#literally one of the most based takes on this entire blog

[rowiewritesstuff]

Hi! Can I request poly hcs of yandere bayverse Optimus Prime & Megatron with fem reader. Could you possibly add some fluff? Thank you, love ur blog! 💕✨

Bayverse Poly! Yandere Optimus Prime X Reader X Megatron

A little longer than I meant, oops-

You’re Sam Witwickey’s sibling. You were more well-read than your brother, and much more polite. When Sam said that he was going to sell your great-great grandfather’s glasses, you were appalled. You immediately snatched them away from him. 

“These are antique! So are these!” You snatched other items up. “You can’t sell them, bozo!” 

“But I need the money! For the car!” Sam tried to grab them back. 

“What if I paid for a portion of it?” 

Sam halted his movements. “What?” 

You huffed. “I’ll pay for some of the car- but YOU have to make sure to give me rides sometime.”

“YES!” He coughed, “I mean, yeah. Sure. You’re my sibling, of course you’d get rides.” 

Then it happened- you met the Decepticons on the way to get the glasses fixed up. You dropped them off at the small antique shop and began your walk home.

A patrol car’s lights went off next to you, and you pulled off to the side into an alleyway. What shocked you the most, however, was when it transformed into a literal robot. You felt dizzy and collapsed to the ground unconscious.

“Frag.” Barricade muttered, pressing his servo to his helm. “Barricade to Starscream. I have the human, but they are unconscious.” 

“Bring them to me.” Starscream ordered.

Before Barricade could respond, a loud honk echoed around the alley and a semi slammed into him. Optimus quickly transformed and snatched you off the ground, handing you off to Bumblebee. “Get them to safety!” 

Bumblebee drove off with you in tow, and Sam quickly shook you awake. “Sam?” You asked. “What happened?” You suddenly remembered the giant robot that had forced you into the alleyway. “The robot-!” 

“Yeah, there’s a few of them. I’ll explain in a bit- where are the glasses?” 

“Back at the antique shop… why?”

Right after you went back to grab the glasses, you met the others. The situation was explained to you, and you were scared. You just wanted to go home and sleep. Unfortunately, as soon as you got home, people from ‘sector seven’ were there to take you away. 

You sat crying in the backseat as Sam and Mikela tried to comfort you. “It’ll be okay, (Y/N).”

“No it won’t!” Simmons said from the front seat. “Not unless you tell us what you kn-” 

The car slammed forward. Optimus ripped off the roof of the car. “Taking the children and (Y/N) was a bad move.” 

Optimus scooped you up to sit you on his shoulder, holding their weapons on the aggressors the entire time. 

When Sam and Mikela got taken, you stayed with Optimus. Once you all discovered where the allspark was, the Autobots began the journey there- you in tow. You wanted to go home, but Optimus wouldn’t let you. He said it was too dangerous to let you go back home.

During the trip, you and Optimus talked a lot. You both got to know each other really well. Despite it only being a few days, you developed a crush on him. 

During the battle, Optimus gave you and Sam an order- push the Allspark into his chest, and kill him. You shook your head as Sam moved to do as he was told. 

“NO, SAM!” You snatched it away. You looked at Megatron and brought the cube near him. 

A wicked grin appeared on his faceplates, and he held his servo out. “Good, yes, human! Bring it to me!”

A sadness painted your face. Yes, Megatron was evil- but you never wanted to take a life. “I”m sorry,” You whispered. Megatron’s face contorted in rage as you shoved the allspark into his chest. 

Before he died, he looked into your eyes. “I’ll get you for this, human!”

You never recovered from taking a life. Optimus was thankfully there for you, and you both grew extremely close. You were one of the few civilians permitted on the base, often helping out. Your official title was ‘liaison’. Even Galloway liked you. 

You were visiting Sam when the Decepticon attacked. You were all running for your lives, with you not understanding a thing of what was going on. Mikela’s car was swept up into the air by a helicopter. You were screaming loudly as it took you all away, and screamed even louder when the car was dropped through a roof and sawed into. 

Everyone stood up as Starscream spit at you. A deep voice came from behind you all. “Come here, boy.” Megatron hissed. Sam began walking towards him with his hands up. “Closer.” 

“Sam, no.” You whispered in fear. Megatron’s eyes met yours for the first time since you took his life. Your body froze as still as you could make it. 

Before you could say anything Megatron grabbed you up from where you were standing and held you in his servo. Sam yelled out your name. “SHUT UP!” Megatron yelled and slapped Sam across the room. 

“SAM!” You and Mikela shouted in fear. “Don’t hurt him! Please!” You begged. 

Megatron simply ignored you and pinned Sam down with his over servo. “It feels good to grab your flesh. I’m going to kill you. Slowly- painfully- but first, we have some delicate work to do.” Sam kept struggling as Megatron mocked him. “Ohhh, I could snap your limbs off.”

You struggled in the servo you were tightly held in. “Wait! It was me that killed you, so let him go! He didn’t do anything!”

Megatron squeezed you tighter in his grasp. “Oh, I have something much better planned for you. Now wait your turn.” You struggled to breath as the air left your lungs. Just before you passed out, he loosened his grip. It was a warning- if you weren’t quiet, he’d knock you out.

You watched in horror as a minicon send a small bug into Sam’s mouth. You had to look away in fear you’d throw up from the sight. In your mind you were hoping for Optimus to find you, to save you.

Your prayers were answered as Optimus and Bumblebee came slamming through into the building firing off shots. Megatron quickly stashed you in his subspace and began fighting Optimus. 

You were thrown around in the tight space and you hoped that Optimus would figure out you were in there. Sounds were muffled, but you could make out sounds of blasting. Soon enough, the sounds faded. The subspace opened and you were taken out into the sunlight. It took your eyes a moment to adjust, but when they did your heart stopped in your chest. 

On the ground before you was Optimus- a giant hole in his chest. He was obviously dead. You felt tears well up in your eyes as a wail left your throat.

“You’re mine now, human. Optimus will never be able to save you again.” 

Megatron took you with him to his hideout. He was originally going to use you to make Sam come out of hiding, but he soon realized why Optimus kept you around. You were smart for your race, and offered fairly good advice (even if said advice was forced out with the threat of violence). The Fallen left you alone, seeing the logic in a living hostage. 

In your short time there, Megatron had begun to grow feelings for you. He didn’t bother denying them- he was a Decepticon. If there was something he wanted, he’d take it. 

After his defeat and the Fallen’s death in Egypt, Megatron offered Optimus a deal he couldn’t pass up. 

“Why don’t we share them? Frag this war, and just hide away?” 

Optimus glared at him. “Do you really expect me to believe you?” 

Megatron chuckled. “You can either accept it, or never see them again, Prime.”

Optimus had no choice but to accept. They hid out on a small island, inhabited with nothing but animals. You were protected as long as you were with them. You also had plenty of books, food, and water. Anything you asked for, except your freedom, was given to you. 

However, at night, when everyone was resting, you were building a raft. You had a book that they gave you that had some basic instructions. When you set off, the raft was surprisingly sturdy. Your supplies were enough to last for a few days- hopefully when you would find someone to help you. 

When you heard the familiar sound of a jet, tears filled your eyes. You shouldn’t have even bothered to try. Megatron scooped you up and brought you back. When you got there, Optimus was waiting with a horrible glare on his face. 

“Where did you think you were going?” He growled. 

Tears fell before you could stop them. “I just wanted to see my family! My friends!” 

Optimus and Megatron felt a smidgen of guilt. Megatron held you closer as Optimus lifted your chin to make you look at him, a gentle smile on his faceplates. “And you will see them,” he petted your hair a little, “When you learn to behave. I can’t allow them to take you from me-”

“Us.” Megatron growled. 

Optimus glanced at him and back to you. “Us. You are ours. We won’t let you get away.”

Megatron chimed in with a sadistic grin on his faceplates. “If you ever try again, I’ll lock you away so you’ll never see the sun again. Understand?” 

All you could do is nod as a soft smile came to Optimus’ faceplates. “Good.” 

[edens-pen]

"i find myself running home to your sweet nothings"

summary | it’s always a rough day for katsuki. hero rankings and PR nightmares every time he opens his mouth. but he gets to come home to you

pairing | bakugo katsuki x fem!reader

word count | 840

warning | soft!domestic katsuki, fluff.

a/n | this is very literally based off sweet nothings by taylor swift, so you can listen if you want the full experience. also, i haven't posted in two months, so i'm sorry if this sucks. <3

[ 18+ | minors, blank, ageless blogs dni ]

—

katsuki drops his bracers at the door with a heavy sigh. he's only just got his boots off and tucked in the corner, when he hears your voice calling him from the kitchen.

"'suki?"

he feels the smile pulling at his lips entirely unbidden.

the soft notes of that song that's been stuck in your head (and by extension, his) plays from the speaker in the corner.

"hey honey," you smile, leaning up to give him a kiss when he's in range.

he'll never be able to explain how that title makes his heart clench. he couldn't verbalize how every title he's obtained has not mattered until you gave him that one. pro-hero, number 2, explosive, dynamight.

your title feels so intimate on your lips, reducing him to the man who would fall at his knees for you.

not a pro-hero or number 2. not a ticking time bomb or a hot-head.

just your honey. your husband. yours, yours, yours.

"how was your day?" you ask, still stirring the pot as you turn the stove down.

"it was alright," he mumbles. in truth his day was rough, and he's not ready to talk about it, and he knows you can tell by the way you reach your free hand out to swipe your fingers along his cheek.

you smile up at him, pinching his cheek. "you wanna wash up? dinner's almost done." when he nods slowly, closing his eyes against the feelings of your fingers, you give him a little laugh.

in the bathroom, he works with the skin care products you left on his side of the counter, the dry winter air has been harsh on his quirk and his skin.

he thinks back to the agency, to the hero rankings, to the disapproving stares of civilians when he lets out loud curses and swears. the scolding he received from his manager today. the article comparing his pros and cons against the number 1 pro hero deku.

the water runs over his chest as he tilts his face into the stream, still trying to catch his breath from the incredibly long week he's had.

by the time he's toweled off and dressed in his sweats, the tension has worked it's way up into his back and across his shoulders.

"katsu?" your voice rings out and he's immediately following the sound back to the front door. he snorts when he sees you trying to push his bracers into the corner near his shoes. "how the hell do you put these things on for hours at a time? oh my god."

bakugo only laughs when he picks up both bracers with ease, your shocked gasp ringing out in the hallway.

"you're so strong, katsuki."

and that's it. your praise comes so easy. the fantastic feats that he performs still awe you. even something as simple as his above average strength elicits cheer from you.

it doesn't matter that he does it everyday, or that it's expected of him, you treat every act like it's the most incredible thing you've ever seen. and bakugo tries to fight the blush creeping up on his cheeks when you say these things.

even after all these years, he hasn't gotten used to your praise.

you're quickly setting a plate in front of him, taking the seat right next to him. recounting the events of your day, catching your boyfriend up on your workplace drama, and your recent purchases is enough to take you both through dinner.

by the time you've got him laid on the couch, your favorite candle is lit in the middle of the coffee table, and you two are talking softly.

his head rests on your chest, his ear pressed right over your heart. your fingers work softly against the ache in his shoulder, somehow finding the right spots to touch. these are nights when he needs you to take him down and you always do so with ease. he groans softly at the tender strength in your touch.

"i like the way you sound."

and there you go again. how do you split him open with a just a few words?

"its so pretty. especially when you talk, and when you laugh, i think that's my favorite sound."

you're calling him pretty. like his body isn't a fucking live wire ready to go off when he sweats. like the natural production of his glands don't cause explosions. like people aren't out there wondering if he should be a villain because of the force of his quirk.

of course the power thrumming through his veins is nothing compared to you. to the person he is when he's resting between your legs, letting you pet and coo at him until he's pliant and soft.

you bathe him in compliments, your adoration of him washes the shitty week off his skin and coats him in a thick layer of your love.

his prickly edges become rounded and soft against your gentle touch. refining him to be composed entirely of your sweet nothings.

—

[bayothemayo]

OMFGGG (ﾉ´ з `)ノ HI HI I RQ THAT AKIRA X YOR BASED READER AND UGGHGHGHGH YOU WROTE IT SO WELL !!!!!!! ESP WHEN YOU ADDED AMAGI (」°ロ°)」 !! ♡♡♡♡ I also saw you opening reqs again (or like, recently made a post abt it and putting it in some tags (￣▽￣;)ゞHEHE) and wanted to request AGAIN!!: this time for the Persona Protags (Seperately) with reader who is a persona user just like them, but reader's persona method is completely different to theirs?? (EXAMPLE: Akira x P4!reader, Yu x P3!reader, and Minato x P5!reader) HCs again!! I've seen other Persona blogs get similar req like this, where they write the reactions to the boys seeing reader using a persona different from theirs BUT!! (｡•́︿•̀｡) wouldn't it... lowk be funny if reader and the boys met after encountering each other in the Metaverse and getting into a fight with them?? LIKE in Akira's case where he and the other PTs learnt abt another intruder and they're on edge, imagine they meet reader and think she's the intruder ლ(ಠ_ಠ ლ)!!?? you can branch off whatever ideas you have for this since, tbh, IM NOT TOO SURE ABT IT EITHER!! i thoguht abt it in the spur of the moment ig but this can be optional for whether or not you want to write this in!! (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡ hehe this ask is longer than the last one I sent in SO SORRY YOU HAVE TO READ MY INFO DUMP .. BUT WHATEVES!! TY AGAIN FOR ANSWERING MY LAST REQS AND REMEMBER, STAY SLAYING!!!!!!

Akira Kurusu, Yu Narukami, and Minato Arisato Mets Reader Who Summons Their Persona Differently

Note: This is a little bit of swearing and very long.

Akira Kurusu

After hearing about another person running around in the Metaverse, the group was on edge.

One time they were at the Mementos and Oracle detects a presence, a human presence.

Naturally, they thought the person were the Black Mask.

When they met you, they accused you of being the Black Mask

Obviously you were confused, “Black Mask? Causing mental shutdowns? Are you good?”

Then you got into the fight with them

If you used an Evoker, they would freak out. They literally thought you were going to…make yourself sleep forever. The entire team’s heart basically skipped a beat. Akira just stared at you with wide eyes and mouth open.

If you used a Tarot card, the team will be confused. Akira will notice what kind of card will be floating in your hand. The Fool, Emperor, Lovers, etc. You destroyed your Tarot card with your weapon

He got to hand it out to you, you are pretty good. You even got some critical hits, and able to get the correct weakness of Joker's Personas.

You were defeated

However, you convinced them that you were not the Black Mask. Oracle also agrees with you as she analyzes your Persona and their levels and concludes that you would be at a higher level.

The group apologizes, but you forgave them.

You join their group to take down the Black Mask.

You seem to get along with Akira the most. Most likely due to your other friend is almost like them.

You chat to him a how you summon your Persona. Accepting death or accepting yourself.

You help out the group if they are struggling on fighting shadows.

Akira, in turn, helps you out with all the Phantom Thieve stuff.

Being sneaky wasn't the main factor in your last adventure, so you often get caught by a shadow.

Yu Narukami

The Investigate Team was training inside the Midnight Channel when Kujikawa sense a presence.

Believing that this could be the person who keeps throwing people into the Midnight Channel, they immediately went to the area where the presence is at.

The team met you, who was wandering around because you can't see anything.

They accuse you of being the person who caused the killings. You objected to the accusation, saying that you would never attempt to kill someone.

Though they didn't seem to be convinced as they decide to start a fight with you.

If you summon your Persona with a Mask, which is most likely the reason why they thought you were a killer, they flinch at the sight of blood going down your face and the blood dripping down the floor. You seem unfazed by this, which make them a little concerned.

If you summon using an Evoker, expect the same reaction as the Phantom Thieves. When they saw you took out the Evoker. They thought it was a real gun and start to freak out. Pretty sure Yosuke will pee himself. The group will run to what ever object nearby in hopes that the bullet won't go through the object. Instead, you put the Evoker towards your head. Rise let out a shout, which in turn made the team look at you as you just pulled the trigger. Instead of seeing a corpse, they instead saw your Persona. Narukami was wide-eyed the entire event

During the battle, Rise senses another presence. However, the presence was weak and surrounded by shadows.

They stopped the fight after Rise told them that they believed that another victim was just thrown into the Midnight Channel.

Since you were with them while the person was thrown into here, they are now convinced you are not the killer.

You joined the Investigate Team!

Narukami asks you about your previous adventures when he hangs out with you. You always recount the good memories of your old teammates, and how Narukami reminds them of their old leaders.

If you are able to get your old teammates to help you with the investigation, you give Narukmai a nudge, "Don't mess with Kirijo-san/Niijima-san, they WILL whoop your ass."

Minato Arisato

While they were approaching the boss, Yamagishi sense a different presence.

The group got concern considering that ordinary people get stranded in the Dark Hour.

They quickly went to the location, and then they met you.

However, Yamagishi notices that you were quite strong. S.E.E.S immediately thought you were a member of Strega. You objected the claim.

"What the hell is Strega?"

You got into the fight, sadly.

If you summon through a Mask, he will be shock about the amount of blood on your face. It will take a little time for him to get used to it.

If you summon through a Tarot Card, they would be confused as how you summoned the card above your hand. Minato knows the card is, since they appear in his head time from time. Because of the Social Links, he can tell what card you had in your hand.

Kirijo stopped the battle when she notices that you didn't summon your Persona with an Evoker. She tells the group that summoning through a Mask/Card will be near impossible, because it will be difficult to make them function to summon a Persona just from Crushing/Ripping them.

The revelation was short-lived when the boss interrupted the conversation.

You fight alongside the S.E.E.S after that.

You talked about your old members to Arisato. Sometimes talked about your struggles in your adventures, either personal or the fighting.

All of Them

The year got closer to end. You were alone with Akira/Yu/Minato having small talk. You tap their shoulder, and you got close to their ear, "Someone might die in this journey...and a god might be behind all this. Be careful." They looked at you, to see a serious look in your eyes. A look of someone who seen a tragedy... Before they ask about what you are talking about, someone calls you over. You give them a pat on the back before walking over to the person that called you over. They are left to ponder on what you said.

[raytorosaurus]

pls tell me you don't think disliking lynz is misogynistic lol i must've misinterpreted that

nope! it's totally fine to dislike lynz, i also don't like her myself. she's said some very questionable things and MSI grosses me out, as does her association with jimmy urine. i already know people will want to take this the wrong way so i want to make it clear that i'm not defending any of that. i'm pointing out an irritating mindless pattern of behaviour in this fandom that is immature and reductive at best and misogynistic at worst, which includes:

1. the intensity of the vitriol that is directed at her being disproportionate to most of the men ppl blog about who have done/said similar, if not much worse, things. and honestly in a lot of cases disproportionate to what she's actually done

2. the fact that i see so many people (especially on twitter) blindly jumping on the bandwagon of hating on her often without knowing what exactly it is they're hating her for - and even then, most of the reasons i see parrotted on twitter are either contextless and overexaggerated or not even one of the aforementioned valid reasons for disliking her. i don't know how to tell you this but if you believe everything on lynzuglyliar you need to reevaluate how you engage with information on the internet lol

3. the level of glee with which people hate on her, which truly smacks of old-school fandom misogyny reserved for women who marry your faves or get in the way of your favourite ship. on twitter especially it honestly truly feels like people are delighted to have a wife of the band they're "allowed" to hate on lol. i know a lot of that is coming from teenagers who will grow up and learn more self-awareness but that doesn't make it any less annoying or disappointing to see

4. the ridiculous mental gymnastics required to hate her so much while continuing to be a fan of the person who is married to her and in love with her lmao. sorry but if you truly think she's that irredeemable why are you still here

like. i hate msi and i go out of my way to avoid listening to them. but it's worth keeping in mind that the kind of shock-jock edgy gross music they wrote was not exclusive to msi in the 2000s. i hate it too and think it's stupid and counterproductive to whatever point it's supposedly trying to make but it was like. a thing for a while unfortunately. it was bad at the time and it aged even worse, but gerard and frank at the very least, and probably the others too, vocally enjoyed it. frank voluntarily chose to tour with msi and mcr performed with them multiple times and were always excited about it. if you truly think lynz's involvement with that band is indefensible, you should extend at least part of that criticism to mcr too. the amount of times i've seen people saying "omg frank hates lynz so much" is fucking ridiculous, and it's based entirely on the same kind of conjecture that led people to believe mcr didn't remain close friends after the breakup lol. if you have to make up things like that - or worse, make up and spread infidelity rumours or actual domestic abuse allegations (it's not even rare to see this on twitter) - to excuse their association with lynz/msi, you need to take a look at yourself tbh

this is partly a twitter-specific problem because that platform is literally set up to disallow meaningful or nuanced conversation but it's really exhausting to see hundreds of snippy "she's the devil" tweets and if you say anything vaguely critical of the the way fandom treats her you get immediately shot down with "why are you defending A Racist" with zero context or clarification. i hate to break it to you but if lynz is A Racist of an irredeemable level, so is gerard. hell, so is frank for blindly listening to and promoting black metal bands with nazi associations when he as a metal fan should know better and do his research. lynz's racism in question is the kind that's overwhelmingly common among liberal white women who are into witchcraft-type stuff. again, i am not condoning it, it's still wrong, but you cannot hold her to different standards than you do the guys in mcr. i'm just saying if you're able to acknowledge gerard's questionable statements and attitudes in the past, condemn them, acknowledge that he's changing and learning, but still go on liking him as a person and supporting his art...what is the reason you can't do the same for lynz.

i've seen people on twitter accuse lynz of plagiarism in an impressively tone-deaf misinterpretation of her art genre, sometimes the same people who would call gerard doing something similar a clever reference. i have literally seen people quote male members of MSI making sexually objectifying and openly misogynistic comments about lynz as some kind of gotcha saying "look, even her bandmates don't respect her" and like...if you can't see something deeply wrong with that i don't know what to tell you. i've seen COUNTLESS people bring up vague information "revealed" by her actual estranged family members on twitter after people stalked them to try to get dirt on lynz and if you think parroting back contextless one-sided information from other people's private family drama isn't a) about the least reliable source of information ever and b) deeply disgusting and inappropriate, i really don't know what to tell you

if you despise lynz to the point where you're in mcr's comments telling gerard to divorce her (again. i shouldn't have to say that this is disgusting behaviour) or booing when they perform summertime or accusing her of infidelity or abuse (which i cannot stress enough are rumours originally made up by frerard tinhatters) or anything like that, why are you even here. like what mental gymnastics are you doing to be able to remain a fan of gerard at this point. none of this is activism, if anything it's counterproductive to your point because it's indicative of the lack of critical thinking or maturity that's necessary when you're engaging with topics like casual/unconscious racism and normalised sexual abuse in the music industry

i'm probably not going to say more about this because this isn't really the hill i want to die on considering i don't even particularly like her myself but please i am begging you approach your dislike of lynz with just a little bit of critical thought and self-awareness instead of just blindly despising her for things that most of the men we blog about are also guilty of.

[fangirleaconmigo]

I would love to hear your bitter rant abt TWN Eskel

Ok Nonny, duck and cover. Here it comes.

I tend to delay making posts like this because when I watch something (in this case, the botched Episode 2 of Season 2) and get pissed off, I like to calm down and think before I speak.

But then time passes, and it’s like….it’s too late. It’d be weird now. (this is actually the story of my entire life and communication style) But if you’re interested in my Eskel rant, I am happy to oblige.

Before I do, please know I am not just reflexively negative. I reviewed S2 Ep 1 and gave it an A. I posted a long ass blog post saying how much I loved it. The vast, vast majority of the space I take up on social media is focused on positivity and restraint. But I’m a human being too, and like anyone else on this planet, I cannot possibly be expected to love literally everything.

So DO NOT CLICK OR READ IF TWN CRITIQUE IS GOING TO BUM YOU OUT OR RUIN YOUR ENJOYMENT OF IT. Protect your peace. Curate your fandom experience. I want you to be happy and comfortable here first and foremost, I do not need anyone to read this who doesn't want to.

So, for me (book fan, fan of witchers and Eskel), Season 2 Ep 2 failed at everything it attempted regarding the parts set at Kaer Morhen. It failed at showing basic respect for the fans. It failed at telling the original story. It also failed at telling its own story. It also introduced brand spanking new misogyny to the story and to the wolves that was so goddamn disappointing to watch.

It failed at having basic respect for the fans. You can change almost everything about a story. But I firmly believe that the major things like deaths should stay the same. Killing off a character that does not die in the books is a dick move. You can only get away with it if your new story is so powerful and brilliant that it makes people appreciate it for what it is. But it didn’t do that either.

It failed at telling the original story: In book canon (on which the show is ostensibly based) Eskel is the gentlest, most gentlemanly witcher we ever meet! He is kind. He is mannerly. He is loyal. He is protective. I did a whole character breakdown here.

TWN made him a predatory, misogynistic creep. He is aggressive and shitty and creepy to Ciri. He even implies to Geralt that if he would have found Ciri, he wouldn’t have adopted her. He would have fucked her. Seriously I could barely watch, it was painful. I was ill.

But he was infected by the leshy! And we just wanted his death to have impact.

No! That story failed too! They threw the original story in the trash, then replaced it with a weak story that didn't work on it's own merits.

It failed because it did not establish Eskel as a character first. It did not establish his friendship with Geralt first. And no one in the story seemed to be surprised by his behavior. So there was NOTHING in that story that made me FEEL or SEE that it was unusual behavior for Eskel.

If a character is acting the literal opposite of their personality, people would have reacted! When he walked in acting like a giant weirdo Geralt would have hog tied him and performed an exorcism lol. He never once said what the fuck is going on with you. Neither did anyone else.

You can tell me that he was infected by the leshy and that this was unusual behavior for him, but if you show me the opposite thing, (no one taking much note of it) it is muddled, weak storytelling. The ‘after’ scene in the hall could not retroactively change the order in which people experienced his arc. Also, it couldn’t fix this glaring error.

So you’ve disappointed and screwed over people who love Eskel. And you’ve had zero effect on people who didn’t know Eskel. No one who was watching him for the first time gave a shit that he died, because from scene one he was a complete piece of shit. So his death didn’t even have an impact.

Its only job in the narrative was to be vague danger hits unexpectedly close to home making Geralt pivot from ‘hide Ciri away’ to ‘teach Ciri to fend for herself’. There were a million other ways they could have done that. It wasn’t powerful. It wasn’t necessary.

So why does that matter? I’ve seen people go “But he’s a minor character who cares?” I mean, if you don’t love that character then no, you don’t care. And you don’t have to! People connect to different characters. It is allowed. I am fully aware that this is largely a book reader complaint, and it doesn’t need to impact your enjoyment of the show. It shouldn’t! It is also an Eskel fan complaint (which includes lots of gamers), and not everyone is that either. You have my blessing and my envy to not care.

But I would like to differentiate between minor and insignificant. In the books, Geralt and Ciri are the main characters. (Geralt starts out as the main character and it kind of segues into focusing more and more on Ciri.)

And Kaer Morhen is essential to grounding, to defining, to understanding, and to humanizing both Geralt and Ciri. Kaer Morhen may only appear “live” in one book, but this place explains entirely how Geralt became Geralt. And it is (along with Yen) what gives Ciri the strength and resources to survive and vanquish her foes. She dreams about Kaer Morhen. She has visions of it. She recalls their lessons at the most pivotal moments throughout the entirety of her journey. Kaer Morhen may not be ‘on the page’ much, but it is at the heart of literally everything.

And Eskel is the witcher who (other than Vesemir) has known Geralt the longest. They are the same age. They were childhood best friends who played together. He is literally the only living person who was a child alongside Geralt. He knows him and anchors him in a way no one else could. He is singular and unique in that regard. There is something powerful about a story with beings who have been almost wiped out in genocides and are the last of their kinds. It defines Geralt in so many ways. And Eskel is an inextricable part of that.

And Eskel’s protectiveness of Ciri and his kindness to her, makes a huge difference in her life. Also, ETA: Eskel is the first witcher Ciri sees who isn’t Geralt and she is terrified because of how he looks. She is scared when she arrives at Kaer Morhen. But then she learns they are not scary. They are safe and they take care of her. So she learns not to be afraid or judge based on outward appearances. And that is because of Eskel.

So you can say that Eskel is a minor character, but you cannot say that he is insignificant to the story, because he is massively significant to the main characters.

And not only did this episode fuck up him, it fucked up that entire dynamic.

Kaer Morhen is a place of safety and family for Ciri and she calls upon it for strength for the rest of her life. And instead of Geralt walking in and saying “She is our destiny” and them pitching together to train and love and raise her, you have them ignoring her, being like ‘who the fuck is this’ and also sexually harrassing her? Like sobs What was the reason??? Then Geralt kills Eskel??? Kills him??? And Lambert is like…this is all Ciri’s fault?? What the fuck? We didn’t even know Ciri was involved yet. It was so confusing. I was like what the fuck are you saying, Lambert??? It was like a nightmare! Who are these people?? Lmaosob.

And Kaer Morhen itself, this mystical, melancholy place that is speaks of brothers lost that must be hidden at all costs, they bring like an entire group of sex workers there? Geralt can say the place is hidden. But if you show me that everyone and their mother parties there, I don’t feel it.

And the explanation of ‘they all somehow got black out drunk literally simultaneously and they get all the sex workers black out drunk and that is why not a single one of them objected to it, and then Vesemir was totally cool with it because that is both possible, and somehow makes it better?’

But even worse was the misogyny that was introduced. I’m gonna switch to feminist killjoy mode, and I know some of these things I absolutely hated, quite a few of you loved. And that is fine. I respect you and I love you and I would never tell people how to feel about it. But here is what I absolutely loathed.

As a feminist, one of the most important ways to tell if someone’s feminism is real is how they treat sex workers. Feminism is for EVERY WOMAN. ALL. NO FUCKING EXCEPTIONS. The minute someone is degrading of sex workers, I see their true colors. Their true colors are respectability politics, girlbossery, and dignity for some. It cuts through a lot of bullshit.

A lot of people see TWN as feminist. And there are FOR SURE some strong feminist themes that I appreciate. But in this episode it was just a big old rotten turd in that respect. (that’s the technical term).

They introduced sex workers so that they could show a naked dead female body. How regressive is that? What the fuck? They also introduced sex workers to act as a ‘scare tactic’ and ‘cautionary tale’ for Ciri. What the fuckkkkkkkkk man help me out here I’m crying.

And I will say that I adore 90% of what they did with Geralt and Ciri this season. I could write a positive post about that if anyone wanted to wash the taste of my disappointment out of their mouths. But again, I am focusing on this ep, and it was just a turd all the way around.

When Geralt stepped THREATENINGLY into Danica’s face because she implied Ciri could become a sex worker, what the fuckkkkk. I KNOW people think that is cute. I respect your point of view. I appreciate you. But I have to disagree. I hated it with my whole heart.

You add that to Vesemir’s little remark about Ciri dancing on tables that was supposed to upset Geralt, and we have more of the same.

Geralt HAS NEVER AND WOULD NEVER be the “I’m bringing a gun to my daughter’s first date” kind of dad. He’s never been the “I'm safeguarding my daughter’s vagina so she keeps her virtue” kind of dad.

Y’all. I’m sorry. I am so sorry. I hate it. It creeps me the fuckout. The ENTIRE POINT of Geralt’s relationship with Ciri is that he protects her AUTONOMY. Not her VIRTUE. Do we not see how those two things are literal opposites? Geralt cares about protecting Ciri. From having to kill people. From being traumatized. From being killed or forced to have babies against her will. Not from having fun (dancing on tables??!!). And his worst nightmare is not a sex worker.

HE GOES TO THEM!! He isn’t disgusted by them. To have him again, STEP THREATENINGLY towards Danica to show ‘oh he’s a real dad’ I’m sorry I despise it. I hate that model of fatherhood. The one that is focused on guarding virtue. And Geralt of Rivia baby I’m so sorry that ugly bitch (episode 2) did that to you.

I can have a sense of humor about myself ok I know I’m not in the majority. I know that’s the model of fatherhood that people like. They think it’s cute. But we are all individuals and have our own reactions to things, and that is mine.

I even hated how they had him not remember Danica. Every time she was on screen it was ‘haha see how crappy all these witchers treat them?’ And they also got them all black out drunk??

Holy shit you guys. This is what the creators of this show think the ‘rugged, rough around the edges’ masculinity of witchers is all about. Gahhhhhhhhhh.

And the one bright spot, Geralt and Vesemir, they ended up taking away from me when Vesemir betrays Geralt and TRIES TO DOSE CIRI????

So look. Again. There are so many things I do love about the show. I could wax complimentary about the parts I love if you guys want me to. I love SO MUCH about what they've done with Yen. The sorceresses. I love that they've given them genuine friendships. I could also talk about that. I am obsessed with Myanna Buring as Tissaia. We know how I feel about Joey's Jaskier. I mean it's not the cast's fault! I am fully, fully in love with Yasen Atour as Coën, he was absolutely perfect. I wouldn't be so into the fandom if there weren't many things that I love.

But the fact is, TWN just does not ‘get’ witchers. They do not understand their oppressions (class, mostly) or how power structures exploit them. They made this plainly obvious in the lore they created for the sacking of Kaer Morhen and the ‘Vesemir doses Ciri’ storyline. (that is a whole other post) They do not understand this model of masculinity. They made this plainly obvious with this episode.

Which, these are big things to not ‘get’ for a show that is called The Witcher.

But this is probably just fine for most people! If they have no strong attachments to the themes and spirit of the books, I'm sure it is fine. I understand that this is a niche nerd rant and that I feel passionately about something most people do not! That’s ok. That’s the nerd life baby.

This has been my rant.

[magnetothemagnificent]

this is a weird question and i don't know if you're the right person to ask, but i also don't know who would be the right person: is church architecture based in appropriation of jewish synagogue architecture?

i recently moved to a very church-heavy small city. there is like a church on every block of some different denomination. i've noticed that a lot of them look eerily similar to famous synagogues i've seen posted on jewish blogs. the ones that don't look literally the same still retain most of the same design elements: the dome center roof, domed towers framing the building, rounded archways and windows, etc. there was a lutheran church i drove by the other day that looks exactly the same as the only synagogue in the city. i had to actually do a double take, driving by, because i saw a crucifix on the roof and for a minute i though it was a messianic building until i saw the "lutheran" sign out front. the only church in the entire city that doesn't fit this trend is the one catholic church, which is a stereotypical chapel (a dark rectangle with a single steeple.)

writing this out, i feel like it might be nothing, because i mean a lot of architecture is universal (only so many ways to design a building.) but its just gotten me thinking, because a lot of christian culture seems to come from taking or warping judaica or jewish lore and i am wondering if the church is an instance of that.

I mean, there's definitely some Churches that try to mimic what they envision the Beit HaMikdash (Jewish Holy Temple) looked like, but the reason some Church and synagogue architectures look similar is because the architecture of houses of worship just reflect the styles and fashions of where they were built, and modern Churches and synagogues might just emulate past fashions. So Churches and synagogues built during the same time period in the same place are going to have similar architectural features, in the same way Churches and Mosques and Mosques and synagogues built during the same time and place are going to have similar features.

There's also a phenomena, especially in the US but likely in other countries, of Churches buying the buildings of old historic synagogues and using them without changing much and just slapping a cross on them. Where I live, for example, there's so many Churches and community centers that very clearly used to be historic synagogues, because sometimes the Star of David motifs are still there, and there's often still Ten Commandments and menorah reliefs in the architecture. This isn't appropriation, it's often not intentional, and there's also lots of synagogues that used to be Churches, Mosques that used to be synagogues, etc etc etc. It just happens that buildings with a large prayer hall are really only cycles among different religious congregations (and sometimes get turned into community centers), because what else are you going to do with a building with ornate architecture and a very large main hall? It's always funny when I drive around my city with gentile friends and am able to point out all the former synagogues in places where hardly any Jews live now. I live in an area without many Jews, and yet if I walk a few blocks there's a historic synagogue from the turn-of-the-century that's in the midst of being demolished/rebuilt into a housing complex.

[bucky-barnes-diaries]

Black T-Shirt

Captain America and The Winter Soldier

Pairing; Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader

Summary; Bucky in that black and tight T-Shirt has you in desperate need to have his dick in your mouth.

Word Count; 1588

Warnings; NSFW, 18+, Minors DNI, cursing, language, dirty talk, pet names, oral (male receiving), masturbation (female), Daddy!kink, face fucking, mention of bodily fluids.

Authors Note; sorry that the beginning is literal trash! I just didn’t know what in the hell to write leading up to the big event lol. I hope you all enjoy regardless <3 Minor spoilers to TFATWS 1x04!

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Credit @ brucelangley for the wonderful gif

Watching Bucky in that tight, black t-shirt all day had your mind in other places than the mission. Places of sin and pleasure as your mouth was watering in need to have his dick in your mouth at the way the shirt clung to his muscular body. But the busy day of finding Karli and the Dora Milaje threatening to come for Zemo gave you no time to pull him somewhere to the side for him to bring you to your knees and to suck him off.

Until the Dora Milaje arrived at the place you were staying, and all hell broke loose with spears and arms swinging everywhere, which resulted in Zemo’s escape.

“Get your stuff. We're leaving in 20 minutes to find him,” Sam ordered the two of you. 20 minutes? That was more than enough time to get what you wanted out of your boyfriend.

“Come here.” You took his hand and rushed the two of you into the bedroom where you could carry out your little mission. “What is it? Where's the rush?” Bucky questioned when he saw the rush you were in.

“I need you.”

He caught on pretty quickly in what you needed when your hand was placed just above his bulge. Your soft and pleading eyes were begging for him. How could he ever say no to a face like yours?

“Get on your knees, and I'll give you what you want so much doll.”

There was no trace of hesitation in your soul as you sunk to your knees in front of him and looked up as innocently as you could muster.

The belt buckle being undone by him was like sweet music in your ears. When he pulled down his jeans with his underwear, you came face to face with his throbbing cock that was full and erect for you only. The need for him to be in your mouth was just as great as your need for him to use your mouth to the fullest. Fuck, he looked so beautiful as you peeked up at him through your lashes.

When he went to pull off his shirt as well, you stopped him immediately. “No, keep it on.” The way the shirt clung to his muscular body had your core scream in need. The print of his abs could be seen from how tight it was. His biceps teasing to burst out any second from the tightness of his short sleeves had your tongue peek out to wet your lips.

He traced your lips with his thumb, and you gave it a light kiss before you allowed entrance for him. Hollowing your cheeks, you sucked and swirled your tongue on his digit, making a groan emit deep from within him at your mouth being so obedient to him.

“Let's put that mouth to good use, shall we kitten? Are you going to be a good girl for Daddy?” He asked as his hand found its place at the back of your neck to encourage you on.

Oh, Daddy? So he was in that mood now. Then you knew he was going to use and abuse your mouth to the fullest.

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Good girl.”

Your hand wrapped around his base as you looked up to him for permission to continue. The slight nod of his head was the signal you were looking for.

You opened your mouth to let your tongue trace his throbbing vein on the underside of him. The feel of you on his most sensitive part had him shudder at the feeling your tongue was giving him.

Your tongue swirled at the head of him. It ended with a light suckle to his mushroom tip like it was a delicious and tasty lollipop.

That was enough teasing for him. He needed more, so his hand at the back of you pushed your mouth more on him. All the way until your nose met his base, your tongue teasing his length as you managed to take him in fully. The feeling of him so deep in your throat made you cough around his entire cock. The vibrations felt wonderful on him as it made him shiver down his spine.

He needed more. With his hand holding your head in place, his hips thrust quick and sharp into your mouth, taking all it had to offer.

“You take me so well, doll. Such a good girl for me.”

He kept his dick deep in your throat at all times, fucking it to his liking, bruising and abusing it to the fullest, until you showed signs that you needed a break which he kindly let you have.

He couldn't help but hiss out at the loss of you around him, already missing having you on him. It was something he never could get enough of.

Your lips were swollen from the actions Bucky laid on you, and your eyes were watery at him tickling the back of your throat with every thrust of his hips. All in all, you were a beautiful mess for your Daddy, and he couldn't stop praising you for being so good to him.

The saliva from your mouth was trickling down his length, and it made you hungry to taste him again and again. You could never get enough of him in your mouth—the place where only he belonged.

His cock twitched when you looked up at him through your long lashes, and he couldn't help but wrap his fist around himself, making quick strokes to hurry up the process of cumming in your mouth.

“Show me that pretty tongue.”

Sticking it out for him like he asked and giving it a wiggle, he laid his head on the tip of it. Switching between tapping his head on it and making sinful strokes on himself.

The image of him looking so in control and dominant where he was standing tall and towering over you had your clit tingle in delight. You couldn't help yourself when you undid your pants some so you could snake your hand in your panties and give it the attention it so desperately needed.

“Look at you. Such a needy little thing. Needing to touch yourself while you suck me off.” His movements ceased to a halt. It was his way of saying it was your turn now to continue where he left off.

You took him in your hand to jerk him off as he did just a moment ago. The focus was on his red and sensitive tip. Your other hand was working on yourself to bring you to orgasm as well.

“Does it feel good, Daddy?”

“So good, kitten. Keep going.”

His eyes were closed shut, and his head leaning back some at the pleasure you were bringing him with your expert hand.

When you felt like he had enough, you let him in your mouth again for him to do as he pleased. His sounds of pleasure increased in volume as he fucked your warmth.

Encouraging flicks of your tongue were given to him as he fucked your face raw to his liking. Using your mouth for his pleasure, and you loved every second of it.

He was going to cum in your mouth; you could feel it, see it, and you wanted nothing more than have him shot his delicious seed down your throat. He twitched in your mouth and his muscles tensed up in preparation to let himself go. You were close to finishing as well as your hand was working on your clit.

He pulled himself out again, much to your disapproval, as he once more wrapped his fist around himself, making quick strokes.

“Open your mouth and show me that tongue.”

Doing as told, you opened wide for him to empty his cum on your desperate tongue. Your eyes were large and innocent when you looked up at him.

He was so close. His hand was losing the steady rhythm that he had. His vibranium one went in your hair to pull hard, making you emit a yelp at the pain.

“Fuck, I'm cumming, kitten. Cum for Daddy as well.”

The coil in your stomach snapped as his loud, and heavy grunts filled the air as he came all over your tongue and lips. Ropes of him decorating it so beautifully like an expensive artwork at the museum.

Once both of you came down from your high and he emptied himself entirely on you, he took a second to admire his work. Proud of how beautiful it looked.

“So pretty baby girl, Now swallow all of it.”

You closed your mouth and swallowed his load with no second thoughts. It was ingrained in you to do so. Like it was second nature. You showed him your empty mouth, which made him let out a satisfied groan of approval.

His thumb traced your lips to collect some of the remaining cum and pushed his digit into your parted lips for you to suck him clean.

“Such a good girl for me.”

A few seconds later, there could be heard a knock on the door and Sam's voice speaking from outside.

“Look, I don't know what the hell you guys are doing in there, but we need to leave, like right now.”

You and Bucky stifled a laugh at knowing that Sam most likely knew what was up with the two of you.

“Come on.” He helped you to stand up on your feet. “Let's get cleaned up, and then we have to leave.”

Credit @ firefly-graphics for the wonderful divider

Thank you for reading <3 Feedback through a comment is highly appreciated if you liked it! As well as a reblog to share it with others!

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[historyhermann]

"We wrote her that way": Entrapta and autistic representation in She-Ra

Entrapta forgives Catra for exiling her to Beast Island at the end of Season 3, and being a jerk to her in the past, in the episode, "Taking Control"

In November of last year, I wrote about Entrapta, one of my favorite characters in the animated series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, because she is morally gray character, a hacker, and a "smart and quirky chaotic neutral icon." In that post, I examined her character in the first four seasons of the show, noting that she is an autistic character who makes her own decisions, acting as "a princess with prehensile hair who is [also] a scientist and inventor always trying to tinker with ancient technology. " I also criticized some who claimed she is a "hurtful" representation of autistic people, noting that she is sweet and underappreciated, pointing out that Bow is the only one who sees her sympathetically, and that she stays in the Fright Zone by choice. I further noted that she is dedicated to science and research, sticks up for Catra when Hordak wants to send her to Beast Island, and stated that when she is rescued from Beast Island in Season 4 she "goes with them back to Bright Moon because of data and scientific discovery, not because of friendship or anything else." I additionally made a comparison between her and Peridot in Steven Universe, with storyboarder Maya Peterson (the same one who said Peri is asexual and aromatic), said she doesn't interpret Peridot as autistic. I intend this post will be an update from my previous post, talking about her in the show's final (and fifth) season, which started streaming on May 15th.  If you haven't see the new season, please do so because this post is filled with spoilers! It is important to write about this because series creator ND Stevenson confirmed that Entrapta was autistic, basing Entrapta on an autistic person on the SPOP crew, a full-time storyboard artist named Sam Szymanski. [1]

Reprinted from my History Hermann WordPress blog and also Wayback Machine. It was originally published on May 27, 2020.

Most of the commentary about the new season has focused on the mutual confession of romantic feelings by Catra and Adora, shipped as Catradora, who kiss in the show's final episode, with their love literally saving the world (and universe) from destruction. This is the right focus, while some have noted the other LGBTQ characters confirmed like Seahawk (whose ex is named Falcon), Kyle and Rogelio, the relationship between Perfuma and Scorpia, or the romance between Bow and Glimmer, among many other topics. [2] After all, as Lindsey Mantoan, wrote in a CNN opinion, She-Ra is the "best queer representation on television." In the process, however, little has been said about Entrapta. In fact, of many reviews I looked at, only a few even mentioned her in their analyses, despite her pivotal role in at least part of the season. [3] While one reviewer for A.V. Club (Shannon Miller) claimed that the show trades an in-depth look at Entrapta's treatment for "heroics," and saying there could have been "more reflection from those who have outwardly had more difficulty understanding Entrapta’s mindset, " another, for Forbes, Linda Maleh, says the opposite. Maleh argues that Entrapta gets a lot "a lot of screen time as she learns to balance her love of machines with her desire to connect with people," calling her entirely "adorkable," and that her character gives viewers some of the most touching and funny moments of the show. I tend to agree with Maleh more than Miller. Similarly, I think that Heather Hogan of Autostraddle makes a valid point in saying that Wrong Hordak brought out the charming parts of Entrapta, stating that it was nice to see her understanding how to work alongside friends, express herself better, and her feelings, while the princesses "start to understand her for who she really is." Although it is positive these reviewers noted her role in the season, there is clearly a lot more going on about Entrapta than what Miller, Maleh, or Hogan talk about.

Entrapta, who is between the ages 28 and 30, appears in every single episode of the fifth season, apart from episode 10, can be said to be the "smartest" character in the series. In the previous season,  she was rescued from Beast Island by Bow, Adora, and Swift Wind, reminded about her true friends while ancient technology continued to pull her in. In contrast, in this season, she struggles to find a place among the other princesses, as highlighted in the episode "Launch." Since Entrapta has been a morally grey character in the past, it makes sense that the princesses are a bit distrustful. Even Emily, with her name as an obscure reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, turns away from Enttapta when it appears that she cares more about tech "than saving their friend." After that episode, the princesses begin to understand her better. She later helps out Adora and Bow save Glimmer from Horde Prime's flagship. Glimmer is transported through space by Catra, in her first likely selfless act. She then helps Adora, Bow, and Glimmer successfully rescue Catra from Prime's flagship, called the Velvet Glove. She even does surgery on Catra, removing the chip in her neck. She, additionally, forgives Catra after she apologizes for treating her terribly. As a reminder, at the end of Season 3, Catra panicked when Entrapta tried to warn Hordak to not start the portal. She then orders her to be sent to Beast Island. She is shocked with what she is done (as is Scorpia by this cruel act against her), beginning her descent down a "dark, dangerous path." Basically, Catra blamed Entrapta for her own mistakes.

In the rest of the season, Entrapta continues to help the princesses and tries to disable all the chips before being transported to Prime's flagship. She apologizes to everyone when captured by Prime, literally the head of a cult of mindless drone soldiers. Whether Entrapta has platonic or romantic feelings for Hordak, the latter shipped as Entrapdak by one of of the show's story editors (and some other fans), it is up the viewer. [4] As some fans noted back in March, a few months before the recent season premiered, it is clear that there is "some chemistry between her and Hordak" and some even call their relationship "sweet," although I'm not sure I would go that far. In any case, it does mean that Hordak is more than a one-dimensional villain like in the original She-Ra: Princess of Power series in the 1980s which was used to sell action figures for Mattel. Through some searching, I did find an interview with Stevenson (complete with unfortunate spelling errors by the person who wrote the transcript of her interview responses) where he specifically talks about how Entrapta grows in this season:

I think with a character like Entrapata [sic], we sort of live in a little bit of her own version of the world that the other characters don’t always understand...It's not only Entrapta learning how to empathize and connect with others, but also for others to learn how to empathize and connect with her. And so I think with both sides of that, we see [Entrapta] growing this season. What I think has always been [Entrapta's] strength is that, even if she might struggle with communicating her feelings or understanding other characters when they’re communicating their feelings to her, I think her strength as a character -- kind of her superpower -- is that she sees humanity in everything. Not just in humanoid or organic creatures, but she sees humanity in robots. She sees humanity in the AI that drives ships. She sees humanity in one clone in a million identical clones and knows their personality and knows who they are and knows how to connect with them... I think we see her make a lot of progress on that front, but then we also see her. I think she does more than almost any other character in humanizing characters who have never been humanized before by anyone....It's so much of what is the heart of this show. It seems like that’s what makes Etherea [sic] special in general is that everyone who comes to Etherea [sic] isn’t getting broken by it a little bit. They end up making connections and falling in love in ways they never thought were possible. And I think Entrapta really embodies that."

Furthermore, as a morally grey character, who played a "big hand in some of the Horde-led destruction on Etheria," she still cares about her friends. While some may question her renewal of the individuality or "humanity" of Hordak, becoming his first genuine friend, later leading him to turn against Horde Prime, she clearly had a "unique perspective on the world that not everyone understands." Earlier in the season, when she encounters Hordak before he is freed from Prime's control, in an attempt to access the computer control center of Horde Prime so she can disable the mind-control chips, helped by Swift Wind, she tells Hordak “remember, your imperfections are beautiful!” When the essence of Prime is destroyed by She-Ra, he is freed, and is soon reunited with Entrapta, who says that she is "so glad" to see him back.

By this point, it is clear that Entrapta is not the "worst kind of villain" as some described her and is more than a person who "only cares about the pursuit of knowledge," no matter the consequences, as Brett Elderkin described her, also calling her a "mad scientist," but rather just a morally grey character, or perhaps "chaotic neutral" to use a Dungeons and Dragons term. That brings me to a recent article by Megan Crouse in Den of Geek appropriately titled "She-Ra: In Defense of Entrapta." She states that while Entrapta occasionally embraces the trope of not caring about "people who might be hurt when dangerous experiments go wrong," she is much more than that, and dramatically changes in Season 5. Crouse added that Entrapta in Season 4 was not truly happy as a hermit on Beast Island, although she maintained her fascination with science, missing people, and afraid that "her friends will inevitably abandon her." She then talks about the episode "Launch" where Entrapta's conflict with the fellow princesses reaches a boiling point, putting others in danger, with her actions "extremely, comically risk," wanting to win at no matter the cost. After Mermista accuses Entrapta of not caring about any of them, and not being trustworthy as a result, she responds by saying she didn't realize they were angry at her. She then retreats to apologizing, one of her many defensive mechanisms, stating

I’m not good at people, but I am good at tech. I thought maybe if I could use tech to help you, you’d like me. But I messed that up, too.

As she barrels ahead, Mermista pulls her back by her hair (just as Horde Prime does later), and is finally convinced of her good nature when Entrapta declares “Glimmer needs us!,” indicating she is willing to put herself in harms away as much as anyone else. As Crouse further outlines, while Entrapta's action is similar to what she has done in the past, as she begins to explain how and why she acts and feels the way she does, gaining more friends along the way. Even so, she still clearly has trouble reading people, which is not "magically cured throughout this season." While Crouse says that it would "have been nice to see Entrapta really feel the consequences of her dangerous actions," I would counter and say she did grow a lot in this season. On the other hand, I agree with Crouse that it is "sweeter to see her pursue science and friendship" than just tinkering with technology on Beast Island. While I can see why she argues that Entrapta is annoying, she makes a good point that Entrapta is not letting her "loner tendencies turn into complete isolation, but nor does she have to completely change who she is." As a side note, Entrapta cuts her own bangs, as Stevenson said once, although this is terrifying considering her power tools! Yikes!

Now, lets get to the elephant in the room: Entrapta flirting with technology. The first time this happens is in the episode "Launch," declaring flirtatiously: "Hello. You are very technologically advanced" before almost being blown to smithereens by the Horde robot. Then, in the episode "Stranded" she says: "Darla and I are going to spend some quality time together," again in a flirtatious manner, leading to confused looks from Adora, Bow, and Glimmer. Now, robosexuality, a term seemingly coined and/or popularized by Futurama, means the "love and/or sexuality between a humanoid and a robot." From these two interactions you could say that she is robosexual. Let us consider what Stevenson said about Entrapta: that she is learning to connect and empathize with others, and sees humanity in everything, knowing their personality and how to connect with them. One fan put Entrapta very well, remarking that she is a functional adult who can make full decisions, arguing that she is "chaotic good with a bad moral compass who likes to fuck space nazis," saying she makes bad decisions. I can agree with that to an extent, except to say that it makes sense why she ended up working for the Horde, since the princesses had not really liked/understood her before that point. Another fan noted, correctly, that Entrapta (and Scorpia) but had to earn the trust of the princesses in their own ways.

That's all! Comments are welcome.

© 2020-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] In her first tweet, she responded to a fan who asked if entrapta is autistic, saying that "many of us relate to her and love her so much and it would mean a lot if we could get confirmation of her being autistic." She responded by saying: "yes, we wrote her that way. One of our crewmembers was on the spectrum and related to her specifically, and had a huge part in shaping her story and character!" She further explained that "the crew member was board artist @Sizzlemanski. His first episode was Entrapta’s introductory episode in season 1 [System Failure] and he had a HUGE hand not only in defining her physical acting, but also pitched me several ideas for her arc early on! He basically became our go-to for Entrapta."

[2] As Stevenson stated on Twitter, he hopes that in the future we stop thinking about LGBT representation as a "race or a contest" and as more of a "community effort to uplift voices that have not yet had their stories told," with each individual piece of media as a "broadening of horizons."

[3] When ND Stevenson was interviewed by comicbook.com, Nerdist, Gizmodo, A.V. Club, L.A. Times, Polygon, Digital Spy, GLAAD, EW, and CBR, the interviewers understandably focused on the Catra/Adora slow-burn relationship, but never asked a question about Entrapta. One interviewer for Collider asked "...So we’ve got Bow and Glimmer, we’ve got Sea Hawk and Mermista, we’ve even got kind of an interesting relationship with Entrapta and Hordak, and then obviously CatrAdora. But did you know from the beginning how everybody was going to pair off or is that something that kind of developed over time?" but he never specifically replied about the "relationship with Entrapta and Hordak." Reviews of the show in The Mary Sue, PinkNews, LA Times, tor.com, and ScreenRant do not even mention Entrapta at all!

[4] On Instagram, ND Stevenson said that Entrapta would follow Hordak to Beast Island as his community services for his crimes and as a result, the "two would develop a romantic relationship and reunite with the bot she left behind in Season 4, keeping her promise to return," so it sounds like it is leaning toward romance, as noted in a summary on her fandom page. Also see Emily Hu who noted they did board a scene with Entrapta and Hordak but it never ended up being included. There is clearly a connection between Entrapta and Hordak, but I'm still not sure if it is romantic or friendly. It could really go either way.

[writingsfromthegrave]

Hello there! You have no idea how glad i am to find a blog like yours! Could I request Dexter Grif and Reader romantic headcanons? I just love my orange boy so much

Dexter Grif x GN! Reader Romantic HCs

♡ you two got along pretty quick, actually! you were sent by command to aide the reds in their mission to destroy the blues, mostly due to the fact they wouldn't stop complaining about how "unfair" it was that blue team had gained a new member.

♡ now, you weren't sure what you were expecting coming into the red team, but holy hell you were not expecting to find them shooting a MEMBER OF THEIR OWN TEAM...?

♡ quickly moving to the orange suit's fallen body, you make sure that the rest of your teammates would cease fire. you asked him general questions, making sure he WASN'T DEAD. "he'll walk it off. he's fine." the maroon one laughed, the red one still holding his gun out aimed at the orange one.

♡ "wait. who are you?" the injured man spoke, FINALLY realizing you were new. you told him your name and classifications, though that didn't really matter- none of them cared. you were trained not only in medicine but in combat, too.

♡ and that awkward, tense moment was the start of your inseparable bond. you weren't all that similar, being almost absolute opposites. however, in some way, you were like two peas in a pod. grif would do some insanely dumb shit and you'd always be there to either A. stop him from doing the insanely dumb shit or B. patch him up from doing insanely dumb shit.

♡ you weren't an ass-kisser like simmons was, and you'd frequently enjoy playing dumb games with grif. of course you'd be there for sarge if the matter was insanely important, but most of the time you'd follow grif in doing the opposite of what sarge asks.

♡ staying up late with him, you'd watch shit ass TV shows or eat a fuck load of pizzas in one sitting. grif is one of those dudes that can drink a whole 2-liter soda in like one go and will frequently do it just for you to yell "NO!!"

♡ out of the two of you, you'd think grif was the least likely to confess first. however that's surprisingly not the case- well, if ACCIDENTALLY saying it counts. you two would be hanging out, "guarding" your base per usual. which just meant you were playing thumb wars or something stupider.

♡ you don't remember exactly what you had said, but it sent grif into a fit of laughter, wheezing uncontrollably. you giggle, a little worried about the lack of oxygen in his helmet. eventually, it became too much as grif casually took off his helmet, calming down from his fit

♡ it was a little odd finally seeing grif unmasked, but you'd be lying if you said he wasn't gorgeous. the realization of your own thoughts hit and you could feel a warm blush creep up on your cheeks

♡ "oh, i love you," he so calmly said, wiping a tear from his eye. you were unsure if he had truly meant what he said- given he was a little out of line. it was weird. did grif mean it platonically, like a best friend i love you? or did he have feelings for you?

♡ "um, grif," you initiate the conversation hesitantly, pondering if this would be a bad idea. you didn't want to ruin the wonderful friendship you have if grif didn't mean anything by what he said at all. but that's ridiculous, how could you not mean anything by that? fighting with yourself was the worst

♡ you take off your own helmet, the breeze feeling so so nice on your skin. "oh. huh. i really said that, didn't i?" grif awkwardly looked away from you, sending an entirely unclear message to your already confused brain

♡ "um... i love you too. like, i like like you," scooting closer to him, you watch his face contort out of pure embarrassment of his sudden confession. it was cute, but made you worry a shit-ton. the pessimistic thoughts still clouded your mind, as much as you fought them.

♡ "i... like-like you too?" although it was a silly way to say you love someone, grif's words truly meant a lot to you. and that was the inevitable start of your chaotic but overly-loving relationship

♡ you two would be doing everything together, as per usual- but to a much larger extent. hell you'd even streamline important things for grif, purely out of your own will of course. he made you feel alive and fun, something you weren't expecting first coming into the red team

♡ simmons constantly questions why someone like you would date a guy like grif, and no answer you give will ever satisfy his confusion. now he has two very annoying people to worry about, albeit you being a LITTLE BIT more sensible.

♡ roughhousing is still common between you two, but grif is way more considerate about potentially hurting you, despite knowing you are a seriously trained soldier as well. though he may get too carried away if you let him!

♡ you're definitely best friends with sister, no doubt. much to grif's dismay, you'd attend sister's raves and live it up with her. after all, how could you not? they were a much-needed break and she was always there to make sure grif isn't being stupid and making you upset in any way

♡ despite several hardships you and grif always make it out together and that's hella couple goals tbh.

[omg-imatotalmess]

Speed Demon

Hey guys! So, our new anon, Peach anon, sent me an absolutely god-tier idea, and I got a little out of control thinking about it. Thank them for this messy little thing. Hope y'all enjoy!

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Reader

Requested: No but based on an ask

The ask: hi i found ur blog recently and i LOVE your work and wanted to shower u with love and affection <3 <3 <3 and maybe also... a headcanon?? anyways roadtrip with boys are so fun to imagine like i have this hc that draco is such a nervous wreck in cars and it translates into passenger driver ("careful, careful!! that semi is switching lanes!" "draco i am sIX CARS BEhiND IT") nfdjhgjs anyways imagine getting so fed up you just reach over (1/2 peach anon claiming peach right now its MINE :D )

(2/2) and start palming at his cock switching btwn just resting ur hand on him and making him try to fuck up into you fist he'd be grabbing the little handle above the door and finally shut up literally the second after you let him come though it's like four seconds of happy peaceful silence and then its "love, steady, you're speeding a bit" anyways ty for doing all that you do ilysm :)

Warnings: Smut, hand jobs, don't jerk someone off while you drive, mild cum eating, sub!draco, dom!reader, swearing(?)

---

The muted drone of the weatherman on the radio filled the near silence of the car. Draco didn't ever talk much when you drove. For a man that enjoyed taking road trips as much as he claimed to, he certainly didn't like being in the car. You didn't mind much, though. You were just happy to spend the time alone with him. Even if the only time he broke the silence was to yell about your driving, which, to be fair, was often enough.

"Slow down! Why are you so insistent upon getting us killed?" Draco snapped, digging his fingernails into the seat.

"Draco, my love, my sweet, I'm already going under the speed limit. Try to relax a little," you said. The huff from your passenger seat reminded you why everyone had insisted that you and Draco take your own car. No one else could put up with him. Especially not with the kind of amusement you could.

"I'll relax when you stop trying to kill us," he said. But, then again, even you had your limits.

"Do you want some help, love?" you asked.

"Help? What do you mean help?" Without looking at him, you lifted your hand from the wheel, resting it lightly on his thigh. You gave it a firm squeeze. Though he didn't say anything, you found yourself enjoying watching him squirm in your peripheral vision.

"You know, help," you said cheerfully.

"You're driving," he hissed.

"You don't seem to mind much," you teased, laying your hand over his slowly hardening cock.

"Watch the road!" he snapped as a truck switched lanes several cars ahead of you. Despite his command, he bucked his hips up, grinding into your palm with no shame. You smiled. Draco could be so stubborn when he wanted to be. No matter how badly he wanted this, he'd probably just keep complaining about your driving until he couldn't anymore.

"I am," you said.

"What if you-ah-get distracted?" he asked.

"I'm just letting you use my hand. Keep it down and you won't bother me," you laughed.

"But what if--oh," he cut himself off with a groan as you popped the button of his pants and snaked your hand underneath.

"Shhh, just enjoy yourself, baby boy," you soothed, grinding the heel of your hand gently against the head of his cock. The whiny moan that reverberated throughout the car made you strain to keep your eyes on the road. You would have loved to see the face he was making just then, but you told him you wouldn't get distracted. Instead, you settled for rubbing him teasingly just to make him squirm.

"(Y/N)," he groaned.

"Hmm?" you hummed.

"Please."

"Please, what? Tell me what you want," you said, glancing over your shoulder as you switched lanes.

"I want more," he muttered.

"I thought you wanted me to concentrate on the road," you teased. With a groan of frustration, he rolled his hips into your barely moving hand.

"(Y/N), take pity on me. I'm already in this screaming death trap," he whined. You laughed, giving him a rough squeeze through his underwear. A choked groan told you all you needed to know. All he wanted was attention. That was likely why he'd been complaining so much in the first place.

"Alright, alright. Take your cock out for me then, baby," you said.

After a second of shuffling, you felt him push himself into your waiting hand. It never took much to work him up, and you were grateful for it. You loved seeing him hot and leaking for you pretty much as soon as you started playing with him. Swiping your thumb over the slit, you smiled as the wetness there smeared with your touch. He bucked impatiently at the soft attention. It wasn't what he wanted. Pulling your hand away for a second, you spat into it before beginning to jack him at a torturous pace. It wasn't a substitute for lube, but Draco didn't seem to mind any.

A quick glance at your passenger told you that he was just enjoying the sensation. He could have been anywhere for all he seemed to care. It was almost like he'd forgotten about the car entirely. One pale hand gripped the seat under him while the other grabbed the handle over his head to steady him as he thrust into your hand. Like a man unhinged, he drove up into the tight circle of your fist practically unassisted. You doubt he really minded the lack of real lube.

"That's a good boy," you praised, switching back into the other lane. "I bet you feel so much better now that you have something to keep you busy."

"Yes! So much better!" he moaned.

"I know being my good boy always helps you relax," you said. The car in front of you swerved and cut off the guy in the other lane, who blared his horn. You slowed slightly, glaring at them.

"Always! Love being your good boy." Draco's voice was so earnest and sweet, all pitched up like that.

"And you are such a good boy, Draco," you said.

Little punched-out noises rippled through the car, overpowering the drone of the radio station you'd been listening to earlier. Honestly, you preferred them. Any sweet, pathetic little sound Draco made was infinitely more interesting than any news guy on the radio. Hips pounding into your hand, Draco tipped his head back against the headrest with the most desperate wine you'd heard in a while. You shivered, cutting your eyes away from the road to steal a glance at him in all his strung-out, desperate beauty.

And you weren't disappointed. His usually pale skin was flushed a bright pink, eyes lidded and more focused on you than anything else, and his bottom lip caught between his teeth in an unsuccessful attempt to quiet himself. A real thing of beauty. Your sweet, pretty boy Draco. Twisting your hand over the head of his cock, you relished in that fact for a moment.

"If you keep looking at me like that, I'd be half tempted to pull over and fuck you properly in the back seat," you said.

"Please," Draco begged breathily, slamming his hips up erratically.

"Don't tempt me, baby boy. We're on a schedule," you said. Though, it really was a charming idea.

"(Y/N), please. I don't care about being late. Want you to fuck me," he whined.

"You say that now," you laughed.

"Please, I'll be so good," he whined.

"If you can cum from my hand now, Draco, I'll keep you so well fucked on a this trip you won't remember anything but me," you said, an alluring promise coloring your voice.

"Yes, yes! Want that! Wanna cum for you so much," he babbled. Arching his back against the seat, he drove his cock into your hand with renewed desperation.

"Are you close? You wanna a good boy and cum for me?" you purred. The car in front of you stopped short, but Draco didn't even seem to notice that you'd jerked to a stop. He just gripped the handle above him and whined for you.

"Wanna be a good boy. Please, I wanna cum," he cried. Looking over, you noticed the tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. You smiled gently at him.

"Oh, Dray, you've been so good," you said. His mouth dropped open into a soft cry as his hips completely lost rhythm. "Go ahead, baby boy. Cum for me."

Draco's hips stuttered, once, twice, and by the third time, he was cumming all over your hand. His eyes screwed shut, and a pitchy cry of your name left his lips as he shook in your grasp. And you just worked him through it. Pumping him gently while he whimpered through the aftershocks. You didn't stop until his thighs shook so hard you could feel the car move. Then, finally, you pulled your hand away and lifted it to his mouth.

"Clean up your mess, baby boy," you said.

"Yes, (Y/N)," he said tiredly, sticking his tongue out. Pressing your fingers against it, you let him lick your hand clean of his own cum until you were satisfied. You two had started moving again by the time he finally came around enough to really talk to you.

"How do you feel, Dray?" you asked. He gave you a sleepy smile.

"Like you need to slow down. You're speeding," he said.

"I'm not speeding," you said. You were, in fact, speeding a little.

"Don't think that just because I just had the best orgasm of my life that I don't remember you drive like a demon," he said. Shaking your head, you laughed in disbelief.

"Only you could complain after having the best orgasm of your life," you sighed.

"I thought you loved that about me," he said. "You're still speeding."

"Maybe I should have pulled over," you said, rolling your eyes. Well, it had been nice while it lasted. And Draco was right. Kinda. You did love him, even if you wouldn't exactly say you loved his complaining.

[sin-sidejob]

P L A Y T I M E

JR Scheimpough x Fem!reader

Note: gender neutral pronouns, afab anatomy, and mommy title. Used fem! Guide word to be safe and avoid triggering people or causing confusion

Warnings: nsfw, minors and ageless blogs DNI, sex toys, oral, sexual intercourse, smut, vibrators, dildos, like debauched filth to an obscene degree. Gendered neutral for reader with femme title/name (mommy). reader wears heels and stockings + a garter. No mention of tits or anything beyond readers clothing + mommy + manicured nails. Safe for femme/afab folks. Well not really safe it’s literal NSFW smut, how safe can it be?? Dom/Sub dynamics + begging. JR uses the term mommy for the reader. smut under the cut

Content: This is like if Dante’s inferno was a walk through a sex shop. Like the back of Spencer’s. Trapped Groundhog Day style in an Adam & Eve commercial. this is just JR getting fucked to jesus until his holiness shoots JR back to hell. Also, heavily inspired by @jrdickconnoisseur ‘s art on their twitter. Like very heavily inspired that shits phenomenal

Those who shoulder the burdens of the world require the most thorough of rest at unfortunately rare opportunities. And, as seen alone by the name of his yacht, Atlas Shrugged, JR is one of those who’s needs are more simple than assumed, and yet, so much more than you had ever expected. Getting him to relax, to ease away the taut knots in his shoulders and the furrow in his brows, lull him to contentment, takes time and dutiful attention and care. Rest and relaxation or tender love and care weren’t phrases familiar to JR. He lacked that compassion and adoration.

Until you came into his life.

You were so much more than you had ever seemed, all of his assumptions that he had made about you tossed away to corrode and rot in the grass before nature seasons conquered that too. Ethereal and potent, sleek and almost unnatural to him. Purely carnal appetite masked behind kind stares and even kinder touches and gestures.

The way you loved him was tender, something plush and honeyed. The way you fucked him was something else entirely.

You had an innate ability to render him useless and limp, like a ragdoll, limbs weighted down and anchored to gravity’s pull after you’ve fucked him dumb and milked him dry, lowering his IQ points all the while. Draining him empty and pumping out every last drop from his ball, have his cum drip and splatter against fresh-pressed pinstripe slacks and the base of his taut, silken vest with the white dots of his spunk marking the black fabric like an elementary art class’s take on Jackson Pollock’s works.

Master artisan you were, so gifted with your hands.

His favorite moments with you, under you, in you, revolved around your impeccable knack for tending to him with open palms, smoothed and soft, and turning those manicured nails against him. The way those painted fingernails glinted like justice in the low light of the bedroom before wrapping around his throat is a sight ingrained in his brain.

“You like this, don’t you baby boy?” Crooning wickedly in his ear, thrusting the thick, ribbed toy in and out of his puckered hole, lube and your spit drooling from it, “sick little fuck, needing mommy to pound this tight hole until you can’t speak, hmm?”

Nails scrape around the pale skin of his throat as you squeezed the sides, not blocking the airflow but pressing the veins, giving him that delicious delirium in his mind as you thrust the dick further.

“Gotta’ answer me baby, words. I need words baby boy. Or mommy’s gonna’ leave you here dripping wide open like a whore.”

JR keens, back arching while he tries to stutter out a broken, high pitched whine from the back of his throat, faint little pleases pass his lips until your touch and movements fade, feeling the weight of your body lift from the bed, his eyes widening as he lifts his ass up.

“Mommy please,”

The curl of your smile is wicked, dark and cynical, vicious yet bewitching like the slow drip of sugar into Absinthe before it meets the tongue, insanity-inducing and drawing you back in for more. And he was just as addicted.

“I’ll be good- please, just please, wanna’ cum.”

“Awww, darling,”

Crooning lowly, you smooth his hair back, spotting the marks you’ve dotted across his body and rolling hands over them tenderly, with the grace of a pianist ghosting fingertips across the keys, knowing the instrument far more than just places to press but the tender, louder things beneath.

“That’s all I needed to hear.”

You yank the toy out from his gaping ass, savoring that almost squeaking shout that flies from his abused, kiss-puffed lips as you do so, his hole clenching around nothing but air. Shushes and coos fly from your lips as you run warm hands across his spine, rucking up his already wrinkled and battered shirt, vest, and suit jacket.

Eying his weeping cock, reddened and angry as it hangs heavy between his thighs, partially obstructed from view with the position and how his pants are barely down to his knees, patience never being one of your virtues, eager to play with it. If you tugged on his engorged shaft, barely ran a fingertip over his weeping and exposed slit, he’d crumble and come undone, literally. Turning, you spoke once more as you diverted your attention to another matter, “Be easy for me baby boy, I’ve got you,”

You step away, grinning as your eyes lock on a thick dildo, silicone soft and solid with the flared edge and the button switches at the base. Turning, teeth glinting in the light as you return behind him and eye the flushed, reddened cheeks and swells of his ass, remnants of earlier standing present and angry on his pale skin. A hand braces at the base of his spine, finding purchase on warm skin while the other settles to spread his cheeks in order to nudge the head of the vibrator at his still gaping hole. You lean down to press a kiss across his spine, hearing JR whine in response, feeling you slide in the flared head of the vibrator and pausing, trying to buck his hips back in order to get more of it in him. “Breathe for me baby,”

“Mommy’s going to make you feel just fine.”

With a flourish of your wrist, muscles rippling in your forearm, you slide the vibrator full-through.

All in one swift thrust, while yanking his neck back by his tie, drinking in his cries and excited noises, you nudge that flared vibrator head near his prostate and listen to JR blubber and whine, drooling nearly a puddle past puffy lips.

“M-mommy please fuck me, m’so close - s’close.”

Gone was the polished and suave business man, a hairs plug away from snake oil slicking him up as he’s managed to reach the near top of the pyramid and his own version of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. A robe-ship looming and orgasm nearing, JR had it all. But you humbled him, always grounding him. Unearthing him from where he felt his soul rotted in the peat and clay, shining him up and polishing him bright.

“Louder.”

He keens, almost shrieking out as you thrust the vibrator fully after sliding it out besides the flared cockhead clung taut around the clenching hole of his you’ve been abusing. He can do better. Your hand smacks against the already bruised flesh of his ass, spotting marks appearing darker where the rings you wore made contact. You’d always be the hand of clarity raising the mirror to the broken soul you dug up and restored. Keep him bright. Keep him begging.

“Please! Mommy please I’ll be so good - so good I promise.”

Warmth leaving his back and waist, you walk around to bend at the waist, clicking your tongue as you brush hair out of his face almost tenderly, affection in the gesture but lacking in your eyes. Cruel irises looking to his dilated, blown wide pupils behind his foggy and askew lenses. Nails glide and tap against his cheek before reaching to grip his chin as the vibrator sits stagnant, unmoving as it hangs from where he’s clenching desperately around the tip.

“But you haven’t been good, have you?” acid lies across your tongue, syrupy sweet and thick like molasses as it spills forth, “taking money that wasn’t yours, when you’ve got,” a hand tightens around his necktie, wrapping it around your palm, “more money than god.” You straighten your hand, crouching to eye level, seeing him in such disarray solely by your hand, “being greedy, and you got caught. Mommy had to fix your problems, clean your mess.”

Straightening, standing tall before him and seeing him maintain position, knowing he’d be worse off if he diverted from him being ass-up in the room, made your sardonic grin return. Fingers curl around the silk and polyester tie in your palm, poised and coiled for timing. “Bad Boys don’t get good treatment, don’t get coddling.”

Forearms flex as you seize the tie and pull taut, seeing his eyes roll back all pretty, him mumbling and whining incoherently, trying to talk his way out of this, to earn your kindness and warmth, work his way to being buried in your pussy.

But, alas, he fucked up. He didn’t deserve your compassion and courtesy let alone your cunt. He stepped the line, JR crossing barriers of ethos you hadn’t expected. Presumptuous and self-centered. He almost got fucked over, ruined.

You’d do that yourself.

Heels clicking against the stone floor of the bedroom, you turn to the other side of him where his waist is bent up to god as if he’d receive some sort of salvation, some forgiveness. This place is not of holy ground, rather for wickedness and sin so debauched even the darkest of souls would turn away. Rookies.

“JR, baby, I expected better of you,” is said softly, disappointment lacing your tone as you readjust your heeled shoes, tightening the straps and smoothing over your stockings that clung tight, “silly little whore, should’ve known you couldn’t do the right thing.” He tries to speak but knows you aren’t in the mood to hear it, burying his face in his arms and keeping his ass raised.

“Don’t worry, after this, I doubt you’d ever do anything wrong let alone disobey.”

A noise of confusion hums forth from his throat before he just about shrieks, a loud cry of your name flying from his lips as the flattened base of your heel not only shoves in the vibrator snugly into his puckering, weeping asshole, but turning it on in the process.

It shakes, loud thrumming filling the room as he nearly buckles and exclaims, shuddering and feeling the vibrations traipse through his body, muscles liquifying and rendering his brain to useless matter.

“Now there’s a good boy.”

The flared base sticks out from his ass, slotted between the globes of his ass and flickers little lights with the one setting. It’s new, unused by him. Familiar with it, you know it’s got three more settings, each stronger than the last, but just knew he wouldn’t go further than the second.

Even if that cock ring, taut around his base, was hindering orgasms that would’ve come much earlier, that next setting when notched against his prostate would have him gushing. Not that he’d know. JR was too far gone, eyes almost permanently stuck rolled back as his lip was tugged between teeth, cock flaring an angry ruddy magenta, nearly purple at the tip, swollen and twitching.

“Promise you’ll be good, no more messing with perfectly competent employees?” is spoken softly, leaning over his back to his ear.

“Yes!”

“No more money laundering and embezzling, sticking to your own funds and assets?” You croon, smacking down against his already bruised ass.

“Y-yes! Please-”

“Just doing your job, and sticking to normal, promise?”

“Yes- fuck, yes! Please!”

Fingers wrap around the base, hovering over the button but not moving a centimeter further while the other nears where his cock hung heavy and full between his thighs, unattended to. Waiting for the moment to release him and let him go, let him cum to you.

“No spending, for a month.”

“Anything- please just, god, fuck me.”

Hands move while you shift back to behind him, an eyeful of the beautiful view of his ass high up and cock close to leaking. “There we are, that’s my good boy, s’almost over,” he whines, wriggling his hips like it would somehow get him everything he wanted.

In a flourish of poised movement, you flip him over to his back, face up and pin his thighs to his chest with you’re forearm while you yank off the cock ring. He nearly cums until you reach down, nudging the vibrator, and flicking your thumb across the button that sends the setting much higher.

JR’s mouth opens wide as he shouts brokenly, voice breaking as he finally cums, eyes rolled back before shutting as his chest heaves. He’s gone, breath rattling as his weeping tip spurts out hot streams of cum, over and over again all across his vest and tie, splattering white thick globs of his spunk. Smoothing hands over the underside of his thighs, keeping his legs spread and stretched wide while he cums, nearly cumming yourself from the view of him nearly passed out, still shooting ropes of cum almost endlessly as the vibrator sends shudders he matches across his body.

You shut the vibrator off, slowly lowering the setting and the potency of the vibrations until it’s completely off, easing it out of his ass to see the gush of lube and spit drip out as his hole gapes wide. Fingers probe inside, minding his sensitivity while you hear him cry and whine out dejectedly as you make sure you didn’t tear or break him before pulling back out and marveling at the sight of your shiny fingers.

He blinks blearily, semen still spilling out as he’s reduced to aftershocks, bursts of cum dribbling out slowly down his shaft and from his weeping, puffy cockhead, to see you smiling softly and offering your fingers for him to suck on as he comes down. JR’s tongue wraps around your digits, breathing faintly through his nose as his eyes, half lidded, take you in while he smiles around your fingers. The other hand, unoccupied, works on removing his clothes as gently as you can, shucking off cum painted articles of clothing to a pile on the floor. After he’s sucked your fingers clean, he tries to lean up for a kiss on shaky forearms that you immediately reward him with, knowing he needed it.

“Hi darlin’, lemme’ go grab something to clean you up with and we can go fix you something to eat.” Is murmured against his forehead, him humming in response as your lips pressed to his heated skin. His dark eyes follow as you saunter away, padding over in stockings and a garter after you kicked off your shoes, humming as you warmed the water over a washcloth in the adjoined bathroom.

“Anything you want to eat?” He hears from you in the bathroom, taking a second to form a coherent thought let alone a response, grinning as he sees you enter, warm cloth in hand while standing in the doorway, and the words finally meet his tongue, smile crooked and sated.

“You on the menu?”

Tags (let me know if you want off): @mrsbretthand @cognitosclowns @radioactivebowtie @mollicutes @bluebaronness @jrdickconnoisseur @cowboylovin @scribe-of-planes

[mdhwrites]

I'm not really gonna ask anything, just complain.

I'm tired of seeing puppet Amity and emperor Luz everywhere, what's even so special about it? What's the appeal???

People see 2 seconds scenes without context and make it that episode's entire content 🤦

I don't know if ep 3 came out already but I'm not looking forward anyways.

…Angst. Angst and new designs which are probably the two most powerful motivators for The Owl House fandom. Why do you think S2A felt like it damn near cut the fandom down to its size?

This actually has to do with kind of fandom culture in general. The most visible part of a fandom is its artists. Their work is quick to consume, easily posted and reposted (with credit you'd hope but… sigh) and the easiest to take inspiration directly from the show for. Every week there'd be at least one screencap redraw that the fandom would do whenever a new episode came out. Honestly, the finale's big Lumity screencap redraw is really awkward looking to me out of context. It's not hard to see why these are so popular though. The reference is directly in front of you, it's a moment people are already talking about and you yourself probably liked the posing too so why not redraw it? It's a hell of a lot easier to do than come up with a bespoke story concept based off of each episode in a series.

That isn't to call art easy or the like, just that fanart is the backbone to a fandom for a reason, at least in my opinion. Twitter has a character count limit. Reading Fanfiction on Instagram blows. Tumblr is the closest to a place where longer form videos and stories can be posted and they still take MUCH longer to consume and share and without as much guaranteed return on effort spent. There's a reason the internet as a whole LOVES art from a commercial and consumer standpoint, even if they also keep trying to screw over artists because yaaaaay capitalism.

But screencap redraws aren't going to be everything. The more potential in the story, the more people will be able to come up with evocative concepts and stories and even make comics about the show. This was a BIG part of the fandom's peak between S1 and 2. Everyone had their own take on how Lumity would get together. Everyone had their own idea for how Amity might confront her parents. Amity in general was just a font of inspiration and the concepts with Luz weren't played out or felt contradictory to the more cynical character we got in S2 so angst with her about her mom, her world, etc. like that was still something everyone was tapping into, especially since it felt like the portal being destroyed was such a big deal.

I made a large Twitter thread the other day btw about how just shit the Portal Door is from a narrative perspective, first as a nitpick in S1 and then just a genuine problem in S2, because of it being gone, but that's a different blog.

But post S2A… What did you have? Camila's promise was never going to end satisfactorily, to the point where it goes from a moment of Luz being a good daughter to an almost inhuman monster towards her friends because it is handled so poorly. Amity is pretty much resolved outside of being happy to be Luz's girlfriend because she's already stood up to her parents, integrated into the rest of the cast and even already addressed the only piece of angst the show ever allows for her with her relationship and that's being an obsessive enough girlfriend. Sorry, I mean a good enough girlfriend. sigh Gus has had an episode but was overshadowed, Willow has had like a half dozen lines this half a season, King has been pretty much absent since his episode, Raeda was still mostly an Eda episode with literally every element of that episode just to shove Momma Eda down your throat…

It's not surprising that post S2A, the fandom has felt in general much quieter. Minus A: Huntlow and B: whenever they get a new design they can turn into Luz/Lumity angst. Everyone remember the teaser for the Collector's design that was done during a livestream and how that consumed the fandom for a little while because of possessed Luz ideas?

The puppet Amity and Belos Luz hype was effectively that. It brought even the casual artists back because they had a new, easily evocative design available to them that also had very obvious potential for angst. How many "I'M NOT LIKE HIM" pictures came out regardless of how weak any parallel between Luz and Belos is? Luz crying over a temporarily dead Amity is saddening, even if she's been little more than a puppet for the writers for a while now.

It's just how fandoms work. It's not even necessarily a bad thing. Dana has been VERY good at keeping the fandom alive during things like hiatuses. S1's hiatus is when the Betas were most popular because they dropped at a time when people were starting to wane from the show and now they had an entirely different angle to work from for anything Lumity they wanted to do alongside just good designs to draw. Most Lumity and Huntlow artists redo any piece that Dana does for the two ships. It's very effective for keeping a social media presence for your show honestly.

I won't even act like I'm above it. While I commissioned reference sheets for Rich Witch to make it easier to commission more artists for these characters, that wasn't the only reason. Rich Witch had a Reddit page (that I should clean up honestly) and its pinned thread includes the reference sheets and physical descriptions for the characters who don't have reference sheets. This is because I recognize that that makes fanart easier and that fanart is a lot easier to share than text blurbs. It is one of the ways to try and cultivate a following online nowadays or to help your fandom grow, at least in my opinion.

Can it be frustrating? Absolutely. I mean, Huntlow fanart has probably done way more damage to my interest in Hunter than anything else because it always emphasizes Hunter as nothing but a failure. Hell, it also emphasizes Willow's strength commonly and very little else about her character. Lumity has bored me for a long time in art because 90% of it is just cute fluff which isn't bad but it's not compelling. And I mocked both Belos Luz and Puppet Amity, despite the designs for them being good and the art being good, as shallow because narratively it means very little.

And the larger that disconnect becomes, the more frustrating a trend in the fandom is going to be. Plenty of people hate the Betas because they hate the edginess or the fact that a lot of people used them to start creating spicier material. There's not much anyone can do about that though. While a creator can try to promote a kinder fandom, fandoms are inherently too emotional and too large to really control outside of helping the show grow or find a new audience. It's just a part of that culture.

And frankly, I'm going to be bothered by the toxicity and inhumanity (guess what fandom will dox you for liking a ship between a bi girl and a straight guy?) of fandoms long before their art trends.

[shihalyfie]

Frontier’s relationship with Super Sentai

Frontier is well-known -- and by well-known, I mean the staff has literally admitted it -- to be based off of Toei’s tokusatsu series Super Sentai. But what is Super Sentai, anyway? If anything, most people in the West probably know it as the original basis for Power Rangers (and Power Rangers will probably be their only real understanding of non-kaiju tokusatsu). But that doesn’t really have a lot in common with Frontier, does it? Well, you might be surprised.

Let’s take a look at Super Sentai as it’s known in Japan, and its relationship to Frontier and Digimon as a whole!

Much thanks to @digitalgate02, @demonoflight​, and my other tokusatsu consultants who assisted in the making of this post.

So what is Super Sentai anyway, and how is it different from Power Rangers?

I don’t want to assume what people reading this post know and don’t know beforehand, but I at least imagine readers of this blog are more likely to be familiar with Power Rangers. Power Rangers’ relationship to Super Sentai is that it’s the American adaptation of Sentai, but the word “adaptation” is a bit loose here. More specifically, it uses the suits, character designs, and battle footage from a given Sentai series, but exactly how closely it follows the premise of the original Sentai it’s “based” on will vary, and in many cases (including with the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers), it won’t even remotely resemble the original premise at all. 

Generally speaking, the main differences between Super Sentai and Power Rangers are:

While it’s not to say Power Rangers doesn’t have some degree of camp, Super Sentai takes the camp and marinates itself in it. Dramatic poses, over-the-top surrealist humor, explosions for no good reason, personal catchphrases, excessively noisy talking toys, and basically trying to be as outrageously silly as possible. In fact, Sentai series that don’t go hard enough on these factors often get criticized as “too bland”/“not fun enough”. A lot of these factors end up getting toned down in the transition to Power Rangers to give it more of a “cool” image (case in point, Power Rangers exists in the first place because Haim Saban thought Sentai was “weird”), and it’s to the point where certain Sentai series with “absurd” enough premises like ToQger and Kiramager are suspected to be impossible to market as Power Rangers because the Western market will consider them too cheesy.

Most Sentai characters are adults (canonically adults, not just adults acting as teenagers). This means they often have the degree of societal freedom adults have, and, on the flip side, it means the series can often be more active about putting its characters through harsher plot events, up to and including permanently killing them off. This doesn’t happen as much in modern Sentai series, but it did happen with enough frequency in the past that Power Rangers (which is significantly more shy about killing characters off) would run into problems because they would run out of footage for a character whose counterpart had died in the original Sentai.

While there are still plenty of Sentai series with normal humans on its teams, Sentai will generally be more willing to have more outlandish premises for its background characters, such as ancient warriors emerging from suspended animation, angels, alien pirates, furries people from a race of humanoid animals, actual robots, and more. It also means it can have a lot more variation in premise; for instance, Kyuranger takes place entirely in interplanetary travel, and doesn’t touch on Earth very much.

Individual Sentai rangers will have names specific to their series; for example, Zyuranger’s Red is named “TyrannoRanger”, while Gokaiger’s Red is “Gokai Red”. Modern series will also often give them longer one-sentence titles to use during their roll call; for example, “The Sparkling Inspiration, Kiramai Red”. (Frontier’s “this Digivice will purify you” lines are probably somewhat meant as a callback to these.) In line with Sentai being very deliberately campy, the roll call is almost always dramatic and drawn-out, with a group pose, sometimes even a group title, and occasionally an explosion.

While Power Rangers did eventually concede to following Sentai’s take on it to some degree, barring minor things like crossover movies and special series, every Sentai series has had its own distinct premise and a change of cast since the very beginning, in contrast to Power Rangers which tried to have multiple separate Sentai series be adapted into one single continuity for several years. (This caused infamous trouble when the ninja-themed series Kakuranger and the absurdist comedy Carranger had premises and tones that were extremely incompatible with the other series Power Rangers was working with at the time, leading to the Power Rangers works based on Kakuranger and Carranger being extremely controversial.)

While this happens more with Sentai’s sister series, Kamen Rider, Sentai is considered enough of a cultural touchstone in Japan that actors will often be booked for it as a stepping stone to get more exposure and eventually break into the industry. While it does have a bit of kids’ show stigma, it’s still a staple of Japanese pop culture (as is tokusatsu as a whole), and so it doesn’t have nearly as heavy of a “weird corny kids’ show stigma” that Power Rangers unfortunately still has.

More broadly, tokusatsu is a genre that’s just very well known and accepted in Japan in general. The definition of tokusatsu is any series that relies mostly on practical effects in live-action, including rubber and spandex suits, and beyond just Super Sentai and Kamen Rider, there’s competitor company Tsuburaya’s Ultraman, and kaiju (giant monster) franchises like Godzilla, and even tons of other Sentai- and Rider-like transforming hero shows that most people in the West have probably never heard of (GARO and Kikaider, anyone?). The advent of CGI has made tokusatsu come off as “cheesy” in the modern era, meaning most of it has been relegated to the kids’ show arena, but nevertheless, it’s a genre with a rich and long history. And, of course, because it’s focused more on being bright, absurdist, and fun, it often has a lot of the same absurd “cartoonishness” you’d get from animated series -- which means it actually has a lot of influence on animated kids’ shows, especially Toei shows, despite not actually being anime itself.

Sentai’s influence on Japanese kids’ shows, on Toei works, and on Digimon as a whole

Super Sentai has been running continuously, with virtually no significant breaks, since 1975. In that sense, it’s probably one of Toei’s most historically successful franchises ever (its sister series, Kamen Rider, is probably a bit more culturally prominent in the long run, but it also suffered a long break between its Showa and Heisei periods). Every single year comes with a new premise and a new Sentai team, meaning that a vague set of tropes common to most Sentai series is embedded harder in the public memory than any one specific Sentai series.

And, of course, Sentai is a Toei series. It’s by their live-action department instead of their animation department, but nevertheless, Sentai has shaped a lot of Toei’s kids show formats and style. Even Sailor Moon exists in the form it does now because of Sentai; it would have been an anime adaptation of Sailor V if it hadn’t been for discussions about making a Sentai-like team of magical girls (which means that, by proxy, it influenced every other “magical girl team” series that followed it). Moreover, Digimon shares a lot of staff with Sentai; most prominently, 02 head writer Maekawa Atsushi went on to be the head writer for the very well-acclaimed Mahou Sentai Magiranger, regular Adventure/02/Tamers episode writer Urasawa Yoshio was the head writer for Gekisou Sentai Carranger, and Xros Wars head writer Sanjou Riku was the head writer for Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (and this is even before we start getting into the shared individual episode screenwriters). In fact, 02 even referenced it for fun in episode 42 (note that “Sentai” is the Japanese word for “squadron”):

The reason these shows have so much in common is that Sentai’s precedent actually had a massive influence on Toei’s original children’s shows, including Digimon. In fact, a lot of what Western Digimon fans considered to be unique to Digimon, or difficult to get used to from a Western perspective, had been done by Sentai for years already:

Most significantly, the sheer concept of changing up the cast, premise, and tone every year had basically been standard form for Sentai (and of course, not just Sentai, but also other Japanese children’s shows from other companies, like Ultraman) for decades. The idea that the story you're watching will be wrapped up in a year was already a well-understood concept by that point, as well as the fact it allows a franchise to have more variety instead of beating a dead horse of a concept over and over. In fact, even the nomenclature of referring to different Sentai/Digimon/etc. series as “seasons” is a very American-tinted concept, because they’re not treated as seasons of the same show in Japan, but legally registered and acknowledged as distinct series that happen to be part of the same franchise (and considering the premise changes every year, it’s probably a more accurate way of describing it anyway).

The idea that the core group of protagonists will fundamentally be a team with each member on an equal level, and the idea that there would be specific “focus episodes” focusing on a given character or given relationship, is often thought by Western Digimon fans to be something that was codified by Adventure, but in actuality it’s been a staple of Sentai since long before then (and has also shown up in Toei’s other shows like PreCure). Debates about whether the Red’s been getting too much focus this year have characterized the Sentai fandom for ages.

Even certain tropes like “the red hot-blooded leader and the blue cool-headed rival” are heavily immersed in public memory thanks to Sentai.

The “sixth (not always sixth) ranger” -- the idea of having a solidifed near-equal group for most of the series, and then throwing a wrench in it halfway through with a new character who joins the group, often having turned from the antagonist side -- was of course made very popular by Sentai (and, of course, it being carried over into Power Rangers made it popular in the West as well).

Digimon’s way of using insert songs takes several cues from the way Sentai does it (and thanks to Sentai’s very luxurious budget, it has a ton of insert songs per series -- basically imagine 02 or Xros Wars level, except every year). In fact, most of the Xros Wars insert songs are sung by vocalists who usually sing for Sentai.

While Digimon and Sentai are, of course, still very different series in the end, you can see that a lot of the rough writing style consistent to many Toei series is based on the fact Sentai has had success with that kind of thing for decades.

Sentai and Frontier

Frontier is definitely the Digimon series with the most fundamentally derivative premise, being the only one to have human kids transform directly into Digimon (somewhat contrary to the base Digimon concept of having a human “raise” Digimon). It’s also infamously made Frontier a very hard sell for people who aren’t familiar with it, mainly because of concerns about the lack of partners, but one thing I notice is that the complaint “the idea of humans turning into Digimon is weird” comes up far more in the West than it does in Japan. This is just my personal speculation, but I think it’s because Japanese kids’ media is simply just no stranger to having human characters transform into inhuman heroes on the regular. Ultraman’s been running since 1966 and revolves around humans turning into giant silver aliens. The original Kamen Rider involved a modified cyborg, and in fact, many Sentai and Rider and other similar tokusatsu series treat the transformed form as not just humans in powerful suits, but a manifestation of them actually physically transforming into something. Of course, the West does still have things like that like the Hulk or Ben 10, but usually they come with a heaping of angst about the potential loss of humanity, whereas the idea of “yeah, that’s just part of the premise, roll with it and don’t worry about it” is a lot more common in Japanese works.

(Incidentally, there are actually some Sentai series where the team members will have their own “partners” similar to Digimon, usually in the form of cute robot mascots. Ironically, Power Rangers seems to dislike these, and they usually phase them out to be inanimate or feral in their adaptations, with Beast Morphers being a notable exception most likely due to how unavoidably prominent the Buddyroids were in Go-Busters’ plot. Power Rangers RPM infamously mocked the “big googly anime eyes” on the cars that originally came from Go-Onger’s versions being actual distinct characters.)

Frontier is a series from 2002, so it’s interesting in that the “Sentai” it took huge inspiration from is already very different from the “Sentai” we know now (more on this later). A lot of what Frontier takes cues from are tropes that were more common to the Showa era of Sentai, or the early 90′s works, and some of them were even on their way out by the time Frontier aired (but still well-known in the memory of the adult staff making the series).

There are at least two things that were more associated with Sentai back in 2002 than they are now:

While there are still Sentai teams with five or more members in total with only one being female, having two female members is generally considered more of the modern standard, but back when Frontier was being produced, there was outright pressure to not exceed one girl in a five-person group (for a series made for boys). This is actually the reason Adventure starts off with seven characters; they wanted more than one girl on the team, so in order to maintain a high ratio of boys to girls, they had to make a group as big as seven (no word on why this didn’t apply to 02). At the time, Sentai series with more than one girl on a five-person team were very rare -- this is something Power Rangers was a lot more diligent about from the very beginning -- but, ironically, right after Frontier finished airing, having two girls on a five-person team started becoming a Sentai staple. If Frontier had aired only a few years later, it’s possible there might have been another girl besides Izumi.

In one really unfortunate factor that hasn’t aged well at all, the idea of Junpei being the “fat character” is something that comes straight from early Sentai, where it would be a stereotypical trope where the yellow ranger would be a comedic fat character who loves eating (the archetype example being curry, coming from the very first series, Goranger). This was already on its way out by the time Frontier aired -- in fact, no Sentai series that aired after Frontier actually does this -- but for anyone who was an adult at the time Frontier aired, it was a well-known trope, and it’s why the Persona series also describes it in its Jetman parody. Despite some unfortunate things having been considered about Junpei’s weight back during development and during an interview in 2003, in a possible reflection of the times, Junpei’s finalized character arc in Frontier is already far more tasteful than the usual invocations of the trope (in that it treats him mostly like any other character and focuses more on his friendmaking abilities and practical intelligence), and the 2019 drama CD offhandedly mentions his weight without making a huge deal about it, so while your mileage may vary on how tastefully the final product came off as, it’s definitely far, far better than it really could have been given context.

The Sentai series that Frontier most obviously takes after is Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, which aired in 1992 (ten years before Frontier aired). Rather fortuitously, it also happens to be the series that was adapted into the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers -- but in Japan, Zyuranger has some cultural significance besides just happening to be the first series that got localized off in the West.

For some context, Sentai was actually on the verge of dying the year before, resulting in Zyuranger’s predecessor, Jetman, adding a ton of soap opera tropes and saving the franchise by getting the support of a lot of soap opera lovers into it. (Jetman is the one Persona references for its “Featherman” Sentai parody.) Nevertheless, the fact remained that Sentai had been doing poorly because people were a bit tired of how repetitive it was getting. Prior to Zyuranger, every Sentai series had a bit of a “sci-fi enhanced secret agent” plot, and so Zyuranger decided to change things up by being the first Sentai series with a more fantasy-oriented plot, allowing for Sentai to more drastically reinvent itself thereafter. Thus, the Zyurangers are warriors from ancient tribes who went into suspended animation to be ready when threats resurfaced in the modern day. Hmm, that sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?

The biggest dead giveaway that Frontier mostly takes from Zyuranger, however, is the fact that series producer Seki outright stated that Kouichi’s position as an enemy-turned-ally sibling of a major character was a Sentai-inspired element. When you look for which Sentai had this, it turns out Kouichi’s character story is a blatant callback to Zyuranger’s Burai. DragonRanger, Burai, was the long-separated older brother of TyrannoRanger Geki, with Geki having been taken away by the Yamato Tribe's royal family right after he was born. Burai fostered jealousy for his younger brother and followed him in suspended animation to take revenge. After Geki learned that Burai was his brother, the two reconciled, but Burai learned that he was already dead and on limited time, and spends his last moments giving his powers to his brother before he dies...wait, wow, this is really familiar, isn't it?

(Fortunately, Kouichi survives, but Burai wasn’t nearly as lucky.)

Burai was Sentai’s first example of a “sixth ranger” in the form we currently know the trope as, and just like his counterpart Tommy Oliver over in Power Rangers, the character inspired immense popularity and led to tons of other media, Sentai or otherwise, making use of the trope. Of course, Adventure and 02 had already used it in the form of Hikari and Ken, but Kouichi is such a blatant callback to the original Burai himself that it isn’t even subtle.

Modern Sentai

At this point we’re at a bit of a digression, but as I said before, as of this writing, Super Sentai has been running continuously since 1975, and that includes after Frontier’s time and well into the modern era. This means Sentai itself has already changed a lot in both style and in public perception. As I mentioned earlier, a lot of what people know Sentai for now wasn’t as much of a thing back when Frontier aired twenty years ago, so Frontier was based on a version of Sentai that doesn’t quite exist in the same way it does now. So what is Sentai now? What’s changed, and what hasn’t?

Well, it’s still running. Several things have been modernized, and while there’s a lot more CGI than it used to be (which has been a serious concern for veteran fans as time has gone on), it’s fundamentally still a practical effects franchise. While the process has been slow, the gendered color stereotyping has been slowly chipped away at; on top of making two girls on a five-person team a more regular occurrence, female characters have been associated with non-pink colors like yellow, blue, silver, and most recently green, and the most recent series (as of this writing) currently has the coveted male pink ranger (finally!). In general, the association of “this character’s color must have this kind of personality” is slowly starting to erode, and while red is still almost always the leader, different variations of team dynamics that aren’t just things like “hot-blooded red, cool-headed blue, comical yellow” are starting to appear, or at least it’s possible to see a bigger variety of different takes on them.

In 2000 (when 02 was airing), Toei rebooted its old Kamen Rider series into what’s now known as “Heisei Kamen Rider”, and Rider and Sentai became sibling shows on TV Asahi known as the “Super Hero Time” block. In 2004, a year after Frontier ended, Toei started its PreCure magical girl series, which gained a reputation for having the girls physically beat up their opponents, and since the three shows aired (and still air) back-to-back on Sunday mornings, they started gaining a collective fanbase in which it was commonly understood that being a fan of one made you very likely to be a fan of the others. Among the three, Sentai is the one most likely to be closest to the monster-of-the-week format and is probably the most formulaic of all of them (probably due to its long history being based on such a formula), but since all three series change every year, the dynamic between them will change depending on the year. The three series will also often cross-promote each other (especially Sentai and Rider, since they’re both tokusatsu), and, in what might be a bit of a depressing thing to think about, the three of them probably collectively represent the kind of thing Digimon could have been if it didn’t have such a troubled history.

In 2011 (when Xros Wars was airing), Sentai’s 35th series, Gokaiger, was produced as an anniversary celebration that involved crossing over every single Sentai series to date, with at least one actor from every series making some kind of cameo. Despite the fact this sounds like an absolute disaster in theory, the result was very well-acclaimed thanks to the strong central premise of space pirates who can turn into any ranger form in the franchise and use their abilities to learn what heroism is (in fact, the space pirates are arguably more popular than the actual crossover elements). In 2021, probably wisely figuring that it wouldn’t be a good idea to imitate Gokaiger too closely because everyone would keep comparing it, 45th Sentai anniversary series Zenkaiger took a completely different comedic approach to its crossover elements, which also ended up being very popular.

Of course, since the series has run for so long, there’s already been multiple generational changes with kids who grew up with the series becoming actors in the series themselves, and the franchise has its own branch of direct-to-video special movies (think similar to OVAs) targeted at adults who watched the series as kids, such as “10 Years After” specials that bring the original actors back for a short sequel movie. Amusingly enough, Kouji and Kouichi’s voice actors Kamiya Hiroshi and Suzumura Kenichi are huge fans of tokusatsu (even besides occasionally being in it themselves) and jointly run an official radio show called Kamen Radiranger, where they talk about the currently airing Sentai and Rider and interview some of the actors and staff in it. Part of this involved sneaking into the Kyoryuger dance ending theme, which of course led to a fanartist making a Frontier parody.

Unfortunately, however, things haven’t been looking very good for Sentai lately. While the most recent few series (as of this writing) have been critically acclaimed in terms of actual storywriting, in kids’ shows, toy sales are everything, and they’ve been on a very noticeable slump since 2015, made even worse by the pandemic. As a result, Sentai has been getting a bit desperately experimental with most recent series Zenkaiger and Donbrothers, and there are some genuine concerns that the series may finally die soon after all of these years (although, in a bit of bitter irony, it’s still doing a lot better than Digimon despite that). Of course, it being such an iconic cultural property gives it a bit of insurance from having the plug pulled on it abruptly, but there are definitely concerns. Time will only tell how things work out, but there’s no doubt that even the modern incarnation of Sentai, despite it having changed greatly from what it used to be known as before, still has a lot of core elements regarding its approach to ensemble casts, team balance, character color coding, and hero writing that are very important to the kids’ shows surrounding it.

Besides, the opening for the currently running series totally slaps.

[house-of-laminations]

your blog really hits just where I was looking for!!! I love obey me as a silly little love game but when I read fics I'm never really satisfied unless it explores the demonic side of things... I really love how you acknowledge that these are not human beings. Speaking of, it always feels odd to me when writers treat the bros as people w human needs. For example Lucifer needing sleep in order to function after doing a day of paperwork... makes them feel too normal.

Thank you, Anon! 💛

Yeah, I also find the need for sleep and food on a human schedule to be incongruous with them being demons, but hey, that's where we get to step in, right?

I have 2 different readings of it personally. I haven't decided which I like better - maybe you can help me out with that?

When they assume a human form, it literally is human, with most of the limitations. They get hungry, they need sleep, they get bored like humans do. It's going down that self-actualizing path - if I look human I am human. Or;

Time is designed (anne-marie willis 2021). The way we perceive it and sense its passing is wholly dependent on our cultural understandings, and physical needs. Time is different for a human compared to a tree. This is true of demons, too. Without physical needs, and the ability to live forever, I do think that time could very easily pass them by. Added to this difficulty is that Devildom seems to be perpetually night. It becomes a problem when Belphegor takes a nap for a few centuries, missing entire human ages. Waking up with new influences on his being was extremely disorientating. This is why Lucifer forced on them 'human' schedules. Though they don't need food or sleep (Beel and Belphie somewhat excluded), it sets markers throughout time for them to stick to, keeping them in a bit of a here-and-now. Now they can keep time to how the fridge empties, and the turn around between forms, and the length of classes, and the break between 'dinner' and 'breakfast'.

I'm definitely leaning more towards the second one myself (in a very selfish way as it's based on my irl research). But idk, does anyone else have a different reading on it? I'd love to hear it! 💛

[therubyreader]

My Review of Lockwood and Co. [Netflix]

See a full list of my book reviews here

*Disclaimer: there will be spoilers later on in the review*

Review Word Count, non-spoiler: 871 Review Word Count Total: 1,517

Trigger warning for the contents of this show: death, violence, creepy ghost faces, mild horror, very brief gun violence (let me know if I missed any)

I know, this isn't a book, technically. While I am usually a book/book review blog I have come with my first ever tv show review that's based on a book series so close enough. Now I know what you're saying, "Val, why don't you just read the books, it'll fit your concept" but quite frankly I don't want to. This isn't meant to be a diss towards the author, I'm sure the books are great, but it's just because the ven diagram of books I like to read and movies/shows I like to watch mostly overlaps save for a few things like ghost stories. I honestly don't know why I can't read ghost books but I can watch ghost shows and movies, for the most part because I am a wimp so it can't be too scary. But I have heard multiple people say that it's the most accurate book to screen adaptation ever so I will trust those people and we'll count this towards my book review list.

Anyways, about the show. Lockwood and Co. takes place in an alternate reality London where ghosts are real and they pose a threat to the city at large, because if you get touched by one you die. In this reality the only people who can see ghosts are gifted children, they posses some combination of either ghost sight, touch, or hearing, but usually one more so than the others, and they are able to use these gifts to track down and contain these ghosts. As they age their gifts start to fade so the entire ghost containment industry is staffed by child soldiers.

Now we get to our main character, Lucy Carlyle who is a listener, and after a ghost hunting adventure gone wrong, leading to the death of some of her friends, she leaves her small town in northern England for London hoping to create a fresh start for herself there. After unsuccessfully trying to join a prestigious London agency she manages to find Lockwood and Co. (roll credits) a ghost hunting agency run by two teenage boys, Anthony Lockwood, the one who's name is on the door, and his best friend George Karim. Lucy joins up with them and together they hunt down ghosts and solve the mysteries that take place over the course of the first two books in the series.

I do have so much to say about this show but for the sake of your eyes I'll try to keep it short, key word try. Overall I loved it, this show has a good mix of action, mystery, comedy, and even a slow burn romance (which I will get to in more detail in the spoiler part of the review). If you can stomach the aforementioned content warnings then I recommend the show to you. It honestly has something for everyone, and if you're not super into plot (which I don't know why you wouldn't be) the characters do really carry a lot of the story. Their internal battles and struggles propel the story forward just as much as the actual ghost hunting. You can see these characters really learn and grow over the course of the show, and they make mistakes and have real problems that most people can relate to. There is also a found family trope which I absolutely love, because who isn't a sucker for found family, and there's even a point where Lucy calls them her family which I thought was cute and sweet.

Something that I don't think this show gets enough credit for is the lighting. Now I'm not an expert on cinematography, I literally took one film class in college and it's been two years since that happened so I'm just winging it here, but the lighting of the show is great. I know its been a common theme for a lot of media recently to be horribly lit, like everything is super dark for no reason, but this show, despite most of the action taking place at night, was well lit, you could see what was happening. I hope the editors of the show win multiple awards for that and also the rest of the editing. The ghosts, for the most part, don't look super cheesy and weird. Sure the first one is kind of cartoony but the rest of the series has ghosts that look pretty creepy and you can understand the fear the characters feel. There are also different types of ghosts that all look different despite all being ghosts and the editors do a great job of making them all look unique and scary but also ghostly.

I am really really really hoping Netflix renews the show for a second season and beyond because it was just so good. I honestly binged it in one day and I'm rewatching it right now with my brother because I need him to experience it. It's honestly at the point where I keep checking google at least once a day to see if it's been renewed. If it isn't I'll actually cry for real. But yes, I recommend this show to quite literally everyone, please watch it, I need another season especially after the cliffhanger ending.

Spoilers Below!!!

You all know I have to talk about it: Locklyle. Listen, I am a sucker for a good slow burn but on the other hand I am extremely inpatient so I want it to happen now. According to my research (because I'm a fucking nerd) Lockwood and Lucy don't get together in the books which is upsetting, apparently it's only implied at the very end of the last book which is kind of rude tbh. It looks like the writers are playing into the fact that they like each other so I hope it becomes cannon in the show because if all that build up is for nothing I will cry.

My favorite part of the whole Locklyle thing is when on two separate occasions Lockwood was confronted with how him and Lucy look at each other by two separate people. And they're right, the way they look at each other is adorable (hey God, I know you're tired of me, but hear me out). Also the way that they would just casually hold hands? Like if you blinked you would miss it, that's just how casual and cute they were and I ate it up.

The previously mentioned research was me trying to find out what exactly the necklace that Lockwood gave Lucy was. Which, side note, was super cute and the fact that Lucy just kept it on for the rest of season if I'm remembering correctly. But, going back to the research, I was trying to figure out what the necklace actually was, like I can't make out what the shape of it is, which book readers please tell me what it's supposed to be I don't care if you spoil the plot for me. I did come across an article that mentioned the necklace but also that Lucy and Lockwood don't end up dating in the books which is why I was talking about that earlier, and I swear to everything holy the show writers better not do that to me.

On to my main dude George, aka probably my favorite character. With the exception of him being mesmerized by the mirror and making dumb choices because of it, he was a solid dude. My favorite part is definitely when they're in the graveyard and he's just talking shit about all of the kids on night watch and when one of them hears him he just tells her to "go write a poem about it" and I was losing my mind, it was so funny.

I feel like George is so underrated, every time I look into the Lockwood and Co. tag on here there are just posts about either Locklyle or Lockwood x reader fan fiction but nothing for my main dude George. This isn't to say I read the fan fics, I haven't read any since I was in my teens (once again, being old on main) but also because the characters are technically teenagers, even though the actors that portray them are my age, reading fan fic about kids as a grown adult feels icky. Also this isn't me trying to discredit any of the authors, I'm in support of you all, it's just not my thing. But can we please have more George related content, he is so good and pure, and also I have a newfound crush on Ali Hadji-Heshmati that needs to be fueled.

Honestly I could keep talking for ages about this show, and I honestly might especially since I'm rewatching it and looking to see if I can pick up on any new details that I missed, so I guess be making more posts about the show as time goes on. But if there were any scenes in the show that you want me to talk about, drop an ask, I'm down to scream and fan girl about it for the rest of forever.

Tag list: @batteredbooks @chibi-chellist

[fat-ugly-bus-driver]

headcanons about the bitch

check it, this might be updated at times

(look at @brokendownangxl 4 story relevant posts quickly)

veronica lee crabtree (yes that is her actual middle name) is 58 years old.

she did die, but was brought back to life by mistake by mephesto and kevin. they meant to do it to someone else but they are fucking dumbasses

now she is back in her home with her bird

veronica grew up near the border of middle park and south park (on the middle park side, but within view of a south park sign)

when she was younger she had a husband who died. a few weeks after he died their baby was born. her name was maggie.

veronica tried her best to care for the baby, but made the horrible mistake one day of briefly leaving her outside alone to pick up the phone. she instantly came back out and saw maggie was gone.

she spent years searching for her daughter. she still does not know her status. however, recently there was an anon on the blog who seems to be her, revealing she has had a good life and is now in college. this has overjoyed veronica, though she is still a bit unsure.

the bird was an egg when veronica found it. she took it home and hatched it herself, and kept it as her pet. it's her closest companion.

recently, ms crabtree has started hanging around liane cartman more. they have been bonding over being alone.

ms crabtree has messed up views on homosexuality. she claims to hate it but really does not want to care. she has a lot of internalized homophobia. she wants to be supportive but it stops her.

ms crabtree is bi like literally every sp character but has a harder time coming to terms with it

insecure about her weight. she has been overweight her entire life. her mother did not have much access to food growing up, so she gave veronica a lot to make up for it. unfortunately this caused her to have a warped diet

ms crabtree yells all the time because the bus is so loud, causing her to have to yell and get attention. most of the time she LOOKS and sounds angry but actually is not

veronica's parents fought a lot. she inherited her father's screaming voice

veronica was the only surviving baby the crabtrees had. the others did not make it past birth or their first week.

she was an accident too (of course the baby they didnt even want is the one that lived)

ms crabtree has a hard time sleeping because she has a lot of nightmares and hears voices all the time

sometimes she takes out her old lovey and cries into it when having a really bad night

her teeth are stained yellow mostly due to an obscene intake of sweets and chocolate as her comfort foods. she (surprisingly) rarely smokes. you'll probably never see it when it happens; she does it in private. it's a last resort.

after being resurrected, she went right back to the bus driving position. it's hard finding new work

sometimes she sleeps in flower beds. it never lasts long enough

she was dropped as a baby and you can still see the crack in her skull through an x ray

ms crabtree had her appendix removed and has a scar from it

her right front tooth is split from an accident many years ago

she snores a lot and i mean a LOT.

cannot see very well. i do not know why south park elementary has a woman who is going deaf and blind driving their bus

as a toddler and child, veronica was smaller than average. she was born a bit earlier than expected. she was usually the smallest in a group

but definitely not the lightest

ms crabtree keeps movies and shows she likes on tape in the bus for the little tv

ms crabtree is ambidextrous, actually

she has that gene where no matter how old she gets, how stressed, how whatever, her hair will never fully turn white. (this is based on reality: my dad has this, so did my grandma)

ms crabtree has freckles but they're hard to see

has dyslexia and doesn't know

did not have the best education growing up (she didn't know what an elephant was)

ms crabtree has hazel eyes (mostly brown like mine)

sometimes she visits her now abandoned childhood home

ms crabtree has been spotted yelling at nothing. she has also been seen yelling at trees. she has very very very very bad audio and visual hallucinations.

they are usually what keep her up at night

when her bird falls asleep in her hair, ms crabtree becomes even MORE sensitive to noise and will yell at you if you make a peep. do NOT disturb bird

as shown in city on the edge of forever, roofies have a weird effect on crabtree. instead of making her sleep they make her calm. she must be fed drugs

has stretch marks on her sides and an unusually hairy body 

sometimes drives the bus to the fast food place and buys an absurd amount of food and claims it’s “for the kids” when in reality its just her and the bus is empty

after becoming close to liane, crabtree mysteriously has slightly gained weight

crabtree talks a bit differently typing because it is not in person

has constant night terrors (which liane often has to deal with)

that bulge between her legs is probably either old woman crotch fat or her gut

was born with eyebags. just gained more as she grew up

perpetually has lice. it never ends.

has constant stomach aches (because she eats so much processed shit and cant control herself)

needs hugs honestly

feeds the bus bunny regularly 

did not wear braces as a child (obviously)

doesn't like leaving things outside. checks a gazillion times at night to make sure she left NOTHING outside

has loose bowels. wets the bed often (sorry

often falls asleep in places she should not be sleeping in, such as the bus or her rocking chair. when in her bed however, she is awake as ever

ms crabtree gets very very very bad chills sometimes. especially when she feels sick (surprise that is also a rather common occurence)

has insane back zits