#it saves the cool time travel stuff for later so the show could actually get more interesting instead of less

[tramon81]

I've been thinking why the Arven Storyline is so good, and I think it's about pacing and delivery.

Pokémon SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also recalling this from memory so might be some inconsistencies but the spirit is there :) .

There's this mild mystery about this guy at the start, apparently he knows your Legendary Lizard and is responsible of it. He also seems that he'd rather not deal with said lizard, foreshadowing or a more classy term, setup. We also end up realising he is the son of the Professor with very little to go on of what this relationship is.

It is implied in NPC dialog that the Professor has been away from the public from a long time, but being the owner of the lizard that you own now he/she actually shows him/herself to you. He/She calls you by student ID, weird. And requests you sometime travel to Area Zero, the forbidden area, where he/she presumably has taken residence.

When you meet with Arven on the lunchroom he proposes that you embark on a quest for, ... Herbs? Herba Mystica that seem to have some weird healthy properties. It is known that he likes cooking but didn't think he was a healthy foods enthusiast, a healthy lifestyle guru. Anyway you consider it.

Later he gets into a fight with Nemona into who's path you should follow. He seems really aggro on keeping you to his mission. Weird.

First mission, after the fight, you find the Herb, ok seems more than just curative bogus, he cooks ya a sandwitch and Koraidon goes ahead and asks for yours. Arven seems apprehensive but you eventually give it to the bikemon and whoa! It got its powers back. So maybe Arven is helping his parent out? Or was this not planned? Wait "you can come out now"? What pokemon did he send and why was it kept a secret? Weird.

Now, for the first "delivery" on all these "setups" this guy's not just a crazy cook in search for the ultimate ingredients, the setup at the cafeteria has its answer in Mabosstiff, the pokemon he secretly sent out last scene. It is stricken with a weakening health condition and the reason his owner is gathering all these ingredients is to cure him before it's too late. This is great for two reasons: 1. We know there is a ghost dog Pokémon with a similar build to it's preevolution and it can evolve so the dog could indeed die and turn into that. Also we now have a reason why he's been so jumpy, he doesn't want you to help him, he needs you to help him. If you ignored him and went with Nemona or that wacky Hacker, He'd be all on his own, and may not make it.

After some more adventures, smth smth setup for weird futuristic/ancient form of Donphan he recognises. Mabosstiff... Is cured! The relief on his face and the tension of the story is relieved as the dog wears again its toothy grin. This sort of thing is actual good storytelling methinks. Simple but effective. What a great... Wait it's not over.

Apparently it is revealed that you must finally go to Area Zero, together with the other cast, it's exciting because there's been so much build up to it, mystery and weird new pokemon. However it is also revealed that, one of the strongest deliveries in the story, Arven has an absentee parent, which made him be on his own... With only Mabosstiff as his family. This is potent. Of course this makes you want to meet this prick, see what kind of character does such a thing, but more importantly, it gives weight to Mabosstiff's recovery, together you saved not a dog, but the only family left by his side.

After you completed all three routes, he shows you the way to area zero. Which you discover about the place and the Professor, fellow of science, too absorbed in it, made a time machine oh so that was the deal with that donphan, oh cool there's more where it came from. There's also some very cool banter with the three coprotags, specially love the one about parents, this stuff is more direct than even Sun and Moon sometimes.

The Professor is acting odd though. Arven is suspecting something's off but doesn't really like the implication. You get swarmed, paradox pokes at all flanks. Another Lizard. Arven also reveals that he was envious and blamed Mirai/Koraidon for his parent's absence as there seems some unknown trust finally building up between them at the end of the scene. You enter the lab and finally get to meet...

Oh.

AI Sada/Turo. The professor died in an accident, standing in their place is an imperfect cold and robotic replica of the deadbeat progenitor. This "delivery" if you didn't have it spoiled just, hits way different that all others, the person who you probably hate by now, is long gone, no happy or cathartic reunion, no Arven giving a piece of his mind. If he wasn't by now, your friend is now officially an orphan. This copy seems to garner regret from its actions, its work is too dangerous and wants you to destroy it. The one thing that came over its family, its true passion, it is at least able to do away with it. However, you have to battle it as the defence system overrides its AI with this... well, it's pretty much the part of it you hate, obsessed, distant(literally lol it's like a good story above you up there). You beat it as your friends and Arven come to see the machine terastalize its insides or smth and it blocks your pokeballs and send the aggresive Legendary agaisnt you, completely unarmed you try to do something but your Sandwitch friend the MotoLizard achieves his battle mode. This makes things even, however you tetastalize him into even more of a dragon and oneshot him.

Last scene, AI is defeated, however for the machine to be over, "it" has to be over too. Arven pleads for it to stay, but it decides to go to its paradise, its life work and creation takes it to a different time in a final act both selfish and selfless sacrifice, In front of its son. Finally, "the climax".

You see, this all lead up to this, every setup and every delivery. Arven has finally faced the memory of his Father/Mother and it, in consecuence, has faced him. A bit of a somber note, but hey this is a treasure hunt, what about his treasure. I can't believe I'm saying this but this is one of the best implementations of "The friends we made along the way" trope I've seen. You see Arven has this factor of "afraid of ending all alone" that is implied a bit through the game, he is a bit abrasive but has a good heart. The last scene(Not the Ed Sheeran one) shows him on a understandable horrid mood when suddenly both Penny and Nemona suggest to go to eat, he is hard to get at first but this sense of now, connection to these people, propels him to join (Also Lizard nudge).

This is actually, even if way more contained, a bit on par with explorers of sky for best writing pokemon ever had. At least in my view on the matter what do you think?

[mazyb0i]

Someone on Reddit tried to say that Rick only truly loves Beth, and to prove them wrong, so here I am!

tldr:

Character analysis of Rick Sanchez from an autistic fans point of view, understanding his attachment styles.

He'll do anything for BP, if season 6 proves anything, it's that he'll die for BP. He literally admitted to loving him, which I have not heard him tell or say about anyone before in the show. When

he does say stuff like that it is significant. Bird person is the only character on the show he has been openly genuine with.

If season 7 proves anything, Pers is the only one that can sneak up behind him and grab him out of nowhere without getting some snarky comment, mean look, or a left hook. They both care about each other deeply, that is clear. Rick was extremely

upset by the wedding with Tammy. Rick told the bird person how much he respected him more than anyone, even when he contradicted himself by saying nothing matters, he wanted to be with Percy. He wanted to travel with him and spent every moment with him.

--

"Then why did you help me?"

"I respect you, and I wanted you to know that you could respect me too."

" But if nothing matters...?"

"You matter! You matter to me."

"Uhhh- Rick... the relationship we have-"

"I never used that word!" - Rick (denialism)

--

It's funny how after this he calls him a judgmental dork, and not something much harsher.

--

"Why the fuck are you risking your life for that asshole!?" - Memory rick

"Because, you love him."

"You do maybe, but I don't."

"Yeah, yeah, you're real cool. Now, come help me save his life or fuck off, because I don't need you.

(Very much so loves BP.)

--

--

"I'm sorry Rick, but we cannot choose the ones we love" - Pers

"You got that right! Why do you think I'm still fucking down here!?"

--

Birdperson mentions that he would be dead if it wasn't for Rick, this also accounts for multiple times now since he brought BP back to life recently. Rick has stuck his neck out for the man so many times contradicting his "nothing matters" front, because that's what it is, it is a horrible coping mechanism to ignore your problems and pretend they don't exist because 'nothing matters'.

Its a problem that I have and I'm working through in therapy myself, it's called Denialism. Because 'if you shut yourself out from the world and your problems, then nothing can hurt you, and they don't exist'. You convince yourself you're in control when you're not, you have the least control, and it fucks you up. Rick isn't truly and fully nihilistic, or else literally nothing would matter to him. He makes sure to keep his Morty alive, he constantly brags on about how he can just get a new family, but he has the same Morty that he's had since the beginning and sticks his neck out for him as well.

--

"No, Morty. Because you were too afraid to tell me. What we had was abusive, don't you see? I'm a bad partner, because I never made you a true partner."

--

--

"I was afraid if I jumped in a hole you would just stand there and watch me, you wouldn't even jump in after me!" -Morty

But then Rick in season 1 literally jumped in after Morty when he fell through the garage floor into the Schrodinger's cat void.

"Be good, Morty, be better than me."

--

--

And when Rick starts crying at his memories of Morty in season One, but he refrains from expressing it so that Morty does not become, as he puts it, "cocky" (denialism)

I would also like to point out I feel like in the later seasons he starts calling Morty 'buddy' more?? he's a lot nicer to him than he used to be, and just recently allowed Morty to hug him without pushing him away, actually hugging back. He's also stated that he respects summer very deeply, which if he says that about someone, it really means that he does. He sees his Diane in Summer, and he also implies that summer is like a cat, her affection and respect needs to be earned; unlike Morty's dog like affection that is just given away. But we also hear Rick say that Morty reminds him a lot of himself when he was younger, this implies a lot of parallels.

Memory Rick brought out a lot of Rick that we didn't see previously, a person who wasn't fully tainted by the lack of treating mental Health issues, coping issues, unhealthy attachments, and all the other things that led up to Rick being the way he is. he said his heart broken so many times, he's been backstabbed, he is very hurt person. This doesn't excuse all of his actions but is a very good explanation and reason for why he is the way he is and the way the human psyche copes with it's environment to protect itself. it's like walking up to a caged animal with a taser, these are his defense mechanisms, it makes him look like a dick on the outside but currently it is the only thing that he knows how to do on instinct for protection, and that's why he's in therapy. This is why I believe he's genuinely trying to get better, he can get along with his therapist more than ever, even if he has sly remarks he genuinely listens to Mrs. Wong.

--

"I don't like being told where to go or what to do. I consider it a violation."

--

"There's a lesson here, and I won't be the one to figure it out"

--

"I don't discuss problems, I incinerate them"

--

"It was charmingly analog. For a sec, you kind of made me like myself." - Mem Rick

"You'll grow out of it." - Rick

He resents his younger self for helping him and makes sure to mention that he "grew out" of his ability to like himself, Rick has some extreme self-hatred. it's hard to fully love someone or Express a healthy relationship when you can't even have a healthy relationship with yourself.

--

"You act like you're the one that got stabbed in the back!" -Morty

"Because I AM THE ONE, Morty. You wanna know why I replaced myself in the beginning of that stupid knights of the morning sun thing!? I SAID don't take the fucking sword! And you were like "Whatever", like I'm our neighbor Jean or David Arquette or something!! You called me boring! I've become dog shit to you! That's what happens when you let people in and they stop respecting you! They touch your shit, they screw things up, they KILL your fuckin family! Go ahead and trust them, you're gonna learn the same fuckin thing." -Rick

--

[theamazingannie]

Oh I fucking hated that Manifest ending it made absolutely no sense. Rant and spoilers under cut.

Why in hell would they go back to 2013 and undo everything that happened over the last 11 years??? Sure the passengers are forever changed, but what about Olive’s journey? Jared and Drea? All of the other nonpassengers who grew and learned and became something better because of this story? And why them? Zeke survived his death date and he didn’t go back (at least, not until he died the second time). Zeke got to have cool powers and it kinda sucks cuz he was the only one we know who survived his death date so he’s the only one we got to see be affected by it. It would’ve been cool to see what the passengers could do and also how the rest of the world would have reacted. The world HATED the 828ers and instead of getting some resolution with them finding out that the 828ers saved the world, they just all never actually experienced it?

Also, wasn’t something that was a hidden gift in the whole thing that Saanvi’s research had time to develop during those 5 1/2 years? If they go back, then Cal would still be sick and without the research this time. That undos all of that and the connection that that made between Saanvi and the Stones and how fate connected them in so many ways. And they specifically said that they needed time to finish her research and start the trials. He would’ve been dead if he waited. That was a specific point.

Because of the time pause, Olive is now significantly younger than TJ, which the show addresses by making him look at her sadly and then sets him up with Violet. Not only did they steal Olive’s story and growth, they also just completely ruined their relationship that I loved. Plus, they never really gave them a satisfying ending pre-apocalypse. All they did was have Olive say she wanted to fix things so they could have a future together, only for that to now be impossible (unless they meet again in like 10 years when it’s a less weird age gap). This is kind of a smaller reason, but it still bugs me cuz they had such potential to be a great ship and were constantly pushed under a rug, especially there at the end.

And what are they supposed to do now? This is a problem in a lot of time travel/day repeating stories where someone changes seemingly overnight with no explanation except instead of just one person, it’s almost 200. 200 people who know things about the next 11 years, who have been changed beyond recognition, who are now going to change so much stuff in the future that didn’t need to be changed. Yeah, they’re all better people now and will work to do good (allegedly) yadda yadda. What about all the passengers who fell in love with nonpassengers that they now may never meet? Or, like TJ and Olive, can’t be together because of the time jump. Yeah Mick found Zeke and now they can be happily ever after, but what about the nonpassengers who were changed in the years between and now aren’t the same person that the passenger fell in love with? So many of us are shaped by our experiences. What happened to all the other passengers, to their stories? What if the person that they fall in love with’s life is altered because of the choices another passenger makes? What if they move to another state, fall in love with someone else, die??? Another issue tule travel causes is that even the smallest action can domino into something completely different, even just one person let alone TWO HUNDRED. I know that this is probably not something most people think about and they just pay attention to Grace and Zeke being alive and all the happy moments, but it’s not that simple for me and it BUGS ME when writers don’t consider this.

Lastly, on a similar note, how is this any different than it ending with “it was all a dream”??? Like nothing actually changes, none of their callings are set in stone and they’ll have to remember every single thing they did during those 5 1/2 years, things that won’t happen until YEARS later. Ugh I just so hated the way they ended things and it sucks cuz I love this show a lot.

[palettepainter]

Ok, but do Mick and Terri have BF (before Floyd) designs? Like whenever they first met.

Sorry it took me a while to get to this! Wanted to get some what-if younger designs done for Terri and Mick to answer this!

I can't go too into detail with some stuff relating to Terri as it'll come up in a new multiple chapter story involving a younger Floyd and baby Animal, but I'll include a few small facts about the both of them:

Terri: -So according to a post I saw on here the events in Muppets Mayhem ep 6 during Teeth's flashbacks is set in the 60's. Terri's father was a lawyer (debating on him possibly holding some position in the miliraty before he got married) and her mother was a teacher, Terri in the beginning was attending college aspiring to become a music teacher and working part time at a bar. She was a bit of a loner and came off as sort of rude to other people, she was a very goal driven person so tended to place value on her work and future more then making friends.

-During the 60's there was a lot more standards and expectations for genders. While men where welcomed into careers more suited for women, women struggled to achieve job positions of higher pay such as firefighters or police officers. It was mostly thanks to these changing times that Terri became such a driven person, hoping to build herself a strong career despite all the expectations placed upon women of her age

-She met Mick when he and his biker friends where passing through town and they stopped in at the bar she was working at. Mick flirted with her, and Terri calmly shot him down before probably saying how Mick had dirt or something on his shirt. A couple days later he showed back up and Terri ended up having a genuine conversation with him which she might have enjoyed a bit. She'd had a frustrating morning and so talking with Mick helped her vent off some steam

-This is one I can't go into too much detail with, but Terri's parents hate Mick with the heat of a thousand suns

Mick:

-Mick was young, cool and just a bit dumb. He lived a comfortable life in Boston before he turned 18 and he and his biker friends set off on travelling about the world. Through out their journey they eventually get to San Franisco. Mick was getting a taste of the big world for the first time and the thrill of it all inflated his confidence, which is firmly knocked down a peg at Terri's harsh shutdown. He makes amends a few days later, he didn't actually mean to offend her, he just thought she was pretty.

-A day before Mick and his friends prepare to leave they wind up in a small brawl with another biker crew. Mick wasn't the aggressor, but he did say somethings that didn't help the situation. It ends up in a small chase on bikes, which leads to a pile up and crash, which Mick and his friends thankfully leave mostly unscathed. Thanks to the trouble they caused Mick and his pals end up arrested, but after gathering reports from witnesses and it was decided they weren't the ones responsible they're released on probation, thanks to Terri's dad. Again, can't go too in depth, but Terri's dad took pity on the younger boys and helped them out

-Not only is Mick on probation but his bike got wrecked in the crash, so now he has to save up for a new one. Terri's dad places him in community jobs such as trash cleaning and otherwork like that. Mick is not exactly happy at the situation, but with some good behaviour Terri's dad arranges him a job working at the same bar Terri works at. Terri's dad figured it would be a good way to keep an eye on him, since Terri would be able to directly report to him. This is how the two gradually become friends and, overtime, lovers. Terri began to sneak cuts of her pay into Mick's at the end of each month at the bar to help him get his bike back, because she could tell Mick wasn't truly happy being stuck there. Mick finds her out one day when he catches her messing with their monthly payments, it leads to the two accidentally confessing to each other (at this point they've had like a few dates, which neither dare say is a date out of embarrassment, and are dancing around each other). They have a small argument about it then Mick leaves

-Shortly after that Terri finds out she's pregnant and they both end up leaving San Francisco. Mick quits his biker gang, Terri homes out of home and they - especially Terri - never looked back

[midnightshard06]

It's Bound by Fate ramble time again. Love that the au smackdown is making me focus real hard on this au lol.

First I have... some plans for other characters besides those that have been mentioned so far. I would love to go into detail about those plans but uuuuuuh spoilers? Cause it would be very hard to talk about it without revealing stuff about Sonic that will be revealed later in the fic lol. Just know that there's currently some plans for Shadow, Blaze, and Silver for sure. Still playing around with some others. I would also very much like to fit Amy in somewhere I just need to figure out where.

I want to so very much talk about Sonic and Knuckles' eventual relationship (for those of you that haven't checked out the fic on ao3 Sonknux is gonna happen eventually, but not for a while) buuuuut I sorta wanna let it play out? Ah the downside of still having the main fic ongoing. I must tread the line of what is safe for me to talk about.

Instead I shall talk about Sonic and Tails, since the two met before the start of the fic that is safe from spoilers. Woo! Warning this might get kinda long and slightly disjointed. I have many thoughts.

They are pretty damn close as you might expect. Tails really looks up to Sonic and still feels like he owes Sonic since the hedgehog helped him. Sonic has told Tails so many times that they're even since Tails saved Sonic's life first anyway. As the two hang out more Tails starts to really come out of his shell and Sonic is so happy to see his best friend living his best life.

Tails after a while of getting to know Sonic does become pretty worried about him. You know with all the never wanting to stay in one place, the being slightly on edge around people, and particularly his pretty much constant lack of sleep. Whenever Tails voices those concerns though Sonic easily brushes them off and Tails isn't quite confident enough to push it.

The two rub off on each other a lot. Tails has managed to make Sonic a bit more responsible and do less of jumping into unknown situations headfirst with no plan. Sonic has in turn helped Tails learn how to have fun and well perhaps been a bit of a bad influence. Even though Tails is smart he's still a kid, and the allure of Sonic dragging him off to do some cool thing that may or may not be dangerous is gonna be hard to ignore. The two have landed themselves in a bit of trouble over the years but it wasn't anything too serious. They both typically speak fondly of these experiences.

Tails has offered to pack up and travel with Sonic a lot but Sonic refuses it every time. He'd love to have some sort of traveling companion, something he'll get later in the form of Knuckles, but he doesn't want to risk dragging his best friend into any real danger. He mostly just wants to keep Tails safe from the people that don't take too kindly to his werehog form.

Sonic visits as often as he can, Tails' house/workshop is the closest thing he has to a home. He does wish a lot of the time he could stay in one place for longer because he really does love spending time with Tails. It's just after too long he just gets restless and sort of becomes hard to be around. He's never really known why that is but he chalks it up to something related to his speed.

Tails is endlessly fascinated by both Sonic's speed and his werehog form. With permission he's run some tests to see if he can figure out what's going on but those usually result in exploded equipment. Sonic apologizes profusely every time even if it isn't actually his fault. Tails of course never blames him for it either.

The two are also rather protective of each other, and they show it in different ways. For Sonic he has no issues stepping in if someone is mean to Tails or tries to hurt him. He's gotten into a few short fights on Tails' behalf. Tails himself finds it sort of nice that Sonic is willing to literally fight for him, but he tries to discourage it as much as possible. Tails is a bit more subtle about his protectiveness. His go to thing is to plot some revenge scheme for after the fact. These have certainly terrified some people enough that they've never tried to mess with Sonic again. Sonic is oblivious to the fact that Tails does this sometimes; he does think it's weird that stuff will sometimes happen to people that mess with him though.

Sonic really values their friendship and does privately consider Tails his little brother but he's never called the fox that out loud. He has no idea if Tails feels the same and Sonic isn't exactly the best person at picking up social ques. Tails 100% feels the same but he's still too timid to say anything in fear of Sonic reacting badly.

These two take every opportunity to cuddle or be close to each other. Both really got no physical affection growing up and are severely touch starved. Luckily the two are on the same page here and are happy to show physical affection to each other. Besides cuddling there's a lot of hugs and head pats. Tails especially likes to cuddle with Sonic in werehog form since his fur is thicker.

@au-sonic-smackdown I suppose these rambles could count for propaganda huh?

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s2 ep15: Threshold

I hadn't watched this one the whole way through in a while, since that ending is definitely not one you ever forget once you've seen it. But I forced myself to do it, and, surprisingly, it actually had some good qualities I'd completely forgotten about amidst the whole lizard baby fandango.

The ending really overshadows the rest of the story, which was actually pretty good in general. For one thing, the idea of trying to break the barrier of infinite velocity to arrive home instantly is a cool concept. Considering all the weird stuff they tried over the course of the show, that's not any weirder, and it gave us fun science nerd buddy time with B'Elanna and Harry, plus bonus Tom! Tom rarely gets to do anything science-y, so it was nice that he got to here. This is the first time we see all three of them work together on a project too. They're a good team, and I enjoyed their dynamic a lot- obviously we'll see various permutations of the three of them hanging out together in future eps, but I like the working relationship they have here and think it would have been nice to have more of that. It's also the first time we see Tom and B'Elanna actually hang out together, and they seem to like each other pretty well already. It's obviously not part of a romance plan yet, since the writers were still stuck on the Tom and Kes thing in this one, but it's nice to see them forming a friendship here. (I was not a fan of the 'kiss me before I die, Kes!' nonsense- at least Tom was near delerious at that point, but still, ick.) And I'd forgotten that Tom actually died for a few hours in this one, or at least everyone thought he did. Tbh, the most unrealistic part of this episode was that they thought Tom died, and Harry didn't come to sick bay to cry at his bedside like a lost puppy. Come on, he absolutely would!

The first half of the story actually works just fine- they figure out a cool new way to try to get home, Tom wants to prove himself, so he flies the test flight- it works! They broke the warp barrier! It seems great, until something goes wrong- travelling at infinite velocity is actually dangerous, he's dying, how do we save him? That's actually solid, and if they'd have just left it at that, that would have been great. There were plenty of interesting themes to explore here- the thing you wanted to bring you glory ending up almost killing you instead; seeing all of the universe at once, but only being able to remember bits and pieces before it slips away- I mean, that's a pretty big deal! How would that affect him long term? How much of it is still buried in his mind, somewhere? (They missed an opportunity to use that somehow in a later episode tbh.) That's much juicier than 'what if going too fast turns you into a lizard?'

With more thoughtful writing, it could have been a really good episode. We do get some genuinely sympathetic moments here where Tom talks about being miserable as a kid, and always feeling like he needed to prove himself to his dad, and it's good stuff that lets us see a vulnerable human side underneath the toxic masculinity nonsense they give him most of the time. It's the first episode in the whole series that focuses primarily on Tom, and I do remember watching it for the first time as a kid and being totally invested in Tom's story and caring about him, so it was doing what it set out to do in that regard. But about halfway through, it all gets derailed when it veers off into crazy town.

When they start having Tom turn into a molting lizard creature with the grotesque makeup, and yelling at people like a crazy person, any opportunity for character development gets lost because he's not himself anymore, he's just a crazy monster, and it's become a horror story instead. They could still potentially have saved it if they'd just had him evolve into something actually plausible for humans to evolve into- they've had humanoid species evolve into glowy light creatures or other ethereal, cool looking stuff on Trek before, and it worked just fine. But no, they went with... a salamander.

Why, in the name of all that's holy, would anyone think humans, or any primate, or mammal even, would evolve into an amphibean? Like, we're not even related to salamanders, and they're definitely not superior beings, so where did this even come from?? How high was Brannon Braga when he wrote this script?? And what was he on?? Because it's completely bonkers. And then we get even further into crazy town with an old timey pulp sci-fi monster movie trope of 'monster kidnaps beautiful woman to be it's mate'. Did someone forget that this is supposed to be Star Trek, and not King Kong or Creature from the Black Lagoon? I guess so, but actually, an old timey monster suit would probably have been preferable to what we got here: The goofiest, slowest, fakest giant salamanders you've ever seen. How are they the ultimate evolution of anything?! The away team walks up to them and phasers them practically point blank! They're obviously not as smart as they're cracked up to be lmao. And then the cherry on top of it all- salamander babies. They had salamander babies. They turned actual people into salamanders who had salamander babies.

SALAMANDER BABIES.

And they're adorable. They're actually so cute! Somehow, that only makes it worse. And despite their human DNA, Chakotay (who was obviously still in his bitchy mood during this ep) leaves them there! Even though they could apparently revert the salamander DNA into human DNA super easily, they're like, nah, let's not!

And they tell the Captain and Tom that these salamander children exist, but they're just like, 'gee that's awkward! gonna sweep that one under the rug and never think of it again! lol!'

And then whatever moral they were trying to get across is out the window, because unlike fictional characters, we, the poor audience, cannot simply forget about salamander sexytimes and the poor, abandoned salamander children.

I'm all for episodes where we focus on one particular character and give them a chance to delve into their hopes and fears and motivations, but unfortunately, poor Tom here only got half an episode to do that before he was relegated to B-movie monster shenanigans. It makes me so sad, because it would have been so much easier, actually, to just make this script decent. The mental gymnastics it must have taken to go from 'interesting engineering problem' to 'let's turn people into lizards!' is honestly pretty astounding.

One thing I'd totally forgotten is that this one takes place while that one Maquis guy is spying for the Kazon- and he actually gives them the records from the shuttle flight! The Kazon have the warp ten flight records! Did they ever try it?! Are there some Kazon dudes who turned into lizards too?! Is there a 'Planet of the Kazon Lizards' out there right now?! I smell a sequel! (But really, please. no. no more lizard people and lizard babies, I beg you.)

I thought I would have to go back to pretending this one doesn't exist after rewatching it, but actually, I'm delighted to find that I only have to pretend half of it doesn't exist now! And from now on, when I observe the Trek high holy day that is Threshold Day, I'll carry it's true message in my heart:

Don't get really, really high before you write things.

Tl;dr: Surprisingly only the second half of it was actually bad, but the ending went so disastrously off the rails that it overshadowed what was actually an important character growth episode for Tom.

[thigiocamap]

i said i didn’t know what to say about the giratina movie but i guess i actually do have stuff to say

shaymin was definitely the highlight of the movie i think. i know it gets a lot of hate because of its sassiness and ungratefulness but i think that’s what makes it really cute and refreshing. it would have been pretty boring if it just had a similar personality to mew or celebi or jirachi. i liked its constant beef with satoshi too; that was cute. it preferring hikari was extremely cute and i always love it when the female leads get a bit more screentime because of something like this. however comma this movie also does the stupid shit that they’ve done in the past where they act as if satoshi’s the one who is the most affected by things that should have been the female lead’s thing. in this movie, they act as if satoshi was more affected by the fact that they’d have to say goodbye to shaymin. on one hand you can be like “oh but it makes his dynamic with shaymin more three-dimensional because it shows that he cares for it deeply after all even though they constantly bicker” but i know how anipoke functions. i don’t care about something like that if it means hikari gets a backseat to being able to exhibit an emotional response to the legendary pokemon she bonded with saying goodbye to them. it’s like how in the manaphy movie haruka takes a backseat to her OWN MOVIE because satoshi is the overall protagonist and must be the one to save the day. satoshi gets priority in terms of narrative and emotional resolutions and it’s always really frustrating.

anyways, moving on… think shaymin being able to communicate via telepathy was not necessary from a lore perspective, but without that we wouldn’t be able to see its charming personality in quite the same way… so, in this case, i understand why it was done. i’m just kind of sick of random legendaries being able to communicate via telepathy when it used to make more sense for certain pokemon to be able to do it lol

the aromatherapy thing also came out of nowhere and felt like they just needed something to Happen at the end. i’m always a fan of when they don’t chicken out and allow an important pokemon in a movie to die but obviously they can’t just kill giratina off (for very obvious reasons but also since they wrote a whole trilogy and everything and giratina would have had to show up again later), so i’m not annoyed that it didn’t die; i’m just annoyed at the method they chose in which to keep it alive. speaking of things that came out of nowhere, regigigas’s inclusion felt like that too. we don’t really know anything about it; why did it care about stopping the glacier, anyway? did it actually care about the life that would have been devastated by the glacier’s advance (thus, just simply being a benevolent pokemon)? maybe? nat and i joked that it was because the glacier’s movement was loud and woke regigigas up from its nap and that annoyed it, so it wanted to make it stop. it seriously just shows up to try to stop the glacier and then fucks off forever; it’s like a discount suicune from the celebi movie except suicune actually did a bit more stuff. actually it’s like discount kyogre from the manaphy movie, which is already a discount suicune

the plot overall was kind of mid to bad, though. dialga putting a time loop around giratina (making it so that giratina could no longer move back and forth through portals between the reverse world and real world) (btw i hate calling it the real world because the reverse world is just as real. anyway) is like, ok that’s cool. but why do portals created by shaymin not count, and why can giratina travel through those? why does shaymin’s seed flare even make portals to begin with? it felt overly convenient and like it was just an excuse to make shaymin sought after by both giratina and zero. also, wtf was zero’s goal? i get that it was to be able to travel freely between the reverse world and the real world. but why? he did constantly call the reverse world “beautiful” and stuff; it reminded me of how in pokemon generations, cyrus sees the distortion world as some place that matched his vision for his ideal world (in the games, he still says he’ll someday make his ideal world a reality. meaning the distortion world isn’t the place he had in mind in the games). it would have made sense if zero just wanted to stay in the reverse world and live there by himself or something, but that’s not what they do; he specifically wants to travel back and forth. but… why? and why did he feel the need to try to destroy the ice pillars that were connected to the glacier? did he just want to try to kill the heroes or something? that feels like a kind of random method in doing so. i feel like if i were to make changes to zero’s goals/character, i would make it so that he wishes to live in the reverse world all on his own as its king, insisting on taking giratina’s “role” as ruler of the reverse world along with its powers/abilities and destroying it in the process (thus keeping the whole “there is a giratina killing machine that mugen designed” plot thread). i feel like something like that would make sense while also not straying too far from what they already have. sure it’s super generic but it makes more sense at the very least

anyways do you think mugen graceland and zero ever explored each other’s bodies (in the reverse world) (giratina is watching)

[troublemakerhawke]

I saw people sharing lore of their Dragon Age characters and now I kinda want to do the same! I don’t have much on my inquisitor, but I should at least summarize my thoughts on her.

Also it’s probably a good idea to finally document everything so I won’t forget important stuff myself! 

Pictures of my characters are made with a picrew by Crowesn. Check it out, it's really cool!

Grey Warden Nyx Surana

Nyx was given up by her parents at a very young age, so she doesn't know or remember anything at all about them. 

Nyx grew up to be a person whom you could easily call a victim of a Chantry’s propaganda. She did believe all mages should be watched over for The Greater Good, and that Circles help mages as much as people without magic. However Nyx never thought of her magic as a curse. She firmly believed magic to be a gift from the Maker, and that everyone entrusted with it must act accordingly (which means turning themselves over to the Chantry). Being a talented mage, Nyx spent almost all of her time studying and honing her skills.

As a Grey Warden tasked with ending a full-scale Blight she put duty above everything else. 

Even when she fell in love with Alistair, she chose what her mind told her to do, not her heart. When it was clear Alistair will become the next king of Ferelden, she decided to end this relationship before both of them were in too deep they couldn’t do what they had to. 

She gathered an army, but didn’t form any meaningful connections with her comrades. They respected each other, but after the Blight ended everyone wanted to go their separate ways and pursue personal goals.

Knowing the price of killing an Archdemon, Nyx wasn’t sure she could pay it. She agreed to Morrigan’s deal, hoping her ritual will work. Fortunately, Nyx was able to both kill an Archdemon and to tell the tale.

She didn’t want to become Warden-Commander. All she wanted was to return to the Tower and continue her life there. But duty demanded otherwise.

Going to Amarathine was, actually, one of the best things that happened in her life, because there she met a bunch of different people none of whom aspired to be heroes. They helped her to change her perspective on life, especially Anders, from whom she for the first time in her life heard a different view on magic. 

Later, after she officially “disappeared”, Nyx managed to accidentally reunite with Zevran. Being a completely different person than several years ago, she was finally able to connect with him. 

Now they travel together in search for the cure for both the Blight and the Calling and don’t really want to get involved with any other troubles.

Hecate Hawke

After father’s death Hecate de-facto became the head of the family tasked with providing for it. She didn’t even realize how fast she became his “replacement”, but she couldn’t let them down. 

Bethany’s death was a severe blow for Hecate, because they were very close. Hecate always felt like she needed to protect Bethany from harm, but she couldn’t save her from the darkspawn. The blame for her sister’s death still haunts her.

Being a talkative and friendly individual, in Kirkwall Hecate quickly gathered a small group of people around herself. 

When things started looking up, another tragedy happened. A promising expedition to the Deep Roads was supposed to help her family to buy back their family estate, but do things ever go right? Carver got infected with the Blight, and only thanks to Anders he was saved via joining the Grey Wardens, thus leaving his family forever. Another thing for which Hecate blames herself.

Returning home was hard, but she managed. She needed herself to manage. Hecate almost never showed anyone that side of herself that wasn’t a daring happy person, and only two people actually knew how she felt about herself: her best friend Varric and her lover Anders. As if the loss of Hecate’s siblings wasn’t enough, misfortunes seemed to follow her along the way. After losing mother, Hecate was drowning in guilt and regret. They never had good relationships, but now Hecate was actually alone. She was the only one Hawke left.

Kirkwall was slowly killing her.

Being a mage and a little too much compassionate person, Hecate eventually got involved with the Mage Underground and, eventually, with the Mage Rebellion. After all of her failures, she wanted to save at least somebody, even if it meant taking drastic actions. She made Anders accept her help, wholeheartedly supporting him. She couldn't afford to lose him, too. After the Chantry Explosion she took responsibility alongside him, fleeing Kirkwall to help mages in other regions fighting for their rightful freedom.

Hecate survives the events of Here Lies the Abyss and later reunites with Anders and her friends in Weisshaupt. 

Inquisitor Pandora Lavellan

Pandora was supposed to become the next Keeper of the clan Lavellan, but destiny decided otherwise. She wasn’t particularly close with anyone in her clan, but leaving them still wasn’t the most pleasant decision.

She started as a prisoner, accused of killing the Divine, but ended up as the Inquisitor. The Herald of Andraste, who didn’t believe in the Maker. People all over Thedas gathered around her to finally put things back in order. And "Lady Lavellan" really tried her best to fix everything. 

Using the influence of the Inquisition, she helped mages in their fight, encouraging Leliana to become the new Divine.

Pandora managed to make a handful of friends along the way, who eventually helped her dealing with the Breach and Corypheus. Later she married Cullen. So much for keeping their relationships a secret.

After discovering her friend and mentor Solas to be the Dread Wolf himself set on destroying the world, she promises him to find the way to persuade him against it. Being concerned with possible corruption in the ranks of the Inquisition, she decides to disband it, relying on the network the build over the years.

Occasionally she still visits her clan. -----

At this point in my version of Thedas everybody should be concerned when a white-haired mage woman emerges from basically nowhere. Random strange catastrophic apocalyptic stuff is bound to start happening pretty soon and she’s going to be right in the middle of it. Consequences unknown. 

[oracleofsecrets]

Final Fantasy I - Part of the Quest to Play All 16 FF Games

Hours logged: ~16

Full disclosure, the Pixel Remaster made these first six games a LOT more palatable with quality of life stuff, especially the first three. Random encounters can be toggled off, which is especially useful when navigating out of a dungeon (no teleport spell yet…) and the overworld if you were simply curious about some area. And quick save, of course. The first three games you can save Only when in the overworld, so if you die in a dungeon, sucks to be you I guess

Each room/area has a minimap you can check. I cannot imagine dealing with the floor hazards in the ice and fire “dungeons” if I didn’t know where to go. It was great seeing which spots had treasure chests, and the overworld map would also show a treasure count for Places you’ve been

And AUTO BATTLE my best friend. Pressing it makes everything in battle happen twice as fast, and your characters will automatically use the same command entered previously. You do have to turn it off obvi if you need them to do something else. But it’s a great way to get through grinding. Honestly I think it cut my play hours in half

Onto the actual 'review'

Firsts 

Well. Everything! But some things I didn’t know were/would become series staples, like:

Airships

Fated heroes of legend

Seek the Crystals

Worsts

I’m aiming to be forgiving since it’s the first and it’s from the 1980s, so game design just wasn’t at a point where people knew what kinds of features were possible, let alone sought after

Acquiring spells by purchasing. A minor inconvenience, but they get expensive…

General Impressions

I was surprised at all the variety! Like setting wise, with environs and different types of people and inhabitants. Humans, elves, dwarves, dragons, Ancients, mermaids, wizards(?), pirates, a witch. And all the locations (the cities, dungeon designs [esp the sky one! Gorgeous]). And enemies!

At the beginning, you could make your characters any classes you wanted. You could’ve had a party of four warriors/fighters, if you wanted to do that for some reason. I don’t recall if you could change classes during the game

I could figure out some of the plot stuff or progression on my own fairly well (thanks to my handy dandy notebook haha), but a few things were baffling. Like maybe I missed the NPC that gave the hint for Where you resurrect the airship

I really wasn’t expecting a time travel aspect! That was kinda fun 

I also was not expecting an airship in the first game, given the high fantasy setting. Very cool though, and basically required for later-game navigation progression. I wonder just how Much Final Fantasy has originated in the fantasy rpg genre...

Mechanics

The magic system was interesting, where you have an MP pool for each Level of spells, and you can buy/set three spells for each level. Casting any spell costs only one point. The system of recovering MP was a bit restrictive (idr if they had Ethers yet, but if they did they were hard to come by). And of course I’m used to the descendants, where you learn spells as you level up and stronger spells cost more MP 

Equipment with special properties was cool. Wasn’t expecting that for such an early game 

Wish I’d realized Before the final boss how to Use equipment items in battle (e.g., “casts Fire when used”, where “use” means to select the item from the item menu while in battle). I thought it would happen automatically when it was equipped. But no, it’s there in the item list past the consumables…

I also noticed late in the game that you can change equipment During battle? As long as someone else doesn’t have it equipped anyway, so that was neat

Rating: 3/16

A decent way to spend a weekend, and an interesting historical document, but probably not very exciting for the modern gamer

[alexianne]

It’s Day 7 since the president announced that he would be placing the state in a community lock-down, Day 6 since I really stayed at home. While I understand that work-from-home is substantial consequence to the announced lock-down, I was not totally at ease with the new set-up. I mean, sure, I get to save time from traveling and instead do some more tasks, but a big part of my work depends on stuff I can’t just bring home to work on. Other reasons include knowing I would not be able to focus a hundred percent because I would be with my mom who surely would be asking me to do something either for her or household-related, and man I was not wrong (not that I’m complaining though). As I try to process things, I know that these reasons are just superficial, but the underlying reason why I was uncomfortable with the set-up is something I can’t quite put my finger on.

It took five days for me to pin the reason down, basically this very day, just a few moments into drafting this post, when I still had a different outline of what I was supposed to type down. It was not a fun realization, as the answer I was looking for took me to my B.C. days — and no, I’m not trying to be witty here, I actually mean Before Christ days. Two different life periods, same season, almost the same scenario. I was not able to remember it right away because the memories were something I kind of buried deep down the memory lane. And so far, I am not remembering everything clearly, and I don’t think I want to. I will just be sharing the things I can comfortably remember. But come on, imagine the trigger I felt… in my best aussie accent not noice.

First memory: I was still in High School. I cannot remember which summer vacation was it, or why I was being grounded, but all I can remember is the house helper that was with us at that time. I was in a no-phone, no-T.V., and no-pocketbooks punishment for the entirety of my summer vacation. The reason why I remember our house helper at that time was that she was why I kept my sanity that summer break. Since I was also banned from watching T.V., mommy would lock me out of our bedroom at noon for her to get her daily dose of the weekday variety show. And since that time I was still not used to sleeping on the couch, I at first would just stay up and basically doodle or daydream, thus no siesta sleep for me. I think this is what made our house helper take pity on me. Later on, she decided that she would also stay up instead of taking her own siesta, and spend time with me. I remember clearly our usual set-up: since it was summer, we would stay at the kitchen since it was the coolest part of the house at noon, set up the fan, sit on the floor for added coolness, and then we would proceed to talk for hours until mommy would come down to cook dinner. We would then have to disperse so that mommy would not say anything like the helper was spoiling me, therefore I would not learn my lesson, or whatever it is that would float her boat (she actually said that the very first time. Of course, the two of us did not know that mommy would also get mad at the helper for “spoiling me” and so we did not stop talking until mommy came in). Sometimes she would go out and buy us some chips for while we were talking. I remember she would have to keep the wrappers in her room so that mommy would not see them because I was being controlled from eating chips… which exactly was the point why our helper would buy some, just to show her support for me against the matriarchy. Kidding, that was exaggerated. She told me she understands the no-phone, no-T.V. policy, but she thought that the no-books policy was going too much. That is also why, whenever she would clean my room, she would sneak out a book of mine with her, keep it in her room first for safekeeping, so that I could read once mommy goes back up for the primetime shows (I was still locked out at this time. I would only go in the room when mommy turns off the T.V. and it would be time to sleep) while she would busy herself on her phone. One other way she would spoil me was there were times where, while mommy was taking her siesta sleep, she would sneak me out of the house in the afternoon for a short walk (just around the block. We would not dare go farther because we had no way of knowing when mommy was going down the kitchen). I think this was how I got to know and talk to the neighbor across us. Anyway. Talk about being placed under house arrest. I remember how golden the first day back in school was… I remember feeling so happy just to be able to walk a lot (can you imagine being happy just to be able to walk?!?!) and do something else other than sitting the day out.

Second memory: College. Almost everything was the same, from me not remembering the details of it, to the set-up of it all. Only this time, the said house helper was not around for quite a time already. If I am remembering it right, this was the time I was a ninja-in-training. I had no one to help me out, so the damsel had to learn to be her own knight in shining armor. Ninja training included sneaking things like pocketbooks, my planner for that year, and my beloved pens out of my study room, knowing the best spots to hide those things for overnight because I don’t have anyone to keep it for me, and being able to be a whirlwind once I hear mommy up and about earlier than expected and would have to keep my things in their hiding place very quietly. And oh, it also included some acting classes! Pretending I was so bored to death, but I actually was not because I had my trusty books, journal, and pens that really kept me company. I think this was the time I was starting out with bullet journaling that it used to take me a lot of time just to conceptualize a spread. Or maybe it was not yet bullet journaling, but since I was still a student and cannot afford nice planners yet, I was creating my own planner (yes, I did this for three consecutive years). Whatever, I won’t try to recall whichever was it. The important thing is it kept me sane for that summer break.

Back to the present day. No, I’m not under arrest, we can all relax and breathe (yet…?). Worst case would be I still had at least my laptop with me since I’m using it for work. The reason I got triggered is my mom and I had a fight and it [is] couch night for me. And it’s summer. And work-from-home is making me think that it is just like a summer vacation because I don’t get to leave the house. This set-up, this vibe, the season, they just made me remember the saddest of my summers. And this is not a good feeling, okay? I just feel antsy, like I may do couch night for the rest of the quarantine season (I think I’ll get crazy if the enhanced community lock-down gets extended). But if there is something that I know will help me get through, it’s God. I mean, imagine those days — 2 months during High School and just a few weeks, around 3 to be more precise — that I could have read the Bible if only I got to know Christ that early in my life. And while my books and journal did provide me solace on those times, that solace was short-lived. Those are nothing compared to the eternal solace the Word of God promises to us. While the books I read encouraged me to be a modern woman who can do a lot of amazing things and can fight on her own, it was in God where I really became physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually strengthened. While the words I have written and the figures I have drawn extended my artistic borders, there is so much more joy in knowing that in every stroke of my colored pens and in every word I piece together, I would be able to glorify Him not only by utilizing the gift He has given me, but also being an instrument of spreading Him and His Word through my projects.

Capping this unexpectedly long post with a short and simple note. We have a lot of free time on our hands right now due to the community lock down and I just hope that we utilize most of it into doing things that really matter. Most importantly, I hope that we spend every single moment of it with God because whatever we do with and for the Lord, it will never be a waste of time and could actually impact our whole lifetime, and maybe even in the life beyond.

[libraryofalexianne-jia]

It's Day 7 since the president announced that he would be placing the state in a community lock-down, Day 6 since I really stayed at home. While I understand that work-from-home is substantial consequence to the announced lock-down, I was not totally at ease with the new set-up. I mean, sure, I get to save time from traveling and instead do some more tasks, but a big part of my work depends on stuff I can't just bring home to work on. Other reasons include knowing I would not be able to focus a hundred percent because I would be with my mom who surely would be asking me to do something either for her or household-related, and man I was not wrong (not that I'm complaining though). As I try to process things, I know that these reasons are just superficial, but the underlying reason why I was uncomfortable with the set-up is something I can't quite put my finger on.

It took five days for me to pin the reason down, basically this very day, just a few moments into drafting this post, when I still had a different outline of what I was supposed to type down. It was not a fun realization, as the answer I was looking for took me to my B.C. days — and no, I'm not trying to be witty here, I actually mean Before Christ days. Two different life periods, same season, almost the same scenario. I was not able to remember it right away because the memories were something I kind of buried deep down the memory lane. And so far, I am not remembering everything clearly, and I don't think I want to. I will just be sharing the things I can comfortably remember. But come on, imagine the trigger I felt… in my best aussie accent not noice.

First memory: I was still in High School. I cannot remember which summer vacation was it, or why I was being grounded, but all I can remember is the house helper that was with us at that time. I was in a no-phone, no-T.V., and no-pocketbooks punishment for the entirety of my summer vacation. The reason why I remember our house helper at that time was that she was why I kept my sanity that summer break. Since I was also banned from watching T.V., mommy would lock me out of our bedroom at noon for her to get her daily dose of the weekday variety show. And since that time I was still not used to sleeping on the couch, I at first would just stay up and basically doodle or daydream, thus no siesta sleep for me. I think this is what made our house helper take pity on me. Later on, she decided that she would also stay up instead of taking her own siesta, and spend time with me. I remember clearly our usual set-up: since it was summer, we would stay at the kitchen since it was the coolest part of the house at noon, set up the fan, sit on the floor for added coolness, and then we would proceed to talk for hours until mommy would come down to cook dinner. We would then have to disperse so that mommy would not say anything like the helper was spoiling me, therefore I would not learn my lesson, or whatever it is that would float her boat (she actually said that the very first time. Of course, the two of us did not know that mommy would also get mad at the helper for "spoiling me" and so we did not stop talking until mommy came in). Sometimes she would go out and buy us some chips for while we were talking. I remember she would have to keep the wrappers in her room so that mommy would not see them because I was being controlled from eating chips… which exactly was the point why our helper would buy some, just to show her support for me against the matriarchy. Kidding, that was exaggerated. She told me she understands the no-phone, no-T.V. policy, but she thought that the no-books policy was going too much. That is also why, whenever she would clean my room, she would sneak out a book of mine with her, keep it in her room first for safekeeping, so that I could read once mommy goes back up for the primetime shows (I was still locked out at this time. I would only go in the room when mommy turns off the T.V. and it would be time to sleep) while she would busy herself on her phone. One other way she would spoil me was there were times where, while mommy was taking her siesta sleep, she would sneak me out of the house in the afternoon for a short walk (just around the block. We would not dare go farther because we had no way of knowing when mommy was going down the kitchen). I think this was how I got to know and talk to the neighbor across us. Anyway. Talk about being placed under house arrest. I remember how golden the first day back in school was… I remember feeling so happy just to be able to walk a lot (can you imagine being happy just to be able to walk?!?!) and do something else other than sitting the day out.

Second memory: College. Almost everything was the same, from me not remembering the details of it, to the set-up of it all. Only this time, the said house helper was not around for quite a time already. If I am remembering it right, this was the time I was a ninja-in-training. I had no one to help me out, so the damsel had to learn to be her own knight in shining armor. Ninja training included sneaking things like pocketbooks, my planner for that year, and my beloved pens out of my study room, knowing the best spots to hide those things for overnight because I don't have anyone to keep it for me, and being able to be a whirlwind once I hear mommy up and about earlier than expected and would have to keep my things in their hiding place very quietly. And oh, it also included some acting classes! Pretending I was so bored to death, but I actually was not because I had my trusty books, journal, and pens that really kept me company. I think this was the time I was starting out with bullet journaling that it used to take me a lot of time just to conceptualize a spread. Or maybe it was not yet bullet journaling, but since I was still a student and cannot afford nice planners yet, I was creating my own planner (yes, I did this for three consecutive years). Whatever, I won't try to recall whichever was it. The important thing is it kept me sane for that summer break.

Back to the present day. No, I'm not under arrest, we can all relax and breathe (yet…?). Worst case would be I still had at least my laptop with me since I'm using it for work. The reason I got triggered is my mom and I had a fight and it [is] couch night for me. And it's summer. And work-from-home is making me think that it is just like a summer vacation because I don't get to leave the house. This set-up, this vibe, the season, they just made me remember the saddest of my summers. And this is not a good feeling, okay? I just feel antsy, like I may do couch night for the rest of the quarantine season (I think I'll get crazy if the enhanced community lock-down gets extended). But if there is something that I know will help me get through, it's God. I mean, imagine those days — 2 months during High School and just a few weeks, around 3 to be more precise — that I could have read the Bible if only I got to know Christ that early in my life. And while my books and journal did provide me solace on those times, that solace was short-lived. Those are nothing compared to the eternal solace the Word of God promises to us. While the books I read encouraged me to be a modern woman who can do a lot of amazing things and can fight on her own, it was in God where I really became physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually strengthened. While the words I have written and the figures I have drawn extended my artistic borders, there is so much more joy in knowing that in every stroke of my colored pens and in every word I piece together, I would be able to glorify Him not only by utilizing the gift He has given me, but also being an instrument of spreading Him and His Word through my projects.

Capping this unexpectedly long post with a short and simple note. We have a lot of free time on our hands right now due to the community lock down and I just hope that we utilize most of it into doing things that really matter. Most importantly, I hope that we spend every single moment of it with God because whatever we do with and for the Lord, it will never be a waste of time and could actually impact our whole lifetime, and maybe even in the life beyond.

[iamacolor]

I do think Sol was also ready/did risk her life and safety for him multiple times in different ways, even at first she wasn't concerned with what happened to her but always put saving him first and then later she risked her life to catch the killer to save him (and herself) it just wasn't as overt as him literally saying he is willing to die for her and then do in it lmfao. I just don't watch dramas from the perspective of oh this fictional character is so amazing I wish I had a guy like him (perfectly fine way to watch things) but more from the "I want to see two fake people crazy about each other" perspective so this thing romance shows do where the guy is very often so much more devoted and just more everything annoys me as hell.

she really risked it all multiple times!! she just refused to exist in a world where he wasn't or where his safety wasn't secured and she let that guide her - but since sunjae is a character that had to die several times so he had to die for her at least once lol it's like everytime he dies and she tries to change things they made his death worse because everytime she's more entangled with him and more willing to risk it all for him and so it hurts more and then leads to the last sacrifice of their entire relationship (I'm still heartbroken when I think about her walking away from him even if i know they end up reuniting lol)

but same I'm really not looking for a y/n moment lol so I'm often feeling like "okay so when is it her turn. when is it her turn to do that, to be like that". I do feel like it's kind of evolving - the fact that sol remains the only time traveler, that sunjae isn't the one that saves the day or reverse it all etc is actually proof of that because they could easily have gone down the road of he kills the bad guy or he travels back in time in her place etc and taken that story away from sol but instead she remains the full lead of the show and therefore her love remains the main force of the story even if the story requires her to have more restraint for most of it. I've watched dramas where the man being more proactive at romance leads to his family drama or tragic backstory to just take over the entire show by the end while the fl is like 😊...

thinking about this in dramas I've previously watched and some of my faves tend to break away from that. like just between lovers where the leads have a very interesting dynamic in that regard and she very much chases him around at some point and is like I love you so I'm staying and you better take care of yourself or I will ! and when they're just starting to get closer she gets drunk and she's like I like men who eat carrots while he's eating a carrot right in front of her. also extraordinary attorney woo where he very much has wonderful swoony moments but she's super proactive and actually acts with him the way men usually act with women once she realises she likes him (carrying his heavy stuffs, pulling out his chair or even researching things to do on dates), and she very much desires him and is attracted to him (the camera follows her gaze) and although she doesn't like all types of physical contact she either initiates or tries them with him and they have one of the greatest kiss scenes ever or also a good day to be a dog which is a little bit more like lovely runner in terms of tone and genres (and actually now that I think about it has quite a lot of similarities lol except they're already grown up and it's regeneration and curses not time travel but there's a memory thing, and many shenanigans to break a curse also the mother is the same actress I think) and once they're both into each they're both very into each other and very ridiculous about it but the fl actually gets to do all these cool things for the ml and has some swoony moments too (she literally writes and directs a shadow performance for him) especially while she helps him get over his fear of dogs and she fantasizes about him and they have to date in secret and they're both really bad at that so you really feel like they're equally gone on each other etc and she's also more of a comedic element than him (in part because of the curse but not just that) so to see two fake people crazy about each other that's a nice one. and they also have one of the greatest kiss scenes ever. I absolutely love haena and now I want to rewatch (and if you haven't seen these shows yet I recommend them!)

[tisorridalamor]

Ok actually gonna flesh out a theoretical book 7 for FEH or at least just toss some ideas out there

Book 7 starts with everyone in relative peace, recovering from Embla’s attack. Veronica approaches Askr on a diplomacy visit and explains that she has been researching her country’s history while trying to restabilize it after so many generations of chaos under Embla. She thinks that the people killed by Embla may not be dead but instead their souls have been ‘closed off.’ Veronica asks Askr for help in uncovering the mysteries of their two countries, both to help her people but also providing a way to fix all the bad blood between their families and start anew. Askr trio agrees (of course) and everyone sets off to try and save everyone, including Zacharias.

Base Veronica is this book’s free unit and they travel to some hostile hidden realm or or there’s still pockets of Embla baddies they have to finish off or something for the combat portions. Idk that doesn’t matter, what matters is getting to see Veronica, Alphonse, and Sharena become closer while searching for their lost brother/friend.

There’s a few reasons why I like this idea:

Zach come back :)

We’d finally get a chapter where plot isn’t just We Are Fucking Under Attack. I like the idea of the protags actually having a goal of their own instead of just defending Askr / helping defend some girl’s country

People love Veronica so a free version of her would be so cool. Her base version has been around so long I think it’d be more interesting to give her out for free and save her Embla ascendant version for people to summon on

FEH has a real bad habit of not having anything interesting to do with characters and just killing them off. Would be fun to be bringing people back for once!

Lots of potential for cool Askr and Embla history lore. Would love if the real Lif and Thrassir (the ancestors I mean) showed up at some point. They’ve been hinted at since book 3 and it’d be neat to see them. Maybe even ancestors from Nifl, Muspel, etc. too

Thor and Loki could be the villains this time (idk I can’t think of any other big bands and I like the idea of this chapter being focused around previously introduced characters and ideas). Maybe Thor gets defeated at the end but Loki is still there to cause problems later, like Ragnarok which I assume is going to be the final chapter for FEH when IntSys decides to end it

Idk how many chapters FEH will have but this could be a chance to slow down a bit and build toward a larger overarching story. Some nice interactions between existing characters, maybe give Alphonse and Sharena ascendant versions to mark their growth over the last 7 years, stuff like that. Have Alphonse and Veronica bond over suddenly being rulers, have Sharena do literally anything, throw Henrietta in there, have the girls from prev chapters show up briefly. There’s lots that could be done in a more “mellow” chapter where the plot isn’t based around another big dumb war

I’d even like this idea condensed into a short paralog between books 6 and 7 if making a full chapter out of this is too much work. Would take away having a free Veronica but it’d still be an interesting way to potentially introduce ascendant Alphonse and Shareena on a banner alongside base Veronica and Zacharias!

Obviously I don’t think any of this would happen (mostly because every chapter is supposed to be stand alone :/ ) but it’s still fun to think about. I REALLY want a chapter where Al and Rena drive the plot forward rather than reacting to someone else and it’d be fun to see Askr and Embla take real steps toward being allies again. And Zach should be brought back, no more angst for the gang. They’ve been through enough.

[gamerbearmira]

I’ve just thought of a AU that included ghosts and time travel because those two things are cool :D

The idea is that instead of just Isabela, Camilo and Mirabel going to save the candle, ALL the grandchildren try to save it. Even little Antonio tries to help because he sees his older siblings and Mirabel running to get the candle.

Just like the actual film, Isabela, Dolores, Luisa, Camilo and Antonio all fail to reach the candle but Mirabel gets the candle and is pushed off the roof by casita and is met with the others at the bottom of the stairs. Also just like in the movie, Bruno’s tower falls down right where all the grandkids are huddled together. But this time, casita doesn’t have enough time to gather enough items to shield every grandkid and all the debris from Bruno’s tower fall right on them, killing them :).

In an attempt to save itself, the miracle uses the last of its power and decides to send the souls of Isabela, Dolores, Luisa, Camilo, Mirabel and Antonio to the past. To the day after Mirabel’s ceremony, to the day after the miracle truly started to break. The miracle wants them to chance the past and try repair the damage caused by Alma. To save the miracle

The ghost!grandkids all decide the best way to do this is to show the younger grandkids what happy lives they could have (what childhoods they wished they had) if they stopped trying to please Alma and the village because if Mirabel showing Isabela that being herself and being happy healed some of the cracks then surely it’ll help save the miracle if their younger selves did the same.

G!Isabela showing Y!Isabela that she is more then just a doll for Alma to mold by getting her to express herself with her gift and hobbies that Alma didn’t like.

G!Dolores telling Y!Dolores that ‘being quiet’ is not good for her and that she should be free to express what she’s feeling and what her opinions are. That just because she hears everything Alma shouldn’t tell her to keep her words to herself.

G!Mirabel (and the rest of the G!grandkids) comforting Y!Mirabel and telling her that she is just as special as the rest of the family. That perhaps if someone else besides her parents tells her that she’s just as special she might actually believe it and won’t grow up with self esteem issues.

Stuff like this is what they teach their younger selves. Now I don’t know what Antonio will do, perhaps this goes on for years and Y! Antonio is born and now has G!Antonio for a friend or Antonio is just hanging around with the others

I think sooner or later, Alma is going to try and squash this ‘little rebellion’ that the Y!grandkids have going on. Try and figure out why they are suddenly not listening to her. Assuming that they are closer with each other because they’re teaming up in this rebellion against the town and family. The G!grandchildren aren’t going to like this :)

OH?!?!?!

OK, one, this broke my heart, the babies </3 and two, this so actually pretty intriguing!

Maybe the Young kids think of them as imaginary firends who happen to be ten years older than them, hence why the adults never really stopped them. They were still kids after all. But as they got older ams the young kids started to rebel, they started getting suspicious.

They were kids, so they let it slide. But now all the sudden, they're so much different. They won't take on certain chores, they play around a lot more, they get into trouble more often, just generally more rowdy, free even. They had even gotten little toddler Antonio in on it, and he's 2 1/2!

Even Casita is more...stubborn. The house usually followed most of Alma's orders, almost without hesitation. But ever since the week after Mirabel's ceremony, the house has been different ever since. It felt even more alive than before, if that makes sense.

Then again, all of those drawings of older, slightly tattered and transparent versions of them might be making a bit more sense. They must have been forming from kind of revolution against Alma and by extension, the family...right?

[amanda-519]

Rise of the tmnt movie spoilers!! Read at your own risk! I just finished the movie so these are ALL tbe spoilers!!

WHAT A MOVIE!! God I've literally been waiting the while entire day for this!! Checking my watch, waiting for the time to pass, and now that it has, can I just say it was WELL worth the wait!!

I loved every bit of this movie!

Let's start it off at the beginning, the opening shot?? Amazing! I was really worried about spoilers, since I intended to go into this movie completely blind, but couldn't help myself and look up rottmnt on tumblr and hears about the KANG and future Casey and all that. I was worried that we wouldn't see the future till like, 20 mins into the movie but no! It jumps right out at ya at the start!

Gosh I absolutely loved the future versions of the characters!

Ok but can we just talk about Mikey real quick - he's my favorite of the brothers, my favorite character in the whole series actually. And apparently he can TIME TRAVEL?? LIKE FUTURE LEO JUST TELLS MIKEY TO MAKE A TIME PORTAL LIKE HE COUPD ALWAYS DO THAT??

And!! And!!

At the end of the movie he just!! Opens a portal!! Like Leo does!! Granted, it was extremely hard, but Mikey can create portals kinda like Leo can?? Ohhh, what if Leo is the "space" part of "time and space" and Mikey is the "time" part!

Gosh I would really love a future episode, here's to hoping that they get another season, were Mikey finds out he can pull items from the future/past. Maybe it's an accident at first? Like, he keeps accidently grabbing things from the future and/or past. Everything he puts down weirdly disappears. Like, at the start of the episode Donnie can't find something, and complains to everyone else, which makes them realize that things *have* been going missing around the lair lately. And at the end of the episode, when the problem has been solved, Donnie complains about his thing still being missing, only for Mikey to pull it from the past and present it to him like, "ohhhh, you mean this?" (This causing the thing to go missing in the first place)

Also! More about Mikey because like, as I said, he's my favorite turtle. Casey said that Mikey was the "best mystic warrior" in the future. The emphasis on "mystic" really made me wonder. All throughout the movie i was waiting for him to be the first to break out of the mystic power down thing, since he's supposed to be the *best* at mystic stuff. But him getting a new power was also really neat to see!

Also, if I could go on a teeny tiny rant about Mikey and then I swear I would be done talking all about him: I feel like he's the brother without really, a "thing".

Each of the brothers has a "thing". Donnie has his cool tech, Leo is arrogant but is shown to lack the skills needed to gain that arrogance, Raph is prone to outbursts and has the strongest moral compass out of tbe group. I know you're going to say that Mikey is the sensitive one, the artist, and I agree! It's something I really like about him! But I feel like in the show he's kinda always shoved aside. I could go on, but that little rant could be it's own post all on its own-

Back to the movie! If I were to have one criticism of it, is that besides for Leo and Raph, a lot of characters weren't really given much to do? Like, this is undoubtedly a very Leo movie, he has a character arc and everything. Which is fine! I like Leo. I feel like tbe writers should get a chance to explore each bother on their own. But I wish tbe other characters did more stuff, and weren't shoved to the side as much.

I'm sorry Donnie stans, that Donnie didn't really do that much in the movie. Like, when he gets uploaded onto the ship and has full control over it, he doesn't really do much? I think he should haven gotten more of a "moment". Like, maybe he shut down all tbe KANNG monsters on earth or something. Just a way for him to save the day. Raph got his "save the day" moment while he sacrificed himself for Leo. Later Leo got his saved the day moment when he sacrificed himself. Mikey got his when he opened the portal. I think it's very important when you have a group of characters, like the brothers, you need to make sure each of them gets their "moment", their moment when they get to be cool and save the day. Idk, maybe Donnie stans are satisfied with what they got. Let me know! Actually, any other brother/character stan, let me know how you felt about your special character. I was wondering how tbe Raph stans felt, since because he was captured, he wasn't really in the movie as much as the others. Do yall like his character in this movie? Or do you feel upset that his character was just kinda used to father Leo's character arc? Let me know! I'm realy curious.

Also! What was up with those blue vitals April grabbed??? I kept waiting for them to be brought up! When Leo is giving his pep talk on the building I was waiting for April to bring it up but nothing! One vital took up a KANNG whole eye! Why didn't they break into the university and steal more??

I really hope the university is brought up more in the 3rd season, if we get one. They could be next season's big bad? And that's why they weren't focused on more??

Talking about tbe 3rd season, man I really hope we get it! There's literally so many ideas for the 3rd season.

Firstly is, of course, Casey! He's here to stay,which must be weird! It messes up the timeline, not to mention how Cassie (Cassandra) would react when she finds out that she has a SON! Also, it seems like Casey isn't really used to the present, or well, past world. It'll be really interesting to see how he learns to cope with it. It has already been shown that he doesn't do well with people, an episode focusing on how he learns to live in the present world would be cool! Maybe he could even go to school with April!

The 3rd season could also introduce the brothers new mystic powers! Like I said above, I think exploring Mikey's would be cool! Also just a bit more focus on Mikey in general maybe?? Like, ok so, I've kinda always had this idea of Mikey getting insecure that he doesn't really have a "thing" like his other brothers. He can't take hits like Raph, or he isn't a genius like Donnie is, nor is a good leader like Leo is. I think giving him the ability to be more in tune with the mystic side of himself would be interesting. Real Anng from avatar vibes. Especially since there's the wholehidden mystic city and everything. Maybe there's spirit's only je can see? Oh! And that could lead back to Draxum, since he is so intune with mystic stuff and since he's been around for so long. It makes sense because out of all the brothers, Mikey is definitely the closest to Draxum.

Talking about Draxum and possible future episodes! I think he and Donnie should really get an episode. They both really like science, and Donnie looks like he's warming up to mystic stuff. Plus, they're both not really good with their feelings lol. Seeing an episode were they bond would be really interesting!

Anyways, that's all I have to say about the movie right now. But come scream at me in my inbox or my messages if you want to talk more about the movie, or just rise in general! I would really love someone to talk about all of this with!