#im decently satisfied with this version

[toast-in-a-cowboy-hat]

Mike and Edgar themed collage

[ladymortimer]

Finished my Bojack rewatch and everything is worse now

[saturdaycitrus]

Vel and Ven Outfit Designs

so I ended up using @veljolie 's art as more of a reference :'D i couldnt make the outfits slay as hard for some reason. I tried making some designs of how i think their outfits would go (near the bottom+ explanation of why i am unsatisfied with my designs) based off their beautiful designs (pictured below)

I think i struggled a lot with how to draw the shows and make the contrast without making it too bright 😭

Here are my designs:

For vel: I decided to keep the star patterns and turn the lightning bolt into a skirt opening hut i dont think it turned out that decent. I also wasnt super satisfied with the colors because i couldnt get as much as a pop as the reference was. I did add a few features though, such as an extra hair strand or removing her ponytail so it looks more like a treble clef, since i wanted to represent that shes the melody and treble clef(music jargon for soprano/ higher notes) usually contains the melody. I hope it shows up more??? ALSO i really love the concept of stars and lightning bolts but i ended up making it similar to the original in the movie so i was still more or less unsatisfied. I also gave her a little ribbon bracelet instead of a bangle but im not entirely sure on pursuing that design choice. Overall I just feel that its lacking something with contrast and originality, despite me trying with different colors, though i feel more drawn to the blue version.

For Ven: with his outfit redesign, i used the positioning and patterns of @veljolie 's design, but again i couldnt make the pattern pop that much which was saddening. What I do like about my veneer design though is that its less based off the movie and more original, despite still sharing features with the beta designs of veneer. I wanted to create an idea that he had wings, so i attached a boa to his shoulder pads and gloves, so it could allude to wings. I feel like its still lacking though, and the inly reason i was slightly more satisfied was because it looked less like the movie, but despite that, i still heavily relied on the beta outfits to create this so again, not sure how to feel about it.

[workplacecomedian]

graaaAAA desperately need to draw this but [insert excuses] so i'm just writing this out for now to satisfy the monkey in the braincage

Far Flung AU, where Martin does indeed land Somewhere Else, but during their fall he's just become a blended smoothie of fear power, unable to identify as truly human nor avatar. This is wholly an excuse to let Martin go overpowered bonkers off the wall in the Protocol universe with many pinches of edgy and angst and next to no regard for canon as i'm not made for writing :] various rambling details on Martin's powers and whatnot below

in regards to powers, he's mostly an amalgamation of the Lonely, the Web, and the Eye, of course. again with the whole 'fear smoothie' role the specifics are a bit lost.

his form can have a bit of an afterimage, like someone playing a video or animation twice. like if he waves his arm, theres a second arm following the same motion. this is usually easily hidden when in public (especially since he can just will himself to be unnoticeable) but it can also flare up, intentionally or not. when this happens, the afterimage appears more inhuman, kind of gangly. at its peak, the second limbs can manipulate physical objects, but still make a habit of following the other limbs around. his face becomes disorienting- both for him to manipulate and whichever unlucky soul is looking at him to stare at. and, of course, this means sometimes he may get extra eyes that linger around longer than they should. this is a pretty solid mix of the three fears

speaking of eyes, he's able to...well. i wouldn't call it Knowing, but something close to it, and those afterimage eyes appearing are a telltale sign he's getting extremely vague information beamed into his brain. while he certainly helped serve Beholding, he also helped end its reign of terror, so any 'help' from it isn't super useful and isn't often, not unless it can serve the Eye in some way.

sticks to walls like spiderman. because i said so :] it's actually more, uh...spider friends sticking him to the wall, probably? not as crazy powerful as actual spiderman (spidermen?) but it's a fun power to imagine him having. watching from the building walls Ominously

he can drop into the Lonely/his domain at will, and i do mean 'drop' literally. bc again its funny and would look cool. im right <3

he can lock into people's memories, or like....make people become lost in thought, kind of? like when you get stuck daydreaming, in a way...still thinking on this one

design wise (admittedly most of this also works as my general headcanons too):

listen to me carefully. one side of his glasses is in decent shape; that side is where the afterimage eyes appear. the other side has a crack in them. its in an asymmetrical X shape, with three more lines around the center, like the world's shittiest web. when hes feeling A Lot, those eyes glow like sunset. blood redorange. pair it with the fog, and its like a really creepy version of a sunset through a densely foggy forest. do u see my vision. martin apparently doesn't, with those fucked up glasses. i think a chunk of panopticon debri smacked his forehead on the side with the cracked glass; give homie a fun little forehead/eyebrow scar. oh AND AND again when he's feeling Many Things, the crack in the glasses follows where he looks, to keep up the scattered light rays (dream logic and what have you!)

when martin worked with peter, peter would put his hand on the back of martin's neck in that way thats supposed to be friendly and comforting, but in hindsight just felt disgustingly controlling to martin. that spot- at the bottom of his hair, around his neck- is where i think the white hair would appear. when he has a hood up and he's feeling foggy, it turns into a kind of creepy mimicry of fuzzy/furry hoods, blocking his eyes (except for when they glow >:) (bonus: he gained a nervous tick of rubbing the back of his neck, after he first left the Lonely :)

and one more ability i think Martin would/could have, both in this AU and in (head)canon:

i have a very vivid idea of Martin being able to manipulate his domain for travel (and his domain is a foggy damp forest but that's besides the point). as in, in an emergency he can pop himself halfway into the Lonely and time is slightly slowed, but he has to be careful of where he does so- if there's a physical obstruction in his path on the physical plane and he doesn't clear that space in his domain, there's Consequences. like getting half buried in whatever material he just failed to walk through! actually i just remembered i wrote something out for this in a friend's dm...and since we're already waist deep in rambling:

Mr archivist took a hit on the leg, only half awake, maybe theyre running from like. Vampires or something bc its so funny vampires exist but are NEVER returned to. So martin is helping him with an arm wrapped around him, but their route gets blocked off. As they run up to a deadend wall, jon "politely" reminds him of such, but martin just yell-asks him how thick the wall is and tosses him over his shoulder. Eye does its thing and jon responds automatically as martin gains speed, busting into the lonely just before they run face first into brick, and its suddenly dead quiet in there, besides martin panting as he counts his running steps, and as they exit the fog he reacts like he just got gut punched and winded but keeps trying to run, footsteps leaving little foggy prints.. it buys them only a little time, but the disconnect from the eye or something shakes jon awake enough. Martin maybe pulls the foggy trick one or two more times to avoid the vampires coming back up to flank them, but it drains him each time, and at that point he tells jon hes gonna need some help, barely able to jog now in his stupor, and as he runs jon sits up against martins shoulder (or 'sits up' as best he can in that position) and gets to do his whole ceaseless watcher baloney and. Idk. I loved the visuals of someone on a motorcycle while their partner is on their lap shooting at pursuers behind them. Cursed and fucked up and evil version of that with martin running out of the fog and jon pulling a fun little pointing pose in martins grip as he curses the shit outta their own pursuers

anyway ty for indulging my rambling <3 have a nice day

[thebirdarts]

The Death of Family

blood stains, innocent blood stains harder. The blood of those you love stains forever. For prompt 6 of @owlcatober , family [click for better quality and notes are under the cut]

this did not happen but also this is what actually happened, the true version of events, not whatever cold and callous series of events actually took place in the mansion on that night.

this is the metaphorical representation of what happened.

her best friend dying in her arms, white dress getting stained by the blood. fingers intertwined the same way as when they practiced dancing. she dies with a smile on her lips and muras eyes are heavy with grief, taking in every detail as the blood pours out from the gash marring her friends beauty. something in her shatters at the same time as the woman in her arms heart stops beating. something shatters so badly that all is left is glass dust, impossible to put back together. in the warped light the blood looks pink and the shadows on her dress seem akin to the bloodstains on her friends. the only thing unstained, the last gift, a wreath of pure white flowers.

What is left after you kill the only person you let in your heart, other than to become a monster.

so this is entirely for the symbolism. mura wouldnt have her classic hairstyle yet [hell i didnt colour in hair or eyes because muras current ones are dyes/changed] and they both would be younger and given shes using gonna use the body to set up someone she would not have time for a melodramatic finger-entwined kinda embrace.

but the drama!!!!

the parallels to the pieta are intentional [but hey what dead body cradled in someones arms cant be related to it]

her friend is the sacrificial lamb for muras permanent decent into villainy. with her friend gone she has no reason to care for others beyond her own survival.

in many ways this moment is more important that mura overtaking her father, this moment seals her on her trajectory. in many ways this froze mura in time, and planted the largest crack in the wall of her image of her fathers excellence.

ive mentioned it before but the only way for mura to be happy and anywhere near normal, would be someone interfering before this point. as soon as her friends heart stopped beating shes locked in her path and beliefs.

it has a roundabout connection to the prompt, it damages her relationship with her father, and also regardless of the label, her kinship with her freind is a powerfull bond, and their extend lifetimes meaning that the growth they shared was not over years but decades, makes her so important to mura, and in some ways family.

an alternate title would be 'death of innocence' or rather the death of muras last shred of compassion and love.

the two fracture points are mura and her friends hearts. i will use the shattered glass motif till i overuse it.

also yes the braid around muras bun thing in the future is a replacement for the wreath of flowers her friend gave her. heartless my ass. for somone who wants nothing more than to forget what happened she sure doesnt let herself forget.

anyway! girlbesties!!! dont we all kill each other and parts of ourself just for the approval of greater forces!!! betray and scar each other in ways that will last forever!!! whats a friend but a sacrifice waiting to happen!!

notes on the piece over, this is now a personal update:

so this was delayed cause i overexerted myself, unfortunately this means my weekend to relax and do some more prompts is now spent testing the limits of how many painkillers i can take. im mostly annoyed, but hey! still have plenty of jojos to watch /read, and ds9 & the expanse are up next on my watch-list so its fine that i cant move any muscle connected to my shoulders without crying in pain! please ignore the pile of corsework i have to do!

this isnt at a level of quality that i would like it to be, but i am happy with it. no artist ever is fully satisfied with their work, its just this time there is a larger distance than normal.

these notes have been long! thank you for reading so far! i hope your weekend is going well!

[theprinceandthewitch]

How anyone can STILL take this show seriously is beyond me when they gave the character arc Adrien needed to go through to Felix.

To be clear I'm not talking about the domestic terrorist stuff I'm talking about the "Sentimonsters should be treated with respect and not like objects for people to discard and use as they please" thing.

But the show is so allergic to making Adrien anything more than a "Ken" that they'd rather give Adriens arc to a character that is literally just an early version of himself. That is so crazy to me like... how can anyone take this show seriously when they go and do shit like this?

[Im deadass... the moment I saw Felix appear I fucking KNEW Adrien was never going to get a satisfying arc - because it was all going to go to Felix - so that they could maintain Adriens status as a damsel Marinette needs to save.]

ML has always gone out of its way to take the most boring route possible. And people STILL defend this shit with "IT'S A SLOWBURN"... the copium is unreal.

if this show actually cared about showcasing a decent slowburn romance than they wouldn't have shat the bed with Kagami and Luka. They do not understand what purpose romantic rivals serve to a story, because if they did then Luka would be opposed to CHAT NOIR by pursuing Ladybug instead of being opposed to Adriend and pursuing Marinette. Luka would need to be a rival hero to Chat Noir in a way where Ladybug would rather have Luka around then him. And in turn, this would prompt Adrien to evolve as a character and push him along his character arc.

But again, this show does not see Adrien as a deuteragonist, so he aint gonna get SHIT lol.

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

Hi Jan!! Please read this when you’re ready! And if you have anything to say, I’d be pleased and thankful to see!!

I’m so very sorry to be asking such a random and not so common question… (especially at a time when you’re going through something rough… my condolences to you and your grandma/grandpa, they’re very strong alongside you. For doing their best trying to stay strong possibly with you by their side…) I was just wondering if you have maybe a view or opinion on people adding (I’m not sure if people changing the skin tone of others is bad? Something they don’t need to do? Although I’d never do that myself regardless of the reason…) a race (most likely their fan version of them) to a character that I can perhaps learn from? I'm still quite puzzled about the concept of myself and yeah, I wouldn't necessarily want to do that personally to anyone but I still want to understand if it's wrong to be doing or if it doesn't matter and I should be neutral on it. It seems harmless and supportive (in a way, not just in the DR fandom. Although yeah, I don’t see it a lot as I’ve come across/ seen a user recently (no offense/ Im not trying to be rude or anything!!!) who had their pfp of Ibuki (coincidentally!! My forever love but) but balsian (sprite edit). Now, I’m not at all against it and I thought she still looked very beautiful but, is that okay to be doing is my question? I won’t be doing it still even if it is okay as I’m not interested in doing such personally (I Love characters just the way they are simply put!! So I don’t feel the needed/ want to be doing something like that. And as I’ve seen, some people who do that too them do love them originally as well!) but, I feel out of place with my viewpoint as I don’t even view it necessarily in a bad way…

I’m also so very sorry if you could barely read/ understand my grammar as I don’t have good/ barely decent grammar right now… (I am also going anon for this as I am afraid of being bombarded with ask harassing me, possibly but, you probably might know who I am based on my grammar and damn behavior regardless.)

Hi! I appreciate the consideration, and I absolutely don't mind receiving asks about different fandom related topics right now, as it might even be helpful to take my mind off things sometimes. Of course, this is a long question about a complex topic, so the main reason I have to answer it right now is that otherwise I'll... forget... ... but generally speaking, don't worry about it. If I had to talk about my personal life instead, right now, we'd be there a while OTL

I'm not sure I can give you a satisfying answer, however. I think it's a step in the right direction to ask about it sincerely, and take into consideration other people's appreciations of things you don't relate to. It's important to note, though, that I am Very White, and as such I can't possibly have all, or the best answers. All I can try is to be an ally to the communities impacted by this or that topic by pointing out elements I've been made aware of.

The first thing I'll have to point out is that the awkward phrasing of this question here would be good to rework for your future consideration of the topic:

I was just wondering if you have maybe a view or opinion on people adding a race to a character that I can perhaps learn from?

Though I'm not in the best position to comment on how the word "race" should be used exactly as a non-native English speaker, this strikes me as odd as it implies that people are giving characters a race... because they didn't have one before? I thought from this that maybe your ask would be about Fantasy, but you mentioned Danganronpa, so I think you rather meant "change" or "swap" their races (at least those are the terms I've seen in use).

Unfortunately, this is a little tricky, and I haven't come across a straightforward answer, neither am I in a position to pick one. The characters from Danganronpa, save for a few obvious exceptions (Sonia Nevermind comes to mind) are Japanese. This means that they are not white. For that reason, I have seen Japanese fans mention that they don't appreciate that Japanese characters are being changed by fans in this manner, because they feel as though their ethnicity is being forgotten even by people trying to uplift people of color (poc). This is something with, yet again, a complex answer, as there are indeed fans who conveniently forget the Danganronpa cast isn't white, but there are also fans who do know, respect it, but are choosing to represent the Blasian community with their headcanons. There is also an argument to be made that this is Japanese media, so the majority in this instance is Japanese, and believe it or not, racism also exists in Japan - something I really can't speak on because I have no close experience with any aspect of it.

There are possible other debates to be had about characters with darker skin, who are sometimes read by Western audiences as being black, from ignorance of the fact that there are Japanese (and generally Asian) people who look like this in different regions. But this is again not black and white (ha) as there are very much Blasian communities, who get largely ignored as well - Danganronpa makes very little effort to clarify its characters' origins, so there's not always a reason to confirm either party is right or wrong. (This is of course not mentioning the actual racism exhibited in Danganronpa, which other users can explain much better than I can.) Either way, since you mentioned Ibuki, who has pale skin in canon, this isn't exactly what you were talking about.

tl;dr: like I already said, I'm not in a position to make an accurate judgement. My observations are that it's common, fairly well accepted, and is oftentimes done by reasonable parties. It's important to note that the answer would be completely different if these characters were white in canon; no one is being erased by "raceswapping" in those instances, because white people are privileged and overrepresented. (It goes without saying that the all-too common practice of making a black character white is extremely racist.) Of course, if any of these headcanons/AUs doesn't speak to you, the best thing to do is to scroll past it; regardless of your reason - maybe you see yourself in this character, maybe their design seems accurate to a group they already belong to to you, anything - headcanons, AUs, fanfics and the like are meant to entertain and no one is forced to engage with or enjoy them.

[literupture]

i’m usually very skeptical about instant food versions of dishes that are typically “comfort” meals or best served at an authentic restaurant when it comes to food from my culture

but we went to the asian supermarket over the weekend and they had instant bun bo hue and instant bo kho (and hu tieu, but im not normally a fan of hu tieu anyway) and so i HAD to try these. i’ve had instant pho before and it was god awful lol but im just so tickled by the fact that people would attempt to make instant versions of these rather complex and flavorful dishes

i’m trying th bun bo hue one right now, and, while it’s missing all the fixin’s... it’s surprisingly decent?? good-ish, even? MUCH better than i’d expect from instant noodles lol

obviously doesn’t come close to any restaurant’s version but if you’re not wanting to go out or make your own then it’ll suffice. it most likely won’t satisfy a craving, but it’s fine. it’s better than any cheapo maruchan ramen, that’s for sure

i haven’t tried to bo kho one yet but if it’s anything like real bo kho i’ll need a baguette or some rice at least... but it’s also instant, so i should temper my expectations 🤔

[graceful-not]

SORRY OP IM THINKING ABOUT THIS DRAWING AGAIN JUS... OUGH. you have no idea how much this means to me!! most of the fandom either condemning Larry or having him be decent but like. goofy funny everybody hates him. BUT. AUGUGUGJGGHHGJUG THEYRE FRIENDS!!! THEYFE FRIENDS AND THEY STAY FRIENDS THIS IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME..

and LIKE. THE CONFIDENCE IN THE OLDER VERSIONS. NOT ONLY BECAUSE THEYRE GROWN AND THEYVE FOUND THEMSELVES NOW BUT THE CONFIDENCE IN THE GESTURE ITSELF!!! as kids Miles is awkwardly leaning away after Larry planted an elbow on him mid-step, and Pheonix is trying to support the elbow with his back, and Larry's putting too much of his arm near their face, and also his arm on miles is way too forward. BUT. AS ADULTS THEYRE. ITS LIKE. PERFECT SYNERGY!!! THEYVE PROBABLY DONE THIS SO MANY TIMES BEFORE LOOK AT THEM. PERFECTLY STRAIGHT. NO AWKWARDNESS AT ALL. MILES HAS A PERTURBED LOOK BUT THE BODY LANGUAGE MAKES IT SO LIKE. ENDEARING??? LIKE. ITS JUST. IT LOOKS SO EFFORTLESS. THEY KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO BALABCE IT NOW. he looks so annoyed at it but MILES IS STILL LEANING *TOWARDS* (TOWARDS!!!) LARRY IN THE CENTER SO THE ARM DOESNT SLIP OFF, LARRY HAS HIS HANDS RESTING DOWN LOOSELY SO THEY ARENT IN THE OTHERS FACES, AND HIS ELBOWS ARENT PAINFULLY DIGGING INTO THE NECKS, AND PHEONIX JUST HAS IT PERFECTLY BALANCED USING HIS HANDS ON HIPS POSE TO SUPPORT LARRYS ARM NATURALLY SO IT DOESNT SLIP DOWN TO HIS BACK BC HES LEANING FORWARD. AIFHDHDHDHDHHFHDHD.

AND LIKE. as kids look at them!!!! Larry looks so happy to have caught them off guard and miles is just surprised and offended sjsbhsvs and Pheonix is laughing and playing along and. As adults this isn't a surprise thing it's just A Pose They Do and miles STILL looks annoyed, but NOT AT THE GESTURE ITSELF!!! like he looks mad at something Pheonix said BUT BECAUSE HES FULLY SUPPORTING THE GESTURE and he looks so comfortable doing it, it feels like. like. augfhfhdhdhbbf. AND PHEONIX WITH THAT SOFT SATISFIED FOND SMILE... KILLING ME HERE... THEYRE LOOKING AT EACHOTHER.... like. Miles is conveying "WHY are we taking this picture I did NOT ask for this" so well with his subtly annoyed expression.. 😭 I JUST IMAGINED IT TO BE A CAMERA FOR THE ADULT ONE SPECIFICALLY IDK WHY. LIKE. pheonixes fond smile at the others like. "Yeah. These are my friends. And y'know what? I love em." AND. LARRY JUST BEING SO SO HAPPY TO BE THEREEEE AUFFHFHFBFNFJGGG

sorry I just really like them they mean so much to me

Still a trio after all this time 💗

[ID: A drawing of Miles Edgeworth, Larry Butz, and Phoenix Wright; both from the present and past. Near the top of the image the trio is posing for a photo; Larry, in the middle, is grinning widely, and leaning his elbows on the shoulders of the other two. Miles crosses his arms, looking toward his friends and scowling over the contact, Phoenix smiles fondly while observing the interaction. In the middle and lower half of the image, and superimposed over their older figures, is a picture of their younger selves in a very similar position. Young Larry is once again in the middle, leaning his arms on his friends’ shoulders, while young Miles opens his mouth in protest, and young Phoenix is again observing his friends and laughing with a open smile. End ID]

[narwhalandchill]

[chiori kit leaks, negative]

mannn i have such mixed feelings abt chiori like. idk im still pulling her obvi i have to like shes Actually in the top 5 character designs in the entirety of genshin for me i cant Not. and her personality was so fun in the 4.3 event too

but at the same time its like... even if shes worth running in navia teams at c0 without accessing her second puppet bc no geo construct (& at least jstern calcs seemed to suggest that) it just. feels fucking bad that her actual synergies are with. goddamn mono geo bc of that stupid construct requirement.

man im trying so hard not to unnecessarily hate on itto just bc i feel personally let down abt chioris lack of navia synergy and just generally rly dislike his teams and playstyle and character (at least the flanderized version of him thats in events) JSJSJSISOSISI but. its just. stupid. i hate this

and like the way they rly just put her c1 as the direct solution for this too. want chiori to get access to her full damage potential in navia teams? just pull cons!!

i dont have albedo n dont care abt him much so like chiori being a directly better version of him isnt sth im like particularly invested in but also its just so boring. why couldnt chiori have been a geo healer with teamwide buffs based on crystallize or sth. that way she wouldve been an upgrade to both navia and itto teams and an actually interesting new archetype not just. albedo powercreeping sub dps that requires using one of the worst designed mechanics in the game to get her full kit online at c0??

like. man. at least she has some navia synergy despite everything like im still definitely going to run them together if it works at least decently. and once her kit animations leak im sure ill feel more hype for her since those will be stunning for sure but. its just a shame. like this is toxic im sorry but im kinda just? who the fuck cares about itto teams. navias like. p much Universally agreed to be the most fun geo unit theyve released who actually feels so satisfying to play whos suffering from a lack of team options so why the hell are we buffing an old ass outdated ult dependent boring hypercarry who already has a signature support in gorou?? like this shit sucks man

anyway her splash art is fucking stunning tho. and i still love chiori too much to skip her so ill get over this eventually i just needed to vent but 😭😭 geo healer with teamwide buffs we couldve had it all...... part of me just wants to try for her c1 too just to get her that full damage potential with navia too but idk if i can afford to w arle on the way. ig if shes another on field pyro carry i might skip her and go for rerun lmao like. if arle scales w atk its just another in the pile of . bennett wanting carries but Youre not ajax 💀💀💀

[protagonistheavy]

Mario Wonder has been a cute experience so far but as I get closer to the end I can't help but feel underwhelmed. While there's lots of little secrets and fun power-ups and a few decent challenges, it still ultimately feels like your usual New Super Mario Bros game -- it's just 2D adventures playing out as usual. For as weird and wacky as the game makes itself out to be, a lot of the levels are actually strikingly "ordinary" for a Mario game, with the same usual rhythm of "here's a platforming element > here's that same platforming element made more difficult > here's that same platforming element but with other features added."

The badges add the most variety but even these are pretty lackluster. I find myself using the same two or three pretty much every course, unless it feels like a course specifically calls for one, like a swimming level where youre gonna wanna use the dolphin kick badge. Im sure there's some clever things you can do with a few of the badges, and there's still some I have to unlock, but the gimmick doesn't do enough imo, certainly not as much as the game imagines it will since it constantly suggests you change badges.

However, online play is extremely adorable. It's so much stupid fun to see other players hopping around the same course as you and helping each other out. It definitely makes some obstacles obsolete, since you can often just spam revives as ghosts, but considering death is such a light punishment anyway, it's mostly just a quick time saver to avoid repeating a larger chunk of the course. It's dumb but its so satisfying to just see another player nearby and crouch-spam or emote-spam to get their attention until they spam back. It's also a helpful feature for discovering secrets, since you'll often see other players going into/out of locations you wouldnt have otherwise checked out -- in a way, it sort of spoils some surprises, but I prefer that over never noticing the secret, since Im probably only going to play each course only once and never go back just to figure out where a 10-coin was hidden lol.

So a very cute game but not enough depth imo. Some challenge versions of courses would have been nice, or some other collectible to achieve other than standees. Wonder just needs a little bit more to be a great game, instead it settles for a solidly-average sort of experience with a really charming online feature. Of course, the world itself is gorgeous, I love all the new enemies and their animations, but otherwise, it really is just an extension of what New Super Mario Bros was already doing.

[26labrd]

What do you think of Jamie Bell's version of Tintin in the 2011 movie? I personally find Jamie's delievery of his lines and the facial expressions he makes to be satisfying and attractive so I love it. However, I do recognize some differences in the way movie Tintin acts compared to the comic version.

In the comics Tintin has an easygoing personality and is rarely annoyed. He's very patient yknow. While the movie Tintin looks very done with everyone lol. He's patient too, except that it's the bitch-im-this-close-to-snap kind of patience lol. I don't have a problem with it, I think it adds great comedy, plus it's a realistic & relatable reaction considering how the guy is surrounded by airheaded/distracted characters.

They got his curiosity/obsession and quick-thinking and some other tiny personality details right though. The movie Tintin doesn't feel far away from the original one, it just seems less "childish" and more relatable? Movie Tintin feels 25+ years old to me, meanwhile comic Tintin feels 15-20 years old because of how happy/energetic and "unbothered" he seems with many problems? (Although I think Tintin being 25+ makes more sense even though I know Herge thinks of him as 16-17, smth like that)

A scene I can think of where Jamie's Tintin acted so much like the comic version was when the captain asked him how much he knew about the unicorn and he replied with "Not a lot, that's why I'm asking you" he looked & sounded so cute and very comic Tintin-ish imo.

All in all I love Jamie's Tintin and ngl watching him makes me feel butterflies lol. But I can't help compare him to the comic Tintin and be reminded of their differences. I wonder if that's because of the script or just Jamie's way of portraying him?

Anyways, I wanted to know what you think. Maybe you can write a comparison post about Jamie Bell and Jean Pierre's portrayals of Tintin? Not like a "this one is better" comparison, just an analysis. Yeah just a suggestion.

Thanks for reading this far and I'm excited to read your thoughts on this topic!

sorry it took a little while for me to answer this! it was hard to organize my thoughts – which, it turns out, i have a lot of, so i’m putting this under a cut.

overall, i liked his performance, yeah! i think he’s a fine tintin. i think they did some things really well with him, like his curiosity and drive, as you mentioned, as well as his confidence and self-assuredness (the scene that comes to mind for these is the “we’ve got one bullet” scene). i know jamie bell is a dancer, too, which helped him nail the physical aspects of playing the character.

as for the differences, i think the main ones you listed – his impatience, annoyance, and less easygoing nature – just have to do with the stories they chose to adapt. in crab with the golden claws, tintin is indeed often shown losing his patience with the captain; in unicorn he gets cranky when barnaby and sakharine don’t stop pestering him, and when the woman hogs the phone booth in the rain. it wouldn’t be my personal go-to for a tintin portrayal to have these traits so forefront, but it provides more depth to his character/gives him more of a personality and makes him more well-rounded.

bc like. tintin in the comics is kind of bland LOL. which i'm pretty sure was mostly by design. we see him develop and gain more of a personality as the series progresses but for a lot of it he is kind of left blank. so the script writers had to fill in these gaps and round out the character in order to make the sort of protagonist that could carry a feature-length film. and i think they did a decent job! generally i think movie-tintin’s traits make sense and feel like a natural progression of the comics character. he is still recognizable as tintin, but just an older and more grown-up version of his comics counterpart, like you said.

that being said . there is just something about this version of tintin that is just a little bit off. and i cannot put my finger on it. this section will be more incoherent because i'm really struggling to put it into words lol. but he just doesn’t Feel like tintin to me... like. i think he’s a little too serious tbh . i wish they had let him get a little playful with it, but tonally i dont think it would have worked. and i think there’s just a lightness and a warmth that’s missing from this portrayal. not that i wanted him to be happy all the time or whatever, but he feels closed off in a way that tintin never has to me, so it feels just a little off to see him portrayed like this. like there’s a difference between closed off and reserved, and i think movie-tintin is closed off, whereas comics-tintin is just reserved. i don’t know if that makes any sense. at this point i'm just going off vibe rather than anything concrete that i can cite lol im sorry this is so nebulous

AND HONESTLY i think for me it also has to do with the fact that they made him do that posh english accent 😭😭😭 it just feels so wrong to me. like maybe i'm just too used to hearing him with a canadian accent (shoutout to the 90s cartoon) but. yeah. and i know that’s not jamie bell’s natural accent either, so it feels doubly weird

all this to say yes, i do like jamie bell as tintin and i think he did a wonderful job, and i think that this version of tintin makes sense, even though he doesn’t quite fully Feel like tintin to me

i don’t know that i'll write a comparison post, just because it seems kind of daunting and because i'm not super confident in my grasp of tintin as a character. which i know is ironic to say, given that i just wrote a bunch about tintin as a character, but this post is largely just opinion, and for something as “official” as a comparison analysis i’d definitely have to go back and reread/rewatch to be able to say anything with any confidence. it's certainly something i'd like to do at some point! i have a lot of thoughts about jean-pierre’s tintin as well and would love any excuse to talk about him. (spoiler alert: i think jean-pierre feels like tintin way more)

but anyway, thanks for your question!

[purpletyrant]

Anyone else kinda got the sense that the psychopomp Ramona? is actually Aranea or is it just me

youre not going to like this answer, but the identity of the psychopomp is up to interpretation, and at times i was unsure myself who they were. thoughts below

first you have to determine whether kitty is actually in a dream bubble or not. if it makes you happier to believe that this is her "idea" of a dream bubble, i will not stop you. personally, it was intended to be a real dream bubble. in the future, we will get some more concrete ideas on why kitty is able to access the dream bubbles despite not being destined to play sburb

youre the second person to ask if the psychopomp is a character from hs proper. another idea was that they might be alt!calliope. this is an interesting theory and holds up in some spots, but falls apart around page 950. ramona? is cowed to be the subject of kittys grief-induced tantrum, and i dont believe that her dialogue here would be in character for an emotionless cherub. also, i dont think alt!calliope would still be out here in the bubbles... pretty sure she got sucked into the black hole with her brother. its a decent theory though

theres at least a few people who dont want to believe the psychopomp is ramona at all. i read a comment saying that ramona seems ooc, and that the information presented to kitty isnt anything kitty doesnt already know or could guess if she tried hard enough. well, first of all, its my ramona and i get to decide if shes in character (KIDDING). second, im developing a tendency to beat readers over the head with info because i get deeply frustrated by the idea of not being understood. this is not helped by the fact that kqs readership skews younger than myself. i remember all too well being a teen scratching my head in confusion at the concepts presented later on in hs. while of course i want things to be open to interpretation sometimes, i hate the idea of being confusing or hard to follow. so forgive me, but we will have information repeated a few times in different ways just to make sure you really absorb it

the fact that kitty isnt being told information thats actually new.... this leads to an idea that the psychopomp teases a couple times. this is the idea that the psychopomp isnt real, and is an illusion conjured by kittys mind. im a dolt when it comes to classpects, so im not convinced that a mage of rage could accomplish this, but it would be a neat reflection of jakes ability to make brain ghost clones. hope and rage are opposites after all... but i dont believe a mages power is comparable to a page. it occurred to me while i was writing these pages that kitty might very well be talking to herself. im not sure if thats satisfying or interesting, though

in my mind, i think the psychopomp really is a ramona from another timeline. one where the recruiter (as we will call her for now) was a better planner, and thoroughly fucked up the timeline by introducing sburb to these six teens. one can only be thankful that she is too prideful in this timeline to be of serious harm. like kitty, it is upsetting to me to consider versions of earth c where kitty does not meet a happy ending. in my perfect world, there would only be one earth c... but as the psychopomp says themself: "what makes you so special."

so, did you hate that answer or what? lol

[random-microwave]

My Official Unofficial Fan-Autopsy for Brian!

fan autopsy. wow. what a phrase

ok so, per my last post, turns out a whole two (2) people on instagram were interested in my headcanon about brian’s death and that there’s more than enough to get me into infodump mode, so i think it’s time i make it everyone’s problem now :)

disclaimer: obviously i am in no way a medical professional and all that i’ll be discussing here is the result of a few hours’ worth of an adhd-fueled research frenzy. i’m fairly confident in the knowledge i’ve gathered but i could very well be wrong about anything mentioned here.

also trigger warnings i guess for talk about traumatic brain injuries and related things.

alright SO, we know in marble hornets brian died by falling, right? for some people that’s a satisfying enough answer, but i was more curious about what his specific cause of death could’ve been. why? because i am insane and am never satisfied with simple explanations, that’s why.

now, disclaimer #2, we’ll never know exactly how that fall killed brian, because troy and joseph probably never had a precise cause in mind. if all that matters is that he died from falling, then there’s no need to write out in full medical detail how, the way my goofy ass is doing. that’s also why this explanation isn’t going to perfectly line up with canon. although it is decently supported by what we see in marble hornets, some bits of it won’t, again, due to the writers not accounting for a precise cause of death and therefore not doing anything to show that.

despite that, i went ahead and, after doing a bit of thinking and research, the explanation i’ve chosen to settle on as to why exactly brian’s fall was fatal is this: he landed on his head, and the resulting injury was a basilar skull fracture followed by a fatal epidural hematoma, or in layman’s terms, base of brian’s skull go crACK and then he bleed and die.

but that’s the short version, of course. here’s the long one:

in short, a basilar skull fracture is an injury to any one of the bones composing the base of the skull, usually caused by substantial blunt force trauma, such as in high-velocity motor vehicle collisions & pedestrian injuries, and less commonly in assaults or falls. now, while i’m not sure if the fall brian took in entry 83 would be considered substantial enough to cause as rare of a brain injury as a basilar skull fracture, im gonna be honest and say i don’t think that fall looked very fatal at all to begin with, but we accept that it was because suspension of disbelief and all that, so fuck it.

i feel like this specific type of skull fracture makes sense for two reasons that we can analyze #83 for: 1. The position brian landed in: brian appears to have landed with his head turned to the side. something important to note about basilar skull fractures is that in about 75% of cases they involve the temporal bones, aka the bones on the lower sides of your head. they’re most involved in this type of fracture because they tend to be relatively weaker than the other bones of the cranium (this whole bit will be important again later). of course, it’s not impossible his head just happened to fall that way after landing, but it still feels worth noting looking at it under the lens of a basilar fracture. 2. The sound brian’s impact made: this is falling a little more into tinfoil hat-type territory but i don’t care that’s all this whole headcanon is really. when you listen to the sound brian makes when he lands, you can hear a softer thud followed by a much louder SLAM. now i don’t know about you guys, but the way i hear it, it sounds like a smaller part of brian’s body - such as oh, i dunno, his head? - makes contact with the ground first, creating the thud, followed by the rest of his body making the slam. inversely, this could also be his feet touching down first, then the rest of his body following (probably what it really was during filming), but that could still result in him hitting his head either way.

so with that out of the way you may think that that’s it, a basilar skull fracture makes sense and it explains pretty well why brian died from that fall, so why not leave it at that and go home?

well, from what i could infer from researching this type of fracture, it seems that on their own, basilar skull fractures actually aren’t that deadly - not immediately, at least. it’s the complications that arise from a skull fracture that actually kills the patient, such as meningitis or intracranial bleeding.

this is where the addition of the epidural hematoma in my “diagnosis” comes in.

see, if it were just the skull fracture and the skull fracture alone, brian may have actually lived, as it would have been entirely possible for him to not only regain consciousness but also have enough strength to stumble away to seek help.

we know that isn’t what happened, though. he fell down, and as far as we know he stayed down. so, something else had to have happened as a result of the fracture.

since about 50% of basilar skull fractures involve some other type of central nervous system injury, it is not only reasonable to assume that brian sustained one as well, it’s actually to be expected. this is why i included the epidural hematoma.

epidural hematoma is when bleeding occurs between the skull and the dura mater, or the tough outer covering of the brain. there’s three reasons why i chose this specific complication to go along with the initial skull fracture. 1. it often results in a loss of consciousness, which may or may not have a brief regaining and second loss of consciousness. whether or not it does, this condition ensures brian stays down and lines up with the fact that he doesn’t appear to have been able to seek help afterwards. 2. remember how i said the temporal bone is involved in 75% of basilar skull fractures? yeah, that involvement is the exact same for epidural hematomas, due to its proximity to the middle meningeal artery, which’ll bleed a fuckton if injured. 3. it is quite fatal, as the rapidly increasing intracranial pressure will eventually lead to death without treatment, which, again, brian likely didn’t receive.

it’s important to note though that neither the skull fracture nor hematoma will result in a quick or immediate death. this is actually very good in terms of being supported by canon because of what alex says in entry 86.

while showing tim brian’s corpse, alex says “he died here slowly because of you.”

this line actually helps rule out some other possible causes of death like a snapped neck, since that usually causes death within a few minutes, whereas a hematoma may take hours before it actually kills the patient. therefore, alex mentioning that brian didn’t die on impact, but rather died slowly as a result of injuries from that fall help support this explanation.

now before i wrap this up i will address one thing

basilar skull fractures tend to present with some very distinct symptoms. the most distinct and easily notable ones include: Battle's sign – bruising behind and below the ear. Raccoon eyes – bruising around the eyes, i.e. "black eyes" Cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea/otorrhea (clear fluid running from the nose or ears) Bleeding (sometimes profuse) from the nose and ears

when we see brian’s body in entry 86, however, nothing of the sort can be seen.

you may ask, then, why hold to this headcanon if we can clearly see that the necessary symptoms of a basilar skull fracture aren’t there?

my answer to that would be to look back at what i said at the beginning about there not being a specific cause of death written for brian, and therefore there are no noticeable symptoms of anything are present on brian when we see him in that entry.

i feel like that’s the one area we can ignore canon a little bit for that reason. we’re not gonna glean any clues about brian’s cause of death from that scene because no clues were there in the first place.

actually, there are no clues anywhere to begin with, not even in the places where i looked to in order to put this together. honestly? this is just me finding the most interesting cause of death for brian i could that fit even a little bit with canon and fucking running with it. it’s me putting the circle in the square hole, in a way.

but yeah. that’s about all i’ve got for my weird, over explained fan autopsy of poor brian thomas. was it necessary to go into this much detail explaining my justifications for this headcanon? fuck no. did i do it anyways because i thought it was very big brain to have said justifications? abso-fucking-lutely. :)

[rotshop]

UGHHH this is so bad. (head in hands) LOOK. look. im sleepy tired and i just needed to warm up w/ something and also took exactly One break during this to grab a dirnk !!! shhh.

-

This was by far the worst situation you could've been in. Nevadean winters were a simple fact of how it was, but that didn't take any of the bite from the freezing winds. Some years, it would be a decent one, there would be a fair amount of hot and cold days and little snow. Not entirely pleasant, but you could work with it with in relative ease. Other years though, the season seemed to just throw it all at you, shoving everything off the shelves and toppling dominoes to see how you'd fair. It was the cruelest whenever those years came about.

This though? This had to be a fucking joke.

The others had already been on edge about the mission, as you and your partner didn't exactly have the best relationship. There'd been several attempts to switch things around so that threat would be eliminated, but ultimately they'd proven fruitless. So, with great reluctance they went along with it, though Deimos had been particularly adamant on you all meeting back up as soon as possible. He'd been especially antsy and anxious as the mission had drawn ever closer, voicing the most concerns and posing the most questions to you. He wasn't the greatest at hiding his worries when it came to those he considered close, you admired that about him.

It was almost funny with how right he'd been to worry about it. Not only had there been far ore agents and mags than expected, there was also jack shit worth taking. Obviously, this had been some sort of trap in an attempt to catch you all off guard. It'd worked, evidently, just not in the way they'd probably expected. At some point or another, it was decided you all had to get out and go. Sanford was far too injured to continue on, 2b was too stressed to think straight, and you and Hank had the luck of getting trapped on the other side of base.

You didn't exactly feel too surprised when you'd been yanked up by the back of your shirt and thrown into the back of a truck, door slamming shut seconds after. You could see a hoard of agents and mags alike nearing closer, unable to tear your gaze away from them even as your partner got in the driver's seat. There was a bit of commotion from them, barking into the comms. about needing to get out and go. You were still too distracted even when they'd begun to speed off, and far too distracted to hear Deimos' confused shouting get cut.

You could tell it was coming, somewhere in between all the pre-existing stress and dread. It was like your own version of getting a headache shortly before it storms, except all it did was tell you you'd be royally fucked for the next day or few. It was always a little too hard for you to decipher exactly how long it would be, a little too fuzzy of a reading for you to say anything accurate on the matter. All you could tell was that it was coming soon, it wouldn't stop just for your less than friendly company.

-

Three days. You'd been stuck driving out here for three days now.

Originally, the plan was to drive off until the agents would give up, turn around, and go back to base to find the others. It'd started off easy enough, the agents chasing after you seeming to lose interest in the hunt after a good while, turning and leaving. You weren't sure why at the moment, but the action had shifted something uncomfortably in your chest. It just felt too easy, too convenient.

You'd soon figured it out when the storm had started to kick in. It didn't seem too bad at first, a minor inconvenience that drew a little grumble and a lean forward in their seat from your companion. Then, it'd worsened and worsened. By this point, neither of you knew where you were. Sure, the anti-aahw had been all over Nevada- but that was just of the Nevada they knew about. It wouldn't be far fetched to suggest you'd both gotten turned around and were now god knows where.

Eventually, it was decided there was no progress that could be made here. You'd both have to either hope for a place to stay or that the car wouldn't fair too uncomfortably. Which, considering the lack of space in it and you with far too little energy to get into an argument, the first would be the blessing of the two. It wasn't too long until your quiet prayers from the back seat had been answered, the faintest of outlines among the storm showing some form of shelter. You could already feel exhaustion settling in, far too quickly for your own comfort. By the time Hank had pulled over to walk in, he'd had to reach into the backseat and tug you by the collar of your shirt with an impatient noise, a gentle encouragement laced with the threat of dragging you out.

You were sure you couldn't have pulled your legs further to your chest than you already had. Your spine was already beginning to set with soon-to-be-aches and cramps as you curled into yourself. You'd attempted to keep yourself as taut as possible, not wanting to look as pathetic as you felt in that moment, half-shaking on the cold hard floor of some abandoned complex. Hank had gone off a while ago, leaving you in the lobby to go look for a room to stay in- a room for him to stay in.

You'd lost track of time, too focused on trying to keep it all together as your mind threatened to go blank and shut down. It was the worst when it was like this, where you could only lay and hope for exhaustion to kick you into sleep at one point or another. Your limbs all felt heavy with weight, uncomfortable with just how impossible it seemed to move them. Every part of your body felt locked up, stuck and stiff how it was when you'd dropped down to the floor. You were at least glad you'd fallen to face the door, able to see the snow falling from your position.

Sure, it was the cause of your current estrangement. Yes, it meant you were stuck with the man who hated your guts with a burning passion. Despite all that, it was still pretty. It was surreal to see the sky something other than a burning red, though that oddness was fully welcomed if it meant a break from that damned color.

You'd been snapped out of your daze by a light nudge to your back, you attempted to summon up a sound of acknowledgement- coming up with nothing. The lack of a response earned another, rougher nudge, shoving against your spine uncomfortably. You'd jumped away from the contact with a little mix of a whine and hiss, head jerking back to meet the eyes of your 'assailant.' Red lenses met your gaze, looming over you from your place on the ground.

"Get off the floor and come with me," it wasn't a request. He'd always been especially bossy with you, a little colder and more detached from you. It didn't take a genius to tell he was on less than stellar terms with you.

You didn't have time to stagger up onto your feet, a hand finding its way to the collar of your shirt to yank you up once more. The world spun around you in a haze as you stumbled forward, attempting to re-balance yourself as best as you could in the short breath you were given. Apparently, it hadn't worked well, you ending up crashing into Hank in the process. He'd barely stirred at the movement, still as a statue despite your disturbance. Distantly, you'd noticed how his hands had moved to your back, keeping you upright. You'd also noticed how they weren't a bruising grip on your form-

"....walk?"

You'd blinked. You had no clue what he'd even asked, did he ask anything in the first place? I mean, you could've totally just imagined it. Maybe you were just dreaming already, it happens sometimes..

"I don't ask questions just for you to not answer. Can you walk?"

You'd opened your mouth to speak, shutting it shortly after. Your tongue was like lead in your mouth and your voice seemed to have gone for a walk. You weren't going to play the chances of you not answering again. Instead, you'd simply given a little nod. He was..surprisingly warm, in all honesty. You found yourself leaning further into him, unconsciously nuzzling your face into the crook of his neck.

He seemed satisfied by the answer, giving a little grunt of acknowledgement before pulling away. You'd caught yourself before you'd fallen, sleep snapping from you momentarily again as reality came back. By the time you found some sort of feelings in your legs again, he was already down the hall, not waiting for you by any means. You were grateful for the little burst of energy that'd found you, stumbling after him quickly.

You were reaching for his arm before you could really even process it, holding onto him once more in a moment of unconscious indulgence. You missed the little curious glance he gave you, and the way he'd pulled his arm (and subsequently you) a little closer to him. Admittedly, you leaning onto him so much did force him to slow down a bit, much to his chagrin. He didn't make any comment about it though. You didn't either, happy to just stay close as you just barely stayed awake enough to continue walking with him.

-

The mattress felt far more comfortable than the floor.

"Better than laying on tile, isn't it?" Came the sarcastic question.

Nevermind, fuck this mattress.

You'd given a little hum, stirring a bit as you got comfortable. You were still curled up as small as you could, some sort of attempt to salvage what little heat you had. The thin fleece blankets didn't offer much relief from the elements, serving more as an empty pressure laying on you. Despite that though, it seemed you were given some mercy, as you were just edging into unconsciousness.

"I'll be in the next room over so don't be loud, alright?"

You'd nodded slowly. There was a pause. There was an abnormally long pause, to be exact. After a few breaths you could hear the clinking of metal and the shuffling of cloth. Curiously, you'd poked your head up, looking at the man over your shoulder in confusion. He'd met your gaze, pausing for the briefest of moments as he tugged his jacket off.

"What're you doin?..." you'd managed, words slurring together drearily.

He'd given a short 'tsk,' continuing his previous ministrations as he answered. "What I'm doing is making sure you don't go into some little coma on me, I'm not carrying your ass around if you pass out that hard. That's on you."

You'd given a little displeased hum at his words, narrowing your eyes slightly at him. He didn't react. Laying your head back down, you'd sighed in some sort of content, peaceful enough in the deteriorating room. You could feel yourself falling asleep, thought slipping from you as you finally found some sot of rest.

Just before you really fell unconscious though, you could feel the weight of a jacket being draped over you. You could've sworn you felt a hand settle on your arm for a moment, tracing a few shapes and lines idly before reluctantly pulling away. You were so sure you heard the faintest of 'Goodnight,'s before the door clicked shut. You could have just been hearing things or dreaming them up, though. You'd just have to ask him about it in the morning.

[dandaelions]

"feel my rhythm" album thoughts!

guess who has 2 presentations for work in the next 2 days ripppp but whatev rv is still my no. 1 priority 💗

this got quite long, so under the cut!

feel my rhythm:

okey dokey what is going on HERE

alright first of all, the first 15 or so seconds are just Sublime, lulling you into that gentle flow and causing you to relax - before that beat drops a dirty bomb over the whole thing. why TF is this so clinky clanky???? why???? the bach sampling is so beautiful and if you were to isolate the vocals with it, I think it would actually sound pretty nice but for some reason they overlaid those damn skirr skirr trap beats and bass boosted it into oblivion. I get they were trying to create this classical-hyperpop hybrid but I don't think this came together quite as cleanly as they has hoped. also enough finger snaps in bridges!!!! please sm tell me you have more up your producing sleeve than the 10 free effects that came with the trial software. otherwise I feel like the bridge actually sounds pretty decent? and don't even get me started on that key change in the final stanza oh my god!!!! why!!! key changes always feel like such a cop-out way of adding an extra 30 seconds to a song that already feels too long.

it feels like they were going for psycho v2 (but now on shrooms). which is a shame, I feel if they had maybe pitched the song down a few notches and added in some more subtle beats to actually complement the classical sample, this could've actually been really good. for a song called "feel my rhythm", there doesn't seem to be very much of it at all 😔

also note about the MV: DANGGGGGG it's so beautiful!! part of me wishes it was a bit more darker thematically but all the art references were sooo cleverly incorporated, plus I loveddd all the sets and outfits. ok, so in seulirene's "monster", seulgi corrupts irene and turns her evil. here, I think they are showing seulgi still being evil, except now she can also take the shape of a bird (seen in the epilogue). irene, dressed in black, is still evil from the "monster" MV, and is shown handing a basket of strawberries to a giant...mask-guy?? idk what that is lol 😅 joy is seen holding that mysterious red light in a cage, except it escapes. bird-seulgi gives the light to joy and we see her turn (thanks @littlesunshinedae for making the connection that her wings are actually the evil swooping in for her). yeri gets corrupted through that floating water thing (and leaves her egg to hang out with the birdy-people) and wendy gets corrupted with the rotten strawberry. they're all seen wearing black and sitting in a dark room, with their lighter counterparts in a garden. so now there's two versions of them?? at least that's what I got, anyone else find other things? also are birds supposed to symbolize anything...

rainbow halo: ok, 8-bit stomp n clap that's a vibe...ooohhh okkkkk that's a CRUNCHY bass line, v nice! oh yeah this is sounding slick! oh snap irene ok I see, love how she doubled up on that beat there. woooo love this synthy groove! did they add a freaking saxophone in the chorus omggggg. nice drop-off in the bridge, that's a satisfying build-up to the last stanza. ah ok like the stop-n-start. also pls bring this sax back for other songs, I think that's my fave element of this song! oooh this was so clean from start to finish, this is def going into their "velvet" portfolio!

anyone wishing that this is what they tried mixing into bach for "feel my rhythm"??

beg for me: OK!! OK!! that dirty dirty synth at the beginning 🥴

oh SHIZ that beat drop and then those vocal lines on top? HELLO?? THIS CHORUS???? dance for me work for me beg for me, I'll do it all!!! is that JOY coming in after the first stanza?? 😦 BRING OUT YOUR FREAK GUYYSSSSS IM !!!!!!!! these lyrics PHEW

this is It. nothing else to add.

BAMBOLEO: rv citypop?? is that you?????

retro enthusiasts, rejoice!!!! ofc you can't have a retro song without those boom boom space drums they did their research! oh WHOA that chorus, that modulation is soo interesting!! LOVE LOVE LOVE what they have going on here. oh nice guitar solo! THESE CHROMATIC HARMONIESSSSS OH GEEZZZZ im just blown rn honestly ram these instrumentals ** ** ***** idc anymore.

good, bad, ugly: oh very classy, this is so seg-c. looks like "automatic" had a glo-up! oh they all sound FANTASTIC, love these jazzy vibes, it suits them perfectly! "every day I just love me" DANG RIGHT'S RIGHT LADIES

in my dreams: oh those harmonies!! oh that drop! I was not expecting the bass to come in that strong! the instrumentals definitely convey the highs and lows of unrequited love. ohhhh I'm getting some aespa "lucid dreams" vibes. that symbol crashing during the chorus, like you’re screaming your love to the clouds!! this BRIDGE 👌👌👌 wow what a finish!! so beautiful and bittersweet :')

overall: the title track isn't feeling the rhythm, but the b-sides sure are. WOW I think these are some of the strongest songs they've put out in a while!! I'm so glad they got to showcase their "velvet" side in some of these quieter, more subtle songs. we got some showstoppers!!