#like damn dude why does this still suck just as much as last time!!!!

[leofrith]

after much thinking i have concluded that having a full time job is one of the worst things that can happen to a girl </3

[cripplecharacters]

The Mask Trope, and Disfiguremisia in Media

[large text: The Mask Trope, and Disfiguremisia in Media]

If you followed this blog for more than like a week, you're probably familiar with “the mask trope” or at least with me complaining about it over and over in perpetuity. But why is it bad and why can't this dude shut up about it?

Let's start with who this trope applies to: characters with facial differences. There is some overlap with blind characters as well; think of the blindfold that is forced on a blind character for no reason. Here is a great explanation of it in this context by blindbeta. It's an excellent post in general, even if your character isn't blind or low vision you should read at least the last few paragraphs.

Here's a good ol’ tired link to what a facial difference is, but to put it simply:

If you have a character, who is a burn survivor or has scars, who wears a mask, this is exactly this trope.

The concept applies to other facial differences as well, but scars and burns are 99% of the representation and “representation” we get, so I'll be using these somewhat interchangeably here.

The mask can be exactly what you think, but it refers to any facial covering that doesn't have a medical purpose. So for example, a CPAP mask doesn't count for this trope, but a Magic Porcelain Mask absolutely does. Bandages do as well. If it covers the part of the face that is “different”, it can be a mask in the context used here.

Eye patches are on thin ice because while they do serve a medical purpose in real life, in 99.9% of media they are used for the same purpose as a mask. It's purely aesthetic.

With that out of the way, let's get into why this trope sucks and find its roots. Because every trope is just a symptom of something, really.

Roughly in order of the least to most important reasons...

Why It Sucks 

[large text: Why It Sucks]

It's overdone. As in — boring. You made your character visibly different, and now they're no longer that. What is the point? Just don't give them the damn scar if you're going to hide it. 

Zero connection with reality. No one does this. I don't even know how to elaborate on this. This doesn't represent anyone because no one does this.

Disability erasure. For the majority of characters with facial differences, their scars or burns somehow don't disable them physically, so the only thing left is the visible part… aaand the mask takes care of it too. Again, what's the point? If you want to make your disabled character abled, then just have them be abled. What is the point of "curing" them other than to make it completely pointless?

Making your readers with facial differences feel straight up bad. I'm gonna be honest! This hurts to see when it's all you get, over and over. Imagine there's this thing that everyone bullied you about, everyone still stares at, that is with you 24/7. Imagine you wanted to see something where people like you aren't treated like a freakshow. Somewhat unrealistic, but imagine that. That kind of world would only exist in fiction, right? So let's look into fiction- oh, none of the positive (or at least not "child-murderer evil") characters look like me. I mean they do, but they don't. They're forced to hide the one thing that connects us. I don't want to hide myself. I don't want to be told over and over that this is what people like me should do. That this is what other people expect so much that it's basically the default way a person with a facial difference can exist. I don't want this.

Perpetuating disfiguremisia. 

"Quick" Disfiguremisia Talk

[large text: "Quick" Disfiguremisia Talk]

It's quick when compared to my average facial difference discussion post, bear with me please.

Disfiguremisia; portmanteau of disfigure from “disfigurement” and -misia, Greek for hatred. 

Also known as discrimination of those mythical horrifically deformed people.

It shows up in fiction all the time; in-universe and in-narrative. Mask trope is one of the most common* representations of it, and it's also a trope that is gaining traction more and more, both in visual art and writing. This is a trope I particularly hate, because it's a blatant symptom of disfiguremisia. It's not hidden and it doesn't try to be. It's a painful remainder that I do not want nor need.

*most common is easily “evil disfigured villain”, just look at any horror media. But that's for another post, if ever.

When you put your character in a mask, it sends a clear message: in your story, facial differences aren't welcome. The world is hostile. Other characters are hostile. The author is, quite possibly, hostile. Maybe consciously, but almost always not, they just don't think that disfiguremisia means anything because it's the default setting. No one wants to see you because your face makes you gross and unsightly. If you have a burn; good luck, but we think you're too ugly to have a face. Have a scar? Too bad, now you don't. Get hidden.

Everything here is a decision that was made by the author. You are the one who makes the world. You are the person who decides if being disabled is acceptable or not there. The story doesn't have a mind of its own, you chose to make it disfiguremisic. 

It doesn't have to be.

Questions to Ask Yourself

[large text: Questions to Ask Yourself]

Since I started talking about facial differences on this blog, I have noticed a very specific trend in how facial differences are treated when compared to other disabilities. A lot of writers and artists are interested in worldbuilding where accessibility is considered, where disabled people are accepted, where neurodivergence is seen as an important part of the human experience, not something “other”. This is amazing, genuinely.

Yet, absolutely no one seems to be interested in a world that is anything but cruel to facial differences. There's no escapist fantasies for us.

You see this over and over, at some point it feels like the same story with different names attached.

The only way a character with a facial difference can exist is to hide it. Otherwise, they are shamed by society. Seen as something gross. I noticed that it really doesn't matter who the character is, facial difference is this great equalizer. Both ancient deities and talking forest cats get treated as the same brand of disgusting thing as long as they're scarred, as long as they had something explode in their face, as long as they've been cursed. They can be accomplished, they can be a badass, they can be the leader of the world, they can kill a dragon, but they cannot, under any circumstances, be allowed to peacefully exist with a facial difference. They have to hide it in the literal sense, or be made to feel that they should. Constantly ashamed, embarrassed that they dare to have a face.

Question one to ask yourself: why is disfiguremisia a part of your story?

I'm part of a few minority groups. I'm an immigrant, I'm disabled, I'm queer. I get enough shit in real life for this so I like to take a break once in a while. I love stories where transphobia isn't a thing. Where xenophobia doesn't come up. But my whole life, I can't seem to find stories that don't spew out disfiguremisia in one way or the other at the first possible opportunity.

Why is disfiguremisia a default part of your worldbuilding? Why can't it be left out? Why in societies with scarred saviors and warriors is there such intense disgust for them? Why can't anyone even just question why this is the state of the world?

Why is disfiguremisia normal in your story?

Question two: do you know enough about disfiguremisia to write about it?

Ask yourself, really. Do you? Writers sometimes ask if or how to portray ableism when they themselves aren't disabled, but no one bothers to wonder if maybe they aren't knowledgeable enough to make half their story about their POV character experiencing disfiguremisia. How much do you know, and from where? Have you read Mikaela Moody or any other advocates’ work around disfiguremisia? Do you understand the way it intersects; with being a trans woman, with being Black? What is your education on this topic?

And for USAmericans... do you know what "Ugly Laws" are, and when they ended?

Question three: what does your story associate with facial difference — and why?

If I had to guess; “shame”, “embarrassment”, “violence”, "disgust", “intimidation”, “trauma”, “guilt”, “evil”, “curse”, “discomfort”, “fear”, or similar would show up. 

Why doesn't it associate it with positive concepts? Why not “hope” or “love” or “pride” or “community”? Why not “soft” or “delicate”? Dare I say, “beauty” or “innocence”? Why not “blessing”? “Acceptance”?

Why not “normal”?

Question four: why did you make the character the way they are? 

Have you considered that there are other things than “horrifically burned for some moral failing” or “most traumatic scenario put to paper”? Why is it always “a tough character with a history of violence” and never “a Disfigured princess”? Why not “a loving parent” or “a fashionable girl”, instead of “the most unkind person you ever met” and “total badass who doesn’t care about anything - other than how scary their facial difference is to these poor ableds”? Don’t endlessly associate us with brutality and suffering. We aren’t violent or manipulative or physically strong or brash or bloodthirsty by default. We can be soft, and frail and gentle and kind - and we can still be proud and unashamed.

Question five: why is your character just… fine with all this?

Can’t they make a community with other people with facial differences and do something about this? Demand the right to exist as disabled and not have to hide their literal face? Why are they cool with being dehumanized and treated with such hatred? Especially if they fall into the "not so soft and kind" category that I just talked about, it seems obvious to me that they would be incredibly and loudly pissed off about being discriminated against over and over... Why can't your character, who is a subject of disfiguremisia, realize that maybe it's disfiguremisia that's the problem, and try to fix it?

Question six: why is your character wearing a mask? 

Usually, there's no reason. Most of the time the author hasn't considered that there even should be one, the character just wears a mask because that's what people with facial differences do in their mind. Most writers aren't interested in this kind of research or even considering it as a thing they should do. The community is unimportant to them, it's not like we are real people who read books. They think they understand, because to them it's not complex, it's not nuanced. It's ugly = bad. Why would you need a reason?

For cases where the reason is stated, I promise, I have heard of every single one. To quote, "to spare others from looking at them". I have read, "content warning: he has burn scars under the mask, he absolutely hates taking it off!", emphasis not mine. Because "he hates the way his skin looks", because "they care for their appearance a lot" (facial differences make you ugly, remember?). My favorite: "only has scars and the mask when he's a villain, not as a hero", just to subtly drive the point home. This isn't the extreme end of the spectrum. Now, imagine being a reader with a facial difference. This is your representation, sitting next to Freddy Krueger and Voldemort.

How do you feel?

F.A.Q. [frequently asked questions]

[large text: F.A.Q. [frequently asked questions]]

As in, answers and “answers” to common arguments or concerns. 

“Actually they want to hide their facial difference” - your character doesn’t have free will. You want them to hide it. Again; why.

“They are hiding it to be more inconspicuous!” - I get that there are elves in their world, but there’s no universe where wearing a mask with eye cutouts on the street is less noticeable than having a scar. Facial differences aren’t open wounds sprinkling with blood, in case that's not clear.

“It’s for other people's comfort” - why are other characters disfiguremisic to this extent? Are they forcing all minorities to stay hidden and out of sight too? That’s a horrible society to exist in.

“They are wearing it for Actual Practical Reason” - cool! I hope that this means you have other characters with facial differences that don’t wear it for any reason.

"It's the character's artistic expression" - I sure hope that there are abled characters with the same kind of expression then.

“They’re ashamed of their face” - and they never have any character development that would make that go away? That's just bad writing. Why are they ashamed in the first place? Why is shame the default stance to have about your own face in your story? I get that you think we should be ashamed and do these ridiculous things, but in real life we just live with it. 

"Now that you say that it is kinda messed up but I'm too far into the story please help" - here you go.

“[some variation of My Character is evil so it's fine/a killer so it fits/just too disgusting to show their disability” - this is the one of the only cases where I’m fine with disability erasure, actually. Please don’t make them have a facial difference. This is the type of harm that real life activists spend years and decades undoing. Disfiguremisia from horror movies released in the 70s is still relevant. It still affects people today.

"But [in-universe explanation why disfiguremisia is cool and fine actually]" - this changes nothing.

Closing Remarks

[large text: Closing Remarks]

I hope that this post explains my thoughts on facial difference representation better. It's a complicated topic, I get it. I'm also aware that this post might come off as harsh (?) but disfiguremisia shouldn't be treated lightly, it shouldn't be a prop. It's real world discrimination with a big chunk of its origins coming out of popular media.

With the asks that have been sent regarding facial differences, I realized that I probably haven't explained what the actual problems are well enough. It's not about some technical definition, or about weird in-universe explanations. It's about categorizing us as some apparently fundamentally different entity that can't possibly be kind and happy, about disfiguremisia so ingrained into our culture that it's apparently impossible to make a world without it; discrimination so deep that it can't be excised, only worked around. But you can get rid of it. You can just not have it there in the first place. Disfiguremisia isn't a fundamental part of how the world works; getting rid of it won't cause it to collapse. Don't portray discrimination as an integral, unquestionable part of the world that has to stay no matter what; whether it's ableism, transphobia, or Islamophobia or anything else. A world without discrimination can exist. If you can't imagine a world without disfiguremisia in fiction... that's bad. Sad, mostly. To me, at least.

Remember, that your readers aren't going to look at Character with a Scar #14673 and think "now I'm going to research how real life people with facial differences live." They won't, there's no inclination for them to do so. If you don't give them a reason, they won't magically start thinking critically about facial differences and disfiguremisia. People like their biases and they like to think that they understand.

And, even if you're explaining it over and over ;-) (winky face) there will still be people who are going to be actively resistant to giving a shit. To try and get the ones who are capable of caring about us, you, as the author, need to first understand disfiguremisia, study Face Equality, think of me as a human being with human emotions who doesn't want to see people like me treated like garbage in every piece of media I look at. There's a place and time for that media, and if you don't actually understand disfiguremisia, you will only perpetuate it; not "subvert" it, not "comment" on it.

I hope this helps :-) (smile emoji. for good measure)

Mod Sasza

[teecupangel]

Here's an idea I think you might enjoy: animus but Des is in their head, controlling them. They can feel it and talk to him and everything, ratatouille style.

……………… You know what would be funny, nonny?

If Desmond sucks at controlling them.

Like, we’ve heard the rites of passage in AC games:

We make them jump instead of doing a leap of faith

We accidentally make them climb the wrong high building and the actual viewpoint is the tower next to it

We miscalculate a jump and fall into the waters below or into an unsuspecting civilian

And there’s the game specific problems I refuse to believe I’m the only one who suffered thru it.

So just imagine Desmond trying to control them in the Animus and they know they’re being controlled.

There’s this… change in the air around them. It feels more charged. More… mysterious.

And they also become clumsier for some goddamn reason.

Incidents include:

Altaïr falling into the waters in the docks of Acre for the fifteenth time and he just hisses under his breath, “What is wrong with you?! Do you enjoy seeing me wet?!” and Desmond’s just “Dude, your control sucks!” which leads to Altaïr having an argument with Desmond under his breath about how his ‘control’ (whatever that means) does not suck, Desmond just sucks at this thing he likes to call ‘platforming’ and they both just agreed that, yeah, okay, they’re gonna assassinate Sibrand by going around instead even if it meant Altaïr had to walk slowly and pretend to be praying the entire time.

Altaïr breathing heavily as he glared at the ten (nope, five more guards found him in open combat, damn it) guards trying to kill him. One of them stepped forward and raised his sword. Altaïr readied himself and he still got hit, “(Growl)! Desmond! Get your timing right!” “Your Hidden Blade counter timing is too fast, Altaïr! Let’s just use your swor-” “No! You will learn how to counter using the hidden blade or, I swear, I will find a way to control you and drill it to your body myself!” (Guards just glance at each other, thinking “oh shit, he’s insane”)

Ezio just staring into the sky as he places his hands on his waist as he called out, “Desmond! How about we try this again later?” “No! I almost got it!” “……… It’s been an hour, Desmond. Let’s try clearing this tomb after-” “No! We’re gonna get that Armor today if it’s the last thing we do! Just… this goddamn time limit is annoying! Time limit sucks!” Ezio who is already used to the mysterious voice (who calls himself Desmond)’s strange words: “………… (sigh)”

“I can take them out. Desmond, please, I’m begging you, let me take them out. I can do-” (Desmond takes control and Ezio watches as his recruits take down the targets) The recruits looking at Ezio for approval. Ezio: Bene, that was a good takedown. (inside, Ezio is just tired because Desmond is enjoying all this ‘summoning’ thing too much…)

“Why can’t we have different lethal bombs?! You have the ingredients for it!” “I don’t know, Desmond. Could we just please finish preparing all the bombs?” “Dude, wouldn’t it be better if we have, like, all of these bombs?” “… I don’t think I have enough space in belt for all of them…” “You should get a bag.” “(Sigh) Desmond, we already talked about this. This Animus of yours don’t allow more ‘inventory’, right?” (inside, Ezio is wondering what his life has become that he sorta kinda understand the words leaving his mouth)

“Desmond… I’m imploring you to not mess this up.” “I’m trying, man, this is hard.” “Who are you talking to, Haytham?” “Ziio! No… no one.” “…” “… sigghhh… Desmond say hello to Ziio.” “Hi, Ziio.” “… is this a curse placed upon you white men?” “…” “…” “…” “Perhaps.” “Sorta?”

“You are a Templar. May the Father of Understanding guide us.” “May the Father of Understanding guide us.” “Wait, what?!” “…” “…” “Master Kenway, is something the matter?” “… no, Charles. I simply… remembered something foul.”

“It’s okay, Desmond. You’ll get this soon enough. Just take a deep breath and………… Desmond. Desmond. Please stop doing whatever you’re doing right now. My head is starting to hurt.” “It’s not me! The cameras of these tree view points sucks ass!”

“How is it you came to captain a ship, given the way you sail?” “Oh, screw you, Haytham! You wanna talk shit, why don’t you try doing this shit yourself, huh?!” “…” “…” “…” “… Apologies, father. Desmond was out of line.” “No, I’m not, fuck you, Haytham!” “I can say with absolute delight I have not missed you one bit, Desmond.” “Bite me, tacohead.” “I still do not know what that means.”

[smeagol-on-my-deagol]

PART 3

reading 'the secret history' by donna tartt for the first time, here are my thoughts after reading through chapter 3:

[CONTAINS SPOILERS] obviously

— jesus fucking christ richard

— i hate that this chapter not only makes me feel bad for richard, but also makes me actively like henry (which like yikes, my richard-ification era)

— i feel like richard gets roped into the murder plot when he realizes that it'll create an "opening" in the group for him

— cause he still feels like an outsider to me despite spending time mostly with the greek class, but also that could be on purpose to try to separate himself from the fact that he helped/participated in murdering a dude

— the scenes with him looking over the river like "man it would be horrible to fall, to die that way" like ugh

— FUCK bunny corcoran

— trying to avoid being lured into the trap of feeling like they were slightly justified in killing their friend because as much as bunny sucks, i do realize he did not deserve to be murdered

— henry winter, standing in the unheated purple warehouse with a giant hole in the ceiling that richard spent nearly an entire vermont winter in: damn bitch you live like this??

— henry's middle name is MARCHBANKS ????

— also he has a photo of julian on his closet door?? yikes man

— henry not knowing about the moon landing, then hardly knowing about marilyn monroe

— i am shocked at how shocked the twins were last chapter that richard picked up on henry being irritated with bunny like what

— i wonder what francis and henry were plotting at the end,,, second thoughts on murder perhaps??

— does richard know anything about camilla's personality as a separate entity from the group or as more than just a girl he spends time around??

— richard papen they could never make me like you

— no but seriously, i am both charmed by all of the characters and horrifyingly put off by them

— henry and bunny got divorced in italy

[edit to add one more thing]

— why does everyone want richard soooo bad??

[heroictoonz]

Thoughts on season 17?

So I talked briefly about s17 last night in a 2am haze here are those rambles but I'll try to give a whole debriefing on my opinions here (spoilers ahead obvi)

So, honestly, going into s17 I was very skeptical. I hate s16 with a passion even rewatching it last night to do this little 'finally finishing the show' thing I'm currently doing. I also have heard a lot of people talk about how Tucker was done dirty in these ending seasons. And I'm the kinda guy that does his best to hold of on having opinions on stuff I haven't personally watched cause I just don't think anyone can realistically have a strong opinion just based on other peoples thoughts and words. Buuuut it still didn't put much hope in me that was for sure lol

Going in though I was, admittedly, pleasantly surprised. It wasn't, like, amazing but it didn't suck! And it was FAR better than s16 and at this point that's all I can ask for lmao. The first thing I wanna talk about is, obviously, Tucker (lol) and his whole thing in s17.

So, like most RVB seasons, s17 is the continuation and end of of the time travel arc thing so it's coming off of s15 and s16 but mostly s16. Now, I'm actually gonna go ahead an preface all this with saying I fucking HATE time travel in media it almost always gives me a headache and I will talk about that at some point but I wanted to get that out of the way here.

SO Tucker. My guy of all time the dude of always and forever. He got probably ones of my favorite arcs of all time for a character especially in RvB seconded only to like the Freelancers. And I've talked about how much s16 basically turned me off the show for a LONG while and most of that was because of how they were writing Tucker.

S17 is not nearly as bad here. So they actually give a reason to his weird ass behavior in s16 and where I don't think it was perfectly executed it made it a lot more bearable for me, honestly. It put more context as to why his personality did almost a complete 180. It also gave me the time to really pick apart what they were clearly trying to do with him. Like having him work through his masking he does for his insecurities and still processing the whole hero arc he got a few seasons back. That's all super interesting I just do wish they'd have done it better.

But I will say; TUCKER IN THE LABYRINTH? TUCKER IN THE LABYRINTH??? FUCKING HELLO???? Like. No one said anything in the episode really. But like. My brother in christ he had a panic attack and then passed out on the fucking floor cause he watched his friends disappear and didn't know what to do or how to get them back. LIKE OH MY GOD??? Like Chorus we saw him get pretty frantic about the others being 'taken' by the Federation. So he gets pretty obsessive when someone is missing it seems but for his greatest fear that the Labyrinth used to try and get him to kill himself was juts? A fear of being alone??? That's insane. Like lots of people fear being alone! Lots of people fear their friends and family leaving them! That's normal ish enough. But for Tuckers fear to be so fucking strong that the AI believed it was enough to kill him?! DUDE WHAT? THATS INSANE! IT MAKES ME ACTIVLLY CRAZY WHAT THE HELL! I think blowing up is the only way I can cope with this thanks

Also, speaking. Of Tucker. UM THE TIME FRAGMENT HE HAD TO FIX? THANKS. THANK YOU. THAT WAS SO PAINFUL. THAT WAS FUCKING FOR ME PERSONALLY. THEY DID THAT SHIT FOR ME. No joke that happened and I fucking scrambled out of my bed and ran to my qp's room like STARRRRR and I'm over here like climbing into their bed and half to tears about to sob like a clown just like "STAR STAR THEY DID THE THING THEY DID THE THING ITS FRECKLES SHAKE STAR STAR HE HAD TO RELIVE FRECKLES SHAKE STARRRRR" and they're like "... yeah?" (<- They have seen like two seasons of this show and have no idea what the fuck I am on) BUT LIKE DAMN HIM HAVING TO SABOTAGE HIS OWN TEAM TO MAKE IT TURN OUT THE WAY HE NEEDS IT TO FIX THE TIMELINE. FUCKED UP. ESPECIALLY TO LEARN HOW FUCKING SCARED HE IS OF SHIT LIKE THAT EXACT SITUATION HAPPENING? FUCKING AWEFUL I LOVED EVERY SECOND IT WAS AMAZING BEST DECISION SINCE SLICED BREAD HOLY FUCK!

So, uh, yeah they made up for s16 at least for me :)

ANYWAYS. Other parts I loved: so like, fr? The time travel in this season wasn't as bad as other shows. It was p easy to grasp and the whole "reliving events to fix those points in time" actually made more since than most bullshitted time travel plots (I'M LOOKING AT YOU NINJAGO SEASON 2 EPISODE 6 WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME. IM LOOKING DIRECTLY AT YOU) so I did really appreciate that. Also them jumping through time like they were doing especially when Donut was with Wash? FUCKING AMAZING. It was like genuinely hysterical them continuously going back to the point where he shoots Donut and Donuts like WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS??? It's great peek comedy especially when its Wash that brings them back to that moment n hes like oh fuck im so sorry its GREAT

ALSO MORE OF THE FREELANCERS !!!! I LOVE THEM!!!! I love seeing our silly guy Wash interacting with the other Freelancers. Wash and Donut in this season were literally perfect. I loved them befriending each other and being silly together. Donut and Wash adventures are honestly the best part of this season actually.

Also WASH AND CAROLINA THIS WHOLE SEASON OH MY GOD. OHHH MY GOD. They make me so insane this season watching both how they started and then how they had like their mini breakup but came back together CAROLINA CALLING HIM HER BROTHER FUUUUCKKKK ITS SO EVERYTHING TO ME MAN THEY ARE FUCKING FAMILY DAMNIT

Speaking of family DONUT FINALLY GETTING RESPECT FROM THE REDS N BLUES! HOLY SHIT!! I've always hated how sidelined Donut got cause I love him I think he's great. But like, they pretend like he's so forgettable or not even there. And having TUCKER learn his character development in this season from DONUT and him and Wash telling ppl like no assholes listen to Donut he knows what he's talking about he can lead us THAT FUCKED ME UP THAT WAS SO GOOD ILL BLOW UP

I do, however, wish that Donut had more self respect. The whole "they may hate me but theyre till my friends!" bit was kinda not great LIKE if it had come in AFTER some of the stuff between him and Wash or him n Tucker then that would be fine but idk it felt weird that Donut chose the reds n blues over Chronos in s16 finale to me like it would make more sense if he was like nah fuck BOTH yall but we still gotta save the planet for me at least and then coming around like woah wait yall do care about me? n the apologies n shit

Speaking of apologies fucking Wash being like "you are all going after him and saying youre sorry" was so funny hes such a dad

HMMMM ALSO CAROLINA'S BIT IN THE LABYRINTH!! THAT WAS ALSO SOOO GOOD not to be insane but when she talks about having people in her life and that makes her stronger the camera is specifically showing Tucker and Wash behind her and this is where I blow up I just explode I cannot cope WAH

There's like just so many good character moments like with Grif and Kai in her Labyrinth god that was so so so good. And Huggins and Grif was also the perfect of all time as always. Huggins and Grif are so good I love them.

I will say another negative admittedly was how hard Kai had it out for Tucker like when they were trying to snap him out of the time thing and out of the Labyrinth idk like I'm sure it was all for laughs but it felt like when they had their talk that things were gonna be better for them like as friends obvi not as an item since she shut that down. But then like idk it felt kinda off to me but also the whole s16 thing just made me SUPER put off on any Kai and Tucker stuff in canon material. I LOVE the idea of them being friends I used to hc Tucker being super super close w both Grif sibs and I personally still do! But the show eh idk hard to explain ig lol

the TLDR is i liked it! it wasnt perfect but it was waaaay better than s16 and i had a good time either way !

[minisugakoobies]

Should be leaving for work but laying here (yes I got back in the bed) and thinking about best friend's bro San and the threesome with the Topaz bros

I got about 90 minutes of sleep last night so I took a sick day, so I'm more than happy to lie here and pick up your train of thought, Luce…

At the party, San brings two of his friends from the club where he's been picking up shifts as a bouncer. He tells you that Wooyoung, the dark-haired one with the cheeky smile, is the most popular bartender, and given that he immediately starts flirting with you as soon as San finishes saying your name, you can see why.

He introduces the redhead as Hongjoong, says he's the in-house dj. Hongjoong doesn't say much, just sort of nods coolly along with whatever the other two say as the four of you converse, but you feel his gaze on you the whole time.

BFF comes over to drag San away to meet some people she knows from work, trying to help her lil bro do some networking. San doesn't want to talk to them, but BFF informs him that she's tired of tripping over his hand weights and wants him out of her hair sooner than later, so he sighs and follows her. As soon as he's out of sight, Hongjoong inclines his head, silently asking you to come closer.

"We brought some party favors," he says, peeling back his bomber jacket to reveal three perfectly rolled blunts in his inner pocket. "There's one for San, but he's busy, so - you want?"

You do want, so you lead the two of them out onto the little terrace that's decorated with cheap lawn furniture from the thrift shop and several fake plants because your thumb is steadfast black. Woo pats the space on the lounge chair beside him while HJ sits on the folding chair on your other side.

HJ sparks up the first blunt, but rather than taking it for himself, the three of you pass it around. Woo asks you questions about what you do, where you're from, and HJ still mostly listens. Around and around it goes, smoke filtering through the dim lighting provided by the string of tiny bulbs hanging overhead.

When the joint makes its way back to HJ, he holds on to it for one, two, three puffs. You're already feeling a little loose, that pleasant buzzing snaking its way through your body, so you pout.

"Excuse me, I believe it's puff puff pass."

HJ's lips curl as he hums. "You're right, how rude of me. Here."

He inhales again, orange embers flickering briefly, and tilts his head to the side as he leans towards you. You eagerly slide forward, pressing your mouth to his. The tip of his tongue against your lips encourages you to open, breathing in the smoke he exhales. His lips linger, lazily moving against yours, and you hold the smoke as long as you can until your lungs are screaming for air.

"Fuck, that looks like fun. My turn," Woo insists, tugging on your arm to bring you back down to earth. Taking the blunt, you suck in a mouthful. You've barely tipped your face up when Woo cups your cheeks, pulling you in for a heated kiss. More smoke ends up in the air than it does in his mouth, but he clearly doesn't care, taking the opportunity to slip his tongue between your lips, whining when you caress it with your own.

"Damn, Woo, always so needy," you hear HJ laugh. Woo ignores him, continuing to plunder your mouth like a pirate. "Come on, dude, you gotta share."

You break away from Woo's embrace to ask HJ whether he means the blunt or you, only to catch sight of San standing by the kitchen window, staring out at the three of you, wearing the most sober expression you've ever seen on his handsome face. It shakes you a little, and you nearly drop the joint, stumbling to catch it before it lands in Woo's lap. When you look up again, the window's empty, and you wonder if he was really there or if the weed's making you see things.

By the time the last toke is taken, you've convinced yourself you were just imagining things. But maybe the three of you should go somewhere a little more private. You don't realize you've said that out loud until HJ nods and Woo jumps to his feet. Your room is off limits to the party, so there's no one inside when you enter, hand in hand in hand.

……tbc?

[neverwalka1one]

Magnus Protocol 27

Yes I skipped making one of these for 26, it was a week and a half and mostly it consisted of me going 'plz stop poking the Spiral Lady she might eat you' at Celia, so.

Kidnapping/consumption, there is no way that classification can mean good things, nope.

Sam just kind of... sucks at grunt work. Like. I know he never meant to do a busywork type of job, this was a fallback, but... look. If Lena wasn't bound and determined to Not Have To Hire More People, Sam would be out on his ass in a week. You don't get that sassy with an overbearing manager and not eat asphalt. Sam, that's a clue, take it, please, omg.

Lena is tidying away Colin's files. Can someone get us proof of life on Colin?

$10 says Lena's planning on feeding Sam to one of the externals.

Oh Gwen, living down to middle manager tropes are we?

Hi Augustus, horrible to hear you, what ye olde times horror do you have for us you utter psychopath?

Strong alchemy vibes, gotta love it

So the institute is instituting (Magnussing?) by committee, I think I'm seeing why the Institute didn't overpower this world.

.... this is Jonah Magnus. THIS IS JONAH MAGNUS HI JONAH YOU ASS WHERE DID YOU PUT JON AND MARTIN

The eeeeeeeeeeeeeeye [snork] dude, stahp.

... uh. That coach ate a dude.

Hey Magnus. Magnus. Go get et by a coach.

Boyle! I got that reference. And Boyle is from the same time as Newton, so like... what, is this a committee you get to join because you inherited a seat? What, my daddy's rich and in this secret society I am too? .... actually nm that's pretty on point.

So if Boyle and Newton are from late 1600's (ish), and these letters are from nearly 200 years later... were there earlier Magnuses? It sounds like the institute is being named after him personally, so if there were, why is he so special? If there weren't, how did he get into the >200 year old rich boy's club? Why is it still a committee? Or was Newton more part of what the government bit is, that wipes Institute-esque things off the map when they get too powerful? Halp.

Jonah Magnus magnussing over here feeding his colleague to a coach with very little to no remorse I applaud Archibald (who tragically does not appear to be a real person) for spending his last moments cussing out Jonah Magnus.

Jonah has figured out about the Fears. Smirke's coming up next, isn't he? Oh no.

'Do you ever get weird emails' '[deadpan] I'm openly trans on the internet.' Read her to filth, Alice. Get her ass.

'We're not doing this now.' Doing whaaaat, Gwen? Sorta hate-flirting? Approaching romance sidelong like it might bite? C'mon, you were having fun.

Nooooooooo not the breakrooooooooooooooooooom FINE I'll break out the transcripts.

'What was that?' 'That was sex, Sam.' OOF. Sam, my shrimp king, never let Alice know Celia said that, even in jest, she'll roast you forever. Also 'pretty decent' sex? Damned by faint praise much? Or is this one of those 'if I vaguely praise it it was awesome, but if I'm very enthusiastic I think it was trash' British things?

Trevor Herbert is the MP????? That hobo-ass vampire slayer? Oh god, at least he'll get on with Lady Mowbrey.

Nope, still hung up on TREVOR being an elected official, I can't, help.

Whoop, Celia is spooked by the Archivist, what, you didn't clue in... ohhhh. oh no. She didn't hear the story last week. With the eyes. hahaha oh no.

Oh sure Celia, you just 'happen' to find the Hilltop Road property, just coinkidink, yup, just got a 'feeling' about it, yah-huh. If there are spiders there I'm going to be yelling so loud.

[ladylooch]

Don’t be shy, tell us all about how daddy Timo embarrassed himself on the phone. I just know Kevin hears Emma in the background trying to wrestle it away from him 🤣

Don't be shy ☠️

The way I made this so soft in the end 🙈 I CANT HELP IT!!! THEY’RE MY BOYS!!!!!

Kevin is unassuming when he sees Timo’s name pop up on his phone.

“Hey.” Kevin answers, putting the phone on speaker so he can continue to put the groceries away with Sam. He holds her hips to wiggle past her in the pantry, stifling a groan at the way she brushes against him just right. He can’t wait for Lena to head to her friend’s house for the night.

“Hey fucker.”

Both Kevin and Sam pause, looking at each other with questioning eyes. This is new.

“Ah, what’s up?”

“You tell me what’s up. What is this I hear about your kid dating my daughter?” 

Kevin and Sam had talked to Luca a few days ago and he mentioned spending time with Livia Meier while visiting Switzerland for the summer. Kevin thought it was great. The Meiers are close friends. Him and Timo grew up together. Luca finding someone to relate to as a hockey player’s kid and growing up outside of Switzerland seemed like a great fit. 

“I heard the same thing earlier this week.” Kevin confirms. He stops putting things on the shelves.

“This is fucking bullshit, Kev. My daughter deserves better than your scrub of a son.”

“Timo!” Kevin hears Emma’s voice in the background. “Give me the god damn-” Her voice cuts off with the closing of a door. 

“Scrub?” Kevin scoffs, looking at Sam who is still perplexed at what is happening. She holds her hands up, decidedly staying out of it. Her husband’s eyes are beginning to get squinty. She wants no part in this discussion and smartly leaves the pantry.

“He has to be coming from your balls.”

“Dude, what the fuck?” Kevin scoffs.

“You what the fuck! How close does the apple fall to the tree? He like to whip through the rotation every week like daddy? Is Liv the Friday or Thursday girl?” 

“Hey.” Kevin hisses, taking him off speaker. He prays Sam didn’t hear that. “That was one year in Sweden, okay. I’ve come a long way since then. Also, I wasn’t the one who had my dick sucks by the girls tennis team on my way out of town to Canadian Juniors.” Timo is silent on the other end. Ha, Kevin thinks.

“I am fucking serious. Your kid hurts my daughter I’ll end his life.”

“You hurt my kid and I’ll end yours.” Kevin snaps back. Tension races through the silence between the lines. “And he has more Sam in him than me.” Kevin finishes with a heavy sigh. He forces his shoulders back down, trying to relax. Timo contemplates. 

“So he’s a good midwestern boy?”

“Eh, I wouldn’t go that far.” Kevin says honestly, thinking about a certain position he found his son in last year on the couch. Luca is lucky it was him who came home early and not Sam. Kevin never told his wife, but he did immediately have the safe sex talk again.

“Fuck me.” Timo wails. 

“I get it, man. I’ve got two daughters.” 

“Why is this so much harder with her? With Lio it was.. a breeze.”

“Because you remember what it was like being 19.” Kevin’s small smile fills his voice. Timo sighs.

“Yeah. I wanna go back and kick my own ass now.” 

“I can do it for you?”

“No you can’t… pussy.” Kevin laughs, loud and easy. Damn, he’s glad him and Timo are still friends.

“I’ll take you anytime, old man.” 

“You’re older.”

“Yeah but I played longer.”

“Cause you’re a pussy.” Timo can’t even get through the sentence without busting out laughing. 

“Again, you’re welcome in Minnesota anytime, bud.” Kevin opens the door to the pantry, stepping into the kitchen where Sam and Lena are beginning to make chocolate chip cookies. Lena had a good grade on her final test that she was nervous about, so Sam is rewarding her with homemade cookies. Kevin watches them for a moment and thinks about their last conversation with his oldest child. “Look, I know you’re worried, but I wouldn’t be. He’s a good kid and… I think he loves your daughter already. I’ve never seen him like this.” Sam nods her head along to Kevin’s words.

“I’m still gonna scare the shit out of him when he comes over.” Timo insists.

“Good. He could use some practice for dealing with washed up veterans next season.” 

“You’re an ass.” Timo hisses.

“Not as big as you though. I gotta go. See you in a couple weeks for your ass kicking on the course.” 

[miyukihoshizora]

Finished the Dragon Quest III remake.

That was damn good. Gameplay-wise, it's tried and true, and it has that added complexity in teambuilding that feels just right. I did feel like physical attacks were kind of worthless for most of the game, until the final boss gauntlet that kind of forced my mages to turn into Healall/Philosopher's Stone spammers. But hey, I didn't even scratch the surface of the vocation system, and I didn't even explore the postgame yet, I don't doubt it keeps getting more interesting.

Oh, also, the monster wrangler stuff? Fantastic addition. Like obviously the Monsters subseries exist because people love these little freaks, but I'm glad this is also a thing in the core series.

So, now, can I be a bitch about the story of a game that came out eight years before I was born?

Spoilers obviously.

I've always said Dragon Quest excels at episodic setpieces where Final Fantasy was better at big overarching narratives (with the exception of DQIX which I think nails both these aspects), and it remains true here, and it annoys be because it didn't have to be. I have problems with the way DQIII had all the pieces on the chessboard and still manage to land on the Go to jail space.

They went the extra mile to flesh out this game's narrative compared to the NES version, but at the same time, I feel like they were not committing hard enough to making this the deeper narrative about family and duty that it could have been.

It does everything right as a prequel to DQI and II. I know it's clich�� but I adored that the entire last stretch of the game served to establish the rest of the Erdrick trilogy.

Highlight of the game for me were Ortega and his wife, they did all they could to sell us on the tragedy of that family, which is part of why I am mad this plotline "culminated" with Ortega's death. They didn't add anything about the price of saving the world being making our mother suffer the way our father did.

Heck, for a remake that loved to focus on our mother's sadness and the way her cheerfulness is just a facade, it SUCKS that she is still unnamed.

I really wish we spent more time establishing that killing Zoma would sever the connection between the two worlds, because that would have made a pretty straightforward confrontation with our cackling robed blue skinned weirdo, yknow, personal??

Zoma too I feel is definitely a missed opportunity. He stays a very stock big bad through the end, when I feel they should have made him a narrative foil to Ortega. Maybe have him interact with both him and the protag more, heck maybe have him seek a son of his own, work this into a story about letting the world / your kids evolve without you.

Akio Otsuka (at least I think that's him?) put his heart in this wonderfully threatening performance, I really wish it was for a villain that had more to do, to say, and to bring to the narrative.

Because, yeah, as it stands now, the game's story kind of rings hollow despite wanting to be so much more, and they really don't have the excuse of "This is a NES game" when the NES FF trilogy was Lord of the Rings in comparison. Heck, the DQIV DS remake fixed that thematic dissonance with Psaro, why couldn't this one do the same?

So yeah! I am mad that all our mother got for her troubles was three seconds of wistful staring at the window in the credits when that shit should be what the plot is about, but I loved this game, otherwise I wouldn't be disappointed in its underwhelming epilogue.

AT THE VERY LEAST. There's that postcredit scene that sets up Hargon as the next threat!! And it looks like he has reasonable reasons for wanting to rule the world and won't just be Cackling Robed Dude #78289999 again!! That means the I&II remake is probably giving us story divergences, maybe give a better reason for Malroth to exist at all, and I'm honestly looking forward to it.

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Arle: A moment in the sun sounds awful to me.

Arle: I would rather have a moment in the moon, the superior of the sky circles.  

Shantae: .. please don't ever refer to them as 'sky circles' again.

----

A!Andrew: If I'm dead, what are you doing here?

Aite: I forgot to give you an ass-whooping, so I came back.

----

Saiko: There's plenty of fish in the sea. But you know what else there is? Trash. There is a lot of trash in the sea.

Meggy: Not sure if you got cheated on or you're just trying to raise awareness about pollution.

----

SMG4, to SMG3: What’s in the suitcase?

SMG3: Vodka.

SMG4: You brought an entire suitcase full of vodka?

SMG3: No, there are mixers as well. Im not a savage.

----

Root: Tired of everyone telling me I've 'lost too much blood' and 'need to go to the hospital'. It's my severe head injury not yours. Stay out of it.

----

SMG4: Do you believe in true love?

SMG3: I believe you’re a true pain in my ass.

----

Ozymandias: You punched me in the face!

Leto: You bit my tail!

Ozymandias: You punched me in the face!

Leto: YOU BIT MY FUCKING TAIL!

----

Nimbus: Do I look nice?

Ambrosia: You look like you're about to set someone on fire.

Nimbus: Perfect.

----

Cursor: Are you ever going to listen to me?

Lag: Possibly.

Cursor: When?

Lag: When you’re right.

----

Ozymandias: 'Revenge' sounds so mean.

Ozymandias: That's why I prefer to call it 'returning the favour'.

----

SMG10: Are you alright? you didn't sleep at all last night.

Tulip: I got a solid eight minutes.

Tulip: Not consecutively but still it is fine. You're not even that blurry.

----

Vee: So... what’s going on?

Elanore: You want the long version or the short version?

Vee: The short one.

Elanore: Everything sucks.

Vee: Oh. Well, yeah, that’s definitely not an optimal situation.

----

Ozymandias: How dare you mock me in such a manner!

Root: Well, then how would you like me to mock you? I take requests!

----

Nimbus: Ew. What kind of tea is this?

Tulip: I boiled gatorade.

---

Laharl: Clownery. Tomfoolery. Absolute fuckery, I am going to revoke your life privileges.

----

Abyssal: Sometimes, the best way to scare your opponent is just to walk straight at them menacingly. That way, they can't even tell you have a brain the size of a walnut.

----

Root: *flicks out her tongue and tastes the air*

Lil Coding: Well damn, does it taste good?

----

Leto: You have two choices. One: I fling you into a bottomless pit. Two: I curse you.

Queen Melody: Actually, there's a third choice.

Leto: There is?

Melody: Yes. I could beat you to a bloody pulp.

Leto: ...I see. And which of the three will you choose?

Melody: Guess.

----

Tulip, to the Elanore and Tama: Remember to get something to eat, drink lots of water, and get plenty of sleep!

Ash: When was the last time you did any of that?

Tulip: This isn’t about me.

----

Plurality, after arriving at the Mushroom Kingdom: Day one of eating every plant I see.

Plurality: Something bad is happening.

----

SMG3, at Starbucks: Can I get a venti caramel macchiato with seven espresso shots?

Saiko, behind him: Fuck's sake, dude, just do cocaine.

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

random notes on naddpod c1 ep 1-45

shared here in lieu of chewing my very indifferent friends' ears off irl. For whom it may concern. also why do i keep thinking i could keep these to a single post. this campaign has a hundred episodes.

spoiler warning! you will get no context but still

Scoutmaster Denny *murdered* me. The voice, the whole deal. I started this podcast on a trainride and fully lost it over Denny in public

“Let’s cast waterwalking on the boat!” “…Emily, that’s just a boat.”

Hardwon on the dumb mating call idea: "can't we just break a bunch of sticks or something? why do we have to make it horny?" and Murph losing the fucking plot in the background

DM lightly threatens player’s pet, endangers his marriage, more at 10

JONAH

“The animals are going batshit. Even the bats.”

legit every time they describe someone and then land on "they're just hot" almost nothing they describe works for me, it's kind of hilarious

also a truly staggering percentage of the NPCs are naked

Moonshine is saved by an almost literal Deus Ex Machina as Pawpaw descends from the Heavens carried by a very helpful centaur

-

The reaction to the last remaining dude attacking Beverly in the Ezry lab cracked me up. “We’re trying to watch a cutscene! Read the room!”

-

whenever Emily shows the slightest hint of disappointment or frustration the world will immediately alter just a little to make her feel better (like retroactively making the stairs unsafe because Emily saved a whole spell slot to climb the wall of the tower). This is the cutest shit and also it took them TWELVE episodes to call Murph out on it

(I'm much further into the podcast now and i can't believe none of them have tried to weaponise this blatant weakness even once)

-

A BROOMBA is sweeping the floor

nothing is better than Murph doing Pawpaw but his fucked-up sounding seagull is a close second. Truly capturing the personality of those damn bastards, the man is the king of the garbage critters

Emily feels SO guilty about sending this dumb bird to die

Coming into this with the only prior experience of DnD being Brennan and Aabria is kind of wild. Like D20 campaigns you'll get the big philosphical speeches for the emotional beats and here's Murph with an equally heartfelt "Life just sucks ass, you know?"

Hardwon finding out about his parents is SUCH a good scene

“Are they bioluminescent?” “No.” “Can they be?” “Yeah, okay.” (16/17)

“Get out of town!” “I can’t, I’m a mushroom. I just stay here.”

Emily: “Oh, scrying means spying!” “It doesn’t, but-“ Murph, .2 seconds within Emily getting ‘um actually’-ied on dnd: “It does in this game, wiseass.”

Ol' Cobb’s big day!

When Hardwon goes down and the whole table has to watch Murph fight this intense squirmish against himself. Just a guy rolling dice and talking to himself. God that’s so funny (19/20)

Bev’s big day! Also Bev’s first kiss! (19-20)

-

they’re really going all out for Ol' Cobb. Now he has a tragic lovestory too! (21)

“The High Elves believe that they were banished because they were cousins who wanted to get married. The Crick Elves believe they were third cousins at most. The truth is somewhere in-between.” “Second cousins?” “They were second cousins.”

Not to be cheesy on main but the Crick is such a love letter. Like it’s so obvious how much care and heart went into this almagation of all the silly asides Emily has thrown out

I have one (1) American irl friend and they're from a smalltown in North Carolina so all I'm hearing is people approximating my friend's accent with varying consistency and success

the Crick sounds like paradise and my worst nightmare, simultaneously

having Pawpaw's mother speak and also speak in the most matter-of-fact serious tone (22) is the funniest thing to ever happen. truly inspired.

Hardwon swears fealty to a middle-aged possum? what is happening

Jake v Murph’s ice ban is priceless (23) - “I caught Jake downstairs shovelling ice into his drink out of a bucket with a scoop - you had a scoop! - and he tried to cover it up and hide it!” “It was a joke!” “It sounds like you got caught though! Can you get caught making a joke?” #lifttheiceban

“I’m sure people will get the expedited version of the puzzle solving section-“ “No, give them the nine-hour cut, with just a full hour of us screaming at Murph begging for the answer.” “Join us for our new podcast, Puzzle Dullards.” (23)

Increasingly chaotic openings: “I am furious and I am also Brian Murphy” “If you edit out all my binks, I swear to Melora I’ll… I’m gonna pants you in your sleep!” (24)

Moonshine describing marble as “polite rock”

Emily attempts some straight up gaslighting: “Can I summon Illuminate Mystery?” “…that’s not… that’s not a real spell, you jerk.”

“Murph, if you kill Meemaw regardless of what happens in the fog just because it’s narratively interesting, I will sleep on the couch. For months.” “If Murph sleeps on the couch, is that a Murphy bed?” “No, I’ll sleep on the couch.” “Okay, if Meemaw dies, Emily will be punishing herself.” (25)

Not Murph giving Moonshine crickrot only to be audibly distressed when Emily is sad about it (26)

And then channeling this distress through her fictional pet possum

Pawpaw really is the funniest self-insert character of all time

“Balnor, are you from WWI?” I adore this theory and wish it were canon. But also he talked about fridges a bunch so probably not?

Okay but in all seriousness the whole Marabelle arc is SO GOOD

And Hardwon’s earnest devotion to Mawmaw is actually oddly touching ngl

-

Murph as the voice of Hardwon’s drug addiction is *devious* (30)

That NPC casino employee making zero efforts at the pirate lingo

Siobhan’s character trying to talk to Pawpaw!! Pawpaw being described as Moonshine’s accountant!!

Literally my reaction whenever pawpaw makes an appearance:

Moonshine backing out of that threesome and opting back in like five times and also roping Balnor into it is GOLD

Genuinely the strategy to fake an immediate orgasm and sprint out in embarrassment is actually probably not the worst way to get out of a foursome? Maybe?

"And Siobhan Thompson as Apple Scrumper." "MVP! MVP! MVP!" "Yeah, Apple is the only one conscious right now." "Right now, MVP stands for Most Vertical Person."

Murph treating his Jersey accent like a full-on speech impediment

"Why are you writing that down? I haven't given you guys anything!" "This is Caldwell, out of character, trying to be helpful!" "No, this is Caldwell, out of character, wanting that money for Bev!"

(in)voluntary horse murder

Emily's thornwhip move!! her MIND

-

"So do we go and look for him or do I just cast Skywrite and make the clouds say something threatening to him?" "You're going to threaten him with clouds? Okay."

"LIAR! LIAR BOY! YOU'RE NOT A REAL GREEN TEEN!" "I would never lie! It's true! The stratosphere wouldn't allow for it, I'm sorry!"

Murph making a huge deal about how it would be impossible to see skywriting at night when the way bigger issue is that Moonshine is illiterate. They keep forgetting that and it's funny every time

Moonshine firmly believing that Pawpaw knows how to write and him just writing "MO" every time is my absolute favourite bit I hope it never ends

"Wait a minute, you're in the middle of a swamp and you summoned a big, beefy horse?" "Horses can swim! Horses can swim!" "We've all seen Neverending Story, okay?" [crowd boos] "I will kill your horse! I dare you to boo me!" "Don't boo, he thrives off of it..."

Murph is channeling so much rage at something workout related here. who hurt you

"You all killed my family! My friends!" "You also did that." "You might have killed more of them than we did." "Truly all I did was hold a door shut." This is vicious I forgot how off the walls fucked up the whole Josh thing was

"Shit now I gotta do math in front of people."

Caldwell's silly little poems are actually so fucking impressive tho

"What's the damage on that?" "Rolling still." that is SO ominous

-

Spent this entire fight thinking the Watchman was throwing I beams at the BOB. Deeply confused when Murph said his players would get mad at him if he didn’t count those as spells. They meant “eye beams” as in laser beams from his eyes, and bottom line is English sucks because you can’t communicate anything clearly

-

“Murph, you’re living it up in this city.” “Yeah, you’ve invented a city full of anti-goof robots.” “The anti-goof police is out in full force.”

Murph setting up a super high-stakes social environment where the cast cannot pull their usual shenanigans and then deciding this will also be the arc where all the NPCs relentlessly flirt at Moonshine is honestly hilarious

holy shit no punches are being pulled in first half of the Frostwind arc. yeesh

Their massively lame "Headgum does Red Wedding" bit

Emily's Melora bits finally went too far: "Oh, Melora is masturbating in the corner!" "... Jesus." "Eww! That's the worst one!" "That is some Blumhouse shit, Emily!"

I think this podcast is the first time I've ever heard the word “brazier” actually pronounced out loud, and I hate it! please stop saying it

Murph taking the occasional run up at the fourth wall to go 'hey this is pretty good! who wrote this' always amuses me. i get it, if I could do that with my own writing i would

the 'one big bed' bit warms my heart. They keep trying to make it weird but honestly i still mostly come away missing big sleepovers

"I'm not afraid of the elements! The nature of mushrooms is sort of -" "Moonshine... mushrooms don't grow here." *Moonshine's life flashes before her eyes*

I know Balnor just confirmed he was around post early 80s because he quoted ESB, but the way he reacted to that whole gnarly giant murder and disembowelment is *really* giving WWI vibes

Starting to suspect Murph also just learned how to pronounce brazier. There seem to be a weird amount of them around, nobody has a campfire or an oven or a hearth or a fireplace…

The life and times of Ram Daniel

“I can’t tell you what a bad place this was to do a blood ritual.” Oh what a good and reassuring thing to hear from your DM

Murph starting to rate their little intros and immediately getting "bullied" into changing Emily's grade to an A (43)

“I sing a quick Gashlight Anthem”

Emily rolling for her dream and dreaming about Pawpaw dissolving, “that’s a one roll you monster!”

Murph stop making fantasy meth sound fun challenge

This party being fifty percent functionally illiterate is somehow still funny

-

"Bev crit on finding Werther's one time, and then failed a check to see cannons coming at his house, and his mom, his boyfriend and his grandma almost died."

"Everyone is hot, everyone is horny, welcome to NADDPod" well at least he admits it

[dekusleftsock]

I am begging you and every other MHA fan to raise your standards cause Kohei gave everyone a yuri couple only to immediately kill one off.

…how many times has horikoshi faked deaths in this series. Because it’s A LOT. Afo, allmight, izuku losing his arm, bakugou, touya, Ochako literally last chapter, like… the story isn’t done yet my dude.

BUT HEY IF YOU WANNA ACTUALLY CRITIQUE HORIKOSHIS WRITING THEN IM ALL FOR IT HAHA

So how do I think horikoshi has seriously failed mha… hmm…

1: her

Her entire character. Well, not entire character. She GOT a lot of screen time and development don’t get me wrong, especially later in the series, and yes I love the fact that bakugou and dekus relationship was more prioritized than Izuku and Ochakos, but does that mean he prioritized her character? No! Nope! NADDA! Ochako is repeatedly sidelined throughout the story, and is also somehow excluded from a lot of arcs that SERIOUSLY RELATE TO HER CHARACTER.

Imagine if ochako was a part of the stain arc at all. She joined for selfish reasons like iida, he has a blood quirk like toga (which could’ve EASILY been foreshadowing to her not being freaked out by blood like most people), could’ve been a great way to show some nuance to her character….

And yet… AND YET…

That brings me to mistake number 2: Shoto Todoroki

Do I think shoto’s character is written badly or wrong? No! Of course I don’t! The entirety of the todoroki storyline, especially with its connection to hawks and the dirty parts of heroics, is really really good! I think it’s one of the most well handled abusive families in all of fiction. It understands EVERYONE in the family, and horikoshi is still able to show so much character and development in just a few scenes, like Natsuo or Rei.

So what IS my problem?

The fact that Ochako, her story, her CHARACTER AS A WHOLE… becomes sidelined due to horikoshi’s choice to prioritize his character over her’s. Again, it’s a great story and I wish he could balance both of them in mha, but he COULDNT, and he made the choice to sacrifice a woman’s character over a man’s.

Though I will say, a note on how ochako could’ve been in the stain arc: toga as a concept was created later and for ochako specifically, so it does kind of make sense as to why she wasn’t involved. Plans change and writers change, their ideas for their characters and what direction they go will ALWAYS change, and sadly you can’t predict that you won’t change a character or it’s direction at any point. It sucks! But that’s how a lot of these really long manga’s go. They have to write and then draw it pretty fucking fast.

And tbh I don’t really know what id do in horikoshi’s shoes with ochako and shoto! But it is definitely a critique we can acknowledge. It would take some seriously extraordinary writing skills to be able to balance, what, 3 deuteragonists? Katsuki, Ochako, AND Todoroki? Especially since one of those characters has a very complex trauma storyline that involves like five other characters? I honestly wouldn’t know what to do in his shoes!

I just wish he had picked the woman out of the two of them, but I think everyone knows that his manga wouldn’t be half as popular were he to have made it focus on two guys and a girl, instead of three guys, one of which is conventionally attractive and has major main character energy.

Anyway number 3: the overhaul arc

Ugh I have such mixed opinions on this arc. On one hand it has some really interesting storylines… when they’re on their own.

From what I understand, horikoshi did this arc because he wanted to try his hands at a longer arc and he had never really done that before. And while it’s great and very obvious he learned things from this arc, it just… takes up so much god damn space and gives us absolutely nothing long term.

Like yeah it makes a few points, like how high schoolers shouldn’t be involved in all of this and kinda sets up the ending rn where the actual adult heroes are sacrificing themselves for the next generation (ex: the guy that I forget the name of who’s now bakugous heart, allmight for deku, midnight for Mina/all the other kids, Mount lady, Aizawa for deku and all the other kids, Mirko for bakugou, etc etc), where as villains sacrifice the next generation for THEMSELVES (ex: afo and shigaraki, overhaul and eri, the gun arm girl for deku, also afo for dabi, etc etc) which is really good to do!

It’s just. Yk. Done by basically every other arc.

AIZAWA REPEATEDLY SHOWS THIS, ALLMIGHT REPEATEDLY SHOWS THIS, ENDEAVOR REPEATEDLY SHOWS THIS. Like it’s the entirety of Mount ladies arc, learning to be a hero and sacrifice for the next generation. Sacrifice and the fact that we forget 1-A are high schoolers is constantly shoved down our fucking throats; we don’t need this arc that takes so god damn long, only adds more characters that aren’t that important, TAKES AWAY FROM YOUR MAIN CAST OTHER THAN DEKU AND ALLMIGHT, JUST for it to tell you explicitly that “kids shouldn’t be fighting the battles of the previous generation, but they have to”. It just. Ugh.

There’s so much time in that arc fucking WASTED on nighteye or mirio’s character. Do I think the big three are really interesting? Of course! The contrast between mirio to deku is fascinating! It really shows how much deku can’t become allmight.

But you know. We talked about that a season ago mha. Yk. When he learns to use kicks instead of punches. Or yk. Gran Torino’s entire arc surrounds that. Everything about deku is nothing like allmight. That’s the entirety of their characters together. It’s repeatedly shown to be dekus biggest insecurity. He’s not allmight. YOU DIDNY NEED THIS ARC TO TELL YOU THAT AGAIN.

It’s like, everything that matters in this arc has already been shouting at you throughout the entire show, and everything else is never really used again outside of a mention here or there. It’s REALLY CLEAR Horikoshi was just doing this arc to try doing a long arc, not thinking about the long term of said arc.

Hmmm what else is there to complain about…

Eh, I guess the fan service? Which is, yk, in every other shonen anime/manga out there. Sometimes with people far younger than anyone in mha.

Ugh it’s like people like you just want me to be screaming “horikoshi did this! Horikoshi did that!” Every five seconds. I read the manga, I’ve talked about these flaws before on my account. Sorry if I… enjoy the manga???? Wait… omg!

It’s almost like I’m an mha account and it says RIGHT HERE IN MY BIO! Crazy!

Like seriously, what was your point? You were mad at drawings on a screen and someone enjoying that story and just… wanted to make someone’s day worse?

Did you expect me to heave over and be like “yes master anon! Toga is the worst written character in mha and horikoshi is a bad writer!” He’s a capable writer who understands his audience more than people give him credit for.

EVERY story has flaws. Every. Single. One. And because mha is literally everywhere and the fandom can get annoying because, it’s literally everywhere, I can understand getting annoyed sometimes. But you can’t sit here and expect me to solely focus on how bad horikoshi’s writing is because you’re mad at one thing. Toga SHOULD be selfless for ochako, sorry that it means thinking that she’s going to die???? What do you want from me?

I don’t have to “raise my standards” because horikoshi uses a lot of subtext and symbolism. I have other gay media I watch or read.

But like every single lgbtq movement that’s ever happened, it takes BABY STEPS. There aren’t many, if any, gay shonens out there, and if mha wants to be the first one it has to play by the rules. It has to make you think this is every other heterosexual shonen ever.

Shojo didn’t just become gay, it had to have shows like sailor moon censor a lesbian couple to be “cousins” so that other shows could exist. Madoka had to be at least semi subtle about its queer coding.

That whole meme where it shows one show saying “x show walked so that y show could run”, yeah that’s how every gay genre was made. Horror didn’t just become gay, it had to have community and relatability build up over the years, along with those new gay writers remembering where they came from, who paved the way.

My point being: I don’t give a shit if you think horikoshi is an awful writer who you think I can’t criticize. However I DO KNOW that if toga and ochako fully get together you’ll NEVER be able to avoid mha. And that thought makes me smile so much more than just the fact that they’re canon.

[babybulbasaur920]

Headcanons for Vilex (Vil/Felix)

Felix has more or less avoided Vil´s fits of overbearing-ness for the first two years of Felix's time at NRC

There was more or less an unspoken agreement after Vil saw what this man can make out of basically nothing

Leave him alone and he´ll work hard on his own, and get fancy, beautiful jewelry with gems mined from the Han-eul mountains, the most gorgeous ever

This went on until the VDC, when Vil decided Felix would help the crew, music and stuff. He thought Felix could do it

Anyways chapter 5 goes as it does

Felix and Yuu in the ¨we aren't going to be dancing, why must we eat the white people food?¨ club

Vil´s overblot goes as it does

As he's doing his major soul searching trying to reassess every damn thing, he happens upon Felix's hot shop, and they start chatting

At first it's polite small talk, about Felix´s projects and the jewelry making process. It then turns into more personal things

Vil hasn't had much time to just work through it all.

Even with Rook picking up the slack it takes a lot to be so perfect, and to look like it takes no effort to be perfect

Felix is blunt and slightly to the left (my baby is undiagnosed autistic, the tumblr kind, he'd be doing numbers on here) and its oddly refreshing to Vil, who hasn't given him much more thought than a handy kinda dude

They started dating not long and it's a trip for both of them

Vil never thought he'd be so down for someone, he always thought a partner would have to be actually perfect, not better than him of course 

If you told him a year ago he'd be so head over heels for a kinda short artisan with little filter, he'd laugh it off, but life comes at you fast and you never know. And now he's sitting in the cafeteria with one arm around him while trying to get him to eat, since using his fire and metal magic to craft actually burns a lot of calories, he has to eat a lot, but can just get so absorbed in studying or whatever Vil has to remind him to eat.

Felix has definitely kissed Vil all over like that one tweet

Felix kissing Vil all over his face: skincare

Holiday hcs since we just had those fucks

I just know Vils dad is like one of those sad beige moms

And christmas, or the twisted wonderland equivalent kinda sucked over at the Schoenheit house for that reason

And Vil keeps that going in Pomefiore, instead of beige we got purple, which is a step up but you get the point

But Felix came from a large family and the kind of village thats one big family, and it's ¨tacky¨ holidays all the way

We are talking about homemade decor (that still looks amazing,  all those jerks are pro artisans, what did you think would happen?), all the colors, cookie decorating with half the kitchen coated in flour, festive kidz bop, pjs, the whole messy nine yards

This of course becomes a problem, last year, Felix just did his room how he likes it, and his roommate was kind enough not to snitch, but now he and Vil are dating, he's asking for his opinion, and, he really hates how sterile this all looks

While dating Felix has sort of mellowed Vil out, seeing what's really important in life and all that, he still very much cares about aesthetics and everything looking perfect, and perfect, in this scenario makes Felix poke everything with a stick

Eventually they come to a conclusion, the dorm will be elegant as always but more fun

They do a whole thing about gingerbread houses, and it turns out Rook´s aunt has a dope recipe which he shares. It's actually pretty cool to see these guys fumble, the majority is rich fancy dudes who've never cooked in their lives 

Of course Felix´s is super elaborate (once again, who do you think you're talking about?). He's not much better at baking, but design is his thing. The whole thing is a victorian style house with candy cane railings, green cotton candy and powdered sugar as snowy bushes, a snowman made out of donut holes, and a garden using candy canes as trellis, those pull apart twizzlers as vines and actual candied flowers. How this man even got those things, no one knows (he bribed Rook, a true artist cannot be contained)

Tree decorating! Some students write home for ornaments that they particularly like, Felix makes some, Epel makes a whole popcorn chain (has to be supervised or he'll eat it, our gremlin child), it gets spray painted, so it doesn't attract bugs not all of it matches but the tree is beautiful and everyone in the dorm got to add to it

Vil has to fold, this **has** been better than how holidays normally are for him

The gifts:

What Felix gifts Vil: 

(he made them of course)

he put in it, a picture Rook took, of the group (him, Vil, Epel, Rook) (dont ask how Rook took the picture and was in the picture. we all know this man is some eldrich being) in front of the dorm tree

What Vil got him:

(i couldn´t find pictures of actual tickets so pretend they´re tickets)

They both love the netflix movie, so when Felix casually tosses out he once saw this as a play when travelling with his parents, Vil was intrigued. he found out that a theater not too far from NRC would be putting it on

Vil, when doing his homework on the play, saw it's a thing to dress up like you're going to prom, so he also got Felix a nice suit

[winderlylandchime]

2/3 ‘POOR SUNSHINE? DEB SUNSHINE IS THE ONE THAT *CHEATED* AND YOU OUT OF EVERYONE HERE KNOWS THAT BRIAN LOVES HIM WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK JUST HAPPENED? Did I hallucinate that episode where Brian was all hot in that green light? thank you linds- HE SHOULDVE SHOWED IT? Fuck you Debbie, fuck you. You know! And you clearly know that Justin cheated but you don’t care? I THOUGHT SHE CARED ABOUT BRIAN?! Does no one care about him except me?! Fuck you too Ted. BRI!!! I AM YOUR REAL FRIEND! I DEFENDED YOU THE ENTIRE TIME! Oh look it’s cheater! BRIAN DONT SHOW HIM YOU CARE! Fuck all of you!..okay Mikey, maybe that’s a bit much..is that why he got punched?’ He is so stressed that he genuinely looks like he’s two seconds away from a stroke ‘oh no Bri Bri is home. Is this his first time coming to an empty loft since the prom? OH he knows Justin was here, what is he holding, is that Justins? If he holds it to himself like in Brokeback mountain, I’m killing myself. Oh you sweet poor baby, it’s okay, you still have me. OH NOT THE DRAWING! Good for you Bri Bri. But damn that hurts.. OH MY GOD HE TALKS ABOUT IT WITH LINDSAY?! SO HE WENT TO HER AND IS JUST POURING HIS HEART OUT? *NEVER* beg! (Linds says she saw it coming) Oh did ya? I fucking wonder why? No wonder he found someone else? (My name) can you play the episodes where she gets cheated on and how Bri reacted to it? You know who says shit like that? Horrible bitter evil people! (Lindsay says bri can get justin back) but people have the right to change and i always admired that about them! YOU NEVER LOVED HIM? that’s because you still love him. (Brian says hed never ask him to be something he isnt) this motherfucker would burn down the house with him still inside it if it meant everyone else got to be okay and happy.‘ ‘Debbie is about to beat Michaels ass! Why doesn’t she ever defend Brian?! FUCK YOU DEBBIE! EVERYTHING BUT LOVE HIM? IT WAS YOU WHO GOT HIM TO ADMIT IT! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! HE CANT LOVE ANYBODY?! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU ALL! Each one of you is a horrible friend!’ He is once again outside smoking while walking up and down the yard. ‘Oh absolutely not! You are not bringing Ethan to a party that everyone else is at! FUCK YOU MEL! Literally everyone hates Brian. Fuck you all selfish assholes’ ‘i love Emmett and Ted as friends! I’ll like them as a couple if this dynamic doesn’t change.’ ‘BRIAN! he is miserable alone, isn’t he? YES BEN! HE NEEDS SOMEONE! FINALLY SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS IT! Ben there is still hope for you!’ ‘Bri, doesn’t look good. He literally looks like he’s about to drop dead. And people dare to say he’s okay? All this is showing me is that they all suck as friends….*he winced and i was about to ask if he’s okay* oh dancing isn’t their thing, huh? or do they suck on purpose because he’s drugged up?’ Said with the biggest smile on his face ‘oh i forgot Mikey gets punched’ ‘can you take me to a gay bar? It looks fun and i think I would make a lot of friends. I think I’m fun- OH IS BRIAN GONNA GO? (The cringe scene with Debbie/Ethan/Justin happens) Why is he following Justin around? He is literally not even a step behind? That’s embarrassing. Go to hell. Dude just stay where you are. Or better yet, leave. YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT OR PRIVILEGE TO SAY SUNSHINE! NO HE IS NOT ADORABLE! No offense to the actor, I’m sure he’s nice but HE IS NOT ADORABLE. OH MY GOD ITS BRIAN! What is wrong with Mel? She fucking invited him. Man fuck her. She makes it difficult to like her. *pauses ep* sorry, he just reminded me that I too have to go to the bathroom’ He is making this 45 minute ep last way longer than needed because he keeps pausing it to make an ‘ughhh’ sound whenever someone other than Brian is on screen. ‘OH MY GOD JUSTIN AND BRI! Are they for real gonna pee together? JUSTIN HE JUST TOLD YOU TO WASH YOUR HANDS! *said like Eric in Sex Ed* DIRTY PIG! (brian says thee line) *pauses tv on him and walks up to it* THIS *waves his hands all over Brian* is killing me! He looks sad! And telling him he hopes he gets what he wants? FUCK! he wants you, dont think otherwise!’

Oh yes, the beginning of S3 when Team Brian needs to be extra fucking protective because nobody but Michael (ugh) is taking Brian’s side. To the extent they have sides (I feel like Brian especially is not interested in “sides”). They both fucked up and no one sees it.

“this motherfucker would burn down the house with him still inside it if it meant everyone else got to be okay and happy.” HE REALLY AND TRULY GETS BRIAN KINNEY

Ohhh the ill-fated Ted/Emmett relationship. I’ll be curious as to his thoughts as this progresses and unfolds.

Can you take me to a gay bar? I love your brother. I think the entire fandom wants to take him to a gay bar.

And yes that bathroom scene is so heartbreaking. Brian is devastated but just wants Justin to be happy…

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 145 Rundown

Spy X Family: Yor catches some of the bad guys with the bomb dogs but isn’t able to go after the leader because she can’t leave Anya again so Terrorist Bakugo gets away (it’s really funny that the terrorist boss is voiced by Clifford Chaplin and is talking about explosions all the time). To my surprise Yor actually does find out how serious the situation is with the terrorists and Anya gets a Future Dog Sight vision of Loid getting blown up by the bomb and a lengthy view of how this will also start a World War. So Anya apologizes to Yor for running off on her own and then… immediately runs off on her own again. Loid’s group catches the remaining terrorists so Bakugo is left by himself with one dog that Anya’s dog seems to have beef with so this briefly becomes Up because this dog even kinda looks like Alpha, feel like Doberman Pinschers are up there on the list of dogs that get a bad rap. Anyway Anya finds the bomb and is able to convey the message to Loid without blowing her cover so Loid can go and steal the Minister’s clothes and get Bakugo’s dog to track him instead (idk how long that’d work for like presumably politicians put on fresh suits before big meetings and Loid’s scent would eventually overpower the residuals of his but it’s clever so I prolly shouldn’t think about it too much maybe the Minister’s just a sweaty old guy that never changes idk). But yeah Loid is able to parkour away from Alpha and is just gonna fucking shoot the dog, like he acknowledges it isn’t the dog’s fault and he’s sorry but like I really hope he doesn’t shot that fucking dog like he’s a god damn spy shouldn’t he have tranqs or something?  

Inuyasha: So we’ve entered the Princess Abi mini-arc and she is one of my favorite minor underutilized villains up there with Yura, she’s just pretty dope. She’s using her little pterodactyl birds to suck blood from the human villages around to basically give her phoenix mom a feudal blood transfusion since she was poisoned after eating a big ol’ poison demon. I’m not sure that’s how blood works but it’s the feudal era so the fact that they’re messing with blood at all is kind of a miracle plus idk maybe demon biology is weird. Anyway OG Naraku shows up after not seeing him for a while as Hakudoshi’s currently on Temporary Naraku duty. But he says Abi’s gonna help him get to the afterlife and gives her a bone trident. Because Naraku is the shadiest god damn person in the world Abi and her mother don’t trust him as far as they can throw him but as a show of good will he faces off against the children of the poison demon Mama Abi ate. They start shooting poison and Naraku’s just like ‘aw that’s cute, they think they have poison’ and fucking poison blasts them into the stone age. Abi and Mama Phoenix don’t trust Naraku but their racism makes them overconfident like ‘yeah that guy’s stronger than anyone I’ve ever seen but he’s a half-demon so I can probably still kill him if he gets up to anything’ sound logic guys. Meanwhile Inuyasha’s group is defending the only village in the area left standing and Abi’s Pteradactyls do a pretty cool The Birds parody and start fucking shit up. Of course Abi comes around and Naraku’s gifts of Saimyosho and Bone Trident barriers protect her from the group’s two biggest OHKO moves (prolly still wouldn’t do shit against Kagome’s Sacred Arrow but when was the last time she did shit with that). Since Abi has two brain cells to rub together she puts together that Naraku’s setting her up to fight Inuyasha and dips the fuck out of there because if some shady dude wants you to fight a guy with a laser sword even if you think you can win there’s probably nothing good coming from that. Anyway next week’s a random filler flashback episode that expands on Kikyo’s flashback with Inuyasha, I have no idea why they didn’t air that special BEFORE we started a new story arc with Abi but yeah, what do I know.

Yu Yu Hakusho: I can’t emphasize enough how much this has just become a DBZ fight, like I’ve said that before in this series but Demon!Yusuke vs Sensui is just literally a DBZ fight. It’s kinda funny watching them go through all the DBZ tropes for the first time like the moving so fast you can’t see, the ‘dodge and blow something huge a mile away up’, the casually changing landscape as they demolish rock formations with their sheer manliness, the clash creating weather phenomena, the ‘let’s move this category four brawl to that convenient empty desert so no one gets hurt’ it’s cute, like the meme of the guys on the gallows with DBZ just looking at YYH like ‘first time?’ since with DBZ everyone just kinda got desensitized to it real fast it’s amusing to watch a series with relatively grounded fights just become DBZ and have everyone lose their minds. Also there’s kind of a funny scene where we cut back to the Spirit World SPC and apparently nobody told them S Class demons were really a thing because they wanted to keep their egos up and let them believe they were the strongest since S Class Demons are basically Elder Gods and never interfere with humans anyway, it’s just kind of a bizarre decision to save your police’s sanity by telling them there’s nothing they can’t beat. But yeah Yusuke comes back and is only mildly distressed that his heart isn’t beating anymore which Kurama and Hiei laugh off and are like ‘yeah that happens’ and it’s actually kinda cool that Kuwabara and Kurama and Hiei all get kinda jazzed that Yusuke’s back like it actually gives them a power boost, the comfort of having him return is stronger than the despair of losing him in the first place and it makes no god damn sense on a power scaling level but it’s a nice theme. Yusuke does his DBZ thing and is kinda having trouble getting a read on how strong he is until his demon side just takes over and wants to finish the fight for him and I’m slowly realizing I don’t think Tite Kubo has an original storytelling bone in his body, Bleach just lifted a whole show and gave it a new coat of paint huh.

Jujutsu Kaisen: It’s time for Yuji’s big return! We get a fun little couple of intro scenes and the main takeaway is that Gojo wants Yuji to just cram every finger they have into his mouth right now but everyone else is afraid he’ll explode or some shit if he does it before he’s strong enough to handle or worse turn traitor and let the power go to his head. But yeah Yuji meets back up with Megumi and Nobara and is just kinda thrown into their new squad after not seeing them for two months and NOBODY has a reaction to seeing him alive except for being mildly pissed that he kept it a secret. Megumi vouches for his pure fighting capability outside of Cursed Techniques so the others are on board for letting him join their race to quell a minor spirit while using even minor-er spirits as a tiebreaker. The Yamamoto Kyoto principal dude wants Yuji dead still so he just straight up tells his students like ‘yeah go murder that guy in the games, make it look like an accident if you can but if not no biggie’ like holy fuck even if you consider him a threat, treating him as ‘not a person’ as he calls it seems like Kyoto’s REALLY teaching their students the wrong lessons, aren’t these guys supposed to save people? Guess it goes along with the theme of Yuji having a potentially too high reverence for human life but also the virtue that he places on not killing even the worst people. Todo objects to random murder and more importantly his idol show is on so he’s not gonna go along with that. Meanwhile the bad guys are all healed up and ready to go take the fingers the school has during the event and Gojo warns that the person leading them is probably a school insider of some sort, so yeah we got a standard Chunin Exams situation going on here where there’s a surface test but also like three random backstab plots happening in the background.

Ranking of Kings: So Shield Guy loses an eye and a foot to the chimera things and Hilling cries out to Bosse to save them and Daida!Bosse almost rips his way straight out of his cell to do so but whatever the fuck Miranjo’s got on him to make him do absolutely jack shit in this arc stops him. Hilling doesn’t want to leave shield guy to die so she tries to help and turns out Giant Snake Cerberus is here to save the day and takes out the Chimeras to give Hilling a chance to heal Shield Guy but Gnasty Gnorc is still here and fucks giant snake up. Then Bojji FINALLY returns home and defends the snake and his mom. We get a minor flashback with Despa teaching Bojji how to fucking CUT THE SPACES BETWEEN ATOMS which is badass beyond words. And Bojji uses this power to fucking wreck Gnasty Gnorc’s shit. Bojji wants Hilling to heal the snake but he’s like ten times the size of the stuff she usually heals and she’s out of magical Gatorade. Luckily Kage’s a mobile hammerspace and is able to get her enough to heal the snake AND the chimeras after Bojji feels bad about everyone being hurt. Hilling and Kage are the biggest egos in the room so they clash for a bit but it resolves itself relatively quickly which is kind of funny because if Hilling didn’t trust Kage she sure was quick to drink some mysterious potions he literally pulled out of his ass. But yeah once Gnasty Gnorc wakes up he realizes he’s not about to fuck around with the power to cut atoms and swears loyalty to Bojji which is pretty cool, Bojji’s like gathering his own little One Piece crew to become the Ranking of Kings King. Meanwhile Despa is watching his guards get fucked up by Ouken who’s apparently literally immortal and only gets saved by random unexplained lightning bolt frying him temporarily unconscious. Apparently Ouken used to be a prince of the underworld which I guess would make him Desha and Despa’s third brother? But now he’s immortal and being cut off from the fear of death or urge to watch others grow made him a fucking asshole which is kinda funny because if he really is the third Des brother that means he’s only been immortal for like a couple years probably and it IMMEDIATELY made him an asshole. Also Desha is now arriving at the Underworld gate to beat Miranjo and it’s implied do something to save Ouken.

Vinland Saga: So this is an episode just fucking loaded with religious allegory and how people interpret Christianity and there’s A LOT of room for interpretation so I apologize if I misread anything to leave anything out. It starts with the Those Two Guys of Askeladd’s troupe trying to decipher the kind of love the Christian Priest is searching for and I’ve been forced to read enough about the Four Loves that I’ll spare you the explanation but essentially what the Priest is after is a brotherly love for all humanity that doesn’t distinguish by relation to the person but is compassionate towards all, and only the Vikings telling him of the story of Thorfinn’s dad gets him even close to explaining it. We then cut to a little village where a girl is having an existential crisis about stealing a ring given her family won’t shut up about Jesus and stealing is… you know, one of the Commandments. It’s kind of a refreshingly frank depiction of how generations of Christians use fear and vague moralistic stories to perpetuate the general idea of Christianity while kinda missing some of the details, considering a lot of anime treats Christainity like this weird nebulous mythology to be referenced with cool shit like in Evangelion this is kinda neat to see. But yeah, this is still a story about Vikings so Bjorn breaks into their house while the girl is out and Askeladd’s crew proceeds to fucking murder everybody to steal their food and keep their location a secret. I don’t remember if we see any of their Welsh guardians in this episode and I THINK this part is in England but murdering a bunch of harmless villagers at the drop of a hat should give them some pause about making a deal with these guys. But yeah the ring stealing girl escapes and finds the Coordinate from Attack on Titan and prays to god feeling like her stealing and the Viking genocide is the same deal because Catholic Guilt is a hell of a drug and presumably she dies because she’s out in the middle of the snowstorm with like no food and nothing around, like that’s the reason Askeladd raided the village in the first place so like we don’t see her actually die but I’m not holding my breath for her survival. One thing I wanted to bring up is whenever we get to the pillaging scenes we never see Thorfinn directly participate in the pillaging part like he’ll murder other warriors but we never see him killing civilians on-screen, I’m sure he probably does at some point and that’s part of his infamous turmoil in season two but I just thought that was an interesting choice, like it reminds me of how The Kid is portrayed in Blood Meridian where they’re very vague about how involved he is in the atrocities going on so they leave it up to interpretation of how much blame he carries for it.

[invisiblegarters]

Be My Favorite Ep 8

Why. Why are we starting on the singing? Why. Look yes Gawin has pipes but put them away, please. I am just never gonna be a fan of this trope and Thailand loves it so much; we are incompatible in that way.

Kawi you really need to try kissing this man sober.

"When are you going to stop doing this?" CALLED IT. Kawi totally keeps getting drunk and making out with Pisaeng. My dude. Both my dudes, really.

Okay okay. I'm not usually one to bring RL into my BL, but...I wonder if Krist felt some kind of way about playing Kawi during that scene with the reporters questioning his relationship with Pisaeng. Just. Considering.

Still, Kawi is not wrong about it. Get yer noses out of the private lives, people! Do not like how he decides Pisaeng must be at fault, though. As if people need a reason to speculate about celeb's love lives.

Oof, did Pisaeng finally block his number?

Man, I kind of feel bad for Kawi right now. Yes he still wrecked his own life, but in this instance the Kawi currently sitting in the wreckage of that life might as well have had it wrecked by someone else.

But.

BUT.

In my opinion Kawi still hasn't learned his lesson. He keeps trying to fix the things that went wrong, keeps thinking that if he just does the right thing in all situations his life will turn out perfect. First it was saving his dad and making Pear like him, getting a good career with lots of money, etc...and it does sort of feel like he's doing that now with Pisaeng. Something about his insistence that he wants to set things right isn't sitting well with me.

Well that means that dad is gone for good then, right? It's sad but expected. I said it last time, but there are things that you just can't change. As early as episode two they had dad saying that if it was his time it was his time, you can't change that no matter how hard you try. Granted his dad was mostly using it as a reason not to take better care of himself, but he wasn't wrong. Dad's death is a fixed point; it can't be changed.

I still think the lesson here isn't about changing individual events, it's about changing himself. It's like he didn't grow up in the entire twelve years between the Buddy Reveal and turning 30, and he's doing it now.

So Pisaeng's mom still sucks. Yeah, that tracks. She sure is a politician, though, isn't she? All that smoke she was blowing about wanting Pisaeng to be happy in a country that will let him be him, neatly sidestepping his very direct question about whether she just wants him out of sight (I get the impression she does). Saying that he can live like "normal people" abroad. I see you, lady.

I already said my piece about Pisaeng not letting Kawi talk.

Hm. I wonder if there is something going on with Pear family wise, or if she was just disappointed to have to cancel her plans with Kawi.

I love Max. I'm not entirely sure how Kawi convinced him to stay fighting, exactly, but maybe he just means that having his bestie back made him more willing to fight in general, or made the situation seem less hopeless.

All this drama happening and me sitting here like why is Kawi's phone so little! It's so wee! I am unused to phones that small nowadays.

It looks like a toy. Do I just use giant mobiles or what?

And hey, Kawi admitted he liked Pisaeng. I genuinely thought it'd take longer.

Damn, now I want sushi.

Hahaha, I kind of love Pisaeng telling the old man he'll handle his own broken things. I read the theory that that's actually Kawi and I have to say, the fond smile Pisaeng gets when he says he'll handle his car himself makes me wonder. Who knows, though.

Next week: Kawi and PIsaeng dating era. I don't know why they are giving us the attempted kiss from the back when we've seen the trailer, but whatever. Is Pisaeng gonna tell Kawi to go back to the future? Because that feels...premature. Kawi really needs to stop bouncing back and forth. I said it last week, I'll say it again: you can't speedrun character growth.