#it was a fun watch but honestly the writing was lackluster

[shysquidd]

i just finished watching legend of korra for the first time

[agoldenblackbird]

i'm gonna be a ranty bitch for a minute.

tbh i'm turned off even reading new buddie fic despite being a multishipper and have unfollowed a bunch of buddie accounts because i'm sick of the smug attitudes. one ask that i am otherwise not going to publish or respond to ended with 'sorry you don't understand media literacy bestie :)' fuck off. listen INFANT, i have been writing fanfic and original fic AND watching, reading and analyzing queer media since before you were born, i understand how character and story development works, and i know the difference between 'storyline i personally disliked' and 'bad writing.' this was BOTH, and it also was marketed to us as 'carefully crafted bi rep' and 'queer love story that is not about a bunch of pain and conflict FOR ONCE' so we have every right to be upset at the bait-and-switch.

the fact that i'm seeing the same exact posts - 'bt bones buddie CANON' that i saw three seasons ago after the bucktaylor breakup, or every time they thought buck and taylor MIGHT break up - says something. the fact that so many fans seem genuinely convinced (STILL!) that buddie is inevitable because there have been so many 'signs,' and then they rattle off a convoluted theory that would make the most hardcore taylor swift stan say 'wow, that's a bit of a reach,' honestly weirded me out a little when i first joined the 911 fandom. i have never been in a fandom where so many fans are insistent that their ship will be - not might be or could be, but WILL be - canon. i am skeptical both from past experience with other shows mishandling queer storylines or ship-baiting, and tim minnear's proven track record with this one of not really knowing what to do with buck's LI's. but i didn't want to yuck anybody's yum, so i let them have their theories and squee in peace, and unfollowed or blocked certain tags if i was seeing too much of it and getting annoyed. it's too out there for me, but i'm glad they're having fun!

yet they can't give us the same courtesy. they deride us as delusional for thinking that a canon pairing that was presented to us both in promo and the show itself as different and important (eg the bobby approval convo and 'buck getting off the hamster wheel') might last, and we're stupid to have ever liked tommy or lou or be disappointed at how the breakup was written, and if we point out the biphobia it's just sour grapes.

the bucktommy breakup is not the first time 911 has started out strong with an interesting storyline and fumbled it in the 4th quarter either because the writers got bored or in the name of needless drama/a 'gotcha' sudden twist. amir & bobby, eddie's fight club arc, the sperm donor SL, hen vs councilwoman ortiz, whatever the hell is going on with harry, the whole mess with shannon/kim, just to name a few. and especially the past couple of seasons, for me since 6b, the pacing has been off. they seem to have too much happening at once and many of the storylines don't have enough room to breathe to be narratively satisfying, or they get resolved in ways that feel lackluster.

if the toxic buddie stans who have been attacking lou on sm and sending death threats (wtf!) actually get what they want, which i admit is possible, but it's certainly not guaranteed….i don't know why they think the writers won't fumble that just as badly. it's not going to happen precisely the way they want it to because it is impossible to please everybody, that's what fanfic is for. but at this point i have zero faith that it would even be well done at all, and zero trust in the writers not to just sabotage or regress a character for funsies, and that's an excellent reason to stop watching the show. in most of my other fandoms i regard canon as a jumping-off point or a blurry outline at best, and i can have just as much fun in the 911 sandbox without any further input from canon at all, once i'm less angry.

[transfemzedaph]

idea that definitely hasnt been living in my brain:

joel totally, 100%, does NOT have a massive crush on zedaph. zedaph, who he's heard a lot of things about but, but nothing could've prepared him for how blummin' cute he is, for goodness sake-- what. what? don't look at him like that. it's nothing. shut up.

(hope u like this even if u dont write smth for it DJBDJD)

i fucking loved this ask so much <3. i transed joel & zeds genders. bc im me. also the end is meh & i dont know what grians base looks like and i do not care

-

Of course Joel had heard about Zedaph, how could they not have. There was the rest of ZITS in the life series, Skizz specifically when he found out the both of them were joining, and of course Grians run down of all of the hermits. The basic gist of it was she's weird in a cool way and makes creative and useless but fun machines, which honestly, Joel thought sounded really awesome. Redstone was fine and all but they did tend to think most redstoners were way too serious about the whole thing.

So when Joel was invited over to be the first person to test Zeds newest thing, they were excited!

What none of any of his friends had told them, was how flippin cute she was. And yeah maybe Joel ended up stumbling over their words more than usual whilst hanging out, and yeah maybe they were a little bit distracted from the game? activity? workout? whatever it was, Joel was a bit distracted because they kept watching Zed.

Joel rushes their goodbyes and runs off back home, laying face down on the floor of their newly built home, void they should have put some furniture in already.

Grian wanders over and lets out a little snort at the sight of Joel, who just groans and rolls over, propping themself up a bit,

"This is all your fault."

Grian just stares.

Joel locks eyes with him face scrunching, "You didn't tell me she was cute."

Grian, promptly bursts out laughing.

"Gri, no, this isn't funny. This is serious. And she's gonna think I'm an idiot now and it's all your fault!"

Grian's still laughing.

Joel sits then self up and crosses their arms indignantly, "Are you done?"

Grian's giggling a bit when he replies, "You've got it so bad! For a blonde! Again! You have a type sooo bad."

Joel kicks their leg out towards Grian, grumbling slightly, "Yeah well, you're blonde but you're ugly and I hate you. So there."

Grian sits himself down next to Joel, bumping their shoulder with his own as he does.

"Honestly I bet Zed loved hanging out with you. Don't worry yeah? And at least next time you can compose yourself before you hang out."

Joel leans their head on Grians shoulder.

"Yeah." They sigh, picking at their fingernails, before mumbling "Think 'm just overthinking it cause of being new 'n all that. Just dont wanna make anyone hate me."

Grian scoffs, "No one is going to hate you, and you know Skizz, and probably Tango and Impulse as well, have all talked to Zed about you? Why do you think she invited you to hang out?"

Joel hums.

"To me it seems like she was also trying to impress you too, showing off what she made?"

Joel blushes, halfheartedly giving Grian a little shove, "Shut up."

-

It's a couple of days later when Joel barges into Grians house, "I have an excuse to go visit Zed!"

Grian sighs, "And you had to come and tell me about this? Right now?"

Joel takes in the scene, Mumbo, standing next to a coffee machine, his moustache looking very lackluster, Grian almost curled up on his stool, hands clasped around a mug.

Joel winces, "Uh, what time is it?"

"Too early for this nonsense, shoo." Grian lazily waves one hand in Joels general direction to usher them away.

Joel grumbles to themself as they walk away, "Whatever, Grian doesn't get to know my really cool and awesome plan of going over and saying that we need to beat Impulse and Tangos high score without being a bit cheaty like they were. Which is the best plan ever."

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Disappointing Doom

Feb 2023 Wk 3

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

My School President (Fri YT) ep 12fin - Them openly dating and flirting with each other (finally) while keeping it “secret” was hilarious. No surprise they got outed tho. The whole “coming out homophobic teacher” sequence was very extra but suited this show. And ending with prom could not be more YA. Plus smiley kisses! 

CONCLUSION?

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that was Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues.  Yes, we’ve seen it all before, but this is me: I ADORE this shit. Who let my BL be this wholesome and funny? This show was fantastic, it’s only flaw was the singing (and that’s my baggage). My favorite GMMTV offering to date. 9/10 (could go as high as 9.5 on my more forgiving days) 

Bed Friend (Sat YT, GaGa & iQIYI uncut) ep 2 of 8 - I’m ending my week with this one these days. I feel like this is an EXCELLENT life decision. King’s pining is WBL levels of EPIC. Uea’s ma may be the worst ma in Thai BL (and that’s some stiff competition.) Ah getting tested together, such a right of passage. I like King a lot, his attitude, life philosophy, the way he looks an Uea, everything. This show is GREAT. 

Bed Friend extra sexy bits explained:

YouTube has the cut version with slightly less sexy content (this is what I’m mostly watching). 

GaGa ALSO has the cut version, BUT they have “extra clips” with the uncut content, you’ll need to find and watch them separately. 

iQIYI has the uncut version with the above mentioned extra sexy bits integrated back into the full episode.

Okay? 

Okay.

Moonlight Chicken (Weds YT) eps 5-6 of 8 - The break up btw Wen & Alan was really hard to watch, both actors are so good. Speaking of good actors, where did GeminiFourth come from? Seriously? I love these characters almost as a much as TinnGun. Heart’s parents are EVIL. Told ya they’d kiss as this couple bf TinnGun. Back of head wrap ‘Kiss’ tho, haven’t seen one of those from Thailand in ages. Old school. And then Khaotung just broadsides us with PAIN. This is such an aces show, but it is A LOT. 

Never Let Me Go (Tues YT) ep 11 of 12 - More cute BF intercut with agony. Holy role reversal dad butler! Otherwise a somewhat lackluster ep 11 of DOOM as dooms go, but I’m okay with that. 

Chains of Heart (Sat iQIYI) 1-2 of 10 - This is a suspense thriller about smugglers, amnesia, and lost love. Haii is good (and gorgeous) in the lead but the story is choppy, disjoined, and confusing. May be intentional, bad writing, or the captions being particularly bad (or all 3). It’s an interesting and different start. Not good but interesting. It reminds me a little of Manner of Death only with better action sequences. But I’m not sold on it because MoD had MaxTul, and this... does not. Ep 2 did not improve matters. When Ken & Lue flirt it’s fine and the Thai food bits were fun. (Kao Soi is one of my fav northern dishes, I’m sad he didn’t get to finish it.) At the funeral, why are they all texting when it can be traced and they could just be talking to each other? Honestly, everybody behaves like an idiot in this show. So I guess this is a revenge narrative? I’m so confused. They pretty tho, so I’ll keep watching because I am weak, but if you can wait, I think this is one that’s gonna be better as a binge. 

Our Winter (Thai & Korea YT & TikTok under ThaiMiniSeries) eps 1-7 of 14 - TutorYim microseries, told in vertical (TikTok) shorts. (Thanks to the BL spies for reporting in.) Cute Trope snippits but Korean is HARD to understand with a Thai accent. I’m not watching it with Eng subs and I’m not wild about this style short form but still - cute. Funny how they styled TutorYim so that they look slightly Korean - wardrobe and makeup wizardry. 

Hit Bite Love (Sat YT) ep 6 fin - Degrassi Junior BL concludes in a very soap opera way, with new characters and new/extra drama. Trigger warning on the original trigger. The investigating cop was super hot tho. Can we give him a BL? Also I liked the final scene makeup tons. But honestly what a total mess. I don’t know what i just watched and neither does it. 3/10 (sorry babies)  

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

HIStory 5: Love in the Future (Taiwan Weds Viki) ep 9 of 10 (or 17&18 of 20) - Kind of a filler ep and lackluster for a penultimate DOOM installment. But the HIStory franchise gets this way sometimes. 

Jack o’Frost (Japan GaGa) ep 2 of 6 - I’m finding it a bit dull. 

It’s Airing But ...

My Beautiful Man 2 (Viki & Gaga) - Because there are only 4 eps, I’m waiting to binge this.

Boyband ep 2 of 10 - Stopped airing on YouTube, and only available in Thailand & Japan. Not sure if they’re working a distribution deal or just fucking with us. 

Destiny Seeker (Tues WeTV ) 10 eps - it’s not on any WeTV I can get ahold of. Bad Buddy the pulp rebirth meets Japanese handsome host club action. FairyGodBLer came through for me, but I’m collecting to binge just in case. It’s my new policy with the grey stuff. 

Cafe In Love (Thai) 10 eps on Ch3+ - Thai pulp, about trying to save a coffee shop. Same as above. 

Gossip

Thailand’s famous gay pink milk comes to Oakland, CA, USA. This amuses me greatly. And yes, next time I’m in the area, I’ll probably try to hunt it down.  (What is Pink Milk?) 

Kim Ji Woong is doing fine on Produce 101 5 Boys Planet. I agree with the pundits that he’ll likely make it through. (Yes, I think he’s a better actor than idol, and yes, we will mostly lose him from BL if he goes all in with whatever group results from this.) But does that matter when Peak Time is also airing? No, because Peak Time is MUCH better and more interesting show and it has Karam (Happy Ending Romance) fucking KILLING IT. You all know I love Leo’s voice but clearly VIXX-euphoria distracted me, because I had no idea Karam was such a stable vocalist. He’s insane and it’s fun to watch a 2nd gen fucking SERVE it up (have you ANY idea how hard Mirotic is to do LIVE?). 

In case you missed it 

Viki has acquired the airing rights to Advance Bravely. We can’t expect it to be much altered, but at least it will be legally available, and one hopes the subs will improve.

Viki added The Eighth Sense to their upcoming KBL roster, new one to me. “A university romance about the confusion often felt by college youth regarding life and love.” 

KBL A Shoulder to Cry On AKA Comfort the Boy coming to Viki, March 13. (MUCH anticipated by me, this is a high school set hurt/comfort delayed by OMGEA X scandal.) This will be the first BL to star idols from the same group! Fingers crossed it’s good because this is a group that definitely needs BL’s support. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

02/28 = Tin Tam Jai (Thai Gaga & iQIYI) 10 eps - Adorable Tin has a life-long dream to marry an older boy in his neighborhood, Park. Same production co as Coffee Melody & Ai Long Nhai. I'll likely binge it.

03/01 = The Promise, (Thai WeTV) 10 eps - friends-to-lovers, follow up to a previously aired miniseries Phupha | Nanfah. Because of this and the WeTV platform I likely won’t bother.

03/02 = All the Liquors (Korea Gaga & Viki) 8 eps - Liquor company rep and party boy Han Ji Yu buts heads with hot chef Park Ki Hoon, who doesn't drink.

03/02 = Heesu In Class 2 (Korea unknown prob Viki and/or Gaga) - A gay(er) version of Sex Education. I’m still not sure this one is actually happening. 

03/03 = A Boss and a Babe (Thai YouTube) 12 eps - ForceBook in an office set boss/employee rom-com. 

03/04 = Love Syndrome (Thai unknown prob iQIYI or Gaga) 10 eps - trailer, violent, hot/cold, hurt/comfort, amnesia. (Stars Frank formerly of FrankDrake.)

Full list of upcoming in March 2023 is here. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post. (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

That tentative hand GOT me bad. 

I love it when a character call’s out another character’s main characteristics. Very meta. (Moonlight Chicken.) 

OMG hot cop! 

Make up game ON POINT. 

(Hit Bite Love.) 

SO GOOD. (Bed Friend) 

(last week)

Current Kpop(ish) earworm? SHAUN & Jeff Satur - Steal The Show, you should watch it ALL THE WAY to the end, just trust me. Have I ever led you astray?

No.

Don’t answer that. 

[anulithots]

Because you love storytelling, what are your top 5 fav (fictional) books ever? Do you love live- stage drama? Oh, and do you love fairy tales like Andersen, Grimms, etc? If you are, what are your top 5 fav fairy tales?

As I read your blog, I can tell that you love story telling and story as a whole (sorry if it's kinda weird to say). Love your blog so much 🥰💐

Awww thank you!

I dooo like storytelling, it's my solace and comfort place and how my little neurodivergent self processes the world.

Top 5 favorite fictional books:

The Little Prince. The movie fundamentally shaped my childhood, and the book shapes me now. It's such a beautiful story and I've quoted it... quite a few times 😅

Six of Crows. I looove all the characters, their dynamics, the growth they have and how they fit into the larger world. The way all character dynamics and backstories are explored is soooo well done. It's 'be gays, do crimes' in a book and I love it so much,

The wild robot (is it obvious now I used to read a lot of middle grade and never reaaalllyy got into young adult - I've been reading lots of fanfic - so now I'm trying to find a new genre to like.) It's the sweetest little found family between a robot and a gosling ever.

Sherlock Holmes (not finished yet). I've only read a bit so far. THe main duo of Sherlock Holmes and Watson are so fun to read. Their banter, Sherlock's willingness to do crimes and Watson wanting to go along with it because he finds Sherlock interesting. Sherlock Holmes himself being so adhd core. He accidentally became the best man at a wedding for the people he was trying to spy on. It's peak fiction.

(The BBC show had very good characters and character dynamics, but the mystery was kinda... lackluster to be honest)

Blind Trust by @goodluckclove. Such a comfort read, all the characters and dynamics are thoroughly explored. And everyone deserves hugs and happiness. It feels like reading a slice of life show mixed with the saddest backstories and well done emotional writing and akjsdfkl. It was so fun and comforting to read.

Honorable mentions I'll have to reread: Howl's Moving Castle, The Hunger Games (my tbr list got messed around), Heaven Official's blessing.

TBR list: haikyuu, sherlock holmes, The picture of dorian gray, Six of Crows duology, Heaven Official's blessing, The Hunger Games, Omniscient reader's viewpoint.

ALSO ALSO. If anyone ever has recommendations for books that are commentaries with lots of deep contemplation and explorations of themes of some sorts... the ones that sit with you afterwards and make you look at the world in a new way.... I'm alwayyys open to recommendations.

Do you love live- stage drama?

I've only seen one😅. I don't remember what it was called. One of those classic desi ones. Ended tragically and such. I've never gotten into it, but I think I'd like it if I ever did! Maybe when I have ✨ le independence✨ I'll see some. I'm always open to suggestions in my inbox!

Oh, and do you love fairy tales like Andersen, Grimms, etc? If you are, what are your top 5 fav fairy tales?

I've never read any, but I did have a phase where I was interested in them. I watched and read lots and lots of summaries.

I liked the little mermaid one. The ending tragedy sat with little me for a while. The idea that her sisters cared enough to give her the option of her old life at the expense of the prince, that she loved him so much - even if it was unrequited - that she'd rather sacrifice herself... the moral dilemmaasss klajflkasdf. (Also the queer allegories heheh)

The Rapunzel one also was nice... I've heard lots of versions and such.

Um kajdfk I don't remember everythinggg. But they were dark and I loved how dark they were. Since they were 'fairy tales for children' it's pretty much the first dark thing I was exposed to. I honestly love dark things for that weight they add to stories and my fairy tale phase probably played a major part in that.

Thank you so much for the ask!

[beaconfeels]

Sometimes I wonder if people realize how snobby they sound when they act like people not being able to read into the deeper meanings of shows or books are just being deliberately obtuse or unintelligent. First of all, it’s ableist. Some people literally do not have the IQ to process things that way, and they shouldn’t feel ashamed of whatever way they can and do enjoy their fandom.

Second of all, it feels to me like you’re assuming everyone has had access to the kind of education where you’re taught those things. (And that you had the ability to learn in a traditional class environment) Personally, I had one year of public school, and the rest of my schooling was extremely lackluster. I never had a single class in my life where we read through a book and were taught how to look for symbolism, tropes, or any of the other things that people seem to know about when they’re talking about media. I didn’t go to college either, another thing that’s not terribly uncommon, so the only way I would have learned all that stuff was by studying it by myself.

Now, you might say, ‘That’s how I learned it!” You might be super smart and super motivated because you’re interested in it, but again, it’s kind of ignoring the different ways that people’s brains work, and also their life circumstances. I’m chronically ill, neurodivergent, and have a heck load of trauma. I’ve spent most of my adult life just trying to freaking survive, and when I’m in survival mode, I shut down. I end up only doing the things that are easy for my brain to process in my downtime because I’m so damn tired just trying to get through the basics of adult life.

I’m FINALLY at a place in my life where I have enough safety and time to be able to focus and learn things on my own, and I still end up often using the brain space that I do have to learn things that actually give me a shot at creating a better life for myself, ya know? Skills that I might be able to turn into a way to make money. This is not to say you might not have the exact same circumstances as me and you’ve self-educated yourself about a lot of shit. Good for you. That’s the way your brain lets you do things, and you should feel lucky.

Anyway, just know that viewing intelligence through a single type of lens has its roots in classism, racism, and ableism, and maybe just think about that the next time you’re writing a post about this kind of stuff. Honestly, I LOVE the people who actually talk about the symbolism and other things they catch in TV shows and books etc, because that’s been a really nice way for me to gain a little education about it in a way that’s fun and interesting. There’s a real difference between someone doing a post where they talk through something they loved in their fave show or book and point out all the parallels and color choices and what that means, versus someone basically saying, “I mean DUH. You’d think they haven’t even watched the show. OBVIOUSLY the red balloon represents his hopes for the future.” That kind of energy is not useful.

[genlossneg]

Oh my god I literally cannot convey to you that stumbling on this blog felt like seeing the sunlight again after being trapped underground for months. I thought I was crazy for finding fault with genloss because I have not seen any actual valid criticism anywhere and I thought I was losing my mind for not seeing the glory that is the, ‘next wave of indie horror content’.

Please.

There’s more horror in an average retail store on any given weekend than this entire series has in its three episodes.

Christ I don’t even know where to begin with this thing.

I’m not a film student but I’ve read the other film student anons’ posts and they are so incredibly right. There is so much about the series that felt hastily thrown together and I also loathe the phrase ‘intentionally bad’ when it’s something that’s been hyped up for as long as it has and yet, fell so incredibly flat. I have never been more bored, irritated, and confused watching a piece of media before, and have continued to feel this way as I watch diehard fans of Ranboo tout how great of a series it is?

Hey, Boobers- cmere, let me tell you a secret, genloss ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

It’s a lukewarm, lackluster production at best, and if I didn’t know going in that this was supposed to be Ranboo’s passion project, it literally feels like a school assignment he had only the bare interest in putting together. God this thing has no soul. It has no spark. And it hurts so much to know that this is what this great incredibly hyped-up project became, because from how they talked about it, it's obvious Ranboo loves this thing, and I wanted to love it too.

But it ain’t good. And someone should’ve told him long before now it needs massive edits, and I get it, getting hard criticism is painful and isn't fun, but if it makes your end product better, your piece of entertainment content more enjoyable for the consumer, then you gotta listen and bare it.

I’m an author and I know they do it because they love me, but whenever my editors are like ‘ayo this shit is whack wtf you talking about’ it does hurt my pride but!!!! But!!!!!!!! I go back and take a harder look at that section and sometimes I stand by what I wrote, but other times I now see what was wrong with it and make the edits. Sometimes entire concepts have to get cut to trim down the story and make it more cohesive and that also sucks, but you just tuck those ideas away for later or another project, and tbh I do not feel like anyone did this with the genloss concept.

This entire story feels like it is stapled together and there is literally no through line!! It is a random bag of ideas mashed together to form what I imagine an AI would generate if you typed in ‘mall, horror, evil cooperation’. Fuck it hurts. It hurts so much to be someone that is so passionate about storytelling and writing to see genloss get the attention it has, and for Ranboo to be praised for their ‘excellent writing skills’.

I do understand this was probably their second real attempt at writing a story for public consumption (first being his character’s arc in the dsmp), and like, nothing anyone writes on their second attempt to tell a story is gonna be great. Mine wasn’t, no writer’s is, and that’s okay I really genuinely get that, my problem is how the production was hyped up, how the budget was apparently blown on so much wasteful crap, and then how no one with experience telling stories took a look at his concept before production began.

It makes me sick to know that box cost 18k. Do you know what I, and many other small creators, could do with that kinda money?

This was a few weeks ago? Maybe last week? But Ranboo said over here on the tumbles that they were thinking about genloss in written form, IE a book, and I think I literally blacked out I got so angry. I am also writing a book (hahahaha hi it is not easy!) and I honestly don’t think it's half bad, but I have still been fighting tooth and nail to get eyes on it and nothing makes me angrier than knowing Ranboo could slap some half-baked shit into a word doc, get whatever kind of fancy printing they wanted, and sell more copies than I likely ever will.

I don’t wish anything ill on the dude, he seems like a nice person and I hope he succeeds, but jesus christ, someone needs to be real with them on their writing and story construction. TBH I think a large part of the problem is how rabid his fanbase is, so any kind of criticism gets buried under threats and just, people blowing smoke up his ass, and that is not helpful to him as a creator!! Dude wants to grow and improve, stop telling them genloss is the best thing since sliced bread!!

Let him get his feelings hurt over this, let them take that and make it their drive, let him know he can do better.

If you keep settling for mediocrity, you never push yourself to do something great.

But that’s just my two cents. Thank you for letting me word vomit in your inbox, I have been going crazy and I will likely be back <3

-the author anon

this blog is collecting anons representing all the creative aspects of gen loss like pokemon. first film student anon. now author anon.

but in all seriousness i'm glad this blog is a breath of fresh air for you <3 you're right! my first couple attempts at writing (mostly fanfiction, some original) i am very glad they do not exist online. part of writing well is being kind of really bad at it for a bit. ive taken a writing class (in college) and the entire foundation of that class was "we will write and then your classmates will give you feedback" and it made a lot of my work so much better. feedback is like. how you get good and i feel like you're right, the fanbase does drown a lot of that out (hence me making a dedicated blog!)

i hadn't heard of the gen loss book concept before this but. i can't imagine it would be super great at the current form of gen loss is in. and writing is so much more than "here's the plot" like. establishing a good setting and sense of place and making us actually connect with the protagonist and. author anon that awakened something in me

Let him get his feelings hurt over this, let them take that and make it their drive, let him know he can do better. If you keep settling for mediocrity, you never push yourself to do something great.

anyways. great thoughts! reposting that quote for those in the back :)

[sepyana]

Noir 2001 Ep. 11-18 Thoughs

This is around the time when Noir's plot starts to pick up.

Some general things first:

The sountrack of Noir is really damn good. I wanted to listen to is some more so I searched it up on Youtube. Turns out it's composed by Yuki Kajiura, which is a name I instantly recognized because she is responsible for the soundtrack of Madoka Magica, one of my favourite anime soundtracks ever. Explains the pmmm vibes I got for sure.

I will say though, she did improve between the osts. I like the Noir soundtrack a lot but there are a few janky bits the pmmm ost doesn't struggle with.

I had a lot of fun watching these episodes, the plot is interesting and the more "episodic" segments don't feel jarring to watch. I'm starting to like Kirika and Mireille a lot.

But the biggest reason for my interest is Chloe. I can't explain why, she doesn't get to do much yet. I dunno, she is just really charming to me.

Onto the episode by episode notes:

Ep. 11

This episode sets up the whole grand retour plotline, we see Atlena is planning something that Soldats is not too happy about. Also we get to know more about the book the photocopies are coming from.

I really like Chloe, I like that we get to see a show of her wardrobe only for her to pick the same wack ass outfit every time. Also the fact that she asks Kirika if she can keep the fork. What a weird little critter honestly.

The whole time her and Kirika are talking all Mireille could think is "What the fuck are these kids doing". She ends up giving in in the end.

Ep. 12

This episode is a oddity in that Kirika and Mireille don't appear at all. It's just Chloe and Atlena. It's a nice episode, we get to see a little bit of their dynamic. She does seem to care about her but Chloe might just be a tool for her too. It's a bit early to tell.

She is... I don't wanna say unmotivated but she is uninterested in the missions she is given. She cares about the integrity of it but she isn't interested in why she is given them. She isn't like "How dare you betray our organization bla bla"

Chloe's loyalties lie in Atlena only. She doesn't seem to care about Soldats, but she is interested in the Grand Retour, since the plan involves her.

Ep. 13

I wrote my thoughts in a seperate post like this:

I expected the painter to be one of Noir's targets or something because that's what happens with anyone who Kirika interacts positively with, thus why Mireille told her not to talk to him. But when he got shot I realized it was so he wouldn't get caught up in their mess and die. It's genuinely sad, you can tell at the end she is saying that from experience. Kirika was really happy to spend time with him, her face lights up. Something like picking up hobbies and making friends would mean a lot, especially to someone who doesn't have any idea who they are. Really nice episode overall

It was always present but after this episode you become on edge every time Mireille or Kirika i teract with a friend, expecting them to die. It does happen with George later on.

Ep. 14

There is some nice writing in this episode. Mireille denies her uncle could lie to her only for her to lie to him after. If she has things she would keep a secret surely her uncle must too.

There is definitely symbolism with the flowers but I am not smart enough to figure it out.

Ep. 15-16

Wild to me that Mireille and Kirika actually listened to Soldats. What if they hijack tour plane on your way to Vietnam or something? I don't think it's worth the risk.

The combat in this show is really lackluster. Maybe I am just not getting it. The henchmen are a joke, beating them is not fun to watch for me. And it drags on for so long too. I do like the shorter action sequences though.

It's funny that they say the poison the killer lady uses is "lethal to normal humans" and do not elaborate on that. Is she not human. What does this mean.

These episodes make me think Atlena does care for Chloe and isn't just putting on an act. Otherwise it makes no sense she would be fond of her in her inner dialogue and watch over her. She won't see that so why bother acting?

Ep. 17

The reveal that Mireille's parents were killed by Soldats was not surprising but I wasn't expexting them to be part of Soldats. We get to learn a lot about Mireille and Kirika's past but I don't have anything particularly interesting to say so I will skip that.

Apparently, her parents betrayed Soldats to protect her. But she had a brother didn't she, who got killed with her parents. Does that mean there is something special about Mireille?

Ep. 18

In every story with a duo protagonist there comes a time where the duo "breaks up". I wouldn't call this an arc since it's the span of an episode but yknow.

Losing my shit at crying Kirika she looks so much like the crying cat image here. How can you be so horrible to a face like that Mireille.

I get the sense Chloe doesn't give two shits about Mireille and only decided to tell Kirika about her because her dying would make Kirika upset. In a similar way to how Homura treats Sayaka, I guess. And she is right that it would make her upset. She is dependent on Mireille since she is the only person she actually knows. And I don't think Mireille realises that until the end.

The end of the episode was really cute. I am really starting to get attached to these two.

And that's the end! I decided to do a little sketch of Chloe at the end here for those who read this whole thing

There is a significant lack of Noir content and I want to change that so I might post some art on my art blog (^o^)v

[storm-driver]

if i may ask. thoughts on the trollhunters movie

how did they do voltron a second time

under the cut for spoiler discussion

I don't think it's the worst "finale" we could've gotten, but it's verily lackluster, considering how great the ending for og Trollhunters was.

I think the worst part is arguably the 'Unbecoming' part during the last 10 minutes, especially since Jim had finally gotten his amulet back and was REALLY ready to throw down again, just like the good old days.

The original series already showed us that Jim not being the Trollhunter wasn't destiny, so it sorta feels like a kick in the teeth for Jim to casually pass it on to Toby. I would want to think the implication is that Jim is going to bear the burden of knowing there was a worse outcome in the other timeline. But that still feels just as bad.

The idea is that the ENTIRE journey we all just went on was null and void. Did it happen? Yes, because Jim remembers by the end and he's going to use that knowledge to make this second shot better. But it feels so cheap at the end of the day.

It was like they wanted to write a little more tragedy into the show, but knew that they needed to give it a big send-off that would leave fans with some decent closure. Unfortunately, the closure comes in the form of having to accept that the massive journey you just went on has been forgotten.

Now, if this had branched into some mega version of "Unbecoming," where Jim has to face the consequences of his actions, I don't think that'd be a bad idea. But it ain't where the series ended, and thus, I don't like to consider the movie when I think about the series as a whole.

Besides the ending, I don't think the whole movie was bad. I thought the opening sequence with tryna get Nari to safety was cool and beautifully animated. There were a few scenes throughout the whole movie that I thought were fuckin dope, like the scene where Jim gets the amulet back while he's gonna fight Belroc. That whole sequence was very hype and it honestly felt earned.

The animation quality for the movie as a whole is immaculate. Nothing looks out of place as far as the original series goes, it just looks like they got a higher budget for the movie and told the animation team to go nuts. Again, it's gorgeous and I'm glad I watched it for the animation alone.

I have always had my faves and dislikes in the voice cast of ToA. Unfortunately, I still haven't gotten past the loss of Anton Yelchin for Jim. His new VA does a splendid job in his memory, but part of why I loved Jim so much in the original series was that passion from the late Anton. Of course, that's nothing that can be fixed. I have no issue with Jim's voice as it is, I just mourn what we've lost. Everyone else in the main cast does a great job, and I have a soft spot for Douxie especially. He was a beautiful addition to the franchise as a whole.

Besides that, I wouldn't want to rag on the movie fulltime besides saying the Steve and Aja sideplot was someone's disguised fetish, so I'm not commenting on that at all. I also thought Aja and Krel's presence in the movie was very weak, considering how fun a sideseries 3Below had been. The Varvatos mech was cool, even if it was just another Pacific Rim. Wish they'd been in the movie more as leading protags.

I'll write down one last thing: I thought the ending of Wizards ended kinda weak, considering how long it'd been since we saw Troll-Jim, and I personally would've loved to see more of that version of him before it got swept away in plot resolution. So not getting to see that side of him for the movie felt like a semi-loss. I don't mind that he got saved. Just that it was too soon and we could've seen more of that troll-ish side like we saw in the original series.

Overall opinion? Very poor quality close to the whole franchise. Not a terrible movie as a standalone. Good animation, bad writing choices. I don't personally think of it as canon, or accept it as a proper ending.

I can't think of much else to say, but if you wanted my opinion on anything I didn't say here, totally okay to respond or reblog with further discussion! The series as a whole means a lot to me and I enjoy talking about it, even if we do a little nitpicking.

[theangelicpyro]

Sorry to come in here but since I love dub directions, as a hypothetical question, who was your dream cast for each? I just love thinking of all the possibilities and scenarios of HOPEFULLY which company can sponsor in the future the whole 200

omg hi anon! i'm going to mostly skip the characters that i liked the official dub voices of if that's alright, and list out the ones i haven't heard in the previews yet or don't remember ^^ also sorry if the explanations are lackluster, i've been looking up so many videos to see ranges of va's i'm writing down and spent hours trying to decide! let me know if you want more characters, and which ones in particular if you do

reborn: i actually don't mind veronica taylor's take on him too much, but something about it just sounds off to me idk, but i can't think of another va except for christina vee to pull off reborn

tsuna: erica mendez's nagisa shingestu from udg would be a great voice for tsuna

yamamoto: johnny yong bosch, i've seen people put him as mukuro which honestly i think would be great too, but takeshi's vibe fits more in my mind

gokudera: eric vale with his voice for sanji one piece, he sounds enough like a nerd and still be angry

ryohei: kaiji tang, there's not a specific voice to pinpoint but i believe he could do a very energetic but still slightly older sounding big brother

hibari: might be a strange pick but cody christian's cloud strife, kyoya has a very smooth voice and i can definitely imagine hearing an "i'll bite you to death"

mukuro: robbie daymond, his range with goro akechi alone (though that vocal performance is extremely impressive) is so fitting for mukuro

chrome: valeria rodriguez using her voice of sucrose from genshin OR suzie yeung's fuuka from persona 3 reload

bianchi: allegra clark, specifically her performance as boss from ai the somnium files

haru: monica rial, watch ouran's dub renge is literally her

dino: max mittelman with his voice as atsushi from bsd, with a hint of ryuji from persona 5

byakuran: daman mills' lyney from genshin but more sinister would fit marshmallow man so well

this was really fun to do actually, thank you for the ask!

[gojonanami]

Dearest Sab,

I can't even find the words to express how much I have enjoyed reading chapter six and this series as a whole.

For me, this series holds such a special place. I have had so much fun watching its inception, reading each part, thinking about it, and I am so happy that it concluded on such a wonderful note. I think I will look on this time fondly – I have truly had such a fun time reading your work, engaging with your page and watching this story grow.

As for this chapter, I truly really enjoyed it. It's so good. I loved the way you chronicled their journey. I am so amazed – you're honestly such a fantastic writer. The dialogue literally made me cry.

I think the lines said by Suguru were some of the most romantic lines I've read. I was literally, physically moved as I read them. They're just so potent. You can literally feel his love through the screen.

This chapter was so enchanting that I just can't find enough words to chronicle it. It's such a beautiful stories that I can wax on and on and write pages on your story. I just know that I can write a 5000 word response to this series – the length of a short dissertation.

I am still reeling from the scenes. They're replaying in my head. From the beginning scene, to the scenes with Yuta, to Suguru's dream, the ice cream date, the presentation, the reconciliation...

And, oh my gosh, Yaga knowing? Ah, of course he'd know! And it ended up being so sweet...

And the scene in Suguru's office? His passion, want and love? It was so romantic, I literally had to pause and stare up at the ceiling because I was feeling myself getting heart eyes. It's so good.

And the end too?? The poodle?? And getting a new place? How sweet?

(Also, you set up Yuta's part so nicely. Looking at his future? What a cool way of doing it!!!)

This is such a beautiful series. I love it so much. I love Professor Geto so, so much. He's so, so cute.

Thank you so, so much for producing this gift <3

I know you've written before about worrying about writing long stories, but honestly, I have enjoyed them so much. I loved reading each part – they read so well & they flowed so well.

I'd like to acknowledge how much work you've put into this series. I respect you so much and admire you so, so, so much for writing so much and so well and so cleanly.

Thank you for writing this series which holds such a special place in my heart. It is truly a gem. A beautiful, beautiful gem.

Dearest anon,

this is so sweet — I can’t find the right words to reply to this 😭💕the series holds such a special place in my heart too and the fact so many of you resonated with it means the world to me. the engagement and love you all had for this series was the thing that kept me going and kept me inspired so thank you really 💕😭

I’m so glad 💕 I’m sorry it made you cry but also thank you 🫶🥹😭 it’s one of the highest compliments a writer can receive 🫶 it means so much to me that you especially enjoyed this part since it is the conclusion to the series and I’ve seen so many of my favs ruined by a lackluster ending which is why I went about this s particular way and way it took me two weeks to write it (even though I’m on break between jobs at the moment).

that is so sweet and if anyone wrote an essay about my fic I think I would sob because this ask is already enough to make me cry haha. I’m so glad the scenes were memorable — I was worried it wasn’t cohesive enough and truly tried to make sure it was.

Yaga wasn’t supposed to know but as I wrote it, I thought it would be perfect for him to know 😭 and to help them find each other again.

after how much happened in that goddamn office with me toying with all of you, I had to let them do it at least once hahaha.

ahhhh I’m glad you liked the ending — I had that last scene in mind from before I started part five — I only knew I was going to reference the first scene of part one. the rest came as I wrote it. and the set up for yuta came after since I added it in since I nearly forgot to add it in there.

thank you so much for reading and for your lovely words — I can’t tell you how much they mean to me. I do worry about it haha -/ it seems like the stories that are popular are just smut — and I like including smut but I also love writing complex human relationships (not bashing pnp in any way because smut is so freaking difficult to write) and so my fics are long — and obviously that’s not for everyone. It makes me happy that it flowed well 😭😭😭 I always worry about that!!

thank you so much for reading and for being here and for your incredibly kind words — there’s no words I can find to thank you for being here and sending this my way. 🥹💕 I hope you’re here for the other stories I wrote 🫶

[nogooddeetz]

i’ve been in a starkid mood so: here’s my personal ranking of the team starkid shows so far before i see nerdy prudes must die, because… why not? (my criteria depends on things like writing just as much as it depends on arbitrary things like what random character/song i imprinted on as a teen.)

anyway here is the list:

1. a very potter musical (it just can’t get better than this - even in today’s climate as they truly made a crackhead out of every one of joanne’s characters and plots and since she had nothing to do with the actual production so… fuck her)

2. the guy who didn’t like musicals (this one is, in my opinion, maybe the strongest show writing-wise they’ve done so far)

3. starship (this one was my absolute favorite when i was a teenager and it still has a special place in my heart - i love a good sci-fi trope plus taz as a character and a couple of the songs just hit so right for me)

4. the trail to oregon (i’m not even sure why but this one just works so well for me; 6 cast members, minimal set, nuclear family at the center of it and it’s just… so fucking funny)

5. a very potter sequel (nothing can quite reach the level of hilarity of the first avpm but this one is not all that far off)

6. firebringer (this has, in my opinion, some of the funniest writing; every one liner seems to hit right and that deserves props from me - plus several of the songs are good even out of context)

7. a very potter senior year (out of the trilogy it’s the most lackluster, which makes sense given the changes in things like cast and venue, but it still has that avpm energy that’s just delightful)

8. black friday (this one again definitely shows how far they’ve come with story-writing, but i just wasn’t as invested in the characters or taken by the songs in this one, with the very important exception of the song black friday! that one i think is one of the best songs they’ve ever written)

9. twisted (i enjoy this one as a whole, as a huge fan of wicked it speaks to me and is funny, i just once again wasn’t as invested in the characters or taken by the songs so it tends to fade into the background compared to some of the other shows on the list; i do want to say dylan saunders performs the shit out of ja’far though)

10. holy musical b@man! (this one is just generally hilarious; the whole vibe of the show is just ridiculous and it’s a fun, light watch with a few banger songs, though i didn’t get that much out of most of the characters - i did almost put it at #9 because of the songs and joe walker’s batman though)

11. me and my dick (i’ve only seen this one once and as it was the one to follow avpm, i think i was just kind of bored in comparison - there were definitely funny moments, but i can’t remember a single song if i’m honest)

12 ani: a parody (again, i’ve only seen this one once and i honestly don’t remember much, but the fact that i haven’t felt the need to rewatch it tells me enough - i think i was a little bored throughout watching it the first time)

(really the only ones i don’t rewatch consistently are the last two, so i like all the other 10 shows a lot and numbers 8-10 could really easily be shuffled around between their spots on the list)

what do you guys think? do you agree (are also correct)? did i piss you off severely? let’s discuss!

[luveline]

honestly, ive just been trying to catch up on my tbr and its been super backlogged so not all of them are what i usually read. i liked most of what i’ve read but they’re honestly not anything i’d write home about 😭 i did finally get to read the ballad of songbirds and snakes which i’d been dying to read because i was obsessed with the hunger games trilogy in my preteens lol. i thoroughly enjoyed it so that made up for some of the lackluster reads recently!

a head full of ghosts sounds extremely interesting and you’ve just gotten it added to my tbr lol

i’m the opposite of you, in that i find it a lot easier to read than to watch tv when i get like this. what have you been watching?

This year my TBR is maybe 30 books long and I've not made a dent <\3 I don't know why, I think I find it difficult to stay immersed in things lately! It's likely I've been doing too much writing (even though compared to myself it's not much more than usual) and i can't let myself relax!!

I really loved the hunger games too but I haven't read that one yet, I can't decide on watching the movie or reading the book first! I've heard both good and awful things about a head full of ghosts but it was written by the author of cabin at the end of the world which was then made into the movie knock at the cabin and I liked that so hopefully it' good!

I've been watching a bunch of stuff I've already seen before but I started only murders in the building, I thought the first season was fun but I'm on the second season now and it's not as fun, but I think I'll finish it anyways! Also rewatching movies over and over like blade runner 2049, interstellar, nice guys. I did watch one if never seen before last night called isle of dogs but I don't don't I payed enough attention to it to understand it

[shadowetienne]

I was able to watch most of Skate Canada this weekend (yay for being in the same time zone and not having much to do Friday/Saturday, didn't catch the Pairs SP and about half of the Men's SP). Overall thoughts below the cut:

Women's Event

Thrilled with this podium! Some great skating, some very early season skating, some I can tell you are coming back from injury skating, but overall, enjoyable skating. I wasn't baffled by any of the scoring, and it felt like a pretty fair event overall.

Very happy with the podium!

Rino's bronze was a lovely surprise, and her skating was so wonderful this event.

Chaeyeon did very very well with a silver for her first full senior season and first senior GP event. I'm a little worried for her going up to seniors this young, but so far, she's handling herself well and seems to have good support.

Kaori is of course phenomenal, and this was such a wonderful early season skate for her!

Ice Dance

Oh how I hate Ice Dance scoring. I understand it OK, but Wang/Liu are one of my favorite teams, and it's frustrating to see them scored as always quite low in comparison. I was happy to watch them as always, and I'm looking forward to see these programs develop. (To be clear, I don't think that they were wrong to be in the lower ranks with what they skated here, I just don't think that they deserved to be nearly 10 points below the next lowest team.)

There weren't that many teams that I enjoyed, but other than Wang/Liu (of course), I did like:

Brown/Brown - I have a soft spot for sibling teams, and their skating is fun and well matched, liked both programs about the same and am interested in seeing how they develop

Reed/Ambrulevicius - They did very very well! Happy for them for that medal, and their programs were interesting (I think that I like their RD better than their FD)

Fear/Gibson - I always enjoy watching them, they always bring a performance, and I'm really pleased to see how much they've improved technically over the years

I'm just going to sigh over Ice Dance some, and hope that I enjoy some of the other events in the season more.

Pairs

Honestly, this pairs event felt a little lackluster overall. Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps did wonderfully, but there wasn't much else that stood out to me. Maybe something else would have stood out if I'd caught the SP. Is there anything I should seek out to watch?

Men

Missed part of the Men's SP, but man did the men men about it. Messy set of programs, but uniformly enough messy that the results weren't super surprising to me. I'm getting to watch the whole FS (as I write this in between programs), I'll make note of programs that I care about or stand out to me!

Matteo is as always a brilliant performer. The jumps have been fighting him, but knowing he's coming off an injury, I'm not super surprised about it. It was good to see him happy about his FS, even with the late program jumping errors. I hope this is going towards even better executions of programs later in the season. He had a rough time with underrotations in the SP, which put him in a hole for scores for the SP. Good to see him pull it back together for the FS!

Wesley is still very juniorish, and man those falls were dramatic (glad they didn't seem to rattle him much), but there were some moments of brilliance in that, and he was having so much fun! I hope to see him develop on those moments, and have fewer falls in future.

Mikhail Shaidorov has stuck with his Carmina Burana program from last season, and I'm not mad about it. There was definitely still room to grow into the program as he grows into seniors, and he's definitely showing growth in this program! I'm proud of him for that composed and well executed program, I really enjoy the way he does his transitions, and his jumps were comfortable to watch (a nice change of pace). Needs to work on his speed a little still, but he's definitely developing it. Good to see his end of season last year was not a fluke, and he's definitely here to make a mark. Rooting for him!

Kao Miura - lost my stream for the start of his program, came back right on his fall on the 3A. He pulled it back together pretty well. Not sure how I feel about this program as a whole, but it seems to be working pretty well for him so far. The 3A fall seems to have been a one off problem in the program, the rest of the jumps were brilliant. He didn't draw me into this program like he has some others, but I'm proud of him for skating it well, and missing the start of the program I'm sure didn't help on that front for me.

Kazuki Tomono - Shaky start with the big jumps, but the rest of the program was brilliant. I think that I'll like this program a lot if he can nail those initial jumping passes. It's got a lot of potential as a vehicle for him though. That was rough on the scoring for him, but he did a good job.

Junhwan, rough rough falls to start with, and they just seem to have taken the jumps out from under him, especially the big ones and the combos. His skating quality is as always brilliant, but this was a rough skate. Ina Bauer is beautiful as always, but this was a rough day. I feel bad for him, and I'm hoping to see that go better for him later in the season.

Sota Yamamoto - he gave me a little fright on the 3A struggles, but the rest of the program was absolutely brilliant, and I am so proud of him! What a pair of skates together! I love his skating so much, and after everything he's gone through with injuries in his career, seeing him at this level, doing so so well, is really really wonderful. His first Grand Prix title! I'm so proud of him!

Oh man did the men men. I'm OK with who is on the podium, but I feel so bad for Junhwan especially and also Kazuki.

[owlixx]

What I Played This Summer

So, I kind of forgot that I had been doing something worth jotting down, so this is going to cover the entire last month of what I’ve been doing in video games.

- I’ve been trying to even remember what I’ve been playing since I beat the whole Kirby series back in January.

[That was very fun. Has also been fun playing Forgotten Land with gf more recently]

- For sure I tried to do Wario Land next but got burnt out on Wario Land 3 being longer than expected.

[Even just a bit of WL4 has been great. Looking forward to wario world because I played it as a kid. And Shake It as well. Might do all the wariowares too when I get there]

- I got a PS3 and a GBA since then.

[Spent a lot of time just farting around and fiddling with these guys, booting up random games]

- Basically, I had just beaten Minish Cap when Tears of the Kingdom came out, and then I had kind of been between games ever since beating Tears of the Kingdom.

[I did really enjoy Minish Cap despite having to use a guide sometimes and cheating fully on the final boss. Also of course really enjoyed TOTK even if I have some nitpicks like the dungeon cutscenes, lackluster sky islands, the rupee economy, weird control scheme, etc]

- I played Bulletstorm, War For Cybertron, probably some Call of Duty, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

[always wanted to play Bulletstorm as a kid and I think the writing decently holds up aside from the odd R word here and there. WFC I loved as a kid but now seems hilariously grey and gritty. FFTA is honestly really cool but missing some QoL stuff I’m used to in modern SRPG so I had thought of starting FFTA2 and I did, but only to the second turn lol.]

- I beat Sonic Frontiers.

[Its…fine. As a massive sonic fan, I’m not keen to ever replay this one but I did really enjoy the tone of the story, the writing, and my first few hours in the open world. I really hated the cyberspace levels, the mandatory minigames, and the monotony of it all. The boss fight music is easily the best part]

- I played a bit of Redfall as a joke, for like a week.

[Its just worse borderlands, and I’m pretty critical of borderlands even as a committed fan of it.]

- I had a friend over for a week and we beat Lollipop Chainsaw.

[Brilliant game. Tried to transition to playing the similar\adjacent Bayonetta but the writing in LC is too good]

- Twice I purchased around ten (each time) Vampire Survivors-inspired games and played them each at least a little before fizzling out.

[I think my most played was Rogue Genesia until the content well ran out. I did also enjoy Halls of Torment and Brotato]

- I bought a physical copy of Watch Dogs Legion for five bucks.

[There’s nothing…wrong with it, per se, it’s just less than the sum of its parts and I had a hard time feeling motivated to keep playing. I didn’t enjoy the profession system being tied to random collectibles. I did enjoy the base gameplay and the Legion concept, but it just made me want to play…]

- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. And that’s something I want to talk about more in depth in my next post.

[thebrutalballadoffangusklot]

If you are going to watch/read Black Clover i would reaaaaaaally recommend the manga over the anime. The anime suffers from lots of lackluster animation even compared to other shonen. However overall BC is a fun brainless shonen and honestly while its kind of mid in the shonen way it has fun moments and the writing quality is surprisingly consistent

Ok but does it have cute girls