#i skip the adult scenes because i just dont like them a lot i dont get the issue with that

[fun-k-boards]

I get that to be completely honest. I mean, I still like the show, just the fandom isn't one I like interacting with too often. I only like interacting with you when it comes to the show.

I feel isolated as well, I'm not the intended target when people talk negatively about men I guess cause I'm a trans guy so most people don't really think of me as a man anyway, but like. I *am* a man. So I *am* included when people say that. It just feels. Idk. Upsetting? I'd love to interact with the fandom, but a lot of people in the fandom wouldn't like to interact with me. So... 🤷

I hope this doesn't sound like 'oh woe is me pity me I'm so sad' because I don't want to sound like that, it's just awkward when someone has 'i hate men' all over their blog but then interacts with you because of your Yellowjackets post and you're just kinda like

talking to a Male friend about how he feels unwelcomed in the YJ Fandom :(

“This fandom just isn’t for Me” :(( guys

[anime-chick]

YYH TRAILER REACTION

i already love yusuke's actor

i'm sad koenma isn't a baby, but maybe we'll get a snippet of him being a toddler before shifting into an adult

a MUCH more serious tone than i was hoping for

the demon that attacks yusuke is scary as heck

did they just show the dark tournament island? they did oh yes they did

kurama looks as pretty as ever, as gay as ever, and i dont mind the wig, i said it, i like it even

hiei fucking around with stabbing cars??? okay okay, im here for it

kuwabara's energy sword!!!

the fight scenes look badass, there's definitely a lot of effort being put into them

kurama's handstand spin thing is just what i want for him, like, yes baby you do that

karasu and bui being in it so early on??? along with toguro??

speaking of - elder and younger toguro both look so so much better than i thought they would

i dont know what to do with the four of them fighting toguro together - seems odd but hopefully in the context of the show it makes sense

live action bui is totally giving off shredder vibes and im not mad at that

the focus of the trailer is mainly the action which does make me a little nervous because so much of the magic of yu yu hakusho happens outside of the battles and the characters interacting.

i do wonder with the inclusion of the toguro brothers if theyre skipping over the saint beasts arc to get to the yukina arc which would be a good place to end the season, though including bui? and karasu? i think they're trying to make hiei and kurama's battles more personal.

crossing my fingers we get another trailer that shows more than just the action (even though the action does look amazing and the cgi is solid).

ANYWAYS. it looks awesome. i think it's going to be a very fun adaptation~

[thebigqueer]

Genuine thoughts on the pjo tv series?

i had a lot more thoughts when i first finished the show so this isnt as comprehensive as it could be but these are all the most important things i can remember. but im glad you asked cuz im alwasy ready to answer this question

i didnt hate it. i think i might have had too high expectations but ill be watching s2.

i will say that i think they def stuck to the books more, which i liked, but they made some changes i def didnt like.

my biggest issue was probably with the way that the kids - especially percy - just knew everything going on, because it took a lot away from the childlike wonder that the books had when the trio went on their first quest. i think the fact that percy didn't know a lot in the books was also essential to kid readers, who most likely dont know anything about greek mythology. obviously i think the fact that show percy knows a lot is good because it highlights his intelligence & could be explained by the fact that his mother told him all the stories, but at the same time i think percy served as a really important way to teach kids about the greek myths, so it kind of sucks that he immediately knows whats going on at some points, especially when we have no idea as to how he even learned about it. for example, at some points it made sense that percy knew what was going on, like when they realized quick that Auntie Em's Gnome Emporium was where medusa lived. but when we came to crusty's place, they just totally skipped everything about how percy came to find out about who crusty even was. taking out that context totally messed things up, because if i wasnt a reader i literally would not have understood how we even got there and how percy knew who this guy was. i understand it was to save time, but i think it couldve been handled better.

on the note of medusa, LOVED THAT EPISODE. i thought it had to be one of the best episodes of the season because it really displayed how no one is ever 1 dimensional, and i loved the way they drew to sally and medusa's similariteis because it really made percy consider what "good" and "bad" really meant - which is to say, theres never a clear line. and i loved that annabeth was so reserved because it really served to how wholly she beleives in her mother and the gods because it sets up her character arc so well. the entire episode was just so good. ALSO THE ACTRESS FOR MEDUSA WAS WAYYYYY TOO GOOD. too good.

the lotus casino episode was probably my least-liked because of the way they executed it. in the books that part was so fun and colorful because it was just the kids being kids - of course they were going to waste time having fun. but in the show they were so caught up in the mission that it kind of sucked not being able to see them just having fun like kids do. thats what i mean when i feel like the show just took so much away from that whimsy that kids have. i dont remember where i read it, but someone once replied to one of my posts with something about how they were kids just by physical appearance but not in character (or not completely) and i agree with that. i mean, sure, they had their scenes where they argued over trivial things like candy and chips and splashed percy with water because they seriously thought it would help, but i just so wish we coudlve seen them having fun being kids at the lotus casino.

im also not saying that they act like adults. they def dont act like adults (which is good) but theyre just not as childish as they were in the books, which is why im kind of disappointed. to sum it up, what im trying to say is that i think the show was just so focused on the plot points that they forgot to add in the children's characteristic qualities at points, because the storyline was just so plot-focused that i feel like even the points that the kids were supposed to be silly and funny just didnt hit the way they wouldve in the books.

this is more minor but i wish the scene where annabeth tries to reason with hephaestus when percy's stuck in the chair was somehow longer, or just ended with more vagueness. i loved the way leah took charge of that scene and i thought it was a really good execution, but i didnt understand how it only took hephaestus 5 minute of being scolded by a 12 year old to suddenly change his mind about power. i guess that could say something about annabeth's persuasiveness, but in reality it was just the showrunners trying to finish up scenes lol. i think what im trying to say is that the scene just felt sped up when it couldve been slower, or maybe the scene couldve ended with a little more of a lingering question that would make viewers wonder about the implications of this scene.

LOVED THE SALLY AND POSEIDON SCENE. PROBS ONE OF MY FAVS.

i didnt like the way hades was portrayed. im not saying the king of the underworld cant be funny but i felt like the way they changed hades will not do good to the rest of the show, especially if we get into season 3 or when we learn about hades' kids, beacuse i dont think itll line up with the way hades treats his kids later on in the series. like i cant imagine we get to season 5 and this is the hades storming into the battle in manhattan. sure, hes funny, but it does not line up with his character in the books at all. i dont mind minor changes to the books, but when youre completely changing an entire character - one whos important to the series as a whole - whats the point in calling it a book-accurate show 😭

i loveddd the lsat episode i loved the dream sequence and i loved that they went back to montauk i thought it added so much to the show.

this is minor but also not - WHY DIDNT ANYONE BOW WHEN PERCY GOT CLAIMED. THAT WAS SUCH A POWERFUL SCENE IN THE BOOK AND IT REALLY SET PERCY APART WHICH WOUDLVE DONE WONDERS FOR THE WAY PERCY ACTS IN TEH FIRST TWO EPS because hes like 'im so different and everyone keeps telling me im special but it all feels so condescending and no ones explaining anything to me.' FOREVER MAD THAT I COULDNT SEE THAT SHIT WITH MY OWN EYES. WHATS EVEN THE POINT OF ANYTHING ANYMORE

sally was portrayed interestingly. i know everyone has a lot of different opinions about how she was portrayed, as well as how gabe and the way the abuse in their family was potrayed and i agree and disagree with a lot of the points ive seen on the internet. firstly i did like that sally was portrayed with a lot more strength and stubbornness than the movie did, but at the same time there were points where i felt like she acted so un-sally like. ex. i like the way she was so serious & nervous & anxious with percy at the pool because that made sense; but i didnt think the scene where she was ordering percy to open the door was something i was expecting. and i understand that the entire situation was so difficult for both her and percy so it makes sense that she was easily frustrated with percy not listening to her, but i feel like at the very least she wouldve tried another line or two of reasoning with percy before ordering him to open the door, because in the books she seems a little more patient with him. idk this was a super specific moment lol i think what im trying to say is she doesnt feel like the same sally that i remember in the books, and thats def not a bad thing at all but at the same time i feel like the way they potrayed sally in terms of her mannerisms just isnt who she is. she is adamant and indepednent and blah blah but its the little things in her portrayal that dont feel the same.

on the topic of gabe's abuse - i know abuse can be more than just physical and we def saw aspects of the more financial and emotional abuse in the show. but i didnt like how gabe was portrayed because yeah he seems like a shitty guy but thats all he had; theres no context as to why hes even in their life or even how he got in there. i think the best way to describe it is the way i saw someone else describe it: he's gabe, just not smelly gabe from the books. so its essentially teh same thing as the sally bullet - i feel like they got rid of some of the important characteristics of gabe so his presence in teh story doesnt feel the same. i think this could be said about most of the characters in the show.

thats about all i can remember. theyre just my thoughts, and theyre not the most clean thoughts so sorry if its confusing. its been a minute since ive watched the show so im sure theres other thoughts and im sure my opinions could change if i watch again. but yeah thanks for asking anon!!

[owlf45]

Hi owl, did you ever have problem with making your character made mistakes? Or maybe made them do something wrong? Because i currently have this problem i like Izuku too much and i just couldn't let him made mistakes eventhough i know its part of growing up, but i dont know why i just can't do it? I dont know whats wrong with me,

Oh yeah absolutely. I was dealing with this all the time. Especially a couple years ago, I was a perfectionist little shit who cringed in second-hand embarrassment whenever a character made a really stupid mistake/decision. I'm not going to assume your age but I will say it gets easier when you're older to embrace that shit.

I'm going to put a TL;DR with advice up here because I can never shut the fuck up and write a normal amount of words to anything. So here:

TL;DR: If the scene where the mistake is made is too hard to write, write the aftermath. (The mistake is important, but the fallout is usually more so). Using humor/minimizing the amount of time you spend on the consequences of an action can help. Characters can make mistakes without the scene being embarrassing. If you hate the embarrassment of a stupid decision/mistake, rewrite it so it's not making you feel yucky about your writing. Realize that mistakes are not inherently moral/representative of your character being a shithead, and mistakes are sometimes unavoidable (AKA, Izuku broke the laws saving Iida from Stain. A mistake, but not one that was truly in his control). Shit happens. Shit happens! Shit happens. Mistakes happen, it doesn't have to be a big deal.

There's a lot of conflict in the original series where the characters do the right thing, but they get in trouble because they don't listen to the rules. I find that you can still create conflict and acknowledge that characters shouldn't be the ones doing x, y, z (there's a very popular trope where Izuku and his classmates' adolescence comes into play—AKA, they're children, they should leave certain shit to the adults/professionals, even when the pros aren't enough).

It also helps if a character you're really attached to genuinely feels like there's no other option in a situation. Especially with Izuku, he doesn't necessarily try to break the rules. He just values the lives and safety of others over himself and over the law. So yeah, he's going to save a kid he sees is injured and break like, ten laws in the process and probably 3 bones, but that doesn't mean he's bad or wrong, he just doesn't ask for permission because there's not enough time. (Think the Stain fight). It's a mistake, but maybe it's an unavoidable one.

Also, mistakes are not necessarily moral. They don't have to be catastrophic or a reflection of being a bad person. When writing your scene, just remember: shit happens.

If writing the mistake itself is too hard, instead, skip it. Just write the aftermath.

Like. Okay. Example time. Izuku wasn't communicating well with Katsuki on the field because he got frustrated, and the previous night he had a dream about them as kids promising to be hero partners and it got him too deep in his head. And because Izuku wasn't communicating well, because he was out of it, someone got hurt, and the villain escaped. That's a hard scene to write. So I wouldn't write that. I would write the scene after that. Like this:

Izuku's in the locker room, sitting with his head bowed towards his knees. He hasn't moved an inch since he landed there an hour ago. His ears are still ringing from the villain's quirk. No one's dead. But it was close. It hasn't been that close in years.

A locker slams beside his head. Izuku startles.

"So are you going to explain what the hell that was about?" Katsuki says. Oh yeah. He's pissed. Of course he's pissed. Katsuki was yelling on-scene and Izuku had reached up and turned the earpiece off because his head was spinning. He didn't hear that the villain had a partner until it was too late.

And then after this snippet ^^^, they duke it out because of course they do.

At the end of the day, characters make mistakes because they're human, but as a writing tool, they make mistakes to reveal a deeper problem. Izuku doesn't communicate with Katsuki some days because they haven't worked out all the issues in their relationship. Izuku tries to go vigilante as a 12-year-old because he wants to help people more than he cares about his own life. Izuku doesn't argue with his teachers when they tell him off, he just nods his head and goes right back on his self-destructive bullshit because he didn't have a very constructive relationship with his teachers in middle school.

Or maybe a character says the wrong thing to a person who needs help, because they don't know enough about the person/situation. Or maybe a character is an immature child and fumbles a very important conversation with a Very Important Adult. Shit happens. It doesn't have to be a big deal to your characters. Also don't make yourself feel yucky over your writing just because you're trying to shoehorn in some kind of mistake that doesn't progress the plot or character arc.

[zoufantastical]

I feel like your homophobic because ereri and eruri are one of the most popular ships and you saying that and putting in the tags is so unnecessary and really harmful. Ships dont hurt anyone there not real. We dont need to see this in the tags so like could you please stop because we’re not paedophiles. Its a harmful stereotype to the lgbt community to be saying our ships is paedophilia. Eren and Levi have a lot of development and moments together in the manga and anime it didnt come out of nowhere.

Lord give me strength!

You sound really young HOWEVER I am not going to go easy on you just because, but I’ll try to be a lil more gentle.

Here it goes.

If you want more context read this and if you want an explanation in more depth and detail consider reading this ask.

Tl:dr I basically said why using the “it’s fiction” is not a valid excuse to ship morally and even legally wrongful relationships that you will (hopefully) not accept in reality, as fiction does have an affect on our lives in terms of our views, opinion and even values. That the 104th scouts have been “of age” (4 year time skip;still very young) for around 3 years and before that they were shipped with full grown adults over 30 when they were 15/16 for nine years and how even the author does not approve of these types of “relationships” based on an example of a previous scene in the manga/anime.

Now onto what you said to me.

First of all what does eruri have to do with this? You know what it’s good that you brought eruri up. Erwin and Levi is a good ship. Not only to they have history and character growth, but these are two grown adults who’ve known each other for years and yet... from the sounds of it you prefer ereri, which is shipping 15/19 year old Eren with his (now former) Captain, a mentor and man of power. A man of power who (for good reasons we didn’t know at that time it happened) beat Eren up in a courtroom as their first introduction.

You know another reason I despise ereri despite the obvious reasons like it promotes grooming and pedophilia, is fans especially western fans who identify as straight allies ™ have taken this ship and have oversexualized and promoted the violence (courtroom beat down) in such an oversexualized manner. You all can’t sit here, lie and say gay relationships in the media is not oversexualized. Just search ereri artwork and cosplay. It takes these characters and oversexualizes them, sensualize the violence and worst of all...most of the artwork is with 15, as in FIFTEEN, year old Eren.

You see the issues here? A gay ship born out of violence and pedophilia. Y’all don’t see how bad this actually looks instead to the LGBTQ+? You bring these up and these ereri stans will bark at you but all they can bring to the table is the “it’s fiction” line and the “wholesome” ereri crumbs in the manga (most taken out of context).

I don’t care if Eren is 19 now. Because it is STILL WRONG. Reasons I already discussed in the previous posts that I linked.

Don’t bring the LGBTQ in this. Just don’t. I trust that in the context that I’m hating these ships for good reason, you’ll say more harm than good in defense to it.

This is the second ask I get about this. If it’s not thought provoking, I’m not going to bother entertaining you. If you want to talk shit just message me instead. At least there I can see who you are and block you 😂

Oh and I don’t care I’m still going to add those tags 😌

[meiishu]

thoughts on hsmtmts episode 6 under the cut

- first off the first scene im sorry mr bleu but you cannot just burst into a bunch of teenage boys bunk cabin at 6 AM in the morning what the hell they are children 

- i really love the friendship with maddox and gina forming here, i liked the idea of their friendship from the beginning when gina defended maddox to the other girls and i just gotta say them bonding about rough relationships with their bros is top tier

- poor ricky. he asked mr. bleu to take out his Dramatic Feelings Reveal from the documentary and mr blew simply said “no, i dont think i will”, and that was that

- speaking of ricky i liked him and jet this episode, i like that they are comforting each other and opening up to each other. also, jet calling ricky out on his bullshit denying his feelings for gina. i like that jet simply does not put up with ricky’s shit. and vice versa. even if no romance forms there im really loving their dynamic 

 - MISS JENN!!!! MISS JENN!!! MISS JENN!!!! PLEASE STAY

- wait no where are you going miss jenn COME BACK

- ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS MISS JENN!!!!!! 

- seriously though. with the appearance of miss jenn for like 3 scenes, she was able to comfort all the characters and allow them to be listened to. this really juxtaposes mr. bleu and his team -- i feel like miss jenn actually respects and listens to all the kids, is an adult who respects them, you know? 

- i’m genuinely annoyed that she didn’t stay to take over EJ’s job. 

- also EJ THIS EPISODE. this whole season is horrible for ej. they’re destroying all of ej’s positive character growth and development, his feelings and relationship with gina, and making him... literally almost how he was in season 1. like where is the guy who SHOWS UP for gina??? where he at?? because that scene where gina asked EJ to the prom (which was SO PRECIOUS btw) and ej literally snubbed it by saying no dates for this prom like... i get it’s policy but you can literally still go together. 

- seriously ej is getting BUTCHERED this season. my poor elton john. why cant miss jenn direct them and ej actually be able to have FUN with his FRIENDS? the way this poor boy had to skip the color games and missed gina’s basketball move (which was great, good for her)??? ej used to be the guy who always showed up for gina. that was like their thing. and now they’re just flipping that, making ej not there, but ricky is there. so now ricky is the guy who’s showing up for her. 

- also. ricky this episode though??? the way he helped gina with her promposal despite his feelings?? the way he is actually there for gina this season?? i like it. but it also makes me mad because of the way he’s only allowed to have a true romantic arc with gina now that nini’s character is ~conveniently~ gone. like the way that he was obsessed with nini until literally dating uh whats her face then this season be in this big pining arc... but i’ll allow it because gina and ricky have really good romantic chemistry (something i think gina and ej don’t have the same level of, which, paired with ej’s attitude this season is making me ship ricky and gina a bit more). It’s a shame because i love season 2  portwell SO MUCH.

- JET AND MADDOX GETTING ALONG DURING THE GAMES??? JET HAVING FUN??? JET WINNING FOR TEAM YELLOW TO MAKE MADDOX HAPPY??? maddox is still upset though, i like ricky trying to mediate between them. he senses they miss each other and wants to help them. i hope that maddox and jet can grow even closer after this episode. and since jet and ricky seem to be giving each other a lot of advice, they can help each other out

- also back to miss jenn, really loved her moment with kourtney. kourtney didn’t want to climb the wall and miss jenn encouraged her but also made her feel that saying no was a safe option. i think val meant well with her encouragement, but it wasn’t the time or the place. the way val’s face shifted after kourtney stepped down and miss jenn comforted her made me think this might be addressed again at some point. 

- WHY CANT MISS JENN STAY???? i miss the kids having an adult who encouraged and supported them. this is an anti mr bleu blog. i wish miss jenn got to smack him for exploiting the kids ngl

- (i’m calling him mr bleu to separate him from the actor) 

- ALSO RICKYS BIRTHDAY IS GOING TO BE RELEVENT THIS SEASON. the gift?? the mentions of his 18th??? its going somewhere.

- ASHLYN CANON SAPPHIC!!! ASHLYN CANON SAPPHIC!!!! ngl i was hoping for ashlyn/maddox over val/ashlyn (not that i dislike val, or want either couple to happen immediately, i just feel like ashlyn and maddox have better chemistry) but i love the realization!!! 

- also, the metaphor of the fireworks. when ej and gina were talking about how there were always fireworks, nothing came. miss jenn told ashlyn that she knew she liked ricky’s dad when she “saw fireworks”. when val hugged ashlyn, fireworks lit up the sky. that’s gotta be intentional. which makes me really sad as a portwell lover, but i love the scene of ashlyn realizing her feelings. also, it’s not as though ashlyn/val is a canon couple or anything, it’s just canon ashlyn is attracted to her.

- still convinced maybe maddox kind of likes ashlyn and is projecting. either that or maybe somehow this madison character will come back/they’ll get together/have some kind of resolution jet helps orchestrate as an apology for ruining their fledgling relationship 

- ricky. ricky bowen. what the hell are you planning in that curly head of yours

- also this is a shameless plug for joshua bassett’s new song, smoke slow, but it really reminds me of rina this season and ricky’s feelings towards rina so go listen to it. 

- also also, i was kind of upset we didn’t get a kourtney andgina covnersation...? after the last episode, there was that moment of betrayal from kourtney when she thought maybe gina told Carlos about her anxiety. i wonder if this will maybe be addressed in another episode? they are shorter episodes, so it would make sense if maybe it comes up again later in the season. still, i’m gonna be watching for it! 

[okitanoniisan]

hiii sorry i might be thinking of the wrong account, if so feel free to ignore!! a friend of mine is trying to get into rgg and i think?? you were the one who like said dni for those justifying "those scenes" i've only ever skimmed playthrus of the game so i dont know every scene, but i dont mind spoilers. i just wanted to ask what these scenes are so i can appropriately trigger warn my friend if needed! thx

There are several sexual assault scenes in Yakuza 4, one involves a young girl being pinned down by an adult man (nothing happens, but it is very heavily implied that he's struggling to resist taking advantage of her – there's also a series of very uncomfortable closeups). The other scene involves a woman being restrained and having her shirt ripped open and cleavage ogled, which wouldn't bother me as much personally if it wasn't so unnecessary and gratuitous with the angles and intention behind it.

There used to be an unfortunate amount of t-slurs in 4 (and one in 5 as well), but they've been taken out of both in the remaster.

Yakuza 4 also had a scene where one character laughs at his employee saying she's worried that she'll be r*ped, with the implication being that no one would r*pe her because she was fat. The remaster censors it and replaces it with a line about how she's "not a delicate flower" and can fight them off herself.

Other than that, general warnings for the entire series are about what you'd expect, the series can get quite dark, but for the most part I think the other games tend to handle these things a lot better than 4 did (Yakuza 4 has a lot of moments that rely on shock value and showing how edgy they are, it's the only game in the series that's like that) but Yakuza 0's plot involves human trafficking and trauma from sexual abuse.

Nothing else really bothered me enough for it to stand out, I can think of some substories that could require warnings but that would take forever to go over for each game, and I haven't even finished every single one myself.

I wouldn't consider myself to be someone who is easily triggered by disturbing scenes, but the first one I mentioned caused me to drop Yakuza 4 entirely because to me it was incredibly upsetting (the aftermath of it is very dismissive and essentially condones it, there is a character standing and watching it happen to his daughter and he just goes "well obviously you'd have urges, you haven't seen a woman the whole time you were in jail!" as if a 13 year old is comparable to a consenting adult woman...) and I honestly recommend skipping the entire cutscene if you do bother with Yakuza 4 (I don't recommend it).

If you or your friend have any specific triggers that you're concerned about, I'd be happy to compile a more detailed list, but these are the ones that bothered me personally.

[meg-noel-art]

I just had a thought regarding she ras ending and now I'm mad. Sorry fam need to rant for a sec. Also if ive sent you a similar ask before I'm very sorry I have bad memory.

So (and I could be remembering this wrong idk I refuse to watch s5 again) when Micah finally comes back from beast island and hes too late to see glimmer before she's beamed up by Horde Prime - is we get this weird like arc (sorta) with him and frosta trying to connect and I get it - Micah is trying to grapple with the fact that his daughter is now grown up / his wife is dead? (Or in an inescapable alternate dimension?) And frosta doesn't have an adult / parent figure in her life. And I get thematically what their trying to do and why but imagine how much more touching it would be if we actually got to see some interaction between glimmer and Micah before he was chipped.

Like their first interaction after x amount of years is when Micah is brainwashed (what a copout for drama + tension).

On Top Of THAT at the ending scene of the series we have like a 20 second "Hi I'm your dad!" Moment and then glimmer goes to hang out with the BFS and be all like "we're going to bring magic back to the universe!"

Meanwhile I'm sitting over here like "you just got your dad back??? You dont want to, oh I dont know, Spend Time With Him??? Before going off world?? Maybe you want to work out that grief over losing Angella?

We were robbed of that good father / daughter content is all I'm saying.

Yeah, I agree. I mean I'd say Micah, and the relationship between Micah and Glimmer, got about as mistreated as every other character and relationship in S5.

Was Angella even mentioned once in S5? If she was I can't remember, and that probably says enough about that.

Micah getting chipped, along with Scorpia and Mermista was really lazy as a writing choice because they were all characters that:

A.) Had personal conflict to work out with Catra

B.) Unresolved plot lines (Micah)

I don't think he and Glimmer should have been cool right off the bat (that's why I don't like their reunion scene either) -- they absolutely should have gotten the weird arc they gave Micah and Frosta, to Micah and Glimmer.

For what little we know of the show's own lore (which is a whole other issue but whatever) Micah "died" when Glimmer was very young. She could have hardly known him, and even if they were close -- she's obviously not the same person she was as a child.

Beyond that, I would have been very excited to see a conflicted relationship between them. Glimmer has been afflicted her whole life by the loss of her father. It influenced her disdain for the Horde, her will to fight in the war, and her tension with Angella.

It would have been fascinating seeing her struggle with the concept of having a long lost parent back, but maybe resenting him for 'leaving' in the first place, or the struggle of WANTING to be close to him, but not even KNOWING who he is.

Micah was also implied to have been 'losing it' a little on Beast Island, not knowing how to behave correctly around Adora and Bow -- extending that to how he behaved around Glimmer -- just... NOT knowing how to BE would have been great to see.

Really, there was no chance of this though.

S5 had very little breathing room for ANY characters. SPOP s5 suffered from a bunch of the same issues TRoS did. Which is, mainly, that the plot just happens because the writers need it to. Not because any of the character motivations lead it there. Or lead it there believably. A character may make a bit of plot happen even if it makes no sense for them to influence it that way. That's still a writer bending the story to make the plot what they want. A to Z and skip all the other letters, as it were.

Which is bad writing, plain and simple.

Glimmer and Micah were never going to get a nuanced character study like this, although I wish sincerely that they had.

Father/daughter relationships arent often explored with the nuance I think they should be in media. Especially considering many young kids HAVE a lot of struggles with fucked up father figures (and I speak from my own experience.)

Idk, ultimately spops issue was using the backdrop and drama and trauma of a war to tell a story with ultimately no relation TO that issue and it shows when a lot of these complex ideas and potential dynamics get dropped or get a band aid solution or just aren't approached at all.

This is definitely a frustrating aspect of the show.

Ultimately, I think, the worst thing a series can do is make you feel dumb for ever being excited for it. And I often do feel like a fool for expecting a lot of things that I saw as a natural resolution....or just, how WRITING works. 🤷‍♀️

[spidermanifested]

remember when i said in my post about how bido is unappreciated that id talk about why greed/bido is a good and important ship but thats a whole other post. well This is that post

the first and most important reason that greed/bido is a good ship is very simple and that reason is Bido Was In Love With Greed The Whole Time And Nobody Noticed?????? how come nobody noticed. i mean SOME people noticed but nowhere NEAR enough people noticed

when greed compliments bido for successfully proving that alphonse is just a soul bound to a suit of armor, he blushes and acts very flustered and happy. unfortunately this scene is not animated in either show (bido talking to greed is changed to be over the phone in 03, and in brotherhood the scene just gets skipped, HOWEVER theres a single shot of bidos face in one of greeds flashbacks that shows him blushing and looking directly at the camera. ie at greed)

also in the manga his first thought when the military shut down the nest was to worry about whether greed SPECIFICALLY was okay (i used this page in my other post as well but its important)

and in brotherhood he was shown to have actually followed greed through the sewers during his fight with bradley but could only watch from his hiding place as greed was defeated and taken away; remembering this is what gives him the determination to hitch a ride to central to look for him

did i mention he went all the way to central to find him!!! clinging to a MILITARY TRUCK no less. as a very obvious chimera if he had been found by any of those soldiers it would have been horrible for him and every other time we ever saw bido faced with danger he ran away from it. but he was brave For Greed. he went into the labyrinth under central For Greed, and didnt try to escape until he was convinced greed wasnt there. and when it turned out he WAS there (and had lost his memory and had been trying to kill him) he immediately dropped his guard and walked closer to him because that was greed and he trusted him despite everything that had just happened. in the manga he grabs onto greeds coat as he dies and it is just about the saddest thing ive ever seen in my whole life

and then of course greed starts physically shaking because what he just did was so awful his body knows he fucked up before his mind even remembers Why it was fucked up and he cradles bidos body in his arms and screams. unfortunately if we are to acknowledge bido as the gay icon he was, we also must acknowledge that he was buried

(by all rights bido SHOULD have survived. where is the fanfiction where he survives fullmetal alchemist fandom or are you too busy writing the same royai-gets-married-and-has-babies fic over and over again. actually never mind i greatly prefer that to all the pedophilia. but thats another Other post, that unlike this incredibly niche topic some other people have almost definitely made before me)

the thing about grido is you could make a huge tragic thing about it being unrequited and frankly thats Fair, greed does not seem one to settle down in a relationship and bido likely has a lot of self worth issues that would prevent him from confessing his feelings. but you cannot deny that greed cared about him. he praises him, he pats him on the head (!!)

he COMPLETELY breaks down after he realizes he killed him. bido was so important to greed, as were the rest of the chimeras of course but i think theres a valid argument to be made that bido in particular was special to him. theyve got a few things in common actually that i find interesting:

both like to just chill on roofs??? when greed is in lings body he sometimes just hangs out on top of a roof. bido does this too

they could have hung out on roofs together.......maybe thats why greed likes to be up there. because he hung out with bido on roofs a lot. please consider this possibility

both of them are accidentally rude to children. the same children in fact

greed is like 200 and looks 30 while bido is middle-aged and people think he is a baby for some reason?????

okay this is just straight up a headcanon and has no actual basis in the text or subtext of fma but I Think Bido Is Trans and was cast out by his family in his youth and greed would understand that experience!!!! having left his own terrible family because they wanted him to be someone he wasnt

and then there are the differences:

greed is very outgoing and bido is mostly pretty anxious, though he has outbursts of confidence; that might be because greed being nice to him has built up his self-esteem (the way he calls himself cool/awesome when he escapes from the elrics, directly followed by greed complimenting his skills, really makes me think this is the case)

one is tall and lean........the other...is short and fat....... i know its cliche but let me have this

bido overthinks things. greed is a jock. with their powers combined they can do things at a mostly reasonable pace (as long as bido doesnt just go along with whatever greed wants which is probably most of the time what happens)

bido is outwardly inhuman and weird-looking but is incredibly caring and hard-working and loyal and sweet. greed is the sexiest motherfucker alive but hes literally the personification of a deadly sin and at his core he is technically just a rock made of pain. but below these layers both of them want the exact same thing which is to care about others and be cared for in return

also you know that post about how ships between immortal people and super young adults (or worse, teenagers) are OUT and instead we should have stories about immortal people dating 40-something accountants. bido is the 40-something accountant. except not an accountant. you know what im getting at though hes an Established Adult 

and bido DESERVES it, he deserves to be loved by the person he cares about more than anything, he has been through so much and gotten nothing but pain and he needs something good for a change!!! and greed DESERVES someone who will love him with all his heart and make him feel wanted no matter what. just, listen to me okay, they would make each other so happy

so!!! there are MANY reasons this ship is interesting and a million different ways you could go about exploring it and there is just NONE of it out there. for some reason the chimera that gets shipped the most with greed is dolcetto (though ive seen martel as well) and i think that is probably because they are more attractive to people (and also id wager more than a few dollars people simply see a dogman and his boss and go wild for the petplay angle). like you dont see any greed/roa either and thats very telling since roa appears with the other two almost every time and nothing about him is different except hes older and not as. pretty i guess???? in my humble onion hes hotter than either dolcetto or martel but thats neither here nor there

the important thing about bidos relationship to greed is that he might not have been transmuted with an animal with a strong sense of loyalty, but he didnt NEED to be, to be loyal to greed. he loved him entirely because he was human. and in the end he did the most for him out of any of the chimeras. unfortunately it was via dying but through the power of imagination we can collectively ignore that and pretend both he and greed survived, and greed went back to his original sexy, sexy body, and they made out on a roof for several consecutive hours. thats how im coping at least. thank you so much for listening to my unhinged rambling about lizard man who dies of fullmetal alchemist (gay edition)

[popculturebuffet]

Final Space: And Into The Fire Review or Now with 110% More Homoerotic Telepathy

Welcome  new and old to my first Final Space review! If you’ve never seen the blog before, and given this is the first “new” series i’ve covered as it come out in some time that’s probably quite a few of you, welcome. I’m Jake, I do recaps and reviews of various animated shows and comics, mostly just stuff I want to do, often on comission (5 dollars an episode if theres any episode of the first two seasons of this show or any episode of any other show you’d like tos ee me cover), or for my patreon patreon.com/popculturebuffet. And it is my utmost honor to add this show to my rotating roster of shows I cover as they come out. 

I friggin love Final Space. I was intrigued by it back when TBS released the animatics alongside Close Enough (Wth the two shows ironically finally together on HBO max as of earlier this month), for their doomed block. I heard a lot of good things about season 1.. and let it get away from me, not watching it till Season 2. But both seasons had more than enough to pull me in with intriguging characters, even greater jokes and a truly unique idea for a premise involving giant monsters, an edltrich god and lots of cookies. 

So while it took an extra year given Covid, I’m super friggin pumped to get into season 3 at long last after the hell of a cliffhanger, especially since ironically last night I saw Steven Yeun’s oscar nominated performance in “Minari”. Now i get to watch him play a cat teenager again too.. and in a few days Mark friggin Grayson. It’s a good week to be a fan of his is what i’m saying and a good week in general. 

Previously on Final Space Yo!: Since it’s been a year and while the series provides  a recap , I’m going to be doing these anyway so:

Our heroes finally got all 5 dimensional keys and freed Bolo, and in the process also freed Avacato from Invictus, the horrifying entity controlling final space. Meanwhile Tribore got Sheryl to stop being a selfish prick and she joined the team trying to be a better mother from now on. But freeing Bolo came at a high cost as Nightfall sacrified herself as the sixth key (KVN was natrually both Gary and Bolo’s first choice, but was inllegible. ) So we ended the season with our heroes entering Final Space and Gary reuniting with Quinn.... while Invictus loomed. So over a year later we finally get some answers so join me under the cut for spoilers, recaps, and homoerotic text ahoy. 

Something i’m doing since both the roster keeps changing.. and as I correctly guessed from the trailer, and the general tone of the promos for this season, that everyone won’t be all together all season.. or even in one piece.. i’ll be doing a silver age style roll call to let us know who all we have on the Team Squad for the episode Roll Call: Gary, Quinn, Avacato, Little Cato, Ash, Fox, KVN, HUE, AVA, Sheryl, Bolo, and Tribore

So we pick up right where we left off, Gary tearfully reuniting with Quinn, with Quinn wishing he hadn’t come for her, and Gary being Gary naturally having ignored that, and actually been more determined since that made it forbidden which made it extra tempting and him want to extra do it. God I missed this glorious idiot let me tell you. 

So things are quickly interrupted by invictus, who turns out to be a giant flaming head.. thing... and chases them and the crimson light, which has to start speeding with our heroes tethered to the outside, Quinn holding onto Gary. 

So we get one hell of a thrilling chase as the Crimson Light outspeeds the demon head and runs into two titans, but Bolo shows up to take out one, with Mooncake trying his dimension shattering blast thingy on Invictus.. and naturlaly g ven this is the big bad we need to show off how horrying they are, and it does NOTHING. But Gary catches his little buddy so we’re alright. 

Sheryl also shows off her badass bonafieds by LIGHTFOLDING THROUGH A TITAN... granted she still has some parenting skills to learn as “lightfolding while your son is hanging out the back through an edltrich god” really isn’t a motherly thing to do.. but neither is trying to murder your child several times or blaming him for how shitty your life turned out so ANYTHING is a step up for her. 

But.. it’s not enough. While she does manage to kill ONE the Crimson Light is too badly damaged to go on and we get two tragic deaths in one go... The Team Squad is forced to abandon the Crimson Light.. and AVA is too damaged to Upload into HUE. “I’m Sad” “For who?” “For you.. and for us. “ God damn Tom Kenny is amazing. You don’t need me telling you that, but sometimes you need a reminder. 

So our heroes end up on a desolate mystery world, stranded in final space with no ship, no suplies and no hope. The only thing to do now is survivie and hope they can continue the mission at some point. 

ONE MONTH LATER

Things have not gotten any better, as naturally , our heroes have only found weird cartoon eyed worms that regrow their heads when you bite them off. So while this means unlimited food, it’s also disgusting and Garry hates it. “This may be a head but it tastes like a butt”. Quinn and Tribore are with him and Quinn hasn’t been ready to talk about her experiences trapped in this hellscape and still isn’t but being a good dude, Gary dosen’t push her on it. Though the weird red veiny thing on her arm tells me maybe one of you should speed that up before she explodes or gets cronnenburgy. Just saying. I’ll also say i’m not huge on the one month time skip, as while I feel they probably have a reason for being that specific i’ts a bit TOO long and I question why have that long a period of a jump, not the longest but still long enough for things to happen with nothing changingin that time? Still it’s a minor nitpick in an otherwise fantastic episode so I can let it go, I just don’t get it. 

What we do get is some Gary Corpses dropping and Invictius puppeting them... i’m with gary that is bowel openingly scary. I also do like how despite the FAR more dire circumstances, they still get in the requisite shenanigans this series requires. I’ts not to the network mandated subplot levels where it distracts, but it’s enough to help ease the terror of the situation and isn’t around for situations like the opening where it really SHOULDN’T be. As the series always has when something big happens, the bollocks goes away. Once we’re in between we can get back to literal pissing contests, KVN leading a crowd to their deaths and HUE in a pimp hat like god intended. 

So yeah our heroes have to outrun the horrible horde of Gary’s, though Little Cato catches on something’s wrong as Tribore makes gary cary him as foreshadowing for later and Sends mooncake down to asssit. Our heroes escape.. but a cave in happens.

After the break, Gary wakes up confused with the party now split in two: Gary, Quinn, KVN, Tribore and HUE on one side and Avacato, Ash, Fox, Little Cato and Sheryl on the other. So Gary does the logical thing... and take his shirt off telling Avacato to feel him. 

I mean I didn’t even ship them before this scene but... Gary claims because of their bond he can telepahtically connect with Avacato. That’s normal Gary shenanigans.. except not only does he shrug off his girlfriend asking why they can’t do that.. but it WORKS. We have a scene of the two telepahtically talking in a wheatfield that is so homerotic I guarantee there only wasn’t the Careless Whisper sax because they couldn’t afford it.. or their saving it for later this season. Look sometimes you don’t ship a ship because you just.. dont’ care that strongly one way or another and sometimes you just need an incredibly gay scene to see the light. Same thing happened with Weblena same thing here. 

Fox also says “that was glorious to watch” same man. That was freaking art. So our heroes split up into three plots. As usual for me

Team Gary: So yeah... Triobore’s pregnant. No way to really softball into that. He’s been pregnant this whole time. So we get a stupid and mildly horrifying gross out sequence with Gary having to look Triobore in teh eyes and Quinn having to “uncork him”. Which is code for ... you know what i’m not going to say it. If you’ve seen the episode you know and if not your better off not visualizing it trust me. Point is this whole sequence is dumb and the worst part of the episode by far. And the series CAN do good gross out. While Olan Rodgers regrets it, the pissing contest was one of the funniest scenes of season 2, and managed to make a gross idea on paper actually pretty damn funny. This.. this is just “Haha males giving birth and tribore’s an asshole”. There’s no joke here just a .. plug. .. gah.. the vomit is rising let me tell you. 

We do get something good out of this nightmare, Tribore’s son who hatches as the army of gary’s dig their way in, Quanstranstro, who rapidly ages into a stylsih spanish speaking adult badass. He is fucking awesome and a great addition to the team and the sheer.. oddity of his birth is wonderful even if the actual birthing was not. Then the climax happens so before that. 

Team Avacato:

Avacato and Co come across a sleeping giant robot cyborg .. thingy. Naturally Fox wakes him up. Little Cato remains not suprised. It occelates between panicking over it’s legs being gone and amenisa and is pretty damn funny. It’s voiced by John Dimagio. But it gets serious as we find out nothing has ever made it out of final space, and things.. change the longer there there. And Quinn’s been there several months if not a year. Whuh oh. This part is much better both due to better jokes and plot advancment.. though again Quanstrano is still fucking amazing. 

Team Bolo: Bolo meanwhile returns and fights a titan, and has mooncake help him rather htan join the others, but looses, hitting the planet with his body.. I mean he might not get back up.. but the impact shatters the caverns and causes an explosion. Everyone but Gary, Quinn, KVN and HUE are MIA, as our remaining party find earth floating overhead. 

TO BE CONTINUED> 

Final Thoughts: A decent start to the season. Like I said the whole birthing sequence can die in a fire and reminds me of the terrible comedy subplots adult swim wanted grafted onto two episodes.. but otherwise it’s a tense stark opener that sets up the bleak tone while still keeping the series rediciulous shenanigans in tact. It’s the perfect welcome back after so long. I mean the gay telepathy alone would make it a winner. 

Next Time on This Blog: We dive into a little history with HIsteria. See you at the next rainbow. 

[a-libra-writes]

about asoiaf sex scenes, incest, pedophilia, etc... i know it's fantasy and you have "freedom" to write whatever you please, but it is absolutely fucking fascinating to me (not even in a negative way) how grrm is pretty much exempt from that criticism amongst the general public and people are like "oh misogyny" and "white savior complex" when that shit goes on. i feel that grrm is rarely criticized for more problematic shit and idk why that is (not saying he should be)... ya feel?

Somewhat (?) Incoherent 6am thoughts:

I dont want to say "no one can write about these dark topics ever" in my opinion it's just the way theyre presented, if that makes sense? In asoiaf it's not presented as a Good Thing in the setting, but it's def a Normalized Thing That is Not Good. Like idk on the misogyny claim bc he writes fantastic female characters but the setting itself is not kind to them - and there's a deluge of women in the setting who know this and try to turn the game to their favor... and several women who self-internalize misogyny and hurt each other because of the system.

The sexual abuse is an extension of this setting putting women as second class. Which, yeah, is historically "accurate" and still true today. It doesnt mean I enjoy reading about it, nor does it mean GRRM endorses it. Male creators of any medium like to throw in sexual violence to show how dark and gritty their world is. It's everywhere. And ive seen this argument done many times:

"Well, it's based off [x historical year/setting that had violence against Y group], so ofc itll have it here!", which the response is "its a fictional setting, it only has those bc the creator decides it", to which the next response is "if theyre trying to be 'accurate'...."

And so on and so forth.

There's many situations where the author clearly believes the biases of the characters/setting in their books (HP Lovecraft), and there are situations where the author is just writing bad people. I've noticed people getting these conflated, especially if the author isn't nailing them over the head with "THING BAD!" (That's very prevalent in YA and it drives me insane).

Examples of that - Sansa isn't happy about these older men creeping on her + she's learning how to play stupid and be unassuming, Cersei constantly remarks on a lot of the shitty sexism and hypocrisy (and she indulges knowingly in misogyny), Catelyn has a lot of internalized monogyny, generally judgmental thoughts & she perfectly follows the role assigned to her gender and rank, the creepy pedo/rape is obvs being done by bad people, etc etc. Tho I do wish Daenerys' chapters had more of her thinking 'wow this is fucked up!!!' and less 'falling in love' with Drogo after all the shit he puts her through :/ but she's also a freaking teen and dealing w a fucked up childhood. Kid!Dany thought she was gonna marry her brother ffs, and it doesn't occur to her that's fucked up bc her whole family does it.

Theyre still way too young tho. Gross.

sorry if this isn't coherent. A lot of this is up to taste for some people, like i rlly cant stand to read sexual assault/rape so i skip over that in any book i read. And theres people who arent bothered by that at all in asoiaf and dont even recall it

If anyone starts ranting at me or getting pissed this is all subjective and we can be adults & have our own opinions here lmao.

[ja-khajay]

2020-2021 Animation Watch(ed)list

I haven’t posted about animation in a while that I remember, and I know a lot of my followers are into it as much as me so I decided to make a list of the animated movies and series I watched on the past year or so, coupled with my short, spoilerless take on them. Enjoy!

Organized by

Things I saw for the first time

Things I rewatched

Under a cut for the sake of your dashboards! PS: I have not added any images yet. If you are interested in knowing more about the visuals of these movies, I might make an old fashion ask-prompted imageset list.

Part One: Things I saw for the first time

The Bear’s Famous Invasion of Sicily

Movie, 2019, Italian/French

9/10, a delightful little movie with amazing visuals. It feels like an animated picture book.

One of those “plot is in the title” media! I had never heard of this before but was heavily recommended it by my family members, who all loved it! It’s a sweet story, nothing groundbreaking but the unique colorful visual style alone makes it worth it.

The Castle of Cagliostro

Movie, 1979, Japanese

10/10. Reminded me of all the books i loved reading as a child

I assume its because it’s so old and the art style and themes are so different that it gets little to no love compared to other Ghibli movies, which is a shame! It’s fun with an endearing cast and as always, great animation and music

Mushishi

Series, 2006, Japanese

10/10 three episodes in I knew it was going to be my favorite series ever

One of the few things I’ve seen I’ll describe as life-changing. It’s absolutely lovely but never toots its own horn about it. Humble, calming, emotional and surprisingly mature. It’s pretty impossible to binge due to how intense the experience is. I just want to walk in the forest now...

FMA: Brotherhood

Series, 2009, Japanese

6/10 Dissapointing adaptation of a classic story

I read the manga for this when I was in middle school and remembered loving it. The animated version does an ok job of presenting the characters and worldbuilding and has some nice action scenes but overall looks really damn cheap and just. Not very good. Seeing I already knew most of the plot I did not have the element of discovery that made me marvel so much reading the original. It’s still a nice series but I really recommend reading it instead.

Code Lyoko (s1+2)

Series, 2003, french

3/10. 1.5 being for the opening song alone

This show sucks ass if I hadn’t been watching this with my bestie I would have dropped it two episodes in. The art style is ugly the stories are always the same and the first season has a (later removed thank fucking god) LITERAL “erase any consequences” button as a plot device in every episode. If you watch it for one thing let it be the nostalgia factor of early 00s Vidya Game Plot

The Legend of Hei

Movie, 2019, Chinese

7/10. Impressive visuals and a poor story

I finally watched this, peer pressured by the load of gifsets on my dashboard! It’s a sweet movie with really impressive animation, sometimes a bit too flashy for my taste (the action sequences go so ham they become not very readable...) but the story was just ok? The setting is barely explained and you are instead bombarded with vague epicspeech about powers and stuff that made me fondly remember Kingdom Hearts lol but that asides it’s a really good time! I need to watch more Chinese movies the few I know are just delightfully off the shits in how they approach action and I love that

Hunter x Hunter

Series, 1999, Japanese

9/10. Superior to the recent one!

I first got introduced to the series via the 2011 one. Comparatively, the 99 series focuses way less on action and way more on the characters, which I love because that fits my personal preferences! Despite mediocre filler episodes and some weird slight pointless plot changes, what it changes from the original manga doesn’t have much of an impact on the characters. The animation quality isn’t always consistent including a huge art style change for an arc (???) but it’s overall pretty nice. The series really shines in the last arc it adapts.

Oban Star-racers

Series, 2006, Japanese/french

9/10 a lovely surprise

This series is completly obscure despite having been created by people famous for their other series (Cowboy Bebop, Code Lyoko that i can name) and it’s a crime! It’s a kids show but without being stupid about it who tells the story of an inter-planetary race. If you liked that one scene in the star wars prequels you know what I mean. It’s got surprisingly nice animation for a TV series, and some truly great character design. The art style is a bit unique in a not for everyone sense, but I didn’t mind it much. It’s also THE most offensively 2000s series i’ve seen in terms of visuals. y2k kids assemble

The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

Movie, 1963, japanese

8/10. Classic fairytale format with incredible visuals

Watched this for the art style because I know it inspired Samurai Jack, and it delievered! I dont’ have much to say about this one, it’s a very simply film but it’s sweet. For my pirates out there if you want to find it in good quality with english subtitles it’s VERY hard to find. If you just want to see the looks of it, it’s on Youtube with portugese subs.

We now enter the Gobelins Shorts Zone....!

My Friend Who Glows In The Dark

10/10 makes me cry each time

Pure delight...great animation writing everything. A little short about death and friendship but not in the way you imagine!

Colza

9/10

Visual treat...homely and nice :) not far from a 10 but a 9 because nothing about it is that groundbreaking

Sundown

9/10

If you’ve ever been ten minutes from failing a group project because of a single dude you will REALLY enjoy this. Loved the colors and personality

T’as vendu mes rollers?

10/10

It’s SUCH a sweet little short I loved that one so much

Dix-huit kilomètres trois

10/10

Surprisingly well written dialog. Visuals are great but the humanity of the characters carries this to another level

Un diable dans la poche

9/10

Amazing visuals and the most tense/creepy of Gobelin shorts i’ve ever seen. Chilling

La bestia

8/10

I had some issues with the pacing. Interesting story and visuals choices but I was not fond of the art style

Goodbye Robin

5/10

Confusing but predictable. Both at once??? Yes!

Le retour des vagues

6/10

Cool animation stuff but felt pretty pointless

                                                                ***

Part Two: Things I rewatched

Ruben Brandt: Collector

Movie, 2018, Hungarian

10/10. Underrated as hell

Watched this fully blind for the first time in an animated festival and rewatched it with friends. It’s a crime I never see anyone talking about it given the amount of whining I see about the lack of both adult animation and 2D movies? This film is a unique love letter to art in the form of a weird mix of charming crime story and psychological horror with amazing visuals. I recommend watching it blind and also buying it to show appreciation for how nice it is!!! WATCH THIS MOVIE...

Mononoke

Series, 2007, Japanese

10/10 Visual/storytelling masterpiece in the weird shit departement

If you can stomach intense stuff watch this. The visuals are incredibly unique and beautiful and under the jewel tones and art direction high takes it’s a really cool horror series. My only obstacle to enjoying it the first time I saw it was how dense it is - simply put, it’s so...culturally Japanese it’s not very accessible to me who doesn’t know anything about the culture? Watching it for the second time helped understanding the stories more! 

Corto Maltese in Siberia

Movie, 2002, french

9/10 but really close to ten. A great adaptation!

I’m a huge fan of the original comic so I entered this a biiiittttt suspicious it would suck but it was a really pleasant surprise! It has all the wonder and charm of the original and the animation was surprisingly good for the little budget. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s a sort of geopolitical action/adventure movie but with it’s own really poetic vibe to it. It’s almost impossible to find online but happens to be fully on YouTube so go ham I guess?

Redline

Movie, 2009, Japanese

10/10 cinema was invented for this, actually

Every review of this movie i’ve seen gives it five stars and starts by talking about how immensly stupid it is. I’m no different. It’s a masterpiece of escalating energy with the depth of a puddle and it fucking rules. It’s free on YouTube too so there really is no excuse to not watch it. Watched it for the first time on a huge cinema screen and despite this my second rewatch on my small laptop was as/even more enjoyable. If you watch this stoned with friends you might travel to another dimension

Spirited Away

Movie, 2001, Japan

10/10 deserves the love it gets

I watched this a single time as a kid and had little memory of it! I mean it’s Ghibli you know it’s going to be good as hell but this one rly shines in how colorful and detailed it is and in it’s world! It made me remember I had a huge crush on the dragonboy as a kid. I’m gay now

Kung-fu Panda (1&2)

Movie, Usa

10/10. KFP fucking rules

Honestly my favorite franchise of the whole disney/dreamworks/pixar hydra. It’s fun as hell, doesn’t skip a single beat and has amazing animation and character designs. If something is a good time I will not care if it’s deep or not and boy I fucking love these movies

Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas

Movie, 2003, Usa

5/10 Some great some really bad and overall generic

I tend to hate american cinema and this includes that era of animation I have no nostalgia for. Sinbad is in a weird place because I love adventure stories and the visuals of the movie absolutely deliver but it’s very predictable and TANKED by the addition of the female character, pushed in your face as “look we have woman!!!” despite her writing being misogynistic as hell lol. The evil goddess rules tho. This movie would have been a solid 9 if instead of the girl the two dudes had kissed

[swaglexander-the-great]

If you feel like it : develop on your hatred of the new Beauty and the Beast movie? I've heard a lot of salt about the way the music score was handled 👀

O MAN DO NOT DO THIS

Every time I think about this film, rage fills me like a super saiyan powering up and i scream

How do i even start

i think i will do bullet points

these will not be in any coherent order, I take no criticisms on this or my extreme bias

also i have not watched this movie for like years so my rage may outweigh my accuracy BUT

The opening?? With Cate blanchett narrating?? Who do u think u are?? Lord of the Rings? Peter Jackson in an epic trilogy changing the world forever?? You’re Disney eating your own meal and shitting it out again don’t fucking even try it

They didn’t even change anything and the animated intro was much shorter and better

The enchantress enters like Malificent, acts like a trickster god japing bitches, but try to paint her as Good uwu Princess.

Gaston, roughly the size of an ox if the ox was a slightly buff man who would bounce off Terry Crew’s majestic chest like a ping pong ball

You don’t have to be a crusty cynical adult to narrow ur eyes at that twunk picking up a solid 170kg of two people and think CGI

Yes, a queer-coded snivelling sidekick who adores a horrible man is exactly the gay representation we all wanted may I lick ur boots Disney and also suck ur dick but only if we say no homo

Gaston’s sidekick (don’t ask me to spell french) bribing the bar people to like Gaston or something??? The whole point?? Is that Gaston DOES check off the list for Desirable Bachelor in those times!! Can hunt? Yes. Lorge? Yes. Well off? Yup! An asshole? Of course, but does that matter in these times? No! Your privilege is to wash his socks! But Belle is a Different and Special Girl who DOESN’T find Gaston attractive for all the things the village thots do! Gaston is the outer ‘perfection’ that society praises while he’s still a cunt, the Beast is seeing the goodness within no matter what society says! The whole movie is fucking inverted by that one goddamn scene!! I hate this film!!!

this also makes it fuckin weird that they then discriminate against Maurice and side with gaston in the end? The villagers just do whatever the fuck the writer wants them to do and in this it’s so painfully obvious, the CEO of disney may as well be standing there with flags directing their movements in the background, I hate this fucking film

Instead of making cool inventions belles dad just makes like, a weird dolls house if I remember correctly

THEY DUBBED THE WOLVES IWTH TIGER NOISES! W  H   Y

The Be My Guest was so lacklustre. It was like a clown singing kareoke in an empty warehouse while frisbees fly around. You wasted Ewan McGregor on this. Disney has no imagination anymore

To add to that, the ending ballroom scene dance thing?? Lacklustre. Disappoint. Bad dress.

The best character in this film is the horse, who not only remembers the impossible way to the Beast castle, but runs at max speed between the two locations (a half-day journey), regularly with ease, carries the Beast, who IS roughly the size of an ox, and fights off fucking wolves who also seem to totally ignore his presence

Disney robbed me of the one scene I did desperately want, which was Belle deadlifting the Beast on to the main character, the horse

THE PLAGUE

ok the fucking plague ok. You do not mess with the goddamn plague. And this wasn’t cowpox either, this was the full 1500’s shithole Paris Black Death burn-you-alive fucking PLAGUE. Belle’s mom had the Plague, and both her and her dad somehow did not contract this while living with her through her entire sickness, they go to a different town (ISOLATE U HEATHENS) and then?? The Beast and Belle GO BACK to a plague house and run their hands all over shit! Do you know how long the plague takes to die off?? Even TODAY when we dig up a plague pit, everyone has to get immunized, I know this from EXPERIENCE. Congratulations, you and the Beast either have plague or have introduced it to your lovely village. Do not fuck lightly with the plague.

The magic fucking teleportation book.

Why

what the shit

w

t

WHY

They use this shit to instantly Star Trek beam themselves into a plague house

I assume the Beast wasn’t using this to heist random women to see if they would fall in love with him because, like, why would you not do this when you can just politely return them with your stupid magical teleport book

People attack the castle? Use the magical teleport book dumbass

The Beast’s unnecessary, long, boring song from the top of some fucking tower, idk, I skipped it, I got bored

The Beast design. What’s the point if he doesn’t look like feral garbage please. Also his voice pissed me off but I can’t remember why

I dont like him even personality wise

give him to Guillemo del toro you cowards

This was set in Actual History for some fucking stupid reason, and for another unfathomable reason, it was set directly before the French Revolution, so I guess it’s not a happy ending at all. Who wants to be transformed into a guillotine ?

Why is it so fucking dark half the time

The teapot is creepy

Why in the shit did we get the Prince’s fuckin weird tragic backstory? We don’t care. Man get turned beast is what we come for. And why? Why do we need a tragic backstory to excuse his actions? Can he not just be an asshole? Rich, stupid asshole? Who then maybe has to learn a lesson? Instead of oh tortured soul rich boy is so misunderstood! No. Die.

Disney’s absolute desperate need to have characters be ONLY GOOD or BAD BAD makes me want to knee the face of the collective corporation so hard that they are sent into the Hell Dimension

Where did the hot priest at the start go? Why do I think of him sometimes

They want this to be painfully French, but somehow ends up and an even more agonizing blend between painfully British and ass-kissingly american.

Why does the castle just fall apart like that. What is holding it together? Spirit gum? Why? Stone that looks like it has been soldered together with a welding iron doesn’t just give out, or The Earth would have caved in millenia ago

Ian McKellan uses his Gandalf voice and in this film it’s honestly a crime and also jarring to hell

The prince is not hot at all

The stupid dubbed growl at the end which I try so hard to repress makes me want to throw myself into a swimming pool full of mace

The only 1 good thing about this film was the dude who got dressed up by the dresser and was so fucking happy about it.

People complain about the soundtrack, but I for one refused to listen to the songs that bored me within the first 20 seconds, and the ones I listened to were like average remakes of the OGs so that wasn’t really the worst sin

This film so visibly sucked its own dick that this is probably why it was banned in china

Thinking about this film makes me want to commit Violence so I think it’s about time I stopped

I will not be taking constructive criticism or counterpoints to anything about my thoughts on this ever.

Goodbye and thank you for your curiosity

[unravelling-the-world]

random thoughts related to kagepro (tw for depression?? death?? suicide ?? implied ?? im not sure and idk what else read at ur own risk)

well idk lately ive been thinking a lot and ik ive uh always (? since i can remember?) have been depressed (i mean...it started around age 12...i dont really remember much before that. most of what i remember are bad moments anyways. or very specific scenes. but they dont feel mine. if that makes sense. its like remembering the scene from a movie.  back on track i guess idk well lately ive realized i actually kin some characters and lately ive...been relating a lot to shintaro kisaragi fromkagepro. i mean its ok. there´s always been that specific similarity in us (after all, how many characters in anime are as related to coca cola as shintaro //and me,,im literally a coca cola addict lmao// well anyways. after some days, this lead me to thinking...to a hidden memory within my brain, i guess. I remember introducing my then best friends, to kagepro. one told me haha he´s like u bc the coca cola!! and i think i just laughed and smiled? i truly didn´t see it? i was sad sure, but i couldnt really relate to him. after all, i was the leader of my own little group of 12 year old weebs,right? (i was also 12 btw) i didnt personally dislike shintaro but i didnt rly see myself in him yknow? also i have loved ayano from ever since i have memory so idk like she´s one of my biggest comfort characters and its weird bc if she was ´´real´´ idk if i could date her or anything but im just glad she exists bc it somehow comforts me a lot yeah anyways ayano essay for another time lol. anyways at this age my favorite characters in kagepro were ayano and konoha ( i still love them a lot) thing is, at this point in my life i didnt know/wasnt aware i was transgender but i already kinda liked he/him pronouns so i roleplayed a lot. online. i roleplayed as konoha obviously lmao and actually one of my irl friends related to shintaro ?? and i think we may have roleplayed lmao and stuff.... she even had a facebook account named shin hikkikomori or smth like that. anyways fast forward bc after being 12 a lot of stuff happened obviously. and none of that relates to kagepro until quite some time. i will mention some items that dont really relate to kagepro but marked moments in my friend group that may be relevant later on. Around 2016)? Some of my closest friends changed schools (but we kept contact) yet i still had a big group at school. But it got fragmented along the way. 2017 i went to Japan and formed a new, different friend group with people that even today, are dear to me. When i came back, my friend group fragmented more. I kept contact with other members of the old group but one on one, not as a group anymore. 2018 we graduated, and i broke up my realtionship with one of my former best friends (2016-2018) 2019 was a year of change, and even though i was afraid and shit got weird, i was not doing too bad. i will skip that. Well. Im sure we all know 2020 was a trainwreck, shit happened. i had a villain arc. I lost my shit,definetely. Ups, downs, whatever. 2021 has not been too different. However, even through everything, in early 2020, i kept close relationships with my friend group. as the year moved forward and the restrictions started lifting ( thank you government very cool <3 //ironically obviously, this is the reason this shit wont go away//) some of my friends saw each other irl and stuff, or talked about stuff i didn´t understand/didn´t want to hear while on discord. I felt alienated. I felt empty. I got mad at a friend for the first time, for something he said. I ended up isolating myself. A friend celebrated her birthday. She invited me and never excluded me, asked me a lot of things and asked to virtually include me. But that would just make me feel more alienated, wouldn´t it? I told her it was ok, i didn´t go. Honestly, I felt like a bother. I didn´t want to bother. I wasn´t okay, but i didn´t want to bother anyone, so i isolated myself. I had a very bad breakdown. lasted weeks. When I recovered, it wasn´t the same. It felt like everyone else was closer, while i drifted away. I kind of recconected with some of my friends from Japan after this. In the vacations, i felt like i reconnected with some friends just to drift away again later. However, i never could reconnect with one of my best friends. She never really got mad at me or anything ( i think) but we don´t really talk much anymore. We used to talk daily, be it actual talking, memes, anything. I don´t think we´ve actually talked in weeks. There´s nothing I can do. This year, another friend had a birthday, but I was so disconnected from everyone I didn´t even care. I mean. It´s all broken now, isn´t it? The other day I just started wondering. When did I start relating to Shintaro so much? I had always been like this, hadn´t I? Who am I, actually? Why do I relate so much now? It´s not just about the soda. I had lost friends before, but I never really felt like that. Sometimes I feel like I´ve lost everyone. In a one year span I became a hikkikomori. About a month ago, when I entered classes, I was recognized as Shintaro pfp and I admitted to kinning him to people i´d never talked to before (on chat) // I decided to go apeshit idc anymore about what anyone thinks of me// I had fun. I think I must´ve posted on my stories, because two different people told me they were the ene to my shintaro. I appreciated it. i mean it´s kinda true bc now that i´m only on the pc they do bother me online and try to get me to open up or get better but sometimes the just annoy me lmao but also not bc they all have their own particular lives and they all seem to be doing better than me. Still, my classmates are very nice and inclusive. But it´s not like im close to any of them I guess. I´m just alone now. I´m fucked up man....I don´t feel real anymore. I don´t really know who I am. I guess that´s why I find comfort in seeing a part of myself in Shintaro? But when did i turn out like this? Why didn´t I relate when I was younger? Well, I hadn´t really lost any friends back then. I now know how painful that is. How lonely it is to be alone even when there is people around. idk. and i´ve always been quiet. introverted. shy. a loser. yet now whenever i meet anyone i try to idk connect? but i cant. i wish i could be more evil. maybe it´d just be easier if everyone really, truly hated me. maybe i´d get the strength to actually kill myself then. it´s weird. i really see myself in route xx shintaro. I know that´s fucked up because I know how it ends. but truly, i was trying. I was healing, i think i was going somewhere. and i was trying to keep my newly formed renovated friend group together. I really was trying to. I didn´t mind if we had sub groups on the big group, but we were all there for each other. I tried my best. I felt like i belonged. but now im alone again. and this time there´s nothing i can do. if something, i´ve made it worse. and i keep making it worse. it´s weird. when i first got into kagepro, both shintaro and ayano felt like adults. i thought they were really, really big. im older than them now. now i know theyre not really adults. i get it. i still feel 18. after all, these last two years have been taken away from me. i didnt waste them myself this time.  i feel like a rotten 18 year old...when i listen to lost time memory, i just...get it. i always liked the song. i thought the story was so cool. when it first came out.. i still remember. iwas there. i waited for it. i loved it. i still do, but back then, i just saw it all as some really great and cool song. now i feel like i really, really get it. i love it even more. im hiding away in all my memories. but what is my true heart? what do i really want? i don´t know, i don´t know... If I'm 'wise' then, I can't face forward; I have no reason to so, I'll rot away instead It would be nice if time could be turned back. Years may pass but I'll never die I repeat hopeful words to myself, even though I know I still won't be able to reach you. "It doesn't matter, just die already!" I said as I clutched my wrist, simply cursing it. Unable to do anything, I merely indulged myself in life. "If summer can show me dreams, then let's go to before you were taken away" The days where I hid my embarrassment are illuminating upon the atmosphere and burning my mind. If I'm wishing for a dream that can't come true, then I'll embrace this blurry past and have a dream which I don't wake up from and naturally seclude myself from the outside world. "But that means you can't even see tomorrow?" I don't really care 'bout that, so it's ok I stained my hands in order to kill these boring days I'm choosing "solitude" after all A rotten boy at 18 today too, prayed again while clinging on to your colored smile Underneath the blazing sun Asking "Somehow, please take me away instead of leaving like this!" and my murmuring breath was quietly stopped

I guess i just wish someone could actually help me. take me out of this hole. Maybe some kind of closure would be nice. It´s not the same, though. I don´t have enough bravery in myself to actually kill myself. Mostly because of guilt. I can´t take the guilt of dissapointing everyone. I don´t want my parents to get hurt. I don´t want my bunny to miss me. Yet i wish everyday for it to be over. Lately, half of my dreams have been in Japan, with many friends, some who i met there, some who have never been there. Yet my brain shows me the dreams before it was all taken away. I think one of my favorite parts of the day is dreaming. I like to sleep simply because I dream. And i sleep very few. mayb bc i hate myself? I still barely indulge in life. I do anything to stay distracted. If i think, it all goes to shit. it all does. like now. Heh. it´s funny. I guess no one is truly my ene, because no one actually knows how mentally fucked up i got these past months. No one knows how badly i´ve been treating myself and how badly i´ve been doing. Still, i can´t tell anyone but scream it into the tumblr void. No one has to keep up with my shit. No one has to take care of me. After all, it was I who chose solitude. It was me who kept them away. But I don´t get a second choice. I don´t get a change of routes if things go sour. And i guess I don´t get to get a mentally fucked up friend group where I belong for a second time. Once was good enough, wasn´t it? I.. Even when I wasnt as deep as i am now (again) into kagepro, ive always wanted to die on August 15. It holds meaning to me now as well. Every year I used to ask people to go out with me that day. I know im not brave enough to kill myself. I always hoped for a lil miracle i guess. Last year was the first year...I didn´t do anything. I just... I just hope this year i can make it. I hope the miracle happens this year....I can only hope......its too late for me to be saved, isn´t it? I never thought it´d be like this. I don´t get closure. I don´t get goodbyes. I am left behind on a world that keeps moving. I am nothing.

[retrovirge]

Camp Starlight (+ Contest!)

Hey y’all!

So, I had an idea for a contest!!! So basically, here’s how it goes:

Artists can draw any scene from this very story that they so desire, whatever image comes into their head for inspiration. You post it and tag it with #starlightdrabbledraw and leave a link to this post in your own (you dont have to, but it would be preferred!) and boom! You’re done! (I’m holding this on amino too so the winners will be selected from both platforms.)

I’m gonna make it so entries are due October 15th :3 you can totally enter after that, you just won’t be eligible for prizes :))

And uh I’m also gonna be giving out prizes! So here they are!

1st Place

Either: a longer short story (A story that’s anywhere from 2000-4000 words, maybe more), two short stories/extended art drabbles (at the most 1500 words) or four drabbles/art drabbles (under 1000 words) (keep in mind if you choose the longer story it will take me quite a while due to my own personal reasons.)

2nd Place

Either: A short story/extended art drabble (at the most 1500 words) or three drabbles/art drabbles (under 1000 words)

3rd Place

Two drabbles/art drabbles

4th Place

One drabble/art drabble

(Please keep in mind I can’t write all prompts because some give me a lot of writers block, so I may have to ask to change prompts with you if you win. Also, for art drabbles, I will need proper, linked credit to the artist so I can message them and ask if I can repost.)

So yeah, there you go! There will also be honourable mentions and stuff, but yeah! AnYways, onto the story! (Which you can totally just read on your own if you don’t feel like entering the contest ^w^)

⚠️Triggers⚠️

Remus’ innuendos, mentions of fire, mentions of bugs

Word Count - 3132

~

”Come on, kiddos! Let’s go camping, it’ll be fun!”

Those were the words that Patton had spoken a few nights ago. Roman had mixed feelings about it. Virgil was anxious. Logan was... Quite eager, actually, but didn’t show it. There was so much nature to study out there, he was very much excited. Janus didn’t seem to care, and Remus seemed to be marvelling at all the mischief he could cause while camping.

And that’s how they found themselves in the car a few days later. Roman and Patton loudly singing in the front seat, Remus occasionally butting in and changing the lyrics to ‘more fun ones’ (Patton did not like that very much), with the other three sides covering their ears in the backseat, passing around looks of mutual annoyance.

The car ride felt like forever, but they had eventually pulled up at the campsite. They parked the trailer, pitched the tent (cause there wasn’t enough room for everyone in the trailer), and set up anything else they needed to. And then they went off, deciding to check out the campsite. Patton decided to have everyone split up into groups of two, and allow them to rotate whenever they wanted. After making sure everyone was okay with that, off they went. Logan went with Janus, Roman went with Patton, and Virgil went with Remus.

So what were they all doing? Well, Janus and Logan decided to go through a walk in the forest. Logan was going a little nuts and jotting down notes for any unknown piece of nature he spotted, while Janus was simply admiring everything. Holding leaves in his hands, smelling flowers, stuff like that. He looked over at Logan, sighing as he watched him zip around. “Nerd, come here-“

Logan looked up, a look of confusion spreading over his face. He hopped up from where he was kneeled, walking over to Janus. He raised an eyebrow. “How may I assist you?”

Janus surprised him by simply sNatching his notebook. “Hey-! Janus, you can’t-“

”Shush, Logan. You /don’t work enough/, alright? Why don’t you just live in the moment with me for a bit?” The snake man asked, head tilting to the side as he cocked his eyebrow into a raise.

Logan opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again, letting out a sigh, realizing Janus would not let up if he refused. “...Fine.”

They walked on, Logan’s eyes flickering around curiously as Janus took his time to admire nature. Logan would occasionally glance over with pleading eyes for the notebook, but Jan just shook his head at him, giving a small smile when Logan sighed.

Eventually, they found some animals. Some bugs, some squirrels, even some birds. Logan found himself kneeled down, holding a White-spotted sawyer. Janus on the other hand, took out some bird seed and got a bird onto his hand. They were both silent, growing content with their current actions and habitat.

• • •

Meanwhile, Roman and Patton were off discovering the children’s playgrounds of the campsite. Roman found himself going between sliding down a slide and spinning on a... Spinny thing, while Patton was going between swinging on the swings and sliding down a pole. The pair ignored any weird looks they got from kids, along with other adults that happened to be around. They were just having fun, and they knew that.

Roman let out a loud laugh as he slid down the slide for the umpteenth time, looking to Patton with a grin. “We should go to parks more oFten, Padré! It’s so much fUN!”

Patton responded with a big smile as he swung as high as he could on the swing, a loud laugh escaping him. “I know!! Good golly miss molly, we really do.” He grinned, slowing down the swing a bit before hopping off with a laugh. “I wonder if there are any more parks down here??”

Roman let out a gasp, now on a spinning pole. “Patton, you’re a genius!” He hopped off of his pole, stumbling over to Patton due to being dizzy from the spinning. The moral side tilted his head, smiling at the prince. “We should look around more! I’m not sure how long we’ve been at the park, actually.” He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck, then clapped his hands together. “Well, that’s okay! We can change that!” He smiled at the eager nod in agreement he received from Roman.

And then they were off. On an adventure to find another park. Wandering through the campground, skipping and admiring animals and flowers, singing random songs, all in all, just bois bein bois.

Soon, they stumbled upon another park, eyes widening at just how much bigger this one was. The last one had a small playground and some swings, but this one had two climbing areas with slides, one of those circular shaped things where you could hop on and spin it, and last but not least, a swingset for both babies/toddlers and anyone older than that. It made the last playground pale in comparison.

Patton and Roman were of course quick to get to work testing all the playground equipment, the two coming up with a number system to rate the ‘fun-ness’ level of each one. Because why the heck not?

Patton even discovered a cool looking bug, and Roman snapped a picture of it on his phone so they could ask Logan about it later. Patton found the bug kinda creepy, but Roman held it no problem, only letting out a high pitched scream when it flew away. Because let’s be honest, bugs can look kinda scary when they fly away, unless it’s a butterfly.

All in all, they were enjoying themselves, happily playing and discovering and laughing like a group of kids.

• • •

Then you got Virgil and Remus.

The pair had decided to go searching around for anything to do really, Virgil trying to keep Remus’ head out of subjects such as what he could possibly throw in the fire, or how easy it was to set everything aflame. He claimed it was for scientific reasons, but Virgil knew this wasn’t Logan he was with.

So he simply gave Remus a small jar with some dirt, telling him he could get some worms because a few of the sides had mentioned wanting to go fishing at some point. More specifically, Janus. Logan said he might join in, and Roman had said he wanted to watch to see what they would catch. (Janus did not look amused, knowing Roman would probably scare all the fish away.)

Virgil kept a close eye on Remus, wandering around himself. He couldn’t figure out for the life of him what to do, so he just went and bought some firewood. By the time he emerged from the store, Remus was there, jumping up and down and yelling about how he caught a twisty pink earth noodle.

After a bit of chatter, Virgil and Remus wandered back to the campsite, where Virgil tried to get a fire going. However, his fear got the best of him and he chickened out. (But luckily, Janus came back to get something and gladly lit the fire for him, before leaving.)

So now they were simply sat around the fire, roasting hot dogs for dinner. Well... Virgil was. Remus was just throwing them in the fire. After about three hot dogs being thrown in (Virgil telling him “stop it.” every single time-) Virgil looked up with a sigh. “Remus!” He hissed. “Quit throwin’ hot dogs in the fire! They weren’t very cheap and we’re gonna run out!”

Remus just let out a laugh, smirking at Virgil with a raised eyebrow. “Well, I guess if we run out, I’ll just have to use yours then~” He laughed at Virgil’s reaction, aka an obnoxious groan and facepalm. “Oh my g o d, shut up...” Remus just grinned at him. “M a k e m e.”

Virgil stared at him for a few seconds, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. He shook his head and looked down at his own cooking hot dog, twisting it in circles slowly. “You’re paying for the next batch if we run out.”

Slowly, the rest of the sides began to make their way back to camp, just in time for the sunset. Remus did in fact have to go buy more hot dogs, and soon the sun was setting, and they were all roasting and or eating hot dogs around the fire, laughing and talking.

Eventually the conversation got to sleeping arrangements. They brought three tents, so that meant two people per tent. After some decision making, they chose the same groups they went off in today. Logan and Janus, Roman and Patton, and Remus and Virgil.

They roasted marshmallows around the fire, most of the sides roasting golden marshmallows, unlike Remus, who completely burnt his marshmallow and ate the s’more in one bite.

After dinner and s’mores, the sun had completely set, and they chose to go on a walk down to the dock that was by the lake. At first, Logan hadn’t wanted to go, but soon after, he was proven very wrong, and he knew damn well he was extremely glad that he was dragged on the walk.

The reason? Upon arriving at the dock, Logan took one look up and any negative thoughts, emotions, and words all just faded away.

Stars.

Hundreds of beautiful stars freckled across the night sky, the light of the moon reflecting in the ocean. He swore he could almost see galaxies among the bright lights, his eyes widening as a shooting star bolted across the sky.

It was truly beautiful.

Logan could sit out all night and admire every star individually, and he knew even then he wouldn’t be able to take in the full beauty of all the stars visible to him, even by morning.

Sitting down at the end of the dock, Logan let his eyes flicker among the stars. He tried to take in the beauty. Take in the light. Truly enjoy the stars. And he was. Well, until...

”Hey- guys?”

Everyone perked their heads up to look at Virgil, who had spoken. He had his eyebrows furrowed and he was looking around. “I... Don’t mean to be a party pooper, but... Could we go back-? It’s... Kinda spooky out here.”

Roman let out a loud groan, making a dramatic noise. “Come o n ! We ju st got here! Look at the stars!” He threw his arms out, flopping down next to Logan. “Look at the beauty our universe holds! Look at mE, for crying out loud!” He pointed at himself, making Logan facepalm.

Virgil sighed. “...Okay. I can just go back myself, then.” He mumbled, crossing his arms and turning to leave, only for Patton to stop him. “Ah, ah ah! You aren’t leaving on your own, us 6 have to stick together! So we’re all going back right now!” He said, making Roman huff. “But- but Patton! We’re adults!! We can stay out here alone!”

“Yes, and I’m well aware of that. But I don’t want you guys to stay out here alone! Something could happen!” He said, making the other groan. “Come on, we’re going.” He began to walk back with Virgil.

Logan had a visible frown on his face as he got up, making Roman tilt his head and go over to him, letting Jan and Remus walk ahead of them. “You good, nerd?”

Logan sighed. “Satisfactory, yes.” He said as they began to slowly walk. Roman frowned. “You’re a bad liar. You can talk to me, y’know?” He said quietly, starting to look around.

Logan was silent, and Roman didn’t push it. He didn’t want to make Logan mad at him, so he simply left it. Until Logan did speak. “...I am simply... Unhappy about leaving the dock. The stars were quite remarkable to look at, and... I’m unsure if they’ll resemble this exact, beautiful state again.” He said quietly, frowning and letting his head bow, quietly watching his feet move forward and drag back with every step he took.

Roman frowned a little, letting out a sigh. “...I see. I’m sorry, Logan.” He said quietly, pushing his hands into his pockets. “That’s quite an understandable reason to be upset, if it makes you feel any better.” He pointed out, making Logan sigh and nod. “Thank you, Roman.” He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. “...Well, we are almost back at camp. I suggest we put out the fire and make use of our tents for the night.” He said, receiving a nod in response from Roman.

After arriving back to camp and talking a little more, they did just that. They put out the campfire, confirmed sleeping arrangements a final time, got ready for bed, then ducked into their tents. Everyone fell asleep quite quickly, except for Remus, who kept getting mumbles from an annoyed Virgil saying, “Go to hell to sleep.”

Oh, and Logan. He was laid out in his tent, his glasses next to his sleeping bag as he lay curled up, shivering from the cold and sighing. He could hear Janus’ soft breathing from the sleeping bag next to his, and part of him wanted to wake him up so the nerd wouldn’t be confined to his lonesome, but he wasn’t going to take sleep from Janus for his own comfort.

He eventually did lure off to sleep, soft snores escaping him as he lay curled up in the beanbag, his mind slipping into a dreamless, yet relaxing state.

It was a long night, yet peaceful.

• • •

”Logan- Logan! C’mon, wake up-!”

”Mmh...?”

Logan stirred in his sleeping bag, eyes slowly opening as his head turned to face wherever the whisper-shouting voice was coming from. His eyes fluttered open, and he let out a small gasp as Roman was suddenly there. The prince pressed his fingers to his lips and shushed Logan, whispering to him. “Shh... C’mon.” He carefully left the tent, and Logan was just confused at this point.

He glanced around tiredly, grabbing his glasses and putting them on after rubbing his eyes, turning to look at Janus’ sleeping bag. He was still there. Still fast asleep, unphased by Roman’s sudden appearance.

Logan opened his mouth and then closed it, letting out a sigh. He carefully crawled out of the tent, frowning confusedly when he noticed it was still dark. ...What was Roman planning?

Getting up, he quietly zipped up the tent, then made his way over to Roman. “...What are you doing?” He whispered, a confused frown on his face.

Roman just grinned at him, taking his hand. “You’ll see.” He whispered, taking him out of the camp area containing the tents- where everyone was still sleeping, Logan assumed- turned left, and began to walk.

Logan asked questions all the way to their destination, until they eventually began to near it, and it clicked in Logan’s mind.

They were going to the dock.

”Roman, why...” Logan’s face was full of confusion as he turned his head to look at the prince-like side, who just smiled at Logan. “You said you wanted to see the stars for longer, did you not?” His voice came out in a soft, gentle tone as he guided Logan onto the dock, stopping near the endHe smiled at the nerd, carefully going down and laying on the dock, ignoring the wetness of the wood below him. He gazed at the sky for a few moments, then looked to Logan again. “...Well, are you going to watch the stars with me, or not?” He said, to which Logan shook his head as if he was snapping out of something, then carefully nodded, slowly laying down next to Roman.

They were quiet as they silently laid there, gaze flickering among the pretty stars that rested above their heads, just enjoying the stars and each other’s company.

”Mmm... Logan?”

”Yes, Roman?”

”...Do you know a lot about astrology?”

”...I’d say so, yes.”

”Can... Can you teach me a bit?”

”Why... Certainly, Roman.”

And so Logan began to talk quietly, falling into a ramble. About constellations, about the solar system, things like that. Roman stopped watching the stars, turning to gaze at Logan with fond eyes. He could listen to him talk for hours. Although Logan’s voice may have seemed monotone and lacking most emotion, Roman liked it. Adored it, even. He wasn’t sure why, but Logan’s voice was just beautiful to him. God, Logan was just...

Roman wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing, but it happened before he could stop it. Next thing he knew, he was moving closer and closer, until eventually...

His head moved up, and his lips were on Logan’s.

Logan was shocked by it at first, his eyes wide. Roman realized what he was doing and pulled away, letting out a gasp. “Oh- jesus, um- I’m sorry, I didn’t m-mean to do that-“ He started to get up. “I-I can just-“

Logan pulled him back down before he could go, pressing their lips together once again. Roman let out a gasp, freezing for a moment before slowly melting into the feeling, closing his eyes and returning the kiss. “...Hm.”

They stayed like that for god knows how long, just smoochin’ under the stars. They both felt calm, and quite good.

Eventually, they pulled away for air, both panting as they stared at each other. Roman was the one to break the silence. “...W-Wow.” Logan blinked, nodding in agreement. “...Y-Yeah. Wow.”

Roman gazed at him for a few more minutes, eyes slightly wide. He eventually took a small breath and let out a little laugh, Logan responding with a flustered smile. The creative side carefully laid down next to Logan, and they stayed quiet. They could talk about the kiss later, but for now they just wanted to enjoy the stars, and enjoy each other.

Eventually, they fell asleep under the night sky with a small smile occasionally coming up on both of their faces, fingers intertwined which eventually led to the two scooting closer to one another.

You can imagine the fun that pursued when Patton woke up and was unable to find Logan or Roman anywhere.

~

apologies if this seems rushed ^^;

[but-im-jess-saying]

So I watched season 1 of Sweet magnolias, and I have thoughts and feelings. So I immediately tried to spoil myself by googling the book series the show was based upon and found out that that event at the end of the season did not happen in the books at all. So I began to create my own theories as to what might happen next and also what I would like to see happen next. I thought about it a lot and I'm 100% sure certain they are going to use flashbacks in season 2 to show what happened between Kyle running out of the party and the car crash. Something had to have happened because we don't see anybody grabbing the car keys which means it was probably in Tyler's pocket, though why Jackson would have a ‘no phones’ policy at his parties but not a ‘no car keys’ policy too idk. So, either Kyle took them from him or Tyler gave them to Kyle, why would he do that? What would happen to get Tyler and Kyle in a situation where Kyle can grab the keys and get to the car before someone else can stop him?  I think that there has to be a couple scenes. They could have someone who was there just tell the parents about it but I think it would be more effective to show it directly. My thought as to who was in the passenger seat is probably Annie and I'm sad about it because I feel that it would be better if it was Tyler, like it would make more sense. But if Annie is injured then the show can use that for drama, with the burgeoning Annie/Tyler relationship and to further animosity between Annie and CC. In the book series Annie spent the second book in the hospital for a different reason and I think that the show might borrow a lot of that plot line for her recovering from a car accident, if they intend for Dana Sue to have the same plot line and HEA as in the books. I don't want them to though, but I think they are going to keep it because it's a romance series and when people watch movies based on romance books they expect the core couples to remain the same. But, with the cheating issue they are probably going to have to muddy the waters more to make it seem like Dana Sue overreacted, I don’t think they should though, I want Dana Sue to get together with Hot Farmer.  But lesigh, Dana Sue's probably going to get back together with the cheating ex and the show will likely have Annie in the hospital to give them time to bond and hold hands and whatever by her bedside. I hope they decide to change the details as to what Ronnie did to make Dana Sue leave him because like if it's straight up cheating I don't think i could support that because its like Bill cheated and he’s a selfish ass for that, should not be forgiven. Check, I agree on this point. Then you have Ronnie, who also cheated, but he’s not a selfish ass (because…?) and he should be forgiven… why? The show is going to go into why/how Ronnie is different from Bill and make a case for why he deserves forgiveness and show him earning it. I would rather see Dana Sue and Jeremy get together but probably it's going to be Dana Sue and Ronnie. 

I think that Tyler being the character who is in this passenger seat would make a more interesting situation because if he's in the accident and he's injured then it might foster a situation where CC and Annie have to work together to support him or whatever and they can get to know each other without the level of jealousy that we've seen between them previously. I also worry about the potential of a  ‘and reality ensues’ plotline of the situation with your kid illegally driving a car while emotionally disturbed and harming or nearly killing someone else’s kid.  In situations that like that people tend to look for people to blame and it would be rational for Dana Sue and Ronnie to blame Maddie and Bill for their daughter's injuries and  for that matter for any parent to feel that Maddie and Bill should be held responsible for their son's actions, but if it's Tyler then you know there's no one to be mad that isn’t already involved. it makes the situation more straightforward, or rather more simple to have only one family involved, I guess. And then there's no reality ensues plot and the town taking sides and gossip and legal actions between families for damages, or medical bills, and the Townsends lose their house and the friendships over because Annie was hurt so bad and blah blah blah and it's just not as interesting to me if you have something obvious like where there’s a forgone conclusion about what will eventually happen which is the destruction of the friendship, which is the best part of the show or you'd have to like blatantly ignore the natural reaction of a mom when her child’s been hurt, ‘no Dana's not going to blame her friend for this she's going to blame...someone else’, idk. It's just not rational or reasonable to me but if the only set of parents whose children were harmed is Bill and Maddie and it's clearly an accident Kyle did not mean for this then I feel like the show can be more interesting than just the breakdown of a friendship over a tragic accident. Though I do think that Maddie will one way or the other blame Bill for giving her kid that Goddamn car when she knew her child was not ready for that and if he had asked her she would have said no don't do that Tyler is struggling with rage issues He's going to drive while mad and wrap himself around a fucking pole and that's not exactly what happened but she was correct in principal.

Couples from the books I think the show might actually change is Annie and Tyler. A lot of people have said that Tyler seems like he might be gay or bi and I do think that they might change the core couples of the books for the purpose of adding more diversity to the show. I mean there are LGBTQ characters and there are characters of color but more is better in this case and Tyler would be a different type of gay character, or bisexual, depending on how they decide to play it and i think it would be really good to have more characters breaking stereotypes about gay people. One thing I definitely want to see is CC and Annie becoming friends. Like it doesn't have to happen right away like I'm not saying season two starts and suddenly they're braiding each other's hair and having sleepovers but I would really like them to bond and see them learn to appreciate each other. I’d like for CC and Annie to have to work together and they get to know each other without the level of jealousy that we've seen between them previously like CC totally thinks or perhaps knows depending on your theory about it that Tyler is into Annie and Annie definitely understands that Tyler's more comfortable expressing interest in CC and I think they both want to be what the other is, and I don't think either of them really has learned to appreciate themselves the way you do when you're older and I think that they could you know sort of give each other a crash course in self-esteem and be like ‘of course I want to be you you're fucking amazing’ ‘I’m not amazing, you’re a-fucking-mazing’ and you know that could sort of be the basis for a friendship between them.  Like, you know that idea of history repeating itself I'd like for all of the children characters to eventually go off to college and build life and then come back to Serenity and like you know could be a time skip sort of thing and Tyler's had a career in baseball and maybe he's had a career ending injury like in the books or otherwise had some sort of scandal. I sort of like the idea of borrowing the plot from the book where its a cheating scandal, but its CC and his relationship that ends and CC goes back to Serenity with his kid and Annie is there too, and Tyler is juggling trying to build or rebuild a relationship with his son and get visitation and everything, while also dealing with a renewed attraction to Annie, who in this version would be a lost love character. And Annie could be like, “No, we are not starting anything with each other you need to focus on you’re fucking kid, remember how you felt during the whole thing with Bill, that is exactly where your son is emotionally right now, so dont come to me for comfort, go to him and show him you care about him, you ass.” And CC could be bitter and angry, only to discover that Annie is on her side and Annie and CC could become friends through Annie helping CC get her life back on track, maybe Helen could take CC on in her law practice (I feel like CC would be a lawyer or something, but not a practicing one, like she has a law degree, but not an active law licence and she’s actually been a stay at home mom).

Or maybe Tyler's been outed as gay/bi... I don’t really like that but him being forced out of the closet but that could be a career ending scandal and Jackson could be a local business owner (or a teacher at the highschool, this idea just occurred to me) or Annie could have been a renowned photojournalist or just a well known photographer or something. Whoever they decide pair Tyler with I'd like for them to have separated and grown into adulthood separately so they can like meet back up in serenity and get to know each other as adults as Tyler is dealing with this upheaval in his life and his love interest could be the one giving him the tough love, advice and comfort he needs at that point. I think that would be a really good storyline there like he's had his dream come true dreams come true, but not been happy because somethings missing, or he’s keeping this huge secret, or whatever and when it all falls apart he goes home and meets this person from his past. 

But I do definitely want CC to come back into it in some way as well and maybe she's like been in serenity the entire time in some sort of analogous role to the role Helen plays in some of the storylines. Maybe she's got a successful practice, maybe it's a little bit bigger than Helen's is portrayed, maybe she travels instead but serenity is still her home base and she supports the community the same way Helen does.  I think Annie and CC could be really good friends. Maybe more than friends, if the show decides to go with the fandom preferred, everyone is gay strategy. 

Anyways thanks for reading my rant... Please come scream with me about this show.