#it was sooo good in terms of animation and character development

[feliaes]

they cancelled yuri on ice ☹️

[slasherflicks999]

new oc/sona yaaaaaay!

oh how i wish i had all those piercings (bridge come back to me💔)

can we guess where his name came from gang (suspiciously username shaped name)

i actually really enjoy his character design and i literally color picked his color pallet from a diagram(?) that shows how a bruise heals and it worked out LMAOO sooo new character design life hack

more info and lots of general yapping about him after the break if you care to read :3 and i yap a LOT i have lots to say about him bc its been a while since i genuinely developed an oc LMAO

cw for LOTS and LOTS of talk of death if you do decide to read! just in case :3

first of all you may be thinking “5’6? short king!” and i will have you know i actually made him taller than i am irl by a few inches LMAOOO whoops t boy swag will do that to ya

anyways the thing about his color pallet being based off of that of a literal bruise IS actually relevant because he is literally immortal and is CONSTANTLY getting injured like all the time. i think conveying info about characters via their color pallets is fun and i wanna do more of it so hehe. plus green and red and purple are a nice combo and it worked out very well :3 also another little note about his design: he’s a very creative and artistic person and i wanted to show that through his clothes being somehow modified and i think i did that well too. trying to properly get back into making actually decent and thoughtful character designs so im proud of myself :3

that being said his immortality causes him a SHIT load of problems. i feel like being immortal would really suck LMAO but more-so i feel like i dont see people do much with the idea of immortality in terms of horror or at least not from what i’ve seen. like im still figuring out his lore but the basics are: he has no clue who his dad is and found out he was immortal at a somewhat young age but literally his entire life he’s been viewed as just kind of off?? like he looks human and for the most part acts it but he just has certain traits that humans…. do not have. his eyes glow in pics like a nocturnal animal’s would and his teeth are suspiciously sharp and he gets weird cravings for raw meat which he can somehow digest perfectly fine with absolutely no issue but he’s not like OVERTLY some otherworldly creature he’s just a little weird. a tad strange even. possibly even kind of unsettling depending on who you ask.

and i like to imagine these are a lot of things that were present in his childhood too, like his mother would wake up to the sound of rummaging in the kitchen and find him at the ripe old age of five just gnawing at a whole raw steak in the dark. he’s just sort of always been like that and didn’t realize it was weird until he was older. (is a lot of this used as metaphors for undiagnosed neurodiversity/mental illness? …..iii dont knowwww :3 (yes) (although not every aspect of him is a total reflection of myself, he is still his own character in many respects lolol))

but in general this ends up causing him all sorts of issues in all sorts of millions of ways. for one he has sort of a fragile sense of self because he doesn’t even know what he is?? he knows he can’t just be a regular old human because of all the previously mentioned reasons and a few more, but that aside he has no idea what he is. he also doesn’t know pretty much anything about how his immortality works beyond what he’s experienced and what the others have told him during the times when he’s “dead,” he has no idea how his aging is affected by it because he seems to be aging relatively normally so far, he has no clue if he will EVER die for good/if there’s any way to kill him, he has no idea how his body seems to heal the most insane fatal injuries as if nothing happened, and much more quickly than a normal human would, he kinda doesn’t know jack shit about himself and it pisses him off a little bit!

it also has just caused him lots of trauma as you can probably imagine. lots of dissociation everywhere he looks

moving on to how his immortality actually works: like i said there’s only so much he knows about it but this is all the info he knows so far. he CAN “die” but all of his deaths are temporary. that is to say that his body will eventually heal and regenerate itself and he will come back. it’s not like deadpool where he can get stabbed in the head and go about the rest of his day like nothing happened, he might be able to keep himself up for a while to fight back or run away but it wont be long before he drops dead for a few days or so. during said time his body outwardly does seem very dead. he’s unresponsive and still and isn’t blinking or nothing and his pupils are blown (which he already has huge pupils but yk), like if you were to just show him to someone they’d be like “yeah that’s absolutely a corpse and also why would you show this to me.” but his body is still alive in a sense, it’s just sort of… yknow when you put a computer into sleep mode?? upon first glance it’s gonna look like it’s off but inwardly things are still going on. his body is still working to regenerate itself the whole time, even if whatever he sustained that “killed” him would very much not be healable or survivable by any normal person. in his POV, he just sort of gets knocked out for a while and then wakes up exhausted and sore and absolutely FAMISHED. like he could easily eat a horse without any exaggeration the boy can eat.

he’s also always been interested in horror and the supernatural and crime and shit and is largely desensitized to that sort of stuff from that + experiencing a lot of different deaths himself bc of the whole immortality thing paired with him being generally reckless when he was younger because what’s it gonna do? kill him? (“what’re you gonna do, jeff the kill me?” -him at jeff moments before being stabbed, probably) he says he doesn’t care but it actually effects him deeply in ways he doesn’t understand for a while. as he gets older he becomes less reckless and doesn’t throw himself into dangerous situations as often.

all that being said he’s not necessarily all that dangerous himself?? he carries his dagger around with him for protection or cutting up meat and apples or woodcarving more than anything and as a proxy he works a lot more as just an… observer. despite his name he’s not really all for the killing people stuff if he can help it unlike many of the others, if anything his name more so refers to the fact that HE’S usually the one getting slashed up. (it’s actually just bc of my username but shhhhhh) but generally he much prefers to be in the background keeping watch or scoping things out or just sort of… stalking people basically. dont ask me how he manages to be stealthy in THAT outfit… he manages somehow i swear 😔

but yknow overall he’s not an incredible threat to most people, the “creepy” part of him being a creepypasta comes a lot more just from how much it would suck to be in his shoes as just a guy who happens to be immortal but still able to experience the pain of death over and over again. he isn’t the creepy thing as much as his entire life experience is LOL. usually he’s just unsettling and disturbing at most.

he also has a VERY complex relationship with BEN in my AU specifically (WHICH RANDOM DISCLAIMER TIME: NOT THE LITTLE 12 YEAR OLD VERSION NOOOOO EW my au’s BEN is like a combo of “fanon” him and behavioral event network he is not 12 years old and i dont want him being shipped with anything NEAR that version of him, ONLY my AU’s version who is 19. im not a freak. 💔 they’re not a couple anyway (BEN🤝slasher -> being aro) but i did wanna preface that just in case bc im not trying to get misinterpreted like that) might write more about that sometime… bc their relationship has a lot of symbolism and complexity bc BEN is my fav character ever period and yes i am gonna write him and my self insert oc as being incredibly deeply intertwined bc i love him and cringe culture can kick rocks and therapy is difficult to get :3 oc x canon shippers platonic or romantic yall will always be safe on my blog frfr

im gonna post more about BEN soon too…. literally working on actually making a proper design for him rn which is mostly just difficult bc i cannot for the life of me think of what to give this freak to wear. i need them to serve cunt but like….. how do i do that 💔💔 that one BEN design i reblogged that gave him the adorable little heels….. absolutely genius………. u know who u are :3

more random rapid fire fun facts about him bc why not: he loves piercings and tattoos and body mods bc they heal so easily for him, he has his tongue split! (NEEEED to do one day actually my dream body mod), his immortality doesn’t seem to effect his ability to get sick which he HATES but when he does get sick it only lasts for a day or so and he’s a total drama queen the whole time, he loves to sew (though only by hand, he’s genuinely afraid of sewing machines) and will patch up or modify clothes for his friends or other proxies if they ask, his favorite kind of raw meat is boar, and his favorite cooked meat is a tie between pork (boar or domestic pig) and chicken, he wears his headphones most of the time bc he loves music and sounds can sometimes overstimulate him, and BEN can talk to him through them because of course he can, he loves animals and actually has way more empathy for them than for humans, and he absolutely LOVES medical dramas and does not care that a lot of the actual medical parts are inaccurate he will eat them up. he WILL be caught staying up until 6am watching chicago med and he will not apologize.

ANYWAY i think that’s about it actually. if anyone actually read all my ramblings…. i love u /p u mean very much to me /p

i WILL be yapping more soon (except probably about the actual “canon” pastas hehe) :3

[dayseedrawz2]

My thoughts on episode 3 + theories!!

I'll talk more about this on my YT, but for now here's a tumblr version

(SPOILERS BELOW)

Okay so starting off, my unfiltered thoughts throughout the episode

-They actually spend time together when outside the adventures aww! (Not like they really have a choice, but still neat-)

-Jax being a bitch

-"Zooble turns Straight" Welp, the whooooooole fandom was right!

-Bubbles reversed dialouge. Damn they really don't want those content farms no more.

-CAINE AN POMNI INTERACTION YEAAAA (It was one piece of dialogue I'm so delusional)

-He made this adventure JUST for Zooble cuz they never go and he really wants them to GUYS HES NOT A VILLAN SEE?

-Jax being a bitch

-LUIGIS MANSION REFRENCE FUCKING YESSS

-Wow the visual here are super pretty :o

-...and horrifying

-Jax being a bitch

-I haven't mentioned yet but the lil quirky powers or whatever are cool

-Wow the lore Caine writes for these stories is just like your average artist who torments their OCs (he so me fr)

-2D ANIMATION!!! Also Kinger and Pomni being like the funniest duo ever

-HOLY FRICKLE FRACKLE THEY DEFINITELY DID NOT WANT CONTENT FARMS TO FIND THIS EPISODE

-the monster is awesome looking tho

-THE THERAPY SESSION SEGMENTSS AAA

-Also Caine has a Trans flag hanging somewhere in the circus neat

-He forgot he could use his powers to just teleport Zooble to him lol

-Back to the spooky stuff

-Wow Kinger can actually use a gun! (Never thought I'd be saying that sentence-)

-KINGER AND POMNI GO TO ACTUAL HELL WHILE THE REST JUST HAVE A TEA PARTY WITH MARTHA

-Also JAX IS TIED UP BAHAHAHA

- "You know how men are, always having the silliest priorities..." "Heh, dont i know it!" I think the bunny doll shippers really like that scene

-Zooble has some sorta body dismorphia and has opened up about it to Caine multiple times seems like

-Uhh Caine... you okay buddy? CAINE YOU GOOD BRO? CAI

-CAINE HAS EMOTIONS/SELF AWARNESS CONFIRMED???

-Pomni gets fucking posessed ok

-now we know why it looked like kinger was hitting Pomni with the shotgun

-KINGER AND QUEENIE WERE MARRIED CONFIRMED???

-Father daughter bonding aww...

-I love how the whole fandom took one good look at Ragatha and went:

GAY GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GA-

-also Pomni and Ragatha are on good terms now aww...

-Caine and Zooble Should Pass that pipe from ep 2 and legitemently vent to each other

-Jax is pissed because the Jester actually had a good fucking day for once lmao stay mad

-NOW WE KNOW WHY HE STAYS IN THAT PILLOWFORT IM GONNA FUCKIN CRY NOW

Overall, this was definitely my favorite episode so far! The team is getting better each and every episode! SOOO much happened here!! I'm super excited to see what happens next!!

Okay, THEORY TIME!!

-Okay so to start lightly, so far, all the episodes we've seen contain:

Gangles mask breaking

Jax breaks the 4th wall

A cute/sad heart to heart conversation or interaction

A reference to angels or god or Christianity in some way

Interesting right?? Wonder if this keeps up...

-On the topic of Christianity, I saw a theory saying that if it's true that the gang developed the game (which may be true because of that computer science line), When Pomni says "I knew it would end up like this... He just wants me to suffer..." she may not be referring to Caine, but her Boss at CnA.

If that boss exists and is NOT named able, Imma be mildly upset-

-Okay, Alot of people have been talking about Jax being an NPC, and I wanna bring up my opinion on this:

As I mentioned earlier, he always breaks the 4th wall, witch could be seen as a character in a game being like "What do YOU think?" *Insert Game Options here*

I saw another theory saying that if this is true, Jax might be self aware or sentient to some degree, and This is why he tortures everyone. He knows that this world Revolves around the players and nit him so he wants to make them more miserable.

-OKAY, NOW WHAT (I) WEVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR... THE WHOLE DEAL WITH CAINE GLITCHING OUT AN' STUFF!

As one of many Caine angst connisuars on this platform, I really enjoyed this scene...

Caine knows that he only exists to make adventures and if he can't do it well enough than he serves ZERO purpouse and his existence is useless... (he's just like me fr)

This has SO MUCH POTENTIAL FOR A SERIES FINALE.

Since in each episode we've (mostly) seen a character being comforted (mostly Either Pomni being comforted OR someone being comforted BY Pomni)

What if the last episode had Caine and Pomni having a heart to heart?

(Shutup this is not about showtime I swear let me have this-)

Someone abstracts, (Ragatha or Kinger probably,) and it's Caine's last straw. He finally breaks and the circus goes into ruins. Pomni does her best to comfort him. This could go one of two ways:

Either she sucseeds and happy ending for everyone :D

OR, they fail and The Circus is destroyed, Taking Caine down with it.

Maybe then that would be how they escape cuz if Caine is emotionaly attached to the circus, it would be completely destroyed or erased if Caine finally broke...

The angst potential is crazy...

This is terrifyingly close to what I wanted to do with R-M AU UHHH I MEAN-

Anywayyyy I believe that's all! If yall have anymore theories lemme know!!

[vacantgodling]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

hewwo thank you for asking <3 i'm gonna randomize some wips and give u a nice lil ramble lol

(1) train master chidori

in terms of me redesigning folami, i think i'm also gonna tweak her personality a bit too. i want to give her braids and slicked down baby hairs instead of the initial poofs that i had her with previously--and i think that may change which association creature/thing that i want her to be associated with bc i mostly just associated her with poodles because of her hair LOL. in terms of her personality, i originally made her a bit airheaded but i think i may kinda wanna give her more mature vibes since she's technically gonna be the oldest and most experienced of chidorky's crew. more... zakuro from tmm energy tbh. i think that may be the vibe i wanna go for for her lol.

(2) celestial weddings

beloved extremely wholesome polycule shenanigans lol. i think the one character that i know much less about their romance arc with dag is muu? muu is from denjai, which is the fourth sphere and its a swampland and marshy type of place. muu themself is the youngest of all of dag's lovers and it definitely shows in how upbeat they are and how they very much look up to dag in an almost hero worship kind of way. tbh they probably have the senpai/kouhai romantic relationship arc and ngl its very cute. muu also flaps their hands whenever they get excited about something and they tend to stumble over their words when they get excited, which is a lot lol.

(3) nondisclosure

i used to be sooo back and forth about nyseah and 17's relationship when i made the characters many many moons before; (and actually now that i think about it, most of the characters from that wip, except everything relating to owen and helios's storyline still exists in this version of the story lol. idk if i'll ever go back to those two characters but they did have a sweet relationship, it was just SO thematically different than everything else that was going on, which is how it developed into what i call now nondisclosure LOL) i actually kind of wanted them to get together only because i built up 17 to be a sort of "he's justified for his actions and he actually does care about nyssie.... somehow" back then. but i think i was also biased because he was one of the first "morally grey characters" i really ever made and i suppose back then i was much simpler in what i wanted from those kinds of characters.

when i think about nondisclosure now, 17 barely plays a role in it from what i think. tbh i think 12 plays more of a role than he does and that's because i'm obsessed with 12 and i think everyone should be obsessed with 12 but this isn't about him this is about 17 and nyssie. i think it works better for nyssie to not get with him in the end because like he seriously violated her in a way that younger me didn't really see an issue with (thanks ya and anime for not thinking this kind of relationship was bad or that it could be fixed LMAOOO... not to say that i don't enjoy making those kinds of relationships now, its just the fact that now i'm more likely to lean into the relationship being fucked up LMAO). anyway tho, mama nyssie and her brood of kiddos is the best ending for her because its the one where she's the happiest :D

(4) sixteen candles

ranger being aromantic makes so much of how he acted in all of the old chapters that i wrote many moons ago make so much fucking sense. like seriously, he was soooo noncommittal to the point of it being basically a meme, and even tho the friend i would talk with about these characters at the time helped me make a character for him to be with and i 'enjoyed' it to a certain extent, it always felt kind of off? and i think its because the person ranger will always be the closest with is always gonna be nanette, like they are inseperable and i think them defining a qpr is actually So Fucking Good for them. i'm kinda obsessed with their dynamic ngl, adn i also like the idea that ranger is just like down to fuck all of his besties and at the same time they all have a relationship with each other where that's just a thing that they do.

i really need to work on roger tho because he is so conflicted about a lot of things. not just to get him open to the fucking really, but mostly just because he has the roughest go of it relating to family and it kinda hits home for me personally a bit, so in some ways i feel like idk how i should handle it. but overall, love they. i should think about them more tbh LOL

(5) the liminal space series (overall)

chloe being involved in jenna's story is honest to god still so funny to me. like here's this "average" small town popular girl, who's popular by virtue of being normal enough and outgoing enough that everyone likes her, but having a bit of an alt style so people think she's edgy and unique and then all of a sudden she's hanging out with the town weirdos trying to hunt down a what? what did you say it was jenna? a chupa--WhAT?

and the fact that she's so taken aback with how casually jenna says that she likes her that it just takes her and her sexuality for a wild ride and at the end of it all she has to go to college and pretend that she didn't just have the craziest senior year/summer of her fucking life LMAOOO its just so funny to me.

[saveraedae]

What is The Mark Side?

★ THE MARK SIDE follows the life of MARK REED— an unconventional and flawed protagonist navigating a drama-filled life while pushing everyone to their limits in the meantime!

Filled with angst, complex relationship dynamics, LGBT characters, and comedy! A story with a deeper meaning than you'd think!

Throughout the show, I aim to tackle a lot of serious issues like mental health and abuse with morally grey characters.

Here's a new and improved TMS introduction thread!

Featuring some new information for TMS's returning audience! ★ Happy Indie Animation Day! Make sure to follow me for updates on the show and fun community stuff! Go to @ask-tms for fun ask blog shenanigans and check out themarkside.com for more!

Help boost by reblogging to support the show. :)

See below the cut for more!

Show premise:

The Mark Side centers around titular character Mark's strained relationship with his childhood best friend Benjamin, who due to years of communication issues now absolutely despises him. Mark however, seems blind to the obvious deterioration their relationship has had, as he harbors major unrequited romantic feelings towards him.

Mirroring the two are Jonathon and Kenny, the other half of the friend group who through their years of knowing each other have communicated and helped each other through hardships, presenting as a strong, healthy couple today because of it.

After a summer of not being on speaking terms, Mark manages to wiggle his way back into the friend group again only to find a new guy has 'replaced him'— Ash, Benjamin's new boyfriend.

It takes place in the fictional town of Ohwell, Texas in the late 2010's!

Season 1 will showcase the arc of Mark struggling to maintain his place in the friend group despite his jealousy whilst also dealing with a plethora of emotional and complex family issues.

The main takeaway theme is that most scenarios are less black and white than one may assume at first glance, showcased by the characters being the antagonists of themselves instead of portraying one character as the villain.

All while maintaining a good balance of humor through an expressive and cartoony style! Humor and style draws lots of inspiration from 2000's Cartoon Network and Disney XD shows!

★★★★

The characters:

Mark Reed —

Master of chaos and making people hate him! He is voiced by Collin Weiler!

Benjamin Washington —

Mark’s aggressive former bestie who’s not afraid to speak his mind! He is voiced by Andre Grandpierre!

Jonathon Washington —

He thinks everyone deserves a second chance… Even Mark! He is voiced by Kruyo!

Kenny Peterson —

He navigates life with a smile even amidst his friends' chaos! He is voiced by XephThePanda!

And much to Mark's dismay...

ASH POWYRS —

Benjamin's boyfriend! ...May or may not be Mark's replacement! He is voiced by Jaden!

Wanna read about Mark's family?

They'll get character sheets soon, don't worry! I'll update this post when they get them!

But for now, you can read about them on the website! Darcy is voiced by Katherine Black, Boss is voiced by Josh Portillo, and Leon is voiced by DarkMage!

And that does it for season 1 info!

If you want EVEN MORE info, and to learn the extensive history and development of the series, give the wiki a look!

Beware of both spoilers and outdated content!

★★★★

YOU MADE IT TO THE END!

Thank you sooo much for reading to the end! You're a real one!! Again, follow me, the series' showrunner and creator for updates and information regarding the series, and follow @ask-tms to get involved YOURSELF by submitting to the character ask blog!

The merch store and support tiers will launch sometime soon! For now, the best way you can support the series is by GETTING THE WORD OUT! SPREAD THE WORD! HYPE IT UP!

WE HAVE SO MUCH PLANNED FOR THE MARK SIDE AND CANNOT WAIT TO SHOW EVERYONE WHAT'S IN STORE!

[catiuapavel]

I completed every main mission and sidequests in Cornia (excluding the forbidden level 40 area)

This game is so fun and refreshing to play. When I played Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen a few years back, I dreamt of a game in the same vein that could grant you more control over how battles play out and Unicorn Overlord is a far more layered iteration of the timid concept I imagined. Going through all these menus and setting all these conditions, testing them out, doing it all over again to optimize them... This is so thrilling. I love micromanagement.

The more gameplay devices are introduced (like watchtowers, catapults, balistaes, rams, units to rescue in the middle of nowhere), the more fun it gets. Thanks to these elements coming into play one at a time, the stages never feel dull or the same.

I'll say Cornia on expert mode was hardly that difficult. It provided fun challenges so I don't mind. I'm just surprised that the highest level of difficulty feels like a normal mode. That being said I'm not a good judge of strategy games difficulty because I'm pretty much like that:

The presentation of the game is sooo beautiful. The hud, style and environments all fit so perfectly together. So few games seem to understand the value of these things nowadays and it's refreshing playing such a well-crafted one. I just wish there were more parity in character design: men with sillier outfits and animations and (a handful more) women with... let's say more pragmatic ones.

The soundtrack has been alright so far but I'll say: BOY am I glad to get out of Cornia. I think the area could have used 1 or 2 more songs for diversity (even if they kept a similar style or leitmotiv). Drakenhold is delivering in terms of music already!

Unfortunately the only tar so far is that the story is just so very... mid. At best, It's simple and serviceable even though you feel like you've seen it a hundred times before. At worst it's... mind control to handwave morality and responsibility away. However, I don't want to judge it too hastily and I hope to be surprised eventually.

Mostly, I'm genuinely, desperately, hopeful that recruiting everyone merrily will have dire consequences at one point or another. As much as I enjoy collecting every little guy on the continent, defeating a boss set on murdering you and/or terrorizing the countryside and having Alain choose between executing them or recruiting(/releasing) them after hearing their tragically lukewarm backstory (and everything ends well and fine) is becoming jarring. I want to feel regret, I want to feel pain. I want my decisions to come back to haunt me. I want to be crushed under the weight of my actions.

(DON'T tell me whether that's the case or not)

But so far the characters are just bad until they're good and once they join your ranks, they are unconditionally loyal. It lacks conflict and makes everyone far less interesting as a result.

(side note: this one isn't recruitable (thankfully) but Gaston in "Province of Famine" was one of the worst parts so far. You've got a tyrant pillaging his subjects' reserves, depriving them of food while bragging he's enjoying several lavish meals in a row with the most episodic cartoon villain presentation, but when you defeat him suddenly he wasn't actually that bad and was just keeping a reserve in case of famine. Surely... There was a way to write this with a bit more nuance and with less contradictions. The worst part? I called that one as soon as the stage began so it wasn't even shockingly bad, just disappointingly so.)

Still, the characters themselves feel engaging enough. The writing is decent when it comes to interpersonal relationships. I've set one foot in Drakenhold and I was delighted to see Travis and Aubin come into the picture once again. It makes me hopeful the greater cast will develop outside of rapport conversations. And if the narrative truly doesn't deliver later on... I will have these lively and diverse characters to fall back on at least.

[moni-harmonia]

A Parade of Providence Act III

This finale was so good!

First of all, the animated cutscene (that we partially saw in the trailer) was awesome, it’s so cool seeing the characters using their powers like that (if only we could fly for that long with Wanderer 😭)

Then this whole thing with Kaveh, I’m so happy that he won the competition, but more than that I’m so happy that we saw so much character development for him in this single event.

Sometimes I like these events more than Story Quests for characters because we see more interactions with other characters and a lot of personal and emotional focus on them. This was sooo good!

The fact that Kaveh donated the money, but he still got something out of that card lol. I get him, sometimes it feels wrong to charge money to friends but that person may feel it’s unfair to get it for free so you have to accept their kindness too.

(When Cyno said that Alhaitham was in their hearts I actually laughed out loud, I didn’t expect such a corny line from him)

Like I said before, I’m starting to really like the Sumeru cast. Cyno is very funny now and has good chemistry with Tighnari, Collei is a cinnamon roll, Kaveh is so wholesome and his bond with Alhaitham is interesting and priceless in terms of humor. I had such a great time.

It was also good seeing Nahida, and I KNEW IT, she wants Kuni to go to the Akademiya and get an education. Oh my God I laughed so hard at his reaction, their relationship is another great one that I’ve come to adore. Another piece of development for our favourite Hat Guy.

And that extra scene...

(I saw them and went “Oh god they’re arguing again”)

It was such a good scene for them. We get some resolution on what happened to Kaveh’s father, and some kind of understanding between the two of them that feels very nice. Alhaitham is so hard to read, he has less emotions than a potato, but in the end you can tell he’s a nice guy as well.

[tenebrius-excellium]

Returning to really ponder Httyd2 since it's the 10 year anniversary and I believe that I actually could have liked it - as in, it would have been a fundamentally different & more positive viewing experience for me - if the lighting hadn't been so dramatically off.

See, to me, Httyd2 carries a very distinct "unfinished" touch. I know next to nothing about professional animation, but I can tell that...

a) there is one layer missing on the final character/environmental render (the 'glow', as I like to call it for lack of a better term of description)

b) the writing can be very cardboard-like at times and seems not very fluent or dynamic. Notice how the conversation comes to a stark halt and dies down the moment Hiccstrid meets Eret. Everything is reduced to "what are you doing", "what are you talking about", and robotically echoing what Eret explains. It shortly gets better again when Hiccup meets Valka, but becomes boring once more in the sanctuary when the curious new dragons are used to distract from the rather bland exchange of a lot of information between Valka and Hiccup. Sure, they need to catch up, and it's fascinating to them - but there are more sophisticated ways of telling this stuff if you need to keep an audience engaged at the same time. Anyway.

c) there is a huuuge contrast between the lightest and the darkest scenes in the movie. And it's blinding, to be honest. The "Where No One Goes" sequence is sooo bright. The sanctuary as well. When confronted with Valka's cave reveal and Drago's scenes, the switch to darkness is very uncomfortable on the eyes of the watcher. The colors often seem bleak and watered down too. It takes away from the ability to immerse oneself since the individual scenes don't blend into a continuous, harmonious viewing experience. All kinds of color tones are thrown together without a common "filter", so to speak - the missing "glow" which I was talking about.

So all in all, Httyd2 is really good, it's just somewhat edgy - as edgy as Hiccup's chiseled jaw.

One can tell that they developed this absolutely amazing new technology for this animation and then kinda got lost playing around with it. They had so much fun trying to get to know the new tools that they forgot they had an actual movie with a coherent plot and proper design to make. Httyd2 feels exciting and cool, but the making of feels somewhat empty and rushed.

My eyes were opened to this by a certain gifset which I can't seem to find right now, but it somehow tweaked the saturation in a way where suddenly there was depth being created in many of the Httyd2 scenes that had just felt flat to me before. It's interesting how color influences the ability to immerse oneself. EDIT: This is not the one I meant, but it comes close!!

Anywho, I don't know, I didn't mean for this to be so negative or whatever... it's just something that I keep and keep noticing... in a rather technical, educational manner... where I can't help but think to myself what a shame it is that they had to meet an early deadline with Httyd2. Cuz being granted nine months more, give or take, would have made the difference for the team to develop this 'good sequel' into an actual M A S T E R P I E C E. Good things take their time.

It's all there. In the beginnings, in the vision, in the trenches. The amazingness just didn't quite make it to the surface. The last finish, the final gloss, is missing. Aaaaarrrrrgggghhh. Haha.

That said, I'm learning to love Httyd2 as it is. It did not carry the message I needed back then either. We're slowly growing on each other, as the message becomes more apparent now. Eh. Lol.

[hamliet]

Hey hamliet I want to read QJJ but it’s a little intimidating...could you tell me a bit what it’s like? CP dynamic and what kinda story it is (tragedy, hopeful, plot-heavy or romance-heavy?) thank you! I’d like to hear your thoughts on it.

Hi! Yeah, it's definitely plot-heavy and... complex. I feel you! It's also romance heavy, though. They're really well intertwined.

The main pairing is enemies to lovers, and it's told equally from both of their points of view. As for their dynamic: 

Shen Zechuan is the youngest son of an accused traitor who barely survives a massacre of a battle thanks to his elder sworn brother saving him at the cost of his own life. Because Shen Zechuan is the only survivor of the battle and of the Shen family, he's arrested and tortured as a scapegoat. Shen Zechuan’s father was a “prince” (think governor more so than a blood prince) and his mother was a courtesan concubine (plus he was the 8th son), so his status even in his home was pretty low and his blood brothers weren’t really part of his life. 

Meanwhile, after Xiao Chiye’s elder brother wins a decisive battle, Xiao Chiye is sent to the capitol city as a sort of hostage to prevent any thoughts of rebellion in his elder brother’s mind (because the kingdom is reeling from the Shen incident). Xiao Chiye is the youngest son of another “prince” (governor) who is also a renowned general. He’s the second son, though, and his father, despite being a tough general, is a romantic who never remarried after his wife’s death. Xiao Chiye is very much like his father, but his elder brother is rather like his mother, yet still a formidable military strategist. You can see the parallels and contrasts. 

Anyways, Xiao Chiye hates being a glorified hostage and leaving his home, so when he sees Shen Zechuan, he blames him for his circumstances and kicks him hard enough to kill him. He survives, barely, but is left with lingering health issues from the kick and the torture. 

Five years pass, and then Shen Zechuan is finally freed from the temple he’s been confined in and ends up reluctantly working with Xiao Chiye to uncover several political plots. They have a one night stand, and then... feelings start developing even as the political situation gets more and more unstable. Xiao Chiye pretty quickly realizes Shen Zechuan is actually after 1) revenge, 2) proving his father was not a traitor, and 3) plans to rebel himself... 

It’s pretty antagonistic early on, but there’s a fascination between them and really good foiling (they’re opposites, yet similar; they’re yin and yang). Xiao Chiye is the more sentimental despite being the more traditionally “manly” one, and is the heart to Shen Zechuan’s mind. Shen Zechuan thinks all he has left is hatred, but Xiao Chiye reminds him that he’s human and that humanity comes with a full spectrum beyond just ‘hatred.’ Xiao Chiye likes challenges and taming wild animals, but he needs to actually tame himself. Shen Zechuan is, in meme-terms, dead inside, yet his greatest desire is to live. Xiao Chiye is full of life and vigor, yet he is much more cavalier about his life. Their dynamic is pretty great, going from tension and what’s basically hate sex to “oh how I love you so” and “he did not want this person to hurt anymore, ever again” in a way that feels more than natural. 

Thus far only about 2/3 are translated, but a new chapter is translated every 3 days, so you don't have to wait long. I also got spoilers from some very very helpful people who are able to read it in Chinese and took pity on me.

It's both tragic and a happy ending. The main pairing gets a happy ending, as does one of two side pairings (the wlw one--yes, there’s canon lesbians--gets a happy ending; the secondary mlm one sadly does not). Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye get a happy ending not just through life, but through accomplishing a lot of goals, family, etc. So it's happy.

Don't get attached to most other characters though, because the author is pretty brutal. And yet the characters are so likable it's hard not to. There's also an issue with... there are no real "enemies." Even most of the antagonists are genuinely not bad people, and there are two perpetual themes that come up: what is the cost of victory? and the idea of scapegoating. Sooo a lot of the antagonists are scapegoats and what happens to them isn’t “fair” even in a poetic sense. From what I've heard what happens to one of said antagonists at the end will Make Me Unhappy, but I've also heard it is indeed framed as tragic.

[ackermanshoe]

March comes in like a lion, it's Portrayal of toxic & healthy relationship and how to compares rivamika + Ereh

Que the longest title everr 😌✨

So before I start on the actual analysis, I recently started watching March comes in like a lion instead of doing my assignments and I half way through season 2. For those of you who haven't watched it, it might be a spoilers so beware of that.

In this analysis I'll be comparing the similarities I found between Rei, Hina and Kyoko.

So watching any anime after being do emotionally attached to rivamika it's only natural that I compare them to the characters with even the tiniest bit similarities in their dynamic but Rei and hina's relationship jump in episode 4 of season 2 really caught me off guard and I was like omg?? Rivamika?? How do I make this about them 😩

Anyway so a little background on Rei's relationship with both girls Kyoko and Hina ( Hinata ). Firstly, i subconsciously placed Rei has Mikasa, kyoko has Eren and Hina as Levi, why? You will know on a minute. Rei is a depressed kid who has known only one way of life and that's through shogi games and after his parents death ( cough cough ) he was taken in by a old friend ( I think ) of his dad's who was also obsessed with shogi. Kyoko is the biological daughter of this man who has "adopted" Rei and later on Rei was came to know Hina and her sisters, they were super supportive of him from the start and having lost family members themselves they related to him on a personal level.

So you see why Eren and mikasa's dynamic matches with Rei and Kyoko and not only as "step siblings" it's also the fact that Rei became somewhat obsessed with her through the time he had spent over at their house, it's toxic and it's been showcased that way ever since kyoko was introduced into the series. Rei thought of her when he heard the word "love" and he even admitted to the fact that having her around is toxic and yet he can't push her away. He said he does not want to stop hearing her voice even tho she , herself is in love with a much older man who is married. Everytime she showed up to his bedroom uninvited and slept next to him my mind went "he is in love with her and their relationship is so toxic why does the author keep bringing her into his life?" Or "girl get the fuck away from him".

Without even thinking too much deep into their physical connection I already knew I would be able to related this dynamic to Eren and Mikasa. Although this series gives us much more depth into the main characters views since it's narrated from his own perspective, and the fact that he metaphorically compared his feelings of being lost and sadness helps me as an audience to understand what's happening much much easier than attack on titan. I personally feel like this kind of series are usually short ( idk how long this is) because it feels like the author knows exactly what he is going for, everything is set in stone.

Going back to Rei's ( mikasa's) relationship with kyoko ( Eren ) it's much much clear how toxic it had become for him in more than just one way. And the show isn't denying Rei of his feelings towards Kyoko and it's not even attempting to distant him from her and yet you just knew there had to be someone better right? That's when they introduced Hina and Kyoko in the same episode, meeting each other and a sense of invisible rivalry gushed over them, especially Hina. She is a happy go lucky girl and extremely sensitive to things to the point it kinda annoys me everytime she bursts out crying ( but hey you can't hate a genuinely good character ).

That's where things get interesting for me maybe because I am on that Levi X Mikasa agenda all the time but just like rivamika their relationship has been portrayed as platonic for the longest time in the seaosns. If I didn't go out of way to search up who Rei falls in love with and it didn't say hina's name I probably wouldn't be making this comparison right now because who wants to have their heart broken for the 2nd time in the same fucking month 🙄.

Anyway so in this one episode Hina comes home crying because of bullying issue at school and as she runs off into the dark streets Rei chases her and eventually catching up to her takes her hand and being able to relate to her problems, comparing his younger self to her present Rei reaches out his hand and God fucking damn it he says "you saved my life..I promise I'll stay with you" ofc I'm making this post now you know the real reason 🤡.

The unseen build up that happen between them reminds me of rivamika, the Portrayal of healthy relationship is rivamika. Hina (in our case Levi ) to Rei is the voice of emotion, she speaks out the feelings that Rei has been surpassing all these years inside of him. Just like how we talked about Levi is the voice of reason, while Mikasa has the impulsive urge to act up. Just like how Levi became the perosn who reasonably always took mikasa's side, he gave her personal reasons to take Erens side everytime have an actual meaning towards the scouts / everyone , he then became someone Mikasa was able to object & voice out her opinion towards because she knew that he would response and guide her the right way and finally he became someone she was able to fully trust.

Much like Hina and Rei, when Hina cried out her heart and Rei couldn't help but go back to his past self and imagine Hina coming to him and giving him a hand, being his saviour. It's much like how Levi saw his past self in Mikasa present ( S1 ), Levi gave Mikasa the hand she needed when she didn't know she needed.

Hina despite being much younger than him, was able to make him realise that he too was shutting out his emotions and was able to let himself be free through Hina when she cried, expressing her frustrations and very human like emotions. In the forest of the giant trees when Mikasa and Levi saved Eren for the first time he told her " we got your precious friend, didn't we?" A slight wake up call he had given her for the very first time, an attack on Mikasa's ego and evoking a different emotions within her. Like telling her it's not only about Eren and getting revenge, risking your life so easily, Levi had lost his entire squad in order to protect Eren so now that he is safe they better leave now.

So the question is did Levi and Mikasa save each other?

What can I say that I haven't said already in here about these two?

"you saved my life" Rei says to Hina as he reached out her hand and the beauty of that scene was the fact that it was delicate and soft despite it not being anything romantic. Remind me of that panel of Mikasa touching Levi's shoulder. How ironic is the fact that I'm comparing Hina, a openly emotional character to Levi who is said to be the most emotional inside?

Levi physically saved Mikasa a lot of the time however emotionally Levi saved Mikasa from being selfish and from herself. What if I said and ignoring 139, that Levi was one of of the biggest reasons Mikasa took the initiative and decapitated Eren that day?

Wait why does it feel like I already said it before lol

Through Levi, Mikasa learnt to trust more, learnt that even though they gave difference not only in height, age and in how they treat Eren ( Levi with force and Mikasa with care ), Mikasa still came in terms with Levi and relied on him, shared her burden with him. I think that's the biggest character twist Mikasa had, the fact that she was ready to draw sword at anyone who treated Eren wrong and everyone was scared of her and then came the grumpy shorty who beat her beloved brother right in front of her but eventually he became the biggest form of support she had in the end. I just can not help but laugh at all the unseen development this ship has had and all the implication of Futher interaction after season 3 between them, it's really obvious they had something going on because imagine you don't talk to someone for like 3 years and suddenly when you engage in battle against , paired up with them suddenly you become the strongest duo known to humanity. +?)!#)# make it make sense.

Sooo now you see the that having toxic relationship with a partner is only natural and inevitable but growing from that, opening your eyes to those who actually care there for you is rather healthy. So moral of the story is guys make sure stick with those who tells you to stay with them, the end.

Omg guys this turned out so much longer than I intended, anyway hopefully y'all liked it. I know it's not the strongest comparison or analysis but I feel like I'm running out of words for what I want to say about rivamika it feels like I'm recycling my sentences from previous analysis over and over again because ✨ lack of content ✨ and my inability to think of something new.

Please ignore all my spelling mistakes I have decided to embrace my mistakes instead of fixing them simply because I'm too lazy 😉

💜💜💜

[techouspeaks]

Healin Good Precure Final Verdict and thoughts on Tropical Rouge Precure!

First off, sorry I haven’t been around that much to even talk about Healin Good. First, I just kinda lost interest in doing reviews for a while and then some personal snit just had to be thrown in when I really wanted to discuss somethings. So this review is kinda gonna be slightly unorganized but I’ll do my best and I’m really sorry about Precuruary again not being this year. This past year has been whoo! Just yeah...Anyway! I will try to be more active when I can be but I can’t make any promises right now. So onto the review! 

I know every year I’ve said that each precure seems a little better than the previous ones in some aspects. Like for example, Star Twinkle I felt was a little better than Hugtto in terms of overall enjoyment and characters, but it lacked developing the plot and the lackluster in the personality of the princesses. They could have had each princess have the certain traits expected from their signs such as Virgo being a perfectionist and Aries being hot tempered. 

Than again, maybe it’s cause I just think anything is better than Kira Kira! lol! I know I get a little harsh with that series. Given the other series that came before and after, can you blame me? There are better series than that. (In my opinion, anyway.)

Healin Good, I can definitely say this was a good ride for both plot, character, music and animation! Yes, the designs for the cures were a little lack luster and I still can’t help but get Cure Flora vibes from Grace, but eventually, I got used to it. In fact, while I know it was the anniversary of Yes Precure 5 Go Go!, I almost felt like they should have just made that into a separate movie and have Healin Good meet Go Princess since the cures there have a lot in common!

But of course being their own thing. They’re not copies of the GoPre girls, but they share definitely some things in common such as Cure Grace and Cure Flora’s flower theme, Cure Sparkle and Cure Twinkles love for fashion and star themes and Cure Fountain and Cure Mermaid for the water themes.

In terms of plot, it wasn’t like the most amazing plot ever, but it was decent and coherent. It was a serviceable plot that did the bare minimum and not be too crazy and outlandish and the morals at least made more sense unlike Twinkle. There was no getting grumpy dog people to learn to smile and be happy. 

Yes, the one thing that doesn’t make sense is how Cure Earth came to be and I will admit she as well as Fountain are the least interesting girls. I know people love Fountain/Chiyu! For me, blue cures have interesting stories but a personality that doesn’t fit it. They’re okay but I always feel like they’re just the cool kid that’s typically the responsible role model and nothing more, with the exception of Cure Marine and Cure Beauty, the later fits that role but she also has a bit more to her in terms of personality. The backstory for Fountain/Chiyu doesn’t make sense either. She sees the horizon line between the ocean and the sky and wants to jump that high. Then at first she’s just sees high jump as fun, which annoys a rival of hers and thus she’s pressured to like it more than just a school thing. It’s weird and almost complicated...

Cure Earth/Asumi is sorta a motherly kind of character since she’s in her 20s in appearance, but still a fish out of water. I’m glad they didn’t make her a teen so she had to go to school with the girls and she’s like the first adult main cure (Like I get Cure Flower, ancient cures and the Hugtto Cures, but I’m talking as in the main team member and not a side character type thing.) Which is nice, it shows that yes adults can be heroes. I mean we had adult superheroes all the time and the teen was just the less experienced side kick. 

As for personality, she’s a bit of a blank slate but I love her design! I know Green Cure and all wah, but hate to say it, the more people complain that there isn’t a green cure in every season, the more I’m kinda glad cause people get sooo uptight like they’re whitewashing a character or something. Like stop! It’s just a team color for Pete’s sake! Like even if they did her as a green cure, she’s kind of bland in personality so would you be happy with a green cure that’s sorta the blank slate?

I’m not saying she’s bad. She can be funny and it can be enjoying to watch her understand feelings and things since while an adult physically, she was basically born out of a whim and only knows how to talk and understand the basis of the Healing Garden as well as Princess Latte and Queen Teatinu. Shoot, she couldn’t even eat on her own.

My two favorite characters by far have to be Nodoka aka Cure Grace and Hinata aka Cure Sparkle. Hinata is just a fun character. She’s emotional, got a go getter attitude and I like the fact she’s into fashion but isn’t over the top annoying or particularly snobby, kinda like Cure Twinkle but different that Cure Twinkle has more of a professional attitude and higher skills, while Cure Sparkle is a bit clumsy and overly excited about everything. She has insecurities and flaws but thanks to Nodoka and Nyantoran, she gets over these rather quickly.

As for Nodoka, I know people are disappointed that her illness turned out nothing more than Daruzen, I don’t blame them for going this route. Yes, it kinda gives an unrealistic impression that the disease just simply needs to jump out of someone and they’ll be okay. I can’t help but think it might have backfired especially given the time since we had the you know what virus. So many kids were watching their families get destroyed and while, yes, it would be good to teach kids to stay strong and fight through it and that it takes time for people to recover fully, it could also be too overbearing for them as well if they happen to have a loved one who is sick or they themselves and are just constantly reminded of the suffering.

Put it short, there’s kind of no best way around it. You can either do it this way and there might be some kids that think well the virus can just jump out or do it the other way and risk kids getting depressed and anxious, which would be bad as depression and anxiety in kids has risen a lot since 2020. For me, I think kids are smarter than we give them credit. They are gonna be aware that stuff in cartoons/anime works differently than in the real world, so I feel like the route they took was better. It was already risky having the main character be sick and being put in the hospital to begin with.

With that being said, Nodoka is a good character for more reasons than her being sick and fighting an illness. She wants to be supportive because she needed support. Just because her illness turned out to be some alien germ from another dimension, doesn’t make her desire to help any less meaningful. She did suffer a lot, fought through pain and suffering through an unknown amount of time. Just cause she healed miraculously doesn’t make her suffering not real and her inspiration and influence on others less so.

Bottom line, it doesn’t matter how she healed, she still suffered, got inspire by those who helped her and thus inspired those to work hard on getting better. The message is still there.

But there is another thing that makes her special and that is when Nodoka told Daruzen off! That alone was the most inspiring thing ever done in a Precure series in a LONG time! It’s not just her standing up to a bully. She stood up to her abuser! And yes, I do like Daruzen and at first I thought they would be a cute couple, but I will admit when Daruzen took things too far and as someone that’s been sexually harassed and known people who were forced on, I can’t push forward with the ship or Daruzen for that matter. 

When Daruzen needed help, Nodoka pushed him away and then he outright made her feel bad about it. “I thought you were about helping others.” This is a tactic used by abusers, taking advantage of the kindness their victim usually has and congrats to Rabirin for being the best partner to a Precure. 

Nodoka holds no responsibility for Daruzen. He used her thus abused her, he caused so much pain not only onto her but to those around her. Put it short, Nodoka doesn’t owe Daruzen anything! That to me is one of the most important lessons to teach anyone especially young kids. It’s good to teach others to be kind and forgive folks, but if you don’t want to than don’t especially if they have done nothing but hurt you. Your health including mental health comes first above all else. It’s not selfish especially if the one needing help was selfish first and didn’t think about you in the long run.

So as much as I think that Daruzen X Nodoka could have been cute, I can’t help but applaud Toei for going this route instead. Especially these days, I feel it’s really important teach kids that it’s okay to think of what’s best for you, including putting a limit on helping people and setting boundaries. I’ve known even family members and friends that were in this situation where they had to stop helping someone, because that person took advantage of them and they had to put their foot down, cause they had to finally think of their own health and well being. It’s not selfish. It’s important to take care of yourself first!

Speaking of mascots, all the mascots are useful including Latte, which is the main mascot that is in peril the most since the villains make her sick. However, she is far from a passive pup as some people pass her off as. She does know when to put her paw down and even in the midst of her suffering, she does try when she can to help. Even go as far as refusing Nodoka’s care until she and Rabirin settle their differences to work together. She also has the ability to sense when the earth needs help and is the only animal that can do this. She also refuses Cure Earth’s/Asumi’s overly servitude towards her, showing she knows when to speak out about her own well being. True Latte doesn’t get too much to shine but when she does it’s rather welcomed.

Normally with mascots, I don’t care for them since they tend to be typically one note. The mascots for Healin Good are all memorable with their own personality  and they grow along side their respected cures. The only mascots I know that grew a lot was Yes! Precure 5/Go! Go’s Coco, Nuts and Milky, Go Princess Precure’s Aroma and Puffu. Mofurun only showed much growth in the movie where they became a cure. Though Mofurun is still more useful than the mascots in Kira Kira. (Yes, I will always take the opportunity to slam on that series!)

Speaking of Kira Kira...Oh boy. Well I was a little excited to finally have an ocean themed precure series with a mermaid, my excitement kinda dropped when I noticed the transformation compact and transformation. I’m gonna go a head and review the first episode since I watched it. 

I’ll first start off the with positives and move on to what I wouldn’t say are horrible things, but more so my overall concerns with it.

First, like others, I’m glad we got a lead cure that isn’t pink for once. This is a first since Splash Star Precure, whom I don’t think Cure Bloom counts. I mean in the first season, she kinda is pink, but then when she becomes Cure Bright her colors change so I kinda count her as being mix color, while Cure Dream was the first official Pink Cure.

I also like that while Manatsu/Cure Summmer is another happy go lucky type, she does have a bit more zest and isn’t the overall cutesy happy go lucky cures we’ve come to know. She’s different from Cure Star and Cure Yell, in which she’s happy go lucky in a more of a hot headed sense, than the cute, been bullied but still brave kid which was Cure Star and Yell.

Manatsu/Summer reminds me of Lina Inverse from Slayers and other similar red head characters from that era, which makes sense she is a red head. (Least Manatsu is).

The transformation and battle scenes are better too. I was worried that because the pact and start of the transformation looked so similar to Kira Kira, I was worried it would be exactly the same but it’s different enough it seems. My only gripe is that maybe Cure Summer’s final pose at the end for her transformation sequence could have been a bit more dramatic. Her pose look lack luster compared to the rest of her transformation.

The animation in Cure Summer’s attack is amazing but the 3D part of is a little distracting somewhat. I feel like the sun could have been done in 2D. Other than that, animation is gorgeous! Bright and colorful with nice detailing within the characters and background.

I also can’t help adore Cure Coral/Sango’s design and character. She hasn’t appeared that much, but already I kinda already adore her! She’s so precious and I can tell she’s already gonna be a fan favorite among many! I also like how she seems sweet and quiet but isn’t shy either. She’s rather just down to earth, just doing her own thing but still being polite. Refreshing take especially on a purple cure!

Now onto my issues with it. Starting with a bit too many similarities to Kira Kira such as the transformation pact and the overly energetic, silly theme. I don’t mind silly when it’s balanced out right. For me, it’s a bit too crazy and kinda the issue I had with Cure Princess and sometimes Cure Marine. I get that it’s about motivation VS procrastination. I hope they work it out to teach kids there’s an importance of both. Just teach that you need a bit of balance. Right now, it’s just not. Manatsu kinda gets on my nerves a little bit and then you have Laura...

I kinda have mix feelings about Laura. On one hand, I do relate to her. She’s a little vain and I like the fact that despite being a main character, she’s actually quite selfish! Her whole desire to do this mission is out of hope that she’ll be the next Queen, which apparently, the current Queen isn’t her mom I guess, but she’s chosen to be in line and she seems to want to be Queen simply for the selfish reason to be praised and adored, not cause she wants to help her people. I like this for the fact that it makes her far different from Cure Milky/Lala, whom many have said she was probably a little too responsible for her age, but I digress, Lala/Cure Milky is one of my favorite cures. 

What I’m concern is the fact that Laura will outshine the cures and take over the spotlight especially when she becomes a Cure. There’s no denying this will happen especially since it’s been confirmed the Midseason Cure is called Cure Le Mer, which is her last name. She seems to already outshine the mascot for the series Kururun, who is the first mascot to not meet the lead cure in the first episode because the poor thing barely gets any screen time!

I noticed this especially when the products for the series came out that Kururun is barely in any of the merchandise. I guess after focusing so much on the mascots for three seasons, having at least one be the token mascot to save all humanity, they decided “Eh, lets just make a mermaid the star seller and just have the mascot be squeezed in for those who want a stuffed animal.”

I get that the Midseason cures tend to take over the spotlight anyway, but I don’t always agree. Cure Scarlet and Cure Earth kinda grew along side the other cures. Taking time for both them and another Cure or character to shine as well. With Laura, because she’s already part of the group, hopefully won’t  outshine  the cures, but being how much they merchandise and show her off, it’s looking a bit bleak for anyone who isn’t Manatsu/Cure Summer when Cure Le Mer takes the stage.

I also fear since the series was announce that Asuka/Cure Flamingo maybe too much like Cure Chocolate given how her design is similar. I love her design, her’s is my favorite design of the bunch, but you can’t deny she looks like Cure Chocolate with longer hair. I hope they give her and the other cures more personality and growth especially before Laura becomes a cure.

Other than those gripes, I don’t hate it and do like some things about it. Maybe I’m just used Healin Good’s more relaxed theme that I’m kinda skeptical for this more wild, eccentric series. Maybe it will grow on me in time. Hoping it does since as said, been wanting an ocean themed Precure series with mermaids in it for a looong time!

Without further a due, I give Healin Good Precure 8 out of 10 stars. Won’t rate Tropical Rouge Precure until the end of the season. Seeya in the next review!

8 Stars Level: “Great!”

[tfw-no-tennis]

beast warhrerhbjgdsf

ok so at the end of the beast wars opening when they go ‘BEAST WARS’ the end sounds all garbled so its like ‘BEAST WARGHISHUDFBJKSFNS’ its really funny

so we’ve watched more beast wars!! woohoo

we've watched thru ep 21 now wrow

I continue to really like this show despite the cgi continuing to be painful

I like the characters and plots a lot...it feels pretty episodic rn but there's a throughline of character development and dynamic establishment that keeps things fresh

plus, new characters!! blackarachnia returned offscreen right after she left I guess, so she's here now...I like how she like immediately has her own agenda and isn't loyal to megatron (or tarantulas, who had a hand in her creation) 

and tigatron!! what a cool dude I love him. he’s so chill, and I like that he’s into nature and stuff, that's awesome. he is super epic and I feel like he’s saved the maximals sooo many times lmao. for some reason I feel like he’s eventually gonna be like ‘no I'm gonna go be one with nature sorry guys bye’ and leave the cast - specifically if we move the setting to space/cybtertron later in the show I feel like he’d stay on earth. that's just my hunch tho idk 

and airazor!!! she is super cool, I like her design a lot. cool bord lady...the maximals definitely needed someone who could fly other than optimus (which, why can he fly, he’s a GORILLA). and airazor is dope, I hope she sticks around

also the pods are a great way to introduce new characters and create conflict - all the eps w/the pods have had great tension, and I like that the good guys don't always win (like when the predacons got a pod to make blackarachnia, and later inferno)

ah yes inferno, that was a fun one - I liked how he was more ant-like and that translated into him trying to protect the pod, calling it ‘the colony.’ he’s so massive for some reason which is kinda funny. also ruth and I both hate that he flies around with his spinning ant ass. cursed 

also ruth implored me to include the fact that we’ve been calling scorponok a beta cuck bc he’s just such a loser hbvjakhdsfnaks

on that note its sooo funny to me that literally all of the predacons aren't really loyal to megatron, w/the exception of scorponok, who isn't very useful anyways. like, we start the show off with dinobot defecting like IMMEDIATELY and all the other predacons are trying to take over or undermine megatrons authority constantly. he doesn't seem to care that much tho which is funny. I feel like they spread out the megatron-starscream dynamic from g1 throughout like all the predacons lmao 

also megatron is so funnyyyyyy I love him lmao. he’s so dramatic, he’s like a theater kid but more advanced - like a classically Shakespearian play actor. 

and I find it funny that megatron like, barely ever leaves the base?? he just kinda chills out there and sends his underlings to do stuff, which they’re almost never successful at accomplishing. I feel like megatron has participated in like 3 fights this whole time and almost never actively participates in the plot, unless the plot is taking place at the predacon base. I wonder if he’s busy plotting or something...

also ruth and I both noticed that the characterizations kinda changed around a little from the beginning, like rattrap being less mutinous, optimus being more understanding, etc; which tbh seems to be a bigger Thing in 90s/2000s cartoons (that is, the whole ‘not having the main cast’s characterizations nailed down at the beginning of the show’ thing)

ok what else has happened...I find it super funny that there's been TWO episodes where megatron tries to reprogram a maximal in some way to give the predacons an advantage, and both times it backfired spectacularly. like, didn't he learn from the first time!? 

the starscreams ghost ep was WILD omg. also I saw that that ep was up next and I was like ‘oh we should watch the g1 s3 ep where starscream is a ghost bc there might be important context we’ll need’ and ruth was like ok fine and then we watched it AND IT WAS SO BAD. MY GOD

like, we watched a fair amount of g1 before starting beast wars, and I’ve watched a couple s3 eps (which, I know s3 isn't as well regarded as the pre-movie stuff, but I guess I must have watched some of the better eps bc they weren't like THIS), so i knew this ep probably wouldn't be very good...but we were NOT prepared for the level of badness we were presented with vbahdjkfhbahsjkdf

I mean maybe we were missing in-show context, but also we just had no idea what was going on the entire time basically. the entire episode was so wack. the only takeaway I had is that octane and sandstorm are dating

anyways enough about g1. the beast wars starscreams ghost ep was actually good, I missed g1 starscream, that iconic bitch...none of the predacons are quite on his level in terms of sheer legendary bastard energies

I liked that blackarachnia was like starscreams protégé, complete with her betraying him at the end lmao 

also idk if this is something we’re supposed to know from the beginning, but ruth didn't realize that beast wars megatron and op aren't g1 megatron and op and she was like :0 when that was kinda revealed this ep - idk if that's a spoiler or not but I already knew that going in lol 

oh and the part where op said ‘LETS MAKE THIS A DOUBLE DATE’ and busted dinobot out of the cr chamber? Gay™

oh my god and that ep where the maximals were stuck in beast form and like, reverted to their animal instincts was...sure something vbhajdkfsnbskjf that was a lot 

it was like a much more goofy version of the stuff in animorphs about the characters being influenced by their animal morph’s instincts (which was almost always presented in an absolutely horrifying manner)

but yeah we have 6 eps left in the season (!!!) which we’re looking to finish soon, I’ll probably make another post for those eps and s1 in general woohoo

[miyomiikonran]

Burn the Witch Personal Review

I know how this sounds, especially I never did smth like that, so just pls treat it more like bunch of thoughts and opinions on this new title from long-term fan of Bleach rather than some professionally done review. I watched all three episodes and for now I didn't have much time to read the manga (I have a lot of stuff to read for my studies so ;;") so I just went through stuff written on fan wiki. So beware! Spoilers ahead!

So anyway, new title from Tite Kubo. I could not know who's the author and I still would've guessed who it is. It has such a familiar vibe for me, it's a lot like Bleach for me in terms of humor, dialogues, character interactions and so on. Backgrounds also have this kind of similar vibe but I can't tell what's exactly causing it cus I'm no artist. Kubo in his glory days always had great backgrounds so that's all I'm able to say. I think he catched some breath after Bleach's ending and came back with new energy, so his skills are back too.

About characters. I'm glad he did two main female characters this time, even though both Noel and Ninny annoyed me through most of these ~60 minutes. I'm gonna say that's how it usually is before you get to know these characters better. Balgo annoyed me the most because he's typical perverted guy (which I'm really tired of) but with sweet dumny appearance (I'm here for it) so we'll see where will this character go further. Ninny's idol type, so I wasn't really excited at first, but I really liked her interactions with Macy, so I see chances for future development. Kinda the same with Noel and Balgo, they have some chances to get better through their influence on each other. Noel is kinda boring on her own most of the time, but her drive for money is sooo relatable for me right now.

My absolute favourite for now is Osushi, which kinda amused me, cus it's complete opposite compared with how I reacted to Kon at first, who also was sort of mascot in Bleach. I think Kubo has a thing for "seems cute but can kill you" type of mascot...

Let's adress the elefant in the room now. It's the same damn universe as Bleach. It blew my mind completely since I read about this series. It's the same universe (12 years after the war) and it has witches and dragons! Don't get me wrong, tbh I think it could work, it makes sense in it's own twisted kind of way. I just wish we were given any clues about existence of other "reverse worlds"/Soul Societies before this title came out. Cus it makes sense when you think about it. For me it looks like each country/culture (cus idk if each country wouldn't be too much) could have it's own kind of reverse world coexisting with human world, with it's magic, creatures and rules rooted in it's history, culture and beliefs. That's why suddenly we have these european-looking dragons and completely different approach to them- rather than kill them, humans are using them for their own gain, which for me makes sense for country that started industrial age and was first capitalistic-kind of system in the world. Obviously they would be like "ey, it's kinda a waste to kill them, maybe we could use them to make our life easier?". In Bleach it was all more about restoring and keeping balance between worlds, moral duty, honor and strict rules which makes sense (at least for me) in japanese society. Same with Shinigami and their powers. Other stuff like Quincy and Arrancars kinda throw off this kind of logic but well, I'm just trying to find some sense in this madness.

How's the plot then going, in such weird curricumstances? For me it could easily defend itself as independent idea and separate universe. If someone didn't knew Bleach and watched this I'm pretty sure it would be viewed almost the same for now. Will it have more connections to stuff we know from Bleach? Idk, I hope so, cus if not then it's just kinda using the nostalgia left by previous series. This world is surely builded the same, we have two coexisting worlds, one with common humans and the other with people being able to see and fight supernatural beings that endanger both of these worlds. We have the same kind of structure of power as well, at least for me. Wind Bind is new Gotei 13, this time with symbolism based on zodiak signs. Cool, it would probably suggest 12 divisions, but for now we know about only 8 but once again, we'll see.

Each division has it's own field of work, responsibilities and leader. They all look just as weird and eccentric as Gotei 13 when we first met them, so hello darkness my old friend, especially one lady looks like nazi-wannabe again (Quincy I'm looking at you!). For now we only saw Bruno in action who's division is a fighting type, tasked with extermination of dangerous dragons. He's got very cool design and I adore style of magic he uses because I never saw anyone use spray paint for drawing magical symbols before. Very modern-looking guy and I'm here for it, especially he looks like Grimmjow's younger bro. In general this universe is on our typical technology level with smartphones and stuff everywhere, which is suprising to see having in mind whole traditionally japanese looking enviroment from original Soul Society. About the rest we barely know anything so well. We'll see, once again.

Do I see any clear villain in sight? Nah, not for now. For now we only know about 8 dangerous legendary dragons based on common fairy tales. Interesting concept, but I would like to see some classic villian too. However, we already got the same kind of lesson that Bleach served us- authorities cannot be easily trusted either, as their judgement also can be too strict, cruel and subcjetive without many possibilities to oppose them by avarage person. I smell more future drama in this topic. Especially we once again got elderly boss who looks similar to Yamamoto from Bleach.

One thing that kinda dissapointed me was music. Bleach made me used to very climatic, often dramatic soundtracks, kinda dark-sounding most of the time. Openings were mostly very good too, while here I barely noticed any music at all. Animation didn't really leave me in awe either, only fights seemed interesting and magic was nicely animated. But it's kinda boring compared to very dynamic animation in Bleach. First two episodes made me think of first two arcs of Bleach but it's been over 15 years! ;-;"

In the end, will I watch more? Yeah, for sure. I got very excited to see something new from Kubo, I'm rooting for him and his new series to be less damaging for his health and mental state so this time he'll have means to develop and finish it properly, ideally without more conflicts with Shounen Jump. If he'll play it right with connections to Bleach it might get every good and bring back old fanbase, maybe even make people forgive him completely for Bleach's rushed ending. I see he already got some lessons from that experience, as now he decided to publish chapters in small batches rather than weekly. For me it's good solution that may help him keep his sanity intact. I'm willing to wait if it means he'll get back to his fomer skills and glory because I loved Bleach with my whole heart. If only anime production will be okay with such work dynamic then sure, great. I hope music and animation will get better overtime, maybe with more people getting interested they'll be able to spend more time and effort on it. I'm waiting for more characters to appear for more screentime as well, despite what I said about weird looking leaders of Wind Bind. Kubo proved he can make interesting and unique looking characters before, as well as create engaging villians and fights that fans are waiting for for months or years even. Maybe he even learnt a thing or two from plot holes that happend before. We'll see, I'm hopefull and willing to see where this series will be going c:

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S4 Ep 27: Joey Punches Valon to Death and Seto Kaiba buys a Car.

My favorite character is back!

THE STORYBOARDER.

Like clockwork, the best storyboarder of all of Yugioh saw in the episode notes “This is the one where we shall Destroy Joey Wheeler” and he was like “Yes! this is extremely my thing!” and he’s back at it again, destroying Joey Wheeler with such finesse.

Like it’s so hard to explain in caps because you can’t see stuff move, but this animator is so good at the Yugioh vibe--he makes these character designs WORK for him (or her? No idea the identity of the mysterious storyboarder (or team of storyboarders--maybe this was one little group they freelance out to that worked really well together? I dunno) ) they really capture what Yugioh IS in a really unique way and still remain fairly economical in the animation sense. They do not hold back on any pose, and go completely ham into this ridiculous concept of a card game where you put on a special suit and punch eachother in the face.

Mind you, it’s still a card game and I skipped all that, but man...this is such a good storyboarder and I know that next episode they’ll be gone but for now I’m just gonna bask in it.

First off, Rebecca manages to figure out Seto’s 6-letter password in order to access billions of people’s personal data off of a satellite (we don’t get to find out what the password was) and although the storyboarder is great--they did make one fatal mistake.

The bane of every Californian who leaves California. LA is like a completely different country to San Fransisco but everyone only knows of two Californian cities and assumes we’re right next door to each other.

And it’s like...no, man. I don’t have Disneyland. Do I sound like a cheerful person that lives next to Disneyland? Do I say “bruh” and smile with the force of 1000 suns as we surf the coast on the backs of Lisa Frank dolphins? No dude, I have a strong Bay Area accent that makes me sound like a dry sarcastic asshole and I wear sweatshirts to the freakin beach because it’s very cold and filled with great white sharks.

(Sorry I just had to delete like 10 k words where I compared the entire cast to US cities by saying cryptic stuff like Joey Wheeler : Seto Kaiba is like LA : San Fransisco and like it was the biggest random tangent that only makes sense to me. Quarantine brain, y’all, I got SERIOUS quarantine brain. Anyone else? Anyone else just find themselves wasting like 2 hours thinking of which cities match the personalities of different characters on a show that came out so long ago? Man I need distractions right now.)

But back to what’s happening on the show, Yami is coming to terms with Joey’s struggle about as well as Yami does.

Which is mostly Yami saying “I’m pretty sure I killed Joey in that card game with Bakura in S1 and Tea had to bring him back from the graveyard so like wtv.”

(read more under the cut)

This was like 2003??? I think I keep forgetting when this season came out but we had printers at this point. We had google maps and a printer.

I don’t think I’ve touched a map like that since the 5th grade, where we had this competition to make a hypothetical road trip across America. It was Awful, and if you won the competition to get from SF to New York with the shortest distance, you would win something like pizza and a cool engraved name plate. We did not win pizza, because I could not even unfold this asshole map.

And now we have Google so like thanks, Mrs. Lambert, it was cool, but I’ll never use that information again. I hope. It was such a vivid frustrating memory that these maps still fill me with anxiety to this day, hearkening back to my 5th grade self just desperately trying to use string to measure how many miles the freeways across the midwest contain. (spoiler: a lot)

How OLD is this kid? Rebecca’s like secretly a 68 year old. She’s secretly Mrs. Lambert.

At this point we had a swell in the music as each friend of Joey joined in to announce their willingness to risk danger and save him.

Were they...not going to join him the whole time? It just seemed like a weird thing to bring up sooo after the fact.

Yami then turned to Duke and was like “but not you. You stay here” and he was like “Oh, thank gods.”

Rebecca stayed behind because the animators don’t want to draw her. Honestly, she’s incredibly helpful and they were mad stupid to leave the only smart one in the car. But youknow...this team loves being mad stupid. It makes the show more entertaining.

As they left we had a weird aside where Arthur Hawkins reflected “Rebecca is having just a REAL hard time trusting Yami” and it’s like--Arthur Hawkins! You’ve been dumping on Yami for like an entire season, that’s why. Like don’t pretend you’re all on team Pharaoh now. Why ever stop dunking?

But youknow, character development, Rebecca is going to learn the trust the ghost that possessed her crush/best friend that she’s had for 2+ years on a kid who’s been living in Japan this whole time who literally forgot who she was 2 weeks ago. You trust that ghost, Rebecca.

Or not. I mean you really don’t have to. You don’t owe Yami anything, dude. You don’t need to blindly trust idiot men, Rebecca. You just do you. Trust that instinct of “is this guy not trustworthy?” because yep. Chances are if you’re having that thought, that he’s totally not.

Storyboarder!

Storyboarder what ARE you???

STORYBOARDER!

after this followed a scene that I’ve seen gif-ed just so, so often that I assumed it was in a Yugioh Spin-off. I don’t know why I thought it wasn’t in this OG series, but I didn’t expect it to be here, in the Dartz season. But, it does make sense that this scene was under the best Storyboarder‘s direction because *chef’s kisses * it’s perfect. Every frame is a joy. The amount of sinister expressions on Mokuba, the level of sass coming off of Kaiba. It’s such a freakin shame that this man’s best work so far only lasts like a few seconds.

PS my bro looked it up and this car salesman has a wikipedia page.

He also looked up if anyone has shipped this car salesman and it’s our lucky day because this ship does not exist with any human ever in the world. Thank you, humanity. But, they DID make a wikipedia page so maybe we’re just putting off the inevitable?

I’m not even gonna cap it because I KNOW this is a gif you can easily download from everywhere but mm--this is a SOLID piece of animation. This animator is just flexing so hard, man. Yugioh did not deserve this much care and attention to detail.

Shippers rejoice, Seto Kaiba did briefly consider helping out Joey (before he absolutely drove away in the opposite direction)

(They’re clearly in the financial district already, PS. They are driving 5 ft to Dartz’ house.)

At some point Joey nabbed Valon’s card and so now he also gets to wear a bunch of stupid armor outfits.

This one is weird! It’s very Kamen rider-ish...but it’s a color scheme that feels very valentines day. It looks hard to wear. Good thing it’s animated.

I may need to capture this walk sequence though...if I still have the energy...the picture does not display his very energetic arms-in-the-air walk cycle I haven’t seen since that one Season zero episode. I dunno if it’s a reference to that, but I can’t think of any other reason why Tristan is walking like that.

This is when Mai finally shows up.

Valon lost his helmet during this fight, which lead to this:

What a good note to end on.

Anyways, I have no idea what my update schedule will look like or be, so if you’re new here and you want to start reading these from the beginning, I have a link for that:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[icharchivist]

god everytime i watch an a3 song on youtube it ends up playing the Live preview  and i cant help but watch all 15mins everytime but man i also have

like

okay it got long bc i’m limiting my gushing on the trailer to this post, so under cut if you want to see me completely unhinged about seiyuu

1) Asanuma Shintaro (Itaru CV) is still so pretty and it’s still completely illegal and it reminds me how i legit got into a3 bc of him, Eguchi Takuya (Tenma CV) and Shirai Yusuke (Masumi CV) originally bc they’re Seiyuu i really like, but yeah, Asanuma has no rights looking that pretty and i’m still mad at his vocal range, knowing him as Samatoki from hypmic to start with

2) speaking of Asanuma gotta hand it to him that he always cosplay as his characters during lives, and while for a3 they all cosplay the plays they sing for, it’s still neat to see him come with ITARU’S HAIRCUT everytime

LIKE SIR

(also may have a hysterical moment seeing Shirai and Asanuma on stage dancing alongside rabbits knowing that they’ll soon be on stage to fight for the next hypmic battle i’m going to go feral over this)

3) Completely hysterical over Asanuma singing Itaru’s song while turning his back to the public because he’s “playing video games”

4) on a similar note i admire how Eguchi keeps dyeing his hair to match the character he’s playing in public appearance but i’m now therefore joining his group of fans who’s getting legitimly concerned about how often he dyes his hair

(i think he currently has green hair, following him on twitter is just keeping up to date with “what color is he having today”)

5) Anyway this whole post is based on the fact that i react everytime i see Shunsuke Takeuchi (Juza CV) i end up captivated by his hair and i find him so pretty like good lord

6) ALSO MAN  Shunichi Toki (Yuki CV) and Junta Terashima (Hisoka CV) also are kinda cute this is a Lot. Also so is Wataru Hatano (Chikage CV) but on this one i feel like the fact i have a huge ugly crush on his chara (that he’s cosplaying) and on his voice is not helping me be objective one second

7) BUT SERIOUSLY THO THE FULL COSPLAY WHEN THEY DO THEIR PLAY SONGS IM AAAAA

(sidenote on this one: holy shit Chikage’s “Damashite!” makes me feel Things i really developped a huge, bad crush on Chikage huh)

8) HOMARE SONG CLAPS SO HAAARD I LOVE IT SOOO MUCCHHH

9) The Fact Hisoka’s solo’s preview is set right before Chikage’s, and that it cuts on the sentence “ Is what I'm seeing a "dream"? Or is it the "magic" someone has left cast on me?” (term used for magic being Mahou) and then directly cuts on Chikage’s “nanana”, but also, KNOWING that Chikage’s first play has him play a magician and so that his first play song is “ Usotsuki wa Mahou no Hajimari “ BECAUSE Hisoka’s song was forshadowing with the fact his memories were lost due to a “magic” that links him to Chikage and maybe i’m hyperventilating

10) The fact they PULL THIS AGAIN by having Azami song right before Sakyo??? god i thought it’d be more fun to watch the trailer now that i know all the songs so well but actually the trailer is a personal attack

11)  Yuuichi Jose (Sakyo CV)’s Sakyo’s cosplay are something else man, those hair!!!

12) is anything ever going to top Asanuma and Shirai dancing the teapot surrounded by bunnies

13) also i think we as a community needs to discuss the fact Autumn has the sexiest costumes

(side notes add Chiharu Sawashiro (Banri’s CV) on the “VA pretty” list put earlier)

14) yeah this screenshot is definitly doing things to me, add Sawashiro to the list (honestly fitting considering how much i’ve crushed on his sister, Sawashiro Miyuki (Kurapika CV, Katalina CV ect))

15) Kento Hama (Taichi CV)’s haircut is really IT too though like bRO THE UNDERCUT

also wait actually he’s really super cute

16) Admiring Kentaro Kumagai (Omi CV)’s commitment to Omi’s scar on this one

17) yeah like, Shunsuke Takeuchi is rEALLY this pretty i’m. wow bro. dude.

18) hang on, “Omi’s camera”, i’m just noticing NOW that Kentaro is the one holding it HOLD ON IM, HOLD ON

19) also i’m just noticing that there’s none of Azuma’s songs in the preview so i’m assuming Tetsuya Kakihara couldn’t make it to the lives and somehow it makes me super sad *googles him a minute* especiallY since he would have ended on the “VA cute” list a bit above

IN CONCLUSION: a3 ruined my life, seiyuu cool, and this whole post was started in order to vent out the fact i REALLY find  Shunsuke Takeuchi extremely pretty and then i got lost in the fact i love a3 so much

and scene, gotta return to the anime

[tomiyeee]

2, 5, 7, 13, 17, and 20 (you gave me so many lol)

under cut cuz it’s long(er than usual)

2) What do you like most about the series?

hm. if im honest, im not entirely sure! i think at least part of what got me hooked and why the series has remained so entertaining for me is just the sheer ridiculousness of it. the faces and animations, the whole concept of an ancient alien race whose society revolves around racing cars...it’s great! i don’t mean this in a bad way or that i dont take any fan content seriously, i just find it amusing looking at my content of it and thinking “man. this from a kids’ show about cars.” makes it much easier to enjoy what i make and not take it all too seriously. im just here to have fun!

5) Favorite & least favorite car(s)?

mm i answered already but i realize those were only acceleracers cars sooo…

fav: markie’s stingray..i always say this but it’s vanilla flavored..it’s so pretty

least fav: gosh all these cars are so ugly it’s hard to pick just one...i’ll just go by teams lol

wave rippers - alec’s truck is so bulky and ugly and boring *graffiti’s on it in vr chat*

street breed - side draft is such a stupid name

road beasts - moto-crossed. what the fuck?

dune ratz - kadeem i love you but...sir ur car…

scorchers - red baron. the fucking. driver has to bend over just to see out the vehicle, how is this a car

7) Favorite scene or line?

vert house scene in BP. i’ve probably watched/listened to BP at least twice as many times as any of the other movies. nolo isn’t in this scene but i like vert too and he looked cute and had nice voice acting so it’s in second place. what can i say, i cant stand action and eating lunch in the cafeteria and talking to ur dad at home is about as far from action as you can get :)

13) What ships do you like (if any)?

i have them all listed on my blog but i wanna talk about some of em that have been on my mind a lot anyway:

vertnolo - tbh i can’t see either of them being very romantic, esp with each other. they aren’t so much boyfriends as they are just friends who like to kiss lol. this ship is almost purely self-indulgence which im a little embarrassed about sometimes but hghhh. i love vert and i love nolo and instead of loving both of them individually, why not love two boys with one ship? :)

banjee/kadeem - they had very cute exchanges in world race and i would’ve loved to see more of them!

banjee/ez/skeet - damn banjee how come i let you have two boyfriends AND a girlfriend? they seem to be canonically very good friends, and i love the idea of the three of them getting into trouble together...or rather banj/ez getting into trouble and skeet being reluctantly dragged along. he seems the least willing to break rules but they are all ride or die for each other

tork/tone - this may not have worked out in canon and there’s not much to work off of there anyway in terms of dynamic so i don’t draw it much, but rival team leaders are always an interesting ship in my experience lol. plus they both desperately needed some character development so hey they have that in common!

dad wheeler/tezla/gelorum - the dilf/gilf/milf dynamic. they are all exes.

lani/vert and karma/nolo - platonically, they both feel like they have a sibling-like dynamic and their aesthetics fit together very nicely. vert and lani have some stuff in common and get along fairly well and karma seems to look after nolo quite a bit. i don’t have a lot of solid ideas for either of them, but seeing/thinking about them interacting makes me really happy :D

17) If you could design a realm of your own what sort of theme would it have?

well i’ve already answered for my flower/forest/fairy-themed aesthetic and fish and stars are already taken...what other aesthetics do i have..?

this is very vague but i really like seeing vibrant pink color palettes. im better at designing stuff thru drawing than text but i dont feel like drawing rn so ig just something that looks like either this warm pink sort of palette or this purple-ish one. like a sort of..sunset realm? not sure about the track or obstacles, i just want it to be pink and pretty. ooh or a crystalline realm!! maybe even combine the two!

20) What would you like to see/have seen in a continuation?

i want the drivers to beat the shit out of tezla. i really loved the parts of ult race where the two teams worked together and made amends, but it’s sad that we didn’t get to see much of that dynamic until the very end, especially since it’s kinda drowned out by all the action (i get it’s the finale, but also...i hate action). i would love to have seen more of those new relationships and how they would work out in different situations. like more of what we got to see of the characters’ interactions throughout the series, only this time its without them all being ~2 secs away from strangling each other.

the characters working together and building completely new dynamics between each other as the series progresses..maybe certain characters become unexpected but very good friends whose personalities complement each other in unexpected ways! maybe there are new conflicts that arise between the characters that stem from their personalities/backgrounds/etc. themselves rather than some arbitrary team rivalry! ooohh there’s just so much potential here!!