#maybe I had way way more thoughts originally that I just sadly forgot

[queeringdiedreiausrufezeichen]

Just some thoughts about the Trailer and Teaser content for the show

(I’m so excited for this show. It’s not even funny.)

(In no particular order)

That’s going to be the cyber bully case for sure!

She looks so smug and I love it! That’s a “Oh I know more than you” look. Or a “I know you will cave in and give me the information I want eventually”

Witch case! Witch case! Witch case! AHHH!

This shot just looks so cool. I don’t have a lot to say about it, expect for the fact that I want to know more, about what ever episode that’s from. I’m suspecting the Haunted House case, because of the hints in the trailer. They seemed to have gone a different route regarding the adaptation of the case than the “original”. But I’m very much interested in this take.

Kim/Michi content my beloved 🥺 Kim looks so stern. And Michi is just like: what did I do???

Look at them! They are adorable 🤲

This quote is living in my mind rent free:

Michi: Seh ich etwa kriminell aus?

Kim: Ne, total süß.

I’m loving it. It’s cute. Kim just can’t handle it when the suspects are cute 😂😭😌 This quote made me realise how much I love the concept of the characters flirting with the suspect on accident, cause they don’t know how to handle their complicated emotions. Also in my personal opinion this is a very good ship prompt. It just has a lot of potential in my opinion.

—

There isn’t a lot of new scenes in this one that aren’t in the trailer. One thing that is new and that I just love is:

The fact that Kim canonly tunes into the police radio! I love it soo much! Because she would! She freaking would! This is so in character.

—

Haunted house episode confirmed 😌 Gosh it’s going to be so much fun!

[cressidagrey]

Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours- Chapter 3: Eris Vanserra, Heir to the Autumn Court

Summary:

5 Times Cassian thought that Azriel had feelings for somebody and then 1 time he finally met the girl his brother was in love with.

Warnings:

Rhys Bashing

Notes:

I put a lot of world building into this. If you don't recognise it from canon, I probably invented. Or I forgot that canon existed.

(thanks to @firefly-graphics for the super pretty dividers!)

Sadly, trying to find out who Azriel’s secret lover was…turned out to be a bit of an impossible feat. 

There wasn’t anywhere Cassian could follow along to that Azriel wouldn’t find out about. There was nothing that Azriel was doing that was making it obvious who he was seeing. 

It was so annoying that Cassian had no clue what he was supposed to be doing anymore. Why couldn’t it just be easier?

But he wasn’t the General of the Night Court Armies to give up that easily. He was not. 

Cassian was going to figure this out. 

One way or another. 

First things first: Badger Azriel about the stupid Siphons. 

“So can I have the name of the blacksmith that you are using?” he asked Azriel without preamble, watching him attentively. Maybe that was gonna give him a hint of what was going on with his brother. Maybe that would be helpful…

“I am not using a blacksmith,” Azriel answered, after a moment. Cassian took in the way the shadows seemed to swirl around him more like they were telling him something and how his hands tightened nearly imperceptively. Azriel didn’t have many tells, but Cassian could see them. He knew him for long enough to know him that well. 

So that was the truth. He wasn’t using a blacksmith. But it wasn’t the whole truth. Of course, it wasn’t. 

“Then who else did the whole thing with the siphons for you?” he asked curiously. If it wasn’t a blacksmith…though he had snuck a peek of the mechanism that held the siphons in place. It seemed too delicate for a simple blacksmith. More something a goldsmith would use. Definitely not Illyrian by origin. 

But where would Azriel have found a goldsmith…

“A friend,” Azriel answered, looking decisively shifty. Interesting. 

“The same friend who made Nesta’s hairpins?” A stab in the dark but a good one. Azriel looked less than pleased about it…maybe his friend had something to do with whoever he was seeing… “Where did you meet that friend?” Cassian kept pushing. 

“Since when do you care how I spend my time?” Azriel gave back with a sigh. 

“Since you got new toys to play with and aren’t sharing,” Cassian shot back immediately. 

“I gave Nesta the hairpins, didn’t I?” Azriel defended himself. 

He had. Hair pins that Nesta absolutely adored and wore nearly every day these days. Azriel had come through with another set after the first, that one set with moonstones of all things. Nesta loved them just as much as the first set. 

“You aren’t answering the question,” Cassian pointed out and Azriel gave him a very pointed look that seemingly told him, Oh really? 

“You aren’t going  to, are you?” Cassian said with a sigh before he grinned.  “Worried he’ll like me more than you?”

The flinch was the last thing he had expected. Yeah, he had hit the bullseye. Unintended though.

“No. Just that I won’t get any more new toys,” Azriel gave back, crossing his arms. 

So whoever that friend was…he was important to Azriel. Very important. 

“Fine, keep your secrets,” Cassian agreed, even when he was already plotting his next steps. “But I want first dibs whenever he figures out something really cool.”

Next step: Once again get on Rhys’ nerves. Maybe Azriel had told him more than he had told Cassian. 

“Do you happen to know the friend that made the siphons for Az? ” he asked Rhy at the next family dinner. Even Lucien and Elain had come over from Day Court, with Elain happy to catch up with her sisters, the Archeron sisters secluded in one corner, milling about before they would all sit down for dinner. 

“A friend?” Rhys asked him curiously. 

“Not a blacksmith apparently. But with the siphons he got new toys to play with and I don’t get any. So I wanna know,” Cassian admitted easily. 

“Well, if Az doesn’t want to share…” Rhys gave back with a shrug. Well, that was helpful. Cassian looked around the room, the inner circles dotted around, but no glimpse of Az. 

“Is he coming to dinner?” he wondered. 

“He is.” Rhys sounded so sure when he said that. 

“Are you sure?” Cassian asked, doubtful. These days, Azriel didn’t come to all of them. Not even half. Sometimes he went but then didn’t stay for dessert or one of his shadows whispered something in his ear and off he went to do something . 

It was just another thing in a long line of them that had changed through the years. 

Cassian never said anything, because to be the only one in a room full of people that were in happy relationships while he wasn’t probably wasn’t very fun to Azriel. 

And then there was that ELeain and Lucien were coming and…putting Azriel in the same room as the female he had been in love with and her mate, just seemed especially cruel. 

“He didn’t want to but I changed his mind,” Rhys said evenly. 

Oh for cauldron’s sake. 

“Do I want to know how you did that?”  Cassian asked, holding back a grimace. 

He didn’t know what exactly had gone down between Azriel and Rhys…but ever since that one solstice…something had changed. He had never dared to ask, because neither of his brothers had seemed inclined to not rip off his head for daring to voice his thoughts. 

So he had hope that it would go away with time. Well, three years on…and it didn’t seem like that was the case. 

Azriel came to some family dinners, took part in the annual snowball flights, played with Nyx, treated Rhys with all the respect benefiting a High Lord…and also seemingly turned even quieter. He did his job just as well as he always had, Cassian didn’t doubt it but…there was a distance there that hadn’t been there before. 

“I told him that moping around his house didn’t count as plans,” Rhys quipped. “He was not amused.”

Right. 

Maybe Az had just wanted to get out of seeing Elain and Lucien. 

“Maybe he wasn’t moping around,” Cassian offered. Maybe Azriel had somebody else to spend time with. Somebody that he loved and wanted to court and…

“Ah yes. His secret lover,” Rhys said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Nesta was complaining to Feyre about how that’s all you were talking about,” he answered Cassian’s unspoken question. 

“You don’t believe it?” Cassian wondered. 

“You think he would be able to keep it a secret from me ?” Rhys asked him, arrogance seeping into his tone. “Besides, he needs to get over himself eventually. I think he can sit through a single dinner.” 

Cassian held back a grimace. 

Did he think that Azriel would be able to keep a secret from Rhys? 

If Azriel thought he had a very good reason for it? Yes. Absolutely. Cassian didn’t even doubt that for a second . 

Azriel would go to the end of the world if he thought he could protect somebody he loved. 

Cassian just wondered why his brother thought he needed to protect them from Rhys of all people. Why he didn’t tell his family about what was going on?

Cassian would be happy for him. If Azriel showed up tomorrow and told him that he had found somebody he loved and who treated him like he deserved to be treated, Cassian would be happy for him. He wouldn’t fucking care who it was. As long as Azriel was happy, he was happy. 

Azriel did show up finally. Quiet and withdrawn, sitting down next to him and more playing with his food than actually eating, but he did show up. 

Sitting through that dinner, doing what Rhys demanded of him. Not voicing a word of protest. 

What’s he thinking about? Cassian asked Rhys, curious at how Azriel seemed far, far away, lost in thoughts.

Table linens, Rhys gave back. 

Tell me that’s a joke.

No. Azriel is thinking about table linens.

Table linens? What was that about now? 

The plot thickened. 

The table linens didn’t stay the most interesting thing though. That was the sharp repartee Lucien provided while Azriel tried not to be anything but helpful. 

Cassian was one more pointed comment away from interfering. 

All that Azriel had been doing was trying to help, for cauldron’s sake. 

He kept calm for longer than Cassian had thought he would. And then he came around the corner with: “I also know that you are related to one.” Meaning an enchanter and Lucien seemed not happy at all about this. 

Lucien’s knife hit his plate, the sound loud in the suddenly quiet room. “How do you even know that?” he hissed. 

“I am the spymaster of the Night Court,” Azriel said, his voice quiet but even.  

“So what, you care about gossip from 3 centuries ago?” Lucien demanded. “Do you have nothing better to do?” 

Cassian opened his mouth but Elain laid a hand on her mate’s. “Luce,” she said, her voice soft, calming him. 

“If it’s useful, yes ,” Azriel said, voice quiet.  

“How could it possibly be useful to you? Also, he’s dead. Has been dead, for over a century,” Lucien snapped. Azriel stayed quiet. “That didn’t show up in your research, did it?” Lucien sneered. 

This was unlike Azriel. If Azriel used something like that, then he would have already known that whoever he had meant was no longer living. This was just…weird. 

This was weird. 

But what seemingly wasn’t these days? 

One of Azriel’s shadows came darting a few moments later, doing that weird thing they sometimes did, where they became nearly bodily for a moment or two and left something for the shadowsinger. 

Even after over 500 years of being around Azriel, the shadows were still a mystery to Cassian. 

They left a simple note for Azriel, dropping it next to his plate. He reached out to open it without hesitation. 

Cassian was curious enough to try and sneak a peek. The only thing he could read was absolute gibberish. 

That didn’t seem to be the case for Azriel though. He removed a second sealed note, placed it on the table and then without hesitation put his own note in his empty water glass.

Seconds later, it burst into fire with a bright flame. 

Cassian just stared at it. 

He had seen that a few times. It was how the Autumn Court sends correspondence, making sure that nobody else but the intended recipient could read it. Destroying the evidence, after it had been seen. 

And suddenly…it all made sense!

The reason why Azriel kept a secret from Rhys because it wasn’t just some random female that he had met in Velaris that he was seeing. 

It wasn’t a female at all! 

It was Eris Vanserra. 

That it must be. That would give Azriel a reason to keep the relationship quiet, away from every single one of them, because all of them would have tried to talk him out of that. 

Him, Rhys, Mor…

“By the cauldron, you are seeing Eris!” His mouth moved on his own accord, the words leaving his body without his input. It was the pure shock of that realisation that made him spit out the words. 

“Cassian!” Nesta complained, long sufferingly, rubbing a hand over her forehead.  He could feel her annoyance over the mating bond but he couldn’t help himself. 

“The letter just went up in flames! That’s how the Autumn Court sends correspondence!” Cassian defended himself. “You are seeing Eris!” he accused Azriel wide-eyed, who sat frozen in place, still staring at his water glass. 

How could Azriel even…How? When had that happened? How had that happened? What had happened? 

Cassian had so many questions.

“And because of that, you are now thinking that Azriel has a love affair with Lucien’s half-brother?” Feyre asked haltingly. 

“Yes!” It made perfect sense! It did!

Azriel was in love and didn’t want to admit to it! And he was in love with Eris Vanserra.

“No.” Azriel’s voice put a halt to his speculation. It was icy. 

“But…” Cassian started, but he didn’t even get out more than the first word because Azriel cut him off. 

Azriel could have cut glass with how sharp his voice was. 

“Cassian, I have absolutely no idea what makes you think that I am in some kind of romantic relationship with Eris Vanserra but I’ll gladly swear to you on my own life, that that is not happening in a million years. And Eris was not the one writing me.” 

Oh. 

“Who was writing to you then?” Rhys asked, curiously. “Must be somebody from Autumn.” 

True. Maybe it was Eris after all!

“I know somebody that knows somebody,” Azriel repeated, picking up the other note and handing it to Cassian with a glance at Lucien. Cassian handed it over. The handwriting was elegant and loopy, the note closed with a wax seal, showing a stylised O surrounded by…something that he couldn’t place. “An enchantress is willing to meet you tomorrow. Bright and Early,” Azriel explained to Lucien.

That wasn’t what Cassian had expected. It was the exact opposite, to be honest. 

No secret relationship with Eris after all? Just some message from Azriel to get Lucien the enchantress he needed? 

After how snippy Lucien had been with Azriel, Cassian was surprised that Az had even bothered to do that. It would suit Lucien fine if Az didn’t even bother helping him. He could just keep his whirring eye. 

Especially when Azriel had never even done anything . He had been nothing but supportive of Lucien and Elain’s relationship. Hadn’t said a single thing against it. Done nothing. Attended their wedding quietly and then left as soon as it was polite to do so. 

Whatever Lucien’s problem with him was these days…Azriel had done nothing to deserve his ire. 

Lucien hesitated at taking the note. Cassian wanted to roll his eyes. Like Azriel would curse it. 

“If I wanted you dead, the plan would be a lot less convoluted. Just for your information,” Azriel pointed out, his tone even. 

Lucien finally took the note, glanced at it, and Cassian watched him swallow. 

“Where did you meet her?” he demanded, his voice hoarse. 

“I know somebody that knows somebody,” Azriel repeated. “That’s my job. And that reminds me, I have to go.” And there he was, already standing up, not even having eaten half a plate. 

“So soon?” Feyre asked, sounding surprised. 

“I have plans,” Azriel didn’t seem willing to share more than that. Still, Feyre watched him, curiosity painting her gentle features. 

“What kind of plans?” She asked. Feyre and Nesta were probably the only two who could ask him a question like that and not get their head bitten off. 

“The kind of plans that I am not willing to change.” 

He had never heard Azriel’s voice quite like that. There was no use to argue with him. Not when he sounded like that. 

And off he went, disappearing again. 

The mystery was still unsolved. 

“ Eris ? Really, Cassian?” Rhys asked with a sigh.

“Excuse me, it made perfect sense!” Cassian defended himself. It did! It made sense! 

“It did not,” Nesta snorted, for once agreeing with her brother-in-law. “Why, Cassian?”

He pouted.  

“What enchantress did he find for you?” Rhys asked Lucien curiously. 

“My cousin,” Lucien answered with a sigh. “She has been living around here for…a hundred years, I think. Give or take a few.” He turned to Cassian. “Though I still wonder how did you come up with Azriel seeing my brother?”

“Cassian thinks that Azriel has a secret lover,” Nesta answered the question. “Eris is the latest of his theories. Disproven once again.”

He glared at his made. 

“I’ll figure it out,” he said tightly. 

He would. 

So it wasn’t Eris Vanserra. It must be something or somebody else. The question was just who.

[xxchaosjojoxx]

First love (Penguin x reader)

A/N: I was blushing writing this omg. More love for our penguin boy.

Song name is: First Love by Utada Hikaru. The english lyrics have a slightly different meaning than the japanese version, but I hope you don’t mind.

I was a former Youtaite and every now and then I still sing/cover songs. I’m not good at that but I enjoy singing. If you wanna hear the song the reader sings feel free to listen to my cover or the original song as well. (In the comments)

~~~~~~~~~~~

You were humming while you cleaned off the tables in the bar you worked at. It was already dark outside and had nothing else to do right now, except waiting for customers. Your boss walked in. “Get ready y/n, pirates docked on our island.” He said and you were ready to greet them and serve them whatever drink they wanted. You weren’t afraid at all, you knew a lot of pirates, since you worked as a waitress. No one hurt you or was inappropriate towards you. Even if they were, your boss would kick their asses. You heard a lot of footsteps and you turned around, ready to greet them, but you froze. There were two men in front of you. Laughing at each other's stories. They wore hats. You could only look at that Penguin hat. “No way.” you whispered. They looked at you shortly, smiling, waving a short “hello” before walking to the end of the bar sitting at a table. The two men didn’t recognize you. Ok to be fair it was 10 years ago. 10 years is a long time though.

You were a waitress in Pleasure Town on swallow island together with Penguin. You worked a few years together. He was cute, funny and overall an adorable dork. You fell in love with him pretty fast. It was hard not to. But sadly, one day, he left with his friends on a submarine. After you read the news about the new pirate crew, named “Heart pirates”, you decided to leave as well. You had the hope to see them again, especially your first love.

You ran around, serving drinks and then you saw them. Bepo and Law. “Shachi and Penguin couldn’t remember me…they forgot about me too. I’m sure of it.” You thought and served them their drinks. A hand grabbed yours and you turned around, looking into Law’s eyes. “So it’s really you, y/n-ya” he said and showed you a small smile. You nodded happily. “So you recognize me?” Bepo nodded while grinning. “I said that you looked like y/n earlier. And I was right. Do you remember us as well?” He asked.

“Of course Bepo. I could never forget my favorite pirates.” You laughed. “We have to catch up soon, but sadly I have to work. Maybe we can chat after my shift?” You asked and Law nodded. “Sure. We will stay til tomorrow. So there is no rush.” He said calmly. You never interacted much with him back in the days, but you remember him being friendly whenever you talked with him.

You rushed over to the bar, refilling some glasses for your guests. “Mind singing us a little song, missy?” your boss asked you. With a grin you accepted his request. “It would be a pleasure. Like always.” Not only were you working as a waitress you were a singer in that bar for a while now as well.

He held a microphone in front of you and you accepted it gladly.

“Hello everyone.” You said and they were turning towards you. You could feel their eyes on you. “If you don’t mind I would sing a few songs for you to entertain your stay. I hope you will like it.” With that, soft music echoed through the bar and was followed by your voice soon after. You had a calm and soft voice. Singing was your passion and you enjoyed it since you were a kid. The pirates were looking at you. Humming as well, smiling or just enjoying the music. You looked at the table where Penguin and Shachi were sitting. They were grinning, singing as well. A smile was on your face.

After your performance you glanced over at Penguin before you walked towards Law with fast steps.

“Law, I have a request.” He was sighing. “Let me guess. You wanna join our crew?”

He looked at me with a stern look on his face. Without avoiding his gaze you nodded and gulped. “I could be your musician...or yor cook. Maybe I can be a log keeper as well. You know I liked those back in the days. Just please let me-” Law interrupted you.

“Ok ok. We will find something for you. Don’t worry. If you are really sure about that, pack your things. We will leave tomorrow morning. If you have a change of heart, stay here.” You nodded happily. “Thank you very much. Don’t tell Pen and Shachi please. They have to remember me on their own, ok?” With that you left the bar. Ready for a new adventure in your life.

The next morning you were standing on the deck of the polar Tang. Law coughed.

“Everyone. This is Y/N. She will be our musician and helps us in the kitchen as well. Give her a hand, if she needs something in the beginning.”

They were all welcoming you with a bright smile.

Penguin and Shachi were approaching you soon. “Hey I am Penguin and this is Shachi. It’s nice meeting you.” He said with a smile on his face. “You seem somewhat familiar. I knew someone with the same name as well.” You giggled. “What a coincidence.” Penguin and you were laughing. Shachi was kinda confused. “Ehm Pen? I guess Y/N is the same Y/N from back home. They look similar.” Shachi said and Pen froze. Looking at you with an intense gaze. “Wait…really?” He asked and you couldn’t help but laugh. “Why didn’t you say so earlier? Like yesterday in the bar?”

You had tears in your eyes from the laughter. “You guys forgot about me. So it was a decision to remember me…or not.”

From this day on, you got closer with your crew, especially Penguin and Shachi. The feelings you harbored back then blossomed again inside your chest. He was still the same cute, funny and dorky guy you remembered. But now he was more mature, and he was more attractive than the last time you saw him. Since the day you left Swallow island, you worked on different original songs and one evening you decided to perform one.

Your crew was sitting on the deck, smiling and waiting for a performance. Even Law was there, standing against the railing. Watching you closely as you stand in front of your new family. “Hey guys. I would love to perform a song for you, I wrote myself. I have never performed it before, but I hope you will like it.”

As soon as the music played, you felt really nervous. It was not just a normal song. It was a song dedicated to your first love. And he was sitting in the front row. Smiling at you, giving you a thumbs up, to cheer you up. You closed your eyes for a short while you started humming and singing the song.

As you sang you were looking directly at Penguin. You couldn’t avoid your gaze and you wouldn’t want it any different. Seeing his expression was the most important thing for you at that moment. Your singing voice was sweet and soft for Penguin and your crewmates. They were smiling at you and dancing a little while they were enjoying your song.

Your eyes were locked on his face. He was still smiling until you sang the refrain. He was confused and felt a little uncomfortable. It was a love song and you looked at him directly.

He gulped and felt a blush on his cheeks. // Maybe she sings it while looking at me, because she feels more comfortable while doing so? I have no idea. Don’t read too much into her actions.//

The past few weeks were fantastic. He found his close friend and had a chance to get to know her better. He enjoyed spending time with you like he did back then. You were cute, had a nice voice and were laughing at his jokes. Penguin has fallen for you slowly. Hearing your voice was magical for him. His thoughts were racing, thinking that you would maybe like him as well. But he knew that this was just a little dumb thing to think about. You were singing about your first love. It couldn’t be him.

After your performance you were shaking and you felt super shy. Bepo, Ikkaku and Shachi jumped up and hugged you tightly, praising you. You still felt nervous. Penguin’s expression changed every now and then. You didn’t know if it was a good thing or not. You went towards the railing, taking a deep breath as you adored the beautiful sight of the sea in front of you. Footsteps came near you. “You were fantastic.” Penguin said and you turned around. Your face was heating up. “T-Thanks”.

There was a silence between you. Penguins' voices filled the void. “You know…singing such a beautiful song with such a powerful message…it felt weird, that you looked at me the whole time… But I guess it wasn’t intentional.”

You studied his face. He was looking away from you, scratching his blushing cheek. You couldn’t help but smile, so you took a step towards him. “Was it?”

He was looking at you again. “Yeah I thought for a moment, that I was your first love back there. Funny thing, right?” He stuttered and felt nervous. There was no way, right?

A smile appears on your beautiful face. “Nah. ‘Was’ is the wrong word. You still are my first love, y’know.”

He froze while his face was now deep red. “W-W-Wait what?” He was confused. Did he hear you correctly? Are you messing with him?

“But how? Why? You never said anything at all.”

You were right in front of him, looking up at him. “What was I supposed to do? The day I was deciding to confess to you, you left with Law, Bepo and Shachi. I couldn’t tell you how I felt, after you said your goodbyes.” His hands found yours. It was a tingly feeling. “I told myself that I would tell you the truth, when I ever get a chance to see you again.”

Penguin was stuttering and his hand was sweating. “B-But a lot of time passed. How can you say that I still am your first love?”

You avoided his gaze while whispering. “You do know what people say right? You never forget your first love. All the feelings I harbor inside me, started to bloom again, as soon as I saw you again in that bar.”

You squeezed his hands as you decided to look him deep into his eyes. “Even if you don’t feel the same way about me. I would love to get a chance to give you the love you deserve, please?” Your smile was too cute for him to handle, so he nodded like a maniac. Leaning in, giving you a chaste kiss on your right cheek. “How could I say no to this and you? You wrote a song about me. I would be an idiot if I would reject you.” He grinned and you were happy that a new chapter in your life will start very soon.

[graphx]

something I’m exploring in my fic actually

Re-reading how spiteful Lucas got over the years of living in the hunting ground.

As far as we know only Gracefield is the only farm that doesn’t have some kind of town worked into the coverup/backstory. Lucas and Yuugo might have recognized goldy pond’s architecture as similar to glory bell since they were both built by the ratri clan and in the end they both became farms. Analyzing Minerva’s actions you can see how he was influenced by his upbringing as a Ratri.

he gives the lab rats the tools to break out, but doesn’t actually help them do so. It’s almost like changing factors in an experiment but not doing anything more. Exactly the kind of experiments that the Ratri has been putting children through in Lamba.

(From the perspective of the readers we know that Minerva died for supplying them with information, guns, shelters and a way out under the farms, but from the perspectives of kids who didn’t know that? Kids who had the whole world against them? Obviously they would be suspicious)

like lucas mentions here, he originally thought it was a lie/trap all along. From the trio’s perspective we see how they rule out Minerva being an enemy but we never see how Yuugo’s group escaped. Maybe they were less dependent on Minerva’s help? Was the pen the reason they escaped? Did they use the book and THEN start to trust Minerva? Was their trust of Minerva’s plans for them equal to the trios? Were they more distrusting since they didn’t have a sonju/mujika to help them?

(if bunker dads hadn’t died at the beginning of the search for cultivida arc their differences in perspective/opinion of Minerva would have been great for emma considering if the seven walls was the best option. While norman does represent the other half of this conflict we could have gotten some more gray areas to explore with the bunker dads as an alternative! Seeing Lucas and Norman bond would have been sooooo interesting!!!)

It would be so cool to explore how yuugo took the events of the hunting ground and blamed himself while Lucas blamed Minerva.

it actually kinda parallels the main trio. Emma blames herself for not doing enough to get everyone out alive while Norman blames outside factors (more specifically demons rather than Minerva but it would be cool to see what Norman thinks of Minerva actually. Yeah he uses his name and resources to get what he wants, but does he blame Minerva for not doing enough? For only giving them a choice rather than bringing down the system? Does Norman hate giving up his identity to be this god like figure? Does he hate the role he has to fill? The shoes he has to grow into??? Sorry rambling love exploring characterization—)

but yeah it would be cool to see how lucas, yuugo and dina parallel the OG trio as the group that lost their emma.

lucas (like norman) rallies other people to the cause, makes a rebellion and helps in every way he can (side note when emma looses her memories norman is happy that she can still live a good life regardless which parallels lucas being happy that yuugo is alive even if he didn’t go back to help them)

yuugo (like ray) shuts down when his plan is ruined and there is no other alternative solution

we don’t get that much characterization for dina so sadly I can’t parallel her to emma much

but we do see in her final moments she was encouraging her family to do the best they could even while holding her dying family members in her arms while staring down certain death. That fits Emma pretty well!

anyway thats it, thanks for reading! I just needed to get this down before I forgot lol

i would love your thoughts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[putschki1969]

Kaji Fes.2023 Day 1 FULL Video [Reupload]

Find the original post from last night HERE. It doesn't show up on the Tumblr dashboard so only people who actively check my blog have seen it. I exchanged the video with an official one so I guess it might have been a copyright issue. Don't think I've ever had one, very interesting.

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I was quite excited to watch this since I only attended Day 2 last December. I didn’t necessarily regret not going for Day 1 but there were a couple of really neat songs in the setlist that I kinda wished I had been able to see performed live. The audio seems a bit dull but maybe it’s just me… Anyway, it’s still a pretty epic live. Please note that they decided to cut a handful of songs from the broadcast (probably to keep the whole thing at roughly 2 hours). The following songs are not included: fake garden, canta per me, she has to overcome her fear, I beg you and 砂塵の彼方へ.

Here are some random thoughts┗(•ˇ_ˇ•)―→

fake garden

canta per me

the world: Nothing much to say here. Decent performance but I liked the song more when it was led by Keiko.

Liminality: Loved, loved, loved this version with the amazingly talented Yuri Kasahara, Keiko and Kaori. The bridge here might be my favourite of all time.

in the land of twilight, under the moon: Never been a fan.

swordland: Another highlight for me. I think it’s easy to tell that I am a real sucker for YK’s guest vocalists that use a more operatic singing style.

she has to overcome her fear

luminous sword: Always been a big fan of Yuki’s SAO soundtrack. I understand why it gets performed a lot.

星屑: Even though this is a Keiko-centric song, I’ve never really liked it all that much so I don’t have much to say about it.

花守の丘: Solid.

ｗe’re gonna groove: Those who have followed me for a while know how I feel about the accordion. I dislike this instrument with a passion and it’s just featured way too heavily here. Fun fact, when Day 2 started with the accordion, I got really scared and wondered whether or not I would enjoy myself.

Obsession: Can’t say I’ve ever heard this song before. Sadly, it’s nothing that leaves a lasting impression. Also, that accordion…(¬_¬) Weird choice for LINO LEIA. It was fun hearing Keiko sing a bit of English though.

千夜一夜: Once again, not familiar with the song. Like this one a bit more though. Generally, I think I prefer rito’s vocals over LINO’s even though I don’t really know why.

Point Zero: This is one of my all-time favourite YK songs and one of the few tracks I really regret not seeing live on Day 1. Another epic performance by Yuri Kasahara. God, I love her so much.

salva nos: Speaking of regrets, yup, I’ll admit it, I am pretty bummed that I missed this one. “salva nos” and “a song of storm and fire” were the very first YK songs I ever listened to and they quite literally changed the trajectory of my life. Without those two songs, I wouldn’t have looked into more of YK’s stuff and I certainly wouldn’t have discovered Kalafina. One day, I wanna be there for a live performance. At least I got to hear “a song of storm and fire” on Day 2. So grateful for that!! Anyway, super epic.

花の唄: No thoughts.

I beg you

櫂: Ahh, I almost forgot about Aimer’s Mizu no Akashi 2.0. It’s so funny to me that this is literally copy/paste. Lovely melody, I don’t even mind the vocals all that much but damn, it’s not even coming close to Wakana’s Mizu no Akashi.

朝が来る: Decent but nothing to write home about.

My Story: Ohhh, another score track from “Hanako to Anne”. I was actually blown away by Day 2’s “希望の光”. This is not as good but still quite nice. Weirdly enough I am obsessed with the uilleann pipes. How come I can’t stand the accordion but I absolutely love this instrument? Probably because I am really into the celtic sound?

Parallel Hearts: Ugh, never liked this song, not even when Wakana was still around.

stone cold: This on the other hand is a song I’ve always enjoyed but with Wakana no longer in the picture, it’s just not the same. Will never get used to the Kaori chorus. Sorry T_T Still like this though.

the image theme of Xenosaga II: Good stuff.

蒼穹のファン��ァーレ: Love that this is focusing on the FJ regulars. My favourite performance of the song so far.

[feeblescholarmyass]

Prologue

cw: panic attack/extreme anxiety, I swear that y/n isn't this nervous all the time, originally written in 3rd person so there may be some wrong pronouns (she/her for placeholder character)

Sumeru boys x GN!reader (together because y/n is a poly bad bitch)

Hello

"Hi, I'm Y/n! I'm a first year Amurta student in the Akademiya. Hold on, I think someone is calling for me. Coming, Tighnari!"

"I'm not sure this is the best idea anymore. Maybe I should have joined Rhawatist with you instead. What if I don't know anyone? I'm gonna fail." You tugged at a strand of hair that had fallen out of place.

"Don't be silly, Y/n. You belong in Amurta. As much as I'd love for you to be in my classes, I know you'll do better there." Layla smiled reassuringly at you and squeezed your hand tight.

"Okay. If you're sure." You took a deep breath, trying to calm your nerves. "We got this."

The sound of Layla's stomach growling interrupted your gathering of confidence. Layla blushed and you crossed your arms over her chest.

"Layla, what was that?"

"Uh, I may have been so excited that I forgot to eat breakfast this morning... Don't be mad!" Layla whimpered, blinking sadly.

You sighed and shook your head. "It's fine. We can go get breakfast. Thank goodness we share a dorm. Otherwise, I don't think you'd ever have a somewhat proper schedule."

"Yes, Y/n. Sorry, Y/n." Layla giggled, pulling you over to a nearby cafe. The pair sat by a window and ordered their breakfast, both too tired to have much of a conversation.

The sound of voices arguing caught their attention.

"Are you an idiot? No, I'm not getting you coffee. You should have slept last night if you wanted to be less tired."

"Oh, then what's your excuse? You just like the taste?"

"No. I acknowledge my own issues with caffeine. I may have a small addiction. But I, unlike someone, can afford to buy it."

"Ugh! You're so infuriating!"

Layla slouched deeper into the cushion of her seat, using her hood to hide her face. You raised an eyebrow at her, asking Layla for answers silently.

"Don't worry about it. They're some upperclassmen. Alhaitham and Kaveh. They're pretty well known, both for their intellect and attitude."

"Oh. Makes sense. They're already so loud." You shrugged, grabbing your smoothie from the waitress and taking a sip.

"Take a seat, you two." A grouchy sounding voice joined in. You glanced up, searching for its owner. Long, silver hair and crimson eyes captivated your attention.

Your fingers itched for your pencils, hidden deep in your bag. He was so pretty. "And who's he?"

"Oh, that's Cyno. I don't know much about him. He's their friend, I think."

"Hm..." You rested your cheek on your palm, watching the group of boys. "And who's that?"

"Tighnari. He's the more mild one in the group, as far as I've heard. I think he's from the same darshan as you." Layla yawned. Her head nodded once, twice, then once more before quiet snores overtook anything else she had to say.

You sighed, moving Layla's food out of the way so she didn't land in it, then helped her lay her head on the table in a somewhat comfortable position so she didn't wake up aching.

"Maybe that will be my first project. I'll make a sleep aid for Layla that she can actually afford. If she agrees to be a test subject, I bet I could give it to her for free in the name of research." You muttered to yourself while twirling your straw around in your smoothie.

When Layla finally woke up, the two of you finished breakfast and hurried to the Akademiya. You now stood in front of the huge main doors, surrounded by fellow students. Layla pulled you to the side, knowing that you both needed some space.

"Okay, you're going to do great Y/n. I'll see you at lunch, yeah?" Layla smiled reassuringly, only slightly less tired than earlier.

"Mhm. Lunch," You muttered distractedly. Your hands were shaking and you felt a little like you might throw up. The thought of lunch made it worse. You were lucky that you had gotten that smoothie down earlier. If you tried eating now, your really would puke.

"Go make some friends in Amurta. You're good at that. You're gonna be the most adorable first year there, you hear me? You're cute, you're confident. The stars never lie." Layla squeezed your hands twice, not letting go first.

You squeezed back and took a deep breath. "Same with you. You'd better make some friends who can keep you awake during class, or at least let you borrow notes."

"We got this," Layla grinned. You grinned back. You let go of each other's hands and began on separate paths to your darshans.

You kept your eyes on the ground, your peripheral vision going just far enough that she could avoid running into others. You knew that if you looked up and saw the vaulted ceiling and crowd of people, the tears you had already fought down would return.

You knew all of this, but you looked up anyway.

"Archons, I can't do this," you whispered, panic overwhelming you. You looked for an exit, anything that would get you out. A familiar face or a room that had a lot less people.

You found a door to a copy room and snuck in, closing the door behind you. You covered your mouth and bit your lip, trying to force the tears to go away.

It didn't work.

You grabbed the chiffon scarf you had worn specifically to distract yourself, tugged it closer around your shoulders and crouched in the corner.

Amidst your panic, you hadn't noticed that the copy room wasn't empty. An older boy watched you silently, shock keeping him quiet.

After some time, you senses started to slowly return to normal. That was when you noticed someone standing in front of you. You breath caught in your throat and you slowly looked up.

The boy with pretty hair and cute animal ears looked at you with wide eyes.

"Are you okay?"

[gamebunny-advance]

Kun3h0 Custom Doll Repaint

So, here's what I've been working on for the past month or so. I've wanted to do a custom doll project for a long time now, and I finally got the opportunity to actually do it. I don't think she's bad for a first doll, but there's a lot I feel I could do better and differently.

Once again, my pictures hardly do her any justice... mostly due to color balancing.

I tried to edit these pics to make them a little more accurate, but it also yellowed out everything else, so... yeah. A photographer/image editor I am not.

That said, aside from the poor quality of the images, I'd say that the pics capture both her good points and her jank.

(More about the process and other thoughts under the cut.)

So, she started with a Cave Club doll as the base (I believe her name was Fernessa).

I unfortunately didn't take any pics of this doll with her clothes on, but I'm sure you can search pics of the original base doll yourself.

Besides being very cheap, I really liked the proportions on this doll for Kun3h0. I like the short torso with the long legs and the huge feet. Even the face is kinda Kun3h0-esque (though, a little more on that later).

I've had the idea to customize a Kun3h0 doll for a while, and I always thought the best base would have been an LOL OMG doll since they also have the big head, small torso, and long legs. But, I was always on the fence about them because their hips are a lot wider than Kun3h0's, and I felt like that would always bother me. But once I found out about Cave Club and also found out they're bascially cheap as dirt for the amount of articulation you get, I knew that this was the best match for Kun3h0.

Sadly, the hands aren't as big, and I did consider resculpting them to be more accurate to Kun3h0, but I lack the materials to make that look good enough to be worth doing, so in the end I just repainted the original hands. So I guess this doll is gonna have the non-standard 5-fingers XP. (I forgot to take pics, but the back of the hands do have the heart detail on them. )

Because I have to tie this back to NSR somehow, I think this doll would be a great base for some NSR characters, or really any other stylized character like this. I could def see a cute Mayday coming out of one of these (but not from me~ If I made a Mayday, then I'd want to make a Zuke to go with her, and I just cannot imagine how to make a Zuke doll without him becoming way too top-heavy).

However, I did resculpt the legs to become her boots, so she stands a little taller than the base Cave Club. While I think doing this works for Kun3h0 since she's a robot, if I want to make some alternate outfits for her, they're gonna have to include these boots, or I'm gonna have to get another doll to make some alternate legs.

Unfortunately, my only material I have for body mods is air-dry paper clay, and it doesn't transition as well into the plastic the same way something like apoxie sculpt probably would have. It's not super noticeable at a distance when they're painted, but under scrutiny, you can see a clear transition. I also forgot to detail her heel, so the shoes are flat even though they shouldn't be~ They do help her to stand on her own though, so I guess it's not the worst thing in the world~

While I was doing the sculpting, I also made the wig.

Finding a yarn that would properly convey Kun3h0's hair color is nigh impossible, given the cartoony shading of them, so I settled for a median between the dark rasperry and hot pink and got this regular raspberry yarn. The unaltered pics make it look a little more purple than it actually is. It really is a warm raspberry color.

(I'd say that this is closer to the actual color, maybe a tad darker.)

Let me tell y'all, brushing out yarn wefts is not fun. I also felt like I wasn't doing it right since I lost a lot of material brushing it out. From the little research I did, this seems to be a common problem, but it doesn't sit right with me for so much of it to get wasted like that~

Another challenge I had is that there (of course) aren't very many resources for getting yarn wefts curly or how to make curly hairstyles using yarn wefts. I know that this is relatively easy to achieve with actual doll hair through boil washing, but that wasn't really a viable option for a yarn wig like this. Since I really wanted the hair to look naturally curly as opposed to looking like it was curled after the fact, I curled the hair before gluing it onto the wig cap, which was a mini-nightmare. I followed a video tutorial about how to make a pigtails wig, I just applied the methods to the curly hair.

I don't know if I just didn't make enough wefts to make the tails poofy enough, or if this method just wasn't suited for curly hair, but I just didn't get the volume I was looking for.

To achieve the fuller look that Kun3h0's puffs have, I glued some scrap yarn fluff in the center of the original puffs and just tried to manage the shape from there. It's not perfect, but I think I've more or less brought her original hair to life. It's hard to see since they get lost in the mess of hair, but I was even able to get those stray curls that she has to look nice~

However, for some reason, the wig really doesn't like to stay on. I dunno if it's the ears pushing it off, or if something else makes it loose, but it really doesn't like to stay on her head. I might try applying heat to the cap to see if I can get it to reshape around her head properly, but I don't have high hopes for that.

Overall, having made the wig and seen it in real life, I've confirmed something that I've kinda felt for a while: Kun3h0 really needs something on her head between her antenna. I feel like her antenna and the top of her head create a sort of "empty box" that is just asking to be filled with something. I recently did a drawing of Kun3h0 where I have her an ahoge, and I think it helps a lot.

It's a little too late to add this to the doll (and I don't even know how I'd go about it), but I think from now on, she's gonna have a curl that sticks up on the top of her head.

Moving on: the face.

I really wish I could get some clearer pictures here, because the eyes really aren't as bad as the pics make them look.

While I am trying to keep her right covered as much as possible, I did still paint both of them with acrylics. I don't have MSC or watercolor pencils like most of the pros do, so I made use of what I had. I'm certainly not getting that "crisp lineart" look that Kun3h0 is basically built on, but I don't think the results are horrible. They're sealed with a gloss varnish, so they don't photograph well, but I do like how the texture is very different from the skin, it almost sells that they're made of glass.

As for the other details, I did do the lining in dark purple, like I usually do for her lineart. I'm on the fence on if this works IRL or not. On the one hand, I feel like the purple lineart is a part of the character design, it helps balance out all the pinks, but when I only use the purple on the doll for the face (and her stomach paneling), I do wonder if it looks strange, and if I would have been better off lining her with dark brown instead.

In fact, I did the original sketch with brown for the paneling.

(Right eye not canon.)

But when I made the actual doll, I wound up doing purple anyway to match the eyelashes, so they wouldn't look as out of place.

Other details I wanted to mention are that the upper eyelashes/eyelid is actually a piece of painted foam that I glued on. I really wanted to achieve that cartoony look of how I usually draw the lashes over her hair, even if it doesn't make logical sense.

I wasn't able to do the same thing for the brows, but I still did something a little "special" with them.

Instead of making myself cry trying to get an accurate color-match with paint, her eyebrows are actually flocked using some of the leftover yarn. I've hardly seen anyone do this for a doll repaint, but I don't think this look would suit most brows anyway~

Overall, I'm only a *little* unsatisfied by the face-up, but my disappointment is mostly in the eye-shape. I didn't want to go against the face mold too much, but that meant that I couldn't really make the eye taller like Kun3h0's actually are. If the eye was any taller, the brows would have been right against the hairline, and that wouldn't be a great look IMO. I feel like 80% of Kun3h0's identity is in her face, so having it be even a little inaccurate does bring her down a little.

Lastly, I think all that's left to talk about is clothes and accessories.

I am personally really in love with the shorts and it's why I chose them to be the preview for this project. I added the beltloops after I took that pic, and I think they turned out so cute, even if you can see the stitching of the belt to the shorts.

I went through quite a few patterns trying to get them right. The Cave Club dolls don't seem to be super popular in customizer circles, so there aren't many if any patterns out there for them. At first I was just eyeballing a shorts pattern from this video and going through some trial and error trying to adapt them to the doll's body.

I made 3 or 4 pairs of shorts this way, but they all ended up too tight. In the end, I wound up using the "wrap-and-tape" method of pattern making, and made the shorts from there. I honestly wasn't too confident in the results, so I very haphazardly made the trial pair with this new pattern, but they fit so great that I wound up using the test shorts for the final product.

The top was not as successful. Unlike the shorts, I didn't start making test tops until I'd already done the wrap and tape. So the pattern making wasn't actually the hardest part: it was putting it together that was a nightmare.

While I was making the top, I would of course have Kun3h0 put it on to test the fit, which stretched out the fabric to a noticeable degree. This was one of the last things I worked on, so I was getting really fed up with working on this for so long, so I told myself that I would probably just hide it with paint later.

That was mistake number 1.

As I should have learned from painting Green's face, the paint hardened the fabric tremendously, giving it almost no stretch. Originally the plan was to use velcro to close the top in the back, but the pattern didn't account for the lack of stretch, so it's actually too small to close edge to edge. So, I had to cut velcro to extend beyond the actual clothes to close it up. So basically, there's a gaping hole in the back of her outfit and is the main reason why I refuse to post back pictures of this doll.

For the time being, I do consider this top to be a "prototype" and I'll probably remake it in the future with some improvements. But, painting the fabric after stitching it together is not the only mistake I made.

Since this top is a prototype, there's a lot of other things that I did in a bad order: I really should have done the hemming and put on the accents before putting the pieces together, but since I wasn't sure if the pattern would fit first, and thought I would have the energy to make a second better top, I didn't bother with it. This included the cuffs of the sleeve.

That was mistake number 2.

The way I made the sleeves is that the arms are really just a large trapazoid with the shoulder shape at the top. The idea was that I would just sew the large side to a piece of shorter elastic band which would serve as the cuffs. I figured this would cause the sleeve to look "ballooned" at the end. And it kinda worked. You can kinda see how it turned out on her right sleeve in the first picture, but actually sewing it together was kinda terrible because the only way I could think of to do this was to sew the cuff and sleeve separately first, then sew them together, and that just seems ass-backwards to me, but I couldn't think of any other way to do it, and it came out with the cuff being mostly obscured anyway. I tried a different method on the left sleeve, so the cuff is more visible, but the sleeve shape is worse.

So if/when I remake this top, I'm still gonna do this in my ass-backwards way, I've just got to figure out how to keep the sleeve from eating the cuff.

Otherwise, I think the top would actually be pretty cute. I was really getting tired of working on it at the end, so a lot of the details are actually hot-glued on instead of being sewn. The faux-zipper pull is a *little* large, but it's something I had that I thought would work, and I actually really like the oversized look. It works for the proportions of the doll and helps bring in the heart motif that's getting a little lost in the sloppiness of my painting~

The last thing I think worth talking about is the mini GAB.

I thought I'd taken a pic of it by itself, but I guess not. Anyway, the only thing I wanted to say about it is that there's a little "clip" on the back made from wire that allows it to hook onto Kun3h0's belt and be held in her hand. I dunno, I just really like the little accessories, and that little feature amuses me~

But that's it for now. I am actually working on two other accessories for her:

The doll came with a pet dinosuar that I'm currently turning into her GAB.

It's just about the right size to be in scale with Kun3h0, and the hair is basically already the same as GAB's. I've already modified the base with clay and cut off the bits I don't need. It's mostly a matter of sanding and painting right now. I have no idea how or if I'm going to get the collar onto it without it looking bad, but I'll give it a try. If all else fails, I'll just make a tiny bow-tie like GAB!classic~

I don't have a pic of this one, but the doll also came with some sort of flower pot thing that I'm turning into her drill using a metal piping tip for the drill head~ I'll post about them in an "accessories DLC" when they're both finished.

But wait... if you've made it this far, and you saw my preview post, then you might notice that there's one accessory missing.

Well, this mask doesn't actually fit Kun3h0...

But it does fit someone else.

[seaofreverie]

Sparkstember Day 6: Big Beat (Big Boy)

Wooohoooo, Big Beat! Our favourite little "questionable lyrics" album. Anyway, this one's lots of fun. Full of unrefutable bangers and hard rocking that's not like anything else that Sparks have done for the most part (and it's still very Sparks despite that). But yeah, this is a very strange era for them that I find pretty charming actually, and I think that for the full Big Beat experience one must watch the Capitol Theatre concert from this era (funnily, my favourite bit of it isn't even a song from this album... it's Equator, and, well, this is the exact type of theatricality that I'm a really big fan of, haha)

While I undoubtedly DO like this album, there must also be a reason I don't revisit it all that often. And I think, well, is it just just me or are lots of songs here just kind of... way too simple? Musically speaking (too), and while I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to this type of music that's much more on the rock than pop side of things, and my first impression here was very positive, well, afterwards... I either forgot about it altogether or often had a feeling of "can we move on now" when songs from this album came on shuffle and such. Even listening to this album today I had lots of those moments, like it's not that I don't like these songs... I guess they're just less engaging than I'm used to from Sparks (cause I don't want to call them boring, I think it's a bit of a different thing...).

Also interesting, because despite all this, the 21×21 Big Beat concert is actually a pretty big fav of mine. So I guess my thesis for today is that it's the type of album that works better live maybe!

Favourite songs (and other highlights):

Big Boy: just a good opener and fun song all around, and here's a fun fact about it: about a half of this song's length is just its title being said. Which means that the song Big Boy consists of 50% pure Big Boy

I Want To Be Like Everybody Else: sadly, a bit of a victim of Spotify Shuffle really wanting me to listen to it over and over and it getting a bit old fast

I Bought The Mississippi River: my fav here by far and also the most interesting and memorable, I really like the call & response part, and the guitar solos, the whole atmosphere is great, reminds me a little bit of High C even now that I think about it... Not sure though, I JUST thought about this

Confusion: one of the only songs here that I could see as part of some other album from around this time without it sticking out too much. Makes sense if we keep its origins in mind...

Screwed Up: it's fun to imagine sometimes that the 60s just happened

I Like Girls: COME ON, GIIIIIIRLS!!!

Tearing The Place Apart + Looks Aren't Everything: I love all the bonus tracks here but these two especially are a nice (and unexpected) return to the Indiscreet style which I really love

[king-paimon]

Houseki no Kuni Chapter 106 Thoughts: Bon Voyage...

Hello all. I hope these last few months have been kind to you in some way. These months have been... a lot. Some very good things happened, and some very bad. I wish we lived in a world were tragedies were just fiction, but that sadly isn't the case. I won't elaborate, but I promise, I'm okay. I just hope 2024 improves, though I know for many others, just hoping isn't enough.

I'm sorry for this late post. Once again, real life had me so distracted that I honestly forgot about Houseki no Kuni's chapter coming out this month. I only remembered when I saw activity around my older HnK posts.

Well, I finished reading the chapter and it was very beautiful and sad in different ways. I'll share more of my thoughts, though I don't think it'll be as long or detailed as my previous ones to be honest... Though I could be wrong! We'll see how it fairs. And who knows? Maybe I'll make another post to dissect this chapter further. But for now, I'll just write whatever comes to mind and try to make it as coherent as possible. I hope you like it. And as always, please feel free to share your own thoughts!

Here we go!

Thunderous Spectacle: The Final Journey

Once again, Ms. Haruko Ichikawa decided to flex her art skills by making beautiful, bombastic illustrations that encapsulates the chaos that is happening on Earth. And the ship departing looks straight out of a sci-fi movie; my mind went to Star Trek when I first saw those pages. Maybe Dune would be more appropriate; I actually don't know, I haven't read or watched Dune, though I hear it's very good.

I wish I had more to say about the visuals for this chapter, but I think they speak for themselves. I will say though...It's moments like this when I marvel... this was originally about a silly gem child trying to find their place in the world. And this is how their journey is finally coming to an end. Almost nothing is recognizable. This certainly was not how I thought this story, or specifically Phos' story, was going to unfold. I wonder if this was Haruko Ichikawa's plan from the beginning? Who can say...

Speaking of plans... Let's talk about Phos's and Eyeball's conversation.

Manipulation or Consideration: Humanity's Parting "Gift"

That was an interesting conversation Eyeball and Phos had when they were finishing up putting the little pebbles onto the ship. I think I remember stating in the last post how I thought it was odd that the Lunarians had this ship prepared for Phos. I'm glad this was somewhat addressed, but the conversation reveals that there was more behind this literal Deus ex Machina ship.

(I will never stop calling it that)

So if I'm understanding Eyeball's logic, Adamant and the Lunarians were considering Phos in the end? That after Phos fulfilled their last duties to the remnants of humanity that they'd be given the chance to leave the planet with whatever species came about before the planet died- Oh. Wait.

Wait.

Was this the thing that Adamant and Aechmea were alluding to back in chapter 96???

Oh my goodness, I think it was.

As I was typing this and going over some of the saved pages I had from the previous chapters, I saw the one with Euclase and I suddenly remembered their weird conversation with Adamant and Aechmea. I also remembered wondering what the heck they meant in the later chapters since their plan for Phos seemed to only be self serving.

HUH.

( Please let me know if I'm way off! For all I know, I could be making stuff up, but oh my goodness, when I made that connection AAaahh)

This was not how this portion was originally going to go, but there you go. I was going to talk about how twisted but not surprising how calculated everything was from the the Lunarians and the other ruminants of humanity's end. And I was also going to mention how the Doctor also fit into this since she was also calculated and manipulative in her own ways. Despite the different forms it takes, humanity didn't seem to change much in this world...

I was also going to originally say that the Deus ex machina ship feels like a backhanded "gift" for Phos, especially after everything that happened to them. And though I still feel that way, after thinking back to chapter 96, I'm now starting to see Phos's perspective of this gift. That despite everything that they put them through, Phos's former families still left this parting gift for them so they could live on elsewhere after they are long gone and when Phos was free from their duties. It's still a backhanded gift in my opinion, but it showed that they cared... at least a bit.

And the fact that their plan also included Eyeball is just wow. I do not blame his small, comedic outburst for that realization. He was manipulated too from the getgo!

At least in the end, Phos chose not to go into the ship. Phos intended to burn that bridge. Even though this thought was implanted by Sensei, Adamant, and the Lunarians, Phos still made that choice on their own and they are owning it. It's bittersweet, though, because regardless of whether or not they stayed or went, Phos's decisions were still a result of them being manipulated one way or another. Pretty much a lose-lose kind of situation, but at least the choice that Phos chose in the end still aligned with what they wanted in they end.

They are giving Eyeball and the little pebbles a chance for a fresh start while Phos can finally end the cycle... By taking humanity and himself to bitter end...

Or does he?

Goodnight, Phosphophyllite

The final farewell between Phos and Eyeball was touching. In a last minute decision to give Phos closure and in an act of true salvation, Eyeball took the last piece of Phos with him. The true remaining piece of Phosphophyllite. To me, this action felt more earnest and heartwarming than the Deus Ex Machina Ship (but that's just me).

What will happen with that piece of Phosphophyllite? Who knows? Maybe that piece will gain sentience and live a peaceful life with the pebbles? A life free of all the constraints as well as the freedoms that was intentionally and unintentionally reinforced within societies created by the former remnants of humanity? I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

As for the Phos that was left behind? The Phos that we've watch evolve from the beginning to end? They will finally rest.

They will finally, and truly be free.

(Albeit in a seemingly not so pleasant way?? Well, they weren't complaining so maybe the lava and other harsh elements isn't hurting them. I hope that's the case.)

I had the feeling that this chapter will be the last time we see Phos, or at least this version of Phos, and it would be a sad but proper send off.

But after seeing THIS at the end, I'm not so sure:

Of course Haruko Ichikawa decides to be cheeky with that little note. Ma'am. Why did you say this???

Is this her roundabout way of saying that Phos is kind of back to square 1? Of being the lonely, jobless Phos who no longer has a purpose and is left with nothing to do but "think." That's pretty funny/messed up joke if that's what she's hinting at.

But again, we'll have to wait and see.

WELP. That's all I have for you all. I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'd love to hear what you thought about this chapter. We're nearly at the end of this saga. We're are almost there...

Please be worth it.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Ok I have returned with a request for sjsm so here I go, could you do spooky who meets reader who is a ghost has been at the mansion long before the specimens made the mansion their home along with spooky

"Boo!! Did I scare you??"

"Ah...! You did! You gave me quite a fright!" Pretending to faint, you placed a hand over your still heart. Then the tiniest of grins formed on your lips as you gazed down at the blue-haired girl in a devil costume.

Somehow this 9 year old child--who called herself "Spooky" and insisted that was her real name--managed to infiltrate the mansion that you inherited from your elders...which you now haunted for all eternity after passing on a long time ago.

You don't recall what exactly did you in, but it was just tragic enough for you to become a ghost. And until you figured out what or why...you'll remain here, attached to this mansion. It was actually not half-bad, although it did get quite lonely up here, especially in recent years.

Rumors around the town began to spread about the precise origins of the mansion.....none of which were true, but sadly you couldn't give any of them the whole story, even if you tried.

Any contact you've attempted to make with humans would only lead to them pointing at you, screaming "ghost" at the top of their lungs, and promptly running away with their hands in the air.

That's how it's been for decades...although as of late people have become less superstitious. They started seeing ghosts, poltergeists, etc. as things of fiction. The only ones they "believed in" were Halloween costumes where kids wore white sheets and cut-out two holes for the eyes.

Apparently, the rumors of your mansion ceased to exist as well. So you haven't had a visitor in a long time....until Spooky came along and bravely entered alone.

Despite her name, the truth was that she was far too cute to ever be considered "spooky". But you didn't want her to feel discouraged, especially after she mentioned her own parents believing she's too young to be interested in Edgar Allan Poe. So you went along with her act to keep her happy.

As they say, "confidence is key".

"Good." Smirking in triumph, Spooky set down her plastic pitchfork on one of the tables, before climbing up the bunk bed ladder, sitting on the top mattress. There, she emptied her pumpkin-themed bucket upside down, candy spilling out into a pile. "Say...do you like candy?"

"I used to." You nodded, floating up to see her sorting her treats into different stacks. "But I can't exactly...eat it anymore."

"..ohhh, right, right..." She muttered, looking disappointed that she forgot that simple fact, although her cheerful attitude perked right back up. "Sooooo what's it like being a ghost? I bet you're a natural at scaring people! Can you teach me some tricks??" She tilted her head curiously.

"Ah, well..I don't do anything special." You shook your head, sighing. "I just need to...appear to them and they'd freak out. Nowadays, kids just come up this hill and dare each other to knock on the door. If they do see me...they call me a "dumb actor". Nothing I do scares them anymore. I wish I had some good advice for you, Spooks, but the truth is nobody believes in ghosts anymore. We're just make-believe to them..."

Although you felt kinda bad for dumping your problems on this child, she seemed to be absolutely focused on your words, her frown only growing as she munched on a chocolate bar. She gazed up at the full moon in thought, although she wondered how the glass windows stayed squeaky-clean when they were alllll the way up there.

But she snapped out of it, realizing there's a more pressing issue at hand:

Ghosts weren't taken seriously anymore.

There had to be a way to change that!

"Hmph..I think what this town needs is a haunted house...a real one. Not a cheap cardboard maze or anything dumb like that." She huffed. "This place is a perfect setting! Maybe one day I can help you haunt this place! And we can invite some friends and build up our own ghost army! That way, everybody will be scared again!"

You blinked in surprise at her never-ending optimism. She was truly an advocate for ghosts. 'Wow...for a nine year old, her imagination is quite vast..'

"It..would be a good way to remind people that the dead are still living among them.." You agreed. "I do miss hearing their screams of fear."

"Yes! I mean..who dares say you're "make-believe"?? You're the living--or erm..unliving proof that ghosts still exist!" She was swift to correct herself, puffing her cheeks out. "I promise you, [y/n]...someday people will take us seriously. We'll even show the whole world what ghosts are capable of!!"

"I'm sure we will, Spooks. I'm sure we will.." Chuckling softly, you entertained the idea, but knew something like that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

After all, this was just the product of one Halloween fan's overactive imagination.

There's no way she could singlehandedly assemble an entire army of ghosts without becoming a ghost herself..

..right?

[notnights]

Random fun acetate ribbun fact? Good fic!!!!

As in this is your fun fact, or you're asking me for a fun fact? (Either way thanks hehe.)

Uh lets see fun fact. I mentioned this the other day but deleted it because I don't like giving away too much about a story though it's technically not spoilers either but like people to figure out the beats themselves. But ehh uhhh:

Its about Kinger and Queenie being the original hanahaki case in the in the story. I dropped a few hints about it, but I don't know how well it came across. It's hard to know what a reader's view might be compared to yours when you know all the twist and turns you put in ya know?

Since we know nothing about those two yet, I kind of threw them under the narrative bus in the sense I used them in whatever way I wanted to help with the story lol. One day we're gonna find out what their deal was, and my fic will be outdated as it possibly depicts them as completely inaccurate. (Imagine they're divorced.)

I was originally going to leave just a single hint in chapter one as a solo; Kinger mentioning he was vomiting up affection. As well as him explaining how yellow camellias symbolize longing; fitting for them in the Digital Circus. They long for an escape; it's their default flower. And then him gifting camellias to Queenie, was meant to imply he was also vomiting up those same flowers.

I however ended up adding more hints in chapter 3 and 4 though. I'll leave those as a surprise to reread for unless folks can't find them and want me to point them out.

This was meant to be evident to the audience, but not to the characters. As every time the couple come up I also have Gangle look at them as a frame of reference. She admires this love they had, that she never saw herself. How nice it must have been compared to this horrible love story she's experiencing now. But she is blissfully ignorant that Kinger and Queenie also had a rough start.

Admittedly NOT as rough of a start as Gangle and Jax did of course. I like to imagine Caine gave them the same prescription but, Queenie was neutral about Kinger before then, unlike Gangle who already resented Jax. And Kinger was kind to Queenie prior to his illness unlike Jax who's been nothing by terrible to Gangle even after falling for her.

So we can assume our King and Queen chess piece had a more typical hanahaki story. A bit reluctant at first, but ultimately became a loving couple. That the second Digital Circus hanahaki couple puts on a pedestal to compare themselves to, without even knowing they also suffered from similar (but less intense) problems.

I also like to think Kinger forgot the details of this event himself. He remembers being sick, Queenie nursing him back to health, him being very affectionate, namely in giving her a lot of flowers. But he doesn't specifically remember the case itself. Maybe doesn't even remember these being connected.

He has vague recallings, such as Caine taping up the door, Gangle showing him rare colored flowers then mentioning Jax is sick, but sadly it's not enough to bring the memory back in full. Just thoughts of "huh this seems familiar..."

Likewise, if Caine forgot, you know poor Kinger did, as I imagine Caine's memory is a lot sturdier than Kinger's. My excuse for Caine forgetting is that, if he's an AI, he still has limitations due to the computer he's attached to. Could be fantasy digital with endless memory and infinite terabytes, but for this lets say he only has so much memory to work with.

So finer unneeded details get deleted to ensure he continues to have space for new ones. Recognizes what hanahaki is, but doesn't have the specific name or exact reference for it until he looks it up again. Doesn't remember who was involved in the original case, or how exactly it was resolved. Just that "we had this before; this fixed it! Somehow!" He didn't delete the memory completely because, what if this happened again! Needs to hold onto a piece of it just in case.

So uh anyways there's the implied and hidden Kinger and Queenie lore in my fic.

And you also may be wondering how exactly was Kinger capable of throwing up you may be wondering? ???? ????

????? ?????? ?? ?? ???

[drachenfalter]

So almost done with the live action, I thought it was time to just collect some of my thoughts:

The first twenty minutes were great, helping to flesh out the airbenders a bit and introducing the world.

The bending and sets are both great.

Sadly, then we get Exposition Gran Gran,

Gran Gran "Oh, wait, did we do the intro already? Well, just in case, I'd better recite the whole thing word for word again."

(They did a version of the intro, and they did it better.)

Gran Gran "Oh, of course I know that he is the Avatar! How do I know this? Beats me, but I'd better tell my granddaughter in case he forgot to mention it."

Sadly, this overexposition is not the only incident, though it isn't quite as bad in later episodes.

Aang is different, but not bad as a character, though he's a lot less optimistic

Which is not surprising, considering her spends half the season listening to adults that blame him for his disappearance or tell him he needs to become some loner warrior without any close friends.

(Really, that BS is almost feeling like they're tryring to "Man of Steel" Aang here? Which is bizarre because at another point, Katara tells us point blank that his true strength lies in connecting to people.

Also, why does Aang not even try to waterbend until they've reached the NWT? If he's so determined, you'd think he'd get on that as soon as he can, not the other way around.

Sokka is probably the closest, though they put more focus on his inventor side (we see his contraptions in the first episode) and it seems they want to put that into conflict with the expectation of being a warrior.

Also, Sokka apparently flirted with a (female) fire nation soldier off-screen?

...And why is his worst memory about his dad being disappointed because he nearly failed his ice-dodging challenge? Is he not Katara's brother anymore?

Suki and Sokka were cute, I guess

Zuko's actor is great, and has some fantastic scenes here.

But I don't like how they portray him as someone who would attack a downed opponent or burn down a village because they didn't help him - that goes against one of the core traits of cartoon zuko, who had a code of honor even in Book 1.

(Yes, there is a scene in the Agni Kai that might connect to that scene with Katara, but it still doesn't work for me.)

BUT

I love the idea that Zuko accidentally becomes Aang's best teacher, the guy who "wrote the book" on being the Avatar.

Now for Katara...

Look, I'm gonna put the blame on the writers and directors here, but as other's have noted, we really lost Katara's anger here.

Worse, they don't go the north because she wants to learn waterbending. Instead, that is just a "hey, if we're already going there" thing.

They also decide to start her out with being barely able to bend, and then after one talk with Aang, she suddenly can bend and even is the one stopping Zuko's fireball at the end of the episode.

The bigger problem is though that they completely removed the prison break and the pirate scene, which in the OG help show Katara's skill and will to fight and master waterbending.

Which is probably why the "I want to fight" talk in the north falls flat - well, or maybe it's because she says it to Yagoda, not Pakku.

Worse, they removed the few weeks of training between Katara challenging Pakku and the Siege of the North.

-> Maybe they'll do something interesting in the last episode, but I'm not holding out hope.

A few other things:

What did they do to ZHAO?

Right now, it feels like they've nerfed Zhao to justify Azula's inclusion - I haven't seen the siege yet, but with how he was portrayed so far, I wouldn't be surprised if they changed it so she came up with the whole "killing the moon" plan.

Mai and Ty Lee feel like "extras" right now. That is, without the context of the original show, you'd think they are just sycophantic nobodies only there to cheer up Azula.

I don't think Mai even touched a knife at this point.

(Like, they have Azula doing archery. They could have easily had Mai do the same, hinting at her marksmanship.)

Ty Lee's actress is clearly trying her best to be Ty Lee, but they aren't giving her anything to work with either.

There are some nice scenes fleshing out the Zuko and Iroh relationship, I'll give them that.

But also

WHAT DID THEY DO TO BUMI?

Is he supposed to be suicidal here? Trying to force Aang to crush him under a ton of rocks? Because it didn't feel like a trick.

Koh feels - less menacing, somehow? Just letting his prisoners go the moment Aang does something nice for him.

Oh, and I did not expect water bending witch sorry, priestress Yue who is living half of her live as a fox-spirit in the spirit world.

Yue feels like a completely different character so far, but I assume they'll still make her die to revive the moon spirit.

I guess the escape from Pohuai was great and so was Aang fanboying over Zuko's writing.

Uh, I'm sure I'll come up with more, but I'll end this ramble for now.

But in conclusion, I have to think of those characters as different charactes with no relation to the OG versions.

Also, I would say it's better if you don't know the original series, but they leave so much out I'm not sure you can understand this one without doing so.

[pjunicornart]

Late night ramble incoming.

It's been a hot minute since I've tried to write fanfiction/original stories. I used to write all the time, but as I grew up my focus shifted to my end goal project, Student's Echoes.

I used to write a lot of Undertale and Meet the Robinsons fanfiction, but sadly I got rid of most of the notebooks that had all that in them. I remember specifically hyperfixating on the Undertale Nerd and Jock AU, as I do now. It was my favorite AU then and it still is now (especially since recently I've seen it being remade without the problems).

The NaJ fic I was the most proud of was one I made for a ship. It wasn't about any of the "core" ships at the time. It was between Paperjam and an early version of an OC of mine, Mintalene (Mint). I remember in the original idea for NaJ, PJ was being hit on by a cheerleader-rabbit girl. I don't know if she ever had an official name, but I've always just called her BonBon. That's why her SE counterpart has that name. (I also could be completely misremembering this.) Anyways, Mint was essentially what I dubbed the "nicer alternative" to BonBon. She was sweet, had a little spark to her, and she actively called PJ out on his bullying bullshit. I specifically recall writing BonBon to be like... the jealous spoiled rich mean girl type. Which to be fair probably wouldn't have been too far off. It's funny remembering this fic because Mint now is totally different. She's now a college student majoring in theater/acting who has no romantic/sexual attraction towards men whatsoever. She's also notably more "punk" as opposed to "cheery" nowadays.

As for Meet the Robinsons style fics, I remember the classic "What if Lewis was never given up for adoption?" query. Which, funnily enough got revamped to who I call "Reboot Lewis". It hits a lot of the same notes the original fic did, just more fleshed out and you know... logical. Miscellaneous ones I did were about a lot of my AU Lewis'... but I did do another original one, this time focusing on a ship! Not between Franny and Lewis though, no. And definitely not Timecest. I refuse to touch that with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole. Seriously, they are father and son, gross. But Lewis and Lizzy. For those who are unaware (or you forgot), Lizzy was a character we only see briefly near the beginning of the movie in the first science fair scene. She's notably goth and she seems to have an infatuation for fire ants. Lizzy is the stereotypical "weird goth girl" I'd say. Like when Mr. Willerstein notes that fire ants have the tendency to bite people, she says "Only my enemies" and raises an eyebrow while still scowling. Later when the sprinklers are on and all hell is breaking loose in the gym, she can be seen in the background smiling like a maniac. Anyways I made a ship fic between her and Lewis. Why? Dunno, I thought it would be funny. Now I ship her with Franny and Lewis as a polycule, and all of them share the same bi for bi energy.

Yeah... I don't think a single one of the main/prominent one off characters in that movie are straight. Aside from Stanley and Goob, they seem straighter than planks of wood to me. But Lewis, Wilbur, Franny, and Lizzy are all LGBT is some way. I headcanon Lewis as bisexual, with a 50-50 preference split (however I remember a couple times where I would write him as an FTM trans bi boy, though this is not my go to headcanon). I see Franny as a bi girl with more of a preference for men, and Lizzy the opposite. Wilbur is just gay. You cannot convince me otherwise. I would always lean into these headcanons while writing these characters in fics. Like a line about Lewis finding a male classmate cute or Lizzy looking at a girl for an uncomfortably long time. You know, stuff like that.

All this to say that I kinda miss just writing short stories and longer works. Might try to get back into it one of these days. Maybe not for NaJ, but Meet the Robinsons. WE NEED MORE MTR FICS ON THE INTERNET! AND IF NO ONE ELSE IS GONNA MAKE THEM THEN I'LL DO IT MYSELF, DAMN IT!

Alright, I'm done rambling for the night.

[detectiveichijouji]

Case 8 - The fake Calling Card

[AO3 version!!]

Due to his fame growing faster than he imagined, Arsenemon recent heists were not involved with the pieces of that Digimental, but more… Objects stolen from the digimon and the Digital World by humans.

The recent one was just a pair of boxing gloves stolen from a Gaomon.

“Sigh…”

Arsenemon felt completely upset with the human kind. It didn’t feel like what he heard about the humans -- including the legendary Chosen Children -- was real. Humans are just… Greedy creatures right? Soon or later this could attract the infamous Demon Lords, or he thought.

Not even the caper game felt right for him… But he couldn’t turn his back on his own kind. He couldn’t abandon them at all. Maybe focusing on the treasure and trying to make those ‘Chosen  Child Detectives’ do the right thing? Somehow he felt like Ken and the others weren’t bad people. This strange thought came into his mind countless times before and now.

“Hey boss!” Espimon floated around Arsenemon, “Do ya think the humans are bad?”

“I can’t answer that, sadly” he sounded melancholic somehow?

“Hmm… Oh?” the cyborg digimon spotted something curious with her visor “Boss, did you send a Calling Card already?”

“Huh??” the other blinked, “What are you talking about?!”

“I saw one of the Chosen Child detectives with one in hand right now.”

“W-what…!?”

Arsenemon gasped, did he… Did he send one and forgot? No, he didn’t remember doing it so… He immediately had an enormous curiosity right now, so he changed his form during his way to the ground and calmly walked in the crowd.

The person with the mysterious calling card was Daisuke, somehow. And Arsenemon just took the shape of Ken. As expected, Daisuke saw him and went immediately to talk.

“Ken, the sneaky thief sent another calling card!”

“Did he?” he replied. Then, ‘Ken’ immediately took the card from Daisuke’s hand and read it.

It was not exactly like Arsenemon’s cards. It was just a black card with a 5-year-old drawing of a cat. But the message was way more suspicious: 

~Tonight, I will steal the Terriermon and Lopmon twin’s Gen Emerald and Chen Garnet jewels respectively~ ᓚᘏᗢ

“This is an insult to my art !!!” Arsenemon thought, trying to keep himself calm outside.

“I only know one person with a Terriermon and a Lopmon and he lives in New York” Daisuke seemed to not notice the lack of flamboyance in the calling card, and this made Arsenemon a bit more irritated by that, “Do ya think he’s Arsenemon’s target?”

“Hmm…” and ‘Ken’ rested his chin on his hand -- How should I answer that… -- he thought.

“But Wallace never mentioned about them having uh, gems? Maybe it’s another Chosen Child? One who spoils their partner with fancy jewelry?”

“I’d like to investigate that, but it’s a little strange…” the other replied, “Doesn’t Arsenemon have their own pattern for those cards?”

“A… A pattern?” Daisuke blinked, “What do ya mean!?”

“Nevermind. Contact the others and tell them there’s a new mystery to be solved.”

“Uh… right?” Daisuke frowned, and then he noticed a critical detail -- “Ah, wait a second.”

“Hm?”

“Where’s Wormmon?” Chibimon asked, from Daisuke’s shoulder.

“He’s at home. Don’t worry, I will catch him and we will meet in a few hours.”

“Alright!” and then Daisuke left.

“How can that kid not realize the differences between that atrocity and my talented art!?” Arsenemon muttered in indignation, and then he left the streets to meet with Espimon. He changed his form back to his original one.

“Did you figure it out, boss?”

“Seems like a copycat intends to steal X-antibody digimon’s items.”

“Is there any Chosen Child with one?”

“Let’s search for them, and then steal them from the fake-me and return them back to their respective owners.”

“Ooh, sounds like a plan!!”

The 02 Team met in the same karaoke booth, again. Miyako definitely had become a member of that place just in case they needed the booth for their operations.

“Here’s the thing!”

Daisuke showed them the calling card. Everyone glanced at it and at Daisuke for a moment. Ken was still absent though… (As Miyako put: ‘Busy with school activities’ ) But Daisuke didn’t realize that who he talked with wasn’t Ken…

“Daisuke-san…” Iori broke the silence, “Are you sure this calling card came from Arsenemon himself?”

“Yeah! It’s black and has a cat on it!!”

“Hmm…” Miyako, Armadimon and Patamon squinted their eyes at it.

“But, we don’t know what he looks like…” Takeru, Hawkmon and Tailmon said next.

“Yeah…” Iori added, with a poker face “How can you be so sure a black card with a cat’s picture is related to him?”

“... I… Uhh…” Daisuke now had been full of doubts, “Maybe he likes cats!?”

“Daisuke’s trying to say he doesn’t know who's the sender” V-mon shrugged, “He just said ‘Arsenemon’ because he ran out of options.”

“You shouldn’t accuse someone like that!” Hikari pouted. It’s not like she believes the card was fake, but she would rather not accuse others without enough proof.

“S-sorry…” Daisuke frowned, he made Hikari mad at him… Oh noooooo!!

“What if we compare the previous cards?” Hawkmon suggested, “Then we could verify the authenticity of this one.”

“Oh! Good idea!” Daisuke grinned, “Then, does anyone have one?”

The booth got silent again.

“Guys?”

“Inspector Fujieda took them away from us, haha…” Takeru chuckled nervously.

“Wh--”

“She said it’s a criminal’s letter and those must be kept by the police!! 💦” Patamon added quickly.

“ • • • 💧”

“He’s not a criminal though…” V-mon shrugged, “I mean, can a digimon be caught and be judged by human laws?”

Everyone looked at V-mon, speechless.

“What? Did I say something wrong?”

“N-no… You got a point…” Miyako replied quickly.

“That’s not important now! We have to find whoever has those jewels and protect them!” Daisuke snorted angrily, “It’s our job to help the digimon!!”

Thus both sides started searching for the Terrier-Lop digimon with those jewels. It wouldn’t be that hard… Right? But from Daisuke’s team they only knew the American Chosen Child named Wallace. It wouldn’t make sense if he was the target, considering Arsenemon was after stuff localized in Japan so far. So why would he suddenly target a boy from the other side of the Earth?

But… Wallace wasn’t the only Chosen Child to have been partnered with a Terriermon. Nor with a Lopmon.

“Ta-ku-mi.”

A sassy easygoing sister and an awkward serious brother. The Aiba siblings live in a suburb area and go to the Inoden High School together. They had their first digimon encounter when they were little, around August 2000. Takumi is the oldest and has been partnered with a Lopmon, while the sister a Terriermon (and both digimon twins were alike as their partners as well)

“What?” Takumi was reading the newspaper when his sister called him. All he did was move his head to the side to see her putting a ribbon on Lopmon, who was not satisfied with it, “Ami please… Lopmon hates to wear a bowtie…”

“But!!”

“P-please don’t take a photo of me with this…!!” Lopmon muttered, he wasn’t enjoying that ridiculous scene.

“Oh come on, Garnet~” Ami smiled at him, “Look, your sister likes ribbons!!”

“Emerald likes everything though…”

Terriermon was sitting next to Takumi, also wearing a bowtie, “Ami what if we try something else? Like a tie?”

“I don’t want anything like that!!” Lopmon protested with a tiny stomp.

“Ami…” Takumi sighed.

“Ok ok, no more fashion accessories!” she removed the bowtie from Lopmon, “Sorry Garnet…”

“The only accessory I need is my birth gem!”

“Yeah!” Terriermon nodded in agreement, “Leave the cute bows and ribbons to me~”

Outside, a shadow with long ears in a cat’s format was watching them from the window and hidden in a tree from the yard. Those eyes were fixated on the gems the two digimon had in one of their ears. But they couldn’t make a move now… It’s still morning, right?

“Ah Takumi/Ami, you’re going to be late for school.” the twin digimon said to their respective human partner.

“Oh, that’s right!!” and the Aiba twins would exclaim in their own ways. They were already done with breakfast and had their uniforms on, so all they needed was to turn everything off and lock the house.

Once they were leaving, the digimon floated around them. Yes, the digimon would go to school with them, just like any other school allowing them to be brought. With the number of humans with a digivice and a partner growing year by year, some places had to create a special area to leave your digimon around, like a room or a playground. The Inoden High School opted to let the digimon from their students stay in the yard or inside a free classroom in the building. The easygoing sister Terriermon would like to be chatting with everyone so she stays outside, meanwhile the more serious and reserved brother… He prefers to stay inside the building minding his own business (by reading comics and books)

“BOSS!! I FOUND THEM!!”

Espimon spent the entire morning scanning all of Tokyo's cameras to discover anything about those twin-digimon’s jewels. Arsenemon was just sulking because he just heard Daisuke say “maybe he likes cats!” when he was eavesdropping disguised as a karaoke employee.

“Boss??”

“Did you find something?” Arsenemon looked at his partner-in-crime. She nodded her head, “Good, let’s send a LEGIT calling card this time.”

“Ah… you’re still… offended by that fake card… 💧”

“Of course I am!” he pouted and gestured dramatically to make a calling card with his magical power, “This is a fine art! My art is supposed to be admired, not to be ripped off!!”

“Well, technically phantom thieves send calling cards in this world too…”

“But who would add a poorly drawn cat in it!? Is this like a little enfant trying to copy moi !?”

“Maybe…??”

“Then! This enfant needs to stop!” Now I need to find that Chosen Child again…”

“Hmm… He’s at the nearest ramen shop.”

“Perfect.”

“Thanks for the meal!!” Daisuke and V-mon said together, once the old man put their bowls in front of them. It was a small ramen cart down the street, and it had been Daisuke’s favorite place to eat after school and meetings with the 02 Team.

But, magically the ramen bowl “exploded” in front of Daisuke’s eyes and a black card appeared from it. Of course it was all an illusion trick and his ramen was still inside the bowl…

V-mon grabbed the paper floating, “Oh, Daisuke it’s… Another calling card!!”

“A-another!?” He took the paper from V-mon’s hands and read it.

‘‘Mon ami, this is a real piece of art. Don’t forget it. Tonight I will go to Aiba Takumi & Ami’s residence and steal the gem pieces from the Imposteur. Please keep this little souvenir with you ,,

“... W-what is this…?” the boy squinted his eyes, now there’s TWO calling cards in his possession…

This one was made of a refined and fancy black card with a golden paw in it.

“There’s two calling cards now!!” V-mon exclaimed “Oh, this one here is fancier…”

“ ‘Keep this souvenir’? Whaddya mean…?”

“There’s something… here” V-mon pointed to the back of the card, which actually was an envelope. He opened it for Daisuke, who was holding the ‘calling envelope card’ and they examined its content.

“!! Is this…!?” they exclaimed together, eyes widened.

Later…

“Ken-kun couldn’t come” Miyako said, right when Daisuke had called them to gather at the karaoke booth again, “He apologized and said the soccer team dragged him to some special training for the regional finals”

“Man…!!” Daisuke pouted, “This ain’t time for that!!”

“Look!!” V-mon snatched the card-envelope from Daisuke’s hands, “Arsenemon sent another calling card!! And this one has… coordinates to something!”

“Coordinates?” Iori blinked.

“He also mentioned an… Impor--something.”

“Imposter!” V-mon corrected him, “I think it was written funny…”

“It doesn’t matter, something’s off here!!” Daisuke yanked the card-envelope from V-mon’s hands, “Why would he send something like this!? Is he making fun of us!?”

“Ichijouji-kun might not be available for this, but we are” Takeru gently took the card from Daisuke’s hand, “Let’s see where those coordinates will lead us. Miyako-san, please?”

“Alright!” she said, and Takeru handed her the calling card.

Suddenly, Tailmon’s sharp senses noticed someone watching them, which she informed the others and then Daisuke, Hikari, Takeru and their partners left… to chase someone suspicious enough -- It was a digimon in a coat and fedora. And they started to run the moment they realized the kids and partner-mons were after them.

That suspect managed to escape… And ended up in front of the Inoden High School building.

“We can’t go in, right…?” V-mon innocently asked Daisuke, Hikari and Takeru. The humans and other two digimon took a while to think how to proceed.

“Right!” Daisuke punched the palm of his hand with his fist, “Let’s infiltrate! First we need uhh… Uhhh…”

While Daisuke was forcing his brain to formulate a plan, Takeru intercepted the first student coming out and… “If you say we’re friends I will let you eat the best ramen of the town.”

“A-ah, Takeru don’t--”

The male student, Amazawa Keisuke glanced at Takeru and nodded his head. Daisuke was in awe of how this dude just accepted to pretend to be their friend in return for food.

“H-HE ACCEPTED IT!?”

After a first introduction and getting inside the school facilities… They had to spread out and search for their suspect. Hikari and Tailmon went to the north area, Takeru and Patamon to the east area, and Daisuke and V-mon to the west area. It wouldn’t be hard to find some suspicious human-or-digimon wearing a coat and a fedora, right??

Then, V-mon spotted their target on the horizon, looking through the window. He and Daisuke approached carefully and hid behind a tree nearby the area. The suspect was… Looking at the digimon inside that room?? Daisuke took his phone and used its camera’s zoom function to see the classroom better.

“Daisuke, look!” V-mon whispered, as he pointed to a shiny object. Daisuke moved the phone and saw… A Lopmon with a red jewel on one ear.

Ah, they found one of the victims. This means…!! V-mon and Daisuke tried to capture the weird man-or-digimon, but they did it yelling so the suspect looked at them, screamed and they all saw their own faces -- It was a Betsumon. Betsumon ran away and escaped, meanwhile Daisuke and V-mon hit their face on the ground -- ouch.

Once the duos met outside the school, Takeru, Patamon, Hikari and Tailmon noticed the 

“Daisuke(-kun), V-mon?”  

Yes, they noticed a bump on their heads. Hikari asked, concerned: “What happened.”

“THE SNEAKY DIGIMON ESCAPED! IT LOOKED LIKE A MAN-TAILMON OR SOMETHING!?”

“Man Tailmon?” The two kids blinked.

“Betsumon…” Tailmon sighed.

After Daisuke and the group met Miyako and Iori, the goggle boy reported what they witnessed. And Tailmon gave another sigh.

“I see… Betsumon is after those gems. Their specialty is to pretend to be anyone else…” she looked upset, in V-mon’s opinion. But she shrugged, “I guess we have to stop them before things get worse.”

“Get worse?” Hawkmon asked, gently.

“Yes, either they or someone else might get hurt.”

“Do ya think Arsenemon would hurt them, dagya?” Armadimon frowned, and his imagination started to picture some big shadowy tying Betsumon on a rocket.

“The coordinates led to a residence address” Miyako interrupted the group’s imagination of what Tailmon meant and they all looked at her, “It’s the Aiba residence. The one mentioned in the calling card.”

“Arsenemon wants us to catch the fake Arsenemon?” Daisuke and V-mon said together.

“Exactly,” Iori replied with a nod.

“Then… let’s do it!” and then Daisuke glanced at the group, “So then we can catch both Arsenemon and his faker at the same time!”

“Two in one!!” V-mon winked and did a V sign.

But… that wasn’t right…

The quintet contacted the Aiba residence and explained everything they knew. They were allowed to stay inside and also in the yard, trying to protect the jewels the twin digimon had. V-mon wondered if those gems existed for every Terrier-Lop and if Wallace’s digimons had them too. Somehow those two twins… Didn’t seem that different from their human partners…

Emerald offered tea to the digimon and to the 02 Team. She was wearing a cute blue bowtie. 

“I wonder if this is really necessary…” Garnet squinted his eyes, “Takumi and I can take care of a thief.”

“We were involved in this case though,” Patamon shrugged.

When the lights turned off… A cat-like shadow appeared on the window and jumped inside the house. Garnet dodged the invader, and the other digimon outside and inside started a fight with…

… Wait a minute. Is this Arsenemon or the copycat!? (No one was sure about the appearance of Arsenemon yet!)

“Daisuke, evolve me!”

“Y’all crazy!? We can’t evolve inside the house!!” Emerald shouted, “No matter which size you will get, we can’t afford to repair the house!!”

“Then let’s move it outside!” Daisuke said seriously, and everyone went outside. The mysterious invader followed them, and then their appearance was clear by the moonlight.

“Isn’t that!?” Miyako gasped.

“A Meicoomon!?” They all exclaimed.

“Gah! You are not supposed to know my real name and appearance!!” Meicoomon babbled, and tripped on his own long feelers, “Ack!”

“... He’s not that… Bad, right?” Patamon blinked, “It doesn’t seem to be a bad guy…”

“But why is a Meicoomon after our partners’ gems?” Ami frowned, and she had Emerald and Garnet in her arms… Shielding them.

“Now that my secret has been revealed I-- I have to flee!!” Meicoomon jumped on the tree, but the quintet digimon went after him, only to be blocked by an elegant humanoid-like digimon, “Y-you are--!!”

The 02 Team digimon couldn’t see very well due to the tree’s foliage, but all they could notice was… the real Arsenemon was there. Tailmon tried to approach, as the same time Hawkmon and Patamon flew to the top of the three. V-mon and Armadimon couldn’t do much without wings though… So they stood on the ground.

“Who’s there, who’s there??” V-mon babbled. Armadimon just squinted his eyes.

Tailmon stopped a few branches before reaching the level Meicoomon and Arsenemon were, and Hawkmon & Patamon were trying to look from the top of the tree now. None of them could see very well, but… The small details they spotted were enough for the moment.

“Ah, mon ami…” Arsenemon, knelt on the level of Meicoomon’s height, “You’re a fan of moi, am I right? It’s nice to know someone who appreciates my art. But… I’d like it if you stop here, for our own sake.”

“B-but… I want to be like you!!” Meicoomon had teary eyes, “teach me! I want to… be cool too!”

“I think you misunderstood my mission, but… I’m no regular burglar. And you might cause problems for both of us. Maybe… when this all ends, we could think about teaching you some tricks.”

“Y-you will!?” Meicoomon eyes had sparkles of hope, and then he nodded, “Then, I will not do anything risky from now on, and will wait until you can teach me to be a phantom thief!”

Meicoomon got down from the tree and met everyone there, but since Tail-Pata-Hawk turned to the cat-like digimon… they didn’t see where Arsenemon went. Tailmon remembered of it quite late and jumped to the next branches to find a small card between the little branches.

She took it from the branches and read it: 

“I’ll leave this digi-mon ami in your hands.”

Everyone met Meicoomon, who apologized for his behavior and then left. Case closed, everyone went back to their usual routines…

After school the other day…

“Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, I can’t believe Ken didn’t work with us!!” Daisuke complained. Miyako invited the group to try out a new cafe shop which opened recently, “Why did you jump into it and then had to dump everything on us seconds later!?”

Ken blinked, “What…?”

“You said you would grab Wormmon at home and then meet us at the karaoke booth!” V-mon pouted.

“Did I?” Ken frowned… “I hadn’t talked to you yesterday, Daisuke… I was too busy and couldn’t go…”

“What??” the duo exclaimed, the others were on the same boat as Ken… Something was suspicious…

“So you met someone who looked like Ichijouji-kun?” Takeru asked Daisuke and V-mon. They nodded.

“A… A fake Ken!? Like an evil dople--that-thing!?” Daisuke babbled

“You mean a ‘doppelganger’?” Iori raised an eyebrow, “It could’ve been a digimon disguised as Ichijouji-san though…”

“Yeah, let’s not start getting in panic” Miyako added with a sigh, but she gave a concerned gaze at Hawkmon.

“I noticed a few traits in Arsenemon this time” Tailmon changed the subject quickly, “He wears a black tuxedo, cape and has a long… Yellow tail.”

“Long yellow tail…” Armadimon repeated.

“SO HE IS A CAT!” Daisuke commented, triumphantly “I was right!!”

“You never said he was a cat,” Patamon said innocently, “You said he liked cats.”

“It doesn’t matter, now we know what he looks like!” V-mon argued back, crossing his arms.

“A cat huh…” Ken was musing… again…

This wouldn’t end right there though… Someone was watching them from a distance…

[ethernetmeep]

as for more documentation type posting, arcade was fun. went to give a surprise visit to my partner, left thinking about many things. they have a whole bag dedicated to photos never picked up by their owners via photo booth. it made me realize how gloomy that truly is. the loss of photos is a bit sad, yes, but it is also the humanity of it. i will never know any of these people, i will never know what they like or what they do. most are likely tourists, staying to see family or friends. even if not, its unlikely i will see them. their memories i have glimpsed into, photos with children, parents, siblings, plushies won. there was one of a woman with two stuffed animals, mid 30s. i will never know her. i will never speak to her. it is deeply , deeply saddening. & there was another of a boy, one singular boy, teenage age, alone. maybe he did it for fun. there was one where he was no longer there. i asked if i could take the one without a person in it & given permission. gently cut off with scissors. the photo is in the bag my partner gave me, sitting there. a reminder i physically cannot know everyone, but a reminder i can still appreciate them for the idea of who they are. sonder, if we are to simplify.

sorrowful thoughts aside, a definite experience. played a piano game the most, essentially playing piano keys fast to get tickets. got 8th & 11th place respectively. when i first entered my cash into the red machine, offered a mother & her daughter to use my card if they so pleased since the mother said she didn’t have any money. she respectfully declined. i have a story related to this i will write later.* gave partners friend a few of my rocks in the bag said partner gave me. mostly for rocks. i think he saw me offer the card to the mother & daughter, but it wasn’t to save face or appear more noble than i am. it was a genuine question. of course i’d want the card back since it was mine, but i am never afraid to offer to pay for a thing or two.

it was nice to just play alone, weirdly. last time i was in an arcade was july 24th 2024 & like that other arcade the one i went to also had small plushies that you would get because you would play until you win. no aliens this time. good. didn’t play it, but did play another & attempt to get a hamster plush for my partner. didn’t get it, sadly. its alright, i got him a sonic toy from the rewards machine instead. saw a parent & child play against one another on the.. um… puck machine. clangs. blinked away the forming memory before it could stay

what else.. saw a child smack the glass. tiny, talking 3 years old? not good with ages. got a butterfly with his tickets, saying “buhfly”. knelt to his level & offered my bee, albeit not saying it outright. let him hold it; dropped it. picked it up & buzzed with his ‘buhfly’ & smiled at him before going back to get more prizes from the machine. many of the prizes i got are simply micro plastics & trinkets, but one i got because of two things. i originally wanted the highland cow that was over the counter (i like highland cows), but then if you squeezed it orange guts essentially came out & i realized i would rather not like to see that actually. settled on a… wait, is that…

the squid themselves…. in a different form, but a squid. finally i no longer have the itch in the back of my mind that is related to said squid & arcades. i like them. said my goodbyes & went home happy & healed & jolly

here is my subsequent proof of score

*oops, i uploaded & forgot the story. when i was younger, we had a book fair & i used some of my money to get an old friend a poster. funnily enough, i liked the sentiment but forgot i lose something so i then proceeded to get upset when i didn’t have enough money for another thing i wanted. nowadays i don’t feel that way, of course, just made sense to mention.

[expired-blueberries]

hi i was the reboot massacre anon. it wasnt only you there were a couple people i was responding to. thank you for answering though!! youve got some interesting insights (i mean this genuinely)

im gonna be real i forgot a lot of details because it's been a While since i gave up. i had like a vague memory of starting to like the rich kid villain but then feeling like that stopped and didnt end up going much anywhere? i guess that mustve been "starting to get more backstory but then he didnt show up again forever."

also i worded the kevin and albedo thing badly: i did like new kevin for the most part actually, he was interesting. i was more disappointed about lack of albedo, since he was one of my absolute favorites. that one is on me for just clinging to old continuity.

but there are a lot of new designs i like too. most of the blue energy fused versions of aliens were really cool, as were kevin's corrupted/upgraded versions, and even that steampunk xlr8 that was only in like one episode. im not just like Unilaterally Hating Things That Are New theres a lot of neat stuff in the reboot

i dont think most of my complaints are with old vs new continuity. my biggest issues were just feeling like theres a lot of inconsequential filler, flat characters, and confusing or lacking motivations. to me, most episodes felt like EITHER the writers/producers didnt respect the characters/world enough to fully think through the logic of what characters are doing or what impact they have on the worldbuilding (my initial lizard-brain emotional reaction), OR theyre being forced to churn out so MANY episodes one after another that they dont have time to give "minor details" as much thought (my later conclusion after thinking on it). but maybe this gets better in later seasons though! thats why i was thinking i might try again.

in particular, the way you describe ben's reaction to the knight (i remember there being the beginnings of a new knight villain) is interesting to me, even if max's reaction is odd. because the fact that ben shows panic at all feels like more character depth than i ever saw in the early eps. like thats interesting to me because theyre really considering the consequences of how an actual ten year old (or anyone really!!) might actually react to someone powerful so easily and repeatedly swatting him aside. even original ben didnt get to be afraid very often. makes the characters feel more real if they can have negative reactions to things.

Aww, hey anon, great to see you again! Hope you're doing well~

Sadly, you're right that Billy (rich kid villain) didn't show up much again after he started getting insights into his backstory. Even when he did, any forward progress he could've made was quickly torn away from him. I can think of at least two times he could've had some character growth, and, indeed, even HAD character growth, only for said growth to then be rescinded for the end-of-episode gag. He pretty much ended the series the same as he started it, which is a total tragedy. I hope if the reboot timeline is continued in the future that they make him a full-fledged friend of the Tennysons, but I also doubt it'll happen  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I also totally get what you mean by missing Albedo! He's such a cool guy, and I think the reboot could've done something really fascinating with him if they added him to the cast. I'm not sure if it would've been something good, necessarily, but definitely interesting all the same. Personally, I'm okay with him not being in the reboot (despite how much I like him), just because I really enjoyed the cast that we already had, and I'd be worried that we would have to get rid of one character just to add Albedo. But I definitely get wishing he were in the reboot! I've seen a lot of fanart of him in the reboot style, because a lot of people feel the same as you!

I agree with the complaints about inconsequential filler. Unfortunately, the reboot is stuffed to the brim with it. I guess that's what happens when you only have ten minutes and an episodic cartoon style to tell a story... sadly, you have to spend most of that time doing absolutely nothing new. I'm glad that your conclusion is different than your original perspective, though! From what I've seen of the crew that worked on the show, it seems like a lot of them really respect the franchise and enjoyed the characters (Kelly Turnbull in particular has had the best tweets talking about it IMO). I definitely understand the initial kneejerk reaction of thinking that they disrespected the franchise and didn't care about the story, especially in the shock of moving from the prime timeline to the reboot timeline, but I'm glad you moved on from that thought! For a lot of prime timeline fans who tried reboot and dropped it, it seems like that initial kneejerk reaction is what stopped a lot of them, so I totally get it.

Although I disagree with thinking the characters are flat and have confusing or lacking motivations, I also understand where you get that idea from. The episode format (ten minutes long, mostly just jokes and action sequences for a large amount of the show) definitely doesn't do it any favor, and a lot of the time the only time you can get actual character depth is when you're least expecting it, or else in a special/movie. That's definitely one of the downsides of reboot. Some of the characters, like Max, are pretty one-dimensional, too, I'm sad to say. Kids cartoons nowadays often seem to dumb-down the adults, which is tragic.

Ultimately, I think a lot of the depth of reboot comes from having to do a bit of deeper thinking on your own, rather than just accepting what the reboot gives you. Like, yeah, Billy seems pretty flat on the surface, but then you have to think about how dismissive his parents are, how it seems like there's nobody in the world who truly cares about him, and how it's obvious deep down that he genuinely wants friendship but is never allowed to get it, and he's pretty interesting. Or, Charmcaster just seems like some kid who ran away from home to live out her witchy dreams, but then you look a little deeper and realize she was being groomed and predated upon by a being that was centuries old and only using her as a battery, and suddenly her vitriol at the world starts to make sense. A lot of the depth, you have to connect dots to find it. It's there! But it's hidden. Personally, I enjoy doing that sort of deep searching. It's in my nature to overthink everything. But I definitely understand why you might not have noticed it on first watch, especially if you didn't watch the right episodes.

I think you are pretty correct on your later deduction, that they don't have enough time to give the little details attention thanks to the sheer amount of episodes they had to put out. They make a pretty good big picture, but the small picture does lack, unfortunately.

If I could be so bold as to suggest what to watch? If you find that you really can't sit through the entire reboot, but you really do want to see why some people (like me) sing its praises so highly, I suggest you skip almost the entirety of the first season, picking up on the season finale (Omni-Tricked parts 1-4). From there, season finales, specials, and the movie are good to watch. I also suggest all of the Forever Knight episodes, because every episode with him in it that I can remember furthers the plot of his arc. I would also watch the Michael Morningstar episodes. Not all Kevin episodes are necessary to watch, but I find they're almost always some of the most enjoyable, so I suggest just watching all of them. Charmcaster episodes are usually pretty good. I personally like the Billy episodes, but like we've already discussed, his character doesn't really go anywhere permanently, always losing its gains by the end of the episode. Episodes with Phil are usually pretty good, or at least okay, and I'm pretty sure at least a few of them advance the plot or hint at backstory. Really, I've seen at least two posts on two different social media sites about plot-based episodes of the reboot to watch, so if you looked it up on Google, you could probably find them and have a better idea of what to watch!

Honestly, the thing a lot of people don't realize about reboot, is that it actually does a pretty fantastic job (imho) of handling serious topics and the characters negative emotions. That episode with the Knight is one example, but if you want another example, then I'll humbly point you to the Ben 10,010 special. In said special, we see Ben in the future as a washed up and burnt out hero, living a solitary life away from all friends and family. This is the future that he eventually ends up at after all his years of heroics, and I think it's the most realistic; what person could grow up normal after being forced to become a hero so young? After living through unimaginable horrors? After having the very universe itself thrust onto their shoulders? In the end, my greatest complaints with that special is that we don't see future Kevin as a human, we don't see Glitch in his humanoid form, and Ben does the loathsome "gains a lot of weight while depressed but he loses it all at the end to show that he actually is all better now!" trope. But this special and that episode aren't the only ones we see the characters deal with negative emotions! I know Gwen has an episode where she handles feeling unappreciated and uncared for, and Ben actually has another episode featuring the Knight where he deals with negative emotions like not being trusted by his family and not being listened to. On its face, reboot doesn't look like it would ever handle these topics, but it does, and I think it does a pretty great job of it! They're usually resolved pretty quickly, but what can you expect from a ten minute long episodic series?

Haha, sorry again for the word spam, but yeah! Like I said before, I totally understand if you try reboot again and still end up not liking it. It isn't for everybody, and that's totally okay! That said, I hope that if you DO end up giving it another chance, you enjoy it! Who knows, stranger things have happened, right? Like an alien watch falling to Earth and giving a random ten year old the power to shapeshift