#it's chronologically ordered too. because i'm obsessed

[insomnya777]

do you guys want to see my boat boys playlist 💯💯💯💯💯💯

[aromacaque]

I've seen you say it before, but can you explain more or less what you mean when you say that Macaque idolizes/idolized Wukong?

I've talked about it a little in these posts too 1 , 2

I'm gonna break this down by chronological order for my own sanity lol

Before Attacking Heaven

We don't have a ton of info on this part of their lives, but I do think this scene, which if not entirely before the brotherhood, is at least before their plans to go against heaven.

I talked about this more in detail here, but this scene just kinda establishes what their relationship was before everything else happened, which is important.

Macaque getting hurt is a really small detail, but they wouldn't take the time to put that in for absolutely no reason.

He's willing to throw himself in fire for their home and/or for Wukong. Wukong checks on him to make sure he's okay and gives him some peaches. He realizes Macaque is a little annoyed at him, then tries to comfort him. This is also one of the few times we see Macaque genuinely happy. They're best friends! Cool!! Not much to say here about him idolizing Wukong, but this is where it starts.

I couldn't tell you if it was already happening during this moment under the tree or not, but at some point Macaque starts to kind of stop seeing Wukong as a person and more of an idea. Something above him. The first time we see this is during the brotherhood.

Again, talked about this a little bit in this post, but in this scene with the brotherhood, we see what their relationship has become. Macaque ignores his own worries, fears, and distrust in favor of Wukong. Whatever Wukong says goes.

Wukong doesn't do anything to coerce Macaque into acting like this. Macaque is choosing to place Wukong over his inhibitions. His blind faith and trust in Wukong is not healthy. It is codependent*

But really it's less these scenes and more everything after them that lets us see how bad this actually was.

Wukong becomes Macaque's obsession and this spirals out of control the worse their relationship gets. By the time we are at season 1, Wukong is Macaque's sole motivator until season 3, where Lady Bone Demon puts his life on the line.

JTTW Fight

We know we are missing a lot of information because what happens between their argument under Five Phases Mountain and in the fight that ended Macaque's life makes no sense if that's all there was to their falling out.

Macaque is much more reserved and hesitant in the past than he is in the present. To go from that to "Macaque, stop! Don't make me do this!" ? To a fight implied to be one of Wukong's worst memories? How? Why? Macaque is completely unreachable here. It seems like he refuses to even try talking it out while this time it's Wukong who isn't being listened to.

To go from his past self to how he acts in season 1?

We technically don't know what happened, but do we know enough to make sense of it? I think so. And yes, it has everything to do with how he "idolized" Wukong.

Wukong's Present Attitude Toward Macaque

WALK WITH ME HERE AND KEEP PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT I PUT ASTERISKS ON. I SWEAR ON MY LIFE THERE IS A POINT TO ALL THIS.

First of all, Wukong does not intervene with anything unless he believes it is a serious threat (ex. Lady Bone Demon, Azure, The Pillars) or something that MK can't handle on his own (ex. Spider Queen, LBD, Azure, Pillars).

It is worth noting that the first time Macaque shows up, Wukong doesn't seem surprised at all. He also isn't concerned enough to immediately confront MK about it upon noticing or confront him the second Macaque shows up despite knowing how dangerous he could be and clearly having followed MK to keep an eye on him. It's only once Macaque hurts MK that he intervenes.

Wukong, for whatever reason, possibly because he knows him well, doesn't treat Macaque as a serious threat. If anything, he treats him more as a nuisance,* but ultimately as his responsibility to deal with, not MK's.

MACAQUE: Come on! The old you would've leveled this whole mountain range to stop me! But you're scared of hurting some kid? Pathetic!

He also doesn't use his full power against Macaque. Macaque knows he isn't too. He treats Macaque in a similar manner to how he treats Spider Queen, only with a bit more force and power due to Macaque being stronger. Reiterating that Wukong doesn't see Macaque as a genuine threat LBD style. This is important.

WUKONG: Are you ever going to get sick of living in my shadow?

WUKONG: Oh no...

(The voice delivery here in particular is very um... exasperated.)

SIDENOTE:

MACAQUE: Oh Wukong!

IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT WUKONG WITH THIS GUY!!! HE WANTS HIS ATTENTION SPECIFICALLY EVERY TIME! This guy is literally obsessed with him. Wukong lives rent free in his head.

WUKONG: So what? You're her puppet now? I mean, makes sense, you always did have a sidekick kind of vibe.

WUKONG: So, you got bone demon powers now, huh? Well, it is on brand for you to have worse versions of everyone else's powers... Not gonna gloat? Monologue a little bit before scurrying off to your master?

*I'm gonna be honest, I don't think Wukong is saying any of these things as some admission to Macaque's inferiority as much as he is aggravated by Macaque's behavior.

Look, Wukong doesn't act like this with anybody else. The closest he gets is taunting enemies during fights which is never that serious, intentionally provoking someone to get a needed reaction (ex. DBK while trapped in webs), or adopting a serious demeanor with dangerous situations (LBD, Azure, etc.)

Macaque is an exception to Wukong's behavior. For obvious reasons, nobody else has that kind of relationship with him.

His words to Macaque are condescending, yes, but I don't think it's in the way it sounds. Macaque doesn't acknowledge his own faults, that has to be frustrating. Then he goes and acts like he's an extension of the people around him rather than his own person? And that actively contributed to their falling out? His grievances, as justifiable as some are, actively causes Macaque to continue to seek Wukong out to taunt him and drag other people into their drama?

I'm kind of lacking the words right now to describe this adequately but Macaque's behavior annoys Wukong. Otherwise, all things considered, he's relatively peaceful with Macaque in a way that is not reciprocated. Wukong is objectively behaving the most maturely out of the two of them. He doesn't go out of his way to seek Macaque out to taunt him. He isn't bringing others into their issues like Macaque is.

While Macaque obviously means a lot to Wukong, and there's a lot of history between these two, and it's so much more complicated than this, he's the only one out of the two that made any attempts to move on from what happened. To be clear, I don't think he ever really did. Wukong is very avoidant, it's easy for him to act like he doesn't care it's just that none of that information is relevant to this analysis, but the important thing here is that it is only Macaque who is behaving like this.

He only gets serious the second Macaque might actually cause pain to anyone else. He only attacks him AGGRESSIVELY when he caused Mei to get the Samadhi Fire.

When Wukong realizes Macaque isn't willingly working for LBD, immediately says "Wait, I have a plan!" as if he is willing to extend an olive branch to Macaque to help him, or at least keep him off their asses. When Macaque shows up after the LBD fight, he doesn't reject him being there, Macaque just easily annoys him and puts him on edge.

WHY DOES LITERALLY ANY OF THIS MATTER THOUGH?

Can possibly allude to what happened after their argument under the mountain. But more importantly...

Because it begs the question: Why does Macaque do this?

What Macaque's Relationship with MK Says About Him

Keep walking with me. I swear this has a point.

I can't get into detail about their relationship, it would take too long, so I am just grabbing relevant information only here.

Initially, he instantly equates MK as an extension of Wukong while also contradicting himself by encouraging MK to see himself as his own person in seasons 1-3. In a lot ways, this is self-projection. Macaque has a habit of projecting onto others. This tells us a hell of a lot more about Macaque than it ever has about MK's character.

Literally the entire sequence where he's "mentoring" (cough manipulating) MK, telling him to be the weapon is important. YES, this is him coercing MK to use too much power so he can take it, but we can't ignore that this is literally how Macaque fights. Especially when Wukong is involved*

This lesson has ulterior motives and bad intentions, but it is genuine to a certain degree. Underneath his personal vendetta is a real lesson he is trying to teach MK, as is the pattern between most interactions between these two in the first 3 seasons.

I think it is important to point out that the reason this lesson is bad and not Red Son telling Mei to "be the flame" is because of the attitude and behavior starting it. This lesson is bad for MK because it's inherently self-destructive*, not constructive.

In Shadow Play this is made like, really really really obvious. MK isn't wrong to relate more to the Warrior than the Hero. He feels abandoned by Wukong and way over his head. MK didn't get handed everything. I think the next seasons and especially season 4 and 5 make that abundantly clear, yet Macaque is so much more insistent on placing MK into Wukong's role. Believing that MK must have missed the point. And MK kind of does miss the point. He's too focused on getting stronger to keep his friends safe from a threat, but it's not because MK doesn't care. And wow! Doesn't that sound familiar to another stone monkey who was getting stronger to help protect the people he cared about! Except this time the threat is REAL.

Macaque views things in a very black and white manner. He either can't or is refusing to see the nuance in MK's situation, and by extension, in Wukong as well.

MACAQUE: Maybe it's just me, but these guys don't look too happy about being left in the shadow of the great Monkie Kid.

Yet... he has to orchestrate them fighting MK by taking control over them because they never would have done that willingly, simultaneously proving Macaque's point obsolete! Interesting!

I'm not gonna get into their entire relationship that would take too long, but the point is, he is always self-projecting onto MK. Making assumptions based on his experiences with Wukong, conflating them with MK, and giving him these very one-sided and biased cautionary tales that refuse to acknowledge anything he has done wrong.

But it is important because it reveals a lot about his perception of his self. Again, talked about it a lot in the other post, but Macaque has a very skewed sense of self-worth.

MACAQUE: As the hero's light grew, so too did his shadow.

This all brings up a lot of really important things about Macaque's self-worth, which in turn tells you a lot about how he "idolizes" Wukong.

Even now, in shadow play, he keeps referring to himself as Wukong's shadow. He keeps acting as if he is an extension of Wukong despite his clear disdain for overshadowing his own autonomy by constantly allowing Wukong to trump over him.

Wukong is this bright light for him, as he describes, that made him stronger. A hero who is equally Macaque's greatest memories and ambitions as well as his worst. He had seen Wukong as this symbol, beacon of hope, that it would be them against the world.

There's certainly a level of him believing Wukong believes he is lesser than him, but it's clear that he believes that has always been the case due to how he is treating MK, but also how he is narrating their relationship. But in the past, we get zero indication that Wukong viewed Macaque as lesser.

Macaque is projecting his insecurities.

I'm avoiding talking about this too much because, again, this post goes into that, but this goes hand in hand with his insecurities and how he's always knocking himself down. His skewed perception of Wukong influenced by his insecurities, trauma, and grudge results in Wukong being placed in some unachievable pedestal that he had never been to begin with.

It isn't until after season 3, in season 4, that he seems to be actually assessing this about himself in a slightly more constructive manner than before.

With his video game lesson to MK, it's a bit too convoluted, it's still not quite what MK needs, but it's a much more honest and real attempt to genuinely help him than it is to project his own issues onto MK.

It's also the first time he admits that he was part of the problem, even if it's very indirectly. He acknowledges he never made his own choices, which isn't Wukong's fault.

Then he decides to help Wukong in the scroll, they basically extend an olive branch to each other and y'know that development is happening. But before all of that, the issue was that he refused to see Wukong as anything but an uncaring power-obsessed self-righteous hero who wouldn't hesitate to abandon the people he cares about. Something that arguably has never described Wukong in the first place?

A lot of Macaque's issues with Wukong are very understandable. Wukong had been impulsive, reckless, oblivious, childish, and greedy. However, there's a lot of things that simply weren't true. He still projects that old and definitely outdated idea of a person onto Wukong even in the present until he is forced to confront his own faults and ways he has hurt others. Wukong was never uncaring, not about Macaque at least. We are actively shown the opposite. We are also shown it not being reciprocated very well by him, which is where Wukong's obliviousness comes into play.

Macaque lets the bitter feelings from feeling pushed aside as well as his own insecurities spiral when he is no longer with Wukong. He becomes a face to blame all of his problems on. We don't know what happened after their fight under the mountain, but Macaque admits he was on a path of self-destruction, something that is evident before he even verbally admits that.

*Codependency

That's the quick answer here. I just wanted to explain it more lol.

I've run out of steam here but I'm just gonna throw these at you and hopefully after everything I just said it will speak for itself.

"Toxic codependency is a term that refers to an unhealthy... emotional relationship between two people. In a codependent relationship, the needs of one person are placed above the needs of the other. This type of behavior can lead to resentment, emotional stress, and negative mental health outcomes like anxiety and depression."

Most sources on codependent relationships tend to word it like it's some black and white situation, but more often than not they are very nuanced. Macaque is in a giver roll and Wukong is in a taker roll, though neither of them had malicious intentions with this whatsoever.

The point is, Macaque placed Wukong's importance above him, it reinforced viewing himself as inferior, this was something that Wukong awarded (most likely unintentionally) and then it inevitably blew up in their faces and now we're left with Macaque who is struggling with the aftermath of everything it put them through.

Just to make it clear, one of this is to discredit how much Wukong did hurt him. Again, very nuanced situation and relationship and not an easy one to talk about without yapping for way too long about it.

This isn't super related but I made this like a year ago because of brain worms and I do mention this all a couple times, it's kind of what I was pointing out. It's super out of context though because there was a whole infodump accompanying it but I don't have that rn.

also i have a little bit of attitude in it because it was partially a rant at his mischaracterization but this happened in a conversation between my close friends who have heard all of this 1000x times by now BAHAHSDJKFHKAFSD so sorry about the possible tonal whiplash

[sadagios]

hello, welcome to

☁︎ i'm sadagios or @ezpaizee, and you can call me sada or jude. i go by either they/them or he/him. im genderfluid and acespec!

☁︎ all likes/follows are from @cloudfuzzle !

☁︎ i'm most active on this sideblog because of minecraft and mcyt obsession but i also use twitter and instagram although sparingly because it terrifies me

☁︎ i post art and some AUs that plague my brain.

☁︎ at the moment this blog is very into life series and hermitcraft with a very rare chance of evbo posting.

☁︎ im also into trafficshipping / hermitshipping so thats another heads up

☁︎ i might post suggestive content sometimes, but never too explicit, on this blog. i tag them with #suggestive

☁︎ art requests are welcome as long as you're willing to wait one million years

all my main tags & AUs under the cut + in the tags!

☁︎ my tags are a mess but here are the main ones:

☆ #my art ☆ #ask ☆ #rb ☆ #minecraft oc

☆ #rambling - anything with me not shutting up (usually textposts)

☆ #not mc - because sometimes i post about things that arent minecraft or mcyt. im not that obsessed. just a little.

☁︎ AU Tags:

☆ #AU - Popstar Winners

life series winners as various female popstars

☆ #AU - Shadow Winners

the life series winners visit secret life!scar as quiet but animated shadows (with a bit of desert duo angst)

☆ #AU - Scarian Death Game

☁︎ a scarian AU about a game developer (grian) meeting his favorite character (scar) in a death loop video game. ☁︎ MASTERPOST ☁︎ posts in chronological order

☆ #AU - Immortal GIGGS Company

the five of them are broke immortals trying to capitalize on their inability to die by taking on life-threatening jobs

[woman1festo]

big info post about the Maryland mall shooting and the shooter, Darion Aguilar.

( i have compiled this post in my notes from all different news articles, sources and google searches. it wasn't too easy to find much, but i hope this is enough insight/info.)

Darion Aguilar was a 19 year old, as described by his mother as a as 'a gentle, sweet kid' who has never been interested in guns.

'If you were to go in his room you would see what a gentle sweet kid he was,' she said, adding that he was a vegetarian because he was concerned about animal welfare.

He was also described as a "good kid" who "is quiet, kept to himself. Nice, normal, calm demeanor."

That was until January 25, 2014. He took a taxi around 10:15am, then he had entered the The Mall in Columbia where he was dropped off.

He went downstairs to a food court directly below the store, authorities say surveillance tapes show him sitting and walking around for nearly an hour. this may have been due to the fact that he was obsessed with the Columbine shooting. it's suspected that he waited until the time of the shooting had lined up to the original one in 1999.

(Investigators found thousands of searches on Aguilar's computer related to mass murder, school shootings, guns and explosives.

He also looked up websites for people with mental health problems, and he told a doctor he was hearing voices in the months before the shooting.)

Reports have said that Aguilar took a picture of himself inside the dressing room at Zumiez in the minutes leading up to the shooting and posted the photo to tumblr with a caption reading,

"I had to do this. Today is the day. On previous days I tried this I woke up with anxiety, regret and hope for a better future this day I didn't, I woke up felt no emotions no empathy no sympathy. I will have freedom or maybe not. I could care less."

It was said in mentioned selfie that some of way he is dressed, wearing a white t-shirt, boots and cargo pants with his shotgun in a sling around him, is reminiscent of one of the Columbine killers.

Police say he bought a shotgun last month – a 12-gauge Mossberg – and kept it hidden as a taxi cab dropped him off at the mall. before exiting the dressing room, Aguilar dumped his backpack out, changed his clothes and assembled the gun.

As soon as Aguilar stepped out, he raised his gun, took a few steps, aimed at his first victim, Brainna Belolo (21), and fired, killing her instantly.

He continued on to aim at his next victim, Tyler Johnson (25) , who was said to be near the front of the store, hitting him multiple times. he also died instantly.

Aguilar then stepped out of the store and fired two shots across the mall on the upper railing. One struck a railing while the other struck a woman in the heel. He then turned towards the food court, fired one shot and struck a wall right outside the Great American Cookie store, very narrowly missing more victims.

Next Aguilar turned back to Zumiez and fired through the glass at a mannequin before re-entering Zumiez, sticking the shotgun in his mouth and shooting, killing him instantly.

A total of nine shots were fired by Aguilar, out of the 54 rounds of ammunition he brought with him. The backpack he had with him contained homemade explosives, most likely made with fireworks, but were not powerful enough to cause major structural damage, police said.

"(Aguilar) was just silent. Focused. There was no sort of expression or emotion," an eyewitness recalled.

Despite officers arrived less than two minutes after the first 911 call, they entered to find Aguilar dead.

Desperately searching for a motive, police discovered his journal, which was about 20 handwritten loose-leaf pages in roughly chronological order. In a portion police released, Aguilar makes an angry, expletive-laced statement in which he anticipates the killings in "a couple of hours."

"I'm going to [fucking] kill you all in a couple hours I'm anxious, I hate you all so much you are pathetic pieces of [shit] who deserve to die. Worthless you all are [fucking] worthless. Everything seems fake. I think that I may already be dead," one journal entry read.

He apologized to his family for what he was about to do, that he wrote he was ready to die, that he wanted to die and hated others. He never mentioned to his family that he needed any help for his mental illness. While he talks about killing people, he never gave any specific targets.

Sources say it also shows a hatred of certain groups and a general unhappiness with life. 

[lordichamo]

hey guys do you remember These Idiots. They have fullbodies now. (+ modern-day designs for the like.. suuuuper old exes) (Masato/Aoki & Mine provided for reference since these ARE! in chronological order (i Did end up swapping things around a bit tho))

Names & stuff as a refresher under the cut (+ some additional info!)

Hinata ���

normalgirl! ended up settling down w/ a normal guy and having a normal family. probably wistfully tells her kids about the time she dated a "bad boy"

Rin 🌺

got even MORE gal with it. good for her!

While her primary style is Manba (+ a lot of kurogal in general), she has taken a bit of an interest in Jirai lately due to the eye makeup (she loves the droopy look!)

Kenji 🐕

Light gyaruo influence! very much meant to match w/ his sister bc I love matching color palettes etc etc

Satou 🍚

dubbed "white rice boy" because the color palette i used for him was based off white rice

also hes just bland

googled "man standing stock photo" and used the first image for pose reference

Junpei 🦊

ive gotten WAY too attached to this guy. he's got a model in the works that i'll probably post soon

he also has a 2nd modern design that i'll save for that post.

he sucks <3 i love him <3

Ai 💝

I'm lowkey obsessed with her sunrise ass color palette its so cuteeee... the ribbons on that big ol sweater hell yeah ... also good lord girl i know your hostess alias is "love" but could you fit any more hearts in that outfit

Mizuki 🎴

honestly possibly my 2nd fav of all the exes design-wise (though all of these have grown on me A LOT)

I think she eventually moved out of the country & got married to her gf! good for her!

Momoko 🍑

librarian. because cute <3

i love her glasses chain thingy its so cute

Michi ☀️

I think she's an athlete of some sort! maybe track or volleyball?

despite that she's . so prone to getting scraped up. this is probably the least band-aids she's had on in a while.

Amane 🌿

the bear patch on her apron was made by her kids! mama bear...

lots of lil hand-sewn patches & pockets + a lot of mud from working in her garden

cute lil salmon-colored shirt. again, the bear allegations.

Minato ⚰️

her entire outfit is made of Moi-même-Moitié pieces. we stan a gothic lolita queen.

i wanted to incorporate more brown tones in her outfit since i feel like the antique look it adds gets overlooked when it comes to goth characters

[faejilly]

regret

so. literally seven years ago, I started a 'series of firsts' style fluff-fic(let collection) for Malec/Shadowhunters... and I think part of why I got stuck on it in particular (even beyond the not writing much for the last couple years) is because it is in fact supposed to be in chronological order following the show and I had hit a point where I needed a... not!fluff chapter, and I kept trying to just... skip the sad and write more fluff for the fluff fic.

But I'm writing a vignette series for a melodrama. So. Melodrama has been written, of Alec Lightwood Overthinking Things but not being wrong, so how is he supposed to stop? (This takes place after s2e12, which is the disaster of a body swap episode, for anyone not so obsessed with the show as to know that off the top of their heads)

It is not the first time Alec has known that he’s not good enough for Magnus. He’s always known that, since the first time he laid eyes on him.

It is the first time that he thinks Magnus might agree with him.

Magnus said he wanted some space. Tonight (just tonight implied but not stated by the softness of his voice, the brush of his fingers against the seam of Alec’s sleeve) Magnus wanted some quiet.

So Alec left Magnus alone, and now he’s standing in his institute bathroom staring into the institute mirror gripping the white porcelain edges of an institute sink, trying to decide if that was right.

He doesn’t think it was, but he’s not sure if it’s the space that’s wrong, or the just for tonight.

He knows which he wants it to be, but that’s irrelevant.

Magnus likes to retreat when he’s hurt, but that doesn’t mean that’s good for him; Alec might not have known Magnus for long, but he recognizes a protective flinch when he sees it. And if that’s the case, then Alec should in fact head right back out and refuse to let Magnus hide and hold him tight until Magnus feels like he's himself again.

But Alec didn’t believe what Magnus said too many times already, he can’t…

He can’t go against Magnus’ request, not now that he finally made one. Always letting Alec set the pace, waiting for Alec to reach out, for Alec to act, to ask, and when he finally lets himself say what he wants?

It’s less of Alec, rather than more.

Smart of him, of course. Alec would never blame him for it, especially not after Azazel and Valentine and Alec failing him in every way it was possible to fail. There has always been a disparity between what Magnus deserves and what Alec is capable of offering; perhaps it is too large of one to ever be overcome.

Only he knows he wants to keep trying.

He also knows that staring at his mirror and overthinking things is his own protective flinch.

Magnus said he doesn’t know what he needs. Alec is mostly sure that’s true, that if Magnus knew that Alec caused more harm than could possibly be worth it he would say so — but only mostly. Magnus has been abandoned too many times to be the person leaving unless he’s sure.

Not even then, perhaps.

Alec has some idea of how many times Magnus forgave Camille, and she was cruel on purpose, unlike Alec who keeps twisting the knife entirely by accident.

If Magnus won’t do it, Alec will have to. He refuses to walk Magnus down a road to hell paved by his own so-called “good intentions”. He’ll stay away forever if that’s better for Magnus, regardless of how Alec feels about it, will feel about it, will always feel about Magnus. It’s only right, not letting Magnus suffer the consequences of trying to be involved with–

Alec stops himself there.

Anything he thinks to call himself, any self-assessment he can manage right now, will be more severe than anything Magnus would think, or say, or even accept if Alec tried to say it, so it won’t help him decide what to do.

He has to figure out how to help in a way that Magnus will accept, and if he leads with a list of all his failures, Magnus will be happy to try and make Alec feel better and aggressively avoid letting Alec try to help him.

Alec doesn’t need to feel better. Aldertree’s gone, Isabelle’s back, (Imogen’s difficult but familiar), and Jace is, while still fucked up, at least not trying to smother the parabatai bond so tightly that Alec feels like he’s being strangled in his sleep every night.

So.

Alec sighs, lets go of the sink, forces his shoulders to relax.

This is the first time that Magnus has said he needs space, but considering the politics of their lives, even now that Valentine’s in custody (especially now, considering everything Herondale did to Magnus in Valentine’s name), it probably won’t be the last.

Alec can’t override that, not just because he’s sad and guilty and young and stupid.

He just has to learn better.

He’s always had to be better than he is, he’s not sure why he thought things with Magnus might be different.

That’s not Magnus’ fault though, and he can’t let himself start to think about it in terms of hopes dashed or desires failed because then he will be upset at the only person who has never ever let him down, despite all Alec’s failures and stumbles.

He doesn’t deserve Magnus, of course he doesn’t, but that’s all right. It’s Magnus’ turn to make a choice, and he can have all the time and space he needs to do so.

Alec will wait.

He’ll wait forever, if he has to.

He’ll wait past forever, this life and the next; he’s already made his choice.

[rainbowxocs]

Hi! So I'm curious of how all daisy's world came to be (In an ooc sense) How did the people who play the characters get involved? Was the plan always for it to be a game? Are you the 'actor' for daisy? Is there a chronological order that the games within the main game are supposed to be played/viewed? Sorry that's kinda a lot of things to throw at you at once but this game is my current obsession :P (Is obsession healthy?) (hahah see what i did there im so funny)

Literally am writing an analysis/review on the game for school because that's the hold it has on me, and this game has made me cry. Thank you for sharing your talent with the world!

Hello!! First of all thank you for the compliments it means a lot to me that my game means so much to you. I’ll try to explain everything without rambling too much um.

1. All the people currently in the myth, besides Mouse’s creator I met during the myth. So they all became apart of it by interacting with the story and what not.

2. Daisy and the others were always Roblox OCs. I created a prototype game 3 years ago which focused on a different part of Daisy’s story. And then almost a year ago now I made the myth game to explore Daisy’s past as at the time I didn’t have much on it besides how she got to be there in the first place.

3. Yes I play Daisy, I also play a big chunk of characters as well like Cultivator, Eyeris, Cosmo, Erlking, Camilla, and Alice. (As well as Daisy’s alters but that’s.. a well duh since I play Daisy /lh)

4. You could put it in chronological order but i made each game to be its own stand alone experience. (Though if you play all of them you get more and more of the picture.)

[zannolin]

now that my break and my four-disc edition of narnia has arrived i am going to subject you all to the things i am obsessing over or thought were very fun from the audio commentaries and bonus stuff that i KNOW has been talked about elsewhere i'm sure but NOT ON MY BLOG! so here's a list of stuff i'm foaming at the mouth over from the filmmakers' (not the actors') commentary on LWW:

knew this already but to hear it made me scream; it was peter's plan to use the gryphons bombarding the witch's army with rocks at the beginning of the battle of beruna, and he got that idea from the blitz bombings that the movie itself opens with. GOD.

they shot the film as much in chronological order as they could, despite it being inefficient, because they wanted to capture the changes that narnia (the atmosphere, the exercise, the scenes, etc) would bring out in each character/actor.

every line in the set built for the wardrobe is directing the viewer's eye to the wardrobe itself. the decision to cover it was last-minute and somewhat debated because it wasn't originally in the book, but everyone agreed it was 100% worth it for the effect.

they were not able to make the wardrobe out of apple wood like it is in the books but they WANTED TO and made it out of the closest they could get which. god. i love when people CARE.

a bunch of the furniture in the set of the professor's house is literal antique english furniture??? for the accuracy and the vibe???

everyone talks about how skandar was the last one cast and how he spent a lot of time off filming on his own and thus hit all the right vibes of being the odd one out, BUT did you know while they really liked william, anna, and georgie for the other pevensies, they weren't going to cast any of them unless all four actors (whichever four that may be) clicked and worked well as a family? again: ME WHEN PEOPLE CARE.

i love when i'm right about minor set/costuming details i notice (the lamppost was specifically made to look as if it had grown; the witch wearing aslan's mane as a trophy and trying to symbolically Become him; the carvings on the wardrobe telling the story of the magician's nephew)

william moseley wasn't even supposed to hit skandar keynes with the cricket ball that was an accident and they decided to make it into part of the scene

andrew adamson is MY BEST FRIEND for shooting all the night scenes during the day and editing them to be night scenes which makes them very distinctly beautiful AND YOU CAN SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING.

the amount of suffering they endured to have nice looking grass on the set is so funny to me you guys have just got to listen to these commentaries. i can't even explain it.

crying because i missed this but when mrs. beaver gives lucy a plate of fish and chips THE CHIPS ARE WOOD CHIPS.

they used actual wolf hybrids for a lot of the shots with the wolves, not just cgi (though apparently they had to redo their tails because they were often too happy to be running around lmao) and it makes me sooo happy

tilda swinton's dress that she wore for the majority of the film was apparently so large in the shoulders she couldn't get through the door to the dungeon properly and just had to go at it sideways. AND she injured herself because of it.

they based the change in the witch's eyes from green during most of the film -> black when she kills aslan on hunting cats and how their pupils get REALLY big.

andrew adamson mentioned he thought about cutting father christmas from the movie as other adaptations had done but heard about how father christmas being there nearly ended tolkien and lewis' friendship and decided "well, i guess i don't have a say in it really if lewis STILL left him in there" and i love him for that.

i had so much freaking fun with this it was so amazing to see how much effort and work and love and care went into the crafting of this film. like they did not have to do all that. movies today will NOT do all that. they'll do such a shoddy job and cgi everything and not even make full costumes and stuff but LWW put all that work in and it was so good because of it. and i'm gonna be thinking about it forever.

[livebloggingmydescentintomadness]

Hello

I am a recent fan of Supernatural. I finished the series in just two months and wanted to try to make friends with the fandom of the series in my country because I am Brazilian. I joined a group and was excited to talk to people who were as passionate about the show as I was.

I met a really cool girl who told me that she believes that Jensen is Misha and has a romantic relationship. At first, I didn't want to believe it because it seemed like a fan theory that ships Destiel and wants to go further and ship the actors too.

Anyway, this girl told me things that rented a triplex in my head. I thought about it so much that I started looking for information until I found your post on Tumblr explaining Jenmish in chronological order.

I spent hours reading about it and noticing every detail. What I have to say is that you analyzed everything in such an excellent way. This post is of public service in my opinion. Knowing all of this warmed my heart because I was kind of so sad about what happened to Castiel and Dean at the end of the series. The possibility of Jenmish being real made me happier than words can describe. It may be a silly thing but I will believe in it as long as Jensen and Misha keep giving as many possible signs.

I sent your article to my friends in the group and even those who didn't believe in it now believe it. LOL.

Anyway, it was a long speech but I would like to ask something.

What do you think about Misha's relationship with his new girlfriend Emily?

Do you think Misha has been a little more restrained towards Jensen because of this new relationship?

I'm asking because I'm new to this fandom and I don't know much about it, so I wanted to know your opinion because I love your analyses.

(Sorry for any mistakes, I don't speak English, I'm using the translator to write this. :))

oh my gosh, thank you! it always blows my mind when i find out that my obsessive little project has spread so far. i'm glad i could be of service! xD and don't worry, the english is great.

i actually don't know a lot about emily, as it was only relatively recently that misha made his relationship with her public. i think it's great that they're happy together, but my policy with real people is that i only engage with what they have deliberately chosen to share. the hijinks that misha and jensen get up to knowing they're on camera is entirely fair game to speculate on, in my opinion, but if they haven't chosen to share anything publicly, i think it should stay private and i generally won't speculate on it.

while i suppose it's possible, it doesn't really seem to me like misha has actually toned much down, to be honest. he's said that emily and jensen are really good friends, and i doubt he'd be in a serious relationship with anyone who wasn't supportive of the fact that he's polyamorous.

but since emily doesn't really have a public persona like misha and jensen do, i don't want to be too nosy or speculate about her too much. she and misha seem happy together, and that's really all i want or need to know.

i'll say though, that for someone who is new to cockles and has had a look at the sheer size of my cockles masterlist, i can see how it might seem like things have been more quiet or uneventful recently. the sheer amount of cockles content makes it seems like insane events must be happening all the time, and if they're not, something might be wrong!

however, it's extremely normal for there to be long periods of nothing between majors cockles incidents. all the entries on that long list have been spread out over fifteen years! actually, in the last few years we've had quite a bit MORE cockles than we used to get, as we've gotten several jensen/misha panels during the regular convention season in america, due to jared missing several cons and misha taking it his place. it used to be that we got ONE cockles panel a year! we would look forward to jibcon in italy all year, because it was practically the only time we'd get to see them on stage together.

sadly, we do get less cockles outside of conventions nowadays, since the guys are busy with different projects and live far away from each other. but we got several shared panels this year, and they were clearly thrilled to be together every time. :)

anyway, i hope that answers your question! i completely agree with you about the comfort and happiness that cockles brings in light of the tragedy of destiel, it really does help the heartache to know that for once it was real life that got the happy ending. take care! <3

[the-s1lly-corner]

Jax X Reader except the reader is somehow EXTREMELT, unrealistically lucky? Like, they somehow evade every prank and inconvenience yk

Jax x lucky!reader !

Since this is a single character request me thinks imma knock this one out before I go to sleep :0!!

I usually answer stuff in chronological order, but I admit, I did skip a few group requests.. but I promise I'll get back to them when I wake up!! I'm just too tired to sit and write full group stuff but I feel guilty about not writing much today <\3

Written on mobile!

On one hand he's impressed, but on the other hes so so so mad that his efforts to prank you is in vain!

Seriously, you always somehow always evade his stuff, even sometimes it backfires and he becomes the target... what god blessed you?

Honestly it might drive him up the wall because now he REALLY just wants to land SOME prank ok you

It leads to obsession and then abstraction/j

Honestly depending on if you notice his failed attempts, you might just let him have it and willingly let yourself get pranked...

I think he would catch on quickly and deny your surrender, there's no fun in that..

Gets grumpy and pouty over it, especially if someone teases him about his failures (cough cough zooble, cough cough I can see caine doing some light hearted teasing as well)

Will sit and try to come up with new and unique intricate ideas for days in order to finally get the jump on you

[imanes]

doing a lil august reading wrap up because apparently i read 13 (!!) books. in chronological order (bolded are those i recommend):

city of stairs by robert jackson bennett: quite the interesting read. i think the character work in this one is a standout, as well as the world building. the good thing is i have no idea where this trilogy is going so it's exciting. the audiobook for the second book arrives in 2 weeks on my shelves on libby so I'll be reading the sequel soon

braiding sweetgrass by robin wall kimmerer: this one took me a whole entire year to read and finish lol. no comment. or maybe one comment: i think i'd have found this book a lot more eye opening if i had read it three years ago so right book wrong time i guess? i do recommend it i just think it didn't impact me as much as i thought it would

the blighted worlds by megan e. o'keefe: this one hit me like a truck!! i was so obsessed. it's a sci-fi space opera with an element of horror and an interesting romance sub-plot. basically everything i love lmao. i really do recommend this book it might actually be my fave of the month

sanctuary by ilona andrews: i have to stay up to date on all things kate daniels-related to this spin off was high on my tbr. it was a lot of fun but it petered out toward the end

where the dark stands still by a.b. poranek: a bit of a let down not gonna lie. the gist of my opinion is that it felt underdeveloped and in turn i felt under-interested in whatever was going on

shadows of self by brandon sanderson: once again i am begging the protagonists of this series to stop being aggravating

the fractured dark by megan e. o'keefe: continuing my obsession with the devoured worlds trilogy... unfortunately i have to wait on my libby hold to get the audiobook of the next one (i read with my eyeballs and listen at the same time to help with concentration)

the right to sex - feminism in the 21st century by amia srinivasan: i read this book because i know of two people who broke up with their significant other (one of them resulting in a divorce) after reading this book so i had to know what srinivasan had cooked in there and yeah she did cook.

the way of kings by brandon sanderson: just part of my re-read in preparation of the release of wind and truth in December. this month we tackle (again) words of radiance teehee

just for the summer by abby jimenez: womp womp womp. idk what it is with romance authors these days they're in a competition with themselves to portray the healthiest love stories but this one teetered on the wrong side of boring one too many times and the volume to therapy-speech in this one was staggering.

the ex vows by joyce jessica: twas a cute poolside read, it's nothing revolutionary but it was pleasant enough and it didn't make me roll my eyes like just for the summer jdkjgsk at least the love interest had a personality and a life... i mean it's fiction so it's not a life but it appeared as if he contained multitudes or something

funny story by emily henry: I'll go ahead and say it nobody writes a contemporary romance quite like miss henry because she's got the secret recipe for the right balance between heartfelt feelings and amusing situations + her dialogues feel a lot more natural than most (though if i had to nitpick she always has this side character who's a fountain of wisdom and gives you life-changing monologues but i guess such people exist out there)

the thief by megan whalen turner: the megans are really out in full force because this is another book written by a megan that i loved so much. yes half of this book is a fairly episodic journey across made-up countries, yes i ate it up, yes the second half is worth the wait (if you were out of patience, which i wasn't, bc i was having fun) and yes the plot twists are chef's kiss. "gen's ambitions are his own" is the perfect summary. everand has all the audiobooks so you know what I'm gonna do... that's right... listen and read at the same time

as an aside the tandem reads i do with both books and audiobooks happen only when i like the narrators. if i find a narrator i like i stick to them like glue because they're few and far between as far as my picky ass is concerned. i never do romance audiobooks they're the worst...

[meerkatp]

Uh hi. I'm Meerkat (MeerkatQueen, MeerkatP, Victoria) and welcome to my special little place in this hellsite.

Autistic Genderfluid Dyke with chronic pain

Any pronouns

I am obsessed with Gay singing robots and Gay ducks and they're the only thing keeping me going. My vocal synths are my family and the Mallard-McQuack family lives rent free in my head.

Working on my own continuation of the Mallard-McQuack family's story for DuckTales 2017 and I guess also the 2010/16 comics too since I got a few ideas for that. Apologies for never uploading them in order, my head's just way too scatterbrained. (If you want to read them in chronological order see the comic index page.)

I also post vocal synth covers on my YouTube and niconico.

Navigation

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Please note that blank/ bot account followers will be blocked. If you're not a bot and I block you by accident please reach out to me on bluesky. I would also prefer it if you follow me only if you like my work or just think I chill, not because you want something from me.

Generative AI users/ supporters will also be blocked. You are not welcome here.

AI training of my work is strictly forbidden. Fuck you.

Reprints of my work are only allowed if

Reprint policy

You link back to one of my original posts featuring it and credit me

It's a personal or private account (not a corporate, gimmick, or account you make money off of)

It is not on twitter (you know what I mean) or Pinterest or a social media account with ai training enabled

If you're reposting it on tumblr or bluesky, I would much prefer you reblog or retweet my original post if readily available.

(Updated 4/23/25)

[southsidestory]

Get to know your mutuals!

Thanks for tagging me @silcobrainrot <3

What's the origin of your blog title?

I needed to title a blog where I post fanfic, I'm from the US American South, and I thought a play on West Side Story would sound cool and be easy to remember. Incidentally, I've never seen West Side Story.

OTP(s)+ shipnames(s):

Whooooo boy let's see. In chronological order of developing my obsessions over the years: Spuffy, Jily, SanSan, SasuSaku, Everlark and Odesta, Utenanthy, Reylo, Stucky, Zutara and Azukka (aka Sokkla), Gallavich, and Jilco.

Favourite color:

🌸🌸🌸

Song stuck in your head:

Ever since I watched this incredible Jinx & Silco amv I've had "You Belong to Me" by Cat Pierce on repeat, both in my head and on my YouTube Music lol

Weirdest habit/trait:

Probably my *constant* fidgeting.

Hobbies:

Writing, reading, graphic design. Too much time in front of a screen p much lol

If you work, what's your profession?

I'm disabled and the US government actually recognized it (miraculous) so I fortunately don't have to work anymore. The trade-off is that I live in extreme poverty, but it's worth it for health insurance!

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be?

Professional author. That's the dream! If you want to check out my agent-bait author website you can find it here.

Something you're good at:

Writing. I'm a one-trick pony, but I'm a skilled pony 😂

Something you hate:

The erasure of the Oxford comma.

Something you collect:

Nothing, sorry. I'm not really a collector.

Something you forget:

Everything all the time, thanks ADHD!

What's your love language:

Acts of Service.

Favourite movie/show:

Movie: Disney's Beauty and the Beast, since I was three years old.

TV: Arcane, but only Season 1.

Favourite food:

I'm such a foodie, it's so hard to choose, but today I think I have to say crab rangoon.

Favourite animal:

Cats, but specifically mine. Her name is Goose and she's the light of my life! She's the Russian Blue mix pictured below, alongside her late brother (rest in peace, Butters)

What were you like as a child:

Shy, introverted, anxious as fuck, prone to crying, well-behaved, and sweet. I also got along really well with elderly people (and still do).

Favourite subject at school:

English, always!

Least favourite subject:

Math. Fuck calculus in particular.

What's your best character trait?

How loyal and dedicated I am to my friends.

What's your worst character trait?

Perfectionism. It's terrible for me because if I'm not amazing at something right away I can't stand to do it at all (graphic design is a rare exception) which really limits me. It's pretty unpleasant for other people because in certain contexts it makes me obnoxiously competitive.

If you could change any detail of your life right now, what would it be?

I'd bring my mom back to life. We'd probably rip each other's hair out within a week, but I'd sell my soul for the chance to argue with her again.

---

Welp sorry for the depressing final answer, but enjoy the rest of them! I'm not gonna tag this time but I encourage anyone who feels like joining in to do so <3

[okkos-ferrum]

Unorganized helluva boss apology tour rant cuz I think I'm going crazy

Disclaimer, cuz I know helluva fans can get defensive: A lot of this is probably my subjective opinion. I'll state my tldr as my actual objective piece of criticism, but otherwise my gripes throughout this could be based on my tastes and expectations. I genuinely don't want to take away anyone's enjoyment of this show nor hate on anyone involved, so if u just want to enjoy helluva, totally skip this :]

I think I'll actually have to give my hot take here and criticize this episode, because everyone has given way too much praise for an episode I think - in the long run - hurts the show

Im not gonna even bother organizing my thoughts I'm just gonna rant, but to start, i think the decision to start the ep right after full moon chronologically wasn't the best move. The full moon episode cliffhanger was an impactful scene and a dramatic way to start the rift between stolas and blitzo. It's where the dam of two-ish seasons finally breaks, where to me, stolas and blitzo have already said everything needed to be said, at least at the emotional maturity they currently are at. Any changes in said conversation about their relationship would require growth from both separately in order to foster a healthy discussion.

So to undercut that tension by IMMIEDTLY having blitzo somehow wiggle his way back into stolas's private property to have both double down on their stance diminishes the weight new moon's finale had. The conversation, while it does add further clarity, feels repetitive and emotionally taxing to watch, because the show has literally zero scenes of either of them reflecting on the previous night. So it's just them starting up the same fight with the same talking points we already know.

Yeah, maybe it is in character for blitzo to demand a conversation after new moon, but it shouldn't have been the path the show took. It should've allowed the story to stew in the feelings brought out in new moon, both in a narrative and meta sense by taking a break from stolatiz.

Cuz honestly I'm a bit drained of it atm. The show sells itself on the premise of blitzo being a "boss" (a hell of a bos-) and him working with imp. But all of s2 has had this obsession with stolatiz ever since the popularity of ozzie's (for good reason that episode was amazing and one of my personal favs still).

Just abt half the eps in s2 carry an emotional weight around the stolitz relationship. (where s1 has stolitz is make out sessions and the occasional threat to their life, s2 takes it up to actual life or death situations and full backstories) . This increased tension and focus draws away from the intial episodic format to become a more serialized (and imo) melodrama abt the status of the stolitz relationship. Rather than concern itself over any of the imp characters and their emotions, helluva has made all of its emotional beats and stakes throughtout the whole season relate to stoltiz in some way (or it's parallel with fizz and Ozzie in ep 7).

To return back to the ep, I also take issue with its writing of verosika. I will admit that this could be subjective, as my partner, who loves verosika and was worried abt her writing going into the ep, enjoyed how the ep integrated her. But idk, I think it is so lame that an ep like full moon, which is marketed to be abt stolitz, is fine wasting its time writing the cherubs for 90% of the episode, while can't bother making verosika a larger character in her own ep.

Like she's a SINGER, but no she's back up for STOLAS'S SONG this ep. And it's not stolas's hasn't had the chance to sing love ballads before, he's got plenty. But no, the host of the party can't even be a duet to stolas, she's gotta be back up. Like it couldve been a way stronger connection between these two if they sang a duet, rather than the show AGAIN prioritizing verbalizing stolas's emotions again.

We get a full flashback to blitzo's relationship with both fizz and stolas, but nothing on his other significant relationship??? Just a line or two of how it went down and that's it??

Side tangent: It gets on my nerves how so many people are realizing now that verosika is not a bad person. Like it's clear from even in her intro ep in s1 ep 3 she's angry rightfully for how blitzo screwed her over. But now that she actually is being nice and forgiving to stolas and blitzo respectively, now she has earned the fandom's respect??? Like the amt of comments of "Oh wow, verosika isn't a villain, she's an anatognist" drives me insane

Like to me, this ep should've stepped away from stolas directly, and focus on blitzo and verosika. Have blitzo go back to ignoring his feelings by jumping back head first into business, now with the asmodeous crystal. Then bump into verosika somehow. However it may happen, verosika and blitzo, either angrily or calmly, reflect on their own past relationship at the end, which might have blitzo making a realization of how he is repeating his past mistakes. Use the episodic format to slowly allow blitzo to mature so the next time he meets stolas, he won't just double down like he did in the beginning of the ep.

I think, personally, the decision to have verosika host the anti blitzo party diminishes her as a character. It chooses to again define her by how blitzo hurt her, rather than touching on the other underdeveloped parts of her character. She has shown to be very petty yes, but to go through all this effort seems too much, since she is a pop star and should have better things to do.

Maybe explore how she, a succubus, who is meant to have primarily sexual relationships, goes abt on her day to day as a celebrity who went to rehab. Or her relationship with maybe knowing barbie. Or the other ways to explore the set ups for her in ep 3. But no, she plays second fiddle to her second focus ep for the stoltiz drama. But yeah sure, let's have full moon be abt the cherubs.

On a final and likely my most pettiest point, this ep made me cringe a lot. I'm sorry, this is very subjective of me, but I need to say it. So much of this ep felt like fanfic. Always hammering in how "he's a prince and you're an imp" kind of deal. Stolas getting overly drunk after taking a swig of one drink to have blitzo handle him being drunk. The million puppy dog eyes by blitzo, like it felt too pitying. The rushed pacing felt like a result of this indulgent kind of writing, where it priotizes creating the cute shipping scenes before thinking about the actual plot and its effect later on. Again, just my taste tho

Alright I think I ranted enough but ...

Tl;dr: Apology tour messes up the pacing and focus of the show by continously centering itself around the stolitz drama rather than allowing time to reflect by themselves

[strangerthingsfanworkrecs]

Can I recommend the user SpicySix? They haven't written in a little while but I keep going back to their work. Sometimes it feels like my head is in the fandom sand and they're the breath of fresh air I needed.

Introducing @spicysix

We're highlighting Lui for their written fics! All recs tagged #spicysix will be for their work. Lui answered some questions about their process below.

What's a fandom interaction that made you really happy?

Honestly being recommended for this was a huge one lmao I almost cried. But also every time someone reaches out to me to talk about my fics or even leaves a comment or bookmarks one of my works on ao3 it's always the same awesome rush

What's your favorite character or aspect of Stranger Things to create for?

I must say I'm partial to the underdogs. So writing about the characters that are hardly written about is always always fun to me. Argyle and Jonathan specially, those two are so fun to mess around with

What's your writing process like? Any tools you favor?

I use Scrivener to write and it's my favorite tool, specially for bigger fics or series where I can have everything in one place. As for my writing process, it's very simple tbh. I have an idea (usually comes from a song's title or lyrics), I write down the whole general gist of it. If it's a longer chaptered fic, I like to have an outline of what happens in each chapter so I don't get lost. But if it's a shorter fic I mostly just go with the feeling as I write. I don't usually write out of order, neither in long or short fics, so I just keep going chronologically through what I want to happen

What was it like to work on fake it 'till you make it?

"fake it 'till you make it" came to me firstly through a request, I think it was from one of those prompt lists, an anon asked for a "how long do we have to keep this up for + fake dating with Jonathan". That rented a building in my head and I ran for the hills with it. It took me a whole month writing it, and it was all I could think about during that whole time because I was having so much fun with it. I didn't even planned it to go so far but it was like I jumped out of my body and when I went back I had 9k words of love and devotion for that lil creep weirdo. It was the biggest fic I had written so far, and even I didn't know i had so much to praise about Johnnyboy. It was an amazing process, though, and I loved every second of it, of writing about Nancy and Steve too, of coming up with a fun and believable enough Reader Character that was so out of the loop without knowing, and their realization on their feelings for Jonathan and for everything surrounding him. A classic romcom, and it's as fun to write one as it is to read or watch one. It's one of my favorites to this day

What was it like to work on now i don't hate California after all?

"now i don't hate California after all" is a song from my favorite singer, Carly Rae Jepsen, and it had been a while since I listened to it, and then I listened a while after watching ST S4 and I was already obsessed with Argyle so the little gears in my head started turning all the right ways and I was like. Wait A Second. This is so Jargyle. I just love love love how different their aesthetics and personalities are and how they're still So Connected Somehow. And we know Jonathan's a broody guy while Argyle is so vibrant, no way in hell Jon liked him immediately when they first met - dude has like one friend and a half, he's the most antisocial person on media, we know he puts out this huge hater persona hiding his big bleeding fragile heart. I had to do something with this thought so I DID A LOT with it. It's a fic very dear to my heart because it was the fist Jargyle I wrote, and I was and still am so proud of the way I characterized the boys, how I developed their relationship and Jonathan's thoughts. And it also grew on me years later because I found myself in the same position as Jonathan, having to move away with no friends and hating it at first but then finding a friend and lover that made it all easier - and we both also enjoy The Weed Herb so us and Jargyle are like the same yknow. It's one of my favorite fics and one of my favorite songs by CRJ and it feels amazing to Not Hate California After All, 10/10 experience i recommend it to everyone

[absolutelyfibulas]

Dutch's Terrible Toku Takes

Much later than I said I'd do it, because of reasons. Gonna do them in chronological order, and I'm splitting them into different posts because jesus it's a lot - Rider first because that's what I got into first. I've tried to avoid being too specific about spoilers.

A note: if I absolutely shit on a show/character/concept you love, this is not a personal attack. If any mutuals find me dragging a show/character/concept they love, this isn’t a callout or plea for you to stop posting about that content or whatever. I am an adult who knows how to curate my dash. Also I’m a hater who loves hyperbole.

Go in peace, etc, etc.

Kuuga

One of my top five series, and one of the few phase one shows to really balance the grimdark with hope and silly antics well. Very different vibes to later stuff and that’s not a bad thing. It does take a while to really get going though, which I can understand people dropping it because of (there’s a period between like episode 5 and 15 where I myself was going “nothing is FUCKING happening auughghgh”, and then bam, all of a sudden it clicked).

Godai and Ichijou walked so other Heisei gay ships could run, and has one of the few het pairings I quite like, albeit one that took me a bit by surprise.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: If someone says they couldn’t get into it because of the special effects, I immediately assume they were born after 2000. I guess this isn’t a take so much as me being over 30.

Agito

Inoue at his most “normal”, and honestly, not a bad showing for it. Plot is…Inoue. But as with most Inoue things, it’s got interesting characters (save for my One Lukewarm Take) with distinct personalities and motives. Definitely trying to lean more into the grimdark hinted at by Kuuga, but not really succeeding at it, beyond the odd “dude, this is for kids” moment. 

Still, funny and entertaining enough. Shouichi remains one of my fave lead riders.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I cared so little about Ryou that I straight up forget he exists, post watching.

Ryuki

It’s fine ™.  I’m not a big fan of the battle royale series (ironically, given my teenage obsession with the Battle Royale film), and I consistently got extremely bored about 20 episodes in with Ryuki. 

Outside of the first four or so guys I couldn’t tell you which rider was which, because they were all some variant of “oh hey some new little shit signed up for power/money/general dubious motivations”, with no real difference in how they were disposed of or dealt with. 

It has its moments, don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed most of the sillier stuff with Ore Journal, and I REALLY liked the choice to [REDACTED] in the penultimate episode. It just didn’t really do anything for me otherwise. 

Kitaoka and Goro are a married couple of all time, Shinji and Ren’s whole deal is amusing…but I also was annoyed that one of the only characters to permanently [REDACTED] was the sole female lead.

Basically, I think it’s objectively decent, just really not for me.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Eri could have been a potted plant and Ren’s story would have had the exact same emotional impact. Not that she’s the only female character this applies to in toku...

Faiz

I love it. I hate it. Both are true.

The good: characters are fun and distinct. As infuriating as they may be they generally act on consistent motives and attitudes, and outside of the het nonsense their dynamics are fun and interesting. I really like the orphnoch as antagonists and creatures, as well as the show’s occasional touching on themes and questions in the ballpark of “hey is a group actually evil if they’ve been treated like shit before they ever did anything vaguely in retaliation?”.

The bad: do I really need to say it? The romance bullshit, the Inoue of the women - hell, the Inoue of everything. I would gladly rewatch a cut of this show where everything involving romance was removed. The show would be maybe half the length, but significantly improved.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I strongly read Mari as aroace. Her crush on Kiba absolutely reeks of “well I guess he’s the most appropriate guy who is a) not Takumi or Keitaro, and b) not horrendous to women?” comphet. Some folks take this as "she's a lesbiab" thing which is fair, but it just never rang that way to me.

Blade

The tl;dr:

I will only give the long version if specifically asked because, to be honest, I get mean.

Okay, now let’s note things I liked: Suits were decent. The Inoue two-parter was pretty funny. Show is very memeable. The resolution of creating a permanent stalemate in a battle royale where its end means APOCALYPSE was neat. 

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Coming out of this show where I could barely believe any of them were friends, never mind Comrades And Cuddlers, then seeing how widespread and passionate the Hajime/Kenzaki ship is, was uh.

I mean, ship what you like, but that was a real “running face first into a wall Wile E Coyote style” moment for me, fandom speaking. 

Hibiki

Shouldn’t have been a Rider. It’s pretty apparent it was intended to be its own thing and I think it would have been better off for it. That said, I liked what it was! Nice, gentle coming of age thing, with nice suits and sweet relationships.

…Then episode 30 onwards happened and to be fair, that last chunk would have been fine in literally any other show (for a certain measure of “fine”, I guess), but in Hibiki it was just sort of amusingly out of place.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Tbf, the finale DOES do one thing right, which is to have Asumu decide to become a doctor instead of an oni. It was clear from the start he wasn’t going to be one and I don’t know why they bothered trying to pretend he wanted to. Doctor is the perfect role for him to help out and stay involved without fighting.

Kabuto

I mean it’s not good, but it’s not awful either. Tendou and Kagami being extremely funny and gay cover a lot of sins.

The initial Big Thing (the Hiyori thing) I actually quite like! It’s done sort of competently, and introduces a really interesting situation for Hiyori! Sadly they don’t do much with it (which I appreciate is partly because the actor had to leave for a while), and pretty much every plot after that reveal is very sloppily put together. It strikes me that they probably only had that initial plot planned, and then kind of went “shit, we’ve still got half a show to do”, which would explain some of the things I found unsatisfying. Didn’t stop them being unsatisfying though.

Basically a series that is saved entirely by its characters. It’s not terrible but I also wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, you feel me?

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Daisuke and Gou bored me to tears pretty quickly. I am DONE with the whole “minor girl acts like an adult man’s wife-mother-maid and this is treated as cute rather than weird as fuck” thing they keep doing. Been done with it since Amane and Hajime’s whole fucking deal.

Den-O

Bottom half of my top five. Very sweet and funny, though that’s kind of a barrier to enjoyment too - if you’re not into Japanese comedy tropes and slapstick stuff, you’re not really going to gel with it.

Another one where the plot is second to the characters and cast, but not terrible by itself. The imagin steal the show though, let’s be real. Excellent work from the suit and voice actors. Ryotarou is the lead rider I most want to give a hot chocolate and blanket.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I ship Yuuto/Airi pretty much exclusively because they didn’t get them together. 

Kiva

This is…a weird one. It’s not wildly, terribly, incompetently made, but also, it sucks. 

Inoue at his most Inoue (dropped concepts, ignoring the more interesting themes in favour of het nonsense, love triangles, shitty about women) and also, his least Inoue (characters are forgettable, there’s no whimsy, just rehashes plot points from 555 that 555 did better).

I liked Wataru. I liked Jirou because Kenji Matsuda (also, I’m sorry, he was being Weird About Breeding for sure, but the attempted rape was very obviously a “shit, Yuri has more chemistry with this dude than the one we want to get her together with, come up with a reason to not support it that we will then completely ignore afterwards as if it never happened QUICK :)” choice). Everyone else is just kind of a mass of characters melded together to me.

The suits, music, and general aesthetic FUCK. That much is unarguable. That…was about it. I found it paternalistic as hell, and honestly just kind of annoying past a certain point. BUT, it was at least occasionally funny.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: (This might be an actual hot take for once lol) 

Getting to henshin once because the men around you decide to let you have a try does NOT mean the show has a female rider. Those IXA transformations were some of the most condescending horseshit I’ve come across in toku re: women and that’s saying something.

Decade

I wish this show had been given a full episode run, because you can see exactly where the potential for a decent, coherent plot lay. It’s funny, I love the foursome, but look, yeah, it’s. It’s not exactly good.

Tsukasa is my favourite lead rider because he’s such a shit. I would still watch Zi-O for him over Decade itself, though it’s criminal Natsumi and Yusuke didn���t get to turn up even briefly in that show.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: They needed to go all in on the AU thing if that’s what they had to do, instead of occasionally tip-toeing into the originals. All or nothing, baby.

W

Another one of my top 5, another one where it’s mostly the characters over the plot, and another one where the women are treated Weirdly. 

Plot is okay, not amazing and a bit messy/rushed towards the end, but the noir-esque framing was charming. I loved the gimmick of the two-in-one rider, and the characters were good fun! Akiko in particular is one of my fave female characters, because she got to have an actual goofy personality, rather than being kind of generically nice but occasionally nagging to show she’s the designated Love Interest (in fact, she HAS a love interest rather than BEING the love interest, which was a nice change).

I was…not really big on Wakana. I was much more interested in Saeko, and wish the show had ended with the two of them going off to sort out their issues together as sisters, but y’know, it’s a toku. What the fuck did I expect. 

Philip and Shoutarou’s whole deal is some of the gayest shit I’ve seen, bested only by Banjou/Sentai and Ichijou/Godai.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Akiko not becoming a rider is the sole reason she survived to the end. You KNOW if she’d been a rider they would have killed her off like their lives depended on it.

OOO

Very fond of this one, for its flaws! Also in my top 5. Something about it just hit right when I was in the middle of lockdown induced mental breakdown. 

Plot is generic but competent, the characters are memorable and likeable. Suits are good and the villains are entertaining. My only real complaint is that the Big Bad is kind of meh, though at least amusing throughout.

Was also pleasantly surprised to see a show like this basically all but use the words “depression” when talking about a character’s mental health. Baby steps and all that.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I’m not opposed to Eiji/Ankh but lbr. Date/Gotou are the real outstanding homosexuals here.

Fourze

Saying this feels like kicking a puppy, but…it’s not my bag. Pretty much entirely because I’m just not really into high school stories. 

The characters are fine, the plot is. Well. It is what it is. The suits are excellent. I just never really clicked with it or felt any of the emotional beats. That one scene that everyone seems to cry over just had me sat there waiting to move on. I think the strongest emotion the show ever elicited from me was bewilderment at the last minute het hookup.

That said, I don’t think it’s bad. It’s just, like with the battle royale series, not for me.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I actually don’t think I have one for this series? I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about this one and often forget it exists > . >;

Wizard

I went into this knowing that it was a series people were funny about, and fucking loved it. Not quite in my top 5, but top 10 for sure. 

I loved Haruto as a contrast to his predecessor, Beast is my favourite secondary, and hey! First female rider treated decently! (Her suit sucks, but that’s a separate issue.) 

Rinko is fine, but they obviously kind of stopped knowing what to do with her. Koyomi was so clearly signposted for [REDACTED] that I didn’t really feel any reason to care about her, which was then exacerbated by her not being as present as a character with her level of import should have been. Shunpei mostly felt awkward to me. He’s clearly the kid appeal character, which, fine. Whatever. Not for me to enjoy.

That aside, it’s otherwise a sweet, funny series, and the aesthetics pop the fuck off. The main issues are balancing the cast, the pacing, and the fact that for some reason, the last two episodes are just Random Antics. 

Look, I love getting more Decade any goddamn time, but those 2 episodes should have been Wizard’s last two episodes, not “hey let’s show off the new guy and harken to nostalgia!”

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Shunpei shouldn’t have been a Main Character, he should have been Recurring. Specifically, he should have been given his finale role MUCH earlier as a reason for him to be around.

Gaim

Woof.

Battle royale, so meh. Dance battle concept should have been committed to but they were COWARDS, in which case they should have not bothered with it at all.

I am not a huge Urobuchi fan (I loved Thunderbolt Fantasy for the puppets, and have zero interest in Madoka), so this series wasn’t really a great advertisement for him. I also found this series more offensive about its women than any Inoue series, which is saying something! 

Inoue shows seems to recognise women are people. They might not care much for the Brand Of Person they are, but they are very much under the “person” category. Meanwhile Gaim is so dismissive of its women that you can hear the “UGGHHH I GUESS IF WE HAVE TO” every time a female character gets a line of dialogue. 

The female rider’s only selling points are that her actor seems cool, and that she’s a female rider (I can’t even remember her name which kind of says it all). Mai is so disrespected by the plot that they literally turn her into a prize to win - and anyone who tries, unironically, to argue that that it’s ~satire~ of other media doing the same thing, needs to remember that it’s not satire if you just bloody do the thing.

Ending sucks, while clearly thinking it’s doing something subversive. Has way too many characters it expects me to care about. Worst wigs in toku, somehow.

…And yet, parts of it compelled me. There are moments of potential, of interesting ideas! Kouta is great fun as a lead rider because he’s that specific brand of idiot that everyone is at 20. Long live the buff short king, etc, etc. Oren is Iconique, and deserves to kick the ass of all these annoying teenagers hanging around.

Which is to say, god I hate it, but I was willing to suffer it all for Kouta and Oren. Oren and Kouta are worth any and all suffering. 

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Kouta/Takatora have more chemistry in their around 4 scenes than Kouta and Kaito did in the entire show.

(On which note, godspeed Kaito’s actor, I hope you’re living your best life.)

Drive

A mixed bag. Has good moments, has crap ones. Weird vibe due to the whole “state sanctioned superhero basically commits genocide” angle. Has one of the rare het pairings I’m okay with, except for how they got them together which is one of the stupidest two episode plot arcs I’ve seen a Rider shoot itself in the foot with - mere episodes before the end!

Chase best boy. Gou is a little shit of the “oh, he needs therapy therapy” variety. I can’t talk about Kiriko without devolving into the I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream monologue aimed squarely at the writers. The little cars are weirdly cute and made me care for them.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I hate when people do the whole “it’d be good/okay/whatever but you know, COPS” hand-wringing. We’re grown ups here, I think we can take it as read on toku tumblr, of all places, that none of us are watching this thing going “well golly gee I sure do love policemen they seem like reasonable fellows who can do no wrong ever!”

Make actual criticisms if it’s relevant, otherwise it’s just weird and performative.

Ghost

Nowhere near as bad as various other toku sources seem to think it is. 

Takeru is a sweetheart, Akira is a great Science Badass. I love the team in general, and it’s a rare series where a good monster of the week gets to live.

It’s also a bit muddled, and the plot does meander somewhat (based on Saber, I suspect this is an issue the lead writer has in general), and the big bad escaped my brain the minute the show ended. 

I’m not touching the incest shit because it doesn’t deserve the energy wasted on engaging with it. 

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I'm almost impressed at how this show managed to make non-incestuous potential pairings seem incestuous.

Ex-Aid

When I first watched this show I came away really unsure how I felt about it, and figured I’d rewatch it to determine if I liked it on a second viewing. Candidcantrix said she wanted to watch it, which was a perfect opportunity, and I did indeed get my answer!

I don’t like it 🙂

Plot is very standard battle royale-esque stuff. Every single character under 20 is annoying as hell (Nico faintly improves when she and Taiga become the shithead siblings, but it takes them a while to get there), to the extent even Cantrix - who I generally deem much nicer than me - was going “let the little fucker die then” at the multiple plots involving kids being shits to Emu.

Suits are cute. Gaming stuff is funny. Kiriya and Kuroto are fun, though sadly not present for enough of the show to make up for the other dudes.

Emu is…fine. He’s a perfectly okay lead, just not particularly outstanding. Taiga I didn’t care for until he and Nico became a duo. Hiiro is...hm. Let’s just say it’s always rough when you don’t like the character who seems to be a fandom darling/bicycle. Which is a shame because I actually really like his actor.

Poppy I wish was treated halfway decently by the writing. Also, while not a surprise, it was still infuriating as hell that Nico “COMPETITION IS MY LIFE AND ALSO I’M RICH AS FUCK” Saiba says “I was inspired by you doctor guys with your doctoring!” and becomes…a nurse. 

Not to knock nurses, but y’know. It was a very clear "Boys Become Doctors, Girls Become Nurses uwu" message, that immediately brought to mind the news story of that medical school that fucked with applications from women and made me want to commit violence.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: …I don’t care for Parad either. 

Build

Current top 1? Definitely vying with Kuuga for that spot. Characters good, story good and better written than it had any reason to be.

Not much more to say, really. 

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Kazumi/Misora are fine.

Zi-O

Where’s that “Zi-O is good, you all are just mean” meme?

Basically fun. Plot is…certainly an attempt at a plot. Made the mistake of trying to instigate rules about the Other Riders (none of which were good), then realised the rules suck and dropped them quietly about halfway through. Which, y’know, I will at least give them the fact that they realised the rules should be dropped.

Suits are good, the core gang are fun, DECADE IS GOOD, and it’s very funny.

Unfortunately it doesn’t balance tone very well, so the more serious stuff towards the end felt very unearned and disingenuous.

Also Tsukuyomi should have got more than 20 seconds in-suit. 

Otherwise? I quite enjoyed it. Was nice seeing the older riders who came back, and the team having Antics.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: NEEDS MORE DECADE.

Zero-One

I have a category called Forgettably Inoffensive, and Zero One falls into it.

It’s fine. It’s not terrible but it’s not brilliant. Aruto is fun. Fuwa is a mixed bag who gets better as the show goes on. Yua is a blank slate they completely fumbled, to the point of frustration because they could have done some really interesting things with her, but waited 10 episodes too long to break her out of [REDACTED] which was the main source of the issue.

The good suits are very good. The plot is average, but does at least handle its synthetic characters with a bit more decency than Drive. Yet another show where the only character to permanently [REDACTED] is a woman (I am biased by my personal views on consciousness here so some people might disagree with my definition of [REDACTED]).

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: This is one of the rare media where I prefer fandom’s version of the female lead to the canon. This is mostly because canon’s version doesn’t actually get to have her own motives and agency until about 4 episodes from the end.

Saber

YOU DO NOT NEED 800 RIDERS.

Plot wanders all over the place, and I assume the pandemic was responsible for a chunk of the issues but also, like. Fucking make sure your writing team are vaguely aware of what everyone is doing. The lack of direction is painfully apparent, resulting in various half-baked ideas that don’t really go anywhere (did Touma need a 2 episode berserk suit arc? Really?), and characters treading on each others’ toes. Too many chefs spoil the broth, etc, etc.

Reika didn’t need to have her brother be an actual character in the show. She didn’t need her only characterisation after Evil Arc (which was, itself, NOT GREAT) to be more of Ghost's weird incest shit. She DID need actual focus and a personality, but she’s a girl so fuck her, I guess.

Touma, Rintaro, Mei, and Kento? Grand, love ‘em as a core squad. Rintaro/Mei is one of the few het couples I’m fine with. As much as I think Mei should have been given a sword too, I also wasn’t particularly upset with her handling when compared to uh. Other Female Characters.

It’s a mess. It’s an entertaining mess, but I won’t be watching it again. Perfectly okay if you turn off the part of your brain that handles comprehension.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Didn't need more riders past Ogami. Daishinji was fine as a tech, Ren was a waste of time, and. Well. I've touched upon the Reika And Reika's Brother issue.

Revice

Revice is Fine. It’s literally Fine. It is the definition of average which is, by Kamen Rider standards, fine.

It’s not amazing, but it’s also not terrible, and I'm not really sure why tumblr toku fandom acts like it is, beyond people deciding to dislike it before it aired because Vice's VA is a known cunt. Which he is but like, he wasn't in charge of the show.

The main problems with it were Vice (who is massively toned down fairly quickly), pacing (not a unique problem), and being somewhat muddled towards the end (also not unique). Otherwise it’s a perfectly okay series that isn’t even remarkable in the issues it does have.

Would have benefited from the writer’s original intention of having a female lead - Sakura is basically the main character after a certain point, and it’s irritating that they keep having to call Ikki back to do The Big Shit despite him not really being involved. I remain convinced the show would have been improved with Sakura as primary, Daiji as secondary, and Ikki as a surprise Meddling Big Brother third.

George was funny. Hiromi was adorable, as was Lovekov. Kagerou was hilarious.

The weird plot with the doctor towards the end baffled me because it tried to act like she was part of the gang all along, and she hadn’t been in the show for like 20 episodes by that point? I didn’t even know her name.

Same for that one guy from Weekend who they clearly wanted to be a love interest for Sakura - I spent pretty much every moment he was on screen going “who are you again?” 

(Meanwhile they tried to sister zone Hana in the Girls Extra which was fucking hilarious. True equality is getting no homoed with the same level of effort as any given dude ship, I guess.)

I shall stay in my “Revice Is The Defintion Of Okay, You All Are Just Annoying” cave without digging too much deeper though, because it descends into conspiracy and me being a miserable cunt.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Better written than Saber. That's it, that's the take.

Geats onwards:

I’ve not watched any Rider past Revice, mostly because Geats and Gotchard really didn’t grab my attention. Geats for being a battle royale AND a Takahashi show.

Gotchard mostly put me off by being a high school type thing, buuuut I was further put off by the fact that there was hubbub about having a female secondary…and then I've seen exactly zero screenshots, gifsets, or clips of her in-show. Which does not bode well for how she was treated.

Gavv I’m faintly interested in, due to me generally enjoying the lead writers’ shows, but I’m waiting until it’s done (and I have more time) to watch it.

So.

Tl;dr: There's a reason I only have a few toku mutuals, and it boils down to me being a miserable old coot sitting on my porch going