#it'd be people in hell

[justletmeon12]

Just going to say it:

Angel's BDSM idea was a good one! It teaches important lessons: consent, understanding boundaries (something Charlie sucks at), emotional support, and, as he immediately pointed out, trust.

I'm lowkey disappointed that the episode didn't pivot to being about letting other people contribute when they have thoughts/ideas, even if they don't fit your original vision.

[nenoname]

those newer fans can't possibly understand, having years of super dramatic and depressing depictions of stanley pines' fake death, only for us to get a silly straw dummy and the worst acting stan has done in his entire life

(altho i suppose months of everyone hc-ing that ford wore a turtleneck 24/7 because he's ashamed of his scars, only for us to get all-star tattoo-ed comes pretty close)

also an au where gf cops were slightly more competent and stan ends up being the prime suspect in his own murder because a man mysteriously dies after meeting his estranged twin who suddenly is inviting people to his murder hut....

[illmoraineakoi]

So, I know I'm a little (very) late to the AvA stuff, but I was rewatching AvM Season 3 for the seven hundredth time and, well, I noticed something and I'm curious to know if it's been discussed before.

AvM Episode 29, Purple's story, specifically, Pink's death.

Her color changes as she dies, or is represented to have died.

It fades to grey.

Now, the question is, can we, or rather should we, use this to infer anything lore-related? Was this just an artistic choice to depict the act of becoming unhealthy/dying, or could this be what actually happens to stick figures that die over a period of time? Are their colors linked to their health?

Let's have a bit of fun with it, and presume that the fading of one's color can happen to a stick figure for health-related reasons, as the scene could imply.

This fading seems to involve loosing the saturation of one's color into grey. Saturation is how vibrant a color is, and the complete lack of saturation is greyscale.

The World-of-Alan reason for Pink's death is that she 'got sick', which is where the health connection of this theory comes from. If she did loose her color as she was dying as the notes depict, that loss of color was likely a result of her failing health rather than any other factors, like age or outside variables. A whole bunch of human body stuff are indicators for good vs poor health, including skin color (jaundice and cyanasis are good examples) so why not a stick's color for them?

What if, when they fully die, they lose all of their original color?

Now, let me propose this…

Who else do we know of who has had their color loose vibrancy?

What if Victim's color has lightened because he's ill?

[francy-sketches]

hating on game of thrones in current year is a bit cringe like girl move on etc. However my complaints are more specific than the average person so I can at least feel like I'm bringing something new to the table. Instead of writing the one bilionth 'they butchered dany we were robbed' post I'm instead going on coke rants about how they character assasinated jaime by making him unfunny and how they didn't give my favorite irrelevant minor characters enough emotional depth and actually now that I'm saying it out loud that sounds worse

[evilkitten3]

one pet peeve of mine in founders-era fanfics is when madara's whole,,,, everything is solved by izuna just being there

like maybe this is just me, but i don't think izuna surviving or even coming around to the idea of a truce with the senju would've been enough to keep madara from the path he ended up on.

izuna wasn't the reason he left - he was definitely part of madara's issues, but he wasn't the why. even if izuna had stuck around, and even if that had been enough to keep the uchiha clan from losing their faith in madara, i think he would've still come to realize konoha wasn't what he'd hoped it would be.

best case scenario, i think izuna's survival might've caused madara to stick around a bit longer, but i don't think it would've lasted. honestly, even then, that might've just made the inevitable break-up between madara and hashirama even more agonizing (particularly for izuna)

it's a fun idea to play around with for sure, but frankly i don't think canon!madara could've ever been 'saved' from that path. certainly not if the hidden village system ended up getting set up in the same way.

[gghoulish]

the implications of mr compress drive me insane because i can easily read it as in some way or another, he probably felt he failed his bloodline, or that he couldn't shoulder that responsibility--- but instead, he chose to believe in someone who COULD, aka tomura. he saw revolution in a person and it was him. he could've tried to be the star of that show, but he instead raised up someone he saw great potential in, only showing the hand he was dealt when it was the end for him. i have seen a few things that imply he chose to work with tomura because of afo, but i don't think that's true, i think if anything someone of his lineage would be hesitant to do that--- afo and harima don't exactly have matching ideals, they may be radical to a degree but there's a difference between genocide and justice, and the league tomura creates has an entirely different energy to the way afo himself runs things. also if it's any level of literal that atsuhiro is inherently drawn to justice and what is right, then that implies he instinctually knew tomura had the potential to take on the legacy he felt he failed to uphold, enough so that he'd risk his life for him numerous times--- first costing him an arm, and then costing him his freedom.

judging by his words on people choosing their own fates, be they heroes or villains, as well as speaking of people's agency/personhood, it makes you wonder if he felt trapped in his own destiny too. he seems like he probably rebelled a bit when he was younger given his failed days as a magician, which doesn't feel all that prestigious for someone with his history. i can imagine he also sees himself in tomura, since they are both the heirs to some of the most prolific villains of all time--- if anyone understands the pressure he is under, it's atsuhiro. not to mention, mha has an obsession with using hands as a metaphor for things (particularly, oppression or freedom/affection), and though it's only in the anime, one of the few shots we get of kid atsuhiro is with his father's hands on his shoulders, guiding him to fulfill his legacy as harima's descendant, a thing he doesn't necessarily have a say in. it feels like it mirrors similar shots with afo and tomura, granted i'm not saying atsuhiro's father was some kind of tyrant, just that the insinuation of that pressure is there. while other villains were made by their circumstances or decisions, it was in atsuhiro's blood to rebel against the suffocating system they were born into.

him and tomura both having hand quirks also makes me think of another way they're similar. compression is a quirk that can be as dangerous as it is useful. we see that it can effortlessly maim others, which begs the question, what was it like learning that quirk? surely not easy or without consequence. that takes a lot of skill and precision. i think because of that, atsuhiro also makes for someone who probably wouldn't be afraid of or disgusted by tomura's quirk, which adds a further level of intimacy to them. he doesn't just see someone who destroys everything around him--- he sees new beginnings, and has the knowledge that from death, comes life itself. considering, despite his obvious skills in such, he isn't very keen on being a thief or violent for that matter, i feel like he's one of the few people to see and understand that tomura is not just the aggression and expectations that were made by afo--- he is his own person.

it also strikes me as suspicious that even though they needed as many allies as possible, he was never broken out of prison while other much more difficult people were pursued--- in the past he spoke out against the mistreatment of tomura and i feel like afo likely knew he was a risk to keep around, in the event he could not fully control tomura. so for as useful as he was, and could be, he was a liability, a part of tomura's humanity that couldn't be risked, especially when spinner was still around.

to close out, i don't think this was a last ditch effort, i think this is what he always knew to be his final act, he knew the curtain would fall with tomura, not him. tragically, he also probably knew none of them would realistically survive, but i think it was that fire that he saw in tomura--- a fire that could rival his great-great-grandfather--- that made him want to believe in him and drove him to do as much as he could. for all his theatrics and at times ridiculousness, his final act makes him feel like such a classically romantic character, someone willing to give everything up for the person he trusts and respects the most. i'll just never get over how utterly heart-wrenching it is to see atsuhiro's final panel be that wistful smile, still stuck in the same society that worships heroes.

[transingthoseformers]

We need to abuse the fact that there are transformers who turn into plants more often

[sea-adhesiveness537]

CAN YOU TELL ME ALL OF THE JELLYFISH DUO LORE?? cuz i think im beginning to hyperfixate on them

also SUPRISE FANART DOODLE JUMPSCARE!! LISTEN UP LUSAMINE GOT SUM TO SAY‼️ (btw sorry if i got anything wrong or missed any details)

Oh shit! Screen Universe doodle fan art REAL!! Idk if you're a daydreamer or not, but if not, the fact that I managed to get a not immersive daydreamer hyperfixate and be obsessed with them is very impressive!!

Ok, they have a whole ass lore doc in the works that was essentially pretty close to having its early release version done that I somehow didn't finish because I have other stuff in my plate. They go very far back! Back before Screen Universe was a thing in my head!

But I will give you the basic gist and summary of it because holy fucking shit, I'm honestly, genuinely very flattered that you like them as a pair! Or even notice that I pair them so much.

Ok, so! On the meta timeline, back before Screen Universe was a thing in my head, they were enemies in the previously active daydream world because I genuinely hated Lusamine at first because of what she did in her video game (very bad things, she's a Pokémon villain). Then one day, on 2017, on the night of the second to the last day of examination week on grade 6, I read a meme comic of Lusamine recreating a scene of the SpongeBob episode, Nature Pants, and it went into chaos from there. They've been paired more ever since then. The more SpongeBob memes I found of Lusamine being portrayed as SpongeBob himself on the internet, the closer they got in the daydreams 😭😔. Eventually, the previously active daydream world's main story came to an end and into its extra content stage, and getting stuff that's even unrelated to it. At this point, both of these Jellyfish obsessed fucks took over as the centering piece from there.

Eventually, Screen Universe was made in my head for them to fuck around in. At first, it was a "dlc" or extra content connected to the previous world, but it split itself from said world and became its own thing or identity in 2019. Screen Universe then kept growing, changing, and developing from there.

Now, on to the in-lore or in-story shit of Screen Universe.

Just a head's up, Lusamine in her original canon isn't... A good person. This would be definitely important to the whole Screen Universe lore bit since there is something in her Screen Universe lore that's tied to her canon lore because of how it affected said lore and her life in Screen Universe's story. Long story short: it was BAD. It complicated her life outside of acting out the canon storyline really quick.

At this point, both of them grew out of their characters and diverge too far or pretty far from it mentally or internally speaking. So don't expect both of them to be similar to their canon selves. This bit is especially important to their lores and themes of Screen Universe, so keep this in mind. I mean, there are characters in Screen Universe who are pretty similar to their canon selves, but not all of them. SpongeBob and Lusamine are two of the people who aren't like their canon selves.

For starters, they're this species called Fictionals. They're made for the entertainment of us audiences, specifically to play roles of the characters and act out their stories. They have this true form underneath their skin, and said skin is just a meat suit resembling a character used to portray said character. Yes, they're actors. Fake versions or imitations of the characters if you will. So you might see them or the other characters mention some meta shit their characters would otherwise not know, and some form of audience even they, the actors themselves, aren't certainly sure if they actually exist or not.

In lore or in the story, this all started when SpongeBob visited the Nintendo Empire (yes, there are big pots of lands based on the big video game and animation companies, they're called territories, and yes, video game and animated characters can co-exist together in the hub world called the Fictional Realm where they take a break from acting out their canons and do their own business there) and encountered Lusamine in a dark alleyway. Idk why, but in all versions of Screen Universe, they'd always meet up either within a dark alleyway or at the edge of a dark alleyway by the sidewalk. It's only the context that's been changed or developed over time. In the current context, SpongeBob made an excuse of just strolling around the Nintendo Empire one more time before going back to his homeland, the Nick Nation. But in reality, he's actually looking for Squidward and scanning the Empire for his whereabouts because of what happened to him in the events prior to this plot point. Then he encounters Lusamine at the edge of the dark alleyway, who was a newly made Fictional who fell from the sky (yyeeeeaaaahhh, they have an interesting way of being born, but basically no one has reproductive organs and their creators are the ones doing the work creating them before dropping them into their realm for safe keeping. But the Fictionals can live for a pretty long time as long as there's projects and acting work to do, so it works out).

Oh yeah, at some point during all that, there are other creatures foreign to them that tried to take Lus to their Realm because they... Like her too much. They're called Weblings and they're from another Realm called the Internet Realm. They're the embodiment of people's accounts on the internet, the most common one being the social media kind. SpongeBob saves Lus from being snatched in time and they both try to get away from the Weblings. They both go somewhere to eat, and Sponge tries to drop Lusa off in a place for her to wait for her senior co-stars from her series (in this case, Pokémon) to pick her up. However, she kept following him until it got to the point of stalking him home and hoping on the ride SpongeBob took to get to the Nintendo Empire in the first place. Just so you know, Nintendo Empire is rather far from the Nick Nation, so it'd take a while to make a back and forth trip between places. So when it was found out that his, eeerrrrr, new friend got in the blimp ship, he had no choice but to just go all the way back to the Nick Nation because they didn't expect that to happen or have enough resources to make an extra trip just to return some rookie game Fictional to her supposed homeland. He'd have to think about what to do with her after that.

When they got back to the Nick Nation, Sponge took care of Lus and nurse her back to a proper condition because when she fell from the skies before being found by him, she wasn't doing so hot and was struggling like a stray cat or a street creature back in the dark alleyway.

Then they spent more time together, bonding, Sponge guiding Lus about this new world around her and stuff. At one point, Sponge taught her a bit about morals like what's right and wrong... A bit too early for someone like her. This is especially important to the whole, "Lusamine was so fucked up in the True canon that it fucked up the Screen Universe counterpart's life" thing going on. Basically, that whole morality thing was either fuel or the start of her existential crisis because she later found out she was created specifically to portray a bad person doing bad things.

A month or so passed and the senior co-stars from the Pokémon series called up SpongeBob for them to pick up Lusamine from his place. At this point, they've grown somewhat attached to each other, and Lus didn't want to be separated from Sponge just yet. Luckily, the older human Pokémon actors agreed to let Sponge tag along since he's the closest to Lus and he's the only that helped her grow comfortable and adapt to the environment. They both went back to the Nintendo Empire, and then the first split in the story occurs. They part ways for now and they start doing their own things and go through their own arcs. But they meet up and visit each other every now and then throughout the story. It's mostly Lus doing the visiting since Sponge seems like a pretty busy person to leave his homeland often. He's the literal leader of the place, what more can he do when there's a lot of shit for him to worry about due to the events of the storyline prior to the "introduction to video game people" season/book/part. Then again, he was doing something else aside from that due to something else happening in his side of the story.

Anyways, Lus mostly visits Sponge ever so often during her break times or while she's sneaking off from acting work. She honestly wants to tell him about her new job as an actor and her smaller grievances in said job without spoiling her game's story. She also invited him to check out the live performance of her debut game before knowing her character's true canon nature. She later wants to take that back after knowing what her character is truly like out of fear over Sponge possibly hating her for playing as such a person, but at that point, Sponge already wants to check it out anyway. Dw, he doesn't care or mind about what she plays as as long as the actress herself is not too bad of a person. He's one of few known people who's chill around villain actors, both in the public eye and just in general.

When their respective arcs and sides of the story reach its climax or peak, Lusamine's side of the story interrupted SpongeBob's side because a co-star of hers from a different Pokémon game who plays a pretty similar role as her accused SpongeBob of leaking some major canon story bits from Lusamine's game because during her side of the story and her own arc, her off camera life grew miserable because a lot of people in her homeland mysteriously knew about what her character did in the true canon story and start attacking her over it. SpongeBob told the accuser that Lus didn't tell him ANYTHING about what happened in her canon story, just the behind the scenes stuff and what she and her co-stars are up to adjacent to it or outside of it.

Yes, the (replacement. Very long story) Ghetsis Fictional accused the SpongeBob Fictional of leaking Pokémon Sun and Moon's plot because the Lusamine Fictional got hate crimes for her character's actions way earlier than it should've happened (during production instead of after its release).

SpongeBob let the accuser and two other Pokémon co-stars (Cynthia and Lysandre) stay over a little longer and get to know them a bit better. I mean, he has heard of them and knew them at some point, but they're from mentions, the news, and other sorts of second or third degree information, never directly interacting with them outside of the time when they had to pick Lus up for her actor job at an earlier point of the story

At this point, it's SpongeBob who's now doing the visiting because of the news and the accusation. To the point where he even stays in the Nintendo Empire for a little longer in one of his visits that's closer to the game's release date (some time in September, mid or late October, or early November, I didn't decide when did he do that visit, but it should be one of those).

There's a story point where Lus ripped her skin off out of distress, fear, anxiety, and guilt from playing the character, the grave implications that imprinted on her, and her society conditioning her to feel those things because they hold their highest regard over what character and role someone plays as. And if anyone plays the villain of their canon story, they strip the actor's rights and normalcy, and sometimes even their life if it especially goes REALLY bad. It gets worse for the actor the more psychotic/fucked up the original villain character is.

And that's why and how Actress Lusamine despises her character so much (and to some extent, her creators for making the character that way and forcing her to not only play said character, but bear or keep the character's name and body too). She thinks it's the character's fault that she got into this sort of situation this early into her life. But at the same time, a part of her hated herself and felt guilty for acting out those scenes. As if, in some cruel cosmic sense, it's her fault for having such a role in the first place even though it was out her control.

Luckily and conveniently, SpongeBob was in the Nintendo Empire when Lusamine did the whole Peel Her Skin Off thing and found her in the same area where he first met and saved her. During all this, her other few major co-workers, both from her own Pokémon game and from other Pokémon games, went after her and looked for her together with SpongeBob. SpongeBob then tries to persuade and convince her to go back in the suit or else she might cave in to the intense and horrible pain she put herself into from being outside the character meat suit and die permanently (yeah, there are two kinds of deaths, permanent and temporary death. Temporar is more like fainting after going down to zero hp and being very exhausted. Permanent is a true death where they'll never wake up again). It took awhile, but eventually after reassuring that Sponge wouldn't hate or attack her for whatever might happen in her true canon, and that she can be whoever she wants to be despite being stuck to the body and name of a character, she goes back to the skin suit.

Then release of the game rolls around... And then the main antagonist of the story approaches. It's Mickey... Mickey Mouse. Throughout the video game characters' intro season/book/part/whatever segment of the story, he's shown to be harassing past actors in the flashback sequences and arcs, which includes the older Pokémon actors. That's why Cynthia, a character who's otherwise not a bad guy in canon, gets involved or intertwined with the villain actors' shenanigans and the Ghetsis actor had to be replaced with another Fictional to carry that role. Mickey did something to them that caused them to be in the situations they are now in during the present day. Mickey, along side with his group or organization, is also tied to SpongeBob's side of the plot and the acceleration of SpongeBob's issues and angst.

I feel like there's more to explain about... All of this, but we'll get to that some other time or post since this is supposed to be a Jellyfish Duo centric post.

Before going into the next section, I want to talk about Live Performances and how they work. A Live Performance is basically the actors reenacting the events of their source materials in their little workplace where they usually do recordings of their work. It's like their way of showing other actors what they do and can do, impress other actors, and often times, a tradition or a rite of passage for the newbies to exhibit what they learned and done during their production/development stage of their debut project to the older ones. Their workplace is a pocket dimension studio world thingy that has everything an actor needs for their work.

Anyways, now in the present events, instead of SpongeBob going first to try the Live Performance of Pokémon Sun and Moon the game, it was Mickey because, would you look at that, the game released on the same day as when Mickey as a character was born and debuted as a concept of a cartoon character, November 18. And as expected, the Pokémon LARP session went BAD! Lusamine almost died to the mouse she's trying to entertain multiple times because, "character=bad, therefore character's actor=also bad" bullshit and Mickey would always coincidentally get into a psychosis/delusional episode at the peak of a live game's story, which explains the suffering and bullshit the other actors had to go through to not be murdered by the mouse. Some even suspected that Mickey's bullshitting just to have an excuse to get off to his sick kicks, but they're not so sure about that. People tried to ban him from their own Live Performances in the past, their government was like, "money :)" and, "he besties with emperor Mario, so Mickey good :)" (ok, the latter statement was just an exaggeration, but you get the gist of it). So they just didn't get rid of him.

During most of the murder attempts during the Live Performances, Lusamine hit Mickey, both in normal form and in her big boss form, and just ram all she got into him like his face. Both out of impulse, and because she snapped after being attacked for her character's canon crimes for so long. This WILL be important for later :}.

After the whole Mouse x Pokémon gen 7 rampage went down, it was SpongeBob's turn on the Live Performance or Pokémon LARP sesh. It went smoothly and normal. Just kinda rocky here and there because he'd try to derail the story sometimes either for the fun of it or out of boredom, and the actress who's originally the main character in the canon Pokémon SuMo story was not having any of it and tries to rope things back to how the original plot line should go. There'd be times when SpongeBob and Lusamine would have secret and illegal meta gaming talks over the phone throughout the course of the live game because the latter who was waiting for her cue to show up got bored and wanted to talk to him and give her company. I mean, there are other co-workers around, but they're too busy doing their own thing, keeping the act running, reviewing their script, and all. So they talked whenever Sponge is not preoccupied with a scene. There's this one point where SpongeBob accidentally steps out of the overworld and into this void place full of code. It's like a skeleton of the world if you will. Lusamine had to guide him out of there without being suspicious of an important figure being in danger in her own workplace. Don't worry, he got out.

When the story got closer to Lusa's big reveal of her canon nature, her actress kinda freaked out and gave Sponge a heads up on what it "might" go down. Like, a warning, and the option of turning back, since she's worried that what Sponge reassured her was not fully true or that she's still unsure about SpongeBob's reaction ever since the whole Mouse crime attempt went down. SpongeBob still pushed through and progressed the story, leading him to That Plot Point of the story. They still talk about what was happening during that part of the story meta speaking in a form of morse codes without ruining or interrupting the original scene. While SpongeBob was surprised from the emotional whiplash of what canon Lusamine was like, Actress Lus was relieved that SpongeBob doesn't hate her or look her down as a person for carrying an emotionally heavy role as a reason of existing. He just felt bad for her and wished he didn't denied it out of grief, wished he had done something better than denying (yeeeeaaahh, he seen all the signs that point to Actress Lusamine playing the villain at work, but ignored them because he hated the thought of losing a newly made friend to a part of society and something that's out of his control due to past traumas related to losing friends).

They have more meta calls after that, but it's not as often as before because of how heavy the situation felt even if it's just an act. Then again, there are also other factors behind it, so there's that.

At the climax of the reenactment, they have a play fight that's more friendly than whatever Mickey has going on with the other actors. Anyways, that's how SpongeBob seen Lusamine's boss form. Oh, and there were multiple mistakes during that point of the reenactment because it's triggering Lusa's trauma of Mickey trying to kill her permanently. So they had to do over again and again until they got it right.

After all that, they finally cooled down, and went back to meta talking again. When the post game reenactment stuff came around, SpongeBob poke around and find out about what other stuff the game has in store before wrapping up the LARP sesh.

At one point, there was a post game bit that made him reflect on his actions back in his side of the plot and his character arc because he was becoming an asshole to a pair of characters while the whole disaster/existential angst inducing production of Pokémon SuMo arc thingy went down. He later thanks Lus for the Live Performance, not just for the general entertainment, but also for showing him see what he did wrong. Lus was oblivious to the whole thing and didn't know what he exactly meant, so she assumed that she just gave him some good entertainment with her performance. Recently, I thought of a scenario where Lus wants to have a Pokémon battle with SpongeBob not as her character, but as herself or actor self, so I thought of adding that in for the post game reenactment section.

Once the Pokémon LARP sesh wrapped up and stuff, the actors did their cool down and change out of their acting gear while Sponge does his own thing rating everything like the actors and their characters. The main priority of the rating are the actors, the rest are optional and not important.

Remember the rat? Well, he'll appear now.

So the rat bastard shows the fuck up again, and sues Lusamine because she punched and hit him back in his own Live Performance sesh (even if it's out of self defense). And then the whole trial arc ensued. It ended in disaster and a planned execution because Lus hit Mickey with her boss form, and her villain role puts her in a position that's less ideal than her opponent. So she's very much doomed from the get go.

Luckily, SpongeBob helped Lus escape prison and her perma death sentence along side with her co-workers and some of SpongeBob's co-workers and allies from his homeland. But now SpongeBob has to confront Mario and the legal side of the Nintendo Empire—

(Screen Universe part two is fucking nuts, I tell you 💀. It goes bananas towards the middle and the end. And this is just the Jellyfish Duo sections of the plot!)

(cont.) after taking Lusamine out of prison and not in a bailing way. SpongeBob negotiated with Mario about the terms and conditions of Lusamine's fate to ensure that she can still live without dying to legal consequences. Later, they agreed that she can stay with Sponge and in his Territory as long as she doesn't set foot upon the lands of the Empire's surface unless with the intent of going to actor work or under supervision. Basically, she got banished from the Nintendo Empire after all that happened.

[apostate-in-an-alcove]

Not to sound like a curmudgeon but I HATE when century homes and buildings get torn down and replaced with modern ones; feels like the personality and soul of a neighbourhood gets sucked out of it when that happens.

[broken-clover]

It's eternally a little funny whenever I see someone say something along the lines of 'everyone in Strive is so happy now! Everyone's stories are getting resolved! It'll be hard to make a new game when everyone's retired and living peacefully and resolved their problems' and then there's a haunted semi-sentient mecha corpse in the corner constantly screaming from being trapped in limbo

[paintpanic]

opinion on Kracko?

He's fine!

I really like what they did with him in TDX. His bossfight there used the foreground-background mechanics in a unique and interesting way, and the attacks they gave him are cool. (His DX design is also cool! I love the stripes!)

He was also neat in Epic Yarn. In that one, he's a miniboss in one of the rocket ship shooter levels, and he even gets his own music! (It's like a five second loop, but still-) As a whole, I really love the shooter levels in this series.

I think he's at his worst in Star Allies. They couldn't think of anything more interesting to do with him than add another one? Parallel Kracko is also boring and lame.

I think his design is fun, if a little generic. Like I said, they really nailed it in TDX. I'm also a sucker for anything with electricity powers, so that's a plus. Overall, I would say I think positively about this guy.

[jeweled-blue-eyes]

unpopular opinion but platonic AFO would not be offended at the incest accusations. That guy would pretend he's fucking his brother purely for the villain aesthetic

[mugiwara-lucy]

I've seen how some people (especially after the last chapter) think how the eventual meeting between Luffy and Dragon will be a "high tension" reunion moment for both Luffy and Dragon. But, personally....I think the tensions will be strong on Dragon's end while Luffy will be as apathetic as ever 😅

[3-2-1-annihilation-station]

"Phoenix and Edgeworth are just friends!"

Ah, yes. Dedicating your entire life and career in hopes of just meeting the one guy who defended you once in fourth grade is just something friends do.

So is doing it again just because he asks you to even though the process to get it back is extremely difficult, the job has gotten you routinely injured, and you've been out of it for seven years.

Having a scrapbook entirely dedicated to him too is also something friends just do along with calling him Daddy while you're both at work in what is supposed to be an extremely professional setting. Same with the guy also inexplicably having a picture of you wet and shirtless just lying around.

That's totally just friend stuff, yeah. Ain't nothing to see here.

**Edit:**Some people are taking this post as an attack on ace people, people who just believe they’re friends, or is saying that Phoenix’s behavior is fine and normal if it’s romantic but suddenly not if it's just purely platonic.

Spoiler alert: it’s doing none of those things.

This post is simply pointing out the sheer insanity of Phoenix’s behavior and how what he does is not by any stretch what friends typically do for each other and nor is it healthy, regardless of the circumstances. It is just saying that while it would still be incredibly unhealthy, it being romance based would have it make a lot more sense.

[shimmerandfists]

Modern Au ViJinx thoughts:

Jinx exists in this universe as opposed to Powder but she's really a truer mix of the two than a direct 1:1 with Arcane's Jinx. She's closer to how Jinx was with Isha I think, still mentally ill but for the most part present and healthy, she has the tools to manage her symptoms for the most part.

She's been on the path of independence for a couple years now and at 19 she's antsy to move out of Vanders place. She's been relying less and less on Vi, Vander and Silco (everyone is alive at this point) as she gets older to the point she's making enough of her own money to save and buy things.

She doesn't have any real job of any kind but she's found under-the-table fix-it jobs for whoever needs it and pays the most. Unfortunately that usually ends up being shadier individuals, and has gotten her in trouble a couple times. She still hangs out with Ekko when they can. She helps him out with his college projects, even if it's his not-so-subtle way of trying to get her interested in going to college with him.

Vi is 23-24 (both the ages they are in the show) and has long since moved out. She's worked her way through an apprenticeship at a mechanics shop and has pretty steady work and income because of it. She tries her hardest to keep up her relationship with Jinx and drops just about everything to make time and space for her. Jinx hasn't asked for any of that in at least a year or two now. She keeps offering up her spare room to Jinx when she moves out but she hasn't gotten a solid answer from her yet.

Nobody has any clue what she does except for Vi, who bailed her out of jail the first and only time she got arrested. It may have been from a DUI she got for a party one of her clients invited her to when she first started working. She's the only one she would ever call if she needed anything at this point in her life even if she doesn't know how to talk with Vi like she used to.

She has her recently realized feelings for her older sister as well, she never really noticed them at all until Vi had moved out. Powder at the time was 15 and Vi was 20. Jinx didn't fully notice WHAT they were until she turned 17 and by then the space and time had changed their relationship. No matter how hard they both tried to keep it up, the fact was they both matured into different people they didn't fully recognize anymore. Neither think it's a bad thing, only that it's different and they don't know each other as well as they feel they used to.

With Vi living on her own and working a full time job, and with Jinx growing up and out into the world, it seemed inevitable. With more steady job leads popping up in the area where Vi had moved to, Jinx is starting to consider her sisters offer a little more seriously about the apartment room. Ultimately, she'd decide to get her own place but not too far away. Luck would have it that there was an apartment opening up in the same complex Vi was living at, a couple units down.

Vi is ecstatic about this and Jinx can't contain her enthusiasm either. The thought of spending time with each other was what both of them needed, they had really missed the other and there isn't anything like spending time in person to regrow lost connections. Vi was a little hurt at first Jinx declined her offer again but with how things worked out she doesn't hold on to that, and Jinx gets her own space while still being within bothering distance of Vi. They spend a stupid amount of their free time with each other, slotting back into each other's lives as if no time had passed at all.

That's about as far as I'm getting tonight but I'd love to explore this a little bit more later. With the flavor and depth and less of the foundation building. Like a detailed scene of Jinx' jail fiasco or some moments between the two when Jinx still lives at Vanders and Vi is in her own apartment. Future moments of them living in the apartment complex together, figuring out that in the process of getting to know each other again after that much time apart, they don't just love each other anymore. To both of their frustration, they're falling IN love with each other, and definitely in lust with each other.

Inspired by this edit: Flashing, Volume Warning

[moongothic]

Tbh I wanna see crocodile fight someone so we can see how strong he is because the last time he’s gotten in a real fight was in marineford. Does crocodile have haki? Does he need it at all to survive the new world? Like with most of the relevant pirates knowing haki, retroactively or otherwise, it’s kinda hard to gauge what he’s capable of

Anon I am so sorry I'm gonna go slightly off-topic/become deranged because I've been thinking about writing a whole ass post about this very subject and now you just gave me an excuse to word vomit incoherently instead. So I'm just gonna do that. I'm so sorry

(Hey won't you look at that I actually came back and edited this so it's vaguely legible and there's like a proper point to my thesis lmao)

Also I am. So sorry. For how obscenely long this got. Holy shit I have no idea how this happened I am so sorry

I can not put into words just how badly I want to see this man have an actual, proper 1-v-1 fight with someone. Oda, for the love of god let him fuck up someone, please, I c̵͍͛r̶̢͠a̴͕̾v̷̠͆ḛ̶̐ ̸̤͝t̷̟̋h̷̳̓ḙ̵̀ ̷̱͌b̶͓͑l̸̦̚ô̶̠ȯ̸͇d̴̲̕

No for real though, the one, true, proper 1v1 we ever saw Crocodile have WAS with fucking Luffy and like, to be fair they did fight three times, but still, during Summit War? Sure we see him exchange a few blows but it's never a proper 1v1 because we keep on cutting from one thing to another and the opponents keep on changing etc. So there was no time for a proper battle with anyone

So out of principle alone I want to see him have a proper fight with someone (who isn't a Strawhat preferably) at least once before the series ends (though honestly if we could have more than just one fight scene with Crocodile I would not complain at all, but I might be asking too much at that point)

But also yes. I want to know Croc's actual Power Level in the story right now (and I don't mean that in a powerscaling-kinda way, just in a "I want my husband to look cool because it's what he deserves" kinda way)

Like. The Crocodile we've seen in the past absolutely under no circumstances deserves the fucking unit of a bounty he has on his head right now. And I mean, to be fair Buggy doesn't deserve his gigantic bounty either, canonically the numbers don't matter or mean THAT MUCH-- They just reflect what the WG thinks a person is worth, not the true level of threat the person actually poses But also. Croc's bounty has literally gotten like 24 times bigger from his OG pre-Shichibukai era bounty. To be fair, according to trivia his OG bounty would've at least doubled had the WG known about Baroque Works, but his current bounty would still be like 12 times bigger than before. And god fucking knows Crocodile does not fucking deserve a bounty this fucking big if he hasn't gotten any more powerful since Alabasta. No amount of hanging around with Mihawk and running evil organizations should beef up his bounty that much

So surely, he must've gotten more powerful since we last saw him action, right? Surely? Somehow?

But indeed, how?

And that's where we kinda get to the interesting part, don't we? We have no idea what Croc's been up to for the past two years. Like whatever he's been doing, surely it's been better than spending a decade sitting on his ass and barely ever lifting a muscle when overpowering rando pirates attacking Alabasta with his Logia powers, right. Like surely being in the New World alone would be enough to make him break a sweat for a change

But then like, the only two times we have seen Croc post-timeskip (pre-Cross Guild) he has been just sitting around reading the news (to be fair, the scenes were also about him catching the news about Luffy, it's not like he can't do anything else outside of those scenes). So like. I feel kind of conflicted, like on one hand to get stronger then surely he must've been working out or something. But also I do kind of mentally associate Training Arcs with much younger characters, and Crocodile is quite middle aged, like is he even allowed to go through a training arc anymore?? Especially when he's like a such a Proper Gentleman, it's so hard to imagine him to go back to the basics or anything

But also?? How else would he get stronger?? Like?? Maybe there really was?? AN OLD MAN TRAINING ARC??

But also, to be fair

Crocodile did make a big point about how he "keeps on honing and developing his Devil Fruit skills instead of stagnating like some other losers" back when he and Luffy had their first match. So I really would love it if Oda kept that actually true for the character, I'd love to see him actually whip out some new tricks, techniques and attacks instead of us seeing Sables again for the 839423th time

And really he can't really whip out new attacks if he hasn't at least tried to come up with new tricks (and preferably tried them out)

But that was just the basics right, Croc's Devil Fruit capabilities

Then there's the whole mystery of Crocodile's Haki Status. A whooole different can of worms. Considdering how the only actual damage he seemed to take during the entirety of Summit War was because of Jozu's Haki, and the fact that even fucking Blackbeard can use Haki now, it'd feel deranged if he doesn't have any kind of Haki capabilities. Like everybody knows Haki is going to be Croc's persona kryptonite, including Croc himself! And Haki Mastery really is The Thing that decides whether a pirate crew can actually make it or not in the New World (Kaidou made a specific point about that too). So surely, considdering Croc's supposed to be A Smart Boy and all, he knows he'll need to actually figure out how to use Haki if he doesn't want to lose another limb, right. Like surely he's figured that shit out, right???

Now people have been speculating for years if both Crocodile AND Moria used to be Haki users who lost their Haki after getting their asses kicked in the New World. Which, in theory would make sense, since Haki is essentially just willpower, and getting crushed the way they did would give them good in-universe reasons to why they didn't use the ability, as their traumas could translate to them losing their wills. But also it is willpower, that's not really a tangible thing you can really lose, and the idea of "Haki loss" isn't actually canon (yet at least). So although it's great fanon, we can't assume it's true. Like just as an example, we know Hancock can supposedly use Conqueror's Haki but we've never actually seen her demonstrate the ability

And to be fair to Croc (and Moria), the concept of Haki didn't really start to get Truly Solidified in the story until post-War, so expecting Alabasta!Croc to use it a whole decade earlier in real world time would be ridiculous since Oda hadn't figured out the system yet.

And while that is 100% true and fair.

Thing is. Although extremely vague, I do think Oda had been slowly starting to build the IDEA of Haki already in Alabasta. Like we know the concept gets properly introduced during the Skypiea Saga where Blackbeard both namedrops it and we get to see Observation Haki in action, under the name Mantra. But already in Alabasta, when Zoro is trying to figure out how to cut steel (to defeat Daz), that whole "breath of things" and hyper-awareness he gains when near death... I'm not the first one to point out how much that sounds like rudamentary Haki. And like, yes, on paper the idea of the battle was that Zoro became strong enough to cut steel. But also, learning to use Haki would be what would allow anyone to cut through a Devi Fruit ability like that. The same applies to Luffy's final attack on Crocodile too, his punch destroying the sand blade that before would've sliced his entire hand in half before is poetic on its own, but makes even more in-universe sense if you considder the possilibity Luffy might have subconciously been using Haki at the very end, his sheer willpower allowing him to punch Croc.

The reason I'm pointing all that out is that I kinda wonder if we might've gotten hints at Crocodile having not just Haki, but fucking Conqueror's Haki in Alabasta

This is based on two things:

First, Crocodile's pet bananawani. Yes, he could just be Really Good with animals and that would be adorable on its own. But we know Conqueror's can be used to intimidate and tame animals, including really fierce beasts. Keeping in mind that bananawani are meant to be one of the few species of animals that prey on Sea Kings, IDK, if you told me the reason Crocodile was able to tame them and keep them as pets thanks to Conqueror's, I would believe you. It's nothing solid, there's no proof one way or another, but it would make sense in-universe, it is plausible.

Second, this scene.

Does that blast of Ominous Air/Energy on the third page not remind you of one of those Conqueror's Haki shockwaves?

Of course, considdering Luffy was able to knock out Bon-chan with his untrained, uncontrolled Conqueror's in Impel Down (though to be fair, in the Impel Down scene Bon-chan was in rough condition anyways), if Crocodile was displaying his Haki here, either

A) Shit's real fucking weak or

B) He must've intentionally "kept it down" in this scene just to make sure his agents didn't actually pass out on the spot

But of course, if Croc had fullblown Conqueror's that he was able to control that well, you'd think he might've actually used it to subdue weaker enemies at some point or something (though, again, Hancock also supposedly has it and we haven't seen her use it, and if we had seen him use it on Luffy or something then the story really would've ended in Alabasta). So if that really was Conqueror's, I'd personally maybe rather lean on it being weak as hell (especially if Haki Loss was canon) over him having perfect control over it

Of course, just because that ominous blast of air in hindsight might resemble a weak ass Conqueror's Haki Blast, it doesn't mean that's what it was. Just like with the Bananawani example, there's nothing solid here to go off of, it's just plausible

(Also just for clarity's sake, Crocodile doesn't need Conqueror's Haki. I just think there could be evidence to suggest it if you overthink it just right)

All of this to say

Regardless of what Croc's Haki Status was during Alabasta and Summit War, the fact is that the dude really does kind of need Haki just to survive in the current storyline. So if he can't use ANY KIND OF HAKI, I'm just gonna be speechless. Like Luffy could kill him by just farting on him at that point Not to mention I'd actually love to see the Haki Loss-concept explored in the canon. Like either have it debunked, or somehow confirm it's a thing and show off what a horrifying threat Crocodile can be when he's actually putting his everything into a fight (same for Moria btw, if all he has to protect rn is Perona I'd love to see him go apeship and use Haki to protect her)

BUT THEN THERE'S A WHOLE DIFFERENT DIRECTION WE COULD GO WITH CROCODILE'S POWER LEVEL

OH DID YOU THINK I WAS FUCKING DONE WITH THIS POST? NO, WE'RE STILL FUCKING GOING MAN

So I've seen a lot people speculate about Logia Awakenings and what they could be like. Most people seem to agree on the theory that Punk Hazard being the way it is could be a result of two awakened Logias (namely Akainu and Aokiji) clashing. Similarly that Enies Lobby could be where an Awakened Light Fruit did a thing in the distant past, causing the eternal daytime on the island

I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced that's what Logia Awakenings will be like (some people have also suggested Enel's Final Form was a Logia Awakening, which I kinda doubt but okay), it's a neat idea in any case, we'll just have to wait and see what Oda has cooking for us

Regardless. On a mere narrative level, if they're even possible then I think it'd be cool as hell if Crocodile could act as an introduction to Logia Awakenings and what they're actually like. Because, depending on the role the bastard is going to take going forward, it could prepare us and Luffy for what's to come with Akainu (the real threat)

And again, depending on his role in the story, I think he could be an actual candidate for someone who could deserve to be Awakened-- like the whole Awakening State is sliiightly OP, and Logias are also kind of OP by default. So between OG Croc being kinda weak as hell (by current standards), but also him being an experienced pirate who's known his abilities for god knows how many decades... IDK I think he could deserve The Honors, y'know?

Like compare him to someone like Sabo or Blackbeard who got their Logias only recently and are still learning to use their abilities (more or less). If either of those fuckers somehow Awakened their Logias before Sir Fucking Crocodile I'd be kinda pissed off y'know?

The Admirals are kinda OP to begin with anyways too, I kinda just don't want Smoker to get The Honor of being the first on-screen Awakened Logia either, and really that would leave us with like... Ceasar and Enel as our only remaining options

And Dragon, if he does have a Wind Logia (which remains to be seen)

So. Yeah. If Logia Awakenings can be a thing, I think Crocodile could be the perfect guy to actually introduce them in the story (depending what his role will be).

All of this nonsense to say

Mr Oda, please, I would like to see Sir Crocodile in action pwease

And I want to know what the hell that weird spike thing was

Mr Oda please, I wish to see the Husband and see what kind of tricks he can do now after all these years, please allow him to commit a murder or two or three