#like HOW FUCKING INTERESTING would it be if the musical had a similar plot but connor was alive???

[shaniacsboogara]

poking at my dear evan hansen hyperfixation with a stick. STAY BACK!!! I ALREADY VANQUISHED YOU!!! WHY ARE YOU CREEPING BACK INTO MY MIND!!!

[xcherryerim]

Forgotten Bond(age)

- Sub!ClaptonDavis x HardDomGn!Reader -

“Keep making you kneel, keep making you bet all of you. The more you fall, dangerous. You know it, but your eyes still reflects me. Good boy, just one word, you shout.” — Beg For Me by Red Velvet

word count: 3.7k

SMUT ONE SHOT | MDNI | 18+ ONLY

Warning: Set in College (Reader and Clapton are 19 and in prom night they were 18) | Mentions of bullying (Reader was Clapton’s bully in hs) | sexual tension | degradation kink | light mentions of underage drinking | handjob | oral sex (reader receiver no genitals mentioned) | light ‘bondage’ usage (yes despite the tittle there’s little of it, I just wanted to make the joke) | slapping | porn with basically no plot | words like: Goodboy, fuck toy, puppy, master are used here. | overstimulation (?) | a bit of bratty Clapton.

Summary: At a freshman college party, you spot Clapton, the individual whom you used to torment in high school, who promptly initiates a search for you despite your efforts to evade an encounter. However, instead of seeking answers or explanations, he seems to desire something else, as he appears to seek out a more intimate and provocative connection, aiming to submit to your dominance.

While college life was enjoyable, it was also challenging and burdensome, with you meeting new people but also finding yourself submerged in a plethora of extra responsibilities that you had not encountered.

You knew you deserved a break, so, fortunately, there was a freshman party scheduled on that night. Even though you weren’t too fond of attending gatherings such as this one, you tried to have fun.

As you walked into the party, the atmosphere was electrifying. The music was roaring, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Nervously, you scanned the crowd, half hoping and half fearing that you wouldn't run into anyone you knew from high school. You breathed a sigh of relief when you saw unfamiliar faces, allowing yourself to relax a little more and join the lively group of strangers.

A few drinks later, you felt slightly braver, conversing with various students who shared similar interests. Just as you thought you might be able to forget about your stressful past, the unexpected happened - you spotted Clapton Davis.

Your heart raced, and your stomach twisted into knots. You were stunned that he had attained college admission, and second, your relationship with him was awkward and tense. Yes, you had acted like a bully towards him in the past for some inexplicable reason. Despite your past behavior, you couldn't deny the allure of his charm and charisma. He possessed an undeniable magnetism that drew you near, even as you tried to push away those feelings of attraction.

While you prayed he would not notice your presence in the room, an immense feeling of panic and dread emerged within you. However, your horror intensified when you realized he had indeed noticed you. You made your way to a separate area of the house, hoping that he would not recognize you.

Despite your attempt to enjoy the mixer, your mind was overwhelmed with memories and thoughts of Clapton, depriving you of the ability to enjoy the party. The loud music and the plethora of individuals you once enjoyed are making you anxious by the minute.

You ran upstairs and entered a quiet bedroom. As you tried to collect your thoughts, you heard the door creak. Someone else entered the room. The darkness made it impossible to recognize who it was, but the mere scent confirmed it was indeed him. In the dimly lit bedroom, your heart pounded in your chest as you struggled to come to terms with the fact that Clapton had followed you.

“Clapton!” You blurted out a mix of shock and apprehension as you encountered him again in this enclosed area.

“Shh!” he whispered in a rushed manner, placing his finger on your lips in an authoritative gesture. “Tell me, what’s your deal?”

This wasn't how you imagined your reunion with him would play out, but here you were, trapped in a small room with the very person you wanted to avoid.

"My deal?" you echoed, trying to regain your composure. "I don't know what you mean."

His finger on your lip sent an electric current through you, and you couldn't help but feel a strange mix of fear and desire. This was not how you expected this evening to go. Clapton's gaze bore into you, daring you to defy him, to speak your truth.

"You know exactly what I mean," he retorted, his voice low and forceful. "You spent our entire high school years bullying me, and now you try to avoid me like I'm some sort of ex to you?" He emphasized his point by pressing his body against yours, bringing his face closer to yours, eyes locking in a heated stare.

You let out a sarcastic laugh, attempting to mask your anxiety and uncertainty with a carefree facade. "Forgive, forget, Clapton?" You said to him, trying to gauge his reaction. He seemed taken aback by your response, and for a brief moment, his harsh exterior cracked, revealing a glimpse of vulnerability.

But it was short-lived. His eyes flashed dangerously, and he retorted, "I don't forgive or forget easily," his tone growing soft yet menacing. "Besides, aren't we supposed to start fresh here in college?" He stepped back, arms crossed over his chiseled chest, his toned torso visible beneath his shirt. Your eyes involuntarily trailed over his muscular frame, noting the hidden strength and masculinity that lay beneath his calm demeanor.

His posture was confident and authoritative, leaving no doubt about his intent. You found yourself suddenly hyper-aware of the heat emanating from his body, the faint scent of his cologne, and the electricity that seemed to crackle between you two.

"So, how's life treating you, huh?" He asked casually, tilting his head slightly to the side as if genuinely curious about your well-being. "Did you miss anyone specific during the summer?"

You hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to respond. "You're asking like you want me to say you're the one I missed," you responded, trying to keep the conversation light and playful.

A smirk graced his lips, revealing a hint of white teeth against the lightly tanned skin that he gained over the summer. "Well, I wouldn't expect anything less from you." He chuckled softly, moving closer to you. "But you know what they say: 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder.' Maybe I missed you too."

His tone was light, almost teasing, but there was an underlying current of genuine curiosity. It was clear that he wanted to know how you felt about him, even though the situation between you was far from amicable. And despite everything, you couldn't ignore the spark of attraction that flickered in his eyes, seeming to defy all logic and reason.

"You missed me?" You raised your eyebrow, feigning disbelief.

"Maybe a little bit," he admitted, his voice dropping to a seductive whisper. "Or perhaps it's just the thrill of the chase."

He continued, running a hand through his hair, ruffling it slightly. “What do you say we start fresh? No more games, no more hiding. Just us, getting to know each other again.”

He paused, studying your reaction carefully. There was a challenge in his eyes, daring you to accept or reject the proposition. And despite everything, you couldn’t help but feel drawn into his boldness.

“If I were crazy, I would think you’re asking for something else, Clapton.”

“Oh, I’m not asking for anything crazy,” he replied, his voice dropping to a sultry timbre. “I just want to know if you missed me as much as I missed you.”

He moved, closing the remaining distance between you two, and his warm breath grazed your ear as he spoke. You could feel his heart racing, matching yours. He was undeniably aroused by this confrontation, and so were you.

“Now, are you going to tell me that you didn’t think about me once or twice?” he asked, his fingers gently tracing the curve of your waist. “Or maybe more than that?” There was a playful challenge in his tone, a promise of something more beneath the surface. His fingers dipped lower, sending shivers down your spine, and he leaned in, brushing his lips against your neck.

“Are you implying that I am the only one missing our little... interactions?” he murmured, his breath hot against your skin. His hand slid up again, caressing your jawline gently and turning your face towards him. “Or perhaps you’ve found someone new to degrade?” He smirked. “I would be jealous if you did.”

“Believe me when I say, Clapton,” you responded, trying to keep your voice steady. “No one compares to you.”

Your words hung in the air between you, heavy with implications. You couldn’t believe what you’d just said, but there it was—an admission of sorts—an acknowledgment of the intense chemistry that existed between you both.

“That’s more like it,” he murmured against your lips, his breath warm and inviting. “Maybe we can work out our differences, huh?” He trailed soft kisses along your jawline, his hands exploring your body with possessive intensity.

“But first,” he whispered, his breath hot against your ear, causing goosebumps to erupt across your skin. “Give me what I’ve been craving since that goddamn prom night.” With that, he got on his knees, looking at you with eyes full of devotion.

At that moment, you knew things were about to change. The tension between you and Clapton wasn’t just about the past anymore; it was evolving into something new—something electric and passionate.

“Slap me.” He blurted it out; his request made you still. “Slap me,” he repeated, his voice laced with desperation.

You hesitated for a split second, unsure of what to make of his unusual demand. But then, you steeled yourself and raised your hand, slapping him hard across the face. The sound echoed loudly in the quiet room, and the sting of your palm against his cheek left both of you breathless for a moment.

Clapton's eyes widened at first but then closed for a moment before slowly opening back up. A look of relief washed over his face as he reached up, touching the red mark that now adorned his perfect features.

“That’s better,” he growled, a devilish smile on his lips. His eyes glinted with a mixture of pain and pleasure, clearly enjoying your dominance. “You seem to love seeing me humiliated, don’t you?”

“Oh, just look at that,” you taunted, leaning down to whisper into his ear while slapping him lightly across his cheek. “You were just made to kneel, weren’t you?”

"Only for you," he murmured, his voice barely audible.

The power dynamic between you two had shifted dramatically, and you couldn't deny the rush of thrill that came with it. You felt a sense of control over him once again but it was mixed with guilt and confusion over your past actions.

“Get up,” you commanded, your voice firm and commanding. “Show me how good you are at submitting.”

Clapton obeyed without question, rising slowly from the floor. His eyes locked on yours, full of longing and submission. His erection strained against his pants. Seeing him like this, needy, was both exhilarating and terrifying but you couldn’t deny the adrenaline rush it gave you.

“Take off your clothes,” you ordered, barely able to contain your excitement. “Then get back on your knees.”

Without hesitation, he complied. His muscular form was revealed as he stripped off his clothing, leaving nothing but his skin and desire between you. Once he was fully nude, he returned to his previous position, waiting for your next order.

“Spread your legs,” you instructed, watching as he complied. His erect cock pointed skyward, dripping come onto the cold floor.

“Look at you.” you sneered, a cruel grin spreading across your face. “Trembling. Panting. It’s ridiculous.”

“Is that so?” he replied, giving you a foolish smile. “It’s just the reaction I get when you’re mean to me. I can’t help but like it.”

“Okay then,” You said, sitting on the bed as you looked at him. “Touch yourself.”

Clapton’s surprised chuckle met your command. “I mean, I could use a hand,” he quipped, attempting humor amidst the situation.

“You want me to touch you?” you questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Well, you’ll have to earn it.”

Without another word, he launched himself onto the bed, pinning you beneath him. His frame flexed as he removed your clothes, revealing your naked body to his eager gaze.

Clapton’s fingers glided across your throbbing between your legs, drawing gasps from your lips. The contrast of his rough skin against your heated flesh sent waves of pleasure coursing through your veins. Each touch was deliberate and calculated, designed to push you closer to the edge.

His fingers continued their sensual exploration, the touches carefully thought out yet wildly erotic. You felt his heart beating against your chest, mirroring the rhythm of your own.

“Is this what you wanted?” he asked, his voice filled with expectation. “Am I being a good boy?” he murmured close to your lips.

His enthusiasm was infectious, spurring on his actions. The tempo between your legs increased, each touch more urgent than the last. “Please, can I taste you? Can I be allowed to be masturbated by you? Can I be inside you if I’m good?”

His words hung in the air, a plea for your approval. “If you promise to do as I say, then yes.”

He nodded, his eyes shining with anticipation. “Yes, I’m your puppy; I’m your fuck toy. I’ll become anything you want. Just please, keep using me.” His words rang true, echoing his willingness to fulfill all your desires.

“Then, I suppose you know what I want now.”

Clapton understood perfectly. He leaned down, trailing soft, sensual kisses across your stomach until he reached your inner thigh. His lips lingered there for a moment, a tender gesture that belied his usual bravado.

The anticipation was almost unbearable, and you couldn’t help but bite your lip to stifle the growing moan. His warm breath brushed against where your thighs meet, causing involuntary squirms under his careful attention.

Finally, Clapton’s skilled tongue made contact, tracing delicate patterns. A sharp intake of breath escaped you as pleasure surged through your entire being. Your back arched involuntarily, every nerve ending ablaze with sensation.

His expert mouth worked magic on you. He seemed determined to give you the best experience possible, pouring all his passion and skill into his task, and it was working. You felt yourself nearing your peak, each lick bringing you closer to ecstasy. Your fingers dug into the sheets, nails biting into your palm as you tried to prolong the agonizingly sweet buildup.

When it came, your climax was intense, sending shockwaves throughout your body. An animalistic cry escaped your lips as you bucked against him, losing yourself in the sensation. Once it subsided, you found yourself limp and breathless.

You glanced at him, noticing his disheveled state. “Who gave you permission to come?” you snapped, anger seething in your voice.

He shrugged nonchalantly. “Hey, I can’t help if you’re moaning my name,” he declared, his tone surprisingly calm.

“That doesn’t matter!” you retorted, slapping him lightly across the face. His resulting moan only served to infuriate you further. Turning away from him, you searched for something—anything—to regain control.

Your gaze landed on a nearby wardrobe, and you headed towards it, pulling out a leather belts. Returning to the bed, you straddled him, your weight causing him to groan in pleasure. Ignoring his reaction, you grabbed his wrists firmly, securing them with the belt to opposite corners of the bed. The restraints were tight, ensuring he wouldn’t escape without your permission.

“Bondage?” He asked with a grin.

Looking down at him, bound and vulnerable, you felt a rush of power. This was where you belonged—in absolute control. You leaned closer, whispering menacingly, “Next time, ask for permission.”

His eyes widened, reflecting both surprise and...was that excitement? He enjoyed your sudden turn of events. If he wanted more of this dominant side of you, however, he would need to provoke you further.

“And if I don’t?” he asked teasingly, challenging you.

“Then you won’t get what you want,” you warned him, your voice low and dangerous. “Remember who’s in charge here.”

His grin never faded, though. “Oh, I think I’ve already gotten what I wanted,” he countered, glancing down at your body. “Maybe it’s time for round two?”

A slow smile. spread across your face. He wasn’t afraid of you, not really. Instead, he thrived under your dominance. Perhaps, in this twisted way, he was enjoying himself.

“I don’t think you deserve another round, Clapton,” you stated, trying to maintain your authority.

His response caught you off-guard. “But isn’t it fun hearing me moan for you, Master?” he purred, a sly grin spreading across his face.

Hearing him call you ‘Master’ sent a thrill down your spine—an unexpected pleasure. Was it worth risking your control again just for that sound?

“Fine. I’ll play your game under my rules,” you stated, quelling the wave of pleasure that surged through you at his words.

Following suit, you spit into his cock, generously spreading your saliva on his hardening lenght. Each stroke of your hand caused him to cry out in mixed pain and pleasure, his hips buckling against yours in response.

“Slo—slow down!” he begged, his leg movements becoming increasingly frantic.

“I’m touching you; isn’t this what you wanted?” You asked coolly, maintaining eye contact.

He groaned, unable to deny the truth in your question. “Yes,” he managed to choke out between ragged breaths.

“Good boy,” you praised, continuing your work. Your hand moved faster, stroking him in sync with your heartbeat. The sensation was almost too much for you to handle, but you pushed through it, focusing solely on driving Clapton to the edge of sanity.

“And you better come when I tell you to,” you stated decisively, increasing the speed of your strokes. Tears of both pain and pleasure trailed down his face, evidence of his mounting arousal.

Clapton’s breathing hitched, his chest rising and falling rapidly. Every movement he made was dictated by the pleasure you provided, and every gasp was directed toward you. It was heady, intoxicating power, and you reveled in it.

“Please, please let me come!” Clapton cried out, his eyes filled with pleading. His body writhed under your skilled touch, in direct contrast to his words.

Instead of yielding to his request, you increased and lowered the pressure simultaneously, driving him to new levels of ecstasy and desperation. His cries grew louder, and his face flushed with exertion and frustration.

“Fuck you!” he screamed, losing his patience. His hands trying to pull away the belts that were stopping his hands from any movements. It was then that you slapped him again, a sharp sting against his cheek.

“Fuck, I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it!” He stammered, clearly caught off guard by his reaction.

You raised an eyebrow, smirking coldly. “You’re ‘sorry’? If you weren’t so useless, you’d spend less time begging for forgiveness.”

It was meant to hurt, but there was also a hint of amusement behind your words. You found enjoyment in pushing him and watching him struggle to find a balance between submission and defiance.

His face flushed deeper, but he stayed silent, accepting your judgment.

“I’m your useless fuck toy, aren’t I?” He asked, his voice tinged with light amusement. Despite his words, there was an undeniable resignation in his tone.

You considered his statement, finding it oddly pleasing. He recognized your power over him, yet he still engaged willingly. With a small smile, you replied, “Yes, you are.” There was affection in your words, hidden beneath the veneer of dominance.

He returned the smile, tilting his head playfully. “Your only fuck toy?” he questioned.

Your heart skipped a beat at his words. Was this what you wanted? To be the only person he submitted to? Or was this just another game, another illusion of control?

“For now,” you hedged, unsure of your feelings.

He sat up, gazing at you thoughtfully. “For now, huh?” He grinned, leaning in to steal a quick kiss. “Interesting.”

You chuckled, returning to a perfect rhythm. Unlike before, it was neither too slow nor too hard, which earned you grateful looks from Clapton. His body began to relax, riding the waves of pleasure you created. His breaths synchronized with your movements, creating a hypnotic pattern.

As you continue, you couldn’t help but wonder where this was leading. There seemed to be genuine emotion behind his words, a vulnerability you hadn’t expected. Perhaps there was more to this relationship than control and submission.

Suddenly, he stiffened beneath your hand, signaling his impending release. You slowed down, waiting for the right moment. “Come now, Clapton,” you whispered, your voice velvety soft.

An exhilarating burst echoed through the room as he did exactly as you commanded. His muscles tensed, his eyes rolling back in pure bliss. As he lay there, catching his breath, you felt a rare sense of satisfaction wash over you.

Clapton abruptly kissed you, his lips pressing against yours hungrily. You returned the kiss, savoring the taste of him. In that brief moment, everything seemed possible. Could this become more than a game? Could you both find a real connection beneath your kinks and desires?

As you broke the kiss, your hearts raced in sync. Your faces were flushed, sweaty, and breathless. Clearing your throat, you untied him from the bed, and then you stepped back, trying to regain some semblance of composure. “Get dressed,” you managed to croak out.

He nodded, his eyes never leaving yours. “Sure thing, Master.” He replied playfully.

Both of you got dressed, and the air between you was thick with unspoken tension. Finally, you were both dressed and ready to leave. As you reached for the doorknob, he grabbed your wrist, stopping you mid-step.

“I was thinking maybe we could go to my dorm.” He stuttered, his face flushed with embarrassment. “I found this underrated band yesterday, and I wanted to listen to their discography. You could join me if you want to.”

Surprised but intrigued, you paused, considering his proposal. “Alright, lead the way,” you finally agreed, as he released your wrist. ���But remember, this is purely platonic,” you added with a wink.

“Yeah?” he chuckled. “Platonic, huh? Yeah, because what we just did was purely platonic,” he retorted sarcastically.

You chuckled, acknowledging the truth in his words. “It was!” you teased back.

“Yeah, yeah, sure thing,” he muttered, stealing a quick kiss before ushering you out of the room.

Walking through the party crowd together, he wrapped his arms around your waist from behind, pulling you close. His warmth enveloped you, and for a moment, everything else faded away. Whether this relationship would remain strictly physical or develop into something more, one thing was certain: you enjoyed each other's company.

Despite the chaos surrounding you, there was a serene calm within the two of you. His hand rested gently on your hip, grounding you in the moment as you navigated the sea of people. Every step you took, and every laugh you shared, brought you closer to each other, bridging the gap between your past and present.

Fin. Thank you so much for reading! Sorry if this is mid <\3 I have family over and school is stressing me out.

If you only want to see my smut writing consider following my side blog @xxxcherryerim where I reblog my work!

tag list: @lile6969 @sun-spider13 (i forgot who else asked like a week ago lmao)

[runa-falls]

scratches and bites - 2

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara x Reader

Warnings: Could be a little off-canon for some characters, lots of plot, slight angst, Miguel is an helicopter mom, reader just wants some friends :(

a/n: ok. i didn't realize how much i wanted to put into this chapter so spicy stuff is coming NEXT chapter. promith. i've already written some of it. anyway, i'm glad y'all are enjoying my O'Hara content. I hope this lives up to your expectations lmfao

Summary: Miguel O'Hara is a grumpy man and you make him grumpy. You regularly go against his orders, create chaos, and invite danger. This is what you've been doing since he swept you away.

w/c: 2.2k

series masterlist | main masterlist

----

So being “Spider-Woman” turned out to be harder than you thought. It’s not all swinging from and shooting webs like you imagined. Apparently, there’s a spider-specific physical regimen you’re required to keep up with. Every day. 

You’re almost convinced that you’re being hazed into the spider-verse community because you are yet to see anyone else doing upside-down web squats on a 100-story building. Not to mention the life-threatening training simulations you were thrown into as soon as you arrived in Nueva York. 

“They can’t hurt you, Kid. They’re holograms.” 

“Yeah, that’s what they want you to think O’Hara, but my ass has been kicked enough to prove differently.”

“Alright, well they can’t kill you.”

Miguel has been “training” you for the last few months to become the best Spider-Woman you can be, pushing you harder than you’ve ever been pushed before. Though these days, this “training” is actually just him telling Parker to drill you in whatever he thinks will work. 

O’Hara attempted to do it himself for like three days, and it turns out he’s too impatient to take in a spider apprentice or even be in a room where you do anything but exactly what he commands. 

You should’ve expected it. 

Sure, Miguel is a naturally grumpy man, but you swear he has it out for you. He literally tenses whenever you enter the room and makes sure to barely meet your eyes when he’s forced to talk to you.

Actually, ever since you were dropped in the middle of Spider-Central, O’Hara has been ignoring you. Treating you like the plague. Always making the excuse that he’s too busy with things that are far more important than anything you’d ever have to say. As if he wasn’t the one who forced you to come with him in the first place…

It’s not fair. He was literally all you had. 

Months ago, he showed you a side of him, the one that convinced you that he actually brought you here for a reason, but now he can’t even look at you. Sure, you’re a particularly slow learner, and one that never really liked PE, but you deserve some slack. You left everything for him – for them. 

Meeting people who’ve gone through similar circumstances as you was quite interesting, to say the least. And it doesn’t stop at people either. Spider cars, dinosaurs, and cats were just the beginning. 

You’ve made a few friends. There’s Gwen, a 15 (or was it 16?) -year-old who mostly talks about her friend Miles, music, and…uh, Miles. It’s sweet how she gushes on about some guy without fully realizing how into him she is. Miles sounds great, really great, but you’ll probably never get to meet him because of the number of restrictions placed on your watch. Fucking O’Hara and his parental controls. 

Gwen is cool, she plays the drums and can do a bunch of acrobatic things that you’d never even attempt, but she’s also almost a half-decade younger than you. There’s only so much you can talk about before you start getting homesick. Of course, despite her young age, she’s still given more responsibilities and missions than you. If Miguel has one hobby, it would be undermining everything you do. 

“She’s been in the game longer than you have.” He always makes that excuse. 

And you always counter it with: “But I’m older! I can do more than just scream for help!”

“This isn’t a discussion.” That honestly might be his favorite phrase to shut you up these days. “You’ll be called on when you’re ready, Kid.” And that. 

“I am ready. And stop calling me that. I’m not a kid, I’m 20 years old!”

“Yeah, whatever.”

There’s also Peter Parker, your reluctant coach. He’s…something else. Sure, he’s your friend, but he’s more like a substitute teacher and crazy uncle type of guy. Usually, he listens to everything Miguel says, acting like a glorified babysitter, but sometimes, he’s up to bend the rules on some things.

Once he let you visit his dimension, claiming you’d need some real-life experience as a ��friendly-neighborhood spider-woman”. You spent that day chasing down petty robbers and helping old ladies cross the road. Sure, it was a small field trip, but that was only the third dimension you’d traveled to at the time. 

Parker is also always trying to get you to hold his daughter whenever she comes to work claiming that “it’ll be good for your mental health, trust me.” Of course, for Parker, every day is “bring-your-kid-to-train-the-new-spider-woman-day”. And really, you don’t mind holding her, but not when you’re in the middle of sparing 5 of Doc Ocks tentacles. 

The baby is adorable, but you do worry about how she crawls up the walls. Parker doesn’t seem fazed. Actually, neither does O’Hara. 

Sometimes you wonder if O’Hara wants kids one day. He certainly handles Mayday like a pro, letting her crawl over his shoulders and paperwork. Would he possibl– No, actually, it doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter, because he left you. He’s not – couldn’t even be an option. – Anyway…

Parker and Mayday are nice company and the only real constants in your life, but you really just want to be a consistent part of the team. You don’t know how much longer you can spend your days doing swinging drills and spider crunches (don’t even ask). But Parker has actually been your rock these past months, to give him credit. He’s one of the few people that makes you feel like you belonged in this distorted array of spiders and dimensions.

Then there’s Hobie. 

The first time you met him you probably had literal stars in your eyes. Donned with a spiked vest and several facial piercings, he caught your attention right away. He catches everyone’s attention. Even his suit is cooler than everyone else’s with a spiked mohawk that surely gets in the way.

Unfortunately, just as you were hoping to take on the Brit as your mentor for all things spider, he was decidedly off-limits, courtesy of O’Hara. Apparently, his rebellious nature and brash energy make him a “bad influence”. 

“Seriously? You should be glad that I’m taking a bigger interest in my training.” You have your hands posted up on your hips, trying to make yourself look bigger than you actually are. Damn, O’Hara and his domineering presence!

He rolls his eyes openly, genuinely already done with the conversation. “Yeah…your ‘training,’ sure.” 

“What is that supposed to mean!” You practically whine it out.

“Don’t get distracted gatita, just do as you’re told.”

“Ok, what does that mean? I don’t speak Italian.”

“That was Spanish dumbass.”

Of course, that doesn’t stop you from hanging out with him anyway (though he’s not around as much anymore). Who knew making friends as Spider-Person would be so hard. You’d think you’d have a lot in common with everyone around you, but really, you’re all alone. Sometimes you think the spiders actually resent you deep down because you’re the only one that has never lost anything. Or had anything to lose in the first place. 

For now, you’re just moving through a sea of spiders, trying to catch a glimpse of what you’re supposed to be doing here. Trying to figure out why you were chosen over the infinite other versions of you in the multiverse.

—

So far you’ve been on 2 and a half missions. The half was when you were forcibly sent home and effectively grounded for a week. Apparently, talking to civilians while standing guard is prohibited, even when they’re selling dip’n’dots. What? It was a long ass mission. And it was hot! 

This one is your official third mission. It’s quite simple, in theory. Just travel to Earth-275A, infiltrate a tech lab, pick up some – worryingly volatile – equipment, and go home. Easy. 

Except, it didn’t exactly go that way. 

It’s just you, Miguel, Gwen, and Jess on this mission. You and Jess were placed on lookout duty (you on the roof and Jess on the ground with her bike), while Miguel and Gwen broke in and out of the building. It was all running smoothly, each spider occasionally muttering quietly through the radio whenever their positionings changed. Otherwise, it was silent. And frankly, a bit boring. 

You idly kicked around some pebbles that somehow found their way onto the roof of this tall ass building, sometimes smacking them against the half wall separating you from falling a thousand feet downwards. You were actually dying to get back to HQ because you briefly spotted Hobie talking to Parker and Mayday before you had to go. He’s been quite absent lately, and you want to show off some of the new moves you learned this week.

Then, there was suddenly action. 

A huge explosion surges out the right side of the building that O’Hara and Stacy were infiltrating. That mission plan was not kidding when they described the ‘volatility’ of the shit inside of those supply crates. Deep creaking and smashing objects follow the blast. You watch as the tallest building in the city starts to tilt. Shit, the explosion must’ve taken out some of the support beams.

You hear Miguel yelling your name through your earpiece, as well as heavy breathing and crumbling concrete in the background. 

“Y-yes? Copy–”

“You and Gwen collect the crate and get out of here. I already called for a portal. Jess and I will get surrounding civilians away from danger.” 

“Understood, sir.” You don’t usually call him anything like ‘sir’, but the stakes are high and complete compliance is needed at this moment. 

“Crate is located on the top floor, Stacy is already there waiting for my word.” You briefly shake yourself out, mentally preparing yourself to scale the larger building in front of you.

With a quick fwp, you attach your web to the nearly as tall building next to your target to give yourself some leverage. You jump without even giving yourself time to think about it, tugging slightly at the web, making sure to collect as much kinetic energy as possible. You release the web when you get to the highest point and spit out another web to get you to the top floor of the building. Luckily the blast took out the windows so you could easily enter the floor. 

There, Gwen stands next to a crate with several scientists and guards nicely pasted onto the walls with perfectly placed webs on each limb and over their abdomens. 

“Took you long enough.” 

“It’s been 30 seconds!”

“Relax, I’m teasing.” She shoots out a couple of webs and connects them to the crate. “Here, help me out with this.” You follow her movements, pulling at your webs slightly to get a good evaluation of its weight. Surprisingly, it moves quite easily, almost three inches from your soft tug.

“Why’re we both doing this when it weighs 100 lbs. We have super strength.”

“I dunno, Miguel just gave us the orders. There’s probably a reason. It doesn’t really matter.” You frown realizing you could’ve been down there helping O’Hara save actual lives but instead, you were ordered to assist a teenager on a one-person job. “The portal is opening in a few seconds on the roof of the building behind us.” Gwen doesn’t seem phased. “We can just swing it with us.”

“Isn’t this shit going to blow up if we move it too harshly?”

“Not when it’s in this protective crate.” She steps closer to the broken window, mentally measuring and planning out the escape route. “That explosion earlier was from an open container.” You hum, still torn over leaving Gwen to do the delivery so you can help people get out of the way faster. “You ready then?” She’s been watching you. Clearly, your thoughts are painted on your face.

You nod briefly, “Let’s go.” Together you take each side of the crate and use your other arms to swing yourselves over to the portal that magically appears. This time, that odd purring sound of the portal is completely blocked out by the chaos going on around you. Somehow the building has still only tilted a little bit since the explosion. 

As Gwen pushes the crate into the gateway, you look down at the streets, watching as Miguel and Jess work impeccably together as they save hundreds of civilians from falling debris and the inevitable demolition of the building.

Then you look back a Gwen, who’s ready to head home. Then you look down at them again. 

Then your eye catches on a red sedan sheltering a terrified family that sits under the chaos.

Gwen catches your eye. “Don’t.” 

“I have to.” 

“Migu–”

“Would do the same.”

“--Will mur-der me.” You sigh, but quickly shoot a couple of webs downwards without looking. Gwen has her arms folded, sharing that unamused expression that Jess loves to sport. Her feet are now temporarily stuck to the floor. You’re sure she could get out of it in a second, but you can tell, she’s not going to stop you. “Don’t die.”

Right before jumping off the ledge, you send her a cheesy smirk, “Me? Never.”

----

Taglist: @deputy-videogamer @danaeaurelia @reuxxi

[jupiterpilgrim]

Yes, i'm going to yap again on Choa this time. Firstly, i wasn't even planning on finishing this one this early since i had so much stuff from other writers i already put on hold to read, but for some reason i just wanted to try and see how you write about her. See the thing with going with older gen (2nd/early 3rd gens) like her is that while i do know and really liked her back in their AOA days, those feelings and interest weren't really there anymore nowadays and the same can be said to when people writes about them, but i think that what makes it feels more rewarding at the end, because i have almost no rough idea of how i wanted her to be depicted, how her attitude etc and therefore there isn't much of an expectation(?) either from my side.

But man you did so well at making her feel very appealing, which i think would be a very important part especially on someone who might not be very well known around, getting the reader to know and be really attracted to her character, you did it oh so well and so it is very easy going on with the fic, the plots, the sex, the music, everything flows nicely since you already set her character to be very well received at the start.

Moving on with the plot, the music collabs, them really working as artists making music, the album taking some turns, the tour interviews especially creating this mystery dynamics and tension to the outside elements, making the people outside of the stories to have a short play within the story too is really a lovely touch of detail. Again, i'm a sucker for writers that took that extra mile and pay a good attention to extra little details like that and i love whenever writers took that extra effort into their stories.

The sex, no need to say anything much. Always been some of the best one around.

One my personal favorite point might just be that age gap thing, painting us as a rather young reader paired with a much older woman in her 30s, that's just a fucking cherry on top and probably why all the plot, the flow, the sex especially feels much more hotter just knowing that there is this age gap with older woman thing because most of the time, things always depicted as a similar age or not so big gap kind of pairings, so having this particular depiction of early 20s male with mid 30s female idol really feels extra fun to read. Okay, end of yap.

Another masterpiece well done, Juju. Take care 😌

Heyy! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a detailed and incredible review. I didn't expect to write about her, but it was a really nice surprise because she was my fav from AOA. And means a lot to know that Choa’s character came across as appealing and believable, especially considering how she might not be as familiar to some readers nowadays.

Glad you picked up on the dynamics of the story too—how the music and tour elements wove into the characters’ lives, this was part of the commission and my favorite moment of the fic, especially the interviews. And yeah, having the outside world play a subtle part was a way to ground the story a bit, while still keeping the focus tight on them.

And about the age gap—totally with you on that one. There’s something inherently captivating about that dynamic, especially with Choa being established and confident while paired with someone younger and maybe a bit more raw.

Thanks again for your support and for sharing your thoughts. Hope to see you around in the next one!! 💙

[dr-spectre]

also it's a random thing but I've realized people have been using brainwashed wrong too

Brainwashing has nothing to do with actually mind controlling people and has everything to do with propaganda. And being told it constantly

For context -

<- the actual definition of doing something

if we use this definition instead of how literally everyone uses it (ie. It's just a replacement for mind controlled)

Then honestly callie being "brainwashed" makes more logically sense if you treat the hypnoshades as consistently feeding her propaganda. It's not literally taking over her mind she's literally probably being played octavios music tbh

Because it's canonically a thing that octavio uses music for propaganda

TLDR: even by LITERAL INSISTENCE INKIPEDIA DEFINITIONS that she id "brainwashed and mind controlled", she can not be mind controlled. Realistically if Callie was brainwashed that means she was just fed propaganda about Octarian.

So people can't argue that she was forced into that outfit she wears in splatoon 2 still because she probably chose to wear it maybe as a strange solidarity idea. It's not about being forced to wear something... Like that. It's wearing a uniform.

Uh that tldr is too long:

Etldr: callie can't be mind controlled no matter how much people insist, brainwashing literally is about propaganda and not "oh no my memories are lost I can't feel ::((("

You literally cannot force her to not have autonomy no matter if it's "brainwashing vs hypnosis"

It's NOT MIND CONTROLLL 😭😭😭😭

o god this is super long

I actually got a comment that was VERY similar to this!!! Someone (I forgot who) said, "I'm gonna think of cult brainwashing instead of sci-fi brainwashing for callie for my own sanity."

From my knowledge, the term brainwashing has always been this general term to describe mind control plots and shit like that and people use it poorly and wrongly. And THAT'S where my anger comes from. Because people wanna make Callie's arc in Splatoon 2 way worse, more disgusting and less interesting. It's so SOOOOO annoying and disregards any sort of arc that Callie could go through....

The word is either used in cults, or military experiments, or family drama of "you're brainwashing my child!" Or sci fi lazy bullshit where it's just "mind control and you lose all of your autonomy and memories" aka Winter Soldier, Widowmaker, etc. It's such a general term that has a trillion different meanings and it's fucking frustrating as hell.

If I try to look at Callie’s story through the lens of "standard" brainwashing where it's just psychological manipulation and propaganda from the Octarians and Octavio, considering that he is known to use music and other things as motivation to boost Octarians.... then... I actually wouldn't have a problem with people using that word... maybe...

Because Callie STILL had some amount of agency and autonomy, even with the shades on, she couldn't have been forced to do anything against her will cause of how hypnosis works. She still heard out the Octarians and listened to their propaganda. Was Octavio still in the wrong? Yeah! DUHHHH!!! NO FUCKING SHIT SHERLOCK!!! HE MANIPULATED A MENTALLY ILL SQUID WOMAN!!! YOU THINK IM RESOLVING THAT MAN OF BLAME?!?! FUCK NO!!! But in that scenario it's WAYYYY LESS EVIL than what the fuck people and Nintendo tried to suggest that they did. I dont wanna believe that Octavio immediately grabbed and then "brainwashed" Callie with the shades after she said "okay fine I'll hear you out." And then "kidnapped" her and her memories were wiped... Ugh. (Fucking Nintendo bro god I hate them...)

It would also help explain WHY she doesn't feel any sort of trauma or suffering from those events and why she finds the Octarians cute and why she went with Octavio to the Low Water party. She probably felt sorry for the Octarians and wanted to help them willingly because her life beforehand was shitty and she was alone... Octavio probably didn't need to do much to convince her, too, which is kinda sad... She probably doesn't feel regret or pain because, well, she was going through a rough period and she wanted an escape, so the Octarians, in her mind, were the only way out...

However.... I can't see that word the same anymore, and every time that I see it, I ALWAYS think of the bullshit sci-fi definition and people just LOVEEEE TO USE IT AS A CATCH ALL TERM!!!! IT'S REALLY REALLYYYYYY ANNOYING!!!!

That word has actually caused me physical reactions when I hear it, like I was in a family dinner and one of my parents used that word and like... I fucking tensed up and felt stinging across my entire body, my heart was pounding and stuff. NO THAT ISNT A JOKE! THATS HOW FIXATED I AM ON THE STUPID SQUID LADY!!!!

Idk if I will be able to comfortably use the word "brainwashing" to describe Hypno Callie because that word has been fully engrained to me as the sci fi. one, rather than the general cult one with more autonomy and more room to dive into depth and character change.

I guess you could say that Nintendo have... BRAINWASHED me into believing that the word is only used as a way to say mind control and "oh no I lost all of my memories!!!" Heh... Heh... eh.... I wanna die.

I fucking hate Nintendo bro. I hate them. So much.

Oh Nintendo, when I find you I swear to go-

[howsitduud]

A DIFFERENT MAN REVIEW

Based on my last review, you'd think me watching this would be a similar story to Hundreds of Beavers, where the crab man piqued my interest, but no, actually. This movie was on my radar for a while and I never got around to it because I was busy. I finally got around to it on my watchlist and had a generally good time with it.

The movie is about Edward, a facially deformed man with zero bitches who has an identity crisis and gets a treatment to make him look like Bucky Barnes, only to have a different, more intense identity crisis when a man named Oswald walks into his life with a similar facial deformity and everyone seems to like him better than Edward. Right off the bat, one of the best aspects of this movie is the makeup they did on Sebastian Stan. That scene where Edward peels his face off is not only stunning due to the music, camerawork, and editing (all of which are great throughout as well), but visually incredible due to the way the makeup looks and interacts with the rest of his face. Easily deserving of the "Best Makeup" Oscar nomination. I'm glad this movie got thrown a bone this year in terms of awards because this movie is better than half of the actual Best Picture nominations, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Even though I knew the basic outline of the plot going in, there were a bunch of turns the story takes that I didn't expect. I wasn't expecting Edward to fake his own death after he got the treatment and for the lady he was seeing to base an entire play off of him where Edward fucking kills himself by the end. Aside from those twists in the story, the story itself was pretty good. There's a consistent theme of "inner beauty vs outer beauty" and how people can perceive you. Since Edward acts like an ass, he drives the people he loves away from him and loses his job by the end because he's a dickhead and super jealous of Oswald. It does get a bit confusing by the end because Oswald and Ingrid give him way too many chances (in my opinion). Them housing him while he gets physical therapy is fine; even though Edward started the fight, Oswald did cripple him, and he's the type to help him out afterwards. What got me was that after Edward got out of jail for stabbing this asshole physical therapist, Ingrid and Oswald just start being friendly to him like nothing happened. I get time has passed, water under the bridge or something, but I would've thought they were at the very least incredibly wary to be around him.

What I didn't expect was how there are some great jokes in this movie. It takes a similar darkly comedic approach that The Substance and a lot of Charlie Kaufman movies take, which is the reason people compared them to this movie. I personally think this movie isn't as good as those, but I cannot disagree that the humor is reminiscent of those. The workplace training video Edward acted in was so sterile and true to actual workplace training videos it was hilarious, Edward being turned into a Nazi on a subway ad and the kid looking at him in a weird way got a good laugh out of me, but my favorite gag was the scene Edward scaring this family by putting the deformed mask on and acting like Oswald. I don't why that worked so well for me, but it did.

The acting is also generally pretty solid. People were surprised that Sebastian Stan can act, but I've always known! I got so many clips of him acting in a bunch of plays on and off-Broadway, so I thought it was a manner of time before he got to stretch his wings in a proper movie. Even still, the highlight of the entire movie was Adam Pearson. He just has so much pure charm and charisma that I loved seeing him every time he showed up on screen. It also helps that Oswald was written to be very likable due to how the character is.

I mentioned this earlier, but I'm glad that this movie is getting more eyes on it, even if it's so people can say "haha it's like the Substance, but for boys," which I personally don't agree with. I don't even agree with the fact that a certain movie can be gendered like that, but that's a conversation for another day. I'm giving A Different Man a 7/10.

[drinkyourvillainjuice]

Author played Monster Sweethearts yesterday on a recommendation from xer discord! Xe liked it a lot! It's a lesbian game about dating various monster girls, including a werewolf, vampire, and creature from the black lagoon!

Here is a spoilery, disorganised off-the-cuff--I'm not necessarily gonna call it review because it is more focused on specific critiques that I thought about? but I guess 'review' works--below the cut. This is literally in the order I scrambled my thoughts down this morning so uh, don't interpret it as importance I guess.

So the grammar/typos are a little rough. I'm not gonna rag on it too hard bc this is a PWYW game by one person, but there's enough their/there/they're and suchlike that it gets a bit distracting, esp. because sometimes there are word substitutions which make sentences hard to parse.

Bae's route: why is there a QTEeeee. it's a VN plz don't make me rapidly click things. (there's two QTEs in the entire game, this is a click icons on screen, the other is press certain keys, which is MUCH preferable, but still kinda jarring in a game where everything else is just clicking an option every now and then)

Xanthe's route: the second half of it is messy. like the threat posed by the antagonists feels really inconsistent, esp since both Xanthe and Jaylene can slip away from them on a few occasions but on others they're like unstoppable. similar for how they can be overpowered in a fight: it doesn't seem to take that much for them to get beat up in a couple circumstances. Also the twins like roofie Jaylene but also drink the roofie? are they just stupid? if they knocked themselves out how is one of them suddenly in a pit with Jaylene? I dunno the conflict was interesting but the staging was very messy.

Lien's route: kinda gets plotholes later on. if the doctor is Jaylene's bio mom why did she need to run all those tests on her. did she not know who she was initially? it's confusing. Jaylene scratches the doctor like twice in a row and that comes over as odd. uhh it doesn't really sit with the revelation about being a monster for long enough and it wastes the opportunity to compare Lien and Jaylene's situations. also the sheriff is being kind of a huge asshole and that's glossed over? idk I really think it could have gone more into the impact of learning something foundational about yourself is not what you thought and that's too bad because I actually found myself really warming up to Lien fast, she's great.

Blake's route: parts of the plot are kinda haphazard. the girls are worried about some kind of stalker and then are like 'whee, let's go to the woods and look for cryptids!'. uhh why does the captor just let Blake crawl around with impunity. it kind of diminishes the threat when Blake sneaks around so easily. the twist of who the butcher is feels kind of... whatever because the character only exists in Blake's route so the impact isn't really what it could be. which is too bad because that is a fuuuucked uuuup situation and I think the concept is really interesting but because we've had little time to get to know that character the reveal is flat. it also just completely glosses over Jaylene being revealed to be a monster? like Blake doesn't even really react to it. Also Blake walks off getting stabbed. twice. only the second time does it properly stick.

but, looking at the game as a whole, I like the music, I like the characters for the most part, and it's rare in an otome where I'm enthused to check out everyone (like if I could pick everyone from the start I maybe would have been whatever about one or two, but still. there's some moments with really good writing (just sometimes they get undermined by the grammar). I laughed out loud a few times and that usually indicates something has to be pretty funny. I enjoyed fucked up bad ends and some of the gorier CGs are rad. I enjoy everyone being gay as fuck. There's some really solid storytelling. The bad endings are mostly the type of stuff that sticks with you and I like that because it usually signifies effective horror. oh and yeah most of the horror was pretty great.

Also why the fuck do me and Lien look so alike.

[5-htagonist]

also for a long time after i finished homestuck (like a little less than 2 years i guess since undertale came out in 2015) i was soooo convinced i wasnt going to ever watch or read or play anything even CLOSE to homestuck. i had just never read such an interesting piece of work, period. i read it when i was 11/12, and my friends and i were crass and knew more than we should have and had rich internal and online and irl lives that our families didnt know about. i just had NEVER read anything that portrayed people around my age that was genuinely relatable on more than a surface level. plus the metafiction elements were so cool! i had NEVER read a book or watched a show that was meta, in a way that was taken seriously and plot relevant. then 2 years later undertale comes out and i get my shit rocked again. more interesting characters, epic fucking music, ANDDDDDD the metafiction elements were part of its CORE themes.... then i was like okay. nothing will ever do this to me again. thats it. i have to remember that this isnt the end all be all in fiction. ive looked for meta stuff and its all corny as fuck. SIGH. guess ill just have to be resigned to taking narratives at face value... nothing will be as complex as this....

and of course ive been into a variety of things that arent like, notably meta. but if thats the case you have to have S tier themes, characterization, and writing. something that makes me check out of media IMMEDIATELY is if child characters are written like the author forgot children have their own complex thoughts. so naturally mp100 hooked me HARDDDDD because YES that is how 13 year olds ACT!!!! they are so much smarter than you think and so much stupider than you can believe in ways youd never expect. then rgu just fucking blasted my pants off when i was like 17 or 18 likeeee okay!!!!! meta? check! convincingly written child characters? check! epic tier music? check! layers and layers of allegory and metaphor? check check check!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

all this to say i think people would call me crazy if i told them rgu homestuck and undertale occupy a similar niche in my mind palace

[droughtofapathy]

"Welcome to the Theatre": Diary of a Broadway Baby

Smash

March 18, 2025 | Broadway | Imperial Theatre | Evening | Musical | Original | 2H 30M

So, your resident mean lesbian who notoriously hates fun went to see Smash this week. And you know what? I had fun and didn't hate it. Now, I saw the open workshop presentation the show did last February, so I was already familiar with the approximate plot. I have also never seen the tv show. I don't give a flying fuck about what happened on the show, I don't care about whatever preestablished dynamics were at play, I don't have any background whatsoever. And that must work to my benefit in enjoying the show as it is now because I've seen the preview reviews on the forums and people do not like what they see. Well, I did.

It's not a spectacular book, by any means. But it's certainly far from the worst one on Broadway right now. It serves the story adequately, and while I do think there should be more cuts to some attempts to imbue the show with certain depth, it's fine. I will say that the ending is far better than the shocker they had cooked up for the workshop. I shan't spoil it, but at least we don't get that wild turn-of-events. And it's still very early previews.

Strong showing in choreography and music direction. The performers all slot into their parts well. I'm still baffled by everything Kristine Neilsen does on that stage, but willing to just suspend my disbelieve and roll with it. Brooks Ashmanskas has played the exact same role in every single show I've ever seen him in. I guess that's his niche. I think the writer pair here is more suited to each other than the workshop, though frankly I just don't care about their drama. All three "Marilyns" perform well. Musically, it's a lot of fun. The costume design sparkles even if the set design does not. Robyn Hurder is working her ass off on that stage. While I'm a little disappointed that we don't get as much pre-Diva time with her character, and the new ending seems a little slapshot in her arc, she's still a delight to watch. The show is asking a lot of her.

Do I think the show has lasting potential? Well, let's just say that I don't think the planned Imperial renovation will interfere with things at all. If it has a similar run to Some Like it Hot, I'd be surprised. But I do like this show better, at least from the perspective of getting to see women on stage (that aren't Borle in drag...) though I think it's probably a little weaker in spectacle. But then, given the storyline's demands, I don't see how massive set pieces would even be appropriate.

Verdict: A Lovely Night

I'll put this under the cut because it's spoiler territory, but I am interested to see if and how the death scene evolves. On one hand, it's enormously tacky, but it's deliberately meant to be in-story so I understand the purpose and I'm mostly fine with it. But I do think the audience reaction should influence how the creatives tweak going forward.

Do I care that the main storyline isn't Ivy vs. Karen? Nope. Not a single fuck given. That's a boring plotline. Cut, print, etc. If that's what you want, well, too bad. Live with it, I guess.

A fine show. Neither a must-see standout this season nor a trainwreck.

[sketch-guardian]

Is it okay if I ask for all the students with a mate who loves horror and insists on it everytime it’s movie night?? (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

I don’t know if you’ve done this already!! So sorry if you have!!

Of course, it's more than okay✨don't worry, I haven't written about such topic yet☺so I'll try my best with the headcanons, adding little details🙈:

"RAD CLASSMATES+NEW EXCHANGE STUDENTS WITH A MC WHO LOVES HORROR MOVIES"

DEMYA

Demya wouldn't have too many problems with horror movies, often having to deal with blood and gore, especially in battle and during her hunting sessions, however scenes of torture or imprisonment would make her rather uncomfortable, pushing Demya to hug MC and seek comfort in their arms, a guttural growl rumbling from deep in her chest, since it would bring back memories of her childhood spent in a human circus as part of a freakshow, basically in slavery, chained up and malnourished, MC better give Demya lots of kisses and caresses to make the movie night worth it. For the rest, Demya would be mostly happy to take care of the snacks for the evening, such as popcorns, candies, making sure there are also options that MC would like, playfully feeding them from time to time, to be romantic. However, Demya has quite violent reactions to jumpscares, so she might instinctively throw something at the TV. A movie she might like, even if not exactly horror, would be "Predator", because the yautja would remind Demya of her old tribe (fauxsaeva)

DOMNRA/MOBIM

Domnra is the type to get frustrated and shout insults at the protagonists' choices during horror movies, especially if the cast is made up of rather stupid individuals, it would challenge his sanity, but it could be quite funny for MC, otherwise Domnra wouldn't feel much fear, at most he would tense during moments of suspense. Furthermore, movies about hexes or curses would remind Domnra of how Mobim came to exist, in this regard he would agree with MC to forbid Mobim from participating in movie nights if the movies were to result too scary, because the last thing he would be need is for the little curse to have nightmares. Domnra wouldn't mind if MC cuddled up to him if scared, he'd be pretty smug about it actually. A horror movie that would be fun to watch with Domnra would be "Child's Play", because it would be funny to see him screaming at the TV that Chucky is just a fucking doll and that a kick would be enough to send the little freak into orbit, at least it would be easy for Domnra, being a demon. If Mobim managed to secretly watch the horror movie, the little curse would have trouble trusting dolls in the following months

AZUL

Azul would prefer anime movies or musicals if he really had to choose what to watch on TV, however he wouldn't disdain horror movies from time to time, especially if they dealt with ghosts or similar beings, because Azul would like to comment on the scenes of the horror movie, make fun of them if they aren't realistic enough and explain how he would have acted instead in the antagonist's place, proposing absurd ideas just to make MC laugh, he could also tease MC if they showed fear, only to then scream like a banshee if a jumpscare were to catch him off guard. Azul would be enough of an asshole to phase through the TV like in "The Ring" just to scare MC, they would have every right to make him sleep on the couch after such antics by the way. A horror movie Azul would be interested in seeing would be "Nightmare On Elm Street", because he would find Freddy and some of his ideas fucking hilarious, plus being able to manipulate dreams like that would be cool

ZURI

Zuri wouldn't be a fan of the genre, not because she doesn't like horror itself, she knows how to appreciate it, the problem would be that most horror movies would be ridiculous for her, not scary at all, so she would end up choosing more psychological horror movies, mysterious ones, where her intellect would be stimulated to try to interpret the plot or find out who the culprit is, which she would pick on pretty quickly. Zuri wouldn't appreciate too splatter or gore movies, because she would find them exaggerated and without class, after all to arouse terror, quality would be better than quantity. If MC had trouble sleeping, Zuri would let them spend the night in her bed with the lights on, promising to watch over them until they doze off. A horror movie that would intrigue Zuri would be "Silence Of The Lambs", especially Hannibal Lecter, because it would be interesting to see a cultured villain for once, even if the cannibalism detail would remind Zuri of Demya

ODON

To be honest, it would be a hilarious scenario, MC watching horror movies with literally an eldritch abomination next to them, it would almost sound like a joke and Odon would grasp the irony of the situation, joking softly about the fact that evidently their being an ancient eldritch horror isn't enough for MC and that they need to compensate with movies. Horror that would cause existential crises or morbid themes would have no effect on Odon, who would simply watch with a curious gaze while chuckling occasionally, mentioning that some things would remind them of their younger days, when they committed even worse actions. MC, as a horror lover, might want to listen to Odon's stories, if they feel up to it. It would be difficult to be afraid during horror movie nights, considering that Odon would be able to obliterate any present threat even with just a glance, so it would be a pleasant evening. A horror movie that MC could watch with Odon would be "The Mist". The eldritch abomination would analyze the other monsters, pointing at those similar to some beings they have actually encountered in the past

REMIEL

Remiel would not understand MC's desire to view horror material, considering that it would be enough to watch the news every day on Earth to experience dread, she technically experiences sorrow every day, dealing with souls to be led to the afterlife, however she wouldn't mind keeping MC company, willing to learn, especially since it would be the first movie she would watch in her entire life. Remiel would remain quiet during the horror movies, studying with rapt attention every single scene, as if to analyze them, therefore her silence and apathetic expression at the beginning wouldn't give much feedback, MC would just have to wait until the end to get comments from the angel of death. Remiel wouldn't be afraid, considering everything she witnessed in the past, she would allow MC to cover their body with her wings if they needed to. A horror movie that could be interesting to watch with Remiel would be "The Sixth Sense", because she would be able to grasp some aspects better, given the resemblance of the covered topics to her celestial duty

NATHANIEL

Nathaniel would prefer to watch documentaries about nature or animals if he really had to be sincere, not that he can't handle horror movies, his poker face wouldn't reveal anything about his thoughts, however Nathaniel wouldn't understand the pleasure in being disturbed, themes that would bother the angel in particular would be possessions or stalking, because one of the things he can't stand most would be the sense of helplessness. Nathaniel would tense up at jumpscares, but otherwise he would manage quite well during horror movie nights, which if not accompanied by chatting with MC, could end with him dozing off on their shoulder, not out of boredom, but out of tiredness. A horror movie that Nathaniel would be interested in watching would be "Coraline And The Magic Door", the idea of discovering and exploring a new realm would be fascinating, moreover his favorite character would be "Other Wybie", because he's of "few words" as well

URIEL

Uriel would quite criticize most horror movies, she would comment on how most of the protagonists have no survival skills or instinct and that if they followed rules and were respectful, perhaps they wouldn't have found themselves in such situations to begin with, she would honestly think some of them would deserve their demise and would only root for those she believe to be worthy of surviving according to justice. If the horror movie involved evil humans, Uriel would be disgusted by how close their cruelty would be to that of demons, consequently she would become even more protective of MC for a while, moreover themes such as cults or sacrifices would make Uriel uncomfortable. Horror movie nights might be one of the few times MC would be able to convince Uriel to stay without her armor in order to relax, however she would still keep her sword at her side. If Uriel saw a horror movie like "Hellraiser", she would be disgusted by the concept of ​​cenobites, finding them blasphemous and repulsive. During the horror movie, Uriel would describe in details how she would defeat them one by one, ignoring the fact that they would likely enjoy pain

[the-dalseum-duet]

shambling

hi it’s your resident irl Mako Shirogane and i’m here to talk a little more abt sham. bc what else is a girl graduating in two months going to do? on her birthday? talk to her friends? please…

(update it’s been like two days since i wrote this I just haven’t posted it bc I’ve been busy so tag anyway @svwhssftr)

I say I hate sham’s plot but I don’t. I hate it in the format of prose. It’s too loose for that. The Dalseum Duet works as prose because it has more moving parts that fit together clearly. Sham is a spectacle. It’s not about the story. It’s about the vibes. It’s for entertainment. There’s not much to dissect outside of like… symbolism. And it’s all internal. It’s not making a statement about anything. It’s neutral on its own existence. There’s no clear-cut hero or villain. You’re really not supposed to root for anyone, but it’s enjoyable watching the shit show unfold nonetheless. 

This doesn’t convert right to prose. But my first thought was “oh this would fucking hit as a comic book” because it has heavy roots in that scene. Gerard Way is a renowned comic artist. A lot of its atmosphere is inspired by Scott Pilgrim. And Strike and Crow are prime trashy comic book protagonists. Hot crazy bitch who flaunts her tits and a little emo guy with funky ass hair and recognizable silhouette? What else could one need?

And the drastic cuts between scenes also makes more sense as a comic book. You can get away with a lot more there. Bc it’s not linear, and you’re usually more focused on the dialogue and art to care about tiny plot discrepancies you would normally catch in a novel. 

But I feel like the fangstitch plot wouldn’t hit right in comic format. They are much more intimate than Trader Joe’s emotionally. I don’t know actually. If trashy BL webtoons can figure it out, then we could figure out how to make them work in the Scott Pilgrim style. Because I can’t picture it as like… a manhwa or a manga. Killing Stalking has a very similar plot and makes it work very well. But I fear the crunchy 2000s atmosphere of sham is so much different than that iconic 2000s manga style. So I only see a Scott Pilgrim style working for it. Simple, but with options for funky accessories and dynamic poses. I need to read Scott Pilgrim so bad if someone wants to spend upwards of 200 dollars on a box set in full color for me please 🙏

So. That’s one option. Because this is very important knowledge because I definitely will be making this a reality obviously 

And AT FIRST I was like “this shit would not work as a stage production” but then I thought

wait… no… it WOULDbecause when I think of my personal theatre favs I’m much more leaning on cabaret, hadestown, hair, all of these shows that are so serious. But no. Funny musicals are fucking GREAT. And sham has SO MUCH POTENTIAL to be HILARIOUS as a stage production. It was never meant to be taken seriously anyway. 

Look Heathers is a great musical. But it is SO very 80s. It’s too tongue-in-cheek for sham and takes itself too seriously. It cannot be like heathers. I’m going to use a bit of an unorthodox approach here. 

I see the Evil Dead musical setup working here. It’s a comedy but it is BLOODY. There’s a literal splash zone in the audience. Need to see this show so bad. I would love a splash zone for sham personally. Even though only three people die. But that’s a majority of the main cast so idk

note from me in the future: I had to cut myself off here bc I got a little TOO autistic about musicals so I’m just going to talk abt the part I think you would find actually interesting. abt like casting types and shit

This show. Could be so fucking funny. I love the Shirogane kids and the Sang kids DEARLY they are SO MUCH FUNNIER than the main cast of the Dalseum duet. And when they’re all put together it just. Agh it’s good it’s good

Bc we know Crow is funny. He’s clever. He’s witty. He’s an awkward poor little meow meow but also nonchalant enough to be funny about it. I picture the scene where Kai comes home vividly 

kai, slowly opening their door: are you guys—

strike: GETTHEFUCKOUT

(he immediately slams the door and turns away. complete silence. give the audience a minute to laugh. he just casually checks his watch or something and clasps his hands or something stupid like that while waiting outside the door. dad ass behavior)

crow, very casually: we’re busy.

(audience laughs again hahaha how humorous they’re engaging in intercourse)

kai: yeah, uh, um. I could. uh. see that 

(very audible squelch) 

kai just kinda hits that “oh!”  that you have to hit in this situation. 

(strike and crow open their door very evidently wearing each other’s clothes)

strike: the hell do you want? 

kai: I just wanted to ask about—no I cannot take this seriously anymore. Go fucking change and come back. Wash your fucking hands. That sounded like it hurt. 

crow: no don’t worry I naturally have an excess of discharge

(dead fucking silence)

crow: it didn’t hurt that ba—

kai: go. go change. 

(hey it’s me from like twelve hours in the future this. This isn’t as funny as anticipated it’s all about the timing and tone tbh. A lot of my favorite comedic things hinge on delivery and shit. It’s hard to get that down. But just trust here IT COULD BE FUNNY WITH THE RIGHT TIMING) 

He also works well for physical comedy bits with his cane and he’s expressive enough to where he would still carry that stage presence when he uses his wheelchair. AND FUCK YOU WE NEED MORE ACTUAL DISABLED REP IN THEATRE. WDYM ONLY ONE DISABLED WOMAN HAS PLAYED NESSAROSE IN BROADWAY HISTORY GTFO

And mako is just PRIME mid 2010s musical protagonist. He’s lanky. He is also awkward but not in the deadpan autistic Crow way just in the nerdy teenage boy way. And he’s definitely a tenor. Because the current theatre scene needs another conventionally attractive awkward tenor lead. They’re so rare. That was sarcasm in case you couldn’t tell

And I love a good musical crash-out. They always hit. A michael in the bathroom type song with him would go so fucking hard. Like just losing his shit about his (thirty five year old…) boyfriend breaking up with him and his best friend fucking his clinically insane sister out of nowhere. 

And the fangstitch subplot works so much better on a stage bc we get to physically see them interact. We get the tension between them that’s hard to capture in images and words. I think the scene where Marie catches them in the car would be prime comedy idk abt y’all though. Many physical comedy opportunities here with them like trying to position themselves in the back of a fuckin volkswagen. I think giving them a dead girl walking esque song could work pretty well too. WAIT. WAIT. WITH A REPRISE FOR STRIKE AND CROW? WAIT. THE FANGSTITCH ONE COULD BE LIKE. MORE WISTFUL. AND WE PUT IT IN A MINOR KEY WITH SOME MORE EMO INFLUENCES guys… guys that would be funny and also a banger. Half of sham is Crow making fun of Mako might as well embrace it.

AND STRIIIIIKE. STRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE EAGLE AS A CHARACTER ON STAGE SO HELP ME GOD

We do not have characters like Strike. Ever. I cannot name one. Maybe persephone in hadestown comes close but she STILL has to be feminine and submit to Hades. There is a severe lack of unhinged girls in theatre who have NOTHING holding them back. Strike’s fuckin dangerous and people know that. She has no restraint. And strike is fucking FUNNY. I picture her visibly pissed off the entire time. Borderline throwing a tantrum on stage everytime something doesn’t go according to her plan. Very estella hellpark core tbh. She occasionally screams and groans at random and is very played up. Ik throwing a knife at Mako is not supposed to be funny but we could make it very funny with her inflections and facial expressions. She is not meant to be pretty and ladylike. Which is so rare in theatre productions. She is not the male fantasy or the female fantasy she’s just fuckin. Strike Eagle. She lets herself be gross and ugly and kickass. 10/10 character. LET WOMEN BE FUNNY. 

And don’t worry. We could make kohls interesting. I’m TIRED of all the boring dad songs in musicals LET THE OLD MEN HAVE FUN. kai was a fag in the 80s and noeul’s a grunge enthusiast we could let them be characters outside of just. Old man. Gay or european but it’s mako and marie figuring out what the hell is happening between them. Trader joes can’t be incest if they’re both dead so. Choosing not to worry about the implications there. 

(twelve hour future satis again. Here is where i just lose all my sense and start yapping feel free to just ignore all this bc i gave up on it)

And now hear me out on this one. Moulin Rouge. A show that takes itself a bit too seriously. But I like the musical approach here. I HATE jukebox musicals I cannot stand them 99% of the time. I do not like the music in Moulin Rouge except for El Tango de Roxanne. But I mean if you give Aaron Tviet a ballad he’s going to cook no matter what. 

But what I like about Moulin Rouge is the few songs that are combinations. Do the songs suck? Yeah. But the concept is great. They just picked terrible songs to combine. 

But it’s so smart. Why don’t more shows do this? Sham already has a fire playlist we could cook with this concept. So allow me to yap abt this for a moment. I picked the songs on purpose. Let me be autistic 

I think opening on Welcome to the Black Parade would be funny as fuck first of all. Emo sleeper agent code. And we need to get some time to build up that energy. Let Crow cook here. You know I love a good fourth wall break. We could have just him center stage during the first part as the crew builds the set around him and once the guitar part kicks in we’re officially In The Show. Like we can get Crow fumbling around in his locker and him doing his makeup and adjusting his gloves and shit just… emo ass bitch. And we can meet Mako here! Black Parade has strong duet potential. We could definitely cut the song down though it’s really long. It’s great. But it’s LONG. And like once the song ends Crow like slams his locker shut and that signals to the  audience that the show is ready to kick off. We get the first scene where Mako and Crow have some banter and then the bell rings and shit and the lights lower first scene over

And strike. god I love her. as a character she is so unique. I cannot name another female character who packs a punch as strong as she does. Maybe Jinx from Arcane. But unhinged sleazy girls just here for a party are so rare to come across, ESPECIALLY in theatre. There are NO roles like strike. And she’s like precisely my casting type I would absolutely die to play her 🤞 (guys trust I’m Asian and also Russian guys trust me)

But here’s where we get a little silly by combining Maneater with Our Lady of Sorrows. 

INSANE combo. INSANE. but I feel like it could work. like do the iconic maneater riffs on an electric guitar instead of vocals? and have crow with the first verse. cut the stand up fucking tall part for him to be like “oh but she’s a maneater whatever the fuck the lyrics are” I think it’s so stupid that it could work

actually I need to go to bed uh. I can yap later abt this. but rn I do not have the mental capacity to score a fucking musical 

[ari-shipping-stuff]

TWGOK x Percy Jackson where Keima Katsuragi and the girls were demigods? How would their intertraction with their parents going to be like? Basically the Jupiter Sisters' hosts are going to be the children of the Greek Gods (except for Artemis, of course). Kanon = Apollo's daughter, Yui = Mars' daughter, Ayumi = Hermes' daughter, Tenri = Nike's daughter (but she's also a Hunter of Artemis), Shiori = Athena's daughter (that would make her Annabeth's half-sister), and Tsukiyo = Hephaestus' daughter but her mother is the daughter of Selene (IDK about the others maybe Chihiro as an Aphrodite child?). Keima himself is the son of Zeus. Elsie, Haqua and the other demons were descendants of the Titans. (Sorry for this long post)

no need to apologize at all!! i adore demigod aus it is one of my favorite things to do with my media <333 AND kaminomi??? girl(gn) that's my Favorite Manga Of All Time?????? sign me up???

i put this under the cut because. yes this did get long hfsfjjgsdgj

i assume in this au there aren't any of the "goddesses" themselves? 🤔 or perhaps they Are there, but more like priestesses than the actual gods. i am curious as to how they'd get their names though,,

okay! first, main three: keima, elsie, chihiro

at first glance, i thought of keima being a mist-seeing mortal with comical levels of luck and plot armor (how is this bitch alive lmao) but keima as a son of zeus is so fucking funny to me

pov you're a regular camper and a big 3 kid came to camp! holy shit! amazing! aaand then you meet him. and. yeah

he's perfectly mastered all his abilities, he just. uses them for dating sims 😭 on one hand, bro. are you kidding me. on the other hand, due to his attitude with dating sims, he's surprisingly so similar to his father it's hilarious. let's keep this idea HDSHKGDH

(side note: of course zeus banged keima's mom. have you SEEN her-)

elsie i'd immediately say is a descendant/child of gaea 🤔 mostly because of her role in the later arcs, but also! her natural (arguable: motherly) caregiving personality, her general appreciation for the world around her, and. i just think that elsie being the most powerful thing in the universe is awesome <3

chihiro as an aphrodite kid is so personal to me actually 🥺 as a person who used to go around bragging about being an aphrodite kid. and on account of her being my favorite ever hfsgjgddfjj i can see it actually! either aphrodite or eros. i can also see a possibility of her being unclaimed, and that adds to her drive of trying to prove that she can actually do something and commit to it, but those things don't have to be mutually exclusive 🤔

goddess hosts! :DD

tenri: i am much more loose with my characterizations of the gods, and i don't stick much to canon, so i can see tenri working out just fine as artemis/diana's daughter. like how athena's children aren't born, but created. nike is an interesting idea though, and i'm curious about your thought process on that one! maybe diana's physical prowess? 🤔 another one i'd consider for tenri is hecate or another magic goddess due to her little magic trick hobby. maybe even hermes just the for sleight of hand

kanon: definitely apollo, for the music and the fact that the goddess apollo had powers related to healing, if i remember correctly

yui: yui as an ares kid is hilarious to me. why is the shoujo prince butch in the cabin with the roughhousers jgsfjkgddgj 😭 okay but listen. hear me out okay: yui as a child of aphrodite inheriting the qualities of aphrodite areia (her warlike epithet). she, in that epithet, is the goddess of beauty and war, making yui the perfect shoujo prince /hj hfsfjkhdsfg

shiori: athena kid shiori is enticing, but it feels almost too easy of a placement to me,, i'd personally put her as a child/legacy of mnemosyne, the titan of memory. i'd want to give her a god of knowledge rather than wisdom, because although she is quite booksmart, she doesn't always seem to think everything through due to the sheer amount of her thoughts 😭 not to mention, memory fits pretty well with how she memorized every book in the school library hdsgjkhddgj

tsukiyo: i cannot see her being anyone's kid but selene's. selene is purely about the moon, which gives a lot of flexibility on how the moon relates to tsukiyo in particular

ayumi: hermes also feels so easy but. i can't think of anyone else who runs lmao 😭 okay maybe athena, due to the athletic nature and fighting spirit. or maybe nike, goddess of victory

other characters 🤔

for haqua i want to do thanatos for vibes. like the scythe and the focus on her ties to hell

nora, i think it'd be funny if she was daughter of thalia, the muse of comedy hfdgkgddfh mostly for her unpredictable personality. but this is subject to change because i don't know her very well

i can see lune as a child of eris, goddess of discord. maybe kaori too? 🤔 in kaori's case i think a muse might be fitting as well because of her motif about acting and the whole play part of the arc

akari, i'd like to think is a child of athena? she just gives me the vibes

okay rapidfire for the other heroines: (feel free to argue with me on these i didn't put much thought into these ones)

mio: hera

kusunoki: ares/one of the hysmanai

jun: nike

minami: pallas/electra (it reminded me of her hair, mostly)

sumire: hestia?

nanaka: athena/ioke

hinoki: i think she'd have to be the same as kusunoki 🤔

urara: hebe

[wren-em]

In honour of the reboot characters existing, I have decided to make posts dedicated to the non reboot characters of the franchise, starting with Team Escope. Might do the reboot characters if I ever end up watching the reboot.

For being one of the two characters I most relate to in Island, I'm surprised how little I've talked about her. Eva is a clear introvert with low patience and anger issues that repeatedly get the better of her. What seems most consistent at checking these is the music from her MP3 player. Her blowing up after losing her MP3 player leads to her first elimination. Her anger also leads to her second elimination. She channels her anger into a focus on getting the team that voted her out, more specifically Bridgette, out of the competition. LeShawna ends up winning that episode's challenge and the justification for Eva's second elimination is her anger. Despite showing her long history of video frakouts in Celebrity Manhunt, her participation in the World Tour Aftermaths seems to show at least a bit better anger control. She repeatedly plays along with the insane shit that happens before dipping halfway through. This could be a result of a possible friendship with Izzy. Eva's team-up with Izzy and Noah in the TDDDDI special, and their fanon perceived friendship, was not something I expected upon viewing Island but was something I ended up enjoying. Their interactions are easily the most enjoyable parts of the special for me and it's a shame that the only real chance that Eva got at interacting with either of them after the special was with Noah in the TDA Aftermaths. Aftermaths that were honestly more focused on Geoff, Bridgette and the eliminated contestants that were being interviewed, and rarely ever on the contestants that didn't make it into TDA. I would have loved to see her on TDA or TDWT, just to see her interact more with Noah and Izzy. The thing with Noah and Izzy is that neither are shown to be scared of Eva, with Noah even directing his patterned snark at her after Justin gets away with the million-dollar case. People often compare her to Jo from TDROTI. However, Eva's similarities with Jo are the fact that both are athletic people that aren't as feminine as other members of their respective casts. Eva is a lot more willing to work with others when it isn't her plan being performed, as shown when she appears to be willing to listen to both Noah and Izzy. In my opinion, it would have been interesting to see if that would have impacted plot points in TDA and TDWT. Eva knows she is stronger than a lot of the other people around her, including the guys, but this solely doesn't affect how she sees herself or the others. Overall, Eva is a character I wish we had seen more of.

Moving onto Izzy, she is the clear extrovert of Team Escope, the wild card of the Island cast, and the member of Team Escope that has yhe most screen time in the main show (TDRR is technically a spin off). She probably wouldn't be out of place for the TDPI cast and is one of the few characters that is hard to fuck up most of as a character. A lot of what she does remains in character due to her wild card status. However, the part of her character that is the easiest to fuck up the most is the part of her underneath her craziness. She has emotions other than crazy and I feel like that gets forgotten, especially in fanfic. Her first act after her introduction is swapping with Katie, allowing Katie and Sadie to be on the same team. She also fell in love with Owen in the first season and got mad at him during the Hook, Line and Screamer. Despite her not being able to lift a couch single-handedly, she's also pretty strong and can go tow to tow with Chef, doing so in TDI and TDA. She was eliminated quite quickly in TDA before returning three episodes later. The number of times Izzy returns kind of annoys me. She's a fan favourite, so it makes sense that she returns that many times, but it did get annoying to me. I feel like they should have a larger gap in TDA for it to work or just not had her leave that challenge at all. Her second run in TDA shows off more of her human side, making it my favourite of her runs. The Explosivo was honestly one of the better ways to send her off and the bit at least didn't overstay its welcome. Izzy in TDWT doesn't participate in the challenges as much as in previous seasons and she's back to her crazy antics. She became the first one eliminated on Team Chris due to being taken by the military. Due to her role as comic relief, this was probably for the best. One of the few things that I remember from my first viewing of TDWT was my surprise at Izzy not returning a second time in TDWT. Izzy makes cameos as a spider in TDROTI and TDAS, getting beaten by both Cameron and Mal. Honestly, the thing I kinda hate most about Mal's writing is that they made him strong enough to be able to pummel Izzy without a single fucking scratch. Her Dramarama counterpart leans more into her crazy aspects. In this case, both the main series and Dramarama versions of Izzy remain similar. A thing with Izzy that I feel the need to address is the Izzy isn't crazy theory. On one hand, she's probably one of the smartest characters on TDI and a good actor (good enough to make a career as an actress before her Celebrity Manhunt freakout). On the other hand, she's wanted by the RCMP and I fucking hate the theory. At most, I think Izzy is just feeding into her crazy reputation for her own amusement. In conclusion, Izzy's a fun character that probably shouldn't have come back so many times.

Finally, we have Noah. Noah, like Eva, is a clear introvert. Unlike Eva, his main issue (at least in Island) doesn't lie in any anger issues but his laziness. His Island elimination comes after he refuses to participate in dodgeball, alongside Justin. Unlike Justin in that episode though, Noah actively talks throughout and his laziness combined with his snark gets on his team's nerves. I got the feeling that Noah wasn't going to make it to the merge in Island but holy shit was Noah dumb in that episode for someone supposedly with a high IQ. The TDDDDI special gives the wonderful "anti-me" comment about Justin. The potential of this comment was then never expanded upon after Noah doesn't show up in TDA and Justin doesn't show up in TDWT. Hey Fresh, you can't give a character a line like that and not follow through with the implications. The only thing that Fresh did with that was make me relate to Noah's ability to make what can be assumed to be one-sided rivalries. Celebrity Manhunt shows that he decided to work as Chris's assistant. He's also fired over coffee, which makes sense since Chris is his boss. Noah in TDWT makes it a lot farther into the game through a combination of non-elimination episodes and the entirety of Team Victory being eliminated. Ultimately though, he is the first person on his team to be voted out and the second person on Team Chris to be eliminated. His TDWT elimination occurs after he reveals his suspicions about Alejandro to Owen and Tyler. Given that Noah seemed to be liked by Alejandro before "I See London" at least compared to the rest of their teammates, he probably would have gone further if he had kept his mouth shut. Noah then competes in TDRR with Owen and we get Nemma. Noah isn't almost entirely comic relief this season, which is amazing. We also get to see Noah when he isn't being entirely sarcastic, which I like. I really don't get why people dislike Nemma so much when its not that bad in terms of post TDWT ships, and is probably the second best canon TDRR ship. Some of the writing was cringe, but considering that TDRR is also the season that has the Daters and Best Friends subplots, Nemma wasn't the worst writing wise for me. It probably could have been built up more at the start, considering how many more episodes TDRR had compared to TDPI. My full thoughts on Nemma could be a post in of itself so we're moving on. Noah's final appearance is then in Dramarama. There he's a different character than how he is in other seasons he appears in and I find that funny. If you look at Dramarama and then at TDI and TDWT, Noah has gone through the hypersensitive child to sarcastic teenager pipeline. Dramarama also shows Noah gaming, which seems to be something the main series competitions seem to forget. While I feel like Noah was probably at his best during TDWT (mix of his characterisation that season and the other characters he bounces off of), I find Noah's still entertaining in all his appearances.

[wandringaesthetic]

Let's try to talk about Baten Kaitos some more (i think I'm near the end of it):

I'm tempted to say the plot is bad, or simple, or that it feels like it would have been brilliant in the 16 bit era but is made ridiculous with a lot more text and voice acting than it can support (and the fact the voice acting is Notably Bad doesn't help).

And I guess that's true.

But there is also some Really Interesting Stuff here. Take Magnus, the gameplay concept, the cards. When you are attacking a monster you are not hitting them with a sword but with a copy of the core idea of a sword, do you understand? (It's okay if you don't, I don't really)

We could leave this as a gameplay abstraction and it might be best to do so and not worry how or if this idea interacts with the universe of the game. But we don't. It turns out the protagonist's parental figure, his grandfather, was a researcher of these Magnus. It was thought that one couldn't capture the Magnus of a person (though you can apparently do it with an animal. one of your cards is a chicken don't think about it too hard), but he was trying to find a way. He didn't manage it, but he did create a Magnus, and from one of those Magnus he created the protagonist. Kalas was born from the idea of a person. He was supposed to be An Ideal, but he kind of sucks, actually. He's emotional and immature and impulsive. He sells his soul to the evil god for revenge or something. For a little bit he leaves your party and you have to kick his ass and save his soul with a magic mirror. In a world where people have two wings that are supposed to be some kind of reflection of their soul, he's just got one. (WE'LL COME BACK TO THIS) He was Too Much. Too Human. But grandpa took care of his little Frankenstein's monster accidental son anyway, until his past with the empire came back to bite him.

I can't talk about this game too much without talking about Chrono Cross. Masato Kato directed that game and wrote this one. (He also worked on Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII--this is about to be relevant) The games share some other personnel, but without going down a rabbit hole of interviews and game credits and writing some fanfiction about Squeenix and tri crescendo and MonolithSoft in the early oughts I'm not going to know who else to lay all this at the feet of, so Kato is going to be the assigned face.

Both games are both nearly perfect in presentation. Colorful and evocative in setting and music. They both have gameplay that is Probably Good But Weird Ideas that needed a few more iterations of refinement. They both have Very Lofty ambitions that they Do Not attain most of but still attain a pretty impressive number of.

Must a game be good? Can it not be a series of beautiful and evocative locations?

Both games also make a plot point of their gameplay abstractions. Chrono Cross in terms of FATE/records of FATE, i.e. save points (Xenogears does a similar thing), Baten Kaitos in the form of the aforementioned Magnus and the fact that you, yes YOU, the person playing the game, are a character in it, a sort of spirit that is accompanying the heroes on their journey and whispering in Kalas' ear.

And about those wings. Xenogears has IIRC an in universe creation myth where mankind originally had wings, but only one each, so that in order to fly they had to cling to one another. And then there's Final Fantasy fucking Seven, where, idk whether to lay "One Winged Angel" at the feet of Kato or not, (that probably has more to do with Nobuo Uematsu and Tetsuya Nomura). But Kato was probably in the room where Angel Wings But Just One happened at least three times now. That has to mean something. That has to be significant.

When it comes to boss design of the antagonist's super-powered monstrous form, much has been said and extrapolated about Safer Sephiroth and maybe it would be better to say less. Both "try to create a perfect being with imperfect hands and imperfect ideas of perfection and you create something useless and monstrous," and "we are made cracked and flawed and that's where the love gets in."

Just like this game! (Just like this transition!) Both this game and Chrono Cross have a sense of the unattainable about them. Chrono Cross deals with alternate timelines and the things that happen in some future or past that will never be. Beyond that it seems somehow yearning for something it can't depict. Gorgeous as it is it doesn't look like that opening FMV attract reel. Nothing in its story reaches the heights of "Time's Scar." With Baten Kaitos it's mostly in the strangeness and beauty of its world. People have soul wings that look like a peacock's or a dragonfly's or a hawk's. They live in islands in the sky. One of your characters is a simple fisherman--of a river that flows out of a pocket dimension and through the clouds. Another of your characters attacks with what looks like a futuristic gun, but are actually Magnus of brass instruments, and the structures of the imperial city he hails from recall the tubes and valves of the same. Villages look like storybook pages, or ice cream. But the lofty settings are pinned down by a pedestrian plot. The evil emperor is resurrecting the evil god with five macguffins because of.... Reasons. You must take revenge on your evil half brother.

But again. Must a game be good? Don't we need flaws for the light to get in? Maybe Kalas is perfect with his one mechanical wing and his mangled soul. Maybe that's the point.

[machihunnicutt]

I would like the sons and bowlers thoughts please

Under the cut bc it’s soooo long lmao

Things in sons and bowlers that make me crazy (in no particular order)

1)The idea that daniel pierce shields hawkeye from things that he thinks will hurt him psychologically and actively tries to distract him with kindness/good things i.e. making him elaborate breakfasts while his mom was dying in the hospital and downplaying the extent of her illness. I think this is so interesting bc we’ve often seen hawkeye deflect with jokes/go out of his way to help people inside and outside of OR and make sacrifices to do so/ downplay the extent of his own pain/trauma in order to avoid inconveniencing people and the idea that this is a behavior he learned as a child, way before the war is a major clue to the events in GFA

He doesn’t deal with his trauma, he minimizes it to the point of repression and convinces himself things are alright! He’s become his father! That blows my mind idk

2) hawkeye just has his dad and his dad just has him! We saw in where there’s a will that he leaves everything to his father but this really drives home how much hawkeye loves his dad. Like i think part of why this makes me crazy is that i have daddy/mommy issues but i feel like for hawkeye this is a big character beat that people overlook. He’s not like the others at the unit in that they all have families/career aspirations/grounded support systems to return to and for hawkeye all he’s got is his dad and he really finds his support system in the MASH…and yeah he’s a workaholic and a brilliant surgeon but he’s also the kind of person who thrives on human connection and cannot live without his connections to those around him. Like hawkeye is all heart AGH what happens when someone like that is removed from a place where they formed deep connections?

Also the fact that he’s like iv’e said ily but what if he doesnt know i mean it like man u really don’t expect people to listen to what u say

3) back on daniel, sorry but i love food/mealtime/cooking themes with hawkeye too and the fact that shared, homemade breakfasts were his father’s symbol of love and protection just makes the absence of good food at the MASH even more devastating. I also see hawkeye as someone who can disassociate from his body easily (the drinking, the sleeping around, the constant sniffing of food/not eating if it isn’t appetizing/ going long periods without sleep and insomnia, the manic episodes/psych problems) so the reconnection of family to food is important here too! Like i’m going to get to charles but the fact that he tells the story about feeling tested at dinner and his related food associations, i think it’s really telling that in contrast we get hawkeye and daniel talking about the good times they had eating dinner together

4) brief margaret tangent i like that this is a reversal of the early seasons trope of her sleeping with someone for some plot/ulterior motive and now when potter asks her if she’ll do that she’s like fuck off and then uses the guy for bowling tips and not sex lol i just think it’s a succient way to show her development over time and i also love when she gets to do sporty/more traditionally masculine things and not be dunked on for it

5) bj and charles scheming idk i love this in any episode i like that they bring out the evil asshole in each other i find it funny and charming they’re my faves for a reason i think dos and mike are both soooo talented

6) the contrast between charles’ home life and hawkeye’s and how thats shaped them. i ‘m really interested in the similarities between charles and hawk i think they have similar backgrounds and similar drive/talent/pressure to be surgeons and be the best at what they do/similarly desperate desire for connection with people/to art and music and theater etc. and they can be similarly overconfident/stubborn it just manifests so differently in their behaviors. I feel like this is one of the few times we see them acknowledge each other as people and put aside their differences in order to support each other idk u know i love a charles plotline im human

7) speaking of supporting people! Also crazy about bj’s progressive loss of the ability to provide hawkeye with emotional support and here he doesn’t even know hawkeye was struggling bc hawkeye’s like don’t tell anyone ! he doesn’t want to tell his best friend his problems bc bj doesn’t help him with things like that. And in fact telling bj might be something that sets bj off further like every day this man’s mental health is crumbling he’s hanging on by a thread and hawkeye knows this, more finale set up that’s so subtly done i love it

7.5) also the fact that if daniel’s surgery had gone badly this would be another hawkeye doesn’t get a real goodbye situation (.i.e his mom, trapper, henry, carlye, tommy, kyung hee, bj etc.) whyyyy do they do this

8) there’s bowling like come on are u serious i love bowling and they’re so cute bowling

[howsitduud]

Ranking Every Single Piece of Media I Watched/Played/Read in 2024 Part 2

This is part 2 to this post. I'm not explaining the premise of this list again. This is ranked from worst to best. Let's-a-go.

Rye Lane - 7/10 - I didn’t like it nearly as much as other people, mostly because I’m just biased against rom coms, but this is one of the best-made rom coms I’ve seen. I love all the cool touches and cinematography they add, like Yas’ play or Love Gu’Actually. It does dip into tired rom com tropes by the end, but I still had a blast with this movie.

Robot Dreams - 7/10 - Cute little animated movie about this gay ass dog and robot. The story went in a way I wasn’t expecting, and that ending in particular hit me emotionally. Funnily enough, this has a similar plot to Past Lives, but did it a hundred times better. That’s embarrassing.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - 7/10 - Pretty fun movie and that’s about it. The human plot wasn’t too interesting, but Jia and Trapper were cool characters, but the Kaiju action is where this movie shines, especially the suplex. It’s fun, it looks pretty good, it has good action, it’s about what you expect from a Monsterverse movie.

Ponyo - 7/10 - What a delightful little movie. Its lack of plot is carried by an insanely fun world and charming as hell protagonist. The animation and music are also great, as per tradition with a Ghibli movie. It’s not one of their best, but still worth watching if you haven’t.

Ouija: Origin of Evil - 7/10 - Who’d thought that a movie about a Ouija board would be really good? This movie has plenty of really cool filmmaking, writing, and acting that lets it earn every single scary moment it pulls off. I highly recommend this movie, and as a plus, you don’t need to watch the first to get context!

The Cat Returns - 7/10 - I wanna fuck the Baron. I know the animation is great and the story is super simple, but super fun and all the characters are memorable and it’s probably one of the funnier Ghibli movies, but who cares about all that when I can just fantasize about marrying a fictional cat?

Love Lies Bleeding - 7/10 - I LOVE LESBIANS! Aside from that, this movie is pretty fun, well acted, and the plot is the definition of “never let em know your next move.” Basically, it’s exactly like Drive-Away Dolls, but actually good.

Niel Gaimen’s Norse Mythology - 7/10 - Tumblr superstar Mr. Gaiman strikes again. This is a well-written, fun collection of tales of Loki’s bizarre adventures. I especially like how the last 3 stories led into each other, but I wish that more of the stories did that.

Jackie Brown - 7/10 - While not as fun or action-packed as other Tarantino movies, this is still a well-acted, well-written crime drama. Shoutout to Pam Grier and Sam Jackson for acting their asses off and shoutout to the ending for sucking eggs.

The Secret World of Arrietty - 7/10 - This is one of my partner’s favorite Ghibli movies, so I legally can’t say anything bad about it. Luckily I don’t have to, since this is a really solid movie. I love Arrietty as a protagonist, Haru is a funny villain, and this movie is just overall really cozy. I want to live in that tiny dollhouse holy shit.

Pearl - 7/10 - I think I watched these out of order since I saw this before X but oh well. I expected this movie to have good acting and a lot of tense, gorey scenes, but I didn’t expect it to be as pretty as it was. The color palette and aesthetic of this movie is unnerving in itself and I love it.

Deadpool & Wolverine - 7/10 - This is a really fun, campy, gorey as hell entry into the Deadpool trilogy and a good way to introduce him to the MCU as a whole. The Fox cameos were handled well, Hugh Jackman’s performance was really good for a movie like this, but with how hyped up it was and how great Deadpool 2 is, I was expecting a lot more.

DnD: Honor Among Thieves - 7/10 - Super fun, but not super deep movie. This scratches the itch that the other DnD movies didn’t where I wanted to see cool magical stuff with a bunch of likable characters. There are plenty of emotional moments to get you invested with the gang too, even if the comedy took me out of the movie entirely.

Furiosa - 7/10 - I’ve only seen 2 Mad Max movies so far, but I’m already a fan. The action is awesome, the cinematography is great, and I love the worldbuilding here. If the characters were better (Furiosa and Dementus were great though), then this movie would be as good as Fury Road.

The Wind Rises - 8/10 - I didn’t really get invested in this movie at first, but once the fire over Tokyo happens, this movie really grows on me. The animation and sound design of the planes are beautiful, the love story is so heartbreaking and well-told, and Stanley Tucci as Caproni is a 10/10 performance. Watch the English dub if you haven’t, it’s so good.

Anatomy of a Fall - 8/10 - Yeah, this movie has amazing writing and acting and a great plot where you slowly but surely unravel a mysterious case where there’s no single one person you can truly trust, but what the hell is up with the prosecutor and why was he such a bitch? Miles Edgeworth lookin ass headass

Mean Girls - 8/10 - Why do y’all hate this movie so much, it’s so fun. I’m normally against remakes of movies that don’t need it, but the script retooling and the musical numbers really help this movie stand apart from the original. Oh, yeah and Renee Rapp is amazing, but you already knew that.

MLPEG: Sunset’s Backstage Pass - 8/10 - This is the good shit. I love time loop stories, and Sunset going through the same concert over and over is a fun premise where she learns to give Pinkie a proper date night. Also the Dazzlings returning is better than the second coming of Christ.

Super Mario Land 2 - 8/10 - This game is just so charming. It controls pretty floaty and is nearly incomprehensible when played on actual hardware, but I love everything else about it. The sprites are beautiful, even for a Gameboy game, the worlds and bosses have so much personality, and the Carrot powerup is so fun. For the last 2D Mario game for 12 years, it’s a pretty good one.

The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs - 8/10 - This is such a fun play. It’s about a lady who got abandoned by a guy getting back at him by crossdressing and fucking with him, and it’s great. Most of the characters are interesting, it’s pretty funny despite its age, and I can fix Don Juan.

Civil War - 8/10 - This movie’s marketing basically made it destined to be controversial, but I thought it was pretty good. The characters and acting are incredibly good, the visuals and camerawork are incredible, and the apolitical nature helps us focus on how traumatizing a war can be. ‘Nuff said, really.

MLPEG: Forgotten Friendship - 8/10 - Yeah, these shorts peaked with the first one. Kinda sad, but this is a great story. The plot is interesting and tense, Sunset and Trixie being friends is pretty cool, and Sunset going back to Equestria and making up with Celestia is just chef’s kiss. Easily the best EG content since Rainbow Rocks.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - 8/10 - This counts as Ghibli, right? If so, what an incredible first movie for them. The animation is stunning, the characters range from ok but underbaked to one of my personal favorite Ghibli protags, and I love Teto so much. He’s baby.

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes - 8/10 - Apparently all you need to create one of the most creative sci-fi movies of the 2020s is just a GoPro filming your friends nonstop for 70 minutes. The time travel and single-shot gimmick are great and the characters are all fun. Kinda wanted it to be longer tho…

Mary and Max - 8/10 - A very sweet, wholesome movie with a heartbreaking ending. I love the motif of the only dialogue in the movie being through characters’ letters and I especially love the look of the movie. One of the finest stop motion-animated movies

MLP: The Best Gift Ever - 8/10 - What a delightful time. Unlike Rainbow Roadtrip, the longer runtime doesn’t drag, but it gives everyone plenty of screentime with some great moments, like Rarity’s interactions with Pistachio, Applejack and Fluttershy outing Flim and Flam, and literally everything Discord does and says.

Only Yesterday - 8/10 - Guys, I think Isao Takahata is good at making movies. I love all of Taeko’s flashbacks and how they inform her decisions and mindsets going into her adult life visiting the countryside. I only wish the other characters outside of her were stronger and I also wish Tara Strong was in the movie more.

Penny’s Big Breakaway - 8/10 - This game is just super sillie. My favorite thing in games is when they have cool movement tech and this game is 80% cool movement tech. Penny controls super well, the art style is fun, the secrets are fun to find, and the characters are really charming. If the boss fights didn’t suck eggs then I would call this game a masterpiece.

The Fall Guy - 8/10 - David Leitch might be one of the best newer directors working right now. Between this, Bullet Train, and Deadpool 2, I’d say that he really knows his stuff when it comes to action-comedies, and it’s a shame this movie didn’t do that well. Maybe it can have a new life on streaming or VOD, because this movie is great.

Die Hard - 8/10 - I finally watched it this Christmas, and it absolutely lived up to the hype. The action and the sneaking around scenes are really good, but the true highlight here is how great of characters John McClane and Hans Gruber are. Especially Hans; Alan Rickman worked wonders.

Clue - 8/10 - I love pulpy-ass murder mysteries, and this scratches that itch perfectly. It has such an insane and fun mystery to follow throughout, the characters are funny and well acted, and there are so many quotable lines. I also love how they made 3 endings that they shipped to different theaters all at once. I wish I could be that much of an agent of chaos.

Inside Out 2 - 8/10 - It’s nowhere near as funny, interesting, or creative as the first movie, but it’s still really damn good. The new emotions are all great and super fun, the old emotions have enough good character writing to not be stale, and it’s still emotional as hell and fun as hell. Lance Slashblade is what the people who made Ralph Breaks the Internet thought they were making.

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - 8/10 - Not a super deep or complex game, but such a fun one. The shooting’s great, but the framing device of an old cowboy telling tales with you playing out the tales as he tells them is just perfect. I also didn’t know that Dwight Eisenhower was such a twink.

Memoir of a Snail - 8/10 - Same story as Mary and Max, honestly. Another beautifully animated stop-motion movie with a great story and heart to it. It’s a lot more somber than Mary and Max, but that just means that the emotions hit even harder. Also gay son snail daughter

Orion and the Dark - 8/10 - One of the most underrated movies I’ve ever seen. This movie excels with its creative animation and incredible script by Charlie Kaufman. Dark, Orion, and Hypatia are all great characters and it's a shame that this movie didn’t get the marketing it needed to be popular. It deserves all the popularity, more than Kung Fu Panda 4, that’s for sure.

The Chalice of the Gods - 8/10 - Oh, we are so back. I don’t know what there is to say about this book that isn’t obvious. It’s really fun and there are some great character moments, especially towards the end with the fight with Geras. Shoutout to my boy Elisson, he’s done nothing wrong.

The Zone of Interest - 8/10 - The first hour of this movie is a perfect experience, with visceral sound design and haunting directing making me feel deeply uncomfortable and genuinely depressed at what’s really going on beyond the wall. The next 40 minutes or so are really boring and tedious, with none of the same spunk the first hour had, save for the ending. That first hour is so good that it carries the movie, and it deserves all the praise it gets.

Super Mario Party Jamboree - 8/10 - I don’t usually rate party games this highly, so that’s how you know this is a great one! It feels the most like a celebration of every single Mario Party that came before it, with plenty of modes and minigames outside of the regular party mode. Plus you can finally play as Pauline so that shot it up like 5 spots for me.

Amphibia - 8/10 - Another Disney Channel banger. I don’t like it nearly as much as its sister show, the Owl House, but I still loved the characters, setting, and the overall plot had me invested, even though I knew most of the big spoilers going in. I could’ve used more Hop Pop centric episodes, though.

The Boys S4 - 8/10 - One of the only things reaffirming my love of comic book adaptations is still great. Aside from some weak plotlines, it’s still as funny, biting, well-acted and well-written as ever. Stronger than the last season and it’s setting up for an amazing final season.

Wicked - 8/10 - I saw the original musical when I was a kid, and this movie translated the first act pretty well. Yeah, the lighting and the CGI is pretty ugly, but the practical sets stood out as incredibly pretty. Oh yeah, and the singing and the songs were exceptionally pretty, as is expected from a musical. This should’ve been called Wicked Act I instead of Part I. Are they stupid?

Asura’s Wrath - 8/10 - On a storytelling, writing, and character perspective, it is easily one of the best on this entire list. Asura is an incredible character, the story is gripping, and the action is insane, especially when you factor in the DLC. As a game, though… it’s alright, I guess. I’m not a fan of the hack-and-slash segments and the QTEs are fun, but I wish that there were more of those and less mindless button mashing.

The Office - 8/10 - Yeah, that’s right! I finally got around to watching one of the most critically acclaimed sitcoms of all time, and I really enjoyed it. There are some characters I wound up hating by the end and I especially didn’t enjoy seasons 1,8, and 9 that much, but it’s overall a funny show. maybe a lil overrated ok byeeeeeeeee

Fun Home - 8/10 - What a fucking book. The way Alison’s prose is realized through incredibly verbose, but still thought-provoking and stimulating text accompanied by beautiful artwork is just a sight to behold. I haven’t found a slime tutorial of it, but I hope the musical lives up to this standard.

Sorry to Bother You - 8/10 - I love a good, weird-ass movie. I couldn’t predict any single part of this movie’s plot, from the caller revolution to Patton Oswald white person voice to the horse people to the hilarious ending. There are some scenes that don’t fit the tone or vibes at all, but it’s still a great time that I think about a lot.

Invincible S2 - 8/10 - I mean, what’d you expect from Invincible? It’s not as good as the first season and that mid-season break definitely soured this show in my eyes, but I still loved every bit of it. The Mark/Nolan plot is still gripping, the side characters really shined this season, and the animation is beautiful. Oh yeah, and the Atom Eve special was also good.

Dykes to Watch Out For - 9/10 - A fun as hell, emotional as hell comic strip series by the Bechdel test lady herself. Most of the characters are great and super well written, and it puts a whole new light on LGBT issues dating all the way back to the 80s. I found Moe to be a bad protag at first, but seeing people on Twitter act exactly like her on a daily basis, I think she was properly done.

I’m in Love with the Villainess - 9/10 - The age of male loser anime is dead. Long live the age of female loser anime. This anime is just a blast from start to finish. Most of the characters and worldbuilding are nice, but Rae and Clare’s romance is the star of the show here. Rae just like me fr

Angel Hare - 9/10 - I am not an analog horror person, but goddamn I clicked so hard with Angel Hare. I’m not sure whether or not we can call this “horror” at all, but I loved all the characters, I love the style and the visuals, and I especially loved the messages and the themes, especially in seasons 2 and 3.

Killers of the Flower Moon - 9/10 - What a movie. I love Scorcese and all his best movies, but I didn’t believe he had this kind of story inside of him. A story that’s complex and pays respects to Native American history and culture so well, with performances that go beyond typical Scorcese directing and have a shit ton of nuance to them. Lily Gladstone deserved an Oscar goddamnit.

Dungeon Meshi S1 - 9/10 - This anime is so fun. The story and setting are intense and cool with how it deals with life and death, but the characters are the highlights here. All the main cast are memorable, likable, and have their moments to shine throughout the season. I’m rooting for Farcille all the way, babyyyyy.

Princess Peach: Showtime - 9/10 - This is a game I was so excited for this year and it fuckin delivered. I absolutely adore the art style of this game and how it incorporates elements from live theater. The gameplay (besides the Detective parts) is also a ton of fun. Turns out this was the Barbie game I needed in my life.

My Adventures with Superman S2 - 9/10 - Now this is my kind of Superman. I love everything about this show, from the writing to the animation to the characters to the action, it’s all so well done. It is kinda derivative of other cartoons, but that’s not enough to make me prefer this version of Superman over most others across fiction.

Transformers One - 9/10 - After watching all of the live action Transformers movies this year, I’d almost forgotten what a real Transformers movie is like. Yes, the humor doesn’t really work. Yes, B is unlikable as hell. I don’t care. This movie excels in just how perfect the story, twists, and characters are. This is exactly the Transformers movie I’ve always wanted.

Princess Mononoke - 9/10 - What if Pocahontas was actually good and subversive and had a ton of meaning? This movie is dark in all the best ways, with the inherent goodness of Ashitaka’s character creating some genuinely emotional and beautiful scenes. But god, we can cut like 15 minutes off the ending, yall.

Dune Part Two - 9/10 - My favorite Dune movie so far. It has the extraordinary filmmaking that the first Villeneuve Dune had, but this part has an exciting and interesting plot throughout. There are some great action setpieces, charming characters, and that ending is just beautiful. Plus, this is the orangest movie of all time, which was for me specifically and I appreciate that.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - 9/10 - If this is how all the Fire Emblem games are, then I have missed out on some good shit. The characters and story are fun, but the gameplay is so incredibly engaging and compelling (outside the minigames in the monastery). Also, Edelgard is the best character. You can’t convince me otherwise.

The Bear - 9/10 - Damn this show is just as good as everyone says it is. The editing and camerawork are both great, but the characters are the highlights here. Carmie has a great personal story, Sydney and Richie have great episodes, and most of the side characters are memorable and fantastic. Except for fucking Claire Bear.

Look Back - 9/10 - How is this movie even real? How can you pack such an incredibly rich, heartbreaking story coupled with gorgeous animation and incredible character writing and only have it clock under an hour. Please watch this movie above any others on this list. If this doesn’t get nominated for Best Animated Feature I will shit myself.

Twisted - 9/10 - How have I not watched Twisted up until this year? This musical is so funny, so emotional, and the songs fuck hard. How is Take Off Your Clothes one of the best villain songs of all time? How did this even happen? Why did the Aladdin movie neglect such an important character like Prince Achmed? DISNEY YOU HACKS

Godzilla Minus One - 9/10 - The best Godzilla film I’ve seen so far. Obviously, Godzilla was the highlight, being an absolute menace who is just incredible to watch tear through Japan, but the human conflicts with Shikishima, Tachibana, and Noriko were really compelling. I wish Noriko didn’t miraculously come back from the dead at the end, but it’s a small blemish on an otherwise perfect kaiju movie.

Grave of the Fireflies - 9/10 - Jesus fucking Christ. This movie is so beautiful and so devastating in so many ways. The animation is gorgeous, the story is heartbreaking, and Seiko and Setsuko are some of my favorite protagonists in any Ghibli film. But seriously, fuck this movie for making me feel these kinds of emotions.

Undertale - 9/10 - I don’t even need to explain why this game is so good. It can get repetitive going back to get different endings, but the writing, combat, and characters make it so that it’s never boring. It’s currently one of my favorite RPGs of all time. Also, that Alphys and Undyne date was the cutest shit I’ve ever seen.

X-Men ‘97 - 9/10 - I’ve never seen the original cartoon from ‘92, but if it’s anything like this show, I’ll be in for a treat. The animation is stunning, especially during the action scenes, and it adapts the X-Men comics in an incredible way. The rest of the modern Marvel movies should take some notes.

Poor Things - 9/10 - The best of the Best Picture nominees this year. It’s funny, creative, visually gorgeous, and Bella carries the movie in terms of emotional moments. It’s so fun seeing her figure out the world in her own, unique, risque way. Yorgos hasn’t missed once and this is no exception.

Fallout: New Vegas - 9/10 - If this game didn’t crash so much, it’d be a 10/10 easily. But the bugginess of the game and the fact that there were no options to get places quickly if you haven’t discovered them makes it so that I don’t think this is the masterpiece other people think it is. With that said, it’s still Fallout: New Vegas. The combat is fun, the characters are great, and the world is just spectacular. No wonder other trans women love this game so much.

The Wild Robot - 10/10 - You know, Dreamworks, I don’t know went to quit ya. What a masterful experience watching this movie was. The animation is godlike, the score incredible, and Roz’s journey throughout the movie being something I just instantly clicked with. I’m ok with the bad sequels if that means they pay for more movies like this.

Blue Eye Samurai S1 - 10/10 - Easily one of my favorite shows ever now. The animation is beautiful, the action is gory and creative, the characters range from super compelling to super endearing, especially Mizu, and the writing is some of the best I’ve seen from a Netflix show. I hope the next season is good, if it ever comes out, which isn’t a guarantee knowing Netflix.

ok bye