#i love pre-op so much just because its so hilarious with what happens

[xviruserrorx]

I will say one of the funniest parts of this last hospital stay was accidentally frazzling my nurses and doctors on accident

[phantomchick]

Naruto Fic Rec Masterpost!

Adoption by Defenestration; or, A Family Can Be A Fox Demon, Its Jinchuuriki, and Three Dozen Highly-Trained Assassins  by elumish Oneshot, Gen, Fluff, child neglect, Naruto gets unofficially adopted by his anbu guards and it’s incredibly cute Summary: He will not be the ANBU who let the jinchuuriki plummet to his death out a fourth story window. Let that be another ANBU’s legacy.

Being Over-Prepared is Impossible (and other mottos)  by Pleasedial123 Longfic, Gen, Team Seven, team as family, Bamf Kakashi, Bamf team 7, au, kakashi pov, Complete but part of a three part series and the third part is still ongoing, still highly recommend, what team 7 should have been, Skilled Teacher! Kakashi Summary: In one world, Kakashi awoke, felt grieved at being assigned a team he sees his own in, and he let that grief make him a lazy teacher.  He saw himself in Sasuke, Obito in Naruto, and Rin in Sakura. He woke, saw himself in them, and took a large step back, regretting accepting them as his new team.  In that world he was quite hands off - merely a watcher because it was so very painful to watch. He saw himself and all his mistakes in this new team of his. 

In this world, Kakashi awoke, saw the similarities, and instantly panicked. 

He suddenly realised what he had done, passing a team.  Kakashi was left scrambling not to repeat old mistakes and regrets. This team would not suffer the fate of his team.

In this world, simply put, Kakashi became a teacher.  This is the beginning of a new team seven.

Something in the water by maldoror_gw  Oneshot, Gen, Teen and Up for language, hilarious, Tsunade pov, fluff, mild crack, pre-shippuden post naruto,

Summary: "Sakura...what is that man reading?" Tsunade asked in a dangerous voice. Sakura's gaze twitched away from her ex-teacher to her new - and temperamental - mentor. "Erm...a book...written by a...well-respected member of the community...about...romance?" Tsunade noted with passing approval that Sakura was demonstrating both loyalty and quite a lot of imagination in defending her one-time team leader (who was now trying to edge around a pillar to get away from Tsunade's venomous glare).

backslide by blackkat Time travel, time travel fix it, mature, fluff, team seven, m/m, slow build romance, Naruto adopts himself, Uzumaki heritage, bamf Naruto, complete longfic, Summary: Naruto’s friends are gone, his lover is dying, Konoha is destroyed, and Madara’s second return has pushed the entire world to the brink. Hunted and harried, Naruto is sent back in time to upend Madara’s plan before it even starts, and sets about changing everything. Butterfly effect nothing: the world is at stake, and Naruto is hardly about to let it fall to ruin once more. Not while he’s still breathing.

Tobirama Kicks Some Sense Into Konoha by allseer15 Hurt/comfort, whump, emotional whump, time travel, fix it, time travel fix it, The ‘what if Tobirama came to the future saw an orphaned Naruto and adopted the shit out of him’ Fic, Iconique, child neglect, child abandonment, fluff, so much fluff, completed longfic, look I have a weakness for the time travel fix it trope at the best of times but this fic is good even looking at it without focusing on that! Prolonged Tobirama content, Senju lore, senju feels, Summary: The Hidden Leaf Village in Naruto's time seems to have forgotten just why the village was founded and have lost their way.  Through a mishap with a hiraishin seal, Tobirama finds himself during Naruto's time and he is having none of this nonsense. His brother may be gone, but he won't stand to have Hashirama's dream trampled so. And if he has to cause a civil war or burn the village down to the ground? Well that depends on how much resistance he meets. All Tobirama does know for certain is that no child will suffer underneath the protection of Konoha and if he has to take them in and care for them himself, then he will.

Hardest of hearts by blackkat Oneshot, Gen, look I really like blackkat’s naruto fic okay, part one of a completed three part series, all three parts are great, Fix its are the best, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix It, Orochimaru redemption story, the sheer shadenfreude of one baddie fucking over another baddie, in this case Danzo, Obito has a ‘bad guy but not that bad of a guy’ solidarity moment with Orochimaru at the start and I loved it so there’s that, featuring a low key constantly horrified at this turn of events Minato,

Summary: Orochimaru gets one more chance. Just maybe, it will be enough to save him—and the entire world as well. 

A Snake In the Grass, a Wolf At the Door by blackkat Mature, Completed ten chapter fic, Orochimaru redemption story, Orochimaru/Kakashi’s dad, you read that right, quality Sakumo content, Families of Choice, Humour, Fluff and Angst, somewhat crackish, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, baby Kakashi being a cutie Summary: Orochimaru is on the edge of breaking when someone unexpected pulls him back to solid ground. When the time comes, he returns the favour.

Nukenin by WhisperingDarkness Gen, dimension travel, team seven, team as family, Kakashi actually being a good sensei even when he’s not a sensei at all, possessive kakashi, Team Seven is his team, Kinda Fluffy, Protective Kakashi, the ‘this might as well happen’ adaptability is real, Kakashi adopts team seven and team seven adopts kakashi, even though he’s illegal, 4 chapter fic, marked as complete as author doesn’t plan to continue it, but even taking these chapters as stand alone this fic is great,

Summary:  In the sealed scroll he finds a Bingo Book – his own page marking him as an S-class nukenin with flee-on-sight orders.  “Ok. That is definitely different.”  In his head he blames Naruto – even if his number one unpredictable student had been nowhere near him on this mission. When things go this stupidly impossibly wrong it must somehow be the future Hokage’s fault.

Ear to the Wall by Vodkassassin Ongoing, it’s really really good though! great Kakashi content, Minato is very stressed and I love him, Sickfic, Hurt/Comfort, whump, PTSD’d Kakashi gets to relive his childhood but gets a little bit of a real childhood along the way, ADHD Rin, time travel fix it, look I like what I like and what I like is fix its and time travel apparently, Kakashi adopts Orochimaru before he descends into douchbaggery, Orochimaru Redemption story, everyone is alive,   Summary: The Minato-sensei beams at him, and replies, “Kakashi! I’m glad you’re awake,” and, yup, that’s Minato-sensei’s voice. Kakashi falls back down against the bed, closing his eyes. It’s too short of a way down, and he clenches hands that are too tiny and feeble and not his in dog-print sheets he hasn’t owned for decades.

How To Save The World With No One Even Realising by IncompleteSentanc (Erava) Gen, Teen and Up, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, time travel fix it, Canonically Accurate OP Team 7, SuperBadass!Sakura, SuperBadass!Sasuke, SuperBadass!Naruto, RegularBadass!Shikamaru, Canonically Violent Sasuke, Equally Violent Sakura, Saving The World One Murder At A Time, Various Jinchuuriki, Team 7 As Super Villains, Doing Super Villainy Stuff, Like Murder, And Professional Eyeball Removal, Poor Obito, Poor Minato, AKA The Worst Four Months of Minato's Life, And Everyone Else's Too, Dark Humor, Bittersweet Ending, Dark Comedy, Crack treated seriously, completed 3 chapter fic, Well worth the read, Team 7 To The End! Summary: Minato knows at the beginning of the week that it's going to be a hellish one. Mostly because it starts with the kidnapping of one of his two remaining students, only a year after they'd lost the first one. He just doesn't realise at the time that it's not going to be a hellish week - it's going to be hell for quite a bit longer than that. It all starts with Rin's kidnapping, and her subsequent rescue at the hands of a mysteriously appearing, monstrously strong, murderously violent woman. A woman with cotton candy pink hair. It only devolves from there.

Just Killing Time by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling) Gen, Oneshot, Short and Sweet, Classic of The Fandom, Ficlet, Team 7, Kids being Kids, Fluff, Fluff and Humour, Slice of Life, Cute Kids

Summary: After Wave Country and before the chuunin exam, Team 7 kills time while waiting for Kakashi to show up. 

there lies a trail of fire behind us by BowAndDagger Gen, Madara is extremely confused but mostly on board, Time Travel au, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bamf Naruto Uzumaki, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Except Zetsu, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fix-It, Founders Era, clan wars era, Pre-Slash, POV Uchiha Madara, the Completed part one of an Ongoing/Incomplete series, completed 4 chapter fic, Summary: As he returns from a mission, Madara makes a strange encounter with an even stranger shinobi. Then, he’s summarily kidnapped to go on a quest to save the world by said weird shinobi. (He absolutely did not choose to follow the stranger on his own free will. He was kidnapped. He did not give chase. He did not.)

A Political Perspective by VJ Riddle  / MueraRashaye Ongoing, Possibly (Probably) Discontinued, Teen and Up, Gen, Team 7, training montage deluxe, Konoha is a murder village, Good Teacher! Kakashi, AU, slowly developing into Bamf team 7, Bamf Kakashi, slowly developing into Team as Family, lots of fun ideas, not crack, Minor Spoiler: Zabuza and Haku get x’d before their character development gets its chance to shine in this fic, Sometimes people don’t warn for that in the tags and it can be a dealbreaker in fic for me as I love those two, not a dealbreaker in the case of this fic though! Really good fic so far, kind of verging on dry in places but it always stays fun in the end with lots of interesting elements, I enjoy the character insight from the pov switching, and also how much of a headcase Kakashi is, graphic depictions of violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence,

Summary: Hatake Kakashi was a shinobi, and as a shinobi, the only people who could give him orders were his military superiors. The idea that a Council made up of civilians and peers was under the impression they could give him orders...displeased him. Or: He was ordered to pass Team 7. He was fine with that, until they actually passed.

Integrity by Liz_Starling Oneshot, Gen, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Compliant, Integrity, Child Neglect, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Reflections on Naruto’s inner workings as a person, promises,

Summary: Naruto keeps his word. Some people are loyal to their families. Some, their orders. Naruto is loyal to the only thing he’s been able to count on; the promises he makes.

Foundation (Build It Higher, Bury It Deeper) by RayShippouUchiha Ongoing, BUT EXCELLENT, it made me cry, Naruto feels, 6 chapter fic thus far, Bamf Naruto, Bamf Tsunade, Naruto deserved better, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mature, Team 7, Uzumaki Feels, Abandonment, Tsunade gives Naruto the personal talk he deserved instead of finding out from a chakra imprint when he was dying, so we stan, I love this fic

Summary: It’s just… he’d thought, given his fight against Neji and then his confrontation with Gaara, that someone would finally really acknowledge what he’d done.  That beyond Iruka-sensei’s crushing hug and Kakashi-sensei’s absent pat, someone would actually notice that he’d won against both of them.

That he’d beaten a genius on his own and then had battled another jinchūriki to a stand still.

So while he hadn’t really expected to be promoted too he’d still ...

¦ part 1 ¦ part 2 ¦ part 3 ¦

[grainjew]

Random ask time! Care to name ten fics, any fandom, that you have or plan to reread? (Not necessarily your top ten because top ten is hard but ten that you genuinely enjoy.)

hi lynse i can’t believe you slightly switched the ask subject from what you were contemplating sending in dms. yes i do care to do this!!! fics follow

these are arranged in literally no order whatsoever except vaguely the order I remembered they existed and tragically they will mostly not be readable for you lynse on account of us sharing fandoms basically never. but in any case!!! let’s go!!!!

A Professor and a Student - LeDiz - Pokemon Anime (Alola) - multichap, complete - Professor Kukui’s pov outsider on Ash, through interstitial set during the first season of Alola anime. This fic is the fic that got me into pokeani in the first place, and I have reread it all the way through at least once and specific chapters genuinely so many times. it’s good! it’s got so many fun reveals! it’s even got a surprise plot! if someone is in pokeani fandom though there’s like a 95% chance they’ve already read it, so it’s kind of pointless to recommend

Broken Rules and Consequences - Redring 91 - Doctor Who (All Eras) - series, ongoing i think - This is one that i’m planning to reread rather than one i’ve already reread: I first read it back when i was originally into dw, in like 2013, and honestly lynse the timing was probably right for me to have recced it to you back then. in any case i have a friend who vouches for its continued quality, and it was straight-up the only dw fic i kept up with for several years after i first fell out of the dw fandom. it’s a really excellent exploration of all the times the doctor has met their past and future selves, and i highly recommend it. it’s also very long, so watch out!

An Unexpected Greeting - kimirice​ - Pokemon Anime (Alola) - threeshot, ongoing - it’s a fic in the “cynthia runs into ash in alola and dumbfounds his entire class” genre and it’s a good one. my favorite one. i reread it whenever i want to feel serotonin in my bones. serotonin does not go in bones. whatever, this fic is such a joy, it’s pretty short, please read it if you too want serotonin in your bones on account of revealssssss

Phone A Friend - TheBigCat - Doctor Who (Seventh Doctor Era / Gallifrey Audios Era) - oneshot - this is another “reread when i want serotonin in my bones” fic. it really is amazing just how much joy can be stored in a single 1K oneshot, it makes me so happy, that’s ace’s space dad........... wahhh the au - everything’s fine tag on this one really carries it right into my heart

dreamt you a kinder future - Sixteenthdays - Dream SMP - multichap, ongoing - my FRIENDS forcibly got me into the damn MINECRAFT RP. this is all you will see of it on this blog ever because i do have SOME dignity left but if you HAVE gotten bodily dragged into caring about the block men yourself please do enjoy this time travel fixit about pre-plot Dream getting dropped into post-Doomsday era canon and dealing with the fact that his future self is evil and ruined all his relationships. its very good i reread the ranboo chapter regularly

The Red Coast - Maldoror_Chant - One Piece - oneshot - genuinely hilarious pov outsider on post-skypiea straw hats via some idiot bounty hunters who think they‘re easy prey. it’s a lot of fun and it took me three entire rereads to catch the punchline, which i am still mad about. please read this fic i am shaking my fist at it

Though She Be But Little, She Is Fierce - Izzyaro - Pokemon Anime (Kalos Era) - multichap, abandoned(?) - a few years after the kalos crisis, Bonnie sets out on her own pokemon journey. told through the eyes of her very alarmed traveling companion, who so incredibly doesn’t know what to make of her. yes, it only has two chapters and hasnt updated in years. i do not care. the chapters stand alone as oneshots and this fic has done so much for me. its like 90% of the reason i write bonnie the way i do its such a joy

Keeping a Welcome - Gramarye (ao3 | ffn) - The Dark is Rising Sequence - oneshot - did you ever wonder, gee, zeph, why do you write so much loyalty content? and why is it all Like That? well, the answer is that i read this fic at a formative age and imprinted on it like a baby bird, and then subconsciously was shaped by it for the next decade. genuinely it is SO good. it’s so good guys. guys it’s so good im going to cry just thinking about it. o a t h s ,,,  wahhhhhhh gramarye is probably my favorite fic author ever i love their stuff SO much. so much. i am going to cry im telling you!!!!!! (also while I'm here I also recommend everything else theyve ever written, especially the Eirias Triad, which i have reread probably as many times as there are fingers in my house, and which is only not on an entry on this list on account of me wanting to keep it at one rec per author)

Nah - soomin - One Piece - oneshot - the straw hats have been stuck in a time loop of their entire lives for many, many years, and boy are they having a good time causing chaos. this is one of the only op time travels that i feel like accurately captures what would actually happen if luffy did a time travel, and i love it. they’re having so much! infinite retries for the best adventure ever!

Insomnia - tikitikirevenge - The Legend of Zelda (Majora’s Mask) - multichap, abandoned(?) - novelization of majora’s mask with a twist: instead of resetting the three day loop every time, link gets exactly 5 cycles, and the whole thing is a stable time loop. its true it hasnt updated since 2015, but it was my favorite zelda fic back in middle school and i still reread it every few years to confirm that it’s just as good as i remember: it somehow always is. and every time, i forget just how agonizing (complimentary) the link&tatl friendship slowburn is like dear lord does this author know how to write a slowly developing relationship hh i wish more people would read this fic it’s really just very good ok dont mind that its abandoned just before the snowpeak temple

[angstbabyjae]

DSMP Tier List

This tier list was shared in a discord server I’m in, so I thought I’d give it a go. Not entirely satisfied with the section titles, so I used them quite liberally. I will explain why I put people where I did. On the tier itself I didn’t order them by preference but in my explanation I will. Please not that they will be ranked from favorite to least favorite per category (for example: I put Sapnap technically above Niki despite liking her character more) and not by how much they deserve to be in each category (for example: I prefer Technoblade to Phil but I believe people excuse Technoblade’s actions more than Phil’s). I encourage healthy suggestion in the comments since I only joined the fandom around the Green Festival and haven’t seen the history/POV’s of every character, though I try. Enjoy.

Gonna slap on a big ol’ “/rp” here just to be safe.

You've done nothing wrong come here (holds you gently)

So the thing about this section is that I don't believe any dream smp character is completely innocent, so I used this section more like a top of tier than as it's title implies.

1. TommyInnit

Ngl, Tommy is my favorite character in the Dream SMP. As a fellow Loud Person I relate to him a lot and his feelings that nobody really likes him. His mental health struggles are close to my heart and (SPOILERS) his death just made me so devastated. I really hope they don't end his arc like this. Not when he was just starting to heal, please. Tommy has certainly done a lot of things wrong. I'd highly recommend watching the exile decision from both Tubbo and Tommy's POV's because you can really get a grasp of their mindsets. Despite this, he is my fave.

2. Ranboo

Until recently I preferred Tubbo to Ranboo, but cc!Ranboo just totally outdid himself on lore and acting to the point where I couldn't deny it anymore. Ranboo did do *some* things wrong, but they are less extreme than many on this list (I don't count things he might have done under Dream's control since he wasn't conscious). Ranboo's character makes me go into protecc mode. So yeah, very good enderboi.

3. Tubbo_

Tubbo doesn't have much lore for his character, but like I do with many others on this list, I like to overanalyze and interpret certain characters to be deeper than they are. The Tubbo I have in my head is a lot more complex than what cc!Tubbo probably meant to portray. There is so much angst potential with his character, similar to many others, but what puts him top tier for me is the emotional connection I have to his character and how I relate to getting so much put on my shoulders and having to make tough decisions.

you're an amazing character

Okay so technically Schlatt should be on this list if we are speaking from a narrative standpoint, but seeing as the way OP labelled the other sections on this chart I'm guessing they meant morally as well.

4. Alex Quackity

Quackity is my favorite adult character. I don't even know why, I just love the idea of this comic relief character becoming such a catalyst for plot and more serious as time goes on. I love taking the dream smp characters and making them deeper than they probably are, as I do with Tubbo, but now it seems cc!Quackity is fully taking his character to the height of his potential and I can't wait to see what he does with him next.

5. AweSamDude

(SPOILERS) As such a big Tommy fan I must admit, my first thought when Tommy died was that Sam was partly responsible. If Dream told him what he did to Tommy in exile like he claims then he would have at least put up the obsidian barrier between them or something. After watching Ranboo's most recent stream (right now it's March 3rd) I understand why Sam did what he did more. My initial anger towards him has dissipated a bit. I still love his character so much. He really did care about Tommy and now... dang. I can't wait to see what happens with him next.

6. Captain Puffy

It was very close between ranking her or Sam higher, but given all the in depth character stuff we're getting from Sam right now, I'd have to rank him above. Despite this, Puffy is a character that I started out not knowing anything about and am now feeling her climb the ranks in my books. Sometimes I feel like she's the only adult who actually put Tommy's well-being above other things, despite them not interacting often. I wasn't around for the whole "duckling" thing with Dream and have yet to watch the VODs, but I just want her to visit him now and punish him for the Tommy stuff. (SPOILERS) I can feel Dream's next ploy being trying to convince someone to let him out in exchange for bringing back Tommy and if Sam doesn't cave then Puffy probably will. Also, I really hope that her and Niki's relationship isn't forgotten. There's so much angst potential there. Also, I need sapphics to survive.

7. Eret

So, I wasn't a fan of the SMP during season one. I hadn't even heard of it except for like my friend referencing Technoblade now and then. After watching some VODs of Eret's I am slowly starting to fall in love with her characterization. I am so soft for their redemption arc, for the regret he feels. Now that cc!Eret is back from their mental health break I am so ready for more.

8. Fundy

Fundy's a character that I will forget how much I love until he goes live again, or until I reread his old quotes. He has a lot of lore to him that surprises you every time you remember. Whether its his last speech to Schlatt to COCONUT 2020, Fundy always gives the audience something more to think about.

9. "Ghostbur"

Ghostbur is one of the few characters who genuinely make me want to cry. cc!Wilbur's performance was both hilarious and immaculate. I really want to find out more about his lore, though. Do all dead people with unfinished business get an alternate version of themselves to roam the Earth while you stay in the afterlife unable to make contact unless the veil is thin? Was Ghostbur just Wilbur pretending the whole time? (SPOILERS) Is Tommy going to get one? Is Glatt canon? Much to think about.

10. BadBoyHalo

While I despise egg-possessed BBH, normal BBH has my entire heart. The fact he gave up his mind for Skeppy is *chef's kiss*. I am very impressed with everything cc!BBH is writing right now.

11. Karl Jacobs

My second favorite polyamorous dimension hopper after Star Butterfly (let me have Startomco please)! TFTSMP just gets better and better each week. His time travel shenanigans are so fun and mysterious. Karlnapity is just a big ol' pot of angst just waiting to happen. WEDDING SOON PLEASE!

no intense opinion

While I do have opinions on some of these characters, they aren't intense enough to place them anywhere else.

12. Ponk

I don't watch him all that often since he's live during my school time, but what I've seen I love. Him starting that whole side plot expanding on that one TFTSMP episode intrigues me and I can see it tying into the egg somehow. Him and Sam are really cute together (/rp) and I want him to become more plot relevant again.

13. Antfrost

GAY CAT GAY CAT GAY CAT! In all seriousness, I really want him to do stuff with his character to make him more than just BBH's second-in-command (I have similar feelings with Skeppy, but I know he isn't very big on lore). Side note, but I really love the hc that RedVelvetCake is inside the egg. I want him to join so bad.

14. Purpled

I've only just started watching the actual clips from pre-L'Manberg times and Purpled was once much more plot involved than I thought. Him planning on getting his revenge on Tommy at the same time as the "police" investigating the Camarvan back in early season one was comedy gold. Shout out to BlueberryTV on YouTube for making it so easy to watch. In conclusion, we stan an underage mercenary.

15. GeorgeNotFound

Idk if this is a hot take or not, but I feel a good portion of people who love George's character are just DNF shippers who want to turn his crumbs into an angst factory, but you know what? Valid. While I am not a DNF shipper, I have seen the angst y'all have brought to the table and very much appreciate it.

16. ConnorEatsPants

The most I think I've seen of Connor has been the hostage scene and the non-canon party scene from this season. I don't have much to say except that his small speech to Tommy after he was let go about him not being a bad person despite traumatizing him hit surprisingly hard in the feels.

17. Skeppy

cc!Skeppy is not a big roleplayer, and I get that, it's just sometimes his character feels a little like an accessory to Bad's character. Please link me some good Skeppy moments in the comments if you can, I want to try and learn more about his character. His angst with Bad right now is top tier, though, and I choose to believe that Big Daddy Island is canon and that Bad took him there to keep him free from the egg. I actually wrote a fic about this if you want to check it out! Mind the tags, though, I went a little macabre with it.

18. HBomb

When I first learned about the SMP it was two nights before the green festival and I was up until 3am at my aunt's house reading the plot summary. The first clip of the smp I saw was the election VOD, where HBomb joined for the first time. I don't know much about him other than the fact he was Fundy's maid for a time and it was absolutely hilarious. I saw the recent stuff with him leaving Greater SMP to start over and enjoyed it. Hope we get more stuff like that with him.

19. Callahan

Gets all the ladies. What else can I say?

you're trying your best and I respect that

20. Sapnap

I put Sapnap here because he's on his way to becoming an amazing character. The angst stuff with Dream is the stuff George fans can only dream of (pun unintended). I like how he went from the cop, the pet killer, Dream's right hand man, to mushroom cottegecore gay living his best life and dealing with the pain of losing his best friend. The whole "Dream's bitch" conversation with Tommy that I saw an animatic for some time ago made me hurt so good. Also #KarlnapityWedding2021.

you're redeemable, thin fucking ice though

These are characters who I somewhat dislike to a degree, but still have hope for. In my opinion this section should be switched with the one after it in terms of which is worse, but oh well.

21. Wilbur Soot

I know he's already dead but if he's brought back to life I want a redemption arc from him back. (SPOILERS) If neither him nor Tommy come back to life then dsmp has a horrible track record with killing off their mentally ill and (tw) suicidal characters. Wilbur has done some awful things, but if he's brought back I don't think he'd be beyond saving.

22. Jack Manifold

I need to say something about Jack. He is so very very close to being in the "you're trying your best" section right now after his most recent stream. His redemption arc is so close I can taste it and if he is redeemed right I can see him joining my faves. His most recent stream was just so well acted that my heart just wants to forgive him already... until my brain remembers he tried to nuke a child. Don’t know if this is also a hot take, but I think he had more of a right to be mad at Tommy than Niki did, but I know for Niki it's more complicated than that.

23. Niki Nihachu

There was a time that I adored Niki Nihachu and a part of me still does, but she has gone a little bit off the deep end. I do understand it's a trauma response, though. cc!Niki said that her villain arc is almost over, which disappointed me a bit because we kinda barely got to see it since it was so overshadowed, but I am also relieved. I just want my wlw baker back :(

people excuse your actions more than you deserve

I am just going to pretend that this section doesn't say "love". I still like these characters a lot even though they get away with a lot of shit.

24. Technoblade

I love Technoblade too much for him to be ranked this low, but like I said this ranking is based on fitting the section descriptions, not how much I love them. Technoblade's POV is understandable but also that doesn't excuse the pain he's caused so many people. L'Manberg was more than it's a government as much as Techno is more than a weapon.

25. Philza Minecraft

Philza deserves to be in this section a little less than Technoblade because I actually agree with a lot of what Philza fans say. Tommy is not Philza's kid. Phil has a lot of trauma around killing Wilbur, yes. I just don't see how you could watch Ghostbur's Friend speech during Doomsday and think he was in the right for doing it.

i don't like you

26. JSchlatt

JSchlatt is an amazing character in many ways. The acting? Glorious. The dialogue? Spot on. With that being said, YAYY HE'S DEAD!!! I really like leaning into the abusive relationship hc with him and his cabinet. He was probably the most fun villain we've ever had, though.

I WANT THIS MOTHER FUCKER DEAD

27. DreamWasTaken

Come on, do I even have to explain?

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Demon Slayer 12 - 13 | OPM 23 - 24 (FINAL) | BSD 36 - 37 (FINAL) | Shield Hero 25 (FINAL) | Fruits Basket 12 - 13 | To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts 1 | Astra 1 | Maou-sama, Retry! 1 | UchiMusume 1 | Dr Stone 1 | Fire Force 1 | Granbelm 1

Summer debuts aplenty!

Demon Slayer 12

I assume the creature on the episode titlecard is a boar…?

I see…! So Kyogai uses the drums like a game controller! Y’know, like A = attack and directional keys to move.

I almost expected Inosuke to appear from behind the screen door, but it was just Tanjiro…

Huh? For some reason, I find Zenitsu funny now…but only the tiniest bit. Not enough to laugh out loud, but enough to give tiny “heh”s.

Well…that episode title didn’t lie, at least…

Ah-hah! I knew it! Knewwwwwwwww it! It’s the double-personality trope I liked 5 years ago (you see it embodied in Martin/Alter-Az). The only thing I didn’t know was how Zenitsu would become badass…well, now we know. He sleep fights…I still think ingesting blood to invoke a second personality is still way cooler though.

Shoichi? Is that the kid’s name?

“Marechi” doesn’t seem to mean anything…

“Show me your wounds.” Then again, there are some wounds that you can’t present to others…not unless you show the side effects.

As much as I was scared by Exposition Crow, I have to be thankful the little feathered buddy is around. I wouldn’t understand “marechi” otherwise. But seriously, where does that crow hide in his spare time…?

Oh…the duty of filial piety…I know your feel, Tanjiro.

Tanjiro’s brain!Zenitsu is so accurate, I LOLled…a tiny bit.

Tanjiro, you gotta remember: be proud of where you’ve gotten today! Don’t be the man you were yesterday! Keep evolving with the times like water itself, because that is what water is about – change! (triumphant music plays in the background to accompany this declaration)

The only problem I have with filial piety is…what happens when your family has only daughters???

OPM S2 Ep 11 (Ep 23)

Garou’s got a point in that villains are meant to be sympathetic in order to get a good story. However, I’d still root for the heroes all the same.

Naruto running…why’s it so popular???

“Mentsuyu” (on Saitama’s blue shirt) means “noodle soup base” = a mixture of dashi (soup stock), soy sauce, mirin and sugar.

It took me a replay to realise that Garou turned red when the tree fell down.

BSD 36

Uh, dude? Who calls their kid “Eruisu-chan”…? It’s Elise, isn’t it?

Katai – yet again, can I just say he is the husbando we need and not the husbando we want? (LOL) There’s even what appears to be a sake bottle in the bottom left corner…  

Is there such thing as a bullet-proof futon???

Come to think of it, this scene with all the rubble about halfway through the episode looks like it comes from the Dead Apple first key visual –the one that came out when the movie was announced. Not the Shin Soukoku one, the other one with Soukoku in a rubble-filled place looking at the horizon.

Looking at Natsume-sensei from the back reveals his hair is calico-coloured too…

I wonder how much of Dazai’s scheming is actually just Natsume-sensei…?

“What did you have for dinner last night?” “Yeah.” – Just imagining this with a monotone instead of Akutagawa’s usual anger is hilarious!

Snakes don’t run…?

Oh, I get why he was calling Akutagawa “bro”! When you’re married, you call your brother in law “brother” as well!

Bungou Stray Dogs 37 (FINAL)

I discovered something – the kanji under ECHO, 回向, are read ekou. What do they mean? The verb form means “to hold a memorial service for [someone]”, so I’d assume it’s “memorial service”.

For some reason, when Atsushi said “you’re not paying for this ride!”, I thought, “It’s your Ubr driver here”…LOL.

I seem to remember that Goncharov controls rock and his power is The Precipice…but I don’t remember reading past ch. 52…

“How can you be so sure?” I thought it was something like “Because that’s what I would do.” Turns out I was right…maybe I have read chapter 53??? Or is this a previous chapter that’s been movd forward???

Hmm…come to think of it, why is Akutagawa’s power to control fabric anyway? (Because he can control other things, it’s just that he chooses to use his coat as a default.) Does the Rashomon story have to do with that…?

Oh, that’s cute. Shin Soukoku are on the same thinking wavelength now. (somewhat sarcastic)

Come to think of it – season 1 anime!Atsushi was about as whiny as Zenitsu…hmm. Now there’s a cross-anime comparison I never thought I’d make.

��…what appears to be a hiker…” (or maybe it was multiple hikers…?)

Did you notice Akutagawa was missing his coat?

“Fancy hat boy” – That’s why the fandom calls Chuuya “Mr Fancy Hat”, LOL.

One thing’s for sure – whether you like BSD or not, you gotta admit they have a great sense of closure.

Shield Hero 25 (FINAL)

See? There is a Meteor move for Naofumi!

Raphtalia’s mostly been saying nothing but “Naofumi-sama” over and over again…it kind of irks me. It’s too bad I’m almost finished with this show.

I’m gussing the reward has to do with Raphtalia’s village.

Is Naofumi leaving???

LOL, before Naofumi faced the Waves, he was wavering…geddit??? (Oh, that joke’s terrible…)

Fruits Basket 12

I think Shigure attended the ceremony to procrastinate on his writing…LOL.

Okay…I started this episode a few days back and now I hav a bowl of piping hot pho to go with it! Let’s get back to business!

Momiji is a scheming little brat, ain’t he?

The “Yuki wearing a girls’ uniform” was funny…because reactions.

Hmm…even though I know what’s going to happen, I only just realised Akito and Yuki only seem to wear traditional Japanese dress when tied down to their curse or their main house. Westrn cloths thereby symbolise progress for them…but you can’t say the same for Shigure, though, so there goes that hypothesis…

I thought for a second they were going to play baseball…that’s what they did in Star Driver.

Fruits Basket 13

Snake attack!!!

Hmm…Ayame clearly used a convo diversionary tactic there (avoiding the topic).

“Aya says he sells men’s dreams.” – LOL.

Demon Slayer 13

I find it interesting Tanjiro also has respect for his opponent, not just empathy.

Aww…this message of recognising your skills and having them be recognised by others is cute. I needd that, really – ever since about a year ago, sometimes I’m so negative I just want to be erased from the face of the earth. That’s why I love Rokuhoudou so much – it was my solace from such thoughts.

Seeing the eyecatch’s strip go vertical for Zenitsu was interesting – I didn’t think it would change orientation midway through the show.

Okay, in this book I read recently – Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin – the protagonist admits to having “an overdeveloped sense of theatricality”…or dramaticism or something like that. I now realised Zenitsu has that too…although now he’s back to bugging me as a result.

Oh! So Inosuke was the 5th survivor! I had a feeling that would be the answer, but now I’ve confirmed it.

WHOA! I’ve never seen Tanjiro go all Papa Bear like this!

…and you can tell with that pre-OP shot that Ufotable ran out of budget for once.

The Legend of the Eight Samurai is also known as…wait for it…Hakkenden! There’s an anime called that, y’know? Update: It’s Satomi Nansou Hakkenden vs Hakkenden (with some subtitle on it).

To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts 1

First anime of summer! Now if only my CR would stop buffering so much…I’d be a happy person.

Oh…great. Fantasy information dump right here…just like Fairy Gone.

Is this weird that I recognise Patria to be…Korea? (At least in history. Its people seem to be generic Europeans.)

Is this a “dudes in war are scarred for life” thing again??? Please, please don’t let this be another Spec-Ops Asuka.

…and now here come the furries. (sarcastic)

Aren’t the white coats really impractical for battle???

If Cain isn’t a vampire or based on a bat…I dunno what I’d do, but I’m pretty sure he is, based on those pretty boy features.

I thought her name was Nancy…? Her name is Nancy Schaal Bancroft, after all.

Ooh! It’s the Abominable Walrus! I’m so scared~! (mocking tone)

This is basically an AI story, but fantasy-based, isn’t it…?

90s fire in the background…LOL.

“I’m going to ask Elaine to be with me.” – Now there’s something I didn’t think Hank would say.

LOL, Cain Madhouse really is mad! (in the Joker-style “insane” sort of way)

Well…uh, it was a bit predictable, but had its perks. I mean, there’s no CGI in it at all for one thing…I guess we wait for more (of this show and the debut of other shows) to see if it stays.

OPM S2 Ep 12 (Ep 24) (FINAL)

Shouldn’t that be “whale on an opponent”…?

What’s up with the montage, though???

*dead Centichoro* - Now that’s what I call “legs for miles”…! (LOL)

Astra 1

I’ve read some of the manga for this, so it’s my most anticipated anime this season! I can only hope it lives up to its own hype.

Double-length 1st episode! Ooh! Just like the manga’s double-length debut.

Okay, who decided on using CGI for Aries? Put it on the ship, not on her!

Oh, foreshadowing! Me likey.

I can’t really tell what Aries is meant to be screaming because she’s screaming over the woman, but it’s definitely not “beef” Aries is yelling.

Is it just me, or is there a frame around this scene at the Spaceport…?

I guess Aries is what they call a space case! (Wahaha!...Okay, I think that’s one stupid joke too many, now.)

Boob shot??? Why??? Also, according to the manga’s supplemental material found between chapters, Yun-Hua’s suit is newer than Aries’s (IIRC).

I definitely do not remember seeing a picture of Kanata’s sensei in the manga at all. I know Kanata refers to his sensei quite a bit, but…hmm…maybe the fact he looks like Charce means something. Update: For some reason, I remembered Charce as “Charles”…?

This scenery, with the ground making platforms in the air, looks like Dr Stone!!!

I just noticed the frame expanded after Kanata entered the sphere.

Did we need the flashback again???

Zetsubou is “despair”, at least from the way I learnt it – from Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, of course. It can be translated as “hopeless” in context, though.

Second recap from earlier in the episode. Well, at least it’s not Detective Conan or Demon Slayer bad…

Wow, they’re really trying to sell a potential Kanata x Aries ship here. That wasn’t in the manga either.

This is the 3rd time for the same recap…geesh. The things you notice when the episodes are compiled and online for you to watch…they can get kind of annoying.

I think the star = planet thing makes more sense when in Japanese, since “hoshi” can mean both. In English, it makes Aries sound like more of a space case…

Maou-sama, Retry! 1

…and the award for Most Boring Opening in a While goes to…this show!

I almost expected blonde!Rem to be called Rem…I knew that her name wasn’t Rem, but still…

Seriously? The face game of this show should be higher for it to pull off a gag involving funny faces…

The run cycle of this show’s…kinda suckish. Like Dororo’s one scene where he’s Naruto running.

“It’s you who is the root of all evil.”

UchiMusume 1

Aka “If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord”.

The language on the title card seems to be a substitute for English. If you just take that thing that looks like brackets as one symbol, that seems to be a Y. How can you tell? Because “little” matches the 3rd last word.

The devil language seems to be based on Japanese, though…at least from what I’m picking up. Update: Oh! So when she says “toilet”, it’s just the syllables backwards! Just like in Hataraku Maou-sama.

I swear, if this guy isn’t voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, I’m going to have to swallow my hydralyte drink properly! (I’ve been struggling to drink it all day today.) Update: Nope, it’s Nobuhiko Okamoto.

I thought I just read something on the devil list that said “Bobble Space” in English…wuh?

Dr Stone 1

This is my 2nd most anticipated debut of the summer 2019 season. Let’s go!

Ooh, I see Crunchyroll even got themselves a fancy new intro card…which makes them more like what Funimation used to be on that front…

I know people have been comparing Senku’s hair to green onions…and now I can’t unsee it. Dang it, you guys! That’s the first real thought I’m having for this anime?!

*raises arms like Christ the Redeemer*…and Boichi and Riichiro Inagaki said, “Let there be light!”…and for some reason, it was green light…

Hmm…I thought in the manga Yuzuriha was shoved to the tree, which made Taiju look more like a hero to her. Turns out she ran to the tree then got petrified, if the anime is anything to go by.

I heard a really accurate “what’s happening?” in the scene which is meant to have English speakers in it…it’s almost creepy, to be honest with you.

Shuei…LOL. It’s clearly a play on Shueisha.

I didn’t think of this when reading the manga, but this anime’s very much a Holmes and Watson scenario…although Watson here is a little bit too dumb for some people’s liking…

I swear TMS used pictures of the real thing when looking at those grapes…

I love seeing Senku being pissed off. He’s so smug all the time, I needed that change of pace.

Maybe one day Senku will make vodka…LOL. I’m kidding.

Fire Force 1

Oh geesh…so Ohkubo grabbed the Aria from Ao no Exorcist to make his nuns work???

Why is there Naruto running???

“I’m a newly-assigned…”

Kyoukai means church. Does it really mean “cathedral” as well???

“Is that the scent of a damp woman?” – Uh, duuuuuuuude? Excuse-moi? That is not how you treat a lady you’ve just met…!

Can I insert a “Twinkletoes” comment from Toph (Avatar) yet…?

Okay, scrap that. Can I do that Overwatch “Molten CORE!” thing instead…?

Granbelm 1

I started watching this because it’s being promoted as “magical girls drive mechs”.

One of the mech ladies reminds me of…what’s her name…from the Re:Zero LNs…I believe her name is Beatrice, but that’s the name of one of the library loli, isn’t it…? *Googles* Okay, her name is Priscilla. AFAIK, “Priscilla” is NOT the name of the orange-haired lady in Granbelm, though… Update: Her name is Anna, actually.

These mechs remind me of Kim from Twinkle Star Sprites.

Wow…ripoff purple iPhone, much…?

Shingetsu = new moon, mangetsu = full moon.

I feel like Mangetsu is a relatable protagonist, but also annoying as a result of being relatable.

“Pennies from heaven” is a phrase you say to declare your good fortune, much like you say “speak of the devil” for bad luck when it comes to a certain person who arrives at the wrong time.

[ashapon]

Join Overwatch

Summary: Reyes can’t be an adult about how he feels, Morrison just wants the fighting to stop. Tags: Pre-Zurich HQ Explosion, Reaper76, pre-relationship

Word Count: 2,902

Reyes knew better than to test the waters; for all the golden boy do-gooder charm and charisma that Morrison seemed to have in spades, it was clear that Overwatch’s Strike-Commander was on his last leg of patience though the day had barely started.

Oh, there was no doubt it was his fault in some fashion. Just the night previous, Morrison had gotten an earful from the higher-ups about the disrespectful conduct of some individuals under his command. That part was definitely his fault, but he was sick of not calling out assholes when he saw them.

It was unfortunate that one of the men almost solely responsible for gauging Overwatch’s capabilities and subsequently providing them with what he deemed appropriate funding was in fact a giant tool. Reyes didn’t like beating around the bush when it came to guys like that, didn’t believe that organizations like Overwatch should be so caught up in the politics and the bureaucracy of it all.

So he’d told him off, big fucking deal. He was just being honest.

Fortunately, Morrison was there in an instant to, as he put it, ‘salvage the situation’. Smooth things over with twenty straight minutes of ass-kissing. Or that’s what Reyes assumed had happened after he was ordered to leave the briefing room and stand in the hallway like a child in timeout.

Maybe not twenty straight minutes of ass-kissing. Five, tops. The rest was devoted to a furious tirade about Overwatch’s lack of professionalism and how they’d ought to keep “those filthy Blackwatch mutts on their leashes”.

Reyes really wished he’d landed a hit on the guy.

Morrison had left the briefing room looking the better part of completely exhausted, had rounded on Reyes and demanded an explanation.

In retrospect, an impish grin and the words “he started it” did nothing to help the situation.

He hadn’t spoken much to Morrison since then, not even on the journey to the photography studio in downtown Zurich. Overwatch officials wanted some of its members in on a promotional photo-op for recruitment posters, news stories, whatever the hell else. Reyes had no intention of getting his picture taken, but he knew Jack was going and he wasn’t about to pass up on the opportunity to see something fucking hilarious.

Overwatch’s best and brightest dolled up and posed mindlessly before a fluorescent green screen, trying not to blink against the blinding flashes of the camera. He promised he’d send Jesse pictures, too.

As it so happens, the studio was also providing refreshments. Reyes helped himself to a cup of fresh coffee and a cinnamon-coated doughnut while the head photographer gathered the other assembled members and explained how they would proceed.

Besides himself and Morrison, Ana Amari, Reinhardt Wilhelm, Angela Ziegler, and Lena Oxton were also present. Some more excited than others about the opportunity, bounding to their chairs and awaiting hair and make-up.

“You as well,” the head photographer squinted at him, disbelieving blue eyes and brown hair packed in a neat bun. “You are not actually here for the photo shoot, are you?”

Reyes tried not to be affronted by his skepticism; he was, after all, looking as though he’d only just rolled out of bed in a dark hoodie, jeans, his beanie. His hair had been a mess this morning, as it often was since he’d allowed it to grow a bit, but even if it hadn’t been, the hat was his go to.

He swallowed what remained of his first pastry, downed a fourth of his coffee, and shook his head.

“Nah,” he fished for a second doughnut, one with sprinkles. “Moral support, you know. Mind it I sit here?”

He didn’t really provide Reyes with an answer, instead opting to turn to his team and give some orders before summoning the first victim.

Reyes shrugged and plopped down in a seat not unlike a director’s chair, allowing glee to pull his lips into a small smile. He relished in feeling - for the moment - like an actor, because the embarrassing dream had once been there, a very potent part of his childhood.

And then, months later, he’d wanted to sing. That lasted weeks and then he’d taken up sewing.

How his mother survived his fleeting interests was beyond him, but she’d always been supportive. God, he needed to give her a call one of these days.

“You look rather pleased,” it was Ana who shook him from his reverie, a disapproving arch to her brow. “Please tell me you’re not here to put Jack in an even worse mood.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he hummed into his coffee. “Tell me he’s up first.”

Reyes cackled at the sight of Morrison conversing with the photographer.

“Hell yeah,” he leaned back in his seat, grinning. “It’s fuckin’ Christmas.”

“You are ridiculous,” it was no shock that Ana was rolling her eyes beside him. “What has gotten into you these past few days?”

His grin faded and he thumbed at his Styrofoam coffee cup.

Right, nothing got past Ana and it was likely that Jack confided in her his frustration with Gabriel’s unbearable behavior.

If Reyes was going to be honest with himself, he would say he knew one hundred percent what the hell was going on, why he was doing this. He knew and he was fucking terrified of what it meant, which was why immaturity, frustration, jealousy had all won out and taken the fucked up form of passive-aggressive deeds like, say, telling off a potential Overwatch donor just to get Morrison yelled at and pissed off and...

It was easier when Morrison was pissed off, anyway.

“Gabriel,” Ana’s hand touched his shoulder and the weight of it forced him to look over. “What is this about? Are you really mad at Jack?”

Reyes regarded her, silent, teeth toying with the delicate flesh on the inside of his cheek. He bit down, hard, and drew blood.

He was saved from confronting that particular bit of reality when Morrison and the photography team took their positions. No, he could return back to what he knew best.

Sitting up in his seat, Reyes leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees and let out a laugh just loud enough to cause Morrison to glance his way.

“Make sure you get his good side,” he joked, winking. “Knock ‘em dead, Jackie.”

He watched the way Morrison’s expression tightened, the hope of some playful conversation fading from his eyes, replaced by resolve. The photo-op was one more thing to do on the list of many.

Reyes’ overall satisfaction was squandered by the growing mass of guilt clenching in his chest.

“Let’s do one with a three-quarter view,” the photographer instructed, waving his hand. “From the right, please.”

The entirety of Morrison’s photo shoot followed a similar pattern; Reyes made various attempts at embarrassing his friend while all the attention was on him, knowing that somewhere there was a crack in that collected and oh-so-polished facade of his. The crack had been there for days, splintering, growing deeper and deeper.

When Morrison was about done with his photos - and Ana had hissed for Reyes to keep quiet and nudged his shoulder enough times he probably had a bruise - he had stopped to talk with a few members of the crew. A small crowd had formed around him, but he was smiling, polite, charming. Always so endearing, so likeable.

Reyes had to hand it to him, it was difficult to spot the weariness in his expression, the irritation. They’d known each other for so long, he knew not to take Jack at face value.

Jack knew the same of him.

Whatever Morrison said had the group around him laughing and a particularly brave, or overly friendly, crew member placing her hand against his arm, smiling. That casual ‘oh, you’ gesture that had Gabriel frowning and tapping an impatient finger on the edge of his empty coffee cup.

Every single goddamn time.

He bit his lip, glancing away from the scene, huffing under his breath, forgetting that Ana was directly beside him. That she’d been watching him like a hawk since they’d arrived.

“Oh, no,” Ana started, her tone a mix of incredulity and something overwhelmingly sweet, something like fondness. “Gabriel, you cannot be serious.”

“I try not to be,” Reyes retorted, a weak attempt at diverting what was coming with sarcasm. “Don’t you have to get your picture taken or whatever?”

Ana went silent, but he could feel the warmth of her gaze heavy on his temple. She didn’t say anything and he wondered if it would have been easier if she had.

His agitation won out.

“For the love of...” he lowered his voice, narrowing his eyes up at her. “What? What is it?”

She hummed.

“This is about the the interview, isn’t it? The one from Zurich News?”

Reyes clenched his teeth, closed his eyes, took a deep breath. For an instant, images played against the black of his eyelids like a film reel.

Morrison, impeccably dressed, perched with an awkward smile on the edge of his seat. One of the Zurich News’ hosts sitting beside him. Close, way too fucking close. Touching his thigh with her hand and laughing when Morrison seemed flustered. 

“You have to know,” she said. “Come on, now.” “I didn’t,” he insisted, chuckling. “I never imagined... it’s very flattering, though. Thank you.”

Reyes stood from his seat, shaking his head and making his way over to where the refreshments sat.

“You hear that, ladies?” The host winked at the camera. “Handsome and modest. Must be why they keep you around.”

“Must be,” another laugh.

He refilled his coffee, grimacing.

“With a face like this at the head of their organization,” the host playfully tapped Morrison’s cheek with a manicured nail. “Overwatch has my support.”

“Fuck,” Reyes cursed, hot coffee scalding his palm and spilling onto the table. “God fucking...”

Ana was right behind him and he hoped desperately that he was radiating the appropriate ‘I really don’t want to talk about this’ mood. She sighed.

The spilled coffee stained the front of his hoodie, soaking through the bottom hem, down his sleeves. He swore under his breath, shutting the machine off and staring down at the java puddle.

“You should talk with him,” Ana said at once, her voice soft. “Don’t make me do it. This can’t keep going on.”

Reyes remained silent, pacing from the room without another word.

The room he ducked into was at the far end of the studio, housed two long tables, some mismatched chairs, a few appliances, and a sink. It might have been where the crew members ate their lunches or held in-house conferences.

He closed the door behind him and tearing off his coffee-soaked sweatshirt. His beanie fell to the floor in the brief struggle but Gabriel ignored it and moved over to the sink.

There was a towel folded into a neat square, which he used to scrub vigorously at the stains. Water splashed onto the red tank he wore underneath.

What the fuck was wrong with him? What else could happen at the end of this scenario but Jack hating his goddamn guts? Was that what he wanted?

Reyes stopped scrubbing, a sigh slipping from his lips.

What he wanted, if he actually gave it any thought, wasn’t going to fucking happen. Period.

Reyes jumped when the door to the room flew open and Morrison stood at the entrance, eyebrows furrowed in concern. He let the door shut behind him, taking swift steps over to the Blackwatch Commander.

Before either of them could speak, Jack pulled Gabriel’s hand into his own, turning it over to examine the inflamed skin of his palm.

“Can I help you?”

Jack’s thumb smoothed over the skin before he guided it over to the sink, adjusting the steady flow of water to something cooler.

“I thought we should talk,” he replied after a long moment. “Can we?”

“Are we going to talk about how unnecessary this is?” Gabriel waved his free hand. “This whole ‘tending to my wounds’ bullshit?”

Jack shook his head, an eyebrow arched. Silence, apart from the running water, filled the space between them. When Jack seemed satisfied, he shut the sink off, dried off Gabriel’s hand, and inspected the wound.

His thumb glided across the tender pink skin once more. He didn’t let go, even as he spoke.

“I want to know what I did to upset you.”

Gabriel scoffed and simultaneously struggled to quell his rapid pulse.

“Not everything’s about you,” he snatched his hand free, frowning. “Hate to bear the bad news.”

“So you’re not pissed?” Jack crossed his arms. “And I must be imagining the fact that you haven’t looked me in the eye for over a week.”

Gabriel shrugged, reaching for his half-soaked sweatshirt draped on the counter.

“You must be imagining things, Strike-Commander,” he replied. “Maybe it’s all this work. You ought to get some rest.”

From the shift in Jack’s position, the nonchalance was not well-received.

Gabriel almost jumped when Jack closed the distance between them, hands braced on the counter top, caging him in.

“Excuse the fuck outta me,” Gabriel growled and this time his eyes darted up to meet his friend’s. “But I’d like to go back and have another fucking doughnut, thanks.”

He was surprised to find not anger, but something imploring in Jack’s furrowed brow, something exhausted, but still hopeful. He looked away.

“Gabe,” Jack sighed, so close that Gabe could feel the rise and fall of his chest. “Ana told me to ask you about the interview I did with Zurich News.”

Gabriel ran a hand across his face, flustered and gripping the edge of the counter.

“Why the hell would you even ask?” He bristled, mumbling. “Goddammit, Ana.”

“It was the interview.”

He fucking knows, a darker part of his mind whispered, sending his body, his muscles into a panic. When he pushed away from Jack’s hold, the man let him go.

Gabriel could feel Jack’s eyes on him as he paced, scrubbing a hand through his hair.

What could he say? What could he say? What would make sense? Pissing Jack off had done nothing, really, and it was tiring the both of them. He didn’t have the energy - emotional, mental - to keep up this bullshit anymore.

Gabriel took a deep breath and forced himself to think carefully. It was there in his mind, one of the most basic concepts tucked alongside his fight-or-flight instincts.

The best lies are based on truth.

More bullshit, it was. For both their sakes.

“I’m sick of it,” he blurted finally, standing still. “You’re more than just a goddamn figurehead for the higher-ups to show off. It isn’t like you went through hell in the S.E.P. just so you could be paraded around as the ‘face of Overwatch’.”

Gabriel made a grand gesture with his at the last bit, his tone laced with sarcasm.

“How can you deal with that shit?” He went on, scowling, spinning to face Jack. “People don’t even look at you like you’re human. I fucking know better, you’re more than just your stupid subjectively handsome face; you’re tough, you’re smart as shit, and you deserve to be more than just a symbol people can throw their shitty feelings at.”

Huffing out irritated breaths, Gabriel ignored the thought that he himself wasn’t any better than those people with their shitty feelings. His chest rose with another deep breath and he was about to fill the ensuing silence when it was interrupted by Jack.

Laughing.

Gabriel couldn’t stop himself from regarding his friend with a look akin to betrayal, his cheeks flushing in the face of what seemed like a complete dismissal of his inner dilemma. He waited - a shocking display of patience - until the laughter cleared and Jack was glancing over at him with affection.

He cleared his throat.

Jack spoke first, “You think I’m handsome?”

Gabriel’s hands flew up in an elaborate demonstration of his displeasure.

“Wow, fuck you,” he replied, his face growing warmer. “Fuck you very much. Okay, I’m going now.”

“Gabe,” Jack chuckled, reaching out as he turned away. “Hang on a sec, c’mere.”

Gabriel, who had no intention of continuing this humiliating conversation, found himself being blinded by what he eventually realized was his beanie. He struggled to pull the lip of his hat up over his eyes and was instead guided into an embrace by the hand that snagged his elbow. His shoulders, his body, his entire being relaxed into hold before he could stop it. His hands remained suspended at Jack’s side, pathetically indecisive.

“Right,” Gabriel managed, the acerbic edge of his usual sarcasm muffled by Jack’s shoulder. “You’re a hug person.”

God, it felt so good, though. He closed his eyes for just a moment, savored the scent of Jack’s stupid spiced cologne.

Gabriel schooled his expression into something other than disappointment when his friend pulled away. Jack’s smile was overwhelming and genuine, his hands still resting on Gabriel’s shoulder.

“Hey,” Morrison started, soft, kind, an all-enveloping warmth. Gabriel’s own personal star. “It’s okay, Gabe. Thank you, honestly, it... It means a lot to know I have the support of those who matter most, okay?”

Blinding, like the sun, and all Gabriel could do was nod, numb, and let himself be consumed by it.

[dubstepkazoo]

So I recently finished watching Durarara!!x2.

Yes, I really didn’t get to it until just now.

The original Durarara!! was a fresh, unique anime that improved considerably on the source material by adjusting the pacing, adding entirely new scenes, changing the order in which scenes were presented, and doing a whole slew of other things to produce an exciting story about gang violence and twisted love in a city that’s only a hop, skip, and a jump away from my university. Now, these improvements were CRUCIAL. Durarara has a TON of characters, and it was important to give the viewer time to get to know them, as well as give them time to establish a meaning for themselves and be relevant.

Durarara!!x2 tries to achieve the same result without using the same methods.

But before I talk about that, I want to talk about something I haven’t seen anyone else talk about regarding this series. Ever wonder why the three seasons of DRRR2 are called “Shou,” “Ten,” and “Ketsu?” Well, the standard essay-writing structure taught in Japanese schools is called “ki-shou-ten-ketsu,” just like how American schools teach “intro, body, body, body, conclusion.” The “ki” (presumably represented by the first season of DRRR) is the intro as we know it. The “shou” is a development of the thesis, building upon and substantiating it at the same time. The “ten” is the twist, coming at the topic from a completely different angle and putting your own personal spin on it - for example, proof by contrapositive could happen here. Finally, the “ketsu” is the wrap-up, tying the rest of the essay up into a neat little bow and making the threads of logic all come together. So as part of my discussion of this anime, I think it might be interesting to look at it from this perspective.

Technical details first. The animation isn’t bad, and the few serious fight scenes look good enough. The character models, though, could use some work. They often suffer from Tim Burton Syndrome, especially Egor and Rokujou. As for the music, the only track that really stood out was Ketsu’s OP, which kicks three and a half different kinds of ass (compared to the five kinds of ass kicked by the first season’s OPs and Trust Me). And the voice acting, naturally, was great. What can you expect from a cast that contains both Daisuke Ono and Jun Fukuyama?

If you thought the original DRRR had a lot of characters, you ain’t seen nothing yet. DRRR2 introduces tons of new characters, brings back ones that were retired in the first season (Haruna and Takashi), and even shows us some that were only alluded to before (Izumii). Easily more than the first season’s entire cast. Who, by the way, still stick around. 36 episodes is just not enough to develop all of them adequately and make them all satisfying. And on top of that, some of them are given focus they don’t need. Akabayashi is given an entire flashback episode in Ten, but he’s completely inconsequential throughout the entirety of Ketsu - despite the fact that he’s in its OP. Heck, Ruri Hijiribe remains an important figure throughout Shou, but doesn’t matter at all from then on. She doesn’t even get any screentime in Ketsu except for one short scene. Rather than see the characters for who they are, you start to see them only for what faction they’re in. Where’s this guy from, who’s he working for? What he wants or what he’s like tend not to be explained.

As for the story, Izaya’s plot to throw Ikebukuro into chaos continues. Shou actually opens with a four-episode adaptation of the fourth novel in the series, which actually serves as a very nice reintroduction. It’s been years and years since the first season, and the viewer needs time to readjust to Durarara’s peculiar storytelling. It depicts a (relatively) inconsequential sequence of events told completely out of order. Our old friends get some decent action in, and a few new characters are given some time to shine. It was very welcome.

Anyway, throughout Shou and Ten, various factions gain considerable power. We meet the Toramaru gang, Mikado goes completely off his rocker, the Blue Squares come back, and even the yakuza enter the fray. These two cours create a very distinct feeling that Ikebukuro is reaching its boiling point. Shou provides a steady influx of new info and new gangs to add to the first season’s introductions, and Ten shows us how human traffickers and yakuza throw their wrenches into the youth-dominated underbelly of the city. How, then, does Ketsu tie everything together?

Poorly.

With so many complicated factions and motivations already, it tries to introduce even more characters at the latest hour, seeming to forget that it already has dozens of pre-established characters to keep track of. Remember Sloan? Yeah, me neither. He got one scene in the first episode of Ketsu. So much for his character arc. Mikage? Why should I care about her now when she’s never mattered before? Why should I get attached to Kujiragi if I’ve never seen her before? Ketsu seems to waste too much time on more setup and forget that it has a Byzantine story to bring a satisfying conclusion to. In fact, the big climax to the series starts with a minor character deciding to begin preparing for his endgame. That’s how bad it is. It’ll ignore groups of characters for entire episodes at a time. Something important happens for Celty halfway through Ketsu, but she remains ignored until the very last episode, where she acts as a shameless deus ex machina because Narita couldn’t figure out how to write himself out of the clusterfuck he had created. Remember her scene at the Dollars meeting in the first season? That was awesome. But her big scene here in Ketsu is completely disappointing. To add insult to injury, the series concludes with a perfect return to the status quo, resetting the game board completely. Everyone’s progress toward their goals (except maybe the high schoolers) goes back to zero. Really makes you wonder what you sat through 61 episodes for.

Finally, there’s the theme of twisted love. This comes across loud and clear in the first season and the LNs, but it’s hard to find in DRRR2. Shinra and Celty get a little development on this front, and Seiji and Mika reiterate some of the same points they made in the first season, but other than that, examples of this theme are few and far between. I guess there’s Kasuka and Ruri in Shou, but they only matter for a few episodes, and the assertions made by their relationship end up not mattering in the bigger scheme of the series. In this aspect, the series lost quite a bit of scheme. I foresaw Shinra’s climactic scene from halfway through Ketsu. Come on, guys.

Okay, so I’ve been ripping on this quite a bit. I love ripping on things. But I also found a great deal of enjoyment in DRRR2. Justice porn is abundant, and there’s plenty of DRRR’s special brand of humor to be found. Even the fight scenes are exciting.

My final score for Durarara!!x2 is a five out of ten.

Shou supplemented the first season decently. Ten gave a cute new perspective on Ikebukuro. But Ketsu dropped the ball. It was too focused on being more Durarara, forgetting to be a good conclusion to a long and complicated series.

That said, there’s plenty to enjoy. Shizuo and Varona had a good dynamic going on. Rokujou was a joy to watch. Walker and Erika were hilarious as usual, despite their god-awful taste in LNs.

I believe this anime would have been better if it had been longer. It needed time to develop its army of characters satisfactorily. Some were scrutinized and then thrown away, others were kinda there the whole time without mattering until their big scene in which you were supposed to care about them, and still others were tossed in at the eleventh hour. In order to make this series better without making it smaller-scale, it needed more time. But hey, this is what you get when you try to adapt eight LNs in three cours.

[wellntruly]

Deep Space Nine RECAP: 5x06

I mean obviously.

Season 5, Episode 6: ‘Trials and Tribble-ations’

A coupla suits arrive in Ops, announcing they’re from the DEPARTMENT OF TEMPORAL INVESTIGATIONS, good god yes.

Dax grins. “I guess you boys from Temporal Investigations are…always on time.”

Kira laughs, the space bureaucrats do not, and I am flipping my shit because no one told me that Deep Space Nine’s love letter to The Original Series was also their tonally perfect homage to the X-Files comedy episodes?? BUT IT SO IS. [Update: SO VERY IS]

Kira shows the suits in to Sisko’s office, where Ben, eager to share Deep Space 9’s bounty of space bevs, the glue that holds this society together, asks, “Are you sure you don’t want anything?”

“Just the truth, Captain,” Suit One responds.

Sisko:

Ok here’s some elements essential to the BRILLIANCE of the meta-tastic comedic episodes of The X-Files, which would have been in its own fifth season at this point, and clearly known and loved by the Star Trek: DS9 writers:

- suits, whose demand for explanations provides narrative framework and ballast — check, just brought those in by turbolift - outlandish supernatural plot devices — born ready - diegetic jokes — Jadzia Dax has us covered, now and always - genre jokes, always with the ~feel~ of puns even when they’re not, delivered straight BUT - with this pervading sense that everyone involved, actors fully but on some level even characters too, are playing it Extra Straight as their way of having as much fun with it as possible - basically, everyone holds their stares for one hilarious beat too long to leave space for the imaginary *wink*

It is HEAPS OF FUN because the sense of everyone being in on the joke includes us, the audience, and so we love these episodes for their sense of community and affection as much as we do for their creativity and cleverness in taking a break from form to comment on the form. These kinds of episodes are the best and bounciest and all silliness in the service of sincerity and I’M SO HAPPY and we’re only just starting, ahh, AAHH.

So anyway, with the weariness of timeline professionals whose work has worn down their capacity to boggle at the bonkers, the suits ask whether the Captain considers this a pre-destination paradox, wherein his crew was always Meant to go back in time. Sisko says no not so much.

“Good,” Suit One replies. “We hate those,” says Suit Two. LOL. Oh my lol.

They ask Sisko to explain what did happen then.

Sisko: “This may take some time.” Suit One: “…Is that a joke?” Sisko: “No.” Suit Two: “Good.” Suit One: “We hate those too.”

I am cheering.

And so Sisko begins spinning the tale. Evidently the Cardassians had some Orb they wanted to give to Bajor as a gesture of good will or whatever — a Time Orb, which would soon become highly relevant. Sisko took all of his senior officers off to fetch it with him in the Defiant, already rather tempting a TOS-style fate honestly.

On Cardassia Prime, they pick up the Orb, and also BARRY.

Whose New Yorker father is this. He hasn’t seen you in so looonng!!!

Barry hasn’t been around fellow Humans in a long time, whose “normalness” he has missed, and is deeefffinitely about to make some highly embarrassing bigoted old man comment in front of Worf. The Ren Fair duo can feel it coming but despite their eye lock are powerless stop it, and then— Barry refers to Klingons as “foul-smelling barbarians”, insincerely apologizes to Mr. Worf, and bounces with his raktajino.

Damage Control, go GO:

Miles: “I wouldn’t take it personally, Worf.” Julian: “I rather like the way you smell.” Miles: “Yeah, a sort of earthy, peaty aroma.” Julian: “With a touch of…lilac.”

“nice touch” Miles says in their mind-speech “thanks” Julian telegraphs back

It’s barely noon and Worf is already wondering once again how he ended up spending his life with these bewildering humanoid puppies. He departs to his quarters to blast Klingon opera through his brain on his Beats by Dre headphones, probably.

Later, on the bridge, O’Brien is really feeling his and Bashir’s latest goof, and laughingly encouraging Jadzia to casually mention Worf’s delicate lilac scent. She waves this off as she has her own (highly elaborate and thorough) ways of torturing him. Bless.

Then something Happens. It’s bright and shaky and when it stops Sisko’s questions of “what the hell??” do not have immediate answers. Dax knows they are hundreds of light years from where they were, and O’Brien is working on clearing up the view screen, which looks sorta like old TV static, you guys, you guys oh my god.

Tiny spare bits of TOS music starts drifting in, and I’m awash in goosebumps and giggles.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH. THE ENTERPRISE.

CREDITS! YELLING!

We return to the present with the suits, who need Sisko to get more specific about which Enterprise, as there have been…well at least five. Sisko tells them it’s THE O.G., BABY.

The suits sit back in their chairs with the look of two people who have just been told this job is gonna be twice as long and 5x as personally irritating than they had hoped. The first Enterprise, the ship of

James.

T.

Kirk.

Surprising no one, ever, in the entire galaxy past or future, Jim has the biggest file at the Department of Temporal Investigations. I am positive he would actually feel let down if that weren’t the case.

Amazingly, so far it seems this incident WASN’T Captain Kirk’s fault, but give him time. Hah, jokes, that wasn’t even intentional! [the suits shake their head at me disapprovingly]

Right now (now as in this flashback, which is itself a much larger and dangerously legit flashback), we’re blaming Barry, surprise!, who is actually a surgically-disguised Klingon named Darvin. Darvin. This is the Klingon version of ‘Kevin’ right. And yes he WAS supposed to look familiar! He was the Klingon operative from the original ‘The Trouble With Tribbles’, who poisoned that grain shipment on that space station and tried to cause the Federation all sorts of colonization set-backs.

Julian: “So you’re saying he’s a spy.”

Miles: “if you sleep with him I swear to god—”

Our present crew needs to find this DARVIN stat, and stop him before he meddles with the time-stream in an attempt to correct his past mistakes/disgrace. And they need to do it without being detected, because the last thing Sisko wants is a visit from the Space Time (Space-Time) Bureaucrats when he gets home. ~irony~

Which means they’re going in UNDERCOVER. Good news Julian, you’re gonna get to be your own fetish!

The gang starts dolling up en montage, aannd this is just the episode where I Goosebump Giggle Cry, as that sure is happening with increasing acuity!! The tricorder trill. The cuffs with the rickrack. Back to that wonderful godawful goldenrod for Command and red for Operations!!

Oh, which is a point of confusion for young Bashir.

MY HEART IS A MESS OF HAPPINESS

Sisko explains to him that in this time, Command wore gold and Operations wore red.

Dax from off-screen: “And women wore less.”

ON-SCREEN:

JADZIA <3  Way to own the legs, as your foremothers intended.

Julian remarks that he thinks he’s rather going to like history.

(Never tell me the odds but I’m actually very hoping that Noted Smirky Space Bis Julian Bashir and Jadzia Dax will be even more transparently into e’erybody in the 1960s’ 2260s, as was paradoxically kinda free to happen back then, c.f. Jim Kirk all of the time.)

Our team starts preparing to beam over and, wait hold on a sec— isn’t Lieutenant Commander Dax a science officer? Shouldn’t she be in the powder blue? Or has she shifted departments...because now that I think about it she controls the Defiant under Sisko---but no that would make her Command…. I have banned myself from looking at character pages on Memory Alpha or Wikipedia in case of spoilers, so I’m just putting this question out there for The Community, thank you in advance u are gems.

Speaking of gems:

Ohhhmy god. Cap. Turtleneck.

Anyhow, Captain—excuse me, “Lieutenant” Sisko urges everyone to avoid contact with people from this time period, lol alright, and then he, Dax, O’Brien, and Bashir beam over to the Enterprise, while Odo and Worf head down to Space Station K-7.

Sisko and Dax walk out into a corridor on the bright ‘60s Enterprise and I promptly melt with joy.

GOOSEBUMP GIGGLE CRIES

For some reason I feel like a pure, warm-hearted original Star Trek nostalgia episode is definitely best suited for Deep Space Nine, out of all the Treks that came after. DS9 is the furthest from TOS in some fundamental ways (setting, serialized story structure, etc.), but I actually feel like that gives it a much better launching point for an episode like this. It’s distant enough, both chronologically in-universe and in shape, for the characters to be all cute and fannish about their trip back in time. And DS9 is also so deeply sweet and smart and fun and STAR TREK that I want this crew to have this experience more than any other. What can I say, in my heart they’re the truest spiritual inheritors of what Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the gang started so many years ago

Anyway, over with O’Brien and Bashir…

…perhaps you can tell me the odds, because they are looking Good.

Conversely, the odds of those two managing to not get into a world of trouble (with Tribbles) are about nil, as they nearly give themselves away immediately by not knowing how to operate the turbolift. Luckily another science officer comes along and unwittingly rescues them.

Frankly, everyone probably should have quizzed Dax more on this time period, given she lived it. She’s presently reminiscing about her old tricorder, and I am quietly squeaking.

“I love classic 23rd century design,” she gushes, stroking the tricorder. “Black finish. Silver highlights.” This episode’s devotion to cherishing an old aesthetic is making my whole life. My skin is clear, my crops are flourishing…

On Station K-7, Odo STRIDES on in to the canteen, oh fantastic. He takes a seat at a table from which he will ~Reconnaissance~, and ohmygod Uhura and Chekov just walked in and MY HEART TURNED OVER.

While they slide up to the bar to get drinks, a server comes over to offer Odo a drink as well, and holy balls is this TOS look on point:

DS9’s costumes and hair & makeup departments are crushing it with this?? That lip color! That cheapass bright ribbon fabric!

Odo distractedly orders a raktajino, but whoops that’s a plot point, because the server says this is the second time someone has ordered Klingon coffee today — dun dun DUN. Station K-7 doesn’t have any Klingon beverages though, so Odo just gets a Tarkalean tea instead. We are not informed what Darvin’s second choice was, which is a surprising elision for Drink Space Nine.

Over at the bar, Uhura is getting her cuddle on with the first Tribble. (dun dun DUNN!)

Back up on the Enterprise, Dr. Bashir is scanning for Darvin and cracking jokes while Chief O’Brien is gazing nonplussed at a tangle of wires he can’t make heads nor tails of, and cracking jokes. Jokes on you two though, when another engineer shows up, sent by Scotty to repair something. Oh my god… the extent to which I would want to see Scotty and O’Brien working on a mechanical problem together is massive.

While space and time will sadly not allow me that, what I am given here is Julian taking an appreciably avant-garde approach to subterfuge, and concocting a hilariously modernist cover story about how he, a Doctor, is here with this hapless Ensign on a repair job because he’s conducting a study on work-related stress. 

Somehow, they manage to disentangle themselves from this interaction after only shutting down the power to the entire corridor once.

Over on the station, Worf finds Odo nursing his Tarkalean tea, and also a Tribble. Worf reacts to its lil warbling purr like a predator hearing a sound in the woods, and I fucking died.

TRIBBLES AND KLINGONS ARE MORTAL ENEMIES, WHICH I’D FORGOTTEN AND IS 100000X FUNNIER TO ME NOW.

I had also forgotten how goddamn wonderful the name Cyrano Jones is, shit that’s good. Anyhow, Odo has immediately embraced Tribbles, making no attempt to affect Spock-like immunity to their soothing coos. He is a humanoid now after all, and humanoids love fluffy things Worf, what’s your damage.

Worf responds that his damage is historic, and epic. “THEY WERE AN ECOLOGICAL MENACE. A PLAGUE TO BE WIPED OUT.” Odo chuckle-harrumphs and it is precious.

Then sirens ring out, on both station and ship — battle stations, something’s comin’. Sisko bops his pec to call to the Defiant and find out what; it does not work because that Starfleet insignia is just an iron-on patch. Behind him Dax makes half an effort not to laugh, and waits. Soon Ben’s like ahaha, oh yeah, and calls Kira on the communicator. Just, my heart.

Turns out it’s that Klingon ship from earlier (The Way Earlier), just here to chill, buddies, just all casual-like, getting some shore-leave here at this station in a casual chill way.

Dax lights up: she knows some of these old timey Klingons! She wants to go down to K-7 and see Koloth, oh Benjamin can we?! Sisko thinks she should probably not compromise the mission by meeting up with her old Klingon pals that SHE’S NOT ALLOWED TO PLAY WITH RIGHT NOW, OLD MAN. Dax admits he has a point. They’ll send O’Brien and Bashir over instead.

Where are O’Brien and Bashir? Getting back in a turbolift, meeting that same science officer again, hey.

n.b. her ‘60s cosmetics are also flawless

“Your flap’s open,” she mentions to Julian.

A beat. “Excuse me?” he asks, while O’Brien just peers on over to check Julian’s fly.

She’s actually referring to the flap on his tricorder, which drains the power if it’s left open. But maybe she could be referring to his fly if he plays his cards right, high-oh. As she gets off the lift, Science Gal tells Julian her name is Lieutenant Watley, and she’ll be coming in for her physical tomorrow Doctor, if ya know what I mean. No actually really a physical. AND MORE.

Miles ribs Julian by informing him Lieutenant Watley is just using Julian to get to him. Julian informs Miles he thinks he was just hit on by his great-grandmother. I inform my housemate I was just laughing so much because of a really good punchline in the show I was watching.

I manage to half-muffle my shouts at what follows, but it’s a near thing. Because in a wild turn, Julian’s memory of his Elementary Temporal Mechanics class collides with the fact that no one ever knew his great-grandfather, and now his great-grandmother definitely wants to jump him — is he to be his own great-grandfather???

Remarkably, I’d made that earlier joke about Julian getting to be his own fetish before we ever got to this Oedipus complex of a Grandfather Paradox.

Julian, all keyed up: “If I don’t meet with her tomorrow, I may never be born!!!” Miles: “HOW DID THIS GET SO BANANAS SO QUICKLY.”

Idk Miles, everything TOS touches turns to porn tropes, and we were overdue for a new variation of Fuck Or Die?

Elsewhere on the Enterprise, it’s time.

Walk in to the club like whattup Tarra just passed out a little bit

Jadzia empathizes, currently trying to ~play it cool~ while Benjamin attempts to echo-locate Darvin or whatever, but really she’s just keeping up a steady stream of whispered “OMG OMG OMG”s

I have not mentioned yet that the integrative green screen work in this episode is phenomenal. I’m pretty sure I don’t remotely care what they had to drop in order to budget for the post on this one.

Because I always forget I AM the odds, Dax starts effusing about how handsome he is in person, how much she likes his eyes… Fiddling with a control panel for reals this time, Sisko just remarks distractedly that yes no one would kick that Captain Kirk out of bed for eating crackers. Oh no Benjamin, Dax corrects him, SPOCK.

“alright where’s the hottie”

Evidently agreeing that Spock’s allure poses a risk to their secret mission, Benjamin wheels Jadzia on out of there. Hahaha, yay.

Honestly, this plot is so fun and right for Dax, because of COURSE she wants to meet everyone — she’s a joined Trill! She loves people and engaging and EXPERIENCES. I love that they’ve capitalized on this facet of her character to let her represent our own AAH I JUST WANT TO RUN OVER THERE AND DO A HUG ON THEM impulses. “I remember this time,” Dax explains to Sisko, voice full of affection. “I lived in this time. And it’s hard to not want to be a part of it again.” Oh girl I know, I know.

Back over on K-7, Odo and Worf are still waiting around in the canteen for the person who ordered the raktajino to return, because heavens forbid a DS9 plot doesn’t just revolve around BEVERAGE PREFERENCES. I’ve actually considered creating a #Drink Space Nine tag to collect all this, but lbr --- it would show up on the majority of posts.

Bashir and O’Brien arrive to help (“help”) and then in comes Scotty, Chekov, and that other guy, whom O’Brien mistakes for Kirk. Ok...I get how the Command gold could fool you, but check the rank stripes on the cuff, Chief!

We’ve also added a group of Klingons to the mix, whom, may we remind you, looked like this in The Original Series:

Worf just goes, “It is a long story. We do not discuss it with outsiders.” and DOESN’T ELABORATE. I am losing it.

At the Enterprise table, that one Klingon has wandered over to poke at them. Scotty is Handling It. God I still want a Scotland/Ireland team-up so badly….

Meanwhile, Julian is still unconvinced this other bloke is Kirk, wondering why he’d be wearing Lieutenant stripes. THANK U. Let’s hope Bashir doesn’t actually need to sex himself into existence because apparently we could use someone of his observational acumen.

Also they have definitely given Siddig the James Doohan hair. Also I love Scotty so much omfg.

Anyway the Klingon dares to insult the Enterprise, just as before, and will naturally need to get walloped for that slight. Obvs our guys jump into the fray, because seriously HOW DARE. Worf is the rumble MVP. Miles is doing ok but also gets socked in the gut. Julian, true to form, punches someone in a way that mostly seems to injure himself.

In the kerfuffle, Odo and Worf spy Darvin, and race off after him. O’Brien and Bashir are not so quick, and get taken in by a Starfleet CO for rabble-rousing.

Suit: “So, your men were arrested.” Sisko: “That’s right. But instead of being taken to the brig, they were brought in for questioning.” Me: “Oh no.”

OH YES

At least Miles now knows the guy questioning him is undoubtedly James Kirk! On the other hand, HE IS BEING QUESTIONED BY JAMES KIRK. ~Aah~

Miles claims he knows nothing, and as no one in the line is going to sell out Scotty (everyone: I cannae!), Kirk sends them all off to their quarters to look at their lives, look at their choices.

O’Brien and Bashir scamper off, giggling over how Miles lied to Captain Kirk, and then Julian steps on a Tribble. “Oh I’m sorry about that, little fellow,” he coos at it, scooping it up in his arms.

At this point I’m at this sort of perpetual Hands Thrown Up In the Air place where I just have my hands kinda hovering mid-level at all times.

Elsewhere, Odo and Worf have apprehended Darvin, because they rock a mission as well as they do their cargo pocket epaulettes. Darvin does the villain-y It’s Too Late! thing, and hints that Kirk will die in a manner rich with poetic justice.

What the fuck, is he gonna kill Kirk with a Tribble?

Immediate next scene: Sisko: “He put a bomb in a Tribble??!”

And so that is how this plot becomes Find One Among the Multiplying Millions, a classic narrative design, so satisfying, such an enjoyable image of everyone burrowing through piles of trilling fuzz balls beeping mini computers at them.

Hoping they might be able to Control-F this situation, Sisko and Dax sneak onto the bridge to use whatever master computer capabilities are up there. Jadzia manages to have exactly the sort of cute brief silent exchange with Kirk that is my own personal high-water mark for celebrity encounters, good work babe. Sisko maybe does not trust himself with something so casual and so keeps his eyes on those fabulous light-up Mancala stones that are the TOS computer buttons.

Kirk then calls Dr. McCoy to the bridge, and I made a NOISE, a SMALL CRY. Bring me McCoy oh my god I miss him so much, where is my Bones.

THERE HE IS

Dax has sidled over to Sisko to confer about their scan, and also about the fact that SHE RECOGNIZES BONES from her host before Curzon.

“I had a feeling he’d become a doctor,” Jadzia muses. “He had the hands of a surgeon.”

[stands up]

[sits back down]

[just falls over for a while]

LEONARD. Leonard. I love this, I love you. God this is some fantastic canonical information... Oh I think I just need to laugh happily for a while?

THE HANDS OF A SURGEON

Ok, where were we. Oh, Dax and Sisko have found no explosives on the Enterprise, so this Bomb Trill must be on the station.

Listen they are LOOKING. The air is literally filled with flying Tribbles.

In the meantime, Dax and Sisko decide to just tail Kirk, as presumedly Davin will have placed the explosive somewhere he knows the Captain will go. He’s currently griping with Spock in the mess hall, and I’m remembering that part of what I loved so much about this episode was how Jim was So Done the whole time. ‘The Trouble With Tribbles’ really is so good...

Scotty comes in bearing a bountiful bundle of Tribbles in his strong Scottish arms, and informs the Captain that they have gotten into everything, every compartment. Sisko and Dax suddenly know where the bomb is: in the grain storage. They rush off to go dive into a Tribble pile, which, honestly #dreams.

Kirk and Spock arrive outside the compartment, and now it’s a race against time (lol). At one point Spock repeats the same math Dax had rattled off earlier about how many millions of Tribbles they probably have on their hands by now, and she just throws this bright shrug at Benjamin like “♡ soulmates ♡”

So Done I tell ya

But what’s not done: Kirk’s own timeline, which is preserved when Sisko finds the explosive Tribble, and has Kira beam it out into open space. Then Kira, who has figured out how to use the Time Orb (you’ve sure been busy darling!), sends the Defiant and its crew back to their present. Whew.

The suits are relieved to hear that that was it.

“Well, not exactly,” Sisko allows, and the suits wearily sit back in their chairs again. Turns out Bashir did need to bone down with Lieutenant Watley and become his own great-grandfather. Who’d have thought! So now they’re down a medical officer.

No what Sisko actually tells them is that before he left the Enterprise, HE TOTALLY TALKED TO CAPTAIN KIRK, HAH. Ben gave him a duty roster to sign, and used this opportunity to tell him it was an honor to serve with him, adorable. Sisko literally spreads his arms in front of the Space-Time Bureaucrats like GO ON, REPRIMAND ME, IT WAS WORTH IT.

Suit One admits that it totally was, high five, and Suit Two cannot effing believe this. Just, so disappointed in both them.

In fact, there is more he could have been disappointed about, if he’d happened to visit the Promenade before he left the station.

Omg tell me you didn’t end up with—

You did.

Oh what a beautiful episode.

[Tarra Treks]  [Extra Special DS9 Recaps]

[williamsjoan]

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Ben Walker’s Top 10

As 2018 comes to a close, DualShockers and our staff are reflecting on this year’s batch of games and what were their personal highlights within the last year. Unlike the official Game of the Year 2018 awards for DualShockers, there are little-to-no-rules on our individual Top 10 posts. For instance, any game — not just 2018 releases — can be considered.

2018. Seriously, what a year for gaming. I can’t remember the last time I actually had this many games to juggle into the top 3. When Sony blew their load at E3 2016, it was one of their best conferences and, incidentally, most of those games released this year, like God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man. I didn’t jump on the Nintendo Switch hype until August of this year, and honestly, I’ve barely used it because of all the other titles shining instead.

I don’t usually compile lists in my head of ten games because only a select few titles really keep my enthusiasm by the end of the year. However, when thinking about my backlog and the games that did come out this year, it reignited a spark in me that felt these games needed recognizing. Here are my Top 10 games for 2018:

10. Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5 ranks at the beginning of my list for Game of the Year and it barely made it onto here. Let me tell you a story of how I even came to purchase this title. I’m a bad spender – give me money, it’s gone in a week or two. I had money around the time that Far Cry 5 was about to release and I thought “meh, why not” and pre-ordered the game. It’s a bad habit; help me. In doing so, I jumped blindly into a series which I had never really touched other than playing Far Cry 4 and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon at a friend’s house in the previous years.

Needless to say, Far Cry 5 was a huge change from its predecessors – and I’m not sure I liked it. At the start of the game, it’s quite fun when you begin to learn about the cult and story of the world you’ve been dropped into. It had great potential from the get-go, with a cool concept. However, Ubisoft wasn’t the best at executing that later on down the line.

I’ll be honest – I didn’t finish the game because I lost motivation to do so. Either way, a game has its faults but can also be quite fun. I did have a bit of a blast in co-op free roam and running around this unique open world. As is with Far Cry games, I loved the times where wild animals would appear out of nowhere and help me attack NPCs. I adored Boomer and all of the other companions, but that’s about it.

Check out the DualShockers review of Far Cry 5.

9. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Okay, this was a huge change for Call of Duty, at least in the sense that they barely changed any features from previous games. Black Ops 4 removed single-player, one of the series’ best elements, and replaced it with Blackout – an awful attempt at battle royale. That said, the multiplayer is surprisingly fun with its new additions such as manually-regenerating health, specialist-based combat, improved mobility and controls, and the change in game-modes.

It’s nice to see a Call of Duty game be fun again, and actually feel somewhat balanced. Blackout is another story – that mode absolutely sucks. Zombies becomes more and more complicated every year, so much so that I don’t feel like it’s a “casual mode” anymore. All I want is for me and my friends to jump into zombies and see how long we last, but the maps are too convoluted and you have to do a crap ton of objectives just to unlock the better weapons. I want Zombies from the original Black Ops back.

Either way, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (or IIII if you want to be difficult) takes players on a good journey into the lands of playing online. In short, we don’t care if you want to play a story – fight these kids instead. At least they actually made it fun unlike Fallout 76.

Check out the DualShockers review of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

8. Deltarune

This incredibly good spin-off to my personal Game of the Year from 2015, Undertale, is just part one of a possible series, and I’m super excited. We’re finally into that part of the list where I stop half-criticizing games and instead showcase how bloody good some of them are. Deltarune was a fantastic revisit to the world of Undertale with vital mechanic changes, a unique story, and an all-new cast of characters mixed with reused ones.

Lancer’s design is hilarious; I love the thought of a chubby spade who rides a bicycle. I won’t reveal any of the plot details, because if you’ve played Undertale but not Deltarune you have to go jump into it right now. It’s a blast, and you should be playing it. If not, go play Undertale then this game. I’ll be waiting. I’d put this game as number 1 if so many amazing AAA games didn’t exist. Let’s get into those now.

7. Fortnite

Image by @ikcatcher

Yes, Fortnite is on my Top 10 list. No, I have no regrets. I’m putting it on this list less because of it being a good game (it’s pretty good, to be honest) but more because of the game’s significance this year and the impact it made on my life. I played Fortnite on the day they released the Battle Royale mode last year, purely because consoles (at the time) didn’t have a battle royale game due to PUBG being on PC originally. I found that it was decent, but never would I have imagined the absolute influence it would gain.

Aside from becoming the most popular video game on the planet, Fortnite actually helped me expand on my career this year. I started off the year at various other outlets before eventually branching out into writing about Fortnite. Writing about this game actually allowed me to open up my experiences in games writing, and I actually ended up here at DualShockers because of it. I’m happy at the journey this game allowed me to take, and the memories I’ll have because of it. As much as it can suck sometimes waking up early in the morning to write about patch notes, it gives me the motivation to keep going and not just lay in bed all day. Thank you, Fortnite. You can suck it if you blindly hate this game. That’s my two cents.

6. Detroit: Become Human

“Oh no,” you say: we’re entering Sony territory – and with a bang, as one of the most gorgeous games of this year is Detroit: Become Human. Detroit was a huge step forward from the previous titles from Quantic Dream and David Cage, and a game where choices actually changed the story. From the days of Telltale Games and Life is Strange emerges a game where the choices you make surprisingly matter, and the game lets you view what could’ve happened instead. I loved when I checked the choice map at the end of a scene and realized everything that mattered. Except for saving that goldfish at the start – that made no difference whatsoever.

That’s also not to mention how absolutely mind-bogglingly gorgeous this game is. The photorealistic visuals are mind-blowing when accompanied by those motion-capture performances of a lifetime. The star-studded cast of Bryan Dechart, Clancy Brown, Valorie Curry, Jesse Williams, and more perfectly brings each and every character to life to tell an enriched story of a very possible near-future. It’s a visually-appealing masterpiece.

Check out the DualShockers review of Detroit: Become Human.

5. Tetris Effect

Tetris Effect is a gem of an experience. With incredible, entrancing visuals that make you feel like you’re in either the next Star Wars combined with a mixture of audio that flies around your brain and sucks you into the dreamscape, Tetris Effect is a masterpiece. Each movement subtly synchronizes itself with the music playing in the background, with the BPM adapting to your placements and rotations. For something as simple as Tetris, this game really puts an Effect on you.

It’s also extremely difficult. As someone who had never played video games would say, it’s the Dark Souls of puzzle games. I should probably change the difficulty, to be honest. Either way, I’m having a blast with this game; I wouldn’t even call it a game – but an auditory and visual experience. Go play it.

Check out the DualShockers review of Tetris Effect.

4. A Way Out

A Way Out was such a good game, and a refreshing take on the co-op genre. I absolutely adore co-operative games, especially those in which me and a single friend can complete a campaign. This game from Hazelight Studios was an absolute blast of a time, with minigames in-between story elements such as Connect Four or Baseball being such a nice way to take a break from the story and just have fun. Me and my co-operative partner beat the game in a single sitting with how much we adored it.

I think I’ll forever keep coming back to A Way Out with new friends just to see their reactions to each element of this short, but sweet experience. The fact that it is developed for couch co-op but also allows anyone with a copy to invite their friend to play for free is something I absolutely admire, and Josef Fares’ dream came together extremely well. The game sold well, which I love, and I hope to see more out of this genre of video games. What a title.

Check out the DualShockers review of A Way Out.

3. Marvel’s Spider-Man

Marvel’s Spider-Man is the best superhero video game of all time. Sorry to the Batman: Arkham games, I love you – but this game is just so good. I’m kinda sad that it got snubbed at this year’s The Game Awards ceremony, losing to the next two games on my list (spoiler alert)…and also got snubbed at our own Awards ceremony. Boy, oh boy, this game got pushed under the rug.

The combat is magnificent when combined with all of the different variations of movements that the player can create; it is an utterly satisfying experience, one in which I keep coming back to. It’s rare that an open world game can keep my attention for so long (I have the attention span of a fetus), and Marvel’s Spider-Man achieves that magnificently. Well played, Insomniac Games.

Check out the DualShockers review of Marvel’s Spider-Man.

2. God of War

God of War is a masterpiece; a project with the absolute intent of demolishing any of its competition Kratos-style. The game was my first foray into the God of War series, and playing the original remastered trilogy makes me just wanna go back to the new one. It’s such a damn good game that if I went into everything amazing about it, then this article would never be finished.

The gameplay, the story, the music, the tone, the setting, the atmosphere, and everything – just everything about God of War is an absolute delight. My issue is that the game ended way too early. I absolutely cannot wait for the next installment. Bring it, Sony Santa Monica.

Check out the DualShockers review of God of War.

1. Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 brings something new to the table; not in the sense of just being a fresh take on the open-world genre, but being a revolutionary landmark in the history of video games. Ever since the release of the original Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games has worked tirelessly on this project – controversially so, after the senior writers stated that they worked 100-hour weeks.

If you’re reading through each and every staff member’s Game of the Year lists, it’s pretty likely that most, if not almost all of them will include both God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 at the forefront (assuming they played them). I’m falling straight into that trend – but you have to admit that there is an astonishing reason behind it. Both of these games are absolute masterworks, built detail-by-detail in order to transcend the normal experience of an open world game.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a thrill to play, and quite frankly is one of the greatest video games ever made.

Check out the DualShockers review of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Check out the other DualShockers’ staff Top 10 lists and our official Game of the Year Awards:

December 17: DualShockers Game of the Year Awards 2018 December 18: Lou Contaldi, Editor in Chief // Logan Moore, Reviews Editor December 19: Ryan Meitzler, Features Editor // Tomas Franzese, News Editor December 20: Scott Meaney, Community Director December 21: Reinhold Hoffmann, Community Manager // Ben Bayliss, Staff Writer December 22: Ben Walker, Staff Writer // Chris Compendio, Staff Writer December 23: Eoghan Murphy, Staff Writer // Grant Huff, Staff Writer December 26: Iyane Agossah, Staff Writer // Jordan Boyd, Staff Writer December 27: Max Roberts, Staff Writer // Michael Ruiz, Staff Writer  December 28: Noah Buttner, Staff Writer // Rachael Fiddis, Staff Writer  December 29: Steven Santana, Staff Writer // Tanner Pierce, Staff Writer December 30: Travis Verbil, Staff Writer // Zack Potter, Staff Writer

The post DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Ben Walker’s Top 10 by Ben Walker appeared first on DualShockers.

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Ben Walker’s Top 10 published first on https://timloewe.tumblr.com/

[twodeadchicks]

MEL'S STUFF AND THANGS TO SURVIVE YOUR FIRST WALKER STALKER CON

As many of you already know, we will be attending Walker Stalker Nashville this year. This will be my third Walker Stalker Convention and I think it’s safe to say I’m addicted. I love Walker Stalker the way I love Richonne. And y'all know how much of a Richonne shipper I am so that's a whole lot of love.  Though you can definitely catch much of the cast at other conventions, Walker Stalker's focus is all things TWD. So here's a list of a few thaaangs to help you survive your first Walker Stalker Convention. [caption id="attachment_21709" align="alignright" width="169"] If you want to have a moment like this, make sure to attend the Atlanta or London WSC.[/caption] -Know what your ticket gets you. There are 4 ticket levels at varying price points available for WSC: General Admission, VIP, Gold, and Platinum. Though Gold and Platinum certainly come with their perks, they also come with a higher price tag. Let me let you in on a little secret. With the right planning, you can likely still achieve many of your WSC dreams with a VIP or GA ticket. Additionally, now that WSC has implemented pre paying for autographs for big names like Norman Reedus, that helps to reduce your wait times. If you have general admission and all you want in the world is to stand next to Norman for 5 seconds and breathe in his rugged beauty, purchase a photo op. Also, beware that Andrew Lincoln typically only attends the Atlanta and London conventions. -Pour some Bisquick and do some good! Make sure to bring some Bisquick or another nonperishable item to Michael Cudlitz's booth for his food drive. Though Bisquick is a popular items to bring, you can also bring things like fruit juice boxes and canned vegetables. -Maybe don't wear the stilettos.  You will be standing in line a lot. There’s a line to get in. A line for photo ops. A line for autographs. A line for food. A line for the bathroom. You get the picture. Those 6 inch stilettos may make you stand tall next to Jeffrey Dean Morgan, but they will make your life miserable. Plan accordingly. -Cash me outside. But for real. Get your cash from anywhere but the ATM inside the convention center to avoid hefty fees. Remember, all autographs and table photos are cash only. Prices vary by attendee so come with more than you think you need. Because when you see that Ross Marquand will make a video for you while doing a Matthew McConaughey impression you are gonna give the WSC gods all your money. [caption id="attachment_21703" align="alignleft" width="223"] Selfies with Josh McDermitt are the BEST![/caption]  -You have to take at least one table selfie. My vote is always with either Josh McDermitt or Michael Cudlitz. Both have a penchant for taking hilarious selfies and taking time with their fans. Also, they give the best hugs. Don't take my word for it. DO IT! -Pack snacks like you're preparing for the apocalypse. Because you never know if the lines for refreshments will be insane/if the zombie plague might occur while you’re waiting in line for a $15 sandwich. And if it does happen, you already have a great talking point for convincing Steven Yeun to join your very own Survivors Club. [caption id="attachment_21696" align="alignright" width="170"] Norman Reedus meeting and greeting fans at WSC Atlanta 2016[/caption] -Thou shalt not bite Norman Reedus. Or kiss, or grope, etc, etc. It’s an emotional moment. I get it. ;) You’ve been planning your wedding to Norman since he had the dark emo hair in season 4. But so has every other female in the building. So let’s keep the honeymooning in our heads and hide our crazy, k? -Meet and greets are short. Notice this is called a Meet and Greet. Not a Meet and Bare Your Soul for half an hour. Some guests are able to take more time with their fans. However guests like Melissa McBride who are there for one day only, will likely move very quickly. If there is someone you really want to meet, hit their line first. Prepare your heart with one thing you really want to say to them. Introduce yourself. Say hi. They are people too. They just happen to be really really really cool people. [caption id="attachment_21689" align="alignleft" width="300"] Kia during her magical photo op with Danai Gurira[/caption] -Photo Ops are fast. Read that sentence again. Your photo op is now over. That’s how fast it is. This is not a meet and greet. Don’t even think about asking for an autograph. Many guests do welcome fans to have fun with their photo ops and many choose to pose creatively. If you have something special in mind, be prepared to tell the celebrity quickly or show them a photo on your phone as an example. Then throw that phone down FAST. I cannot reiterate this enough, guys. Be prepared to move quickly. Have everything off of you that you don’t want in the picture and place it on the table in the photo op area. Also, find out ahead of time if the guest you want to take a picture with allows cosplay weapons if that’s something you are in to. Some guests do not allow anything resembling a weapon. Please be respectful of their boundaries! [caption id="attachment_21702" align="alignright" width="200"] 90s soap opera or photo op with Jeffrey Dean Morgan?[/caption] -Take in a panel!  Depending on who you want to meet/how many folks you want to meet, you can spend several hours of your day in line. But one of the great things about WSC is getting to take in the panels. Cast members take fan questions and give you a behind the scenes look at The Walking Dead. -Do a lap around the convention floor and visit the vendors. There are so many! I’m not just talking about buying t shirts, though you can certainly find some great ones. Make sure to check out the Zombie Charm School booth where you can take photos with some of the best TWD cosplayers around including The Daryl Dude. [caption id="attachment_21693" align="alignleft" width="225"] Kia and the cutest little Carol cosplayer ever[/caption] -Dress to impress! Cosplayers are one of my favorite parts about convention life. I have seen some amazing ones. Some of my favorites include the little kiddos dressed like our favorite survivors. -Download the Walker Stalker Con app. From there you can access the full schedule of events and plan your days accordingly. Here's the thing. If you don't have anything you are dying to accomplish, by all means, be spontaneous and do everything on the fly! In my experience though, you will enjoy yourself more if you have at least some kind of loose plan. -Make new friends! This is without a doubt my favorite part of the whole thang. I met my first WSC friend while standing in line to meet Tom Payne in Nashville in 2016. We then had lunch and discussed our love for our favorite show. Cindy is now one of my favorite people on the planet. There is a whole community of fans out there that is just as obsessed as we are. The Walking Dead fandom is one of the most loyal. Not just to the show and its cast, but to each other. I have made so many beautiful friends because of this show and this convention that I will be a WSC devotee for as long as they continue to have them. For a complete list of guests attending WSC Nashville, click here. For venue information click here. For hotel information, click here. You may also want to check out the FAQ on their website. For information regarding photo ops, visit Celeb Photo Ops.      

[ballerinadancerindisguise]

My 2nd adventure at #ONCEVAN

So on March 24th to March 26th, 2017 I was a volunteer staff member for Creation Entertainment’s #OUATVAN convention in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. When you volunteer for a Creation Entertainment convention you get a couple perks, one is free admission to the show (well, that’s a no brainer.) The second is free autographs of all of the actors/ celebrities appearing that weekend (total score!!) and the third.. one free photo op per day you work. So, I was given three free ops from the start, I chose Gil McKInney (what a cutie!! And great at Karaoke!!); Beverly Elliot (how much I love Granny, it’s ridiculous) and Karen David (I love Princess Isabella (Galavant) and I originally chose Elliot Knight but his work prevented him from being there.. colour me sad.. but Karen’s an excellent substitution.) I also because I worked panels, got to watch the panels (but if you want spoilers, find a panel on youtube, I’m not sharing that much.. wink wink..) But mid day one after Mr Adam Croasdell (totally hottie, Hook’s dad…) finished his photo ops, I realized I could have another photo op for free. I found my supervisor after my fellow volunteers in my area had a conversation.. Michael or Lee, Sorry Michael (you are absolutely absolutely lovely… but..) I picked Lee. ‘ello Poppet! Wins the day. So that was my free ops: Beverly, Gil, Karen and Lee. I paid for two ops … Jennifer Morrison (my favourite actress of course) and Captain Swan themselves.. Colin O’Donoghue and Jennifer Morrison.). The price tag was hefty ($344 CAN for the two ops, but I didn’t cry that much when my credit card bill came in because.. it’s fricking Captain Swan.. you’d do it too..)

So anyways, my volunteer experience… On Thursday I came into town and met my friend Meagan at the airport. We were both volunteering. Thursday night we worked Merchandise table with a girl named Dawn who was selling her tee shirts, bags, and mugs. I bought my Hooked shirt from her. Great lady, nice stuff. I got to meet some wonderful fans during pre-registration. The fans are the best thing after the cast being there, I adore meeting other fans.. they are just so wonderful. Friday came around and we met our supervisor Jackie who was great. We got our volunteer shirts and free coffee and doughnuts (score!!) On Friday, I worked Registration. Volunteers Martin and Michelle showed me the ropes.. I volunteered last year but did Panel doors.. so Martin showed me tricks to get registration done super quick. Working registration was a lot of fun but had some icing on that cake.. Us at registration got a little behind the scenes that no one else gets.. For one, Michael Coleman, our Happy, visited us many times that day and I got to talk to him about his shirts.. He wore a shirt that said Heigh Ho on the back (kept it on for Karaoke that night), and he changed shirts like three times. He was very bubbly, funny and you know, happy. His daughters and wife came into the show as well. We put wristbands on his daughters. His oldest changed into a Snow White Costume and he walked around holding her hand. I swear it was the best thing that day.. until Karaoke… that is. I heard that he brought her onto stage with him as he was the MC. But I didn’t see it happen. His baby girl wore the cutest little hair bow, I go bonkers over cute baby accessories, they are too cute. His wife was super nice, and the whole family is ridiculously blonde, blue eyed and adorable. The second behind the scenes we got was when Chris Gauthier came up (super nice guy btw) and I smiled and said Hi, how are you and he goes Great, and how are you? I go great, thank you!  And he asked for his table as he popped in to the show for the day. Chris is actually a local actor (raised in BC) and was doing an autograph table. He was very warm and bubbly every time he walked by me and chatted with me. He also did photos with fans, but I didn’t think to ask.. Oops. On Friday I had my photo op with Gil McKinney, (he plays Prince Eric.) He was very warm. When I went up, I said Hi, I’m Sarah and he had his arms posed to take me into a hug, so all I had to do was step into them and hug him back. Hug, smile for camera, snap and done and of course the thank you. Easy smeasy. Friday after dinner, Meagan and I hit Karaoke. We got front row centre but since my cousin showed up as well, I moved into the second row with him and Meagan was in front of me. Sadly my camera took lousy photos but I did get a couple videos. The Karaoke started off with Chris, Raphael, Michael and Adam singing (OMG!) Backstreet Boys “I want it that way..” Way to ruin me guys, I love that song.. the only way it would have been better is if Gil sang too.. Wow! Then Beverly and Karen came out and sang Girls Just wanna have fun. It was an absolute treat. That’s when they opened it up to the fans who signed up. I swear Michael danced or sang along with almost every fan that came up. He has some moves and he was seriously cracking me up the entire time. Beverly sang some solos (she’s fantastic,) as did Gil. The best parts besides Michael’s dancing, and those two fantastic songs, was when they brought a little girl onto the stage with them and sang the time of your life. And Adam moves to the end and we are of course right where Karen came to run to jump into Adam’s arms for the life. But you see his face go oh no and she runs back and then he goes okay, and puts his hands out. They literally did the Time of Your Life lift totally improvised and it was perfect. I got a photo of it on my IG but its not the best (as I said, crappy camera!) Another great moment was when a fan starred singing Part of your world and I think its the part where she sings But who cares, no big deal, I want more.. You see Gil slip onto stage, And he starts mimicking the song in pantomime and strutting a bit. I was laughing the entire time while video taping it. (Video also on my IG). And my video camera breaks off and he starts singing along with her. But, the best best best (yes I needed three bests for this) part was when Sarah McCulloch *you must know her as Sarah the leaf lady*, came onto the stage, and of course the crowd goes wild. She’s head banging, air guitaring, God the woman is hilarious. She even ran down to front row and we smacked her hand and she did fist pumps “yeah!!”. Best thing ever. I got back to the hotel that night with cheeks that hurt. But at the end, they called us volunteers to the stage (traumatizing I know) and had us sing Be our Guest. I literally forgot the middle part and couldn’t see the screen as it was at an angle.. so I’m right across the angle from Karen and was using her for the words. OOPS, I know the first two verses and the last one but the rest just gravitated from my memory the second I get to stage.. But then Karen started doing a rockettes, sadly the girl next to me wouldn’t join in and kind of kicked me while we were doing it but hey, i sang on stage with Beverly and Karen.. boo yah! Anways.. Saturday I was a floater and I did gold panel doors (Jen and Colin’s panel), Merchandise table and panel crowd control. (The job I kept for the rest of the weekend..) I got to watch Jen and Colin’s second panel. He was very bashful. I could sense his social anxiety was getting the best of him (poor guy). He kept displaying his nervous ticks throughout the panel (Scratching his ear, shifting in his seat, etc) and Jen probably picked up on this as their panel was together and she answered most of the questions. They have a really good relationship, you could see their bond showing through on stage. I loved that. I did see parts of Karen and Keegan’s panel but I was moving around a lot. Saturday I got my photo ops with Lee,Jen and Colin, Jen alone and Karen, One of the perks of volunteering is that you get to be in the line right after the VIP people.. For Lee, it was easy, I went up and said Hello and introduced myself, gave him a hug and took the photo. Easy as pie. Then I had Jen and Colin duo. I would have preferred to meet Jen alone first but oh well. When I was in line for the duo op, there was a lot of tension in the room and for some reason the volunteers were not very nice (very rude…) As you may or may not know, Colin broke his foot very recently. For his solo photo ops, he was sitting on a stool for them. So Jen and Colin’s photo op, he’s on the stool. Jen came up and put her arm on his shoulder with her hand on her cheek.. super cute moment, I wish I could have taken a photo of that.. Jen then took her puppy Ava in her arms as the dog came into the room with her. Then the photographer said something to her and she gave Ava to the dog handler. The VIP girls (absolutely fabulous ladies) all went up and then they brought in a girl in a wheelchair. When she came to the front of the line, Colin removed the stool hobbling over to the photographer to give it to him and then limped back to the x. *OH MY GOD, the face he made and how he hobbled broke my heart..* And from that point on he did his photos standing up. When I got to the front 6 people later, they already configured a pose where Colin barely had to move. I was pushed into place ( I said they were rude, didn’t i?) And then I said Hi to Jen and Colin. Jen said a very bubbly hi back and pulled me into the pose for the camera. They both wrapped their arms around me and we did the photo. Then as the camera snapped, I looked at both of them, Colin, then Jen and said thank you so much. And Jen smiled and said You are so welcome. (Colin was very tired and didn’t say anything or I just didn’t hear him say anything).  And then I stepped out of the x and moved to the side. I saw Ava though. And moved to the corner of the room and said Ava? And her handler said yes. And I came a little closer and called “Ava” and she jumped up and almost ran towards me but a rude volunteer came over and told me in a more nice way than saying the words but GET OUT. I said to her, I’m just saying hello to the dog and she said I don’t care, you have to go. So I rolled my eyes at her and then grabbed my bag and left. But by the time I got out I was so peeved. First one volunteer keeps yelling at us standing in line. Then she pushes me at Jen. And then her co-volunteer tells me to get out. I paid so much money for that photo.. ugh. I steamed for about 15 minutes.. Thank god the photo itself was fantastic. Props to Christopher the photographer who was very professional and fantastic. I got my Jen and Karen ops after. First Jen, where it was a bit calmer in the photo op room. I walked up to her and said, Hi, I’m Sarah and she smiled, I give her a hug because I adore her. And then I said I’m a big fan, thank you, and she said thank you so much. And then I step aside and leave. I love my photo with Jen too. She was very warm, bubbly and kind. She gives good hugs. :) The last photo of the day was Karen. I love Karen. So me, and a fan waiting in line Mikayla, are both big Galavant fans. So we started singing It’s a Good Day to Die right in the Photo Op room. I have no idea if Karen noticed. Oh well. But as I get up to the front. I said Hi, I’m Sarah. She smiled at me. So I said “I know you are Jasmine on Once” (she goes okay, so serious) and I continue “But I love Isabella” (Cue big grin). She gives me a hug and of course I hug her back. Cue Photo. Then I tell her” It’s a good die to die, but I forgot my spatula.” She then has her fake serious face on and points her finger at me and goes “next time” in a deep voice. And I go “I will,” very seriously. And she does it again with her eye brows furrowed.. “Next time.” And then we both laugh and I said but of course.  And then I move out of the spot and she meets the next person. Absolutely lovely. I kind of squashed her in the photo, but she liked my tweet of our photo, so I think we’re good. Saturday night, I didn’t have to do autograph lines, so I waited while Meagan, lucky Meagan did Gil’s autograph line. He showed up 20 minutes late, only had ten people in line, but when he started to leave, a group of girls came up and hugged him. So I went up and said that I thought he was wonderful on stage. He takes my hand and squeezes it (after a hug and high five at karaoke, this is still a big deal people!!!), and says thank you with a smile. Aww, he’ll win me over so easy, that man. Sunday came in much too early. We got to the hotel at 8:15 am. I was put on Panel Crowd control all day Sunday. I got to watch Lana and Bex’s gold panel and regular panel. During Bex’s panels, she spent the time making seriously cheeky comments that made us laugh so hard. Her expressions are both adorable and comical and she is just so wonderful on stage. During Lana’s gold panel, she came out with her cell phone and took a photo of the crowd. I might be in the photo, but I haven’t found it online yet. She was very passionate and absolutely loves her fans. She came to the edge of the stage when a little girl wanted to ask a question, and crouched down low to talk to her. She just has such a big heart. And at the end of her gold panel, she snuck back stage and stole a bowl of chocolate kisses for the cast and threw them to the fans. She said I can’t give you all kisses, so I can give you chocolate kisses. So she kept throwing the kisses out until she ran out. But there was two children in the audience, that came up, and she had them come to the front, and she gave them each a kiss and some goldfish crackers. She did talk about how playing multiple personalities at once is very challenging. She was a delight. Beverly’s panel was lovely. She refused to sit down. She would walk up and down the stage talking to the fans. If the question was asked on the left side, she was standing on the left side, talking straight to the asker, and the same for the right side. And when Leslie (a lovely lady I met during autograph session later), said it was her birthday, she asked everyone to sing happy birthday to Leslie and then hugged her. Aww. Emilie’s panel was sweet. Lee introduced her as the sweetest girl in the world. She is so tiny that Lee had to help her onto the stool. (Aww!!). And she was just very sweet on stage. Adam Horowitz snuck in during her panel so I got a little distracted. He came by the back and I said hi, he returned the hi and continued to walk around the back. Then I had to pee, so I grabbed my bag, got a stand in for me, and went to go outside. I passed him on the way out and said Hi, I love Once and I loved Lost. He smiled and said thank you. I then went out to pee, but the line was like 15 people long. So then I went to chat with Meagan and then realized Adam came out so I went to see about a photo with him. I found him by the bathrooms and asked him very politely, which he said yes. He smiled for the camera and I got the photo of us. Then I used the bathroom. My cousin got a photo with him when I came out and I was showing him my photo when we realized there was a long line forming in front of Adam. Yikes. After that I had lunch where they treated us to fried chicken and slaw from Church’s.. hands down, better than KFC. Then was Lana and Bex’s panels in which I had to pay more attention to the fans as they were bending the rules.. OOPs. Or as Bex would say “Sorry..” Later I had Beverly’s photo op. When I got to the front after watching fellow volunteers sing songs in line (hilarious Gentry!!) I walked up and said Hi, I’m Sarah! She said Hello. I said nice to meet you. And she hugged me and of course, its granny so I had to give her a big hug back. But when we were standing there after the photo, I said I’m a big fan, I love Granny. And she took my hand in hers and squeezed it. And then she said “Sarah, Granny loves you too,” (I am still fan girling about this writing this on Friday. wow). I did autograph line for Beverly Sunday night. Sadly, we had fans standing in between us, so she never came to me afterwards. I did the names on posties for the photos and did line control. I did like chatting with the fans, and i was 6 feet away from Beverly most of that time. So, I can’t complain.

The best moments were Karaoke, meeting the cast, meeting the fans, getting to bump into Amber, Erin from #OnceSpoof and Barbara again and finally meeting Giennie and Killihan in person! (Sorry you guys had to do a search party for me…) and getting to spend the weekend with Meagan after being friends online since season 3. I made a lot of new friends. Got to finally meet Ace from #OnceSpoof (god, I love this guy!) and Aimee as well. The friends I made last year, getting to see them again this time was the sprinkles of the awesome cake. Would I do it again? Depends.. would Josh and Colin both be there? Would the rude people not? Hmm, we’ll see.. But I’m thankful for this weekend. I got fantastic autographs and lovely photos. And that karaoke night was one of the best nights I have had in a long time. This cast is fantastic, the fans are fantastic.. #blessed.