#like can you imagine that i absolutely loved season 1 and season 2 simply... failed to engage with its own themes in a meaningful way

[anger-and-red-flames]

Me: throw this war criminal fascist character to the gulag where they gotta produce items like school books to improve the material conditions of the people she oppressed

Arcane fans: actually you need to be thrown into the gulag!!!!

Other Arcane fans: I hope a billionaire steals your work to train the dream-crushing-machine!!!!

Me: yeah you surely sound like the kind of person to think there is nothing wrong with arcanes caitvi

[wild-flowerhoney]

The cognitive dissonance is insane. Look, I really liked haladriel in season 1, but let's not pretend that their "relationship" now is the same; it's not, it's a festering dynamic.

Gil-galad and Elrond both love Galadriel, they worried so much for her and regretted putting her on that ship to Valinor, and she was not punished for defying the High King, nor was she put aside when they found out she had brought their enemy to their doorsteps, but somehow Sauron is better than them because he's in love with her and sees her potential? Like, did they all skip that part when Sauron manipulated and tortured Celebrimbor to death?

Sauron connected with 2 people in season 1: Galadriel and Celebrimbor. He failed to get Galadriel by his side, and Elrond had to help Galadriel calm down after his attack. Sauron tried to get Celebrimbor in season 2 by lovebombing him, but Celebrimbor rejected him, and that hurt Sauron so very much that he lost his mind and killed him.

In the end, Sauron did NOT try to get Galadriel to join him; he wants her submission, her subjugation, and he stabbed her because he grew tired of toying with her. It's thanks to Gil-galad and Elrond that she survived Sauron's attack. Gil-galad and Elrond watched over her, and Gil-galad seeked her approval publicly as their king before lifting the sword; everyone saw it.

Also, did they all collectively forget that Sauron threatened to use necromancy to keep Celebrimbor? He didn't stab Galadriel for her "good", it's all about himself, his own interests, his own gain.

oh, they're swiftly losing all sense of what they're watching, frankly.

(long answer below, i apologise for the rant)

I'm not even against haladriel at all, it was meant to be compelling in s1 because that's what they planned with the show: give the audience the kind of figure they will imagine at her side, one that'll mirror exactly the kind of character that is very popular and beloved aka the long lost king that is hesitant in leading and seemingly sees the female MC's potential when everyone else doesn't.

by the end of s1, however, it becomes very clear that any understanding between them was sauron's façade – and his using her brother's face to try and manipulate her into following his plans only makes you truly realise that by opening herself up with him galadriel has only given him ammunition. he does not respect nor care for who she is and what she went through, he only wants the version of her that he can keep at his side. the one that would be useful to him. he may or may not have been genuine at the start but that simply doesn't hold up against what he did.

this is also when they fully introduce elrond as his direct opposite. he is the one to find her, to pull her out of the water towards the light (here, let's all remember that the whole 'touch the darkness' thing is meant to be in water and the significance of elrond helping her out of it) and the one to offer her comfort. he leads galadriel back to herself and the sheer relief in her voice when she calls his name is so so obvious.

s2 does not even bother masking sauron to the audience: he presents himself as halbrand, yes, but he manipulates the situation and quickly sheds that persona to become annatar: playing into what celebrimbor wants and needs and ultimately seizing control of eregion. again, whether he cared or not for celebrimbor is secondary to the fact that he destroyed his livelihood and tortured him (personally, i'll never be able to forget the sobs and crying when the illusion falls, it was masterfully done and absolutely haunting to hear/see).

at the end of s2, he visibly tries to force galadriel's hand and turn her to his side by actually taking control of her mind. he does not want an equal, a queen as he claims, but a puppet that he can move and place wherever it's more useful.

all throughout this, gil galad and elrond have struggled on what to do and even clashed with her but through it all she has been treated as an ally and a friend. if they were short or angry it is because of the situation they are in and is frankly warranted as they are standing on uneven ground, readying for attacks from every side. and, still, elrond apologises (in 2x07) and admits she was right (when he runs back to lindon), still, he ignores all his beliefs to save her. because helping galadriel comes first, as we've already seen when he stops the attack. he can't help but try and try to come to her aid, to place her above even himself (by using the rings). and gil galad is the first there when she falls, the first to send her with the company, the first to try and heal her and the one that's there when she wakes.

they have not been perfect to one another because they are fighting against so much and they have different visions of the world – that does not mean that they don't care or value galadriel, just that they can and should challenge her.

a series where the only voice is the MC's and the MC's alone would, after all, be pretty boring.

[mikuni14]

Law of Attraction Ep 4 - because one post about this ep is clearly not enough

I won't even embarrass myself by admitting how many times I've rewatched LoA episode 4 since Saturday. This series and its characters do to my head what Jae Won from The Eight Sense did, I have a complete fixation on them, I watch the characters' faces with solemnity and attention like a fucking scientist, focusing on every, even the smallest grimace on their face. What else these series have in common is that my interest extends beyond romance, simply these characters are wonderful and fascinate me on their own.

I love Thee and Tinn's scene, I'm impressed by their raw emotions. Tinn lets them all out, his face shows all the pain, frustration and rage he feels, Jam is AWESOME in this scene. Thee has similar feelings, plus a need to protect Tanthai and fear for him, and his tragedy is that, unlike Tinn, he can't show his feelings. I was so focused on Thee's incredibly expressive eyes that I didn't mention that Thee also shows emotion through his beautifully shaped lips and clenched jaw ✨ Finding Thee's emotions is an intellectual adventure and a detective work, and I love him for that

love the Tinn and Charn scene, when Tinn lashes out and breaks Charn's heart (and his own in the process). Film and Jam played this scene at the highest level, their emotions and heartbrak are so intense and raw that I feel it in my gut, how they have to control themselves by force. We see that Tinn is hurt, that on the one hand he wants to yell at Charn, but on the other hand he regrets doing it and he regrets what they could be together in this scene. It's possible that his harshness is a subconscious "punishment" for Charn for the fact that in Tinn's eyes he is ruining their potential relationship. Charn, who sees the same thing that their relationship is in danger and desperately tries to save it by confessing to Tinn's grandma. And when even that fails, his face crumbles, and when he says he's "only evil" to Tinn, he can't physically endure it and gods, it shows. And then the regret on Tinn's face as he watches Charn leave. Film and Jam gave their EVERYTHING in this scene.

I don't like Tanthai for many reasons, but I still give him a chance because he knows how much the physical workers get paid. Tanthai is an asshole but at least he is aware of class war differencess and blue collar workers wages lol

I also wanted to say that Charn has one of the best seduction scenes I've ever seen and Tinn must have an iron will that he didn't give up, because me? I would fold like origami in this scene. Film has a very pleasant, low voice, but in the bathroom scene, his voice went down to even lower registers, which I felt somewhere around the lower part of my spine. Throw in his bedroom eyes, barely concealed tongue, smirks, his full upper lip, incredible confidence and killer directness, and you have a mix that I'm surprised didn't burn down that bathroom, or at least the clothes on Tinn. Tinn who first continued the game like a seasoned player and then just left is probably some reincarnation of legendary warriors lol

I just love Charn for all of the above, but also for his boyishness, playfulness, even childishness, the way he makes funny faces, rolls his eyes and is such a brat. This is someone I imagine you can just have a good time with 😊

Film absolutely killed it in this episode, but the two scenes that impressed me the most regarding his acting: 1) when he realizes what a mistake he made in threatening the senator and 2) when he realizes that Tinn sees nothing but evil in him. What he did with his face in those scenes, how he nailed Charn's charcter, was simply masterful

I absolutely love Tinn and Charn in their famous jealousy scene where they showed one of my most favorite couple dynamics. Tinn "I don't trust you but the world needs to know you're mine", Tinn putting up barriers in their relationship but who also puts himself protectively as a barrier between his "rival" and Charn. Tinn, who in this scene is very manly, who "marks his territory" lol but without stupid violence and pointless aggression. Even when he's angry, his values take over and he's still polite, even though his whole body screams "fuck off or else". And I love it when a strong character just gives in, melts in the arms of his beloved. Charn is very strong mentally, he can also kick ass if need be, he can handle himself and seeing him when he just gives in, goes all quiet and placid in Tinn's arms, giving him the lead in this situation has done things to me. What I love is that Charn chooses to be like this in this scene. I just love this dynamic, it's about trust, strenght, the growly "mine" but all. done. right. 💖 Charn is not a damsel in distress, Tinn is not a noble knight in this scene and they both know it 🤩

every time I watch the ending I have the same feeling that Tinn lingers a bit, like he's waiting for an invitation. And when he looks back and sees Charn without his trademark smile, just kind of sad and lonely, I catch myself waiting for him to run over to Charn. Again, Tinn is stronger than me, because I would run to you my sad pretty prince *sobs*

how the act after their "date", the reminiscing, the giddiness, all the fond smiles are so real and lovely

(hm, it seems that Charn's bodyguard has betrayed them🤔)

I haven't felt this much excitement and this need to go back to the series over and over again, to think about it, since The Eight Sense. I'm so happy 💖💖💖💖

[sprinklesandshatters]

A Review on NCT 127′s 3rd Album <Sticker>

So NCT 127 just came back with their 3rd Full Album <Sticker> and this is my first 127 comeback since I became a fan last year! Neozone is such a special album for me as it was their first album that I explored entirely. I've known NCT as the group who never fails any expectations so I've kept mine up although I know they'll exceed it anyway. And guess what, they did! I absolutely love their new album hence this review~

This isn't a technical music review—as I am not a musician myself—but rather a listener's honest takes, goofy notes, and interpretation on each of the tracks in the album. I admit I've also struggled to build my own opinions on some of the tracks until I listened to them over and over again.

I have also heard there are mixed opinions on the title track <Sticker> and a lot says it's another acquired taste. But I think it's not just that, as it can be a grower, just like how most of NCT's songs were for me. Maybe after a few listens and a right passage of time, it will grow on those people. The bottom line here is, I like it a lot! 😛

So I listed down the songs according to their respective track numbers and followed each with a bulleted list of my opinions and interpretations.

(Viewer/reader discretion: before you continue, minors, do not interact as there are few 18+ contents under the cut. Thank you.)

1. Sticker

THEY DIDN'T JUST PUNCH A NEW NOTCH ON THE BELT LIKE THAT

THIS SONG SLAPS, LITERALLY SLAPS… AND WHIPS 

The recorder at the intro boyyyy I thought something was wrong but then I remember it’s NCT lmao

It already stuck in my head from my first listen from the Instagram audio.

With Taeyong opening the verse with his divine rapping, I knew I'm in for a new ride.

STICK-UH STICK-UGH STICK-UGHGHGH

To those complaining it sounding like noise music, imagine it sounding generic. I don't think it would fit as the title track. Not a b-track or in their repertoire, even. They are called NCT because they define the NEO in the music culture and music technology!

It honestly was an unorthodox, just like all of their title tracks, which I’m inherently here for.

Literally, no one does it like them!

The growls and the vocal flexes and adlibs! (You can tell it has Yoo Youngjin's brand.)

The crisp metronome sound that’s consistently ticking except for the pre-chorus and the dance break adds depth to the soundscape. I love how it’s used instead of the usual snaps.

The production quality blew my mind. Like how can someone think those melodies would sound so exquisite? CAN I CALL THEM GENIUS?

The piano at the back, oh my God—Yes! It adds this mystifying element to the song.

I'm not sure if it's a midi violin at the pre-chorus, but it added thrill to the song. It was a great transition from the bass line in the verses to the combination of the flawless harmony with the same instrumental.

"You treat me like a boy, like a grown-up child chasing a dream" JUNGWOO BABY NO MORE HUH

Taeil, Doyoung, and Haechan—the bridge vocal trinity!

But why the heck are they cowboys? I dig the concept, but why? LMAO

BTW GUNSLINGER MARK I’M ON MY KNEES YEEHAW

This is easily one of my favorite tracks from NCT 127's entire discography 💚

2. Lemonade

(⌐■_■)

Jaehyun starting off this song with his deep voice eee

The song opens to a verse oozing with chill confidence. They're like, yeah you're lurking because we’re cool.

This is such a huge slap to their haters. NCT's not chillin' like a villain, nah they're the main characters!

Well maybe they’re villains, but still ya not cooler than them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Funny enough how they could have just referred haters as simply lemons whose sour/bitter to the taste, but 127 squad's success is sweeter than all the haters' spiteful remarks so yeah, SIPPY SIPPY LEMONADE 🧃

"WOOF"

I might have just barked too wOW

Yuta’s vocals hooooO his voice just sounds so glamorous mhmm

Also Mark referencing their previous title tracks such as: Firetruck, Cherry Bomb, and Regular (it's Irregular in the lyrics) in his rap part 👌💅

I just love Mark's energy when he raps. HE RESOLUTELY BITES AND STRAIGHT UP EATS EVERY TIME HE DOES.

3. Breakfast

Now breakfast time, oh jeez!

AAAHAHFU—

Summer 127's bestie!

If Summer 127 talks about dancing all night long, Breakfast is the morning after.

You know what it is.

"Even if I gulp and drink you, it's not enough for me." oho Taeyong no you ha—STOP

Sexual innuendos aside, isn't it just sweet if someone tells you they'd want to have breakfast with you every day?  Okay maybe I'm melting at the thought 😩🙈💞

And I can see myself dancing to this song as I make breakfast (in the afternoon or at midnight bc I’m crazy)

This was an okay b-track for me at the first skim on the album, but boy it grew on me wildly.

Honestly one of my favorite tracks in this album.

4. Focus

Did I just invade a private call? LMAO

The analog voice filters make it like so.

Dude, this feels intimate in the level of eavesdropping a phone call between seasoned lovers. Then you realize you hear them whispering their kinks over the line and you're ooh, that's sexy! hfgklhfhf

My first listen to this, I almost went feral because,

"I can't wait to eat you…" when it's actually "I can't wait 'til we chill…" aahaha

"Baby call me when you want me." OKAY!

This sounds relaxing and chill. I'd love to play this on a late night drive or just before bed time along with Fly Away With Me, Sun & Moon, My Youth, and Long Flight.

Belongs to ‘make out session’ playlist  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

That was lowkey a playlist recommendation, huh?

I'd be kidding if I don't say I could touch myself while listening to this song AHAHAFGHFJFJ

I didn't know this would grow on me this much lol I love love LOVE THIS!

5. The Rainy Night

Ooh, the holy melancholy!

Piano at the intro—I knew I'd cry to this.

This song isn't just about break-up, but the heartbreak after one.

The yearning; the remnant pieces from the shattering of what was once there.

I think I crumbled from this one.

This hit so hard I felt like I fit in the shoes with the lyrics throughout the entire song.

What’s fascinating is I clearly forgot the title when I mentally said this sounds like a sad rainy day song from the first listen.

Something I’d turn up when it suddenly rains, just because I want to feel the blues.

Taeil and Haechan singing in lower register? I wanna cry :( they’re just one of the best vocalists in K-music industry right now.

Could have been also nice if they added Yuta to the vocals.

"My selfish heart who waits for you to come back," OKAY WHO HURT THEM?

And the fact that they sang it so good that it translated every ounce of the emotions well even before I looked up for English translations is the reason why I love this song too.

6. Far

Hmm… What the hell?! Do I like this? Wait...

Alright!

The jumpy vibe from the first verse to the pre-chorus set the mood for this song. It sounds merry and heavy. It was honestly too much to take until I’ve reached the chorus part.

Honestly, I think this song could fit NCT Dream better, as it gives off a vibe similar to Hello Future's b-tracks. If some credible source say this could have made HF’s track list, I might believe you too fast.

Also Dream’s Deja Vu where they go na nananananana na na na~

Playful yet confident! That’s what I mean!

As usual, the vocals are insane! Vocal flex from left to right!

I swear Jungwoo sounded a bit like Taemin at the second verse that I had to replay it hahaha

I love hearing Johnny as a vocalist! SM, how many signs do you need until you utilize his vocal talent???

Taeil's part where he sings, "go nuts, go nuts, 'til we go bust, go bust" IDEK BUT I SNORTED A LAUGH AT FIRST LISTEN HFCAHKFHK

Not my favorite, but still great though!

But wait it’s actually stuck in my head???

7. Bring The Noize

Yes, they never beat those noise music allegations

HERE'S SOME NOIZE, BITCHES

I love me some noisy percussions. AND THE BASS YO

This screams so much confidence!

The build up from the pre-chorus to the chorus—FIRE!

This song reminds me a lot of SuperM's Super Car, especially with the engine roar samples and the battle cry-like singing at the chorus.

JAEHYUN RAPPING? You mean Jaehyun the visual, the vocalist, the actor, the model, the funny dude, aka my everything?! (markie bb look pls look away for a moment)

THEY DELIVERED IT STRAIGHT FROM NEOCITY THAT'S SOME NCT MUSIC RIGHT THERE NO ONE DOES IT LIKE THEM

When I said I'd play Focus on a late night drive, and if I add this in the playlist, VROOM VROOM SPEED LIMIT WHAT

OUTTA MY WAY

“We got no shame” ouh TAEYONG’S FLOW IS JUST VERY HIM AND HE’S IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN

You know what's so clever about this song? It's how it ended with Mark's final rap without any instrumental, leaving you  standing there with a doppler effect-like post experience.

A super car on a super speed just whooshed past you and you look its way as it zips through the road. It's gone in an instant but you're floored dumbfounded at a sidewalk. That's how I describe this song.

8. Magic Carpet Ride

This song… Wow. Oh gosh it's so beautiful.

Their harmony in the chorus—it makes me want to kiss someone so passionately that I'd cry.

This makes me want to feel love that transcends the universe. Literally, just please take me on a magic carpet ride :(

The background harmonies too oh my goodness—HEAVENLY.

Jaehyun's voice is so warm and soulful it fits perfectly with songs of this genre.

Okay alright Doyoung Grande!

And Taeil makes me feel like I'm listening to old school R&B.

The first time I heard this from the track video, I can't stop replaying because it's just that great.

This makes me want to love. I think that sums it up.

9. Road Trip

This is such a soothing song for me, especially how I easily become nostalgic thinking about the road trips I've had.

Whenever I listen to this, my brain immediately conjures up thoughts of my ideal getaways. Gazing at the sky through the car window, stirring up from a nap in the middle of the ride, and   eventually reaching your destination.

Oh, to travel around anywhere... (curse you covid-19)

Okay that's it. I'M PACKING UP.

But where do I go—

I could also imagine Mark playing this on the guitar and the other members sing along together, something like that.

Just Wholesome™ vibes.

I love how it evokes such a nice emotion within me effortlessly.

This isn't my favorite, but I still love this.

10. Dreamer

Eyyyy such a refreshing song!

This song is so bright it makes me want to dance. I play this first in the shower!

It reminds me so much of Elevator (from Neozone)

The horns make it more lively I think!

Yuta and Jungwoo's voice suits lively songs like this.

The background vocal in low register in Taeyong's part in the first verse is so good ahhfhf

Taeil, the R&B vocal king you are...

There's this part where Doyoung and Johnny harmonized, that at first listen they seemed to clash, but it sounded actually fine after a few listens. Maybe it's just that I've never heard them do it before.

And I think it's Doyoung's laugh at the end of the bridge? Oh my goodness I really love this too!

11. Promise You

MY FIRST LOVE AND MOST FAVORITE SONG IN THE ALBUM!!!

The first time I heard this from their NCIT Sharehouse Sitcom, I fell in love with the song already.

It sounds like something you'd feel from a warm, welcoming hug.

The lyrics are so beautiful and endearing. It's definitely a be-there-for-you type of song that will touch your heart.

It definitely sounds like a promise.

A song about platonic intimacy.

This really fits to be the closing song of the album. It's like the end of it but holds a promise that says “see you soon.”

Because they cherish their fans like that.

It's also like I've watched a movie with a happy ending, where the camera pans up to the clear sky and this song starts playing.

Speaking of ending, I would love to hear them sing this as an encore stage in their concert. You know, that moment just before the stage lights die down at the end of the concert where they send final blows of flying kisses to NCTzens. Then you come home smiling and crying.

This wasn't supposed to be this long since I originally planned to write this with just simple phrases and emojis but I got too engrossed lol. I also meant to include my own ratings but I figured it’s pointless since I can’t really decide about them hahaha

I really enjoyed the whole album and I love how they're progressively defining what NEO means by breaking through standards. It's not NCT music if it doesn't make you say "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?" But then you realize it’s stuck in your head and you’re enjoying it already.

✨ OVERALL RATING: 127/10 💚

if you’ve reached until here, thank you for letting me share you a braincell or two 💞

[danwhobrowses]

Star Wars Visions - Review

So I finally finished watching all of Visions, the ambitious anime project set in a Star Wars loose if at all canon, and I truly had a good time with it, as a fan of anime and Star Wars I was curious how they would deliver.

Spoilers for Visions, watch it then come back here to read what I thought about it. Reminder: This is my own personal opinion

So as I said, really enjoyed this experiment Disney decided to take, the 9 episodes weren't all flawless but they weren't awful either, so I'm gonna go through what I liked and disliked about it.

We'll start with the negatives, since they're few, picky and it gets it out of the way.

What Wasn't Great

Runtime A veiled negative has to be many episode's runtimes being too short, some only lasting 10-15 minutes. Before watching I was expecting all to be at least 30 minutes, so it was a shame that none lasted that long.

Episode 2: Glorified Music Video I think Episode 2 was perhaps the weakest episode of the nine for me, because it was all building up to a song. I think it probably leaned a bit too much on existing characters like Jabba and Boba, as well as Tatooine, to carry interest, so it was a bit of a low point.

Episode 3: Studio Trigger keep their balls away from the wall Episode 3's The Twins wasn't bad, it just lingered a bit too much on the less fun things. Studio Trigger had made a name for themselves for striking visuals and absolutely batshit crazy fight scenes that ignore all manner of physics with the likes of Promare, Kill La Kill and Darling of the Franxx (and kinda Gurren Lagann, the company was made as a result of that so it's like a Studio Ghibli thing with Nausicaa) but The Twins didn't have enough of the major fight scene for my liking, given how most of what we saw was in the trailer. Maybe it's the fault of the trailer, but it did feel like you could just watch the trailer rather than the episode, which is a bad thing.

Episode 7 too, but it also lacks bravery The Elder was also a good episode, but it too lacked in the final fight, the ending being very abrupt. The Elder also had a problem in that they wasted their good characters, but also failed in stakes. Had the padawan been killed instead of simply being wounded by a lightsaber slash to the belly it probably would've worked more, since we were shown that the Elder is precise in his cutting and it would've served to increase the urgency of the master fighting him too. The fight was short and out of the characters we lost it was the most important character that bit the dust.

The Episode Order could've been Better My final criticism has to be that the order of the episodes felt like it could've been better. Starting with The Duel was right but following it up with Tatooine Rhapsody brought the mood down, likewise putting The Elder after T0-B1 was perhaps too jarring a theme switch. The bigger sin was probably ending with Akakiri. Akakiri was good, but it was a downer and you don't really finish a Season 1 on a downer because you want people to feel excited for more rather than feeling bleak about it; with the options of Lop & Ocho, The Elder, The Village Bride and The Ninth Jedi (which would've been my pick for episode 9) it was an odd choice to pace the episodes in such a way - even when knowing that people would binge in this order. FYI if you wanted to know how I would've ordered the episodes it would've been The Duel -> The Elder -> The Twins -> Lop & Ocho -> Tatooine Rhapsody -> T0-B1 -> The Village Bride -> Akakiri -> The Ninth Jedi

This way we start strong with Sith-heavy episodes that grip with combat, we have the Duel to set us off, we show off the Elder to sell the Dark Side's strength, which blends into the Twins and that sibling relationship blends into Lop & Ocho, we use Tatooine Rhapsody as an intermission of sorts but then carry the lighter theme with T0-B1, whose artistic elements and worldbuilding leans into the Village Bride. We make Akakiri the penultimate since we show the Jedi succumb to the Dark for love in contrast to the Elder where the Jedi succeeds by steeling emotions, before finishing strong with Ninth Jedi.

What Was Great

Anime is perfect for Star Wars Star Wars has of course delved into animation before; Clone Wars (both), Rebels, Resistance and Bad Batch, but never like Anime. So Visions was allowed to shine by showing off everything anime can offer which more realistic CGI and live action could not. Bright colour grading, physics-defying movement, as well as unique character and lightsaber shapes.

(Mostly) Not Wasting Time While I have criticized some episodes for not making the most of things, and not having enough time, but many episodes would last 12-15 minutes and still feel like they had a coherent storylines with no gaps in getting to know the brand new characters or a lack of important information and investment. It is a testament to the good writing of the episodes that episodes got so much from such little time.

We're Left Wanting More In spite many episodes' brevity, the good writing also provided us stories with great potential to be fleshed out. Who wouldn't want to learn more about these new characters? See most of their adventures? The franchise potential from certain stories' one episode makes the experiment an unequivocal success.

The different styles add to the story Using a different anime studio for each story allowed each episode to stand out in their own way, and lean on different areas of importance. The Duel for instance applied a Kurosawa aesthetic which made the audience anticipate samurai themes. As much as the animation will get props for its visuals, environments and character design we should also give a hat-tip to the amazing music, especially in The Village Bride, and the voice acting from both JP and EN. We had some recognizable faces on both sides with EN having Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Harbour, George Takei, Neil Patrick Harris, Allison Brie, Simu Liu, Karen Fukuhara, Lucy Liu and Taemura Morrison reprising as Boba, while on the JP side we had names familiar with One Piece (Zoro - why you gotta be a sith Zoro!, Brook, Tama, Kiku), DBZ (Goku), Naruto (Hidan, Tayuya and if you count Boruto; Chocho and Kawaki), Jujitsu Kaisen (Itadori, Megumi, Nobara) and more. The different styles also allowed a greater freedom to lore between studios, I know the lightsaber colour thing was done in High Republic but I did like how in the Ninth Jedi Kara's lightsaber started out translucent (I actually preferred it that way), while not diverting too far away from the canon.

The Samurai style episodes were the strongest While some episodes leaned on other elements of Star Wars, the best of the bunch kept true with the correlation force users had with samurai. The Duel, Village Bride and Ninth Jedi - alongside Akakiri, Elder and kinda T0-B1 - had strong showings by maintaining their force user characters as samurai or samura-esque, which only added to the themes of the episodes too.

Its success will hopefully entice more Studios and Directors A positive for the future is the fact that there is a future. Visions has plenty of mileage as both a series of one-off stories or stories that can be expanded upon, and its success will mean that more will be on the cards. Imagine now what other studios may want to try their hand at their own story in this universe? And what it does not only for the franchise but also the animation studios themselves, because this in itself becomes a bridge for fans on either side to be introduced to the other; new anime fans, new star wars fans, everybody wins.

Conclusion

Visions provides an alternative in Star Wars media outside of live action but also away from the CGI tv shows, but it has started off strongly almost as well as The Mandalorian and in my opinion better than the Bad Batch did. My favourite episode was probably the Ninth Jedi, but Village Bride and the Duel are close runners up, soon followed by Lop & Ocho, I hope very much that the stories these ones started especially can be fleshed out and maybe even greenlit for their own series, while also curious about what more Star Wars can deliver.

All in all, good job for everyone, they took a risk and it paid off.

[mindibindi]

Beyond disappointed in Ted Lasso. What were they thinking?!

The writing is a complete betrayal and insult to Rebecca’s character and Hannah’s skills as they’re being seriously underused. It’s also insulting Sam’s character.

Hoping someone pulls Rebecca’s head out of her ass tbh. Sam shouldn’t be getting caught in the crossfire of her looking for romance. I know he showed up at her doorstep but she still should’ve turned him away, and not even messaged him in the first place.

Hey, I'm with you, Anon, though we do seem to be in the minority. Sam is definitely not blameless here, he is also in the wrong. But if one of them is more in the wrong, it is Rebecca. I can't speak to whether her head has left her arse as yet because I have quit watching (at least for now). I hear she called it off with Sam in the most recent ep, though not because of any major crisis of conscience or because anyone in her inner circle expressed any reasonable reservations in response to her bad behaviour. And to be honest, I'm not sure we should need to hope and pray that Rebecca's precocious god-daughter, her slimy ex-husband, or the brutal British press will act as a moral compass on this ill-advised relationship. Both Rupert and the press have been set up to some extent as the villains of the piece. And a 14 year old should never have to school her elders on what is and isn't acceptable. Nora's needs have already been neglected by Rebecca for far too long.

If a moral position is to be taken on this, it needs to be taken by the show (because stance matters) and/or by its characters. But the show has for the most part depicted this relationship as ill-advised but ultimately hot, sweet, funny and romantic. As for the characters themselves, Sam has shown at least once that he has some moral backbone but seems to be adorably clueless when it comes to fucking his boss who keeps trying to set boundaries with him. Meanwhile, Rebecca's whole arc in s1 was about learning not to misuse her power for her own selfish ends. In season one, she misused her power within the club in order to exact revenge. In season 2, we have seen her misuse her sexual power, though I still cannot see to what end. I'm a bit at a loss as to what exactly she gets out of this 'relationship' but then I'm a grown woman so I have absolutely no interest in sleeping with a Harry Potter enthusiast barely out of his teens. I couldn't think of anything less sexy and more ick. I was certainly hoping for better character development for her this season.

As to what the writers were thinking, obviously I was not in the writer's room, but I would guess that they were thinking that any drama is good drama, people are stupid and fan devotion will trump any meaningful critique. In other words, they were thinking exactly how every other television writer thinks, despite the fact that this show posited itself as 'not like other TV shows'. This, to me, is where the blame really lies. Not with the characters or with the actors who are doing their best to sell this ludicrous turn of events. It must be noted, however, that both actors were completely blindsided by this relationship that had supposedly been so cleverly foreshadowed. Newsflash: if the people actually living these stories did not see this coming then you haven't foreshadowed shit. Sure, there were a handful of people that paired Rebecca with Sam but this does not constitute proof either. Fans have free-range to imagine and re-imagine characters. In some cases this may extend to imagining relationships between characters who have barely, if ever, interacted. There may be little to no evidence that these characters have even clocked each other's existence and some fans will still ship it. The existence of a handful of shippers does not legitimise such a problematic and divisive plotline making it onscreen.

But wait!, you might argue, this may not be a case of a popular show seeing just how far they can stretch fan devotion. This may not be a case of fan service to a handful of shippers. After all, the creators mapped out the entire three-season arc of Ted Lasso before they even pitched it to Apple. This was their brilliant plan all along! To which I would say: then maybe they should've rethought their second act based on people's strong reactions to their first. Ted Lasso was touted as the show we all needed in 2020. The writers and creators have all marveled at the chord it struck considering it was conceived prior to the pandemic and all the chaos it wrought. And while there is something to be said for having/sticking to a creative vision, there is also something to be said for being flexible and responsive to your audience and the cultural zeitgeist with which you're engaged. Season 1 of Ted Lasso told its story so gently, without creating distrust, division or unnecessary anxiety. It did not treat its audience like a gaggle of stupid lemmings to be led over a succession of narrative cliffs. THIS is what I mean when I say the show has broken with its brand. And look, this whole dark forest thing would be okay if the narrative arc was as well-crafted as s1. Season 1 gave us meaning, cohesion, comfort, sense in a senseless time. It was an almost perfectly crafted season of television. And I kept the faith for 6 episodes, despite the first half of s2 being pretty damn wobbly. But the follow-up to this stellar debut has been less than extraordinary so yeah, perhaps they should've thought a little harder about what made s1 so special before throwing it all out the window.

But wait!, I hear the faithful say, you don't know how things will pan out yet! Wait until the season is over and everything will make sense! But -- wearily and once again, I say -- we should not need to wait until the end of the season to understand what the hell is happening. By this point (over halfway through the season and show) we should have a v clear idea of the show's themes and the characters' arcs. And tbf, from what I can tell there are some fab things happening in other aspects of the show that I wish I could watch and enjoy. But my biggest fear at this point is that they are going to use Sam to solve Rebecca's childlessness. That, like Rupert (because the parallel cannot be avoided), she will become pregnant with a young fling and the show's attitude to this relationship will ultimately be: oh well, it was a bad idea and didn't work out for them but it was all for the best in the end cos who can be mad about a cute lil baaaayyybbbeeee??!! If they do go down this path then I will definitely be abstaining from the rest of the show. I will simply recall my repeated viewings of s1 with fondness tinged with regret at just how badly they fucked up a good thing.

Ultimately, Anon, I think this may be a case of there simply not being a diverse enough perspective in the writer's room. I am not saying that every single woman or every single person of colour will necessarily object to this relationship. I am simply saying that women and people of colour will be more sensitive to the issues of gender and race that are relevant here but that have not been fully or sensitively acknowledged in the writing of this plotline. Neither am I saying that Rebecca is the first woman to sleep with a man much (much, much, MUCH) younger than herself or indulge in an ill-advised relationship. But the comparison with Rupert both works here and doesn't because Rebecca is not being written like a white woman, she is being written like a white man. Realistically, only a white man can engage in this kind of hugely imbalanced relationship seemingly without any major moral qualms or societal ramifications. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this kind of relationship is reserved for all the Bills and Joes and Brendans and Jasons out there -- not for the Rebeccas and definitely not for the Sams. We are way beyond the point in feminism where we believe that liberation is simply the right for a white woman to behave as badly as a white man. The truth is that whatever wealth, power and privilege Rebecca has, the rules are different for men and women. She will not be treated the same as Rupert if and when this affair is uncovered. She will be treated far more savagely than Rupert ever was and Sam will be treated far more savagely than Bex was. This is not an argument for the equal treatment of these two relationships. It is an argument against how the relationship between Rebecca and Sam has been envisaged, i.e. through the wrong perspective. In writing from a 'neutral' white male pov, the show has invisiblised all the many issues activated by this storyline and revealed a blindspot that was always there.

As much as I loved and still love season 1 of this show, it has definite blindspots when it comes to representations of race and gender. There are at least two moments in s1 that stand out for me as being so obviously written by a man. Not necessarily because of what they do but because of what they don't do: what is missed, absent, unacknowledged. I was willing to overlook such minor failings in a debut season for many reasons. But s2 seems to have exacerbated these minor flaws rather than correcting them. And here I can't help thinking of Tina Fey speaking of the diversification of the writer's room at SNL during her tenure as co-headwriter. This notoriously male-dominated environment only began to shift and produce better work when a greater diversity of minds, voices and persepectives was allowed in the room. In this richer environment, she notes, different jokes played differently. Different sketches made it to air. Different perspectives were represented and different performers were celebrated. I can't help wondering if this plotline would have made it to air if there had been a female writer, a writer of colour or both further up the chain of command to challenge the ideas of the straight white dudes in charge.

One of the reasons I didn't think Ted Lasso was for me was that it centred a straight, white, cis-het, able-bodied man who rose to a position he didn't earn. That is just not a pov I would normally choose for myself, especially now that there is such a rich array of alternative perspectives through which to view the world. But I think the show won a lot of females fans with its first season largely due to its portrayal of Rebecca. She is the first person we meet. She is arguably the protagonist of s1. And while she would have been figured as a villain in previous pieces, the show never took that stance with her (because again, stance matters). Other elements like the depiction of female friendships, all centred around Rebecca, made this show female-friendly viewing. But imo, the major reason this show won over female fans (this one, at least) is because, in this post-MeToo, post-TimesUp era, it stood up and said: domestic violence is not okay, we stand with women and all victims of abuse, we will defend you, we know words can hurt, we know it can happen to anyone, we know all about toxic masculinity, we do not take this lightly and we will support you in your healing. Needless to say, this is how women hope men will act when they speak of their most difficult experiences but it is not how they always do.

The shift away from Rebecca this season has however meant that the white male experience is more centred than it was in s1. Rebecca's journey to recovery, health and happiness has been trivialised and sidelined, reduced to a highly questionable sexcapade. Meanwhile, we get overwrought manpain at every turn. We get Beard wandering around London (no, I haven't seen it and no, I don't need to. We've all been raised on white dudes thinking they're genuises when they have a figurative wank all over our screens). We get NO queer represention at all. And the only other female characters on screen are in care/service roles to men. The father/son, mentoring and toxic masculinity themes are all still there but they're no longer balanced out by ANY other competing perspective. One of the reasons I was okay with Ted failing upwards in s1 was that he used his power and privilege to lift up others. He was the one in service. He used his enormous privilege for good, as anyone with such privilege must. (Admittedly, it could be argued that this is just another version of a white savior narrative).

My point here is that I'm not sure that peeking behind the mask at the sad clown is as revolutionary as some might believe. We love it because it's familiar. But this is a narrative with a long and problematic history. Do I believe in tearing down toxic masculinity in all its forms? You bet. Do I believe that patriarchy traumatises men as well as women and every other minority in existence? I mean...nowhere near as much, but absolutely. Do I believe in men expressing their feelings and going to therapy? Wholeheartedly. But I am also aware that 100 or so years ago, we were in a very similar place with our narratives. Everyone is looking for a recapitulation of modernism and frankly, this might be an indicator of just that. Whenever women and people of colour have demanded rights and recognition, there has always been a resurgence of tales about just how frickin' hard it is to be a white man. Minority genders and non-white people have never in western history been as visible or vocal as they are now. So forgive me (or don't, I don't care) if I critique a show not only for centering fathers, sons, boys and men but for blindly and boldly writing one of its only female characters and one of its only black characters as if their gender and race just do not exist. There are many other power differentials at play in this relationship, including age, experience, wealth and position, but race and gender are the two that patriarchy is most invested in invisiblising. So I don't care how brilliant they think they are, I will not trust the writing of a bunch of white dudes trying to tell me that race and gender are irrelevant.

[omegatheunknown]

AEW Double or Nothing 2021

In which the spirit of WCW is alive in confusing and delightful ways and we are left to parse whether overbooking and extracurriculars are offset by having actually very good wrestling happening at the same time.

- Lessons learned from Revolution on the production side? Maybe just cool it on pyro, though the rappelling adventure in the Stadium Stampede showed some of that now-characteristic 'trust us it'll look better on TV' flair. Hot crowd tends to paper over most woes, and the crowd was pretty hot. My one gripe is that the casino theme is hanging around like yesterday's takeout containers. Nothing wrong with clinging to a theme, I just think it's time for season 2. My suggestion? Under the Sea.

*Pre-Card Serena Deeb (C) v Riho for the NWA Women's Championship (***1/2) - Serena Deeb's star has finally risen. She's a remarkably consistent technician and she can get a match out of anyone at this point. She's working at the level of Mercedes Martinez or Madison Eagles at this point, it's amazing that she was overlooked or considered fit only to be a coach for so long. With the NWA belt she has this new swagger, she's basically everything Tessa Blanchard might bring to the table with none of the downsides (Serena has a lot of friends and seems like a lovely person, even!) - Riho's back and here to stay. Her time in Stardom didn't do much for my evaluation of her, which is that there are many better wrestlers that would be better representatives of the joshi style and she's merely pretty good. - The match was very good. Serena showcased a champion's aggression against a sympathetic Riho, they really work well against each other, Deeb's technical prowess against Riho's flexibility led to a very dynamic finish.

*Main Card Hangman Adam Page v Brian Cage (***1/2) - Here the shenanigans start. Brian Cage is on Team Taz, Team Taz has nothing else much to do tonight, so why wouldn't Team Taz flex their muscles, bait us with HOOK, etc? (Because it would be nice to have some variety in the card in terms of a match where one competitor stands across from another competitor?) - Hangman is (checking notes) yeah, still over as fuck, as befits the Anxious Millennial Cowboy. Cage terrifies me, he's a child's drawing of a body builder. He do be very agile for a man of his immense musculature tho. They match up well, Page is biggish for a flyer, Cage loves to play catch. Nothing much to write home about, other than Hangman's beautiful moonsault to the floor and what was overall a very good curtain jerker. - Okay fine, I am curious about Cage's reluctance to lean on the goons, Starks can't come back soon enough.

The Young Bucks v Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston (***) - I will not be referring to Mox & Eddie as (The) Wild Things because it gives me 'he calls it the wacky line' flashbacks for some reason. - The Bucks have to cheat and abuse Rick Knox's attention span constantly to be on even footing with Mox & Eddie, which is a clever sort of thing that gets washed out by the appearance of LG and Karl Anderson, which again, is cool in a vacuum but was the story of the evening. - Pace was weird - repetitive in eliminating Eddie, then Mox fights back, failed hope spot, Bucks team up, Eddie saves x2/3 in a row. - Mox, unlike Cody (in so many ways,) will probably actually be taking some time off with Renee, which is the kind of thing I would prefer not to know in terms of booking, but they really uh, put him down on the canvas here, and it felt pretty finale-esque.

Casino Battle Royale (n/r, but on the balance pro) - Any changes to the theme of the PPV would likely include changing up the nonsense suit format of these largely joyless slogs. - Obviously anticipating a NJPW talent, or... I dunno, actually -- Lio Rush was a surprise. Got in a quick demonstration of his otherworldly quickness, and you know what, there's probably a fun place for him in AEW. He'll need some friends, of course, feel like Team Taz might fit his temperament. I wonder if he was aware of the Mark Henry news... - Christian does not need to win this kind of match to get a title shot, obviously, but that said it was super lovely to use him to give Jungle Boy the shine. Jungle Boy would be a license to print money if he was even as big as Hangman. - Could register some continued griping about how Penta is not getting his due in AEW but he also literally was dressed as the Joker so I'm low on sympathy on this one particular night.

Anthony Ogogo v Cody Rhodes (*) - I did not like this. It's hard for me to read jingoism as a face move to begin with, and Cody's was egregiously tone deaf and kinda silly yet delivered without a trace of irony because Cody doesn't do irony on purpose, ridiculous neck tattoo aside. - Great argument to be made that Ogogo just isn't experienced enough to be winning matches against Cody. But like, what are we doing here? Cody needs to take some time off, maybe. I thought that's what was happening when he had his mini feud with Penta that really just ended in quick decisive Cody win. I though maybe Cody was being turned when QT and The Factory snapped-- sure, they're a group of impotent player 2s, but Cody is an out of touch elitist with a callous and manipulative streak. Alas, also no. America #1. - Cody is approximately 8 times as tough as Billy Gunn based on his weathering of the one punch man. Match ran a bit long given how little there was to go on. Cody gigged? Quelle surprise. - Cody had the best match on the card like, 3 out of the first 4 AEW events or something, and that was all booking and storytelling. I do hope Cody follows Moxley's lead into a little sabbatical.

Miro (C) v Lance Archer for the TNT Championship (**1/2) - Card's hossiest hoss match, a quick burst reminiscent of a car wreck. Absolutely hit on what it should've hit on but a little slow moving considering it went all of 10 minutes. - I will not complain about Jake the Snake, who I love. And also the gimmick spot, with Miro very astutely yeeting what was definitely a snake in a bag (surely.) back down the tunnel.

Dr Britt Baker, DMD v Hikaru Shida (C) for the AEW Women's Championship (***) - Picked up a lot of steam toward the end but seemed a little toothless (heh) until the last five. - Shida 'deserved' some more time as champion in front of crowds but also it's time to let heel Britt reach her peak, I can't even imagine how obnoxious she can be as the champ, it's going to be great.

Sting & Darby Allin v Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky (***1/2) - Such is the power of STING that I feel like I might be underrating this match... I mean it was an okay match about very simply getting some revenge and the sixty year old man did a very subdued Code Red and a slightly less subdued dive. He's also Sting. They missed an opportunity in calling it the 'Scorpio' Death Drop, but the main takeaway here is you see something like this where it's The Icon and you start to understand why WWE trots out their legends to come out of incredibly still kick ass without bending their knees. - The difference, I guess, is that Sting is absolutely being used to build up Darby Allin, whereas it's not like the fed brought back Goldberg and his attendant aura to pump up... anyone but Goldberg?

Kenny Omega (C) v PAC v Orange Cassidy for the AEW World Championship (****) - Off the top I have to say I'm very sad that the rest of the Galaxy's Greatest Friends were seen only very briefly, nice of them to bring OC's backpack. - Also have to point out that PAC's promo featured one of my favourite jokes, that Kenny must be short for Kenneth as a sort of legal/birth name belonging to a professional wrestler. (See also: Samoa Joseph) - And Mr Cassidy certainly did try in this match, ragdoll sells and all. Kenneth and PAC are absurd talents who bring aerial, power and technical maneuvers in equal measure and OC is not doing any of those on the same level, but he picked his spots, showed his genre savvy and hung in there to the point that he wasn't just the fall guy. - The extracurriculars continue in a match that was already a little overboard for silliness due to asymmetry... I think if you're the Invisible Hand it would've made sense to save up all your tricks for this match, but who am I to question the golden goose? - Sure, Kenny and Don ran the classic heel manager interference spot and taking out the ref in desperation spot but having to take out the ref because PAC wouldn't break the hold is fun, as is the stupid/inspired sense in running the 'smash opponent with the belt' spot four times so as none of your heavy gold prizes feel left out. (I love that AAA Mega Championship, they weren't on TV so we get to see it?) - "Fuck You, Don," indeed.

The Inner Circle v The Pinnacle in 'Stadium Stampede II' (***1/2) - This one had to grow on me for two reasons, first that it's usually pretty unforgivable to co-opt the main event spot from the championship match, and second to law of diminishing returns on dumb gimmick matches. - But grow it did. There's a full on meat locker? Commentary will refer to a cardboard cut-out of Shahid Khan as Tony Khan's father (that's canon now,) and Jericho will lovingly pat it? Konnan happened to be the DJ at whatever night club there is a Jaguar Stadium? Spears surrounds himself dramatically with chairs and his hoisted by his own petard? - Ultimately it comes down to letting Sammy shine. His involvement with the Inner Circle has sometimes come at the cost of being able to showcase that prior to AEW he was an ascendant talent in PWG, on his way to Ricochet level feats of acrobatic excess. Still feel like Sammy could've/should've been the one tossed off the cage a few weeks ago, but even better is being the guy getting the pin in the ring.

[fantastic-rambles]

Hi! I see that you appreciate ADAM’s characterization, so I wanted to talk to you about my theories for how the series could end for him if that’s okay.

Obviously there’s the semi-dropped plot line around him going to jail for political reasons. Tbh I hope that they’ll just bring that up at the very end of the tournament/ep 12 so that it doesn’t have much bearing on the characters developments until then.

My best scenario, is that Reki does skate against ADAM because he’s surpassed his own fears to have fun. Like the first time where he wasn’t afraid to lose because it was more about trying.

But now that Renga has reunited, the tournament isn’t nearly as exciting for ADAM because the friend group is over his antics and Langa doesn’t particularly care about him anymore. (I totally think Reki represents the Apple in all of this biblical reference stuff. Wisdom that love and fun cannot be gained simply by being the best or being dangerous when skating. Especially since Tadashi [SNAKE] is literally bringing him into the Eden tournament)

That would leave Langa and Tadashi. I honestly think that if a fair match between them goes on without any interruptions, SNAKE can win. Then with the final matchup between Tadashi and Ainosuke, it can go 2 ways.

1. Tadashi tries to take ADAM down. He fails or succeeds solely on technique. Either way probably ends in a dramatic end to S.

2. Tadashi also recognizes the value of love and fun that he has rejected/suppressed all these years. He is able to better understand the root of ADAM’s searching for an Eve (filling Tadashi’s void) and why Ainosuke is so hurt by him/angry at him (Tadashi pulling away from their relationship). Reki planted the seed in the love hotel, and if Tadashi accepts it, his participation becomes more about embracing love that was squashed years ago when he prioritized Ainosuke’s image over their relationship. Tadashi sees his value outside of his class standing as a person and companion. He stands up for Ainosuke instead of against him, and they can skate/move forward together.

I think that the 2nd option is far more interesting and gratifying. Especially since it’s more likely to lead to ADAM recognizing the flaws in his way and turning towards redemption/help by the end of the season. It would also be a really good ending to their arcs together since I really think that they’ve been set up as a queer allegory. I’ve read super interesting analyses on Twitter that show their character choices as being two different ways of coping with being closeted. Ainosuke lusting dangerously after those he doesn’t really care about and acting out violently against those who love him. Distracting himself the feelings he is not allowed to deal with in daylight. And Tadashi repressing his feeelings for the sake of the man most important to him. To have a hopeful/positive conclusion to their struggles as a central plot line would be nice.

Also don’t feel pressured to answer this. I’m just obsessed with their stories and a sucker for first loves + requited mutual unrequited pining lol

Heyyyy fellow non-Adam-hater!

I do think that Reki will end up skating against Adam (though I currently can’t imagine why he would possibly agree to do so--the best guess I have is Tadashi asking him to based on the argument of “skating should be fun” and that Adam isn’t having fun), getting fucked with since Adam wants to prove to Langa that he’s better than Reki (because Adam doesn’t understand that “love” doesn’t work that way, since his “love” is all about finding someone who can skate on his level), and losing, but without getting depressed (and possibly injured) like before.

I know there’s a huge fandom wish that Tadashi will train Reki and Reki will beat Adam, but... if the producers are going to be somewhat “realistic,” that’s not going to happen. It’s been firmly established that Reki isn’t on the level of the top skaters (both his own realization and his talk with his manager), and a sudden crash course in a day or two isn’t going to change that.

But I do think that Adam will still have fun during the tournament since he’s wildly delusional and thinks that he can win Langa’s “love,” and for the longest time, it did appear that way (“love” in terms of thinking of it as looking for/finding a skating equal, not “love” as in love), with how eager/excited Langa was to skate against him, to the extent that it even fractured his relationship with Reki (though I blame Reki more for that).

I feel like the Langa/Tadashi match is more of a tossup. I’d like Tadashi to win, but I believe that Langa will (unless he gets outraged by Reki’s treatment and forfeits/abandons the race--tasting the forbidden fruit and leaving Eden). If it was a straight skating race, then, yeah, Tadashi would win, but I think that Langa’s spontaneous improvisations will turn it in his favor even though he lacks Tadashi’s level of skill. I mean, he can cut across half the course by going off the cliff at high speed, so..... *laughs*

If it did come down to Adam/Tadashi, though, I feel like Adam wouldn’t be motivated, just like when he was racing Cherry. He wouldn’t do rough play or hit Tadashi in the face with his skateboard because they wouldn’t work on Tadashi, and he would be trying to win since winning races is how he proves that he loves skating more than anyone else (and also because if he loses, he has to quit skating). But I don’t think he’d enjoy it. I would love for them to have a reconciliation and for Tadashi to become Adam’s “Eve,” but I feel like that bridge has been well and truly burnt by years of misunderstandings/resentment (resentment from Adam to Tadashi, but not the other way around). I don’t see how a realistic full reconciliation can be made in one episode (though the groundwork for a reconciliation could possibly be laid). :(

The queer allegory is really interesting and definitely fits. Especially since Adam has been raised to always consider his appearance and how it’ll affect his family, and physically abused when he doesn’t meet expectations. And then he also admits that the only time he’s free is when he’s skating, which is when he’s openly proclaiming his love for just about everyone, lol.

Though if Reki is the apple/forbidden fruit (which I do agree), I think that means that Reki is the one who’s going to spark a change in Adam, not Tadashi. By not giving up and still having fun even when he’s losing or being thrown around by a violent psychopath, it could remind Adam of when he was younger, when he was skating with Tadashi and just having fun (or possibly serve as a parallel to when he got his board burned). If it does turn out that way, then I can see a path for Tadashi being his final opponent to bring both of them back to that time. Though I still feel like the final race will end up being Adam/Langa since that’s what the show has been driving towards ever since their first race was interrupted.

Adam’s arrest will definitely come at the end of the show, though. I don’t see the producers leaving the main plot line without a conclusion before they tie up the subplot which has basically only appeared once, lol.

So yeah, I absolutely realize I’m being self-contradictory in this post, but that’s why I’m fantastic-rambles. I just spew whatever bs and random thoughts come to my mind. xD

[ja-khajay]

2020-2021 Animation Watch(ed)list

I haven’t posted about animation in a while that I remember, and I know a lot of my followers are into it as much as me so I decided to make a list of the animated movies and series I watched on the past year or so, coupled with my short, spoilerless take on them. Enjoy!

Organized by

Things I saw for the first time

Things I rewatched

Under a cut for the sake of your dashboards! PS: I have not added any images yet. If you are interested in knowing more about the visuals of these movies, I might make an old fashion ask-prompted imageset list.

Part One: Things I saw for the first time

The Bear’s Famous Invasion of Sicily

Movie, 2019, Italian/French

9/10, a delightful little movie with amazing visuals. It feels like an animated picture book.

One of those “plot is in the title” media! I had never heard of this before but was heavily recommended it by my family members, who all loved it! It’s a sweet story, nothing groundbreaking but the unique colorful visual style alone makes it worth it.

The Castle of Cagliostro

Movie, 1979, Japanese

10/10. Reminded me of all the books i loved reading as a child

I assume its because it’s so old and the art style and themes are so different that it gets little to no love compared to other Ghibli movies, which is a shame! It’s fun with an endearing cast and as always, great animation and music

Mushishi

Series, 2006, Japanese

10/10 three episodes in I knew it was going to be my favorite series ever

One of the few things I’ve seen I’ll describe as life-changing. It’s absolutely lovely but never toots its own horn about it. Humble, calming, emotional and surprisingly mature. It’s pretty impossible to binge due to how intense the experience is. I just want to walk in the forest now...

FMA: Brotherhood

Series, 2009, Japanese

6/10 Dissapointing adaptation of a classic story

I read the manga for this when I was in middle school and remembered loving it. The animated version does an ok job of presenting the characters and worldbuilding and has some nice action scenes but overall looks really damn cheap and just. Not very good. Seeing I already knew most of the plot I did not have the element of discovery that made me marvel so much reading the original. It’s still a nice series but I really recommend reading it instead.

Code Lyoko (s1+2)

Series, 2003, french

3/10. 1.5 being for the opening song alone

This show sucks ass if I hadn’t been watching this with my bestie I would have dropped it two episodes in. The art style is ugly the stories are always the same and the first season has a (later removed thank fucking god) LITERAL “erase any consequences” button as a plot device in every episode. If you watch it for one thing let it be the nostalgia factor of early 00s Vidya Game Plot

The Legend of Hei

Movie, 2019, Chinese

7/10. Impressive visuals and a poor story

I finally watched this, peer pressured by the load of gifsets on my dashboard! It’s a sweet movie with really impressive animation, sometimes a bit too flashy for my taste (the action sequences go so ham they become not very readable...) but the story was just ok? The setting is barely explained and you are instead bombarded with vague epicspeech about powers and stuff that made me fondly remember Kingdom Hearts lol but that asides it’s a really good time! I need to watch more Chinese movies the few I know are just delightfully off the shits in how they approach action and I love that

Hunter x Hunter

Series, 1999, Japanese

9/10. Superior to the recent one!

I first got introduced to the series via the 2011 one. Comparatively, the 99 series focuses way less on action and way more on the characters, which I love because that fits my personal preferences! Despite mediocre filler episodes and some weird slight pointless plot changes, what it changes from the original manga doesn’t have much of an impact on the characters. The animation quality isn’t always consistent including a huge art style change for an arc (???) but it’s overall pretty nice. The series really shines in the last arc it adapts.

Oban Star-racers

Series, 2006, Japanese/french

9/10 a lovely surprise

This series is completly obscure despite having been created by people famous for their other series (Cowboy Bebop, Code Lyoko that i can name) and it’s a crime! It’s a kids show but without being stupid about it who tells the story of an inter-planetary race. If you liked that one scene in the star wars prequels you know what I mean. It’s got surprisingly nice animation for a TV series, and some truly great character design. The art style is a bit unique in a not for everyone sense, but I didn’t mind it much. It’s also THE most offensively 2000s series i’ve seen in terms of visuals. y2k kids assemble

The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

Movie, 1963, japanese

8/10. Classic fairytale format with incredible visuals

Watched this for the art style because I know it inspired Samurai Jack, and it delievered! I dont’ have much to say about this one, it’s a very simply film but it’s sweet. For my pirates out there if you want to find it in good quality with english subtitles it’s VERY hard to find. If you just want to see the looks of it, it’s on Youtube with portugese subs.

We now enter the Gobelins Shorts Zone....!

My Friend Who Glows In The Dark

10/10 makes me cry each time

Pure delight...great animation writing everything. A little short about death and friendship but not in the way you imagine!

Colza

9/10

Visual treat...homely and nice :) not far from a 10 but a 9 because nothing about it is that groundbreaking

Sundown

9/10

If you’ve ever been ten minutes from failing a group project because of a single dude you will REALLY enjoy this. Loved the colors and personality

T’as vendu mes rollers?

10/10

It’s SUCH a sweet little short I loved that one so much

Dix-huit kilomètres trois

10/10

Surprisingly well written dialog. Visuals are great but the humanity of the characters carries this to another level

Un diable dans la poche

9/10

Amazing visuals and the most tense/creepy of Gobelin shorts i’ve ever seen. Chilling

La bestia

8/10

I had some issues with the pacing. Interesting story and visuals choices but I was not fond of the art style

Goodbye Robin

5/10

Confusing but predictable. Both at once??? Yes!

Le retour des vagues

6/10

Cool animation stuff but felt pretty pointless

                                                                ***

Part Two: Things I rewatched

Ruben Brandt: Collector

Movie, 2018, Hungarian

10/10. Underrated as hell

Watched this fully blind for the first time in an animated festival and rewatched it with friends. It’s a crime I never see anyone talking about it given the amount of whining I see about the lack of both adult animation and 2D movies? This film is a unique love letter to art in the form of a weird mix of charming crime story and psychological horror with amazing visuals. I recommend watching it blind and also buying it to show appreciation for how nice it is!!! WATCH THIS MOVIE...

Mononoke

Series, 2007, Japanese

10/10 Visual/storytelling masterpiece in the weird shit departement

If you can stomach intense stuff watch this. The visuals are incredibly unique and beautiful and under the jewel tones and art direction high takes it’s a really cool horror series. My only obstacle to enjoying it the first time I saw it was how dense it is - simply put, it’s so...culturally Japanese it’s not very accessible to me who doesn’t know anything about the culture? Watching it for the second time helped understanding the stories more! 

Corto Maltese in Siberia

Movie, 2002, french

9/10 but really close to ten. A great adaptation!

I’m a huge fan of the original comic so I entered this a biiiittttt suspicious it would suck but it was a really pleasant surprise! It has all the wonder and charm of the original and the animation was surprisingly good for the little budget. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s a sort of geopolitical action/adventure movie but with it’s own really poetic vibe to it. It’s almost impossible to find online but happens to be fully on YouTube so go ham I guess?

Redline

Movie, 2009, Japanese

10/10 cinema was invented for this, actually

Every review of this movie i’ve seen gives it five stars and starts by talking about how immensly stupid it is. I’m no different. It’s a masterpiece of escalating energy with the depth of a puddle and it fucking rules. It’s free on YouTube too so there really is no excuse to not watch it. Watched it for the first time on a huge cinema screen and despite this my second rewatch on my small laptop was as/even more enjoyable. If you watch this stoned with friends you might travel to another dimension

Spirited Away

Movie, 2001, Japan

10/10 deserves the love it gets

I watched this a single time as a kid and had little memory of it! I mean it’s Ghibli you know it’s going to be good as hell but this one rly shines in how colorful and detailed it is and in it’s world! It made me remember I had a huge crush on the dragonboy as a kid. I’m gay now

Kung-fu Panda (1&2)

Movie, Usa

10/10. KFP fucking rules

Honestly my favorite franchise of the whole disney/dreamworks/pixar hydra. It’s fun as hell, doesn’t skip a single beat and has amazing animation and character designs. If something is a good time I will not care if it’s deep or not and boy I fucking love these movies

Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas

Movie, 2003, Usa

5/10 Some great some really bad and overall generic

I tend to hate american cinema and this includes that era of animation I have no nostalgia for. Sinbad is in a weird place because I love adventure stories and the visuals of the movie absolutely deliver but it’s very predictable and TANKED by the addition of the female character, pushed in your face as “look we have woman!!!” despite her writing being misogynistic as hell lol. The evil goddess rules tho. This movie would have been a solid 9 if instead of the girl the two dudes had kissed

[fantasy-pens]

from the posts on your blog I know you're more of a lukanette fan, so i wanted to ask what your take was on the new york special as a whole. And also on the smol lukanette scene in there. Was it satisfactory? I want to know what you think.

Ooo that is really an interesting question! I’m so glad you asked!

So yes, that’s true I’m a Lukanette fan, and a relatively newer one to be honest! I mean, I always have been in support of the ship since Silencer aired (before that, I was a hardcore LS shipper, and actually hated Luka!), and season 3 just gave me more and more reasons to ship it, especially with the finale. Secondly, I know I say this a lot, but Marinette’s dilemma is something I feel on a personal level. Unrequited feelings suck for real, especially when the person you love is oblivious as hell (mine asked me opinions on a girl he wished to pursue, a girl who hated my guts, so double fun, haha!)

I ship Lukanette ‘cause in my honest opinion, at the moment it is one of those ships that actually give Marinette a room to breathe. Like, with the responsibilities of not only a class of approximately 15 students (I don’t remember the exact number in Ms. Bustier’s class) but also an entire freaking city and a bunch of magical beings on her shoulders, Marinette is just… squashed. Like, I absolutely feel like fainting when I barely manage to juggle with (prior) school stuff, domestic chores and projects and hobbies and teenage life, and this girl does that all PLUS saving a city at odd hours. I just… can’t even imagine what burden she is facing.

Luka is someone who actually loves her right now, who understands her feelings and most importantly, is NOT pushing her to pursue her feelings. He wants her to be calm, to be relaxed, to go with the flow. He doesn’t know about her double life, but he sees the frenzy she’s in, and does his absolute best to support her in every way possible. This is something that Chat does for Ladybug too, but then again, Chat is a bit persuasive (according to s3) about his romantic feelings, which pulls him down by a notch and Luka simply wins.

That’s why I ship. Cause I see myself in Marinette. And I basically feel like being with Luka is going to be a lot calming on her. Having someone who understands you, platonically or romantically, can do wonders to your life. (My mom is one such person, and thanks to her I’m actually able to deal with all the teenage drama in her life, she’s my real pillar <3) I’ve never been in an actual relationship, but the values I place an ideal relationship on is what I see in Lukanette: trust, harmony, mutual understanding. It’s like Luka is the calm Marinette’s frenzy really needs right now.

Coming to the main question, season 3 and NYC special were an absolute delight for me! Given I still have to rewatch the special once more thanks to my bad internet, I still got the gist and I must say, the work done on the storyline is commendable. I basically seek after ML not for the ships, but for the feelings they involve. Like for me, season 1 and season 2 paled a bit even if they had more Adrinette and LS moments -- the feelings sometimes didn’t hit me. Season 3 showed me what I wanted to see -- Marinette feeling the burden of being a superhero, someone actually being there to listen to her, Marinette’s feeling of betrayal when her friends sought after Lila and then Chat Blanc… Do I even need to say anything about it? Chat Blanc just kills me everytime I watch it.

The NYC special has its small Lukanette moment, and sure, a little part of me was disappointed at first that Marinette still was pining after Adrien. But then I realised, my girl is doing her work. She’s trying to move on with her feelings and she’s doing her best at it. As Adrien said, “The heart wants what it wants.” And I totally agree. I love the special from Adrien’s story arc-- it made me totally emotional. I loved it from Marinette’s arc -- the way she’s trying to move on yet being pulled back by her feelings, the way she feels her trust being betrayed by Chat but then realises his importance and as an ML fan, I absolutely support it.

And I love the Lukanette scene too, no matter how small. Luka’s care for Marinette, how he puts his feelings aside and wants her to “get clarity in her feelings”, it’s just… so heart warming and heart wrenching at the same time. My boi’s doing his best and I love it.

Honestly, I won’t be much dejected if Lukanette is not endgame. I mean… all Marinette needs is someone to care for her and to listen to her. She needs someone not to guide her how to do things, but to lead her about the same, to be the constant pillar of support whether she succeeds or fails (Heart Hunter ending) and right now, Luka presents as the best option. Even if they give each other a chance and part on amicable terms, I would be simply satisfied. After all, all I want is that all the characters remain happy in the show, even if they are not together as they are fated to be.

I hope I answered your question, anon! And so much love for dropping this wonderful ask in my inbox and going through my posts!! I hope you have an extremely nice day and future!

[jurijurijurious]

I was tagged in a meme by @thisbluespirit! Thank you!

Last song listened to: “My War” from Attack on Titan. I absolutely hated this song when I first heard it, then it grew on me and now I adore it. It has the usual slightly nonsensical anime lyrics but it’s catch AF. I have listened to very little but AoT soundtracks for weeks...

Last film watched: It was “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” last week when I was away. I constantly need to refresh myself on the Elizabeth films whilst I’m trying to write my stupid fic, I dread to think how many times I’ve watched each of them, particularly the first one which is my all. The film I watched before that though was “Carol” starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara and I loved it, such a beautiful, natural love story. I can’t believe I haven’t seen it before now.

Currently reading: I’m making my way through the final few mangas of “Attack on Titan” as I simply can’t wait until 2022 to find out what happens when the final episodes of the anime air; the anime seems to be super faithful to the manga which is cool, I imagine what I read will be what I watch next year. It is slowly destroying my soul as I get nearer the end though. I have also just finished “The Red Prince”, the most recent biography of John o’ Gaunt, which was super readable if a little dramatic in places with its scene setting and stuff. Today I have received a second hand copy of the novelisation of “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (TGA again? I hear you sigh...) in the post so I may start on that soon, but I also want to get started on “Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders” by Nathen Amin. Or I may just start them both at once, nothing like multiple books on the go.

Currently watching: “The Tudors”. I have been trying, half-heartedly, to watch the entire 4 seasons of this literal shit-show for years and have rarely made it far past season 1 since why would you watch once Sam Neill’s Wolsey has gone? I can proudly say I have got further than ever before and am currently on episode 9 of season 2! Though this show gives me whiplash, like the way it choses to depict things, and the random dramatic falsehoods it makes up, hurt my brain. But never mind. I had started to fixate on Northam’s Thomas More once Wolsey had gone but now he’s dead too and I don’t like anyone else. It’s such trash but entertaining enough, I guess. Not quite as trashy as “Reign” but it’s not difficult to rise above that. (Also, I am curious, does any man actually make the sounds Rhys-Meyer’s Henry does when he comes? What the actual... I’d be laughing at him.) I am also trying to watch “The Borgias” again after multiple failings but only made it to episode 3 before I thought “let’s concentrate on one trash can fire at a time”. I’ll come back to that one...

Current craving: That’s a broad question. I crave GR’s Walsingham, always. ;) Australia is a big craving, the worse because I’m not allowed to go there right now since the world being gripped in the pandemic as it is. Or if you want a tedious answer, I’m at an age where a good night’s sleep sounds mint, I crave that every day.

Tagging: As always, this isn’t an obligation, but if ye fancy it: @robins-treasure @captainofthegreenpeas @macpye @the-mcguffin @severinsnape @beardofkamenev

[seyaryminamoto]

(1/2) What if the reason Bryke left was because Netflix wanted to give Azula a redemption arc? Or maybe somebody wanted to change the first scene of the show so that Katara wasn't with Sokka when he went fishing and so Aang wasn't unfrozen until years later... *whistles innocently* And they realized this route would allow them to make a longer series, meaning more content, meaning more profit. Jokes aside, I realize both of these options are 99% not the reason Bryke left, but imagine if...

(2/2) they were? Like, how funny would that be? Well, the latter possibility would be sort of funny, while the former would be somewhat depressing actually. Anyway, I'm surprised how many people are complaining about Bryke's departure. From what I've seen, people primarily shit on them and any praise in regards to ATLA goes to other writers/artists. I already didn't have any high expectations out of the live-action version, but this latest development didn't really worsen them much.

x’D not wrong about the second option being hilarious, though I’d hope I’d have heard something about it, if just out of sheer decency by Netflix to contact the cruel mind behind not sending Sokka fishing with Katara... (?)

Anyways, Bryke’s involvement in ATLA’s writing is often up-played by casual viewers, and downplayed by hardcore fans. There’s no sure way to know how much work they did on ATLA’s writing, seeing as there’s a fair amount of reports that suggest Aaron Ehasz, imposed on Bryke by Nickelodeon, reeled the story into what it became. I’ve even seen people claiming Bryke’s original ending would have featured Aang leaving Katara and Sokka behind while flying off to find more airbenders after the show ended. Not half as feel-good an ending as the show’s, right? Then there’s also reports that male!Toph was going to be in a love triangle with Katara and Aang... adding Zuko to the mix, as he often was added by extra ATLA content, Katara was likely to have three possible love interests, if Bryke had gone forward with this? Considering how Korra outright had three different love interests in ALL the members of her gang, this doesn’t sound like that outlandish a claim, whether there’s real sources for it or not. If they were willing to do it with Korra, I’d believe they’d have done it with Katara.

Ehasz is indeed credited for female!Toph and Azula, in the art book (I think) Bryke are outright featured saying Ehasz is the main artificer behind Azula being who she was, rather than Zuko’s older brother (Bryke’s original concept for her character). With this in mind, when Ehasz comes out and claims that, in a hypothetical book 4, he would have redeemed Azula to also finish Zuko’s personal character arc, and then Bryke show up claiming there NEVER was a book 4 possibility, you get a clearer understanding of where Bryke are likely standing in regards of Azula’s redemption :’) if that’s what Netflix wanted (... though I question they’d have pitched it since the get-go), it’d be no surprise that Bryke wouldn��t hear of it.

There’s no denying Bryke had interesting ideas, and that they worked to build a pretty complex world, but we cannot know how much of that world was solely their doing, and how much of it was also created by the input of the larger team of writers involved in ATLA’s original show. LOK, on the other hand, features a clusterfuck of worldbuilding that doesn’t always make sense, including no shortage of retcons (not only of pre-existing lore, LOK even retcons itself up to three times regarding explaining why and who decided to keep Korra in a compound for most her formative years), terribly written romance (whenever it’s written), poor storytelling decisions that outright derrailed their show and even turned their protagonist into the B-plot for the bulk of the final season... and what a coincidence that this time Bryke had no one breathing down their necks telling them what to do: they had a lot more creative freedom in LOK than in ATLA. There was no Nickelodeon imposed Head Writer, and they didn’t bring Ehasz back of their own volition. Whether because Ehasz isn’t that great to work with or because Bryke simply didn’t want anyone else to poke their noses into THEIR story, Bryke didn’t want any supervision over LOK. And as many loud fans as LOK may have, LOK’s storytelling quality simply doesn’t measure up to ATLA’s, and I refuse to blame Nickelodeon for that when all evidence indicates Bryke had no idea what they wanted for Korra in the first place.

What I’m saying is... Bryke do seem to benefit from having someone else reeling in their ideas, probably providing genuine structure, making them seriously reason with WHERE they’re taking the story. This, going by ATLA’s much clearer structure, is something I’m willing to believe Ehasz offered, and something Bryke lacked, by their own volition, in LOK. It’s also something they lack in the comics, seeing as, up to date, they haven’t done anything in them that really lives up to their potential, as far as I know. “The comics don’t have any direction and aren’t advancing their world’s story” has become a far more frequent complaint with each newly announced and released comic volume, whether by supportive or antagonistic fans. Why might that be...?

It’s possible, of course, that Netflix’s team simply isn’t the kind of team Bryke can work with positively. Maybe they’re too stiff, maybe they’re not that creative, maybe they’re unable to compromise and it’s not all on Bryke?

But with the precedent Bryke has set (ATLA, with supervision, manages quality storytelling, despite its many flaws, whereas LOK, without it, is a storytelling failure), I wouldn’t be surprised that they were outright unwililng to compromise their own ideas after experiencing the full freedom of working on LOK without anyone telling them what to do, and that upon finding they wouldn’t have that same freedom this time, they quit. 

Does this mean the show will automatically be better or worse? Eh... beats me, frankly. There’s no denying Bryke did endeavor to develop a large, unique world with the Avatarverse, but as much as the fandom believes otherwise, what made the Avatar world unique wasn’t merely that it wasn’t “white”. This particular qualm by the fandom feels really narrowminded to me, and I’m not saying this because I believe there should be white people in Avatar, hell no: what I do mean is that ATLA had an Asian setting, but the narrative frequently imposed western values on it. They recreated many elements of Asian cultures, but morally? ATLA couldn’t be more western. Is that a good or a bad thing? Beats me. But there’s a lot of occidental influence in ATLA’s narrative, even more of it in LOK, and that somehow doesn’t bother people nearly as much as it bothers them that the liveaction cast isn’t western in the least. Yes, it’s true, the cast shouldn’t be western: but there are many regards in which the original ATLA could pioneer a better understanding of many Asian cultures, and it doesn’t. Even something as complex as the Fire Nation’s cultural practices (no, I don’t mean the genocide and supermacy, I mean everything else) is outright blasted by the show’s western moralism from the get-go rather than seen as what a different culture values (already offered a few thoughts about this on this other ask).

Therefore, in terms of casting, which seems the main concern of the bulk of the fandom, I highly doubt Netflix will be willing to repeat the same mistake M. Night’s fiasco committed. They can’t be that stupid. They’ve done a lot of big diversity efforts in the past, whether insincere or not, in many regards, so I seriously doubt they need Bryke sitting in the casting booth repeating “NO WHITE ACTORS! NO WHITE ACTORS!” to the top of their lungs to remind Netflix's executives that this just can’t happen. Seriously, if that’s what their input for the show was supposed to be about, Netflix was better off saving up the money of hiring those two as main consultants or executives and using that coin to pay the likely lousy salaries of the non-white actors they’ll surely hire :’) I doubt, seriously, that Bryke’s problem had anything to do with white casting. If Netflix entered this deal and didn’t do their homework first, then they’re basically dooming themselves since day one and the show would suck with or without Bryke’s involvement. This is not impossible, but really stupid, and an absolutely failed business venture to jump into.

In the end, I don’t know what that liveaction will shape up into. I don’t exactly care much either, which is why I didn’t really debate this subject before answering this ask... I’m pretty detached from canon these days, as things stand. I can’t even bring myself up to reading the plot of the Kyoshi novels, no matter if people keep telling me they’re ~actually good!~, let alone will I want to rewatch ATLA in liveaction when I’ve become increasingly infuriated by liveaction remakes with each new one Disney releases :’) from the moment it was announced, I knew this remake wouldn’t be for me. It’s not likely they’ll do anything with it that I’ll really want to see, or that they’ll change things in a way that resolves my frequent complaints about the show’s storytelling mishaps. Therefore, I’d always meant to leave it be and let everyone else enjoy it...

... And Bryke’s absence from the project doesn’t really change my mind on that front. At this point, crediting them for the entire success of ATLA is incredibly naïve, especially seeing how none of their later projects have even come close to ATLA’s level of storytelling quality. Likewise, it’d be naïve to assume Netflix is guaranteed to do better without Bryke’s “meddling”. If anything, without Bryke’s likely persistence that the show be kept close to its roots, Netflix is bound to fall into its frequent, known tendencies of pandering to certain crowds at the cost of quality storytelling because Hollywood overused and bad tropes are where success is at! They’ll likely flatten characters, turn them into edgy, non-humorous versions of themselves, not unlike in M. Night’s film, and then everyone will hate the show anyways for offering such dull and simplistic characterization compared to the original :’)

In short... there’s no winning scenario. There really isn’t. I assumed there wouldn’t be one anyhow, from the get-go, at least for myself? But now that Bryke are out, the fandom is divided in about four factions: 

The ones who will watch and support the liveaction no matter what.

The ones who think it will suck balls because Bryke aren’t in it.

The ones who think it will be an improvement because Bryke aren’t in it.

The ones who won’t watch it no matter what.

Me... I’ve been in camp #4 from the start. Bryke being part of this project didn’t reassure me, neither does their absence... and I’m still as convinced this show won’t be my thing today as I was when it was first announced. So... *shrug* we live and let die. I mean, first of all we have to wait and see if the show’s production will even survive the pandemic first, so we can worry about how bad or good it will be if Bryke’s departure + COVID-19 didn’t destroy it altogether already :’D

[mariisseething]

Top 5: Who Could Beat Bakugou?

I’m kind of obsessed with over-analyzing My Hero Academia, so here you go. Prime insanity.

Note: I am only using STUDENTS in this list! (From any school we’ve seen).

Technically speaking, Bakugou has never been beaten in a fight. During the training exercise in Season 1, he and Iida were outsmarted by Midoriya and Uraraka, but I’ve decided not to count that as a victory won in a fight. So yeah, he’s a strong little gremlin! But who could/can beat him under the correct circumstances.......

#5. Yaoyorozu Momo

It’s rather difficult to gauge whether or not Bakugou would be a tough match-up for her, as we’ve never seen them engaged in a conflict. But due to the vast range of her quirk, I firmly believe Momo has the capability to beat Bakugou in a one-on-one battle. The only set back being her confidence issues. As we saw in her and Todoroki’s fight against Aizawa in the second half of Season 2, Momo tends to lose confidence at the worst possible moment. I think Aizawa summed it up pretty well by saying, “She’s decided that he’s (Todoroki) better than her, and has begun to doubt herself.” And since most problems in life don’t just vanish, I’d say she still struggles with that.

Nevertheless, Momo has the ability to focus primarily on defense while Bakugou tires himself out on the offense. We don’t know exactly where she placed in the recommendation exam (since we only saw a glimpse of the boy’s exam during Inasa and Todoroki’s fight in the second half of Season 3), but it’s safe to say she scored within the top three spots. Especially since the exam looked like something right up her alley!

#4. Shinsou Hitoshi

(Now this is a match-up I would LOVE to see)!

It’s no secret that Bakugou Katsuki is easily provoked, and provoking people is a prime aspect of Shinsou’s quirk. When a person knows what his quirk is, his only choice is to get under their skin. (Which we saw him do during his fight with Midoriya at the sports festival). And he seems to be rather good at it too. Ojiro hammered Midoriya on NOT answering any of Shinsou’s questions, which he did almost immediately. Imagine if that’d been Bakugou instead of Midoriya, the reaction would have been 10x faster.

The only issue I can foresee with this match-up is Bakugou going all in at the beginning. Since Shinsou’s quirk is not showy, Bakugou could decimate him in like thirty seconds flat. That’s why, if Shinsou wanted to beat him, he would need to work on hitting him where it hurts, and dodging attacks. Which would most likely prove difficult, considering Bakugou’s quirk covers much more ground than Midoriya’s, for instance.

These two are a great match-up in my opinion, because they test each other’s biggest weakness. Shinsou’s being physical attacks, and Bakugou’s being anger management. In one of the last episodes of Season 3, we are informed that Shinsou has “bulked up”, meaning he has been working on physical training.

#3. Kirishima Eijirou

Kirishima is is one of the only people who I believe Bakugou would tolerate being beaten by. As we know, Katsuki considers Eijirou to be his equal, and wouldn’t be too hurt if he lost in a fight with him.

During the sports festival, Bakugou beats Kirishima in their bracket fight. He seems satisfied with his win, because he feels like Kirishima put his best foot forward. And he really did use all of his power during that battle, but since then, he has significantly improved.

In either volume 15 or 16 of the manga, (I’m not sure), Kirishima develops a new ultimate move during a street fight with a villain hyped up on “quirk steroids”. This move is called his “Unbreakable” form. (Note that this move was only made possible by Bakugou’s encouraging, supportive words). If Kirishima had had his Unbreakable form during the sports festival arc, he would have beaten Bakugou fair and square.

Not to say that Bakugou hasn’t also gotten stronger, but unlike Kiri he doesn’t have the ability to “power-up” even further. Which is simply due to the different nature of their quirks.

In addition, during Kirishima’s backstory retelling in the manga, we find out that he actually placed second in the U.A. entrance exams! Though he did not beat Bakugou, his score was much more well rounded than the latter. Meaning he had nearly an equal amount of rescue and defeat points, whereas Bakugou did not have ANY rescue points.

This match-up has very promising results.

#2. Midoriya Izuku

In Deku vs. Kacchan Part 2, Bakugou declares himself the victor of a match that I would personally define as a draw. I’m going to be quite blunt and just say it, Midoriya is stronger than Bakugou. It’s not too shocking, especially when you consider that Deku is the protagonist. The only reason he didn’t beat Bakugou in their most recent animated fight is because he had to repress his full power, i.e. “One For All, 5%”!

With Izuku’s handicap in mind, consider the main reason Bakugou struggles to beat the prior. Midoriya makes him angry. Depending on the exact nature of his emotions, Bakugou’s performance varies from an irrefutable victory to a slippery, emotion-heavy defeat. Battles with Deku tend to lean towards the slippery, emotion-heavy defeat outcome.

Deku is rather empathetic, thus he feels bad when Bakugou can’t fight like his normal self due to emotional turmoil. Or, in simpler terms, he has a soft spot for his rival. Though Izuku is not immune to the same type of emotional turmoil, he is much better at working through it. Bakugou gave Midoriya one of his greatest strengths, emotional intelligence and control. His relentless bullying of Deku as a child and pre-teen resulted in the latter retaining a strong grasp on his feelings. In parallel, Bakugou did not prepare for these struggles since he was coddled and praised for everything he did.

Midoriya can absolutely beat Bakugou, he just needs to work on not literally killing him in order to do it.

Honorable Mentions:

~Monoma Neito~

During the sports festival, Monoma seriously misjudged Bakugou by picking a fight with him. Due to his lack of knowledge on his opponent, Neito lost. Had he known what buttons to push, he could have beaten Katsuki with his own quirk.

(Which would have been pretty badass, let’s be honest).

~Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu~

Based on what we know about Tetsutetsu, which is not much, he might be able to defeat Bakugou. Though his and Kirishima’s quirks are ridiculously similar, Kiri has something that Tetsu doesn’t. His special move.

I couldn’t omit him from the list entirely since he Kirishima are on just about the same level. And besides, Tetsutetsu placed in the Top 10 during the entrance exam.

~Inasa Yoarashi~

Since he placed first in the recommendation exam, I had to include him. Theoretically he could beat Bakugou, but scientifically he would fail miserably. As we all know, heat makes air rise. But more importantly, air makes nitroglycerin EVEN MORE explosive. Inasa would most likely end up fueling Bakugou’s quirk and scoring on himself.

(I honestly just put him in the honorable mentions so I could talk about science, because science is cool).

~Mirio Togata~

Considering Mirio is in the running for #1 Hero, he could probably beat Bakugou instantly. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get to see Katsuki test his skills against Togata. His skill is truly unparalleled by any other student, but sadly this match-up is no longer plausible. Maybe in another timeline :(

#1. Todoroki Shoto

This kind of goes without saying, honestly. Yes, Bakugou beat Todoroki in the sports festival, but that was due to Shoto not putting in his best effort. Had he fought the way he did with Midoriya, I have no doubt that he would have beaten Bakugou. And Katsuki knew this too.

Since the sports festival arc, Todoroki has worked hard at overcoming his childhood trauma, and even though I’m sure this will become a problem again in the future, for the time being he’s free from emotional distress. Also, placing second in the recommendation exam is nothing to scoff at.

Bakugou is beginning to view Todoroki as an equal, like he does with Kirishima, so someday being defeated by Shoto might not seem as painful as it is now.

Unlike with Midoriya, I believe that Todoroki and Bakugou are equal in terms of power. So I could imagine their victories against each other flip-flopping all over the place.

Shoto earned the #1 spot because currently, in the manga, he is the most likely to beat Katsuki.

[kyufiber-moved]

do you have any web kdrama recs? I'll do a trade and recommend Banana Actually- the whole series is 20 minutes long (at most) very good, digestible, and has some ~good~ kiss scenes.

i’ll check it out!! i do have lots of webdrama recs hehe ^^ i recommended most of them yesterday but here is a larger list of only webdramas !! it’s kinda long, so i put a keep reading !!

like- a korean webdrama that you can find on youtube starring kim yu an, kim kangmin (maybe, maybe not), yoo jungwoo (love after school), and seo ji hye- about a group of students who create a film club to make youtube videos and the dumb shit they get into, plus there’s some romance, betrayal, and fuckboys.- so so so so cute honestly. the dynamic between the characters of the club is so cute and funny, plus the love triangle has me wheezing. also the asshole fuckboy gets what he deserves which is super satisfying. it hasn’t finished airing yet, but so far it’s really cute

failing in love- korean webdrama  you can find on youtube starring son sang yeon (triple fling), yang hye ji, and shin yoon seop- about a group of high schoolers who deal with falling in love, crushes, rejection, etc.- ok so the summary i gave was pretty vague but that’s because any more and i’d be exposing the whole plot. there is humor and fluff but also teenage angst, and the characters are all more complex than they first appear. i would highly recommend this show !!!

want more 19- a short webdrama you can find on youtube starring jung ha joon, sin gi hwan,  jeon yoo rim, nam yoon soo, and lee jungha- a story of 5 friends in high school. A mutual crush, a one-sided love, and a rough patch for sweethearts, all taking place right around the end their senior year- OH GOD i can’t breathe this drama is so cute. it had me squealing every single episode, and it’s very lighthearted with hardly any angst

triple fling (s1)- a short choose-your-own-ending  korean webdrama on youtube starring jung bomin, son sangyeon (failing in love), themanblk’s jeongyou, and themanblk’s eom sewoong- lee sehee accidentally becomes friends with the three most popular boys in school and ends up in a love square with them- alright im whipped for stuff like this so naturally i loved it. i also really liked how viewers could choose their own ending as for which boy she chose. there is a second season that i haven’t seen yet that focuses on another girl in ANOTHER love square (containing one of the guys from sehee’s love square) in which it shows which boy she actually did choose (and it was my favorite so . yay!)

when you love yourself (s1)- a short webdrama you can find on youtube starring jung mingyu (sweet revenge 2) and saet byeol .- about a girl who is heavier than her classmates who struggles with self-love and self-acceptance, and along the way finds love- god. i can’t even explain how much i loved this drama. the message is wonderful and there’s no moment where she glows up and loses weight and then gets the guy’s attention or anything: he simply loves her as who she is, no matter what weight she is, and is supportive. there’s also an episode that focuses on the queen bee girl who also struggles with weight and self-love and it’s just beautiful

my woofy poofy love / my dog-like dating- a short korean webdrama you can find on youtube starring chae ji an and kim do hoon (your imagination becomes reality)- a girl who has recently been cruelly dumped by her boyfriend brings a stray dog back to her home and wakes up to find that instead of a dog, there is a man! she happens to be looking for a roommate, and so this man (who can turn into a dog) becomes her new housemate- literally adorable. female lead is stunning and the relationship is so cute and fluffy and innocent, but the kiss is steamy as hell.

ok to be sensitive (s1)- a webdrama you can find on youtube starring kim da ye and kim youngdae (extraordinary you) and others im too lazy to put- focuses on feminist issues like sexism and sexual harassment in a college setting, which each episode focusing on one particular incident and the characters dealing with it- listen so like . this show had me emotional at some points bc of how amazing the message was. it dealt with sexual harassment, sexism, how females are expected to act, stalking, pressure to have sex… etc and basically every episode was like . you can stand up for yourself. you don’t have to “take it” just bc you’re a female, etc. also there was really cute romance uwu

ok to be sensitive (s2)- season 2 of otbs, also can be found on youtube, starring yoo hye in and lee shin young, as well as others but again im too lazy to list them all- same thing as season 1, but a different cast of main characters, and set in an office workplace. (original cast makes a cameo at the end)- the issues in season 2 were definitely a bit darker because it was set in a work place, where the main characters were worried about getting fired if they stood up for themselves, but the way things were handled was really admirable imo. also the male lead in this one is ABSOLUTELY adorable

go back diary- a 4 episode webdrama you can find on youtube starring kim ye ji and lee jong won (jaemin’s webdrama how to hate you)- about a boy who sees a girl at a karaoke bar (?) and instantly develops a crush on her. she then transfers to his school, and it tells the story of their love story after 10 years.- i’ll just say it right now. the whole drama was adorable except for the ending, which fucking sucked. literally was horrible. boycott episode 4 pls i was SO UPSET. otherwise, great webdrama

love after school (s1)- korean webdrama that can be found on youtube starring park so eun and yoo jungwoo (like)- about a couple who fell in love in high school and their story, told from 5 years later when they meet again- i love love love this bitch. LOVE. season 2 … we won’t speak of her lol. but season 1 is super cute and the ???? kiss at the end(ish)??? DEAD. literally anything with yoo jungwoo will destroy me but omg. it was fantastic

maybe, maybe not- a webdrama starring kim kangmin (like) and gong yoorim- a girl who can read minds and is an outside bc she knows what everyone is really thinking meets a guy that she can’t read the mind of- so fluffy. so cute. oh god. pls watch it’s so soft and cute

what to do with you- a korean webdrama - that is actually literally an ad for a facemask - starring lee hayoung and kim youngdae (extraordinary you)- saerom and geun are friends, but it feels like they’re something more. will they ever take the next step?- yeah this webdrama is super cute and that’s really all lol. also the bitchy girl in love after school is the best friend in this one oho

your imagination becomes reality- a webdrama that can be found on youtube starring oh se young, kim dohoon (my woofy poofy love), and jin ho eun- soram has a crush on a mysterious upperclassman, and wishes to see him again: she does, soon after. each time she makes a wish, it seems to magically come true. - yeah so like . it’s not a supernatural thing or anything, it’s just a cute college romance that’s basically every girl with a crush’s dream lol~! 

crushes reverse- webdrama on youtube starring kim shi eun (miss independant jieun s2) and jung hyojun- yoo somi has a huge crush on her older sister’s longtime boyfriend, and her best friend at school happens to be his younger brother- i find the beginning hard to watch bc of the second hand embarrassment i feel when i do watch it but . it has a super cute ending and the main girl reminds me of shin hye sun so much it’s wack 

how to hate you- webdrama starring nct’s jaemin, jim ji in (extraordinary you), lee jongwon (go back diary), and kim yoojin- oh miri meets her ideal type while working as a part-timer, but right before she’s about to confess, she realizes that he is her best friend’s mystery boyfriend. she asks han daekang, her new friend, to pretend to be her boyfriend for the time being. - the summary i gave was terrible but ITS RLY CUTE . also the main girl in this plays dan oh’s best friend / juda’s bully in extraordinary you and THE CHARACTERS ARE SO INCREDIBLY DIFFERENT DUDE . Legend. anyways its a bit cliche and we dont get any actual lip on lip action but its still cute lol

have a nice dessert! / drunk in good taste- drama special / webdrama starring kim hyanggi (sweet revenge 1; moment at 18) and kim mingyu (just between lovers ((as the crippled best friend’s anti fan turned romantic interest)))- chongnam loves desserts, and even has an instagram dedicated to taking photos of various deserts she eats. when her college life starts, she mistakes a classmate as an upperclassman, only to find out they’re the same age, and they become friends- listen . this shit was adorable. as when every single kim hyanggi drama, the kisses are cardboard flat and terrible but ! BUT ! the couple is super cute

a-teen (s1 & s2)- 2 season webdrama starring april’s naeun, shin yeeun (he is psychometric), shin seungho, kim donghee, kim soohyun, and ryu euihyun- about a group of friends who go through various troubles and grow closer as a group, as well as fall in love- ok so ... technically i haven’t even finished season 1 yet but !!! i know it’s a good show bc i did watch a lot of it !! plus in s1 episode 20 at 10:35 there’s a nomin cameo LOL SJKFSD there’s also a webdrama called “the guilty secret” i haven’t watched yet starring victon’s subin and others that is set at the same school as a-teen 1 and 2 and features the original cast in cameos !!

i have 3 boyfriends / boyfri3nds- short webdrama you can find on youtube starring kim ji eun, park sungwoo (produce 101 season 2 [that 30 year old dude who danced to rain’s song OMG], moon jihoo, and lee jungsik- when la hi gets in a car accident and wakes up with amnesia she finds that she has 3 men all claiming to be her boyfriend.- OK LISTEN . this show is so funny and cute. let me just say: you MUST watch to the end. that’s all i’ll say. pLS WATCH

lily fever- a short webdrama starring kim hyeyoon (just between lovers) and jung yeonjoo (witch’s romance)- kyungju needs her passport back, which her ex boyfriend has, but it turns out he left it at a friend’s place. when she arrives, the friend is leaving but says she can go inside: just be mindful of the houseguest inside...- yeah this is lesbian as fuck . it has like . hardly any plot, has a shit ton of crackheadery, and lots of STEAMY AS FUCK kisses. it literally makes like no sense though skdfksjd but if ur in the mood for some easy to watch girl pairing stuff, this is it my dude ! 

[let-it-raines]

Catch Me If You Can (4/?)

298 days. That’s how long Killian Jones was away from a baseball field. It’s less than a year, only part of a season for him, but it might as well have lasted a decade as he alternated between physical therapy and spending an excessive amount of time sitting on his couch.

But then he came back and won the World Series. 

It’s something no one saw coming, and it’s certainly not something anyone who knows about his arm would predict. Now it’s a new season with new possibilities, and anything could happen. On-field reporter Emma Swan will be there to cover it all even if she is not his biggest fan right now. 

Asking her out live on-air will do that.

Rating: Mature

A/N: As always, thank you to @resident-of-storybrooke for the time that she takes to read through this for me, pick up on my little mistakes, and then flail in the comments💙 And thank you to you guys for clicking on this story and all of my other stories! It absolutely blows my mind!

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

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Tag list: @royalswan @shey-starsfury @sals86 @iam2307 @ashley-knightingale @snowbellewells @karenfrommisthaven @skyewardolicitycloisdelena91 @scientificapricot @captswanis4vr @emmas-storybook @ultimiflos @jamif @idristardis @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @tiganasummertree @wellhellotragic @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @mayquita @captainsjedi @teamhook @kmomof4 @ekr032-blog-blog @ultraluckycatnd @cs-forlife @andiirivera @jonirobinson64 @mariakov81 @galaxyzxstark @qualitycoffeethings @thejollyroger-writer

-/-

He has two cakes cooling on racks in his kitchen.

Two.

He thought about making three.

Killian’s not exactly sure when he turned into Betty Crocker – okay, that’s a lie since he knows it was during his injury when he couldn’t do much of anything but hang around his apartment, watch old tapes, and feed himself – but if it doesn’t stop soon, he’s going to have to go up a size in his uniform. He refuses to be one of those players who have a beer belly.

Absolutely refuses.

So instead he’s going to have a coffee and coconut cake belly. Not together, obviously.

They’re separate cakes, though they could go together…no, those two should stay separate.

Definitely.

Why the hell is he having a meltdown right now?

It’s Opening Day, which is undoubtedly one of the greatest days of the year for him, for sports in America, and he is doing anything and everything not to think about it even as he runs over pitches he needs to do against every player on the Orioles, even the ones who aren’t in tonight’s batting lineup.

His calm mind is obviously back in Florida somewhere, probably melting away with the heat and being eaten by an alligator.

How many stereotypes can he think about an entire state all at once?

Probably more, but that’s a road he doesn’t really want to drive down. There’d be too many potholes.

His stomach twists, the nerves radiating over every inch of his flesh, and he wonders if Liam and Elsa will take these cakes off of his hands and turn off the power in his apartment so that he’ll stop stress baking. Honestly, he should have come up with a different hobby while out on injury, but there’s only so much he could do with his non-dominant hand. Even baking or reading or getting pants with a zipper on were full of struggles for those first few weeks.

Becoming an expert in every television show in the past three decades might have been a good idea. Or even taking online courses to see if he can finish out his degree, or, at least, start finishing his degree.

He’s always wanted to do that.

One day.

And maybe he’s anxious about his shoulder for today. Maybe he has razor sharp knots in his stomach because they came back and won the Series last year when they had no business doing that, and this is the first time he’s ever really had to defend something. He’s used to eyes being on him, to pundits watching his stats and debating his skills on their shows, and he’s honestly never given it much thought. What someone behind a desk says has no merit on how he plays on the field, but all of the sudden he’s worried about it all.

His heart may as well be pounding between his ears as loud as the speaker system in Yankee Stadium.

He reaches up to mess with the silver chain around his neck, his mother’s favorite ring cool against his chest, and he tries to take a deep breath. Then another one. His mom would want him to be calm, to think things through. She would tell him that it’s all going to be fine, that he will be fine if he simply calms down.

Every part of him hopes that it’s true.

Every part of him hopes that she’s proud of him.

His phone rings, and he turns off the mixer to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Are you stress baking?” Elsa asks him as he hears Lucy ask for a glass of water in the background. “One moment, sweetie.”

“Aw, I’m your sweetie,” he jokes, swiping some icing from the bowl and boosting himself up to sit on his kitchen counter.

“I’m obviously not talking to you.”

“Obviously.”

“But seriously, are you stress baking?”

“I am making both you and Liam a cake, and it doesn’t have anything to do with stress.”

Elsa sighs on the other end of the line, and he’s not sure if it’s because of him or because she’s trying to get the girls ready for school while also getting ready for work. He knows for a fact that Liam was on call last night, so he either spent the night in the hospital or got up early and left to do rounds. Either way, he’s not home.

“So, you’re currently freaking out then?”

“A little bit.”

“Killian.”

“Elsa.”

“Killian Jones.”

“Elsa Jones.”

“Oh my God.”

“What?” he laughs, flexing out his ankles and moving his toes underneath his socks.

“You are being ridiculous,” she huffs, Addy’s voice coming in through the speakers. “Hold on, Addy wants to talk to you.”

“Uncle Killian,” Addy squeaks, her voice loud in the speaker.

“Addy Jones! What’s up, my girl?”

“Today is Opening Day,” she squeals, and he can’t help but chuckle at the most mature, yet playful five-year-old girl on the planet. “I’m coming to your game tonight.”

“Are you? Are you going to watch the game? Or are you just going to play in the playroom with your friends?”

“I’m going to watch, duh,” she grumbles, and he can imagine her nose scrunching up and making her freckles all blend together. “I’m wearing my Jones jersey. Number twenty-nine.”

He never cared if his name was on the back of a jersey until the rule was changed for names to now be allowed instead of it all being simply numbers. It was just in time for him to get his nieces to wear his, and they’ve been stuffed in oversized jerseys of his since each of the days they were born.

“Hey, that’s what I’m going to wear too.”

“I know. That’s why I’m wearing it, Uncle Killian.”

“I love you, Addy,” he laughs, moving his phone and putting it on speaker so that he doesn’t have to hold it up to his ear. “Can you give the phone back to your mom?”

“I love you too.”

He hears the line disconnect, Addison very obviously having hung up on him, but Elsa’s already calling him back, a picture of her with the girls popping up on his screen, before he can press her contact number.

“Sorry about that,” she sighs. “They’re crazy this morning. I think it’s because they have an uncle who is a pretty big deal, and they’re proud of him. They both have on their jerseys today. Super proud.”

Blush rises to the tips of his ears, and he reaches up to brush his hair back, a few pieces of fringe falling onto his forehead. He had to get it cut last week, the length of it annoying him, but he still doesn’t like for his hair to be too short. Personal preference and all that.

“Well, really, those jerseys have their names on them too.”

“Yes, but it’s yours. Killian, take a deep breath. You’re going to be fine. You’re going to kick ass, really. I know it. Be excited. This is what you love. Remember that?”

“I know,” he smiles, toying with his chain again. “I know.”

“We will all see you tonight after you win, okay?”

“That’s not any pressure at all, El.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

His brother hit every damn jackpot in the world when he met that woman on his first day of residency because he was on the wrong floor to sign in, and she had to show him where to go. He may have looked like an idiot, but he met the love of his life.

It all evens out in the end.

Or so he hopes. He hasn’t quite found that yet, but there’s always that little glimmer of light telling him that.

After all, he hasn’t been struck out quite yet. Then against, it’s been a good while since he was at bat.

The fact that he’s making baseball puns in his head about his failed relationships is deeply disturbing to him, and he can’t quite believe that he’s sunk to this level. At least he’s not thinking about the game.

Oh shit. He’s thinking about the game.

Carefully getting down from the counter, he turns his music on, letting Queen play through the speakers hooked up all throughout his apartment, and gets back to whipping the icing for his coffee cake, figuring that if he focuses on one task at a time, today won’t seem so impossibly long.

And it’s true. He spends his morning working on his cakes, frosting them and putting them away in containers to take to the fields so that he can put one in the management’s office and give another to the ladies who cater for them, knowing that they like them. He’s sure that since he’s not giving them to Liam and Elsa, they’ll actually ask for them this time, but that’s simply a risk that he’s going to have to take.

He’ll have until Wednesday to play again, so it’s not like he won’t have the time to bake some more.

Or pick up another hobby. That’s still a possibility. He should really tackle the stack of books that he has on the shelf in his guest bedroom.

After he puts the cakes in his refrigerator, he walks down the hallway to his bedroom and picks up the basket of laundry that he washed last night and starts folding them, putting away his practice shirts in one pile, his generic workout shirts in another, and hanging his button-downs and henleys in his closet, adjusting a pair of his loafers on their shelf. He doesn’t always think that his apartment is that much of a bachelor pad, but sometimes it hits him how much it is, even if he has more than one bedroom. He’s got plenty of color, even if it’s mostly blues and greens and brown leather with white comforters and pillows. Decorating has never been his thing. Growing up, they didn’t have a lot of decorations, even if his mom’s paintings were on a lot of their walls, and when he was in college, his dorm room was legitimately just a bed with a checkered blue comforter and two pillows, absolutely nothing on the walls.

The height of home décor.

The only reason his place looks nice today is because Elsa’s sister, Anna, is an interior designer, saw his apartment once, and then forced him to go shopping with her the very next day. He swears she tried to max out his credit card on throw pillows. He’ll never understand why anyone needs so many but to each their own.

She did pick out several fantastic blankets, though. He most definitely brings one with him on road trips because it’s that damn comfortable.

He should probably buy another one.

Ariel: Your segment is airing at 3 PM on ESPN. It’s 30 minutes.

Ariel: Do you want to watch it in the clubhouse, or should I try to commandeer a private room for just you and me to watch it in?

Shit.

He nearly forgot about his segment. How the hell could he forget about that? He spent an entire day being filmed for it, a day talking to Emma Swan and letting her ask questions about his private life for him to answer and be aired. She never got to invasive, never asked for anything he would hate to be aired, and since he knows Emma Swan and the integrity that she shows every time she reports, he let Ariel approve the segment without him watching it.

That was probably not his brightest idea.

His teammates are going to give him hell.

They already do, especially when it comes to anything having to do with Emma or any girl that he’s seen with, and he already knows that every single one of them is going to be watching in the clubhouse if they’re not at batting practice or warming up for the game.

God, he hopes they’re all warming up for the game.

He needs to text Will and make sure that he’s ready to warm up with him later, see if he can get Eric to hit a few balls off of him, let him actually pitch to a batter today before the game starts.

So much to do, so little time even though he feels as if time could stretch out forever.

He takes a shower, washing his body down, before getting out and cleaning up his scruff, dressing in his warm up clothes and moving to the kitchen to eat the chicken and spinach he already had cooked and packed away into a container, before grabbing his keys and taking the elevator down to the parking garage, loading up into his car and beginning his drive through the city to the stadium.

Sometimes he thinks about moving closer, about being closer to work so that he’s not constantly in a car or on the train, but he likes his apartment. It’s a good location in the city, only three blocks from Central Park, and honestly, he doesn’t mind the drive out to the stadium. Sometimes he even takes the train, wanting to blend in with the crowd and be normal, even if it means seeing some pretty interesting things that he swears would never happen anywhere else in the world. That’s probably what he should have done today with his headphones and music drowning him out from the world, but instead he’s sitting in traffic and fiddling his thumbs, wishing that he could stretch out his legs as he runs over several plays in his head.

Will is going to signal him tonight. He doesn’t need to do that. He knows want to do, how to do this. He’s been doing it for his entire life, even if he did once play first base instead of being a pitcher.

But that’s all up to dear old dad, and his commanding and overbearing tendencies.

No. He will not go down that road today.

Today is a good day.

And he’s got Addy and Lucy wearing his number as they go to school because they’re proud of him. What more could he possibly ask for out of life? Those girls are the best, and he wants to make them proud. Liam and Elsa too.

His mom as well.

He finally gets to the stadium and pulls into the private parking deck, flashing his ID and parking before going through the tunnels to get to the locker room so that he can do a few stretches and meet with Archie to massage his shoulder while he’s watching the segment. He’ll probably be the most stressed then, and at least that way it can be in private.

Damn. He forgot the cakes at his apartment. How did he do that? He literally looked in the fridge right before he left.

“Jones,” Robin calls out, his mini me following right behind him with his mop of curly hair. “I have been reliably told that your biggest fan is here.”

“My biggest fan?” he laughs. “Would that be a young master Locksley? I thought his dad was his favorite player?”

“He’s not starting, so it’s you,” Roland laughs, running forward and wrapping his arms around his legs, nearly tugging his joggers down. “It’ll be Dad tomorrow.”

“Well okay then.” He squats down to hug Roland, ruffling his hair, before standing back up.

“Good to know that your old man will be your favorite player tomorrow. He might be mine too.”

“What about me?” Will questions, walking through the doors from the locker room, his shirt rolled up to wipe sweat from his brow. “I thought I was always your favorite.”

“You’re all my favorite,” Roland huffs, his nose scrunching up in conversation as he obviously gets frustrated. “Dad is making me go back to school, so I don’t like him right now.”

“Why aren’t you in school, kid?”

“Dentist appointment.” He flashes his teeth. “I didn’t have any cavities.”

“Good job.” Killian holds out his hand, and gives him a high five. “Will? You want to let me practice a few pitches around four?”

“After your girlfriend’s segment? Sure.”

“Not my girlfriend.”

“That’s because she said no.”

“As she had every right to.”

Will shakes his head from side to side, brushing his hands over the slight fuzz that resides on his head. “Listen, I’m just saying. You took your shot, and she shot you down. It was epic.”

“I’m going to peg you with a ball tonight.”

“Dirty.”

“There is a six-year-old in the room,” Robin sing-songs, placing his hands over Roland’s ears. “Roland, say goodbye to your crazy favorite players. You’re going to take your spelling test.”

“Bye,” Roland waves, a cheesy little, non-cavity filled smile on his face. “I’m going to eat a hot dog tonight.”

“I feel like there’s another dirty joke in there,” Will laughs, and everyone cuts their eyes at him, the lovable idiot. “What? Hot dogs are disgusting. That was the dirty joke.”

Okay, maybe just an idiot.

Everyone goes about their business as they warm up for tonight’s game. He runs for thirty minutes, a slow and steady pace, just to loosen up his muscles and make him feel like he’s done something today, before meeting Archie and having his shoulder massaged. He couldn’t meet at three, so Killian has to have it done with everyone else in the therapy room, before he does a few stretches with bands. He’s always worried about how it will feel, especially after a few pitches, but he knows that Al will only keep him in the game through the fifth inning today. It won’t be like the Series where he pitched nearly the whole damn game.

He still can’t believe that he did that.

Liam: I had a patient today who was frantically checking all of the channels to make sure the game was on tonight. I asked him if he’s a fan. He is…of the Orioles.

Killian: Oof. Way to boost my spirits.

Liam: I try. See you tonight. Are you going to come watch from the box when you’re finished?

Killian: As long as the game isn’t over before I finish my cool down, yeah.

Liam: Good.

He’s just about to put his phone back in his pocket when it dings again, Ariel’s name popping up.

Ariel: Al is letting us use his office. Come on up. I want you to look at your graphics for Instagram for tonight too.

Killian pockets his phone then, and walks through the doors to get to the offices, winding in and out of offices full of all of the administrative staff that work here, until he gets to Al’s office, a place he has been far too many times. He might as well pitch a tent and live in it, honestly. For as much tape as he watches and as much research he does into statistics, nothing compares to their manager.

Nothing.

“Hey,” he greets as he walks into the room, only Ariel sitting in there typing away on her laptop.

“Hey, give me a minute, okay?”

“What are you doing?”

“Killian.”

“Seriously.”

“You’re so annoying.”

“Hey, you can’t insult me in the same ways that I insult you.” He plops down onto Al’s old, cracked leather couch, nudging his shoulder into Ariel’s. Sometimes he thinks that they’re too close, but then again, he’s not going to complain about having someone in his life like Ariel. He often doesn’t know what he’d do without her. “I still don’t know how you balance things when your husband is playing tonight, and you’re stuck dealing with me all day.”

“I’m a very talented lady.” She types a few more things into her email, signing it off, before switching files to a video that’s paused on a still of he and Emma walking down a hallway in the training facility in Tampa. His hair is far too long in it. It’s a good thing he got it cut. “So, I’ve been thinking.”

“Always a rough thing.”

“You’re really telling horrible jokes today.”

He winks, and she bites her bottom lip, probably trying to resist calling him a jackass.

“Anyways, I’ve been thinking that, for today, we post this promo video for the interview. Then once it’s aired, I’ll link the video in your story. But that’s all pretty business-like, and I don’t want you to seem to stilted so I – ”

“Do you ever think we worry too much about my social media presence?” he ponders, leaning back on the couch and stretching his hands above his head, cradling his head in his hands.

“Aren’t I really just here to play baseball?”

“Yes, but it goes beyond that, knucklehead.” She taps his head, almost like he’s a small child, and he can’t help but chuckle. “You’re a public figure whether you like that or not, and so you do have to do things like this. Anyways, tonight, we’ll either get a game photo or you can post a private one that’s more personal.”

“Whatever you want.

“And I balance you and Eric because I love you both, and it’s something I want to do. And he’s not quite as difficult to manage as you are.”

“Please,” he scoffs, “that’s not true.”

“It is. Eric listens to me more.”

“Well, he does have more to lose.”

“I’m not even going to comment on that.”

She reaches over and picks up the remote off of Al’s desk, pressing a button before the black screen comes to life, Emma Swan sitting behind a desk the very first thing that he sees. She’s got her hair pulled back into a ponytail, and she’s dressed in a fitted navy and white striped shirt tucked into either a pair of pants or a skirt. He can’t tell. Maybe he’ll see her tonight.

Does he want to see her tonight?

Why would he want to see her tonight?

There’s absolutely no way that he still fancies her, none at all, and as much as they get on, he wants to be nothing but professional with her. He doesn’t want to make her life any harder than he already has by being an idiot.

He watches as she introduces the segment, her hands moving all over the place now that she doesn’t have a microphone in her hand, and before he knows it, the screen is transitioning into a video of him practicing his pitching, Will standing behind home plate catching each ball before throwing them back. It’s something he’s seen first-hand a thousand times, but then it changes to shots of Steinbrenner, both interior and exterior, before showing him talking with Emma. It’s…simple. That’s the only word he can think to describe it. It’s simple but straightforward, and he freaking loves it. There is no glossing things up, no trying to create an angle where there isn’t one. It’s simply the two of them talking like it was on that day.

It’s refreshing in every single way.

He’s grown used to reading magazine articles and gossip site clickbait all about how he can’t seem to date a woman for more than one night and how he’s playing too much off the field than on it.

Seriously, there was an article title like that once, and he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to throw a baseball at every single so-called reporter’s face who spent all of their time taking pictures of him in a private capacity to post it publicly. And he gets it. he went through a phase where he was going to too many bars, where he was casually dating a little loosely, but he was heartbroken and trying to compensate for all of that. His personal life was in actual shambles, but it didn’t affect his game. He wasn’t playing great, but he wasn’t necessarily playing horribly either.

Now it’s been four years since he was so much as pictured with another woman, and yet people still try to paint him in some kind of negative light.

Not Emma Swan even though she had every right to from his screw up.

A breath of fresh air.

That’s what all of this is.

“Your hair is too long there,” Ariel points out. “It’s doing that little flippy thing.”

“I got it cut.”

“I know. I’m just pointing it out.”

“You’re like the older sister I never had, A.”

“I am one month older than you, asshole.”

“And yet born in an entirely different year.”

Ariel huffs and crosses her arms over her chest, rolling her eyes before propping her feet up on Al’s desk, the heels of her boots clicking against the wood. “If only you were as charming in real life as you are in this segment.”

“First you say my hair is too long, as if I’m not devilishly handsome no matter how my hair looks, and now you’re saying I’m not charming? You wound me, darling.”

“I try.”

He reaches down for his water bottle, taking several large sips as he watches he and Emma talk about the craziest fan encounter he’s ever had, which probably isn’t the craziest but is still pretty damn funny. She’s laughing at him, or at the story really, and it’s kind of nice to see that she maybe didn’t totally hate him before they went into this, especially since he didn’t get a chance to apologize until they were eating lunch and her cameraman went to the restroom. He’s pretty sure she accepted it, that she may have forgiven him for that, and as long as he doesn’t put his foot in his mouth again, they should be good.

To think that this is the one member of the media who he cares about, and he’s the one who screwed her over.

That is not something he needs to keep harping on and focusing on. He has to move on from it.

When the segment is over, he reaches to turn the television off, but then they cut back to ESPN’s studio with Emma still sitting behind the desk with Sydney Glass, who is most definitely not his favorite person in the world. He’s always telling Killian that he should retire any time he pitches a poor game.

It’s a bit (a lot) ridiculous.

“Well, that was certainly something,” Sydney says, spinning in his chair to look at Emma.

Her jaw clenches before she relaxes, and he imagines that she doesn’t like him much either.

“He’s certainly something of a player.”

“You would say that.”

“Pardon?”

“You would say that,” he repeats, tapping his fingers against the desk. “After all, he did ask you out on a date? Did you ever go on it? I don’t see how someone like you could pass that up.”

“Bloody hell,” Killian grumbles, sinking down on the couch before running his hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What a jackass.”

“I told him no,” Emma says, a very obviously forced smile on her face as she tries to keep things jovial, “so, no, I did not go on a date with him. And, really, the only date that Killian Jones is concerned with is his date with the mound tonight, so let’s go ahead and preview tonight’s game.”

He turns the television off then, not caring to see anymore, and runs his hands through his hair, making it stick up as Ariel pats his back.

“Did you apologize to her?”

“Yes, Mom, I apologized, but her life is obviously never going to go back to normal as long as she’s associated with me. I still can’t believe I did that. What’s wrong with me?”

“That’s a loaded question.”

He chuckles and leans back into the couch before standing up, adjusting his joggers. “Well, since I certainly don’t have time to get into that right now, I think it’s probably time that I went and did my job, don’t you think?”

“I don’t get paid if you don’t.”

“Ah, now I know why you want me to be successful.”

-/-

It’s the top of the fifth, and the sun is setting over the stadium as sweat drips down his brow and his back, his shirt soaked from the unseasonable humidity of the day and of the city. It’s almost like they’re back in Florida training, and he’d think that it would make him comfortable to throw like he was during all of the practice games.

It does not.

He’s miserable out here, his body aching, and he desperately wants to go inside and cool down.

This is not at all how Opening Day is supposed to be, and he knows that it’s all chalked up to his nerves and nothing else. The weather isn’t great, but he’s been getting in his own mind all night.

The fact that they’re up 5-1 doesn’t seem to stick in his mind.

“Get it together, Jones,” he murmurs under his breath as he looks to Will to see what signal he’s giving.

God, he hopes they don’t pick that up on the camera.

He nods his head, gets his body into position, and throws.

A swing and a miss.

Strike three. He’s out.

And the inning is over, everyone running back into the dugout. He gets a few claps on the back, a few more on his ass, and he sits down on the bench, reaching down to pick up his Gatorade bottle only for Al to look at him with a raised brow.

“You telling me I’m done for the night?”

“You look like you’ve been done for the night since you got out there.”

He nods his head, taking a long sip of his drink and letting it cool him down, before twisting the top back on and standing up and patting Will on the shoulder.

“I’ll be in a better mood next time.”

Al nods his head, a firm smile on his face. He’s usually a much more pleasant guy, someone they all want to be around, but sometimes during games, he won’t look happy no matter what happens. Then again, his job relies on a bunch of overgrown teenage adults playing a game well, so he’s probably a little tense.

Before he leaves the stadium, he sees Eric hit a foul ball, the ding of it ringing through the stadium, but then he’s walking through the dugout door and walking through the tunnels that lead him back to the locker room. It’s empty, not a soul to be seen, and he pushes through the doors to go to the gym, hopping on a bike and riding it for fifteen minutes while he watches the game on one of their television screens. They have tonight in the bag, he thinks, but it could depend on how Roseman closes things out, if he even closes things out.

He will. It’ll be fine.

Killian runs through the rest of his routine, doing a few stretches for his shoulder before heading to the showers, washing the dirt and grime off of him as he hums to himself. The shower makes him feel better than he did the entire time he was out on the field.

“Jones,” Archie calls out as Killian wraps a towel around his waist. “Are you planning on ever coming to see me?”

“Don’t be so desperate, Arch,” he teases, picking up his uniform and carrying it out of the room to place in his locker so that it’ll be washed. “I was just about to come by. I don’t think I need much more than a quick massage, though. I felt bad, but my shoulder doesn’t.”

“Are you lying to me?”

“Nope. I’d tell you if I was hurting, wouldn’t I?”

Archie crosses his arms over his chest, his sweater tugging at him. He looks more like a fifth-grade teacher than a physical therapist, but the man has magic hands. Magic.

“Like you tell the rest of your teammates?”

His stomach drops, but he ignores it. “I tell you, and no one else needs to know.”

Archie’s jaw clenches. “Let’s get you on the table. I bet your family is waiting for you up in the suite.”

They are, and as soon as Archie finishes massaging his shoulder and this niggling place in his calf, he takes the elevator up to the private suites, having to pass through the press hallway on his way there. The inside of this stadium can be like a maze, but he’s got a good grip on it.

And then he sees Emma Swan walking down the hallway with a giant soft pretzel in her hand, a large chunk of it in her mouth. She’s wearing the same thing that she was wearing earlier, but he can now see that she has on wide-legged pants instead of the skirt he thought she had on and that there are heels peeking out underneath them. She doesn’t see him yet as she’s staring down at her phone, but then she looks up and he swears she nearly spits out the pretzel in her mouth.

Always the reaction you want to see from a woman.

“Whatthefuck,” she mumbles, all of her words blending together as he sees her furiously chew.

He has never been more charmed by her.

“Is it pretzel day then, Swan?” he questions, fidgeting with the hem of his t-shirt.

She covers her mouth with her hand, the one holding the pretzel, but he still sees the blush rise on her cheeks. “Was that an Office reference?”

“Of course. Pretzel day is the best day. I like pretzel day.”

“Obviously.” She puts her hand down as she stuffs her phone into the waistband of her pants. It’s then that he realizes she doesn’t have any pockets. Why do women’s clothes never have pockets? “Why did you look like you hated life out there?”

Ah, shit. He really must have looked miserable if others besides Al are noticing. He thought he at least faked it for the crowd. Reaching up to scratch behind his ear, he hums, “Because it’s humid? And maybe I really hated a segment that aired about me earlier today.”

“Oh. I didn’t – I thought…”

He reaches forward to touch her arm, squeezing as he smiles down at her. “I’m kidding, Swan. It was great. All of my interviews are going to have to be done by you or something because I don’t think I’ve ever been so charming.”

Emma scoffs, the slightest smile forming on her face. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of editing that went into making that happen.”

“So none at all?”

She slaps against his arm. “You keep thinking that, Jones. I’ve got to get back out to my seat. Not all of us finish our jobs halfway through the game.”

“Is that a jab at my position, love?”

“Most definitely,” she winks. “I’ve always preferred third base. It’s much more fun.”

She walks away then, taking another bite of her pretzel, and he’s left standing there trying to figure out if Emma Swan was just flirting with him. There’s no way, absolutely none. If anything, he’s pretty sure that she still hates him, but who knows? He certainly doesn’t, and with what he saw her have to deal with on TV today, he wouldn’t bet on her flirting with him.

When he finally gets through the media corridor and into the private suites, he quickly opens the one where his family always stays, and he’s greeted by his brother who is biting into a slider in the kitchen.

“You looked like shit out there,” he mumbles.

“Funny. You look like shit all the time.”

“It’s a gift.” Liam steps forward and wraps him up in a hug, patting his back. “You feel okay, Killian? Your shoulder?”

“I’m fine. I promise.”

“And that blush on your cheeks – what is that from?”

“You’re getting old. I think that eyesight is going if you think there’s blush on my cheeks.”

He hums, pulling back from the hug and placing his hands on Killian’s shoulders as Liam’s eyes scan over his face. “You wouldn’t have happened to see a pretty blonde out in the hallway, there?”

“Bloody hell, do you have eyes everywhere?”

“Blind ones apparently. But nah, Ariel was in the Fox booth, and she saw the two of you talking. That was some piece that she made about you. I watched it with one of my patients today.”

“The Orioles one?”

“Nope, this woman was on the right side. She thinks you two make a cute couple.”

Killian groans, pinching the bridge of his nose again. This is going to be his legacy. It really is. It doesn’t matter how well he plays or what good he does in the community. Asking a woman out on TV is going to be his legacy.

It’s starting to move up his list on the dumbest decisions ever made.

“Shut up, you idiot. I want to go see my nieces.”

[soccernetghana]

How will football move on when Messi and Ronaldo retire?

Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo? It's the question that has defined a decade of football; the cause of innumerable arguments across the globe. In the age of social media, you are not allowed to appreciate both. You have to pick one or the other. And whom you chose apparently tells you a lot about how you view the game. As Luis Figo famously argued, it really is a question of taste: "It's like choosing between white truffle or caviar." Indeed, the one thing that everyone agrees on is that both are incredible; both belong in the conversation on the best player of all time. They are, after all, responsible for an unprecedented rivalry in the history of the game: two all-time greats on opposite sides of the Clasico divide for nine years, pushing one another to scale even greater heights. As Messi himself told DAZN: "It was a duel that will last forever because it went on for many years, and it isn’t easy to keep at your highest level for so long – especially at those two clubs we were at, which were so demanding, in Real Madrid and Barcelona, the best clubs in the world. "Competing head to head for so many years will be remembered forever. The sporting rivalry between us was very nice on a personal level. I think that the fans also enjoyed it, be they Madrid or Barca supporters, or just those who like football." It is not over yet, of course. Ronaldo and Messi may be 35 and 32, respectively, but they have yet to show any real signs of letting up. The Portuguese may have changed teams, leaving Real for Juventus in 2018, but the rivalry with Messi endures; the debate rages on – at least among their most ardent supporters. When Ronaldo transferred to Turin, his fans followed. Juventus' social media numbers skyrocketed, highlighting this new phenomenon of some supporters prioritising players over clubs. These very modern consumers of football have a favourite player – not a favourite team, which begs a far more pressing question than Messi or Ronaldo: What happens after the pair retire? Will football lose followers? The two greatest protagonists in the most absorbing drama of the past decade will have left the stage – will some of the audience leave before the next act? After all, how could anything top what has gone before? Ronaldo and Messi have distorted our perceptions of what is possible on a football field, making the extraordinary, ordinary. They have altered our idea of what constitutes an excellent goal-scoring season. Anything less than 50 goals a season could, in future, be construed as underwhelming. And that is the key here: consistency. "They've done it for so long," Spanish football writer Andy West told Goal. "They've barely taken a week off. They've both had the physical fitness to play 40 or 50 games a year. Neither of them have really had serious injuries problems, which is amazing in itself. If you go back over the history of the game, there are very, very few players who are able to sustain that excellence for so long. "Even if you look at players just from my lifetime, such as the Brazilian Ronaldo, he was the best player in the world at his peak, but he had so many injury problems that meant he was only at his greatest for a short period of time. "They've not given anybody else has had a look in. There have been lots and lots of great players over the past decade who would have previously had a claim on being the best player in the world but they've not even been close. I don't think anyone would dispute that. Nobody has been close to the level of Messi and Ronaldo." Hazard and Neymar? Not even someone like Eden Hazard. The Belgium international was one of the best players in the world for years, lighting up the Premier League with his wing wizardry at Chelsea. However, even Hazard has admitted that he is simply incapable of matching Ronaldo and Messi's numbers, as so painfully underlined by the 29-year-old's form and fitness issues in his first year at Real Madrid. "I often ask myself what I can do to become like Messi and Ronaldo and get 50 or 60 goals in a season," he confessed to Sport/Foot. I try, of course, but I realise that I will never be a true goalscorer like them. It's not in me. It is mainly mental: at 2-0, not thinking that is enough for example. Sometimes I still think after a goal, 'That's enough.' "I'm not in search of records like some other players – if I can score between 15 and 20 goals each season, I will be very happy." One could never imagine Messi or Ronaldo being content with such a tally. Of course, for the sake of narrative, they are portrayed as polar opposites: Messi is the quiet, unassuming genius who puts the team first; Ronaldo the self-made goal-scoring machine who takes as much pride in his appearance as his records. Both are crude caricatures, which do both a disservice. Messi can be as ruthless as Ronaldo; Ronaldo can be as magnanimous as Messi. In addition, they are bound not only by brilliance but also determination, an inner drive that has seen both make the absolute most of their considerable skills. Which is perhaps why Neymar is no longer the favourite to step into the spotlight when Messi and Ronaldo bow out. There have never been any doubts over the Brazilian's ability but his level of focus has long been a cause for concern. Neymar's situation has hardly improved in the interim. If anything, that storm has only worsened. As has his physical condition. Since moving to Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record fee in 2017, Neymar has been blighted by injuries and ill-discipline. At 28, his career path now looks more likely to follow that of Ronaldinho than Ronaldo, having, thus far, failed to strike the perfect balance between sporting and commercial growth. Time for Mbappe and Haaland? But what about the next generation? Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are considered the frontrunners to fill the void that Messi and Ronaldo will leave behind. Both are extraordinary young talents. Mbappe is the only man other than Pele to have scored in a World Cup final as a teenager; Haaland is the youngest player in history to score 10 Champions League goals, having reached that mark in just seven matches. Their potential is as obvious as it is enormous. Questions remain, of course. Can they sustain their fine form? Will they avoid serious injuries? Will they be as dedicated to their profession as Messi and Ronaldo? Both are considered colourful characters. Haaland's former Red Bull Salzburg team-mate Maximilian Wober described the Norwegian to Goal as "crazy insane" yet recalled how the striker would spend his time on away trips "reading scientific articles on who he could improve his sleep pattern or diet" while the rest of the team were playing cards. In a similar vein, Mbappe once skipped a party in honour of Monaco's shock 2016-17 Ligue 1 title triumph so that he could get enough rest to be in peak physical condition for the following day's training session. The Frenchman was only a teenager back then, though, and there having been growing concerns about his allegedly egotistical behaviour since being taken under Neymar's wing in Paris, as underlined by his recent spats with PSG coach Thomas Tuchel. Mbappe has admitted himself that he is "not a hard worker" but is still regarded by journalists who follow the French league and national team closely as someone who simply loves playing football. As long as he retains that passion for the game, he should – like Haaland – continue to rack up record after record. Of course, it would be unfair to expect anyone to equal Messi or Ronaldo's remarkable strike-rates. Or carry the game into a new era, for that matter. Besides, it's not as if the Messi-Ronaldo rivalry has been the only show in town over the past 10 to 15 years. Messi has never played in the Premier League, while Ronaldo left in 2009 – yet the English top-flight is by some distance the most watched and, consequently, the richest championship in club football. There are, of course, many reasons for its global popularity: the sheer pace of the game separates it from its European rivals; what it loses in quality, it makes up for in frenzied entertainment. In addition, the almost total absence of running tracks around its pitches only accentuates the raucous atmosphere generated by the massive and passionate crowds found with its modern stadia. England changed its practices and image following the Heysel and Hillsborough tragedies of the 1980s, and reaped the rewards. With the advent of the Premier League in 1992, English football became a perfectly packaged product expertly sold to audiences across the globe by BSkyB and, in turn, the further riches bestowed upon clubs by the sale of overseas TV rights enabled the acquisition of some of the most talented and charismatic characters in football. All of this, coupled with the sport's innate capacity for unscripted drama, made the Premier League compelling viewing. Essentially, football faces a far more pressing concern than the imminent retirement of two living legends, with the Covid-19 pandemic having plunged the game into financial crisis that represents a very real existential threat for clubs and leagues across the world. By its very nature, though, football is a simple game. Its popularity will not be dimmed by the pandemic; if anything, it may be enhanced by it, as people become even more appreciative of a sport that can be played by anyone with a ball. So, if football can survive Covid-19, it can survive the loss of Messi and Ronaldo. The show will go on. But so too will the debate over who was better: Messi or Ronaldo? There will never be an agreement, of course, but that is beside the point. As Messi says, his rivalry with Ronaldo is a duel that will last forever. Source: m.allfootballapp.com source: https://ghanasoccernet.com/