#it's literally so interesting to watch this ability be utilized

[t-u-i-t-c]

Giftober 2022 │ Day 20: Time

Kamen Rider Cronus + "Pause"

[that-guy-sleepy-miles]

Hello folks, it's Miles here! You may know me as the guy who deduced what Rayman is snorting in episode 5 of Captain Laserhawk! And today, I'll be going over how...

There Are 6 Types of Magic in LEGO Monkie Kid

You can honestly stop here if you don't want to get into the most convoluted stuff ever. If you're vaguely interested but don't have much time, click read more and scroll down to Red Son, because he's where shit gets interesting.

A disclaimer! I've literally never broken down or written a magic system before, I'm just like. writing down and making sense of what I've noticed while watching the show. If you disagree with my assessment of a character's magic, think there's a better term for something I've described, or think I'm just plain wrong, please let me know so I can update the post! I don't know what I'm doing, and I've never looked into magic systems before!

An important thing to note is that LEGO Monkie Kid adheres somewhat to the power systems in Chinese mythology, so I will be bringing up concepts from Chinese mythology that are not talked about in the show. Honestly, if you went 100% on the show and not on Chinese mythology at all, there wouldn't be a magic system in the first place.

Now, let's begin!

‎

First, vocabulary.

Magic Class: The root of a user's magic. Classes are not exclusive, but actually compounding. For example, Wukong has Intrinsic-based Actively Cultivated Magic. Magic Subtype: A modifier to a class; additional information to explain how a user's magic came to be or how it works. For example, Tang has Revitalized Bestow-Inherited Actively Cultivated³ Magic — the subtype goes before the class because it's a modifier. (Yes, I will explain why his Actively Cultivated Magic is cubed.)

(In the naming scheme of magic, everyone has a full classification and then a shorthand classification. The classifications above were all shorthand.)

Magical Energy: The basic form of magic; unfiltered energy that can be channeled, manipulated, and cultivated. This energy can be used to attack directly or utilized in a spell. MAGICAL ENERGY IS QI, "MAGIC" IS JUST BEING USED BECAUSE THIS IS WRITTEN FOR A WESTERN AUDIENCE. Power: A defined ability, such as a spell or a technique. Not all Powers are explicitly named, but powers have defined forms and details whereas Magical Energy is usually a geometric shape. Examples of Powers: 72 Transformations, Golden Sight, teleportation. Magical Expression: How Magical Energy and Powers form upon release. Examples of Magical Expression are glowing eyes, full body glowing, magical seals, anime-esque energy blasts, Red Son's* fire, Ne Zha's fire (two VERY different forms of Magical Expression), and Macaque's purple shadow outline. Ne Zha's Wind Fire Wheels are examples of Magical Expression with a conduit. Zero Magical Expression ≠ zero release, but can. Conduits: Anything that can hold, channel, or manipulate Magical Energy. All living beings and magical artifacts are examples of conduits.

Channeling: Collecting magical energy internally Releasing: The basis of Magical Expression; using collected magical energy for an attack

(Mei showcasing channeling and releasing in Rip and Tear) You can always tell when a character is channeling and releasing.

Knowing which class of magic a character is using can be hard — they all tend to utilize anime-esque energy blast graphics and glowing bodies for Magical Expression — so you have to pay close attention. I'll be going over how to identify the specific magic types as we go through them.

Each type of magic has a "poster child" — a character that fully embodies that type — and I'll be using them to explain how the magic works. Once we finish the easily categorized magics, we'll get into the Special Cases.

(MK showcasing Intrinsic Magic in Rip and Tear)

(Wukong showcasing Cultivated Magic in A Lifetime of Mistakes)

Now, onto the classes of magic!

Intrinsic Magic is a class of magic...

That's not inherently pedigree-related. Ne Zha's father Li Jing was a mortal man.

Most gods and local deities have, and some yaoguai have. (Older demons like DBK and Wukong have Intrinsic Magic, while younger demons like Pigsy and Sandy might technically have Inherited Magic. It all depends on how you want to look at it.)

That usually comes with unique powers, commonly the ability to walk and talk upon birth. (Wukong got laser eyes, and Red Son* got the Samadhi Fire).

And holders have unnatural births? Pangu's cosmic egg, Ne Zha being born a ball of flesh after being gestated for three years, Wukong's rock that's existed since the dawn of time, etc.

Ne Zha is the epitome of Intrinsic Magic! If you think Intrinsic Magic, you think Ne Zha. The unmistakable way to identify Intrinsic Magic is to look for themes. If a character has a theme to their magic, again and again, they likely have Intrinsic Magic! For example:

Ne Zha's Intrinsic Theme is (obviously) lotus flowers/petals.

Red Son's* Intrinsic Theme is flames.

Macaque would be a contender for intrinsic magic (we will be getting back to him, though).

Cultivated Magic is a class of magic that has two subclasses: ACTIVE and PASSIVE, and...

That's ENTIRELY self-created. A magical pedigree can help, but no pedigree is required in Cultivated Magic — Li Jing cultivated magic as a completely human man, for example.

That NEEDS a Conduit. The conduit for Cultivated Magic can be the magic user themselves, but often it's a magical artifact or a technique. Note: a conduit doesn't require Cultivated Magic to be used, but Cultivated Magic requires a conduit. (Known Conduits include: Wukong's Cloud Somersault, Nezha's Wind Fire Wheels, and Princess Iron Fan's Banana Leaf Fan.)

That's very backstory-heavy. There's always a way that a character learned or got their power, or a description of how old they are.

A magic that you see most with yaoguai and immortals. The older the yaoguai, the more cultivated they are.

Passive Cultivation: Every living being is a conduit for passive cultivation — by existing, you are passively cultivating. The best method of passive cultivation is age; the older something is, the more passively cultivated. A Huli jing is the best example of passively cultivated magic. According to literature, the older a fox is, the more power it accrues.

Active Cultivation: Active Cultivation is when a being seeks out magical power. The most common form of active cultivation is being taught Tao techniques (Wukong's Cloud Somersault, Li Jing's Burning Pagoda Art). In this situation, the technique is the conduit. Other forms of actively cultivating magic are yaoguai eating humans and magic-accruing technology (specifically DBK's Furnace armor, which converts rarity into magical energy.)

Cultivated Magic comes with the implication of being wise, at least in some form, and those with cultivated magic are able to teach others. Being a disciple immediately means you have Actively Cultivated Magic.

Cultivated Magic often doesn't have Magical Expression, because it's all about existing and learning. When it does have Magical Expression, it's usually depictions of strength and power or the conduit itself glowing.

(Wukong's hairs glow as they are used as conduits for his cloning technique in Macaque)

(Wukong and Macaque's strength is showcased through Magical Expression during a fight in Macaque)

Cultivated Magic can be seen through any technique that was stated to have learned, such as Wukong's astral projection and his speed/quick reflexes.

(Wukong focusing in order to astral project to MK in Dumpling Destruction)

(MK having to actively learn and practice astral projecting in Minor Scale)

MK: Monkey King! It worked! Monkey King: Hey, bud. So, you figured out astral projection, huh? MK: Yeah, and I only had five nose bleeds.

Cultivated Magic is best showcased in action, and characters cultivate over the course of the show.

(Wukong showcasing his Cultivated Magic by pulling some fast ones on MK in Impossible Delivery)

(4 seasons later in Strings That Bind, Wukong and MK spar, showcasing MK's Cultivated Magic. Tumblr will NOT let me embed both videos, and the first one is more important, so this will just be a link.)

Inherited Magic is a class of magic that has two subclasses: ANCESTERAL and BESTOWED, and...

Comes from someone else and was given to or passed down to the magic user.

Is sourced from Intrinsic or Cultivated Magic, but the magic user is not intrinsically magical/did not cultivate that magic themselves. The Intrinsic/Cultivated Magic is specific to another (perhaps deceased) being.

Can have ZERO Magical Expression or release.

If a character has Ancestor-Inherited Magic, they'll have a family animal, a family artifact, and/or a known ancestor.

If a character has Bestow-Inherited Magic, they were given their power by another magic user (known as the Bestower) so that they would serve that magic user, defeat a foe, or as a reward. Bestow-Inherit Magic users are often previously mortal.

Bestow-Inherited Magic is most blatantly a character giving another character magical powers, but being granted godhood, being brought back to life under a deal, and everyone receiving heavenly ranks/Wukong and Tripitaka receiving Buddhahood and Buddha titles at the end of Journey To The West is also Bestow-Inherited Magic.

A quick note: Older yaoguai (DBK, Azure Lion, Wukong) are considered to have Intrinsic Magic, but Modern yaoguai (Pigsy, Sandy) are deemed to have Inherited Magic. This is because these younger demons are not yaoguai specifically unto themselves — their status as a yaoguai comes from their ancestors. They have no unique, intrinsic powers, nor were they specifically predestined to be yaoguai despite their heritage (such as in the case of Nezha, who was predestined to be a celestial being).

For example, Pigsy. His status as a Magic User exists because of his family history. While, yes, his family is important to his character and story, it's not something he did himself — he did not cultivate his grandma — and there is nothing unique about him biology-wise besides just being a pig demon. He is a reincarnation, but being a reincarnation didn't make him a yaoguai. (That was a whole fate, symbolism deal, though.) If Pigsy hadn't been born, his family would still have a pig demon kid.

Now, onto the subtypes. (As a reminder, a subtype modifies a class!)

Revitalized Magic is a subtype of magic. It means that the magic is from a pre-incarnation that a character unlocks and requires reincarnation.

Uuuuunless it doesn't, and it required Un-Death. Auto-Revitalization of Magic is definitely a thing, but it's not a real category. It's just a specification to explain things that have happened to a character.

For example: The reason Macaque's shadows turned into chaos magic at the end of season 5 is because he's dead. He's outside of the reincarnation cycle, he's Undead, his magic is Auto-Revitalized —so when the reincarnation cycle is broken, his magic is also changed. At least, that's my personal theory. I might be DEAD WRONG.

Okay, back to Revitalized Magic proper: Remember back when I said Tang's magic was cubed? Yeah, this is why. (Before we start, Táng Sānzàng will be referred to as Tripitaka from here on out.)

The full classification of Tang's magic is: Potential Revitalized Bestow-Inherited (Tripitaka), Revitalized Actively Cultivated (Golden Cicada), Revitalized Actively Cultivated (Tripitaka), Actively Cultivated Magic. (Maybe, we'll get into this.)

The entire reason demons tried to eat Tripitaka was because he was the reincarnation of the Golden Cicada, who was a disciple of Buddha, which made Tripitaka's flesh holy. Being a disciple immediately means Actively Cultivated Magic; Tripitaka had Revitalized Actively Cultivated Magic. Tripitaka was a Buddhist disciple as well, which means he also Actively Cultivated. If Tang is a reincarnation of Tripitaka, who is a reincarnation of the Golden Cicada, then Tang has Revitalized Actively Cultivated Magic twice (or, even, 10 times, if you look at the Sandalwood Buddha thing, but Tripitaka and Golden Cicada are the important disciples so we're only counting them).

If Tang has Revitalized Actively Cultivated Magic and Revitalized Actively Cultivated Magic, that means he has Revitalized Actively Cultivated Magic². However,

Tang is a SCHOLAR. BEING A SCHOLAR MEANS THAT TANG IS ALSO AN ACTIVE CULTIVATOR.

HENCE, TANG HAS ACTIVELY CULTIVATED MAGIC³.

Celestial Magic is a subclass of magic that includes any magic with a seal. It's not exclusive to Celestial beings, but it's most often used by beings with Heavenly connections.

Celestial Magic is also known as "Spells", I'm pretty sure. Wukong just dropped this terminology on us in Season 5, and spells usually require words, but like. Okay, buddy. Whatever. You're the magic guy.

Celestial Seals have a unique symbol for every "Artist", or a Hànzì that explains the spell's purpose. For example, Li Jing's seals have a little pagoda on them, and the containment spell's seal (the only thing that can truly be called a spell here) has the character "牢", which means "prison" (or "enclosure", which is hilarious because it's containing 3 monkeys).

Consequential Magic is any magical energy or power gained as a result of an action taken by someone who is NOT the magic user.

Consequential is not a subclass of Cultivated because the magic user had no say in acquiring/did not know they were acquiring Consequential Magic; Consequential is not a subclass of Inherited because the magic user was not intentionally given these powers and they did not come from ancestry.

(Red Son* is literally the reason this subtype exists.) Every example of Consequential Magic is different, so I'm just going to some of the ones I know of in canon:

Wukong's Golden Sight (Consequence of the Eight Trigrams Furnace; Torture-consequence)

Ao Lie having the Samadhi Fire inside him after they fucked up the seal (Samadhi Fire/Red Son*; Samadhi-consequence)

Mei Dragon's ability to harness the Samadhi Fire/the remnants left over inside her after (Samadhi Fire/Red Son*; Samadhi-consequence)

MK's human form (form as in the shape of something btw) (Xiangliu fucked his shit up; Birth Interference-Consequence)

Macaque's new Chaos Magic (Xiangliu fucked his shit up; Chaos-Consequence)

I have spent this entire post explaining the way magic seems to work in LEGO Monkie Kid, getting slightly more and more unhinged as we go on. But there might be two things on your mind: Why? and Why does Red Son's* name have an asterisk on it every time I've mentioned him in this post?

I can answer both of those questions with one statement: Red Son does not adhere to the magic rules other characters follow. I've tried to find examples to see if I was thinking of the magic wrong — and that's fully possible — but I didn't find anything. In fact, the more I look, the more sure of this I become. It's like he actively decides against following the rules of the magic system.

He can be used as EXAMPLES of the magic system, but when you dig into his magic specifically, it's completely wack-a-doo.

First and foremost:

Red Son has a completely unique form of Magic Expression. His emotions are directly linked to his Magical Expression and release.

Emotionally linked magic release is something no other character does, but here he is doing it over and over and over again. The only example close to it is MK's Mystic Monkey form flickering in and out when he's distraught, and that's LITERALLY CREATION-GIVEN NÜWA MAGIC, THAT'S FROM A CREATURE WHOSE CANONICALLY "OUTSIDE OF THE 10 SPECIES" AND CANNOT BE CATEGORIZED?? AND ALSO NOT QUITE THE SAME EITHER.

(This could also be attributed to the concentration part of the Samadhi Fire, but he doesn't... seem to have access to that anymore? At least, not like Mei does. We'll consider it a factor in his magic expression, though.)

About his fire,

Red Son and his mom are the only two characters with Wuxing/Elemental Magic — every other example comes from a magical artifact. It's actually a 50/50 chance on whether or not PIF has wind powers or if the Banana Leaf Fan gives her wind powers (I'm pretty sure it gives her wind powers, but just to be safe we'll count her as having wind powers.) Wuxing Magic is not uncommon in actual Chinese mythology, but it is in the show for some reason. And it ALWAYS has an artifact as a conduit. Wuxing Magic always seems to be just a visual effect or an added addition to attacks in the show.

Another weird ass thing about Red Son's magic is its contrast with Nezha's. I'm pretty sure Red Son's fire is actual fire that he conjures magically, in contrast to Nezha's Wind Fire Wheels (conduits that Nezha fuels, and release Wuxing Magic as a visual effect) which make specifically magical fire.

Okay, so, I've been going through this assuming you're aware of the show's visuals concerning magic, but this is important for me to cover in detail. Everyone has two magic colors (white doesn't count for this). They can change in lighting, but you'll always recognize them as being the same general colors. Other colors may be used for emphasis, but they'll only be darker versions of the colors and they'll be used as a background for the main colors. (Quick note, MK and Wukong might have only one magic color? Fun stuff.)

The reason I think Red Son's magic is not... magic persay, is because it doesn't follow the color rule. Like, it's not actually the color of Red Son's magical energy half the time, it doesn't follow the magic color rule. Red Son's fire shifts like an actual fire, which is very cool visually, but is not how magic works.

(Quick note, magic seems to be lighter in the celestial realm. This is because the Celestial Realm is really well-lit. The environment is literally pure sunlight or some shit, so all the characters and their magic are in perfect lighting. So Red Son's magic getting inexplicably darker would make no sense unless Red Son's magic is doing that on its own and the lighting has nothing to do with it.)

His magic also isn't the color of the Samadhi Fire, nor is his fire. That time in season 5 when Mei helped him with the seal, the two of them together made a Samadhi Fire-colored seal. He didn't seem capable of doing that by himself, which leads me to my conclusion:

I think the suppression of the Samadhi Fire suppressed Red Son's Intrinsic Magic as a whole, and his magical core (as one user put it) is compensating by drawing directly from his element.

Characters having an element isn't a new thing. Wukong's element is metal, he's a metal guy, it's why he can't swim, and it's why MK can't swim. MK needs floaties because he'll sink like a rock because he shares the metal element with Wukong.

But this is a possible explanation for why Red Son's magic is so weird.

On the note of Mei having more access to the Samadhi Fire than him, Skellebonez (my rock through this journey of a post) brought up a good point: "[I] think it makes sense because whatever they did to remove it from him could have also added a barrier preventing its return to an extent[.] Like a filter[.]"

This Intrinsic Magic cap/Samadhi Filter might also explain why he keeps getting his shit rocked despite having such potential to be powerful (that's probably just because it's silly tho) and it could explain why his parents are so damn disappointed in him in season 1. It's because they took his magic from him (however unintentionally) and he's not as magical anymore. The only type of categorizable magic he uses is Celestial magic, which HUMANS can use and can be bestowed on ANYONE. You can just like... LEARN THAT, and I think he just did.

In canon, nobody ever seems to be hurt by Red Son's fire? It seems to just be... a thing that he does. Everyone is less and less scared of it as the show goes on, and the only thing it does major damage to is MK's apartment. He uses his fists to attack more than he uses his fire, it's generally left as a visual effect. Red Son uses his fire as an intimidation tactic, not as an actual weapon, and I think this could also be explained by an Intrinsic Magic cap. His intrinsic magic is suppressed, so he has to rely on things like physical strength/cultivation.

I also think nobody knows this in canon, they didn't know about it, or they don't understand it. I think Red Son has a magic limiter on him, which is why his parents were such raging fuckasses in season one. They thought their son was "useless", or in Wukong's words, "half-baked", after showing such promise in his childhood before an incident. They only got a healthier relationship after they stopped obsessing over power and spent some family time together, when they realized that their son being a powerful magical demon isn't the most important thing in the world. (AND WE WEREN'T SHOWN IT.)

Red Son is magic-disabled, in this essay I did.

ALL MAGIC COMES FROM THE PRIMORDIAL CHAOS, SO, IN ACTUALITY, ALL OF IT IS THE SAME! FUCK YOU!

[katiekatdragon27]

Does anyone still care about this idea? No? Well I don't care you get more stuff anyway.

I am working on the playing cards dw, but this has been sitting in my gallery for months and I wanted to get it done.

(It is HIGHLY RECOMENDED that you read the first part of this au story thing. It provides a lot of context for the world and some other characters that are mentioned here.)

Also some updates on that: This story is now called "Rayman: The Sacred Dream" and it is the concepts for a possible fangame. If people show genuine interest in these characters or this Rayman prequal's story, PLEASE let me know. I would love to construct a team to make this idea a reality.

Anyways: To the character cards!!! (Please read below I worked hard on the ref sheets)

Xavior the Athletic Monk:

Xavior is a teensy who utilizes a special kind of elemental magic over anything else. Choosing to hit hard and dodge over magic blasts, he has learned to manipulate the magic inside his own body to shapeshift into a gelatinous water version of himself. Ze is incredibly resilient and moldable too, able to fit through almost any space and dodge most attacks with ease. He is one of Umber's closest friends. They and he often spar to release energy and get better at combat in general. Ze is also very kind, but lacks a filter, so often comes off as rude unintentionally.

Fier the Furious Paladen:

Fier is a teensy with fire in his heart. Literally. Being a resident of Gourmand Land, they have never turned down a hearty meal, especially if it's spicy. His love for spice was so high that it turned his teal skin yellow, making him look the way he does now. They're personality is no less spicy. He is a hot head with a stubborn thought process. They swing first and questions people after, often challenging Aurthr for leadership of the group. He is not blessed by Polokus, but he does have some sort of deity watching him. It's rumored one of the four wild kings has given him their blessing. He does make a banger meal though, so he is allowed to stick around.

Ellixer the Mysterious Cleric:

No one knows Ellixer's story, nor do they ever share it themselves. They are the only naturally yellow teensy of the Glade, with has made them a puzzlement for most who come across them. They are a very talented magic user, but it can only be used for good (such as healing and boosts). Their inability for proper fighting has made them an easy target for capture, but to their captor's surprise, they always escape undetected. Some even assume that they are Polokus themselves, but they deny it. However, Ellixer did manage to help Aurthr with his bubble magic, so they're not beating the allegations.

Zoron the Cursed Druid:

Zoron was not always the old grump he is now. There was a time where he was a thriving showman, bringing the magic of snow and combat to the hot climates of the Glade. His best clients were the minotaurs, a kind group of hell-dwellers just wanting to cool down and have a good spar. However, while traveling to one of his events, he got into a fight with a mother frostbite, who lost her life in the battle. From that day on, Zoron had been cursed with not only her primal hunger, but the ability to turn into any creature he has fought before (which has been a lot). He was also burdened with her kits, although this is no bother to him now. After learning how to control his hunger through Soria, he's been staying isolated in caves, not wanting to hurt anyone else.

Pyren the Rouge Artificer:

Pyren is one of the strangest teensies around. Whereas most are born with large amounts of magic, Pyren was born with none. This lack of magic has made his life incredibly hard, making it almost impossible to properly bond with his peers and defend himself alone. As a result, he started utilizing his real talent, his brain. Learning that plums are quite flammable and explosive, he learned to harness their power into artillery like bombs and makeshift guns. He also sells these weapons to others, good and bad, who also struggle with no magic or are willing to pay the pretty gem. However, insecurity leads people down dark paths, so when a large, dark-hearted nightmare strikes a deal with Pyren for him get magic in exchange for his loyalty, he becomes his biggest weaponsmith.

And with that, the cast has been fully shared! Yes, there is going to be like 10 main characters in this, but some are more main than others lol. If anyone has any questions at all, I will be more than happy to answer.

Thank you for all the support and have a wonderful afternoon!

[thorns-and-rosewings]

Now here we have Part 5 of the Reaper King AU💀 a bit of an explanation of KC's powers... Before we get to the obvious shenanigans of the last chapter. 😈

TW: By now you can gather we touch on some darker topics in this.

Part 5

-Killcode DOES have magic. He became aware of his 'passive' abilities. Such as the mutations that occurred to his children and to the area they live but he deduced that there were other abilities, more offensive ones, he could utilize and he quickly learned how to use them...

-His powers are all entangled with darkness and shadows. Which he can use to extend the reach of his scythes, if not completely generate weapons from the darkness outright.

-He also can create massive spikes of shadows from the ground to come up and impale victims en masse.

-Killcode can drain the warmth out of an area, making a forest trail in the middle of a summer day as cold as a moonless winter night. Something he does to test the reactions of his target, maybe even work to unsettle them... Which works to make a more interesting hunt.

-He can become 'As a shadow' and disappear into the ground and move through terrain with frightening ease, even emerging from literally nowhere to strike down targets.

-His most devastating power is 'Shinigami' which is where he completely mutates... He becomes a Bio-Mechanical creature that looks more like it's namesake. He possess wings, sharper claws, and a tail. Not only does this form amplify his strength, but it also heavily affects the area around him in almost a Silent Hill manner. He can devastate everything in his path in this form... However he can overexert himself and need to rest in a nearly catatonic state from anywhere from several hours to several days afterwards.

-Also he has the ability to generate mist.

-Although he has these additional abilities he very rarely ever uses them. As he believes it gives him an unfair advantage... Granted he does enjoy creating mists or draining away the heat as this makes hunts more entertaining.

-Oddly enough his FAVORITE power is the most passive of all.

-Every now and again KC and his family will climb up to the top of the mountain to a small little plateau up there. Where they can overlook the entire forest and the small towns scattered around... A red light will bloom from the core in Killcodes chest and tendrils of this light will rise up into the sky and spread out...

-Creating a breathtaking blood red Aurora.

-While frightening to behold for the locals and has become known as a bad omen, the sight is beautiful and calming to the monster family.

...Anyways...

Now back to the Tinder debacle...

-Obviously this goes without saying but the building of a Tinder Profile for KC goes off the rails. Between the debates of what to put on the profile vs too much information...

-Bloodmoon is trying to tailor the profile to match the profile of the Park Ranger... Which isn't too hard, as it turns out they actually have some things in common... But this is hindered a little by his siblings input, although they eventually cobble together a decent profile and uploaded it to Tinder.

-They got a lot of matches...

-Oh LORD there were so many matches...

-Within minutes of posting this profile he had at least a hundred matches and DMs were at least double that...

Banshee: Um... Bloody is this supposed to happen?

Bloodmoon: I don't think so. This is so weird... How hor- (Looks at Wisp who's standing next to him, let alone Vamp and Lycan who are watching the increasing list of matches on the profile.) Erm... How lonely are these people?!

Banshee: ...good save...

Wendigo: (Snorts) Congratulations guys, you just made dad Tinders most desirable bachelor.

Bloodmoon: NEVER say that sentence again...

Wendigo: (Snickers)

Vamp: ...Question...

Lycan: How can the ranger accept dad's profile if we still have their phone?

Wisp: (Holds up phone)

Bloodmoon: 😱

-Sooo, the next part of the plan was to return the phone to the Ranger... So Bloody went back to the ranger outpost. Where the ranger was outside, looking around the ground for where exactly they could have dropped their phone.

-Bloodmoon wound up and threw the phone... Only he ended up smacking the ranger upside the head with it... Knocking them out cold with it.

Bloody: ...eh I am sure they are fine...

-He leaves them unconscious on the ground outside of the Ranger station with the door to the aforementioned station wide open... And... It was promptly invaded by a horde of super intelligent racoons.

-Bloodmoon returns home only to find that KC has returned back as well... And he is initially not to happy about the Tinder Profile...

-Probably because at this point he's gotten even more matches... And the DMs... Well... He can't let the younger kids read those.

-BUT...

-It would appear that the Forest Ranger in question has also said hello... And they are able to start a conversation!

-A small victory...

-However... KC makes a point that nobody is EVER going to do this ever again.

[andypantsx3]

Yk I am always baffled by Gojo. Usually in any piece of media I consume I always fall for the gentlemanly, princely and romantic sort of guys like shouto or miyamura(from horimiya) or yuki(from fruits basket)- ykr! but Gojo is literally all the things I hate in a person combined XD (both in fiction and real life). He's brash, he's rude and disrespectful and gosh darn it so so cocky yet I love this stupid egotistical man to death? Gojo saturo you truly are a mystery to me :/

Oh my god me too! It's that tragic backstory luring us all in!! I was so disinterested in him during my initial watch of JJK, but then some people on here started dropping the manga lore and that was the end.

It's so funny because he is such a fucking weenie, but then you dig underneath and he's so nuanced. The majority of his life he's only known isolation and duty but he's grown to treasure connections (and the memory of connections RIP) so deeply instead of becoming embittered; he actively works to protect and engender the abilities of the next generation despite being so outwardly up his own ass about being the strongest. Instead of utilizing his position to do whatever he wants, he's chosen to commit to a vision of a better jujutsu society, and in that way he does have the same kind of like, noble, inherently good vibe you respect in your other love interests lol.

Still lowkey want to stick his head in a toilet tho ngl.

[imthepunchlord]

Adrien's Elemental and Miraculous Matches (Wu Xing)

Bagua

Adrien I've come to conclude is a Fire and Earth, with Fire as his primary and Earth as his secondary. The most curious aspect with Adrien is you see both elemental personalities in him almost equally, but they seem... divided instead of existing in unity, and they can conflict with each other, which works off how jarring Adrien can be in his behavior as a civilian vs as a hero.

Fire largely is seen with his Adrien as Chat Noir, but does work off how he is as a civilian too, seen in him being flashy, dramatic, expressive, energetic, and playful. As Chat is Adrien's means to let loose everything he keeps inside, this is literally letting his inner fire out to flare with life when Gabriel tried to keep it down and muffled. Fire works off him being reckless and active, this is an element that thrives off freedom and being alive, and is smothered when it is kept isolated and contained. Fire also works off Adrien's keen interest and investment in romance, as this is the most romantic element, one that desires having a romantic partner the most. Fire also plays into Adrien's destructive/temper and pettiness, with him using Cataclysm to destroy and get his anger out, to him being spiteful when Ladybug irks him. It also plays into the deep depression Adrien can fall into, as when Fire goes out, they go to cold ash and it's a bad episode they sit through until they get reignited.

Earth is largely seen with Adrien as a civilian. He is one for harmony and dislikes conflict, preferring majority happy if not everyone, and will intervene to secure that sense of peace he desires (like him telling Marinette to let things go as Lila's lies aren't "hurting anyone"). He balances on that line of sociable but also being a loner, enjoying being around people but also not exactly going out of his way to be around people. Earth also plays off Adrien's need to be needed, as he picks up on someone in need and is vulnerable then actually steps up to console and support them. Earth can also play into him being slow to change things, working off how Gabriel has molded Adrien to his ideal son and Adrien is incredibly slow to rebel against that (like, I hear it took s5 for him to finally start standing up to his dad? Better late than never I guess).

Fire and earth both play off Adrien's natural charm and him pulling people in, having Fire's warmth and Earth's gentle patience and support. The two elements can also play into Adrien's potential as a leader, but him not aiming for it, as Fire likes to be the leader, but Earth is more a team player and mediator that doesn't aim for leadership.

With how Adrien currently is, his two elements aren't existing in harmony, which is how he can be so polarizing between himself and Chat, these are two different elements with Fire being very high energy and flashy where Earth is more stationary and still, and it can work off the two extremes of his personality. Ideally, it should open up him growing and the two extremes becoming one, for him to be a mixture of Adrien and Chat and that's who he truly is. If he was allowed to grow and exist as a character, this could've been very satisfying to watch.

Of the Wu Xing, this makes Ladybug and Fox Adrien's best matches, and Tikki and Trixx are the most ideal kwamis to work off of him.

Given Ladybug's long history of going to warriors and red often being an aggressive color, and this Miraculous is now expanded to be more versatile, Ladybug is now far more up Adrien's alley. Generating items are now not exclusive to making complex plans with it being a key feature, but can now be a means to curse a target with bad luck, working off Adrien's offense desire and his enjoyment of pranking others. Adrien's creations probably would largely come out straight forward, but would be effective in their purpose, and I can see him learning to get more creative and complex as he keeps going. And the ability to utilize and manipulate light in any way he can think of can easily work off Adrien thinking he's the light of everyone's life, wanting to be a guiding light, and source of comfort. Ladybug also offers a chance for Adrien to develop an eye for detail and to be more aware of others and his surroundings.

Fox works more off Adrien's mischievousness, his interest in acting, and his capability to lie/withhold information. While Fox doesn't have Ladybug's ability to directly be involved in the fight, it does still provide him the means to be in the front lines and secure his safety. It can work off him dabbling into lying and misdirecting attention away from him, and given his involvement an acting, he has something to work off when he disguises himself, and it's a plus to change up the potential powers he can have, even if they are weaker than the original.

Kwami wise, Tikki and Trixx both have the immediate appeal of being kwamis who do get involved with their humans right away. Canon wise, I think as Plagg set himself up as someone uninvolved and nonchalant, this sets up Adrien with the idea that Plagg is a kwami he doesn't really have to listen to, which backfired for Plagg the few times he does call Adrien out or point out an issue. Tikki and Trixx will not have that issue.

Tikki is a kwami that is set up to cover his needs and wants right away. Adrien is seeking someone to fill the void his mother left (which he projected onto Ladybug), Tikki can fill that by being an eager supporter and affectionate, and given Adrien has more emotional needs and lacks warmth in his life, she will step up in the affectionate role. But it's not all fluff and comfort with Tikki as she is someone who prioritizes duty and seeks to direct and improve her humans. For Adrien, this will be trying to improve him as a hero, take things more seriously, and try to shape him up to be a leader. Given Tikki pays attention to others outside her human, she will open Adrien's eyes to others, their feelings, and potential situation, and urge him to step up and help others. To not be reactive but to be active. Involve himself, engage, take initiative. And if he's bogged down by his home life, Tikki will urge him to do what he can to change it instead of just endure it quietly and sulkily. Talk with his father, try to form a compromise, try to ease up that schedule, allow him freedom and independence, and if Gabriel is unreasonable, make use of Chloe and her political connections to pressure him. Remind Adrien that he has connections and he can use them. Given his very strict situation, Tikki won't be as demanding or insistent on duties and helping as she is with Marinette who has far more freedom and independence, though she will still work to try and get Adrien to be more active and helpful. And one of the biggest plus, and potentially biggest struggle for Adrien, is that nosy, observant Tikki will pick up on Gabriel's odd behavior, will look into him, and she will force Adrien to be apart of his own plot, and he will have to face who and what his father is, and what his stance in this is.

Trixx has that appeal of being an in between Tikki and Plagg. She does have a sense of responsibility and duty, but she can also be chaotic and unpredictable. And being a sharp kwami who can get a sense of what sort of human she's dealing with, she can quickly get an idea of how to work with Adrien and what he needs. For this, she will be engaging and direct, but she will also be vague, try to get Adrien to think and make his own choices, easing him up to do to counter Tikki who'd be more direct, and Plagg who's waiting for Adrien to do his own thing. Similar to Tikki, Trixx would work on broadening Adrien's perception, develop an eye for detail, awareness of others, and getting a sense of their mindset and feelings. She'd play into Adrien's dabbling and enjoyment of acting, and help him realize that acting may be a path he'd want to do. She'd work at gently brightening that inner flame, let his inner self come out more, have him joke and play around even as a civilian. And for his want of freedom and independence, if his father won't talk with him or ease up, Trixx will help Adrien rebel, to achieve what he desires, how to outsmart his father and how to combat his unreasonable rules.

By elemental placement, Adrien is viable with Butterfly and Cat, though they aren't the best matches either by powers or kwamis. It's not impossible for Adrien to wind up good with them, but there will either be a learning curve or something needs to be adjusted with the kwamis.

Butterfly has more issues power wise. The potential is there, Adrien is shown he's good talking with people one on one, he can lift them up when they need him to; the big issue though is Adrien has a mentality of how he wants things to go, and he will shut down another's feelings to achieve that, and it's not a good trait for a Butterfly to have when they need to make a champion. He'd have to work on his empathy and awareness. Astral projection I can see him enjoying as it does give absolute freedom, traveling freely as a spirit, and I can see him making use of all the abilities; with the ability to possess, it can also be his means to be on the front lines like he desires. And making minor changes to the world around I can see being doable, he would use it to change moods and to break free of any locks his father puts around him. Butterfly over all though does clash against how Adrien likes to be as he likes to be in the front lines, and this Miraculous is designed to be a more long range support. He'd have to learn to roll with the long range or deal with being in tight spots.

Nooroo would be a kwami Adrien would listen to as he'd immediately involve himself and do what he can to help Adrien grow, and Adrien would get along with the sweet and gentle kwami. Nooroo would toe the line between Tikki and Trixx, giving a direction for Adrien to possible go but leaving it up to him to decide, try to help Adrien make his own choices and learn some leadership qualities and how to help others. Nooroo would also work on trying to build up that empathy and awareness of others, help Adrien be more of a social butterfly. In spite of Adrien largely listening to Nooroo, given his more fiery temper that does come up, there will be times Nooroo's words will be ignored as Adrien gets caught up with himself, which Nooroo will understand and know that this feeling Adrien will need to burn through before the kwami can truly work with him.

Cat power wise is more up Adrien's alley between the two viable, being doable as a front lines fighter, though it is meant to be a more stealthy combative (playing off that cats prefer to be ambush predators). The power of destruction is something Adrien, over all, has used well, and has known how to utilize it, the biggest issue is he can be reckless or emotional in it's use (destroying things out of anger, recklessly killing Aeon or attempting to murder Scarabella), so its a power that should've been cautiously shared with him. Traveling through shadows is something Adrien would have a lot of fun and intrigue with, and would help develop Adrien as an ambush fighter, catching enemies by surprise. And summoning shades could be a mix bag as Adrien does need to be a leader and give direction to those shades, otherwise they'll take things into their own claws, but depending on the shades, they can offer some good mentorship and guidance that he does need.

Plagg is really the biggest issue with Adrien having Cat, as Adrien is someone who needs a kwami who's going to be at least a little direct and involved with him, setting themselves up as someone he can listen to and take seriously when there's an issue. Plagg though is a kwami who doesn't like to be a teacher, he likes consequences of your own actions to be a good teacher. It's to a point that when Plagg feels, "ok, I need to say something", it falls on deaf ears. Plagg is also a kwami who will not work on social skills or empathy growth, nor will he work on developing that sense of duty and responsibility, if anything he's supposed to counter that (as most Metal personalities are over diligent and dutiful), and Plagg will urge being more self-prioritizing, which Adrien does need on some level, but Adrien is also already self-prioritizing, so Plagg can feed into to the point of selfishness and entitlement. The biggest appeal Plagg brings is Adrien's want for independence and freedom, and bringing some chaos to his mundane life, but this is something Adrien already does on his own and doesn't exactly need Plagg for it (Origins Part 1 and Gorizilla for example). Adrien and Plagg are not an impossible pair, but Plagg will need to realize he needs to step up and adjust for Adrien to improve and grow.

By elemental placement, Peafowl is the subpar match for Adrien, both in powers and in kwami. It would take a lot of work on Adrien's part to actually use the power well, and effort and adjustment between him and Duusu to become a good pair.

Peafowl with all it's time powers requires strategy, opportunity, maturity, patience, timing, intuition, high perception, and being smart and calculative with it. It's doesn't have a power to use recklessly. And a lot of the requirements that Adrien lacks or clashes with. In spite of canon's insistence of giving Adrien time related Miraculous, it's just not a good match. It's not impossible as there are a few examples of him being doable with time powers, but we also have 2000+ times of him being selfish and reckless with the power of resetting time. Selectively rewinding power could be doable, but you do have to be smart about what you're rewinding, and it has to be perfectly timed, Adrien though is not known to really have that patience, and playing into him being more reactive than active, this power would be used more in response to what's in front of him than used more cleverly and diversely. Pausing time would give Adrien the most flexibility in doing what he needs to, but this also requires having faith that he will get done what needs to get done, as it's a once per transformation power. Given Adrien typically doesn't take powers as seriously as he should, chances are good those five minutes wind up wasted more often than not. The other big factor that will make this hard for Adrien is that, despite the ironically flashy animal, this power does not get as much attention in fights, and Kuro Neko proves Adrien is someone who does require and need attention, and struggles to share it. Nor is this Miraculous entirely suited to be a front lines fighter, it can toe the battlefield, but can't be too directly involved. That will be another thing Adrien will struggle against.

Duusu is unideal as, like Plagg, she can set herself up as a kwami Adrien doesn't have listen to/take seriously whenever she calls something out, as Duusu can be incredibly animated and emotional, even if she's very engaging, it doesn't set herself up as someone Adrien should listen to, but can set her up as a friend. A friend Adrien will selectively listen to and hear what he wants to hear. Which he will hear a lot of from Duusu. As Duusu is meant to work off Water personalities that are withdrawn and put limits on themselves and can over think and stress themselves, she likes to encourage vibrancy, to let their colors show, go for what they want, don't be afraid of what may happen. And that will be applied to Adrien, which on some level he does need, especially with his father; but Duusu's advise and urging can make his bad behaviors worse, feeding into his wants to a point he can get more selfish. And being a big romantic who thinks, yes, impress the one you desire and woo them, this can also make Adrien's means of pursuing his crush even worse. And while peafowls are sociable, they do aim to stand out and have high standards, so Duusu also wouldn't work on Adrien's social skills and try to improve his relations with others. Duusu would need a lot more self control if she was to help Adrien grow.

[pupboy-tckles]

Wallace Wells Tickle Headcanons <3

(Sfw interaction only. Not written for kink.)

-Wallace is strictly a ler. He personally cannot handle being tickled, as it registers as pain for him. He does not like any aspect of being tickled, himself, even outside of that. The lack of control, the vulnerability of it, it’s not his favorite. On the other hand, he enjoys every aspect of tickling another person. 

-As a man of physical touch, of course it would be something he enjoys. Running his hands all over his lee to find their sensitive spots. The ability to give his lees an utter dopamine rush, and give them the giggles they deserve. Getting to relentlessly tease them and watch as they cover their cute faces. Letting his lees not think for a while. It’s right up his alley in every way. 

-Try to tickle him and you will live to regret it. (Dhar Mann style) 

He will pin you to the nearest surface and attack the most sensitive parts of your body, with whatever he has on hand. That might just be his hands, that might be utilizing the vibration of the thousand texts he gets from Stacey. He will not stop until you seriously tell him to, or you are crying. He will make you beg for a break. It’s one of the few times you can successfully bother him into tickles, he’s very serious about his no tickle rule. 

-He’s not very easy to annoy, in that way. In his eyes, if you’re a brat about it, he’s not going to give you what you want. Simple as that. The only exceptions are the aforementioned attempt to tickle him, and the good old stealing the TV remote. “Give me the remote!” trope is basically tailored to him, if his lee takes something from him to tease him into tickling them, best believe they will get it. Tasering their sides or under arms to get them to drop it or hand it back, he doesn’t hesitate. Especially if it’s actually the literal TV remote. 

-Most times he will make you flat out ask. He’s the type to intentionally ignore subtle hints that you want tickles. Any attempt to flash vulnerable spots, or put yourself within arms reach, will not be acknowledged. You might get a “you want something?” but he still expects you to actually ask first. He only accepts “tword” sometimes, every other time he would love if you could spit the word out. It’s his favorite form of teasing, making his lee be as straight forward as possible. Same goes if he asks, which sometimes if he’s in a good enough ler mood, he will. He needs a verbal or otherwise direct yes or no. 

-King of teasing, of course he is. He’s so cocky about it. His requirement of direct communication is just the start. If you’re out with friends he won’t hesitate to poke your sides, or strategically say words that sound like “tickle” just to startle you. He thinks it’s cute how fast your eyes dart over to him the moment you think you hear it. Messaging you late at night talking about new ideas he has for sessions, attempting to put you in a lee mood when he’s nowhere near you.  He’ll also 100% tease you for your interest in the subject in the first place. He won’t ever get mean about it but, you know him, he’s gonna make fun of anyone in any way he can. Even if it is a tad hypocritical considering it’s also something he enjoys. 

-His verbal teases can kill. He knows how to make someone get in the deepest of lee moods just from yapping. 

“Wait does that tickle? I had no idea!” In the most sarcastic voice. 

“it can’t be that bad, this isn’t even one of your sensitive spots!” While actively attacking death spots. 

“Cmon, bud, don’t cry! You can take it.” While you’re crying from laughter. 

A master of knowing just what to say to make you feel warm and fuzzy. Maybe making your brain warm and fuzzy. 

-Uses a lot of soft touches, and utilizes his fingernails whenever he can. His nails aren’t exactly manicured and pretty, but they’re long enough to make an impact. Running his nails down your back, barely even making contact. Going down your spine one vertebrae at a time. Ghosting your sides and stomach to see you twitch. Lightly running his thumb across the back of your hand. He mostly believes that less is more. 

-He can wreck you though. He will wreck you, if that’s what you want. If your goal is to wipe your brain and replace your thoughts with nothing but laughter and the feeling of hands, he will absolutely provide. He would adore to. He can be absolutely relentless about it, not stopping to even breathe until you’re crying. He has so much stamina and energy, you will likely tap out before him. If you think otherwise, feel free to challenge him, but you may regret it. 

-He loves the reactions of it all. It’s easily his favorite part, looking at his lee’s face and seeing how their nose scrunches up when he finds certain spots, or how their breathing stops with silent laughter when he grazes others. Finding their cheeks warm and hearing the left over giggles when he goes hands off for a moment. He absolutely adores being able to immediately see the results of his actions, he pays such attention to all the body language of his lee. 

-Fond of wake up tickles. He’s always having to wake up Scott at ungodly hours of the day, sometimes he just takes advantage of the weird positions he sleeps in. He absolutely will dig his nails into Scott’s under arms and ribs just because it annoys him to be awoken so suddenly. That’s why he likes them, mostly, because of how startled and annoyed the lee gets. Their little groans of protest at his cold hands, he thinks it’s cute. 

-Also a big fan of utilizing tools. Soft stuff, especially. Feathers of any kind, brushes and dusters. He loves using them, especially when his lee least expects it. He tries a lot of different fabrics, as well. He may wear gloves of all kinds, but he also keeps variety on the long sleeves that may brush against his lee while he’s doing his thing. 

-So good at aftercare. He’s good at tiring someone out, so he’s gotta be good at taking care of them afterwards. He will always make you food, or put a movie you like on, or just sit there and cuddle if that’s what makes you feel best. His only requirement is water, he makes sure the both of you drink water. It can be a strenuous activity. It’s exercise. You have to be hydrated. He knows that a session can be mentally draining as well. Having so many good chemicals and then having it randomly stop can be tough. He’s always watching out. 

[rivetgoth]

A Plea for CGI

I feel like the last bastion of defense for CGI as an art form sometimes dude. CGI fascinates me so much. As a kid it felt so wondrous and unlike anything I’d ever seen. The dancing bear in Teletubbies was the first instance of CGI I ever remember seeing and it enamored me unlike anything else. It felt like genuine magic. I felt similarly about Tiny Planets, which genuinely felt like it transported me to an alien world. Later on as a kid I stumbled onto the Madagascar tech reel Easter egg on the DVD and it was the scariest thing I’d ever seen. It scared me so bad I couldn’t be in the same room and I was scared to turn off the television. I stayed in my bedroom until my dad got home because I knew he’d turn the TV off if he walked in and saw nobody watching it and I didn't want to be out there until I knew for sure the television was off and the reel wouldn't still be playing. I couldn’t sleep for days after seeing it and I was literally scared of DVD menus for fear of accidentally stumbling onto something like that again. Blooper reels for CG films absolutely terrified me, it was like genuinely nauseatingly scary. The “You’re not perfect” Courage the Cowardly Dog bit was similar.

I don’t think I’m an anomaly for finding these examples scary, a LOT of people did (the former one is full of commenters saying it scared them as a kid, the latter is literally meant to be scary). But the thing is with CGI, despite that it never stopped having this sort of wonder to me as well. When I was a kid CGI still felt uncommon enough that any time it was employed it felt really magical. It felt like I was seeing into a world that didn’t actually exist. I think its ability even in its earliest forms to be implemented into live action media, or its ability to have strange three dimensional properties when used in fully animated films, gave it this sense that it could be used to bring things to life in a way that couldn’t be done before. Like, I recognized even as a kid that the dancing bear didn’t look REAL. But it also looked three dimensional. It looked almost dreamlike to me.

I think the history of CGI as an art form is just so fascinating. I remember how fascinated I was reading about the CGI of the 80s and 90s, as it began to move beyond being an oddity that computer scientists could use to demonstrate tech and found some mainstream and wider spread usage. Tony De Peltrie (1985) was the first CGI human to express emotion and objectively he hasn’t aged well, he looks super creepy as does almost everything about his short film, but it fascinates me that he was so well received and touched people’s emotions in spite of that. The human ability to connect with something so alien in every way—stylistically, but even in terms of the art form being used, which was still absolutely brand new—is so interesting. The fact that the Canned Food International Council commissioned a commercial to be done fully in CGI in 1984 and it was referred to as so realistic you “couldn’t tell if it was animated or not” when nowadays it’s surpassed by PS1 video game graphics is so fascinating. The entire implication of that moment in the history of art, advertising, aesthetic. Maybe most fascinating to me is the short series Quarxs from the 90s utilizing CGI in one of the most bizarre ways I’ve ever seen to this day to bring to life cryptobiological organisms. Really insane looking stuff using really limited technology. The creator of Quarxs, Maurice Benayoun, writes theory on virtual reality, including some really interesting stuff about the human relationship to the material and virtual world that is most definitely reflected in Quarxs.

Nowadays I turn to Severed Heads as an example of one of the most fascinating recent uses of CGI to intentionally evoke the uncanniness of older CG and bring to life the music through a visual accompaniment. “Tiny Wounded Bird” (2016) is hard to watch even as an adult, it feels like in the best way it strikes so much uncanny fear that would've ruined my life as a child. It was the first time I saw someone fully, intentionally evoke those fears in art—I think it’s so fascinating the way CGI evokes the uncanny valley so easily for so many, and Tom Ellard was clearly aware of this. Tom Ellard, the artist behind Severed Heads, has worked on the cutting edge of technology to make unabashedly uncanny art in both visual and auditory forms since the 70s.

I see people suggest the uncanniness of CGI has to do with early or pre-textured CGI looking almost corpse-like, but I always felt like it was something else, it's not just CGI People Look Creepy. I think it’s just so, so, so foreign to the eyes. It exists in a three dimensional plane that should be similar to ours but isn’t quite ours. It can emulate the human body but also contort it in any way imaginable. The blooper reels I mentioned being scared of as a kid show these fully three dimensional beings with limbs elongated far past the physical possibility of a real body, eyes popping out of the head. Shadows having to be implemented manually, AI trying to figure out how physics work for thousands of particles of simulated hair. It's sterile and it's incomparable to really anything else. CGI is an entirely new artform, unique from any other that exists. It's literally creating a whole new plane of reality. I think it should lean into that more.

I think CGI as a tool is extremely oversaturated due to all sorts of issues within the entertainment industry around the desire to rush products, the lack of unionization and worker protection, corruption from the top down causing companies to rely on it heavily in the least imaginative and most predatory ways. But that’s not the fault of CGI as an art form, which is still only a couple of decades old—Again, Tony de Peltrie, first emotive CGI human, is only about 40 years old. The first television series less than that. The first movie only about 30. This is BRAND NEW technology. We are in the earliest of earliest stages of CGI experimentation. History will look back on CGI and not view 2024 as notably distant from Toy Story’s release in ‘95. I think it’s only in the past few years that we’ve seen mainstream film really try to use CGI for something genuinely brand new—Trolls in 2016 creating an entire world comprised of textures that wouldn’t exist in such a way in real life (like felt ground, cotton ball clouds, etc), Moana (also in 2016) using computer generated blacklight and neon for the Tamatoa sequence, Into the Spider-Verse in 2018 absolutely changing the game with its use of comic book stylization that looks nothing like anything that came before it, followed by Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in 2022 implementing something similar to evoke a storybook feeling and experimenting with intentional drops in frames per second (there’s a cool video about it here that covers some of this). But these new and inventive attempts at CG, all less than a decade old, would not exist without the decades leading up to it. Terminator 2 was an extremely significant breakthrough in animating liquid. Finding Nemo over a decade later was a huge technical breakthrough for animated underwater environments. 1991 to 2003, 12 years spent learning how to make a computer animate water, and Finding Nemo looks plenty dated now. The first realistic digital fire was shown off in my all time favorite animated short, Peedee Meets the Dragon, in 1989! Only 35 years ago animating fire was in and of itself a feat! Toy Story in 1995 famously used toys as protagonists because humans were still difficult to animate—Only 29 years ago HUMANS still couldn’t be consistently animated in CGI. The Incredibles would be THE FIRST ALL HUMAN CAST that Pixar would attempt, and that was in 2004, almost a DECADE later. All the weird uncanny experimental stuff are building blocks to something so much greater than we can even imagine. I really believe that.

So like, yeah, the homogeneity of CGI in the industry right now is frustrating. The industry-standard willingness to exploit digital artists for rushed, cheap, and unregulated third party work is disgusting and genuinely abhorrent. But man, I hate seeing CGI itself shit on in the same breaths that these criticisms are made. So much fundamental misunderstanding of what it is and what it can do as an art form and such a lack of genuine desire to see it continue to evolve and progress. To be blunt a decent amount of it is just straight up nostalgia, and often very rose tinted nostalgia. “Things from my childhood looked better.” Sometimes it’s genuinely being misinformed—Tons of movies that get heralded as being traditional animation or practical effects… still utilize some form of CGI. I also think there’s something to be said about the fact that I believe the current trend of using CGI for hyper realistic effects in big budget live action films is genuinely a misusage of the medium and a complete failure to actually utilize CGI in any meaningful way (looking at you, live action Disney remakes). I love practical effects and I love traditional animation, but I don’t see why they need to be at odds with CGI. The best and most visually striking movies with the greatest visuals tend to recognize that and utilize a blend of the strengths of more than one of these mediums—Though interestingly, Courage the Cowardly Dog remains one of the only examples I can think of that uses CGI as a form of mixed media INTENTIONALLY. As in, not to look hyper-realistic or to replace/accompany practical effect or traditional animation, but to squarely be intentionally meant to be read as CGI in order to evoke a specific tone, functionally using CGI as a punchline the same way one would use live action shots in a show like Spongebob. I'm sure others have done it, but it doesn't appear particularly common.

That’s my last note: I really want to see CGI utilized more with both its strengths and weaknesses taken into account. Back to “Tiny Wounded Bird,” which makes use of the way models of the human body can be reskinned and manipulated to the point of being unrecognizable, a succinct but evocative visual theme for a song about pride and suffering. But I want to talk about another older CGI short film that does something similar, Polly Gone from 1988.

Y’all, I’m literally switching from my phone to my computer to type this out because this matters a lot to me.

EVERYONE writes Polly Gone off as absurdism. That goofy "Early CGI Was Horrifying" video writes it off as "a shitpost," which half the damn commenters on the artist's upload are quoting, annoyingly. The VintageCG Youtube account cruelly calls it "The second worst computer animation ever produced." It finds its way onto r/OddlyTerrifying and similar subreddits not unoften. You guys. Polly Gone is directed by the artist Shelley Lake, who has made this statement about her work:

"The artwork that comes from the world inside is the culmination of my mind’s eye–a fantasy world where, through my imagination, anything is possible. I enthusiastically partner with intelligent machines and together we create an artificial reality. A simulated world of superheroes, erotic men and women, wireframe meshworks, anatomical investigations, cybernetic creatures, phantasmagoric depictions of impossible people, places and things. Although these artworks often resemble our photo-real existence, these creations are utterly unreal and sometimes uncanny." (X)

She KNOWS it's uncanny. She knows it's weird. And her work is, explicitly, intentionally, and, honestly, blatantly, engaging with the weirdness of this medium to deliver messages in ways surreal, fresh, bizarre, and off-putting. I don't know what exactly her intentions are behind Polly Gone, but I would very strongly make a case for it being about women's roles in society, or at least that being a perfectly viable interpretation, especially if you do a 5 second deep dive into her body of work exploring themes about female bodies, sexuality, kink, and queerness. Her synopsis on her own Youtube page for this short is: "A day in the life of a robot." Consider watching it through a feminist lens. Consider how uncanny and dehumanized this animation is of an expressionless, mechanical humanoid--in a dress, in lipstick, with breasts--that zooms around its futuristic house doing mundane chores. Consider the name being a feminized version of the word "polygone." Consider this oddly cool OddlyTerrifying comment:

They're joking, but they're not: This is a short film from the EIGHTIES, seven years before Toy Story would be the first full-length CGI film. Shelley Lake received both a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a Master of Sciences degree in the 70s. This is artistic experimenting from someone with years of experience, this is making use of the strengths and unique facets of computer generated animation that cannot be replicated through any other means, and it is not purposeless nor does it deserve to be written off as "a shitpost." And it's not asking you to look past the CGI limitations, it is wholly embracing them.

I want to see more CGI play with this. I think it was a mistake to veer CGI in the direction of trying to disguise it as something that it is not. I think it can work as an accompaniment to other effects, sure, but I don't think its sole purpose should be photorealistic lions emoting less than their real world counterparts singing covers of Elton John songs. I wish CGI wasn't devalued and I wish people would engage with it as a unique art form of its own.

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group L Round 2: #L1 vs #L2

#L1: Normal Girl™ accidentally joins Kansai’s biggest criminals

#L2: Girl turns into a tanuki and learns about racism

Details and poll under the cut!

#L1: Akudama Drive

Summary:

After the fall-out of a war between the Kanto and Kansai regions of Japan, citizens of Kansai now live in a dystopia. Criminals are bigger and badder than before, resulting in a specialized Execution Division rising to combat these ‘Akudama.’

An ordinary person accidentally wedges herself into the midst of a gang of the worst of the worst, and now she’s on the run with Kansai’s top Akudama to fulfill a cryptic mission. Her goal was to get back to her normal life, but one thing leads to another and she gets trapped, bound by her sense of morals to stick with her terrible team.

The team in question consists of a Brawler with a need to find the toughest opponent to fight, a Doctor who toys with lives, a Hacker who has run out of games to play, a Courier who always gets the job done, a Cutthroat with a kill count of 999 bodies, and a Hoodlum who was set for a prison sentence of 5 years. Joining them is the Black Cat, their mysterious recruiter, who promises great wealth to the Akudama.

Propaganda:

Akudama Drive is an anime produced by a video game company, and it’s amazingly a single standalone piece, unlike their other projects. The three people who lead the creation of the Danganronpa series (character designer, story writer, and music composer) came together and produced something so different from their usual pattern and it pays off.

The character designs are so fun, the music vibes hard, and the story is better than anything seen in DR before since (no offense meant) the cast all get fleshed out as individuals beyond a single trope. Everyone is depicted as morally grey, and it’s such a fun experience to watch the madness break out and root for the bad guys or the bad guys.

Every scene is so pretty, and you can see the color theory SLAPPING THE SCREEN, it’s so pleasing to look at. The voice acting is also top tier! The character evolution can literally be heard in the voices 🛐 The anime is a fun show with cool stunts and epic battles, but it’s still got some interesting social commentary if you’re the type that loves dissecting that madness. There’s a little something for everyone!

Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore, Rape/Non-Con, Self-Harm, Constant Flashing Lights and Screaming

#L2: BNA: Brand New Animal

Summary:

Throughout history, humans have been at odds with Beastmen—a species capable of changing shape due to their genetic "Beast Factor." Because of this conflict, Beastmen have been forced into hiding. Anima City serves as a safe haven for these oppressed individuals to live free from human interference.

During a festival celebrating the town's 10th anniversary, Michiru Kagemori, a human who suddenly turned into a tanuki, finds that Anima City is a far cry from paradise. After witnessing an explosion in the square, she is confronted by Shirou Ogami, a seemingly indestructible wolf and sworn protector of all Beastmen. As they pursue the criminals behind the bombing, the two discover that Michiru is anything but an ordinary Beastman, and look to investigate her mysterious past and uncanny abilities. Could she turn out to be the missing link between Humans and Beastmen?

Propaganda:

This is one of the first few anime I watched when I was getting into it, so I'm rather fond of it. Though the show is only one season, overall it's pretty solid and ties everything together at the end. I also really like how they utilize color in the animation (it especially makes fight scenes more interesting to watch). The worldbuilding they have with the beastmen is pretty neat as well. This anime is good if you're looking for something quick to watch.

Trigger Warnings: There is some violence, and since the characters are animals, that may fall under animal cruelty. There are a few parts in the show where the colors get pretty intense, so that could be considered flashing lights. There is racism, as the beastmen are discriminated against by humans.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.

[rejectshumanity]

i'm still mulling over just how canon divergent from part 6 i want to get in regards to dio's plans to "achieve heaven" and what exactly that means for him. some of this is likely to change as i flesh out my thoughts, but here's a rough, bullet-point outline of what i'm thinking so far under the cut.

i have a long meta i'm in the process of outlining that will go into this further, but tldr; to dio, "achieving heaven" means attaining peace of mind, at least in the figurative sense. when he goes off on his whole spiel about how humans will do anything to attain peace of mind, he's telling on himself too — after all, he was human once. and what spoils a person's peace of mind? what drives someone to want to change their circumstances, seek better outcomes, succumb to pleasures in the pursuit of comfort, or pray for the intervention of a higher power? anxiety, uncertainty, fear. 

dio says it himself: "i believe that conquering fear is what it means to live. the one who stands at the top of the world is the one who feels no fear." his pursuit of absolute power boils down to his lifelong aversion of feeling powerless. rather than resigning himself to the forces of fate, he seeks not only to alter the course of his own, but to ascend to a position of power so great that he controls the fate of the universe itself, along with everyone else in it. it's not enough for him to lord over a legion of zombies with his vampire powers, or to rule the world with his time-stopping stand. dio may be formidably powerful, but he is not all-powerful, as demonstrated by his many defeats at the hands of the joestar family. and so to achieve true peace of mind, dio has convinced himself that after wiping out jonathan's descendants, he must aspire to the highest conceivable power: the ability to control reality.

so now we come to my first canon divergence. based on this characterization of dio, i believe his evolved stand from the eyes of heaven game, the world over heaven, is more in line with his values than pucci’s made in heaven.* in my post-sdc verse where dio lives, his heaven plan culminates in the death of his stand, the world, and its rebirth as the so-called “ultimate stand,” the world over heaven; with dio too being reborn as a god. 

*for those of y’all who are unfamiliar, the world over heaven can not only stop time indefinitely, but has the ability to overwrite reality for anyone who comes into its range, essentially making dio the master of everyone’s fate, including his own. the potential for this is limitless — think of him as the author of a book, who can interact with his sentient characters and play with them however he wants to. he would literally become the god of his universe. contrast this with part 6’s made in heaven, which utilizes the gravitational forces of the universe to accelerate time. through this ability, made in heaven can force a singularity, causing the universe to reset itself. in this new universe, those who survived the acceleration experience premonitions of their fate. pucci claims that knowing the “resolution” of their predetermined fates will bring humanity happiness, as individuals are able to eschew the despair brought on by uncertainty and reconcile themselves with their own destinies. it’s certainly an interesting concept (if i’m even understanding it right, lol. i’ve only watched part 6 once and i’m not gonna lie, a lot of this went over my head), and i think that the stand suits pucci’s character and motivations. but for dio, who seeks to break from the forces of destiny and control the fates of others, the world over heaven is a much better fit, imo.

speaking of pucci (whose relationship with dio i’ll elaborate on soon in another upcoming meta post 🙂), he would still gain made in heaven as his stand in this canon divergent scenario even if dio dies. whereas dio seeks to achieve his peace of mind by becoming a master of his own fate, pucci aims to shed light on fate’s hitherto unknowable course in order to end humanity’s collective fear and uncertainty. regardless of however dio feels about surpassing fate and controlling destiny, i like the idea of pucci, as a follower of dio who is infatuated with his philosophy, really latching onto this concept of “gravity” and predetermined fates as he does in canon. it was gravity that led him and dio to meet, and fate that determined he would turn out to be the perfect “friend” dio needed to put his heaven plan into motion. and it’s for this reason that pucci remains so determined to carry out that plan, even after dio’s death. 

some more miscellaneous notes:

dio does give pucci a piece of his bone after he passes his test of loyalty. however, i’m scrapping everything with the souls of the 36 convicts and the green baby. how would dio or pucci be able to evolve their stands then, you ask? i haven’t fully figured that out yet, and idk when (or if) i will ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ for now, let’s just assume he brainstormed some other esoteric bullshit involving his bone and the 14 words.

although i’ve taken the world over heaven from the eyes of heaven game, this isn’t me saying eyes of heaven is canon on this blog. i’m just stealing the stand because i think its abilities are more in line with dio’s goals and motivations.

i haven’t read the over heaven light novel, and i don’t intend to. none of it has any relevance as to how i write dio, how i perceive his conception of heaven, or what i imagine to be in the contents of his diary.

so, to sum up the most important bits: by “achieving heaven,” dio means to obtain peace of mind by conquering his own feelings of fear and uncertainty. to do this, he seeks the help of a trusted friend (pucci) to evolve his stand into the world over heaven. his evolved stand would give him the power to override reality, thereby making him the master of his and everyone else’s fates.

(please keep in mind that these canon divergences are based on my own headcanons for dio, and my attempt to resolve my personal issues with part 6. you can consider all of this to be canon for my blog and my portrayal of dio, but i’m not trying to imply that part 6 is bad, or force my understanding of characters like pucci on anybody else. everyone’s opinions are different, and i always welcome your thoughts and feedback!)

[greatwyrmgold]

The other day, I started thinking about what Devil Fruits the Undersiders might like, followed by what parahuman abilities the Straw Hats might want. So I decided to formalize my thoughts into a proper post.

For the sake of simplicity, I'm limiting it to the core Undersiders' powers and the Straw Hats' Devil Fruits. Also a couple of non-DF-users' abilities, since there are six "core Undersiders" and only four Straw Hats with Devil Fruits.

Also, this isn't a powerswap AU. It's assumed that the Undersiders are parahumans before they get this chance, and the Straw Hats are a crew. So they still have parahuman/Devil Fruit powers.

Taylor: Flower-Flower Fruit

Blame this for me writing this entire post. Robin's Flower-Flower Fruit compliments Taylor's powers and M.O. so perfectly. It lets her literally be anywhere within her power's range, to literally reach out to anyone she can sense, or literally watch them with her own eyeballs.

Moreover, her superhuman multitasking would let her use the Flower-Flower power more intricately than Robin could dream of. She wouldn't have the advanced techniques Robin developed over her twenty years evading the World Government with the fruit, but she could restrain a whole bunch of people at once with brute force.

Rachel: Human-Human Fruit

This one is easy, not because I think Rachel would really want the Human-Human Fruit, but because no one else would have much use for it.

I imagine she'd give this fruit to Angelica, in case it helped her with the health problems the terrier accumulated before and during the series. If she got it later in the series, she'd probably give it to Bastard instead.

Alec: Gum-Gum Fruit

I just think he'd have a lot of fun with that power. His friends would be pissed.

Brian: Fish-Man Karate

I'm a little fuzzy on what Fish-Man Karate...does, compared to Hu-Man Karate. But I think that Brian would be more interested in learning the basics of a novel martial art than a gimmicky power. If, for the sake of fairness, he could master it as easily as his teammates eat a fruit, I think he'd jump on that chance.

Aisha: Revive-Revive Fruit

I think the spooky soul powers Brook demonstrates post-timeskip would appeal to Aisha.

Lisa: ???

I gotta be honest, I don't know what kind of Devil Fruit Lisa would want. Certainly nothing combative like the Straw Hats have; she only ends up in superhero fights because her teammates want her to, and she fades into the background as soon as she can. Maybe she'd pick the Revive-Revive Fruit so she could give it to one of the self-destructive people she struggles to stop from self-destructing, but in the timeframe of Worm that person is Taylor, and she already has a different Devil Fruit.

Considering the Straw Hats I've picked for the other half of this...I guess she ends up with something from Sanji by default. Maybe his...(wiki noises)...genetic modifications? Sure. Why not.

Sanji: Imp's power

Imp's power isn't invisibility per se, but it would still let him peep on naked women, just like the Clear-Clear Fruit. Let's move on.

Robin: Tattletale's power

Superhuman intuition would have obvious utility for Robin's people-watching hobby, her archaeological passion, and general curiosity. I expect she'd give herself migraines from overusing the power for at least the first few days.

Luffy: Regent's power

I just think he'd have a lot of fun with that power. His friends would be exasperated.

Brook: Grue's power

Grue's darkness is visually spectacular in a way most of the Undersiders' powers aren't. You can work that into a live performance, at least if your performances have the right vibe. And, well...Brook's face is a skull, so he either has the right vibe or no vibes at all.

Chopper: Bitch's power

I don't have any deep character-ful explanation, I just think post-timeskip Chopper would be more comfortable with such a "monstrous" transformation power.

Jinbei: Skitter's power, I guess

Like Lisa, Jinbei doesn't really fit with any of the Undersiders' powers. Maybe Bitch's if you altered it to work on whale sharks, but even that's a stretch. Anyways, Skitter's power wouldn't appeal to any of the Straw Hats, nor to most anyone else in the setting. Or any setting. It doesn't even appeal to Taylor until she's forced to invent ways to use it.

Anyways, I'm not sure what Jinbei would do with Taylor's power, but it's his now. Merry Christmas.

[rauthschild]

We recently reposted news of an important Circuit Court reversal that affirmed the literal fact that mRNA injections are not "vaccines" by function and definition, and covered expert testimony from the creator of the mRNA product admitting that it is a bioweapon covered under the domestic biowarfare program that these mercenaries have attempted to legalize. 

Today, we bring more good news from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals -- the First Amendment guarantees owed to American Physicians have been upheld.  

They cannot be muzzled and punished and prevented from bringing forward their analysis of Covid-19 or anything else by unelected and unauthorized medical certification boards threatening to take away their medical credentials. 

As Americans, we are wondering exactly how such a situation could ever be allowed to exist, wherein certification boards issuing credentials for medical professionals could be turned into and used as instruments of political coercion.  

This, like so many other terrible institutions, comes to us directly from J.D. Rockefeller and his progeny, misusing their private fortunes to promote political and social and economic injustice. 

For those who are unacquainted with history, J.D. Rockefeller was the Chairman and lead shareholder of Standard Oil.  Standard Oil was not really an oil company despite the name.  It was a pipeline company in the business of building and installing and connecting oil pipelines and oil transfer systems. 

Rockefeller gained a choke hold and dictatorial power over who could move oil where and when and how much, and so, established an oil transfer monopoly by which he could dictate the ability of actual oil companies to deliver on their contracts. 

Standard Oil was busted as a monopoly in the 1920's. The disgraced moguls retreated to Europe and started the International Monetary Fund (IMF)--- and together with their European friends, the Rothschilds, they did the same thing to the banking industry that they had already been convicted of doing to the oil industry. 

These transfer control monopolies are unlawful, illegal, and immoral, but unbelievable as this is, they got away with it again in another industry, and weren't called out for it until 2015.  

They used Standard Oil to create a transfer and use monopoly on oil, and a transfer and use monopoly in the banking industry by controlling bank transfers through SWIFT....

Look around and what do you see?   Public utility monopolies.  Public transit monopolies. 

These are all very much in the same vein: 

In all these cases, a vital commodity -- oil, money, electricity, telecommunications, transportation -- is monopolized indirectly by controlling access to it.  

Could you indirectly monopolize the supply of medical doctors and apply coercion to them to assure that they recommend (and by omission of other options, induce the Public to buy) your drugs, your therapies and approved "countermeasures"?  

Enter the American Medical Association, the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Family Medicine, the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology -- and, of course, the Food and Drug Administration.  

Here's your pipeline system on steroids, controlling the supply and therefore access to medical services, defining the kind of medical service available, and dictating the availability and use of drugs and therapeutic protocols.  

All these "Professional Associations" and "Credential Boards" have been bank-rolled on Rockefeller money and "Federal" Grants -- that have also been largely awarded based on compliance with "standards" imposed by these same bogus "industry authorities" and promoted by the same monopoly interests. 

These "Professional Associations" and "Credential Boards" and unaccountable  "Administrations" were sold to the Public as watch dogs acting in the Public Interest.  

Instead, they have acted in the interest of unscrupulous and largely veiled corporate monopoly interests for profiteering and purposes of political coercion.  

As usual, the Perpetrators have used "storefronts" and proxies to do their dirty work, setting up these sanctimonious hidden monopolies to excuse, whitewash, and promote their criminal profiteering and political agendas.  

These self-important Associations and Agencies purportedly here to protect the Public from quackery and incompetence, dangerous drugs and fraud, have instead willingly promoted all the above, and worse, have expedited and unleashed an actual biowarfare program against the American Public -- for profit. 

Over the past five years these hidden monopolies have murdered millions of innocent people and maimed and poisoned millions more for profit -- and laughed all the way to the bank in the name of protecting the victims.  

They even charged you for killing your family, your friends, and your neighbors.  Ask Joe Biden and Donald Trump about the billions (with a "b") of Covid injections and PCR Tests they bought. Who paid for that?  Who profited from that? 

Their fellow-franchise pals in the Mockingbird Media have helped out by trying to cover it all up. Down play it. Spin it. Bury it, like the victims.  

These organizations are identified as Criminal Monopoly Interests so far as the American Government is concerned. They failed to protect the Public Interest to such a fantastical degree that there is no coming back. 

Like the American Bar Association, the American Medical Association needs to be dismantled and held accountable, along with these politicized Certification Boards, and the complicit Agencies. 

This Notification of Liability is not limited to pandemic injuries and may be freely applied to private monopolies and corporate government offices, agencies, and departments that create regulatory monopolies -- and which as incorporated entities, do not enjoy any degree of State Immunity. 

This Notification of Liability also applies to any incorporated court, insurance fund, or pension fund profiting from a direct or indirect monopoly.  

Promotion of Monopoly Interests, establishment of Monopolies, control of Monopoly Interests, creating a Monopoly by indirect means, obstructing the free flow of trade and commerce, impersonating a public government institution, office, department, or agency, establishing or enforcing fraudulent regulatory controls, engaging in monopoly inducement, and profiting from a monopoly are all Federal Crimes.  

Notice to Principals is Notice to Agents; Notice to Agents is Notice to Principals.

The United States of North America, in the Family of Nations, Law of Nations

[littlemisssquiggles]

So...about JL X RWBY: Superheroes and Huntmen Part One...

Last night, I sat down to check out the film (shoutout to @autistic-swanprincess who shared the link over on Discord). Here are my first impressions:

In general, I thought the film was alright. I mean it's not anything particularly groundbreaking but as RWBY's first ever movie, I think it succeeded in getting me at least invested in what’s to come next. One concern I had going in was that this was going to turn out to be more of a DC film with the RWBY characters taking a back seat in their own first film. Technically, in some way, we kind of got one or two scenes where that happened---like Superman overstepping Ruby's leadership in some of the action moments. But putting that aside, I thought the film was fine.

I appreciate the fact that there was a nice unexpected twist to the story. Here I pegged the main setting of the story to be back at Beacon but nope! Ultimately it was basically RWBY and JNR trapped in some of kind of simulation and the big cliffhanger teaser for Part Two is that whoever trapped JNR_RWBY in the virtual realm is someone from their world.

So on that front, like I said, the film did good on getting me interested in the story. Part One was just the appetizer so I’m hoping that Part Two will bring the main course.

Specific Things I wanted to discuss about the film:

I don't know how the DC fangirl in me was supposed to feel about the whole arc with Batman considering to stay in Remnant because in Remnant, he is made into a bat Faunus with electromagnetic abilities. While I can’t speak for other audience members, for me, the whole angle about Batman considering to stay in Remnant so that he can feel more useful as a Faunus as opposed to a regular human without any special abilities like his comrades felt really off-putting to me.

Batman being the brains of the league despite not having any special abilities is kind of the POINT of what made his character so great in the first place. The whole discussion of Bruce being less of a warrior due to his lack of powers was never really a problem. Perhaps I missed a couple of DC films or comic material where this was an important cause of conflict but from the Batman content I've indulged in over the years, this was never a thing.

What the Bat lacked in superpowers, he more than made up for it with his sheer intelligence and proper utilization of his wealth to create resources that helped benefit his team.

As a matter fact, wasn't there not an entire DC animated film where Batman had logs on the key weaknesses of each of the founding members of the Justice League and came up with specific ways to kill each of them as a failsafe?

Like I remember Superman's being a kryptonite bullet to the heart or something while Flash's was attaching a bomb to him that would instantly blow him to smithereens should he stop running so he basically had to keep running forever and I think Wonder Woman's was injecting her with a powerful hallucinogen that made her see multiple clones of archnemesis Cheetah that she would fight and keep fighting till she died?

I can't quite remember the name of the movie but I remember that was part of the story. Batman, being the "smart guy" that was that he literally hatched the downfall of his super-powered allies as a backup plan. Somehow the enemy got a hold of said plan from the Bat and used it against them.

Again, I'm just going off of vague memory here but my point is that forgive me if the whole concept of Batman wanting powers/abilities to feel more useful to the League sounds ludicrous to my ears since, canonically in the DC material, that's never been Batman's key weakness.

At least NOT from the content I've watched. If there is a Batman story that touched on this subject then please let me know cause outside of that, I felt Batman's arc in the film was weird.

I did enjoy his dynamic with Weiss though. I thought Batman/Bruce and Weiss worked really well together. They were one of the two DC x RWBY dynamics that I actually liked. 

Jaune and the Green Lantern girl (can’t remember her name at the moment) were my second favourite team up. Although I thought the scene leading up to them being tricked by the fake Pyrhha was kind of dumb given the setup. But outside of that, I really liked how compassionate and understanding Jaune was with Green Lantern girl. He was like a big brother to her which is fitting since Jaune’s patience came from a place of him legit being a big brother with younger sisters.

Renora and Cyborg, on the other hand, were...ridiculous! The awkward love triangle with Cyborg kind of low-key flirting with Nora while Ren reacted jealously was quite cringey to me.

Thanks CRWBY, I hate it! ESPECIALLY knowing how Renora's relationship ends after V8, this was like twisting the knife for the shippers.

Who thought this was cute or even funny?

I dunno what was worse---jealous Ren or abrasive Nora? BOTH personalities felt so out of character for both of em. Then again; I guess it was more in line with how stupid they were written to behave between V7-V8. Still doesn't make it better.

Last but not least. There’s Bumblebee working with Wonder Woman. Not much to say, they worked ok...when they didn't include any out of place moments like Yang kind of thirsting after Wonder Woman.

Like the scene where WW lifted Oscar to interrogate him and Yang made a comment about her being a "strong woman" which Blake reacted to, kind of jealous like? I don't understand why that scene needed to be there. I guess this was the writers way to injecting some awkward humour into the scene?

But I dunno, it came off more clunky than humorous; at least to me.

Speaking of Oscar Pine---it is time to address one of the elephants in the room for this squiggly Pineheard is SALTY!

When Aaron Dismuke announced on Twitter that the BOI was gonna be in this film, needless to say, I was more than ecstatic at that news.

Then when I saw the first teaser image and trailer for the film and saw the RWBY girls in their Beacon outfits, I became confused as to how exactly Oscar was going to fit into the movie since Oscar didn't roll up until V4.

Then I saw the film---at least the first part and I gotta say: what was even the point of having Oscar in this movie?

RT must've paid Aaron in gum because Oscar barely spoke in this movie. He had one line that was barely audible since his character was immediately replaced with an overlay of Ozpin the only scene he appeared. Seriously, what was the point of him even being there if that’s all we got of him?

My only hope is that Oscar---ACTUAL Oscar and not a hologram will have a bigger part in Part Two because if it wasn't for the fact that this film has two parts then I would've been livid as to how they treated my boi in his first RWBY movie.

Sure us Pineheads got to see his smiling face---adorable and freckly as always for like 3 minutes but c'mon! After being starved of his presence for RWBY V9 except for that ONE certain scene, would it have killed them to give us ONE scene with Oscar where he actually spoke?

Frigging Glynda Goodwitch who hasn't been seen since V3 got a scene. SHIT! PYHRRA who is DEAD got a speaking scene over Oscar. Seriously, at this point, why did the CRWBY even bother killing off Pyrhha? They keep finding new ways to insert her into the current storyline when she's been gone for 6 seasons now.

And as much as I like Pyrhha, when she---a character who was killed off seasons ago---is given more preference for precious screentime over characters who are alive in the current story, it starts to get a lil bothersome after some time.

That being said, since it was revealed at the end of the movie that JNR_RWBY are actually in Atlas in their V7 outfits then this is a sign that we could see more of Oscar in the next part of the movie. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

Overall, that's all I have to say about the movie. I don't know who wrote the story and script for the film but if I had to give the first part of this film a score, I'd give it a 6/10.

While it was cool seeing the JL team in RWBY style, from a story perspective, it wasn't the best writing I've seen from the franchise (and that's saying something).

It wasn't bad. Just lacking in some areas but I guess that's probably due to it being split into 2 parts. Perhaps things will be better in Part 2 whenever it comes out.

In conclusion, that's it for my first impressions of JL X RWBY: Superheroes and Huntmen Part One. See ya’ll in Part 2.

~LMS (2023) 

[terrahlee-cup]

@britt-kageryuu You started this so now you get tagged when I talk about it more. I’ve been trying to figure out which machine from Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West would be each version of Donnie’s favorite. I have ideas, but I’d definitely be interested in other people’s thoughts because I don’t normally do a ton of analyzing Donnie’s character lol.

2003 Donnie:

Okay, so 03 Donnie is generally fairly calm/sweet but of course has his mad scientist moments as you do. A very combat-focused machine just doesn’t seem like his thing— even though a lot of the things he builds in the show have/can double as weapons he seems to be more focused on general utility than anything. I swear like 90% of what he builds seems to be vehicles lol. He’s not a pushover in a fight, sure, but his brothers seem to watch his back a lot. I could see his favorite machine being one that lets him focus on something he’s doing without worrying about his surroundings as much. Several of the machines in the games act as lookouts: Watchers, Burrowers, Longlegs, and Stalkers (sort of). Donnie would probably find the Watchers and Burrowers adorable, but Longlegs and Stalkers are more middle to late game enemies that you can’t usually one-shot after like two encounters. I think if he got most excited by just sheer range of abilities his favorite would be the Stalkers. I mean they turn invisible, place mines that also act as flares, and are just fucking annoying to fight because they’re fast moving targets (I love them too but HOLY SHIT STAY STILL FOR TWO SECONDS SO I CAN SHOOT YOU).

2012 Donnie:

Okay, so 2012 Donnie was… probably the easiest for me to choose at least a general favorite group of machines for? He’s constantly looking for better materials and complaining about how often his bo breaks in the show, so the literal gathering machines would probably be interesting to him. Y’know, just a bit. The primary two I think could be his *favorite* though are the Shell Walker or Tideripper. The Shell Walker isn’t a material gatherer itself, but its main “thing” is the boxes it carries around on its back. One of these would make material runs so much easier, and it can definitely carry more than Donnie can on his own. Tideripper on the other hand can gather materials from the ocean, but it can go on land as well so in theory it could still collect materials from there. Also, turtle sub.

2014/16 Donnie:

Did you expect him to be here? No I’ve never mentioned bayverse on here? Well, I like bayverse so he is. I think his favorite machine would either be the Scrapper or the Snapmaw. The Scrapper is simple enough: extra materials for inventions— useful and also they kinda look like a dog? This Donnie gives off ‘would like a pet’ vibes. The Snapmaw might be a bit less of an obvious choice lol. It’s an aquatic combat machine, not really in line with the trend of more utility-based machines. Honestly I mainly picked this because I think he’d find them neat. There is a little more to it, though. For one, he doesn’t seem to be struggling with getting materials as much as 12 Donnie, and the bayverse turtles are so fucking tanky he probably wouldn’t be too worried about someone sneaking up on him like 03 Donnie. The Snapmaw can watch his back anyway as long as he’s on the ground, so eh he’ll be fine. But yeah, mostly he’d just find the Snapmaw cool as hell.

Rise Donnie:

Look, he likes big loud things that go boom what do you think his favorite would be. Surely not the giant t-rex looking machine with like 5 different weapons on it nooooo. …

So, yeah, I think his favorite machine would be the Thunderjaw. There is no big reason for it except hehe big machine go boom. This version of Donnie is unhinged and made a whole ass giant drill for hero poses what else do you want from me. (I do think the headcanon that he goes bonkers with security in the lair after the Krang is interesting, but I think it’s hilarious to have every other version think a lot about utility and then Rise Donnie just points at the giant t-rex thing and goes: I like that one it shoots lasers.)

That’s it that’s all I got I need to go actually get shit done now enjoy the rare Donnie post lol.

[ryansjane]

Which Off role do you think I should watch I have only ever seen his BL work plus his work in Midnight Motel which I loved but I do want to expand my viewing experience of him is there a must watch role of his that you think I should check out? I don't really mind on the genre

so I have made many posts on this, here's me ranking every off role, and here's me recommending my fave offgun straight roles, but I'll make a summary for you :)

GIRL NEXT ROOM: RICHY RICH

light & fun but with great commentary on growing out of generational poverty. krathing & duchess are absolutely one of off's best ships ever with their chemistry & banter, and krathing in general utilizes perfectly off's ability of making the greatest facial expressions ever & being a cutie <3

FABULOUS 30

sadly that show was deleted off of youtube bc gmmtv sucks but it's on dramacool :( the first show to contain both off & mond, but with all due respect off absolutely carried the show. not only is zen an absolute BICON, but his ship with yui was so beautiful & touched on insecurity and intimacy in a very beautiful way imo. definitely one of off's best roles!

I'M TEE ME TOO

I mean, a show with offguntay?? how could it not be adorable! no shade but off definitely carried the show too, maetee is a cross-dressing icon with mommy issues who really shined & stole my heart. that role also puts off's screaming skills to the test LMAO

WOLF

off jumpol going abroad & flirting with all the women?? yup, it happened! this is basically khai from tol if he stayed an asshole lol. this is the first straight role from off I ever watched & I love por so much bc his facial expressions, especially with glasses, are literally the cutest ever! moreover, even though the show wasn't executed the best, the concept is very daring & interesting for the time and it didn't deserve to flop like it did at all. I honestly would recommend it :)

10 YEARS TICKET

so I'm gonna be honest, the more time passes since 10yt the more I realize it wasn't that incredible of a show, even though it's definitely a good show still. and off in it was amazing even though he was pretty withdrawn, but both of his storylines, one involving the mafia & the other involving his grandma with dementia which is a topic that touched me particularly, were amazing, and off did such a good job.

46 DAYS

I legit think 46 days is the funnest romcom ever produced in thailand. it's such a fun, over the top show, with still very great moments. I loved the female friendship in it, I loved that the "perfect" male lead is shown to be more than that, and I absolutely loved the side ship with off & mild (again). pat is probably the most tame & mentally stable off character lol, but he's still very fun & a cutie to watch, especially with mild who's character noina is not too dissimilar from duchess in girl next room. the offmild pairing is just always a pleasure to watch & this whole show is just very fun & lovely :)

xxx

[pomegranarchy]

my hc classpects for hornet and hollow knight (spoilers)

*cracks knuckles*

first of all, don't take this too seriously. this is for fun.

second of all, i'm going to explain how i personally define the related classes and aspects ill be talking about here. that will be void, light, and blood as aspects, and knight and prince as classes. the reason i say 'personally define' is because the classpect system is HIGHLY subjective and the agreed upon general consensus for any given class or aspect tends to summarize to a few sentences or less. for some classes, maybe a few words.

so:

knight - a serving class that maintains their aspect, or maintains with it. a knight tries to keep their aspect intact and healthy, and does so by utilizing their aspect as a defense or a weapon (whether literally or metaphorically)

prince - a destructive class that destroys their aspect, or destroys with it. they often echo their opposite aspect due to the fact they're destroying their main aspect, and tend to be considered aspectless

void - mainly literal void, misfortune, obscurity (but can also be doubts, large distances, irrelevance, mysteries, secrets, etc)

light - mainly literal light, luck, knowledge (but also can be relevance, attention, symbolically larger-than-life, insights, clarity, etc)

blood - mainly literal blood, bonds, and relationships (but also can be obligation, attachment, restriction, unity, social rules, etc. restrictions on a social or personal level, vs doom which is restrictions on an existential or impersonal level)

awesome. now watch me put this all together.

the knight of blood is someone who will (or try to) maintain rules and order, and/or group relationships. they're a defender of their people. with hornet, she is literally referred to as the 'sentinel' of hallownest, and her familial ties (aka, blood relatives) are quite important to her and the game. hornet doesn't stick around for reasons like law or magic, instead she continues to defend hallownest because she feels obligated to keep serving her mother in return for being given life. (quote, "It's quite a debt I owed. Only in allowing her to pass, and taking the burden of the future in her stead, can I begin to repay it.")

a very blood-bound attitude, id say! a familial bond that she feels obligated to serve, by maintaining and protecting hallownest. she only stands back and allows ghost to intervene because she sees that they can possibly replace the vessel (maintaining the status quo) or destroy the radiance entirely (protects hallownest, more in line with the original intent of the plan)

she is maintaining the attachments and obligations left behind by both parents. (for pk, this would be defending hallownest's secrets and the right to enter the black egg.) she only goes against these due to another family member, the knight/ghost. and even then, in a way where ghost is still falling in line with those previous ideals.

her main weapon is a needle and her silk, both commonly used tools in deepnest. that being her and her mother's home! another blood tie.

a prince of light, meanwhile... while light initially seems counterintuitive to assign to the hollow knight, i think it highlights the tragedy of their story.

hollow knight has... an interesting relationship with attention, being known, having purpose. they are given massive importance as a savior of hallownest. there's a big ol' statue of them in the middle of the biggest settlement in the kingdom! so much work and heartache went into making them and that the plan would carry through. we can assume that, in the past, almost everybody knew who the hollow knight was and what they were meant to do. they're the savior.

and yet. and yet! all of this is not about the knight themselves. its about the idea of the knight. they are thought of as lightless, both as being made of void (light's opposite, in homestuck and very likely in the hk game as well) and considered lacking the ability to think or own a will. and after hallownest's fall, all of that previous importance and attention crumbles away. even in hallownest's heydey, the knight themselves is shrouded in obscurity, their origins unknown save by a select few. and nobody knows they do have a mind.

hk is intended to trap the old light, if not outright destroy it. in their failure, they instead end up destroying the knowledge of hallownest and the importance it used to have. as well as their own. in both the pure vessel and hollow knight fight, they also literally try to destroy using light (soul magic and infection, respectively)

i don't want to heavy-hand it but you can absolutely go on about the destruction of light/knowledge/importance.

that's all i got for now, though. if you read all of this i hope you enjoyed :]