#it’s fun and I like to make him more than just the big standard asshole

[metalljellyphish]

Sketched a quick concept for Eric/Irene for the vampire AU cause Marjorine need a friend to talk J Fashion with and Bad Irene gyaru enthusiast gives me life.

Now is he a hunter moonlighting as a drag performer, or a drag queen who does some monster hunting on the side 😉

[pxningfo0l]

It's a reoccurring pattern with Steve, getting come out to and then instantly shitting on the person's taste in people.

Robin comes out to him and tells him she liked Tammy 'The Muppet' Thompson and Steve immediately jumps onto making fun of her because obviously, he will. She sounds like a goddamn muppet! Robin may deny it, but he knows she knows he's right. And he never lets her forget it.

After the Byers family moves back to Hawkins, Steve gets closer to the Byer-Hopper twins (Not blood related twins, but with how similar they are they might as well be). He takes note of the way Will carries himself, the way he stares at Micheal Asshole Wheeler of all people when he thinks no one is looking.

The kid doesn't come out that quickly, so with Robin's advice, Steve takes his time, making it known how okay he was with Will's sexuality, even if he did have standards low enough to beat Robin's terrible Tammy Thompson taste (He says this to her and she reacts as predictably as ever- by throwing something at him).

When Will does come out to him, Steve makes sure he only freezes for a literal second, not wanting the kid to panic like he'd seen Robin do back then. Of course, as soon as he's done comforting and reassuring the kid that he's completely fine with him being gay, he immediately jumps onto making fun of his terrible crush on Mike, finding great joy in the bright blush burning the teen's face.

The next time someone comes out to him, he's more caught off guard than he was with Robin.

Not because he was shocked that Eddie liked guys, no. He might be stereotyping a little, but no straight guy goes that close to another man and calls him Big Boy all low and seductively, a teasing grin curling his lips, a glint in his eyes-

You get the point.

The reason why he's shocked is because Eddie comes out to him, and when Steve asks about crushes, Eddie says,

"Oh, I had the worst crush on you in high school."

Steve sits there, his jaw practically on the ground. The way Eddie says it, all casual, not caring about the consequences or the effect it has on Steve.

"Wh- I- Me?" He stammered out, incredulous. "Dude, I was the biggest asshole back then!"

Eddie chuckles at that, a low sound that sends further heat into Steve's already flushed body. "The me back then did not give a shit, let me tell you that man." He turns to Steve then, giving him a slow look, a gaze more like, and smirks. "I certainly understood why the ladies were so desperate for you and your gorgeous locks."

His heart is pounding like crazy, an audible thump in his ears. Thoughts race in his head, one after the other, all jumbled up until what comes out of Steve's mouth next is,

"So what, you've got a thing for douchebags? Seriously?"

Eddie shoots him another look, more confused than ever. "What?"

"You heard me," Steve says, feeling the next words come out of his mouth like a waterfall. "I was a huge asshole in high school dude. How the hell did you have a crush on me back then? Did you seriously have no standards? You'd really stoop that low just because I had nice hair? I have good hair, and I'm nice now! What's stopping you from-"

Steve cuts himself off with an audible clack of his teeth, a sound that most often comes from Robin when she shuts herself up.

Goddamnit Robin.

Eddie is staring at him with wide eyes, the cigarette between his fingers burning away. Steve wants to watch the smoke curl away, but he's too transfixed on Eddie's doe-like gaze.

Then Eddie's features smooth over, a terrible, terrible grin curling its way onto his lips, deepening that dimple on his cheeks. He leans forward eyes lidded just slightly, and says,

"What's stopping me from what, sweetheart?"

[blackenedsnow]

Haaaiii can I ask you to write headcanons about Postal Dudes dating chubby Reader??🥺👉👈

totally not a self projection I swear...

postal dudes with a chubby s/o; headcanons

WARNING: None

PAIRING: Postal (1) Dude x Reader, Postal (2) Dude x Reader, Postal (3) Dude x Reader, Postal (4) Dude x Reader, Postal (BD) Dude x Reader, Postal (Movie) Dude x Reader

NOTE: Thank you so much for the request! I hope you enjoyed these headcanons. My bsf wanted to help with this one as she is chubby as well! (she wrote most of these)

P1 DUDE

You won’t hear many compliments from him, but he’s definitely protective.

P1 is quiet, constantly sizing up the world with distrust, and you can bet he’s sizing up anyone who even looks at you sideways.

He doesn’t care about physical appearance; someone’s body type is the least of his concerns.

What matters is that you’re still here with him.

You catch him staring at you sometimes.

It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking, but there’s a strange softness in his eyes when he does.

If you’re ever insecure about your body, his reaction is blunt and to the point:

“You’re here. You’re alive. You're perfect. That’s all that matters.”

It’s not a sugar-coated answer, but it’s honest.

He doesn’t express affection with words, but in actions.

If someone says something about your size, they’re probably not going to make it through the day.

P2 DUDE

P2 is pretty laid-back about most things, including your body type.

He’s seen everything from people exploding to Gary Coleman running wild, so a chubby partner?

No big deal.

In fact, he kind of likes it.

He’s not the type to make a huge deal out of compliments, but he’ll throw in a casual,

“You’re looking good today,” or “Damn, you’re hot.”

He’s genuine guys

He’ll crack jokes about anything, including your size, but it’s always playful and never mean-spirited.

If anyone else tries it, though? Yeah, they’re getting a shovel to the face.

He’s also not opposed to being the one who makes sure you feel good about yourself.

If you’re ever feeling down, he’ll throw some crude humor into the mix to cheer you up:

“Don’t listen to anyone else. They’re all idiots anyway. You’re sexy as hell.”

P3 DUDE

P3 is kind of a mess

But even in all his dysfunction, he appreciates that you’re there with him, and your body type is just another thing he enjoys about you.

He’s more of a wreck than the other versions, so he tends to be clingier.

Loves when you hold him, your softness making him feel like things are going to be okay.

He’s a lot more verbal about liking your body, but it’s mixed in with his awkward, over-the-top compliments:

“You’re perfect! And I don’t care what those assholes say! They can… choke on it!”

If anyone insults you, his reaction is unpredictable.

He might try to defend you and end up hurting himself in the process, or he might have a sudden outburst of violence, completely losing it.

Either way, he hates anyone making you feel bad.

P4 DUDE

P4 is laid-back and full of even stupider humor.

He doesn’t really care what you look like as long as you’re with him.

He’ll definitely make jokes about your size, but it’s all in good fun.

He’s not super vocal about his emotions, but when you’re alone, he’ll say something like,

“You know I wouldn’t trade you for anyone else, right?”

He just wants you to know he loves you.

No matter what.

He doesn’t mind that you’re chubby—in fact, he likes it.

He’s been through too much to care about societal standards.

If you ever feel insecure, he’ll just shrug.

“Eh, screw ‘em. You’re awesome the way you are. Now, let’s blow something up.”

BD DUDE

Chaotic energy through and through, but surprisingly sweet in his own insane way.

He’s all over the place, but your body type is something he finds absolutely fantastic.

“More to love!”

He’d say, grinning like a maniac.

Super protective of you, especially if someone makes a comment about your size.

He’ll go from laughing and cracking jokes to a full-on rampage if anyone makes you feel bad.

Loves cuddling up with you after a long day of bullshit.

It’s the only time he’ll calm down, nestling into you and just enjoying the warmth and comfort.

He’s definitely the type to enjoy your softness after all the stupid bullshit he goes through everyday.

MOVIE DUDE

Movie Dude is a bit of a regular guy caught up in ridiculous, over-the-top situations.

He’s not violent for the sake of it, more like an average guy who’s just trying to get through the day in a world that’s gone crazy.

Why would he care about you being chubby?

He’s definitely laid-back when it comes to your body type.

To him, it’s not a big deal at all—he’s more concerned about surviving tomorrow.

You’ll catch him giving you silly compliments like,

“Hey, you’re my favorite person to have around when the world’s on fire. Plus, you’re cute.”

It’s playful, never mean-spirited, and always said with a grin.

He’s big on humor as a way to deal with life’s madness, so he’ll throw in light-hearted jokes about your size, but they’re always sweet.

“You know, if we ever have to run from the apocalypse, I’m hitching a ride on your back.”

If anyone makes a snide comment about your weight, Movie Dude’s reaction is more like an eye-roll and sarcastic retort.

“Oh, cool, another jerk with a mouth. Got anything new, or are you stuck in 7th grade?”

[chronic-shinposter]

I'm not sure about all of this, but can you give me a hint? The kaioshins dress very tightly and modestly because going out without clothes is considered sinful???? Was there such a thing in canon, or did fans make up a similar thing that kaioshin are like holy gods terrified of debauchery?

Warning: I go on a big ass essay that strays from your main question and of course everything listed here is opinions but with some anime/manga references to back up my thoughts. As a response to my coatless Shin post, that was just me being silly LOL. However this totally gives me an opportunity to talk about characters and I am all about that shit

A summary of my essay though: there is a moral code implied, but there's nothing specifically stated, and it's not so specific that it's about clothes and perviness and stuff. Every Supreme Kai (in canon) has a different idea of how to honor their position and their personal morals can be inspired by their duty but it doesn't mean they are one to one. Everything else is up in the air and are just personal conclusions (like, Supreme Kais all dress a specific way so it's totally possible this is a requirement, but there is nothing in canon about this) How someone treats the Supreme Kai role depends on the person though; some are way more relaxed and others are very uptight. Interestingly, sin IS mentioned in at least one of the English translations of the manga. (right to left)

Much like religion IRL though there are people who will use these codes and behaviors, meant to spread goodness and honor, to be toxic assholes. I actually kind of hate the general description of Supreme Kais in the DB wiki honestly because it goes with the assumption that every Supreme Kai (and adjacent role) is a good person when I don't think that's really true, it's just that all of them have similar jobs and their culture encourages politeness. Quite frankly, most of them kind of have a pole jammed up their ass and look down on others all too frequently (which like, they're gods, but in the context of the series they are SO UPPITY HOLY SHIT). Let's look at Gowasu, Elder Kai, Zamasu, and of course Shin. I think they're a good spectrum of the behavioral code in my opinion

Gowasu

Gowasu is one of the oldest acting Supreme Kais in the current canon. He is very polite and proper, good-natured, but has relaxed a lot over time and also just wants to have fun (bro wants to be a Godtuber in his retirement). I think because of his introduction, we kind of see that the standard for Supreme Kais is that they are mellow, like drinking tea, and tend to look at the little things. They very much have normal lives and might even teeter on the more "nothing ever happens" side, but time and peace can introduce them to ignorance just as much as inexperience can, leading Gowasu to make lapses in judgment about who he chooses as his successor.

Gowasu is honestly one of the most grounded Supreme Kais we've been introduced to because he is reflective of his mistakes and even remorseful, receptive to criticism and even questions the foundations of the god hierarchy in Dragon Ball Super. He also doesn't react much when approached casually by mortals, which shows that he doesn't believe himself to be above others even though, cosmically, he is. He is also, like, the only Supreme Kai we see actively get along with Shin as an equal even though age and experience lends him to be the "superior" one

Overall, Gowasu is experienced and looks at the good side of everything, but he is also casual and likes to be goofy. He very much understands that life is important but what use is that if you don't get to be a silly goober sometimes?

Elder Kai

Elder Kai is more on the extreme end in which him getting shit done is more like... an exception rather than a rule, he much prefers the lazy lifestyle that being so high on the cosmic ladder offers and he's not really afraid to show it. He is experienced (though we don't know if he was THE Supreme Kai of his time) but he does not give a shit about any moral standards, very much on the extreme end of the "life's about having fun" line

Elder Kai is openly a pervert-- in the original DBZ he says he uses his abilities to watch women from afar, he has nudie mags, eagerly accepts Goku's request when Goku promises him he can grab Bulma's boobs (I think this ended up getting dubbed out later lol). He believes in honoring age, which he shows when berating Shin for their difference in wisdom, but also in taking responsibility to give himself up first after Shin offers his own life to save Goku's.

He is not a bad person and holds respect for what it means to be a Supreme Kai, but he is no stranger to being a creepy fuck. He's a good example in that a Supreme Kai (past or future) does not really have to be what is considered "pure" to do the job and they have the free will to enact what they feel is the proper thing to do.

Zamasu

Elder Kai's all about having fun in life, while Zamasu goes to the opposite logical extreme: life is about perfection, and anything less does not deserve to be at all. I think Zamasu shows where this same behavioral code can go, because by all means he kind of checks all the boxes: he's polite, shown to respect his superior, takes his position as apprentice very seriously and similarly intends to take his role as Supreme Kai very seriously. He finds himself to be the most pure, but this idea is something he is so attached to that he ends up being one of the most corrupted of them all.

Similar to Gowasu, he is not above questioning the status quo-- he doesn't really put much heart into the Gods of Destruction and believes that holy beings such as the Supreme Kais should be in control of everything. In the manga, Zamasu views Shin and Kibito very highly at first because he thought that they were the ones that defeated Majin Buu. Of course, Shin corrects him and puts all credit to Goku & gang, which confuses the FUCK out of Zamasu because he believes Supreme Kais to be, well, the most supreme. Shin reflects in that the job should've been for the God of Destruction (in the manga here they loosely do imply that Beerus was asleep), but Zamasu is like "nah lol"

Zamasu weirds the fuck out of Shin by implying anything that exists is unnecessary, but kind of brushes it off because well that's Gowasu's thing to deal with LOL. (Sidenote this is why everyone should read the manga because they actually involve Shin in a very much Supreme Kai centric plot and it is actually nuts to me they don't do this in the anime. The anime arc is def my favorite arc in Super but they still kinda do Shin dirty)

I say all this to say that Zamasu's train of thought isn't exactly uncommon because the Supreme Kais are kind of in this culture where they are the most supreme, but most of them do have an understanding of nuance and understand why, despite being "the best", they serve a role and that role does not serve them. Zamasu doesn't have this nuance and we see where that goes as he makes Goku('s body) to be the exception to the unnecessary beings rule in his head

As an honorable mention, I want to say that Kibito isn't too different in this train of thought: he definitely finds himself to be superior to others, but he values Shin's authority so much that he is much more receptive to that nuance than someone like Zamasu, who eventually dismisses Gowasu's teaching. The worst Kibito would not be anywhere close to Zamasu because Kibito still believes in goodness outside of himself.

Shin

Shin I think is the best example of a Supreme Kai with a pure moral code that, in turn, is also not corrupted by that idea of purity. Similar to Zamasu, he's polite, shown to respect his superiors and his elders, and he takes his role very seriously. Shin is (from what I understand) the youngest Supreme Kai and also the newest, which also might be why high morals is so important to him in the current canon.

He respects Elder Kai as his ancestor, but is also horrified to learn about Elder Kai using his powers to be a creepy fuck, openly berates him for this, and reacts in disgust when Elder Kai tries to gift him a nudie mag (as Kibito Kai). Shin also states he's worried about how Kibito views the mortals, but believes him to have a good spirit and puts a lot of importance in that-- it's why Shin goes out of his way to meet Goku, and in the future timeline, why he goes out of his way to meet Trunks.

Shin is similarly disgusted by Zamasu when he reveals his true spirit and condemns him in the manga, believing that Zamasu broke the line of what it means to be a Supreme Kai at all. His values very much align with the Supreme Kai's job to preserve life and at the same time understanding that destruction is part of that sacred cycle. Shin deeply respects the current god hierarchy and doesn't question it; he just wants to do the right thing.

Though Shin takes his responsibility as Supreme Kai very seriously, he is pretty receptive to the fact that his universe has mortals more physically powerful than him and he is even thankful for this. He takes no offense to how casually he's treated by Goku & gang and listens to them. Shin, unlike other Supreme Kais we've seen, views himself explicitly as a servant to the universe; his life is just one part of it and if he has to give it up or to knock himself down a few pegs then that's what he'll do. I think we can even say he is a little too passionate about this idea, since he's literally offered his life to preserve another's at least 2 times now (one for Goku in Buu saga, another one in the Moro arc in the manga) to Beerus's dismay lol, and this doesn't count all the times he's gone out of his way or put himself in the way to save others from danger

One of my favorite Shin moments that I think captures who he is at a whole is at the end of ToP where it's just Universe 7 and Universe 11 left, and he leans over to say hello to Khai. I don't think this is a Supreme Kai thing, this is a Shin thing. He doesn't say hello because it's his duty to always be polite, he says hello because it is giving kindness in a tense situation.

in a nutshell

The different Supreme Kais (and adjacent roles) might have some similarities and I think their upbringing can give them a proper attitude, but ultimately they're all very different people and have different ideas of what it means to be a Supreme Kai at all. I'm sure there's a Supreme Kai out there in history that was always naked or a piece of shit or something but actually totally kicked ass at their job

Thank you for reading LMAOOO I just wanted to talk about them. Hope u enjoyed

[tidalfoam]

hey look, legitimate reference sheets for my Fates AU. Look at me, doing things i said i would. my art is always shaky and im bad at consistency so hopefully this helps me.

more Fates shit beloooow (spoilers for the fanfic) (warning for MASSIVE wall of text).

how dare you read spoilers instead of waiting for me to actually finish the next chapter (i am sobbing im stuuuuuck). anyways.

i forgot lambert's jewelry in the ref sheet fuuuuuUUUUCK.

Uhhh so Fates is a 2-part story. Currently writing/posting Fates Worse Than, which is Narinder's POV. Love Can't Save You From is part 2 (working title lmao) thats Lambert's POV.

Basically switch em. Nari is vessel Lamb is god of death. After Narinder inevitably defeats lambert, lambert dips for 200 yrs and is a hermit while the world changes and Nari founds the New Faith.

Pt 1 follows standard gameplay and is a lot shorter than pt 2 (though my word document begs to differ), its a lot more about what's going on in Narinder's mind and unpacking backstory.

After burning midas's bitch ass place down, the other areas on the map (save for midas's bitch ass place and ratau's shack) become towns of their own. The old cult grounds break down and a Temple of TOWW is built. Nari rescues the old Bishops from purgatory, they become his disciples, and three of them run the temples in towns as Disciples/New Bishops (sans powers, just gold skull necklaces) and Shamura keeps the Main Temple of death by themselves. NONE OF THIS i actually write its just explained during the story. Hah.

pt 2 basically is Lambert & Narinder regaining trust (narinder feels shitty for what he did to lambert and cares for them greatly.) And then theres a lot of trauma unpacking, sibling reconnection, and the two of them growing closer.

BIG SPOILERS NEXT

Ya so basically Nari doesn't fully have control of his godhood powers and folks start ressurecting randomly, but 9/10 of them are Cursed and this is Not Great. After consulting with Shamura and doing their own investigating basically aaaah Narinder either has to monitor the gateway or give Lamb the crown back.

They fight over this, obviously, like right after they finally hit the "lovers" part too. fun!

and so in the end they both agree that Narinder will sit in the Gateway, at least for probs a few centuries to maybe a millenia until he has full control over everything. He asks Lambert to lead the New Faith and keep tabs on everyone, thus coming full circle. Narinder is TOWW in the gateway, Lambert is his servant (but no crown, Nari keeps the crown). End of Spoilers.

Also just fun shit. They can't reproduce, gods of death can't create life. I will 10000% make non-canon shittens content tho because ITS FUN.

Lamb is They/Them

Shamura is actually one of the Old Gods, and slaughtered other gods to steal their crowns to give to their "siblings". They literally stole Kallamar as a child, didn't like how he turned out. Stole lamb as baby, loved them and was closest to them, so stole heket too and were meh about her. They were in the middle of slaughtering other gods and destroying crowns when Lambert and Heket found a baby worm in the woods. They begged shamura to keep their new baby brother. Shamura and Kallamar weren't happy but caved to their beloved baby siblings. That worm baby was Leshy. Then shamura drove chemench insane, the group finished slaughtering all other gods & crowns, and that was that.

Goat isn't canon but i did draw him once because it felt like fun and maybe one day jokingly i'll do an au to the au whoops

everyone calls ratau old but he's not that old Narinder & Lambert are just dicks lmao. I promise i do like Ratau i'm just writing in the POV of two assholes.

if you got this far... why? i'm extremely honored but holy hell WHY. I love you now. I love you dearly.

Please feel free to ask me anything i'm foaming at the mouth constantly for this, its my new Sole Purpose. I am absolutely not avoiding my actual fucking novel i'm supposed to be finishing l o l.

[theloganator101]

The Great BNHA Review: Characters or Check Lists?

Oh Characters...

The bread and butter to all stories.

The thing that gets a story from Point A to Point B, the thing that allows us to connect with the story and helps it feel alive. You can pretty much make any character for your story, from the gentle and kindhearted to the more rough around the edges... to making them likable or unlikable. There are many ways to write a character and how they can make your story come to life.

And by bringing this up you know where this is headed... that BNHA utterly failed at expanding their characters into being people we're supposed to care about.

I could make a long fucking list of how BNHA failed every single one of it's characters it introduced but to keep that from happening, I'm just going to either list certain characters or just group them together since some of them share one common thing that's holding them back from being good.

Starting off with!

Shota Aizawa:

He was supposed to a hardass with a hidden heart of gold for his students, but what he ENDED up as was a walking hypocrite who hated Izuku for no other than he was associated with All Might and couldn't control his quirk... and then CONTINUED to give Izuku a hard time and labeled him as the "problem child" like... I don't even have the energy to get mad here, I'm saving THAT for another time in this review.

Oh and then there's him holding up this ridiculously high standard for his students to reach or else he fails them... which is exactly what happened when he failed Sero in the finals but allowed Bakugou to pass for doing the same.

Which again his hypocrisy gets in the way of that!

And not once does he ever get called out or punished for his blantant abuse in power and instead gets complimented and praised for his methods as if he's the next Einstein.

Fucking end me.

The Todoroki Family:

Oh how Hori totally fucked you guys over in the end... Natsu I'd give a pass since he ended on a more believable note, but sadly I can't say the same for Rei and Fuyumi.

As they were never allowed to think bad of the guy that made their lives hell and were instead to jump on the forgiveness train and take Endeavor's side so they can be a "Happy family" again. Which... no, that's literally stockholm syndrome.

Class 1-A:

... (Sighs)

Oh my babies... oh my favorites... look how that monster Hori ruined you all...

He tried to have this found family dynamic for them all, only for it all to fall apart since... you know, they barely interacted at all and got any screentime.

And it also didn't help that Hori had all of them as bystanders to Izuku's suffering, make fun of his interests, and follow Bakugou when he led them to beat him into coming back. So it really doesn't work when you have these things on your mind and fails to convince you that they give a shit about Izuku and his wellbeing.

And the worst part is that they ALL look like they have stories waiting to be told, but we don't get any of that. At most they're only used to fight against the minions while the Cash Cow Triplets fight the big hero.

Every Female Character in this Series:

Oh boy what even is there to talk about? Since they barely have any personality of their own and are only made to be fanservice for the pervs that likes watching anime girls in bikinis. They definitely deserves much better and to be in a story that'll treat them with respect and dignity.

ESPECIALLY to those like Hagakure and Miruko.

All Might:

Oh All Might, how the story did you dirty.

If there's anyone in this story that I feel sorry for the most (That isn't Izuku) It's All Might.

All because of how he started off at the beginning, people clung to the idea that he's a quirkest asshole who Izuku needs to steer clear from... even though he's literally the one to save Izuku from literally living in misery.

All Might deserves to be an actual mentor and father figure for Izuku, not fucking Aizawa who openly expressed his hatred for the boy.

The League of Villains:

I already made a post on how the narrative did them dirty and I don't feel like repeating myself, so I'm just gonna leave a link here while adding this.

What was even the point of building them up to be forgiven by their foils if they were just gonna die in the end? It was all just a big time waster.

And of course, we can't talk about characters and how the author failed them without talking about...

Izuku Midoriya:

Oh Izuku... the most tragic and wasted main character I've ever seen in an anime series.

He started off so strong only to get worse as the series went on. He should've been the shining definition of what a hero SHOULD be! He should've been the one to realize how fucked their world was and strive to change it for the better and to prevent others like him from suffering like he did.

But... we didn't get any of that.

We don't get acknowledgment of his past, we don't get him rising from his pain and become something more. Instead we get a watered down version of him at the beginning who has NO reaction or introspection to anything whatsoever, not to the world they live in, to the way things are handled, and even to him losing OFA.

For some odd fucking reason, Izuku is never allowed to grow out "I'm worthless" mindset or realization that everyone in his life has failed him in one way or another. He just praises it all like the fanboy he is and just stays where he is.

And then there's the fact that he just flat out refuses to ever acknowledge his past in any meaningful way, as whenever he DOES bring it up, he talks about his past self as if he's a different person from him. To which I can kinda see how this could be symbolic of something... But it just doesn't work as it only makes him look horrible for forgetting his roots and just wanting to fit in with the other people with quirks. To which it somewhat feels like "Fuck the quirkless they're useless so why even focus on them?"

He's a hollow version of the idea of his character, just blankly reacting to things in front of him and praising Bakugou for being the best thing to come around. He honestly deserves better and deserves to be with a writer that won't bully him and give him the depth and development he needs.

Now who else am I missing...?

...

Oh yeah!

Katsuki Bakugou is still trash.

Look forward to the next part.

(Roundabout starts playing)

[popculturebuffet]

Belated MLK Day Special: Our Friend Martin AKA Martin Luther King: Time Jesus (Commission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and a happy very belated MLK day to you all. What happened was the slot only opened up for this review on the day itself and it took me a while to watch it but frankly any day is good for honoring Martin Luther King. And today we're honoring the good doctor, hero, legend, and man of peace with a look at a bizzare educational film that attempts to do the same. It... it certainly tried.

Our Friend Martin comes to us from 1999 and from 90's animation and home video giant DiC. I don't have much more: the film was shown in classrooms as my friend cory has vauge memories of it and was nominated for the outstanding animated program emmy, but wikipedia didn't have much more. It does have an absolutely STACKED cast: LaVar Burton, Jaleel White, Ed Asner, Angela Basset, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, Ashly Judd, Susan Sarandon, John Travolta, Adam Wylie and current at the time of this writing Behind the Bastards subject Oprah Winfrey. Most of these are small rolls, a scene a piece, but it's still impressive and heartwarming just how many big names showed up for this.

Our Friend Martin is a lot. It has a child's shirt being ripped off as a running gag in the same film as an entirely accurate look at the Birmingham Riot. It's a film that's geninely educational as I learned some stuff from this specail.. but also uses time travel and has Martin Luther King sacrifice himself to save the future. It's a film that despite being behind I still badly wanted to review as it's something you just kinda have to get out of your system. Something so singularly weird yet exactly what you'd expect of it's time. it's our friend martin and it' under the cut.

Our Friend Martin is the story of Miles, an enthusastic young boy who dearly loves baseball and is a huge Hank Aaron fan but is bad at school. What I like is that there's some nuance to it, as Miles later tells his teacher part of why he focuses on it is he figures there's no real out for black people besides being famous and thus isn't focusing.

He's also 12 so his mom threatens to take away baseball and his teacher admits the principal wants to hold him back if his grade keeps up. Miles knows what most kids, and this grown ass man tend to know about Martin Luther King: he was a good man, did a lot of great things for civil rights. I know a bit more, his orignization of the march on washington.. but the fact I don't know much more than a fictional 12 year old is fucking damming and something that shamed me as I watched this. I mean.. I should know more about a man who helped make the world far better and was taken far too soon than what I barely remember from school. Granted my missouri education whitewashed a lot of stuff about the civil war, so i'm not super surprised we didn't have a big deep dive into martin luther king and all the horrible shit racist assholes did to him.

Miles is played by Robert Ri'chard. As I learned thanks to the magic of wikipedia, the child cast here all went on to do stuff, and Ri'chard went on to be the love intrest in One on One, a sitcom I dearly remember for being great fun when it was on the N, starring Proud Family's Kyla Pratt and having a bitching theme song.

His mom isn't in the movie much but is played by film legend and 911 superstar Angela Basset, one of many big names here for about 5 seconds but doing a terrific job.

Miles has other problems too in this case Kyle, his bully who as is standard for 90's bullies, wants to beat on him because shut up, is mildly dumb, has a weird haircut and gets comically humilated. In most cases this would be tripping in a puddle or having a dog bite him or getting escorted out of a ballet school after chasing Alfalfa and Spanky in there. In this case he chases Miles to the bus every day where he gets on just in time and the crazy old buss driver shuts the door on his shirt and drives off. This does not as you'd guess lead to Kyle being drug along the road to school to think about what he did and possibly be scarred for life, but instead his shirt just gets ripped off.

Now this is already fucking weird. When descirbing this to my good friend Jess, her response was an understandable

But it gets weirder, as Kyle now needs a ride in the car from his chainsmoking dad. His chainsmoking dad is only in one scene smoking it up, berating his son for being a half shirted looser and because they could get John Trevolta for a cameo. Weirdly he does not return later when they come back and the future is a back to the future part 2 style hellhole. Yes we're going full biff tanen for this one.

So on top of this, not only does this bus driver rip shirts off, but he also nearly runs children over. A lot. To the point miles is used to it. His name is Wild Man Willis and he's voiced by Richard Kind though we don't hear him till he shows up in the biff tanen timeline. Now granted all but one white person in the Biff Tanen timeline is a violent racist but the fact Mad Dog nearly runs over a black child every day tells me that maybe he always was and this is just plausable deniablity. Not all that plausable mind you as "I hit a child with a bus because I can't publicly do hate crimes again yet" isn't a defense in 1999, but hey.

So yeah already we have attempted comedy and attempted manslaughter and while it won't get WEIRDER it certeainly comes close.

For now let's meet the rest of the main cast as they prepare for a field trip: First up is Randy, Miles Token White best friend with a questionable southren accent, played by future fast in the furious tokyo drift star Lucas Black, once again in a roll he just was not ready for. Tokyo Drift speaks with a horrible southren accent they shoudl've just abandoned as young mister black cannot keep it up. Randy is a skateboarding cool dude who unforutnately is in most of this movie. I do not blame his voice on BLack whow as a children at the time, but more on the voice directors for not getting a better performance or dropping the southren accent.

Filling out the class is Maria, played by Jessica Cruz of On my Block and Liv and Maddie fame, both shows I haven't watched but I will give credit where it's due for. Maria is poorly written as the brains. She's not stupidly written but she is a know at all type a who constantly downtalks the main cast and whines constantly. It's a case of me appreciating that they made the only latina member of the cast smart.. but then being annoyed that she's that sort of smart that grates. The kind of person who just ahs to waggle their brain in your face.

Teaching these annoying children is Mrs. Dale, a hippie teacher who is wise and kinda there and played by Ashley Judd. That's about it.

Now we've met our cardboard cutouts their taken to visit Dr. Martin Luther King's home, and meet the curator, Mrs. Peck.

Yup Whoopi Goldberg taking a break from the Enterprise and the View to help with time travel. Or maybe this is Guinan as she is hundreds of years old. Point is Whoopi Goldberg is helping children travel through time so we should get back to that. When shown MLK's childhood bedroom miles notices some sparks and decides to visit the roped off room.. and is let in when Whoopi notices he has the touch, winds the magic time watch and off we go.

First stop is Martin Luther King Age 12, whose playing some baseball. We get the usual "We've traveled back in time?!" stuff you expect, not realizing it, realizing this is young version of person, etc. You get it.

It's also one of the more effective segments as young martin is playing with some white kids... whose racist mom shows up, berates them for playing with the "colored" and tells Randy, whose also here, point blank if he keeps hanging out with black people "he'll hang from the same tree as them" I... I don't have a pithy reaction image for that this special went fucking hard and it won't be the last time. For all it's flaws and weirdness.. this specail dosen't sugarcoat racisim. It isn't as blunt as it could be, but it's still blunt enough to make it clear just how bad it was. While most kids films, especailly edutainment like this, woudlnt' shy from the racisim part, the mention of hangings and some of the later stuff is pretty damn blunt, as well as the whole biff tanen future.

Next they join a teen martin on a train, finding out about segregation first hand. Danny Glover is the train conductor. That's.. not the best use of your Danny Glover film. They do make better use of their other stars for this bit: Jaleel White plays teen martin very well and I appricate having a diffrent performer for each time period. I"m already a fan of Jaleel as a voice actor, and i'd say he's my faviorite of the martins, injecting some energy into him. James Earl Jones plays Martin's father Reverened King, who the boys meet as they join MLK for supper and I like emphasising that his father made rounds, visting the sick and those who can't leave the home for prayer and such, imparting WHY MLK was like this: he had a good role model who taught him to look out for people. It's simple, sure, but it works and makes me want to learn more about the good reverened, which is what an educational film should do: teach you but also make you want to learn MORE about the thing. To make you enjoy the subject.

Next up is the Mongomery Bus Boycott, the famous one inspired by the rosa parks incident and something I had heard of because who hasn'.. and this is where the film once again goes hard. After the film's usual repitive round of our heroes trying to get martin to remember them, it happens almost every time and never stops being annoying and it's clear he dosen't from timeline to timeline, Martin gets some horrifying news from his friend Turner, played by Samuel L. Jackson himself who unlike a lot of the cameos in this film, actually gets a decent chunk of time to do stuff. Martin's house has been bombed

I had not heard of this and frankly this should be taught in more classes: The reverend's house is bombed. It woudln't even be the last time as the Birmigham Riots we'll get to next were caused by a bombing in a hotel room Doctor King had stayed at and the bombing of his brother Dexter's house. It's not at all suprising there were attempts on the good doctor's life before the one that sadly succeeded. It dosen't make it any less horrific as his wife , played by Behind the Bastards Subject Oprah Winfrey, Coretta is in deep fear.. and his friend Turner wants blood. It's understandable frustration: all Martin did was the right thing, boycotting the busses for equal rights.. and he was attacked for it. And it's telling his response isn't to join them in the attack (If hammily called by Jackson calling for people to use "guns and bricks") but for peace like Ghandi. IT's overwrought sure but I get the message: we are not them. The sad part is sometimes.. that just dosen't work. I respect dr king, he was a truly wonderful man who fought with peace despite how much he went through, how many hoses were turned on him how much time he spent in jail he persisted. I respet him. I wish peace always worked. I really did and I wish the world he dreamnt of would exist... but even if I don't agree that peace is the only option... I can agree that it should be the main one, and that he's one of the most courageous, kind and brave people i've ever known for fighting for it so damn hard, for fighting for what everyone should've had all along.

So to hammer this in our heroes are transported to the Birmingham Riot of 1963, something I dove into on wikipedia and was.. ugly. The short version is that Civil Rights Protestors were targeted and after bombings on Dr King's brother and an attempt on his life the people took to the streets and riots broke out, not unfairly given .. everything. What the special cuts is that John F Kennedy decided to quell the riots.. after all the violence against black people essentially sending the national guard to beat up black people rightfully upset that racists attempted to murder people just doing the right thing and had already taken several firehoses to the face from Bulll Connor, racist politican bafflingly voiced by Frank Welker here.

It's.. a bizzare experince to be sure. I don't doubt frank as a voice actor, he's one of the best in the buisness. He's scooby fucking doo, nuff said. And he has played villians, most famously president megatron

But it's very werid to hear one of his staple voices coming out of historical monster bull connor. He's a pitch or two from Megatron turning the fire hose on protestors. It's .. a lot.

The rest is fantastically done.. a horrifying panoply of dogs, fire hoses and bottles broken as violence spirals and our heroes are just.. lost in it. Their not hurt because edutainment, but I apricate the effort. It's a truly horrifying scene.

So it's back to the present and while he's genuinely learned some stuff Miles main takeaway is "time travel is rad" and "Martin Luther King is my friend now" so he plans to go back with randy tommorow.

The next day in class we get one of the weaker scenes. After a quick check that yup Kyle lost his shirt again and escaped death once again, our heroes chime in on a discussion of MLK and narrate over a video shown historical facts about King's arrest by bull connor, his being held and how after days of hearing nothing his wife called JFK who while a piece of shit about the riots, let's not mince words, did the right thing here and put pressure to get the good doctor released. IT's interesting stuff but I question both why this wasn't another stop on their time journey. Was it because King woudl've been absent if theyd idn't visit the jail itself? I dunno. It's weird.

Speaking of weird we have the weird way a lot of historical footage is used.. with a lot of color filters over grainy old footage. It looks weird isn't great and is mostly there to paper over where they didn't have the budget to animate something.

During the footage miles and co are spotted by Maria. Suspcious she tails them to the king house.. and brings Kevin because.....

So Miles and skrateboard get let back in while Whoopi Goldberg warns them about alterting witht he fabric of time. With a vauge warning instead of saying "Don't change the past dumbass". She lets Maria and Kevin in because why not send more dumbass children through time, and they end up in the room and end up traveling to the march on washington.

Kevin looses his shirt, again and he and miles prepare to throw hands but are stopped by Dr King. He was played by Levar Burton in the previous flashback and now by King's son Dexter, who does a great job especailly for someone who dosen't voice act regularly. The kids encounter their teacher as a younger woman, a bit I love, and Miles buys kevin a shit to bury the hatchet. The running gag comes full circle.

So we get the I Have a dream Speech.. which is done via archival footage but is still as stirring as ever and is the only time the use of historical stock footage works. The man's audio himself is the only way this really coudl've gone and while i'ms ure his son could've recited the speech well, and by heart, it feels right to use Martin's own words.

The kids are inspired and return and Miles is ready for more adventures.. till he finds out the awful truth... Martin Luther King was assassinated. And here's where I feel the film slips up: while the idea of this last act isn't horrible.. I question why it was necessary. The film's already nearly an hour long, it's more than long enough to fill up a class period or tv schedule. Why did we need Miles to go back in time to save Martin Luther king but destroy the present? It dosen't really add much... we get from the various flashbacks how important martin is, and Miles hearing the I have a dream speech in person feels like a better climax. Or if you have to touch on his assination have him be too late and instead go to the funeral. Or talk to martin shortly before and have MLK comfort him. THere were other methods

but instead miles grabs 12 year old martin.. whcih itself is just.. why? I get it was th efirst he met but woudln't it make more sense to grab him BEFORE he died? As a result time is destroyed and everyone else looses their memory.

So after ominously hinting at it all review, let's talk about the Biff Tanen Timeline. With MLK disappearing at age 12 miles is living in a beaten down apartment, MLK"s childhood home is rubble, and Randy's now Racist Randy, while Miles stupidly goes to his school and gets shooed out by the racist principal played by Ed Asner in a wasted part. Also maria can no longer speak english which... kay.

I'm... very mixed on this. I do like some touches like Randy being racist, showing had things just been slightly diffrent he woudln't be the kind annoying dullard we know but a racist asshole. And I may fucking hate randy but Racist Randy is even worse. Kevin would largely be the same but without his shirt based face turn from the sacred timeline.

My two big issues are

Miles is a fucking dumbass the whole segment and while I get not all fictional kids are going to be Marcy Wu levels of genre savy and spot the tropes, it's too blindingly obvious for him to not get, let alone for Martin alone to figure out.

While the present would be worse, which yes is possible, if MLK never existed, it feels insulting to all the other brave men and women (And probably a few nbs) in the civil rights movement, men and women who I wish I knew more names of and feel like researching more after this entirely due to this section of the film, to insuiate NO PROGRESS would be made without him. I get it, this is a late 90's edutainment specail. It's not going to be subtle. But MLK, while one of the biggest faces of civil rights was not the only one who fought for them. History would not be the same, things would've taken longer to set on the right course. It would not be good.. but I refuse to belivie all those involved would've done nothing. That Malcom X would've done nothing had MLK not existed. That's bullshit. It dosen't mean things wouldn't be much worse, or that Randy might be racist or what have you, but it wouldn't be the same as it was in the 60s. For all the fuckery we have now, I have to belivie humanity's better than that.

So Martin realizes he has to go back and die and become time jesus. Miles begs him not to.. but Martin returns and so does all of time. The actors play it very well and the moment is done shockingly well. As for why he can't just go back in time and save MLK... it's because the creators realized having Whoopi Goldberg explain MLK Has to die because time reasons goes against the message just the time. She also has ripple effect proof memory so she lived through all the horrors of the biff tanen timeline are left glued to her memory.

Miles is left sad though, if happy his friends are back to normal, but takes a good message: that we still do what we can and the work continues. Granted the work in this case.. is painting a mural of mlk while a bunch of acid washed clips of king are filtered in and a very 90s cover of ain't no mountain high enough plays

There are not enough drugs in the world to explain this ending, and i'm not on enough of those drugs to explain this ending. So with that inspiring acid trip done, our heroes stare at their handiwork as the movie ends.

Our Friend Martin means well. It does teach a lot about Dr King and to it's credit got me intrested in the man's life on a deeper level. Part of it is wanting the full story without the editing down for children, but i'm still intrested in something I shoudl've studied long ago and that counts.

This special's still trapped in the confines of it's time, being incredibly 90s and thus not having the budget something like this really deserved or the time it needed. This specail REALLY needed to be a full movie to get the full impact of things and truly use it's cast, but they barely had the budget for 40 minutes, and would've been better served shaving it slightly. We didn't need the biff tanen timeline or the montage at the end.

Our Friend Martin is a decent special, easy for me to poke fun at, fun too, but I can't deny that unlike a lot of other edutainment specials it does the best it can for it's time to be honest about it's message and about the horrific times MLK lived in and a good reminder of what the "good old days" many a jackass wants to go back to meant for the bulk of Americans. I can mock Martin Luther King being made into time jesus all I want, but I still give credit where it's due. This specail may be choppy, on the nose and with one timeline too many.. but it's heart was in the right place. Thanks for reading

[lazaruspiss]

Begging for jaydick headcanons because I'm also a Jaydick hoe 🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️

where do i begin. horny? horny probably.

Dick bottoms like 90% of the time but as far as any dom/sub things go those two are the switches to end all switches. both need to be told they're a Good Boy while getting the soul fucked out of em and both need to dote on the other and remind them how much they like (love) them.

i think they'd also both have a bit of a sadistic streak, but Dick is the only masochistic one. i don't think Jason would be too big on being roughed up in a sexual context, i just can't picture it. no physical roughness, no particularly intense degradation, but that just means Dick has to get creative lol. though on the subject Dick also wouldn't /like/ feeding his own sadism.

i have a fair few sadist Dick thoughts based of off the times in canon where he hurts someone, recognizes that he enjoys it, and express at least some level of disapproval towards himself for feeling that way. no one really talks about how Dick does seem to, yknow, like fighting. not bc he's some angry violent asshole or bc it's violence for the greater good, but just bc it scratches the ever persistent adrenaline need in his brain.

hmmmm. Dick getting fed up with Jason being too thoughtful. we're gonna tread a tiny bit into projection territory but stick with me. when someone spends too much time being used by people or constantly shaping themselves around what others want it can kinda fuck up their head. when someone approaches without wanting that, without wanting them to shape themself around what they want, it can be a shock. Jason so aggressively wants Dick to be independent and true to himself that it's something they fight over, bc Dick's entire life has revolved around serving others and Jason can't just uproot all that by telling him his entire life is a lie and that he should reevaluate everything about himself and everyone around him. ok yeah im having flashbacks to the jaydick thing i wrote forever ago. (x)

they can both cook and take turns planning meals, with one making sure to call/message the other if they get busy with something so that they can adjust their plans around whatevers happening. i can also see cooking being a bit personal and intimate to them. Jason sticks to eating shitty fast food most of the time and never really cared about proper meals when he was on his own, but now he has someone to come home to. someone to eat with. he cares a lot about cooking well because he wants to show without words just how much it means to him to have Dick around. Dick has been shown to cook for people when they come over, so i think it'd just feel like basic courtesy to him. some sort of standard politeness to feed and welcome his guests if he can. he wears himself thin a lot of the time and doesn't tend to make an effort to cook when it's just him, but when he does cook he enjoys it. repetitive motions, straightforward instructions, relaxing sounds and smells, cooking is fun. seeing Jason gorge himself is also very heartwarming, and more filling than any meal.

theyd have a mutual agreement to, /if/ they have kids, raise them non-religious. between Jason "possibly catholic but also died and so it's complicated" Todd and Dick "my religion is Batman" Grayson, they really don't wanna pass on any of that to any theoretical kids.

on the subject of child rearing still: i think Dick would be against sending them to any kind of private school. he had a very not good time there and thinks that if theres gonna be a chance for their kid to be picked on either way than he'd rather not waste the money. if anything he thinks private school would be worse, because all those shitty rich kids know each other and each others parents and he'd really prefer his kid not being beat up and called slurs bc of who their parents are. he'd rather homeschool if their schedules allowed it but he recognizes that would be too impractical. Jason would have more mixed feelings, bc there can be a bit of an advantage in the long run from having gone to a reputable and recognizable school, but he also isn't sure it's worth having an argument about when chances are the kids gonna learn all the important stuff from them anyways. there is a very tense conversation to be had before enrolling their baby in kindergarten.

they have a few too many conversations about theoretically having kids for guys who don't have the guts to just go for it. waiting for an orphan to drop in their laps like theyre fuckin batman. idiots.

they're a bit worried about the Titans' reaction but the worst that happens is Wally giving an exaggerated sigh as he gives Donna her well earned 50 bucks. everyone saw it coming, and you two are hopeless. Wally is excited to be Dick's best man for realsies this time, and Jason is on the receiving end of a few too many shovel talks. by the time Roy gets to him it's turned into

Roy: yeah i dont need to say it do i. blah blah hurt him and ill kill you and all that. congrats on the boyfriend.

Jason: oh cmon, i thought you would at least have some faith in me.

Roy: bros before hoes, sorry man.

Jason: ... excuse me?

Gar's version of a shovel talk is just turning into a grizzly bear and doing the "ive got my eyes on you" gesture. anyways Bruce is invited to the wedding on the condition that his assigned seat is next to the Riddler and he has to pretend that Brucie has gotten real into riddles lately. he has to laugh at Eddie's jokes under the threat of never being allowed to contact Dick or Jason again. Jason suggested it bc he thought it would be funny, Dick rolled his eyes but agreed bc it means Bruce can't corner him to berate him about his life choices.

[mystxmomo]

Ooh just remembered a Q I have: I just remembered one of your posts said Nymryn had a fiance but I couldn't figure out who they are - have you mentioned them? :o If not, can you tell us about them?

: D

Here are Ilyrae's original concept posts. More about them and Ilyrae & Nymryns relationship under the cut.

Post One - Post Two

So Ilyrae is a far travler sun elf from Evermeet that comes from a specific part of it that really puts emphasis on the "You're not Actually an adult until you're 100-something, because to be an adult you need to have the lived experiences of one. As a result you should go travel the world and experience all that it has to offer, and theoretically when you come back you'll be worldly (:"

Ilyrae is somehow both incredibly neurotic and paranoid, and willing to take the dumbest, most insane course of actions, because the logic makes sense to them even if it doesn't to anyone else. They wander into the underdark, alone, because they're like. I'm a wizard protégée. I can defend myself. (And the worst part is, given the next series of event's, they're most right) and, after Nymryn fails to kill them, Ilyrae essentially holds them at wand point and is like "I am lost. You will guide me," And Nymryn, who is kind of a lame putz and doesn't actually liiiike fighting is like "Yes I will do that Anything you say " And then ends up spending the next 90+ years traveling with them (Even outside of the underdark)

Small side tangent to give added context for how their relationship grows like it does. But another big thing about their relationship is that I'm playing out Elvish as a language as a sister language to deep drow. They have juuuuust enough in common that you can fair in having a conversation between the two of them, but have evolved far enough that a lot of words have changed meanings. Deep Drow specifically has a lot of hierarchical language built into it (For example, male drow have words that female drow would never use, there are pronouns that by nature of using them imply the user to be lesser than the other person and vice versa) meanwhile elvish has evolved to be even more neutral on a lot of things then it was back in the day. So Ilyrae starts talking and Nymryn is like. "What the fuck are you doing with your voice."

Second fun fact. Despite traveling on the surface for 80+ Years, Nymryn's common is rough because him and Ilyrae spend most of their time speaking in elvish. Passable. But rough.

Third thing I have in mind with them: Human's would see how long they've been together and be like "Oh thats impressive, why haven't you gotten married yet?" But by elven standards I think their relationship is clocked as the emotional equivalent of two highschool sweethearts getting married immediately out of highschool. It will work out between them but they're both going to grow and change drastically as people in the process.

Anyway. Foundation of their relationship established. By the time Enclave comes back into the picture, Ilyrae and Nymryn are already engaged. And they're constantly just kind of saying shit like

Ilyrae, quietly: ... I think you're having difficulties because you're a whore and kind of moron.

Nymryn: I - Well. Yeah. But! Ah! At least I'm a loyal whore.

Ilyrae: That's true. You are. *under their breath and kind of exasperated* And I suppose both of these things benefit me greatly.

And she's contemplating the morality of killing again as a result of it.

Personality wise, Ilyrae is kind of a difficult asshole to be around. They have the Wizard Arrogance Personality flaw, can be a bit unpredictable, have trouble expressing their thoughts at all, let alone in a way that makes sense to other people, and has a very dry sense of humor that isn't to everyone's taste. It's just. Y'know. IS to Nymryn's taste, as he thinks this is all kind of hilarious, even when it's being turned on him.

On the kinder aspects of their personality, they are someone that cares very deeply about the people they choose to keep in their life, they don't take offense to a lot of things, and they're willing to humor a lot of really dumb horseshit. Nymryn is like "Hey I had a dream I think I need to go back to the underdark (I don't want to do this it really scares me there)" and Ilyrae is just like "...." Sighs "I don't want to either. Lets go."

So the TL;DR of their relationship: The high elf is scarier than the drow, Nymryn is marrying rich at 18 (I forgot to mention this. Ilyrae's family is loaded) and yet still supports theft. Fortunately, Ilyrae is okay with crime.

[chainofclovers]

Ted Lasso 3x8 Thoughts

I’ve written all of these after seeing the episode only one time but I think this one might benefit from a rewatch more than anything else. Even if, unfortunately, this was absolutely my least favorite episode of this stupid wonderful show. (Or was it? What will a rewatch reveal to me?)

I have tried very hard not to have a lot of fun-time-ruining expectations about this Media Experience that has bewitched me since January fucking 2021. But I’ll admit that I had some serious expectations about the writing of this episode. Keeley Hazell and Dylan Marron! I was so excited to see what the ultimate Keeley Jones expert, the Keeley inspiration, the namesake herself, would have to say about this character. And actually, I thought Juno Temple got some really incredible material to work with, and I think she acted the living fuck out of this episode. I came away with a deeper understanding of Keeley’s character. A sense of who she is when she wakes up in bed next to someone who delights her. A sense of how it feels when someone she loves deeply disappoints and hurts her, and how it feels when someone she could have loved chooses a status over a human, and how it feels when someone she used to love holds himself accountable to her. 

There was so much about this episode that felt incredibly natural: 

everything about Juno’s performance 

the ways Jack is charming and tantalizing and expansive and the ways she’s small and cowardly and disappointing were perfect…wlw rep doesn’t happen in a vacuum of purity, this is wlw rep but this is also billionaire asshole rep this is venture capitalism rep this is richer-than-Rebecca-Welton rep this is manipulator rep

the perfect moment when Jade tells Nate to celebrate his victories after a lifetime of hearing his father shame him for taking pride in his successes

the anti-chemistry chemistry of Ted and Michelle and their long history

absolutely everything about Rebecca as lifeline and sense-talker for Ted (and soulmate…I’m so tired, but it just remains true that they’re fucking soulmates, and I hope they find out and I’m still pretty sure they will)

Beard in an apron making pancakes for his boys

Rebecca holding Keeley and telling her a possibly slightly exaggerated story about her introduction to masturbation to cheer up her beloved bestie

the utter pain of Roy being once again a very good person who has fucked up badly in a parking lot (this time with consequences)

Ted’s sweet little voices as he reads to Henry (and the WTF moment he has about himself after Henry has fallen asleep)

Last night my wife and I went out for a beer and broke down a bunch of these moments and how good they actually were, and how strange it was to have, honestly, a wealth of beautifully written and acted moments in an episode that really didn’t work for us. Because those highs made the lows seem so much lower. 

The locker room scene…I’ve watched anti-harassment and standards-of-business videos for my corporate job that are better than whatever that was. I understand what they were trying to do. And I understand that this is a story that has so much real-life crossover and is so incredibly important to get right and was probably so complicated and often painful to write that I feel very empathetic about the ways that all that pressure might have conspired to make this episode worse instead of better. I have no interest in judging those conditions, nor do I think it’s some big hilarious gotcha that this writer (well, writers) wrote about this topic. But I do have to judge the final product, which reads like a group of people taking turns saying things like “This is a bad thing in our society” and “Is it so bad?” and “Yes, fellow man, it really is that bad” and “But wait, why should I have any responsibility for this bad thing in our society?” and “Well, here is why you actually do have some responsibility for this bad thing in our society.” 

Even the Keeley-Rebecca scene wavers in and out, whereas normally a scene with those two is rock solid. They spend a lot of time explaining the societal conditions to each other instead of relying on the shorthand that two best friends would use to communicate. I mean, thank God Rebecca was totally with Keeley on this one—if she hadn’t been, that would’ve warranted something on the spectrum of lecture—but because she was, their exchange of lines about sexualization just had me feeling like I am watching a TV show about a very special issue, I am watching a TV show about a very special issue. 

Just as I’m not looking to Jack Danvers to convince a homophobe why bi people are cool (she could be the coolest most respectful gal in the world and she’s not gonna convince a bigot that queer people actually are great!), I desperately wish they’d taken a less heavy hand with this stuff. Keeley’s pain—her vehement lack of embarrassment, her disappointment—says it all. 

And I am so sorry to say that I feel like Brendan Hunt, who always, always knows when to dial it down and when to dial it up, when to bury and when to emote, dialed it way too far up when talking to Henry while Ted’s on the phone with Rebecca. I am a huge defender of how this show uses musical scenes; bring on the cheese, bring on the champagne bottle microphones, bring on the sing-alongs and heightened emotions and funeral rick rolls. Every other time a character has sung on this show, it’s been natural in the awkwardness and the slightly-outsized emotions and the inherent goofiness of it all. This time, they just could not create the right emotional conditions to earn this moment. I’m not going to give a detailed critique of a child's performance on a public website, but unfortunately I think this is a moment when the writers actually underwrote what Henry needed to say, because I’m mystified as to how he’s actually feeling and doing. Understanding those things is essential to understanding where this story is going, so I’m really upset that a huge chunk of information is missing now.

And that leads me to the incredibly unsettling ending. I had to be talked down off a ledge. I’m now pretty sure the ambiguities of how Ted and Michelle are around each other are about recognizing the ways they used to work, their common reference points, their knowledge of each other, while simultaneously experiencing yet another goodbye, yet another turning point in this (realistic, tbh) endless cycle of navigating the split. But I’m really struggling to understand Ted’s headspace in the final couple minutes of the show, whereas usually I feel like I’m practically living inside his brain as I watch. 

I’ve loved s3 so far. I always knew it would be as distinct a thing of its own just as much as s1 and s2 were distinct from each other. As much as I’d be enjoying a return to the specific magic of s1, it would be impossible and wrong and even irresponsible of them to try to recreate it, and I think it would fall flat, and so I’m glad I knew that would never be my experience with this season of TV. And yet it’s a little unnerving, even as this person who’s tried to keep my high expectations open-ended, to feel so bummed about 3x8. The conversation over that beer about all the really good stuff did make me feel better, because it reminded me that the really badly done parts of this episode were less about story than about the circumstances of the storytelling. To me, those circumstances make the clunkers more forgivable instead of less. But it was still disappointing.

Probably every Ted Lasso fan feels this way on some level, but I am having such a singular experience. I am a fifteen-year-old girl again, holed up in my room because “no one understands………why I feel the way I feel about Ted Lasso.” The membrane between my takes and my empathetic yet judgmental reactions to other people’s takes is permeable and problematic. It’s shameful, but I want everyone to love it because I love it and I want everyone to calm down because I’m calm and I want everyone to be at the edge of their seat and not at all calm because I’m at the edge of my seat and not at all calm and I want everyone to love Ted/Rebecca even if they never kiss because I love Ted/Rebecca (even if they never kiss) and I want everyone to have hated this episode because I hated it and I want everyone to give it time and space to breathe because I’m trying to do that and I want everyone to wait and see what fucking happens because I’ve got some kind of freak patience when it comes to this fucking experience. I want to be my best self and I am not my best self. I’m insane about this show, and I’m not working on the issue. Eek. 

[clatterbane]

The omelette did go a little browner than I wanted on one side, but it'll be fine.

That was fun. I was getting ready to make some of this:

Partly inspired by spam musubi, with the teriyaki glaze--only Swedified by using some falukorv instead of Spam, because it's SO MUCH cheaper and easier to get here. (Seriously, Spam-type canned meats ars not a standard grocery store item here. Which did slightly surprise me.)

I was also planning to try some sliced saltgurka pickles in one of them, because why not. The flavors ought to work fine together.

Anyway, my klutzy ass then naturally managed to elbow the bowl of seasoned rice I had ready straight into the floor.

It was a ceramic bowl too, which of course proceeded to break right around one of my big wheels--so that it was either plow forward straight through the rice, or call for some help clearing broken bowl pieces that I couldn't reach out from under the back of the (pneumatic) tire. 🫠 Most of rice was also in a pinch point of the kitchen, between me and the paper towels.

Mr. C took pity on my frazzled ass, and came right back with the broom and dustpan before even handing me the roll. Then proceeded to clean up all but a couple of bowl chunks before I could. Which was kind of him, but also kinda left me feeling like more of an asshole.

So yeah, slight change of plans for tonight!

I really had a taste for some kimbap sandwiches, so that plate in the pic is just getting covered and put in the fridge. Guess there will be less prep work required tomorrow, at least--assuming I successfully resist the urge to snack on teriyaki sausage in the meantime. Worst case, there is more falukorv and more sauce. Also plenty of eggs.

The ingredients are supposed to cool down before you assemble, so hey. Probably ought to bring that back up to at least room temperature before using it.

[northwest-cryptid]

I do honestly think it's really interesting how willing people are to look past things they dislike when it's being used/done by someone they do, but they'll still attack individuals for the same shit.

Like "AI is bad" unless it's being done by someone like Dougdoug, in which case most people are largely able to look past the idea that AI is bad, this is likely because it's being used in such a way where the AI is very obvious and open; and because it's being used for comedy. The thing is, anyone using AI has the ability to use it in this way; but the concept that "AI can be used ethically and in a fun way that doesn't hurt people" isn't considered on a larger scale. It becomes more of an "AI is bad, but if you're popular enough to get away with it; have fun."

Or "Chocolate is literally created via slave labor, buying or enjoying chocolate contributes to slavery." Unless you're that guy who makes chocolate sculptures for tiktok and shit. In which case we'll just focus on the fact you're weaving chocolate or something, and not pay any mind to the sheer amount of chocolate you're using and the fact that this likely covers more money going to the same slave labor chocolate production as like 100 individuals buying a kitkat on lunch because they want a snack. People look past all of this because the art he makes with chocolate is undeniably impressive and fun to watch.

Don't even get me started on "racism is bad, portraying minorities as stereotypes and especially making them antagonistic in media is wrong..." Unless you're Mihoyo in which case you'll find extreme success with Genshin Impact despite literally referencing Native American people for your main fodder enemies; people are willing to look past this because I guess the game is fun and the waifus are hot? I don't know man I don't play racist games.

Misogyny is wrong and sexism in the workplace, or as a cultural norm needs to be dealt with; and indie companies need to be held to the same professional standards as anyone else; but if you're ProjectMoon you get a weird pass on throwing such a shitstorm that you not only get your game momentarily boycott but you also can't handle your business connections well enough to manage not having an entire webcomic shut down. Yea WonderLab is now lost media congratulations, the whole of your shitty business dealings came to light; underpaying staff and treating third parties like garbage because "you're just a little indie company uwu" when you've been raking in the big bucks for a while now. Don't worry though because your audience is too attached to [Blorbo From My Games] to give you any real backlash that will negatively effect your company.

So like, what then? Am I saying we should demonize all these people?

Well no actually that's not the case, though I DO think you should boycott Genshin on the grounds it IS racist; and you absolutely should boycott Limbus Company until the company behind it can get their act together and stop being sexist assholes and generally a shitty company.

That being said, if you think I'm trying to attack dougdoug or the chocolate man who's name escapes me at the moment; you can't be further from my point. My point here is to stop attacking people overall; seek solutions to the problem without attacking the individuals. If you see me, as a single individual buying a kitkat on my lunch break; this is not the time to inform me that I'm somehow contributing to slavery before you go off and reblog "he's weaving chocolate!?!?!" As if that's not literally far worse than what I'm doing.

"But I CAN effect what YOU'RE doing, I can't tell him he's contributing to slavery and make him stop!" Why not?

I mean seriously why the fuck not? You understand these people are only given power by the viewers who support them right? The people who buy their products, the people who give them money.

If he can find a way of supporting businesses that don't use or profit from slave labor then great that's a fantastic change. Similar to how Dougdoug not only writes most of his own scripts but uses AI in such a way that it's ethical, it doesn't involve stealing or victims.

The take away there should be that it's possible to use these things in a way that doesn't hurt people, this is why I think it's different from companies like Mihoyo and ProjectMoon as much as taking any shots at ProjectMoon sucks as a fan of their games; I think sexism and anti-capitalism is more important than some blorbo from my games. That's why I'm not only not spending money on Limbus, but I'm not even playing; I refuse to inflate their user numbers and give them the marketability. I refuse to tell them that doing wrong doesn't have consequences.

"Yea but are you actually doing anything? Does it actually matter?" Well yes and no, yes because if I don't do anything then nothing will happen, nothing will change; nothing will get better. However no because I'm just one person, and if you've ever worked retail and heard the classic "you just lost a customer!" You know as well as I that one person on their own doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of it all when it comes to things like overall company success. However if we all keep giving these racist, sexist, and just generally scummy companies our money and time and activity to market; because "I'm just one person" then nothing is ever going to snowball into a noticeable amount of people.

Boycotts don't work unless a majority of people participate; and I'm sorry but the reason these companies make what they make is to pander to your impulse, to your attention; they prey on your weakness to not be able to break free from them.

That's WHY Genshin has so many waifus and husbandos and bullshit like that; they prey on your inability to control your emotions and thus you will continue to spend money for a chance to obtain your favorite characters and once you do you have an attachment to them; you spent god knows how much money to get them; you invested so much time in getting the currency to roll/pull/draw for them.

That's WHY Limbus Company writes the characters and content they do; because they know you're too invested now; they aren't worried about a silly boycott because they've seen it won't matter. They already know all they need to do is keep releasing more content, and you'll keep playing, you'll keep spending money on it; you'll keep getting hype for whatever comes next. It doesn't matter if you think they're a sexist company, if you think they're capitalist scum; because you're still playing their game, you're still giving them money, you're still supporting them.

This is even true of Tumblr, and it's what I always say when people bring up the fact tumblr isn't listening to anyone telling them about the whole issue of transphobia on this site.

Yea of course tumblr isn't going to listen to you, you're still here. They don't care what you say as long as you still use their site; so long as you still provide them with content, so long as you still inflate their numbers and make their site profitable. You can do whatever you want they're not going to care; if you actually make a big enough stink to make the site unmarketable they'll just precisely ban you, remove the evidence; and move on. They won't ban everyone; if they did that they wouldn't have content; they're only going to lift a finger to bring down the hammer where it absolutely must be done.

Tumblr's CEO went off site to attack a trans girl and while everyone complains about it, we're all still fucking here aren't we? So they absolutely do not care that you know, they absolutely do not care that you're talking about it. In fact god knows that if a post like this ever got super popular and my voice started to matter; I'd just be banned, I'd just be removed with surgical precision; ensuring they leave enough of you all here to keep the ecosystem alive and well so they remain profitable.

I think people point fingers and accuse and blame and throw shade way too much, I don't get on people for AI bullshit for a lot of reasons; but the biggest is that if someone is misusing AI that's the fault of the individual; the person actually doing the theft; not the AI, you don't blame a hammer for breaking a vase; you blame whoever swung it.

Tumblr is a melting pot of various people with various views on things and it's so tiresome to see these sort of half baked moral points getting thrown around "hey if you're not boycotting this you're bad and wrong and a horrible person" okay great, you're not boycotting things I think you should be though so does that make YOU a bad person? It's all fucking relative and honestly unless everyone bands together to make change it's not going to happen, so either agree on something and stick to it; band together and better the world around you; or stop attacking each other for the sins of big companies.

[blorbologist]

hehehe. hi :3

FMA AU: 🦋 | AooD: 🐜 | Jurassic Park AU: 🤪 or 🎨 | OFS+TFJ: 🎉 | Ruidusborn Percy: 💕 | BDSM Modern AU: 📖

answer as many or as few as you want!! i wanted to touch on multiple AUs >:3 and also search for things i don’t know yet lmao

OH BOY!!

AU Ask Game

FMA AU: 🦋 ''Share a downstream ‘Butterfly Effect’!

OH! hmmmm... see, the tricky thing is that this AU does broadly follow the plot beats of the manga, right? Some things are shifted around, but you know. Roy/Vex fucks up Envy/Delilah before Envy kills themselves, final fight involves Al/Beau giving their body back to Truth so Ed/Caleb can have his arm back...

I think the biggest butterfly is that our Hughes equivalent, Vax, doesn't die - because Vex, instead of being the Flame Alchemist like Roy is, is the Sewing Life Alchemist. So she can patch him up - or he ends up as a chimera through nefarious means instead. Either way, yahoo! yippee!!

AooD: 🐜 'What’s the smalllllllest change you want to share?'

SEE NOW THIS ONE IS A BIG AU SO IT'S GOT SO MANY BIG CHANGES?!?!

Ok, hm. Small change:

I'm almost at the point where I'm writing an almost one-to-one replica of the Feast of Imyr. Bar a few tiny details such as...

Loquatius needing new jokes to make fun of Vex's name instead of Purvan's.

Percy either freaking out about Bolo being there or commiserating with her about 'this BAG. not MACHINE.'

Vex and Percy clocking pretty quickly that Dean Hollow was up to no good inviting the Champion of Ravens and behaving accordingly.

That '[S]he was one of us' comment from Hollow about the Matron being really fucking painful for Vex to hear about the Warden

Oh, yeah - and a Gau Drashari is going to Transport Via Plants out of the tree Nydas brought. Hey, hi, sorry! Don't mind Keyleth, she's making a great first impression.

More under the cut!!

Jurassic Park AU: 🤪 'Silliest part of the AU?'

The Briarwoods are collectively sharing John Hammond's role (the more evil book version). They are The capitalist assholes. Something something a necromancer bringing shit back from the dead, something something a vampire not letting things grow old and being a blood sucking billionair. It's perfect. It's awful. Do you see my vision!??!?

or 🎨 'What’s the most creative part of this AU?'

OKAY SO! The og Jurassic Park was written in 1990. A lot of our scientific knowledge has advanced in leaps and bounds since then: not just the paleontology and understanding of dinosaurs, but standards of zookeeping and animal behavior, genetics, computer systems and security, etc.

So most of JP's original failure points don't actually apply if you tried to rewrite this today - and either way they're all very well known. The lysene, the frog DNA breeding, the tracking glitch, the raptors having no fucking enrichment, etc.

The tricky and fun part about this AU is finding new, sensible ways to run the park / protect the guests and dinosaurs / get certified so they can run at all... and still have it go to shit when Vax, Keyleth and co have the introductory tour.

OFS+TFJ: 🎉 'What change are you most proud of?'

DALEN'S CLOSET HAPPENING OVER THE YEAR BREAK. GENIUS MOVE @ ME. Compounded on all the prior changes and gave Delilah a chance for an amazing entrance, and had so much dramatic irony compared to Dalen's Closet in canon.

Ruidusborn Percy: 💕 'How are relationships impacted by the AU?'

Oh god. So: Percy is both a lot more sheltered (no one wants to be friends with a mind-reading rich freak) and is lacking social skills (why bother when he can read minds if he has to?). He is... way less cool and more of a huge pain in the ass until VM can socialize him. like a feral cat. He's probably even closer to Keyleth than canon, and to some degree Grog too (easier to understand what's going on in that thick head), but the twins and Scanlan trust him far less due to not wanting him poking around in their heads.

The thing is, Percy is also acutely aware of all that from when he does slip up and get a grasp of what's going on in their heads.: he can pry behind Vex and Scanlan's masks in a way no one else can, and Vax just doesn't trust the spying potential. (Vex especially is terrified of Percy seeing her budding feelings, once that pops up, so she's slower to fall for him.)

I think things probably improve once Percy gets something like Imogen's circlet to block out the influx of thoughts - then he becomes extremely awkward and bumbling without that fallback of information and everyone goes 'oh wow he's harmless and also down SO bad for Vex he doesn't know what to do with himself'.

BDSM Modern AU: 📖 'What’s The defining moment of your AU?'

OHO!! OHOHOHOHOH!!

I think The moment I think of in my head about this AU is... Percy working on Vex's custom toy after he finds out it's for her. Getting very hot under the collar (HAH!) and trying so very hard to keep his cool. It's that tension I'm most excited about - but of course this is a BDSM AU! They'll likely start playing together before romantic feelings pop up (but after Percy comes clean ofc)! Which is its own bag of worms. sexy, sexy, writhing worms.

Also just like. All the horny tied up (HAH) with Percy's character growth and healing as he realizes that he's a switch, not a firm dom as he'd forced himself to believe for the longest time due to #trauma. muah!

[thenixkat]

ive got 23 chapters left and i'll be caught up on what's out of Kaiju no. 8

kaiju no 10: stop fronting and admit you like fighing just as much as me so we can kill my younger sibling

using swords is more fun than shooting things heh

imagine finding yer platonic soulmate and its a big bloodknight dragon that just wants to fight fuckers and maybe eat you too

of course yall tied a sword to yer tail. 3 swords

that;s what happens when yer fighting two fuckers and dont pay enough attention to teh support

the vice captain and no10 sacrifice their tail to win the fight kaiju no 10, after everything: Cool we beat my younger sibling. That was fun. We should fight your teammates too

the vice captain apparently shut his older brother out of his life years ago for trying to demotivate him and not supporting him

so teleportation is a thing that kaiju can do

…Mina's going to ride her pet tiger into battle against the teleporting monolith and just carry her bfg

the tiger still isnt cool. The exotic pet ownership and animal endangerment is just distracting. AT least put some armor on yer cat also yikes the legs on that tiger are janky

so kafka failed the exams for 5 years b4 Mina was able to take them. Which given he's 5 yrs older than her makes sense

but also sir you failed a test 5 years in a row and then kept trying for another 7 yrs b4 presumably aging out of being able to try until they raised the max enlistment age at the beginning of the story

and then Mina decided to be mad at Kafka for just not being able to pass and leaving her to fight monsters alone breaking his promise to always be there but like he tried for over a decade. some people arent built to join the military

and because she turned out to be talented for taking out big targets she got pushed to having to be perfect by the one the only shitty rich dad who gives everyone issues who he decides to train to be the future of the nation's defense

we just keep finding out that this asshole just traumatizing so many people for teh greater good

oh you have some talent? lets throw you onto the front lines and inform you that if you fail yer risking the lives of yer comrades and civilians

ma'am I doubt Kafka being there would have changed shit other than you'd talk to him more often. Like he would have been at the bottom teir of shit if he was an officer, they'd have his ass on support and evacuation at best if he hadn't have become a kaiju that was deemed useful local high stress career was not good for her mental health

pls dont put everything on one person's shoulders. That's a great way to break them or have them burn out young ma'am Kafka being in the Defence Force would not mean he'd be allowed to be at yer side in situations like this. Yer mad at him when you should be mad at yer superiors for putting all this pressure on you

its easier to blame Kafka than her superiors apparently

good fucking lords that tiger's anatomy is bad damn brah practice drawing animals pls

damn my guy Kafka really busting his ass to achieve his dream, rekindle his friendship with his childhood bestie, and uphold his promise to her when she just decided to use him as a scapegoat for all the pressure she's under that her superiors put on her and decided to freeze him out for not being able to meet the military's standards for enlistment even tho he tried for over a decade both of them just need to find other friends hot damn

like sometimes yer childhood bestie isnt a major badass like you and can't accomplish the thing you both want him too. Getting mad about it is kinda fucked

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

Kuaidul for the ask game!

Jeez that was fast. 😅

Okay. You ask so you shall receive!

KUAIDUL VELGEAR!

Why I LOVE him

To keep these answers as brief as I possibly can (funny joke when you're asking me to talk about my heart's savior), I absolutely ADORE Kuaidul and always have. I relate to him deeply, I find him fascinating, I love his smooth voice, I love his over the top mannerisms, I really just love everything about him and on top of everything, he's just consistently fun to watch. I could watch his shenanigans or even just listen to him talk for hours.

(More below. And fair warning. It did indeed get pretty long.)

What I like about his appearance

Is "everything" a valid answer? I love his long wild blond hair and want to run my fingers through it. I love the lightning marks on his cheeks, they add such a spark to his design no pun intended. I love his big adorable green eyes. I love his flowing cape/cloak whatever it's called and I love his pink sword and spiked shoulders and just everything about his design is really eye-catching to me.

Dub name or original name?

Kuaidul ONLY has his original name at the time of writing this and even if the dub changes his name, I will always prefer his original name because his name is incredibly meaningful. Literally. It means "rush duel". Even his name is something I love about him. Because it gives me so much to analyze and think about, whether his name was his choosing or his asshole Creator's, there's meaning there either way and it's interesting to think about.

OTP/OT3

I have an OT3! Yeah, I'm not choosing an OTP between these pairs. I've been shipping Kuaidul with my RP OC, Hawk, for quite a while partially due to there not being a canon character with a good potential shipping dynamic with Kuaidul... Before Fukamura came along and I decided "Screw it! It's polycule time!" and now the three of them are a throuple in the making and it's just really precious to me. I love writing that softer more vulnerable side of Kuaidul, along with doting and cutely mischievous sides that all come out a lot around Hawk and Fuka. It's just fun writing someone as proud and grandiose as Kuaidul being in love, and he's really wholesome and sweet with both of them.

NOTP

Well that's obviously the Creator. Not just cuz I hate his guts, for reasons I'm not derailing this post to get into as I want to keep it positive, but because he's Kuaidul's dad. That's how I've always interpreted their relationship so it's a huge nope from me as anything other than familial.

Favourite Card!

Yeah no shit it's Transamu Prime Armor Nova. I love his fusion monster as well, I love his Extreme Fusion card (in fact that's definitely second), I love his new Transamu, I love prime tribute summoning as a concept, I love that his cards were inspired by those around him (I relate to that as an artist), but it's the symbol of his deck, the tribute monster that makes tributes truly admirable and formidable even by rush duel standards that really catches my eye. I love the way he's summoned and he just looks incredible.

Favourite Moment

You expect me to pick ONE?!?!??

He has at least ONE moment that makes me go crazy in every episode he's in. And yes. I do mean every episode. Even the smaller appearances. I could go with the sheer epicness of him summoning Transamu Prime Armor Nova for the first time or his grand return in season 3. I could go with the unexpected but very welcome fun of him unexpectedly stepping in to duel Fukamura or exposing Fukamura's feelings in 4K. I could even say the tragic but ultimately character defining moment of him letting go of his attempted fusion with Yudias and accepting his impending death. But if I have to pick just one, I wanna say the moment where Kuaidul truly caught my attention and made me fall in love. This scene right here when he first takes over Yudias:

Because Kuaidul didn't quite have me smitten from his very first scene. Intrigued yes, but slightly nervous he would be a Sevens retread in some way, and the episode having the characters suspect that the creator of the Velgearians could've been Otes wasn't inspiring much faith. But this scene. This scene of Kuaidul taking over Yudias out of nowhere, almost like a jumpscare, and speaking in such a smooth unbothered voice with these occasional sassy quips while explaining his insanely over the top plan had my eyes and ears GLUED on him. I call him Go Rush's saviour for a reason. He fully reignited my interest in the show with his charm, silliness, intrigue, and just sheer fun factor and I have that amazing scene all the way back in episode 75 to thank for sparking my interest.

Least Favourite Moment

Uhhhhhhhh... That's tough. I really don't have any particular moment where I dislike Kuaidul, at least not for something he didn't make up for. So... I guess my only real answer to "least favourite Kuaidul moment" is this:

Not only because this scene drove me up a wall trying to figure out what the heck was happening for the longest time but now because I hate how this scene is constantly viewed as "Kuaidul absorbing the Creator." That's more of a fandom issue I'll admit but it really bothers me when people say or imply that Kuaidul initiated the merge with the Creator. He didn't. He ran after the Creator, he revealed his Soul Galaxy, but that's it. The one who initiated the merge was the Creator, who smirked evilly as he did so if you look closely:

Fandom problems aside though, the scene just upsets me. To me, it always looked like Kuaidul was being attacked and knowing now that the Creator is "merging" with him doesn't make it look less like an attack. If anything, considering that Kuaidul later attempts to take over Yudias via a merge, which is unquestionably an act of violence in the eyes of everyone, the Creator's merge with Kuaidul looks EVEN MORE violent and obviously I hate seeing my favourite character in pain. So this scene is I guess by default my least favourite with Kuaidul.

Other than his death I guess but honestly, that scene is really well done. It's sad as hell but it's supposed to be so it works.

Would I fuck, marry, or kill him

Okay ending off on a sillier note thank god cuz that previous part got more ranty than I expected (and it's something that should probably be its own post eventually).

Anyways, I would obviously marry Kuaidul. I really hope that was obvious. I plan to have at least Hawk marry him and, come on. I'm also obviously eyeing this piece of blond heaven carnally. You all know this.

He's just. Fantastic. One of only two characters who's remotely in the running for my favorite YGO character and honestly, Kuaidul is more than just a character to me. He's something, someone, deeply personal to me and continues to inspire me, artistically but also personally, to this day. I love him as much as one possibly can love a fictional character and he's a light that shines in my darkest nights who gives me hope and joy when I need it.

...god that was cheesy but you get the point.

[daewonbh]

what's good gamers!? i'm eight and i'm tardy to the party because i have an insane sleep schedule lately. i have links below that will give you a bit more to work with, and under the cut i'll introduce you to my stressed out son, im daewon. give the like button a lil love tap for me and i'll raid your ims so that we can plot.

dossier / memoir / appendix / plots

*˖ ⠀key points.

his mother was an opera singer, renowned for her talent and beauty. daewon idolizes his mother quite a bit. there were whispers that she was killed because she was a noble's mistress, yet his mentality is 'don't care it was the man's fault mom did nothing wrong' ( he has no clue what went on but there will be no im hyejin slander ).

he does not know shit about his father. he could be dead in a ditch, daewon would have no idea. he blames all of his bad traits on him.

for the first six years and some odd months of his life, he was raised by his mother in the beonhwa outskirts. his mother tragically passed in a house fire, leaving him to stay with the neighbor who rescued him until his eventual adoption by the house of magnolia at age 7.

magnolia's third in line ; he has no drive to rise any further in the ranks.

he's been busting his ass for his house since he was young to both rise up to the third spot, and now to maintain his position. he has a weird sense of obligation to the house for doing the bare minimum.

*˖ ⠀personality.

so very smart, but so very dumb. he's just a silly goofy lad.

tries his absolute best to be someone that's kind and approachable. though sometimes when he opens his mouth he's too critical or insensitive that he accidentally comes off as an asshole. (good intentions, terrible execution)

goes through periods of being very high energy and very low energy.. he's never in the middle.

he deals with a lot of conflicting feelings regarding his adoption — he's grateful for his basic needs being met but the amount of expectations that come along with being a child of one of the three houses weighs him down. he misses the freedom of just being daewon, the opera singer's son and not being im daewon, magnolia's third in line.

big on masking, both his mental health and feelings. his public persona is that of someone fairly easy-going, on the chattier side, could be perceived as fun but in a calm way, someone focused heavily on his pursuit for knowledge / those who see who he really is in private are used to dealing with both sides of him. one of being a bit quieter, not feeling like he has to engage as much as he does in public. they're used to him being more impulsive, freely making jokes and letting his feelings slip more often than not.

*˖ ⠀possible connections.

(for older muses) people that knew his mother ; he would love to hear stories about her.

(again, implied for older muses) someone that recognizes him for the stressed out child he is and has that underlying urge to baby him, bonus points if they too, are just a stressed out child.

(second muse inspo :eyes:) a grimy con man trying to claim he's daewon's biological father, so that he can have an in with one of the three houses. bonus points if they're not traditionally handsome so daewon can pull the 'no offense.. but my mom had standards' card.

(second muse inspo) siblings, siblings, siblings. right now daewon's the only magnolia affiliated muse and i crave violence both friendly and cunning sibling plots.

someone that sees daewon sneaking out on a regular and is wondering why he's always vaulting over the fence of the magnolia residence like he's some anime protag late for school.

moon tavern regulars!! he's there occasionally when he wishes to unwind. the lively atmosphere makes him feel right at home.

fellow animal lovers, daewon is a stray feeder, overly attached to animals that aren't his. he would listen to someone talk about their pet for hours — he's also this post for sure.

when daewon was younger, he was saved by one of his neighbors from a house fire. this same neighbor let him stay with their family until he was adopted by the house of magnolia. so any family to this neighbor, or for an older muse, the neighbor themselves.

someone that points out to daewon that he shouldn't feel so obligated that he was given basic necessities, maybe they have a darker view of how house of magnolia takes in these children and how exploitative it can be.

i have more on my actual plots page, these were just some additional ones my brain could come up with. if you've read through all of this, you're legally obligated to love me ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧