#i only know the basics of that Damned webcomic

[spearheadrampancy]

i absolutely fucking adore that you can write a super detailed post and have it be ENTIRELY unclear as to whether youre referring to felix & locus, or dirk & jake.

[nqmonarch]

Since I've only read the webcomic I may be wrong in some parts but man pre-regression Yoojin and Yoohyun's relationship is so depressing.

I understand why Yoohyun distanced himself but at the same time I want him to suffer because holy shit he didn't explain anything. Yoojin is extremely depressed and has substance abuse problems which there's no way in hell Yoohyun doesn't know about but instead he just keeps creating distance and treats him coldly. I get you don't want your older brother to become a target of mister evil venom dragon dude and die but it's a miracle Yoojin kept himself alive???

Like I'd have to imagine he's had suicidal thoughts as when he attempts to sacrifice himself for Yoohyun, he's like 'Fine I'll die, I'll stop bothering you and everyone else.' He was barely holding onto hope because of the few people who supported him who all ended up dying and only he lived because of Final Thanks.

The amount of trauma Yoojin's been through is insane. That being said I want Yoohyun to suffer (he's already suffered a lot but I want pre-regression him to suffer more). At the end of the day this is evil venom dragon man's fault But man am I pissed at Yoohyun.

That being said it seems like the only way (where the webcomic picks up with them pre-regression) for Yoohyun to suffer is if Yoojin dies. And honestly I don't want Yoojin to die. So I've been thinking about a satisfying way for Yoojin to "get revenge" and I think I've come up with something???

So Yoohyun's doing all of this to protect Yoojin because Yoohyun's a target and if he's close to Yoojin then Yoojin will be a target too. So what if Yoojin just ends up managing to become a bigger target on his own?

As mentioned the government's awakening facility was catered toward individual's with combat abilities so it'd definitely fail to awaken Yoojin at his maximum potential. And as we saw from Yoojin's ability to see other's classes it seemed like over 50% of the population had POTENTIAL for D rank or above.

So if there was another character that could see the potential ranks of everyone and imagine there surprise when they manage to come across Yoojin and find out his potential is an S Rank (which I don't know if that's canon but for the sake of this scenario let's say his potential is an S rank, and they can also see the potential of his skill Caregiver is S (apparently it became L after Yoohyun died for him). Because I think skills can level up??? I don't understand the magic system that well so if that's not true just be delusional with me).

Now obviously they'd want to get Yoojin on their side, and they come up out of nowhere offering training to Yoojin. By the time this news reaches Yoohyun's ears through his weird stalker network Yoojin's already gone.

Of course Yoojin wants to become a useful older brother, and sure maybe he's fallen into the trap of getting scammed before but this person has proof of being in the Seseong Guild (I don't know maybe they have IDs?). And why is the guild for this AU the Seseong Guild? Because that's what would piss Yoohyun off the most.

So now fast forward a few years Yoohyun has been freaking the fuck out and is basically forced to assume his brother is dead. For the sake of privacy and keep their new asset safe the Seseong guild gave Yoojin a new identity. Despite that evil venom dragon dude figured out it was Yoojin and decided 'Hey if I can kill him I can use his body to really make Yoohyun accept that he's dead and make him join my side! :D'

Anyway the dragon fails like in canon. This time instead of Yoohyun breaking into the portal and then sacrificing himself the the guild leader of Seseong guild (my boy Sung Hyunjae) is near the gate (coincidence I think not) and he's like damn something happened, seems interesting, I'll join in. But by the time he enters the dragon's already dead and the only one standing is Yoojin.

Now Yoojin had interested Hyunjae before, the way he'd acted so at ease with his S rank brother in the past despite being an F rank. Not only that but even when Hyunjae let out his imposing S Rank aura, Yoojin, when he was still a lower rank, would cower but he didn't mince his words. It was amusing.

Yoojin had originally been standing in the back as more of a supportive figure but holy shit did the party get wiped by the dragon. Lets say all of the party members were under Yoojin's custody and that one of the party members (for the sake of my delusions) was an S Rank (for the sake of my delusions) and died for Yoojin. Bam Yoojin is super fucking strong solos the dragon, easy, he now gained the L ranked skills Perfect CareGiver and Dragon Slayer.

From unlocking Dragon Slayer he gets the wish stone, and this time is allowed to wish everyone else who died alive and the Irreverent Children are like 'y'know you've made it pretty far already fuck it we'll just bring them back to life no need to turn back time.' Hyunjae watches the ending of this go down and he's like ._., o_o, and then bastard :). You know he'd just be thinking in his head about how useful this random support ite-- person is.

Okay so we've got Yoojin basically up to where he is post-regression and he keeps gaining skills from dungeons, gains the double attack skill, doesn't say shit obviously because he's Yoojin. Except this time he has a lot more publicity more specifically publicity by Hyunjae's side. Yoohyun manages to see this, recognizes Yoojin, and he's first relieved his beloved brother is alive, and then fuming. Why is that bastard there? Poor Yoojin will only be in danger with him but he has to remind himself Yoojin is S Class now (through the power of I say so, I don't actually know if they can like reawaken to a higher class but I assume so?).

Anyway eventually they Yoohyun breaks in to the Seseong Guild just to talk to Yoojin they make up yay!!! All of the post-regression characters end up meeting Yoojin and become happier too. Everyone ends up becoming happy and Yoojin saves the world :)! Go mom powers!

I haven't read the novel, and thus I'm not at a point where I can make this scenario with as few plot holes as possible. Please excuse me for any glaring mistakes, I just need to live out this dream.

Also wouldn't it be funny if Yoojin used his keywords on evil venom dragon dude that follows the Pious and it worked??? And he now had that dude on his side, when I was reading that scene I was like "...is he gonna say 'I love you' to beat it?" Obviously in post-regression it's huge that venom dragon guy dies because he's the reason Yoohyun is dead but... this is pre regression :).

Anyway I love the post-regression characters and how much happier they seem compared to their pre-regression versions. I want post-regression dead Yoohyun to get a happy ending too. I just think he should suffer a bit first.

I felt like I was on drugs writing this I'm going to be honest not quite sure of what I just wrote but it was a hell of a ride.

[beesmygod]

"A GHOST STORY" IS A WEBCOMIC I MAKE THAT I WILL BE RE-POSTING, GRADUALLY.

the top row is from 2013, the bottom row is from the 2018 re-draw. EXCEPT NOW WE'RE IN A PERIOD OF 2019 WHERE THE ART ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING SOMEONE MIGHT WANT TO LOOK AT FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME!! what a relief. however there is still much to improve and learn always and forever. again, it's a bit of a relief to be able to look back at these pages and be like "damn now if i were doing this, i would change this and this and this and this for these reasons". this (hopefully) demonstrates an ability to not just see that things are wrong but how they could be fixed. which is something i had a harder time recognizing back then (still do, might always!).

in the new pages there's a little more care in the construction of the environments, in the postures of various characters, in the faces. things are still extremely rudimentary and basic and the speech bubbles are still pretty messy...but BETTER than they were.

the second page on the first row is a good example of why i had to start splitting up pages. too much shit on that page! the inconsistently sized gutters are driving me nuts too. im glad i fixed things if only for some consistency while people are flipping through pages now.

one consistent problem in the Before Times is not knowing or understanding the 180 degree rule. maxine and jack change sides arbitrarily based on who is speaking despite the fact that they should be standing still in this moment. the second set of pages are a vast improvement over the first, but still bend (if not outright break) the rule.

i think the black-eyed kid looks worse in the new one though. bummer! sometimes it turns out that amateur art has a certain je ne sai quois that's hard to recapture when re-drawing it.

the writing is much improved too. they were weird in the beginning and not in a good way. my inexperience with affectionate human behavior really shone through in those early pages.

jack's behavior is sort of like a cats. he'll cry and complain if you do something to him he doesn't like but if he really didn't like it, he'd leave. he just likes to complain and have someone hear him

---

♥ read the comic: A Ghost Story ♥ support the comic for as little as $1 a month on Patreon ♥ donate on kofi ♥ pay what you want for the re-draw of the first chapter on itch.io

you can block the tag "#AGS repost" to keep this off your dash

[l0veraven]

We Don't Talk About Riley

We all know Riley, the second main character of Lease Bound... even though she comes off as more of a side character than the Yonique staff.

Let me start by saying: this webcomic has been in progress since 2017. I have my own creative ventures that have been delayed or pushed aside for the future because life gets crazy. It's not abnormal for there to be delays in completing a project that's more of a "post as you go" type of piece.

We're at a point in the story where we've seen Jaden's backstory and Shez' backstory.

Wait... Shez? What about Riley's backstory? Surely it's gotta be in there SOMEWHERE!

Well... No, there isn't. There are hints and mentions of SMALL bits of her background, but that's only mentioned in mini-comics in the middle of chapters or in the comments of her posts.

Even as someone who doesn't enjoy Lease Bound, but is interested in the critiques of the work, it really feels as though Riley is just a part of the background. Sure, she had a bigger part in the earlier chapters, but how come a side character got her backstory told before Riley, the other love interest?

This comic advertises itself as a lesbian love story, but it's just a mouthpiece for terf/radfem ideology. It's really sad, and there's a way to integrate your ideologies in your work in a way that isn't absolutely jarring. This is just "men bad, men evil, men are rapists," etc. but little to nothing about the actual relationship between Riley and Jaden.

Over the seven years of this comic being produced, we don't see any chemistry between the two leads. They still feel like strangers to each other. They have yet to even feel like they formed a proper friendship. There aren't any clearly demonstrated aspects of the "toxicity" in Riley and Blaire's relationship. You wanna know why?

The comic's timeline, including the most recent panels, have covered the span of ONE WEEK.

Seven years of work, only to cover ONE WEEK of in-story events.

I'm not saying that Lease Bound needs to be the perfect piece of media for everyone to enjoy, but damn if you're gonna make propaganda pieces, then at least put in the effort for it to work a little more coehesively.

Maybe get someone to be a scriptwriter so the dialogue can be worked out in advance, and someone to help plan future chapters. It's very apparent that Rusty is building the story as she goes. She has no clear direction for the story. 13 chapters in, and we aren't even going to have the Big Conflict occur between Blaire and Riley. They aren't breaking up in this chapter. We're ALL waiting for the inciting incident for them to break up so the love story can actually flourish.

For all I know, Rusty could be using this chapter to properly showcase how toxic Riley and Blaire's relationship is... but she won't. She fails at portraying antagonists in an effective manner. They're only bad because they're men or they use pronouns. That's literally the basics of what Rusty uses to make an antagonist.

I'm always open to input because I could be missing something. I'm open to critiques, but all I ask is to actually critique the points I'm making.

[youngerfrankenstein]

So today I watched two movies where the deuteragonist goes kinda nuts and turns into a dragon thing, before the protagonist has to calm them down.

They were both a pretty fun time!

Promare is something I had been meaning to watch for quite a while but somehow never got around to. Glad I finally did!

Promare has quite possibly the Worst oppression allegory I have ever seen. A bunch of people are discriminated against because they burned half the world and killed billions (with a B!) of people. Also it’s not actually anything inherent to them it’s a bunch of alien parasites that will destroy the planet. However, since this is basically just an excuse for robots to fight other robots on fire… I can’t say I really care in the end. Promare is ENTIRELY style over substance, and I mean that in the best way.

The plot is breakneck and stupid. Most of the characters barely register as such. The dialogue is so dumb. And it FUCKING RULES! I’ve seen the film described as “Anime the Anime” and that does kind of sum it up. Everything feels like a ten year old boy smashing his action figures together and you can’t help but get swept up in the enthusiasm.

Helped by the absolutely (excuse the pun) FIRE soundtrack. The energy almost never lets up, and on-the-nose engrish lyrics just add to the experience. Even if you don’t watch the movie holy heck listen to the soundtrack.

The characters may be paper-thing but holy hell are they fun to watch. Our protagonist, Galo, himbo extraordinaire is as ridiculous as he is somehow charming. You can’t help but admire his drive to help people. And his foil, the ironically icy Lio, here to set fires and fight for his rights. Aina, a nice, spunky girl set up as a love interest for about five minutes before it turns out her character has more of a story based around her relationship with her sister. Which is a nice change! In fact the only romance in the story arguably involves CPR for plausible deniability. And our hero remembers to open the airway thank heck. Though whether intentional or just ship tease who knows? And who cares. You can guess who the villain is about ten seconds after he shows up and he is as much a blast to watch as the rest.

And really, this is a movie with a secret robot used to save the day called the Deus X Machina. A movie that ends with two shirtless guys setting the Earth on fire to stop the Earth from being set on fire. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and really neither should you. Let it sweep you away for almost two hours and you will feel much better afterwards.

-

I started reading Nimona around the time it was wrapping up as a webcomic. I have a copy of the graphic novel on my shelf. I was excited when I heard the movie had been greenlit (less so when I heard it was Blue Sky Studios), disappointed by the cancellation and, well, I’m happy it’s here now. While I’ve gotten grouchier over the years, it does make me smile to see these guys on my television, even if they’re not quite the same people either.

Because the movie is very different, and yet much of it feels similar as well. Certain scenes, like the board game, are almost directly from the comic, others are from the comic but not quite the same. The characters are different, Ballister is less jaded, Ambrosius less delusional and Nimona less, well, monstrous. She seems to more beat the snot out of people than commit mass murder. In the comic she’s every bit the monster people fear her to be, though a sympathetic one, and perhaps one who will heal someday. While the ending of the movie is far happier, it fits the new tone. And honestly? I need to stop making comparisons and judge the damn movie on its own merits. Of which it has many!

Our setup is fairly simple, Ballister BlackBoldheart is a new knight of the realm, who immediately gets framed for the murder of the queen and disarmed (heh) by his boyfriend Ambrosius Goldenloin, while on the lam he is approached by a shapeshifter called Nimona who is up for a little mayhem and hijinks. Together they try and clear his name.

My fist fear when I heard Blue Sky studios would be the ones releasing the movie was that a lot of the humour would be Quite Bad. And while there definitely is plenty of that, I think more gags hit than miss. Hell the movie got quite a few laughs out of my dad and he’s a fair bit less likely to chuckle than I am. It is quite a funny movie, which is good because it helps the harsher moments hit harder. Because there are also plenty of those, especially in the final act.

Speaking of, the film is somewhat surprisingly well paced. Scenes tend not to overstay their welcome and the movie flows well. What else flows well? The animation! (My segways not so much) Everything is very smooth, which is rather necessary for all the shapeshifting, and there’s quite an interesting scene made to look as if subway tiles are telling the story of Nimona’s origins (ish).

And the main trio really are quite fun to watch. Ballister, always the underdog, now a public enemy and trying to both clear his name and perhaps open his mind a bit. Ambrosius, golden boy, trying to do the right thing and not always doing a great job. And, of course, Nimona, who’s just here to break shit, though it is quickly clear there’s more underneath, also a pretty blatant trans allegory.

The relationships Ballister has with both the other two are sweet as heck, but also riddled with mistrust that they all have to work to overcome.

And while the movie does get a little preachy at times, it’s a kid’s movie. What do you expect? Rah rah fight the power, all that jazz. I may be too jaded for it but it certainly works.

—

Would recommend checking out both or either if they sound like something you’d enjoy!

[elialys]

Channeling positive energy for 2024

I have been very listless for at least the last couple of years (if not since 2020 and the whole pandemic mess), resulting in a pretty rough depressive episode that peaked this last November. It's hard to feel motivated to do anything concrete to improve your own life when everything around you is just...bleak. And this world does suck so much, so often, in so many ways.

But then I remember how I innately believe that most people are good, and that I am good, too, and that the one thing that always makes me feel better when I'm low is to do something helpful for someone, or to just be kind if I don't have the spoons for more.

(Putting this big ramble under read more)

I think I've mentioned it here before but I've made the decision to try and get into a new field of work, which involves at least two if not three years of studying. Let me tell you, I'm about to turn 36 in a couple of weeks. It's scary as fuck to do something like this. But this job, if I get into the school I need to get into, will be perfect for me. I'll be helping people who need guidance and compassion basically every day.

The bond I got to build with my students was my absolutely favorite part of teaching, but I got overwhelmed by everything else. I burned myself out in less than four years because I became a workaholic who worked 70 hours a week, never took a breath, tried tried tried, yet never felt like I was doing enough. The pressure was incredible, the 'I have to be around hundreds of people every single day', performing in front of entire classrooms full of kids 6h a day'...it just wore me down. Loved my kiddos to death, loved my science team so much, but then the pandemic hit and I lost a few family members within a few months, and I realized it was time for me to go home after 12 years abroad.

The meanest part of my brain likes to tell me I've spent the last four years being basically a useless human blob, but realistically, I know I wasn't. I had been working my ass off since 2011, when I was in America nannying two young kids all day long then going to school full time at night/weekends, before being hired as a teacher in England for 4 years.

I needed the break, I needed time with my loved ones. I needed to help grieving family members, especially my little sister with ASD, who had to learn to navigate life without her mom, who also developed epilepsy on top of everything else while our father pretended nothing was happening. I needed to spend time with my grandmother, who did so much for me when I was young and who's all alone, now. I'll even go as far as saying I've been working on fixing things with my mother this past year living with her, which was not an easy thing. Still isn't, but it's so much better than it used to be, and she's trying, too.

But I'm ready to get my life "back on track", or at least, to get busier , more proactive, more helpful to others who aren't in my inner circle, because I know that's what I'm good at, and why I'm here.

So, yeah, channeling positive thoughts for 2024. I'm not only going to work on getting into that school in the next few weeks, I also just received an email a couple days ago from an editor I used to work with. She's a writing director somewhere else now, and they need writers for a new webcomic project; she told me she immediately thought of me because they'd always been happy with my work, so I'm going to test for that, too, because why the hell not. Actually getting paid for the stuff I was writing a couple of years ago was the most surreal, rewarding experience of my writer life, and I wouldn't mind that happening again.

I want to give the biggest shoutout to my best friend & other butt cheek, @melusine0811, for helping me navigate those last four years, for always believing in me, and for being so fucking courageous when life is just so damn hard. Lauren, you're the bravest person I know, and forever my Donna Noble.

And because I'm sappy this weekend, awards and all, I'm also sending my thanks to my Australian unicorn, just for existing somewhere out there, for being a role model to me from afar these last thirteen years, for being another perfect example of people persevering no matter what, doing the things they love, while always trying to be kind to others in the process. I don't believe in much, but I believe in karma. You do good deeds, good things will happen to you.

Be kind to each other, my lovelies. Always be kind.

[shigayokagayama]

maybe a weird question, but do you have any recommendations for non-mob psycho media? I’ve been in search of something that hits similarly/is as well made and I trust your judgement o wise one. I’m not super picky, so recs of any kind would be appreciated :)

im like the worst person to take media recommendations from because you have to tie me down to watch something new and then i get obsessed with it forever, in terms of things ive seen recently that hit the same tumblr is NOT lying dungeon meshi is really good and if you start watching now you're gonna be watching at the part where it starts getting crazy

other stuff ive been into (gets progressively less mob psycho and generally more depressing like the further down we go bc i tend to get into really, really sad shit):

-i <3 deltarune but everyone has already played that. deltarune good. if you havent played deltarune play deltarune. genuinely like it more than undertale. also if the last chapter of deltarune is just the confession arc i called it and deserve a million dollars

-same w spiderverse. listen usually i dont care about superhero stuff but god these movies are good and i really hope they stick the landing.

-everything everywhere all at once continues to be one of my favorite movies ever

-rainworld (video game, very difficult but skurry's playthroughs do a good job summarizing the plot and general vibe of each route if you wanna watch those. i watched my friend play survivor ages ago and ive been playing through survivor with a friend on multiplayer and decided to watch some playthroughs to get a feel for the map and GOD DAMN the story of this game. rivulet route almost made me cry.) fair warning this is animal death the video game.

-severance (live action tv show, general plot is some sort of dystopian future where they invent a surgery where you can seperate your work self from your normal self so you clock into work and then black out until your shift is over. except your work self is just stuck at work forever. only 9 episodes but very, VERY good)

-i actually really enjoyed the scott pilgrim comics and the anime i wish anyone ever could be normal about them. id definitely suggest comics (if you can handle the 2000s humor) then anime. also basically everyone knows this but fair warning that starting out the main character is in his early 20s dating a 17 year old, it is explicitly treated as a shitty thing by the narrative and theres nothing explicit and its made very clear that he has 0 feelings for her whatsoever and is just using her as an ego boost but if youre sensitive to that stuff i might skip this one

-lots of webcomics about animals. i read so many webcomics about animals its like. my main media intake. this is part of the reason that i dont understand complaints about the art style my favorite webcomic looks like this

its called doe of deadwood and ill think about it until the day i die. others im currently reading (since this one wrapped a while ago) are "what lurks beneath" (cat cult on an island) "waves always crash" (cat cult on the beach) "i didnt know" (cat cult in a barn), toufati sawa (hyena trying to avenge her clan) and africa (leopard trying to survive the harshening world with her cubs) warning for animal death with all of these and general abuse warning for all those cat cult ones bc. cults.

-i like warrior cats. do not read warrior cats. its not very good and youll get stuck here forever.

-pathologic but the actual game and not just people describing the game please watch someone play the actual game summaries skip so much of the meat of the story and the characters. or play the game if you can bear learning to strategically quicksave. fair warning there is a lot of racism depicted against indigenous people in these games and while the framing of it generally aires on the side of "racism bad" there are a lot of kinda shitty tropes that come with it.

-listen bojack horseman is one of my shows it is the polar opposite of mob psycho in like every way and i would never in a million years recommend it if you want something that hits like mob psycho but if we're asking for just things i enjoy this is one of them. heavy cw for drug usage and abuse with this one. might want to give "does the dog die" a look for this one bc people are not joking about how heavy this show is

-same with hospice. hospice is a concept album about a hospice worker and a patient and has had more of an influence on me than any other piece of media ever bc i found it at the exact perfect time in my life for it to be relevant to my circumstances and now its like part of my identity. heavy cw for abuse also

-speaking of concept albums hey have you listened to tyler the creator he has several. WOLF especially i really like because the plot is actually like. kinda intricate. he also says the f slur a lot in WOLF but hes bisexual so diversity win?

-succession good. tw for like. everything though. probably "does the dog die" this one.

-hey have you ever watched david lynch's 1972 film "eraserhead"

[marisoft-paint-adventures]

Pgs. 309 - 384

so there’s this guy.

he has an intro.

and

he’s pretty cool.

he’s so cool he has a shitty galaxy reflection in his shades.

his name is David and his room looks like this.

Dave’s room is the most kind of guy room ever, I can just feel his entire personality here, and I can also feel the “this dude has no parental guidance outside of an equally unorganized brother” energy.

Dave is just a hyperspecific Guy, a real type of Guy, he’s even described as liking obscure bands and shit, Hussie was airing something out when making him.

Anyway, these are your copies of the beta you received in the mail recently. You've labeled them with your name in BOLD RED PRINT to distinguish them from your BRO's copies, who labeled his in kind. Neither of you really gives a shit about this game or has any intention of playing it, but you'll be damned if you'll let that get in the way of your campaign of one-upmanship.

the Lalondes and Striders have a lot of parallels going on between each other with their dynamics and situations. 1 thing that sets them apart is that the perception of an insane mindgame rivalry seems to be more truthful on Dave’s end compared to Rose. Rose thinks that even a fucking fancy pillow is some kind of symbol of scorn and spite in the waterfall of irony and insincerity. while there’s not much seen out of Dave and Bro’s relationship on a normal day, the stupid ass stealth moves that Bro pulls out in order to get Dave’s goat really implies that there is a genuine absurd rivalry going.

also they’re just brothers. when there’s brothers in fiction, they either hate each other or like each other but still fuck with each other just for the sake of Being Brothers.

Dave: Bleat like a goat and piss on your turntable.

You would never consider allowing any fluid even remotely resembling urine to touch your beloved TURNTABLES. That would risk breaking them, and a world without the gift of your godly science just doesn't sound like a place you want any part of. While you're at it, you might as well wipe out human civilization with a meteor or something ridiculous like that which will probably never happen. That sort of thing only happens in stupid idiot movies for stupid idiots.

You will however contemplate bleating like a goat for IRONICALLY HUMOROUS purposes at a later date.

Dave is so lame.

FUCKING APPLE JUICE BABY. YEAH LOVE THAT SHIT. TOP 3 FRUIT JUICES ON THE TIERLIST WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

he’s gonna say it, he’s gonna say the thing.

yeah this is the OS design I’m attached to the most, I grew up with Windows 7 which basically did everything Vista did but a bit more glassy, so this is up my fucking ally. look at those GRADIENTS, look at all that GLOSS, it’s so fucking good.

HE SAID IT.

I love Hussie’s fake UI I love it.

I also love Dave Strider’s blog, he said the n-word on it

not joking you can check for yourself.

FUCKING SWEET BRO AND HELLA JEFF YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

SBAHJ is so damn interesting because it’s the Homestuck thing that has the furthest reach out of the entire comic but at the same time people don’t even know it’s Homestuck.

true story: my 1st ever exposure to Homestuck without even knowing it was when I was like 12 years old and watched a fucking VanossGaming GMod video in which they played that masterpiece SBAHJ map.

seeing a giant shittily compressed texture that just said AIDS which spun around in a circle and fucking instantly killed anything it touched was literally formative for my sense of humor.

the backstory is also absolutely beautiful, imagine dropping your armature Gamer Webcomic™ on the Penny Arcade forums only for Future Homestuck Artist Andrew Hussie to come in and completely shit on your comic by turning it into the worst form of art you have ever seen which would then turn into its own popular comic.

I really like the utility of SBAHJ as an in-universe source of memes and in-jokes for all the kids to reference rather than forcing relevance by shoving in memes that were popular at the time. it really helps make Homestuck feel... not exactly timeless per say, but more relatable in way that supersedes generations.

I say this because I fucking know for a fact real ass memes come in later on in the comic and they get really fuckin annoying.

I would kill someone for a Midnight Crew adventure, you would not believe how far I would go for this to be real.

TT: In some cultures the persistent refusal of a lady's invitation to play a game with her would be a sign wanton disrespect. TT: Either that, or flagrant homosexuality.

STOP JOKING ABOUT DAVE LIKING MEN YOU DO NOT KNOW OF THE FUTURE CONSEQUENCES IT HAS.

it is here where Dave and Rose immediately become the best fucking character dynamic ever.

TT: Sometimes I wonder how you are ever allowed to pay for meals in restaurants. TT: It must be hard to keep a low profile when you're always overhearing awed voices whisper, "It's that guy who has a blog." TG: seriously TG: dudes be worshipping me left and right TG: i cant hardly walk down the street without stepping over torsos of the prostrate TT: Navigating the urban landscape I'm sure is difficult enough without an obstacle course of deferential flesh and skyward asses. TT: Perhaps adapting the art of parkour to your unique environment would help? TG: yeah! TG: i mean damn TG: like theres this scruffy little shit at my feet TG: an orphan or something i dont know TG: face flush on the pavement TG: im like dude you listening for a stampede of buffalo or something? TG: he braves a look at me then gives my shoe a little kiss and scurries the fuck off TT: Heavy is the crown. TG: yeah TG: not kicking oliver twist in the fucking face every day is my gift to the world i guess

also the little "yeah!" he does in excitement of parkour before he corrects himself back to serious coolguy mode is fucking perfect.

aw what the fuck put that shit away.

Dave’s Phat Beat Machine may be a silly joke about shitty fucking DJ machines that have weird pre-made beats and sound effects but some of this shit slaps when you play them at the same time ngl. 11 and 12 together is really fuckin good.

also Captain Planet is in this flash.

maybe Dave is cool, no one else could catch and open that apple juice with such finesse.

this is a really great series of expressions, he is so mad. he can’t stop thinking about PISS.

HE’S SO MAD.

oh god.

oh god they’re here.

You glance at one of the many RADICAL PUPPETS in your BRO'S collection and nod in approval. Is there anything not awesome about your BRO? No, you think not.

this is not cool this is very not cool.

why is the little man in the SHOWER, bro does not BATHE, he is made of WOOD.

he is simply having a terrible, terrible day.

why did he do this.

HOLY SHIT IT’S DAVE’S IRONIC SELF PORTRAIT.

this is why Dave’s sylladex shit is the best sylladex shit, sheer frustrating mathematics leading to renaming items into weird synonyms and yelling out shit to fucking send out swords.

LOOK AT HIM.

he changed his tune so fast, he went from imposing and about throw down to just...

:o

now how will he play the funny Sburb??? what will he do to get out of this situation- WIZARD.

GIANT, STONE, WIZARD.

girl is not having it.

it is here we get the entire downlow of this maddening mother-daughter relationship through the totally not biased eyes of Rose. I mean look at this shit:

Your mother clearly has no real affinity for these damnable things. She only collects them to spite you. If anything, she finds them even more repellent than you do. She's just a committed woman.

A while ago you gave this as an ironic gift to your MOM for mother's day. You even customized it with a drink holder to support one of her ubiquitous ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES. She "liked" the gift so much, she had it bronzed and put on this pedestal. She even left it plugged in so it can still be turned on now and then. But never to do any cleaning. It never leaves this display.

The PRETTY PRINCESS DOLL has been sitting there for months, ever since your mother got this abomination for your birthday as a totally PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE gesture. You decided to make it much less abominable by knitting Her Majesty a new head and new arms. Now it brings a mischievous smile to your face whenever you walk by. Your mother hasn't removed the doll yet, and probably never will. She would never be the one to blink first.

This was a drawing you did of your cat JASPERS when you were younger, along with a poem about him. Your mother bought this ostentatious $15,000 frame for it, and had it welded to the door.

Using the colorful MAGNET LETTERS, you recently left a succinct message, which may or may not have been directed toward anyone in particular. But you couldn't find the letter W, so you just stuck two V's together.

Your mother then purchased a fresh pack of W's and left them there for your convenience. Appreciative of the thoughtful gesture, you left her a sincere THANK YOU NOTE, which you had legally notarized, and then marked with a drop of blood.

But part of it was touching the floor, so your mother was kind enough to lift the lower portion of the document with a VELVET PILLOW.

this entire cavalcade of fucking overly professional stupidity really just symbolizes the daily Lalonde struggle. again, way more of an actual thing compared to the baking menace in Washington, Rose does not feel loved enough, she projects contempt onto every action of her mother, even if they’re completely genuine, who’s also literally an alcoholic. but at the same time, this is ridiculous. I can bet that the mere thought of any of this coming off as mean-spirited to Rose is just flying over Mom’s head because she’s too busy cleaning shit or getting drunk. she’s so sincerely nice but also too damn ignorant, while at the same time going completely overboard in every sense just because she can. “oh look at this!! my daughter’s very own drawing!!! it’s so nice!!! let me put it in an expensive frame and then weld it straight onto the fridge!!! :)))))” and then Rose sees this and just goes “SHREW!!! DAMNED SHREW!!!” meanwhile Mom’s just taking this as “oh she’s spelling words on the fridge!!! :))))) but she has no Ws..... :((((( I’ll buy some for her!!! that will satisfy her needs!!! :)))))” and I guess Rose takes a break from the absolute scorn she’s building up in her system to make the most polite ass note all like “Dearest Mother Lalonde, I thank thee for this humble present.” and notarizing it with BLOOD. of course this has to end with Mom walking in, seeing this note and going “how thoughtful!!!” and then sliding a god damn pillow just for the presentation.

it is my firm belief that the Lalondes are just kind of off the fucking wall inherently, literally all of them just do wacky shit like this without question.

fandom mischaracterizations are so frequent that they’re not even a surprise, but this concept of Rose being this completely serious and levelheaded girl who’s always moody and brooding and never puts up with stupid shit is something I cannot understand how anyone picked up from her. she has a sense of humor, a really damn good one, a lot of the comedy can be attributed to her dialogue. she’s not dead serious, she literally knits Lovecraft monsters in purple for goofs and does something like the above while no one is around. and in no possible way is she running on full logic and reasoning because she plays weird mind games with her mom and later on just goes insane and destroys shit for the hell of it. there really is more to Rose than just “goth = serious smart.”

a lot of this extends to Kanaya as well because I guess people just write the 2 of them as the same person, as we all know, couples can’t be together unless they completely overlap on the Venn diagram of their personalities, hobbies, and interests, but that’s for later.

AND THEN SHE PAYS FOR THE FUCKIN MAGNET. WHO DOES THIS.

MOTHER JUMPSCARE.

And of all things to be doing during a power outage. She's up to her IRONIC HOUSEWIFE routine again. That mop bucket doesn't even have any water in it! What an absolute madwoman.

I like how Rose calls this some kind of weird irony chore that no sane individual would do without a hint of joking, she really expects too much out of Mom. a real core part of this relationship is how Rose assumes that her mother is operating on the same high level thinking as her, when in reality she’s just doing actual housewife stuff genuinely. the bucket being empty is even part of Rose overthinking all of this, Mom’s using a Swiffer, she doesn’t need water, she just brought the bucket because it completes the housewife look.

I don’t know if that latter part was intentional or if Hussie just didn’t know how Swiffers worked.

NYOOM.

SICK TRICKS.

ah fuck.

the Strider household is such a very specific home aesthetic of “complete fucking disaster, the likes of which you have never seen, owned by 2 dudebros who like Eminem.” this visual style is so poignant that the best way Dave fixes a window is with straight black tape, how classy.

big fan of how everyone talking to Jade starts to smile, she just has that energy. I mean look at Dave, you see that single raised pixel? that’s him smiling! he’s got joy! and he’s so much more genuine when he’s talking to her too, she’s literally the one person in the friend group where he can drop the whole image of “I am so fucking Cool and Real and Awesome and Swag.” they play off of each other really damn well, no wonder DaveJade is a really big ship.

TG: say hi to your grand dad for me too ok GG: ._. GG: yes i guess an encounter with him is almost certain GG: it is usually........ GG: intense!!! TG: well yeah isnt it always with family

this is the non-embarrassing parallel to John talking about Dad with Rose. Dave’s probably thinking to himself, “ah yes, she too knows of the struggle of high octane anime fights in the middle of the house.” meanwhile Jade’s talking about yelling at a corpse.

also JADE KNOWS THE FUTURE??? HUHHHH???? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE???????????

[all-soul-crossover-comic]

BIIIGG ANNOUNCEMENT FOR ALL SOUL!!!

I know I haven't been posting much, but trust me, it's for a damn good reason. That reason being...

I'm making a webcomic!!! An original one! This is amazing! (For me at least.) I haven't really felt anything with my past stories aside from this one because they've always had to be something, and I could never figure out how to get from point A to point B in a "respectable" way. (That way being with no fun or whimsy or glitter and sparkles). It's been occupying my brain just as much as All Soul usually would. So much so that I might either leave all soul off here or write the chapters exclusively in text. Script form, of course. Descriptive writing isn't my strong suit, I've realized...

I'm still working out the details of the story but it still feels like that all soul thing where a lot of different lore from different things are mixed and matched. A bit from kaiba, a bit from moomin. That sort of thing. I'm trying not to give too much away in case I either end up dropping it due to lack of motivation or the story changes drastically, but I can confirm that it shares a lot of DNA with All Soul (due to them having the same mother lmfao) so if you liked this, you might like my future original work! I'm really excited about it and worldbuilding has been so fun, and I haven't been so invested in writing since I started with the basic concept of All Soul 7 years ago. I think about it often still, just not in the way I used to, yk? Like I finally feel content with just having it live in my head again. It doesn't need to be a whole thing, it doesn't need to be like that one loud house fanfic that gets updated every few hours and has more than 1000 chapters.

More about the webcomic

My plan isn't set in stone (mostly because that's the only way to go assure that I won't complete anything at all) but I plan on releasing it on webtoon canvas, tapas, or Tumblr itself! Will she go to boarding school or will she stay in public school with her older sibling? Find out in about a year from now!

That's right! It's January, and i said a year! I plan on using 2024 as my sort of planning phase. I don't want to rush into this like I did in the past with my other abandoned projects. I hope to reveal the main plot for it in at least a few months, if I don't forget. It stars a female protagonist (because I can only read books or watch movies about womengirls or I get so bored that my brain functions start slowing down and my eyes start rolling into the back of my head), and that's pretty much all I can say! It features a straight romance because I love prettyboys and none of you can stop my teenager brain from being attracted to men, and borrows a lot of worldbuilding things from Winx Club. I hope I can share it with you all soon! See you all next time!

If you wanna maybe see some of the details about it sooner, or just see what else I got on my mind, follow my main blog, @eepop-stuffs .

[felikatze]

finally finished gilgamesh (the korean webcomic, not the actual sumerian epic of gilgamesh) and like ohhh i get it, tink is haunting the narrative

jrgrjgbgkg sobbing. because this is EXACTLY what zius says in tek which means zius' ideology is directly based on tink. and now zius passes on tink's words to the second special class fjhg

can you TELL tink was my favorite character in this. rip king i miss you but at least you get to be the catalyst for all of tek ✌️

also WOW on context. "oh hey that's legia from gilgamesh" legia is in ONE CHAPTER of gilgamesh. IN THE LAST ONE.

long messy assortment of gilgamesh thoughts under the cut 👍 when i say long and messy and all over the place i mean it btw.

i have no fucking clue what went on with the ending of the main story

the paneling in fights was kinda wild and i couldnt tell what actually killed tink even once i reread the chapter which maybe cheapened his death a bit. like DID waron stab him? I DONT KNOW! I CANT TELL! did he just get done in by two malto goons to protect tludia? fuck if i know. can someone explain

the gilgamesh cast actually ended up growing on me by the end i was ready to scream when it teased hadar dying like three times at the end

and i also like how tludia was characterized later on and her picking up all these habits from ram and listening to a his stories only to later succeed him is aaaaa

foreshadowing 👍

the explanation for ram and tludia's Whole Deal is. wack though. "yeah ram exists because of a programming error basically. also last thursday-ism is real." why does it matter that ram tells tludia the world history if the history is fake??? why did tludia's curse flare up BEFORE hinsher got unthawed if hinsher being alive is the catalyst for it?

i GUESS it fits in with the worldbuilding of restrictions and rules as avenues of power. all power comes at a cost in this world and i think it's GREAT worldbuilding and powerscaling but using it to handwave plot beats kinda blows

on that note the worldbuilding around demons is kind of. yikes. i get they're going for a "forever war" thing but. really had to specify that they're all black huh. is this why tek never shows them onscreen? is hwandaeng embarrassed about this now.

it's not as bad as it could be what with the "both sides suck" approach but damn daljan really fucked up by essentially demoting tink for being anti-racist and not explaining that he'd like tink to teach new knights to be less racist. bcuz all tink is gonna walk away with is "knights are racist". daljan. my man.

i keep talking abt tink (love that bitch!) but i do truly love how fucked the concept of Honor got with him. and ruthless ram is in the later part of the comic. tludia criticizes him by asking if tink had any choice. ram says it was his honor and choice to die. but. tink was blackmailed into working for the malto in the first place. he didnt ever have a choice. choosing to die was his only choice. ESPECIALLY HOW WITH TLUDIA'S BACKSTORY WITH KANDENTIA!! it's paralleled with how kandentia criticzes tludia for stealing, but tludia says it's a priviledge to be so rightous!! not everyone can afford honor! are you gonna tell a starving child to stop stealing because its illegal? are you gonna tell a man being blackmailed into criminality to choose the "right" thing?

honor as a priviledge is a fantastic concept to explore

also on that note. ram. looking back on it he Never really gives people a choice. like obviously, his "negotiation" with the fake mushia. once the peaceful option fails, he just starts threatening her. oh, and how his cowardice is repeated - the people he's leaving aren't ever given a choice either, are they? and from the beginning of the plot, too. what choice does tludia have but to trust him when he's the only one who could possibly cure her fatal curse disease????

and in the end tludia's final actual choice is "life forever or die." like. what choice is that even

at least tludia's desire to keep living no matter what is a long established thing so it makes sense for her to do that

wow the story really has like 2 suicides. first ram and then muitin in the bonus stories. hot diggity

kinda mad hadar's sister plotline didn't really get resolved. where'd she go. i get that hadar's resolution to the plotline is that he gives up on looking for her and starts living for himself, since she never wanted him to find her anyway - but it still stings a little

she probably became a knight. she's not legia's sidekick, is she?? they look a little similar. maybe without the lipstick...

also fucking WILD to have tek things recontextualized

like oh these bozos are fron letoon. where stella lived and died. okay!

or going from "i dont care abt tamin" to "TINK'S BROTHER??????"

morbidly hilarious that he ended up becoming solbas' sidekick then. is that why she cares so much about rescuing him in tek? not just a simply need for his two braincells (as she has none), but guilt as well?

didn't tamin have tink's weapons in tek too. oh my gosh i'm going to cry

other stuff!!

tanshirin got so much more fucked up now seeing her in gilgamesh. "tyr's sister. cool 👍" to "hahah. girl what." good on her for becoming a knight though. seeing her with hinsher's hammer in gilgamesh was surreal

also in tek when zius explains the reason the east and west hate each other so much now realizing he was talking about hadar, tink, and hwashran specifically. i hope hadar shows up in tek at some point. just having the guy who Caused The War, Somewhat there would be hilarious. the smug smirk that launched a thousand ships. (hadar is a riot)

speaking of hinsher!!!! her story is the one that made me sob most (only time i cried at this comic was "gnojes the blacksmith" from the side stories). it's just. auhvrhhr. the human equivalent of hachiko. and at the end of the side story where hinsher steps into the workshop and is greeted by those bearing his name i aurghgfhf

it's really well handled how hinsher reacts to the situation. she's devestated, obviously. that moment when she sees ram and sees he's unchanged and asks him how long it's been but of course he's IMMORTAL but she doesn't know that so she thinks it's been no time at all but it was 500 years i'm. i'm fine

and just like everythinggggg and how she eventually copes by imagining gnojes managed to be happy without her. maybe he found someone else. the conflict of longing and desolation at hearing the name of gnojes continues, but then - he never had any children. he never married. he waited for her.

and how hinsher just. she regrets leaving gnojes. she regrets being trapped. she doesn't regret trying to save strangers. because that is her knight's honor. and she does it again, protecting tludia and nephren in the final arc,,,, don't talk to me

AND THEN THE SIDE STORY SHOWS. GNOJES NEVER GAVE UP LOOKING FOR HER. BUT HE FOUND HAPPINESS AGAIN, TOO. in his work. with the children he adopted. he died of old age surrounded by people he loved, who loved him too. but he never stopped missing her. and she'll never stop grieving him

the tragedy is just fucking DELICIOUS okay

do also love how the side stories show that ram is an unreliable narrator. it's really neat to see characters picked up and fleshed out without his viewpoint. like the fuckin plot twist that it was depression era ram who killed suldin and not tisalle. but ram only heard "suldin was killed by his apprentice" and didn't remember doing it, so he assumed tisalle did it. and then killed tisalle for it. fucked up 👍

what more was i saying

waron is way more fucked up than i thought but zius describes her as "predictably unpredictable" so she's just always been like this. how the fuck did the knights reign her in again. kandentia probably kicked her ass and now she just wants to brawl with zius now that her main target is dead. she's fantastic and i love her. she knows EXACTLY what she wants.

the general theme of self sacrifice and making yourself the villain to help others both with ram's actions and the demon knight backstory and waron's short story on how she hates knights kinda makes me think she also does this to establish that not all knights are just? after all, honor is individual, and not all honor will be "good", with waron as a prime example

did she ask nagyunn how he'd kill her just to figure out if he'd be fun to fight

that is. all my thoughts on gilgamesh i can remember at the moment. this post is long and messy but such is customary for me 👍

once again i think gilgamesh is hampered by the early chapters trying to hard to be comedic. once it settles on a tone and as the art improves i started enjoying it way more but with how frontloaded the flashbacks are (even if they pay off in full later!) i definetly wouldn't have been nearly as invested if it weren't for me reading tek first. tek just has a better plot hook with a character with a set goal and a plan to achieve it, whereas the beginning of gilgamesh kinda meanders as the crew sets out to unlock ram's memories, which doesn't really end up significantly changing ram, even. the beginning is too largely incidental to me so tink n the malto as concrete antagonists to outwit and overcome def helped that.

but also the ending feels just. messy. here is god to give us exposition. everything you did was useless. ram's pivot into ending the world suddenly, even if it's to draw out god(?), feels much too abrupt. yes he had the report about tludia and hinsher being somehow connected, and i did find it odd she could understand hadar without using sign language, but that foreshadowing really wasn't enough to even conceive what his plan was, especially since his talk with the fake mushia leaves out the dialogue where he actually gets her to agree. and then it also cuts out the final words tludia gives to ram before he jumps off the cliff.

to be fair tek ALSO does this a lot but it p much is always dialogue that would've been boring and is brought up only when relevant, with the general sense of "i guess they could've talked about this at that point." (main way tek blows it is with jiroon, imo - like, put the scene with nagyunn encouraging her before her death, maybe? so we're not just invested in her in-post? flashbacks work with tink because he already had plenty of build up before dying, and additional context just expands on what we already knew about him. i digress.)

and then the malto mooks who attack tludia and co are literally unnamed and faceless. it would've already been better if pavrin was the one to betray mushia. it was. just some fucking guy! okay!

tldr abt the ending: i dont really get it ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ the midpoint of the comic feels best to me writing wise. overall i enjoyed it though, even if i still like tek more.

dang, now i should totally reread tek for a fourth time, just so i can pick up on every detail gilgamesh expands on or recontextualizes.

like some of these r just for fun (like why daljan is so important to kandentia, since both of them are rather minor characters in tek), and others r kinda bonkers (the dragon has lost some of his mystique now that nephren exists to me)

[brine-in-my-eyes]

ok i finished reading

uhm

yeah

incase youve noticed i havent mentioned at ALL abt what the storys told or is about. thats because uhhh idk how to without spoiling it. or even knowing how ill be able to describe it without feeling sickly. i do wanna talk abt it. maybe in the future but i gotta do sum aftercare now

IM OK BTW!!!!!! Just feeling very sleepy after all that reading. N also i just feel groggy after consuming dead doves, but i wanted to n im fine w/ it. so yeah im ok mentally fr 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

ok so ive been reading whathappensnext and uh oh my god oh my... goodness gracious. what in the flimmerjammer dilly jar did i pull myself into

im bookmarking at victim impact statement cuz i think this is near the end but i gotta go to sleep

all ive got to say now is oh my god gage you need to calm tf down oh my god oh my godddddd. everyone is so messed up in the head. this comic goves off so much millenial aged american neurodivergent toxic sludge of relationship messed up kind of story one that probably would have broken me as a teen but now i can just read with the sidenote that it's all fiction n stuff

i might reblog with some final thoughts just cuz i have like ALOT to say abt what i think of it

now heres the tricky part. actually putting my phone down and going to sleep.

[offonaherosjourney]

I've seen a couple of hilarious posts talking about scenarios where people in the DC Universe end up convinced that Bruce Wayne is dating Superman, but I don't think I've ever seen a post about what it would be like if people thought Bruce Wayne was dating Batman*.

Because I HAVE TO BELIEVE that some corners of the internet in the DC Universe are filled with conspiracy theories about Bruce Wayne being the one that's bankrolling Batman because... I mean, he has so much money?? And Batman has all those gadgets and vehicles?? It would make sense!! And a couple times before Bruce has been seen and photographed talking to Batman and they seemed awfully chummy and like they knew each other (Bruce had to ask Superman or someone else to put on the batsuit to throw a suspicious villain off his trail).

And then one day someone points out that maybe they aren't working together in a no homo way but dating and backs it up with some circumstancial but very damning evidence and of course that's the post that goes viral.

So Bruce Wayne gets to wake up one day to half of the internet 100% convinced Batman is Bruce Wayne's sugar baby. By the third very explicit fanart he turns off his phone.

*The only things I know about Batman are from the movies I've seen and the webcomic Batman: Wayne Family Adventures in Webtoon, so, basically, someone might have talked about this but if they have I haven't seen any posts about it, and the fact that the Tumblr search engine sucks certainly did not help.

[animebw]

Short Reflection: Mob Psycho 100 Season 3

Mob Psycho 100 is one of the greatest anime of all time.

This is not up for debate. Though even if it was, I doubt many of you would disagree. Was it really only 3 years ago that the second season of this off-kilter little slice-of-life action comedy showed up and utterly blew everyone away? Only 3 years since ONE’s crudely drawn webcomic about an overpowered psychic boy just trying to live a normal life stepped out of One Punch Man’s shadow and rocketed to the top of everyone’s Best Of lists? Mob Psycho 100 is the kind of show that feels like it’s always been with us, one of those enduring staples of anime that defines everything good about this medium and remains a permanent nostalgic fixture point for new and old fans alike. From its utterly gobsmacking animation that forever raised the bar on how to portray superhuman action to its achingly human story of the things that make even the most extraordinary of us so wonderfully ordinary, this show is a triumph of empathetic storytelling and visual artistry on a level almost nothing else even comes close to. And while my opinion of the second season may have cooled slightly over time- I’m not the biggest fan of how ONE writes dialogue- it still stands as one of this medium’s crowning achievements.

So when I say that this third and final season feels like a step back, let me be clear: I am in no way saying Mob Psycho 100 Season 3 is a bad twelve episodes. Even if I were the most contrarian asshole imaginable, I couldn’t say that with a straight face. This is still Mob Psycho Goddamn 100. It’s still some of the most likable characters and some of the most spectacular animation ever put to screen. Even on its off days, this show runs circles around 90% of your average seasonal slop. But as this season wore on, knocking down the last few dominoes necessary to bring Mob’s story to a close for good, I kept waiting for the moment that would shoot this season into the stratosphere. Mob’s first fight with Teru in season 1, the astounding Mogami arc in season 2, every prior season of Mob has that one spectacular moment that kicks the story into an entirely new gear and never lets up for a second after. And as we approached the final episode, almost everything as wrapped up as it could possibly be, I realized... I was still waiting for that moment. As much as I enjoyed this last round with Mob and company, it never took off the way I know this show is capable of. It just coasted at 80% the whole way through, hitting plenty of killer pitches along the way but never pulling off a single grand slam. This is a good season of Mob, even a great season; it’s just not a spectacular one. And considering how damn high this show has raised the bar, the fact that it’s ending on such a comparatively lackluster note (again, I must stress the comparatively part of that statement) leaves me a little disappointed.

So why does one of the greatest anime of all time feel like it’s taken a step back for its victory lap? Well, after rolling it over in my head for a while, I think there are three big issues that keep season 3 from reaching MP100′s previous heights.

Reason #1: A lack of purpose

Let’s be honest, MP100 could have ended with season 2 and it would feel almost completely natural. Sure, there might be a couple loose plot ends here and there, but the actual story- Mob’s personal journey of self-acceptance and self-betterment, Reigen managing to overcome his worst impulses and treat Mob with the respect he deserves, the looming threat of Claw and the thematic challenge they pose to Mob’s humble worldview- was basically all wrapped up by the time season 2 ended. We’ve watched this bowl-haired, awkward middle schooler embrace what’s special about himself, work to overcome his flaws and become a truly well-rounded person, and defeat the literal manifestation of egotism and narcissism that stands in opposition to everything he believes about the inherent equality of people. His story is already about as complete as it could possibly be. Anything after that would just be icing on the cake. And sadly, that’s kind of how season 3 feels a lot of the time: icing. Very delicious icing, to be sure, but by now the cake’s already finished, and there’s only so much icing you can eat on its own before you start yearning for the solid food that used to be attached to it.

Which brings us neatly to:

Reason #2: Less interesting characters

This is related to reason #1: with all the important characters’ stories basically taken care of, most of season 3 is spent wrapping up the loose ends of the various remaining side characters who could still use some closure. Unfortunately, that means the focus is on the characters who, in my opinion, are among the less interesting parts of Mob Psycho as a whole. Like, I like Dimple well enough as a comic foil, but it’s been so long since he’s had any sort of serious pathos. And while I appreciate how the giant broccoli arc that takes up the season’s first half gives him a meaningful place in the narrative again, I just don’t have the built-in investment to care about him like I care about Mob, Ritsu, and Reigen. It’s a good way to close his arc, but he’s just nowhere near as compelling a character as Mob’s star players, so it doesn’t hit nearly as hard. And it’s completely blown out of the water by a two-episode wrap-up for the lazy telepathy club that Mob refused to join back at the start of the show. Now that’s what I call comedy.

Meanwhile, the final arc of the entire show brings the spotlight back around to Mob’s crush on his classmate Tsubomi, and... alright, full honesty, I was initially planning to write something here about how I really don’t care that much about Mob’s crush on Tsubomi and how it’s always been the least interesting part of this show, so spending the final arc focusing on it wasn’t my idea of a good time. But after seeing the way it actually played out? It actually works. I think ONE understands, on some level, that the actual question of whether or not they’re going to get together is far less interesting than how Mob’s feelings toward Tsubomi reflect his ongoing personal growth and struggle with his own inner turmoil. So instead of being about Mob trying to finally get the girl, this final arc uses those feelings as a lynchpin to finally make Mob confront the last hurdle on his stage to self-acceptance, all while inadvertently becoming a locus around which everyone else can bring closure to their own character arcs in turn by showing how much he’s improved their lives while he’s struggling with the last stage of his journey to improve and accept his own life. And it’s really fucking solid! Especially the final episode, my god does it bring it all home. The only issue is that this is the final goddamn arc of Mob Psycho 100, and it’s largely about the part of the show that’s always interested me the least. Even if it handles it about as well as it possibly could, there’s just no way for that not to feel underwhelming, especially compared to the astounding work of action spectacle that was season 2′s climactic showdown with Claw.

Reason #3: Weaker visuals

OKAY STOP AND LISTEN BEFORE YOU RIP MY THROAT OUT. Mob season 3 is a great-looking show. The way studio Bones brings ONE’s sketchy, janky drawing style to life is, was, and continues to be a singularly unique delight. Weaker, in this case, does not mean “bad” in any way, shape, or form. It’s just that, once again, I’m used to Mob being a spectacular-looking show, so anything less than 120% feels like a letdown. But weaker is weaker no matter how good it still is, and there’s just no getting around the fact that this is the least visually interesting season of Mob yet. Look back at any random episode from the previous two seasons, and you’ll find enough experimental animation, creative cinematography, and truly gonzo visual style in five minutes to outdo many full episodes of season 3. Far too much of the time, it relies on simple medium shots or panning shots when it’s not time for the action to break out. And even then, the action, excellent though it still is, has so few moments that match the sheer awe of the Teru fight, the Mogami fight, or either of the big Claw fights. Sadly, it seems losing Yuzuru Tachikawa, the director who pushed those first two seasons to such incredible heights, really did leave a dent in its visual identity. MP100 in the past felt like it worked to make every single moment of animation interesting and uniquely meaningful; now it only feels that way maybe 70% of the time.

And again: this is still a really good fucking season of anime. It’s still a ton of fun, the action kicks ass, and getting one last chance to bid these characters goodbye was definitely appreciated. The only reason I’m being so critical is because I know what this show is capable of. If MP100 had been at this level of quality from the beginning, it still would’ve been a high-tier shonen romp with enough heart and style to easily recommend to anyone. But I’m not used to MP100 settling for just being good. I’m used to MP100 shattering every conceivable barrier in its way as it rockets into the stratosphere. I’m used to MP100 going so far above and beyond that it redefines what’s even possible in animation. I’m used to this show being an absolute masterclass of spectacle and storytelling alike. So the fact it doesn’t get to be that one more time for its final outing turns what’s otherwise a perfectly delightful season 3 into a sorrowful reminder of glories past, weighed down by just how much better it used to be. Never before has a really good show felt so crushed under the burden of failing to rise to greatness.

But you know what? Fuck it. Just because it’s not as jaw-dropping and landmark-setting as previous seasons doesn’t mean Mob season 3 wasn’t a damn great ending to a damn great series. If nothing else, the OP drop in the final episode probably pushed my score up a full half-point all on its own. This may be a step down from what this show is capable of, but at the end of the day, there’s still more than enough heart, imagination, and sheer talent on display here to close Mob’s story out on a deeply affecting note. Mob Psycho 100 has already earned its eternal place in the anime pantheon; it’s earned the right to rest on its laurels for its farewell party. And I’m sure I’ll still be thinking fondly back on the whole beautiful journey long after the momentary disappointment fades from memory. So with all that said, I give MP100′s final season a score of:

8/10

So long, Shigeo. So long, Reigen. Here’s looking forward to whatever the future has in store.

[theskyexists]

Ok so..... Uh. And then what.

Sad to see them all splatted in a way.

Oh NOW we get the stupid harshness of Solomon's law. Oh DAMN. What a way to do it

Ok well done

If jagganoth was invulnerable all along why even wait to kill the other gods like that makes no damn difference

Ok but . White Chain and Cio are immortal though. They've been reconstituted before.

Can't say that omniscient god made a convincing argument for staying still: after all she never said Allison wouldn't be happy again. And that was Allison's whole defense against the depressing reality of nothingness. Is the world amber? No point agonising if it's all set anyway. The chance of happiness over contentment in stillness. Why did goddess even bother cos she already knew what she'd choose. Why even bother showing up. I hate that kind of time omniscience it never makes sense

Ok so I guess cio is actually dead? Like how even.

Ok well I guess she's really dead. Never try and escape violence to tend plants.

I also find it hard to care about jagganoth. Or the story. Now. Time skips rarely work for me.

In fact, the violence truly tires and slightly sickens me now. Oh training sequence. Ok...? Who cares....

Really feel like Zaid should have said something like. Hey Earth still exists. But it won't for long. And millions of planets just like it....

Why r we doing this again, basically.

I feel like the numbers in this webcomic don't make a lot of sense. 'five million men' that's a fraction of earth's population. That's nothing. How is that a substantial army to a GOD who rules millions of UNIVERSES. Are the logistics impossible for anything bigger?

Well? Should you use violence, or not? Should you grasp power, or not? The story does keep on blathering about the risks of violence too much.

"if the world rewards violence, are we forever doomed to be ruled by the brutal and cruel" and then Allison is like ????

Hello? We've been going at this question a while. I'm tired.

Well yeah, its certainly nice to know you'll die only in 35 years. No worries then!!

Ok so white Chain is alive and Allison is alive and Cio died? What...the fuck?

So white Chain and supra cocky Allison at partying. I hate timeskips. No more reference to cio i guess. Ok so a reference to cio after all

Ok so there's a weird skeletal creature that's obviously cio out there and Allison was like: hm best to make her fuck off

I think the pacing of this might work better if I couldn't immediately read everything and had to wait for updates. We just HAD a big fight with jaggernoth. Now we're preparing for another big fight with jaggernoth.

Why is white chain still infinitely dumb. I don't wanna be a god cry cry cry

Just get on with it oh my god. It's just been 30 pages of Solomon saying: JUST GET ON WITH IT IDIOT. And unfortunately everyone has to agree

Did Allison seriously blast what's left of Cio? Oh the girls are fighting again. Why is that only ever the idea. How did she get an ivory....mask?

Ok....? And then she denies her the worm even.

Ok so there actually was another cycle with Allison being king then...?

Ok now i wait another three years

Just got used to the characters again since the time skip

Why are cio and Alison just always... Such pieces of shit to each othejrndnkaksndkdndn

Isn't the fact Allison will live another 35 years an OBVIOUS sign of future victory. Jeeze

[goddamnwebcomics]

*Slightly Damned

*While I know this is on your list already, I don’t find these two descriptions of it flattering. 

It’s a fantasy adventure webcomic by Sarah “the Chu” Wilson.

The comic takes place in the fantasy world of Medius. It centers on Rhea Snaketail, a Jakkai (basically a munchkin-sized rodent) who ends up being murdered by a mysterious assailant and having her soul judged in the afterlife. While she’s not good enough for Heaven nor bad enough to be sent to “real” Hell, she instead gets dropped off onto the outskirts of Hell, called The Ring of the Slightly Damned.

After meeting a friendly but dumb demon child named Buwaro, Rhea’s whole unlife/actual life turns upside down. She meets more demons with maybe some emotional baggage, escapes Hell, meets and befriends a sad but awkwardly friendly angel warrior child named Kieri, and, as the three travel together, slowly learns about a still ongoing war between demons and angels that’s been going on for over a century, starting to come to a head as the actions from the growing forces of invading demons begin threatening not only Medius but the balance beyond the world itself.

While my description might not do it justice, it’s honestly a good comic that has stood the test of time. Great art and writing, even if both started off extremely rough in the beginning, stellar character interactions and comedy, and an engaging story. The only negatives about SD are that, while I said the story was engaging, I have to admit that its pacing tends to run pretty slowly, and it’s not just because of the update schedule. Like, even with the great character writing and comedy, you can really feel how agonizingly long it takes for the characters to get to specific destinations, whether on foot or on a carriage ride. It’s especially noticeable once you get to the nearly decade-long St. Curtis arc, possibly made that way since it basically became the time where the author finally figured out some of their own lore (if you’re invested in that part anyway) and what their main overarching story for the comic is after all of the buildup and hints.

I hope I didn’t waste your time with this.

My original description was written during my “All Furries Are Bastards” phase from 2014 to 2017, so getting a proper submission is pretty good.

Yeah, the comic itself seems fairly inoffensive aside from the rough pacing. But it has still decent amount of stuff to riff. It having such a cliche premise isn’t necessarily the series’s fault as it wasn’t really that common way back when it started.

[fandomflux33]

Full disclosure: I’ve only read like a couple Batman comics… Cass batgirl origins, WFA, Duke Thomas origins, a dozen Nightwing issues, the three jokers storyline, a couple of the NTT, a couple of YJ98, the killing joke, UTRH, RHOL, and the court of the owls storyline. Like, you can tell how unserious I am by the fact that I don’t remember half the titles or issues and just put what character was in them.

Most of my Batman and Batfam characterizations are based on their cartoon counterparts (JL, JLU, BTAS, TT, etc), animated movies, their fandom/fanfiction counterparts, or the folks I follow on tumblr.

I think a lot of people have been introduced to Batman and the Batfamily via animated or fandom versions, and that’s okay. That doesn’t disclude them from being a fan of Batman, they’re just a fan of another version of Batman and Batfam characters. Originally, I just watched the justice league cartoon as a kid, loved the Batman character, and then got into the fandom as a teen when someone I followed on tumblr wrote great fics about the Batfamily. I learned dozens of years and issues’ worth of cannon information about the characters through fanfiction (my wiki dives have shown that that author’s information was p damn accurate), while enjoying a story format and writing style I vastly preferred to the main line comics at the time. THEN, only after I was obsessed with their fannon versions, did I start to expand my interest in cannon and read/buy comic books. And I’ve been a lifelong lover of comic books (as a little kid: Calvin & Hobbes, Garfield, Healthcliffe, anything I could get my hands on really. Then an all-consuming obsession with webcomics) and manga, so it’s not as though I was avoiding the medium, I just hadn’t found a superhero comic book run I enjoyed yet.

And that’s all okay. Batman has comic book cannon dating back to BEFORE WWII. There’s no way to consume it all. And unless it’s your hyperfixation, there’s little way to consume even a fourth of it immediately and maintain a full-time job / family / live.

Batman and the Batfam are ubiquitous enough that they have many different cannon versions, and many different character takes will inevitably be valid.

Everyone’s on a different stage in their fandom journey, and some will find it most enjoyable to not engage with cannon at all. Who am I to police what others enjoy and what content does and doesn’t count as an interest in Batman?

I understand if someone is spreading blatant misinformation about a specific area of cannon, such as claiming that Jason never killed anybody in UTRH, but as long as they clarify that source of their information (I.e. I read this in a fanfic, or “it’s a personal opinion / Headcannon”), I don’t see any moral issue with someone being a Batman fan and choosing not to engage with comic books.

It’s kinda fun to watch death of the author evolve into death of the fanfic author, the next removed level from cannon. That’s what makes superhero comic books so fascinating to me. A kid reads the comic book in 1948, interprets cannon, and writes the next cannon for the character. That new cannon gets interpreted by another young aspiring comic book author and on and on it goes, creating dozens of new worlds all connected by a single basic character thread. It’s like watching retellings of Greek myths, it’s like watching a religion break into sects.

There’s nothing like the freedom of creativity it brings to know that your interpretation of the character is really, truly yours, and that it can become equal to cannon in someone else’s mind if they like your interpretation enough.

Do I recommend reading the comic books though? Yea. 100% yeah. That’s more good Batman content right there, why would I pass up on it?

its crazy to me how comfortable people are just throwing out their opinions on comic book characters theyve never read for out in the open and just letting it affect how those characters are perceived

“i’ve never read a batman comic but i think-” no. no you dont think. you dont get to come in here and say some wild ass take that will inevitably become deep rooted in the fanbase.