#i love when his intros are totally nonsensical

[swallow-wind]

"This is a song about the destruction of New Jersey in the year 1934 in a Martian invasion."

-Al Stewart introducing Midas Shadow, a song very much not about that.

[ashirisu]

hey, everyone!

My name is Ley (pronounced like "Lee," she/they) and I'm a fiction writer/editor based in the PNW. I haven't done a proper writeblr intro in a while, so I figure the new year is a great time to reintroduce myself to the community!

— about me

An important thing to understand about me and the way I talk about writing is that this stuff is literally my entire life. Even outside of work, I don't think I have a single interest or hobby that doesn't relate back to storytelling in some capacity. I'm an avid media consumer and critic, and will hyperanalyze just about anything that catches my fancy for more than a minute.

I love science fiction and fantasy, and my goal as a writer is to take all the genres I loved growing up and create stories that are a little more diverse, inclusive, and queer.

— about the blog

I came to writeblr mostly to share my work, but also to find an active community where I can get excited with other writers and talk shop. Marketing is obviously a really important part of the publishing industry, but I get tired of having to filter every thought I have about my work and experiences through the lens of aesthetic micro-trends just to put it out in the world. Sometimes I just want to pop off about scenes I'm proud of, you know?

Above all else, I really just want to connect with more writers like myself, ones who got their start in fandom spaces and are working to take their writing from a hobby into a career. I see you, I am you, I love you, let's be friends!

You’ll definitely see me posting and reblogging a lot of stuff that isn’t necessarily related to writing, so be ready for that. My art exists in the context of my personality and the world as a whole, and I simply do not have it in me to maintain a whole separate blog for silly nonsense and memes. Just consider it a way to get to know the writer as well as the writing!

— about my writing

I write a lot, though most of it is disconnected nonsense. Flash fiction and short stories are where I really thrive as a writer. I don't tend to commit to long-form projects, but I have a few projects that I'll occasionally share details about!

I like to describe my style as "earnest and character-forward," which is a fancy way of saying that I like driven protagonists who think too much and are emotional to the point of it being a character flaw.

My goal is to share more of my original writing moving forward, so hopefully you'll get to see all of this for yourself. If I'm totally honest, though, you'll probably see more of me discussing my work than actually writing it.

— about my projects

Here are the things you'll most likely see me posting about:

Agnomen: A sci-fi retelling of Hamlet and Coriolanus, currently in its very preliminary stages. It is literally my Roman Empire, except it's set on a moon of a planet that I'm calling Jupiter as a placeholder (but please note that it isn't actually Jupiter, as Jupiter is a gas giant and therefore a scientifically impossible setting for large sections of the plot).

Alter Ego: A superhero fic in which not-so-mild-mannered reporter Drew Derrick fights for mutant rights and can't seem to get his act together when it comes to keeping the complicated parts of his life separate.

Untitled Fantasy Project: The very first project I ever wrote, and the piece I return to every so often when writing is feeling more like a slog than a fun hobby. I set a lot of one-offs in this world and follow a few key characters around without them having a real plot.

D&D: I write a lot about Baz, my Wild Magic Barbarian. He's a regency noble with a lot of problems, and I care about him very much. I also have various other settings and characters, but he's my most active PC at the moment and therefore gets the most attention.

Short Stories: Sometimes I write these, and sometimes I like them enough to share!

— tag directory

ley rambles: my (often wordy) opinions about things

ley writes: not necessarily my writing, but talking about my writing

my writing: stories, blurbs, and other content I've written

not my writing: reblogs and creative writing that I liked, shared, and sometimes commented on

[bloopitynoot]

Reading SVSSS: Chapter 21

For those who don't know, I am reading SVSSS for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag bloopitynoot reads SVSSS. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read.

The last chapter of the story?!?!?!

I will be continuing my notes into the extras-already decided when I started book 1. Once those extras are done though,- pls pls pls I will accept any fanfic recs. I am absolutely ready to get lost in the sauce for the next several months. Send me your absolute favs! I will read the shit out of them.

Today I am back on my tea- this is a lady grey latte :'3

LET'S GOOOOO

Oh man. Thank fuck Shan Qinghua is okay, but Tianlang-jun is looking REAL rough. p272

Not snake boy! him too! p274

Mobei-Jun coming in to save his man 👏 Get it! p276

This story is so annoying. The "big bad" was never even evil. The man just wanted to hang out in the human realm, read poetry, and vibe but the humans were the ones being awful. This story was driven by nonsense the entire time at least in MMDZS the fake evil one was still being orchestrated by an actual evil one. This was just a bunch of fuckery and racism. p277

LOL when I read the big "fight" I was thinking- that's it? Literally all this build up for the fastest fight?? Then two paragraphs later SQQ also said "that's it?"p279 I really do feel bad for Tianlang-jun. He was done so dirty in this. (I do want a buttload of fanfic where he get's a better life and also works to actively set his son up LOL Tianlang-jun biggest Bingqiu shipper).

I still cannot get over that Zhuzhi-lang's mother straight up fucked a snake. p280

Why did this reveal have to be worse :((((( The fact that LBH's mom actually likely cared for Tianlang-jun but was imprisoned by the OPM, was too late to get to Tianlang-jun, and forced to drink poison. :((( uuuuuuuugh. p282-283

Holy shit! Luo Binghe is the one who is actually powering the realm merge!!! p286

Baby Luo Binghe this behaviour is so toxic :'( p289-291

Are you kidding me. :( Why Yue Qingyuan!!! Xuan Su actively drains his life force whenever he uses it. p296

and we get the reveal that Yue Qingyuan was the pal who promised to come back and save Shen Jiu. uuuugh my heart, why am I so emotional about this. p297

The most bittersweet system notifications rn, so upsetting. Bro is about to lose the only things he's grown to care about in this second life and they are just listing achievements for what pp298-299

I know Yue Qingyuan is in a bad way but I really am rooting for him. Good on SQQ for not giving YQY his last wish. I need this softy to pull through. p301

Oh no! BInghe is hallucinating now :(((((( the sword has totally fucked him with demonic qi. :((( p307

I always love when we get a scenario pusher- it really "pushes" SQQ's boundaries p307

OMG. Well. That's not a small scenario pusher!!!! What is it with MXTX always having her male protags fuck dry 🤮🤮 This is not cute, and I totally understand it is a "fuck or die" scenario but omg RIP SQQ's asshole. How is this both kind of tender and absolutely horrific :((((((( 🤮🤮 pp310-311

This is actually so terrible :( my heart what the fuck :( Luo Binghe reached out, wanting to touch him but also not daring to. His hand remained frozen in midair as he muttered, "Shi...zun?" Once he heard Luo Binghe call him "Shizun" as normal, Shen Qingqiu seemed to come alive, and he gasped in a breath. Unfortunately, due to how strained this breath was, it almost sounded like a sob. Luo Binghe was stunned, "Shizun...what...What did I do?" p314

aaaaand the Jade Guanyin :(((((((( p315

Bless the system for getting me out of the choke hold that this scene had me in. I truly thought everyone was about to die. pp318-320

I'm dead LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL I clocked it many chapters ago with my jokes that SQQ was actually changing the genre and was really the bawdy love interest. He really did though XD ahahahaha p323

Thank fuck everyone (at least LBH and SQQ) are alive! I thought they would have killed LBH afterwards or with the state of his mental health, he would kill himself but thankfully he is not dead. p327

YAY! We have Yue Qingyuan alive as well! p329

Incredible. Shen Qinghua wanted this ending as well but decided to sell out for finances. Bless that this guy got to see his favorable ending play out LOL p333

oh!!! Tianlang-jun is also alive!! p335

My heart! SQQ to LBH " Of course what this master most wanted to see first was you!" p339

We hit the end of the main story!

Some final thoughts- that felt really abrupt. Like it just ended very fast. These two really have a strange relationship (I am sure more happens in the extras but as is stands it is still so ambiguous). Nary a real declaration of love, and their intimate moments were all fabricated by other situations or a product of deceit. I am excited to dig into the extras to see more about their relationship.

[brb-on-a-quest]

Tumblr should really let you pin multiple things as a blog introduction. (I wish).

Anyway, hi, hello, (new friend?), I'm Brb/Birb/(real name redacted). I'm an almost graduated student from the general land of cornfields and more cornfields. There's not much around, that's why I'm here, lol. (Also I've met a bunch of cool people, so now I think I'm kind of stuck here - come join us!).

⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦

If you happen to be a New Person Who Has Found Me (Hello!) and You Want To Talk to Me, I don't bite, I swear. I am a Birb with the heart of a Golden Labrador Retriever. Feel free to Tag Me in any tag games or haunt my inbox. <3 Come say hi! i love friends.

((Art by the amazing @mayamohini jfkfjjfkjgjgjgjfj it’s gorgeous)

(my "character sheet" that is based on my real life attributes--yes, I did roll all of these numbers. I use canva a totally healthy amount sometimes)

⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦

Anyway, more information y'all should know: This is the main account; I do have a sideblog. I reblog a lot of friend's nonsense, post a lot of my own even more nonsense, kind of have a whole "I want to be a hobbit living my best life somewhere not here vibe" I think. You will also see posts about things I think are wholesome/sweet, writing, psychology, fantasy, whatever fandom I'm in (or a friend's fandom),....just general nonsense I suppose. I do post some amount of life stuff when relevant or whenever I find things funny. Although the pic above is an owl, I am probably more akin to a magpie with much reblogging of things I find "shiny" to add to the chaotic mess that is my tumblr dashboard.

⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦

@brb-on-a-side-blog is also me! This was created to hopefully separate original writing content from the rest of the reblogging I do so it doesn't get buried in theory. This may not work out in theory as well as in practice, but I promise to reblog the cool writing stuff to my main blog if you don't want to have it clogging up your dash :).

There are other ones but as I am currently not using them it seems futile to put in an intro post.

⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦⚔️🐦

Tags to help sift through to find me in the hoard of posts!

#brb-rambles: Original thoughts about something (or at least as original as I can be).

#brb-(insert part of moots name here): interactions between me and said moot! I'm actually really not great at this but will get better and I forsee mass post editor being a BFF if I do this.

#brb-life: original content relating to my life/thoughts.

#brb-writes: original writing content (this will be potentially moved to sideblog).

#brb-memes (i make memes sometimes).

#brb-library: posts that are either really funny/really struck me so I'm going to save them to print out

#brb-adventures: the hopeful travel tag for some upcoming trips (either the grocery store or New York who knows).

#brb-learning-things: Things I have learned (although it's from my school/classes so questionably but I reason sourced; if it's not, I'll include source link/some kind of citation).

#brb needs a laugh check: I am joking. Please do not take me seriously.

#brb vs the call of the academia: school posting?

#brb-asks/#brb-report:s hopefully new ask tag if I can remember to add them.

#dear north canada love south canada (and associated tags I will not be typing out here) is a fun series I have with @igotthisaccountunderduress (she's absolutely cool, check her out). Again, that won't cover all the posts but again, vibes).

[sad-girl-shit11]

Heyy, so I finally decided to make an intro post. Yay me!!

🍄 My name is temperance, but nicknames are always welcomed. I’m also a total cat mum and post about them all the time, usually sneaking them into posts that have nothing to do with them. I use tone tags quite a bit so as to not to confuse people, and I'm practically a walking thesaurus when I wanna be.

Also I don’t use side blogs often, so my blog is a literal mess and chaotic. So if you are trying to figure out what fandom I’m in, or what I post about, it’s any and everything.

🌸 I love asking weird and nonsensical questions and love answering them too! I’m not a professional but my dms are always open and I always try to reach back out in a timely manner. I love chatting about every and anything! I am usually working on a writing project at all times so feel free to ask about one I’m working on.

🍂 I do have fandoms I’m active in such as: The Umbrella Academy, Bones, and the Marauders. These are the big three in my account.

About me

🍄Any and all pronouns

🌸 I don't really use labels but I am queer

🍂 I am a writer, nothing in particular I dabble in everything

✨i am a big pet name person, usually everyone i talk to or about is ‘babe’ or ‘babes’

☀️I am an aquarius sun and moon and a taurus rising

💫Intp and 5w4

🌜love a good debate!!!

Thing i like to do

🍄 learn about different mythologies

🌸 work in different forms of art

🍂 witchcraft

✨astrology

☀️read and write

💫bake/cook

Some artists i like are

🍄 lana del ray

🌸 eminem (I know i know but his music is just kinda nostalgic)

🍂 luke bryan

✨kate bush

☀️cavetown

💫kiki rockwell

🌜mcr

🍄linkin park

🌸 peggy

🍂 biggie

✨kesha

☀️michael jackson

💫florence and the machine

Some books i like are

🍄 percy jackson

🌸 maze runner

🍂 goldfinch

✨secret garden

☀️cinderella is dead

💫 the hunger games series

Movies I like

🍄 disney movies

🌸 tim burton

🍂 coraline

✨the mummy

☀️hamilton

💫 the conjuring universe

Tv series i like

🍄 stranger things

🌸 bones

🍂 young sheldon

✨B99

☀️family feud

💫 once upon a time

🌜the umbrella academy

🍄 scooby doo

🌸 Steven universe

My Spotify

My ao3

[cienie-isengardu]

Liu Kang somehow thought putting Shang on poverty and Quan Chi in OutWorld's mines(likely enslaved) would make them a good people. How he thought that was the case, I have no clue.

Definitely one of the more questionable aspects of probably would've been easier if they just admitted Liu Kang had a bias and made their lives worse thinking they'd cause less trouble if they were miserable rather than painting it as a nonsensical attempt at reformation since it'd show Liu Kang is human and flawed.

Like where is the attempted rehabilitation? Shao Khan had a better chance of life than they did. I understand wanting to prevent them from getting power but his solution didn't even work. If anything, it just made them bitter and pissed when they found Liu Kang was deliberately making their lives terrible.

When I heard the Shang Tsung and Liu Kang character intro I too did immediately think about the miserable conditions in which Shang Tsung and Quan Chi were put on purpose. Understandably this is the most logical connection to make, however it is worth remembering that Liu Kang hasn’t said anything about wishing to redeem those two in story mode alone. Intro dialogues are tricky as they often refer to events that happened totally outside the main story (Bi-Han freeing General Shao from prison, Kuai Liang's marriage with Harumi to name few examples), so there is still, however small and unlikely chance the punishment mentioned by Shang Tsung and Liu Kang’s wish to reform him may refer to something else than Fire God constructing a miserable life for still innocent man solely because he has the misfortune to share the same name (soul?) with Liu Kang’s supposedly dead archenemy. It could, for example, be about punishing Shang Tsung for his involvement in the crisis as the final of the game did not resolve much about what happened to sorcerers or other villains and we know some bits here and there solely from intro dialogues. And by punishing I mean forcing him to make amends for wrongs brought against people of Outworld and Earthrealm, a people Shang Tsung has no love or loyalty for, which could explain why both characters have totally different views on the matter. 

Personally I do connect the intro in question to the main story but like I said, intros are tricky things by nature of talking about events but not showing us what truly happened, sometimes without a proper context, so I’m willing to give it a small benefit of doubt. However I too would like if the story examine more Liu Kang’s bias and favoritism, as he was after all a human first then Keeper of Time and I would like to hear more about his reasoning why he fucked up some people’s lives (Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, orphaned Tomas/Smoke) and some granted a great deal of power over other (Sindel and her whole Royal family) on purpose and why he tried so hard to get as similar result to old Timelines than like, rebuild it all anew.

I’m not even that mad Liu Kang for whatever reason decided to make Shang Tsung and Quan Chi suffer by giving them meaningless life but I’m furious that Shao Kahn get a chance at true redemption as Outworld’s respected champion that put him again in place of power if objectively speaking, Shao Kahn always personified the biggest Bad Thing to happen. Shang Tsung was no less of a threat to Earthrealm, sure, but he was also a subordinate doing his master’s bidding (e.g. creation of Mileena) and as other timelines showed, for failing a master he would pay with his life - and even when he did not fail, he was killed to give resurrected MK9!Sindel additional power like ages of dutiful service meant nothing. Shao’s BIO says he was born as a sickly child and it was his father that did not accept it and molded him into perfect soldier

Born into a proud military family, Shao was expected to become a soldier. But he was a sickly child who, though brilliant and eager, had an infirm body. Shao’s disability infuriated his father. He dismissed his son’s physicians and designed an extreme program to build his son’s strength and endurance. Years of toil molded Shao into a physical colossus and forged within him an iron will. And as his father had promised, Shao became the perfect soldier. His brilliant tactics and relentless effort won Outworld many victories and him much fame

and to be honest, I don’t have an idea, did making Shao the sick/disabled kid who - in theory - couldn’t carry on family military tradition was the punishment (backfired by a stubborn father) or was it a plan to make Shao work hard to earn respect/fame and by serving Royal Family, make up for past sins? The story mode says Liu Kang meant for Shao to be Sindel’s loyal follower which implies rather making him a soldier?

Shang Tsung’s BIO states he “grew up in Outworld’s backwaters. Too lazy for hard labor and too shifty for honest work, he eked out a living selling quack cures and fake magic. Though his wares were useless, Shang Tsung’s easy charm always closed the deal. Shang Tsung was resigned to this hardscrabble life [...]” which makes it sound like the miserable life was his own fault, for being too lazy and not interested in honest work but the game gives a different impression of him, at least for me. Especially compared to Shao thriving as top champion, while Shang Tsung calls his life “barely surviving”.

What is even more weird, if Liu Kang constructed every character's life, why not just, you know, erase Shang Tsung, Quan Chi and Shao Kahn from history and be done with the problem? As the Jacqui Briggs MK11!Ending proves Keeper of Time can erase a person's existence by simple inference in events (Jacqui saving her dad from death at Sindel’s hand in MK9 resulted in Jax never meeting Vera and thus she was not begotten) so why not just meddle before any one of those were born or alternatively, give them different parents or better families to raise them right?

And if Shao could end in a respected family, why not put Shang Tsung between Shaolin Monks and train him to be champion of Earthrealm and like, give him some worthy purpose? 

So, at the end we come back to the question, did Liu Kang on purpose make Shang Tsung and Quan Chi facing miserable hardship under (false) attempt at reformation or just outright to punish them? On one hand, he is not presented as intentionally cruel person (and he did admit being Keeper of Time demands making hard choices) but at the same time, he favors existence of Royal Family (aristocracy) over democracy / equality, he doesn’t seem to mind Umgadi system that forces first born-daughters to be raised as warrior priestesses, who are stripped from any ties to their biological family, are forbidden to marry/be in relationship and whose whole life revolve around serving and protecting Royal Family - and doesn’t Umgadi system resemble the old Lin Kuei before Kuai Liang’s reformation? Generally, there is an interesting contrast between characters serving and seeking power / freedom to not do so, but that is a matter for another time.

Personally, I do not think of Liu Kang as bad person as he stepped from the role of Titan on his own accord and chose to be mere Earthrealm Protector and all, but that does not mean he is above human flaws, and his (and Raiden’s for that matter) life experiences definitely affect to some degree his choices. And let's face it, both Liu and Raiden have never been fond of Shang Tsung.

[lizkreates]

Trigun Vol 1 - Part 1 (Ch 0-3)

*cracks knuckles* I'm going to throw a bunch of stuff down, like some story-structured thoughts (which might be a bunch of nonsense, but I'm gonna try!) and parts that catch my interest. Sorry if I repeat anything, I started lurking at TriMax Vol 5. :'D Here we go!

Trigun wastes no time jumping into the mysterious destruction of July. The prologue was short sweet, and now lives in the back of your mind.

The phrase "The same song of humanity sang." paired with the artwork implies that humanity's path was not one that flourished but one of destruction. Humanity brought our problems with us. Without the drawing, the line itself can be looked at positively or negatively depending on your outlook. **SPOILERS for new readers** For a story whose main protagonist isn't human, it is a gut-wrenchingly human story.

Vash looks so baby-faced here!! I love how contradictory the idea of a pacifist gunman is, at least in the story's context, where most of them choose violence.

Oh so THIS is how violent No Man's Land is.

That's Tonis!! I totally didn't catch that in any of my reads before; he looks so different in TriStamp.

Ow Vash's first signature smile. :')

The girls!! I love their intro so much, it sets them up, idk how to explain it, as people, they have their own goals. I love how the guys who made the crude jokes were immediately met with consequences. 98 really leaned into "the expense of women as a source of entertainment" which bugged me, glad to see that the manga does it less and less as you progress. Trigun would be a very different story without its feminine undertones (not just in gender) starkly contrasting the world. (I'm sure someone's written an essay on it, I'd love to read it!)

"This is the first time the name Vash the Stampede appeared in the annals of history, about a shadow of a blonde-haired man, who still lingered among the mountains of rubble."

Interesting choice to frame this as already written history! That means at least someone survived to tell the tale.

So about Vash's outlaw name "The Stampede" - HOW LONG HAS HE HAD IT?? Was it given to him after July? Before? Did he give it to himself? Did some coin it for him? How about Humanoid Typhoon? I need to know. (If you know any fic that covers this, I am chopping at the bit for it, plz send it to me.)

Come here. Closer. We need to talk about RESOURCES. Briefly. I understand I need to suspend my disbelief when something is drawn to look cool and emphasize the scale of a threat, but I like hard science. In a resource-scarce environment like No Man's Land, manga-size Goseff would be a costly and massive drain on supplies, unless Father Nebraska has his own Plant. Stampede did a more realistic take, which was nice to see!

Anytime I see wood or a lot of organic material in abundance I die a little on the inside. :') *cries over world-building* But we're here to enjoy the story! The world-building given to us is just enough so we can follow the plot.

The first mention of "Him," Knives! I love it when Nightow does an extreme vertical, half-face, close-up, of Vash, it's so dramatic. I want to appreciate how skillfully Vash's revolver is drawn here too, this man thrives on complicated designs.

98 was my first introduction to Trigun, so I didn't realize until I read the manga that they dropped his bounty here. In 98 they dropped it after the 5th moon incident. Trying to keep the canons straight is hard sometimes. :')

[iviarellereads]

The Plan, Such As It Is

tl;dr: System Collapse finishes the Murderbot series on Christmas. Last week of the year is a break, and then it's the Wheel of Time with likely between-book breaks for one-offs or shorter series, and someday maybe Alecto the Ninth.

I had a great time watching Desert Bus, and helping with the VST documenting and editing and uploading clips of the process of raising over a million dollars (over ten million in the lifetime of the event!) for a good cause. A most excellent week of "restoring my faith in humanity". But that's a little beside the point of this post.

I also got my hands on System Collapse, but because of how my brain works, I won't be reading it ahead, so we're going to have lots of fun as I read it for the first time in the format of the blog. Let's see if my style changes, if my predictions are well on or off the mark. (I have seen a few posts that spoiled a few moments and character bits, but I'm not concerned about those. I rarely feel like learning things that happen "ruins" anything about an experience anyway. If the story's well told, it's still fun to experience for myself.)

After System Collapse, well, that's the end of Murderbot to-date. And, I haven't run any polls for covering other things. That's because I'm pretty well set on rereading the Wheel of Time series, and revising my previous notes to this format.

It's something I could keep putting off, but the show has gotten so good, and it reminds me of all the things about the books that I loved so much (and how the show is fixing some things I didn't love). I'll also be very excited to do full-series spoiler posts again, Murderbot didn't have a lot that I felt needed commenting on, but the Wheel? Oh, buddy.

But, the caveat here is that the Wheel of Time has, well, fifteen very large books. Eleven thousand pages, over four million words. Coverage would take about three years if I didn't take breaks for other books in between, and I definitely will, so we're gonna be here for a while. I've said before that I was hesitant to cover Discworld for this, and I still am. Discworld has over forty books just in the main series besides the spinoffs, with a comparable total wordcount to WoT. Several of those, I have negative interest in ever rereading. Even if they're largely shorter than WoT bricks, they're also trickier to split, and I won't have as much context to share about them that isn't available elsewhere already. Whereas, the Wheel of Time lacks a lot of spoiler-free resources in print, despite the series being almost 35 years old. There was a huge influx of podcast coverage once the show publicity ramped up, but not so much blog style content. The few prologues and chapters that do need splitting, I've already calculated out from the first time I took the notes.

Mind you, I will be finding time for Alecto the Ninth coverage when Tamsyn Muir finally graces us with her presence, I'll just take a break between whichever WoT books I'm up to by then. And if something else strikes my fancy, I might alternate books. Like, making it through the Eye of the World might scratch the itch well enough, and make me want to dig into the Princess Bride as I threatened to once before, or perhaps when I reach my least favourite sequence of books in the middle, I'll alternate them with the His Dark Materials trilogy, though probably not its supplementary later materials because I'm still refusing to read the Book of Dust.

I totally understand if folks who followed me for other stuff want to jump ship when my WoT coverage starts. I love and can recommend it with some massive content notes and caveats which will be in my intro post for it, but it's not for everyone and treating it like a universal joy is nonsense. But, especially if you can get a library borrow of the first book, whether you get it in print or ebook or either of the incredible audiobook narrations (the full series by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, or the first three are now available narrated by Rosamund Pike, who plays the character of Moiraine Sedai on the show), I hope you'll give it a try with me, and my analysis and commentary might help pull you into a series that's otherwise quite intimidating.

So, System Collapse will finish posting on Christmas, I think I'll take the last week of the year as a breather, and the Wheel of Time will kick off my 2024. I hope you'll consider sticking around and reading with me, especially my Locked Tomb girlies because I've said it before and I'll say it again, these two stories have SO much in common, hashtag Women's Wrongs and unreliable narrators. And, I am gonna try to break it up every so often since these are LONG books, most of them have 40+ chapters so will be two months apiece. But either way, if I'm gonna follow my heart, it's gotta be next.

[kazumahashimoto]

okay i said i was gonna rank them but i'm too indecisive so you just get my thoughts. here

SEASON 1 ENG

song's decent. i mean it's like CLASSICS of beyblade it's the first burst intro you gotta love it. it's kinda wonky and barely a song it's basically just this guy sing speaking to a vague tune but you can't hate it. i cannot hear the phrase "this is our time" without immediately following it up with "this is our moment"

SEASON 2 ENG

BEYBLADE BEYBLADE BEYBLADE BURST!!!!!! BEYBLADE BEYBLADE BURST EVOLUTION!!!!!!!!!! MANNNNNNN oh i can't fight the nostalgia on this one i used to loooooooove this intro when i was younger. shit is so good. and the LYRICS get me too like it's all the samey generic Uplifting type nonsense but it's still so. like awayugh. we're reunited. we can't be stopped. never give up never give in we gotta fight for what we believe in💔💔 i love this one. so good.

SEASON 3 ENG

TURBOOOOOOOO oh man this one is so good. "be a part of the legacy" fucks me up NOW. OF FUCKING COURSE. KILLS SOMEONE. like fuuuuuuuck it's so real. i hated this season so bad when i watched it but man aiger really did become part of the legacy. ALSO finally a really interesting music video to go along with it!!!! the first two seasons had Fine animations to go with the music but mannnnn they really started getting into it with turbo. it adds so much intrigue to these characters they're never going to focus on. i'm still bitter about it LOL. but the song and music video on it's own is really really good.

SEASON 4 ENG

RISE!!!!!!!!!! this one is definitely Good. it's super catchy but my favorite favorite FAVORITE part is the musicality they get with the four mains going RISE! all looking at the camera. i had that picture of amane holding up his glasses and smiling from that shot as my discord icon for aaaaaaages despite barely watching that season. i LOVE that part i CANNOT stop myself from following their movement it's so awesome. the music video for this one is still Good for suresies there's lots of cool amv shots. i think my favorite is aiger launching his bey in front of the full moon and then grinning. very fun. but it doesn't feel as Cohesive of a music video i would say as turbo's. but a VERY fun song i LOVE the way this guy scream sings it's so. hype. like fuck yes keep fighting for the whole world now we're the champions beyblade burst rise. so true bestie. love it.

SEASON 5 ENG

oh my god surge. what a different sound for this one!!!! i remember being super shocked when i first heard it but it's really good. never a miss with these guys i tell ya. VERY catchy. i think there's a little more musicality with the animation in the short version but oh my goddddddddd. this music video. is so. fucking. cute. and is that because there's more of the old characters in this season, well. who's to say. but the answer is totally yes. the fucking scene where it's hikaru hyuga and valt putting their fists together and they all pose and smile and we get to valt and he's all happy but then the camera shifts to him with his back to shu and valt suddenly looks sad and shu is sad and he looks off and gets surrounded by fire and he reaches his hand out and it gets swallowed by purple and black void referencing lain like AYUYHYUGHY!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!! THE CINEMATOGRAPHY!!!!!! do not even fucking get me started on the final tournament pairs getting shown off too like uuyyyuyhghyhghh i am not immune to seeing 1 frame of my sillygoofy and losing my mind. and look at how many sillygoofies there are. this season was when they started going HARD with the squish factor too so they all looks so cutesie ootsie wootsie tootsie it KILLS ME. UYGHG. but anyway the fucking song. it's good i love the loud bass in the back and how like chill this intro is. very different from the incredibly loud and energetic intro from the previous season. VERY FUN.

SEASON 6 ENG

this one is just okay. i think the short version is better than the full version which is pretty unfortunate cos the full one gets more of the music video. the full song just like starts and stops in weird places? like especially being more used to the short version you expect the energy to continue picking up but then it just drops you off and you're like what. ok. and then it's back up again immediately. disorienting. the music video for this one is Fine. some real cute animations of free lui valt and shu<3 but other than that it's nothing terribly noteworthy.

SEASON 7 ENG

see now this one is interesting. the beginning of the full song kinda reminds me of the type if emo nonsense i'd listen to while nightcored. fun stuff. looking at it from that lense the song is pretty fun!! this music video is probably the lamest we've had since like s1 and 2 though like there aren't many purposefully Cinematic shots that aren't just. launch stances from the show. kind of a bummer. seeing xcalius did make me a heem heem though ayouygh i am not immune. i shrimply am not. i do quite like the scene of everybody's eyes opening where it's all grayed out aside from their eye color. i do remember losing my fucking MIND when xander and ken showed up. very fun stuff. not a bad song. the musicality could definitely use some work though.

SEASON 1 JP

awwaaayiyhhh now admittedly i don't really have the same level of nostalgia for most of the japanese intros cos i'm a Dub Watcher but awayugh. auuyughg. the animation in this one is so much cuter. honestly i kind of forgot zac actually used to be important i choked when he showed up like WOAH!!!! I KNOW THIS GUY!!!!!! man i miss him. but anyway the song is fine

SEASON 2 JP

BURST BURST BURST BURST BURST FINISH!!!!!!!! BURST BURST BURST BEYBLADE!!!!!!!!!!!!! this one fucking rules. never a miss repeating burst and beyblade over and over again. you gotta love it. also in the animation i love when they have all the characters from the tournament line up and the heights are so fucked. i will never forget this one piece of fanart i saw where they had drawn joshua (NOT MY JOTCHIA I DON'T CLAIM THIS ONE) sisco ren wu and free all standing normal and then lui was standing on a box and xander was crouching down so they could all be vaguely the same height. love that shit. i miss the supreme four tails i miss them a lot.

SEASON 3 JP

OKAY NOW THIS ONE IS UP THERE WITH MY FAVORITES. like purely as a Song to Listen To this one is my favorite. it's SOOOOOOOOO nice on the ears i absolutely love how this guy sings it. it's similar to the english rise intro i would say with how ENERGETIC it is and the SCREAM singing like god this guy just goes for it you can HEAR and you can FEEL the strain in his vocal chords ugh i love it. i think the musicality of the music video is executed a little better in the english version? but the visuals are just so pretty to look at it doesn't even matter. INCREDIBLE intro. sucks about the season it's for. LOL.

SEASON 4 JP

now THIS music video has MUSICALITY. UYGH. IT'S AWESOME. i LOVE the little dance the main team does and they sing along the words. ugh. very cute. the song itself is very cute and fun and upbeat and i love that. it's quite bouncy i would say. two different interpretations of dante's energy i guess LOL english pairs him with such an aggressive and loud song but this one is jovial and fun and yeah BOUNCY. very fun.

SEASON 5 JP

oh man!!!! i think these are probably the two that are most different from each other? i still really like the way this song goes though it's very fun!!! it sounds like they got two different singers too alluding to hikaru and hyuga which is a very cute touch. there's a few animations we get here that we don't see in english INCLUDING ONE OF WAKIYA!!!!!!! FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! and it's him showing off his new coat with the sun behind him. uygh. fucked up. also the freeze frame at the end is different here and there is a very cute scene of lain and shu holding their beys together A HEEM FUCKING HEEM. interestingly there's also some animations in english that aren't in this one?! maybe they're from one of the outros. who knows. but anyway song is cute

SEASON 6 JP

yet again as a Song to Listen To this is one of my favorites. i love the dip in vocals for the go burst go burst 321 go shoot it's so fun. the musicality of the video is better here than the english one i would say. more animations too. why. the fuh fuh fuck. does the english version keep cutting wakiya out of the intros. blasphemous i tell you. LET HIM IN!!!!!!!! HE'S SO CUTE HERE WITH HIS STUPID FUCKING CAPE!!!!!!!! also there's a scene of bashara walking passed ranzo spinning bell around in the air by his arms and bashara is wearing his dumb little villain green suit and he moves to hang out with rashad and iliya like a fucking dweeb. love it. they took so many fucking amv shots out of the english version it's crazy.

but ummmmmm yeah i love theym all. like i said never a miss with the burst intros.

[captainsspnanon]

C2E66 - Beneath Bazzoxan - rewatch

Well, I got about an hour into the MLP oneshot before I gave up. That’s about par for the course with me for a lot of the CR one shots.  I’ve seen a handful of them in full, started a handful and watched between 1 to 2 hours before giving up, and just haven’t even started the others.  It’s a whole jumble of hit or miss.

Also something I missed from last episode – Travis jokingly asking Matt if there was a vestige of divergence in the roc nest.  My brain totally forgot that this was before Fjord got the star razor, so I was like ‘you want two??’   SOON.  SOOOOOON.

(I don’t even know how long it’s been since I look at this episode, oops!  It’s been a time, alright? But OMG ANIMATED MIGHTY NEIN COMING AAAAA)

...Document last saved, Jan 30th.  It’s now Feb 20th. … LOOK IT’S BEEN...It’s BEEN, okay?!  Anyhow, I finally have the energy and mental fortitude to get back into this!  (so annoyed at myself for falling apart right when we get a fantastic series of episodes) (omg also I’d only jumped on to freak out about the animated mighty nein???  My last C2 reaction was posted JANUARY 8TH omg.)  (I don’t know why I’m being apologetic though, this stuff is mainly for me to improve my analytical thinking, active watching, and writing abilities.  I know a few of you out there like reading it, but I’m sure you’re not chomping at the bit or anything XD)

I was only just past the intro, so I decided to go and rewatch the adbit and forgot that I was in the middle of the presidential campaign for dndbeyond!  (after the ogl shitstorm, anyone else notice that CR hasn’t mentioned dndbeyond by name once?  I wonder if they’re going to start up again at some point since the situation is now resolved, even though there’s a lot of bad taste in a lot of the community’s mouths.  Personally, I’d be fine with it, because I do feel like wotc made the right choices to fix things, even if it never should have gotten to where it was in the first place, and communication choices had been…..yeah.)

I miss them reading their bits off of sheets in front of them.  I fully get the appeal of the teleprompter meaning that they can keep their eyes up and looking at camera, but there’s a charm of them giving impassioned rants but also having to keep glancing down to check what their lines are.

See?  With the teleprompter, you don’t get the adorableness of Laura having a merch update but no sheet, so floundering through Sam’s papers until Matt gives her his.

Liam perched on his chair just making squawking noises!

I love how this group is so unafraid to make unoptimal choices. Jester uses Disguise Self to look like a giant leaf, but Laura knows that it only works for people so knows it’s basically just a leaf costume and Will Not Work, but still Commits To The Bit.

Oh fuck it’s been so long that I forgot we were still with Texas!Fjord!  Just got smacked in the face by the accent XD (controversial comment, but I don’t like it when I see people saying that they prefer the Texan accent, then other people saying that it means that they like pre-character growth Fjord, or hiding himself Fjord, lying to himself Fjord.  It’s just that the Texan accent is fun!  Given a choice between the two, I would have been happy if Travis had the Texan accent be Fjord’s natural accent and do the whole campaign with it, because I enjoy hearing it – especially since C1 was pretty much all English accents.  But in order for that to happen, Fjord would have been completely different, and I don’t want a completely different Fjord, I love the Fjord that we got!)

(also off topic, but I’m waiting for noon so that I can check the shop.  I want the Jester and Caleb dice so bad and they still haven’t been released. T.T)

god I forgot how much these idiots flounder in this nonsense, I love it so much!!!  Each campaign, they all have their own version of floundering, and the Nein’s is just SO dumb, SO wonderful.  Jester forgetting she could go invisible, Beau begging Fjord to take her with him with the Misty Step and Fjord saying he’s only got room for one, Beau trying to swim through the air to the tree, and then just curling up in a ball to make herself a smaller target IT’S SO GOOD.

And Caduceus and Yasha just watching all this go down like “yup” “yup”

Nein and Polymorph – nothing more iconic.

Fjord and teleporting – nothing more iconic!!  

Polymorphed enemies attacking Fjord – truly nothing more iconic

This group and communication, I love it!!  Caleb slides Beau off his wing, Matt describes her falling into the nest, Liam softly says that that’s not what he meant, Matt immediately asks him for clarification and Liam immediately responds with what he meant but ‘this is funny’ so keep going with it.

This is the first? time that Matt has done a skill check and not penalized the player for a nat 1.  It is a minor grumble of mine that he doesn’t count nat 20s as an autosuccess (which falls within rules) but tends to still count nat 1s as an autofailure.  I feel like you’ve got to play it all one way or all the other, not the half and half – especially not more penalizing the players.

Being an active part of the fandom now, I can image people bitching about this episode so far, about Matt giving them too much leeway, not enough consequences, making it too easy, the players getting distracted from their goal, etc. etc.  Makes it a lot easier for me to brush off the bullshit criticism that C3 is getting.  Critters have been complaining since C1, and sometimes it’s legit, and most times it’s bull.

I have such mixed feelings with Nott and Sam in regards to the rogue stuff.  Because most of the time, Nott skipping looking for traps genuinely just feels like Sam either forgetting or deliberately ignoring it because he thinks it’s funny.  I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s a struggle I have with Sam’s PCs, because a bunch of stuff that Sam does is just… well, Sam being Sam.  He’d make the same joke for Scanlan, or Tary, or Nott, or FCG.  So I can’t relate it to the specific PC, even when it’s the PC doing the action.  Either way, if this was a deliberate choice for Nott (even with Beau telling her to look for traps) or Sam just trolling, I’m glad Matt had consequences, and consequences that impacted the entire party, because everyone was hit from the fireball.  It’s a bit of a nudge (even though it doesn’t work.  Does Nott EVER consistently look for traps, even after she’s killed?).  Just looking at transcripts (not super accurate) 28 times within the first 50 episodes, 22 from episodes 51-100, and 21 from episodes 101-141. Sadly Critrolestats isn’t helpful for this, because they track the investigation rolls, but so many investigation rolls AREN’T checking for traps.

Ah ha!  This is where Jester steals Nott’s flask!  Laura tried to be sneaky, but Sam heard her right away.

Mmmrph...still not a fan of the jokes about Caleb sharing his loot. He never kept it!  Liam just likes to make it theatrical.  To be fair, I think this started because Vax hoarded loot?  Or at least Vax teased Vex a lot with loot.  Honestly, most of what I remember from C1 was Vax and Vex being silly over the boots of haste, one moment with loot where Liam asked Matt to make him and Laura roll for it, and then the drama over who gets whisper, which I honestly thing was more the fanbase than the players?

I kept getting confused that they weren’t sending to Essek, so I went and checked out my last post and yep there it was.  ALSO there is the exact same stuff that I said above about Sam.  -_-  I have no original thoughts.

Insect Plague!!!  *checks transcripts* Pike cast it in E5 and the battle royale, Umbrasyl cast it in E55, Jester casts in here in E66, and then again in E113.  This is one of the rarest used spells, to the point where I completely forgot about it!

Bazzoxan!

(LOL the dice got released the day after I checked!  ...and I don’t like the sets.  Fuuuuuck)

(It’s now march 25th and I am in the MOOD.  LET’S GO!!!)

wait what the fuck did I literally stop for AGES at like, 30 seconds before the break??  That’s hysterical.

In the two/three months where I stopped watching C2, I forgot how much Caleb really did take the lead in a lot.

Wait wait wait….they’re putting the moorbounders in the stables, is this where they leave them???  Is this the last appearance of the kitties?!?!  *checks the transcripts* oh no it isssss.  Now I’m sad, I love the moorbounders so much.  (edit to add, rechecked the transcripts using the plural – looks like they technically have them as of e69 after the dungeon crawl, but then that’s the official last.  I wonder if by the time I get to that episode I will have forgotten I’d typed all this and re-express myself)  They seemed to perfectly bridge the difference between cared for and oft mentioned pets (Sprinkle, Frumpkin, Trinket) and mounts (barely ever named horses, the toilet horses, more unnamed horses).  I don’t even have a headcanon for what happens to them after the Nein leave. I’ve read some nice posts about people taking care of them, Verin taking ownership, the Nein getting them back, but they just….vanish. I don’t think? that they were mentioned during the wrap up. Flando’s splits don’t mention them, so I guess not.  I mentioned it way back, but I personally wish we could have gotten a second C2 wrap up.  With C1, we had the official wrap up, and then a second one because there were so many questions left over.  I can’t image that there weren’t enough questions left for C2.  Then again, pandemic times, and that also must have been right when Brian was either let go behind the scenes and just not officially announced yet, or on the cusp, considering it wasn’t a Talks format.

I have Thoughts that I can’t really articulate about how frequently Caleb shows the Bright Queen medallion, and how it’s both a bit defensive and a bit arrogant.  Thoughts about how it might be how Bren was trained to use the power of his station to get things he wanted.  Thoughts on how it’s making sure that it’s clear that he is In Charge, or at least has some level of Authority due to the medallion, and how it influences how he interacts with authority. Thoughts on how it may be due to his old training versus the more frequent attempt currently to lower his status to try to be unseen. Thoughts about how much could be Caleb healing and regaining confidence versus just using it at a means to an end.   I need someone else to get into my brain and actually write this up for me.

UGH I forgot all this cool Bazzoxan lore!  I really do adore Matt’s worldbuilding, especially the level of depth that he puts into every place.  He goes into it with the intention of making it feel real, and it really does.

I’ve mentioned it before and I know I’ll mention it again, but I so love how Liam handled spellcasting with his components.  With him leaning in to Caleb having to ask to purchase any item he needs, rather than just a general check with Matt, but pulling it so well into the roleplay really does inspire others.  Taliesin even in this scene!  Tal was good with black powder and such last campaign, but I feel like Matt had to prompt him more, advising that he was running out of materials and such, whereas Liam frequently initiates the conversation.

The humor of Liam having to explain to Laura that she needs Guidance to get the plus d4 to a check.  OH how times have changed.  (I’m also not a huge fan of how heavily Guidance is leaned on now.  When I was playing my druid, I made sure that Guidance was used sparingly, only where a magical boost seemed applicable.  Personal preference though.  I also wasn’t a huge fan of how for A Crown Of Candy on Dimension20 that familiars were constantly used to give advantage to rolls.)

Looking at the facial reactions when Matt says that Nott’s flask is missing, Sam and Laura obviously knew, and it looks like Taliesin overheard as well, but I think it’s a genuine surprise to everyone else.

Such a soft spot for the Wildbros.  Wildbrothers?  What’s the nickname for Fjord and Caduceus?  I think it’s Wildbrothers, but google isn’t helping me.  REGARDLESS.  Fjord reaching out to Caduceus for help is such a lovely moment.  Cad’s answer isn’t as straightforward as he would like, but it’s the first clear moment of Fjord changing paths to choose the Wildmother.  I know that Travis had been looking for possible options, but it did end up heavily steering this way, and I’m certainly pleased with the end result. PLUS!  A little bit from Caduceus as to what he is looking for! Still not a ton of detail but a place.  Honestly, I didn’t realize how long it took to actually get backstory for Cad.  I always consider him to be among the most open of the Nein (Jester being the most open, obviously), but I’ve seen very good meta explaining how he really isn’t that open at all.  Watching with that knowledge, it’s very easy to see how much he really doesn’t say.

There’s something a bit beautiful of Caduceus trying to guide Fjord into meditation/worship the way he does (slow breathing, name each sound that comes by) transitioning into Fjord’s own (wind becoming the sound of waves).  The Wildmother has always been a bit synonymous with Nature, but in my own failing, my interpretation of Nature was always plants and trees – very much the flora of the world. Fjord’s eventual worship of her being heavily based in the oceans, still very much a part of Nature, not only helped the character growth, but helped me recognize my own limitations that I was putting on her.  It also helped, once again, just confirm the realness of the world.  People practicing religion have so many variations to their worship and behaviors, to their interpretations of the religion.  In fiction, it’s very easy to take it Planet of Hats, and every follower of God A performs exactly the same way, and every follower of God B worships following this specific structure.  To have the gods in Exandria frequently worshiped differently continues to add depth to the world.

It’s very fun to see Ashley joke about Yasha doing some things which she quickly takes back, but will then fully play with as actual character traits in C3.

Oh FML.  I fully get into this, and all of a sudden I have a massive headache.  T.T  This episode is gonna take for-fucking-ever.  And it’s all good stuff!

Alright, two days later, no headache now, feeling good, got the time, lets see if I can make it through the last hour and half!

With the multiple instances of NPCs speaking Undercommon and Beau not being able to understand it, no wonder Marisha decided to take Undercommon the next opportunity she had.  Checking to see when she gets it (level 10) just makes me really miss Beau.  Her stats end up SO good, and she’s such an intelligent PC.  The roleplay decisions Marisha makes add such a level of depth to Beau’s desire for knowledge and a lovely contrast to how Caleb is intelligent and pursues information.   MY FAVS.

Once again, in my bad habit of underestimating Sam’s RP – I am really going to pay attention this time to Nott and her behavior when forced sober.  There’s quite a bit of it here that is played for laughs, but that doesn’t mean that the characterization is shallow or false.  Right away I noticed that Caleb immediately tries to sooth the situation by repeatedly saying that Nott has ‘misplaced’ her flask, ‘lost’ her flask.  While it’s a completely understandable take, especially as Liam doesn’t know that Laura had Jester take the flask, it’s a very obvious difference from Nott always believing Caleb, to Caleb disbelieving Nott.  He’s not cruel or harsh about it, and he doesn’t diminish her feelings at the lack of alcohol, but he does not accept Nott’s viewpoint that someone took the flask.

To be fair, a bit of that is metagaming.  Sam heard Laura ask Matt to take the flask, so he knows that it was taken from Nott.  I wonder how these scenes may have gone differently had he not overheard and thought that it was something Matt did in game, like how the Schuster kids stole their coin purses.  (also yes I did go to the wiki to confirm the spelling of the name, and yes I did get it wrong at first)

I love when the cast gets Sam to completely break.  Travis saying that Nott’s arms looked whiter than ever (Sam switched his shirt to a sleeveless shirt), and Sam just open mouthed WHEEZING for almost a solid 10 seconds.  Absolutely glorious.  And it’s Sam specifically because he’s the hardest to break.  Taliesin in pretty hard too, BUT if Taliesin gets hit then he’s just OUT.  Liam is by far the easiest to break and it’s delightful every time!

Downside of my massive delay in rewatching – they’re all discussing how Nott was doing really well without drinking and then started slipping up again when she picked it back up, and I can’t remember when this happened!  When did she stop drinking and pick it up again???  I have no recollection, and I feel really bad ‘cause that’s a pretty important thing!  Going back and finding my last post, I said that it might have been that she started getting drunk again to confront Yeza, but then I don’t recall why she would have been sober before that?  This is the big downside of not binging.

Oh wait, maybe the table does know?  Fjord suggests Jester scry on it, which SEEMS like Travis poking at Laura?  But I’m not sure! Could be a coincidence!

Dungeon crawl! Dungeon crawl!  I am hype for dungeon crawl!   CR doesn’t do many of them, and I definitely was bored by Kraghammer, but I think all the crawls aside from that very first one have been a blast.

I feel like this conversation of them trying to help Jester craft a message to Obann is the perfect summation of the Mighty Nein.  The absolute overlapping fuckery combined with SOME intelligence and a lot of goofing, but they get the job done.  Eventually.  Kind of. With sex jokes thrown in.

Aww, this is the doo doo doo doo moment, and Caleb legitimately laughing.   Iconic.  No donuts or pooping, but still good.

Talk about Beau/Marisha calling things!  “what if in your past life, before you lost your memories, you WERE an Iron Angel?”  well yes, yes she was.

Fjord preventing Nott from getting alcohol, then buying a bottle and essentially taunting her with it – it don’t feel good IC, but it always reads to me 100% of Travis teasing Sam.  It’s one of those moments where it DID happen in game, but it doesn’t tie into how I view the PCs interacting, because even though it happened it was more ‘above table’ then in game, if that makes any sense?  Like, Fjord and Nott have a very complex relationship, but Fjord buying alcohol when Nott is clearly going through withdrawal and then not letting her have it?  It’s hard for me to view that in their relationship, it just doesn’t feel right.  Like I said, too mean.

LOL when Sam sets down his flask and accidentally hits Matt’s camera.  Because it jostles Matt’s screen, I keep expecting him to jump or flinch like he’s being shaken, but of course it’s just the image so he doesn’t react.

After talking way too much about EVERYTHING, I actually don’t have much to say about the dungeon crawl.  It’s fucking awesome, Matt’s descriptions of celestial statues with bleeding eyes is amazing, everyone’s reactions are super fun to watch!  I suppose it’s harder for me to discuss because as much as I love the imagery, I kind of never really got the whole lore tie in.  The whole Angel of Irons plot, to be fair, is a bit fuzzy to me.  I kind of wish it had gotten explored a bit more, because the main takeaways that I have from it are that Obann thinks he’s serving the Angel of Irons (whoever he thinks that’s supposed to be), and gets undying champions – Yasha, The Laughing Hand, the Caedogheist or whatever her name is – and then….does something?  And it’s got to do with a cult?  That is releasing Abyssal anchors that just kinda open tears.  Like, I get from the wiki that he’s doing all these things and it’s supposed to release the Chained Oblivion from the Abyss (which oh, I didn’t realize he was there?  Because isn’t he behind the Divine Gate?), but it just never quite solidified for me.

ANYHOW.  FINALLY COMPLETE.  Let’s hope it doesn’t take as long to continue with the rewatch!

[painonthebrain]

I’m gonna be honest watching everything with @/emmettworld go down is just kinda sad and also makes me. Conflicted?

Idk proship vs anti shit below cut im just . I probably shouldnt be writing anything rn bc my brain isn’t functioning for. Some fucking reason but whatever i do what i want

Like I don’t define myself as proship bc I think the whole pro vs anti thing is like. Ugh I can’t find the words. Idk it’s like.

Like I don’t want to call myself proship because. I have so many friends who will tear me apart for that and itll ruin our relationships and I love them and also I hate like. Having to attribute myself to a “side” but like. I’m completely fine with everything fictional. Yes. I don’t care, as long as it’s properly tagged, warned, etc.

Also I ship stuff like selfcest and clonecest so. Idk I don’t think antis do that.

And anti culture reeks of ew ew ew this (fiction) is gross! It shouldn’t exist AT ALL! And proship culture reeks of oh my god these stupid baby minors this is FICTION. DUH. Youre all beneath me

Anyway I know theres at least one moot i i can think of who has proship dni in their intro and like... if ur reading this. hi. I dont call myself proship but i certainly have some of the beliefs which is why i interact but if you’re uncomfortable u can totally block me like. Im not doing this to be some shady imposter who lurks in the dark i just dont label myself as any of this shit!!

im like. Lowkey terrified of how people are going to react to this post bc im HORRIBLE at using my words rn but like.

Like i just want people to make whatever tf they want to make! It shouldn’t be a person’s problem to “sanitize” themselves! And also fictional characters are quite literally made up people we create to do whatever the fuck we want to them! But also it’s important (in my opinion) to be at least a little critical of what you make. But also you shouldn’t have to file down your expression. But alsO-

Like there are so many factors to well. Factor in when it comes to fiction! And i try so hard to develop my media literacy (even with my underdeveloped baby frontal lobe) every day but even so these topics can be hard to navigate

Anyway yeah no conclusion paragraph because as you can probably tell from my writing. I have no idea what im saying i just feel the need to say something

Idk i just feel like a neurotic prey animal right now like im like.

Ok ok time to get personal guys

I have like MAJOR irrational fears that i am a horrible person like. Almost constantly and pro vs anti discourse makes that shit go fucking WILD. anyway. Yeah i have like this almost fanatic paranoid fear that no matter how hard i try i am a Bad Person and that im like. Metaphorically rotting from the inside and eventually i will expose it to everyone that i am Bad and Awful and Nasty and that even then when everything goes bad ill be completely unaware of my own inherent corruptness and that i will eventually hurt people or whoever i have the capacity to hurt and that things are doomed to fail for me because im such an abhorrent person

Anyway yeah those thoughts are obviously NONSENSICAL because… what??? The fuck????

But then my brain is like ooh yeah lets introduce some fucked up thoughts in here. Intrusive thoughts, if you will. Which all span many nasty awful things that are usually highly morally corrupt and wow I wonder if that ties into all that i said before? Yep it probably does!

Which makes me anxious as hell because then im also convincing myself that those thoughts are real and are my own thoughts and wants. Which FUCKS ME UPPP

So anyway that’s why I don’t label myself as pro or anti because proship makes me feel like im a horrible person who will hurt people and is disgusting and awful (also the intrusive thoughts) and the anti label goes against my very strong beliefs of freedom of creation and expression etc.

Yay rant vent brain barf over!!!!

[vitaminwaterreviews]

S.E.S. - I'm Your Girl

It’s amazing that Wikipedia labels this album as “dance-pop” because it really isn’t. Or maybe I’m just frustrated at how many– actually let’s count. 5 songs definitely aren’t dance pop, 5 you could consider dance pop. So at max it’s half dance pop, and more likely it’s 3 or 4. Oof. Anyway, I’m kind of bored; this album really bored me by the end. But Unnamed Male Rapper was super present in this album, that’s interesting. I probably won’t save a single song from this album – average of 6.2. I’ll let that speak for itself. Maybe my expectations are still raised by Pink Tape.

Anyway, that’s the original project done with: I’ve listened to a full album by every SM girl group ever, all 10 of them. So what now?

I’m still not totally satisfied. The jump from The Grace to Oh! feels really jarring, so I think I’ll check out SNSD’s debut release. I also want to revisit Perfect Velvet, a bit more aespa, check out f(x)’s debut release, 4 Walls, maybe GOT the Beat too. I also might listen to another S.E.S. album or two, and maybe another Sugar album, maybe The Grace.

Usually I don’t include any songs that I already know, but I’ll make an exception this time around because 1) I make the rules here and 2) Not including the literal title track would be a bit odd.

(‘Cause) I’m Your Girl

Intro is moody and synthy

Yep, here’s the beat with the signature unnamed male rapper

Honestly I have nothing to type, I know this song really well

8/10, it’s a good song, it’s a jam, I listen to this when it comes on

Oh, My Love

More r&b than CIYG, bassy

Cute little harmonies for most of the chorus

The “oh yeahhh” is fun

Random guitar interjection

Seo Taiji moment lol

That’s it? Just one guitar moment?

6/10, it’s alright, I want more

Nonsense

That intro lol

Much more upbeat, the “ba da ba” is super fun

Why do I feel like I’m hearing seagulls?

More random male rapper(s)?

Really weird, distorted chorus(?) if that was the chorus anyway

Nice guitar here actually, this works well

(Dreams come true isn’t the only weird rap I guess)

Okay wait seriously what is going on here

Honestly though this is a bop, the synths in my left ear are fun

(Still despise stereo audio tbh)

The guitar in the chorus(?) really brings this song together, like if it wasn’t there then this song would feel so wrong

8/10, honestly that was really fun, campy

Dejavu

Ballad time?

Lol they got me

Horns are fun, bass is fun

Actually is that the first non-ballad fake-out we’ve had? I think so

More unnamed male rapper

This bass synth though is neat

Back to the horns I guess, the percussion in this section is great

7/10, could’ve done more in the verses

Good-Bye

Slow jam time

More unnamed dude, except this time he’s just muttering under his breath like he thinks this is Haru Haru

Haru Haru is the only acceptable emo muttering under your breath in music

I’m typing about Haru Haru because this song is slow and boring

Oh he does get proper rap lines, whoever he is

Dude his voice is low, and quiet, and mixed low too, I can hardly hear him

That kinda worked though

This guitar solo is fun at least

6/10 for the rap and the guitar

Reason Why I’m Perfect

Well that’s an egotistical title

More slow jam

Random rap break wtf

Now that’s a proper Nmixx change up

Oh also, random unnamed rapper reappears

This song is alright but it does basically nothing for me

5/10

Friend

I think we’re due a fun song

Oh no I’m scared by this intro

Well either this is a ballad or it’s a slow jam and I’m worried

Dude why do they always use the exact same snare sample?

Can I just skip this? Is that allowed?

5/10

Rock’n Country

Well I guess this is that fun song I wanted

Yep, fun beat

Lots of vocal samples in the background – not just in this song but the other fast ones too

Did I say fun beat? I think I should’ve said “gets old really fast” beat haha

Lol the lalala’s and the ha’s are funny

There’s no rock anywhere in this song

More unnamed male rapper

This bass is killing me

The growl lol

6/10, it was fun but REally annoying

After Today

This intro feels like some fantasy shit

But like, early 2000’s computer graphics fantasy game

More unnamed male rapper

Honestly this song makes me kind of uncomfortable

I feel like I’m supposed to like this song but

5/10

Thy Fragrance

Oh no

Fake ending, and then “come along baby”

Seriously who is the unnamed rapper guy

Wikipedia says it’s Eric Mun, but who does the other songs?

6/10 purely for the vocal flexing lol

[justmybookthots]

[August Update]

These Broken Stars

I remember starting this book several years back and not loving it. Honestly, when I reread it recently, I gotta agree that the intro was kind of a turn-off when it came to the characterisation of the male lead, but once the spaceship crashed, things got much better (that… came off more sadistic than I expected it to. I just meant I liked how the hero took charge when disaster struck).

Honestly, what I didn’t account for was how sad the story was. I felt angry at Lilac for endangering her life when she knew it meant leaving Tarver all alone in that forsaken land (that was so SELFISH), and also I was so sad for the Whispers. The biggest reason I continued to read was because I wanted to untangle the mystery behind what the Whispers were, and hmm. I guess I kind of got a vague explanation? It still wasn’t very clear by the end of the story. I am just not science-y enough to get it.

While neither Tarver nor Lilac annoyed me individually, I don’t think there was much chemistry between them. A lot of the story was just them trying to survive and I don’t think that had to be as boring as it was written? There could have been banter, there could have been more interesting conflict between both leads, but none of that happened. They just trooped on and on and on through the wilderness. The only thing that interested me were the strange whispers and visions Lilac was sensing.

Pretty meh book, overall. Didn’t buy the romance, didn’t love the denouement of the story. It just made me sad and sort of annoyed.

You Deserve Each Other

THIS BOOK. THIS FUCKING BOOK.

While I was moving through These Broken Stars and Belladonna like molasses, I picked up this book on the side, intending to just sift through it, and next thing I knew, I was speeding through the pages at a breakneck pace. 

I did not expect to love the first half as much as I did. Two petty lovers hanging around and being spiteful to each other instead of just breaking up sounded very… juvenile to me (at least when I read the reviews) but you know what? I HAD SO MUCH FUN. Ironically, I found that to be the best fucking part of the book. The kind of shit this couple pulled on each other because they’d fallen out of love was absolutely hilarious. Also, can I mention how much I adored Nicholas? He was utterly unlike any hero I’d read so far; he was pompous, high-strung, opinionated, prone to rants… In fact, he reminded me of an OC in a story I’d written years ago, who was decidedly NOT romantic male lead material. Once I wrapped my head around the fact that Nicholas wasn’t normal, I loved him so much more. XD 

Also, I lost it during this Office reference:

My favourite sequence was the whole phone nonsense. One of Naomi’s pranks accidentally damaged his phone, so he tried to take hers but she wouldn’t let him, and it was just… Amazing. Mainly because he thought she was cheating since she was desperate to hide her phone but in truth she just didn’t want him to see her job rejections, and the misunderstanding that culminated in was… well. It was a lot of delicious fun, is all I’ll say.

Now. On to the second half of the book.

How could something so spectacular in the first half nosedive so hard??????? I was so, so crushed. I felt that Nicholas, who’d all his life been a mama’s boy, transitioned too fast to someone who dared to stand up to her. All of a sudden, he was being VERY aggressive with his mother and it just… didn’t feel natural to me. I totally do want him to learn to stand up to her, but I wanted it to be realistic. People don’t just change overnight, not when they’ve grown up conditioned to always defer to someone. 

Also, his relationship with Naomi suddenly went from wholly negative to wholly sweet. Out of nowhere, they could do no wrong at all, and everything—EVERYTHING—clicked with each other. This part of the story is where a lot of readers found the book enjoyable, but I found the transition very jarring. It didn’t feel realistic to me. I wanted a mix of good and bad, with the good slowly outweighing the bad. Instead, we just got a sudden onslaught of good, and all their previous issues disappeared.

I honestly feel appalled that this book worked so well and so poorly for me at the same time. I wanted—I still want more—more from Nicholas and Naomi because they were such a hoot, but not in this way. Ack. It's depressing. It's novels like this that make me wary of ever admitting I'm enjoying a book I'm midway through because you just never know.

You might just jinx the whole experience. 

- 24 Aug 2023

[armybratz123]

Dearly Loved Au: Part One

Intro

*Trigger Warning* There is some reference to suicide, it's not described to much, but Midoriya had almost jumped and Dabi talks about dealing with jumpers before.

~

"Hey there, I'm Todoroki Touya , known as the Pro Hero Dabi. Nice to meet you kid."

~

Dabi stared at the shaking boy, whose eyes kept roaming at the scars on his face. He doesn't mind, Dabi lets the kid stare. Slowly getting used to the bumpy and rigid discolored skin. Eyes lingering on the multiple staples with a wince, then the kid's green eyes finally met Dabi's bright blue.

As loathe as Dabi is to admit it, this isn't the first jumper he's found and stopped. Nor is this kid the first one to see his identity. Dabi uses the mask so he is not recognized by his father and so that people aren't afraid of him because of his scars when he goes to save them. But the jumpers, are different. More often than not, they need someone to reach out, and to do so on a personal level. Best way to do that for Dabi is by taking off the mask and talking to them face to face.

"What's your name kid?", Dabi asked gently.

"M-Midoriya Izuku.", Izuku stutters.

"Okay, Midoriya, can you climb back over the railing, and we can have a talk.", Dabi asks carefully, "We don't have to move from this spot, I'd just like to chat with you from the other side.

Midoriya looked hesitant for a second, before slowly nodding.

"Okay.", the boy muttered as he slowly climbed over the railing and joined Dabi in the middle of the roof.

"Usually in cases like this, heroes would ask why you wanted to do it before spouting out some speech to inspire you.", Dabi looks deep into the kid's emerald green eyes, "I do this a little differently. Aside from the fact that I'm a hero, what reason would you have to a) confess your trauma and troubles to me. And b) listen to whatever inspirational nonsense that I have to give to you."

"Have you done this before?", Midoriya asks hesitantly.

"Many times.", Dabi tells him bluntly.

Dabi has also quickly learned to always be honest in this type of situation. Or otherwise you just might find yourself with a case of a returning jumper.

"My point is that I'm asking you, as a total stranger, to tell me personal details of your life. Now I'm a give and take kinda guy, I'm not gonna take what I can't give. So for now, you can ask me five questions about me, my quirk, and my life, and I'll answer all of them honestly. Then I'll ask you five questions.", Dabi pauses, before gently smiling at him reassuringly, "And if we need to go another round, we'll go another round. I'm in no rush."

Midoriya stares at him, eyes wide at what Dabi was telling him. Five questions isn't a lot, but if asked carefully and with the right questions, they can be very detrimental to Dabi's life and even career if Izuku decided to share them with the world. Not to mention of a chance and offer to ask five more. It's a lot of trust for a hero to give a random stranger.

Doing exactly what Dabi said he would.

It'd take Midoriya a lot of trust and courage to tell the number four Pro Hero why he's found himself up here on this roof. Dabi is giving Mirdoriya the exact same trust he is asking of the kid.

And the mere thought of the consideration, almost brought Midoriya to tears.

"O-okay. Then why?", Midoriya asks, a strength beginning to fill his voice.

Dabi tilts his head asking, "Why what?"

"Why... did you take off the mask? Show me who you are? Your identity, everyone knows how secretive the Pro Hero Dabi is with his personal life.", Midoriya rambles a little, "So why show some quirkless nobody like me?"

"Easy. You're not just some nobody.", Dabi tells him gently, "Heroes, we are usually showcased as people who are untouchable. Beings who are always there. Heroes who are always right when it comes to right and wrong with their flashy quirks and abilities. And it works, despite the fact that it's not a concept I really care for all that much, because we're human too. But it doesn't assure people if they think we are as flawed and weak as the rest of them when we are the ones in charge of their lives, basically decide that they get to be saved."

"This.", Dabi's points his finger between himself and Midoriya, "Is different. You, are different. Cases like yours, people like you who need to be saved on a personal level, are different. Because they don't need a being from higher up to save them, they need someone who can understand them. Be with them on that level so they can raise them up to be something more, and, hopefully, to someplace better.

And that's where the mask comes in, I can't talk you down or help you as a Pro Hero. So the mask comes off and I try to help and understand you and help you as another person."

Midoriya looked like he wanted to cry, his lip trembling. It's only the first question, and the greenette already feels touched at the fact that this Hero, that Dabi is willing to listen, to be personal, to be human with Izuku in the midst of his pain.

Dabi reaches out and squeezes Midoriya's shoulder comfortingly, waiting patiently when Midoriya seemed to regain control over his emotions.

"My turn to ask a question.", Dabi says softly, "What brought you to the roof."

"Today.... was just hard."

And just like that, things boiled over for Midoriya as he told Dabi everything about his day.

Everything.

His teacher humilating him at school, all th bullying, his old friend telling him to kill himself, the slime attack, and so much more.

It took all of Dabi's will power to not act out the horror he is currently feeling towards everything that Midoriya has confessed. All that has happened in. One. Single. Day.

Dabi is scared to find out all that Midoriya has gone through over the years since he's been diagnosed as quirkless.

Midoriya even told Dabi what happened with All Might and his secret, so blinded by his own emotions, Izuku didn't even realize he forgot to leave that part out as he to the Pro Hero his horrible day.

"All that has happened to you. It is not okay.", Dabi tells him quietly, almost a whisper, "But you are so strong for still trying, still continuing to live, despite all the mistreatment you have endured. Today just happened to be the last straw, right?

Midoriya nods as he sniffles, wiping away his tears as he tried to regain control of his trembling voice.

"That was your second question.", Izuku tells Dabi with a shaky smile.

Dabi couldn't help but to burst out laughing, "It's going to be like that then, huh?"

Midoriya nods with another smile, "Third."

Dramatically, Dabi puts a hand over his heart as he leans back, "Oof, your killing me here smalls."

But despite trying to look hurt from Midoriya's 'ruthlessness', Dabi couldn't stop his shoulders shaking with barely contained laughter. But couldn't stop the wide grin on his face as he looks down at Midoriya, who was also giggling uncontrollably at Dabi's antics.

"W-why did you b-b-become a hero?", Midoriya manages after a minute or two.

Dabi takes a deep breathe, and then let's out a breathless chuckle, "You really like to dig deep don't you Midoriya?"

"I-I'm sorry if it's too personal!", Midoriya frantically waves his hands in apology.

"It is pretty personal.", Dabi agrees, "But that's the point of this, isn't it? I give and take, my trauma for yours.", Dabi then sighs thoughtfully, "Now, how to put it to words.... Well, simply put, my childhood was not a happy one. Seven years ago, things happened and I ended running around on the streets with all these fresh deep burns that have slowly healed to the scars you see today. Two years later, I was pretty much becoming a villain at that point. A low-time villain, but a villain none the less."

Midoriya gasped, staring at Dabi with his jaw dropped, "You were a villain? But you're a hero."

Dabi snorted at Midoriya's reaction, "I know, who knew huh? I probably would've stayed that way, gotten worse even, if I hadn't met this girl who had changed my life. Threw it upside down and pulled it inside out, more like. But to make a long story short, we got into trouble and she later ended up kicking my stupid ass and told me to go be a hero. And I'm still with that girl today."

Dabi sighs, a reminiscent look on his face, soft smile twitching onto her lips. It was a strange sight to see with someone that is as intimidating as Dabi is.

"She turned my head on straight and helped me realize that I may have not gotten the help that I needed when I was young.", Dabi looks over to Izuku with a soft smile, "But I can become the help that needed back then, for kids who need me today. Kids like you."

"Are you two... together?", Izuku couldn't help but ask curiously.

Heroes, especially Pros, rarely have time to date or find romance. Much less find a family. It's one of the reasons family's, hero families especially, like the Iidias and Todorokis are so rare and looked up to in awe and curiosity. It's incredibly hard and difficult to keep up any relationship when living the life or a Pro-Hero.

"As in dating? Yeah, going on three years now.", Dabi answers with a smile, "That was question number four by the way."

"Oh, right.", Izuku mumbles to himself, having forgotten that bit.

But.... there is one more question that he has... no.... needs to ask. All Might had already made it perfectly clear what he thought, but All Might isn't here on the roof with Izuku now, Dabi is.

Maybe... just maybe.... his answer may be different. Izuku can only hope, it's all he has as in this moment. Next thing Izuku knows, the question left his lips before he could even think.

"Can someone quirkless become a hero?"

For a long moment, Dabi is silent. Staring at Izuku with an unreadable expression.

There are many things running through Dabi's head.

Because he had promised Midoriya that he'd be honest when answering the kid's questions. Dabi had to sit and think for a moment on the question. He honestly never thought about it before.

Dabi's mind goes to the many Pros, Underground Heroes, Vigilantes, and Villains that Dabi has met. Many of these people, specifically the Underground and Vigilantes, have quirks that aren't as flashy, showy, or even physical more than half the time. Forcing them to fight quirkless.

Erasurehead is a prime example. Dabi has only met the hero once or twice on some of his nightly patrols, and the few times Nezu has invited Dabi as a guest speaker/teacher/trainer at UA, which is becoming more and more frequent now that he thought about it.

Something for future Touya to overthink about later.

Now, Dabi has to stay in the now, because a suicidal child has just asked him a deep question.

And Dabi has just now noticed that the said child has started to outwardly show his panic.

Damn it.

"Hey, kid, sorry got lost in thought there.", Dabi assured the greenette as he rubbed the kids shoulders soothingly, "I had to think about it because, to be perfectly honest, I never thought about it before."

Dabi watches carefully as Midoriya takes in deep calming breaths. Sometimes taking deep exaggerated breathes himself when he notices Midoriya's eyes glaze over and his breath quickens when he gets lost in his own head again.

It took several minutes, but Dabi is patient, and Midoriya manages to calm down.

"Sorry for leaving you hanging like that kid. I didn't mean to make you panic.", Dabi apologizes.

"I-it's fine.", Midoriya mumbles sheepishly.

"Its not.", Dabi tells the kid with raised brows, but ultimately drops it, "But i'm gonna drop it anyone, we don't want you to end up having another panic attack. Your tired enough as it is, and that was only the beginning of one, trust me, they're not fun to have."

Dabi falls back from his crouch, landing on his butt so he is now sitting comfortably next to Midoriya.

"Now, do I think a quirkless person can be a hero.", Dabi hums, "Well, that depends.", he turns to Midoriya with a raised challenging brow, "You have what it takes?"

Midoriya blinks in surprise, speechless as he listens, physically unable to do anything else. For this, these words.... it's new.

"I know a lot of people and got into contact with a lot of their quirks as well.", Dabi explains, "And some of those people have mental or not as flashy quirks that makes it harder for them to fight. Forcing many of them to fight quirkless."

Dabi turns to Midoriya with a soft smile.

"As long as you are determined and your heart is in the right place, with the right training and equipment, yeah, I definitely think you can be a hero. Quirk or no quirk."

And just Midoriya thought he was going to break down crying again, there was a loud explosion going off in the distance. A large cloud of dirty smoke rose up from where the explosion came from.

Dabi's eyes narrowed as he jumped to his feet, Midoriya already standing wide eyed, next to Dabi.

Dabi flips his visor back down and over his eyes, clicks the hidden button on the back of his headphones, and his mask rose up over his mouth and nose, meeting with his visor with a quiet 'click'.

Turning to Midoriya, Dabi tilted his head, "Want help getting down?"

Midoriya almost jumped at the scrambled way Dabi's voice sounded with the mask back on.

"W-what?", Midoriya couldn't help but ask, confused.

"I'm asking if your ready to com down.", Dabi explains, even with the more intimidating and mechanical way his voice sounded because of the voice modulator attached to the mas, the Pro didn't sound impatient or frustrated at all.

As if he had all the time in the world to wait for Midoriya to be ready. And that was all Midoriya really needed in that moment.

So Midoriya nodded and took Dabi's hand in his own. The Hero picked Midoriya's smaller form up, resting him comfortably on his hip before running and jumping off the roof. Midoriya letting out a shout from the initial jump, clutching tightly to Dabi's coat, but other wise remained silent.

Midoriya watched fascinated, as Dabi turned mid-air, facing their backs to the ground holding out his wrist and a thin, yet strong, cable fired out of the cuff on Dabi's wrist attaching itself to the roof, allowing Dabi and Midoriya to swing safely to the ground. Dabi landing in a crouch with a small huff before withdrawing the cable from the roof and back to his cuff.

Dabi looked down to Midoriya.

"You gonna be okay kid?"

He's still not okay.

One conversation is not going to make everything better. One conversation is not gonna make everything right in the world. But, Midoriya has hope now, this hero gave Midoriya something that no one else has in a very long time.

Belief.

Ever since he was diagnosed quirkless, no one believed Midoriya can become a hero, not even All Might himself. But the number four Pro Hero, Dabi, he believed.

And that... made things a little better. Midoriya can work on the rest.

"Yeah, I'm... I'm okay now.", Midoriya nods in assurance, "Or, I will be."

Dabi nods, "Good, make sure things stay that way,"

His head snapped up at the sound of an even bigger explosion. Dabi made sure to ruffle Midoriya's fluffy curls with a satisfied grin, he's wanted to do that for a while now honestly. Midoriya couldn't see it, but he felt the satisfaction from the hero from the action.

"Duty calls kid.", Dabi says before running off, climbing to the nearest building with the help of his cable, calling out over his shoulder as he does so, "Stay safe Midoriya! Remember, you can do it!"

For several minutes, Midoriya stood there. His emotions a mess, but he knew that he was watching Dabi's retreating figure in awe. Midoriya has watched many hero videos, interviews, even read some theories and articles any chance he got about any hero he could learn.

At this moment, Midoriya thinks that Dabi has become his new favorite hero. That he needs to go home and watch as many videos and read as many articles he can find on the Pro.

But for now.... Midoriya wants to make sure his Hero is safe. That he saves the day, but comes out okay.

Without a second thought, Midoriya runs off. Following the trail of smoke and sounds of explosions.

~

Hey Guys!

I know this series is still farely new, but I have been toying with different ideas, and not quite sure which one I want to do better. I have equally good ideas for both.

I'm trying to decide if I want Midoriya to still have One for All in this series, or to become the first quirkless hero.

Now keep in mind, no matter which happens, Midoriya is not going to have as close of a relationship with All Might as he does in canon. So if that's your decider, forget it because it does nothing.

You can message me or leave your decision in the comments. If I feel like I'm not getting enough I will probably make a poll for it.

Be Your Best You! Bye~!

[bengiyo]

The Eclipse Ep 8 Stray Thoughts

The BL Summer '22 High School Extravaganza continues with my boys with the most external and internalized homophobia. I hope Kan and Thua talk this week, because I have been holding my breath for a week.

Ah yes, the boat that reportedly almost killed Khaotung and First. They definitely won't kiss here just because of the logistics.

First and Khaotung are absolutely gorgeous. I called the About Youth and Love in the Air casts the prettiest boys, but I find the Eclipse cast to be extremely attractive too.

Akk has to reject this kiss because it's in the open, but damn did he clearly want to. I've seen some commentary about how people like First in his other roles more, and while I don't want to rank his performances, I want to challenge viewers to pay attention to the details of Akk's physicality. He's not afraid of Ayan. He's intensely aware of his desires, and only ever stops Ayan at the line. It's so intentional, and Khaotung and First are absolutely in sync when they play together.

But also, Akk, my guy, you can't be dreaming like that about him and then rejecting him in the moment.

Oh, look at Ayan calling out the way Akk responded to his advances. Akk is really such a sad and terrifying character. He understands exactly what Ayan is saying to him about his right to love, and his response that, "I choose not to do it," hurts. Akk isn't Kan, who knows but needs someone to validate him. Akk is self-actualized, which makes his decision to be closeted even sadder.

I'm sorry to Khaotung, but I skip the intro for this show.

Ayan asking to borrow underwear in unhinged, and I suspect he asked for it just to startle Akk and mess with his sense of propriety.

Honestly, Ayan might be the most attractive GMMTV BL lead we've had since Kongpob for me. I like a character who knows exactly who he is and pulls that out of other people.

Ayan putting Akk's hands on his face is going to make me implode. He's saying, "This is how I like to be touched. Can you do it?" He tells Akk how he adores him and asks if he can kiss him, and reassures Akk that he can revoke it. I love Ayan so much.

This is a great plot kiss. It's a kiss that is pleading for more. Ayan wants so much from and for Akk, and it's no surprise that Akk has to break the spell. He can't give this much to Ayan. There isn't enough room in his heart and life for what Ayan wants. The world is too loud. It's why Akk can't be seen with Ayan in public.

Absolutely fantastic work from everyone in involved in that bedroom scene. Bravo.

Namo you are violating the rules of friendship. We don't collect blackmail on boys weekend.

Thua is here, and this is where my heart breaks. Kan has to slam the door closed again, and this is why I was kinda cool on my praise for the tent scene. It is a great scene, but this is what I know. In the daytime, we can never acknowledge what happened. I will not be surprised when Thua enters his villain era.

Oh lord this preview gonna make me link the Fosters again!

The pinky touch continues to belong to the gays!!!! New modification: Ayan being a little shit to Akk.

Oh, Neo. That annoyed blink Kan threw at Wat was great.

"What your parents made is so good," is an incredible double meaning, holy shit. "Well, it's usually good." Falls out of my chair.

Four boys squeezed into the back seat of a car? Definitely high school.

I just don't know how I'm supposed to read Thua's stepdad. He challenges Chadok, derides the curse as nonsense, then reveals he was targeted as a student by Chadok.

These socks always looks uncomfortable on these boys.

Chadok is such a villain. Every time he touches Akk I am thrown back to The Gifted.

Thua's smirk any time he susses out anything about Kan is absolutely perfect. This is a good role for Louis, too.

Wat is still trying to keep an eye on Ayan, but Kan is totally past that. Ayan supports his feelings for Thua, so Ayan is an ally.

Akk's involuntary smile at Ayan's voice. Yep, this episode is going to do something tragic at the end.

The teacher makes a homophobic remark about Kanlong, and Wat and Akk immediately look at each other. We all know!

Chadok has an informant. Is it Namo?

Yeah, I'm not keen on Namo.

It's hard losing someone you care for to suicide. The confusion and loss lingers for decades. I get Ayan's mom's concerns that Aye might be in danger following in his uncle's wake.

Ayan is relentless on flirting with Akk. What's he gonna do when he catches him?

Oh ho, the journal was in the office. What role does Thua play in this?

As we head into the final third, I'm dreading new horrors inflicted upon the World Remembers.

[seafoam-taide]

OKAY SO. im so curious whats the fandom with the object people and the one named tesla and the lightbulb who i think is tesla's friend. Please ive been seeing it everywhere and cant find a name for it,,, i wanna know a bit more about it to see if i wanna check it out

Hi!!! Okay so. Well. The overarching name for aaall this nonsense is the Object Show Community, or OSC. At least, that's what I've gathered. Tesla specifically is @ecto-hazard's OC for an object /camp/ called RIP- Rune's Immature Party. If you haven't caught on already, acronyms are Kind Of A Thing. If you want to look into Tesla stuff specifically, here's a link to Grey's post with the master doc! They're comics and you should totally read them I'm not biased at all. There's also a brief explanation for camps in the doc I think. That should probably be its own post if you want me to talk about it, though.

So the actual meat of all this object stuff is, as the name suggests, the object shows, most of which are on youtube. The main two(? I think?) are Inanimate Insanity and Battle For Dream Island, but there are like, over 500 or something of them all over the place. It's a Huge Thing. Those two start off preeetty goofy but the most recent seasons are really cool stuff in my opinion.

Oh and, to give you a little bit of context, the basic like. 'structure' of an object show is like you know those reality TV competition shows where there's a set cast that gets whittled down through some sort of voting system. like survivor. its like that but with object characters.

In case you want to watch some, here's a list of the shows I've watched so far that I liked:

Battle For Dream Island [BFDI] by jacknjellify - The Original. the one that sparked all this nonsense. at least. to my knowledge. there are uh. 5 seasons now i think? it's a lot. it's so much. it's hours and hours of content. the first one was made when the two creators were like 10 or something so keep that in mind but it just gets better from there Inanimate Insanity [II] by AnimationEpic - tbh probably the most popular one right now??? at least from what i've seen. it's season 1 is even worse than BFDI's season 1 but it's current seasons... holy FUCK. HOLY /SHIT/. OH MY GODDD. also canon nonbinary character (tho a lot of the rest of its representation attempts are. not so great) Animated Inanimate Battle [AIB] by GatlingGroink57 - goofy funny but with a really good grasp on characters. Has like. 60 characters but each one managed to be memorable??? one of my favorites i love oodle SO MUCH ONE, or as it's often called, 'HfjONE' by Cheesy Hfj - very much NOT goofy funny. first show I watched. A very interesting (and upsetting) take on the expected format of an object show. its kind of hilarious this was my first one in retrospect it is not your usual object show Paper Puppets Take 2 [PPT2] by YellowAngiru - sooo fun and cool and creative... each episode has it's own unique intro + theme and there are some spooky plot things and drama and it's fun Sacriverse by Sacri - if you wanna watch this one you should use this playlist, this one is like. goofy funny but also analog horror and it's spread out along a bunch of videos and??? watching this playlist was an. experience. also it has HAPPY STAAAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a bunch more in a list I haven't watched yet and also a bunch more I likely haven't even heard of so this list is nowhere near end all be all. There's so much. There is. sooo much. god.

Also sorry to go back to Tesla after all that BUT if you like the Tesla entries there are more entries for other characters from that season and season 2 is happening rn so like... ooo you wanna join the server so bad and look at everybody's cool entries ooooooooo

OKAY that was a lot. Oh geez. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to talk abt this and I hope this was helpful somewhat??? ALSO anything said here could possibly be false bcuz I have only been here like. A month. A little over that. I'm still pretty new to it also. If you have any more questions I'd be happy to answer them.