#i'll be back later to post stuff from the festival

[dailytomlinson]

Louis at the aiport in Hungary - 11.08

[greenandsorrow]

The world we knew.

⊰⁠⊹ฺ Christmas Special ☆ﾟ⁠.

🤎🎄 human!Alastor x fem!reader 🎄🤎

☞ Your world crushes around you when you discover the truth about your beloved, childhood friend. Yet, not all hope is lost, 'tis the season for it after all.

☞ Not very lore accurate in the sense that I didn't want to make you suffer, much. It's happy holidays, not sad! (I'll definitely write human!Al stuff again)

Merry Christmas to anyone who celebrates!!!

Alastor hummed to himself as he strolled the festive streets of Louisiana, his signature smile masking the darkness lurking beneath. The Jazz Age gleamed around him, mixing with the holiday cheer. The streets were alive with the sounds of celebrations. Decorations hung from every lamp post and the scent of cider wafted through the crisp winter air.

You were out and about as well -oblivious to his presence so far. Enjoying the festive atmosphere that surrounded you, you couldn't help but feel excited in an almost childish way.

Suddenly, a familiar voice called your name, snapping you out of giddy trance.

You turned and saw him -Alastor, his tall and slender frame as striking as ever, his smile warm and his chocolatey brown eyes locked onto yours. His slicked-back hair and his stylish attire gave him an air of effortless charm.

For a moment, it felt like time itself had stopped.

"Alastor!" you exclaimed, heart fluttering as you rushed toward him. "I can't believe it is really you!"

His smile widened and he tipped his top hat.

"Ma chère" he greeted you in that melodic Creole drawl. "What a pleasant surprise. It's been far too long, hasn't it?"

"Yes, yes it has! You look... incredible" you complimented, unable to hide your admiration. "What have you been up to all these years?"

"Oh, the usual" his tone laced with mischief. "Well my radio show keeps me busy. A bit of exploring here, some delightful chaos there. You know how it is!"

He winked and you laughed, shaking your head. "You haven't changed a bit."

The two of you walked the vibrant streets of New Orleans, reminiscing about your shared past.

Alastor led you through the French Quarter, while weaving stories of jazz clubs and his successful career as a radio host.

Eventually, leaving the crowded streets, you made your way to the park, where the lights seemed to twinkle more softly, casting a magical glow over the cold evening.

The sun began to set, painting the sky orange and pink. The glow illuminated Alastor's features, accentuating the sharp angles of his jaw and that glimmer in his eyes. You found yourself staring.

He noticed, of course.

"Caught in the sunset, are we?" he teased, a knowing grin making its appearance.

You flushed, embarrassed. "It's just… beautiful out here."

As more time passed, a chill crept into the air. Noticing -such an observant man!- your shivering, Alastor slipped off his jacket and draped it over your shoulders. "We can't have you catching a cold, ma chère" he murmured, his tone soft and protective.

The gesture made your heart swell with affection. Despite his playful attitude, there was a warmth to him that made you feel safe, even now.

Later that same evening, Alastor invited you to a holiday gathering at his apartment. His insistence left no room for refusal. "You must come" he said, his smile radiant. "It wouldn't be the same without you."

His apartment was modest but elegant, decorated with garlands of holly and the cinnamon scented candles.

You were greeted with a warm embrace, his arms strong yet gentle. "Happy Christmas..." he said, his voice dripping with sincerity. "You look lovely in this dress..."

The gathering was lively, filled with laughter and jazz music. As one would expect, Alastor was the star of the evening, his voice weaving an irresistible spell over everyone in the room -like he had some sort of superhuman power that showed itself every time he opened his mouth to speak...

You found yourself enchanted, holding a delicate snow globe he gifted you. It was simply beautiful -snowflakes swirling around a tiny replica of the French Quarter. However, as you turned it in your hands, a strange unease settled in your chest.

Tucking the snow globe into your coat pocket, you slipped to another, quieter room. There, on a wooden desk, you noticed a letter. Its envelope was bearing Alastor's characteristic, distinct, and deliberate handwriting.

"My Dearest Mama,

I hope this letter finds you well. I think of you every day, and I pray that you aren't working yourself too hard. I miss you more than words can express, though I know for a fact we'll never meet again. Not after what I have done.

The memories haunt me, Mama. What he did to me… the pain, the fear... It never leaves. I tried to endure it for so long, to keep it hidden from you, but it grew inside me like a poison. And one night, I just couldn't take it anymore. I ended it. Permanently.

I know you loved him once, but you did not know him like I did. He was a monster, Mama. And though the world is better without him, I fear I nave become something worse. The darkness I carry now… it is unbearable.

I do not seek forgiveness. I do not deserve it. I just wanted you to know the truth, even if it comes out too late.

With love and regret,

Your son."

Your hands were trembling as you re-read the words over and over. The elegant handwriting of your childhood friend carried a weight that made your chest tighten.

"Oh Alastor..." you whispered, your mind buzzing with questions.

Before you could overthink it, you placed the letter into the pocket the snow globe also resided in and turned to find him.

A storm had started outside, already fierce, rain hitting against the windows as thunder growled in the distance.

When Alastor saw you coming out of his office, his usual confidence faltered at the sight of you -pale and clearly upset.

"Ma chère" he began softly, stepping in the quiet room and motioning you to follow him. "What's wrong?"

You didn't chew on your words.

"I found your letter. I need to hear it from you. Everything."

The flicker of resignation in his eyes made your stomach feel sick. He gestured for you to sit, but he remained standing, posture stiff.

"I suppose there really is no point in hiding it now" he said, his voice steady but without the usual warmth.

"Yes, I killed him. My father. And I would do it again."

His admission felt like a physical blow, but it wasn't even the act itself that left you reeling -it was the anguish in his voice, the raw pain he radiated even as he tried to appear composed.

"I wanted to protect you from this part of myself" he continued, his gaze fixed on the floor. "You see, you're the only good thing in my life and I just couldn't bear the thought of you seeing me as a monster."

You swallowed hard, unsure of what to feel. "You were only protecting yourself."

A pause.

Your throat felt dry.

Betrayal, disbelief, anger, sadness, helplessness and empathy all screamed in your mind. Empathy was the loudest.

At last, you stood and reached for his hand.

"But you're not a monster, Alastor. You're a man who's been through... Hell. But if we're going to move forward, there can't be any more secrets. No more masks. And it's going to be us, together."

Alastor froze for a moment before his fingers slowly curled around yours.

"You mean it?" he asked, his voice softer than you've ever heard it.

"I do."

"If you can accept me as I am, then I will give you everything."

And he did.

Support a struggling uni student! Thank you so much! CLICK HERE (PayPal link)

🎄🤎 masterlist || Hazbin Hotel masterlist 🤎🎄

This work is part of the nymph's daily gifts! ✨

Dividers by @saradika-graphics.

Taglist: @stygianoir @aperfectidiot @lady-valtieri @what-0-life @clowncollegealum @whatinthepluto @dragonqueenfk @ajajajabdjsjx @ellie-x0xo @1rxsemary1 @ermmmwhattheflipguys @kimkimmm2411 @sukaretto-n @crowleysthings @ratskinsuit @mariaclarade-la-cruz1 @ilikemyteawithmilk @dontevenknowwhyimhere @dennsfz @sirens-and-moonflowers @diffidentphantom @midorichoco @speedycoffeedelight @cinnamon-galaxies @kammsinn @chibistar45 @alastorthirsty @victias @mezzo-piano230 @shayshaymonyou @atlaloversblog @iheartalastor @mydickisjuicy @pinestwinssimp

[fangirlfrom-hell]

"My daddy has to fight some bad guys". || Jay Halstead x reader and daughter

*re-posting this because I'm stupid and accidentaly delated my blog 🫠

You woke up earlier than everybody in your house to get everything ready for everyone. Jay would usually follow you a few minutes later and you two would make breakfast and get your daughter ready for school together, along with other morning stuff. This wasn't the day, your husband had fallen asleep and you were doing everything by yourself, trying not to make a lot of noise. You knew he was working a tough case and had come back quite late from work the night before, so you didn't want to wake him up. Even when he didn't want to admit it, he was tired as hell and needed to rest.

You were in the kitchen starting to cook breakfast when you felt his arms hugging you from the back.

-"Did I wake you up?" You asked. -"I was trying not to".

-"I didn't feel you by my side and I couldn't fall asleep again". He answered into your ear and then kissed your neck as he continued talking. -"I'm sorry I haven't been around. We closed this case last night, what's left is a bunch of paperwork. My hope is to be back home early tonight and...". You turned around to hug him back and interrupted him with a short kiss. He rushed to finish his sentence with a heavy breathing : "...I can make it up for you", then proceeded to tenderly kiss your lips as he held you as tight as he could with one of his arms, while fervently holding your head with his other hand, finger all tangled in your hair, pulling it a bit.

Due to the case Jay was working on, you two had barely seen each other during the last week and a half, so things were heating up fast. Suddenly, for both of your displeasure, an alarm interrupted the moment.

-"Time to wake her up". You said having trouble separating from him.

-"I'll go". Jay took your phone to turn off the alarm. -"I'm driving her to school too".

-"Hey, Jay!" You took his hand before letting him leave the room. -"You do remember her Father's Day Festival, right?".

-"Next friday, 10:30, sure".

-"I was thinking...maybe you should talk to her and explain that...of course you will be there, but if you are not able to make it is due to your work".

-"But I will be there".

-"I know, I know, it's just...we never know when a case might pop up. Remember the Spring Festival?".

-"Oh. The bank robbery right before it...".

-"Yes, that's what I mean. That time was easy because I was there, but this time I won't...".

-"I will talk to her". He said after a few seconds of silence. -"But I'll be there, no matter what".

That day, Tessa and her class made a craft for their fathers. All the little kids were drawing in a small paper square that would become a keychain for Father's Day. Some of them were drawing hearts, others were doing stick figures. Tessa drew her dad carrying her over his shoulders and a bunch of hearts around. Her artwork was a little abstract, but understandable for a 5 year old.

-"All right". Ms. Luna said in a sweet voice. Tessa really loved her teacher. -"I am going to take your drawings and we will give them back to our dads as a key chain during the festival!".

-"My daddy said he will come, but he's working and if he doesn't show up it is because he has to fight some bad guys. Bad guys don't respect days or time". Tessa rushed to repeat what Jay tried to explain to her earlier in the morning when he was taking her to school.

-"It's ok". Her teacher laughed a bit. -"Sometimes parents can't make it and it's ok. That doesn't mean they don't want to or that they don't love us".

The class rehearsed the song they would sing at intervals throughout the rest of the day. Tessa never missed the opportunity to repeat the information going around her head: "My dad said he's coming, but if he's not here it means he's working" or "My daddy is fighting the bad guys and bad guys they don't respect days or time" or "He will be here, but if he's not here, that means he's on the streets. He makes Chicago safe". Her friends were amazed whenever she repeated those statements. She did understand what her father told her, but she didn't really comprehend.

The day was here. You dropped Tessa at school, she was all excited. Before she entered the building you reminded her: "If it happens that daddy is not here or he's late, remember he's fighting the bad guys".

Jay was already in the bullpen, everything was strangely calmed. He had talked with Voight about going out to Tessa's school and he gladly agreed.

-"Today is the day isn't it?" Hailey asked Jay as she entered the coffee room.

-"Yeah". He smirked. -"If nothing else intervenes".

-"Let's stay positive". She said remembering what had happened last Spring Festival.

It was 8:30, the day had just started when Trudy came upstairs with an urgent case.

-"That's just my luck". Jay said, rushing downstairs with his partner.

-"Let's try to make it quick". Hailey answered by putting on her coat.

At school, the kids were getting ready to go outside to start the festival. Parents were gathering outside of the building, waiting to get inside.

Students from all schools were lining up around the court. Their parents were supposed to meet them and be in front of their kid's group to hear them sing.

-"Is your dad here?" One of Tessa's friends asked.

-"I can't see him". She answered standing on tiptoe. -"But it's ok, it's because he had to fight the bad guys".

All the kids waved their fathers with excitement, some of them ran to hug them before starting the show. Jay didn't make it, but Tessa wasn't feeling bad about it...yet.

When the song finished, all the kids jumped into their fathers arms and gave them the craft they made in class as a gift for them. Tessa stood in her place, not being able to hold her tears. She was crying in silence, so between the noise and excitement around the little girl, nobody noticed her until a few minutes later. As soon as her teacher saw her, she ran towards her and hugged her tight.

-"It's ok, honey. It's ok. Your dad wanted to be here with you". She said in a very sweet and calmed voice. -"Remember he is fighting the bad guys, you said that before ''.

Some parents were moved watching the scene, but there was nothing they could do. Ms. Johnson, the school's principal, noticed the situation from afar and she joined as soon as she could. By only moving her lips, trying not to be heard, she asked Tessa's teacher if the little girl's father wasn't there. She shaked her head in disapproval when the teacher answered with a sorry face.

-"We can call your dad, Tess. That way you can hear his voice".

-"But, Ms. Johnson, he's fighting the bad guys". Ms. Luna intervened.

-"Oh!" She understood. -"Ok, but we can call him later, we'll tell him to come so you can give him your present. Would you like that?".

The little girl was an emotional mess, but agreed with her head, even though she wasn't really listening to what the adults were saying.

The emergency call for the intelligence team ended up in a shooting and that delayed detective Halstead. As soon as he finished with interviews and all the bureaucracy after this kind of situation, he ran off.

-"Go, go, go". Hailey rushed. -"I cover you".

Jay drove his truck as fast as he could, siren on. It wasn't a police emergency, but it was an emergency after all, he could deal with the consequences later. He parked in the first spot he found, even if it wasn't merely in front of the school and ran as fast as he could in a police mode to get to his baby girl. It was until he entered the building that he noticed he was still wearing the vest, gun and badge on his hip, but didn't care.

-"There he is!" Ms. Johnson pointed to Tessa's father.

-"Come on! Come on!" Ms. Luna took the little girl's hand and started running towards her dad.

-"I'm so sorry". Jay took Tessa in his arms and carried her holding her as tight as he could. She was too emotionally drained to react.

Kids around were already saying goodbye to their parents, going back to their classrooms.

-"We'll give you some time alone". Ms. Johnson informed Jay and he muttered a "thank you".

-"You can go back to the classroom when you feel ready". Ms. Luna told her student.

-"I hate the bad guys". Tessa managed to say when they were finally alone.

-"Me too". Her father said. -"I'm really, really sorry I didn't hear you sing, but I'm here right now". He wiped the tears from her cheeks.

-"I did it real good, you missed it". She said playing with the key chain in her hands.

-"I bet you did". Jay chuckled. -"What do you have there?".

-"It's a present for you. I made it for you". She extended her short arm to give it to her dad.

-"For me? Is it for my keys? I love it!"

-"It's you and me and lots of hearts. I drew it myself".

-"I can see that. It's beautiful. Thank you, sweetie". Jay's phone started ringing and he sighed when he read the text messages.

-"I have to go back to work".

-"But I don't want you to go". She started crying again.

Ms. Johnson came into the scene to help Tessa go back to her class" -"Daddy has to go back to work, sweetie. Ms. Luna and your friends are waiting for you, let's go". And she took her tenderly in her arms as her crying grew louder.

-"It's all right". Jay reassured her with a kiss. -"I love you. I'll see you at home, ok?". And she disappeared through the door.

He peeked through the classroom window to check on her before departing. He witnessed how Ms. Luna was successfully calming her down and felt a little bit more relaxed to go.

-"Thank you for coming". Ms. Johnson told him with a smile. -"For real".

With a heavy heart, he got into his truck and before turning it on, he hung the keychain in his keys. He inspected the tiny drawing and smiled before going back to the bullpen.

Thanks for reading. If you liked it, it would help my soul if you give it a ♡, comment or share. 😌♡

[mintaikk]

Moments I Think Blitzø Realized His Feelings for Stolas, Part 2

Continuation of this post, and GOD DAMNIT I RAN OUT OF SPACE AGAIN. Whatever

The Harvest Moon Festival (S1, ep2)

Harvest Moon Festival has one of my favorite "I don't like him" moments, mostly because if how embarrassed Blitzø looks and M&M's faces. Lmao, they both know

This is Blitzø's reaction when Striker brings up how he tricked Stolas to get the book. Initially, Blitzø looks surprised, but then acts nonchalant when explaining what it is, just saying the short awnser is "yes."

Then the second image is where things get fun

Blitzø immediately backtracks, blushing and stuttering and explaining how they're not a couple, despite no one saying they were. He looks nervous and embarrassed and hid hands are up so he can explain himself despite, again, nothing to explain, because no one here said that they were a couple! Shows that the thought if them being a couple was on his mind though.

In the second image, he glances away, which is something people do when they're nervous or when they're lying. I'm going with nervous here, but you could also read it as him lying to himself when he says that there's nothing between them. Same thing with the third image, but he looks more nervous and like he's lost in his head, trying to calm down an imaginary scenario that he made up.

Fourth image is one of my favorites. He's hunched over with the hand over his face and blushing again, still looking really nervous, eyes still glancing sway from Striker. His hands are in a fist, which is another thing people do when they're nervous. He's doing a lot of arm movements as well, which is another sign that he's nervous, but also struggling to get his point across, which digs him deeper into the hole of "people are now going to assume there is something between them."

In these 2 photos, Blitzø is glancing away in the first one, hand rubbing neck/shoulder while still slightly hunched over, and still doing arm movements. You can still see a slight blush, and Blitzø has his focus back on Striker now, subconsciously going back to face him to not make it seem like he lost focus or to make him think they actually are a thing. He has an akward and nervous smile as well.

This image, he finally clears his head and clears his throat, realizing that his rambling is UNESECARY and not working. Also, in When I See Him Tonight (is that the sing name?), Blitzø says the quote, "So complicated, I hate that it's complicated, why do I always end uo in situations that are complicated? Here I go again, getting in my head, so I'll focus on the sexy stuff instead." He straight up admits that he focuses on sex to avoid emotions, so he probably focuses on other things to avoid his emotions too. Right now, he's just ignoring his emotions until later.

Than the iconic, "It's a transactional fucking, you see," still using his hands to make a point, showing that he's still nervous/embarrassed. But he's a lot more relaxed now, feeling like he made his point cleat when no, he just made everyone around him confused and think that there's something between them even more.

Part 3

[bouquet-of-compadre]

"...?!"

... Not quite sure how to be formal about this, so I'll just cut to the chase; info and notes (+ a slight canon subversion warning) on the...

Important Stuff

While the character is a grown-ass thing, the blog host is 17.

Intense violence, blood and gore, and strong language are fine. The former two will be tagged accordingly.

Explicitly NSFW content will not be permitted at this time.

This particular post may be updated and edited from time-to-time.

This is also my first RP blog, so things might be a bit shaky at first. My apologies if so. A LOT of lore behind this characterisation's homeland is also a gigantinorstic Work In Progress.

The 'ghost of' tags are for asks. The RP side will be taking place in what would be the 'present'. Both past and future take place back in their homeland, before and after the vacation.

Individual

They/it. Named Skilama, but it goes by most things they're called.

This guy has a known homeland! Bouquestia. We'll touch on it later.

Most interactions will be through actions and images, not speech.

As previously stated, they arrive early. This mostly just changes the amount of time spent in certain paces of the pre-blog story.

The 'feather' in the hat is a perserved piece of a bird's wing.

The Grove Cove

They haven't moved far from this place by the start of this blog, but it's gotten more familiar with the surroundings and locals.

It's met the bizzyboys by now... And grew attached very quickly. Almost concerningly so.

Tag Stuff

#skilamasks - Answers to asks.

#ghostofskilapast - Answers about/to skila before the vacation.

#ghostofskilapresent - Answers about skila during the vacation.

#ghostofskilafuture - Answers about/to skila after the vacation.

#bizzyquery - Answers involving the blog's bizzyboy(s).

#sirmarb - Answers about/to M before his demotion.

#skilamart - Any posts involving artwork (not small sketches).

#pokechatter - Not-an-ask.

#bizzychatter - Non-asks involving the blog's bizzyboy(s).

#miserychatter - Out-of-Character/Blog-host. Ask-ambiguous.

#visitorlevelinfo - Posts about information a visitor or otherwise attention-payer of Bouquestia may or may not know.

#residentlevelinfo - Information about Bouquestia that only someone who is or knows a guy living there would know, from Skilama or otherwise.

#bouquestiainfo - Any post about information of Skila's homeland.

#outdatedinfo - JUST in case any information becomes inaccurate and I notice. I'll probably highlight the culprit like this, too.

Extra Whatnots...

This is where I'll be putting information about Bouquestia itself. Just the stuff a character from outside the place might know. Maybe some fun little misc. OOC facts, too!

IN-CHARACTER

There are three major layers of the island. Agriculture is mainly handled on the ground layer, providing an easier adjustment for anyone visiting as well as easy access to the dirt without having to migrate it.

Why the mention of adjustment? The other sections of the island are divided between a massive treehousish dome spiralling over everything... And a massive underground cave system. Neither being much for soil-based foliage apart from decoration.

Adjustment is Also mentioned due to how common it is for folk to tour the sights the island has to offer. It's nothing compared to the rift festival, but as a come-any-time place to see it gets its decent share of visitors.

People from this place are typically known as Bouquestials. You can applaud now /j

The more observant may notice that a common choice in fashion and media from here is to obscure or even cover the lower face. This, and the higher class's tendency to replicate faux eyes/limbs/etc. This can range anywhere from paint and tattoos to puppetry and clothing.

There are rumours of unrest amidst certain groups of residency...

OUT-OF-CHARACTER/Trivia

Bouquestia's name derives from Bouquet + Celestial - l; a nod toward its many flowers and star patterns.

Skilama is a name they chose.

[judesmoonbeauty]

ALRIGHT CICI jude queen i have a question for you <3

with aphrodisiac event coming up, and jude being a 95k bonus, have you ever done or read his bonus story? i saw a post where you had said you weren't playing then so you don't have it

is it worth spending money to try and get it?

i am SLIGHTLY a collector so i like to collect stuff if it's good.....esp for characters i like. but for example, i didn't bother trying to get jude's 410 CE story for the new years event because i didn't LOVE the story (it was cute don't get me wrong) so i didn't want to waste the resources to try and make the 410 hearts

and if it is.....how much approx. do you usually have to spend to reach a 95k bonus ;w;

TY BB ILY i hope 2025 has been treating you amazingly :')

YUMIIII,

Okay, so I was playing at the time, I just never got that story on JP. But here is a link to an ask @.dear-mrs-otome answered who did share spoilers. I hope it helps you decide! I'm not sure what kind of content moves you to collect, but if it's things like spice then I would say go for it? The reason being is that I feel like Jude spice gets locked up after this event until about August-ish.

It's been a while since I've aimed for a 95k on EN, but I usually need around 50-60ish cocktails to get the 95K at the start of the event if it's x3 LT. But was based on me having 4 cards slots open, my BP avg was around 60-70K at the time, and with card multipliers in my escort deck. I usually get a $40 package if my resources are very limited. It can be less than that if I've got about 30 cocktails in stock, and grind as f2p until the last triple time, then I'll buy a package if needed. The amount might vary based on each players stats though.

Here's a few events we have coming up that you may want to wait for instead:

Ellis & Jude Past Records should be right around the corner. It was released on 2/19/24 on JP, and since it's a collection event they have standard rankings and individual suitor rankings for Ellis & Jude. Iirc, Top 100 individual suitor rankings get a +99 of the CG of either Jude or Ellis that they send hearts to. Additionally, top 200 gets a story of his POV.

Ellis' route hits us simultaneously with IkeVil Festival (Election) which starts a month later. If you want a back-hugging Jude avatar that's also a top 100 individual ranking benefit.

There is a 2 part story event that will start in March-ish. Jude's in part 2 around (April-ish), this is a story event that you get to have the suitor's entire event saved to your memories if you complete both ends of the story (epilogue still needs to be purchased ofc).

And then there should be the True Vow wedding event around May. There are individual rankings and things like marriage certificates from individual suitors, once you've sent them a certain amount of hearts (I think it was 600-800 hearts), the suitors in their wedding suits and, their wedding cards that are also +99 if you get into top 100.

Just food for thought if you need to plan and budget for IkeVil on top of Lnds. I'm so sorrryyyy for the long response dfjgsdlfjlgs.

Love you QUEEN!

[fallloverfic]

Nimona, the 2011-14 webcomic by ND Stevenson, turned into a graphic novel published on May 12, 2015, and adapted into a full cast audiobook on October 4, 2016, has been adapted into an animated movie!

The movie premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France on June 14, 2023. Netflix released a teaser trailer on May 18, 2023, a clip on June 8, 2023, a full trailer on June 14, 2023, another big clip on June 21, 2023, more footage on June 22, 2023, and another big clip on June 27, 2023. The movie released in select theaters starting on June 23.

The movie released on June 30, 2023 on Netflix for streaming! You can also view the movie for free, legally, on YouTube, until February 26th, 2024. Netflix also released a free-to-read digital-only multimedia 358-page artbook for the movie.

For simplified background, Disney cancelled the movie in 2021, but on April 11, 2022, it was announced that Annapurna would produce the movie, DNEG would animate it, and Netflix would distribute it for streaming sometime in 2023. I'm seeing a lot of confusion out there, so I'll make a summary of what else we know. I also keep the Nimona movie fanwiki page up to date with more info as it releases. Other good places to get news: ND Stevenson's twitter, his Tumblr, his personal site, the savenimona twitter, and the movie page on Netflix. While managing the fanwiki I found that Wikipedia's reference articles for the movie were kind of terrible and often quoted things not being said in the articles being quoted, even in their archive versions, so I would stick with first-hand accounts where possible, particularly what's coming from folks working on the movie and the companies making it. Below is a more detailed summary of info.

Nimona by ND Stevenson began life as a school project while Nate was in college. He was a tumblrite and posted the first pages on Tumblr on December 14, 2011. On June 19, 2012, he began publishing the webcomic in full on its own site. Sometime before November 2012, it was contracted for publication as a graphic novel after completion. The webcomic ended on September 30, 2014, and was released as a single graphic novel in entirety on May 12, 2015. It has currently been translated into 16 languages. Nate adapted it into a full cast audiobook that released on October 4, 2016 (you can hear a preview and purchase it via the link above). The graphic novel and audiobook are still available for purchase.

Apologies for maybe getting studio names wrong, some have changed over time. Anyway: the movie rights for Nimona were acquired by 20th Century Fox Animation in June 2015, to be produced by Blue Sky Studios. In June 2017, Fox scheduled the movie to be released on February 14, 2020. Patrick Osbourne was brought on as director, and it was planned to have the movie in the style of Paperman (Osbourne was animation supervisor of Paperman (2012), and went on to direct Feast (2015), which used the same style). After Disney acquired 20th Century Animation (as it was later called), the movie was delayed to March 5, 2021. There was reportedly pushback for queer stuff in the movie. Blue Sky is publicly stated to have shutdown due to the pandemic and money issues, which isn't relevant here, and I would be careful spreading rumors it was for other reasons. A lot of "successful" US companies shut down studios and departments en masse for other very dumb reasons, particularly in recent years, sometimes just because they aren't making as much money as their parent/shareholders wants them to and cutting salaries makes your profits look better to shareholders. The important part is: Blue Sky was being shut down, and Disney officially cancelled the movie in February 2021.

At some point around the cancellation, a video compilation of early release footage and sculpts seemingly from someone involved in the movie's production was released online. It was later taken down, but put back up by iO9 after the Annapurna, DNEG, Netflix production was announced.

After Disney shuttered Blue Sky, according to Variety, the Nimona crew, "led by former Blue Sky co-presidents Andrew Millstein and Robert Baird, shopped the animatic around town. The film caught the attention of Annapurna CEO Megan Ellison, who was familiar with the film and had been tracking the project. “I think anyone who has ever felt misunderstood or like an outsider will connect with N.D. Stevenson’s story like I did,” she said in press material for the film. “When I watched the storyboard reels I immediately fell in love with it. Nothing about it felt conventional or built off market research. It’s bold and mischievous and full of love. Nimona has such a powerful voice.”

Annapurna stepped in and signed up Millstein and Baird as executive producers. They created Shapeshifter Films so the team could finish “Nimona,” and subsequently joined the company, forming Annapurna Animation.

DNEG Animation was hired in the spring of 2021 to help with the animation, becoming collaborators on the film."

On April 11, 2022, it was announced that the film would be produced by Annapurna, animated by DNEG, and distributed by Netflix. Netflix also shared the first summary:

"A Knight is framed for a crime he didn't commit and the only person who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona, a shape-shifting teen who might also be a monster he's sworn to kill. Set in a techno-medieval world unlike anything animation has tackled before, this is a story about the labels we assign to people and the shapeshifter who refuses to be defined by anyone."

Between Netflix's posts and DNEG's Nimona page, as well as folks involved with the film talking about it, and new info released after the Annecy Film Festival announcement, we knew it would release in Summer 2023. Netflix released a primary cast article with images of what the characters look like from Netflix (be warned, both are very spoilery).

What is also interesting about the cast listings is that Ballister's last name was changed from Blackheart to Boldheart.

Sources for Business Insider said that Blue Sky's work would be incorporated into the film somehow. The second production seemingly wasn't started from scratch, and members of the Blue Sky production stayed on to work on the project. This makes sense, given the art was quite similar to what was in that footage released around the film's cancellation in 2021. DNEG crew have stated repeatedly, though, that although they did have a lot of material from the Blue Sky production, they had to make a lot of things from the ground up.

Quane released an official shot from the film on January 4, 2023:

It was announced that the movie would premiere on June 14, 2023, at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France. (Post on Annecy's site, post on DNEG's site)

Two new stills were also released on April 25, 2023, with the Annecy Film Festival announcement:

On May 10, 2023, Netflix posted a new image for the movie:

The May 10 article also had a new movie summary:

"When Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), a knight in a futuristic medieval world, is framed for a crime he didn’t commit, the only one who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), a mischievous teen with a taste for mayhem — who also happens to be a shape-shifting creature Ballister has been trained to destroy. But with the entire kingdom out to get him, Nimona’s the best (or technically the only) sidekick Ballister can hope for. And as the lines between heroes, villains and monsters start to blur, the two of them set out to wreak serious havoc — for Ballister to clear his name once and for all, and for Nimona to… just wreak serious havoc.   

Directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, Nimona is an epic tale about finding friendship in the most surprising situations and accepting yourself and others for who they are."

Netflix released another still on May 17, 2023. On May 18, they released their teaser, the movie's first poster, and the announcement of the June 30, 2023 general streaming release date!

Netflix also added a new preview image to the Nimona page on the app, featuring Ballister and Ambrosius facing off behind Nimona.

And Netflix started selling Nimona plushies! Amazon (and possibly other vendors) are also selling shirts/jackets with official movie art!

Netflix released more footage of the movie on May 24, 2023! (it's around 6:31 in the video).

Empire magazine released another still for the movie on June 7, 2023, as well as an article in their June 8, 2023 issue.

Variety released a new still on June 11, 2023.

Netflix released a new poster on Jun 13, 2023!

More stills were released in an Entertainment Weekly article on June 14, 2023. And Netflix released even more. More teasers were put up on the Netflix app (though these are quite spoilery, so I'd advise avoiding them). The cast and crew did press tours throughout June 2023.

Again, the Nimona movie fanwiki page has more detailed info on all this.

[helluvabossrewrite45]

Always sunny anon replying: funny you mentioned Bojack being I believe Viv has said in the past on her twitter that she wants HB to be the next BH yet seems to not understand what makes a show like Bojack work to begin with. (I'll admit I haven't watched Bojack Horseman yet. I've been sleeping on it way to long tbh).

Yeah absolutely. Viv doesnt seem to get that bojack worked in not only in its ability to make people like bojack while not excusing his actions, but also how its structured as 'comedy turned drama'.

(major spoilers for bojack horseman btw, you can just skip to the end/the last paragraph of this post)

Now in bojack's first season, it was a comedy pretty early and stayed that way till later down the season and it continued to grow naturally to a drama (though the comedy is still there of course). Helluva boss though, seems to be all over the place as just after episode 1, episode 2 takes a more serious/dramatic approach when the show is meant to appear at first to be a dark humoured comedy, along with most of the season not even sticking to its original premise, instead focusing more of set ups and stolitz drama that both didnt go much of anywhere (striker might be an exception though i feel like the end with him could be another set up). What wouldve worked is that episode 1 - 4 is entirely on the original premise for helluva boss and the rest would be more serious (with strikers introduction, the agents and stolitz drama) with season 2 continuing the more serious approach. Hell, if their gonna include stolas family drama, why not portray it as comedy at first, then use it later on to portray it more seriously. Like in season 1 of bojack where he and sarah lynn slept with each other, its being treated as comedic. But when he revealed that he slept with her in the interview, its being treated completely seriously and use it to highlight bojacks problem from him with young women and his issues with accountability, episode 2 could portray the cheating as comedic (with stella throwing objects while rambling while stolas dodges them like a dodgeball game with octavia initially being presented as the typical 'lonely stuck in the mud teenager' but we still get hints of her being more than that later down the episode) and while it ends on them leaving the festival in an awkward comedic way, that would used in seeing stars where octavia vents about her family drama, including on how neglectful stolas has become as a father from the festival incident. Im kinda surprised viv didnt consider to use it because it would be a perfect tool for helluva boss to use.

Another reason why bojack worked compared to helluva boss is its characters. While bojack was written well, the rest of the characters (especially women) shine through and we get to see more of who they are overtime. We dont really get much on that with helluva (especially the women), sure we get their backstories though we dont really have much depth if that make sense. Like when we compare todd to moxxie, todd's deal is that he's extremely helpful and he actually have stuff going on for him, its only bojack thats holding him back so when he finally distance himself from bojack, not only is it consistent but its also not repetitive, instead we get to know more about todd, seeing his relationships, discovering his asexuality etc...hell, he even has his own episode where he learn to make time for himself too instead of always helping out everyone. Moxxie has an arc of overcoming his weakness but the thing is, it repeats the same arc that it can get tiring to watch. What would work for him is that he slowly develops him overcoming his weakness instead of it just being repeated (like maybe further snapping at blitzo or confess that he considers quitting) Its a real shame too because him being close to morally good than morally grey or bad (which i predict thats what most of hells beings would be) opens a gate to a lot of possibilities for him as a character like why he took the job, how he met his wife, how he views the world around him etc...but they clearly didnt know what to do with him especially when season 1 wasnt even properly planned (as viv literally admits this on twitter too) so its why he as a character feels stagnant. But a bigger comparison however, has to be the women in the shows. People tend to praise the show for how it writes its women characters, often from diane and princess caroline. They're shown to be as messy and complex as men like bojack in the show though other women characters had their time to shine like hollyhock, kelley, gina, penny, bojack's mother etc...Its clear that bojack writes both men and women well in the show. Helluva boss on the other hand, is quite unbalanced in its writing for men and women. Specifically with the men having more variety and generall knowledge about them than the women. Like millie and loona, despite being major characters, have very little depth especially with millie who wouldnt even be a character if we remove her from moxxie. And even with the other women characters, they dont have much depth either (or at last we dont get to see that depth often like with verosika), they all in some way are in the roles for men characters (octavia and loona being there to establish the good in stolas and blitzo or stella and verosika being there to establish to either be the villain or to show a part of the man's past) Its very clear that viv favours men characters than women as alastor and angel dust having more going on than charlie, the main character herself. I mean, both shows are technically character driven and to be character driven, your gonna have to make sure your characters can equally shine on their own instead of one having more depth than the other.

To put it shortly, i dont think viv really gets why bojack was successful to audiences to begin with and in turn, failed to achieve that success with it being how she structures her show for the 'comedy turned drama' style being all over the place when bojacks was of natural progress and her imbalanced/poorly planned writing of men and women characters where it wasn't an issue in BoJack

[canmom]

アニメションの夜の未来

no animation night yesterday - apologies for the lack of announcement, I had @footsteps-on-the-dance-floor visiting from a long way away, and wanted to make the most of having her there <3 we won't be back until after the Annecy festival - but to briefly state the plans for the future of Animation Night...

I am planning to get back into the regular swing of things. the whole 'end on number 200' plan? forget that. what I needed wasn't a final one to count down to, it was a break. and i took that break (we managed about 24 animation nights in the year since the last Annecy, which is better going than I thought). but now i don't want to wrap it up anymore! I wanna bring it back! we'll still do an Eva marathon to hit End of Eva on #200 tho, that sounds like a good time.

we'll continue with the general mix of reruns and new content. there are plenty of great animated films we haven't screened yet, but equally there's so much good stuff I showed in the earlier years which would be great to revisit with a new audience. I also will continue to do 'mixed' ones where I'll show something we saw before along with a new instalment.

now and then I learn some crazy cool new thing about a film I thought I knew about, largely thanks to the amazing work of Animation Obsessive on substack who have been absolutely on fire recently. for example did you know that a lot of the direction for Ghost in the Shell, such as the realist style, was by the request of UK distributor Manga Entertainment, who wanted a film that would help spread anime in the west? that's gotta be one of the greatest called shots in history lol. or did you know that Otomo's short film Construction Cancellation Order was pretty much where he learned animation from people like Rintaro, taking inspiration from early Miyazaki? or that Mamoru Oshii was originally going to have a short on Memories? they also have this ongoing discussion on montage, space and stillness in animation which is absolutely fascinating.

so that's the kind of stuff I want to bring in if we revisit some of those films we watched before! there's always more to find out! I also want to mix in some 'Toku Tuesday' style content - there are some films like Godzilla Minus One or Takashi Miike's new film Lumberjack the Monster which I'd love to watch with friends, and while running two film nights a week is definitely beyond what I can do at the moment, switching in an occasional live action night would be pretty fun I think. unfortunately it can't be on Tuesday anymore.

one thing I'm kinda considering is, once I'm vtubed up, whether to combine that with Animation Night a little - e.g. popping up in between films to give a little intro speech or something. I'm not sure about this - I like the purity of films, title cards and text - but it would also be a neat thing to fold into the whole 'act' right? like come to her post-apoc bunker to watch some cool films from the world before or smth. and it would make it idk a liiiitle more 'transformative' as a project.

aaaaanywaaaaaay - beloved audience, was there something we watched on animation nights past that you thought was a great time? or that you wish you'd seen and would love to see again? is Sunday still the best day, or would you like to see it move back to Thursdays? let me know, sometime now or later ^^

[dinfern0]

izek lore dump!!

since i was waiting for someone to ask for it and @slowtimelove was it!! (tysm :D) plus a raw cooked izek WIP

Lore dump below cut.

(Curse of Strahd Spoilers too!!)

I'm separating it in pre-COS, COS and post-COS, so:

Pre-COS

Canon lore stuff happened with the exception that Ireena is called Mirabel in my campaign, since I wanted one of my players to make their own Tatyana reincarnation.

There's not much alteration here besides that, except that a particular deity did that to his arm but that's unimportant/for later.

COS

Izek found the party, didn't kidnap Mirabel because she chose to talk to him and get him away from Vargis.

He just sort of... Followed them around, they were very friendly and gave him pencils and crayons for him to draw, so he gave them some drawings as thanks :D

(His drawings there, first one is explaining what happened, second one is Willow and Mirabel, third one is a landscape, the last one is a vision he had)

Vargis got disappointed at his crap job of being a spy so he cut his tongue as a warning, left it on the party's house as a message.

Tied Izek on a stake with other npcs to burn at the Smiling Sun festival (that I turned into a ball), they saved him but, well, his tongue couldn't be glued back right <3

He got an actual bed and was treated as an actual human being for at least three weeks

he met Arden, a npc, had a crush on him and drew him portraits from afar (which Arden perceived as threats)

Arden died, Ismark died when they arrived at Ravenloft

Willow had to sacrifice him in exchange for enough power to end Strahd's reincarnation cycle; in reality, signed Izek a contract with Cora, a power-hungry entity.

Strahd used the corpses of the dead to fight the party, Izek's body didn't answer to his commands and instead delivered Cora's message that Strahd's contract was due <33

(more drawings, first one is the bear lady from the past and the second is a drawing of the players + him not knowing what a tiger is, since wolves, crows and bears are all he knows)

post-COS

Izek got the chance to protect Mirabel - now Minadora, that lost all of her memories when she killed Strahd.

He's mute and she's went blind from sunlight, so it was a bit complicated <3

He isn't free, whatsoever. Had to kill for Cora the same way that he had to kill for Vargis, Izek works as a pawn to move Cora towards godhood.

He's ATM at a coliseum, fighting in a giant fighting ring since Cora has nothing for him to do other than watch some people when they get to specific events but doesn't want him to be free either.

The giants keep him there bc they're too scared to let him go so they want someone to kill him and make some coin in the process.

The campaign is set 101 years after COS, in a Storm King's Thunder campaign, so that's that with the viking-looking design.

Also! He got a friend/romantic interest, but I can't talk a lot abt it since some of my players follow me :D

that's pretty much it :^) i'll make some other posts if the players eventually find him again and keep him around

also his first design for comparison :D

[stoopid-turtle]

BTS in Order Addendum 2

Second and final addendum for rn! This covers the translated bts clips for June that I found. Sadly, the playlist did not have July or Aug, so I can't go over those. If I ever do find July and Aug, I'll try to add it on.

As before, the timeline posts are already updated. I'm just highlighting some things here for those who don't want to hunt for the updates. Also, I tried to clean up some of the formatting but y'all, the formatting on Tumblr is just weird. I can't figure it out and I'm not gonna invest the time to do so, so I've done my best!

I can see where the WZC/GG pairing came from. GG and WZC seem quite close, often playful, and similarly physically affectionate to ggdd. Their dynamic is different, but I can def see how people could pull together a compilation of their bts clips for CPFs. (Not saying they were a real couple, like ggdd.)

Madam Jin did not seem to realize she was cast in a bl adaption.

There's much mentioned of dd's afterglow on 6.19 after the Dragon Boat Festival date, but I've never seen anyone mention that GG is also in a really great mood the next day. His first scene is in the forest with JC and JL, and he's all smiles and says, "I'm so happy this early morning. I really love my team."

JC says "Happy? What nonsense!" For some reason, this sets gg off on the giggles.

Needless to say, GG had his own afterglow.

Also on 6.19, there's this cute exchange between gg and the older lady producer (?), who is also from Chongqing:

Crewmember: So many beauties come from Chongqing. GG: I'm beautiful. Producer lady: More beautiful than me? GG: How can that be? Can't compare!

And then, a couple days later on 6.23, when dd is still gone, gg is in a hellishly rotten mood. He's visibly moody and unresponsive to xl and JC, both of whom try to cheer him up. At one point, he asks someone (his assistant?) if he has any crying scenes that day. And later he says, "Remember this feeling. After a month, when filming, definitely will..." I think he says something more to XL here, but I guess it was too quiet for the translator to hear. The implication to me is that he's gonna try to bring up the experience of his feelings in later scenes when WWX is having similar feelings.

Not everything with regards to the boys has to be about ggdd, so it's possible that gg's bad mood is bc of something else going on in his life. Family, friends, something with his company, politics, a stranger being a jerk, whatever. DD's one possibility among many. I did check out what dd was doing on 6.23 and 6.22, and he's on Produce 101, where he looks as DD (with a mullet) as ever. But there aren't any bts or unscripted clips of him where he might reveal a similar mood, so it's hard to say anything.

So basically, make of gg's bad mood what you will. It could be literally anything.

I need to talk about JC's fake butt

So the clip on 6.25, with JZX, Mianmian, dd, XL, and gg all chatting starts with them talking about JC wearing a "fake butt". I'm guessing butt padding? Some highlights:

DD is confused because he's "not even wearing jeans", to which gg asks if it makes sense to wear a fake butt in jeans.

The "reason" why JC wears this is apparently only known to XL and GG. XL refuses to explain.

GG says if she doesn't explain, dd will just walk up to JC and ask him, "JC, you wear a fake butt?"

Poor WZC did seem a bit put-upon on the set.

Also, unrelated, dd thinks sweat is sexy.

Also, the nasal spray that got passed around: looked sus, but not actually that sus. It's a Thai herbal nasal inhaler, which apparently looks a lot like people doing some uppers. (So much so that gg chastises the cameraman for filming it and XL turns her back to do it)

Also also, gg's rotten mood is gone. The clip on 6.23 of him being in a bad mood is only about 5 min long, and there's only a 45sec clip for 6.24. So basically, we have no idea what might have cheered him up and there are almost a full 2 days of stuff we know nothing about.

[aranarumei]

you WILL read my visions of hanzawa to tashiro

hi. I’m kiri. nice to see you here. this entire post is inspired by this lovely poll conducted by @dirtbra1n, specifically regarding the outfits tashiro would wear for the beauty contest (this is what I’m calling the crossdressing competition, if that name seems unfamiliar) in his third year. I shall also be referencing some of their writings because they are like, creative director for the hanzawa to tashiro ‘verse. if you have no idea what the fuck I’m talking about, uh. ask me ig. the point is, basically I started thinking about the actual realities of hanzawa to tashiro as like, a manga or just as a like, semi-linear story, and I was thinking about how exactly the school festival in tashiro’s third year would flow into that. and so I reread the chapters surrounding the school festival in sasaki to miyano, and this post became almost 6k. so I’m leaving the rest under the cut. technically, all of this is just voter propaganda.

to outline my thoughts a little bit, I voted “sailor style uniform (black & red)” in the poll originally but I was. Intrigued by the option that was just “other (elaborate) (please)” because like… well, what if there was a better option, one that I hadn't considered? you can find my reasoning for picking that outfit in the tags of the poll, but I'll be going over it again, so there’s no need. anyways, I was dwelling on it. wondering how to figure out what outfit might work best. and I wanted to confirm that miyano’s outfit for the contest had indeed been a kimono bc like. god what if I was wrong. so I reread the festival chapters.

and let me tell you!! when you are no longer looking at sasaki and miyano during the festival chapters, there is So Much Stuff happening!! first off: to confirm, miyano’s outfit is referred to as a “kimono-style outfit” [ch 22, sasaki to miyano] in the translation I’m reading, which to me is one of the reasons I’d argue against that being tashiro’s competition outfit—it would be a repetition of the previous year. 

and then, to my absolute surprise, kuresawa as understudy is wearing what looks like… a sailor uniform [ch 23, sasaki to miyano], and from googling screencaps of the anime it looks like it is very specifically a black & red sailor uniform! (perhaps this is where the poll choice originated)

to go on a bit of a tangent, I remember the exact moment I realized that a large part of hirano to kagiura’s timeline was taking place in volume one of sasaki to miyano. like as I write this, the hirano of hirano to kagiura isn’t even a third year! thinking on that, for the timeline of hanzawa to tashiro, I think it would be interesting if it started sort of later in the sasaki to miyano timeline—miyano’s (and therefore tashiro’s) third year. with flashes back towards previous years as needs must (I personally would love to see a lot more of the ping pong club). (yeah I’m so normal about the fact that the anthology comic had short stories with sasamiya hirakagi and hanzashiro. so normal why do u ask.) with that in mind, placing the beginning of hanzawa to tashiro around tashiro’s third year gives me a better idea what exactly I want the festival to represent—a launchpad for the Main Ideas and Themes that will develop throughout a theoretical hanzawa to tashiro. this includes but is not limited to tashiro’s exploration of gender. this is in contrast to how I’d argue the festival functions in sasaki to miyano, where it is the like. Realization Point for the whole story? after chapters upon chapters of miyano dissecting his relationship with sasaki, he finally… overlaps with him, literally, in their inner thoughts. it’s an obvious requiting of feelings—what the series has been building up to since the start. on the other hand, I see this festival more like the “do you want to kiss him?” [ch 6, hirano to kagiura] question of hirano to kagiura—it’s what catapults the hanzawa to tashiro story into action. 

but before we get to that: what are hanzawa and tashiro up to in the previous year’s festival?  

when the beauty contest is first brought up, there’s a couple of outfit suggestions thrown forward: sailor outfit, blazer, temple priestess (I assume this is a miko, though I’m unsure of what’s said in the original japanese), and a teacher uniform. not much to say regarding this—it’s a pretty quick moment that illustrates what some common choices could be. (love hanzawa by the way for being like hm. maybe we need to question these guys to make sure they’re not developing a biased view of women [ch 19, sasaki to miyano])

as for how all this crossdressing is facilitated, hanzawa masato has a big sister who cosplays [ch 19, sasaki to miyano]. we know he also has two brothers who are gay and like that’s why it’s like. carry on the family line… this is something you’ll feel so normal about. no worries. that interests me. first off: masato middle child having crazy elder sibling vibes to everyone else makes him so interesting. he’s just like me for real. it does make me wonder like… huh, doesn’t he have a big sister to also possibly carry on the family line…? but I suppose she would likely change her last name if she ever got married. still that’s an interesting dimension to the entire situation. the idea of his big sister cosplaying is also so good because it means that every sibling masato has is kind of quirky. I mean I personally don’t imagine masato’s big sister as a secretive cosplayer if she’s lending her stuff out like this. so the image of hanzawa masato being his freakish (affectionate) dyed hair secret piercings normal self around his siblings who are like very out and about with their eccentricities (only eccentric as it compares to “normal” societal ideals, of course) compels me. 

next detail I want to harp on about: the scene where tashiro is stunned by kuresawa in a wig [ch 22, sasaki to miyano] like. Gets Me. because as far as I can tell there, kuresawa is not doing anything but wearing a wig and not wearing his glasses (which, to be fair, can make one nigh unrecognizable. I used to win staring contests by taking off my glasses bc ppl would be so surprised by my face they’d blink). and this beauty contest, along with earlier chapters, make the point that even though miyano looks quite cute, he is not exactly feminine to the point of being like a standard girl. when hanzawa’s helping him with the kimono, he’s like. ah this was a good choice. kuresawa was a given, but you’ve got pretty broad shoulders, too. [ch 22, sasaki to miyano] so we see affirmations of miyano’s masculinity here. the point of this is that tashiro sees what he assumes to be a cute girl improbably in an all-boys school, and immediately goes up to say hi, even though this cute girl is taller than him and also just kuresawa in a wig. what this says to me is that the Lines of Gender are much blurrier for tashiro than they are for miyano, which interests me.

(will not comment on the way miyano reacts to the situation like. please stop telling me abt this or I will have bl fantasies. and how imagining tashiro in one is a "little too easy" [ch 22, sasaki to miyano] like. I think this says what it says)

tashiro is actually so gender this festival. he’s has fun discussing what his “female name” would be and it’s literally just gon-chan, which is not a different reading or a replacing part of the name with “ko,” it is just a shortened version of his name + -chan. and miyano’s like you’re way too accepting of this. [ch 24.5, sasaki to miyano] once again, they contrast each other: tashiro is somewhat interested in this whole affair while miyano wants to be completely separate from it. part of that is due to miyano being hyper-aware of his lack of masculine features and therefore specifically against crossing any sort of gender boundaries—this is evident in how kuresawa is also much more chill about the experience, but while tashiro is also chill, unlike kuresawa he seems genuinely invested and even delighted? 

this is further compounded by the scene post-festival where shirahama wants to be not-single for christmas and then tashiro goes. want me to crossdress...? [ch 28, sasaki to miyano] like okay. tashiro’s offer is indicating that maybe he’s still thinking about the beauty contest in a way that others maybe didn’t. also how he assumes this is like. Functionally Equivalent or at least a Salve to shirahama lacking a girlfriend… do u see the #girl inherent here. the blurring of tashiro’s gender. in this same scene, miyano is then surprised by how unfazed tashiro is about the concept of sasaki and miyano dating. it’s a fun contrast to shirahama many chapters later who is unsure if they’re even supposed to discuss their relationship in public [ch 42, sasaki to miyano]. 

we learn a lot about hanzawa around this time, too. the festival and proceeding chapters are when we learn of hanzawa’s brothers, his joking-but-not-really pressure to carry on the family line, and specifically, a very illuminating conversation he has with his older brother—where he blurts out "i wish you'd stop bringing every conversation around to romance!" [ch 28, sasaki to miyano] 

I would say that this, by far, is the most outwardly emotional we ever see hanzawa masato get. and it’s such an interesting sentiment, because hanzawa clearly does have an interest in romance—“I sensed someone was having relationship troubles, so I came running” and “I do enjoy stories of other people, so long as I don’t get caught up in any displays of jealousy” [both from ch 38, sasaki to miyano] and really, his whole demeanor in hirano to kagiura where he’s carefully watching their relationship to the point that he recognizes the specific ringtone kagiura is coded to on hirano’s phone. [ch 39, sasaki to miyano] miyano literally points this out in his head in the actual chapter hanzawa has this outburst. hanzawa masato clearly likes romance—I think he just doesn’t like it when it’s applied to himself. [see: this post by @dirtbra1n for further reading]

tashiro also has an awkward relationship with romance. once sasaki and miyano get together for real, tashiro asks what their dates are like (“normal stuff”) and then asks what kuresawa and his gf’s dates are like (“normal stuff”) and gets frustrated because like, what does that even mean, right? [ch 33, sasaki to miyano] note the way tashiro draws no real line of differentiation between kuresawa and miyano’s relationships in this conversation, even though in his frustrated outburst, he bemoans the lack of a girlfriend in specific (at least in the translation I’m working off of)—I genuinely feel like the lines of gender and sexuality are fairly blurred for tashiro and he just hasn’t noticed it. we then hear that the one time he’d been to a group date he was so nervous he’d forgotten the entire ordeal. (man and he goes to one again and makes fun of shiarahama for being the only one who didn’t get a girlfriend out of it even though he also didn't get one. [ch 43, sasaki to miyano]) so like, with tashiro’s lack of experience and hanzawa’s general avoidance, I think they could be weird about romance… together. [see: this post by @dirtbra1n which encapsulates what makes the concept fun]

it’s telling to me that hanzawa’s outburst is about romantic pressure, while the clarification that comes after where he says not gay and is attracted to women is a much more minor conversation. I don’t think hanzawa is purposefully lying here—I think, for him, it’s easy enough to say he’s attracted to women, simply because he’s not yet attracted to anyone, and sticking to the “default” is easy enough. like he says here, he enjoys spending time with his friends. and I think it’s obvious, the way hanzawa loves his friends, the way he’s always looking after them and worrying about their relationships, and the way he gives advice. (imagine throwing “I don’t get involved with women I don’t intend to marry” [ch 21.5, sasaki to miyano] ogasawara at hanzawa tho. I think the results would be hysterical.)

a really fun detail in this conversation: his brother says he hangs out with a lot of girls but doesn’t date any of them, which is partially why he’d suspected hanzawa was gay. during the festival, while hirano and hanzawa are chatting, hanzawa mentions asking his female friends for information on their taste, and hirano is like oh… not your girlfriend? and refers to a girl named kaede, who hanzawa refers to as just a friend. [ch 27.5, sasaki to miyano] at the movies, hanzawa’s with someone when he spots sasaki and miyano on a movie date—and she calls him masato-kun! [ch 27, sasaki to miyano] I don’t think this is his big sister since she’d be more likely to call him maa-kun, and the color of this girl’s hair isn’t the same screentone as the rest of the hanzawa family. this isn’t like super relevant analysis-wise but like. I’m taking notes so I can work her into hanzawa to tashiro. the fact that there are these girls hanzawa is friends with that we basically never see (harusono show us the forbidden women) does remind me of that one time miyano and ogasawara discuss hanzawa’s number of clones [ch 27, sasaki to miyano] and it’s like… yeah, he’s leading so many separate lives. 

that’s about all I wanted to touch on regarding previous events, so now I can talk about the prospective hanzawa to tashiro festival and specifically, tashiro’s experience with the beauty contest that year. 

the options presented in the poll mentioned earlier were: a sailor style uniform, a kimono, and a maid uniform, with some variations on presentation for each outfit. I think maid uniforms are boring so no comments there. in hanzawa to tashiro it would be brought up as a suggestion once and then get shut down, probably. the kimono was done by miyano last year, and I doubt anyone is raring to compare themselves against him, because miyano was pretty good, competition-wise. tashiro brings up the idea of doing a sort of, idol-outfit, because I have made up the idea in my head that while he’s not wildly into them, tashiro probably appreciates the cute & bright idol aesthetic as well as their clear voices. 

“idol outfits are complicated,” someone will say. “how’s anyone even gonna pull that off?” 

and tashiro, unthinking, will reply, “ah… you’re right! last year hanzawa-senpai helped us out, but what are we gonna do this year?” the class has turned to stare at him. “...what?” 

“hey, tashiro… you’d make an okay girl, wouldn’t you?” 

shirahama had brought it up (half-joking, half-knowing because he’d been in the same middle school as tashiro and there were just ways you knew things when you had been around someone long enough) when they were trying to figure out who would participate earlier, and tashiro hadn’t—disagreed, necessarily. besides, miyano was firmly against participating again, and kuresawa was in a different class, and though they’d gotten sidetracked by the discussions of what outfits would look best, well—tashiro had been a pretty decent option in the end, hadn’t he? 

and it’s convenient, anyways. tashiro’s close with hanzawa and could totally ask him for a favor. if tashiro goes to message hanzawa, he’ll see that they texted just two days ago. hanzawa had been such a reliable force as a third year—even now, he’d probably be happy to help one of his dear kouhais, wouldn’t he? 

in the face of all of that, tashiro objects not to joining the beauty contest but rather the idea of bothering hanzawa when he shouldn’t. and technically tashiro is always bothering hanzawa over text when he thinks of something random and messages him about it, but there’s a difference between that and taking so much of hanzawa’s precious time. but at the insistence of his classmates he concedes that at the very least, he’ll ask, and when he does, hanzawa agrees. this would be a surprise if tashiro did not know that hanzawa was always that nice, even when he was being kind of mean. 

once the Reality of doing the beauty contest sets in, I think tashiro would agree: idol outfits are complicated. if he’s doing this, he’d like his outfit to be something that isn’t a pain to wear. (for anyone who believes in an alternate universe where he does go with an idol outfit, go wild with it. this is but one of many paths) they can’t quite settle on an outfit yet that day, and like he’s reading their minds, hanzawa suggests that tashiro simply. invite himself over and decide that way. the class leaves tashiro with strict instructions to text their festival groupchat for final approval, and that’s… that. tashiro’s a little worried about how much time he’s taking up in the precious hours of the day hanzawa has, but he’s not… complaining, really.

before he meets up with hanzawa, tashiro and kuresawa probably end up talking about the festival. kuresawa’s probably not doing it this time, as I think he did it last year to support miyano more than anything else. I mean, he was the entire reason an understudy existed the previous year. “there’s no tasuko for you to fall for, unfortunately,” kuresawa says in the driest voice possible, and tashiro contemplates strangling him but like, only in a slapstick sense. even in his imaginations he’s not capable of great violence. but he does hope that gon-chan will look better than tasuko, at the very least. 

so the day arrives and they try on a couple of outfits that either hanzawa or tashiro suggest, but none of them look quite right or some of them are hard to judge since tashiro can’t even fit into them, and even the ones that he does fit into would need to be adjusted. after he’s tried on a miko outfit they both remember miyano’s kimono, and so they dig that out and try it on, and obviously they can’t reuse to same outfit as last year, but it’s then that tashiro remembers. hey. isn’t the sailor uniform kuresawa wore here? because I imagine post-festival, hanzawa simply took the costumes back since they were his sister’s. (insert nozaki cursing the fact that he’s not a bishounen and can’t wear sailor uniforms here. actually very seriously if you want delightful poking fun at shoujo romance tropes and just the most bisexual cast ever u should read gekkan shoujo nozaki kun.) 

and tashiro tries it on and it like. fits pretty well! the shoulders are maybe a bit broader than they need to be, but it rests on his frame in a way that feels like he’s actually in the correct clothing. and it needs some minor adjustments, but it’s comfortable, just like he wanted. and hanzawa is laughing all of a sudden and tashiro is a little defensive, because hanzawa says, “tashiro-kun, that doesn’t suit you at all,” and tashiro says, “what is that supposed to mean?” even though he knows the answer is probably that he’s grown taller [ch 33.6, sasaki to miyano] (at this current moment, he has forgotten that hanzawa’s sister is hanzawa’s height [ch 22, sasaki to miyano]) and at that point, it means that he probably just looks silly… but hanzawa instead says, “ah. don’t you think you look kind of like a delinquent? that dyed hair and that black and red sailor uniform… it’s certainly not a pure image, is it?”

“do I seem pure usually?” tashiro asks, breathing a little easier already. 

“sometimes,” hanzawa says. “only when you’re an idiot.” and before tashiro can get too mad hanzawa inspects the outfit for a while longer and tells him, “a dramatic image change… that could be fun. you said it’s comfortable, so that’s a bonus—maybe keep wearing it while we look at some other outfits? so you’ll notice if anything is wrong with it while your classmates discuss.”

so tashiro snaps a quick selfie and is fake-aggrieved about hanzawa calling him a delinquent, and the class groupchat realizes that while miyano had flubbed his script lines a little the last time, tashiro was far less self-conscious and they could go all out on concept, which meant that he was just wearing a sailor uniform at this moment, but he could absolutely be like. a high school girl rockstar. it’s not like we’d win based on your face alone, someone would text, and tashiro would be a little annoyed about it but pleased at the way hanzawa had looked pleased, anyways. hanzawa was right about the colors not suiting him, too. maybe a brighter color…? that wouldn’t fit the concept they’d decided on, but he still knows he’d look better in a different color. but either way, it seems like the outfit’s good, so he can change back to his normal clothes.

so that’s my explanation as to how, exactly, a “sailor style uniform (black & red)” would work. I’ve provided the means and the method. but like… conceptually, why is a black & red sailor uniform (possibly) the best choice?

my argument starts with the joy of a sailor uniform in general. unlike a lot of other possibilities, it's an outfit that is casual and fun and comfortable, so tashiro would feel fairly natural in it. at this very moment, under this context, it's a Costume, but for a girl attending school, it could just be her everyday outfit. and that’s good in comparison to something like a maid outfit, which feels more obvious in its construction as a performance. but if you wear something that is kind of an everyday outfit, it blurs the lines between what's Real and what is being Performed, right? 

the reason I prefer (black & red) over (white & blue) is that black and red is a bit of an... unusual color scheme, as I had hanzawa point out for me. as I outlined above, it gives the class a Concept to latch onto, and a reason for tashiro to wear something that’s a bit simple yet have that be his entry for the beauty contest. shirahama 100% writes the script section. I believe in his gal game experience. so black and red pushes the outfit more into costuming territory and gives the believability of a Performance, but it also does so in a way that centers the Performance on like, tashiro having a kind of edge that he usually doesn’t, not on him actually crossdressing. 

so this gives a third year tashiro both the space to explore gender while being partially in denial about it if needed. and the fact that he can do both will actually force him into making More Realizations about his gender, I think, because if it’s meant to be easy to deny something but it’s hard for you, well… what does that say about yourself? tashiro here is also fulfilling one of harusono’s favorite character things, where there’s a "bad boy that absolutely is not a bad boy" with tashiro’s pudding hair and delinquent concept. I also think he’d pierce his ears later as a gender thing so he’d really fit with that, then. 

I touched on this a little above but I truly believe that at some point, tashiro looks at himself and thinks that the colors don’t really suit him, and thinks that if he was picking out a version of this outfit just for himself, he’d change the colors to what he liked, and then come to the realization that the skirt is actually not like, the reason he feels odd in this outfit. for the other poll options of kimono and maid I’ve already touched on why I’m not too interested in them (done by miyano before + feels a little too tropey)

also I want tashiro to be sharp and black and red because he is so often spring green. simply for the image of it and nothing else. I want to see this come alive alongside the image of hanzawa staring at his reflection in the river, bleeding out, water colored partially with strange-pink-red blood masking his face from himself. whatever. I just have a need to position tashiro on this swath of blues like a sharp shock.

much love to @sunnnfish for bringing up the fact that a sailor style uniform, is, well, a sailor style uniform—it has a built-in connection to the water! which is wonderful, because hanzawa is partially being drowned by a river [see: this post by @dirtbra1n which elaborates a little on the river metaphor] and tashiro is. well. in this concept, he’s a sailor, which makes the opposing ways they interact with the idea of the river so interesting. hanzawa is like an anchor without a ship. sinking to rest at the bottom, dead and forgotten. but tie an anchor to a ship and it transforms from just a dead weight into something brilliantly useful. hanzawa is transformed too, I think, when he’s able to be useful. when he can care for his friends. 

as you can see, I couldn’t think of an “other (elaborate) (please)” option that would win over that sailor style outfit, because the moment I saw kuresawa wearing it, I felt like it was fate. however I do have some different outfit suggestions and possible directions in terms of what to do with them… in my mind these are just various things hanzawa gets tashiro to try on before they settle on the sailor outfit. I like the idea of an idol outfit—that’s why it’s a suggestion that tashiro gives before rejecting it, and the concept tashiro’s playing in the beauty contest is a kind of idol-esque figure, just not one with with all the frills. and I mentioned both a miko outfit and a kimono outfit as stuff tashiro tried on, mostly just because: 

hanzawa masato doesn’t like sundays. the shrine won’t be performing any exorcisms today. to be more specific, the miko that greets him feels his forehead with a warm hand and decides that he’s in good health. he doesn’t want her to know how little he values her judgment, so he bows to offer a prayer instead. [i of iii: ghosts, by @dirtbra1n] 

and

it’s night now, and everything that was green is either dark orange or blood red. dim and damp alleyways run jaggedly between impersonal skyscrapers and crumbling, very old storefronts. gonzaburou’s scared as hell about it. it’s all really cool. he’s standing on damp cobblestone, staring down at his scattered reflection. his hair is loose, and his roots have grown out way more than he likes. a dark kimono hangs loose off his frame. he frowns. [ii of iii: blood in the water, by @dirtbra1n]

and 

masato turns his head, creaky like a wooden doll. “…tashiro-kun.” kimono-clad, he offers a hand. “you’re not face first in muck this time.” [iii of iii: funeral arrangements, by @dirtbra1n]

since these outfits / images appear in hanzawa’s dreamscape I would personally love to mess with him and have the lines of reality to blur sooo badly for him. if I used these posts as a springboard I think it could be very fun in terms of balancing the wild metaphors hanzawa is living between and tashiro’s very Present self. I do think there is a universe where one of these ends up being the main choice and there’s a wonderful dive into it imagery-wise.

moving past the beauty contest, I fully believe the actual activity their class is doing a haunted house. I have a need for hanzawa masato to be inflicted by metaphorical ghosts along with crude ghost costumes. like I want him to experience the horrors while besieged by the tame horrors of an earnestly-created haunted house. the thought consumes me. 

way earlier, I said that I thought this festival would be a great launchpad in terms of really starting to explore and develop the main themes in hanzawa to tashiro. I think I’ve illustrated a lot of that just with what I’ve touched on above but… I’ll elaborate some more, here.

to me this festival brings up pretty much all of the main points that I think I’d want to address in a prospective hanzawa to tashiro: front and center is obviously the roots of exploring tashiro’s gender—him being older now, I assume that his hair, though slow growing, is growing, and I think if he let it down it would be… not long, but longer than would be seen as “normal”? so I think they would just style his real hair for the festival, which again blurs the lines of what’s real and what’s just a performance. his hair would be mostly brown with those blond tips, still, and when teased about how long it had gotten he’d sheepishly explain to hanzawa-senpai that every time he thought about dyeing it again he could hear hanzawa scolding him. and he didn’t want to go and trim the blond parts because, well. that would be boring. and hanzawa would laugh again only it would be a little softer and he’d say, “well, that’s very you, tashiro-kun,” and maybe he’d twirl a strand of it around his fingers, the blond tips bleach-brittle. 

and I think that the eventual “I really need to cut it some time…” comment, the beauty contest, the casual way the outfit had settled on his shoulders, the way the only thing that had felt out-of-character was the color of the outfit and the script his classmates had written… I think it would get tashiro questioning, a little. maybe he’d ask, again, how many piercings hanzawa had gotten, and even with no proper answer, decide to get his own. and while the piercings healed he would notice, when stores sold earrings, and then pick a few pairs out for himself. wear them on a casual day out. 

but before that, tashiro would be hanging out with hanzawa during the festival, and they’d be interacting within the framework of that familiar school even though hanzawa was now in university, but they’d also be interacting within the bounds of a school festival, which is an interesting mix of public and private that would really force someone to consider the way that they’re seen. the beauty contest would do the same. and so hanzawa would be hyper-aware of the idea of masks, and so, too, would tashiro. in his third year, hanzawa played fortune teller without a bad boy outfit because it had unsettled the rest of his class. [ch 26, sasaki to miyano] he probably has the most piercings out of all of them… not that he would let anyone know the number [second year novel illustrations and extras, sasaki to miyano (I spent way too long looking for this. in this same category kuresawa says ‘tashiro bought a gun’ and offers no further context) ]. but you can’t put hanzawa masato into a bad boy outfit and have it work, because he’s already performing a role, and I don’t think he knows how to switch out of it. 

and this same person is in university now, which is a very interesting place to be, because you’re still in school, but expected to be an Adult, which means he’s definitely being crushed by both the expectation of what he’s meant to do as well as the expectation that he should be doing things with more freedom than ever before. my mother once told me a story about a boy who is the son of the ship’s captain. and when it’s sinking, he waits patiently until the captain tells him what to do, and the ship is saved. she was told this same story when she was about to graduate high school, and this time, the boy drowned because he couldn’t think for himself. how confusing, to be expected to change the way you think so suddenly, she told me, and I think the same applies to hanzawa. 

and hanzawa, after devoting time to a festival that he’s no longer part of, would see tashiro in his element—helping out other classes, chatting up strangers, interacting with everyone with ease and being likable, the way he is naturally, the way hanzawa masato wakes up feeling like he’s forcing himself to be, knowing that the real thing in front of him is like this, unmatched—  

see, tashiro gets in extra practice with ping pong because there’s a table at a bathhouse on the way home. he’s charmed the older folks there so he helps out with cleaning, plays ping pong with them, and gets snacks in return. [ch 33, sasaki to miyano] one time he’d dragged hanzawa there and they’d had a nice bit of extra practice, but hanzawa doesn’t remember the ping pong as much as he remembers the way tashiro had so easily fit into conversation with everyone there, the way he was so clearly and plainly adored— 

hanzawa sees all of that, and then tashiro turns towards him and worries if hanzawa’s doing too much work. if he’s stretching himself thin, being here. if there’s anything he can do to help. and hanzawa would tell him, “you’re right, this does make me busier… but I like this kind of work.” and tashiro would know, plainly and truly, that hanzawa masato liked being around people. that he desired it, even. how embarrassing. I do think it would push hanzawa somewhere—the change he’s witnessing in tashiro and the way their relationship functions, even as they talk like normal. all of this happening in a space where there are crowds milling about and people hanzawa doesn’t know—both those from outside the school and all of the first years he has never met.

hanzawa would be sweet and sour in the way tashiro describes him [ch 33, sasaki to miyano] and it would be the same but feel different. like even the sour parts had their own kind of saccharine edge. maybe after tashiro changed back into his regular clothes, it felt strange to just leave, so he gets hanzawa to take him around his university. and maybe he meets kaede or some of hanzawa’s university friends and is reminded of hanzawa’s seventeen dual lives or however many there are at this point, and—wants. strangely. to—not even to be in every one of those spheres. but to know him better. 

it’s not like hanzawa changed much after graduation, it’s just that… tashiro is looking at him more, now. 

his class would lose the beauty contest, and tashiro would look at his sailor outfit and say, “it’s really not my color, anyways,” and hanzawa would hum in agreement. “you’re much more suited to spring greens, tashiro,” he’d say, and tashiro would huff a small laugh and say, “of course you know my favorite color,” and see if hanzawa was in a good enough mood to tell him was his favorite color was, too.

(and maybe, in the midst of all of this, tashiro is thinking about that damn water bottle he still has—the one hanzawa had told him to keep, the year before. there was something else that was being bottled here, too. sometime later they’d learn how to unscrew the cap.)

[rabidrodent]

Thanks to a post from the Found Footage Festival, I just rediscovered this ancient workout tape my elementary school gym teacher would make us do in gym class in the 90s.

I'd been wonder what this video was for YEARS. The only thing I remembered was spandex and "stretch like a tiger, 1, 2..." (and also having a vague childhood crush on the girl lmao). But searches for stuff like "aerobics video stretch like the tiger" or "workout video stretch like a tiger" resulted in NOTHING. I even considered signing up for some workout tape enthusiast forum I found and asking there...

But THIS IS IT!!!

Y'know, kids really liked gym class in elementary school, cuz it was kinda like a 2nd recess, right? When the homeroom teacher said it was time to line up for gym class, there was a chorus of tiny "yessssss!!"es, and everyone was excited to get to run around and have fun and play games.

But THIS... this was not fun, and it was also not games.

So you can imagine the sinking feeling of walking into the gym and seeing the TV-on-a-cart, because you knew today was going to be a day with The Tape. This tape was a staple of our gym class experience from 1st grade through 5th; the threat of which always loomed overhead.

In later years, the cool kids would stand in the way, way back of the gym and phone it in, but usually the teacher would yell at them to come forward because there's no way they could make out the video on that 30 inch tube (if that). But essentially everyone (particularly the boys) would phone it in with this tape. Cuz it SUCKED.

Apparently this tape was released in 1985!!(??!!)... so my gym teacher had this thing in rotation for well over a DECADE. God... well, at least he got his 30 bucks worth out of it.

By the late 90s, he finally retired the tape (...I think) in favor of the hot new craze... Tae Bo.

That was a little better.

Maybe.

But anyways, I'm very happy to finally have this ancient elementary school mystery of mine solved. I think I'll force my old friends to watch it and partake in it next time we get together.

(Now if I could just find that one kids paint program we had on our fancy new Windows 98 PCs that replaced the old IBMs from the 80s...)

[kaijuworldorder]

Gadzooki + Konky Donk: The Empire Magazine review

Oh shit I was supposed to post this weeks ago and forgot, oops. Anyway, having seen Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire a second time and solidified my opinion of it, yeah it's pretty good! Major glow-up from the previous entry. It's not perfect and is no less stupid than its predecessor, but it's the kind of dumb movie that I like, one that doesn't go out of its way to insult my intelligence or annoy me. The things that worked about Godzilla vs. Kong are here only way more, and the things that sucked are mostly not here. There's just enough substance that my adult self is happy, and all the mindless wild spectacle that makes kWo Junior cheer and want to bash action figures together. Adam Wingard said in an interview that his aim was to make a modern-day Toho Champion Festival movie, and I think he succeeded. I'm no longer nearly as worried about the future of the MonsterVerse as I was. I thought this picture was going to suck ass, but I sure ate my words. 4 stars, check it out if you haven't yet.

There's the short version. Under the cut, I'll get into specifics of what I liked and what I didn't. If you're still wanting to see GxK and somehow haven't yet, I recommend doing so before reading on, because I spoil a lot of the movie here.

WHAT I LIKED

Big-time Inhumanoids vibes. The tone, the “journey into a subterranean world to stop evil monsters from taking over Earth” plot, Skar King being kinda like Metlar personality-wise and living in a horrible lava hell, the wacky pseudoscience and power armor (well, just a gauntlet but you get the picture), the gruesome violence…I half-expected the end credits to sound like this. GxK is the closest I think we will ever get to a big-budget theatrical Inhumanoids motion picture, unless a miracle happens and Hasbro decides to give a shit again and buys back the rights. For those who aren't familiar with Inhumanoids: get familiar with it, you’ll thank me later.

Rebecca Hall's new hairstyle. Yeah.

Bernie no longer sucks. Way less grating and unfunny, doesn't parrot fascist talking points every goddamned second, and the sense of wonder he shows upon seeing the Hollow Earth for the first time really won me over.

Jia. One of the previous movie’s strongest aspects in my opinion, particularly her dynamic with Kong, and that holds true in this picture as well. She gets a good deal more to do, shows off more range, and her whole emotional arc in this hits just right for me. Feeling alone even though you’re not, feeling like you don’t fit in anywhere, thinking there must be something wrong with you but you can’t put it into words…these are things I can relate to all too well. And I won’t lie, I choked up when she chose to stay with Andrews at the end.

Unfridging the Iwi. The previous film’s most egregious, unforgivable misstep has been walked back, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s also good to see the Iwi having a more active role in the story, instead of basically being window dressing like in Kong: Skull Island, which as much as I love that movie was kind of a problem. It helps that the Hollow Earth Iwi are just extremely cool. Love the crystal spears, the gravity pyramid and all their other Sufficiently Advanced tech. They’re like if Seatopia weren’t horrible assholes, or if the Nilai Kanai were in a better movie. I like 'em!

Dentist! A thing I love about the MonsterVerse is how it comes up with creative stuff involving kaiju that no other movie has ever really thought to do (e.g. Godzilla flashing Chellen-kov LIGHT from his spines as a threat display). I also like that it shows how the world has changed in response to the emergence of Godzilla and the others—how culture, the economy, politics, and general day-to-day life have shaped themselves around these creatures. Trapper exemplifies both of these things really well. I doubt I would ever have come up with the idea of a kaiju veterinarian, let alone written a scene showing how a dental procedure on a 300-foot ape would work, but I'm so grateful for that level of worldbuilding. He’s also just a goofy weird guy and I like him.

Golden Earring "Twilight Zone" needle drop. One of my favorite songs of all time is in this movie and I know it's kinda stupid to pop for things like that, but goddammit I loved it.

Kong’s arc. There’s just something really satisfying about finally seeing a King Kong who isn’t the last of his kind. Plus he gets a Trendmasters accessory robo-glove gimmick, which is just stupid enough that I'm into it.

Monster rasslin'. I do wish the fight scenes had more weight and scale to them, but goddamn, they're just so much fun and visually engaging. I can't dislike a movie where Godzilla does a vertical suplex.

Sucko. I love this horrible little ugly-cute weirdo/giant ape version of Rock Howard, and not just because “hehe funni mokney” or the bit where Kong uses him as a blunt object to clobber those other assholes. I got genuinely invested in him and Kong bonding, as he realizes that barely anyone in the Skar King’s domain ever showed him genuine kindness before. He is good and can stay.

The Skar King. Fantastic love-to-hate-him scumbag villain, chock-full of personality. You really want to see Kong and Godzilla kick this guy’s ass, and his cruelty and tyranny getting paid back in full at the end is so satisfying. The only thing that really sucks about him is his uncreative name. Like come on, “Hanuman” was RIGHT THERE, especially since the Whipslash can totally stand in for a tail.

Skar King’s soldiers. I love these Lost City of Zinj-ass motherfuckers. They're nasty and fun and I want action figures of them yesterday, so hey uh, Playmates, maybe get on that? Not like you'd have to spend a ton of money either, just reuse the Ferocious Kong and Skar King body molds and make a couple new heads, splash some red paint on em and voila, instant gorilla warfare. That one balding ape with the fucked-up eye who Sucko kicks off the pyramid to his death might require some new tooling, but nothing major.

Shimo. It's nice to have an antagonist monster who isn't evil, and is still alive at the end of the picture. We don't often get reptilian monsters not named Godzilla that are babyfaces, and ice powers are rare in Toho kaiju circles. She's just a breath of fresh air, with a simple but effective design and a genuine emotional hook; I really felt bad for her when the Skar King was bossing her around and basically torturing her, and the joy she feels at her freedom from his control transcends onto me, the viewer.

Mothra is so fucking back. She makes her presence felt, she doesn't die this time, and she gets a little more to do here than in King of the Monsters, which I appreciate. I still say she ought to have a solo spinoff movie; she's Strong and Cool™ enough to stand on her own, and there's so much more you can do with her than just being Godzilla's conscience and bestest pal.

Tiamat. It was nice to see her in motion finally instead of just being relegated to tie-in comics that the movies ignore 99.9% of the time. Shame we’re never gonna see her again.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

Junkie XL's score. Soulless and unmemorable hackery, just like his work on Godzilla vs. Kong. The Skar King motif sounds like he started to compose something and then just gave up. He also has a Jimmy Hart version of "Mothra's Song" to accompany the previous movie's Jimmy Hart Godzilla theme, and it's just as lame. Bring back McCreary or Desplat, please and thank ya.

AVP-wi. As much as I like the Hollow Earth Iwi, I’m a little annoyed that the Iwi are now apparently the only ancient monster-worshiping culture there has ever been. It feels dumbed down, and limits what future stories in this setting will be able to do.

Godzilla Evolved. Boy oh boy do I have a lot to say about this, none of it good. Godzilla's new look is way too busy and overdesigned with all these spiky greebles all over him that make him look more like a Monster Hunter boss than the King of the Monsters, and his proportions physically hurt me to look at. Where did all the internal organs in his torso go to make his waist that slim? What the fuck is up with his arms? Why are there dorsal spines growing out of his elbows and forearms? It just doesn't look right. I get that they're trying to evoke the Godzilla 2000 design with the giant pink spines and slimmer body proportions and the spikier and slightly greener skin (it's even got the same feet) but it just isn't done that well, and besides, if I wanted to see that design, I'd watch that movie. It’s just fucking up the cohesion of the Legendary Godzilla design and eroding its visual identity even more, dragging it further and further in directions it wasn’t meant to go in a cynical capitalistic move to sell new toys. I said it in 2019 and I'll say it again: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Moreover, it's 100% cosmetic and doesn't actually affect the movie at all in any meaningful way, it's just Dragon Ball-style "new color = stronger" power creep. We keep being told how much more powerful Godzilla is now, but we're not shown any evidence that there's a significant difference. It doesn't feel like there's anything Evolved Godzilla does that regular Godzilla couldn't or hasn't before. He doesn't act any different or display new abilities. His new thagomizer and Batmanesque arm spines? Never uses 'em, they're just more surface greebles to clutter up the design. Why make changes like that if you're not gonna do anything with them? Hell, the only new trick Godzilla shows off in this, the classic blue Nuclear Pulse, is something he uses before he evolves! And then he never does it again after that! Even the atomic breath color change is meaningless. We're told it's stronger than before, but again, we never actually see that; it doesn’t seem to do any more damage to monsters or buildings than the old one did. Sure, it burns away Shimo's ice storm at the end, but Godziller burned a tunnel all the way through the fucking Earth with the regular blue breath in the last movie, so it doesn't really feel like something he needed a new form to be able to do. I don't believe for one second that Godzilla Evolved was necessary; there's not enough real difference between it and Original Flavor Godzilla to justify its existence. I realize that's probably unfair of me to say since I don't know if or how much anything that would've helped illustrate the difference better may have been part of the movie before but got cut for time, but to me at least, the effect on the finished film is that Most Powered-Up New Godzilla® just feels like a palette swap in a video game, and that's not great. Maybe instead, oh I dunno, you could have Godzilla have a rough time and just barely win against Scylla in Rome instead of wasting her in seconds, Final Wars-style? Maybe have a little flashback to the ancient war of Godzilla vs. Hanuman & 700 Big Gorilla, like show him barely surviving that, so we get an idea of what he's up against? Then when he powers up, we can buy that he's stronger now, like a sense of progression or something. Instead, what we get is basically a Hong Kong martial arts flick if it showed the hero doing a training montage and then beating all the bad guys, but didn't show any of why he needed to train in the first place, e.g. the bad guys kicking his ass. It's a payoff with no setup. I assume this is probably a side effect of Godzilla in New Empire being what immature people with bad opinions claim he was in Godzilla (2014)—a guest star in his own movie—so there might not have been a way to avoid this problem without significantly altering the pacing, but like…could they have at least fucking tried?

[animehouse-moe]

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 6: Shibuya Incident

Trying to write this post while a weird pirate clown stares me down from the side of my screen is certainly distracting, but I'll get it done. Today's episode covers a "lost" chapter from the end of JJK S1, as well as 'A Taste of Things To Come' and the beginning parts of 'Evening Festival'. Not a lot to talk about, but I still think it's worth it to go through it.

First of all, what's with these character designs? They looked so much better in that final episode of Gojo's past than they do here. I'll admit that Nobara's eyes have something a little odd going on with the eyelashes, but it's rather trivial compared to the messy art of this episode.

Seriously, I had thought we'd have been safe with the pre-existing designs thanks to this, but at one point or another, not just the entire personality of the characters but the quality of the designs themselves are stripped. And I'm not sure why when there's not a massive amount of stuff going on this episode?

Like, Nobara looks really good in this scene, but then you take a look at this still from later on in the episode and it's just???

Now, I understand that she's further away in the latter scene, but she doesn't move at all during this sequence. Like, zero movement from her in this cut aside from her mouth, so I don't get why she looks so bad.

To cut a long story short though, this sort of on model trouble in the first episode back isn't the greatest thing to show if you want to have viewers be confident in the ability for the team to deliver.

What does inspire confidence though, oddly enough, is the added scenes and work in the front half of the episode. Todo and Mei Mei's ping pong match was stretched out surprisingly far (as well as the whole Yuko thing), but you don't really lose anything from it. I think there's some weirder moments, but overall the direction gets to comfortably play around with it and succeeds rather well.

And for anyone that's read any of my previous posts on JJK S2, I'm sure I've mentioned it at least once before. The direction for the added and extra scenes tends to exceed the ingenuity and creative vision for the adapted sequences. This production really values that more "art" approach, but struggles a lot when meshing it with the core of JJK.

I think a good example of trying to mix that art with the core of JJK is the Yuko backstory scene. Not the greatest segue, since it's not about direction but instead sound design/OST, but still. They play this warm and "emotional" track to try and emphasize the emotions of the sequence, but that's not the point.

The point is the simplicity of the moment itself. That Itadori didn't pick Yuko because of her looks or anything that really has to do with standards for beauty in society, but rather pieces of her character and personality. He didn't sit there thinking hard on it, he didn't say it like it was something profound. He spoke his mind and what he said struck a chord in Yuko's heart. They missed the tune and context of the interaction by trying to make it something bigger than it was meant to be.

Also, I'm just not really a fan of Yuko's character design. All of the new designs for this season have just rubbed me the wrong way and really feel like they don't capture the characters. Sure, Choso was an atrocity last season, and Megumi might have had those luscious eyelashes (which I loved, so sad to see them go), but on the whole? The S1 designs bring more of the energy of the characters to life.

I have a hard time explaining it, but it just feels like where S1 was able to capture Gege's energy, S2 falls rather flat on all fronts.

Past that? I'm not really sure to be honest, the episode doesn't really get that far into Evening Festival, so there's not a whole lot to comment on. I like some of the direction, it's less focused on that appeal to "art" and instead aims to heighten the experience of the moments. Maybe a hard thing to draw a line in the sand on, but I think a good example is how aware the direction is of space during the Geto/Mahito vs Mechamaru. It does a really good job of building the tension of the interaction up.

But.... that's about where my praise really ends for most of this sequence. The action sort of falls flat, and they commit to some of the most painful pitfalls of fighting a horde. I don't mind that they extended the fight scene, but I do mind that it was weakly choreographed.

Before that though, I just dislike this piece from the beginning of the fight. Like with some of the other pieces, the animation doesn't really "exist". Rather, it's just drawn out or left hanging for a while on the screen. But that's not actually the issue, it's how this one is drawn. The Mechamarus just sorta show up. Doesn't make sense, and doesn't at all take advantage of or understand the context of the situation. They were hidden in the coils and hoses leading to Kokichi, and as such climbed out from them to engage Mahito.

It's not the biggest thing ever, but it totally passes up the opportunity for some good looking horror, and glosses over the important notion that Kokichi had been preparing for this the whole time.

Anyways, cardinal sin of fighting in a horde, send one or two at a time instead of all at once to try and overwhelm your opponent. The scene is extended purely with this tactic, and it feels pointless when Mahito just swats them all away at the end anyways. Why entertain them when they're that weak?

Just to backpedal to Kokichi's pre-planning and whatnot, they seem to have a hard time with the significance of his character. I might be being picky here though, because it is shown, you'd just never know unless you were looking for it. When Kokichi is talking about having watched everything, in the manga it's Miwa that is center stage, not Mahito. Just kinda irks me when they move on to then play up Miwa's importance to Kokichi not long after. Just the sorta thing that has me wondering, "do you really get the point of it?".

Oh, what's that? You can just barely make out the Miwa sequence at the bottom of this image? Yeah, me too. On the first watch I thought it wasn't there at all, so I had to go back and check all the feeds to see if she was there. She was, just for less than a second and at the bottom of the screen.

Anyways, this is what was displayed in the manga. I think the anime visual is super cool, but I can't understand why the messed with the importance of Miwa in the first scene, but put even more focus in the next? The entire idea is that Miwa was his center of attention, that she's the one he was always watching over.

Also... I don't really want to be that guy, but I'm here anyways. Kokichi's first attack just ain't got it like the manga does. The pose and expressing just looks kinda goofy in comparison, and doesn't really sell the point that rather than controlling Ultimate Mechamaru, he's piloting it.

And that's where the episode ends. Let's about some loose stuff then!

The soundtrack. The good songs are re-used, the new stuff is not so great and has less of a style holding it together. Maybe as we get into the season we'll see better use of it, but the only really good track is Mechamaru's/Kokichi's prior to the Ultimate Mechamaru. The digital sound works well considering Kokichi's style and technique.

The animation was overall good, but compared to just Gojo's past is relatively lacking. Slow movements, limited layouts that constrict the flow of combat. It's not putting much on display at all really. I know it's most likely because they're saving it for later, so I really hope it's just a one off for the least important episode.

And now, the big fun one: the opening and ending. I can't say much because spoilers, but something was really bothering me while I watched both. They're good, the opening screams of Yuuki Kamiya like their work normally does, but overall I'd say it's inferior to OP1 for S2 (which they also did). But more than seeming like Kamiya's work with the opening, both reminded me greatly of the OP2/ED2 for season 1. Go back and take a look. The overall flow and style are very oddly similar, even with stuff like the endings both being about the daily life of the characters through the lens of a camera. Just something that struck me as very odd and repetitive, when the first OP/ED suite for S2 was rather strong and had its own identity. Anyways, I'll probably cover them in detail later/at the end of the season.

Overall, this doesn't really do anything to inspire confidence in me. I think in parts it does better than the previous five episodes, namely in how truthful it stays to Gege's style and appeal, but at the same time I feel like lacking with stuff like animation or overall consistency (which even though the designs were not good, they were at least consistent through Gojo's past... for the most part). We'll see what happens once we enter the Evening Festival in full with the next episode, but I don't have any words of assurance or confidence in how well things will go.

[samkat10423]

Banyan Bend

While looking for something else the other day, I came across a link for this world and all of its original lots that were created by the 3 administrators of the old Sims Crossing site. Plus, the original sims created to live here were also up for grabs. Someone over on the Sims Cave uploaded them all. Which was great, since I had lost some of the stuff during my last 2 computer meltdowns and it was impossible to find any of them previously. So, if any of you want to play this world, hop on over to the Sims Cave and type in Sims Crossing - or Banyan Bend.

Anyway, this world was created right after Late Night came out and has no CC. It's their vision of how Twinbrook should have been. And while I like parts of it, there is room for improvement. But CAW hates me, so it is what it is.

I'm currently redoing lots. They placed the movie studio lot from Bridgeport on probably the only 64x64 lot in this town. And since I want to use that for my festival lot, I needed to find a movie lot on something smaller. They placed 2 of those dome thingies - that thing next to the science center in Sunset Valley - on 2 different 60x60 lots in town. One is for butterflies, while the other is... well, I'm not sure what it is. The butterfly one is down by the industrial lots - just down the street from their movie lot. So, I bulldozed it. Yes, I did! My greenie sims are not happy, but I'll let them have that other dome lot to keep their bugs in. I know! I'm way too nice to my sims.

I tried several different lots on this space before I accidently came across a lot over on MTS, created by someone called mccorade. It was created with Riverview in mind. And while it wasn't exactly what I wanted, it was a good start. And it was on a smaller lot. I think maybe 50x50. So, thank you!

Anyway, here it is now. I have made several changes - as I normally do - but the bones are mccorade's.

First thing I did was resurface the parking areas and change out the fencing. This is Banyan Bend! These rednecks can't afford fancy fences, so chain-link it is! I also added the fountains and those 2 large statues. Just because. I also made that main flowerbed smaller - so delivery trucks could access the main building. Then, on the backlot, I redid the houses - mostly used different finishes and added some more landscaping.

Then I made that area where the 'stars' can hang out in their trailers. Oh! And I switched out all the trees.

And finally, in the back, I added a guard shack, more fencing and that driveway to the back doors of the main building. And viola! Banyan Bend has a new place to make movies! Go me!

While I was in the area, I also got rid of the old science center lot. Since I used that hospital from Supernatural on the lot in town where they had their hospital RH, I really didn't need another lot wasted on my science sims. (This world was created before EA came out with their combo lots). So, I decided to make another 'movie' type lot.

This one is loosely based on that KWLW Studio lot from the Sims 1. This is where the hit series, "As the Stomach Churns," and the "Next Great Sim Nation Idol" are filmed. And the local Banyan News channel churns out their daily feed. I used that smaller stage - the 6x7 - one for my Idol stage. If any of you want it, it's over on TFM's Naughty Sims Asylum. You have to be a member, but sign-up is super easy. Once you get over there, type in Shimrod's mods. It's his BuyDebug Genie Lamp and smaller showtime stage mod. Pop it into your overrides folder and viola! A smaller stage is yours! Easy-peasy!

Anyway, I'll post interior pictures later. I was moving in sims today - after redoing the generic cemetery they had. Had to kill off sims and then replace all the fake graves with ones that will generate ghosts. Plus, I write bios for all my families and then - with the help of MasterController - create conflict amongst all of them. It's a dirty job but someone has to do it. Which is why I am the simgoddess and my sims aren't!