#idk just. God uses things in wild wonderful ways I guess

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

there are some things that I know happen in youth group because it's standard routine and/or the youth pastor's personal preferences showing through but it's interesting because there's a regular set of songs that he puts on in the background and there are two or three of those songs that even in stressful, emotional moments, when they start to play I can visibly see a lot of the kids relax. because our group doesn't have a ton of structure, it's a small group of kids and we tend to be pretty loose with it, not super strict with "oh we have to have exactly this much time for a game and this much time for a teaching and this much time for prayer," we let the kids guide it a lot – our teaching time is more like a group conversation, with the adults bringing a topic and some verses to start off and then we let the kids take it and go at it from whatever angle they want. a lot of times we get carried away with whatever new game someone has brought and end up going over time. but these kids have familiarity with what goes on here, with the words being consistently spoken over them — we hear the words to Way Maker and Who You Say I Am a lot, because something really central to the mission of this group is that we're about who God is and who that then means we are — and I swear, even me just invoking the lyrics of one of those songs when I'm talking to one of these kids gets something to noticeably click in their heads a lot of times. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I talk a lot about what music means to me and most of the time I'm talking about secular music because I myself find a lot of worth and connection there, but the point is, I guess, overall, no matter the kind of music, it has an effect. and that can be really really special

[brogatory]

Dear Mr Strider ,

Im very sorry to hear of your [nessasary] yet unfortunate death! And im sorry your struggling to adjust to the afterlife. Ive heard dream bubbles can be tricky, especially for the uninitiated.

If you happen to be taking questions, I have a few. Only if your up for them of course. I understand death is stressful.

I was wondering if you ever reached any aspects of the game while you were alive? The medium, your own potential powers? Or if you ever felt any special connection to time, like your Beta counterpart.

Speaking of which, have you ever met any other daves?

Also, this may be presumptuous of me, but maybe try speaking to Beta!Dirk about my little pony? I remember it was something Alpha!Dirk enjoyed. Hopefully you could forge mild tolerance of eachother with this?

Anyway I apologize for speaking so long, curiosity tends to get the better of me!

Best wishes,

ChthonianConversationalist

Damn lemme try my best to answer these

[You should read the tags.]

Dear Mr Strider , Im very sorry to hear of your [nessasary] yet unfortunate death! And im sorry your struggling to adjust to the afterlife. Ive heard dream bubbles can be tricky, especially for the uninitiated. If you happen to be taking questions, I have a few. Only if your up for them of course. I understand death is stressful.

Oh god youre adorable

I dont know what dreambubbles are but thanks; death has been... okay so far. I actually really appreciate yalls questions; gives me somethin to fuckin do round here even if youre all nosy lil bird bastards

I was wondering if you ever reached any aspects of the game while you were alive? The medium, your own potential powers? Or if you ever felt any special connection to time, like your Beta counterpart. Speaking of which, have you ever met any other daves?

Ive never met another dave nah. Unfortunately (Lord knows id dote on the lil guy)

As for... powers... Idk much about the medium

I know mostly what Ro could tell me

Growing up I always knew the exact time, i guess; Down to the second, yknow? Pissed my foster families off something fierce; could never fuckin answer "What time is it?" or "How long?" without being a smartass about it. Literally could not help it.

And...

Well...

[You see him pause.]

I guess i can talk about it... It's hella long though

I used to be able to rewind time. Not very far. When i was little i could only go a few minutes

But i got better at it once i realized what i could do cause i started trying

I could go back a day by 18. Or two, if i tried hard enough (and was fine with bleeding for a while from wherever the universe decided i should bleed from)

But...

I lived to be 37

For a lot of those years i held a lot of bottled up shit close to my heart n that translated to using my powers irresponsibly for even the smallest shit

Theres a reason i think this is a punishment

I don't like talking about it

...

Anyway

Rose actually found me that way; me reversin time all the time gave her wicked headaches from all the way on the east coast, so she meandered her rich goth ass over to Texas

Unfortunately it didnt stop me from usin my powers; she just got used to it, cause bein close to me made it less painful for her

Coincidentally every time she got a vision Id go fuckin blind and it lessened when she was nearby (Actually straight up ruined my vision; My shades are prescription lenses put into the Stiller Frames)

Kinda like when you get up too fast yk

I also get feelings when things happen in other timelines that feel important; Think thats the role of "Guardian" in me plus the time shit; Like i felt that big ol green bastard start existing, felt the fuckin Green Sun start existing

But lemme tell you feelin The Scratch happen was wild cause it already happened to make my dumb ass exist

But it was currently happening and also has not happened yet right now

Makes my head hurt thinkin about it

Also, this may be presumptuous of me, but maybe try speaking to Beta!Dirk about my little pony? I remember it was something Alpha!Dirk enjoyed. Hopefully you could forge mild tolerance of eachother with this?

[=>]

[vaguely-concerned]

I’m on a Star Wars books roll so here we go with my — unhinged thanks for asking! — thoughts on Dooku: Jedi Lost, specifically the audio play. Short version: I fucking loved this one! For maximum emotional devastation, pair with Master and Apprentice and Padawan the way my stupid ass did and then be sad about it forever I guess that's what I’m going to have to do.

 Long (LONG oopsie) version:

- So. First of all, let’s get the most important thing out of the way on this here old man yaoi website. We all agree dooku and sifo dyas explored each other’s bodies right. Or at least definitely would have if not for the laws of this order etc., potentially. That’s not just me. Good. Thank you. We can now move on 

- Secondly. Well. Guess I’m just going to be inconsolable about Sifo-Dyas forever now. I miss the days in which he was just a throwaway line in AotC spawned by a random misspelling to me, rather than an eternal raw aching wound in my heart

- poor poor ventress just reading through all the proof that dooku absolutely does have it in him to be a good dad I mean master and just — idk got tired of that and went the force lightning route with her. I love the move of having her dead master hang out with her all that time as well (having her slip up and refer to ‘us’ did something to me, god this is so sad. Is he actually there in spirit or is it just her grief dreaming him up because dooku is awful and cold as a cliff  wall and she needs some kind of attachment figure even if she’ll have to reinvent him herself, rebuild him word for word, gesture by gesture. Pain. sorry about your terrible track record with father figures asajj) 

- Lene: (About Averross): He hasn’t changed. 

Dooku: (In the warmest fondest voice you ever heard) And I hope he never does

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH MYSELF? MUST I SET MYSELF ON FIRE TO ESCAPE THE PAIN???

Another strong showing for Rael in general, btw. He’s so warm and charming as a presence even though he’s also a little chaos gremlin. (He’s quite similar to how Sifo-Dyas was when he was young in some ways, I can definitely start to see what Dooku responds warmly to in terms of character traits.) 

- the fact that good ol’ sheev showed an interest in rael, dooku and anakin… interesting huh! He’s just got a soft spot for the disaster lineage I suppose, maybe there’s an element there of luring yoda’s most direct lineage into the dirt with him without yoda even noticing for the longest time. Also cackling at the idea that he looked at qui-gon ‘too fucking stubborn and insufferable to fall to the dark side out of sheer spite’ jinn and went ‘...not that one tho’ fhdskjfa. And obi-wan is more like ‘that one blorbo all my little guys seem wild about but I just don’t get it guys’ 

IF rael’s refusal to join dooku at the end of ‘master and apprentice’ is the last word (which I am not convinced of ;___; be safe cowboy jedi we never see in mainline canon so far), then he’s the only one who has dodged palpatine’s attentions. Wonderful if true love that for him

ALSO rael is one of the few people we know to be on (or at least to consider himself on despite what palps might think lol) first name basis with palpatine. Hilarious. I concur with dooku never change rael 

- Sifo-Dyas: That’s insane. 

Dooku, deadpan: Yes.

Sifo-Dyas: The worst plan I’ve ever heard.

Dooku, somehow even more deadpan: Most probably. 

Sifo-Dyas: I’m in. 

Crying… weeping and dying………… what if someone could have helped sifo with his unfortunate prophecy propensity and they hadn’t drifted apart. Clone Wars averted methinks if dooku still ended up leaving the order he would have been too busy having tender gay sex with the love of his life (and only person who can call him out on his shit and have him actually listen) to be a war criminal (I am being extremely facetious of course this is very much a ‘time traveler killing baby hitler’ situation where the underlying forces causing this point in history are way too powerful to avert the catastrophe in one move. but at least palps would probably have had to pick someone else to wreck the galaxy through and sifo-dyas would be kissed & held instead of going slowly mad. A net plus some (I, me) would say) 

- I just wanted to applaud both the writing and the voice acting for the characterization of Dooku in this, from his young self trying so hard to be haughty and self-possessed but also being like, y’know, twelve and a dweeb and easy for Sifo-Dyas to pull into trouble, to the dry wit and warmth he shows with Rael and Qui-Gon or his sister later. It took me a little while to get into the voice acting specifically (the actor makes no attempt at going the full Christopher Lee, which in hindsight was probably wise), but now I love it. It gets a bit goofy in places but you know what, I am a long time lover of audio plays, that’s part of the charm 

- “Master, have I done something wrong?”

My heart is clenching… do you think… that master yoda’s deal with leaving his student to try fucking everything to have some kind of relationship with him until he just breaks down in tears of despair… is the kind of thing that maybe started a little bit of a generational trauma cartwheel through the ages. The point that bb!dooku is arrogant isn’t without merit and he strikes out incredibly ungracefully about it (in fact I would be a lot more worried than yoda seems to be that he decides to try to kill a tree about it, ‘I felt like destroying something beautiful’-style)  but I just don’t think a… fourteen year old? A teen anyway, Is going to learn what you think he learns from this. I simply don’t believe that silent treatmenting kids will teach them emotional intelligence I guess especially if they already struggle with that naturally lol 

(It is exactly the same mistake (in my opinion) that Qui-Gon makes with Obi-Wan, too, just leaving the kid completely alone and forcing them to come to you every which way for comfort or guidance instead of meeting them or reaching out to them. Especially once you see that really Dooku’s prime emotion/big core wound right from the beginning is loneliness. And that doesn’t only come from a feeling of superiority (which to be sure is also a big factor), because he has no idea where he comes from until he meets his sister. I don’t think the jedi as a whole were unsalvageable by any stretch of the imagination, but Yoda specifically… you are on such very thin ice with me at this point you little green fuck. You’re very funny and moving in yoda dark rendezvous and that’s all that’s keeping you in my somewhat good graces.)

- Okay, coming back a bit later I think I’ve found the right words to say this. more precisely dooku has two big issues which you can later see haunting all the way down his lineage — loneliness and control. (and not incidentally the intersecting elements of the two haha.) We see from his relationship to sifo-dyas that he’s not incapable of having close mutual relationships with an equal, but that kind of crashed and burned for reasons neither of them could really help and after that it seems quite telling that he has the easiest time with deeper connection in a teacher-student sort of form. I think his affection is unconditional and real, but you can’t get away from the fact that he also has the most control in that relationship structure by default, he gets to dictate what form it takes to a big extent. He doesn’t trust other people — the underlying idea ‘Only I can do this’ that eventually leads him down the Separatist path is there the whole way. It speaks both to a sense of superiority and an utter lack of faith that other people can or will help him. And then that echoes down through the master-padawan line: 

Qui-Gon with his self-righteousness and utter refusal to compromise leaving him isolated among the jedi (only he is right. Yeah the Force told him so. Don’t worry I’ve got a permit *insert parks and rec I can do whatever I want meme here*), Obi-Wan with his anxiety and perfectionism and incredible sense of shame and responsibility that he should be able to carry the whole world on his shoulders alone and beating himself up for failing, all feeding into not knowing what to do with Anakin and his complete lack of control of himself and his desperation to gain and maintain connection and love (which earns him the title of ‘Dooku’s least favorite family member’ fhdsa his immediate disdain for him is so funny and so in character. Repress and go slowly mad like a normal person anakin the way you’re carrying on is just undignified and that is much worse than being evil)… 

- Rael gently telling Dooku to take on another padawan soon… so sweet, so sad, local cowboy jedi looking out for his dad. Also highlights something about Dooku I think is true: that he does much better and seems to have an easier time holding to the light when he’s responsible for someone else. Again, I do feel like Dooku’s core problem is loneliness, but it seems like raising kids is the one point where that relaxes somewhat. Maybe if Sifo-Dyas had stayed in a better mental place and they kept in touch it could have been different.

- Lene Kostana is SUCH a character! Charismatic and deeply fucked up, when it’s revealed how her and Sifo-Dyas’ relationship remains long after his padawan stage is done I felt a little bit sick, to my surprise. Because that could just be kindness on her part, of course, it’s good that he has someone he trusts to look after him when he can’t himself, but also there’s something… queasy about the way it keeps him continually young, in a way. (Notably he still calls her ‘master’ even as an adult, when they’re working together. Not uncommon in Star Wars, of course, but together with everything else going on vibes-wise… hm.) The inherent unreliable narration of this story really worked for me in this regard especially — do we know that young Dooku was entirely wrong when he sensed the dark side in her? She certainly is willing to go to lengths that are… worrying! in her fascination with sith shit, she tempted children into a dangerous place they didn’t understand and couldn’t know the consequences of and she continually puts sifo-dyas in situations that are implied to be a risk to worsening his condition. Run of the mill incredibly irresponsible at best, sincerely sinister at worst. Did she choose Sifo over Dooku because he’s more vulnerable and shapeable? There is an undercurrent of something icky and emotionally incest-y going on with how she relates to Dooku and Sifo-Dyas in general (right down to the ‘NO, no one can know about this’ intensity after the… evil moss cave. I can’t believe I’m this emotional about a book with an evil moss cave). I don’t think she’s a proper sith in any way and I also believe there is real affection there on all sides, but idk something about the whole thing makes me deeply uneasy. Yoda where the fuck are you your son is out there with his irresponsible mom again they’re looking for dirty needles in haystacks and they’re not even wearing any gloves

- dooku telling sifo-dyas he can come back to haunt him if he likes as a joke… well well well I’m sure that doesn’t ring with some dramatic irony at some point down the line lmao

- honestly looking back at master and apprentice after reading jedi lost makes qui-gon's apparent lack of reaction to dooku leaving seem — let's call it highly suspect haha. rael asks him if he's spoken to dooku after and qui-gon is like 'no. why would I. it's literally fine. anyway this topic is done now'. (and rael seems to just go ‘*older brotherly knowing* uh-huh’) meanwhile he's thinking about dooku *all the time* trying to figure out his role as master to obi-wan, thinking about being a padawan himself, the parts of his life he shared with both dooku and rael. The jedi doth protest too much methinks  

ALSO how much of qui-gon thinking the council was too lenient with rael after he had to kill his padawan is about that actual situation, and how much is a ‘our family still likes my older brother more than me even though he Fucked Up so bad and breaks just as many rules as I do’ sort of deal mixed with his own neuroses about how he’s failing obi-wan (to which rael’s situation symbolizes the worst possible outcome, i.e. the kid dies and it’s basically your fault). Many thoughts. 

- moment of silence for jenza of house serenno. Girl your only sin was being surrounded by asshole male family members and I’m so sorry I think you did all you could with what you had to work with here.

Not… entirely sure how dooku’s claim to the title supersedes hers — is he a year older than her? (she’s eleven when they first meet, he might be twelve or older at that point I don’t remember haha) Does she just give up her place in the inheritance order? Are primogeniture and male heir preference factors in Serenno inheritance law? Not the most important thing honestly it works anyway thematically but could have been clarified quickly!

- interesting to see that the council’s restrictive policy against engaging with prophecies had a surprisingly big impact on how things went down. Kostana has a lot of responsibility in Sifo’s fate for insisting he keep it secret, but there is genuine fear for what might become of him if the rest of the order finds out he’s got 24/7 futurevision hovering over him threateningly… listen it’s not like the poor guy can help getting the future constantly pumped into his brain at nightmare resolutions, I think maybe if there had been more willingness to at least engage curiously with the concept of prophecy and how it works, even if you don’t put your faith in the particulars of what the prophecies say, this wouldn’t have had to be such a shitty isolated secretive life for him. hearing him slowly fall apart over the years considering how bright and lovely he started out... oof is all I can say 

- when dooku was a good jedi he was such a good jedi!!! The scene where they’re saving the kids from the collapsing hospital, every time he teaches his students anything…the impulse of someone has to do something about this! that made him so good at saving lives turning dark with the tarnish of frustration and rage over the years… nooooooooo problematic grandpa why did it have to be like this :(

- …do you think infant jedi can sense what’s going on around them in the Force. Because it makes a very sad kind of sense if dooku on some level remembers bodily or in the Force that he was not only abandoned but rejected in disgust as one of the first things he discovered in the world. Oh boy. With all the ways attachment relationships can go wonky in the first few years in real life I don’t even want to consider how much more wrong it can go when the baby is fucking psychic lol

- vaguely related: the way dooku seems to find the very idea of being truly reliant on anyone, emotionally or otherwise, personally offensive, terrifying and humiliating lol. Yoda saves him from being crushed by rubble and he is outraged because that means he can’t save himself (and his newfound sister) without anyone’s help like he thought for one glorious moment he could. The fantasy of perfect emotional self-sufficiency, doing away with all the messiness and risk of interpersonal relationships and cutting off the possibility of really being abandoned again. It’ll get ya every time. This is also a thing you see reflected in his lineage — they’re all quite inward-turning that way until you get to anakin, to different extents and with varying presentations but it is there I think. Qui-Gon turns to the Force, Obi-Wan to perfectionism and shame and rumination, Rael to the bottle and depression and hedonistic apathy, but they all struggle hugely with letting anyone in to help them. Dooku’s line are all much more comfortable being the helpers rather than the helpees, as it were.  

- “Thank you for everything, Lene. Tell Rael and Qui-Gon — tell them… tell them the Force will be with them, always”

Emotional terrorism against me specifically and personally. You asshole you just excused yourself from the non-attachment rules there’s literally nothing in the world except you to stop you from reaching out and telling your children you love them yOURSELF why are you like this

- the recurring theme of dooku seeing something beautiful (the tree in the temple, the tirra’taka as a child and an adult) and ending up lashing out to destroy it… but the tree was old and mighty and he was young and new and couldn’t truly harm it, so he was saved from his own impulsivity. And then when he sees the tirra’taka as an adult he loves it immediately. And in the end he still mangles and destroys it. He didn’t mean to, but he did. He woke it up and hurt it just by existing as a child and then he had to kill it as a mercy because he was too powerful at that point for anything to buffer his mistakes. The parallel with the bird he loved that he also couldn’t protect. He starts out with an aching loneliness somewhere at the core of him through no real fault of his own but by the end it is entirely his own fault that it’s worse, because he starts wrecking everything he loves in an almost absent-minded but definitely intentional way, like it’s a nightmare he’s listening to through the door as it happens in the next room over. He really IS the ‘I just felt like destroying something beautiful’ central of the jedi.

at the end qui-gon is dead and through dooku’s own influence, however indirectly. Rael has had to turn away from him. Sifo-Dyas is dead on Dooku’s own orders and so is his sister, he might as well have done it with his own hands. (though I think it’s very interesting that in each case he didn’t do it with his own hands, he consistently uses a middleman.) He lives within the coldness of his sterile empty castle and horrifically mistreats the one person he might have found something like connection with the way he did with his students before (Ventress), deliberately trapping her in a similar state of utter desolate isolation and telling her, essentially, ‘We’re like this as people and nothing can be done to change it. We can’t escape, we’re already doomed, stop trying, it’s too late. You are just like me (and if you aren't already I'll make you like me)’. And that’s the closest thing he gets to love anymore. When he accused Ky of using her ‘as a salve for his own loneliness’ and you’re like well well well mr projection man how’s that working out for you. He is completely, shatteringly alone and he is so entirely as a consequence of his own actions and he's too far gone to understand or care. I’m howling you useless fucking FOOL dooku  

- dooku �� john gaius

“Hm. I have observed that there are in fact many flaws in our society and the government is deeply corrupt. So if I kill a few billion people here and there in order to fix it, is that not basically okay when you really think about it” 

Dooku making salient points about the political and ethical failures of the Republic and then, just when you think he’s onto something, he goes and makes The wildest fucking decisions about what to do about it. Sure. dark magic and genocide are probably the only ways out of this you’re so right bro. If we make enough minuses to add together surely we’ll end up in plus sooner or later

- *head in my hands once more* I can’t believe I am genuinely emotionally invested in someone called Count Dooku with the looks of a knockoff dracula and ultimate moral character to match right now this is terrible. hey. hey dooks. what you have to go and fuck everything up so bad for huh I’m so incredibly sad now

there is something to be said about how getting to see glimpses of what dooku looked like in the light makes it so much more heartwrenching that he never came back. he could have, a thousand times. and every time he chose not to.

[jazzically]

the magnus protocol episodes 4 through 7 — my live reactions not clickbait

magp 4

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD IS THIS THE STATEMENT AND/OR ORIGIN OF ALFRED GRIFTER

omg i love how the literal only reason for hearing statements from the 1800s is gwen being behind on her work

ALSO I FRICKING LOVE THE MAGNUS PROTOCOL THEME

Oh my lord you know it's a good sidequel when you can already feel the itch to relisten to everything you just listened to

magp 5

Ok i do not know whether we say "a blast from the past" in America but i have heard that phrase like five times now from Brits all on the RQ magnus feed so im wondering if that's just an alexander j newall thing or !!! what (love it tho. i love it)

faith the unholy trinity referenced???? faith the unholy trinity!!!!!!?

aint no way he won the contest by coincidence LMAO

OOOH THIS IS SUCH A COOL FORMAT!!! ahh ... just how many ideas do they have for digital first-person storytelling mediums?? cuz with every new one i am fascinated

i wonder if jonny just flipped between soft speaker and robot while recording or if "[UNINTELLIGIBLE]" is a digital insert. if it's the latter i am VERY impressed although it's characteristic of jonny at this point lol

OOOooooOOoOoO personal relation is always extra spookyyy

i am also extremely impressed by the similarity in writing style. i can see it (in a good way) now that i'm looking harder, but i would never have guessed jonny didn't write all the episodes

also i just love how alex and jonny swap announcer roles sometimes (jonny as credits, alex as title/episode) for tmp

NOTE TO SELF: check out the cellar letters!!!!! omfg!!! it sounds fire!!!!

magp 6

aw that's such a sweet dedication message

URGH HAVE I MENTIONED I LOVE THE TMAGP THEME

i always wondered what the muffled falling-down-the-stairs noise at the end of the original theme was. it always put me in mind of the aesthetic of the beginning of portal 2 (and, later, the Buried coffin) idk why

I LOOOVE ALL OF THESEEEE none of them have been hard to get through at all?? which is rare for me bc i fail to pay attention to things for long unless they come in more than two forms of stimulus simultaneously (video + music, audio + fidget toy, video + candle)

AWIEE SAM AND CELIA 😭😭😭

Yes alice you do that matchmaking you are SUCH a girlboss

magp 7

OMFG CELIA DEFINITELY KNOWS SOMETHING

lmao jonny says ree instead of err ee now (for "re:"/regarding)

[ThEory time babes woooOoO]

heyyyy is this one of those other worlds that the fears got banished to. actually what happened to the dread powers? am not exactly clear on that (i hope it's on purpose). maybe the place where the dread powers exist alongside "our world" in tma is also adjacent to other worlds in exactly the same way?? like how a hexagon can be adjacent to six other hexagons??? that'd be sick and it would also explain why there wasnt an overwhelming amount of supernatural incidents in "our world" such that everyone was familiar with the dread powers and normalized safety procedures and such ... interesting au idea ... also the idea jonny proposed about a post-apocalypse world in the s5 qna... that one is cool too............ writers get on that (/j/j/j)

is tmp a separate world ??? they only said it was in the same universe as tma iirc

[wild speculation over]

RAAAAAA i LOVE the robotic voices' VAs' abilities to slowly transition into humanlike speech

cLaYtOn!!!!!? do i know that name or am i going crazy

perhaps i am yet again thinking of the worker of clay (see previous post)

LOOOLL "better than norris, whiny little toad"

OHMYGFUCKING GOD WAIT I RESCIND MY EARLIER STATEMENT!!!!!! THAT'S CANONICALLY JONATHAN SIMS' FRICKING VOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!

hehehe ooooh you're evil writermen. how dare you use our constant uncertainty as to which characters you're referring to induced by your earlier repetition when naming characters (really there should be a limit as to how many michaels can be in one story) so that we are still unsure, even with prior knowledge, whether sam's mysterious "john" is actually the archivist or just some other john. good lord (im obsessed)

HOLY CRAP COLIN KNOOOWSSSSSSSS THINGSSS i just adore his role as the town crazy old man

omg alex's writing is incredible

[samiraky]

Boys ep 6

Wild episode...the parodies and refrences were hilarious, when I put two and two together that tek knight is supposed to be batman I was cackling 😂😂😂him being racist and the butler being black didn't escape my notice.

And the refrences to the black ninja controversy from the new assassin's creed.

Fake spiderman's safeword being zendaya😂😂

But I'm wondering would he stop if he used his safeword or not cause the other assistant was not there by choice and too cooperative to torture him.good for him. Revenge must have felt nice.also when he was talking about holes becoming boring and making new ones my mind went to the Spiderman shooting something other than webs joke.

Ashley is freaky but women for the love of God maybe do safe,sane and consensual;but she is as fucked up as the others I guess.

Poor hughie can't catch a break...sexual assault on top of his dad's death, also I don't trust his mom,she just doesn't sit well with,there's something about her.

The moment I saw that kid smile to A-train I knew for sure he's gonna die.

From all the fucked up things in this show somehow the scene between homelander and firecracker felt the most disturbing.

How homelander's face lit up after getting splashed like he got everything he has ever wanted....uncomfortable is an understatement.

I'm not sure why firecracker did it,just to have power over him?cause she kinda sounded genuine and she said the drugs make her heart larger which is deadly so what is she getting out of this by risking death?

Idk if that's sister sage's actual plan and she's gonna go through with it or she has planned a spin at the end,is she gonna take the reins or manipulat it from the shadows,especially after her talk with neuman.

I really liked frenchie but idk what are they doing with him.

The joe Kessler plot twist was not twisting cause we saw it coming but with the way episode ended I know it doesn't matter how it ends it's gonna be bad either way.

[towards-toramunda]

I feel like it’s worthwhile to point out that nobody is saying Ludinus is a good or morally grey guy. Nobody is saying the ruby vanguard is a good group. When people (or at least me idk I can’t talk for others) are saying that seeing the humanity of the people drawn into the other side is important it’s because Matt keeps making a point to bring it up. Matt showing us Tuldus being forced to pray for hours as a child and being punished for lack of piety, showing us a locket with a child on a cultist they’d just killed, showing us Lilliana’s pain, and now with Bor’Dor’s backstory with the gods.

Being a DM myself I think that its important not to discount the constant mentions of the trauma from the masses in this cult because Matt, the dungeon master, the story weaver, the one calling the shots, keeps making a point to highlight the backstories of the people who join the vanguard. I’m guessing (based on the fact that Utkarsh doesn’t watch the show and had no context for what the vanguard was) that Utkarsh came to Matt and said “give me a character idea” and Matt decided that the story needed a PC on the other side.

It really feels like he keeps saying “Look at how these people have been hurt. See them as people with trauma and love and family who easily fell for Ludinus’ lie.”

And that lie is another reason I think its valid to question the gods. Because questioning the gods doesn’t make you want what Ludinus wants. Questioning power, why it acts the way it acts, does the things it does, and doesn’t do the things it doesn’t do, is important in any society! Even one where there are gods (and I’d say especially one where there are gods with questionable morals and backstories). Because while Ludinus is evil and has vile intentions, he is drawing people into his power grab by hiding it in a nugget of truth: many feel slighted by the gods. Many have seen the good things the gods can do and are left to wonder why they’re left to suffer. Why the gods choose to help some and not them. Why their families forced them to worship those they didn’t believe.

And seeing this story NOW when we’ve seen so many stories in real life of people who are traumatized and hurt and confused going to the internet with their grief and being led to hate groups and radicalization feels VERY intentional on Matt’s part. It feels (to me) like he’s begging us to see the ruby vanguard members as people who were drawn in by a charismatic leader who pretended to understand their pain and used them.

Matt keeps telling us its important to see the humanity and the trauma faced by the other side. He could be doing this to flavor the story or to create tension or push the characters to make hard choices or some other reason. I just feel that empathizing with the trauma of those on the other side doesn’t make you akin to a terrorist sympathizer despite what some seem to take from that, and its wild given how clearly (to me) Matt wants us to empathize with them.

(Because this is the internet and people love to misread things:

I don’t agree with the things the people in the ruby vanguard do, I don’t think Matt agrees with it, but I think Matt wants us to feel conflicted with them. I think Matt wants us to believe they’ve been misdirected and could be deradicalized, but its up to Bell’s Hells to decide if they’re willing to forgive the harm they’ve been put through or attempt the effort to deradicalize.

I don’t think it makes any sense to say that questioning the gods makes one akin to Ludinus. Theres a lot to question about the gods. Where did they come from? What even is divinity? How much of their exandrian creation story can we actually believe if they’ve supposedly been hiding the existence of predathos from us? How do we actually know what predathos is? If a mortal can become a god then what the hell even is a god? Etc.

I hope this goes without saying, but just in case: If you don’t want to empathize with real life hate groups please don’t. This is a fictional cult based in the idea that they can release a predator that will get rid of the gods. I don’t see the ruby vanguard as a hate group, a horrible cult that has done vile things and led to the deaths of innocents absolutely, but I hate groups are hateful towards one or many marginalized groups, and thats not this. (I suppose one could argue they’re a hate group for the gods and… sure. I disagree but sure). To me, empathy for the members in the vanguard makes sense in the context of the story Matt is telling, but in real life it is very hard to have empathy for hate groups even if they are formed of traumatized and hurt people who could be deradicalized. I believe deradicalization is necessary for many but fucking hard/impossible for all, and I especially believe that members of marginalized groups shouldn’t feel the need or pressure to help in the deradicalization of those who harm them.

Similarly I believe Orym is valid in his decision to be at war with members of the group that killed his family. Yes I think he is unable to be objective (Liam O’Brien said so himself), but, as a person with ptsd myself, sometimes you need to screw objectivity in the face of trauma. I think we as the audience should be aware that he has lost objectivity so we can better understand his actions, but I don’t think that lack of objectivity makes his choices “wrong”, and its strange to see people claiming that anyone pointing out Orym’s lack of objectivity doesn’t have empathy or morals.)

Anyway this was too long and I should never get involved in discourse again.

[silvermeww]

favorite moment with ash/satoshi? :)

Ooh thanks so so much for the ask, you have chosen such a great character ksksksks

The fun thing about Ash (or Satoshi in my rewatch, what a lad) is that there is so much to choose from?? He’s such a goober ever and goes through so many different arcs, some bad and some good but all of them ultimately representing growth, and I love that for him, that in the end it really was all about the journey (and still is, isn’t it?). Well, I took the time to think because honestly my favourite moments has to be his interactions with his friends and his Pokémon, they’re so wholesome and funny and light and really make the journey so much more lived-in, you know?? More wanted, less of a slog, happiness shared with each companion and funny and uplifting all the same.

I guess for now, since it’s always changing for me, is the way Ash handled Litten up to its capture, and especially that ep when Stoutland passed away. It’s so rare for Ash to stay in one place for so long so Alola is already full of amazing scenes for me, scenes where Ash finds new perspectives in familiar places (that isn’t Kanto), and so him taking an interest in Litten from that start and not immediately hunting it down to catch it was already so interesting to me. Because now he doesn’t have to get it on the first try, he doesn’t have to catch it at all, because there is no League and no rush here in Alola. He can be friends with it as it was, wild and free just like him, and even if it would take a while for it to warm up to him it didn’t matter. He had time, for once.

And when Stoutland actually went away and never returned… well, what can I say?? Ash’s patience, his gentle care, his persistence to make sure that Litten was alright and taken care of, that will never stop changing me. It’s the accumulation of all of his experience (looking after baby Pokémon, looking after traumatised Pokémon, caring for sick Pomeon and seeing different ways to care for them… that and so much more). He’s grown, but he’s still the same. Willing to befriend anything no matter the cost, and taking the hits when it’s needed. His moral compass is still as string as ever, but now he knows its time and place. In Alola, he was really taken their ideal of people and Pokémon together by heart, and for once that was the perfect ideal for him. So no wonder he was at his most authentic self there as well, in my opinion at least ^^

ALSO I can do the whole thing for you, especially since I’m bored and wow I’m on a roll, but I will put the rest under a read more just in case heh

First impression

As a person who kept hearing about it, I honestly had no clue about him except that he’s on a journey and had Pokémon idk.

When I was actually first watching the series he was, well, I remember I used the word ‘unlikeable’ for everyone back then at some point in S1 because it really was easy to see everyone’s flaws back then. Ash was loud, wouldn’t take others opposing opinions as well, didn’t understand Pokémon well also (which did inevitably lead to the Charizard problem in the end)… but also had it hard on his side as well. I guess I just saw him as he was, as a 10 year old setting off in the wild—about to meet danger but hey, he’s also just as dangerous just as he was lol.

Impression now

God, as by my rewatch? He’s an absolute menace heh. Actually rewatching S1 really brought about me noticing the emphasis on ‘growing up’ on Ash especially, in Kanto of all places. Then again, it is the place that has guns, the Yakuza and 10 year olds that have to stop them. Growing up and being the Chosen One and being told multiple times to just act in an emergency is a lot for him to handle at the start of his journey, where he just wants to be friends with Pokémon and just saw the League as something to do while he was at it (until Gary came along lol) so now I feel even worse for him. But knowing how it ends, I know he’s going to get great friends, amazing teams, and achieve a big part of his dream with so many people by his side so I can’t be sad for too long. Also him copying Brock mannerisms when he’s not around and teaching other people some of the things he has learnt so far is so nice, really changes the perspective of him so early on in S1. For now I’m just waiting for him to get enough braincells in the Orange Islands to learn how to strategise :p

Idea for a story

You’re asking the fanfic writer lol… Well I have so many, and they don’t all come from my XY au heh. If I had to be original and choose one that I didn’t already post, I would say a story based on the massive net of friends, rivals and in between he has and their communications and connections with each other. Like Internet forums, friends-of-friends, meeting each other while passing by, talking about Ash and overhearing… yeah it’s not strictly Ash-focused but seeing his effect on everyone like those extra eps that were present like Chronicles for Johto, and post DP and BW (XY would’ve been peak if we had Serena meet Iris PLEASE!!!!) was so amazing for me. Ash is an instigator, and, well, to know him is to survive him though silliness and whimsy (or Sheer Force, an ability that—). Either way, fun times and something that I should do fr.

Unpopular opinion

I mean, what’s there to say that hasn’t already been said?? I guess something that maybe not a lot of people have said (to my knowledge) is that the Hoenn League was probably one of the worst leagues to me, honestly. If it wasn’t for Morrison (great guy, love the next recantation of King Kai in my Pokémon Advanced) it would be been downright unmemorable to me. I don’t care about Meowth in Boots guy, he barely brought anything to the table as a last minutes addition. At least Ritchie taught Ash to idk be ready instead of relying on luck, and the Johto guy taught him that there are always other places with other people to battle, and Sinnoh guy taught him that there is always someone stronger, no matter what. Cameron was just a roadblock so I don’t have to worry about him (and Eevee guy COULD’VE been promotion for Sylveon if they weren’t cowards and gave me a proper friendship evo fights), and I got an essay as to why Alain needed to knock Ash down on his butt in Kalos. But Meowth in Boots guy?? Nothing. I guess I could reach and say something about being cocky but Ash mostly mellowed out by then. Idk it just wasn’t as OG as OG, as rewarding as Ash vs Gary in Johto, or nail-biting like in Sinnoh, or funny as in Unova, or as painfully quick at the start like Kalos. Which is sad because Hoenn was a great region but with the change of VA and everything along with a new format (having a deuteragonist and new villain teams), I can’t really blame the League as much. Would’ve helped if there was setup for once, but I get the need to make him lose the only way he’s gotta. By last minute additions lol.

Favorite relationship

Him and everyone as friends <333 But seriously, Ash is the kind of guy where you can slap him into so many relationships and see what comes out of it. I can’t have a favourite one per se, but one of my faves has to be him and Poiple (I’m on a SuMo roll and I haven’t even watched it in a while yet lol). Just, space baby and love and teaching it the world that he got used to, the good and the bad, and seeing everything in a new light, and letting it grow up in its own world (so much more better than what happened to Goodra, got an essay on that release-and-only-in-League-return). Love and more love. Different kinds of it, different shades, family and sharing.

Doesn’t help that the end of the arc was a *chefs kiss* as well, heh :3

Favorite headcanon

Another one that has been done to death heh, how can I get a good one for you… well, I always liked the idea that Ash does have a journey with his mother after the vague ending of JN at some point, just a small one where they travel around together and he tries to show her how to camp out and she Knows but she lets him show her anyways and he rotates his Pokémon and she cooes over them and even catch some of her own. Nice things, taking it slow. Also imagine them bugging Oak together lol, so fun heh.

[authoratmidnight]

d, e, and k

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

Yusei/Aki

I really really wish I could like it, it seems to be fairly popular and there's some gorgeous art of it. But I just can't. And frankly it's not helped by the fact that a stupid number of the shippers seem to rag on ships/characters that I like, makes it hard.

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

Well, I wrote that 'everyone's avatar turns into cats' fic for Vrains. For Iruma I wrote a 'the Misfits get a substitute teacher, assume this means Kalego-sensei is dead' fic. So I think those count.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Like, ever? Oh man. Idk about 'favourite ever' but, I do be liking the development arcs in Iruma-kun. Sabnok Sabro esp.

When we're introduced to him he is, all about strength. He WILL fight people and things that are strong to prove his strength and worthiness to the next Demon King. He picked a fight with a teacher first day, he picked a fight with a giant bird monster (and I mean, Sabro was like the size of a toenail, big). B/c clearly physical strength is all that matters.

Until he learns that, it's not. Physical strength alone does not a king make. And we see it in action several arcs later when he confronts the teacher he attacked on his first day and, apologizes. Straight up, down on his hands and knees, back and wings bared, apology.

And then in the next big arc, this further put to the test when he is once again thrust into a life and death situation and has to make a choice. Stay and fight, and probably die. or retreat.

He chooses to retreat. A complete 180 from the fight with the bird monster where he was prepared (and expecting) to die.

And he IS growing! Realizing his limitations and what he needs to change about himself if he wants to achieve his goals.

And IT GETS BETTER!

We know he has a very strained relationship with his family (or his father at least) which is why he doesn't live at home (I guess he lives in school dorms? since apparently they do have those?). But after a conversation with his 'rival' (Iruma) he decides to, actually face them. And while that confrontation goes a way that can only be described as 'badly', it's not the only thing he decides to confront.

(and look you can see him thinking about that conversation with Iruma there)

It's just, so good. I love this boy so much. If Iruma doesn't become Demon King, Sabro has my vote.

Also, can we talk about the trust and faith he has in Balam-sensei to be there for him if he has to utilize his Wicked Phase? He's been avoiding this thing for, literal years (he's only had one WP and has avoided it ever since apparently), and Balam gives him special pills to help him release it (and release it in a much more wild, much more uncontrolled state), except he hasn't had a chance to be trained yet so these are literally if a 'if you literally have no other choice' option. But Balam promises him that god forbid he does have to use them when Balam isn't around, he will be there for him!

And Sabro trusts him. (and Balam does indeed come through as promised and it's wonderful, the end of that chapter lives rent free in my head).

[unsleepingtales]

Mentopolis ep 4! This is another very long one and also this time there's research and visual aids!

Siobhan’s look this ep is so good

I relate to Hank Green in that I also roll a d20 between my fingers and gaze into the middle distance when my GM recounts The Horrors.

You look too pretty and mysterious 😔

Siobhan is so good at playing a femme fatale

Jokes!

Wait do flash mobs really not exist anymore? Did those disappear and I didn’t notice?

Has anyone checked to see how far down Elias is rn.

Like is he gonna be falling for the next three episodes.

I love when there are cousins in rpgs. The Lords of The Wing. Imelda and Anastasia. Every rp server I’ve ever been in. Most of the dnd games I’ve ever been in. If there’s one thing rpers/ttrpgers/etc love it’s fucking complex family dynamics.

I love Max <3

she’s so silly I love her

Ivana x Dan where’s the fic cmon guys

The super casual dance 💃

THANK you please check

(players make cartoonish sounds of worry)

They really want him to fly lmao

The setttttt

WHY DOES HE HAVE A GRAPPLING HOOK ON HIS BELT

Like that’s great. But he has this for why. Did he know he was gonna get tossed out the window??? What the fuck??

I missed it last episode but this episode’s spelling is 🥁🥁

Phởcks!

ở is a Vietnamese language vowel (one of twelve), and is pronounced as an unrounded [o]. Vietnamese is a tonal language, so Ở is the letter Ơ with the hook tonal indicator above it. It does phonetically make sense as a replacement letter for the sound they are trying to achieve. x x Back to the show!

Oh god we’re in the red

140 pressure! By golly gee!

Dan whatcha doin

The fucks of doom

Literally of doom.

Freddie trying to explain what this looks like is so funny oh my god

Why did you need to slap her for that?

ONE

Quadruple oh dear lord

Also why was the grappling gun vibrating

What are you doing kid??

Oh he has no way of knowing that but that could really screw The Fix. I really hope he doesn’t get killed because the DA finds out he’s not dead.

I’ll bet Hank is having such a great time just watching this.

She beat it by more than five hell yeah

Floor rules!!

What a great cover story for being at Sugah’s all the time

Oh, the cops are huge assholes? Shocking.

Especially when Brennan’s the GM lol

Yeah Hank definitely forgot he was playing lmao

HELL YEAH

What is thisssss

Oh I do not like this at all

Everyone is so delighted by him and honestly I am too

Bad this is all bad

Like body like brain function I guess

The Fix should have had a grappling hook on his belt idk what to tell you

Wild. This is a wild thing to have happened.

God the fear that “did you know” instills now.

What. What are you trying to achieve right now.

TRAPP

What are you trying to do

WHY IS THIS WHAT’S HAPPENING

Holy shit man. What the fuck.

So is he like. No longer stressed or something? He’s still swinging from a grappling hook off a skyscraper, is he no longer stressed about that?

The gang is reuniting!

Why is Mrs Doubtfire the default? Like every improv person I’ve ever met defaults to Mrs doubtfire when they need to do a disguise thing.

Split like an end

Just noticed the little thing that looks like the communism symbol on the background lmao

The Brennan Face of Defeat is beautiful and tragic

We would hate for anyone in police custody not to have a wonderful time 💀

Poor Max

Tropes!

C’est la vieeeeee

Myeh, see!

Vigilance?

Just. Maybe. Hundreds?

An entire crosswalk just saw you shit yourself and despite being thrown out of a window and trying to grappling hook yourself to safety, the public humiliation is your biggest concern right now.

We’re driving to the mayor!

Hunch and Fucks duo of all time

Shit!

What is happeninggg

Okay but if he planned to jump and use the grappling hook then why would none of his brain functions be aware of that?

Getting the white key in the chest of a function takes it over?

“He looked at me with some eyes that did not have him inside them anymore” Jesus Christ that’s not quite on “who do we know who has blood” level but it’s close

What a wonderful flashback.

Maybe this insane situation will change him a bit lol

Freddie mouthing along perfectly <3

Drive STRAIGHT into his walls

Ivana what an icon

Great googly moogly!!

Girl what

What an adorable visual

Mr. Mayor I know we’re confessing to kind of a lot of crimes here BUT-

Is rope burn really the biggest concern

This is why the government never gets anything done

The best thing that could happen WOULD be if everything in the world were to stop you’re so right

You don’t make any sense!

Yeah having the concept of freezing as the head of government would make it really easy for people to puppet that.

I’m with Conrad I have no idea what’s going on

Yessss exactly what Imelda had tried to do earlier

Siblings <3

Ok! So they’re not falling anymore!

To control and regulate 😬

I’m curious 🧐🤨 I do all kinds of crazy things 😋🤪🥸

Trapp is so good

Thank god they got the pressure down or that would have been Bad lmao

They all smell so much like beef oh god

The conscience is not the thing holding you back from experiencing pleasure my guy

Of course you’re the embodiment of justification and you’d love to write a manifesto. Of course.

Dan Fucks is in handcuffs so often

The POWER of that roll oh my god

I want to know this woman’s story

Just fun facts, they’re not scary!

(Hank ebullient he’s meeting his match)

e·bul·lient /iˈbo͝olyənt, iˈbəlyənt/ adjective 1. cheerful and full of energy.

FACT ALERT. BRENNAN BIRD FACT ALERT.

Fact off time

Pasha N. She’s PASSION incredible

I love the cartoony clue logic of this place

Copper!

(getting titillated from the tidbits)

Caption authors I LOVE you

(aroused and astounded) I didn’t know, I didn’t know.

The fact that The Fix didn’t know any of this and this is presumably the first time someone is trading facts with him that he didn’t already know and doing it so excitedly I’m having feelings.

Hunch Curio incredible wingman action

Trapp gets the same brand of candy cigarettes that I do!

Fun fact: candy cigarettes look super realistic if you burn the end and work as props for cosplay sometimes! They also taste like toasted marshmallow :)

Oh god

Is the brother one of the kids from the orphanage? Maybe he was abandoned there and that’s why he stayed a kid while his sister grew up?

Oh my god Hank eating the candy cigarette was such a good beat

ICHABOD

Hank Green your mind <3

The gang’s back together!

Sometimes Brennan walks into a bad pun and he looks so disappointed in himself

That man needs some beef on his legs!

What a great episode.

Capers!

Sneak peek reactions:

Leave the child alone

Ooh do we get to meet Don Avaricii?

Whatttt

Oohohohoho yay.

[ricksanchezsimpaccount]

ok thoughts on the new episode,

SPOILER WARNING obviously

although honestly I don't think I'll be saying anything that others haven't already said haaaaa

anyway finally, a chance for morty's new VA to shine, and GOD does he. I love the way Evil Morty talks, idk why but that bored "uh huh" when Rick tries shooting him several times is soooo funny to me. he killed it and so did ian cardoni (the way he screams "I'LL KILL YOU" after slow mobius' death OOOOOUUUU CHILLS)

i honestly did not expect to see Evil Morty again, and even though I'm kinda sad he didn't get the lasting peace away from Rick that he wanted, he is a DELIGHT to see in action!! i love his interactions w Rick, it's so interesting having a Morty that's on par/better than Rick. although I'll be honest....he kinda feels like a Rick himself, especially w the cybernetic augmentations he also has--at least to me. Wonder if that's going to be brought up again later down the line, something about becoming the monster you fight against i LOVE how we got to see his backstory finally, like others have said I'm really happy that he was just a "normal" Morty. his Rick wasn't anything special. he literally was just a Morty who finally got sick of Rick's shit. i loved the reveal too, bc they DID have me going for a sec there, I thought who we were seeing was OUR morty Indiana Jones Rick 💘💘💘😳😳😳😳😳💦 that's all I'm saying on that And ok, DO I think Rick Prime is dead? like ACTUALLY dead? Honestly...yes. At least I hope so. I think it'd be FAR more compelling for Rick to be like "...now what?" and for the show to actually explore and unpack that, over it being like HAHA SURPRISE RICK PRIME'S NOT ~REALLY~ DEAD you know?

Because yeah. He got his revenge, the revenge he's literally been chasing...basically his entire life, like...since his, what, 30s? And it didn't feel good. It didn't fix things, it didn't make him feel better. He feels as empty as he did before and NOW he doesn't even have a goal to strive towards anymore. There's nothing. And I feel like the ending of the episode did a REALLY good job of portraying that just numbness. He probably fantasized about this moment the WHOLE time and it absolutely didn't live up to it. It wasn't glorious or feel liberating, he just ends up covered in blood and feeling more hollow and broken than before. That's just...kinda how trauma is Morty at first hesitating to touch Rick but eventually hugging him anyway was so sweet ;_; Anyway as for the cinematography of the episode itself...absolutely stellar. Great fights, the SCOPE of everything, the backgrounds and settings, it's wild how much this show has popped off with its animation (it's honestly so funny seeing them stitch in clips from Season 1 in there bc the CONTRAST in animation quality is astounding. its like when artists on twitter do the "my art from 10 years ago vs now" comparisons LOL. LITERALLY, SEASON 1 WAS 10 YEARS AGO). The just dead silence as Rick punches Rick Prime to death (only sounds of course being rick talking and punching), the whole exchange that happened during it, how just downright BRUTAL it was, that entire scene was crafted so well, and others have pointed out the significance of Rick literally beating Prime to death with his bare fists instead of using his tech or weapons or anything, which i feel like was definitely on purpose, and i love man this post ended up longer than i anticipated I'M SORRY. THIS EPISODE DESTROYED ME EMOTIONALLY AND I LOVE WHEN THIS SHOW DOES THAT ✌✨ MY BRAIN'S BEEN BUZZING. IF YOU READ ALL THIS RAMBLING THANKS I GUESS HLFDKSJFH

[skydigiblogs]

silly 02tb thoughts a month after we watched it

going through the 02tb tags trying to figure out if anyone came away with anything resembling my interpretation of some of the lore dropped and wondering if i need to watch it again bsdjhfbjshdfds

i went into the tags because wikimon has yet to include an in-depth summary. reason being is i'm writing some self indulgent shit (that's already being a little flexible with canon). it's not going to be something i even publish but i am writing it indulgent of the interpretations i came out of 02tb with. and i am realizing now, i don't think i ever shared those interpretations?

like both of them are probably not the intended reading. like i'm fairly certain that's the case.

but i also keep seeing people talk about kizuna and 02tb regarding unreliable narrators (and narratives) after having just put myself through the hell of tri again. so, bear with me on my two very wild interpretations that might mean i need to rewatch 02tb (bearing in mind that i watched the kizuna dub and 02tb subbed).

it's me, it's a long one under the cut.

first: in consideration of the canonicity of tri.

yes. i hate tri. we all know this. i'm fairly certain bandai really wants us to just let tri be forgotten. on this note, i had to double check the flashback footage because i could swear we never saw a digivice during bakumon's sacrifice. we do, i just forgot because by loss i was surviving only through doing art on my tablet.

anyways. what is the digivice functionally? in 02tb, it's literally the objectification of a bond. that which represents the connection between a human and digimon. we usually see it as a mode by which digivolution occurs, but is that necessary to incite digivolution? we do see that himekawa has a digivice in the flashback, so if the timeline is accurate (and what both rui and ukko say in 02tb about the digivices origin), this is explicitly a "don't think about tri" kind of moment.

this is my sillier consideration, so bear with me for a sec while i ask two questions:

is the narrative rui's portraying the whole picture? is it honest to god the first digivice? or is this just rui's perception of the situation? how much do he and ukkomon know about other digimon related events?

could a version of tri's prequel events have occurred without digivices? again, are they necessary to incite digivolution? (i also want to note, tangentially, that we don't really see crests given to the first digidestined group which, idk. how did y'all reach perfect?? whatever, it's tri, nothing makes sense lol.)

second: what is ukkomon's responsibility regarding the things that antagonist digimon have done?

so this is more something i think could be a misread to the viewer than anything else, but the final incident with ukkomon before rui snapped at him in the flashbacks, where ukkomon seemed overjoyed that digimon partners would be willing to sacrifice anything (even their lives) for their human partners, kind of struck a chord with me.

ukkomon is vaguely connected to homeostasis. we think, at least, yeah? it's unconfirmed, but it's heavily implied or speculated within the text (and i think it might be purposeful that they didn't confirm it to be homeostasis, if only because narratively speaking it highlights the confusion of their whole situation in a way that, imo, serves a lot of the themes of the movie surrounding communication BUT I DIGRESS).

i don't think ukkomon is a malicious actor here, to be clear.

i also don't think homeostasis is one, either. it's frequently stated to be an arbiter of balance, not a force of good or evil. like, the definition of lawful neutral.

however, ukkomon connecting humans and digimon through digivices ("forced partnerships"? it's been like a month since i watched 02tb so i don't remember if they phrased it like that but) could potentially come with a signifiable drawback.

sort of like a newton's law of good and evil in the digital world, i guess.

basically, by connecting so many humans and digimon, what if the kickback of those connections is that it causes "evil" digimon to appear? either by way of homeostasis needing to maintain balance (neither "good" nor "evil" are allowed an excessive advantage) or by way of exposing vulnerabilities in the digital world's systems by distorting them to create those partnerships.

this is the interpretation i kind of walked away from the scene where ukkomon and rui watched the fight against armageddomon, since ukkomon seemed so comparatively excited to see such strong digimon fighting. if the kickback of ukkomon granting rui's wish is that evil digimon get stronger and stronger as more and more chosen children receive their digivices, does ukkomon know enough about the mechanics of his wish granting (or the digital world) to recognize it?

[shesailsships]

5.14.24 TXT Promise Tour Tacoma Dome <3

Okay, I'm finally recovered enough to spill it all and gush about the Tacoma Dome show, which I was so blessed to be able to go to! My last concert was BTS at Allegiant in Las Vegas- again, so lucky to go! The next concert I was desperate to attend was TXT...but they have always toured in LA, and I haven't been in a financial position to travel. When I heard TXT had a stop here in Seattle for their 2024 Promise Tour, I cried. I scraped just enough money together to buy tickets (getting them was so stressful waah!), and flash forward to two nights ago, I had the concert of my dreams <3

Our seats were the nosebleeds, but they were great?? Idk, I guess I'm always sitting in the back at concerts so it doesn't bother me, and because the Tacoma Dome is a smaller venue than the last couple I've been to, it felt closer. We were also facing the stage straight on, so that gave a great view!

The moment the boys came out was so surreal, like idk...my routine is to relax by watching them doing “something” nearly everyday, and of course I'm always listening to them...to have them actually in front of me, no screen between us....?! Wild! They really are so tall lol! And so handsome, my god! The amount of charm and charisma is no joke. They are natural performers of course, but deeper than that, they are them, you know? There's just something so attractive in their authentic selves. It was just beyond amazing to be in their presence. Gives me the goosebumps just thinking about it.

Speaking of their presence, idk what Big Hit be feeding them, but whatever it is-- they were on FIRE. Like burn-the-stage-Lapalooza on fire. They were such a FORCE on stage. I came in with high expectations, I know what performers these boys are, but they just blew any expectation I had out of the water. Puma was an experience okay? Like the looks Yeonjun was giving the camera needed a parental warning. Taehyun during Quarter Life was something else!! I don't even know how to describe it, like he just like a whole man out there?? idk idk! Soobin took me out every time the camera was on him, period. Also: Killa. Need I say more? Beomgyu with his hand in his hair non-stop was the deadliest, and Kai with his “guitar solo”??? I'm not okay.

And if it wasn't their stage presence melting me, it was their hearts of gold. For real. The things they said in the ending ments just made me into a mushy puddle of love. Through the whole show they seemed so touched at the energy of the crowd and their reception overall, and I'm over here like: duh! We love you! But they seemed so surprised- in a really good way <3 TAEHYUNG SAID WE KILLED IT. YAAAS. Yeonjun stood on that stage and told us he felt like the “luckiest man in the world” and I about died. He was so full of love, telling MOAs over and over how much he appreciates our love and energy, just the sweetest omg! Kai said he was falling in love with us??? IDK it was like fever dream all their sweet comments oh gosh!

The crowd really was so good. I'm so proud Seattle showed up for the boys and gave them the energy they needed! Taehyun said that we started out so loud and strong that he wondered how we could continue it through the whole concert and not “burn out”, but he was amazed to see that we didn't quit, and he said that really fueled him :) Yeonjun said he had never experienced anything like it “since I was born”. Hell yes, Seattle MOA, way to go! The boys were particularly fascinated with our 'Tacoma dome stomping'. They looooved it and got such a kick out of it when we would do it along with our cheering, it just totally amped up the vibe. They had us do it over and over again. They would say something and we would go crazy and stomp and they would just smile amazed. They were speechless. It was so cool :D

The boys interactions with MOA was so sweet and genuine. There was a section of the night where they worked with us on a chant combined with our stomping and it was the most fun I've EVER had at a concert. The chant went like this (to the beat of We Will Rock You): stomp-stomp “TXT!” stomp-stomp “I love you!” stomp-stomp “moments of!” stomp-stomp “alwaysness!” stomp-stomp “yaaa, yaaa, yaaa!” :DD

The setlist was a banger. Dudeee. The show opened with Deja Vu, ahhhh!! I was a little sad not to hear the fan chant at all, not only for Deja Vu, but other songs as well...but again, the crowd was loud and we certainly made up for it, just- as a kpop veteran, I missed that part. I screamed my lungs out for 0X1=LOVESONG and LO$ER=LOVER like those were my dream songs to hear in concert and I'm still freaking out!! I was so glad to see Freefall get some love, it was so freaking awesome to see them preform Back For More, Chasing That Feeling, Deep Down, Dreamer, and Growing Pain. They absolutely killed Growning Pain, kpop who?

Speaking of killed: Killa nearly took me out. Okay, it DID take me out. I knew what was coming, yet nothing could prepare me for it. Yeonbin, subunit of my dreams, on stage, dancing together LIKE THAT, looking smoking hot, raising the temperature of the whole Tacoma Dome. It was an EXPERIENCE ya'll. I don't think I breathed the whole performance. I remember looking over at my sister and her mouth was just hanging out. Yup. They just did that. In front of my salad. Unreal. Wild.

Okay, I have to talk about the surprise performances of the night for me. Before the show I purposely avoided spoilers, I wanted to be surprised by the setlist. I was listening to the boys as I got ready for the concert, playing a game with myself, guessing which songs would TXT would preform? The track Thursday's Child came on and I was like, 'oh I love this song so much, but I know they will be doing Promise unit songs, so they won't do older unit tracks' and wrote it off. Then Trust Fund Baby came on. I have a special attachment to Trust Fund Baby, it just pulls at my heart, and it's probably my most listened to TXT track if I'm being honest. I wrote it off as an older album B-side and had negative zero expectations of hearing it that night. But I was wrong?!?! They freaking played Thursday's Child, adjusting it into a group song?! It was an amazing surprise, I was floored! But my surprise didn't end there. They played Trust Fund Baby. I sung my lungs out. I was so moved I cried you guys. Like it was so unexpected, I had told myself, 'no way' and then there they were, preforming it. Ah, I feel like crying just thinking about it.

Puma was also a surprise, but like I said above: they chewed that one up and spit it out, like damn!

AND THEY DID TINNITUS IN IT'S ENTIRETY. I am batshit about that song and I went INSANE when it came on oooooh booooy XDD The opening notes started and my cousin and I locked eyes and yelled, “whee!” and it just doesn't get better than that.

Farewell Neverland was shortened, saaaaad- and they did the same to Cat & Dog, but then came back and did the full version at the end of the show:) We all got to bark twice hahaha!

Runaway was one of my favorite performances of the night, one of my ultimate faves. They also did Magic, New Rules, Ghosting, Sugar Rush Ride (amazing remix!!), and Devil by the Window.

Tomorrow got it's moment to shine. Every song was preformed from the album, and let me tell you, Quarter Life was unreal. The Maknae Line was not be out done by the Hyungz. [chef's kiss]. I'll See You There Tomorrow's choreography was insane to see live and Miracle felt like a great big hug <3

I had an AMAZING experience at my first TXT concert. Truly, it couldn't have gone any better. I am so grateful to FINALLY have gotten to see my boys live. They are my everything and I will cherish the memories of this concert always. They promised to come back to Seattle if we promise to always stay MOAs. I promise.

[alivehouse]

just wondering why you dislike Neil gaiman so much?? not trying to criticize or defend him, just curious

gghhhhh

(this is all just going to be based on good omens related stuff bc i havent really willingly interacted with any other work of his since i was like 12 he is not a great writer imo)

ok before i get into why specifically the way he uses his socials annoys me so much i just want to mention that good omens (tv show) has a serious problem with treating its characters of color poorly/as disposable (which this post goes into) and as far as i know neil has never so much as acknowledged this let alone apologize for it so theres that

but as for why i hate his social media presence specifically so much i just think the way he interacts with his fanbase is annoying & i dont want to use the term 'gaslighting' for something this stupid but i dont even know how else to describe his habit of like. pretending he wrote aziraphale and crowley in a relationship for the sake of clout?

^ he used to regularly regularly say condescending no homo shit like this but then when he realized he could get attention for pretending he wrote queer characters he pulled a 180 and started going 'ohhhh i DID write them in a relationship actually and also trans and also nonbinary i cant believe you didnt GET it just because its SUBTLE im sorry half assed vaguely subtextual scene #5 was not enough for you stupid fa- i mean people'

and he does this shit constantlyyyy and gets no flack for it. in fact a lot of his fanbase encourages it even bc were still stuck on begging for word of god scraps from rich straight men instead of engaging with work made by actual queer people i guess. (ALSO THIS TWEET SPECIFICALLY IS REALLY FUNNY bc like a month later he lied about there being a secret handholding scene in the show to send people on a wild goose chase zooming in on shit trying to find anything just to give him more streams i guess i dont know i think it was a stupid thing to even fall for honestly but it still strikes me as kind of cruel)

i mentioned this in tags before & idk if he still does this but he used to go look up his own name on here to find people talking negatively about him so he could reblog it and get them dogpiled which is why you see people talking negatively about him calling him 'neilman' so much instead of his actual searchable name. literal full grown man picking fights with random people on here bc he knows hell win since hes a famous author and will get backed up no matter what

and ok this is edging into fandom circlejerking (i think hes only said this one a few times but his fanbase brings it up constantly to shield him from any criticisms) so i wont go into this as much as i could but theres this Thing hell do where he says they cant be gay bc they technically arent men bc they arent humans (based on a bit in the book where they feel the need to specify that aziraphale is NOT ACTUALLY GAY after continuously subjecting him to homophobic language/aggression) and people will bend over backwards trying to interpret this as meaning they are canon nonbinary and Epic Trans Rep and hell vaguely encourage this instead of like acknowledging the extended man-in-a-dress evil nanny bit in the show and pointing out that it was fucked up? & honestly the whole undertone of that is like 'this character might go out of their way to look like and dress like and act like and refer to himself as a man but he cant REALLY be a man because he wasnt Created That Way' like how the fuck am i supposed to be treating this as a trans positive read of the situation lmao. not to mention the 'inhuman = nonbinary,' 'nonbinary = CANT be gay!!! there are no gay nonbinary people i guess' legwork going on here going on here i dont know its a whole mess

PLUS i just think its funny that hes said making characters gay would be disrespectful to his deceased cowriter but pulling an entire second out of his ass for that sweet amazon money apparently isnt lmao

and to finish this off just for fun heres him at the start of the pandemic when there was a crazy high rising death toll making it about his fucking book, + him answering another ask in response to that AFTER he had deleted the original post, to make the person asking him look like they were attacking him for no reason:

[bykalopsia]

agito 31-5, "a new transformation" special, & 36-40 notes

it's very funny how much more i enjoyed these episodes.

it was really as simple as i laid it out. 1) more focus on the superhumans 2) make the unknowns talk sometimes 3) gills came back 4) shouichi identity crisis/personal reflection

mana's arc about her powers and feeling alienated from everyone else was so good................. i love mana so much :( i think i will go to war if she's ever hurt ever

literally the second shouichi got the flashback the first time he saw the el of water i said to myself "oh. this is the show i've been waiting for."

also burning form fucks. shining form is a bit lamer but he still uses the cool ass dual sword so it's fine.

the special was soooooooo good. kunieda was such a cool character i wish he was in the actual show.................

i know i've said that shouichi is dumb but i take it back now bc hikawa. mr agito fan number one over here somehow looked at kino's weird ass agito form and thought it was shouichi's agito. how does this happen. there is simply nothing going on up there whatsoever. (mind you shouichi literally transformed like 5 feet away from him in the special and he conveniently was distracted by something else at the time. mind you he should literally know there's more than one agito bc he's literally fought with agito and gills at the same time. good god it's so incredibly stupid) anyway this development paralyzed me with second-hand embarrassment so bad i literally started watching like 30 seconds at a time. like i think the whole "hikawa thinks kino is agito" thing only lasts about like an episode and a half but it took me two days to muscle through it. thank god ozawa has common sense......

also i'm wondering if kino's sudden "no other agito needs to exist but me" complex comes from him being further along in his agito evolution process (like, it's a territorial instinct or smth) or if he's just crazy. [note: after writing all this i'm pretty sure that agito powers may have some corrupting quality to them. that probably checks out]

either way his whole deal with him and his transplanted arm is wild. the spirit of his brother preventing him from killing ryou on the operating table.......................... it's so silly. also the gratuitous shower scenes were so much. like thanks i guess. but jhfskdfhksdhfjshdfskjdfk

also yippeeeeeee hojo is back :))) i need him around being a bitch for my sanity i think.

also the apostle having his judas moment. (i mean he's been in the moment for a while but now he's outwardly said he's going against god so lol) very timely for the season. except tbh Prettyboy Jesus is kind of more like god than jesus actually thinking about it. idk man i was like 12 the last time i actually read some of the bible

hikawa getting stunlocked seeing shouichi detransform was so...... fdhsjfhdjsfksd. idk man whether or not his stupidity lands correctly for me is really at the flip of a coin sometimes it's hilarious and sometimes i literally cannot watch it.

also i have Things To Say about exceed gills but i shant bc i should hold myself to at least the minimum level of tact and decorum in these notes. i have already said too much.

anyway i think the fact that the apostle's name was shouichi (and that shouichi probably took his name bc of the whole amnesia thing) is finally going to be relevant and unless it's super quick (which i can only foresee if shouichi regains his memories again very quickly which i doubt)

also floating god children? they're probably telling us wtf went down on the akatsuki soon i'm exciteddddd. we're in the home stretch!

[reliquiaen]

As promised, here are the games I played in my Clearing The Backlog quest for 2023. I didn’t get through all of the games on my list, but I got through quite a chunk of them, so I’ll be continuing my challenge into 2024 in the hopes that eventually I’ll get all caught up! I also kind of want to write reviews for some of the games that really resonated with me,  but I don’t know when I’ll have time for that and I also don’t know what format I want to do them in, so we’ll see.

Anyway, below the cut are all the games with little summaries of my thoughts on them. I’ve started 100%ing games, but that’s not what this is about so it’s not mentioned here but most of the ones I enjoyed I completed to 100%. Figure that’s a good way of saying ‘hey I loved this’.

Released This Year & Enjoyed:

Dredge – Fishing mini-game but make it the macro-game instead, throw some Lovecraft in there, mix it in with a fun mystery. Literally it’s like someone crawled into my brain and made a checklist of things I enjoy: chill game, the ocean, sea monsters, Cthulhu, insanity mechanic, fun art style, fishing mechanic, unreliable narrators, mysteries, like oh my god. They just made a game special for me? Play it if you haven’t. Thanks.

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty – The DLC and the 2.0 patch really did wonders, like I had a lot of complaints about the base game but so so many of those complaints were addressed by the DLC. I have so many thoughts and feelings about how Phantom Liberty changed the story and the themes and the overall progress of V’s arc and I’m just so emotional okay.

Baldur’s Gate 3 – Literally rekindling my love of crpgs, my 2024 is now gonna be all the ones I’ve been putting off for aaaages.

Above Snakes – Interesting exploration/survival game where you unlock ‘tiles’ while doing your survival stuff and you get to build the world how you want it. Can be a bit obtuse and grindy at times but it’s pretty and it’s wild west themed so that’s fun.

Terra Nil – Billed as a ‘reverse city builder’ this is just a chill game about making apocalyptic environments green again. It’s laid back and pretty, very good for after work when you’re tired.

Released In Previous Year & Enjoyed:

Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen – This was a revisit to polish off achievements because the sequel was announced and I’m obsessed. Go play this right now, it holds up so well, the combat is excellent, the STORY IS AMAZING GO PLAY IT!

Kingdoms of Amalur Re-Reckoning – Finally got around to this one; this is the third time I’ve bought this game and second time I’ve 100% it (maybe third? idk if I finished it on Xbox). I think that tells you something. The new Fatesworn DLC was such a grind though, don’t recommend that at all, but the base game is mwah.

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order – Again, finishing off achievements in preparation for playing Survivor. and I understand now why past-me never 100% it originally because some of those chests were ANNOYING AS HELL. It really needed some QOL things like fast travel back to the ship and like PLEASE why does he move SO SLOWLY while force carrying something? You’re using mind magic, boy, go faster!

Mass Effect Legendary Edition – I think the last of the games I revisited for full completion this year? I think ME4 (if/when it releases) is going to be a very divisive game, primarily because this trilogy is so good, so beloved, and no matter what they do, ME4 won’t live up to it. Prove me wrong, Bioware.

Kena Bridge of Spirits – This game is SO good I made an exception to my ‘no soulslikes’ rule (which I guess I did for SWJFO also but I didn’t know that was soulslike going in) the vibes are immaculate, the art style is so cute and pretty and the story! Man it was good.

The Entropy Centre – You know how there’s no Portal 3 and we’re all really sad about it? Play this instead it will literally scratch the exact same itch. Banger puzzles, banger story, banger dialogue. 10/10 game I can’t believe I waited to play it.

Spider-Man Miles Morales – Was so thrilled this came to PC. I loved the original game when I played it on PS4 so much I played it again on PC and getting to play more? Wonderful. I’m chomping at the bit for the sequel to be ported but I’ve gotta get through Horizon Forbidden West first. And you know what? Kudos to Spider-Man for making the movement so satisfying that collectibles don’t feel like a chore. Honestly, that’s the most impressive part.

Lost Ember – Also a really lovely art style and the story had me in TEARS a couple of times like it’s SO good I would love to do a full review for this one it was an emotional roller coaster from start to finish. Absolutely DO NOT recommend you 100% it though. This game is collectible hell and it’s not fun. Enjoy the story and call it a day.

Coromon – Pokémon wishes it was this good. Seriously. The QOL features this game has makes Pokémon look like an indie title. The sprites are fantastic, the art is fantastic, the creature designs are fantastic, the story is off-the-wall batshit insane, but who cares. You can change the spinner you catch your mons in. You can select which colour morph you want. You can get a one-time chance to upgrade each mon’s stats. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg on this one, lads. Forget Pokémon. Play Coromon. (The devs are still updating it also!!)

Doom Eternal – Rip and tear, you know the drill. Was just as fun and frenetic as i was expecting. I understand why some people were saying the platforming was too much and to be fair that purple goo is my ARCH NEMESIS like who thought it was a good idea to put ‘slow down sludge’ into the ‘run and gun’ game? Imbeciles.

Spyro Reignited – Legit just cruising through the levels is so fun? Like a lil bit of childhood, and what more could you ask for? Dragons, pick up shiny things, set stuff on fire, perfect.

Abzu – Swimming around in a pretty underwater space with fishes and stuff. So chill, so good vibes, so glad I finally played it.

Dorfromantik – It’s like a… landscape builder… I guess. Place tiles with matching edges, make a pretty lil township and a forest as big as possible. It’s another one of those chill and unwinding games, you can really tell that work was kicking my ass this year, huh.

Journey – FINALLY played it. Worth. Now we wait for Sword of the Sea pls be just as good.

The Pedestrian – The puzzles are really fun, some simple, some more complex, but it has a low stake feel to it that I really loved. And the twist at the end!! Was so good!!

Stray – cat game cat game cat game

Biped – A really fun little co-op puzzle game. The controls can be a bit wonky but it’s a good time if you’ve got a friend who’ll play it with you.

The Stanley Parable – This was the year I got to unlock that achievement for not playing it for however many years that was. So I replayed it and got that. Still such a fun game. Doesn’t make me want to buy the anniversary version though.

Superliminal – More puzzles! (This will be a trend that continues into 2024 I have many puzzle games to play this year.) These ones were SO mind bending it was unreal. Like they aren’t kidding when they say to think outside the box. Forget boxes. Forget thinking. Good luck. Some of the movement was a bit rough, gave me a motion sickness feeling so be careful I guess if you tend towards that.

Assassin’s Creed & Assassin’s Creed II – Replayed these just for something fun and easy to tickle my nostalgia. They’re still really good. This is the style of AC game I really love.

Games I’m Neutral Towards:

Armello – I often feel compelled to buy games that are made by Aussie creators, this was one such case. It’s fun, honestly; it’s a hero-based game where you play matches. In my head I compare it to things like hearthstone and idk chess. You play your hand, try to outmanoeuvre your opponents, and it’s got great mechanics to keep it interesting. I had fun with it, but it’s not something that appealed to me enough to make me stick with it.

Hooked On You – Yeah, the Dead by Daylight dating sim, okay it was fun. Really silly, but really fun.

Ship of Fools – This is a cute little rogue-like where you sail through cursed waters fighting sea monsters as adorable like… um… seashell people? And it’s co-op which is why I gave it a shot. It was fine, I had more fun with it than most rogue-likes, probably because I brought a friend with me.

Sons of the Forest – Survival games are very hit-or-miss with me and while I enjoyed my time with this one, it’s best with friends and always so hard to schedule time to play. Generally, with early access games, I don’t sink a ton of time into them and this is a good example. Maybe I’ll go back to it when it gets its full release.

Destiny 2 – In the search for a game to play with all my friends, we tried this. The combat is fun but the grind is REAL and none of us wanted to commit to the many hundreds of hours Destiny was asking us to sink into it. I miss when Bungie was making story-driven single player games.

Sable – A very pretty and peaceful game that gives me similar vibes to Breath of the Wild. I had a nice enough time with it, but just like BotW, I got bored of just moseying around aimlessly. Something about the way the animation was done gave me a headache, too, but I really wanted to love it so I might go back and play it now and then. The fishing is fun. I already know I’m going to be fishing obsessed in it. That’s my end goal.

Prince of Persia (2008) & Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands (2010) – Putting these two together because you have NO IDEA how upset I am about these. I ADORED these games on the Xbox and played them so much, the stories and the combat, the art style in the 2008 game, the monster design in the 2010 game. Like. They were so good. Maybe some of that is nostalgia goggles, but replaying them this year (or attempting to, I should say) was such a chore. The controls were extremely unresponsive and I had hard crashes in both. In one case, I couldn’t even close the menu in the 2008 game. I paused it, couldn’t close the menu, it crashed. Couldn’t find any fixes, either. I am distraught.

Games I Did Not Enjoy:

Bastion, Transistor, Dead Cells, Hob, Hollow Knight, Ori and the Blind Forest, Othercide (has FANTASTIC monster designs, I really wanted to like this one)

These games all gave me more or less the same feelings: they’re very pretty with fantastic art styles (I love a stylistic commitment, and I love not-realism thanks) but with gameplay that didn’t hook me. The fight, die, repeat loop of rogue-likes/lites and the extreme precision required during combat or platforming that punishes anything less than flawless execution simply isn’t for me. I can appreciate the high skill ceilings and for some games I’ll even stick with it, but it’s a rare game that makes me want to pour hours and hours into mastering every system and mechanic. They’re not for me, and that’s okay. From now on (my 2024 gaming commitment!) I’m not going to buy a game with a fun art style unless the rest of the game also vibes with me!

[yuyu-bi]

i just finished my second watch through and i can say w my whole heart that oliver was lying completely when he said he hated felix in the end lmaoo you don’t drink someone’s bathwater from the drain and come back from that hating them im so sorry-

i guess it *could* be understandable if it was like a longer period of time but six months??? be for real now 💀

like i actually wonder at what point did he decide to kill felix bc it def seemed like it was like a ‘if i can’t have you no one can’ situation that was v much impulsive in nature after being cast away and also bc it’s insane how like this all happened in a single day lmao i thought the party was a separate day 😭 also the fact that felix still showed concern for oliver getting sick after literally saying that being around him makes his blood run cold 💀 this is how ik he’s just a decent guy dealing w a weirdo lmao i’m so used to rich ppl in movies being so vapid and vindictive but he honestly isn’t? compared to the rest of the family lol idk maybe i’m dumb and blinded by jacob elordi but i really wasn’t getting that? like yeah he’s used to ppl doing stuff for him in return for him giving them stuff but lmao i actually think he just genuinely liked oliver? or whatever persona he was putting on at least but he was overall just a nice dude? lmao he didn’t deserve to die like that 😭 i saw somewhere someone saying he essentially had some sort of savior complex when it came to poor people but like that’s probs the only negative thing about him? he’s was literally manic pixie dream boy for most of the movie lmao

idk someone said it was like a crime of passion but i highly doubt that lmao he like brought drugs to put in the drink like??? i will say i don’t think he thought it all the way through how much felix dying would devastate the family 💀 bc why my dude just set on wearing his clothes to bed just hours after he died 💀 such a good chara ugh

i still think it’s insane that he lied about everything in his background just for felix 💀 like i get giving white lies here and then but actually lying about your whole family 💀💀 that scene will stay w me for a while bc that’s actually completely embarrassing but im actually more interested in why he would lie about his family when they seem completely normal? like i get being a black sheep in the family and everything but bruh what a wild thing to lie about your parents being drug addicts 😭

also absolutely need more of a look into oliver’s and farleigh’s dynamic because….was actually probably more interesting than his w felix tbh also didn’t realize farleigh was in the movie from that start? also their scene tho 😵‍💫 need more of that yeah ALSO why was he the only one to survive lmao bc ik his ass came back once he heard oliver got the estate there’s no way 💀💀 im insanely curious how that went down if at all

what an insane long con to play oh my god 😭😭 i mean i don’t think it was ongoing all that time but bruh the moment the dad died it was back to work 💀 evil completely evil bruh i love it