#love love loooove her design. i love the other girls' designs too but hers especially

[caramelmochacrow]

"Beating so fast, seems like it'll burst..."

[17mujipens]

the dragon prince season 5 live thoughts:

the way Rayla constantly has the weight of the world and her parents and her personal relationship and then the world again on her shoulders is insane

Terry is bf goals, he really saw his girl having a meltdown and was like here are some nice textures. autism wins again

Callum really was like ‘my girl can commit any crime she wants :)’

that little bug elf person is so scary for no reason

loooove the dragon designs. like every time we see a dragon i’m fascinated

im so glad that in-universe people understand that Ezran is just a kid. like its heartbreaking but i’m glad it is discussed

side note but Corvus and Soren are def fucking and Corvus is not proud of it

i love how everyone is experiencing trauma and Rayla and Callum are in some second chance romance fluffy story

THEYRE SO CUTEEEE

VIREN mindscape

that scene between King Harrow and Viren genuinely has me hyperventilating

oh Harrow is that bird for sure for sure

oh to have a partner as dedicated to your success as Terry….

baby Soren is such a sweetie!!!!! im gonna cry

oh even more beautiful dragons

i totally forgot that Aarovos whispered something to the previous queen and now that intrigue is back

i feel like i gotta stop saying something every time Terry does/says something incredibly sweet because we’ll be here for so long

they keep reiterating how important family is to Viren and i mean it’s not a necessarily new characteristic but it’s more intense now. like the way morality doesn’t exist when it concerns them. before it was all for power and now its all for them and it doesn’t matter that Soren is on the ‘enemy’ side so it has me thinking that something is going to happen to one of his children that will. result in either Viren’s self sacrifice or his betrayal of Aarovos

Amaya and Janai are so so real

OMG baby Claudia!

Callum and Rayla’s frustration over being forbidden from going to Lux Area is hilarious, especially how Callum gave a freaking illustration shdjjdbdb

Aunt Amaya is a real one

oh i just knooow Karim’s storyline is going to be so so messy

also this made me think. like what the fuck do you even do after you get banished. like where do you go

Claudia and Viren sinking and saving each other is mirrored is just muah delicious

Soren running away terrified Viren but Claudia turning out just like him is scaring him even more

Claudia is my wet cat pathetic but also op character

some eye of sauron shit in Lux Aurea

the nerd elf is so cute and way too innocent for all this bullshit

Aunt Amaya is a real one pt. 2

omg. didn’t i say Karim’s story is going to be insane

i feel like Amaya’s monologue about love is going to be so heartbreaking in a few episodes

i’m usually a throwback montage hater but this one is so cute and sweet and it really highlights just how much they’ve grown and how far these two have come

Stella is a little kleptomaniac. sweetie.

Karim is constantly misunderstanding things because of his own biases. like how he thought the Janai wouldn’t fight because he came to the conclusion that the throne doesn’t matter to her because she didn’t lead like he wanted her to. and now he thinks that what Sol Regem needs is sight when what he actually needs is hope

the ‘i would do anything for you’ is sounding scary in the context of we just heard that that’s what started Viren’s descend into darkness

the library fight sequence is great, always fun to see their different fighting styles and how the cooperate

but it also gave me so much anxiety because Amaya is exactly the character that’s important and beloved enough that the writers might decide to make her infected so we all suffer

Dragon Queen to the rescue!!! oh how powerful dragons are…

why are u always leaving Bait behind :( he’s just a baby :(

NO I SPOKE TOO SOON!!! AMAYAAA

AND CORVUS TOO??????? agony and pain in Xadia

oh and i totally forgot about the Queen herself!!!!

oh Viren’s brain is doing a full reset

EZRAN YOU SWEETHEART <33333

i’m obsessed with Tina already. her design and her grumpy old woman attitude

oh Terry and Claudia you will always be famous to me

Akiyu and Lujanne would be besties

‘ when your mind is telling you to speak, instead you must listen’ LMAO

i know this Bloodhuntress is evil, they even say this out loud but��� she’s kinda hot, yeah?

im really hoping that they find some way to cure the dragon queen. we don’t need to preteen kings

that boat set up is terrifying. and way too similar to Charon to be comfortable

bright hope cove…or scumport

this made me realise how much i just need at least a short story or something on Rayla years alone

this is such a fun setting. i have a soft spot for these types of towns in stories

i NEED the reaction pic someone already should have made of Ezran and Bait after Finnegran announced the ship’s price

omg pirate return!!

Claudia my girl who is worse <3

baby glow toads are 80% eye and 20% body lol

oh another return appearance!! i hope Nyx’ll bring some interpersonal drama

yeah, and she’s already pushing Callum’s buttons lol

damn, Soren is strong as hell, swimming in armour

oof i think she shouldn’t trust Miyana, wasn’t she Karim’s lover?

now that i see the Bloodhuntress in daylight, i have to say im not a fan of her colour scheme BUT powers are so cool visually, this whole fight sequence is amazing

Callum is just so powerful… i feel like we forget it sometimes but he is the first human mage to use any primal magic and the scale of the spells he’s using here is just insane

ITS A FUCKING HERMIT CRAB?????

oh god seeing Anaya in pain and despair is somehow worse than anyone else. and seeing her grief turn into anger muah chefs kiss

why is this y-7 show giving me anxiety. i literally started watching this to relax and think about interesting fantasy concepts what’s all this!!

oh shit this intro has Callum in it. shits about to hit the fan

i feel like that sea shanty has to have some deeper meaning. i hope it’s not that they’re going to drown our heroes

WHY IS THERE TORTURE IN HERE!!!!

don’t get me wrong i’m a tragedy enjoyer, i should know that by now but holy shit i just wasn’t emotionally prepared for all this

Soren, himbo of all time

Finnergrin is a great character to contrast our heroes actually and push them over

HES FREEZING HER BLOOD

oh Callum :( i love those moments where his anger boils over but i also love how they show how that scares him

Finnegrin is putting Rayla in mortal danger…i HOPE Callum goes feral

oh yeah this is some serious levelling up!!! Go Callum!!!

Soren, sweetheart :( he really saw this wood man get treated like trash, recognised it and at great personal cost helped him free himself :) using his daddy issues for the greater good

oh wow that greater good is apparently killing! slay

i feel like i gotta say something about Callum using dark magic to free himself but god that’s just plain heavy

oh Zubeia is still grieving and she’s just going on for her kid :(((

it’s day 30, damon what a way to up the already high stakes

Ezran was so sure that the prison being underwater would stump them but they figured it out so quick

my one thing is, this is open sea, if they’re even approximately at the same place, shouldn’t they have seen each other?

Aaravos really says every single sentence like it’s some dirty talk. like bro is saying something about borrowing consciousness or whatever with the same voice u usually hear say some shit like ‘oh you like that?’

finally Claudia and Callum and Ezran meeting! the way she truly believes that the ends justify the means and that all that dark magic hasn’t had its affect on her… wow

OUR CHILD? this whole monologue has me in hysterics

also because like…if he didn’t say anything, and was just like ‘kill this homunculus and your life will be restored’ Viren probably would have done it

i fear that ultimately, Viren will be too little too late for Claudia. because while he turned into who he is while an adult, Claudia was raised to be like this. so if he tries to change her, it’d be a betrayal to her

yeah, see Claudia is even more extreme than her father. because she has nothing else besides him, there is not status or prestige, or brother, or anyone else. it’s just her and him

fucking hell, i KNEW Miyana wasn’t to be trusted!

i think Karim will have a devastating win in s6, but it’ll be short lived, because like i said before he lacks critical thinking

what the hell is this mushroom mage and how soon can he help us retake Lux Aurea

what the fuck did he mean by ‘swallow’

Claudia is literally destroying herself in her quest. like we know that dark magic is detrimental to not only your physical but also your mental health, like we saw with Viren, and Claudia’s hair, but now literally her leg is gone. how far will she go?

side note: i think that because Viren reset, that’s why all his mentality and soul came back and that’s why his morals are so much stronger than we ever saw them?

OH THATS JUST A CRAZY INSANE CRUEL PLACE TO FINISH THE SEASON WOW

[lunarifie]

Au where The Hollow kids knew each other as playmates on the playground (the numbers are their ages)

More info under cut

Mira made everyone blue friendship bracelets and they all gave her one in return.

Shes also wearing a candy necklace while Kais wearing a chewable fire necklace hidden under his pajamas.

Kai (7):

I see Kai homeschooled as a child. I also think he’d be one of those energetic dumb talking kids who fumbles over his words all the time. But is actually super smart and will randomly just drop the quadratic formula, and adults will be like “..how did you know that…”

Kai was a lot to handle though, so he had multiple caretakers, and even then, he’d still be able to sneak out during the day and go to the playground that’s a few blocks from the mansion. I also headcanon that Kai’s trans, he didn’t necessarily know he was trans when he was younger. But he did know he hated being a girl. He cut his hair really badly with craft scissors and whenever he snuck out, he wore his pajamas so he didn’t have to wear the dress his caretakers forced him to wear. His playground ‘nickname’ is Kai (which he definitely stole off a fantasy name generator), later becoming his actual name.

With his imagination, he’d be the number one kid to ask if anyone wanted to play make-believe. He also had a few imaginary friends.

I think later on around middle school, which is when he stops being homeschooled, he gets his anxious nature and loses some of his adventurous spirit.

Adam (8):

I think Adam was timid in 2nd grade because of all the bullying he had to endure for being ‘different’. I believe he was picked on as well for being a tall lanky kid before he started doing sports when he got older. He definitely wanted to join a team or play sports as a kid but he felt too out of place.

He was a lot more quiet and secluded, preferring to do things by himself. On the playground though, he’d have Mira (and the weird rabid red-head kid who everyone’s positive lives in the forest) to watch his back. Which was when he’d join ball games and organize big things like tag/freeze tag, hide and seek, and etcetera.

He’d definitely be the one to reel in Kai and Mira anytime they got too out of hand, especially Kai. He’s the one who apologizes for their behavior to the adults and and makes sure they don’t accidentally kill themselves.

I believe during later years in elementary, he got into more ‘fights’ as his anger issues built up. During middle school though, he sees that as a fresh start and tries making more friends, joining sports and so on. Not popular popular. But a friendly face, kinda like Mira.

Mira (7 1/2):

Im sorry but she’d be into warrior cats. That’s just a fact. (I had to think for a while if I wanted her to have cat ears or not.) She’d be in a clan and everything and she’d call herself the medic. She’d bring all types of bandages to the playground to make sure everyone got a design they liked whenever one of them scraped their knee and so on.

The parents who supervised loved her and thought she was the sweetest. While on the contrary, she was the one who got along the most with the least-favorite-parent kid, Kai. (he’s the one who puts the most kids in danger)

He was the only one who wasn’t creeped out anytime she collected ants, spider, beetles, bugs, etc. Soon the parents saw her true nature when she dragged a raccoon she’d been feeding behind her house to the playground to show everyone else.

Mira’s the one who organizes the most expeditions to the forest. She loves tallying off fun animals facts. Some facts not so fun. But she can’t tell the difference, even as some kids pale as she explains the different ways a tiger could kill them. Looooves animal fact books. Has a bunch of pins and charms on her backpack as well. She also prides herself in being 7 and a half, instead of just 7.

[distinguished-slacker]

Anyone else wondering how does this girl’s demon look like?

And I think my popcorn has gone bad...

But seriously it pisses me off that when she had a chapter dedicated to her (chapter 45 when she almost sacrificed herself to allow the others run away from Crowley and chapter 70 when Aoi confronted her) Yuu had to butt in with his ‘family’ bullshit and steal the spotlight away from her. I am so upset like...Kagami you might love Yuu or whatever but let other characters have their own development away from him...especially the girls🤦‍♀️

And for those who loooove long posts and are somehow interested on unpopular characters like me I’ve got some cheap observations, complaining and theorising...

She is so pretty I am crying

For those who don’t know or forgot about it (I cannot blame you though), the name of Sangū Mitsuba’s demon is Tenjiryū. Their name literally translates to ‘Heavenly-Shaped Dragon’ or ‘Heaven-Shaped Dragon’ and let me get straight to the point; guys it sounds more badass than any of the other demons’ names we have! I find curious the choice of “Heaven” though since it doesn’t fit a demon🤔 Moreover, the demon of Mitsuba’s older sister, Sangū Aoi, is called Chijiryū, which translates to ‘Earth-shaped Dragon’ and I find so intriguing that out of all the cursed gears that the Japanese Imperial Demon Army must have in their possession, Mitsuba somehow happened to be compatible with one bearing a similar name to her sister’s demon.

I cannot believe this demon is of a lower series. I mean, it’s HUGE. Befitting of a dragon😤 It’s definitely either the biggest weapon in the whole series or the second biggest. I don’t know about size since Mitsuba’s axe and Shinoa’s scythe are differently shaped but in terms of mass I think the axe is heavier because it looks more compact. Also, my respects for the designer because I have never seen such a uniquely shaped war axe👌

You cannot tell me that Shinoa’s huge scythe bears the first progenitor of the vampire race while Mitsuba’s huge battle axe bears a mediocre demon oh god...

When you have a look at both Tenjiryū and Gekkōin here it’s hard to believe Gekkōin is higher ranked than Tenjiryū.

The gender is unknown although I suspect Tenjiryū is a male by looking at their muscular torso and biceps of their manifestation form. Lol it would be funny if Tenjiryū turns out to be another ripped demon like Gekkoīn because then that would mean we would have another scary demon-cute human pair😅 But I don’t really care about Tenjiryū’s gender or how they look like as long as they are not another androgynous child demon😒

Mitsuba probably has the most aggressive fighting style in this series. For being so small she sure has a lot of physical strength...and she was like this since she was 13 awwww

Tenjiryū’s manifestation into an army of multiple spectral, humanoid beasts (probably dragons) with sharp glowing green blade-like arms and heavenly blue flames is the coolest manifestation I have seen so far in this series.

Tenjiryū has two strengths: one, is that it works in two different ranges, these being close range and mid range, instead of a single range, and two, it is able to be used for both offence and defence.

This manifestation looks so scary in the manga because it reaches so high. As expected of a demon whose name has “Heaven” in their name. In my opinion, Tenjiryū has a scarier manifestation than Shikama Dōji and Gekkōin’s because unlike them, Tenjiryū surrounds the whole area and I am feeling claustrophobic pls.

But I think that the thing I probably love the most about what I’ve seen so far of Tenjiryū is that they fit Mitsuba’s personality. Their style is aggressive like Mitsuba’s personality but if you have a close look most of the times Mitsuba uses Tenjiryū is in order to “protect” or “shield” someone else which fits her caring nature. Especially if you consider that, as explained by Mitsuba herself in chapter 19, manifestation users want to avoid manifesting their demons as much as possible since letting their demons out weakens the host’s body and so leaves them vulnerable to attacks yet Mitsuba is always manifesting Tenjiryū. Such a brave girl🤧

Another thing that I find interesting about Tenjiryū is that all the times Mitsuba commanded them to do something, they always tried to do it which gives me the impression Tenjiryū is quite obedient to Mitsuba. I headcanon that despite the fact that Mitsuba seems emotionally weak, Tenjiryū likes her determination.

However, in the end, looking at Tenjiryū’s name or their manifestation is just something superficial since we don’t know their personality or true potential. So far, Tenjiryū’s manifestation has been used for grabbing something (Mika’s cut arm in chapter 52), as decoys (but are weak individually and they won’t work on progenitors), to protect someone and to slice The Four Horsemen of John from a distance.

Relatively, Tenjiryū is weak but if I remember well, in the fanbook the author said that the rank of the demons is not determined by how strong they are but by how easy they are to handle. Even Kagami went as far as to point out that with demons above the Dōji (or referred as Child too) series there is no clear difference in the strength of the weapons (and this is surprising considering how much the Black Demon rank has been glorified). Tenjiryū’s rank is Dakini, which is just below the Black Demons in the pyramid and above the Doji series. One thing that all Black Demon users have in common is that all of them have been subjected to human experimentation in the past and considering that Mitsuba is human, there is nothing she can do about it. The other requirement for Black Demon users is that they must have a strong willpower and resolution...but this girl has some serious self-esteem issues and indecisiveness behind all that “I am a Sangū/elite!” talk so maybe if she obtains a boost in confidence she will get stronger🤔

However, I don’t really care that much if Mitsuba stays weak forever. This manga doesn’t need anymore INSANE Mary Sues or Gary Stus who get sudden power ups just because they are genetically advantaged. I just want some normal, deep emotional development for her where she lets go off her survivor’s guilt and learns to accept herself for who she is because she has been so hardworking since little and to tell Aoi to go suck Kureto’s d*ck if she is so loooyal to the Hiiragis as she says but maybe that’s asking too much.

My hopes for Tenjiryū’s appearance reveal are small but I still try to remember that despite all that happened in the manga Mitsuba is still a main female deuteragonist with a lot of unaddressed potential and also for the characters in universe it has been less than one day since chapter 70 (while for us it has been almost 3 years) so it’s not like Mitsuba can do something amazing in that short time frame where the focus is on Yuu, Mika and Shinoa. Moreover, I remember Kagami saying that there is something waiting Mitsuba so I hope he didn’t forget about it💔

Additionally, some people have observed that humans and their demons share similarities so I wanted to point out a small observation for this human-demon pair. Mitsuba was born on the 7th of July, which is the day of Tanabata/Star Festival, a popular Japanese festival that celebrates the meeting of two lovers represented by the stars Vega and Altair, who are separated by the Milky Way and can only meet on the 7/7 once a year. I think this goes well with Tenjiryū’s sky related name :3

If Kagami doesn’t give Mitsu attention then I will do so and I don’t give a fuck if I am being annoying

[catboycafe]

I Will Now Express Every Thought I Have About Pacific Rim: The Black 

⚠️ spoilers for the whole thing baby

I actually forgot Pacific Rim: The Black was premiering today until I saw it in an article this morning! When I first heard about it months ago, I was decidedly not sold on a Pacific Rim anime. Uprising burnt me the fuck out and I don’t have a lot of trust left in me for new entries to the franchise. But I had heard rumblings of Raleigh and Herc being referenced after going into #pacificrim and I decided I may as well check out to see what was up! I binged it in 4 hours and it sure was a whirlwind, I’ll tell ya

The Plot

I really enjoy the setting and initial concept! We’re so use to seeing Kaiju/Jaegar shenanigans play out within these major cities with helpless civilians everywhere that spending so much time in a lonesome desert and these destroyed civilizations was really cool and indicative of the changes Pacific Rim has undergone in the last few years. I also looooved the Desert Settlement from the beginning!! It seemed really homey and picturesque; I wish we’d spent more time with the other survivors and got to see more of their day to day aside from farming and sitting. 

I also found the first episode set up to be really tight and well written! I was hooked during the initial flashback, Hayley and Taylor’s fight was really poignant and well acted, and the reveal of Atlas Destroyer felt really huge and epic!!

But once we left the Desert Settlement and the plot started actually moving along, the pacing becomes suuuper rough. We spent way too long in Bogan with Shane and Mei; there’s only 7 episodes and we spent, like, 3? 4? within the confines of that camp and I felt it weighed the plot down. Boy is introduced in the 2nd episode and, because the narrative spends so much time on Shane’s evil machinations and Mei’s back story, we still don’t know anything concrete about his origins or purpose 3 episodes later! That felt frustrating to me

The story beats overall were very predictable. I was able to pick up on Mei’s backstory via her dynamic with Shane in their introductions, so her memories felt too built up and too hollow once they were revealed. The same with the reveal of Boy’s Kaiju form; he was in a big green test tube in a PPDC base - I assumed immediately he was a part-kaiju experiment and again his reveal felt hollow, especially after the glacial pace of it’s development. 

Even when events weren’t predictable, they lacked weight. The appearance of several Kaiju Breaches in “Boneyard” felt very cheap for some reason; I wasn’t scared and I didn’t feel tense about these odds mounting against the protagonists. This was just happening and I was just watching. 

The Art Direction and Animation

I’m very obsessed with all the new Kaiju we got from this; I love how Copperhead is rendered, they’re a joy to see on screen!! The Rippers are also very cute and deserve little plushies...i love these neat little dogs. Boy’s Kaiju Form is very intimidating with an interesting color palette and I loved seeing him next to Copperhead’s highly saturated design!

That’s unfortunately all that I liked however; All the human character design is unmemorable to me. Every character looks exactly like another easily identifiable anime character from a different property (Hayley looks exactly like Zero Suit Samus to me, for example. And Mei kept reminding me of both Bernadetta Fire Emblem and Motoko Kusanagi from GitS. The list goes on). 

I can sort of understand why they’re so bland? A franchise going from Live Action to something as heavily stylized as anime is probably a really difficult transition and these designs are probably meant to be more lowkey than more unique anime designs in order to help that transition. But realistically stylized designs can still be recognizable and unique! These feel uninspired and bare bones.

 I have no problem with the switch to CGI animation that modern anime is doing because I know it’s a lot cheaper to produce and it can still be really unique and striking! But The Black’s model animation felt very stilted and inconsistent. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about animating so I don’t think I can accurately describe what I disliked? Wooden is probably the best term. Character movements felt wooden and things like hair and clothes felt plastic. 

Impacts also had very little weight. The fight between Tayler/Mei and Copperhead reminded me of when you’re in a dream and trying to punch something, but you can’t punch hard. It was simply too floaty and too soft. The final showdown in “Showdown” was better, but not by much. It was very immersion breaking seeing these Giant Robots and Giant Monsters unable to throw a real solid hit!

Characters

My favorite character was unequivocally Joel Wyrick. We love Joel Wyrick in this house! Joel’s character has real charisma and charm. I love his flirtations with Loa, how his cocky disposition is juxtaposed with his drinking problem and later insecurities over his lost memories, and his genuine kindness shown to Mei, Taylor, and Boy. No one ever plays with Boy, they just run after him and drag him around...but Joel has this moment in “Escape from Bogan” where he kneels down to Boy and helps him collect rocks. It was sweet!

So of course, when Joel dies for absolutely no reason 5 minutes later - pissed! I was pissed! I yelled “COME ON” aloud in my studio apartment! I was genuinely so excited to see him interact more with the rest of cast then, poof. No More Joel.

His death felt like it was for shock value to me rather than actual narrative development. Why kill him when we still don’t fully understand his and Mei’s relationship? Why were they so close? Were they childhood friends, or just coworkers that happen to become friends? Why did he specifically know all the details of Shane’s abuse towards Mei before she did? 

What did his death accomplish? It made Mei sad...ok? She was already...very sad. Her running away from Shane already had consequences - the consequences of Shane coming after them for revenge in the future. Why did Joel have to become a causality? 

His death is ultimately tied to Mei’s character arc which is, unfortunately, my least favorite :c I find Mei to be a really one dimensional character with a personality, backstory, outlook, and motivation that I’ve seen done a million times before with a million other characters. She feels very out of place in the franchise as a whole - Pacific Rim is, at it’s core, a story about connecting with others. Her self-centric arc and lack of desire to connect outside of drifting really alienates her from the story at large and it frustrates me how long The Black’s narrative spends on her. 

Hayley and Taylor were otherwise very interesting in the pilot episode, but become similarly one dimensional at the story chugs on. Taylor’s unflinching (bordering on unhealthy) faith in their parents was really interesting next to Hayley’s complete acceptance of their parents’ death. But once the two of them make up their differences, they lack an interesting dynamic and become very passive protagonists.

 Taylor especially has no personality - how would you describe Taylor? He’s...brave. He’s the older brother. He’s a leader? He’s nice? There is nothing noteworthy about him at all, which is sad considering I think he has the potential to be a really interesting way to explore the original movie’s influence on The Black’s story.

Hayley’s grief and self-blame are more interesting than Taylor’s...nothingness, but she still falls into this one-note trope of being the naive, excitable little sister. I guess I feel abnormally frustrated about this flat character writing because Pacific Rim’s incredibly unique cast has always been an inspiration to me! It feels sad that this new iteration into the series is full of what feel like stock characters. 

Then we get to Boy. How come Boy can’t have a person name? It’s specifically written in a dialogue between Taylor and Hayley: “I’m not going to call him Chad or Barnaby or one of those names for a baby brother you wanted as a kid,”

Why?

He’s by all accounts a human child when they find him. Yes, he was found in a big green test tube - but he walks and acts just like a human child. The only difference, seemingly, is that he is non-verbal and engages in strange/annoying behavior (running off, eating bugs, etc). So he isn’t deserving of a name?? I don’t know why that makes me so mad, it just does. it’s like they refuse to treat him as a human even before they find out he’s a Kaiju  - it’s super weird! How can the story sell me on the three of them becoming found family (like they’re seemingly trying to do) if the protagonists won’t even treat this kid like a kid??

Misc. Thoughts

The callbacks to Stacker, Herc, and Raleigh were cool! I also like that Herc is a major plot point! We love Herc Hanson and it’s what he deserves. I also find Loa’s connection to Horizon Bravo very interesting...and the fact we’re getting Kaiju cultist lore! Love that! Love that!

Fucked up that the only two dark skinned characters were: 1) removed from the story 10 minutes in with no call back yet, 2) Killed after having 1 line of dialogue and fridged for the character development of the blonde white girl. I really need to know what the deal with those 4 characters leaving in the beginning was about - I absolutely thought we’d see them again by now, but no dice

I don’t know how to feel about Ajax and have no clue what their purpose in the story is. They’re cool, but whats the point? 

If Mei and Taylor are paired up together romantically, I’m putting Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson in the time out box. Very tired of seeing random hetero romance B plots in stories that can’t even get their A plots together

Overall, it’s kind of subpar! It has the foundations of a really interesting story, but the pacing and characters really took me out of it. I’m interested in Season 2! I know season 2 is already ordered and I’d love to see how things continue to develop, see if the character writing gets any better - but I’m not too hopeful unfortunately. I really really love Pacific Rim after all these years and I’m happy to still be getting content and world building! There’s just sooo much I would change about this however. At least fanfiction’s free! 

Thanks for reading all this, I have ADHD and just go on and on if u let me. hmu if You Too have thoughts about Pacific Rim: The Black and have no one to talk abt them with

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #407

“sugar pop, sugar pop, baby here i come, straight to #1″

Do you follow any special diet? (dairy free, vegetarian, gluten free etc.) No. What’s your favourite summer activity? Swimming is all I really enjoy about summer. Who was the first person to break your heart? It wasn't in a romantic sense obviously, but my dad. First band you obsessed about? I've only ever *truly* been obsessed with Ozzy Osbourne as a band, haha. First place someone took you on a date? I want to say a local skating rink. It was a group thing. How many doors are in the room you’re in? Two, if you include the closet door. Has anyone ever drawn a picture of you? Yes. Do you have any nieces or nephews? Quite a few. Which movie villain do you find the most terrifying? Well, if you've seen the scene where Pyramid Head literally rips a woman's skin off like a sheet in Silent Hill... u kno. I genuinely do find him to be a terrifying monster though, all bias aside. Humanoid monsters with ambiguous faces unsettle me. I wouldn't want that knife swingin at me, either. Do you get grumpy when you’re hungry? Yuuuup, I sure can. Do you stick your tongue out often in pictures? I have done that maybe twice in my whole life. Which one of your family members are you closest to? My mom. If chocolate was an illegal drug - would you be a drug addict? Nah. I'd be able to survive if it was illegal, but it would suck. Are you proud of your parents? Yes in some areas, no in some others. There are things both have said and/or done that I can't say I'm proud of them for, but overall, I am. Do you say “soda” or “pop”? "Soda." Are you shy about singing in front of people? YUP. I just don't do it. If you could get backstage tickets to ANY concert - which would you pick? Ozzy. :') It'd be fantastic to tell him thank you for his music that has always brought me joy and comforted me, and also let him know for sure just how strong he is and that it is absolutely not overlooked to still be nailing out an album while fighting Parkinson's. I'd probably start blubbering like a baby while rambling at some point, haha. Which is better: orange or grape soda? Orange. I don't like grape soda. Do you sleep with a sleep mask? Well, you could sort of call it that, ha ha. I have to wear an APAP mask to subdue my sleep apnea that causes wild nightmares/terrors. Do you like techno music? It's actually grown on me the past few months. Have you ever been drunk? No, I've never quite reached that point. I've only been tipsy. Are you mad at your best friend right now? Nope, got no reason to be. Do you know anybody with a pet snake? Yes, including myself. Is there any drink that you absolutely MUST drink cold? WATER. ABSOLUTELY WATER. I canNOOOOOOT do room temperature water anymore. It's gotta be pretty damn cold for me to drink it like it's nothin'. Have you ever painted anybody's nails aside from your own? No. Do you ever donate to the less fortunate? Mom likes to donate our old clothes and stuffed animals. Did you buy an American flag after 9/11 to put on your car/house/ whatever? I was a little kid when this happened, so. I don't know if my parents did. Honestly, do you have any Hilary Duff on your MP3 player? HA, I do. I love "Who's That Girl." When was the last time you had an ice cream sandwich? Wow, probably years... I really, really want one now, ha ha. Have you ever caught a friend cheating on their bf/gf? Well, my sister's friend, anyway. I was just sitting on the computer in the living room and there they were on the couch just casually making out. Do you enjoy doing math? Fuuuuck no. Do you think your mom has secrets she’s never told you? Oh, I know she does. There are things she's done that I know I have plenty of missing details from, but I don't ask because I know they're sensitive subjects. Do you own anything you don’t want your parents to know about? No. Do you pose in your pictures or just smile? I usually just smile. Do you use scented soap in the shower? Yes. It smells like cinnamon rolls and it is HEAVENLY. Did you ever want to be a fashion designer? No. Who was the last person you danced with? Enjoyable? Ha, Sara. Yeah. Dark or light colored jeans? Dark, 100%. I never wore light jeans. Can you take apart a computer and name all the parts? No sir. Can you take apart a car and name all the parts? That's an even bigger "no." Have you ever purchased a lotto ticket? No. What is the longest amount of time you've spent playing Monopoly? Idk. Have you ever witnessed a tornado first-hand? Thank fucking Christ I haven't. I am terrified of them. Have you ever colored your eyebrows? No. Have you ever taken another person's prescribed medication? Pain medicine, yes. Have you ever played golf (not miniature golf)? No. I'm not interested to, either. Have you ever gotten dressed with the windows open? I definitely don't believe so. Have you ever taken a shower outside? At the beach, yes. If you could call it a "shower." Have you ever been to a junkyard? No. Have you ever watched the History Channel willingly? No. If you could get the cell phone of your choice - what would it be? Probably a current iPhone. Apple is such a rip-off, but damn is the camera good lmao. Do you hand out candy to kids on Halloween? This will be my first Halloween in this house, so I really don't know if trick-or-treaters happen here. Do you like huskies? Love 'em, but I could neeeever own one with all that fur. What do you smell like? I'm always self-conscious over if I smell like sweat because of my hyperhidrosis. I hope not. Do you take your dog for walks? I don't have a dog. I used to take Teddy when he was younger, though. He loved those, but I stopped when I noticed his arthritis kicking in. Have you ever went paintballing? No. Seems stupid to me, honestly... Like that shit seems painful, so like, why??? What kind of movies are you drawn to? Horror and fantasy, mostly. I don't watch movies often. How often do you update your Facebook status? Just about never because I either just have nothing to say or am afraid of saying something stupid. I only ever share posts or pictures that appeal to me. What type of pet would you like to have? A Brazilian Black tarantula. :( I will whine about that until the day I get one, ha ha. I would also really, really like a plains hognose and a woma python. What breakfast are you most likely to have? Cereal. When you're starting to feel sick, you: It depends on what kind of "sick," but odds are I'm heading for the medicine cabinet. What colors are you most drawn to? Pastel ones. :') Light and pretty. What deadly sin are you most likely to commit? Sloth. When you're away from home, what makes you feel at home? "Having my stuff with me, like my laptop." <<<< Same. Do you prefer to lounge in a hot tub or swim in a pool? Swim. How many books do you have out in the public areas of your house? None. Who makes a better burger, in your opinion? Sonic. @_@ What do you like best about the holidays? Seeing my niece and nephew so excited. You think your eyes convey: Boredom, probably. Besides screaming for ice cream, what else do you scream for? If a bug surprises me by being on me. Well, depending on the bug. Do you like fried chicken? Noooo, it is so gross to me. What do you think of belly button piercings? They are SO cute imo. I want one, but I think it would look hideous on me. Maybe if I was actually thinner. Not saying bigger people can't wear belly button piercings, I just don't think it would look good on me. Do you like plain Lays potato chips? They're my favorite! I especially like the ruffled kind. Is there a big screen television in your house? In the living room, yeah. Would you rather no heat in winter or no A.C in summer? No heat in the winter, EASILY. I can't handle no A/C when it's hot. At least if you're cold, you can bundle up with tons of blankets. Have you ever had braces? I did for a long time because we couldn't afford to take them off. Do you do your own laundry? No, honestly. Mom likes to just do it all together, so I let her do it. Which do you prefer: English, Irish, or Australian accents? Irish. Is there anything on your bedroom door? Yeah! I got a "Meerkat Lover St." sign for my door. :') What is the best vegetable? Broccoli. Guys in eyeliner: Hot or not? That shit is h o t. Have you ever seen your favorite band live? No. :( Do you drink water or soda more often? Ugh, soda. Did you collect Pokemon cards back in the day? I didn't deliberately, but only because I was awkward about asking for Pokemon stuff because I thought people thought I was weird for being a girl and being obsessed with it. I think I got one pack. I really, really wish I'd been less self-conscious about that passion. Pet turtle: yay or nay? I'm personally not interested. Did anyone famous come from your town/city/school? Yeah, but I'm not sharing who. Have you ever seen a celebrity on the street? No. Have you ever pretended to be sick? To avoid school sometimes, yes. Can you ice skate? Never tried, too scared to. The blades terrify me. Do you have your nose pierced? No, but I want to have it redone. Do you loooove Tim Burton movies? I sure do! What arcade games do you like to play? I haven't been to an arcade in forever... but I liked the racing ones. What's the most expensive gift you've ever gotten for someone else? I'm not sure. Would you rather spend a whole day with your mom, or your dad? At this moment, probably my dad. We haven't hung out in a long time. What would you say if you found out your last ex was in a relationship? I'd be happy for her and tell her she'd better let me know if the person ever fucks up so I can kick some ass, ha ha. Are you easily confused? Very. I'm slow to understand things. Where was your MySpace/Facebook default taken? My bedroom. Can you whistle with your fingers in your mouth? No. I've never understood how that works. Do you like peanut butter? Love it.

[simple-heroics]

Class 1-A Girls as Roommates

Oh, my god, they were roommates

Momo Yaoyorozu

First of all, you lucky bastard I hate you. Secondly, I’d like to make the point that Momo is wealthy af and has no financial need of a roommate. So, if you two are living, you’re probably already great friends with her or more. 

Momo loves to share. She is an extremely generous person, so she'll totally offer you some of her food when she cooks and even some of her shower products. 

Totally lets you borrow her clothes. Different sizes? She's gotchoo! Can and will create the best clothes for you. This is especially helpful if you have a date.

Speaking of her Quirk, its usefulness becomes really apparent when you two first move in and are still figuring out where things are or what you still need for the house. Bought that knife set but somehow forgot a can opener? Momo’s gotchoo again. 

A great communicator and takes the initiative to make sure you guys are on the same page about chores. Despite her busy hero career, Momo still does a great job keeping up with her fair share.

Please sit and drink tea with her. She'd love it. Probably the best thing about being Momo's roommate is coming home at the end of the day to this beautiful woman omg are you're okay with just being roommates and catching up over cups of freshly brewed tea. 

If something happens and you’re unable to pa your rent one month, Momo can cover it. Will not guilt or shame you over this. No matter what kind of petty roommate argument you two might have, she will never hold that over your head. Ever. Things happen, and Momo understands that.

The not so great...

Yaomomo is such a sweetie but...she's also a rich girl who is used to a lot space. Her furniture will fill up the whole apartment. An entire kitchen cabinet is stuffed to the brim with her teas, so you'd have to find some other space to shove your cereal.

Nonetheless, she tries very hard to be a good roommate - especially if it's her first place after moving out of her parents' house/school dorms - and this sometimes leads to her being overly accommodating. That and the above can lead to some tension between you two. 

Momo has such long, beautiful hair...and it absolutely gets clogged in y'all's shower. Good luck.

Mina Ashido

Mina is the fun roommate! I’m talking late nights spent goofing off, playing video games and watching movies or even just talking if you want. If you two weren’t best friends before moving in together, guess what?

You’re best friends now. or more?

Alien Queen is also Snack Queen. Our pink homegirl buys lots of snacks and is more than happy to share.

Um, garbage? What garbage? Her Quirk dissolves it and that’s one utility y’all are saving money on now to get Kaminari to help with the electricity

No matter how bad your day was, how shitty your boss, how long your commute, Mina can always make you laugh. Which is a nice way to end an otherwise completely shit day.

Actually pretty good about keeping the apartment tidy! Living in the UA dorm taught her a lot about being considerate of shared spaces and she’s always out and about anyway. So almost no worries about messes 

Because she’s either out and about or doing patrols, you actually get the apartment to yourself quite a bit?? Ummm, SCORE! Until you start missing your pink roomie/bestie

That is, if she’s not inviting/dragging you out to do stuff with her! If you’re someone who needs a bit of prompting to get out of the house, Mina is great for that!

Also...the roommate who is constantly trying to hook you up with her friends. Like, I’m serious. If you’re not already seeing anyone, this die hard romantic will constantly try to set you up with people hey, roomie, pls introduce me to Kirishima. You won’t need a dating app ‘cause Mina Ashido is your roommate and girl knows everybody.

The not so great...

If you're pretty introverted or just really prefer quiet at home, being roommates with Mina can be hard. Mina is a social butterfly - loud and bubbly and all these other wonderful qualities that simultaneously don't mesh well with most introverts.

Speaking of social butterfly, she invites her friends over. A lot. And y’all know that the Bakusquad spells c h a o s

It would also not surprise me if Mina had a number of...ahem, overnight guests. So prepare for extra (awkward) company at breakfast.

Sometimes gets so caught up in her social life, all those hobbies, and hero work that...she forgets that rent or utilities are due. Whoops. You’ll have to remind her sometimes. 😬

Good luck if you have wooden floorboards. Mina loves to dance and this means a lot of scuff marks.

Ochaco Uraraka

This cutie! 12/10 would room with her if I could

When she first started UA, Ochaco had to move to Musutafu and live on her on which I'm sure was a little scary for a 15-year-old girl and definitely lonely. She wasn't looking forward to being alone again after graduation but wait! She has you!

Really appreciates your presence in your shared home and will undoubtedly cherish you, even treating you like family. It makes her so happy when she comes home after a long day of patrols and having someone respond when she says, "I'm home!" Ochaco, lemme be your housewife

Video game nights with Dekusquad? Video game nights with Dekusquad! 

Pretty clean and always does her dishes which automatically puts her the top tier of roommate categories, let’s be real. 

She knows where all the deals are, when certain sales are happening, and where to go for the best discounts. And she shares all this hard-earned knowledge with her precious roomie (that's you, boo). Grocery shopping with her is intense because she gets super competitive about getting those deals before everyone else but it's also so much fun.

Master couponer. You knows those ladies that clip so many coupons that they sort them into little bags and actually sell them in bundles? That's Ochaco. She's even part of some online couponing groups. 

But she always hands you the coupons for your favorite snacks.

The not so great..

Ochaco works really, really hard and takes on a lot of missions. So, when she gets home, the usually upbeat hero can be a little...grouchy. By grouchy, I mean snappy and sulky and -- who is this woman and what did she do to your sweet, adorable roommate? 

Seriously, just don’t talk to her or make a lot of noise until she sleeps for 10+ hours and eats or she might send you floating to your shared ceiling.

That roommate who will get on you if you leave any of the lights on or stay in the shower for too long. She is NOT shelling out extra cash on utilities next month because of you!! honestly same

Toru Hagakure

Another fun roommate! 

We’ve seen her room, and we can tell by looking at it that she loves to decorate. If you (probably) have different tastes than hers, Toru will find ways to compromise and combine both your preferences to decorate your shared apartment! You know what that means?

Ikea trips. Toru’s enthusiasm alone makes it so much fun but it’s not as fun when you inevitably lose her in that Swedish labyrinth. (Hint: Check the various kids’ sections. She got distracted by the cute plushies.) 

If you two are not constantly updating your interior design, you’re at least adding to it. it makes the space just uniquely yours and feel so homey.

Toru has some real 👌👌 taste in movies. Her movie collection makes for some awesome movie nights. Bring all the blankets, plushies, and the like and you’re in for a chill night.

Out of everyone on this list, I feel like she’ll be the easiest to convince to get a pet. She skips the “well, who is gonna pay for food?” talk and doesn’t spend any too much time deliberating over her busy hero schedule - just jumps right on in to the nearest adoption agency.

Congrats, you’re now parents of an adorable, slightly grumpy rescue cat. Which - bonus - actually makes it so much easier keeping track of Toru because it’s almost always brushing against her legs or on her lap.

The not so great...

Definitely the nosy roommates. She wants to know all the details about your life and is the type to peak into your room because she's curious. Her Quirk only makes all the easier for her.

She likes to leave cute or funny messages on the fogged up bathroom mirror or with magnets on the fridge which is cute but...unnerving when an invisible being sends you random messages in your apartment.

....and according to the wiki, she loves hidden-camera prank shows? Welcome to Jackass, roomie. You’re gonna get pranked.

Also because of her Quirk, she often has to remove her clothes to make full use of her invisibility but this has also lead to a bad habit of leaving articles of clothing throughout the apartment. You often find random socks and gloves and even shirts out throughout the apartment.

Tsuyu Asui

A+ roomie. Seriously, give this girl all a gold star.

Super tidy, super considerate, and super stoked to live with you. She’s used to a full house and honestly wasn’t so sure about living on her own straight after graduation. Then came you!

Tsuyu looooves to cook with you. If your cooking skills need work, she’ll happily teach you. Out of everyone else on this list, you share the most meals together. 

Soooo many blankets and pillows in your apartment! Tsu needs the extra layers during winter and honestly, just build a blanket fort for you two. It’s great. just roommates huh?

Absolutely will text you just to check in if she makes it home before you and has no problem either waiting up for you or even walking to meet if it’s dark. And honestly, what’s better than 

Being super straightforward, Tsuyu always lets you know if there’s something up with the apartment or just if she’d like you to be a little quieter coming home. Also an observant person and checks in on your needs/preferences as well. Y’all rarely have any typical roommate spats because she’s direct and makes sure to communicate.

We stan a sweet, considerate frog roommate in this household.

The not so great...

Because she grew up taking care of two younger siblings and then lived with the entire 1-A class (19 teenagers in one building -- that's insane) in the dorms, Tsuyu actually has little tolerance for messes in common spaces. 

Tsuya Asui ain’t your momma. You're both adults and you both pay rent, so she expects you clean up after yourself and will call you out if you don't.

Especially about those dishes left in the sink. You can say that you just left the pots in there "to soak", but Tsuyu ain't buying it. And she tells you as much.

Not above shaming your messes on her Snap story i’m that petty roommate or bringing up that you forgot to take out the trash in front of other people.

Kyouka Jirou

She's the cool roommate. By that, I mean the one you’re lowkey bragging about when you describe her to your friends. Girl is a hero, plays pretty much every instrument, and is just a cool person in general. It’s hard not to brag.

Seriously, just her mere presence alone makes your place at least 70% cooler than it would have been if you lived by yourself. That’s how cool she is.

Super respectful of your privacy. Like, she won’t even know what your room actually looks like unless you actually invite her in.

Great roommate banter. Kyouka has a great dry sense of humor and likes to tease people, so you two can go back and forth all day.

Great texter. She always gives you a heads up when people are over or if you guys need anything for the apartment. Bonus: lots of hilarious pics of Bakusquad being idiots.

Don't tell her that you can hear her when she sings in the shower; it'd just fluster her and make her self-conscious. But being able to listen to that amazing voice in your own home?👌👌👌

If you're someone who doesn't necessarily need or even want a tight knit relationship with a roommate, Kyouka is your best bet. She's generally really chill and won't get hyped over being best friends. 

That said, she’s a pretty empathetic person and easy to talk to. She’ll absolutely stay up late with you just to talk if you need it. Gives great advice.

The not so great...

You will lose track over how many times you ask her to turn the music down. 

Like Mina, Kyouka comes as a package deal with the Bakusquad. Kyouka doesn’t invite them over often because even she doesn’t want that chaos in her home but sometimes it’s inevitable.

She’s not much of a cook. Plus she’s pretty busy keeping up with her hero career, music, and group of friends, so she doesn’t have much free time anyway. This means she orders out - a lot. Good news? Hardly any friction over cleaning dishes. Bad news? Her take out boxes leave little room in the fridge for your food.

BONUS: Regardless of who you room with, you’ll hardly ever worry about a break-in or any crime in your neighborhood because your roommate is a professional hero and will kick any home intruder stupid enough to try anything.

[zitkaplushie]

nightwing secret files liveblog:

this is gonna be a long one so it’s under a cut!

taking wing-

is that jason??

i like this 'a christmas carol' type exposition i'm ngl

i'm not sure if 'jason''s dismissal of the circus is dixon using an unreliable narrator, or if dixon actually believes that

god i hate this art so much

how dare u insult the teen titans in any way 😤 i like the name

also titans cameo!!

more awful jason characterisation (pls dixon just stay 8732894738 feet away from jason)

"without robin i have no family" i guess the titans are just chopped liver huh

"i always thought that one day i'd be batman" nope nope nope nope you have 0 understanding of dick's character if that's what you think mr dixon

i love clark having a part in dick becoming nightwing - i adore it - but the way dixon retcons the importance of the titans, and especially kory, in dick becoming nightwing rubs me the complete wrong way. i'm choosing to read this as a between the scenes moment, but i 100% dixon intended this to replace the titans' importance. and the way ppl just swallow it up w/o thinking about the reasons behind why dixon would want to erase the titans - and kory - pisses me off lmao

"i didn't mean to stay so long [with the titans]" *eternal screaming* he really wants to undermine the titans at every possible turn wow

at least the next page acknowledges the importance of kory in dick's life, but right afterwards we have "lmao she must've liked your costume. all the girls did. you're a chick magnet" (paraphrased) and i'm just back to sighing

also hi i'm mad at the framing of babs being the endgame bc of course they'd do that. and also at kory being shorter than dick. thanks! i hate it! i'm willing to bet that dixon asked for that specifically.

"this is where i came in" i'm confused at this part but tbh i don't care enough to think abt it any more

i'm also ughhhh at the way they're trying to give bludhaven importance. i don't care, i don't like it, he should've never moved there

ok i do really like that last page

the fact files things are good enough, i love the art for the haly's circus one! the pt barnum ref is 😬 though (ik ik it's the 90s but fjskdh why)

lost pages: teen titans-

ok so, i don't like devin grayson. i don't like her writing at all, i don't think she gets the characters at all, and hot take: if you dislike a character who's super important part of dick's life, and helped him come into his own and be who he is, you shouldn't be writing that character. (i'm talking about kory here, but tbh if you dislike any of the characters who dick interacts with frequently and are a huge part of his life - especially his love interests, and his family - you shouldn't be writing dick.) so i'm not going into this story with high hopes. however i've seen ppl talk about this story as being really good so i hope i'll like it too

you can tell she mostly cares about the fab five, which wouldn't be a problem if she treated the ntt characters better but alas ://

kory and vic both say 1 thing the entire page lmao

ALSO KORY NOT KNOWING WHAT DAY IT IS IS ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT I CANNOT BELIEVE

i loooove the parallel between dick grasping wally's hand and young!dick holding his dad's hand 🥺🥺🥺🥺

vic legit says one thing the entire story lmaoooooooo 🙃🙃🙃

i love garth and roy being brought to the tower 🥺

this is def some of grayson's better work, but it suffers from the same thing all of her stories do. she doesn't fully understand all the characters. if one character is off it affects the whole story. a lot of her stories have good ideas and poor execution, and this one definitely doesn't have awful execution but there's still something missing and as someone who loves the titans it's just sad. i get why people like this story - it made me tear up at the end ngl - but the rest of the titans are just as important as dick and it feels like the writer doesn't understand that. (i get this is a dick comic but it's still a titans story.) (it does however make me want to write a fic expanding upon this moment and the aftermath bc the idea of the titans all coming together to cheer dick up is so goooooood. are they gonna have a party celebrating dick's parent's lives? are they gonna eat junk food and watch a comfort movie? are they gonna just sit and talk?? the possibilities are endless!!)

the art is gorgeous as all of jimenez' art is, i love his style so freaking much!!

the next page is of the bludhaven supporting cast and all it does is remind me how much i do not care abt them. i think the only one i actually like is clancy, the others are expendable and forgettable. (i do love clancy a lot though, i wish she'd been written by more people than just dixon). though, i usually love guice's art, i think i actually prefer mcdaniel's take on clancy??? which is 100% a first for me.

i like seeing the set up to dick's apartment, bc i'm a sucker for layouts and maps. i wish this comic was way better written bc the concept of dick living in an apartment building and interacting with his neighbours is one i really like, esp in superhero comics. but again i have to say, alas.

a day in the life of nite-wing/hangin'-with tad:

painful... just painful...

i physically couldn't care less about this if you paid me

the next page is tad's file and i am Not Reading That. nope nope nope. and also fuck you.

next is a map of bludhaven, and like i said, i'm a sucker for maps.

the page after that is brutale's file and again i just do not care. the art is by damion scott who i really like, but the design looks like knock off scarecrow so

the next pages are files for double dare, lady vidc, shrike and blockbuster and i'm skipping them all bc i give negative fucks

next is a spread of what i assume is dick's cork-board? it looks kinda interesting but the writing is hard to make out and i don't care enough to try to decipher it

next is torque's files and same same, idc idc

nightwing's romances/orange you glad i didn't say banana?:

ok so y'all know i hate dickbabs. i hate everything about how it was built on the foundation of tearing down kory and dickkory and i'm a kory fan first and foremost so i hate this whole situation. so i'm already predisposed to disliking anything that talks about how babs is dick's true love, and talks down any of his other love interests. i come into this with an admitted bias. i'd try to be charitable but i don't see why i should when no one involved in the writing of dickbabs is charitable towards my faves so 🤷

i love love love stelfreeze's art! he's drawn babs in something else i read and i loved it then and i love it here!

i adore dick and babs' friendship, so the beginning is really sweet and cute. i also love the concept of baby!dickie being obsessed with watermelons and wanting to eat them forever

dewey decimal system!!! librarian babs reference!! fdjkh she's such a nerd i love it

babs trying to talk about romance and dick's like 'lol nah what abt fighting' lmao

i Do Not like babs hitting dick while talking abt 'i was segueing into talking about romance, hint hint'

this is romance? dick giving exactly 0 fucks?

why are these writers obsessed with hinting at dick and donna??? like first dixon and now grayson??? please stop!!!! i do love how he says he loves her bc 🥺🥺🥺 i love them

ur not being slick having babs call donna 'donna' and kory 'starfire', i see you grayson. i see ur hate for kory.

and reducing kory to just her body, and dick's sexual attraction to her boils my blood

i'm choosing to interpret babs's face in that panel as her being attracted to kory too

i do like that dick talks about being in love with kory, and thinking about still being with her. a) i'll take those crumbs, and b) thats how i see dick's relationship to love as being (though devin views him as kinda flighty and unfaithful so idk how we're agreeing on this lmao)

pls stop talking shit abt huntress devin, ur the one who made dick/hel a thing

since devin loves her brudick subtext, i'm side-eyeing the mention of bruce there

also why are we hinting at cass pls stop

babs being jealous and petty pls stop

the ending was smooth i have to admit it. if it was any other ship i'd probs love it but as it is, i'm tired of everyone else being downplayed in favour of the ~babs is dick's true loooooveee, it's always been herrrrr, from the beginningggggg~

i don't mind babs being dick's first crush though, in fact that's my hc for him because hello?? who wouldn't have a crush on babs??

thank you mr stelfreeze for accurately portraying babs' bitchface bc she's being a petty bitch here (and i love her but lmaooo i hate this whole thing)

next is the files on the bludhaven pd and i do not caaaare

then there's a timeline, but i don't care about any timeline that dixon writes. i'm petty though so i'm gonna read it and talk abt why i don't like the retcons.

i hate the dickbabs reference in YEAR FUCKING 3 jfc. pls stop with the retcons.

also lmao the difference between the way dick's canon relationship from that time is described in the shittiest way possible (though reluctant at first, dick begins a long and tumultuous romance with teammate starfire.) and how he wrote dick and babs' relationship (robin first teams with ... barbara in her guise as batgirl. the two will pair time and again over the course of their careers and develop a burgeoning affection for one another) this was at a time when they weren't even remotely interested in each other!!! there was no affections there dixon! no matter how much you wish it to be true!! and again the contrast with 'starfire' and 'barbara'! like it's dehumanising and i hate it.

and he can't even bother to get the new teen titans' team name right.

no mention of kory's importance in dick becoming nightwing, nope we ignore that bc it's thanks to superman now.

stepping away from the way he hates kory to talk about the way he hates jason! jason's described as a 'troubled orphan' and a 'juvenile delinquent'.

no mentions of how jason and dick bonded but as soon as tim gets introduced he talks about how dick and tim 'switfly bond as brothers'.

another incredibly impersonal description of dick and kory's relationship (the wedding of dick grayson and kory anders (aka starfire) is aborted by the rogue titan raven. dick and kory soon part company and dissolve their relationship.) but at least he calls her kory this time.

also i love how he speeds up through all the 'non important' development for dick but spends a whole page talking about all the bullshit he's been writing for nightwing. i understand why, but it's just lmaooooo 🙃 when you read it like that, it really shows how shitty this comic is.

talks of the 'doomed relationship' between dick and hel and i really hate it pls stop

the last page is dick's evaluation by the police academy and i do not care so i'm skipping it too.

[purplesurveys]

990

survey by starsareonly2nd

Have you ever been to Las Vegas? No. Doesn’t sound like my type of city. I wouldn’t mind visiting the rest of Nevada though.

What did you have for breakfast this morning? Just a cup of coffee; I skip breakfast except on Sundays, when we actually sit down at the dining table and eat as a family.

Do you have any loose change in your pocket? I don’t have any pockets right now but I do have very few coins in my wallet. I used to have plenty, but I’ve given most of them away because I usually give tips to the nice people who help me get out of parking spots.

Do you like Taylor Swift? I like some of her songs, especially the ones from 1989, but I have no idea why I just can’t get into her as a person.

What's your favorite Disney Channel movie? I haven’t tuned in to that channel for a very long time now, but the movies that I got the most excited about as a kid were Twitches, Wendy Wu, Camp Rock, The Cheetah Girls, and High School Musical 1 and 2.

If you met your favorite celebrity, would you be calm or star struck? I’d be starstruck in a calm way; like I’d most likely be too shocked to get more than a few words out. I’m sure I’d come off as shy or boring haha, which is why I’ve refused to meet or interact with my favorite celebrities even if I’ve already had the chance to.

Are there any lights on in the room you're in? I have a ceiling light and a desk lamp, but both are turned off. My only light source at the moment is my laptop screen.

What's your favorite subject in school? History.

What's your favorite holiday? My birthday, if that counts. Christmas can also be great but only for the food, the reunions with extended family, and the freedom to guiltlessly cut off contact with colleagues for a couple of weeks. All other aspects of it make me miserable though.

Do you ever have to do yard work? I’ve never had to do that before.

Is your school close to your house? I mean, it wasn’t a 10-minute walk away but it’s relatively close and driving to my university objectively doesn’t take too long unless there’s heavy traffic. If there’s absolutely no barriers I could get to school in 15-20 minutes, but this is really only just for weekends where I have to go to school for some reason. If there’s traffic (and there always is), I take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half.

Speaking of school, how did you get there today? I haven’t been to my school since the first week of March, and I’ve already graduated since then.

Do you think Bad Romance is a catchy song, or an annoying one? I can honestly tell you that I have genuinely never gotten sick of that song. It’s a late 2000s classic, man. Of course it was too explicit for my 11 year old ears when it first came out, but I found it catchy nonetheless.

Do you use perfect grammar online? I always try to be correct, yes. When I use improper grammar it’s usually because I’m joking.

Are you currently using a laptop? Yup.

Do you have any live versions of songs in your music software? I haven’t used iTunes in a while and Spotify, which I do use, doesn’t work that way.

Did/do you listen to Britney Spears songs? I’ve never skipped her singles whenever I caught them on the radio and I’ve always fairly enjoyed the music she puts out, but I normally don’t voluntarily listen to her i.e. look up her songs myself on Spotify.

Is it a windy day? It is now that it’s nighttime, but it was a little humid all day today.

In the past week, have you ridden in a taxi? No. I’m not actually sure if that’s even already allowed...the possibility of public transport is still pretty murky where I live.

What shorthand do you use the most? I have no idea what this means. I did try looking it up but I dunno if I’ve ever had to use shorthand at any point in my life.

Do you ever wish on stars at night? Every now and then, but it’s just the little kid in me.

What color are your eyes? Dark brown. I feel like I answer this at least once a week.

What album is the current song you're listening to off of? Not listening to music but the last song I heard is from an album called Petals For Armor.

What are you doing after you finish this? Try not to cry/break down. Find something to watch on YouTube. Maybe play with Cooper to destress and forget about my problems for a bit.

In your opinion, what song is the most overplayed right now? Other than songs I occasionally put on repeat, I have not heard any new music for a while now.

Are you in a band? Nope, never been.

How clean is your bedroom? We just tidied it up and rearranged a few things last month so I’d say it’s clean - at least tidier than it used to be. And I’m a little proud that despite how rough life has been, I’ve managed to keep it clean. It’s the little things.

Is there a pen within reaching distance of you? Yeah, there’s one on my desk and I can easily reach out and grab it.

Are you sitting at a desk? I’ve moved to my bed for now. My back does not appreciate sitting at a desk all day.

Does your favorite band have a male or female lead singer? Female.

Do you normally shut your bedroom door before you go to sleep? Yesssssssss. We have a light source by the stairs that extends to the hallway and reaches my room, so it gets super annoying if my door is even just slightly ajar because my eyes get distracted by the faint light. My door has to be completely shut for me to feel comfortable in the privacy of my room.

Have you seen the movie Moulin Rouge? I haven’t. I loooove Lady Marmalade, but I’m just not sure if the movie itself is my cup of tea.

Would you ever dye your hair a different color? I’d love to have the chance to do that, yeah.

Are there any framed pictures in the room you're in? There are a couple.

Have you ever been to a Broadway show? Nope.

Do you watch So You Think You Can Dance? I don’t think so but I do remember watching a few episodes of Dancing with the Stars because a wrestler that I liked was one of the contestants for one season. I’m just not sure of SYTYCD also featured wrestlers in their shows; if that has been the case in the past- and I’m just not sure because my memory is a little hazy - I would’ve given it a watch.

What's your favorite movie soundtrack? The Twilight Saga churned out some bomb ass soundtracks. Other than that, I also enjoyed Interstellar’s and Requiem for a Dream’s.

Do you prefer group or individual work? Depends on what kind of work needs to be done. If a task is graphic design or video editing-heavy, I would prefer to work with other people; but if it’s gonna be heavy on something that’s already my forte, I like to work by myself.

Do you have a key to anything besides your house? Just my car.

Are you wearing anything with stripes? Not at the moment.

What time did you go to sleep last night? 9:45 I think? A little later than 10? Somewhere along that range.

Did anyone tell you you were beautiful today? No.

What show did you last watch? Friends.

Do you think you'll do anymore surveys today? I doubt it. This one is already quite longer than the surveys I usually take.

What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Cookies and cream; and more recently, chocolate chip cookie dough.

When was the last time you stayed home from school sick? Sometime in February last year. I developed a fever the night before but wasn’t able to start feeling better by the next morning, so I had to skip the one class I had that day.

Could you ever complete a 500-piece puzzle? Yes. I’m actually planning to buy a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle; it’s one of the items I’ve put on my cart recently. Depressed Robyn is also spend-a-lot-of-money-on-artsy-craftsy-supplies-Robyn, so.

If you could run a red light and not get caught, would you? Hell no.

Do you like to listen to music as you do your homework? Not usually, but sometimes I’ll put on lo-fi since that’s the only kind of music I can listen to and still keep my focus.

Did you think Adam Lambert's AMA performance was really that controversial? I’ve never encountered it, but I doubt I’ll have a problem with it if I do get to watch the performance. I love Adam Lambert and I've never found myself shaking my head at whatever he’s doing.

Do any bands flat-out annoy you? They’re a boy band more than anything but The Vamps has consistently irritated me through the years.

Do you have a mirror in your bedroom? No. I used to, but I gave it to my sister.

Was today a birthday for any of your friends? I don’t think so. With all my social media being deactivated I never get notified about birthdays anymore, but I’m fairly sure none of my friends blow out their candles every October 22nd.

When was the last time you rode in a limo? I’ve never been in one.

Do you take naps daily? No. I can’t really do that anymore since I have an 8-hour shift on weekdays, lol.

Do you still make Christmas lists? No.

Do you watch the show Dexter? I tried getting into the show because it used to always be said in the same breath as Breaking Bad, but I never got invested. I heard later seasons sucked too, so that also turned me off from continuing to pursue the series.

What's the background on your phone? I have a motivational comic that says “You’re doing really well given the circumstances” as my lockscreen. Cooper smiling is my home screen.

When were/will you be a a sophomore in high school? That was six years ago.

Are you scared of any animals? Any flying insect or bug, and I find them scarier if they come with a loud buzz.

Have you ever been to any sort of convention? YouTube Fanfest, if that counts as one. I’m not really sure what counts as a convention haha, but that’s the closest thing I’ve got.

Which song did you last listen to on repeat? Why We Ever by Hayley Williams.

Where do you want to live when you grow up? I’ve stopped thinking about that for now. My focus has since shifted to asking myself if I’ll still even be alive in a few years...ugh, how far we’ve fallen.

Are you currently using a blanket? No. It’s not cold enough for a blanket yet, but maybe in a few hours.

Are there any songs that make you cry? A lot.

How many siblings do you have? Two.

What are you doing this weekend? I have no idea.

Do you prefer swimming at the beach or in a pool? BEEEEEEEEACH. Once I took my first dip in a beach, I never wanted to swim in a pool ever again.

When was the last time you had a haircut? March.

Which musical instrument do you think sounds the prettiest? Piano, saxophone, and violin. Can’t pick a favorite; I think they all sound beautiful.

Are you in band or chorus at your school? I was never in either.

Do you know what you want for Christmas? Yeah but they’re all intangible. I want to be happy, be at peace, normalcy, etc. I’ve stopped pining for presents, especially now that I can afford my own shit.

Do you watch fireworks on New Year's Eve? Always.

Is your birthday within the next three months? Nope. You’ll have to add three more months to that timeframe.

How long is the song you're listening to? No music.

Are you anticipating anything this week? I’m waiting for a couple of very specific emails to come in, and I hope they do before the week ends.

Is your mom or dad the older parent? My dad, but only by 8 months. They were born in the same year.

Have you taken the SATs yet? I never had to take them, but I heard they’re triiiiiiiicky.

Do you watch anything on E? We never had E! in our cable service but I like tuning into that channel whenever we stay at hotels because I get to watch KUWTK, hehe.

Are you going to get off the computer now that you've finished this? Most likely.

[imthepunchlord]

For all the new things, I kinda wished they showed all of this before SwSh was released, now it's a bit more pricey and I feel like it's kinda rushed. Also for the Mystery Dungeon, I'm excited for that bit I really hope that include all the starters and non starters as well in the final.

I wish they went ahead and pushed back SaS so it’d be released 2020, with this expansion back already included, and the new places we go to can be unlocked during our adventure or as postgame. I would’ve fine waiting and would’ve preferred it, especially to give them a chance to do more with the main story which is pretty weak and made little sense, and Rose was a very forced in villain. Also made no sense in the story climax. Watching playthroughs and seeing the climax of SaS I’m just... 

Its also frustrating that you get to hear about things happening and not actually witness or help. Like, its nice having adults acknowledge that you’re a kid, don’t worry about it we’ll handle it, but at the same time, that’s a chunk of story we have a right to see, and we’re kids in this game, we don’t always do what adults say we should follow and see what’s going on. That could’ve been something optional. Go to event to see what’s happening or skip it to go to the next gym. 

And this is turning into a rant so I’m going to put this below. For those that just want to read my comments on Mystery Dungeon, scroll down till you get to the Pikachu gif, I’ll talk about it below. 

Also there could’ve been improvements with the rivals. Marnie is suuuuper intriguing and I love her, Bede I also like though that’s more me missing mean rivals and man, he’s a brat and I say that with affection. But in the grand scheme of things, they felt pointless. More could’ve been done to include them. And Hop. God, Hop. I know people like him, but from what I’ve seen, he seems like the most annoying “friend rival” made to date. He does not know what personal space is. He waits for you in front of gyms. He waits for you on new routes. He has to comment on almost every move you make in your fights with him. 

I don’t even own the games but just from the playthroughs I’ve watched I’m just... go away. Leave the lead alone. Everywhere you turn, he’s there, waiting for you. It also feels like he only got endorsed because he’s Leon’s younger brother. There’s nothing about him that I like. And, I don’t know why he gets the other wolf legendary? What makes him worthy?What makes him want to be a Professor in the future? That’s out of nowhere. 

Something more could’ve been done with Hop, maybe an arc of him resenting you a little because every match you beat him, and he’s the Champion’s younger brother and you just seem to stay ahead. Maybe let us have more scene of him talking with Sonia since he’s going to be her future assistant. If he’s going to be constantly stalking us and waiting for us, then yeah, let’s at least better build up where his character will go. 

Then there’s the issue of pokemon. With it pretty much confirmed they just reused models from gen 7, yeah, there’s no reason to not include more pokemon. If not the National Dex, which wouldn’t bother me too much, then go ahead and add about half. At most, I’d love pokemon included that would make the most sense. Like, lion is a big symbol throughout all of Europe. There should be a lion in Galar, either Litleo or Shinx returning if not a new lion pokemon. And with the expansion packs, yeah, they’re already adding 200 each pack. 

And a lot of this dlc should already be in the game. If 400 pokemon are going to be added in, they should already be there. The new Giga forms should already be there and we should’ve seen the Giga Venusaur and Blastoise the same time as Charizard. 

I’m also salty that there’s no going to Kalos. Maybe it’ll be a future expansion, and that’s a dlc I wouldn’t mind, but those are two very linked countries they’re based on. And Galar truly isn’t a big region. The Wild Area isn’t as big as it could be. Like, it doesn’t have to be BotW big, but it could’ve been bigger than what we got. And if not expanding the Wild Area, we could’ve had Kalos as a new region to go to, and more gyms for us to do. 

ALSO.

I am not a fan of you refacing the gyms and having them act as your “Elite Four”. 

They’ve already been fought. Aside from the first two, you’ve already fought all the star Giga forms they have. Its a really lazy decision. At least, you can have the two first gym leaders come in since you didn’t fight their star Giga forms, and include the other two version exclusive gym leaders as the other two. Just for some freshness in this final challenge. 

I know they’re not big on voice acting, but, they should’ve put some form of VA into these games. Its a little awkward to get animated cutscenes and there’s no voices coming forth. And its at its worst when you get to Piers and you see him singing away, I presume loudly, into his mic and its just awkward cause there’s no voice and you can hear him tapping his foot to the music and its just so off putting to watch cause something is missing: a voice! And you know what’s the kicker? Pokemon has included voice acting before. 

There is no reason to not do something similar, at least for Piers’ intro so its not so awkward to watch. 

And then post game... the official post game... I, I honestly can’t say what is even going on? Those two blonde bimbos, those designs, who agreed to pass them? For sword guy, I don’t know whether I should be laughing or uncomfortable. Its like, an in between especially when his hair flops around. Also, their reasoning, they’re causing chaos in Galar because they didn’t like a book Sonia wrote??? 

The villains in these games are just so dumb.

Like, Rose had a good motive but, he is still forced in. And he activates the climax for no reason. He was promised by Leon that he would help with Eternatus, all he had to do was wait through one match. One match that would’ve been 30 minutes at most, roughly. Yet he couldn’t wait for one match and went ahead and woke up Eternatus, does a video asking for help, and when you arrive, stops you for a battle that doesn’t make sense to have cause he asked for help why is he holding you up with a battle?? 

And Team Yell. Supposed to be like, a 2nd Team Skull and these guys could dream to live up to Team Skull. They can’t. They’re not funny or enjoyable at all. And my friend brought up a good point on the issue of having Team Yell based on punks when they’re supposed to be the “villainous” team. Punks, historically, were rebelling against an unfair system, they were progressive and revolutionary. They stood up for LBGT rights, they stood for having individual freedom, and just wanted to break the restrictions society wanted to place on people, let people express themselves and be who they want to be. 

If you want Team Yell to be a 2nd Skull and play around with punks as their theme, then they should’ve been set up to be red herrings as well. Be wary at first and then later find that they have hearts of gold, and mean well, even if they can be a tad extreme sometimes. And maybe they can help build up the danger of Rose, who in turn wants to paint them in with a bad image since they’re going against him and what’s normal in society. 

Anyway... Sword and Shield honestly should’ve been pushed back. They should’ve been saved for 2020, or even 2021, or however how much time they need. I would’ve been fine waiting. A lot of fans would be. But what we got wasn’t worth the $60 it was being sold at, and definitely not worth the $90 its being sold at with the expansion packs, and as far as I know, these are very, very small areas to explore. Cause as we’ve seen with SaS, they built it up to be big and grand and, well, the Wild Area was smaller than expected and the whole was far shorter than expected. You could beat it in 20 hours roughly. 

I even have mixed feelings on there being no enhanced version, cause these games do have potential, they just needed more time and polish, and then it could’ve worth the $60 price. But also thankful that there’s not another 2nd version and we may be getting a few expansion packs instead. 

Though I do think a lot they’re bringing in should already be in the game. 

Anyway, enough ranting about Sas, onto Mystery Dungeon!

Demo I think could’ve been a little longer, they stop you before you go on the Skarmory mission, I think it could’ve been a better placement to end after the Skarmory mission. 

Anyway, I like the changes so far. I love you can choose a different pokemon if you don’t like what you got from the test. I love that you have an updated move pool, though I feel kinda OP but you also kinda need it for these games cause I remember them being so hard and as a starter that can’t evolve till like, post game, yeah you’re going to need that help. I love that you get to wear a little scarf. Design wise, a little weird at first but it grew on me. Kinda reminds me of Okami. 

By trailer, for sure they’re adding more pokemon in. Lucario is seen in the team, when before, you only saw Lucario as a statue in Red Blue, I believe? Its been a long time. But they only had Gen 1-3 in RB, and Lucario is there so I would think they’d add in a lot more pokemon. 

For starters, I’m hopeful that beating the game, if you replay, you’ll get more options for the starters to play as and have as your partner. I’d loooove to have a chance to play as Popplio. Mega Evolution is confirmed, I wonder if regional forms would also be playable, like if we could evolve into Alolan Marowak or be one of the other two regional Meowths. Otherwise, everyone you could be in the old game is there, with no gender restriction! You can be a female Cubone! A male Eevee! A female Cyndaquil! I’m so happy about that since as a kid, I wanted to play Cyndaquil but never got it in the test and had to look it up and was bummed that it was male only and I wanted to be a girl. 

My biggest hope though is that with this, we’ll have a chance to play two player, since you have a team of two usually, and your friend or sibling or SO can play your partner. 

I am pleasantly surprised with it so far, though I will be holding off when its released in a few months, just going to listen to all reviews once they beat the game and if its very positive, cause SaS had a strong start and then went down hill with Gamefreak rushing it and cutting corners. I’m hopeful for this remake but cautious still. 

[neelahind]

care to share more about your cr ocs 👀

Anon I Love You

uhhh like i said i don’t have much decided about them but here’s most of what i have decided:

as i said, the maples are all related. they’re, ah, let’s say they’re all sisters

Maple Taffy Cookie is the oldest, and she’s 20-something (but on the younger side of 20-something); Maple Cream Cookie is the middle child at 6 or 7; Maple Candy Cookie is the youngest and she’s… 3-ish?

maple candy would probably be an npc just by virtue of being extreme baby and maple taffy not letting her run very far alone. might still give her a pet though whenever i give the rest of them abilities & pets

i have no idea what maple taffy does with her life besides be bitter and provide for the baby maples. she’s gotta do something though so that’s smth i’ve got to flesh out

maple cream is (as her half of a design implies) a whatever-the-cookie-equivalent-of-a-girl-scout-would-be and as of right now that’s her whole shtick. again, will give her more hobbies

also maple cream uses both she/her and they/them pronouns but only certain ppl know they use they/them pronouns. maple candy does, maple taffy doesn’t

on to maple candy! she may be just a baby, but she’s very drawn to art (esp. 3d art forms - she looooves building w/ snow especially) & already isnt half bad

maple candy is also nonverbal

there was a mapledad but he just. disappeared. one day while hunting. maple cream was too young to remember & maple candy wasn’t even born but maple taffy remembers. it still bothers her years later that - well, that her dad disappeared at all, but even more so that nobody found him

but is he dead? maple taffy thinks so - there’s no way he’d still be alive after all these years, right?

(i legitimately don’t know what happened to him yet)

and maplemom just left at some point, so maple taffy was promoted to parent - but she’s very insistent that maple cream & maple candy call her their sister and NEVER their mother

on to Meringue Cookie! i have less decided about them because they don’t have that whole family history to add to their story, but hey

but they connect to the maples because they and maple taffy are very bitter exes

well, taffy is bitter. meringue is mostly just sorry.

the story (mostly) is that they were dating for several years (3 or 4), but - meringue has a habit of ghosting people when their depression gets really bad (or, as that one tweet said, poltergeisting people), which maple taffy understood and could handle for a while… except that the last time they did it to her:

it was when maple taffy really, really needed meringue to be there

after a couple of weeks of radio silence meringue sent a very “it’s not you, it’s me” breakup letter

they broke up uhhh… between the point mapledad disappeared and the point maple candy was born

they still have to interact sometimes. it’s never pleasant

but maple cream keeps talking to meringue when taffy isn’t looking

a lot of ppl connect their ocs to canon but i have no idea how these four connect to the rest of the cookie world. they just kinda exist. and are surrounded by their own melodrama, and by whatever took mapledad.

(just thought of this while writing this post:) i might need to design like, cookie world cryptids to fit into their story

in conclusion: they all need to be developed more as individual characters (including, but not limited to, their abilities and pets) rather than just as how they intersect w/ each other but hey

[allysartstuff]

Here’s a couple more for the Fiasco-Verse! Hopefully the last in this verse for a while because I made up some more for the Upsy-Daisy Verse. It never ends...

Please do not repost or claim as your own, thank you.

Peach Blossom is the only daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her wife Princess Consort and local teacher Cheerilee (her biological father is unknown since when they needed a sperm donor, they picked out a random one). During Cheerilee’s pregnancy, it was discovered that their foal had underdeveloped front legs. Sure enough, when Peach was born, she only had little stumps where her front legs should be. Despite this adversity, Peach is a happy-go-lucky and excitable pony, satisfied with what she has and living up for what she doesn’t. Peach likes the fact that she’s different and sometimes uses this to impress/gross out other ponies eg, “Hey, look! I can make my stumps wiggle! Wiggle, wiggle!” When she’s not doing that, Peach uses special built wheels or prosthetic limbs to get around. Peach’s special talent is ballet dancing. She needs extra help with her balance and uses special prosthetics to help her out but is otherwise very talented. She has yet to play a lead role though, which is her ultimate goal. But hey! When you’re the daughter of a princess and have no front legs, you don’t have much difficulty getting attention. Peach has grown to believe that she can do anything a ‘normal’ pony can do. Not a bad look to have on life, if only she weren’t so reckless. Instead of thinking, Peach likes to do the first thing she wants or thinks of, such as showing off the stunts she can do with her wheels or how she can master walking on two legs. She may have landed on her face many times when doing that.

Tutti "Toots" Frutti is the only son of eccentric party duo Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich. Toots is the opposite of his parents. Shy, anxious, paranoid, and extremely introverted. What he lacks in confidence, he makes up for the determination to help improve other ponies lives. As a child, Tutti loved helping his dad fix or create bigger and better party cannons. Still, he felt like he could do more and when he became friends with Peach, he knew what more he could do. He built her first set of wheels when he was six. Seeing her zoom around in delight filled Toots with such happiness that he didn’t notice his new cutie mark at first. These days, Toots likes to spend almost every day in the basement (Pinkie’s old party cave) tinkering, inventing and probably remaking Peach’s wheels or prothestics. Pinkie tends to come down every once in a while to leave trays of sweets and cakes to snack on, which probably hasn’t helped with his chub. Unlike the others, Toots is transgender and was assigned a girl at birth. While he has come out to his close family and friend group, he feels unready to transition so he ops to wear more masculine clothing and cut his hair short. He gets misgendered constantly, though, and that (combined with weight issues) hasn’t made him want to leave his workshop a whole lot.

Bits and pieces

Like Dewey, Tutti has difficulty making friends with ponies he hasn’t known all his life. He’s afraid to open up about his anxieties, mainly relating to his weight and dysphoria.

Peach’s recklessness has led to her breaking her wheels and prosthetics many times, which drives Tutti nuts. Why can’t she be more careful?!

When Cheerilee returned to work from maternity leave, she brought in baby Peach almost everyday. Not because she couldn’t afford a babysitter. She wasn't ready to be apart from her baby for too long yet. The kids were also a lot more engaged with the baby in the class so that was a plus.

Toots loves his parents dearly, even if he is easily embarrassed by their crazy ways. Cheese can relate to Tutti more due to them being both introverts and they can talk and built party canons/inventions for hours on end.

One of Peach’s favourite things to do with Fiasco (and sometimes Discord if he’s present) is to test out different legs or arms. Peach’s favourite is walking around with duck legs, horrifying Twilight and Starlight but delighting Discord and Fiasco.

These two are also a couple. Peach is very good at comforting Toots when he gets anxious and she just looooves to  pepper him with lots of affection and kisses, loving the way it makes her soft boyfriend blush. Toots loves how optimistic and even a little crazy she gets, despite her breaking his inventions all the time.

The design on Toot's jacket is his cutie mark. Pinkie especially made the jacket for him for his birthday and now, he's rarely seen without it on.

Peach Blossom and Tutti Frutti © Me

My Little Pony © Hasbro

[tinycamembert]

ok last but not least, @alandria7 requested daisy over skype haha so here’s that!

Daisy

favorite thing about them: Chaotic Energy u know?? she's a cool girl and i loooove her bup design. i feel like we havent seen her much in a while tho so i cant think of much else..... she didn't get much comic time like at all actually so its hard to pick something concrete least favorite thing about them: how are you gonna be a whole adult and still "ship" real people especially ur friends..... i can totally see her wanting to be a matchmaker for her friends and being like "you guys would be so cute together!! ask her out!!!" etc but Shipping is a whole different story. i kinda wonder if tammy just doesnt know the difference between the terminology yknow bc shipping real life people is invasive on a lotta different levels and its not a positive trait to give your characters favorite line: "Lucky I got to you in time. Stay away from girls like her, Sorrel." (that whole page was just great w/her, its one of the only times we see her being serious and its nice to see every once in a while) brOTP: her and sorrel!!!!! i could see sorrel being a little indimidated by PS when he first joins and daisy comes and helps him speak up and talk to jonq and cosmo more and feel less awkward OTP: daisy/jonquil for sure. i lov their dynamic and how they both love each other but hide behind the guise of friends w benefits bc theyre big Scared but they work it out eventually!!! nOTP: her and sorrel. no. bye (also i dont like her w angelo either cause it seems like she makes him uncomfortable lol) random headcanon: taken from that one stream. she and jonq and cosmo def smoke Big Weed lmfao. also she has a juul that cosmo got for her but she only uses it ironically at parties unpopular opinion: she's used too much for comic relief as a big flirt (and nothing more) and i wish we got to see more of her personality otherwise. i know tammy likes comic relief but its too much sometimes and ends up harming daisys characterization (and she's def not the only one who suffers from this) song i associate with them: exes and ohs by elle king, how to be a heartbreaker by marina and the diamonds. bops favorite picture of them:

she’s big cutie and i love her glasses too

[yutasbirthchin]

Hero - Epilogue

Group: Seventeen Member: Vernon Word Count: 2889 Genre: angst/fluff/tear jerking/idk

Prologue/Chapter1/Chapter2/Chapter3/Chapter4/Chapter5/Chapter6

a/n: Sorry it’s been like a month since the last update, I’ve had the worst case of writers block when it came to finishing this, I literally have like 4 other one shots brainstormed and half written that I wrote in the mean time because I really just couldn’t get this chapter right. But here it is finally! The last instalment! Thank y’all for sticking around and reading this whole story. Feel free to drop me an ask and share your opinions  :) 

“Here, Oppa, here! Isn’t it so pretty? It looks like it will serve the best coffee ever!”

Vernon’s eyes scanned the coffee shop. “It’s definitely…err…unique.”

“It’s unique, it stands out, that’s what all businesses should do, stand out from the crowd.”

“Can’t we just go to Starbucks?” He asked, really not trusting the pastel pink shop with ‘Sweet Treats’ printed along the top, it’s shop front decorated with hearts, polka dots and every other ‘cute’ thing under the sun.

“Is it so cute that it’s going to impede on your masculinity?” She fired back. “There’s nothing wrong with cute things.”

“I don’t have a problem with cute things, you’re cute and I tolerate you. But that shop… just for a coffee? I don’t know.”

She smiled. “Oh come on, I let you drag me into boring shops you want to go in. Besides, it’s our first time in America in ages, live a little.”

Before he could respond his she bounded into the shop. He looked longingly at the Starbucks across the road before following her in.

“Hello!” A very cheery man came rushing forward from behind the counter. “I’m Cole, thank you for visiting my lovely little abode, please have a seat.”

“I loooove your shop!” His companion squealed as he took a seat opposite her. “Who designed it?”

“That would be me, my father handed the shop down to me. He certainly was not pleased by my colour scheme or my decorating, he thinks it will drive customers away but I disagree. I mean, if it attracted a gorgeous girl such as yourself, it must be doing well!” He answered back with a wink. Vernon’s blood boiled as he stared at the shop manager, he was too flirtatious for his liking.

The two placed their orders and the man skipped behind the counter, presumably to start making their coffee.

“So where are you guys from?” Cole asked as he placed their drinks and food down.

“We’re from a little town in Korea.” The cute little girl answered. Cole glanced at the guy who didn’t seem to be in the brightest of moods.

“You’re a long way from home then, what brings you here?”

“We have family in America so we came to visit them, glad I did, there aren’t any gems like this where we live, right bro?” Vernon only nodded in response.

Cole laughed in response. “Thank you.” There was something oddly familiar about him, but the ringing of the bell signalling new customers dragged his thoughts away. “Give us a shout if you need anything.” He said with a wink before twisting on his heel.

Vernon couldn’t deny the coffee was good, and the pastries were the best he’d had in a long time. Sophia could tell this just by looking at him, she knew her brother well. “Still wanna go to Starbucks?” She teased.

“Oh shush.”

“This is why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”

“That saying is overused.”

She smiled as she put the phone down. She’d never mentioned to Vernon where exactly in America she had ended up, not because she didn’t want him to know but because she didn’t see the point, he wasn’t in America… Except now he was. She of course wanted to tell him, she wanted to be able to see him again, to hold him, but she was also scared. What if somehow he’d changed? What if she’d changed so much he didn’t like her anymore? There were so many possibilities. Now he was actually in America she felt bad. She knew he had come to visit relatives, not her, but the fact that he didn’t know where she was made her worry. America isn’t a small country, what if they happened to be on complete opposite sides and wouldn’t be able to even meet once? It would be too disappointing for her to handle.

She looked back at her half-finished essay and scowled. Back to work I guess.

The small cafe had suddenly become fairly busy around 1pm, with only a few empty tables and a queue forming at the counter. When it got this busy, Cole didn’t bother seating customers and taking their orders from the tables, he let them come up to the counter as it was more efficient that way. It did, however, mean that there had to be at least two people serving the counter, and so Youngjin sighed making her way out front. She didn’t mind the job, she actually enjoyed herself. Sure, since Cole had taken over the décor had changed to one she had a love hate relationship with, but the job was just the same and she earned a decent wage to get by whilst in college. What she didn’t like, though, were the times in which she had so much school work to do that she had to bring her laptop into work and write essays when she wasn’t busy. It was too stressful.

When the end of her shift finally came she sat behind her laptop, typing furiously.

“Babe, you know you can’t claim overtime just because you’re still here, right?” Cole joked.

“I know, I just have to finish this paragraph and then I’ll be off.”

“You got any plans tonight? Anything fun?” He asked.

“Yes I have a lovely little date planned with my laptop.” She replied and Cole chuckled.

“I could never be a student, don’t know how on earth you survive. I mean, you rarely ever go out and party and never leave anything last minute yet somehow you’re still always bogged down with work. You need to live a little, we’ve got to get you a boyfriend.”

“I’m always busier because I was dumb enough to take extra classes.” She answered and Cole shook his head.

“You’re really hung up on that guy, aren’t you?”

For the first time since the conversation started, Youngjin looked up from her laptop. “What do you mean?”

“You completely glossed over the last sentence I said, so either you zoned out or ignored it, and judging by your desktop image, I’d guess the latter.” Youngjin acknowledged what he said, but chose not to reply. “Who is he? Your ex? From Korea?” It was a simple answer but for some reason she felt oddly defensive, as though Cole was slowly cracking her open so he could judge her.

The last few years had been tough for her, it’s not easy to forget a past you so desperately want to forget when there’s an aspect of it that you keep so dear to your heart. Vernon. She loved him, she knew she did. And she hadn’t let him go, they still messaged each other almost everyday, but she found it hard to talk about him to other people because it dug up elements of her past that she didn’t want to dig up. People were nosey and wouldn’t be satisfied with a ‘he’s my best friend that I’ve known since we were children’, and she was terrified that she would accidentally let something slip.

After she still hadn’t replied Cole sighed, realising that he had probably overstepped a boundary. “Forget it, babe. I’m sorry.” He didn’t wait for a reply before heading out.

Youngjin sighed and forced the thoughts away, she needed to finish this paragraph before she lost her flow. She was intent on finishing her essay that night. Especially as she had to cover her coworkers shift the next day.

“Hello, hello, annyeonghaseyo.” Cole greeted Vernon and Sophia as they walked in the next morning.

“Good morning!” Sophia beamed. “How did you learn to pronounce that so well?” She asked, pleased that he had remembered they were Korean. Vernon couldn’t really fault him on his customer service.

“Ah, we have a Korean girl who works here and I bugged her until she taught me something. She only taught me hello though, so I can’t converse any further.” He replied.

“How can she only teach you one thing!?”

“She’s not the most talkative, keeps to herself a lot, to be honest I’m surprised she even taught me that.” Cole replied with a laugh. “She’s also almost always doing college work. But anyways, what would you two like this morning?”

When Cole came back with their orders he watched Vernon carefully, he really couldn’t work out what about him was familiar. Vernon, sensing the eyes on him, looked up and narrowed his eyes at the barista. “Why are you staring at me?”

Cole, obviously not realising he had been staring, felt embarrassed. “Oh! No, I uhh.. You just look familiar, really familiar and I don’t know why.” Vernon was confused, he definitely had not seen Cole before this trip and couldn’t think where he could possibly know him from.

“Leonardo DiCaprio! He looks like Leonardo DiCaprio!” Sophia burst out, causing her brother to hide his face in embarrassment.

“Sophia, please.” He whined but the other two just laughed.

“You really do look familiar though, are you sure you haven’t been around here before?”

Vernon shook his head. “No, I really haven-” he was cut off by the sound of the door opening and Cole exclaiming.

“Holy shit.”

“What?” The three other people in the cafe questioned.

Youngjin stared at Cole confused, waiting for an explanation but he stayed silent, not knowing what to say. He’d worked out why the boy looked so familiar, but didn’t know whether or not this would go well, considering Youngjin never wanted to talk about him.

Vernon, who was the only person who couldn’t see the girl who’d just entered, turned in his seat to see if he could work out what was going on. His eyes widened as they locked with those of his old friends.

“Youn- ah shit.” He said as he proceeded to drop his coffee, pouring it all over himself. This seemed to shatter the illusion and everyone jumped to help him clean himself up.

Cole watched the two as Youngjin mopped up the floor and Vernon attempted to clean himself up with the help of his sister. There was no denying that this was the guy pictured as Youngjin’s desktop image, but their interactions weren’t giving anything away. He sighed, deciding to dig; he might get an actual answer seeing as Vernon was there. “So, do I finally get to know what the story is with you two?” He prompted.

Vernon looked up at Cole, clearly confused. “How did you know we know each other?”

“Probably your dramatic scene.” Youngjin teased, gesturing to the area of the floor she had just finished mopping.

“Hey, it was an accident! Who said it had anything to do with you?”

“Wait, you two know each other? How?” Sophia asked.

“Well, if they don’t know each other, Youngjin definitely has some explaining to do. It’s not common to have random strangers as your desktop image.” Cole said and Youngjin’s cheeks immediately flushed.

Vernon looked at her, amused. “I’m your desktop image?”

“Cole! Why woul-”

“Did you miss me that much, Youngjin? So cute!” Vernon teased.

“I swear I could kil-” Youngjin started but stopped herself. “I’m not the one who tried searching for you for ten years because I missed you!” She shot back, and this time Vernon’s cheeks flushed.

“Ten years? Wait! Is this the same noona you had a crush on from elementary school?” Sophia asked, clearly not worried about embarrassing her older brother. Youngjin didn’t say anything, but looked at Vernon with an eyebrow raised.

As embarrassed as he was right now, Vernon wouldn’t change a thing… Well, maybe he would change the coffee stain down his shirt, but other than that he wouldn’t change a thing. He’d noticed a slight change in his best friend over the last two years, but this was the first time seeing the new confident, sassy Youngjin in person and he loved it. He turned to Cole. “We’ve been best friends for nearly thirteen years.”

“Friends, huh?” Cole questioned with an eyebrow raised. “How friendly are we talking?”

Youngjin chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Why ask if the answer is blatantly obvious?” She was about to continue when Sophia spoke instead, sending a cold chill down her spine.

“I thought her name was Younghee or something?”

Vernon watched the panic set in on his Noona’s face. “Younghee, Youngjin.” He said, surprising himself with how quickly and naturally the lie came. “I got the names confused.”

“Wow, you guys made it sound like you had some really cute hidden love story but it turns out he couldn’t even remember your name.” Cole laughed.

“In my defence I hadn’t seen her in ten years, and I was only seven when I last saw her.” Vernon replied.

“I’m sorry about Sophia.” Vernon said breaking their silence.

Youngjin rested her head on Vernon’s shoulder and looked out across the lake. “Thank you, you saved me back there.”

He reached for her hand, gripping it in his. “You shouldn’t worry yourself so much.”

“But that’s literally my biggest fear. If someone asks about me and I give too much away, or they get suspicions, or I can’t answer a question because I don’t want to give anything away, or-”

Vernon pulled back from her slightly, forcing her to sit up and look at him. “I think you’re doing more damage to yourself worrying about it than you would actually do if you just let it go and spoke freely. You don’t even really have to lie. Why can you speak so many languages? Because you had a lot of free time when you were younger and you got bored. Why did you have so much free time? Because your dad was really protective over you and didn’t trust the world… And because you dropped out of school after you dad died. How are you so good at martial arts? Your dad taught you. Why did you move to America? Because you wanted a fresh start and to get away from the bad memories you had in Korea. It’s really not as hard as you think it is.”

“But what if they ask me about Younghee or Ong?”

“There’s no reason for them to ask about that. Also, you’re in America, no one here would even know about that story. There’s nothing linking you to them.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You’re the link, what if they ask about you?”

“I’m your childhood friend, we’ve known each other for ages, et cetera et cetera.”

“Am I really just overthinking everything?”

“Yeah.” He replied, bringing his free hand up to her cheek and cupping it. “I get it, you just want to live your life and you’re worried about your past, but there’s literally no reason for anyone to probe so far that they find anything out. Stop letting your past rule your life.”

Youngjin stayed silent for a minute, staring off into space, but then she laughed to herself before meeting his eyes again. “I’m your Noona but why does it always feel like you’re the older one?”

“Jinnie I literally spilt my coffee all over me when I saw you.” He said with a laugh. “I can talk you out of your worries but I’m definitely no more mature or composed as you.”

She blushed at the nickname, hearing it for the first time in person. And then she surprised herself. “I love you, Vernon.”

Now it was his turn to blush, as she had well and truly caught him off guard. He couldn’t have controlled the smile that appeared on his face if he tried.

Vernon leant forward and pressed his lips against hers in a sweet gentle kiss. They both jumped at the loud bang and turned to look across the lake at the firework that had just interrupted them.

“And here I was thinking the whole firework thing was just an expression.” Youngjin joked. “Why are they even letting of fireworks? It’s not the 4th of July.”

Vernon watched the way the light from the fireworks shone against Youngjin’s face and smiled to himself. “I love you too.” He said, drawing her attention back to him before he kissed her again.

“Hey, Vernon?” Youngjin started as they pulled away.

“Yeah?”

“I really wish you didn’t have to go back to Korea.” She said, a slight frown playing on her features. Vernon smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as he turned to face the lake once again. Youngjin narrowed her eyes at him. “What?”

“You really love me that much, huh?” He teased.

“Oh come on, don’t tease me! I’m actually sad thinking about you leaving.”

“It’s only fair isn’t it? You left me twice.”

“I take it back, I don’t love you, I hate you.”

Vernon let out a loud laugh. “You can’t lie to me, Jinnie.” He laughed louder when he looked at the expression on her face. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”

“Then how much longer are you here for, Vernon?”

“Well, Sophia and my parents are flying back next Sunday.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “You aren’t going with them?”

He shook his head in response. “This was a goodbye trip.”

“What do you mean?”

“You dummy.” He laughed as he pressed a light kiss to her forehead. “I only brought a one way ticket.”

[aratanaruu]

My Thoughts on Tales of the Abyss Part 3

Me ranting about the party members and the few side characters and about how much I love them. Warning: It’s really long oml

Tear Grants

“I don’t think it’s necessary to understand everything rationally. Some answers you can only find by letting go.“

When I first saw Tear, I really thought I would like her. I love her character design, she seemed relatable, and she seemed like the type of character I’d like. Aaaand I can’t bring myself to like her. Don’t get me wrong, I like her character, but not to the extent that it really interests me and that really upsets me since she seemed like the type of character I’d like. For some reason, I find her character a bit more... flat than the others. I’m not sure why.

But, I do love how cold she appears at first, only for it to be revealed that she’s actually quite soft. She cares so deeply about everyone, especially her brother, and she’s almost like the mom-friend of the party (but that award goes to somebody else). I didn’t expect her to be so... soft and caring. It was really nice to see Tear hesitate and say that she really didn’t want to kill her brother, that her cold behaviour was just a facade. But other than that... nothing. Q_Q

Jade Curtiss

“I am a terribly cold person. I wish I could go back in time and kill myself as a child.”

Everybody’s favourite necromancer. I love Jade Curtiss for his sass, sarcasm and wits. He’s like the mentor figure of the party, but unlike Magilou, who tends to teach as much as she trolls, I feel like Jade just fucking trolls. And I love him for it. 

But if we go deeper, there’s so much more to his character. He invented fomicry and his backstory made a lot of sense to explain for how he is now, but never did I except Jade’s self-loathing to reach those levels. He wanted to kill himself as a child because of what his fomicry did! It’s always scary to see a normally-calm character lose control, and Jade is no exception. I love how he’s learned from his mistakes and can move on from the past unlike a few other characters...(cough dist cough). 

Jade was called a devil by his own sister when he was a child, and from his backstory, I can tell that he was pretty uh, sociopathic in behaviour. He didn’t understand life and death as a child, and he insists that he doesn’t understand life and death, but I feel like he does more than many other people because of fomicry. 

It’s almost shocking. I first heard his character was a sarcastic asshole who was downright cruel to the party and I expected him to enjoy killing at first. But throughout the game, Jade kept surprising me. Whenever there was talk of a large scale death (Akzeriuth, Luke wanting to kill 10 000 Seventh Fonists to get rid of the miasma, etc), he would get outright pissed. Maybe I’m wrong and he doesn’t understand death. But he definitely doesn’t like unnecessary death. For some reason, I can relate a lot with Jade, heh.

Guy Cecil

“The greater the loss, the more people need someone to hate for it.”

Guy Cecil, aka my husband, aka the mom-friend, aka my favourite male Tales character, aka he needs a hug really badly (from a male, preferably)

I love and adore Guy’s character. Abyss seems to do a good job of tricking you into thinking a character is one thing, only for the game to later reveal their hidden depths. I loved Guy’s character because of how supportive he was of Luke, and I admit, his flirting / gynophobia combo and his more happy-go-lucky nature was adorable.

Then he got the “Friend For Life” title when he went back for Luke after Akzeriuth and I almost fainted. He cares so much about Luke and he was more than willing to give Luke a second chance. Then the player finds out that he wanted to kill Luke.

I knew about the origin of Guy’s gynophobia, but only the maids part. I didn’t know that Luke’s father slaughtered Guy’s family. Oh my, was I so shocked to hear that Guy was once consumed by hatred. I was wondering why he wanted to kill a child for their parent’s misdeeds, but was he thinking straight? He was a young boy who had his family slaughtered in front of him and he just wanted to make the man who did it feel the same pain he did.

Amaaaazing. There’s so much room for player interpretation. When did Guy realize that he truly cared about Luke? When did Guy stop his plans for revenge? In a Drama CD, he talks about his revenge with Van before leaving to find Luke right after he’s first teleported out of Baticul, but he must have really cared about long-haired Luke before, if he was willing to go back after Akzeriuth. I loooove his loyalty.

I didn’t do the Jewel of Gardios sidequest yet, and I know I’ll cry when I do. Guy dropped his plans for revenge and instead let Luke teach him how to love again. Guy’s loyalty goes farther than being Luke’s servant or childhood friend. He’s loyal to Luke because he saved him from walking a path of revenge, one that would have probably had him working under Van to destroy Eldrant. 

Guy is such a complex character and he’s one of my favourites to come across in a long time. He’s so relatable and his relationship with Luke (I don’t ship them) is so brotherly and amazing and one of my favourite platonic pairs in gaming. He’s well deserving of the title of “Favourite Tales Male”.

Anise Tatlin

“So don't worry. Don't think about "good" or "bad." Just think about what you want to do.”

I still can’t believe she said, “I’ll kill you bastards” as she got thrown out of a window (and survived) and, “Let’s shove the Commandants ideals up his ass~!” (or something along those lines).

Anise, the traitor? I definitely didn’t see that coming. I never suspected her because she wouldn’t betray Ion. Then she ended up betraying him. I don’t blame her, of course. I’m pissed about Ion’s death, but it’s like Luke and Akzeriuth. It was because of Van, and in Anise’s case, it was because of Mohs.

I don’t know what to say about Anise. I didn’t like her so much at first. She was entertaining, but that’s all there is. Then somhow, she managed to worm her way into my good books. She’s charming and funny, but she can be serious and she’s reliable and caring. She loves her parents dearly, despite their questionable actions, and she’s ready to throw herself in danger because of Ion and she’s prepared to protect Florian with all she has.

Anise is so complex. She’s 13 and an Oracle Knight who got promoted to Fon Master Guardian. She’s probably killed many soldiers, too many for somebody of her age, and still, she manages to smile. She hates traitors and yet she’s one herself -- perhaps she wanted the party to find out so Ion would be safe. When Arietta confronted her about Ion’s death, Anise didn’t shy away. She owned up to it. “Yeah, I killed Ion, Gloomietta. So what?”. I didn’t except her to say that, but now that I think about it...

Yeah, Anise is really brave. She doesn’t run from her problems, does she? She accepted and understood the responsibility of what she did and she’s ready to do what she can to right her mistakes. For somebody so young, too. She’s definitely not what she seems at first glance.

Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear

“Never the less, we cannot run now that we’ve seen the truth.”

oh my fucking god somebody give his girl a hug. Non-stop, non-stop, Natalia had been pushed to her limits in the game and holy shit I wanted to reach out and hug her because Yulia knows she deserves it. Natalia was never given a moment to rest, no? She has a kingdom to care about, she finds out that she’s not the real princess, then her own father tries to kill her, then she realizes that Largo is her father, and later on, she had to deal with Luke or Asch dying, then she kills her father, then....

Yeah, she really needs a hug. But what’s admirable is that Natalia never runs. She’s more emotional, but she doesn’t let that get in the way. Yes, she sometimes needs a talking to or even a tiny break to gather her thoughts, but wouldn’t anyone? She doesn’t run. Her father tries to kill her? I would immediately hate him and discard him and run away. Natalia? She faces him head-on, for the good of her country.

What I love about Natalia is her character development. She’s a selfless princess who did all that she could for her kingdom. She helps the poor and hates conflict, and only wants what is best. The catch? She’s still a princess. She’s stubborn, a bit stuck-up, difficult to work with. And she’s still selfless and brave and resilient. 

It’s so amazing to see. In early battle quotes, it’s easy to see how the party sees Natalia. As a burden. In victory quotes, the party and Natalia treat each other with disrespect. Then, as time goes on, they begin to trust each other. Natalia doesn’t prove herself, she changes herself to be a better person.

Honestly, Natalia is the best role-model anybody could have and she deserves a happy ending with Asch q_q

Fon Master Ion

“I'm Ion's replacement, but there are no replacements for me.”

If you feel anything other than an undying love for Ion, you are wrong. It was too obvious that Ion would die from the beginning. He just seemed like that type of character. And? I didn’t fully trust Ion at the beginning.

OH HOW I REGRET THAT NOW

Later, of course, I decided that I 100% trusted Ion and I remember saying to myself that even if Ion turned out to be the main antagonist or working with Van, I’d still trust him. Ironic, since the original Ion... (ahem) Excuse me.

I don’t know how he found his way into my heart, but he did. I think it was after watching the anime. He just needs to be protected. Ion seems so basic, like how I saw many other Abyss characters, but of course, there is so much more. He thought he was replacable. That’s why he was so reckless. He didn’t care about living because he thought that like the original, he could just be replaced and everthing would go back to normal.

Then Luke taught him otherwise. Ion’s adorable. He’s so caring and optimistic and he hates being a burden and I’m sure he dislikes himself as a result. It was only until he met Luke that he realized his true worth. And Ion, he can be serious when he wants to, like when he told that Oracle Knight, “Who is the Supreme Leader of this Order?” and when he told Ingobert, “I’m not going to ask why you went emissaries to Akzeriuth. I don’t even want to know.”

I did a double-take and said damn because Ion, he wasn’t a Fon Master for nothing. Poor Ion. He’s had such a hard life, but at the very least, he was happy spending time with Anise and the party... but in the end, did he really see himself as having the same worth as an original? As he was dying, he said to Luke that it was okay, that there were other replacements (to which I responded, through many tears, that no Ion, there was no replacement for you)... I wonder if he was trying to comfort Luke or to comfort himself.

Oh, Ion.

Noelle and Ginji: What I loved about Noelle’s character was how the game handled her. She wasn’t just somebody helping the party, she wasn’t just a pilot. She had a personality and she had her own issues (Sheridan’s slaughter, wondering if she could fly as well as her brother) and the party supported her and was close to her. I’m in love with her, and her design has goggles, which I have a weakness for, too. Noelle and Ginji are both so cute. I love their character designs and hey, they’re pilots. What’s not to love?

The Dark Wings: I have a soft spot for thieves in fiction for some reason. Then we have thieves that help the party (Baticul) when necessary? YES. Then we have thieves who are thieves only trying to care for people thrown away by society????? AHHHHHHHHHH

Class I and Class M: Man, were they characters. Old, and they had more bark and bite than all the party members combined. Memorable and no, I will never get over their deaths at Sheridan. They were betrayed, and they chose to bear the consequences of the actions of their traitor.... sigh....

Emperor Peony: what the fuck. I did not except Peony to be so... casual. And he’s one of the few characters who can successfully troll Jade. I adore his character design and I’m always a sucker for casual characters that can quickly turn dangerous if needed, and in Peony’s case, it’s when serious matters about his country arise, like when telling Luke he had to die for Eldrant. He’s quite the character indeed, and not what you would except an emperor to be like.

If you’re here, wow, thanks for reading my rants. I just really love the Abyss party okay. Next up is the God-Generals and Antagonists. 

[notori]

RWBY Volume 4 Thoughts

I watched it all in one shot today and, well, spoiler-y comments below the cut!

So straight up I just want to say, in my opinion, this was the weakest volume. Go ahead and disagree, I’m not here to start fights - I just found it lackluster across the board. It left me wanting RT to pick themselves up and get back to volume 3 level next time. It wasn’t supremely awful and I’ll go over the good along with the bad, but I guess my overall sentiment was “Okay, better luck next time. Waiting on volume 5!”

So the good: Ren. Just... Ren. The only time I felt something deep in this volume was Ren’s backstory and his interactions with Nora. Not only super cute between them, but he’s always been a mystery and it was cool to see where those two came from and so on.

The bad: That was really the only moment I felt something! At least on the same level as how I felt throughout volume 3 (or even say, the Project Freelancer arc of RvB - point being, I know RT can do better). I mean, I was kinda concerned about Qrow. I like him - even if he is the archetypcal silent mentor guy who we now know literally has magical levels of angst to keep himself away from people. But I wouldn’t have been too heartbroken if he died either.

I did like Blake and her family. That was sweet - especially with her father and comparing it to Weiss’ family. However, it compounded too much with the other characters having split up and Qrow being himself that they repeated the (been there done that) conflict of “It’s not good for me to be around you! You’re better off! -OVERDRAMATIC EXIT-”

Back to the good: Still on Ren but, that grimm! Such a cool design! Major props to whoever came up with that. Creepy, powerful, all around the haunting image I expect when something terrible from someone’s past comes back.

A little bad: The team being split up didn’t work for me. I know a lot of people probably liked it and obviously the production team did but me? Nah. Didn’t care for it. Take Weiss for example - a titular character - what did we learn about her? Her dad’s a douche, her brother’s a douche, she’s pissed off with the rich people and makes an escape. So... wait... we didn’t actually learn anything about Weiss. We already knew she was headstrong. We already knew she would defy her upbringing for the greater good as we saw at the end of volume 1 when Blake was revealed to be a faunus. Sure, it takes a lot to stand up to family, but given who we knew Weiss to be... didn’t seem like it’d take this long or be this hard. It felt like she got set back when the entirety of her action taken this volume was to leave her home... which was done rather quickly (from a screen time POV) with seemingly minimal consequences. Of course there could be more to it that we’ll see in vol. 5, but as for right now? Again, lacking.

A bit of good though: The scene where she summoned the knight was cool! Also, and maybe this is just because I was watching with headphones, but the sound effects have improved over the years. So good job on that. Not just this moment but the grimm cries, ships, everything ambient really resonated and was pretty cool!

On that note however: Not my favourite volume for music. Which kinda sucks because I’ve always loooovved the RWBY soundtracks! The end credits song of the final episode was the only one I’d want to have of my phone. Same deal, I know RT can do better so I’m hoping they pick it up back up in vol. 5.

Where it really fell apart for me though was the characters, and again this comes back to the team being split up. Weiss got the least progression, but even the others... I guess I felt like no one grew this volume (except Ren, which is cool, but he’s a side character).

Ruby was backseat to Jaune. I didn’t want to say it. I’ve been defending Jaune for a while all through vol. 3 but this one was just... bothersome. Let me clarify: I like Jaune. But I feel he’s a good guy trapped in a bad narrative. All of team JNPR are side characters! And sure we can love our side characters, but do not try to give them this much of a spotlight. In fact this is my only criticism with Ren’s arc: I loved it, but it was Ren’s arc - not anyone from team RWBY - and it was the most interesting part of the volume. Look at what Ruby actually accomplished this volume or how she grew. Did we learn more about her? We saw... Ruby worries about people - which we knew. Ruby is a badass with her scythe - which we knew, but also saw better of before. I know the fights won’t be as good without Monty but did anything Ruby do in vol. 4 even come close to her decapitating that bird way back at the start of the series? Even from an info dump standpoint we learned nothing about the silver eyed people that we didn’t already know. They’re special and they’re being hunted. Yeah... most special people are in a world of magical strife.

Yang’s arc I liked, although it was kinda weirdly done. It’s like they couldn’t decide if they wanted to go dark and give her the grit of PTSD or keep her screen time more upbeat compared to the others. I kinda wish they had stuck with keeping her traumatized though, without it being her wallowing. Because that’s not actually how trauma works 100% of the time. It happens, yes, but it’s more than just feeling listless or being easily startled. We see her go from freaking out over the sound of a broken glass and having nightmares, to being fully okay when her father jokes about the attack. It’s all well and good if she’s over it - and I get that RT has VERY limited time to work on RWBY - but it came on sudden to see her be okay with it. Especially because it was implied through the joke that she and her father had been okay with it for some time.

Blake’s story was... kind of marred by Sun. I get the same feeling about him as I do about Jaune - except Jaune has (for all narrative purposes) been paired with Pyrrha. Sun is still after Blake and is just so stereotypical about it that I can’t not be rubbed the wrong way. Ships aside, I just wish that they could be friends. And unfortunately, they can’t be just friends if Sun is clearly into Blake. Now it’s just going down an all too familiar - and ugly - road of the poor guy who likes a tsundere who doesn’t want to be his friend! They can’t be friends unless they both want to be friends - and it’s clear from not only Sun’s actions, but the way RT is framing it with the comments from her mother and father, that Sun is not in the story to be Blake’s friend. He’s there to be a potential love interest.

Which brings me to my next point: Don’t. You. Dare. Bait. Us. Again.

Arguably my biggest point, and the thing I most want Rooster Teeth to know: We know when we’re being baited. We all do. It’s just a matter of some being willing (or naive) enough to put up with it, or those who have been through the cycle too many times to fall for it. These are my stern words of warning: We know you’re doing it. Don’t do it again. Representation only counts if it is within the story, not said by creators.

My kinder words of advice: At this time, you cannot run a male-female platonic relationship side by side with a budding male-male or female-female one. I can see how in the well-meaning creator’s mind it can seem almost obvious to treat two potential love interest as equal regardless of gender - on paper that sounds great! But in practice, in a world where LGBT+ people are constantly being told that their love, their friends and family, their very lives are second best to cis-straight people... It’s too threatening.

I did notice how Blake was adamant about denying Sun’s advances. And sure, her mother could just be being the playful motherly type and this is all a ruse for the big surprise that is Bumbleby. Yes, Blake and Sun could be just friends and their banter nothing more - hell I know I’d change my tune right quick if everything they did was literally being good friends and nothing more. It’d go from stereotypical boring guy-likes-girl-he-can’t-have BS to subverting the trope in favour of a healthy, fun, platonic relationship.

But you know that’s not how it’s coming across. And that’s where it sucks. Even if you didn’t know how Yang and Blake looked or acted at the start was reminiscent of a potential relationship, you know by now. You also know - given the blatant jokes throughout - that you were writing Sun and Blake’s interactions to at least look like the start of something romantic. Even if the end goal is to trick us.

What I’m saying is, we’re tired of being tricked. Mainly because tricks never work out in our favour. The few times they do, it’s short lived, usually ending in murder or suicide or something else terrible. This is why - at least right now was media is only just getting a handle on representation - if you are going to have LGBT+ rep you have to do it by denying any other possibility. You need to outright say “THIS CHARACTER IS NOT STRAIGHT LOOK HOW FUCKING NOT STRAIGHT THEY ARE!!! SEE THAT OPPOSITE*(For lack of a better word)-SEX CHARACTER BESIDE THEM??? BEST BUDS! THAT’S IT BEST BUDS DON’T WORRY ITS COOL BECAUSE THEY ARE SOOOO NOT STRAIGHT.”

If you don’t, especially if you tease a straight ship alongside it, we are so vastly outnumbered (by our oppressors no less - and yes, people who send ship hate specifically to LGBT ships because it’d interfere with their straight one IS oppressive - trying to silence us seeing ourselves in characters). Teasing LGBT+ fans by saying “yes, you’re here in this story... somewhere... we just haven’t shown yet...” and then writing a possible straight romance that would torpedo your leading LGBT+ one is downright a slap in the face. And don’t act like you don’t know it. And if Bumbleby IS where Blake’s romantic life is heading, don’t make tried fans who are used to getting hurt jump through the emotional hoops, or dragged through the emotional mud, of a straight ship alongside it. You don’t have to hand it to us on a silver platter, but make it clear that others are not happening.

(*Side note: I have zero qualms with bisexual Blake. More power to her. But the fact is her relationship with Yang is far more suited for a better romantic plotline than her relationship with Sun. It’s not because he’s a guy. It’s because he is nothing more than the average down-on-his-luck well-meaning goofball who’s primary character attribute is “I LIKE BLAKE”. And if they did anything to change that now it would only feel forced for the sake of trying to justify the ship.)

We are on volume 4 and you’ve said since the beginning that there are LGBT+ characters, even who we have already met, but just don’t know it yet. You have one last chance, volume 5, to remedy that - and make it count. The excuse of “we don’t know how to write romance” falls flat when you have Jaune and Pyrrha, and Ren and Nora.

Overall thoughts: It was alright. But if volume 5 could be my last unless they pick it up. Ways to do that include: Make Jaune and Sun better characters. Make the titular team the main characters again - together. Up to par music and fights. And - deal breaker - reveal some of these LGBT+ characters.