#just like they’re rebooting everything else

[feijoaaas]

i bet they’ll reboot fr!ends any day now (dear apollo plz don’t find this post)

[wayfayrr]

This is the last set of headcanons for my 200 followers event! these are for @h4wari and they're for a reader asking the links for affection <3 I hope you'll enjoy them! writing them going soft for affection was so fun to write <33

[masterlist]

✦ After the initial meeting with the chain, once you’ve gotten comfortable with them enough to in your eyes gain a close relationship with them and close enough for them to fall. If you’re the one to initiate affection? They’re going to fall so much deeper into their obsession, taking it as you reciprocating their twisted love whether that’s your intention or not

✦ Some are far more than willing to give you it in public than others, not saying that they won’t love giving you affection they just don’t like all the looks they’ll get in public. Asking them then means you’re just gonna have to wait a moment longer before being spoilt with more affection than you could’ve bargained for. 

✦ Twilight would jump at the opportunity to give you affection, from even the smallest things like holding your hand or giving you a light kiss on the cheek. If you gave him the go-ahead to smother you? Yeah, you’re not getting away from him for a long while. He’ll give you the warmest hugs, if you really want to fluster him though just ask for anything by leaning close to him and whispering it into his ear. It’ll turn him redder than Legend’s tunic. 

✦ Time would be willing to always give you some kind of affection, unlike Twilight though he won’t always bring you into a bone-crushing hug not because of not wanting to, he just feels like it’ll be uncomfortable for you when he’s in full armour. Twilight’s strength does come from somewhere so he’s just as capable of it. His favourite thing instead of hugs, when he’s in his armour, is to pepper you with feather-light kisses all over your face. 

✦ Wild gets flustered at the idea you even possibly like him back so you asking for anything? He’s just falling even deeper for you every second you’re close to him and you don’t even know that you’re making him so much worse. Every single time you ask for something as small as holding his hand in his mind you’re telling him that it’s okay for him to press his luck further because if you’re like that then surely you aren’t bothered by the reports of villagers going missing. If everything he’s doing only pushes you closer together then… why should he ever stop? Besides that though one of his personal favourite things to be asked is to cuddle while the both of you sleep, you’re asking him to hold you when you’re most vulnerable? Sign him up.

✦ It takes the captain a little bit to get used to being affectionate with you, he’s petrified of how Cia will react if when she sees the both of you together and it absolutely kills him to turn down your requests for any. After a trip back to his Hyrule however, most of that discomfort is gone like he’s stopped considering her an issue little do you know that she won’t be bothering either of you ever again.  

✦ You don’t have to ask wind for anything, the kid is constantly hollering for your attention, whether that’s playing a game or having him ramble to you about anything and everything. The rare chance you ask him to play or if he wants to know about your past he’s literally bouncing on his heels. He gets that his older sibling might want focus more on the others seeing as they’re all significantly more touchy with you compared to anyone else, so for you to want to be with him? Your little brother, over any of them? He’s ecstatic.

✦ Hyrule turns into a flustered mess whenever you ask for attention. He just seemingly shuts down as his brain tries to come to terms with the fact that you want him over the others just doesn’t make sense for him. When he does reboot though he’ll give you the gentlest kisses as he does whatever it was that you decided he would be the best to go to for, one of his favourite things to do is slow-dancing with you, swaying together in a field as he hums a light tune? He would die for it.

[pinkiemachine]

hey!! i saw some of ur posts on my feed, and im just wondering, what is the gotham files series u have going on? is it like a recap of the storyline or something else? :3

So Batman: Gotham Files is the name of a tv show pitch of mine. Basically, if Warner Bros. came over to me and said, “Here’s the DC franchise, go nuts,” I would then begin to create a new DC Animated Universe, starting with Wonder Woman: Heir to Olympus—Wonder Woman’s first ever animated tv series. At first, it would have two seasons, and then we’d move on to Dawn of Superman, which would also go for two seasons, before finally reaching Batman: Gotham Files. It would also go for two seasons, and then we would launch Justice League: Heroes Rising for one, maybe two seasons as well, and then The Mighty Teen Titans for two seasons. From then on, it gets very complicated, because not only are we going to continue making seasons for DoS, HtO, Gotham Files, Heroes Rising, and TT, but we’d also kick off a Flash show, a Green Lantern show, and possibly an Aquaman show, but I’m still figuring that one out at the moment. Not to mention, there would be mini series too. Like, Supergirl’s Lost in Space years, and Red Hood and the Outlaws, and then there’s Young Justice as well. I’m still in the process of making a detailed timeline that tracks everything and keeps the ages and events straight, but it’s coming along.

Why am I doing all this writing? Well, let’s put it this way: I walked into this big, old Victorian Manor, and it was full-to-bursting with junk. There’s a lot of really good, really cool stuff in there, but it’s over-crowded, there’s mold growing, there might be some rats, and it DESPERATELY needs to be cleaned out. This is a metaphor. This was me when I tried to walk into DC. A normie, just trying to enjoy the franchise. I looked at the comics… and they’re a mess of conflicting timelines, retcons, reboots, world-ending events, changing backstories, and so many characters that it is dizzying. Then I looked for something more digestible, like the tv shows or movies.

…

I did not like the movies.

I like the OG Teen Titans cartoon…

That’s basically it.

I’m trying to watch Justice League, the animated series right now, I’ve seen the original Superman film from the 70s, I’m starting to watch the live action Lois and Clark show from the 90s, I want to get into Batman the animated series, but 1: a lot of these shows don’t feature all the characters from the comics, especially the ones I’d like to see depicted in a show, and 2: they’re all disconnected from one another, with conflicting backstories and different takes on different characters.

I am tired. It is so much work to just try and get into the DC fandom. Let alone stay there.

So I took it upon myself to perform a public service. I told myself, I would roll up my sleeves and write a new DCAU from the ground up. One where even the most normal of normies could jump in and learn about these much-beloved characters and enjoy them. One where the timeline was untangled and there’s a proper beginning, middle, and satisfying end. I will tell the most complicated interwoven story in the history of television just to appease my need for organisation in this forsaken franchise!

…

I feel passionate about things…

Anyway, hope this clears everything up :)

Gotham Files post 1 👇

[pinkpinkmermayyy]

guys I have an idea for how it would got if house of mouse came back

@orchestra-of-demonic-screeching @champmorado @x0stormie0x @anemoia42 @thisismisogynoir

Imagine the house of mouse starting off with Mickey announcing to the gang that he’s rebooting the show, this time inviting not only the new Disney characters in store, but also the Pixar characters!

There’s the Toy Story gang, the Bug’s Life gang, Monster’s Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, and everyone else in the Pixar studio is invited to join this new show in the House of Mouse. The new Disney characters such as those from Wish, Encanto, Frozen, Tangled, Moana, etc is also invited.

That includes…the villains.

But we’ll get to them later.

anyways, Mickey and the gang feel overwhelmed with how many more guests there are now, with Mickey especially feeling like he isn’t doing enough and isn’t being grand enough for the “much more advanced and futuristic characters”. But Minnie reassures him and over time this inner conflict is resolved with great payoff. This will also connect with the second conflict of this:

The Pixar and Disney heroes not getting along. They have their tensions during the opening episode, but there’s a moment in the climax of it where they start arguing with each other about everything due to a big moment enacted by the villains.

Oh by the way, let me bring up those villains again!

Similar to ‘the House of Villains’, this time, The Evil Queen, Maleficent, Jafar, Chernabog along with Auto, Syndrome, Hopper, and Lotso lead the Disney and Pixar Villains into a total overthrowing of the house of mouse, getting all the protagonists kicked out while the antagonists and villains reign free in the house. We could have a little gag here where when the Disney villains are singing and they point to the Pixar villains, they just go “oh we don’t sing sorry lol” and they have an “ok whatever” moment and continue.

This makes the tensions between the Pixar and Disney characters that were previously established reach its peak. It starts off with one of the Disney characters saying that it was the Pixar characters�� fault for not stopping them since they’re so much more advanced than the Disney characters. It then blows off from there, and, at least for me, I’d wanna see a moment in this huge argument where someone shames mater for being just an idiot tow truck, with lightning defending his best friend by saying “oh so dopey and goofy are allowed to be silly but mater can’t? Give me a break!” Or maybe something where lightning or mater respond but this time making fun of the early disney princesses for just being damsels in distress who sing with animals, with the princesses gasping in shock and the sidekicks of snow, cinderella and aurora being like “how DARE you!” (Especially grumpy because. He’s Grumpy). You could only pick one to keep the consistency but both are funny ideas for this.

This argument ends abruptly with Mickey yelling “ENOUGH!” which leaves everyone silent. He starts talking about how all the fighting they’ve been having is not only pointless, but extremely damaging to any chances they have at taking back the house. He goes on saying that the Pixar and Disney villains were able to cooperate and they become stronger, and if the protagonists couldn’t do the same in time then they’d be letting the villains take over everyone’s worlds. The other Pixar characters such as (but not limited to) woody and buzz join in as well as other Disney characters talking about their stories and how they’ve had to grow to understand others to get to their goals and more importantly to not let evil prevail. There’s a little heart to heart before Carl from Up interrupts saying “well, how are we gonna defeat them together? We can’t just believe in the power of friendship to do this!” and then Mickey gets an idea. And the training montage starts.

Mickey and his gang along with Woody and his gang of friends are the leaders of the operation, and they decide to use the magic of Disney and the technology of Pixar and mix them together. Thinking of Antonio from encanto leading the bug’s life characters into battle, miguel and moana getting an epic team up with maui as they fight against tamatoa, and some other cool stuff with other characters but the thing that I’m thinking about the most (because I’m a die hard cars fan and since this probably won’t happen I don’t have to worry about the other characters) is the idea of LIGHTNING MCQUEEN MATER AND THE OTHER CARS CHARACTERS DRIVING WITH TINKERBELL’S PIXIE DUST. LIKE IMAGINE LIGHTNING ZOOMING BY AND ABSOLUTELY BESTING CHICK IN A RACE WHILE FLYING WITH TINK’S PIXIE DUST AND MATER BEATING UP THE LEMONS WHILE A BUNCH OF GLITTER IS EMITTING FROM HIM OMGGG

Also like tinker bell teaching them how to control themselves while flying with her little bell voice and them learning how to steer and stuff and lightning stumbling a bit in the beginning omggg

but the final act comes from sorcerer Mickey. There’s a moment where the villains are weakened where Maleficent decides to transforms into her dragon form as a way to finish the battle quickly. Mickey shows up in his wizard attire and they go in a final battle which ends with Mickey winning, and saying that the villains are allowed in the house of mouse, but ONLY if they don’t pull a stunt like that again, which they reluctantly agree to.

This ends the opening episode for the new house of mouse, and with the heroes from Pixar and Disney being closer now.

Now here’s some ideas for other episodes in this new house of mouse. Keep in mind this is all cars related because I am a massive fan of cars, and I’m not really thinking of the other franchises for this as it probably is not gonna happen. If you have any ideas for the other characters though, feel free to share them in the notes!

here’s the first idea:

Lightning and Mater enter the house of mouse, with lightning talking about how great Cruz has been in training and in her races, as well as both of them just being glad that they’ve found the time to be in the house of mouse again. But then, we focus our attention to the evil queen from Snow White, who has a new magic mirror after her old one quit to work as Walt Disney’s co-host (my headcanon btw LMAO). She asks her iconic question and it shows that MATER is the fairest now, due to his naturally optimistic and kind personality and how everyone enjoys his company. She then decides to try and kill mater, first using some poisoned gas to try and kill him. Lightning, who knows exactly what’s going on, kicks the can of gas away before mater can consume it. We get a whole montage of the evil queen in her hag form trying numerous ways to kill mater but failing as the episode progresses while the different cartoons are played, only with the hag having a breakdown after not being able to kill him. Mater asks what’s wrong and the queen replies saying that she just wanted to be the fairest in the land, which mater says he can help with, since “that’s what a tow truck does!” The episode ends off on a comedic note, kind of similar to that one 2013 Mickey Mouse cartoon short, where despite still being an ugly hag, the queen is much happier than she was before, and mater being proud of himself for helping someone out (while lightning is slightly uncomfortable but still happy for his best friend).

now here’s the second one:

Here we have lightning and mater in the house of mouse again, this time with lightning remarking that he hasn’t been spending much time with Sally, especially since he’s started training cruz. He goes to look for her with mater only to find her hanging out with…the Disney villains! She’s seen sitting at a table and laughing with all the female Disney villains, such as Maleficent, lady Tremaine, cruella, madame Medusa, the evil queen, and more. Lightning shows up to the table asking her why she’s hanging out with the villains of all people, with her replying that yeah sure they may be a bit eccentric, but they’re actually fun to hang around. The episode progresses with this conflict and Lightning realizes that because he has been neglecting time with Sally, she actually feels a little hurt because of it, even though she knows racing means a lot to him. Lightning convinces Sally to not hang with the villains and apologizes to her for not giving enough love to her, which Sally forgives him for. This one isn’t as strong in my head as the first one but if I think it through it can be decent.

hope yall liked this train wreck of a post though! I might add more who knows lol

[thowawayuntilfurthernotice]

Alright, I’ve avoided talking about this design for long enough.

This design sucks, but not for the reasons you think.

Allow me to explain.

People rightfully give Viv shit for having every character be super skinny, so Mammon’s design should be a breath of fresh air right?

Wrong, his design sucks because Viv played it too safe.

I get that it’s hard to design a greedy character, because you don’t wanna accidentally come off as antisemitic or fat phobic, but everything about Mammon’s design is just lazy.

It feels like it was designed by committee, or ChatGPT.

“He’s super greedy, so he’s gotta be overweight and his outfit has to be green because that’s the color of money.”

Yes, I’m sick and tired of Viv’s “Super skinny gay twink.” character aesthetic, but wouldn’t it have made more sense for Mammon to be a handsome tech bro?

Think Mark Beaks from the Ducktales reboot or Ivo from My Adventures With Superman, just a pompous asshole who cares more about making money than anything else.

But a character like that would require Viv and the rest of her team to put in some actual effort when it comes to the writing/world building, and fuck knows they’re incapable of doing that.

[raisay]

Had a rough day yesterday anyway, and the dragon age news isn’t helping, and I’m feeling sick and can’t get back to sleep, so I’m still chewing on it. Rambling after the cut.

I guess what upsets me is that, it’s fine to do a soft reboot, but if they’re doing that, why on earth would you do it with Inquisition 2? Why bring back Morrigan if she can’t remember her own past with you? And I know that some people have mentioned that Kieran’s plot relevance is done, but… I didn’t like him just for his plot relevance. I liked him because Morrigan loved him so much, and he changed her for the better in such great ways. But this Morrigan is just going to be a husk with the face of a friend.

All the things the devs have been saying to justify the decision are just that: justifications. The same way sleezy devs justify dressing female characters in skimpy clothes. These aren’t people with motivations of their own, you’ve written them this way. If none of your choices matter 10 years or 100 miles apart, don’t set your sequel game there. But even then I’m entertaining a silly justification— the choice of Divine is going to matter, even in the north, because most of the people up there are Andrastian according to lore, but if they’re ignoring that lore, that brings up some other, bigger narrative concerns.

I wasn’t even asking for huge pay off from stuff like The Well of Sorrows, but what removing the weight of that choice does, now looking back, is make Solas’s anger over it seem pointless and silly. He was SO MAD, and for what?

There’s also just the logical question of how it’s going to appear in game. Is the narrative going to just weirdly tiptoe around all of the potential landmines? Am I going to constantly go “Huh, it feels weird that this wasn’t mentioned”? Because a game that awkwardly tiptoes around a previously important character’s quantum state is a game that, essentially, unwrites them from existence. If they don’t know my HoF’s race or gender or class, or if they’re even alive or dead, they essentially can’t mention them at all outside of “The Hero of Ferelden was a hero from Ferelden who stopped the Fifth Blight.” Like, damn, we know more about the person that ended the Fourth Blight than this, and it was even longer ago!

And then… what’s with the dev team’s apparent disdain for codex entries? Long time fans of the series LOVE codex entries! I know it’s unrealistic to expect everything to matter in game, but are you telling me I just kind of have to headcanon all the things Queen Anora did, and possibly who replaced her? I just have to headcanon whether or not my HOF cured the blight? Because if I have to write all this for myself, why am I paying BioWare $60? It’s certainly not for the gameplay, I never played these games for that, anyway. From the game’s perspective, Celene, Gaspard, and/or Briala did all this fighting with each other to sit on the throne and do… absolutely nothing of consequence. Are they going to just refer to them as “The Ruler of Orlais” (because they can’t even use Emperor or Empress). That’s going to be really stilted, if that’s what they do. In fact, that would *still* be awkward, because there can be multiple rulers. “The Ruler(s) of Orlais”.

And just more practically, in the case of the character that does seem most important to BioWare: Solas. They’ve stripped all the potential nuance from your Inquisitior’s relationship with him. You can’t be an Inquisitor who was a dear friend vowing to stop him at all costs OR you can’t be an ultra aggressive Inquisistor who is angry and always hated him, because these were rolled into one “stop Solas” option. One of the devs (sorry can’t remember who) also said that the Inquisitor feels some level of guilt for what Solas is doing. Why? Why would an Inquisitor who always hated him, and possibly punched him, feel any guilt at all? They didn’t do this, they’re a victim of his lies as much as anyone else. Solas is solely responsible for his own decisions, don’t put motivations in the Inquisitor’s head. If that level of character motivation from the Inquisitor is needed for this story, we should have played as them again instead.

So, I guess to sum up, I would have been fine with a soft reboot if they had been open about what this was from the start, and didn’t try to bait me back in with nostalgic characters that I love, that won’t remember me. It takes me out of the game and makes me see how Morrigan is PR and Varric is PR. And it’s going to be noticeable, and it’s going to be hollow.

But most of all it’s going to be sad, seeing these characters that I love not know their own past, like walking past an old friend knowing they’ve forgotten all the fun you used to have together.

[anthurak]

Funny thing I’ve recently realized: With just two minor changes in events, you could negate basically ALL of the major arcs/conflicts in Adventure Time post-Islands.

First, Finn doesn’t accidentally stab the Finn Sword with the Grass Sword during his fight with Bandit Princess in I Am a Sword.

Second, Patience St. Pim doesn’t walk in on Ice King and Betty while they’re hanging that we see in the flashbacks of Bespoken For.

The first point is pretty easily to explain. No Finn stabbing the Finn Sword means no grass demon corrupting and merging with the Finn Sword to create Fern. So everything with Fern just goes ‘poof’.

The second point on the other hand is a bit more complicated: To start, Patience not meeting Betty means she doesn’t get the idea to use her as a magic super-battery for her Element Awakening spell. Which in turn almost certainly means NO Elemental Apocalypse. Of course, the Elements Mini-series probably still happens in some form. Patience seems quite adept at making problems for everyone else. But it most likely ends up being not nearly as bad as what we see in the show.

So no Elemental Apocalypse likely means our heroes don’t have to hit the LSP-powered elemental-reset button. And that means Punchbowl, Crunchie and Manfred AREN’T reverted to their original forms. Meaning NO Uncle Gumbald and no Gumbaldia arc.

And then we have BETTY to consider. Because looking back at Bespoken For it seems that Betty was just about ready to actually try LETTING GO of her obsession with ‘fixing’ Simon. To finally ‘take him as he is’ as Tiny Manticore suggested. Instead however, Betty ends up getting frozen by Patience and used as an Elemental super-battery, which leads to her getting access to the Enchiridion thanks to Finn, which in turn gives her the idea to try and rewrite history. The failure of which sends her to Mars and puts her in contact with Normal/King Man, which in turn led to her getting the idea to summon GOLB.

Meaning that no Betty getting frozen by Patience means no GOLB, no GOLBetty, and no Ice King being reverted back to Simon. Also, no Gunter becoming Ice Thing either. Instead, we could very well see a Betty who tries to accept Simon as he is now, much like what we see with Marceline.

To really break this down, looking at episodes following a version of I Am a Sword where Finn avoids stabbing the Finn Sword and retrieves it from Bandit Princess, leading up to the Islands arc; most everything plays out basically the same, save for events directly dealing with the fallout of the original I Am a Sword, ie; the episodes The Music Hole and Two Swords which simply have no reason to exist. Though speaking of Two Swords, I do think the events of its preceding and succeeding episodes Reboot and Do No Harm NOT related to Fern play out mostly the same. As in, Finn’s grass-prosthetic still lashes out at a berserking Susan to protect him, though without the Grass Demon seizing remote control over the prosthetic, perhaps Finn is able to avoid hurting Susan quite as bad. Regardless, I imagine Finn’s grass arm does go somewhat out of his control and Susan still gets hurt, which means Finn’s time in Do No Harm can play out unchanged.

As for the Islands arc itself, I can’t imagine Finn having the Finn Sword and Grass arm changes things too much. Save maybe Finn having to convince his mom to not immediately remove his weird magic arm when they reunite. Though considering that part of the big resolution of the arc was Finn convincing Minerva and the rest of the humans that the weird magic/mutant shit of the outside world WASN’T something to be afraid of, I imagine this doesn’t change anything in the long run. It might lead to an interesting situation where Minerva tries to forcefully remove the Grass arm, leading it to lash out at her, which in turn leads to Finn making his mom see that his arm is not inherently aggressive but simply trying to protect him, again trying into the original resolution of the arc.

Now trying to envision a full version of the Elements arc where Patience doesn’t use Betty as her magic super-battery is WAY more than I’m prepared to do for this post. Like at that point I’m just writing a full blown fanfic. So for the sake of argument, I’m just going to be assuming three main points: No Elemental Apocalypse, no Betty trying to hijack the Enchiridion to try and change the past, and no need for the LSP-powered elemental reset-button. Heck, maybe whatever shit Patience stirs up in this version gets resolved before Finn, Jake and BMO even get back to Ooo.

Now one wildcard in all this regards Jake getting reverted to his ‘true’ half-alien form in the aftermath of the Elements arc. On the one hand, this may not happen at all in this version of events, especially if they play out before Finn, Jake and BMO return from the Islands. On the other hand if Finn and Jake are around to participate in this version of Elements, even if there isn’t a full-blown Elemental Apocalypse perhaps Jake still winds up afflicted with some form of elemental contamination. And when said contamination is reverted, this brings out his alien nature just like what happened in the series proper.

So in the latter scenario, the events of Abstract play out unchanged. In the former, they don’t play out at all.

Going into the final four episodes of season 8, the events of Ketchup, Fionna and Cake and Fionna and Whispers play out basically unchanged, save for some of Marceline’s recapping in Ketchup. Whispers is notable here because despite Fern featuring heavily in that episode, it’s worth remembering that he wasn’t able to actually DO much of anything against the Lich Hand. Finn was the one to chase the hand to its lair, while Sweet Pea was the one to battle and defeat it. Fern basically being useless was the point, as it led him further into turning on Finn. So Fern’s absence doesn’t really change the events of that episode.

Now however, things start getting really interesting. As with the setup we’ve made so far of ‘Finn not stabbing the Finn Sword’, ‘No Mass-Elemental Reset by LSP’ and ‘Betty not obsessively chasing a way to fix Simon’, we potentially have only TWO of the remaining fourteen episodes able to play out unchanged. With just two or three others potentially having at least minor changes, a further three or four having MAJOR changes, and a potential SIX episode simply not happening at all.

Because with these three simple changes, we have No Fern, No Uncle Gumbald (and friends) and No Betty trying to summon GOLB. Plus potentially one other thing…

Without Fern or Uncle Gumbald being a thing, Three Buckets and Wild Hunt straight up DON’T happen. No Gumbald also means the second half of Always BMO Closing just can’t happen.

Son of Rap Bear plays out unchanged, and ironically Bonnibel Bubblegum can potentially play out mostly unchanged, with Bonnie still having a reason to explain her backstory to Finn and Jake (I personally like to think Marcy already knew :D). The only change being that Bonnie doesn’t get some dramatic realization that her Uncle has returned at the end.

Speaking of which, no Fern and no Gumbald means the major conflict of Seventeen just doesn’t happen and Finn’s seventeenth birthday party goes off without a hitch. Or at least, without a Green-Knight-and-Gumbald-and-co. hitch. You never know what other shenanigans might happen XD

Ring of Fire is the other episode that can play out completely unchanged by our alterations. Meanwhile, no Gumbald means no Chicle/Crunchy to cause trouble at Marcy’s concert at the end of Marcy and Hunson.

Now The First Investigation can play out MOSTLY unchanged, but this is also where that ‘one other thing’ I alluded to earlier comes into play. Because if Jake doesn’t get afflicted with elemental contamination and in turn draws out his alien physiology, that could potentially lead to Warran Ampersand NOT seeking him out and taking Jake to space at the end of TFI.

Now Jake potentially not being off-planet means Blenanas can potentially play out unchanged (Jake is simply off doing something else leading to Finn hanging out with Ice King), with major changes (Jake goes with Finn and Ice King), or just no happen at all (Finn and Jake are just doing something else).

Of course Jake not being taken off-planet by his evil alien dad means Jake the Starchild and Temple of Mars simply DON’T happen at all. If he is, then the former episode likely plays out unchanged while the latter still undergoes major changes, simply because in this version of events, Betty isn’t on Mars with King Man.

Now we come to the last two episodes of the series, which in this version of events simply CAN’T HAPPEN. No Uncle Gumbald means no Gumbaldia.

And with no Fern, no Gumbald and no Betty obsessed with ‘fixing’ Simon, literally ALL of the conflicts of Come Along With Me simply do not exist. No war with Gumbaldia, no big conflict between Finn and Finn-that-got-possessed-by-a-grass-demon, and no Betty summoning GOLB, no GOLBetty and no Simon being fully separated from the crown.

Now of course, all this isn’t to say everything would be all fine/dandy/boring for our characters and there won’t be anything of interest or conflict in this time. Just that it would be something completely different than what we see in the series proper. In particular, this series of events has Betty not only actually hanging out with Simon/IK, but even gradually integrating herself into the main cast of characters, which certainly would create all kinds of interesting situations (Betty having an actual conversation with Marceline anyone?).

Rather, I thought this would be a fun little thought experiment on how just a couple changes could have massive effects on late-series Adventure Time.

[storygirl000]

okay genuinely what is with some of the complaints for mh g3 because at this point it just sounds like y’all hate it for existing and nothing else.

"ewwww the outfits are so ugly!!" gee, it’s almost like popular fashion trends have changed over the years. there’s a difference between "this outfit is ugly" and "i greatly dislike this outfit"; i personally think a lot of the outfits look pretty cool, but i’m not gonna default to calling the ones i don’t like "ugly" just because i don’t like the style.

"everyone’s personality has changed for the worse!!" because it’s a reboot of the franchise; of course they’re gonna change things to keep things "fresh". besides, i honestly think the personality changes got me more invested in certain characters compared to g1 – frankie and lagoona in particular are characters i didn’t care all that much about in g1, but i’ve loved their g3 characterizations so far.

"it’s racist because they toned down clawdeen’s blackness!!" i am admittedly as white as can be so i don’t know how well i can comment on this, but i feel like people who use this argument have a tendency to sound more bigoted than they claim mattel is. i have both g1 and g3 clawdeen dolls; they have pretty much the exact same skin tone, so that complaint only really applies to the live-action movie. the arguments about her personality being "less black" sound like they’re turning into "clawdeen is less of a sassy black woman stereotype and i hate that". and all the complaints about her being mixed race (and thus "less black") now just sound bigoted against actual afro-latina people. and that’s without getting into how this old argument keeps being used while they ignore that there’s a wider degree of racial diversity in the line, that clawdeen actually has a black va now (light-skinned black, sure, but still an improvement over having a white va do a "black" voice), and that some of y’all made fun of the new venus for looking different when they gave her implicitly black facial features.

and on that note, "you’re just sucking mattel’s dick and ignoring everything bad because there’s more diversity now!!" so people aren’t allowed to be happy that they’re being properly represented in their favorite doll line now? so plus-sized people aren’t allowed to be happy about plus-sized catty? so south asian people can’t be happy that abbey is now properly south asian-coded instead of weirdly russian? so i can’t be happy that one of the characters is explicitly autistic? sure, a story should have more than good diversity if it wants to be truly good, but every time i see this complaint get brought up it’s phrased like we shouldn’t be happy about the increased diversity at all.

"this is just as bad as g2!! why don’t you hate it like g2?!" because it’s not like g2 at all. g2 suffered from a combination of budget cuts that led to cheaper doll designs and marketing unsure of whether or not it was connected to the original g1 continuity; g3, while not perfect, definitely has a better budget and marketers who’ve learned from their mistakes and made it more clear that this is a full reboot.

and all of these complaints seem to carry an undercurrent of "g3 is the only option available and it’s bad" which...just isn’t true. g1 fans still have stuff like the boo-riginal creeproductions, the reel drama dolls, and so many special dolls that hearken back to g1 aesthetics and designs. mattel’s still paying attention to them.

tl;dr stop using increasingly flimsy arguments to justify complaining about people liking something.

[myehm228]

Sorry if you've answered this before, but why do you hate the reboot so much?

well, actually, I’ve already talked about this several times here

I hate him because it ruined everything for me. I’ve been in the fandom for quite a long time and it’s not just a fandom, it’s already become my home, it’s one of the few things that makes me happy, that can bring me good emotions, I had it during the terrible periods of my life, I’m very close to the show and the characters, I love this very much, I can’t take it any simpler, I just can’t. I built so many things, I had so many ideas, I thought about the holes in the plot and in the lore, about the characters, about what could have happened before and after the canon, taking into account almost everything that was said in the canon, I really tried to do everything logically and as best as possible. and now that this has come out, everything I’ve done all these years has become worthless in an instant, I don’t know what to do now. previously, no one cared much about my ideas and creativity either, it was almost of no interest to anyone, and now even more so. people only like the reboot, they don’t like anything else, they don’t always like the original either. I don’t like it, I don’t want it this way, and it’s everywhere, I can’t even hide from it, it’ll get me everywhere, everywhere they will shove it at me, everywhere they will equate my headcanons to a reboot, everywhere they will call my designs peri and irep, and they will be surprised that I use the original canon, wow. I can isolate myself from artists or writers that I don’t like, but I can’t with this, it makes me sick, I want to bang my head against the walls.

and in general, the reboot itself is pretty mediocre, let's be honest. it may not be downright terrible, but it’s pretty boring and mediocre, and it’s only being singled out for its beautiful graphics (and even then, computer animation doesn’t suit the style and it looks bad). if it weren’t for all this, I simply wouldn’t care, but I really don’t understand how people can lick this so passionately, and also say that this is a masterpiece and much better than the original, well, excuse me of course. they forgot about the canon, if you are making a direct sequel in the same universe, as reboot are very fond of repeating all the time, then can you at least, I don’t know, normally review the original cartoon? seriously, there's a change in how Cosmo and Wanda met, well guys, I wanted to cry. it feels like everyone who created this didn’t watch anything other than season 9 and half of season 1 (and then only with one eye and background), otherwise I don’t know how to explain these huge holes and illogicality. and the fans are also good, they’re sitting there, they haven’t even watched the show and are already proving something to others and doing something, well, are you serious or what. how many fans of the reboot will cry if I say that fairies canonically cannot have children not from fairies, but how can that be, but what about the children of perirep оh how did it happen🥺🥺🥺 and the fact that Cosmo and Wanda should be fairies of Timmy's children and not on some vacation and with Hazel, because it corresponds to the time, well, who cares about stupid original. and this is not an isolated case.

and also, simply because I didn’t like the reboot (at that time I didn’t hate it yet, I just didn’t love it), so much shit was thrown at me than I had ever seen in my entire stay in the fandom. I was called a racist simply because I don’t like Hazel and I think that she’s not an interesting character, well, because after all, we know that everyone who doesn’t like the reboot is racist, really, yes yes, that's the truth. and also in response to criticism of the reboot, they told me to grow up, touch the grass and that I’m toxic, oh how cool, and after that it’s me who’s bad, it’s me who needs to be cancelled, I DARE NOT TO LOVE A N*W W*SH OMG, that’s how it works yes.

I have enough reasons not to like the reboot and its fans, especially after what happened to me. I really feel bad watching this, it ruined my whole summer, it was terrible, it was so terrible, if they release a season 2, I don’t know how I’ll live, I don’t think I can stand it. I don’t want, I don’t want to see this, I want the fandom to die again, I feel bad, it’s killing me from the inside.

ой достали меня эти омерекосы все вам объяснять надо😑😑

[quietlyimplode]

the language of flowers and silent things

Whumptober 2023: Day 21 - Vows

Warnings: nil

Word Count: 1k (gif not mine)

Summary: Clint and Natasha try and write their vows

A/N: a short one today. This is a lead up to the endgame, so whilst the surface is quite fluffy, know it’s a lead up. Ty again to everyone who’s been following the story each day, liking and commenting. It makes the whumptober marathon easier. <3

Masterlist

Whumptober Masterlist

.

No, Clint thinks. I don’t want to.

He’s never been one for displays of emotions and he’s not one to start now.

It feels too vulnerable, even amongst those he knows and loves. Selfishly, he feels those emotions are only for Natasha.

“No,” Clint says, out loud this time.

Natasha shrugs.

“Fine by me,” she agrees.

Pepper groans.

Maria sighs, heavily.

“You’re still going to marry us right?” Natasha asks Maria.

The only one of their friends with a celebrant license, Maria had agreed immediately.

When asked why she had one, she had shrugged, commented about a mission in Arkansas and not elaborated.

“Without vows?” Maria asks, “I just think you should do it. Say something in front of everyone that commits you both.”

Natasha rolls her eyes, the movement exaggerated.

“Yeah, cause that’s what we are known for, deep expressions of emotions in front of each other.”

Pepper looks at both of them. Looking like a disappointed teacher, she peers over her glasses.

“You’ve sorted the venue, and everything else, why not just write something down? You don’t have to share it with us, maybe just with each other. And then what about choosing one line each to say?”

“How long is this going to go for?” Clint asks, looking to the door.

Natasha kicks him under the table.

“I don’t mean this, here, I mean the wedding? Like how long do these things go for?”

Maria smirks, “the way you two have set it? Maybe like twenty minutes in ceremony and the rest as requested will be at the beach.”

Clint nods.

“Twenty minutes? You’re sure?”

Maria holds the papers and goes through the things she has to say, Natasha changing some of the wording for commitments and religion and Clint nods along.

“Now this is the part you say vows, something; anything, to each other.”

Handing them both pen and paper she finds in the desk, Pepper frowns.

“Go write, find a sentence each, talk to each other about it and then come back and tell us. We’ve got everything else sorted, okay?”

Maria calls after them, “it might be the week before Christmas but it’s also the week before your wedding,” she reminds them.

Clint follows Natasha into the elevator.

“This was a bad idea,” he groans.

“We just needed one of them and now, everyone is coming here for Christmas, so we can all go together.”

Natasha agrees silently, in two minds about just how difficult this would be.

She loves her friends, loves that they’re around, but hates the fact they all have opinions on how things should go and how things should be.

The vows, just seemed another tradition that they didn’t want to participate in.

Clint steps out, and grabs her hand.

“Let’s go,” he says, “grab a bag and things you need. We’ll come back for Christmas Eve and to meet with Yelena and Gus when they get here, but let’s go.”

Natasha kisses him, almost runs into the room and grabs a bag.

“Five minutes,” she calls.

He nods, not answering, gathering his phone charger, and a hoodie, stuffing them into a bag.

“Jarvis, if you tell the others, I will give the tower an EMP and make you reboot from the bottom up,” he threatens.

There’s no response.

Ready, Clint finds Natasha with her backpack on, hair in a braid and a grin on her face.

“Let’s go,” she smiles.

.

Natasha opens the widow, airing the apartment out. Since staying at the tower, her apartment was empty, and despite the amenities and ease of the tower, she feels herself in her own place.

Clint sticks his head out and holds up his phone.

“I’m just ordering Chinese, what do you want?”

Natasha sits on the couch.

“Just some dumplings - the ones I like.”

Clint disappears again and she hears him ordering so much food.

The pencil and paper that Pepper had handed to them taunts her and she picks it up, wandering after Clint.

“Fifteen minutes,” he tells her, setting an alarm on his phone, “then we can get it.”

He sits at the kitchen bench and sees the paper in her hand.

“No,” he whines, “don’t tell me you’re listening to them.”

She shrugs, “I know it’s stupid, but maybe it is a line we need.”

He takes the pen off her.

“Google it,” he laughs.

She laughs too, opening her phone and looking at what the results.

“No…” she groans, “look at this - ‘I never knew that life could be a dream until I met you.’”

He laughs, “it’s true though, right?”

She scrolls further.

“This is stupid.”

Clint passes her the keys for her motor bike.

“Let’s eat and then talk about it?”

She nods.

.

Her bed is cold, but Clint is warm.

“We didn’t do it,” she mutters, sticking her cold feet into his legs.

He squeals and pushes her.

“Whyyyy? I was warm,” he groans.

“Fine,” he says, “give me one thing you love about me,” he challenges.

She thinks.

“You inspire me to be better,” she says on a whim.

He freezes, hearing the weight of her words.

Natasha feels the tension and her face goes red.

“Your turn,” she mutters.

“You taught me the meaning of brave,” he says quietly.

It’s the truth in their words that fall heavily on each of them.

“I love you,” Clint says, turning to her, “whatever that means to both of us.”

She turns to face him too.

“I love you too.”

“Do we say that in front of our friends?”

He shakes his head.

“I don’t think so,” he replies, “maybe we can just say ‘I do’.”

Natasha nods, “I’ll think of something.”

He kisses her and turns back around.

“Night Nat,” he says quietly, both their thoughts loud.

.

A large boom wakes them, an aftershock earthquake pulses through the city, and Natasha is immediately on her feet.

“What was that?” Clint asks, alert, his gun in hand next to her.

“The tower,” she says, uncharacteristic fear in her voice, “someone’s blown up the Avenger’s Tower.”

.

[aballadforbarbatos]

a gift for satan, the master tutor

btw this one is like. 80 points long so gl with that. i had fun with it though! hopefully you do too ^.^

“listen. satan. let’s go out.”

his brain totally stops at that. nobody else seems to notice- did you whisper it? he can’t quite remember! he needs to reboot his brain, hold on a second MC

“hellooo? satan? i asked if you wanted to go out with me to town? on a shopping trip?”

so not a date then. WELL NO WONDER NOBODY LOOKED OVER AT THEM BECAUSE YOU WEREN’T ASKING IN THE FIRST PLACE

there also wasn’t a single question there, so he can’t help but suspect you were trying to tease him with the possibility of reciprocated love…

you smile at him. he thinks about saying no in retaliation. but then… what if asmo goes with you instead… or mammon… can he really risk that? no.

great day in town too btw. nice and warm and peaceful. you say something about how lucifer would give you his credit card if you got 100% on all your exams, and you did! satan thinks about how lucifer is such a goddamn sap when it comes to you. grow a backbone, loser

“so where are we going?”

“clothes shopping!”

ugh. he hates clothes shopping. it’s so boring, and he has enough in his wardrobe. so do you actually, why are you choosing to go CLOTHES shopping with lucifer’s credit card?? you already have enough?!

he voices this. but nicely. you shake your head and laugh.

“no, silly! we are going clothes shopping for YOU.”

we what now

“no offence, and i mean this with my whole heart, but your clothes are so incredibly ugly. it always looks like you got dressed in the dark. this belt looks like the one i had when i was 11.”

ok, rude

“it’s a good thing you’re a demon bc your closet is a sin in itself”

:( he thinks it looks nice!

“tbh i am embarrassed to be out with you looking like that, but for today it's fine because it’s for the greater good”

apparently it does not look as nice as he originally thought. ok

well, it’s lucifer’s credit card, and he gets to spend the day with you, so it COULD be worse

majolish is up first

he does a lot of standing around while you play around with clothes

“it’s kinda hard to see how this would look on you because your jacket is so goddamn ugly. can you take off your shirt for a second”

TOTALLY misses the flirtatious tone in that sentence and is just offended instead

then it clicks what you asked him. but he still doesn’t get what you were talking about and just gets nervous

“mc we are in public?????????”

you give him a Look.

he doesn’t understand why (he will hours later) (he will burst into your room while there’s another brother in there and say “i’ll take my shirt off for you mc!” and pull it off and the brother will punch him in the stomach. i’m thinking of mammon when i write this)

you find a sales attendant

“hey so i’m gonna burn all his current clothes because they’re awful”

you gesture at his outfit

YOU’RE GOING TO BURN ALL HIS CLOTHES??

WHY IS THE ATTENDANT NODDING LIKE SHE UNDERSTANDS??

“the jacket is distracting me because it’s ugly. can you help me out here?”

“have you tried taking it off?”

“i asked but he whined”

YOU DIDN’T ASK DON’T LIE AND DON’T LIE ABOUT HIM?

the attendant purses her lips but keeps her mouth shut. probably because he’s the avatar of wrath

“it’s so terrible because when you look at his face he’s hot, but then you look at the rest of his outfit and realise you value your dignity more. imagine how much of a heartthrob he could be if he didn’t permanently look like he was getting dressed in the dark!”

mc. what the fuck? HE’S NEVER HEARD SUCH A BACKHANDED COMPLIMENT

“i see. this could cost a lot of money…”

“it’s okay. we have his dad’s credit card.”

he’s going to strangle you. he starts thinking about how to kill you. au revoir mc. it is the end of your life. you will not get a gravestone.

then he remembers how much he’ll miss you. FUCK.

satan settles for a very strong glare. scowl and everything

“um. what size is he?”

“great question. satan take off your shirt so we can find out”

he does not. he still doesn’t get it. he does know his size though so he lets the demon know and then she does her thing.

then it’s trying on clothes. DAMN he hates this. this is terrible and SO BORING. how tf does asmo do it

it takes forever too :(

the demon whispers in your ear.

“hey satan have you tried wearing pants that fit you so we don’t have to suffer through the ugly belts you choose”

at least asmo isn’t here with you???

he finishes shopping with you at SEVEN O’CLOCK. HE SPENT NINE HOURS SUFFERING THROUGH THIS

you even asked if he could wear one of his new outfits out of the store and fold up the other one, and that’s how he ended up wearing something more “stylish”

you pay for them to deliver his new clothes to the house of lamentation via truck because you decide you can’t be bothered carrying the boxes.

not that it would be possible there’s like 20 there and they’re NOT small

“i feel like we’ve hit the spending limit on lucifer’s card even though it doesn’t have a limit”

honestly he feels like that too. but he’s a lot less remorseful about it than you apparently are

you grab his hand and squeeze it and look at him with such a lovely warm smile that it makes this whole day worth it.

you really wipe away all his suffering with a smile. this is really bad for him, satan is in for a whole world of trouble with you

you squeeze his hand

augh he’s so in love with you this is terrible. but so GOOD at the same time it’s a complicated thing don’t ask him to explain it

“now we get to go home and have fun!”

have fun…?

OH RIGHT YOU’RE GOING TO BURN ALL HIS CLOTHES HE TOTALLY FORGOT

“we don’t have to go that far”

“no we do. we can get belphie and asmo in on it too!”

so that’s how he’s spending his saturday night. burning all his clothes.

asmo says this is a celebration and brings music

belphie brings gasoline

asmo says that it’s fabric so there’s no need for gasoline

belphie pours more on the clothes like he’s making a point. satan has no idea what the point is

you bring out the rest of his clothes and tell him to kiss them goodbye

“can i at least keep the jacket?”

loud sigh from you! whY??

“ok sure whatever. now lets light these things on fire!”

asmo and you are having a great time. belphie is watching them all go up in flames from his spot on the ground

lucifer comes out and yells at you both but you’re too busy dancing in front of the fire to pay attention

“dance with me?”

satan feels a smile tug at his lips as he takes your hand.

he’s in love with you.

he’s so in love with you.

his heart will beat for you forever, taken in by your evil doings and gentle ways.

and tonight he’ll dance with you until the flames subside and you tell him to stop.

[dante-winning-archive]

DmC: Devil May Cry Thoughts

So I finally decided to experience the DmC Reboot, and my overall verdict is: Not As Bad As I Expected. 

I took notes, so let’s break it down. This is over 3 pages in a doc btw, so buckle up I guess. Hope it was worth the wait.

What I Liked

Level Design

This is probably the game’s biggest strength. Great amount of variety, and the atmosphere of each level was great. 

Limbo is a really cool concept. 

The twin’s special abilities (like Dante’s grappling hook type weapons) made for some really cool platforming. 

The typography really works in this game. Like, words and phrases appearing in the environment to taunt Dante or just provide additional flavor to whatever is happening. Very comic book. 

The Bob Barbas boss battle had a really cool neon techy aesthetic, which isn’t something I would have expected for this game. Neat!

The game show levels leading up to Lilith’s boss fight were cool too! 

The Succubus boss battle made really good use of the environment. 

Enemy Design

General demon mobs are automaton-like, which is pretty neat. I’m not a fan of that sort of aesthetic, but I respect the creative direction. 

All the bosses had decent variety in terms of design and battle mechanics.

Item/Weapon Design

I think this was another pretty strong point for this game

It’s a small thing, but the designs of the orbs were nice.

Rebellion’s shape shifting is neat. Rebellion doesn’t really have any cool powers like Yamato does in the mainline games, so it was nice to see it do something besides being a big sword. 

AQUILA IS SUCH A COOL WEAPON

Ebony and Ivory were pretty, but didn't seem particularly useful what with all the other weapons Dante had at his disposal.

Misc

Combat looks dynamic and satisfying, and I can see the influence it had on DMC5’s combat. 

The voice acting is good

Occasionally, it was genuinely funny

The Vergil gameplay at the end? INCREDIBLE. 

The music was good. Nothing really stood out to me, but it did enhance the game. 

What I Disliked

Lilith

I really hated her character design. And I’m not saying it wasn’t effective character design, or that it was bad. I just personally didn’t like it. 

Her weirdly pulled skin, the corset piercings, the way her skin bunches up around the tops of her gloves… ugh. 

And maybe that’s the point! I’m probably supposed to find it offputting! But I hated looking at her. 

Pregnancy is a really intense squick of mine, so all that was just no! No! No! No! 

I wish I could unsee her boss battle

Minor Design Complaints

Dante’s DT design was a little disappointing, especially considering how well designed everything else is. 

Yamato’s design was also lackluster. 

Misc

The fatphobia was disappointing but not surprising, especially considering the year this was released. 

Mundus sex scene… ew

The sniper abortion scene wasn’t as shocking as I expected it to be, but it sure was there

The way Vergil pronounces Yamato lol. Ya-MATT-o

Pronouncing Mundus differently was a little weird. The mundus amungus…. 

Mundus’ boss fight was uninspired. Wow, a giant statue trying to squash Dante on a platform. Never seen that one before.

A lot of this game has a ‘gross’ factor, which I’m not really into. That’s just personal preference, because I do think it mostly works in context. Just not my thing. 

Characters:

In general, I found the characters to be pretty one-dimensional. 

The Twins

The two of them working together in Mundus’ tower, one in each world, was really cool. If you’re going to have twins in a setting with two worlds overlapping, having one in each is (chefs kiss). Being able to play as both of them to achieve the goal would have made it even better. 

I really enjoyed the scenes they had together, but there just weren’t enough of them. 

It was nice seeing them share physical affection (in the form of a mutual shoulder pat)

But “I loved you, brother” just didn’t have the emotional impact I wanted it to have. 

And the issue is really… they’re strangers. They may be brothers, but they barely know each other. Their relationship just didn’t get as much attention and buildup as it should have. 

Vergil

He’s so friendly and helpful sounding at the beginning, it was kind of cute. 

But it is revealed he’s pretty cold and calculating, willing to sacrifice Kat because saving her wasn’t worth the risk to him. 

His mad hax lol 

give him his hat back, cowards

Even though he was carrying Yamato around, I wasn’t sure he could even fight until the very end. He just seemed so weak. The thing about the twins is that they’re equals on the physical level. IDK, it was just weird to see a Vergil that didn’t fight. 

honestly, a way more interesting character than Dante.

Dante

A devil-may-care character that learns to give a shit? Always a classic. 

As unnecessarily edgy as he seems, his poor coping mechanisms make sense for how he grew up. 

Kat

An assault survivor, because of course she is. It’s just disappointing. Was it necessary? Was it??

Overall, she’s fine. No real strong feelings about her. 

Despite having a ‘role’ (guiding Dante through Limbo and helping him escape it), her job could have been given to Vergil and the game would have worked fine. Maybe even better. 

Sparda and Eva 

Having Sparda outlive Eva and be responsible for hiding the twins was an interesting choice. I also like that we have confirmation for what happened to him (eternal torture). 

I would have expected an angel and demon to be a power couple, but they seemed to have been beaten pretty easily. For plot, I guess. 

The Story

I wasn’t really all that invested, tbh. There’s nothing wrong with the story, but at the same time there isn’t really anything notable about it (except Vergil’s bit). 

It’s a hack n’ slash, so I’m not expecting a masterpiece, but it was pretty one note.

WHY is there a war between demons and angels? Where did the Nephilim come from, how many were there, what role did they play? More importantly, why should I care about any of this? 

The twins avenging their parents should have felt like… like taking on a mantle to continue their cause, and I really didn’t get any of that. There wasn’t any weight of legacy. And the main games handle that so well. 

Overall, I just felt like there wasn’t enough emotional impact, especially between the brothers. There wasn’t enough time to really grow to care about the three protagonists, imo. 

Dante's character arc is... learning to give a shit, I guess, but even then, his decision to be the protector of humans feels really out there. Did he really show that much growth throughout the game for this declaration to really feel deserved? Rewarding?

Likewise, Vergil's shift from revolutionary to would-be king is equally abrupt. Like maybe the entire point of it was to be out of left field, but from a storytelling standpoint... an out-of-nowhere twist like that just doesn't feel rewarding. Having more time with Vergil as Dante throughout the course of the game, to have a subtle buildup so that when you look back and say 'the signs were all there and I missed them', that would have been really good. Like, disregarding the fact that any fan of DMC knows Vergil is going to abandon everything for power.

Vergil’s gameplay and story at the end was a lot more compelling than the rest of the game combined. It’s literally the only thing I’m interested in learning more about. 

Final Thoughts

The game was… alright. Not as bad as I expected it to be, but I’m not sure I would call it good, either. There were a lot of really interesting concepts that just didn’t reach their full potential. The ‘hard’ elements like design and combat were there, but the characters and story were lacking. Making a DMC game heavily influenced by the Divine Comedy is a great idea! 

I think that there are two things that really held this game back. 

Making it a DMC game. As its own thing, it could have been really good. Could they have told a story based on the Divine Comedy with twins named Dante and Vergil without stepping on DMC’s toes? Probably not. But with some changes, it could have worked.

The marketing. I didn’t see it in real time, but we’ve all heard of the weirdly homophobic marketing for this game. And I think that really soured people’s opinions of the game. Still does, tbh. ‘Dante is not a gay cowboy’ as if that isn’t his entire appeal….

Anyway, I don’t think it quite deserves the hate it gets. If you go in knowing you’re not getting a ‘real’ DMC game, it’s not bad. 

Rating: 5/10 

[the-bjd-community-confess]

I love D0llfie Dreams and I love Hatsune Miku and Vocaloid. I love the Miku dolls. But I’m just starting to get tired of how much the DD brand revolves around her now. Every single year has to have a vocaloid related doll release or outfit (sometimes more than one outfit, this year has snow Miku, spring Miku AND autumn Miku just announced. And the NT Miku dolls from last year are just now coming out, AND a rerelease of Sakura Miku was just announced?!) And then they ALL get rereleases.

Now that a new DD body is out there’s probably gonna be a Miku Reboot V2 so she can be on it, as well as Miku NT V2, and then they’re rerelease everyone else on it too, and so on. I don’t know. I love Miku. But even I think it’s all too much. I feel like there used to be so much more excitement and variation in what dolls come out but now it feels like everything is just padding for the next Miku or Miku adjacent release and rerelease. I know they’re not gonna stop doing it because she’s the most popular character they’ve ever made and no matter WHAT there are people that miss the rereleases and beg and cry and scream for another one.

The money they make from her is probably responsible for most of their growth over the past 10 years, and like I get it! I really do. But with only a limited number of doll release slots each year, it’s hard to not feel kinda jaded when I’m looking forward to seeing who the next doll will be or what the next fancy outfit set will be and once again it’s Miku.

~Anonymous

[parachutingkitten]

Not an ask per se, just a similar feeling. You’re someone whose Ninjago stuff, here and on YT, I’ve really enjoyed for at least a few years. And I’ve been similarly obsessed with the show for some time. But… it’s as you say — DR is objectively fine, objectively nice, but I don’t feel the same obsession about it and its characters, plot, etc that I used to feel all the time with Ninjago. And I *cannot* figure out why, and it’s also been driving me slightly up the wall. It’s maybe because I genuinely try to give media the best chance when I interact with it, but despite multiple DR rewatches I don’t see what everyone else sees. And the disconnect is a sad, like you mention — I joined the community here because I was so glad to have people who loved this show in the same ways I did, and now it’s like they’re all on a different wavelength and I want to be there but I’m not. It’s definitely strange for sure, made worse I think by the fact that DR isn’t like horrifically bad or anything, I just feel… okay, when watching it, and can’t even explain why.

I don’t know how much sense this makes, but I thought it might be something for you to think about if you’d like. I’ve been tossing around the idea that I don’t love DR because it is… good. It’s good, but too neat — if that makes sense? The new characters — I love them all, but their personalities and backstories and situations they’re put in all remind me of several other stories. The subplots of the episodes always have an end goal in mind, often an emotional realisation, and whilst that’s a neat way to tell stories, it doesn’t feel like, to me, the way Ninjago used to tell stories. Like, the first thing that comes to mind is Sora feeling hopeless and that episode with the djin where she realises that it’s important to hope. And maybe this isn’t a great comparison (as I’m typing it out, I realise that it isn’t the best example oof), but I immediately thought of Zane after Seabound, when he’d turned off his emotions. Sora’s bad feelings, whilst not as ‘significant’ as Zane’s in that context, began just before and were wrapped up neatly in that episode and not brought up again. Zane acts detached from the start of S16 if I remember, and it’s only near the end of the season (I think! I know that it’s a few eps at least) when he meets Sally, talks to her, learns a little about her life, and is able to come to the realisation that he shouldn’t be repressing everything. I think DR, because of the amount of characters it has, especially those that are new, and the amount of new worldbuilding, plot stuff, etc that they have to add in, it being a reboot/sequel type of thing, leaves less time for the nuance and time devoted to the character arcs in the original show. Or maybe I’m just crazy, honestly idk.

Something else that stands out to me is the fact that DR has to establish so much about these new characters and their world that they… they do something that old Ninjago didn’t do, and whilst it’s maybe objectivity a better storytelling choice, I think it’s part of the reason I’m not really feeling it. What they do is that they have the characters act kind of realistic. Arin worries about his parents, often. Sora did too. Wyldfyre and Kai definitely have a few moments where it’s implied that they’re confused about what’s up with their powers. In Ninjago up to s16, because they wrote a lot of it without intending much or anything to come after it, I feel like they thought less about this than the DR writers, who know that they’ve got a few seasons lined up, do. For example — hands of time is when we find out about Ray and Maya, but it was never often addressed by Nya and Kai. It’s brought up in s4, of course, but if they were real kids whose parents had vanished one day they’d probably bring it up more often, like Arin did. But it’s often not done in the narrative because the writers gave them other things to focus on, because they’re storytelling devices and not real kids. There was no real buildup to Nya being the water ninja, for example, but Sora’s said to be good with tech a few moments after we meet her. This ain’t a critique of either show — just a different choice I sort of picked up on, if it even makes any sense. And as crazy as it may sound, I liked that about the old Ninjago — it saw the characters more as storytelling devices, I think, than relatable to the audience (Kai was the hothead, Jay the humour, etc — ofc they were more than that, but they retained that sort of vibe from S1 a little all throughout the show I think). DR, on the other hand, seems to want their characters to be more relatable, more multifaceted, make more sense — which, when coupled with the fact that they’re new characters and that the ninjago fandom has historically thrived on gaps in the show to enjoy it (we’re a very AU, OC, heavy fandom, etc), I think DR attempting to flesh out their characters in the way that we’re often used to doing with the old characters in fic, art, etc means that I like DR a little less because there’s less to ‘work with’, and less that inspires thinking of the characters in different situations — bc whilst relating is nice, it is also enjoyable when the characters are written with some core characteristics in mind and you explore other parts of them or those characteristics in different contexts. I don’t think makes much sense, but I hope that it maybe gives you something to think about — as you can probably see, I’ve been going a little crazy over not liking it and not knowing why, so I know that the feeling isn’t great.

I'm picking up what you're putting down here. My next video has a bit about getting disillusioned with a fandom, and it sucks. It always does. It's heartbreaking when you feel like that special bond between you and your show was somehow broken. I empathies, and it's important to feel it out.

Now, I don't think ninjago was better at character arcs, i don't think having a character arc be longer is better, or even really a characteristic of classic ninjago, but I do think the DR character arcs feel very by the book. They're following the screenwriting 101 guide perfectly, but it ends up feeling a bit lacking because of it? If that makes sense? Now, ninjago was historically very bad at character arcs, but when they got it right, they always had a bit of a spin on things, and interesting visual payoff, whatever. I think the zane's emotions arc isn't particularly great (and the sally piece is sort of at the end of the first half of the season ;) I would argue sora's arc in season 1 about finding confidence is better, but that doesn't mean I find it much more enjoyable.

I will agree that that the characters in ninjago definitely feel more like characters, while the DR cast (old cast included) feel more like people. Neither are a bad thing, but I think it definitely has an effect on the tone. Characters allow for a more lighthearted goofy vibe, because the show is operating on a higher suspension of disbelief most of the time. DR on the other hand, does want a little more vulnerability from its audience on a regular basis.

Lastly, I do think you're onto something with DR being fully planned. The two seasons we have so far feel very indistinct. There is less of a defining singular "adventure" in each season. And again, that's not a good thing or a bad thing, but it ends up making things feel different. Ninjago is an episodic series of adventures. DR is a continual evolving set of circumstances. Those are just going to feel different.

[curiositymemes]

MISTER MAGIC SENTENCE STARTERS : PART TWO.

taken from the 2023 novel by kiersten white. trigger warnings for unreality, trauma, religion, and cults. feel free to change wording and pronouns and provide context as necessary. do not add to this list.

“what do we say about crying?”

“you had a lot of nightmares.”

“at least i don’t snore?”

“i wouldn’t mess with her / him / them.”

“that was really kind. thank you.”

“it’s just what i was supposed to do all along.”

“why do you have it?”

“don’t you remember— no, i guess you don’t.”

“please take this as kindly as possible, but what the hell does that mean?”

“i forgot what a dork you can be.”

“only you could make me do this. you’re as pushy as ever.”

“is this what prom was like?”

“i hate missing free food.”

“we just have to wait a little longer. you’ll see.”

“we could go be beautiful somewhere else, instead.”

“or your ass is mine.”

“what is she / is he / are they doing here? i can’t deal with her / him / them, not right now. not ever.” 

“you know how important tonight is to me.” 

“i’ve worked a long time for this.”

“take me with you. i can’t do this alone.”

“wasn’t it the best?”

“i’ve lived here my whole life.”

“angels were everywhere, if you knew how to recognize them. if you knew how to make a deal.”

“suffer the children, you know.”

“not everything needs a reboot.”

“go home and cry joylessly into your still-in-the-box transformers.” 

“someone’s got to compensate for my terrible influence in his life / her life / your life / their lives.”

“lol delaware isn’t a real place.”

“what is all this talk of killing and death?”

“you’re here now, and you’re going to fix it. you’re going to make it right. you owe us that much, don’t you?”

“i don’t like to think about what happened; the pieces don’t make sense.”

“guess i was wrong about not needing to sneak in our own booze. luckily, i’m always prepared.”

“please don’t tease me.” / “i would never.” 

“everyone will stare.” / “they’re all staring anyway.”

“you! you broke everything!”

“what was that?”

“we won’t let them / him / her do this to you.”

“whatever else she is / he is / they are, name’s a loyal friend.”

“you need this. don’t let them know you have it.”

“you deserve— you all deserve to know.”

“can we get out of here?”

“come on. we’re going to make a bonfire.”

“i woke up in the middle of the night and it was glowing.”

“how do you know how to do this?”

“i can build a fire, administer basic first aid, and bullshit my way into making older people think i’m trustworthy.”

“he / she / they / you didn’t protect me from that.” 

“i’ve never not been a mom / dad / parent.”

“that’s the only time i ever got to be a kid.”

“don’t be a little shit.”

“you never forget the lesson that they would rather destroy you than let you inconvenience them.”

“it’s hard, and you’re doing it anyway.”

“fucktrumpet! shitgibbon! cockwomble!”

“be serious for once!”

“i need to know what happened to her / him / them / you / us.”

“anyone who was looking for you, anyone who took the trouble to find you: they’re not your friend.”

“you have to get out of there. now.”

“you can’t get better until you’ve hit rock bottom. you know that.”

“what if forgetting is a gift?” 

“i wish i could forget it.” 

“we missed you, name.”

“you didn’t give up, even when it got hard and a little scary. sometimes things are a little hard and scary. that’s when we need each other the most.”

“i am losing my mind.”

“i missed you the most.”

“i want it back.”

“i can’t force you to do it. but i need you to do this for me. for us.” 

“weird vibe in here, you guys.”

“please, come with me. nothing here is good for you.”

“i know that sounds sad but it wasn’t.”

“don’t look at me like i’m the one who’s being a bitch.” 

“what the hell? how is that possible?”

“tell me whether i saw what i think i saw.”

“how long have you been down here?”

“we don’t say that.” / “why not? they’re just words.”

“so really, all words are magic. something from nothing.”

“you were always good at words, weren’t you? good at making the others do what you wanted.”

“i’m tired of talking.”

“nothing is more powerful than imagination.”

“we all chose what to remember. or what to forget.”

“maybe it’s a deepfake.”

“fuck me. fuck me, fuck me. fuck all of us.”

“i’m sorry. i’m really, really sorry. i didn’t know.”

“i’ll see what they want.”

“name. fuckface. fuckface junior.”

“dunno what i did, dunno how to fix it, don’t really care.” 

“i’m going with you. we do this together.”

“you all realize this is insane, right? this is how we die.”

“at least i’ll go out doing what i love: being an absolute fuckwit making the worst possible choice.” / “no. being an absolute fuckwit making the worst possible choice in the best possible company.”

“is that how it was always supposed to feel?”

“i’m ready to break things.”

“i never would have left you.”

“i won’t let anything happen to you.”

“give me my fucking friends back.”

“tell me how to get you out of here. tell me how to fix it.”

“i believe in you. you protected us all back then, when we didn’t even know you were doing it. let us help you now.”

“we have to buy her / him / them / you time.”

“we should do what we do best.”

“it’s all still here.”

“let’s summon a demon!”

“this is so trippy! and stupid. i think it’s mold.”

“it’s not better in here, name. i know it feels like it could be, but it’s not. it never was.”

“you haven’t forgotten who you were, but you’re even better at it.”

“name is fucking with people who don’t have his / her / their best interests at heart.”

“that’s gotta be driving them insane to watch.”

“i’m nothing without it. i’ve never been anything without it.”

“you’ve always been enough by yourself. no one has ever been as loyal and smart and funny and fierce and deeply, deeply annoying as you.”

“i want to be a person. whole. happy with just myself. but how do we do that?” / “therapy.”

“in today’s session, i’d like to revisit the period of your childhood that was controlled by a minor deity in a pocket universe.”

“you’re all so stupid.”

“i love you, and i’m so proud of you.”

“you came back for us after all, name. i always knew you would.” / “really?” / “no. but i love being wrong. i’m really good at it.”

“he’s / she’s / they’re gone. you’ve always been good enough. you can do this alone.”

“i would have loved you so well.”

“you stayed.” / “i stayed.”

“go on. i believe in you.”

“you know what that’s like, if you let yourself remember.” 

“it’s not perfect, but it doesn’t need to be.”

[theenbynightingale]

CLONE HIGH (2023) EP. 8 SPOILERS

Okay, I know I’m opening up myself to a bunch of arguing but like... We need to have a talk. I should preface this by saying I’m not a die hard fan of Clone High. I only caved into watching the original series a few days before the reboot dropped despite hearing about it for years. I think they’re both good but I have my problems with both.

But I wanna talk about Topher Bus, a Christopher Columbus clone in a Gen Z world. He’s kind of taken over the role of Ghandi as Abe’s best friend in the revival, since the creators don’t want to bring him back unless they know they’re gonna be able to make more seasons. He hasn’t had a lot of screen time or development because the abundance of characters in this version. However, him becoming somewhat close with Abe has resulted in some fans shipping them.

So imagine their surprise when Topher tries to blackmail (or white leverage) Abe at the end of the final episode because he is attracted to Joan as well. I’ve seen so many people actually get angry about this. Many found themselves disappointed that Topher wasn’t straight or that he’d do something so terrible to Abe.

To which I say... Why would you expect anything else from this guy?

Topher’s whole thing was that he was an asshole who tried way too hard to convince people he’s progressive or an ally or “woke”, a term he unironically uses. He goes on and on about how he’s looking out for poc and women because he’s just trying to survive in a world that has flat out rejected his clone father.

“But he has a ‘Everyone is Welcome Here’ rainbow flag in his room!” Yeah, he does. He also has a co-exist poster, too. Good for him. Except there’s also a poster that says “Not a paid activist”. It’s a front! That’s the point! 

“But he keeps trying to drill it into everyone’s heads that he’s straight, like a closeted person!” Yes, he does. But it’s not just closeted people who do that. I went to a Catholic school and I also live in the real world. I’ve seen dudes be afraid to drink tea or hug because it might make them look “gay” or “feminine” or whatever bullshit.

“The way he said he liked Joan and white women in general was so exaggerated that he must be forcing himself to say it!” This is Clone High! Everything in this show is so exaggerated. From the very beginning, it’s been a parody of teen satires. It was created by the duo that would go on to make Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street and The LEGO Movie. This is their style.

“The episode would have been better if he blackmailed Abe into not confessing to Joan because he had a crush on Abe.” So you’re saying you would have liked the episode more if Topher had gone “Abe, the reason I almost got you molested by a teacher was because I’m in love with you”? I need you to realize how fucked that is.

Topher is a weasly little shit who tries to convince everyone how progressive he is when he’s actually a total asshole. That was the point. Y’all thinking he was in love with Abe or that he had Abe’s best intentions at heart just means that it worked. You took the bait. I’m not saying shipping Tophabe would be immoral (okay maybe after the whole statutory rape thing but that’s just for right now). There’s a solid chance that their friendship could be salvaged after this. I certainly never thought I’d ship Cleo with anyone but know she and Frida are my OTP. But you gotta stop pretending that this character is someone he isn’t.

I might delete this because I’m just trying to get my feelings out. I’m not calling anyone stupid or whiny just because they got upset by the new episodes. (Shoutout to my boy, @warcrimetime​. Sorry they took JoanFK from you so soon). This is just another case of me getting annoyed by people calling queerbait just because a ship didn’t become canon and me getting everything out of my system. (But also, if Joan does see Topher’s blackmail and her reaction is anger at Abe and not “HOLY SHIT YOU WERE MOLESTED?!” then that would actually be legit bad writing).

TL;DR:

Although, maybe I’m just not upset because I got Kahlopatra and you guys lost your OTP and I just don’t understand, I dunno.