#i'm going to watch the whole thing over again and do a liveblog

[thewertsearch]

@necrowyrm asked: happy new year!!! enjoy the last little bit of homestuck before act 6! Anonymous asked: You have NO IDEA how much I was looking forward to your reaction to this flash :D @teddy-bearer-of-bad-news asked: a very late congratulations from me for making it this far! i gotta say, saving CASCADE for new year's is probably the smartest thing i've heard all week. may your experience be nothing short of righteous, comrade Anonymous asked: Cascade … Even years latter knowing it almost by heart, every once in a while I will take a little quarter of an hour to rewatch it, Say what you want about Hussie but there is a good reason Homestuck became so iconic. @adeptarcanist asked: The leadup to Cascade was honestly my favorite sequence in Homestuck, and maybe one of my favorites in any media ever? The way the narrative splits apart into all of the different scenes swirling in towards the critical moment, both advancing main plots and finding time to spend a moment of melancholy with characters who’d been left behind (The Jaspers and Nepeta scene :( )… it’s such a strong narrative device, and the tone it generates is impeccable. @calamitascalliope asked: I literally watched the flash again, and it still gives me chills every single time. Welcome to your post-Cascade life. You won't be able to think about anything the same ever again @iris-in-the-dark-world asked: "she looks so cool… but she’s so tragic… but she looks so cool…" has become a brainworm for me. i too love the handmaid's design btw, cascade time has been i think the most anticipated non-personal event of the entire year for me. i'm so excited @publicuniversalworstie asked: I want you to know that I also opened Cascade and started watching with you right after I saw your "oh my god it has chapters" ask, and I finished just as you posted "I will never be the same" !! And I bet lots of other people did too <3 so it's like we all watched it together!!!! Happy New Year and thank you for liveblogging!!!! It's been a pleasure！(and will continue to be) @krixwell asked: I would like you to know that your "Right, we're good to go!" and "oh my god it has chapters" posts were posted right as I was outside watching midnight fireworks ring in 2025 for the Central European timezone. Happy new year! @captorations asked:

hey remember when rose just up and fucking said that. anyway congrats on reaching cascade! it absolutely wrecked me back in the day, i think i stared at those flaming curtains for a solid ten minutes as my brain permanently reconfigured. the first few notes of the track alone still give shivers. getting your reaction to cascade was a wonderful birthday present. (speaking of getting older: aradia 🤝 dulcinea also got that "distressingly short lifespan only to die early anyway" story thread going on. the parallels are paralleling.) anyway happy new year and congrats you are… slightly less than halfway done with homestuck. have fun!

Hey, guys. Cascade was so fucking good.

Like, there's really no competition; this is the best Flash page in the comic thus far. Peak music, peak animation, and absolutely a peak narrative. It tied up mountains of plot threads, providing complete answer to questions we're been asking for literally thousands of pages. It completed over a dozen arcs, both big and small. It made me gasp three times in fourteen minutes. It let Jade become a furry.

11/10, and I'm glad people had as much fun here as I did on New Year's Eve. Happy 2025, and happy Act 6!

@morganwick asked: Sally, predicting Cascade: "I have approximate knowledge of many things." @morganwick asked: "You literally have the whole world in the palm of your hands." -Sally to Jadesprite, December 16, 2024 (You might also want to reread post/770701212350857216 in light of recent developments.)

Hah!

I mean, based on her powerset, it made sense that Jadesprite would do something like this eventually, but it's pretty funny that she did it more or less immediately.

And in the end, CD really was a tricky little bastard. We'll definitely need to keep a closer eye on him, next time around.

Anonymous asked: Take a moment to consider that if anyone were to use the Homestuck website as it stands now instead of the Collection program, Cascade would have been presented in the YouTube player in Standard Definition, artifacted to hell, with a clear boundary showing the dimensions of the video from the very start. Preservation is so important.

Jeez, you're not kidding. The 1080p is fine, I guess, but it certainly doesn't hit like the Flash version does, especially with its lack of moving panels.

I know something had to change when Flash kicked the bucket, but surely there was a better way to preserve the video's soul.

Anonymous asked: to give you some of an idea of what homestuck fandom looked like during this time period, im cribbing from a very popular homestuck post: “first, this upd8 was something that we had been waiting for for WEEKS. A literally unprecedented wait period at the time. We were used to suckling at the teat of daily updates, a constant stream of conversation and plot twists and buildup, and as EOA5, we were finally going to figure out what all these countdowns and plot threads and disconnected elements were building up for. And when the progress bar reached 100%, and when the page FINALLY loaded on 10/25/11, it was chaos. This was 2011, a primetime peak point and growth period of Homestuck fan density.” (…) “MSPA crashed, as it had started to during the last few big [S] updates. Hussie had already bought new servers in advance, but even when allegedly thousands of dollars were spent it couldn't handle the accidental DDOS attack of Homestuck fans. People were up all night waiting for this upd8, the curiosity was killing me. I know at some point he was receiving at least 1 million unique visitors per day to his site [correction: according to Hussie’s tumblr, upwards of 2 million during this time], and even though Hussie had foreseen such traffic and thusly hosted [S] Cascade on Newgrounds, a dedicated video streaming site, Newgrounds was similarly unprepared for the sheer amount of people frantically mashing the play and refresh buttons, and also crashed. Immediately. MSPA and Newgrounds crashed definitively for at least two nights in a row” (…) “Andrew Hussie has gone on record to say this was one of the few times he thought Homestuck wasn’t worth it, because the sheer unbelievable cost (was it $10,000?) [correction: according to Hussie’s tumblr, it looked like it was going to cost $100,000 to keep [S] Cascade up for several days] of servers and the chaos of no one able to see the upd8 and crashing nearly every site after. He was tweeting during the whole debacle, stating he was reluctant to put it up on Youtube because of all the moving elements of the flash, and style, and how youtube degraded the quality of the file size, and how he tried to scratch out buffer time and pauses by putting periods of silence between each section of the 14 minute upd8, the longest upd8 yet” “So after Newgrounds patooted, he didn’t put it on youtube and instead put up the entire flash file on Megaupload, where it could be downloaded in it’s entirety to be watched. UNFORTUNATELY, Megaupload also crashed very quickly, which Hussie felt much headache over. But before that happened I managed to get the file, since I happened to be up very early that night! Next it was on dropbox, which didn’t crash but had “link unavailable” on and off. ”Spoilers were flying everywhere, people didn’t understand everything that had happened, and by the time the timeline of events in and out of [S] Cascade was all straightened out, people became even MORE hype. Like this whole thing lasted at least four days, and on top of that, the upd8 was good. Fandom exploded.” it is impossible to quantify the experience. The fact hussie was going to have to fork over A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS to host it is crazy. I am never going to be over it.

Cascade's complete obliteration of the Flash-hosting internet says a lot about huge Homestuck truly was - but I think an even bigger indicator of the comic's success is the fact that Hussie dropped literally thousands of dollars on server upgrades to host the thing. That's not an investment you make unless you're expecting some serious returns.

[milk-is-stable]

Toby's Secret Pocket

Sickday rewatch requested by @apolloisbored I'm sick! send me a longform to watch and I'll make a commentary/headcanon post about it! (using the tag #sfth liveblog, so that's what to blacklist if you don't want your dash taken up by this)

Pre-watch thoughts: I don't rewatch this one enough, even though from what I recall it has some of my favorite things: a strong Luke character, Tom creating an instantly classic character by being absolutely ridiculous, AJ being a police chief (why is he so badly good at it every time XD), and Sam somehow bringing the most insane characters to life in the most loveable way.

Liveblogging:

Luke: "Sam coming on as the evil make a wish kid is the fastest a main character's ever been chosen." Really? Because he JUMPED to be Toby in this, he's up and miming sewing before AJ's even sat down from the intro.

Sam: this is gonna be in the US because my accent choice said so. (these are....not their best us accents, not gonna lie XD)

Sam and Luke jump to fucking with each other very quickly in this scene, and it's very funny.

COMPTROLLERS!

Half of Toby and Meth-wife's flirting is very sincere and the other half is....you guessed it, them fucking with each other.

Sam: allow me to set up some potential stakes and plot threads for this story, otherwise it'll just be the two of us yapping at each other about tailoring all day

Tom: I'm gonna join this scene as the Don now. Sam & Luke: *even more intense flirting* Tom: I SAID- Sam: okay, okay, fine.

AJ: time to insert myself into this scene. Tom: whoa! where'd you come from?

Ah, a SFTH police department...one of the most chaotic places you can take a scene.

JIMMY!

Tom keeps assuming that editing will happen and then it Does Not (it's okay, we'll bleep it, we'll bleep it!)

So for the UK readers here, Arkansas to New York is gonna be over a 20 hour drive with rest stops included, and there are pretty much no major cities down there. Like, their biggest city only has 200k people in it. I truly don't know why A) the Don is going that deep into the midwest for his tailoring or B) why Toby, who wants to work in New York, is still running a tailoring shop out of Arkansas when he's apparently so good that a New York mob boss has heard of and wants his merchandise. I question why his ability is somehow so recognized that the Don heard about it, and yet he's still not got enough money to set up a boutique somewhere else. Unless he's running the shop closer to Branson and gets all of the showgirl contracts (Even though Branson is in Missouri not Arkansas) and the Branson performers who are lucky enough to be moving UP in the entertainment world go to New York and spread the word of how good Toby and his tailoring is and those rumors reached the Don somehow, but even then, if that's what's happening he'd probably get an offer from a broadway designer before a mob boss, and let's be real how many Branson performers are actually moving up a good chunk of them are actually moving down/retiring or otherwise are going to end up staying in the midwest forever and- I'm sorry, my hyperspecific "lived in this part of the country for ten years" knowledge is taking over, isn't it? 😅 (you really shouldn't have picked Arkansas sam, I wouldn't be doing this otherwise.....then again, there is a LOT of meth cooking down there in the Ozarks, so maybe it was an accurate setting choice after all.)

Anyway, this whole scene is just the four of them fucking with one another and it's great. "Are you sure you know about comptrollers, cuz you don't know about the letters B and N" "Maybe make HIM the main character, he seems to be a fan favorite" "his name is DON CICCICIO, I really feel like I should be in this room..." "You want us three, including HIM, to go talk to the tailor? You sure?" "Yeah, I really want a face-to-face with Don Ciccicio myself..."

"Actually, theres only space for two!" "I'll leave." "NO!"

CHIEF WAIT why did you come with us??

This whole longform is a mess, tbh, and that's what makes it so good. Love that AJ and Tom just kinda let Luke flounder about during this scene without much help/plot-forwarding.

Sam: what if I move this plot along by being a comptroller? *the scene quickly dissolves back into making fun of one another*

TOM WHY DID YOU DO THAT

"why do you have hair product in" dude it's probably his soap or shaving cream, it's not like bald people don't have to wash their heads

"Toby." *cheers* "HOW LOW IS THE FUCKING BAR??" Honestly Luke, in this one? Pretty frickin low XD

The mirroring while in the secret trousers is a great bit of stagecraft.

AJ: I should have never come with you. Sam: Yeah, that really didn't further the plot much, did it boss.

The audience booing for AJ kicking Jimmy out of the force and then immediately cheering when he "slams the window shut" and flips them off is great

"We're leaving. It'll make the scene much easier."

AAAAAAAH!!!! MITOSIS! *confused-J* Helpful-Luke: it's the process of cell division!

"son..." "Dad?" "Wha- yeah, just don't let anyone know-" "DAD??? :D :D :D I DIDN'T KNOW!!!"

I cannot emphasize enough that this play is a trainwreck plot wise, but the jokes are so strong that it doesn't really feel that way.

Jimmy having a much more realistic response to shooting meth than Meth-wife (meth does not mellow you out)

Oscar to Tom for this scene XD (and to the caption writers)

Luke: Ok, this is great and all, but I think it's time we wrap this up.

Iconic Jimmy finishing monologue!

And scene! Honestly, this is such a good one for showcasing how the four of them mess with each other on stage, and the ways that they can turn fuck-ups into great comedic moments, not to mention an iconic Sam/Luke pairing. So much fun!

[revelingrexan]

RECORD FOR MY LONGEST TUMBLR YAPPING EVER, GO! (THIS IS PART 1 OF 2 LOL. LINK TO PART 2!! )

HELLO FOLKS I'M GOING TO DO A LIVEBLOG-BY-MEMORY OF MY FIRST TIME WATCHING HAZBIN EPISODE 5, AKA LUCIFER'S INTRO

...except it turned into a "why i like Hazbin's Lucifer" thing because i have so many thoughts while watching animated things, especially Vivzie's animated things because i'm a nerd and i'm constantly going "-Minecraft Steve dying noises- THAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER" aND I DIDN'T WANT TO TYPE ALL MY THOUGHTS, WHICH WOULD TAKE LITERAL HOURS AND HOURS QJFKSQJJKQSJKS (WELL, ADDITIONAL "HOURS AND HOURS" TO WHAT I'VE ALREADY SPENT ON THIS)

(AND I MAINLY WANTED TO MAKE THIS POST SO FUTURE-ME COULD REMEMBER WHY I GOT SO WILDLY OBSESSED WITH THIS CARTOON MAN FOR WELL OVER A YEAR+ ANYWAY)

ACTUALLY, ON THAT NOTE: if you're here just to have a good time enjoying Hazbin rambles, DO be aware this post may lean more toward a "Hazbin critical" post, especially at the beginning. i would have gotten a Minecraft game over if each thing that bugged me caused me physical damage, even in just the first minute and a half. (mainly animation stuff, but some writing stuff too)

NECESSARY DISCLAIMER FOR ANYONE WHO MAY HAVE WANDERED HERE: THIS IS A RAMBLE ABOUT HAZBIN HOTEL, SO THERE WILL BE SOME SWEARING AND MATURE HUMOR MENTIONS

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most of the following was written with voice-to-text because i had a sprained hand, so if there are any weird word choices that just make NO SENSE, feel free to let me know and i'll fix it! (i've proofread it to death, but there's almost definitely things i've missed) ...but the weird capitalizations and Alastor's name mis-written as "Alastair" are staying LOL

SORRY TO STINKY DEER MAN. VOICE-TO-TEXT DOESN'T KNOW HIS NAME AND EVEN MY "GOOD" SHOULDER/ARM WASN'T IN A PLACE TO BE ABLE TO FIX ALL THOSE (MY BODY IS TERRIBLE AND CONSTANTLY INJURED)

SO HERE WE GO:

PSYCH MORE DISCLAIMER FIRST LOL

don't worry if you don't know what i'm talking about with the animation or art stuff, and don't worry if you like parts i didn't because i was distracted by the animation (especially the song "More than Anything"). i'm just a picky nerd. also, if you want, you can ask about animation things and i can explain. i love rambling about animation!!! :D

i get a bit personal about mental health stuff and other things, but i don't think any of it requires trigger warnings; i'm generally pretty vague on specifics and i don't talk about anything too severe

again, bad body, sprained hand, lots of voice-to-text. some word choices might not make sense, so feel free to point those out, but i won't fix capitalizations or Alastor's misspelled "Alastair" name lol

remember, the Hazbin pilot and first episode are different

these messages i sent a friend on my first watch are a decent "TL;DR" summary of this whole post, minus my thoughts on Lucifer's crowded-with-rubber-ducks room, which are especially important to why i like him so much. (TL;DR of that section: "lol he just like me for real")

(weird collage screenshots because i retyped them to exclude my typos to my friend [i minimally use backspace as a joke with her] + i wanted to keep her reactions and the timestamps)

i'm almost certain "YEAH I THINK LUCIFER'S GONNA BE MY ACTUAL FAVORITE BECAUSE HE HAS THOSE FUN FACIAL EXPRESSIONS" was when Lucifer and Alastor were pushing Charlie around. i LOOOOVE Lucifer's smug -> SURPRISE -> FROWN faces there

SO 👏

WITH THAT:

HUUUUGE YAY, HERE I GO, SELF-INDULGING SOOOORTA-LIVE-BLOGGING (AND HOPING I GET SOME COMMENTS TO INTERACT WITH. I LOVE REPLYING TO PEOPLE BUT GETTING ANY INTERACTION IS ALWAYS A TOSS UP) RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH :DD

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hazbin hotel has taught me that unreliable narrator is one of my favorite narrative devices. How an event is narrated can simultaneously worldbuild and teach the audience about the character who's narrating. it would make sense that the opening story of Hazbin, written by a mother for her child and written about that mother herself and her husband, would paint herself and her husband in a better light than they might deserve

learning more about Lucifer was something I was REALLY looking forward to ever since episode one's opening, with the children's story talking about "Lucifer's ideas for creation" and then not elaborating whatsoever on what those ideas might be. how excitingly ominous!

and then episode 5 starts. (We're not to Lucifer's intro yet in this retelling. i don't even know what the episode will be about. hold on XD)

and the animation is terrible

while episodes 1 through 3 felt pretty cramped in their writing's pacing and episode 3 had a few animation/character design consistency moments that made me grimace, overall, their animation quality was pretty consistent and good. (Well, the writing quality for episode 3 was awful. Just really terrible. But that's a whole other post I might or might not make, with, at this point, "might not" looking more likely unless someone asks XD) (episode 4, Angel Dust's episode, was AMAZING, especially with its writing. single best episode in the series. i have some critiques, but overall it's great, and i'm impressed with its pacing)

watching episodes 1 through 4, I wasn't getting whiplash from the animation as I often do while watching Helluva Boss, which frequently changes line art types between animators or clean-up artists and can even pretty dramatically change a character's look between shots

and. Yeah. episode 5.

Even after watching episodes six through eight, 5 is STILL the worst animated episode in the entire series, and I would say that includes if I were to count all of the Helluva Boss episodes

... although, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know if I would categorize it as having as bad of animation as the Hazbin pilot XD Now I want to rewatch the pilot just to see which I think has worse animation quality/consistency: the pilot or episode 5 lol

BUT I'M GETTING DISTRACTED. (AND, SERIOUSLY, DON'T WORRY IF YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED ANY OF WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT HERE OR IF YOU DON'T AGREE. SERIOUSLY, DON'T STRESS ABOUT IT. THE REASONING/OBSERVATIONS BEHIND THESE ANIMATION RAMBLES ARE SUPER NICHE)

SO. YES. BACK TO EPISODE 5 LIVEBLOGGING THING.

I grimace at the drawing of Charlie looking upward as she tells herself to think:

Not much wrong with the underlying drawing itself -- it's heavily stylized, and that's okay. But the line art on her mouth is a lot thicker than it should be and doesn't have the correct "lipstick" tapering she usually has (extra, extra thick in the middle of her lips, thin at the corners of her mouth). Plus, her movements have really rough settling and feel gross to me. i internally grimace at this whole shot, but It's okay, i tell myself. Hazbin hotel's animation and art quality have improved a lot! This could just be a bad shot that slipped through. it happens! making shows and movies can be chaotic!

... uh-oh. Now the line weights on Charlie's face and body in this shot are wrong too:

I'm starting to feel bad about the episode already, and I don't even know what it's going to be about. (the only thing I DID know about episode 5 was Alistair was going to go "big and freaky monster form" because of the thumbnail Amazon gave the episode, and I was looking forward to that from a glimpse I got in a teaser)

(I'm actually rewatching the episode alongside making this post, to get specific moments if any arise that I want to discuss, and ugh lol, I might just make another post -- probably on my rambles side blog, not here, because I prefer to keep it at least MOSTLY positive and fun here -- doing a whole play-by-play of episode 5. even though I couldn't have known it on my first view, I now have so many comments to make about Charlie's mimicking her dad and saying, " 'gO aHeAd, KiLL eVeRyOnE.' " again, hazbin hotel taught me I love unreliable narrating. and, spoiler alert, Hazbin taught me that because of how poorly it does unreliable narrating, or because of how it almost doesn't do it at all. :( )

(ANYWAY)

when Charlie turns around and says, "Wait! That's... IT!"

her face is distractingly off model and now I'm feeling even WORSE about the direction this episode is going. episode 3 flashbacks lol. If you don't count Hazbin's 30 second intro, we're not even one minute into episode 5, and it's already looking like we're gonna get something as bad as episode 3

side note:

off-model Charlie (i think a big part of the "off-model" impression here is 1. mainly because her eyelashes are so gigantic they almost hide her eyebrows, and a character having no eyebrows when they usually do can look odd, and 2. her pupils aren't wide enough or circular enough): "Wait! That's... IT!"

Vaggie: "Kill everyone?"

Vaggie's line is sincerely one of the best jokes in the series lol. Love that

...okay yeah, I'm not going to do as accurate of a play-by-play of my first viewing of episode 5 as I can, because that would take so so so so so so long XD But, at least one more non-lucifer related note because I do like to point out strong moments in Vivziepop's shows:

I DO feel good about Charlie differentiating between Adam being a terrible person and between all of heaven being untrustworthy (unclear wording on my part lol: What I mean is, she calls Adam an asshole, but she has hope the rest of heaven will be open to her redemption idea and not so dismissive and rude to her.)

her naivete up to this point hasn't given me the impression that she would make that sort of differentiation (and, by the time of episode 5, Vivzie's and especially Hazbin's writing style in general hasn't given me the impression Vivzie would do anything more with Heaven than "Heaven Evil, Actually")

so, anyway, let's skip some more animation rambles and a comedic timing rant, and fast forward to:

Angel Dust: "Well I'd like to meet the big dick in charge!"

Niffty: "The ULTIMATE bad boy! (giggles maniacally) I bet he's SCARY."

My brain goes into overdrive after Niffty's line, especially since it transitions from "I bet he's SCARY" to "-scratchy, guttural voice intended to be powerful and intimidating in a dark room-"

that "overly in agreement with the adjective 'scary' " transition tells me there's an upcoming tonal whiplash joke, meaning Lucifer isn't going to be scary at all

further, the dark room setting that we're given right away, shows that the pictures Lucifer has up are off-kilter.

so, he's not scary (which we can know because of the color tone and audio transition agreeing TOO much with Niffty's statement). he's disorganized. he has multiple photos of him happy with his family Even though they haven't been together for years, and he even has a photo of Charlie in what might have been for most parents a "teenage phase" that they'd like to forget

but apparently Lucifer loves Charlie so much, that he even fondly looks back on her angsting teenager years -- he kept that photo and even hung it up

tonal whiplash joke incoming confirmed, and an especially poorly done one at that. visually, the whiplash could have been done better if there were more obvious signs of neglect, damage, or wear, or maybe even a sheet partially covering one of the images, at first misleadingly implying he doesn't want to associate with or think about his family anymore

instead, he clearly loves his daughter and his family, even though Charlie feels alienated from him. maybe she hasn't seen him in a while because he's a shut-in, or he needed to mostly cut off contact for some reason and we'll find out that reason shortly

when it comes to character intros, overbuilding a character being intimidating and then doing a 180 to show that they're not is one of my least favorite jokes. ever. so my thinking " 'this person actually isn't scary' tonal whiplash joke confirmed" isn't a good time

sudden drop in animation quality, poor dialogue pacing... yep, this episode is off to a TERRIBLE start

...side note

i totally thought Lucifer was masturbating at first

when I later watched this episode with my brother, he did too. (I forget exactly what he said, but he was a bit taken aback or made some joke about it.) and Jeremy Jordan (Lucifer's voice actor) makes a joke in a character description about Lucifer and says Lucifer "play[s] with his dick all day." (Jeremy's swearing so much in that video because the Hazbin voice actors are playing a game of "see how much you can swear while describing your character.")

so, the "oh, he's masturbating" visual misread may have been intentional lol even tho idt i've seen anyone mention this

end of that side note

now an animation side note: the rises and settles of Lucifer's shoulders here are not done well. Very blocky, like that first moment that put me off with Charlie at the start. episode 5's animation sucks

i think to myself, hating this episode, that this is a terrible first animation to use for an important character's introduction. this poorly executed intro is especially egregious because he's mentioned and even vaguely shown in the pilot, and he also gets the same "importantly mentioned but passingly shown" treatment in the very first episode--

"... THE MAGIC-TASTICAL BACKFLIPPING RUBBER DUCK!"

okay that's hilarious and adorable. that was great

"THAT SPITS FIRE!!!"

INCREDIBLE. I LOVE HIM.

Lucifer: "Hold the applause, please, okay! Heh, alright, thank you…" ... ohp the animation, lineart, and visual timing are bad again. but I've already forgotten how much I hated the lead up to his intro with that "tonal whiplash" joke, because his intro is SO GOOD XD

--- ...hm. huh. his voice is. just a guy. kinda boring and an odd choice. (DON'T ATTACK ME I DIDN'T KNOW JEREMY JORDAN AT THIS POINT ;QJSFKJKQSJKSKQJ. HIS VOICE WAS LITERALLY "JUST A GUY" TO ME)

aND OH. I WAS FAR MORE RIGHT THAN I EXPECTED ABOUT HIM BEING A SHUT-IN. A DARK ROOM WITH TILTED PHOTOS, FILLED WITH RUBBER DUCKS, GIVING THE IMPRESSION OF ISOLATION AND OBSESSIVE PROBLEM-IGNORING.

THIS GUY IS NOT DOING OKAY

and now here's one of the first reasons I started to especially get attached to him, rather than just go "haha What a funny character":

My own mental health issues!! -jazz hands-

things have improved a lot, and I haven't self-sabotaged for a while at levels that I did in the past, but one of my coping mechanisms when I'm stressed is over-focusing on media I like or over-focusing on side projects.

(Don't worry about my blogs hyper fixating on stuff, genuinely. I don't think most people can tell from the outside when it's at a self-sabotaging point until there are signs like failing classes [self-sabotaging to that level only happened one semester but WOW it was miserable]. but, even tho it may not be visible from the outside, I can tell the emotions and feelings behind what I'm doing. usually there's almost only anxiety of "this isn't what i should be doing" with no enjoyment at those points, and i'm spending NO TIME AT ALL on responsibilities.

let me emphasize: in that situation when i'm exceedingly stressed and don't know what to do or am too scared to do what i'm aware i should, i may be spending almost all my time on hobbies or interests, but it's MISERABLE AND IT'S NOT EVEN HOW I WANT TO BE SPENDING MY TIME. I'M TOO SCARED TO DO ANYTHING ELSE, AND I MIGHT EVEN BE TELLING MYSELF "STOP, THIS ISN'T WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING" THE ENTIRE TIME

all that is also different from my ADHD difficulty with switching tasks, altho "overfocusing to avoid things" and ADHD executive dysfunction can mix together and make each other exponentially worse if i don't take care of myself. anxiety and ADHD are dumb and tricky to work with... but at least i'm self-aware and can usually tell apart which of those two is causing me problems? lol????

anyway, point being of this parenthetical aside, other than partially being more detail on why i relate so much to this maladaptive coping mechanism: hyperfixating is what I do by default, and I'm doing fine right now. :p :) 💜)

Lucifer's barely been onscreen for ten seconds, and he's doing well on becoming a character I like. already he has in his favor:

having a moment done so well, that it pushes past my preemptive eye rolling (The overbuilt intro [bad] followed by The Rubber Duck [magic-tastical]. ....although if a moment has to be done SO well that it pushes past preemptive eye rolling, maybe that's not a shortcut XD)

specific poor coping mechanism that I strongly relate to

and now for an "oh boy this episode's animation SUCKS" interlude: i'll just copy-paste a ramble I sent a friend a while ago about animation quality on this whole Lucifer intro scene.

___

OH BOY EP 5 HAS SUCH MESSY ANIMATION CLEANUP LOL and i'm genuinely not convinced Lucifer was given a character [reference] sheet [more specifically, i'm not convinced he was given a turnaround] from how many variations there are in his design.

i'll share at least some of the most obvious moments that are easily available on YouTube https://youtu.be/dYw9LArY690?si=dPWJUMgiGIU0lfyJ

in general in these three shots, pretty nice line variation, with thicker lines on the outside of the character and thinner ones on the inside (details and inner lines are thinner than the bolder "overall form" outside lines) + individual lines change in thickness along their lengths (e.g. some lines are thicker in the center and thinner at the ends, and vice versa for others):

for the most part in these two screenshots, lines are ALL the same thickness, whether inside or outside the character, as well as the same thickness all along their lengths:

from 2:03 to 2:11 of the linked clip, my brother [[when i watched the episode with him later]] said something like "animator change speedrun" because of the lineart and character styles changing in almost every shot lol (timestamp in link here) https://youtu.be/dYw9LArY690?t=123

___

now for listing more things that Lucifer does well that I relate to or simply enjoy, just in his intro scene (While implicitly acknowledging the animation/cleanup/consistency oversight continues to be terrible lol):

practicing before a phone call (I've only done this a few times, and not with anyone as important to me as Charlie is to Lucifer, but it's felt necessary a few times, even if i felt awkward doing it each time. but even if i don't often rehearse for phonecalls, it's not uncommon for me to write bulletpoint lists for them beforehand [usually not with friends or casual calls, but sometimes] )

especially when already in a poor head space, speaking poorly of any attempts i might do at almost anything, as Lucifer does at his practiced lines to Charlie and as he did with the Magic-tastical rubber duck

SO MANY funny faces and so much movement and expressiveness

EXUBERANT too energetic greeting to make it seem like he's doing well. that "HEY! How are ya!!!" reminds me of so many times that I've needed to pretend to be okay almost immediately after a breakdown or felt like I need to force myself to seem like I'm in a good mood for someone who I feel is doing worse than me. (this is not necessarily healthy)

(bolding some of the quoted parts to visually break up text blocks and make skimming easier)

Charlie: "You know where I am, Dad! I've told you before!" -insert The ADHD Meme:-

... except in the above case, I'm not applying "ADHD" to Lucifer, and, even now more than a year later, I still don't want to until given more character information. instead, I'm seeing "depressed and withdrawing from the world, and suffering from memory issues that come alongside depression."

unfortunately, I relate to that too -- depression memory issues -- and Hazbin's writing so far is doing a great job at saying "depression" without literally saying it. (fortunately, my relating to depression is an "in the past" thing. also here, in my experiences, "depression / dissociating memory loss" and "ADHD memory loss" feel different from each other. AT LEAST I'M SELF-AWARE?? LOL????????)

(side note: Lucifer being autistic and having ADHD are popular headcanons in the fandom. i respect those headcanons and am not telling anyone they need to change them. i can see it. i just don't feel like i can, in good faith with my understanding of his character, say those apply to him until we've seen him under less stress and less pressure. many anxiety, stress, and depression responses can read as ADHD or autism, and the frequent comorbidity of any of these with each other make them even trickier to individually identify)

Lucifer: "Well, you know, I um... Uh." THAT DELIVERY AND HIS EXPRESSIONS. FUNNI. GOOD.

but also, i interpret the above moment as maybe more evidence of memory issues from depression (if it's not just him not knowing how to avoid saying "i was. making ducks"). this writing is awesome (sincere)

Charlie: "I told you when you called me 5 months ago? Or did you not listen?" Getting accused of not listening when something is just not at all in my memory is so real

Lucifer in response to Charlie's above line: "(panic that settles into an attempt of composure) No! No no no! Just--You know, just FORGOT. You know, I've just been really busy. You know with um. IMPORTANT things. 😬😶" i connected to so many parts of those few lines: the backpedaling after realizing you said the wrong thing, and the trying to make it seem like your forgetting isn't associated with how much you care about the other person (because sometimes the saying ~"If it's important, then you'd remember" just doesn't apply)

the following doesn't as directly tie to what's going on with Lucifer in the story But nonetheless gives me an extra "ping" of "I relate to this guy." still with the above moment, specifically the awkward lie of he's been busy with "important things," a lot of my hobbies and interests can seem trivial or even shameful to much of my family.

most people find it's super cool that I animate, but somehow those same people don't always seem to make the connection that means I enjoy watching cartoons a lot, and that, even though they think animating itself is cool, somehow an adult really liking animated stories is immature, or that it's "weird" I focus so much on one series much of the time. Plus, socializing can be difficult and exhausting for me, so I need a lot of "rest days." and I'm physically disabled, Even outside of what's currently going on with my sprained hand.

basically where I'm going with this, when it comes to meeting up with people and doing things that aren't doctors' appointments or school- or work-related, I may need to negotiate dates and times with people, even though I may not technically have a lot going on, or I may not have a lot going on by other people's perspectives. just doing a doctor's appointment or hanging out with other people might exhaust me for a day or two, so already that's a lot of space "filled" in my calendar

(This is different from fatigue syndromes, since how exhausting an interaction is, is almost always directly tied to how much i need to second guess myself or mask. I think it's just an "it can be tiring to consciously and constantly analyze people's body language, tone, and word choices, as well as tiring to analyze what I say or do three times before I do anything due to autism and taught anxiety" thing.)

But giving myself my rest days so I can maintain my emotional stability and emotional health is so important. I've had people, often family, question me in annoyance before about, well, what do I have going on anyway? and the answer is watching YouTube or reading a book

But you don't need to know that. You just need to know that I'm not available the other day that you wanted to try to talk or meet up. "I'm busy," or "That day doesn't work for me."

so, yeah, "important things" said with a bit of (narrative) humor and (character) awkwardness is relatable too, even if my experience isn't what's going on in this scene

Lucifer so happily and readily wanting to help Charlie (at first lol) has actually been really important to me. i'm fortunate to have a dad who's eager to help his kids and is financially able to, But it can feel bad or shameful to ask for help. Not going to get too far into this, but some of my siblings are okay with asking for financial help, and some of us aren't. until I saw this episode, I was in a mindset of "only ask parent for financial help If you're literally in danger of dying or being (further) disabled for life," Even though almost every time I talked to my dad he would seemingly be implying, "PLEASE, Is there something I can do for you?"

--- basically, even though there were some really bad moments in my life, I still didn't see asking for his help as an option. But the shocked literally wide-eyed eagerness Lucifer shows at feeling like he can help his daughter got me to understand more fully where a parent might be coming from, a parent who cares about their child and who has the means and desire to help.

--- this small moment has literally encouraged me to ask for help when i might have been too anxious to do so before. or, with some of the things i asked for help with, maybe i still would have asked, but I would have been far more troubled and guilt-ridden than otherwise, making already stressful situations even more stressful

with all that I wrote above, I didn't take it personally when Lucifer refused Charlie's request at first. first of all, this is fiction and i'm not actually any of the characters in the story lol. second, the moment was done comedically, and almost certainly, I thought even on my first viewing, it's related to a bad past experience Lucifer has had with heaven. this is The Lucifer we're talking about after all, and his banishment is definitively established in episode 1. also I got distracted by all the bad animation and what, to me, was a too-long joke with all of his "No"s lol. (when I watched this episode for a second time, knowing how much I now liked Lucifer, I figured the multi-No moment would grow on me, and it has XD)

him wanting to see Charlie so badly is endearing lol, and his missing or entirely forgetting or ignoring the point of WHY she's inviting him over is funny, even if concerning

Lucifer: "My~ daughter~ wants to see~ meeeee~" both funny and a sweet reminder of how parents can feel about children they love: they want to spend time with their kids, and they want to feel like they matter to their kids.

--- also, this whole last moment, from before he hangs up to the end of this little singing bit, seems to hint that for some reason he wasn't spending time with Charlie because someone told him that she DIDN'T want to see him, or for some reason he convinced himself of that. this is SUPER interesting and, if i'm reading the moment correctly, i'm still curious about the origin of him having those beliefs

"TAKE THAT, DEPRESSION!!" I actually didn't care much for this moment when I first watched. it brought his depression out of a "well written but not said outright" category + where did he learn the term "depression" since it being used that way is relatively recent and he's who-knows-how-many-thousands-or-millions-or-billions of years old + he's an old geezer (many older people aren't very open about mental health diagnoses or what they view as "trendy" diagnoses) + i got concerned "depression" might be used as a narrative excuse for any of Lucifer's shortcomings or poor actions. although his face is funny :p and this moment has grown on me and I do like it now, especially after seeing how much Jeremy Jordan loves this line during his live streams

NEW SCENE. LUCIFER'S AT THE HOTEL NOW

(i caps lock this next part, although, looking at the messages to my friend as I first watched the episode, it looks like even though I was enjoying Lucifer trying and failing to be a good dad [because, in almost all circumstances, if a child, especially an adult child, feels abandoned by their parent, that parent is not doing a good job] I was still hesitant to enjoy the overall episode.

The animation has been atrocious, the pacing and joke writing has felt off, and this is the first episode released after the first chunk of four. I was concerned all Quality Control was put into the first four episodes, and that the quality of the rest of the show will have plummeted)

LUCIFER IS SO PATHETIC AND AWKWARD. HOW LONG WAS HE STANDING OUTSIDE THE DOOR. I LOVE HIM

AAAAWWWW. HE'S SO HAPPY TO BE HERE AND SO HAPPY TO SEE CHARLIE

OH MY GOODNESS HIM PETTING AND COOING AT KEEKEE IS THE CUTEST THING

--- ON A LATER VIEW WHEN I SAW HIS AWKWARD SMILE BEFORE BENDING DOWN TO PET KEEKEE, I ASSOCIATED HIS PETTING KEEKEE AS SIMILAR TO GOING TO A PARTY AND FIXATING ON A CAT OR DOG BECAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO INTERACT WITH THE PEOPLE. VERY RELATABLE ANXIETY / AWKWARD RESPONSE

OH MY GOODNESS HIS LITTLE DANCE AND TINY BIT OF SINGING WITH RAZZLE AND DAZZLE IS AMAZING

the "You better be" joke is actually another type of joke that I am usually not a fan of (another "OoOoOoO unexpected tone change!" joke) and it doesn't work for me here

--- ASIDE: I can say that the delivery in the Canadian French dub maybe works as a joke for me XD in English, the "you better be" isn't all that intimidating anyway, so the tonal joke isn't done well. in Canadian French, it IS more intimidating. AND his follow-up laugh is so dorky and funny. his laughing almost sounds like he's trying to be a neighing cartoon horse

honestly I can't fault Lucifer for his uncertain first looks around the hotel, followed by his "It's got a lot of character!" He's TRYING to be supportive and not discouraging. but he sucks at it. also, funni

some things are done poorly in this scene, but I forgot that i originally titled the draft of this post "why I like Lucifer." so, how about to save probably literally a few thousand words, I will just focus on moments that specifically matter to how I understand Lucifer XD

I have a very deep analysis here with Alistair starting to interact with him: haha Lucifer short and responding with funni faces :)

... oh no. I'm actually, right now, as I'm making this distractible liveblog thing, not having a lot of info in my mind on what I was thinking during my first view about alistair's early interactions with Lucifer. oh no. was I THAT focused on Lucifer's funny faces???? i should have SOMETHING else in my mind here (other than "eugh. weird animation"). oh no. maybe I WAS mainly just going "haha faces :)"

.......haha faces :) ⬇️

AHEM. ANYWAY. YEAH I THOUGHT HIS INTERACTIONS WITH ALASTOR WERE MOSTLY FUNNY AND GOOD. DUMB MEN

AND THAT'S THE END OF PART 1 BECAUSE I'VE REACHED TUMBLR'S IMAGE LIMIT LOOOOOOOL

part 2 scheduled to come out in three days on Thursday! (AND HERE IT IS NOW!)

[iguessitsjustme]

Pit Babe 2 Ep 5 Thoughts

Friends! I am feeling better! Well. Kind of. I am still not well. BUT today is a good day. Well a good day in terms of how I'm feeling. Other things today sucked but those are unimportant and mean nothing. What is important is it is finally time for me to watch Pit Babe. Under the cut:

Wait wait actually I need to switch to my good headphones for this. I do not want to be interrupted by sidewalk people.

Obligatory I love this theme song so much. Wait wait I saw someone mash this up with Deja Vu by ATEEZ. I think I reblogged it but I need to mention it again because it is SO FUCKING GOOD and also was one of the highlights of my week. (Future Rae - find it and link it)

Well if the mpreg plan didn't work I guess this is what he has left. It is a far worse plan. Much less fun for me personally. Why not try the mpreg plan again. Just for a laugh. C'mon Pit Babe. Go there. Do it. Give us the mpreg we deserve (I need it noted that I don't really care for mpreg but I do care about shows taking risks and breaking barriers. If Pit Babe won't do mpreg then what show will? We need Pit Babe to open the door to other shows doing it. Less chaotic shows doing it)

My mother is interrupting my watching to tell me that the little bistro that she's at is playing kpop and that she needs to bring me there. She recognized one song so far and it's Black Pink. This has nothing to do with the liveblog except to say I love my mother and she is allowed to interrupt Pit Babe. She is on a list of very few people

Everyone: how do we find him can we track him with this? maybe that's possible. Kenta: so Tony is definitely doing this underground and will not be easily traced

Yeah. Kenta and Kim will be great together because they got the two brain cells of the group.

FINALLY. MY BOYS

Not to be that person because we still don't have a lot of information on Willy but like. What if the solution is poly? The three scooter boys. Riding their scooters. They can go on scooter dates. Have I lost my mind? Maybe. I don't know. I just want poly and I wouldn't hate CharlieBabeWilly. Would any of them like it? Probably not. But this is just in my head. The scooter boys. On their scooter date.

SONIC ON A SCOOTER TOO? Fine he can join but only if he brings North with him.

NOT UNTIL THIS SHOW'S OVER YOU DON'T

Sure it is! First step. Open your mouth. Second step. USE YOUR WORDS. Third step. Eternal love.

USE YOUR WORDS DKFHKLJFHKLJHGKH

Just fucking talk to North! Confess! North hasn't confessed because you keep pulling away so YOU have to take that step. And then you won't be in "the friend zone" anymore. The friend zone doesn't even exist! Just. SKDJGHKDJHGKJHDKJFGH He's killing me. If this disease doesn't get me first, Sonic is gonna kill me dead.

My man Chris. He can do no wrong. I love him.

I mean. He's not wrong. Can Pete honestly say that he would have hooked up with Chris or had any interest in him if he didn't look like Way? Just sayin

This whole bit with Alan is personally attacking me.

GIVE ME THE MEAT SKEWERS

I cannot eat part of them but still I WANT TO CONSUME

I was gonna say something about how I want to eat meat on a stick and then realized I am eating a corn god…so. Ya know. I mean it's a vegetarian corn dog but it's fake meat on a stick.

WHOMST. OLD? WHO? OLD WHO? CERTAINLY NOT THE MAN THAT IS MOST LIKELY IN HIS THIRTIES. NOPE. NO WAY YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT ALAN CAUSE IF YOU ARE I'M GONNA JUMP INTO THE SHOW AND BEAT YOU UP BABE. I'M TINY BUT I'M FEISTY I COULD DO IT.

First of all, aging is beautiful and being old is a fantastic thing. But Alan. Is. Not. Old. I'm gonna start BITING.

I refuse to believe any of these men are shy about sex.

The racing is back yay!

Oh my baby boy is back. I love him. He's so unhinged.

But Willy where is your scooter?

Babe will always lose to Willy because he keeps giving Willy the time of day.

Willy is gonna win this race.

I want North to win a race actually.

Okay. I need Willy to have some sort of power that is helping him here because I don't like that the only way Babe (or anyone) can win is if he lets them. Even in the first season with Babe was the guy no one could beat, if someone else won, it was because they would have earned it. Babe winning because he is being given the win…every time? Doesn't track with his skill set unless Willy has a power helping him. Like being neck and neck and winning or losing would sit better in my stomach than this. I know. I know this is for the plot. But consider. Not my favorite thing. I hope we get some Willy lore soon so I can enjoy the races more.

WHERE ARE YOUR GLASSES BOY

Better

That's not true! You've got your winning personality.

I feel bad for the people that clean the pool.

Yesss Chris. Do something sinister. Or something to advance your agenda whatever that is. Move this plot along!

Chris seeing the picture of Way is actually very funny to me.

Boy why do you know Way's birthday?

Man it would be nice if I could READ THE TEXT ON THE SCREEN. Unfortunately I don't speak Thai and cannot read Thai. Just gonna pretend like I know what he's looking at

Why does that drug look like pee in a test tube?

I love Kim so fucking much.

So the thing is with Tony right. He 1. underestimates Kenta. Constantly. But 2. is incapable of factoring in the Kim of it all. Kim who has a conscience AND a brain. Kim is why Tony is gonna lose. Whether directly or indirectly, Kim will be Tony's downfall. And I love that for them.

No Willy don't assault him noooo that's evil of you in the not fun and cool way. Now I gotta kill you.

Whelp. What an awful way to end this episode thank god for that preview. I think I'm gonna listen to my audiobook for a bit now before watching something else cause that angered me. 

No music analysis this week. Like I said, I'm better but I'm still not well. And while I think I could do one, it would take a lot out of me and I don't have much to spare right now. But if you want my thoughts on any specific scene's music or anything at all, please ask. Happy to chat always.

[genderqueerdykes]

I'm so glad to hear your surgery went well, lots of good luck for your recovery <333 i'm chronically ill myself and went through the whole being treated like trash by the ER staff song-and-dance too while looking for a diagnosis (i was also on the verge of death), so i was really scared for you when i saw you liveblogging your experience. But again, really happy that everything went well for you in the end ! :)

hello there! thanks for sending such a kind message!

i'm sorry you've been through it too. i totally understand that working in an ER is a horrific job. i know that the nurses and staff have to put up with an insane amount of stress, even from patients who are "well behaved". i understand that there are many people who come into the ER who expect to be treated right away, treated like they're special, or handed all the best medications right away

i saw many people in there who would literally get pissed off when the nurses would bring them tylenol, aspirin or ibuprofen instead of opioids. i watched an older woman literally start SCOWLING and her tone turned completely bitter and hateful once the nurse brought her some aspirin for her pain. a man sitting next to me started grumbling angrily because he overheard the nurse bringing me oxycodone and got pissed off that he wasn't getting any. it bothered me that so many people in there were clearly just trying to get handed opioids despite not being in a lot of pain. i get that there were a lot of people in here who were upset because they weren't getting high and i get how that could be upsetting to the nurses.

i wasn't getting high- i was in way too much pain and in hysterics. i wasn't having fun. it really upset me to overhear that people near me thought i was having a "good time" or having fun or just there to get high off of pills. like it made me really uncomfortable to hear that people around me were literally getting jealous over me being given oxy for an ungodly amount of pain. i get that many people can be rude and expect special treatment, i'm never going to sit here and say that being an ER staff member is easy by any stretch of the imagination. i DO understand that drug seeking people do exist, and i witnessed a lot of them in that ER, but it doesn't mean that you should treat the drug seeker, or anyone else like shit. drug seeking can still be a sign of a greater problem and people who engage in this type of behavior deserve to be talked to like people instead of treated like absolute shit. even if the behavior was affecting me, personally, i still don't think someone who goes to the ER specifically to seek drugs should be treated in a subhuman manner

but when i told the surgical staff about how i was being treated, they were utterly appalled. one of the nurses told me that she understands that compassion fatigue is a thing, and that burnout happens, but too many ER nurses resort to become so cold and bitter than they're just mean to their patients because they view them as a nuisance, and start viewing everyone as whiny drug seekers or people who are faking for attention. it's not good, i feel like when one gets to that point it's a good idea to switch jobs. being burnt out isn't a sign that you're weak or have bad character, it just means that you're overwhelmed

it really bothers me that ER staff tend to want to look down on patients who are there and assume that they're seeking attention. my best friend told me one of her friends got told it was "faking a stroke" because borderline personality disorders "make us do funny little things for attention." how the hell do you even fake a stroke? you can't fake the entire left side of your body drooping and failing to function

overall i'm sorry that you have received that treatment as well, there's no reason for you to get ignored or treated like garbage for being sick. i didn't want to worry anyone but i wanted to liveblog my experience to show how difficult it can be to be chronically ill, especially in America, and how people do not take health problems seriously-- even certain medical professionals

the fact that a nurse decided to get pissed off at me and berate me for becoming hysterical from pain was just out of this world. i told her that i wasn't sure how much longer i could wait because the ER waiting room was freezing cold and loud as hell (eveveryone either had several people there with them to talk to, were on the phone/facetime or were blasting music or videos from their phones), and that sitting upright in the chairs was making the pressure and pain in my abdomen worse... she decided to snap at me instead of offering even a modicum of comfort

she scoffed and went "well if you leave, and your symptoms come back, WHICH THEY WILL, you're going to have to come right back here and start all over again. we can't make special exceptions just for you, you wouldn't keep your place in line, you'd have to start all over again and wait all over again. you're an adult, you can make your own decisions, but it's just going to be the same thing all over again if you leave."

she could've went "hey, i get it, it's really stressful in here. surgery is busy and we're going to get you in there as soon as we can, it's just very busy right now." or something like that or at least checked to see if i was due for pain medication, but instead she just got mad at me for "whining". i told a member of the surgical staff team about this and her response was "they're completely discompassionate down there- there's no compassion whatsoever, they just don't... care." as much as it was shocking to hear her say that, it was validating, because it was true

i hope you don't have to deal with that again the next time you need help, i hate it when chronically ill people get branded as annoying, drug seekers, fakers, etc. because that's literally what chronic illness is. just because our situations are complicated doesn't mean people should throw their hands up in the air and give up and consider you a burden. you shouldn't have to go through that in the first place

thanks for your kind message i appreciate it! best of luck in your future care as well, it's not right for anyone who's sick to be turned away or treated like garbage. the focus should be on the patient's care, not the ER nurse's feelings or assumptions about that person. yes medical professionals are human and deserve to have their emotions respected, but they should never supersede the safety and well being of someone who is sick, whether or not they're on death's doorstep or not. take care of yourself, thanks for stopping by!

[atamascolily]

Lily liveblogs: Thunderbolt Fantasy Final Movie

This is a 90-minute highlight reel from what should have been an entire fifth season, and while it's chock-full of Crowing Moments of Awesome, the pacing is so intense that there's little time to appreciate them before we're rushing onto the next thing.

Am I happy we got this movie? Yes. Will I forever mourn what could have been? Also yes.

Full confession: I knew what happened going in thanks to summaries posted by @fujimusume and others. However, I wanted to reserve judgement until I'd had a chance to see the movie for myself, which was ultimately a good call--I ended up liking it far more than I had initially thought.

That said, I think if I hadn't had the last 3 months to process it, I would have been emotionally devastated, especially since the movie basically dumps everything all at once with very little pause for reflection.

that said, I need to watch this movie again, so this is just a list of of-the-cuff thoughts rather than anything more coherent

Dan Fei delivers exposition, hahaha

Juan Can Yun gets his spear back! Unfortunately, the whole "Dan clan style hybridization" subplot that I wanted never really develops (boo! it was right there!!) but at least we get our lancer back. Dan Fei knows better than to send her husband out into battle with a handicap.

I love the demon castle so much!!! The worldbuilding is a little vague, but I am interpreting it as the Demon King building his castle on a creature (possibly a sleeping demon god?) and then Azi pops in the Lang battery + the seals to charge it up and away we go!

do you think the Demon King realizes Azi has his own agenda or what

love how Shang spends the first portion of the movie just running around hitting things with an axe and showing up 15 minutes late with Starbucks a Shen Hui Mo Xie lol

hey there, Divine Swarm puppets! We thought you were dead! And they are, but I still love them.

I feel like the Azi/Chao Feng battle is proof of the whole "heretical sorcery is the same as demonic arts" bit.

I gasped when all 3 of Azi's swords merged into one BIG sword, lol

Lie's "strange bedfellows"/"the enemy of my enemy is my friend" pivot is so funny

thematically, I really love the juxtaposition of Azi and Locust vs Lang and Chao Feng, and the mutual theme of children defying what their parents want for them

Chao Feng's death was genuinely moving, I wish we'd had a little more time with that

LANG WU YAO PHOENIX RESURRECTION, LET'S FUCKING GO~~~

I was wondering how Lang was going to fight now that his weapon is human, but apparently Lie just tosses him an arm and it transforms into a sword???? Okay, I guess that works???

also love the way Lie uses his pipa strings, first to restrain Azi, and then as a way for Lang to play them to use his sonic magic to attack Azi - so good

Lang's rejection of Azi was also a tearjerker, I'm so proud of him.

I did want to see Demon God Lang and/or more of Hot Sexy Demon Lang from S4, but no luck, sigh.

that whole arc turned out very differently than I thought, and I'm okay with it (although I still think my original ideas were interesting and plausible)

Lie Mo Xian is so funny and over the top, I love him.

you can also see the moment Shang recognizes him when he hands him the Scrying Mirror... he knows

this movie is also really hobbled by cutting Lin's demon realm intrigue plots in S4... there are hints of it in the way he uses the demon nobles to haunt Achaenus, but it all feels a little out of nowhere.

great reuse of demon noble puppets, that scene was genuinely disturbing in a gothic haunting way, A+

LIN XUE YA LOUNGING SEXILY ON THE THRONE slkajfslkgjfadlgkjdf

the character poem immediately on the heels of this was just icing on the cake

THANK YOU PILI FOR GIVING ME THIS

actually, every scene with Lin and the Demon King was explicitly catering to me, so thanks for that

the way they move, as a battle of equals and opposites!!!! so pretty! AAAAH

(I was right, the Demon King's pipe is also a sword, because of course it is!)

also Lin's "hi, Sir Shang!" and little wave when Shang turns up in the middle of the fight--S-tier flirting and best possible reveal.

Shang being like "Wtf, I'm so done" and walking out was great, too

The Demon King trying to absorb Lin was fantastic, as well as Lin pulling the same "you thought you were fighting me, but I was actually behind you the whole time" trick that Mami uses against Homura in Rebellion

you know, I had "Lin using Night of Mourning" on my wishlist, but I didn't think I'd actually get it!! Lin/Night of Mourning is the real ship here, hahaha.

the battle against the demons is kind of a letdown after all that buildup, RIP

I also wanted to see the castle fight

pretty sure the hanjiao were created by the demons and/or domesticated and the "wild" ones we see are ferals, not that the show ever mentions it. But how else to explain why the hanjiao are working with demons rather than attacking them, come on.

JuanFei battle power couple, my beloved.

so surprised Bo Yan Hou survived this movie, holy crap

Locust turning up and showing his face in public was so strange. Tian Ming gets sidelined explicitly so she won't give the game away, sigh.

also no demon gods are released in the end, COME ON

Locust takes all the holy swords (but not the bad ones, come on!) and turns into a Kamen Rider villain

Shang vs. Locust was great, actually. I gasped when the sky started splitting and Locust had no clue.

BAI LIAN DEUS EX MACHINA? Bai Lian as alt-Susu confirmed???

(same theme and character poem, even)

I knew the swords would go back by the end, but Locust getting isekai'd to the Piliverse and losing his powers along with them is poetic justice

Shang leaping across the abyss to the Demon King's palace was EPIC

My prediction that Lin would fake his death came true in the best way possible, hahahaha

Shang recognizing him through the disguise... perfection.

everything about that scene fed my shipper heart.

love Lang's outfit post-time skip

I don't love the time travel ending twist, so I'm ignoring it. Way to make things weird, Urobuchi.

I was so sad when I heard that Shang ends up traveling alone, but that last scene was so moving, and my shipper heart was so fed by their previous interactions, that I'm assuming this is a brief moment of peace before Lin turns up again.

This movie is far from perfect, sometimes from rushed pacing and sometimes from Urobuchi's decisions (some of which might have landed better with more space in the story) BUT the parts that land work so well and are catered so explicitly to my tastes that it's hard to be too mad about the disappointments (I say after 3 months of grieving).

Overall, I can live with the movie as it stands, but my plan going forward is to take what I like and ignore/change the rest in fanworks, like you do. and also watch it again because I know I missed a lot.

[wpmz]

deltarune chapter 3 initial thoughts!

major spoilers under cut! obviously!

doing a little post to try and collect my thoughts right after finishing chapter 3 for the first time.

i guess first off- it was SO different from how i was expecting, but also SO good. basically my only 3 hopes/expectations going in were: A) i hope there's at least one surprising lore reveal B) i hope there's a character i can really get obsessed with and C) i hope it's fun :] and BOY HOWDY were those expectations met lmao

i guess the thing i wasn't expecting the most (well. besides the one Big reveal lmao) was the structure of it? i was far more expecting something along the lines of chapter 2 i guess, with toriel as like a tag along character and a relatively linear area layout, but it turns out pretty much neither of those things were true??

the minigame/tv show sections with tenna were SO fun. honestly i feel like i can't talk about those without talking about how much i loved tenna as a character, so first of all: OH MY GOD I LOVE TENNA. he's ridiculous and over the top which is basically all i hoped he would be if he were the sort of gameshow host type that it was looking like he was. his speech quirk thing with the word art is so very good. and honestly i think part of the reason i like him so much is bc i started out the chapter trying to do character voices and he was Very fun to read dialogue for lmao. i also love his whole thing of like. being afraid of being abandoned bc no one watches tv anymore. and all the spamton references oh my goodness. i already said this in a liveblog somewhere but i was really expecting maybe a couple lines vaguely referencing spamton, and there was SO MUCH more than that (at least in my playthrough. no idea how/if it differs if you haven't beaten him in chapter 2).

i feel like i got off track. the minigame like zelda-esque sections were so fun i really liked doing the puzzles and that part where the fun gang all swapped controllers and the part where you get the raft and can go out into the ocean and find secret stuff lmao.

the enemies were also pretty alright, a lot of them were hard but i'm hoping i'll get better at them when i inevitably end up replaying these chapters a couple times. standout for me is Obviously shuttah, its design is bangerrrrrr and its bullet patterns with the freeze/unfreeze type parts and its act things with the photo taking minigame were my favorite new battle mechanic.

i am kinda sad that the secret boss seems very secret this chapter, no idea where they were besides maybe the s-rank rooms or something to do with the minigame sections? i think i saw "shadow mantle" on like the loading screen of the very first one and there was stuff out of bounds that i didnt know how to get to thats gotta be something right? (please don't spoil me on if its either of those i kinda wanna replay and see if i can figure it out myself lol)

tenna's boss battle was alright too, not the most fun boss fight to me bc i think that title still goes to giga queen but i liked the minigame rush thing at the end that was pretty cool

oh my god wait i forgot to talk about lanino and elnina and rouxls. possibly top ten best/funniest sections in all of deltarune to me i love rouxls' loser polyamorous-and-bisexual-but-no-one-wants-him swag i was dying laughing at their interactions. also veryyyy intrigued by the possible asgore/toriel parallels with elnina and lanino especially since they ended up together by the end? but then again who would be the awkward third to bring them together...? rudy? ...sans??

also fascinated by the little bit of darkner lore we got. like the ones who were supposed to be from this dark fountain turning to stone? idk if i understood that fully im gonna be honest. is it because they didn't fit in with the tv theme, or because tenna didn't want them there, or both? or was it something else, like because dess/the knight showed up at the end and she like... brought more darkness in and that made them turn?? idk

speaking of knight dess. KNIGHT DESS??????????? i was not prepared. it was never a theory i put thaaaat much thought into simply because it felt like a scenario where it only made sense because there wasn't that much known about dess but like. i guess that worked out lmao! happy for anyone who was heavy dess knight believing before this u guys earned it. i did have a thought like. a few weeks before the new chapter's release where i was like. maybe gaster is opening the fountains in order to make us fulfill the prophecy and that way you don't have to worry about who could've had access to those rooms to make the fountain bc he's in the depths or outside time and space or whatever. and i had another thought off of that that was like well it could also be dess for the exact same reason. but like. I DIDNT EXPECT IT TO BE TRUE?? im like. still reeling from this. knight dess real. ALSO SHE HAS GASTER HOLE HANDS. IS GASTER HOLE HANDS ACTUALLY REAL AND NOT JUST FANON CUZ IF IT IS I'LL LOSE MY SHIT.

idk i think that's most of what i have to say as far as initial reactions go (outside of all my live reacting i did today as well lmao). crazy that toriel just slept through all of that she must sleep like a rock goddamn

will prob take a break before doing chapter 4 tomorrow bc it's getting kinda late and also i wanna see if i can draw some of the new stuff :3 shuttah im coming for you you Will get drawn....

[hils79]

Hils Watches Lovely Runner - Ep 14

Oh so the new time machine sent her back to exactly the same point that the first one did. I wonder if this means there are set points in time that she has to travel to.

And now we've got shenanigans with identical red envelopes that they both dropped. Excellent.

It's just occurred to me that in the previous episode when Im Sol was drunk and crying I just assumed it was because Sunjae was dead, but she had already fixed things at that point so she was crying because he doesn't know her now. THEY FOOLED ME!

Aww it's like the early episodes before I found out Sunjae had been secretly in love with Im Sol the whole time

Is Sunjae an actor now instead of an idol? If so I think I see where this is going...

Oh nooooooo has she just sent Im Sol's script to Sunjae by mistake? So I saw where it was going but also not really because I did not expect this!

Not surprised Sunjae is crying. I am also crying.

Well now he's definitely going to do it out of spite

Aww even in a universe where he never met Im Sol as a teen he still sucks at dating other people

Aww they're at the same bar that they went to in the other timeline

This is actually a role reversal of the early episodes where this time he thinks she hates him when actually she's been in love with him this whole time. God, I love this drama.

Never over how people in kdramas wear sweaters and hoodies to sleep in. Is it just because the sets are cold?

Well now I'm depressed. The actor they described as being super old was only born a year before me 😭

She's still answering calls from numbers she doesn't know I see

I love that he's gone from 'she'd better hope I never see her again' to 'I'm going to tell her to her face that I don't want to do her movie' to 'PLEASE LET ME DO IT I'LL WORK FOR FREE 🥺'

Well it's nice that in this timeline he has no self-respect when it comes to her either. Boy is whipped no matter what universe he's in.

Because that is a core part of his personality

Oh no! Of course he's still around. He really is like the terminator! And now he's going to kidnap and murder the stalker girl because Im Sol wasn't at Sunjae's apartment to catch her and take her out for dinner

Aww grandma wandered off and found Sunjae's dad

Oh, I guess Sunjae is still an idol. But a soloist instead of the singer in a band?

Oh, I guess the stalker got away? Unless this is a different woman.

Aww look he's smitten already

Ooh is he starting to remember the other timelines?

How does she not recognise him? They literally watched him present an award on tv a few days ago.

I keep forgetting that grandma in her lucid moments knows exactly what's going on

Oh, good, she did escape

I feel like Taesung might actually catch this dude and do it properly. He seems a lot more efficient than his dad. Also, there's only 2 eps left so someone has to get him soon

Ohhh! Is that the winning lottery ticket? I had forgotten about Im Sol giving her brother the winning numbers

LOL I was just tagging this post and

None of my other liveblogs have shown up as a popular tag wtf

[gengar-pixel-2]

Transformers animated liveblog, Season three, part 3: SPOILER WARNING!

And with this post ends my liveblog of the three part special that begins season three of transformers animated.

Things continue to get worse! As finally, me and my sister see... mind you, for her first time..

The blurr cube. (dialog in alt-text)

AHHHHGHGHG THE CUBE THE FUCKING. CUBE. I'M NOT OVER THIS, I NEVER WILL BE.

hey did it ever occur to you that hes. not gray and his spark is still there, in the detailed illustration or. oh my god hes alive but in a constant state of agony. cannot scream or cry for help. whattt the fuck!! what!!!! i thought it couldn't get?? worse?? NO!! IT JUST DOES. IT CONTINUES TO DO SO.

in the words of mitski, "I bet on losing dogs." (the dogs are how literally all of my favorite characters have died recently and its a curse I cannot escape.) My sisters working on an au where blurr somehow gets a spark transplant and new body. ..Honestly, that's real. I get her. I'm predicting now I'll make an "Everyone lives" or "blank" lives au with this show, judging by my luck as of late.

With bumblebee and sari, this was a mess. (/pos) this entire situation was gut-wrenching to watch. But you wanna know what made that whole situation even worse, other than the autobots not wanting to hurt sari, and sari not wanting to hurt them with her out-of-control powers?...

THIS.

the.. the ratchet trauma this episode. my lord. There's this, the stuff with omega supreme.. The fact that before he did this, his servos were shaking. He was terrified.. That is the reaction of a bot who has lost many people he's cared about, and is not about to lose another now.

And then when they finally fix all of this, including sari, what happens??

UH OH!! IT'S THE BAD GUYS!! omega supreme is now controlled by megatron!! thought you were getting a break? NOPE.

Starscream referencing his line from the pilot when he gains power over omega saying "IT'S MORE POWERFUL THAN I EVER IMAGINED!" was a nice callback.

however, what wasn't fun?? haha!! hey!! writers of your stupid robot show!!

DON'T make the robot who was made to be a weapon say "I wish to sleep again.." DON'T!! DO THAT!!! WHAT THE HELL!! everything about this character is so fucked up. oh mygod. this was the last thing I expected. And also gives me more reason to love ratchet. I love you, peepaw..

Anyway, actually, there's one more thing I wanted to say, even if this liveblog isn't as long.

But... I actually.. don't really hate isaac sumdac anymore..?

I MEAN OKAY HE'S DEEPLY FLAWED BUT HES GROWING AND ITS CLEAR HIS CHARACTER HAS BEEN FOR A WHILE.

he's gotten.. a lot of really good character moments lately, too. This kinda began during S2, and look i'm not saying I love the guy, but also, I'm not saying I hate him either.

This might be a take that will get me torn apart actually,,

anyway i'd still give him like, a minor tiny redesign. but keep that streak of white since it came from when he got sari and the mad scientist look.

Anyway, can't wait for the rest of season three! :D Also while you're at it, go follow my sister @itspook! she's pretty awesomesauce!

[milk-is-stable]

The Detective v The Xmas Tree Bandits

Sick Day rewatch requested by @radioroxx I'm sick, and I know by this that point most of you european folks are asleep but I still have a few hours to go before bedtime so I'm still rewatching long forms and providing commentary!

Pre-watch thoughts: This is never one I gravitate towards rewatching for some reason, and I'm not really sure why? So it's been awhile! Let's do this!

Liveblogging:

Sam sure loves his 1940s New York accents

"just..just push me, please." "Oh, where am I pushing you sweetie?" "Out of the scene" the saga of trike-J will forever be remembered.

Donnie and Frankie into the rooooom!

"You and your ho ho ho" "WOAH, WOAH, WOAH!" <- underrated joke right there!

Bunny rabbits hop around like that, I hear.

"Yeah, we'll keep it understand." Luke not passing up an opportunity to point out one of the others' mistakes.

"I would never betray you, Frankie!" <- feel like we were maybe setting up a potential plot thread here that ended up getting dropped? Weird thing to say otherwise.

"I have two sons called Rupert?? Confusing!"

I'M SETTING A TIME PERIOD. yeah we got that from the accent, too

Honestly half of this play feels like Sam trying to convince the other three that his character isn't a piece of shit, and honestly, yeah, everyone's weirdly hard on the guy when he's just trying to save Christmas for the whole city XD

(he has a point about the food though, idk why we don't have more distinct christmas dishes. every family's different of course, but broadly speaking, yeah it's just thanksgiving again one month later. wtf.)

Ring christmas bells, these are the bells, those aren't the words, you are absurd...

This whole scene is just AJ being confused some more and Luke roasting him for it.

Yes, they're brothers! SO much family resemblance. Can't you tell, from their fabulous coats?

"I told you so many times it was over!" "Did you??" <- see this is what I mean XD I feel like everyone is on wildly different pages about how absent Dad is in this equation, which makes each scene more confusing than the last.

"I was at this strip club this morning" "Oh, and I'M the problem!"

If we're committed to the "AJ plays a campy time-traveling character" thing from Ballet on the Battlefield then I think the times square tree lighter should be part of it. What's my justification? Pure Vibes.

Everyone say Thank You Tom for knowing all the numbers, all the spreadsheets, all the admin.....

Sam: Listen this whole play is a trainwreck but we HAVE to save it in time for Christmas. AJ: SAY NO MORE *activates detonator*

The trike coming out on its own is so good

"Let's crawl to the front of the stage so we can be seen!"

"WE CAN'T ALL BE DYING" *starts desperately playing with every single prop on the table*

"It was never about you coming home-" "REALLY???"

and of course, the iconic: "Donnie, do you wanna do your emotional speech now?" "....nah, I'm good" *dies instantly* Well done sir, no one is doing it like you.

And scene! Honestly, I don't know why Donnie and Frankie don't live in my head more rent free, by all accounts they should tick every character box for me, they've got the dynamic duo, they've got the tragic backstory, they've got the iconic look...it feels weird to say they're underrated because obviously the fandom loves them, but for ME, they're an underrated duo, so it was nice to revisit them here!

[axolotlsauce]

Okay, we have a gen 5 push with the go legendarymythical event thing, which mgiht be some kind of tie-in to gen 5 remakes...

ORAS imagery, which is obviously something underwhelming like- YUP it's pokemon mastersex

I cant wait to log in now to recieve 3000 gems

They really put all the mobile game bullshit at the start to make sure people didnt stop watching as soon as they saw everything they actually cared about

sometimes i get a little mad about how good the cgi trailers for pokemon cards look. they're often better than any cutscenes in the games.

THE FIRST THING THEY ANNOUNCE ABOUT THE ACTUAL GAMES IS FUCKING SCARLET VIOLET PHONE CASE GIVEAWYAS ARE YOU SERIOUS As if they weren't already in my bad graces enough just by reminding me that I paid for pokemon violet.

OH a video of kids playing with GAMEBOYS? Either this is going to be the gameboy games releasing on NintendoSwitchOnline or the Eshop, which would be AWESOME- well okay it would be... neat... or it's going to just be a retrospective of the whole franchise's history, leading up to an unrelated announcement.

If we see gen 10 I just hope it has a FUCKING HAUNTED HOUSE IN IT OKAY that doesnt make sense thats barely even a bit in the context that its out of

Extremely bizarre that in this retrospective, generation 2 is represented via pokemon stadium 2. I guess they thought the gameboy colour didnt look different enough from the original gameboy?

POKEMON BATTLE REVOLUTION SPOTTED

wait they SKIPPED GENERATIONS FIVE AND SIX????????

Okay hold on. next they'll have the audacity to present the nintendo switch era of pokemon as a part of the series' legacy that they're actually proud of. Unless they represent it through legends arceus. which would be hilarious

oh okay- PHONE? MOBILE PHONE? OH FUCK EVERYONE

AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA WHEN THE GUY GETS SUCKED INTO THE GAME THEY HAVE TEXT AT THE BOTTOM READING "NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF ACTUAL GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE" AHAHAHAHAH YEAH IT SURE FUCKING ISNT

Mega evolutions are back? well that confirms it: this is a spin-off game

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA PH MY GOD

It's JUST a mobile/switch game called "pokemon champions." I'm losing it. I'm pretty sure it's just an official version of pokemon showdown. Or a current-gen stadium-type game with even less content. THATS SO FUCKING FUNNY THAT THEY DECIDED THAT SHOULD GET THE RETROSPECTIVE BUILDUP AHAHAHAHAH THEY SCARED ME I THOUGHT GEN 10 WAS GONNA BE ON MOBILE

is that why they included the stadium games?

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA I WAS RIGHT

I actually hate liveblogging. and I dont think any of my followers read these. so... why do I do this?

Okay, I think it is unambiguously good for any and all pokemon things to be available in asmany languages as possible. However, this entire livestream is in the language of english. The people that this is the biggest deal to aren't watching this.

OH HEY THE THING WE ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT AFTER FIFTEEN FULL MINUTES IM NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN

Well the game looks... like a modern pokemon game. So, like shit. okay fine, it looks only slightly substandard.

most of this game's promise came from the fact that its a legends sequel, but I'm concerned at the seeming pokemon violet influence.

Like oh we can make our pokemon attack wild pokemon and then throw a ball. neat, but I feel like they just hate the fact that the series is a turn-based rpg...? Being able to run over the rooftops is cool, but did they DOUBLE JUMP WITH THE ROTOM PHONE? You guys dont know how much I HATE the rotom phone, and it being able to stop you falling in violet was its biggest sin yet. and now we're double-jumping with it? Kill.

It looks like the dodging mechanics are in trainer battles now? Cool, and something I wanted as a kid, but I feel like this game is going to make changes to the battling that just dumb it down... at least it's interesting to have a rival in the legends formula.

Oh wow who could have predicted that mega evolution would return in the game set in kalos.

AZ IS HERE? It's seriously concerning that the story is what excites me the most about this game.

OH HEY WORDS THEY'RE TELLING US STUFF

POKEMON LEGENDS ZA IS A NEW TITLE IN THE POKEMON SERIES? I'M SURE GLAD I WAITED FIFTEEN MINUTES TO GET THIS INFORMATION! AND SPENT AN ADDITIONAL 25 MINUTES LIVEBLOGGING IT!

wait why is it chikorita tepig and totodile. the gimmick of legends arceus was that they mixandmatched starters from three different games what is this at least we'll finally see mega evolutions for these guys

WAIT THIS IS ACTUALLY SPECIFICALLY SET AFTER X AND Y AND CONSIDERS THAT GAME'S EVENTS TO SOME EXTENT THAT'S SO COOL! I CANT FUCKING STAND THE FACT THAT THE GAME IS APPARENTLY SET ENTIRELY IN ONE CITY!

Oh my god, "wild zones?" so they're just putting scarlet/violet areas, or swsh wild areas, just in the city as parks...? That's kinda cool to increase the variety of biomes but i still dont see how this can have any sense of adventure or discovery.

This game isn't going to have any kind of interesting traversal, is it. I think I'm depressed.

I'd like to be hopeful. But this game kinda looks like shit

[gerbiloftriumph]

Floating Castle Liveblog (third read)

In 2020, I read the first king's quest adaptation novel. Again. Because 2020 was awful.

August 22, 2020 –

page 0

I'm not going to read this aga--oh wait no who am I kidding I'm trapped at work for another four hours and it's *not* a good day and I just want my tea drinking wizard tree and frog prince and mcguffin king and headless ghosts and the soft delights of smarmy sassy villains. (also the kq series is the only series i have easy access to rn so shhh)

page 3

"Castles do not fly." The title of the book says otherwise, sir.

page 10

Gotta admit, Telgrin's perpetual single thundercloud over his castle still gives me ridiculous amounts of joy. I'm sitting here grinning honestly for the first time all day. I love my melodramatic sassmaster.

page 14

I comment on it every single time I read this (yes this IS the third time I've read this in three years, leave me alone), but I seriously love watching Graham being an actual king. I love adventures, and I love royals, and I love adventuring royals, but I also really like the sturdy basis of kindness and clarity Graham just has as a leader. It's really pleasant.

page 20

IT HIM. Heeeeeeere's Telgrin! Do you think Telgrin spent hours shuffling around trying to perfect that gliding walk? Stars, I hope he did. I mean in any other villain it would just be natural but with my emo goth drama king who tries too hard, everything is carefully plotted for maximum visual aesthetic.

page 22

Totally seriously, though, the contrast between Graham's tightly contained fury and balance of how he's been treating the assembly and Telgin's wide swept theatrics and overblown personality is SO good. This sort of subtle contrast really does raise this book from generic game adaptation to surprisingly pleasant fantasy. It's still genre light, but it has confidence and solid bone work.

page 23

"The news reached me that you were gathering all your knights here today, Graham, so it seemed a convenient time." Because Telgrin won't do anything without an audience to oooh and ahhh over his antics.

page 30

"Everything seemed muted, vague, unreal." Oh, did you mean my life right now? No? Close enough.

page 33

"and a small pear." Yes, a crucial thing to make sure you pack on your voyage. Good call.

page 38

TREE WIZARD oh stars my whole heart is happyyyyy. What a mood improvement.

page 40

"So, that castle belongs to this guy named Telgrin." "Oh yeah, Telgrin. He's evil. Don't mess with him." "You know him?" "I know his reputation." Stars, Telgrin would be SO PLEASED to know his reputation precedes him now. I hope he started some of those rumors himself.

page 40

I still can't handle the density of this conversation. "Telgrin is a stealer of souls." "A stealer of souls? What's that?" Alexander. Alexander, pleaaaase think about what you just said. Please. I love you, but seriously.

page 45

Even when you are a tree wizard, that is, a wizard slowly and literally turning into a tree, it's still important that you get your morning cup of tea. Morowyn knows it. So should you.

page 47

In other words, Alexander, you're just a glorified babysitter. You could have asked Big Knight Brian Blessed to be your partner in crime on this heist and gotten a better result. (i'm kidding of course I love Cyril to absolute pieces, look at this farmboy wizard lad he's so squishy and blond and round and I love him.)

page 54

heist heist heist heIST let's plan a HEIST.

page 58

The moat monsters also have a taste for the finer things in life. Like feather-capped adventurers. Castle Daventry is literally the most perfect fantasy castle there is. It even has a hoard of moat monsters. Like, you can't get more Fantasy Castle than this place. Telgrin only wishes his castle was that cool. He just has to make do with personal thunderclouds.

page 63

A small thing, but I super love Mills's emphasis on color. From the rain slanting golden in the yellow torchlight, to the hills here slowly changing from an angry maroon to a deep indigo with a band of yellow slowly disappearing as the sun sets...it's heavily visual, like he's literally painting a screen from the games, and I find it rather peaceful, somehow.

page 64

Literally just the ringwraith scene from Fellowship of the Ring, but with King's Quest protagonists instead of Frodo and friends. The audacity of this book. I love it.

page 69

Mills was absolutely just rereading Fellowship of the Ring when he was asked to write this book. It's not even subtle at this point. .........and I super love every single reference with all my silly fantasy heart.

page 89

I can't think of a single other fantasy in which the protagonist lassos a kelpie and attempts to ride it. I can't imagine why not. It's a flawless plan.

page 96

I feel like that's just magic homemade whiskey. Getting the prince drunk might not be in everyone's best interest.

page 97

Alexander, you gotta stop calling people "ho." You're gonna offend someone. (I'm kidding, of course. "Ho there" is as traditionally delightful as "Who goes there," and highly welcome to behold.)

page 99

platform boots

page 100

I'm sorry, I know I commented on this when I read this last year, but...again. Telgrin has One Single Lone Stupid Thundercloud, which "hovered over a high central tower. From time to time, this cloud would light with an internal fire, and a low, menacing rumble would break across the land." It's like the Winnie the Pooh raincloud, with ambient sound effects. The audacious aesthetic of this guy is a DELIGHT to behold.

page 107

Aaah yes the Road to El Dorado sequence. Truly, this book is nothing but the best hits of adventure tropes crammed into a book 300 pages long.

page 108

Does this mean that Telgrin has also been to Narnia? Oh dear.

page 112

Again. "The cloud." Not many clouds. Just the one. A single, lone, silly, thundercloud.

August 24, 2020 –

page 114

Wait, what came first, this book or the Muppet Christmas Carol movie? Because all I can picture is Scrooge's Statler-shaped Muppet door knocker, but with extra teeth, shrieking.

page 117

Is Alexander is the only person in the series to ever have a proper sword fight? I mean, not counting....uhhhh is it Owen in KQ8? (Super didn't play KQ8, everyone said it wasn't worth the effort.)

page 123

Like, I gotta say: binding souls to armor, cool. Great scheme, very evil. Making it so that just knocking the helmet off releases the soul into the night forever? ...nooooot the most ideal.

page 126

You know in Princess Bride, when Westley tries to wrestle Fezzik, and just kinda runs at him and squeezes him and absolutely nothing happens? Alexander, right here, vs the black knight.

page 131

A barikar is not a real fantasy monster--the only google result that comes up is that, yes, Telgrin owns one. But it's a huge rabbit with a rat nose, dog fangs, fish scales instead of fur, and human like hands with claws. It sees about as well as a human, but it can hear well, thanks to the rabbit ears. It's absolutely ridiculous. I love it. I wonder if I can convince my dm to make it a fight in our campaign.

page 133

My sweet babiiiiies. Alexander making Cyril stand behind him to protect him and Cyril absolutely refusing and taking the front anyway. I love these kids. I say, fully recognizing that they're semi-close to my age and know how to handle swords and magic.

page 133

Oh, no, excuse me, the Bariker doesn't have rabbit ears--it has bat ears. Which just kind of further emphasizes how much I want this thing in a campaign. It's so ridiculous.

page 139

Where was he? Yes. Who was this beside him? Yes. How long had he been asleep? No way of knowing. Alexander, those are not answers to questions, except maybe the last one. You've answered nothing. Alexander, please.

page 141

headless ghost headless ghost headless ghoooost i can't stop smiling he's holding it like a football it's amazing

August 25, 2020 –

page 142

Lydia's mom caught Anime Mom Protagonist Disease. It's a tragic illness. No hope of recovery.

page 142

"Owen took a brief pause, while Alexander reflected on the fact that he was getting used to carrying on a conversation with a beheaded man. It was starting to seem almost normal. Almost." How is this a real book. I love this book.

page 143

tragic telgrin backsto--oh wait it's not tragic at all he's just always been a brat.

page 144

"Somehow a beheaded man on his feet was infinitely more alarming than a beheaded man quietly seated." o rly?

page 145

Look, it is a *little* creepy that he would install magic mirrors of spying in his daughter's bedroom without her knowledge, but considering Owen admitted to teaching Telgrin everything he knows, including presumably soul torturing magic, we can kind of assume Owen isn't actually that good a guy after all.

page 149

Glowing moss in fantasy must be the most useful plant ever cultivated.

page 155

Obviously, there's nothing wrong with describing Alexander's haunches, but it's also just a little weird. It's not...a word I hear often, especially in reference to humans.

page 156

I like a good wizard who knows that a cup of tea soothes most ills. A man after my own heart.

page 156

"After allowing himself to wallow in depression for a short while, he pushed his mood aside with a firm effort, squared, his shoulders, and said, 'Well, the sooner we get going, the sooner you'll get your bath and your tea.'" Ah, yes, of course, just push aside your wallowing. Why didn't I realize it was that easy?

page 158

"A few wary, rather mincing steps, brought him to the vestibule." Alexander, your author is making fun of you. Just a bit.

page 161

The book is very, very clear that it's just Graham's face floating in the soul-capture orb. The book is very, very wrong. It's a tiny Graham floating around in there. Like, full body, but like two inches high. This is fact, and better than a disembodied Wizard of Oz-style face. I'm just letting you all know that the book is misprinted. Every copy. It's a full body'd Graham. Just smol.

page 162

YEAH BOI PUNCH AN UNDEAD KNIGHT...oh no, your arm, why did you just literally punch a suit of armor, you donut, you know better than that

August 26, 2020 –

page 167

To be fair, the door is now open. As is the floor, and the wall, and...well, the room, to the sky. Definitely very open.

August 27, 2020 –

page 169

It's turned into Dragon's Lair instead of King's Quest, for this scene. Super into it. Wouldn't want to play it as a video game, though--the amounts of game overs....

August 31, 2020 –

page 169

"But this insignificant event raised within him an unexpected fury. He cursed the poor root to withering, black perdition, cursed it deeply and sincerely, cursed it with all his soul." Gods, Alexander, I get it. Man, do I ever get it. I'm so tired.

page 177

"This was it, the nadir. It could not get any worse than this." You sure about that, kid? I think we've got one more scrape at the bottom of the barrel we can squeeze into."

page 181

Alexander is thiiiiiiiis close to snapping. Kid, I understand you. Critically and crucially, I understand.

page 183

FROG PRINCE. I told you there was one more level we could reach. The royal family gets transformed into animals rather frequently. At least this time he's not a snail, poor kid.

page 183

"With a sense of profound shock, he realized that he had been transformed into a frog--a rather large and handsome frog, it's true, but still a frog." You can't make this stuff up. This book is perfect. The ideal. The author is calling Alexander a handsome frog. He's a frog, but a good looking one. I can't handle this.

page 185

"Did you speak, Sir Frog?" "That's Prince Frog, to you." Alexander, be nice. Don't pull rank. I don't think you have rank to pull anymore. Smelly swamp rank, at best.

page 186

I like to think that was just Alexander swearing, but it was masked as a ribbit.

page 187

To be fully fair, Alex, you do kind of need him to reattach Graham's soul, so maybe it's for the best that he doesn't go far.

page 189

If I were a soul-armor, and this frog decided to enter the castle, to be honest, I think I would probably just let it. Because it's a frog.

page 194

There's fanart of this scene too because it's hilarious. She kisses a frog, he becomes a man hanging half over the rim of a fountain, and all she can say is "Goodness! But...you're beautiful." Ridiculous.

page 194

HA and then she tries to recover saying, "I haven't seen that many men in my life. Hardly any, actually. I'm sure that you're really very ordinary." Kid. Please, stop insulting him, you're going to make him sad(der than he already is)

page 198

It's at this point that Alexander just sort of gives in to the sass and the snark and starts leaning into the nonsense. "Creature?" "She's not entirely human." "Uh, in what way is she not human?" "To begin with, she has two heads, no hair, only three fingers on each hand, and is fully seven feet tall." "You're right. That doesn't sound entirely human." Pleeaaaaase this book is a deliiight.

page 200

That twilight area between wakefulness and sleep, with thoughts centered on nothing at all? my brain, today. fully. I've got nothing left to offer anyone, except not-very-funny remarks on this book.

page 202

Nothing Telgrin does is ever common. Overblown and ludicrous, maybe, but never ever common.

September 1, 2020 –

page 209

When the two headed guard calls to the intruding man like a person tempting a kitty cat. "Come here, man, pspspsps. Man, man, maaaan." Instead of catnip, she can bring tacos.

page 211

Again, I just gotta let you all know that the books have been misprinted. It's not a disembodied head floating in the orb, even if it's probably supposed to be an Owen's decapitated head parallel, because that's dumb. It's a tiny two-inch tall Graham floating in the orb, not just his face. I don't know how all the copies got misprinted like that, but they did. It's really a tiny Graham. Cute. Okay? Okay. Onward.

page 212

I love One Stubborn King.

page 216

I can't actually make snide jokes about the text when I'm actually just outright enjoying it. The sheer blissy silly triumph of Telgrin, the stubbornness and sharp agony of my dear sweet Graham, Alexander standing there ruminating on what loyalty means--this is exactly my flavor of fantasy jam.

September 17, 2020 –

page 225

I still kind of sort of love that Telgrin apparently decided that the best way to use the magic staff was to make it respond to wishes. "I wish for a giant fireball." And thus, one appears. It just...speaks to some strange childishness that I find totally hilarious in this big bad villain.

page 230

Again, the book is misprinted. I'm not about these weird Wizard of Oz style floating faces. They're weird. It's a fully bodied apparition of Telgrin yelling at Alexander, hands on hips, just as it's a tiny full bodied shape of Graham in the orb. My version is better.

page 231

"I could kill you now, if I wanted." "I don't think so," Alexander said defiantly. "Is *everyone* in Daventry this obstinate?" Sir. My dude. My man. Palberto. You messed with the wrong royal family, and they come from knight stock, not actually blue blood at all. They're going to *wreck* you.

page 232

"I'll live, I think." Alexander, your ability to comfort others leaves a little bit to be desired.

page 234

I'm not actually kidding. If Mills hadn't read Fellowship of the Ring at least a week or two before writing this, I will eat my whole entire adventuring cap. That's the Watcher in the Water, as there was literally lembas bread earlier and a ringwraith before that. Fantasy tropes or not, this is just sneaking Tolkien references in because Mills is a fanboy (I mean, obviously: he's writing company-approved fanfic).

page 237

Again, Alexander, realize this: Telgrin learned everything he knows from Owen. One might assume, especially knowing how dark those mirrors felt, that Owen himself is *not actually a very good guy.*

page 241

It's kind of like cheerfully presenting Sweeney Todd with his shaving tools. "At last, I am complete again!" Not.....super great, I feel.

page 242

I love that it's not actually magic keeping the castle moored, but a big ol' safety pin. That's not even actually much of an exaggeration. "At the bottom of that well you will find a large golden pin embedded in the paving stone. You are to remove this pin. It may not be easy, but you must do it. It will set the castle free from the moorings of the earth."

page 248

The fact that Telgrin now has to wear an eyepatch is great enough. The fact that he took the time to make sure it perched on "his bald head at a jaunty angle" is almost too much to bear. I hope he stood in front of his cracked and smoking mirror adjusting it just so before coming down for this final confrontation.

page 248

"I'll probably never see out of this eye again, I hope you're happy with yourself." "I mean...you *were* trying to kill me." "Irrelevant." Boys, please, there are serious issues at hand.

page 250

"All I've ever asked in return is that you marry me, and that you not burden me with your opinions." Telgrin, the ultimate flirt. Magnificent.

page 251

Telgrin's snarky sassy meltdown is the greatest. "She's now willing to marry me, merely to save your worthless life! Willingly! Well, I won't have it, I tell you. She shall marry me unwillingly, or not at all!" Telgrin, you are absolutely bonkers and you're my favorite villain in any piece of media ever, full stop. The sheer ridiculousness of *you* with your wish-magic and bloviating and grandiose posturing....divine.

page 253

Telgrin's pasty complexion is enough to "make a marble statue appear dark by comparison." If this were a modern AU, Telgrin would be that emo kid hunched over twitter mansplaining at everyone, while listening to the rainy mood app constantly. He's an absolute delight from start to finish, especially because he *is* a threat and he *could* win if he wasn't so obsessed with the *aesthetic* and the need to show off.

page 255

Ahh one of my favorite lines in the whole book: "It's blame-everything-on-Telgrin time, is it?" What villain talks like this?? Who does this?!! No one but Telgrin, author Craig Mills, and this goofy novelisation of the very sassy, very cliche, very delightful, King's Quest series. Fantasy tropes, sass, snark, and everything. This book is nothing but pure sugared joy for me.

page 266

No more than two feet of earth held the entire castle in place, and now they're floating away again like the house in Up. Delightful.

page 270

Telgrin, you can't behead someone who has already been beheaded. Be sensible.

page 273

"Can you think of any way for us to get down from [this steadily rising floating castle]?" "I could attempt to fly you down!" All in all, Alexander thought he would rather just jump. Boys, please.

page 288

A Valanice story, I think, would have been very welcome. I'm glad for the trilogy we got, but I really would have enjoyed an official novel from her perspective. This lonely image of her standing alone before the throne, with her husband dying in the next room and her son gone for at least a week to face an unknown villain alone, while her kingdom is ravaged by evil knights....it feels worth exploring.

page 291

I absolutely one thousand million percent love this strobing effect of two Grahams floating together, his transparent and delicate soul settling down into his body again. It's delightful.

page 292

Pleaaase Graham, say "A heart is a heavy burden." I know this book came out like a decade before the Howl's Moving Castle (the movie at least, I don't know the book's publication date), but pleaaaase. I know you won't, but I want you to.

page 293

SHRIEKING. I don't ever ship things, but this is my otp for liiiiiife look at these two precious beans together I'm just THRILLED the smile on my face is enormous ahhhh Valanice and Graham have hardly anything going for them in the original games since they hardly ever interact on screen but this book and this scene is just DELIGHTFUL.

September 17, 2020 – Finished Reading

Again, five stars out of five stars

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time. earlier tonight, my eyes were cursed with star trek generations, a very very bad movie. if you don't know the big spoiler for this movie (the character death), please stop reading here. or keep reading actually i'm not your mom. fuck this movie anyway.

with the tos movies, i tried to keep notes on notepad as i watched so as to better type up a "liveblog" later. i was a bit spotty at remembering to do that this time, but i have enough to put together a reasonable write-up. here's kind of how it went

cried multiple times during this movie. first time was when kirk showed up because i knew it was the last time we were ever gonna see him. got bonus aftershock tears when i saw scotty and chekov - i was under the impression it was JUST kirk. second time, i THINK, was when he showed up again, though i just misted up a little. big boo-hooing when he mentioned spock, naturally. MORE crying when he finally bit it, though it was mostly because i was angry!!! and finally, even though i promised myself i wouldn't cry over data, i did start sobbing when he was reunited with his cat. gave myself a crying headache.

it was difficult watching kirk be on the bridge and want to be captain and he's not captain. and then crisis strikes and oh yeah he is. and really, the captainly thing to do WAS to go down to the lower decks and do whatever the fuck. needs of the many. he saved that guy's life. that would have been a fine death.

it was a little ruined by chekov going "was there somebody in there?" like to me it struck me more as funny than anything

oh, spotting guinan in the tos era made me absolutely thrilled btw. i missed her so much in s7 it was UNREAL.

OH YEAH AND. sulu's daughter. wah. ik aos sulu is gay do we think tos sulu is gay too. either way i;m very happy for him

apparently one of the guys in this is from succession. i'm choosing to blame this whole debacle on him.

switching directly to a fucking holodeck scene KILLED me. i HATE the holodeck. at first i thought they were giving worf a retirement party to send him to ds9 but they were just doing all of that for fun. deanna's outfit was hot though. also, data shoving beverly WAS FUNNY tng writers just hate autistic people

i have mixed feelings about data and the emotions chip. i was surprised they never covered it in tng proper and i think it would have been handled better there...data having the chip WAS the reason soren got away, which makes it plot-important, but it felt like a b-plot to a normal tng episode and this is supposed to be a feature film. instead it was a tng two-parter with a budget and william shatner. it was fun watching data experience emotions (happiness, terror) and struggle to control them, but there ironically wasn't enough time to really get into it, except when picard gave him the tough love speech, which i think was uncalled for. why is he so against suicide when it's data when he was out here telling worf to kill himself over an empty barrel??

titty klingon sisters. i never remember their names or their faces but i ALWAYS recognize those boob windows. at first it was really annoying because it is pretty sexist but honestly i've become very endeared. it's absolutely devastating that this movie killed them too. they were everything to me 💔

hey, sorry, side bar, were they watching geordi bathe through his visor? freaks.

also, geordi in the bondage gear while he was kidnapped. ALSO, wasn't he growing new eyes in the tng s7 finale? whatever happened with that???

stellar cartography looks better than it did in tng but it brought back memories of picard running around on poor beverly. idk what he's so worried about continuing his family line for wesley crusher IS his affair baby

hey, also, the lighting??? the "distant sunlight" atmosphere when the lights are off vs the brightly lit interior of the show? truly, the upgraded lighting was probably my favorite part of the movie. it looked SO fucking good. i really felt like we were on a spaceship.

no, wait, ACTUALLY my favorite part was data getting to say "oh, shit!" that was really good. they got one bad word for this whole movie and used it in the perfect place

no, my favorite part was the spock mention.

did not like kirk referring to picard repeatedly as the captain of the enterprise. kirk's the real captain here, bitch. picard doesn't have what it takes to die for his ship. he doesn't love his ship the way kirk loved his.

i did like the nexus reference to the tmp wife. in the novel she was named lori but she didn't show up in tmp proper much less get a name so i'm ok with them calling her the wrong name, but i just know it's the same woman. less okay with kirk's nexus dream being all about some random woman we've never met. he's in love with the IDEA of a woman to come home to, sure, but it's just lazy writing. we don't have any reason to care about this girl. at least if it had been carol ruth marcus or something we'd have SOME basis to give a shit on. the nexus was the perfect place for spock and bones! i wish they and uhura and sulu had had cameos...

i also liked him warning picard to NEVER retire/accept promotion, bc retiring wound up being so traumatizing for him. this is not really consistent but i'm making it that way in my mind palace.

also, kirk being a horse girl is FAKE. they just made him be into horses bc picard is into horses. gross. he was really good at chopping wood though lol

the scene with the kids evacuating the spaceship...WHY WOULD YOU HAVE CHILDREN ON THIS SHIP. i also worried about the pets the entire time, which is part of why i lost it when data found spot :(

it's sad that a piece of guinan was left behind in the nexus...does that happen to everyone? is a piece of kirk in there too? i really wanted to write a fix-it for this someday but they have given me so little to work with that it's hard to imagine a fixit that isn't just 80% "yeah we're ignoring that" which isn't very satisfying.

the crash was SO long. also, why was data holding troi? she's got 2 different boyfriends who could be doing that for her

since i was going into this knowing kirk died, i expected that he was gonna die because the nexus swallowed him or something. i was expecting something grand. instead it was like, tos scene, an hour and a half of very mid tng content, and then half an hour of rushed and poorly paced kirk and picard scenes. typical tng episode that it didn't get to the point until it was almost over, but jesus. i can't believe they got shatner for their movie and then barely had him in it. like, kirk at the end was a total surprise narratively (obviously everyone watching it knows bc of the opening at LEAST that he'll be back, but imagine if this guy had been some rando - it would have been so unsatisfying and weird).

see, this is the thing. the nexus actually has the potential to be incredibly compelling. the way picard's scenes were shot were very very good, if one could ignore the clothes from 1790 and the horrific portrait of himself looking like he stepped out of les mis and also how creepy his kids were and WHY WASN'T HIS WIFE BEVERLY I HATE HIM. kirk's were rushed and messy (he likes horses? his dog? none of this connects us to the character we knew in tos...), and picard's involved, well, picard. but the CONCEPT absolutely fucks, and i did love the creep factor in spite of it all. this whole movie had huge potential and instead it's a steaming pile of shit. i could have learned to live with a good kirk death but living with a bad one is gonna kill me. at least he had good last words. "oh, my" right before he dies kinda fucks tbh.

my final note is that i think sir patrick stewart got sunburnt filming some of those scenes near the end. there were a few shots where he looked quite pink. give the man some sunscreen. oh yeah also why did some people randomly wear the ds9 uniforms...what on earth

anyway, terrible movie, 0/10 stars, i'm never gonna recover. tng never disappoints in disappointing me.

NEXT TIME: back to ds9, thank god. we're doing "meridan" and "defiant."

[kogameh]

I didn't liveblog the epilogue like I did with Teal Mask since I moved my reactions to twt but my goooooood it was so GOOD 😭 I'm kinda obsessed with it actually. Everyone was so full of personality and there's a LOT you can dissect from their lines and interactions!! The writers really do a lot of care into them oh my god

Again there's a Lot to dissect even if the story is like. what. 1 hour long but fav highlights on top of my head are:

ARVEN BEING JEALOUS OF KIERAN LMAOOOO This is like THE popular headcanon when Kieran first existed and its REAL????

There's just a lot of lines where the gang def hang out a lot off screen like Penny going all "You want to meet Kieran because you want to BATTLE him, dont you?" at Nemona and Arven thinking Nemona is gonna jumpscare them when she went missing bc he predict her all too well augahaghah... I love when it shows that theyre close ya know...

Also some little details easily missable in dialogues like Penny (and Nemona?) having sweet tooth and Carmine's fav food being yakisoba, etc, I'm def scratching the surface here lol

AND THEN HOW ARVEN AND KIERAN BECAME BESTIES SO FAST DESPITE HOW THEY FIRST MET AAAAAAH i REALLY hope they get to play games and watch movies on that tv-

Actually the whole Paldea-gumi got along with Kieran fast like how Nemona is excited (but also scares Kieran) on finding another person to battle with...and Penny vibing with another introvert/shy friend... He deserves it sooooo muuuuuch

Uh. The whole zombie infection thing actually horrifies me (in a way it flinches me to see my favs being put in an embarrassing situation #&@%&@) BUT I will say I like how Kieran is the main tsukkomi here and some parts shows he still have his, uh, unwell side.

Also being a sgao enjoyer they DEF get a lot of moments and I'm so glad they teamed up 😭 It's funny how much people (including me) are expecting Kieran to be under the Momotaro's influence only for him to be the two survivors along with MC £^*@^@*@&

Speaking of, Pecharunt actually didn't get much role here outside of being the mastermind which def disappointed a lot of people wanting more lore on the Pokemon side so yeah....its kinda funny that THE main purpose of this distribution got put in the backburner like that. In fact both Indigo Disk and this event feels more character-focused over the Pokemons? ^#*@^@*^ Which is kinda a risky move considering most Pkmn fans can't rea-

In the end they did implied they hang out off screen but that left me wanting MORE... Can I get an iyashikei with just Paldea-gumi and Kitakami siblings PLEASEEEEEEE

The whole thing feels like a stupid B-movie plot and I LOVE it...a proof that some stories don't have to be a masterpiece if its already brimming with personalities and charm. Why am I seeing fuckers complaining over more buttons to mash just go back to previous gens if you want your bland ass mythical distributions via PokeCen NPCs or some shit!!!

I. would put my overall conclusion here but that means having to accept ScarVio has ended. I'm NOT doing that (inhaling copium). This is probably gonna remain the only mainline Pokemon I'll ever get attached to so...yeah...I'm gonna miss them a lot...

(Anyway I have to yell here because I have no one to talk about this event. Its lonely when you're just exploding by yourself hahhaah.)

[queerfables]

911 season 5 liveblog part 3

5x10

I'm finding it hard to believe these women are busy squabbling with each other when their husband has been blatantly lying to both of them

And they both have kids who are probably feeling very confused and upset right now maybe go take care of that

Lmfao Hen's advice about what Buck should get Taylor for Christmas. "Don't overthink it just make sure it's sweet and something she needs and also shows you know her really well" SO HELPFUL

LOL TAYLOR IS JUST AS BAD AS HIM AT THIS

Thank God for Athena telling these two women exactly what I've been wanting to say

Awwww they're bonding

Noooo lady ask him out you can do it

Awwwww he likes her too even though he hated the present she got him. Cuuute.

Oh NO Chris is freaking out about Christmas because he's worried about Eddie T_T

Oh jeeze Eddie so does not need a child frantically asking if his dad is dead right now

OK Buck's present to Taylor was crazy romantic

Oh no Eddie's leaviiiiing.

I'm sure Evan "Abandonment Issues" Buckley is gonna be super chill and normal about that

5x11

Lol at Hen's revolving door of partners

Oh God horrible??

This show has actually really desensitised me to TV injuries involving the bone showing, that used to be suuuch a major squick for me

Omg Eddie is doing 911 dispatch? Please. How long is that going to last. He's perpetually 0.5 seconds away from climbing out a third storey window to rescue a kitten. Eddie trying to keep himself out of danger by coordinating 911 responses like an alcoholic trying to pay for therapy by working at a bar.

Oh he's doing PR? That's so much worse. He'll be stir crazy in a week.

On one hand, Buck should probably not broadcast his scepticism over Eddie's career change quite so loudly. On the other hand he is meeee so how can I judge him.

It's very romantic of the wife to wanna take over driving in this Speed re-run for her husband but wasn't the whole point of Eddie's call that they can't switch him out?

Yeah so this is the kind of thing I mean though, how is Eddie supposed to watch from the sidelines while the people he cares about put themselves in danger doing the job he loves?

Oh no Eddie, left on the outside

Lol yeah Athena pegged it. Bobby's bullshit about trying to find the ~right person~ as if that has ever mattered so much before. Buck hated Eddie at first and Bobby told him to get over it.

I really love that Athena rides solo. Her being the only cop and the one who works without a partner, compared to all these firefighters who work as a team, and I don't know, I just think it shows up in some really well crafted ways in everyone's characterisation and the ways that Athena is a little different from the others.

Wow this lady is really hitting on Buck

Buck do not???

Buck stop this????

Oh he's so drunk

Hen you are giving Buck terrible advice

Yeah no that's better telling the truth is the only option but oof this is not gonna be good

I am having some thoughts and feelings about how Buck's spiral over Eddie leaving is manifesting as kissing the last person he jumped onto the roof of a car with

I'm gonna get weepy again, Chris is such a good kid and he loves his dad so much

Lol at how Eddie's response to Bobby benching him for his own good is identical to Buck's

BUCK NO

Come on you'd done the hardest part she knew something was wrong and honestly in the grand scheme briefly kissing someone else is not that bad

But now it is VERY bad

You asked her to move in instead of telling her

At this point the only thing you can do is change your name, move to another country and pray she never finds you

Oh shit Lucy is transferring here isn't she

Buckley you are fucked

5x12

Maddie! I've just been thinking about how much I missed her

Oh Maddie honey

And Chimney!! Hi Chimney

Aaaah them finding each other again gave me chills

They're two of my fav characters I've really missed them

Oh no I just full on started bawling when Maddie started singing "the wheels on the bus" to jee-an. That song is one of my son's favourites and there were a few months where singing it was the only thing that would calm him down. I was already way too emotional imagining myself in Maddie's shoes and I guess that was the breaking point lol.

Then Maddie and Chimney started singing it together and I got teary all over again

Oh this is bad I cannot have a hair trigger weeping response to the wheels on the freaking bus that's so dumb

5x13

"We broke up" what the FUCK

Lol at Maddie and Chimney catching up on all the gossip from the 118 while they've been gone

Erg, the bends is my nightmare, it's one of those human body related things I'm squeamish about

Lol Buck you are being SO weird about Lucy it's very funny

Eddie really looks like he's not doing so hot

"Pain is just weakness leaving the body" for fucks sake. you would have internalised that, wouldn't you?

Well at least Buck knows it was dumb

Urg, spiders, another nightmare :/

Yeaaaaaah this is real bad Buck

Holy fuck the woman just dousing the mugger and then herself in gasoline

Omg the fact that Eddie is having a breakdown and Christopher is freaking out and the person he calls is Buck T_T

God this is awful for Chris though

Oh jeeze, Eddie. This is awful.

Man this is devastating but in some ways I'm happy Eddie finally reached a breaking point and let himself feel his feelings

I'm also really happy that Christopher had someone he could call. That kid has been through enough.

5x14

Oh Eddie

Buck drew a heart that's so cute

Buck you REALLY should have told Taylor everything. She is going to find out, you know that right? That's literally her job description

I'm really liking this arc for Eddie. I don't know, his primary coping mechanism seems to be to compartmentalise and shut down the difficult feelings and it's been good to see him externalise a bit more. It's shown a different side of his character I think.

[invisiblegarters]

The Heart Killers Ep 1

Man. I knew FOMO would get me eventually but I didn't think it would be this soon. Full disclosure, I read and hated the novel and that is a big part of why I didn't want to watch - I can already feel it coloring my opinion of the characters and trust me when I say that's not a good thing - but you know what? Fuck it. I find that I want to participate in the discussions and maybe even in the excitement for this show and I can't do that if I don't actually, you know. Watch.

Add that to the fact that almost all my shows are ending or just ended and it's a no brainer, really.

I mean, if I hate it that's what the off switch is for. No one is making me do this A Clockwork Orange style so I think it'll be okay.

Plus I can't sleep so here goes. THK ep 1. Liveblogged. Because why not, right? *cracks knuckles*

I am going to pretend I've never read the novel while I do this, so no spoilers.

You know it just occurred to me that I haven't even watched the first MV for this.

Pfft I know Khao bulked up for this but he still looks like a twink. A twink with really nice arms.

Are they gonna have him honeypot people every episode? I could get behind that.

Okay I do really like the disgust on Bison's face when the target isn't paying attention. I also don't know Thai so I can't say for sure but the subtitles make it sound like he's being very polite before shooting this dude. I appreciate that.

Okay so. Fun fact no one cares about. I read once that if you're doing something you shouldn't, running away from someone, maybe even committing a crime, it's actually really smart to wear a really bright, eye catching thing somewhere on your person. Probably not a shirt, but like, a bright scarf or pair of shoes. Because that's where people's eyes will go. Not your face, but the bright fabric.

Oh my gosh I'm gonna love Style and Kant together I can already tell. Pffft @ Kant scoping out the room though. My dude.

I genuinely find it hilarious that Kant is sitting here going on about how he doesn't want to commit but he's basically gonna be forced into it this very ep.

This music is a lot.

Can Style and Kant have hooked up before please? It's a wish.

You know what? I absolutely do not blame Bison for shutting Kant down at first. Patronizing ass. You're pretty but that only gets you so far babes.

I'd seen (and reblogged) gifs of the whole foot slide get right on top of you thing but it's very very nice to watch. It woulda worked on me haha. Frankly I'm impressed that Bison has braincells left because I am not that strong.

Hahaha Fadel wanting to be mad but having to keep Style from actually looking at the damage to his car lest he spot the dead body (Fadel, honey, maybe a JEEP isn't the best transport vehicle for those you've assassinated) is very funny.

I really think I'm gonna like Style.

Bed's more comfy anyway Bison. I'm sure you can take over there. Lol.

OH I LOVE THIS SONG it was in OF too. Am i focusing on that so I don't start acting silly? Yep shut up don't look at me.

I will say I don't actually think that Kant cares about names. Seems more like he's used to getting one than not but he doesn't seem particularly bothered by the lack. Probably he's used to more clingy one night - oh, wow okay see again seen gifs but motion is different lol.

Playboy Kant probably can't stop thinking about Bison because he actually got up and left lol. Something tells me that that's not normal for him, the way everyone teases.

Aw I like him with Babe. I hope that there are a lot of scenes with them.

Taming of the Shrew is a bit on the nose, no?

One thing i will say about Jojo's shows. I always do find new music to listen to.

How old is Bison? Twelve? Or are we supposed to get that he's kind of a loose canon because it's one or the other and considering what he got up to the night before I'm betting it's the latter.

WHY does no one in these shows actually know how to stalk people properly my god.

Kant you yourself said you wanted someone to hit it and quit it, now you're acting like that's a problem (this is not stopping my player who doesn't enjoy being played theory lol but I bet he likes being played with if you know what I mean and I think you do). But woooow he is pretty in that suit and tie. My inability to take screenshots from gaga is very depressing right now. But then agian maybe not because it'd just be me thirsting for First and other people make better moving pictures for that.

Okay Captain Chris sir using bb bro against him is low. I approve.

"Here are some photos that I'm sure Bison didn't see being taken my dude hid so well out in plain sight."

Yes I am going to love Style who hasn't put on some music just to dance around when no one is watching? Also I need to stop talking about literally every scene or I'm gonna run into the word limit before I'm done.

DUN DUN DUUUUN. Aww Bison thought it was amazing that's sweet.

Sorry Bison your brother is busy being flustered by an obnoxious but inexplicably (to him anyway I get it) attractive mechanic.

Kant babe if I didn't know better I would definitely say this was love. No one sane would eat that burger.

Oh god the chewing noises no.

The way I cringed at them nearly kissing right there with the ghost of the disgusting burger still hanging around in Kant's mouth.

Bison, babe. Get you head out of your ass Fadel means kill you. I mean I do think you're closer to the mark than he is but not by as much as you think.

Fadel has a problem with life. I love him.

Okay part of me thinks that Kant is lying about the beach thing. Why? Becuase their interactions are very flirty and fun but...I'm not really getting too much of a smitten vibe from either of them like I thought (hoped? thought) there would be. I mean they're having fun for sure, and Kant at least is absolutely looking to score again, but...

Oh Fadel. Don't you know that the more you protest the more tempting Kant becomes for your brat of a brother?

Pretty sure you'd be making Bison more tempting for Kant too, he strikes me as the type to deliberately go after things he's warned off of.

Honestly maybe he and Bison really are perfect for each other.

Also if Fadel and Kant wanted to settle their differences by making out I would not say nay (they won't this isn't Only Friends but hey. You never know Jojo did give me a brief moment of SandTop).

SEE WHAT I MEAN FADEL. Would Bison have shown up with delicious burger if Fadel hadn't made such a fuss? Maybe, but I bet Fadel's fussing made it a certainty.

Ouch ouch I just rolled my eyes so hard at Kant's line I'm genuinely proud of Bison for not doing it. Blergh.

Oooh First looks so pretty in that yellow with his hair all fluffy in the breeze. Excuse me while I absolutely don't hear any of this no doubt important conversation.

I kind of love the music when Style comes in the restaurant lol. Fadel's worst nightmare has arrived.

LOL did Kant tell him to be this obnoxious or is this just how Style flirts?

Oh my god I think this is just how Style flirts.

Hahaha I wonder what kind of taking out Fadel thinks Style means.

Ah so we're definitely dong the Taming of the Shrew thing where Bianca has beer flavored nipples (yes I know that line was from 10 Things) . I'd wondered. I find the idea less annoying than I would have thought - the added element of Kant not being as head over heels as he claims helps. Might as well toss a little jealousy into the mix. I'm sure Bison will play it up as much as possible too - he definitely likes playing, and currently this is definitely more game than anything else for him. Curious what it'll look like if and when that stops.

So far Fadel and Style are my favorite though. I like their dynamic a lot. They're ridiculous in the best ways.

I thought I'd like Kant and Bison more but they're kind of leaving me cold right now. I know it's only one episode n but they're just kinda meh to me and I can't put my finger on why. Maybe it's that despite all the flirting neither of them means it. Whereas Style and Fadel's interactions, though more hostile (seriously what the fuck kind of flirting is belligerently drinking beer after beer in someone's restaurant while they glower at you) feel more real. I'm not averse to game playing, but honestly this is why I like this kind of thing in movies. Because I'm impatient and after an hour I'm ready to see some feeling, lol.

But also (and probably more truthfully): let this be a lesson to you about reading a novel adaptation of a show before the show is released. Part of my ambivalence towards these characters is absolutely coming from doing the stupid thing, sigh.

It's just sometimes there is a fire. And it's pretty and flickery and I want to stick my hand in without thinking about the heat.