#like it isn't a complete deal-breaker for me (also they said they just used it for some interior design related stuff. not for their art.)

[mangos-draws]

"I NeEd Ai FoR iNsPiRaTiOn"

Dear god and here I thought I was lazy. But at least I'm not lazy enough to ask a software to mush some random garbage together instead of enjoying a piece of media myself and carefully picking things I like from it to weave them into my own art.

[statementlou]

I feel like when people ask famous personalities to participate in activism, they may be influenced by the parasocial relationships they have formed with these celebrities and not that they really care about what is going on. They expect famous individuals to act as role models or representatives of their beliefs. That's why I think, it is crucial to maintain a critical perspective and not depend solely on celebrities for activism. This can result in a passive approach to social change and disregard the significance of collaborative action and personal engagement. The majority of celebrities don't care lol even who speak up about it publicly. Their reality is different from ours, like Gigi Hadid also drank Starbucks the other day, Bella Hadid worked with a lot of Zionist brands and did a photo shoot with them recently, etc etc. And let me not start on stans culture... the worst thing ever

Okay this is fascinating because yes! I agree with you so much! But then I was completely floored by the choice of the HADIDS (literal Palestinians who never shut up about the cause) as examples- but actually I love it because I think it opens up two really really important points that maybe get to the heart of the whole issue. Gigi and Bella Hadid are, as I said, literally Palestinian, and have throughout their public lives (not just recently) never been silent or backed down in defense of Palestine even when it has very publicly lost them (Bella primarily) jobs and opportunities, and they both continue to be outspoken even while literally targeted and threatened by zionists. Pretty much everything anyone has wanted or asked for from any celebrity, right?! But here we have, first of all, Gigi having all of that discounted because she bought Starbucks, a brand that is not even an official boycott! I feel like this is a perfect example of prioritizing performative and symbolic activism over actions with material impact, if someone who has been so consistent and stalwart can see all that dismissed because they spent $5 on a coffee (that, again, has no material financial relationship to Israel). I personally think that on a scale of good done vs harm, Gigi can afford a lot of problematic coffees, and this is not even getting into the Hadid families finances which involve huge amounts of money being used and moved around in ways that do more to help the cause than any image choice can unbalance. And then you say that Bella has worked with zionist brands- I don't know anything about this so I can't speak to it. Given that we are also apparently considering starbucks a zionist brand despite the company not operating in or having any ties to Israel, I would question what this means. But it doesn't matter- I think the point is that consumer/ individual purity isn't possible! No one is making pure consumer choices, no matter how many brands they boycott, and certainly no celebrity can continue to be one without having unsavory connections. I think that BY DEFINITION no celebrity is politically pure because if they cut all those ties, THEY WOULD NO LONGER BE A CELEBRITY. Whether the pursuit of purity is realistic or desirable is a much bigger issue, but the point is that as you say, looking to celebrities to be activists will end only in disappointment. Their job is to entertain in specific ways and they do that; if that's not working for you, then consume some other celebrity's product (persona). As I have said from the start, if you want to stan Louis because he is talented and hot and kind and smart and fun then you are in luck! But if you are looking for an activist spokesperson, he is not going to be that, and yelling at him (or people who don't consider that a deal breaker) isn't going to change that.

[teleportzz]

Okay so i just got mom to watch all of rottmnt

Donnie's her favorite, Mikey's her second favorite

She laughed at almost all of Leo's jokes. The worse the joke, the more she seemed to like it.

"How many episodes of this am I gonna have to watch before I stop thinking of Dewey every time Leo talks?" (answer: all of them + the movie and she still isn't used to them having the same voice actor)

"You said Donnie's voiced by the guy who did Mark Beaks? Okay well thank god he's good at doing different voices because if Donnie sounded exactly like Beaks it would have been a deal breaker for me"

"Why did you tell me his head is shaped like an inhaler? Now I can't unsee it"

She's obsessed with Hypno Potamus. she's utterly delighted by his name

She's also obsessed with Meat Sweats. She likes that Gordon Ramsey is a recurring villain in this show

"I like April. She's spunky. She gets shit done"

She went absolutely insane over the pre-mutation turtles. As soon as Leo was put on screen she was just "AWWWWW"

She almost cried during the season 2 finale

She actually did cry during the movie and I made fun of her for it even though I was crying too

We're both autistic with sensory issues around gooey/sticky/slimy things and when Donnie connected to the technodrome both of us were shouting "NO NO NO NOPE HELL NO OH MY GOD" at the tv

i got her to watch toh. i got her to watch ducktales. i got her to watch rottmnt. i feel completely unstoppable now

[ewingstan]

The Love Lost interlude was interesting. The flashback to interrogating Jen seemed to be establishing that Nicole was, even before everything, operating on certain specific beliefs and resulting frustrations. She saw the world as filled with people who aren't people but monsters, and was frustrated at how little she could do about it. She couldn't "stop all the bad guys," resented the misconduct statutes that slowed down her ability to send "monsters" to jail, and was at least somewhat aware that punishing them after they already hurt people accomplished little.

All of which helps explain her obsession with Rain: she sees him as an especially heinous monster who's escaped punishment too long. Not dealing with him and the other monsters would be compounding her failures, and the fact that killing him wouldn't accomplish anything doesn't matter that much, since she didn't really see it as accomplishing anything back when she was a cop.

The oddity is how she sees herself as working with another monster to "save the world." Firstly because Rain doesn't seem world-threatening, though maybe she's talking about the Mathers more generally. The whole of their plan still isn't clear to me, I'm not sure why they needed to attack the Navigators. But the bigger thing is that she sees Cradle as a monster, and it seems like the text agrees with her even in a way it didn't for Jen.

And its somewhat weird for the text to agree with that "some people are monsters" framing when this whole chapter is pretty clear that its wrong. Its earlier use in the flashback seems to be purposefully positioning it as wrong and dangerous:

Nicole describing people as inherently monstrous is first given in the context of a cop deciding someone must be guilty, and falsifying evidence on that basis. Its introduced as being part-and-parcel with police misconduct. And later parts pose it as something borderline fascistic:

She sees certain criminals as "not having reasons," as if they're savages who do violence because of some automatic, atavistic urge. Instead of, you know. Doing crimes to get money/revenge/safety/etc. People usually have reasons for doing things. But the fact that she thinks some people don't, and that she uses such a politically charged word as "degenerate" to describe such monsters, all signpost that Nicole is following an overly simplistic ideology with horrific ends. Even if she sees herself and Nailbiter as "very similar people at different points in their journeys," she sees the latter as someone who needs to die.

Then there's the whole Colt thing, that Colt was distressing to Nicole because she straddled the line between "innocent child" and "monster" and her becoming a parahuman pushed her in one direction rather than Colt's own autonomous choices. Colt has from the start been an example of people doing stupid harmful things for understandable reasons, and Nicole recognizes that as a burr in her worldview.

But then the reveal that Cradle has been manipulating the cluster and literally turning them evil for his own ends. Which admittedly I still don't understand at all. Though part of that is that I don't understand Nicoles side either; she wanted to kill all the "rule-breaker capes" but also said that stopping kids from getting into capedom was a worthy goal, and whatever she thought they were doing with March I completely missed. But the last paragraphs of Cradle revelation suddenly reinforces what the rest of the chapter so persistently (and often skillfully) tried to argue against vis-a-vis some people just being monsters. I'd typically say that this means that we have to be due for a humanizing look at Cradle, but nothing I've seen from Wardblr indicates I'll get it. We'll see.

Part of the problem might just be the form of the story: a genuine ideological belief that no human is a true monster gets in the way of having a truly villainous villain. But I'm not sure why this story needed one.

[trashexplorer]

BLCD Review: Ikigami & Donor

Title: Ikigami to Donor (イキガミとドナー)

Author/Artist: Yamanaka Hiko

Shop: CD + Manga

Release Date: 2021/12/03

Cast: 

Nakajima Yoshiki x Saitou Souma

Yamashita Seiichirou + Kawanishi Kengo

Kobayashi Chiaki

Yashiro Taku

Komada Wataru

Hayashi Miho

Shiozaki Tomohiro

Higa Ryosuke

Abe Ryouma

Torashima Takaaki

Oota Kensuke

Nakashima Takuya

Fujita Mami

Miyama Mari

Souya Kazuki

Synopsis: 

"Your blood and flesh, all of it is mine." An ikigami and a healer, together their souls support each other, blooming into love...

In the distant future, ordinary teacher Yoshino learns that he is a "donor" for the strongest species, the "ikigami." These warriors are tasked with protecting the country. "The unique ability of a donor is to use their bodily fluids to heal ikigami." Yoshino learns this fact and is shocked. Thus, Yoshino is forced to live with Kidou... At first, he is like a beast, demanding Yoshino's bodily fluids, but slowly, the underlying loneliness begins to show...

"Someday, if I met a donor, could they come to love me? That thought is the only reason I survived..."

Review Proper

I can’t believe Yamanaka Hiko’s been terrorizing me for over twelve years now. OH MY GOD I’M SO OLD. And true to the Yamanaka Hiko brand, this turned out to be another fantasy masterpiece (read His 500 Years of Suffering Romance). This was definitely the type of thing that would do great even without the BL aspect of it. Now, I did have an issue with Kidou being an asshole (he's almost killed Yoshino more than once), so I’m not excusing it. But I do get how and why he turned out to be like that and I'm aware that it's important for his character development. The world-building was great, don't get me wrong, but it's definitely dubcon 2015. I would strongly advise you not to get into it if that's a deal breaker for you.

Anyway, onto the voice work.

Souma used a tone so close to Gucci's that I kept imagining Gucci being Yoshino. Yes, I didn't read the manga while listening to the BLCD. It was like after graduating Karasuno, Gucci went on to become a teacher, then a donor lmao. His Yoshino panics more like Honda-san, however, so my final verdict is that his Yoshino is half-Gucci, half-Honda-san.

This isn't Nakajiki and Souma's first rodeo, but I'm glad to say that their performance/dynamic here is different from Mikeneko and XL Size. I expected Kidou to be a mix of Amano and Anaconbayashi-kun 'cause the former was cocky and the latter was stoic, but Kidou was only 50% of that mix and 50% brooding, suffering, I'll-protect-you top. Am I even making any sense? Again, I listened to the BLCD first, but the sound direction they gave Nakajiki was very different from what I thought he'd sound like after I read the manga. It’s almost like what happened with OnoD’s expressive Hasebe-kun in the Kotonoha BLCD vs the more stoic Hasebe-kun in the manga. 

The voice work of our two leads was 👌. This might just be my fave out of their pairings 'cause the sex isn't over-the-top like XL Size and Mikeneko. I will say that I wasn't completely sold on Yamashita Seiichirou as Shibata-san 'cause I feel like he speaks too slowly, but I'm sure it'll grow on me by the time I listen to their spin-off. KawaKen was fine. My heart broke for him every time Shibata-san rejected him, so it's safe to say he's got Taki-kun down already.

Oh. I did have a slight issue with the sfx too. Why was it so watery??? Lmao. Even r18 otome cds aren't that wet. But it's not so glaring that it'll turn you off.

The BLCD was almost perfectly accurate to the manga. I highly recommend this to those learning mid to higher levels of Japanese. Futekiya has licensed volumes 1 & 2, so please try to support the official release if you can. I'd be lying if I said that I agree with how they translated it so... literally?, but I think it's also important to see how things are translated that way if you're aiming to dip your toes into translation aside from studying the language. For example, they used "Living God" throughout the manga instead of "Ikigami." It's correctly translated, but I personally prefer retaining the original title. You know, like how Viz uses "Kaiju no. 8" instead of "Monster no. 8?"

God knows if I'll ever survive the spinoff that I wanted to work on. I avoided talking about it for a reason lmao. Anyway, if y'all liked this, then please give 500 Years (Ono Yuuki x Suzuki Tatsuhisa) and Shortcake no Ichigo Sawaranaide (Nojima Hirofumi x Takeuchi Ken). These two are android bls and Ikigami to Donor is more guide bl, but they both share a futuristic vibe.

[valiant-if]

hold up, imma rant about my job for a minute

So, for context, I am a self-employed pet sitter/dog walker—meaning I'm not signed up through any websites like Rover and operate on an individual basis.

Now, this client that I'm about to do a job for, I've been acquainted with her for roughly three years and have done some dog walks for her in the past. Additionally, she was only introduced to me because I walked dogs for her neighbors (whom referred her to me) for five years.

As of last week, we met to discuss expectations and anything else I would need to know or do around her house and she gave me her key. Then, yesterday, two days before her trip, she sent me a text (that came across as very tonally rude, by the way) basically requesting a digital copy of my driver's license because "it occurred to [her] that she doesn't know my last name or anything about [me]."

Now, because I'm not vetted by a website like Rover, I can completely understand a client being a little nervous about working with someone who is more or less a stranger. That said, she has the very strong reference of someone that I've been working with for 5+ years, and I could easily have provided her other references if she had come to me with this question weeks before her trip instead of days.

She also had the option to hire someone off of Rover or a similar website if she wanted the security of hiring someone with a verified background check. The only caveat there is that she'd probably be spending more money.

But I need the money and also am not a total raging asshole expecting her to find a pet sitter at the last second, so I compromised with her, telling her that sending a driver's license digitally would open me up to the potential of fraud in the future, so I would only send her a picture of it if certain information was blocked off. She agreed—but I was ready to cancel with her on the spot if she didn't.

Now, though, I have expressed to her that I use the internet to access resources for my writing work, and she is refusing to give me access to her network because she is worried I might "infect [her] network with malware," which, by the way, is not even what that means or how that works. So not only is she completely ignorant on what she's talking about, but she is showing clear signs that she does not trust me in her home with her pets.

So the great question here is, why even fucking hire me at all? She has another lady, a family friend of hers—that she has hired in the past, who is super sweet by the way, I've actually met her—who seems like she'd be a better choice since they actually know her. The only reasons I can think of why she would decide to switch to hiring me instead of that lady are, 1.) she liked what she heard from her neighbors, 2.) the lady she normally has watch her dogs is older and cannot walk them every day, or 3.) I'm a more cost-effective option. If it's that last one, well, beggars can't be choosers when you're literally trying to skim your costs by hiring your cheapest option.

And the part of this that is difficult to replicate is the tone in which these exchanges are being made. She's treating me like she thinks I am a teenager (which, by the way, teenage employees should not be treated like this either) instead of someone in their 30s.

I've never had problems with her in the past, and it's not that I think she's trying to be shifty, I think she's just ignorant and inconsiderate. And if I find out she has cameras hidden around her house, that's gonna be a huge deal breaker and she's gonna have to find someone on the spot to watch those dogs, because I will not be staying there if that is the case.

I have never before had a client request a copy of my driver's license despite the fact that I work on an individual basis—largely because all of them were referred to me by someone those clients trusted, so they decided to trust me in turn. Ultimately, though, the fact that she doesn't trust me isn't really the crux of the issue. The crux is that she should have hired someone else if she was having reservations about me.

Long story long, regardless of how this gig goes, I will be dropping her as a client and blocking her once it's over. The toxic way she's treating me is not worth any amount of money that she could pay me. Also, in general, she's just been completely unprofessional.

so anyway, rant done

[excessive-vampires]

Dealing With Demons Chapter 5: Hope This One's Interesting Part 2: Cee

Masterlist with CW

Taglist: @demyxdancer @softvampirewhump

"This complicates things," Avi said, looking at my Spotify profile.

Maybe it means they're willing to forgive you? I mean they could only have found it through you.

"Or maybe they were just curious and recognized your good taste in music. Now, I have to do an hour of business paperwork."

I groaned internally.

"To make sure I stay filthy rich."

I thought my acquiescence.

"So what podcast do you want me to put on for you?"

Have I mentioned how much I love that I don't have to pay attention to your boring ass business shit?

Avi beamed. They were proud of the system we'd come up with. Then suddenly they closed their eyes and inhaled deeply.

"A summons."

Guess the paperwork will have to wait. Hope this one's interesting.

That last interesting one I remembered was a woman who wanted one of every single issue of a certain comic book from thirty years ago. That had taken some investigative work. Deals were getting more and more rare, honestly, since Avi had refused to do anything too illegal for any reason besides protecting themself or punishing deal-breakers ever since we made our deal. It just wasn't worth the risk of ending up on the run from the law when they had a real life they'd lose if they did. But they didn't really mind the scarcity. Demons were patient, according to Avi, and for now they didn't need any more power to get what they wanted, not when they had me.

They blinked and suddenly we were in a dark room. Probably some sort of basement. It smelled like underground. Stale and damp and earthy. The floor was rough beneath their feet.

Across the room stood a person probably in their early forties. Short dirty blond hair tinged with gray at the temples Sinister smile, impeccably dressed.

Avi wore casual clothes. One of my old band t-shirts and sweatpants. Not even a bra. I felt self-conscious next to their soon-to-be client's suit. Avi felt frustrated that there had been no time to change. But if they don't answer a summons right away the summoner will eventually give up.

"You're not what I expected." The summoner's voice had a southern drawl to it, much thicker than my slight accent.

Avi looked down at their outfit and grimaced. "If you give me a moment I can put on some more businesslike attire."

"Not entirely what I meant. You have a physical body."

So, this summoner knew enough about demons to recognize possession. That was interesting, but not too unexpected. People tended to do quite a lot of research before selling their souls. I'd had only the one spellbook I found hidden in an alley to guide me, but I was in too much of a hurry to bother finding connections in the world of mages before making my deal.

"Yes." They beamed. "Isn't it nice?" They made a show of turning around in a circle.

"Don't you want a skinnier one? I mean, you're not a demon of gluttony." The summoner laughed at their own joke.

Rage bloomed in me, but also shame. It just goes to show, you never completely unlearn anything.

"Not. Interested."

The summoner shrugged. "No need to get angry."

"Now," the demon inhaled, searching the essence of the summoning spell for more information on the person standing before us. "Cliff Mason. Hi, I'm Avi, they/them. What do you desire?" We both wanted to get this deal over with as soon as possible, Cliff seemed like an asshole.

He grinned. "I have a plan. It requires one of each type of demon." He held up seven fingers.

Ominous.

"It will bestow great power upon everyone involved."

Vague.

"Uh huh, sure. Which lucky demon gets your soul?"

There was a slight pause.

"The power should be its own reward."

There's another red flag.

"Listen, I've kind of got my own thing going on, so find yourself another spirit of avarice."

"No! Having a demon that owns a body will make things so much easier! Now that I've found you I won't let you go!"

I don't know if you can hear this but there are warning sirens going off in my brain right now, Avi.

"Yeah, sorry, this sounds sketchy as hell. I'm out."

"Wait! No!"

With another blink we were back in Avi's apartment.

"That was weird."

Let's hope he gives up on whatever he's trying to do.

"Yeah, it sounds like he'll likely just blow himself up anyway."

I hope so. I got a seriously creepy vibe from him.

They walked over to their desk and sat down to start on the paperwork. "Don't worry, we'll probably never see him again." 

[archon-maenad]

hello, welcome to my pinned post! I'm archon-maenad, formerly known as wormpinions, and this is meant to be a guide and warning all at once for my blog. if you're following me with any level of active interest I highly recommend at least skimming this.

below the read-more contains general disclaimers I wish everyone who read my posts could know, a list of takes I have that might be deal-breakers, a summary of each au I created that I post about on here, and an extensive masterlist of my insane tagging system.

and here's my ao3 above the rm, because I'm shameless and desperate for interaction.

honestly, by general disclaimers I mostly mean one thing with a few aspects that I really really really want to make sure people know. specifically the concept of bashing vs criticism.

I do not like the idea of bashing characters. fics tagged with that are a red flag, I always use the "[character] Critical" because it's more accurate to the nuance I want to have. people are not one dimensional. they can have a fuckload of flaws I want to scream about from the rooftops and/or cackle about and still have the opportunity to become better people.

I can admit that I do like bashing settings, but I also use the "[topic] Critical" tag for that because once again: nuance is very important. some worlds are completely fucked but that doesn't mean they don't have redeeming qualities or became that way for a reason.

having to add on to every post that I have thoughts beyond the scathing analysis or (hopefully) amusing dunking would get old real fast, so let me put it here. I do not hate unconditionally. I am capable of exploring generous good-faith interpretations of characters I dislike or settings I criticize. I acknowledge the layers of why people act or places work.

that being said, welcome to the possible deal-breakers part of this post. here are a list of popular characters I will ruthlessly drag for making awful decisions.

itachi uchiha. why does nobody talk about how he literally deadass canonically no-I-am-not-exaggerating tortured his little brother. how can people call him a good sibling What The Actual Fuck????

kakashi hatake. he did team 7 so fucking dirty, mans was really willing to throw a bunch of children out into life as soldier-mercenaries unprepared. I understand why he did (70% of his personality is trauma) but that doesn't mean I condone it.

naruto uzumaki. yes I am very critical of the main boy himself. he's so blind to the privilege he has and expects other people to forgive things as easily as he does, minimizing the very real grievances they might have just because the person being criticized is one he cares about.

sasuke uchiha. do I need to elaborate.

minato namikaze. this one is more me just being really annoyed at how the fandom is so quick to paint him in a saintly light when he killed a thousand people and became a military dictator.

batman. I have a lot of problems with how he handles his rogues and the child heroes trailing at his heels.

all-might. he's a criminally negligent teacher and taught japan that triumph written in blood is peace. dude really singlehandedly fucked up a whole country's culture.

eraserhead. the fact he is a good hero willing to die for his students does not mean he isn't actively sabotaging their ability to trust authority figures, and dadzawa is entirely a fan creation. in canon he seriously gives so many rancid vibes.

izuku midoriya. his self-righteousness and lack of respect for boundaries just makes me nauseous. and instead of getting a mentor who helps him grow as a person, he got one who reinforced all his toxic traits.

daemon targaryen. he ordered the deaths of children and SEDUCED HIS FOURTEEN YEAR OLD NIECE. FOURTEEN. and then fucked her later right after her husband's funeral like that genuinely makes me want to throw up it's so disrespectful and disgusting.

rhaenyra targaryen. yes the double standards for women cheating are definitely real, but passing off her bastards as trueborn and then getting mad when people don't want a woman who believes she has a right to break vows on the throne is just. wowza. hubris should have been her middle name.

padme amidala. if you aren't going with an interpretation where anakin (probably out of unconscious negligence but that doesn't excuse it) manipulated her emotions, then you gotta face the fact that your precious girlboss married a mass murderer and is willing to put all the bills she pushes concerning the jedi at stake by doing that.

on the flipside, here are some characters I shamelessly love that are divisive figures in fandom.

sakura haruno. her harassment of sasuke is disgusting but she was a twelve year old girl who was taught such behavior was acceptable and also that doesn't mean she should be sent off to die with no training. why y'all hating on her she's a queen.

ron weasley. I probably won't make any actual posts about hp because contributing to the discussion of jk rowling's works makes me feel slimy, but appreciation of ron is a very important personality trait of mine y'all need to know.

the whole jedi order. they handled anakin's situation horribly but it was out of ignorance and not malice, and we are jedi culture positive in this household. jedi knights and masters not marrying has a lot of valid reasons actually and if that's a dealbreaker you should transfer to the corps or leave! it's not a lifestyle for everyone and it doesn't need to be.

sansa stark. I'm getting pretty tired of writing all these up so I'm not even going to elaborate. I love sansa and I'm not sorry about it.

and finally, yes I am the bitch who got dragged for liking kill orders. please go here for my explanation for those thoughts in detail that the (in hindsight really badly written because I was too enthusiastic to give enough context and oh my god it really does paint me in a bad light) original post didn't cover.

now the fun stuff. my aus!

riley midoriya au: a reformed but still pretty wild bonesaw is reborn as izuku's twin sister, quickly replacing bakugou's canon role model status. cue a protagonist who grew up around scathing commentary concerning japan's cape scene bc homegirl is Not Impressed by her new life.

bonesaw at camp half blood au: riley is reborn as annabeth chase. her unique worldview and curiosity shake things up quite a bit, because everyone around here is too damn quick to accept the status quo and not question the facts being told.

taylor uzumaki au: taylor hebert is reborn as naruto. she hates her new world, especially the normalized child soldiers and thoughtless way they take chakra for granted, and unknowingly makes ninja double take by being her usual unhinged self.

forbidden histories au: two codependent eldritch gods from cultist simulator get stuck in the body of sakura haruno and proceed to wreak havoc trying to get back to their home reality.

genesis generation au: my own personal post-canon fix-it. aka hokage sakura, ambassador naruto, under house arrest with chakra binding seals and rethinking all his life choices sasuke, and economies not based on child soldiers.

the rest of my tags will have to be sorted by category because there are just... so many. why am I like this.

first are the general fandom tags. they're what they say on the tin, and are for any mention or reference to anything in one of these pieces of media.

parahumans

naruto

pjo (aka the percy jackson books/world)

my hero academia

dc universe

svsss (aka scum villain system)

danny phantom

asoiaf (aka a song of ice and fire, or game of thrones)

star wars

danganronpa

disco elysium

the promised neverland

cultist simulator

animorphs

also the individual characters from those pieces of media but I'm not gonna list em all I ain't insane

next are the opinions tags, used for when something of actual substance is said on a topic. I had to prune these down they were getting crazy so here's the new list.

taylorpinions: taylor hebert opinions

rileypinions: riley grace davis opinions

ninepinions: slaughterhouse nine opinions (for the concept and non-riley members)

betpinions: earth bet opinions (culture, other unique aspects, and also now covers the aftereffects of endbringers)

bcfpinions: brockton's celestial forge by lord_roustabout opinions

wormpinions: worm opinions (everything else parahumans)

shinobipinions: shinobi opinions (covers everything naruto related so far)

dcpinions: dc universe opinions

umeipinions: all fics by umei no mai opinions

starpinions: star wars opinions

mansuspinions: mansus opinions (cultist simulator and book of hours)

miscpinions: miscellaneous opinions (fandoms I don't cover with regularity)

and finally, the uncategorized tags.

mae just talks: what it says on the tin, me talking (usually not fandom related)

fic rec: also what it says on the tin, posts with links to recommended fics

worm liveblogging: what it says on the tin, my live reactions to reading worm.

I have no idea if anyone will actually read this monster of a post, but it's important to me that it exists. so if you made it here to the end, thank you. I hope you enjoy my -pinions!

[nobodyfamousposts]

Ya know, I truly wonder how long Hawk Moth rein would long if a character crossoved there. Like, I get it every single ml character is dumb, but would the crossovers also be affected? I'm pretty sure anyone with more than one brain cell can easily tell Marinette a way to deal with him. Like... the wish, since we don't really know the drawbacks and she can just wish for everything to be as Gabriel "wishes" (ie. if his wife isn't in coma, there's no plot), thus she can have her LIFE back.

As much as I want to argue it, Miraculous is sadly a show where everything is dumbed down and also made some combination of both overpowered and nerfed in order to make it "work" while also keeping the plot at a standstill whereas most other shows and stories play their characters and settings straight and have progression.

In order to make any level of crossover work without completely overwhelming or outclassing Miraculous or otherwise solving all of their problems for them and risk showing them up, people seem to do some mixture of amping up the competency and setup of the Miraculous side to make them better than how they're portrayed in canon and dumbing down the other side to make them fit in with Miraculous so they aren't complete game-breakers for the world and the whole Hawk Moth conflict.

Thor: Hello, young warriors! I am Thor, God of Thunder! Let me call my all-seeing ally, Heimdall, to help you find your foe so I can smack him around with my mighty hammer.

Doctor Strange: Hello. I'm Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme. Let me create a portal to your enemy and use my Time Stone to find the best way of defeating him.

Sailor Moon: Hello, we're the Sailor Senshi. Sailor Mercury can use her magical computer to find Hawk Moth's base and we can defeat him with the combined elemental power of the planets.

Superman: Sure, I can help. I can use my X-ray vision to search over Paris for any underground lairs and then use my super strength and ability to fly and near god-like abilities to drop him off at the police station.

Batman: I'm Batman. I can investigate Hawk Moth's identity by using the EXACT species of butterfly he's been using to transform people and pulling up records of who in the area has at any point made a purchase of said butterflies or just check out any strange building schematics for your city to see who has built a secret lair in the last twenty years and then break into his home to catch him off guard.

Joker: We're the Phantom Thieves. Give a bit while we check out Paris's version of the Metaverse where we can locate Hawk Moth's literal shadow and cause him to have a change of heart!

Static Shock: I'm Static Shock and this is my partner, Gear. He can use his backpack and super smarts to go over all footage of the akumas from various security cams in Paris over the past year and triangulate where they're coming from. Then he can take over Hawk Moth's security system and turn it against him without warning while we sneak in and I can zap him.

Robin: Hello, we're the Teen Titans. We have Cyborg, who can also check Paris's security cams to triangulate where the butterflies are coming from, as well as Raven, who is an empath and can use her powers to try to locate Hawk Moth and then transport us all to him so we can take him down.

Danny Phantom: Hello. I am Danny Phantom. I can fly as well as go invisible and intangible, so I can search the city over for this Hawk Moth and then literally just pluck the Miraculous off him before he knows it. I also have a possession ability that may or may not work on akumas and Hawk Moth himself that would allow me to find him and make him turn himself in that way.

Future Trunks: Hello, I'm Trunks Briefs and I am from the future. So I can tell you with absolute certainty that Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth. He's also going to force his son's girlfriend to break up with him so he can akumatize her and will accidentally result in the complete destruction of Paris and the moon. (Where were you on THAT ONE, BUNNIX?)

Dipper: Hello, I'm Dipper Pines. I have no powers, but I do have more than two functioning brain cells so I can suggest that maybe you use one of those various other incredibly overpowered Miraculous you have to just try and find out who Hawk Moth is.

Ladybug: You mean I can cheat?

All: YES!

Hawk Moth: Oh snapples.

[nortonluv]

If your not to busy could u do katagawa jr x reader wholesome content,usually people who write katagawa in fanfics write him cold,and pervy (also I love your work I appreciate it lots❤️)

Ok I'm going to be completely honest, you are my fav mutual <3 I appreciate you so so much!!

I put into headcanons and such because I couldn't decide on what exact kind of thing I wanted to write for it.

Wholesome Katagawa Jr

Pairing: Katagawa Jr x Gn! reader

Reader pronouns used: They/Them/theirs

Warnings: nothing you wouldn't expect in borderlands, mentions of killing

Summary: take a hint.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Cutest mf

He may be a complete psycho but he also has like the strongest sense of family

Yk?

Like he said Rhys could have been his brother once so he clearly wanted him to be very close and like his family

So when you come along, oh boy, he's starstuck

Like a lost puppy he'll always find a way to come and follow behind you

He hates pda because he prefers every moment with you to be special and for very few eyes to see.

He purrs

You can not convince me he doesn't

When you cuddle with him and start messing with his hair, omg 😍

He loves it sm

Like you

He is hardly ever the big spoon, Idk what's telling me this just trust me on this.

He has hardly any clothing that isn't in the Maliwan colours or is for a formal occasion

So he may sometimes steal some of your clothes (if they would fit)

And when he can't steal something, give him an accessory of some kind that matches the main colour of your outfit

He's a douche

We can't deny that and push that aside

As much as we would like to

So obviously he's a huge prick to everyone in the room

Until you walk in, he literally gets weak at the knees from the mere sight of you

Breathless

Takes a whole second or two to regain his posture

Nobody dares bring it up if they do notice it, unless they've been dreaming of having a few bullets loaded into them

Such a goof

Only around you

He's so silly and tells you all about his day after coming home to you

He'll sit near you and open his arms for you to crawl into

Then he chats about all the annoying things but mainly the things he found funny throughout the day

Then he'll try to get up but if you refuse to let him go, he'll stay

He gets sooo whiny, even though he's faking it.

A constant whine no matter what he's doing

Has like 5 cats

Tell me I'm wrong.

I'm not.

He had 7 but had some weird thing about how 2 of them deserve to be set free so they could live out some weird love story?

I told you he was silly

An oddity really

If you don't like cats it's kinda a deal breaker, sorry babe

If you want any other pets, they will arrive to you in the next 3 hours of you mentioning it to him

Lizard of sorts? Yours

Bird? Yours

Fish? He'll keep the cats away but yours

Movie marathons.

A key part to every relationship if you ask me!

He grabs blanket after blanket and makes an area for the cats, you and him to all sit comfortably

Oh yeah! Forgot to mention

The cats are your kids

You are a cat parent now 👏👏 congrats!

Overall I believe he acts really sweet to his s/o

Just not everyone else

Oh and a HUGE cat lover

8/10

Only 2 points deducted because he cannot cook and should never be allowed in a kitchen

----------------------

Sorry it was short! I hope it was good enough!! No this has not been properly proofread

I'm gonna go and keep working on my stories on Wattpad cause I'm planning on writing a new one. A httyd one 😌

Borderlands Masterlist

Httyd Masterlist (NEW!)

Redbubble

[eldritch-spouse]

Hey hey hey, time for Hoodie Anon's Bullshit power hour! 🎉 don't worry it's not super chaotic this time tho (I'll come up with some more hell for you later but it is 551 AM when I'm sending this and I need to SLEEP)

How would the clergymen react with an s/o who wants to be with them but sets like a few hard (reasonable but definitely deal breaker) boundaries for their own mental health? Like...

With Morrell? Well, you'd better not slaughter anybody in front of me, I will cry. And yes, while I will absolutely eat and be thankful for the stuff you make me to eat, please do not tell me if you use humans as ingredients, at least not until much later on so I don't immediately vomit.

With Santi? Bitch, it's fine you fuck people, it's your job and you need to eat, but if you do that in our bed I'm gonna sleep on the couch for the night or some shit (only not making YOU do it because you can overpower me and...y'know, you were here first). Don't be surprised if I still have sex with you after I learn about this, that does not mean you've been forgiven for that.

Patches? You wanna stalk me? Good, great, all about it, whatever makes you feel more secure. I will absolutely be sweet with you outside the bedroom and super kinky inside of it. But you ever get violent with me while you're in your more feral state and I WILL either yell at you or give you the silent treatment later on.

Krulu? Kinda the same thing as the Morrell bit, to be honest, at least the slaughtering part since he doesn't...make...y'know, people food. Also, unless I experience some sort of traumatic event, please don't alter my memories. That would be a really shitty thing of you to do, and I'll probably find out that you did it at some point or another, so then we'll BOTH be upset.

Grimbly? Be cute and adorable, snuggles are wonderful, and drink my blood if you must but if you ever do that shit without warning, I will swat at you like a fucking insect and....again, cry. Like full on sob and get very scared, and not in any sort of fun/kinky way.

Just as some examples lol

[551am? You're on the next level Hoodie, I don't even know how to access that hour!]

Oh boundaries boundaries- A word which most yanderes simply cannot grasp, right?

Morell is mostly fine with you not wanting to see the butchering process. As much as a part of him feels disappointed that you want no involvement, he can understand some peeps are just squeamish! He's very glad you're willing to eat on your own, even if you know the ingredients are... Different. Because otherwise, the mushroom monster would have to resort to underhanded tactics to get some good food down your hatch.

Oh honey, Santi would fuck you exclusively if he could. But chances are that he can't, because you won't handle that much sex, or Santi constantly fishing for "snacks" throughout the day. You need a break, naturally. But worry not, because Santi completely agrees with you. The moment you two share a living space, no meal of his is setting foot there. The Clergy is full of rentable rooms anyway, and even if it wasn't, most of his clients are down bad enough to lick the floor if they have to.

Patches is so very amused that you'd let him stalk you. Just like that? Huh. Then maybe next time he'll just follow you into your home without the cloaking device then. You said he could! Nonetheless, dullahan fit Patches is not likely to direct senseless aggression at you. That would only happen if you were to deny him too much, shun him, refuse to love this side of him as much as you love regular Patches. Then, then things would get ugly. He's a package deal and you're going to have to work with that.

Grimbly's not above nibbling. He really isn't, he's going to chew a little. You don't need to swat him to get him to stop, but you it's definitely acceptable. While the bat monster dreams of your blood and maasy occasionally get brave enough to try something at night, he will mostly respect your wishes when you're awake. Though denying him this too much will lead to the vampire sucking his other meals dry. And coming back to you a bit sick because, much like a fucking mosquito, he gorges himself almost hard enough to burst when he's distraught. You can always rely on blood bags, even if they're not as tasty.

With Krulu my friend, you're just fucked. Sorry to say, but your boundaries are second place to the siadar's will. You don't wish to see people die at his hands? What a pity, dear chosen, but you are not to shy from your lord. Ever. If Krulu feels he has to alter your memories, he will. No ifs or buts, they will either be locked from your conscious mind or erased altogether. He can even make filler memories. You're better off accepting these possibilities than trying to bicker with a god. Trust that he's doing what's best for you, lamb. You cannot be squeamish, that is not acceptable for a vessel. And if he rids you of memories, then trust that those only ever hindered your duties.

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

Mhm ok, I disagree I guess. Why would they be a deal breaker? Being queer myself, I hate how normalised some of the disgusting situations Ratty describes are, but what you're saying makes no sense to me. Should I be more bothered? 🤔🤔 because if people ask ME what are some good books about Queen I always recommend Ratty's book (together with Jim's and Phoebe's and a couple more) because he can give a perspective on Freddie, Queen and life on tour that no one else can. Of course I warn about the homophobia, etc, but usually people expect them, given the time period. No one has to LIKE Ratty. I don't. From the laughable way he acts like he deserved more gratitude from the band to the disgusting comments he makes, he really doesn't sound like a great person. But I still think his book is one of the best ones about Queen for other things like his perspective on being a roadie for a major touring band and the (biased) way in which he describes the boys as one of their employees (you can really tell who his faves are and they're not Brian and Roger lmao), it's one of the most truthful ones compared to the blatant lies from the likes of LAJ, Bret or Blake and he also isn't out making some scandalous claims about Freddie which are the things that usually make me close the book. Not trying to make you like Ratty's book lol, just trying to give you a different perspective, I guess. In general, I don't see how liking a book that contains homophobia, transphobia etc should mean that one doesn't care about those things or that they're not bothered by them irl. I mean, I may dislike that they were a reality then, often worse than what it is now, but since I can do nothing about it I don't see a point in getting mad about it? I already get mad about it IRL enough. And unfortunately they are extremely common in any memoir/biography from basically any time period (and don't get me started on the racism and antisemitism). I just don't feel I have any obligation to like the person I'm reading about while still thinking the book was worth a read because it made me understand that person better (for better or worse), or because it opened a window on a time period. But I guess if you don't see it that way you don't see it. Sorry for the long ask. Also I'm esl and sometimes misinterpret things so if I completely missed your point, apologies for making you read this novel for nothing 😅

My answer got a little long, so I'm going to put it under a cut:

Okay, so, let me try to make myself clear, since perhaps I didn’t explain myself well enough before. First of all, yes, Ratty’s book is not full of lies, compared to shit like LAJ’s “biographies.” Accuracy isn’t the issue at all, and I think it’s actually one of the few positive points of the book. If someone wants to read about what it was like to be a roadie for a band like Queen, the book is a good source. I’m not talking about how you should feel. If you get angry enough at IRL stuff and don’t want to be mad about Ratty’s book, that’s fine and in your right, but my post wasn’t about fans’ opinions on the book at all.

My original post was specifically talking about Roger stans who I have seen on here, instagram, and twitter who have overstated the progressive nature of his politics and almost present him as an activist. He’s not. And there’s nothing wrong with him not being an activist or super left of center, but the problem is people pretending he is those things for the purposes of 1) projecting their politics onto him or 2) using him as their “unproblematic” fave (which doesn’t exist, btw). Ratty’s book wasn’t the only example I used in that post. I pointed out how a lot of Roger’s public statements on politics are actually rather generic and not very radical. Once again: that’s FINE. But “gangsters are running this world” or “Nazis are bad” are not ground-breaking statements lol, and another issue is people using those generic things to say “well he can’t be problematic because he said this thing!!!” I’m not even out here trying to say he’s “problematic” or whatever the fuck, but that his public political statements aren’t as drenched in social justice as (usually) young stans have claimed.

In addition…look, there was homophobia directed at Freddie in the book with Ratty remembering when he called him a slur to his face (“p00fy”) for playing an acoustic guitar on stage, and when he told a homophobic joke with Freddie not far away, then Freddie heard him and called him out, and Ratty just sunk in his chair. As people pointed out in the past, Ratty does not tell these stories with any sort of self-awareness or reflection. He doesn’t say “I did this, and looking back, it was fucked up.” Going by his writing, he doesn’t give a shit. That’s the bigger problem than all of this stuff happening in the past. Let’s be clear: all of that shit was still wrong back then and I think the fandom as a whole gives all of this too much of a pass, but Ratty publishing the book just 11 years ago with no qualms with the prejudice inside is more worthy of anger than all of this being the reality of 40 years ago, in my opinion.

So with all of that said…if I read a book with homophobia directed at my gay best friend, yes, that would be a deal breaker for me. I would not praise it. I would not endorse it. It isn’t simply that Roger liked the book, but basically said “I usually don’t like any books about the band, except for this one!”, and that one just so happened to contain numerous instances of blatant bigotry. Sorry, but no, I don’t think it’s something which a person who is deeply political and driven by social justice would do, and I’ve talked to several people in the fandom who feel the same way and think Ratty’s book is so dripping with ignorance that people shouldn’t even give him their money to pay for it. I only bring this up to say my opinion is not an isolated one. This is NOT to say Roger didn’t really care about Freddie or doesn’t really care about social issues at all, but that maybe he’s not quite as bothered by social justice issues as some people claim, given he went out of his way to praise a text with such garbage in it, and acting like he’s some woke, unproblematic fave is silly and not reflective of reality.

This makes sense, right?

[fly-pow-bye]

DuckTales 2017 – “Friendship Hates Magic!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow, Rachel Vine

Written by: Rachel Vine

Storyboard by: Stephanie Gonzaga, Victoria Harris, Vaughn Tada, Brandon Warren

Directed by: Matthew Humphreys

No ponies here, headless or otherwise.

While we've seen a conclusion of at least one part of the Della plot, one other little thing from the season finale hasn't really been elaborated on outside of the occasional mention of Magica De Spell. Specifically: while we know whatever happened to Della Duck, and have a clue on whatever happened to Donald Duck, we never really found out whatever happened to Lena since she became Webby's shadow. Needless to say, it's a long story.

This is the episode where that plot continues. I will say this: Lena plots don't have good track records with me. I liked Jaw$, and The Shadow War was great, too, which was pretty much a foregone conclusion since it was the season finale. However, there's also Terror of the Terra-Firmians and The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck, two episodes I almost gave a Disgusted Donald to. Granted, neither are because of Lena in particular, but still. Which column will this episode fall in? We're about to find out.

Our episode begins with Webby going to the library, because she loves the smell of thinking in the morning. Gotta get that reference out of the way. Oh, and Lena is here now, as an invisible, unhearable shadow being. While nobody else can see or hear her, the audience sees her as this black and green version of herself. Lena says that she's fine with her current situation, though it's quite clear from the tone of her voice that it's more in comparison to any alternative.

Webby doesn't want to do that even if she could hear Lena, so she's continuing her impossible mission to find a book at the library that can teach her about the shadow realm. Yami Yugi is nowhere to be seen, but we do get Mrs. Quackfaster. I guess Scrooge isn't paying her enough so she has to double as the amount of libraries she works at to get that sweet retirement at Birdaydos. Er, Bird-baaaaaay-dos. She tells her that she can't offer the particular book she's looking for.

It's because this new character already checked it out. Webby is shocked, because this book is only in Ancient Syriac, but this "odd girl" happens to know a lot of ancient languages. She introduces herself as Violet Sabrewing, and, after bonding over knowing conversational Akkadian, she offers to stay at her place, possibly overnight. In other words, and eventually Webby's: a sleepover.

Webby, of course, accepts, but Lena does not.  It's almost as if she's read Disney Now's description of this episode, which refers to her as this "suspicious new friend". Then again, it may be because of the way Webby's last sleepovers ended. She wouldn't be the only one to remind her of this.

As Mrs. Beakley gives us the excuse for why we're not going to see Scrooge or the boys in this episode, they're busy in the office for Bin-ventory Day, Webby barges in and tells her grandmother she's having a friend come over for a sleepover. Mrs. Beakley is proud that her granddaughter wants to do another sleepover after the last two ended with money sharks and unicorn fights in the other bin. Gotta love those casual previous episode references that could still work as fantastic off-screen adventures to those who don't know.

Lena is excited that Mrs. Beakley could talk her out of this, and tries to jinx Webby again by saying "cancel the sleepover." Needless to say, that jinx doesn't work out like the library one, as Webby has a different idea.

Instead, Webby decides to have the most normal sleepover ever, as she tries to hide everything that is supernatural in the house, and try to just be normal. Mrs. Beakley attempts to say that the best way to make a good impression on her new friend is to be herself

Mrs. Beakley: ...barring from that summer undercover in Paraguay.

Webby brushing aside what is most likely the origin story for one of her parents, hey, we were all thinking it, she tells her Granny that she's not like her, because she needs friends. After Webby walks away, she tells her to name one person she doesn't get along with.

Enter Launchpad McQuack, inept pilot and ruiner of any plan to make this the first DuckTales episode with only female characters. To disprove Webby's accusation, she decides to invite him for a "sup", and spends a little more time than she wants explaining what she meant. Lena episodes sure seem to love the B-plots that, for the most part, never really seem to converge with the A-plot. This will be another one that fits with the "for the most part".

Going back to the other planned meeting, Webby is all done storing magic rocks in the attic, and her new friend has arrived for the normal slumber party for normal people. She tells Duckworth to get the door, and then realizes that ghost butlers don't help out at slumber parties. Surprisingly, that's not one of the Bailey School Kids books.

After slicing Duckworth's ghostly form in half, him not appreciating it in the slightest, she opens the door to Violet and her totally normal pie. As Webby shows her awkwardness with this whole situation, Lena is not amused, saying she isn't buying it. See, I didn't pull that out of nowhere, Lena hates this girl. I mean, maybe it's a bit convenient that this girl happens to have the same shadow realm-related interests as Webby.

Violet is then brought to Webby's room, and Violet looks around to see all the places that clearly used to have mysterious objects in them. She just says it looks clean, but I can imagine she did not miss that.

Meanwhile, Launchpad tries, and struggles, to drink pea soup from a straw. Mrs. Beakley tries her best to deal with this.

One section she was focused on was this section about Tulpas, an actual concept in the world of mysticism. This whole concept sort of reminded her of that one time all the shadows came alive and...

Webby: Who wants Baggle?!

Violet actually does want Baggle, but wants this obvious distraction some other time. Webby responds that it's just her way to get to know each other a bit more, and suggests asking some ice-breakers. Violet's first icebreaker:

Violet: What do you know about Magica De Spell and the Shadow War?

Lena, feeling completely vindicated, tries to tell Webby that she said the "M" word! I wouldn't say she forgot that nobody can hear her; she's like those people who yell at the characters while watching TV. Heh, nerds. Webby has a different "M" word in mind: makeovers! Violet is clearly not buying this at all, but goes along with the makeovers anyway.

Violet ends up leaving her backpack behind, fully opened, and Lena notices something that definitely shouldn't be in there if she was an ordinary girl who just happened to really like shadow people: Magica's amulet! She runs off to try to warn Webby, and...okay, maybe she still thinks she can hear her, even though she never once acknowledged her existence. She does end up at least finding Webby, except she's now a zombie, complete with one of her eyes falling out.

That fake-out turns out to be Violet and Webby's idea for a make-up session. Webby praises her best friend's make-up, saying that she looks just like the demon named Rakshasa. She's definitely a great friend, I don't know a lot of people who would take kindly to being told "you look like a demon!" Webby should know what Rakshasa looks like, because she met him in a previous adventure, and she has proof...that is definitely not in the attic. Oops.

Webby relents and lets her into the attic, as this cover was completely blown. She was obviously interested in these things, so she doesn't mind that Webby happened to have some magic rocks. They never really explain what those magic rocks are, and I'd like to think I am a little beyond the obvious joke there. She also notices some ectoplasmic energies from that friendship bracelet.

The scene switches from their point of view to Lena's in a neat way, where Lena still thinks she can alter anything here. Sadly for her, Lena is also intangible. Thankfully for her, Webby distracts her from that bracelet, and offers that game of Baggle again. Violet agrees on one condition: they need to use Demogorgan runes. I don't want to reveal that I'm just looking up every one of these words on Wikipedia, so I'll be quiet.

Meanwhile, Launchpad tries, and struggles, to color a coloring book, and then eventually tries to get Mrs. Beakley to get into Darkwing Duck. Mrs. Beakley tries her best to deal with this.

...okay, maybe I shouldn't just brush this off for this running gag, since this scene has quite a bit of lore to get into Jim Starling's eventual big role in The Duck Knight Returns...but maybe I'll wait for that one.

Back to this game of runes, it just so happens that book has the right chant to make those dice-like runes glow green. Lena tries what might be her 50th attempt to actually affect anything as a intangible shadow person. She's shocked to find that it actually worked this time!

She then tries to rearrange the runes to spell out a message. Unfortunately, since these people are nerds, they think it's the writing on the runes that have any meaning, and not how this layout is shaped like the words "don't trust her." Not getting anywhere with these mysterious messages about rat messages, Violet tries another shadow spirit summoning trick: humming this melody. It works...but only Lena can see these white spirits ominously creeping out from the dark. She has to think of something.

She tries to manipulate a white sheet in a form of a ghost. This actually works, because of ghost cliches that even Lena is aware of, but it doesn't solve the "they can't hear me" problem. Violet decides to use a weapon against the one evil spirit they can see, and it turns out this weapon happens to be Magica's amulet. One side effect is that this amulet allowed her to actually see and hear Lena for a second, which is enough to clue Webby in on what is really happening. However, that is only the second most of her worries.

The main side effect is that it finally gets Webby to realize that maybe this girl may not be what she seems. Just like Lena wanted her to, she starts to question their future friendship, and asks everything she knows.

It’s here that we finally get her backstory, or at least her claimed backstory. She was just an ordinary Muggle, having no interest in magic or anything else of the sort. Then, everything changed when the Shadow War happened, and. Oh, and she just stumbled across Magica's cane, which turned back into the amulet. That's pretty much it. We don't know if she's completely telling the truth...

...but Webby buys it completely, to the disappointment of Lena, and they start to do a seance. You see these shadow beings that look like the shadow of Magica De Spell. This, of course, gets Lena to attempt to grab them again.

I hate to spoil this, but I will say that this seance does lead to Lena being able to drag Webby and Violet into the shadow realm. No, not that one, thankfully. We get a big reunion, but this hug doesn't get to last long, as Webby and Violet finally get to see those white shadow ghosts.

That was spoiler enough, so I'll run through this: a big chase scene happens here, and it all leads to a good conclusion to this episode. Even the "tulpas" from the earlier scene comes up, as that turns out to be a little bit closer than one might guess from the opening of the scene. Here's a hint: they don't just stay in this Magica-like form.

In a sort of fake-out transition from that mayhem, we see what is the conclusion to the Launchpad trying to get Mrs. Beakley into Darkwing Duck plot. Turns out, they both got really excited over a cliffhanger ending. Unfortunately, in this universe, that was how Darkwing Duck ended, with a Woody's Roundup-esque cliffhanger. I usually don't talk about future episodes, but this will be given more detail in The Duck Knight Returns.

What were those shadow beings? Will Lena ever learn to trust Webby's new friend? Should Lena ever learn to trust Webby's new friend? Most importantly, while we got the reunion, will it last? At least some of those questions will be answered by watching the episode. It was a treat to see one of those answers in the end, something I thought I wouldn't see until the end of this season.

How does it stack up?

This episode didn't give me anything to dislike, and a lot to like. The biggest challenge this episode had was introducing this new character. I'll say this, without spoiling anything: while she doesn't have any Earth-shattering twists like Lena did, yet, she has potential.

I kind of skipped over the Launchpad bits, I can admit they're all pretty funny. Obviously, it wasn't going to be something as big as the A-plot, but just something minor and maybe even a little bit cute.

In the end, it's definitely in the Jaw$ column.

Next, I actually find a way to talk about The Powerpuff Girls...and not those ones!

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