt.2 of a request)

(otherwise known as idols who talk about seri a lot...)

Ham Wonjin

Ask Cravity to dance to TXT and Wonjin will immediately step up. Cue the other boys teasing him by singing all of Seri’s lines and he’s just all “stop!” He genuinely is a fan of Seri’s, and you can see him searching up predebut videos of her singing. He recommends TXT’s songs a lot and will always talk about how he loved Seri’s vocal tone

Kim Chaewon

Chaewon will fawn over Seri with no hesitation. She’s gonna be watching live performances with the biggest smile on her face and just be cheering even more during Seri’s parts. “Chaewon-ah, why do you like TXT’s Seri so much?” “She’s so cute! I want a dongsaeng like her!”

Park Sunghoon

Park Sunghoon, the nervous mess when he heard Seri would be visiting I-land. He has said on broadcast that she’s really pretty, and that makes him feel nervous. He thinks she’s amazing for leaving musical theater to become an idol. The way she had to change her vocal style reminded him of how he had to change his dance style and bam he felt attached to her and is now a big fan of her

Kim Sunwoo

Sunwoo thinks Seri is both funny and really charming. He likes to copy her ending fairy shots, and he likes listening to her covers. He accidentally played a playlist of her covers on one vlive and didn’t notice until a comment pointed it out to him that all they could hear from his phone was Seri’s voice. Cue a kinda embarrassed Sunwoo recommending TXT songs

Seo Soojin

If Shuhua had to fight anyone for Soojin’s attention, it’s Seri. Soojin finds Seri absolutely adorable and wants to adopt her. Yuqi does tease Soonin about how she’s friends with Seri, and there are many jokes in the fandoms to introduce Soojin to Seri bc the cat-looking girls must meet (also Soojin lowkey crushing on Seri)

Nam Dohyun

Dohyun has said that Seri’s voice is very interesting to him, and he wants to try working with her. It’s not an outspoken kind of thing, but you can see him watching a few compilation videos of her on youtube in the background of videos. Despite him being very lowkey about his interest in Seri, everyone knows and finds it cute

Kim Yonghee

Yonghee is just whipped. He will smile the moment he sees her, and the rest of CIX would tease him (especially Hyunsuk). He gets shy when he’s trying to explain why he likes her (he finds her hard work with dancing inspiring, and he thinks she’s really pretty) but his cheeks get all red. Hyunsuk has joked around that he’d introduce them, but Yonghee kinda panics and declines because he doesn’t know what he’d do when he meets her.

Winter

Winter mentioning TXT as one of her favorite groups was unexpected because, well, SM and Bighit... But anyway, she explained that Seri is someone she looks up to when it comes to stage presence and vocal skill. Not to mention, she thinks that Seri is really pretty and has mentioned wanting to meet her and become friends

Jeon Woong

Woong finds Seri adorable. Sure, they’re practically the same height, but she just seems so tiny to him. They met because Yoonmi brought Seri with her to visit Daehwi in the AB6IX dorm for his birthday before she even debuted. The moment she debuted, though, Woong was very supportive and would be like “I know her! She is my kid, I claim her as my kid!” They’re pretty good friends, and like talking about each other. Woong eventually ends up being Seri’s honorary older brother, basically.

[gisellelx]

Why don't you ever include Bella in your Cullen headcanons? I'd love to hear what her speech pattern is, especially among the Forks crowd.

This is for a longer post sometime, but I tend to forget about Bella because I find her fundamentally uninteresting as a protagonist. Even though she narrates the series, the story, with a handful of exceptions, is a story about what happens to her, not her making choices and what consequences those choices have. I was drawn to Carlisle, not Bella, from my very first reading of the saga because he's the person making a lot of choices in this story and in the backstory, many of which have major consequences for the other characters, and many of which are not good choices on the surface. I find those sorts of character problems much more compelling. Edward is also pretty interesting in that regard, and then if I had to line up a third POV, it'd be Aro. No surprises that I've written extensively from all three of those perspectives. My current WIP is actually first person Bella POV but she's older and she's changed a lot from the girl Edward smelled in Forks in 2005. That is an interesting Bella to inhabit; canon Bella, not so much for me.

I also usually am deep in Carlisle's perspective, and he really doesn't care that much about her either, except inasmuch as she is intertwined with Edward. His concern for Bella in canon is usually concern for Edward, and when Edward isn't on the line Bella's well-being is not really on his mind aside from the abstract "We shouldn't kill a human on purpose." So I've trained my mind to leave her out of it because he would leave her out of it.

So yeah, I usually don't think of her when I think of "The Cullens." Totally fair criticism.

As it happens I thought about including her in the dialect post and left her out for somewhat of the same reason—it's just not that interesting. The shifting part might be kind of interesting for her. But her dialect background...she was born in 1987, raised in California, moved to Phoenix. Which means she basically sounds very "generic white woman" right now.

Right now she's 33, turning 34 this fall. Peak millennial. So she sounds like most other millennial woman. Turn on NPR and listen to some of the younger hosts like Stacey Vanek Smith and you're hearing Bella Swan. There's a very wild thing happening in California right now called the California Vowel Shift. It's the second biggest sound change happening in the country, behind the Northern Cities Vowel Shift (the dialect affecting Rosalie and Edward). You can get a super exaggerated form of it on SNL. It consists of some movements we notice, like the vowel in dude being further forward so that it is more like dyood (think of a stereotypical surfer pronunciation).

Bella would have picked up the CVS as a child, and then, because the CVS is heavily present in Arizona as well, probably never dropped it. The CVS is very present in Washington, also, especially among white Washingtonians--we'd expect to see it among Bella's friend crew in high school, who we have no reason to believe are nonwhite from the books. (Those casting choices have always bothered me--they make Forks seem hip and diverse when it's a real place which is absolutely not and in so doing allow the fandom to sidestep a lot of the latent racism in the source.)

What's more interesting than her sounds, though, are her words. Bella should have a very different vocabulary than Edward. As it happens, that's not how she's written. She has a very archaic vocabulary that we could find an in-universe explanation for in that she's always got her nose in a classic book, or an out of universe explanation which is that SM was not very good at the kind of research that helps you think about the level of nuance between something like frightens vs. scares. She also has a few weird verbal tics that I'm not sure are her verbal tics as much as they are SM's: Mormons are famous for not swearing even a little, and so I suspect that SM wrote Bella with pseudo-swears which have their roots in Mormon culture like "Holy crow" purely by accident and then they seemed like cute things that could be part of the character. But let's go ahead and assume she has them because they're on the page.

She likes reading Victorian and Edwardian literature. Edward was, unsurprisingly, born in the Edwardian era. So the language patterns she's picked up from her books, if we're to take the in-universe explanation, are...Edward's.

So there's not a lot of shifting she has to do. She doesn't swear a lot, unlike her age cohort. Her sound patterns match the ones the Cullens are using publicly at the time she meets them. And her bigger language structure comes from the books she read, which are the same kind of language her beloved husband uses.

They're in step from day one, basically. And once she's turned, she possesses the ability to slide right into other accents as needed.

Every now and then, she runs up against one of Carlisle's super archaic forms though, and chaos ensues.

[twinvictim]

your opinions on each of the post team silent games and a rating out of 10. hand 'em over

YEAHHHHHH FINALLY CATERING TO ME!!!

Uh really long post oops. for reference, my rating for the first 4 sh's are as follows

Sh1: 9/10 Sh2: 7/10 Sh3: 9/10 Sh4: 9.5/10

Silent Hill 0/Origins

overall score: 7/10

Alot of the games issues can of course be attributed to it being a psp game, and while i won't excuse everything bc of that, j have to be honest and say I think it had so much potential as a (very) late ps2 game. Not to mention, the game ON THE PSP functions as it should. (The ps2 port does fucking not tho..oops) ans you'll see that this is...a rarity post team silent.

The story has alot of potential, Travis as a character is interesting and sympathetic and j think his dynamic with alessa js super fascinating to dig into, both of them being abused children and there was alot of intrigue regarding his powers, the game feels like a smaller more watered down she, and for that I can't fault it too much. The weapons system isn't my favorite but the combat itself is reminiscent of 1 and 2 and I really like a good chunk of the monster design, there was clearly thought and care put into it, nurses and strughtjackets/lying figures be dammed. The unlockables are pretty cool though and alot of the environments look pretty cool for a psp game, hell i LOVE the theater level its super unique, I would love to see it in (actually functional) better graphics. I also think the puzzles are pretty solid, not hair pulling like sh1 even if they're not quite as clever as say sh3.

My biggest criticisms come from the reuse of sh1 characters (just alessa and Travis would've been fine, maybe dahlia and some more org characters would've been better) the bad ending being straight up bad writing. Not to mention they did the sh3 thing of "kill too many monsters and get the bad ending" which is...stupid. The foreshadowing of the butcher being? He's just kinda there, I like the lead up but it would be more interesting if the butcher represented something from those years between Travis' father dying and him being an adult. And while there's more replayability imo than sh2, it doesn't have difficulty sliders and that makes it kinda hard to come back to quite as often. Not to mention unlike sh1, 3or sh4 there's not as much horror focus and random events.

Overall, solid game its fun to play, very silent Hill and if you're willing to look past a few continuity errors and accept its a little different and slightly derrivitive at the same time, I like to say I had alot of fun with it and still do. (Maybe I just like Travis alot...idk)

Silent Hill: Homecoming

Overall score: 6/10

Once again most of the issues here are gonna be corporate fuck ups, but I'm also not gonna beat around the bush, this game isn't like...good. its bad actually. "But you gave it a 6/10?" Yeah bc its not NEARLY as bad as some other games I've.. experienced.

The negatives here are, many and vast, so let's run them down. Firstly the games performance is janky on console (ps3 at least) and abysmal/unplayable on PC, what with framerate issues that are detrimental to game play on pc and make the third boss impossible. That said on console it is completable and not even too terrible...usually. Scarletts boss fight however is terribly unbalanced and broken on all skews so :/. The combat is...functional but not anyone's favorite, it's difficult to use any actually strong weapon and you can pretty much strong arm ur ways through shit with just the knife (except scarletts first form..don't try it, it won't work) for some people this will be borening (not my opinion but w/e). Most of The puzzles...leave alot to be desired. I hate sliding block puzzles. Also no run button? At all?? No easy mode? Ok... also what is this.. wheel design for the inventory...im accidentally using my serum..what is serum also? And why is the item pickup noise like...bass boosted.

The character models look awful most of the time, and comically unfinished other times, some human models are just grotesque, (judge halloway, Adam shepherd, mayor Bartlett. .you get it) and yes...there are sexy nurses. Bc of course there are. (Whole ass out???) They did straight up have some terrible endings for this game (ph ending for one, the way you get the ufo? Hell the ufo ending is kinda boring. I like the in water ending here too but. Yeah.) the story has some, problems. To say the least.

However, while the performance is bad its not the worst I've played (on the ps3 once again..unplayable on pc) and I hardly noticed the framerate when I was just running around, I personally found the combat kinda fun, between trying to dodge accurately and still attack and not use all my health items (bc those and ammo are actually rare! Unlike some games...) it is kind of a challenge and reminds me of a much worse sh4. And hey, the health items both heal an understandable amount of health that i can easily read with a bar (unlike 1-3) and they're not a complete joke (unlike sh4...) i find the exploration really fun and sure the characters look shit but the environments are Fucking great. The church is one of my fav sections, short as jt might be and yes it stole the confessional scene but its pretty well written and acted I think. The monster design is pretty fucking rad too honestly, I like the schism, siam, I like the DESIGN of the needlers even if they make me so mad to fight, and hey the nurses and ph don't show up that much to be too aggregious. The boss monsters are also fantastic design wise, very unsettling and the boss rooms are interesting as well.

The story has problems but it also has alot of potential, the concept of people sacrificing ther children for silent Hill and being overcome by their own pain and guilt is pretty fucking cool, and alex is a good character they did a good job of giving him personality, ppl bitch about him being a soldier but a) he's not and b) soldiers are people too, and a sh game that could tackle toxic masculinity, be critical of the military, and also tackle abusive religeious parents is pretty intriguing, not to mentions themes of brotherly love that's complicated bc of how they clearly favored Josh . Sure, it misses the mark, but I like taking the potential and thinking about it bc its compelling to me. And like I said, i like alex alot.

Overall, bad game yes, but not the worst as it has enough good for me to honestly really enjoy it, besides it is pretty funny when it is bad. Don't play the pc port tho

Silent Hill Shattered Memories

Overall Score: 8/10

Unpopular opinion im sure but honestly? I find this game ALMOST on par with the team silent games. Its really that good, yes its a wii game, so this is my score taking into account the motion controls BTW.

For the good, man where do i start. Its BEAUTIFUL for a wii game and esp for a post team silent game, the graphics are nice and Constsitent, the environments are pretty and it has a pretty nice cold color pallet to contrast the warmer tones the series tends to skew towards. The acting and intrgrige are all on point and the WRITING is fantastic, its one of those games you play the first time not knowing the twist and play the second time picking up more and more clues and things that strengthen that twist so much more. Like sh2 its a simple story told in such a clever and interesting way that you'll probably be too invested to put it down, I beat it in one sitting in 6 hours bc i was so engrossed in the narrative. And the Puzzles man! The puzzles are phenomenal and fun to accomplish and there's even a little bit of variety in a few places on repeat playthroughs. The level of detail in this game is insane really, the things that change with the different psychology answers are pretty cool too and tho it all plays out relatively the same its still fun to see the different things you can get to happen. The gimmicks like the phone as an object, taking pictures, sneaking and zooming in, they're not too intrusive as to take away from the exploration or other game play but not completely useless and have some pretty fun Easter eggs too. The game plays sort of like a worse outlast with good puzzles and for that I do have to commend it. Oh and the fucking MUSIC is INCREDIBLE idk something ab this soundtrack has alot of heart put into it clearly.

Now, it's not perfect. The thing is, it is a WORSE outlast type game, in the running and hiding sense but well, the hiding is completely useless, its a run away game, which is ok, but I understand that people aren't gonna be a big fan of that when silent Hill has always balanced combat ad puzzles and exploration. The running segments are..aggravating, mostly bc its hard to figure out where to go, not to mention using motion controls that don't like to work half the time to fight the monsters off of you. Also, the monsters are not scarey in the slightest and the raw shock scream is actually enragaging if you've died one to many times, there's also...not really any penalty for dying. And once you're out for these running segments,there's no danger, no monsters, nothing to hide from despite having a hiding mechanic. Its not really a horror game more of a psycological thriller and I understand that the fact that its not horror can be disappointing. The psychology things might be a bit overhyped And yeah fine, the wii foreplay scene...well yeah its weird but it IS also funny as fuck.

That said, there's still alot thats good and alot thas unfair criticism lobbed at this game. Harry didn't have much of a personality in sh1 bc he's a ps1 character and sm really fleshed him out well, not to mention giving cybil some nice characterization, and they did some interesting things with dahlia and kaufmann. And Lisa.. well I'm gonna be honest I never found Lisa all that interesting in sh1..so it doesn't bother me that she's the way she is in this game. I know people hate the "horny" aspect of it but to be completely fair, YOU choose to make the game that way, don't answer in a sexual manner or look at boobs or anything else and you won't have an overly sexual game, its...literally that easy. Its given as an option for the play id they want to go for what is arguably another joke ending. (You cannot tell me sleeze and sirens is meant to be a real serious ending to the game. Cmon) and you can complain about the innacuuracies if you want but its a spin off, a retelling of the original game. Its not canon, and it didn't change the original game. It just took the ideas presented there and made them more human and lest fantastical, there's some supernatural elements but it takes a backseat to the human moments. And its honestly really cool.

Overall, great game, i reccomend it if you don't mind some slight jank with the motion controls and honestly? Look up directions on where to go for the running segments and you'll have a pretty good time overall.

Silent Hill Downpour

Overall score (so far): 7.5/10 *to be noted i haven't finished actually playing it yet but I know the basic plot and some of the details so I doubt it'll change

And so for the final silent Hill Game, I have to say, i don't think it deserves NEARLY the hatred it gets, there's alot about it that i find really cool and even fun and I think its a solid entry, a little better than origins in some parts and its downsides are both unfortunate and once again, mostly Konami's fault . That said, I'm also not gonna kid and say its a good game, just that I like it alot and we should be nicer to the last silent Hill game were probably ever gonna get.

Downpour has a pretty good, original story overall, there's alot to it, alot of intricacies and intrigue to it that honestly make it a pretty sold silent Hill game. Its different enough from the others to stand out but not super far removed from its themes and messages. I like that it doesn't try and lean into the cult aspect and tries to do something else with it, it doesn't try to explain silent Hill, but just use it to torment the characters, as it should be. There's tragedy ad human feelings here and some of them aren't the most...sensitive but they are pretty reasonable reactions id say. Playing as someone who's odds are stacked against him from the beginning as he's a prisoner is a cool way to open the game, someone convicted and you must discover if he is a good person or not. Themes of revenge explored more than in sh3 which is pretty cool. The environments look pretty nice, and i like the look of the otherworld, once again being unique with its cooler color pallet, but without the ice so it really feels like its own thing. The EXPLORATION is awesome with an actual open world which I think works well, there's alot to do in town (unlike sh1 and 0 on limiting hardware and 2 which just pretends you can explore to town but you cant) there's alot for cool little stories and sidequests to do, my favorite so far being the cinema (which has a section of ACTUAL fixed cameras like old Resident evils which is smth SH has never done and its super fucking cool!) And all the sidequess help strengthen murphy as a cheacter and argue for his innocence or complexites. The weapons system is pretty cool, picking up items and attacking with whatever you might find, finding cool Easter eggs with exploration and having fun noticing things. And it does honestly have the strongest side characters outside of SM. The puzzles are pretty solid and fun to figure out with some cool mechanics and the seperate difficulties is a great thing to bring back (actually done well like sh3) I also kind of like the method of triggering the night world/rain/monsters, and silent Hill really feels likes its constantly punishing Murphy, as it should. The music might not be Akira but its still pretty damn good, and fuck yall I like the Korn song, and you CAN press start and skip it yknow. (Thx tomm hewlit)

The negtitives tho, well they are there. For one it has the worst performance of any sh game outside of pc homecoming and like...the hd collection, the framerate like to shit itself alot lmao, its not usually detrimental bc I've played re2r with similar framerates but, yeah its not great. Not to mention while the models look better than hc they don't animate well or often at all, and the game has trouble loading in the models as fast as they should. The sound mixing could use...some work too, poor murph sounds like he's eating the mic. While I find the games exploration really fun, murphy also has the issue of not running very fast so it can be a little annoying to get back to a place you want to be when you can't run that fast, not to mention the loading times. The monster design is def the worst in the series, maybe on par w SM. Which is disappointing bc there's some pretty good moments here and there, but not nearly enough to make it scary and there's so much you can do with monsters with this premise. Also, the running sections in the otherworld are better than SM ad even more engaging than the brief ones in 2 and 3, but still, I'd prefer to do puzzles or fight a boss or smth. I will also say, the endings are, iffy while the main 2 endings are really good and Anne's bad ending as well as the joke ending are great, murphys bad endings are weird and ooc for the muphy you come to know in the game (even more so than Origins) plus, idk that the writers knew all that much about prison andbprison culture, nobody in a real prison would be mad ab Murphy killing a pedo (there's some racist implications here and there too which is. Unfortunate and disappointing. I like Howard and Robbie but they are a bit tropey, esp Howard) that said Anne is a compelling albeit unlikable character and thas pretty cool to see pulled off.

Overall, while it has downsides, I don't think Downpour is worthy of all the scorn it gets, this can have problems and you can point them out without disregarding the good parts and while it is unfortunate it doesn't run better and have some extras and didn't handle some things great, I still think its worth a playthrough, esp if you go out of your way to do the sidequests.

Bonus round

Book of memories is not a game I intend to play bc I don't wanna get a vita and can't imagine I'm missing much. It doesn't look bad pwr say but I'm not interested tbh

Fuck PT. :)

[tfw-no-tennis]

animorphs!!!

ok I read animorphs when I was 10 or 11 I think? and I only read it once, along w/the spinoffs and stuff, and I've always meant to revisit it...SO HERE I AM....

and oh MAN I forgot how good this series is. like I knew it was good but some things from your childhood don't hold up yknow? especially books aimed at younger audiences

but oh boy does animorphs hold up. they're easy to read and perfectly balance the line between dark/adult topics and more kid-friendly lessons. excellent 

so yeah I'm loving it so far. I forgot how fast some stuff happens lmao, like I forgot that tobias gets trapped as a bird in the FIRST BOOK 

also I just adore how realistically disorganized/confused the animorphs are. like, they got the elevator pitch version of the conflict from elfangor before my mans got eaten, and also they're middle schoolers. of course they’re always just like ‘wtf do we even do’ 

so like...their plans mostly don't work. and even when planning they run into tons of logistical issues w/morphing, traveling, communicating etc. 

and I love how they clearly need to maintain their normal lives as well in order not to raise any suspicion 

and I like the little details like them not spending all their time together at school because they didn’t before so that would be suspicious

oh man and I love the different family dynamics in the series. you have jake, whose family seems pretty normal until we find out that tom is a controller, and rachel, whose parents are divorced, and who has to deal w/the complications of that. and then cassie, who is an only child (I like that we have a mix, with rachel and jake having siblings), and of course marco...

iirc marco was one of my favs (if not my fav, but its hard to choose) back in the day, and I forgot how reluctant he was to participate in the animorphs thing...and the fact that he was about to quit the team and then runs into visser 1.....

another fucked up little moment I liked - when they morphed dolphin and marco had to morph back to human bc he gets injured and he was like ‘I cant swim, and my mom drowned, I don't want to die like she did’ I was like oooof

also on that topic I adore how little the animorphs know about how anything works. like they once wondered if there's a limit to how many morphs they can acquire and they were basically like ‘idk guess we’ll find out’ 

and then when marco got injured as a dolphin and they were like ‘morph back I guess and hopefully you'll be okay?’ like damn luckily that worked 

basically these books do The Most Excellent Job showing that these are just kids. like they're literally in jr high which is 90s speak for middle school....they're like 13???? at most???

and the narrative reflects that perfectly!! all of them, even rachel who is pretty much the most gung-ho about fighting and stuff, have nightmares and all these terrible experiences bc they don't have basically any guidance 

and even with ax, it’s immediately obvious that he’s also just a kid, even though he’s this deadly alien....

also oh mannnn I love so much how we’re introduced to the andalites as this heroic race and how that slowly changes over the course of the story 

like, when elfangor introduces himself as ‘prince’ you assume he’s part of the andalite monarchy - but later we find out that ‘prince’ is a military rank, and the andalites are a lot more militaristic than we would assume at the beginning 

its so fantastic how it starts off as a fairly black and white conflict of andalites = good guy aliens and yeerks = bad guy aliens

and you even have some background stuff going on w/the taxxons being controllers by choice, and the hork-bajir being enslaved 

but as the story goes on, all of those lines get blurred in different ways...

also ooof the poor hork-bajir. I always felt so bad for them. it’s crazy that even in the first book, the animorphs are killing their enemies - at least I inferred that in book 1, but it becomes way more overt later on...the tough situation of them knowing that the hork-bajir are unwilling hosts but that they’re so dangerous that not killing them could be fatal to the good guys

and ngl this time around I have a lot more sympathy for the yeerks, even tho they don't really deserve it (at least in the early parts of the story where I am rn)

like...they're just these blind helpless slug creatures, but they're also fully sentient and intelligent? like, that's so fucked up. imagine yourself as you are now, but you're just a sensory deprived slug swimming in a pool. that's pretty fucked. and then the fact that the yeerks are biologically made to be parasites...its kinda no wonder that they ended up the way they are (and it also makes stuff like the yeerk peace movement really compelling)

also wow I kinda forgot about all the body horror w/the morphing. like ik that's one of the things that animorphs is known for but like. I forgot how much it happens and how creative the horrifying descriptions are. I love it

and omfg so when I first read this series the ellimist stuff confused me a lot bc I didn't read the books That closely (I mostly wanted to see what would happen next) but I loooove time travel bullshit so I’m really enjoying it so far

even tho tbh I think even if I had paid more attention as a 10 yr old I still would've been confused bc the ellimist stuff is kinda just inherently confusing lmao 

ok and I just love the characters,,,I love that the books switch perspectives, and KAA did such a masterful job of portraying differing and realistic reactions to their situation....like, all the animorphs react so differently to their circumstances, but their reactions are all so grounded in realism and also their personalities 

like man I love rachel. she was one of my favs as a kid too bc I always loved female characters and she was just so cool. and she still is, and so excellently written too 

liiiike the fact that even though she’s so tough and brave, she’s still a kid and has plenty of moments when she’s scared or uncertain...

and I just really like the fact that she out of all of them is the one who’s tough and loves to fight...and the fact that she also unapologetically loves shopping and stuff like that...its about the multifaced characters

just like how marco is the ‘funny guy’ but they make it very clear from the beginning that this is his way of coping w/shit like his family falling apart, and then alien BS 

and also marco is really smart? I kinda forgot abt that (sorry marco) but I like that bc that's uncommon to see with ‘funny’ characters

oh mannnn and ax. I love ax. I forgot a whole bunch about the early stuff w/him and how conflicted he was w/keeping secrets from the other animorphs

KAA did such a fantastic job w/ax - he really comes across as the perfect mix of ‘fish out of water alien’ and ‘young teen/tween’ and ‘alien from a strict militaristic society who is in training to become a soldier like his famous older brother’ 

n that was so sad n fucked up when he called the andalite home world and had to tell everyone (including his parents) that elfangor died, and then the elders or w/e forced ax to take blame for elfangor breaking their laws in order to preserve elfangor’s postmortem reputation, even at the cost of ax’s career/life :( 

and man I loved the part where ax is like ‘well, we didn't help the hork-bajir even tho we could have and now they're all enslaved. I'm not letting that happen to the humans’ and the council or w/e is like ‘well you should let it happen, don't interfere’ and ax basically realizes oh shit sometimes adults are wrong 

basically I love the conflict there, where the andalites are the ones who gave the yeerks the technology that led to them spreading across the galaxy like a disease, and now fight to stop them due to their guilt, but also refuse to directly help the less advanced species who are being invaded by the yeerks for fear of making a similar mistake like w/the yeerks....

ooooof and the part where ax is like ‘guess I have to go fight visser 3 and die’ :( he’s just a babyyyy

and augh when alloran asks them to kill him....geeeez there’s so much fucked up stuff already and I'm not even in the double digits yet 

oh my god and the brutally awful fact that any freed controller will just get tracked down by the yeerks and murdered so the secret invasion stays secret...and the animorphs think that by destroying the kandrona they've freed a bunch of controllers but really they just signed their death warrants - what a catch 22

oh and I love how even early on the yeerks aren't a completely unified force - we have the obvious rivalry w/visser 1 and visser 3, with visser 1 even arranging the animorphs release from visser 3′s prison bc of this, and that yeerk who told ax where to find visser 3 because he was pissed that his yeerk gf got killed by visser 3 - even though the reason she was killed was due to kandrona rationing, which was caused by the animorphs...i love the layers 

ok what else. oh yeah I love tobias sm, he was one of my favs as a kid too, his whole story is so deeply tragic but also interesting and we haven't even gotten into all the stuff w/his parents yet

the part where he’s freaking out as a hawk and he’s gonna fly into the windows even tho he knows it’ll probably kill him...christttt

also tobias and rachel are so romance aughhhh

ok also jake - he was never my favorite when I was younger bc I felt like he had Basic Protag Man Syndrome but now I can appreciate his character a lot more. like, he basically got elected the leader and he’s kinda like ‘guess I have to do this now.’ and that of course ends up fucking him up majorly in the long run bc even tho he’s more serious and responsible, he’s still just a kid too

and I loooove the horror of finding out that tom is a controller, and jake having to contend w/the fact that it’s very likely that he’ll have to fight and/or kill his brother someday 

also the book where jake gets infested w/a yeerk was one of my favs and still is. so fucked up and interesting. the fact that that yeerk was previously tom’s made it even more fucked, w/the yeerk taunting jake the whole time

and then the yeerk dying in jakes head...so messed up

omg and cassie too. I love cassie. I didn't appreciate her as much when I was younger bc I was a straightforward kid who liked action, and cassie is all about pacifism when possible and compassion, which I love a lot now that I Get it more. 

cassie being such a gentle person but still fighting in this fucked up war bc doing nothing would be worse is super compelling. plus the conflicts with her having to figure out where she and humanity fit in the circle of life and whatnot is great

I loved the contrast of her being very aware of how nature works bc of working w/her parents and all these injured animals, but also being so compassionate that it still bothers her to see death and especially participate in it 

like her feeling awful about killing the termite queen even tho its ‘just a bug’ and stuff

basically what makes the series great isn't that it’s got all these fucked up moments and horror elements and is overall quite dark - it’s that all of it comes together to make the point that war is hell, and child soldiers are gonna end up traumatized pretty much no matter what happens

it’s a very strong message, and the story never feels like it’s being dark just for the sake of being dark, but rather never letting the reader forget how awful things are

TL;DR: anirmorphs is to the YA genre what hunter x hunter is to the shounen genre

in animorphs, the heroes of the story are kids who get cool powers and get to fight aliens - in any other YA story they would have a bunch of fun adventures and come out on top most/all the time - things might get darker towards the end, but good would prevail. the evil yeerks would be stopped, and the main couples would get married and have kids and live happily ever after. 

however, war isn't like that, especially when the soldiers are kids. so instead we get animorphs, and it’s brutally realistic. they barely ever get to enjoy their powers - on the rare occasion that they get to, something usually goes horribly wrong

compare to hxh - it seems like a regular shounen story about kids participating in a fantastical mostly-adult world and being able to match the adults bc they're Special - but as the story wears on it becomes clear that the kids are just very traumatized. this all leads to gon’s berserker collapse in the chimera ant arc, which is led up to masterfully w/a bunch of adults treating gon as an adult even though he’s a child.

essentially the same thing happens in animorphs - with jake being shoved into the leader role and becoming a military general as a kid, which leads to him committing horrific war crimes because he’s been put in a position no child should ever have to be in

similarly, kurapika has what would be a very straightforward revenge plotline in any other story - but this is hxh, so the bad guys aren't just 2-dimensional evil caricatures, and the road to revenge just leads kurapika to ruin. we root for kurapika to win bc they’re a character we like, but it becomes clearer and clearer as the story goes on that getting revenge is not the path kurapika should be taking

nothing is ever as straightforward as we want it to be, basically. and the same applies to animorphs. so many times they're faced with conflicts that seem to have an obvious answer, only for it to be revealed later that the choices they made led to other unforeseen awful consequences

ok i need to stop rambling this is already super long. basically: animorphs good. I’ll probably do another post like this semi-soon as I continue reading (I'm partway thru book 10 now)