#it is a dynamic I love every single dang time

[steampunk-raven]

I want what they (soldier and rose from ghost quartet) have

[tubes-and-dice]

I fucking love the dynamics between the ‘people’ and the ‘avatars’ in NSBU.

G13 is using Usha, because he’s a hacker and a manipulator, and she’s exactly the kind of person who can be easily scammed. Haunting. Spine-chilling. Cool as fuck, truly unbelievable storytelling, and it’s developed so organically!

On the other hand, Vic is mentoring Wendell in a way, and we got to see them really sync up this episode, working together to advance the narrative and protect their people. Wendell totally gets the kind of person that Vic is, and I think that helps him take Vic’s advice as the more experienced person- but also know that he’s not always going to be right.

Paula and Jack are sort of… misaligned. She keeps trying to find guidance from him, but they’re almost too similar? Jack so far that we’ve seen is very hands-off, and doesn’t seem all that worried about Paula- or his own family. Whereas Paula of course cares deeply about Jack’s family already, because she’s much more involved and familial minded than what we’ve seen of Jack.

Liv and Kingskin are, I think, the most compatible duo. Liv has settled nicely into her role in some ways, the control and power it grants her suits her well, and it feels like Kingskin likes her because of that? But at the same time her compassion for others is making such a notable difference in the way that she’s able to interact with people in Kingskin’s circles that it feels like he could learn as much from her as she’s learning from him. They feel like the most balanced pair, with the most mutual respect.

Dang doesn’t match Stocks’ vibe at all. He’s trying to do the cool action movie things, he’s playing into the role really well at times- but who Dang is, really, doesn’t sync up. His morals and priorities are very different from Stocks’- for good and bad alike. There’s very little connection between the two, it feels like- to me it reads as Dang just trying to fill the shoes of this Bond-like character, more than anything. Sometimes he’s really able to pull it off, and sometimes it just… doesn’t work. Stocks isn’t helping him. He’s on his own- which it seems is perhaps a norm for Dang.

Then of course, Russell. Russell and Jennifer are not a team at all- what Russell is learning from this experience, he’s learning from simply being Jennifer, not from communicating with her. He’s a man who we know is used to being attractive, used to being complimented and unused to being told off for the way that he behaves. I love the way that Ally’s taken his character as Jennifer- because he isn’t Jennifer. He’s Russell. He doesn’t want to wear a skin-tight bodysuit, he wants to get a baggy shirt to hide this form that he’s not used to, and work with the new skills that he has.

Idk I just think it’s super super cool that all of the players are working within the mechanic so differently, and I think every single manifestation of this dynamic makes so much sense for the characters that it’s just astounding. This last episode was such a good show of these dynamics and the impact they actually have on the plot.

[brotherwtf]

oh my god THAT drabble you posted (trophy wife gale & criminal john) inspired by THAT gif has me hooked so bad, your mind is honestly so top tier. they are already giving such it couple/power couple vibes, i don’t know how to explain it but their dynamic is so sexy but also sweet at the same time, like it has the potential to be toxic but it’s not it’s just pure sexy & sweet IM OBSESSED

ahhhh thank you anon! hhhhh you're so sweet

every single thing I write dude they are THE couple. it's just so easy for their energy to dominate the room, they both have so much charisma and charm and combined they are one lethal weapon

I love writing their dynamic, I think John is just so obsessed with Gale and Gale likes to be obsessed over, it's an easy trade when they're so in love. They worship each other so wholly, gahhh they're so 🥹🥹. I try my dang darndest to not make it toxic, it's my worst fear, but I think they're far too sweet to each other to be considered toxic or gross

Let's just say in that fic they're already fuckin and I've barely written a thousand words of set up. Bro they're just eager to take the other to bed :,)

the fic is coming soon, I promise! Im a little stumped on what to write plot wise (rn they're just kinda writhing around in bed together) so lmk your ideas!

[laylawatermelon]

Now that I'm thinking about it I wanna theorize/call for action outside of buddie (don't worry i WILL return with a vengeance) but now I'm on a bit of an Eddie Diaz kind of run.

I'm reading a fanfic now of Eddie's sisters which kind of spawned me to think about his relationship with them and kind of think about his family dynamics and expectations and what's coming up for his storyline.

Now they mentioned bringing his family in, specifically his sisters, and i think this storyline ties into Marisol (noname i swear this drives me crazy when i think about it?!??! PLEASE if you want me to care/be invested gimme a last name!) and his Catholic guilt/sense of responsibility/man of the house complex.

They've introduced how his upbringing brought him a lot of guilt and a sense of duty (to serve and protect amirite? Dang religion can be a perfect line to how modern society works but lemme save that for a thesis or something this is about 911 on abc🤣)

Back on topic though, there's a really nice post talking about how he's military family and how that affected his and Shannon's relationship. (x)

Reading that helped me to appreciate the writing and details.

I also want to talk about the beautiful work being done on Twitter and Tumblr about the Miami Vice costume theory and coincidences.

(heh throwback Tuesday and takeover thursday came in clutch with finding these x )

Yes i do ship buddie, but if I look at it not just as a romantic things but as they are written as kind of parallel soulmates who run along the same line of development.

One always spurs the next to grow and change and are heavily involved in some way even if that way it's just being themselves.

Buck being open with his sexuality will trigger something in Eddie. What it is can vary.

I think if we look at it with non shipper glasses, Buck's freedom will lead to Eddie's freedom. What I mean by that is since Eddie had came to the 118 Ryan mentioned how each year he was there the more he learned about himself and other people.

I think what Eddie would be at free from the image/expectations of what a family should look like/be.

He knows what a family could look like in a queer/unconventional way. Bathena's unit, Chimney and Maddie's family (let's say cause they're not currently married with a toddler church would pass out), and HenRen's family.

The could be and should be is the important part.

Eddie grew up being told what he should be and what his life should look like. Evidently his life went none of the ways it was intended to go.

He's a widower single father from a teen/young pregnancy and veteran. Sure he's a firefighter now but he has no "complete" family.

The way they're emphasizing the mother aspect throughout his story is still fascinating.

(i also thought of something hilarious as like he probably imagined/process mothers as like the Virgin Mary or something when they brought up how he can see woman as mothers but not really women at the same time)

(also Madonna whore complex was mentioned and it's also a fascinating way to look at it as he can either desire or love.)

Shannon seems to be the only exception and even that is iffy. I would also say that when she became a mother the desire kind of left? I think the mother aspect solidified for him when she left them I would say.

Yes they did have sex but that was a (very bad, horrid) form of communication between them. They both avoided stuff at some point in some (eh it's like 20/80 her and Eddie) cases.

Every other woman he has dated has kind of been a substitute, for a lack of a better word, replacement for the role of mom.

Now he knows what moms should look like in all shapes and forms. He knows what dads should look like. He's knows what his family should look like.

Granted he did get rid of some of the flaws of his father and the way he was raised which also ties into the way he is.

Eddie was parentified at an early age. (I will say as a black/poc person that there tends to be adult responsibilities placed on our communities kids from young partially because of culture but mostly because of the inherent unevenness that we have to struggle to make balance worldwide in different facets and environments.)

Once again, this is about 911 on abc, not my thesis😭.

I just imagine him standing on a stool to cook food for his sisters or some other things like laundry. Or even worse the cannon car accident with his pregnant mom. (I love to make myself cry)

Eddie had technically been a parent since he was a kid. He literally became the man of the house or the father. So i guess that entailed taking on the emotional and sometimes physical burden of the father role.

I guess when he was actually a father and not just the role he felt the weight of responsibility again and panicked. It makes sense he has a habit of running since he never had the opportunity to do so as a kid (since he never got the chance to be one).

So after Chris it was once again role of the father but now with added responsibility of bringing money to provide the household which he didn't have to do in that role.

It was hard then so it became even more difficult.

So he gave his body to the military and returned wounded in mind and body, and with a disabled son who needed insurance and stability and a wife who just needed him.

And he needed to be a man. Again and again and again.

He broke out of the loop when he got to the 118 (bless the haven that is that building) met Buck, then Carla and Bobby who offered a safe place for his kid.

He was no longer alone and had distanced himself physical from the church but mentally still shackled in his beliefs.

After this Buck and Tommy things and he's not present we're going to focus on how a family could look for him.

Last season and recently they mentioned the fact that his aunt had been divorced and he didn't know.

There was also mention of family secrets.

There was also Marisol and Chris together which I'm guessing he wasn't to happy with her but it's either or since we haven't seen them together so it's a 50/50 chance. More like 90/10 he's annoyed or feels weird about his mom being replaced). Since we touched on him repairing his relationship with his mom and subsequently girls and women/relationships he wants to be in now that may shift his image of Marisol suddenly being more present.

Slight Buddie tangent (i gotta let the beat out for a sec raaa-) but the fact that he's still hanging out with Buck pretty consistently (well we can say he's his other parent who's sadly been in his life almost longer than his mom 🥺 lemme stop I'm crying) but it might decrease due to his and Tommy's relationship. (They're two firefighters with very busy schedules ofc he's not present they got work to do chop chop!/j)

In turn this leaves Chris with one less stable parent figure and it's forced to turn to Marisol who may be overeager to please him.

This can lead Chris to probably feeling uncomfortable with the changes because he's happy his dad's happy but he's not happy because it feels like his family's changing again too fast, and what if she leaves then his dad's not happy and a whole other sleet of teenage issues and angst.

So what I predict their storyline to be going it's that Eddie tries to find his own freedom from the church and maybe even the expectations of his home community would have on him.

Buck will be radiant in himself at the wedding, so will Hen and Karen, and Marie and Chimney, and Bobby and Athena.

He'll look around and look inward.

He'll stop focusing on what his life should look like and focus on what it could.

And that life could be just as radiant as the family he's apart of now.

(and that's all i could ask for 🥹)

[apricotdraws]

¡¡¡¡¡Holaaaa!!!!!

Eres la siguiente persona a la que voy a molestar con mis preguntas JAJAJAJAJA.

Primero que nada, SOY MEGA FAN DE TUS DIBUJOS, SON HERMOSOS Y MEGA BELLÍSIMOS. DIBUJAS INCREÍBLE, MUERO POR TANTA BELLEZA 😭❤

En fin, aquí vienen mis preguntas:

•Top 3 de tus personajes favoritos de DTMG

•Personaje que odies

•¿tienes algún headcanon?

Eso sería todo, BESOOOOOOOOOOS 💋💋💋💋

PAN!!!! HOLA!!!!! estaba esperando este momento jejeje :D

GRACIAS POR TUS COMENTARIOS SOBRE MIS DIBUJOS, me quedo super feliz y emocionada leyendo tus comentarios :DD Voy a responder tus preguntas en ingles. Hablo y entiendo español es que tengo mas confianza en mi ingles que mi español,,, espero que no sea una molestia.

•Top 3 de tus personajes favoritos de DTMG

Get ready because im gonna start rambling a LOT. Well to start off obviously its gotta be the one and only BJC.

HOWEVER-

I have a special place in my heart for three characters and I cannot rank them as I love them equally,,, so I'm just gonna list them, no particular order.

1. Miss Blah Blah

What can I say about her,,,, she is so FREAKING COOL!!! her design is amazing and her character says a lot especially with the whole feud she has with billy👀 she is one of those characters with little to no story that i want to know so much about. SHE IS SUPER INTERESTING AND I LIKE THATTTT. If you scroll down this account, you can see the many drawings I made of her, that's how SPECIAL she is to me. I have so much hcs about her and billy like how did yall REALLY meet???? like I KNOW YOU GUYS HAVE MET BEFORE, TELL US MORE!!!! we heard from billys side of their story but WHATS HER SIDE???? like there is no way that she just started to hate on him out of the blue and for what????? there HAS to be a REASON why shes doing this, or maybe she just likes the drama and went to target the biggest popstar out there. can't blame her, and she is still relevant!!! what a diva.

2. Madame X

again a VERY SUPER INTERESTING CHARACTER. the episode Billy's Achilles, really gave us more screen time for her and I loved every single part. i have so many questions about her and for her. like who are you exactly??? i know dang well you aren't who you say you are. I wish they would have given us more aspects of her character instead of just her wanting to capture billy, like why does she want to do this? why is this such a huge deal for her, like i know she is his biggest fan but for me I feel like there is much more to this. maybe am just crazy- also the room where she keeps all of her billy items is insane like his motorcycle??? his different ties??? the big STATUE OF HIM-????? a very dedicated billy fan, no one can be at her level. another key interest of her is that WE DONT SEE HER FACE,,, this keeps the mysterious status into a whole level and I'm sad the show is canceled before we got to see her face, like gaumont I know you have a character sheet of her, RELEASE IT!!!!

3. Shanilla Bhagwati

my daughter, mi hija,,,,, Shanilla deserves it all. they did not give my girl enough screen time of her hanging out with the boys and with her having her moments, and if they did and I just do not remember then IT WASN'T ENOUGH!!!! she has so much potential in the show, she is very smart kid with a lot to say. it's super hilarious when she says things very bluntly and honest then realizes what she said and retraces her words for a more positive response, like speak your truth girl 🗣️ the ep The Candidate, was so good in showing more to her character and the dynamic between her and billy really gave a big brother and little sister vibes which made my heart melt,,,, anyways she is just as important as the boys and i love her very much.

•Personaje que odies

-Principal Ponzi

his character gives me the ick. it's surprising how no one has reported for his bad behavior against his students and against spencer. he barely helps his school to help his students thrive and only focuses on himself, also don't get me started on his crush for ms rumsfield, who is like twice his age???? and used to be his teacher????? ALSO HE HAS A SECRET ROOM WITH A MINI BUILDING OF THE SCHOOL WITH MANY FIGURES OF THE STUDENTS TO PLAY AROUND???!? reminder this is a grown man, like EW??? anyways its not that serious but ponzi was one of those characters that i just don't like.

•¿tienes algún headcanon?

I have a ton of headcanons but i will talk about just two :)

HC: Billy has trust issues and will not let anyone get close to him, open himself to others about anything personal or get attached. Ever since his stardom at the age of 6, he was the typical kid who would make friends and acquaintances but after being in the music industry, he has gone through many heartbreaks, trauma and stuff that he wishes he hadn't gone through. This includes people who he has met over the years, and through his high level of fame increasing every second, there is always going to be someone who will want something or use him. He has made it his goal to not let anyone ever do him badly ever again, maybe its the reason why he doesn't mention anyone in particular in the show, nobody that missed or cares, not even friends, family or acquaintances. It had me thinking of him creating the Billy Joe Cobra persona as a way to protect and put himself first. This had potentially ruined some actual relationships and friendships that some people may want with him but for his own sake its better not to risk it. Not until his passing that he left a sense of relief and started to put his guard down when he realized he didn't need to do that anymore, until he met the kids and realized there may be some good people out there.

Anyways this may be so out of character for him and potentially doesn't fit him at all but I just found it so interesting that he doesn't speak/mention about anyone in particular in the show during his days when he was alive. This was the major reason why I created ocs in the first place to become friends with billy haha, this includes Ximena, her brother and his stylist/designer who I don't have their name set yet:

Ok im getting out of topic, enough talking about my ocs so back to headcanons!!

HC: Billy dated a groupie as a publicity stunt and that groupie ended up being Madame X Before Madame X was even "Madame X" she was a part of the groupies and became known as the successful groupie to date Billy Joe Cobra. Billy didn't think much when deciding to date a groupie and the risk that may come with it, not until he started to notice some very unhealthy obsessive behavior coming from her. For his safety he decided to end things off but that went downhill. Even since that break up Madame X became more obsessive and decided to go underground, changing her identity and appearance to become Madame X, the biggest anonymous Billy Joe Cobra fan.

I originally posted this on my insta spam but wanted to share here and you probably saw it Pan 👀 anyways here is a drawing that comes along with this hc!

I love this show too much and will keep loving it :]

We are at the end! Thank you Pan for asking me these questions, it was so fun speaking about what I had in mind all these years and for someone to hear about it. Amo todo lo que haces y sigue creando maravilloso arte!!!

[caffeine-clouds]

What Your Favourite Sonic Ship Says About You! (Part 1)

(Sonamy, Sonadow, Sonally) FULL DISCLAIMER: Shipping is a hot topic of debate, but this post is lighthearted fun! I'm a multi-shipper, I love most of these ships - and I can see why some people like the dynamics that I might not. This is not a bashing post, this is fun time. So, without further ado- Sonamy

You appreciate the simpler things in life. You decided to ship the protagonist with the main girl character just like 90% of all media writers, it's just what you're comfortable with. In terms of fanfiction tropes, do you happen to enjoy childhood sweethearts, meet-cutes, soulmates - that type of thing? I just had a feeling... Either way, you're just here for the cute vibes and the pining - and who can blame you? You probably really liked the fact that when you first came across the ship that it was the girl of the pair being the one so forward with her romantic feelings. But as time has gone on - you're either one of those people that really miss that side of Amy, or you're one of those that are so dang grateful they've toned her down. Either way, it's safe to say that this is one of the most vanilla of Sonic ships - and that's not an insult, vanilla is a good ice cream flavour. But no one is really going to fight you on your opinion other than the 5% of remaining toxic Sonally shippers, and those people that are somehow still living in the Sonic Heroes era. Sonadow

You saw that Sonic and Shadow's rivalry has been going on for far longer than 7 years, so it must be gay - and honestly, I can't fault your logic. You're a sucker for two disasters who can't express their feelings, and you have just determined that fighting is simply their love language. Even with Shadow's limited screen time in Prime, you suck every single dang crumb you're given like a vacuum. And by the way, you definitely have an Ao3 account - don't try and hide it. We already know you're a sucker for enemies/rivals to lovers... and I'd also wager you enjoy just-one-bed. Also you like that thing where characters constantly call each other by a nickname, and only end up calling them by their actual name during a confession scene or when one of the characters is seriously injured. I dunno, just had a hunch you'd like that sort of thing. You are debating between two sides of yourself - part of you wants Shadow's old characterization back where he was a more in-depth character and showed Sonic more respect, but part of you also loves how so damn obsessive Shadow is in modern games over Sonic and how much he wants to fight him - because that at least implies that Sonic is on Shadow's mind literally most of the time. But when all is said and done, this is vanilla when it comes to gay ships in the Sonic community. It's too damn easy, it's why it's the most popular Sonic ship on Tumblr. This ship was made for the LGBTQ+ community. Sonally

Opposites attract is your go-to, and it's been tried and tested - the formula works, I see it. You strike me as the person who really cares about canon material, and you tend to steer away from a lot of fanon. I also have a strong feeling you're a Sonic fan that's on the older side, back when SatAM and Archie were at their peak and considerably more popular. It's a ship with all the things you need to be happy - the characters have a deep, long-lasting bond, it's a sweet ship, and the two have constrasting personalities - so it doesn't get stale for you. You're probably into similar tropes as the Sonamy shippers - but you enjoy more drama and spice to your fanfics, and you won't shy away from angst - Archie loved its angst, I know you enjoyed that shit. You're either content with all the Sonally content you've gotten over the years, and will occassionally look at fanarts. Or you're one of those people who will not let the Archie comics go, you are still in denial - you are begging for Sally's return into the series and you're hoping now that Ian Flynn is writing for the games, that your dreams might just become a reality.

[moviemunchies]

Both critics and audiences loved this movie, though it didn’t do as well as hoped (even though it wasn’t a complete flop) because it ran against the unexpected juggernaut that was The Fault in Our Stars.

Anyway! I thought it was about time that I saw this movie.

Edge of Tomorrow is Groundhog Day but in a war against an alien invasion. There, I saved some time.

Or…. okay, so it goes like this: the world is invaded by seemingly unstoppable aliens called mimics, who quickly take over continental Europe. The war is not going well. Major William Cage works for the military, but only as a guy promoting recruitment. When he’s sent towards the front during an assault across the English Channel, he tries to weasel out of it. It doesn’t work! He’s sent back as a private, and promptly gets killed.

Except then he wakes up at the beginning of the previous day. He’s stuck in a time loop! And he gets killed in battle repeatedly, until a run-in with war hero Rita Vrataski, the Angel of Verdun. She tells him to find her when he wakes up. He does so, and discovers that Rita has also previously went through a time loop, which is how she got so good at killing Mimics. She’s hoping to guide him and end the war once and for all.

Once again, I am not familiar with the source material, a Japanese novel called All You Need Is Kill.

I believe I have reviewed two other time-loop movies on this blog? I’ve done Palm Springs and Groundhog Day. And all of them have different takes on the idea: one is a comedy about a reporter in a small town, another is set during a wedding weekend, and this one is in a war with aliens. Or, in short, it’s an action movie. And DANG is it good as an action movie. Lots of shooting, explosions, and our heroes fighting their way through hordes of enemies. The time-loop bit makes it feel a lot like a video game, especially with areas that you can’t quite get past because you don’t know how to beat certain enemies.

[The Librarians has an episode like this, I think? The video game concept?]

Of course, the makers of the film had the sense to realize that we didn’t have to see every single cycle of the loop. When we come across situations that are new to us, we are often surprised to learn that they’re not new to Cage, who has only gotten this far in the previous scenario. Watching the same attempts over and over again would be really grating, and would make the entire film really tiring to watch, in the same way that getting killed over and over again at the same part of a video game is incredibly annoying to go through.

And Cage is clearly very frustrated by his situation, especially bonding with Rita and seeing her fail over and over again, often in death. Which makes an interesting dynamic, because on her end, she’s only known him for about a day, whereas Cage has to go through this several dozen times. I’m not thrilled with the notion that this would lead to romance, which the ending suggests, but it’s also not wildly out there.

I do understand that watchers may be annoyed that this might feel, once again, like that action movie trope of a woman who is incredibly capable, but doesn’t get to be the hero and has to guide a man to that place. It’s not like Rita is a nobody in this movie, though, she does contribute quite a bit to the action throughout. YMMV on whether she still should have been the hero, though.

[This movie did re-jump start Emily Blunt’s career, though. She was going to really get going in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Black Widow, but had to pass because contractual obligations made her star in… Gulliver’s Travels. She got back in the action game with this movie, though.]

A problem this movie definitely has, though, is that I have no idea how Mimics work. Like, we get explanations on how they’re directed and led, but I mean… why are they called ‘Mimics’? And given how their bodies look, why does shooting them (albeit, shooting them a lot) seem to work? I wish we got a better grasp of what these aliens were like before the action really got started.

Edge of Tomorrow is, in my opinion, a darn good action movie. It’s also a demonstration of the kinds of cool things you can do with time loops, and science-fiction films in general. If you like action and science-fiction, you should try out this movie for the way it cleverly utilizes the time loop concept.

[coffeelovesdramasalatte]

LITA Ep 3 Rewatch Thoughts

Hi friends! Here we are at ep 3, and these posts are getting longer by the episode so grab a lil snack and some water if you want <3 I had to make a part 2 because the number of images got to be too many (linked here and below)

The opening continues to slap (plus I think I've listened to it enough times I think I can sing along with the chorus despite not knowing more than 8 Thai words)

Recap spanks hehe

Opening the episode up strong with this beauty (am I talking about the bike or Phayu in the folded coverall? clearly it's both)

SCHEMING CUTIE ALERT!!! That's the Sky-is-my-new-favorite-person smile <3

I'm dyingggg - Phayu says "I'm still waiting Rain" but bro, it's only been like 10 hours since the declaration of love-war, please calm down

Oops I realized I haven't been mentioning the episode titles - this one is so cute! 'I like Rain, and I'm not talking about the weather" but tbf this should have been episode 1's title

Live footage of me crying over my schedule as a grad student:

Dang, Sky has got a good poker face

Also Rain and I are equally dumb (I'm including myself here bc if I didn't already know Prapai and Sky were going to have a storyline I probably wouldn't have assumed he liked guys right off the bat) - Sky didn't even flinch when Rain writes down his mission to court Phayu (a guy) and immediately writes down the first tactic. WHICH incidentally is "show up in front of him every day". It's pretty full-circle that Prapai uses this same tactic to woo Sky later on, isn't it? (I also didn't notice that until right now so wow these rewatch posts are helping my analysis skills lmao)

Look at my determined son!! He's gonna get his mans!! (Sky's looking a little skeptical tho)

Ah Sig my beloved other son who has a single braincell bouncing around in his head like a DVD player screensaver

The Rain-at-the-garage montage contains so many cute shots but this would get too long if I put every single one in, so let's focus on the first meeting with the brothers-in-law (P'Saifah and Rain). How much must Phayu have described Rain for P'Saifah to instantly know who he is on sight? Also P'Saifah probably reported back to Phayu immediately and I'm kinda sad we don't get to see that convo.

I didn't catch this until now but they also foreshadowed Rain missing a deadline in the next scene. Sky tells Rain to finish his work but as soon as Phayu texts him, Rain runs out of the room without having done anything.

Listen, I love P'Aon and his matchmaking skills ok??

Look at Rain, he's trying so hard to be polite with the P'Phayu and the khrap - what a good boy! It's taking everything in him tho lmaooo

The conversation that comes right after this between P'Saifah and Rain is pretty interesting. I love how the narrative keeps trying to tell us that Phayu is some sort of dangerous fellow when all he's done is be a model student and mechanic and teach college freshmen good manners. Could he maybe learn a little something about physical boundaries? Perhaps, but maybe it's just how kind-looking Boss is, but I never got any sense of danger from Phayu, and esp not towards Rain. Rain's reaction to hearing presumably about Phayu's past relationships is quite on-point, and really cements the stubborn and determined attitude he takes towards getting Phayu to like him. It's how we as the audience know he's gonna be successful.

Next up, Phayu arrives in all his fashionably-late glory. This part has me smirking every time because he walks in all suave and stuff but approximately 7 seconds into Rain's pouting he immediately drops all pretenses and becomes so squishy and soft

I LOVE this exchange between them - again, we are getting a full picture of their early relationship dynamics. Phayu has expectations that Rain's gonna be different, and Rain's telling him he's gonna meet those expectations, and Phayu's satisfied "ah just as I thought" face makes an appearance.

I absolutely adore this expression on Rain/Noeul - it's so subtle but powerful

Yay dinner date!! Phayu is taking so many mental notes right here (also pls note this is the same face Rain is making right above)

Phayu is way too good at pressing Rain's buttons omg - he really got Rain to do this with like a single sentence of teasing (tbf Rain is pretty impulsive tho so I'm not surprised)

The poor serviceperson was like pls let me go

Phayu goes through this episode looking wayyy too satisfied imo

But Rain actually does have nice manners - he gave Phayu the utensils and bowl first and does say thank you

This smile should be illegal actually bc it is stealing my heart and soul

And we get another instance of Phayu being very not immune to Rain's pout (this time he doesn't even get to pout for 3 whole seconds before concerned Phayu is feeding him and patting his mouth with a napkin)

We get some more foreshadowing that Rain is going to miss a deadline

ok THIS. These small gestures that Phayu does for Rain have me swooning just as much as their intimate scenes. Something about that sentence is grammatically incorrect but you get my point, right? They could have easily not included them (and idk if these were even scripted) but they make the relationship that much sweeter and believable.

Slightly off-screen headpat alert!!

AND WE GET IT IN POV SHOT TOO

Live footage of us whenever PhayuRain do anything:

Get you someone who looks at you the way Sig looks at his writing utensil (Have I mentioned I adore him yet?)

Also wait he's not wrong!!!

We get Rain's voice jumping like 10 octaves this time lmao (the increase is proportional to how much he loves Phayu obvs)

Look at our smart boy!! He's won design awards, y'know

Phayu you are not allowed to bully P'Aon like this - he's literally on your side??

Rain: I don't want to see Phayu

Also Rain: ignores Ple, the teachers, his friends, his homework to run to the garage to give Phayu snacks

Part 2 here (y'all we're literally only halfway through the episode omg)

[rottenbrainstuff]

Hey guess who didn’t hate the new Joker movie? (No spoilers)

So I went and saw it last night cause I needed something to do with someone I didn’t really want to spend time with, and I couldn’t think of something to do together. Look I don’t know, why don’t we go see Joker, it’s getting bad reviews so maybe we could go laugh at how bad it is or something?

So that’s what we did.

And then yeah I dunno. I didn’t hate it. I kind of liked it?

Maybe the trick was to go fully prepared to hate it, and then anything in it that was good went above my expectations. Maybe the trick was that I knew the movie made fans mad, so as I was watching it, I was entertained thinking about how joker fanboys would be hating it.

I don’t know what to say. I found it interesting. The first movie was technically quite well made, but made me deeply uncomfortable. I liked this one better. I liked the surreal quality. I watch musicals, I watch movies with songs in them. The music reminded me a lot of Dancer in the Dark. I don’t feel like the songs were “for no reason” as some have complained. I liked the beginning. I had a hard time liking Arthur in the first movie, but I was much more on board here, much more on his side. I loved the score, loved the malevolent cello, and there are some shockingly beautiful shots.

You guys are probably too young to know this, in fact *I* am almost too young to know this, but back in the day, movies used to begin with a random cartoon tacked on the beginning. I had no idea there was a cartoon with this movie too, and I thought that was super neato. I was also a bit surprised at the animation: 2D looney-toons style animation is basically a lost art at this point, and I had no idea who the heck they got to make that. Credits revealed: it was Sylvain Chomet. (Triplets of Belleville, the illusionist) Of course it was. That was a neat surprise that I hadn’t heard anyone mention.

Unpopular opinion: I actually really just do not like Harley Quinn as a character. Ever. She is, at best, annoying to me. Even in Birds of Prey, I just didn’t really enjoy it. I enjoyed her in this movie. This is the first time ever, ever, that I have ever seen Harley Quinn and was actually interested in her. Whatever I was expecting, it was NOT this. I was absolutely fascinated by how different her dynamic with Arthur was. I won’t give away spoilers but dang, yeah, that was not what I was expecting and I really liked that.

I can see why fans are mad at this movie. Tbh sometimes I felt like it was made specifically to make people mad, or that it was made as a snarky response to the creepy joker fanboys who turned the first movie into their brand new Fight Club. I found that amusing. As I was watching it I was entertained thinking about how much it made people mad. I think it made me more willing to be on the movie’s side. Some people have said Joaquin Phoenix phoned in his performance here but I do not agree.

Unfortunately….

Nothing can save the ending, which is an absolute fucking mess. The whole thing starts to unravel and meander with the trial, and then we have an egregious case of multiple-ending-syndrome a la LOTR. I was very bored by the end and really wanting things to wrap up, and that is such a huge shame. I feel like a few rewrites could have tightened up the last third and turned it into a proper big ol gut punch, but instead it rambled on and on to the point where I didn’t know or even care what it was trying to do anymore, and those songs that I liked initially, I started to groan instead because I didn’t want another song, I wanted them to hurry up and end the movie.

So yeah. I don’t know. Picked out the movie 100% expecting it to be dogshit, had a legit fun time instead. I do not regret using up my tickets.

(NOTE: hilariously, every single YouTube review I have seen pronounces the title differently, and incorrectly. Not sure why, I thought folie a deux was a psychiatric term that was generally familiar? Guess not. It’s pronounced foh-LEE ah DUH, with the U in deux being pronounced like the U in put. I have heard some extremely creative pronunciations! I find it amusing!)

[scribble-dee-vee]

Heyyy I just got here and am already obsessed with LL and the boys. I've come for the ask game. If you have the time/energy I'd like answers for both >:]

🎈❗️🚨

Cecelia sounds like such a badass I'll be back to bother you about her later :>

Omg hiii!! Ty for the ask (and reblogs – I see u). I'm glad u r fond of the lads. Cecelia is in fact a badass and I do in fact love her and I would in fact talk about her at any time. Ur Western/cowboy/eldritch WIP sounds like it goes EXTREMELY hard, and I will for sure be bugging you about it as well 🫡

Prompt list is over here!

Responses are predictably long, so I stuck em underneath a cut. Also, tagged content warnings.

🎈 (balloon) - What does your character do at parties? Are they a wallflower or a party animal? Do they go with friends or alone?

I answered this one for Dale over here! TL;DR parties are a constant in Dale's life. He generally views them as a vector for political/social gain rather than something to attend for funsies. Charles emphatically DOES NOT like parties, because A.) he doesn't like people, B.) he's some flavor of neurodivergent, and B.) he had a TERRIBLE childhood with few chances to practice conventional social interaction. At the beginning of Lost Letters, Jamie ropes him into attending a party at the Rosehip Club for tactical reasons. He meets Dale, who drags him along to subsequent events. He complains about this for the entire book, but what is he supposed to do? Not spend every single waking moment with his bf??

❗️(exclamation point) - What was the scariest moment of your character’s life? Does it still affect them?

OH BOY, do these lads have scary memories!! Several come up within Lost Letters, so these are slightly spoilery. Oh, well. When Dale was thirteen, a highwayman (or hired assassin?) nearly murdered him and Rosalind. They were on their way to boarding school. He stopped their carriage and put a knife to Rosalind's throat. One of her guardsmen rescued them by shooting the attacker, but things got pretty dicey for a minute. In moments of panic, Dale can still feel the splatters of blood and brain matter on his face. Eugh. Charles has many traumatic memories. He was abducted into the cyborg force as a child; he still fears Imperial doctors and the mysterious warren of caves beneath the palace. There's one particular instance that stands out in his mind, but I can't reveal the whole story here – it's highly plot-relevant, hehe. It resulted in his bionic eye and the metal chunk of his skull.

🚨 (siren) - What’s your character’s relationship with the law? Have they ever been arrested? What for? What are their opinions on law enforcement?

Dale is a hot, wealthy Goldenheart and lineal descendant of the Queen. He can get away with murder. He doesn't concern himself very much with rules, but he does try to keep a clean record – anything else would threaten his claim to the throne. For the most part, Dale benefits greatly from the oppressive, corrupt legal system of his world. He sits at the top of the City's social order. (Asterisk. Dale's queerness, and his illegitimate Leadenheart sister, certainly complicate his social positionality. But that's a can of worms we don't have time to open now.) Charles lowkey IS the law – he's a junior member of the Imperial military. He's a cyborg and a Goldenheart, which means that he's pretty high up in their Order. However, he's still an apprentice until the end of Lost Letters, which means he doesn't have a formal rank. He attends palace schooling/training and sometimes conducts one-off missions to kill mages. He's an excellent tracker. Charles' mentor is General Dmitrius Fenway, the guy who leads the entire dang force, so that's a big deal! It definitely means that Charles will graduate to a prestigious rank, and probably means that he'll be a prominent leader someday. However, Charles is not Dmitrius' favorite apprentice – that would be Charles' sister, Cecelia. This whole fucked-up little family dynamic is complicated. Charles is a sensitive person, and despite the lifelong brainwashing, he feels a little iffy about the whole "forced military service" thing. When he leaves to attend college, with the Queen's personal permission, these feelings only grow; he sees the world outside the Imperial echo chamber, and it allows him to recognize the deplorable implications. Cecelia, on the other hand, is SUPER ENTHUSIASTIC about serving the force. She has never left, and she craves validation for her skill. However, she's also a girl; women soldiers are less common and less respected in this pseudo-Victorian dystopia. (I should probably clarify that Lost Letters deals HEAVILY with oppressive gender roles, misogyny, and fascist ideology. It's not intended to be a light read or a conventional romance.)

Ty for reading the HIGH wall of text, hehe. Love sharing ✨ fucked up character lore ✨

[iwatchedyougoinghomeeveryday]

So... over the summer I finally watched Lost.

I can't believe I waited over a decade to watch this show. I used to read all of the recaps in my Entertainment Weekly magazines and was closely following the fan reactions throughout the final season. I remember everyone hating the final episode and I was shocked at that. I actually started the pilot twice within the decade, but it stressed me out so much that I switched to watching something more lighthearted lol. Well, this past summer, my mom and I watched the entire show. And we freakin loved it. (Duh.) (Also EVERYONE IS WRONG AND THE FINALE IS GREAT.)

Here are my thoughts because talking about 2000s television shows is my favorite thing:

(spoilers)

I loved all of the characters and can't stand any of the hate I've seen online. THESE PEOPLE WERE GOING THROUGH SOME DEEP TRAUMA, OKAY?! My favorites: 1) Jack 2) Locke 3) Sayid 4) Sun 5) Sawyer

Jack was my favorite from the first episode. People who take on all this excess emotional responsibility are always my favorites (Matt Saracen! Randall Pearson!), but I found it so interesting to watch a character with a savior complex being thrown into a huge crisis. Did he make mistakes? Yes. Was he sometimes toxic and super messy? Obviously. But that made him an even stronger lead character and he, ultimately, was a layered and great deconstruction of the typical "hero" character. Y'ALL JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND JACK SHEPARD.

John Locke. "Walkabout". I don't even need to say more. Okay, yeah I do. He won me over in the previous episode, with him helping find Vincent and letting Michael take the credit. But this episode... I had chills. I was sobbing throughout the final five minutes. The episode got me completely obsessed with the show. John Locke was also a messy character, and he had his good and bad moments, but my God, was his story just so sad. I can't think about his ending because I'll start sobbing all over again.

Also the Jack/John dynamic was one of my favorite parts of the show. Every single one of their scenes was golden. The fact that their final conversation is what pushed John over the edge and made him want to commit suicide, AND THEN John's death and Jack's guilt over everything is what led JACK to want to commit suicide. THE HEARTBREAKING PARALLELS IN THIS SHOW MY GOD.

Okay but in the limited time I've been checking fan reactions, why does Sayid seem to be underrated?! WHY?! He was also one of my favorites from the very beginning and he's pretty much the only one to not let me down. (Okay, season 6 weirdness aside.) WHAT A MAN. If I was on that dang island, I would just be doing whatever Sayid did. Sayid says we should stay? We should stay. Sayid's going with Jack? I'm going with Jack. He was intelligent, thoughtful, strong, had finesse, could do weird things with his legs (not sexual). Yeah, he had the most yiiiikes backstory of being a torturer, but... I'D FOLLOW HIM ANYWHERE.

SUN WAS A QUEEN. She had the most iconic lines. Her takedowns... incredible. I love how at the start she was seen as the most "pure" one on the island, but she also had all these secrets and was lowkey manipulative. (I love how her arc is also the reverse of Jin's, who starts out as the worst, but becomes so sweet and everyone's fave later on. Not saying Sun became a bad person, but her character got darker while Jin's got lighter.) No one talk to me about the sub. NO ONE TALK TO ME ABOUT THE SUB.

Sawyer... first, I loved that he was a reader. Him with his little glasses... some of my favorite moments. I loved that his awfulness didn't go away in an episode. You'd have moments of him showing a deeper, more caring side, then he'd immediately remind you why you couldn't stand him. He was a jerk and didn't really shed that in until, what, season 3? He didn't really make the transition to "hero" until he jumped out of that helicopter though. Anyway, never met a character that hated himself more!!!

I was into the Jack/Kate/Sawyer love triangle for the first season and a half because they all seemed to have respect for each other. Okay, "respect" might not be the right word, but Jack and Sawyer's beef went way deeper than Kate. They never really fought each other over Kate, which was refreshing. The writers definitely dragged the triangle on for way too long, though, and at the detriment of Kate's character. Girl deserved better!!! The show should've focused on how Kate tried to redeem herself by always being there for everyone, but they kept her in love triangle limbo. I thought Kate/Sawyer made sense on the island, but they were ultimately indulging each other's worst traits. Like they bonded because they could relate to their shady pasts, so that was the strength of their relationship. Jack/Kate definitely won me over and I wish we got more happy moments of them off the island. This show could never let these characters have nice things!!!

Sawyer and Juliet... I like in theory. Buttttt I'm not as crazy about them as most fans. I think it's because I live for the build-up in a relationship and we skipped all that with them. I wanted to understand better why they were "it" for each other. But the Incident scenes, OH MY GOD WHY IS THIS SHOW MY NEW COMFORT SHOW WHEN IT IS SO PAINFUL?!

Sun/Jin, Jack/Kate, Desmond/Penny. Those are the ships.

(Okay and crackship is definitely Jack/Sawyer. Those two had CHEMISTRY.)

I love that all I've talked about are the characters. I need to rapid fire add my thoughts: I wish Danielle and Alex had more time. We deserved more scenes of them together. Danielle was a badass and Alex was, too, and their reunion took SOOO long to happen, then it was over. Also Alex lowkey had the saddest story on this show, thinking about her entire life but especially her last hour alive... I can't.

MICHAEL DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER!!! Michael and Walt had one of the most interesting dynamics, but I also loved his interactions with so many other characters, like Jin. I get why they had to write Walt off the show, with the child actor growing so fast, but to do Michael so dirty... WHY?! What he did was the worst (I can't recall anyone else senselessly killing someone in cold blood... no self-defense, just two innocent people), BUT I also felt bad because he was driven to that point by his child being taken from him. I wish the writers didn't have him tell Walt what happened because the way Michael's story ended was heartbreaking. And they should've brought Walt back once they did a time-jump!!! At the very least, they deserved to be in that church at the end.

I love that Ben has done so many awful things, literally committed genocide, and I'm just like, "Ahhhh, I love that funny little man".

Season 1 was definitely my favorite season. I didn't expect so much of it to be focused on the survival aspect... I expected more of the overt mystery elements to be the focus in the first season? But surprisingly, the survival story of the first season was my favorite. I felt like it gave everyone time to bond and they really became a little family. Later they get split up a lot, and the survival elements aren't the same, so I was nostalgic for the first season.

I've written so much and I haven't even talked about the individual seasons. I don't even think I can rank them. Season 1... easy favorite. Season 6... last. But the others all had parts I really liked and didn't like. Like season 2's first half, season 3's back half, and the concepts of seasons 4 and 5 were great (even though I think they could've been executed better in parts). One thing I wish we had was more of the Oceanic 6's time off-island. That was such a huge reveal and change in the story... I wish we saw how they were coping, not just with their lies and leaving everyone behind, but adjusting to "normal" life after being in intense survival mode for 100 days.

[yukikorogashi]

me trying to form words in my pudding mess of a brain rn more like call the heckin police and turn me in... bUT THAT BEING SAID. 2023's ending so it's time to scream !!!

hooboyyyyy where does one even start with becky ??? do i go back to when we first met what felt like decades ago? :0c perhaps i go back to when we were born, yea? EITHER WAY, from the day the world was blessed with your presence, it's been an EXCEPTIONALLY better place, and any of us who get to call you a friend (or even just an acquaintance) are so so sooooooo so so lucky! u.u i will never not be absolutely floored by the fact that i know someone so sweet and so selfless who i get to call a bestie and rely on for so many things... what did i do to deserve you ??? heck if i friggin know, man <3 all i do know is that i'm so grateful that i know you, and it forever means the entire world to me that you forgive my transgressions and continue to support me throughout all of my disasters; thank you

not only that, but you're one of my fave writing partners eternally !! <3 we've discussed this so many times, but i'm just so stoked that we can literally take ANY muses from ANY fandom and throw them together; doesn't matter who they are or how the interaction will work. we make it work !!! and EVERY single time, the dynamic is so incredible and always immediately full of depth that can be difficult to establish without the amount of dedication we put into it ;w; you are so insanely creative and talented, becky, and all of us who get to witness that are the lucky ones here <3 i'm always just squeaking and screeching on my end when i see anything from you on the dash; writing, art, headcanons, ooc posts... you bring such a liveliness and cheer, and i can't thank you enough for brightening my life!!!

i hope you have a fantastic end to 2023, and here's to 2024 treating you right <3

2023 is almost over!

With the final month of the year here, it’s your chance to send the mun or muse something you’ve wanted to tell them! Whether you haven’t had the chance to or you’ve been too shy, now’s the time to say what you feel, and don’t hold back!

Dang gir, if this is you struggling with words, then I can't wait to be further blown away when seeing you at your top game AUEHUAW!!!

BUT OKAY... OH LORD ALMIGHTY... HERE WE GO... OH WOW WHEE...

Not to be a broken record if not that stubborn returning tennis swerve, but DAMN-- where do I even start when it comes to the magnificence that is my bestie Sammy??? The day we met was truly the beginning of the one of the bestest things that could have ever happened to me. As one of the most gosh darn amazing human being on this very planet was going to end up being such a dear friend of mine. A friend whom I would readily defend with a shovel in hand, if ANYONE does her wrong in anyway! And to be loved so dearly and supported by her too is just... I'm just so lucky tbh. 😔 It's so funny how we both remain so floor and are constantly going "What did we do to deserve them???" @ one another, because lord knows I STILL keep wondering this myself. I just know that I likely did something right, to be blessed like this. 8^)

And, Sammy... you are a treasure... one of the most precious beings in the whole wide world to me... ;; For any rocky roads that we may end up needing to drive through... it's always worth it when we both fight to make it to the end together (... Gdi, I hope that actually made sense, ROFL!!! B-But I think you know what I mean, bestie!!! 😭 You have always been fantastic at deciphering my caveman talk too so AUWEHUAW!!!) And of course I will always support you and all the amazing things that you so generously bring to the table!!! Ya know I'm one of your biggest fans-- and heck, it's not like I'm sneakily fighting in the background with a few others over that number one fan spot so... 🤫

And oh gosh, no matter how many times you say that, catch me here with a hand over my heart! 😭❤️ You know YOU are one of my most favourite of writing partners (LIKE DUH!!!), forever and always! You are one of the most fun beans to scream to about anything, and truly-- the fact that we can take any muses from any fandom and throw them together like THAT really just shows how incredibly well we work together??? And honestly, I can't thank you enough, for always being such a wonderful plotting and writing buddy. Again, I really am one of the lucky ones, though. To work so well with honestly? One of the most talented dang writers I ever have the honour of knowing!!! You are always so fun to talk to about absolutely anything, and how enthusiastic you always are about anything I gotta share always means the world to me. And again, I hope I am able to return that all in some way and properly express how much I truly appreciate you! ;u; ❤️

Hey, I can't thank you enough for just being you, Sammy. For being such a constant blessing in my life over these years. Honestly, I'm just left speechless every time I take a step back to just look at the entirety of this beautiful friendship I have with you. I'm so lucky to know you, we are all so lucky to know you... I love you, gir. ❤️

Have a fantastic year end yourself, bestie! Thank you so much for taking the time to send this like homg-- And well, catch me here already looking forward to spending another year with you!!! Just holds your hands now!!! 😔❤️

@magnifiico ❤️💕

[ithinkabouttzu]

can you ship me with a txt member or male kpop idol in general? my name is danielle, i'm an isfp and I like reading, art, dancing, singing, sleeping, and eating lol

I act extroverted and bubbly with people idk, introverted and open with people I know, and have serious anger issues don't blame pls

but when in love am literally a sugary mushy mess

and idk, I can't take the lead, I need someone to guide me and comfort me in a relationship

Yes thank you for your request lovely!! 💗

I ship you with…

Choi Soobin!

song recommendation: Darari - Treasure

- okay you guys would be the cutest couple ever

- y’all would be one of those super sweet and nice couple, like whenever people see you guys around, holding hands and being all cute, they’re just like “Dang, i’m single” 😭 LOL

- he loves watching you sing and dance, it just makes him feel so nice watching you do something you enjoy doing that he also enjoys, plus your singing voice is so angelic and nice to him that he is begging you for a duet afterwards, also for a little dance routine you guys can do together because he also LOVESSS your dancing

- okay just imagine- You and soob doing some type of little art picture painting together, and every few seconds, he has to stop and give you a kiss on the cheek 😭 and you’re just like ??? but you can’t tell him to quit because it’s just too cute

- let me mention how he is so patient with you when you get angry, like he tries to help you in any way you can when you get ill or frustrated. He will always try and communicate with you and talk it out

- as a leader- his natural instinct is normally to take the charge on things that are going on or even in relationships, so i think your guys’ dynamic between eachother would already be established pretty quickly in the relationship

- when you guys sleep together it’s so cute 🥹 like you guys will just be tangled up with each other so lovingly ~ getting up in the mornings when you’re laying on his chest is a HUGE struggle

- for dates he would take you to the cutest little places to eat, both of you are foodies so he would always try and plan a good place where you guys can get some good food, he also goes tries to be super creative when picking a restaurant, like he needs to impress you on wherever you guys go 🤣

- this is kinda odd, and he would never admit this to you, but he loves watching you read, like he thinks you just look so peaceful and he can actually see you in your natural state, he thinks you are so beautiful when you are doing something you have a passion for

- but you guys are absolutely amazing for one another, like you guys are two peas in a pod, besties and lovers yk? and your relationship with soobin would be so romantic and special, he would always make time for you and show you how much he loves you (which is a lot LOL)

thank you for your request again! I hope you really enjoy!! 💘

[maeve-is-annoying-about-books]

Steam Holiday Sale?

I wanna talk about some games that I like and, y'know, maybe someone will see it and give them a spin too. I'm not gonna talk about many major games here, mostly the indie stuff that I have and affinity for. Let's go.

Let's start with what I'm ending the year with. A fast, frenetic, one-hit-and-your-run-is-done horde brawler. AKANE is a real treat to spend an hour or so on at a session. It was made before the onslaught of Vampire Survivors and its various iterations and doesn't quite share their sensibilities either. You don't continually build up an arsenal to unload on the hapless many. You can't really make a build, there's only the gear you bring into each run. And it's cool, it can change how you play but you never get that "I'm fucking invincible!" moment of VS or Nova Drift. Instead it treats you to "the zone" where you're so focused on the ballet of blades and bullets that everything else falls away. That's really special. And hey, in this game you can throw your sword away and then shoot it to ricochet bullets everywhere, which is really fucking rad.

Hey do you like Metroidvania randomizers? Maybe give A Robot Named Fight! a try. I always feel like recommending this game just because it has the same little neat idea that I love about Cadence of Hyrule. That is, a randomized world map every time you play. Each playthrough features its own unique little maze, and each obstruction has a few different key items that can spawn to get past it and continue the quest. In one playthrough, your aerial item might be a space jump. In another it's a module that flips gravity, and in another it could be a jetpack.You will certainly gain an ability that lets you "fly" in each run, but it could be any of these and I think that's really neat. I wish more games would randomize an interconnected playing field rather than just throw rooms at you. So yeah. the final boss is hard as hell, even a bit tedious to my liking but I think it's worthwhile enough to get more eyes on it.

Going fast in videogames is a special treat, so you know I gotta plug Super Cloudbuilt in this list. It has so few ratings and- hey. Hey where the hell is it in the store? Hello? So uh, something weird happened with publishing changes and stuff and you can no longer have your Cloudbuilt be Super, I guess. The original is still intact, and I highly recommend it. It's really what I feel a 3D Sonic could stand to take a note or two from, mainly in how some levels have multiple paths that are contingent on your speed. It's just a shame to see something vanish like that without me even knowing. Um, well shit, let me try this again. Hold on lemme just...

Going fast in videogames is a speial treat, so you know I gotta plug Spark the Electric Jester. Especially 3. I know a lot of people compare it to Sonic Adventure and y'know, fair. But I feel like Spark has a lot more self-identity than being "3D Sonic but good again." There's a cool combo system, and a parry. Boss fights like to make you use your speed and control and Spark's sense of momentum really makes you feel the rush of it all. I really like how easy it is to go "pretty dang fast", and what a challenge it is to go "really damn fast" and keep it up through levels. Really good speed balancing there, it's a marvel. Honestly, without exaggeration. But y'know, part of what makes the series special is what a little shit Spark can be, compared to how cool and collected Fark is. I wouldn't call either "polite" but the dynamic in the moments they meet is perfect for them.

I really wanted this list to be for "games on sale during the steam sale", but I really wanna mention Rogue Labyrinth. It's not out yet but there's a little demo you can play all you like and it's just a really refreshing game. You're trying to knock out the corporation that built some game show studio from hell around your sacred tree. Your goal? Get to the tree to commune. Your method? Turning every single room into shrapnel. I cannot get over how fun it is to send scenery, enemies, bullets, and more flying all over an enemy infested room. It's cool to play as an angry nature girl with a giant club instead of the soft, floral druid archetype. Like hell yeah, knock down the establishment, girl! Go give it a spin or two, maybe you'll like it.

Okay. these last two are a bit special to me, and it starts with Lucah: Born of a Dream. I made a post about my first playthrough, I'm probably going to make a post now that I've gotten all the endings and stuff. I'd make a video about it if I could just talking about everything. It's... a depressing game. It deals directly with dark topics. I don't know if I could recommend it broadly, after all, you have to watch out for your mental health first. But if you can then I think it's a worthwhile exploration of those topics, and one that's not entirely without hope. That leads us to the next barrier to entry. You have a health meter, a magic meter, a stamina meter, a parry and a dodge roll. It's a soulslike, and it seems like every third game is now. But I'm here to tell you that if you give Lucah some time, intuition, innovation, and experimentation you'll quickly find that you're actually playing Bayonetta. The weapon switches can be super customized to make long combos, there's a dodge offset, you can execute a move in one tree and then hold down the button as you swap styles so that you can get off a charge attack on the sly. It's so slick for a game ostensibly about depression, guilt, and existential dread. Like I could go back and play it just for the mechanics alone. That's how good combat can feel. Shame there aren't any guides on how to get the most out of the system, or if there are they've been SEO'd right off the internet. So... If you can, give Lucah a try. It's expressive and impressionistic and really a labor of love.

The clock is ticking. On this post and on the final game I wanna share. UNSIGHTED. By now you may have guessed that I have a thing for top-down action games, all of which borrow from Dark Souls but do everything to exceed that baseline inspiration. Unsighted is a really special game, honestly. I don't think anything I've played could ever make me feel so differently between my first ever and now most recent playthroughs. If you pick it up for the cool parry system, Zelda-ish design, and gay robots, then I highly recommend doing a blind first play too. See, when you start, there's a timer on every single NPC that ticks down as you play. These are real timers, too, once they're up the NPC is gone and you may even find and fight their remains. It's distressing, fretful, but so full of real impact. You can go anywhere and your only constraint is how much time it'll cost you. Maybe it's already cost you and you're looking for a way out? There certainly are... Methods. Maybe your own timer has drawn thin? It's awful tempting to go for a method of stealing another's life to prolong yours. Maybe you heard a whisper about a way to control time itself and undo all your mistakes? Can you turn away from the end and face harsh trials to obtain it? Does it even exist? That first play is magic, in this sense. But when you're done, I implore you to look up the speedrun. Just trust me on it. I wanna say why but, it'll change everything for you. Odds are, anyway. It's amazing, a perfect little capsule of diverse experiences in one neat little package. And it has the spinner from Twilight Princess but even cooler.

[nothinggold13]

Some of my favourite types of fictional relationship dynamics (according to whatever names I’ve decided to give them, regardless of whether or not they are previously named tropes):

1. Mutually Protective

This can be romantic or platonic, physical or emotional, or literally anything, but??? I adore characters who will go the extra mile to protect the people they love, and when there’s TWO characters who are EQUALLY protective of each other, I simply die. Whether it’s a battlefield-type of “I’ll fight and bleed and die for you,” or it’s a gentler “Let me carry this burden so you don’t have to,” as long as it’s going both ways, I’m obsessed. Yes, please. More of this.

2. Jack & Joy

Naming this after a story from Douglas Gresham I read once about he, his mother, and stepfather (you know... C. S. Lewis...) going for a walk, and running into a trespasser who pointed a bow + arrow at them, so Lewis stepped in front of his wife, who, in turn, said “Dang it, Jack, get out of my way!” because wonderful Joy had brought a 'garden gun’ along to scare off animals, so Jack stepped aside and they sent that trespasser running. BASICALLY an extension of “mutually protective” but it must contain 1) A woman who can handle herself, and 2) a man who knows she can handle herself & knows when to step aside BUT will also willingly put himself in harm’s way to protect her. This is also very common in crime shows, and I love it every single time.

3. “No Doubt About It/The Archer/Red Raw Rolling” Ladies

(Song titles by: ABBA, Taylor Swift, and Alanna Boudreau.) Give me angry, untrusting, self-sabotaging, doubtful, explosive ladies, and then give me extremely patient men who love them until the very end. This just speaks to my soul. We don’t overanalyze this.

4. Lorelai Gilmore + Luke Danes

The crux of this dynamic is that one of them is a single parent, and the other one loves the first one’s child(ren) as much as they would love their own, even if they’re not yet in a relationship. Because, sure, Lorelai knew she loved Luke. But do you remember the moments in the series that she knew she loved him with the absolute most clarity? It was when she realized he loved Rory (almost?) as much as she did. JUST! Straight shot to the heart, that one.

5. The Dawn & Waverly Effect

If I had a nickel for every time a supernatural show gave me a monster-hunting lady with a younger sister, and then tried to make me care about the mc’s romance with some dude, when actually the far more compelling dynamic is the platonic relationship between the dude and the younger sister, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s strange that it happened twice. Named for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Wynonna Earp,” I refuse to ship Spuffy or Wynonna/Doc, but GOSH DARN IT, Spike & Dawn and Doc & Waverly are some dang wholesome friendships.

6. The Old Married Couple

Actually also applies to newly married couples. So long as the couples are in a happy, healthy marriage, I lose my mind. I just love marriage.

7. When they’re just. So in love. The whole time.

The heartbeat of the slowburn isn’t freaking “sexual tension;” it’s actually the fact that the couples love each other in such a selfless way even when there is no external romance in their relationship!!!! This dynamic is probably most obvious in friends-to-lovers, but it could exist in other situations. The point is that they have never not loved each other. There’s always been love. And then when that love changes designs, it’s just!! The most natural thing in the world!! Because they have always, ALWAYS loved each other, one way or another! Makes my heart soft.

8. Older Brother

A classic. You know those fictional older brothers who are always there to listen to your problems, encourage you to chase your dreams, and help you when things go wrong? I think I’ll always have a soft spot for those, and the relationship between these older brothers and their younger siblings is just the most precious.

9. Best Friends

Just. ALL the best friends. “You and me against the world” type best friends. Groups of best friends who, as a whole, are like family. Best friends who have known each other their whole lives. Best friends forged over the course of the story. Best friends who are one another’s safe space when other relationships fall apart. JUST!!! BEST FRIENDS!!

10. Mom said it’s my turn to use the braincell

Usually a duo of minor characters, and absolutely delightful just about every time. A beautifully chaotic relationship. I love how they take turns being complete disasters while the other one keeps them in line, but then ALSO have the occasional incidents where both of them are complete buffoons. Iconic. Beautiful. I love it. (My favourite example of this will only make sense to my siblings and cousins, but... Nicholas Coke and Dr. Martin Pepper? Name a better duo. I’ll wait.)

[laser-teatime]

May I ask why abide in the wind is your favorite webtoon? I’ve tried to get into a few times but I always lost interest after the first few chapters. I really want to get into it because of the yandere content.

I acknowledge that Abide has flaws. The second half is 100% depressing. The art isn't stellar in the beginning. The "secondary male lead" is annoying with a capital A. The romance is incredibly slow. There isn't a single kiss until chapter 85. These things are downsides for most people.

I like all of these aspects.

All of that appeals to me, but it's not for everyone. It has everything I want in a story. Down to the last detail.

I love to hate the prince. The pastel color palette in the first arc is literally all of my favorite colors at once. I also really enjoyed the steampunk aesthetic, even though the art wasn't masterfully shaded. You see these colors? Yeah. They were specifically combined for me I think. Who cares if the lines are a little wonky? It looks so soft. When monsters appear in the pink forest and start eating people it still looks pretty.

When I started reading it I was super young and I loved slow romance. Kairak's childish design made him less intimidating to me. I found him cute and I couldn't wait to see what his grown up form was like. People have said his child form is boring, but his observant attitude made me curious. I couldn't guess what his personality would be in the future. When Kairak actually has an expression or a frown on his face I know something dramatic is about to happen. He grows and changes. Literally. His body matures when he gets more power, and I think that's neat. He becomes sassy and kind of smug after he learns how to act like a man.

I absolutely love it when a love interest isn't perfect. Reana was almost too perfect for my liking, but I didn't stop liking her at any point because she changes too. It just happens later. After she gets beat up one too many times she goes through an emo phase...and that makes sense. Emo phase Reana says some cringe things, but she rejects godhood to save the one she loves in the end.

She's cool!

It takes a while but dang she is cool!

I'm sure you've seen an anime character reject godhood before, but Reana gives up the chance to become a dragon because she's not interested. Her emo phase didn't make her a cruel person. It just made her less naive. Giving up the chance to be all powerful and immortal was easy for her. It's not her jam. She's not that kind of woman, and that's cool.

Here are her three character designs.

They're all good don't argue with me.

The romance is not a thing until you make it through all the world building, but that wasn't a problem for me. I love high fantasy, and I love detailed world building. If you're tired of reincarnation isekai or high school fantasy settings Abide is a real breath of fresh air. None of the characters are tropes. Nobody is a tsundere. Nobody is randomly a pervert for laughs. Kairak is a yandere of course, but he does alot of other things. The second half of the story also contains his emo phase and it is messy. Also very gory. I didn't think of him as a yandere for a while. I thought he was evil and I was kind of right. You really shouldn't read Abide for the yandere moments. There are lots of characters. Kairak leaves for like fifty chapters. The world almost ends. Reana almost becomes a god. This is not just a romance.

It's a long story. It's dialogue heavy. The author makes up their own magic and monster terminology...so you have to learn that. You can't open this up and expect to see a yandere moment. You have to earn it. The unhealthy dynamic between Kairak and Reana isn't interesting unless you read every chapter. He doesn't just walk on screen and laugh evilly.

He does stuff like this.

He changes his body shape to become more appealing to her. He learns how to do facial expressions, and he learns how to lie at the same time. Reana is the responsible one. He has to be the one that does the seducing. It kind of feels insidious because at this point we know that Kairak his heartless. He has no regard for human life. He isn't a nice boy. He's a giant scaly monster that can conveniently morph into an attractive young man.

Kairak never, ever feels like a human being in the series. Ever. I think that's brilliant. Way too many monster stories end with the monster crying because they want to be human. Lame. Kairak doesn't dream about having friends or anything. He is attracted to his bonded partner. His riyenas. His feelings are abnormal. Having feelings isn't normal for dragons. Emotions corrupt their purity. Kairak's human body doesn't make him human. I think that's more engaging than watching a supernatural being sob about friendship.

Idk.

Maybe I'm weird.

Shin wol created some pretty hateful villains. There are tons of backstabbers and murderers in the cast. I'm sure you'll find someone to hate if you make it to the apocalypse arc. I...hated only one particular man. The worst man in fiction. My nightmare. The guy that stole a bunch of Reana's screentime. Reinhardt. The prince is the secondary love interest and he ALSO falls madly in love with Reana. He puts a slave collar on her and makes her pretend to be his wife. He does that to keep her alive for plot reasons...but he also has feelings for her. He annoys me. I finished this series years ago and thinking about him still makes my skin crawl. He is a self righteous loser that pushes Reana to the brink of insanity. If I had a gun with three bullets in it I would disassemble it and shove every piece of the weapon into his brain. I swear I'm not blinded by shipping. He's unbearable. Reinhardt is a yandere though so if that's what you want surprise there are two yandere love interests.

I feel like Kairak and Reana earned their happy ending. Reana learned how to be selfish, and proactive. She fought her own battles without Kairak's help in the second half! Yay! Kairak didn't end the world in the end. He calms down when he realizes that he doesn't need to manipulate Reana. She genuinely loved him the whole time. How sweet! Their happy ending felt earned. They had to work really hard for it. Time travel was involved because the apocalypse had to be reversed, so if you don't like time travel maybe you'll feel cheated. I didn't feel cheated but I felt like the finale was too short.

Also the dragons are space dragons.

Who could possibly hate a webtoon about space dragons?

Impossible!